Tag Archives : corruption

South Africa is again in news because of controversy surrounding arrest of Sheryl Cwele, wife of Siyabonga Cwele who is South Africa’s intelligence and security minister. Sheryl Cwele is also director of health and community services at the Hibiscus Coast Municipality. She is said to be involved along with Tessa Beetge who was recently arrested in [...]

US President Obama’s troop pledge to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan rests on a gamble on unreliable and dubious allies supposedly working towards the pressing goals in that country. The troop surge will have to rely on the corrupt Karzai government, perceived to be one of the most corrupt political administrations in the world [...]

It’s the classic tight spot between the devil and the deep blue sea. Afghans are caught between having a corrupt and election-cheating Karzai as president and a historical scenario dominated by the likes of Mullah Omar, languishing in a civil war, or the Soviet regime. By Afghan standards, these are better times in Afghanistan. In fact, given the [...]

Whether the US wants Hamid Karzai for Afghanistan leadership or not is now moot. Karzai’s opponent backed out of the runoff and the country is left with no choice but to accept Karzai’s ‘reelection,’ amidst prevailing speculation of massive electoral fraud. ‘Nearly a third of the votes cast in Mr. Karzai’s favor in presidential elections [...]

As one observer noted, ‘The Taliban-led insurgency is increasingly an insurrection against the behavior of the Karzai government—not against the religion or civilization of its international partners.’ The basic concept behind an insurgency, after all, is revolt against current political administration. As Thomas L. Friedman stated, “When you [...]

During her official trip to Africa, Hillary Clinton had planned to impress upon her interlocutors the need to fight against corruption. The head of American diplomacy even insinuated that people take to the streets to protest against their corrupt governments. Among the themes that the US Secretary of State had chosen for this trip is violence against [...]

According to a study conducted by the Iraqi government agency Central Statistics Authority, nearly a quarter of all Iraqis live below the poverty line that is demarcated as living on $2.50 or less per day. As the country starts its rehabilitation after the 6-year war spurred by the US-led invasion in 2003 to defeat former dictator Saddam Hussein’s [...]

First, be a top Mexican drug lord, then aim to be the ‘Godfather of Mexican Cocaine,’ next write down your experience, then hope that your writings get into the hands of an investigative journalist. Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo did just those. His writings, portions of which were passed to investigative journalist Diego Osorno and published this [...]

If there has to be one stunning outcomes of recent Lok Sabha elections in India, it certainly is the debacle of Left and CPI(M) in West Bengal, one of the long standing communist states of the country. No one expected leading Opposition party, Trinamool Congress, led my not so popular a political figure, Mamata Banerjee to win majority of state seats [...]

Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas have agreed to do the sequel of the film ‘Wall Street’ (1987). Fox Studios is also negotiating with actor Shia LaBeouf for a role in the film. Allan Loeb wrote the screenplay. Ed Pressman, producer of the original film, will likewise finance the sequel. Filming is expected to start this summer. Douglas, 64, won [...]