In The News

Asia’s Republican Leanings

Roger Cohen April 10, 2008
The heated US presidential campaign offers a lesson in democracy for the globe, and many who are not citizens of the US follow every detail. One ambassador has noted that the election is the “best diplomacy tool I’ve had in a long time,” reports columnist Roger Cohen in the New York Times. The world is looking on beyond the Bush administration, Cohen notes and, like US voters, is divided about...

Pro-Tibet Groups Targeted In Cyberspace

Thomas Claburn April 9, 2008
Accusations fly about internet tactics, as pro-Chinese supporters clash with supporters of Tibet independence. Messages expressing support of Tibet independence include some sophisticated surveillance tools, reports Thomas Claburn for InformationWeek.com. Political activists are reporting internet interference and spyware accompanying what appear to be supportive e-mails from trusted sources. The...

Democrats Threaten NAFTA, But Pact Is Here to Stay

Andrew C. Schneider April 7, 2008
Candidates promise to re-open a free-trade agreement like NAFTA – to attract voters from states with high unemployment rate, where concern about the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs is rampant. “Renegotiation would cause more problems than it would solve,” explains Andrew Schneider, associate editor of the Kiplinger Letter. In reopening the agreement, the US would not be alone in demanding...

US Pushes Pie-in-the-Sky Missile Defense in Europe

Tom Sauer April 2, 2008
With the end of the Cold War and falling demand for offensive weapons systems, the military-industrial complex was forced to find substitutes for public spending. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, meeting today in Bucharest, will consider deploying one such product. Placing high-tech missile-defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic will be part of the meeting’s agenda. The costly...

Tibetan Olympiad

Nayan Chanda April 1, 2008
China’s rise as an economic superpower since 1989 has justified Deng Xiaoping's open door policy. As the world’s second largest economy, China seeks to further strengthen global ties by hosting the Olympics. However, as China moves into the spotlight, the country is under extensive scrutiny and protest. Activists in Darfur wish China to end its support for the regime in the Sudan. Anti-...

Taiwan’s Success Could Show the Way for Tibet

Humphrey Hawksley March 31, 2008
Demands of the global supply chain and tightly interconnected trade have tempered both China’s rejection of capitalist ways and the West’s criticism of politics and human rights in the world’s largest communist country. But independence movements in Taiwan and Tibet have the potential for ruffling relations. The Taiwanese-Chinese relationship – avoiding direct political control while continuing...

EU Weighs Olympic Boycott Over Tibet

Robert Marquand March 28, 2008
As protesters in Tibet plead for religious freedom and other human rights from Chinese authorities, China insists that the Dalai Lama is the troublemaker, trying to disrupt plans for the August Beijing Olympics. But that claim has not convinced Europe, whose leaders call for restraint and point out that the Dalai Lama did not call for an Olympics boycott, reports Robert Marquand for the Christian...