In The News

“Axis of Democracy” Flexes Its Military Muscles

Hisane Masaki April 4, 2007
As new economic powers emerge in Asia, nations that border the Pacific jockey for new agreements on security. The US and Japan have convinced India to join a joint military exercise in the Pacific this month. Japan and Australia, India and the US, and India and Japan, have various forms of bilateral agreements addressing security. For “Asia Times, Hisane Masaki writes that China holds suspicions...

The Rise in Extremism – Part II

Baladas Ghoshal April 3, 2007
For centuries, Islam in Southeast Asia was renowned for its adaptability to local practices and tolerance of other religions. Over the past three decades, however, fundamentalists have tried to homogenize Islam, introducing new tensions. The second article of this two-part series explores Arab influence on Islam throughout Malaysia and Indonesia, as fundamentalists reject tolerant and eclectic...

The Rise in Extremism – Part I

Fahad Nazer March 30, 2007
As the US and its coalition partners wage their war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, extremists emerge elsewhere in the world. This two-part series examines how governments of Muslim nations tangle with religious extremism within their own borders. In the first article, author Fahad Nazer describes Saudi Arabia’s efforts to confront militants fighting in the name of Islam. Walking a tightrope...

When France Says No

Nöelle Lenoir March 27, 2007
Twice France initiated historic treaties with other nations in Europe and twice France backed away from its own proposals. Nöelle Lenoir, France’s former minister of European affairs, compares France’s 1954 rejection of the treaty to establish a European Defense Community with the 2005 referendum rejecting the EU constitutional treaty. “Those in France who opposed the EU constitution succeeded...

The Truth About Talibanistan

Aryn Baker March 27, 2007
The tribal region of Pakistan, just over the border of Afghanistan, is increasingly becoming a sanctuary for Taliban and other extremists – a mini-state beyond the control of governments that straddle it on either side. Tough, young extremists take control of villages that lack any means of defense. Meanwhile, the US and NATO troops stationed in neighboring Afghanistan lack authority to enter...

We Can Still Pursue an Ethical Foreign Policy

Adrian Hamilton March 22, 2007
The world expects powerful nations to intervene when the vulnerable are attacked. The reckless invasion of Iraq by the US and the UK has since complicated such worthy international goals, writes columnist Adrian Hamilton for “The Independent.” Most US and UK citizens, while opposing the Iraq war, still support intervention for other trouble spots, such as the Darfur region of Sudan. Yet the...

An Arab Initiative That Can Work

Daniel Kurtzer March 22, 2007
Saudi Arabia leaders have organized consensus on an Arab-Israeli peace settlement – and will host a summit to re-launch the Arab Peace Initiative. “The gaps between Israel and the Arabs have never been narrower,” write Daniel Kurtzer and Rosemary Hollis. Bitter conflict in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq galvanized nations throughout the Middle East to take practical steps toward achieving peace and...