India’s Modi: Messiah or Menace?
When the Hindu sages developed their way of life, they divided people into four castes: Brahmins, the thinkers, scholars and priests at the top for they were the guides; Kshatriyas,…
When the Hindu sages developed their way of life, they divided people into four castes: Brahmins, the thinkers, scholars and priests at the top for they were the guides; Kshatriyas,…
Her name means beautiful, and she is despite her tragic life. Hasina recalls the day when the Myanmar army set fire to her village and killed the inhabitants, including…
Storms are savaging East Africa where rainfall in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is now over 300 mm (about a foot) higher than the 30-year mean tallied since 1981. The subsequent…
News stories have Donald Trump being mocked by France's Macron at a Buckingham Palace reception for the NATO leaders meeting. A nearby open mic caught the incident. Trump's response was…
One of the very first investigative journalists, Ida Tarbell went after the "throttling hand" of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller. By 1880, his company owned 90 percent of US…
It is Thanksgiving holiday in the US. The Europeans do not celebrate Thanksgiving and the European Parliament has held an election. It has chosen former German Defense Minister Ursula von…
Co-Written by Arshad M. Khan and Meena Miriam Yust If humans have been lucky, basking in the comforting warmth of an inter-glacial period for the last 10,000 years, that luck…
Forever known by his phrase 'reverence for life', Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, moral philosopher, physician and missionary. He was born in Alsace when it was German, and became a…
California wildfires are again in the news as the Kincade Fire now raging risked 50,000 people, who have been evacuated. It might come as a surprise but there have been…
The only certainty in war is its intrinsic uncertainty, something Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could soon chance upon. One only has to look back on America's topsy-turvy fortunes in…
There are numbers for everything these days, and as President Trump makes clear often enough his favorite number is 1. But then in the wealth number categories, he really would…
What could it be if not the chill of the Autumn air and the thought of winter -- some people love it of course with its winter sports even if…
No one could fail to be touched by the fear (for the future) and urgency in Greta Thunberg's young voice as she broke down while addressing world leaders on the…
Not very long ago (Sept 2, 2019), India launched a rocket to the far side of the moon. It carried a lunar lander that fell silent following the landing…
To say Greta Thunberg is a remarkable young girl is to understate her accomplishments. She is phenomenal. She has successfully exploited social media and through dogged persistence -- including…
Mid-August is when the subcontinent celebrates independence from Britain. Born in a cauldron of hate 72 years ago, India today is again filling it to the brim. In one fell…
So Boris Johnson has become Britain's prime minister. He has been trying and scheming, scheming and trying including undermining David Cameron. A 'remainer' before, Johnson saw political capital in the…
It's one for the history books, as they say. On July 16, 2019, Donald Trump was formally rebuked by the House (in a 240 to 187 vote) for his 'racist'…
The bullying in Washington is the current trend. On Monday, the British ambassador resigned his post after Trump refused to deal with him. Well-liked in Washington and the halls of…
If the fourth of July mid-day parade in Washington D.C. was depressing, perhaps the heavy, hot and humid weather was to blame. It seemed to take the life out…
Two meetings ended last week: the G20 meeting, a forum for leaders and central bank chiefs, and the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn. At the G20, the work behind…
On the last day of the UN Climate Change (June 17-27, 2019) meeting in Bonn the key IPCC report on 1.5 C was blocked from further discussion by Saudi Arabia…
War is a failure of reason, it has been said, and war with Iran makes little sense after they have faithfully complied with their nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan…
On the evening of January 30, 1948, as he walked to his regular interfaith prayer meeting, Mahatma Gandhi was shot and killed. The assassin Nathuram Godse was a Hindu nationalist…
Mette Frederiksen of the five-party Social Democrat bloc won 91 of the 169 seats in the Danish parliament ending the rule of the right-wing Liberal Party group that had governed…
Robert Mueller let loose a thunderbolt midweek. Donald Trump had not been charged, he said, because it was Department of Justice policy not to charge a sitting president. Dumping the…
The Indian elections are over. Despite Narendra Modi's abysmal economic record -- industrial production has slumped, farmers are in trouble and had been demonstrating their plight, and unemployment is at…
Two colonial mass killings from the twentieth century are always remembered: The Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre on April 23, 1930 in Peshawar (then India, now in Pakistan) was the result…
The pangolin is a timid little creature going about its nocturnal ways, slurping up ants and termites with a tongue longer than its body. It has no teeth. Its defense…
If a tragedy is watching disaster unfold and being powerless to stop it, then such is Brexit -- a conundrum wrapped in an enigma as the saying goes. The UK…
When Michael Cohen, fixer for Donald Trump, payoff-artist and jailbird-to-be, who starts 3-year prison sentence on May 6, branded his former boss a liar and cheat who ran for president…
Something is infinitely wrong in the picture, a juxtaposition of polar opposites: New Zealand, a country of unfailingly courteous and kind people, and an extremist terrorist killing 50 Muslims at…
Does anyone remember Nigel Farage? He led the UK Independence Party and the 'leave' EU vote -- along with his last minute ally Boris Johnson who hoped to push himself…
Ever since out first ancestor lit a fire, humans have been pumping CO2 into the atmosphere. Add to that the first herder because ruminants are another large emitter of greenhouse…
New environmental research continues to alarm as three studies published within the past week amply demonstrate. Danish scientists report a significant increase in winter rain over Greenland. The rain-induced…
Miscalculation and a bit of overreach on both sides and we have a regrettable end to the North Korea Summit. Each party thought the other was desperate for a deal: …
In the wake of climate-fueled disasters and several alarming reports on climate change, a gap is evident -- a gap between how the world is responding to the climate crisis…
As countries continue their squabbles, their home the earth is going to hell in a handbasket. A new review paper in Biological Conservation reports 40 percent of insect species are…
Climate change reports are seldom sanguine. Carbon dioxide, the principal culprit, is at record levels, about twice the preindustrial value and a third higher than even 1950. Without abatement it…
We now have the remarkable convenience of the internal combustion engine, and also its noise and chaos and emissions to energize climate change. Burning fossil fuels has put us on…
When Thomas Piketty published his book "Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century" five years ago, it was a sensation. He had analyzed historical concentrations of wealth. Why do the rich get…
It doesn't take much to imagine the following scenario: 'Cross my heart, I swear it's a low-yield,' as a Trident is launched! One wonders if the new low-yield W76-2 warhead…
The World Economic Forum met this week (January 22-25) for its 48th annual meeting since its inception. It costs $60,000 or Swiss Francs to become a member and another 27,000…
Four weeks and counting the shutdown continues except the Trump-Congress tit-for-tat is fast approaching kindergarten level. The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the…
Compromise is the essence of democracy for a good reason; it is the glue holding it together. It is how a country can unite after an election; it is when…
... And my life's cold winter that knew no spring; Of my mind so weary and sick and wild, Of my heart too sad to sing. …
People voted for Donald Trump under the assumption, Mexico would be paying for your border wall. They why should the people pay now in this bait-and-switch game, when hardly any…
It would be a silly question indeed to ask why December 25th is celebrated. On the other hand, one could ask why it is a national holiday in Pakistan, for…
Humans are an interesting species ... instead of seeing eye-to-eye, they see eye-to-nose. They focus on the present and themselves, particularly where their comfort is concerned, no matter how…
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered the Second World War. A war of horrors, it normalized the intensive, barbaric bombing of civilian populations. If…
President Trump's abrupt cancellation of bilateral talks with Mr. Putin at the G-20 meeting in Argentina -- following the seizure of Ukrainian ships by Russia -- puts any rapprochement on…
Thanksgiving is quite a U.S. holiday. In one day, we manage to eat and enjoy 44 million turkeys, twice the number consumed at Christmas. Yes, vegetarians may live longer and…
That the current U.S. president places a premium on loyalty has been evident from the start -- loyalty not to the institutions of government and their legal functions but loyalty…
The midterm elections are over, the result ... a split-decision. The Democrats will control the House, raising the possibility of an impeachment attempt. The Senate remains under Republican control with…
In a statement this week, Istanbul's chief prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, says Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate. If this alone does not make a…
East Island was an uninhabited remote island in the Hawaiian chain, but it was an important refuge for wildlife: Many of the endangered Hawaiian monk seals numbering about 1400 raised…
The maliciously mocking, malevolent, maladroit, misfit, malappropriating the White House got his comeuppance this week ... at least for a while. Senator Elizabeth Warren released her DNA test results conducted…
Hurricanes and storms on both sides of the Atlantic appeared to encore the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. It had just concluded the finalization of a special report on the impact of…
Hurricane Michael wreaked havoc as it traversed the Florida panhandle. The first Category 5 hurricane to hit the area since 1881 when records began, its 155 mph winds (only 5…
Not only are we in a sense defined by our DNA, but new research shows our behavior may also be affected by that of our ancestors. So observe the authors…
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