CANBERRA, Australia — Almost 1,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters so far this year, often risking their lives to make the trip in old and decrepit boats. Their sheer numbers — four times more than for all of 2008 — have left authorities worried, almost to the point of panic. The spike in arrivals follows the election of Kevin Rudd as Australian prime minister 18 months ago. Upon taking office, Rudd and his Australian Labor Party immediately canceled the immigration policy of his conservative predecessor, John Howard. Known as the Pacific Solution, Howard’s policy diverted asylum seekers arriving [...]
NEW DELHI — Two weeks after issuing a joint statement in Egypt that was welcomed around the world as a much-needed step towards narrowing their differences through dialogue, India and Pakistan have returned to their previously stated, belligerent positions. The two neighbours, whose history of conflict goes back over six decades, have backed off from the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation witnessed after the Mumbai terror attacks last November. But fresh questions are being raised here about Pakistan’s resolve in acting against terror groups active against India. The U.S. has helped keep the peace between the two countries in the past. After the [...]
Half a century ago, Latin America experienced golpes, or military coups, on a regular basis. In a pattern that varied little across the continent, citizens would simply wake up one morning to the sound of gunfire near the presidential palace. Before long, a military man would head a new regime. Always, he had acted “for the good of the country.” Through varying degrees of repression, he would quickly push aside the opposition, install his cronies in positions of influence and personal enrichment, shut down opposition media, and take control of all the country’s levers of power. Today that style of [...]
