In The News

To Save Lives in Darfur, Back African Peacekeepers and Demand War Crimes Accountability, Says ICG's Prendergast

August 4, 2004
According to John Prendergast, special aid to the president of The International Crisis Group (ICG), the United States and other world actors such as the European Union, the Arab League, Japan, and China, need to back the deployment of an African Union-led force to protect civilians in Sudan’s Darfur region. Though he acknowledges that genocide is difficult to prove, Prendergast believes that...

Russian Missile Technology Allows N. Korea to Threaten U.S.

August 4, 2004
A recent article published by Jane’s Defence Weekly claims that North Korea is deploying new land- and sea-based ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and striking the United States. The technology for both systems reportedly comes from 12 former Soviet submarines that were sold to North Korea in the 1990’s, a claim which Russian defense officials adamantly deny. Regardless of...

Islamic Troop Plan Prompts Skepticism

Robin Wright August 1, 2004
Last week, the Saudi government outlined its proposal for deployment of Muslim soldiers in Iraq. While US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that he supported “the concept” of a Muslim troop presence, both he and the leadership of Iraq’s interim governing council have several reservations about specifics. Whereas the Saudi proposal advocates troops forming a separate UN-mandated umbrella, the...

Aid Agency Quits Afghanistan over Security Fears

Ewen MacAskill July 29, 2004
The international aid agency Doctors without Borders has announced its decision to pull out of Afghanistan for security reasons. After 24 years of working in the country – the organization stayed through the Soviet-Afghan war, the rule of the Taliban, and American military intervention – the group is just now leaving because they say that the line between military and aid workers has been...

Seoul, Israel Differ on Korean Pilgrims

Choi Soung-ah July 28, 2004
It was only one month ago that South Korean citizen Kim Sun-il was beheaded in Iraq due to what his captors claimed to be participation by him and his company in Christian activities. So it may come as no surprise that South Korea’s government is concerned about the prospect of 3,000 Korean college students traveling to Israel. The students are traveling to participate in the "Jerusalem...

Knock-on Effects will be Global if Iraq Carries on Downhill

Daljit Singh July 28, 2004
According to this op-ed by Daljit Singh, a senior research fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, defeat, or perception of defeat, of America in Iraq could have destabilizing consequences for not just the Middle East, but all of Asia as well. If the United States, the global hegemon, is unable to restore peace to this one Middle Eastern country, its credibility as a superpower will...

Global Terror Threats Pose Great Local Challenges to First-Responders

S. L. Bachman July 27, 2004
With the advent of the global war on terror, local first-responders in many parts of the world have been charged by national governments with countering and mitigating the effects of terror attacks. Globalization scholar S.L. Bachman, however, argues that tragedies like the September 11 attacks on the US and the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia show that local police, firefighters, and medical...