Last August, we wrote, “Yet, the Pakistani establishment keep looking the wrong way. The bulk of the Pakistani Panjabi Army faces India, while behind their backs, the Pashtuns are increasing their control over Pakistan. If this goes on unchecked, we might see a struggle break out for control of Panjab between the Panjabis and the…
Two articles have catapulted into our top 10 list since our last monthly updates. We use the term “catapulted’ to describe the speed at which the readership of these 2 articles grew during the past 4 weeks. These new articles are: “CNBC’s Fast Money – Practice What Your Anchor Dylan Ratigan Preaches” – entered the…
Recently, Wisden, The Book of Cricket, introduced its Inaugural Wisden XI, their Cricket Team of the world’s best 11 players. Their aim is to “recognise the best Test cricketers of the calendar year, and to endorse Test cricket as the highest, most skilled, form of the game, the least subject to the intrusion of time.“…
Editor’s Note: In this article, we develop our theory about the origin of the softness and weakness exhibited by Indian Society today and in the past. We need to discuss history to build up the context for our views. That is why this has turned out to be such a long article. Readers might want…
IBSA began as an international dialogue forum between India, Brazil and South Africa. It represents three important geographic poles for galvanizing cooperation and greater understanding between three important continents of the developing world, Africa, Asia and South America. The forum provides a platform to engage in discussions in the field of agriculture, trade and defense…
We have always been impressed with Cinema’s ability to change the way a story is viewed, to present it in a different and often illuminating way. The Cinema tends to visualize an issue or an event very differently from the way the participants see it. Look at the way Francis Ford Coppola changed our view of the Italian Mafia…
President Obama had a long meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the recent G-20 Summit in London. It was clear from his comments after the meeting that President Obama was very impressed with Prime Minister Singh. He praised Dr. Singh for his leadership and attributed “much of the growth and the rise of India” to the…
We began writing about the military tensions between China and India in June 2008 with our article “Dr. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale – Is his ignorance symptomatic of Global Investors?” (see https://cinemarasik.com/2008/06/13/dr-jeffrey-sonnenfeld-of-yale–is-his-ignorance-sympotomatic-of-global-investors-and-global-media.aspx). At that time, some readers might have considered us as fanciful or even alarmist. But, our views are getting more visibility in mainstream strategic circles…
“Greed and Stupidity” is the title of an article about the current economic crisis by David Brooks of the New York Times. David Brooks has become a favorite of ours; we find him sensible, balanced and devoid of dogmatism that seems to be the bane of many Newspaper opinionators. (see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/opinion/03brooks.html?_r=1 ) In this article, Brooks discusses reasons for the…
Last week, the Pashtun Taliban attacked a Police Academy near Lahore. The attackers issued no demands but went on a rampage, killing at least eight recruits & instructors and wounding more than 100 others. One attacker was killed in the siege that followed and, in a gory finale, three detonated suicide belts, killing themselves. “They were barbaric,” a senior trainer…