The Robert Mueller indictment of thirteen Russians for ‘interfering’ in the American elections of 2016 confirms the bad news: those elections were ‘influenced’–in some shape or form–by non-Americans. The extent of this ‘influence’ is unclear–whether they decisively swung the election to Donald Trump or not–but be that as it may, one fact remains established: amongContinue reading “US Elections Invite External Intervention, As They Well Might”
Category Archives: Politics
Gide’s Immoralist And The Existential Necessity Of The Colony
The immoralist at the heart of André Gide‘s The Immoralist, Michel, does not travel just anywhere; he travels to French colonies like Algeria and Tunisia; the boys who he meets, is attracted to, and falls in love with, are not just any boys; they are Muslim Arab boys. He is old; they are young. He is white;Continue reading “Gide’s Immoralist And The Existential Necessity Of The Colony”
On Being Both ‘Bad’ And ‘Great’
Recently, in response to Richard Seymour‘s essay on Winston Churchill in Jacobin–one whose tagline read “Churchill was no hero — he was a vile racist fanatical about violence and fiercely supportive of imperialism,” I wrote the following on my Facebook status page: Indians have known this and said this forever. Hopefully, now that a whiteContinue reading “On Being Both ‘Bad’ And ‘Great’”
Thinking Of Autonomous Weapons In ‘Systems’ Terms
A persistent confusion in thinking about weapons and their regulation is to insist on viewing weapons in isolation, and not as part of larger, socio-political-economic-legal-ethical systems. This confusion in the domain of gun control for instance, inspires the counter-slogan ‘guns don’t kill people; people kill people.’ Despite its glibness–and its misuse by the NRA–the sloganContinue reading “Thinking Of Autonomous Weapons In ‘Systems’ Terms”
The Fragile Digital World Described By Zeynep Tufkeci Invites Smashing
In “The Looming Digital Meltdown” (New York Times, January 7th), Zeynep Tufekci writes, We have built the digital world too rapidly. It was constructed layer upon layer, and many of the early layers were never meant to guard so many valuable things: our personal correspondence, our finances, the very infrastructure of our lives. Design shortcutsContinue reading “The Fragile Digital World Described By Zeynep Tufkeci Invites Smashing”
States To Feds On Weed Policy: Cash Me Outside How Bow Dah?
‘Tis true, Jeff Sessions is a serious downer, a buzz killer for the ages. As long feared, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is revoking an Obama-era directive–the so-called ‘Cole memo’–that restrained enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that had legalized it. But things are not going to be so easy for this dastardly ve-haf-ways-to-make-you-stop-smoking Sessions brigade;Continue reading “States To Feds On Weed Policy: Cash Me Outside How Bow Dah?”
Ramachandra Guha On The Lack Of Modern Indian Histories
In India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy (HarperCollins, New York, 2007), Ramachandra Guha writes: Of his recent history of postwar Europe, Tony Judt writes that ‘a book of this kind rests, in the first instance, on the shoulders of other books’. He notes that ‘for the brief sixty-year period of Europe’s history sinceContinue reading “Ramachandra Guha On The Lack Of Modern Indian Histories”
Keep Your Child Safe: Direct Them To Women If Lost
In Protecting The Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane) Gavin De Becker writes of the safety rule–for children–described as ‘If you are ever lost, go to a policeman”: Here’s another popular rule that rarely enhances safety….All identifying credentials…are above the waist….A young child cannot tell the difference between a police officer and aContinue reading “Keep Your Child Safe: Direct Them To Women If Lost”
Reinhold Niebuhr On The Ethical Permissibility Of Political Violence
In reviewing Reinhold Niebuhr‘s Major Works on Religion and Politics, Adam Kirsch makes note of the following passage from Niebuhr’s Moral Man and Immoral Society: If a season of violence can establish a just social system and can create the possibilities of its preservation, there is no purely ethical reason upon which violence and revolution can be ruledContinue reading “Reinhold Niebuhr On The Ethical Permissibility Of Political Violence”
Resilience In The Face Of ‘Terror’ Is Not Just For New Yorkers
Yesterday morning, an incompetent wanna-be suicide bomber almost blew himself up in an underground passageway connecting New York City’s Port Authority and Times Square subway stations. His crude home-made pipe bomb did little damage; indeed, it failed to even kill the would-be kamikaze; it did, however, cause some understandable, instantaneous panic among the many commutersContinue reading “Resilience In The Face Of ‘Terror’ Is Not Just For New Yorkers”
Samir Chopra 