IN a declaration at the NATO summit held at the Hague in June this year, all NATO countries agreed to increase the share of military expenditure in their gross domestic product to 5 percent by 2035. The proportion in 2024 in the US was 3.5 per cent and in the European Union 1.9 per cent, which means a substantial step up, especially in the EU, in military expenditure. Likewise, Japan which had been committed to a pacifist policy after...
THE hot topic, starting with Trump's second presidential term, has been his tariff war, not only with China but with the entire world. Instead of trade policies in which tariffs—import and export duties—play a part, tariffs have become the driver of US foreign policy, if not its broader political, economic, and technological engagement with the world. It is not that the US military's iron fist is hidden from view....
CAPITALISM seems to be approaching its metabolic limits. Global capitalism is facing stagnation in growth with rising inequality together with a planetary crisis related to climate change. Also, there is growing tension between use of new technology and the distribution of gains. This is notwithstanding the fact that the socialist agenda and socialist politics are currently pushed to the back seat and...
THE Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was never too interested in the economics of societies. This is rather strange considering that their avowed goal is to build a Hindu Rashtra, which presumably would need some sort of economic system if it was to achieve the splendour and prosperity that the RSS ideologues dream about. After Independence, MS Golwalkar, the second sarsanghchalak (supremo) of RSS and its most revered ideologue to date,...
That the Modi regime favours large corporates is well known. That the Adani group belongs to a charmed inner circle is also common knowledge. This is confirmed by the recent revelation by the Washington Post that the Union Ministry of Finance orchestrated a bailout of the group by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), India’s premier life insurer.
FOLLOWING Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on October 27, that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls would begin in West Bengal and 11 other states. SIR is a special campaign conducted by the Election Commission of India to purify the electoral rolls by eliminating errors, inconsistencies or defects. Its primary objectives include deleting the names of the...
The announcement of the latest ceasefire in Gaza in early October 2025 was a rare moment of relief for the lakhs of Palestinians besieged for nearly two years, enduring daily bombardments, hunger and displacement. It offered some respite, some stoppage to the relentless killing, some hope of aid trucks entering into Gaza and the wounded receiving treatment. But that pause has proved fragile. Israeli forces have, true to their wont,...
CATHERINE Connolly (born 1957) only became involved in active politics in 1999. Michael D Higgins, the outgoing president of Ireland (2011-2025), encouraged Connolly to join the Labour Party and stand for election. Both Connolly and Higgins (known in Ireland as Michael D) come from Galway, a city on the west coast of Ireland. Connolly was born there, the ninth of fourteen children – seven girls and seven boys – in a...
Nineteen passengers were burnt to death when a Hyderabad-Bengaluru sleeper coach bus, run by V Kaveri Travels, caught fire after a collision with a motorcycle on the outskirts of Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh on October 24. The accident brought to light the chronic government negligence in enforcing safety and other rules, and exposed the mad-for-...
THE festivals, Utsavs, Jatras, etc. that we celebrate are all part of our culture. Not all festivals that people celebrate are religious. Over centuries, humanity has progressed by harnessing nature through collective struggle for survival. These victories are often marked by festivals. Vijayadashami or Dussehra is simply the day of ‘victory of good over evil’. On this occasion, various types of cultural art forms are performed...
