In The News

Powell Says Attacks Bear Hallmark of Al-Qaeda

Judy Dempsey May 13, 2003
Three suicide attacks on compounds where foreigners live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed at least seven Americans and injured over 100 more on Monday night. US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the attacks appear to be the work of Al-Qaeda, the group responsible for attacks in the US on Sept. 11, 2001. Officials in Jordan, however, worry that the attacks are more directly related to the...

Return to Bilateralism

May 13, 2003
Is bilateralism the only viable option for India and Pakistan to resolve long standing disputes over territory? The answer, for now, appears to be yes, according to this editorial in India's The Hindu newspaper. Pakistan has insisted on third party mediation on Kashmir, a state claimed by both neighboring countries. In the current geopolitical situation, the writer says any third party...

U.S. to Blame for Derailing Process of Denuclearisation on Korean Peninsula

May 12, 2003
As the new South Korean Prime Minister begins his first official visit to the United States, North Korea's Central News Agency released a report detailing the central role the United States has played and continues to play in the nuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The report is a scathing indictment of US foreign policy and holds the US solely responsible for undermining North and...

A Trusteeship for Palestine?

Martin Indyk May 12, 2003
Worrying that US President Bush’s "road map" agenda for the end to the Israel-Palestine conflict will fall through, Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador to Israel, and other members of the Saban Center's Israeli-Palestinian Workshop have proposed an alternative solution. They suggest a three-year international governing force in Palestine, headed by the UN, IMF, WTO, and various...

Truck Bomb in Chechnya Kills at Least 36 and Wounds Scores

Steven Lee Myers May 12, 2003
The continuing separatist movement in the southern region of Russian territory certainly suggests that the breakup of the Soviet Union over 10 years ago is not quite over. Chechen rebels, fighting for independence from the Russian state, claim that the Russians are denying their right to sovereignty over their own nation, while Russian officials consider the rebels to be a fringe terrorist...

Seven Nuclear Sites Looted

Barton Gellman May 10, 2003
Seven nuclear facilities in Iraq were heavily damaged or destroyed by mass lootings that began with the arrival of US ground forces in Iraq in April. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and U.N. resolutions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has the sole legal authority to carry out inspections of the nuclear sites. But all that changed with the Iraq War. IAEA has even had...

Will Vajpayee's Gambit Pay Off?

Edward Luce May 8, 2003
Can a military victory in one part of the world promote peace in another? A writer of the Financial Times thinks that may be happening. With the Iraq War over, India and Pakistan are assessing the long-term impact of the American victory. Although India publicly opposed the war, its leaders may not dislike the message that an American victory sends to countries supporting Islamic terrorists....