When the Hindu sages developed their way of life, they divided people into four castes: Brahmins, the thinkers, scholars and priests at the top for they were the guides; Kshatriyas, the soldiers including the king second for they protected and governed society; Vaishyas the merchants third with their commerce facilitating daily living; and Shudras who were the laborers and service[Read More…]
Her name means beautiful, and she is despite her tragic life. Hasina recalls the day when the Myanmar army set fire to her village and killed the inhabitants, including 10 members of her family, as she watched. She is appearing as a witness at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the tranquil capital of the Netherlands. The Hague[Read More…]
Storms are savaging East Africa where rainfall in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is now over 300 mm (about a foot) higher than the 30-year mean tallied since 1981. The subsequent flooding and landslides have affected 2.8 million people displacing many and reportedly killing 300 according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Thousands of miles away at[Read More…]
News stories have Donald Trump being mocked by France’s Macron at a Buckingham Palace reception for the NATO leaders meeting. A nearby open mic caught the incident. Trump’s response was to call Macron two-faced. Macron returns to a France paralyzed by the biggest strike in years. Teachers and transport workers are alarmed by his plan targeting their traditional pension scheme.[Read More…]
One of the very first investigative journalists, Ida Tarbell went after the “throttling hand” of Standard Oil and John D. Rockefeller. By 1880, his company owned 90 percent of US oil, its transport and its sale. Writing a series of articles over a two-year period, Tarbell’s expose led to a Supreme Court ruling in 1911 ordering the dissolution of Standard[Read More…]
It is Thanksgiving holiday in the US. The Europeans do not celebrate Thanksgiving and the European Parliament has held an election. It has chosen former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen as the new President of the European Commission. Hailing from a political family of conservatives — her father narrowly lost a party leadership election to Franz Josef Strauss[Read More…]
Co-Written by Arshad M. Khan and Meena Miriam Yust If humans have been lucky, basking in the comforting warmth of an inter-glacial period for the last 10,000 years, that luck may be about to turn. Rest assured we are not entering a glacial period. No, our quest for greater comfort has us pumping fossil fuel residues in the air—particularly CO2—warming[Read More…]
Forever known by his phrase ‘reverence for life’, Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, moral philosopher, physician and missionary. He was born in Alsace when it was German, and became a French citizen when it reverted back to France after the First World War. To him this reverence implied regard for and a duty to all human beings, not “confined to[Read More…]
California wildfires are again in the news as the Kincade Fire now raging risked 50,000 people, who have been evacuated. It might come as a surprise but there have been 41,074 wildfires compared to 47,853 in 2018 for the first nine months of the year. Blame the downslope Santa Ana winds for fanning them. Fires can occur naturally through lightning[Read More…]
The only certainty in war is its intrinsic uncertainty, something Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could soon chance upon. One only has to look back on America’s topsy-turvy fortunes in Iraq, Afghanistan and even Syria for confirmation. The Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria has as its defined objective a buffer zone between the Kurds in Turkey and in Syria. Mr.[Read More…]
There are numbers for everything these days, and as President Trump makes clear often enough his favorite number is 1. But then in the wealth number categories, he really would not want to be assigned a 1 — such a low number signals poverty. He doesn’t quite make a 10, but he can join his kind, like Silvio Berlusconi with[Read More…]
What could it be if not the chill of the Autumn air and the thought of winter — some people love it of course with its winter sports even if only on TV. Whatever the reason, we have simultaneous challenges to legislatures on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, with the thorny Brexit issue to be resolved, Boris[Read More…]
No one could fail to be touched by the fear (for the future) and urgency in Greta Thunberg’s young voice as she broke down while addressing world leaders on the last day of the UN Climate Summit. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Special Report on the oceans showed a worse prognosis, the patient is clearly worse. Sad to[Read More…]
Not very long ago (Sept 2, 2019), India launched a rocket to the far side of the moon. It carried a lunar lander that fell silent following the landing attempt four days later. Had it survived, India would have become the fourth country in the world to accomplish the feat. Still, the partial success was a matter of pride. [Read More…]
To say Greta Thunberg is a remarkable young girl is to understate her accomplishments. She is phenomenal. She has successfully exploited social media and through dogged persistence — including a trip across the Atlantic on a sailing yacht to make a point about the very high pollution per passenger on a commercial jet. Given the 20,000 planes in service[Read More…]
Mid-August is when the subcontinent celebrates independence from Britain. Born in a cauldron of hate 72 years ago, India today is again filling it to the brim. In one fell swoop, Mr. Modi has denuded Kashmir of the flimsy shroud purporting to preserve its cultural and territorial integrity through articles 370 and 35A in the constitution — the latter empowering[Read More…]
So Boris Johnson has become Britain’s prime minister. He has been trying and scheming, scheming and trying including undermining David Cameron. A ‘remainer’ before, Johnson saw political capital in the ‘leave’ campaign, and in a sudden about turn became its face and leading campaigner. Always superb at the latter and having the inbuilt advantage of a clown’s rapport with his[Read More…]
It’s one for the history books, as they say. On July 16, 2019, Donald Trump was formally rebuked by the House (in a 240 to 187 vote) for his ‘racist’ tweets on four Congresswomen. The last time the House rebuked a president was William Howard Taft over a 100 years ago. So what did Trump do? He told the four[Read More…]
The bullying in Washington is the current trend. On Monday, the British ambassador resigned his post after Trump refused to deal with him. Well-liked in Washington and the halls of Congress, his downfall was an honest assessment of the Trump administration as ‘inept’ and ‘dysfunctional’. The letters were leaked in the U.K. Suppose the president tweets comments contrary to current[Read More…]
If the fourth of July mid-day parade in Washington D.C. was depressing, perhaps the heavy, hot and humid weather was to blame. It seemed to take the life out of the marching bands despite being supplied by reviving swigs of water. The evening was a different matter. A far from usual jingoistic display of military hardware and aircraft flyovers[Read More…]
Two meetings ended last week: the G20 meeting, a forum for leaders and central bank chiefs, and the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn. At the G20, the work behind the scenes to try and ensure some measure of global growth was probably more important than the leaders’ palliatives. Donald Trump, as usual, did the headline grabbing. He appeared most[Read More…]
On the last day of the UN Climate Change (June 17-27, 2019) meeting in Bonn the key IPCC report on 1.5 C was blocked from further discussion by Saudi Arabia and an unlikely set of allies: the US, Iran and Russia. The report as the saying goes has been deep-sixed meriting only a five-para watered down waffle at the end[Read More…]
War is a failure of reason, it has been said, and war with Iran makes little sense after they have faithfully complied with their nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), endorsed as it has been by the Security Council. It was the US, and the US alone, choosing to abrogate the deal that has resulted in the current[Read More…]
On the evening of January 30, 1948, as he walked to his regular interfaith prayer meeting, Mahatma Gandhi was shot and killed. The assassin Nathuram Godse was a Hindu nationalist who opposed Gandhi’s inclusiveness towards those of other faiths, particularly Muslims. Manifested in its worst form in the assassination of a revered figure, this conflict between liberal and nationalist Hindus[Read More…]
Mette Frederiksen of the five-party Social Democrat bloc won 91 of the 169 seats in the Danish parliament ending the rule of the right-wing Liberal Party group that had governed for 14 of the last 18 years. The election issues centered on climate change, immigration and Denmark’s generous social welfare policies. All parties favored tighter immigration rules thereby taking away[Read More…]
Robert Mueller let loose a thunderbolt midweek. Donald Trump had not been charged, he said, because it was Department of Justice policy not to charge a sitting president. Dumping the issue firmly into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lap, he reminded us of the purpose of the impeachment process. According to Mueller there are ten instances where there are serious issues with[Read More…]
The Indian elections are over. Despite Narendra Modi’s abysmal economic record — industrial production has slumped, farmers are in trouble and had been demonstrating their plight, and unemployment is at record highs — he deftly switched the debate to personalities comparing himself, who pulled himself up by his bootstraps from a poor tea seller, to the scion of the Nehru[Read More…]
Two colonial mass killings from the twentieth century are always remembered: The Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre on April 23, 1930 in Peshawar (then India, now in Pakistan) was the result of peaceful demonstrations protesting the arrest of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan who had called for a nonviolent movement of ‘patience and righteousness.’ Authorities nervous at the size of the crowds[Read More…]
The pangolin is a timid little creature going about its nocturnal ways, slurping up ants and termites with a tongue longer than its body. It has no teeth. Its defense when threatened is to roll up into a ball shielded by its scales — an armor plating that is the cause of its woes. Ranging in size from 3 to[Read More…]
If a tragedy is watching disaster unfold and being powerless to stop it, then such is Brexit — a conundrum wrapped in an enigma as the saying goes. The UK parliament has voted on eight alternatives to the prime minister’s deal after voting it down. These have all failed to get a majority. They have voted twice more on the[Read More…]
When Michael Cohen, fixer for Donald Trump, payoff-artist and jailbird-to-be, who starts 3-year prison sentence on May 6, branded his former boss a liar and cheat who ran for president not to help the country but enhance the Trump-brand, was he wrong? How many of Trump associates are in jail, going to jail or indicted, i.e. scumbags, albeit rich scumbags?[Read More…]
Something is infinitely wrong in the picture, a juxtaposition of polar opposites: New Zealand, a country of unfailingly courteous and kind people, and an extremist terrorist killing 50 Muslims at prayer. Of course, modern guns made it possible, a hate-filled extremist of Australian origin set the stage, and a country not familiar with such violence — thus an easy target. [Read More…]
Does anyone remember Nigel Farage? He led the UK Independence Party and the ‘leave’ EU vote — along with his last minute ally Boris Johnson who hoped to push himself up to prime minister. Farage is still around as a Member of the European Parliament representing south-east England, a job soon to be redundant when Britain leaves the EU. Boris[Read More…]
Ever since out first ancestor lit a fire, humans have been pumping CO2 into the atmosphere. Add to that the first herder because ruminants are another large emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG). Some people want to declare a national emergency and ban fossil fuels within ten years. How? I am for it and all ready to go. But please[Read More…]
New environmental research continues to alarm as three studies published within the past week amply demonstrate. Danish scientists report a significant increase in winter rain over Greenland. The rain-induced melt refreezes forming a dark crusty layer which acts as a greater heat absorber than white fresh snow. After decades of more frequent winter rain, the snow-pack contains many such[Read More…]
Miscalculation and a bit of overreach on both sides and we have a regrettable end to the North Korea Summit. Each party thought the other was desperate for a deal: the North Koreans aware of President Trump’s troubles with Congress and the Oversight Committee hearings; Donald Trump misunderstanding the letters from Kim Jong Un. His promises of denuclearization are old,[Read More…]
In the wake of climate-fueled disasters and several alarming reports on climate change, a gap is evident — a gap between how the world is responding to the climate crisis and how it should. A new study appearing in Nature Climate Change (Feb. 25, 2019) examined three sets of satellite data using three teams of scientists. The scientists’ findings now[Read More…]
As countries continue their squabbles, their home the earth is going to hell in a handbasket. A new review paper in Biological Conservation reports 40 percent of insect species are threatened with extinction. Guess who pollinates our plants where we get our food? All of which is of little concern to President Trump, who disdains science and experts of any[Read More…]
Climate change reports are seldom sanguine. Carbon dioxide, the principal culprit, is at record levels, about twice the preindustrial value and a third higher than even 1950. Without abatement it could rise to a thousand parts per million in a self-reinforcing loop spiraling into an irredeemable ecological disaster. The UN IPCC report warns of a 12-year window for action. Contrasting[Read More…]
We now have the remarkable convenience of the internal combustion engine, and also its noise and chaos and emissions to energize climate change. Burning fossil fuels has put us on planet Titanic … The doomsday clock remains at a critical two minutes to midnight, the ‘new abnormal,’ spelling future disaster, and we will continue to be like the “Titanic, ignoring[Read More…]
When Thomas Piketty published his book “Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century” five years ago, it was a sensation. He had analyzed historical concentrations of wealth. Why do the rich get richer? Because the rates of return on capital exceed the rates of economic growth, and the inevitable wealth inequality leads to destabilization. Tax cuts favoring the wealthy can only worsen[Read More…]
It doesn’t take much to imagine the following scenario: ‘Cross my heart, I swear it’s a low-yield,’ as a Trident is launched! One wonders if the new low-yield W76-2 warhead advocated by Donald Trump comes with a broadcast tape identifying it. Otherwise it looks exactly the same, is delivered by the same missile, and is made essentially by disabling the[Read More…]
The World Economic Forum met this week (January 22-25) for its 48th annual meeting since its inception. It costs $60,000 or Swiss Francs to become a member and another 27,000 to attend. However civil society groups, NGOs, and UN and government officials can attend free. It has been a difficult year: Emmanuel Macron received a standing ovation last year. This[Read More…]
Four weeks and counting the shutdown continues except the Trump-Congress tit-for-tat is fast approaching kindergarten level. The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is third in line for the office of President. The Democrats having won back the House she is a Democrat, and Donald Trump just canceled her morale-boosting trip, together with a congressional delegation, to the soldiers[Read More…]
Compromise is the essence of democracy for a good reason; it is the glue holding it together. It is how a country can unite after an election; it is when the 51 percent give a little, so the remainder can still feel part of governing; it is when the winning candidate promises to represent all constituents not just those voting[Read More…]
… And my life’s cold winter that knew no spring; Of my mind so weary and sick and wild, Of my heart too sad to sing. — Paul Laurence Dunbar The world now has more refugees than at any time since after WW2, more than the population of Britain. They are often[Read More…]
People voted for Donald Trump under the assumption, Mexico would be paying for your border wall. They why should the people pay now in this bait-and-switch game, when hardly any of their concerns are being addressed? It is a question that has led to a government shutdown in the US. Roads are potholed, bridges crumbling, trains mostly ancient, and the[Read More…]
It would be a silly question indeed to ask why December 25th is celebrated. On the other hand, one could ask why it is a national holiday in Pakistan, for it is not because it’s Christmas. By an unusual coincidence it happens to be the birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of the country. Exactly how Pakistan came[Read More…]
Humans are an interesting species … instead of seeing eye-to-eye, they see eye-to-nose. They focus on the present and themselves, particularly where their comfort is concerned, no matter how dire the predictions for the future. Although they are now over, such has been evident at the climate change talks in Katowice, Poland. An effort to mandate the Paris agreement,[Read More…]
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered the Second World War. A war of horrors, it normalized the intensive, barbaric bombing of civilian populations. If the Spanish Civil War gave us Guernica and Picasso’s wrenching painting, WW2 offered up worse: London, Berlin, Dresden to name a few, the latter eloquently described in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughter[Read More…]
President Trump’s abrupt cancellation of bilateral talks with Mr. Putin at the G-20 meeting in Argentina — following the seizure of Ukrainian ships by Russia — puts any rapprochement on the back burner, at least for the time being. As leaders convene, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is flashing his wallet, his presence awkward, trying to buy friends — this[Read More…]
Thanksgiving is quite a U.S. holiday. In one day, we manage to eat and enjoy 44 million turkeys, twice the number consumed at Christmas. Yes, vegetarians may live longer and vegans even more so, but the smell of a roasting turkey in the kitchen, lingering in the nostrils, titillating appetites as friends and relations gather, is synonymous with Thanksgiving —[Read More…]
That the current U.S. president places a premium on loyalty has been evident from the start — loyalty not to the institutions of government and their legal functions but loyalty to the boss. Former FBI director James Comey cannot forget a certain memory of Donald Trump’s style recalling for him something familiar. It took him back to the days when[Read More…]
The midterm elections are over, the result … a split-decision. The Democrats will control the House, raising the possibility of an impeachment attempt. The Senate remains under Republican control with their majority increased by one seat. The president reminded us at a post-election press conference that while he could not help in the all too numerous House elections, he did[Read More…]
In a statement this week, Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, says Jamal Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate. If this alone does not make a mockery of diplomatic immunity and the purpose of a consul-general’s office, there is more: The consulate was turned into a virtual abattoir as Mr. Khashoggi was sawed into easily disposable[Read More…]
East Island was an uninhabited remote island in the Hawaiian chain, but it was an important refuge for wildlife: Many of the endangered Hawaiian monk seals numbering about 1400 raised their young on that island; others like the green sea turtle and the albatross used it as a shelter. Not any more because Hurricane Walaka washed away most of the[Read More…]
The maliciously mocking, malevolent, maladroit, misfit, malappropriating the White House got his comeuppance this week … at least for a while. Senator Elizabeth Warren released her DNA test results conducted by noted Stanford University expert Professor Carlos D. Bustamente. The results prove a Native American ancestor six to ten generations ago, supporting her claim that her great-great-great grandmother, O.C. Sarah[Read More…]
Hurricanes and storms on both sides of the Atlantic appeared to encore the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change. It had just concluded the finalization of a special report on the impact of a 1.5 degree Celsius global warming above preindustrial levels. Meeting in Incheon, South Korea (October 1-5), its three working groups of experts and government officials have huddled and jousted to[Read More…]
Hurricane Michael wreaked havoc as it traversed the Florida panhandle. The first Category 5 hurricane to hit the area since 1881 when records began, its 155 mph winds (only 5 mph short of Category 6) felled massive trees, blew away houses, collapsed buildings and left devastation in its wake. Relatively fast moving at 14 mph, it was soon gone continuing[Read More…]
Not only are we in a sense defined by our DNA, but new research shows our behavior may also be affected by that of our ancestors. So observe the authors of a paper published in Science Advances recently. Thomas Talhelm from the University of Chicago has an interest in the cultural differences between northern and southern China. Northerners are considered[Read More…]
Very quietly, without fanfare, in a story that went by almost unnoticed, the U.S. State Department website posted a report this week on the Rohingya massacres and atrocities. Based on a survey, for which it contracted a Washington-based law firm (PLPG — Public International Law and Policy Group) to conduct the interviews, the report relied on 15,000 pages of supporting[Read More…]
There is an image engraved in our minds of a stoic, reserved, elegant Aung San Suu Kyi unbending in her struggle against Burma’s generals for democracy, and we assumed for human rights. Last year, when the refugees streamed out of her country in the wake of atrocities, it blocked all UN agencies from delivering food, water and medicine to affected[Read More…]
Hurricane Florence downgraded to Category 1 but still huge in moisture content will continue to pour rain on Georgia and the Carolinas over the weekend. At the same time, Typhoon Mangkhut in the Pacific will be ravaging the Philippines, Hong Kong and China. It is larger and much more powerful, a category 5, and the Philippines, which lacks the[Read More…]
The sensation this week is Bob Woodward’s book on the Trump White House titled, “Fear: Trump in the White House.” It shows a President Trump universally disparaging his own White House staff, even cabinet members. His first Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is likened to a rat, “He just scurries around.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions is, “mentally retarded. He’s this[Read More…]
Behavior acculturated to ancestral norms, originally necessitated by occupation, is the focus of a new study in China with interesting ramifications for climate change. In general, farming requires more stable relationships than, say, herding with the constant movement of animals. Now the authors have taken farming a step further: They observed that northerners were three times more likely than southerners[Read More…]
The phenomenon of a random pattern of winds coalescing into a hurricane may not be caused by global warming, but warmer ocean temperatures powering it up is entirely possible. Hawaii is experiencing one of the two worst hurricanes in its history, and last week Kerala in India, was flooded almost in its entirety by a record-breaking monsoon season leaving a[Read More…]
Within a week we have suffered floods in France, Toronto, and now a record-breaking monsoon season in Kerala, India which has flooded or endangered 12 of its 14 regional areas. Almost a quarter of a million people are homeless, forcing them into some 1500 relief camps. Sadly many have lost their lives, the toll in Kerala and the states of[Read More…]
To be rational is to know that weather events cannot be causally related to climate change, although exacerbation is another issue. Yet when the news is full of record setting fires in California and Greece and Australia, temperature records tumbling, and typhoons and hurricanes relentless in their intensity, one might be forgiven for wondering. Those who are not climate scientists[Read More…]
In a few weeks time, school will resume in many countries, and quite a few parents now worry about the dangers of vaccination. Are they real or false? What are the facts? First, a word on what we can believe to be real. Some might remember Ripley’s Believe It or Not? We are all fascinated by the odd, the unusual,[Read More…]
Pakistan has a new prime minister. A remarkable man: a remarkable history-making career in cricket leading to numerous awards and records; a remarkable politician, mocked when he started, who after a 22-year struggle has reached the pinnacle of power. Bringing home the 1992 World Cup as captain of the Pakistan cricket team made him a national hero. His achievements in[Read More…]
To say that US foreign policy is delusional is not an exaggeration. It seeks political hegemony and a relationship with China and Russia akin to what it has had with Japan and Germany, that is, go ahead and develop in the economic sphere but don’t try to flex political or military muscle. There are at least two problems with this[Read More…]
The US celebrated the glorious Fourth, the nation’s independence day and the myths going along with it. As with most wars, the elite prospered, the poor shed blood, and most shamefully in this case the slaves remained slaves. Dissenters in this war dubbed Royalists were killed or fled to Canada, a country later peacefully independent from Britain and none the[Read More…]
After several tit-for-tats with Russia in 2001, relations were at a low ebb like during the cold war. That was when a Russian initiative led to a meeting between the newly-elected George W. Bush and the Russian president. There was no major breakthrough but the two men got to know each other and the temperature cooled. The man heading the[Read More…]
There is something charming about a first lady making media bloopers; however, one cannot say the same for those born very rich who are often obtuse to the sufferings of others. The news reaching a crescendo this week in the US has not been the World Cup — relatively few understand the game here. No, it’s been Donald Trump’s cruel[Read More…]
The prominent journalist and editor, Shujaat Bukhari was leaving work when he and his two bodyguards were shot and killed. Suffice to say newspapers are the lifeblood of democracy and Indian administered Kashmir under the decades-long grip of a half-million strong security force has a questionable claim. Yet brave journalists, unafraid, write and sometimes pay the consequences. Following Mr. Bukhari’s[Read More…]
As birds become fewer, wildflowers vanish, butterflies disappear, and animals in the wild are threatened, extinction and a grim future haunts. How often does Rumi write about birdsong … there is a reason. Nature revives the spirit. World Environment Day has come and gone. It was June 5th. A UN outreach program hosted by a different country each year, it[Read More…]
Is there a celebrity brotherhood? Kim Kardashian, the reality TV star, turned celebrity, visits the White House and promptly there is clemency for a grandmother serving a life sentence for being part of a cocaine distribution ring. Yet she is right. Draconian sentences are seldom fair, and judges’ hands are often tied with strict laws, often lobbied for by[Read More…]
A sad and distressing anniversary slipped by this week almost unnoticed — the centenary of the first use of a premier killing machine. On May 31, 1918, the Renault FT a French light tank was first deployed in battle. The 30 tanks sent against two German infantry divisions advancing in the sector bordering Ploisy and Chazelles caused havoc, crippling the[Read More…]
A week ago on May 18, 10 students were killed and 13 wounded at Santa Fe High school just south of Houston, within its metropolitan area. The shooter was a student who, as can now be expected, had been bullied. While definitions of a mass shooting may vary, the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012 labels it as[Read More…]
International treaties and agreements are between countries — not between leaders or governments, for if that were the case they would not be worth the paper they were written on. The Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union was signed in 1972. Bush II withdrew unilaterally in 2001 citing a changed world. On June 1, 2017, Donald Trump announced the[Read More…]
When Corinth and Megara, both allies of Sparta went to war, Athens sensed opportunity and soon formed an alliance with Megara. It precipitated the First Peloponnesian War (c 459 – 445 BC) and Athens soon turned the alliance into control of Megara. When peace returned, so did Megara into the Spartan fold. In 1941, Nazi Germany broke its non-aggression[Read More…]
It has been noted, principally by the Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, that people who display empathy and fairness towards others often reach the top; once there however, they lose such inhibitions in their exercise of power. On a macro scale think of Barack Obama our Nobel Peace Laureate president and the upscaling of the war in Afghanistan, the mushrooming[Read More…]
This piece is unusual in that it is either going to end up as a fiasco or a scoop. If the latter, then, as they say … remember you read it here first. The possible venues floated by the White House include places like Sweden and Switzerland. But we all know Mr. Kim Jong-un has a chronic phobia of[Read More…]
Animals can be beautiful; they can be sleek, graceful, powerful, or just plain adorable, even cuddly. A field of wild flowers chanced upon can take your breath away. Wordsworth so moved by ‘a host of golden daffodils’ put pen to paper, and we are richer for his poem. And tourists in their thousands visit coral reefs for their stunning beauty[Read More…]
When hate invades the human mind, there is no limit to brutal atrocity. On April 10, a Guardian story showed a video in which there is cheering as an Israeli sniper shoots an unarmed Palestinian a considerable distance away. Shown on TV in Israel, it has been the subject of some introspective debate. Then there is news from Kashmir to[Read More…]
Man’s inhumanity to man reached new levels of odium. The generally trigger-happy Israeli army fired at unarmed demonstrators on the other side of the fence cordoning Gazans into a prison. That hundreds were injured and at least 18 killed evoked little sympathy from our media and certainly no one dared criticize Benjamin Netanyahu’s crowing of the incident as a great[Read More…]
Kim Jong Un and his sister conclude their visit to China continuing a relationship once described by Chairman Mao as closer than ‘lips and teeth’. Whatever conclusions political gurus might draw, one thing is certain: President Xi made public his support of China’s long-term ally. Trump seeing the odds of success at the meeting with Kim lengthen is twisting the[Read More…]
March 20 went by nearly unnoticed. It was the 15th anniversary of the Iraq war. Exactly one week earlier seven marines lost their lives in western Iraq in what was reported as a helicopter crash. The war has not ended. The flattening of cities to recapture them from ISIS also flattens civilians. How many dead? Who knows? Or, for that[Read More…]
A politician on center stage calls Mexican immigrants rapists and killers for those people send their bad guys here; says Syrian refugees are snakes and they and other Muslims could harbor ISIS among them; says African countries are sh*tholes and Haitian immigrants carry aids … . Then without a hint of irony or embarrassment — except a permanently red face[Read More…]
Another departure from the White House, but then it is almost a weekly affair now. This time it is Gary Cohn his chief economic adviser. A former president of Goldman Sachs, he was the head of the National Economic Council. Apparently he was furious at Donald Turmp’s import tariffs on steel and aluminum. Mr. Trump believes the scales are weighted[Read More…]
Why does a President Trump lay himself open to mockery? Simply because his behavior is not only unlike a dignified president but his policy tweets are quite outrageous. From ‘my nuclear button is bigger than yours’ addressed to Kim Jong-un to arming teachers to defend schools against mass shooters — he is quite off the wall. Two weeks after the[Read More…]
That there is a change in the air is evident this time. Since the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida on February 14, there have been demonstrations by school kids, their parents and others, confrontations of politicians including the president, and a general feeling that enough is enough. The most prominent opposition to gun control, the National Rifle Association (NRA)[Read More…]
The scene is the House of Commons; the date May 7, 1940. A simple motion to adjourn for the ten-day Whitsun recess is of little concern to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who has a comfortable 213 seat majority. Then things take a turn. A plan approved by the first First Lord pf the Admiralty Winston Churchill to land troops in[Read More…]
It is the optimism of the young that is infectious, drowning out the cynicism of the old: the smiling faces, their enthusiasm, their energy, their sheer delight in being there. They are the spirit of the Olympics, drawing in the record audiences for the opening ceremonies and for the events. The Winter Olympics of 2018 opened today in South[Read More…]
If a headline for the State Of the Union (SOTU) address was expected to be: “A Truculent Trump Traduces Democrats”, it now could be “Trump Triumphs — Credits American People for Year of Successes.” The speech was a litany of success stories, economic and military illustrated by tales of valor, grit, hard work, forbearance in the face of tragedy, the[Read More…]
A few days ago Oxfam reported on wealth inequality: The richest one percent wrapped their hands around 82 percent of the wealth created last year. Worse the 3.7 billion people comprising the poor half of humanity gained nothing. If anyone in the U.S. thinks those poor are remote, take a walk along with Leilani Farha, a Canadian lawyer and UN[Read More…]
The presidential tweet scorning climate change, namely “We could do with some of that climate change here,” after severe blizzards hit the U.S. east coast, could not have been more inopportune! Figures published last Thursday (January 16) by the world’s three main organizations monitoring global temperatures (NASA, NOAA and the UK Met Office) show 2017 to be the warmest on[Read More…]
War, namely, the use of actual force hovers in the background, while warfare, which is really all other means in relations between states, remains the Trumpian leitmotif. Contumely for African countries one day, invective for Iran the next. Last week it was Pakistan. It’s all grist for a presidential mill in a psychedelic world where facts swirl about on[Read More…]
Schoolyard name calling by an American president might be unusual, it might be undiplomatic, it might even be childish, yet it had the world riveted — if only for a short moment — on the antics of ‘rocket man’ and the Donald. The ‘nuclear button is on my desk says one’; ‘my button is bigger than yours and works[Read More…]
What has stood out this year as 2017 draws to a close, is the “globalization of indifference,” a term coined by Pope Francis. An indifference first of all to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people from their centuries old homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Some 650,000 have fled rape, killings and torture … their houses, villages and crops[Read More…]
Delegates to the UN are generally referred to as diplomats. But, in the wake of the vote condemning the U.S. decision on Jerusalem, one has to wonder. The permanently scowling U.S. representative, Nikki Haley, threatened reprisals — “We will be taking names” — against those who did not support the U.S. position. The vote was 128-9. Aside from the[Read More…]
We live in a world of denial: The Burmese deny the Rohingya; they call them Bengali even though they have lived in Burma for centuries — some say as early as the 11th century. Even the Pope, afraid of the consequences to a small Christian minority, shied away during his visit, confining himself to the all-encompassing phrase, the rights[Read More…]
Is climate change aiding the demise of the Koala bear? The koala is an engaging, docile, cuddly and lovable animal. It is also, tragically, undergoing a rapid decline in numbers. To the extent climate change and a degraded environment are responsible, we can be blamed for not heeding the warnings of scientists and others. Warnings to humanity are much[Read More…]
The Jerusalem story is the centerpiece of news this week. Donald Trump and Mike Pence, an evangelical, in favor of moving the embassy and Rex Tillerson and John Mattis opposed in their discussion prior to the announcement. That State and Defense departments both found the move detrimental to U.S. interests underlines how politics trump sound policy. Mr. Trump is[Read More…]
Pyongyang tested another intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday. Fired nearly vertically, it reached an altitude of 4500 km (2800 miles). That means it could travel 13,000 km (8150 miles) on a standard trajectory, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, putting the entire continental U.S. within its range. In September, the North Koreans conducted a sixth nuclear test. And[Read More…]
If there was a striking theme in the Trump Asian trip, it was a clearly less muscular policy towards China. U.S. naval patrols to reinforce freedom of navigation rights in the South China Sea were always provocative and appear to have ceased. The U.S. has also withdrawn from the Trans Pacific Partnership now been led by Japan and clearly[Read More…]
The UN has announced record average levels of CO2. So states the annual flagship report released October 30 by its World Meteorological Organization. The average levels measured using ships, aircraft and land stations have reached over 400 parts per million (ppm), prompting the authors and other scientists to urge strong action. At the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) of[Read More…]
It is a year since Donald J. Trump’s election as president on November 8, 2016, and a couple of months less since his inauguration. In that time the bombast has not stopped, the achievements remain meager. The threats against North Korea continue — now on Trump’s Asian tour. President Moon of South Korea is from the rapprochement party, bemused at[Read More…]
Four US soldiers died in Niger on October 4, and the president’s insensitive phone call to the widow of one has brought the subject of the military in every corner of the world back in the news. The UN has 193 members. The US has over 240,000 troops in at least 172 of them, some of which are embroiled in[Read More…]
Tales of exaggeration and outright lies by this president are not new. In 1974, the New York Times did a profile on the young Trump. He claimed he was worth $200 million when his taxable income then was $2,200 a week; that he was of Swedish heritage; that he had graduated at the top of his class at Wharton! [Read More…]
It has been a week of repeated insults to U.S. adventurism and Donald Trump’s ill-defined Middle East policy. In Iraq, thanks to Iranian backing and astute negotiation, Kirkuk province is back in the hands of the Shia government in Baghdad halving the Kurds’ oil revenues. Iran now has a land bridge through Syria to the Mediterranean improving the accessibility[Read More…]
A uniquely wayward president, Donald Trump, has managed to isolate the United States equally uniquely, and contrary to the stated position of his Secretaries of State and Defense and the National Security Adviser (respectively Rex Tillersen, John Mattis and H.R. McMaster) by scuttling the 2015 Iran nuclear deal citing issues outside its scope. His charges have been dismissed categorically[Read More…]
If there is a mass shooting and anyone is asked where, the answer is likely to be the United States. The reason of course is the easy availability of guns, even guns that fire like machine guns. The Second Amendment allows the ‘right to bear arms’ — to prevent tyranny say the proponents. Yet, the world has moved beyond[Read More…]
The UN Security Council held its first meeting on Rohingya in nine years last Thursday (September 28, 2017). The language was harshly critical of Myanmar. Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the situation as a “human rights nightmare” and “urged Myanmar to end its military operations”. The number of Rohingya refugees has meanwhile mushroomed to more than 500,000. All the[Read More…]
To say Donald Trump’s UN speech last week was an embarrassment for his country is to understate the case; to say it made the U.S. a laughing stock is closer to the mark. A cornucopia of falsehoods and half-truths, it included the risible assertion of America’s respect for the sovereignty of other nations; North Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan,[Read More…]
When the German transatlantic liner the St. Louis set off with 900 German Jews seeking refuge, it was 1939 and they were trying to escape what became one of the most despicable events in European history. Neither Canada nor the United States offered to help the people on this ship and it sailed on to Cuba. Seventy-eight years later, almost 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since the last week of August. In an ethnic cleansing[Read More…]
REASON #1: Consider the category 4 and 5 hurricanes that have developed in one season — the intensity attributed to climate change. The latest, hurricane Maria devastated Dominica lost some of its force but still hit Puerto Rico as a category four — the worst in living memory. About two weeks earlier, hurricane Irma flattened St. Maarten with 225 mph[Read More…]
Gauri Lankesh was shot to death on September 5, 2017. A consistent critic of Hindutva politics and right-wing Hindu extremism, the journalist-activist edited Gauri Lankesh Patrike her own weekly. She was not the first. In August 2015, Malleshappo M. Kalburgi, a noted scholar who was opposed to superstition in Hinduism, was assassinated. Both Lankesh and Kalburgi were staunch proponents[Read More…]
For those living in the northern climes of our great country, the season is just beginning to change. Summer has lost its worst heat. The air smells and tastes different … like Spring except that unlike Spring, instead of freshness … there is an undertone of decay. At the end of the American century, her voice has become as[Read More…]
So frequently is the word ‘freedom’ employed in the political vernacular, it has come to mean whatever the listener desires. For Mr. Trump, it is one word in the volcanic plume countering a society’s rhythm, designed to attract attention. That he has garnered in spades, enough to win him the highest office in the land. To many freedom is[Read More…]
Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. is known for its regular polls. It asked voters what words came to mind when they thought of President Donald J. Trump. Different adjectives ascribed to him were subsequently ranked: “Smart” came in at number 28, but “idiot” was number one. In Mr. Trump’s home town, New York City, the public library reports fully[Read More…]
Since January when this administration entered office, has anything significant been accomplished? Not really. The only major bill slapping more sanctions on Russia was entirely the work of Congress. Whether it is a positive or a foreign policy disaster is debatable, but one thing is certain: we continue to antagonize, irritate, humble, press militarily, encircle and threaten the only[Read More…]
It has been a week of barking out military options, a week of ‘everything is on the table’, a week of threats no longer veiled. Not an example of ‘cool as a cucumber’, rather a red-face turning to purple with the intensity of the phrasing. What brought on this apoplexy, the ‘fire and fury’ to be unleashed not just at[Read More…]
The high level individuals leaving the Trump administration must be a record. Eleven since the end of January averaging out to almost two per month. The latest Mr. Anthony Scaramucci now holds a record of sorts as the shortest serving White House communications director in history. He was in office exactly ten days when the White House Chief of[Read More…]
The Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday (July 30) to elect delegates who will rewrite Venezuela’s constitution. In Latin America generally, society is broadly divided into three groups: whites, mixed race mestizos and the original native peoples. The elite ruling classes, namely whites, select and have elected white presidents. Evo Morales in Bolivia, the late Hugo Chavez and now[Read More…]
There are two kinds of people: those with, and without, grace. President Trump can decide on which side he falls, although Mrs. Abe the Japanese Prime Minister’s wife has clearly made up her mind. Anyone who can read a whole speech in English knows enough to say, ‘Excuse me, I do not speak English well’. So, to not respond[Read More…]
About a hundred miles north of Bangalore, India, in the village of Thimmamma Marrimanu grows an eponymous banyan tree. There are all kinds of records for trees: the tallest, the stoutest, the oldest, and so on, but the record for the largest canopy, at an astounding five acres, is held by this banyan. And it also holds the key to[Read More…]
The North Koreans sent us a gift on July 4th. In the morning, — their time, it was still July 3rd evening here — they launched a missile. It reached a height of 1741 miles (2802 Km) which was 400 miles higher than the earlier May 14 launch. Calling it the Hwasong-14, they have claimed it has a range[Read More…]
The well-known journalist, Seymour Hersch, has published an article in the German newspaper Die Welt refuting President Trump’s assertions blaming the Syrians for the chemical incident at Khan Shaykhun on April 4th. Worse, it accuses him of ignoring the intelligence that supported the Syrian and Russian version of events. Mr. Hersch’s source(s)? Senior U.S. intelligence operatives. The subsequent bombing[Read More…]
There is a disturbing, discordant dissonance in the world. It is an uncomfortable feeling that something really bad is about to happen. Events unfold almost daily each of which would have been cause for shock and alarm once upon a time. Worshipers leaving after Ramadan prayers at Finsbury Park Mosque were attacked by a man driving a van, killing[Read More…]
Arnold Turling is a very angry and unhappy man — vindicated but at what cost. Three years ago, he advised the All Party Parliamentary Rescue Group that cheap flammable insulation filler inside the new waterproof cladding and lack of a sprinkler system made buildings like Grenfell Tower a disaster waiting to happen. Mr. Turling is a Chartered Surveyor as[Read More…]
When Donald Trump began his presidential campaign no one believed he could possibly be elected. When David Cameron went to the country on EU membership, he could not imagine ‘Remain’ losing. So it was with Theresa May. Ahead in the polls by 21 points she sought an unassailable majority. Whatever the reasons — and there are many — she[Read More…]
This Thursday, June 1, the U.S. decided to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. Like Brexit, the process is not like instant coffee; if anything, it is much more of a slow brew to which one could add harvesting or even growing the coffee in the first place. To prevent disruption for other members, it calls for a period[Read More…]
The thirst for war is ancient. As old as disputatious neighbors or rival tribes, it is enticing — a siren call for the strong, presenting as it does a quick, easy and final solution. That it is often not, has hastened the end of royal dynasties (Hohenzollerns, Hapsburgs and Romanovs after WWI) and empires, including the British. There are[Read More…]
There is in the U.S. a certain notion of being presidential. Toss missiles at Syria or bomb Afghanistan and everyone reflexively calls it presidential. Added to warmongering is peace making, visiting foreign countries, meeting with foreign leaders, holding joint press conferences with a slew of foreign reporters, all in a whirlwind of activity eagerly seized upon by the home[Read More…]
The People’s Climate March on Saturday, April 29, 2017, flooded Washington, DC, with over 100,000 protesters. Organizers claimed 150,000, with marches in 330 other cities across the country and in three dozen solidarity events abroad. Coinciding with President Trump’s 100th day in office, the marchers also protested his anti-environmental actions. The previous Saturday (April 22, 2017), thousands of scientists[Read More…]
In a continuation of the theater of the absurd, all 100 U.S. senators were driven to the White House to listen to a top-secret intelligence briefing on North Korea. North Korea now has missiles capable of reaching Hawaii and will soon be able to extend its reach to California. As they also have nuclear weapons, putting two and two[Read More…]
How many books have been authored by Donald Trump? The answer: a steady stream totaling a whopping 17 — more than enough to keep a full-time writer fully occupied without all of Mr. Trump’s other activities. The word ‘writer’ of course is key, for Mr. Trump has not actually written any of them. He hires a ghost writer and[Read More…]
Shooting from the hip with unerring accuracy was the Wild West according to Hollywood. As anyone who has ever fired a pistol will tell you it is improbable, and historically the West’s few gun duels were rather unremarkable. The latest hip-shooter is of course Donald J. Trump whose foreign policy seems to turn on a dime — from not[Read More…]
The incessant drumbeat demonizing Russia has reached a crescendo here in the U.S. Half-truths lead, and outright lies follow. A Congressman on National Public Radio accuses the Russians of interfering in the November election; as a member of the Intelligence Committee, he should know better. The hacking was during the primaries six months previously. It revealed a corrupt Democratic[Read More…]
With all the focus on a wall to (in a way) quarantine Mexico and President Trump’s notorious disinclination to read, one wonders if he would be interested in a brief history of Mexican immigration … For years and years there was an informal guest worker program. Farmers and fruit growers had a need for farm labor — work that was[Read More…]
Coming from Donald J. Trump it was a remarkable speech, the measured tone, the presidential timbre … plus it offered something to everyone. Increased military expenditure of $54 billion to establishment Republicans, immigration controls to the Tea Party wing, tax cuts and a repeal of Obamacare for both, and the sop of family leave to the Democrats. Thus went[Read More…]
A disheveled, unkempt, unclean Steve Bannon finally emerged from his warren this week to claim outstanding success for this administration in its first month in office. Disheveled, unkempt, unclean is how Mr. Bannon always looks. The American Psychiatric Association Manual of disorders DSM-IV defines a mental disorder as a “clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern …”. Add Mr.[Read More…]
For the ancient Greeks logos meant reason, dialogue and debate. It could also mean speech, the power of language for good or self-gain, an aspect demagogues know well and the sophist Gorgias (5th century BC) warned against. ‘The Greeks had a word for it’ is an English expression and they often did. ‘Hubris’ would be the word to understand[Read More…]
It is a conceit of democracy that opposing parties, after months of trying to convince the public the other would be a disaster for the country, should after the election cooperate for the good of the whole. In fact, with rare exception, what happens was postulated by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto over a century ago. Power is contested between[Read More…]
Iran test-fired a missile and the U.S. government went ballistic. It put Iran ‘on notice’ — a phrase meaning little but with a distinct menace. Rummaging around in the Obama administration files, the new arrivals soon discovered well-prepared plans for sanctions should Iran’s actions displease. Iran was no longer ‘on notice,’ it was sanctioned. The Iranians are furious, saying nobody[Read More…]
Such a flurry of activity in the first week as executive orders poured out of the Oval Office at a fast and furious pace. To what end … Yes, a wall is going to be built … except it might be a fence and might not cover the whole stretch. The chief of the border patrol has resigned/fired over disagreement. [Read More…]
January 20th is unique … unique in that it has been inauguration day in the U.S. since 1937. Thus it is on this day the people have two presidents, one before noon and the incoming one after. This letter then is addressed to two presidents starting with President Barack H. Obama who ends his term of office. I Mr. President [Read More…]
President Obama’s farewell address focusing on the state of our democracy offered a lofty perspective coupled with a homily on the responsibility of citizenship. Thrown in were elements of legacy seized upon by numerous commentators from the left and right. The trouble is an aloof president on a lofty perch is unlikely to get much of anything done in the[Read More…]
Yet another mass shooting in the U.S., this time at Ft. Lauderdale airport, Florida’s second largest. A certain Esteban Santiago flew from Alaska changing planes en route at Minneapolis. Arriving, he headed to the baggage collection area, claimed his suitcase, opened it in the privacy of a toilet, removed a gun, methodically loaded it, and began shooting in the baggage[Read More…]
In the U.S., the big news lately has been the expulsion last week of 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee that revealed a corrupt leadership. The claimed hacking was on May 16, 2016 and the information released just prior to the Democratic Convention held July 25 – 28, 2016. How it[Read More…]
The Christmas season is when people in the Christian world are encouraged to think of those less fortunate, including of course people oppressed for no other reason than being a particular ethnic or national group by birth. And iconic in such misery are Palestinians. Palestinians are both Christian and Muslim. Few in the West know, for example, that the late[Read More…]
Stealing elections is not new. Most observers can recite examples. It was also clear something was wrong. The size of Bernie Sanders rallies for one in comparison with Hillary Clinton’s even when exaggerated by the main stream media (MSM). It turns out the MSM had been bought in other ways also, printing positive op-eds for Hillary and vice versa[Read More…]
President Obama’s final foreign policy speech at MacDill air force base in Tampa, betrayed its purpose through the venue. The Tampa, Florida, base is home to Special Operations Command and Central Command — Special Operations playing an ever increasing role in counter terrorism. The gist of the speech seemed to assert that the US is and should stay true to[Read More…]
An unequal society is like tinder, dry and just waiting for a match to set it off. In the US case, add multi-ethnicity, a surfeit of guns, joblessness resulting in the blame game, and the environment is not only virulent but dangerously explosive. Early last Sunday morning in New Orleans one man was shot and killed and nine injured in[Read More…]
This is the week of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. For many in our increasingly unequal society it is not a happy holiday. Triangulation has been the byword for President Obama’s party — a kind of centrism embraced by Democrats who did the work of the Republicans in the economic sphere while adopting a left-leaning social agenda. The author[Read More…]
This has been the first presidential election in living memory where it was difficult to cast a vote. As the voting numbers show, many stayed away. Better the devil you know … goes the adage. The choice between ‘crooked’ Hillary and, well, the Donald … He who thumbed his nose at the establishment, was labeled a neo-Nazi, was shunned by[Read More…]
In a few days the election, and what to many Americans is a political nightmare, will be over. But will it? Who can imagine Trump graciously disappearing from the scene if he loses, or for that matter Hillary. He is likely to parlay his greater celebrity into a new enterprise, and she into another run with the same political[Read More…]
In the US, the political system has now disgorged two candidates the citizenry cannot be less enthusiastic about. Driven by ambition more than a love of the people or a sincere desire to serve, one can be forgiven for wondering if they are just as trapped by their motivations as the public in its two-party myopia. No authentic leader among[Read More…]
On the eve of the last presidential debate, some observations on this unique election are in order. In the forty years I have been following US presidential elections, I have never seen a more crass, a more vulgar and for most citizens a more embarrassing election campaign. Bimbos to the left of them, bimbos to the right of them, onward[Read More…]
Friday, October 7 went by quietly unnoticed by major US media. It was the 15th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan — a war with no foreseeable end in sight. The number of troops due to remain in Afghanistan has been raised 50 percent to 8400. Drones based in Pakistan continue to play their deadly role. On the anniversary date,[Read More…]
Multiple killings in the U.S. are becoming so common (almost daily in the week past) that they no longer attract top billing in the news. Moreover, incidents of road rage leading to murder are also increasing at an alarming rate. On Friday, the Eisenhower Expressway in President Barack Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago was closed for two hours in the[Read More…]
Imagine a volleyball packed with lies being bounced back and forth across a net by one well-practiced in the art of mendacity and the other blissfully unaware of any truth. Then add a referee correcting the lies of one side but not the other, and you have a picture of the debate. The post-debate spin masters on both sides are[Read More…]
The United States has been at war for 15 years — wars intensified by a Nobel Peace Laureate. The cost is now estimated by reliable sources in the trillions and worldwide casualties in the millions. Post-traumatic stress disorder has reached epidemic proportions: an average of 22 US veterans are committing suicide … each day. So inured to violence, the police[Read More…]
China and Russia conducted joint naval exercises in the South China Sea last week. Five Russian and ten Chinese ships participated in eight days of drills covering joint air defense, anti-submarine operations, landing, island-seizing, search and rescue operations, and weapons use. In the single largest naval exercise undertaken by the two, the Russian fleet comprised an Udaloy class anti-submarine[Read More…]
Born out of cataclysm in 1948, the Kashmir problem remains alive and unwell. In the latest iteration of the long self-determination struggle, 75 protesters have been killed by Indian security forces firing pellet loaded shotguns to control the demonstrations; over 7000 have been injured including 117 who have fully or partially lost eyesight, a tragedy worsened by their young[Read More…]
What did Dilma Rousseff do to warrant impeachment? According to her opponents, she falsified the accounts to exaggerate the health of the economy, a practice not uncommon among governors. In her case, a fiscal court rejected the 2014 accounting report, which under normal circumstances would have prompted a revision; instead the Senate plotters seized upon it to draw up impeachment[Read More…]
In July, the Caine Prize for African Writing was awarded to Lidudumalingani Mgombothi. The 10,000 pounds sterling award recognizes African writers for short stories written in English. His story, “Memories We Lost,” is graced with beautifully expressed sentences, and one in particular is apt for the role often played by governments: “Secrets stay buried for so long, but one day[Read More…]
While there may be no real evidence of a historical Moses (for the Egyptians were obsessive about recording significant events, as an exodus of 2 M people would have been), the Hollywood version with Charlton Heston demanding, “Let my people go,” tells us not much has changed in human nature. Human lives and economic damage notwithstanding, India clings on to[Read More…]
That perception is prelude to reality is implicit. We may believe it in our bones but it is not always so, particularly in the case of suicide bombing. For example, our gut reactions for prevention would only exacerbate the situation. And the origins of suicide bombing it turns out belie common belief. So asserts the University of Chicago’s Robert Pape,[Read More…]
Preposterous! you say. Take a closer look: The countries have now been independent for 69 years. Just a few days before the recent Independence Day(s) festivities — the two countries have a difference of opinion on when and celebrate on different days — a man named Matibool returning home from a night shift as a security guard was run[Read More…]
The choreography of violence is being staged yet again in Kashmir. This time the spark lighting the accumulated tinder has been the killing of a popular militant leader. And the elected leaders cowering inside their guarded residences bear silent testimony to the cogency of the state’s democracy. Crowd control is not the usual remit of the military. Yet long periods[Read More…]
A bureaucrat-turned- minister in a mess 
Hundreds Of Thousands Of Workers’ 24-Hour Mega Transport Strike Halts Germany 
Oldest Interfaith Organization in America Calls for Children to Have More Rights Than Guns 
What’s the Best Way Out from the War in Ukraine? 
How Indigenous Land Management Practices Are a Blueprint for Climate-Resilient Agriculture 
In memory of Hugo Chavez on 10th death Anniversary 
Xi’s ‘Chilling’ Remarks: A Multipolar World Offers Challenges and Opportunities to the Middle East and Africa 
Ukraine War – US-China Relations And the Doomsday Clock 
Anti-Rahul Defamation Card Has Its Limitations! 
Questions We Should Ask to Understand Real Impact of Poverty Reduction and Welfare Schemes 
Punjab: Democracy Under Siege? 
Declaration excessive dividends by the Board of HZL may not be in compliance with Section 123 of the Companies Act 
Men, masculinities, and gender equality 
EU Warns After Russia Plans To Place Tactical Nuclear Weapon In Belarus 
A Hazardous Decision: Supplying Ukraine with Depleted Uranium Shells 
Media and the March to War 
The Basic Issue is not of Taking Sides in Superpower Rivalry, it is of Durable Peace to Save Earth’s Life 
The Pentagon’s Budget from Hell 
“…I want poetry to be detonated like a bomb!” -Nathalie Quintane 
Bundelkhand Must Choose its Priorities Carefully 
Citizenship: Beyond the Forked Vision 
Caste-wise census is necessary for balanced development 
Tribal woman murdered after rape in Rohtas and strong protest demanding punishment of culprits 
Why Avoiding Catastrophic War is the Biggest Priority Today 
Labor in market, and the mainstream economics 
Serbia Shall Never Forget NATO Aggression, Vows Serb President 
Kerala’s New Public Health Bill 2023: Subservient to Market Forces rather than Deliberative Democracy 
The Piracy of Development – The 3-Ds: Dispossession, Displacement, Destitution 
The Contemporary Relevance of Rosa Luxemburg 
Does Court Judgement on Rahul Gandhi Breach Human Rights (Freedom of Expression) 
From Oslo to Sharm el-Sheik 
Is Washington now Khan’s Buddy? 
Nord Stream sabotage was to undercut Germany, says Seymour Hersh It Will Be Hard And Cost A Lot Of Blood For Ukraine To Kick Out Russians, Says Top U.S. General 
Saudi – Iran rapprochement: A chance for peace 
Day 30 of the NREGA Protest: Students and Activists Detained by the Delhi Police An Irrational Verdict? 
Trump Rot at the EPA 
AUKUS, the Australian Labor Party, and Growing Dissent 
Palestinians Don’t Exist? 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
