Europe & Central Asia Archives - Page 142 of 428

Smaller Nukes May Present the Larger Risk

by Russ Wellen | Sep 10, 2012

If a state like Pakistan considers tactical nukes a viable battlefield weapon, the entire world is in trouble.

Accountability and Insurgency in Afghanistan

by Inge Fryklund | Sep 5, 2012

Although the war in Afghanistan—with its tally of U.S. combat deaths now exceeding 2,000—has largely faded from the news, it is useful to consider why the conflict is so intractable. Why has a campaign that initially seemed so hopeful resulted in a country that is politically fractured and increasingly deadly for Afghans and foreign militaries alike?

On Drugs and Democracy

by Inge Fryklund | Aug 6, 2012

The UN Office of Drug Control (UNODC) has thoroughly documented the violence, crime, and corruption linked with the worldwide heroin and opium trade. The U.S. news media report every day on the mayhem and corruption of government officials caused by the drug wars in Mexico, Colombia, and other points south of our border. In Afghanistan, the Taliban tax the opium trade and protect poppy farmers from eradication, fueling the insurgency and our 11-year war.

However, these problems are all consequences of drug prohibition, not of the drugs themselves.

India’s Gambit in the Central Asian Abyss

by Mary Carras | Jul 17, 2012

Central Asia has increasingly dazzled players from near and far, once they’ve grasped its worth as a crucial source of energy — oil, gas, and hydroelectric power.

Widespread Muslim Scepticism of U.S. as Democracy Advocate

by Jim Lobe | Jul 16, 2012

Despite continuous assurances that the United States favours democratic rule during the 18-month-old “Arab Spring”, majorities or pluralities in six predominantly Muslim countries see Washington as an obstacle to their democratic aspirations, according to a new survey released here Tuesday.

Working for Peace and Justice

by Lawrence S. Wittner | Jul 16, 2012

In July 1990, on my way home from the meeting with our new friends in Moscow, I stopped off in London to do research for The Struggle Against the Bomb. Sitting in the Public Record Office and examining the newly-opened prime minister’s records, I was startled to discover a folder of documents showing that in the late 1950s cabinet-level government officials had launched a conspiracy to undermine Britain’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).