I recently came across an interesting book “Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary“, edited by Steven Weisman (PublicAffairs; 671 pages; $35). I came to know Moynihan (better known as “Pat”) as a young journalist when he was the U.S. ambassador in India in the early 1970s. Pat was described as “the nation’s best thinker among politicians since Lincoln, and its best politician among thinkers since Jefferson”. Pat served four presidents—John F. Kennedy,...

Today’s US Census report on poverty in the United States is a clarion call to our nation and our elected leaders, says Rev Jesse Jackson. “We in the United States possess the greatest resources and wealth ever known to humankind. So to have over 44 million people — 14% of our population — and 20% of our children living in poverty strains the soul of America. That fully one in four Americans — 72 million people — are “near poor” (officially, a family...

Australia’s ruling Labor party, led by Julia Gillard, and the opposition Liberal party, led by Tony Abbott, have failed to get a clear majority in the Parliament, for which elections were held Saturday. Both parties would now be wooing four Independents and one Green party member for support to gather the required majority to form a government. However, the final election outcome would be known in another two weeks after the counting of around 2.35 million postal votes. (Australia has 14 million...

Close on the heels of the WikiLeaks comes yet another shock for the US Administration. This time from America’s so-called “closest ally in its war against terror” in Afghanistan. In an interview to France-based daily newspaper Le Monde, President Asif Zardari of Pakistan had said, “the international community, of which Pakistan is a part, is losing the war against the Taliban because we have lost the battle for hearts and minds.” Taken aback by this strong comment,...

Like Bill and Hillary Clinton, I also got my only child, a daughter, married in 2005. And, boy, I know what I went through!!! I can share with Bill and Hillary the emotional (or whatever) feelings/usual thing one goes through on such an occasion. I congratulate The Week for capturing this moment for me “as the media speculates about Chelsea’s wedding this Saturday, July 31, according to multiple sources.” “Where will the nuptials take place? New York magazine’s Doree...

Peter Galbraith, the former United Nations’ deputy special representative for Afghanistan, raises a pertinent point regarding the White House response to WikiLeaks documents: “The Wikileaks documents, splashed in the Guardian and several other papers, provide useful confirmation of what is readily discerned from public sources: the Afghanistan War is going badly, the Taliban are exceptionally brutal, US forces have not always attacked the right targets and elements in Pakistan continue...

The world media is in a spin. The Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel have published a huge cache of secret military files from the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, detailing the war in Afghanistan. Readers can folllow the latest reactions to the Afghanistan war logs here at this Guardian blog. The huge cache of classified papers – posted by Wikileaks as the Afghan War Diary – is one of the biggest leaks in US history, reports the BBC. “The BBC’s David Loyn, in...

NYT’s Op-Ed Columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof, quotes the US federal Bureau of Labor Statistics that “for the first time in American history, men no longer inevitably dominate the labor force. Women were actually the majority of payroll employees for the five months that ended in March.” Does this mean that in the battle of sexes women have finally emerged as the winners? Well…Well… Men in top positions have not exactly distinguished themselves in recent times. Which...

Ariel Merari, a retired professor of psychology at Tel Aviv University in Israel, adds yet another interesting dimension to the plethora of research work that exists to study the minds of suicide bombers. Professor Merari says in his latest book that among the suicide bombers he interviewed “none were any more militant than the average Palestinian. For many, the suicide mission was their first involvement in terrorism. Ideological motivation was not what made them suicide bombers.” In...

As India gets increasingly trumpted overseas as an “almost” superpower, the sensitivity of some people from this big Asian country who have now settled abroad has risen in a seemingly direct proportion. So when Joel Stein wrote a recent humor column “My Own Private India”, the Time magazine had to print an apology to assuage the “hurt” among some readers, and explained that “it was in no way intended to cause offense.” I quite agree with the author of the...

Among the first few dramatic decisions taken by Australia’s first woman prime minister Julia Gillard was to redesignate the ‘Minister of Population’ as ‘Minister of Sustainable Population’. Soon the guessing game began. Does this change in name indicate less tolerance towards illegal boat people arriving in Australia, or generally aims to reduce the number of Asian people arriving here to make this country their home? The ruling Labour Party dethroned the once popular...

Fred Halliday, who passed away at age 64 last month, was not only a remarkable interpreter of the Middle East but a redoubtable teacher and man of many parts. In a tribute, The Economist writes: “Middle Eastern studies suffered, in his (Halliday’s) view, from three faults. One was ‘mappism’. Behind handy diplomatic counters marked on maps ‘Iran’, ‘Iraq’ or ‘Saudi Arabia’ he saw poorly understood societies that were complex and shifting....

Two recent news reports (related to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s cautious admonition to Pakistan on latter’s home-grown terrorists, and Pakistan celebrating test-firing of two ballistic missiles on Saturday capable of carrying nuclear warheads) confirm America’s continued reliance on this South Asian country. For some decades now there has been a general assumption of a two-dimensional US approach in dealing with Pakistan – an occasional public rebuke but full...

Does the takeover of the famous British confectionery company Cadbury by American Kraft company symbolize a hollowing-out of corporate Britain? The Economist takes an interesting and historical look on the implications of this and other major corporate take-overs in the changing global economy… More here…

British physicist Dr Stephen Hawking warned on his new TV show that Extraterrestrials (ETs), if they ever arrive, might be looking for conquest and plunder. He believes aliens could be more interested in exploiting our natural resources than sharing their technology with us. Is Planet Earth prepared to take them on? Or, will the might of the rich/developing nations exhausted fighting their own wars? Long before Stephen Hawking’s alien warning, the National Security Agency was preparing to...

Two recent reports — the United Nations’ Benazir Bhutto murder probe, and the STRATFOR Intelligence analysis — puts the global spotlight back on Pakistan. If the UN Bhutto murder investigation turned the needle of suspicion on Pakistan’s ruling coterie, the STRATFOR report highlights the US exit strategy in Afghanistan and America’s growing reliance on Pakistan. First the STRATFOR analysis: “The Americans want to leave — and if the price of departure is leaving...

America’s attention is rivetted to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, described as the most powerful woman in American history. As the date for voting on health care reform in House of Representatives approaches fast, can Mrs Pelosi, the House speaker, hold her party together? Is she up to the job? Lexington presents in The Economist an interesting profile of Mrs Pelosi and describes the exciting few days ahead. “To simplify a gruesomely complex process: if House Democrats approve a health bill the...

The Jewish Museum reopens at Albert Street in London on March 17. Writes David Aaronovitch in The Times of London: “The all-new Jewish Museum in North London has the sights and even the smells of an ancient British way of life. He recalls: “Five years ago I first went to an exhibition at the small Jewish Museum in North London. I suppose I saw it as a rather charming bijou museum, mostly about Jews showing things to other Jews. On March 17, however, it will be relaunched as a much bigger...

One hears a great deal about Shariah (Muslim law) and its strict code of conduct, especially with regard to women. So a recent story about an antiquated Jewish law came as an eye-opener. The Independent reports that Susan Zinkin, who divorced her husband in 1962, was forbidden from looking for new love for almost 50 years. Only when her husband died an old man this week was she released from being a “chained wife” under Jewish law. “Ms Zinkin, 73, a retired Orthodox Jewish teacher...

Now you would understand why I love the Brits… It seems they haven’t lost their legendary sense of wit and humour. Try this recent story in The Times of London: “Far right Australian politician Pauline Hanson moving to Britain.” I specially enjoyed the comments that followed this article. Here are three sample comments: “Coming to England to avoid Asians is a bit like emigrating to Australia because you don’t like hot weather!” “I just love this...

America, or the entire cinematic world, celebrates next month the centenary of Hollywood’s first movie. The filming in February 1910 of D. W. Griffith’s “In Old California” was considered a cultural landmark. Equally fascinating are the details about the development of Hollywood (situated just 11 kms from Los Angeles) coinciding with the birth of the first movie. Director D.W. Griffith discovered “the little village” (Hollywood) on his trips to California and...

Environmentalists who devote their time in a self-less manner towards making this earth more sustainable, have been in spotlight for quite a while now. This reflects their genuine concern, and also consideration for the coming generations. As Mahatma Gandhi put it succinctly: “There is enough for everyone’s need; but not enough for everyone’s greed.” However, there are also people who have almost become paranoid about the current environmental scene. The Independent takes...

At a time when the airlines are struggling for survival in the wake of rising fuel prices, the rail revolution in China, and the rail renewal in Europe, is drawing worldwide attention. Experts believe that these developments would immensely benefit the USA which lags far behind in the rail travel sector at present. An earlier CNN report said: “By 2010, the continent’s (Europe’s) rail operators expect 25 million passengers to be using its high-speed networks, up from around 14 million...

Osama bin Laden’s closest relatives, including a wife and children who disappeared from his Afghan camp at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, are living in a secret compound in Iran, reports The Times of London. “There has been uncertainty about the family’s whereabouts for the past eight years, with reports that some of the children had been killed in bombings, while others had joined their father in planning terrorist attacks. “However, relatives said that they...

Why celebrity young men such as Prince William of England, or young leading politician Rahul Gandhi of India, decide to spend a night at a place where the “poorest of the poor” in society spend their entire lives? Publicity? However, such symbolic acts do catapult homelessness, poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown, and other social issues into limelight in the celebrity-oriented media. The Hindustan Times stated: “Rahul Gandhi may spend night in...