2011

Few other events of the 20th century have changed the course of world history so abruptly as the so-called coup of August 1991 in Moscow that changed the geopolitics of the modern world so profoundly and so quickly. Without going into the details of the coup attempt it can definitely be said that the so-called plot no doubt accelerated the disintegration of the Soviet Union; brought about the end of the Cold War; and changed the global correlation of forces abruptly and unexpectedly. The (…)

Keeping his words to resign (announced two months ago), Japan’s Prime Minister Kan Naito is expected to resign by the end of August 2011 after the Diet passes two bills that he had set as conditions for his leaving office. This will set the stage for Japan’s sixth Prime Minister to take office in five years. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and Opposition combine of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito agreed on August 9 to pass the legislation that would allow for (…)

As we approach our sixtyfifth Independence Day there is no gainsaying that an acute sense of despondency has gripped the nation, thanks primarily to the acrobatics of our present-day rulers though it must be acknowledged in all candour that those in the Opposition have fared no better. In the absence of the stalwarts who participated in and/or led the freedom struggle and upheld the picture of a radiant India before, during and in the immediate aftermath of our independence from foreign (…)

The much awaited Cabinet-approved Lokpal Bill is no surprise. The decision to exclude the Prime Minister is maintained, notwithstanding the proclaimed stand of Dr Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister since 2004, that he wants to be included, but he has had to yield because of the Cabinet decision. This surrender of one’s conscientious opinion on a matter of vital public importance at the altar of petty considerations of party politics ill serves the Prime Minister’s reputation because in spite (…)

Ahmed Kathrada, leader of the anti-apartheid struggle and liberation movement of South Africa, was in New Delhi to take part in the Mandela Day Commemoration on July 18, when Madiba (as Nelson Mandela is lovingly called by his friends, followers and admirers all over the world) turned 93. Kathrada, who is 11 years younger than Madiba, spent 26 years in South African prisons, 18 of which were on Robben Island along with Mandela. Here Ahmed Kathrada tells Suhas Borker about how Mandela started (…)

For anyone of my generation, V.K. Krishna Menon was an iconic figure. His image suffered a body blow with the military disaster of October-November 1962 but any fair evaluation of the man and his contribution to the freedom struggle and post-Independence nation-building in the years that went before the hubris and then the closing years of his life must conclude with a tribute to his soaring patriotism, his determined defence of our right to an independent voice in a world unused to such (…)

The debate over the PIL filed in 2007 by Nandini Sundar and others challenging the ‘creation’ of Salwa Judum (SJ), variously translated from the Gondwani dialect as peace march or peace movement, as an armed tribal ‘vigilante group’, has taken a new turn in several respects since the Supreme Court of India struck down the use of tribal youths as a supplementary counter-insurgency force on Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Aside from expectedly mixed reactions both in the media and the public, three (…)

All these years, the US sat in judgment over the economic crisis faced by the Third World countries and cited credit ratings agencies’ adverse reports to damn them. Latin America in particular, suffering from hyperinflation and astronomical debt, had grown used to receiving bitter medicine and sermons from the US. Ironically, Latin American economies are today flourishing and the US seems to be running out of money to service its mounting debt. Experts believe that the credit contraction (…)

[On April 16, 2011, “World Economy Splutters: Dark Clouds on the Horizon”, a piece by Kobad Ghandy, the Maoist leader, written from Tihar Jail No. 3 (where he is lodged), was published in Mainstream. It was written quite sometime back but reached us late. It was then stated that he had promised to write a sequel to it. That he has now written on July 23, 2011 and sent it to us for publication. It is quite a comprehensive piece bearing testimony to the Maoist leader’s capacity for a detailed (…)

On August 9 forty years ago, India and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) concluded a historic treaty on “Peace, Friendship and Cooperation”. For most Indians the Treaty is inseparable from the Pakistan-initiated war against us and the swift attainment of our goals in it, namely, the defeat of the Pakistani forces in East Pakistan and decisively helping in the birth of the new nation of Bangladesh. As the distinguished journalist, Pran Chopra, says in his book on the Treaty, “For India the (…)