Taj Hashmi
Countercurrents.org
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Past articles by Taj:
Ukraine Crisis Highlights Crisis Of New World Order| Countercurrents
Since the end of World War II, the US and its allies have been directly responsible for 81 percent of all unjust wars, illegal occupations of countries, → Read More
American Sanctions On Human Rights Violators In Bangladesh: A Backlash To Bangladesh Or China?| Countercurrents
The frustration of those who lost hope of any retaliatory action against human rights violators in Bangladesh has finally been eased, at least partially, by → Read More
Who “Lost” Afghanistan, America Or India?| Countercurrents
I got this on WhatsApp this morning: “If you ever feel useless, just remember … USA took 4 Presidents, thousands of lives, trillions of dollar and 20 years to → Read More
Post-Trump World: Is Democracy Dying in America As Well?
We know it’s fashionable to hypothesize that democracy is “dying” in the post-Cold War world. It’s true not only for some of the postcolonial democracies in the Third World, and some “new democracies” Eastern Europe, but of late, seemingly, it’s also true about the United States. I refer to the cover story of Foreign Affairs, “Is Democracy Dying? A Global Report”[Read More...] → Read More
Islamophobia, Hate Crime, or Trade War? Muslims vs the West, in France and Beyond
This is an appraisal of Islamophobia, mainly in the West, and the so-called Westophobia among Muslims from a different viewpoint. I believe that since all wars are “trade wars”, the ideological conflicts between Islam and Western civilizations are primarily motivated by economic reasons, so they are “trade wars” by other means! I have mainly cited examples from the US and[Read More...] → Read More
The Bangladesh Crisis: Growth Without Development, Youth Bulge, and Degeneration
In view of the prevalent political deadlock, growth-oriented economic development, or growth-without-development – which is simultaneously stagnating and misleading due to inflated GDP growth estimate by the Government – and the absence of the rule of law and accountability of the government, especially since 2007, Bangladesh finds itself in a political cul-de-sac. Why so? The prevalent… → Read More
Intimidating China is One Thing, Overpowering It, An Absurd Dream!
At the end of the Cold War in 1990, we all heaved a big sigh of relief, as the two superpowers didn’t destroy themselves and the world! What was seemingly “inevitable” – the Third World War – didn’t take place. Despite having some major military conflicts and proxy wars between the Western and Communist blocs – the Korean, Vietnam, Cambodian,[Read More...] → Read More
Hasn't Hasina’s Gambit Backfired? Isn’t Bangladesh Today a Battlefield of Sino-Indian Proxy War?
Bangladesh since its birth has gone through too many intra-military and intra-civilian conflicts to mention in one breath. As on 14th July, Bangladeshi Lt General (ret) Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy revealed in a bold and candid video interview from Dhaka with Kanak Sarwar, a Bangladeshi American journalist in New York (who fled the country of his birth and now lives in[Read More...] → Read More
Not Only in Ladakh, India Losing Ground in Bangladesh Too
We know things are not going well in regards to India’s relationship with China. On 5th/6th May, China captured around sixty square kilometre of Indian territory in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, which is strategically important to all the three countries in the region, China, India, and Pakistan. On 14th/15th June, around twenty Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were literally[Read More...] → Read More
An Open Letter to Foreign Minister Abdul Momin
Dear Dr. Momen: I write this to draw your attention to your recent interview with an Indian weekly The Week , published on May 31, 2020, which all of our common friends and other Bangladeshis at home and abroad have found very gratuitous, objectionable, as it grossly undermines truth, and tarnishes the image of Bangladesh, which you represent as the[Read More...] → Read More
An Open Letter to Harsh Vardhan Shringla (Indian’s Foreign External Affairs Secretary) – Countercurrents
Dear Mr. Shringla: I write this open letter to question you most respectfully why you told a seminar in Dhaka on 2nd March that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by Indian parliament last year was misunderstood by many, also in Bangladesh. Although I can’t disagree with you more that: “This is a proactive legislation that has been undertaken on[Read More...] → Read More
The 1969 Mass Uprising in East Pakistan: As I saw it – Countercurrents
This is my eyewitness account of events, which took place in erstwhile East Pakistan, exactly 51 years back in January-February 1969. Although not fully comparable with what 1789 signifies for France, yet 1969 signalled the beginning of some revolutionary changes in the history of Pakistan. It witnessed the end of Ayub Khan’s decade of “guided democracy”, and the end of[Read More...] → Read More
While Mandarins Run Amok in Bangladesh – Countercurrents
As late as the 16th century, the Chinese indigenised “mandarin”, a variant of Sanskrit “mantri”, Malay “mantiri” via Portuguese “mandarim”, which stands for minister, counsellor, or a very high government official. Chinese mandarins were highly educated, well-groomed, powerful, and influential people having sharp intellect and immaculate mannerism. Their attire, mannerism, and language… → Read More
The Craze for Cricket Graceless Bangladesh Society – Countercurrents
One may or may not like cricket – not the worm, but the game – or even, could be someone like a typical Frenchman or woman who doesn’t understand the game, or pretends he/she doesn’t have any clues as to what British men (and now women too) do with a ball, two bats, and six sticks, inserted into the[Read More...] → Read More
Bangladesh as Kornhauser’s “Mass Society” or a “Dictatorial Democracy”! – Countercurrents
“Civilizations as yet have only been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy, never by crowds. Crowds are only powerful for destruction.” — Gustave Le Bon “Mass politics occurs when large numbers of people engage in political activity outside of the procedures and rules instituted by a society to govern political action. Mass politics in democratic society therefore is[Read… → Read More
Sri Lanka Massacre: ISIS Owns it, So What! – Countercurrents
This article is a sequel to my last piece “Blaming Muslims Again! Terror Attacks in Sri Lanka” (Countercurrents, April 23, 2019). As so many absurd and conflicting stories and claims by experts, laymen, victims and purported perpetrators, 9/11 gave birth to so many conspiracy theories, similarly, this Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka have also brought us to the[Read More...] → Read More
Blaming Muslims Again!Terror Attacks in Sri Lanka – Countercurrents
I am very disappointed at countries and individuals who have not verified the truth about who was behind the latest rounds of terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka before finger pointing at Islam and Muslims for killing around 300 innocent people in Colombo. This insensitivity, if not prejudice against Muslims, reminds me of what leading newspapers and analysts in the US[Read More...] → Read More
The New Zealand Mosque Attacks and White Supremacy in the West – Countercurrents
Within hours of Australian White Supremacist Brenton Tarrant’s gunning down of forty-nine Muslims at two mosques at Christchurch during Juma prayer on 15th March, tens of thousands of short and long postings on the event came out in social media. In the following twenty-four hours, hundreds of op-eds came out in newspapers in so many languages across the world. As[Read More...] → Read More
Shame vs. Shamelessness: Examples from Bangladesh – Countercurrents
The Oxford Dictionary defines shame as “a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behaviour”. It could be self-inflicted, or an act committed by others leading to a loss of self-respect or self-esteem. “Shame on you” is something no respectful human being wants to hear from anyone. Self-respecting victims of shame sometimes kill[Read More...] → Read More
Neglect of Education, Death-Squads, and the Deep State Syndrome in Bangladesh – Countercurrents
Education has almost everything to do with changing, modifying, and improving the levels of people’s culture (although “improving the cultural level” is a loaded and controversial expression). To remain politically correct, we may assert that education helps us broaden our world view, liberate ourselves from age-old, prejudicial ideas and practices promoted and nurtured by pre-modern feudalism,… → Read More