Indonesia: Last week, this blog looked at the reality of Indonesia’s capacity to aid the United States in the Islamic world. Ahead of Obama’s June visit to the archipelago, it is also valuable to consider how the Indonesian – American relationship is viewed on the Indonesian street. Recently, some right wing Muslim groups have joined […]
Henry Hoyle, the China blogger at FPA, has done a bang up job explaining this week’s Nuclear Security Summit and its implications for US-Chinese relations – and Chinese diplomacy in general. As Hoyle suggests, a number of events prompted Chinese President Hu Jintao’s last-minute decision to attend the Summit, including the Department of Treasury’s decision […]
A recent piece in the Wall Street Journal argues that from the US point of view, improved Indo-Pak relations are the key to progress in Afghanistan. The Obama administration had therefore issued a secret directive to work towards easing tensions between the two hostile neighbors. That would, in effect, help the administration secure Pakistani cooperation in Afghanistan. While the Obama administration may have […]
The last minute confirmation of Hu Jintao’s attendance at the Global Nuclear Security Summit in D.C. later this month has put to rest fears that China would send a lower-ranking official to the summit in retaliation for arm sales to Taiwan and other bilateral quarrels. The Western media, recently fixated on the ebb and flow […]
Over the weekend, the State Minister of Law claimed that though war crimes and crimes committed against humanity are the same thing, nevertheless it is only the leaders of the Jamaat who seem to be confessing to perpetrating crimes, committed during war, but perhaps against humanity. Now quite apart from the sense most of us […]
It looks to me like the media outlets in Bangladesh are out for blood. The 668 BDR mutineers have been hauled up in front of a three member special court. All eyes are on 59 year old BDR Subedar Major Gofran Mallick are the leader of the conspiracy and the consequent bloody mutiny that stained […]
Thanks to Congressman Hank Johnson (D – Georgia), the debate surrounding the relocation of American troops to Guam just got messier. One might say its reached a tipping point…. It makes you wonder why the Hatoyama administration hasn’t raised the same concern for their tiny island.
“About a hundred years ago a great son of India, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, urged the Imperial Legislative Assembly to confer on the Indian people the Right to Education. About ninety years later the Constitution of India was amended to enshrine the Right to Education as a fundamental right. Today, our Government comes before you to […]
An epic drought is ravaging the Mekong River basin, destroying crops and endangering livelihoods. From the the river’s origins in western China, where it is known as the Lancang, and along its winding route through the countries of the southeast Asian peninsula, record high temperatures and low precipitation have brought the Mekong so low as […]
The High Court declared today that the provocative Crossfire Exhibition must be allowed to reopen. Eight days after the politically charged exhibition was shut down by the police deployed to the Drik Gallery, the High Curts decision now compels the police to withdraw, thereby removing all obstruction to the conduct and proceedings of the exhibition. […]
The upcoming War Crimes trial is playing out domestically in expected and unexpected ways. It was altogether expected that the BNP would try to despoil the proceedings by alleging partisan motives–members of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a member of the previous ruling BNP coalition, stand to be accused of war crimes. Moreover, it was expected that […]
Thailand: Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva not only kept his word to meet with opposition Red Shirt leaders, but also allowed the exchange to be carried live on state television. In regard to one of the Red Shirt’s central demands, Vejjajiva agreed to consider dissolving Parliament and calls for new elections, a move that many Red […]
The BNP has begun to stake a claim that it will overthrow the current government using country-wide mass protests. The Daily Star reports her as saying: “I will wage a movement and oust the government. I have done it in the past and am ready to take to the street again.” The last time she […]
It was a successful weekend for the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as they test fired the nuclear-capable Agni-I, Prithvi-II and Dhanush missile in quick succession. All three are indigenously developed missiles. On Saturday it first test fired Dhanush, a ship-based anti-surface missile, off INS Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal. Dhanush has a range of 350 […]
Finally, China comes to the table on Iran. A few days ago Liu Zhenmin, a former deputy ambassador to the U.N. and lead Chinese negotiator on previous Iran sanctions, reportedly participated in a conference call about U.S.-proposed Security Council sanctions, ending months of disengagement on the issue. While this is a step in the right […]
