In The News

The World Loves America But Resists Its Power

Rami G. Khouri September 29, 2005
On Saturday, protesters snaked through the streets of Washington in opposition to American actions in the Middle East. These demonstrations paled in comparison to those three years ago, but what anti-war demonstrators have lost in numbers, they may have gained in unlikely allies in the establishment. Mainstream foreign policy strategists are now seriously questioning American "liberal...

Africa's Time Has Come…

Larry Elliot September 28, 2005
This year's G-8 Summit saw unprecedented cooperation on development issues, but the progress made at Gleneagles was abruptly disrupted by the London bombings on July 7. After the attacks, Western leaders quickly lost interest in plans for debt relief and improved aid flows, turning their attention towards coping with terrorism and election campaigns. G-8 plans were submitted to a special...

Time For a Saudi "New Deal"

Fahad Nazer September 27, 2005
The ascent of King Abdullah to the Saudi throne represents a great opportunity for domestic political reform, writes Fahad Nazer. As an absolute monarchy with almost no accountability to its citizens, the Saudi government will prove increasingly vulnerable to the demands of internal reformers – as well as growing global criticism over the radical Islam preached by its Wahhabist clerics. Any...

Annan: Summit Expressed Global Unity

Kofi Annan September 23, 2005
The results of the UN's recent world summit are widely derided as a disappointment. Yet they are a significant show of global unity, argues Kofi Annan – and a significant improvement over the pre-conference status quo. Annan writes that observers should not underestimate the difficulty of achieving international consensus – nor should they underestimate the consensus that was actually...

Yahoo’s Mess of Pottage

Philip Bowring September 21, 2005
That Yahoo helped the Chinese government track down a reporter now imprisoned for leaking information to pro-democracy groups is shameful, say many critics. That the company did so at a time when it seeks to expand its own journalism, writes Philip Browning, is intolerable. "[T]he spreading of this virus of unprincipled greed into the heart of the Internet is deeply disturbing," he...

"Grand Coalition" Could Break the Deutsch Deadlock

Shada Islam September 20, 2005
Germany's elections this Sunday led to a surprising outcome: a virtual draw between current Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his opponent Angela Merkel. In the aftermath of an unusually bitter campaign, many critics predict a sustained political deadlock within the Bundestag. Other commentators, including Shada Islam, predict a different outcome. "As Germany's largest parties –...

Civil society transcends right-left gap

Severyn T. Bruyn September 16, 2005
Sociologists ponder how the current US social and political climate will influence the future – and some experts predict a backlash to the polarization, suggesting that responsible global governance will restrain excessive national power and capitalist markets. The catalyst for such an outcome, the force of civil society, can reinforce common values in an age of partisanship. Civil society has...