In The News

Armed Guards in Iraq Occupy a Legal Limbo

John M. Broder September 23, 2007
Providing extreme security measures for a few has become a problematic policy in Iraq. Iraqis complain about private-security contractors, particularly companies responsible for several shootings and injuries of Iraqi citizens. Early in the Iraq war, the US exempted armed contract guards from Iraqi law, and the Pentagon has not yet developed rules for security contractors, as so urged by the US...

Global Risk of US Credit Crisis – Part I

David Dapice September 21, 2007
Uncertainty swirling in the US financial markets and the Federal Reserve's rate cut leave world players, along with US homeowners and investors, in a quandary. In the first part of this series, economist David Dapice analyzes the global implications as the uncertainty and lack of confidence associated with the credit crunch spread beyond US borders, hurting banks in Europe and investors in...

Democratize or Disintegrate

Bahey Eldin Hassan September 20, 2007
Political drama born of the waves of pro-democratic and anti-democratic influences in the Middle East has created a breeding ground for terrorism, argues analyst Bahey Eldin Hassan. He argues that a wave of democratization has not swept through the Middle East because of a loss of US credibility and moral standing, following the difficult occupation of Iraq and troubling images of prison torture...

Fading Superpower?

David Rieff September 19, 2007
A favorite topic for many Washington politicos is how long will the United States hang on to its role as world's sole superpower. Most suspect the US will stand alone as top power well into the future, because other countries have not hurried to develop similar power or assume global responsibility and also because most world leaders appreciate how the US provides economic stability and...

Disowned by Mentor, Bin Laden Seeks New Pastures

Fawaz A. Gerges September 19, 2007
Just before the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden released a new videotape, in which he adopts a neo-Marxist posture, suggesting that mortgage debt, global warming, growing wage inequality and other ills are a result of greed from multinational corporations and politics of the West. “The capitalist system seeks to turn the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations...

No Thanks, And Keep Your Farm Aid

Joel Stein September 18, 2007
The international humanitarian organization, CARE, rejected $45 million in aid from the US government, suggesting that dumping huge amounts of wheat and other US-grown crops into developing markets only drives local farmers out of business and aggravates poverty. According to Joel Stein, Los Angeles Times columnist, the US insists on a distribution system that “only a huge bureaucracy or a really...

An Opportunity for Wall St. in China’s Surveillance Boom

Keith Bradsher September 17, 2007
Like other industries, surveillance is booming in China and attracting overseas investors. Hedge funds in the US profit by investing in firms that develop and apply high-tech internet censorship, face- and behavior-recognition software, and video feeds. Some Chinese firms, like China Security and Surveillance Technology and China Public Security Technology, incorporate in the US to attract...