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World
Trump, Bolton and the Syrian Confusion
It’s a messy, though typical picture. US President Donald Trump wants to pull out forces in Syria. When announced in December, jaws drooped and sharp intakes of breath were registered through the Washington establishment. Members of the military industrial complex were none too pleased. The President had seemingly made his case clear: US blood and treasure will not be further[Read More…]
India
Harappa To Ayyappa
Harappa! We are all your descendants You shepherded the first civilization You built the first city in the East You domesticated the early animals Goat, sheep, buffalo, dog and donkey. You made the first pot, brick, bronze tools You built the first tank, boat and building. You were God’s Own Man. Brahma came and burnt all your civilization Indra damaged[Read More…]
Globalisation
An Historic Opportunity to Transform Trade When We Stop Nafta II
Donald Trump was right when he said that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a disaster for the United States and promised to renegotiate it when he became president. However, the renegotiated NAFTA-2 is worse than the original NAFTA and should be rejected. On December 1, NAFTA-2 was signed by President Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of[Read More…]
Human Rights
People’s Resistance Against The Citizenship Amendment Bill
New Socialist Initiative (NSI) stands in solidarity with the people of Assam, Tripura and the other North Eastern states in their heroic struggle against the communally motivated Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). It was only because of the resistance of the people that the government couldn’t table the Bill for voting in the Rajya Sabha after surreptitiously passing it in the[Read More…]
Imperialism
US will Maintain Military Presence in Syria after Withdrawal
The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered contradictory messages in a speech in Cairo on Thursday, January 18. On the one hand, he said Washington will withdraw American troops from Syria in line with Donald Trump’s momentous announcement on December 19, and on the other, he emphasized the US will continue fighting the Islamic State and will also contain[Read More…]
Communal Harmony
When Mylapore went to Tondiarpet
An early morning walk in a poorer working-class neighborhood in North Chennai “Let’s throw caste and religious hatred into the Boghi fire and celebrate Pongal together as Tamilians to attain Equality!” I was part of a group-walk this morning (13/1/2019) in Tondiarpet in North Chennai, thanks to theChennai Photowalk Team(https://chennaiphotowalk.wordpress.com) and the ongoing Chennai Kalai Theru Vizha(Chennai Arts Street Festival).I[Read More…]
Climate Change
Origins of the climate catastrophe
It is not a mere coincidence that extreme right wing movements reject the scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change, which reflects their connections with the fossil fuel corporations from whom they receive funding, as well as a lack of concern for the living world.In the wake of Benito Mussolini’s adoption of “fasces” (a Roman symbol consisting of a bundle of[Read More…]
Environmental Protection
Old Mother Forest
To survive the holocaust of planetary proportions that is upon us, one must defend her or get out of the way. I live across a small stream from an ancient rainforest in Wayanad, Kerala. It has a constancy that’s baffling, appearing more or less the same to me, for all the years I’ve been here. The forest sustains. As do[Read More…]
Counter Solutions
That Green Growth at the Heart of the Green New Deal? It’s Malignant
A burgeoning save-the-climate effort called the Green New Deal, explains Vox’s David Roberts, “has thrust climate change into the national conversation, put House Democrats on notice, and created an intense and escalating bandwagon effect. … everyone involved in green politics is talking about the GND. … But WTF is it?” Roberts goes on to give a good summary, but no[Read More…]
Resource Crisis
Oil’s Wild Price Swings Set to Create Global Chaos
As the current global oil glut shakes up petro states around the world, oil prices are becoming more volatile than Donald Trump tweets. Neither Canada, now the dumb owner of a marginal 65-year-old pipeline, nor Alberta, a key exporter of bitumen, a cheap refinery feedstock, has paid much attention to this revolution. As a consequence Canada has no strategy to[Read More…]
Alternative Energy
Ten Charts Show How the World is Progressing on Clean Energy
Rapid progress towards clean energy is needed to meet the global ambition to limit warming to no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures. But how are countries doing so far? In our Energy Revolution Global Outlook report, written with colleagues at Imperial College London and E4tech – and published by Drax– we rank progress in 25 major world economies. Our report provides a league table of their efforts to[Read More…]
Patriarchy
Why Is a Woman’s ‘Virgin’ Status Synonymous With Her
Let me warn you this article is not for kids because kids in India are not supposed to read all these ‘ashlil vichaar’. Are you looking for a post supporting your misogynist thoughts ? Wait! Well, you are at the wrong place because this article will disappoint you. Recently, a Kolkata professor took to social media to teach young boys[Read More…]
Palestine
A Bitter Harvest
2018 is on its last breath and I, for one, will not shed a tear. In fact I hope that such a year will never be repeated. Not for us Palestinians. Not for any oppressed people of the world. Nor even for the people of my adopted country, England, who are grappling with the toxic effect of the Brexit debacle.[Read More…]
Kashmir
Professional conspiracies & cartels in Kashmir
More than a century ago, George Bernard Shaw in his famous 1906 play The Doctor’s Dilemma has said “all professions are a conspiracy against laity”. Conspiracies are hatched & executed in groups, albeit the idea is often brainchild of a master kingpin of that group who resembles “suspense boss” of the Bollywood movies. Conspiracies are committed on back of the[Read More…]
South Asia
Undeliverable Political Settlment For The Tamils And Bankrupt Policies Of Tamil National Alliance
The political history of Tamils who inhabited the island before the arrival of Vijaya in 543 BC, a legendary prince, still to be proved by real and documented evidence, has been tarnished with the record of betrayals, pogroms, genocide and massacres in the hands of successive Sri Lankan Governments since 1948.Numerous articles and books have detailed these events locally[Read More…]
Annihilate Caste
Ignorance is Power in a Casteist System
With the recent surge of sheer “ignorance” about what is Brahmanical patriarchy and treating it as a concept that never existed before the discussion that took off on Twitter, it is perhaps important to see where exactly does this ignorance configure in a casteist system. Jaahil, ganwar, dehaati[1]: these were three words that I often heard in my Brahmin upbringing[Read More…]
Life/Philosophy
Martin Heidegger Views on Philosophical Conception of Time and Being
The purpose of the series is to provide comprehensive expository and critical surveys of the work of major philosophers. One aim of the series is to dispel the intimidation such readers often feel when faced with the work of a difficult and challenging thinker. Martin Heidegger is now widely recognized alongside Wittgenstein as one of the greatest philosophers of the[Read More…]
Arts/Literature
A Prayer!
A: The United States has dropped bombs on innocent people including children in Iraq. We should do something. B: Yes, you are right. We must pray. A: Over one hundred people died waiting in queues during the implementation of demonitisation. B: Yes. We must pray. A: Thousands of farmers are committing suicide in India. B: How sad ! We must[Read More…]
Book Review
A New Era? Timor-Leste after the UN
(Images by- José Fernando Real, Wikimedia commons) Book: Ingram, S, Kent, L. &Mcwilliam, A. (Eds.). (2015). A New Era?: Timor-Leste after the UN. The Australian National University. (Free to downloadfrom https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/state-society-and-governance-melanesia/new-era) “A New Era?: Timor-Leste after the UN” is an edited book which looks into the status of a newer country – that of Timor-Leste (East Timor). The book answers[Read More…]
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