Assessment of Iraq ’s prospects in Washington , and among the country’s political class generally, continues to focus on the short-term and tactics for influencing it. Participants in GM2 are among the exceptions. I propose taking a longer-term view by asking the question: what will political leadership in Baghdad look like 5 years down the [...]
Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, whose 801st birth anniversary was celebrated last month, has for many years now remained the most popular poet in America. The translations of this 13th-century mystical Muslim scholar’s - better known as Rumi - verse are hugely popular and have been used by Western pop stars such as Madonna. More [...]
After the change in the faces, the hopes are dashed by the anxiety, frustration and the same old policies and strategies. Nobody is asking for overnight improvements and rectifications, but at least the people of this hapless country deserved a sense of urgency and directions from the new so-called democratic leaders.
The things have gone that [...]
“I don’t care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating.” Said William Marcy Tweed - (1823-1878). Tweed was head of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th century New York. *In Pakistan also, it did not matter who voted [...]
President Asif Ali Zardari has become Pakistan’s first head of state to promise a “no-first nuclear-strike” against India. He talked of the need for change and reconciliation in India-Pakistan relationship, and the possibility of doing away with passports for travel between the two countries.
The surprise statement came when Zardari was addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership [...]
To the dismay and shock of American policy makers, the so-called puppet Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that he would guarantee security for Taliban leader Mullah Omar if he ever wanted to negotiate and said Western allies should remove him or leave if they disagreed with that.
As the war against terror in Afghanistan is [...]
