Bangladesh Picture
Southwest Asia
AfghanistanI. SummaryAfghanistan continues to be the world’s largest opium producer after another year of major increases. Afghanistan now accounts for 72 percent of the world’s illicit opium supply. Despite severe drought conditions in much of the country, reliable USG estimates indicate that cultivation increased by 25 percent and potential production reached 3,656 metric tons. Traffickers of Afghan heroin continued to route most of their production to Europe but also targeted the United States. The Taliban and Northern Alliance factions vie for national control of Afghanistan and both control territory used by cultivators, refiners and traffickers. The United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and non-governmental organization (NGO) efforts at su ... [Read More]
March 2003 Highlights Archive – Study of the U.S.
Many of the visiting scholars, including Henrik Landerholm, president of the National Defense College in Sweden, have spent years examining how American interaction with the rest of the world alters attitudes towards the United States. "This is a form of policy-making where the U.S. has the lead," Landerholm said. "This program has given us more of a vivid picture of U.S. national and foreign policy, and how it is formulated in this era." ... [Read More]
Department of State Washington File: Text: Leach Urges U.S. to "Tune In Sensitively" to Islam in Asia
When speaking to constituents of the rationale for and against the Iraq War, I have over the past couple of years referenced a set of books that held particular currency in the 1960´s: the Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell. Each of the four books describes the same set of events in inter-war Egypt from the perspective of a different character. While the events are the same, the stories that unfold are profoundly different, causing the reader to recognize that one person's perspective is at best a snap shot of reality. A clear picture cannot be pieced together without looking through the lens of a multiplicity of eyes and experiences. ... [Read More]
Emmy Simmons, "The role of microenterprise assistance in U.S. development Policy," Economic Perspectives, February 2004
( 3)(ILO), "Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture," p. 7 (no date) The International Labour Office defines informal sector employment to include both self-employment in informal enterprises (i.e., small and/or unregistered) and wage employment in informal jobs (i.e., lacking contract, benefits or social protection). ... [Read More]
Department of State Washington File: Fact Sheet: Asia Home to Some of Fastest-Growing AIDS Epidemics, U.N. Says
-- In South-East Asia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand are experiencing particularly serious epidemics. Cambodia's national HIV prevalence is around 3%-the highest recorded in Asia. Data suggest this country's epidemic has gone through dramatic changes though. For instance, infection among brothel-based sex workers fell from 43% in 1998 to 29% in 2002. However, the picture of Cambodia's epidemic is incomplete: little has been done to monitor the epidemic among drug users, or men who have sex with men, even though HIV prevalence among male sex workers in the capital was above 15% when last measured in 2000. ... [Read More]
US Department Of State Post Report
The zoo and botanical gardens provide interesting diversions from the crowded city streets. The narrow, winding streets of the Chowkbazaar section of Old Dhaka have picturesque bazaars and shops. The main riverfront of the city, Sadarghat, lies on the bank of the Buriganga River; a visit to the ferry terminal is a good starting point to see Old Dhaka. About 10 miles from Dhaka is Narayanganj, the center of the jute trade in Bangladesh and a thriving river port. A number of Mogul and Hindu ruins are within 25 miles of the city at old Sonargaon. ... [Read More]
"Food Security and Safety - Contents" - U.S. State Department - May 2002
Consumers around the world should have accurate information about the nutritional contents of their food, but the exact nature of what food labels should include is at the heart of international negotiations. Two opposing views present a full picture of the shape of the discussion in the United States. ... [Read More]
Bangladesh
On April 24, Muniruddin Ahmed, a staff correspondent of the Dhaka-based Bangla-language daily Inqilab in Khulna, was assaulted, allegedly by Awami League activists, at the Picture Palace Crossing in Khulna City while on assignment. Awami League activists declared Ahmed an unwelcome person for his reporting about then-Prime Minister and Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina. ... [Read More]
Docs 373-437
Bangladesh, December 1971-December 1972 Introductory Note [Read More]
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