In The News

Superpower in the South Pacific

C. Raja Mohan July 30, 2003
Australia has long been the premier power in the South Pacific. According to this opinion in an Indian daily, however, Australia is increasingly matching its economic and military capabilities with the political will to exercise its power. The author says that national security concerns are behind Canberra's new policies of intervention and preemption in failing microstates where terrorist...

US and EU Seek Common Ground on Farm Trade

Guy de Jonquières July 30, 2003
At a recent meeting in Montreal, European and American trade ministers agreed to seek common ground on the issue of farm subsidies before they meet in Cancun in September. Farm trade liberalization has long polarized the US and the EU, and threatens to bring the upcoming WTO meeting to a deadlock. Indeed, although trade representatives from both sides have pledged to be more flexible during...

Pentagon Prepares a Futures Market on Terror Attacks

Carl Hulse July 29, 2003
A bizarre new strategy in the war on terrorism is emerging from the headquarters of the US military. The Pentagon is creating an online futures market to predict the likelihood of terrorist attacks and assassinations. With the explicit aim of predicting the effects of US involvement in the Middle East, the program's website will begin registering traders on Aug. 1, and trading will begin...

For Now, Hong Kong Protests Do Not Faze Investors

Frank Ching July 29, 2003
In Hong Kong, the recent mass demonstrations against proposed anti-subversion legislation have not shaken foreign investors' confidence. In the following essay, Frank Ching argues that while anti-government political activism might scare off investors in most countries, Hong Kong has benefited from its international reputation as a stable and investor-friendly economy. However, Ching says...

Vendors Ready for Enactment of Copyright Law

M. Taufiqurrahman July 29, 2003
The word on Indonesia's streets is that police raids on vendors of pirated goods will begin this week. These raids are meant to show the country – and the United States – that the Indonesian government is committed to enforcing a newly passed law protecting copyrights. The law was created in order to avoid economic sanctions from the United States for gross violations of intellectual...

Imperial Perspectives

Edward Said July 25, 2003
The perspective of the imperial power is inevitably distorted but nonetheless shapes the way the power rules, argues Edward Said in this opinion piece for Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly. Said maintains that every empire, including America's, tells itself that its mission is benign, that its mission is "certainly not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate the peoples and...

Japan's Neglected Resource: Female Workers

Howard W. French July 25, 2003
Inequality in Japan's workplace is not only keeping Japanese women down, but also Japan itself. With population decline threatening huge labor shortages and possible economic collapse, it would seem Japan might be eager to tap into an underutilized segment of the population. Indeed, many experts maintain that expanding the role of women in the workplace could be the best stimulus for Japan...