Duel at the Shangri-La dialogue: Implications for us all
The Annual Jamboree of global defence leaders at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore is much more than just a talkathon. Amidst the wining and dining, and in the chambers and corridors, policymakers and thought leaders get the opportunity to interact with one another intensely
5y ago
Trump and our times: Is the world on the brink of turmoil?
A supporter of the current dispensation in the United States with President Donald Trump at its helm, may be forgiven if he or she were to view the contemporary world through the lens of the above doggerel of a 19th century compatriot, William Wendell Holmes. For such a viewer, it would have looked a wonderful world some years ago. Everything was going right for America. There was the perception of it as the sole hyper-power, and one that was largely seen as benign. Thereafter, through the mechanism of America’s complex political system, its people put a new man on horseback to run it.
5y ago
Westminster model and its democratic dilemmas
Apart from its contribution to civilisation in the form of the English language, the great civic legacy of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, emanating from the British Isles is said to be its political system.
5y ago
Arms control and disarmament to arms decontrol and rearmament
Only a few would be persuaded that President Donald Trump is deeply informed about any moderately complex subject. Ballistic missiles is one such.
5y ago
Why does the emperor have no clothes?
America has had a fairly inscrutable history. Haven to the oppressed in the European continent, its early settlers, while relishing the fruits of freedom, pretty much exterminated its indigenous inhabitants.
5y ago
Sylhetis, Assamese, 'Bongal Kheda', and the rolling thunder in the east
In these Trumpian times, the northeast of the South Asian subcontinent does not grab headlines. Nothing of significance usually happens there to warrant that. Particularly when the idiosyncrasies of the lead global personality, Mr Donald Trump himself, are so preponderantly dominating in that regard.
6y ago
Repression in Rakhine, and the principle of the 'responsibility to protect'
In my previous avatar as a diplomat, like much of the rest of the world, I saw myself as an ardent advocate for change in Myanmar. It was in the grip of Generals who ran a horrendously repressive regime.
6y ago
Balancing Bangladesh's foreign policy
The relationship between a smaller and a larger neighbourly state, as also between a weaker and stronger one, is often tricky on both sides.
6y ago
June 8, 2019
Duel at the Shangri-La dialogue: Implications for us all
The Annual Jamboree of global defence leaders at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore is much more than just a talkathon. Amidst the wining and dining, and in the chambers and corridors, policymakers and thought leaders get the opportunity to interact with one another intensely
May 15, 2019
Trump and our times: Is the world on the brink of turmoil?
A supporter of the current dispensation in the United States with President Donald Trump at its helm, may be forgiven if he or she were to view the contemporary world through the lens of the above doggerel of a 19th century compatriot, William Wendell Holmes. For such a viewer, it would have looked a wonderful world some years ago. Everything was going right for America. There was the perception of it as the sole hyper-power, and one that was largely seen as benign. Thereafter, through the mechanism of America’s complex political system, its people put a new man on horseback to run it.
December 7, 2018
Westminster model and its democratic dilemmas
Apart from its contribution to civilisation in the form of the English language, the great civic legacy of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, emanating from the British Isles is said to be its political system.
November 3, 2018
Arms control and disarmament to arms decontrol and rearmament
Only a few would be persuaded that President Donald Trump is deeply informed about any moderately complex subject. Ballistic missiles is one such.
September 29, 2018
Why does the emperor have no clothes?
America has had a fairly inscrutable history. Haven to the oppressed in the European continent, its early settlers, while relishing the fruits of freedom, pretty much exterminated its indigenous inhabitants.
September 7, 2018
Sylhetis, Assamese, 'Bongal Kheda', and the rolling thunder in the east
In these Trumpian times, the northeast of the South Asian subcontinent does not grab headlines. Nothing of significance usually happens there to warrant that. Particularly when the idiosyncrasies of the lead global personality, Mr Donald Trump himself, are so preponderantly dominating in that regard.
August 31, 2018
Repression in Rakhine, and the principle of the 'responsibility to protect'
In my previous avatar as a diplomat, like much of the rest of the world, I saw myself as an ardent advocate for change in Myanmar. It was in the grip of Generals who ran a horrendously repressive regime.
August 13, 2018
Balancing Bangladesh's foreign policy
The relationship between a smaller and a larger neighbourly state, as also between a weaker and stronger one, is often tricky on both sides.
August 1, 2018
Imran Khan's biggest challenge? 'It's the economy, stupid!'
Shakespeare had once observed, through his character Marcellus addressing Horatio in the drama Hamlet, that there was something rotten in the State of Denmark.
July 28, 2018
The New World Disorder: We must learn to live with it
A fundamental law of physics, also applicable to the social sciences, is that everything in nature is in a state of flux. The sage Heraclitus had said we never step into the same river twice.
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