Ozlem Goner: Banning the pro-Kurdish HDP in Turkey is a move towards fascism

On 17 March, a top prosecutor filed a case with Turkey’s Constitutional Court demanding the closure of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), as well as a five-year political ban on more than 600 party members. Around the same time, HDP parliamentarian and prominent human rights advocate Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu was forcibly removed from parliament, and later detained. These… Read More Ozlem Goner: Banning the pro-Kurdish HDP in Turkey is a move towards fascism

Dilip

Chinese Naval Base in Africa Set to Support Aircraft Carriers

A recently completed pier at the Chinese naval base near the entrance to the Red Sea is large enough to support an aircraft carrier, the top U.S. commander for Africa told lawmakers on Tuesday. Referring to the Chines naval base in Djibouti, U.S. Africa Commander Army Gen. Stephen Townsend told the House Armed Services Committee… Read More Chinese Naval Base in Africa Set to Support Aircraft Carriers

Dilip

How India Allowed the Virus to Overwhelm It. By Ramanan Laxminarayan

Complacency and lack of preparation by the Indian government pushed the country into an unprecedented crisis. A lethal, fast-paced second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has brought India’s health care systems to the verge of collapse and is putting millions of lives and livelihoods at risk. On Sunday and Monday, the country recorded more than… Read More How India Allowed the Virus to Overwhelm It. By Ramanan Laxminarayan

Dilip

Book review – Shadow lengthens: The ‘Gujarat Model’ has gone national

I have been reading a new book on the Gujarat riots of 2002 titled Undercover: My Journey Into the Darkness of Hindutva. It is written by Ashish Khetan, who did some excellent reporting on the aftermath of the riots, particularly on the process by which the perpetrators went unpunished. Undercover is an important resource for scholars seeking to… Read More Book review – Shadow lengthens: The ‘Gujarat Model’ has gone national

Dilip

Atikh Rashid: The third wave of autocratisation and why it was waiting to happen

As per the latest V-DEM report, in 2020, the third wave of autocratisation has accelerated considerably and now engulfs 25 countries and 34 per cent of the world population.    Last month, V-Dem Project (Varieties of Democracy), a Sweden-based independent research institute, released its annual democracy report making a key observation that India, the world’s largest democracy,… Read More Atikh Rashid: The third wave of autocratisation and why it was waiting to happen

Dilip

Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state

With 240 million people, Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state. Home to every sixth Indian, if it was a separate country, it would be the fifth largest by population in the world, just behind China, India, US and Indonesia – and bigger than Pakistan and Brazil. The state is also politically India’s most important… Read More Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state

Dilip

Dire warning for the planet: Coal is powering the economic recovery // Welcome that kind of activism: US climate envoy John Kerry on Disha Ravi

Global carbon dioxide emissions are set to surge dangerously this year as the global economy undergoes a huge recovery. In a new report, the International Energy Agency estimates that carbon emissions from energy use are on track to spike by 1.5 billion tonnes in 2021, as heavy coal consumption in Asia, and in China in particular,… Read More Dire warning for the planet: Coal is powering the economic recovery // Welcome that kind of activism: US climate envoy John Kerry on Disha Ravi

Dilip

Chris Hedges: The real tragedy behind the collapse of the American empire

America’s defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire. With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not – wisely – attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership… Read More Chris Hedges: The real tragedy behind the collapse of the American empire

Dilip

Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul

NB: This article is a clear-headed analysis of the crucial change wrought in the Indian polity by the current government. Sahay is also forthright about the axial role of the RSS, the patron-in-chief of the BJP. For all their talk of moral purity and ‘maryada‘ it clear that this band of ideological fanatics has only one aim… Read More Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul

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