The World Today

If there is to be a war against terrorism it has to start with hearts and minds.

As America prepares for military action in the war against terrorism there are more questions than answers. Who is the enemy? What is the new terrorism? How will the world respond to the first war of the twenty-first century?

The end of the Cold War in the 1980s left the United States as the only military superpower. Then the economic boom in the ‘90s established it as the primary beneficiary of globalisation.

On the eighteenth anniversary of the start of Sri Lanka’s civil war, a daring attack by the Tamil Tigers destroyed a quarter of the country’s air force and a third of the civilian aircraft. At a stroke the conflict took a serious new turn, forcing the government into alliance with a Marxist party which had itself earlier come close to tearing the nation apart. Peace is on hold, Sri Lankans are holding their breath.

Five years ago, Zimbabwe was not doing exceptionally well, but on the surface it was stable and progressive. After a century of colonial and settler rule ending in an eight-year civil war in the ‘80s, its emergence as a moderate, democratic country was no mean feat

Commonwealth leaders are once again gathering with one of their number caught in damaging disputes over democracy and the rule of law. In 1995 it was Nigeria in trouble, this year it is Zimbabwe