In The News

Talks Collapse on U.S. Efforts to Open Europe to Biotech Food

David Leonhardt June 20, 2003
While the US thinks it is perfectly acceptable for the American people to consume genetically modified (GM) food, Europe remains adamant, unwilling to compromise consumer safety for consumer choice since the long term effects on human health of GM food are still unknown. The US has lodged formal complaints against the European Union with the World Trade Organization (WTO) alleging protectionism...

Preempting North Korean Threat in the Sea

Michael O'Hanlon June 20, 2003
In recent months, the United States has struggled to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Now, the Bush Administration has proposed a “Proliferation Security Initiative” designed to cut off the communist country's trade in illicit weaponry and material. This is a worthy multilateral effort, argue Brookings Institution scholars Michael O'Hanlon and Michael A. Levi, but its...

A Pause for Breath

June 17, 2003
Since it was first diagnosed three months ago, the SARS virus has spread worldwide, infecting 10,000 people and threatening tourism in Canada and East Asia. Now, new cases of the disease appear to be on the wane, due to unprecedented cooperation between public health officials as well as draconian containment measures in some affected areas. Still, it remains to be seen how affected economies...

A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization

Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom June 16, 2003
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argues for a world united by common cultural experiences. But cultural globalization, writes historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom, is not so simple as eating a McDonald's hamburger that tastes the same on every continent. Standardized products like Big Macs and Starbucks coffee hold very different meanings in different countries, argues Wasserstrom. In China...

Stem Cell Research Must Go Global

Roger Pedersen June 16, 2003
Like the internationally known Human Genome Project, stem cell research is attracting much attention because of the promises it holds for medical science. In this article, biomedical expert, Roger Pedersen, argues that in order to ensure success for this project, more international collaboration is needed. He emphasizes the importance of transparent communication and exchange, among researchers...

How May We Put it Down?

M. J. Akbar June 16, 2003
As the US garners global support for its post-war influence in Iraq, is India willing to lend a fighting hand? As India contemplates sending its soldiers to fight alongside American and British troops, M.J. Akbar, editor of The Asian Age, strongly discourages such a commitment. In order to understand the nature of the US-led war in Iraq, Akbar thinks it necessary to look back at nineteenth- and...

Cracking Down on the Terror-Arms Trade

David E. Sanger June 15, 2003
As part of the war on terrorism, the US is watching closely international shipments of weapons. Although just a few months ago Washington permitted a missile shipment from North Korea to proceed to its Yemeni destination, the US is now adapting a strategy of "pre-emptive pre-emption." America is asking its allies to help stop shipments of weapons, drugs, and hard currency connected to...