In The News

Burma’s Nuclear Temptation

Bertil Lintner December 3, 2008
The landmark Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, put in force in 1970, has three goals: preventing spread of nuclear weapons or technology, promoting cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and encouraging nuclear disarmament. Because disarmament has not been a priority, the technology has slowly spread, as individuals or nations sell expertise for money or influence....

Terrorism in India and the Global Jihad

Bruce Riedel December 3, 2008
India is no stranger to terrorist attacks. “The most dangerous terrorist menace comes from groups with intimate connections to the global jihadist network centered around Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda and its allies in the Pakistani jihadist culture,” explains Bruce Riedel in an article for the Brookings Institution. Extremists target India for its diversity – 80 percent Hindu and 15 percent...

India Calling

Anand Giridharadas December 2, 2008
Immigrants tend to flow from poorer nations to wealthier ones, but on second thought, perhaps attitudes are more attractive than wealth. Indians moved to the West, escaping India’s constraints in the 1970s. But India’s economy has since enjoyed ample growth and its politicians matured, enacting policies that focused on privatization, liberalization and globalization. In recent years, the...

The Forgotten Virtues of Free Trade

Frank Trentmann December 1, 2008
As an economic recession sweeps the world, the countries that have benefited most from free trade have now become wary. “Free trade is far from perfect, but the alternatives are worse,” insists Frank Trentmann, professor of history, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “Protectionism is bad for wealth, bad for democracy, and bad for peace.” Nations may attempt to protect a few select industries,...

The Gateway Of India

Saikat Datta December 1, 2008
Since 9/11, the US has urged countries to be vigilant about tracking any terrorist activity, and analysts with the US Central Intelligence Agency had warned India offiicials that the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba might try to attack Mumbai. The terrorists, by hijacking a trawler and using dinghies, took advantage of blending in with hundreds of fishing vessels that dock in the port. This...

Terror in Mumbai: Two Faces of Globalization

Sadanand Dhume December 1, 2008
After hijacking a fishing trawler in the Arabian Sea and plotting targets using Google Earth, a group of young men then set course for India’s financial center of Mumbai, landing by dinghies on November 26 and unleashing brutal attacks on locations that symbolize a diverse and connected world – two upscale hotels, a religious center, a hospital, a café and a rail station, among others. Nearly 200...

Insecticide! (An Ecological Disaster That Will Affect Us All)

Michael McCarthy November 28, 2008
The suffix “-cide” means killer, and anyone who presumes that the effects of insecticides are limited to a few select pests are deluding themselves. Biologists explain that insects contribute to the intricate web of life on this planet, but some species are suffering severe population declines, including species of butterflies, bees, mayflies, beetles and moths, reports Michael McCarthy for the...