'Competitive Authoritarianism To Electoral Autocracy': Yogendra Yadav Speaks At Brown University   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqpb0hNMGtg HT extract from

Yogendra Yadav — Reclaiming India’s democratic republic  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqpb0hNMGtg

https://watson.brown.edu/southasia/events/series/op-jindal-distinguished-lectures 

Read more …

The Decline & Fall of the U.S. Dollar  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiZpi6AEko | Ken Rogoff on Past, Present, & Future of USD Hegemony  traces the development of the U.S. Dollar’s rise to world dominance, and he connects it with the trade and capital imbalances that have recently motivated large tariff actions from the United States. Rogoff argues that he thinks the Trump tariff policy through April 30 2025 was somewhat “dumb” but that there is a chance that 10 years from now Trump will be viewed as having been right 

 U.S. Dollar As Reserve Currency: Past Present and Future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiZpi6AEko&t=1042s

 Tariffs And Global Currency Order  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiZpi6AEko&t=1687s 

 Advantages & Costs of U.S. Dollar Reserve System  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiZpi6AEko&t=2777s 

Threats To U.S. Dollar Dominance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiZpi6AEko&t=3258s
China7  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiZpi6AEko&t=3672s  :22 U.S. Dollar As Reserve Currency: Past Present and FutureU.S. Dollar As Reserve Currency: Past Present and Future

India and Pakistan lock horns: Who won and why? https://thecradle.co/articles/india-and-pakistan-lock-horns-who-won-and-why  May 12, 2025
In the biggest aerial dogfight since World War II, two nuclear-armed rivals test the boundaries of conflict and deterrence – with some jaw-dropping surprises in the mix. 

India and Pakistan both field advanced air forces and hold nuclear weapons, with technological parity in many conventional domains. The result is a high-stakes deadlock, one misstep away from catastrophe...A pattern is clear: These wars start and end on familiar ground, but Pakistan emerges diminished each time. Demographics, military stockpiles, economic capacity, and geography all weigh in India’s favor...India enjoys military superiority in nearly every category – from hardware and troop numbers to domestic defense production. Its population stands at 1.42 billion compared to Pakistan’s 245 million. ..

 Islamabad has prioritized air force capabilities, investing in quality aircraft, radar systems, and pilot training.

Although a ceasefire has officially been announced, both accused the other of breaching the truce on Sunday, suggesting that a tit-for-tat cycle may drag on for longer before a decisive inflection point is reached. The road to escalation is fraught, not least because both sides are nuclear-armed. ..Both armies are formidable. India has the upper hand on paper, but Pakistan’s border with China complicates the equation. Beijing has no interest in s..eeing India dominate Kashmir or sever the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which forms a key artery in Beijing's ambitious, multi-continent Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). If India attempts to seize all of Kashmir or block China’s overland access, Chinese intervention is highly likely.

The Cradle's Military Correspondent 

पाकिस्तान का प्रॉपगैंडा, भारत का जवाब https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzJz9J24xzQ  May 8, 2025
जिस वक़्त हम यह वीडियो अपलोड कर रहे थे, जम्मू के आसमान में ड्रोन उड़ने की ख़बरें आने लगी थीं। विदेश मंत्रालय की प्रेस कांफ्रेंस के चंद घंटों बाद यह हमला हुआ। ख़बर यह भी आने लगी कि भारत ने जवाबी कार्रवाई करते हुए कई ड्रोन गिरा दिए। अन्य शहरों से भी ड्रोन हमलों की ख़बरें आ रही हैं, और बहुत से सीमावर्ती शहरों में ब्लैकआउट कर दिया गया है। आने वाली सुबह क्या लाएगी यह कोई नहीं जानता है। भारत ने अपनी तरफ़ से बार-बार कहा है कि वह पाकिस्तान के साथ तनाव को बढ़ाना नहीं चाहता है, सैन्य ठिकानों पर हमला नहीं करेगा, मगर पाकिस्तान की तरफ से किए जाने वाले हमलों ने जवाबी कार्रवाई के लिए मजबूर किया है। 7 और 8 मई के हमलों के बाद भारत की रणनीति क्या होगी यह सिर्फ़ सेना और सरकार जानते हैं। सीमा पर रहने वाले लोगों के लिए यह समय बेहद तनावपूर्ण है। गोदी मीडिया के स्टूडियो में युद्ध की घोषणा बहुत पहले ही हो चुकी है, मगर इस सब के बीच अफ़वाहों से बचें। भ्रामक जानकारियों से दूर रहें और सुरक्षित रहें।

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOB3alwHDpM   Pakistan India Conflict: What possible war strategies can both countries employ?- BBC URDU

https://www.sup.org/books/politics/brokering-peace-nuclear-environments/excerpt/introduction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Start_(military_doctrine) 

https://web.archive.org/web/20111002230800/http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers10/paper991.html 

https://southasianvoices.org/pakistan-full-spectrum-deterrence-trends-trajectories/ 

 Indian Nationalism, Hindutva and the Bomb https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article10225  Sukla Sen: 2003.  

the supreme tragedy of the bomb is that it will not be destroyed by counter-bombs even as violence cannot be by counter-violence. Mankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence. Hatred can be overcome only by love.- M K Gandhi 

11th May 1998 was the day the Government of India,... , carried out, as per its official declaration, three nuclear explosions .... Just after a fortnight the neighbouring Pakistan, ... retaliated with a series of six explosions...

The reactions... a rather complex and problematic relationship between Indian nationalism - or its changing profile, and the politics of Hindutva - which, not too long ago, appeared to belong only to the lunatic fringe.

This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZOoT8AbkNE  The Coup is by the Bro-ligarchy (Tech Oligachy) | Carole Cadwalladr | TED Data Rights are Human Rights  
“We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start,” says investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr. In a searing talk, she decries the rise of the “broligarchy” — the powerful tech executives who are using their global digital platforms to amass unprecedented geopolitical power, dismantling democracy and enabling authoritarian control across the world. Her rallying cry: resist data harvesting and mass surveillance, and support others in a groundswell of digital disobedience. “You have more power than you think,” she says. (Recorded at TED2025 on April 8, 2025)

The attack has brought the politics of gender in the conflict to centre stage. Women are being used instrumentally while pushing the larger narrative of payback.

https://scroll.in/article/1082148/pahalgam-and-after-how-women-are-used-as-instruments-of-politics-and-conflict 

However, amidst the din, women survivors of the tragedy spoke their minds. Some questioned the massive security lapse that had resulted in the attack. Several others emphasised how Kashmiris around the spot became the first responders, taking them to safety when no official help was on hand.

While demanding justice, Himanshi Narwal appealed for peace and spoke against hate-mongering against Muslims and Kashmiris. Shortly after, she found herself at the receiving end of vile trolling.

The woman who had been held up as the ideal wife and projected as the poster girl of the grief caused by the terror attack was dragged down from the pedestal and her character was besmirched. But why this drastic shift in script? It is because Narwal violated the template of the grieving wife. She was expected to be helpless and lose hope. Her wails would then activate the drums of war. However, her call for peace was an act of defiance and a rebellion against the politics of hate.

But why this drastic shift in script? It is because Narwal violated the template of the grieving wife. She was expected to be helpless and lose hope. Her wails would then activate the drums of war. However, her call for peace was an act of defiance and a rebellion against the politics of hate.

Why did the terrorists spare the women in the first place? They were not acting chivalrous, not by any measure. They aimed to use women as bearers of their message to the Indian government.

Women are being used as instruments of politics. The attackers aimed to use women to spread their message of terror. Hatemongers were angered when Narwal refused to participate in their campaign against Muslims and Kashmiris in India.

Both sides aim to portray women as the perfect victims – helpless and voiceless, devoid of agency. Both sides are motivated by hate-filtered narratives in which the lives of these grieving women are nothing but an instrument for their ends.

by Debangana Chatterjee

09/05/2025

 Why Criticizing Israel Isn’t Anti-Semitic - Jeffrey Sachs Interview https://youtu.be/4JSyq288HtU?t=1252  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JSyq288HtU&t=440s  Untangling Faith, Identity & Nationalism: A Historical Perspective 

https://torah.org/learning/basics-primer-torah-bible/  
The 24 Books of the Hebrew Bible
By Torah.org