In The News

This Is Why the Islamists Are Winning

Rami G. Khouri March 16, 2006
Conservative Islamist candidates have met with success in Palestine, Iraq, Egypt and other countries, leaving Western analysts to speculate about Islamist motives and platforms. Author Rami G. Khouri analyzes the Islamist political success and suggests that Western pundits are confused by the integration of factors such as religion, national identity, good governance, and resistance to foreign...

After Rush to China, Manufacturers Look Back to Southeast Asia

Wayne Arnold March 16, 2006
China has been a formidable competitor to its neighbors in Southeast Asia as well as the West. Since China's entry into the WTO in 2001, jobs and manufacturing plants from Southeast Asia were moved to low-cost China. Unlike China, Southeast Asia has not created a single international brand, whereas China invests in research and development. But nations like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,...

Negative Perception of Islam Increasing

Claudia Deane March 15, 2006
As the war in Iraq enters its fourth year, a majority of US citizens express unfavorable views of Muslims, surpassing levels just after the 9/11 attacks, according to a Washington Post – ABC News poll. Most respondents noted that Islam contributes to violence. US citizens with an understanding of Islam stated that the religion is essentially peaceful, but were as likely as other respondents to...

Blame It on Voltaire: Muslims Ask French to Cancel 1741 Play

Andrew Higgins March 9, 2006
In the small French town of Saint-Genis-Pouilly, a conflict arose in 2005 that prefigured the Danish cartoon crisis and tested willingness to defend the right to free speech. The target of Muslim outrage then was one of the Enlightenment’s leading men of letters – Voltaire, or Francois-Marie Arouet. A reading of his play, “Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet,” excited a small riot – “the most...

Cartoons and the Globalization of Protests

Paul Reynolds February 28, 2006
Violence bred by the infamous Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad has spread to sub-Saharan Africa. The ubiquity of such protests, and not simply their ferocity, has surprised many commentators. The cartoon controversy is not without precedent. In 1989, Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” incurred the wrath of Iranian ayatollahs who regarded it as a heretical vision of Islam. But the...

Nigeria Counts 100 Deaths over Danish Caricatures

Lydia Polgreen February 27, 2006
Violence over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that has resulted in more than 100 deaths in Nigeria offers an example of global issues impinging on the country’s domestic politics. The country’s Muslims and Christians have a history of tension, and the cartoons prompted tit-for-tat violence. Political analysts suggest that, in Nigeria, the cartoon controversy functioned as a pretext...

Exit Without a Strategy

Sami Ramadani February 24, 2006
After the destruction of Samarra’s sacred al-Askari mosque, media outlets speculated about imminent civil war between Sunni and Shia in Iraq. Since the early days of the American occupation, much ink has been spilt on the supposedly ancient “communal” divisions of Iraq’s population. Sami Ramadani, a political exile during Saddam’s regime, begs to differ. He argues that fair analysis of Iraqis’...