Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Tunisia - Jasmine Revolution: Lessons Learnt, Challenges Ahead

  19 February 2011, by Arvind Kumar

  On Monday, January 17, while I was waiting at the Frankfurt airport for a connecting flight to Dublin, my eyes were drawn to an editorial in the Financial Times, European edition. The editorial read: “The Jasmine Revolution: Tunisians rid themselves of a corrupt old order”. This editorial made a valid point: noting the collapse of autocracy in Tunisia, it reiterated the notion that no nation will forever be able to endure political repression, denial of civil liberties and rampant corruption (…)

• Crisis in Egypt: Iran Wins, Israel Loses in Turmoil

  19 February 2011, by M K Bhadrakumar

  The two regional powers most affected by the turmoil in the Middle East are going to be Iran and Israel. Life sometimes offers strange parallels. There is much in common between the two intractable adversaries.
  These two non-Arab countries appear curiously “stable” in a region caught in a maelstrom. No one points an accusing finger at either as the “hidden hand” behind the turmoil in their neighbourhood—not even their worst detractors. In fact, both seem taken by surprise by the (…)

• Congress: Disgrace Abounding

  19 February 2011, by Nikhil Chakravartty

  FROM N.C.’S WRITINGS
  The opening of the St Kitts case brings in a new dimension to the corruption and misdeeds of those who had been in power till yesterday. From the Bofors to the telecom scandals one was getting accustomed to the maxi-bribery involved by Ministers in office—in short, what’s called the kickback category. Compared to it, the house allotment scam and the petrol pump distribution apart from the fodder scam scandal are a part of corrupt deals in which money passed through (…)

• Safeguarding the Republic

  19 February 2011, by K. Subrahmanyam

  [(TRIBUTE
  K. Subrahmanyam, 82, India’s pioneering strategic thinker, passed away in New Delhi on February 2, 2011. He leaves behind his wife, three sons and a daughter; while one of his sons, Jaishankar, is currently our ambassador in Beijing, another son, Sanjay, is a historian teaching at the UCLA, and a third, Vijay, is a Secretary in the Government of India.
  As The Times of India has aptly observed editorially,
  “The demise of K. Subrahmanyam… should be an occasion to reflect on (…)

• Obama Doctrine of War for Peace in South Asia

  19 February 2011, by Arshi Khan

  BOOK REVIEW
  Obama’s Wars by Bob Woodward; New York, London, Toronto, Sydney: Simon & Schuster; 2010; pp. 441; price: US $ 30.
  There is a general perception and practice of referencing the American political system headed by the US President as the success case of democracy and federalism based on the ‘general will’ of the American citizens and elected representatives. There is also a common belief all around the world to regard the office of the President as the symbol of the (…)

• Perjury Simpliciter!

  19 February 2011, by D. Bandyopadhyay

  It was widely reported in the print media that G.D. Gautama, the Home Secretary of West Bengal, in his affidavit before the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in the Netai killings affair, hesitantly admitted the existence of illegal armed intruders in that village while denying any knowledge of the existence of similar harmad camps elsewhere in the Jungle Mahal area. One cannot avoid applauding his gallantry in holding our national motto “Truth Shall Prevail” in utter disdain to proclaim his total (…)

• The Pre-history of the Sino-Indian Border Dispute: A Note

  19 February 2011

  The author of India’s China War (1970), Neville Maxwell is a well-known specialist of the history of Sino-Indian border conflict. He was for eight years the Times correspondent in India. We are publishing, as a point of view, this article he specially sent to Mainstream. He had earlier prepared a two-part article for The Indian Express as he was invited to write for it on the subject; however, for reasons unknown to him, the publication in the daily was withheld. Thus he has written in a (…)

• New Socialist Initiative, Delhi Demands Justice for Aasia Bibi; Speedy Trial of Salman Taseer’s Killers

  19 February 2011

  NEW SOCIALIST INITIATIVE (NSI), DELHI DEMANDS
  The following is the statement issued by the New Socialist Initiative (NSI), Delhi Chapter in the wake of the brutal assassination of the Punjab Governor, Salman Taseer, in Islamabad on January 4, 2011.
  History is said to be made when humanity has tried to break asunder the forces of unreason, irrationality, bigotry, intolerance and reaction which keep reappearing in newer forms in its onward journey. But what can one say when it tries to do (…)

• Oh, Morality’s Current Standard-bearers!!

  19 February 2011, by Sailendra Nath Ghosh

  COMMUNICATION
  A few weeks back the media reported that some kins of the recently retired Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, have amassed huge fortunes which their known sources of income cannot account for. To this the answer of the worthy judge was that his kins would have to explain, meaning thereby that there was no onus on him.
  This brings to mind certain standards of moral conduct set up by our national leaders.
  In the pre-independence days, Shri Pattabhi Sitaramayya, (…)

• Leaders of Arab Non-Alignment

  19 February 2011

  TRIBUTE
  Eminent political scientist, writer and foreign affairs commentator Professor Bhabani Sengupta, 89, died in the Capital on January 18, 2011 after prolonged illness. For several years he was associated with the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Besides being a prolific analyst of international events, he was a creative writer and wrote several novels in Bengali under the pen-name ‘Chanakya Sen’. Under that pseudonym he also wrote several articles in Mainstream soon after its (…)