The business and political media in Bangladesh in winding up for P.M. Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India. I’ll be following the news over the period of the 3 day visit. Already Sheikh Hasina’s itinerary is full and she’s committed to the multiple honoraria and cultural visits that foreign dignitary accede to in order to convey […]
In an article published in The New Republic, respected American journalist Nicholas Schmidle shares some of his experiences and observations about the over all paranoia and hysteria that has been increasingly visible across Pakistan’s electronic media. Specifically, Mr. Schmidle describes his awkward interaction with Shireen Mazari. Mazari had no information about Mr. Schmidle’s background, but […]
Those interested in East Asian economic and political issues have just lost one of their greatest resources: The Feer Eastern Economic Review (FEER). December brought the terminal edition of FEER, a once flagship journal on East Asian economics and politics that, according to its 1946 mission statement, sought to “analyze and interpret financial, commercial and […]
Philippines: Due to political pressure, the Arroyo administration has been forced to take serious action over November 2009’s Election Massacre. A suspect from the Ampatuan political clan was charged: “Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao, southern Philippines on Nov. 23…” The government has also set up a […]
The fallacy of composition is the proposition that the causal relations that hold at the individual level also hold at a collective or aggregate social level. Allow me to play with this fallacy, for nothing helps one to comprehend the problems of the many than to see the problems of the few. Credit card bills […]
In the latest issue of Foreign Policy Barbara Crossette writes about how India is the real “headache” in Asia. She refers to India as the “elephant in the room” that no one seems to be talking about. The piece is extremely critical of how India handles its international relations, and calls it “an international adolescent, […]
I’d like to alert you to a short piece written recently on Bangladesh. The piece was published in the Japan Times a little more than a month ago. The author Gwynn Dyer expertly runs through the last three decades in the running gag of an internecine conflict in Bangladesh between two powerful families: As Dyer […]
The recent visit to Japan by Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, has some analysts now considering the prospect of a Japanese-led effort to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. By all accounts the visit was a success. The Iranian envoy was receptive to Japan’s case for a civilian nuclear energy program and expressed interest in further […]
As students of history know, countries don’t come into existence overnight and there is a long and hard struggle behind every political success, especially if it results in carving out independent land for a group of people. Take for example Bangladesh. Bengali as a language was never embraced by the country, Bengalis culture, history, and […]
It’s looking like the Awami League government is turning the refugee crisis consequent to climate climate into a policy issue. The Daily Star reported today that, “A parliamentary standing committee on Tuesday asked the expatriate welfare ministry to start preparation for rehabilitation of two crore people with jobs abroad, who are feared to be […]
The much heralded Asian Century is upon us. Or so at least pundits and scholars would have us thinking. Through numerous books (When China Rules the World: the End of the Western World and the New Global Order), articles (Next Hot Language to Study: Chinese), op-eds (Welcome To The Asian Century By 2050), and strategic […]
Zainab Jeewanjee discusses this weeks T.S.A.’s enhanced security directives. She explains how increased security measures are useful and should work in tandem with U.S. led soft power so as to mitigate any chance to unintended consequences such as Anti-Americanism or racial profiling.
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