SCIENCE & DEVELOPMENT

Ukraine and the Global Economic War: Barbarism or Civilisation?

DOES the Ukraine war and the action of the US, EU, and the UK spell the end of the dollar as the world's reserve currency? Even if the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine reach a 15-point peace plan, as Financial Times has reported, the fallout for the dollar still remains. For the first time, a major nuclear power and major economy were treated as a vassal state. Its $300 billion foreign exchange reserves lying with the US, EU and the UK were seized.The threat to the dollar hegemony is only one part of the fallout.

Misfired Missile

AN alarming, strange and implausible incident took place on Wednesday,  March 9 this year when a missile, stated to be undergoing routine maintenance in Sirsa, Haryana, was unexpectedly and unintentionally fired, and landed in Mian Channu village, district Khanewal, Punjab, in Pakistan, thankfully without casualty or serious damage. The episode was, however, acknowledged only a day later by Pakistan and by India a further day afterwards on Friday, March 11, both sides especially Pakistan appearing not to want to escalate the incident even though it afforded plenty of opportunity.

Breathing Life Back into the Iran Nuclear Deal Possible but not Easy

THE possibility of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – or the Iran nuclear deal –being revived, though difficult, has brightened. This could have been accomplished much earlier except for the Biden administration’s attempts to extract concessions from Iran that went far beyond the original deal. The premise of Trump’s pulling out of the 2015 Iran deal, was that he could get a better deal than what Obama had negotiated.

TekFog – BJP Automating Hate

AN online news portal The Wire has recently published a three part investigative report on a sophisticated secret app called TekFog. This is used by BJYM’s (the youth-wing of the BJP) IT Cell to automate its online hate campaigns. According to the investigation, the app can “hijack” WhatsApp accounts of people without their knowledge or consent, and use these accounts in automated campaigns.

Modi Government: Converting Bose to a Hologram and Forgetting his Vision

EVERY year, this is the time that the Modi government and the BJP has a serious problem. Its claims of being the nationalist party founders against the brutal reality of almost having no leader of any stature that stood up to the British in India's freedom struggle. That is why its attempt to appropriate any leader of stature, even if they belong to the other political streams.

Weaponising Hate Apps: Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai

THE recent Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai cases targeting Muslim women show the deep anti-women and communal mindset combined with the use of tech tools and social media platforms. Perhaps not so surprising is that the police authorities appear to have been very casual in their investigations when the Sulli Deals had emerged last year targeting about 100 Muslim women. It only reacted after Sulli Deals reappeared as Bulli Bai in early January this year. After widespread criticism and adverse international coverage, the police finally woke up to their responsibilities.

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