Perhaps most humans are congenitally belligerent and can be reasonably expected to get into fights. But it takes institutionalized big businesses to create a war machine that raises ordinary human belligerence to levels of superhuman insanity. The war machine —… Read More ›
Conflict
Incentives for Better Policies
This year, 2009 CE, marks the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured… Read More ›
Tragedy and Farce — Part 2
{Continued from part 1.} In the ultimate analysis, ideas matter. Ideas are what distinguishes humans from all known forms of terrestial living beings. The differences one observes in the development of various societies ultimately boil down to the set of… Read More ›
Israel signals to Iran
BBC reports that Israel conducted an exercise that amounts to a rehearsal for an attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. It is a strong signal — to all including the US, Europe, and Iran — that it is serious about… Read More ›
How to Shrink India
Only recently did I become aware that there is a local politician in Mumbai named Raj Thackeray and that he has been inciting people to violence to stop non-Marathi speaking people from migrating to Mumbai. The man, in my considered… Read More ›
Quo Vadis, Pakistan
Pakistan matters critically to India. One could dismiss it as a failed tin-pot dictatorship and is of little consequence with respect to India’s development and economic growth. But it is just because it is a tin-pot dictatorship that it matters…. Read More ›
Extraction Distraction
Sarah Kass of the Jerusalem Post calls the Israli-Palestinian “The Longest-running Reality Show.” Brief excerpt:
What the world owes to the US
In a comment on my musings on “An entirely avoidable tragedy”, Jack Stack wrote You are quick to point out issues (again) with the US. Yep, Iraq, but at the same time, we’ve done quite a bit for literally every… Read More ›
The Dollar Auction Continues
It should come as no surprise that the US is selling arms to Pakistan. “2,769 Radio Frequency TOW 2A missiles, 415 RF bunker buster missiles, fly-to-buy missiles in both these categories, 121 TOW launchers for wire-guided and wireless missiles, E-2C… Read More ›
Dr Wafa Sultan
If publishing a bunch of cartoons results in significant death and destruction around the world, imagine what it must require to actually speak critically of Islam on an Arabic television program. Dr Wafa Sultan has — how should I put… Read More ›
