Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

If you have ever been to Singapore, it is hard not to be impressed. Your first port-of-call in Changi International Airport, one of the popular airports in the world. Like a model university campus with high-rise dormitories, you will find orderly design, gleaming skyscrapers, green lush vegetation, classic colonial buildings like Raffles Hotel (where English high-tea beckons), and squeaky clean streets. Affluence and orderliness is (almost) everywhere. Hard to believe that only 50 years ago it was only a shell of its current stature, with a GNP that has grown 15-fold in only 20 years. Without question, the architect of this phenomenal success story was LEE Kuan Yew, founding father and prime minister of the city state from 1959-1990, who died on March 23, 2015, at the age of 91. It is no exaggeration to call him the ‘George Washington of Singapore,’ and the great display of public grief and interest in his funeral is a testament to it. He led the People Action Party (PAP),...

The unfolding drama has all the makings of a best-selling murder mystery. First, the pilot tried to return to the cockpit but the door was locked. Next, he called out to the co-pilot within but there was no answer. He took an axe to begin breaking the door - but not soon enough. The co-pilot deliberately changed the settings of the plane so that it would make a steep descent. Air-traffic controllers tried frantically to reach him but, again, he refused to respond (though his breathing could be heard). After 8 minutes, it was all over - the plane hit the mountain and bursts into flames. While the suspense was magnetic, the results were catastrophic. One hundred and fifty passengers meet a swift and horrific death on the slopes of the French Alps. Among the dead were 16 students from a small town school on an exchange program. Two babies also perished. The unfolding drama of Germanwings Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf has become an internation...

•   It’s a breach of protocol; •   It will damage bi-lateral relations; •   It will torpedo negotiations and lead to dire consequences. What was this ‘thing’ that caused such commotion in the Obama Administration? A speech to be given by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister to the US Congress. The controversy raised the profile of the upcoming speech more than any advertising campaign could. Well, it finally happened on March 3rd: The speech. Netanyahu spoke to a joint-session of the United States Congress about the Iranian nuclear threat. It was not the first time he spoke to Congress - he has done it before. Nor was it the first time he spoke about Iran - he has been warning about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program for many years. It appears that the reason this speech attracted so much extra attention is that: 1.   America is right now in the middle of sensitive negotiations with Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions; 2. ...