In The News

Death by a Thousand Cuts

Immanuel Wallerstein May 9, 2005

The United States has long been the major power influencing Latin American politics and business, encouraging currency ties, controlling natural resources, and at times even helping to depose governments it no longer supports. But recently several small "cuts," as Imanuel Wallerstein writes, have undermined US control in the region. One example is the ouster of Ecuadorian President...

Inglish as She's Spoke

Gurcharan Das May 3, 2005

The worldwide spread of English has seen a rise in colloquially "blended languages," from Franglais (French and English) to Spanglish (Spanish and English) to Taglish (Tagalog and English), and so on. This Outlook India piece suggests a new addition: Inglish (Hindi and English). As the author writes, English is the ticket to a good job and middle class status in India. It unites...

China and the Power Game

Nayan Chanda May 2, 2005

Thirty years ago, when US troops withdrew from Vietnam, the war-torn country was totally left on its own, without support from either its supposedly Communist allies (China) or former colonial powers (France). In this article, Nayan Chanda, who covered Saigon at the time, discusses the changes in power relations amongst the various players surrounding Vietnam since 1975. To be sure, Vietnam...

Reality Check for European Union

Jonathan Fenby April 27, 2005

One year ago, the European Union seemed to be on a roll. Membership had grown to 25, and many in the Union saw a united Europe as the surest method of challenging American hegemony. Now that dream may be on the brink of failure, writes Jonathan Fenby. If public opinion polls are correct, French voters will reject the proposed European constitution in a May 29th referendum. A "no" vote...

Russia's Neighbors

Vladimir Radyuhin April 7, 2005

As optimists salute democracy's march in the Middle East, so too do they point towards the former republics of the Soviet Union, where a spate of "democratic" revolutions has toppled three Russian-backed governments. Georgia, Ukraine, and now Kyrgyzstan have all undergone sweeping regime changes. But Russian analysts, like Vladimir Radyuhin, are cautious in their appraisals of such...

Prisoner's Release Does Not Herald a Xinjiang Spring

Dru C. Gladney March 30, 2005

The recent release of a Uyghur businesswoman from a Chinese prison may have appeased the visiting US Secretary of State, but the gesture also underscored the continual frictions between China and its Uyghur ethnic minority. Beijing's official stance is that Muslim Uyghurs separatists pose a terrorist threat, but as Dru C. Gladney suggests, this may actually be a case of so-called "...

La liberation d’un prisonnier ne prefigure pas un repit au Xinjiang