Philippa Kaur

For the last few weeks, the front page of the National Language Service Corps (NLSC) website has featured a disappointing headline on its banner: “The NLSC program will conclude operations on March 14, 2026.” A collection of volunteer linguistic experts who staff dozens of federal agencies on an as-needed basis when language services are desperately… Continue reading Dismantling the NLSC Threatens America’s Language Readiness
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Since September, Madagascar has been in the throes of a fast-moving political crisis that toppled President Andry Rajoelina and brought a military-led transitional regime to power. What began as small demonstrations by Generation Z activists in the capital Antananarivo — protesting severe water and electricity shortages — quickly grew into a nationwide movement amplified by… Continue reading Madagascar’s Unfinished Revolution: Can a Youth Uprising Break the Country’s Political Curse?
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India’s current foreign policy clearly supports a multipolar world order, notwithstanding the US’ supreme ascendancy and self-obsessed approach in international relations. This gravely endangers the national interests of relatively weak and developing nations, often labeled “Third World countries,” including India, even though it is now the fourth-largest economy in the world. This inevitably discourages the… Continue reading India’s Current Foreign Policy: Reinforcing Strategic Autonomy in a Rising Multipolar World Order
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In Myanmar, life has frozen. You do not move forward there; you remain suspended — between gunfire and hunger, between promises and graves. This paralysis has a name: civil war, sustained by the absence of democracy and the endurance of fear. Across Myanmar’s hills and plains, life is now measured by absence. Since the 2021… Continue reading Reconciliation in a Broken State — Myanmar’s Civil War and the Illusion of Elections
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Every year, as December unfurls its lights and garlands down the streets, our subconscious first goes to the warmth of Christmas. Still, December 25 carries another resonance, more subtle, but just as powerful — it is the date on which English comic actor Charlie Chaplin died in 1977, at his Manoir de Ban in Corsier-sur-Vevey,… Continue reading Charlie Chaplin and the Christmas Legacy of Laughter and Exile
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Fair Observer’s Video Producer Rohan Khattar Singh speaks with Daniel Sullivan, Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East at Refugees International, about Myanmar’s planned December 28 election and why only a handful of observers believe it represents a return to civilian rule. Since the 2021 military coup, the country has remained locked in conflict,… Continue reading FO° Talks: Is Myanmar’s Junta Using Elections to Consolidate Power?
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Most readers will not take seriously my proclaimed identity as the Devil’s Advocate. They correctly understand that I may be using it quite simply as a literary ruse. In my columns, I leave clues to establish that identity as nothing more than a prolonged metaphor. We all use the term devil’s advocate as a metaphor,… Continue reading Are Most European Leaders Deepfakes?
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When Afghanistan collapsed into Taliban rule in August 2021, many of its neighbors quietly told themselves the fallout could be managed. Borders could be tightened. Risks could be pushed outward. Engagement could be kept transactional — just enough to protect narrow interests, not enough to carry responsibility. Four years later, that comfort story has worn… Continue reading A Regional Compact for Afghanistan: Why Neighbors Must Act Together to Secure Stability
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