In The News

The Kafkaesque Reality of Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws

Samira Shackle March 13, 2013
Blasphemy is a serious crime in Pakistan, but the law sets out no guidance, standards on evidence or safeguards against false accusations. As such, the law is subject to great abuse. Witnesses, police and court officials avoid repeating alleged comments, out of fear of attracting new charges. “The blasphemy law has created and facilitated a culture of vigilantism,” writes Samira Shackle in the...

Bangladesh Tackles Climate Change, Fuses Rice Paddies With Fish Farms

Naimul Haq March 4, 2013
Low-lying countries like Bangladesh understand that they must adapt quickly to climate change – and explore a range of options. Saltwater intrusion is destroying rice paddies. Combining aquaculture with rice farming could increase nutrition levels of food, reduce environmental damage and increase output capacity of land and neighboring waters, suggests a report from a fisheries management...

The Route of the Problem

Nayan Chanda February 25, 2013
The pace of growth for India is slowing. With a young workforce and high technological skills, the country shows promise. But it must “clean up the governmental morass and think holistically about what needs to be done to take advantage of its global connections and promote sustainable growth,” argues Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld. Strong growth and prosperity require reliable...

India: Still at the Center of the Indian Ocean

Nilanthi Samaranayake February 22, 2013
Despite speculation to the contrary, India is far from losing strategic influence in the Indian Ocean region. Its security cooperation and relations with states like Sri Lanka, Maldives and Seychelles remain strong, maintains Nilanthi Samaranayake, an analyst in the Strategic Studies division at CNA, a research institute in Alexandria, Virginia. The recent cancellation of an Indian airport...

Vietnam’s Economy Needs Reoriented Foreign Policy

David Brown February 20, 2013
After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the country’s Communist Party embraced a Soviet-style economic model. By the mid-1980s, the country’s elites could not help but compare results of Soviet and Chinese economic models and undertook Chinese-style reforms to enjoy globalization’s benefits. The surge of foreign investment capital since has led to reckless credit expansion and inflation. Businesses...

Under China’s Shadow, India Looks to Australia

Ashok Malik February 8, 2013
Australia and India are large democracies and former colonies of Britain, but the Cold War interfered with a close relationship for much of the 20th century as India drifted closer to the Soviet Union. Now, as China expands influence and the US pivots to Asia, India may be warming to the concept of an Indo-Pacific region – sharing strategy with neighbor Australia on matters of trade, security and...

APP to Preserve Indonesia’s Rainforests

Ben Bland February 8, 2013
Pressure from Greenpeace and awareness among Asia Pulp & Paper’s multinational customer base have prompted a promise from the firm to stop cutting natural forests and draining peatlands in Indonesia, reports Ben Bland for the Financial Times. The company is also calling on other logging firms operating in Indonesia to join the effort, as Indonesian people alone would have low carbon...