US Is a Rogue State and Suleimani’s Assassination Confirms It
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US Is a Rogue State and Suleimani’s Assassination Confirms It

  C.J. Polychroniou interviews Noam Chomsky   C.J. Polychroniou (CJP): Noam, the US assassination of Iran’s Quds Force commander Qassim Suleimani has reaffirmed Washington’s long-held obsession with Tehran and its clerical regime, which goes all the way back to the late 1970s. What is the conflict between US and Iran all about, and does the…

A Self-Made Fiscal Trap
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A Self-Made Fiscal Trap

C.P. Chandrasekhar   In the Revised Estimates for 2018–19 reported in Budget 2019, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had hugely inflated figures on Central revenues and expenditures in 2018–19. This was one of many signals that it was faced with a fiscal crisis it did not want to reveal. Matters have only worsened since…

Interview: ‘We Have Practically Lost Kashmir,’ Says P. Chidambaram
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Interview: ‘We Have Practically Lost Kashmir,’ Says P. Chidambaram

The Wire Staff   “We have practically lost Kashmir,” former Union home minister P. Chidambaram said about the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government’s Kashmir policy in an interview to The Wire.   Appearing on the National Security Conversations show hosted by Happymon Jacob, the senior Congress leader argued that by carrying out fundamental changes in…

How Many Millions did You Make for the Pennies You Gave to the Coolies

How Many Millions did You Make for the Pennies You Gave to the Coolies

Vijay Prashad   As we enter the new year, protests across the planet continue unabated; rising levels of discontent are manifest in both progressive and reactionary directions. The political character of the anger might whip across the spectrum of opinion and hope, but the underlying frustrations are similar. There is anger at the decades-long crisis…

For the First Time Since Independence, Muslims Have Come on the Streets
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For the First Time Since Independence, Muslims Have Come on the Streets

Nizam Pasha   Ironically, the unholy trinity of the National Register of Citizens-Citizenship (Amendment) Act-National Population Register, designed to place a question mark on the citizenship of Muslims in India, has had the unintended consequence of reaffirming their Indian identity.   Despite having chosen to stay in India after independence, weathering the rising tide of…

In Spite of Severe Repression, People are United in Protests
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In Spite of Severe Repression, People are United in Protests

Sandeep Pandey, Anandi Pandey    At New Delhi’s Jamia Millia University if one visits the library it may appear as if a pitched battle was fought here. Almost all glasses have been broken by tear gas shells or stun grenades and furniture has been vandalised. And this was in response to some peaceful protests outside…

Largest Ever Strike in India Shakes Up Modi Govt

Largest Ever Strike in India Shakes Up Modi Govt

Subodh Varma    India woke up on January 8, to witness the largest ever strike with an estimated 25 crore (250 million) workers, employees, farmers and rural labourers stopping work and hitting the streets to protest against the Modi government’s economic policies and divisive politics.   Reports coming in from various states indicate that the…

Battle for India’s Soul: A Century-Long Struggle Against the Mahatma’s Vision 
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Battle for India’s Soul: A Century-Long Struggle Against the Mahatma’s Vision 

Harsh Mander    A hundred years have passed since a battle was launched for the soul of this ancient land. At stake was the country we would together build after the British left our shores.   This was the time when Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa to join India’s freedom struggle. In his leadership…

It’s Time to Tell Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, ‘Hum Sab JNU’
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It’s Time to Tell Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, ‘Hum Sab JNU’

Siddharth Varadarajan   Let us set aside the anger and revulsion, disbelief, helplessness and perhaps even fear that many of you would have felt over Sunday night’s events at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and let us also postpone the question of who those masked thugs were that beat up students and faculty, and destroyed public property…