Regions

Chinese commitment to U.S. treasuries Hu Xiaolian, vice governor of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, expressed China’s commitment to the U.S. dollar. According to Ms. Hu, China will continue to buy U.S. treasuries as part of its foreign exchange reserves strategy. The Chinese assurance comes amidst increased fear of a weak […]

The financial crisis that is gripping the rest of the world seems to be seeping into Lebanon. A country once thought to be insulated from the economic  issues seen everywhere from New York to London to Dubai to Moscow is now beginning to see problems of its own. One of the main concerns is Lebanon’s […]

While claim that President Barack Obama’s efforts to include both Hamas and Iran in dialogue only legitimizes their extreme positions, this approach has at least one fan in the region. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal praised the approach as a “new lexicon” for U.S. dealings in the region. In an interview with La Repubblica, Meshaal stated that the “big powers” […]

The coalition for a Likud-led government nears completion with Shas officially joining Yisrael Beiteinu in signing onto the government. The coalition now needs only a handful of additional signatories to top the 60-seats needed to form a government that President Shimon Peres would validate. In a striking turn of events, Labor may join the coalition, […]

The people of Central Asia are celebrating the Persian New Year, Narouz, marked on the vernal equinox each year. The holiday is celebrated from India to China to parts of Europe, among the Turkic, Iranian and Kurdish peoples, along with a few others. Under the Soviet Union, the holiday was officially banned as it was […]

Murmansk and Boston, united for centuries by bitter arctic weather, alcoholism and vitamin D deficiency, grew even closer this week when my beloved hometown, once familiar mainly to Tom Clancy readers and WWII afficionados (nuclear icebreaker base, allied convoys), hosted a major political insurrection. It all started when Sergei Subbotin, the deputy governor, stood for […]

The head of the Political Section of the Russian Embassy in Ottawa has been summoned to appear before the House of Commons Defense Committee on Monday. Canadian Members of Parliament will ask Dmitry Trofimov to shed light on Russia’s military policies in the air and sea near the border of Canada’s claimed Arctic territory. Last […]

The Friday conclusions of the European Council (the meeting of all EU Heads of Government or Heads of State) contained an an almost audible tone of defensiveness. The document was at pains to reiterate the huge amounts of money Europe was spending on economic stimulus. Only one sentence into the document and it read “Reviewing […]

Political and cultural problems do not emanate in a day. There is always a history to them. The emergence of Bangladesh was not just a conspiracy of India against Pakistan. Its roots can be traced in the formative years of Pakistan when Jinnah refused to accept the cultural identity of Bengalis by enforcing Urdu on […]

The monster of Islamic militancy is spreading in Pakistan even though the Bush era has ended amid an endless war against terror. Taliban are claiming new grounds and al-Qaeda network is thriving by establishing a modus operandi which exploits its local affiliates — militant outfits active in Kashmir and Afghanistan — to pursue the global […]

The book deals with the unpleasant side of the significance of South Asia. It has two articles on Pakistan, one on sectarian violence, the other on violence in the Tribal Areas. It has one article on Afghanistan and its luckless population who has been given to understand they have never been conquered, while, looking at […]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) released a detailed judgement of its verdict to disqualify the Sharif brothers from holding public office on Saturday. Terming Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif as dishonest, and “not sagacious”, the verdict said he had been convicted by the Accountability Court under Section 9-A(V) in Reference No 2 of […]