International Features

On Thursday the 4th of June, at the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, Obama gave a speech of special interest to those of us who are closely following his political actions given the enormous might of the superpower he leads.  I cite his very own words to indicate what I think are the basic ideas he expressed, thus summarizing …

Focussing on the dark history of undermining of democracy in West Asia by America. THESE are days when to think of West Asia is to think of Gaza. The world imagines the people of Gaza to be its indigenous population, but the truth is that Israel drove out thousands of Palestinian families from the villages of Ashkelon and Beersheba in …

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 …

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 …

Another standard pretext for torture is the context: the “war on terror” that Bush declared after 9/11. A crime that rendered traditional international law “quaint” and “obsolete” — so George W. Bush was advised by his legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, later appointed Attorney General. The doctrine has been widely reiterated in one form or another in commentary and analysis. The …

Admit that North Korea is a nuclear power now. Its audacity is now more obvious. It sent a message on Monday that it should be taken seriously by the big powers. The message came in the form of a nuclear test and a series of short-and-medium-range missile launches. This time around the West and North Korea’s neighbours — both hostile …