People in the UK are debating whether information received from the United States through torture of Al-Qaeda captives was necessary to ‘protect’ lives.  While protecting citizens’ lives should be a government’s first priority, this country has had the proud history of sacrificing the lives of its young men in

In a surprise victory, Nenshi — who ran a middle-of-the-road campaign with good usage of social media — won the Calgary elections, becoming the first Muslim to be mayor of a major Canadian city.  Harvard-educated and an administrator, Nenshi won 40% of the vote.

This site started right in the aftermath of 9/11, and it recorded those early days of uncertainty.  No-one knew exactly where we were headed.  Looking at the historical posts, one can probably see waves of activity — around the Iraq war, around the London Underground attacks of 2005.  Then we

You just cannot get more secular and mainstream and politically savvy than Fareed Zakaria.? He has returned the award for journalism that he received a few years ago from the ADL (Anti-Defamation League).? He has given his reasons, among which are: > “You are choosing to use your immense prestige

Not my favourite paper, but the first link I managed to find. The theme is the same as before: if you provide an audience and a platform for communications, you have a certain responsibility. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/07/15/david-cameron-complains-to-facebook-over-raoul-moat-tribute-groups-115875-22413996/ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/

It just keeps getting worse.? Torture by the United States, and now, human guinea-pigs.? This is irreparable harm to humanity as a whole.? No longer one-time thing with Hitler, it would need to be brought out of the bracket of ‘one-time evil’ into more mainstream academic thought and research.

Ultimately, as Otto von Bismarck once implied, the biggest political changes are brought about by demographic changes, over which there is little control. Here is a look at four demographic trends that will dictate politics for the next 50 years: 1. Increasingly young population in the Middle East / Arab world

Social networking is about community empowerment, and not so much about monolithic corporate control.? Myspace learnt it, Bebo learnt it, and sadly, Facebook is also learning it.? It is mighty hard for a faceless giant with no sense of privacy or sensitivity to be a great ‘social’ facilitator. So, I

The sight of all these cheap-carrier short-haul planes stuck at airports was soothing — little hustler-hoppers that cheapened us by making us rush for seats, squeeze oversize bags into overhead bins, etc. You know the drill. I am sure someone in Ryair or ZYJet is a sadist observing human behaviour and

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A few years ago, I quit a contract to design an interface for the MIB (Medical Insurance Bureau) for a health insurance company.? It just didn’t feel right that a health insurance company would ‘blacklist’ people because of some sickness.? This was in New Jersey.? It was also in

Something tells me that the story of the Mabhouh murder in Dubai has more legs than it has already run on, and it appears to be the apex of a trend of continuing stories coming out of Dubai and UK papers over the last year or so. Yesterday, a minor

With Joe Stack flying a plane into a building in Austin, Newsweek did some soul-searching over using the word ‘terrorist’, and provided insight into their internal e-mail debate. Admittedly, the language has changed since 9/11. > Michael Isikoff: . . .And as for your point— haven’t domestic groups declared war

Banking CEOs find the time to ‘coach’ kids out of college who are going to write the legislation to reign in the financial industry: > Kicking off a two-day event designed to “help” legislative aides who will be writing the rules designed to rein in and reform Wall Street, the

A friend and I engaged in a debate about the Indian Famines during the British Raj. Here is the book under discussion and its review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/feb/11/historybooks.martinbright And here is my take on the issue: Colonialism was ugly and repressive and

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Some thoughts cross the mind during the daily commute, and it seems that fellow passengers do get a bit uneasy by my blank stares, often at someone’s shoe, or at the door, or even at the ceiling. ?I have a hunch that these disjointed thought are somehow connected, but

There is a lot of response, some of it negative, on?my article about the Afghanistan war [http://chowk.com/articles/16464], most of the serious criticism was around my use of the word ‘fluke’. In summary:?We have over 8 years of hindsight on 9/11 to gain some

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