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Archive for the tag “protests”

11 Jan 2018

What The Iran Protests Were Not

Recent protests in numerous Iranian cities and towns caught the world by surprise, and embarrassed Iran’s government and ruling political establishment. But the expectation that the protests would escalate into a popular uprising and unravel the Islamic Republic did not come to pass. Iran’s rulers could take heart from that, but they cannot avoid the broader debates about the future of the Iranian economy and politics that the protests have set in motion.

Read Here – The Atlantic

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04 Jan 2018

Any New Upheaval In Iran Has Far-Reaching Implications

Any new upheaval in Iran has far-reaching implications in the short term for the nuclear deal, and in the longer term for regional stability (Syria, Lebanon and Yemen) and regional power relationships (Saudi Arabia, Iraq). At best, social ferment could herald a new discussion – at worst, it would descend into a fight: about what sort of country Iran wants to be, and how religion and the state might reach a new accommodation.

Read Here – Independent

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04 Jun 2014

That Square In Beijing

It was a massacre. Most of the carnage occurred not in the Square or right around it, but in the western-approaching streets that led to the Square. I viewed the videotapes of bloody bodies that came in with camera crews, and I made phone calls to local hospitals and to the Chinese Red Cross. We kept a running tally of the number of dead, which had reached 2,600 before everyone was ordered to stop talking to us.

Read Here – The Atlantic

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23 Jul 2013

The Unmaking Of Bangladesh

This week, the judges of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal have issued yet more guilty verdicts against leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party for crimes committed during the country’s war of independence in 1971. Underscoring this energy are new prosecutions against foreign nationals of Bangladeshi origin who are effectively being tried in absentia. As elections are on the horizon for Bangladesh, it is no surprise then that the government is keen to expedite this process quickly. The question is, at what cost to justice and national unity?

Read Here – Al Jazeera

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23 Jul 2013

China’s Economic Slowdown: How Much Can Beijing Tolerate?

To be sure, Chinese leaders would prefer balanced high growth to low growth. However, the current leadership is aware of the enormous risks of allowing highly distorted growth to continue. Since 2008, Beijing has maintained growth with a massive injection of credit, much of it invested in speculative real estate, excessive industrial capacity, and infrastructure with dubious financial viability. Continuing this disastrous policy would imperil the political future of new Chinese leaders, particularly Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, who will be up for reappointment in 2017.

Read Here – The Diplomat

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19 Jul 2013

Egyptian Coup and Fate Of Political Islam

In his, Dictionary of Political Thought, the noted political philosopher, Roger Scruton, defines a coup d’etat as “a change in government by force resulting in a change of constitution, and brought about by those who already hold some form of power whether military or political. The institution of a coup thereby transforms the terms on which their office is held from a public trust into a private possession”.

Read Here – Al Jazeera

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18 Jul 2013

Arab Spring: An Economic Protest

Two years ago, the West thought it recognised what was happening in the Arab world: people wanted democracy, and were having revolutions to make that point. Now, recent events in Egypt have left many open-mouthed. Why should the generals be welcomed back? Why should the same crowds who gathered in Tahrir Square to protest against the old regime reconvene to cheer the deposing of their elected president? Could it be that the Arab Spring was about something else entirely?

Read Here – The Spectator

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11 Jul 2013

China’s Experimentation Of Its Tibet Policy

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

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06 Jul 2013

Egypt’s Soft Coup Fraught With Risks

It does not resolve the fierce social and political struggles that have unfolded in Egypt in the two years since the removal of Hosni Mubarak. Instead, this latest turn is likely to further polarise Egyptians, already bitterly divided over the identity of the state and the role of the sacred in the political. And it undermines respect for both, the peaceful transfer of power and for institutional procedures and rules.

Read Here – Gulf News

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03 Jul 2013

Egypt’s Morsi And His Blunders

Mohammed Morsi, a member the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, was sworn in as Egypt’s president on June 30, 2012. One year later, an unprecedented number of Egyptians have taken to the streets across the country to demand the resignation of the first democratically elected president Egypt has ever known. Morsi’s presidency has been beset by stumbles, mass protests, and missed opportunities.

Read Here – Businessweek

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