In The News

Europe Must Now Defend Itself

Quentin Peel July 7, 2002
The U.S. and the European Union (EU) still have not reached an agreement on the International Criminal Court (ICC), mainly due to the American fear that its own soldiers may face trials in a non-American court in accordance with the statutes of the ICC. In this article, the author argues that if the U.S. wants to block the renewal of the mission mandates of the ICC, it can either cut its...

How to Rig a Democracy

Susan Sachs June 30, 2002
President Bush's ultimatum to Palestinian leadership that it must democratize raises an interesting quesion: “What if the United States were as serious about saving the Arabs from corrupt autocrats and radical Islam as it once was about saving the world from communism?” If the US were to employ all of its Cold War methods, it could make inroads in bringing democracy to the region. However...

Pakistanis Fume as Clothing Sales to the U.S. Tumble

Keith Bradsher June 23, 2002
Local and domestic interests are often at odds with broad issues of global concern. However, a recent New York Times dispatch from Pakistan shows how competing global policies can also create conflict in the local sphere, resulting in global ramifications. By pursuing trade 'fast-track' authority, the Bush administration has adopted a course of action that could directly impinge upon...

The War on What?

Thomas Friedman May 8, 2002
With the end of the Cold War, the United States shifted its policy of supporting any regime that would repel communism to supporting the expansion of democracy. This policy change helped overthrow the Indonesian military dictator, Suharto, and strengthen a budding democratic system. New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, writes that Indonesians now are worried that the newest US policy shift...

Online, the Armies Have No Borders

William J. Holstein April 28, 2002
Internet armies don't necessarily have fatigues, guns, or the same citizenship. What they do have, however, is internet technology and a common ideology. As author Richard Hunter contends in an interview with the New York Times, groups ranging from anti-globalization activists to Al Qaeda terrorists are increasingly held together by the internet. Though the fluid spread of ideas across...

The War on Terrorism Takes Aim at Crime

James Dao April 7, 2002
The United States has expanded the global war on terrorism to include fighting drug and crime syndicates that operate in countries across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. Officials are targeting these networks because evidence shows a complex nexus between crime, drugs, and terrorism. The link between these networks has strengthened since the end of the Cold War, when terrorist...

More Aid, More Need: Pledges Still Falling Short

Tim Weiner March 24, 2002
The US is not living up to its aid responsibilities despite growing concerns about global poverty after September 11, says this article in The New York Times. Though President Bush has drawn an explicit link between poverty and terrorism, and is substantially increasing aid to poor countries as a result, US aid remains restricted to specific counties and is still far less than aid from its...