In The News

Japan's Laborious Dilemma

David McNeill January 13, 2005
The Japanese approach to immigration has been characterized as xenophobic, at worst, and ambivalent, at best. While a free-trade agreement with the Philippines was celebrated for allowing increased access for overseas caretakers, a subsequent policy restricting entertainment visas may result in a net loss of over 70,000 foreign workers. According to David McNeill, Japan's consistently...

Is the World Falling Out of Love with US Brands?

Dan Roberts January 5, 2005
A recent marketing survey revealed that 64 of the most significant global brands belong to US companies. But according to this Financial Times piece, American brands may be losing their international dominance. With the unpopular military campaign in Iraq and allegations of human rights abuses, US foreign policy has inspired ire among many of the world's citizens. Now, some experts...

Learning the Hard Way in Kosovo

Alkman Granitsas December 9, 2004
A newly released report on UN reform suggests that the path be cleared for the world organization to intervene in sovereign nations and send peacekeepers to places like Darfur or Rwanda. But before rushing the blue berets to the next political crisis, the international community would do well to learn from past missteps in other parts of the world. In the past 15 years, the nature of peacekeeping...

If UN Fails, We All Do

Fareed Zakaria December 9, 2004
The military or humanitarian “failures” of the United Nations over the years must be recognized as collective failures of member countries, argues Newsweek Editor Fareed Zakaria. The Rwandan genocide a decade ago is a case in point: Decisions made among the most powerful U.N. member nations, including the US, the UK, and France, led to completely botched peacekeeping operations. Now on the brink...

Arab Internet Users Are Caught in a Terrible Web

William Fisher December 7, 2004
In many Arab countries, internet users today are facing tight restrictions on free speech. A human rights group recently charged that certain Arab governments, such as Iran, Syria, and Tunisia, employ not just traditional methods of limiting freedom of expression - censorship and confiscation - but also technologies such as electronic filtering programs to control access to what they consider...

North Koreans Eager to Cash in on Tourism

Joo Sang Min December 7, 2004
At the tourist resort Mount Kumgang near the South and North Korean border, South Koreans' consumerism is slowly changing their northern neighbors. North Korean military forces are a common sight at the resort, but here, their main job is to blaze roads for tour buses, and create photo-ops for South Korean tourists. Increasingly, North Koreans are finding it hard to resist the lure of hard...

Subcontinent Raises Its Voice

David Crystal November 30, 2004
Ten years ago, the United States was the country with the largest English-speaking population. Today, India has taken over that status. With roughly a third of its population – or more than 300 million – possessing English language capability, India has more people speaking the language than the US and UK combined. Indian English, however, is not entirely the same as British or American English,...