The US and Saudi Arabia relationship on April 27, 2016“Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy, because human rights is the very soul of our sense of nationhood.” — President Jimmy Carter There is a place where rulers publicly behead people, where any form of dissent is silenced with deadly force, where women are severely oppressed, where sectarianism is accepted and, in […]
Capital punishment: two wrongs do not make a right on June 4, 2014“But secondly you say ‘society must exact vengeance, and society must punish’. Wrong on both counts. Vengeance comes from the individual and punishment from God,” wrote Victor Hugo in The Last Day of a Condemned Man. The US, 2014: capital punishment still exists in full fervour in 32 out of 50 states; shocking, cruel and […]
A hindrance to opportunities on April 30, 2014“With my academic achievement in high school I was accepted rather readily at Princeton and equally as fast at Yale, but my test scores were not comparable to that of my classmates. And that has been shown by statistics. There are reasons for that. There are cultural biases built into testing, and that was one […]
The Kashmir issue from the USs perspective on February 7, 2014“With respect to Kashmir, obviously this is a longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan. As I said yesterday, I believe that both Pakistan and India have an interest in reducing tensions between the two countries. The United States cannot impose a solution to these problems, but I have indicated to Prime Minister Singh that we […]
The United States: armed to the teeth on September 16, 2013A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” — The Second Amendment, The US Constitution. The Second Amendment in the US Constitution is the backbone of the entire gun control or rather, the lack of gun control […]
Snowden and US-Russia relations: a warm war? on September 6, 2013“Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: we win, they lose” — President Ronald Reagan. Russia’s granting of temporary asylum to ex-NSA employee Edward Snowden holds significant meaning for US-Russia relations. However, the time that it had taken Russian President Vladimir Putin to do so (with Snowden waiting in the transit zone of Moscow airport […]
Protection of democracy or violation of liberties? on July 11, 2013The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards, and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks” — Samuel Adams, American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The above quote is a perfect example of how the wonderfully idealistic […]
The vast industry known as intelligence on June 24, 2013“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” — Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and scientist, writer and politician. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden used the above quote to describe, and perhaps justify his decision to leak thousands of classified […]
The thin line on June 10, 2013“When I came into this office, I made two commitments that are more important than any that I make: number one, to keep the American people safe and, number two, to uphold the Constitution…That includes what I consider to be a constitutional right to privacy” — President Barack Obama. In light of the recent leaks […]
US gun laws: no tipping point in sightt on May 29, 2013This past week was a huge disappointment for the millions of Americans hoping for gun legislation in the Senate. Senate majority leader Harry Reid decided to exclude the assault weapons ban from comprehensive gun control due to the lack of votes. However, the Obama administration assures that the president still supports the assault weapons ban […]