At Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibte Razi’s Iftar party last Ramzan, former chief minister Shibu Soren came dressed as an Arab sheikh. He wanted to showcase his secular credentials at the photo-op. And he succeeded, too, as pictures of ‘sheikh Soren’ appeared in the media. But he did not realise that Indian Muslims didn’t wear such dress. Was he taken in …

(Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term.  He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal.  He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French …

Prabhakaran is the first iconic victim of  a tectonic shift in world affairs           There are lessons to be learnt from the rout of the LTTE. These lessons span the entire spectrum—from cosmic justice, international geopolitics and national agendas to character flaws. The first and foremost lesson is that Sri Lanka’s victory symbolises the crystallisation of …

INTERVIEW/PROF. DR BALADAS GHOSHAL. How has global Islamic resurgence affected Indian Muslims? Globalisation, the internet and the global war on terror have affected Indian Muslims. There is also a victim mentality growing out of their sense of insecurity, which makes them ghettoised, and an attempt to search for scapegoats instead of looking into their weaknesses. Is the consolidation of Muslim …

Israel’s ability to wage another war against the militant Shia movement Hezbollah may have been compromised by an unprecedented wave of arrests of people in Lebanon alleged to have been spying for the Israelis. Experts say the arrests appear to add up to a major strategic blow to Israel. Mobile phone footage circulating in Beirut shows one of the suspected …

The Europeans who are now championing the cause of human rights ought to remember that in their original conception in the West they were not meant to apply to all human beings. By and large they covered only the human beings of European extraction. Even James Mill, the English philosopher (1806-73) who is often quoted as the great thinker in …