In The News

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part III

Jonathan Schell March 19, 2008
Proponents of nuclear weapons suggest that eliminating the arsenals of world powers could endanger the world. Such analysts contend that nuclear weapons deter threats, preventing both nuclear and even conventional war while providing political stability. Author Jonathan Schell challenges those arguments in the third and final article of a three-part series that analyzes the dangers of nuclear...

Iraq: Teachers Told to Rewrite History

Richard Garner March 19, 2008
A 1996 British law requires balance in the teaching of political issues. But on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, Britain’s biggest teacher union gives low grades to a lesson plan devised by the Ministry of Defence that includes no mention of Iraqi civilian casualties or the lack of United Nations’ approval for the war. The teachers question why the lesson plans rely on US spellings...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part II

Alan Robock March 17, 2008
Alarm about nuclear weapons and the irreversible harm that detonation might cause for the globe prompted nations to sign the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which went into force in 1970. Signatory nations without weapons agreed to not pursue the research, and nations with them agreed to reduce the numbers. But with the end of the Cold War, public fear about nuclear warfare...

Tibetan Capital in Turmoil as Violence Erupts

Jim Yardley March 14, 2008
China took over Tibet in 1951, and relations have been tense since. As Beijing prepares to host the Olympics in August, ethnic groups that disagree with Chinese policies also take advantage of the global spotlight. Buddhist monks and ethnic Tibetans in Lhasa attempted a protest march, to draw attention to their human-rights complaints, before a clash with Chinese security forces that prompted...

China and Pakistan: New Friends Can’t Compare

Willem van Kemenade March 12, 2008
The United States built a close relationship with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the basis of his hard line against terrorism. Shared recognition of a security threat bound the two states together, much as it did during the early Cold War. But Pakistani voters questioned that priority, and the outcome of February parliamentary elections revealed the fragility of the current US-Pakistan...

Pyrrhic Victories

Ernesto Zedillo March 10, 2008
Fear of trade has emerged to be as potent a weapon in the hands of the Democratic candidates as fear of terrorism proved to be for the Republicans in the last two US elections. The unilateralist policies of the current administration have produced not only enormous negative political returns for those now in the White House, but also mean that the Republican candidate shoulders a heavy burden....

It's the Dollar, Stupid

Judy Shelton March 6, 2008
As many in the US fret about a failing economy, other countries express specific concern about a falling dollar. The US dollar is the world’s key reserve currency and yet US leaders limit their focus on domestic policy, shrugging about global worries, explains author Judy Shelton, in an opinion essay for the Wall Street Journal. She offers a reminder that currency woes contributed to the Great...