Grand promises of Paris climate deal undermined by squalid retrenchments

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THE GUARDIAN | GEORGE MONBIOT | DECEMBER 12 2015

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Ben Jennings 12.12.15 / Picture from THE GUARDIAN

In fairness, the failure does not belong to the Paris talks, but to the whole process. A maximum of 1.5C, now an aspirational and unlikely target, was eminently achievable when the first UN climate change conference took place in Berlin in 1995. Two decades of procrastination, caused by lobbying – overt, covert and often downright sinister – by the fossil fuel lobby, coupled with the reluctance of governments to explain to their electorates that short-term thinking has long-term costs, ensure that the window of opportunity is now three-quarters shut. The talks in Paris are the best there have ever been. And that is a terrible indictment…continue reading

As long as there is an Assad, there will be an Isil – he’ll make sure of it

Vladimir Putin replaces Dmitry Medvedev as Russia’s president – billboard. Russia Now. / Picture from Telegraph UK

TELEGRAPH UK | DAVID BLAIR | DECEMBER 7 2015

In the tangled world of the Middle East, “My enemy’s enemy is my friend” is the dictum most likely to cause tragic mistakes. Very often, the saying would be more accurate if adapted to read: “Beware the tyrant who cynically poses as an enemy of your enemy in order to strengthen his grip on power.”

“Forget the notion that allying with Assad against Isil is comparable to teaming up with Stalin against Hitler. From 1941 onwards, Stalin was at least fighting Hitler”

So it is with Bashar al-Assad in Syria. From the very beginning of his country’s insurrection, Assad has done his best to help Islamist zealots hijack the Syrian opposition; he worked particularly hard to create ideal laboratory conditions for the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). His supremely cynical aim was to convince the West to…continue reading

All For Glory

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OUTLOOK | George Monbiot | DECEMBER 5 2015

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Where you would expect to see caution and circumspection, instead there is a rush to action. Where you would expect to see determination and resolve, there is only vacillation and delay. The contrast between the government’s handling of the Syrian crisis and its handling of the climate change crisis could not be greater. It responds to these issues with an equal and opposite recklessness.

“We have to hit these terrorists in their heartlands right now,” David Cameron told parliament last week. While it is hard to contest the principle of fighting Isis, to do so without a clear strategic purpose and intelligible objectives is lunacy.

The 70,000 fighters Cameron believes he can call upon might exist, but most of them are fighting President Assad in other parts of the country. Does he really intend to draw them away from that fight, even if — and this seems unlikely — they are willing to be drawn? After all, he insists (correctly I believe) that “we will not beat ISIL if we waver in our view that ultimately Assad must go.” Redeploy Assad’s opponents against a different enemy…continue reading

Lull Before The Storm

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OUTLOOK | RK MISHRA | DECEMBER 4 2015

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Soon after voting ended in the local body elections in Gujarat on November 29,the core group of the ruling BJP met at the official residence of chief minister Anandiben Patel in Gandhinagar for a final review. Present were ministers and key leaders helming various poll related responsibilities.

The sum and substance of the deliberations were that the party would be able to retain control of the six municipal corporations but was facing  a total rout in eight district panchayats while five could go either way. Similarly the party expected to lose about 100 to 110 tehsil panchayats, the chief minister was told, although the party hoped to bag about 35 municipalities.

Whatever the outcome, the core group decided that wherever BJP would win, celebrations should be so extensive and intense that the overall impact would not only overshadow Congress enthusiasts but also lift the morale of the BJP workers. Under no circumstances, it was decided, should a message go out that the ‘Patidar effect’ was the reason for the party’s defeat…continue reading

Bihar Defeat Sends Clear Message to Modi

NDTV | SHASHI THAROOR |

The Mahagatbandhan’s other poll message was “shanti” (peace), in contrast to the BJP’s communally-charged polarizing tactics and rhetoric that attempted to take divisiveness to new heights and split the vote on religious lines. Journalists reported before the voting thatshanti or peace was a frequently-cited theme in their conversations with voters. Bihar, with nearly 17% of its people Muslim, may seem ripe for the communal treatment, but its survival depends on communal harmony which the Mahagathbandhan argued has been woven into the very fabric of Bihari society. The comments by BJP leaders (shamefully including the very top leaders) about Nitish and Lalu intending to give reservations to Muslims at the expense of OBCs, the statements that Pakistan would celebrate a BJP defeat, and the headline-stealing beef controversies – all whipped up to generate communal…continue reading

Fifth column: Petty cogs in the wheel?

INDIAN EXPRESS | TAVLEEN SINGH | SEPTEMBER 27 2015

There are things that we who inhabit the high realms of political punditry in Lutyens Delhi often cannot see. So before the Prime Minister left for the United States we concluded that this time he would not be given the rock star reception he got last time. “There is deep disappointment” pundit friends murmured happily “because he has simply not been able to do the economic reforms that investors hoped for”. Even I, someone who believes that Narendra Modi brings the first real hope that India will shake off the legacies of Nehruvian socialism and the licence raj, began gloomily to share the apprehensions of my fellow pundits.

Last year, I was in Madison Gardens and reported in this newspaper that rock stars would be lucky to get the adulation that Modi got. But this year I agreed with my fellow pundits that there would be disenchantment and not rapture. So it was a shock that the rock star treatment began in Ireland and has continued on the other side of the Atlantic. With even Rupert Murdoch endorsing Modi on Twitter as ‘the…continue reading

 

Albright: Why Modi visit crucial for U.S., India, world

CNN | Madeleine Albright | SEPTEMBER 30 2014

(CNN) — From the moment I stepped onto the tarmac in New Delhi two weeks ago, I was struck yet again by the sheer breadth of India’s diversity — ethnic, religious, cultural, geographic. It is what makes India a remarkable country, home to the world’s largest democracy. Earlier this year, some 550 million citizens went to the polls to cast their vote, in the largest election the world has ever seen. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Washington, D.C., for the first time as the leader of India, he will bring with him the aspirations and concerns of 1.2 billion people. The task before him and President Obama will be to reaffirm the strategic partnership between our two nations — a partnership that relies not only on government ties but also on steadily expanding relations between our business communities, civil society groups and cultural institutions.

For the sake of peace and prosperity not only in Asia but also globally, India and the U.S. must work together across a range of economic, political, environmental, and security issues. We must recognize, however, that we will not always agree on every issue. That is the nature of a deep and close bilateral relationship. Indeed, over the past year, there have been bouts of distrust, uncertainty and perceived drift, but I am convinced that both leaders have every intention of establishing a positive tone during Mr. Modi’s visit…continue reading

A German student swapped her flat for a train ticket. You’d have to be a rich masochist to do that in the UK

THE GUARDIAN | HELEN PIDD | AUGUST 25 2015

Anyone who has the misfortune of travelling regularly on British railways will have greeted the story with incredulity, and with some justification: it turns out Müller is really a sofa surfer who uses the pass to commute between Berlin, her boyfriend’s place in Cologne and Tübingen, where she goes to university. She rarely sleeps on board and averages just 1,200km (746 miles) a week on the railroad, according to her blog.

Yet, the fact remains that Müller’s experiment would be impossible in Britain, and something only a mad – and rich – woman would contemplate. One month’s unlimited travel on Germany’s nationalised rail system costs €379 (about £280). If I wanted to make an impromptu visit to the Guardian’s London office on…continue reading

Inside Track: In full control

INDIAN EXPRESS | COOMI KAPOOR | AUGUST 16 2015

The Congress compares NDA-III unfavourably with NDA-I and NDA-II. Congress leaders in Parliament feel that 25 party MPs would not have been suspended for a week if Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani had been in-charge. They were seasoned Delhi-based statesmen familiar with the way the government and Parliament functions, unlike Narendra Modi and Amit Shah who are provincial leaders out of their depth in dealing with national opposition parties, Congress leaders say. At the meeting between opposition leaders and the ruling party to…continue reading