Muqtedar Khan with Benazir Bhutto a two time PM of Pakistan

Dear students, I am in a lounge at London airport on my way back from Doha, Qatar where I was participating in the US-Islamic World Forum. Here I have had the opportunity to meet with many world leaders and I will share some of my conversations when I get back. In the picture you see Benazir Bhutto [the one who is not me] the first Muslim woman to be elected leader of a Muslim country.

In the picture you see Benazir Bhutto [the one who is not me] the first Muslim woman to be elected leader of a Muslim country. Benazir, BTW, was educated at both Harvard and Oxford.

Globalization is a double edged sword. For the first time corporate entities in the First World are being bought ["occupied"] by those from the "Third World". Though rare this phenomenon never fails to shock the advocates for free trade.

The story of India's Lakshmi Mittal -- who is based in UK [his first name is the same as the Hindu goddess of wealth] is the third richest man in the world and is attempting to buy Europe's biggest and the World's second biggest steel company -- is raising interesting issues. The World's biggest company is Mittal Steel.

Read here The Globalist's interesting take on the subject.

Last year Lakshmi Mittal threw the World's most expensive wedding party, estimated at $60 million for his daughter Vanish. The poverty in Third World can at times be astonishing!

Some Basic Introductory Articles

Read the following articles and make comments on any one or all of the articles. You are also welcome to engage, respond to and critique the entries made by your colleagues. You can make more than one posting.

1. Defining the Third World/Developing WorldThis is a good discussion of the characteristics of the Developing World.

2. Defining GlobalizationWhat do you think of the 3 Ps of Globalization?

3. YaleGlobal: Provides useful articles on globalization and the developing world. Read atleast three articles from this source.