Pakistan’s moment of political truth is fast approaching. On May 11, some 40-50 million voters will elect a new national assembly. The outcome, preceded by a spike in extremist violence, is likely to reverberate far and wide. Read Here – Project Syndicate
On June 14, Iran will hold a presidential election. If the acrimony and fraud of the 2009 election was not enough to cast a pall over this vote, then the ongoing power struggle between Supreme Leader Aytollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surely is. Term limits prevent Ahmadinejad from running for reelection, but he […]
Malaysians are widely expected to elect Prime Minister Najib Razak to another term in office when they go to the polls on Sunday, but any victory will fall far short of a ringing endorsement and could herald trouble ahead. Najib’s United Malays National Organization (UMNO) – the pro-Malay lead political party in the Barisan Nasional […]
Is India different? Last month, India’s finance minister confidently declared that nothing could stop his country from becoming the world’s third-biggest economy. He may well be right, but size alone does not make India a special case. Its growth has been fast, but it is no trailblazer. Read Here – Foreign Policy
Rahul remains a mysterious and deeply private figure. He gives infrequent speeches; rarely rises in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, where he has served since 2004; and virtually never holds on-the-record interviews with reporters, whom he plainly distrusts. Although fireworks lit up the sky on the day of his ascension and party […]
The anti-Sikh riots of 1984 still haunt the ruling Indian National Congress. Almost three decades ago around 3,000 minority Sikhs were killed, allegedly at the instigation of local Congress leaders in Delhi in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, on October […]
With legislative elections in May, tensions are rising in Pakistan. In Karachi, murder for profit or political gain is a commonplace, as are demands for protection money, energy blackouts, and ethnic and religious violence. Read Here – Le Monde Diplomatique
In Pakistan these days, a strange kind of schizophrenia is afoot, as the excitement over completing five, fulsome years of democratic rule competes with a growing tension with Afghanistan. Over the past couple of weeks, Pakistani officials and Afghan leaders have accused each other of fomenting terrorism, disturbingly raising the pitch and dropping all pretence […]
Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady“, was a towering figure in British 20th century politics, a grocer‘s daughter with a steely resolve who was loved and loathed in equal measure as she crushed the unions and privatized large swathes of industry. She died on Monday, aged 87, after suffering a stroke. During her life in politics […]
The re-election of Khalid Mesha’al, the “relative pragmatist” leader of the Gaza-based Palestinian faction Hamas, is very likely to raise hope that the two most prominent Palestinian political groups may shortly join forces, now that the chances of peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis could be at their doorstep. Read Here – Gulf […]
