In The News

Latin America’s Left Turn

Jorge G. Castañeda June 7, 2006
Mexican-born political scientist Jorge G. Castañeda describes the resurgence of left-identified political leaders in Latin America as two-pronged. One form, most present in Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, has Marxist and Castroist roots, but has evolved to a practice based in social policy and internationalism within a market framework. The other – which Castañeda defines as “peculiarly Latin...

The Persian Complex

Abbas Amanat June 7, 2006
Nation-states exist in the context of collective memory. In the case of Iran, this includes a history of “at least two centuries of military aggression, domestic meddling, skullduggery, and, not least, technological denial by the West.” Such a milieu colors all relations between Iran and the rest of the world, and must be kept in mind if countries such as the US and UK hope to deter that country...

US Congressman Seeks Assurances on Yasukuni

June 7, 2006
A US congressman has urged the Japanese prime minister to swear off future visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is scheduled to address a joint session of US Congress in late June, but Representative Henry Hyde, a veteran of World War II in the Pacific, wrote a letter expressing concern about visits to the site that memorializes Japanese war dead, including some labeled...

Peru Still Wary of Garcia’s Past

Robert Plummer June 5, 2006
Alan Garcia has been re-elected as president of Peru, despite leaving his country with a 5 percent approval rating and $900 million less in its reserves at the end of his previous term in 1990. Garcia enters office with new plans on changing Peru’s highly stratified society, with its 52 percent poverty rate, according to journalist Robert Plummer. Hopefully for the people of Peru, Garcia has...

Why I Published the Muhammad Cartoons

Flemming Rose June 5, 2006
The furor and violence over the infamous Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammad died down, yet crucial issues have not been resolved. “Jyllands – Posten” was the newspaper that originally published the cartoons. Editor Flemming Rose explains his motivation as well as the challenges arising from Europe’s unsuccessful attempts at multiculturalism. In the wake of the cartoon crisis, Rose argues...

Southeast Asia Casts Wide Net for Cooperation

Barry Desker May 30, 2006
US leaders are divided over maintaining distance from China or finding new ways to cooperate. By contributing to trans-Pacific institutions and establishing a myriad of cooperative obligations for the rising power, the US could defuse any threat from China, according to East Asia scholar Barry Desker, former Singaporean ambassador to Indonesia. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a...

Chinese Influence in Brazil Worries US

Humphrey Hawksley May 24, 2006
The US has claimed the right to influence Latin America since the 1823 Monroe doctrine. Yet China diligently presents itself to the developing world, including Latin America, as a formidable model for ending poverty. Nations in South America like Brazil have taken notice, and the US can only fret about protecting the Americas as its turf. China continues to invest billions for infrastructure,...