Regions

The Canadian Budget 2010 sets aside CAN $34.8 million over the next five years for enhancements to the country’s Arctic weather and navigation information systems. As part of Canada’s commitment to the International Maritime Organization, the government provides data on two regions of the Arctic largely within Canadian Arctic waters: the Northwest Passage and the […]

Just a few months ago, Manmohan Singh was being lauded by world statesmen and the international media as the very model of political leadership. Nowadays, increasingly beleaguered, he’s reduced to denying that he’s a lame duck or intends to resign from office.

Last weekend, I was left alone with my 8 month old daughter so did I pass the time? By watching, a loud, violent documentary of the Afghan war, that’s how! I enjoyed and my daughter tolerated ‘Restrepo’, the story of U.S. Army platoon of the 173rd Airborne Brigade during much of its 15-month deployment in […]

On Thursday, February 17, Kyrgyz parliamentarians overwhelmingly voted in support of Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev’s proposal to name a 4,446 m (14,587 ft) peak in the country’s northern Tian Shan range after his counterpart Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In an explanatory note the MPs said it would “cement friendly ties between Kyrgyzstan and […]

According to Leo Tolstoy, history shapes and determines leaders. In simple terms Tolstoy believed that a combination of several individual decisions, actions and coincidences impact the course of events where one particular man’s actions stand out. Providence allows a single individual to take charge and assume leadership. Contrary to Tolstoy’s theory Thomas Carlyle contended that […]

Bangladeshis nationwide are commemorating the men who died on this day in 1952, a day that is now seeped in political and cultural significance.  Now, nearly all Bangladeshis know and accept the conventionally shared meaning of the day. It is important, however, to remind oneself and each other that some share of the significance of […]

Just like in the ABC News show “What Would You Do?,” the results of the Israeli version of the show demonstrate the complexities of society and competing internal values. In this episode, an (actor) coffee merchant refuses to serve Arabs, with some Israelis lambasting the seller while others sympathize with his views. To add further […]

This is a follow-up to Nasos’ earlier post on China’s response to the Egyptian Lotus Revolution.  As has already been discussed, China used it’s elaborate 30-50,000 man strong  internet shield, known as the Golden Shield (金盾工程: jīndùn gōngchéng) to censor references to the recent social upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa from the […]

The New York Times published  an op-ed  this past Sunday on Pakistan’s insistence on a nuclear arsenal that assures it a minimally credible deterrence at a time when tens of millions of her people are going uneducated and ill-fed.  Now, of course, there are many in Pakistan who think otherwise– for instance the hardline military […]

A little while back I wrote the following: Maybe winds of change are blowing inexorably across North Africa and the Middle East. But beware predictions of inevitability. Dictators have a remarkably metronomic tendency to do what it takes to protect their self interest. I would be willing to bet that if the trend of protests […]

Improving conditions in South Sudan in recent years have seen the emergence of a vibrant basketball subculture. These kinds of stories tend to represent dual-edged swords when couched as providing opportunities for people to accept straitened circumstances — the success stories of the few tend to overshadow the realities of the many who do not […]

Politics in Pakistan has been roiling and bubbling over the pot.  First, there was the recent emergency cabinet reshuffle, a move to appease a strong and ever stronger opposition– an opposition that despite its strength little desires to take control of a weak civilian government; better beggar its enemies.  Then, two major opposition parties, the […]