In The News

A Normal Country

Andrei Shleifer March 30, 2004
In this Foreign Affairs’ essay, Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman argue that the popular image in the west of Russia as a “disastrous failure” needs to be rethought. General belief holds that Russia has failed to leave its communist past behind, and as a result, has transformed itself into “a collapsed state inhabited by criminals threatening other countries with multiple contagions.” Contrary...

Clearing Clouds Over the Karakoram Pass

Ziad Haider March 29, 2004
Over the latter half of the 20th century, relations between China and Pakistan were anchored in large part on both countries' strategic interest in balancing India as a regional power. The Karakoram Highway, which runs for 500 miles between the two nations, is representative of those collective interests. However, says Ziad Haider of the Henry L. Stimson Center, since the Highway was...

Foreign Ministers Meet on North Korea Nukes

Choi Soung-ah March 29, 2004
The third round of the six-party negotiations on the North Korean nuclear “standoff” is scheduled for June 2004 in Beijing. In preparation for the negotiations, South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki-moon paid an official visit to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing. With Ban addressing the issue of North Korean defectors detained in China and Li relaying the outcome of his...

A Million Yassins?

Amira Howeidy March 26, 2004
Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, but the future of diplomatic relations between the two countries now looks shaky. Israel’s assassination last Monday of Hamas founder and prominent Palestinian, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, has set off zealous anti-Israel reactions among Egyptians. An estimated 50,000 university students protested at major Egyptian cities, and even those who...

American Democracy May Taste Indian Voting Machines

March 26, 2004
As the US presidential election approaches (and memories of the 2000 election's complications remain fresh), the question of how US citizens will vote – by machine or by paper – has become unusually heated. Now an Indian company, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), enters the fray by marketing its own voting machine designed for India' parliamentary elections. Importing electronic voting...

Jobs Can Be Outsourced, Not Politics

Harold James March 24, 2004
The American outcry about outsourcing stems not just from job loss, but also from the politician's favorite platitude - trade. According to Princeton historian, Harold James, ascribing job loss to trade is fraught with complications. Moreover, from a historical point of view, it is a recurring theme that often ends terribly. As James notes, throughout the latter part of the 19th and early...

Straw: Turkey is EU 'Acid Test'

Tom Happold March 23, 2004
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw claims that Turkey's membership in the EU will prove that Islam and the West are not locked in an inexorable "clash of civilizations." According to Straw, liberalism's values of pluralism, tolerence, the rule of law, and human rights are universal. If Turkey meets the right criteria, Straw hopes that negotiations for EU membership will get under...