In The News

Even Labor Unions Can Gain from Free Trade

Tamara Kay December 23, 2003
In the long negotiations before the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pundits, politicians, and unions alike predicted that NAFTA would bring increased animosity between transnational unions. They would now be competing for the same jobs, the argument went, and so labor solidarity will obviously break down. Instead, says labor scholar Tamara Kay, North America...

U.S. Won't Lift Sanctions Until Libya Keeps Its Word

Steven Weisman December 21, 2003
The encouraging news that Libya is willing to disarm its nuclear weapons program came as a relief to the international community and a promise for increased regional stability. Despite these hopeful signs, the US is wary of lifting economic sanctions on Libya until some definite progress is made to dismantle the program. Washington's hesitancy is partly due to continued suspicions about...

The China Threat?

Nicholas D. Kristof December 20, 2003
Writing from Shanghai, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof says that what worries him isn't China’s growing military prowess, but the fervent nationalism the government has cultivated among its youth. Kristof believes Chinese attitudes towards the Japanese exemplify the destabilizing effects of “blind nationalism.” Such attitudes originated during Japan’s occupation of China before...

Libya to Give Up Arms Programs, Bush Announces

David E. Sanger December 20, 2003
After nine months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Libya has agreed to quit its nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs. According to US and UK officials, Libya's leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, approached the two countries at the outset of the Iraq War to discuss the issue. Analysts have long suspected Libya of having a nuclear program, despite the country's signing of the...

China's "Peaceful Ascendancy"

Yoichi Funabashi December 19, 2003
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, some international observers have predicted that China would be the next major counter-balance to US power and the only country with the potential to challenge American hegemony on a global scale. But, Chinese officials are now at pains to deny that they have any ambition to reign supreme again in Asia or destabilize the world economically, politically, or...

Sugar, Textiles Sour on CAFTA Deal

Jane Bussey December 19, 2003
US trade negotiators had no sooner finished closing a deal with four Central American countries when US textile and sugar industry representatives began crying foul. The Central American Free Trade Agreement would result in sugar industry job losses in the US, say its critics, and permit Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian textiles assembled in Central America to enjoy favorable import rules when...

Tensions Between Globalization, Backwardness

Riad al-Khouri December 18, 2003
For the Middle East to move forward economically and politically, says this article in Lebanon's Daily Star, states in the region must embrace principles of efficiency and inclusivity. Rather than fight against the tide of globalization, the author suggests, the Middle East must jump on the bandwagon, work to strengthen itself internally, and fortify its position in the global economy....