Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd)

The effect of the havoc that was wrought on this September day sixteen years ago still reverberates in most parts of the globe. The new world order that George Bush wanted to create, following the attack on a symbol of US might—a state of international politics where only the US writ would run, and no opposition to its power would be tolerated—had created disorder only.

What we have today in the Rakhine State of Myanmar is a regime of ethnic cleansing. This latest round of pogrom of the Rohingyas is the result of the international community's abject lack of action.

The very fact that Myanmar has termed the recent militant attack on its security forces as being the work of “extremist Bengali insurgents” underlines the very crux of the problem.

It has taken President Donald Trump exactly eight months into his presidency to accept that running a corporate house and running a country are two different ball games, something that he must surely have realised the very first day after he was sworn in as president.

On the very day that the world was observing the International Human Rights Day in 2012, a poor man was denied the basic right guaranteed to all human beings under God—right to life. Biswajit was a victim of depraved politics, killed brutally by some members of the student wing of the ruling party.

Even after long seventy years of the most catastrophic event of the last century, the jury is still out on whether the bombings of the two Japanese cities were justified, morally or strategically.

The finance minister would have us believe that corruption has so pervaded the entire society that it has rendered all of us more or less corrupt. Our finance minister is known for his broadsides and interesting utterances at various times during his long tenure in the job, which sometimes have been a cause of embarrassment for him and his party. This may be one such comment.

Democracy means much more than quinquennial elections to the parliament. For a country whose raison d'être has been democracy, the decay of democratic culture is alarming.

It is the considered opinion of scholars and observers of terrorism and extremism that the ISIL capture of Mosul was the most significant...

Holey Artisan attack was a watershed event for us – both the society and the state.

The Finsbury Park Mosque attack was another manifestation of Islamophobia that has gripped Britain and many other western countries including the US in recent times. Reportedly, there has been a fivefold increase in hate crimes against Muslims in London after the London Bridge attack. There has been a similar spike in incidence of hate crimes against Muslims in the US, particularly after January 20, 2017.

One cannot but marvel at the sense of proportion, or the lack of it, of the finance minister.

“An earthquake achieves what the law promises but does not in practice maintain — the equality of all men.”

US presidents seem to have a predilection for dispensing homilies directed at the Muslim countries just before the month of Ramadan – pre-Ramadan speech if you like.

Gone are the days of “honest Abe” or of the president who as a boy refused to lie, after chopping down a cherry tree, a favourite of his father, knowing fully well the consequences of admitting the truth.

This article has been animated by a comment of Sean Spicer, the constantly self-destructing White House press secretary.

The natural reaction to the remarks of Prime Minister Modi that the Teesta issue would be resolved during the tenure of the present incumbents in both countries, and it will be resolved soon is - how soon is soon.

That the government is not in sync with the sentiments of the people when it comes to the issue of water sharing with India was once again exhibited by the dismissive and insensitive manner our foreign minister dismissed the Teesta issue, saying it mattered very little if it was not on the list of agreements.

The Home Minister had reportedly asserted in early March this year that, “militancy problem remains under control”.

Avery important visit of our prime minister, the twice rescheduled visit to India will now take place between April 7 and April 10.