Hasan Ferdous

HIGH NOTES LOW NOTES

The writer is a journalist and author based in New York.

Relax, America is not falling apart. Not yet.

Two days ago, I received an earnest query from a friend in Dhaka. He was concerned that the US was showing some signs of becoming dysfunctional. Could it be that the Empire itself may soon become a failed State?

7y ago

Decency vs Banality

Last week we witnessed two extraordinary events. First, President Barack Obama bid farewell to his fellow countrymen. He shed a drop

7y ago

Too late, too little, Mr. President

President Obama's heroics at the fading hours of his presidency may have come too late too little, but it was just enough to ruffle both

7y ago

Let's talk polls and politics

There is some very good news for Bangladesh's ruling party in a poll conducted by the US-based Democracy International. More about that later. Let's for a moment focus on the value of opinion polls.

7y ago

The complicity of silence

There is a genocide taking place in Myanmar. An entire people is in the process of being annihilated. Entire villages have been plundered, mosques have been torched, people have been killed.

8y ago

Coming to grips with an absurdity called Trump

In simplest terms, the victory was a clear rejection of the rural white America of Washington's elitism. These folks, under tremendous economic stress due to globalisation and continuing economic depression, exacted a revenge on the rest of the country.

8y ago

A requiem for the Sundarbans

Why is the Bangladesh government so determined to go ahead with a project that every sane-minded person not affiliated with the government thinks will do more harm than good? In September, I put this question to the members of the delegation accompanying Prime Minister Hasina who was in New York for the annual UN General Assembly. One of them, speaking on behalf of the group, replied with a counter question: Do you think our Prime Minister would do something that would go against our national interest?

8y ago

Exercise in democracy or “Bolirkhela”?

Imagine two heavyset men in the middle of a mud pool lunging at each other. They huff and puff, throw up their arms in the air screaming obscenities – some in earnest, some to stir their supporters.

8y ago
February 8, 2017
February 8, 2017

Relax, America is not falling apart. Not yet.

Two days ago, I received an earnest query from a friend in Dhaka. He was concerned that the US was showing some signs of becoming dysfunctional. Could it be that the Empire itself may soon become a failed State?

January 17, 2017
January 17, 2017

Decency vs Banality

Last week we witnessed two extraordinary events. First, President Barack Obama bid farewell to his fellow countrymen. He shed a drop

December 29, 2016
December 29, 2016

Too late, too little, Mr. President

President Obama's heroics at the fading hours of his presidency may have come too late too little, but it was just enough to ruffle both

December 25, 2016
December 25, 2016

Let's talk polls and politics

There is some very good news for Bangladesh's ruling party in a poll conducted by the US-based Democracy International. More about that later. Let's for a moment focus on the value of opinion polls.

November 28, 2016
November 28, 2016

The complicity of silence

There is a genocide taking place in Myanmar. An entire people is in the process of being annihilated. Entire villages have been plundered, mosques have been torched, people have been killed.

November 19, 2016
November 19, 2016

Coming to grips with an absurdity called Trump

In simplest terms, the victory was a clear rejection of the rural white America of Washington's elitism. These folks, under tremendous economic stress due to globalisation and continuing economic depression, exacted a revenge on the rest of the country.

November 6, 2016
November 6, 2016

A requiem for the Sundarbans

Why is the Bangladesh government so determined to go ahead with a project that every sane-minded person not affiliated with the government thinks will do more harm than good? In September, I put this question to the members of the delegation accompanying Prime Minister Hasina who was in New York for the annual UN General Assembly. One of them, speaking on behalf of the group, replied with a counter question: Do you think our Prime Minister would do something that would go against our national interest?

October 24, 2016
October 24, 2016

Exercise in democracy or “Bolirkhela”?

Imagine two heavyset men in the middle of a mud pool lunging at each other. They huff and puff, throw up their arms in the air screaming obscenities – some in earnest, some to stir their supporters.

September 8, 2016
September 8, 2016

United Nations and the “i” word

Shashi Tharoor, my former boss at the United Nations, was - and perhaps still is - a fiery defender of the United Nations. He was once asked by a BBC interviewer how did the UN feel about the “i” word, i for irrelevant? Mr. Tharoor, without missing a heartbeat, replied, “Oh, I think the 'i' word for us is actually 'indispensable.'”

August 22, 2016
August 22, 2016

A double murder in New York

There was nothing distinctive about Maulana Alauddin Akonji and his associate Tara Uddin, except their Islamic garb and flowing beard.