In The News

Uncertain Future for Free Trade

Ernesto Zedillo September 15, 2004
WTO members in Geneva recently ratified the Doha Development Agenda July 2004 Package, a group of measures designed to carry out the goals of the 2001 Doha Round. Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former president of Mexico, suggests that despite laudatory talk from the key negotiators, the recent Geneva agreement contributes little toward advancing...

Dutch Have a Kinder, Gentler Plan

Frida Ghitis September 14, 2004
Despite scattered threats from terrorist groups, the environment in Amsterdam continues to appear peaceful. The Dutch government's approach to national security, in direct contrast to US policies, underscores protection of civil liberties and adherence to laws. In an effort to prevent a culture based in fear, the Netherlands has resisted alarmist measures common to other Western societies...

Turban Chaos

Ranvir Nayar September 14, 2004
France’s 5,000 to 25,000-strong Sikh population joins French Muslims in protesting the controversial Law of Secularism, which bans the wearing of religious symbols in public schools. Upon returning to school campuses, Sikh students wearing turbans were denied access, despite previous assurances from French authorities that they would be the exception to the rule. Defiant parents are preparing to...

The Day A Nuclear Conflict Was Averted

Strobe Talbott September 13, 2004
In a book to be published this week, former US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott tells the story of President Bill Clinton’s personal diplomacy in averting a possible nuclear war in South Asia. The conflict began in May 1999, when Pakistani commandos infiltrated the Indian part of Kashmir in the Kargil region. By the end of June, a furious Indian response with air and artillery assaults...

Beijing's Closed Politics Hinders "New Diplomacy"

Minxin Pei September 12, 2004
In the past year and a half, China has become a key player in several difficult international conflicts, including the North Korean missile threats, the Pakistan-India quarrels, and the war in Iraq. However, argues the author of this Financial Times piece, it should come as no surprise that the nation is quickly losing its newly gained respect in a series of foreign policy mistakes. Ever-present...

European survivors of 9/11: Torn 2 ways

Katrin Bennhold September 10, 2004
Tomorrow, three years will have passed since Europe stood beside the US in the aftermath of the most traumatic event ever to occur on American soil. Today, after European outrage over the US-led invasion of Iraq and American jabs at the cowardice of "Old Europe," the former allies are drifting ever further apart. Painfully stranded in the middle of this rift are three European survivors...

South Like North? North Like South? The Great Korean Flap

Tom Plate September 9, 2004
This Khaleej Times opinion piece examines the significance of the recent revelation that a group of South Korean scientists experimented with nuclear materials. Despite North Korean claims to the contrary, the experiment – amounting essentially to a few researchers tinkering in a lab – was not indicative broader South Korean weapons capabilities. The true danger, according to the author, is that...