In The News

Sudan Rejects UN Peacekeepers for Darfur

Xan Rice July 6, 2006
The African Union (AU), sent to Darfur after the government launched attacks against civilians, is under-funded and struggling. Many agree that a more powerful force is the only way to end fighting and enforce a fragile peace deal. Sudan’s president, Omar el-Bashir, rejected the UN offer of peacekeepers on the grounds that it would represent western occupation of Sudan and draw Islamic militants...

A Shot in the Dark

Mark Tran June 27, 2006
In 2001, the United Nations created a program that aimed to reduce the “trafficking, proliferation and misuse of guns,” and delegates meet again in New York to discuss the possible implementation of an international arms trade treaty. The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful lobby group in the US, has decried that the efforts of the action group will “strip all citizens of all nations of...

Don’t Forget Those Other 27,000 Nukes

Hans Blix June 20, 2006
Hans Blix is fully acquainted with both the successes and drawbacks of the current international system for policing nuclear technology. While the former chief UN weapons inspector recognizes that the instruments of nonproliferation – the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and international inspection – failed in cases such as North Korea and Libya, he cautions against abandoning these efforts in...

US Warms to Hague Tribunal New Stance

Jess Bravin June 14, 2006
Critics of the US suggest that the country considers itself to be above international law. To counter the complaints, the Bush administration is gradually recognizing the International Criminal Court. Washington strongly opposed the move to create the ICC – but has come to realize that the US simply cannot ignore a court that has the support of 100 countries, including key allies such as the UK....

The Problem Is: Iran Does Pose a Threat in Every Way Iraq Did Not

Jonathan Freedland May 4, 2006
After pursuing false threats in Iraq, the US and UK may have trouble convincing other countries to sanction or attack Iran. Regularly threatening Israel and boasting about every nuclear breakthrough, Iran’s president certainly does not hesitate in helping the US and UK make a case that the nation is a menace. Yet leaders in the world’s fourth largest oil producer insist that the nuclear research...

Radical Islam – Globalization for Losers

Jonah Goldberg May 2, 2006
Globalization is hardly limited to spreading American or western concepts. The phenomenon can take on many forms, used by governments of all sizes as well as individuals – anyone who catches media attention, intentional or otherwise. The forms can extend philosophies of freedom or safety, choices or control. Author Jonah Goldberg suggests that Osama bin Laden’s call upon Muslims to attack UN...

The US and China: Friends or Foes? – Part I

David Shambaugh April 18, 2006
The US and China are parties to the world’s most important bilateral relationship, and this two-part series analyzes the challenges and opportunities confronting two world powers. In the first article, China scholar David Shambaugh presents a litany of issues that bedevil their relations. From President Bush’s perspective, three points of contention most likely to take center stage: First is...