In The News

Partnership In Question

Magda El-Ghitany December 5, 2005
More than two dozen European and Mediterranean states met in Barcelona a decade ago in order to work towards a shared vision of an end to religious fundamentalism and the advent of regional free trade. That vision is now in tatters. A summit held on the ten-year anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration failed even to attract many key Arab heads of state, and failed likewise to produce a joint...

Indonesian Democracy’s Enemy Within

Sadanand Dhume December 1, 2005
The common wisdom that democracy will help subdue the Islamic militantism is being questioned in Indonesia. While the world condemns the terrorists who have struck Indonesia in recent years, Sadanand Dhume reports that one of Indonesia's own political parties embraces those terrorists' Islamist ideology. The Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) shares the radical beliefs of Egypt's...

Growth of Islam in Russia Brings Soviet Response

Steven Lee Myers November 22, 2005
Muslims have never enjoyed as much freedom in Russia as they do today. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there has been an Islamic revival of sorts in Russia. Muslims number 10 to 16 percent of the Russian population, and Islam is recognized as one of Russia’s four official religions. Yet that tolerance is tinged with suspicion, and some Muslims feel they are being persecuted. A perception...

US-Vietnam: Discreet Friendship Under China’s Shadow

Raymond Burghardt November 22, 2005
After concerns that it had been distracted by the ongoing war in the Middle East, the Bush Administration is again focused on how to confront the rise of Chinese power in Asia. The US has found a strong bilateral relationship with Vietnam—one of Beijing’s longstanding rivals—to be instrumental in its approach to that challenge. US relations with Hanoi have come a long way since 1995, when they...

The Dragon and the Eagle Try to Get Along

November 21, 2005
The current relationship between the US and China is that of the world’s only superpower to a rapidly emerging rival. President Bush’s visit to Beijing this weekend revealed a cross section of potentially contentious issues and areas of possible cooperation. The major issues at play between the two countries can be classified as either security issues or issues of economic relationship. China’...

Remittances Are Effective Weapon Against Poverty

Norman Lamont November 18, 2005
In a report this week, the World Bank drew attention to the money flow from immigrants back to their countries of origin. The amount of money transferred annually is between two and three times the level of development aid from rich to poor countries. According to the bank, the economic benefits of remittances could outstrip even the benefits of trade liberalization. Yet many governments now...

Excessive Profits Erode Security

November 15, 2005
President Bush’s current tour of East Asia, specifically mainland China, challenges the scruples of his Administration’s prevailing foreign policy. Intensely critical of undemocratic regimes from Iran to North Korea, the US, in the case of China, has let political concerns wither on the wayside in the wake of its more pressing economic needs. An editorial in the Taipei Times warns of “the...