India-Pakistan Peace Process at Risk

London – (BP) Government officials in India insist the terrorists responsible for last week’s attacks in Mumbai had links to Pakistan, and have demanded the Pakistani government hand over some 20 fugitives believed to be hiding in Pakistan. Islamabad has not responded to the request but has offered India a joint investigation into the attacks.
India’s [...]

Saudi King Makes Splash at UN

King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler, took some time off from his OPEC interests this week to turn the New York Palace Hotel and the U.N. General Assembly into an extension of his court. Long lines of VIPs formed to congratulate his majesty on hosting a conference on religious tolerance under the auspices of the [...]

The World is Watching

Yes, there is a world outside the United States, and it has an opinion of us. The BBC asked Madeleine Albright, President Clinton’s formidable secretary of state, if she could remember a time when people hated America so much:
“Not in my lifetime,” she answered. “I feel very strongly about this country, and what an exceptional, [...]

Not the First Amendment Again?

The text of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. To John Adams and some of the other framers of the document, that probably meant that the federal government would not select a single official state religion for the [...]

Foreign Affairs Dispatch: Spin on Bush Doctrine

It cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that the Bush Administration has had its hands full with trying to reconcile the war on terrorism with its responsibilities under international law. President Bush summed it up nicely as long ago as 2002 when he was quoted in the New York Daily News as saying: “This foreign policy [...]

Foreign Affairs Dispatch: News from the Front(s)

The news is that the several fronts of the current war on terrorism seem to have expanded of late. The United States has conducted Special Forces ground raids into Pakistan, as recently as September 3, 2008. That policy has now changed somewhat after the Pakistani government made outraged complaints about incursion into its territory. The [...]