The lesson to be learnt, however, is that when parties offload their institutional memory and political judgement to an outsourced consultant, they can come to grief Bharat Bhushan The resounding defeats of parties advised by political consultants in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu may not spell their end, but their role will now be more… Read More West Bengal, Tamil Nadu show limits of political consulting
Carolina Landsmann Apropos talk about a plea bargain for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in exchange for his retirement from political life, which President Isaac Herzog is working on; apropos the Supreme Court’s attempts to buy time to postpone the “constitutional crisis” (that is, the “storming of the Bastille,” aka the court, by “the people,” which,… Read More Netanyahu Will Go, but the State Will Die With Him
NB: A thought provoking essay to which some caveats could be placed. To begin with, Hindutva is not synonymous with Hindu Nationalism, the latter being more widespread and accomodative than Hindutva. The fascination with violence that characterised early militant nationalist groups was something which held sway in Maharashtra and Punjab as well; and the tendency… Read More Bengal was the First Breeding Ground of Hindu Nationalism
Education is under attack across occupied Palestine. The situation is most severe in Gaza, where more than 600,000 school-age children are approaching the end of a third year without formal in-person education. Israeli attacks there have killed at least 792 teachers and 18,639 students, according to the UN, and damaged or destroyed nine out of 10… Read More ‘Go inside, he will kill you’: Israeli militants step up West Bank school attacks
The commercial framing of the project by the Narendra Modi government cannot be allowed to avoid parliamentary scrutiny on strategic matters Bharat Bhushan During his visit to Great Nicobar island, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has drawn national attention to the proposed Great Nicobar Holistic Development Project — a deep-sea transhipment port and allied infrastructure valued at around Rs… Read More Democracy demands a public debate on Great Nicobar’s environmental and strategic costs
International Workers’ Day The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today… Haymarket Martyrs memorial.. Forest Park Chicago… Mayday Greetings ‘How does one survive?’: Factory protests expose strain in India’s industrial system This Mayday nearly 1100 workers are ncarcerated or kept in illegal custody for demanding… Read More ‘How does one survive?’: Factory protests expose strain in India’s industrial system
Colombia president Gustavo Petro tells 57-country talks on a green energy transition that fossil fuel interests could destroy humanity Jonathan Watts and Fiona Harvey in Santa Marta, Colombia The world is threatened by a “suicidal” model of capitalism that is leading to war, fascism and the potential extinction of humanity, Colombia’s president has said, as he convened 57 governments… Read More ‘Suicidal’ model of capitalism leading to war and fascism, climate summit told
by Dr Mustafa Fetouri ( Middle East Monitor ) – The international community remains fixated on a phantom: Gaza’s “Day After.” While Washington, Cairo, and Doha debate elaborate governance frameworks and the “Board of Peace,” these plans share a fatal flaw—they lack a viable “buyer” on the ground. Smashed pipes, blocked off wells: Taps run dry in the… Read More No Day After for Gaza: Israel has Killed 1,000 during “Ceasefire”
NB: A gripping and very informative account of the intertwined crises that led to war and global confrontation in 1970-1971. I was a small witness to it from the Indian side of the border; and was caught up in the political cyclone which became the central theme for my novel Revolution Highway. Indeed, it was… Read More The Vortex
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut The Spanish title of Labatut’s book is Un Verdor Terrible – roughly, A Terrible Greening NB: This is an astonishing piece of writing, at once simple and deeply thought-provoking. The style is reminiscent of Borges, and the philosophical citation that comes to mind is this one from… Read More A Terrible Greening
After the truth-shower 