Feature – News Updates

Weeks before the arrival of president Ahamadinejad in new York for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting arrangements had already been made for some Western powers and Israel to walk out as soon as Ahamadinejad got up to speak. Demonstrations in support of the opposition in Iran were to be staged. In fact Ahamadinejad was anathema to Israel and the …

September 06, 2009 “Washington Post” — During the past 16 months I have visited the Middle East four times and met with leaders in Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. I was in Damascus when President Obama made his historic speech in Cairo, which raised high hopes among the more-optimistic Israelis and Palestinians, who …

Long on rhetoric and short of solid answers, the maiden speech of US President Barack Obama at the United Nations was not only a big disappointment but also an indication that his foreign policy was as detestable as that of his much-criticised predecessor, George W. Bush. Much was expected from Obama in his first UN speech dubbed the State of …

April 18, 2009 — The report in the Times of London began: “Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.’’ The references to modern weapons and the use …

The gory practice of fake encounter killings highlights both judicial apathy and police culpability. AHMEDABAD Judicial Magistrate S.P. Tamang’s report on the killing in an “encounter” of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan has confirmed what many had suspected on the basis of less-than-convincing official accounts – that she and three others were killed in cold blood by the Gujarat Police. The fact …

The hysteria over the release of the so-called Lockerbie bomber reveals much about the political and media class on both sides of the Atlantic, especially Britain. From Gordon Brown’s “repulsion” to Barack Obama’s “outrage,” the theater of lies and hypocrisy is dutifully attended by those who call themselves journalists. “But what if Megrahi lives longer than three months?” whined a …