News Sources: Bush's Vietnam Analogy

President George W. Bush has drawn heavy flak from the Democrats with his warning that a hasty withdrawal from Iraq would trigger a bloodbath similar to that in southeast Asia after the U.S. retreat from Vietnam. Bush, in an effort to turn on its head the analogy by critics who liken the Iraq war to the Vietnam quagmire, said there was now a legitimate debate in the U.S. about how the superpower was drawn into the Vietnam war, and its damaging exit. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Douglas W. Simon - Professor of Political Science, Drew University - A U.S. Air Force intelligence officer in Vietnam, he specializes in the history and popular conceptions of the Vietnam War. Simon is an experts on American foreign policy, national security, intelligence operations, the United Nations, international terrorism, and political violence. He has developed an innovative real-time simulation of the U.S. National Security Council.

Clarence R. Wyatt - Assistant Professor of History, Centre College -Wyatt has conducted research on the social and political aftermath of the war in Vietnam, compared to and contrasted with other modern wars involving the United States. He is the author of Paper Soldiers, which evaluated press coverage of the Vietnam war, and is the leader of a travel-study program in Vietnam.

Tobey C. Herzog - Professor of English, Wabash College - A Vietnam veteran and author of Vietnam War Stories: Innocence Lost, Herzog has spoken around the country on the Vietnam War experience, its effects on American society and culture, and its comparison to other U.S. wars. Herzog recently published a literary biography of acclaimed Vietnam War author, Tim O'Brien.

Bosnians Betrayed by World Court

The World Court recently ruled that Serbia could not be held responsible for genocide in the Bosnian community of Srebrenica, even though the court itself had concluded that genocide had occurred in Srebrenica in 1995 during a series of wars waged by former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic against Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia. In a paper delivered recently at an international conference in Sarajevo, Wittenberg Professor of Sociology Keith Doubt called the ruling "disheartening" and said it "consummates a long history of betrayal that the people of Bosnia have suffered."

Who Wants to Be a Leader?

Honesty and integrity were the highest valued traits named in a recent national survey sponsored by Alma College and its Center for Responsible Leadership that asked businessmen and women to identify the characteristics of superior leaders. Being able to see the big picture, listening skills, intelligence and morality form a second tier of desired attributes. Charisma and physical attractiveness ranked the lowest.

News Sources: Chill in Japan-China Relations

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for a "broader Asia" partnership of democracies that would include India, the United States and Australia but leave out the region's superpower, China. Meanwhile, Tokyo has sought to build closer security ties with the United States, Australia and India, and its navy is due to take part for the first time in joint U.S.-India exercises to be held in the Bay of Bengal next month. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

David Arase - Associate Professor of Politics, Pomona College - Arase is an expert on the economics, politics and security of Japan and the economic cooperation and regional security relations between China, Japan, Russia, and North Korea. He is the author of Buying Power: The Political Economy of Japanese Foreign Aid.

Frank Gibney - Professor of Politics, Pomona College - One of America's foremost experts on East Asia and Asian/Pacific Affairs, Gibney is founder and president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College and was the producer of the acclaimed PBS series, "The Pacific Century." The author of several books, he is fluent in Japanese and continues to travel throughout Asia.

Bin Yu - Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wittenberg University - An expert on China's foreign policy, Yu is a fellow at the East-West Center, president of Chinese Scholars of Political Science and International Studies and a faculty associate of the Mershon Center. Yu is also a MacArthur fellow at the Center of International Security and Arms Control and a research fellow at Center of International Studies, Beijing

The Buzz on Bee Disappearances

Colony collapse disorder is an epidemic among bees that has gained national attention due to the importance of bees to agriculture as pollinators. Just a few miles from the beekeeper who first raised his voice about disappearing bee colonies, two Bucknell University professors are busy exploring how the condition may be related to the workings of the bee brain.

Hemingway Archive Acquired by Middlebury

Middlebury College has acquired an archive of correspondence, journals and more than 1,400 letters from the Ernest Hemingway and Hemingway Family Collection. A highlight of the collection is a carbon copy of a unique version of the first chapter of The Sun Also Rises, which Hemingway eventually deleted at the suggestion of his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald.

News Sources: The Fed's Action and Credit Markets

The Federal Reserve's move to encourage bank lending last week has helped ease some of the panic in financial markets, but the underlying problems that led to the seizing up of credit markets are still there - and won't disappear overnight. The broader credit market is still working through the problems at the root of the crisis - risky subprime mortgages and the complex securities they have been packaged into - which means certain long-term borrowers will face difficulty getting financing for some time. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including:

Karl Case - Professor of Economics, Wellesley College - Case is a nationally recognized expert on real estate markets and prices. He has authored several studies that attempt to isolate the causes and consequences of boom and bust cycles and their relationship to regional economic performance.

Lendol Calder - Assistant Professor of History, Augustana College - Calder is the author of Financing the American Dream, A Cultural History of Consumer Credit and a proponent of simple, debt-free living.

Beth V. Yarbrough - Professor of Economics, Amherst College - Yarbrough is the author of Cooperation and Governance in International Trade and The World Economy: Trade and Finance.

It's About Time

Once you get beyond the "Gee whiz!" factor of using Google Earth™ to find a satellite image of your old pick-up truck parked in your driveway, it requires the power of a super-computer to meaningfully store, manipulate or analyze that much data. Most of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) used to plot maps are not up to the task. But with help from some Bowdoin College student researchers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Laura Toma and her colleagues from other universities have been creating algorithms that manage geographic data to reduce computation time, essentially giving a desktop the power of a supercomputer.

Chinese-Style Capitalism Feeds Product Recalls

China's complex system of "guanxi," or relationships, involves using personal networks and granting and returning favors to do business. Colgate University sociologist Carolyn Hsu says guanxi has fueled China's extraordinary economic growth, but it has also taken the place of binding contracts and government quality controls and has led to a series of China-based product recalls that have rocked international markets in recent weeks.