Putin’s absurd, angry spectacle will be a turning point in his long reign

Sitting alone at a desk in a grand, columned Kremlin room, Vladimir Putin looked across an expanse of parquet floor at his security council and asked if anyone wished to express an alternative opinion. He was met with silence. A few hours later, the Russian president appeared on state television to give an angry, rambling lecture about Ukraine,… Read More Putin’s absurd, angry spectacle will be a turning point in his long reign

Dilip

Prem Sikka: Credit Suisse leaks expose an industry that has got away with too much for too long /Joseph Stiglitz: Credit Suisse has allowed the morally bankrupt to steal from the poor

How do the banks continue to get away with it? The latest revelations about Credit Suisse provide yet another glimpse into the corrosive nexus of banks, corporations, accountants, lawyers and financial intermediaries that enables the wealthy and political elites to profit from illicit practices. The bank itself is no stranger to predatory practices. Since 2001 it has… Read More Prem Sikka: Credit Suisse leaks expose an industry that has got away with too much for too long /Joseph Stiglitz: Credit Suisse has allowed the morally bankrupt to steal from the poor

Dilip

Andhra Pradesh: Fisherpeoples' Protest Compel Stoppage of Mangrove Destruction

  Gogannamattam Village (16°26’23.67″N, 81°57’3.13″E) located on the bank of Vainatheya which is a tributary of River Godavari. On the west side of the village flows river Vainatheya which opens up at nearby coast into Bay of Bengal. This creates a unique estuary from the coast where large area of Mangrove patches was formed. On… Read More Andhra Pradesh: Fisherpeoples' Protest Compel Stoppage of Mangrove Destruction

Dilip

Sunita Viswanath: Hindus for Human Rights to Keep Lobbying US Congress, Govt against India's Treatment of Muslims

In a 30-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Sunita Viswanath explained why her organization played a lead role, alongside 16 other civil society organisations in the US, in lobbying the US Congress against the treatment of Muslims and minorities in India on the 12th and 26th of January. She said she did this… Read More Sunita Viswanath: Hindus for Human Rights to Keep Lobbying US Congress, Govt against India's Treatment of Muslims

Dilip

The CIA and the New Dialect of Power. By River Page

Wokeness serves two functions for today’s ruling elites. The first is a kind of ideological control directed against Western working classes: wokeness covers over concrete class and economic injus­tices – massive wealth inequality, health precarity, stagnant wages and so on – with a thick fog of mystification. It creates an impression of furious change and even revolutionary activity. Yet… Read More The CIA and the New Dialect of Power. By River Page

Dilip

Special Double number – Mainstream, February 2022 / Om Thanvi: Photos of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's visit to India

Letter to the Readers, Mainstream Feb 19-26, 2022 Who are We A ‘Union of States’ or a ‘Nation’ | Karli Srinivasulu Remembering 2021 UP Panchayat Election Results | Bharat Dogra Silence Is No Solution To Evil | TJS George Lockdown As A Means of Controling Covid? | Kobad Ghandy Five State Assembly Elections of 2022: Scenario and Consequences | Prem… Read More Special Double number – Mainstream, February 2022 / Om Thanvi: Photos of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's visit to India

Dilip

Javed Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue

Secularists must support rights of Muslims in an increasingly Islamophobic world, but they should be wary of strengthening the Muslim right in the process. To make sense of the contradictory voices within the community of secular-minded Indians on the raging hijab controversy, we would do well to recall a decades-old remark, in another context, of… Read More Javed Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue

Dilip

George Monbiot: There’s no solidarity in ‘sovereign citizen’ protests — only incoherent rage

The “sovereign citizen” theory is a powerful current running through these movements. Its adherents insist that they stand above the law. Some of them refuse to buy vehicle licences, or pay taxes or fines. They believe they are exempt from public health measures, such as lockdowns and vaccine passes. In other words, they arrogate to themselves sovereign… Read More George Monbiot: There’s no solidarity in ‘sovereign citizen’ protests — only incoherent rage

Dilip

Rupert Murdoch waited years for a pliant government – now he’s got one. By Jane Martinson

We are living in the age of the nonagenarian: the Queen continues to gain popularity against her elected officials, and Rupert Murdoch has been given everything he’s ever asked for, just a few weeks from his 91st birthday. In between meetings in Saudi Arabia, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, announced the removal of legal restrictions designed to prevent the… Read More Rupert Murdoch waited years for a pliant government – now he’s got one. By Jane Martinson

Dilip

Péter Krekó: Learning to live with the madness

Decades of political campaigning against climate science and medicine have made public health a battleground of beliefs. Vaccine hesitancy, as seen in eastern Europe, based on distrust in authority, can’t be solved with rationality alone. So what might the antidote be?    Rejecting science is not so much a grass-roots movement, says Péter Krekó, in… Read More Péter Krekó: Learning to live with the madness

Dilip