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

US Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin to Reinstate Tens of Thousands of Federal Workers After ‘Sham’ Mass Firings

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to reinstate tens of thousands of probationary federal employees on Thursday, according to Politico’s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney. In his ruling, Alsup referred to the mass firings as “unlawful” and a “sham.” Gerstein and Cheney describe Alsup’s order as “one of the most far-reaching rejections of the Trump administration’s effort to slash the bureaucracy… Read More US Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin to Reinstate Tens of Thousands of Federal Workers After ‘Sham’ Mass Firings

Dilip

Trump’s Christian Fascists and the War on Palestine

Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argues that “Zionism and Americanism are the front-lines of Western civilization and freedom in our world today” — pedals the usual absurdity that the Hebrew Bible, written 4,000 years ago, can be used to draw contemporary national borders. Chris Hedges Christian Nationalists who form the bedrock of support for Donald Trump… Read More Trump’s Christian Fascists and the War on Palestine

Dilip

Trump’s War on Education

Chris Hedges Education is meant to be subversive. It gives students the ability and the language to ask questions about reigning assumptions and ideas. It questions dogma and ideology. It can, as Zinn writes, “counteract the deception that makes the government’s force legitimate.” ************* The attacks on colleges and universities — Donald Trump’s administration has warned some… Read More Trump’s War on Education

Dilip

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte arrested in Manila after ICC warrant

Duterte is wanted by the international criminal court over his so-called ‘war on drugs’, which rights groups say left 30,000 people dead Rebecca Ratcliffe The former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been taken into custody after the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest for his so-called “war on drugs”. The former leader, who… Read More Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte arrested in Manila after ICC warrant

Dilip

Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

readers finally glimpse the exceptional man who turned poetry into a panoramic mirror for all of humanity — Bryce Christensen Stephen Greenblatt, the charismatic Harvard professor who “knows more about Shakespeare than Ben Jonson or the Dark Lady did” (John Leonard, Harper’s), has written a biography that enables us to see, hear, and feel how… Read More Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

Dilip

US stock market loses $4 trillion in value as Trump plows ahead on tariffs

By Lewis Krauskopf and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s tariffs have spooked investors, with fears of an economic downturn driving a stock market sell-off that has wiped out $4 trillion from the S&P 500’s peak last month, when Wall Street was cheering much of Trump’s agenda. A barrage of new Trump… Read More US stock market loses $4 trillion in value as Trump plows ahead on tariffs

Dilip

Juan Cole: Israel Returns to Deliberately Starving Palestinian Civilians in Gaza, Planning for Further Total War

By Juan Cole / Informed Comment Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ashraf al-Hur reports at al-Quds al-`Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] that the extremist government in Israel has escalated its military attacks on the Gaza Strip in the past few days. The moves come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to start the second phase of the ceasefire… Read More Juan Cole: Israel Returns to Deliberately Starving Palestinian Civilians in Gaza, Planning for Further Total War

Dilip

Neighbourhood Lost: The End is Nigh for South Asian University

Sasanka Perera On February 26, 2025, Yashada Sawant, an Indian student from the South Asian University (SAU) was publicly assaulted by Ratan Singh and a gang of goons with clear affiliations to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The attackers’ grouse was that fish was being served on Maha Shivaratri and Sawant’s ‘crime’, as the university’s mess secretary,… Read More Neighbourhood Lost: The End is Nigh for South Asian University

Dilip

Camouflaging Crimes

Every so often at The Caravan, we come across crimes and violations committed by men and women in uniform. In February this year, we reported on the Delhi police’s illegal detention and harassment of students who had been protesting at the Jamia Millia Islamia university. The protest was in response to the university’s attempts to… Read More Camouflaging Crimes

Dilip