In The News

Cheating Great Expectations

Philip Bowring September 1, 2005
September 5 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Russo-Japanese War. And as columnist Philip Bowring writes, that conflict bears lessons on how the international community should view today's rising powers – namely, China. After France, Germany, and Russia forced Japan to cede several territorial claims in an 1895 treaty, Japan spent the coming decades building its military...

Creating Islamist Phantoms

Adam Curtis August 30, 2005
In a Guardian commentary, Adam Curtis writes that it was a mistake, in the wake of 9/11, for the West to exaggerate the status of al-Qaida by painting a hyperbolic picture of an organized and far-reaching terrorist network. Curtis suggests that the true threat came not from a sophisticated network, but from individuals and groups linked by an idea. After the London bombings, many experts seem...

The Legacy of Lee Kyung Hae

John Feffer August 29, 2005
The organic farms that line the Han River in South Korea may be the country's agricultural future – and sadly, they tell the story of its troubled past and present. More broadly, the Korean agricultural crisis is a story of small farmers forced to negotiate among the shifting currents of globalization. The industrialization of South Korea's agriculture, the Green Revolution, rendered...

Prices Transform Oil into a Weapon

Ian Bremmer August 29, 2005
Alongside the fear that high oil prices will dampen global economic growth lies another serious threat: It is increasingly likely that certain oil-producing states may use the valued fuel as a political weapon – and effectively so, according to Ian Bremmer. Given the current state of global markets, any interruption of output will likely drive up prices. At the same time, petro-states are...

Bra Wars: Europe Strikes Back

Larry Elliott August 26, 2005
As of August 22, 2005, six categories of Chinese textile exports had met or exceeded EU quotas – spurring two days of talks in Beijing between the trade partners. The current limits were initially designed as stopgap measures, to allow EU producers to adjust to the January 2005 expiry of the the previous global quota regime. In the longer term, it is unlikely that Western producers will be...

Osama's Endgame Approaches

John R. Bradley August 26, 2005
What goes around may, indeed, come around in Osama bin Laden's ongoing terrorist campaign, whose past and future boil down to one Middle Eastern nation. "Osama's descent into specifically anti-American global terrorism can, in fact, be traced back to his falling out with the Saudi ruling family," writes John R. Bradley. And, he continues, due to the failure to establish...

US Wants Changes in UN Agreement

Colum Lynch August 25, 2005
Just weeks before an upcoming UN summit, the United States has proposed more than 750 amendments to an agreement to be signed at the meeting. Organized as an effort to better address world poverty, terrorism, and human rights abuses, the summit is slated to host leaders of 175 nations. The Bush administration's last-minute changes, designed to better reflect US concerns, have received much...