Throne of sand

IN Japan, ritual suicide is known as hara-kiri. In Great Britain, the equivalent is a referendum.

Saving the Sundarbans – The foreign aid conundrum

In the wake of the Paris Conference of Parties (COP) 21, as countries are designing their post-climate action plans, needless to say, aid for developing countries for climate change adaptation and mitigation needs remains on the negotiating table.

China is not getting a fair shake, US expert says

Chen Weihua, deputy editor of China Daily, USA, talked with MYRON NORDQUIST in a telephone interview regarding the South China Sea arbitration case initiated by Manila against Beijing before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The Hague, Netherlands.

Dawn of a new era

‘Whatever else shall pass away, this must remain’  THIS is the standard that I privately apply to the inaugural addresses of Presidents and Prime Ministers, in this country or elsewhere. Oftentimes, the speeches just perish on the page or on the computer monitor. But a few remain and grab mind and heart, eliciting occasional recollection and quotation.

Post-Brexit blues

AGITATED markets, a tumbling pound-sterling, a downgraded credit rating: none of these should have been an unexpected outcome of the British electorate’s decision last weekend to opt out of the European Union.

Little England

Sometimes you just have to lie back and think of England. But how can one think of England without thinking of Shakespeare? And when you think of Shakespeare, how can you ignore Macbeth, his most Scottish of plays, and in particular the line: “we but teach bloody instructions, which being taught, return to plague the inventor”.

Toward a More Reflective Planet

The last time the atmosphere held as much carbon dioxide as it does today was about three million years ago – a time when sea levels were 10-30 meters higher than they are now. Climate models have long struggled to duplicate those large fluctuations in sea levels – until now. Indeed, for the first time, a high-quality model of Antarctic ice and climate has been able to simulate these large swings. That is smart science, but it brings devastating news.

From Grexit to Brexit: Eurosceptics Claim their -Exit

AFP - It started with “Grexit” -- the long trumpeted but never realised axing of Greece from the European Union. It was then reborn as “Brexit” as Britain started down the -- this time voluntary -- path of leaving the bloc.

To Be Fixed, Europe Needs a Wrecking Ball

One-time shot exclusive for The Manila Times WASHINGTON: Imagine a young Margaret Thatcher, a politician who deeply mistrusts the political establishment and identifies on a gut level with the frustrations of the middle class. That’s shorthand for what Britain will need as it picks up the pieces after Thursday’s “Brexit” referendum.

Cotton Crisis

Pakistan’s economy is in grave trouble. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2015-16, it failed to meet the growth target of 5.5pc in FY2016. GDP grew by 4.7 pc. This was mainly due to the ‘major setback’ (to use the finance minister’s words) in agriculture.

Islamists and Secularists Adjust to Work Together

It is encouraging to watch how Rachid Ghannouchi and Nahdha, the largest and most popular Islamic political party in Tunisia which is now widely expected to come to power again in the next election, have been transforming over time. Recently Ghannouchi astonished the world by declaring that “We will exit political Islam”, meaning that the country would be working to separate religious work from politics. Coming from one who once advocated Sharia law in governance, this change is amazing. Ghannouchi's leadership of remaining flexible, without compromising fundamental values and principles of Islam, has played a major role in helping Tunisia to become a vibrant democracy today, when other countries in the region have failed.

Brits Shouldn’t ‘Brexit’

Today the British will vote in their “Brexit” referendum whether to stay in or exit from the European Union. The United Kingdom applied for the first time to join what was then called the European Economic Community, in 1961. The Brit movers for membership were afraid their country would get politically isolated from Western Europe. At that time the USA’s and its allies’ Cold War with the Soviet Union was still ablaze.

Lords of the Campus

Thomas Pogge is a professor of philosophy at Yale University, one of the most eminent educational institutions in the world. From there he directs the Global Justice Centre, which advocates, among other issues, the premise that the wealthy countries of the world have a moral and ethical responsibility towards providing aid to poorer nations.

Collective Indifference or Silent Acceptance?

When blogger Rajib Haider was killed in 2013, the outcry was tremendous. But, over the next three years, at least 38 more were added to the list of those murdered, which includes writers, publisher, foreigners, religious minorities and LGBT rights activists. There have been reports about alleged IS involvement, and last week, the security forces launched a drive that resulted in the arrest of 194 'militants'. But the collective outrage over people being murdered seems to have mellowed.

Is globalization the death knell of branding?

SPEAKING to his company’s investor conference last Tuesday, Alibaba founder Jack Ma made a controversial, and entirely valid, observation: “The problem is that the fake products today, they make better quality, better prices than the real products, the real names,” Ma said, according to a Bloomberg report. “It’s not the fake products that destroy them, it’s the new business models.”