On 13 October, 181 governments cast secret ballots in the UN General Assembly to fill 15 seats on the Human Rights Council. There were 15 candidates. Every one of them won, none with fewer than 160 votes. Burundi, which Human Rights Watch had singled out for what it called abusive conditions at home, was re-elected …
Read more “Elections Without a Choice: When the UN Votes but Does Not Choose”
Fishermen in France, truckers in Portugal, rural campaigners in Ireland and workers in Greece are reacting to the same energy shock. Their grievances differ, but in three of the four countries the right is moving fastest to claim the anger. In mid-September, about a hundred fishermen and their supporters blocked the fuel depot at Frontignan, …
Read more “Diesel, Taxes and Wages: Driving Factors Behind Europe’s New Protests”
On 22 September, the man who opened the world’s largest diplomatic gathering was a Bangladeshi. Khalilur Rahman, elected President of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in June after serving as Bangladesh’s foreign minister, used his first general debate to press a point that has hung over the UN for decades. After eight …
Read more “The UN’s New Power Game: What Security Council Reform Means for Bangladesh”
By keeping used electric vehicles out for now, the government has chosen the harder but more sustainable path. Picture a buyer shopping for her first car. Importers say a five-year-old Japanese electric hatchback could cost about half as much as a new one. The new car comes with a dealer, a warranty and a battery …
A farmer in Satkhira knows that saline water will creep back into his field next monsoon. What he does not know is whether that same field will be farmable at all in ten years. The first problem needs an answer today—a higher embankment, a salt-tolerant rice variety, a new irrigation scheme. The second depends on …
Read more “Build the Embankment First, or the Power Plant? Bangladesh’s Real Climate Question”
Bangladesh’s FY2026-27 budget promises to wean the economy off bank borrowing. The pivot is real as a ratio — but it is mostly an accounting effect, and the deeper problem it skirts is revenue. Image: AI Generated Every June, Bangladesh unveils a budget bigger than the last, and every June the more revealing number is …
Read more “Less from the banks, more from abroad: does the deficit math add up?”
Five decades after independence, local government remains fiscally starved and politically subordinated. The post-uprising BNP-rule is a chance to change that — if an elected Parliament chooses to use it. Image: AI Generated Local government in Bangladesh occupies a paradox at the heart of the country’s political life. The Constitution could not be clearer: Articles …
Read more “Bangladesh’s Reform Moment Will Be Won or Lost in Its Localities”
National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam ┃ Photo: BSS “আমি চির-বিদ্রোহী বীর — বিশ্ব ছাড়ায়ে উঠিয়াছি একা চির-উন্নত শির!” “I am the eternal rebel hero — I have risen beyond this world, alone, with my head forever held high.” From the poem Bidrohi (“বিদ্রোহী”), Agnibeena, first published in 1922. There is something quietly tragic about how …