Ashfaque Swapan

The writer is an Atlanta (US) based freelance journalist.

The self-sabotaging president: Joe Biden’s broken legacy

Biden’s predicament must be considered in the context of the brutal political landscape in the Western world.

2m ago

Divided nation chooses US president in a bitter, closely fought race

Polls show a neck-and-neck race for the White House.

5m ago

Kamala rattles Trump, but how much will it matter?

Trump’s true calling might well have been to be a carnival barker (unkind critics may say a used-car salesman)

7m ago

Trump, now a felon, presents huge political challenge

Say what you will about former US President Donald Trump, but give him his due.

10m ago

Will the US and UK's support for Israel backfire?

There are growing signs of substantial public disaffection in these two nations which have been conspicuous in refusing to take Israel to task for its slaughter.

1y ago

Putin’s interview and the West’s extraordinary outrage

The media’s job to interview geopolitical adversaries.

1y ago

Trump’s impunity and the Republican Party meltdown

Trump is more a symptom rather than the cause of the current political crisis in the US.

1y ago

Why did the US almost shut down?

I heard that the US government was about to shut down because it was running out of money. How is that possible?

1y ago
April 8, 2023
April 8, 2023

Trump’s arrest adds fuel to fire in hyperpolarised US

Republicans are locked in a Faustian embrace with Trump, and the arrest is likely to make that embrace tighter.

March 30, 2023
March 30, 2023

The deadly, murky history of the rules-based order

This month provides a harrowing historical landmark of what an ugly turn that order has taken in the past.

March 6, 2023
March 6, 2023

Lit Fest and Boi Mela: A linguistic, cultural apartheid?

Both the Dhaka Lit Fest and Ekushey Boi Mela offer sobering insights into the underlying socioeconomic challenges that have hamstrung Bangla publishing.

May 7, 2022
May 7, 2022

Does the world really have the West’s back on Ukraine?

The war in Ukraine has spawned a mindless Russophobic war hysteria in the West that is appalling. It reminds me of my days in the US during the Iraq war. As Yogi Berra said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

April 3, 2022
April 3, 2022

Ukraine invasion and the dystopian US political landscape

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rages on, one of the strangest spectacles is a bunch of video clips of Fox News Channel’s conservative

March 23, 2022
March 23, 2022

The path to cultural redemption

The Nazrul Festival 2022, a two-day cultural extravaganza that was open to the public, has recently concluded.

January 9, 2022
January 9, 2022

A day in infamy in US history

A year ago, on January 6, armed, violent supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the US Capitol. Lawmakers hid in fear of their lives.

December 18, 2021
December 18, 2021
November 28, 2021
November 28, 2021

A green shoot of hope in a (still) arid, racist terrain

The USA’s battle against racism continues to be a Sisyphean struggle. No sooner do you bask in the comforting awareness of the enormous strides the nation has taken than you are yanked by the scruff of your neck to face some dreadful sign that this ugly affliction is well and alive.

November 16, 2021
November 16, 2021

The urgent need to battle the growing rise of hatred

My recent open letter to Hindu brothers and sisters published in this newspaper was accompanied by a photograph that is seared in my memory.