Barry Pollack, one of Assange’s lawyers, said his client had been the victim of an injustice. “The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented,” he told reporters outside the court. In the 100 years of the Espionage Act, it has never been used by the United States to pursue a publisher, a journalist, like Mr Assange.… Read More Julian Assange on the way of our world
NB: Attacking Hadid feels like a great distraction from the (US taxpayer-funded) hell on Earth that is Gaza. It’s fascinating to see which media outlets have chosen to write about this fake shoe controversy, but have ignored recent stories such as a 24-year-old man with Down’s syndrome being attacked by an IDF dog in Gaza… Read More Why is Bella Hadid in the headlines? Because it distracts from the hell on Earth that is Gaza
(NB: An interesting letter and an interesting archive. The comment “The Western view, undoubtedly biased by the Soviet contribution to the Allied victory in 1945, has undoubtedly minimized the terrible dictatorship that Stalin imposed on Russia” is misleading – Churchill began using the phrase ‘Iron Curtain’ as early as 1946; and the animosity was demonstrated… Read More Rare archival materials from the Stalin era
Ahmad Farhad’s abduction sent ripples across Pakistan. After being released on bail, he insists on telling his story Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad and Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi It was late at night in Islamabad and Ahmad Farhad was returning from a quick trip to the shops when someone walked up behind him. “Don’t be… Read More ‘I fear they will kill me for talking’: The Pakistani poet abducted for his activism
By Maggie Hicks This month, Raz Segal learned that he’d been offered a job to run the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota’s flagship. It was an exciting career move for Segal, an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University. Five days later, Minnesota withdrew the offer. The… Read More A Holocaust Scholar Called Israel’s Actions in Gaza ‘Genocide.’ It Cost Him a Job Offer
Mainstream news channels have been in thrall to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A ragtag army of small independent media is helping to save democracy Mukul Kesavan For the last 10 years, India has been the site of a natural experiment. It’s as if a social scientist was testing to see how long it would take… Read More India Deserves a Better Media
NB: There’s no wonder why lacs of Indian students are migrating to campuses abroad to pursue higher studies (800,000 in 2022 alone). The Headquarters of Truth based in Nagpur have taken over most public universities. At this rate, nothing will be left for Indian teachers to do except praise whatever the RSS considers to be… Read More Professor’s Harassment by ABVP Shows Near-Complete Takeover of Universities by RSS-BJP
NB: This is a fascinating account of one of the most deadly confrontations of modern times. I learned from it that Ayatollah Khomeini was less interested in religious orthodoxy than in seizing absolute power and cutting down moderate clerics to size, and used the book to assert his authority; that Rushdie’s assailant Hadi Matar, 26,… Read More Rushdie, Khomeini and Me
Ahmad Farhad was pushed into vehicle hours after posting about threats from country’s spy agency, says Syeda Urooj Zainab Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad The wife of a Pakistani poet and journalist who was abducted from outside his house last week has accused the country’s spy agency of responsibility, saying it acted because of his activism.… Read More Pakistani poet was abducted because of human rights activism, says wife
Sharp rise in number of people facing a crisis in freedom of speech, while authors particularly alarmed by deterioration in India under Narendra Modi Half the world’s population cannot freely speak their mind according to a new report on freedom of expression. In its annual report, the advocate group Article 19 found the number of people… Read More More than half the world cannot speak freely, report finds
After the truth-shower 