In The News

Rumsfeld Approved Methods for Guantanamo Interrogations

Jess Bravin June 10, 2004
According to a memo reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, US Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld agreed in December 2002 to allow for a variety of harsh interrogation methods at Guantanamo Bay. "Mild non-injurious physical contact," "stress positions", and forced nudity were among the techniques approved for interrogating prisoners held at the US military installation, this...

Growing Anti-US Sentiments Roil Alliance With South Korea

Sook-Jong Lee June 8, 2004
Although South Korea’s legislature just approved the deployment of 3000 troops to Iraq, South Koreans’ anger about US military actions has reached a boiling point, argues Sook-Jong Lee, a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. South Koreans have become increasingly critical of the US since the 1980s, with the presence of US forces in South Korea serving as a daily reminder of the country’s...

Indonesia's Shameful Export

Devi Asmarani June 8, 2004
Last month, Indonesia was forced to face the reality of a widespread child prostitution network when a woman was arrested for employing young schoolgirls as prostitutes from a food stall in a densely populated neighborhood in South Jakarta. This article in the Straits Times reports that the 1997 economic crisis has caused millions of children to take to the worst of forms of child labor,...

The Case for Hypocrisy

Niall Ferguson June 7, 2004
Niall Ferguson, author of "Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire", makes his case against the much-demanded quick American exit from Iraq and transfer of full sovereignty to an Iraqi government. First of all, he says, the references to ‘full sovereignty’ made by US President George Bush and many others is unrealistic, because the US army will continue to have a strong...

No Lack of Fake Luxuries

Jin Hyun-joo June 3, 2004
Cartier, Rolex, DKNY… Brand-name items are all the rage on the streets of South Korean cities. But buyer beware, says this article in the Korea Herald; a great deal of these 'luxury goods' are fakes. Counterfeit items generate billions of won a year in sales, though, because savvy buyers don't seem to care that they aren't getting the real thing. Two out of three university...

Filipino Workers, Activists Protest Over Jobs

Cody Yiu June 3, 2004
For years Taiwanese industry and construction companies have relied upon the labor of Filipinos, Thais, and migrant workers from other Southeast Asian countries. Labor relations have not always been smooth, however, with reports of abuse and exploitation surfacing from time to time. The latest labor conflict, reported here in the Taipei Times, concerns 19 Filipino workers who were being over-...

Iran Still Making Nuclear Materials, U.N. Agency Says

Willliam J. Broad June 2, 2004
Iranian claims to have discontinued research and development related to its nuclear program has been called into question by the International Atomic Energy Agency, an affiliate of the United Nations. The agency’s latest report suggests that Iran persists in making parts and materials that could eventually be used in the creation of nuclear weapons. Iran insists that the evidence found is related...