🇵🇰 | A Feudal, Fragile State That Keeps Getting Foreign Policy Right I haven’t had a moment to breathe lately. I’ve been in Dubai; a city whose heat and ambition leave little room for reflection. But even in the desert haze of hyper-modernity, some themes press through. And perhaps none more than this: the sheer … Continue reading Pakistan’s Extraordinary Diplomacy
I lost an entire post earlier, but perhaps it’s for the best. I’ve had the time now to clarify my thoughts and this is better to make clear the new policy of just junking comments that don’t “smell right.” What prompted me to write again was a small but telling excerpt from a recent Dawn … Continue reading The Long Defeat: How Hinduphobia Hollowed Out Pakistan
I’ve been following the usual commentary, the BP quadrant: Indosauras, Nivedita, Kabir. And I read Kabir’s offhand remark that the Ramayana “didn’t resonate” the way the Iliad or Odyssey did. That casual dismissal is telling. The Ramayana is not just literature, it is scripture, memory, and civilization encoded in verse. It has shaped the moral … Continue reading Bharat Needs No Validation
First, a brief acknowledgment: Kabir remains one of the pillars of this blog. His consistency, depth, and willingness to engage with the hardest questions are invaluable. I don’t always agree with him—but the conversation would be much poorer without his voice. The post is a series of reflections—stitched together from the comment threads. I. Gaza: … Continue reading Resistance, Realignment, and the Roads Not Taken
Vice President JD Vance recently declared that America doesn’t need to “import a foreign class of servants” to remain competitive. “We did it in the ’50s and ’60s,” he said. “We put a man on the moon with American talent. Some German and Jewish scientists who had come over during World War two, but mostly … Continue reading “A Foreign Class of Servants” — JD Vance and the Great American Amnesia
Kabir: Lastly, KGS and other schools like it are never going to replace English with anything else. English is the way to get ahead in Pakistan (as it is in India to a large extent). The real divide in Pakistan is between those who are Urdu-educated vs. those who are English-educated. As Kabir states, correctly, … Continue reading “Mimicstan”: the burden of Purity from Pagan origins
On Pakistan’s second birth, India’s rising nationalism, and the politics of martyrdom There’s a strange irony in history: the founder of Pakistan and the “strongest” Prime Minister of India may ultimately be remembered for the same thing—giving Pakistan life. Muhammad Ali Jinnah birthed the state. Narendra Modi may have revived its soul. Because nothing steels … Continue reading Quaid, Modi, and the Operation Sindoor
Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above! In this episode Amey and I talk to Kushal Mehra, host of the Carvaka podcast and an Indo-Canadian of … Continue reading Browncast: Kushal Mehra on the recent Canada Khalistani Kefuffles
Another Browncast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above! In this episode we talk to our regular guest, Major Amin. Major Amin is a military historian with … Continue reading Browncast: Major Amin on the Ukraine Crisis
Justin Marozzi: Islamic Empires: Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization One of the starkest contrasts between the Indic and the Islamic civilizations is the relative importance accorded to the urban. Dharmic philosophies place special emphasis on solitude- going off to the forest to meditate (vanaprasthashrama) and then eventually renouncing the material world (sanyasashrama) are considered … Continue reading Book Review: Islamic Empires- Fifteen Cities that Define a Civilization
