Tag: current affairs – international

Amitabh Mattoo: America’s failure of imagination / P B Mehta: What 9/11 unleashed on us / Ben Rhodes: Afghanistan withdrawal has ended the 9/11 era / Uday Bhaskar & Madhavan Palat on 20 Years after 9/11

No other event of the 21st century has defined international politics quite in the same manner as that of September 11, 2001. Twenty years later, the world is still grappling with the deeper philosophical, political, economic, and social consequences of “that day” – of the most audacious attack on American territory – and the forces… Read More Amitabh Mattoo: America’s failure of imagination / P B Mehta: What 9/11 unleashed on us / Ben Rhodes: Afghanistan withdrawal has ended the 9/11 era / Uday Bhaskar & Madhavan Palat on 20 Years after 9/11

Dilip

Theocratic Christianity has come to Texas / Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams Texas GOP governor's 'deep ignorance' on abortion

The anti-choice movement is just one part of a larger effort by Christian fundamentalists to covertly turn the U.S. into a more theocratic state. Anti-choice politics are driven by a small and shrinking group of hard-right white evangelicals who wish to foist their religious views on the majority, in violation of the First Amendment-enshrined value of free… Read More Theocratic Christianity has come to Texas / Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams Texas GOP governor's 'deep ignorance' on abortion

Dilip

ANDREW O'HEHIR – Beyond the crisis of democracy: Does anyone still believe in liberalism?

NB: Although this essay focuses on American politics, it has broader relevance. There are two major points I would make: it does not provide an adequate definition of liberalism, a word that originates in ‘liberty’; and that it does not address the matter of the global domination of capital over economic and political life. There… Read More ANDREW O'HEHIR – Beyond the crisis of democracy: Does anyone still believe in liberalism?

Dilip

Wealth behind stealth: New Eastern Europe

‘New Eastern Europe’ dedicates its summer issue to Ukraine, including: Russia’s underhand colonization of the Crimean peninsula; the geopolitics of gas; and Odessa’s urban mismanagement. In March 2020 a large part of Crimea acquired the status of Russian border territory by presidential decree, making it illegal for ‘foreigners’ to own houses and plots of land… Read More Wealth behind stealth: New Eastern Europe

Dilip

Thom Hartmann: Myths and lies about Afghanistan's role in 9/11 live on, Bush and Cheney escape justice / Karen Greenberg: The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror

NB: For many decades now, the world has been held hostage by the American election cycle, and the criminal tendencies of American Presidents. Our short memories, our weakness in resisting propaganda; and the degeneration of journalism into op-ed commentary by spin-doctors have contributed to this. The rise of violent Islamist movements has a great deal to… Read More Thom Hartmann: Myths and lies about Afghanistan's role in 9/11 live on, Bush and Cheney escape justice / Karen Greenberg: The Endless Shadow of the War on Terror

Dilip

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the sins of empire // Anti-Taliban Forces Say They've Taken 3 Districts In North Afghanistan

American empire has been stuck in a place where, to use Polybius’s words, “it can neither endure its condition, nor the means to overcome it.” In the context of Afghanistan, learned strategic thinkers and broadsheets of imperial privilege like The New York Times, will fulminate over roads not taken. But this exercise, as valuable as… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the sins of empire // Anti-Taliban Forces Say They've Taken 3 Districts In North Afghanistan

Dilip

Politics and Vision – By Professor Sheldon Wolin (1922-2015)

Professor Sheldon Wolin’s Politics and Vision is two volumes in one, by an author whose  interview / lectures I have suggested before. The first part appeared in 1960, the second in 2004. The contents will convey the range of themes. Of especial significance today is his concept of ‘inverted totalitarianism’. Here are a few lines from p… Read More Politics and Vision – By Professor Sheldon Wolin (1922-2015)

Dilip

John Dower: How Americans Remember (and Forget) Their Wars / Simon Jenkins: It has taken 20 years to prove the invasion of Afghanistan was totally unnecessary

Some years ago, a newspaper article credited a European visitor with the wry observation that Americans are charming because they have such short memories. When it comes to the nation’s wars, however, he was not entirely on target. Americans embrace military histories of the heroic “band of [American] brothers” sort, especially involving World War II.… Read More John Dower: How Americans Remember (and Forget) Their Wars / Simon Jenkins: It has taken 20 years to prove the invasion of Afghanistan was totally unnecessary

Dilip

Major Danny Sjursen, US Army (retd) – A Life and Nation Transformed: 20 Years from the War on Terror

Being a member of the US Army wasn’t all that dangerous before America set off on its quixotic post-9/11 adventures. This was no longer the case when I was serving at the height of both “surges” to nowhere-but-failure in 2007 (Iraq) and 2011 (Afghanistan). During a 2007 spent driving down Baghdad’s bomb-laden streets and dallying around… Read More Major Danny Sjursen, US Army (retd) – A Life and Nation Transformed: 20 Years from the War on Terror

Dilip