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

China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead

The surging export of hides created domestic tensions – and shows how globalisation plays out in unexpected ways What can help to protect women’s health, boost the incomes of impoverished families and thus allow girls to avoid early marriage? What – when it disappears – can set back children’s education, damage mental wellbeing, drive conflict within communities… Read More China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead

Dilip

Prophecy, not politics, may also shape America’s clash with Iran

NB: America’s religious fanatics have converted the Old Testament into a title deed; Jesus into a bloodthirsty warrior; Christianity into an instrument of the arms industry; and compassion for humanity into obscurantist nationalism and narcissism. To assist them in this endeavour, the US Supreme Court is functioning as a Catholic theocracy. In a word, religion… Read More Prophecy, not politics, may also shape America’s clash with Iran

Dilip

Too late for Israel to escape its genocidal demons

Buildings may crumble but infamy is forever: Criminal Intent; S3 E1 NB: This is today’s slaughter list: Israeli strikes kill more than 60 people in Gaza, health officials say By Yorgos Mitralias After twenty months of daily massacres of civilians—especially women and children—and acts of unspeakable deadly sadism, including the organized starvation of the inhabitants… Read More Too late for Israel to escape its genocidal demons

Dilip

Free speech target or terrorist gang? The story of Palestine Action and the plan to ban it

It started as a group of activists on a budget – now it could be banned under terrorism laws. But were lobbyists behind the proposed ban? Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent If this interview had taken place in a week’s time, Huda Ammori might have been arrested. If this interview had been published in a week’s… Read More Free speech target or terrorist gang? The story of Palestine Action and the plan to ban it

Dilip

After Discourse

NB: Skip the first three paragraphs. What follows should be easy to read. The aphorisms are not purely mine, but then nothing is. DS In our obscurity, in all this vastness , there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us: Carl Sagan The… Read More After Discourse

Dilip

After Singer Neha Singh Rathore, FIR Against Dr. Medusa Over Posts on Pahalgam Attack

Both the FIRs, against folk singer Neha Singh Rathore and Dr. Medusa, have been lodged under multiple charges including “endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India” New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh police have registered an FIR against folk singer Neha Singh Rathore under multiple charges including “endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”. Shortly… Read More After Singer Neha Singh Rathore, FIR Against Dr. Medusa Over Posts on Pahalgam Attack

Dilip

India’s Social Regression Under Modi’s Eleven Years May Not Be Mendable

While much has been written about the Modi regime’s economic failures and diplomatic missteps, the most insidious damage lies elsewhere – in the corrosion of India’s socio-cultural fabric. Anand Teltumbde on the experience of being in jail for 31 months in the Bhima Koregaon case Anand Teltumbde There was a short-lived euphoria last month when… Read More India’s Social Regression Under Modi’s Eleven Years May Not Be Mendable

Dilip

‘Basically impossible to get them back’: Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime

As territories shift and divide families, desperate parents are travelling to Russia to find their children, many of whom have been moved into military camps or orphanages Ruchi Kumar Ukrainian children from a Donetsk orphanage at a camp in Zolotaya Kosa, Russia. Up to 35,000 Ukrainian children may be held in Russia, with many feared… Read More ‘Basically impossible to get them back’: Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime

Dilip

Enabled by the USA, UK & servile Arab states, Israel has slaughtered an average of 122 Palestinians EVERY DAY for 629 days

The international political-economic system is not just a disgrace, its a corrupt and vicious murder machine. This is genocidal mania in broad daylight. No one will do anything to stop this massacre. We can only watch the IDF (which styles itself ‘the most moral army in the world’), bombs hospitals, refugee camps, schools, and ‘safe… Read More Enabled by the USA, UK & servile Arab states, Israel has slaughtered an average of 122 Palestinians EVERY DAY for 629 days

Dilip