A meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani and Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at the Non-Aligned Summit (NAM) resumed cooperative talks since they had stalled after the Mumbai atrocities. The summit marked a breakthrough in Indian-Pakistani relations when both sides decided to bracket issues of terrorism from future peace talks, by signing an agreement that identifies […]
Today both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times carried stories on the prison abuse going on in Iran. The New York Times reported: Some prisoners say they watched fellow detainees being beaten to death by guards in overcrowded, stinking holding pens. Others say they had their fingernails ripped off or were forced […]
Rather than remain in increasingly treacherous Mogadishu, Somalis by the thousands are willing to brave the dangerous waters of the Gulf of Aden in hopes of escaping to Yemen. It seems fair to say that when Yemen seems like an appealing option, things are pretty terrible.
India launched its first nuclear submarine, Arihant, on July 26 joining the ranks of only five other nations capable of developing their own nuclear submarines. The 6000 ton vessel is powered by an 85 megawatt nuclear reactor and is capable of firing Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM). Arihant was completed with the assistance of Russia, […]
Fighting in northeastern Nigeria continues as police and military clash with a radical Islamist group that claims to be “Nigerian Taliban.” At least 250 have died in the violence. These conflicts are particularly problematic for Nigeria, which is already deeply divided between fundamentalist Islamists on the one hand, who support the nationwide imposition of Sharia […]
Assumptions and a lack of patience have sunk prospects of obtaining a stable Middle East, according to a new book co-written by one of the architects of U.S. policy towards the region over the last 20-years. Myths, Illusions, & Peace, the sweeping Middle East analysis work released last month from White House Special Assistant Dennis […]
– Two of the runner-ups in July’s Indonesian presidential election, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Jusuf Kall, will challenge the election results before the nine judges of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia. They claim the voter list contained up to 23 million duplicate names, but neither has provided any evidence to support their claims. Although there […]
Despite being born and raised in Pakistan, I must confess I know almost nothing about how this country operates. I am surprised, every day, especially if I happen to come in contact with any government agency. For example, a friend of mine left for England yesterday. I drover her to the Islamabad airport and told […]
New York Times Correspondent Taghreed El-Khodary describes the current situation in the Gaza Strip in an interview with Middle East Progress. Her account provides an interesting look at the mentality of many Gazans, some of which remain pleased with the overall situation because of the infrastructure set up by Hamas to provide social services. However, […]
The current issue of Foreign Affairs contains a timely article on Mexico’s plight by Council on Foreign Relations scholar Shannon O’Neil. “The Real Risk in Mexico” explores the dual trends of drug-related violence and democratic development. Over the past decade Mexico has been beset by drug-related violence. Concurrently, Mexico ended 70 years of one-party rule […]
Despite what you might have read, England will be hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup. It will be nice to see the Springboks pummel the hosts on their own soil, the birthplace of the game.
The images coming out of Iran -protests against the disputed presidential election and the brutal crackdown by the government forces- show the intensity and fervor with which Iranians are pursuing more freedom and democracy. These images also provide an important insight on the role Iranian women are playing. I thought this article published in the […]
Quick links, with commentary as apropos, on stories that have caught my eye today: Even as tensions in the Niger Delta have abated (for the time being) things have exploded in the northeast as police have clashed with members of an Islamist fundamentalist sect, leaving scores dead and more injured. Now the Nigerian military has […]
There are very, very few realms of this world in which South Africa can pull a power play on England. But global rugby might be one of those realms. The International Rugby Board is set to award the 2015 Rugby World Cup to England, but South Africa (and Italy, which has considerably less pull) are […]
Mac Maharaj had a nice tribute to the work of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Mandela Day, and of course the great man himself that he published in South Africa’s Times newspaper and that the Nelson Mandela Foundation republished.