Month: September 2004

LONDON – The first visit by an Amnesty International team to Darfur over the last several days showed that the U.S. human rights record has weakened its case to intervene in a human rights crisis elsewhere. "It has made it much harder for the U.S. to take on its self-described role as human rights leader," … Continue reading “Glass House Weakens US Case in Darfur”

Bob Novak’s column Monday isn’t quite conclusive, but you can bet he is ahead of the pack in sniffing out the Bush team’s recognition that it will have to pull all the U.S. troops out of Iraq next year. All of them: "Inside the Bush administration policymaking apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops … Continue reading “Cooking Up a Cut-and-Run?”

NAIROBI – The killing remains vivid in their minds. And the deep scars on their bodies will for a long time remind them of the slaughter of their compatriots at a refugee camp in the tiny central African nation of Burundi. These are the survivors of the Aug. 13 massacre at Gatumba refugee camp, about … Continue reading “Massacre Survivors Fear Returning to Burundi”

The other day I happened to notice a little piece from the Washington Times headlined, "Pentagon seeks ideas to fight ‘urban’ wars." Journalist Jennifer Harper had come across a “solicitation” from the Pentagon’s futuristic research arm, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), calling on researchers to develop, among other things, “on-demand, infantry-operated, ultra-precision, beyond … Continue reading “Are We in Saidad or Baghgon?”

BANGKOK – A major shakeup of Burma‘s cabinet over the weekend sends a signal to the outside world that military hardliners have strengthened their control over the country. Over the weekend, Burma’s military leaders axed Foreign Minister Win Aung and his deputy Khin Maung Win and replaced them with two little-known military officers without any … Continue reading “Burma’s Generals Now Have the Upper Hand”

NEW DELHI – Ahead of its first democratic elections in early October, Afghanistan is facing an acute food and malnutrition crisis and continues to suffer from the highest number of maternal and child deaths in Asia. According to a study by the UN World Food Program (WFP), some 1.4 million Afghans are affected by continued … Continue reading “Afghanistan Battles Starvation Ahead of Polls”

On Saturday, air-raid sirens rang out over Chengdu to commemorate 9/18, the day Japanese troops began their invasion of the Chinese mainland in 1931. The festivities included a mini-marathon from the city’s south side to the central plaza and then to the stadium for a celebration of traditional Chinese culture – mostly young girls and … Continue reading “Nonviolent Chauvinism”

BANGKOK – By permitting judges to arm themselves in the southern provinces, Thailand has conceded that it faces a daunting task in trying to control violence in the region, which now seems to have taken a turn for the worse. This week’s decision by the Office of the Judiciary for court officers to be armed … Continue reading “Thai Civilians Urged to Arm Against Muslim Insurgents”

Of all Ronald Reagan’s achievements, among the greatest was that this president who began his term declaring the Soviet Union an “evil empire” was, by the end of his tenure, strolling through Red Square with Mikhail Gorbachev to the cheers of the Russian people. That the Cold War ended without our tearing our nations to … Continue reading “Bin Laden’s Useful Idiots”

JAKARTA – Heavyweight political parties have long held sway in Indonesia, but, with over half of all the votes counted, a new breed of independent-minded voters has chosen Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a landslide as the first directly elected president of the world’s third largest democracy – where Islam and freedom of choice go hand-in-hand. … Continue reading “Indonesia: Landslide Sweeps Away Megawati”