Nov 27, 2023    New Age WHAT has so far happened on the electoral fray betrays clear signs of another round of farcical elections that could look participatory but would, in effect, be one-sided. The Election Commission is in the thick of the election process, with the submission of nomination papers closing on November 30 and the election having been scheduled for January 7, while the government has arrested almost all ranking leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest in the opposition camp and, in effect, the only credible opposition, and the rest of leaders and ..read more

Polls, boycott campaign highlight public outrage amid tepid government response Women wave flags as they gather in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during a rally in Karachi on Oct. 20. ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writerNovember 26, 2023  Nikkei Asia ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Islamist political parties are playing up support for the Palestinian group Hamas in its war with Israel, aiming to tap into domestic public anger as the country prepares for elections early next year. After Hamas militants triggered the latest round of the conflict by storming from Gaza into Israel and ..read more

By Michael Rubin Senior Fellow Washington Examiner November 22, 2023 U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should resign. The survival of liberal order requires it. Guterres, like many recent secretaries-general, both confuses the arbitrariness of the United Nations selection process with moral authority and misunderstands that leading the U.N. is about management, not being an arbiter of international law. Guterres wears his politics on his sleeve. He was both president of the Socialist International and head of Portugal’s Socialist Party during which time he also served a ..read more

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Michael Rubin Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, July 19, 2022. “The Ukrainians fight and get killed so that weapons can be sold.” When Russia invaded Ukraine, Iran initially professed neutrality; however, this official neutrality did not last long.[i] In July 2022, Putin visited Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran. Khamenei unequivocally endorsed Russia’s invasion stating, “If you [Russia] had not taken the helm, the other side would have done so and initiated a war.” In the below-exc ..read more

November 22, 2023 The Times of India TOI Edit Times of India’s Edit Page team comprises senior journalists with wide-ranging interests who debate and opine on the news and issues of the day. Bangladesh will be going to polls – but many opposition leaders are going to jail, and one big party stays banned. The top court upheld a previous ban on Jamaat-e-Islami – Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party – from contesting elections. And a crackdown on anti-government protesters in recent days has seen around 139 senior opposition leaders and activists, mostly from BNP, convicted on various charges ..read more

By A commentary by Ali Riaz on Nov 22, 2023  Benar News Bangladesh’s Election Commission set the country on a familiar but gravely uncertain path last week when it announced Jan. 7 as the date for the 12th parliamentary elections. The ruling Awami League is trying to consolidate its grip on power in the run-up to the general election by using state power to suppress the opposition, which faces challenges in uniting and mobilizing under this repression. As of now, it’s unclear whether Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her party can steer through the polls as they did in the two pr ..read more

SHAUN CAMERON An alternative route to the Strait of Malacca offers China, and others, a safer, faster and more efficient trade route. Vessels dock at the port of a Chinese-owned oil refinery plant on Made Island off Kyaukphyu, Rakhine State, 2 October 2019 (Ye Aung Thu/AFP via Getty Images) Published 22 Nov 2023      The interpreter In Myanmar’s westernmost state of Rakhine, the small fishing village of Kyaukphyu has become the focus of a US$7.3 billion deep-water port development by Chinese state-owned entities with an accompanying US$2.7 billion specia ..read more

by Alan Paul Varghese 22/11/2023 With the conclusion of the BRICS + extraordinary meeting hosted by South Africa on the conflicts in West Asia, it has been clear that India will continue its alignment with the West and Israel. While most of the members reiterated how Israel’s settler colonialism is the root cause of the conflict, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar stood firm on blaming Hamas. He also stated that there can be no compromise to terrorism. The Modi doctrine of diplomacy for the past nine years has stagnated India’s internal reputation and aspirations. Narendra Modi had sk ..read more

NOVEMBER 20, 2023 News of the award was kept a secret as whereabouts of the acclaimed author have largely been withheld from the general public since he was stabbed repeatedly in August of 2022 during a literary festival in Western New York. STAFF WRITER A Love Affair With the Men in Blue: Over 1.4 Billion Hearts Were Broken on Sunday, Including Mine Salman Rushdie last week received the first-ever ‘Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award,’ presented by the Vaclav Havel Center in New York. News of the award was kept a secret, the Associated Press reported. “Only a handful of the more th ..read more

NOVEMBER 21, 2023 To be a fan of the Indian men’s cricket team is a dangerous love affair but one that is extremely gratifying. ITHI JOSHI Indian Comedian Vir Das Lands an International Emmy for His Netflix Stand-up Special On the verge of screaming at the TV for the umpteenth time, I reluctantly leave the couch to grab my second cup of chai of the morning. India is playing Australia in the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup final in Ahmedabad. Before the match began, India was heavily favored to win. The match, however, started on a wobbly note as Australia won the toss and elected to fi ..read more