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President
Bush Explains the U.S. position on the Middle East
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SPECIAL
CRISIS REPORT
TOP
STORIES
Sharon
and Peres Try Spin Control; Europeans Aren't Buying
The U.S. still offers uncritical support, but Europeans are beginning
to place the blame for the current crisis clearly on Sharon. United
Nations special envoy to the region, Terje Roed Larsen, told the
BBC on Tuesday that Israel was making it almost impossible for UNWRA
to operate in the territories, and that a humanitarian crisis was
developing. Ha'aretz/April 3, 2002
Israel
Faces Media Isolation
There is a growing gap between media reports on the crisis in Israel
and the news that is being reported by foreign news agencies to
the rest of the world. Israeli reporters are being kept away from
the action, but a growing number of Israeli journalists are managing
to get around the problem by going on-line. By Aviv Lavie,Ha'retz/April
3, 2002
Colin
Powell Reacts to the Middle East
After a conference call with the president and Condoleeza Rice,
the Secretary of State put a call into Prime Minister Sharon. The
president convened a National Security Council meeting via remote
television. Powell briefed reporters on the events at the State
Department/March 29, 2002.
George
Bush's Press Conference Arafat could have done more
to stop the violence. March 30, 2002. (To see video, click on the
photograph, or
click here).
Israeli
Soldier at a checkpint for Palestinians |
Israel
Says It Wants to Carry Through on What Arafat Promised, But Failed
to Deliver
Alon Pinkas, Israel's Consul General in New York, explains Israel's
rationale for its assault on the Palestinian Authority. Alon Pinkas,
Jim Lehrer News Hour/March 29, 2002
Journalist
Reports Summary Executions of Arafat's Elite Bodyguards
Peter Beaumont, foreign editor of Britain's Guardian newspaper,
was standing outside Ramallah's Cairo-Amman bank when the bodies
of the five men were carried out. Beaumont says that each of the
wounded men had been administered a coup de grace with a bullet
at close range to the head or throat. By Peter Beaumont,The Guardian/March
31, 2002. Two
Weak Men Acting Tough,
By Peter Beaumont, The Guardian/March 31, 2002
Draft
Call-ups Indicate Sharon Has Something Bigger On His Mind
A new wave of Israeli reservists have been called to active duty,
and that indicates that the current Israeli assault on the Palestinian
authority may be only the opening salvo in a much larger strategy.
By Ze'ev Schiff, Ha'aretz/March 31, 2002
Sharon
in a Race Against the Clock
Arafat has few friends in Washington, but international pressure
is building in Europe, and Sharon feels he has to win more time
if he wants to carry his plan out to the end. By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz/March
31, 2002
Arab
Leaders Take Preventive Measures Against Potential Coups
With tension mounting , Arab leaders from Saudi Arabia to Egypt
have been taking preventive measures to ward off possible coup attempts
from their armed forces. By Ed Blanche in the Beirut's The Daily
Star/March 30, 2002
AFGHANISTAN
A
Bewildering Array of Conflicting Loyalties Plagues U.S. Efforts
to Get Kabul to Defend Itself
The U.S. wants to train a regular Afghan Army. Experienced Afghan
hands point out that the Russians had similar ambitions, and quickly
discovered that the job is fraught with unexpected pitfalls. by
Thomas Withington, Insitute for War & Peace Reporting, London/March
26, 2002
CENTRAL
ASIA
Kyrgyzstan:
An Opposition Politician Discusses Political Unrest
Popular parliamentary deputy, Azimbek Beknazarov, was jailed after
calling for the president's impeachment. Released after widespread
protests, Beknazarov discusses the struggle for democracy. By Sultan
Jumagulovthe Institute for War & Peace Reporting in Bishkek/March
27, 2002.
Macedonia:
Clashing Albanian Gangs Dismiss Each Other as "Reactionary
Rubbish" and Start Shooting.
Macedonia's NATO-brokered peace agreement looks even more fragile
after a clash between rival Albanian gangs that left four dead near
Tetovo. Despite NATO efforts at disarmament, many former guerrillas
clearly held on to their weapons. By Jeff Bieley, Institute for
War & Peace Reporting in Mala Recica, Macedonia/March 28, 2002
SOUTH
ASIA
India:
The Extremists Are Taking a Page from the Fascists of the 1930s
Sectarian violence is on the increase, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
is fanning the flames.
SOUTHEAST
ASIA
Indonesia:
No Peace in Aceh
No Peace in Aceh. Government Tactics Strengthen the Muslim Insurrection...
Government troops are still comitting atrocities in the efforts
to suppress the Muslim insurrection in Aceh. By International Crisis
Group/ March 26, 2002.
The
Laskar Jihad--Wahabbism Gets a Foothold in Indonesia
By Reyko Huang, Center for Defense Information/March 8, 2002
LATIN
AMERICA
Colombia's
Presidential Elections are Weeks Away and Peace Talks with Rebels
Have Failed. What went Wrong?
The next administration can do better, if it gets the right kind
of international support. by the International Crisis Groupo/ March
2002.
WORLD
ECONOMY
Some
See Globalization as an Attack on Society
As Le Monde Diplomatique's Ignacio Ramonet sees it, the developed
world has shunned its responsibility to free the third of the world's
poulation that is mired in poverty, and turning development over
to the private sector adds insult to injury. At a minimum Europe
needs to write off the debts of the poorest countries. By Ignacio
Ramonet in the English edition of Le Monde Diplomatique/March 2002.
ENVIRONMENT
Ignoring
Kyoto Was a Mistake. Not Having Any Straegy At All Is An Even Greater
One.
The Kyoto Conference sought to solve the world's problems in a single
comprehensive package. An incremental approach might be more realistic,
but ignoring the environment altogether is not a realistic alternative.
A policy paper by Daniel Bodansky, the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace/Spring 2002.
How
the Rest of the World Saw 9/11
French philosopher,Jean Baudrillard, expressed "jubilation"
on the front page of Le Monde. Italy's Oriana Fallaci warned against
a "reverse crusade" of Muslim immigration. The Council
on Foreign Relations' semi-annual publication, Correspondence: An
International Review of Culture and Society, takes a penetrating
look at how the war against terrorism played outside U.S. borders,
with dozens of essays from penetrating thinkers and some who are
less so. Available for free as an Adobe Acrobat PDF download (free
reader available from the site)
[Articles
are individually available on-line in html format. Click here.]
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