In The News

In Iraq, They’re Revisiting Vietnam-Era Counterinsurgency

David Ignatius November 8, 2005
The insurgency in Iraq after the so-called ‘end of major combat operations’ has proved pretty intractable for US military planners. As David Ignatius writes, many of those strategists are looking back to counterinsurgency planning during the Vietnam War for ideas about how to “win the peace.” The technique, which is attracting considerable interest from US Central Command leader General John...

A Year of Living Dangerously

Francis Fukuyama November 3, 2005
One year after the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, well-known scholar Francis Fukuyama writes about the phenomenon of so-called "homegrown" European Islamic radicalism. He argues that radical Islam among immigrants to Europe is the result of their traditional faith being uprooted from its social and cultural underpinnings, and the crisis of identity that seems to particularly...

Vers l’etablissement d’un Califat virtuel?

Peter Mandaville October 27, 2005

Toward a Virtual Caliphate

Peter Mandaville October 27, 2005
What does globalization mean for the politics of authority in the Islamic world? Talk of transnational Islamic movements challenging the status quo of Muslim nation-states often brings to mind the destructive extremism of al-Qaida. Peter Mandaville, however, reports that transnational networks of religious scholars – led by figures such as Qatar-based Yusuf al-Qaradawi – have sought in recent...

Terrorism and Oil

Mohamed Sid-Ahmed October 24, 2005
When the price of oil spiked in the 1970s, the profits were lost to corruption and thus only deepened oil-producing nations’ social problems. We can do much better this time, argues Mohamed Sid-Ahmed: the current boom in oil prices is an opportunity for oil producers to further develop their economies and lift their societies from poverty. There are signs of encouragement on this front: today...

China's Color-Coded Crackdown

Yongding October 18, 2005
In response to the recent democratic "color" revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, the Chinese government is taking action to prevent similar uprisings in its own country. Under new "counterrevolution" measures approved by President Hu Jintao, censorship of web sites, books, and blogs has increased. But non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have borne the brunt of...

Kashmir: Amid Tragedy, Peace Beckons

Ahmed Rashid October 17, 2005
For half a century, India and Pakistan have disputed ownership of Kashmir. Now that a devastating earthquake has reduced the cities and towns of Kashmir to rubble, the opportunity – and necessity – for peace between the two nations is greater than ever before. On the Pakistani side of the border, the enormous devastation has left at least two million people without homes. On the Indian side,...