A few pieces I’ve been reading this week:
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The Lies America Tells Itself About the Middle East: (Foreign Affairs) – On how U.S. narratives obscure its own role in the region.
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Don’t Overestimate the Autocratic Alliance: (Foreign Affairs) – A counterpoint: authoritarian states may not be as cohesive as advertised.
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The Four Humours: Our 2,500-Year-Old Mania for Personality Types: (BBC Future) – Why these frameworks endure and what that says about how societies interpret character.
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Can We Hear God? (Bahá’í Teachings) – A reflection on divine communication and perception.
- The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society: (James Marriott, Substack) – On how screens and AI are reshaping reading and writing itself. Thanks Kabir for the suggestion.
Reflections
On the Ummah: Muslims have often failed to concede ground in internal debates, which has left them politically boxed in. One reform across all denominations would be to return directly to the Quran as the primary authority. That alone would dissolve many cultural accretions, halal (animals should be stunned before slaughter), hijab (a Sassanian trait), and other practices, into something more adaptive.
And here’s a more speculative question: if the “Satanic Verses” were reconsidered if Al-Lat, Al-Uzzah, and Al-Manat were understood as sacred divinities at the threshold of the Lote Tree, would that make Islam more fluid, especially for minority-majority dynamics?
On Kabir: I’m not moderating him out, but readers should be aware that he frames everything through Muslim-rights activism. Engage, but don’t get gaslit into endless provocations. Everyone is entitled to their nationalisms — but they can’t claim liberalism at the same time. That tension makes it worth examining how plurality is treated within the Hindu fold itself. Dharma, unlike the Abrahamic Faiths, tends to all for multiple truths co-existing with each other (Buddhism and indigenous East Asian religions).
👉 Over to you. I’m retreating from heavy moderation — I see BP’s strength in letting the commentariat lead. Biases are fine. Gratuitous abuse is not.
“In March 1998 the Indian PM Gujral, told … “Pakistan was not capable of making atomic bombs.” he had been convinced by Indian Intelligence and Dr Raja Raman, the head of Indian Atomic Energy Commission, who had publicly claimed that nuclear weapon were beyond Pakistan’s reach.”
“Everyone is entitled to their nationalisms but they can’t claim liberalism at the same time”– Why not? Aren’t the Democrats in the US American nationalists who also espouse liberalism (neoliberalism to their critics)? Aren’t Congress voters Indian nationalists who also espouse center-left ideas?
There is no inherent contradiction between nationalism and liberalism.
Here’s something interesting I read today:
“The dawn of the post-literate society” by James Marriott
https://jmarriott.substack.com/p/the-dawn-of-the-post-literate-society-aa1
Think of it as a tariff on foreign labor.
(I was a H-1B for three terms of 6 years each. Didnt complete the 3rd term)
)
The proclamation restricts entry under the H-1B program unless accompanied by the payment, which of course will make it so prohibitively expensive to hire foreign workers that only a handful such applications will be made.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-slap-h1-b-visas-100000-fee-infosys-cognizant-plunge
IMF and African Gold
Dont know how much of this is fact.
eg IMF Kristalina Georgieva, is still in Office.
https://web.facebook.com/reel/754124724113823
For sbarrkum:
“In Sri Lanka, ex-president’s arrest brings to fore frustrations with post-crisis austerity measures” by Uditha Devapriya & Rumeth Jayasinghe
https://scroll.in/article/1086445/in-sri-lanka-ex-presidents-arrest-brings-to-fore-frustrations-with-post-crisis-austerity-measures
Current govt trying to keep promises and kicking the can down the road. So focusing bringing charges against previous politicians on slim, grounds.
SL will have to have austerity one way or the other, by choice or forced.
Cut down imports and rely on local food. Local manufacture.
Its the Urban population (20%) that will be most affected.
I live in rural village. Life goes on and many work in the mid east.
yes crazy devaluation.
happy to see you become author ONLY if you post new content and no reposts. reflect on it
That’s OK. I don’t plan on being involved with this site any longer.
There is too much of an anti-Pakistan tone. It’s really not pleasant for me or for any patriotic Pakistani for that matter.
No one really talks about Pakistan except you and maybe xtm. Stay off the site for a few days, see if anyone mentions it and then you can clip on your spurs and come riding back to rescue the land of the pure from the slights of the infidels.
droll –
You do realize that Daves has called Pakistan a “Nazi state” several times. BB also constantly hates on Pakistan. So “no one really talks about Pakistan except you and maybe xtm” is a factually incorrect statement.
As for “infidels” please don’t try to start a religious issue. The conflict on this forum is mostly about Indian vs. Pakistani nationalism rather than religion.
Anyway, perhaps introspect about why Furqan has backed off from BP. Pakistanis don’t want to constantly engage on a forum where our country is under attack.
If there were a BP equivalent for Pakistan where India was constantly being trashed, I doubt that Indians would be participating.
Lastly, I have been called an “Islamist” multiple times. That creates a hostile environment for me.
I just want to add one last point on this issue:
I am not calling for censorship (it’s hardly my place to do so on this forum). People are entitled to their views on Pakistan. I’m just explaining my perception that BP is a hostile environment for Pakistanis.
I don’t think it is too much to ask that the word “Nazi” not be applied to either Pakistan or India. This really doesn’t help discussion.
Also, I contributed multiple posts focusing on my academic work on Hindustani classical music. Those posts got very little traction. It is a fact that most discussion on this forum consists of India-Pakistan back and forth.
You can’t say I didn’t try.
Let me give you some stats
Number of times you’ve called the RSS “Nazi” inspired origin – 16 times.
Number of times “Nazi” has been used in reference to Pakistani army by everyone else but you – 3 times.
Of course, I just made this up, but I’ll bet the truth is very very close.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Daves has repeatedly called Pakistan a “Nazi state”. Hoju compared 1971 to the Holocaust.
At one point XTM even pushed back of Daves’s use of the word “Nazi”.
While we’re at it I challenge you to point to any comment of mine in which I’ve called non-Muslims “infidels”. I’ve made nearly 5,000 comments on this blog over the years.
Anyway, I don’t want to belabor this point. But please let’s examine why no Pakistanis other than myself want to comment on BP.
Mirror mirror on the wall.
Why complain about the exact things that you do, you call groups nazis, you’re always mocking PM Modi with the hriday samrat business. You do this all the time and yet whine when you are paid back in kind.
Do onto others or shut up and put up. Going to end it here, I’ve made this point many times before. It needs to end.
I don’t like your belligerence. As an “editor”, you should be improving the tone rather than lowering it.
Indosaurus does a fine job tbh
He has repeatedly been particularly belligerent towards me. But of course your perception may differ.
Generally, when someone tells you they feel bullied it’s worth considering whether they may have a point.
Stop weaponising victimisation Kabir .. it’s very classic Left – Liberal – Lutyen
I’m just saying that I feel bullied. That’s a personal feeling. You can’t tell people their feelings aren’t valid.
Not belaboring this point further.
then you are welcome not to engage?
I think you should reflect on why you don’t help yourself at BP; it’s because, as Indosaurus rightly points out, you come here to simply condescend to everyone
And yet it’s fine when people condescend to me?
You keep saying that people should be civil to each other. Presumably that applies to everyone.
Indosaurus is not being uncivil; he simply is calling you out.
I am talking about his tone. It’s belligerent.
You’ve just made the same point essentially but without belligerence.
people lose patience after a while Kabir and that’s very understandable.. u come here to disrupt not add
Look, I wrote plenty of things that were not at all attacks on India in any way shape or form.
Even my essay on hijras was not an attack on India. It was actually a anthropological piece about gender and sexuality.
stop writing on India start writing on Pakistan perhaps?
“Stop writing on India”– I am an intellectual. I am entitled to write on whatever I like– whether it is India, Palestine, the US.
Since I am not posting my articles here anymore, this is kind of a moot point.
If you don’t like what I write, please feel free to unsubscribe to my Substack.
Also, I would kindly request you once again to please not reference my name in your main posts. If you talk about me, I will have to come and defend my POV.
For the record, I have written on Pakistan:
https://kabiraltaf.substack.com/p/the-assassination-of-salman-taseer
you are welcome to do as I like and I am welcome to do as I like?
Whoa, looks like that went on. Thank you for the vote of confidence XTM 🙏.
Likewise N 🙏.
The pattern should be clear by now – Wail and chest beat, threaten to leave, pick a fight, lash out. Repeat ad nauseam. Attention craving with a side of masochism.
I just wrote on it
agreed
I am not going to publicly criticize my country on a forum where most people are already hostile to it.
I contributed book reviews and posts about Hindustani classical music (my academic specialty). Those didn’t get much traction.
Furqan and I have spoken. You will notice he has stepped back. He’s not interested in participating in a forum which is pretty anti-Pakistan.
did anyone ask you to criticise?
Actually yes you did. You personally told me to focus on Pakistan’s issues (that’s a paraphrase but that was the spirit of your remark).
I’m an intellectual. I have the right to write about whatever I please. That’s why I prefer my personal Substack.
Ok – yes it does get very tiresome / nauseating when you pretend to be a friend of India and remind her of her Nehruvian legacy..
focus on Pakistan and remind her of her Quaid legacy perhaps?
we have seen the way you were responding at Pahalgam that you are no friend or kin to India but Indiaphobic and more saliently Hinduphobic (like most Pakistanis & presumably Muslims)
It’s not fair to hold what people said (on both sides) during the “war” against them. Many nasty things were said about Pakistan on those threads.
I am not India phobic. I admire many things about India’s culture (such as Hindustani classical music). Also, the fact that India has remained a democracy and has not had any military coups.
Maybe you should put a disclaimer on this site that people can only participate if they are “friends or kin to India”? That would solve a lot of issues.
it does not matter the fact that you said very many Indiaphobic and Hinduphobic things so stop trying to pretend you care for the best interests of India
OK, please don’t resort to personal judgments.
I wrote an entire essay on being a centre-left Pakistani. I explained my positions quite clearly.
Thanks, I’m not really interested in doing public relations.
but just troll the threads instead?
First of all, I primarily write book reviews and also on my academic specialty (Ethnomusicology). That didn’t get much traction here which is absolutely fine. I’m not inclined to go through that again.
I have no issues with Indians (or anyone) “critiquing” Pakistan. Let me make that clear once and for all. My issue is with how unhinged some of those “critiques” are. Comparing Pakistan to the Third Reich is completely ahistorical and offensive.
That’s not a “critique” but an anti-Pakistan attack.
I’m going to bow out of this conversation now.
Kabir is not constructively engaging with BP; he simply wants to tone police and content police here while constantly claiming victim hood as Indosauras says.
ok
Unlike the existing Power of Siberia 1, which draws gas from Irkutsk (north of Mongolia), POS-2 taps into the same Arctic reserves in Yamal that once fuelled Germany’s industrial might for half a century. For decades, German prosperity rested on a bargain: cheap Russian gas in exchange for high-value German manufactured exports. This was the essence of Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik and the foundation of Germany’s rise as Europe’s economic powerhouse.
The results of the sanctions regime have been contrary to what was predicted. In 2022, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said that the “Russian industry was in tatters” and it was “taking chips from dishwashers and refrigerators to fix their military hardware”. Von Der Leyen is eating crow now as Germany, France and the UK teeter on the edge of economic and political collapse while Russian shows little sign of being in “tatters”.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/how-west-screwed-itself-energy-geopolitics
yes the reaction to the Russian operation in Ukraine was stupid.
Ukraine has the Novoruyssia part which is not Ukraine proper
The Royal College of Defence Studies, one of Britain’s most eminent military academies, has banned Israelis from enrolling from next year, due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, the UK government confirmed to British media on Sunday.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-bans-israelis-from-enrolling-in-prestigious-defense-academy-from-next-year/
It is interesting that Rajapaksha, Sheikh Hasina and Oli were all anti-west and played in the hands of the Chinese for their own political survival. Rajapaksha gave Hambantota port to the Chinese, Sheikh Hasina was planning to give Chittagong and Mongla seaports to China and Oli got access to Chinese ports for his land-locked country.
The medium for uprising was digital applications like Chinese Tik Tok, American apps like Discord, Viber, Facebook etc. with orchestration done by the algorithm handling puppeteer or oligarch with bags of money, sitting in the west or east Europe or Russia or China or any part of the world.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rajapaksa-hasina-oli-is-there-a-puppeteer-behind-political-upheaval-in-indian-subcontinent-101757830470397.html
Pakistan’s development of nuclear weapons had largely be financed by Saudi Arabia. The two countries have a long history of military cooperation:
The agreement with the nuclear-armed south Asian state comes a week after Gulf states — traditionally reliant on the US as their security guarantor — were deeply rattled by Israel’s missile strikes targeting Hamas’s political leaders in Qatar.
This is a NATO Article 5 like pact. ‘All means deemed necessary’, as empathized, undoubtedly includes Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
As Pakistan is a nuclear weapons state one had to assume that any such a pact would supply Saudi Arabia with nuclear weapons. It was something that the U.S. and its sidekick Israel were very concerned about.
Saudi Arabia already has a strategic missile force which is armed with Chinese DF-21 missiles which have a range of up to 1,700 kilometer. They can hit Tehran, but also Tel Aviv. The missiles are conventionally armed but can be fitted with nuclear warheads.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/09/saudi-arabias-defense-pact-with-pakistan-is-a-loss-for-the-us-of-a.html
The Biggest Liar. Because of his claims of WMD the US went to war with Iraq
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu aka Lady MacBeth has released a video denying accusations that Israel had something to do with the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1968516220870947321?