Sandip Roy

U.S., Europe Raise Barriers to Asylum

Sandip Roy — 2005-08-13T03:30:00Z

Editor's Note: Immigrants seeking asylum in the West face new hurdles in a climate of fear.

If not shutting the doors to Britain outright, Tony Blair was at least making it much harder to get through them when he announced August 5, "Coming to Britain is not a right." Asylum, said the prime minister, would automatically be refused to anyone who has anything to do with terrorism anywhere. While Blair was talking about the rules of the game changing in a post-July 7 Britain, for asylum seekers the rules have been changing for some time not just in Britain, but throughout the Western world.

"We are seeing the end of the era of mass asylum," says Christopher McDowell, director of the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees, at King's College in London. Once masses of civilians fleeing conflicts would land at a British port and seek asylum. "Now, individual spontaneous asylum is being dismantled as fortress Europe becomes a reality," McDowell says.

Britain and other European nations are opting for a "managed migration" policy, preferring to set up "resettlement" camps in third countries, putting time limits on refugee status, restricting when and how people can apply for asylum and demanding passports and more documentation of persecution. It's all part of a strategy to make these nations less attractive as refugee destinations. (...)

[August 11, 2005]

- / Pacific News Service

'Dying To Kill' — Expert on Suicide Bombers Looks at London and Iraq

Mia Bloom, Sandip Roy — 2005-07-22T17:20:00Z

Editor's Note: Mia Bloom is the author of "Dying to Kill — the Allure of Suicide Terror" (Columbia University Press, June 2005). A professor of political science at University of Cincinnati, she is also a consultant to the New Jersey Office of Counter-Terrorism.

Q: Were you surprised that most of the bombers in London were British-born and bred?

A: I was surprised that they were born and bred in a democratic society. I certainly hope this is not a new stage in Al Qaeda's approach, since these terrorists are far more difficult to weed out than imported ones.

Q: How do you gauge reaction to the suicide bombings?

A: I was pleased that the new imam of the Finsbury mosque condemned the attacks, as did the parents of the bombers. This is in great contrast to the Palestinian or Tamil bombers, who are lauded by their communities. (...)

- / Pacific News Service

Notes From a Brown Man in London

Sandip Roy — 2005-07-08T03:55:00Z

Editor's Note: For an Indian man in London in the midst of Thursday's terror attacks, one fact is clear: Asians in London are no ghettoized minority, vulnerable to backlash in the blasts' aftermath. They are London itself, a new mainstream in an increasingly multicultural city.

LONDON—It was only last night that I watched Kofi Annan as he stood framed against the magnificent stained glass of St. Paul's Cathedral speaking about global poverty. "If it is bliss at such times to be alive, to be here in St. Paul's tonight is very heaven," the U.N. Secretary General told the packed audience filling the pews, many of them wearing the white band that was the emblem of the Make Poverty History campaign. London had just won its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. Heaven was indeed in the air.

"You are here at a historic time," said my friend Pratap. He was more prophetic than he knew. (...)

- / Pacific News Service

UK's Real-Life M Says War on Terror Is Muddled

Sandip Roy — 2005-02-18T21:00:40Z

Rimington was interviewed by PNS editor Sandip Roy, host of "UpFront," New California Media's radio show on KALW-FM 91.7 in San Francisco. To hear the interview with Stella Rimington, click here.

SAN FRANCISCO—Dame Stella Rimington finds the whole idea of a "war on terror" a little puzzling, and when Stella Rimington is confused the intelligence community should pay attention.

With her pastel pink jacket and a demure single strand of pearls, Rimington might look like a typical society matron in Masterpiece Theater, but she's actually the real-life M. As the first woman to head MI5, Britain's domestic secret service, from 1992-96, she was the direct inspiration for the character Judi Dench plays in the James Bond movies. (...)

- / Pacific News Service

Chinese Hostages in Iraq Spotlight China's Global Reach

Sandip Roy — 2005-01-21T05:05:00Z

Editor's Note: The eight Chinese workers recently kidnapped in Iraq are symbolic of China's increasing global engagements — and the difficulty the country may have in maintaining its studied neutrality.

The kidnapping of eight Chinese workers in Iraq may force China to face the fact that its increasing global engagement comes with a price, China analysts and Chinese media workers say. (...)

- / Pacific News Service

America's Hottest Commodity: 2004 Election 'Swingers'

Sandip Roy — 2004-09-23T02:51:42Z

Editor's Note: Are you one of those mysterious and much-coveted swing voters? Anyone with an issue and an e-mail list, the writer says, can bend the ears of campaign managers desperate for every last vote.

As the presidential race heats up I find myself wishing I were a citizen. Not just any old citizen, but a swing-state citizen. In post-2000 Florida USA, where elections are being determined by hundreds, even scores of votes, everyone is looking for the new swing voter. It could have been me. (...)

- / Pacific News Service

U.S. to Worldwide Firms: Iraq Safer Than You Think

Sandip Roy — 2004-05-07T22:27:53Z

Editor's Note: A new PowerPoint presentation taken on the road by the U.S. Commerce Dept. paints Iraq as a profitable, if challenging, place to do business.