Open Thread

Could Donald Trump Divide the Western World in His Quest for Greenland? (Open Thread)

Kabir · January 21, 2026 · 17 comments

With Europe and America increasingly locked in an acrimonious struggle over the future of Greenland, we examine the fate of the western world. Could it end up divided and at odds with each other? Could NATO collapse? And if that happens, will Russia and China be the only countries to gain? And what sort of international order will we then have to grapple with? Join me live at 4.30 p.m. (11.00 a.m. in the UK/Ireland) on Tuesday the 20th of January to hear Bill Emmott, the former Editor-in-Chief of The Economist and Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, address these questions.

Prof. John Mearsheimer: Dismantling Iran, The Four Part Strategy (Iran Open Thread)

Kabir · January 16, 2026 · 1 comment

Prof John Mearsheimer argues that Western media misrepresents events in Iran as an organic, popular uprising against a mismanaged regime. Instead, they claim the unrest follows a familiar U.S.–Israeli four-step regime-change playbook. Economic warfare: The U.S. imposes sanctions that deliberately damage Iran’s economy, creating widespread hardship. Protests then arise largely in response to these externally induced economic conditions. Fueling protests: The U.S. and Israel allegedly encourage, organize, and support mass protests, citing evidence such as Israeli media reports, statements by U.S. officials, Mossad involvement, and the use of Starlink terminals by protesters after Iran shut down the internet. Disinformation campaign: Western audiences are told the protests are purely internal and democratic, while messaging inside Iran is designed to convince people the regime is collapsing and momentum is unstoppable. Military intervention (planned but not executed): Once the regime appears near collapse, U.S. and Israeli military force would be used to strike infrastructure and elites to finish it off. According to the speaker, this strategy has failed because protests have sharply declined and the Iranian government’s crackdown has largely succeeded. Israeli commentators and even President Trump’s shifting rhetoric are cited as acknowledgments of failure. The concern now, they argue, is that Trump—having expected the regime to be on its last legs—may consider military force to “rescue” a collapsing strategy, despite reduced U.S. combat power in the region and Iran’s stated intention to retaliate directly against U.S. and Israeli targets.

Kabir · January 12, 2026 · 16 comments

1) “Dargahs Beyond Belief” by Shah Umair

2) “After Khaleda and Hasina: What lies ahead for Bangladesh and India?”

3) “Politics of History: Manu Pillai with Salil Tripathi”

4) Trump is ‘Chest Beating’ Over a Retreat| ‘The Opinions’ Podcast

Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, dies at 80 after prolonged illness (Open Thread)

Kabir · December 31, 2025 · 10 comments

1) Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, dies at 80 after prolonged illness

Begum Zia was Bangladesh’s first female prime minister–and only the second female prime minister of a Muslim majority country (Benazir Bhutto was the first).

Prime Minister Modi has expressed his condolences as has PM Sharif of Pakistan. PM Sharif called Begum Zia “a committed friend of Pakistan”.

She will be given a state funeral on Wednesday (December 31) and then buried alongside her late husband, Ziaur Rahman. Her son, Tarique Rahman, recently returned to Bangladesh after seventeen years in self-exile. He is expected to be prime minister if BNP wins the February elections.

2) Khaleda Zia: How Begum Khaleda influenced Bangladesh, India| Analysis

Join The Hindu’s Suhasini Haidar, Kallol Bhattacherjee and Stanly Johny as they decode the influence of Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister. Zia, along with archrival Sheikh Hasina, defined the country’s politics for a generation.

3) “Inside ‘The Great Shumsuddin Family”: Anusha Rizvi in Conversation|Speak Easy-Episode 4″

In the fourth episode of SpeakEasy, senior journalist Amit Baruah is in conversation with filmmaker Anusha Rizvi, on her latest film “The Great Shamsuddin Family” and the questions it raises about fear, belonging, and everyday life in contemporary India. Rizvi discusses how the film unfolds over the course of a single day, capturing the quiet anxieties of a middle-class Muslim family in Delhi. She emphasises that there is no single, uniform idea of “Muslimness” in the country, a point the film quietly makes through its characters and situations. She reflects on why the film avoids overt drama, instead foregrounding the persistent undercurrent of fear—of being misunderstood, misread, or targeted—that shapes ordinary decisions, conversations, and silences. The conversation also explores Rizvi’s approach to representation, her resistance to stereotypical portrayals of Muslim households in cinema, and her focus on women characters who navigate work, family, and crisis with agency and humour. Rizvi also speaks about how social media, surveillance, and heightened public hostility have altered the emotional landscape in which artists and citizens now operate.

Open Thread

Kabir · December 26, 2025 · 12 comments

1) “How Indian media sold out|The Caravan Long View Ep 5”

In this episode of The Caravan Longview, Hartosh Singh Bal and Sushant Singh provide an analysis of the structural decay within Indian journalism and how its inherent vulnerabilities have been weaponised for political gain. They argue that the “Godi Media” phenomenon was not an overnight accident, but the result of a pre-existing, fragile ecosystem being systematically re-engineered into a disciplined machinery for narrative management.

2) “Osman Hadi is becoming a Malcolm X for Bangladesh, influence multiplied after death”

Bangladesh has been on the boil since the death of a prominent student activist, Osman Hadi and a core component of it has been the anti-India sentiment. But what is driving it? It is just a student leader’s death, Sheikh Hasina’s exile to India post 2024 or more? Bangladeshi political analyst Shaquat Rabbee speaks to Debdutta Chakraborty on this and more in ThePrint #Uninterrupted

3) How Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka and Myanmar shatters the global myth of Buddhism as peaceful

How did a religion symbolised by its guiding tenet of non-ahimsa or non-violence see a shift where the monks ended up picking swords in pursuit of a nationalist identity across South and South East Asia? Author & journalist Sonia Faleiro discusses this and more in ThePrint #SoftCover, where she discusses her newly released book, The Robe and the Sword with Debdutta Chakraborty

4) Aamer Rahman on “Reverse Racism”

Open Thread (Birthday)

X.T.M · December 17, 2025 · 14 comments

Imran Khan’s sons speak out: “Our father’s prison conditions aren’t bad, they’re awful.” Whatever one thinks of Pakistani politics, the treatment of a former prime minister is a measure of a state’s institutional health.

“Pakistanis and Indians are like distant cousins.”

Is the Paknationalism or Indophilia; the strange twist of Pakistan is that both can be true at the same time.

It was my birthday two days ago on the 15th. The official celebration will be later this month in Sri Lanka, but the last few weeks have been unusually hectic with travel and work. Continue reading Open Thread (Birthday)