May 2026
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Open Thread: Mother Indus is on Fire
While the commentariat counts babies, the Indus basin sits at 47 to 50°C. Radcliffe drew a paper line. The thermometer does not pause at Wagah.
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The Diaspora Saved The Mullahs. Pahlavi Helped.
X.T.M reports a BP live call with an Iranian guest, Farhad, who argues Reza Pahlavi’s 2022 intervention saved the Islamic Republic. The post says it does not endorse this and…
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The Long Dark Night for India’s Muslims
X.T.M reads a Bengal order on Vande Mataram in madrasas as a symptom of India’s Muslims being absorbed into a Hindu-Persianate mainstream. It argues Pakistan and upper-caste liberalism accelerated this,…
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The High Signal Mandate
X.T.M states the site’s creed: signal over news, with primary depth, a continental frame and the unfashionable thought, and posts that fall short will be down-posted.
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Dhurandhar, Netflix and the India-Pakistan Asymmetry
The post asks why Netflix serves India so much more than Pakistan, as Pakistani viewers complain about promotion of Dhurandhar: The Revenge. It answers with market size, Indian users far…
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CJP and colour revolutions
Open thread opening on the CJP movement and colour revolutions: a commentator cites Rashid Kidwai’s view that it may boomerang on the opposition, and asks whether a rootless generation will…
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Who Sees? A Caste Audit of an Anonymous Elite Indian Hospital
A surname-level audit of an anonymised elite Indian hospital, and what it tells us about reservation, fellowship capture, and how prestige sub-specialties reproduce themselves outside the reach of the Mandal…
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On “Press Freedom” and Prejudice.
The author objects to Norwegian newspaper coverage of the Indian Prime Minister’s visit, citing terms such as ‘snake charmer’ as bigotry, and argues that mainstream coverage rules permit far more…
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Bangladesh whitewash Pakistan again
After Bangladesh’s 2-0 Test whitewash of Pakistan, the author argues that Bangladesh’s economic lead over Pakistan now shows up in visible things like cricket results, and reflects on Pakistan’s fast-bowling…
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Return of the King
A commenter announces his return from a self-imposed break, saying he will argue less in the comments and, borrowing the film Dhurandhar’s imagery, take a quieter supporting role.
