kasmenon

  During Independence and immediately after,  Gandhi, Nehru, Tilak, Ambekar,  each dominated the mind space of Indians. Understandable,  as the freedom movement was vastly emotional and inspirational. Democracy was alien. But after our first democratic government of Nehru, who along with others, ushered in a secular, socialist,  liberal democracy, we have strayed . He was unquestioned leader but not a fascist at all. But inspite that  a personality driven society took shape too.   After  Nehru, a few ones( like Nanda , Sahstri)  were mild leaders. Then we had Indira . Later again after few more we had  Rajeev . Then again after three more we had Vajpayee and now  Narendra Gautam Modi. Those in between were not inspirational or dominating. The ones like Nehru, Indira, Rajeev, Vajpayee and Modi   actually promoted a  personality cult. Would be somewhat unsure here about Vajpayee though. Many state CMs were merrily b...

  The US, under Trump and Isreal,  are no longer pretending. No longer  camoflaging their deep desire to rule and control the world. Like Britian did and Germany wanted or like Romans wanted.   After dividing and, thereby,  weakening the then  USSR , the US was the lone superpower , a status it wasted , according to right wingers like Trump.  Now China is soon replacing USSR and can oppose the US in future!  So an urgency!! The US , its peoole,  its administrators,  media etc  beleives the US is has the  right  to the worlds wealth . They think they are powerful. They  regard everyone else capable of opposing them( China Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea,  Cuba, Sweden, Turkey and so on) as inferior people, terrorists,  not democratic etc. They think its their right to stop these nations from exerting. Isreal, backed by the wealthy  Jews in the  US,  has been a B team of the US,  used ...

Acknowledgement: extracts from research and published articles  History has a habit of returning in unexpected forms. Today’s confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran in the Persian Gulf evokes a parallel with one of history's most famous military disasters the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE . At that moment, the mighty Roman Empire marched east convinced that Persia would collapse under the weight of Roman power. Instead, Rome encountered a civilization that understood how to defeat stronger enemies through strategy, patience, and geography. Two thousand years later, the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz suggests that the ancient Persian lesson may still be relevant. It seems that  the European plus the US plus zionists have not learnt from history.  The Roman disaster began with the ambitions of Marcus Licinius Crassus , one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Rome. Before him   Julius Caesar and Pompey acheived glory . While Caesar...

When dictators or charismatic one man rulers ( Example Gadaffi, Saddam, Xi , Putin, Mao, Stalin, Erdogan, Netanyahu,  MBD, Modi, Trump, Paki army rulers,  various gulf rulers, African rulers, Khomeni and Khamenei etc) are overthrown or die in office, after decades of rule,  the countries they rule find it tough to transit.  Deviating a little, back home, one man or women  party in india ( AIDMK, Shiv Sena, NCP, DMK, Congress under Gandhis) are also like that.  Where dictators ruled , chaos may prevail for years after they are no longer there.Or new ones emerge.  Democracies,  though, manage somehow. Kings and monarch or religion dominated political rules,   manage to have a succession plan and goes through with it,  albeit occasional killings happen before that.  The only ones that go on with some stability are mature democracies like UK. West Europe, even immature democratic India, Canada, Australia, NZ and even the US( Trump ...

  Many leaders world over, at least those who belong to the 50+ generation and essentially the democratically inclined world, beleive the post war world order based on rules, treaties and decent diplomacy is over. Its now based on exentric, egoistic and, in many ways, whimsical leaders who , ride on a rightist nationalistic rethoric   wave and try to influence the world.   However , fundamentally, one factor remains the same. The powerful among them , economically and militarily,  continue to have  considerably more influence on matters.  While this has been so,  for thousands of years, technology, media and super fast information flow has ensured the influences impact quick and fast. Leaving most nations clueless. By the time they figure it out,  things have drastically changed again. So the future will retain this characteristic of speedy actions and influence. Interdependence , however.  remain  strong. This means that short ter...

On the eve of the Budget,  the futility is depressing but the ignorance is becoming a tragedy.   We boast, or at least the lords who govern us asks us to digest, that we are the 4th largest economy !   Fact:  #  Nominal per capita income stands at roughly USD 2,818  per annum. In  *nominal per capita terms, India is ranked around 144th globally*..   For whom are we 4th largest , exactly? Yes, India has overtaken Japan in total GDP . But when that wealth is divided among 1.4 billion people, reality looks very different.  Even on purchasing power parity , we are still only around 125th. These rankings are not academic. They define how people live. Net FDI is now negative Wealth continues to concentrate at the top, with * one percent of the population controlling nearly half the country’s wealth *. Consumption keeps struttering. Lending or credit off-take is  a laggard. Sluggish  deposts. Unemployment consistantly at al...