Sri Lanka’s Growing Economy Battles Commercial Disputes

Since the end of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war in 2009, the government has clearly been focusing on expansion, with new investments in infrastructure and the private sector that are helping to spur growth and contributing to an increase in disposable income and rising consumerism. While this growth is largely positive, there has also been […]

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Let There Not Be Another Mandela

The ailing former president has been squarely on South Africa’s mind the last few months. At 94, he is frail and fading fast. Housebound and bedridden in his Johannesburg estate, he is rumored to be senile; some claim he no longer speaks at all. One especially devastating newspaper report, quoting his former wife, said that his “sparkle was fading.” Read […]

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Will Nawaz Sharif Lead Pakistan… Again?

In the spring of 2000, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif stood in a jail cell in Pakistan‘s notorious Attock Fort as members of the local and international press looked on. Imprisoned by the army chief he appointed, Sharif appeared utterly demoralized and even pitiful. It was a radical reversal of fortune for a man who just two […]

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Is Obama’s Light-Footprint Diplomacy Inviting Tomorrow’s Problems, Asks David Rothkopf

“The problem with this administration,” one senior official who works for an Obama cabinet department and is a loyal and enthusiastic supporter of the president told me, “is that we don’t do strategy, we do deliverables.” This is a common lament in modern Washington. Trapped within the news cycle like hamsters within a plastic exercise ball, the […]

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Costly Diplomacy

When a friend behaves badly, it’s easy to take a time out. Stop taking their phones calls, pretend to be out when they come to apologise. But responsible nations don’t have the luxury of ignoring each other. That is why diplomacy can be a messy business, as India and Italy are learning this week. Read Here […]

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Pakistanis Want Their Trashy TV, Too

As the beautiful Nihal prepares to marry Behlul, there’s a glitch: Her gun-wielding stepmother declares undying love for the groom. Dangerous liaisons are at the heart ofIshq-e-Memnu, or Forbidden Love, a Turkish drama that was the biggest hit on Pakistani television this past winter. At its peak, the steamy story of a Turkish tycoon and his […]

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China’s Parliament Endorses New Cabinet: Xinhua

The new lineup of China’s State Council, nominated by Premier Li Keqiang, was endorsed by lawmakers at the ongoing national legislative session here Saturday afternoon. Zhang Gaoli, Liu Yandong, Wang Yang and Ma Kai were endorsed as vice premiers, with Yang Jing, Chang Wanquan, Yang Jiechi, Guo Shengkun and Wang Yong as state councilors, at […]

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