Category: Current Affairs
-
Over 10 killed as mob attack UN office in north Afghan city. Some were reportedly beheaded. The beheading meme is really peculiar to Islamist terrorism these days; any theories about why this may be so? I am sure that as we learn details, we will find that it was not exactly a "spontaneous beheading". Determined Islamist agitators were…
-
Originally published on 3quarksdaily: I recently wrote an article with this title that was triggered by a comment from a friend in Pakistan. He wrote that Pakistan felt to him like the Weimar Republic: An anarchic and poorly managed democracy with some real freedoms and an explosion of artistic creativity, but also with a dangerous fascist ideology…
-
Corrupt ex-minister writes letter to the Indian Prime Minister; the Supreme Court is concerned: ”The expressions in the letter are very objectionable,” the bench said, noting, ”Even when you are writing to someone senior in age you have to be respectful. Unless you have learned a different language.” The bench asked, ”Is the minister (Raja)…
-
Perceptions from Japan. Sendai, Japan WHEN the earthquake struck, I was at the hot springs in Sakunami, about 15 miles from my home in Sendai. I was playing host to a couple from Britain, and as I soaked in an open-air bath with Ben, the husband, powdery snow began to shake off the surrounding boulders.…
-
In the Scientific American. (via 3 Quarks Daily)
-
And they don't bode well for Hope & Change, at least not of the kind I had in mind. The violent video I posted showing bigots in Orange County heckling and threatening Muslim families was terrible enough. But more awful news keeps dribbling out on the front pages of the newspapers and TV headlines. Some news items lead me to believe…
-
Shahbaz Bhatti, the only "minority" minister in the Pakistani cabinet, has been assassinated in Islamabad. Here is an interview in which he talks about the threat…a very brave man. Razib has a comment about the inevitable "what would the prophet do" article, penned by Western Muslims who cannot be bothered to read the actual sources…
-
On the 27th of January, while driving through Mozang (an extremely crowded section of Lahore city) in a rented Honda Civic, American citizen RaymondDavis shot two men who were riding a motorcycle. Soon afterwards, another vehicle that was racing to (presumably) rescue Mr. Davis, ran over a third person and killed him too. These seem to be…
-
As usual, I am late in commenting on a hot topic on the blog which I had up on my Facebook page (under the same title) as soon as the news broke of thousands of protesting public sector employees taking to the streets in Madison, WI. In the FB comment I called Scott Walker, the newly elected Tea Party governor of Wisconsin a…
-
I have posted some links and comments to the Raymond Davis case on Brown Pundits…check it out: http://www.brownpundits.com/2011/02/16/raymond-davis-strategic-corporal/
-
An article in yesterday's NYT chronicles the evolution of the recent Egyptian revolution. There is no doubt that by and large the revolt against the government of Hosni Mubarak was planned, organized and launched by the tech savvy youth of Egypt. The peaceful protests caught the regime by surprise and the ham handed efforts to quell the uprising was not successful. (An interesting aside. Note who organized…
-
Two weeks ago I attempted to give a brief account of how society, particularly American society, applies democratic ideals differently to domestic and foreign policy. You can read that post here. I’m not sure I really succeeded at getting the point across. But now, in Egypt, we’ve been given a perfect example of what happens…
-
Twitter blocked in Egypt amid street protests – CNN.com. This topic was being discussed on facebook by some friends and there were comments about revolution and the threat of “fundamentalism”. I am posting two of my comments about the Egypt issue, I think the context is pretty clear from the comments: I think that the…
Accidental Blogger 