Just Looking Like a Wow
BILLIONAIRE KUMAR MANGALAM BIRLA is not a man given to making extravagant statements. But writing his annual corporate note on the Indian economy, he declared last month: “It’s just looking like a...
View ArticleColonialism 3.0
EUROPEAN POWERS COLONISED the world in three phases. In the first, the seafaring nations of Portugal and Spain colonised South and Central America in the 1400s. In the second, Britain, France and the...
View ArticleThe Silence of the Sheikhs
AS THE ISRAEL-HAMAS war completes six devastating months on April 7, 2024, the question is: Why have the wealthy and powerful Arab sheikhdoms said so little and done so little to stop the carnage?...
View ArticleAmerica after Biden-Trump
ALL EYES ARE ON November 5, 2024 when the US elects its 47th president. If he wins, Joe Biden will be 82 before he takes office in January 2025 for the second and last time. If Donald Trump wins, he...
View ArticleMuslim-First Congress
THE CONGRESS MANIFESTO mentions “minorities” 48 times. It does not mention “Muslim” even once. Why so coy? Congress doesn’t hide its Muslim-first politics. It revels in it. But those who drafted the...
View ArticleIndia’s Twin Dividends
HALFWAY THROUGH the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Indian democracy has proved remarkably resilient. Nowhere else in the world could a country pull off an election with nearly one billion eligible voters....
View ArticleThe Original Error
AS THE GENOCIDE of civilians, including women and children, continues in Gaza, the genesis of the Israel-Palestine conflict lies buried, largely unseen. Arthur James Balfour was Britain’s prime...
View ArticleThe Next Five Years
THE 2024 LOK Sabha election will go down as historic. It has set three clear trends. First, the era of coalitions is back. Single-party domination no longer dictates Indian politics. Regional parties...
View ArticleThe Second Cold War
IN 1991, THE 41-year Cold War ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The US-led West believed it had won the longest war in which not a single weapon had been fired by either superpower. But...
View ArticleCongress’ Colonial Gene
AS BRITAIN GETS its sixth prime minister in eight years (Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer), the Indian National Congress mimics several colonial traits. Britain began to eye India in the...
View ArticleDynasty Damages Democracy
DEFENDERS OF DYNASTIC politics advance two principal arguments. One, that members of the families of doctors, lawyers, businessmen and actors become doctors, lawyers, businessmen and actors. Why...
View ArticleHow India Civilised Britain
“IN BRITAIN, we are very proud of our diversity,” declared Treasury Minister James Murray. He was responding to a remark during a speech at the Republican National Convention by JD Vance who could be...
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