Mainstream, Vol 63, # 11, March 15, 2025
Readers outside of India can donate here to support Mainstream Weeklyhttps://tinyurl.com/2rsy4ss6++++++ In this issue: DOCUMENTS: BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND: Editor’s Picks Books of Note
Starlink Deal: India’s goodwill hunting may be completely off the mark
It won’t matter how successful Starlink is in India, unless Donald Trump finds markets for agricultural exports in India and elsewhere, or creates millions of new jobs in manufacturing. Till then, the tariff pressure on India will continue. Bharat Bhushan To demonstrate their alignment with US geopolitical and economic interests many countries are hoping to… Read More Starlink Deal: India’s goodwill hunting may be completely off the mark
Zionism & Americanism are the front lines of Western civilisation and freedom in our world today: Pete Hegseth US Secretary of Defense
NB: The source of the above wisdom by America’s new Secretary of Defense is this fact-sheet. There are many others sources. Here are the latest figures of genocidal mayhem in Palestine accomplished by the vanguard of civilisation – viz, the USA and its proxy, Israel. Both main American political parties were and continue to be,… Read More Zionism & Americanism are the front lines of Western civilisation and freedom in our world today: Pete Hegseth US Secretary of Defense
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
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
Apathy and the neoliberal university
The problem is becoming worse than the condition of inter-passivity, with student disengagement now often leading to mass chronic non-attendance in lectures and seminars. Rather than go through the motions of learning, many students simply do not bother to go through the motions, except to submit essays and often that is done with the assistance… Read More Apathy and the neoliberal university
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
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
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
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
After the truth-shower 