Browsing: Opinions

The attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi Arabia have pushed the war in Yemen to a new level. The targeting of civilian infrastructure, including airports, which has killed at least a dozen people and injured hundreds, has left no room to maintain the “red lines” that previously outlined the limits of escalation.

More than three years into the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan is desperately in need of a political settlement. The fighting has caused immense suffering, and a military solution alone cannot rebuild the state or reunify its fractured society. Under such circumstances, any effort aimed at…

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has made Muslim solidarity central to how it presents itself. Nine years ago, Myanmar’s military massacred Rohingya civilians and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. The persecution has not ended: the Rohingya remain stateless, face continuing violence and risk death while fleeing by sea. Throughout those years, the…

As winter approaches, Russia has lifted its ban on exports of diesel and is preparing to sell hundreds of thousands of tonnes to the United States and other countries. The move is part of a deal negotiated between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which resulted in the US Department of the…

The sanctions the United States has imposed on the International Criminal Court threaten to degrade its capacity to function, leaving it to die a slow institutional death. Its continued operation as an international organisation, let alone a court of law, would become impossible.

As we begin the fourth year of a war that has brought the near-total destruction of Gaza, calls for Hamas to surrender administrative authority and evacuate the Strip are intensifying. For Gaza to have any viable future, it is argued, the group’s political and military wings must be dismantled.

When the “ceasefire” was announced on October 10 last year, we knew how much needed repairing. For the first time in a long while, we thought we might have the breathing space to do it.

For two years, Dhaka has deployed a soft diplomatic arsenal of prized Haribhanga mangoes, hilsa fish, jamdani fabrics, and Tangail sarees to keep its relationship with New Delhi from freezing into permanent estrangement. These gestures kept doors open, preserved public channels, and prevented temporary friction from decaying into absolute hostility.

In the eyes of Israeli authorities, Palestinians in Gaza have it “too good”. Three years into Israel’s genocide, the survivors have been pushed into ever smaller areas of land amid rubble, rubbish and disease, without adequate shelter or sanitation. Apparently, even that is too much.

The latest general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, held on October 4, repeated a pattern familiar from most electoral contests over the past three decades. The decisive victory of parties organised largely along ethnic lines – which many would rightly describe as nationalist – came as no surprise. It is therefore difficult to disagree with…