The United States and Extraterritoriality

Book reviewed in this article:
Eileen P. Scully, Bargaining with the State From Afar: American Citizenship in Treaty Port China, 1844–1942     

The United States, The United Nations and Iraq: 'Multilateralism of a kind'

Much is made of the need for any second war against Iraq (following Desert Storm of 1991) to be sanctioned by a resolution of the UN Security Council, approved necessarily by all five Permanent Members. Yet only two of the five, the USA and the UK, show any enthusiasm for renewed war in the Persian Gulf; and British policy is undeniably following rather than leading American actions on the diplomatic and military fronts. What are the sources of this American policy? Some critics say oil; the latest arguments of proponents invoke humanitarian concerns; somewhere between the two are those who desire ‘regime change’ to create the economic and political conditions in which so‐called western political, economic and social values can flourish. To understand the present crisis and its likely evolution this article examines American relations with Iraq in particular, the Persian Gulf more generally and the Middle East as a region since the Second World War. A study of these international relations combined with a critical approach to the history of American actions and attitudes towards the United Nations shows that the United States continues to pursue a diplomacy blending, as occasion suits, the traditional binaries of multilateralism and unilateralism—yet in the new world‐wide ‘war on terrorism’. The question remains whether the chosen means of fighting this war will inevitably lead to a pyrrhic victory for the United States and its ad hoc allies in the looming confrontation with Iraq.     

美国与亚非会议

1955年的亚非会议,是亚非历史上有重大意义的一次会议。用美国自己的档案件,看看它对这一会议以及对中国代表团的态度和反应,也许会启发人们的思索。     

熊出没的美国自驾游

怀描着这样那样的梦想,飞越太平洋,来到了昼与夜的对面。电影中的大都会,教科书中的车轮上的国家,明信片上的国家公园,一一展现在我们的面前,旅行即将开始。