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Supporters of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) at an election campaign rally in Lahore on May 6, 2013.

- AFP/Getty Images
Mahvish Khan Lynn

Pakistan election: amid the chaos, where does the military stand?

WASHINGTON — As the May 11 Pakistani election draws close, the Taliban has stepped up its campaign of bombings against secular, left-leaning parties, the parties accuse each other of intimidation and many are asking, where is the military?

The Pakistani military is the country's most stable institution. Pakistan has spent more than half its existence under military rule. In fact, in its 66-year history, the government cobbled together under President Asif Ali Zardari's leadership has been the only elected one to complete a full term in office.

The upcoming election would be the first time that power is passed on via the ballot box. However, this process is under threat from religious hardliners.

"The problem is that the elections are occurring in a context of ongoing insurgency, and the Pakistani Taliban are playing favorites, killing or intimidating members of secular and left-leaning parties, while giving apparently free reign to right-leaning and Islamist parties. Unless this trend is stopped, it may have an impact on the integrity of the election results," says Ahmed Humayun, a regional analyst and fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding in Washington.

In recent weeks, the Tehrik-e-Taliban of Pakistan (TTP a.k.a. Pakistani Taliban) has made several statements denouncing secular parties that have strong support in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunwa province.

In a video, Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud stated, "We are not in favor of democracy. Democracy is for Jews and Christians."

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Bangladeshi volunteers and rescue workers assist in rescue operations 48 hours after an eight-story building collapsed in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, on April 26, 2013.

- AFP/Getty Images
Phil Lynch and Michael Ineichen

Bangladesh tragedy puts focus on human rights and corporate accountability

GENEVA, Switzerland — The recent building collapse and tragic loss of more than 600 lives in a garment factory in Bangladesh has once more turned the spotlight on business and human rights.

As with many such tragedies, there appear to have been numerous contributing factors, including weak workplace safety laws, inadequate inspections and enforcement, and a failure by Western retailers to ensure worker safety and basic labor rights in their supply chains.

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Rebels celebrate in a street in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa after capturing the city on March 4, 2013.

- AFP/Getty Images
Daniel R. DePetris

The second war in Syria is a struggle among Assad’s opponents

NEW YORK — The world may be focused on the big fight in Syria between the rebels and Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but there is a smaller, albeit just as significant, second front going on.

Though many of the region’s leaders seem to have either ignored or forgotten it, the second fight in Syria is taking place among opponents of the Syrian government.

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An anti-regime demonstration in the Syrian village of al-Qsair, 20 miles southwest of the flashpoint city Homs.

- AFP/Getty Images
Mac Deford

Doing nothing is Obama’s best option in Syria

OWL’S HEAD, Maine — Syria, which has been percolating in and out of public view for the last two years, exploded into full sight this past week as a result of revelations that the Assad government may have used nerve gas against rebel-controlled areas.

With over 70,000 already dead — the result of air strikes, heavy shelling of populated areas, and other deadly conventional military means, one can legitimately wonder why the possible deaths of an additional dozen or two Syrians would cause such concern in Washington.

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A slipper hangs on a vandalised poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on July 24, 2012.

- AFP/Getty Images
Nicholas Burns

Obama's leadership challenge on Syria

Editor's Note: Nicholas Burns is GlobalPost's senior foreign affairs columnist. He writes a bimonthly column on the international issues that shape our world.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — President Obama is right to respond cautiously to accumulating evidence that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. After all, if we learned one thing from the Iraq War, it is that the United States must be absolutely certain of the facts before we launch military action against another Muslim country.

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A woman holds a placard reading 'Jesus had two fathers and one surrogate mother' during a demonstration for the legalization of gay marriage and LGBT parenting in Paris, Jan. 27, 2013.

- AFP/Getty Images
Heather Collister

UN Human Rights Council may act against LGBT discrimination

GENEVA, Switzerland — While supporters celebrated France becoming the 14th country to legislate for marriage equality, across the world lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people continue to struggle against violence and discrimination.

Just days before the passage of the historic French law, a gay couple were badly beaten in Paris, just one of many homophobic attacks apparently triggered by the bill.

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A makeshift memorial in Copley Square, near the site of one of the Boston Marathon bombings, on April 24, 2013.

- Getty Images
Beena Sarwar

Boston Marathon bombings: a Pakistani perspective

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Historic Copley Square is one of my favorite places in my adopted city of Boston. This is where, last month, we held a vigil against Shia killings in Pakistan. This is where runners at the Annual Patriots’ Day Marathon cross the finish line at Boylston Street, right past the majestic public library.

And this is where, on April 15, two bombs exploded, disrupting the idyllic scene of the marathon on a crisp, sunny Monday afternoon.

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About 50 anti-gun violence demonstrators rally against the National Rifle Association during a protest in McPhearson Square April 25, 2013 in Washington, DC.

- Getty Images
Mac Deford

How can we fix a country where money and partisanship are in control?

OWLS HEAD, Maine — Last week was a bad one for the homeland (that's the politically correct term we've been taught to call our country since Sept. 11). And the worst thing was not the Boston Marathon bombing, tragic as it was. Rather, the most profoundly bad news was the refusal of the US Senate to vote into law changes on background checks for gun-buyers.

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A Congolese woman and her malarial child speak with a doctor at the Makpandu refugee camp outside Yambio, south Sudan, on Jan. 14, 2011.

- Getty Images
William Jobin

Urgent need for durable strategy against malaria

CORTEZ, Colorado — World Malaria Day draws our attention to the grim fact that about a million people die every year from malaria in Africa, most of them children. Malaria also is a preventable and treatable disease.

The US Agency for International Development has a strong and growing program to fight malaria in Africa, but a way must be quickly found to avoid its collapse due to the recurring development of insecticide resistance by the mosquitoes that transmit the disease.

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Serbia's tycoon Miroslav Miskovic arrives at the Interior Ministry in Belgrade. One of Serbia's richest men, Miskovic is one victim of the new Serbian government's stated crackdown on corruption.

- AFP/Getty Images
Joel H. Samuels

Serbia’s anti-corruption campaign must adhere to the rule of law

COLUMBIA, South Carolina — A growing international consensus recognizes that a commitment to fighting corruption is essential to establishing the rule of law in emerging democracies.

For many years, the international anti-corruption agenda was promoted almost exclusively by the United States. For instance, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, enacted in 1977, unilaterally prohibited US companies from paying bribes to foreign government officials in return for business opportunities.

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