In The News

Google in China: The Big Disconnect

Clive Thompson May 11, 2006
The Chinese are fascinated with the possibilities of the internet. When the head of operations for Google in China gave a lecture at one Chinese university, thousands attended and scalpers sold tickets. Despite strict government controls, the internet and search engines foster learning and a free exchange of ideas – including even China’s long-neglected rural population. Despite censorship, young...

Al Qaeda Talking Heads

Fawaz A. Gerges May 11, 2006
Just after Iraqi leaders chose a new prime minister and president, the leaders of Al Qaeda – Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi – hurriedly released a series of statements to the media. The media blitz represents the most concerted effort to date by Al Qaeda leadership to articulate its investment in the ongoing conflict in Iraq – and suggests that a viable government,...

Africa’s Bitter Harvest

G. Pascal Zachary May 10, 2006
For years, Souley Madi has had many advantages as a cotton farmer in Badjengo Cameroon. He requires no complex, costly machinery to plant his fields. He has a beneficial arrangement with a state-owned company that collects his harvest on time for a satisfactory rate. With these earnings, he sends his five children in school, which he believes is the key to their future. Yet Madi wonders how...

Japanese Discovery of Democracy

Masaru Tamamoto May 10, 2006
Political, economic, military and historical forces can put civilizations into conflict, but also create a basis for affinity. Japan portrays its own democracy and China’s single-party Communist rule as diametrically opposed, thus qualifying China’s economic success and accounting for recent chilly diplomatic relations. Yet the high-profile WWII history question, thrown into relief by the...

Cuba Plans Offshore Wells Banned in US Waters

Michael Janofsky May 10, 2006
The US and Cuba partitioned the waters of Florida Straits years ago, and the US never expected that Cuba would hurry to develop the underlying oil and gas fields. Cuba might not have immediate need for the energy supplies, but other nations do. So the Cuban government negotiated a partnership with emerging economic giants China and India to drill and extract oil and gas from the large underwater...

Can the Doha Round Be Salvaged?

Ernesto Zedillo May 9, 2006
The Doha Round began in 2001 as an attempt to eliminate trade barriers and encourage global commerce among developing nations. But countries submitted lengthy wish lists to the negotiators. With collective agreement required among 149 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO), it’s no surprise that the round has stalled. The Doha Round struggles from an inherent contradiction –...

Step 1 in Bolivian Takeover: Audit of Foreign Companies

Juan Forero May 9, 2006
Bolivia is taking steps to nationalize its natural gas industry, announcing plans to revise contracts with foreign energy firms and audit financial records. The multinationals have six months to negotiate new contracts or face takeover with compensation. Landlocked Bolivia has Latin America’s second largest gas reserves, which are largely undeveloped, with Brazil serving as the major market....