In The News

Tunnels, Guns and Kimchi: North Korea’s Quest for Dollars – Part II

Bertil Lintner June 11, 2009
In this second part of our two part series on North Korea’s clandestine economy, journalist and author Bertil Lintner describes the demise of many North Korean-owned restaurants in Asia due to the economic crisis. Often titled Pyongyang, these restaurants once catered mainly to South Korean tourists, offering familiar food and entertainment. But the restaurants were thought to be money-laundering...

Tunnels, Guns and Kimchi: North Korea’s Quest for Dollars – Part I

Bertil Lintner June 9, 2009
Recent suggestions by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that North Korea could be re-listed as a state sponsoring terrorism raises the prospect of further tightening the economic noose around the regime. North Korea has got nuclear weapons but needs funds to keep the regime afloat. Yet, normal trading partners are loathe to transact with the pariah state subject to international sanctions. Hence...

War by Other Means: Econo-Jihad

Gabriel Weimann June 4, 2009
With President Barack Obama poised to deliver his long-awaited message to the Islamic world, Osama Bin Laden is back in the news. What his anti-US message does not say is that the global jihadi movement has been adjusting its tactics. Online chatter and public statements by jihadists, Al Qaeda and indeed Bin Laden’s own earlier words suggest there is a new twist to jihad: the economy. Author...

Uygur Detainees: Canberra Caught in Diplomatic Vice

Jonathan Pearlman June 4, 2009
The US has asked Australia to resettle a small group of Uighurs that, though released from prison, remain at Guantanamo Bay. They were captured in Afghanistan during the US sweep against the Taliban, but no proof of their involvement as terrorists has been found. As a result, the Uighurs, a minority group within China, have become a diplomatic hot potato as Beijing has asked Australia not to...

Think Again: Child Soldiers

Scott Gates, Simon Reich May 29, 2009
Most of the stereotypes about child soldiers are inaccurate or downright wrong. From properly identifying the issue to adjusting statistics to defining causes, this article corrects much of the received wisdom based on erroneous information on child soldiering. Notably, the authors contend that child soldiers are not a phenomenon of globalization: child members of the military have been extant...

North Korea’s Nuclear Tantrum

Shim Jae Hoon May 28, 2009
North Korea’s decision to conduct another nuclear test is a new chapter in leader Kim Jong Il’s fight for recognition. But Dear Leader Kim’s gamble may push the US, South Korea, and Japan into taking a tougher stand rather than accede to further demands, according to Seoul-based journalist Shim Jae Hoon. Indeed, North Korea’s traditional supporters, Russia and China have responded differently....

Pakistan Expanding Its Nuclear Capability

Robert Windrem May 13, 2009
While the Taliban challenge to the government in Pakistan has grown, the country has been busy building two of the world’s largest nuclear reactors in an area not far from Taliban-controlled land. A researcher at New York University quoting analysts writes that, without the proper infrastructure needed for power generation or any proximity to the electrical grid, the reactors’ sole purpose could...