In The News

Polio Outbreak in Northeast Syria Risks Spreading, WHO Says

Stephanie Nebehay October 30, 2013
The World Health Organization reports a polio outbreak among young children in northeast Syria. The disease “is endemic in just three countries – Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan – raising the possibility that foreign fighters have imported the virus into Syria, where Islamist militant groups are part of the splintered array battling Assad's forces,” reports Stephanie Nebehay for Reuters....

Human Rights Groups: Drone Strikes Kill More Civilians Than US Admits

Craig Whitlock October 22, 2013
Human Rights Watch investigated six US drone strikes in Yemen and reports that 69 percent of 82 killed were civilians – undercutting claims that drone technology targets specific threats. “[T]he human rights groups said they were able to shed further light on the incidents by interviewing survivors, other witnesses and government officials in both countries,” reports Craig Whitlock for the...

Japan’s Olympic Challenge

Jean-Pierre Lehmann October 22, 2013
Bitterness from the Second World War lingers throughout the Asia Pacific region; Japan lost the war, yet rebuilt and became a strong ally with the United States, its one-time opponent. Many in China and South Korea suggest that Japan has not expressed adequate apology to Asian neighbors for wartime aggression. Japan is skilled at adaptation, notes international political economist Jean-Pierre...

Cambodians Refuse to Accept Rigged Elections

Elizabeth Becker October 15, 2013
Cambodians are connected to the world through trade, investment, tourism, cultural events, social media and dual citizenship. The connections influence how the citizens deal with their long-running authoritarian regime. With a per capita income less than $1000, many Cambodians refuse to support the government of Hun Sen, who has been in office for 28 years. The prime minister no longer convinces...

Strike on Syria for Chemical Weapons – Not Illegal

Harold Hongju Koh October 3, 2013
The world wrestles over what to do when nations and the UN Security Council fail in their responsibility to protect civilians from atrocities. A strike, as threatened by US President Barack Obama for a chemical weapons attack on Syrians, would have been legal, argues Harold Hongju Koh, former dean of Yale Law School. “I would argue that under certain highly constrained circumstances, a nation...

Kenya Pays Stiff Price for Intervening

Peter Fabricius September 26, 2013
Kenya’s intervention in the Somali civil war is the reason given for al-Shabab’s terrorist attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall that left dozens dead. The terrorist group, described as weakened in recent years by such intervention, controls much of southern and central Somalia, across the border to Kenya’s east. Kenyan troops had aided Ahmed Adobe, a Shabab rival in driving the group out of Somalia’...

Can Iran, Victim of Chemical Weapons, Help Fix the Syria Crisis?

Karl Vick September 13, 2013
Iran is one of Syria’s few allies, yet its people were also victims of horrific chemical weapons attacks during the 1980-88 war with Iraq. Some analysts suggest that Iran – because of its own history as a victim of chemical attacks – may be key to instigating diplomacy among the warring factions. “Saddam Hussein’s unchecked use of mustard gas, cyanide and other chemical weapons against Iranian...