In The News

Since the much-hyped global ‘war on terror', the human rights situation in Southeast Asia has taken a turn for the worse. In the name of fighting Islamic terrorist groups in the region, says political scientist Zachary Abuza, governments are using state power to repress political opposition by targeting political dissidents and making widespread arrests without trial. Malaysia and Singapore...

In its 2003 report titled “Patterns of Global Terrorism”, the US State Department failed to give a true account of global terrorism, says this Washington Post article. The report stated that 2003 saw a significant decrease in terrorist activities largely due to US involvement in global counter-terrorism efforts. However, academics, a lawmaker, and others argue that the figures presented by the...

Although South Korea’s legislature just approved the deployment of 3000 troops to Iraq, South Koreans’ anger about US military actions has reached a boiling point, argues Sook-Jong Lee, a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. South Koreans have become increasingly critical of the US since the 1980s, with the presence of US forces in South Korea serving as a daily reminder of the country’s...