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 […]
As EU leaders meet today, February 4, in Brussels, protests in Egypt will be culminating in what Egyptians are calling “The Day of Departure.” If events in Tunisia are any indication, Europe has thus far viewed the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean as a choice between democracy and stability. As fellow FPA blogger Benjamin Preisler pointed out, […]
Today I went to a town only 23 kilometers south of Tahrir Square. The plan was to see if the 11-day uprising in Egypt has produced any benefits so far – just by way of finding something different from the insecurity and chaos in Cairo. Kirdasa, a small town known for its flower nurseries and […]
I was interviewed this week by the International Business Times on the demographic threat to Israel. I argue that the demographic threat is not urgent, so long as the West Bank is not annexed to Israel. Instead, the gaps in the welfare system will only get worse because of increased ultra-orthodox birth rates, therefore reform […]
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 […]
In a telling leading editorial, the Zeit, Germany’s biggest and most important weekly newspaper, praises Merkel for making Europe more German. After the others had only wanted our money up to now, now the idea were to create a European economic government, give up decision-making powers to Europe and in return force everyone else to […]
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 […]
The Arab wave of discontent is sweeping the Middle East and did not miss the Palestinians, although the government is choosing stability over permitting democratic assembly, at least for now. Earlier this week, both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas dispersed demonstrations in favor of Egyptian reforms. Mass demonstrations against Hamas are also expected on Friday, […]
Around midnight on February 2 Manuel Farfan Carriola was slain on his way home from work. His four bodyguards were also killed, and several police officers were wounded in a gunfight with the assailants. Early blame for the murder of Carriola, a retired general and recently appointed police chief of Nuevo Laredo, is going to […]
I guess nothing here should come as a shock, but the AU’s credibility and relevancy took another nose dive when the organization elected President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea as the new chairman at the January 30 annual summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Nguema Mbasogo was nominated by the Central African region, and […]
Have the protesters overplayed their hand in Egypt? I cannot help wonder about this — and my question is not based on any sort of value judgment whatsoever. But consider the basic chain of events: Protests grow. The military does not really respond in crushing the opposition, which continues to grow. Hosni Mubarek announces he […]
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 […]
Politics turns on public finance; public finance turns on politics. Afghanistan is no different than the United States, or the United Kingdom on those terms. So it comes as a dismaying shock that the government of Afghanistan might have to bail out its largest and most important private bank. Kabul Bank has taken losses as […]
When I made my last post about the U.S. role in backing Mubarak, I hadn’t realized that Obama asked for “an orderly transition” that must begin “now” in Egypt. I am not changing my earlier post though. This is because it does reflect the growing general sentiment in Egypt about the U.S. role. This confusion […]