<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
     xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
     xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
     xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/"
     xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
     xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
     xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/">
<channel>
<title>Counterpoint &#45; : Long&#45;Form</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/rss/category/long-form</link>
<description>Counterpoint &#45; : Long&#45;Form</description>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Copyright 2025 counterpoint&#45; All Rights Reserved.</dc:rights>

<item>
<title>Child Abuse, Religious Power, and the Silence of Institutions</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/child-abuse-religious-power-and-the-silence-of-institutions</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/child-abuse-religious-power-and-the-silence-of-institutions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A society in which the “honour of the huzur” matters more than a child’s cry has not yet learned justice. A state in which poor families are afraid to seek justice has not yet learned equal protection. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e885b438499.jpg" length="90507" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:25:08 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Lubna Ferdowsi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Justice, Settlement</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Miracle and the Squeeze</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-miracle-and-the-squeeze</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-miracle-and-the-squeeze</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This first article in a three-part series argues that Bangladesh’s celebrated growth story was always more fragile than it looked. Now that growth is slowing and investment is yielding less, the hidden costs of that model are becoming harder to ignore. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e72a0124c8f.jpg" length="113491" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 13:42:14 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jamil Iqbal</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Marx, GDP, Garments</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Development Begins Where Human Potential is Nurtured</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Development-Begins-Where-Human-Potential-is-Nurtured</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Development-Begins-Where-Human-Potential-is-Nurtured</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In a world driven by technology and innovation, the value of human intellect far exceeds that of raw materials. Countries that fail to recognize this shift risk being trapped in cycles of dependency and underdevelopment. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e5d87c3030e.jpg" length="66997" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:50:02 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Aristotle, Amartya Sen, South Korea</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Not All, But Men</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Not-All%2C-But-Men</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Not-All%2C-But-Men</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Petitions are circulating now to remove these sites from search engines. Outrage is building, slowly. But it is not enough. But the real shift needs to start within us, in these awkward conversations. Stop correcting the numbers, stop making excuses and start confronting what actually happened. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e6221947f4c.jpg" length="128763" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 12:20:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shanim Tasnim</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Women, Women&#039;s Rights, Rape, Men</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Machete and the Matchstick</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Machete-and-the-Matchstick</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Machete-and-the-Matchstick</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When the state manages impunity, the mob manages the rest. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e0a05ed2d4f.jpg" length="421099" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:45:17 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, Religious Extremism, Mob Violence, Sufism</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Contingency Plan for Our Migrants</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Middle-East-on-Edge%3A-A-Contingency-Plan-for-Our-Migrants</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Middle-East-on-Edge%3A-A-Contingency-Plan-for-Our-Migrants</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An extended war would not only upset the oil market, but could also disrupt development projects. Our workers, mainly in construction, cleaning and other blue-collar professions, are thus at high risk of mass layoffs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69dcb2b16af6c.jpg" length="546151" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:10:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md Shihab Uddin</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran War, Migrants, Middle East, Remittance</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Civilization at the Crossroads of Cosmos and Catastrophe</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Civilization-at-the-Crossroads-of-Cosmos-and-Catastrophe</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Civilization-at-the-Crossroads-of-Cosmos-and-Catastrophe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The contrast between our technological ambitions and our moral shortcomings raises an uncomfortable possibility. What if our progress is fundamentally unbalanced? What if we have mistaken the expansion of capability for the advancement of civilization? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e472c7a6c27.jpg" length="142479" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:14:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Second World War, Persia, Utopia</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is the US&#45;Bangladesh Trade Deal the Best We Can Do?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/is-the-us-bangladesh-trade-deal-the-best-we-can-do</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/is-the-us-bangladesh-trade-deal-the-best-we-can-do</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ US remains Bangladesh’s single-most important export market, major source of FDI and a key development partner. US is also a market with substantive export potentials as far as Bangladesh was concerned. Remaining engaged with the US should be the way to go forward. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e47b69d7b16.jpg" length="105556" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 12:52:35 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mustafizur Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>US, Trade, Trade Deal, Tariffs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Energy Crisis and the Imminent Rise of the Multipolar World Order</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Multipolar-World-Order</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Multipolar-World-Order</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The final irony of our current moment is that while the world watches the dramatic surface conflicts and the crises that dominate headlines and social media feeds, the deeper system is already adjusting, already adapting, already moving towards a different configuration. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d4e32e8d3b4.jpg" length="80159" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:54:35 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sohel Nadeem Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, USA, Russia</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Two Wings and a Prayer</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Two-Wings-and-a-Prayer</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Two-Wings-and-a-Prayer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 55 years ago today, Pakistan as it existed then came to end as the Mujibnagar Government was formally formed. Two generations on, the peoples of the two countries share a common yearning for democracy. On both wings of the erstwhile Pakistan then, a prayer for democracy. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69e138e60dec0.jpg" length="81939" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:35:03 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bhutto, Ayub Khan, Hasina, Mujibnagar Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Iran War and Beyond: Three Exiles, Three Threats, Three Ideas</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Iran-War-and-Beyond%3A-Three-Exiles%2C-Three-Threats%2C-Three-Ideas</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Iran-War-and-Beyond%3A-Three-Exiles%2C-Three-Threats%2C-Three-Ideas</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The economic man treated nature as a storehouse. The social man must learn to treat it as a home -- and eventually, as an authority. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69db7085d991d.jpg" length="163786" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:00:04 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sujaul Khan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran War, Gaza, International Order, US Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Colonialism, Global Governance</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bad News and Good About the LNG Crisis</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/bad-news-and-good-about-the-lng-crisis</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/bad-news-and-good-about-the-lng-crisis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The war shut down every long-term supplier in a week. But the permanent damage may not be Bangladesh’s problem. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b7dd63e8b5f.jpg" length="91164" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:39:24 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Taukir Aziz</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>LNG, Strait of Hormuz</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A User&amp;apos;s Guide to the Un&#45;Governed: The Bangladesh Lexicon</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Users-Guide-to-the-Un-Governed%3A-The-Bangladesh-Lexicon</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/A-Users-Guide-to-the-Un-Governed%3A-The-Bangladesh-Lexicon</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 840, the mayor always wins. The machine keeps humming. The tenders keep flowing. But the film exists. Someone made it. Someone watched it. Someone wrote about it. And that, perhaps, is where the next story begins. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69db35bc6ca62.jpg" length="57896" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:07:48 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Loans, Corruption, Rana Plaza</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Ceasefire That Solves Nothing</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Ceasefire-That-Solves-Nothing</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Ceasefire-That-Solves-Nothing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For civilians, of course, the distinction between pause and resolution may seem academic. The absence of immediate violence is a tangible relief. But from a structural perspective, the conditions that produced the war remain unchanged. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69db2c11db5b2.jpg" length="102256" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:22:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, Israel, USA, Ceasefire</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Final Nail in the Coffin</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Final-Nail-in-the-Coffin</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Final-Nail-in-the-Coffin</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Former American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s phrase “unknown unknowns” best captures the near impossibility of predicting what comes next. That said, the ongoing Iran-United States ceasefire,  offers a brief window of opportunity to take stock: A highly precarious, at best partial, cooling-off period in a region that remains very much in turmoil. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69db25edcfe51.jpg" length="73048" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:20:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, USA, Pakistan, Tel Aviv, Netanyahu</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Metaphysics of Bangladeshi Democracy</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Metaphysics-of-Bangladeshi-Democracy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Metaphysics-of-Bangladeshi-Democracy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ BNP must ensure that the caretaker government system, now revived, is built to last, not as a tool of partisan advantage but as the institutional guarantee that, now and going forward, no government, can close the door on the voters&#039; right to choose their leaders. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d623f52fbee.jpg" length="86980" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 15:46:37 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ehteshamul Haque</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Democracy, Caretaker Government, Presidency</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Time Is Now Ripe For Reform</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-time-is-now-ripe-for-reform</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-time-is-now-ripe-for-reform</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ I am hoping against hope that the issue of LGBT rights in Bangladesh can be viewed by most people in the country through the lenses of anti-discrimination and not through that of any special rights, and certainly not through any notions of promotion. There is nothing to promote here. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d78402614c7.jpg" length="207360" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:33:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Riaz Osmani</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>LGBT Rights, Constitutional Reform, Penal Code</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Case for Mangal Shobhajatra</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-case-for-mangal-shobhajatra</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-case-for-mangal-shobhajatra</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If belief is so fragile that papier-mâché masks and symbolic animals can threaten it, the problem lies not with the procession, but with the insecurity of that belief. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d4a8981837f.jpg" length="176432" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:48:12 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Lubna Ferdowsi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mangal Shobhajatra, Dhaka University, Pohela Boishakh</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Broad Banner of the LGBTQIA+ Community</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Broad-Banner</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Broad-Banner</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A person’s sexual orientation is an innate characteristic of that person and must not be a basis for discrimination. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d4b2dd5532b.jpg" length="85930" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:31:10 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Riaz Osmani</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>LGBTQ, Identity Politics</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Iran Was Never the Target</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Iran-Was-Never-the-Target</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Iran-Was-Never-the-Target</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ From the Strait of Hormuz to the Bay of Bengal, the United States is fighting a war it has never fully declared -- one waged not against Tehran or Caracas, but against the architecture of a Chinese-led economic order. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d2175c16da1.jpg" length="80092" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:05:01 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Muhaimen Siddiquee</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, USA, Strait of Hormuz</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Navigating Homophobia in Bangladesh 2.0</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/navigating-homophobia</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/navigating-homophobia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Left out of consciousness was a group of people who possibly constitute up to 5-10% of the country’s population. This group is none other than the LGBTQIA+ people who have always been part of the society, but lived clandestine lives of lies until only a decade or so ago. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d360c2ad138.jpg" length="414500" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:03:59 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Riaz Osmani</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>LGBT, Bangladesh 2.0</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Iran is Winning the War</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/how-iran-is-winning-the-war</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/how-iran-is-winning-the-war</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Iran is delivering a master class in asymmetric warfare with real life military, geographic, and economic consequences. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d355367b308.jpg" length="308200" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:00:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sohel Nadeem Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, War, US-Israel, Tel-Aviv, Russia, Oil, Strait of Hormuz, Occupied Palestine</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is Bangladesh the First Collateral Damage?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Is-Bangladesh-the-First</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Is-Bangladesh-the-First</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Already, there are signs of classic crisis behaviour. Panic buying, hoarding, informal resale of fuel at inflated prices, and rising tensions at petrol pumps. These are not the symptoms of a stable system. They are the early tremors of a breakdown in trust. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69d2100e6e019.jpg" length="154495" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:40:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, USA, Strait of Hormuz, Fuel Crisis</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mental Wellbeing Beyond Ramadan: Inner Work for Becoming Better Versions of Ourselves</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Mental-Wellbeing-Beyond-Ramadan%3A-Inner-Work-for-Becoming-Better-Versions-of-Ourselves</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Mental-Wellbeing-Beyond-Ramadan%3A-Inner-Work-for-Becoming-Better-Versions-of-Ourselves</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Divine gratitude can flow into our everyday lives in such ways, humbling our hearts to appreciate our privileges, the people and experiences that shape us, and the community and world we belong to, all the while realizing that much of life is a gift rather than an entitlement. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ca36b44768f.jpg" length="276080" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:30:12 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arman Rashid</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ramadan, Wellness, Mental Health, Mindfulness</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Democracy Feels Alive Again. But What if We Look Closer?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Democracy-Feels-Alive</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Democracy-Feels-Alive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A dual crisis of legitimacy in the opposition and civil society is creating a “twin vacuum” that weakens democratic accountability in Bangladesh ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c8e4a27ad35.jpg" length="104187" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:37:04 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Zarif Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, Democracy, Opposition</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to Tackle the Energy Crisis? Hint: Not Like This.</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Energy-Crisis</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Energy-Crisis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A month into the conflict, we have yet to see any meaningful adjustment in fuel prices. Even as international crude prices have skyrocketed, the domestic market remains insulated, standing in stark contrast to almost all other Asian nations, including our neighbors, which have already implemented price hikes. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202604/image_870x580_69ce500c3e192.jpg" length="35023" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:29:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rushad Faridi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran-Israel, Hormuz, Oil crisis</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>An Exciting New Start</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/An-Exciting-New-Start</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/An-Exciting-New-Start</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladeshis need to understand who they are and develop the self-confidence necessary to chart their future destiny. Bangladesh is the eighth-largest country in the world by population, it is the 26th-largest economy by GDP-PPP at approximately $1.9 trillion, and one of South Asia&#039;s fastest-growing economies -- with GDP per capita projected to reach $10,850 by the end of 2026. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c8d6896440a.jpg" length="147135" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:36:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Imran Shauket and Jon Danilowicz</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July 2024, Democracy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Dhaka Will See You Now, Mr Prime Minister</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Dhaka-Will-Now-See-You</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Dhaka-Will-Now-See-You</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ You have to heal those it hurt, reassure those who hurt on its behalf, and do all of this under the watchful eye of a public that has very little forgiveness left in the tank. You are blamed for problems you inherited and applauded cautiously for small, unsexy fixes that don’t photograph well. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c8cf3451aff.jpg" length="29385" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Apurba Jahangir</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tarique Rahman, Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Rewriting the Narrative? RAB’s Conduct in a Nation on Edge</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Rewriting-the-Narrative-RAB%E2%80%99s-Measured-Conduct-in-a-Nation-on-Edge</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Rewriting-the-Narrative-RAB%E2%80%99s-Measured-Conduct-in-a-Nation-on-Edge</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In July 2024, when the entire country erupted in protest, when over 1,400 lives were lost, and when Dhaka became a city under siege, RAB did not revert to familiar patterns. They did not conduct midnight raids. They did not trigger mass disappearances. Instead, they acted as a containment force. That contrast is not just noteworthy, it is historic. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c8c433aac27.jpg" length="145837" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:57:38 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mirza R. Ahmad</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>RAB, Ainaghar, July Uprising</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Wait. We Don’t Have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/strategic-petroleum-reserve</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/strategic-petroleum-reserve</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If Bangladesh builds an SPR, it must not repeat either failure mode: Not scarcity through neglect, and not expansion without scrutiny. That, finally, is the real argument for a Bangladeshi reserve. Not a monument. Not another expensive ribbon-cutting exercise. A shield. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ca2109635f2.jpg" length="139747" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 13:55:57 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oil, Fuel, Iran War, Strait of Hormuz</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Three Million or Three Hundred Thousand?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Three-Million-or-Three-Hundred-Thousand</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Three-Million-or-Three-Hundred-Thousand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Seeking a clearer understanding of history does not diminish the legacy of the Liberation War, but honors it more completely. A nation willing to examine its past with honesty shows confidence in its own story. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c76d450a379.jpg" length="103491" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:06:30 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Serajul I. Bhuiyan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Liberation War, 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The State and the Deep State in Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-State-and-the-Deep-State-in-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-State-and-the-Deep-State-in-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Even if we develop our state institutions, there is no guarantee that a ‘Legal Autocrat’ or ‘Constitutional Autocrat’ will not appear in future. The stronger the State, the stronger a Constitutional Autocrat is and the more it may exercise power to prey the public. State becomes a Constitutional handle to a Constitutional Dictator or Fascist. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69bfbb59bf2e6.jpg" length="62921" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 15:50:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jalal Mirza</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Deep State, USA, July Revolution</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Nepal’s Youth Won and Bangladesh’s Faltered</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Nepal%E2%80%99s-Youth-Won-and-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Faltered</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Nepal%E2%80%99s-Youth-Won-and-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Faltered</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh’s political terrain is considerably more rigid. Dynastic narratives continue to exert powerful influence over voter perceptions. The Awami League remains closely associated with the legacy of Sheikh Mujib, while the BNP continues to revolve around the Zia family. In such an environment, new political movements must not only compete with established organizations but also confront deeply embedded historical loyalties. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69c22e2484786.jpg" length="117821" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:50:46 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Balendra Shah, Nepal, Awami League, NCP, Zia</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Lullabies Become Archives</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Lullabies-Become-Archives</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Lullabies-Become-Archives</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What appears as playful nonsense often functions as mnemonic residue, compressed narratives of invasion, hunger, gendered sorrow, ecological uncertainty, and communal endurance. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b66120a5e39.jpg" length="548106" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:47:05 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nafew Sajed Joy</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bengali folk, Rabindranath Tagore</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Elephant in the Room</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-elephant-in-the-room</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-elephant-in-the-room</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ That the stability and sustainability of Bangladesh’s renewed tryst with democracy will depend on how maturely Tarique Rahman deals with the thorny issue of Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69bf9a33791f6.jpg" length="105933" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:44:44 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rehman Sobhan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Awami League, Sheikh Hasina, Modi, Jamaat, BNP, Tarique Rahman, Interim</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>10 Questions for Bobby Hajjaj</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/10-questions-for-bobby-hajjaj</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/10-questions-for-bobby-hajjaj</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The education system of Bangladesh is not merely a ministry. It is one of the largest social systems in the world. Running such a system is not simply a policy challenge. It is an administrative challenge of almost unimaginable scale. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b650a7af1fb.jpg" length="85078" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 12:25:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>National Education Policy, Ministry of Education, Bobby Hajjaj</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Myth of Rohingya Aid Dependency</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Myth-of-Rohingya-%E2%80%9CAid-Dependency%E2%80%9D</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Myth-of-Rohingya-%E2%80%9CAid-Dependency%E2%80%9D</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Rohingya are not “fully dependent” on anyone. They are dependent only to the extent that they have been made dependent -- by design, by policy, and by a system that manages dependency rather than ending it. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b64b21a18dc.jpg" length="109525" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:01:46 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shafiur Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Rohingya, Myanmar, Cox&#039;s Bazar</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Shingara as a Geopolitical Testimony</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Shingara-as-a-Geopolitical-Testimony</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Shingara-as-a-Geopolitical-Testimony</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On gravity, and those who bear its weight. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b6785054010.jpg" length="102277" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:14:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Geopolitics, Food, Supply chain, Bangladesh, Russia-Ukraine, Iran-Israel</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>From Raids to Reform: Why Bangla QR is the Real Solution to Market Opacity</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/From-Raids-to-Reform</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/From-Raids-to-Reform</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The transition from cash to digital is not merely a technological shift; it is an institutional reform. It requires aligning incentives, building trust, and modernizing infrastructure. But the alternative -- continuing cycles of raids, fines, allegations of harassment, and persistent opacity -- offers little hope for sustainable market discipline. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_699ab2a0e441d.jpg" length="90059" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:00:32 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tashzid Reza</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangla, Bangladesh</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Iran War and Resilience of Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Iran-War-and-Resilience-of-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Iran-War-and-Resilience-of-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Both the USA and Israel have adopted evasive strategies influenced by various factors, such as diverting attention from the Epstein scandal, preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon despite Iran repeatedly denying its intent through negotiations in Geneva, the potential failure of Trump’s MAGA project, and notably, projecting a false sense of control over Iran before Trump’s visit to China to gain bargaining leverage. The length of the conflict will depend on the conflicting attitudes of the USA and Iran’s determination to withstand the war. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b65583d271c.jpg" length="69620" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:41:06 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jaglul Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, Israel, America</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Judicial Reform Scheme &#45;&#45; From Plan to Practice</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Judicial-Reform-Scheme</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Judicial-Reform-Scheme</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Comprehensive reform of the judicial system has emerged as a major national demand. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69366fcd9ef14.jpg" length="94615" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:36:16 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Millat Hossain</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Independence Day, Liberation War</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nepal Elections Aftermath: Schadenfreude, Hopes and Apprehensions</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Nepal-Elections-Aftermath</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Nepal-Elections-Aftermath</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As the new representatives go about setting up a government (which, the way the cumbersome Nepali system is structured, might be two weeks away in mid-March), it is now time for reflections, analyses and speculation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b26c5bd9995.jpg" length="87149" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 13:34:09 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Dipak Gyawali</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Kangress, Gen Z, New Delhi, RSP, RPP</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Coups, Countercoups, and the Politics of Power</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Coups%2C-Countercoups%2C-and-the-Politics-of-Power</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Coups%2C-Countercoups%2C-and-the-Politics-of-Power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Coups are not accidents. They are outcomes of institutional design shaped by fear, mistrust, and the imperative of survival. Bangladesh’s history, from 1975’s cascading coups to 2007’s indirect intervention, shows how the struggle to control the guardians of the state can redefine politics itself. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b1443229e3e.jpg" length="91839" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:00:26 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nafew Sajed Joy</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Military, Coups, Countercoups</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Looming Persian Storm: Why Bangladesh Cannot Afford to Defy Economic Gravity Again</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Looming-Persian-Storm</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Looming-Persian-Storm</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A prolonged conflict in the Middle East would likely trigger a slump in consumer demand in Western markets, leaving the RMG sector vulnerable to the dual blow of dwindling orders and the logistical nightmare of disrupted maritime routes. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69b0ee5185055.jpg" length="121043" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:05:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rushad Faridi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Middle East, US, Israel, Iran, Central Bank</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Grameen University and the Global Future of Social Business Education</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Grameen-University-and-the-Global-Future</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Grameen-University-and-the-Global-Future</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ While the university’s roots lie in Bangladesh, its ambitions are unmistakably global. The challenges that social businesses seek to address -- poverty, environmental sustainability, access to healthcare, and economic inclusion -- are universal. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69afabdfd548e.jpg" length="116766" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:00:22 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Serajul I. Bhuiyan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Grameen University</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Three Nobel laureates and Bangladesh’s Economic Future</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Three-Nobel-laureates</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Three-Nobel-laureates</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Irrespective of whether LDC graduation is delayed or not, we must face the music sooner or later. It is time to bite the bullet and focus on productivity. Understanding how firms increase productivity must be at the top of our agenda. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ad20fc41890.jpg" length="157906" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:58:05 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Syed Akhtar Mahmood</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>RMG, Bangladesh</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Women’s Empowerment: Time to Implement the Promises in the Manifesto</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Women%E2%80%99s-Empowerment</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Women%E2%80%99s-Empowerment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As the BNP is now the ruling party in Bangladesh, there is a growing expectation that it will implement the commitments it made in its platform. While women represent 50.83% of Bangladesh&#039;s population, their rights continue to be threatened by violence, limited political participation, and social restrictions. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ad06b8a1034.jpg" length="80915" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 12:10:26 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Subail Bin Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda Zia, BNP, Manifesto, Women&#039;s Day</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Extremely Sustainable Lifestyle of the Burnt&#45;Out Feminist</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Extremely-Sustainable-Lifestyle-of-the-Burnt-Out-Feminist</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Extremely-Sustainable-Lifestyle-of-the-Burnt-Out-Feminist</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Though the International Brotherhood of Mediocre Men appears to be doing a competent job of setting the world on literal fire, feminists remain the preferred explanation for why everything is burning. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69ad0a1cea858.jpg" length="129314" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 11:32:23 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sushmita S Preetha</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>feminist</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Straw&#45;Woman Fallacy</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/An-Angry-Daughter</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/An-Angry-Daughter</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Feminism has become a new F-word. But let&#039;s at least debate the issues that women are really talking about and demanding rather than a patriarchal projection of what men think women want and demanding. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a92f525e429.jpg" length="74625" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 10:10:46 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shanim Tasnim</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Women, Women&#039;s Rights, Feminism</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Elephants Fight, It is the Grass that Suffers</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Elephants-Fight</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Elephants-Fight</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It is often said that there is no personal loss to the architects of war. That statement may be rhetorically exaggerated, yet it captures an essential imbalance. Decision-makers operate at a distance from the battlefield. Their families are rarely in the line of fire. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a7df5a2f6de.jpg" length="116297" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 13:16:11 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>USA, Israel, Iran</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Can BNP Deliver a Bangladesh&#45;First Foreign Policy?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/can-bnp-deliver-a-bangladesh-first-foreign-policy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/can-bnp-deliver-a-bangladesh-first-foreign-policy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh is a small fish in a big pond. Mr. Rahman must show enough courage to defend the country’s sovereignty while recognizing Bangladesh’s limits and acting rationally as a national statesman: That requires him not to design foreign policy based on whatever the prevalent mood is on social media. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a67f66f1015.jpg" length="77643" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:28:05 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, USA, China, Tarique Rahman, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Foreign Policy, Khalil</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Unlearning Obedience</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Unlearning-Obedience</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Unlearning-Obedience</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We’re tired of being told to wait. We’re tired of being told to be reasonable. We’re tired of being told to consider the reputations of men, the stability of institutions, the sensitivities of cultures. We’re tired of the same headlines feeling like déjà vu. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202603/image_870x580_69a5eca337cae.jpg" length="114057" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:02:24 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Azeema Anhar Humaira</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Women&#039;s Day, Woolf, Plath, Morrison</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Other Side of the Remittance Story</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-other-side</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-other-side</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Remittance inflows are not merely a function of diaspora goodwill or seasonal rituals; they are the mirror image of confidence in the domestic market’s fairness and functionality. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698823db68fa3.jpg" length="56197" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:49:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tashzid Reza</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Remittance, Hundi</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to Fix Education</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Fixing-education-starts-with-fixing-how-we-decide</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Fixing-education-starts-with-fixing-how-we-decide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ I write not to add another idea to the pile, but to argue for changing how we decide which ideas deserve the limelight. The answer lies in redesigning the system of decision-making itself -- clarifying who decides, how decisions are made, and how public money is allocated. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_6991a36c915f2.jpg" length="98742" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:44:12 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rubaiya Murshed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Elections, Manifesto</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bangladesh Chose Normal Over Revolutionary, and That Tells Us Everything</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Chose-Normal-Over-Revolutionary</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Chose-Normal-Over-Revolutionary</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Voters opted for political change at a moment of acute economic strain and fraying public security. They desperately want stability and tangible economic recovery. That&#039;s what they voted for. That&#039;s what they now expect to receive in return. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698826983b9ba.jpg" length="35480" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 16:10:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faruq Hasan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Jamaat, Elections</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nine Reasons Jamaat Missed Its Moment</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Between-Hype-and-Reality</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Between-Hype-and-Reality</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On the question of 1971 and apology, Jamaat’s tone was arrogant. Had they shown even minimal reconciliation, people might have celebrated August 5’s victory with them on the election day, specially given their alliance with the student movement. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_6992b26cea3e6.jpg" length="122850" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:00:48 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mashrur Arefin</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jamaat, NCP, 1971</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Where the Anti&#45;India Current Runs Strong</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/BNP-Wins%2C-But-Anti-India-Currents-Run-Strong</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/BNP-Wins%2C-But-Anti-India-Currents-Run-Strong</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The fact that Jamaat has won so many seats for the first time ever -- most of them along Indian borders -- should be a cause for concern for India. While Bangladeshis may not have embraced Islamic fundamentalism this time, anti-Indian sentiment is clearly gaining ground. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_695237abd25b4.jpg" length="128434" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 12:44:54 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jannatul Naym Pieal</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jamaat, Elections, India, BNP</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The House That Divides Us: Building a Nation from the Rubble of Victory</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-House-That-Divides-Us</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-House-That-Divides-Us</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ BNP has to govern not merely as the winner of an election but as the steward of a divided nation. Jamaat-e-Islami has to act as a parliamentary opposition, not as a liberation war revision society. The international community has to support democratic consolidation, not strategic alignment. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698fffc5abebc.jpg" length="30737" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 10:53:44 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Awami League, July Charter</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Minority Safety Is Essential for Fair Elections and Democratic Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Transitions-Become-Moments-of-Fear</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Transitions-Become-Moments-of-Fear</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ With the election scheduled to take place in the coming days, the need to heighten and strengthen protective measures is now immediate and critical. Preventive security, early warning, and community engagement efforts must be intensified not only on polling day but throughout the pre-election and post-election period, particularly over the next month, when risks of retaliation and intimidation have historically been highest. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698b0e67968e9.jpg" length="65958" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:55:09 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Opshora Islam Tondra, MD. Zarif Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections, Minorities</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Democracy Day Special Biriyani: A Facebook Feed on Election Day in Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Democracy-Day-Special-Biriyani</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Democracy-Day-Special-Biriyani</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The polls close. One by one, the live streams flicker and die. The official pages go dormant, saving their energy for victory declarations or accusations of theft. The meme pages are quiet. The deepfake bazaar has shut its stalls. Your thumb, trained for twelve hours on a refresh-loop, finally has nothing to pull. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698869837c40e.jpg" length="65408" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:46:45 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Burning Temples of Bangladesh: Journalism, Culture, and Democracy at Risk</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Burning-Temples-of-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Burning-Temples-of-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When a society burns its own newspapers, attacks its artists, and restricts freedom of thought, that fire does not stop there. It spreads to courts, classrooms, and homes. When a city burns, its temples do not survive. Our temples, culture and freedom of expression, are no longer matters of personal preference. They are matters of collective survival. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698b061c47e32.jpg" length="34966" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:20:03 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nafew Sajed Joy</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Prothom Alo, The Daily Star, Chhayanaut, Dipu Das</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Emerging Markets Monitor</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Emerging-Markets-Monitor</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Emerging-Markets-Monitor</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Key Stories Shaping Emerging Markets: Thai Election Fuels Stock Market Rise, EM Rises as Wall Street Looks Global, The Race for Brazil Rare Earths, US-Bangladesh Trade Deal, Uber Buys Getir Stake from Mubadala ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698aeead5bfda.jpg" length="54721" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 14:20:54 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Afshin Molavi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Economic Times, Geopolitics, International Law</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bridging Divides: Taslima Akhter and Bangladesh’s Śromik and Nārī Andolon</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Taslima-Akhter</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Taslima-Akhter</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Lima’s commitment to centering worker’s voices and futures, and the combination of pragmatism and integrity that drives her have been on full display in the past two decades, long before the most recent elections were announced. Equally at ease organizing in the industrial belts as in negotiating policy reform in Dhaka or Geneva, she is exactly the kind of candidate the country needs right now. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698aec21c4610.jpg" length="58206" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:40:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Dina M. Siddiqi and Hasan Ashraf</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Feminism, Worker&#039;s rights, Photography, Protest</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Can We Critically Look at People’s Movements?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Can-We-Critically-Look-at-People%E2%80%99s-Movements-596</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Can-We-Critically-Look-at-People%E2%80%99s-Movements-596</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If states tighten control over digital spaces to prevent manipulation, how do democracies function? How do we distinguish between organic, bottom-up people’s movements and those that are partially orchestrated or externally influenced? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698844be288d2.jpg" length="100238" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:11:13 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Muhaimen Siddiquee</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gen Z, July Movement, Revolutions</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Should Be the Foreign Policy Priorities of the Next Government</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Foreign-Policy-Priorities</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Foreign-Policy-Priorities</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A Bangladesh that wants diplomatic space to grow must first secure strategic space. If it wants autonomy, it must first make coercion unprofitable. That is the hard, unromantic truth of the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69886eb58008e.jpg" length="67537" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 08 Feb 2026 16:12:06 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nazmus Sakib and Muhib Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, India, Hasina</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Problem with the Referendum</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/problem-with-referendum</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/problem-with-referendum</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What we have here is selective presentation designed to secure approval through incomplete information. The ballot emphasizes what is popular; the fine print includes what is contentious. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_698777b6e6d9c.jpg" length="35291" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 07 Feb 2026 17:44:39 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ryan Kabir</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Referendum, July Charter</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Dr Yunus Got Right, and What He Didn&amp;apos;t</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/what-dr-yunus-got-right-and-what-he-didnt</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/what-dr-yunus-got-right-and-what-he-didnt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh will remember the outgoing Chief Adviser with respect for stepping up when the country desperately needed him. His record in government is, predictably, mixed. Was it fair to have expected more? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69859494ca1dc.jpg" length="60945" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:13:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dr Yunus, Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Teesta Without Tripwires</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Teesta-Without-Tripwires</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Teesta-Without-Tripwires</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whatever the causes, Bangladesh cannot wait indefinitely. It must build damage-reducing infrastructure without delay. This does not replace a water-sharing settlement; it reduces damage while politics drags on, and it must be designed with geo-politics in mind. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_697f444c024af.jpg" length="115909" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:00:30 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nazrul Islam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Teesta, Bangladesh</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Jamaat&#45;e&#45;Islami and Growing Islamism in Post&#45;Hasina Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Jamaat-e-Islami-and-Growing-Islamism-in-Post-Hasina-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Jamaat-e-Islami-and-Growing-Islamism-in-Post-Hasina-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ While it would be presumptuous to predict a Jamaat victory in the upcoming elections on February 12, the BNP and other secular and liberal democratic parties must acknowledge the emergence of a Third Party with a moderate Islamic agenda that could gain power in the next round of elections in 2031. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_697eeb12a2797.jpg" length="341025" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:55:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Taj Hashmi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jamaat-e-Islami, BNP, Sheikh Hasina</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Do We Stop Giant Corporations Taking Over Bangladesh?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/how-do-we-stop-giant-corporations-taking-over-bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/how-do-we-stop-giant-corporations-taking-over-bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Society needs a new compact to rein in the empire of corporate giants. This is as true for Bangladesh as it is for the rest of the world. Else we will all descend into the servitude of a new feudal system headed by giant corporations and the handful of their beneficiaries. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69806531e2a08.jpg" length="65479" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2026 14:01:38 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Manzur Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, MNC</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tarique Rahman Must Lead on Accountability</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Tarique-Rahman-Must-Lead-on-Accountability</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Tarique-Rahman-Must-Lead-on-Accountability</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh needs leaders willing to say what I believe must be said: Crimes against humanity warrant organizational accountability, but only through a judicial process that respects rule of law. That is the stance Tarique must take. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_69806415d2ba9.jpg" length="43848" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:24:37 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tahmid Islam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Awami League, BNP, Tarique Rahman</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Will Turning Korail Into a High&#45;Rise Solve the Problem? Not So Fast.</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Bangladesh-Cannot-%E2%80%98Solve%E2%80%99-Slums-with-High-Rises%3A-The-Korail-Test</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Bangladesh-Cannot-%E2%80%98Solve%E2%80%99-Slums-with-High-Rises%3A-The-Korail-Test</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Korail high-rise promise is not just a construction project. It is a governance challenge shaped by misaligned incentives, fragmented land control, extreme density, contested beneficiary selection, weak tenure enforcement, and post move-in affordability. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202602/image_870x580_697ee09a3b538.jpg" length="529577" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2026 12:17:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mariha Tahsin</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Korail, Slum, Dhaka</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is Jamaat Coming?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/is-jamaat-coming</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/is-jamaat-coming</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Arithmetic still points to a BNP-led alliance winning, with a Jamaat-led alliance more likely to land as the principal opposition. The caveat is that Bangladesh has not had credible elections since 2008, so any confident prediction about voting behaviour is just that: An informed forecast, not a guarantee. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_6975f644768bf.jpg" length="95140" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 16:54:21 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jamaat, Elections</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Ganges Treaty and the End of Discretionary Diplomacy</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Hydrological-Realism</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Hydrological-Realism</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Turning water into a nationalist symbol may mobilize sentiment, but it has never produced water -- and it has often delayed the reordering of ties that scarcity now makes unavoidable. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696cca9b30b6e.jpg" length="91680" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:51:35 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nazrul Islam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ganges, India, Indo-Bangladesh Relations, Water</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Song Remains: Freedom, Memory, and the Refusal to Forget</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Song-Remains</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Song-Remains</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whether it is a party that markets itself as the sole heir of 1971, or a hardline movement that once mocked that struggle and now sanitizes its record, the exploitation is the same. Both seek to convert freedom into political capital. Both demand that citizens forget what they saw and felt. Both ask us to trade memory for myth. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696dfca25f5f3.jpg" length="31559" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:50:32 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shamaruh Mirza</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pilkhana, Shapla Chattar, Rosa Luxemburg, 1971</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ali Riaz’s Big Bet</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Ali-Riaz%E2%80%99s-Big-Bet</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Ali-Riaz%E2%80%99s-Big-Bet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Is tinkering with the formal rules of the game the triumph of hope over experience (this time politics will be different)? Or a more technocratic faith in the power of institutional architecture to push back against the potent political imperatives of rents and control (we can design our way to democracy)? Either way, fixing the rules seems a misplaced focus when history has shown that the amassing of political power rapidly renders such niceties ornamental. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696dda44ae06d.jpg" length="80164" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2026 15:00:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Naomi Hossain</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Interim, Ali Riaz</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Begum Khaleda Zia&amp;apos;s Quiet Battle for the Girl Child</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Remarkable-Character-Who</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Remarkable-Character-Who</guid>
<description><![CDATA[  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_6967375eeeb17.jpg" length="41437" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 11:54:38 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Begum Khaleda Zia, Khaleda Zia, Death, Legacy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why New Delhi is Losing the Bangladeshi Heart</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Psychological-Divide</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Psychological-Divide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ India has not merely provoked a cyclical wave of anti-India sentiment; it has actively contributed to giving it a permanent, structural form. The alienation is no longer just about borders -- it is about sovereignty. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696489c63ef31.jpg" length="82933" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:43:25 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Muhammad Asiful Basar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India, Indo-Bangladesh Relations</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Too Shallow to Dive</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Too-Shallow-to-Dive</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Too-Shallow-to-Dive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ I’m not against using AI, I never was. I just want you to use it cautiously. Because the more you are replacing AI with your own mind, the more it will take space in your soul. If we keep asking AI solutions for every simple problem, our mind will become too fragile to face challenges. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_69639164ccb91.jpg" length="158220" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 13:15:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shanim Tasnim</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Artificial Intelligence, AI</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Great Blue Jeans War: How Sydney Sweeney’s Genes Powered Trump’s Spectacle Engine</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-great-blue-jeans-war-how-sydney-sweeneys-genes-powered-trumps-spectacle-enginefrom-cultural-grievance-to-geopolitical-shock-and-awe-the-unifying-logic-of-a-politics-built-on-spectacle</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-great-blue-jeans-war-how-sydney-sweeneys-genes-powered-trumps-spectacle-enginefrom-cultural-grievance-to-geopolitical-shock-and-awe-the-unifying-logic-of-a-politics-built-on-spectacle</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The question for a republic is whether it can learn to look away from the dazzling, authoritarian image long enough to see -- and rebuild -- the dull, demanding, and essential foundations of a reality-based politics. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_69649812d4b5d.jpg" length="416552" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 13:14:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Spectacle, Republican</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>2026 Bangladeshi Elections and Information Bombs</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/2026-Bangladeshi-Elections</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/2026-Bangladeshi-Elections</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Rumour is part of politics and society but now it can be magnified and curated at speed in the age of the (un)smart phone. Compared to the digital control of the previous regime what we have now is the information bomb. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_696355230e513.jpg" length="96843" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:45:51 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Nayanika Mookherjee</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Information, Scaffolding, Rumour</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Legacy of Osman Hadi and Reclaiming 71 in a Post&#45;July Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-legacy-of-osman-hadi</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-legacy-of-osman-hadi</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Given how rapidly an emerging narrative hardens in current discourse, we must start our critical evaluations of Hadi’s legacy as soon as possible: Hadi’s image must be snatched away from those who want to worship him. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69510779ee076.jpg" length="85821" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:17:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Hassan uz-Zaman Shamol</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Osman Hadi, Populism, legacy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Learning from Tehran: A Warning for Bangladesh’s Democratic Future</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Learning-from-Tehran</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Learning-from-Tehran</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The decision for Bangladesh is simply this: Either we recognize what is happening to our degree of liberty now, or we will soon read about it in the pages of history books as if it is a novel about something that was simply unavoidable. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_695cb7b9c4747.jpg" length="197573" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:34:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Azeema Anhar Humaira</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Propaganda, Radical, Repression</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Time to Put Urban Planning Front and Centre</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Urban-Governance</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Urban-Governance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh’s current urban planning, development, and management systems are so fragmented, multi- layered, and institutionally weak that administrative restructuring alone will not be sufficient at the moment.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_694810f761c80.jpg" length="102842" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2026 10:24:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md Hasibul Kabir and Dr. Faysal Kabir Shuvo</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Urbanization, Economy, Administration</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Of Moral Authority and Convenient Amnesia</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Of-Moral-Authority</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Of-Moral-Authority</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Concern about minority safety in Bangladesh is not illegitimate. But when that concern is amplified selectively, weaponized by domestic political actors, and accompanied by conspicuous silence on India’s own minority challenges, it acquires the flavour of moral exhibitionism. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_695237abd25b4.jpg" length="128434" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 02 Jan 2026 14:14:45 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Democracy, Coercion, Credibility</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Algorithm’s Muse: How a Cat Meme Led Me to the Barricades</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Algorithm%E2%80%99s-Muse</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Algorithm%E2%80%99s-Muse</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The crown cat becomes a single blood cell in the circulatory system of the algorithmic beast. Nusrat doesn’t remember the cat meme today. Not consciously. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69527bdd6a26a.jpg" length="173835" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:07:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Algorithm, Data, Digital Footprint</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Four Bangladeshes</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Quiet-Schism</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Quiet-Schism</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The country is no longer simply divided by class and by geography. It is now divided into four different kinds of society defined by education, language, migration, and access to power: expatriates, English-medium graduates, Bangla-medium graduates, and Madrasa-educated students. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_6951079dc5af2.jpg" length="119049" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 28 Dec 2025 14:40:30 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Protik Bardhan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Four Economies, Inequality, Madrasa</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>We Have Already Lost</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/we-have-already-lost</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/we-have-already-lost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Now, at any moment, a mob can be summoned and the state paralyzed. The potential that emerged after Hasina’s fall is now impossible. This country will become a playground for fallen Indians and Chinese. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202601/image_870x580_695e34f3087cd.jpg" length="73824" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 28 Dec 2025 11:45:10 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zia Hassan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Interim Government, Transitional justice, Reform</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ekattur&#45;er Boiguli: A 1971 Reading List</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Ekattur-er-Boiguli</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Ekattur-er-Boiguli</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In the past decade, a number of books have appeared on Bangladesh’s Liberation War. This essay covers three volumes focusing on the war from within the lens of conflict studies and great game manuevering -- by Gary J Bass, Srinath Raghavan, and Salil Tripathi. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69426d429776c.jpg" length="71918" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:51:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>1971, Bangladesh, Liberation War</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Who Owns 1971?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/History-as-Resistance</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/History-as-Resistance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If 1971 is to remain meaningful, it cannot be owned. It must be debated, carried with care, and opened to complexity. Otherwise, the Liberation War risks becoming either a party banner or a demolition tool. In both cases, the injury is the same: a past turned into a weapon rather than a shared ground on which a plural future might be negotiated. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_693f73ddebb55.jpg" length="55034" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mohammed Abdul Baten</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>History, 1971</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What is a Bengali Muslim Country?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-is-a-Bengali-Muslim-country</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-is-a-Bengali-Muslim-country</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh is once again caught between its tradition of mixed, tolerant culture and the growing push for strict Salafist ideas — a struggle now shaping the country’s identity ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6926dcceb6696.jpg" length="41999" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2025 04:33:33 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zeeshan Khan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bengali, Muslim, Nation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What the Polls are Telling Us (and What They are Not)</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/what-the-polls-are-telling-us-and-what-they-are-not</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/what-the-polls-are-telling-us-and-what-they-are-not</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Do not read these polls as a scoreboard. Read them as a map of the public&#039;s fears, confusion, and silent hopes. The party that understands what the polls are not saying -- the doubts of the undecided, the nuances in the responses on reform, expectations on law and order, corruption, employment will be the one that truly wins the mandate of Bangladesh. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_693fd2f7886c1.jpg" length="59517" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 06:55:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Rubaiyath Sarwar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections, Polls</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Who is a Razakar? What is a Razakar? Why Razakar?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/who-is-a-razakar-what-is-a-razakar-why-razakar</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/who-is-a-razakar-what-is-a-razakar-why-razakar</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “Razakar” is a word that keeps reappearing in Bangladesh’s political history, carrying shifting meanings and renewed political weight over time. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69393d5f01087.jpg" length="91690" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 10:48:39 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Taufique Joarder</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>1971, December 14, Razakar, Jamaat-e-Isami, Awami League</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Promise Kept</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Election-2026</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Election-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Prof Yunus had pledged to hold elections before Ramadan in 2026 and looks to have delivered. There is many a slip twixt cup and lip, but we are on course for our free, fair and festive elections on February 12. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_693e6a5e38188.jpg" length="45182" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 04:44:43 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ashraf Ud Doula</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Middle Eastern Job Market Is Dead</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Middle-Eastern-Job-Market-Is-Dead</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Middle-Eastern-Job-Market-Is-Dead</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The countries that thrive in the next decade will be those that export skilled humans -- not bodies. The countries that survive will be those that build talent -- not hope for visas. And the countries that collapse will be those that cling to dead models and call it “tradition.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202512/image_870x580_69367f5ac542d.jpg" length="60846" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:51:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kawsar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A History  of the Bengali Muslim Nation from 1905 to Today</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-partition-of-bengal-1905-article-countercurrents</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-partition-of-bengal-1905-article-countercurrents</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ To understand Bangladesh 2025, it’s helpful to know what happened in Bengal in 1905, where it all began. We need to know who we are and where we came from if we hope to chart a path to a better future. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_692434d55afdd.jpg" length="106079" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Nov 2025 16:50:25 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mumtaz Iqbal</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bengal Partition, India, Mujib</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Gen Z Burnout: How 20&#45;Year&#45;Olds Became Tired Before Living</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Gen-Z-Burnout</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Gen-Z-Burnout</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Their burnout is not a personal failing. It is a symptom of a culture that confuses motion with meaning. If a generation is exhausted before life begins, the problem is not them. It is the world we have collectively built around them. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_692bea6aa9c70.jpg" length="70479" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Nov 2025 13:49:41 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Generation Z, Youth</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bangladesh’s Fake Photo Card Problem</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Fake-Photo-Card-Problem</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Fake-Photo-Card-Problem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As the country gears up for what is going to be the most consequential national election in its independent history, a locally grown form of online harm, deliberately engineered to fuel targeted disinformation campaigns and rampant misinformation among a largely digitally illiterate population, is posing a serious threat to its efforts to transition from authoritarianism to democracy. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6922fc738f817.jpg" length="43858" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 27 Nov 2025 18:04:33 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections, Photo Cards</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Building Bangladesh’s Next Multi&#45;Billion&#45;Dollar Export Industry</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Building-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Next-Multi-Billion-Dollar</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Building-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Next-Multi-Billion-Dollar</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The global shortage is real. The demand is guaranteed. The opportunity is enormous. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6926a2ad086b7.jpg" length="47427" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2025 15:49:11 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kawsar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nursing, Manpower, Expatriate</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Made America Great</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Made-America-Great-and-Is-Populism-Now-Crushing-It</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Made-America-Great-and-Is-Populism-Now-Crushing-It</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ America rises not when it restricts, but when it welcomes. So will America again evolve as the land of many voices? Its future, and perhaps much of the world’s, depends on this answer. For America is not merely a country. It is a covenant. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_69242f07686d2.jpg" length="217687" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 25 Nov 2025 12:44:54 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Alisha Pradhan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>USA, Immigration, Donald Trump, Mamdani</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Neighborhood First? Hardly.</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/India%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98Neighborhood-First%E2%80%99-Policy</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/India%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98Neighborhood-First%E2%80%99-Policy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A functional India-Bangladesh relationship -- built on mutual respect and interests -- is an economic and geo-strategic imperative. Otherwise, India’s fears of “strategic encirclement” risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6922e830ab5f2.jpg" length="146056" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Nov 2025 11:13:17 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Atif Ahmed Choudhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India, South Asia, Trade</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Where War Turned to Wonder</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/where-war-turned-to-wonder</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/where-war-turned-to-wonder</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Superpowers are increasingly reluctant to send their children into combat and expose them to trauma. This gradual shift  has opened vast, hard-to-predict possibilities for new forms of warfare with their effects rippling outward like the countless waves of the sea. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_690b1d56c295a.jpg" length="42029" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2025 15:49:25 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sharin Shajahan Naomi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Military, Weaponry</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The July Uprising and Its Aftermath</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-july-uprising-and-its-aftermath-how-revolutionary-aspiration-became-an-elite-settlement</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-july-uprising-and-its-aftermath-how-revolutionary-aspiration-became-an-elite-settlement</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ How revolutionary aspiration transformed into an elite settlement ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_69180e03a39ee.jpg" length="194717" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2025 19:51:50 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Asif Shahan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July Uprising, Interim Government, Election</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Unlikely Reinvention of the American Dollar: From Oil to Blockchain</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-unlikely-reinvention-of-the-americandollar-from-oil-to-blockchain</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-unlikely-reinvention-of-the-americandollar-from-oil-to-blockchain</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This is the quiet evolution of empire -- from military enforcement to financial automation. The dollar isn’t dying, at least not anytime soon. It’s being privatized. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_691595b5071b0.jpg" length="58666" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:49:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dollar, Crypto, Bitcoin</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Future of Islamic Politics in Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Future-of-Islamic-Politics-in-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Future-of-Islamic-Politics-in-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The truth is: the only path by which Islamists can succeed is exactly the path the League had chased them down. But will it be enough now that the League is history? Only time and the wisdom -- or lack thereof -- of the other political parties will tell. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_6909aaffb87b0.jpg" length="69612" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2025 19:48:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faham Abdus Salam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Islam, Islamism, Islamist</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Reform Reality Check</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/nov-9-the-reform-reality-check</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/nov-9-the-reform-reality-check</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It is all very well to chart out a pathway to reform, but it is in the implementation that the wheels hit the road, and it is here that the process lacks clarity and cohesion. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202511/image_870x580_69079cb7e039e.jpg" length="83014" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2025 23:32:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rehman Sobhan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reform, Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Understanding Bangladesh’s Post&#45;Uprising Reality</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Constrained-Authority%2C-Power-Centers%2C-and-the-Crisis-of-Accountability</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Constrained-Authority%2C-Power-Centers%2C-and-the-Crisis-of-Accountability</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The constrained authority of the interim government, disparate power centers, and a crisis of accountability have all led to the unique challenges facing the nation today and that the incoming government will inherit ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68ff09c0883fd.jpg" length="108714" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 11:33:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>MD. Zarif Rahman and Opshora Islam Tondra</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Khaleda Zia and the Hardest Revolution of All</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Hardest-Revolution-of-All</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Hardest-Revolution-of-All</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Not the overthrow of dictators, but the revolution of humility, compassion, and forgiveness. A lesson Bangladesh has never practiced, but one leader showed us how it is done. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68f9e9064910e.jpg" length="51068" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Oct 2025 10:32:01 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mirza R. Ahmad</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Khaleda Zia, BNP</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Soundtrack for the Apocalypse: A Dhaka Gridlock Playlist</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Soundtrack-for-the-Apocalypse</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Soundtrack-for-the-Apocalypse</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ You can&#039;t defeat Dhaka traffic. But these tunes can minimize your pain. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68f87f286b3a4.jpg" length="120615" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:07:46 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zakir Kibria</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Traffic, Dhaka</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Subaltern Women and the Islamic Feminist Turn</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Subaltern-Women-and-the-Islamic-Feminist-Turn%3A-Rethinking-Representation-and-Rights-of-women-in-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Subaltern-Women-and-the-Islamic-Feminist-Turn%3A-Rethinking-Representation-and-Rights-of-women-in-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It&#039;s time to rethink the representation and rights of women in Bangladesh. Should elite secular feminism neglect to recognize and engage with Islamic feminist frameworks, it risks irrelevance or worse. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68ea6cb640326.jpg" length="28829" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 12 Oct 2025 12:04:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sharin Shajahan Naomi</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Women&#039;s Rights, Feminism, Islam</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Clutching at Straws: Who Should be Deemed Electable in the New Bangladesh?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Clutching-at-straws%3A-Who-should-be-deemed-electable-in-the-%E2%80%98New-Bangladesh%E2%80%99</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Clutching-at-straws%3A-Who-should-be-deemed-electable-in-the-%E2%80%98New-Bangladesh%E2%80%99</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At the very least, the people of Bangladesh should be able to keep the criminal, the corrupt, and the compromised from running in the upcoming elections ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e78b2e8f9d5.jpg" length="81167" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:59:37 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shahed Iqbal</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Election</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Bangladesh’s Demographic Dividend Turns Into a Curse</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Demographic-Dividend</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Demographic-Dividend</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The demographic dividend is not destiny -- it’s a choice. Bangladesh has 15 years to act, but  the window shrinks daily. Without a bold vision, this youth bulge could ignite unrest rather than prosperity, echoing the Arab Spring’s unfulfilled promise.   ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e3adedcb66f.jpg" length="31784" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2025 11:32:45 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>M.K.Aaref</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Demographic Dividend, Population</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What Bangladesh Can Learn from Dr. Jane Goodall</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Bangladesh-Can-Learn</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/What-Bangladesh-Can-Learn</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Her warning that humanity has only a narrow window to reverse the degradation of Earth’s life-support systems, and that unless societies change their ways of living and their overall strategy for economic development, civilization will run out of time, is especially relevant to Bangladesh ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e3a951ca348.jpg" length="452520" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 08 Oct 2025 11:54:11 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jane Goodall, Prof Yunus</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What the Innovision Poll Says and What It Doesn&amp;apos;t</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Does-the-Innovision-Poll-Challenge-Popular-Narratives</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Does-the-Innovision-Poll-Challenge-Popular-Narratives</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Everything you wanted to know about the PEPS survey. A closer reading of the survey&#039;s findings unearths a treasure trove of information for the political parties and the general public. Too many commentators have only looked at the surface, hence they are missing the true insights. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e3a85a28509.jpg" length="86412" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2025 10:57:06 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Rubaiyath Sarwar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Innovision, PEPS, Election, Polling</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>In Defence of the Word Unspoken</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/In-Defence-of-the-Word-Unspoken</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/In-Defence-of-the-Word-Unspoken</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Societies that silence dissent eventually silence innovation, justice, and even hope. The cemetery of nations is filled not with those who spoke too much, but with those who spoke too little. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202510/image_870x580_68e3a7c4a6d2a.jpg" length="28384" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:59:09 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Freedom of Expression</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and Everything in Between</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Good%2C-the-Bad%2C-the-Ugly-and-Everything-in-Between%3A-The-State-of-Affairs-in-Bangladesh-under-the-Post-July-Revolution-Interim-Government</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Good%2C-the-Bad%2C-the-Ugly-and-Everything-in-Between%3A-The-State-of-Affairs-in-Bangladesh-under-the-Post-July-Revolution-Interim-Government</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh’s interim government under Muhammad Yunus is driving bold reforms and prosecuting Sheikh Hasina in exile, but rising violence and political rifts threaten stability. The 2026 election will decide whether this upheaval delivers real democratic change or deeper turmoil. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68da57c98b56b.jpg" length="83933" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Sep 2025 06:00:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Junayed Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Collapse of Authority in an Age of Broken Trust</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Collapse-of-Authority</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Collapse-of-Authority</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The greatest danger of our age is not simply that authority will be rejected, but that authority itself will lose all legitimacy, leaving nothing in its place but the law of the jungle ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d8e5422662d.jpg" length="222726" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 28 Sep 2025 06:29:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Society, Authoritarianism</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Revisiting 1971: Divergent Histories and the Responsibility of Re&#45;reading</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Revisiting-1971-Divergent</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Revisiting-1971-Divergent</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 1971 is not only the history of a time; it is the foundation of our national identity, which must constantly be re-read, understood, and preserved. Re-reading the Liberation War of 1971 in the context of the current times and its challenges is the need of the hour. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d8e595e3664.jpg" length="142231" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Sep 2025 06:12:16 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zahed Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>1971, Liberation War</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The High Stakes of Tarique Rahman’s Political Absence</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-High-Stakes-of-Tarique-Rahman%E2%80%99s-Political-Absence</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-High-Stakes-of-Tarique-Rahman%E2%80%99s-Political-Absence</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ His prolonged stay in the UK is now the defining issue for the country’s opposition politics. His potential return could reshape public perception, reinvigorate the BNP, and alter the national political equilibrium. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d78e0580ed9.jpg" length="90392" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:11:43 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Tarique Rahman</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Road to Net&#45;Zero</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-road-to-net-zero</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-road-to-net-zero</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The important global choice is whether to focus first on the most efficient policies to tackle the world’s most urgent problems of disease, hunger, and poverty, or on the climate concerns of the world’s rich. The world’s poor need billions for health, nutrition and growth, not trillions for inefficient gestures. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d25ec17d8d8.jpg" length="124502" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 23 Sep 2025 07:01:13 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Bjorn Lomborg</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Climate Change</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Political Landscape Facing BNP</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Political-Landscape-facing-BNP</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Political-Landscape-facing-BNP</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The BNP has an opportunity now to define itself and set the direction of the country for years to come. But it must present itself as the party of the ordinary Bangladeshi, and especially those from 35-60 who will shape the country&#039;s immediate future. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d136b12a0c6.jpg" length="127072" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:31:02 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faham Abdus Salam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Who was Charlie Kirk?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Charlie-Kirk%2C-%E2%80%98A-Voice-for-the-Voiceless%2C%E2%80%99-Leaves-a-Legacy-of-Ideas-Over-Bullets</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Charlie-Kirk%2C-%E2%80%98A-Voice-for-the-Voiceless%2C%E2%80%99-Leaves-a-Legacy-of-Ideas-Over-Bullets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ And what lesson is there for Bangladesh about the culture of political violence and trying to find common ground instead of using bullets and brickbats to resolve our differences? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68cf88f32cf5e.jpg" length="62108" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 21 Sep 2025 05:12:02 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zahid F. Sarder</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Charlie Kirk</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A Matter of Life and Death</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-power-of-coloring-someone-Nastik</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-power-of-coloring-someone-Nastik</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Democracy depends on two simple protections: that people can speak, and that they will not be killed for speaking. In Bangladesh, labeling someone a nastik is painting a target on his back, and should be seen for the incitement to violence that it is. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68d0f3fe47d1d.jpg" length="56144" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 21 Sep 2025 05:08:43 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Zahedur Rahman, Islamism, Nastik</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Rethinking Bangladesh’s Rohingya Response</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Rethinking-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Rohingya-Response</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Rethinking-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Rohingya-Response</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh’s model of Rohingya containment is not a temporary holding pattern -- it is politically and economically rewarding for the state. International actors must stop sustaining it. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68c26141de0a7.jpg" length="41779" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 09:16:42 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shafiur Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Rohingya</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Your Home in the Sky and the House in Disarray</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Your-Home-in-the-Sky-and-the-House-in-Disarray</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Your-Home-in-the-Sky-and-the-House-in-Disarray</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It is long past due for Biman to start fulfilling its potential and becoming a cornerstone of the Bangladesh development story ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68b7e979f260d.jpg" length="67123" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2025 07:01:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>M.K.Aaref</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Is the Bangladesh Public Service Commission Dead?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Is-the-Bangladesh-Public-Service-Commission-Dead</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Is-the-Bangladesh-Public-Service-Commission-Dead</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An institution can perish through through abdication and silence while the house burns. By every meaningful measure -- the ability to reassure the public, to clarify recruitment, to protect fairness -- the PSC has ceased to function. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202509/image_870x580_68b7e90107195.jpg" length="76246" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Sep 2025 06:34:51 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Shehab</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>PSC</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When the State Becomes a Party and the Party Becomes the State</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-the-State-Becomes-a-Party-and-the-Party-Becomes-the-State</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-the-State-Becomes-a-Party-and-the-Party-Becomes-the-State</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whoever sits in power today must imagine themselves out of power tomorrow. If they cannot accept that thought, then their governance is not democracy but monarchy in disguise. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_68b3f853eece6.jpg" length="77776" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 31 Aug 2025 06:38:23 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nur and the Grammar of State Violence</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Nur-State-Violence</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Nur-State-Violence</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The roots of this violence lie in the lame-duck interim government’s refusal to do the hard thing first: clean the stables. More than a year into its tenure, we have endured announcements in place of reform and committees in place of consequences. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_68b3f5dce4b37.jpg" length="53798" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 31 Aug 2025 06:36:14 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Bobby Hajjaj</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nurul Haque Nur, Jatiya Party, Police Brutality</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Forget the Elite. We Need To Think About Aspiring Elites.</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Forget-the-elite%2C-think-about-aspiring-elites</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Forget-the-elite%2C-think-about-aspiring-elites</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What happens when the interests of the elite class collide with those of an ever more assertive aspiring elite? We&#039;re about to find out. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_68b3f5d85b9a3.jpg" length="60663" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 31 Aug 2025 06:31:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Syed Akhtar Mahmood</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Reluctant President</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Zia%3A-The-Reluctant-President</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Zia%3A-The-Reluctant-President</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ History does not present Ziaur Rahman as a schemer, clawing for power. It confronted him with moments when silence or paralysis threatened to suffocate the Bangladeshi people. Each time, he stepped forward because no one else would. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_68b3f3b5a1e1d.jpg" length="129151" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:45:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kawsar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Student Politics in Engineering Universities: Can BNP Think Differently?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Student-Politics-in-Engineering-Universities%3A-Can-BNP-Think-Differently</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Student-Politics-in-Engineering-Universities%3A-Can-BNP-Think-Differently</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The time has come to reimagine student politics and free the nation&#039;s campuses from violence and criminality. Is the BNP up to the challenge? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_688f161d2be68.jpg" length="97432" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 17 Aug 2025 07:41:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Faysal Kabir Shuvo and Subail Bin Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP, Student Politics</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Whatever Happened to the Bangladeshi Elite?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Whatever-happened-to-the-Bangladeshi-elite</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Whatever-happened-to-the-Bangladeshi-elite</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Are there signs that the old elite consensus that governed Bangladesh for five decades is breaking down, and, if so, what will replace it? ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_687ca01142e05.jpg" length="47193" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 16 Aug 2025 11:39:40 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Naomi Hossain</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elite</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Post&#45;July Bangladesh: Between the Fall of Fascism and the Struggle for Genuine Reform</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Post-July-Bangladesh%3A-Between-the-Fall-of-Fascism-and-the-Struggle-for-Genuine-Reform</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Post-July-Bangladesh%3A-Between-the-Fall-of-Fascism-and-the-Struggle-for-Genuine-Reform</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The AL may be gone (for now) but that doesn&#039;t mean that fascism has been eradicated from the body politic ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_689d5f7fec41a.jpg" length="54224" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:01:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mizan Rehman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Blood, Bureaucracy, and Transition</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/BLOOD%2C-BUREAUCRACY-%26-TRANSITION--One-Year-of-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Caretaker-Government-%E2%80%94-An-Evidence-Led-Appraisal</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/BLOOD%2C-BUREAUCRACY-%26-TRANSITION--One-Year-of-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Caretaker-Government-%E2%80%94-An-Evidence-Led-Appraisal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An evidence-led appraisal of one year of Bangladesh’s interim government ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_689c69ab144c7.jpg" length="121447" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 13 Aug 2025 10:33:16 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Alisha Pradhan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>From the Wiretap to the Torture Cell</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/From-the-Wiretap-to-the-Torture-Cell%3A-How-the-Awami-League-Built-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Surveillance-to-Detention-Pipeline-%E2%80%94-and-the-Question-We-Still-Need-Answered</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/From-the-Wiretap-to-the-Torture-Cell%3A-How-the-Awami-League-Built-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Surveillance-to-Detention-Pipeline-%E2%80%94-and-the-Question-We-Still-Need-Answered</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ How the AL Built Bangladesh’s Surveillance-to-Detention Pipeline -- and the Question We Still Need Answered ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_689acdd0261f6.jpg" length="44226" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2025 05:15:07 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kawsar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Awami League, Surveillance</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tariff Relief or Strategic Trade&#45;Off?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Tariff-Relief-or-Strategic-Trade-Off</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Tariff-Relief-or-Strategic-Trade-Off</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 20% is better than 35, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done if Bangladesh wishes to remain competitive in the global marketplace ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_689984df9e73e.jpg" length="63993" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2025 05:23:12 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Politicians Keep Lying</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Politicians-Keep-Lying</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Politicians-Keep-Lying</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The question is not whether politicians will lie. They will. The question is whether and why we, the people, will continue to believe them. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_689983b48c746.jpg" length="43318" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2025 05:21:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Betrayal of the Community: How Rushanara Ali and Tulip Siddiq Failed British&#45;Bangladeshis</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Betrayal-of-the-Community%3A-How-Rushanara-Ali-and-Tulip-Siddiq-Failed-British-Bangladeshis</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Betrayal-of-the-Community%3A-How-Rushanara-Ali-and-Tulip-Siddiq-Failed-British-Bangladeshis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Once celebrated as trailblazers, the two Labour MPs now stand accused of hypocrisy, moral cowardice, and silence in the face of dictatorship, leaving the British-Bangladeshi community wounded and ashamed ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_68982ebd8b77a.jpg" length="75164" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2025 05:14:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sage al-Basher</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Rushanara Ali, Tulip Siddiq, British-Bangladeshis</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Disputed Status of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Post&#45;Uprising Bangladesh</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Disputed-Status-of-Sheikh-Mujibur-Rahman-in-Post-Uprising-Bangladesh</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Disputed-Status-of-Sheikh-Mujibur-Rahman-in-Post-Uprising-Bangladesh</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This August 15 , the country must seek closure by coming to terms with the five chapters of its founding President’s legacy –- reckoning with them collectively, not selectively ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_6894607a6c007.jpg" length="85816" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2025 08:08:54 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sheikh Mujib</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ghost in the Machine</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Truth-on-Trial%2C-Justice-in-Exile</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Truth-on-Trial%2C-Justice-in-Exile</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Jinns were once blamed for missing utensils and mysterious fevers. In today’s statecraft, they seem to be responsible for everything from election fraud to economic collapse. No one ever is to blame. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6885e5cb6aecb.jpg" length="66135" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2025 07:10:53 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>From Exile to Awakening</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/From-Exile-to-Awakening</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/From-Exile-to-Awakening</guid>
<description><![CDATA[  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_688f1053d99ec.jpg" length="748197" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:11:31 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Rumi Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July Uprising, July Revolution</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Stairs to Justice</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/THE-STAIRS-TO-JUSTICE</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/THE-STAIRS-TO-JUSTICE</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When the trial process itself becomes a form of punishment it undermines the very foundation of a just legal system ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_689048fedf529.jpg" length="63557" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 03 Aug 2025 10:21:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ehteshamul Haque</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>August 3: The Gulshan Protest</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/august-3-the-gulshan-protest</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/august-3-the-gulshan-protest</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A sit-in of professionals transforms to a spontaneous mass protest ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202508/image_870x580_688f019410f38.jpg" length="143591" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 03 Aug 2025 05:17:39 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Rubaiyath Sarwar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July Uprising</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Rising Tide of Right&#45;Wing Politics in Bangladesh: Why Mirza Fakhrul’s Warning Matters</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Rising-Tide-of-Right-Wing-Politics-in-Bangladesh%3A-Why-Mirza-Fakhrul%E2%80%99s-Warning-Matters</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Rising-Tide-of-Right-Wing-Politics-in-Bangladesh%3A-Why-Mirza-Fakhrul%E2%80%99s-Warning-Matters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The AL exaggerated the threat of extremism for political theatrics. The current government is doing the opposite -- denying its existence while catering to populist sentiments. In the process, national security is being compromised. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6889e635f41a0.jpg" length="300599" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2025 05:41:01 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Asif Bin Ali</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Milestone’s Tragedy: From National Neglect to a National Emergency Response Authority</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Milestone%E2%80%99s-Tragedy%3A-From-National-Neglect-to-a-National-Emergency-Response-Authority</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Milestone%E2%80%99s-Tragedy%3A-From-National-Neglect-to-a-National-Emergency-Response-Authority</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If we don’t redraw the line between what’s acceptable and what must never be tolerated -- we’re not just broken. We’re part of the problem. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6889e45469fbd.jpg" length="13702" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2025 05:36:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kawsar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Spectre of Mujibism</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Spectre-of-Mujibism</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Spectre-of-Mujibism</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fighting against so-called &#039;Mujibism&#039; is tilting at windmills. No such thing exists. We need to be vigilant about the authoritarian narratives and language practices that have begun anew in society centred around July. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_68871b86aeeea.jpg" length="88763" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jul 2025 06:34:19 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Murshid Shalin</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bangladesh Bank Is What Needs Reform</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Bank-Reform</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-Bank-Reform</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Without urgent steps to make Bangladesh Bank truly autonomous and accountable, meaningful economic reform will remain incomplete. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_688708af9da9c.jpg" length="140251" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2025 10:19:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zia Hassan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh Bank, Central Bank</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How India’s Deep State Exploits Both Sides of Bengal for Its Political Gain</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/How-India%E2%80%99s-Deep-State-Exploits-Both-Sides-of-Bengal-for-Its-Political-Gain</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/How-India%E2%80%99s-Deep-State-Exploits-Both-Sides-of-Bengal-for-Its-Political-Gain</guid>
<description><![CDATA[  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_68870b272453e.jpg" length="31969" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2025 10:15:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arif Hafiz</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India, West Bengal, Foreign Policy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>When Madness Becomes Policy and Policy Becomes a Punchline</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Madness-Becomes-Policy-and-Policy-Becomes-a-Punchline</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/When-Madness-Becomes-Policy-and-Policy-Becomes-a-Punchline</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In trying to weaponize chaos, Trump has made America’s foreign policy more coherent than ever -- to its adversaries. He is no longer a mystery. He is a meme. And the world has learned to scroll past him. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6885e41d8a6c0.jpg" length="101577" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2025 07:08:45 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>H.M. Nazmul Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Productivity Is Almost Everything</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Productivity-is-almost-everything</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Productivity-is-almost-everything</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh&#039;s future prosperity depends in large part on enhancing our productivity, but we still lag behind when it comes to gathering the data needed to address the issue, let alone making it a policy priority ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6881fe65731d9.jpg" length="112117" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2025 08:41:14 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Syed Akhtar Mahmood</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>NCP Marching with Maximum Visibility to Gopalganj Was an Unnecessary and Counterproductive Strategic Blunder</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/NCP-Marching-with-Maximum-Visibility-to-Gopalganj-Was-an-Unnecessary-and-Counterproductive-Strategic-Blunder</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/NCP-Marching-with-Maximum-Visibility-to-Gopalganj-Was-an-Unnecessary-and-Counterproductive-Strategic-Blunder</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Provoking what was an entirely predictable response from AL activists and supporters in the stronghold of the deposed political regime amounted to a de facto open invitation for confrontation ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6878a10612dc1.jpg" length="74413" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2025 06:50:13 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gopalganj, NCP, AL, Interim Government</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ben Stokes’s Leadership is the Cornerstone of a Fearless England</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Ben-Stokes%E2%80%99s-Leadership-is-the-Cornerstone-of-a-Fearless-England</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Ben-Stokes%E2%80%99s-Leadership-is-the-Cornerstone-of-a-Fearless-England</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At Lord’s, Ben Stokes showcased the rare qualities of a captain who not only wins matches but changes the very DNA of his team. His tactical nous, emotional intelligence, and visible authority are shaping a culture of resilience and bravery that could define English cricket for a generation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_6876106ae66d5.jpg" length="58390" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2025 07:50:47 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Toffael Rashid</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cricket, Ben Stokes</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Can We Revive Bangladesh’s Capital Markets?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Reviving-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Capital-Markets%3A-Identifying-the-Real-Problems-and-Who-Should-Solve-Them</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Reviving-Bangladesh%E2%80%99s-Capital-Markets%3A-Identifying-the-Real-Problems-and-Who-Should-Solve-Them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Identifying the real problems and who should solve them ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686e553c9dff4.jpg" length="54404" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:37:32 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Asif Khan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>SEC, Stock Market</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Political Storms That Await BNP</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Political-Storms-that-await-BNP</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Political-Storms-that-await-BNP</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ BNP is almost certainly coming to power sooner rather than later. But that may just be the beginning of its real problems. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686e58bf8c5f2.jpg" length="67099" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:30:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Asif Bin Ali</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>BNP</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>An Updated Playbook for Trump&amp;apos;s America</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/UBUI-Updated-Playbook%3A-Turning-Tariff-Threat-into-Strategic-Opportunity-Through-A-Bold-U.S.%E2%80%93Bangladesh-Partnership-Agenda</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/UBUI-Updated-Playbook%3A-Turning-Tariff-Threat-into-Strategic-Opportunity-Through-A-Bold-U.S.%E2%80%93Bangladesh-Partnership-Agenda</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ How to turn the tariff threat into a strategic opportunity through a bold US-Bangladesh partnership agenda ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686e0ce74b8aa.jpg" length="716996" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2025 06:30:41 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Asif Ahmed, Shah Chowdhury and Mohammed Mia</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>United States, President Trump, Tariffs, Trade</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Agents of Hope or Architects of Chaos</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Agents-of-Hope-or-Architects-of-Chaos</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Agents-of-Hope-or-Architects-of-Chaos</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When justice is replaced by selective rage, even agents of hope risk becoming architects of chaos -- threatening the very foundation of the New Bangladesh. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686cb95c16b74.jpg" length="202974" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2025 06:10:30 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mirza R. Ahmad</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mr. Trump&amp;apos;s Big Beautiful Bill</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Mr.-Trumps-Big-Beautiful-Bill-BBB</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Mr.-Trumps-Big-Beautiful-Bill-BBB</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Trump-backed BBB law increases debt, helps the rich, and cuts healthcare, food aid, and clean energy support for millions of poor Americans. It also raises military and deportation spending, weakening the US economy and risking global financial stability. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686cb1d6e96e3.jpg" length="138620" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Jul 2025 05:42:23 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Forrest Cookson</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>United States, President Trump</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ziaur Rahman, a Global Pioneer in Economic Liberalization</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Ziaur-Rahman%2C-a-Global-Pioneer-in-Economic-Liberalization</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Ziaur-Rahman%2C-a-Global-Pioneer-in-Economic-Liberalization</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Zia does not get enough recognition for just how ground-breaking his private sector-led growth strategy was for a country in the Global South in the 1970s ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686b7b7f6126e.jpg" length="48348" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:44:02 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shafiqur Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ziaur Rahman, BNP, Privatization</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why Bangladesh Needs DP World’s Investment</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Bangladesh-Needs-DP-World%E2%80%99s-Investment</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Why-Bangladesh-Needs-DP-World%E2%80%99s-Investment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The DP World deal could be a game-changer for Bangladesh. We need to not let vested interests or shallow nativism trip us up. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686b76e4f1d98.jpg" length="53895" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:39:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Subail Bin Alam</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Chittagong Port, Foreign Investment</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Economic Recovery Has Begun</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-economic-recovery-has-begun%2C-though-pockets-of-weakness-remain</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-economic-recovery-has-begun%2C-though-pockets-of-weakness-remain</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Orthodox macroeconomic policies are having desired effects, with the exchange rate and the central bank’s stock of reserves stabilizing even as import restrictions have been lifted. Higher interest rates have had a dampening effect on economic activities, but very strong remittances have supported household consumption, while exports and public demand also contributed to growth. The economic recovery had started by summer, though pockets of weakness remain, particularly in private investment consumption. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686e154417978.jpg" length="37332" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2025 06:35:54 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Economy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Opening Doors, Unlocking Potential</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Opening-Doors-Unlocking-Potential-Overcoming-Hurdles-to-Boost-Bangladeshi-Student-Intake-in-the-US</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Opening-Doors-Unlocking-Potential-Overcoming-Hurdles-to-Boost-Bangladeshi-Student-Intake-in-the-US</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh has a large, talented youth population eager to study and contribute abroad. The US should double its student intake from Bangladesh to tap into this potential, boost its economy, and strengthen long-term partnerships. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202507/image_870x580_686a069d0380b.jpg" length="58939" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Jul 2025 04:35:25 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kawsar Chowdhury</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>USA, Education</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The End of Exceptionalism: Why Israel Cannot Survive in Its Current Form</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-end-of-exceptionalism-why-israel-cannot-survive-in-its-current-form</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-end-of-exceptionalism-why-israel-cannot-survive-in-its-current-form</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ From global isolation to internal collapse, a reckoning is coming. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_6860d378ca98c.jpg" length="168864" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2025 11:48:59 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Toffael Rashid</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Gaza, Israel</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>We came apart, before we could come together: The root lies in our identity crisis</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/We-came-apart%2C-before-we-could-come-together%3A-The-root-lies-in-our-identity-crisis</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/We-came-apart%2C-before-we-could-come-together%3A-The-root-lies-in-our-identity-crisis</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We have still to define a national identity for Bangladesh, and we need a national dialogue on the matter or we will remain a fractured people. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_685a4cdd4be1b.jpg" length="103601" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jun 2025 05:49:16 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shahed Iqbal</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Civil society must reassess its role in facilitating reform and this is why</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-civil-society-must-reassess-its-role-in-facilitating-reform-and-these-are-the-reasons-why</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-civil-society-must-reassess-its-role-in-facilitating-reform-and-these-are-the-reasons-why</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If reforms are to pass, then all the political parties need to own them and feel that they have taken the lead and not that it was something forced upon them. Reforms the parties believe are imposed on them are destined to fail. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_6857ec9431ecd.jpg" length="73200" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jun 2025 11:48:00 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Rubaiyath Sarwar</dc:creator>
<media:keywords></media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Delaying the Announcement of an Election Roadmap is No Longer Tenable</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Delaying-the-Announcement-of-an-Election-Roadmap-Is-No-Longer-Tenable</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Delaying-the-Announcement-of-an-Election-Roadmap-Is-No-Longer-Tenable</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh now stands at the threshold between gridlock and reconstruction — the Chief Adviser must set a specific month for the upcoming elections and do so without hesitation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_683eda563122d.jpg" length="103008" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2025 11:20:28 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Mir Aftabuddin Ahmed</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elections</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Liberation War and Zia: Some Falsehoods and the Pursuit of Truth</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-liberation-war-and-zia-some-falsehoods-and-the-pursuit-of-truth</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-liberation-war-and-zia-some-falsehoods-and-the-pursuit-of-truth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On the occasion of Zia’s 44th martyrdom anniversary, I express my hope that everyone involved will engage in long, dispassionate, and objective research on Zia’s role during the Liberation War. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_68401f3e2c5f3.jpg" length="51443" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2025 08:15:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Maj Shafayat Ahmad (Retd)</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ziaur Rahman</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Weaponization of History</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Weaponization-of-History</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Weaponization-of-History</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What happens when history is turned into an instrument not of understanding, but of coercion,  sanctification, and political legitimacy? Across continents and ideologies, regimes and ruling  parties have wielded history not just to remember, but to silence, not to teach, but to control. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202506/image_870x580_683c420b2b1e0.jpg" length="64438" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2025 12:10:23 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>M.K.Aaref</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>History, Historiography, Bangladesh</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How To Reach Consensus On Reform</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/how-to-reach-consensus-in-reform</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/how-to-reach-consensus-in-reform</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The only meaningful item remaining on the reform agenda is whether an Upper House should be based on PR or not. Everything else can be sorted out without difficulty. We are closer to consensus than you think. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_68399e6f00afe.jpg" length="41221" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 12:03:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Zia Hassan</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reform, Election, Upper House, Proportional Representation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Childhood’s End</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/childhoods-end</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/childhoods-end</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Soon we will no longer be able to rely on Prof Yunus&#039;s global reputation to smooth things over with allies and adversaries alike. It is time for Bangladesh to invest in its diplomatic capacity. The future belongs to those who can skillfully maneuver on the world stage. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_68397849a0d71.jpg" length="73855" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 09:21:31 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Shafiqur Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, Bangladesh, Geopolitics</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Many Faces of the Digital Divide: Why Access Alone Is Not Enough</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/many-faces-of-the-digital-divide-why-access-alone-is-not-enough</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/many-faces-of-the-digital-divide-why-access-alone-is-not-enough</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Edtech and e-learning are not a silver bullet. They are just one piece of a complex and many-layered puzzle that we need to solve to deliver education to the masses. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_683302481da0e.jpg" length="58539" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 25 May 2025 11:43:36 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Md. Zarif Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Digital Divide, Internet, Education, Edtech</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Kaladan Smokescreen: India’s Response to Yunus’s Northeast Vision</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/kaladan-smokescreen-indias-response-to-yunuss-northeast-vision</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/kaladan-smokescreen-indias-response-to-yunuss-northeast-vision</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Kaladan Corridor is India&#039;s supposed masterstroke to protect its interests on its eastern flank. Unfortunately for them, there&#039;s many slip twixt cup and lip ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_682d2918badf8.jpg" length="61676" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 21 May 2025 01:16:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arif Hafiz</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Kaladan, Northeast, Arakan Army, Rakhine State, Myanmar</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bangladesh aka Amar Shonar Bangla: The Golden Phoenix of the Indian subcontinent</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/bangladesh-aka-amar-shonar-bangla-the-golden-phoenix-of-the-indian-subcontinent</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/bangladesh-aka-amar-shonar-bangla-the-golden-phoenix-of-the-indian-subcontinent</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ How and why Bangladesh is both heir to a heritage and potential unique in the region. It is our time now ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_6828749fa06f6.jpg" length="61749" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2025 11:36:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Arif Hafiz</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Subcontinent</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>I have got a job, but …</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/i-have-got-a-job-but</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/i-have-got-a-job-but</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Unlocking opportunity by tackling Bangladesh’s employment challenges ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_681b2daaba9cd.jpg" length="228672" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2025 09:55:49 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Syed Akhtar Mahmood</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jobs, Employment</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The kids are alright, how about you?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-kids-are-alright-how-about-you</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-kids-are-alright-how-about-you</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An appeal to fellow 40-plus folks to wake up from selfish slumber and join our kids ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_68199b5938d8b.jpg" length="81817" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2025 05:17:46 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>July Uprising, Youth, Students</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The reform options</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-reform-options</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-reform-options</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Assessing various reform ideas that have been floated ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_68199874383da.jpg" length="209237" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 May 2025 05:05:06 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reforms</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The fundamental problem</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-fundamental-problem</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-fundamental-problem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Extreme centralization of power made Bangladesh vulnerable to despotism ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_6818a66e34fa9.jpg" length="67484" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2025 11:36:40 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Centralization, Power</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Papye et fe</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/papye-et-fe</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/papye-et-fe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Three months on from the onset of the Monsoon Revolution, time to reset expectations about politics, and remain hopeful ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://counterpointbd.com/uploads/images/202505/image_870x580_6818979fafebe.jpg" length="97620" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 05 May 2025 10:53:29 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jyoti Rahman</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Monsoon Revolution</media:keywords>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>