In The News

China Seeks to Build Regional Influence at Summit

July 7, 2005
In an attempt to gain greater access to the energy resources in Central Asia, China is stepping up its efforts to strengthen the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – a regional security group featuring China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. By developing the SCO into a major regional alliance, says expert Niklas Swanstrom, China is hoping not only to assure...

Unlike Africa, Crisis in Asia Not Yet on Political Radar

Eric Johnston July 6, 2005
As the recent Live 8 concerts and G-8 summit shed light on Africa's lingering problems, Asia's AIDS crisis is struggling to attract public attention. With the media focused on Africa, the 7th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, held last weekend in Japan, failed to raise the profile of the crisis in Asia, leading some to criticize the bad timing of the conference....

Africa Needs an Al-Jazeera

Philip Fiske de Gouveia July 6, 2005
The spotlight on Africa of late has focused on many laudable goals: sustainable development, debt relief, disease prevention and control, and reining in governmental corruption. But promoting democracy and permanently establishing open and honest government, Philip Fiske de Gouveia writes, is inherently linked to a feature which most Africa nations still lack: a free press. The overwhelming...

Choking on Aid Money in Africa

Erich Wiedemann July 5, 2005
When G-8 leaders assemble at the summit in Scotland this week, they face an increasingly complex challenge of reexamining aid packages currently being offered to Africa. Despite the large sums of foreign aid flowing into the troubled continent each year, Africans continue to suffer from malnutrition and disease. Citing factors such as incompetent planning and corruption, a growing number of...

Angst of a Stagnating Germany

Dominic Sachsenmaier July 5, 2005
In the midst of fierce debate concerning the future of the EU, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's call for a September election has opened a national discussion about the future of Germany. Since the unification of East and West Germany, the economy of the formerly prosperous welfare state has stagnated. Already high jobless rates are intensified by competition with low-wage foreign...

Brazilians Streaming into US Through Mexican Border

Larry Rohter June 30, 2005
After Mexicans themselves, Brazilians make up the largest proportion of migrants entering the US via the Mexican border. Taking advantage of Mexico's waiving of entrance visa requirements for Brazilians, those looking to enter the US for work and residence frequently sign up with a trafficking agency to transport them into America. Though Brazil's economy is flourishing, employment and...

A Message to the South

Boutros Boutros-Ghali June 30, 2005
Is the UN in crisis? Former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali thinks so. He claims that the liberalized theories of globalization have eroded the importance of the UN’s core powers and responsibilities, and that solutions to the crisis are long-term and intricate. The newest crop of post-Cold War conflicts, increasingly difficult to resolve, leave a larger peacekeeping role for the UN. But...