Posts

Beijing's North Korea Anxiety

Kim is no longer the supplicant figure of earlier years. He bargains now. He postures. He makes patrons come to him.

The Kitchen Cabinet

If the former advisers genuinely believe that a small and influential circle bypassed established processes, then they should go beyond hints and partial disclosures. They should provide a complete account of how decisions were made, who made them, and why the broader advisory council accepted that arrangement.

The J-Z Show | Episode 23 | Political Landscape into the Fourth Month of Tarique Rahman Government

As the Tarique Rahman government enters its fourth month in office, Jon Danilowicz and Zafar Sobhan assess its early performance, the challenges ahead, and the political dynamics shaping Bangladesh's evolving landscape.

Accountability in Kathmandu, Questions in Dhaka

As Nepal’s story unfolds with such urgency, its triumphs and stumbles equally on display, what does Bangladesh’s narrative look like?

Why Four Streams Of Bangladesh’s Education System Must Become One

The products of English Medium schools are proficient in neither Bangla nor English and the situation is not too dissimilar in Bangla Medium schools.

Bangladesh's Budget of Contradictions

A budget succeeds not because it contains attractive numbers but because citizens, investors, entrepreneurs, and international partners trust those numbers.

Counterpoint with Zafar Sobhan | Episode 04 | Nazmul Ahasan

In this episode 4 of Counterpoint With Zafar Sobhan, Zafar Sobhan speaks with Nazmul Ahasan, Executive Editor of Netra News, about contemporary political developments and the evolving media landscape. The discussion explores investigative journalism, accountability, and the role of independent media in informing the public.

Rethinking the Path to Revive Shuttered Industries

Liquidity is a necessary condition for industrial revival, but it is not sufficient.

Why Offering Bangladesh on a Platter Is Not a Development Strategy

The binary is brutally simple. Nations that negotiate as supplicants get extracted. Nations that negotiate as sovereigns get developed.

When Directors Become Gods

I would like young directors to understand that leadership does not require worship. I would like film sets where collaboration replaces hierarchy, where respect replaces fear, and where women are encouraged not only to appear in front of the camera but also to shape what happens behind it.

Why Bangladesh Must Build, Not Just Code

The foundations of a prosperous nation are not built in the cloud. They are built on the ground, in plants and workshops and export zones, by people who make things the world needs. It is past time to look down from the screen and begin.

Bangladesh First and the New Balancing Act

Tarique Rahman’s expected Malaysia-China sequence is a necessary correction to an India-centric past. Malaysia gives the visit diplomatic balance and China gives it strategic weight. But the correction will only succeed if it produces a wider foreign-policy basket without chipping away at Bangladesh’s sovereign decision-making space.

Our Moral Compass in Ruins

It should be the topmost priority of any government to ensure that our education system is running independently with the most competent and scholarly educators.

The Green Blueprint

Let us move beyond the annual rhetoric of a single calendar day. Let us embed environmental resilience into the DNA of our national growth, ensuring a safe, prosperous, and liveable homeland for generations to come.

Shifting the Gear on the Economy

What good economic policies actually look like -- and how to tell when they are missing

The Distance Between the Page and the Street

Bangladesh’s future depends not just on dismantling authoritarian systems, but on building institutions resilient enough to safeguard rights, mediate conflict, and hold power, whoever holds it, accountable.