November 13, 2002 By Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian I. Introduction This essay by Pervez Hoodbhoy and Zia Mian, Pakistan’s leading physicists and anti-nuclear activists, note the fundamental connection between crisis and nuclear weapons in South Asia. They argue that deterrence “presupposes a rational calculus, as well as actors who, at the height of tension, […]
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Al Qaeda’s Nuclear Program: Through the Window of Seized Documents
November 6, 2002 By David Albright I. Introduction This essay by David Albright – a physicist, and the President of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C. – examines Al-Qaeda’s efforts towards acquiring weapons of mass destruction. He argues that al-Qaeda developed “only limited technological capabilities in Afghanistan to produce WMD.” However, […]
Deterrence and the Contemporary Situation in the Middle East
October 30, 2002 By Patrick Morgan I. Introduction The first essay by Patrick Morgan – professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine – joins the debate on the relevance of state-based deterrence in the post 9/11 world. He distinguishes between different types of terrorists and suggests that some terrorists can be deterred. […]
China and North Korean “Refugees”
March 21, 2002 By Thomas F. McCarthy I. Introduction The following article was contributed by Thomas F. McCarthy. McCarthy has traveled frequently to the DPRK as an agricultural development consultant and has worked in Washington, most recently in cooperation with the Atlantic Council’s ‘Korea in Transition Program.’ McCarthy argues that NGOs have no right to […]
The Immutable Zero-sum Nature of the Indo-Pak Rivalry
January 23, 2002 By Ehsan Ahrari I. Introduction Ehsan Ahrari writes that the shift in U.S. South-Asia policy that has occurred after September 11 has resurfaced the Cold War U.S. policy of treating India and Pakistan as equals. Once U.S. objectives of defeating and uprooting the Taliban and Al-Qaida have been accomplished, however, India and […]
Muslims And The West After September 11
December 19, 2001 By Pervez Hoodbhoy I. Introduction This essay is by Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, professor of physics at Quaid-e- Azam University, Islamabad. Hoodbhoy offers a brief history of the rise and fall of the Islamic world and consequently argues that terrorism cannot be resolved simply through military domination. Rather, a critical re-examination of US […]
A Neutral Afghanistan
December 12, 2001 By Faruq Achikzad I. Introduction This essay is by Faruq Achikzad, former UN Resident Coordinator in the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus and North Korea. Achikzad argues that the only hope for a long term, broad-based Afghan government is through a United Nations framework. In the short term, the United States and its […]
Two Months and Counting
November 21, 2001 By Wade Huntley I. Introduction The following essay is by Wade Huntley, Director of the Program on Global Peace and Security at the Nautilus Institute. Huntley, reflecting on a recent visit to the site of the collapsed World Trade Center towers, asserts that responses to the September 11 attacks and their aftermath […]
Can the US War on Terrorism be Justified?
November 21, 2001 By Dr. W. Pal S. Sidhu I. Introduction This piece is by Dr. W. Pal S. Sidhu, an associate at the New York City based International Peace Academy. Sidhu asserts that the US-led war in Afghanistan is wrong-headed and unjust, and that the current unilateral approach to combating terrorism by the US […]
A Rational System of Government for Afghanistan
November 16, 2001 By Dr. Abdul Hay Kayoumy I. Introduction This essay is by Dr. Abdul Hay Kayoumy, a retired senior-economist from the IMF and former professor of economics at the University of Washington at Seattle. Dr. Kayoumy contends that a true representative democratic government is the only means of reconstructing a historically battered and […]