Trade is not a cure-all for grinding poverty, but a free-trade deal between Pakistan and India would help foster economic growth and regional peace. And the political timing has never been better. Pakistan‘s new Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, should seize the moment. Read Here – Christian Science Monitor
Is Africa rising? Judging by the buzz and optimism of the young business leaders and political trailblazers from across the continent who gathered in Cape Town for the World Economic Forum on Africa recently, the answer is a qualified “yes.” Read Here – The Hindu
Reports that Beijing is “experimenting” with its Tibet policy have surfaced recently, with suggestions that it was lifting – unofficially at least – a decades-old ban on the Dalai Lama’s image in certain ethnic Tibetan regions. Read Here – The Diplomat
The rejection by Egyptians of their Islamist government marks a turning point — not only for that country, but for the entire Middle East. Over the course of the past couple weeks, the Egyptian people have made a clear and powerful statement that political Islam cannot and should not be allowed to suppress the broader popular […]
The recent financial turmoil in China, with interbank loan rates spiking to double digits within days, provides further confirmation that the world’s second-largest economy is headed for a hard landing. Fueled by massive credit growth (equivalent to 30% of GDP from 2008 to 2012), the Chinese economy has taken on a level of financial leverage […]
The Abbottabad (Osama bin Laden) Commission has concluded that the global terror kingpin’s nine-year-long stay in Pakistan and the May 2011 secret US raid, in which he was killed, were because of “gross incompetence” of the state institutions, but was particularly critical of ISI for being too casual in first tracking him and then investigating the May […]
By South Asian standards, politics in Bhutan remains exceptionally clean and gentle. The electoral commission forbids even serving beer or yak cheese, chili and rice at campaign meetings. Each night the sole national television channel shows respectful debates between candidates. Policy differences are slight, and parties vie in their adoration for the monarchy. Read Here […]
World economic growth will struggle to accelerate this year as a U.S. expansion weakens,China’s economy levels off and Europe’s recession deepens, the International Monetary Fund said. Read Here – Bloomberg
More and more, unmanned machines such as drones are waging war. So far, governments kept humans as the operators. But now militaries worldwide are developing armed autonomous robots with the capacity to use lethal force on their own. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
Myanmar is home to a growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment, as seen in the troubling 969 movement. The numerical significance of the digits is rooted in Buddhism’s Three Jewels (Tiratana), which comprise 24 attributes: nine special attributes of Lord Buddha, six core Buddhist teachings, and nine attributes of monkhood. Read Here – The Diplomat
