Jasdev Singh Rai

So Obama sat with Karzai before the NATO Afghan summit last Sunday (20th May) and gave him a little lecture, 'Now, when we get out in 2014, you need to behave, you have to have a good democracy, no corruption and you have to be civil to your...

Is Ed Miliband onto a winner? He has been attacked by the media from both the left and the right for failing to lead the charge brigade against a disaster prone Cameron. Even some of his mates in Labour have been critical of his leadership. 'He...

For a country that brands itself on Gandhi, non violence and cow protection, the death penalty in India and Balwant Singh Rajoana's imminent hanging on 31 March might appear to be an aberration. Not quite so when Balwant Singh's statement in the...

The Chinese Minister Ma Zhaoxu visited Iran to persuade it to engage in talks. It affirms that United States diplomacy under Obama has been far more successful than under his predecessor, Bush. The US has persuaded all of Europe and other western countries to isolate Iran,...

Bollywood is a great replica machine often plagiarising Hollywood and giving blockbusters a masala makeover. Pensionable actors prance around as lead actors and scantily sari clad women perform Michael Jackson style dances. But then almost all of India is a big Bollywood set. Life, religion, education,...

Europe meets to tighten sanctions against Iran going further than before by imposing embargo on its oil. The Global community, which means the west plus Israel, is in action mode to stop Iran becoming a threat to the 'international community' (also meaning the west and Israel). Meanwhile Iran makes it...

Times have changed. There was an era when Labour could pitch itself on 'Robin Hood' economics. Tax the rich and distribute the money through various benefits to the poor. So Labour got the label of the high tax and spend party. But that sort of economic policy is now defunct,...

Unlike the United States, the non white population of Britain is a fairly recent phenomenon. The dynamics of racism are different in the two countries and the progress to end it is also at a different pace. While the Lawrence verdict provides some justice for the family, it is also...

It seems to be the year of upheavals and democratic India also appears to have caught the fever. The anticorruption wave gripping India is getting bigger by the day. From a few thousands it has grown to millions now. India is facing a constitutional conflict precipitated by a topi (cloth...

A year after Blair backed a ban on hoodies, Cameron made a tearful speech calling on society to 'understand the hoodie'. He became the 'hug a hoodie' leader. That was 2006 when he was in opposition. Now with himself and his cabinet members forced to cut short their...

I wish my Bank would give me an ever increasing overdraft that I can pay in my next reincarnation. The USA certainly seems to have one. On a serious note, I am loathe to agree with the Tea Party. They are simply not my type. Although their real reason to...

The Norwegian massacre has thrown up the issue of multiculturalism again to the fore. The focus shifts to Islam, ethnic and black minorities. Multiculturalism is analysed ad nausea. But the important question that is not being asked is whether there is an issue within European civilisation in coming to terms...

Ed Miliband has come up trumps in the last three weeks on the home front. He has driven the agenda on the Murdoch saga. But to be a rounded leader, he needs to win the argument on the economy and show gravitas on Foreign Affairs now.

The Foreign field can...

The English do not do revolutions, but they do revolts. And they do it in style. That's Shakespeare's legacy. Bloody coups and mob uprisings against absolute authority, but never a change in ideology.

And so in the last two weeks we have seen the mauling of King Murdoch, brought...