President Joe Biden has announced that the United States will withdraw its remaining troops from the “forever war” in Afghanistan, declaring that the September 11 attacks of 20 years ago cannot justify American forces continuing to die in the nation’s longest war. The previous date set in negotiations with the Taliban during former President Donald […]
Indian Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s anti-Bangladesh remarks are one of his unique selling points to the country’s Hindutva politics. He has mastered his rhetoric carefully over the years, and uses them effectively before any major elections in India. The anti-Bangladesh hate-mongering rhetoric from the BJP and its messiah Amit Shah during the West Bengal […]
The international community dismayingly watched how Bangladeshis denounced the recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh on the 50th. anniversary of its independence. Though Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh was under the cover of an unprecedented security carpet, his visit was marred by huge demonstrations of thousands of common people along the […]
Loving your country is considered a virtue, and for a patriot, love for the country should not have any limit. Blind love has its own pitfalls, and there is no convincing argument except emotional ones to justify that. However, patriotism has been in the past and still continues to be used by political and social […]
The instant inspiration for writing this article is the timely proposed resolution introduced in the US House of Representatives on March 16, 2021 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence. I appreciate the US’s latest initiative, which according to my understanding, has far-reaching consequences. It is an irony of fate that Bangladesh borders with such […]
Scottish historian Sir William Hunter (1840-1900) wrote in 1871 that “a hundred and seventy years ago (in 1700), it was almost impossible for a well-born Musalman in Bengal to become poor; at present it is almost impossible for him to continue rich.” (Ref: Iftekhar Iqbal, World Congress of Economic History, Helsinki August 2006). If Sir […]
When commentators talk about the ‘magic’ of monarchy, normally they mean its fairy tale resonance and ancient mystique. The more apposite magic is the institution’s ability both to be sufficiently dull and sufficiently interesting. The monarchy’s central contradiction is its reason for survival: it functions both as soap opera and an organ of state. Without […]
In recent weeks, Nandar has taken to cycling. Armed with a hard hat, a face mask, and a paper sign stuck to her bike showing the words “No to dictatorship, no to patriarchy,” the 26-year-old feminist activist spends most days traversing Yangon, Myanmar, as part of the massive protest movement that has erupted following the […]
On the evening of March 3, 2021, while I was thinking of taking a break after a long day of meetings, my Twitter feed started to get flooded with news of a stabbing rampage resulting in injuries to seven people in a small Swedish town called, Vetlanda. Many right-wing social media sites and Twitter handles […]
The Joe Biden administration has been widely criticized for its response after declassifying an intelligence report that found Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman responsible for an operation to “kill or capture” the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged that the administration would not sanction the crown prince directly, despite the […]