Category: Asia

Islamists threaten ‘fractious path’ of Pakistan’s democratic transition

     

Weeks of scathing criticism has apparently prompted a provincial government in Pakistan to review a grant of $3 million it has recently allocated for a controversial Islamic seminary, which some… Read more »

Elie Wiesel stood for solidarity, not neutrality

     

  “We must always take sides,” said Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who passed away last week. “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.  Silence… Read more »

Why China is the big winner from Brexit

     

  Publicly, China has lamented Britain’s decision to walk out on the EU. But there was a definite silver lining for Xi Jinping’s increasingly authoritarian China, “[and] it won’t have taken… Read more »

Mongolia’s election: 4 things you should know

     

Many young Mongolians, not much older than the wind-swept, land-locked democracy squeezed between autocratic China and Russia, are disillusioned with the slow economy and established political parties, and could play… Read more »

Challenge the narratives of civil society ‘demonization’

     

Civil society groups have been subject to “widespread demonization” recent years, and 2015 was a “dismal one for civil society around the world,” according to a report by an international… Read more »

Reform military assistance to advance democratic values

     

U.S. military assistance could be a major asset in advancing democratic values and institutions, says a prominent analyst. Yet the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, which provides U.S…. Read more »

Internal discord over India’s NGO curbs

     

Days after the Home Ministry put three influential American donors under the “prior permission category” for allegedly funding NGOs in India not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA),… Read more »

Dalai Lama’s White House highlights China’s ‘insecurity’

     

President Obama met with the Dalai Lama as scheduled on Wednesday, despite objections from the Chinese government. Obama met the Dalai Lama when the latter visited Washington in 2014 and… Read more »