Sunjeev Bery

Category: Bery’s pen

  • Will Tunisia’s new constitution protect women’s human rights?

    Across the Middle East and North Africa, the ousting of dictators has given way to the messy challenges of creating new governments and writing new rules.  Tunisia was the first country in the ongoing wave of protests where protestors pushed a repressive ruler out of power.  Now, an elected body is drafting a new constitution…

  • Roots of Discontent: Egypt’s Call for Freedom

    Harvard Kennedy School Review April 2011 By Sanjeev Bery On January 1 of this year, few would have predicted that Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak would soon be removed from office. But just three weeks later, thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to begin the push for change. In the aftermath of Tunisia’s political…

  • Arab Freedom Is Good for Israel

    The Huffington Post Posted: February 14, 2011 By Sanjeev Bery Whatever their rivalries, the authoritarian leaders of the Middle East did not want to see Hosni Mubarak removed from power. When you are a dictator – even with the title “King” – the forced departure of another dictator is not the kind of precedent you…

  • Pakistan Foreign Minister Mixes Criticism and Praise of US Foreign Policy

    The HKS Citizen (Harvard Kennedy School) October 26, 2010 By Sanjeev Bery Alternating between criticism and praise, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke about US-Pakistan relations at the Harvard Kennedy School on Monday, October 18th.  Qureshi was at HKS on the eve of a US-Pakistan strategic dialogue with senior US officials in Washington DC.…

  • Turkish Foreign Minister Slams Israeli Settlements in Harvard Speech

    The Huffington Post Posted: October 4, 2010 By Sanjeev Bery Speaking at Harvard last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu criticized Israel’s decision to continue building settlements on Palestinian land: Jewish settlements [themselves] are illegal. How can we talk on the extension of [the] moratorium or extension of Jewish settlements? With peace negotiations on the…

  • Dollar vs. Dollar: U.S. Consumers Battle U.S. Taxpayers in Global Drug War

    The Huffington Post Posted: February 3, 2010 By Sanjeev Bery Although the reporting has improved in recent years, U.S. media coverage of the “war on drugs” continues to ignore the economic realities of just who is fighting who in the conflict. The drug war is best understood as a battle of dollar versus dollar —…

  • “Pretend Secrecy” Shields the White House from a Drone Missile Debate

    The Huffington Post Posted: November 5, 2009 By Sanjeev Bery It is time to set aside the notion that U.S. drone missile attacks in Pakistan are some kind of secret. The pretense of secrecy has saved Obama Administration officials from having to publicly defend the military tactic. But when Pakistani college students, think tank scholars,…

  • The State Department is keeping track…

    The U.S. State Department is now tracking the number of emails received opposing U.S. drone missile attacks in Pakistan.  What will the final number be? 50?  500?  5000? After emailing the State Department to oppose drone missile attacks, I received the message below.  You may have as well.  This means that senior State Department officials…

  • Misreading “Anti-Americanism” in Pakistan

    The latest news on US-Pakistan relations shouldn’t surprise anyone. According to the Associated Press, former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf used billions of dollars in US military aid for everything but the paymasters’ intended purpose: fighting Taliban militias. None of this news, however, is likely to generate much Pakistani sympathy for American taxpayers. What American officials…

  • Financial Times Withdraws Award To Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s Chief Minister

    The Huffington Post Posted: September 11, 2009 By Sanjeev Bery Following growing public criticism, the Financial Times magazine fDi has withdrawn its recent “Asian Personality of the Year” award to Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.