GABY RUSLI WRITES — In our unremarkable and mundane daily routines, we often forget that we are all the living instigators of history. Singaporean-born Fanny Law has always been aware of this profound and undeniable truth. Though she was dutiful in upholding the Confucian cultural practices carried across international waters from…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: THE INTERPRETER’S DAUGHTER (2022) — A FAMILY’S STORY OF FILIAL DUTY, FEMINIST PRINCIPLES, AND ENDLESS ENDURANCE
GABY RUSLI WRITES — We all carry the power to take charge of our destinies and choices. Empowerment of oneself and those around us is the key to unlocking this power. In Letters to Singapore (2022), author Kelly Kaur tells the story of Simran, a twenty-year-old Indian-Singaporean girl who narrowly escapes an arranged marriage by…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: LETTERS TO SINGAPORE (2022) — INDIAN GIRLS ARE MEANT FOR MORE THAN ARRANGED MARRIAGES
SAMANTHA LUNDIN WRITES – Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in July and its people are starving, as the nation state continues to suffer under its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. Sri Lanka defaulted more than $51 billion dollars a few months after the Russian…
Full Article SRI LANKA: A HUNGER FOR SOLUTIONS TO THE FOOD CRISIS
SAMANTHA LUNDIN WRITES – 2010 and now 2022… Pakistan is devastated by floods once again. Millions of lives are affected, with over a thousand dead, including pregnant women and children. These monsoon rains and floods came after the deadly heatwave that may have exacerbated the conditions for the flooding. Satellite…
Full Article PAKISTAN: FLOODS OF GRIEF FOLLOWING THE MONSOONS
HALEY BREWER WRITES- Climate change has long endangered coastal cities but thanks to a study released early last month, we now know that climate change affects the farthest terrain above sea level – even Mt. Everest. The world-famous mountain may be 29,032 feet above sea level, but studies have shown…
Full Article MT. EVEREST: CLIMATE CHANGE IS ENDANGERING PEAK DREAMS
TRISTIN CLINT WRITES – China is sending Foreign Minister Wang Yi to meet with the Parliament of Nepal on March 26, and the US is sending a bipartisan delegation of Congress (twenty-five members) to Nepal in early April. These are the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal’s two key rival diplomatic…
Full Article NEPAL: CAUGHT BETWEEN RIVAL GEOPOLITICAL MANEUVERS
CRISTINA PEDLER WRITES — As the delta variant ravages the world we thought could have been recovering from COVID-19 by now, some countries are feeling neglected. Vaccine development by countries in the West, China, and Russia have brought to light major disparities in access to healthcare. While citizens in the…
Full Article NEPAL: THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY TO VACCINATION
ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Robert McDonald, US Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Obama, struck deep into the hearts of mental healthcare workers at the West Los Angeles Department of Veterans Affairs, albeit unintentionally, when he told them this: The effects of any war can be felt forty years after…
Full Article SRI LANKA: A NEW NOVEL REOPENS WOUNDS OF WAR
NELLY CARRILLO WRITES — Earlier this year, the Borgen Project, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating poverty and hunger, published an article on the harmful effects of fast fashion. What is fast fashion and why is it a harmful way of thinking about garment manufacturing? Fast Fashion is defined as “an…
Full Article BANGLADESH: LET’S SLOW DOWN ON FAST FASHION
CRISTINA PEDLER WRITES – Sri Lanka is leading the way in banning palm oil imports and phasing out cultivation. In an unexpected turn of events, Sri Lanka has banned imports of palm oil and new palm plantations, and told producers to uproot existing plantations in a phased manner. An announcement…
Full Article SRI LANKA: THE WAR ON PALM OIL MAY SAVE THE WORLD
SOPHIA JARAMILLO WRITES — As newly elected Vice President Kamala Harris will be endlessly discussed for her diplomatic relations and duties, her fashion will also be discussed, as it should be. It is necessary to bring light to the impact of all areas of her identity. Being of South Asian…
Full Article SOUTH ASIA: VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT KAMALA HARRIS CUTS A STRIKING FIGURE ON THE WORLD STAGE
SARA ALTUWAIJRI WRITES – India is one of the world’s poorest countries, with 68.8 percent of the population living on less than 2 dollars a day and more than 30 percent earning less than $1.25 per day. India’s women and children suffer the most. Is there any hope? Maybe. India aims…
Full Article INDIA: IS MODI 2.0 STILL GOING STRONG?
LIAM ROGERS WRITES — On June 30, 2020, the 14th corps. commander Lt-General Harinder Singh (of India) and South Xinjiang Military District chief Major General Lui Lin (of China) launched a third round of de-escalation meetings while The Indian Times reported that India will, among other things, be pushing for…
Full Article SINO-INDO RELATIONS: PAKISTAN’S COMPLICATED INVOLVEMENT
ASSOCIATE EDITOR ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES – When Albert Einstein warned about the danger of nuclear weapons, he famously said: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Recently, tensions between Chinese and Indian…
Full Article CHINA AND INDIA: THE STICKS AND STONES WAR
SARA ALTUWAIJRI WRITES- At the very end of 2019, India’s Parliament issued a new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) granting citizenship to refugees who entered the country prior to December 31 of 2014. This act covered refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, among other countries. CAA was supposedly…
Full Article INDIA: DOES CITIZENSHIP ACT AMENDMENT TARGET MUSLIMS?
SAMANTHA CLANCY WRITES — The Royal Kingdom of Bhutan has recently announced that it would be levying charges on tourists from India, Bangladesh, and the Maldives, all of which could previously enter at no cost. And therein lies a tiny tale about this small, land-locked nation in Asia, perched so prettily…
Full Article BHUTAN: SUSTAINING TOURISM AND AN ECO-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT