India faces daunting challenges in overcoming its infrastructure deficit.
India faces daunting challenges in overcoming its infrastructure deficit.
The High Court of Bangladesh recently declared all forms of extrajudicial punishment illegal. Fatwas, or religious judgments fall under the domain of the ruling. Therefore, fatwas, as a form of extrajudicial punishment have been deemed illegal in Bangladesh. The Daily Star reports; “Anyone involved, present or taking part in or assisting any such conviction or […]
While few countries support Canada’s claim that the Northwest Passage constitutes internal waters, many do support its attempt to promote national sovereignty over its seas. On July 1, Canada made formerly voluntary registration with NORDREG mandatory for all ships 300 tonnes or more passing through its Arctic waters. If a ship is found in the […]
If it wasn’t sufficiently clear before, it should be now: the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik e- Taliban) are out to bring down the ‘apostate” government in Islamabad, piece, region by region, piece by piece. It were as if the Taliban were only moved to refute the writ and authority of the central government, which it thinks […]
I am sitting at what has to be the world’s slowest internet cafe where, as a glutton for punishment, I have waited ten minutes simply to be able to log in here to write this post. Apparently the dial-up connection is not that strong on a Friday afternoon. I just got done with my special […]
Over the last couple of months, news has been in pouring in about ‘honor killings’ in the northern States of Punjab and Haryana. Numerous couples have been killed mostly by family members on the orders of the ‘khap panchyats’ because they eloped, married outside their caste or within the same ‘gotra’. The problem is not […]
The Turkish-Brazilian brokered fuel swap deal with Iran, and the following “no” to further Iran sanctions, has been the object of much analysis in the past month. Reoccurring themes to these analyses were the ‘rising power’ aspects of the Turkish-Brazilian diplomacy, and of course, whether these developments demonstrated that Turkey has tired of the West, […]
Apropos my last post, a work of art entitled “1945-1998” by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto. This piece is one part of a larger project of his on nuclear explosions. More on Hashimoto and the project here.
Recent reports from the Japan have, once again, complicated the history of Japan’s seemingly steadfast commitment to its Three Non-Nuclear principles – non-production, non-possession, and non-introduction of nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. (It is important to note that this is not the end-all, be-all of Japan’s nuclear stance: the four pillars of Japan’s nuclear policy […]
Sectarian conflict bloodies 12 more on final day of Shi’a pilgrimage.
Officers of the Israeli military, security agencies and clandestine infrastructure were known throughout the world as the most feared, smart and savvy agents the world has ever known. But recent incidents have severely called that perception into question. Most recently, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s security attache on his visit to Washington this week misplaced a […]
Despite my plane fiasco yesterday I did successfully make my way to Pretoria and my guesthouse, which is located on the edge of the vibrant, trendy Hatfield area, which itself is adjacent to the University of Pretoria (where I’ll be giving my talk tomorrow). The guest house has a pretty nice Portuguese restaurant attached to […]
So I missed my flight to Joburg. The Durban Airport Shuttle, otherwise so reliable each time I have used it, decided to falter when I needed to get to the airport. I waited 45 minutes and three came by, all claiming not to be going to the aiport, but rather coming from the airport, an […]
How did Russia soften up stubborn Belarus into entering the Customs Union that Lukashenko had so strongly resisted? In part by openly using the media, and specifically NTV, as a tool for diplomatic hardball; disproving all those liberal haters who predicted irrelevance for the formerly critical channel after its takeover by the Kremlin. To send […]
Al Jazeera English’s 101 East series has put together another astounding, heart breaking piece on Bangladeshi culture, its sociology. This time around, film makers sponsored by Al Jazeera have examined the wide spread phenomenon of violence that so often churns along with the covert exchange of property rights that is tagged euphemistically in cities and […]