(SpeakOut.com, April 1, 2001)-- After a 26-hour standoff, Serbian police finally arrested the man who provoked the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 and full-scale war with NATO in 1999, Slobodan Milosevic. In between, Milosevic constantly stoked vehement nationalism and ethnic prejudice among his fellow countrymen, leading to civil wars that killed or maimed hundreds of thousands -- wars only now beginning to heal.   More  

On Wednesday, September 13, former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee pleaded guilty to a charge of mishandling nuclear secrets. The fine: $100. It was a vindication for Lee, who was able to return home after 278 days of harsh solitary confinement. At a neighbor's house, family, friends, and supporters waved flags and greeted him with a loud rendition of He's a Jolly Good Fellow. In his plea bargain, Dr. Lee agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of illegally downloading secret material if the U.S. government lifted the much more serious charges of espionage originally filed against him. To most observers, by releasing Lee the Justice Department acknowledges that the man who was once called the Spy of the Century — and who many suspected of selling nuclear secrets to Beijing — is essentially harmless. Even if he had violated Los Alamos's stringent security regulations by improperly downloading secret tapes, extensive investigations have failed to come up with any evidence to substantiate the 40 charges accusing Lee of downloading security information with intent to harm the United States. Such charges would have led to a maximum sentence of life in prison for Lee.   More  

As the world enters the 21st century, the United Nations is examining its performance over the past six decades and searching for the means to possibly increase its effectiveness in the future. Operating programs such the World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN often receives encouragement and support for its efforts to relieve hunger, end forced child labor and promote health throughout the world. Yet the UN receives almost constant criticism for how it responds to international, regional, religious and ethnic conflicts.   More  

The metal wall cuts straight through the middle of the city, surrounded by a trench and an all clear zone, a no-man's land. Floodlights, armed soldiers, and high-tech tracking devices are all working overtime. Infrared night-vision scopes, low-light TV cameras, ground sensors, helicopters, and all-terrain vehicles move up and down the border all night. Armed militia and border guards stand at the ready. Inhabitants of the city call it the iron curtain. The town is Nogales, Arizona, and the wall is built by Americans. The guards work for the Border Patrol and the U.S. Army. It's flimsier than the wall was in Cold War-era East Berlin, and there's another big difference: this wall is meant to keep illegal immigrants out, rather than a captive population in.   More  

On Monday August 14, Russian officials announced that one of its Northern Fleet submarines had been involved in a serious collision during naval exercises and sunk to the bottom of the Barents Sea the day before. Russian naval commanders first reported that the Kursk, an Oscar II class nuclear-powered submarine was resting nearly 350 feet below the surface with both reactors shutdown and secure. While initial government reports stated that surface vessels were in radio communication with sailors aboard the Kursk, and that lines containing oxygen and electricity had been lowered to the disabled submarine, further disclosures from the naval high command and Russian press dispelled these claims throughout the week.   More