REPEAL OBAMACARE? NOT SO FAST
For supporters of the Democratic Party (present company included) the election results last November brought a deep sense of foreboding.
17 March 2017, 18:00 PM
Travelling to the US in the Trump Era
The vast bulk of US immigrants are hard working, law-abiding people who make a critical contribution to the nation. Yet, suddenly it is open season on them.
3 March 2017, 18:00 PM
An ill wind of intolerance buffets the world
When US President Donald Trump threatened to ban Muslims during his campaign last year, many people were appalled but few took the threat seriously.
4 February 2017, 18:00 PM
Another inauguration, fondly remembered
US President Donald J. Trump ascends the US presidency with a dubious record. Several US polls show he enters the presidency with the lowest approval since polls studied this issue. Welcome to governance by mean-spirited tweet.
Let us instead dwell on more pleasant matters.
20 January 2017, 18:00 PM
The quirky charms of 'Aynabaji'
Aynabaji is more powerful when considered as a stylised, modern-day parable. Wrapped in whimsy, leavened by an impish wit, it is reminiscent of the imaginary English world of Jeeves created by P.G. Wodehouse. Its take on life is similar to the stylised storytelling of the 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
6 January 2017, 18:00 PM
Remembering the bright
The recent attacks by a suspected Islamist militant on innocent shoppers in Berlin took me back to the traumatic days of our
23 December 2016, 18:00 PM
The strange brouhaha over Uber in Dhaka
The suggestion that Uber cars must be painted and marked as taxis reflects an embarrassing failure to understand what Uber is. Uber is not a taxi service. It is a digital tool, and an ingenious one at that. What it does is use existing capacity to fill an urgent civic need without burdening the streets with extra traffic.
9 December 2016, 18:00 PM
My Bittersweet Thanksgiving with Obama
Thanksgiving is the most quintessential of American holidays. With the arrival of winter, as the weather is buffeted by chill winds, people travel the length and breadth of the country to seek warmth in the affectionate ties of family.
25 November 2016, 18:00 PM
The morning after the shock
“I don't worry about our losing republican government in the United States because I'm afraid of a foreign invasion.... What I worry about is that when problems are not addressed, people will not know who is responsible.
11 November 2016, 18:00 PM
The US Republican Party contemplates disaster
"It's like Humpty Dumpty fell and broke, and a giant lawn mower ran over it, acid was thrown on the pieces - and a bunch of racist idiots ran off with an arm and a leg. How do you put it together? I don't know." - Republican consultant John Weaver, talking about the present crisis of the Republican Party, to The Boston Globe
4 November 2016, 18:00 PM
The catastrophe that Trump has wrought
Trump now has lost the support of two demographic cohorts without which he simply cannot win: Suburban women, and college-educated whites. Both groups are reliably Republican.
21 October 2016, 18:00 PM
Hillary trumps Donald in the debate - but does it matter?
The jury is still out on who won the debate here, but the punditocracy in the United States seems fairly unanimous. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton crushed Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate.
27 September 2016, 18:00 PM
Trump, Hillary advance; Republicans at wits' end
The long Republican Party nightmare continued on March 15, as the garish real estate tycoon Donald Trump edged over rivals in three
18 March 2016, 18:00 PM
The potential contenders
The Democratic primaries have been remarkably free of rancour, thanks to the mostly civil and substantive political debate. The Republican primaries, on the other hand, have become a three-ring circus.
2 March 2016, 18:00 PM
Trump and Hillary prevail – For now
The good people of South Carolina and Nevada have spoken, and now we have a better idea of where the Republican and Democratic race for US president is headed.
22 February 2016, 18:00 PM
The first Shahid Minar
LATE night on February 23, 1952, a young student of Dhaka Medical College was awakened from his sleep in the middle of the night.
20 February 2016, 18:00 PM
US politics at a crossroads
The US Congress, made up of the Senate and the House, is where the real power lies. It controls the government's purse-strings and makes the laws.
16 February 2016, 18:00 PM
Trumped! Republican disarray and Hillary's wake-up call
The results of the February 9 New Hampshire primary are in, and the ebullient real estate tycoon Donald Trump is back in the driver's seat in the race for the Republican nomination for the US presidential elections in November.
10 February 2016, 18:00 PM
Politics as a reality show - The rise of Trump
Donald Trump, the US real estate tycoon-turned-presidential candidate, topped himself not so long ago - no mean achievement - by outraging the entire world with his demand to ban the entry of Muslims into the US.
27 January 2016, 18:00 PM
Demographics as Destiny: The Republican Conundrum
The Republican dominance in the House has been fuelled by the spectacular rise of conservative media which directly helped the rise of the Tea Party movement, a grassroots, non-college white protest against President Barack Obama's healthcare programme.
25 January 2016, 18:00 PM