It’s hardly worth mentioning that the accomplishments of Bangladesh and Bangladeshis does not register within the international media. That is so, but for that one Bangladeshi, Muhammad Yunus, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Indeed, it happens that Dr. Yunus is fast friends with former President William J. Clinton. Without a doubt […]
The Awami League government in Bangladesh is reaching out to all its neighbors for foreign aid and investment. Along with its recent moves to court the Indian government to fund development projects in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reportedly will be seeking $3 billion in assistance from China during her 5 day state visit to […]
As the first year anniversary of the BDR Mutiny in Bangladesh approaches, the government is getting ready to charge over 800 members of the Border Guard with murder, arson, looting and hiding bodies in mass graves. As the Daily Star reports, “Investigators are now busy re-examining their findings, relevant documents and evidence on February 25-26 […]
The Awami League led government of Bangladesh is moving swiftly to institutionalize most of its governance and development plans in order to show that it can work transparently with its international aid donors. As the Daily Star reports: “The government has drafted 26 action plans including those for framing a new civil service act, dredging rivers […]
Bangladeshis today, and during the day past, celebrated Ekushey February, the commemoration of the events of February 21, 1952, when student protestors were killed demonstrating for the cause to retain Bengali as a state language in, then, East Pakistan. A quick rundown of the stultifying events of that day, which lasted only 30 minutes will help […]
On the occasion of Ekushey Padak, one of the highest civilian awards given to Bangladeshi artists and notables on commemoration of the Language Movement of February 21st 1952, Sheikh Hasina, encouraged Bengalis of all stripes and codas to make of Bangladesh a knowledge economy for the 21st Century. She encouraged artists, and poets to create […]
The Bangladeshi government is taking a strong stance against an influx of nearly U.S. $100 million for aid related to climate change from the U.K Department for International Development (DFID). At issue is the allocation scheme. DFID is passing along the money to Bangladesh through the World Bank, instead of allocating the aid bilaterally. The reason why […]
The New York Times just published Phillip Bowring’s latest op-ed on politics in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The piece is fine; it takes up general points on the strong dynastic trend in political leadership in the region. As he writes, “Bangladesh has Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the murdered first prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.” […]
2010 is the Year of the Tiger. But according to the World Wildlife Fund “one of the world’s largest tiger populations could be wiped out this century as rising seas threaten to engulf their dwindling habitat in the coastal mangrove forests ofBangladesh, researchers said on Jan. 20. A projected sea-level rise of 11 inches (28 […]
The Joint World Bank and IMF Financial Stability Assessment Program (FSAP) has just published its latest report on Bangladesh’s financial sector. Since 2003, when the last FSAP was published, Bangladesh’s financial sector has been improving steadily. Non-performing loans have decreased steadily throughout that time, while the total assets of banks doubled and credit given to […]
The BNP is taking an increasingly strident and unyielding line against the governing Awami League. Quite apart from boycotting Parliament and thereby refusing to participate in governance, the opposition BNP is threatening an oust-government movement. This move comes after an the assassination of a leader of the youth group affiliated with the BNP. Though, the […]
Bangladesh is a firm contributor to the United Nations Peace Keeping Forces (UNPKF). In Africa and now Haiti, soldiers from the Bangladesh Armed Forces have helped in whatever security and peace keeping issue that looms ahead for the more or less inert United Nations. Perhaps, though Bangladesh’s presence within the UNPKF is a simple move, a […]
The student affiliates of the major political parties have always had a major hand in the decades long perverse politicking in Bangladesh. Time and again mutually non-deterrent and devastating clashes have shut down the major cities in Bangladesh. Student leaders of these political groups often find lucrative contracts in the private sector; alternatively they […]
The media in Bangladesh is awash in ink reporting on the highest level U.S government delegation to Bangladesh. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Judith McHale congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s attempt to reaffirm the rule of law and pluralist democracy in Bangladesh and asserted that, going forward, Bangladesh would be amongst the […]
Can favorable consolidation of democracy in Bangladesh serve as a bulwark against fanatacism and instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The simplest answer is yes. There are two ways, cases really, in which it might serve as a bulwark. The first case: Bangladesh’s democratic consolidation serves as an exemplar to show interested parties in Afghanistan […]