In The News

Moscow Hostage Crisis Repercussions Felt Across Caucasus and Central Asia

October 31, 2002
The hostage crisis in Moscow has prompted neighboring countries to individually convene in security councils addressing the same issue of counterterrorism. Domestic decisions will have potential to determine the stability of cross national relations. While Azerbaijan has immediately closed its Chechen cultural center in an attempt to reduce tensions with Russia, for example, Georgia’s reluctance...

The Greatest Threat

Nicholas D. Kristof October 29, 2002
In the fire-breathing style that has become the hallmark of North Korean propaganda, an unofficial spokesman of the country threatened retaliatory attack on the US mainland if Washington decided to hit its nuclear reactor. Not that the US is planning to do that but the danger is that an effective annulment of the 1994 agreement by stopping the supply of fuel oil to North Korea may set in...

F.B.I. to Open Liaison Office in Beijing, Ashcroft Says

Elisabeth Rosenthal October 24, 2002
The US will set up an F.B.I. liaison office in Beijing to help the Chinese in their fight against terrorism as well as smuggling and money laundering – two criminal activities often found to provide material support for terrorists. In a country where the police are weak, due process is sparse, and the legal system is relatively undeveloped, how this help will manifest itself is still uncertain....

Moscow Siege May Have Wider Terror Link

Andrew Jack October 24, 2002
Men and women claiming to be Chechen rebels have taken hostage 700 people in a theater in Moscow. These same rebels were shown on the Al-Jazeera television network affirming their willingness to die, which suggests a link between the rebels and other terrorist organizations. The Russian president Vladimir Putin has already argued that such a link exists. Putin’s promise to deal with Chechnya...

Unmanned U.S. Planes Comb Arabian Desert for Suspects

Neil MacFarquhar October 23, 2002
The war on terror has extended to a new geographic location - the Empty Quarter, or the Rub al-Khali in Arabic, in Yemen. Pilotless American surveillance planes have been flying over the soaring dunes and craggy valleys that extend for some 900 miles from the frontier of Yemen to the foothills of Oman, and 500 miles northward into central Saudi Arabia. The spy planes are scouring the ground for...

Don't Rock the Boat

Nayan Chanda October 23, 2002
When George W. Bush meets Jiang Zemin in Texas this Friday, he is likely to find a skeptical but polite interlocutor who will make sure that Iraq does not get in the way of an improving relationship between China and the United States. This will reflect China's cold calculus of its immediate interests in a U.S.-dominated world. For both economic and political reasons, China's leaders...

N. Korea: China echoes U.S. concerns

P. S. Suryanarayana October 23, 2002
China is North Korea's close neighbor and strongest ally in Asia. But the Chinese government joins the US and others in wanting to keep the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons. As Jiang Zemin prepares for a US trip, Beijing is advocating diplomacy and dialog between North Korea and the US. - YaleGlobal