Terrorism Archives - Page 62 of 138 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Northrop Grumman and TRW Merger: Sealing the Deal

by Michelle Ciarrocca | Jul 29, 2002

Northrop Grumman’s takeover of TRW will make it one of the world’s largest defense contractors, rivaling global conglomerates like Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems. After many offers for TRW over the past six months, negotiators agreed to Northrop Grumman’s offer of $60 a share or $7.8 billion, up 27% from their initial offer of $47 a share. Other companies bidding included BAE Systems, Raytheon, and General Dynamics–all of which were eager to grab TRW’s space and electronics business.

Bush Raises the Stakes in Iraq

by Charles Knight | Jul 3, 2002

The Bush administration’s enthusiasm for toppling Saddam Hussein is so single-minded that American officials are failing to recognize the effect of broadcasting publicly their intent to seek “regime change.” The Pentagon’s joint staff, which has the enormous task of planning any military campaign against Iraq, is forced to deal with the strategic blunder inherent in the administration’s policy.

Capitalism’s Best Pals: Liberals

by Robert L. Borosage | Jul 1, 2002

Corporate corruption is a “moral cancer that … is threatening this great system and our economic health.” These “sins of omission, malfeasance and misfeasance” are “eroding shareholder value for all corporations and public confidence in critical elements of our economic system.” This is a “betrayal of capitalism” in which the “most fundamental principles of our market system were being flouted.”

Heavy Words or Heavy Actions: Stop U.S. Weapons Sales to Israel

by Frida Berrigan | Jul 1, 2002

The Bush administration has sharply criticized Israel’s latest attack on a densely populated neighborhood in the Gaza Strip, calling it a “heavy handed action that will not contribute to the peace.”

People versus Big Oil: Rights of Nigerian Indigenous People Recognized

by Jim Lobe | Jul 1, 2002

At a time when the petropolitics of the Bush administration seem to reign supreme, the rights of peoples affected by the global hunt for oil have received an important boost. An African commission has ruled the Nigerian government should compensate the Ogoni people for abuses against their lands, environment, housing, and health caused by oil production and government security forces. Nigerian and international groups say that the ruling by the nine-member African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) is a sweeping affirmation of what the human rights community calls ESC rights–defined by the UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social, and, Cultural Rights.

Unilateralist Path Scored as Self-Defeating

by Jim Lobe | Jul 1, 2002

Observers from all political tendencies–left, center, and right–are finding common ground in their description of the Bush administration’s fundamental reordering of U.S. foreign policy. The Bush presidency, especially since September 11, has shifted U.S. engagement in global affairs out of the post-WW II framework of multilateralism toward an unapologetic unilateralist approach. But the term unilateralism doesn’t adequately convey the new projection of U.S. power around the world. Political scientists are calling the present era one of U.S. hegemony. Not just a superpower, America is the global hegemon. Others, especially in Europe, have a starker portrayal of the new U.S. global reach, characterizing the U.S. as an empire.

Capitalist Crisis and Corporate Crime

by Walden Bello | Jul 1, 2002

The unraveling of the reputations of firms that were once the toast of Wall Street continues and the end is not in sight. But one thing is certain: already fragile prior to Enron, the legitimacy of global capitalism as the dominant system of production, distribution, and exchange will be eroded even further, even in the heartland of the system. During the halcyon days of the so-called “New Economy” in 2000, a Business Week survey found that 72% of Americans felt that corporations had too much power over their lives. That figure is likely to be much higher now.

Slow Western Aid Could Undermine Afghan Stability

by Ahmed Rashid | Jul 1, 2002

Western aid is not reaching Afghanistan at the same pace that President Hamid Karzai is setting in his efforts to build a legitimate, ethnically balanced national army. Afghans are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the United States and the Karzai government, whose budget is running alarmingly short. With refugees desperate for aid and no foreign donors willing to underwrite major reconstruction efforts until spring 2003, Karzai’s aggressive initiatives to reduce regional warlords’ power face a severe test.

A Tall Order

by Gamal Nkrumah | Jul 1, 2002

This week’s official inauguration of the African Union (AU), which replaces the moribund Organization of African Unity (OAU), was held amid predictable fanfare. Yet despite high expectations, tensions between opposing factions are already threatening to sour celebrations marking the birth of an organization African leaders hope will advance African development and democracy. The danger is that underlying differences between some of the most powerful and influential of the 53 member states may return to haunt the AU should they remain unresolved.

Dirty Bomb Investigation Targets Central Asia and The Caucasus

by Mark Berniker | Jul 1, 2002

The May arrest of Jose Padilla, the Brooklyn-born Muslim accused of planning to build a radiological “dirty bomb” within the United States, has helped focus attention on the issue of access to radioactive materials. The Caucasus and Central Asia have emerged as a particular area of concern, as reliable controls over radioactive materials in those regions have broken down. U.S. officials are now pushing for better monitoring of such materials.