In The News

Alarm Raised Over Quality of Uranium Found in Iran

Craig S. Smith March 11, 2004
Iran is back in the spotlight for its alleged nuclear weapons program, and this time the international pressure to dismantle will be strong. United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb. Iran claims that its military had indeed enriched uranium but only to create unsophisticated models for use by...

Saudi Women Get the Vote

Brian Whitaker March 10, 2004
For the first time, municipal elections are set to take place in Saudi Arabia. The elections alone stand as an important sign of Saudi Arabia's increasing democratization, but even more surprisingly, women will be able vote in these elections. Women's activities are highly restricted in the Saudi kingdom, but in recent years many have managed to gain a foothold in business affairs –...

Party's Over

Reem Nafie March 8, 2004
On January 1, 2004, the Egyptian government stopped granting foreign belly dancers licenses to dance within the nation. Claiming that the national dance was being appropriated by foreigners, the Ministry of Labor says it moved to alleviate Egyptian unemployment in the dancing industry. Belly dancing was invented in Egypt and has historically been a national art form, being performed at top...

It Must Be Something in the Water

Gamal Nkrumah March 3, 2004
The Nile River Basin of Africa marks one of the poorest areas of the world. Population numbers are unsustainable with the current water resources and are only expected to grow. With too many people competing for too little water, the Nile River has become a bastion of controversy. Downstream lies Egypt, the most well-developed of the nations and the one that takes the most water. Upstream,...

Balancing Reactions

Gihan Shahine March 1, 2004
Across the Mediterranean from France, Muslims and Christians alike are showing their distaste for the new French ban on "conspicuous" religious symbols in the schools. French politicians have decided that Muslim headscarves, Jewish yarmulkes, and "large" Christian crosses have no place within its secular schools. Muslim and other religious activists disagree. To truly live...

The Knowledge Economy

Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed February 25, 2004
How do poor countries advance social scientific research agendas to better their societies? Are their agendas set by their own self-determined needs or by the interests of outsiders? Since the end of the Cold War, says political scientist Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed El-Sayed, researchers dependent on foreign aid have less and less control over how the funds are used. In Egypt, funding from foreign...

As It Wields Power Abroad, U.S. Outsources Law and Order Work

Andrew Higgins February 2, 2004
The US seems unwilling to face the hardships of maintaining a police force in Iraq. Instead, it has delegated the charge of keeping order to DynCorp, a multinational police contractor headquartered in California. DynCorp was subcontracted by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, or INL, a division of the US State Department. Since 1994, the INL has dispatched...