In The News

Muslims “Get” Globalization, But Does It Get Them?

Mehmood Kazmi January 22, 2007
The last half-century has seen an unmistakable rise in income levels and life-expectancy in Muslim-majority countries, but their citizens have a negative impression of globalization. International business consultant Mehmood Kazmi attributes this antagonism to the widening chasm of misunderstanding in Muslim-Western relations. With a history of cultural domination over the West followed by...

What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy

David Leonhardt January 19, 2007
Before making an expenditure or investment, economists often analyze what the money could have bought instead, and in a “New York Times article,” journalist David Leonhardt explores the opportunity costs of the $1.2 trillion spent by the US on the Iraq war. Leonhardt relies on a conservative estimate of the direct and indirect costs of a war originally estimated to cost $50 billion by the...

Legacy of a Terrorist

William O'Malley January 16, 2007
Skilled terrorists are persuasive, strategic and analytical – and a good example of this is the Indonesian terrorist leader, Hambali, who has pursued his goal of bringing Muslim nations under Islamic rule. The operations chief of the terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah, Hambali has been jailed by the US since 2003, but the vast network of recruits he had developed prior to his arrest continue...

Time for the US to Recognize Iraq's Humanitarian Crisis

Roberta Cohen January 11, 2007
Thousands of Iraqis, many moderates and professionals, flee the violence of their nation each month, leaving the armed militias and the poor behind, battling for territory that lacks energy, water and other essential supplies. Before the invasion, the Bush administration had assumed that Iraqis would welcome the removal of a dictator and pursue orderly government. But almost four years later, the...

African Search for Peace Throws Court into Crisis

Chris McGreal January 11, 2007
The International Criminal Court’s first indictment was against the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Uganda, Joseph Kony and four other commanders. The Ugandan government requested that the ICC investigate the matter, expecting that neighboring governments would withdraw support of the LRA. But the Ugandan government has reversed itself, now asking the ICC to drop the indictments if...

A Fleeting Victory in Somalia

Jonathan Stevenson January 9, 2007
Somalia’s government re-took control of the capital from Islamist Courts Council. If the internationally recognized government, with the help from its US and Ethiopian supporters, does not quickly restore stability, “the conflict could become a regional war and a new field of jihad,” warns US Naval War College professor Jonathan Stevenson in an essay for “The New York Times.” The US has since...

Belarus Cuts Off Russian Oil to Europe

Fred Weir January 9, 2007
After Russia increased the price for oil flowing into Belarus, the former Soviet republic responded by imposing a tax on Russian oil shipped through a pipeline passing between its borders, destined for Europe. When Russia refused to pay the tax, Belarus siphoned off some oil for some compensation. Russia has since closed the pipeline, and nations like Germany and Poland face reduced oil supplies...