Regions

Pakistan wins ICC ODI Champions match against India 2009. The win shows that fans in South Asia are changing. Cricinfo has a great article by Sambit Bal who explains that because matches between both countries have increased, the excitement has been muted to an extent and has made the game more “sane”. I agree. I think Cricket should not be inextricably linked to national identity, politics or religion in South Asia because it perpetuates divisiveness. On the contrary, delinking such issues from India Pakistan matches will allow us to focus on the game.

Word of advice for Washington – in your efforts to win the battle against the terrorists, don’t humiliate your friends. After spending about a year in Pakistan, I arrived back home, that is back in the States last night. Well, as I was at the last stop before exiting the immigration area at Dulles Airport, […]

In the northwestern Siberian town of Salekhard, Russia, President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic. In attendance were oil and gas companies from around the world, such as Shell, Exxon Mobil, and others from Germany, Italy, and Japan. Russia […]

All the newspapers are buzzing with one news: the disclosure of a clandestine uranium enrichment plant in Iran.  Here is President Obama’s statement on the Iranian nuclear facility that he made along with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown  and French President Sarkozy today at the G-20 meeting. PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Good morning.  We are here to […]

Iran is replacing the U.S. dollar by the euro in the country’s foreign exchange accounts.  The Arabian Business reported that the euro will be used to calculate the value of the country’s Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF).  The OSF, which forms part of Iran’s foreign exchange reserves, is a contingency fund set up to help the […]

Yesterday Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, gave a more tempered speech to the United Nations General Assembly. He said the smell of sulfur (his reference to George W. Bush in 2006) had dissipated, and that instead he sensed new hope with President Barack Obama in office. Further description of the speech by the Associated Press […]

: Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi of Pakistan suggests that Islamabad appoint a special envoy to India in attempt to engage both countries in back channel diplomacy, and hopefully more progressive, warming relations. Riaz Mohammad KHan is considered for the position of special envoy and Foreign Minister Qureshi insists that such attempts should work in tandem with front ends of diplomacy as well. Perhaps in the initial stages, US Special Envoy Holbrooke or another envoy might mediate such talks that can lead to a warming of relations in the Subcontinent.

The visit of Syrian President Bashar Assad to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the opening of Saudi King Abdullah’s new state-of-the-art, mixed gender university is expected to have a positive influence on Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s effort to form a cabinet. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia hold significant influence in Lebanon and their cooperation is […]

Jews around the world are preparing to atone for their sins during the festival of Yom Kippur, a 25-hour day of fasting filled with self-reflection and prayers for the strength to improve oneself in the coming year. Yom Kippur is not about oppression like Passover or overcoming adversity like Hanukah. This festival is the one […]

United States Senate passes the Kerry-Lugar bill tripling foreign aid to Pakistan for “sustainable development” purposes and counterterrorism/counterinsurgency assistance. This comes as both the United States and Pakistan struggle in defeating terrorism in the region. The bill specifies up to $1,5,000,000 through 2013 annually as President Obama revamps our strategy in dealing with the Af-Pak quagmire.

The Indian space program has more reason to rejoice with the Chandrayaan-1 Lunar mission discovering water on the moon’s surface. The maiden lunar mission launched in October 2008 carried 11 payloads, one of which was NASA’s moon mineralogy mapper (M3). “The evidence of water molecules on the surface of the moon was found by the […]

Asia Times Online has several great articles out this week on Southeast Asia: – Vietnam could be facing another currency crisis.  The  Vietnamese Dong may crash due to the governments unsustainable trade and spending deficits.   Apparently, things got out of hand as early as late 2007, when Vietnam started printing Dong based off of the […]

Looks like this year Qaddafi will be the center of attention at the UN.  While Ahmadinejad’s speech had some classic “blame West” moments, it just did not match the diatribes found in Qaddafi’s speech (For more on Qaddafi’s speech, check out the Foreign Policy Association’s Human Rights Blog).  Ahmadinejad’s speech was more subdued, but that […]

Last week, Iranian President Ahmadinejad once again outraged the world by calling the Holocaust a “myth”. To be honest, it is embarrassing to me as a Muslim when I see a Muslim leader espouse such vitriol. This summer I went to the Dachau concentration camp and it was one of the most heart wrenching experience. […]

Following months of mutual cooperation on anti-terrorism initiatives and attempts to secure the release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Israeli-Egyptian relations seem to be taking a hit this week as multiple events accentuated the perpetual tension between the two nations. The countries concluded their decades-long war under the guidance of U.S. President Jimmy Carter […]