Finally, China comes to the table on Iran. A few days ago Liu Zhenmin, a former deputy ambassador to the U.N. and lead Chinese negotiator on previous Iran sanctions, reportedly participated in a conference call about U.S.-proposed Security Council sanctions, ending months of disengagement on the issue. While this is a step in the right […]
The Home Minister of Bangladesh, Sahara Khatun argued that there is no legal statute of limitations or moral force that prevents arresting those individuals considered war criminals. At a ceremony held at a college, Sahara Khatun claimed “They must be arrested… there is no need to issue new directives from the home ministry in this regard.” […]
How much and what is the Indian youth reading? For answering this question the National Book Trust (NBT) in India undertook a readership survey among the youth of the country. The survey was conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 2009. According to Bipin Chandra, Chairman of NBT, “We often say that youngsters […]
I’d written earlier that the government of Bangladesh is doing a commendable job on the big, ‘macro’ issues. To that list of issues, I’d add the prosecution of the so-called war-criminals, who murdered and rampaged along the city and country-side, most prominently on this day, March 25, in 1971. That night has been consecrated in […]
The Law Minister, Shafiq Ahmed has claimed that the government will seek to amend the law that created the Anti-Corruption Commission, so that it may finallly be neutral and independent. Rather, the real story is: Reacting quickly to the dropped charges brought against her by the Anti-Corruption Commision–an organization that is thought to have […]
The Times recently published an Associated Press piece on the Rohingya, the Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar who are seeking refugee status in Bangladesh. As the AP piece emphasizes so heart-breakingly, succinctly, as ” Muslims, they were unwanted in Buddhist Myanmar. As foreigners, they are unwanted in Muslim Bangladesh.” The government seems to be capable of […]
As Pakistan and the United States begin their week long Strategic Dialogue in Washington, Pakistan based militants have renewed their call for jihad against India. On the occasion of Pakistan Day, hundreds of militants gathered in Kotli and called for jihad against India. Hizbul Mujahideen, one of the top militant groups in Pakistan, also announced an increase […]
CAFTA: This site recently discussed the growing angst of citizens in several Southeast Asian nations in regard to CAFTA. Asia Times is currently running an article addressing some specific areas of contention in detail. Touted as the world’s biggest free-trade area, CAFTA will bring together 1.7 million consumers with a combined gross domestic product of […]
The government’s actions in shutting down the Drik Gallery show on the Rapid Action Battalion’s Crossfire killings was provocative. I’m quite certain, though that the move was not meant to provoke student protests and legal action against the sitting government. Indeed, the New York Times Len’s blog, where the news of the photographic exhibition was […]
“China’s involvement in the AfPak issue is, and will likely remain for some time, generally convergent with U.S. interests, given a basic continuity in China’s strategic outlook toward Washington,” concluded a recent think tank report by Michael Swaine, a China expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (follow the link for a pdf download). […]
“There really are only two choices confronting the international community – to invest and endure, or to improve conditions to a point that we can exit.” This is how India, in words of Shashi Tharoor, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, expects the international community to deal with the challenges in Afghanistan. These expectations […]
It seems the Bangladesh government’s favorite token move to censor media is to claim the property right holder or distributor does not possess the legal title to provide that particular service. In November 2009, the government shut down a 24 hour news channel on the grounds that the owners did not possess the proper documents […]
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