In The News

Learning From Europe

Nader Fergany April 30, 2004
In a time of tremendous scrutiny upon the Arab world, many interpreted the March collapse of the Arab League summit in Tunisia as a sign of Arab impotence. Nader Fergany, the director of Almishkat Centre for Research, and the lead author of the Arab Human Development Report, argues that rather than being discouraged by the failure of the summit, Arabs should push to reform the Arab League itself...

Southern Carnage: Kingdom Shaken

April 29, 2004
In the country's deadliest day of violence since 1973, over 100 Muslim militants died in clashes with security forces throughout southern Thailand. The militants, many of them teenagers, carried only machetes as they attacked police outposts while screaming religious slogans. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra quickly declared victory and played down the political consequences, saying many of...

Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam

Patrick E. Tyler April 26, 2004
As the situation in Iraq worsens, radical Muslims in Europe are stepping up their recruitment efforts. In the streets of countries such as England, France and Germany, more and more young Muslim Europeans are gathering to hear radical clerics' preaching on violence and martyrdom in the service of Islam. Ironically, it is often exactly the characters of the western societies that these...

Danube Blues

Ben Aris April 26, 2004
Soon to become part of the European Union (EU), Hungary is now "busily trying to dump its Soviet-era trappings," says this article in the Guardian. Symbolic moves, like canceling Stalin's honorary citizenship and prohibiting the public display of communist red stars, are being taken to distance Hungary from its communist past. But economic concerns aren't so easy to legislate...

Free Trade and Outsourcing Are Not the Same

Clyde Prestowitz April 25, 2004
Financial theorists, politicians, and labor groups in the US have recently butted heads over the nature of free trade. Theorists credit skyrocketing amounts of global trade with increased standards of living worldwide, whereas many politicians have decried the loss of jobs overseas due to outsourcing and unrestricted competition. Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute...

An Ominous Moment in Middle East Turmoil

Roger Cohen April 23, 2004
Despite numerous efforts to curry the favor of the Arab world – such as the establishment of the pro-American Al Hurra satellite network – the Bush administration has instead, according to some critics, stoked the fires of Arab resentment through the occupation of Iraq and support for Ariel Sharon and Israel. Some believe the vested interests of pro-Israeli and Evangelical Christian lobbies are...

Merging the Word with the Sword

Thomas Schmid April 23, 2004
Osama Bin Laden's latest move to drive a wedge between the United States and Europe shows how "al-Qaida terrorists see Europe as a political unit with which they can play strategic games," writes Thomas Schmid in Germany's FAZ Weekly. An internet pamphlet titled "Iraq in the Jihad - Hopes and Risks" has made this all too clear. Laying out a kind of terrorist domino...