Duel at the Shangri-La dialogue: Implications for us all
The Annual Jamboree of global defence leaders at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore is much more than just a talkathon. Amidst the wining and dining, and in the chambers and corridors, policymakers and thought leaders get the opportunity to interact with one another intensely
7 June 2019, 18:00 PM
Trump and our times: Is the world on the brink of turmoil?
A supporter of the current dispensation in the United States with President Donald Trump at its helm, may be forgiven if he or she were to view the contemporary world through the lens of the above doggerel of a 19th century compatriot, William Wendell Holmes. For such a viewer, it would have looked a wonderful world some years ago. Everything was going right for America. There was the perception of it as the sole hyper-power, and one that was largely seen as benign. Thereafter, through the mechanism of America’s complex political system, its people put a new man on horseback to run it.
14 May 2019, 18:00 PM
Westminster model and its democratic dilemmas
Apart from its contribution to civilisation in the form of the English language, the great civic legacy of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, emanating from the British Isles is said to be its political system.
6 December 2018, 18:00 PM
A Tale of Missiles and Men / Arms control and disarmament to arms decontrol and rearmament
Only a few would be persuaded that President Donald Trump is deeply informed about any moderately complex subject. Ballistic missiles is one such.
2 November 2018, 18:00 PM
America's 'Moral High Grounds' / Why does the emperor have no clothes?
America has had a fairly inscrutable history. Haven to the oppressed in the European continent, its early settlers, while relishing the fruits of freedom, pretty much exterminated its indigenous inhabitants.
28 September 2018, 18:00 PM
Sylhetis, Assamese, 'Bongal Kheda', and the rolling thunder in the east
In these Trumpian times, the northeast of the South Asian subcontinent does not grab headlines. Nothing of significance usually happens there to warrant that. Particularly when the idiosyncrasies of the lead global personality, Mr Donald Trump himself, are so preponderantly dominating in that regard.
6 September 2018, 18:00 PM
Repression in Rakhine, and the principle of the 'responsibility to protect'
In my previous avatar as a diplomat, like much of the rest of the world, I saw myself as an ardent advocate for change in Myanmar. It was in the grip of Generals who ran a horrendously repressive regime.
30 August 2018, 18:00 PM
Balancing Bangladesh's foreign policy
The relationship between a smaller and a larger neighbourly state, as also between a weaker and stronger one, is often tricky on both sides.
12 August 2018, 18:00 PM
Duel at the Shangri-La dialogue: Implications for us all
The Annual Jamboree of global defence leaders at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore is much more than just a talkathon. Amidst the wining and dining, and in the chambers and corridors, policymakers and thought leaders get the opportunity to interact with one another intensely
7 June 2019, 18:00 PM
Trump and our times: Is the world on the brink of turmoil?
A supporter of the current dispensation in the United States with President Donald Trump at its helm, may be forgiven if he or she were to view the contemporary world through the lens of the above doggerel of a 19th century compatriot, William Wendell Holmes. For such a viewer, it would have looked a wonderful world some years ago. Everything was going right for America. There was the perception of it as the sole hyper-power, and one that was largely seen as benign. Thereafter, through the mechanism of America’s complex political system, its people put a new man on horseback to run it.
14 May 2019, 18:00 PM
Westminster model and its democratic dilemmas
Apart from its contribution to civilisation in the form of the English language, the great civic legacy of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, emanating from the British Isles is said to be its political system.
6 December 2018, 18:00 PM
Arms control and disarmament to arms decontrol and rearmament
Only a few would be persuaded that President Donald Trump is deeply informed about any moderately complex subject. Ballistic missiles is one such.
2 November 2018, 18:00 PM
Why does the emperor have no clothes?
America has had a fairly inscrutable history. Haven to the oppressed in the European continent, its early settlers, while relishing the fruits of freedom, pretty much exterminated its indigenous inhabitants.
28 September 2018, 18:00 PM
Sylhetis, Assamese, 'Bongal Kheda', and the rolling thunder in the east
In these Trumpian times, the northeast of the South Asian subcontinent does not grab headlines. Nothing of significance usually happens there to warrant that. Particularly when the idiosyncrasies of the lead global personality, Mr Donald Trump himself, are so preponderantly dominating in that regard.
6 September 2018, 18:00 PM
Repression in Rakhine, and the principle of the 'responsibility to protect'
In my previous avatar as a diplomat, like much of the rest of the world, I saw myself as an ardent advocate for change in Myanmar. It was in the grip of Generals who ran a horrendously repressive regime.
30 August 2018, 18:00 PM
Balancing Bangladesh's foreign policy
The relationship between a smaller and a larger neighbourly state, as also between a weaker and stronger one, is often tricky on both sides.
12 August 2018, 18:00 PM
Imran Khan's biggest challenge? 'It's the economy, stupid!'
Shakespeare had once observed, through his character Marcellus addressing Horatio in the drama Hamlet, that there was something rotten in the State of Denmark.
31 July 2018, 18:00 PM
The New World Disorder: We must learn to live with it
A fundamental law of physics, also applicable to the social sciences, is that everything in nature is in a state of flux. The sage Heraclitus had said we never step into the same river twice.
27 July 2018, 18:00 PM
Prognosis of polls in Pakistan
As one heads towards the elections in Pakistan on July 25, the main question in concerned minds is whether Imran Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is going to be Pakistan's next prime minister.
21 July 2018, 18:00 PM
The handling of Donald Trump
A seventeenth-century English satirist, Tom Brown, penned a doggerel about the Dean of Christ Church, one of the most prominent colleges, then as now, at Oxford. It went: I do not like thee, Dr Fell
9 July 2018, 18:00 PM
The new sun that reddens the East
In China, in the 1950s and '60s, the most popular song was entitled, "Dongfang Hong," or "The East is Red". Unmistakably, and understandably, it eulogised the Great Helmsman of the Peoples' Republic, Mao Zedong. The lyrics, an unabashed paean of fulsome praise to the undisputed leader, ran thus: "Dongfang Hong, from China comes Mao Zedong … Hurrah he is the Great Saviour, Lead us forward,…Hurrah he is our guide!" Much has changed in
14 June 2018, 18:00 PM
Trump-Kim meeting: The lure of the Lion City
The on-again, off-again summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea are due to be held shortly in Singapore, an ideal setting for many reasons. While it is likely to de-escalate tensions, prudence would dictate limited expectations.
7 June 2018, 18:00 PM
Politics of polls beyond the Vindhyas
In terms of heights and magnitude the Vindhyas do not match the Himalayas. Yet both these mountain ranges find mention in the Indian national anthem. This denotes their importance. That of the Himalayas is obvious.
27 May 2018, 18:00 PM
Of crises and kite-flying
With only weeks to go before the planned Summit between the two in Singapore on June 12, both US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un seemed to be focused on a spot of kite-flying, on the backdrop of crises, to test each other's nerves.
19 May 2018, 18:00 PM