President Obama’s comment that “India is not simply emerging but has emerged” charmed his Indian audience. Was President Obama’s assessment rhetorical or was he making a valid appraisal? India’s record on indices of democratic governance, economic growth and socio-political stability are encouraging if not exquisite. Yet power implies a relational aspect which makes India’s foreign […]
Dear readers, please know that the Bangladesh blog will soon invite a new writer who will be responsible for covering the business and finance news in Bangladesh. The new Bangladesh writer, my good friend, is immensely talented. He brings to the table a real hand feel for the business and finance communities in Bangladesh. […]
Citing shortages in its fleet of aircraft, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the most popular international carrier in Bangladesh has suspended direct flights to London, Heathrow. It is important to note that the Dhaka to London route was reinstituted only last year after a disruption of some 12 years. Nevertheless, this move restricts international thoroughfare at a […]
Rising global food prices have put pressure on the Awami League government to make swift moves to procure a larger supply of staple foods. Perhaps fearing nation-wide protests that might well last for sometime–if organizers plan on modeling their grievances on the protest movements in the Middle East– the government has sworn to buy more […]
While the downgrade of Japanese debt by S&P last week garnered all the media attention, Fitch Ratings released their report on banks in the broader Asia Pacific region a couple of days ago. It issued a stable outlook for the most part but issued a cautionary note for banks in China and Vietnam. A good […]
There’s another protest strike in the works for this Monday. This time, the opposition BNP has promised a massive hartal that will make good use of the grievances of the four rightist parties with which it was in coalition. Global food prices have skyrocketed with attendant increases in the price of cereal grains. Moreover, the […]
News and Media coverage in China, is generally not my area of expertise… but this is the best account I have seen of the reaction by China’s authorities on developments in Egypt. Willy Lam has an intimate knowledge of developments in China, which is why I am reproducing his recent commentary on Beijing’s response to […]
Overall, observing today’s India evokes an alternating mixture of despair and heady optimism. At the face of it, her problems seem insurmountable and yet, incredibly, her citizens are rushing forward with a glint in their eye that suggests that they know where they want to be – and they’ll figure out a way to get there.
Burma’s first elected parliament in half a century convened in its new compound in Naypyitaw today. It was not met with any enthusiasm by the Burmese people, however, who viewed the November 7 elections as a charade and do not expect any change under the new government. Unfortunately, this lack of optimism is justified since […]
The recent official state visit to Washington, DC, by China’s President Hu Jintao, was as boring and as uneventful as all the experts expected to be but hoped it would not. President Obama pulled out the red carpet for President Hu, with all the majesty and fanfare that the Chinese leader ‘deserves:’ two dinners at […]
Short-term measures will not address the roots of India’s food crisis. Long in the making, the real problems extend far beyond a spike in spot prices caused by variable weather and their resolution will require much more than changes in the Cabinet lineup.
The Times has published a good piece on Grameen Bank founder Md. Yunus growing troubles. Columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a piece some weeks ago on Grameen and, perhaps, due to his own work on women’s capabilities, he might have spread the word that this is a good story to follow. The Times piece does a […]
On 26th January 1950, India will be an independent country. What would happen to her independence?…What perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by the infidelity and treachery of some of her own people….This anxiety is deepened by the realisation of the […]
There has been much discussion in the Western media as to what effect Chinese President Hu Jingtao’s recent State visit to the U.S. will have on the future trajectory of Sino-U.S. relations, if any. Due to the fact the world economy has been in a slump, with the U.S. at it’s center struggling to recover, […]
Yesterday, India observed Republic Day, celebrating the 61st anniversary of the date its Constitution came into force. The chief guest at India’s first Republic Day on January 26, 1950 had been the then-Indonesian President Sukarno whom India’s Prime Minister at the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, supported during Indonesia’s struggle for freedom from the Netherlands. In 2011, […]
