Africa

Desperate Somali women are flocking to the coast to marry pirates! This is perhaps the most outrageous claim of the past ten days, during which Somalia’s pirates have succeeded, more than any aid or news organization so far, in drawing the world’s attention to the plight of their country--the world’s longest running failed state.

In the months after 9/11, American forces in Afghanistan bombed the Taliban and, in vain, hunted for Osama bin Laden, while in Washington counterterrorism experts worried about "the next Afghanistan," a safe haven where terrorists would train, test their weapons and organize attacks on the United States. These discussions produced a double-barreled national-security strategy that dominated President George W. Bush's tenure. The first element of the strategy was to identify and eliminate terrorist networks that already existed. The

If a 10-year-old boy in Benin, in West Africa, wants to describe someone he doesn’t trust, he’s likely to use one of these two roughly translated phrases: “He will sell you and enjoy it” or “He can make you disappear.”

Such phrases are not uncommon in the languages of West Africa, which for four centuries was the epicenter of the continent’s slave trade, and their presence in contemporary speech poignantly suggests that slavery’s legacy lingers on in profound ways.

According to William Hartung, co-author of "Deadly Legacy: US Arms to Africa and the Congo War," a report released in 2000 by the New York-based World ...

To shed light on this tenuous coexistence and the violence it often ignites, we recommend this Atlantic cover story by Eliza Griswold, who traveled to the ...

New York, NY-China has been the most egregious violator of the global arms embargo on Darfur, supplying guns and ammunition to the Sudanese government that have been transferred into the region, according to a new issue brief released by the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. Since 2004, the vast majority of Sudan's small arms and light weapons have come from China, and many of them have found their way into the hands of the notorious Janjaweed militias in Darfur.

The issue… more

(The AP)--China has been the "most egregious violator" of a worldwide arms embargo, providing Sudan with the vast majority of its small arms and weapons used for mass murder in Darfur province. . .

The arms and also political support are being swapped for access to the African country's oil reserves, according to a report issued on the eve of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. . .

Recognizing fast-developing China's need for energy, William Hartung, a veteran foreign policy analyst and author of the report for… more

As a result of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China will be exposed to a greater global audience -- and greater global scrutiny -- than ever before. In order to put its best foot forward, the Chinese government has spent record amounts on everything from increased security to environmental cleanup.

But there are some Chinese policies that are too controversial to be "cleaned up" at the… more