Where to find good information on international affairs

 

This is the questions students always ask me: “Where do I find good information on international affairs. I’m looking for something unbiased and something that doesn’t always look at the world through American eyes (as in how do these developments affect the US).

 

Here’s the short answer:

 

For day by day coverage of events in the world:

  • BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/.   On a day-by-day basis, no other news organization covers the world as well.  It has separate pages for most regions, links to past stories, links to data bases, all kinds of information that will get you up to speed on anything.
  • World News Network: http://www.wnn.com/.  This is a site which covers day-by-day events by creating links to major news papers around the world.  So if something is happening in Pakistan, for example, there will be several links to stories about the event from web-based sources in S. Asia, E. Asia, Europe, N. America…  It also has links to regional windows with coverage that is more focused.  It even has links to issue-specific compilations of links on various issues.  For example, the science page has sections for stories on AIDS, Biotech, cloning…

 

On a weekly basis:

  • The Economist: www.economist.com.  This is a Britain-based weekly which covers world politics and world business.  There really is nothing else like it in the comprehensive nature of its coverage.  You can also buy it on the newsstand, but the web is free.  It covers world politics very well.

 

Long Term Views of Crisis and Conflict:

  • International Crisis Group: www.crisisweb.org.  This is the International Crisis Group, a non-profit organization that studies, analyzes, and makes recommendations about how to resolve various crises in the world (As of today, September 3, 2008, it has reports on the possible coup in Thailand, the Russian-Georgian conflict, Darfur, Zimbabwe, and the Palestinian territories to name just a few).  There is nothing better for the in-depth examination of current world events and the dilemmas of problem solving and peace making.  It has reports (30-50 pages), briefings (10-30), and a weekly briefing (Crisis Watch), which you can get on the web site or sign up for e-mail delivery.

 

Enjoy,

 

Bill