imperialism
Thinking through how to deal with violence in a less-powerful society that is at the whim of larger, more powerful societies is hard. I know I should sign this but take into account the competing agendas of not supporting liberal imperialism ever again and ameliorating humanitarian disasters. Take a look and see what you think and sign AFTER TAILORING the
30 Apr 2009
Sri Lanka has denied reports that a proposed loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is being delayed by the US, officials say.
American officials said the move was aimed at putting pressure on Colombo to do more to help civilians caught up in the fighting in the north.
But a senior Sri Lankan official says the talks are on schedule.
Sri Lanka has been holding talks with the IMF for a loan of nearly a $2bn to weather the global economic crisis.
International concern
20 Mar 2009
In order to forge an Afghan force that would wage this war, the United States needed camps in Pakistan. Pakistan was ruled by General Zia al-Huq, who had proclaimed two transcendent goals: imposing a "true Islamic order" in his country and building a nuclear bomb. He had also just hanged the elected leader he deposed, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This was the man the United States would have to embrace if it wanted Pakistan to support the anti-Soviet rebellion it hoped to foment in Afghanistan. It eagerly did so.
11 Feb 2009
When last week in Ha'aretz the Israeli historian Tom Segev judged Israeli "apathy" towards the massacre in Gaza as "chilling and shameful", he brought on deja vu among Indians. In 2002 the Hindu nationalist government of Gujarat supervised the killing of more than two thousand Muslims. The state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, who green-lighted the mass murder, seemed a monstrous figure to many Indians; they then watched aghast as the citizens of Gujarat - better-educated and more prosperous than most Indians - re-elected Modi by a landslide after the pogrom.
I. A few years ago, I was walking down the street near the East Village with some colleagues from various organizations when a woman came up to us and stopped us. "Have you heard about Gujara?" she asked me. She did this without saying hello, introducing herself, or saying her name--which all makes sense, because she was, in fact, a total stranger. She just happened to want to talk to me about the emotionally loaded topic of the Hindutva pogroms in Gujarat without knowing me, where I come from, or what my views might be.
