Week of Jan. 7 – 14, 2002
Political triage in post-Communist EuroAsia…It will take the political savvy and foresight of advisors trained in helping countries replace their dictatorial regimes with democracies to help Afghanistan rebuild and maintain peace, says Lenard Cohen. The SFU expert on trans-Atlantic politics says the immediate need for these kinds of advisors in southern Asia has meant that they’re being redirected from another chronically turbulent area — the Balkans. "Initially, the Bush administration was highly critical of the Clinton system of nation-building and suggested that the U.S. wouldn’t over-extend itself," says Cohen. "However, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the new age of terrorism, it’s not only imperative that terrorist networks be eliminated, but Washington is finding it has to do something afterwards to reconstruct societies disrupted by terrorism. The U.S. also has to help isolate and resolve the root causes of these societies sponsoring terrorism or falling under the control of terrorists." Cohen will broach these topics during a trip in early January to the Central European University in Hungary. The SFU professor is also researching a new book on religious and ethnic extremism in post-Communist EuroAsia.
Lenard Cohen, 604-291-4518; 604-888-5783 (h); cohen@sfu.ca
Lumber dispute not out of the woods….Despite a tariff reduction late in 2001, the softwood talks continue to be in a delicate stage. SFU economic geographer Roger Hayter says the underlying issue remains control over B.C.’s vast forests. "The U.S. protectionists are explicit about their demands for timber auctions and indeed for privatization," says Hayter, noting that the appurtenance clause, which links logs to local mills, is now under "very considerable attack," and that its removal would be one more step towards global auctions and log exports. Hayter says the U.S. has also received considerable local help from the recent report by Dr. Peter Pearse and most especially, by an environmental movement that is actively promoting collaboration with the Americans. "Environmentalists are more than willing to undermine our democratic practices and our sovereign rights to look after our forest resource if it suits their purpose," he says. Hayter is also concerned that a shift towards a more value-added forest economy has already been badly damaged by the constant uncertainty of the softwood conflict and "by the growing impotence of the provincial government."
Roger Hayter, 984-7356 (h); hayter@sfu.ca
Skytrain cruises into new era…It may be over-budget and hard to get a seat but Skytrain’s new Millennium Line is up and running. While the unveiling of the first leg is a big boost to the Lower Mainland traffic scene the real impact won’t be felt until the rest of the line opens and the Coquitlam leg is actually built, says SFU urban transportation expert Warren Gill, who can look at the impact of the new line and what it means to commuters.
Warren Gill, 604-291-5005; warren_gill@sfu.ca
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