I don’t think I’m an especially good relaxer. I like being near the ocean but find it unappealing and nearly impossible just to relax on the beach. many people find the idea of doing nothing completely appealing. I find it horrible. I need something to read, something to write, something to DO. It’s another day […]
In a recent press conference Mian Nawaz Sharif – the head of the largest opposition Party Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN) – claimed that terrorism in Pakistan is a result of government’s foreign policies. Sharif made the comments two days after two terrorist suicide bombers had attacked the most popular Sufi shrine in Punjab. The province […]
Journalist Joel Stein gets into some hot water for his column on Indian Americans in Time Magazine.
WARSAW – Bronislaw Komorowski celebrated with supporters at his election campaign headquarters here in Warsaw last night, as polls show him the likely next president. Komorowski’s victory over Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of former President Lech Kaczynski who died in a plane crash with other top Polish officials in April, takes the reins at […]
The World Cup is taking two more days of rest after the semis were decided with Germany smacking around Argentina (obviously I did not see that one coming) and Spain struggling to take down Paraguay (I did foresee that, but given that I was one for four in predicting these quarterfinals games, too much congratulations […]
The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in India seems to believe in the slogan of ‘the more the merrier’. It appears that Cabinets in the era of coalition governments were not enough trouble for the UPA. It has added another dimension of complexity by frequently constituting Group of Ministers (GoMs) to decide on official policies. […]
Salman Masood recently wrote a very interesting blog post for the New York Times At War blog. The U.S. has passed along 3 F-16 fighter planes to the Pakistani Air Force; the transfer has caused much strutting fan fare and has germinated a crashing wave crop of billowing, swollen chests. Citing reportage in Dawn, the […]
The the Veep made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday in the midst of a political impasse that’s been stacked up Iraq’s national parliamentary election four months ago.
With the backing of Brazil’s most popular president in history and support from the state’s publicity machine, Dilma Rousseff’s ongoing tie in opinion polls forces a shift in strategy. Presidential opinion polls released this week continued to show the PT’s Dilma Rousseff and the PSDB’s José Serra in a ‘technical tie’, with Jose Serra at […]
Ouch. That was painful. Ghana went out in the way you really don’t want to see anyone go out. After 90 minutes of regulation and another 30 minutes of additional time Ghana and Uruguay were drawn at 1-1, meaning the dreded penalty shootout was going to settle the game. But it was worse than that. […]
The relationship between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been strained, at best. Reports highlight how Netanyahu has been snubbed by the White House and was left festering with advisers before holding a second round of talks with Obama. Even though the two statesmen get a long, we’ll have to […]
It is instructive to think about the international political economic implications of the easily disparaged, late in coming War Crimes Trial in Bangladesh. The local media have for long written up tomes on the domestic fight in setting up that trial; less attention has been paid to the international dimensions of that fight. A quick summary […]
Our long international nightmare is over. The World Cup resumes today with two quarterfinals matches that are certain to pique the interest of viewers, and especially of Africans. Tonight is the Ghana-Uruguay match. Uruguay is, as I’ve been saying since early in the group stages, for real. But so is Ghana. Ghana just lost to a […]
I’ll be headed out on a two week vacation tomorrow and will likely not be posting during that period. Don’t cry, Tahera will still be here and I’m not leaving you empty handed. Look down. Yes, some super cool Afghan-related articles to check out! So enjoy these pieces and have a happy American Independence Day. […]
Given the latest news of the strategic suicide bombing in Lahore, it’s important that we think hard about what we are fighting for in Pakistan. We need to ask: What is the U.S. fighting for in Pakistan? What is Pakistan fighting for? An answer to either question is not readily available. Perhaps neither question is […]