Anyone cut off from all news media for the six months before December 2011 could be forgiven for imagining we’re in the opening stages of a war between the West and Iran. Sunday’s headline was Iran’s claim to have captured a …
India
After the Death of Key Leader, What’s the Future for India’s Maoist Rebellion?
The man known as “Kishenji” was chief ideologue, spokesman and military strategist for India’s Naxals, who have been waging a violent Maoist insurgency against the Indian state for decades. He was killed by Indian security forces …
Why India Should Stop Fearing Walmart
India’s Parliament is in the middle of a big political brawl over the issue of fully opening up its vast retail sector to foreign investors. It started last week, when the Cabinet approved a plan to open “multibrand retail” (i.e., supermarkets and stores that sell a variety of branded products) to 51% ownership, a move that has …
The Real Lessons of Sri Lanka’s War: A Global Power Shift and the End of Human Rights
The grandly named “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” submitted its final report to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday. The document is meant to account for the failure of a 2002 ceasefire and the events leading up to the end of the country’s 26-year-long war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil …
Satirical Video Attacks the Military-Religious Complex in Pakistan
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEpnwCPgH7g&feature=youtu.be]
The video above, posted by a band of 20-something Pakistani musicians in the country’s cultural capital Lahore, has become a viral hit in South Asia. “Aalu Anday” or “Potato and Eggs” starts innocently enough but soon launches into a tongue-in-cheek attack on the …
Lessons for the Arab Spring from a Tiny Island Nation
With Tunisian elections just completed, Egypt’s parliamentary elections coming up and Libya veering into a dark new period, observers of the Arab Spring are wondering what will become of these revolutions once the euphoria subsides and the struggle over democracy grows apace.
There is one corner of South Asia where these questions …
Another Tibetan Nun Goes Up in Flames, While Chinese Tourists Holiday on the High Plateau
And now, it’s 11. On Nov. 3, a Tibetan nun set herself on fire in a remote Tibetan-inhabited county of China’s Sichuan province called Tawu (or Daofu in Chinese), according to exile Tibetan groups. Nine Tibetan monks (or former monks) and two nuns have self-immolated this year, the despairing acts of a people who contend their …
India-Pakistan Trade Normalized: Does It Matter?
When Pakistan granted India “most favored nation” (MFN) trading status yesterday (India did the same in 1995), Reuters called it “a major breakthrough that could bolster efforts to improve relations between the nuclear-armed rivals.” Some Indian officials agreed:
“It’s a very powerful step, and a welcome step in the right
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Will New Delhi Allow its Troops in Kashmir to Face Prosecution?
In August 2010, against the backdrop of last year’s fierce stone-pelting protests in Kashmir, I asked Omar Abdullah, the chief minister of the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir, about one of the protestors’ demands: the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), a controversial law that gives Indian troops broad protection …
China and India at War: Study Contemplates Conflict Between Asian Giants
There are plenty of reasons why China and India won’t go to war. The two Asian giants hope to reach $100 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2015. Peace and stability are watchwords for both nations’ rise on the world stage. Yet tensions between the neighbors seem inescapable: they face each other across a heavily militarized nearly …
Gaddafi Now Dead, Has Third World Solidarity Died with Him?
One of the more farcical moments in a reign steeped in the bizarre, Muammar Gaddafi’s 2008 coronation as the “king of kings” of Africa was an elaborate ceremony attended by a couple hundred African royals. From a mock throne, wielding a gleaming scepter, Gaddafi urged greater African unity, calling on the formation of a “United …
Will Occupy Wall Street Reach One of the World’s Most Unequal Countries?
In India mass, non-violent protest is not only a founding national principle; it is a highly developed art form. Any journalist working here must quickly figure out the difference between a dharna (sit-down protest) and a bandh (a general strike), and learn the peculiar conventions of the “fast unto death”: every hunger strike must …
Move Over, China: Why India May Be the Better Partner for Latin America
Bolivia this month is accusing India’s Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. of failing to honor its $2.1 billion investment commitment to develop the Mutún iron ore mine and smelting works. Jindal in turn claims Bolivia isn’t providing it sufficient gas and electrical power to get the job done. Such disputes between Latin American governments …