Showing 1 - 10 of 10
It's the economic history, stupid
Oped, Iker Saitua, Published on 14/01/2026
» Every year, I walk into a first-year lecture hall in Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and watch shoulders slump. The title of the course I'm teaching -- "Economic History" -- draws a similarly dejected reaction from my students: "Meh." "Boooring." "What's this even for?" Some call it "the history class", as if it belonged to another century.
As Trump returns, Sino-Indian ties are changing
Oped, Debasish Roy Chowdhury, Published on 24/01/2025
» Weeks before his return to the White House, US President-elect Donald Trump issued a pointed warning to the Brics countries. "Go find another sucker," he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, threatening the group's nine members with 100% tariffs should they attempt to challenge the dollar's global dominance.
What now after Israel's invasion of Lebanon?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/10/2024
» Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has launched his invasion of Lebanon. As usual in the opening stages of Israeli incursions into that fragile country, the signs and portents look good for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
'Bulldozer justice' reigns in an unchanging India
Oped, Debasish Roy Chowdhury, Published on 11/09/2024
» Politically motivated bulldozing has returned with a vengeance in India. Earlier this month in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a local Muslim leader and member of the opposition Congress party watched his home, supposedly "illegally built", reduced to rubble. A district official then gloated on social media that justice had been served for recent attacks on the police. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh, bulldozers flattened an "illegal" shopping complex owned by a Muslim functionary of an opposition party who had recently been arrested on charges of gang-raping a minor girl.
Women bearing disasters' brunt
Oped, Joyita Roy Chowdhury & Prarthna Agarwal Goel, Published on 03/10/2023
» Of the many natural disasters that afflict India each year, floods are by far the most prevalent. This is no surprise, given that around 40 million hectares of land in the country are prone to flooding, and nearly 75% of the annual rainfall comes in the space of a few months.
Tone-deaf schools
Oped, Postbag, Published on 30/06/2021
» How are all industries being affected by this Covid crisis and yet international schools remain untouched (save a few) by pricing? In fact, the top-tier schools have increased their fees, a tone-deaf move in this pandemic for potentially cash-strapped parents to both pay and teach their children while paying full prices for a so-called education.
When 'mowing the grass' will no longer do
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 20/05/2021
» 'We didn't want this conflict, but now that it's started it has to end with a sustained period of quiet," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "That can only be achieved by Israel taking out Hamas -- their military structure, their command and control." Or, as the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) would put it, by "mowing the grass".
A 'culture of silence' at work is not OK
Oped, Boonwara Sumano and N Aneksomboonphon, Published on 10/03/2021
» Every year on March 8, we celebrate International Women's Day to recognise the progress we have made in women's social, economic and political advancement. And every year, we still hear about heart-rending incidents that make us realise that we still have a long way to go towards a safer world for women and girls.
Are we ready for the first real automatons?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 30/01/2021
» They were planning to put on a play written by an artificial intelligence programme in Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic, this month, to mark the invention of robots (or at least the idea of robots) in the same city exactly one hundred years ago. The coronavirus pandemic got in the way of that, and it will now only be available free online late next month. Kind of symbolic, really: the future is quite different than what they expected.
America can learn from India's weeks-long polls
Oped, Sandip Roy, Published on 06/11/2020
» Americans have long been accustomed to knowing the results of elections by the time they go to bed on Election Day. This year is forcing them to realise that's not necessarily the norm. Democracy, unlike candy, does not come out of a vending machine delivering instant gratification. And that's a good thing.