Mohammad Badrul Ahsan

CROSS TALK

Editor, First News and opinion writer for The Daily Star badrul151@yahoo.com

Iron grip of persecution, hunger and discrimination

Experts tell us that it should take another 150 to 170 years to close the gender pay gap around the world. Bad news for the mothers,

7y ago

How can India win if Bangladesh does not?

Which between the two countries has gained more from Bangladesh prime minister's visit to India this month? The question appears no less intriguing than the long-standing debate over which came first between chicken and egg.

7y ago

Who's going to save politics from money?

Bees make honey, but it's easier said than done. They have to fly 55,000 miles and visit roughly 2 million flowers to produce a pound of honey.

7y ago

Cowards strung together in a daisy chain

Shame is thus the flipside of honour, and one can't exist without the other. Shameless people can't be honourable, and honourable people can't be shameless.

7y ago

Terrorism was never in the DNA

The skein of yarn spun out of the Palestinian struggle, and then got twisted in the relentless Western maneuvering in the Middle East to defend Israel.

7y ago

Great ideals are ghost lights at night

An increase in elevation lowers air pressure, which makes breathing difficult for a climber. The underwater world becomes increasingly blue and eventually black as a diver goes deeper.

7y ago

Presidential humour and the irony of education

The President of the Republic went public with his academic records, while addressing the 50th convocation of Dhaka University on March 4.

7y ago

Lies make us blind in full sight

If an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, what does a lie for a lie do to us?

7y ago
October 7, 2016
October 7, 2016

Development without democracy isn't a happy solution

Persistent indigestion may point to the cancer of esophagus, throat or stomach. This prognosis is a sufficient hint for the wise to understand why development without democracy isn't good for a nation.

September 30, 2016
September 30, 2016

The critical connection between love and marriage

Fire leaves behind ashes, rain leaves behind stains, and wind leaves behind fallen leaves, but what does love leave in its wake? Some

September 23, 2016
September 23, 2016

Wrong side driving is wrong, even for ministers

The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, has said that both men are wise when one says something and the other listens.

September 16, 2016
September 16, 2016

The Asian stage for the American show

It's not rocket science that the theatre of confrontation is shifting to Asia. The crux of this confrontation is cross-directional. China is pivoting west with its ambition to expand its reach across the continent and towards Europe. The United States, on the other hand, is pivoting east. It's convinced that its future should be entwined with the Asian prosperity instead of being sucked further into the quagmires of the Middle East.

September 9, 2016
September 9, 2016

If Ershad lives for another hundred years. . .

Hussein Muhammad Ershad recently told his party men that he would live another hundred years if they were to put him back

September 2, 2016
September 2, 2016

The future generations are losing their entitlement

The world is demographically lopsided more than ever before: old people are concentrated in the rich countries, and the rest of the world is crowded with the young. Whoever said that the young shall inherit the earth must think again. As nations get more affluent, their populations also get more aged. In an increasingly prosperous world, the future generations are losing entitlement.

August 26, 2016
August 26, 2016

Is Bangladesh politics heading for a deadlock?

One thing certain about politics in Bangladesh is that it has an evolving order in the midst of an emerging chaos. If closely observed, it's right now abiding by Newton's first law of motion. The object at rest stays at rest, while the object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction. One of the assumptions of the law of inertia is that it doesn't change unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

August 19, 2016
August 19, 2016

Science for mankind or mankind for science

Science was born out of the human necessity to investigate nature, but now it's also growing on the necessity to investigate human nature.

August 12, 2016
August 12, 2016

Where should journalists draw the elusive line?

Our Home Minister last Monday rightfully asked journalists not to publish any news that tarnishes Bangladesh's image or achievements

August 5, 2016
August 5, 2016

Need for a factual assessment

The Muslims make 14.2 percent of India's 1.25 billion people. But, 25 percent of India's 370,000 beggars are Muslims. The