Can a country’s citizens nullify the criminal cases that a popular leader faces by handing them an electoral victory in the general elections? This question raises issues that could prove pivotal to the political processes in Pakistan and the US, pertaining respectively to their former prime minister Imran Khan and former President Donald Trump. Its [...]
On Feb. 11, much of the global community marked the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and Technology. But in Afghanistan, few felt like celebrating. After all, that day was the 874th since girls were banned from attending secondary school studies, and the 415th since universities shut their doors to women. The urgency [...]
Last week, a US appeals court panel stood as guardians of America’s founding ideals against a would-be despot. Donald Trump told the court that he is immune to prosecution over the January 6 Capitol attack because at the time he was president, and thus anything he may have said or done in connection with the [...]
Pakistan’s democratic journey has been marked by challenges and triumphs, shaped by the visionaries who laid its foundation and the leaders who navigate its course. As the nation prepares for the general elections on Feb. 8, it stands at a critical juncture, where the principles of democracy and the rule of law must be upheld [...]
Alabama’s experimental use of gas to torture to death Kenneth Smith on January 25th — like all executions by lethal injection — has perpetuated a horrific Nazi legacy in the United States and is a traumatizing affront to many in the Jewish community. The fact that this torment was blindly carried out just ahead of [...]
Last December, US authorities marked Human Rights Day and the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by imposing a tranche of sanctions against human rights abusers spanning the globe, targeting perpetrators from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. In Afghanistan, two members of the Taliban government were targeted, as announced by a State Department press [...]
As the Gaza conflict stumbles forward, out of control, bloody, deadly, and seemingly endless, the Israeli Prime Minister vows “total victory” against Hamas as he steps over the bodies of thousands of Palestinians caught up in the violence. Total victory is an impossibility in this conflict. The days of total victory, of unconditional surrender, are [...]
In what proved to be a constitutionally fraught week, the Governor of the State of Texas, Greg Abbott, stated on January 26 he will oppose any measure to infringe on Texas’s placing of razor wire on the US-Mexico border, a move that has bolstered Texas nationalists and increased calls that Texas should secede from the [...]
As of mid-January, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan has led to more than 13,000 deaths, according to experts from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. And experts warn this figure may not fully capture the extent of the tragedy. The ramifications of [...]
Even especially attentive Supreme Court watchers might underestimate the importance of a pair of cases the Court subjected to three and a half hours of argument on January 17. In a term full of cases pitting gun rights against domestic violence victims, determining access to medical abortion, and injecting the justices into presidential election politics, [...]
