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

‘Someone will fall victim’: insiders reveal elite anguish as Russia’s war falters

by Pjotr Sauer and Andrew Roth in Moscow Friends, rivals and enemies took their seats in the Grand Kremlin Palace as Vladimir Putin gathered the country’s elite to formalise Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine. The ceremony was meant to portray strength and unity, but within 24 hours had been overshadowed by Russia’s failures on the battlefield. These… Read More ‘Someone will fall victim’: insiders reveal elite anguish as Russia’s war falters

Dilip

Legacy of British nuclear tests lingers on idyllic islands in Western Australia

Narelle Towie The white ocean sands of Western Australia’s Montebello Islands may appear inviting, but 70 years ago they were the site of Britain’s first nuclear tests. Now researchers are working to uncover how much and what type of radioactive material persists in sediment on the ocean floor of the archipelago, made up of 265… Read More Legacy of British nuclear tests lingers on idyllic islands in Western Australia

Dilip

This fired chemistry professor’s example shows what’s wrong with academia

Jill Filipovic The dismissal of a renowned chemistry professor from NYU after a spate of student complaints about his teaching has reinvigorated a series of long-standing questions about the modern academy: Are academic standards dropping? Are professors and administrators too beholden to students’ fragile emotions – and their parents’ tuition dollars? And what’s wrong with… Read More This fired chemistry professor’s example shows what’s wrong with academia

Dilip

Why Gauri Lankesh was assassinated: The story of an indoctrinated engineer

Prajwal Bhat  Amol Kale was a 23-year-old mechanical engineer working in a multinational company in Pune when he went to a Shiva temple for a prayer meeting. Here, he met a charismatic couple with whom he had a deep conversation about Hinduism. This moment in 2003 changed Amol’s life so much that soon he decided… Read More Why Gauri Lankesh was assassinated: The story of an indoctrinated engineer

Dilip

Another teenage girl dead at hands of Iran’s security forces, reports claim

In private message groups, schoolgirls across Iran said they were planning protests at the weekend to show solidarity with Esmailzadeh and Nika Shakarami, the 17-year-old schoolgirl who went missing on 20 September and was also allegedly tortured and killed by Iran’s security forces. Despite claims that Shakarami was beaten and raped, and that her body was stolen… Read More Another teenage girl dead at hands of Iran’s security forces, reports claim

Dilip

Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

The jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, in an award the committee said was to honour champions of “peaceful coexistence” during the most tumultuous period in Europe since the second world war.… Read More Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

Dilip

Red Army blues

Red Army blues :: Waterboys When I left my home and my familymy mother said to me“Son, it’s not how many Germans you kill that countsit’s how many people you set free” So I packed my bagsbrushed my capWalked out into the worldseventeen years oldNever kissed a girl Took the train to Voronezhthat was as… Read More Red Army blues

Dilip

Professor Claudia Koontz’s lecture: Hitler’s Assault on the Golden Rule (February, 2008)

First posted December 29, 2011 The Third George J. Wittenstein Lecture To ‘resist’ from the Latin resistere, means to stand fast, to uphold principles against pressure to abandon them. Claudia Koonz discusses the Nazis’ mandate to “Love only the neighbor who is like thyself.” Using examples from visual and print media from the 1930s, Koonz… Read More Professor Claudia Koontz’s lecture: Hitler’s Assault on the Golden Rule (February, 2008)

Dilip

In Memory of Johann Georg Elser, the carpenter who nearly prevented the Second World War

First posted April 05, 2015 NB: This is a short piece about the German carpenter Johann Georg Elser. It was written in 2001, as an appendix to a public lecture. Now a film is being released about this little-known hero. Read the BBC report below this story: The man who missed killing Hitler by 13… Read More In Memory of Johann Georg Elser, the carpenter who nearly prevented the Second World War

Dilip