Rajini has come a long way from being an ordinary bus conductor to a celebrated super star. He reached the pinnacles of glory by sheer hard work, commitment, perseverance and absolute faith in God. Recently, after a long hiatus, he met his fans in person continuously for five days in the month of May. He made kind enquiries and patiently took photographs wit...
The political situation currently obtaining in Tamil Nadu is akin to a rudderless ship lost in a stormy sea. The splits in the ruling AIADMK, the naked power struggles among the feuding groups, the holding of MLAs at secret resorts, cancellation of the by-poll for the deceased chief minister’s constituency due to corruption, income tax raids on an...
The state of Pakistan signed and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR) along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Covenant is monitored by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 16...
As a rule I try to see my glass half-full, leaving the half-empty one to other fellows. And now there are some good reasons for an eternal optimist to stick to his positive schedule. Though it tarried, the summer has come, after all, to the North. The skies are blue, the grass is green and lush, the flowers are breaking out; in short, there is nothing for ...
Media speculation and hype over Modi’s forthcoming visit to the USA and his meeting with Donald Trump will be real with experts on both side of the spectrum forecasting on possible outcomes – positive and negative. If Modi’s critics hype idealistic expectations of breakthroughs on key issues in bilateral relations, Modi’s ardent admirers would naturally atte...
Donald Trump’s speech in Riyadh has sparked a wave of declarations against terrorism and against political Islam. The Arab world is expressing its thirst for secularism at the very moment that it is being misrepresented in Europe and used against religions. Faced with this breath of liberty, the British are organising the camp of political Islam around Qatar...
“What Sheikh Abdullah was really gambling for… was an independent principality whose continued existence would be guaranteed by the Indian armed forces and whose solvency was secured by the Indian treasury. There was, however, no idea of a quid pro quo from his side. He did not expect to be called to account either in respect of the internal administration o...
The mystery surrounding the delayed accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India has remained shrouded in mystery for the last seventy years. Radha Rajan has tried to clear the cobwebs of confusion surrounding this monumental event. In Jammu & Kashmir: Dilemma of Accession, the author has discussed the behind-the-scene developments relating to Jammu & Kashmir in th...
While President Trump seems to have sorted out his problems of interior authority - more or less - the conflict has now moved on to concern NATO. Washington is currently speaking against the manipulation of terrorism, while London has no intention of giving up such a useful tool for the extension of its influence. The Bilderberg Group, initially organised as...
Public Law (P.L.)-480, a food-aid programme, was major part of American foreign policy during the Cold War, to liquidate communist influence. It was signed as Agricultural Trade Development and Assistant Act, 1954 by President D. Dwight Eisenhower and administered strongly under ‘Food for Peace’ during John F. Kennedy’s administration. Henry Kissinger, Secre...
It is no exaggeration that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the one among a select band of leaders – probably a cherry picked few among Indian politicians in recent memory – who have been hounded by the main stream media (MSM) – both print and electronic. In that sense, he shares a common experience and can empathize with President Donald Trump of...
Nuclear energy offers tremendous prospects to achieve “Energy Security for AD 2050”. But, there are critical challenges to overcome including Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) admission, timely technology breakthroughs, successful implementation of joint ventures, admission into Generation IV International Forum (GIF), assured uranium resources at optimum costs,...
The study of various reports on “Energy Security AD 2050” makes an interesting exercise. Many varied requirements and generation targets have been suggested by different agencies. The significance of energy security needs no elucidation. Lenin’s quote “Communism - the power of the Soviets plus Electricity” highlights the significance of electricity from all ...
The agility with which the Congress party raises an uproar and/or takes to the streets to protest the alleged sins of omission or commission of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre or in States ruled by it, is admirable. The BJP, in comparison, tends to be sluggish in its responses and often loses the perception battle, at least initially. Certainly the ...
Brzezinski’s death at 89 years of age has generated a load of propaganda and disinformation, all of which serves one interest group or another or the myths that people find satisfying. I am not an expert on Brzezinski, and this is not an apology for him. He was a Cold Warrior, as essentially was everyone in Washington during the Soviet era.
For 12 years Brz...
The unsayable in Britain’s general election campaign is this. The causes of the Manchester atrocity, in which 22 mostly young people were murdered by a jihadist, are being suppressed to protect the secrets of British foreign policy. Critical questions - such as why the security service MI5 maintained terrorist “assets” in Manchester and why the government d...
In the Konkan, small electrically operated oil presses that ingest limited amounts of dried copra to expel oil for households to cook with are common. These can press enough in a day (electricity supply permitting) to fill several dozen glass bottles with coconut oil. As such a filled bottle of freshly pressed coconut oil usually sells for Rs 130 to Rs 160, ...
Life is not boring with President Trump. Perhaps he hasn’t yet fulfilled many wishes of his voters, but he definitely has made their news much more entertaining. Standing a few inches from impeachment, surviving lynch by media, hunted down by rogue Republican senators, the US President broke three taboos established by his predecessors: he removed the major ...
In 1960, there were some three billion people on the planet. Around that time, the Green Revolution with its package of so-called ‘modern technologies’ for agriculture was launched with the announced aim of feeding the poor, especially in the developing world. Yet in 2009, after almost a half-century of ‘modern’ agriculture, the number of hungry shot over th...
On a scale not seen since the ‘great’ world depression of the 1930’s, the US political system is experiencing sharp political attacks, divisions and power grabs. Executive firings, congressional investigations, demands for impeachment, witch hunts, threats of imprisonment for ‘contempt of Congress’ and naked power struggles have shredded the façade of politi...