Articles

Sanctions are viewed as representing the middle ground in international politics. Considered more severe than verbal condemnation, they are less severe than the use of force.

The Independent Commission of Inquiry established by the UN Human Rights Council did not mince words. At a Geneva press conference on February 28, its spokesperson said that by shooting unarmed civilians in Gaza, Israel “may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The video is chilling: 23-year-old Mahmoud el-Ahmady desperately appeals to the judge in an Egyptian court. His testimony is agonising to watch: a young man who has obviously been brutalised by an unfair regime, now trying to prove his innocence before a flawed justice system.

If Indian rulers still do not understand why the Kashmiris hate them so intensely, perhaps the Pulwama attack should send a powerful message. The Kashmiris want the Indian off their backs.

Shunned by the rest of the world in the wake of the Jamal Khashoggi murder, Muhammad bin Salman was embraced and feted by the Pakistanis. This may turn out to be a costly mistake for Pakistan.

The Americans have lost to the Taliban in Afghanistan. What is euphemistically referred to as “negotiations” are really the terms of American surrender to be able to safely withdraw their forces from Afghanistan.

Islamic Iran has survived for 40 years because it adhered to Islamic principles but sectarianism and nationalism are gradually creeping in. These must be guarded against just as the Ikhwan must re-evaluate their conduct over the last 40 years to rectify their mistakes.

Muhammad bin Salman is clumsier than Inspector Clouseau of Pink Panther fame but the former is far more deadly since he controls virtually everything in the medieval kingdom.

If Donald Trump is smart—a big if—he should do in Afghanistan what Richard Nixon did in Vietnam: declare victory and get the hell out. Staying put, as the Washington warlords are demanding, would merely prolong America’s misery.

America is in the midst of a civil war. The Reds and the Blues that fought in 1861 never disappeared. They are very much alive and there is every likelihood that the US might disintegrate in the new bust-up.