Int’l Affairs

Since the US still wields considerable economic power and possesses unmatchable military prowess, the entire world keenly watched the debates between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican hopeful Donald Trump for the most powerful position in the world, the President of the United States. The incendiary statement of firebrand Trump against asserting China, Russia and Islam led an overwhelming number …

As President Barack H. Obama’s second term is coming to its end and Donald J. Trump has been elected as the new president of the United States, it’s time to make a critical evaluation of Obama’s foreign policy. President Obama entered the Oval Office with an avowed aim to “change” the United States. However, when he is leaving the office, …

On July 15, 2016, a group of Turkish military officers, and soldiers under their command, staged a coup to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and take over the country. Their principal focus was on Ankara and Istanbul; taking control of Istanbul’s bridges, airports, the Turkish parliament, and some police stations. The coup was either ill-planned, badly executed or it was …

In his ‘war on corruption,’ Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a strange decision on November 8 when he announced that the government would get rid of the 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, which together make up about 80 percent of currency in circulation, and replace them with new 500-, 1,000- and 2,000- rupee notes. The decision seems to be poorly …

The Oxfam report “An Economy for the 1%,” which was released in January this year, showed that the richest 1% of the world have more wealth than the rest of the world combined. Power and privilege is being used to skew the economic system to increase the gap between the richest and the rest. Although world leaders have increasingly talked …

On October 21, South African government shocked the world with the announcement that it is pulling out of the International Criminal Court because the institution was exclusively prosecuting Africans and ignoring Western injustices done to the people of Africa. South African Justice Minister Michael Masutha said that the ICC was “inhibiting South Africa’s ability to honour its obligations relating to …

Amidst the growing populations and fewer resources to feed them, the increasing conflict in the world has given rise to the phenomenon of migration that has become the most contentious political issue of our times. Advanced economies, like Europe and the United States, are coming under mounting pressure of the influx of the refugees from war-torn regions of South Asia, …

In the recent past, there has been much debate on the concern of nuclear weapons going into the hands of terrorists. After the recent terrorist attacks on European cities, the issue is again in vogue and concerns are being expressed that the recent attacks in almost all parts of the world — from Belgium to France, from Germany to Turkey …

On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump managed to pull the biggest upset in US politics by tapping successfully into the anger of white voters and appealing to the lowest inclinations of people in a manner that would have probably impressed Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels himself. Some years ago, public intellectual Noam Chomsky warned that the political climate in the US …

The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November this year led to what is now called the 11/9 of America’s history. In a shocking surprise and contrary to most media projections and pollsters’ surveys, Americans chose a known playboy, a billionaire real estate developer-turned-reality television star Donald Trump with no government experience or exposure, as their next President. Democracy, …