In The News

A Cash-Strapped US Faces Diminished Political Clout

Michael Mandelbaum August 31, 2010
The US continues to confront record budget deficits, high unemployment rates, stagnant revenues and global recession – with no clear end in sight. Individual citizens, worried about rising taxes and health-care costs as well as cuts to traditional programs for the elderly, want to cut spending. Naturally, such a bleak economic outlook results in reduced US expenditures on foreign products or...

New Dissent in Japan Is Loudly Anti-Foreign

Martin Fackler August 31, 2010
As Japan’s economy stagnates, young men stuck in menial jobs use the internet to plan demonstrations against foreign influences. Their “main purpose seems to be venting frustration, both about Japan’s diminished stature and in their own personal economic difficulties,” explains Martin Fackler for the New York Times. The discontents resent rising unemployment and lack of global respect for Japan...

Is Europe Building Big Brother?

Jason Walsh August 30, 2010
As technology increases in speed and variety, governments seek easy access to citizens' electronic data for security purposes. The United Arab Emirates is banning BlackBerry encryption capability and the US proposes greater access to citizen browser histories and e-mail addresses without judicial oversight. One EU proposal would require Google to retain information on millions of users. Yet...

Intelligence Loopholes

Nayan Chanda August 30, 2010
Confidential messages have served as a basis for long-distance trades for thousands of years. Long ago a list of contents was baked into clay tablets that accompanied shipments. Upon arrival, the tablets were cracked open to assure complete delivery. The modern BlackBerry phone, with countless more messages over longer distances, also provides confidentiality. As secure phones become more popular...

Manhattan Project: The Great Mosque Divide

Sadanand Dhume August 24, 2010
A proposal to build an Islamic center two blocks away from the target of the 9/11 attacks steadily moved through New York City’s planning process, meeting regulations and winning approval each step of the way. The World Trade Center attacks united the United States for a short while, whereas almost nine years later, the center and plan to “build bridges” raise another in a long line of issues...

Iranian Activist Sues Telecoms Firm Over “Spying System”

Saeed Kamali Dehghan August 24, 2010
Mobile phone networks connect people and the exchange of ideas on issues small and grand. Isa Saharkhiz, activist and journalist, was arrested during Iranian post-election protests in summer 2009. His interrogators admitted to using Nokia Siemens Networks equipment to monitor his mobile phone calls, and a lawsuit has been filed against the corporation in US courts on his behalf. The company...

Will US Patience Bring Success in Afghanistan and Iran?

David Ignatius August 23, 2010
Some foreign policy knots untangle on their own over time while others require immediate tugging. Discerning which is which has been a problem for the US, suggests David Ignatius in an opinion essay for the Daily Star. “Patience plus” in the globe’s trouble spots, he explains, requires immediate, widespread, active diplomacy. Direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, scheduled for...