In The News

Job Subsidies May Clash with EU Law

Carola Schlagheck November 15, 2002
EU antitrust regulation has placed strict restrictions on government subsidies to private businesses. The German government’s plan to create jobs by financing job placement agencies and temporary employment contracts may contradict EU policy, and infringement proceedings against the country are pending. For the one million Germans who benefit from publicly-subsidized employment, the results of...

Coral Reefs off the Florida Keys Get Protection from Large Ships

November 14, 2002
The advent of globalization has increased international trade and the volume of shipping which supports that trade. More than 40 percent of the world’s commerce passes through the Florida Straights, damaging its fragile coral reef ecosystem. This area has already been weakened through pollution, over fishing, and coastal development. To combat these negative effects, the Bush administration has...

Behind the Veil: A Muslim Woman Speaks Out

Marlise Simons November 9, 2002
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 continue to impact public sentiments around the world. European attitudes toward Muslims have shifted; over 70 mosques in the Netherlands, for example, have been attacked in the month following the attack. In light of such circumstances, the Dutch Muslim community has condemned Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Dutch Muslim woman of Somali origin, and forced her to...

War and Politics: Islamists Gain Votes as U.S. Acts

Neil MacFarquhar November 6, 2002
Democratic elections, like the ones recently held in Bahrain and Turkey reflect a turn away from American influence and towards religious leadership. The public interpretation of the US war against terrorism as a war against Islam and Arab culture has been exploited by religiously-oriented political parties to bring about recent victories in the Middle East. Some observers argue that voters in...

Iran's President Presses for Dialogue in Spain

Camelia Entekhabi-Fard November 5, 2002
Iran's President Khatami recently became the first Iranian leader to visit Spain since the 1979 revolution. The mere fact of his visit was made even more significant by productive dialogue between President Khatami and Spanish leaders on issues of trade, security, Islam, and democracy. Iran is eager to win the respect of European Union countries, especially after President Bush made it...

Don't Rock the Boat

Nayan Chanda October 23, 2002
When George W. Bush meets Jiang Zemin in Texas this Friday, he is likely to find a skeptical but polite interlocutor who will make sure that Iraq does not get in the way of an improving relationship between China and the United States. This will reflect China's cold calculus of its immediate interests in a U.S.-dominated world. For both economic and political reasons, China's leaders...

White House Cool to North Korean Offer of Talks

Reuters October 21, 2002
Although the US sent a new shipment of fuel oil to North Korea two days after the latter admitted having a secret nuclear weapons program, the White House says it won’t "reward bad behavior." Unnamed Bush administration officials implied that the 1994 accord with North Korea agreed to give North Korea nuclear reactors and fuel oil in exchange for shutting down weapons-related...