The bloody tale of self-defence on July 25, 2014Any sane person will agree that whatever Israel is doing in Gaza does not quite fit into the category of so-called “self-defence”. By no stretch of the imagination can one kill hundreds of people (the count sadly keeps going up with each passing day) in self-defence. Incoming rockets are presented as an excuse for such […]
Across Siberia, on a train V on July 23, 2014Irkutsk is situated approximately in the middle of Siberia, between the Ural Mountains (to the west of which is Europe, including Moscow) and Khabarovsk (in the Russian Far East), beyond which is the Bering Sea and Alaska. While the Trans-Siberian railway has existed for over a century, the Trans-Siberian highway was completed only in the […]
The tit-for-tat game on July 18, 2014It is often said that everything is fair in love and war. In between you can add politics as well. All is kosher in politics too. Pot shots, character assassination, allegations, innuendos and questionable bank balances; nothing is considered off limits. No wonder a big brouhaha surfaced when the ‘holy lad’ pointed his finger at […]
Lake Baikal and the Paris of Siberia IV on July 16, 2014At the Russian border town of Naushki, we were struck by the biting cold wind. Not only were we well and truly in Siberia, it seemed we were stranded as well. What was left of our train were but two carriages without an engine, seemingly abandoned on the tracks. For us, however, it was home, […]
The magical cane on July 11, 2014I know that I have written on this subject in the past but it is one of those topics that never go away. There are people who will just never give up on the hope of the saviours emerging from Pindi and bringing in news of tranquillity. The people on the idiot box, and especially […]
From the Mongolian steppes to the Eurasian empire III on July 9, 2014Our Mongolian tour guide, Odka, was a very gentle woman. So polite and courteous that she seemed a rather unlikely descendant of Chengez Khan, Kublai Khan and Halaku Khan, who struck terror all around. Chengez Khan, whose name is almost synonymous with Mongolia, was born not far from Ulan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia, in […]
Inter-dependence day on July 4, 2014The idiot box is ablaze with all sorts of warriors aligned for a showdown after this coming Eid. The angry middle-aged leader of the youth in this country has renewed his threat of yet another ‘long march’. The angrier, elderly and revolutionary Mr Qadri has issued his ultimatum of an overblown and overly hyped revolution […]
Beijing to Ulan Baatar, across the Great Wall II on July 2, 2014A week ago, Times Higher Education (THE), which is considered one of the most prestigious world universities’ ranking agencies, released the 2014 rankings of Asia’s top 100 universities. Unfortunately, no Pakistani universities were named in it. Contrarily, in the 2013 rankings issued by another UK-based world universities’ rankings agency — Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) — seven […]
The dim and the charlatan on June 27, 2014Had Maulana Azad been around, he would have said something rather simple, yet very true: “I told you so.” As much as we dislike the grim picture of Pakistan that Maulana Azad had once painted in his time, he was perhaps right. Pakistan is in the news very often, and mostly because of some crisis […]
The operation long past due on June 20, 2014After a lot of delay, finally the Pakistan army has launched presumably decisive action against the terrorists by the name of Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The mission title is an Arabic word, named after the Prophet’s (PBUH) sword — some reporters have even been translating it as “sharp and cutting”. The initial strikes have resulted in casualties […]