(Barbara Crossette) Think for a moment about which countries cause the most global consternation. Afghanistan. Iran. Venezuela. North Korea. Pakistan. Perhaps rising China. But India? Surely not. In the popular imagination, the world’s largest democracy evokes Gandhi, Bollywood, and chicken tikka. In reality, however, it’s India that often gives global governance the biggest headache. Of course, India gets marvelous press. Feature stories from there typically bring to life Internet entrepreneurs, hospitality industry pioneers, and gurus keeping spiritual traditions alive while lovingly bridging Eastern and Western cultures. But something is left out of the cheery picture. For all its business acumen … Continue reading The Indian elephant in the room

(Shahid Javed Burki) As the world enters the second decade of the 21st century, the global political and economic structures are being reshaped in significant ways. The previous system was the outcome of a major conflict, the Second World War. It was dominated by the country that played a decisive role in defeating the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese in East Asia. The system that emerged had institutional structures in the areas of economics and international politics. In both the United States, the victor in the Second World War, was the leader. It was challenged for a while by … Continue reading New global order

What does it say about Washington’s ”war on terror” that dozen and a half people with paper cutters forced hundreds of thousands of Western troops into the battlefields of the “greater Middle East” region; That 100,000 foreign soldiers are bogged down in occupied Afghanistan wondering how many dozens of al-Qaeda operatives have remained, if any; That the most liberal democracy enacted new controversial illiberal laws and unpatriotic practices under its “Patriot Act”; That one shoe-bomber has forced millions of people to take off their shoes every time they take a flight; That one underpants-bomber will expose every other traveler in … Continue reading Is Al-Qaeda winning?

In the first week of 2010, five US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. The last week of 2009 saw the deaths of eight CIA agents there. Several more Afghan civilians were killed during this period, including the apparent executions of several young boys by persons either in the US military or working with them. In addition, insurgent forces targeted a Karzai government in official in eastern Khost and launched rockets at the site of a future US consulate in Herat. It was reported on January 6, 2010 that the Obama administration was sending 1,000 more US civilian experts to the … Continue reading The Arrogance of Empire

By Brian McCartan BANGKOK – The controversy over the scale of Myanmar’s opium production took another turn with the release of a new report that claims cultivation has surged in territories where the military government has recently taken control. The report draws more extreme conclusions than recent research released by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), whose Bangkok-based representatives declined an invitation to attend the new report’s release. Entitled “Poisoned Hills: Opium cultivation surges under government control in Burma”, the report was released by the Palaung Women’s Organization (PWO), a non-governmental organization based in Mae Sot, Thailand. … Continue reading How Myanmar’s opium grows

By Neil Arun and Shorish Khalid IRBIL and SULAIMANIYAH – An Iranian crackdown on smuggling along the Iraqi border has uncovered fissures and confusion in Baghdad’s policy towards perceived threats to its sovereignty. Iraqi officials contacted for an Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) investigation disagreed sharply over the significance of recent Iranian incursions that have targeted smugglers in a remote, rugged part of the northern Kurdistan region. Divisions focused on whether Iran’s action should be regarded as a grave violation of the sanctity of Iraq’s borders, or a minor infringement along an ill-defined frontier. Officials also disagreed over … Continue reading Border breaches reveal Iran’s reach