Only a week ago, Yogi Adityanath’s Chief Ministership appeared precarious amid speculations that misgovernance in UP may cost him his job. However his recent blitzkrieg of the media suggests that he may have saved his seat. Full front-page newspaper advertisements claim that he has always been “two steps ahead of the pandemic”. The “Teeka jeet… Read More Bharat Bhushan – Yogi Adityanath and the media: A survival game
Andrew Bacevich: High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century Victor Jara murder: ex-military officers sentenced in Chile for 1973 death Lucian Truscott: Trump wants to end the forever wars – except the one about oil and money Alfred McCoy: The crumbling delusion of Washington’s endless world dominion William Astore: The U.S. Military’s… Read More American priorities
In a strongly-worded statement, more than 170 Gujarat cultural personalities, activists and academics have strongly protested against “threats” issued against Gujarati writers in the Gujarat Sahitya Academi journal “Shabdsrushti” through an anonymous writeup under the titled “No, This Is Not a Poem, It Is Misuse of a ‘Poem’ for Anarchy…” Supposedly an editorial, published, ironically on page… Read More Sahitya Akademi's so-called editorial 'death knell' for Gujarati writers' free expression / Litterateurs demand withdrawal of Gujarat Sahitya Akademi editorial
….. French theorists judged this approach naive. They challenged any presumption of stable significance in the literary object. Derrida pushed a radical skepticism that targeted the very idea of core meaning, original intention, or truth in or behind or before or under the work itself. The one-million-times-cited sentences on decentering in “Structure, Sign, and Play in… Read More Mark Bauerlein: TRUTH, READING, DECADENCE
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s dream run up the global wealth rankings is faltering after a media report raising questions about some offshore investors triggered a rout in his conglomerate’s six listed stocks. The 58-year-old tycoon has lost more money this week than anyone else in the world, with his personal fortune tumbling by about $13.2… Read More Gautam Adani Lost More Money This Week Than Anyone Else in the World
NB: It is good news for India that some of our judges are re-establishing minimal standards of justice and fair-play; as also rejecting the dishonest application of law to crush democratic protest. Meanwhile one of those released had to suffer the agony of the death of her father and only remaining parent, without even being… Read More Govt wants to cage women who speak against it, say Narwal & Kalita as they and Asif Tanha walk free / Delhi HC criticises 'wanton, frivolous use of UAPA by the State' / P.B. Mehta: Has the blackbox of UAPA finally been opened?
Sometimes… silence makes a lie begin to take on the shimmer of truth… Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has written a detailed essay about the conduct of young people on social media “who are choking on sanctimony and lacking in compassion”, who she says are part of a generation “so terrified of having the wrong opinions that… Read More ‘It is obscene’: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pens blistering essay against social media sanctimony
Salps are jelly-like sea creatures, so humble that few people even know they exist. But there are countless numbers of them swimming in the world’s oceans and they help fight climate change. Salps cruise around the sea surface at night, sucking up and digesting phytoplankton, microscopic plant-like organisms that absorb CO2 for their photosynthesis. During the… Read More Jeremy Plester: How the humble salp is helping to fight the climate crisis
On 1 June, Orhan Inandi, a Turkish-Kyrgyz national was declared missing in the Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek. His car had been found early that morning, with its doors wide open and with valuables left inside. Many suspect he was kidnapped by the Turkish security services. Inandi is the founder of a network of schools in Kyrgyzstan linked to… Read More Serdar San: Turkish spies are abducting Erdogan’s political opponents abroad
NB: The comment below is taken from Jairus Banaji’s Facebook page dated June 13, 2021 The title of this blogpost is me being sarcastic. I had originally titled it Sovereignty of Capital or Nation as property, but thought it redundant. No comment is required. Readers might be interested in this investigation, and Bharat Bhushan’s report on the Scania… Read More Cutlet for Cutlet
