In The News

Doubts Remain Over Iraq’s Path to Sovereignty

Roula Khalaf May 25, 2004
13 months after the fall of Baghdad, the city’s residents are frustrated about the direction their nation has taken. Doubts about the competence of both occupying forces and Iraqi leadership have surfaced as the June 30 deadline for transfer of power approaches. Reporters from the Financial Times spoke to young Iraqis, for whom “the joy of freedom… has been overshadowed by anxieties over Iraq...

Washington Hopes for the Best; Beijing Prepares for the Worst

Richard Baum May 24, 2004
In the weeks leading up to Taiwan's presidential election and referendum, China issued repeated warning against any move towards independence. The narrow win by President Chen Shui-bian, considered by Beijing as “splittist” and “troublemaker” has not helped to defuse tension. Leading China scholar Richard Baum of University of California in Los Angeles says that while Chen moderated his...

Russia Backs Kyoto to Get on Path to Join WTO

Peter Baker May 22, 2004
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia would support the Kyoto protocol on limitation of emission of green house gases into the atmosphere marks an important step. The Kyoto Protocol received a big blow when the Bush administration refused to support it. Given that there was a strong campaign by some elements in Russia against supporting the protocol the future of Kyoto...

WTO Hands a Critical Victory to African Farmers

Gayle E. Smith, Susan E. Rice May 21, 2004
Last September's WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun failed to produce a substantive trade agreement after a group of developing countries banded together to demand the EU and the US discontinue their multi-billion dollar subsidy programs. When the EU and US resisted, the talks fell apart. But the latest ruling by the WTO against US cotton subsidies may help push through the Cancun...

CANF: Cuba's Liberty Lies with Activists

Luisa Yanez May 21, 2004
As Cuba marked its 102nd anniversary as an independent country, Cuban Americans demanded greater freedom in the island-nation. Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), urged Cuban Americans to vote in November for the presidential candidate that they believe is most committed to ending Fidel Castro's regime, but said that internal dissent, not external...

Paving the Way for a Sustainable Taiwan

Chen Shui-Bian May 20, 2004
Newly-reelected Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Bian delivered an inaugural address this week titled, "Paving the Way for a Sustainable Taiwan." In the speech, Chen assessed the progress of Taiwan's democratization. He said, "Democratic advancement occurs only through constant and gradual endeavor, one step at a time." Chen described Taiwan's new electoral processes,...

Burma: Feel-Good US Sanctions Wrongheaded

David I. Steinberg May 19, 2004
President Bush's recent decision to extend sanctions against Burma for another year is emotionally satisfying but ineffective as a means of promoting democracy in the military-ruled state, argues David I. Steinberg, Director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Although US allies like India or Southeast Asian nations share its concern about the junta...