Abdur Rahman Chowdhury

The debate that began since the framework of the Iran nuclear deal was agreed upon on April 2, 2015 has now intensified. The media in the US and Europe will continue to highlight the issue for some time. The most scathing criticisms of the deal come from Republican Party stalwarts, many of whom are now […]

One evening, during the 2002 intifada, a Canadian colleague visited me in my hotel room in Baghdad. He had a daughter from his marriage to an Armenian wife. By Jewish tradition the faith is passed on by matrilineal descent and so he converted his infant daughter that morning through a ritual bath called the mikvah. […]

Syria, until the devastating civil war that struck the country four years ago, was considered a nearly developed country. It had a prosperous middle class having a per capita income of $ 4,000, swamped with all the amenities of life. Civic infrastructures in Damascus, Aleppo, Lattakia, Kessab and other big cities were comparable to thriving […]

President Obama, last Thursday evening, announced an executive order granting much awaited relief to millions of undocumented immigrants in the country. Those who have stayed in the US for more than five years, have US-born children, do not have any record of criminal activities and volunteer to pay taxes can come out of the shadows […]

Last week, I found a greeting card in the mailbox. The card read, “A friendly note from your neighbour.” The note highlighted the commonalities that exist between Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It says Muslims worship one God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Allah is the Arabic word for God. Muslims, like Christians and […]

President Obama, on September 10, 2014, outlined a strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Obama clarified that the US would not deploy ground troops and airstrikes would be carried out in close cooperation with troops on the ground, i.e. Iraqi troops and Syrian rebels. The formation of […]

NATO, the powerful military alliance of 28 countries, held its summit in Wales, from September 4 to 5, 2014. The conspicuous absentee was Afghan President Hamid Karzai. His term in office expires this month and his successor has not yet been announced by the Afghan Election Commission. Afghanistan, though not a NATO member, has been […]

After several rounds of ceasefires agreed upon and then broken, an open-ended ceasefire has come into effect from Tuesday, August 26, 2014. Both Hamas and Israel claimed victory though the vital issues triggering the conflict remained unresolved. The Rafah border has been reopened allowing besieged Palestinians to move in and out of Egypt and transport […]

One third of Iraq, the central region, is now controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a radical outfit involved in the insurgency in Syria. It captured Mosul in early June without resistance from the Iraqi army. Then it occupied the Beiji oil field and brought Diyala, Samara, Tikrit, Fallujah, Ramadhi and […]

Three young boys of Israeli parents were abducted on June 12 from the vicinity of a Jewish settlement in Hebron, West Bank. The Israeli government immediately fingered Hamas and sought the help of the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the release of the teenagers. Mahmud Abbas, the PA president, condemned the abduction and urged their immediate […]