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February, 2009
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January, 2009
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 Why is it that ever since 9/11, every time there is a security lapse concerning a European country or the U.S., Pakistan is among those drawn into the eye of the storm? In the immediate aftermath of the foiled bomb attack by a Nigerian man on a Detroit-bound American aircraft on December 25, the United States announced that citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, flying to the United States would be subjected to intense screening. President Barack Obama categorically admitted that while the U.S. intelligence community had known of "red flags" indicating al Qaeda's plans to strike U.S. targets in Yemen, it had failed to connect those dots. He was therefore fully justified in having used sharp words to condemn the foul up while addressing his security chiefs in a closed door meeting.
Pakistan took the right step when its ambassador in Washington asked the United States to exclude the country's name from its watch list. He lodged an official protest over the extra security steps and termed the new regulations as "discriminatory and derogatory." Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also expressed serious reservations about the new security measures introduced by the U.S. government for Pakistani nationals and termed them as unfair.
It is unfortunate that with all the latest technology and resources at its command, the U.S. has been subjected to various terrorist attempts in past years. Leaders in countries on the new watch list have strongly protested against the ‘special' security measures and have termed them as grossly unwarranted. The key question being asked is that if the entire populations of so many countries are treated as suspects with one blanket decision, will it not tend to alienate people? It is also doubtful whether such scrutiny will make air travel safer.
What the U.S. needs to do on top priority is to bring about a drastic improvement in its globe-spanning, hi-tech intelligence network. While the problem lies at its own door, in its eagerness to carve out potential scapegoats, the U.S. forgets that this could undermine its global goodwill on a permanent basis - and prove even more counter-productive in the long run.
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Written by S.G. Jilanee
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February, 2010 |
 It is a paradox that while many people hate the United States worldwide, they also love many things that America offers.A question has arisen," as Mahatma Gandhi would say. Why America is almost universally hated? The reasons are legion. Some hate it for fun. In February 2003, for instance, Carolyn Parrish a member of the Canadian Parliament for the ruling party declared on television, "Damn Americans. I hate those bastards." Then the Toronto Globe and Mail conducted a poll on its website, asking Canadians whether they agreed that Americans are behaving like "bastards." And more than 50 per cent answers were in the affirmative (Nicholas Kristoff; New York Times, March 7, 2003). Others may be jealous of its power and riches. But the majority hates America, because it is perceived as arrogant, hubristic, selfish, deceitful and totally untrustworthy.
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Written by Kuldip Nayar
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February, 2010 |
 America pours billions of dollars in the developing world but reaps hatred because its policies are exploitative and anti-democratic.In Asia, the relentless pressures of the Chinese Communists are a menace to the security of the entire area, from the borders of India and South Vietnam to the jungles of Laos, struggling to protect its newly won independence." This is what President John Kennedy said in a State of the Union message to the U.S. Congress on Jan 30, 1961. Some 49 years later, if one were to assess what America did in the name of freedom and people one would come to the conclusion that the nations in the region had to fight against Uncle Sam's domination to stay independent. In the process, they went through innumerable privations. They learnt from the experience, America did not.
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Written by Javed Jabbar
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February, 2010 |
 Here is an attempt to explain the love-hate relationship between America and the rest of the world by listing some very cogent reasons.
Why do different people in many developing nations around the world hate the United States of America and others love the country?
Those who love the country often mix the people and the government as one entity. Amongst those who hate America, only some make the distinction between the people of the country and the government that conducts itself in a certain way. There is also the paradox that sometimes one and the same person in a developing country anywhere in the world can feel, at and the same time, love for the U.S.A., as well as hate for the U.S.A. this ambivalent love-hate reaction is a reflection of the chimera-like qualities of this exceptional country.
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Written by SAO
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February, 2010 |
 ‘...there are individuals and groups who constantly preach violence...'
- Stanley Wolpert
Stanley Wolpert is an American historian. Currently he is the Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Stanley has authored several books. His famous publications include Morley and India, A New History of India, Roots of Confrontation in South Asia, Jinnah of Pakistan, Nehru: A Tryst with Destiny, etc. He answers questions here put to him by SouthAsia about the U.S. role in world affairs and especially Afghanistan.
What are the challenges you think the U.S. faces today in terms of the role it has played to bring about peace in the world?
Our challenges remain what they always have been, to confront and defeat lawless violence and terror wherever they attack or threaten the lives of innocent people, while upholding our highest principles of human rights and faith in democratic ideals of freedom, justice and universal order.
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