Despite possible sanctions and their hard-hitting economic consequences, the hunted Russian bear has got out of the den and is going after the hunters. Until recently, Russians, Ukrainians, and Europeans believed that there would be no war. What we see now, however, is a full-scale Russian intervention and quite a successful one too. Where are the Russian troops going, and[Read More...]
Cynics say the situation around Ukraine benefits all parties except the Chinese. The Russians are annexing territories inhabited mostly by Russians, the Americans will sell natural gas and oil at very high prices, the Germans will push their (now cheap) green energy, and the French will open new nuclear power stations—while everyone will go on selling weapons systems because world[Read More...]
A frozen continent. Another potential frontier for conflict and competition. Antarctica is a part of the world were realpolitician meets scientist; the desire for finding exploitable resources meets environmental expectations and fears. Countries have vied for their little slice of ice, sometimes citing reasons of scientific collaboration, and often national self-interest. Much of this culminated in the establishment of the[Read More...]
Consider us at the edge of the sort of epochal change not seen for centuries, even millennia. By the middle of this century, we will be living under such radically altered circumstances that the present decade, the 2020s, will undoubtedly seem like another era entirely, akin perhaps to the Middle Ages. And I’m not talking about the future development of[Read More...]
In recent times there have been several well-intentioned studies and reports which strongly advocate raising more resources by imposing much higher taxes on the super-rich and billionaires. An increasing support for this is provided by the sharply escalating inequality of COVID times in which billionaires have increased as never before and have been amassing wealth to an unprecedented extent, at[Read More...]
As the eighth round of indirect negotiations in Vienna seem to show positivity and the possibility for a revival of the 2015 Nuclear Deal, between Iran and the West, Israel is voicing concerns. However, it is unlikely Tel Aviv has the power to act. On February 20, speaking to Jewish leaders in the United States, Read More...
All limits of irresponsibiity have been crossed by big powers in the build-up to Russia-Ukraine war and now its actual outbreak. Beyond the immediate issues lurks the much bigger truth that the deeply troubled humanity just cannot afford any war at this critical juncture of its history, when it stands precariously at the onset of a survival crisis caused by[Read More...]
On 2 August 1990, Saddam Hussein ordered the Iraqi army to invade and occupy Kuwait in an operation that led to Iraq’s defeat in war, rebellions crushed in blood, 13 years of UN sanctions, defeat in a second war, foreign occupation, and two decades of civil conflict that is only now drawing to an end. More than thirty years later, Vladimir Putin sent[Read More...]
Russia’s recognition of the ‘people’s republics’ of Luhansk and Donetsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass on Monday is a watershed event. In a manner of speaking, by this decision President Vladimir Putin crossed the Rubicon. But a tumultuous period lies ahead. Moscow followed up by putting the legal underpinnings in place “to deploy troops to these regions,” concluding two treaties on[Read More...]
Amidst of all its failures, the troika of capitalism, reactionary nationalism and imperialism move together to continue its false relevance with the help of its traditional weapons of war and regional conflicts. It is a response to divert the radical agendas and promises of rising social and political movements against capitalism and imperialism. It is within this context; one needs[Read More...]
