Briefing Archive

HONG KONG — Hong Kong ‘s elections are shaping up with all the pomp and ceremony of a Canto-pop star singing numbers from a Looney Tunes cartoon. And the result is about as forgone as Bugs Bunny surviving a bullet from Elmer Fudd. However, this territory’s third attempt at delivering some kind of democracy since the British packed their bags and left almost a decade ago is drawing in a cast of characters that Warner Bros. would be proud of and breathing some much needed fresh air into a poll described by many as rigged. In one corner sits current […]

Muslims often complain that the West only looks their way when there is something negative to say about Islam and its people. This time, they have a point. A most extraordinary event took place earlier this month in St. Petersburg, Fla., and it received only scant attention outside the blogosphere. The Secular Islam Summit brought together some 200 delegates determined to speak their mind about the direction of the Muslim world and to redraw the battle lines of today’s overarching ideological conflict. Describing themselves as “secular persons of Muslim societies,” and explaining that they are “believers, doubters, and unbelievers,” they […]

Rwandan President Paul Kagame came to power following the 1994 genocide in his country. Before that, starting in 1990, he was the leader of the Tutsi rebel force, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR). Accusing Paris of being “implicated in the genocide,” he has no intention of conceding in a confrontation that, according to him, began more than twelve years ago. Last November, Kigali broke off diplomatic relations with Paris after the French investigative judge Jean-Louis Bruguière recommended that the Rwandan President be tried for his “presumptive participation” in the shooting down of the jet of his predecessor, Juvénal Habyarimana. The […]

WASHINGTON — Concern in Washington about political freedom in the energy-rich former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan is growing, including among the new Democratic leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. World Politics Review has learned that Sen. Joe Biden last week sent a personal letter to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev airing his frustration over the slowness with which the transformation toward “transparent democracy” is occurring in Kazakhstan, the second-largest of the former Soviet republics. Biden’s office is refusing to release the letter to the press. However, in a telephone interview, the Delaware Democrat’s chief of staff, Alan Hoffman, acknowledged the […]

Following the success of an outlet in Karachi, Pakistan, Cafe Coffee Day, India’s No. 1 retail coffee shop chain, said last month it would open 19 new outlets in neighboring Pakistan, a move that would have been inconceivable even two years ago. But that’s how far talks between India and Pakistan have come since the two nations almost went to war in 2002 following an attack on Indian Parliament by suspected Kashmiri militants, who India says were backed by Pakistan. Since then, the two sides have held four rounds of talks, the most recent of which ended last Wednesday (March […]

On March 14, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council together with Germany submitted a draft resolution that would broaden the embargo against Iran. As part of the international effort to derail Tehran’s nuclear program, the proposed resolution seeks, amongst other things, to ban procurement of Iranian “arms or related material.” Though harsher sanctions will be required before Iran thinks again about suspending its nuclear program, a global embargo on its defense exports could nevertheless be a painful blow.<<ad>>In 2005, Iran exported around $100 million worth of military hardware. Its defense industrial base has grown significantly and today […]

In April 2006, the German government appeared finally to have consented to grant scholars full access to the documentary depositories of the International Tracing Service (ITS), a vast archive of files on the crimes of Nazism, including, of course, the Holocaust. ITS is managed by an international body of 11 custodian nations. Germany’s consent should have been sufficient to encourage the others, and the International Red Cross, to follow suit. Unfortunately, a year later, there is still no access. Berlin’s glacial sluggishness on the issue encouraged Rome to stonewall the issue ever more blatantly. Pundits like Anne Applebaum suspect fear […]

YEREVAN, Armenia — Inside the tomb-like confines of the Armenian genocide museum, a haunting narrative of images and words unfolds. A list is posted at tour’s end of Western nations that have officially recognized the tragedy, minus one major endorsement: the United States. U.S. lawmakers have recently introduced non-binding resolutions that would declare up to 1.5 million Armenians victims of genocide at the hands of Turkish forces almost a century ago. Support is reported to be strong enough in the House to pass the measure if it goes to a vote; the Senate introduced a similar resolution last Wednesday with […]

Corridors of Power is written by veteran foreign affairs correspondent Roland Flamini and appears in World Politics Review every Sunday. Click here for the Corridors of Power archives. FLAG OF CONVENIENCE — This week, the foreign minister of Malta, Michael Frendo, was in Washington to sign the Bush administration’s Proliferation Security Initiative. The tiny Mediterranean island is the smallest member of the European Union (pop: 410,000, acreage: 90 square miles), but the signing is not as marginal as it seems at first glance. Malta has the world’s eighth largest ship registry, so the agreement will enable U.S. inspectors to board […]

MIAMI — U.S. forces in Colombia may have pushed the outer envelope of their rules of engagement by accompanying Colombian troops on a recent raid of a rebel stronghold where American civilians were being held, said some experts. Others, including officials on Capitol Hill, maintain that the operation was well within the rules of engagement for U.S. military personnel operating in the restive South American country. According to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, which first broke the news over the weekend, American troops and their Colombian counterparts in late January entered a rebel base where three U.S. contractors have been held […]

A fresh analysis of the war in Iraq concludes that parts of the conflict can now be described as “civil war.” In its March report to Congress, the Pentagon says that while not all of the violence in Iraq falls into that category, “some” of it does. It is the first time the Pentagon has publicly used such language. Have the military elite finally wiped the tar from their field glasses and glimpsed reality? What makes this interesting is not that the Pentagon finally admitted what many have known for months, but the potential repercussions the admission may bring. For […]

On March 2, the Bush administration announced the winner of the year-long competition to design the first new U.S. nuclear weapon in almost two decades. The stated objective of the upgrade is to create a new generation of nuclear warheads that are environmentally safer, more secure from accidental or unauthorized use, and easier to maintain, despite their longer lifespan, than the existing stockpile of U.S. warheads designed and built during the Cold War. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), selected a design submitted by the California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. […]

Fertile fields where there was once barren tundra; the Arctic free of ice; unhindered access to mineral resources — in Russia, there is increasing hope that the country will emerge as a winner from the catastrophe of climate change. For the northern giant with millions of cubic kilometers of permafrost soil, global warming could bring enormous national benefit. The other countries around the North Pole are likewise beginning to imagine the coming of a new Golden Age. On this view, a Union of Nordic Nations might be the strategic alliance of the future, which thanks to the warming climate could […]

CHIANG KHONG, Thailand — In the sleepy village of Chiang Khong on the muddy-brown banks of the mighty Mekong river, the young men are excited by talk of a bridge to link Thailand with Laos on the other side. The older population of mostly farmers and small traders are less enthused; they have heard it before. But this time, a bridge to open up a forgotten corner of empty, jungle-covered hills on the edge of the Golden Triangle — notorious in faraway countries for its opium-producing poppy cultivation — might really happen. China has agreed to pay half the $33.2 […]

Editor’s Note: This article is the second of a two-part series on the gang culture and violence in Guatemala. Read Part I. GUATEMALA CITY — A few days after arriving in Guatemala City, we receive an offer to meet with members of MS-13, the notoriously violent international gang with active factions in countries across Central, South and North America. Photographer Angela Catlin and I came in October 2006 to document the escalating violence and lawlessness in a nation desperately struggling to overcome the legacy of a 36-year civil war that ended some 10 years ago. To coincide with the 10th […]

A scan of the Near East’s political horizon is enough to throw the most earnest of peacemakers into despair. A few days ago, al-Qaida’s chief commentator on world affairs, Ayman al-Zawahri, blasted Hamas for agreeing to a power-sharing deal with Fatah in the Palestinian territories. Not to worry, Hamas promptly reassured Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man, Hamas remains thoroughly committed to destroying Israel. While the leading party on the Palestinian side reaffirms its unwillingness to accept a two-state solution, the diplomatic world is in a flurry of activity that seems to ignore that reality. Israel has been holding talks with […]

Impressively big smallness. That’s how Honda describes its new Honda Fit model, a “bite-sized wonder” the company is pushing to a U.S. car market suddenly hungry for fuel efficiency. The Fit is indeed a snazzy car, and features a customizable back seat that allows owners to alter the vehicle’s interior configuration on a whim. The most interesting aspect of the Fit, however, may be its nationality. Despite the Honda nametag, the Fit is half-Chinese. It is the product of a joint venture between Honda and China’s state-owned DongFeng Motors, and is also being marketed in Europe as the Honda Jazz. […]