Covering Policy Issues from South Asia
Blog
Arms and influence in the Khashoggi affair0
- Blog
- October 20, 2018
President Donald Trump shows a chart highlighting arms sales to Saudi Arabia. AP Photo/Evan Vucci Russell E. Lucas, Michigan State University President Donald Trump’s reaction to the disappearance and death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul reveals important details about the declining influence of U.S. in the Middle East. As a scholar who follows
Trump strikes a blow in US-China struggle with Build Act to contain Xi’s Belt and Road0
- Blog
- October 20, 2018
Photo: AFP The just-passed US Build Act will create a new agency to lend to developing countries, particularly in Asia and Africa The legislation elevates the US into a potent player in global development financing, five years after Xi Jinping launched his… By Bhavan Jaipragas 20 Oct 2018 Democrats and Republicans in the United States
Kandahar Assassinations Show Rising Taliban Strength in Afghanistan0
- Blog
- October 19, 2018
Afghan General Abdul Raziq (C), police chief of Kandahar, poses for a picture during a graduation ceremony at a police training centre in Kandahar province on 19 February, 2017. JAWED TANVEER / AFP 19 OCTOBER 2018 The Taliban have claimed the assassination of an influential Afghan police chief and another official in an attack that narrowly
Not Only Khashoggi: License to kill0
- Blog
- October 19, 2018
Not Only Khashoggi License to Kill Larry Diamond 18 October 2018 We must make it clear, not only to the Saudi monarchy but to all the world’s dictators, that they cannot murder their opponents with impunity. “You can’t betray [us] and not get punished for it. Anyone, even those still alive, will reap
India’s Skillful Posturing With the US0
- Blog
- October 19, 2018
Relations between the United States and India have gradually improved, but the world’s largest democracy has an independent streak as seen in two recent cases: First, India signed a multibillion deal to purchase a Russian air-defense missile system thereby risking sanctions approved by the US Congress in 2017. Second, the United States withdrew from the
India: why collecting water turns millions of women into second-class citizens0
- Blog
- October 19, 2018
The reality for many women in India. Shutterstock Gayathri D Naik, SOAS, University of London A family in India needs fresh water. But this family can’t just turn on a tap. Instead, the women in the household must walk to fetch it, sometimes travelling miles carrying plastic or earthenware pots, possibly with a child or
Commentary
A gruesome murder bares world powers’ flawed policies0
- Commentary
- October 20, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 20 October 2018 A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s gruesome murder raises fundamental questions that go far beyond Middle Eastern geopolitics. They go to the risks of support for autocratic regimes by democratic and authoritarian world powers, the
Kashmir: When PoK dwellers stand against Islamabad0
- Commentary
- October 19, 2018
By Nava Thakuria 19 October 2018 For millions of common Indians, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) functions like a province of Pakistan. It is guessed that nearly 4.5 million PoK habitants happily agree to any proposal from the Pakistan government in Islamabad. With the proximity of religion, the people of PoK seemingly feel comfortable
Khashoggi crisis highlights why investment in Asia is more productive than in the Middle East0
- Commentary
- October 19, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 19 October 2018 A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr. Growing Western political and corporate reluctance to be associated with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the suspected killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi spotlights fundamentally different investment strategies and
Nonviolent Afghans Bring A Breath Of Fresh Air0
- Commentary
- October 18, 2018
By Dr. Hakim Young 18 October 2018 Grade 12th Afghan student Jamila Omary asked, “Do you have any plans to arm yourselves, because of the threats and dangers you have faced?” Iqbal Khyber answered, “No. Though it is easy to buy weapons today, arming ourselves will worsen the war. Weapons will make us less
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan – a man of vision0
- Commentary
- October 18, 2018
by JAVID AHMAD AHANGERR 18 October 2018 As we celebrate the 201st birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on 17 October 2018—the founder of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), at a time when the whole debate is about nationalism and hyper-nationalism. We are living in a strange time when false narratives are constructed by none
Sri Lanka: A RAW deal, yet again!0
- Commentary
- October 18, 2018
N Sathiya Moorthy 18 October 2018 Whether Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans can live without the northern neighbour India, they just cannot live without naming India’s external intelligence agency, ‘Research and Analysis Wing’, R&AW, popularly known as RAW, for most if not all their woes. This has been proved one more time this week with news
ISSN 2471-9501 (print)
ISSN 2471-951X (online)
Featured
Book Review: A Broken Dream: Rule of Law, Human Rights and Democracy by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha
Updated 20 September, 2018 0600 Justice Sinha was born in Moulavibazar district in the northeast Bangladesh where he grew up in a family of six siblings, five brothers and one sister. His father was a dedicated teacher and a scholar of the Hindu religion. During Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, he experienced the same
Shadow of India, Hasina govt’s corruption, repression of BNP looms over Bangladesh polls
by Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty | Sep 07,2018 BANGLADESH will go into election mode in the next few months. Democratic transfer of power in Bangladesh became the norm ever since the overthrow of military dictator General HM Ershad in 1990. The army-backed caretaker government, during 2007–2008, was an exception in Bangladesh’s democratic governance. Bangladesh has never