In The News

Modern Mercenaries on the Iraqi Frontier

James Glanz April 4, 2004
In what appears to be a modern manifestation of old mercenary platoons, 'risk management' firms are filling the security gap in a tense Iraq. Former military men from around the world are earning large salaries to protect the development agencies and businesses that have recently entered the post-Saddam state. Though one would think that 'risk management' forces would...

No More Rwandas

Michael E. O'Hanlon April 2, 2004
Ten years after the genocide in Rwanda began, is the international community better positioned to prevent another such horror from occurring elsewhere? The deaths of 800,000 Rwandans should have taught the world much, say Michael O'Hanlon and Susan Rice, senior fellows at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. In 1994 the US, France, and the UK failed to muster the political will to...

India Seethes as US Warms to Pakistan

Edward Luce April 1, 2004
The United States recently removed all remaining sanctions placed on Pakistan when that country’s current leader, General Pervez Musharraf, was installed in a 1999 military coup. After September 11th, Musharraf lost his pariah status and emerged as a key US ally in the anti-terror fight. The partnership was cemented this week, as Musharraf deployed troops to hunt Al-Qaeda along the Afghan border...

While the US Looked for Iraqi WMD, North Korea Built Theirs

Jack Pritchard March 31, 2004
As Washington pressed on with its effort to rid Iraq of its suspected weapons of mass destruction - read nuclear weapons - early last year, North Korea's nuclear program shifted into high gear. Or so Pyongyang would have the US believe. In this first-hand account of the recent unofficial American inspections of North Korea's nuclear program, Jack Pritchard, a North Korea specialist at...

Tightening the U.S. Borders Takes a Toll on Foreign Students

Robert L. Steinback March 31, 2004
The tightening of US visa policies and practices since the 9/11 terrorist attacks has substantial costs for the United States that might not be apparent at first glance. According to a feature story in The Miami Herald, the now frequent "derailment" of graduate study for thousands of international students is only one of the many adverse consequences of severely tightened US visa...

Big Pay Luring Military's Elite to Private Jobs

Eric Schmitt March 30, 2004
Fears that US military Special Operations members will depart in droves for higher paying civilian security jobs have come to light. While the departures are minimal at this stage, the possibility that their pace will accelerate has caused Gen. Bryan D. Brown, head of Special Operations Command, to meet with senior Special Op's members to discuss ways to stem the exodus. To train a Green...

Clearing Clouds Over the Karakoram Pass

Ziad Haider March 29, 2004
Over the latter half of the 20th century, relations between China and Pakistan were anchored in large part on both countries' strategic interest in balancing India as a regional power. The Karakoram Highway, which runs for 500 miles between the two nations, is representative of those collective interests. However, says Ziad Haider of the Henry L. Stimson Center, since the Highway was...