I am pleased to announce that I have begun a new regular gig writing about African affairs for the Zurich-based International Relations and Security Network (ISN). I will be contributing to their ISN Insights. My first piece for them, which is on the state of the African National Congress, has been posted. [Crossposted at dcat.]
I’m working on a piece on the elections across Africa but here is a quick roundup: After a turning out in record numbers in Ivory Coast’s presidential elections voters will return to the polls on November 28 for a second round of polling after no candidate successfully reached the 50% threshold. The country’s election commission […]
This may be news; some report worthy of attention. Or not. But let’s take note, anyway. The news at hand: Hansen Hashem CLarke, the son of a Sylheti man and African American woman has been elected from the 13th Congressional District in Michigan. An accomplished politico, he served as Chief of Staff to noted Michigan […]
Yesterday’s results in the U.S. midterm elections have several implications relevant to India and bilateral relations.
In June 2010, the Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 367 senior executives, all of who had direct input into their company’s decision-making regarding business in the Middle East, about their perceptions of investment in Iraq. All major industries are represented, with energy, manufacturing and financial services having the strongest representation. The ensuing report, titled Iraq Through Investors’ Eyes, details the refined perspective of investors who are already operating in Iraq and the perceptions of others that are either weighing their options or have decided not to invest for the time being.
India is getting ready for U.S. President Barak Obama’s visit to the country beginning on November 4th. Apart from the political and diplomatic dimensions of the visit, the most interesting aspect is the Indian media’s pre-visit coverage. Editorials in leading news dailies and comments by strategic observers in the run up to President Obama’s visit […]
Proving that scientists are a resourceful bunch, researchers from the University of Washington and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources tagged 14 narwhals in Baffin Bay with satellite-linked time-depth-temperature recorders to monitor ocean temperature in a previously little-studied region. The thermometers recorded data over the course of three winters from 2005-2007, and the results of […]
Pakistani community in America is watching the mid-term elections in the United States with fascination as for some of them, it is a great exercise in human freedom. For this community, this election is also the source of anxiety because of its impact on Washington’s relationship with Islamabad. Some argue that it will further complicate a very […]
I’m back from my trip to Israel and am pulling together my thoughts. When I do so, I’ll surely write something and will guide you as to where to read them. I plan to resume normal Africa-related posting duties in the next day or so.
One is a telegenic billionaire turned dissident, and the other is a bunch of fog-sodden volcanic rocks at the edge of the earth. But the Khodorkovsky case and the Kuril islands dispute have more in common than meets the eye. The Kuril islands, like Yukos, were strategic assets seized by an emboldened Russian state from […]
The challenge of being gay and lesbian in Uganda, a highly religious and deeply conservative Christian country, is constant isolation, insults, threats and violence. That’s exactly what a Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone, an anti-gay newspaper, did when on November 1, 2010 again published pictures of 14 men it identified as the “generals” of the gay […]
The post-election turmoil in Iran and the enormity of the threat it posed to the regime’s stability forced the Iranian government–under a new and still emerging makeup—to put great emphasis on social stability and, as a result, to divert its resources toward the containment of the Green Movement and the ensuing unrest that gripped the […]
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