Tag: critical theory

Nothing ever dies: Vietnam and the memory of war / Viet Thanh Nguyen and Michael Vann in conversation

All wars are fought twice, the first time on the battlefield, the second time in memory: Viet Thanh Nguyen ‘Americans liked seeing people eye to eye, the General had once told me, especially as they screwed them from behind’ – (From Chapter One of The Sympathizer) From the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The… Read More Nothing ever dies: Vietnam and the memory of war / Viet Thanh Nguyen and Michael Vann in conversation

Dilip

Why did voters abandon Kamala Harris? Because they feel trapped – and Trump offered a way out

Aditya Chakrabortty Since we’ll hear a lot, again, about “populism”, let’s remember, again, that 19th-century US populism had a healthy strain of leftwing politics. Defending workers, riling up bankers, decrying the “cross of gold” and economic conservatism: look past his Bible-bashing, and William Jennings Bryan was a precursor to Franklin Roosevelt. Yet for much of… Read More Why did voters abandon Kamala Harris? Because they feel trapped – and Trump offered a way out

Dilip

President Eisenhower’s Speech on the American Military Industrial Complex, January 17, 1961

First posted June 07, 2020 Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the… Read More President Eisenhower’s Speech on the American Military Industrial Complex, January 17, 1961

Dilip

A moral void

During the last US election, it was possible to see Biden as the good guy because Trump had been so performatively wicked. It is impossible to give the Democrats the benefit of the doubt again. Not only did the Biden administration follow Trump’s lead in every substantive foreign policy matter.. but it also embraced Netanyahu’s… Read More A moral void

Dilip

Arun Kumar: Articles, talks & discussions Economy, Education, Society

Dear Friends, I post links to select recent articles, discussions and interviews: Article on Impact of majoritarian ‘divide and rule’ in India. In the Wire, November 1. It is at: https://thewire.in/communalism/how-majoritarianism-based-on-divide-and-rule-undermines-itself Article on Causes of widening inter-State disparities in India. In the Hindu, Oct 30. It is at: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-picture-of-a-growing-economic-divide-in-india/article68811441.ece Podcast on BRICS, India and Global Situation. Agnipath, October 22. It… Read More Arun Kumar: Articles, talks & discussions Economy, Education, Society

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Singapore Snafu: Unwanted disclosures in public

Bharat Bhushan Despite a formal confirmation to The Washington Post by Canada’s Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was the “top Indian official” involved in the plot to kill Canadian citizens, there has been no official reaction from India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The MEA’s silence is curious. Such undercover assignments are normally… Read More Singapore Snafu: Unwanted disclosures in public

Dilip

The Coming Second Copernican Revolution

“Today is not your first arrival here.” — Hongzhi Zhengjue, 1091-1157 CE Astrobiology is rewiring our understanding of the intimate connection between life and planets as they appear in the universe. By Adam Frank Across 15,000 generations, human beings have looked out at the sentinel stars and felt the pressing weight of myriad existential questions: Are… Read More The Coming Second Copernican Revolution

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Far-right governments seek to cut billions of euros from research in Europe

Anti-immigration parties are pushing policies that are hostile or indifferent towards science. David Matthews A surge in far-right parties entering governments across Europe is raising concerns for science. The parties, whose focus is typically immigration, care little about research, say policy experts. In the Netherlands — where the Party for Freedom (PVV), led by the… Read More Far-right governments seek to cut billions of euros from research in Europe

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