In The News

After Gaddafi, Let's Hope for the Best in Libya

Brian Whitaker August 23, 2011
After six months of fighting, Libyan rebels rallied for an enthusiastic entry into Tripoli. The images were reminiscent of early victories in Tunisia, Egypt and also Iraq, as rebels and other Libyans gathered in Green Square, destroying symbols of the previous regime. A few holdouts from the Gaddafi regime resist, and the task of rebuilding is daunting, but the Guardian’s Brian Whitaker suggests...

Rolling Shocks Explain Why the World Is So Depressed

David Ignatius August 12, 2011
It’s an expectation that free economies and political systems return to normal after periods of volatility. But that’s not always so, explains David Ignatius in his column for the Daily Star. “A disruption that initially seems manageable gets bigger and more dangerous as the system oscillates up and down,” he writes. “Indeed, the effort to understand market failure and social disorder helped...

Operation Shady Rat – Unprecedented Cyber-Espionage Campaign and Intellectual-Property Bonanza

Michael Joseph Gross August 9, 2011
For skilled hackers, computers of top corporations and governments are as easy to break into as a locked car. For at least five years, hackers had secret access to computer systems of the United Nations, ASEAN, national governments, multinational corporations, defense contractors, media, Olympic committees and other groups, as discovered by the cyber-security firm McAfee. Operation Shady Rat...

The Kremlin's Short-Term Gains Are Russia's Long-Term Losses

Yuri Mamchur August 5, 2011
Stability throughout the Middle East should matter more to Russia than the United States, argues writer Yuri Mamchur. But while the US cheered democratic aspirations and greater freedoms promised by the Arab Spring, Russia remained mute. “The dearth of official Russian involvement in the Arab Spring demonstrates the country’s fading influence in the world, at least the type of influence needed to...

A Stalled Arab Spring

Dilip Hiro August 4, 2011
Revolutions are rarely smooth affairs. So the Arab Spring extends into the scorching heat of summer. Securing lasting change takes longer than many analysts in the West and young protesters on the streets of Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Tunisia might have anticipated, explains author Dilip Hiro. Quick exits by presidents of Tunisia and Egypt spread hope throughout the Middle East and North...

Hezbollah on Edge in Face of Syria Revolt

Rana Moussaoui July 29, 2011
Protests underway in Syria since March have forced Hezbollah in Lebanon to moderate its stance. Like Syrian leaders, Hezbollah, a powerful party in Lebanon which enjoys strong Syrian military backing, blames the unrest on a few extremists, which infuriates the protesters. Syria, 74 percent Sunni, is run by an Alawi family with connections to Shiite Iran and Hezbollah. A new, more democratic Sunni...

China’s North Korean Foreign Policy Decoded

Sunny Seong-hyon Lee July 28, 2011
The US and North Korea today meet in New York to determine if six-nation talks, aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, can resume. Media and diplomatic attention focuses on China, too: The West expects China to scold its unruly neighbor to the north and make it behave. Yet China’s influence is an unknown, explains China-based journalist Sunny Lee. Strong pressure from Beijing could...