The former dictator and President of Bangladesh, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, pledged his loyalty to the ruling Awami League, the very party that once stood in opposition to his rule. His Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), though a member of the left leaning AL Grand Coalition has been something of a flighty beast.
Once the clearing house of a hard line vote, during the election in 2008 the BJP lent credence to the whispers on the ground that with the AL coalition in power, the Army could return to the barracks. It is hard to see how Jatiya Party (Ershad) can become more important in the Grand Alliance, unless things come apart in Bangladesh’s civilian-military relationship.
Similarly, it is hard to envision that the JP (Ershad) might be seated comfortably at the table with the BNP, given that for more than two years it opposed the BNP as a member of the Grand AlIance. Ershad is no mercurial Alcibiades: with or without his shining age and his pending political infirmities, his days as a major power in Bangladeshi politics are numbered.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
