Mainstream Weekly

Most recent articles

• Have Indian Troops Abandoned Indian Territory?

  11 May 2013, by S G Vombatkere

  The incursion by Chinese troops into the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector of Ladakh on April 15, 2013 by erecting and occupying tents was responded to on the ground by Indian troops erecting tents nearby to prevent further Chinese advance.
  The incursion is said to be in the Burtse (mis-spelt as “Burthe” and “Burste” by some journalists) sub-sector. Most people do not know where DBO is on the map because they have no access to maps that have DBO marked on it, much less Burtse. A not-to-scale (…)

• Afghanistan: India on the Right Course

  11 May 2013, by Apratim Mukarji

  On an early September 2002 morning, as breakfast was being served in the cavernously high-ceilinged dining hall of Hotel Inter-continental in the devastated capital city of Kabul, a Pakistani turned to the Afghan bearer, “Where did you live during the mujahideen war?” “In Pakistan, sir,” the man replied. His questioner turned triumphantly towards his companion, a Westerner, and remarked, “Ha! Did you hear him? This is the story you will hear all over Afghanistan. Pakistan opened its doors to (…)

• When Will They Ever Learn? Bringing American War Crimes in Vietnam to Light

  11 May 2013, by Eddie J Girdner

  REVIEW ARTICLE
  Kill Anything that Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam by Nick Turse; Metropolitan Books, New York; 2013; pages 370; $ 30.00, hardcover.
  The Vietnam War is a case of state terrorism on a massive scale. This is made devastatingly clear from the evidence based upon official documents in the US National Archives and other records explored here. The book is thoroughly documented, backed up with some 86 pages of footnotes. While more than 30,000 books have been published on (…)

• Moscow Reserved on Rare Japanese Visitor

  11 May 2013, by M K Bhadrakumar

  For a rare visit by a Japanese Prime Minister to Russia after a glaring gap of a decade, Shinzo Abe himself set three benchmarks as he set out from Tokyo on April 28. He said he sought to establish a relationship of personal trust with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Abe compared himself with Putin as a leader with a “clear-cut objective” to make his country strong and prosperous.
  Secondly, he hoped to outline the “possibilities for the full development” of Japan-Russia relations in the (…)

• Ecuador: Rafael Correa’s Victory and Unchallenged Triumph of Latin American Left

  11 May 2013, by Ginu Zacharia Oommen

  “Citizens will be in charge, not the ‘Capital’,” said President Rafael Correa after being elected the President of Ecuador for the third consecutive time with an impressive margin. Rafael Correa defeated his closet rival, Guillermo Lasso, a millionaire, hawkish, neoliberal and the Executive President of Banko de Guayaquil, with a margin of nearly 40 per cent votes. Alongside the presidential election the PAIS bloc, the formidable alliance of Socialist, progressive, Communist parties, won 95 (…)

• Marx’s Discovery of the Most Revolutionary Class

  11 May 2013, by Anil Rajimwale

  ON MARX’S BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
  On May 5 this year was observed the one hundred and ninetyfifth birth anniversary of Karl Marx. On this occasion, while remembering the immortal revolutionary, we are publishing the following article.
  Marx was giant of a scientist who put socialism on a scientific basis by criticising utopian socialism. In his scientific approach, he can be put along with Newton, Darwin, Einstein and most other natural and social scientists. In fact he discovered more than (…)

• Communal Harmony and Freedom Movement in Mewat

  11 May 2013, by Bharat Dogra

  The one hundred and fiftysixth anniversary of the Great Indian Revolt of 1857 has been observed this month. It began in Meerut on May 6, 1857 though the spark of the Revolt was lit by Mangal Pandey at Barrackpore earlier that year. In that context we are publishing the following piece.
  The Mewat region, spread over parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, is known to be a communally sensitive area. Its impor-tance increases due to its proximity to Delhi—a significant part of the (…)

• West Bengal: Deadly Investment that Ruined the Poor

  11 May 2013

  by Arun Srivastava
  Goebbels has come alive in West Bengal. The collapse of the Saradha Chit Fund, which has ruined lakhs of poor people of Jharkhand, Bihar, Bengal, Assam and Odisha, has exposed the worst nature of political deceit and lack of transparency in governance in West Bengal notwithstanding the claim of the Chief Minister otherwise. At least ten people, investors and agents, have committed suicide during the last fortnight. What has been most shocking is the posture of innocence (…)

• Rabindranath Tagore: A Tribute from Bangladesh

  11 May 2013

  May 9 this year marked Rabindranath Tagore’s 152nd birth anniversary. On this occasion we are reproducing the following poem by a Bangladesh poet that was first published in Mainstream fortytwo years ago (April 3, 1971).
  For Rabindranath
  If they cut me into the finest mince-meat,
  all of me—every bit of my flesh and blood—
  will remain Bangla,
  all my heart’s love and pain,
  sorrow and solace
  will remain Bengali.
  Bangla’s agony is great.
  But apart from this agony of Bangla
  I (…)

• Sarabjit’s Death: HRCP urges Justice, Steps to Contain Damage

  11 May 2013

  On May 2, 2013 the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) demanded action against all those who played any part in the assault on the Indian prisoner, Sarabjit Singh, who died in a hospital on May 1, and called upon Islamabad and Delhi to take urgent measures to prevent the incident from undermining bilateral ties and to improve the lot of detainees from the other country in each other’s prisons.
  In a statement issued in Lahore, the Commission said: “Not even the most naïve person can (…)