In The News

40% of Afghan Aid Returns to Donor Countries, Says Report

Richard Norton-Taylor March 25, 2008
The US and the UK toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001, and NATO forces have battled extremists since. In the six years since, the Western nations have spent more on military endeavors than on health, education or economic initiatives. Wealthy nations have not come though with amounts originally pledged, and a substantial percentage of aid money that did come through went for...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part III

Jonathan Schell March 19, 2008
Proponents of nuclear weapons suggest that eliminating the arsenals of world powers could endanger the world. Such analysts contend that nuclear weapons deter threats, preventing both nuclear and even conventional war while providing political stability. Author Jonathan Schell challenges those arguments in the third and final article of a three-part series that analyzes the dangers of nuclear...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part II

Alan Robock March 17, 2008
Alarm about nuclear weapons and the irreversible harm that detonation might cause for the globe prompted nations to sign the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which went into force in 1970. Signatory nations without weapons agreed to not pursue the research, and nations with them agreed to reduce the numbers. But with the end of the Cold War, public fear about nuclear warfare...

Time to Bury a Dangerous Legacy – Part I

Graham Allison March 14, 2008
The detonation of a nuclear weapon – intentionally or not, by state powers or terrorists – will produce no winners. The very real danger that terrorists could unleash a nuclear weapon in major cities adds new urgency to dealing with the gathering threat. This three-part series explores the consequences of nuclear Armageddon and explains why immediate plans to eliminate all nuclear weaponry are in...

Tibetan Capital in Turmoil as Violence Erupts

Jim Yardley March 14, 2008
China took over Tibet in 1951, and relations have been tense since. As Beijing prepares to host the Olympics in August, ethnic groups that disagree with Chinese policies also take advantage of the global spotlight. Buddhist monks and ethnic Tibetans in Lhasa attempted a protest march, to draw attention to their human-rights complaints, before a clash with Chinese security forces that prompted...

Bush Vetoes Move to Ban Water Torture

Ed Pilkington March 13, 2008
Using his veto power, US President Bush put a stop to US congressional plans to limit interrogation methods by the Central Intelligence Agency. The administration claims that any restrictions would tie the hands of CIA interrogators in its fight against Al Qaeda, but legislators worry about the moral standing of the US in the world. "Torture is a black mark against the United States,"...

How to Buy a Gun in Darfur

Daniel Pepper March 10, 2008
The Darfur region of Sudan is home to a series of interconnected conflicts that blend genocide with large-scale rebel armies fighting both the Sudanese and Chad governments. Investigative reporter Daniel Pepper went to Darfur in 2006 to find out how the United Front for Democracy and Change (FUCD), a rebel force seeking to overthrow Chad’s regime, obtains its weapons and equipment. He discovered...