Blogs

When the world is witnessing highly destructive wars to resolve differences, Vietnam’s dexterity in managing its differences with China without bloodshed offers an instructive model in diplomacy to deal with a powerful neighbour with an expansionist approach. Hanoi’s approach is based on pragmatism and strategic clarity. It understands that managing China is not a choice…

In the early 1470s, a Benedictine monk named Filippo de Strata sat down to write a furious letter to the Doge of Venice. Printing had just arrived in the city, and Filippo was not taking it well. His polemic was not simply a plea for scribal jobs. It was a lament for a civilization. The…

CRPF is an organisation full of stories of valour and sacrifices…untold stories are numerous, but what stands most significantly is that it repulsed a Brigade-level attack by the Pakistani Army on 9th April 1965. A full infantry brigade was countered by just two companies of CRPF’s 2nd Battalion. War historians were amazed, enemies were dazed,…

Video Sued for calling a colleague auntie? A UK case calls out casual ageism/sexism at the workplace  In a clash of continents, so to speak, UK’s National Health Service must pay an Indian-origin nurse £1,425, after a Ghanaian-origin younger colleague ignored her repeated requests to stop calling her ‘auntie’. The judge noted the different cultures,…

A ceasefire announced in ambiguity, threatened in the same breath by its own architect, and brokered by a state that once hid Osama bin Laden next to its military academy. This is not peace — it is a coercive pause with a fourteen-day expiry date. The ink was barely dry before the contradictions began tearing it…

As Kerala votes today, an important question is, whether the Israel-US war against Iran will impact voter participation, and electoral outcome. Because it’s thrown the Gulf Cooperation Council region, which accommodates a large number of overseas Keralites, into turmoil. The new ceasefire may have come too close to election day, to offset war’s damper. Read…

In agreeing to a two-week ceasefire on the Iran war, Trump’s imperial presidency and cult of personality – which had already generated serious problems domestically – reached a logical crescendo. A war without strategy, escalated step by step in an attempt to force Tehran to save Trump from himself, by simply acquiescing to his narrative…

Elections in single-engine states have a longer train of mishaps. West Bengal CM has raised the ‘bogie’ of derailment. Her CEC, Chief Election Complaint, is the Speciously Illogical Revision of rolls. Railing against it, she claims that the (real) EC has pressed ‘Del Alt Ctrl’, using SIR’s summary deletions to alter the electoral rolls and…

When Apoorva Agarwal decided to study abroad, she aspired to build her already successful career in the auditing and taxation space. Having held positions with KMPG and Deloitte, her pursuit of an MBA was a natural choice in preparing to take the next step up. Whilst not short of excellent local options for a business…

The announcement by America and Iran of the ceasefire is a matter of celebration, not because the objectives of both sides could be met, but because a small nation like Iran could checkmate the superpower America’s imperialistic move. Israel, bereft of American support, is expected to fall in line soon. Americans at large, having tasted…