US President Donald Trump's threats against Iran have drawn strong condemnation from Democrat leaders, who are calling for his removal from office, while some Republicans express concern.
By all available indications, the White House drafted a face-saving note and handed it, ready-made, to Islamabad. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was supposed to then post it in the guise of a plea urging Trump to extend the deadline by two weeks 'to allow diplomacy to run its course'. Trump would then graciously accept Pakistan's 'request' and declare a ceasefire. Sharif dutifully posted the message on X. Except that he, or whoever was handling the account, forgot to delete the tell-tale first line visible in the edit history: 'Draft - Pakistan's PM Message on X'. Prem Panicker's must read blog on the Iran War.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
We know in our heart that speaking the truth on this stupid Iran war will anger Trump and so we look the other way because if we look him in the eye the bully will straighten us out, asserts Aakar Patel.
The Gauhati High Court has issued a notice to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in response to Public Interest Litigations (PILs) accusing him of hate speech, with the court also issuing notices to the Centre, state government, and DGP, and setting a hearing date for April 21.
Nitish thought that his stakes as chief minister were far greater than his stakes in protecting one of his party MLAs. He could not allow his rule-of-law train to be derailed by a small rock on the track. On the contrary, if he removed it to keep the train moving at a steady speed he would gain strong public admiration and sympathy that would help him take the masses along in carrying out other tasks. A fascinating excerpt from Arun Sinha's Nitish Kumar And The Rise Of Bihar.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
'Look after your own mother before looking after your neighbour's mother.' 'I don't believe in starving my own mother and feeding sweets to the neighbours.'
Most actors usually face obscurity after a fade-out from the limelight.
The reality is that far from being friendless, India is better positioned in the world than at any point post-Cold War, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'We are too important to want to be paired with Pakistan but too intensely connected to it to successfully detach ourselves,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Rahul described the Rafale deal as a 'systematic robbery' from the Indian defence forces.
Jamie Smith's maiden Test century helped England take a 122-run lead on Day 3 in the first Test against Sri Lanka
'The real challenge cannot be underestimated considering that this is still very much a "boutique relationship" -- a transactional relationship at its core based on its utility value to both countries -- but enveloped in an aura of romance,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"I think there is a beginning of an understanding that they can't bluster their way through this and there is an openness to collaborating in a way that perhaps they were less open before," Trudeau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
He said the UPA had left the economy in a dire state, with Consumer Price Index and food inflation at double digit, Wholesale Price Index inflation around 6-7 per cent and growth prospects were limited.
A day after Trudeau's remarks, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi asserted that India's "core issue" with Canada remains that of the space given to separatists, terrorists and anti-India elements in that country.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has dismissed an operational creditor's petition to initiate insolvency proceedings against Wipro Ltd. A two-member Chennai bench of the appellate tribunal held earlier that there was a pre-existing dispute over the payment between Wipro and the petitioner and observed that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was not framed for being a "mere recovery legislation for creditors". The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has upheld the order of the NCLT.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
Displaying 'ARMY' on private transport is an attempt to milk the respect and reverence that the common citizen has for a person in the armed forces, observes Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd). By writing 'ARMY' and displaying regimental insignias, we expect a few misdemeanours to be overlooked.
India's voting pattern in the United Nations with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict is lately marked by a calibrated distancing from Israel, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
My followers and devotees will not have to suffer the trauma of seeing me accept that something wrong has happened under my watch, observes Aakar Patel.
'To summarise, PM Modi's failures in the last nine years can be categorised under 'durniti' (bad policies), 'anyay' (injustice) and - perhaps most importantly - 'badniyat' (ill intention)'
Everybody knows he's a master of sublime, but Mani Ratnam's brilliance in escalating drama delivers a goosebumps-inducing impact when bolstered by A R Rahman's musical gravitas,
'Putin is in danger of losing face in his Ukrainian adventure. His bluster is a response to this.'
Sukanya Verma lists her 15 favourite Hindi songs of 2022 in no particular order.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD-U launched a frontal attack on ally BJP, asking it to rein in 'loudmouth leaders' whose 'arrogance' had cost it an old partner like the Shiv Sena.
Glorification of Burhan Wani by Pak PM at the world forum is an act of self-incrimination, says M J Akbar.
From Congress to BJP and back to Congress, Yashpal Arya, who was Uttarakhand's transport and excise minister in the Dhami government till the other day, has resigned and returned to his womb. But he is not the only one in the Land of the Gods to do so, reports Shishir Prashant.
Do you carry your own toilet mug? Do you cringe while drinking water from the kitchen sink? Yup! You're an Indian alright :-)
'I thought Virat Kohli was the best batsman I've ever seen because of the way he plays in all forms, but Steve Smith... that's another level.'
Shushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra and Vaani Kapoor are all looking potentially interesting, at least from the bits on show.
The only way out of the downward spiral of purchases, scams, cancellations and blacklistings is the systematic and relentless indigenisation of defence equipment, says Ajai Shukla
Shahid Kapoor literally burst out of a poster to highlight the film's blustering title, Phata Poster Nikhla Hero. For all his swashbuckling attitude, the caper turned out to be a damp squib and yet another tale of make-believe heroism ate box office dust.
"The government is wrong. It is wrong because it is clueless," Chidambaram said. "It is unable to look for the obvious clues because it is stubborn and mulish in defending its catastrophic mistakes like demonetisation, flawed GST, tax terrorism, regulatory overkill, protectionism, and centralised control of decision-making in the Prime Minister's Office."
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