In The News

Mission to Save Planet is “Failing”

December 6, 2005
Two separate groups have recently released dismal assessments of the state of the world, warning that humanity is not doing enough to make life on the planet equitable, sustainable and safe. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has lambasted national governments for failing to act decisively against global warming, warning that unchecked climate change is already exacerbating a host of other human...

Is Strategy For Victory in Iraq an Empty Package?

Joan Johnson-Freese December 6, 2005
Nearly three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the White House has released its plan to bring stability and democracy to Iraq. Yet, while that plan adequately addresses the role that Iraqis are to play in securing their country, it must now be followed by a strategy that addresses the roles that the American public and army will play in that same long fight. At the moment, the American...

Partnership In Question

Magda El-Ghitany December 5, 2005
More than two dozen European and Mediterranean states met in Barcelona a decade ago in order to work towards a shared vision of an end to religious fundamentalism and the advent of regional free trade. That vision is now in tatters. A summit held on the ten-year anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration failed even to attract many key Arab heads of state, and failed likewise to produce a joint...

US-German Relations Undermined by CIA Flights

Bertrand Benoit December 5, 2005
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s trip to Europe this week was once thought especially important because it was an opportunity to build ties with Angela Merkel, whose right-of-center leanings were thought to make her a natural ally of the Bush Administration. Merkel, however, faces a firestorm of public outrage at the revelation that the CIA used Germany as a major hub in its secret...

Penchant For Secrecy Harming China’s Image

Frank Ching December 5, 2005
The Chinese government has a culture of secrecy. In the effort to protect delicate information, officials may lie. A perfect example was the explosion at the Jilin Petrochemical Company, and subsequent pollution of the Songhua River. A concerted effort to obscure the nature and magnitude of the disaster suggests that China has a problem. In the name of social stability, China has been lying...

Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within

Sadanand Dhume December 1, 2005
The common wisdom that democracy will help subdue the Islamic militantism is being questioned in Indonesia. While the world condemns the terrorists who have struck Indonesia in recent years, Sadanand Dhume reports that one of Indonesia's own political parties embraces those terrorists' Islamist ideology. The Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) shares the radical beliefs of Egypt's...

Barcelona Dreams

November 30, 2005
As the bloody war in Iraq sputters on, European Union leaders will meet in Barcelona this weekend to discuss a much different sort of attempt to extend Western influence in the Muslim world. The Barcelona Process is the name that was given, ten years ago, to the European drive to reform the Muslim countries of North Africa and the Middle East with a soft power approach. The EU is the most...