We are living in interesting times. A comical debate about the intolerance of Hindus, initiated by a cabal supported by the Congress Party, is raging across the country. A number of communalists, masquerading as secularists, have been railing against the Narendra Modi-led government, painting it as intolerant. Some Bollywood stars like Aamir Khan and...
Recent carnage in Paris is enough a caution that the world leaders do away with the pet words – “good terrorists and bad terrorists.” This approach has done no good so far. Rather it has vitiated the atmosphere and created an environment for grooming of terrorists. Patronizing some as “good terrorists” and others as “bad terrorists” is nothing but a politica...
Turkey is a beautiful land, rich in resources, with many highly intelligent and warm people. It also happens to have a President who seems intent on destroying his once-proud nation. More and more details are coming to light revealing that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, variously known as ISIS, IS or Daesh, is being fed and kept alive by Recep Tayyip E...
The increasing velocity of events in Syria indicates that the conflict may be ready to spill over into a larger conflagration and direct conflict between the forces of the AZ hegemon and the Resistance thereto. A couple of apparently unrelated events have rapidly coalesced into armed conflict between an NATO member state and Russia, the consequences of which...
The simple answer is ‘Yes’. Time has proved it unequivocally. The age old convictions of the political analysts were that the climate and soil of Kerala is not favourable to the blossoming of the lotus (Bharatiya Janata Party). Now this traditional belief has been roundly overturned in the local body elections in the...
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in Myanmar’s general election of 8 November 2015. After the victory, Suu Kyi offered to form a national unity government, but it remains to be seen whether the same can be formed. Yet, there is little doubt that the transition will be smooth and the Army’s vice-like grip over ...
The seven hundred years-old expression, “curses are like chickens; they always come home to roost,” rarely has been more appropriate than to describe what is happening to the world’s largest purveyor of gene-manipulated or GMO seeds and paired chemical toxins. It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of genocidal eugenicists. Monsanto Corporation of St Louis is a...
Way back in July I wrote an article with the headline No sign of a coherent strategy for defeating perverted and barbaric Islamic fundamentalism. Four months and several jihadist atrocities on, and with still no sign, my conclusion is that Western leaders do not have the will to do what is necessary to put ISIS and its affiliates out of business because they...
It’s common knowledge that the economy is a fickle mistress and the touchstone of any government, dictating its policy, finances and ambitions. This tenet has become more significant in our day and age, whether a country is among the very poor, the average or the formerly rich oil producers. This is an adequate frame of reference from which to observe and an...
After the latest tragedy in Paris, the outpouring of heartfelt sympathy from ordinary human beings and cynical posturing from political leadership, it is time for people to stop, think and take democratic action before it gets much worse. And in the short run it will get worse.
The Islamic State is a reaction to what the west has been doing to the Arab-Musl...
One of the major causes for the BJP’s debacle in the recent elections to the Bihar state assembly was that Prime Minister Modi’s assurance of acche din (good days) did not reach the people at the grassroots level. The people gave the BJP a bumper victory in the last parliamentary polls in the hope that they would soon see the fruits of development; but their...
The war which has now spread to Paris is incomprehensible for those French citizens who are ignorant of practically all the secret activities of their government in the Arab world, of its unnatural alliances with the Gulf dictators, and its active participation in international terrorism. These policies have never been discussed in Parliament, and the major ...
The 2016 US Presidential election campaign is chugging along with the fortunes of hopefuls being tossed around like a roller coaster ride. Four GOP (Republican) and two Democratic debates later, Americans are nowhere near knowing who the two nominees would be. While there is still a lot of campaigning and debating to come, the fluctuating fortunes of the hop...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his London visit to transcend the negative discourse about his regime by projecting a confident and aspirational India, receptive to foreign investment and collaboration, while remaining wedded to its civilisational moorings. Hours before he unveiled the statue of medieval sage Basaveshwara on the banks of the Thames in Lamb...
The campaign for party nominations for the 2016 presidential race is gathering pace in the United States of America. The Republicans with control over both House and Senate are confident and looking for the right candidate to turn dominance in Congress and many states into a win in the race for the White House. For Democrats, after losing majorities in House...
Interesting stuff today [Nov 12-ed]. A major Russian TV channel just aired a report about Putin meeting with his top military commanders. I don’t have the time to translate what Putin said word for word, but basically he said that the USA had refused every single Russian offer to negotiate about the US anti-missile system in Europe and that while the US had...
Modi’s development benefits have not reached grassroots level:
Much is being said about the BJP’s debacle in the recent Bihar polls. Leaders are pointing accusing fingers at each other. Besides questioning Amit Shah’s leadership of the party, Modi-baiters are holding him responsible for his policies. Introspection is always necessary in politics. But...
While the war in Syria has demonstrated the inferiority of US armament compared to that of Russia, the question of the end of American hegemony should be reviewed. According to Rostislav Ischenko, Washington must quickly make the right decisions. If Washington fails to overcome its own divisions immediately, he will lose control of...
The days of the “Arab Spring” are almost over. As of now, the White House and the Kremlin are redesigning the contours of the “Greater Middle East”. However, their agreement, which was concluded before the Russian military intervention in Syria, could still be modified by the changes in the balance of power. There is no proof that Moscow will accept the stab...
The Government of China promotes the internationalization of “the people’s currency” (‘renminbi’) through a policy of alliances that does not take ideological barriers into account. In a first moment the diplomatic forces of the yuan were concentrated in Pacific-Asia, but in a second moment, it became necessary to gain the support of the West. After the Pres...
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat - Sun Tzu
Barely 18 months after an historic win in the 2014 parliamentary elections, the Indian nation once again stands at the crossroads of history. The resounding victory of the so-called secular alliance led by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav...
Dealing with war crimes and rights issues: Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tabled in parliament the UN Human Rights Investigation report as well as the reports of the Udalagama and the Paranagama commissions. The two commissions were appointed by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The UN Human Rights Council resolution co-sponsored by Sri Lan...
Erdogan’s AKP party has scored a monumental victory; not so much in terms of the lead in parliament though. As a matter of fact, it is a fairly narrow victory, but one that was least expected. What is monumental about it is the course that Turkey has set itself upon. A victory for Erdogan perhaps, but for Turkey itself, the outcome of this election will prob...
The enduring image of the Bihar elections that will linger in memory long after the ballots are cast and counted, is that of Chirag Paswan wistful desire to not be limited by ‘jati’ identity and confined to being a ‘dalit’ leader. In an election in which rival groups have bisected and dissected caste affiliations to the minutest fraction, this revolutionary ...
African leaders have made it abundantly clear that for the development of the continent they are open to cooperation with any country that would result in a win-win situation for both. Development of the continent can be possible if there is greater flow of investment, setting up of industries that would lead to creation of more jobs and skill development, v...
After the reintegration of Crimea in Russian territory, the United States has pressured regulatory authorities of the European Union to restrict the access of Russia to SWIFT, the system of international payment founded by 200 Anglo-Saxon banks in the decade of the 1970s. In response, the government of Vladimir Putin has established an alternative system of ...
In echoes of Britain’s support of Saddam Hussein in the 1980s along with the US, and Margaret Thatcher’s thanks to August Pinochet for “bringing democracy to Chile”, Britain will host Egyptian junta leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi on a state visit in November.
This follows a trip by British Defence Secretary and MP for Sevenoaks, Michael Fallon, to Egypt to...
By upholding the supremacy of a judicial élite to determine the appointment of judges to the high courts and apex court while simultaneously inviting suggestions to improve the impugned collegium system, the Supreme Court has admitted that its procedure is flawed. The fact that the learned judges were adamant to retain powers usurped by judicial overreach, a...
Moscow’s military intervention in Syria has not simply overturned the fortunes of war and spread panic throughout the ranks of the jihadist groups. It has also shown the rest of the world the current capacities of the Russian army in situations of real warfare. To everyone’s astonishment, it has proved to possess a system of signal jamming capable of renderi...
Germany is attempting to escape from the role it was assigned during the Syrian conflict. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is trying to organise a summit meeting between the major powers in order to negotiate a peace settlement. But this project promises to be very difficult to realise, in part because Germany bears a weighty respon...