Opinion and Analysis Archive

29.11.2006 Amnesty International welcomes the initiative of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe to join forces with local and international NGOs to eradicate domestic violence, which is prevalent in every society in Europe--cutting across boundaries of wealth, race, and culture.

27.11.2006 International recognition of the self-declared independent state of Somaliland could secure a rare African success story, says international relations specialist Jawahir Adam.

21.11.2006 Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, South Ossetia has been battling with Georgia for self-determination. Two different presidential elections and referenda were recently held in the breakaway region, further complicating relations with the Georgian government.

21.11.2006 The new distribution of power in congress could lead to a more progressive U.S. role on women's rights issues internationally, says a Washington-based lobbying group, but budget pressures caused by the Iraq war and several domestic issues still might stymie efforts.

16.11.2006 People from Israel, the United States, and other countries have been supporting Palestinian farmers as they reap their harvest once again under the threats and fear imposed by occupation. Discover their stories.

16.11.2006 On the International Day of Tolerance, Arlene Goldbard's words ring especially poignant: "the tolerance for diversity that is now being demanded of western societies...is in fact a call for liberty far beyond that available to women in some of the countries that originated such customs of dress."

14.11.2006 After the euphoria of the weekend's march, where some 2,500 people--from international environmentalists to Kenyan pastoralists--demanded immediate global action to prevent climate change, campaigner Angelique Orr has returned to the main conference, coming back down to earth with a massive bump.

14.11.2006 Iran is working quietly but feverishly to prevent the total collapse of order in Baghdad and the hasty departure of U.S. forces--both to avoid spillover effects and to minimize the chance of a U.S. attack on its country, says journalist Kamal Nazer Yasin.

13.11.2006 Latin America's Catholic Church is divided over their reaction to Venezuela's polarizing leader Hugo Chávez.

13.11.2006 The current minimum wage would net a 40-hour-per-week worker less than $900 a month. A living wage, by comparison, allows a worker to afford "housing, food, utilities, transport, health care, and a certain amount of recreation." Moving Ideas examines the pro-poor arguments for and against increasing the minimum wage.

09.11.2006 Focusing on issues of peace, climate change, energy, foreign policy, women's rights, and more, many non-profit groups are quite pleased with the results of Tuesday's elections and looking ahead to what this might mean for the United States.

09.11.2006 The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld with former CIA director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic sweep in Tuesday's mid-term elections, appears to signal major changes in U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Jim Lobe reports.

06.11.2006 Despite the fact that the Iraq War has played a dominant role in Tuesday's elections, there is little reason to expect George W. Bush will agree to major policy shifts in 2007 on Iraq or on other challenging issues, says security analyst John Isaacs.

06.11.2006 In a world where trade is globalized but justice is not, citizens face difficult and often impossible legal paths when trying to sue for human rights violations, says Kim Beng Phar, a visiting scholar at Tokyo's Waseda University.

06.11.2006 Nicaraguans appear to have returned Sandinista leader and former president Daniel Ortega to power, despite U.S. officials' strongarm tactics to foil his candidacy.

03.11.2006 Each year, despite the differences that inevitably arise between the U.S. and UN, both parties return to a fundamental truth: the United States needs a strong and effective United Nations, and the UN needs smart, principled, and focused U.S. leadership.

01.11.2006 There have been times when the U.S. media have been ahead of the public, but today they are reporting the dots without connecting them, says professor Susan Douglas, and missing one of the biggest stories of our time: widespread outrage, despair, and fear over the subversion of democratic processes.