In The News

Hail Britannia!

Immanuel Wallerstein July 25, 2003
In the lead up to the invasion of Iraq – and especially with the difficulties the US has encountered since – there is a renewed interest in the historical experience of past imperial efforts. Not surprisingly, the publication of British historian Niall Ferguson's provocative history of the British Empire has aroused special interest. In this review of the book, noted historian and World...

Painted into a Corner

Omayma Abdel-Latif July 25, 2003
The exclusion of Muqtada Al-Sadr, the 32-year-old activist who enjoys a large following among sections of the Iraqi Shi’ites, from the US-sponsored Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) has sparked massive demonstrations protesting the legitimacy of US occupation in the country. Although Shi’ite Muslims, the majority in Iraq, want political representation, they, along with the Sunnis, worry that IGC’s...

Textile Industry Seeks Trade Limits on Chinese

David Barboza July 25, 2003
Over the past two years, 270,000 American textile and apparel workers have lost their jobs. The industry is blaming China, accusing the country of unfair trade policies and demanding that the Bush administration take action to protect American manufacturers from being entirely destroyed. According to the agreement made when China entered the WTO, the United States can put quotas on certain...

A New Era in EU-ASEAN Relations?

Shada Islam July 23, 2003
The two major regional organizations of Asia and Europe are meeting again, this time in Bali, Indonesia. The potential for mutual benefit through increased trade and cooperation between the EU and ASEAN is immense, but Shada Islam wonders if the two regions will be able to realize that potential. Islam, a journalist specializing in EU foreign trade policy, notes that so far there has been...

The Great Catfish War

July 22, 2003
Double standards abound when it comes to the 'catfish war' the US is waging against Vietnam. Eager to engage an old enemy, Washington promoted the decidedly un-Marxist idea of free trade in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and helped transform it into a prime exporter of catfish. But as soon as Vietnam started profiting and Mississippi catfish farmers started losing in the competition, the...

IBM Explores Shift of White-Collar Jobs Overseas

Steven Greenhouse July 22, 2003
The conventional wisdom on globalization in the US has held that unskilled jobs will gradually shift overseas, leaving American workers free to perform higher-paid, white-collar jobs. But now that IBM is considering moving millions of white-collar jobs to countries like India and China, politicians and technology workers are crying foul. Corporations like IBM argue that moving service jobs...

Beijing is Losing the People's War in Cyberspace

John Gittings July 21, 2003
While Beijing spends hundreds of millions of dollars installing surveillance equipment to restrict access to “harmful” information, an emerging civil society is gaining more and more freedom. To this increasingly demanding and sophisticated public, it's a choice between hearing rumors on the street and “going on the web,” and they increasingly choose the latter. Moreover, the growing...