In The News

Middle East: Marching Backward to the Future

Barry Rubin August 22, 2006
The fighting in Lebanon marks a return to an old worldview, a view once espoused by pan-Arab nationalists and now taken up by radical Islamists. The prevailing belief of extremist leaders is that the West is weak and can be defeated by Muslims willing to martyr themselves and engage in large-scale bloodshed. Victory, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a recent speech, requires...

The Odd Couple: Japan and China, The Politics of History and Identity

Haruko Satoh August 7, 2006
The Yasukuni Shrine has become a symbol of Japanese nationalism and a major target for Chinese criticism. China and Japan still carry bitterness since fighting each other during World War II, and Japanese leaders’ visits to the resting place for 14 class-A war criminals further strain the relationship. The bitterness, established in a Cold War framework, has little sense of purpose other than...

Last Stop, Lhasa: Rail Link Ties Remote Tibet to China

Joseph Kahn July 6, 2006
In terms of engineering, there is no doubt that the completed railway connecting Beijing to Lhasa, the remote capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, is a great feat. It traverses a total of 710 miles, much of it over unstable permafrost at astonishing altitudes. Chinese officials hailed the $4.1 billion project, expecting it to increase the flow of tourism, information and development to the...

Chinese Premier Boosts Trade with Seven-Nation Africa Tour

Rory Carroll June 29, 2006
Chinese foreign policy officials have dubbed 2006 “the Year of Africa,” a policy in action as Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, visits with leaders of seven countries on the continent. While Africa’s natural resources pose the most obvious interest for the Chinese, Wen will also conduct talks on issues as varied as nuclear power, textile imports, regional alliances, and investment and trade. African...

US Congressman Seeks Assurances on Yasukuni

June 7, 2006
A US congressman has urged the Japanese prime minister to swear off future visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is scheduled to address a joint session of US Congress in late June, but Representative Henry Hyde, a veteran of World War II in the Pacific, wrote a letter expressing concern about visits to the site that memorializes Japanese war dead, including some labeled...

The Persian Complex

Abbas Amanat June 7, 2006
Nation-states exist in the context of collective memory. In the case of Iran, this includes a history of “at least two centuries of military aggression, domestic meddling, skullduggery, and, not least, technological denial by the West.” Such a milieu colors all relations between Iran and the rest of the world, and must be kept in mind if countries such as the US and UK hope to deter that country...

The Sovereignty of Disease

David L. Heymann June 6, 2006
With the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002, nations embarked on a new era of global cooperation, sharing information and partnering on investigations, reporting and prevention strategies. The cooperation continues with outbreaks of the avian flu, according to David L. Heymann, director of the Communicable Diseases Program at the World Health Organization. Real-time electronic...