In The News

Israeli Assassination Draws World Outrage

March 22, 2004
Israeli missiles killed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Hamas, on March 22 morning as he left a Mosque. Hamas is blamed for many of the suicide bombings against Israel, and Sheik Yassin is thought to have ordered several of them. The killing was lauded in Israel as a major victory against terrorism, but was loudly condemned elsewhere in the world – especially...

An Outsourcing Giant Fights Back

Saritha Rai March 21, 2004
Azim Premji, the founder of one of India’s leading technology giant Wipro, has found himself on the defensive of late. Premji's business is one of the leading outsourcing concerns in the world, with a net worth of $8 billion and clients from the top layer of their industries. As the domestic debates in America over job loss and outsourcing grow, . Premji has come to symbolize exactly...

Ending the Divide

Shada Islam March 19, 2004
Spain's election shocker last week has left analysts speculating. Was it a victory for the democratic forces that mobilized against Prime Minister Aznar? Or was it a victory for terrorists who aimed to influence the vote by bombing Madrid on March 11? Shada Islam, a journalist specializing in European foreign relations, writes that in Spain the election results were seen as both a...

Failing Iraq

Graham Usher March 19, 2004
Marking the one year anniversary of the US-led war in Iraq, this week has seen increased violence and anger against the coalition forces. According to reporter Graham Usher, this reaction has been predictable from the offset, for "while the US and Britain knew how to conquer Iraq, they have no idea how to run it." Religious sectarianism, ethnic violence, weakening police power, and...

Unification Can Only Follow Democratization

Orville Schell March 19, 2004
Taiwan may have been its own country for seven out of the last eleven decades and claim that it has the right to decide for itself its sovereign status, but that does not prevent China from pressing for unification. . In recent years, China and Taiwan have come closer due to increased economic interactions, but why does China still point 500 missiles on the island? A large part of the answer can...

Rhetoric, Not Substance, to Change in Spain

Andres Oppenheimer March 18, 2004
The election upset in Spain last Sunday is being seen by some observers as a repudiation of outgoing Prime Minister José María Aznar's close ties with the US and support for the Iraq War. In Latin America, national leaders from Argentina to Venezuela are celebrating the arrival of a stronger ally in the new socialist party government of Spain. Despite the potential for change, however,...

AFL-CIO Asks Penalties Against China

Stephen Franklin March 17, 2004
In the latest attack in the outsourcing debate, the AFL-CIO – America's largest and politically strongest union – seeks sanctions against China for allegedly having an "abusive, low-pay system that has cost thousands of American jobs". Using a trade law that has thus far only been used to protect American exports, the AFL-CIO is asking the government to cut trade with China in...