Hanin Majadli Israelis believe that Israel and the U.S. are fighting for democracy, freedom and human rights in Iran, but if human rights were their guiding principle, the state of affairs would not be as it is in the West Bank, and the Gaza war would not have reached the dimensions of genocide. There are… Read More It’s Astonishing How Israelis Can Identify Cruel, Evil Regimes, but Just Not Their Own
By Dilip Simeon Ideology is the most devilish variation of the lie: Hannah Arendt To speak of reaction is to counterpose it with progress. This terminology is not helpful. Stable issues of political life, such as legitimate authority, justice, transparent government, clarity on the means vs ends problem; along with issues of character such as… Read More Domination and chaos: India’s radical conservatism
Alfred McCoy, author most recently of the history book Cold War on Five Continents, makes clear today, by now Donald Trump and decline have (or at least should have) become literal synonyms in his increasingly nightmarish second term in the Oval Office. In almost every imaginable way, he now seems intent on taking this country down… Read More America’s Date With Destiny
There is no end in sight to the pollution caused by a ‘broken’ system. Experts say it could even be getting worse Sandra Laville Sarah Lambert took her usual morning swim for 40 minutes off Exmouth town beach before her volunteer shift helping disabled people get access to the water. A wheelchair user herself, Lambert’s… Read More Dirty water, death and decline: the inside story of a privatisation scandal
The Captive Mind, Czesław Miłosz’s searing anatomy of authoritarianism, highlights the dangers of self-deception in the name of ‘realism’ The Captive Mind, Czesław Miłosz’s searing anatomy of authoritarianism, tells a story drawn from an older Polish novel by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Insatiability. Europe is about to be overrun by a Sino-Mongolian army that dominates from… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: From a book on authoritarianism, lessons on ‘realism’ for India
How a Washington Post columnist laundered the Sangh’s violent history Dhirendra K Jha THE RASHTRIYA SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH has been on a spree, celebrating a century of its existence. Over this period, it has demonstrated its ability to patiently expand, mobilise and grow. Thousands of people, including the former president Ram Nath Kovind, attended the hundredth… Read More Manufacturing Legitimacy
India’s ‘strategic autonomy’ looks more like opportunism, as Modi balances Israel, Iran, and the US while eroding trust in the Global South Bharat Bhushan Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second visit to Tel Aviv, at a time when United States-Iran tensions are high, sends a signal that India has chosen to plant itself firmly in the US-Israeli camp. Modi minced… Read More Modi in Israel: A diplomatic embrace that will cost India dear
Epstein wasn’t selling girls’ bodies, he was selling the experience of impunity. The end product was not the sexual act, but the assurance that there would be no consequences. That’s the supreme commodity in capitalism. The right to transgress without punishment. FULL text translated from Spanish original: “The comparison being made of Pasolini’s Salò film… Read More Epstein, impunity and collective power
Adam Tooze from Chartbook How World War II forged a liberal (Keynesian) view of government in the United States – Alan Brinkley’s classic account Alvin hansen had been one of the principal economic advisers to the New Deal for nearly three years when he traveled to Cincinnati in March 1940 to speak to a group… Read More Alan Brinkley on World War II and American Keynesianism
Shobhit Mahajan The sight of a long line of tail-lights as I descended the flyover left me with a sinking feeling- it was 8 am on a rain-soaked morning and the tail lights could only mean that there was a traffic jam. I assumed it was a truck or a light goods vehicle which regularly… Read More The Delhi that AI Summit VIPs won’t see – and the one they did
After the truth-shower 