Clashing realities
HOW to restrain a powerful, overweening and tyrannical state is the key challenge we face today. The institutions of restraint on executive excesses are the rule of law and democratic…
Berlin’s blind spot
ABOUT 10 days ago, a joint Palestinian-Israeli creative endeavour titled No Other Land, chronicling the struggle for survival in Masafer Yatta — comprising a bunch of Palestinian hamlets in the…
Right, wrong & left
LAST Sunday, the state election in Thuringia for the first time propelled an extreme right-wing party to pole position anywhere in Germany since the end of the Nazi era 90…
Balochistan — a way forward
AS violence erupted in Balochistan on the 18th anniversary of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti’s killing, about two dozen unarmed civilian bus travellers and lorry drivers, mostly from southern Punjab, were…
France unbowed?
IN the run-up to last Sunday’s second round of French parliamentary elections, opinion polls and much of the media commentary chiefly focused on whether the far right would succeed in…
Waves of terrorism
HISTORICALLY, terrorism has evolved in its aims, forms, frequency, lethality, targets, and operation methods at various intervals. The changes underscore the shifting dynamics of terrorism, driven by global political shifts…
A fitting metaphor for Gaza
MADELEINE Albright once appeared for an interview for CBS 60 Minutes with Lesley Stahl. She was asked about the tragic effect of US sanctions on Iraqi children. “We have heard…
South remembers
IN the world of WhatsApp, Muslim and Arab countries have taken a serious stance against Israel. In that little chamber — isolated from fact, reason and logic — the emir…
Media giants’ tattered credibility
THE credibility of global media organisations such as the BBC, CNN, SkyNews and even progressive newspapers such as the UK’s Guardian appears to be in tatters as their editorial policies…
Can we fight Zionism, not Jews?
ANYONE who is familiar with the history of Spain under Muslim rule before the 1492 Catholic pushback — and there’s an excellent body of work on the theme by Tariq…
