The Innocent Beginnings of the First World War on August 16, 2020In “The Guns of August,” Barbara Tuchman wrote, “the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendour never to be seen again.” She was describing the funeral of Edward VII of England in May 1910. Nine kings rode in a funeral procession for Edward VII of England. Following the kings […]
Lincoln’s Gettysburg address on May 30, 2020The battle of Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest in the US civil war. It took place in July 1863. President Lincoln visited the vast cemetery in November of that year and gave a brief speech which is now considerable one of the most remarkable orations in history. In part, Lincoln said: Four score and seven […]
The return of Taliban and the end of liberalism on March 3, 2020After eighteen years of failing to defeat aragtag group of terrorists known as the Taliban, the world’s mightiest power has signed a “Peace Deal”that allows the US to extricate itself from the graveyard of empires, Afghanistan.In return, the Taliban have promised to end terrorism inside and outside of Afghanistan, respect the civil and human rights […]
Z A Bhutto’s “New Pakistan” on February 20, 2020The term “Naya Pakistan” is in vogue these days. It originated in 1972 when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the president. In April 1973, he wrote an article in Foreign Affairs entitled “Pakistan Begins Anew.” The article provided a retrospective on the tragic break-up of Pakistan and prognosticated on the future of the country. Reflecting on […]
Restoring Jinnah’s vision: a conversation with Shuja Nawaz on January 31, 2020Shuja Nawaz has authored The Battle for Pakistan. I put a few questions to him about Jinnah’s vision. Question: Mohammad Ali Jinnah envisaged Pakistan as a secular democracy that would provide equal rights to citizens regardless of their religion. He thought that Hindu-Muslim communal violence in the pre-partition India would be replaced with peaceful co-existence […]
‘Downfall’ — a film about Adolph Hitler’s last days in the bunker on January 22, 2020A few years ago, I found myself staring at a parking lot in Berlin. However, this was no ordinary parking lot. Not too far away were the buildings that had once served as headquarters of the Luftwaffe and the Gestapo. Across the street was the Holocaust memorial. So much history had taken place here. Being […]
Exploring Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta on January 4, 2020The very name, Puerto Vallarta, had a magic ring to it. I first came across it when we were looking for a house in San Jose. I learned it was the name of a resort in Mexico along the Pacific coast. Three decades later, I found myself in the real Puerto Vallarta. We had arrived […]
A memoir of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands on December 29, 2019My limited knowledge of the history of Puerto Rico, an island located in the Caribbean, had left me convinced that it was worth visiting. Christopher Columbus, the explorer, had discovered it during his second voyage on November 19, 1493 when the Taino people inhabited it. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista after St. John […]
Arizona’s multitudinous charms on December 17, 2019When the first-time visitor heads to Arizona, he expects to see the Grand Canyon. Years after my first visit to the state, I did get to see it, once in December and once in April. Between those two months, the contrast in temperatures and in the visual landscape was striking. This natural wonder is without […]
Saudi Arabia after the Arab Spring on December 13, 2019Ten years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 a mass uprising began in Tunisia, reflecting a yearning for democracy. It spread to Egypt, and soon engulfed much of the Arab world. On March 11, 2011, what came to be known as the Arab Spring knocked on Riyadh’s door. By coincidence, that happened to be the […]