Documenting 21st Century - India and the World

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world endorsed Donald Trump. I am not gonna spell out the evil things about this alliance. This is a short article on a specific commonality between the two people. No, i am not talking about their arrogance, misogyny and toxicity of their rhetoric. I am talking about delusional grandiose beliefs of these two people. And their beliefs seems fantastic and appealing. The delusional beliefs of Trump and Musk are strikingly similar. They appear to have very certain and absolute view of things, and mystical faith in their own capability. Trump has a narrative ' I alone can fix it ' about America. When Pandemic came, Trump projected himself as the smartest person who can deal with the crisis (in reality he bungled everything to FUBAR). This idea of - 'I alone can fix it' - goes deeper with Trump. Trump says American dream is dead and politicians and establishment cannot fix it. He and only he can restore America, make America great again. Elo

What happens when system of Balance of power breaks down? ..... western bloc became too powerful after the dissolution of soviet union ..... Both in terms of military power and economic policy, the western world imposed itself on rest of the world. The consequences were brutal. Western pundits have very certain view of things on Ukraine conflict. To end Ukraine war, US & NATO needs to have full commitment for a Ukrainian victory & nothing else. Whatever weapons & equipment Ukraine needs, howsoever Ukraine intends to use it, all should be provided & authorized to Ukraine to defeat Russia. The goal being expulsion of all Russians from Ukrainian territory. The risk of Nuclear war is zero. Backing Ukraine today is averting Chinese invasion of Taiwan tomorrow. Any attempt for political settlement is like 'Czechoslovakia' sell out of in 1938 which emboldened Hitler to start world war 2. These are all stated positions of western pundits and US government hawks. If i ca

Politics is continuation of war by other means The saying looks erroneous but there's a meaning to it which i will get into below.  With Russia battered and bruised in Ukraine conflict, it appears that Russia don't have any strategy for victory and this certainly may be true. Russia's original plans for 'special military operation' were nonsensical fantasy of taking over Ukraine within a matter of days. Since then, the failures continue to pile up everyday as Russia is taking immense damage in terms of demography, economy, equipment and industry.  The economy of Russia has come to a halt. On face value, Russia has managed to bypass extreme western sanctions to continue its trade & commerce with foreign countries both for defense procurement (in a limited way) and oil & gas exports through variety of channels. But this is a war economy which doesn't have any ideal national goals like technological advancement, improving standards of living of citizens, bu

Ukraine conflict is like a Goldilocks war. A conflict that, so far, is managed to be kept at a temperature that is neither too hot nor too cold. The NATO countries response to support Ukraine is to demonstrate that they will not tolerate aggression for reshaping of territorial boundaries in Europe by Russia. So NATO states have provided a lot of military and financial aid to Ukraine to fight Russia. At the same time, the intensity of conflict is managed to keep it below the Nuclear threshold, the risk of broader war. The conflict has evolved in a Game theory fashion with Ukraine, backed by NATO states, is symmetrically responding to various acts of aggression by Russia. Russia attacked Ukraine with advanced Missiles. NATO states provided Ukraine with Missiles (Storm Shadow etc) and authorized them to attack Russia in a limited way which allowed Ukraine to attack Russian infrastructure and naval assets in Crimea (Kerch bridge etc). Russia destroyed Ukraine's infrastructure, power gr

I am taking a break from writing to articulate on certain topics that i will elaborate in lengthy articles. Two topics i currently have in my mind. I will get deep into problem of Indian human resources and its remedies. And obviously about industrial policy and global realignment. On global realignment, everything is in flux right now and i don't know what is a suitable narrative to fit everything into.   For now, here are some good film recommendations to watch.  An Average Little Man (1977) A film begins as a comedy with a man trying petty schemes and bribes to get his son into government service. Part comedy, part something else. A combination of two completely different genres, a masterpiece of Italian cinema. Jean de Florette (1986) A cunning landlord plans to takeover land of his neighbor by sabotaging his farm.  The film demonstrates the concept of human greed and its consequences. Manon des Sources (1986) Immediate sequel to film Jean de Florette and conclusion of story li

I laid out the full picture of Trump phenomenon in the previous three articles. The brief summary is as follows. There's no single factor that explains materialization of Trump phenomenon. There are variety of overlapping factors and dimensions that i discussed in previous articles. Trump is crisis of breakdown of our political and economic system, institutional failures and structural flaws of our systems. The rise of plutocracy that has taken over political system. The breakdown crisis of Neoliberal capitalism that has stalled real economic progress of society while the wealth is getting accumulated at the top of social pyramid in hands of plutocrats and corporations. This has caused economic stagnation, regression and falling standards of living, and most of all, the massive inequality and populist discontent. The political system is driven by populist sentiments of masses rather than objective reality and rational thought. The politicians exploit these sentiments for their poli

When Truth is suppressed, rumors take over. Rumors are much more destructive to government's credibility and legitimacy. This is continuation of analysis of previous articles on Trump phenomenon. In first article, i focused on structural problems of our economic and political system; the plutocratic takeover of institutions, the crisis of Democracy, uncertainty of election lottery and populist madness & irrationality of masses. In second article, i examined Fascism of past to Trump phenomenon of today and discussed the parallels of economic breakdown crisis of two periods; the great depression of past century and slow brewing crisis of Neoliberalism and its eventual breakdown in 2008. I explained the changing socio-political-economic discourse of past decades and intellectual decline of American electorate.   While all the above mentioned factors contributed to Trump phenomenon and enabled the rise of Trump, there is still another crucial factor. This factor is the deep distrus

"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made."    -  FDR (during great depression) This is continuation of the previous article on the 'Trump phenomenon'. In previous article, i explained the structural flaws in our political and economic system, the plutocratic takeover of national institutions, the crisis in Democracy and uncertainty of election lottery - all of which enables a highly incompetent and unfit person like Trump to rise to power.  I mentioned how Plutocrats are the financiers of politicians and how their media enterprises do hard labor to 'normalize' someone like Trump. I also mentioned how masses vote on basis of populist sentiments rather than rational objectivity. But despite all these things; the irrationality of masses, the plutocratic backing of politician and media doing everything to 'normalize' him - it still