In The News

Talks With Taliban Still the Best Prospect

Bronwen Maddox February 28, 2007
Afghanistan was the base for planning the 9/11 attacks on the US, and the US invaded the nation not long afterward. But more than five years later, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremist groups still wreak havoc throughout the country. “In the end, it will probably be necessary to deal with the Taleban or their sympathisers (if a distinction can really be made), as the Afghan and Pakistani...

On a Dilemma in the Horn

February 27, 2007
Ethiopia's quality-of-life indicators have improved in recent years, but poverty remains at crushing levels. Meles Zenawi's government has become increasingly intolerant of opposition, arresting dissidents, closing newspapers and websites. Human-rights advocates in the EU and US, including some in the US Congress, pressure their governments to cut aid to the regime. The US Pentagon,...

A Denuclearization Deal in Beijing: The Prospect of Ending the 20th Century in East Asia

Gavan McCormack February 23, 2007
The February agreement to begin the denuclearization process of North Korea could usher in a new era of peace and cooperation for a once volatile region. The agreement required diplomacy – the US willing to back away from its stance of refusing to talk with North Korea before the nuclear program was dismantled. In this paper for “Japan Focus,” Gavan McCormack points that North Korea had long “...

Looking Beyond Iraq – Part II

Pratap Bhanu Mehta February 23, 2007
The decade after the end of the Cold War was a remarkably stable moment in international relations. American hegemony was uncontested because it was relatively benign – and even worked to strengthen international institutions and multilateralism. That has changed. In the second article of a two-part series, analyst Pratap Bhanu Mehta examines how Washington’s failure to recognize the limits of...

Looking Beyond Iraq – Part I

Strobe Talbott February 21, 2007
The Bush administration – known for its “go it alone” approach in foreign policy – has less than two years left in office. As that chapter in history comes to a close, the world anticipates a new direction in US policy, an end to the war in Iraq and perhaps a new balance of power. This two-part series analyzes foreign-policy challenges confronting the world today and the resistance the US faces...

Terrorist Networks Lure Young Moroccans to War in Far-Off Iraq

Craig Whitlock February 20, 2007
DNA tests show that some of the suicide bombers in Iraq came from other countries, willing to cross a continent to die for a cause. Journalist Craig Whitlock describes in the “Washington Post” how Al Qaeda recruits young males in Morocco, including college students and one young man who left a wife and infant. Recruiters for extremists target young men who are concerned about matters of “...

Conservatives Assail North Korea Accord

Glenn Kessler February 16, 2007
Conservatives in the US do not trust the Kim Jong Il regime in North Korea and expect proof that the country has “stopped sponsoring terrorism” before removing it from a US terror list. Conservatives who promote a tough stance toward terrorists and nations that sponsor terror resent what they view as a new pragmatic approach emerging from the Bush administration, reports Glenn Kessler in “The...