International Features

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 …

September 17, 2009 “Information Clearing House” – — On the day Prime Minister Gordon Brown made his “major policy speech” on Afghanistan, repeating his surreal claim that if the British army did not fight Pashtun tribesmen over there, they would be over here, the stench of burnt flesh hung over the banks of the Kunduz River. Nato fighter planes had …