Bob Dowling is an international journalist. He is editorial advisor at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations and a columnist for Caixin Online Beijing. He has been a visiting professor at Tsinghua University and a lecturer in India. He was managing editor of BusinessWeek International.
Expertise
Business, international affairs, U.S. politics & economy
This month’s U.S. Appeals Court ruling that deemed illegal the collection of bulk phone records by the U.S. NSA—falsely claimed by U.S. officials as having helped detect 26/11 plotter David Headley—is another nail in the coffin of the U.S. surveillance programme. However, detection of terrorist activity and prosecution of perpetrators remains as problematic as ever
Twelve years since the Taliban attacked the country, U.S. President Barack Obama is preparing for yet another war with a country in West Asia, for breaching a ‘red line’ he had drawn. However, the red line he needs to draw is about where the moral fiber of his presidency lies in the waning months of his tenure.
The evident degradation of public areas in India is not unlike the crime-ridden, slovenly New York City of 30 years past. Maybe it’s worth a calibrated try for India to adopt socialist James Q. Wilson’s argument that one broken window means all the windows will be broken, and crime will escalate from there.
The protests in Brazil, Turkey, Egypt and India are bound by a common thread of grievances against misuse of government power and corruption. These modern protests show a marked decline in government trust, even though may not always have clear objectives
Following the 2008 mortgage crash, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board implemented a quantitative easing policy – to stabilise the banks, and rejuvenate the economic environment. Although this strategy has brought some respite, it has done so without creating many new jobs for Americans.
Though U.S. President Barack Obama was re-elected by a generous vote, he will continue to face the legislative gridlock of the past two years. How he acts in the coming weeks will tell us whether there is a newly-revitalised President in town, or the same one the world has got to know in the last four years.
Rajat Gupta, former chief of McKinsey & Co., was sentenced to two years in jail for insider trading and a fine of $5 million. Whether that will send a deterrent message to corporate boardrooms, which prosecutors claim, is unclear.
During the final weeks leading up to the U.S. Presidential elections, moderate views don't seems to count. Though foreign policy was included in the debate, it was confined mostly to China and the Middle East. Both candidates are looking to be one step ahead to win the last of the undecided voters.
The ability of the slowly recovering U.S. economy to get people employed is more important to American voters than anything else. However, surprisingly, terrorism and the direction of American foreign policy have become a much larger factor in the U.S. Presidential debates.
The biggest change in the first U.S. presidential debate for 2012 was the way both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney moderated differences about government and the private sector. Foreign policy came up only briefly, but it will be a theme during the next round of debates later this month.
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