John has a BA from Dartmouth College and a MA from Princeton University. He worked as an international economist for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (1978-1981) and the World Health Organization (1981-1982). He directed IPS's Global Economy...
Robin Broad is a professor of international development at American University and co-author of Development Redefined: How the Market Met Its Match.
Frida Berrigan serves on the Board of the War Resisters League and is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus.
Bama Athreya is the executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum, an advocacy organization dedicated to achieving just and humane treatment for workers worldwide.
In the current crisis on the Korean peninsula, the Obama administration is virtually repeating the 2004 Bush playbook, one that derailed a successful diplomatic agreement forged by the Clinton administration to prevent North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Only North Koreans can change North Korea. Attempting to impose a solution from outside – whether from Beijing, Seoul, or Washington – will just not work. North Koreans are a proud people, even more so after several decades of austerity and government-sponsored nationalism. Like Afghans and Iraqis, they will not take kindly, to say the least, to military invaders. And they know the limitations and leverage points of their society better than any outside political missionary bent on a softer version of regime change.
Chechen separatists — often Muslim — have fought side by side with Islamic extremists against the United States.
Even if you have not been to steamy Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai’s well-known outdoor laundry facility, there is a chance that your clothing has. Densely packed against Mumbai’s central rail system, this iconic complex is the largest of many sites that collect, hand wash, dry, and deliver much of the city’s laundry. It’s also one of many reminders that the modern economy has not transcended the realities of undercompensated manual toil.
The “Pacific pivot” of the United States is nothing new. At the same time, it doesn’t really exist. And yet, even though it doesn’t exist, this pivot is partly responsible for the escalation of tensions in and around the Korean peninsula. How can all three of these statements be simultaneously true? Such are the paradoxes of the U.S. shift in attention toward the Pacific Rim.
The stability of the Kaesong operation is considered a bellwether for the state of affairs between North and South Korea.