Where do Clinton and Trump stand on U.S. intervention?

What should be the U.S. role in the world? In the current election cycle, the debate on this vital question is especially focused on America’s military interventions — interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and hesitation in Syria — which provide some indicators for reflection. As both presidential candidates have spoken on the topic, … Read more

Senegal’s Habré Sentence Sends a Strong Message

For the court of one country to prosecute the ruler of another is unprecedented. But that is what happened two weeks ago in a historic first, when an ad hoc tribunal in Dakar, Senegal, sentenced Hissene Habré to life in prison after finding the former president of Chad guilty of international human rights crimes. The … Read more

Grading the United Nations at 70 years old

(Denver Post) By Ved Nanda The euphoria that accompanied the creation of the United Nations in 1945 has long since given way to frustration and disappointment. Established in the aftermath of the death and destruction of World War II to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” it has succeeded in preventing another global war, … Read more

Corporations Have a Duty to Practice Public Responsibility

Garment factory collapse

It took the disastrous collapse of a building in Bangladesh that housed several garment factories and the loss of more than 1,000 lives for the world to begin to pay attention to the plight of garment workers there. The workers are paid the minimum monthly wage of about $37, occasionally go unpaid, and protesters are … Read more

Rape and Murder in India a Wake-Up Call for Reform

It’s ironic that in India – which proudly proclaims a rich, ancient heritage and where the very symbol for strength and power in ancient scriptures is female (Shakti) – women today are struggling for a safe and dignified environment. I was visiting India when a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, a victim of a brutal sexual assault … Read more

United States Must Monitor Island Dispute in the South China Sea

China is embroiled in maritime territorial disputes, not only with Japan over control of a group of tiny islands in the East China Sea, but also with The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei over the island chains of the Spratleys and Paracels in the South China Sea.  The dispute with Japan over the Senkaku (in … Read more

Libya and the “Responsibility to Protect”

Libyans celebrate their freedom

The recent uprisings which toppled Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt spread fast throughout the Middle East and North Africa.  They overtook Libya, as well.  Inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, protesters and demonstrators filled the streets in several Libyan cities.  Qaddafi called those opposing his brutally repressive regime, “cockroaches” and … Read more

Piracy Continues Unabated

Somali Piracy

The surge of piracy attacks worldwide and their increasing threat to international shipping are indeed alarming.  The Piracy Reporting Center of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), an independent arm of the International Chamber of Commerce, reports that incidents of piracy and robbery at sea reached 445 in 2010, compared with 400 in 2009, while there … Read more