Ruwantissa I.R.Abeyratne, Aviation Security: Legal and Regulatory Aspects(Brookfield: Ashgate Publishing 98):-a specialized 400-page book would not normally be listed here. However this one thoroughly/expertly covers serious global problem, is best reference work known, and includes proposals for action. So recommended. Blurb states it: "examines offense of unlawful interference with international civil aviation; analyses critically legal/regulatory regime..., recommending...new approach to problem". Among topics covered: Current Relevant Air Law; Issues Involved: Aircraft Hijacking, Sabotage and Missile Attack; AirportAttacks; Airline Security; Deterrence/Prevention; Legal Issues and Conventions; Drug Air Traffic and Counteraction; ICAO Role; Sovereignty; ICC. ISBN 1-84014-544-7. For more information/purchase: www.ashgate.com. Aviation Trends in the New Millennium

Morton Abramowitz & Thomas Pickering "Making Intervention Work: Improving the UN's Ability to Act"(100-108) Foreign Affairs Vol.87/No.5(Sep/Oct 08):-official summary:"In the face of grave humanitarian crises in countries such as Myanmar and Sudan, the international community has failed to back up its rhetoric with deeds. To adequately address such situations, the United Nations must streamline its decision-making, strengthen its peacekeeping capabilities, and create a crisis-response force". Emphasized extracts:"International clamor must produce results, not simply more clamor". "The UN needs a limited force to respond to humanitarian disasters and prevent conflicts from spiraling out of control". Abramowitz is a Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation and former US Ambassador to Thailand and Turkey. Pickering is Vice Chair of Hills & Company and has served as US Ambassador to six countries and the UN.

Morton Abramowitz & Henri J.Barkey"Turkey's Transformers: The [Justice and Development Party] AKP Sees Big"(118-128) Foreign Affairs Vol.88/No.6 (Nov/Dec 09):-official summary:"US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Turkey is one of seven rising powers with which US will actively collaborate to resolve global problems. But Turkey has not yet become even the regional player that the ruling AKP declares it to be. Can the AKP do better, or will it be held back by its Islamist past and the conservative inclinations of its core constituents?" Emphasized extracts:"The AKP will live or die by its policies toward the Kurds". "Turkey's new activist diplomacy in the Middle East and beyond may be weakening its ties with US and EU". Abramowitz, a Senior Fellow at Century Foundation, was US Ambassador to Turkey in 1989-91. Barkey is a non-resident Senior Associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University.

Diane Ackerman et al., The New Age of Discovery: A Celebration of Mankind's Exploration of the Unknown (Toronto: Time Canada 97):-although"popular"in format, purpose/content are serious: 17 thoughtful essays contributed by leading scientists and academics. Aim is to survey where scientific discovery now stands, and where it is taking us. Many topics are or will be global and/or UN issues: health/ageing; defence against asteroids; DNA/climatic discoveries and implications; "Third World" -relevant technology; gender differences; care of global commons and indigenous peoples; extraterrestrial life; new energy forms; ethical computing; "homogenization" of world; special global challenges. Relatively easy place to start looking at trends and prospects- particularly if your background not in science. Survey is just example ofvaluable collections of what are in fact 21st-Century global issues, put together by good general periodicals(dailies, weeklies, monthlies),often to mark occasions like anniversaries or new years/decades. Those fitting our purposes here would be forward-looking, deal with subjects global in scope or importance, be written by top impartial authorities, and preferably offer reading lists. Good hunting!

James Adams, The Next World War: Computers Are the Weapons and the Front Line Is Everywhere(New York: Simon & Schuster 98):-not primarily about technology, but rather warning about (un)anticipated effects of accelerating revolution in many-faceted field of information warfare(IW). Uses many original sources to explain fundamental changes in nature of combat. Weapons can be disabling, non-lethal, long-distance, unmanned, multi-use, minuscule... Wars may be battlefield-less, electronic, adversary-ambiguous, instantaneous... Intelligence and surveillance will be pervasive/often decisive. At same time, vast technical lead -and complexity - of rich countries' forces/societies also creates immense (cyber)vulnerability. In global North-South terms, implies economically-advanced states will prefer to fight by exploiting their technology, while any less-advanced opponents will tend to concentrate their attackson that technology's weak points.[World community/UN will find "violent conflict" (formal inter-state war now very rare)not only creates multiple new diplomatic/legal issues(time/space limits, sanctions, intervention, lethality, causes, costs, crimes)but, most difficult of all, is increasingly ambiguous, in terms of "participants" (both initiators and intended enemies/victims), location(e.g. if electronic, disease-inducing, and/or delayed-action), aims(already true of terrorism), even very existence(e.g. cyber-, resource- or bio-conflict; deliberate/ accidental?).One major consequence then is that entire concept of conflict-resolution transformed.]

Salman Ahmed"No Size Fits All: Lessons in Making Peace and Rebuilding States"Foreign AffairsVol.84/No.1(Jan/Feb 05):-Review Essay by Senior Political Officer, Office of UN USG for Peacekeeping Operations who served in Cambodia, South Africa, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Iraq. Providesanalysis of the argumentation of three books: Roland Paris At War's End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict(Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.Press 04); Kimberly Zisk Marten Enforcing the Peace: Learning From the Imperial Past(New York: Columbia Univ. Press 04); John Mueller The Remnants of War(Ithaca: Cornell Univ.Press 04). All three draw"attention to important lessons that deserve serious consideration from policymakers and practitioners...Still, these authors make too much of similarities among cases they study and not enough of differences. And by using them to extrapolate bold models for state reconstruction, authors belie inherent complexities of task...Specifics of...conflicts - their scale as well as their historical geopolitical/socioeconomic roots - should inform how peace brokered/maintained. Yet none...pays enough attention to such fundamental considerations."Essay is worth reading - as a survey of all the issues faced by the UN when easing post-crisis problems.

John B.Alexander Future War: Non-Lethal Weapons in Twenty-First Century Warfare(New York: St. Martin's Press 99):-excellent study of immense potential of non-lethal weapons, and impact of global trends on aims of security. Assumed US/NATO must(via UN)be world police force. Emerging threats for armed forces/police are: powerful criminal/terrorist organizations, together with transnational/religiousbodies/groups seeing themselves as politically, economically or socially deprived. Wide range of non-lethal weaponry includes acoustic, biological, chemical, electromagnetic weapons, physical restraints, low-impact projectiles, information warfare. Useful scenarios: peace support(UN)operations; technologicalsanctions; strategic paralysis; hostages or barricades. Issues addressed: practical limitations, strategicimplications, moral opposition, legal considerations, and constraints on "winning" .

Graham AllisonNuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe(New York: Owl Books/Henry Holk & Co 05):-extremely expert/influential report argues in INTRODUCTION that:"Given the number of actors with serious intent, the accessibility of weapons or nuclear materials from which elementary weapons could be constructed, and the almost limitless ways in which terrorists could smuggle a weapon through US borders, [i]n my own considered judgment, on the current path, a nuclear terrorist attack on US inthe decade ahead is more likely than not"(15). First chapter concludes:"What all [major terrorist] groups have in common is a hatred of the US or the West, along with sophisticated organizational structuresand access to technical know-how. [U]ncomfortable fact is that being the world's only superpower isinevitably going to breed resentment of one form or another - and it is impossible to mollify every single group. Challenge to US is to prevent these organizations from acquiring the means to threaten us with nuclear attack"(42).Then describes"unique destructive power of these terrible weapons", how/where they could be obtained, and where/when/how attacks might take place(43-120). Then describes policy changes to reduce chance of attack. List: priority to issue; standard for secure nuclear weapons/material; globalalliance against nuclear terrorism; global clean-out of all dangerous fissile material; stop new national production of fissile material; shut down of nuclear black markets; block emergence of nuclear weaponsstates; full review of global nonproliferation regime; revise nuclear weapons' postures/pronouncements;global prosecuting war on terrorism(205). Emphasis is on US but essential involvement must be global.

Graham Allison"Nuclear Disorder: Surveying Atomic Threats"(74-85) Foreign Affairs Vol.89/No.1 (Jan/Feb 10):-this is the first of a complementary pair of topical essays on nuclear weapons problems and options. Official summary of Allison's:"The current global nuclear order is extremely fragile, threatened by North Korea's expanding nuclear weapons program, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Pakistan's increasing instability. US President Barack Obama has put these threats at the top of his national security agenda, but the effort to prevent catastrophe will encounter serious obstacles and stubborn adversaries". Emphasized extracts:"Over the past eight years, the Pakistani government has tripled its arsenal of nuclear weapons". "Obama's mission is to bend the trend lines currently pointing toward catastrophe". Final paragraph: "The international community has crucial choices to make, and the stakes could not be higher. Having failed to heed repeated warning signs of rot in the US-led global financial system, the world dare not wait for a catastrophic collapse of the nonproliferation regime. From the consequences of such an event, there is no feasible bailout". Allison is Douglas Dillon Prof. of Government and Director of Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Univ.'s Kennedy School of Government. For annotated guide to this topic, see "What to Read on Nuclear Proliferation" at www.foreignaffairs.com/readinglists/nuclear-proliferation. Second essay: Charles D.Ferguson "The Long Road to Zero: Overcoming the Obstacles to a Nuclear-Free World"(86-94):-Official summary:"The Obama administration has embraced the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, but many political and economic obstacles stand in its way. If there is any hope of reducing the world's nuclear arsenals, US government will have to assuage the fears of nonnuclear states, diminish the presumed prestige that the ultimate weapon confers on its owners, and address the risk of proliferation posed by civilian nuclear energy programs". From first paragraph:"Over the past three years, a remarkable bipartisan consensus has emerged in WashDC regarding nuclear security. The new US nuclear agenda includes renewing formal arms control agreements with Russia, revitalizing a strategic dialogue with China, pushing for ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, repairing the damaged nuclear nonproliferation regime, and redoubling efforts to reduce and secure fissile material that may be used in weapons... In past year, President Obama has made this goal a priority for his administration..." Ferguson is President of Federation of American Scientists. From 2004-09 he was Senior Fellow for Science and Technology at Council on Foreign Relations, where he served as Project Director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on US Nuclear Weapons Policy. For annotated guide to this topic, same source as Allison.

Kofi A. Annan "Courage To Fulfil Our Responsibilities" The Economist 04 Dec 04(23-5):-UNSG offers global action-urging essay built on his immediate reaction to report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. Following his urgent introduction is a brief summary of Annan's already concentrated and rearranged version of the panel report's many concerns/proposals. Its value is less to summarize the panel's views than to identify subjects they and/or he discuss. "We face a world of extraordinary challenges - and of extraordinary interconnectedness. We are all vulnerable to new security threats, and to old threats that are evolving in complex and unpredictable ways. Either we allow this array of threats, and our responses to them, to divide us, or we come together to take effective action to meet all of them on basis of a shared commitment to collective security. I asked the 16 members of [panel]- eminent people representing many nations and points of view - to analyse the threats to peaceand security our world faces; to evaluate how well our existing policies and institutions are meeting them; and to recommend changes to those policies and institutions, so as to ensure an effective collective response to those threats. Their report...makes 101 far-sighted but realistic recommendations. If acted on, they would address the security concerns of all states, ensure that UN works better, strengtheninternational rule of law and make all people safer" . First: threats. Event/process leading to deaths on large scale/lessening life chances or undermines states, should be viewed as threat to innatl peace/security.Clusters: economic/ social, including poverty/disease; inter- state conflict/rivalry; internal violence: civil war/state collapse/genocide; nuclear/ radiological/ chemical/ biological weapons; terrorism; innatl crime. Threats interconnected to unprecedented degree; no state alone can defeat. Highly enriched uranium at size of 6 milk cartons could level medium-sized city as nuclear device. Such attack in US/Europe isstaggering cost for world economy. Security of developed states only as strong as ability of poor statesto respond to/contain new deadly infectious disease. Incubation period for most is longer than most air flights, so any one of 700m who travel airlines in year could unwittingly carry lethal virus to unsuspecting state. Today, virus similar to 1918 influenza could kill tens of millions in fraction of a year. In today's worldany threat to one is truly threat to all; applies to all categories of threats. Since real limits on self-protection,all states need collective- security system, committing all to act cooperatively against dangers. Given gravity/ interconnectedness of threats, world needs more active prevention. Prevention can be highly effective (Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty);WHO helped halt SARS. Best prevention agents: capable states, acting/cooperating with others. Best preventive strategy: is development support. Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty/hunger by 2015 states' best security investment. It will save lives/reduce violentconflict and radicalism/bolster state ability against threats before real harm. HIV/AIDS shows danger ofinadequate prevention. Slow/ineffective global response allowed 20m killed/20 years; spread continues andworst to come. Ultimate cost will include shattered societies. Still not taking all needed steps to bring under control. Also need public-health facilities built in poor world. Not only poorer states benefit disease treatment/ local prevention; whole world has better defence against bio-terrorism/large-scale natural epidemics. UNSC should work with WHO to strengthen biological security via prompt, effective responses. Equal: greater environmental collective action, including beyond Kyoto protocol to better resources management in states at risk. Prevention also vital to protect against terrorism. New is range/scale/ intensity of threat(al-Qaeda can kill around world/has struck in 10+ UN members). Could acquire instruments of massive destruction: unprecedented danger. UN must better use assets in fight against terrorists:articulate a strategy respectful of laws/human rights. Definition of terrorism offered: any action intended to kill/seriously harm civilians/ non- combatants, with purpose of intimidating population/compelling actionby government/innatl organization. States should use to build consensus and strengthen UN response to deadly scourge. Also urgent recommendations on non-proliferation/ disarmament/curbing supply of materials to reduce risk of nuclear/chemical/biological attacks by states/ terrorist groups. States encouraged to end development of domestic uranium enrichment and urged to voluntary time- limited moratorium on reprocessing plant construction. IAEA ability to monitor compliance with Non-Proliferation Treaty strengthened by standards in protocol for safeguards inspections. Since Cold War, UN far moreengaged in preventing/ending civil wars; ended more through negotiation since 90 than in previous 200 years; developed expertise/learned hard lessons. As demand for UN blue helmets grows, need to boost peacekeeper supply/avoid 90s worst failures. Rich states should hasten efforts transforming existing forces for UN peace operations. UN must invest in mediation/support peace agreement implementation.Demobilize combatants/reintegrate into civil life; otherwise civil wars not successfully ended/other goals(democracy/justice/ development) remain unmet. Often innatl community lost focus if crisis high point past/ peacekeepers left. Propose UNSC create Peacekeeping Commission; to give strategic focus for work in states under stress/emerging from conflict. If prevention/peaceful resolution fails, UN must be able to rely on force. Whatever reason: all states/UNSC should bear in mind basic guide lines/questions:(1)Seriousness of threat: does it justify force? (2)Proper purpose: does proposed force halt/avert threat?(3)Last resort: all non-military options explored/exhausted? (4) Proportional means: force proposedminimum necessary?(5)Balance of consequences: clear action not worse than inaction? No need to amend Art.51 of UN Charter: any state's right of self-defence against armed attack/pre-emptive actionagainst imminent threat. However if states fear threats, neither imminent nor proximate, but which could culminate in horrific violence if left to fester, UNSC already powered to act/must be prepared to take actionearlier than past, when asked/reliable evidence. Protection of civilians inside states long fraught with controversy. Yet recognized more widely that question better framed, not as intervene-right but protection- responsibility - borne first/foremost by states. Panel agreed principle of non-intervention in internal affairs cannot protect committing genocide/large-scale ethnic cleansing/other comparable atrocities. I hope UN members agree/UNSC will act. UN(now nearly 60)born in very different time/world, so has under- appreciated record of adapting to new dangers, e.g. peacekeeping in world's civil wars/response to attack of Sep 01. Clearly needs far-reaching reform to prevent/respond to all current threats. Some propose via-UN collective response too difficult/not necessary. But all anti-threat actions impact beyond immediate context/all states benefit from shared global framework. Not mean UN needs to do everything. It must learn of share burdens/welcome help from others/work with them. Already does so; report recommends strengthened UN partnerships with regional organs/individual states. Great attention: UNSC reform. Objectives: make UNSC more effective/authoritative. Permanent membership devised (1945) to ensure active engagement of big powers to maintain peace/security. New permanent members matter of controversy/debate. Two suggestions, both expanding membership to 24; aim at: add those who contribute most to UN financially/militarily/diplomatically; ensure UNSC represents UN as whole; not expand veto, which would render decisions more difficult. Proposals offer chance breakthrough in year ahead. If acted on, UNSC more representative/ better equipped for decisive action. Need strengthened UN secretariat that can support Peacebuilding Commission; implement UNSC/ committee decisions better on peacekeeping/ mediating civil wars. Report envisages more concerted-action secretariat, with UNSGmore responsible for management/accountability. Equally important: ECOSOC overhaul to strengthen role in social development/improving knowledge on economic-social dimensions of security threats. Also, recommends Human Rights Commission better defender of rights of all. After 60 years, once again findworld mired in disillusionment and all too imperfect. Easy to stand at sidelines and criticise/talk endlessly about UN reform, but world no longer has that luxury. Time to adapt collective security system so it works efficiently/effectively/ equitably. Next year UN states reviewing progress on Millennium Declaration; world leaders' summit in Sep. Appropriate moment to act on some of most important recommendations in report.I will indicate which call for decisions at that level. Fervently hope world leaders will rise to challenge. Have all lived through period of deep division and sombre reflection. Must make 05 year of bold decision; all share responsibility for each other's security. Let's summon courage to fulfil responsibility." Complete text of "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility" Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, plus initial comments by requester/addressee, UNSG Kofi Annan, can be read and even copied(99pp Acrobat Reader)from Secretary General's part of UN file (www.un.org). Executive Summary(8pp Acrobat)also available at same address. Capturing the 21st Century Security: Prospects for Collective Responses(Oct 04)collects reports from six Stanley Foundation conferences in 04 that dealt with UNSG panel. Report at http://reports.stanleyfoundation.org. Council on Foreign Relations "Q&A: Reforming the United Nations" 01 Dec 04:-originally available either by NYT>CFR>International> [title] or via CFR directly. This is expert interview with Lee Feinstein who" has spearheaded Council work on the United Nations" and studied the important UN report and its UNGA prospects.

"Anonymous"Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror(DullesVA: Brassey's 04):-author is a senior US intelligence official with nearly 20 years experience in national security issues related to Afghanistan and South Asia. This strong critique of arrogant US/allies' policies towards Osama bin Laden/al Qaeda, and military action against Afghanistan/Iraq, proved quickly influential in many respects, and advocates less US loyalty to Israel/corrupt Muslim regimes or presence in Mideast. Motivation of Muslim terrorists is identified not as hatred/fear of Western national systems but of their broadly negative actions against Islamic peoples. All complex chapter titles: (1)Some Thoughts on the Power of Focused, Principled Hatred. (2) An Unprepared and Ignorant Lunge to Defeat - The US in Afghanistan. (3) Not Down, Not Out: Al Qaeda's Resiliency, Expansion, and Momentum. (4) The World's View of bin Laden: A Muslim Leader and Hero Coming into Focus? (5) Bin Laden Views the World: Some Old, Some New, and a Twist. (6) Blinding Hubris Abounding: Inflicting Defeat on Ourselves - Non-War, Leaks, and Missionary Democracy. (7) When the Enemy Sets the Stage: How US's Stubborn Obtuseness Aids Its Foes. (8) The Way Ahead: A Few Suggestions for Debate. Epilogue: No Basis for Optimism.

John Arquilla & David Ronfeldt edit. In Athena's Camp: Preparing for Conflict in the Information Age(Santa Monica: RAND 97):-while addressed to US concerns, issues raised are global. Included are: the new world epoch of conflict will revolve around knowledge; the information revolution, being both organizational and technological, empowers small, non-state, networked actors vis-a-vis hierarchies(i.e. states);threats are diffused, nonlinear and complex; conflict tends militarily towards "cyberwar" , socially to diverse but comprehensive "netwar" ; new trends are found in: state, business, and NGO roles, information warfare, global crime and terrorist capacity. Information on balance promotes peace. All these developments affect the UN role in maintaining peace and security.

Reza Aslan No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam(New York: Random House 05):-The widely-read author defines his aim in the Prologue: "This book is not just critical reexamination of the origins and evolution of Islam, nor is it merely an account of the current struggle among Muslims to define the future of this magnificent yet misunderstood faith. This book is, above all else, an argument for reform"(xx). William Grimes, in his New York Times 04 May 05 review, quotes the book:"What is taking place now in the Muslim world is an internal conflict between Muslims, not an external battle between Islam and the West"(248). Grimes himself argues: "[Islam's] history, grippingly narrated and thoughtfully examined, takes up nearly all of 'No god but God'. Aslan... has written a literate, accessible introduction to Islam.,. carefully placing its message/rituals in historical context. Complete with glossary/annotated bibliography, it could easily serve as a college textbook". The 310-page book includes 21st century arguments: "[T]he attacks of 11 Sep 01 were not a defensive strike against a specific act of aggression against Islam. They were never sanctioned by a qualified mujtahid. They made no differentiation between combatant/noncombatant.,. indiscriminately killed women, children, and approximately 200 Muslims. In other words, they fell far short of the regulations imposed by Muhammad for a legitimate jihadi response, which is why, despite common perception in the West, they were so roundly condemned by the vast majority of the world's Muslims"(87). "Tragic events of 11 Sep... initiated a vibrant discourse among Muslims about meaning/message of Islam in 21st century... It may be too early to know who will write the next chapter of Islam's story, but it is not too early to recognize who will ultimately win the war between reform/counterreform... But the cleansing inevitable, and tide of reform cannot be stopped. The Islamic Reformation is already here"(266).

Scott Barrett Why Cooperate? The Incentive to Supply Global Public Goods (New York: Oxford Univ Press 07):-surprisingly well written -considering the complexity of issues- in: (1) describing the existing global challenges (e.g. climate change, nuclear proliferation, worldwide pandemics) and those that threaten the entire planet (e.g. terrorism, physical/chemical/biological instabilities, asteroids); and (2) reporting on how such problems have been successfully or badly handled in the past, the rationales involved, and the various cooperations that would/might work best in future. Barrett's "threat" approach differs from my item "EARTH MUST COOPERATE...", mainly in stressing "Global Public Goods" actions of the recent past (e.g.often successful United Nations; wonderful "Montreal Protocol" ozone treaty), whereas my gloomy and concentrated "page" is designed almost solely to identify: (1) the exploding scale/variety of global threats; (2) the human tendencies that have created/will create them; and (3) why we must change a number of very old human views/feelings. Both press broader global diplomacy as essential tool. Most chapters focus on distinct types of issue/solution. [Even a study of brief bit(s) of 275p would be valuable.] Titles: Incentives to Supply Global Public Goods [GPG]; (1) Single Best Efforts: GPG that Can Be Supplied Unilaterally or Minilaterally; (2) Weakest Links: GPG that Depend on States that Contribute the Least; (3) Aggregate Efforts: GPG that Depend on Combined Efforts of All States; (4) Financing and Burden Sharing: Paying for GPG; (5) Mutual Restraint: Agreeing What States Ought Not to Do; (6) Coordination and Global Standards: Agreeing What States Ought to Do; (7) Development: Do GPG Help Poor States?; Conclusion: Institutions for Supply of GPG.

Stephen G.Brooks & William C.Wohlforth"Reshaping the World Order: How Washington Should Reform International Institutions"(49-63)Foreign Affairs Vol.88/No.2(Mar/Apr09):-official summary :"The current architecture of international institutions is so out of sync with the modern world that it must be updated. But skeptics question whether US is up to the task. They need not worry: US still possesses enough power and legitimacy to spearhead reform". Emphasized quote: "In a 2007 address to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, [Barack Obama, now US president,] stressed that 'it was America that largely built a system of international institutions that carried us through the Cold War... Instead of constraining our power, these institutions magnified it'. 'Today it's become fashionable to disparage the United Nations, the World Bank, and other international organizations', he continued. 'In fact, reform of these bodies is urgently needed if they are to keep pace with the fast-moving threats we face'"(50). Brooks is Associate Professor of Government, and Wohlforth is Daniel Webster Professor of Government and Chair of Department of Government, both Dartmouth College. Article adapted from their: World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy(Princeton Univ 08).

Zbigniew Brzezinski"An Agenda for NATO: Toward a Global Security Web"(2-20) Foreign Affairs Vol.88/No.5 (Sep/Oct 09):-official summary:"In the course of its 60 years, NATO has ended the 'civil war' within the West for transoceanic and European supremacy, institutionalized the United States' commitment to the defense of Europe, and secured the peaceful termination of the Cold War. What next? To live up to its potential, the alliance should become the hub of a global-spanning web of regional cooperative-security undertakings". Emphasized extracts:"In the vulnerable decades after World War II, conflict was avoided largely because NATO remained united". "WshDC's arrogant unilateralism in Iraq and its demagogic Islamophobic sloganeering weakened the unity of NATO". "NATO has the means to become the center of a globe-spanning web of cooperative-security undertakings". Brzezinski was US National Security Adviser 1977-1981. His most recent book: Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower.

Zbigniew Brzezinski"From Hope to Audacity: Appraising Obama's Foreign Policy"(16-30) Foreign Affairs Vol.89/No.1 (Jan/Feb 10):-while this leading/positive essay is about US policy, the subjects are all of global importance. Official summary:"In his first year in office, President Barack Obama has reconceptualized US foreign policy and demonstrated a genuine sense of strategic direction. But so far, Obama's foreign policy has generated more expectations than strategic breakthroughs. Three urgent issues - Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Afghan-Pakistani challenge - are posing an immediate test of his ability to significantly change US policy". Emphasized extracts:"Obama has shown a genuine sense of strategic direction and a solid grasp of what today's world is all about". "US is already losing the renewed confidence of the Arab world that Obama won with his speech in Cairo". "Sanctions against Iran must punish those in power - not the middle class, as an embargo on gasoline would do". "So far, Obama's foreign policy has generated more expectations than strategic breakthroughs". Brzezinski was US National Security Adviser 1977-1981. His most recent book: Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower.

Hedley Bull, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics(Second Edition) (Houndmills: Macmillan Press 95):-new edition of seminal work on state system surprisingly retains original 77 text. ItsUN-relevant aim was to determine whether system would/should survive -and alternatives. Concluded very little change was possible or needed. Interest today derives from how much of original argumentundercut by extraordinary changes of past 20 years, particularly constraints on state sovereignty by:globalization of information/ manufacture/ finance; new global imperatives/power centers/vacuums; novel capacities/threats. For firm support see Hoffmann(op.cit.).

Jason Burke"Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror"(New York: I.B.Tauris & Co 03):-while I read this book long after summarizing Burke‛s valuable article in 04 Foreign Policy(op cit), many of author‛s FP views also stated/implied in book, so aren‛t repeated. Book, however, is a valuable - and concentrated(300 pp) - report on the origins/members/relationships/aims of "al-Qaeda" in global terms, plus involvement of bin Laden to events of 11 Sep 01. Material is derived from both author‛s extraordinary interviews/experience and information from many other personal sources. Advice in book‛s conclusion is of special importance - and has much in common with "Christopher Spencer" item: "We [West] need to counter the twisted vision of world that is becoming so prevalent. Every time force is used it reinforces that vision by providing more evidence of a ‛clash of civilisations‛ and a ‛cosmic struggle‛... ‛War on terror‛ should have a military component [:] hardened militants cannot be rehabilitated[; b]ut if we are to win battle against terrorism, our strategies must be made broader and more sophisticated. [G]reatest weapon available in war on terrorism is the courage, decency, humour and integrity of the vast proportion of the world‛s Muslims [-] restricting the spread of ‛al-Qaeda‛ and its warped worldview. [B]attle between West and men like bin Laden...is not a battle for global supremacy. It is a battle for hearts and minds [-] battle we, and our allies in the Muslim world, losing. [Yet all] modern Islamic terrorism... can be acted on by well-judged, properly executed policies. Causes of terrorism must be addressed, careful analysis of...threat...undertaken, moderate Muslim leaders engaged, spread of hardline strands of Islam rolled back, and enormous effort to counter growing sympathy for ‛al-Qaeda‛ worldview must be made... All terrorist violence, ‛Islamic‛ or otherwise, is unjustifiable/unforgivable/cowardly/contemptible. But just because we condemn does not mean we should not strive to comprehend. We need to keep asking why"(249-50).

Jason Burke"THINK AGAIN: Al Qaeda"Foreign Policy No.142(May/Jun 04):-summarizing (global) public (mis)concepts about current capacities and aims of al Qaeda forces and ideas, and its future strength, Burke, chief reporter of Britain's Observer and author of Al Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror(New York: I.B.Tauris 03)(op cit),offers nine widely believed views about issues, and then denies accuracy of each. "Al Qaeda Is a Global Terrorist Organization" -NO. "It is less an organization than an ideology...Today, structure that was built in Afghanistan has been destroyed... There is no longer a central hub for Islamic militancy. But al Qaeda workview... is growing stronger every day." "Capturing or Killing Bin Laden Will Deal a Severe Blow to Al Qaeda" -WRONG "If...he surrenders without a fight, which is very unlikely, many followers will be deeply disillusioned. If he achieves martyrdom in way that his cohorts can spin as heroic, he will beinspiration for generations to come. Either way, bin Laden's removal from scene will not stop Islamic militancy. "The Militants Seek to Destroy the West So They Can Impose a Global Islamic State" -FALSE "Islamic militants' main objective is not conquest, but to beat back what they perceive as an aggressive West. [S]econdary goal is establishment of...single Islamic state, in lands roughly corresponding to furthest extent of Islamic empire." "The Militants Reject Modern Ideas in Favor of Traditional Muslim Theology" -NO "Islamic hard-liners...have little compunction about embracing tools that modernity provides... [M]ilitants are framing modern political concerns ...within mythic and religious narrative. They do not reject modernization per se, but...resent their failure to benefit from that modernization." "Since the Rise of Al Qaeda, Islamic Moderates Have Been Marginalized" -INCORRECT "Al Qaeda represents lunatic fringe of political thought in Islamic world. While al Qaeda has made significant inroads in recent years, only tiny minority of world's 1.3b Muslims adhere to its doctrine." "The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Is Central to the Militants' Cause" -WRONG "Televised images... reinforce militants' key message that lands of Islam under attack, and that all Muslims must rise up and fight. However,...resolution...would not end threat of militant Islam...Two-state solution...would still leave 'Zionist entity' intact." "Sort Out Saudi Arabia and the Whole Problem Will Disappear" -NO "Inequities of Saudi system... continues to create sense of disenfranchisement that allows extremism to flourish...Saudi Arabia is one of many causes of modern Islamicmilitancy, but it has no monopoly on blame." "It Is Only a Matter of Time Before Islamic Militants Use Weapons of Mass Destruction" -CALM DOWN "Although Islamic militants...have attempted to develop basic chemical or biological arsenal, efforts have been largely unsuccessful due to technical difficulty...Islamic militants far more likely to use conventional bombs or employ conventional devices in imaginative ways." "The West Is Winning the War on Terror" -UNFORTUNATELY, NO "If countries to win war on terror, must eradicate enemies without creating new ones...Invasion of Iraq...has made task more pressing... Ben Laden's aim to radicalize/mobilize. He is closer to achieving goals than West is to deterring him".

Jason Burke"It May Well Take 20 Years. But al-Qaeda‛s Days Are Numbered"Guardian 10 Sep 06:-Special Report by expert/famous journalist, published five years after "9/11", claims: "Osama bin Laden waits in vain for a Muslim ‛awakening‛. The lure of the West is just too powerful a force". Full Burke text (plus 70 optional pages of the item‛s wide Email reactions) is available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,1869182,00.html. Highlights: "There is a sense that history, far from ending, is accelerating. That the centre cannot hold. That the individual counts for nothing. [Burke‛s reactions to some of bin Laden‛s 01 claims: H]e was wrong. Yes, there is increasing radicalisation. Yes, a new and powerfully globalised ‛Muslim‛ identity is spreading, aided by communications technology that renders national frontiers obsolete. Yes, there is a small, if growing, number of Muslims who are attracted to ‛al-Qaedism‛ in its largest sense. But truth is that out of a total of 1.6b Muslims, very few have joined terrorist organisations. In [some Muslim] countries... there has been strong counter-reaction to the atrocities... World‛s Muslims are not behaving as bin Laden wants them to... The [London] bombs were a strike against a continuing and largely successful process of integration on a national scale. The attacks across the world in the past five years are strikes against a similar process of integration on an international scale. This process is largely driven by the continuing popularity and attraction of the Western model of secular liberal democracy, Enlightment values, and capitalist economics. It is the success of this model that has provoked the violence against it, not its failure. [N]eed to ask why so many people... recently came to view the apparently ineluctable process of Westernisation. [T]he arithmetic of terrorism means that you only need a small shift in public opinion to create enough angry individuals to cause a major problem... The appeal of the West is founded not just on a dream of a high level of material comfort but also on the satisfaction of basic and universal human values such as dignity, protection of life and justice. This gives West considerable moral capital,.. a fragile commodity... profligately spent in recent years... But for all the clumsiness with which the misconceived ‛war on terror‛ has been handled, the attraction, however conflicted, of ‛the West‛ for billions of people remains our greatest strength. Remember that and, over 10 or 20 years, it will become clear bin Laden‛s life or death will indeed have no significance. He and his kind will have been consigned to the history books". Related Burke volume is:On the Road to Kandahar(Bond Street Books 06 or St. Martin‛s Press 07)"From one of world‛s leading experts..how we are to get to grips with radical Islam/what it really means".

Barry Buzan and Gerald Segal Anticipating the Future: Twenty Millennia of Human Progress(London: Simon & Schuster 1998):-this book is both stimulating and misleading -points made in Reviews in both The Economist 14 Feb 98(12)and Foreign Affairs Vol.77/No.2(Mar/Apr 1998)(134-9):-in spite of its title, almost entire book deals with broad sweep of human past and present, in order to put 1998 and our possible futures into focus. It does it clearly/usefully if in fairly orthodox terms. "Future" section anticipates UN system stymied, mainly by US, requiring replacement. My criticism is that it underestimates depth and acceleration of current global change(INTRODUCTION or Bull-op.cit.).

Frances Cairncross The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives(Boston: Harvard Business School 97):-superb survey for non-experts. Major globally-relevant points:distance will no longer determine costs of electronic communication; location will no longer be key in most business decisions; most people will get access to omni-address, two-way, picture-capable, selective filterablenetworks; global bonds will join like-minded; roles of home and office will become blurred; distanceeducation will be easy; there will be rapid and global information dispersal; qualified people will become ultimate scarce resources; state info-control and privacy will both be reduced; while there will be global pay levelling for similar work, there will be more divergence by job; global/urban migration will lessen as standards level; taxes will be harder to collect, so they will be lowered to attract skills; cities will concentrateless work but more culture; English will strengthen its global role, but cultures will generally be reinforcedby new opportunities; written communication will improve in quality; governments will become moresensitive to public views; cause of peace will be helped by mutual experience/needs among people. Many trends will stress increased global cooperation. See also Brief: TV globalization Economist 29 Nov 97(71-2). All are prime examples of proliferation, speed and impact of new global trends and prospects.

Canadian Council on International Law and The Markland Group edit. Treaty Compliance: Some Concerns and Remedies(London: Kluwer Law International 98):-papers/recommendations from meeting on "Compliance Systems for Disarmament Treaties" held under editors' auspices, Toronto 95. Papers revised/expanded/updated. Essence of Recommendations: (A)Biological/Chemical Weapons Treaties:(1)guidelines on limitations of defensive research; (2)CWC national penal legislation should also bind governments;(3)study whether mid-spectrum agents fit BWC or CWC;(4)UN Center for Disarmament should be able to tabulate/disseminate CBM data for BWC;(5)BWC scrutinize compliance reports after technical analysis;(6)citizen compliance concerns should be recognized;(7)BWC/CWC parties should disseminatetreaty obligations using NGO/foundations' help;(8)legal assistance treaties to combat anti-BWC/ CWC transnational conspiracies.(B)Nuclear Treaties:(1)IAEA should reinforce special inspections; (2)increase IAEA budget;(3)security assurances against WMD threat/use;(4)help involve public/science community inverification.© Humanitarian/Human Rights Treaties: (1)compliance/ verification: be expert, automatically triggered, and respond to citizen/NGO/ government information;(2)NGOs: participate fully in reviewconferences;(3)national legal regimes: ensure: treaty implementation; individuals/groups get effectiveaccess/redress; legal profession knows scope/ availability of international legal standards;(4)arms controltreaties: provide for NGO information; (5)compliance/ sanctions: use trade mechanisms, weapons producers, financial institutions;(6)effective dissemination of human rights/arms agreements: be monitored by independent global body. Papers' Essence: Kim S. Carter, Apply Humanitarian Law Compliance/ Enforcement to Arms Treaties; James F. Keeley, Compliance and the NPT: Safeguards/Supply Controls; Christine Elwell,Trade/Environment Compliance Measures Enhance Conventional Arms Treaties(Landmines-UN Peacekeeping);Douglas Scott/A. Walter Dorn, CWC Compliance Regime-Summary/ Analysis; Nicholas A. Sims, Strengthen BWC/CWC Compliance Regimes.

Edward Carr, "The Koreas: Yesterday's War, Tomorrow's Peace" in The Economist 10 Jul 99(1-16):-millennium ended with probably the greatest single threat to global peace and security being danger ofconflict between Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea(North Korea)and Republic of Korea(South Korea). While Survey concentrates on economic structures and prospects, it shows danger is serious in every dimension: military, geographic, strategic, diplomatic, political, ideological, developmental, historic, educational...However, Carr argues, North "is inherently unstable. Economy is collapsing and needs radical reform. There is despondency and latent unrest. Corruption is rife.[M]ilitary...is far larger...thanthe country can afford" (14). Hence it must transform somehow. Yet while South is 12 times richer per capita, it could not absorb a ruin; so it is optimum that they come together gradually. By 15 Apr 00, so much of global interest was happening in Korea that Economist ran a major essay as update: "The Two Koreas: Mr. Kim, Meet Mr. Kim" (21-4). In spite of agreement by North to hold an unprecedented bilateral summit,essay's tone seems even more cautious. Korean problems also produced two excellent New York Timesarticles. Howard W. French, "North Korea Shyly Courts Capitalism" 30 Apr 00:-claims that there has recently been a major change in North's economic policy. It accepts major high-tech investment, mainly from South Korea and China, and is starting to look like its big neighbour with complexes of efficient, private assembly plants coexisting with ancient, moribund state heavy industry. Calvin Sims, "Behind Korea Meeting, a Million Troops in a Standoff" 04 May 00:-reports on ever-tense "demilitarized zone" dividing well over 1m troops on constant alert and equipped with advanced military hardware. Not only are small but deadly clashes normal, but North has just deployed many long-range multiple-rocket launchers and self-propelled guns near zone, and is now believed to possess thousands of tons of chemical and biological weapons - besides its infamous missiles. All this in spite of new North-South contacts and "improved" relations.

Ashton Carter, John Deutch & Philip Zelikow "Catastrophic Terrorism: Tackling the New Danger" Foreign Affairs Vol.77/No.6(Nov/Dec 98):-distillation of Universities Study Group on Catastrophic Terrorism reportpublished by Stanford University. Version will also appear as chapter in forthcoming Preventive Defense: An American Security Strategy for the 21st Century by Ashton Carter and William Perry. All(distinguished) members of Study Group are listed in footnote. Conclusions are: terrorism using weapons of mass destruction has moved "from far-fetched horror to a contingency that could happen next month" ; particularly with biological weapons, "technology is more accessible, and society is more vulnerable" ; elaborate "networks have developed among organized criminals, drug traffickers, arms dealers, money launderers, [thus]creating infrastructure for[such]terrorism around the world" . While recommendations directed mainly at urgent US action, all fall into universal categories: intelligence/warning; prevention/deterrence;management of crises and consequences. All needs international/global cooperation.

Ashton B. Carter "How To Counter WMD" Foreign Affairs Vol.83/No.5(Sep/Oct 04):-ex-US Assistant Secretary of Defense (under Clinton)and currently Co-director, Harvard Preventive Defense Project, writes just when:most are concerned that US attacked Iraq by mis-claiming WMD threat; US presidential election imminent. Concerned that since 11 Sep crisis, US "counterproliferation policies have not been overhauled" ,and" it has made no new efforts to prevent nonstate actors such as terrorists from getting their hands on WMD." He truly decrees much reliable advice on countering the serious terrorist/WMD dangers to the entire global audience, and not to Washington only. His basic view:" WMD generally applies to nuclear, biological, chemical weapons; ballistic missiles; more recently'dirty bombs,'ordinary explosives containing some radioactive material. But this definition is too broad. Chemical weapons are not much more lethal than conventional explosives/hardly...WMD label. Similarly, long-range ballistic missiles especially destructive only if they have nuclear or biological warhead, and so should not be considered separate category. Dirty bombs cause local contamination and costly priority. Primary focus of counterproliferation policy, therefore, should be nuclear and biological weapons...True overhaul of counterproliferation policy would recognize that, like defense against terrorism, defense against WMD must be multilayered and comprehensive. Such reforms would aim to eliminate threat of nuclear terrorism entirely by denying fissilematerials to nonstate actors and...prepare to contain scale of most likely forms of bioterrorism to minor outbreaks. It would revamp outdated arms control agreements, expand counterproliferation programs,...improve way intelligence on WMD is collected and analysed.[W]ould favor countering WMD with non-nuclear rather than nuclear measures. And it would at last develop coherent strategies for heading off...most pressing nuclear proliferation threats." Substantial article then amplifies all these points.

Nayan Chanda Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization(New Haven: Yale Univ Press 07):-this fascinating survey of the development of globalization since 6000BCE is valuable as a unique reminder - to specialists in history, politics, economics, religion, movement, technology, science, etc - of how their own knowledge relates to other specialized information, and to the present/future of the intense/expanding relations across this planet. (This aim corresponds exactly with my purpose in this information source.) Style is amusing, and novel in all areas but one's expertise, so it is delicious/constructive in all unstudied fields and hence globally constructive. Final para offers view that fits closely with that in Christopher Spencer Oct 06(op.cit.):"We benefit from all that the world has to offer, but we think only in narrow terms of protecting the land and people within our national borders - the borders that have been established only in the modern era. [All that separates us] from the rest of the world... cannot change the fact that we are bound together through the invisible filament of history. [W]e know how we have reached where we are and where we may be headed. We are in a position to know that the sum of human desires, aspirations, and fears that have woven our fates together can neither be disentangled nor reeled back. But neither are we capable of accurately gauging how this elemental mix will shape our planet's future. Still, compared to the past... we are better equipped to look over the horizon at both the dangers and the opportunities ...There is no alternative to rising above our tribal interests: over the centuries to come, our destinies will remain inextricably bound together. [W]e can attempt to nudge our rapidly integrating world toward a more harmonious course - because we are all connected".

Michael Chertoff"The Responsibility to Contain: Protecting Sovereignty Under International Law" (130-147) Foreign Affairs Vol.88/No.1(Jan/Feb 09):-official summary:"A new framework of international law that confronts modern threats is long overdue. If it is to revive the legitimacy of international law, this order must be predicated on a new principle, under which individual states assume reciprocal obligations to contain transnational threats emerging from within their borders". Emphasized extracts:"Those who challenge the relevance of consent often treat 'sovereignty' as a pejorative term or an antiquated concept". "If US withdraws from international legal institutions to protect its national interests, everyone will lose". "The most serious threats to sovereignty today do not necessarily come from the official acts of other states". "International law has no business interfering with the US domestic system of justice". "States can no longer hide behind seventeenth-century concepts of sovereignty in world of twenty-first-century dangers". Chertoff: US Secretary of Homeland Security. Views expressed are his own.

Bruce Clark, "A Survey of NATO: Knights in Shining Armour?" (1-18)The Economist 24 Apr 99:- extremely useful in several respects. Provides history of NATO's gradually - now rapidly - changing role(s),(un)popularity,(dis)unity. Describes how "most successful military alliance in history" suddenly lost its raison d'etre; then altered from new trans-European-US security entity, swamped with new applicants and proud of its Bosnian role, to frustrated military giant in Kosovo, seen by many as having acted illegally and unnecessarily, with future dependent on solving complex puzzle of own making. Also outlines functional dilemmas facing military allies equipped/trained decades apart technologically. Finally, survey coversNATO's split over whether it plays global role in(UN-sponsored) multilateral combat interventions which it alone has weapons, training, cohesion to handle.

Walter J. Clemens, Jr, Dynamics of International Relations: Conflict and Mutual Gain in an Era of Global Interdependence(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield 98):-well-organized introductory text on IR, helpful to students or those first looking at global issue(s). Chapters:(1)Is IR "Winner-Take-All?" Can It Be Mutual Gain?(2)How to Win at Peace: Creating New World Orders;(3)Foreign Policy Decision Making: Do Individuals Count?(4)Why Wage War? Does It Pay to Fight?(5)Power and Influence:What Wins?(6)Why Arm?Can Swords Become Plowshares? (7)Negotiating Conflict:How Can Foes Become Partners?(8)Nationalism and World Order: Peoples at Risk? (9)Intervention and Mediation: How Can Outsiders Help?(10)Democracy and Authoritarianism: What Impact on International Peace and Prosperity?(11)Wealth of Nations: West Meets East(12)Challenges of Development: South MeetsNorth(13) Transitions: Can Second World Join First?(14)Ecopolitics: Health of Nations(15)Organizing for Mutual Gain:UN, Europe and Nonstate Actors(16)International Protection of Human Rights:Sham orRevolution? (17)Alternative Futures.

Walter J. Clemens, Jr, "From AD 2000 to AD 2025: Six Alternative Futures" International JournalVol.LIV/No.2(Spring 99):-interesting/balanced exercise in futurology using relatively conservative global views to create believable: (1)Unipolar Stability: benign US hegemony extends most current/surprise-freeglobal trends.(2) Fragmented Chaos: environmental-pandemic-autarkic fears come true; global injusticeprovokes anger/violence; WMDs proliferate; China turns unstable; all reflecting a low level of global cooperation.(3) Hegemon Challenged: China becomes powerful bully; either intimidates or is faced down by US.(4)Bipolar Cooperation: China turns democratic/cooperative.(5)Multipolar Cooperation: Most countries turn democratic/prosperous.(6)Global Governance Without World Government: trans-national civil societyand governments share powers at many levels. Interdependence may force the last.

Harlan Cleveland, Birth of a New World: An Open Moment for International Leadership(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers 93):-post-Cold War book by a top US diplomat and administrator who does not advocate a Pax Americana. Offers succinct description of many changes in, and dynamic characteristics of, post-industrial world.

David S.Cloud"Navy to Expand Fleet With New Enemies in Mind"New York Times 03 Dec 05:-"[US] Navy wants to increase its fleet.., reversing years of decline in naval shipbuilding and adding dozens of warships designed to defeat emerging adversaries, [US] officials say... While increasing fleet size is popular [in] Congress, plan faces various obstacles, including questions about whether affordable...andwhether mix of vessels is suitable to deal with emerging threats, like China's expanding navy... [F]leet reached its cold war peak... in 1987 and... steadily shrinking since then... 'Navy appears... grappling withneed to balance funding for supporting its role in the global war on terrorism against those for meetinga potential challenge from modernized Chinese maritime military forces' , said a naval analyst. [P]lan calls for building 55 small, fast vessels called littoral combat ships, which are being designed to allow Navy to operate in shallow coastal areas where mines and terrorist bombings are a growing threat. Costing less than $300m, littoral combat ship is relatively inexpensive... Choices have led some analysts tosuggest Navy is de-emphasizing threat from China, at least in early stages of the shipbuilding plan.Beijing's investment in submarines, cruise missiles and other weapon systems expected to pose major threat to US warships for at least a decade... 'This is not a fleet that is being oriented to Chinese threat', said analyst. 'It's being oriented around irregular warfare/stability operations/dealing with rogue states' .

Charles Clover, "Dreams of the Eurasian Heartland" Foreign Affairs Vol.78/No.2(Mar/Apr 99):-notes fast-growing and powerful philosophical idea used by Russian Communist Party(chair Gennadi Zyuganov: author The Geography of Victory)and radical right parties, resuscitates "geopolitics" of Halford Mackinder. Contends "earth forever divided into two naturally antagonistic spheres: land and sea.[N]atural repository for global land power Eurasian'heartland'...territory of former Russian empire. Whoever controls heartland...forever seek to dominate Eurasian landmass and ultimately world" .With development of airpower/ICBMs/strategic downgrading of landmass, was not very credible even during Cold War, but having lost empire/self-esteem, Eurasianism attracts many Russians(Primakov?).

Eliot A. Cohen, "A Revolution in Warfare: Technology Strikes Again" Foreign Affairs Vol.75/No.2(Mar/Apr 96):-contends that complete/real-time knowledge of battlefield(plus guided ammunition)changed warfare in virtually every sphere -including political." Might lead...to drastic shrinking of military, casting aside old forms of organization and creation of new ones, slashing of current force structure, and investment of unusually large sums in [R&D].

Eliot A. Cohen, "History and the Hyperpower" Foreign Affairs Vol.83/No.4(Jul/Aug 04):-vast US scope, in comparison with any other state or group of states, gives it both capacities and opposition of past major empires(e.g. Rome, Britain), but its global interests/roles are unique and controversial. Author contendswell worth while to compare US positions and potential with historical styles/events/problems. "Historicalanalogy making rounds of late is notion that US today is an empire that can and should be compared with imperial powers of past...Casual talk of Pax Americana...implies that US is following pattern of imperial dominance that holds precedents and lessons. Metaphor of empire merits neither angry rejection nor gleeful embrace. It instead deserves careful scrutiny, because imperial history contains analogies and parallels that bear critically on current US predicament."

Leonard A. Cole, The Eleventh Plague: The Politics of Biological and Chemical Warfare(New York: W.H.Freeman 97):-three-way view of problems raised by biological and chemical weapons. Part I reports on US attitudes towards, and activities in, developing/controlling these weapons. Part II deals withpossession/use by Iraq, and varied psychological reactions of world opinion, Israelis, and Iranian/US troops. Part III completes fine account of agents/ techniques involved, physical effects, and latest users:terrorists. 96 report on major international proposals (BWC/CWC)to control such weapons notes thatWHO global disease-watch would help treaty verification.

Paul Collier The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It(New York: Oxford Univ Press 07):-reviews praise this brilliant description of the world's poorest states and how they need unprecedented forms of aid to escape their chronic dilemmas. Essence of argument by author in Preface (xi):"The problems these countries have are very different from those we have addressed for the past four decades in what we have called 'developing countries' - that is, virtually all countries besides the most developed, which account for only one-sixth of the earth's people. For all this time we have defined developing countries so as to encompass five billion of the six billion people in the world. But not all developing countries are the same. Those where development has failed face intractable problems not found in the countries that are succeeding. We have, in fact, done the easier part of global development; finishing the job now gets more difficult. Finish it we must, because an impoverished ghetto of one billion people will be increasingly impossible for a comfortable world to tolerate... But to do so we will need to draw upon tools - such as military interventions, international standard-setting, and trade policy - that to date have been used for other purposes.. To build a unity of purpose, thinking needs to change, not just within the development agencies but among the wider electorates whose views shape what is possible". Text (200pp) is essential.

Paul Collier "The Politics of Hunger: How Illusion and Greed Fan the Food Crisis"(67-79) Foreign Affairs Vol.87/No.6(Nov/Dec 08):-official summary:"The food crisis could have dire effects on the poor. Politicians have it in their power to bring food prices down. But doing so will require ending the bias against big commercial farms and genetically modified crops and doing away with damaging subsidies - the giants of romantic populism, bolstered by both illusion and greed". [Criticism is particularly aimed at US and Europe.] Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of Center for Study of African Economics at Oxford Univ. and author of Bottom Billion.

Cindy Collins and Thomas G. Weiss, An Overview and Assessment of 1989-1996 Peace Operations Publications: Occasional Paper #28(Providence: Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown Univ. 97):-any book ordering/ summarizing 2000-publications about globally critical issue is invaluable. Although prepared as research aid, concise text worth reading by itself for wealth of information/views it conveys on many big problems/decisions facing UN. Subjects: Root Causes of Armed Conflicts and Appropriate Responses; Decisions to Intervene(ethics, and UNSC/state processes); Planning and Implementing Intervention(UN, state, and NGO processes/relations).

Carl Conetta and Charles Knight, Vital Force: A Proposal for the Overhaul of the UN Peace Operations System and for the Creation of a UN Legion(Cambridge: Commonwealth Institute 95):-detailed and fairly technical proposal, employing in-depth knowledge of modern military organization and capabilities. Like Government of Canada's simultaneous proposal(op.cit.)this was prepared in response to suggestion by UNSG(Boutros-Ghali)that UN-controlled rapid response capability needed. After identifying six problems affecting "authorization, planning, and execution of peace operations" , it proposes creation of four organizations: Military Advisory and Cooperation Council; multilateral Field Communication and Liaison Corps; strengthened Secretariat staff structure; four-brigade permanent standing force(UN Legion)plus field support structure(44,000 personnel).

Gordon Conway, The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the 21st Century(London: Penguin Books 97):-expert survey of food problems and potential in developing countries. Specific advice on eradicating hunger/rapidly reducing 750m undernourished(as pledged at World Food Summit)through complex but realistic second Green Revolution. Topics: global hunger/poverty; 2020 prospects; specific needs; Green Revolution's successes; where missed poor; pollution from pesticides/fertilizer; production trends/priorities; biotechnology; sustainable agriculture; farmers' input; pest control; nutrients; soil/water management; other resources; food security.

Gwyneth Cravens Power To Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy(New York: Alfred A.Knopf 07):-valuable source at a time when nuclear power once again gaining global popularity in light of climate change threats from fossil fuel emissions. While text is 450pp long and partly technological/scientific, it appears carefully and honestly drafted, and able to be used "here-and-there" as a source. Editorial summary is itself impressive, e.g."...On the nuclear tour, Cravens converses with scientists from many disciplines, public health and counterterrorism experts, engineers, and researchers who study both the harmful and benign effects of radiation; she watches remote-controlled robotic manipulators unbolt a canister of spent uranium fuel inside a 'hot cell' bathed in eerie orange light; observes the dark haze from fossil-fuel combustion obscuring once-pristine... skies and the leaky, rusted pipes and sooty puddles in a coal-fired plant; glimpses rainbows made by salt dust in the deep subterranean corridors of a working nuclear waste repository. She refutes the major arguments against nuclear power one by one... And she demonstrates how, time and again, political fearmongering and misperceptions about risk have trumped science in the dialogue about the feasibility of nuclear energy. In the end, we see how nuclear power has been successfully and economically harnessed... around the globe to become the single largest displacer of greenhouse gases, and how its overall risks and benefits compare with those of other energy sources. [A]n eloquent, convincing argument for nuclear power as a safe energy source and an essential deterrent to global warming".

Chester A.Crocker & Fen Osler Hampson, Managing Global Chaos: Sources of and Responses to International Conflict(Washington: US Institute of Peace Press 96):-42 expert/practical essays (675pp) offering new facts/thinking regarding global challenges, and how resulting conflicts might be met (e.g. by UN). Challenges identified include: many weak(or failed)states; ethnic conflicts; religio-cultural militancy; population pressures; resource crises(shortages, disputes); global competition; radical military technology(Adams op.cit.); mega-terrorism. Stress on preventive action.

Barbara Crossette, "U. N. Council in Rare Accord: Fight Terrorism" New York Times 20 Oct 99:-UN has long been unable to reach agreement over global action on terrorism, a critical lacuna given need to eliminate all sanctuary. "One state's terrorist is another's freedom-fighter" . Now decline -or at least public denial- of state support for terrorist groups, and experience of many with insurgents they brand terrorist, appears to have broken impasse. On 19 Oct Security Council unanimously passed resolution(Russian SC President deemed it "anti-terrorist manifesto" ) regarding growing dangers of international terrorism. Reportedly it calls for "better cooperation and sharing of information among nations and[agencies, and]asks governments to prevent terrorist groups from raising money to deny such groups safe haven and to be vigilant against false refugee claims made by terrorists seeking new bases" .

Barbara Crossette "The U.N.'s Unhappy Lot: Perilous Police Duties Multiplying" New York Times 22 Feb 00:-describes challenge facing UN in finding/managing very large number of police officers demanded by new peacekeeping duties and dangers.(For history of UN police activities, see Oakley op.cit.)UNPeacekeeping Operations' total staff of 400 must find/deploy nearly 9,000 specially qualified officersimmediately(almost 5,000 for Kosovo, 2000+for Bosnia, 1,640 for East Timor).For first time, UN police in Kosovo/East Timor have direct executive law enforcement powers and in Kosovo will be armed. Less than half Kosovo force has arrived(and some returned as unqualified).Thus in assuming responsibility for law and order, UN police activities not only grown but become more varied/complex/delicate/ hazardous. Many are worried that current assignments will exceed UN capacity.

Wendy Cukier, "International Fire/Small Arms Control" (73-90)Canadian Foreign Policy Vol.6/No.1(Fall 98):-describes close links between firearms control as element of domestic crime prevention and growing body of international small arms controls, and urges more cooperation. Common strategy should include:conflict prevention/peace building; disarmament; injury prevention, safety and health promotion; crime prevention/security. After providing statistics on global/national threat posed by small arms, essay describesdifferent perspectives on intervention to prevent casualties. Then discusses data collection/surveillance;sources of firearms/small arms; various methods of controlling supply(limits on access; controls on manufacture/sales/transfers; removal from circulation by amnesties/ buy-backs). "Multi-layered, comprehensive[diversified]approach essential" .

Ivo H.Daalder & Michael E.O'Hanlon"Unlearning the Lessons of Kosovo"Foreign Policy No.116 (Fall 99):-test of assumptions to see if Kosovo sets precedent for humanitarian interventions. NATO Won: air campaign was clearly NATO success in gaining more than originally asked, but only after Serbs had uprooted 1.3m Kosovars. Airpower Alone Worked: while" probably most successful use of strategic bombardmentin history of warfare" , vulnerable Serb infrastructure, 40,000 KLA troops, credible NATO invasion, were also key. Powell Doctrine is Dead: NATO power was not "decisive" initially, but grew until it was so. UN Is Nice, But Not Necessary: UN still cannot run military operations itself, but new UNSC unity helped Serbs concede, and UN political mandate unprecedented. In Military Terms, Europe Is a Dwarf: US ran war, butEurope now running peace/reordering its armed forces. Lessons: such operations not cheap/easy; US must still lead and be willing to commit troops.

Ivo Daalder & Jan Lodal "The Logic of Zero: Toward a World Without Nuclear Weapons"(80-95) Foreign Affairs Vol.87/No.6(Nov/Dec 08):-official summary:"US nuclear policy remains stuck in the Cold War even as the threats the United States faces - nuclear terrorism chief among them - have changed. Washington must lead the way to a world without nuclear weapons, and the first step is for US to dramatically limit its own nuclear arsenal's size and declared purpose". Daalder is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Lodal is immediate past President of the Atlantic Council of the US and a former senior Defense Department and White House official in the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton.

Donald C.F.Daniel, Bradd C.Hayes and Chantal deJonge Oudraat, Coercive Inducement and the Containment of International Crises(Washington:US Institute of Peace Press 99):-novel look at various multilateral peace operations since 88. Effort is valuable as new diversity/ complexity/cost brought confused or bad mandates/structures/ resources/motives/ aims/hopes. Worse, many overwhelmed(soundermined)UN system both unprepared and unable to handle them. Address many operations between traditional peacekeeping(firm ceasefire/both sides' consent/fully impartial/minimum self-defense)and military enforcement. Middle option termed Coercive Inducement(CI): "judicious resort to coercive diplomacy or forceful persuasion by international community in order to implement community norms or mandates vis-a-vis all parties to particular crisis." UN operations in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti analysed to show effects of abiding by or contravening principles of CI:(1)Inducement Contingents(ICs)function under aegis of leading state or coalition in operations endorsed by UN.(2)CI personnel represent both moral authority andcredible force.(3)While aspiring for as much universality as possible, ICs primarily reflect capabilities that make for immediately effective crisis responses.(4)IC personnel assume no more than provisional consent, so act to impose community will on recalcitrant parties.(5)While not intending to harm anyone's interests, IC must implement mandates even when doing so prejudices interests of one or more party.(6)Force may be used for other than self-defense, but should not exceed minimum to cause desired behaviour.(7)IC mustplan to minimize casualties while preparing for worst. End offers operational guidelines when following CI principles, and circumstances that make it essential.

Gustav Daniker, The Guardian Soldier: On the Nature and Use of Future Armed Forces(Geneva: United Nations UNIDIR 36 95):-thoughtful analysis by Swiss military strategist of effects and opportunities brought by end of Cold War. He sees security as multi-faceted, long-sighted, and aimed at stability - not destruction.

James Dao and Andrew C. Revkin, "Machines Are Filling In for Troops" New York Times 16 Apr 02:-issue presents "A Revolution in Warfare" of informative" interactive feature offering scenes from robot battle" ;substantial survey of current US military thinking/planning on reducing both number/vulnerability of US personnel directly engaged in combat. While technology already "brought array of sensors, vehicles and weapons that can be operated by remote control or totally autonomous" stunning success in Afghanistan has accelerated existing "shift away from people...to automation." Assets are many: much smaller/lighter than manned units, making them cheaper, more fuel efficient/easier to move and have unlimited attention-spans. Most important, can both shield and augment(expensive) live soldier, while feeling neither exhaustion nor fear. "[O]ver time[such]technologies produce biggest change in warfare in generations" particularly when provided with" much greater autonomy, powerful artificial intelligence" .

Richard DawkinsThe God Delusion(New York: Houghton Mifflin 06):-as with 06 Dennett/previous Dawkinsitems, many books related to the controversial global roles of science vs religion are now becomingincreasingly critical - and influential(?). They may ease or contribute to serious violence if the growing factual issues are not compromised in some manner. Dawkins is not only 'a preeminent scientist'but offers an extraordinarily thorough critique of mainly Christian/Jewish theology as supported by the Bibleand fundamentalism. Press outline includes:"With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms. [E]viscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. [S]hows how religion fuels war/foments bigotry/abuses children, buttressing his points withhistorical/contemporary evidence. [M]akes compelling case: belief in God not just wrong but potentially deadly. [A]lso offers exhilarating insight into advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not least of which is clearer/ truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever master". Highlight(282):"Fundamentalists know they are right because they have read the truth in a holy book and they know, in advance, that nothing will budge them from their belief. [I]f evidence seems to contradict it, the evidence must be thrown out, not the book. By contrast, what I, as scientist, believe(for example,evolution)I believe...because I have studied the evidence. It really is a very different matter. Books about evolution...believed because they present overwhelming quantities of mutually buttressed evidence. In principle, any reader can check evidence. When science book wrong, somebody eventually discoversthe mistake/it is corrected in subsequent books. That conspicuously doesn't happen with holy books".

Tobias Debiel, "Strengthening the UN as an Effective World Authority: Cooperative Security Versus Hegemonic Crisis Management" Global Governance Vol.6/No.1(Jan/Mar 00):-neither as academic or utopian as title might suggest, looks at very practical/pertinent issue of what UN can and should do to be more effective in peacekeeping and crisis prevention roles. Such roles increase in importance as consensus develops: national sovereignty may be curtailed in exceptional humanitarian circumstances. Argued: world, unready for legally-bound multilateralism, and widely opposed to superpower-driven coercion,must turn to cooperative security - willing collaboration of all types of bodies: interest groups/relevantstates/regional organizations. Core element UN must create "standby capacities for early warning/conflict management/peacekeeping; reform of non-military sanctions instrument; and speedy institution ofinternational criminal court" (39).

Daniel C.Dennett Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (New York: Viking 06):-very carefully drafted by professor of philosophy, Tufts University and well-known author (particularly Darwin's Dangerous Idea 95), aims of 450p volume are the questions:"Is Religion Good For You? Should It Be the Basis for Morality?". Accurate, if full, summary of the book's aim on its dust-cover:"For many people around the world - perhaps most people - there is nothing more important than religion. It has comfortedthem in their suffering, become an integral part of their marriages and child rearing, and encouragedgroup cooperation to achieve ends both magnificant and terrible. Religion plays such a powerful rolein the world that we should try to understand it in all its complexities, but most adherants bristle at anyone who wants to investigate their practices and beliefs in a scientific manner. In this daring and important new book, Daniel C.Dennett seeks to uncover the origins of this remarkable family of phenomena that mean so much to so many people, and to discuss why - and how - they have commanded allegiance, becomeso potent, and shaped so many lives so strongly. Where does our devotion to God come from? Wherewas the psychological and cultural soil in which religion first took root? Is it an addiction or a genuine needthat we should try to preserve at any cost? Is it the product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Do those who believe in God have good reasons for doing so? Are people right to say that the best way to live a good life is through religion? In a spirited argument that ranges widely through biology,history, and psychology, Dennett explores how religion evolved from folk beliefs and how these early 'wild'strains of religion were then carefully and consciously domesticated. As the motives of religion'sstewards entered this process, such features as secrecy and systematic invulnerability to disproofemerged. Dennett contends that this protective veneer of mystery needs to be removed so that religions can be better understood, and - most important - he argues that the widespread assumption that they arethe necessary foundation of morality can no longer be supported. Breaking the Spell is not an antireligiousscreed but rather an eye-opening exploration of the role that religious belief plays in our lives, ourinteractions, and our country. With the conflict between science and 'intelligent design'becoming ever more impassioned, Dennett has written a calmly reasoned and timely book that will be read and debated by believers and nonbelievers alike".

Daniel Deudney & G.John Ikenberry"The Myth of the Autocratic Revival: Why Liberal Democracy Will Prevail"(77-93) Foreign Affairs Vol.88/No.1(Jan/Feb 09):-official summary:"After years of liberal triumphalism, recently fears have grown that autocracies have found new ways to prosper. In fact, the imperatives of liberal democracy are as strong as ever. The key to defanging autocracies is bringing them into the liberal order, not excluding them from it". Emphasized extracts:"There remain deep contradictions between authoritarian political systems and capitalist economic systems". "War as a path to conflict resolution and great-power expansion has become largely obsolete". "Emerging global problems will create common interests across states regardless of regime type". Deudney: Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and author of Bounding Power: Republican Security From the Polis to the Global Village. Ikenberry: Albert G.Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, a Global Eminence Scholar at Kyung Hee University, and author of After Victory: Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Rebuilding of Order After Major Wars.

John Deutch, Harold Brown, and John P.White"National Missile Defense: Is There Another Way?" Foreign Policy No.119(Summer 00):-three top defense politicians believe some NMD system "critical" to US future homeland defense, but initial system as planned is not best approach as it fails to address several threats faced. Propose building on theater missile defense(TMD)systems already under development against intermediate-range ballistic missiles since:(1)more balanced way to address varied missile threats;(2)offersboth technical/cost advantages; (3)more responsive to concerns of Russia, China, many USallies;(4)eases process of modifying ABM Treaty. Rationale:(1)ICBMs hardly most likely threat to US;theater missile threat particularly urgent;(2)present NMD program pursues too many options; driven byschedules rather than events; artificially separates NMD from TMD when latter can be upgraded(boost-phase)at less cost;(3)US must start budgeting against cruise missile or aircraft attack, and spend more onsurreptitious terrorist attacks;(4)impact on relations with Russia, China, allies of deploying NMD as planned likely severe. TMD would not violate ABM or threaten Russia and, if sea-based off DPRK, threaten China less. For(pro/con)LETTERS regarding article, see Foreign Policy Sep/Oct 00(new format/bimonthly).

Faisal Devji Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy . Morality . Modernity(Ithaca: Cornell Univ.Press 05):-very thoughtful analysis of Al-Qaeda's jihad motives behind the 11 Sep 01 attack against USA. To determine and describe this, the less-than-200-page book draws often on written/spoken rationales by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in particular. Following is derived from its own summary: "Devji focuses on the ethical content of [the Al-Qaeda's] jihad, as opposed to its purported political intent. Al-Qaedadiffers radically from such groups as... Muslim Brotherhood and Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah, which aim to establish fundamentalist Islamist states. In fact,.. Al-Qaeda [has] a decentralized structure, andemphasis on moral rather than political action... Bin Laden and his lieutenants view their cause as aresponse to oppressive conditions faced by Muslim world[; not] an Islamic attempt to build states. Al-Qaeda culls diverse symbols/fragments from Islam's past in order to legitimize its global war against the'metaphysical evil'emanating from the West. Most salient example of this assemblage... is concept of jihad itself, which Al-Qaeda defines as 'individual duty'incumbent on all Muslims, [and] weapon of spiritual conflict. Al Qaeda and its jihad, Devji suggests, are only the most visible manifestations of wider changes in the Muslim world. Such changes include fragmentation of traditional/fundamentalist forms of authority. [Hence] Al-Qaeda represents a dangerous new way of organizing Muslim belief/practice within a globallandscape and does not require ideological/institutional unity. [Book] is at once a sophisticated work of historical/cultural analysis, and an invaluable guide to the world's most prominent terrorist movement".

David B. Dewitt, David G. Haglund and John J. Kirton, edit., Building a New Global Order: Emerging Trends in International Security(Toronto: Oxford Univ. Press 93):-varied group of essays analysing security impact of post-Cold War realities and trends on power relations, on international issues(military, economic, cultural, environmental, demographic)and on various "institutions" particularly UN, but also on NATO, G-7, treaties, etc.

Jared Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies(New York: W.W.Norton 99):-brilliant and fascinating book seeks to explain dangerously unequal societies in world. Taking a long-term view, Diamond rejects racism and sees cultures as reactions to environments (cf Sowell, op.cit.). Divergence of societies(by geographic area)reflected: (1)"[C]ontinental differences in... wild plant and animal species as starting materials for domestication [compared to hunting-gathering, since]food production was critical for accumulation of food surpluses that could feed non-food-producing specialists, and for buildup of large populations enjoying... military advantage... even before they had developed any technical or political advantage; (2) [R]ates of diffusion and migration, which differed greatly among [and between] continents [depending on climates, barriers, distances]; (3) [C]ontinental differences in area or total population size" which affect numbers of inventors, competing societies, and innovations available/adopted, and disease immunity. Environment is therefore critical.

Jared Diamond Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed(New York: Viking Penguin 05):-globally relevant/influential 600-page heir to Guns, Germs.... Describes how and why societies have survived or collapsed on basis of five factors: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbours, friendly trade partners, and society's responses to its environmental problems. Essence of entire text is well-outlined in the Prologue, so if your time or preliminary dedication are brief, at least read that. You could then read any of 16 chapters individually, although your hunger or concerns may become overwhelming. Parts/Chapters titles as follows: Part One: Modern Montana: (1)Under Montana's Big Sky; Part Two: Past Societies: (2)Twilight at Easter; (3)The Last People Alive: Pitcairn and Henderson Islands; (4)The Ancient Ones: The Anasazi and Their Neighbours; (5)The Maya Collapses; (6)The Viking Prelude and Fugues; (7)Norse Greenland's Flowering; (8)Norse Greenland's End; (9)Opposite Paths to Success; Part Three: Modern Societies: (10)Malthus in Africa: Rwanda's Genocide; (11)One Island, Two Peoples, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti; (12)China, Lurching Giant; (13) 'Mining' Australia; Part Four: Practical Lessons: (14)Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? (15)Big Businesses and the Environment: Different Conditions, Different Outcomes; (16)The World as a Polder: What Does It All Mean to Us Today? Final five pages of text are entitled Reasons for Hope, followed by Further Readings.

A. Walter Dorn edit., World Order for a New Millennium: Political, Cultural and Spiritual Approaches to Building Peace(New York: St. Martin's Press 99):-selected conference statements with diverse speakers, sochapters vary by viewpoint/ideals, plus topic.Part I.Political and Institutional Approaches:Evolution ofWorld Order(conceptions (Anatol Rapoport);international law history;disarmament compliance;corporatecapitalism and/or market socialism; order by trade/investment decree);Military(Cold War nuclear mishaps;decline of major wars;Third World militarization); United Nations(world challenges(text inINTRODUCTION, with "institutional" material added); recent UN environment agreements; monitoring UN enforcement(UNSCOM); International Criminal Court; realistic UN reforms). Part II.Cultural and Spiritual Approaches: Developing a Culture of Peace(coordinating official/non-official diplomacy;civil society platforms; relevant UNESCO appeals;education of ethics);Spiritual Dimensions(2 Christian views, Jewishview, 2 Buddhist views, First Nations view, syncretistic view, Baha'i view, UN role). Declaration.

John J. Dowdy, "Winners and Losers in the Arms Industry Downturn" Foreign Policy Number 107(Summer 97):-valuable survey, not only of post-Cold War trends in scale and export trade of arms industry in US, Europe, Russia, but also effects on mergers/employment. FP by Solomon M. Karmel "The Chinese Military's Hunt for Profits" , covers PLA/PRC well. Also Survey "The Global Defence Industry" The Economist 14 Jun 97; update 12 Dec 98(23-6).

Celia W.Dugger"U.N. vs Poverty: Seeking a Focus, Quarreling Over the Vision"NYT 14 Sep 05:-this itemleads a discouraging collection of inter-related historical articles, most inevitably summarized by a bit more than their strong titles/introductory sentences. All relate to a globally critical summit of some 170 heads of state/government. They marked seriously the 60th anniversary of the United Nations 14-16 Sep 05 when, vital reforms and international poverty commitments having been discussed, some are adopted- in full or vague status - but many more are both left required and postponed. Dugger:"The United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) meeting today was to have been a rare moment when quest to relieve crushing poverty of a billion people took center stage. But so far that goal has been overshadowed by [current disasters] and squabbling over reform of UN itself. Even debate about world's common agenda on global poverty began on an unexpectedly sour note, centred around goals for healing world's deepest poverty that were to be in meeting's final document. US ambassador, John R. Bolton, initially proposed expunging any reference to specific goals for reducing poverty, hunger and child mortality andcombating pandemic of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Known as Millennium Development Goals[MDGs], they emerged from UN conference five years ago. He favored instead citing broad declaration from which goals were drawn. US subsequently relented, but not before US administration's opening in negotiations left some African leaders dismayed... Negotiations at UN got absorbed by issues around UN reform... It is not clear that much new will emerge at UN. World leaders are likely to affirm commitment to push forward with MDGs to halve extreme poverty and hunger, cut child mortality by two-thirds and ensure basic education of each child by 23015, among other things.Those are same broad goals agreed to five years ago"; Warren Hoge"U.N. Adopts Modest Goals on Reforms and Poverty"NYT 14 Sep 05:-"UNGA unanimously approved scaled-down statement of goals [13 Sep] that Secretary General [UNSG] Kofi Annan said would still give world leaders gathering [14 Sep] basis for recommendation to reform organization and combat poverty. Loud cheers from delegates, however, could not disguise widespread disappointment at weakening of 35-page document"; David E.Sanger & Warren Hoge"Bush Thanks World Leaders and Takes Conciliatory Tone"NYT 15 Sep 05:-President Bush, facing array of world leaders who are deeply divided on how to define terrorism or act against nuclear proliferation/poverty, struck conciliatory tone at UN [14 Sep], describing himself as grateful leader of superpower in recent days... Speech...came hours after UNGA greatly watered down what had once been ambitious plans for institutional change and for commitments to fight terrorism/nuclear arms... He balanced his discussion of need to chase down terrorists with his endorsement of set of antipoverty objectives... 'No nation canremain isolated/indifferent to struggles of others' ... He pressed for UNSC resolution commiting countriesto prosecute - and extradite - anyone seeking fissile materials or technology for nuclear devices... But Bush did not repeat his previous calls to bar any new country from producing enriched uranium orplutonium. In references to goals for poverty reduction, he cited not only MDGs but also another initiative that grew out of summit meeting in Monterrey, Mexico. There, poor nations agreed to fight corruption and improve governance, and rich nations commited to 'make concrete efforts' toward giving 0.7% national income in aid. Bush did not address aid issue, but advocates said they hoped endorsement of Monterray would make harder for US to continue to oppose such aid targets"; Reuters"World Leaders Seek to Invigorate UN at Age 60"NYT 14 Sep 05:-"Leaders explore ways to revitalize UN at summit, buttheir bluepoint falls short of UNSG vision of freedom from want, persecution and war... [S]ession marking60th anniversary of world body suffering from corruption scandals and sharp divisions among memberson how to tackle international crises... UNSG in 85p paper in Mar entitled 'In Larger Freedom', addressed challenges for 21st century that required collective action: alleviating extreme poverty, reversing AIDS pandemic, global security, terrorism and human rights. But after bitter negotiations over last few weeks,nearly every bold initiative suffered cutbacks in final 38p document approved by UNGA for endorsementat summit... Still, somewhat emasculated document saved summit from failure. UN officials highlighted initiatives, including new human rights body, Peacebuilding Commission to help nations emerging from war and perhaps most significantly, obligation to intervene when civilians face genocide/war crimes... Butnegotiators failed to agree on how to tackle nuclear proliferation or on definition of terrorism sought by Western nations, and fell short of commitments to greater aid and tearing down trade barriers developing nations wanted"; AP"Annan Appeals to World Leaders at Summit"NYT 14 Sep 05:-"UNSG Kofi Annanappealed [14 Sep] to world leaders...to help restore confidence in world body and act together to meet challenges of new century... Annan said document they will adopt at end of 3-day summit was 'good start'but not 'sweeping and fundamental reform'he proposed. He called for urgent action on tough, unresolved issues. 'Because one thing has emerged clearly from this process on which we embarked two years ago: whatever our differences, in our interdependent world, we stand or fall together', UNSG said.'Whether our challenge is peacemaking, nation-building, democratization or responding to natural or man-made disasters, we have seen that even the strongest among us cannot succeed alone'... In what he call 'a high-risk gamble', UNSG and incoming/outgoing presidents of UNGA decided to drop issues where there was no agreement, choose language for which they thought they could win consent, andpresent clean text to member states. It worked"; AP"Bush Focuses on Terror in Speech to U.N."NYT 14 Sep 05:-"Before skeptical world leaders, President Bush [14 Sep] urged compassion for the needy and pressed global community to 'put the terrorists on notice'by cracking down on any activities that could incite deadly attacks. Bush... was seeking to sell his blueprints for spreading democracy in Iraq and elsewhere, overhauling UN and expanding trade"; AP"Chiefs of U.N. Agencies Appeal to Donors"NYT14 Sep 05:-"UN refugee and food agencies' chiefs said [14 Sep] that international donors are not doing enough to help alleviate shortages of survival rations in refugee camps across Africa. Because of lack of funds, World Food Program has been forced to cut rations for hundreds of thousands of refugees, particularly in West Africa and Great Lakes region in east of continent"; AP"Mexico's Fox OK With U.N. Reform Document"NYT 14 Sep:-"Mexican President Vicente Fox said [14 Sep] that he and the rest of theGroup of 15 developing nations think UN reform document approved this week is a step in the right direction, but stressed it is only first step... The 35-page document is supposed to launch a major reform of UN itself and galvanize efforts to ease global poverty. But to reach consensus, most of text's details gutted in favor of abstract language. UNSG had hoped that in addition to addressing UN overhaul, document would outline specific actions for improving the lot of the poor and tackling genocide, terrorism and human rights. But nations couldn't bridge their difference during negotiations. Group of 15developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America was set up to foster cooperation in dealing withinternational groups such as World Trade Organization and the Group of Seven rich industrialized nations"; AP"Annan Seeks to Restore U.N. Credibility"NYT 14 Sep 05:-"After a year of mounting criticism,UNSG Annan defended UN [14 Sep] and urged global leaders to restore organization's credibility by adopting broad reforms needed for world to act together to tackle poverty, terrorism and conflict...Instead of a celebration of UN achievements since its founding in ashes of WWII, summit was much more a somber reappraisal of its shortcomings and a debate about how to meet the daunting challenges ofa world becoming moreand more interlinked"; Reuters"World Leaders United on Terrorism"NYT 14 Sep 05:-"World leaders united [14 Sep] on need to ban incitement of terrorism but fell short of ambitions forfundamental reform of UN...Negotiations on the summit document world leaders are to endorse dropped disarmament proposals from Norway and South Africa, backed by about 80 nations. US objected to calls for nuclear disarmament but stressed danger of terrorists and rogue states obtaining unconventional weapons... In veiled criticism of US, world's richest nation, Dutch PM... said Europeans had agreed to boost development aid spending but 'we need to see more equal burden-sharing'"; AP"Annan Seeks to Restore U.N.'s Credibility"NYT 15 Sep 05:-"Bitter differences among UN member states have blocked many crucial UN reforms, and nations must act boldly to restore the world body's credibility, UNSG told summit of world leaders... Coming into the summit, diplomats had to dilute a document on goals for tackling rights abuses, terrorism and UN reform because they couldn't settle their disputes"; Financial Times"Shifting Positions at the UN World Summit"NYT 15 Sep 05:-"Fact that US and China have both become simultaneous aid donors and recipients says much about changing global society. World ismuch more diffuse in power than traditional stereotypes allowed... US is rich, and its military power iscommanding, but US ability to impose its will on world is limited... China, as well as India, Brazil and some other developing countries, is gaining economic power, especially through rapid absorption ofadvanced technologies and emergence of home-grown scientific prowess... [E]verything points to vastinternational diffusion of scientific expertise in coming decades... US will likely become more rather than less engaged as donor country in Africa and elsewhere... [I]dea of a US empire astride the world in 21st century will go... [C]ertainly the most important issue, hardly noted at [UN] world summit, is that rise of China, India, and other regional powers will intensify growing and multiple pressures on global environment and resource base... As a crowded world of 6.5 billion on its way to 9 billion people by mid-century, and with rising risks/complexities all around us, we are all both donors and recipients now. We are all in this together, and we had better get used to that reality"; The Economist 15 Sep 05"United Nations Reform: Better Than Nothing"(p.33 in 17 Sep NA issue):- "Annan sought to explain why a draftdeclaration on UN reform and tackling world poverty, to be endorsed by some 150 heads of state/government... has turned into such a pale shadow of proposals he himself put forward. 'With 191 member states' , he sighed, 'its not easy to get agreement'. Most countries put the blame on US, in the form of its abrasive new ambassador, John Bolton, for insisting at end of Aug on hundreds of last-minute amendments and line-by-line renegotiation of a text most others had thought was almost settled. Buta group of middle-income developing nations... also came up with plenty of last-minute changes of their own. Risk of having no document at all... was averted only by marathon talks... The 35-page final document not wholly devoid of substance. It calls for creation of a Peacebuilding Commission to supervise reconstruction of countries after wars; replacement of discreditied Commission on Human Rights by supposedly tougher Human Rights Council; recognition of a new 'responsibility to protect'peoples from genocide and other atrocities when national authorities fail to take action, if necessary by force; and 'early'reform of UNSC. Although much pared down, all these proposals have at least survived.Others have not. Either...so contentious they were omitted altogether, such as sections on disarmament/non-proliferation/ICC, or they were watered down to little more than empty platitudes: no longer evenmentions vexed issue of pre-eminent strikes. [M]eanwhile, section on terrorism condemns it 'in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes' , but fails to provide clear definition US wanted... Now up to UNGA to flesh out document's skeleton proposals and propose new ones. But its chances of success appear slim"; Steven R.Weisman"A Frustrating Week at the U.N. for the White House Team"NYT 16 Sep 05:-"[R]ebellion by countries outside the ambit of Europe and US appears to have thwarted some of the changes sought at UN. Bush officials insist that they arepleased with some of the changes adopted by UNGA, notably a broad definition of terrorism. They saytried to address wishes of developing world by agreeing at last minute to endorse specific goals to increase foreign aid. But when it came time to adopt stringent budgetary changes at UN,cementing fiscaland personnel authority with Secretariat under Kofi Annan and taking some of it away from UNGA, thevotes were not there. Neither were there enough votes to scrap UN Human Rights Commission and replace it with a council that would not be led by countries like Sudan or Cuba, which US and its allies consider bad actors in human rights sphere. The scandals of last couple of years in oil-for-food problem in Iraq, with favoritism and corruption in awarding of contracts, might have been avoided if UNSG's office had exercised greater control over the budget and personnel, now in hands of a committee made up of all members of UNGA. 'The way UN is run, the vast number of less developed countries sitting in UNGA hold the power of the purse', a diplomat at UN said. 'A lot of developing countries see giving moreauthority to UNSG as ploy by US and Europeans to take more control of UN'"; AP"Rice Urges 'Revolution of Reform'at U.N."NYT 17 Sep 05:-"UN must make itself more relevant to tackle 21st century problems... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said [17 Sep]. 'In this new world, we must again embrace challenge of building for the future'. World leaders...adopted watered-down version of proposed reforms...'Time to reform UN is now', she said. 'And we must seize this opportunity together'... 'No cause, no movement, and no grievance can justify intentional killing of innocent civilians and noncombatants. This isunacceptable by any moral standard'. UNSG [had] said condemnation of terrorism must be unqualifiedand that... should 'forge a global counterterrorism strategy that weakens terrorists and strengthens international community'... Rice called on rich countries to help poor ones with development assistance... She said new [human rights] council... should have more credibility. [That] means should 'never, never empower brutal dictatorships to sit in judgement of responsible democracies' ... Rice has locked arms with Annan on reform, declaring him an effective manager, with whom she can work closely. 'I havenever had a better relationship with anyone than Kofi Annan', Rice said, thereby separating US concerns about management flaws and corruption from world body's top diplomat"; Warren Hoge"Bolton and U.N. Are Still Standing After His First Test"NYT 17 Sep 05:-"Fellow ambassadors say they are impressed with[John] Bolton's work ethic, his knowledge of his brief, clarity in declaring it and his toughness as anegotiator... Some delegates, however,faulted him for emphasizing what US would never accept, saying it ended up encouraging more active opposition to US positions. They complained he devoted too much time to talking about US 'red lines' and about the red pen he had in his pocket at the ready. Those who feared Bolton came with devil's horns thought they saw them spring forth 3 weeks ago when he submitted more than 400 substantive amendments and deletions, and ordered up a line-by-line renegotiation of summit document. One of recommendations was to eliminate all mention of a series of antipoverty measures called MDGs. Surprise attack on cherished standard sent shock waves across UN where officials had grown hopeful that Bush administration's hostility to UN had significantly lessened,particularly after supportive comments from [Rice] and State Department opposition to calls for US to withhold its UN dues. A week later, phase was restored at Rice's direction, and Bush declared in his speech to UNGA, 'We are committed to MDGs' . So a question arose about whether Bolton had beencarrying out traditional mission of executing State Department policy or originating his own more assertive view... John G.Ruggie,...Harvard... said he thought Bolton's approach had emboldened opponents of US priorities, like reforming UN management structure to give more power and flexibilityto UNSG. 'After Bolton's bombshell, they were able to make case that this is why we have to stand firm, because if we give great discretionary authority to UNSG, danger US will roll over him, and behind him always stands Congress willing to withhold funding', he said. Bolton said purpose in calling for line-by-line renegotiation was to avoid having text by 'nameless, faceless textwriters' , a reference to writing staff of UNGA president Jean Ping of Gabon. But in the end such a text proved to be only way to get consensus. Three weeks of wrestling with language had left document on [13 Sep a.m.] with 27 unsolved issues and 149 phrases in brackets, meaning they were still in dispute. Decision was made to presentambassadors with final version refined by Ping, and it was that text UNGA endorsed [13 Sep p.m.], just hours before arrival of world leaders. Much of positive reaction to Bolton has come from how he did not live up to his negative reviews"; AP"Chavez Criticizes U.N. Reforms in Speech"NYT 17 Sep 05:-"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized UN reforms [17 Sep] saying they [section of Peacebuilding Commission] would permit powerful countries [to] invade developing ones whose leaders are considered a threat"; Reuters"Annan Defends Summit"NYT 17 Sep 05:-"UNSG put brave face on [17 Sep]on modest reforms to the work of UN, but [Rice] said world body needed nothing short of revolution to become real force... Annan sought to highlight the positive... 'Scale of this achievement seems to have been missed by some...So let's make sure we live up to our promises to the world's poor'. Among gainswere unprecedented agreement on international responsibility to intervene to protect civilians from genocide, establishment of peace-building commission to help nations recover from war and areaffirmation of goals set in 2000 to halve poverty by 2015. But the document fudged definition of what constitutes terrorism, reached no agreement on how to deal with spread of weapons of mass destructionand did little on far-reaching reforms to UN's bureaucracy or its decision-making. 'UN must launch lasting revolution of reform', [Rice] said. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who chairs 53-memberAfrican Union, said terrorism could not be 'justified under any circumstances' . But he said a dangerous correlation existed between grinding poverty and political instability"; Reuters"Like Fixing the Weather, Council Reform Eludes UN"NYT 18 Sep 05:-"Closest UN came to expanding 15-member UN Security Council(UNSC) was considered a plan by Germany, Japan, India and Brazil last spring. But moment came and went without a vote. National rivalries across and within each regional group run high, although...pledged to do something by end of year... Leaders from four candidates, known as Group of Four(G-4)... decided to put their resolution back on table. But participants at the session said there was no strategy of how or when to do this... UNSG, after decade of debate, urged UN members in Mar to come to decision world leaders could endorse, arguing that UNSC, which decides on war and peace, sanctions and peacekeeping, still reflected balance of power at end of WWII. But 35-page document world leadersendorsed on UN reforms had only one sentence on need for 15-member UNSC to become 'more broadly representative, more efficient and transparent'. On this, compromise nearly impossible as UNSC seats meant winners and losers, with each candidate having drawn enough opposition to prevent resolution from gaining two-thirds vote in 191-member UNGA. UNSC currently has 10 nonpermanent seats, rotating for two-year terms, and five permanent members with veto power - US, Russia, Britain, China, and France, considered WWII victors. To begin UNSC expansion, 191-member UNGA must approve a framework,without names of candidates, by two-thirds vote, with each member casting one vote. Last step in process is UN Charter change, which must be approved by national legislatures, and here current five permanentmembers have veto power... Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, whose plan also called for two permanent seats from Africa [Egypt? South Africa?], had hoped for deal with 53-member African Union, which has a similar proposal. But Africans insisted new permanent members have veto power, which the four aspirants dropped because of opposition from current five UNSC powers"; AP"Leaders at U.N. Seek Anti - Terror Treaty"NYT 19 Sep 05:-"Leaders at UNGA urged quick adoption of comprehensive global treatythat would put words into action. But one issue in particular is causing trouble - how to define terrorism amid concern independence struggles would be targeted. [R]esolution accepted unanimously by UNSC on sidelines of UN summit last week also called upon all states to prohibit and prevent terrorism and deny a safe haven to anyone considered guilty of such conduct. But delegates stressed need for abroader convention that would serve as a framework for governments to work together to curtailinternational terrorism"; AP"U.N. Assembly Focuses on World's Poor"NYT 19 Sep 05:-"Leaders fromdeveloping nations took speaker's platform on second day of annual UNGA debate to criticize rich countriesfor not doing enough to ease plight of world's poorest people. Speakers from Africa, Asia and Latin America said [18 Sep] they were encouraged by document adopted at three-day summit renewing commitments to alleviate poverty, but said they would withhold final judgment until rich nations make good on their vows... Leaders of poor nations made clear that they were not impressed with progress made so far. A week ago, UN report said about 40% of world's people still struggle to survive on less than $2/day. Jamaica's PM, speaking on behalf of Group of 77 developing countries, repeated what has been largely acknowledged by many UN and outside officials: world nowhere close to meeting the development goals"; Reuters"UN Refugee Boss Says World Tackling Past Failures"NYT 27 Sep 05:-"International community has woken up to tragedy of the millions who are refugees in their own country and begun to act, head of UN refugee agency[UN High Commissioner for Refugees] said. Internal refugees - known as internally displaced people (IDPs) - number 20-25million, more than double the nine million refugees who are recognized as such because they have crossed a border, and their plight is often just as bad, said UNHCR... UN was finalizing a more vigorous approach to a problem which is particularlyacute in sub-Saharan Africa... Crux of the new policy was that for first time UN agencies, and otherhumanitarian organizations, given specific roles and responsibilities - for which they could be held to account - in handling any IDP crisis. In case of UNHCR, which already handles some IDP situations on an ad hoc basis, it would manage camps, provide shelter and tackle issues of protection for those considered to be in danger of persecution. Move should also be seen in context of changing international attitudes to sovereignty, with recent UNGA resolutions stressing obligations governments had to protect their citizens - indicating a more assertive stance on the part of global body"; AP"U.N. Envoy Says Reforms Have Started"NYT 28 Sep 05:-"President Bush's hard-charging ambassador to UN, [John R.Bolton,] told skeptical members of Congress [28 Sep] US 'didn't get everything we wanted'in agreement to reform UN bureaucracy, but it is a start... Bolton cast US vote for watered-down reform document with obvious disappointment after weeks of wrangling. Document backed off bureaucratic and other changes... Bolton is expected to follow up with new resolutions, but it is not clear how muchappetite UN diplomats will have for subject now. The House has passed measure... that establishes a timetable for reform and ties progress to payment of US dues. Senate has not passed measure. Bushadministration does not want to use dues as leverage"; AP"Japan Rethinking Plan for Security Council"NYT 30 Sep 05:-"Japan has warned Congress that US legislation seeking to withhold UN dues could lead Japanese lawmakers to take similar action, possibly resulting in loss of millions of dollars to world body...Japan pays 19.5% of annual UN budget of about $2billion, second only to US, which pays about 22%".

Gwynne Dyer, "Globalization and the Nation-State" Behind the Headlines Vol.53/No.4(Summer 96):-a morepositive view of some major global trends than they are usually perceived. Dyer notes that violence is down/localized; vastly improved communications accelerates democracy; unemployment/income disparities may mainly reflect transitions.

Gwynne Dyer Climate Wars (Random House Canada 08):-the number of substantial essays and broad publications being written on climate change globally by either science-specialists or policy-concerned writers has become large in 2009. The widely-known author of this book, however, argues that the military impact of a warmer world has not been discussed publicly, even if analyses have been probed. The following is therefore his rationale of publication: "In a number of the great powers, climate change scenarios are already playing a large and increasing role in the military planning process. Rationally, you would expect this to be the case, because each country pays its professional military establishment to identify and counter 'threats' to its security, but the implications of their scenarios are still alarming. There is a significant probability of wars, including even nuclear wars, if we ever reach the range of +2 to +3 degrees Celsius hotter. Once that happens, all hope of international cooperation to curb emissions and stop the warming goes out the window"(from second page of his Introduction and dust-cover). The text contains two elements of special interest. The first consists of seven short but credible and worrisome scenarios, each dated some time in the future, and describing violent events in a region suffering from the experience of climate change. The other is the author's carefully quoted experts' views on technical details, obtained at his many 2008 personal interviews.

The Economist 08 Mar 97 "The Future of Warfare" (21-4):-although many specialized/technical sources on subject, text beautifully summarizes current military capacities and implications. In part complementary to James Adams(op.cit.).

The Economist 28 Jun 97 "Only the Bangs are Genuine" (68):-rare subject: proliferation of counterfeit weapons, including why, where and how they are made. Subject relevant to land-mines since they can befully effective even if home-made [Afghan?],and perhaps even more so if "mine-field" consists entirely offakes or is sheer bluff.

The Economist 06 Jun 98 "Bombs, Gas and Microbes" (23-5):-concise view of current world disarmament/control moves against weapons of mass destruction. NPT: 186 in; India, Pakistan, Israel, Brazil, Cuba outside. Inspection protocol(97)so far binds few. Trade control: Zangger Committee and Nuclear Suppliers' Group. CTBT(96): 149 signed; 13 ratified, with major holdouts. Fissile-materials cut-off held up in UN. CWC(97): 168 signed; 110 ratified; again major holdouts but Convention tough: chemical weapons outlawed/destroyed; trade limits; short-notice inspections. BWC(72): 130+ ratified; biological/toxin weapons prohibited, but no built-in checks. "Spread of weapons technology seems inexorable...[so hit]roots of regional disputes" [and reduce dangers from stocks?].

The Economist 25 Jul 98 "A Challenge to Impunity" (Edit.21-2):-cautiously optimistic on decision in Rome to establish International Criminal Court, despite US attempts to weaken and finally block it. Vote 120-7 in favour left US "humiliated and glum"but, as with landmine treaty, it showed willingness of other states to move ahead without superpower to create rule of law. Text outlines questions of contention and weakness but argues court is long overdue(planned to follow Nuremberg/Tokyo trials); however, large body of international law covering genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity has developed since. Court can show both independence and moral force.

The Economist 15 Aug 98 "The New Terrorism" (17-9):-article warns that "new" terrorism(e.g. attacks on US African embassies)will be both more deadly and elusive than past forms. Big changes are underway in motivation/means. "In its latest mutation, politically motivated violence is vague about its long-term aims, but utterly ruthless in its short-term intentions.[A]new variety of killers apparently see destruction as an end in itself" ,having amorphous or strongly anti-societal aims. Their means include nuclear/chemical/cyber-attack, but greatest threat is biological weapons(sarin was used in Tokyo)which are tiny and even delayed-action. US is already creating defences.

The Economist 02 Jan 99 "The 21st-Century Army: A New But Risky Sort of War" (28-9):-some of latest training/ weaponry being tested by US Marine Corps. Training is designed for "low-intensity conflicts" i.e. peace-making/ peace-enforcement operations where lower-rank leaders make major decisions. Planners anticipate "three-block wars" in which troops "would simultaneously be distributing food and medicine to frantic civilians in one part of city, quelling rioters/maintaining order in another; fighting guerrillas in third" - typical UN-type challenges(Haiti/Somalia/Bosnia).New weapons include "non-lethal munitions" such as bean-bagprojectiles, pepper spray, blinding flashlights, adhesive foam, plus double-option guns able to fire lethally or non-lethally. Hope US, allies, presumably UN can keep ahead.

The Economist 09 Jan 99 "A Personal Eye in the Sky" (73-4):-US Defense Department sponsoring development of hard -to-detect micro air vehicles(MAVs)which(it is hoped)will provide detailed tactical intelligence in real time at low cost($1000 each).Early models: shaped like tiny aircraft; powered by miniature gas turbines/small fuel cells/batteries; propelled by tiny flapping wings/ propellers; guided by miniature gyroscopes/air-flow detectors; positioned within cms via Global Positioning Satellites; carry payloadsof miniature video cameras/transmitters soon creating 1m pixel pictures. Size: 15cm any direction; weight: 85 gms; endurance: 1hr. Designed for battlefields but valuable for local conflict prevention/peacekeeping/ anti-terrorism/verification/ health/structure/environment surveillance all UN relevant.

The Economist 10 Jul 99 "Children Under Arms: Kalashnikov Kids" (19-21):-describes horrors and scale of problem of child soldiers and difficulty of dealing with it. UN Convention on Rights of the Child defines those under 18 years old as children, but permits recruitment at 15. Estimated that 300,000 children in over 60 countries currently soldiers. Vast majority - as young as 11 - are mostly forced or cajoled into formal or informal Third World fighting units, from west/central Africa to Balkans/Latin America/Sri Lanka/Afghanistan.Reasons: children are plentiful(half Sub-Saharan Africa's population under 18); easier to attract, abduct and mould than adults; often brave; always cheap. Score: perhaps 2m killed in combat post-87, perhaps 6m seriously injured, almost all brutalized. UN System: now attacking issue from several directions.

The Economist 06 Nov 99 "Bandwidth from Thin Air" (85-6); "How to Look Through Walls" (86):-first function of International Telecommunication Union, UN agency: "Allocation of radio frequency spectrum and registration of radio frequency assignments." As global exploitation of spectrum multiplies exponentially and increases(with satellites)in range, ITU fills its time(re)allocating fixed and so ever-more scarce/valuable global resource. Article reports two emerging technologies promise to make vastly more use of limited "bandwidth." One allows multiple simultaneous transmissions on same frequency(Bell Labs Layered Space-Time: BLAST); other transmits on huge range of frequencies at once(Ultra Wide-Band:UWB).Both create "unforeseen reserves of valuable bandwidth...at cost of increased computational complexity." UWB used as radar "can employ significantly longer wavelengths [to] penetrate wide range of materials(e.g. brick/stone)." Potential military, police, disarmament, intelligence uses vast.

The Economist 26 Feb 00 "Russia's Nuclear Industry: The Time-Bombs of Tomsk" (29-34):-factual information about Russian nuclear industry explains both US concern and largesse. Above all, convincing case that decrepit state of industry "threatens whole world" . "Plutonium-producing reactors[at Tomsk]present most immediate problem. All...plants...at least 40 years old. Two[working]reactors aregraphite-moderated and water-cooled, precursors(sic)of design used at Chernobyl. Enormous stacks of[swelling/cracking]graphite blocks surround vertical rods containing fuel.[N]o containment vessels, no emergency core-cooling systems.[I]f rods or tubes in core begin to buckle, engineers cannot control speed of reaction by withdrawing fuel rods...Closing reactors would help on three fronts. It would reduce Russia's output of plutonium; it would remove danger of serious accident; and it would reduce amount of Russian nuclear waste" .

The Economist 04 Mar 00 "War and Money: The Business of Conflict" (46-8):-while land/people conquesthas long been goal of warfare, such "fixed assets" can now be costly and unstable. Report by ICRC(Forum: War, Money and Survival,Geneva:Mar 00)argues: "Prolonged internal violence in[lands]with rich natural resources but corrupt or weak governments may best be understood as battles for money or[marketable]resources...Some wars are caused in large part by corruption and banditry...whereas otherswhich may have begun as ethnic or ideological conflicts, are now sustained in part by illicit trading[Afghan opium, Colombian cocaine]. Rebels, governments and even peacekeepers have fought for diamonds, minerals and timber in recent wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone" . Many participants(arms/other traders, mercenaries)may prefer to continue to exploit a war rather than win and end it. Such "resource" wars are particularly hard to end if the" fighters" have no goal but profit. Trade sanctions may help;then smugglers gain. As example of key role of diamonds in financing bloody and protracted war in Angola, see Barbara Crossette "Report on Angola Sanctions is Challenged in the U.N." New York Times 16 Mar 00. One in series of fine articles on expert investigation for Security Council's Angola Sanctions Committee, it reports two African presidents, Bulgarian government and diamond exchange in Antwerp were inter alia implicatedin smuggling and sale of Angolan diamonds by UNITA rebels, contrary to UN sanctions. Canadian committeechairman has called for action against sanctions-busters, first time a sanctions committee has actively enforced embargo. Corrective action was promised. For full account of diamonds' role in conflicts: Blaine Harden "Africa's Gems: Warfare's Best Friend" NYT 06 Apr. Expert claims 10-15% of world supply comes from war zones. World Bank report goes further and blames outbreak and/or continuation of vast majority of recent civil wars, not on ethnic motives, but on greed for control of valuable commodities like diamonds, other gemstones, narcotics, oil, coffee etc. Joseph Kahn "World Bank Blames Diamonds and Drugs for Many Wars" NYT 16 Jun sees two conclusions: discourage states from becoming too heavily dependent on commodities, and control their illicit sale before/during conflict. Barbara Crossette, "Singling Out Sierra Leone, U.N. Council Sets Gem Ban" NYT 06 Jul:-action by UNSC in latter direction: it" imposed worldwide ban on purchase of rough diamonds from Sierra Leone until its government can establish system to certify origin of stones being exported, and begins to assert authority over diamond fields" . Most are now under rebel control, with stones smuggled out through Liberia. Resolution is admittedly experimental, but aims at roots of war, reflects growing cooperation from both industry/governments, and may signal major new UN peacemaking tool. Economist 08 Jul "Is That a Rebel Rock on Your Finger?" (42):-notes West African governments(with US support) prevented extending ban to Liberia, but it may at least lower smugglers' prices-up to 50%. Associated Press "Diamond Industry Acts to Halt Trade in Illicit Gems From Africa" NYT20 Jul: World Diamond Congress, conscious that growing horror about "blood diamonds" could seriously hurt trade, has arranged means(verifiable certificates of place of origin)to track diamonds mine/retailer and applyheavy penalties(ban licences)to who break rules.

The Economist 25 Mar 00 "Russia's Arms Industry: Ivan the Lethal" (68-9):-partial recovery of Russian arms exports, particularly super-quiet submarines/missiles/fighter aircraft, to level where" Russian armsindustry has not looked so healthy for over decade" .Defence procurement just rose 50%(to $2.2b)and former Soviet republics may restore military-industrial links. Arms exports likely to reach $4.3b in 00through:(1)low-priced sales of simple weapons(guns/tanks)to poor countries;(2)advanced-weapons sales to big countries(China/India).Problems: unreliable aircraft engines, quality control, after-sales service. Once huge 89 stocks running out - and getting obsolescent. Since R&D also stopped at that time, and allnew funds needed to maintain current deployment (including nuclear),best 89 weapons must now be sold. Designing own weapons, China or India won't help. For summary of Putin's apparent position re all matters nuclear: Celestine Bohlen "Putin Vows Russia Will Invigorate Its Nuclear Force" New York Times 01 Apr 00. For information on arms industry in Eastern Europe particularly Czech Republic(aircraft; anti-stealth radar)see Peter S. Green "Where the Armorers No Longer Thrive" NYT 02 Apr 00.

The Economist 06 May 00 "Satellite Pictures: Private Eyes in the Sky" (71-3):-plans of companies hoping to sell satellite-produced images with spacial resolution of less than metre(smallest features that can be distinguished) and speculates on their global impact(see also NYT story by W. J. Broad).Such resolution,previously limited to US and Soviet intelligence use, can distinguish cars from trucks, recognize types of aircraft and tanks, and identify buildings for target selection. Firms launching commercial satellites in coming months foresee billion-dollar markets for detail comparable to aerial photography combined withglobal coverage and high-speed delivery. Probable consumers include most government agencies, mineral/oil prospectors, utilities, urban/transport planners, real estate/insurance companies, farmers, fishermen, NGOs. While governments hope to restrict image sales/ coverage, it will prove impossible - and force for verification, stability and hence peace.

The Economist 02 Sep 00 "The Price of Paying Ransoms" (Edit. 17):-recalling large number of highly publicized hostage-takings recently(Afghanistan, Brazil, Colombia, Fiji, former Soviet Union, India, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Yemen)confirms global trend upwards. Those taken in 1999 increased by 6% over 1998, number has been growing at that rate for several years - producing total increase of 70% over eight years. Ransom by Libya of Jolo Island hostages at $1m each taught kidnappers:" holding few hostages keeps army away; grabbing more keeps money rolling in" ,as well as someglobal politics(for Libyan motives/source of funds: "Qaddafi, Floating Like a Butterfly" (41)). Whilekidnapping has many causes( "inequalities of wealth, availability of guns, rebel armies looking for funds, underpaid police" )main reason is rewards. Hence universal lesson: hostage-taking must be seen not to pay. Short of capturing/punishing kidnappers[absence of any safe haven may be critical], it may also meanmaking it illegal to pay ransom.[Editor might add: such rules work best if applied/enforced globally.]

The Economist 28 Oct 00 "United Nations and Refugees: Ruud Surprise" (43-4):-Ruud Lubbers, former Dutch PM (82-94),unexpected choice to succeed Mrs. Sadako Ogata as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "Refugee agency, which has annual budget of more than $1b, is most politically active of UN's agencies. [Having played critical, life-saving role in all-too-many wars and humanitariancrises, its] importance will continue, and perhaps expand. Displacement of civilians, once semi-accident of war, has now become one of main goals of warring parties. Worldwide now 14m refugees...and 21m internally displaced people[under UNHCR care]" . Global total unknown but much larger. Priority of refugee over IDP may end, since latter often need more urgent help. Controversial distinction is between( "threatened" )refugees and(up to billions of)economic migrants. Barbara Crossette "Dutch Figure Seen as Choice for U.N. Post With Refugees" NYT 25 Oct 00:-picked up appointment in advance and addedother details. Term is five years(Ogata held for nearly ten),job is viewed as one of most important in UN system, being responsible for staff of about 5,000 working in more than 120 countries. Lubbers, like WHODirector-General, Gro Harlem Brundtland(former PM of Norway)and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson(former president of Ireland), is another high-level political leader added to UNSGAnnan's team of administrators. Reuters "Ogata Says UN Council Is Too Slow And Inflexible" NYT 10 Nov 00:-Sadako Ogata, in farewell speech as UNHCR to Security Council, gave piece of her mind to only body in world on which every government has conferred "primary responsibility for maintenance of international peace and security" (Charter Art.24).Among her criticisms: Nature of war has changed, sincemuch is now civil strife conducted by undisciplined guerrilla armies. "In spite of discussions on wider approaches, peace operations continue to be country-based, and reflect neither internal nor regional nature of many of today's wars." Moreover, Council dispatched peacekeepers far too late to protectuprooted citizens or even UN staff in field [UNHCR has suffered more fatal casualties than any other UN agency]. "We at UNHCR have become used to being called to confront refugee emergencies, literally at few hours' notice. We have no choice: delays in our work inevitably means that lives are lost." Council alsoinflexible in expanding operations across borders to aid trapped refugees(terrible examples of Rwanda-Zaire and East-West Timor).Currently Guinea has requested security aid to help half-a-million trapped refugees in its areas bordering Liberia and Sierra Leone; yet only presence of international community ishumanitarian." Ogata contended that governments are receptive to "ladder of options" to improve local security in refugee-inhabited areas. She also argued gap between short-term aid and development programs too large once emergencies ended.(UNSC going to discuss peacekeeping reforms next day..)Economist 27 Jan 01 "A New Deal For Refugees: Changed Course" (48):-negative report on UNHCR Lubbers' commitments and plans. It notes many maintaining/benefiting from UNHCR operations found his selection process "murky and undemocratic" , suspecting he gained post "along with" orders from major donors to cut organization back. In any event, he announced 24 Jan that budget would drop well below its recent $1b annual level, in hope that funding levels would at least become reliable. He proposes thatmuch UNHCR relief work(giving refugees food, shelter, other services)be assumed by NGOs, WFP,businesses. Lubbers also wants to reverse Ogata's special interest in 25m IDPs, arguing they areresponsibility of "their own governments" (if any).Regarding asylum-seekers, he takes tougher line, however: Europeans(sic) "must take seriously responsibility of giving asylum" .

The Economist 04 Nov 00 "India's Nuclear Dilemmas" (45-6):-very few widely-read, current analyses ofworld's most unstable nuclear confrontation. Identifies India's motives in demonstrating nuclear capacityas: political calculation, fear of China, and" feeling that India should not be denied prestige enjoyed by fivedeclared nuclear powers" .While PM Vajpayee has" since danced skilfully away from diplomatic mess[China, Pakistan, US]created by tests, hard-won goodwill depends partly on India's keeping low nuclear profile that threatens neither neighbours nor international efforts to stop spread of nuclear weapons." Vajpayee's dilemma is to be caught between those whose argument is that any further nuclear development would only weaken India's security by goading its neighbours, and his desire for deterrent that could survive a first strike. India's policy of "no first strike" and "minimum credible deterrent" is backed by deployment/decision-making system that is "missing or invisible" . Even if simply prudent/passive, India should discuss CBMs with Pakistan(and China?), not leave things gravely ambiguous.

The Economist 11 Nov 00 "Look, No Pilot: Pilotless Combat Aircraft" (101-2):-testing Boeing X-45A, first example of unmanned combat aerial vehicle(UCAV). Long used for surveillance, unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have never carried weapons, whereas X-45As can carry bombs, decoys or Joint Direct Attack Munitions(smart weapons)plus all most advanced avionics: synthetic-aperture radar/satellite communications equipment. Advantages over manned combat aircraft: lessweight/size(stealth)/cost(build/(re)use/maintain)/training/control; better endurance/transport/ manoeuverability/storage. Initial role: suppress enemy air defence/air superiority. Challenges: controllinglarge numbers in limited airspace; jamming/interception of control signals; target assessment. Future: 90%combat aircraft unmanned by 2025. For global/UN purposes, UCAVs could offer fairly cheap/ "international" long-lived/globally-dispersed/multi-purpose standby combat or high-techsurveillance. Above all very rapid deployment ability.

The Economist 18 Nov 00 "Land Warfare: The Shape of the Battle Ahead" (29-33):-probes emotional "air-vs-land" battle over warfare's future nature/weaponry. At issue is whether hi-tech combat(Gulf/Kosovo)has given airpower final advantage in effectiveness trade-off among protection/mobility/firepower. Accelerating pace of technological change is forcing land-warfare experts to defend even old-fashioned virtues of teamwork/leadership/courage, while whole tradition of armoured warfare, hobbled by heavy transport/supply needs, is fighting for its life against long-distance/" stand-off" weapons. Any armour may be penetrated so speed/stealth may be preferable and not all weapons systems need to be manned(11NovEconomist). Such general questions/options form bases for much debate/theory on both sides of Atlantic regarding optimum roles/equipment for ground forces. Yet, no consensus yet developed over real issue: how best to deal with fast-moving target of technological change.

The Economist 07 Apr 01 "The Balkans After Milosevic" (23-8):-Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo etc. horrors far enough in past to begin to be studied academically; emphasis on" Serb aggression" , only" Serb atrocities" , Milosevic's alleged drive for" Greater Serbia" ,can be replaced with more informed/objective analyses of all participant motives/actions. This essay on origins/prospects of current situation in former Yugoslaviademonstrates some progress. These extracts try only to show this; they do not summarize whole essay. "As champion of Serbs...Milosevic fanned their flames of war in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo...He fought a war against his fellow nationalist, late Franjo Tudjman of Croatia, and then colluded with him in bid to break up Bosnia...Kosovo...Milosevic's brutal reputation worked to[independence-campaigners' ]tactical advantage; more moderate leadership in Belgrade would have undermined their case...But Milosevic mostly got away with it because he patented and personified style of government which, from practitioners' viewpoint, was rational response to upheaval that followed collapse of communism.[M]any ex-communist leaders found that fanning inter-ethnic passions provided handy way to maintain their grip on economic and political life...Moreover, criminal nationalism on one side of conflict triggers similar phenomenon on other side." Rest of essay deals individually/well with problems of post-Yugoslav states.

The Economist 19 May 01 "Electricity From Waves: Power Buoys" (78-9):-among renewable energy sources, wave power has fallen behind solar and wind power on basis of apparently uneconomic cost. Now buoy that turns wave energy into electricity has been developed for US Navy that appears economic. It "collects energy using piston that rides up and down with motion of waves. This turns generator, andelectricity produced is stored in battery" .Naval interest was in source of power for recharging small unmanned underwater reconnaissance vehicles, but designers saw commercial potential in larger, more powerful buoys. They developed 20kw version, soon to be group-tested off Australian coast andconnected to local power grid. Large groups of 100kw buoys may form 10-100MW power stations within 2-3 years. Being simple and sturdy, buoys may prove profitable: 3 cents/kW-hour. While power plants costly, fuel is free/available 90% of time, and running cost minimal.

The Economist 20 Nov 03 "The International Criminal Court: For Us Or Against Us?" :-possibly the most critical editorial of Economist against disgusting US foreign policy in history. "Some 70 countries, representing 40% of world's population, have now signed bilateral agreements with US exempting US citizens - and often their own - from prosecution by ICC. According to John Bolton, US under-secretary for international security, US' s ultimate goal is to conclude such pacts with every country in the world. Court, he complains, runs 'contrary to...basic constitutional principles of popular sovereignty/checks/balancesand national independence.'ICC first permanent international body able to try individuals for war crimes/genocide/crimes against humanity. Set up under 98 Statute of Rome, it has jurisdiction over citizens of countries which have both signed/ratified Rome statute - known as 'state parties' - as well as overthose suspected of committing atrocities on territory of a state party. Court is backed by nearly half world's nations, including all members of European Union and all but one(Turkey)of US' s NATO allies. YetUS arm-twisting of many...closest allies has at times been ferocious. Under US Servicemembers' Protection Act, passed last year, administration threatened to cut all military aid to those countries which had ratified Rome statute, but unwilling to sign bilateral impunity agreements with US. NATO members and certain other allies were exempted. But some NATO candidates were warned that failure to enter into such pacts would put their candidacy at risk. Many third-world countries, heavily dependent on US largesse,scrambled to comply. But others dug in their heels... Bush administration announced suspension of $millions military aid to 35 of ICC's supporters who refused bilaterals. Included Colombia, third-largest recipient of US military aid and one of US' s key partners in its war on drugs, as well as several countriesthat provided troops for war against Iraq. Four, including Colombia, have since had their aid restored after signing...But 31 others face losing further $89m in military aid in fiscal year. [Summary of less 50%.]

The Economist 24 Apr 04 "Israel and the Palestinians: Gaza Isn't the End of It" (Edit.12-4); "Special Report: Has Something Really Changed?" (25-7):-all chronic issues analysed and delays or outcomes discussedoffered with much thoughtful information about current possibilities.[So worth reading, even if your own views differ.]Major point relates to Gaza. "Belligerent" Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's "plan to withdraw unilaterally from Gaza strip, lesser (and grimmer)part of future would-be-independent Palestinian state, seems to be winning backing both of his own Likud party and of most Israelis.[From George Bush]he got just about everything he had hoped for, including annexation of chunks of territory in West Bank" (25)i.e.includes Gaza but not all remainder to Palestinians. Moreover "'Long-term interim agreements' have been favourite ploy of[Sharon:i.e.]making tactical concessions to preserve stalemate in battle against Palestinian nationalism, in hope that Palestinians will eventually give up. On paper... Sharon now accepts idea of two-state solution...But sort of Palestinian state that might emerge if security barrier now being built follows route that digs deep into Palestinian territory would hardly be viable entity that Bush, let alone other involved outsiders, would accept as bare minimum...Bush and Sharon did, however, accept that fence may be temporary" .(26) This is most important subject but items also discuss such tough issues as Palestinian refugees continuing bilateral deaths, Arafat's role, need to re-establish negotiating table, changing views of Arab/European states, and international aid to Palestinians. Related article, "Israel's Nukes: Vanunu's Story" (26), describes chronic Israeli view on having nuclear weapons, reminded by "whistleblower" 's jail release. Economist 03 Jul 04 "Israel and Palestine" (37); ":Who's Winning the Fight?" (38):-items on conflict almost weekly, but these see past, present and future, and predict movement. "[Sharon]may once more push ahead with his plan to leave Gaza, while seeking to consolidate Israel's hold on bigger swathe of West Bank than Palestinians are wont to accept in overall peace package.[US]seems keen to clinch Gaza withdrawal first, then move on later to negotiations over West Bank. No less hopefully, Egyptians ...seem to be going along with that idea too. Jordanians warily approve.[Israel]made it clear that reprisals and incursions could continue before, during and after a withdrawal.[Sharon]would like Egyptians to have degree of control over Palestinians in Gaza, just as he may still hope for similar Jordanian co-operation in West Bank. [A]t least diplomacy is no longer frozen" (37). Other item has chart of Palestinians/Israeli civilians/Israeli forces deathseach month since 2000. Comments: no lack of potential suicide-bomber recruits; ICJ may declare barrier illegal. Economist 14 Aug 04 "Israel's Far Right: Ariel Sharon Is a Sissy" (42); "Israel and Palestine: Blaming Arafat" (73-4):- both items are filled with information about why situation has been long-term chronic mess. First is up to date, but describes some of history, capacities and murder carried out byJewish terrorists. They may try to kill Sharon and/or make movement out of Gaza even more difficult. Second item consists of reviews of two new and well-written books about failure of almost-successful peacemaking. Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace(Farrar, Straus and Giroux);and Yossi Beilin, The Path to Geneva: The Quest for a Permanent Agreement, 1996-2004(RDV Books).Both are inclined to see final negative role by Yasser Arafat. Ross book also commented on in detail/ praise by Samuel W.Lewis "The Receding Horizon" Foreign AffairsVol.6/No.5(Sep/Oct 04).Economist 02 Oct 04 "Palestine and Israel: Break That Bloody Stalemate" (Edit.14-5); "Palestine: A Bloody Vacuum" (23-5):-both items offer well-researched information on Palestinians - their recent past, painful present(in Gaza and West Bank)and possible future. Items specifically include thoughtful comments on current and possibly future role of Yasser Arafat, and those who are hoping/liable to replace his central position. Summary of the Special Report is: "Stalemate between Palestinians and Israelis looks total, but internal rows on both sides offer a shred of hope." Economist 23 Oct 04 "Israel's Unlikely Dove" (Edit.11); "Israel and Palestine: Leaving Gaza, Maybe, and To an Uncertain Fate" (22-4):-Summary of Special Report is: "Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Jewish settlements from Gaza is causing outrage in Israel and slipping beyond its author's control." Key excerpts:(1) "Sharon's lawyer and adviser says plainly beauty of disengaging from Gaza is that Israel is thereby doing'minimum possible',while removing Palestinian statehood'indefinitely'from its agenda. But however much they mistrust him, Palestinians cannotbe seen to be asking Sharon to prolong any part of occupation. So Palestinian diplomacy now focuses ontrying to connect Israel's Gaza plan to larger questions of statehood and West Bank...Since neither Israel/US will deal directly with Arafat, Palestinians need mediator. Enter, backstage, Omar Suleiman,Egypt's head of intelligence. President Hosni Mubarak has asked [him]to co-operate with both Israelis and Palestinians in order to help Israel leave Gaza, make its leaving consistent with[US]road map, andpersuade Israelis and Americans that Palestinians are indeed reliable partners." (2) "Israel already tackleswith talk of violent opposition, military disobedience and even civil war if Sharon takes on settlermovement without clear mandate from people..Sharon seems..warmed to idea of national referendum -even though this would ensure further delay without ensuring final victory." Summary of Editorial: "The world is entitled to suspect his motives. But Ariel Sharon's plan to leave Gaza still deserves support." Economist 30 Oct 04 "The Palestinians: After Arafat" (Edit.11); "Israel's Withdrawal From Gaza: Round One To the Doves" (51-2); "The Palestinians: Adieu, Arafat?" (52):-inter-related discussions: effects of Yasser Arafat's serious illness(death)& Ariel Sharon's hard political options after winning positive Gaza-withdrawal vote in Knesset. Khalil Shikaki "The Future of Palestine" Foreign Affairs Vol.83/No.6(Nov/Dec 04):-author Director of Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, and wrote with bothexpertise and concern about Arafat's outdated views before he became ill/died. Varied Palestinian leaders/ personalities/youth, experiences, and groups identified/described, as well as improvable outcome of a Palestinian election if Israel were willing to permit one. Fair election strongly advocated in interest ofsolving crisis with Israel. "Q&A: Henry Siegman on Yasir Arafat" Council on Foreign Relations 10 Nov 04:-offers interview with CFR director of US/Middle East Project. He said that Abu Mazen, who opposes terrorism, "presents opportunity for resuming Middle East peace talks if Israel and US, both of which refused to negotiate with Arafat, drop their opposition to negotiations aimed at permanent Palestinian-Israelipeace." "Q&A: David Makovsky: Prospects for Middle East Peace" Council on Foreign Relations 15 Dec 04:-offers interview with director of Project on Middle East Peace Process at Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He said "changes in Israel and in Palestinian Authority(PA)opened'windows of opportunity that have not existed for many years' . There is now chance to end violence between the two sides and 'revive trust between Palestinians and Israelis' ." Steven Erlanger "A Modest Proposal: Israel Joining NATO" New York Times 19 Dec 04:-" one of most intriguing[new ideas]is suggestion that Israel...consider joining NATO. Idea, at least, is that closer ties to NATO - and perhaps eventual membership - would embed Israel in West and, by providing security guarantees, give it more confidence to make comprehensive peace...Of course prospect of closer ties with Israel would create debate within NATO, especially in absence of a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement. But first Israel itself needs to talk through military and political pros and cons."

The Economist 15 May 04 "War in Sudan:Don't Forget It" (Edit.10) "Special Report on Sudan: Fleeing the Horsemen Who Kill For Khartoum" (21-3):-reports:(1)cautious agreement about an encouraging but uncertain "comprehensive peace" to end north-south civil war since 1957;(2)bloody/displacing attacksdirected by government against western Darfur region whose newly armed people feared being excluded. North-south war started at Sudan's independence by black non-Moslems living over southern half of largest African state, who sought autonomy from Moslem and Arabic north. War killed 2 million(mostly civilians)and became even more fierce when new Sudan oil concession areas were hugely located in south. Under mostly US pressure/promise, both groups finally agreed on series of agreements and "to share power for six years, after which south will be allowed referendum on whether or not to secede...In west and east of country, regions utterly neglected by state , those who feel left out -in particular, in[black Moslem]Darfur-have taken up arms. Government has evidently determined to crush them with such ferocity that otherSudanese are too scared to follow suit" .Its militia is acting so viciously, it is drawing US anger -and soonUN. Economist 29 May 04 "Sudan: Peace in the South, War in the West" (Edit.14) "Sudan: A Triumph Marred By Terror" (48): bring developments up: Sudan's "government and southern rebels surmounted last obstacles in way of peace. [W]ar between north and south...appear[s]to be over. Proposed transitional government will not be pretty...but war is uglier...In western region of Darfur, government is fighting two black Muslim rebel groups...Some 1.2m [blacks]have been driven from their homes, and perhaps 30,000 killed.[A]id workers predict that between 150,000 and 350,000 people will die in next nine months from hunger and disease if Sudan's government does not stop hindering relief efforts" .Economist 03 Jul 04 "Sudan: Dousing the Frames of Darfur" (Edit.13) "Sudan: The Calamity Continues" (39):continue report: "Actions in Darfur...have created arguably worst humanitarian crisis in world today. Arab-dominated regime Khartoum is fighting revolt there by discontented blacks and has been driving black Darfuris fromsmoking remains of homes. Most of driving is done by mounted militia called janjaweed which governmentarms but pretends not to...USAID predicted...1m might die if help did not come fast" .UNSG Annan and US Secretary of State Powell visited Sudan to threaten government with UNSC sanctions, but offer aidwhen/where can. Economist 31 Jul 04 "Sudan Can't Wait: Genocide in Darfur" (Edit.11) "Sudan: The World Notices Darfur" (39-40):both describe international details US and Britain in particular are facing when tryingto end terrible action by janjaweed actions against people of Darfur, and serious food absence for millions. Third Darfur item, "International Law and Genocide: Must Intervention Be Legal?" (40),has Summary in sections due to future relevance of legality UN action/inaction. Economist 28 Aug 04 "Sudan: Crunch Time in Darfur" (Edit.11) "Sudan: Decision Time in Sudan" (39-40) "Darfur's Rebels: No Angels" (40):-there have been frequent/appalling Editorials/articles in past months, but trio is worth reading even if you do not want to scan them all. It contains a large amount of new information on complexities of this situation. Unfortunately much could be relevant to other African/Arab/illogical states and UN delay in crisis. Economist11 Dec 04 "Southern Sudan: The Refugees Prepare To Return Home" (45):-as noted in May items, slownorth-south peace negotiations continued/maybe ended, while western genocide continued, despitesmall/slow intervention in Darfur by African troops. South now seems prepared for peace/important resettlement takes place/is described.

The Economist 22 May 04 "Suicide Bombers: Shireen and Others Like Her" (76-7):-article is dedicated to analysing what drives suicide bombers "to their ghastly deeds" . It consists of the reviews of three books: Christoph Reuter, My Life is a Weapon: A Modern History of Suicide Bombing (Princeton Univ. Press), 200pp, $24.95; Barbara Victor, Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers(Rodale Press), 320 pp, $25.95; and John Fullerton, Give Me Death (Macmillan), 352 pp, 16.99 pounds.

The Economist 05 Jun 04 "United States Battling Proliferation: Win Some, Lose Some" (25-6):- "Bushafter[11 Sep] attacks, promis[ed]to face down threat from spread of weapons of mass destruction.[He]will be pressing hard for curbs on proliferation to be treated as epoch-shaping issue.[M]essage...helpedconvince Libya...to speed its exit out of elicit mass-destruction business.[A]larming tales since emerged of..wholesale auctioning off of Pakistan's nuclear technologies, not just to Libya, but to North Korea, Iranand possibly others, led UN Security Council[at Bush's urging]to pass resolution obliging all governments to criminalise illicit weapons and technology transfers...Yet despite these diplomatic successes, andmoney being spent on securing'loose nukes' ,...strategy still has plenty of critics.[While US was focused on Iraq,]North Korea went on building more bombs[,]Iran thumbed its nose at[IAEA and otherswere]encouraged...to redouble their bomb-building." Many other relevant US activities and inconsistencies reported towards India/Iraq/Iran/Israel/North Korea. "Stricter enforcement of anti-proliferation rules has been hallmark of[Bush, since bin Laden/al-Qaeda positions]cast problem of treaty-breaking by roguegovernments with terrorist links in alarming new light.[S]trategy has had some success" :EO and Russian anti-proliferation action. "Bush wants to see greater restrictions on dangerous uranium-enrichment and plutonium-reprocessing technologies[,yet wants to keep US nuclear]test-site bit readier." Economist 03 Jul 04 "North Korea: Nuclear Chess" (35-6)and "Europe and Iran: A Common Flop" (42):-both comment on US' s differing history/negotiations with these two nuclear-threatening states. Regarding North Korea, concludes "may be hoping for deal to its liking if John Kerry wins US presidential election in Nov. MeanwhileGeorge Bush in no rush either.[S]cotched criticism from allies and Kerry alike by showing...negotiating seriously. He has not yet sacrificed anything in nuclear game with North Korea, and maybe gained a little." Second article, dealing with both European and US negotiations, concludes "Iran and Europeans seem now to be playing for time, awaiting outcome of Nov's presidential election in US. But whoever wins,US is unlikely to tolerate nuclear-arming Iran. Some Europeans hope that new administration might try talking to Iran. But, with US tied up in Iraq, Iranians may calculate time is on their side and - so long as IAEA finds nothing new - that Europeans will never agree among themselves to tougher line. If so, far from being success for Europe's common... policy, Iran could become big irritant in relations between US and Europe" .

The Economist 10 Jul 04 "Weapons of Mass Destruction: If You Push, I'll Shove" (40-1):-gloomy report on Middle East nuclear prospects. Arabs fear Israel of possessing 200 nuclear bombs plus new deliveryforms; Israel points at chemical- and possibly biological-tipped missiles in neighbours. Balance of insecurity always uneasy, and may be eroding, even though Iraqi and Libyan nuclear developments wereundone. Head Mohamed ElBaradei of IAEA in Israel suggested it hold talks on nuclear-weapons-free zonein Middle East - before too late. He wants security talks in parallel with diplomacy, but opportunities so faroutweighed by threats. "Libya...helped expose vast global black market in uranium enrichment and other militarily useful skills centred on Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. Since Iran tapped into same illicit network, all this helped IAEA expose its 18 years of nuclear-safeguards violations: illegal nuclear experiments set out in series of reports for all to see. Yet, troubingly, Iran shows no sign yet of giving up dangerous technologies it has developed...Although Khan had admitted to selling his nuclear wares only to Iran, Libya and North Korea...suspicions others may have availed themselves of his services. Although all supposedly bound by their non-nuclear promise under NPT, few Arab governments have accepted more intrusivesafeguards and inspection regime [Economist 05 Jun "United States Battling Proliferation:.." op.cit.]. Saudi Arabia has no safeguards agreement with IAEA...Having helped..to finance both Libya's and Pakistan's nuclear weapons pursuits...it may have bought itself option on Pakistani bomb...Syria, which already has chemicaland biological weapons,...may now have covert uranium enrichment capability[and raises fears it could]acquire plutonium. If Iran[gets]bomb, it is not only Israel that might be alarmed. Egypt has potentially militarily useful nuclear skills and increasingly sophisticated missile programme. Algeria has suspiciously large nuclear reactor in Sahara, surrounded by missile defences.[E]ven Turkey...could reconsider non-nuclearpledge, should others in region seem about to renege on theirs. Much depends on whether Iran's nuclear ambitions can be checked before it has bomb.[F]inger-pointing could yet turn deadly."

The Economist 24 Jul 04 "Computing: Faster, Cheaper, Better" (72-3):-supercomputers have again become active construction products, and may play key roles in variety of important areas - with possibly strategic impact on future global civilization. Their previous heydays were in 80s, but current action reflects" ability to build powerful computers cheaply, combined with growing commercial demand for high-end computing power" . As existing components can now be" cheaply bolted together" ,unnecessary to design and build from scratch. World's new third-fastest cost just $5.2m, and IBM will be selling supercomputer-class machines commercially. US supercomputer users, at meeting, highlighted growing industrialimportance(film studio special effects/creation; household-goods related redesign).Particular applications: modelling climate change; what happens inside(banned)nuclear explosion. Also good for modelling way proteins fold and should help to predict which drugs might work; will have direct impact in drugs designto enhance or interfere with working of hormone. IBM hopes to have by 06 computer running at petaflop(i.e.1000 teraflops, which in turn equal trillion" flops" or floating-point operations:" addition or multiplication of pair of decimal numbers" ). US wants researchers to focus on more customised and expensive systems; Congresshas passed legislation to increase funding of supercomputer research(Pentagon wants petaflop for research).

The Economist 24 Jul 04 "Russia's Armed Forces: Heads Roll At Long Last" (48-9):-excessive cost ofUSSR armed forces - in attempt to match US as superpower - played critical role in bringing end to Cold War. Yet their gradual and reluctant, but vast financial, constraint had dangerous effects on intricate weapons, disarmament, and personnel - and gained US safety assistance. Some long-overdue actions havenow taken place, and may have positive impact. "Anatoly Kvashnin, Russian armed forces' chief of staffwho was fired...had spent most of his seven years in job in conflict with people meant to be his bosses[,civilian defence ministers. He]had blocked President Vladimir Putin's attempts to start transition fromconstrict army to leaner, professional one. But his civilian opponents outmanoeuvred him...when Duma passed law handing operational control of army to defence ministry and leaving generals in charge only of strategy.[R]umours of...dismissal began;...he asked to go." His reactionary acts had included: seizure ofKosovo airport during war; chronically sour relations with NATO; world view/threats as if Cold War had barely ended;" ran impressive exercises designed to repulse massive invasions from east and west" ; losses in Chechnya issue." [R]eplacement Yuri Baluyevsky seen as opponent of his mercurial, stubborn ex-boss; more desk man, strategist and military historian, who watches his words, stays out of politics and pragmaticabout co-operating with former foes. He has led disarmament talks and parleyed with NATO.[A]lso joint author of reform plans, which would slim ministry and military command. But what next?" Clean armed forcescorruption? Create volunteer army?

The Economist 31 Jul 04 "International Law and Genocide: Must Intervention Be Legal?" (40):-brief, usefully stated, item on whether/how world community could intervene in Darfur, west Sudan, where black Muslims attacked with authority of Arab Khartoum. Legal/political complications are well described, and unfortunately will be facing(or ignored by)global justice, perhaps for decades. "Under UN Convention on Genocide 1948, state signatories undertook to'prevent and punish'genocide[carefully defined].States may act alone or call on UN to take'appropriate'measures...Though Sudanese Arab militias have been targetingthree black African tribes, some Arab groups have also been attacked and some African ones spared. US Congress has called attacks genocide...African Union and various human-rights groups argue that threshold for genocide has not yet been crossed. It may not matter much, for under international law, there is no inherent right of armed humanitarian intervention, even to stop genocide. UN Charter only sanctions force in self-defence(Article 51)or when authorised by Security Council to prevent breach of peace or act of aggression(Chapter VII). It specifically forbids intervention'in matters which are essentially within domestic jurisdiction of any state',though this injunction can be overridden by Chapter VII authorisation...UN has, of course, intervened in past to stop gross violations of human rights...But it has only ever done so under Chapter VII in name of preserving peace." Darfur military intervention would draw vetos(as would have Kosovo). "Many governments, particularly poor and despotic ones, argue that national sovereignty should always trump humanitarian issues. Most western ones argue opposite. One way round possible veto would be to invoke UN'uniting for peace'resolution...UNGA may'recommend'measures, including use of force, tocounter threat to peace, if UNSC unable to act. But many reluctant to invoke instrument that they fear wouldundermine UNSC authority." Chad vital role in location uncertain. Without going through UN "need not beas drastic assault on international law as some legal sticklers fear.[I]ntervention could be justified with reference to NATO's campaign in Kosovo, which proceeded without UN approval. That might even set useful precedent for dealing with future catastrophes." [I would object to last.]

The Economist 07 Aug 04 "Arab Foreign Policy: Always Prickly, Sometimes Paranoid, Occasionally Pragmatic" (37-8); "Palestine: Who's In Charge?" (38); "Morocco: The Slow March To Reform" (38-9); "Iraq's Christians: Less Safe Than Before?" (39):-first report analyses outstandingly how Arab governments/peoples deal with outside world and each other; the three other reports on national Arab states provide interesting descriptions of how different attitudes/prejudices within nations delay theirprogress. Here are some top examples. Arabs find it hard to act together to solve region's manifoldproblems. Suspicion of US runs deep in Arab world and can generate strong misinterpretations of events. "Many Arab governments would sincerely like to help heal festering regional sores such as mayhem in Iraq and misery in Palestine and Darfur. Not only would this reduce risk of infection, it would also improve strained relations with superpower. But popular distrust of western, and particularly US, motives keeps getting in way." Describes how/why proposal for Islamic force in Iraq collapsed. "Arab response to Darfur crisis has been similarly fork-tongued." Syrian government paper claims real US plan is to "swallow" another chunk of Arab real estate. "Peace-minded Arab governments have been similarlyhamstrung over recent travails in Palestine [Arafat's role]...This is not to say Arab governments have always failed to help resolve such problems, when they can do so discreetly[Egypt/Arab League/Libya] Fellow Arabsalso grown more solicitous for welfare of Iraq. Increasingly indiscriminate savagery of Iraqi insurgents and their increasingly radical Islamist overtures appear to have persuaded many non-Iraqi Arabs of need to tame them...More western sensitivity to Arab concerns and less blinkered Arab prickliness about sacredness of sovereignty in countries with vicious regimes." "Palestine" : "Snarling fight between Gazans and West Bankers, mainly pitting'young guard'reformers like[Mohammed Dahlan, former head of PA security]against'old guard'survivors around Arafat." "Morocco" : "Three main independent human-rights outfits, fired up by recent Amnesty International report which said suspected Islamist radicals had been torturedat centre, demanding parliamentary oversight of[secret service]. "Iraq's Christians" : "Most chauvinist of Iraq'sSunni minority think Shias and Christians have much in common. Salafi Muslims, who forsake Islam's more tolerant tradition to apply literal word of Koran, battling to cleanse Iraq of'idol-worshippers' " .

The Economist 14 Aug 04 "Commonwealth Soldiers: Tommy Foreigner" (51):-qualities of combat-participants involve new things for many reasons. Mentioned elsewhere are: animals; children; conscripts; criminals; drivers; evacuees; heirs; killers; machines; mechanics; mercenaries; professionals; scientists; terrorists; torturers; women; etc. British army potentially opened its defences to almost 2 billion volunteers, and thus has proudly defeated US Pentagon to super-rule the world. "Years of tight labour market have made it hard to hire Britons, so, like many other outfits with recruitment difficulties, army is looking abroad.Ambitious young Commonwealth citizens, attracted by pay and conditions, are piling in. As result, army now has 4,500 such soldiers from 43 countries, including 1,500 Fijians and 750 Jamaicans - twice as many as it had two years ago. If army's 3,400 Nepalese Gurkhas are included, over 8% of British army is now foreign. US armed forces, which operate similar policy, boast around 38,000 foreigners, or 3% of total.Many regiments could not operate without foreigners.[T]hey are likely to dominate ranks of non-commissioned officers; and the traditional battle-scarred, foul-tongued, working-class NCO might fade into history.[A]rmy rugby team is now almost entirely Fijian, and much better for it. And Staffordshire Regiment's canteen serves Caribbean fricassee, which looked a lot tastier...than beans and chips."

The Economist 21 Aug 04 "Russia: A Matter of Russian Honour" (Edit.13); "Former Soviet War Zones: The Hazards of a Long, Hard Freeze" (40-1); "South Ossetia: We Don't Want War, But..." (41):-Editorial/articlereflect justifiable concern: number of post-WW II states is still suffering ability even to survive, and hurting their populations as result. One group of newly-independent states is those once part of dictatorship USSR.Both their own governments and that of Russia are often inclined to suffer instability. Items relate to three such states facing four rebel units whose imperfect status has been supported by Moscow. In Editorial, both President Putin and the West are urged to take corrective action: "Russia is working hard to regain respect and authority...But...Russia must respect other countries too, including places once ruled from Moscow. It will prosper more with friendly, confident countries around it - not weak, frustrated ones...Byoffering unconditional support to rebel regimes in Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,Russia dishonours itself/destabilizes its neighbourhood...Crisis needs delicate handling...South Ossetiais not viable state. It lives on crime. Its government needs to be closed down as part of generous settlementwhich Georgia now offers. Abkhazia, Georgia's other breakaway province, is tougher problem, and its local government even less legitimate. It speaks for even fewer of region's lawful residents.[Another]'frozen conflict'in region...is in Moldova, where another rebel statelet, Transdniestria, lives on smuggling and Russian guns. Then there is far bigger stand-off: over Nagorno-Karabakh...where decade ago Armenians broke free from Azerbaijan...All these conflicts destabilise countries." In Major Items, the origins,complexity, current situations of the four rebel movements are described. Long article concludes: "It may be time for the world to slop them out" .

The Economist 28 Aug 04 "China: The Great Leap West" (38):-fine report on scale/impact of "Hanification" (Chinese race and rule)in vast, extreme-western Chinese Xinjiang province, historic area of Uighurs: Muslin Turkic people. Kashgar, Uighurs' key/most western city, forcefully resembling Shanghai/Shenzhenin Han population, structure, even economy, since area now offers new railway, oil pipeline, and large state subsidies. Worse," since 11 Sep 01, Beijing...link[ed]Uighur nationalist groups to al-Qaeda, even announcing...1,000 Uighur trained with Osama bin Laden. [F]ew Uighurs did indeed fight for Taliban...butmost support non-violence[;]little evidence of significant al-Qaeda links.[While]China once tarred all Uighurs as terrorists.,.now defines terrorist in Xinjiang as anyone who thinks' separatist thoughts' ...and recently detained tens of thousands.,.executed many[AI report. R]ecently said crackdown would continue indefinitely. [S]mall-scale clashes break out nearly every day.;.instability scares off foreign investors[e.g.pipeline. M]oderate Uighurs, who want autonomy but not necessarily independence, worry that repression and Chinese immigration are playing into hands of most hardline, conservative elements in Uighur society. Though Uighurs historically were among world's most liberal/pro-western Muslims,fundamentalist Islam gaining sway among young Uighur men. Still, there is hope. Recognizing threatposed by hardliners, leading moderate... diaspora[united]behiind one leader, Erkin Alptekin.[S]on of pre-1949 president of independent Xinjiang, can become their Dalai Lama, promoting Uighur case in West and serving as moderate, unifying force for nation." Economist 06 Nov 04 "China: Mayhem, Martial Law and Mobiles" (45):-hostility/clash between Chinese of Han majority and Muslim minority may reflect government's above-noted terrorist propaganda against Uighurs or much more varied threat of mayhem. "In Henan province.,.traffic accident[generated majority-minority clash]. Officials confirmed 7 deaths/42 injuries in four days fighting before paramilitary police imposed martial law.[Reports claim]thousands of Hui travelled to scene of riot...to take part in clashes, and that death toll may have been far higher.[F]or China...ethnic discord between Han and Hui is not directly related to deepening hostilitybetween Muslims and non-Muslims in rest of world[,but]that could be changing...Han have been more suspicious and disdainful of China's own Muslims, who in response have turned more defensive.[Also, recent]reports about other incidents of unrest across China. In Sichuan...100,000 farmers took part in violent protests against meagre compensation received after being forced to make way for new dam.In...largest city, quarrel among locals turned violent, with reports of police cars burned and government buildings looted. In[other]provinces labour disputes also turn violent. While those episodes were not connected, Chinese authorities terrified at prospect that future incidents might be. Tension, after all, is rife in China. Unpaid wages are common flashpoint for urban workers, as are arbitrary land grabs by authorities in countryside. Economic hardship and unchecked corruption are facts of life throughout China, and ethnic strife never far below surface wherever minorities live.[F]ear of seeing isolated incidentsturn into prairie fire, guides China's handling of unrest. In Henan, outsiders were barred from region,phone lines swiftly cut, and local media...scrubbed.[Yet]modern communications - mobile phones, text messaging, e-mail - make it easy for malcontents anywhere in China to spread news and link up with others."

The Economist 28 Aug 04 "A Robot Interpreter: Elevate Your Hands Or I Ignite" (42):-short item reports very amusingly about "high-tech weapon for war to win Iraqi hearts and minds" .[I will add some broader implications. Sorry.]US excels at" technological wizardry and not speaking foreign languages" . "Phaselator" is palm-held electronic polyglot that can translate spoken English into other tongues and "built by firm in Maryland called VoxTec" which got seed funds from Pentagon which needed machine that could speak Arabic, among other languages. For war activity it saves interpreters' lives/wages/prejudices($2,300 per device)-and gets no argumentative replies. Company already exploring possibility for disaster relief, tourism and quick product-use instruction. [Since one could presumably develop them equally as one-way talkers between any two languages, two people with complementary devices could presumablycommunicate both ways. Instantly rules out global need for any more teaching/learning in any languageat all but your own and wipes out English study as globally necessary/popular. It also saves very rare languages that are now spoken only by last handfuls of people. It also offers optimum crimes to all; persuasive.]

The Economist 18 Sep 04 "The Muslim World: The War For Islam's Heart" (51-2):-quite an objective essay on how and why Muslims are deeply split in reaction to "Islamic" terrorism. Neither its intense supporters nor horrified critics are predicted to win unquestioned support. Since 11 Sep 01, "anguish among world's 1.2b Muslims has not diminished. Other Muslim fanatics carried out other fearful crimes in name of Islam. And non-Muslim armies have stomped into Muslim-populated lands to prosecute war on terrorthat some perceive as war on Islam. Result is that ordinary Muslims find themselves confronted with increasingly fierce claims for possession of their faith. Rival narratives have emerged at either end of the extremely broad Muslim spectrum, and they could scarcely be more different.[Some decry]fact that, while it is obvious all Muslims not terrorists, it is sadly apparent...nearly all terrorists happen to be Muslims. [Yet spokesman for Iraqi jihadist group claims:]Wherever you cast your eye... you find only one truth, which is that infidels are slaying Muslims' in every way , in every land, and with overspilling hatred'...Withgrowing stridency, Muslim liberals are saying that it is high time for Muslims to act, to stop their faith from being hijacked and turned into cult-like vehicle for clash of civilizations. Their sense is that violence of radical minority is not merely ruining sympathy for just Muslim causes in such contested places as Chechnya and Palestine, it is beginning to threaten Muslims' peaceful coexistence with others everywhere. For their part, jihadists[are convicted] that sympathy for Muslim causes never existed in the first place.Islam...is so imperilled that fighting for its survival is not merely right, but sublime duty. And so vicious are its enemies that any means may be used to deter them, more shockingly cruel, more effective. Ultimately, they believe, Islam will triumph only if all foreign influence is chased from vast, unified Islamic state." Item then looks at reaction of non-Muslim world, and Muslim perception/tales/fears.

The Economist 20 Nov 04 "The United Nations: Time For A Re-Think" (Edit.15-6) "United Nations: Fighting For Survival" (25-7):-this historically important Special Report provides a careful, yet positive, summary of a realistic but strongly positive set of recommendations, agreed on by a panel appointed by Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General. The 16-member group, composed of top-level but independent worthies from all regions of globe, was instructed to submit UN-reform proposals related to Organization's effective coordination of collective security in face of unprecedented global threats. Editorial supports reforms carefully but as essential. UN" embodies collective will and wisdom of imperfect world...Report on how UN might in future better contribute to international security - mobilizing its own and world's resources, to prevent crises where possible and to deal with them more resolutely and effectively where necessary - is due...Yet the thoughtful debate such proposals deserve risks getting lost in poisonous war of words.[Those]who brush against UN as irrelevant in today's world are...dangerously short-sighted.World's most powerful country/top gun has its problems. With global interests and global reach, US is most often called on to right world's wrongs. It should have keen interest in rules-based system whichkeeps that burden to minimum and finds way for others, including UN, to share it...Agreed rules for all to play as much as possible makes strategic sense too.[Yet]system of international rules/treaties/laws is stilla hodge-podge. Some, like UN Charter, deemed universal, though...sometimes ignored.[P]rohibitions against proliferation of...weapons accepted by many but not all. Some disputes can be settled in court...but only where governments give nod...UN Security Council is where most serious disputes end.There trouble can start. UNSC not moral conscience of world. It is connection of states pursuing divergentinterests, albeit...with sense of responsibility. Where it can agree, consensus lends legitimacy toaction...Getting UNSC to mean what it says would help restore some lost credibility. Getting it to evolve collective thinking about international legal niceties in tune with evolving threats...is vital too. It has latelylearned to lean harder on genocidal dictators...Now it needs to contemplate earlier and sometimes evenforceful action by itself or others against threats...where delay[,including if too many members,]couldinvite catastrophe ...All the more reason why Annan's eminences deserve proper hearing." Council on Foreign Relations "Q&A: Reforming the United Nations" 01 Dec 04:-originally available either by NYT>CFR>International>[title] or via the CFR directly. This is an expert interview with Lee Feinsteinwho" has spearheaded Council work on the United Nations" and studied the important UN report and its UNGA prospects. Complete text of "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility" Report of the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, plus preliminary comments by its requester/addressee,UNSG Kofi Annan, can be read and even copied(99pp Acrobat Reader)from the Secretary General's part of the UN file(www.un.org). Executive Summary(8pp Acrobat)is also available at the same address.

The Economist 26 Feb 05"China, Japan and US: Keeping Their Balance"(39-40):-One of China's worriesis "Japan's increasingly unapologetic flexing of its diplomatic muscle and its greater readiness to seeits armed forces co-operate more closely with US, both around the region...and further afield... Anotherof China's worries is that US and Japan are particularly seeking to constrain China's growing influence in Asia and beyond. [Yet] far from attempting to constrain China, some in the region have worried thatUS has recently allowed it too much room for manoeuvre [by reducing US troop numbers in Asia. They] are keen for US to continue playing a balancing role to keep old rivalries between China, Japan, Russia and others in check... Is there room for so many big powers in Asia? Japan and China are natural rivalsfor regional leadership, but until lately China seemed to be winning.... What China has sometimes called its' peaceful rise'... has been causing concern. Will stronger China throw its weight about?... US and others are keen to keep China's influence in proportion, if not in check. In process, US has improved relationswith India. Japan is developing military-to-military ties with Russia and... clinching an oil pipeline deal at China's expense. Meanwhile,US upgraded security ties with Mongolia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines.When Indian Ocean tsunami struck, US formed... coalition with India, Japan, Australia [ - and not China.] But China most worried about Japan [,which] moving rapidly to upgrade its security alliance with US...Japan has also started to cut back assistance to China, and has lobbied hard for EU not to lift arms embargo on the country. All this for sake of keeping a balance, Japan would argue... -but an uneasy one."

The Economist 19 Mar 05"Reforming the Intelligence Services: The Spy Game"(Edit.13);"America's[US] Intelligence Reforms: Can Spies Be Made Better?"(29-31); "Britain's Intelligence Services: Cats' Eyes In the Dark"(32-4):-Editorial concludes:"In both Britain and US, the spies remain on watch. Current trends -terrorism and proliferation - have made their work both more important and much harder. Meanwhile, comforting idea that technology would make spying more of a high-tech science was blown apart by 11 Sep and Iraq fiasco; it is now a more risky, more human affair where real eyes and ears matter. So farspooks have been given much of what wanting: more money/more power/relatively gentle reorganisation.Now need to prove their worth." Item on US intelligence reforms:"Truth is, no one knows how the reforms will proceed. [John Negraponte, first director of national intelligence (DNI)] may gain a modicum of controlover the agencies. At best, he may ensure that the information channels opened within and between theagencies after the hijack attacks stay open. Yet, on his own at least, he will not be able to fix the agencies' most grievous problems, highlighted by their performance on Iraq... Further organizational reform would not eliminate problem. US spies do not necessarily need shifting; a good few need sacking." Item onBritish intelligence reform: "Can challenging and questioning be made part of the spy culture?... Britain'sintelligence services have been feeling their limitations lately. The [11 Sep 05 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Iraq] have forced a rethink in the way things are done - and have led to the most substantial reshaping of the intelligence community since 1946-48... Terrorist-related intelligence... now has to bepassed to Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre(JTAC). [Post-Iraq,] the new system is intended to givetechnical specialists more weight, to engender greater scepticism about the material gathered, and to licence every member of the British intelligence community, when necessary, to speak truth to power".

The Economist 26 Mar 05"The United Nations: Kofi Annan's Reform Plan"(Edit.12); "America[US] and the United Nations: Love At Second Sight"(31):-Editorial reports:"Some good ideas, but no revolution in therunning of the world"... "Some of Annan's reforms are designed expressly to address [chronic] failings. Possible remedies include adding new permanent members to UN Security Council [e.g.Germany, Japan, Brazil, India] to make it more representative, and making the rules on using force more flexible, so thatattack does not have to be under way or imminent before self-defence can be invoked; UNSC could alsorespond to'latent'threats...These ideas have been put together in good faith by experienced diplomats. They deserve a hearing. And yet they do not - indeed cannot - solve underlying problem... It is absence of [agreed] will, not some legal quibble, that is holding [UNSC]back now. None of this means Annan's ideas ought to be rejected, or that UN is not worth improving." Item on US views:"Bush's people seem to like: new intergovernmental peace-building commission;...replacement of Human Rights Commission by smaller, elected Human Rights Council; agreed definition of terrorism;... attempt to confirm a nation's right to launch'pre-emptive'strike in face of 'imminent'threat... Most contentious part of Annan's package...concerns UNSC [expanded] from 15 to 24. [Even former Republican critic wants]'"credible UN" because'US cannot be world's sole saviour. It needs to share its burden'".Economist 06 Aug 05"America's New UN Envoy: Lethal Injection, Or Healthy Tonic?"(24-5):-US president "bypasses the Senate to send John Bolton to the UN [,which] is unlikely to be the same again. Ignoring fierce opposition from civil liberties groups, Democrats and even some Republicans, Bush has chosen to bypass normal Senate confirmation procedures to appoint... outspoken advocate of US global hegemony... In past, Bolton seemed to treat UN with something less than full respect... [He has spoken for] "those neo-cons who regard UN as costly, corrupt, anachronistic impediment to the free exercise of US power...But [some UN forces] believe choice of such outspoken, hard-driving heavyweight ...could actually provide the 'kick up the pants' UN needs. [Appointment]could also help bring some of UN's most ferocious critics behind[its Rice-supported] reforms. [Rice aide] sounded astonishingly supportive of UN, praising its many achievements in bringing economic development, security and peace to world, and pledging US backing for most [UNSG] Annan's proposed reforms, to be endorsed... at UN summit...'Therefore vital... US lead UN, that we have faith in UN,pay our dues, promote reform and contribute to strengthen UN for all the many challenges ahead. [Bolton]role will be more to execute policy than to formulate it.... He could be rather good at that."

The Economist 26 Mar 05"China and Japan: So Hard To Be Friends"(23-5):-Special Report summarized:"China and Japan increasingly inter-linked-commercially. But their age-old political animus is reviving too". Highlights:"[China is]Japan's biggest trading partner. Japan was China's biggest partner in 3 of last 4 years. Trade rows... virtually disappeared. Economies increasingly integrated. [Both] in effort to launch East Asian Community, and share interest in preventing dollar from declining rapidly. Also take part in broader regional co-operation. Until recently..wonders if China and Japan might in future make common cause in global affairs. Defence ministries... held cordial meetings..; Chinese leaders spoke admiringly ofJapan as economic model.[Both] collaborators in... effort to persuade North Korea to relinquish nuclearweapons. Yet recently a lot more evidence for opposite; namely that tensions rising again between two of 20th century's bitterest rivals... Japan deliberately made its position on Taiwan less ambiguous bydeclaring, with US ally, Taiwan is mutual security concern. Took Japan symbolic step further past itsconstitutional restrictions. [In defence program, Japan] described China as source of 'concern', [reinforced]by China's own announcement of 12.6% rise in official defence spending... Top-level meetingshave been brief affairs... Apparent reason: events of 70 years ago when Japan invaded China, and Japan's unwillingness to show contrition about them in manner demanded by China... Should outsidersbe worried...or comforted? Both countries have become natural rivals for primacy in region...China's rise reinforced old worries.:.hunger for natural resources.;.ability to modernise armed forces...Japan showslittle commercial nervousness [since] two economies strikingly complementary.:.only 20% of China's exports in categories that compete with Japanese ones [and its] ultra-cheap labour is likely for some time to tilt firms towards labour-intensive processes... Yet while... complementary in output, clearly competitors for resources - China overtook Japan as world's second-largest importer of oil [and disputes sea-bed resource sites between them. A]t issue may be... whole future power balance in Asia... [Tense relationsmay also] stem both from nasty history of 20th century and from expectations of concerns about 21st... In China and Japan these days opinion towards each other quite varied [and] on both sides striking.[Japanese PM visits to war shrine including WWII criminals, and use of school textbooks lacking sincere critique of invasion/mistreatment of China, draw anti-Japanese emotions, maintained by Chinese school textbooks.].. Tensions between two great powers ...probably cannot be defused altogether as long as...political systems remain so different ... Only once China stops trying to explore how far it can go, and instead decides to seek a rapprochment with its ancient rival, is the tension likely to ease."

The Economist 09 Apr 05"The International Criminal Court: Lengthening the Arm of Global Law"(38):-item explains "Consequences of referring Darfur to ICC... UN-appointed commission 'strongly recommended'referral of 'heinous' crimes in Darfur to ICC[, and] UNSC has finally agreed to act, despite US hostility to ICC. Sealed list of 51 prime suspects, drawn up by commission and including names of Sudanese officials, members of state-sponsored militias and Darfuri rebels, handed to ICC's chief prosecutor [who] plans to start immediately to investigate two -year conflict... Three ways ICC can launch investigation. (1) Country where war crimes [may] have taken place can ask ICC to look into them. (2) ICC chief prosecutor can take initiative so long as alleged crimes took place in one of 98 countries which ratified [ICC] treaty. (3) UNSC can make referral, regardless of where crimes took place... If ICC deems Sudan's investigations to be bogus... it will dismiss Sudanese challenge and unleash its prosecutors... US had wanted a blanket immunity from ICC prosecution. But this denied by the nine UNSC members... signed up to ICC...[N]ext time[similar evil], US will find it harder to explain why ICC should not go after it".

The Economist 07 May 05"Russia and the West: Victory Day Remembered - But Parades in Moscow Should Not Stop the West Confronting Russian Autocracy"(Edit.10):-"Not surprising that history of so cataclysmic an event as WWII should still cast a shadow everywhere today. But at least in most countries of Europe [as well as in Australia, Canada, NZ and USA], people have come to terms with, and in many ways moved beyond, that history - something EU by its very existence seeks to symbolise. Germany hasfully admitted the sins of its past.[See: "Germans and Jews: Uncertain Normality - Some Forgiving, Not Much Forgetting"(48).] Even Japan, slow as it is to accept its faults [to particular annoyance of China and Korea], has repeatedly apologised for its wartime record. The exception... is Russia. Its failure to come clean about the iniquities of its own past is part of a wider story that helps to explain why post-Soviet Russia remains so prickly and troubling. [Russia's President Vladimir] Putin calls himself a democrat. Yethe recently declared collapse of Soviet Union was greatest geo-political catastrophe of 20th century... Hardly uncommon for nations to glorify their wartime histories,... and perhaps it is forgivable. But in the memory of too many Russians, a justified pride in having vanquished Hitler is mingled with a misplacednostalgia for the days of 'greatness' (and terror) under Stalin's own dictatorship. [See: "Victory Day, 60 Years On: The Uses and Abuses of History - Russia's Complicated Attitude to the Best and Worst of Times"(45-6).] Tearing-down of iron curtain and dissolution of Soviet Union achieved remarkably peacefully.Moscow harrumphed when former vassals joined NATO and then EU, but it did not seek actively to stopthem. Nor was Putin able... to prevent spread of 'democratic revolutions' ... But Russians still interfering, politically and militarily, in string of neighbouring countries that were once under Soviet control. Still notsigned border treaties with two of three Baltic countries. [See: "Baltic Borders and the War: Frontier Justice - Why Russia's Borders With the Baltic Countries Remain Disputed"(46).] To neighbours, Putin's Russia looks dangerous - even if, to West in general, weakened Russia is far from threat it was in cold-war days... Russia's failure fully to acknowledge its past is more than case of post-imperial twitching in itsnear-abroad. It is also part and parcel of Putin's shift from liberal democracy towards authoritarianism... Independent media have been muzzled, elections rigged and any hints of opposition neutered, This might seem matter primarily for Russians to fret over, but it also troubles neighbours that have too often suffered from Russian attention. [See: "Charlemagne: Taking On the Bear - Russia's Awkward Position in Europe's Jigshaw"(50).] Foreign investors are worried too. Government... has demonstrated with awful clarity bothlack of any independent rule of law and arbitrariness of Russian state's intervention in business. To westernEuropeans , increasingly reliant on Russia for energy, this too should be matter of great concern. [See; Op.Cit summary: "Russian Oil: King Solomon's Pipes - The Benefits of Keeping Japan and China Guessing"(59-60).] Russia has its pride and special sensitivities. But countries of West would be doing both themselves and Russian people favour by speaking firmly, with one voice, on human rights,democracy, rule of law and brutal war in [Caucasus]. Should urge Putin to confront and transcend the dictatorship of memory by normalising Russia's borders...and to abandon any atavistic dreams of empire".

The Economist 16 Jul 05"In Europe's Midst"(Edit.13-4):-"Four young British Muslims became zealots, and the zealots became suicide-bombers.";"Muslim Extremism in Europe: The Enemy Within" (Special Report24-6);-"What turns a man into a terrorist, and what can be done about it?";US:"Fighting Terrorism: Imagining Something Much Worse Than London"(27-8):-"The unwieldy Department of Homeland Securityhas a timely reorganisation, aimed at focusing on most dangerous threats."; "Jihadists in the Middle East: Cradle of War, School of Jihad"(41-2):-"Al-Qaeda's allies turned Iraq into new Afghanistan.";"Israel's Suicide-Bombing: Ploughing on Regardless"(42):-"Suicide-bombers try to derail the Gaza pullout.";"Italy and Terrorism: The Next Target?"(44-5):-"Terrorism is 'knocking at Italy's door, says the interior minister. Most Italians need no persuading."; "London: After the Bombs"(52-3):-"How four suicide attacks by British citizens have changed Britain."; "Ethnic Relations: One Step Back"(53):-"Attacks in London will test analready-embattled group."; "Terrorism Insurance: Change of Calculation"(71):-"The bombings in Londonmay affect a US debate.":-after the serious suicide-bomber explosions of 07 Jul in London, Economisteither collected from professionals, or at least presented in valuable forms, a vast and expert variety of related - and serious - information in the nine good articles listed here. Following each title, their official summaries are offered, since they are both clear and succinct. I particularly stress the Special Report, not because it is critical of Muslims/Islamic doctrine (it isn't), but since it describes how and why young men can become mass killers. (Young) people with twisted/frustrated attitudes can gain/use mass weapons relatively easily in virtually any state on earth and regardless of their religions. (My concern about gradual but inherent global trends of this sort, started this future-looking bibliography over ten years ago...)

The Economist 23 Jul 05"Counter-Terrorism in Europe: The Fight Within"(45-6):-"In fits and starts,European countries are learning to co-operate more closely, and to share intelligence, in battle against terrorism... EU members made copious promises to co-operate in fight against terror. An 'action plan', including 150 separate measures, was launched in [Jun 04]. Some two-thirds of these have been translated into political decisions...'Situation centre'in Brussels, where EU members share intelligence assessments, has begun looking at domestic threats as well as external ones... European Commissionproposed more measures, including making explosives more easily traceable and restricting sales of farmfertiliser. EU's embryonic law-enforcement institutions - Europol police agency, and Eurojust, through which prosecutors co-operate - are heavily engaged in anti-terrorism work, building relations with their much bigger brothers in US... Important decisions will come this autumn, such as making personal data more easily available to investigators while also introducing an EU-wide system of data protection. Treading delicately in sensitive territory, the commission is preparing a paper on 'radicalisation'- politelanguage for discontent among young Muslims that prompts a few to become terrorists. But officials stress this will describe problem, not prescribe solutions; only national governments can do that. Nor is there any guarantee that common threats will translate into common action... At everyday level, barriersto co-operation are rarely insuperable... Individual acts of co-operation between European countries areone thing. Longer-term efforts to turn counter-terrorism into a pan-European activity are something else...Moreover, problems are not just legal and technical, but political and ethical. In all European countries,hard questions have been posed by the twin challenges of terrorism and Muslim disaffection."

The Economist 23 Jul 05"India and America: Now We Are Six"(Edit.13); "India and America: Together At Last"(37-8):-Both relate to the visit of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington, andselective but significant improvement of relations. Latter description summarized:"US adds substance to its professions of friendship for India";and comments: "Change in US attitude reflects both India's emergence as economic force to be reckoned with, and the rise of neighbouring China. India's economy is only about 40% the size of China's, but its fast growth and young population mean that its global role is increasing, not least because of its thriving information-technology and outsourcing industries".Editorial is concerned: "Has US just destroyed the non-proliferation treaty(NPT), set up 1968 to halt spread of nuclear weapons? [India's PM] walked off with... access to US civilian nuclear know-how and nuclear fuel, despite fact that India has been a declared holder of nuclear weapons since 1998. India not signatory to NPT, and not bound by its provisions, which restrict right to possess nuclear weapons to five original nuclear powers...and impose extensive safeguards on civilian nuclear programs of other member states. But even so, it has always been a tenet of US foreign policy, enshrined in law, that only countries that areNPT members should share in benefits of US civilian nuclear expertise. Being able to buy US reactor components and fuel rods was supposed to be specific reward for renouncing nuclear weapons, not favour to be handed out at will... Danger now:...other friendly countries that considered acquiringnuclear weapons, but decided not to do so because help with their civilian programs was judged to matter more, might think that they too can have it both ways. Another danger:... non-nuclear countries will havemore reason than before to see NPT as charade which lets powerful hold on to their own nukes andallows their friends to acquire them, while excluding everyone else... On balance...it seems US eagerness to cement better relationship with India has led it to damage the effort to contain the spread of nuclear weapons... India might better have been offered something it values even more highly than nuclear help, and deserves far better: US support for its quest to win a permanent seat on UN Security Council". For description of current global debate for creating new permanent/non-permanent UNSC seats: Economist30 Jul 05"The UN Security Council: United We Stand"(27-30)."An unexpected agreement on expansion".

The Economist 10 Sep 05"The United Nations: The Oil-For-Food Fiasco"(Edit.12-3); "Special Report: The United Nation: Can Its Credibility Be Repaired?"(30-2):-Both items deal with how a decision on UNSG Kofi Annan's program to constructively reform the UN coincides with the release of a serious critique against UN management. The reform program was to be debated/ drafted before, and then submitted to, a special UN global summit in New York in Sep 05. Editorial argues:"After more than a year of investigation, Paul Volcker... chose this [week] to publish his report on what went wrong with UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq... Program... basic aim...was to allow Iraq under sanctions to sell...oil so that some basic food/medical needs...could still be met. But Volcker's team confirms that program was riddled with waste, inefficiency and corruption. [Yet] Volcker has found no evidence at all that UNSG himself did anything corrupt [and argues] Annan not responsible for everything that went wrong... UN Security Council tried to keepcontrol through a sanctions committee of national diplomats. Having neither UNSC nor secretariat in clear command was recipe for 'evasion of responsibility at all levels' ... Annan should not be fall guy for US' s failure to muster [UNSC Iraq-invasion] consensus in its favour". SR first reports on Volcker's belief that"failings it found are symptomatic of 'systemic problems' throughout [UN system, which hence]needs thoroughgoing reform - and urgently...Recent studies...come to identical conclusion, including High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change set up by UNSG himself[, which] forms basis for reform that over 170 heads of state/government to endorse in NY 14-16 Sep... There has been enormous trouble in drafting so-called 'outcome document'which, based on panel's proposals, to be presented to summit. Bargaining had been mired in furious wrangling between member states, with US pitched against group of developing countries... [Then John Bolton, new US ambassador (op.cit.)] threw negotiations into further crisis by insisting on hundreds of last-minute changes to 39-page draftdocument that everyone else had thought was pretty near complete. [Some alterations demanded] toreinto the delicately balanced 'grand bargain'between rich and poor...Plan was: poor to have Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) reaffirmed, along with promises of more aid and debt relief, pledge to tackle climate change and progress on disarmament. Developed world: to get clear definition of terrorismincluding those considered 'freedom fighters' by some, agreed right to humanitarian intervention, powerfulnew human rights body that would exclude human-rights violators, creation of new 'peacebuilding commission'to help reconstruction of post-war states and UN management reform". Essence of UNSG proposals had been preserved. "But Bolton's line-by-line amendments, including his widely reportedinsistence on deletion of all specific references to MDGs, the International Criminal Court, and Kyoto summit, along with what were perceived as his bullying tactics, opened a Pandora's box. Developing countries retaliated with a string of their own amendments which, if adopted, would have emasculatedwhole document". A rescue operation involving 'core'group of 30 countries was negotiating day and nightat time of publication. Latter half of document offers special analyses on following issues: Use of force and collective security; Humanitarian intervention; The Security Council; Terrorism; Human Rights Council;Non-proliferation; Is Annan to go or to stay?

The Economist 08 Oct 05"Terrorism: The Bomber Will Always Get Through"(Edit.12-3); "Indonesia: Bali, Again"(51-2):-Editorial addresses general threat of terrorism in Indonesia, South-East Asia, and world."Once again,a balmy Bali night has been ripped apart by bombs, aimed at innocent foreign holidaymakersthough mostly killing innocent Indonesians... This latest outrage may have succeeded in reminding world of region's vulnerability, but its perpetrators losing. Caliphate was always a crazy vision, and bombersare failing to achieve even their more modest ambitions... If caliphate is unrealisable dream, what do terrorists in South-East Asia seek to achieve? One purpose of terror is to force governments intorepressive measures, which alienate people and then, supposedly, generate support for causes terrorists espouse. There is not much sign of this happening anywhere in South-East Asia, with exception of ham-fisted reponse of Thai government to its separatist movement. Constraints of democracy have mostly keptresponse to terror proportionate... Another of aims of terrorism is to inflict economic damage, soweakening target government. Yet there is little sign of this happening either. All of South-East Asia'seconomies, even that of Philippines, are more or less booming, growing at 4% a year or better. Indonesia's grew by 5.2% in second quarter of this year. Most terrorists can hope for is to hurt notoriously nervy tourist trade. But tourism is only about 5% of Indonesia's economy, lower figure than for most other countries in region... Terrorists will always manage to kill people, if they are cunning enough or pick easy enough targets... But for terrorists, this is far cry from victory". Article stresses:"Indonesia resolutely unspooked".

The Economist 22 Oct 05"Russia and the Caucasus: Try Being Tender as Well as Tough" (Edit.15-6); "Corruption in Russia: Blood Money"(53-4):-the concerned Editorial and the heavily critical article do not duplicate their ominous descriptions of Russian faults. But their joint effect is to report that the largest state on earth is suffering from - and possibly spreading abroad - politically dangerous policies thatalready generate fury and instability. Editorial draws its concern about Moscow's pride in defeating anarmed rebel assault on the Caucasus city of Nalchik, when the hundreds of armed men were locals, notalready-rebellious Chechens. "After Nalchik, it looks as though the Caucasian Cassandras, who warn ofinstability engulfing the entire region, are being vindicated... Insurgents will never achieve their aim ofpan-Caucasian caliphate [but] might... create pan-Caucasian chaos: a catastrophe for Russia and far beyond... Russia/Putin share the responsibility for three reasons: the brutality/lawlessness of Russia'ssecurity services... across the region;... Kremlin's approach to regional governments, involv[ing] pliant but unpopular bosses;... and the corruption that blights Caucasus even more than the rest of Russia. [The article is summarized: "From terrorism in the north Caucasus to the boardrooms of Moscow, corruption is Russia's biggest problem".] Fatalistic observers blame these problems on the northCaucasus' s wretched past, with its ethnic rivalries, incessant wars, deportation of entire nations by Stalin, and Soviet mixing of fractious peoples into unnatural administrative units. But history need notcontinue to repeat itself. Given its location, and the role it plays in global jihadist rhetoric, the world should be more concerned about north Caucasus. [T]he peoples... must be persuaded that politics in Russia will let them address their problems peacefully... Using force to bind in the Russian empire's most fissiparous area has only spread misery. Democracy, if Putin will only try it, might work better".

The Economist 24 Dec 05"Evolution: The Story of Man"(Edit.11); Geoffrey Carr"The Proper Study of Mankind: A Survey of Human Evolution"(1-12):-aim of "Global Issues of the Twenty-First Century" is toidentify major/future trends that do/may threaten the world's ever-more-rapidly- changing civilization(s).One serious group of such trends relates to (in)ability of humans, and our established tastes/structures, to adjust to accelerating demands. This Editorial and Survey report the latest information available on thebackground/characteristics of homo sapiens and their relevance to our future. "Modern Darwinism paints a more flattering portrait of humanity than traditionalists might suppose... Exactly how humanity became human is still a matter of debate. But there are, at least, some well-formed hypotheses [seeSurvey]. They rely not on [just an] idea of individual competition, but on social interaction.,. sometimes confrontational and occasionally bloody[, but] frequently collaborative. [B]ig breakthrough wasidentification of the central role of trust in human evolution. People who are related collaborate on thebasis of nepotism... Trust, though, allows the unrelated to collaborate, by keeping score of who does what when, and punishing cheats... The human mind... seems to have evolved the trick of being able to identify a large number of individuals and to keep score of its relations with them, detecting the dishonestor greedy and taking vengeance... The new social Darwinists, who see society itself... as the 'natural'environment in which humanity is evolving,.. have put a new spin on him. [There is] a wider tendency for people to try to out-do each other[, and] competition, whether athletic, artistic or financial, does seem to be about genetic display... Thus both of the things needed to make an economy work, collaboration andcompetition, seem to have evolved. [I]t is also, in its way, a comforting view. It suggests a constant struggle, not for existence itself, but between selfishness and altruism - a struggle that neither can win...Darwinism goes from strength to strength. If its ideas are right, the handful of dust that evolution hasshaped into humanity will rarely stray too far off course". The Survey concludes: "Evolution...has not stopped. Indeed, it might be about to get an artificial helping hand in form of genetic engineering... Theself-knowledge that understanding humanity's evolution brings will help avert... perversions in the future. And if genetic engineering can be done in a way that does not harm the recipient, it would not make sense to ban it... But the impulse behind it will not go away because... it is certainly adaptive".

The Economist 14 Jan 06"Nuclear Proliferation: Misreading Iran"(Edit.16); "Iran's Nuclear Programme: When the Soft Talk Has to Stop"(Special Report 29-31); "Iran's Psychology: Whistling in the Gloom"(30):-Special Report is summarized by the essence of the global dilemma when a medium-sized state appears determined to create nuclear weapons either for military or terrorists' use: "Now that Iran is crossing a clear red line, what can the world do?" Editorial highlights:"In truth, [Iran under President Ahmadinejad] is not irrational. It has so far played a shrewd and winning hand both in Iraq and in its nuclear game of cat-and-mouse with the West and IAEA. Nor unpredictable [-its] long-standing plan to put itself [closer to] building an atomic bomb(see SR. So]Iran is dangerous. [Israel would see itself threatened by a nuclear Iran, but more likely dangers are that it] might feel emboldened to pursue a more adventurous foreign policy [and that] many other countries [in Mideast] will be sorely tempted to follow... Iran's [foreign] fearsare understandable [although it] no longer faces a threat from its historical foe[: Iraq. Yet it] may be thatIran just isn't the status quo power the soothers want to think it is. Its leaders... remain loyal to Khomeini's legacy - intent on mastering their region and fulfilling Iran's destiny as vanguard of militant Islam. If that is the case, it is not only Israel that has much to fear if Iran breaks out of NPT to go nuclear. So does US,which in Iran may come to face an even more potent opponent than al-Qaeda... So do the Arab regimes...Maybe there are two Irans, oscillating between fear and ambition. Whichever.,. it is clear by now thatrelying on talk alone to stop Iran from going nuclear has failed. It is time to go to UNSC and try sanctions".Economist 06 May 06"A Nuclear Iran: Unstoppable?"(Edit.13-4); "Iran and the Bomb: A Government That Thrives on Defiance"(Special Report 25-6); "The Neighbours: A Sequel Nobody Wants"(Special Report 26-7):-Editorial updates the above and is summarized by:"Be tough now, to prevent military conflict later". It concludes: "A combination of tougher penalties and juicier carrots may still not be enough to avoid a crisis. But they are surely worth a try". The two elements of Special Report are thoughtful about political trends/thinking in/by both Iran and its varied neighbours. The first concludes:"In this time of uncertainty, the [Iranian] authorities see their job as that of managing public opinion. Military attacks might make it easier, since would surely galvanise Iranians against the foreign aggressor. The impact of new sanctionsis harder to assess. Ahmadinejad's pugnacious optimism, however, may soon be tested. The second concludes:"Given the choice between eventual acceptance of a nuclear Iran and the more immediatedanger of a vicious backlash, most of the region's regimes would opt for appeasement".

The Economist 21 Jan 06"Special Report: Bloodless Regime Change: A Rainbow of Revolutions" (23-5):- report describes dozens of fully - or at least noisily - successful public demonstrations against tyrannic regimes, and draws global conclusions. Its introduction:"If outsiders make such a mess of getting rid of despots, why not encourage the locals to have a go?" - a modern and often effective combat tactic. Main points here do not list regimes' titles. "World has marvelled at the way one stinker after another has been almost elegantly thrown out of office... with scarcely any trouble or expense on the part of outsiders...Secret of people power's success is simple: a tyranny can cut off one head or even 1,000, but 10,000 or 100,000 is much more difficult - and becoming more so with time...That communism could be thus brought down, gloriously and bloodlessly, sent shivers of fear through the world's despots, and of exhilaration through their subjects. Non-violent action surely played a large part in ending apartheid.Democratisation [then] moved through Africa in 1990s like feathergrass. [Many countries] got rid of dictators, moved to a multi-party system or cleaned up their act in other pro-democracy ways...Something similar happened in [all continents, although] many... popular overthrows that at first seemed splendid, turned out badly... More worrying, for some of those... who believe that democracy will serve...interests, is possibility that it will be destabilising, or result in the election of hostile governments. It isclear that elections often return to power the people who previously held it undemocratically... Electionsare not necessarily free, of course, and even free elections, on their own, do not constitute a democratic system... Success has many fathers, and when people power turns out well, many will claim the credit. [P]ressure of foreign governments, activities of outside NGOs, moral support, financial help, foreign press, use of e-mails and so on, all contributed to the downfall of various dictators. But evidence is thatpeople power, if it is to bring about a lasting change increasing freedom, must bubble up from below. It must be indigenous, broad-based and, ideally, non-violent. In practice, that means it must be organised, and led by people who could be plausible politicians after revolt. Must be on the spot; exiles carry little weight. [P]eople power still worries world's authoritarians [, and] plenty of...governments...are frightened. They are probably right. It may take years to develop, and may not always turn out quite as hoped, butpeople power is catching: the more often it works, the more often it will be used".

The Economist 28 Jan 06"Another Nuclear Revolution: Rethinking the Unthinkable"(31-2);"The Nuclear Clean-Up: Locking Things Down"(31);"Nuclear Power: Technology Transfer"(54-5):- although all three deal with nuclear issues from different points of view, they all reflect changes in nuclear policies thatimply significant global situations in coming decades. First item updates US nuclear weapons policy:"In days before Iraq, Bush...scrapped once-hallowed anti-ballistic missile(ABM) treaty with Russia, startedexploring new missile defences, opposed ratification of comprehensive test-ban treaty and beganlooking for ways to develop new nuclear 'bunker-buster'bombs. Now... some Bush ideas look normal[:]ABM treaty unlamented[; Russia-US] agree by 2012 [to] have no more than 1,700-2,200 deployed strategic warheads each[; US] also cut numbers of extra warheads in reserve[; and US released] 200 tons of highly enriched uranium (enough for 8,000 weapons) for more peaceful purposes. [Bush] still thinks bunker-busters would deter proliferators by making it harder to hide [WMD, but others fear] theirradioactive fallout, [and that would] make it harder for US to argue that North Korea [see mass RECENT DEVELOPMENTS chapter] and Iran [see many article summaries] should halt any weapons-tinkering... Instead, [Congress has voted] $25m for a different project: the reliable replacement warhead(RRW). Ideais redesign new parts for ageing US stockpile that would make warheads more reliable/longer-lived/safer to maintain... RRWs open up plenty of possibilities. Some of them are good[:] if warheads more reliable,safer and easier to maintain, US could get rid of even more [held] in reserve...But more difficult questionsarise[: would nuclear tests be needed?; and it's] not as if RRW kills the bunker-buster". Second item: "Ever since [11 Sep 01] attacks, Bush... has piled money into effort to prevent nuclear weapons/materials/skillsfrom falling into terrorist hands. US now spends $1b/year on nuclear clean-up in former USSR - sum which allies from G8 group of richer countries have pledged to match... Main obstacle is not lack of US cash but Russian foot-dragging... Two Russian reactors still making plutonium will at last be shut downby late 2008, and third by 2010. In general, Russia's armed forces have been cooperative... Difficultycomes with Russia's civilian sites [: 80% of these sites, containing about half country's highly enriched uranium(HEU) and plutonium stocks, have had security upgrades, but Russia's Atomic Energy Agencyblocking access to 4 large sites. Another risk comes from research reactors that USSR... supplied to itsfriends - and which now packed with HEU... Still more than 100 research reactors in 40 countries with more than 20 kg of HEU". Third article: "Purchase and sale [to Toshiba] of Westinghouse, a US builder of nuclear reactors, by state-owned British Nuclear Fuels(BNFL) may prove lucky... That's because thenuclear industry is in its most optimistic mood for years. Worries over climate change, energy securityand high fossil fuel prices have encouraged several countries to consider (re)investing in nuclear power. Bush has called for new reactors in US. China is committed to building dozens of new plants by 2020, and several European countries are flirting with the idea as well. Indeed, British government launched consultation phase of its energy review which many think is designed to prepare the groundfor a new set of nuclear plants. International Energy Agency reckons that around $200b will be spent on new nuclear power stations over the next 25 years".

The Economist 11 Feb 06"The Quadrennial Defence Review: Rummy's Wish List"(29-32):- description of some current proposals by Rumsfeld's US Defense Dept. for its strategy/force/ weaponry/budget. Article says QDR generally argues "Terrorists are the main threat. Others include rogue, possibly nuclear, nations(like North Korea), a mightily-armed rival (ie, China) and prospect of more natural disasters. [Article reportsChina is described as] the power with 'greatest potential to compete militarily'with US. It stresses thedesire for good relations with the regime but complains that China's rapid increase in defence spendinghas already upset the balance in Asia". This implies the Taiwan issue, but the article does not mention it specifically. It comments that "there are few dramatic changes".

The Economist 25 Feb 06"The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership: Reactor Dreams"(38-40):- attempt tocombine global need for vastly more nuclear energy with restraint on global nuclear WMD. "[US President]Bush's problem is how to deal with proliferation risks while promoting nuclear power. His solution: get countries that already have advanced nuclear industries to 'lend'nuclear fuel to poorer countries thatneed it, then recover spent fuel from them for recycling and burning down, getting rid of dangerousnuclear wastes... Harder to do covert nuclear dabbling [Iran? North Korea?]. [B]y 2050... there will be 1,000 nuclear power stations about the globe[450 today. So] proliferation risks will grow too. Bush hopes new safer/smaller/simpler reactors for [poorer] countries, and new technologies extracting more energy from fuels [plus reduced waste problems.] If GNEP technologies...move to production, plutonium stockpiles eventually eliminated. [I]dea has had good hearing in London, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo (potentialpartners) and Vienna(UN IAEA). But will they also chip in to huge cost of making technology work? Bushincluded $250m in next budget for R&D,with larger sums promised for 10-year effort to produce pilot fast-burner reactor. Danger basing policy on technology that may never work/be exorbitantly costly. [Also]problem of where waste will go. [Even] recycled fuel wastes take 1,000 years[to pass radioactivity peak].

The Economist 25 Feb 06"Ageing: How To Live For Ever"(84):-report on new/progressive science evidence in age field. For full account of high likelihood of successful research in near future, see Ray Kurzweil & Terry Grossman(op.cit.). Summary of item:"[P]oint at which age turns to ill health and ultimately deathis shifting - i.e. people remaining healthier for longer[,raising] question of how death might be postponed, and whether might be postponed indefinitely... Much [longer living already] result of improved nutrition/ better medicine. But... healthy old age also involves maintaining physical/mental function. Age-related...changes in brain, muscles, joints, immune system, lungs and heart must be minimised - 'senescence'. [E]xercise can help to maintain physical function late in life[, while] exercising brain can limit progression of senescence... Caloric restriction/choice and altering genes...shown promise in slowing senescence. [Various research underway to delay or even reverse senescence.] Low-calorie diet [may be] linked to rate at which cells divide [and] maximum number of times human cell can divide before it dies.[Some] believe only those cells that have stopped dividing cause ageing [and] could demonstrate whether possible toavoid growing old. But successful ageing being promoted here/now. [People with] emotional support not only have higher physical performance than the isolated, but also show lower levels of hormones...associated with stress... "[A]llostatic load"- ...physiological toll...on body - predicts life expectancy well...Elderly people with high degrees of social engagement had lower allostatic loads. [A]lso more likely to bewell educated and have high socio-economic status. Thus appears death can be postponed by various means and healthy ageing extended by others. Whether death will remain ultimate consequence of growing old remains to be seen". Issues needing thought (decisions?) even before widespread rumours of very long-term lives relate to politics, society, finance, employment, science, home, law, religions, etc.

The Economist 04 Mar 06"United Nations Peacekeeping: Quality Strained"(42):-brief but truly important report on a globally serious problem that must be given new attention. Essence:"Too few forces, too little oversight". Summary:"Efforts to strengthen beleaguered African Union force in [Darfur/Chad] region, by turning it into a fully-fledged UN blue-helmet mission with twice as many troops (14,000) androbust mandate, take on new urgency. Yet... without more support for UN, a new mission could take its peacekeeping efforts 'past the point of overstretch'. Bad news for sub-Saharan Africa [as] more peopleare being killed in African wars than in all rest of the world. [UN now deploys over 60,000 troops - five times as many as in 1999, or over 85,000 including civilians and police.] But system is now under acute and worsening strain. '[S]trategic reserves' needed so troops can be sent more quickly to trouble spots, and missions under strain can be reinforced faster. Yet NATO/EU/AU peacekeepers now less than half number in 1999 and [UN finds] managing increasingly large and often hybrid operations involving other partners is increasingly tricky. [S]train tells; flaws wrenchingly apparent; UN strategy being published.

The Economist 11 Mar 06 "Special Report: War Crimes: Bringing the Wicked to the Dock"(20-2):- "[W]ith the spread of international justice, noose is tightening: now accepted there can be no immunity for worst violations of human rights, not even for heads of state. [F]or many, idea that genocide, ethnic cleansing,torture, other such horrors should go unpunished, is increasingly troubling... In 1993, UN's International Criminal for ex-Yugoslavia(ICTY) became first international war-crimes tribunal since Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after WWII. Followed by UN tribunals for Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Timor-Este, Iraq,Afghanistan. Lebanon now asking UN for 'tribunal of international character'... Most conflicts, especially third-world civil ones, are marked by atrocities. Sierra Leone's bloodbath particularly barbaric... African leaders tend to watch each other's backs for fear it could be their own turn next...If [Sierra Leone] Special Court [with UN] gets [Liberia's notorious ex-president], it would be tremendous coup both for it and for international justice. [Court prosecutor:]'We can fight on same side as [nationalism] and neverthelesscommit crimes against humanity'. [This is a model:] two-to one mix of foreign and local judges, ambitious public relations/victim-protection programs, tight timetables, relatively low budget. [Relative advantages over ICTY.] International Criminal Court(ICC) is world's first permanent war-crimes tribunal. Also first not direct UN involvement and has faced strong opposition from US(op.cit). Set up in Hague 2002 alongside ICTY and UN International Court of Justice(disputes between states). To provide fairer, cheaper, more effective way of dealing with most serious violations of international humanitarian law. Reach is limited:cannot prosecute unless accused's country 'genuinely unable or unwilling'to do so. Jurisdiction only over nationals of countries which have ratified its statutes -100 to date- or over those whose crimescommitted in country which has [,unless decision by UNSC. Non-members: US, China, Russia, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, Saudi Arabia. While criticism of tribunals,] others argue ending impunity vital, not only to reduce victims' anger/resentment, ... but also to deter further atrocities.Without justice.,. no sustainable peace. Does deterrence work? Only when potential culprits havereasonable expectation that apprehended/punished... Aimed only at worst culprits, international justiceis at best a blunt instrument [,while]blanket amnesties counter-productive [unless essential for peace]. [Yet] now accepted that, under international law, amnesties can never apply to gross violations of humanitarian law... Reconciliation and punitive justice are both necessary".

The Economist 25 Mar 06"Israel's Election: The Remarkable Survival of Kadima"(Edit.14); "Special Report: Israel's New Politics: Shutting Itself In, Hoping for the Best"(27-9):-while Editorial written before Israeli election, its own summary rightly anticipated victory by Kadima party that was/is determined to withdraw unilaterally from some Israeli settlements on the West Bank, i.e. Palestinian territory: "Israel [Kadima] prepares to take a step forwards, the Palestinians [Hamas] a step back". Text itself argues: "Israelis had better understand that even if going it alone eases some of the burden of occupation for both sides, it is no substitute for a negotiated peace. Border [which a Kadima-led government] establishes by fiatalong Israel's security barrier will remain unacceptable to the Palestinian side.[T]his will not feel to thePalestinians like any end to the hated occupation. [However,] some Hamas leaders now say that if Israelpromised to leave every inch of territory it occupied in 1967, Hamas might think again about its formal goal of rubbing out the Jewish state. That implies a degree at least of pragmatism in Hamas' s thinking,which Israel and others should try to encourage...For present, unilateral steps by Israel and maintenance of calm by Hamas may be the best Israelis and Palestinians can hope for". Item ends: "Israel needs to show that when negotiation comes, there will still be enough room left for independent Palestinian state".

The Economist 25 Mar 06"Balancing Act: A Survey of China"(1-20):-following from substantial section relating to the Taiwan issue only: "In past few months, China's handling of Taiwan... remarkably pragmatic. China has moved swiftly to stem... protest from Taiwan/West against new law... authorising use of force against island should it ever try to secede... China President Hu Jintao hosted unprecedented visits by Taiwan's opposition leaders which [reassured] Taiwanese public... Leader...says: during his stay Chinese officially accepted 'for first time'that Taiwan/mainland 'equal entities' ... Hu apparently decided unification with Taiwan simply not feasible during his term... Although China continues to concentratemilitary modernisation efforts on improving ability to fight Taiwan and US forces that might try to protect island, Taiwan much less of sore point between China and US than it was. Events in Taiwan in next years could make China and US jittery again. Dec 07 Taiwan elections for legislature; Mar 08 for presidency. Both China and US worried President Chen Shuibian will use his remaining [period] to push for confirmation of Taiwan's independent identity [and] feel inclined to use Taiwanese nationalism to shore up his popularity [again. He] already unsettled China and US this year by scrapping the National Reunification Council... Also revived talk of organizing referendum in 07 on new constitution... China objects strenuously, as display of sovereign power... US tartly reminded Chen of promises not to upset status quo... But China [can] feel relatively confident... Chen would need 75% of MPs to approve anyconstitutional change.:. extremely difficult... China happy with indications Ma Ying-jeou... likely front runner to succeed Chen. Ma, though not keen on reunification as long as China...dictatorship, is no advocate of independence... China's military build-up next few years will alarm US, particularly [if] clear its forces would be able to overwhelm Taiwan and inflict enormous losses on US if chose to intervene.But very good reasons why China... highly unlikely to attack Taiwan, even if it had capability to do so.Such attack would devastate China's relationship with West/other Asians, and could cripple economic growth that [its] party regards so vital. Trouble is that planners in Pentagon cannot afford to bet on it.

The Economist 13 May 06"Special Report: Japan and its Neighbours: A Giant Stirs, A Region Bridles"(25-7);"Japan's Succession: After He's Gone"(51):-"More and more Japanese want their country to have a normal foreign and defence policy. US agrees. China and South Korea aren't so sure... Security perceptions in East Asia are fluid indeed, and so are the realities. China's attempts to modernise itsarmed forces have brought big increases in defence spending... Lack of openness that accompanies[this] may reflect the backwardness more than potency of army... Profound changes also under way in armed forces of Japan and US[, and they] have at last reached agreement on how to refresh their long-standing alliance...New agreement completes most sweeping reorganization of US forces in Pacificsince Vietnam war... US believes it will be able to react faster to wider range of possible emergencies - a crisis involving North Korea, say, or Taiwan, or an act of terrorism that might perhaps threaten crucial shipping of South-East Asia... While US keeps Japan as its main base in Asia, Japan will play a muchgreater part in its own defence[, which] could mean equally profound transformation of Japanese armed forces[: their] sweeping reorganisation...puts navy/army/air force under single command for first time since WWII... Japan now says considers Taiwan to be security concern shared in common with US...Yet Japan's military modernisation is rubbing up against limits of constitution...Japan's leaders now see that national interest may sometimes lie far from home... So constitutional debate, including possible rewriting pacifist Article 9, now on political agenda[51]. [But] closest neighbours view prospects of a more activist Japan with rising alarm. Policymakers in China and South Korea claim to detect in Japan's push for 'normalisation' the dangerous rearming of historical foe/colonial overlord. Much of this isoverblown... Problem is that normalisation of Japan's defence not matched by what could be called normalisation of its nationalism... Consequence is that Japan unable to take any regional initiative...Plainly, repairs needed, and suggestions been forthcoming. Include joint history projects that might attempt to reach consensus about past; more regional forums; national debate in Japan about how tohonour [war]dead and guard sense of national identity without inflaming neighbours...So there's chanceJapan and neighbours could start to put their problems behind them. But no more than that for now".

The Economist 10 Jun 06"Nuclear Disarmament: The Fewer the Better"(Edit.11-2);"Special Report: Nuclear Disarmament: The Long, Long Half-Life"(21-3); "China and US: Out of Their Silos"(38);"Iran and Nuclear Diplomacy: Risky Bargaining"(45-6);"Politics in Iran: Shadows of Uncertainty"(85):-all five relate to seriousness and complexities of existing/threatened nuclear weapons. Last two: on political policies of Iran, world's powerful and perhaps most determined nuclear weapons developing state. Penultimate:analyses Iran's threat to stop its oil exports; last: reviews Ali Gheissari & Vali Nasr Democracy in Iran: History and the Quest for Liberty(New York: Oxford Univ.06). [The other"developing"nuclear state: Helene Cooper & Michael R.Gordon"North Korea May Test Long-Range Missile"New York Times 17 Jun 06.] Disturbing item on China, one of five officially recognized nuclear powers(others: US, Russia, Britain,France) under Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT), who all promised disarmament, reports China's "nuclear arsenal on verge of a big upgrade... shifting to new types of missiles that harder to detect and can belaunched much more quickly... A longer-range version [that] could be in op