BOOK REVIEW ON Emergence of a new nation In a multipolar world: Bangladesh

The purpose of this paper is to detail how the region was colonized, how Bangladesh came to be and a brief overview of how it is doing now. As most geographers know that there is an intense relationship between Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, for good reason too. They were all part of the same colony once and hence when we talk about the colonization of Bangladesh, we must mention details from those of India and Pakistan.

On the 7th of April 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one historic press conference [1]. In that conference, he announced his so called “Domino Theory”. It was a substantial aspect of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, involvement in terms of its military support and methods used in Vietnam. Even though it was greatly enhanced by other factors, such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, it was the trigger, and therefore the source of all US involvement in the Vietnam War. The main rationale of the theory was that if one country fell down to communism, all the surrounding countries would do the same, hence why it was called the ‘Domino’ Theory. Eisenhower thought that Vietnam’s fall to communism would lead to consequential communist uprisings in neighboring countries, such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. He also that that it could possibly extend as far as India, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia and New Zealand -[1]. This gave The US enough motivation, and more importantly, justification as to why they greatly increased military presence in Vietnam. Eisenhower said, “The possible consequences of the loss [of Indochina] are just incalculable to the free world.” [2]. Even though the theory was imprecise, and only Laos and Cambodia joined communism after the US lost the war, it was significant as the foundation of the US involvement in the conflict.

In 1949, the Soviet Union tested a nuclear weapon in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, making it the second country to ever successfully develop and test a nuclear bomb. That same year, China, the largest country in Asia, fell to the communist regime. Both of these events signified the growth in size and power of communism and became critical to the United States’ approach on foreign policy. On April 11, 1950 the National Security Council presented document NSC 68 to the president. Written under the supervision of Paul Nitze, NSC 68 provided an in depth analysis of current foreign policy and a recommendation. In the document, Nitze advocated for a “rapid build-up of political, economic, and military strength” within the United States. Nitze, who had worked on World War II warfare policy, was particularly interested in strengthening the military. Throughout the document Nitze stressed the importance of a powerful military. He claimed that “the United States must have substantially increased general air, ground and sea strength, atomic capabilities, and air and civilian defenses to deter war” or else risk falling succumb to the Soviet Union. Nitze was also aware that an increase in military power could trigger the suspicion that the United States was becoming a garrison state. He was thus careful to craft NSC 68 with evidence of not only the dire need for the United States to increase their military, but that through the democratic process a garrison state was impossible.

The rise of Communism and the Cold war saw MacArthur and America review the 3 key objectives within Japan, despite ‘minor’ allies aversions. This undermined the aims initial success and resulted in Japan being identified as an ally. In 1950, with the beginning of the Korean War, America wanted to make the Pacific region an ‘American Lake’ so as to cease the spread of communism. They were fearful of the Sino-Soviet alliance as the Soviet Union had become a nuclear power and China had turned communist. Thus, SCAP banned the Japanese communist party and removed communists from the media and industries. Disarmament and demilitarisation ended in 1950 with the formation of the National Police reserve. America enlisted Japan into its agreement to contain communism and in return, Japan allowed America troops to reside in its country and use

Afghanistan’s history, as a formally recognized nation, can only be traced back to 1919 after the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War with the British, but the land has been settled for more than fifty thousand years (Saboory & Yassari, 2010). This extensive amount of time, coupled with the fact that the area was once crossed by one of the major trade routes in Southeast Asia has created an extensive and diverse cultural background. Art, music, cultural traditions, religion, and political transformation have all occurred in this historic land.

Rahman while in England had a secret meeting with Indian foreign officials and diplomats for the support in creation of Bangladesh, the meeting arranged at a far distance away from the praying eyes of ISI, about 130 Kms. away from London in a small town, over looking the vast fields covered with snow, made his tears roll down and dropped on the map of East Pakistan before him, Mr. Rahman said with a gloomy sigh “When we shall be free?”.

Prior to 1971, Bangladesh did not exist as a state. Instead, it was part of an area called “East Pakistan,” created after India’s independence from Britain spurred Pakistan to create their own independent state. Pakistan at the time was made up of East and West sections, which were separated by religion and culture. West Pakistan looked down upon their eastern neighbors,

The book Islam: Religion, history, and Civilization, Nasr provided a clear introduction to the religion of Islam and its history. He pointed out the intellectual aspects of Islam. He begins by depicting the popularity of Islam in fourteen centuries ago. In its history, Islam has totally transformed people lives. People who were

Review "Classical Islam: A History 600-1258" is one of the best books of all times and the reason for the success and the fame of the book is that it is the book which is one of its kind. It has focused on the aspects and the scenarios and the time which has been ignored by all other writers. The period was such that very little was known about it as most of the writers ignored it. Moreover the world was engulfed in the dark ages and the progress was hindered and the educational and literary levels had not peaked out and that is why the recording of the history was not all that authentic and accurate. The writer of the book G.E. von Grunebaum who is known to have the knowledge of this material used all the resources that he had in the best possible manner and that is why this book makes one of the best reading materials of all times. As already mentioned the history sources were vague as it is to begin with, the writer had his job cut short because now he had to do the compilation of the sources and he had to verify the authenticity of the work that he was going to include in his book. This book was published and translated in 1970 and this book is not only so important because it tells about the history which we had no idea about in the beginning but it goes one step further. It also tells us about the details and the implication that had an important bearing on how the things shaped out in the longer run. The way the Muslim world is today had the roots in the political

Pakistan entered into a civil war after East Pakistan wanted autonomy and later wanted independence. India attacked East Pakistan to support its people after millions of civilians left to India. At the end of 1971, Bangladesh was created out of East Pakistan.

In Bangladesh, indigenous people (IP) are often referred to as Adibasi, small ethnic groups, ethnic communities, aboriginal people, hill people (paharis) and forest people (Akhter, Z. 2010). There are 45 identified ethnic communities existing century after century. Their identity and rights are frequently violated in every tier of the society but generally the state stays silent. In the past, the state also became the actor of human rights violator. Indigenous people don’t have access in the participation and inclusion in the development planning, governance system or any other state mechanism without few exceptions. Sometimes, apparendy it was seen that some initiatives have been taken in favor of them. But many questions have been raised whether these really helped to add value to their life or not (Biswas, S. 2008). Historically, IP plains communities have remained at a disadvantaged position due to their geographical, social and political positioning and therefore have been economically

When considering nation-building in countries such as Afghanistan, it is imperative that firstly we understand the unique concept that each country attaches to 'nation'. In the case of Afghanistan, we must ask ourselves whether Afghanistan has the fertile roots from which a stable nation of our propensity can sprout. Is Afghanistan fertile for the type of nation-building which we would find favourable in the West? Whilst it may seem altruistic from a Western perspective to invest in a foreign nation struggling to maintain basic levels of order, to export our idea of 'nation' upon a country such as Afghanistan is completely flawed, costly and sometimes, as we will come to see, counter-productive because their history has very little in common with the very rigid view the West has of statehood. Firstly, we must look at whether the history of Afghanistan lends itself to nation-building. The West has often in recent times tried to export to countries like Afghanistan their ideas of state despite the fact their history has nothing in common with Western practice. This is most clearly exhibited by nation-building efforts in countries which have never actually maintained a central government. In nations such as Afghanistan, where warlords rule certain areas and adhere to the needs of their ethnic denomination, central government cannot garner the type of centralised power needed to oversee aid and other forms of nation-building. Secondly, we cannot nation-build in countries such as

Nationalism is the most potent factor conducting in the political ground. In the nineteenth century it was almost universally accepted as a injunction for religion. Though in the middle age religious view had prominent influence but in the first half of 16th century more emphasis was given to geographic and national unity and field of national sovereign state was established. At that time strong central national government was established in England, French, Spain. French revolution has been considered the first emergence of nationalism. On the other hand Renaissance and Protestant reformation movement significant role in the rise of European nationalism. “Machiavelli believed that the uniformity of tradition, language and law are the main element of nationalism” (Ayesuddin,1976, in bengali). Besides these it is also necessary to understand clearly the implication of the trend of nationalist movement. The recorded history of Bangladesh is found from around the first century of the Christian era. Until the coming of muslims in the early 13th century the region was ruled by the Hindu and Buddhist kings. The muslim rule in Bangladesh began early in the 13th century and continued until the coming of East India Company. It had been seen a seat of political influence in the history of south Asia, especially 19th and 20th centuries. All major freedom movements against the British rule and ‘Sipahi Bidroha’ in 1857, was the first counterblasts against them by the

Japan was among the countries that recognized Bangladesh soon after the independence and established diplomatic relations on 10 February 1972. Early that year both countries opened Embassies in each other’s capital. The first ever highest level visit from Bangladesh was undertaken by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1973, as the Prime Minister of a free and independent Bangladesh. Since then our two countries’ relations have developed steadily and satisfactorily and never looked back. Bangladesh and Japan have shared views on many key international issues and closely worked for promoting global peace and stability. Both our countries have important contributions in the UN peace keeping operations. Bangladesh supports Japan’s permanent membership in UN Security Council and appreciates its role as an observer of SAARC that anchors it to the region as a bona fide partner. The relations with Japan are of priority for us and both countries are already engaged to exploit the high potentials for further deepening and widening cooperation.  Japan Bangladesh Parliamentary League actively promotes mutual friendship between the two countries. H.E. Mr. Taro Aso, the incumbent Prime Minister of Japan, assumed the office of the President of the parliamentary body last year reflecting the confidence of Japan in Bangladesh’s potentials.  Bangladesh is deeply appreciative of the Government and the people of Japan for

Bangladesh could face a protracted political crisis in the Lead-up to the 2013 elections unless Prime Minister SheikhHasina’s government changes course and take a more conciliatory approach towards the political opposition and the military. In December 2008, following two years of a military-backed caretaker government, the Awami League