Gwynne Dyer, Japan Times
The BNP’s alliance with Islamist parties pushes it ever closer to the religious extremists, and Hasina’s pandering to conservative Islamic sentiment (in order not to lose devout Muslim voters to the BNP) is taking her party in the same direction. And Islamic State and al-Qaida definitely are active in the country. Bangladesh is in deep trouble.
Peter Foster, Telegraph
Europe’s ageing demographics and sluggish growth require immigration; its holiday destinations need Turkish tourists; its businessmen need trading partners. The truth is that Europe’s borders need to be effectively policed, not shut down as many on the populist Right demand.
Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg
Scottish independence is still very much on the political agenda; polls taken this year asking how people would currently vote still show the separatists lagging, though their shortfall is now consistently about half what it was at the actual vote.
John Schindler, Observer
Russians behaving like drunk a-holes with Mach 2 jet fighters endanger more than the lives of aircrews.
Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic
The man who went from being described as a pest to the most dangerous man in Iraq is backthough Moqtada al-Sadr and his supporters are likely to say he never went anywhere in the first place. The Shiite clerics supporters stormed Baghdads supposedly secure Green Zone on Saturday and took over Parliament, demanding improved public services and an end to corruption. They left Sunday, on Sadrs orders, after ISIS attacked an Iraqi city. Their departure avoided... Читать дальше...
Barbara Slavin, ALM
Iranian officials have expressed frustration with the slow pace of tangible economic benefits they have seen since implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Jan. 16. A key impediment has been Iran’s difficulty in fully reconnecting to the international financial system.
Osama Abo El Ezz, NY Times
The United States and Russia say they are committed to the cessation of hostilities and that it extends to Aleppo. But we need more than hollow statements. We need them to push their allies to respect international humanitarian and human rights law. Hospitals cannot be targets.
Ray Takeyh, Foreign Policy
The contentious Obama years conceal the fact that the president’s hesitation actually enjoyed a measure of popular support. The primary campaign in both parties revealed a public not just distrustful of elites and their institutions, but dubious of the notion that the United States should bear the burdens of the Middle East.
Evan Thomas, New York Times
Mr. Trump’s anti-elite chatter is nothing new. On the stump in 1952, Nixon, then Dwight D. Eisenhower’s running mate, delighted in referring to the Democratic presidential nominee, Gov. Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, a Princeton graduate, as an “egghead” — an effeminate intellectual.
Siddhartha Deb, New Republic
In September 2014, at Madison Square Garden in New York, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, addressed a crowd of nearly 20,000 people. It was a sold-out spectacle worthy of a lush Bollywood production, with dancers warming up the audience and giant screens flashing portraits of Modi in the style of Shepard Fairey’s 2008 Barack Obama “Hope” posters. There was a revolving stage, a speed portrait painter, and a bipartisan coterie of American politicians, including senators Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez... Читать дальше...
Sam Jefferies, RealClearWorld
Sam Jefferies is a senior director at Dezenhall Resources, one of the nation’s leading crisis communications firms, and a former international trade and investment lobbyist.
Reva Goujon, Stratfor
From Paz's description, you would think Mexico were a member of the Warsaw Pact, a grey and isolated place dripping with paranoia where people live like hermits and constantly eye each other with suspicion. This is definitely not the impression you would get from walking through one of the city's many bustling markets, where you can pay on the honor system for a quesadilla fresh off the griddle or lime-sprinkled jicama among a throng of people of all ages. Nor does Paz's description fit the scene of the Mexican cantina... Читать дальше...
Florian Eder, Politico EU
Planned relocation scheme would have financial penalties for those who dont join in.
Krishnadev Calamur, The Atlantic
The man who went from being described as a “pest” to “the most dangerous man in Iraq” is back—though Moqtada al-Sadr and his supporters are likely to say he never went anywhere in the first place. The Shiite cleric’s supporters stormed Baghdad’s supposedly secure Green Zone on Saturday and took over Parliament, demanding improved public services and an end to corruption. They left Sunday, on Sadr’s orders, after ISIS attacked an Iraqi city. Their departure avoided... Читать дальше...
Akbar Ganji, National Interest
Khamenei thinks America is up to no good, yet has a naively positive view of Putin's Russia.
Ben Lowsen, The Diplomat
The PLA has been creator, destroyer, hero, villain, and sometime savior of the Chinese nation.
Alibhai-Brown, Guardian
The whole universe may be found in a grain of London life,” wrote Peter Ackroyd. Sadiq Khan knows the grainy, multifarious life of the capital intimately. He is a real Londoner, and that is why he is the best choice for mayor. It matters more than his race, religion or class. Khan’s Pakistan-born father was a bus driver, his mother a seamstress. They had eight children, seven of them boys. The parents saved up to buy a home, and sent all their children to university. Khan has lived in public housing... Читать дальше...
Anja Manuel, Reuters
Pakistan is awash with a tidal wave of Chinese infrastructure projects.
L. Todd Wood, Wash. Times
London set to elect 1st Muslim mayor of a Western capital.
Anna Nemtsova, DB
What’s worrisome for Georgia is that this is the second known case of nuclear smuggling in less than six months. In January, the State Security Department detained three members of a criminal group “for the illegal handling and selling of nuclear material,” specifically the radioactive isotope Cesium-137, officials told The Daily Beast.
Praveen Swami, Indian Express
Last summer, as fighters from the jihadist Jabhat al-Nusra swept across the Orontes river into the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughur, a strange caravan followed in their wake: Thousands of women and children, marching across the border from refugee camps inside Turkey, to occupy the farms and homes of local residents who had fled. This was their promised land: An Islamic state to rival the Islamic State (IS). For some 3,500 families, though, their new home amidst the... Читать дальше...
Andreas Kluth, 1843 Magazine
That’s not to say that Germans live in a world that’s devoid of comedy or laughter; but it is a world that’s empty, almost, of irony, overstatement and understatement. Take the heute-show, for instance, a fairly blatant copycat job on “The Daily Show” as popularised by Jon Stewart in America. The German version is so awkward it makes me cringe. Instead of a raised eyebrow, we get full-body signals to laugh now. Punchlines don’t twist meaning ironically so much as invert it... Читать дальше...
Aaron David Miller, WS Journal
For all their bluster none of Hillary Clinton’s Republican rivals have “demonstrated anywhere near the appetite for military engagement abroad” that she has shown, Mark Landler wrote recently in the New York Times Magazine.