Things often look the way they do because someone claiming authority tells us they look that way. If that sounds too cynical, pause for a moment and reflect on what seemed most important to you just a year ago, or even a few weeks ago. Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in western politics was a vitally important issue, and something ...
There are a large number of multi-media resources functioning across the world with the singular agenda of creating a rift between the Hindu and Sikh communities by resorting to despicable propaganda based on blatant lies and misinformation. One such organisation is 5K Broadcasting, a UK-based so-called media house that has its office at 29 Saxon Grove, Leed...
A crisis such as the COVID-19 epidemic serves as a stress test for the system – a dye inserted and circulated to highlight its functioning in terms of efficiency and capacity. The relevant system is the national polity for that is where the locus for meaningful action resides. Of particular interest are the Western democracies. Serious questions already had ...
FBI director Christopher Wray warned about the potential threat posed by Chinese students in American universities, not just to the government, but to the society. Wray said his warning was not just for the intelligence community, but also America’s academic and private sectors (The Chinese Student Threat, Inside Higher Ed, Feb. 15, 2018). The US Education D...
What’s going on in the fifth largest economy in the world arguably points to a major collusion scandal in which the French government is helping Big Pharma to profit from the expansion of Covid-19. Informed French citizens are absolutely furious about it. My initial question to a serious, unimpeachable Paris source, jurist Valerie Bugault, was about the liai...
With each passing day, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) scare has become a nightmare for Indians. No one seems to be sure about its origin, and where it will all end: how many Indian lives will be lost. At a time when Anglo-Saxons are changing the world order, an incontrovertible proof of which is Britain taking control of the Red sea entrance with able support...
More and more people have recently begun talking about the end of the European Union. Moreover, while many observers used to cite Brexit as a sign that the European Union is on the brink of collapse, it is now clear that Brexit was just one of many blows the EU has been dealt, which has been suffering with underlying problems since it was established: Foreig...
The present spread of novel Corona virus, COVID-19, across the globe has infected thousands and sent many to death, with casualties rising daily. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has termed the disaster as pandemic. The virus has spread to about 196 countries in six continents. The news of lockdown is coming from countries across the globe every day, and ...
The question is not if, but when the long-standing American defence umbrella in the Gulf, the world’s most militarised and volatile region, will be replaced by a multilateral security arrangement that would have to include China as well as Russia. The United States’ perceived diminishing commitment to the Gulf and the broader Middle East and mounting doubts ...
Let me begin by answering the above question bluntly: India is a kritocracy (also kritarchy) and an unacceptable one at that. On March 3, 2020 there was a cryptic report in Janmabhumi Daily that shared the concern of the Chief Justice of India, Mr. S.A. Bobde, on how the judiciary was stressed by media reports criticizing the judiciary. It was made in the co...
There is a strange coincidence, if not synergy, between some Twitter handles calling for a national government to deal with the Coronavirus health crisis even though the central government enjoys a staggering majority, and the sudden exodus of thousands of casual labour from jhuggi clusters across Delhi on Saturday, March 28, 2020. This made a mockery of...
President Donald Trump continues his policy of military withdrawal from the “Broader Middle East”. To this end, he is gradually moving his troops, signing agreements with the forces against which they were deployed (e.g. the Taliban) and negotiating the release of his prisoners. At the same time, the Pentagon called on the United Kingdom to take the lead...
Indiscriminate in targetting its victims, the latest coronavirus (COVID-19) casts a very different light on the need to enforce international law governing wars as well as human and minority rights. It exposes the needs of tens of millions of refugees and displaced persons in destitute camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Bangladesh and shantytowns a...
There are moments when life seems an endless series of ordeals. At times, it IS. Now is one of them. First there was primary season – the Great Palaver, full of sound and fury and signifying God knows what. 15 months of it – about the time it took Alexander to conquer the Near East. Even as entertainment it was third rate – unless you get a kick out of watch...
The response of the Indian Government to Corona Virus is creditable. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi the Government is not hesitating from taking necessary decisions, however difficult and unpopular they may be. Chief Ministers are responding with great commitment; even the Police and administration are working with a sense of purpose. It is being hoped a...
When did you first wake up from the collective sleep? For me, it was right before the Sochi Olympics of 2014. The roll-up blinds turned loose and snapped open, letting the bright morning sun rush into my sleepy brain. I remember thinking, “Wait a minute, us Americans, we’re supposed to be sportsmanlike”. So, something went was all wrong about Russia’s big Wi...
Whereas the US-Taliban ‘truce deal’ is historic in many ways, the fact that real peace in Afghanistan remains hostage to a lot more complex power dynamics than the US war has become sharply evident ever since the announcement of the deal. The Ghani administration has already rejected the part of the deal about the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners; the Tali...
Erdoğan’s Idlib war has morphed into a new one with the EU, which he can’t win. Is there a method to his madness? I ask because as soon as things calm down in one place, he picks a fight somewhere else. While he advanced into Idlib with a traditional military invasion force minus the air cover to back up his proxy terrorist forces there, he sent a jihadi mer...
“Healthcare is not a right.” This has been a favoured talking point of American conservatives, Libertarians, and advocates of the free market. Roger Stark, of the Washington Times, articulated this concern saying: “If medical treatment is a right, then what exactly does that mean? Does it mean that your neighbours, through the government, are obligated to...
The abrupt and widespread closure of borders and, in many countries, of schools, universities, businesses and public services, as well as the ban on gatherings, is profoundly changing societies. In a few months they will no longer be what they were before the pandemic. Above all, this reality is changing our understanding of Freedom; a concept that the Unit...