In 1935, the People’s Liberation Army swept through Tibet on the Long March to evade Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalists. It was a grim time. Harassed by snipers, Mao’s armies faced a much greater challenge: cold and hunger. In the grassland plateaus of Tibet, the Communists died by the thousands. The wandering soldiers were not the only… Continue reading Trouble in Tibet
Northeast Asia heaved a sigh of relief at the latest news of a breakthrough in the nuclear negotiations with North Korea. The prospects of integrating North Korea into the international community and constructing a peace and security structure for the region have never been rosier. But the headlines of the United States and North Korea… Continue reading Talking Peace, Preparing for War
In 2002, Boston University established the lyrical-sounding Presidents in Residence program for former African leaders. The idea was to lure the dictatorially inclined away from their countries so that a new generation of democratic leaders could take their place. As a spokesperson for the program put it more tactfully, “The vision is that having a… Continue reading Executive Swap
Many of the most resonant images from the Iraq War are as deceptive as the Bush administration’s rationales for starting the war in the first place. Consider the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein on April 8, 2003. Photos of the event show what seems to be a crowd of Iraqis pulling down the… Continue reading Iraq in Pictures
Some of the most famous monuments have never been built. Vladimir Tatlin’s monument to the Third International, a tilted spiral that was to have been larger than the Eiffel Tower, never made it out of the design phase. Architect Louis Kahn toiled long and hard on a “Memorial to the Six Million Jewish Martyrs” for… Continue reading Memorializing Iraq
Tyrants are scared of poets. Osip Mandelshtam penned a poem about Stalin—one by one forging his laws, to be flung/like horseshoes at the head, the eye or the groin—that was eventually his ticket to the labor camps where he died. Poet Kim Chi-Ha wrote “The Five Bandits” to expose the corruption of military rule in… Continue reading Poet Power
Nationalism is once again getting a makeover. Associated with all manner of ills—Nazism, genocide, unsavory dictatorships—nationalism is being rebranded by the same political science community that largely ignored the phenomenon for so many years. The latest issues of both Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy feature articles that proclaim the virtues of nationalism. In both cases,… Continue reading Hooray for Nationalism?
The seas both divide and unite Japan and the United States. Caught between countering threat and promoting maritime cooperation, the two countries have worked together to build regional approaches to terrorism and piracy. At the same time, however, they have pursued less inclusive strategies such as a missile defence system, joint military operations in Iraq… Continue reading The Pacific and Not-So-Pacific Oceans
We are supposed to believe that adult supervision has returned to the White House. Our adolescent president – who for the last six years has been throwing tantrums, frightening the neighbors, and breaking the windows of houses on the other side of town – has now made it out of his terrible teens. He is… Continue reading Adolescent Tantrum
Belgium has answered the U.S. call for more troops in Afghanistan. In February, Brussels committed to sending four F-16 fighter planes and 100 more soldiers to the south of Afghanistan. It’s not exactly a cushy assignment. The region is in turmoil because of the Taliban’s resurgence. In contrast to Belgium’s enthusiasm, Germany has rejected the… Continue reading Postcard from Brussels
Imagine a foreign military base in the United States. The European Union has developed an independent army. It maintains a strategic interest in its former colonies in the Caribbean. The dollar is weak, and the euro is strong. In exchange for canceling some of the U.S. debt owed to European countries, the EU says, “Hey,… Continue reading Foreign Occupation
There hasn’t been a war in Northeast Asia for over 50 years. The countries in the region are not only making headway in talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, they’re also talking about creating a permanent peace structure in the region. Compared to the Middle East or much of Africa, it’s a… Continue reading Asian Armageddon?
When politicians see their numbers heading south in the polls, they rush to arrange an easy photo op. A snapshot of a politician reaching out to comfort a hospital patient or the survivor of a natural disaster is sure to bring a tear to the eye of a voting constituent. George W. Bush’s numbers have… Continue reading Desperately Looking for Legacy
Read all about it! Diplomats remain upbeat about solving the nuclear stand-off with North Korea; optimists envision a peace treaty to replace the armistice that halted, but failed to formally end, the Korean War 55 years ago. Some leaders and scholars are even urging the transformation of the Six Party Talks over the Korean nuclear… Continue reading Asia’s Hidden Arms Race
The Bush administration’s approach to North Korea was once quite consistent with its overall foreign policy. There was name-calling, a preference for regime change, and an emphasis on military solutions. Not surprisingly, then, the relationship between the United States and North Korea, like so many other tense stand-offs, deteriorated over the last seven years. The… Continue reading Hardliners Target Detente with North Korea
Headquarters was worried. Complaints were flooding in from the Chinese countryside about the quality of the new Haier washing machines. The water pipes were defective, the peasants told the Chinese manufacturer. But when the Haier team went to investigate, they were surprised to discover that the pipes were not broken or poorly fitted. Rather, they… Continue reading The Big Yam
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) was one of Ronald Reagan’s favorite movies. An alien and his robot visit Earth to warn humans that they must live in peace or die. In the movie’s immortal line, actress Patricia Neal stops the robot from destroying the world by intoning the untranslatable words “Klaatu barada nikto.”… Continue reading Klaatu Barada Nikto
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan for all but one of the last 53 years. But the LDP’s unpopularity, the rise of a strong second party with a charismatic leader and a limp economy may combine to upend Japanese politics in 2008. At its party congress on Jan. 17, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda,… Continue reading Tectonic Upheavals Await Ruling LDP
When the world’s two most populous countries held a summit this month in Beijing, their agenda was brimful with collaboration. India and China, once adversaries that fought a war in 1962, are now leading trading partners. But, while they see eye to eye on several key geopolitical issues such as Iran and have even conducted… Continue reading Eyeing Burma
The United States acts as if it owns the world. This might seem counter-intuitive. After all, more and more foreign entities are lapping up bargain properties in our “homeland.” And aside from U.S. military bases — a not inconsiderable amount of territory — the United States is not land-grabbing the way imperial Rome or London… Continue reading Who Owns the World?
Stefan Theil thinks that his fellow Europeans are brainwashed. He’s done a trans-Atlantic study of textbooks and discovered that schools teach little French and Germans all the wrong things about economics. “Free markets offer chaos while government regulation brings order,” Theil describes the messages transmitted to European students in “Europe’s Philosophy of Failure” in the… Continue reading Poor, Deluded Europeans
On the international community In 1999, after the NATO bombing, the international community deployed in Kosovo with a clear perception that the Kosovo Albanians were the victims and that the Serbs were the bad guys. If you were only looking what took place in Kosovo during the bombing, that headline made sense. But then the… Continue reading Interview with anonymous UN official
Attila Durak, photographer For almost 100 years, the system here has been trying to create a nation, one nation that represses, that says we are one Turkey. For the Ottoman Empire, religion was the base; ethnicity was not important. When Italy was formed, only eight percent of Italian people spoke Italian. From that base population,… Continue reading Interview with Attila Durak
Lirak Celaj, theater director On Albania and Kosovo During the period when we were in ex-Yugoslavia, there was always pressure on us to change our identity. We were told, “You are Shqpitars and they, in Albania, are Albanians.” I think we are same nation – the same nation in two countries. Some countries and some… Continue reading Interview with Lirak Celaj
On nation-building and nationalism After the Ottoman Empire was dismantled, there needed to be a nation-state to replace it. As often happens in Europe, this notion of nation-state led to bloodshed. People had coexisted for centuries without treating each other as ethnic aliens; that was how the Ottoman Empire had been run. But the nation-state… Continue reading Interview with Serdar M. Degirmencioglu,
Andrej Nosov, youth initiative, Serbia On joint projects between Belgrade and Pristina We’ve developed some new initiatives between Belgrade and Pristina, including an art gallery, Rizoma, which opened last year. For the last two years, we’ve been trying to use cultural workers to promote a different relationship between Pristina and Belgrade. For instance, we’ve supported… Continue reading Interview with Andrej Nosov
Valentine Mitiev, minorities expert When I was at university, I had to work at a factory every summer to earn money. I worked with many Turks there. Before 1998, we didn’t emphasize any difference between Turks and Bulgarians. You had to hike a lot to get to their villages in the Rhodope Mountains, where women… Continue reading Interview with Valentine Mitiev
Turkish activist On anti-Americanism When I was a schoolchild, almost everyone was in favor of America. Right-wingers especially were all pro-American. Today, it has almost completely changed. Now right-wingers are anti-American, particularly after the Iraq War. Almost every government and state source openly declares that the United States is after a divided Iraq; that this… Continue reading Interview with Ertegrul Kurksu
Here’s the secret to the last seven years of foreign policy disasters coming from Washington. President Bush has become an acolyte of Timothy Ferriss. Haven’t heard of Ferriss yet? He’s the motivational author who champions a four-hour work week. In order to slim down his schedule, Ferriss recommends a low-information diet. “I never watch the… Continue reading Ignorance Is Bliss
Are we ready for the first missionary president? While the media debates endlessly whether America can overcome racism and sexism and finally elect an African-American commander-in-chief or a female to the White House, there’s been very little consideration of what it might mean to have a former missionary in the Oval Office. Like many Mormons,… Continue reading Missionary Zeal