In The News

The USS Cole and America's Election

Michael Young March 6, 2008
President George W. Bush is in his final year of office, and there are two ways of looking at the administration’s delaying any reduction of troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East until after the November election. Keeping a large force in place this year could either be a gift or a curse for the next president: The gift is that the next president can perhaps quickly reduce troop levels,...

Online Terrorists Prey on the Vulnerable

Gabriel Weimann March 5, 2008
Terrorists rely on state-of-the-art techniques from the advertising industry to attract suicide bombers. Rather than broadcast, or use one big message to attract a huge audience, the extremists “narrowcast,” targeting small groups with specific messages that exploit their vulnerabilities. The internet – anonymous and decentralized, reaching the alienated who desperately seek some inspiration or...

Chavez Picks a New Fight, With Colombia

Peter Wilson March 4, 2008
Nationalistic economic policies have led to shortages of staples including milk and eggs, and high inflation rates in Venezuela, the highest in South America. Colombia President Álvaro Uribe and Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez have squabbled over both rebels and a recent free-trade pact between Colombia and the US, yet to be approved by Congress. After the killing of a Colombian rebel...

Is the Sun Setting on US Dominance? – Part II

Jiang Qian February 29, 2008
Analysts often question whether the United States can sustain its preeminence in the face of rising competitors like the European Union, China, India, Russia or Japan – as well as the rising prominence of economic power. This two-part series analyzes potential leadership for the 21st century, and in the second article, physicist and political observer Jiang Qian argues that the likelihood of an...

Unilateral Strike Called a Model for US Operations in Pakistan

Joby Warrick February 19, 2008
The US continues to hunt Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, sometimes without Pakistani approval. Instead, US officials notify Pakistan authorities about air strikes, including the recent attack on Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior al-Qaeda commander, only after missions are under way. “When the autonomous US military operations in Pakistan succeed, support for them grows in Washington in probably the...

Bush in Africa: A Continent Adrift

Donald Steinberg February 18, 2008
President Bush’s long-awaited trip to Africa has come at a time when the continent is in turmoil. This is, however, the consequences of internal division that afflicts Africa and the divisive approach taken by foreign powers. Africans watched as their own leaders and the international community designated various players as friends or foe – in terms of natural resources, Cold War allies, those...

Genocide Prevention: 60 Years of Abject Failure

Eric Reeves February 6, 2008
Genocide is a horrific crime, condemned throughout the world since the Holocaust. But the world still struggles to prevent genocide, even 60 years after passage of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, writes English professor Eric Reeves, in the Christian Science Monitor. Perpetrators elude punishment and condemnation by escaping media attention or...