Asia

The Fox News commentators who say that the Muslim world is not doing enough to police its own extremist movements don’t actually seem to be reading the news. If anything in a number of countries they’ve gone overboard with a Bush style ‘war on terror.’ To wit: 1. On Wednesday, the commander of Libya’s Air […]

Climate Change

India-Pakistan Solar Energy Race? Desert Solar Park among world’s Largest

contributors

Pakistan’s first large-scale solar power project, the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project, was recently inaugurated by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, representing one of the country’s first clear steps towards renewable energy. The project…

Central Asia

The Eurasian Pivot: Is it China’s and Russia’s Century?

contributors

(By Pepe Escobar via Tomdispatch) HONG KONG — A specter is haunting Washington, an unnerving vision of a Sino-Russian alliance wedded to an expansive symbiosis of trade and commerce across much of the Eurasian land mass — at the expense of the United States. And no wonder Washington is anxious. That alliance is already a […]

Economy

5 Reasons India’s new BJP (“Tea Party”) Government may not be so Great for Business

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India’s elections is being hailed in some Western media as a hopeful sign for US-Indian trade and for Indian business. But like the US Tea Party movement, it is rent by internal contradictions that could derail such aspirations. The BJP has many resemblances […]

Afghanistan

US Military Report: War effort in Afghanistan was bedeviled by Corruption, made it Worse

Juan Cole

Enlarge Air Force aerial porters load a shipping container onto a C-130 Hercules cargo plane at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Khost Province, Afghanistan, Sept. 22, 2013. The 19th MCT, a small squadron of Air Force surface movement controllers and…

CIA

Pakistan: CIA “Bin Laden” Unit’s Fake Vaccination Ploy Sparked Polio Crisis

Juan Cole

(By Sarah Lazare) A Pakistani official on Thursday slammed the CIA's fake vaccination drive in 2011 for fueling distrust of polio eradication campaigns and driving "attacks on polio workers" as the country grapples with an outbreak of this highly infectious disease. Speaking to reporters at a press briefing, a spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign […]

Drones

The True Costs of Remote Control Drone Wars

Juan Cole

(By Pratap Chatterjee via Tomdispatch) Enemies, innocent victims, and soldiers have always made up the three faces of war. With war growing more distant, with drones capable of performing on the battlefield while their “pilots” remain thousands of miles away, two of those faces have, however, faded into the background in recent years. Today, we […]

Islam-hatred

How Myanmar’s government is making Buddhist violence toward Muslims worse

Juan Cole

MEIKHTILA, Myanmar — “For three days,” Khine recalls, “our town was hell.” As the 32-year-old waitress tells it, the nightmare began with masked men waving Buddhist banners. Then came vigilantes, with torches and blades, butchering families…

Afghanistan

The Longest War: How the US drove potential Afghanistan Allies into the Arms of the Taliban

Juan Cole

(By Anand Gopal via Tomdispatch.com) It was a typical Kabul morning. Malik Ashgar Square was already bumper-to-bumper with Corolla taxis, green police jeeps, honking minivans, and angry motorcyclists. There were boys selling phone cards and men waving wads of cash for exchange, all weaving their way around the vehicles amid exhaust fumes. At the gate […]