In The News

Military Temptations

Nayan Chanda December 5, 2001

Taiwan Polls Dash China’s Unification Hopes

Ching Cheong December 4, 2001
When Taiwan held legislative elections in late 2001, the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won a majority of seats, leaving China surprised. This political turnaround has dealt a blow to the theory that economic integration between China and Taiwan will bring political integration. As one official remarked, businessmen make rational choices but “when it comes to an election…then one...

Japan's Navy Is Back, and There's No Cause to Be Alarmed

Nayan Chanda November 22, 2001

Spread of AIDS in Rural China Ignites Protests

Elisabeth Rosenthal November 12, 2001
For the first time, China announced its observance of World AIDS day. However, lack of AIDS awareness and unrest in some provinces prove that China still has a long way to go to address the epidemic. Several provinces in rural China, whose HIV incidence is still undetermined though believed to be very high, have either been ignored or suppressed by the government. Protesters and journalists were...

WTO Director-general Warns on Global Trading

Frances Williams November 10, 2001
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is recognized as the major trade organization of the world, but the emergence of many regional trade agreements (RTAs) has posed risks to global trade, according to the WTO director-general Mike Moore. Moore asserts that RTAs are developing their own rules within a specific region, which may make future negotiations at the WTO more difficult. Currently in...

Yes, This Is About Islam

Salman Rushdie November 2, 2001
In this New York Times op-ed article, controversial novelist Salman Rushdie rejects the official US stance that the war against terrorism is not about Islam. The US dissociates terrorism from Islam to maintain the global coalition against terrorism that necessarily includes Muslim countries. However, Rushdie says, Muslim demonstrations around the world in support of Osama bin Laden and the much...

How Islam Won, and Lost, the Lead in Science

Dennis Overbye October 30, 2001
While Europe was lost in the superstition of the Middle Ages, science reigned in the Muslim world as thinkers strove to understand the workings of Allah. The Koran was at once a source of inspiration for studying natural phenomena and comprehending them. Thus, astronomy, math, and other sciences flourished across the Islamic belt for centuries until science, for many reasons, began to decline....