You Are Browsing ‘World Diary’ Category

Deep Rooted

Corruption in Asian countries like India is an entrenched feature of popular culture, plaguing every level of society It was dubbed India’s second freedom struggle. Anna Hazare, a frail but fiery social activist, led a nation-wide anti-corruption campaign that riveted the Indian political class and sent shockwaves through the highest corridors of power. He mobilised the middle class, especially the youth,...

Crude Diplomacy

(20 January 2012) — Despite American pressure tactics, Asia’s four largest economies appear set to continue business with Iran’s energy sector, prioritising national interests above diplomacy. The US last week announced embargoes against three Asian companies that have dealings with Tehran, which is overtly belligerent towards the West and Israel. In recent years, the Islamic republic has alarmed observers...

Cementing BRICS

(April 6, 2012) – Not content with the Western-dominated global financial system, five emerging economic powers are paving the way to a new and more egalitarian world order. At the fourth BRICS Summit in India on March 29, the leader of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) agreed to explore the establishment of a new development agency to challenge the World Bank. The so-called BRICS Development...

A Real Page-Turner

(03 February 2012) — Even as the gods of the literary world descended upon the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 (JLF12) last week, it was The Satanic Verses that continued to bedevil organizers 24 years after its publication and cast a pall over the prestigious event. Salman Rushdie, the author of the controversial novel which many Muslims deem offensive to Islam, had initially been invited but was forced to...

Making Way for Mayhem

(13 January 2012) — As the US starts to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, global security analysts are voicing fears that the exit would mark the return of a global terrorism infrastructure in the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border. “It is only a matter of time before the Taliban returns to rule Afghanistan. The big question is whether it has learnt its lesson during the last decade of war with the US,...

Turning Over a New Leaf

(9 December 2011) — Myanmar got its clearest invitation to return to the global community when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the country on November 30 to support “a movement for change”. The country’s first visit by an American state secretary in 50 years followed a series of extraodinary moves by the military-backed government that included talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, who led her party...