An interesting coincidence: the beginning of October ushered in a double crisis: the first collapse of the Internet and the final failure of the Green Economy. Facebook employees used saws and axes to get into their working places, for the smart doors stubbornly refused to yield the way and their badges had lost their magic touch. It seems the Internet troub...
The 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics recognising the research of three climatologists, Professors Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi has brought under sharp focus the threat of what is commonly known as global warming, which is nothing but anthropogenic warming. In simple terms, “man made” atmospheric warming. Announcing the prize, Mr. Thor Hans...
Two separate developments involving improved relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and women’s sporting rights demonstrate major shifts in how rivalry for leadership of the Muslim world and competition to define Islam in the 21st century is playing out in a world in which Middle Eastern states can no longer depend on the United States coming to their de...
Speaking to the UK media this week, Britain’s most infamous jihadi bride, and allegedly ‘reformed’ Terror’s sympathiser called on her fellow Brits to let her back in on compassionate grounds. Shamima Begum, who left the UK at the age of 15 to join ISIS (banned in Russia) in Syria now claims her youth, naivety and altogether lack of foresight led her to stray...
“Fear” is the primary instrument to sustain terror. Terrorists depend upon their ability to instill fear to further their unholy activities, be it the wanton killing of innocents, recruitment into their fold or seeking administrative support. As the terrorist diktat in Kashmir wanes, they have once again resorted to the fear factor to keep themselves afloat....
The lighting up of the state-of-the-art New Kelani suspension bridge, linking Colombo and Katuanayake airport, was perhaps the only bright spot in Sri Lanka during the month. The country reeled under shortage of essential food items due to runaway inflation and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared an economic emergency on September 1. This is not surprising...
In recent days, various media outlets have pointed to a very noticeable aggravation of the situation on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The border between the two States is more than 1,400 kilometers long. Mutual threats are heard from both sides, and military units are being brought to the border from both sides. According to reports, the onl...
Some wind is being taken out of the sails of German political parties, especially the Greens, by the pending energy crisis facing both Germany and much of Europe. This will have far reaching implications, not only in domestically but in Germany’s relations with The Russian Federation and various NATO and EU members. Germany foresaw this, and thus turned to r...
Scientific studies done until now had shown that analytical thinking always discourages belief in God. As per this a scientist cannot be expected to be a believer of God whereas the available data shows that nearly 90% of the Nobel laureates had faith in God. It has always been believed or rather hypothesised that the brain has two conflicting centres of fun...
When Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Thani this week [October 1] described the Taliban’s repressive policies towards women and brutal administration of justice as “very disappointing” and taking Afghanistan “a step backwards,” he was doing more than holding Qatar up as a model of Islamic governance and offering the militants cover to m...
The consequences of the Geneva Accords - known as “Yalta 2” (June 16, 2021) - for the wider Middle East are about to reach a new stage: foreign forces occupying parts of Syria are about to withdraw. After 12 years of massacres, the war against the Syrian Arab Republic is ending. President Bashar al-Assad went to the Kremlin. Nothing transpired from his m...
This affair should be viewed as a school-boy prank rather than a serious, consequential strategic move. The United States, as currently constituted and led, is incapable of designing and executing a serious strategy of scope and sophistication. The initiative came from Boris Johnson whose tousled head is full of sepia-tinged fanciful visions of how to r...
A year of diplomatic relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel has proven to be mutually beneficial. The question is whether the assumptions underlying the UAE’s initiative that led three other Arab countries to also formalise their relations with the Jewish state will prove to be correct in the medium and long term. UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin...
The announcement of the Australian-British-US (A-UK-US) pact [1] was like an earthquake in the Indo-Pacific region. There is no doubt that Washington is preparing for a long-term military confrontation with China. Until now, the Western deployment to contain China politically and militarily has involved the United States and the United Kingdom as well as Fra...
The 20th anniversary summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, enshrined no less than a new geopolitical paradigm. Iran, now a full SCO member, was restored to its traditionally prominent Eurasian role, following the recent $400 billion-worth trade and development deal struck with China. Afghanistan was the main topic – w...
With Iran’s arrival, the SCO member-states now number nine, and they’re focused on fixing Afghanistan and consolidating Eurasia. The two defining moments of the historic 20th anniversary Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan had to come from the keynote speeches of – who else – the leaders of the Russia-China strategic partne...
Saudi and Emirati efforts to define ‘moderate’ Islam as socially more liberal while being subservient to an autocratic ruler is as much an endeavour to ensure regime survival and bolster aspirations to lead the Muslim world as it is an attempt to fend off challenges rooted in diverse strands of religious ultra-conservatism. The Saudi and Emirati efforts ...
During his Independence Day speech at the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Government of India is rolling out a scheme for the extensive cultivation of palm oil crop in India. Three days later, the Cabinet approved a Rs 11,040 core outlay over five years for the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm, based on the argument that Ind...
The question “why war?” has long inspired scholars to seek answers in human nature. Their findings invariably have been ambiguous and judgments inconclusive. While it is easy to make the case that humans do engage in violent behavior as part of their nature, there is no basis for arguing that they are “killers.” There is no propensity to kill fellow humans t...
President Putin has gone into hiding. Well, sort of. On September 14, he said that many people (“dozens”) in his inner circle have tested positive for the virus, and as a result he has to self-isolate. His sudden seclusion has sent waves of anguish across this huge country. His explanation was met with disbelief. Everybody around Putin is vaccinated and so...