There is no dearth of reports, articles and analysis on India’s preparation or the lack of it for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010. Apart from the Indian news channels inviting ‘experts’ of all hues to comment on what went wrong and the national mission to discover where the ‘buck stops’, criticism in the international media […]
Even for a country like India, long inured to the fiascos created by its bungling and corrupt politicians, the adjectives accompanying the Commonwealth Games (CWG) seem like a new low.
It may have gone unnoticed and unremarked within politics and policy circles, but Pakistan is out again, renewed and replenished in odd ways that speak to a disjointed narrative about contemporary art and literature. Consider the new edition of Granta out in newsstands and haute stores that peddle in that version of mature sensibilities that […]
map from BBC Hot Spot – East China Sea: Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands: China, Japan, Taiwan In continuation: Over the last few days, China has been increasingly the saber rattling in regard to the arrest of a Chinese fishing crew by Japanese authorities. Japan contends that the former rammed the latter (JCG patrol ship Yonakuni) at […]
Amidst all the embarrassment of the Commonwealth Games preparations in Delhi, a report by the National Intelligence Council and EU’s Institute for Security Studies placing India as the third most powerful country has brought in a much need boost to the spirits. The report, Global Governance 2025, puts India in the third position with eight […]
The Kim mafia has been in the news quite a bit lately, and every time Kim Jong-Il makes a headline, China gets uncomfortable. Great Leader Kim is somewhat akin to the the late U.S. mafia boss, John Gotti Jr., he makes far too many newspaper headlines, a spotlight that makes his friends uneasy. As […]
It is true Pakistan has been dealing with awful scenarios one after another since 1947, but at some point, the masses must take charge and work toward changing their destiny. Crisis or no crisis, people in Pakistan by now should have perfected, and if not perfected, at least gotten a good grip on how to […]
Former foreign secretary of India, Shyam Saran has an excellent piece in Business Standard where he argues that staying back in Afghanistan and strengthening its presence there is the right strategy for India. He examines the ‘exit strategy’ from Afghanistan for the U.S. put forth by Henry Kissinger at a recent conference in Geneva. According […]
Nationalism is a beast the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not create, but has often tried harness to it’s benefit. Still, the use of this tool is tempered by the ever present Chinese fear of chaos (luàn:乱). A potential disaster scenario for the party is one in which it finds itself on the wrong side […]
Zainab Jeewanjee comments on Asiam-ul-haq Qureshi, Pakistani tennis stars calls for Peace at the 2010 U.S. Open. She weaves in Fareed Zakaria’s argument that American’s are actually safer 10 years after 9/11 while Muslim countries grow weary of terrorists in their country and suffer from militant Islam to a larger extent than Americans domestically.
Dear Readers: Sorry for the lapse in posting. I have been on hiatus for the past month taking care of some personal issue. I have an announcement. From today forward, I will be contributing to the Foreign Policy China Blog, as Chinese related issues are closer to my area of study. It has been fun […]
India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram during a speech at the conference of State police chiefs and Inspector-Generals of police cautioned against the emerging phenomenon of ‘saffron terror’. The Home Minister’s comments have proved controversial with the Opposition Party, Bharatiya Janata Dal (BJP) demanding an apology. Semantics apart, Home Minister Chidambaram’s comment was not frivolous. [Photo: […]
I’d written earlier about the stultifyingly small (perhaps still-born?) aid packages that have been flowing into Pakistan’s flooded regions. As a result of the widely acknowledged insufficient private donations, the U.N. has asked that its member states double their pledged humanitarian aid packages to Pakistan. To get your head around the latest news on private […]
Per usual, the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer has provided, far and away, the best reportage on the flood in Pakistan. Working with Saima Mohsin of the English-language channel Dawn News, the Newshour has aired some of the most arresting stories on Pakistan’s crisis. The piece you will find below is no different. Mohsin lays […]
I suggest, my readers, that you pass on this note to all your friends and loved ones: Please donate the small, though value of $50 to the flood relief effort in Pakistan. Consider that private pledged donations to Pakistan’s flood victims are 1/40th the dollar value pledged for the victims of the Haiti earthquake and […]
