In The News

Military Bans Disks, Threatens Courts-Martial to Stop New Leaks

Noah Shachtman December 15, 2010
In a classic case of closing the barn door after the horse has run off, the Pentagon has ordered troops against using CDs, flash drives or other removable devices on the Department of Defense system for classified documents. The military is targeting what it labels an “insider threat,” after the release of thousands of classified US State Department cables. The US suspects a young Army private,...

WikiLeaks and the Long Haul

Clay Shirky December 14, 2010
WikiLeaks continues to surprise US allies and opponents alike on how foreign officials aided and informed US embassy staff. Of course, informants expected confidentiality, and the US government was unprepared for sudden exposure. “For negotiation to work, people’s stated positions have to change, but change is seen, almost universally, as weakness,” explains Professor Clay Shirky in an essay,...

Christians of the Levant on the Brink of Extinction

May Akl December 10, 2010
Christianity emerged in the Middle East some 2000 years ago, spreading rapidly throughout the Levant countries along the Mediterranean, then beyond, to become a global force. But in the Middle East, the numbers of Christians dwindle, with rights of Levant Christians trampled since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies, explains May Akl, 2010 Yale University World Fellow and...

The WikiLeaks Ravage – Part II

Johan Lagerkvist December 8, 2010
WikiLeaks taunt the US government with a daily release of classified diplomatic cables. The US has reacted with fury – far more intense than during previous releases of military documents – and with unprecedented censorship that heightens curiosity and counters democratic values. US leaders simultaneously apologize to foreign counterparts whose confidentiality was compromised and pressure them...

The American Leak

Thomas L. Friedman December 7, 2010
The steady release of cables, written by US diplomats, demonstrate a convoluted, counterproductive US foreign policy. The US enters alliances with countries that do not share its expressed values, then tries to deny the differences. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman uses cables about Saudi Arabia by way of example, detailing the contradictions that emerge from US reliance on Saudi oil:...

Koreas in Border Artillery Clash

John Sudworth November 23, 2010
North Korea disrupted South Korean military drills, lobbing artillery shells over the border to Yeonpyeong Island. South Koreans returned fire in a clash that raises tension to some of its highest levels since the Korean War ended in 1953 without peace treaty, reports John Sudworth of BBC News. The action, just days after the unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility, triggers a UN Security...

The World Is Adrift as Nations Skirmish

Kishore Mahbubani November 23, 2010
As the world becomes totally integrated, organizing principles and institutional structures have not kept up. Members of the G-20, the global group of powerful economies, continue to jockey, avoiding the tough assessments and sacrifices required to resolve pressing global issues from climate change and terrorism to economic crises. Former Singapore diplomat and author Kishore Mahbubani relies on...