Asia

By Jessica Purkiss and Mateen Arian This story was published in partnership with: The New York Times. ( The Bureau of Investigative Journalism) – It was 4am when Masih Ur-Rahman Mubarez’s wife Amina called, an unusually early time for their daily chat. When he picked up the phone, he could hear the panic in her […]

China

China to Iran’s Rescue? Trump might successfully anger Beijing or Tehran, but not Both

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said at a news conference on Saturday that China opposes US unilateral sanctions on Iran and appreciates Iran’s continued commitment to the 2015 nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, despite the breach of it by the Trump administration. This, […]

China

You’ll Soon be Driving an Electric Car, but it will be Made in China and You won’t be Great Again

The Conversation

By Jack Barkenbus | – The electric vehicle revolution is coming, but it won’t be driven by the U.S. Instead, China will be at the forefront. My research on EVs, dating back a decade, convinces me that this global transformation in mobility, from petroleum-fueled vehicles to electric ones, will come sooner than later. The shift […]

Buddhism

Sri Lanka’s Mainstream Muslims Caught in Nexis of Extreme Nationalisms and Fringe Radicalism

The Conversation

By Andreas Johansson | – More than 300 people have now been confirmed killed in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. Several sources had suggested a domestic Muslim Islamist group may have been linked to the atrocity – but Islamic State (IS) has now also claimed responsibility. Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is spread across the […]

Featured

“The Nearest in Love:” On how the Sri Lankan Death Cult Betrayed the Islamic Values of the Qur’an

Juan Cole

A tiny death cult in Sri Lanka calling itself “Sri Lanka Tawheed Jamaat” (not to be confused with a big mainstream organization of the same name in India) appears to be responsible for the eight coordinated bombings at luxury hotels and Christian churches on Sunday. By now the tactic is familiar, if monstrous. These small, […]

astronomy and outer space

The Coming Great Satellite Space War between Nuclear-Armed India and Pakistan

Dilip Hiro

It’s still the most dangerous border on Earth. Yet compared to the recent tweets of President Donald Trump, it remains a marginal news story. That doesn’t for a moment diminish the chance that the globe’s first (and possibly ultimate) nuclear conflagration could break out along that 480-mile border known as the Line of Control (and, […]

Bangladesh

Bangladesh to Exile 100K Rohingya Refugees to an Island “Prison”

Human Rights Watch

By Brad Adams, Asia Director | – (Human Rights Watch) – Relocating Refugees to Unsafe Island Would Risk Lives, Livelihoods Bangladesh authorities say they will soon start relocating over 100,000 Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char, a tiny island in the Bay of Bengal. Officials said this is necessary to reduce pressure on the world’s largest […]

China

A Modest Proposal for Trump: End Trade War & Maybe China will Build you a Wall (They have Experience)

Tom Engelhardt

(Tomdispatch.com) – We have two intractable issues, one intractable president, and an intractable world, but what if it weren’t so? What if those two intractable problems could be swept off the table by a single gesture from that same intractable man? As a start, consider the problem of President Trump’s embattled “great, great wall,” the […]

Climate Change

Climate Crisis: Glacier Melt, Droughts, Floods require Indo-Pak Cooperation to Avoid Disaster

contributors

By Omair Ahmad | – (The Third Pole) – With glacier retreat, permafrost melt, and extreme rainfall events, ICIMOD’s HIMAP report suggests that the countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas have to start cooperating far more closely, or pay a huge price Water in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region is going through large and […]