Mneesha Gellman and Josh Dankoff We sat around the breakfast table gently sweating along with our hosts in the early morning heat. Tola served porridge for the guests, then put a big scoop of
Dhruba Adhikary The disturbances that mountainous Nepal is currently facing in the southern plains, called Terai, threaten to blossom into a separatist movement as in Sri Lanka. And they could derail the p
Toni solo Nuala O’Loan’s recent report on UK government security forces’ collusion with Loyalist death squads in the north of Ireland points up various historical reminders of relevance now as the B
Syed Saleem Shahzad Western officials involved in counter-narcotics operations in Afghanistan estimate that this year the country will produce its biggest poppy crop in history. Nevertheless, Taliban-domin
Larry Jagan Myanmar’s top generals are in the throes of a full-blown power struggle as they grapple with how best to introduce significant political reforms, including a planned move toward some form of
Aaron KikonChumukedimaThe Taj Mahal was once but just a thought, an idea, a dream in the mind of a man called Shah Jahan. But when he went about realising that dream, the result was the Taj Mahal. I believe the
Bal PatilI think it would be most appropriate to recall the great Ahmedabad trial at this juncture when the centennial of the Gandhian satyagraha in South Africa is commemorated worldwide. When Mahatma Gandhi e
Meredith Terretta Most of the reviewers of Ngugi’s latest novel, Wizard of the Crow, corral the book into two major themes they find in its 760 pages. The first exposes corrupt dictators in postcolonial
Indrajit Basu Guess what is the current status symbol in Assam - a tea-growing state in northeastern India - these days? It is not the latest-model multi-utility vehicle, the price of which could buy a sma
Ambrose MusiyiwaZimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe has been named as one of the 33 leading “predators of press freedom” in the world.“Whether presidents, ministers, chiefs of staff, religious leaders or
Bertil Lintner Myanmar’s military government may have narrowly escaped United Nations Security Council sanction, but it is facing an unprecedented political challenge at home, not by the crippled opposit
Dhruba AdhikarySeeing is believing. The maxim holds good when the situation around you is normal. What Nepal is facing today is anything but normal. This perhaps is the reason Nepalis are reluctant to believe i
Joel S HirschhornWhat a wonderful political distraction is Senator Barack Hussein Obama. Perhaps a good part of his attractiveness is that he is in so many ways the complete opposite of George W. Bush.Yet, what
Maloy Krishna DharThe latest ULFA carnage in Assam has been diagnosed by top leaders like quack doctors, broadcasting panic, and their diagnosis is wide off the mark.Ministers with foot-in-mouth disease rushed
Chan AkyaOver the past few days, on a visit to India to improve economic ties, the message of UK Chancellor (and prime minister in waiting) Gordon Brown has been muddied by an unseemly media controversy over ap
Michael Black Long known for its wheeling and dealing in heroin, methamphetamines and pirated video discs, Myanmar’s United Wa State Army (UWSA), the world’s largest armed narcotics-trafficking group,
Girish MishraFor quite some time, serious doubts have been expressed about the continuance of the present era of globalization, based on the Washington Consensus or neo-liberalism. After John Ralston Saul’s w
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for
Charles Villa-VicencioTruth-telling and the healing of South AfricaThe television image of Archbishop Desmond Tutu hugging his former critics and adversaries is a familiar one. Tears and the emotional trauma of
Purnendra JainWith energy security appearing as a major concern on policy agendas of many Asian nations, both large and small, the option to go nuclear is gaining increasing support in many capitals. Power