You can’t have it both ways, right? One of the downsize of publicizing articles on facebook account is that people have the tendency to respond there instead of here. Facebook is increasingly becoming a valuable tool for citizenry engagement. Despite the reality that computers are out of reach for many people, mobile phones are making […]
If the status quo continues, as is likely, and the Pakistani government remains mired in its own incompetence and impotence, the militants in Pakistan will have become more popular and will have built up their ranks in a way, so far, unforeseen. Today’s New York Times lays out the strategic issue in very stark terms: […]
One of the many criticisms of the Syrian government has been it’s Human Rights record. While the current regime is certainly more humane than that of the former president, questions remain regarding the abuse of citizens in a number of cases. One case that has hit the headlines recently has been that of Haitham al-Maleh, […]
A recent assessment by Pakistan’s top spy agency has concluded that Islamic militants pose a greater internal security threat to Pakistan than the Indian Army
Following on yesterday’s piece on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, please find the second piece associated with the flood in Pakistan. This piece that air two days ago deals exclusively with the aid effort to get clean water, food and shelter to the devastated victims of this catastrophe. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that […]
The potential showdown between the media (and advocates of media freedom) and the South African government (which at least in this case means the ANC) continues to resonate and worry observers of the country’s political scene. It seems to me that the government would want to err on the side of avoiding being lumped in […]
Oh, Southern African Development Community (SADC) you little scamps! Robert Mugabe’s government (and for all intents and purposes it is still Mugabe’s government) got crushed in a regional court that ruled against government “land reform” and in favor of white farmers. Mugabe blatantly ignored the court. There is little gray area here — both the […]
Forget about all the talk about political repression, human rights violations, and economic suffering in Zimbabwe. The real excitement on Facebook is Mugabe’s speech, at the just-concluded Windhoek SADC summit in Namibia, that people are talking about. Mugabe was the summit’s keynote speaker, a summit that also saw former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda deliver an […]
Last week the U.S. Congress passed a border security bill that plans to generate funds by hiking H1-B and L-1 visa fee by $2000 per application per person. This would help fund the $600 million emergency fund for securing the U.S. border, particular with Mexico. (See David’s post for details.) Though it is not explicitly […]
Two events last week exemplify the growing U.S. populist backlash against India’s economic rise.
This is just a quick update about the SADC summit underway in Windhoek, Namibia. The chairperson of the Namibia Non-governmental Organisations Forum (Nangof) Trust, and fellow trustees have asked the Windhoek High Court to declare both the SADC demonstration ban and section 2 of the Public Gatherings Proclamation, AG 23 of 1989 unconstitutional. Nangof Trust’s […]
The flood in Pakistan promises to soon make a dire situation intractably tragic. Aid money promised by international donors is trickling into the ground, and more often than not, isn’t reaching the neediest of the millions of victims of this two-week long catastrophe, People are fighting and looting over food and the cramped conditions in […]
More than 50 people were killed and some 115 wounded when a suicide bomber struck a Baghdad recruiting center for the Iraqi Army.
WHILE SADC heads of state and government meet in Windhoek this week, civil society organisations from the region are also holding a two-day meeting in Windhoek called ‘The SADC People’s Summit’. The two-day event started yesterday and is organized by the Southern African People’s Solidarity Network (SAPSN). Read more at http://allafrica.com/stories/201008170634.html
The Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are meeting in Namibia’s capital city Windhoek for SADC’s 30th Summit yesterday August 16 and today August 17, 2010. Apparently, high on the summit agenda is the organization’s pledge to address the region’s “hotspots” such as Lesotho, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and the east […]