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Is soccer a religion?
This is not meant as a rhetorical question, but a rather serious one. Is Soccer a religion? What makes it one, and if not, why? There are several reasons why one can argue for Soccer ( or football) as you call it, to be classified as religion. “Religion,” which comes from the Latin root “Religio,”…
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Will 2013 be the year of the drone?
Will 2013 be the year of the drone? This is a question that may define the Af-Pak policy and perhaps how the rhetoric of “Global War on Terror” ( GWOT) is shaped in the months ahead. With over 3228 people dead in the drone strikes, of whom about 881 are estimated to be civilians, this…
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Ten books you must read in 2013
A friend recently asked me for a book recommendation, and I rattled off a few titles, and felt good about the recommendations I had just made. But on reflection, I realized that I hadn’t suggested the BEST books to read, given the paucity of time that we all have. So, if your interests are in the area…
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Book review: Before European Hegemony Summary
In what is certainly one of the most well-written books on Geo-politics of the 13th and 14th centuries that I have read, Janet Abu-Lughod makes a compelling argument that the world-system of that century gave rise to the European Hegemony of the 16th century and there were several factors responsible for it. Key among them…
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Is this really a social media revolution ?
Is this really a social media revolution ? “Egypt is on the lower end of face book penetration in the Arab world at 7.66 per cent, whereas the UAE, at the highest, is at 50 per cent” says a recent report on social media usage by the Dubai School of Government ( DSG). Having managed…
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A heady week ahead for Middle East peace – time for the US to act ?
With President’s speeches out of the way, there seems to be much to look forward to this coming week in the realm of Middle East peace. The first speech on thursday, which failed to live up to the expectations of Cairo speech, is seen by most analysts as damp, weak and ineffectual. The second speech…
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Q and A with Riz Khan, Anchor at Al –Jazeera English
It is not everyday that you get to meet your childhood hero. To me, Riz Khan has always been a role-model and continues to do the kind of work that I would love to do, though in a different format. Even though I am a bit star-struck by him, I managed an interview about an…
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Non-hierarchical news gathering the new wave sweeping journalism ?
In an interesting discussion, which brought together the stalwarts of journalism in Washington DC, as well as some member of other new media, several issues were discussed – including, but not limited to the Arab “social media revolutions”, the democratisation of news across the Middle East and also questions of access. The keynote speaker at…
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Battle of intelligence vs intellect
While investigating the role of spoilers in the Middle East peace process, I started off with the rather objective and fair assumption that the lobbies in Washington DC are skewed positively in one direction. That is to say, the Israeli lobbies are so powerful and influential that they dominate the discourse on the issue and…
