International Features

  There he was ole Lal Khrishnan. Advani on TV doing the rounds in one of the many slums of the high tech state of India giving one the impression he is a saint on holiday from heaven all too eager to take the first flight back to his heavenly abode after he sorts out India’s problems. Yes you guessed …

  NEW YORK – When civilians get killed in conflicts in Sudan, Zimbabwe or Sri Lanka, the United Nations predictably raises hell. But when civilians are victims of domestic insurgencies or military conflicts involving the five big powers — the US, Britain, France, China and Russia (plus Israel) — the Security Council invariably remains silent or paralysed. The UN has …

It is simply not good enough for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “deeply” regret the slaying this week of over 100 innocent Afghan civilians, including some 20 children, near Farah in western Afghanistan. Nor is it acceptable for American commanders to repeat the mantra that they do everything in their power to minimize euphemistically named “collateral damage” — …

The 100-day honeymoon period is over for President Barack Obama. The kindness with which the world looked at him and his performance will wane as the days pass by. How he will deal with the multiple crises that face the United States in particular and the world in general will come under greater scrutiny and much more fire from now …

Russia announced on April 16 that it had ended the war in Chechnya. The announcement was largely symbolic because for a long time, there had been no clashes in Grozny. Wars can be won, but conflict resolution requires compromise and goodwill. In Chechnya this did not happen. Might can be right, but not always. In a democracy where human rights …

The 21st Arab League summit held this week in Doha, Qatar ended up being little more than a summit of egos. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir – just indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court (ICC) – arrived to a red-carpet and hero’s welcome; Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak boycotted the entire gathering; Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi walked …