Ravi S. Iyer: Worldly

Given below are extracts from Indian PM Modi's media address in presence of German Chancellor Merkel at 4th India Germany Inter-Govermental Consultations in Berlin on 30th May 2017, Source: http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx , Left Hand pane selections: Prime Minister's Office, May 2017, "Prime Minister Modi, Chancellor Merkel co-chair 4th India Germany Inter-Govermental Consultations in Berlin". He [PM Modi] said outcome oriented momentum is perceptible in relations between the two countries. The Prime Minister [Modi] said foreign investment from Germany to India is rising, especially for the Make in India initiative. The Prime Minister said German partnership is important for the Skill India Mission, with German parameters being "global benchmarks" which are crucial for India. The Prime Minister said cooperation is also envisaged in the sports arena, particularly in football. The Prime Minister spoke of themes such as climate protection and...

This is an article by Indian PM Narendra Modi on the 70th Anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and the Russian Federation published in Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazetta on May 31, 2017, and reprinted in The Times of India, "PM Modi on seven decades of India-Russia friendship", http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pm-modi-on-seven-decades-of-india-russia-friendship/articleshow/58921638.cms . The article ends with the words, "Long live India-Russia friendship!" Ravi: As an Indian who was born in Mumbai (Bombay) in the early 1960s and raised there and worked there (Mumbai) till the early 2000s, I clearly know how much the erstwhile Soviet Union and now Russia has helped India over the decades. I am grateful to Russia (and the erstwhile Soviet Union) for that help. So I fully support the above words of PM Modi, "Long live India-Russia friendship!"

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/869503804307275776 , dated 30th May 2017, "We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO & military. Very bad for U.S. This will change" The above tweet of USA president Donald Trump is as frank and as "telling it like it is" (from his perspective) as it can get!!! Some details sourced from related New York Times article, Blind Spots in Trump’s Trade Tirade Against Germany, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/30/world/europe/trump-merkel-germany-macron.html : Germany's trade surplus with USA in 2016: A mammoth $64.8 billion. Germany's spending on defense as percentage of GDP: 1.2% which is significantly below the 2% threshold NATO has set for its members. The article notes that France too has a trade surplus with USA but not as big as Germany's, and that France too does not meet the 2% of GDP threshold for defense spending as it spends 1.8% but the gap ...

Here's an interesting view from a mainstream Indian newspaper, The Times of India, from its Washington, USA reporter, Chidanand Rajghatta, about the global political environment now after USA President Trump's foreign visits including to Western Europe, and about Narendra Modi's visit to Western Europe (Germany, France, Spain and Russia visits seems to be the schedule) now: Nine days that shook the world: On the tenth day, PM Modi goes to Europe, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/nine-days-that-shook-the-world-on-the-tenth-day-pm-modi-goes-to-europe/articleshow/58899248.cms , dated May 29th 2017. The article starts with the sentence, "Global politics is [Ravi: in] a tailspin and there is no telling when and how it will land." And ends by saying that Modi is engaging Europe just as Trump is disengaging US from it! Ravi: Perhaps there is some exaggeration in the above article. I think saying that Trump is disengaging USA from Europe is an exaggeration...

https://www.facebook.com/ndtv/videos/10155445359935798/ has a video, 5 min. 11 secs long, in Hindi of the Indian Muslim lady, Uzma, who was rescued from a troubled marriage in Pakistan, by the Indian High Commission there and the Indian External affairs ministry. Note that the video is in Hindi. The NDTV (Indian national English TV channel) article link in the Facebook post - https://goo.gl/VRX7pg - is in English. My comments: Very happy to know that External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, the ministry and the Indian High Commission in Pakistan, helped this Indian Muslim lady get out of a difficult situation in Pakistan. The lady's words about the help she received seem to be very genuine. Congratulations to all concerned, including the Pakistan court which would have given permission for the lady to leave Pakistan! All the best to the lady, Uzma, for her future. May Allah shower Grace on her!

Given the major concerns with large inequalities in income and wealth that some parts of the Western world as well as other parts of the world are facing now, I think it is important to TRUTHFULLY (as truthfully as I can with my limited exposure & in my limited time) highlight success stories in providing a social welfare net for almost all, if not all, citizens like that of Denmark's welfare state. Now I am very much aware that today Venezuela is being viewed by many as a standout example of socialism and welfare state approach having gone wrong. One wishes all the best to the people of Venezuela to get out of the problems that they are confronting now. I think the truth is that there are socialist and welfare state models that have failed, and failed miserably, but there are success stories as well! It is my considered view that blanket-negative views of socialism and welfare state models must be balanced with the success stories, and so I got the idea of putting up a sh...

Fascinating and insightful though disturbing article: A Math Lesson From Hitler’s Germany, Prejudice and anti-science ideology destroyed the world’s leading math department. It couldn’t happen here, could it? by Evelyn Lamb, https://undark.org/article/math-lesson-hitlers-germany/ , Feb. 1st 2017. I felt it appropriate to summarise below some key points (from my point of view) of the article. The article states that on April 7th 1933, two months after Hitler became chancellor, a new law was passed in Germany that Jews (those considered Jewish by Germany) and communists could not hold civil service jobs (with few exceptions)! That resulted in several mathematicians in the famous University of Göttingen losing their jobs! Within a year, the article states, "a total of 18 left or were driven out" That, over the decades, seems to the main factor for Germany (and Europe) losing its pre-eminence in Mathematics and Science, and which pre-eminence shifted to the USA!!! Nazi per...

Note that this post's contents have been copy-pasted on 25-May-2017 from another blog post of mine here:  http://ravisiyer.blogspot.in/2017/05/pope-francis-exhorts-usa-president.html . https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/videos/10159188076420725/  has a 19 seconds video of the meeting shared on Facebook by USA President Donald J. Trump, on May 24th 2017. The text of above post of President Trump states, "Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world." Ravi: Wonderful! All the best for such world peace efforts! Here is the full video, President Trump in Vatican. Pres. Trump meets with Pope Francis. May 24, 2017,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46qzGgT1FDI , 46 min. 34 secs. I saw the whole video as I wanted to get a feel for this meeting btw USA President Trump and Pope Francis. At the beginning when they meet, Pope Francis seems serious though welcoming, with President Trump bei...

A few short extracts from the article: The $833 billion albatross around the necks of women with college degrees,  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/05/24/the-833-billion-albatross-around-the-necks-of-women-with-college-degrees/ , dated May 24th 2017, are given below: The burden of student debt is having an outsize impact on women who now hold nearly two thirds of the $1.3 trillion in outstanding education loans, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Association of University Women. ... The pace of repayment is especially slow for African American and Latino women, who also have among the highest default rates. While a third of all women who were repaying student loans reported having trouble covering living expenses within the past year, the same was true for 57 percent of African American women, the study said. ... Both the purchasing power of Pell and the future of campus child care are under threat in the 2018 White House budget. ...

Pages 85 to 87 in the book (published in 2016), "The Rise and Fall of Nations, Ten rules of change in the post-crisis world" by Ruchir Sharma, Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist for Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York, USA,  (Chapter, The Circle of Life), deal with this question. It starts by saying, "Following the spectacular three-decade boom in China, there is a strong tendency to believe that autocracies are better than democracies at generating long runs of growth, a myth that may be built not so much on the rise of China as on coverage of the rise of China." And concludes, "Both democratic and authoritarian systems have advantages and disadvantages in the race to generate strong growth, and neither has a clear lead." .. "So there is no reason to assume autocratic regimes have generally brighter growth prospects - despite widespread admiration for Chinese-style command capitalism." [I thank Ruchir Sharma...

Roger Ailes was a controversial man but from Oct. 1996 when he became the founding CEO of Fox News till he resigned from Fox News in July 2016, he was the main man behind Fox News. He passed away on May 18th 2017. Roger Ailes ensured the growth of Fox News from a fledgling news network till it became comparable in ratings to the other two USA top news networks, CNN and MSNBC. Indeed, at times it even beat these other two networks in total viewers!!! http://thehill.com/homenews/media/321629-fox-news-beats-cnn-msnbc-combined-in-feb-ratings , dated Feb. 28th 2017 states that, according to Nielsen Research, Fox News beat all other cable TV networks in total viewers for eight consecutive months! In February 2017, Fox News averaged 1.75 million viewers on the average for the day (broadcast time), and averaged 2.9 million viewers in Prime Time. http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/scoreboard-thursday-may-18/329789 , dated May 18th 2017, has CNN beating Fox News Network (FNN) for the top spot...

As a student-observer, well-wisher and admirer of USA democracy, I have been following the tense and disturbing events in USA top govt. over the past few days but given the super sensitivity of the matter, and given that I am an Indian citizen and resident of India, I felt it appropriate not to make any social media posts on the matter barring one exception (Hope and pray that things cool down quickly in USA over president Trump dismissal of FBI director Comey, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.in/2017/05/hope-and-pray-that-things-cool-down.html ). Today I felt I should make another exception related to appointment of former FBI Director, Robert Mueller, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mueller , as special counsel to oversee the FBI's investigation into any possible links between then candidate and now USA president Donald Trump's campaign (2016) with a foreign government. Mueller was FBI Director from Sept. 2001 to Sept. 2013 and was succeeded as FBI director by James Come...

Given below are the key contents of a recent Facebook post of mine, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/1908070532742848 , dated May 16th 2017, which shared another Facebook post of Hon'ble Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad: As a former international software developer/consultant (18 years), former (free service) Honorary Faculty/Visiting Faculty/Honorary Staff  in a Mathematics & Computer Science department in an Indian deemed university (9 years), and now a home based Windows user and (free service) social media writer (5 years), I (Ravi S. Iyer) endorse/approve of the message of Hon'ble IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, shared below, with one minor modification, "4. Keep the operating system AND third party applications up-to-date with the latest patches." Further, technically knowledgeable computer users may choose to have some variations like monthly update of OS patches but immediate manual update of critical security update patches, and select...

Last updated on 14th May 2017 The recent events in the USA dealing with the dismissal of FBI director James Comey by USA president Donald Trump, and the extraordinary reaction to it from some USA Congressmen/women and Senators as well as USA mainstream media, is very disturbing. As I went through the reporting on these events, I realized that as these matters deal with internal security of the USA and alleged foreign interference in its 2016 presidential election, the matters are just too, too sensitive for me, an Indian citizen resident in India who is now a social media writer mainly on spirituality and religion. So I had decided that it may be best for me to NOT air my individual views on the matter. But today I came across a very disturbing tweet from USA president Trump, "James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!", https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473 , dated 12...

I came to know of this song recently in the context of a bill being passed in USA House of Representatives. Here's a live rendition of what I later learned was a late 1960s classic, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbItRD40KJ0 , 3 min. 25 secs. Here are the lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/na-na-hey-hey-kiss-him-goodbye-lyrics-steam.html And here's some context about the song when used as a crowd chant from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Na_Hey_Hey_Kiss_Him_Goodbye , "In 1977, Chicago White Sox organist Nancy Faust began playing the song when White Sox sluggers knocked out the opposing pitcher. The fans would sing and a sports ritual was born. The song's chorus remains well-known, and is still frequently used as a crowd chant at many sporting events generally directed at the losing side in an elimination contest when the outcome is all but certain or when an individual player is ejected or disqualified." [I thank wikipedia and have presumed that they w...

New York Times Editorial Board on election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/07/opinion/france-elects-emmanuel-macron.html , May 7th 2017 "The decisive election of Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old political neophyte committed to the European Union, economic reform and traditional liberalism, as president of France offered powerful relief to everyone who had feared that France could become the next country to succumb to the wave of populism, nationalism and anti-globalism sweeping through Western democracies." The board views Macron's decisive victory over Le Pen as a "victory of hope and optimism over fear and reaction; of a future in Europe rather than in resentful isolation." About the formidable challenges Macron faces, the board writes, "He is taking charge of a nation deeply divided, much like the United States, Britain and other major democracies, with many people feeling marginalized by globalization, eco...

Macron Decisively Defeats Le Pen in French Presidential Race, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/07/world/europe/emmanuel-macron-france-election-marine-le-pen.html , May 7th 2017 A short extract from the article: "Mr. Macron’s victory offered significant relief to the European Union, which Ms. Le Pen had threatened to leave. His platform to loosen labor rules, make France more competitive globally and deepen ties with the European Union is also likely to reassure a global financial market that was jittery at the prospect of a Le Pen victory." Mr. Macron got 66 percent of the vote, and Ms Le Pen got 34 percent, from nearly 100 percent of the vote counted. Ravi: One wishes France's young (39 years old) new president-elect, Mr. Macron, all the very best as he confronts the challenges faced by France and tries to improve the lives of the French people.

Managed, over the past few days, to see this whole two and a half hour debate btw Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, who are competing to be French president. My God! What a vicious debate it was! Watch the full French Presidential debate between Macron and Le Pen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH9uXWh3n-Y , 2 hr. 33 mins, has English translation voiceover. published May 3rd 2017

A thought-provoking but longish article: Is China the World’s New Colonial Power? The rising superpower has built up enormous holdings in poor, resource-rich African countries — but its business partners there aren’t always thrilled. By BROOK LARMER, MAY 2, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/magazine/is-china-the-worlds-new-colonial-power.html A very small extract from it telling us clearly how powerful China today is on the world stage, as compared to the beginning of this millennium: "Driven by economics (a hunger for resources and new markets) and politics (a longing for strategic allies), Chinese companies and workers have rushed into all parts of the world. In 2000, only five countries counted China as their largest trading partner; today, more than 100 countries do, from Australia to the United States." [I thank New York Times and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above very small extract from their website on this post ...

Last updated on 6-May-2017 An enjoyable short article by Shashi Tharoor, How being Indian became cool, http://www.theweek.in/columns/shashi-tharoor/how-being-indian-became-cool.html , May 2017 Some thoughts of mine and some more info. on this topic: It is quite extraordinary how a single field of Information Technology (IT) propelled India from what was viewed as a basket-case economy on the road to self-destruction, to economic boom for the country as a whole! In India, we now have union (federal) minister for IT, and at state level, ministers for IT too. That itself shows how vital, from economic point of view, the field of IT has been for India over the past few decades. ... In my considered view, it was well educated technologist businessmen/top-manager entrepreneurship in the field of software services that powered India's IT economic boom story, and not Indian computer scientists. As I browsed a little on this topic, I came across this book reference, Making IT:...