In The News

Multipolar Disorder

Timothy Garton Ash July 24, 2006
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the US took on the role of world’s supreme power. In retrospect, the moment was brief. As the world’s leading power, the US invaded Iraq – and the notion of a world guided by the might and morals of a single nation unraveled. Attempts to manage conflicts such as the current explosion between Israel and Lebanon face a labyrinth of cause-and-effect...

The West’s Moral Erosion Has Undermined the War on Terror

Max Hastings July 24, 2006
Rigid British and US support of unrelenting Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and their refusal to pursue immediate ceasefire, contribute to views that the West is unjust, according to “Guardian” columnist Max Hastings. As a result, the West damages its global reputation. Military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the lack of intervention in Lebanon or other struggling nations, diminish...

Time for America to Put Its Diplomatic Muscle Where Its Mouth Is

July 21, 2006
Events move at fast pace in the Middle East – and the US and UN must work quickly to control the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, its democratic neighbor to the north. Israel is using bombs supplied by the US, and Hezbollah militants use bombs supplied by Iran. The conflict intensifies as Israeli ground troops march into southern Lebanon and the UN secretary-general calls for an immediate end...

The Taliban’s Silent Partner

Robert D. Kaplan July 21, 2006
While the Afghan government, led by US-backed President Hamid Karzai, controls the country’s major cities, the countryside remains subject to Taliban infiltration. Over 75 percent of Afghanistan’s population lives in rural villages. Thus, using Pakistan as a rear base, Taliban units provide security and other concrete needs to villagers that the government fails to deliver. Pakistani President...

Gates Won't Fund AIDS Researchers Unless They Pool Data

Marilyn Chase July 21, 2006
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, run by the chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, will deliver $287 million in five-year grants to researchers working to produce an AIDS vaccine. The caveat: Grantees must agree to pool their results. Fragmented and overlapping work in the area of AIDS research has hindered progress toward a vaccination for the virus that affects 40 million people around...

Russia Looks Both East and West

Andrew Symon July 20, 2006
As the Group of Eight industrial countries meets in St. Petersburg, Russian oil supply to Europe and western countries was a prominent topic of conversation. Russia supplies 25 percent of the EU’s oil. Russia also looks east to China and South Korea to expand its markets for oil and natural gas. Several projects under negotiation between Moscow and Asian governments would increase the Russian...

Habitual Blindness

Eric Rauchway July 20, 2006
The US is a creature of habit and that means repeating old mistakes, according to author Eric Rauchway. Reaping benefits of industrialization and expansion while devoting few resources to the process, thanks to immigration and foreign capital, the US too often mistakes “habit for virtue.” Rauchway contends that the US deludes itself into acting as though circumstances have changed little since...