The World Today

Now that the ‘war against terrorism’ has begun in earnest, what can we expect?

Drugs, guns and refugees flow across the border into Iran – Afghanistan is a deeply destabilising influence in the region. So there are mixed feelings in Tehran as its neighbour feels the strength of American wrath. Can Iran be kept in the loop?

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country and the backing of its new President was an important early victory for America’s coalition. But that support rapidly came under severe strain from radical Islamic groups which themselves are accused of taking part in state terror.

The campaign against terrorism is fundamentally changing the international climate. Russia’s relations with the west are high on the list of areas under transformation. Ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is finally arriving as a fully-fledged member of the western community.

In Seattle two years ago, amid acrimony in the meeting halls and tear gas in the streets, the World Trade Organization tried and failed to launch a new round of world trade talks.

Concerns about internal security have risen since September 11 and many countries are considering how to tighten migration and asylum rules to screen out potential terrorists. But the idea of immigrants or refugees as an internal security threat is not new. It is a worry that has been steadily growing for a decade, in response to another security problem: the exponential increase in migrant trafficking and smuggling networks. The central problem here is not so much who enters, but rather how they enter. Trafficking is not only highly dangerous and exploitative for those trying to move, but it also poses a clear security threat. So how serious is this, and why has it emerged now?