Located at 9200 113th St North - Seminole, FL 33772 - (727) 394-6905		 Seminole Library's Online Guide to international information 
 
 
Index
 
Foreign Policy Think Tanks  
 
Carnegie Endowment for International  Brookings Institute.
Center for Strategic and International Studies  American Enterprise Institute
Council on Foreign Relations Human Rights Watch
Foreign Affairs Federation of American Scientists.
Global Security.Org
Terrorism and 9-11 
Terrorism: Questions and Answers. A comprehensive "encyclopedia" of terrorist groups, ideologies, weapons of mass destruction and role in international politics maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Congressional Reports Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11 2001
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States. Includes complete text of the 9-11 Commission's report. (Download with Adobe Acrobat Reader)
The National Security Archive  "an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals"
America's War Against Terrorism. An exhaustive collection of documents arranged by subject at the University of Michigan's Document Center
 
 
The Iraqi Crisis: Online Resources
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace  Crisis in Iraq.  An extensive collection of primary sources studies and  articles  covering all aspects of the crisis. 
Center for Strategic and International Studies Iraq Briefing Book  Major emphasis on the military balance and analysis of operations. Includes comprehensive order of battle information as well as reports on economic cost of the war, post war reconstruction and regional impact. Anthony Cordesman's papers, Iraqi Intelligence  and Security Forces for Popular Warfare and Saddam's Last Circle: The Core Forces Likely  to Protect Saddam in the "Battle Baghdad." may be of particular relevance (both requre Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Council on Foreign Relations  Iraq Resource Center. Collection of columns and interviews by CFR experts on Iraq.  Also includes background material and links to other sources
Foreign Affairs Background Articles on Iraq  “A collection of eight crucial articles from the past twelve years, specially selected by the editors of Foreign Affairs."
Global Security.Org Target Iraq. Global Security.Org is a private non-profit organization providing information on defense and foreign policy issues. This section includes current developments, information about Iraqi and US weapons and forces as well as links to other sites. Now includes a section on Iraqi Occupation and Reconstruction.  An exceptionally valuable section of this site is its complete online library of US military training manuals.In particular  I draw your attention to FM 90-10 Military Operations in Urban Terrain, and  FM 3-06.11 Combined Operations in  Urban Terrain. (this is the current manual) Appendix H,  Lessons Learned from Modern Urban Combat, is especially noteworthy. Other manuals can be found under Defense Policy for all the armed services.
Librarian’s Guide to The Internet  Resources on the Conflict with Iraq. Extensive annotated collection of resources. Sites represent a wide range of perspectives including the US and Iraqi governments, media reports, think tanks, religious groups and peace activists
Brookings Institute. The long established Washington think tank is running daily reports and analysis on its web site Additional reports on the Middle East can be found at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. 
American Enterprise Institute Comprehensive Guide to AEI Articles, Analysis, and Events about the War in Iraq. Includes briefings by top Administration officials and views presented by figures such as Richard Perle, Danielle Pletka, Reuel Gerecht, Michael Ledeen, and Thomas Donnelly
Human Rights Watch Background on the War in Iraq. Politically neutral and highly reputable reports on human rights and political issues in Iraq since 1989
Cato Institute Iraq "body of work Cato scholars have done since September 11 regarding a potential U.S. war with Iraq."
The Iraqi Research and Documentation Product.  "The Iraq Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) website is a collection of resources documenting the government, politics, and society of modern Iraq. IRDP is engaged in the gathering of information of diverse content and format (official government documents, maps, citizen testimonies, reference sources, chronologies, bibliographies, notable articles, human rights reports, photographic and other images, audio and video materials). This online collection is made available to the public to provide a window into the inner workings of the repressive state system evolved under the aegis of the Iraqi Ba'th Socialist Party in Iraq since 1968."
Iraq Maps from the invaluable Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Iraq Country Analysis. Overview of Iraq's oil and energy industry as of Feb 2003. 
Iraq A Country Study.  Book length site covering all aspects of Iraqi history, economy, culture, society and government. Not updated since the 1980s
Iraq A Reading List. New York Times reviews of some twenty books on Iraq published between 1990 and 2003
Atlantic Online  FlashBack Iraq Considered. Articles which appeared in The Atlantic Monthly magazine from December 1958 (about the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy) to November 2002 (discussing America's role in a post Saddam Iraq)
Iraq Revenue Watch. Project by the Open Society Institute "to insure that Iraqi oil revenues are managed in a transparent manner" Reports on reconstruction contracts and government finance.
"Bounding the Global War on Terrorism" A in depth strategic analysis of the Bush Administration's war on terrorism by Dr Jeffery Record of the United States's Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view
The United States and Shi'ite Religious Factions in post Ba'thist Iraq. by Professor Juan Cole. Dr. Cole is a well known commentator and blogger on Iraq issues. He is an authority on Iraq Sh'ites and professor of Near Eastern History at the Univesity of Michigan. This paper (in pdf format) provides interesting comparison with views expressed by the Bush Administration.
Coalition Provisional Authority.  The CPA web site includes press releases,military news, progress reports and information on different aspects of the occupation and reconstruction of Iraq. 
Sistani.Org  Web site of Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the most senior Sh'ite clerc in Iraq
Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction. The "Duelfer Report"
 
Currency Converters
Classic 164 Currency Converter.  Exchange rates for 164 different countries. Also includes historic exchange rates, currency forecasts and currency news. 

Universal Currency Converter. Interactive web based currencey exchange tool. 
Country Information

Access Middle East. Source for breaking news about the Middle East from a wide variety of sources. Includes background information from government, NGO and think tank web sites. 

Freedominfo.org. "This site is a one-stop portal that describes best practices, consolidates lessons learned, explains campaign strategies and tactics, and links the efforts of freedom-of-information advocates around the world. It contains crucial information on freedom of information laws and how they were drafted and implemented, including how various provisions have worked in practice". 

Economist  Country Briefings.  A product of the British magazine The Economist's  Economist Intelligence Unit, this page gives basic economic and political information for sixty countries. The site also links to recent news coverage about each country. Some links are only available to subscribers of the online version of the Economist. 
  Engaged in analysis and advocacy  on science, technology and public policy for global security.  Major topics considered include arms sales, chemical and biological weapons, nuclear non-proliferation and military analysis. The latter section features detailed descriptions of current U.S. weapons and military doctrine. It also has exceptionally current and detailed information on ongoing military operations such as conflict with Yugoslavia  
 The CIA World Fact Book 

U.S. State Department Country Notes 

Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments A CIA publication. Last updated November 5, 1998. 

Electronic Embassy.org  Directory of  embassies and consulates in the United States. 

International Organizations A Washington Post online directory of sources. 

Atlas and Maps This Virtual Reference Desk directory currently has links to over 70 map and geographic references on the Web. 

Foreign Affairs. Some full text articles available from the current issue; summaries, abstracts of other articles (searchable by topic) both from Foreign Affairs  and other international relation/public policy journals and links to other foreign policy organizations. 

Energy Information Administration Country Analysis Briefs A fascinating site created by the Department of Energy which gives detailed profiles of the energy industries in all major countries and regions of the world. Also includes special reports on topics related to international energy policy.nts. 

Center for Strategic and International Studies A major think tank which makes a number of its reports available on its web site. 

The Library of Congress Country Study Handbooks This a collection of books giving detailed and in-depth descriptions of some 85 countries. Please note that these are actual books so the amount of information provided is quite extensive. 

The Handbook of International Economic Statistics The 1999 version of the CIA publication. This gives a general overview of the international economic situation with reports on selected countries and economic sectors. In PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Tables require Excel_ 

 Country Commercial Guides. Prepared by the United States Commercial Services, a division of the Department of Commerce  these provide extensive business and commercial profile of selected countries throughout the world. Information includes general business and commercial climates, guides to doing business in the country, and likely markets for U.S. exports. 

 For the Record: The UN Human Rights System. "Produced by Human Rights Internet (HRI), this six volume report provides a country-by-country overview of human rights issues with links to relevant UN documents. The first volume includes an introduction, an appendix of UN bodies and mechanisms, a discussion of methodological and technical issues, and notes on major developments in the United Nations human rights system during 1997. The remaining volumes contain individual country reports,grouped by region. Each report contains links to treaties and reports to treaty bodies on a number of key topics. These include: Land and People; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Civil and Political Rights; Discrimination against Women; and Rights of the Child. Additional resources at the site include an internal search engine." [Annotated by the Internet Scout Report June 19, 1998] 

The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. An massive online collections of maps produced by the University of Texas Library. 

Database Europe. A through collection of information about all the countries in the European Union, including economic and demographic statistics,  political systems and culture.  

Your Nation. This intriguing site allows comparisons between any two countries on a large number of statistics.  It also gives world wide rankings on for each data category. May require a fairly powerful PC to run adequately.  

National Geographic Publications Index. Online index to (among other resources) over a century's worth of National Geographic Magazines. 

Living Costs Abroad. Quarterly reports by the State Department indexing cost of living around the world. 

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting. An independent  publishing and media group, the IWPR focuses on conflict and political development in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Currently it features reports on the Balkan crisis, the Hague war crimes tribunal and conflict in the Caucasus. 

Foreign Goverment Resources on the Web. Maintained by the Government Documents department of the University of Michigan Library, this site offers links to official government web sites, information on such topics as human rights, elections, biographical information, comprehensive foreign government listings, diplomatic missions, constitutions, treaties and laws, and statistical sources. 

EurasiaNet.org Operated by the Open Society Institute, this site features current and background information about the countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia, including political, social and economic developments, reports on human rights and updates on business and envioronmental issues 

Manas: India and its Neighbors. Comprehensive and very well designed site offering an overview of India's geography, culture, religion, art, history and society. 
World Flag Database. Current and updated listing of national and regional flags