It’s a great tragedy that a man whose life’s work seemed such a direct reflection of India’s diversity and vibrancy died far from his homeland, made a pariah by narrow-minded religious bigots. On June 9, Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s most famous modern artist, dubbed the South Asian nation’s “Picasso,” succumbed to a heart attack in a …
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd_xY5n-7_E]
Hunger strikes in India — a country, incidentally, where millions go hungry every day — are time-tested political tactics to get attention. They’re nothing new in the world’s largest democracy and remain frequently effective. But no fast in recent memory has been quite as …
TIME’s Pakistan reporter Omar Waraich examines the reported death of al-Qaeda operative Ilyas Kashmiri, killed by a U.S. drone strike on June 3. If confirmed, the targeted assassination may be a sign of greater U.S.-Pakistani cooperation after the heated rhetoric that followed the discovery of Osama bin Laden, hiding safely on Pakistani …
BBC Urdu reports that U.S. drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal agency of South Waziristan have killed eight militants, including Ilyas Kashmiri, a notorious jihadist who some suspect could even be al-Qaeda’s top operational commander. The U.S. had placed a $5 million bounty on Kashmiri’s head — the grizzled fighter is linked to …
In Yemen, over three decades of authoritarianism are unraveling in a bloody maelstrom. The regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh has brutally staved off protests against its rule, fueled by frustrations over a lack of political freedoms in the country and the perceived graft of Saleh’s family and cronies. At least 350 people have …
The global war against drugs is fought seemingly every day in the jungles of Colombia and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, the inner cities of the U.S. and the trafficking corridors of Central America. But, according to a new report, it’s an abject disaster.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy, an organization launched by former …
This week’s roundup of rental movies to watch over the weekend commemorate Memorial Day, a day to honor the sacrifices of soldiers and reflect on the human horrors they must face. Presented by Ishaan Tharoor and Tony Karon.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3chv4eYU2MQ&feature=related]
The Thin Red Line
It’s fitting that …
The G-8 wraps up its 37th conclave May 27 at the French seaside resort of Deauville. By now, you may have seen some of the gathering’s glitzy snaps. Two seem to define the occasion: one of President Obama and Europe’s top potentates taking a chummy stroll along the Normandy coast, the other of pregnant French first lady Carla …
Of the five Central Asian “stans” straddling the crossroads between China and the Middle East, Russia and South Asia, Tajikistan seems easy to overlook. It doesn’t have Uzbekistan’s large population and historic cities, nor Kyrgyzstan’s jumble of U.S. and Russian military bases, nor Kazakhstan’s vast reserves of natural gas. But …
Anglo Unity: Fresh from his late Monday night arrival in Ireland, President Obama meets U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron in London today, as the White House steps up its efforts to rekindle the much-touted “special relationship” between the across-the-pond allies. As Catherine Mayer writes, they do have a lot to discuss.
Bursting the …
On a visit to the U.S. this week, China’s top military commander Chen Bingde suggested that the international coalition patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the coast of Somalia ought to take decisive action against pirate dens on land. So far, the counter-piracy strategy has focused on the pirate “mother-ships,” usually …
Through an Islamist website, al-Qaeda apparently released a 12-minute audio tape recorded by Osama bin Laden shortly before his May 2 death at the hands of Navy SEALs. In it, the deceased terrorist mastermind lavishes praise upon the protest movements of the Arab Spring, insisting that “the winds of change will envelope the entire Muslim …
Obama’s Cairo II: At 11:45am EST, President Obama will deliver his latest speech on the Mideast from the State Department. TIME and Global Spin’s Tony Karon writes that the Washington venue is important: “Obama’s Mideast ‘reset’ speech is not aimed primarily at the newly empowered Arab public; its primary audience is Washington, where the …
