Articles by Amitabh Pal

Source: The Progressive

European officials are finally acknowledging that democracy matters.

After their initial hostile reaction to the new Greek government’s pleas for a review of the country’s crushing debt, EU leaders finally seem willing to compromise—for now.

The hardball approach of Greece’s new finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, may have unnerved them. 

“Do we really want Europe to break apart?” he asked. “Anybody who is tempted to think it possible to amputate Greece strategically from Europe should be careful. It is very dangerous. Who would be hit after us? Portugal? What would happen to Italy when it discovers that it is impossible to stay within the austerity straitjacket?”  read more

Source: The Progressive

This year may very well prove to be the most memorable in modern Arab history. Too bad that the United States is on the wrong side.

I have written a soon-to-be-published book on Islam and nonviolence that deals with mass protest in the Middle East, but Tunisian and Egyptian youth have already made the book a bit dated by deciding that this year was the year they had enough.

Tunisia itself was momentous. It was the first time in the recent past that an Arab dictator had been toppled by people power. But as significant as this was, Tunisia is a relatively small country and on the margins of the Arab world, geographically and culturally. read more