Even as columns of green buses were ferrying the last of the Western-backed Islamist “rebels” out of eastern Aleppo Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry took the podium at a State Department press conference to describe the situation in the northern Syrian city as “unconscionable” and to denounce the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out “nothing short[Read More…]
The Syrian government is reportedly in control of eastern Aleppo, according to news reports on Tuesday afternoon, with a deal having been reached to evacuate civilians and opposition fighters. Damascus confirmed the evacuation deal and the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, reportedly told the Associated Press in a text message that the safe withdrawal of people from[Read More…]
US-backed Islamist rebels, dominated by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, launched a counteroffensive against Syrian government troops Friday in Aleppo. The offensive was preceded by the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas in government-controlled western Aleppo. Russian General Sergei Rudskoi reported that 43 civilians were killed and 96 wounded in the days prior to the offensive in rocket and mortar attacks.[Read More…]
In a military-diplomatic move Russian President Vladimir Putin has not accepted the advice of his military staff that attacks on Aleppo be restarted which have been stopped by the Russian forces. The strikes were started on 22 September in order to evacuate the eastern Aleppo from the hold of the terrorists who are in opposition to Assad government and has[Read More…]
Beirut: As many of us would agree, the continuing conflict in Syria has created a devastating humanitarian crisis: the magnitude of humanitarian needs is overwhelming in all parts of the country and affects the region and beyond. The Syrian conflict has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, the estimated number of people in need of the[Read More…]
A little bird just whispered in my ear that the Syrian Government is in the final stages of securing a Reconciliation plan for East Aleppo. The buses are waiting, my friend said. According to Al Masdar, a Syrian news outlet, the SAA are holding the high ground in Aleppo. There are a few details to be resolved, but it appears[Read More…]
Join people from all across the UK who care about the lives of innocent people and #RallyForAleppo outside Downing Street on Saturday, October 22. This is the chance to take a giant stride towards stopping the heartbreaking violence in Syria. In Aleppo, hundreds of bombs are being dropped every day on a population roughly the size of Coventry – this[Read More…]
“Attacking hospitals and medical workers is a non-negotiable red line. As such, it must be set out – in clear and simple terms – in all military manuals, rules of engagement and standard operating procedures. Too often, unverified intelligence, or opaque claims that a hospital is a quote “command and control center,” is justification enough for an attack. To stop[Read More…]
Tuesday’s House of Commons debate in Britain was filled with the hollow anguish of impotence, fresh with statements about Russian war criminality tossed about like freshly made blinis. Ever easy to point to, Russian support for a regime which Western powers wish to remove, at the expense of further catastrophe, has accelerated the ruthless disposition of the conflict. Peace talks[Read More…]
Aleppo University Faculty of Law, Aleppo, Syria: Contrary to most recent media reports, and frankly to this observer’s surprise, forces defending both rebel controlled East Aleppo as well as government controlled West Aleppo during the unrelenting slaughter of this savage war, do sometimes appear restrained in their attacks. This observer does occasionally sense some concern among belligerents for civilian[Read More…]
US-backed militias fighting against the Syrian government of Bashar al Assad have broken through the Russian and Syrian government encirclement of their positions inside the war-ravaged northern Syrian city of Aleppo, according to Western media. During fierce battles over the weekend, the US-backed, Islamist-led militia coalition known as Jaysh al Fateh overran military bases in southwest Aleppo and secured an[Read More…]
Farm Reform Act Far from Farmers 
Punjab Bandh: Masses of Punjab write a new chapter in resistance against farm reform bills 
“The Future We Choose”: A Call for Action 
Preserving the human experiment through one of history’s darkest periods 
Assange’s Sixteenth Day at the Old Bailey: Special Administrative Measures, Unreliable Assurances and Espionage 
Boundless Dying Trees 
‘Round Midnight 
Lounging through Lucknow Lore 
Fight over the Mediterranean: France’s Proxy War and the Budding Turkish-Russian Alliance 
Case Against Cancel Culture 
The Mobster-in-Chief : Will the November Election Be Decided in the Streets? 
Searching for Mahatma 
Haathras Atrocity: Savarna Men Must Speak Up Now! 
Slash & Burn 
More than 1 million – Covid-19 death toll worldwide 
Why India needs a rural uprising 
Bt Cotton in India is a GMO Template for a ‘monumental irreversible catastrophe’ 
China’s Belt and Road pinpoints fundamental issues of our times 
Political Deprivation of Muslims in Bihar 
New Silk Road and the Asian Century: India, China and the Empire 
Language Policy in India is meant to facilitate promotion and imposition of Hindi, and for narrow interests as in Kashmir now 
Assange’s Fifteenth Day at the Old Bailey: Solitary Confinement and Parlous Health Care 
Story of a Collective Healing – Reflections on the time at a first-line Covid Care Centre in Kerala 
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961: Analysis 
Police Brutality And US Imperialism In Colombia 
American Justice Means Different Things To Black, Brown and White Races 
Today’s Anxious Workers Could Do With A Kedar Das 
Speak against the caste violence against Dalits 
Covidtopia – COVID-19 as Utopia 
Gender Literacy 
Reclaiming Freedom from the Edge 
Release Prashant Kanojia 
Rally against fascism and attacks on the rights of farmers under Modi held in Canada 
Dissenting Voices and the Revolutionary Legacy of Bhagat Singh 
Was Mughal Rule the period of India’s Slavery? 
Moving away from Petitions and Webinars – Protest and Activism Beyond Digital Jantar-Mantars 
My Feelings Before, During and After a 21 Day Water Fast 
Sangh’s Hindu Rashtra : A Threat to India and Indians 
How To Counter The Hindutva Project? 
What to Do When the World is on Fire 
This article is based on the 25th Chandrashekar Memorial Lecture delivered on 20 September 2020. The original lecture was delivered in Hindi and the event was organized by Punashcha, the Indian People’s Theater Association (IPTA) and Koshish. Friends, comrades gathered here; I am very honoured to be invited to deliver the Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture this year but I cannot say[Read More…]
