In The News

Europe's Leaders Fear Libya Could Become Next Afghanistan

March 21, 2011
European nations and the US smoothed relations with Libya and were content to sell weapons to Muammar Gaddafi, who now uses them without restraint against his own people. The West squirms as carnage unfolds. Western officials privately wish for a quick end to the conflict with Gaddafi’s assassination, report Spiegel staff. So far, leaders oppose intervention, even a no-fly zone, worried that a...

Libya: When Bombs Fall and Allies Fall Apart

Dilip Hiro March 21, 2011
Protests in Libya against Muammar Gaddafi, in power for 42 years, began in mid-February. As Gaddafi’s repression turned increasingly brutal, calls emerged within the Middle East, Europe and the US for limited intervention – a no-fly zone to stop his forces from launching aerial attacks against civilians and rebels. Decision-makers were divided: Among the concerns was reinforcing the impression...

The World’s Responsibility to Protect Libyans

Ramesh Thakur March 14, 2011
The Gaddafi family unleashes fierce firepower on citizens who could no longer endure a corrupt, brutal reign. The international community is obligated to act swiftly under the responsibility to protect principle, argues Ramesh Thakur, professor of political science and a member of the R2P commission. In 2005, world leaders reached unanimous agreement that the United Nations would honor the...

Painful Price of Forging a Democratic Era

Roula Khalaf March 11, 2011
Libyans protesters want to remove a leader in place for more than 40 years, yet unlike Egypt or Tunisia, Libya confronts civil war rather than a peaceful transition, explains Roula Khalaf, Middle East editor for the Financial Times. Muammar Gaddafi unleashes military attacks on his own people, seeking to retain his grip over Libya’s oil and economy. In Tunisia and Egypt, leaders had relatively...

IMF Raises Spectre of Civil Wars as Global Inequalities Worsen

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard February 3, 2011
Reports of global economic recovery could be misleading. Indicators showing steady rises – in income, trade, stock markets or employment – focus on averages and mask growing divides between rich and poor both between and inside nations. Recovery built on “unstable foundations” could “sow the seeds of the next crisis,” warns Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary...

How to Keep the Nuclear Genie in the Bottle

Richard Weitz January 19, 2011
Following a series of agreements with the US, Russia and former Soviet states, the global stockpile of nuclear warheads has dropped from 70,000 to 22,000 since 1987, reports the World Nuclear Association. The Association says, “Highly-enriched uranium in US and Russian weapons and other military stockpiles amounts to about 2000 tonnes, equivalent to about twelve times annual world mine production...

Imperial by Design

John Mearsheimer January 18, 2011
US involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq has hampered its efforts to contain nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran or resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, increasing pessimism about US foreign-policy goals or capabilities. The US was wrong to pursue a grand strategy asserting global dominance, argues scholar John Mearsheimer for the National Interest. Policymakers miscalculated, by...