The 2010 Human Development Index is out. It offers some good news for Bangladesh. Though Bangladesh ranked 129 among 169 UN members states (out of a possible 192 states in the world), it ranked 3rd in terms of improvement since 1980 in its assessed Human Development Index, itself a weighted average of education, wealth and […]
As India and China battle it out in the Indian Ocean, human rights takes a back seat in South Asia.
East Timor: The would be assassins of Timornese President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão have been given sentences ranging from 16 to 24 years in prison. This would-be junta rebels was mostly composed of disaffected police and military. This blog detailed the events that preceded this trial in more detail, here. Indonesia: Another […]
In a goodwill gesture aimed at improving relations with its eastern neighbor, India will make available a line of credit of $1 billion to Bangladesh. This was announced during a three day visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India. The two countries also signed agreements on mutual assistance in fighting terrorism, organized crime […]
Bangladesh is becoming enmeshed in the broader regional strategy by which political Islamists in Bangladesh and Pakistan might bring down secular governments and establish a wider Islamic emirate. I want to propose that Bangladesh has been chosen as the alternative ground from which Pakistani militants will launch attacks into India. Before I get to […]
I’ve been following reports that three Bangladeshi men affiliated with Lashkar E Taiyeba and Harkatul Jihad al Islam have been implicated in a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. This story just got a lot more interesting and puzzlingly complicated. Even though the piece is […]
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh delivered judgment on an appeal brought by 5 former Army officers who were held responsible for the 1975 murder of the founding leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Rahman, known hagiographically as Bangabandhu–the Friend of Bengal– was the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh. After electing to switch to a presidential form […]
This blog has spoken about the situation with the Myanmar minority group, the Rohingya before. Colby Pacheco has a more detailed piece at OpinionAsia.com on the not oft spoke about conflict on the 200 mile long eastern Burmese (Myanmar) border with Bangladesh. In the last several months, Bangladesh and the Burmese junta, also known as […]
Photograph and copyright, Brendan Corr, copyright 2006 Foreign Policy The photograph above is one piece from a photo essay published in Foreign Policy Magazine more than three years ago. The work, as a whole, is no less a moving document today as the day it was first birthed into the world. The ship breaking industry […]
The Foreign Minister of Bangladeshi, Dr. Dipu Moni declared that member states attending the UN Climate Change Conference soon to be held in Copenhagen must give grants–not loans–to countries that are victims of the consequences of global climate and environmental change. Addressing the Climate Vulnerable Forum in the Maldives, Begum Moni said “River erosion, land slide, […]
The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by one Bjorn Lomborg, who occupies the role of Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a Danish think tank. Dr. Lomborg is interested in prescribing some hard to swallow medicine to all those environmentalists who claim that capping carbon emissions is the magic pill that will solve […]
Now that our quiet and uncomfortable introductions are out of the way, I’d like to point to another article that follows up on the one I wrote about yesterday. The Daily Star reports that : “The Detective Branch of police produced Mufti Harun Izahar, son of Islami Oikya Jote leader Mufti Izaharul Islam, Shahidul Islam […]
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