In The News

Kerry Vows to Rebuild Alliances, Confront Terrorism

Jim VandeHei May 28, 2004
The United States political climate is heating up as the November presidential election nears. Presumptive democratic candidate for president John F. Kerry viscerally attacked current president George W. Bush about matters of foreign policy yesterday, saying actions taken over the course of Bush's term had undermined a legacy of cooperative US leadership that had stood for decades. Kerry’s...

CANF: Cuba's Liberty Lies with Activists

Luisa Yanez May 21, 2004
As Cuba marked its 102nd anniversary as an independent country, Cuban Americans demanded greater freedom in the island-nation. Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), urged Cuban Americans to vote in November for the presidential candidate that they believe is most committed to ending Fidel Castro's regime, but said that internal dissent, not external...

State Department Rights Report Released After Delay

Salamander Davoudi May 18, 2004
The US State Department's annual report on human rights and democracy comes in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The controversial episode, in which Iraqi prisoners were abused by U.S. soldiers, has sparked a worldwide debate about the U.S.'s own human rights record. In fact, says Lorne Craner, assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labor, the Abu Ghraib prison...

Immigrants' Cash Floods Homelands

Mary Beth Sheridan May 17, 2004
Remittances that migrants send back home to help their families, have long formed a crucial component of developing countries' income. In El Salvador, for example, remittances total 14% of the country's gross domestic product. Money-transferring technologies have only made this process easier and kept the payments regular. Now a study of Latin American immigrants to the US – legal...

A Transatlantic Divide

David Bowen May 13, 2004
David Bowen, a website effectiveness consultant for Bowen Craggs & Co., writes in this article on corporate website management that European companies use their websites to feature self-criticism in addition to standard self-promotion, resulting in effective counter-arguments against their critics. American companies, on the other hand, often omit any acknowledgement of criticism and instead...

The Medium Shapes the Message

Seth Fein May 7, 2004
The fact that US President George W. Bush addressed audiences on Arab television this week made clear to all that Washington sees a need to communicate better with people in the Middle East about its policies and programs. Nonetheless, says Yale historian Seth Fein, past US efforts to promote American foreign policy goals through the media have met only with skepticism and distrust. A news...

Gay Asylum-Seeker Rejected as Too Butch

Ben Townley May 5, 2004
The rules of asylum have recently come under greater scrutiny, given their subjective nature. It is up to the applicant to prove to the host country that he or she deserves refuge, but it is fundamentally up to the host country to choose whether the applicant's reasons are sufficient – and this often brings out certain stereotypes and prejudices. A court case in Canada illustrates the...