It’s that time of year when our readers should be rooting on the Hoyas in the Big East. But, Georgetown may pick up a few more fans in the Middle East as the university considers opening a satellite teaching hospital in the Palestinian territories. Georgetown already operates a campus in Qatar and recently opened up […]
On the occasion of Ekushey Padak, one of the highest civilian awards given to Bangladeshi artists and notables on commemoration of the Language Movement of February 21st 1952, Sheikh Hasina, encouraged Bengalis of all stripes and codas to make of Bangladesh a knowledge economy for the 21st Century. She encouraged artists, and poets to create […]
The Bangladeshi government is taking a strong stance against an influx of nearly U.S. $100 million for aid related to climate change from the U.K Department for International Development (DFID). At issue is the allocation scheme. DFID is passing along the money to Bangladesh through the World Bank, instead of allocating the aid bilaterally. The reason why […]
After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the United States found itself battling a tough and stubborn Shiite insurgency. This resistance was led by a young militant named Muqtada al-Sadr, and before long, Middle East analysts and scholars began drawing comparisons to another Shiite resistance leader, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah. Before the US-led invasion of 2003, the […]
‘Khodorkovsky was the only one of the oligarchs who forgot that he was an oligarch, that is, a crook. He decided that because he’d stopped stealing from the company that he was a great businessman, a builder of value! The other oligarchs, when they saw the fuzz, knew they should run. But Khodorkovsky forgot.’ That […]
Observers are assessing the outcome of the Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton’s trip to the Middle East. The Itinerary of the secretary was, first, the attendance of U.S.-Islamic World conference, second, stops in various Arab cities to promote and gather support for tougher sanctions against Iran. The result: mission unaccomplished. About a year ago, the […]
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon has announced that his country will host a conference on Arctic sovereignty on March 29 in Quebec. The purpose of the conference, which will take place right before the G8 summit in Muskoka, is to encourage a discussion on new methods of economic development and environmental protection in the Arctic. […]
Likely a further sign of his government’s economic woes, President Hugo Chávez’s administration is offering oil contracts to foreign companies. The response to the bidding for concessions was not as strong as it has been in the past, as many companies have been burned by Chávez’s expropriation of assets. Still, Chevron and Repsol (of Spain) […]
Foreign Policy Magazine has produced some memorable photos documenting the Marja offensive: Check out more here.
It seems that my interest in Northeast Asian rapprochement is shared with many others. Indeed, since writing a recent post on Japan’s effort to rein in its historical rows with its neighbors, I’ve discovered a number of interesting takes on the issue. Anyone interested in understanding Sino-Japanese relations and the latent historical tensions that affect […]
Sometimes I feel like I could run the show better at the Israeli Foreign Ministry than its current occupants. Last month, the Israeli government managed to apologize to Turkey after Turkish media depicted Israelis in an anti-Semitic context. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon refused to shake the hand of a Turkish ambassador, leading Israeli officials […]
The New York Times just published Phillip Bowring’s latest op-ed on politics in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The piece is fine; it takes up general points on the strong dynastic trend in political leadership in the region. As he writes, “Bangladesh has Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the murdered first prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.” […]
In the past few days the Dubai Chief of Police released CCTV footage of a hit team that took the life of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh on January 19, 2010. This footage has sparked an international man hunt for the 11 people identified by their passport photos. Mabhouh was a senior member of Hamas and one of […]
A report issued on Monday by the Mexican Council of Bishops expressed concern over the militarization of many Mexican cities and venality among law enforcement. Human rights, the report argued, were increasingly at risk of violation because of the protracted presence of federal troops in Cuidad Juarez, and elsewhere. The report comes in the wake […]
Every year, February 11-or 22 Bahman in the Persian calendar-is celebrated with great fervor in Iran, because this is the day when the 1979 revolution succeeded in toppling the dictatorship of Western-backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The annual holiday is a deeply significant and symbolic date for the regime as it provides them with the […]