Blog Post

Did Regan Regan keep America one step ahead in the cold war?

BLOG POST

The cold war was unlike any other war that had ever taken place on the grounds of this world. In nature it was very different and indeed very complex when compared with some of the other wars that had taken place in history. To start off with, the cold war was the name given to describe the complex relationship between the United States and the USSR right after the Second World War had ended. I believe that the cold war was more than anything a clash of very different ideologies and beliefs. In addition to these there were many other differences between the two nations which inflicted the formation of a power struggle between two sides.  Ronald Regan was the 40^th president of the United States of America from 1981-1989. When Reagan took over the white house, it most definitely seemed as if the UUSR was winning the cold war and not the West. The Soviets at this period had just captured Afghanistan and were progressing towards spreading their communist ideology in the nation. Afghanistan was a strategic location both the USSR and the USA wanted to have control of. The Soviet Union had its support from its allies in Central America and Southern Africa. America during this period didn't really get its support from its allies in Europe. Regan called this period a "period of neglect" and mentioned that the prospects are less likely to be positive.  In spite of this, Reagan was optimistic and believed that the United States should challenge its enemies. Reagan strongly believed that the West would win against the Soviets in the end and decided to abandon the containment or the Détente which the USA had with the Soviet union.  Regan implemented aggressive policies against the Soviet Union which put the communist system under pressure. Regan strongly felt that the USSR did not represent the wave of the future. In addition Regan also cited Karl Marx in his favor as he said that there was a crisis unfolding in the world, but not in the Capitalist west but in the Communist east. Regan believed that the United states had not only a foreign-policy duty to compete with the soviet union, but also had a moral responsibility to compete with the "Evil empire" as he called it. The United States did compete with the Soviet Union rigorously. Regan immediately introduced the  Strategic defense initiative (SDI) whereby he increased spending on military by 30%. Regan made the USSR spend itself into bankruptcy. Later in this period was born the Regan doctrine, which was basically a form of proxy war fought by the United States using local forces to increase soviet problems globally. Examples of such proxy wars would include Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Regan had combined a serious analysis of Soviet systemic weaknesses. The USA put a lot of economic pressure on the USSR by implementing trade embargos and investment freezes. But in this period Soviet economy was not too dependent on the West, America however an even more destructive weapon had in its Arsenal. This was Saudi Arabia which at the time dominated the world's supply for oil which was at 25%. With the help of the Saudi Arabians the Americans were able to influence the Russian oil prices globally.  This took a hard toll on the soviet economy as it heavily depended heavily on the export of oil. Regan left America as one of the world's strongest economies after the end of the cold war, he was also successful at destabilizing the soviet economy and finally the soviet union as a whole. So it can be concluded that Regan, at least towards the end did keep America one step ahead of the Soviet Union.

 

Blog Post

JNU issue: Ethical or non ethical?

BLOG POST

The student rally or debate that took place in Jawaharlal Nehru University on 9^th February 2016 has been the main topic for discussions for the past few weeks on national television and papers. This protest which took place on the grounds of the university has given rise to various arguments about the issue. On February 11^th 2016 two days after the rally had taken place, Kanhaiya Kumar who was the president of the JNUSU, which was the university's student union, had been arrested on charges of sedition. According to the media the students who participated in the rally had made some statements that were "anti-national or pro-Pakistan in nature. Some of the statements made included "KashmirKi Azaadi tak, Bharat ki Barbaadi tak, Jang rahegi jaari" etc. To start off with I believe this issue has been overly exaggerated by national and social media. This issue has been misconstrued by many and I strongly feel that the charges against Kanhiya kumar are unreasonable in nature. Kanhiya Kumar in his speech spoke about various topics, including equality for women, the drawback of a cast based system etc. The main focus of his speech was however about the constitution of India. The JNU president in his speech had emphasized how much he respects and believes in the constitution of india and that he is only against the RSS or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In his speech he also mentioned about how he has no intent to please the RSS and receive any certificates for patriotism. Here I would like to remind to the individuals and the media making this issue a big deal, by saying that there is a difference between being Anti-government and Anti-national and I believe that kanhaiya kumar was simply against the government or the RSS in this case and I don't see how statements made against the RSS have anything to do with offending the constitution of India. India is said to be one of the biggest democracies in this world and with this issue in consideration, I believe this is hypocrisy at its highest. The first step towards being a democracy is to have freedom for speech and expression and in this case kanhaiya kumar and the other students in the rally were simply expressing their views against the death penalty given to Afzal Guru.  I believe there is no point in calling our nation a democracy if the most fundamental requirement of a democracy in this case freedom of speech is not met. Overall I believe that the charges of sedition on which kanhaiya kumar was arrested on is non ethical in nature and I do hope that the charges on which he is arrested are reconsidered by the judiciary. I would like to conclude by saying that I agree with all the points that knhaiya kumar had pointed out in his speech, and I don't believe he should be prosecuted for sedition as he did not promote or preach any anti national slogans.

Saisharan Shankar

20153070

 

Israel's identity crisis

Israel's identity crisis

Israel which is run by the Zionist government wishes to make Israel a land of Jews. It is one in which Israel administers rights and privileges based solely on ethnicity and religion. Now the question that arises is how can a state remain democratic when it favors the rights of one ethnic or religious group over others?

The ultimate aim of the Zionist movement – pioneered in the late 1800s, and which gained significant traction throughout the 20th and current century – was to "…return the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.  This statement stands as an irony to the democratic nature of the states. As they have a specified drawn line between 'Jewish nationals and Israeli citizens'. Indeed, Israel makes the unique distinction between 'Jewish nationals' and 'Israeli citizens'; the former consists of all persons, both within the borders of Israel and outside, who consider themselves to be Jewish, be it through familial ties, culture or conversion, and the latter who belong to the State of Israel, but who claim no Jewish linkage. This is a novel construct and is often explained by Zionists in terms similar to that of Professor Gil Troy, who posits, "The French have France, Germans have Germany, the Dutch have the Netherlands, Jews have Israel.

This is a misleading assertion.  For instance, the Arabs staying is Israel, although they constitute 20 percent of the population, are long waiting to be given equal rights as Jews in Israel. And, this is done by Arab citizens, on the other hand, feel neglected and discriminated against by the state, particularly on issues of land ownership, resource allocation and political representation. While they enjoy political rights unknown to many in the region, they are largely cut off from the geographical, cultural, economic and political mainstream and subjected to various forms of discrimination. 

And not to forget, the definition of democracy itself suggest that the power is vested in the hands of the citizen equally. According to political scientist Larry Diamond democracy's one key element is that rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. And, yet Israel does proclaims it's a democracy.

 

Ankita Das

20153050

Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its affect in common man

Bhopal Gas Tragedy and its affect in common man

Rhythm Miglani

20153009

 

Every person who has proper knowledge of Bhopal Gas tragedy shudders to even this day just when he imagines the scene that happened in Bhopal on the night between 2-3 December 1984 when lakhs of people in the sweet slumber were caught unaware suffocating, gasping for breath, falling unconscious, dying in pain watching their children helplessly crying and dying because of the Gas leak in Union Carbide India Ltd. a pesticide plant.  The Toxic gas diffusing with the air had spread steadily in the various small towns and residences exposed itself to over 5 lakhs people and hospitals were filled to their capacities.  Thousands of People died that time and lakhs were permanently disabled or partially cripped.  There were scenes of horror, which not only spread over Bhopal but the whole nation went into shock over such a big disaster, which they never saw or heard of in their history.  The cause of the disaster was the leakage of the gas because of the back flow of water in MIC (Methyl Isocyanate) tank. It was definitely a result of poor maintenance and negligence, but the company shook it off attributing as the result of sabotage.

 

 The union carbide cooperation had majority of the shares and they therefore paid $470 millions as immediate compensations and $97 millions later to settle the litigation.  A mocking as compared to the magnitude of the havoc caused.  It was whispered that the highest political authorities were behind the screens supportive of UCC.  The politicians failed to stand by the people in this the darkest hour and never bothered seriously to get back Anderson, the C.E.O. of the company and the main culprit, who had managed to run out of the country, with the alleged support of the big political powers.  In 1994 UCC sold its stake to Everyday India Ltd. and later merged with McLeod Russets (India) Ltd. Eveready terminated the 99 years old lease and threw back the control to state government of Bhopal.  All shady tricks to wriggle out of their responsibilities, civil and criminal were filled in courts of Bhopal and after 26 years in 2010, the cases ended up with seven employees including the Former Chairman of UCIL who were sentenced with 2 years of imprisonment for criminal negligence causing death and a mocking fine of $2000 each, the maximum provided under law.

 

The incident one of the worst of its kind in the history of the world, should have served as an eye opener to the administration.  The plight of thousands of people who were the target of the gas leak ended up being crippled still survive and lead to lives worse then hell.  Compensation has not reached to many of them and they weep silently; mourn at so called efficiency, integrity and working of the administration, carving for their early death to put an end to their sufferings.  They never know that their quite sleep on the night of 2-3 December 1984 will open the gates of life long horrors and imaginable sufferings to them.  This tragic incident, which was caused because of the lack of bureaucrat administration, has changed the whole administration structure, and strict entry of foreign companies to set up the industry has become tough.  Which has regulated the checks and balance of the administration corruption.

 

US Presidential Election 2016

The United States presidential election for the year 2016, scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016, will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. Voters will select presidential electors who in turn elects a new president and vice president through the Electoral College. The  term limit  recognized in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the incumbent President, Barack Obama, of the Democratic Party, from being elected to a third term.

The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses have been taking place between February 1 and June 14, 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This nomination process is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who then in turn elect their party's presidential nominee. The 2016 Republican National Convention is set to take place from July 18 to July 21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio and 2016 Democratic National Convention will take place from July 25 to July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Businessman and reality television celebrity Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party on May 3, 2016, after the suspensions of Ted Cruz and John Kasich's campaigns and his win in the Indiana primary. He is expected to face the nominees of the Democratic Party in the general election, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

In every state except Maine and Nebraska, the victor of the popular vote in the state wins all of the electoral votes of the state. Maine and Nebraska use the "congressional district method", in which the winner of the state gets two electoral votes and candidates receive additional electoral votes for each congressional district that they win. Recent presidential campaigns have generally focused their resources on a relatively small number of competitive states.

Thomas George 

Europe Migrant Crisis

The European migrant crisis also called the European refugee crisis  began in the year 2015, when an increasing number of refugees and migrants  made their voyage to the European Union (EU) to seek asylum by traveling across the Mediterranean Sea or through Southeast Europe. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the top three nationalities of the over one million Mediterranean Sea arrivals in 2015 include Syrian (49%), Afghan (21%) and Iraqi (8%). Of the refugees and migrants arriving in EU by sea in 2015, 58% were men, 17% women and 25% children.  

 In the first six months of 2015, Greece overtook Italy as the first EU country of influx, becoming, the starting point of a flow of refugees and migrants moving through Balkan countries to northern European countries, mainly Germany and Sweden. Since April 2015, the European Union  strived to cope with the crisis, increasing funding for border patrol operations in the Mediterranean, devising plans to fight migrant smuggling, launching Operation Sophia ,proposing a new quota system to relocate ,resettling asylum seekers among EU states and alleviating the burden on countries on the external borders of the Union. Individual countries have at times re-launched border controls within the Schengen area, and cracks have emerged between countries willing to accept asylum seekers and others trying to discourage their arrival.

According to Eurostat, European Union member states have received over 1.2 million first time asylum applications in 2015, a number more than double that of the previous year. Four states  including Germany, Hungary, Sweden, and Austria received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications in 2015, with Hungary, Sweden, and Austria being the top recipients of asylum applications per capita. The major countries of citizenship of asylum seekers, accounting for more than half of the total, were Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Thomas George

 

Divergence in Democracy

The definition of democracy states that it is a system of government in which power is vested in people who rule directly or indirectly or through freely elected representatives. India is a country that goes solely with this definition of democracy and stands as the largest democracy in the world. It has a government for the people, by the people and of the people. Is it not possible for all the people in a large country like this to participate in the government? It is for this reason they are required to exercise their franchise and elect representatives at regular intervals. These representatives form the parliament legislate and form responsible government.

Looking by the definition of democracy, the United States of America also follows the democratic form of government. Identifying these two countries as a democracy why is there perplexity regarding this fact that  USA is a democracy? The reason is that USA is not a direct democracy, in the sense of a country in which laws are made predominantly by majority vote. Some law making is done this way, on state and local levels, but that seems to be only a tiny fraction of all the lawmaking. But without doubt USA is a representative democracy which is a form of democracy. And certainly the American form of government has been called a democracy by leading American statesmen and legal commentators from the framing on. In addition to being a representative democracy, the United states is also a constitutional democracy.

Comparing India and USA there are significant differences between the democracies. While the USA follows the two party system, India follows the multiparty system. United States of America does not have a Prime Minister, instead it has a Presidential form of government, where the President is elected head of the state and head of the government unlike the parliamentary form of government. The Cabinet is appointed by the President with Senate approval.  Contrary to USA, in India we can see that there is a Union Council of Ministers appointed by the President on the recommendation of the prime minister. Also  the USA has a higher degree of participation in the democratic process. Based on the reality that a large percentage of Indians vote in the general elections than the percentage of Americans vote in their elections, one can be  misled into believing that Indians are somehow more into the democratic process. Yes, US does have a different type of democracy when compared to India and the application of democracy varies there. But nevertheless USA is also a democracy.

Thomas George