We were talking to a real-life spy!! Wow!
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin turned 70 on March 1, 2023.
No experts, clearly, were involved in the design of these new tariffs, which have been the subject of bemused wonderment across the world in how completely they ignore logic, rationality, fairness, and economic theory, observes Mihir S Sharma.
On Jawaharlal Nehru's 61st death anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra recalls how India's first prime minister cultivated a unique role for the newly independent country on the world stage.
Hundreds of visiting supporters have been queuing up to visit Josef Stalin's bunker - chambers dug out underneath the southwestern city to protect the Soviet leader from a Nazi German assault that never came.
'If delimitation is not handled well by the Centre, the southern states are certainly going to challenge it.'
'The southern states will have no voice.' 'Political parties in future need to focus only on one region, the northern region, to win the general election.'
Grabavo, where Flight MH17 exploded and crashed, is in the eastern province of Donetsk. It is 40 odd kms from the Russian border and for many years, was called Stalino after Josef Stalin.
Dominc Xavier wonders if this latest Modi pitch is in tune with strongmen trends around the world, setting the course for a presidential-style poll during the Lok Sabha election.
By 2024, Vladimir Putin would have been in power for 24 years -- coming close to Josef Stalin, who ruled the then USSR for 31 years.
Stalin owes his victory this time, like in 2019, to the hate-campaign of the local Hindutva forces, which kept haranguing him, and even his dead father, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stalin gets a new title...
Times have changed, situations have changed, but the basic nature of superpower geo-politics remains the same and so also India's diplomacy -- call it non-alignment, strategic autonomy or neutrality; it all depends on the time scale, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan -- a devotee of Marx and Engels, Lenin and Stalin for well over half a century -- was spotted with a man and child with a starling resemblance to St Nick aka Santa Claus aka Ded Moroz (as Santa is known in Vladmir and Josef's native Russia).
The OTT scene is bustling again this week with brand new shows and movies. Sukanya Verma suggests what you can watch.
Stalin is preparing the DMK to go the whole hog in making 'federalism', 'Tamil self-respect' and 'communal cohesiveness' the party's poll plank next year, and package the BJP and its possible allies, as 'divisive' and 'reactionary', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
He may have been hailed as The Great Reformer in nations elsewhere, but in his motherland, Mikhail Sergeyevich was a hate figure for his policies ending the chimera of Russian dominance in the world.
'This is the real purpose behind the arrest, and it is not about controlling corruption.' 'It is like taking Amit Shah into custody before the 2024 elections.' 'How will it affect the BJP's election machinery?'
The Year of the Rabbit, according to the Chinese calendar, began on Sunday, January 22.
My gamble to stand in the queue and get Rs 500 notes had failed. And only the months ahead will tell us if Modi's gamble will succeed or not.
'Frankly, India has no role to play.' 'This is a showdown between the US and NATO on one hand and Russia on the other.' 'That said, the outcome of this titanic struggle in Central Europe will remould the world order and affect India profoundly,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Putin is looking beyond the current regime in Kyiv. Of course, if the Western military assistance to Kyiv continues in any form, Washington knows that Russia will regard it as a hostile act and there will be severe consequences, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
About 41,000 rooms are being provided for the Games and any failure to have them ready in time would be a potential blow to President Vladimir Putin's hopes that the Winter Olympics will show how far Russia has come since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Chinese air force is now a 400,000-person force that flies some 2,000 combat aircraft -- more than thrice the size of the Indian Air Force.
'Like everyone else addicted to Kremlin politics, I too have a thesis.' 'Foreign policy is known to be Putin's forte -- and Russia's stability his obsession.' 'As we enter the 2020s, it is clear that an extraordinary turbulent decade lies ahead in world politics and it casts dark shadows on Russia's future,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
For all the controversy, the concept of prominent First Children is not novel in democracies. So why is Donald Trump's daughter different and discomfiting?
'The Vladivostok visit marks a subtle reversal of trend discernible in the revival of India-Russia relations pioneered by Modi during the past couple of years,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'With any luck and a certain amount of rationality, we should be able to survive,' historian Antony Beevor tells Rediff.com's Sanchari Bhattacharya. 'We should learn that genocides and elimination of minorities achieve nothing and only sets a nation back. If we don't learn from our mistakes, then humanity doesn't deserve a chance to survive.'
Why did Kim Jong-un order his brother's murder?
'Arthur was a charming, quirky, funny, smart journalist who loved all things about films. And he would change my life forever.'
2017 is full of long weekends! You won't regret planning your next trip to these wonderful cities.
'His secularism merely declared the equality of all religions in India under fundamental rights.'
'Castro's huge appeal lies in the fact that he stood up to the Americans.' 'However, it becomes difficult to be judgmental about his legacy, because there are huge uncertainties about the future of the Cuba that he built,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel glances at the life and political career of Alexey Navalny who has been banned from challenging Vladimir Putin in Russia's presidential election.
MUST READ: The speech Nayantara Sahgal was not allowed to give.
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