When the US president tweeted about withdrawing from Syria and letting Turkey move its forces in to take control of areas hitherto under Kurdish control, Donald Trump was probably thinking of Turkey as more of a ‘NATO-ally’ allowing him to fulfill his promise of ending America’s “useless wars” in the Middle East. Little did he seem to know, as the turn of ev...
It is interesting to note where the Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore sits amid the shifting poles of global power between East and West. Once a British colony, the tiny island nation has since served as a barometer indicating the ebb and flow of Western influence over Asia, and now, the ups and downs of China’s emergence as a regional and global power...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to shun single-use plastic in his Independence Day address, reiterated at the 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (September 9, 2019), could fail to tackle the scale of the plastic menace unless scientists and entrepreneurs join the fight. Previously, in April 2011, Delhi...
What is happening in Syria, following yet another Russia-brokered deal, is a massive geopolitical game-changer. I’ve tried to summarize it in a single paragraph this way: “It’s a quadruple win. The US performs a face saving withdrawal, which Trump can sell as avoiding a conflict with NATO ally Turkey. Turkey has the guarantee – by the Russians – that the Syr...
Contrary to popular belief, Rojava is not a state for the Kurdish people, but a French fantasy of the interwar period. The aim was to create a rump state with Kurds equivalent to Greater Israel, which was being considered with Jews. This colonial objective was reactivated by Presidents Sarkozy, Hollande and Macron including the ethnic cleansing of the region...
The unanimous international community multiplies its condemnation of the military offensive in Rojava and watches helplessly as tens of thousands of Kurds flee, pursued by the Turkish army. However, no one intervenes, considering that a massacre may be the only possible way to restore peace, given the inextricable situation created by France and the crimes a...
Turkey, like much of the Middle East, is discovering that what goes around comes around. Not only because President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have miscalculated the fallout of what may prove to be a foolhardy intervention in Syria and neglected alternative options that could have strengthened Turkey’s position without sparking the ire of much of the in...
Let me put it straight: the apex court verdict in the matter of demolition of 5 apartment complexes at Maradu, Kochi, is literally a legal murder of justice. I do not know if ever in the history of any court a verdict has been announced without hearing the most affected parties, in this case, the flat owners. As a layman, the following facts are...
Long before learning in high school that the Judiciary is a pillar of the Constitution and its task is to protect citizens from Executive excess and to sit in judgment over disputes between citizens, between citizens and the State, between States, and between the States and the Centre, I would hear elders say that it was a blessing to pass through life witho...
Indian women generally have an optimistic attitude towards life, are ready to face its myriad challenges, but need sustained support from their natal and marital homes to achieve their full potential. The principal challenges they face include overwhelming family responsibilities that can curtail their school education; acquiring skills for employment in the...
Donald Trump’s main campaign commitment to end the offensive Rumsfeld/Cebrowski military strategy and replace it with a policy of Jacksonian cooperation is met with strong internal US and external opposition from US allies. More than ever, the President appears alone, absolutely alone, in the face of the transatlantic political...
There’s a déjà vu feeling to this year’s wave of protests across the Arab world. It’s not that this year saw the toppling of the leaders of Algeria and Sudan as a result of popular revolts, a harking back to the 2011 protests that overthrew the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. It’s that it’s the protesters in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Moro...
Network and landline connections in Jammu and Kashmir, that remained restricted in parts since August 5, 2019, have been restored in full (Oct. 14-Ed). All post paid mobile services are functional now. Since most people in the state have post-paid connections, it implies that telephonic connectivity stands restored. It may be recalled that on August 5,...
For the better part of a century, the United States could claim the moral high ground despite allegations of hypocrisy because its policies continuously contradicted its proclaimed propagation of democracy and human rights. Under President Donald J. Trump, the US has lost that moral high ground. This week’s [October 11-ed] US sanctioning of 28 Chinese govern...
Amid the usual hysterics of ‘impending genocide’ and ‘brutal betrayal’, the long-expected Turkish operation in northeast Syria is rolling, and Turkish troops accompanied by their Syrian rebel allies quickly advance into the former US occupation zone east of the Euphrates River, pushing the Kurdish nationalist militias away from the border. The American soldi...
Climate. Now who wudda thought. The very mega-corporations and mega-billionaires behind the globalization of the world economy over recent decades, whose pursuit of shareholder value and cost reduction have wreaked so much damage to our environment both in the industrial world and in the under-developed economies of Africa, Asia, Latin America, are the leadi...
In Tripura, the Molsom tribe celebrates Sangkrak puja during Magh (January-February). Sangkrak is their Kula Devata (clan deity) and goats, chicken, pigs, (sometimes buffaloes) are sacrificed by the priest. At least 14 animals are sacrificed as Chaudha Devata (14 gods) puja is part of the ritual. More animals are offered if the community wishes, after...
A British-American gene-editing company has released millions of genetically modified mosquitoes containing a dominant lethal gene, each week for 27 months in the Bahia, Brazil region in a test to see if the gene-edited mosquitoes would mate with local mosquitoes carrying Zika, malaria or other mosquito-borne diseases. A new study documents the alarming fact...
Gradually, humanity has formulated the ideal of equality of the human person: “Human Rights”. Many nations claim to have anticipated it before it was synthesized by the United Nations. Over time, many have used this notion without understanding it in its ethnological dimension and have distorted it. The heated debate in the Security Council on September 19, ...
At a time when collective cooperation in the South Asian body, SAARC, is stalled due to the indifference of Pakistan, the bonhomie between India and Bangladesh has become necessary not only for the region, but also for cooperation in the Indian Ocean Rim and in bodies like BIMSTEC that connects South Asia to the ASEAN countries. Connectivity between the...
Doesn’t anybody in D.C. read John le Carré anymore? In his novel The Russia House, he writes about a British double agent who convinces his American and British handlers to give him a list of everything they want to know about Russia’s nuclear weapons program. The spy’s handlers understand the risk – The questions, when answered, would give them...
There is a lot of talk about widespread dissatisfaction within the state of Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Kashmir Valley, with regard to the reorganisation of the state into two manageable Union Territories and the modification of Article 370 that is intended to mainstream the region with the rest of the country. As the time to implement these...
The future of Syria and Venezuela are being played out simultaneously and in parallel. This is normal, because the origin of these conflicts is not local, it is the strategy of the Pentagon of destruction of the state structures, first in the “Enlarged Middle East”, then in the “Basin of the Caribbean” “(Rumsfeld / Cebrowski doctrine [1]). The situation and ...
Fears of a potential military conflict with Iran may have opened the door to a Saudi-Iranian dialogue against the backdrop of a rethink of US military logistics, involving at least a gradual partial relocation to the United States of command and control operations based in the Gulf for almost four decades. The relocation does not necessarily signal a...
The world watched with amazement the extraordinary bonhomie on display during the Howdy Modi extravaganza in Houston, Texas. While the two leaders obviously enjoy a cordial relationship and seem quite friendly, one cannot be so naïve as to assume that Trump went to such lengths without political motives. Some commentators in India suggested he was appealing ...
By the law of unintended consequences, US President Donald J. Trump’s mix of uncritical and cynical embrace of Saudi Arabia and transactional approach towards relations with the kingdom may be producing results. Saudi Arabia appears to be backing away from its largely disastrous assertive and robust go-it alone foreign and defense policy posture and revertin...
Clergymen may visit museums and ancient sites. But when they are accompanied by a lawyer-turned-politician, it raises curiosity. “On September 24, 2016, Father Jegath Gaspar Raj, founder of an organization called ‘Tamil Maiyam’ and who had organised Sangam 4, a 10-day festival in August 2016 that focused on Madurai’s history, culture and...
The moment this rich, arrogant, egotistical fool – meaning he’s over qualified for the job – moved into the White House, the ruling class began plans to get rid of him. Much too blatantly indicative of what America really is to possibly be allowed to serve as chief executive, they supported impeachment rather than assassination, since even in their nearly co...
The Borderlands of the Ukraine have been a decisive battlefield for centuries. Here Stockholm, Berlin and Moscow vied for dominance. Karl XII had lost here to Peter the Great; Stalin defeated Hitler; now the Clintonites are likely to suffer in the Ukraine their ultimate defeat. The Democrats had made their biggest political mistake of the century in attackin...
We are the Houthis and we’re coming to town. With the spectacular attack on Abqaiq, Yemen’s Houthis have overturned the geopolitical chessboard in Southwest Asia – going as far as introducing a whole new dimension: the distinct possibility of investing in a push to drive the House of Saud out of power. Blowback is a bitch. Houthis – Zaidi Shiites from north...
Gulalai Ismail, activist for women’s empowerment and Pashtun human rights, escaped to the United States in September, after four months in hiding, after denouncing the Pakistan Army’s alleged involvement in sexual violence and disappearances. Expressing anxiety for her parents left behind, she said, “I do not see a prosperous Pakistan until the military...