(1 comments)        Saturday, March 27, 2021
The Consequences of the Past
SHARE A natural experiment in non-colonialism occurred in Siam (Thailand). The subsequent history of Thailand till today is a pedagogic foil to South Asia's turbulent politics and economics down to the present day.

       Monday, November 4, 2019
Thoughts on al-Baghdadi
SHARE Islamic State succeeded, as it did, due to Sunni resentment at being the underdog.

       Friday, July 26, 2019
The Passing of General Ershad
SHARE General H M Ershad, former president of Bangladesh, has passed away. He will be fondly remembered for a rational, non-ideological and happy administration.

       Monday, January 31, 2011
CONFESSIONS OF A STUDENT POLITICIAN OF BANGLADESH
SHARE Student politicians have been used by the major political parties as agents of violence in Bangladesh. They have become a criminalized group. This interview is of a student politician who was active before, during and after the democratic transition of December 1990.

       Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Getting Away
SHARE If modern civilization has been such a great idea, why are we constantly trying to get away? I'm not speaking only of tourists, but of observers like Lawrence and Gauguin, who found in the less civilized parts of mankind something higher and better.

(3 comments)        Sunday, March 1, 2009
Bigotry, not logic, prevails - like evil
SHARE I received a bigoted postscript from - wait for it! - the OEN. No logic or reasoning of any kind was offered: its sole purpose was to browbeat me into agreement with the editor. Why should an editor abuse his position in this manner?

(3 comments)        Friday, May 30, 2008
A Defence of Religion
SHARE Certain western thinkers use irrationality as a ground for the superiority of western civilisation, a ground that gives them the moral authority to look down upon, and manipulate, the irrational. It may come as a shock to them to learn that we are all irrational, equally human.

       Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Iftekhar Sayeed at Unlikely 2.0
SHARE The failure of the nation state in South Asia is reflected in the region's cinema, which clearly shows a lack of shared imagination, with films being classified as A grade and C grade, corresponding to their elite and mass audiences respectively. Unsurprisingly, the female form shows the same schizophrenia at work, with the mass audience demanding the traditional, heavy female form, and the westernized elite the lighter.