In The News

India Eyes Riches at Poor's Expense

Amelia Gentleman February 19, 2007
India presents a triumphant stance as it boasts growing financial success in the global sphere. While skyscrapers loom and information-technology professionals prosper in Dehli and Mumbai, hundreds of millions of others live in poverty, perform backbreaking labor and struggling to provide adequate nutrition for their children. This contradiction troubles Indian Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss...

China’s Neo-Colonial Slavery in PNG

Rowan Callick February 15, 2007
China’s growing worldwide investment in natural resources is not a new story and just one of many results of a well-chronicled booming economy. What is new is the phenomenon of Chinese corporations dealing with the people and governments of countries supplying them with these mineral riches. A large-scale nickel extraction scheme in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one such endeavor, in which conflicts...

Thai Move to Trim Drug Costs Highlights Growing Patent Rift

Nicholas Zamiska February 8, 2007
Thailand’s plan to lower the price of pharmaceuticals for its citizens by ignoring existing patents reignites the debate between health advocates and supporters of intellectual-property rights. At the center of the conflict is a dispute over what will save the most lives in the long term. By ignoring patents, the government can lower its drug costs and therefore provide twice as many people with...

Bangladesh on the Brink

C. Christine Fair February 7, 2007
A major Muslim nation with a strong Democratic tradition is now under military control, and the international community has barely noticed. National elections were canceled and a state of emergency was declared in Bangladesh. The military took control amid the ongoing quarrel between two major political parties, the Bangladesh National Party and the Awami League. In the past, minority Islamic...

Shiite-Sunni Conflict Rises in Pakistan

David Montero February 6, 2007
Many Muslim nations, despite their varying proportions of Shiites and Sunnis, have seen the representatives of both religious sects banding together to pray, even when one sect constitutes a minority presence in the government. However, many analysts fear that sectarian violence in Baghdad could spark similar resentment beyond Iraq’s borders. For example, suicide bombers recently attacked a...

India: Poverty Retreats with Globalization’s Advance

Baldev Raj Nayar February 1, 2007
As globalization gained speed during the latter part of the 20th century, so too did India’s integration with the world economy. Baldev Raj Nayar, emeritus professor of political science at McGill University, counters critics who suggest that globalization has increased instability or poverty. By opening the door to multinational firms, India strengthened and diversified the country’s economy. He...

ASEAN Pursues EU-Style Regional Integration

Carlos H. Conde January 15, 2007
Once a good idea is out in the open, the benefits visible to all, others will rush to copy. The European Union organized a group of nations with different currencies and languages – and profits followed. Now the Association of South-East Nations (ASEAN) explores if its members can’t try the same integration. First ASEAN must draft a charter, but in the past, the organization has resisted...