In The News

Child Sweatshop Shame Threatens Gap's Ethical Image

Dan McDougall October 31, 2007
Western consumers enjoy inexpensive, yet intricate fashions – and don’t pay close attention who might be supplying the bargains. Reputable firms promise to monitor workplaces for any hint of abuse, yet children as young as 10 leave their homes and toil long hours in Indian sweatshops, sewing clothes for popular chains like the Gap. The children receive no pay other than the quick fee that goes to...

Bhutto’s Return Brings Pakistani Politics to a Boil

Carlotta Gall October 31, 2007
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, ready to run for office, force General Pervez Musharraf to share power and combat terrorism. Crowds of passionate supporters greeted her when she arrived in mid-October, along with a bomb blast that killed 140 people. Confusion and questions have emerged since her return to a country divided about its relationship with the US. Opponents...

Myanmar, The Latest Petro Bully

Michael L. Ross October 30, 2007
Governments with ample supplies of energy products find it easier to commit human-rights violations. Governments can use their oil and gas products to "buy their way out of trouble," writes political scientist Michael Ross for the Los Angeles Times. "Myanmar is Asia's fastest-growing petroleum exporter; China is the world's fastest-growing importer," he writes,...

The Next Steps For Burma

Amitav Acharya October 26, 2007
Western nations have tightened economic sanctions and ASEAN has expressed "revulsion" at Myanmar's repression of non-violent protests. Concrete actions must now follow the outrage. UN efforts to encourage talks on the country's constitution and renew humanitarian poverty relief, while positive, do not go far enough, argues Amitav Acharya, professor of global governance. Such...

Bad Neighbor

October 22, 2007
International criticism of the Myanmar military junta for violent repression of recent protests includes US and EU sanctions and a UN Security Council condemnation. But the junta shows no signs of ending its brutal and rigid control. Neighboring states like China, India and the member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are the largest economic partners of Burma, renamed...

US-India Nuclear Pact Runs Into (Surprise!) Politics

Somini Sengupta October 19, 2007
Leaders in the US and India agree about a deal that would allow India to buy nuclear fuel and technology from the world market for its civilian energy program. But opposition parties in India question any strategic relationship with the US. Withdrawal of four small communist parties from the coalition with the ruling Congress Party in parliament would trigger a call for elections. Another...

China Tightens Control of Net

Bobbie Johnson October 16, 2007
The ability of the Burmese junta to restrict access to the Internet has gained much attention, but censorship confounds millions more users throughout the world. China, with the second largest number of web users in the world, endorses a sophisticated array of misinformation techniques, including surveillance and filtering. Some human rights and pro-democracy websites are unavailable; for other...