2021

Introduction and Background
That the Second World War (WWII) in its wake marked a watershed in the thinking and policy on higher education (HE) is perhaps not a commonplace especially among the younger generations. HE historically (roughly until WWII) used to mean specialized in-depth teaching/learning as well as academic research, driven by curiosity/interest/passion/thirst for new knowledge, conducted in colleges, universities and such other dedicated academic institutions. It is only (…)

by Attila Antal
There is a misunderstanding about Hungarian government which says the novel coronavirus outbreak created a new dictatorship in Europe. In fact, the coronavirus crisis did not bring on or finalise the authoritarian turn in Hungary. Rather the conditions for authoritarian rule preceded the crisis and were certain to define how the government would respond to the crisis. It is beyond question that by introducing the so-called Enabling Act, which grants absolute power to the (…)

by James M. Dorsey
(An earlier version of this article appeared in Orient)
If the 2010s were a decade of defiance and dissent, the 2020s promise to make mass anti-government protests a fixture of the greater Middle East’s political landscape. Protests in the coming decade are likely to be fuelled by the challenges Middle Eastern states face in enacting economic and social reforms as well as reducing their dependence on energy exports against the backdrop of a global economic crisis and (…)

by Ashley Morgan *
December 16, 2020
Sherlock Holmes is the most famous detective of all time. Since he was imagined into creation in 1892 by the young Scottish doctor Arthur Conan Doyle, there has been hardly a decade in which a play, television series, film or book about Sherlock Holmes has not been produced.
In 2010, a fresh take on Sherlock Holmes burst onto British screens. This contemporary Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, inspired a whole new level of fandom and (…)

This open letter was released on 28 April 1966 as a protest against the sentencing of Kazimierz Badowski, Ludwik Hass, Jacek Kuroń, Karol Modzelewski and Romuald Śmiech, who had been tried and found guilty of distributing illegal literature, including Kuroń and Modzelewski’s Open Letter to the Party.
I am addressing this letter to you in order to protest against the recent secret trials and convictions of Ludwik Hass, [1] Karol Modzelewski, [2] Kazimierz Badowski, [3] Romuald Śmiech, [4] (…)

* [Letter to the Readers - Mainstream, Jan 16, 2021
* India Vaccine Rollout Plan Has Serious Shortcomings | Gyan Pathak
* Is This What Democracy Has Come To? | T J S George

On January 15, the 9th round of talks took place between the representatives of protesting peasants and the Government of India over the three contentious Farm Laws. There is a continuing stalemate with no end in sight.
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India is all set for a national launch on January 16 of vaccination campaign against Covid-19 by using Covishield and Covaxin vaccines which still need further trials and have been approved for emergency use only. In the past ten days, a number of bodies of health (…)

by Gyan Pathak
January 12, 2021
With the launch of the World’s biggest immunization drive on January 16, India is all set to create a history, but with several ominous signs too. The whole vaccine rollout plan, as stands after the meeting of our Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of the states, sets top priority on perceived threats over the real threats, indicative of someone having laymen’s ideas calling the shots in the name of experts to prevail over all reasons and common sense. On (…)

by Chittarvu Raghu
The United States election process requires the Congress to validate the election of the President. Congress is a bicameral legislature, the Senate being the upper house and the House of Representatives the lower house.
A raucous mob raided the capitol building displaying pro-Trump slogans and managed to enter the Senate chamber at the time when the election results were being certified. Obviously it shows that the intention was to prevent the congress from certifying (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Incredible things are happening in America. An incumbent President refusing to vacate office is unheard-of. Donald Trump is doing what no US President has done in the past, indeed, what no government head in a democracy has done. The result is not just the crumbling of American democracy; physical attacks are taking place by one group against another. Barack Obama put it right when he said that violence at the US Capitol Hill had brought shame to the US.
To see the horror (…)