The World Today

Wars inevitably involve oil. Oil does not inevitably involve war.

Could extremists build a nuclear weapon and acquire the materials for it? Or is it more likely that they would try to sabotage civilian nuclear reactors? What can be done to make these horrific scenarios less likely?

Is north Korea a ‘very real’ threat to the United States in this time of terror, or does it provide an historic opportunity for peacemaking? A spent force militarily, there is a staggering need for food and development.

There are, inevitably, different ideas about what can be hoped for in Afghanistan. As usual when the international community gears up, the aims will be lofty: not just governance of sorts where governance has been lacking, but good governance; not just peace, but development. Many involved would admit, however, that an end to hostilities and some sort of administration that more or less holds at the centre is the best that can be hoped for in the foreseeable future.

There was surprise at the speed with which China moved to support the coalition against terrorism led by the United States.

It took the terrible events of last September to make the world begin to realise that Middle East problems and conflicts could not be neatly pigeon-holed into separate ‘tracks’.