In The News

The Force of Special Forces

Lawrence Korb May 10, 2011
Governments across the globe and US industries have good reason to parse details of the US mission that killed Osama bin Laden. The mission’s success will have profound effects on US military strategy, organization and spending, argues Lawrence Korb, former assistant defense secretary in the Reagan administration, in an opinion essay for Politico. In recent decades, US legislators have assessed...

Pakistan’s Not So Sleight of Hand

Sumit Ganguly May 4, 2011
Osama bin Laden, killed by US Navy SEALs, was not so hidden in Pakistan. The fugitive’s conspicuously large home in Abbottabad, a resort town that’s also home to many retired Pakistani military, is an embarrassment for the US ally, recipient of more than billions in US security-related aid since 2002. Pakistan, a nuclear power, controls a key supply route into Afghanistan, but the security...

Ai Weiwei's Incarceration Stumps German Culture Vultures

Aya Bach May 2, 2011
As Ai Weiwei prepared to open a Berlin show of his work, Chinese authorities detained the celebrated artist in a bid to limit damage his criticism might cause abroad. The censorship immediately triggered international censures and debate about effective methods – gentle education or intense pressure – for achieving human rights in China, explains Aya Bach for Deutsche Welle. Ironically, Ai was...

In Arab World, Bin Laden’s Confused Legacy

Anthony Shadid, David D. Kirkpatrick May 2, 2011
There’s a vast disconnect between the Middle East’s uprisings – a quest for democracy – and rigid religious controls promised by Al Qaeda. An operation, authorized by US President Barack Obama, tracked Osama bin Laden to a compound in Pakistan, killing the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. For youthful Arab populations, the events that put bin Laden on a global most-...

Palestinian Unity Raises New Problems as It Solves Others

David E. Miller April 30, 2011
Internal Palestinian politics and their relations with world have been turbulent since the Islamist resistance group Hamas won a majority of parliamentary seats in January 2006. Rival groups Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement to be signed 4 May, calling for an interim government and elections within a year. The agreement does not detail long-held differences on statehood, peace talks with...

What the Guantanamo Leaks Won't Reveal

Darryl Li April 27, 2011
WikiLeaks has begun publishing 779 US secret military files on Guantánamo Bay prisoners. Dated 2002 to 2008, the assessments detail US intelligence and rationales for indefinite detention of prisoners or transfer to other governments. The raw documents require context, suggests Darryl Li, who has worked on the legal defense of Guantánamo detainees, in an opinion essay for Al Jazeera. The threat...

An Alliance Without a Strategy

Jörg Himmelreich April 26, 2011
NATO’s attacks on Libya since mid-March, designed to protect citizens, so far deliver neither quick relief from the fighting nor end of the Gaddafi regime. NATO was divided going into Libya and is just as divided a month later. By encouraging Europe to take the lead in Libya, the US exposed European security weaknesses. Alliance members lack a sense of purpose, instead pursuing national or even...