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

Four times Pakistan came close to making peace with India

AYESHA SIDDIQA A recent article by Air Vice Marshal Shahzad Chaudhry (retd) in Tribune will certainly grab your attention. One could not have expected a former Pakistani military officer— and that too an Inter-Services Public Relations favourite — to so candidly admit the India-Pakistan socio-economic disparity and argue that the bigger neighbour is now a regional power and global… Read More Four times Pakistan came close to making peace with India

Dilip

People’s Union for Civil Liberties calls on Indian citizens to resist the government’s attacks on judicial independence

Resist the Executive’s Attempt to Discredit & Undermine Independence of the Judiciary Founder: Jayaprakash Narayan; Founding President: V M Tarkunde General Secretary: Dr. V. SureshE.mail: puclnat@gmail.com & pucl.natgensec@gmail.com As the Modi government reaches the final stretch of its second five-year term, one can see the beginnings of its new priorities. The drumbeats against the judiciary, the lone institution which… Read More People’s Union for Civil Liberties calls on Indian citizens to resist the government’s attacks on judicial independence

Dilip

The Fading of Washington’s Global Dreams and the Coming of a New World

By Alfred McCoy ew recent headlines reveal the painfully inhumane, dangerously volatile state of U.S. relations with its own home region, the continent of North America. A record-breaking 2.76 million border crossings from Mexico filled homeless shelters to the bursting point in cities nationwide in 2022. This year, the possible cessation of Covid restrictions could allow tens of thousands… Read More The Fading of Washington’s Global Dreams and the Coming of a New World

Dilip

Imperial Dominance Disguised as Democratic Deterrence

The Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy Drives Record Military Spending By William J. Astore (Tomdispatch.com) – Imagine this scenario for a moment: a “great power” watches another major power fight a war in a nearby nation for 10 years before its army limps home defeated and, not so very long after, that country implodes. A little over a decade later, by… Read More Imperial Dominance Disguised as Democratic Deterrence

Dilip

Israeli Opposition Warns of “Civil War,” “End of Democracy” as 80,000 Rally against Netanyahu

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Palestinian newspaper Amad reports that tens of thousands of Israelis took part on Saturday evening in demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa protesting the new Israeli government, headed by Binyamin Netanyahu. The Hebrew press reported a massive police presence at these sites. The Israeli center-right is finding out what Palestinians… Read More Israeli Opposition Warns of “Civil War,” “End of Democracy” as 80,000 Rally against Netanyahu

Dilip

One Afghan refugee’s stunning photographs of the country’s ‘many stories that need to be told’

by Joey Watson with pictures by Muzafar Ali Muzafar Ali, who lives in Adelaide, grew up as a refugee in Pakistan after his family fled Afghanistan in the mid-1980s. As a child, the only pictures he saw of his birth country were through Taliban-issued jihadi calendars and the occasional news report. Photo: Muzafar Ali / The Guardian Ali is… Read More One Afghan refugee’s stunning photographs of the country’s ‘many stories that need to be told’

Dilip

Nadoja Sara Aboobacker

Chandan Gowda Sara Aboobacker and her husband, an engineer with the government, moved to Bangalore in 1981. He had been transferred from Mangalore. One day, as she was heading out of a public library in Halasur, Lankesh Patrike, which was dangling in a roadside stall, caught her eye. She bought a copy of the eight-page Kannada… Read More Nadoja Sara Aboobacker

Dilip

Prince Harry has left the zoo, so why is he being treated like a caged animal?

Catherine Bennett Early signs are that Prince Harry’s revelations may not, frustratingly for experts and republicans alike, seriously threaten the monarchy. Even if he’d wanted to, he probably picked the wrong moment, the public still being in an exceptionally forgiving mood. For all his divulging, to seriously “stain” or “trash”, as alleged, the royal brand,… Read More Prince Harry has left the zoo, so why is he being treated like a caged animal?

Dilip

Saudi Arabian academic on death row for using Twitter and WhatsApp

Stephanie Kirchgaessner A prominent pro-reform law professor in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to death for alleged crimes including having a Twitter account and using WhatsApp to share news considered “hostile” to the kingdom, according to court documents seen by the Guardian. The arrest of Awad Al-Qarni, 65, in September 2017 represented the start of a crackdown against dissent by… Read More Saudi Arabian academic on death row for using Twitter and WhatsApp

Dilip