‘Presidents for life’ could echo beyond China
One could imagine Putin convincing himself that leaving the Kremlin in 2024 is no longer necessary. Elected leaders could soon rush to tell their voters that a change of leadership is a dangerous idea
By: Ivan Krastev In 1813, not long before the end of his reign, Napoleon Bonaparte told the Austrian foreign minister, Count Metternich, the downside of being a strongman. “My reign will not outlast the day I have ceased to be strong and therefore to be feared,” Napoleon said. “Your sovereigns, who were born to […]
Kashmir and the ‘armed struggle’
With Tehran once again reiterating its support for the “peaceful struggle” of the Kashmiri people for their ‘right to self determination’, the three decade old question of whether the ‘armed struggle’ is contributing positively to the Kashmir cause has once again cropped up. A reality check reveals that except for Islamabad, no other government […]
Lets settle the issue of education within the Kashmir issue
Everyone who enjoys the political leverage in Kashmir tends to remain busy debating the different aspects of Kashmir issue, however, there seems to be no one among them who might be interested in identifying and solving the concomitant issues far too many to mention here within the ‘Kashmir issue’ itself. One of the pressing […]
Quran’s Stand on the People of the Book
By: S. Arshad The Quran enjoins on man to co-exist in peace and respect each other’s faith. The Quran says that God has made the universe full of variety and the mark of His creativity is manifest everywhere. The heavens, the earth, the oceans and the flora and fauna are marked with variety and difference […]
Star scientist, scientist star
As physicist and science communicator, Stephen Hawking was a rare celebrity.
By: Gautam Mandal The 2001 edition of the annual String Theory conference, a major event for scientists working in the field, was happening at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. Several hundred delegates from all over the world were participating. Among them were many celebrity scientists, including Nobel laureates and Field medallists. One […]
Kashmir, nothing can be achieved sans infinite hope
Kashmiris were not born to carry out the agendas of militaries who should be fighting their own battles, for which they get the lion’s share of each country’s budget
The Kashmir conflict is driven by nationalistic and religious fervour, each side pointing to the violence and injustice of the other, each side pointing to its own suffering and sorrow. The distrust, paranoia, and neurosis permeating the relationship between a large number of people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the Indian Union has intensified […]
YouTube leads viewers down a rabbit hole of extremism
Remarkable that the tech major is reaping all the financial benefits while asking society to bear many of the negative costs
By: Zeynep Tufekci At one point during the 2016 presidential election campaign, I watched a bunch of videos of Donald Trump rallies on YouTube. I was writing an article about his appeal to his voter base and wanted to confirm a few quotations. Soon I noticed something peculiar. YouTube started to recommend and “autoplay” videos […]
Eventually we are all dead
Both features — secularism and socialism — are anathema to the dominant merchant classes.
THIS has been a week of mixed intellectual fortunes for me thanks to the range of dramatis personae that were on view. Professor Romila Thapar on TV gave a scholarly interview anchored on her new book Indian Cultures as Heritage: Contemporary Pasts. The book, although I’ve not yet read it, sounds promising as all Thapar […]
Euthanasia: The last right?
By:Huzaif Ashraf The Supreme court in a very recent judgement held that passive euthanasia, that is, a form of euthanasia in which medical treatment that will keep a dying patient alive for a time is withdrawn, resulting in a silent death of the patient, to be legal. This decision by the apex court implies that […]
Why youth consume drugs?
A question that seeks immediate attention.
Drug addiction (a disease of brain) has been the major cause of physical and mental harm to the health of people. It is a problem, sadly, growing terribly, causing severe trauma to our youth and consequently restricting them from accomplishing goals and dreams in life. People sometimes feel that they are too bright, too powerful, […]
