In The News

Looking for Common Values, a Community Driven ASEAN

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat August 9, 2004
Although members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have signed multiple official agreements over the past 37 years, Meidyatama Suryodiningrat of The Jakarta Post sympathizes with critics who see the organization as “a hopeless powwow, meandering from one headline meeting to another.” Meidyatama writes that the organization has produced myriad declarations of intent without...

Irish Find Big Challenges Facing Small Languages

John Murray Brown August 7, 2004
With the mass emigration that accompanied the potato famine in the mid-1800’s, Ireland’s Irish-speaking population dwindled and was pushed to areas that hug the country’s Atlantic fringes. After Irish independence in 1919, however, study of the language was made compulsory in public schools and, recently, with the relaxation of that requirement, much of the Irish middle class is proactively...

Saudi Surprise

Mohamed El-Sayed Said August 6, 2004
The Saudi government is attempting to rescue U.S. President George W Bush from his ill-fated venture in Iraq by declaring an initiative to send multinational Muslim troops to the war torn country. Criticism of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq War is rising, jeopardizing his chances for reelection this coming November. Saudi Arabia’s proposition could provide Bush with a convenient exit...

UN Efforts in Iraq No Walk in the Park

Benny Widyono August 5, 2004
Symbolically, the rift between the US and the UN has been healed. An interim Iraqi government has assumed sovereignty, and a newly-appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General has been dispatched to Iraq. Yet, according to former UN official and Cambodia expert Benny Widyono, the challenge confronting UN peacekeepers remains daunting and dangerous. Iraq is still rife with...

NK Defectors in China Remain Concern

Seo Hyun-jin July 30, 2004
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans are seeking asylum in neighboring countries. Those that escape to the South are welcomed by the South Korean government, which has been embracing all escapees. Those that flee to China are not so lucky, however, and human rights activists are pressuring South Korea to step in. Between 50,000 and 300,000 North Koreans seek refuge in China every year, but...

Arab Opinions

Khaled Dawoud July 30, 2004
Recent opinion polls of six Arab countries show that rising anti-American attitudes in the Arab world are due mainly to American foreign policy, as opposed to American civilization or values. According to the surveys, none of the six Arab countries returned approval ratings of the US above 20%, a statistic due in large part to the fact that America’s Iraq policy now equals its Israel-Palestine...

Can America Regain Its Soft Power After Abu Ghraib?

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. July 29, 2004
One of the heaviest costs of the Iraq War has been the loss of America’s reputation worldwide, writes Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye, Jr. The image of America as an arrogant, global bully is increasingly commonplace around the world. The abuses at Abu Ghraib prison have exacerbated this negative perception of the US, and contributed to the decline of America’s 'soft power'. For...