Heavy rain off the Bay of Bengal hit Cox Bazaar in Southeastern Bangladesh and caused landslides which are responsible for at least 52 deaths, small buried alive in their own homes, unready and unaware onslaught. The AP piece published in the Washington Post, draws out the story distressingly well: “The mudslides struck early Tuesday in […]
In a sign that suggests that indeed, Bangladesh and China are moving closer together, China has proposed to help Bangladesh construct its first deep sea port in Chitttagong. Chinese officials have also promised to help Bangladesh put up its first sattelite in orbit. This news follows Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s successful state visit to China. […]
No folderol. No big celebrations. No nationalism. This is the South Africa I know. As many of you are aware, my biggest worry about this trip has always been being treated like a tourist, and thus being condescended to like a tourist. But today I just was able to hang out at my friend’s house […]
Present Dangers A Counterterrorism Ally In North Africa Morocco’s remarkable soft-power strategy By Ilan Berman Morocco can trace its contemporary approach back to the end of the Cold War. While many in the region saw the Soviet Union’s collapse as a destabilizing development–and consequently tightened domestic control–Morocco’s monarch did the opposite. The previously authoritarian […]
Even as Indian treads the ‘dialogue-with-Pakistan’ path cautiously, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao has reiterated the singular importance of dialogue between the two countries. Speaking on an Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Trialogue, she stressed the need to make boundaries “irrelevant” and find “creative solutions” to problems. Ironically, she failed to spell out these creative solutions even as she […]
Scenario: you have a business partner with whom you do not get along. You don’t like the way he treats his customers, and you’ve told everyone in the office and declined any opportunities that involve working with him. He thinks you’re a hypocrite and are trying to isolate him in the office and usurp his […]
Update: Ouch! Both the New York Times and Washington Post have major stories today portraying a fraying confidence in the Obama administration’s Afghan policy. Read both now! In the American news, the words ‘Afghanistan’ has been followed by ‘deaths’, ‘setbacks’, ‘corruption’, etc. far too often of late. American and NATO deaths have been rising in […]
On June 7, a 15-year-old Mexican high school student was shot dead by US Border Patrol agents. He and his friends were reported to be throwing rocks at the US agents from the Mexican side of the El Paso-Juárez border crossing. In the aftermath of the incident Mexican forces apparently drew their arms against the […]
Lebanon’s abstention in last week’s United Nations Security Council vote on Iranian sanctions should have surprised no one. The vote not only represents internal divisions among the Lebanese political establishment, but also that country’s precarious position in the escalating confrontation between Iran and the West. Steadily over the last thirty years, Hizballah has gained traction […]
Today is a travel day. I am moving from the northern suburb of Sandton (my hosts at my B+B were fantastic — they even gave me a bottle of wine last night and we watched Germany’s blistering of Australia in their living room) to glorious Cape Town, where I will be staying with my good […]
Ghana 1-0 Serbia Now THAT’s what a World Cup game should be like. I got three hours of sleep after the US-England Rustenburg debacle, and I was up and on my way just a little more than five hours after arriving back to my guest house. But after a few issues with the company arranging […]
As most of you who read this blog regularly know, I have been shamelessly bullish on the prospects of South Africa succeeding in hosting a wonderful World Cup that will bring glory to the nation. But I also knew all along that there would be hiccups. The England-US game on Saturday, great as it was […]
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