In The News

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Shim Jae Hoon September 22, 2005
On September 20 – one day after committing to halt its nuclear weapons program and rejoin the Nonproliferation Treaty – the North Korean foreign ministry issued a statement essentially rescinding its position. By refusing to abandon its weapons program until it receives a civilian light-water reactor for generating electricity, writes journalist Shim Jae Hoon, the North is essentially trying to...

China's Rise Need Not Bring Conflict

Martin Wolf September 19, 2005
China's global influence is not yet equal to that of the United States, but it has the potential to far surpass America in this century. And, as Martin Wolf writes, it does not have to do so violently. While the cultural differences between these two great 21st century powers and the examples of their 20th century counterparts provide ample cause for pessimism, according to Wolf, three...

U.S. Probes Banks’ North Korea Ties

Glenn R. Simpson September 9, 2005
The US has launched a large-scale operation aimed at cracking down on the North Korean government’s criminal fundraising activities. The North Korean government is suspected of working with crime syndicates to counterfeit US currency and distribute mass quantities of fake cigarettes and methamphetamines. Observers believe this may be a major source of funding for North Korea’s nuclear weapons...

Russia and China Together Again, Gingerly

Yu Bin September 6, 2005
Beginning August 18, China and Russia embarked on an unprecedented military collaboration: an eight-day joint war game, named "Peace Mission 2005." Though officials of the two countries claimed the drills were for "anti-terrorist" goals, writes scholar Yu Bin, the exercises were "certainly oversized and of overkill capacity for any anti-terrorist operation."...

Sensiblement, le rapprochement russo-chinois se precise

Yu Bin September 6, 2005

Creating Islamist Phantoms

Adam Curtis August 30, 2005
In a Guardian commentary, Adam Curtis writes that it was a mistake, in the wake of 9/11, for the West to exaggerate the status of al-Qaida by painting a hyperbolic picture of an organized and far-reaching terrorist network. Curtis suggests that the true threat came not from a sophisticated network, but from individuals and groups linked by an idea. After the London bombings, many experts seem...

Osama's Endgame Approaches

John R. Bradley August 26, 2005
What goes around may, indeed, come around in Osama bin Laden's ongoing terrorist campaign, whose past and future boil down to one Middle Eastern nation. "Osama's descent into specifically anti-American global terrorism can, in fact, be traced back to his falling out with the Saudi ruling family," writes John R. Bradley. And, he continues, due to the failure to establish...