ViewsWeek Views from around the world
The recent United Nations study and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counter Narcotics about a sharp increase in opium cultivation once again sets people to sigh in utter frustration. The Afghanistan Opium Survey for 2013 of the United Nations projects that the land area used for opium cultivation reached a historic high in 2013 of 516,000 acres, a 36 percent increase from …
November, 2013
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17 November
What Happens When the US No Longer Has Moral Authority?
President Obama’s recent failure to attend the APEC meeting in Bali and the East Asia Summit in Brunei was only symbolic of the US decline. The reality is more profound. Over the past 30 years, the United States as the predominant power has provided a public good in East Asia, enjoyed by allies and adversaries alike — including China — by maintaining …
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17 November
Countering the Terror Threat in Pakistan
Consider the theatrics of the absurd by some political clerics at the killing of the terrorist responsible for slaughtering thousands of innocent Pakistanis. Indeed pathetic that the fundamentally moderate Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) should label Tehrik-e-Taliban-i-Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud a “Shaheed” (martyr)! To safeguard their fiefdoms, politicians and clerics often turn to appeasement of militants. The Army did well by immediately …
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8 November
The Poisoned Chalice of Tanzania’s Land Deals
For more than a decade Tanzania has been wooing foreign investors to help modernize and reinvigorate its agricultural sector – which engages about 80 percent of the population – as a way of boosting national development. But many supposed beneficiaries, such as smallholder Ahmed Kipanga, a 37-year-old father of five from the coastal Kisarawe District, feel short-changed. “I used to …
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8 November
Key Questions Surrounding US Arms Sales to India
The rise in US arms sales to India is being widely cited as evidence of the two countries’ deepening defense relationship. But the long-term sustainability of the relationship, in which India is more a client than a partner, remains a deep concern for Indians. Does the recently issued Joint Declaration on Defense Cooperation, which establishes intent to move beyond weapons …
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7 November
Food Stamp Cuts Will Stoke Hunger
Would you believe that the nation’s cabinet has approved an executive order defining food as a legal right? No, not our nation. India has taken this bold step. Malnourishment afflicts 42 percent of Indian children, and part of their government’s response to this entrenched problem is defining efforts to end hunger as more than a welfare challenge. Here in …
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7 November
Fire and Forget
The term “fire and forget” denotes a missile which after launching and acquiring a target does not require further guidance, it can destroy the target without the launcher being in the line-of-sight. Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) hit a specified target minimizing “collateral damage”, military for soft targets e.g. civilian casualties. The subject …
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6 November
Big Night for McAuliffe, Christie and de Blasio
Democrats scored big in Virginia and New York while the blue state of New Jersey, which President Barack Obama had won by a margin of 18 points, re-elected Republican Chris Christie as governor for a second term. Bill de Blasio, the Democratic challenger in the New York’s one-sided mayoral race, won by huge margin against Joe Lhota, who enjoyed the …
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6 November
The Looming Debate Over Drones in India
The small, portly man was laid out in bed that autumn morning in 2009, wrapped in a shawl, the intravenous line in his arm carrying ever-waning hope that he might yet beat back acute diabetes and a crippling renal disorder. He had come home to his father-in-law’s home in the small village of Makeen just days earlier, family sources would …
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5 November
China Sees Bangladesh’s Role in Southeast Asia
Recently, Bangladesh’s foreign minister Dipu Moni met her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing to push forward the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor. The initiative follows China’s intensified co-operation with Pakistan in South Asia and recent Asian summits in which both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have been promoting a new “maritime Silk Road” and deeper economic co-operation with Southeast …
