July 24, 2008
We are the opium eaters; we are the consumers of the 6,500 tons of opium produced in Afghanistan and Pakistan with an export value, according to the United Nations, of about $3.1 billion. While we fought the war against terror and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, against the Taliban, the war ag...
go to article »July 21, 2008
“A US judge has ruled that the first war crimes trial at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, involving Osama Bin Laden’s former driver, can go ahead. Judge James Robertson dismissed a claim from lawyers for Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, that it should be stopped while he challenged the proces...
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The past week has seen the American Army suffering losses in Afghanistan and a series of bomb blasts in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has again highlighted the problem of Taliban fighters based in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Ahmed Rashid’s new book, “De...
go to article »July 17, 2008
In April, the IHT/NYT columnist Roger Cohen gauged the public opinion of Asia in sweeping, clumsy strokes. While "Europe votes Democrat", he argued, "Asia tends Republican". Supposedly, Asians see the world more in terms of "classic balance-of-power equations, driven by the might and self-interest o...
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Whichever way the nuclear deal tilts, the prospects are surely troubling to the Congress chief (Sonia Gandhi, not Manmohan Singh). The same Prime Minister who last August backed down after initially acting like a lion (remember the statement - 'this is not a one issue Government' ?) is now s...
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In what was seen as a surprise move, the Indian government submitted the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency, citing the need to have it reviewed prior to the meeting with the IAEA Board. The opposition parties cried foul, terming the m...
go to article »July 12, 2008
I love this story in the New York Times. Some kids in the states have started adopting (albeit on Facebook) “Hussein” as their middle name to show solidarity for a name that the right-wingers are trying their best to to use perniciously. Heh. ...
go to article »July 9, 2008
One of the views that has been bandied about over the last months as we swing this way and that about the nuclear deal is that signing it will mean that the government would have sold itself as an American stooge and vassal. That is what the leftists are saying. Since then I have been ruminating on ...
go to article »July 8, 2008
Some people are so idiotic, so over-the-top nutty, that one can only assume they escaped from some mental hospital. The American elections have got to a stage where even the John McCain campaign has distanced itself from these supposed pro-Clinton anti-Obama nutcases (oh sorry, “Democrats̶...
go to article »July 7, 2008
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