By Tristan Webb The first part of this series surveyed the wide variety of sanctions put on the DPRK by the UN and the relevant countries. Taken together, the result is a confused mess, where details of prohibited items stretch…
Category: Op-Ed
Why the E=West is keen dividing the Arabs
Ramzy Baroud When Arab streets exploded with fury, from Tunis to Sanaa, pan-Arabism seemed, then, like a nominal notion. Neither did the so-called ‘Jasmine Revolution’ use slogans that affirmed its Arab identity, nor did angry Egyptian youth raise the banner…
Chomsky wants you to wake up from the American Dream
By David Swanson If you’ve just seen Michael Moore’s movie and are wondering how in the world the United States got diverted into the slow lane to hell, go watch Noam Chomsky’s movie. If you’ve just seen Noam Chomsky’s movie…
In this race, the rat is ahead
Sudhirendar Sharma Whether or not you smell them, their presence remains ubiquitous. You will find them everywhere. Having followed humans to just about every corner of the globe, these creatures have demonstrated their incredible propensity for travel. Rats are as…
Obama’s Fair Remarks Regarding Muslims
US President Obama visited the mosque in Baltimore, Maryland a few days back. Of course, this made many Americans wonder as to why Obama would visit the mosque at the end of his Presidential term and just before the Presidential…
President urges journalists to support democratic continuity
Dhaka – President Abdul Hamid on Wednesday urged journalists to contribute to the continuation of the country’s democratic march forward. The presidet expressed the hope that the government will give due attention to their salary disparities following the announcement of…
Water, wars and an uncertain future
By Sundeep Waslekar In December 2009, I met Walid Muallem, Foreign Minister of Syria, in his office in Damascus, along with an eminent British politician. He rolled out before us his vision of peace process with Israel in phases. He…
Day of solidarity with Palestine- Looking back, looking ahead
On November 29, 1947, after Great Britain–the mandatory power in Palestine–had asked the United Nations to meet in a special session to discuss the “problem of Palestine,” the General Assembly passed Resolution 181 (II) to end the British mandate by…
Credibility crisis for northeastern news channels
By Nava Thakuria In the time of internet where consumers become habituate with various free internet proving services, the news itself becomes the victim of circumstance as few people prefer to pay for a news channel? The increasing number of…
A Women Community Leader: How It Happened
Written by-Mazeda A. Uddin How did you learn community leadership skills in your society?
Health and trade: What hope for SDG3?
Emma Woodford “… the forces of power, particularly corporate power, are impatient with what is adequate for a coherent community. Because power gains so little from community in the short run, it does not hesitate to destroy community for the…
Fighting haze and deforestation in our own backyard
By Jessica Cheam Singapore: Air pollution brought about by illegal fires raging in Indonesia hit new hazardous records in Southeast Asia this past week and even triggered the closure of schools in Singapore for the first time last Friday. Apart…
Kazi Zafar Ahmed: A Personal tribute
Anisuzzaman Chowdhury My close association with Kazi Zafar Ahmed (Zafar Bhai) began in earnest immediately after the independence of Bangladesh. Being in Chittagong, I did not have much opportunity to interact with Zafar Bhai earlier, especially because he was underground…
Assam loses an honest and courageous journalist
By Nava Thakuria He was an honest, brave and impartial journalist, who used to raise voices relentlessly against the separatist militants of the troubled northeast India. Moreover, he was also vocal in favor of basic minimum facility & rights for the working…
Closest British election gives conservatives sweeping victory
By Sally Hayden It was labeled as the closest British election in decades, but the result in the United Kingdom’s general election has been surprisingly decisive. The Conservative Party has won 330 of 650 seats, giving them an overall majority…
Laws to protect marine resources still a long way off
Legislation to protect ocean areas beyond national borders is moving dangerously slowly, a summit on ocean resources has heard. The meeting heard that many oceanic resources, such as fish stocks, minerals and coral reefs, need to be legally protected as…
Pakistan’s misguided approach to extremism: HRW
Saroop Ijaz The Pakistani government’s execution of two convicted Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants symbolizes a victory of form over substance in its avowed battle against extremist insurgents. The authorities hanged Attaullah Arif Qasim and Muhammed Azim Arif Sharif on February 3…
The goats fighting America’s plant invasion
By Joanna Jolly Each country has its own invasive species and rampant plants with a tendency to grow out of control. In most, the techniques for dealing with them are similar – a mixture of powerful chemicals and diggers. But…
Meeting India’s Maoist challenge – Analysis
By Gurmeet Kanwal and Bibhu Prasad Routray In a spectacular strike on the security forces, cadres belonging to the CPI-Maoist ambushed a large team of police and paramilitary forces and killed 14 personnel of the CRPF in Sukma district of…
The rise and fall of world’s poorest nations
By Thalif Deen UN, Jan 2015 (IPS) – The world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – a special category of developing nations created by the General Assembly in 1971 but refused recognition by the World Bank – have long been…
Popular stories of science in 2014
Sinkholes: A threat from the underworld. By Prof Iain Stewart In February, Prof Iain Stewart explored the phenomenon of sinkholes, following the tragic death of a Florida man who was swallowed up by one of these natural trapdoors in 2013.
Will population growth end in this century?
New Worldwatch Institute analysis explores the debate about our planet’s future population. Washington D.C.-The human population nearly tripled from 2.5 billion people in 1950 to 7.3 billion today and will continue growing through 2070, according to two recent demographic projections.…
The floating gardens of Bangladesh: NYT
Each year the brown waters of the Gumani river swell during the summer monsoon, creeping over the surrounding fields to flood Charbhangura, a village of 2,500 people in the Pabna district of northwest Bangladesh. From July to October the waters…
Canada ‘failing to prevent overseas mining abuses’
By Carey L. Biron Washington (IPS) – The Canadian government is failing either to investigate or to hold the country’s massive extractives sector accountable for rights abuses committed in Latin American countries, according to petitioners who testified here Tuesday before…
‘Killer robots’ to be debated at UN
Killer robots will be debated during an informal meeting of experts at the United Nations in Geneva. Two robotics experts, Prof Ronald Arkin and Prof Noel Sharkey, will debate the efficacy and necessity of killer robots. The meeting will be…
How do relatives move on after the missing Malaysia plane?
The lobby of the Lido Hotel in Beijing was full of reluctant goodbyes last Friday. An eight-week search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has turned up nothing. Waiting family members had been told to vacate the hotel they had…
Why NATO is such a thorn in Russia’s side
In a telephone call Monday between Russia’s Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu and the U.S. Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel, Shoigu described the activity of U.S. and NATO troops near Russia’s border as “unprecedented.”
Vietnam border shoot-out raises Uighur questions
By Nga Pham The arrests came days after a violent incident on the border between Vietnam and China in which seven people died. The 16 Chinese nationals involved in this clash were also believed to be Uighurs.
The impossibility of being released from Guantanamo
By Andy Worthington wrote the following article for the “Close Guantánamo” website, which I established in January 2012 with US attorney Tom Wilner.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Guide to surreal and real Latin America
In the mid-1980s as a young undergraduate student of Latin American politics, to me Gabriel Garcia Marquez was as much a political historian as he was a writer of fantastical novels.