In The News

Bruce Stokes December 10, 2009
All of President Obama’s internationalist and multi-lateral policies may come to naught if he cannot convince Americans that such a strategy is in their best interest. Moreover, if American public opinion cannot be reversed, an insular country could erode US international standing and weaken its ability to obtain a consensus on a wide range of issues, according to columnist Bruce Stokes....
Bruce Riedel December 3, 2009
US President Obama’s recent decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan may be his last chance to solve the worsening situation. It is a gamble likely to define his presidency. And, as former intelligence official and Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution Bruce Riedel writes, the stakes are high: from preventing another 9/11 to the future of global Islamic jihad. While Obama...
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono November 23, 2009
The recently-re-elected president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, says that religiosity will continue to rise in coming years. But it will come against the backdrop of rising multiculturalism and tolerance as people realize that cooperation and democracy can help transcend global challenges like climate change and terrorism. To ensure this tolerance is secured, Yudhoyono calls for the...
Jamsheed K. Choksy October 30, 2009
Despite Iran’s recent equivocation over a deal crafted to lower the threat of the country producing nuclear weapons, there are signs that the Islamic Republic could, nevertheless, settle the issue, according to Iranian and International Studies professor Jamsheed K. Choksy. First, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime is feeling the pressure exerted by international sanctions not just in terms...
Ahmed Rashid October 19, 2009
Pakistan’s slow descent into chaos that author and journalist Ahmed Rashid has chronicled over the past years has reached a critical juncture with this week’s army offensive against the Pakistani Taliban base in South Waziristan. The latest offensive coming on the wake of audacious terrorist attacks is only a tip of the iceberg. As Rashid deftly shows in this essay, the complexity of the...
C. Christine Fair October 15, 2009
Pakistan is now reaping the bitter harvest of what it had sown by cultivating Islamic militants. Islamabad believed that it could use militants and terrorists to keep India in check and as a hedge for maintaining influence in Afghanistan should the US withdraw. But the recent uptick in suicide bombings and attacks across Pakistan along with evidence of how the Pakistani and Afghani Taliban and Al...
October 13, 2009
Despite being one of the world's biggest international organizations, Interpol has struggled to rein in global crime syndicates. While police forces and intelligence organizations –both locally and internationally – hesitate to share information, fearing another's potential for corruption, criminals have capitalized on tech-savvy forms of global communication to build links across...