Author: Dilip

I'm a scholar, writer and teacher; and my blog is designed for intellectual exploration. It carries no advertisements and requires no cash subscription

India’s strategic autonomy faces its acid test in West Asia / ये विषगुरू ने अमेरिका से इजाजत मांगी ही क्यों

NB: The BJP/RSS rulers shout from the rooftops about their ‘deshbhakti’ (nation-worship); and the iron will of their leaders. But their foreign policy – unlike Nehruvian non-alignment – has always been guided by a hatred of socialism coupled with pro-Western alliances. They supported the American imperialist aggression in Vietnam as a ‘dharm-yuddha‘ or holy war.… Read More India’s strategic autonomy faces its acid test in West Asia / ये विषगुरू ने अमेरिका से इजाजत मांगी ही क्यों

Dilip

The Banal Acts of a Nation That Citizens Have Grown to Fear / ‘You are making me an outsider’: Bishop’s College principal questions EC roll revision

What lakhs of citizens of India are undergoing with SIR is, to borrow from the political theorist Hannah Arendt, “fearsome, word-and-thought-defying.” Suraj Gogoi Sitting at the edge of the Arabian Sea, I, like many others who were gathered on the warm afternoon at the Kozhikode Literature Festival on January 24, 2026, had the good fortune… Read More The Banal Acts of a Nation That Citizens Have Grown to Fear / ‘You are making me an outsider’: Bishop’s College principal questions EC roll revision

Dilip

An Aesthete at War

Ernst Junger (1895-1998): Jünger found his countrymen’s discriminatory treatment of French Jews unacceptable. In his Parisian diaries, the writer wrote on 7 June 1942 that he had encountered for the first time the yellow star carried by three little girls who were passing by in the Rue Royale, and that he considered that day as fundamental in his personal history,… Read More An Aesthete at War

Dilip

How many countries has the US bombed since 2001, and how much has it cost?

Since 9/11, the US has engaged in three full-scale wars, bombing at least 10 countries under four presidents By Marium Ali Despite promising to end United States involvement in costly and destructive foreign wars, President Donald Trump, together with Israel, has launched a massive military assault on Iran, targeting its leadership and nuclear and missile infrastructure.… Read More How many countries has the US bombed since 2001, and how much has it cost?

Dilip

America’s Abyss of Uselessness

The ‘indispensble nation‘ marches on, toward a sinkhole of crashed empires, killing and maiming along the way ++++++++++++++++++++ Self-shafting America Homeland Empire Unsolicited thoughts from an elder citizen Natalia Ginzburg: Our Monstrous Ideas Biblical Archaeology and the Judeo-Christian legends / The Deconstruction of the Walls of Jericho Zionism Breaks Hundreds of prominent Jews and Israelis urge world powers to… Read More America’s Abyss of Uselessness

Dilip

Kejriwal Should Realise the Allure of Jantar Mantar is Misplaced

NB: A much needed reminder: the loudspeakers for Lokpal fell silent after the AAP and BJP came to power in their respective bastions; the AAP’s own internal Lokpal was unceremoniously dismissed; and the party kept a safe distance from all issues of communal strife during the Delhi riots of 2020 (including opposing bail for Muslims… Read More Kejriwal Should Realise the Allure of Jantar Mantar is Misplaced

Dilip

Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran has no mandate – or legal basis

US president chooses to take the biggest gamble of his administration… The attack on Iran is a clear violation of the UN charter, in any absence of any credible, imminent Iranian threat to the US. Julian Borger The first war of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace era has begun – an unprovoked attempt at regime… Read More Trump’s unprovoked attack on Iran has no mandate – or legal basis

Dilip