The Bangladesh Student League is running rampant, loose across numerous universities across the country and the politicians–often, members of parliament–who support them are doing nothing to arrest the Student League’s criminal and violent behavior. The Daily Star reports that a leader of the AL has gone on record to admonish these politicians aiding and abetting […]
Bangladeshis and the Bengali community in London and in the United Kingdom, more broadly, have reason to celebrate today. For today, for the first time the Member of Parliament from Bangla Town is sure to be a Bengali. Each major party jockeying for power in the 2010 UK General Election has chosen a Bengali to […]
By Sean Goforth (Latin America blog) During his tenure President da Silva has been a welcome, universally adored, conciliator in Latin America. In this week’s TIME, the annual “World’s Most Influential People” list starts with Lula. I am still not sure what to make of Michael Moore’s essay on him. Now Lula is moving center […]
Writing in Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume asks the obvious question. Why do Pakistan and the Pakistani diaspora churn out such a high proportion of the world’s terrorists? Indonesia has more Muslims than Pakistan. Turkey is geographically closer to the troubles of the Middle East. The governments of Iran and Syria are immeasurably more hostile […]
The dire straits of European economy have made the necessity of major financial reforms blatantly obvious. Measures that a few months ago were taboo are now unabashedly aired. These days it is not unusual to find heretic ideas – such as the possibility of suspending a country’s participation in the euro – in the columns […]
The way journalism is treated in today’s Russia, perhaps it is not surprising that one of its greatest practitioners continues to linger in obscurity decades after his death. Yet The Guardian’s Luke Harding sees the hand of a new Stalinism behind the contemporary unpopularity of Vasily Grossman, the legendary war reporter and novelist whose Tolstoian […]
Russian journalists are used to being kicked when they’re down. But new proposed legislation could go much further by basically branding the country’s already curbed, cowed and embattled reporters accessories to terrorists. According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, The proposal, which was presented to the country’s lower parliament, the State Duma, […]
One of the more bizarre chapters in recent Nigerian history has come to a close with the passing of President Umaru Yar’Adua. Discerning Yar’Adua’s status had in recent months become the Africanist equivalent of Moscow-watchers trying to glean from the most modest clues the health of Soviet Premieres in the first half of the 1980s. […]
Israel has managed to maintain a policy of nuclear ambiguity for decades, refusing to comment on whether it has a nuclear arsenal. It is widely believed that Israel has a couple hundred nuclear warheads, likely scattered throughout the country and ready to launch in the event Israel is threatened with annihilation. Granted, other countries — […]
All signs indicate that Nelson Mandela really has slowed to the point where it seems fair to ask about the state of his health. In recent days it was announced that Mandela almost certainly will not attend the World Cup, an event I always assumed that he would go to the ends of the Earth […]
The Scud missile scandal of two weeks ago has turned into the M600 scandal of today. Does Israel really believe these accusations? Is Syria really smuggling these weapons to Hizballah? And if so, what does it mean for the future of the Levant? While the prospect of Hizballah actually obtaining Scuds is discussed here, these […]
By Richard Basas (Latin America blog) Last month I was fortunate to have the opportunity to participate and ask questions of Brazil’s Minister of Planning, Budget and Management, Mr. Paulo Bernardo. The discussion was an overview for foreign investors, economic experts and journalists on the second phase of Brazil’s national Growth Acceleration Program (PAC 2), […]
Copyright and Property of Faheem Haider A man, Zakir Hossain has died and 100 others have been injured in a skirmish between the Awami League and the BNP. Members of the Awami League allegedly attacked BNP activists along the way to a BNP rally. The AL has already passed on the blame for the […]
Looks like Hugo Chavez’s fabled sense of smell has finally deserted him. How else to explain the Venezuelan leader’s puzzling decision to take lessons in socialist town planning from Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov. True, Luzhkov can boast of his victorious controversial Gen Plan, a 15 year development blueprint for Moscow, which was passed today (using […]
Thailand: PM Abhisit Vejjajiva gave a nationally televised speech, on Monday, offering a “reconciliation plan” to the entrenched Red Shirt opposition protesters (United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD)). The proposal would include calling for new parliamentary elections on November 14, 2010. This has come , “not a moment too soon”, as there were […]