African asylum seekers in Sicily dream of soccer glory
Like many young men in Italy, the soccer players who put on their cleats for an afternoon match in this small Sicilian town dream of international stardom on the field.…
The Maidan decides
The sudden downfall and disappearance of Viktor Yanukovych late last week served as a kind of climax in the unfolding Ukrainian drama. Plenty of scope remains, though, for an extended,…
Capitalist democracy: what can it deliver?
We should be clear about the basics. This is not a people’s democracy, never can be. This is sarmayadarana (capitalist) democracy, dominated by a political class drawn from the pampered,…
Salam, Abdus Salam
Four days from now, on January 29, much of Pakistan will forget – or refuse to remember – Dr Mohammad Abdus Salam on what would have been his 88th birthday.…
Does Pakistan have friends?
Umberto Eco – the Italian novelist, essayist and literary critic – is amongst the most engaging and inventive writers alive today. An original thinker par excellence, his latest collection of…
The nuclear option
Three years ago, when India was elected to the UN Security Council for the 2011-2012 term after a 19-year gap, the country’s then Permanent Representative, Hardeep Singh Puri, expressed confidence…
The GSP Plus status
The European Union has granted the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status to Pakistan in December 2013. This status is likely to increase access to the EU market through…
The party’s over in Uttar Pradesh
Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. How else does one explain the antics of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav, the Uttar…
Germany powers on in EU despite government change
Germany's new coalition may barely be off the starting blocks, but the country remained a force to be reckoned with in the European Union this week, as Chancellor Angela Merkel…
Russia’s South Stream gas line viable but legally risky
Russia's South Stream pipeline project for transporting gas to southern Europe is economically viable, despite its price tag of $45 billion, but legal issues with Brussels risk derailing the entire…
