Professor William Beeman's postings on the prestigious Gulf 2000 Web site underscore something that, in the journalism business, is known as floating a trial balloon. Interested parties feed tantalizing morsels of seemingly credible factoids to correspondents, who then proceed to develop the "story" at will. Their editors at headquarters play up the story at will,
I have the dubious distinction of having been a witness to both a stoning-to-death in Nigeria, and a public execution of a (presumably) adulterous couple in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The latter episode: Bill Stewart, then of Time Magazine, and I happened to be in Riyadh, he for his magazine, and I as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. I don't recall
India has wasted three years debating a modest proposal for diverting some of its foreign reserves to plugging the country's abysmal infrastructure deficit. It's only now that China is all set to carve out $200 billion from its reserves into a sovereign wealth fund that India is hastening to reach a decision on what to do with its own low-yielding cache. Fina
This is what I wrote to Dlip Sardesai wife, Nina, and his son Rajdeep and daughter Shonali, today: I just learned about Dilip, and it's hard to imagine that he'd be gone. I cannot even begin to appreciate what you must be going through, but you must surely know that Dilip made so many friends through his graciousness, generosity and good will -- and that he w
Sir Salman may well get a Nobel Prize for Literature. In fact, his supporters have long campaigned for it, and when Sir V. S. Naipaul -- a fellow writer of Indian origin -- got the prize in 2001, there were some Rushdie backers who felt that Naipaul's cohort had simply done a better job at mobilizing what it takes for the Nobel. What it takes is relentless lo
My good friend Anwer Sher in Dubai makes a trenchant point that, as literature goes, Sir Salman Rushdie's work, "The Satanic verses," is unlikely to rank terribly high in the pantheon of enduring books. There are readers who buy books to read them, and there are buyers who acquire books by the yard so they look good on their shelves. To put it another way, Sir Salman'
Bob Hormats is an author of great perceptiveness and intellectual depth. For more than four decades, he has been engaged with the issue of globalization -- long before the term "globalization" became en vogue. As vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Hormats has had access to the corridors of high finance all around the world. As a member of several administra
Bob Hormats is an author of great perceptiveness and intellectual depth. For more than four decades, he has been engaged with the issue of globalization -- long before the term "globalization" became en vogue. As vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Hormats has had access to the corridors of high finance all around the world. As a member of several administra
Among the younger journalists I've been quite impressed with is Nandini Lakshman of BusinessWeek. Her dispatches from India are very trenchant and astute. I'd recommend her latest dispatch, a mini-profile of the flamboyant entrepreneur Vijay Mallya. Very informative, very savvy. Lakshman might want to next tackle how Indian businessmen are participating in the Indian
By The Associated Press (June 7, 2007) India's economy is still showing signs of overheating in some areas despite a drop in overall inflation in recent weeks, the prime minister's top economic adviser said Wednesday. C. Rangarajan, who heads the Indian prime minister's Economic Advisory Council, said he was also concerned over the surge in forei
My 10 favorite books on India? Humbly submitted (but not in any order of preference): 1. The Discovery of India, by Jawaharlal Nehru (nonfiction). 2. India Unbound, by Gurcharan Das (nonfiction). 3. The Devil’s Wind, by Manohar Malgaonkar (fiction). 4. Freedom at Midnight, by Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins (nonfiction). 5. On the Grand Tru
Just read this on line BusinessWeek report: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh challenged business leaders Thursday to ensure the poor benefit from India's economic boom, and to shun the West's "wasteful lifestyles" of greed and conspicuous consumption. "Such vulgarity insults the poverty of the less privileged," Singh said at the annual conference of the
We may have a rather long wait ahead of us before South Africa's Thabo Mbeki publicly denounces or scolds a fellow African head of government. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe may be a villain along the lines that the editorial page of The New York Times specifies (May 17), but he's Africa's villain -- a native son -- and, moreover, a fellow traveler of Mbeki during the long
I've just read David Remnick's review-essay of some Middle East books in the latest issue of The New Yorker in an airplane bound for the Middle East East. I have often asked this question, but it bears repetition: How does David edit a fabulous magazine every week, and yet manage to often write wonderfully lucid, richly details articles, reviews, and essays? As a fell
Bernard Lewis is clearly losing his acuity, and clarity of thought, as evidenced in his Wall Street Journal op-ed article. It's almost as though he wrote that article to please the editors of the Journal's editorial page, whose views concerning the Islamic world are sometimes at variance with reality on the ground. I am saddened by Professor Lewis's decline.
The thumping victory by Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party in legislative elections in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, represents a seismic shift in the nation's politics. Home of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has dominated the Indian political landscape since the country's independence from the British 60 years ago, Uttar Pradesh has the largest bloc of seats
Mira Kamdar again displays keen understanding of Indian culture, and how things work -- or don't -- in the world's biggest democracy. Her earlier book, "Motiba's Tatoos," was a wonderful memoir, and "Planet India" is a worthy follow-up effort. Kamdar writes with great clarity, which helps the everyday reader and professional one alike to gain sharp insights about the
"Anthony Cordesman, "Iraqi Perceptions of the War: Public Opinion by City and Region," May 2, 2007, released by CSIS. Available at: http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_pubs/task,view/id,3868/type,1/ Some of the study's observations: * Most Iraqis still want a unified country - only the Kurds want federalism; * 78% of Iraqis oppose
I attended the annual fundraising gala of the American India Foundation in New York on Friday evening, where it was announced by the co-chairmen, Victor Menezes and Rajat K. Gupta, that the six-year-old nonprofit had raised a record $3 million at its dinner. This is an astonishing figure, and a tribute to the skills of the AIF staff, particularly its executive directo
I attended a benefit last Saturday evening in New York organized by Sakhi, a remarkable nonprofit organization that assists battered and abused women of South Asian origin. The venue was the cavernous SkyLight Lounge in SoHo, and it was elegantly done up. Instead of a typical fundraising dinner where people are required to sit at pre-assigned tables, there was open se
Very many years ago, when I was just starting out in journalism as a copyboy at The New York Times, I wrote a letter to David Halberstam. I told him how much I'd enjoyed reading his book, "The Best and the Brightest." I told him that I thought that I'd never read a more compelling work of nonfiction, and that I found his style totally engaging. To my surprise, I recei
The Times of India has an excellent article today (April 24) in which the paper says that although coalition politics might require parties to make compromises on their ideology, the parties haven't by any means jettisoned their driving ideology. Here's a telling quote: "Even Congress is unable to shake off much of its ideological baggage. For most of Man mohan Singh'
Shashi Tharoor, an established author and self-styled celebrity -- and unsuccessful candidate for UN secretary general -- is now taking on India's minister of commerce and industry, Kamal Nath. Tharoor committed himself to responding to questions for Nath's forthcoming book, "India's Century: Unleashing Entrepreneurial Energy in the World's Biggest Democracy," to be p
Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry for India, and its chief representative to the World Trade Organization, will be writing a new book tentatively entitled India's Century, to be published by McGraw-Hill Professional. In the book, aimed at the world's economic elites and general readers, Nath will use his insider's experience to explain India's climb to su
It's been a while since I was last in New Delhi. I'm astonished by the acceleration in energy. Change is everywhere -- from the new roads and buildings, to the shopping centers. Most of all, there's a new attitude toward economic progress. It's also winter in Delhi, a time of crisp mornings and bracing evenings. How lovely to be in India again.<!-- J
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