The decade ends with two major threats to humanity: global warming leading to a climate catastrophe and the threat of a nuclear war extinguishing our civilization.
Author Archive | Prabir Purkayastha
The UK’s dubious role in the new tanker war with Iran
There are signs of a new tanker war in the Persian Gulf, with Britain joining a coalition that wants a war with Iran.
PepsiCo and Monsanto’s bogus court cases are war on Indian farmers
At the heart of the struggle is capital’s need–Monsanto and Pepsico’s–to continuously enclose spheres and generate surpluses from creating a monopoly over something that it does not actually own.
Trump and Bolton’s new motto: how I started to stop worrying and love the bomb
The key issue is the U.S.’s desire to return to the 90’s status of the world’s sole hegemon.
The Rogue Nation: U.S. breaks the Iran nuclear deal
This reneging on international agreements by the U.S. is not an isolated case. This is the pattern that the U.S. has been following now for the last 25 years.
Aijaz Ahmad on Syria, U.S. and Palestine
A rational solution is possible for Syria, if the US wants to be rational. But with Kushner in the White House Palestine faces a grim future.
What’s Behind the US Escalation Against North Korea?
Aijaz Ahmad: Ever since this young man [Kim Jong-un] became the president, the head of state, of North Korea . . . the West has been testing his will, to see whether he can be stared down. . . . Every year these very provocative war games take place, involving South Korea and the […]
Imperial Sovereignty in the Automated Battlefield: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: Since the Vietnam War the United States has been developing what they then called the “automated battlefield.” Now, after about 40 years, we are now seeing some very, very advanced expressions of that, where the entire battlefield is being automated, to use the whole spectrum of technologies that they have . . . […]
Imperialists and Their Islamists in Syria: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
“No genuine democratic nationalist movement in the world has ever asked for any imperialist intervention.” — Aijaz Ahmad Aijaz Ahmad is a Marxist critic in India. Prabir Purkayastha is a member of the Delhi Science Forum. Video by NewsClick (15 February 2012). See, also, Prabir Purkayastha, “Why Syria Matters: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad” (27 November […]
Why Syria Matters: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: For one thing, Syria is the last remaining representative of Arab nationalism as it used to be understood historically. It still calls itself socialist. Even though it has implemented a great deal of neoliberal reform, the state sector is still dominant. It bans, literally bans, religion from politics. It will not recognize the […]
The Neocolonization of Libya: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: . . . Europeans, and Italians in particular, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their first aerial bombing ever done in the world. The Italians bombed in Libya in 1911. Now, of course, with 100 years of development of the technology, there have been 20,000 aerial attacks on Libya. . . . They […]
On Syria, Democracy, and Imperialism
The trajectory of the democratic movement in the Arab world was never going to be a straight line with clear goals and objectives. The Arab regimes are not homogeneous; they have medieval Islamist monarchies, as in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, and secular but completely authoritarian regimes, both Western puppets like Mubarak and […]
Libya and Yemen — Study in Contrast
It is now clear that the no-fly zone has been expanded in Libya to a military campaign for a regime change, something that the UN Security Council did not authorize. Gaddafi’s residence in Tripoli has been bombed and more strikes are taking place in Tripoli and other towns. The argument of course is that Gaddafi’s […]
The West’s Aim in Libya: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Prabir Purkayastha: If you really look at what is happening, what we have is a historical split between the east and the west, which could be the outline of what could emerge at least in the near future, unless Gaddafi has the strength to push his troops right up to Benghazi. Aijaz Ahmad The real […]
Tunisia, Egypt, and Beyond: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: The dictatorship is gone but the regime is still there [in Tunisia], tottering, hopefully on its last legs. This is the last card that the old regime is playing, which is trying to keep the government under the control of the RCD, the ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally. Actually most of the […]
Turkey’s Political Shift
Part 1 Aijaz Ahmad: Israel, which is completely isolated in the region, is very unhappy about the fact that Turkey is rising as a power which is establishing very productive and extensive contacts in the region. Israel was very happy when both of them were completely isolated in the region: Turkey was in the […]
Eurozone Crisis: The Germans Have Gone Mad
Jayati Ghosh: It wasn’t an actual transfer of one trillion dollars. It was a notional thing. It was a credit line. It was basically the European Central Bank telling private banks across the region: if you are indeed distressed, we will bail you out, we have a credit line ready for you. Now, the […]
Electric Capitalism: A Discussion with David McDonald
Prabir Purkayastha: You have written a lot about electricity in South Africa particularly, and you also talked about how this concept of services being priced so the cost of service is recovered is actually starting a complete ideological change in the way infrastructure services are delivered. So what do you think is the real crisis? […]
GM Crops: The Societal Context of Technologies
The Bt brinjal debate has featured technological worries relating to genetically modified crops which appear relatively minor in comparison to the critical issue of who controls Indian agriculture and therefore food security in India. While there cannot be a mere technological fix to the problems of Indian agriculture, technology — and therefore GM — will […]
Restructuring the Bretton Woods Twins
Prabir Purkayastha: The BRIC and IBSA Summits seem to have been indicating that G20 is the solution to the problems of the world, and they are happy that they have come out of the grip of G7 as it were. Do you really think that this is something that is going to happen? Jayati […]
