Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in June 2019
When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer).
Update: To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link.
Interesting "interrogation" (to use Boris Johnson's word), of candidate for British PM, Boris Johnson, by Sophie Ridge of Sky News. Around 20 mins, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPSXegbEutM
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Great to see this! My prayers to God for peace between USA and North Korea, and South Korea as well.
Video is slightly over 10 minutes and shows President Trump of USA crossing over the border into North Korea (first USA President to do so) and walk a few steps in North Korean territory with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Then they come to South Korean side, meet up with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, and walk into a building for more formal discussions, I guess.
[Shared FB video: https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/videos/2797001136983798/]
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Good to see some thaw in USA - China trade conflict.
History teaches us that, many times, unresolved and festering trade conflicts have led to armed conflicts.
My personal view is that USA is free to levy as much tariff as they want but USA must then be prepared for reverse higher tariffs being levied against USA. In particular, USA should handle the reverse higher tariffs situation in a peaceful manner without the situation going out of whack and leading to armed conflict.
Armed conflict between nuclear powers today may result in horrors that make Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Chernobyl, look minor in comparison, and negatively impact life for decades to come in many countries including those that are not involved in the conflict but happen to face the nuclear radiation fallout.
[Shared FB post of President Trump: https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10162780962665725]
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Some good news which appeared in The Hindu print newspaper about a week back. WhatsApp initiative reunites 7-year-old boy with his family, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/whatsapp-initiative-reunites-7-year-old-boy-with-his-family/article28112263.ece
"Seven-year-old Srinivas was not able to contain his happiness after being reunited with his parents after a span of two months at the Generation Yuvaa Home for Children here on Saturday."
Ravi: Great to see such work being done by do-gooders and glad to see how Whatsapp platform helped in locating the lost boy.
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These are brutal realities of life which security cameras show us as they have happened! No need to watch movies which re-create such scenes but perhaps in an over-dramatic way.
Property that one owns has to be protected. There are people out there who would love to take over the property or trash it or fire-bomb it.
These are the realities of life. If one is naive and thinks that nobody will want one's property or money, then one is being a fool.
A big piece of wisdom I learned in my youth is that a fool and his money are soon parted!
[Shared FB video: https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/videos/1047386822127667/]
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FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2529481717268390
Sometimes sharing a post with a linked article results in only the linked article being shared. How to share the entire post and not only the linked article?
The key to sharing the entire post and not only the linked article is the checkbox field called "Include original post" which by default is unchecked. This field is shown when one chooses "Share ..." command (instead of other Share commands like "Share Now (Public))".
If the "Share ..." command is used and then the "Include original post" is checked, then I think the entire post gets shared instead of only the linked article in the post whose pic is shown in post preview.
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Update: Added screenshots to show how these options are shown to me on Facebook on desktop.
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I would very much like India to have much closer ties with this South American giant country - Brazil. Good to see its leaders have what seems to be a good meeting.
[Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/PMOIndia/photos/a.478278325636210/1612704268860271/?type=3]
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Good to see G20 taking up empowerment of women!
[Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/narendramodi/posts/10162030404875165]
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Good to see leaders of BRICS together at G20. I think that preserving BRICS relationship, even if it is at a lower key than envisaged earlier, is vital in these times of changing power equations and changing trade relationships in the world.
Recent tweet of PM Modi: "The BRICS family comes together yet again!
Delighted to meet BRICS leaders. Shared my thoughts on the importance of access to energy and energy security, making WTO mechanisms stronger and fighting protectionism and close cooperation to eliminate forces of terror.", https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1144463005935001600
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Good to see this recent tweet from Indian PM Modi about his meeting with USA President Trump:
"The talks with @POTUS were wide ranging. We discussed ways to leverage the power of technology, improve defence and security ties as well as issues relating to trade.
India stands committed to further deepen economic and cultural relations with USA. @realDonaldTrump", https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1144455839593271298
Ravi: While USA and India administration/governments have significant differences on trade policy as well as on defence procurement of India from its old and time-tested friend, Russia, my view as an Indian resident and citizen is that both governments should learn to live amicably with these differences and continue to improve ties where the governments have shared interests and are willing to work together.
However, one thing should be clear: India's improved ties with USA ****cannot be**** at the cost of India's friendship with Russia and Russia's major role over many decades in helping India to have better ability to defend itself from its enemies. India, as the current Indian govt's approach seems to be, should pursue good relations with both USA and Russia, and not interfere in any issues USA and Russia may have with each other. The latter is for USA and Russia to sort out between themselves.
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It is very worrying to see that current Andhra Pradesh govt. seems to have significantly reduced security cover of former Chief Minister, and current leader of Opposition, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu and his family. Note that Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu's son Shri Nara Lokesh is a noted leader of the current main opposition party - Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
After Chandrababu Naidu, Security Cover Of His Son, Family Members Slashed, https://www.ndtv.com/andhra-pradesh-news/after-chandrababu-naidu-security-cover-of-his-son-nara-lokesh-family-members-slashed-2059153, 25th June 2019
As a resident of Andhra Pradesh (and citizen of India) who has lived in Andhra Pradesh for over 16 years now from Oct. 2002, I am thankful to the various chief ministers that have borne the burden of governance during this period which includes Shri Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Shri Kiran Kumar Reddy and now Shri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Ensuring good security cover for former Chief Minister and current leader of Opposition, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, and his family, is the duty of the current Andhra Pradesh government. Vendetta politics should not extend to lapses in providing security to political opponents. That can be very harmful to democracy in Andhra Pradesh.
I write this post as a concerned resident of Andhra Pradesh and a citizen of India. Please note that I have a PUBLICLY POLITICALLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts about Andhra Pradesh politics. I am not a supporter of any particular political party in Andhra Pradesh. Please note that I have been living in Andhra Pradesh since Oct. 2002, and so am a voter in Andhra Pradesh.
I should also say that I am a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in Andhra Pradesh and in India.
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Thought-provoking article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-thirds-of-american-employees-regret-their-college-degrees/
I think higher education worldwide needs a radical change, a revolution, with the focus being on how students are taught skills by teachers rather than how many research papers are published and how much research grants are bagged by teachers (professors).
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Women train commuters of Mumbai were a tough lot even in my Mumbai train commuting days in the 80s to early 2000s. Now they seem to have got even tougher!
See a woman commuter deliver physical justice to a male booking clerk who seems to have pinched her mobile phone in the around 1 min video in the tweet. BTW I do not recommend this sort-of rough and instant justice delivery. But Mumbai was a tough place even in my Mumbai days (till early 2000s) and continues to be one now, going by such news reports.
https://twitter.com/MumbaiMirror/status/1143074276167208960
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Around 2 mins ... Surrogacy - Hmm. Carrying another's baby for nine months in one's body and then handing it over after birth! The money helps to pay for education of one's own children! So it seems to work out for everybody ... but it must still be a great challenge for the surrogate mother.
[Shared video link: https://www.facebook.com/dw.stories/videos/2287256188032887/]
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Saw around 2 hours of this "hustings" in Birmingham, UK and found it to be very interesting. Candidates for leadership of Tory party and PM of UK, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, shared their views and fielded a lot of questions. I now have some idea of how these two contenders for PM of UK, view some of the policy and other challenges facing the UK. This was not a debate. First was a session with Johnson followed by another with Hunt. To skip to the main part of the video go to around 45 mins into the video: Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson speak at hustings in Birmingham - watch live, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eu8E21_efk, 2 hrs. 28 mins streamed live on 22nd Jun. 2019 by Guardian News.
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When I saw the last part of the video on another video clip circulating on the Net a few days back, I suspected it to be fake. Good to see CNN Business reporting it as fake.
[Shared video link: https://www.facebook.com/cnnbusiness/videos/2054947818145287/]
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😥Sad but also with admiration for the lady and all the other family members who lost their loved ones in this Indian Air Force airplane crash. May God give them strength and courage to bear the loss.
[Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/HeroesInUniform/photos/a.138008500233581/357397884961307/?type=3]
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I am glad that USA President Trump called off the strike thereby preventing loss of Iranian lives.
I hope and pray for peace between USA and Iran.
BTW I have no comment on the part of President Trump's post referring to USA President Obama negotiated deal with Iran. I am interested only in the part related to calling off of a hostile strike which would have caused loss of Iranian lives and perhaps an escalation of hostilities in the Persian Gulf.
[Shared FB post of President Trump: https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10162724746625725]
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Interesting short video: Britain's next prime minister: Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt? - BBC Newsnight, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGqVYvl8ocg, 3 min. 38 secs.
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Very interesting time pass :-) to see Shoaib Akhtar play the interviewer role with Virendar Sehwag with the discussion starting with Pak's loss to India in the World Cup. In Hindi, Sehwag on Pakistan's Defeat (to) India | Shoaib Akhtar | World Cup 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ek257Y57GE, 17 min. 5 secs.
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Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are the two final contenders for leader of Conservative Party and PM of UK, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48711077.
Jeremy Hunt beat Michael Gove by a wafer thin margin of 77 votes to 75.
So far the elimination process involved voting by Conservative Party MPs. Now it goes to Conservative Party members (up to 160,000) with the result expected in late July. I guess there will be a vigorous campaign by Johnson and Hunt. I hope to catch some of the future campaign speeches/debate of Johnson & Hunt.
I think right from the outset it was clear that Johnson would be one of these two final contenders. For the other contender, I think the serious contenders were Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt. So this result is on expected lines.
Johnson is the favourite to win the final vote and go on to be PM. Hunt has acknowledged that he is the underdog but has promised to give Johnson "the fight of his life".
I think that this contest for leader of the Conservative Party has been a decent one with the contenders not getting down to nasty personal level attacks against each other. As a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy, it is heartening for me to see this maturity in inner (political) party democracy demonstrated by UK's Conservative (Tory) party, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK).
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about UK politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in UK elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the UK.
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Sometimes a dose of reality about brute power in the world helps us get a better understanding of world events and world power equations.
"Together, the US and Russia collectively hold 90% of the world's nuclear weapons."
[Shared article: These are the 9 countries in the world that have the most nuclear warheads, https://www.businessinsider.com/9-countries-with-the-most-nuclear-weapons-2019-6]
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The brutal reality of power in USA, UK and Indian democracies today is that top people have to face vicious verbal attacks
I was shocked to see this verbal attack on the man expected to be PM of UK, Boris Johnson, in the House of Commons from Scottish National Party's leader Ian Blackford.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiE9f8jM4SE, 3 min. 23 secs, published by Guardian News on 19th Jun 2019.
In the beginning of this clip, Blackford alleges that Boris Johnson has the view that the Scottish people are --snip-- race who should be placed in ghettos and --snip--, and asks PM Theresa May whether she agrees with Johnson.
As expected, May responds by saying that the Conservative and Unionist party welcomes contribution of people of all parts of UK and takes them seriously.
But what I am shocked by is the above horrific words (so horrific that I had to --snip-- some words) being attributed to Johnson in the House of Commons! Now it seems that a poem with such horrible words was published as satire by a magazine/paper edited by Boris Johnson. Johnson was not the author but as editor seems to have given permission for the poem to be published. Even as satire, I think such a horrible poem should never have been published. So Johnson has to answer for why he allowed such a horrible poem to be published. But Blackford alleges that Johnson holds such a view! And he is saying this in the House of Commons as the leader of his Scottish National Party!
That's some horrible verbal attack. Perhaps Blackford feels that it is necessary to verbally attack Johnson now itself and try to prevent him being made PM. So perhaps this is justified on political grounds.
Blackford then calls Johnson a racist. An uproar ensues. The speaker intervenes and urges Blackford to weigh his words, and suggests that he withdraw the allegations of racism. Blackford doubles down on the racist word and provides alleged quotes of Johnson that are terribly racist.
Perhaps Blackford is justified in raising these allegations of racism as Johnson is said to have made some such quotes himself (as against being editor of some magazine where such quotes of others have been published).
Hmm. So this is the reality of democracy today in UK. In USA, President Trump and his opponents in USA Congress use perhaps equally harsh words for each other, even if I don't think any racist allegations have been made by leading opponents of President Trump in USA Congress (like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or Independent Senator Bernie Sanders) or by President Trump against each other.
Indian state level politics can sink to terrible depths. But at national level Parliament, I don't think the attacks are so nasty. The ruling alliance and the opposition surely criticize and vehemently criticize each other. But somehow, fortunately, they are not so vicious in their verbal attacks in Parliament.
Here's an interesting Hindi clip of Indian Parliament showing how, despite horrific election campaign vitriol directed at each other over the past few months (during campaigns, Indian political leader speeches can be really nasty but that's not in Parliament), they can also have some laughter at the give-and-take in Parliament. Ramdas Athawale Takes Dig At Rahul Gandhi In Parliament, Evokes Laughter, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iadWR7eZgXQ, 2 min. 36 secs, published on 20th Jun 2019.
However, I think it is so clear that those who are in power or aspire to be in power (like Mr. Boris Johnson in UK) in democracies like UK, USA and India, will surely face horrific level of verbal attacks. Such is life!
And perhaps it was worse in periods before democracy where instead of just horrific verbal attacks, those in power had to face physically violent attacks including wars from competitors who sought to become rulers.
This is the brutal reality of power. No wonder that only a few, usually driven people, aspire to acquire such top positions of power.
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In response to a comment, I wrote (slightly edited): Thanks --name-snipped-- for your comment. Let me think about it and respond. .... I started taking an interest in legislature and ministries which are essentially headed by elected politicians first in second half of 2011 as I worked on my Indian Computer Science and Information Technology Academic Reform Activism blog, http://eklavyasai.blogspot.com/. I saw that higher education policy has major flaws when it comes to CS & IT education. Identifying and suggesting fixes to that policy (policies) comes in the hands of UGC & AICTE top academic administrators. But these people are ****utterly**** unaccountable. I got no response whatsoever from my mails to them even though I followed up with phone calls to their offices.
But they are funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development. So I approached MHRD top officials (bureaucrats) and even the office of the MHRD minister. There people at least had the courtesy to accept that my mail got received. It did not go further as I think they would have forwarded it to UGC/AICTE academic profs and they would have just ignored it.
The persons who are answerable in theory are MHRD minister(s). I saw that I would need to get an opening to MHRD minister before my views are taken seriously by MHRD minister who then asks a top UGC/AICTE Prof. to respond to my views. Then the Prof will have to respond as the minister controls funding for these Profs.
Given my various limitations I was not willing to go so far as to approach MHRD minister in person through somebody. So essentially my activism work ground to a halt.
But it became clear to me that it is the minister who wields ***enormous*** influence in shaping academic policy even if Profs are the gents & ladies who ultimately create and adopt the policy.
And then as I started exploring other social problem areas, once again I saw the power of the associated ministries in shaping policy to handle those problem areas. Basically they control big amount of funding money and also have regulatory authority to pull up institutions and individuals. That is awesome power. The reality of this power they wield is undeniable.
Now I will get to the response about your view of current day politicians.
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--Name-snipped--. Noted your views about politicians.
Perhaps there is some or a lot of truth to what you say.
But the undeniable reality is that the top elected political leaders in democracies like USA, UK and India, are the ones who have ***enormous*** power vested in them by them having won elections and then attained a position of leadership in their group of elected politicians.
This power is a reality that has to be understood and dealt with, if one wants to follow and reasonably comment on policies adopted by them to solve important problems that states & countries face.
Many people are fed up of political leaders, especially in countries like UK which is going through the Brexit trauma.
But what is the alternative? Authoritarian rule like in some communist countries and in some military dictatorship or monarchy countries?
The excesses that happen in authoritarian countries is horrible. I would rather have slower solution to problems, and even tolerate some level of corruption in elected politicians, than have authoritarianism which brings in discipline and reduces corruption.
Why? Because the nature of power is such that authoritarian rule tends to become tyrannical rule. Modern India came under that threat during the Emergency period in the 1970s, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(India). Due to heroic resistance from some political leaders and some media persons, I think Indira Gandhi was forced to lift the emergency and call for elections where she and her party was routed. The Indian people had tasted authoritarian rule which brought some discipline but also brought some horrors like forced sterilization and other abuse of power. The Indian people wanted none of that and sent a clear message to Indira Gandhi. Now she came back to power later but that was through a democratic mandate and not an "Emergency".
China has made just awesome strides in improving the quality of material life of its people. India is way behind China in this regard. But 1989 Tianenman square protests and resultant deaths and injuries, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests, are still not openly discussed in China even today, three decades after the protests and the deaths!
For me, freedom is vital. So even if China has faster development, I prefer India's freedom and don't mind paying the price of slower development.
The nice thing about democracy is that the elected political leaders are held accountable, at least to some extent, by media and courts.
If I was living in China, I don't think I would have dared to become a blogger.
It is because I live in democratic India that I have been able to freely express my views on a variety of topics, even if I am not in the political partisan space. I mean, if I was in China I would not have dared to write a Chinese Computer Science and Information Technology Academic Reform activism blog! I would have seen the danger of being critical of powerful bodies like China's top academic administration bodies, and would have chosen to be silent.
But India gives me the freedom to write about it. UGC/AICTE Profs may ignore my views but they cannot punish me for publishing my views that are strongly critical of some of their policies.
And this freedom is essentially guarded and nurtured and kept alive by the political process, elected political leaders, media, courts of justice and law enforcement.
So even if the elected politicians as a group may have many flaws, they are the people who implement policy. So I respect their policy making power and policy implementation power.
Note that most of human history has had rulers who would amass wealth and power, and freely kill anybody who dares to openly challenge them. Just imagine life in South India in 1700s - Muslim kingdoms and Hindu kingdoms with kings and their courtiers having immense power and wealth and rest of populace having to be fearful of their power.
So I think most rulers and their supporters have amassed wealth and power. Current day politicians doing that is not anything unusual from that perspective. What is different in the current day is that media and courts of justice can hold people in power accountable at least to some extent. In earlier days, I think there would not have been much chance of holding a king accountable or holding courtiers who have the full support of the king, accountable.
I think one has to accept these realities of power and people in power.
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Shoaib Akhtar in a different role of frank commentator (in Hindi-English). Some time pass :-) . He is really upset at Pak's loss to India in the Cricket World Cup a few days ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FAksNhhI1g, slightly over 11 mins.
I particularly enjoyed Akhtar's Karma comments :-)!
I should also add for readers who don't know much about Akhtar that Shoaib Akhtar was perhaps the most feared Pakistan fast bowler in the past few decades. He played international cricket for Pakistan from 1997 to 2011, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaib_Akhtar.
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Britain's next PM: the Conservative Party leadership debate, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWdRE0XyecA, around an hour and a quarter, published by Channel 4 News on 16th June 2019
I found this to be a very interesting debate. While Boris Johnson, the leading candidate, gave the debate a miss, the other 5 in the fray were present - Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javed, Dominic Raab and Rory Stewart.
Whatever the troubles UK is going through for the past few years, I think this debate shows that it is a mature parliamentary democracy.
As all the guys in this show had a go at Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, in the interests of fairness, I will look up a recent video of Corbyn where he is going after the Conservatives and put it up :-).
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Couldn't find a suitable recent video of Jeremy Corbyn. I will wait for a few days as I am sure some suitable recent interview of Corbyn will be put up on youtube where he is critical of the Conservative Party's views and puts forward his and Labour's views.
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One of the scary things about the law, is misuse of the law by those it is meant to protect, as a weapon against innocent people they are angry with by filing false complaints against them. This is a very scary reality of India. That is why one has to be very careful in one's dealings with those that have special protection under the law (as in the past many in their caste/community or gender had been abused or discriminated against).
I think those who file false complaints should ideally face the legal music for their horrible misuse of the law.
[Shared article: #MenToo: Woman who accused TV actor Karan Oberoi of rape arrested, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/mentoo-woman-who-accused-tv-actor-karan-oberoi-of-rape-gets-arrested/articleshow/69824390.cms]
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In response to a comment, I wrote: There is no doubt in my mind that most of Indian society, especially rural India, is a very male dominated society. And women are sometimes treated badly even today. That is the brutal reality.
But in this case, Mumbai police have made an arrest. I have been born, bred and worked for my living in and around Mumbai. I doubt whether Mumbai police would have arrested her without proper cause.
After the atrocious 2012 Delhi gang rape which was very shameful for the whole country, new law(s) was/were enacted which seem to have tilted the matter in favour of the woman complainant in case of rape. I don't know the exact situ in this case, but I have heard of other case(s) where the new law(s) were misused by some woman(women) to get somebody into trouble and force them to do something that the woman (women) wanted them to do.
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Quite fascinating! I was an avid reader of Agatha Christie. Over time I became more of an admirer of Miss Marple than of the flamboyant Hercule Poirot.
Sad to know that Agatha Christie's first marriage ran into such trouble.
[Shared article: When the World’s Most Famous Mystery Writer Vanished, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/books/agatha-christie-vanished-11-days-1926.html]
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I try to avoid sharing posts on USA politics nowadays as it has become a very sensitive topic with a lot of heavy polarization. But I do follow what's happening as it is elected politicians, especially the top elected political leaders, who play ***absolutely decisive*** roles in formulating new policies or unwinding existing policies (or modifying them) to meet, or some may say ostensibly meet, their political goals/objectives.
So the impact that top elected political leaders can have on the people in democratic countries like USA, Western European countries and India can be really big.
Nowadays a big factor in political campaigns is the economy and how it benefits (or supposedly benefits) people.
In 2015-2016 US President Trump ran on a campaign that partly claimed that he knew how to set the USA economy right and generate jobs (with Trump claiming that he would become the greatest jobs president in history).
Now he is President and will be launching his campaign for re-election in 2020 (I don't think he has launched it yet).
So one expect campaign stuff now from President Trump. But this tweet of his took me somewhat aback in terms of how he attacked his opposition's ability to handle the economy.
"The Trump Economy is setting records, and has a long way up to go....However, if anyone but me takes over in 2020 (I know the competition very well), there will be a Market Crash the likes of which has not been seen before! KEEP AMERICA GREAT"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1139891393252474880, 15th June 2019.
I don't know how well the "Trump economy" is doing. But saying that if he does not win, there will be some horrible, horrible (never seen before) market crash, is something that really stands out. That's some political attack! Whatever one may say of Trump, one thing is certain - he sure knows how to verbally attack his political opponents and, many times, gain political traction from the attack.
I alone can fix it - that was one of his themes in the 2016 campaign. Perhaps this can be viewed as the 'All others will wreck it' theme.
Is this fear-mongering? Perhaps it is. But perhaps what may really matter is whether such an approach will deliver the desired results to Trump who is running to be re-elected President of the USA in 2020.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in USA elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the USA.
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Interesting! Vegan food and no booze for Boris Johnson to shoot for PM position
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjWQaxeXOmk. 1 min. 26 secs by the Daily Telegraph (if I recall correctly, Johnson was/is a columnist for it).
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Rory Stewart is an outsider candidate for leader of UK Conservative Party. He speaks quite logically and persuasively. But can he match the charisma of Boris Johnson, especially in a future general election against Jeremy Corbyn of Labour? That's the big question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl1iQRGQkVw, 8 min. 22 secs.
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CNN's view of Boris Johnson after he won the first round vote for UK Conservative Party leadership, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XddsBaHmU_k, 3 min. 38 secs.
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Who Is Boris Johnson? He May Be the Next Prime Minister of Britain | NYT News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUqFGQg8as8, around 3 mins.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2516307061919189
Interesting!
The Final Report: Watergate (National Geographic), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9PE2CiSGA, around 45 mins.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2511203255762903
Very happy to see Steve Smith & David Warner back in Australian team after having served their 1 year ban period; India beat Australia convincingly in ICC World Cup
Steve Smith and David Warner played their first Australian international match after their 1 year ban period got over on 1st June 2019. Here's an article on that:
Steve Smith, David Warner did the crime and served their time: Nasser Hussain, https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/story/salaam-cricket-2019-nasser-hussain-steve-smith-david-warner-booed-world-cup-2019-1541722-2019-06-03, 3rd June 2019
Yesterday, 9th June, Smith and Warner played their first match against India after their ban. It was good to see them back. I wish them well.
Unfortunately, Smith and Warner have got targeted by the crowd unfairly. It was great to see Indian captain Virat Kohli publicly ask the crowd to applaud Steve Smith. Here's an ICC video of it: Virat Kohli Asks Indian Fans To Applaud Steve Smith | ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1H-zvqPg0, 19 secs.
And India beat Australia convincingly in the match: India vs Australia - Match Highlights | ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkWHGy70jIg, 5 min. 26 secs.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2508761146007114
Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989? - BBC News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3RzKKfNkTk, 10 min. 40 secs. published by BBC News on 6th June 2019.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2508599886023240
Nice Hindi film oldie song
Musafir hon yaaron, Hindi Film -- Parichay (1972), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjvLyBgv6Hg sung by the Great Kishore Kumar, lyrics by Gulzar, music by R.D. Burman
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Very interesting interview! Rory Stewart comes across as a sensible guy who can connect to people. He is running for the post of leader of the Conservative Party in UK. There are many contenders with Boris Johnson seeming to be the favourite.
Rory Stewart interview: Can he beat Boris Johnson to be prime minister?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB6VAt9qGro, 17 min 3 secs, published on 29th May 2019.
Here's his wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Stewart
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about UK politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in UK elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the UK.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2506440409572521
The power of a lightning strike! Video is less than a minute long.
[Shared video: https://www.facebook.com/TimesofIndia/videos/855571341478860/]
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2506145149602047
Mount Everest is in the news nowadays for the wrong reasons. I saw some videos covering the good & great parts of Mount Everest and also the current problem climbers are facing. Thought I should share a few of those video links with readers.
1) Everest Start to Summit in 3 min., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kRycxdU2nA, around 3 mins, published in May 2018.
2) The current problem: Mount Everest climber describes trip up mountain as 'a death race', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVXkXQIbSM, 3 min. 24 secs, published by Daily Mail on 28th May 2019
3) Helicopter Tour of Mt. Everest - Stunning Views of Himalayas in Nepal | Trek Tips, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usuubU_0QCI, 9 min. 38 secs, published in Dec. 2018
Update: To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link.
Interesting "interrogation" (to use Boris Johnson's word), of candidate for British PM, Boris Johnson, by Sophie Ridge of Sky News. Around 20 mins, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPSXegbEutM
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Great to see this! My prayers to God for peace between USA and North Korea, and South Korea as well.
Video is slightly over 10 minutes and shows President Trump of USA crossing over the border into North Korea (first USA President to do so) and walk a few steps in North Korean territory with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Then they come to South Korean side, meet up with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, and walk into a building for more formal discussions, I guess.
[Shared FB video: https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/videos/2797001136983798/]
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Good to see some thaw in USA - China trade conflict.
History teaches us that, many times, unresolved and festering trade conflicts have led to armed conflicts.
My personal view is that USA is free to levy as much tariff as they want but USA must then be prepared for reverse higher tariffs being levied against USA. In particular, USA should handle the reverse higher tariffs situation in a peaceful manner without the situation going out of whack and leading to armed conflict.
Armed conflict between nuclear powers today may result in horrors that make Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Chernobyl, look minor in comparison, and negatively impact life for decades to come in many countries including those that are not involved in the conflict but happen to face the nuclear radiation fallout.
[Shared FB post of President Trump: https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10162780962665725]
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Some good news which appeared in The Hindu print newspaper about a week back. WhatsApp initiative reunites 7-year-old boy with his family, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/whatsapp-initiative-reunites-7-year-old-boy-with-his-family/article28112263.ece
"Seven-year-old Srinivas was not able to contain his happiness after being reunited with his parents after a span of two months at the Generation Yuvaa Home for Children here on Saturday."
Ravi: Great to see such work being done by do-gooders and glad to see how Whatsapp platform helped in locating the lost boy.
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These are brutal realities of life which security cameras show us as they have happened! No need to watch movies which re-create such scenes but perhaps in an over-dramatic way.
Property that one owns has to be protected. There are people out there who would love to take over the property or trash it or fire-bomb it.
These are the realities of life. If one is naive and thinks that nobody will want one's property or money, then one is being a fool.
A big piece of wisdom I learned in my youth is that a fool and his money are soon parted!
[Shared FB video: https://www.facebook.com/ABCNews/videos/1047386822127667/]
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FB post: https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2529481717268390
Sometimes sharing a post with a linked article results in only the linked article being shared. How to share the entire post and not only the linked article?
The key to sharing the entire post and not only the linked article is the checkbox field called "Include original post" which by default is unchecked. This field is shown when one chooses "Share ..." command (instead of other Share commands like "Share Now (Public))".
If the "Share ..." command is used and then the "Include original post" is checked, then I think the entire post gets shared instead of only the linked article in the post whose pic is shown in post preview.
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Update: Added screenshots to show how these options are shown to me on Facebook on desktop.
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I would very much like India to have much closer ties with this South American giant country - Brazil. Good to see its leaders have what seems to be a good meeting.
[Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/PMOIndia/photos/a.478278325636210/1612704268860271/?type=3]
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Good to see G20 taking up empowerment of women!
[Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/narendramodi/posts/10162030404875165]
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Good to see leaders of BRICS together at G20. I think that preserving BRICS relationship, even if it is at a lower key than envisaged earlier, is vital in these times of changing power equations and changing trade relationships in the world.
Recent tweet of PM Modi: "The BRICS family comes together yet again!
Delighted to meet BRICS leaders. Shared my thoughts on the importance of access to energy and energy security, making WTO mechanisms stronger and fighting protectionism and close cooperation to eliminate forces of terror.", https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1144463005935001600
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Good to see this recent tweet from Indian PM Modi about his meeting with USA President Trump:
"The talks with @POTUS were wide ranging. We discussed ways to leverage the power of technology, improve defence and security ties as well as issues relating to trade.
India stands committed to further deepen economic and cultural relations with USA. @realDonaldTrump", https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1144455839593271298
Ravi: While USA and India administration/governments have significant differences on trade policy as well as on defence procurement of India from its old and time-tested friend, Russia, my view as an Indian resident and citizen is that both governments should learn to live amicably with these differences and continue to improve ties where the governments have shared interests and are willing to work together.
However, one thing should be clear: India's improved ties with USA ****cannot be**** at the cost of India's friendship with Russia and Russia's major role over many decades in helping India to have better ability to defend itself from its enemies. India, as the current Indian govt's approach seems to be, should pursue good relations with both USA and Russia, and not interfere in any issues USA and Russia may have with each other. The latter is for USA and Russia to sort out between themselves.
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It is very worrying to see that current Andhra Pradesh govt. seems to have significantly reduced security cover of former Chief Minister, and current leader of Opposition, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu and his family. Note that Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu's son Shri Nara Lokesh is a noted leader of the current main opposition party - Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
After Chandrababu Naidu, Security Cover Of His Son, Family Members Slashed, https://www.ndtv.com/andhra-pradesh-news/after-chandrababu-naidu-security-cover-of-his-son-nara-lokesh-family-members-slashed-2059153, 25th June 2019
As a resident of Andhra Pradesh (and citizen of India) who has lived in Andhra Pradesh for over 16 years now from Oct. 2002, I am thankful to the various chief ministers that have borne the burden of governance during this period which includes Shri Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Shri Kiran Kumar Reddy and now Shri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Ensuring good security cover for former Chief Minister and current leader of Opposition, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, and his family, is the duty of the current Andhra Pradesh government. Vendetta politics should not extend to lapses in providing security to political opponents. That can be very harmful to democracy in Andhra Pradesh.
I write this post as a concerned resident of Andhra Pradesh and a citizen of India. Please note that I have a PUBLICLY POLITICALLY NEUTRAL role in these social media posts about Andhra Pradesh politics. I am not a supporter of any particular political party in Andhra Pradesh. Please note that I have been living in Andhra Pradesh since Oct. 2002, and so am a voter in Andhra Pradesh.
I should also say that I am a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy in Andhra Pradesh and in India.
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Thought-provoking article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/two-thirds-of-american-employees-regret-their-college-degrees/
I think higher education worldwide needs a radical change, a revolution, with the focus being on how students are taught skills by teachers rather than how many research papers are published and how much research grants are bagged by teachers (professors).
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Women train commuters of Mumbai were a tough lot even in my Mumbai train commuting days in the 80s to early 2000s. Now they seem to have got even tougher!
See a woman commuter deliver physical justice to a male booking clerk who seems to have pinched her mobile phone in the around 1 min video in the tweet. BTW I do not recommend this sort-of rough and instant justice delivery. But Mumbai was a tough place even in my Mumbai days (till early 2000s) and continues to be one now, going by such news reports.
https://twitter.com/MumbaiMirror/status/1143074276167208960
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Around 2 mins ... Surrogacy - Hmm. Carrying another's baby for nine months in one's body and then handing it over after birth! The money helps to pay for education of one's own children! So it seems to work out for everybody ... but it must still be a great challenge for the surrogate mother.
[Shared video link: https://www.facebook.com/dw.stories/videos/2287256188032887/]
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Saw around 2 hours of this "hustings" in Birmingham, UK and found it to be very interesting. Candidates for leadership of Tory party and PM of UK, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, shared their views and fielded a lot of questions. I now have some idea of how these two contenders for PM of UK, view some of the policy and other challenges facing the UK. This was not a debate. First was a session with Johnson followed by another with Hunt. To skip to the main part of the video go to around 45 mins into the video: Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson speak at hustings in Birmingham - watch live, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eu8E21_efk, 2 hrs. 28 mins streamed live on 22nd Jun. 2019 by Guardian News.
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When I saw the last part of the video on another video clip circulating on the Net a few days back, I suspected it to be fake. Good to see CNN Business reporting it as fake.
[Shared video link: https://www.facebook.com/cnnbusiness/videos/2054947818145287/]
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😥Sad but also with admiration for the lady and all the other family members who lost their loved ones in this Indian Air Force airplane crash. May God give them strength and courage to bear the loss.
[Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/HeroesInUniform/photos/a.138008500233581/357397884961307/?type=3]
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I am glad that USA President Trump called off the strike thereby preventing loss of Iranian lives.
I hope and pray for peace between USA and Iran.
BTW I have no comment on the part of President Trump's post referring to USA President Obama negotiated deal with Iran. I am interested only in the part related to calling off of a hostile strike which would have caused loss of Iranian lives and perhaps an escalation of hostilities in the Persian Gulf.
[Shared FB post of President Trump: https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10162724746625725]
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Interesting short video: Britain's next prime minister: Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt? - BBC Newsnight, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGqVYvl8ocg, 3 min. 38 secs.
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Very interesting time pass :-) to see Shoaib Akhtar play the interviewer role with Virendar Sehwag with the discussion starting with Pak's loss to India in the World Cup. In Hindi, Sehwag on Pakistan's Defeat (to) India | Shoaib Akhtar | World Cup 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ek257Y57GE, 17 min. 5 secs.
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Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt are the two final contenders for leader of Conservative Party and PM of UK, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48711077.
Jeremy Hunt beat Michael Gove by a wafer thin margin of 77 votes to 75.
So far the elimination process involved voting by Conservative Party MPs. Now it goes to Conservative Party members (up to 160,000) with the result expected in late July. I guess there will be a vigorous campaign by Johnson and Hunt. I hope to catch some of the future campaign speeches/debate of Johnson & Hunt.
I think right from the outset it was clear that Johnson would be one of these two final contenders. For the other contender, I think the serious contenders were Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt. So this result is on expected lines.
Johnson is the favourite to win the final vote and go on to be PM. Hunt has acknowledged that he is the underdog but has promised to give Johnson "the fight of his life".
I think that this contest for leader of the Conservative Party has been a decent one with the contenders not getting down to nasty personal level attacks against each other. As a beneficiary, a lover and an open supporter of democracy, it is heartening for me to see this maturity in inner (political) party democracy demonstrated by UK's Conservative (Tory) party, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party_(UK).
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about UK politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in UK elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the UK.
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Sometimes a dose of reality about brute power in the world helps us get a better understanding of world events and world power equations.
"Together, the US and Russia collectively hold 90% of the world's nuclear weapons."
[Shared article: These are the 9 countries in the world that have the most nuclear warheads, https://www.businessinsider.com/9-countries-with-the-most-nuclear-weapons-2019-6]
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The brutal reality of power in USA, UK and Indian democracies today is that top people have to face vicious verbal attacks
I was shocked to see this verbal attack on the man expected to be PM of UK, Boris Johnson, in the House of Commons from Scottish National Party's leader Ian Blackford.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiE9f8jM4SE, 3 min. 23 secs, published by Guardian News on 19th Jun 2019.
In the beginning of this clip, Blackford alleges that Boris Johnson has the view that the Scottish people are --snip-- race who should be placed in ghettos and --snip--, and asks PM Theresa May whether she agrees with Johnson.
As expected, May responds by saying that the Conservative and Unionist party welcomes contribution of people of all parts of UK and takes them seriously.
But what I am shocked by is the above horrific words (so horrific that I had to --snip-- some words) being attributed to Johnson in the House of Commons! Now it seems that a poem with such horrible words was published as satire by a magazine/paper edited by Boris Johnson. Johnson was not the author but as editor seems to have given permission for the poem to be published. Even as satire, I think such a horrible poem should never have been published. So Johnson has to answer for why he allowed such a horrible poem to be published. But Blackford alleges that Johnson holds such a view! And he is saying this in the House of Commons as the leader of his Scottish National Party!
That's some horrible verbal attack. Perhaps Blackford feels that it is necessary to verbally attack Johnson now itself and try to prevent him being made PM. So perhaps this is justified on political grounds.
Blackford then calls Johnson a racist. An uproar ensues. The speaker intervenes and urges Blackford to weigh his words, and suggests that he withdraw the allegations of racism. Blackford doubles down on the racist word and provides alleged quotes of Johnson that are terribly racist.
Perhaps Blackford is justified in raising these allegations of racism as Johnson is said to have made some such quotes himself (as against being editor of some magazine where such quotes of others have been published).
Hmm. So this is the reality of democracy today in UK. In USA, President Trump and his opponents in USA Congress use perhaps equally harsh words for each other, even if I don't think any racist allegations have been made by leading opponents of President Trump in USA Congress (like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or Independent Senator Bernie Sanders) or by President Trump against each other.
Indian state level politics can sink to terrible depths. But at national level Parliament, I don't think the attacks are so nasty. The ruling alliance and the opposition surely criticize and vehemently criticize each other. But somehow, fortunately, they are not so vicious in their verbal attacks in Parliament.
Here's an interesting Hindi clip of Indian Parliament showing how, despite horrific election campaign vitriol directed at each other over the past few months (during campaigns, Indian political leader speeches can be really nasty but that's not in Parliament), they can also have some laughter at the give-and-take in Parliament. Ramdas Athawale Takes Dig At Rahul Gandhi In Parliament, Evokes Laughter, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iadWR7eZgXQ, 2 min. 36 secs, published on 20th Jun 2019.
However, I think it is so clear that those who are in power or aspire to be in power (like Mr. Boris Johnson in UK) in democracies like UK, USA and India, will surely face horrific level of verbal attacks. Such is life!
And perhaps it was worse in periods before democracy where instead of just horrific verbal attacks, those in power had to face physically violent attacks including wars from competitors who sought to become rulers.
This is the brutal reality of power. No wonder that only a few, usually driven people, aspire to acquire such top positions of power.
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In response to a comment, I wrote (slightly edited): Thanks --name-snipped-- for your comment. Let me think about it and respond. .... I started taking an interest in legislature and ministries which are essentially headed by elected politicians first in second half of 2011 as I worked on my Indian Computer Science and Information Technology Academic Reform Activism blog, http://eklavyasai.blogspot.com/. I saw that higher education policy has major flaws when it comes to CS & IT education. Identifying and suggesting fixes to that policy (policies) comes in the hands of UGC & AICTE top academic administrators. But these people are ****utterly**** unaccountable. I got no response whatsoever from my mails to them even though I followed up with phone calls to their offices.
But they are funded by Ministry of Human Resource Development. So I approached MHRD top officials (bureaucrats) and even the office of the MHRD minister. There people at least had the courtesy to accept that my mail got received. It did not go further as I think they would have forwarded it to UGC/AICTE academic profs and they would have just ignored it.
The persons who are answerable in theory are MHRD minister(s). I saw that I would need to get an opening to MHRD minister before my views are taken seriously by MHRD minister who then asks a top UGC/AICTE Prof. to respond to my views. Then the Prof will have to respond as the minister controls funding for these Profs.
Given my various limitations I was not willing to go so far as to approach MHRD minister in person through somebody. So essentially my activism work ground to a halt.
But it became clear to me that it is the minister who wields ***enormous*** influence in shaping academic policy even if Profs are the gents & ladies who ultimately create and adopt the policy.
And then as I started exploring other social problem areas, once again I saw the power of the associated ministries in shaping policy to handle those problem areas. Basically they control big amount of funding money and also have regulatory authority to pull up institutions and individuals. That is awesome power. The reality of this power they wield is undeniable.
Now I will get to the response about your view of current day politicians.
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--Name-snipped--. Noted your views about politicians.
Perhaps there is some or a lot of truth to what you say.
But the undeniable reality is that the top elected political leaders in democracies like USA, UK and India, are the ones who have ***enormous*** power vested in them by them having won elections and then attained a position of leadership in their group of elected politicians.
This power is a reality that has to be understood and dealt with, if one wants to follow and reasonably comment on policies adopted by them to solve important problems that states & countries face.
Many people are fed up of political leaders, especially in countries like UK which is going through the Brexit trauma.
But what is the alternative? Authoritarian rule like in some communist countries and in some military dictatorship or monarchy countries?
The excesses that happen in authoritarian countries is horrible. I would rather have slower solution to problems, and even tolerate some level of corruption in elected politicians, than have authoritarianism which brings in discipline and reduces corruption.
Why? Because the nature of power is such that authoritarian rule tends to become tyrannical rule. Modern India came under that threat during the Emergency period in the 1970s, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emergency_(India). Due to heroic resistance from some political leaders and some media persons, I think Indira Gandhi was forced to lift the emergency and call for elections where she and her party was routed. The Indian people had tasted authoritarian rule which brought some discipline but also brought some horrors like forced sterilization and other abuse of power. The Indian people wanted none of that and sent a clear message to Indira Gandhi. Now she came back to power later but that was through a democratic mandate and not an "Emergency".
China has made just awesome strides in improving the quality of material life of its people. India is way behind China in this regard. But 1989 Tianenman square protests and resultant deaths and injuries, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests, are still not openly discussed in China even today, three decades after the protests and the deaths!
For me, freedom is vital. So even if China has faster development, I prefer India's freedom and don't mind paying the price of slower development.
The nice thing about democracy is that the elected political leaders are held accountable, at least to some extent, by media and courts.
If I was living in China, I don't think I would have dared to become a blogger.
It is because I live in democratic India that I have been able to freely express my views on a variety of topics, even if I am not in the political partisan space. I mean, if I was in China I would not have dared to write a Chinese Computer Science and Information Technology Academic Reform activism blog! I would have seen the danger of being critical of powerful bodies like China's top academic administration bodies, and would have chosen to be silent.
But India gives me the freedom to write about it. UGC/AICTE Profs may ignore my views but they cannot punish me for publishing my views that are strongly critical of some of their policies.
And this freedom is essentially guarded and nurtured and kept alive by the political process, elected political leaders, media, courts of justice and law enforcement.
So even if the elected politicians as a group may have many flaws, they are the people who implement policy. So I respect their policy making power and policy implementation power.
Note that most of human history has had rulers who would amass wealth and power, and freely kill anybody who dares to openly challenge them. Just imagine life in South India in 1700s - Muslim kingdoms and Hindu kingdoms with kings and their courtiers having immense power and wealth and rest of populace having to be fearful of their power.
So I think most rulers and their supporters have amassed wealth and power. Current day politicians doing that is not anything unusual from that perspective. What is different in the current day is that media and courts of justice can hold people in power accountable at least to some extent. In earlier days, I think there would not have been much chance of holding a king accountable or holding courtiers who have the full support of the king, accountable.
I think one has to accept these realities of power and people in power.
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Shoaib Akhtar in a different role of frank commentator (in Hindi-English). Some time pass :-) . He is really upset at Pak's loss to India in the Cricket World Cup a few days ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FAksNhhI1g, slightly over 11 mins.
I particularly enjoyed Akhtar's Karma comments :-)!
I should also add for readers who don't know much about Akhtar that Shoaib Akhtar was perhaps the most feared Pakistan fast bowler in the past few decades. He played international cricket for Pakistan from 1997 to 2011, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoaib_Akhtar.
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Britain's next PM: the Conservative Party leadership debate, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWdRE0XyecA, around an hour and a quarter, published by Channel 4 News on 16th June 2019
I found this to be a very interesting debate. While Boris Johnson, the leading candidate, gave the debate a miss, the other 5 in the fray were present - Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javed, Dominic Raab and Rory Stewart.
Whatever the troubles UK is going through for the past few years, I think this debate shows that it is a mature parliamentary democracy.
As all the guys in this show had a go at Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, in the interests of fairness, I will look up a recent video of Corbyn where he is going after the Conservatives and put it up :-).
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Couldn't find a suitable recent video of Jeremy Corbyn. I will wait for a few days as I am sure some suitable recent interview of Corbyn will be put up on youtube where he is critical of the Conservative Party's views and puts forward his and Labour's views.
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One of the scary things about the law, is misuse of the law by those it is meant to protect, as a weapon against innocent people they are angry with by filing false complaints against them. This is a very scary reality of India. That is why one has to be very careful in one's dealings with those that have special protection under the law (as in the past many in their caste/community or gender had been abused or discriminated against).
I think those who file false complaints should ideally face the legal music for their horrible misuse of the law.
[Shared article: #MenToo: Woman who accused TV actor Karan Oberoi of rape arrested, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/mentoo-woman-who-accused-tv-actor-karan-oberoi-of-rape-gets-arrested/articleshow/69824390.cms]
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In response to a comment, I wrote: There is no doubt in my mind that most of Indian society, especially rural India, is a very male dominated society. And women are sometimes treated badly even today. That is the brutal reality.
But in this case, Mumbai police have made an arrest. I have been born, bred and worked for my living in and around Mumbai. I doubt whether Mumbai police would have arrested her without proper cause.
After the atrocious 2012 Delhi gang rape which was very shameful for the whole country, new law(s) was/were enacted which seem to have tilted the matter in favour of the woman complainant in case of rape. I don't know the exact situ in this case, but I have heard of other case(s) where the new law(s) were misused by some woman(women) to get somebody into trouble and force them to do something that the woman (women) wanted them to do.
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Quite fascinating! I was an avid reader of Agatha Christie. Over time I became more of an admirer of Miss Marple than of the flamboyant Hercule Poirot.
Sad to know that Agatha Christie's first marriage ran into such trouble.
[Shared article: When the World’s Most Famous Mystery Writer Vanished, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/books/agatha-christie-vanished-11-days-1926.html]
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I try to avoid sharing posts on USA politics nowadays as it has become a very sensitive topic with a lot of heavy polarization. But I do follow what's happening as it is elected politicians, especially the top elected political leaders, who play ***absolutely decisive*** roles in formulating new policies or unwinding existing policies (or modifying them) to meet, or some may say ostensibly meet, their political goals/objectives.
So the impact that top elected political leaders can have on the people in democratic countries like USA, Western European countries and India can be really big.
Nowadays a big factor in political campaigns is the economy and how it benefits (or supposedly benefits) people.
In 2015-2016 US President Trump ran on a campaign that partly claimed that he knew how to set the USA economy right and generate jobs (with Trump claiming that he would become the greatest jobs president in history).
Now he is President and will be launching his campaign for re-election in 2020 (I don't think he has launched it yet).
So one expect campaign stuff now from President Trump. But this tweet of his took me somewhat aback in terms of how he attacked his opposition's ability to handle the economy.
"The Trump Economy is setting records, and has a long way up to go....However, if anyone but me takes over in 2020 (I know the competition very well), there will be a Market Crash the likes of which has not been seen before! KEEP AMERICA GREAT"
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1139891393252474880, 15th June 2019.
I don't know how well the "Trump economy" is doing. But saying that if he does not win, there will be some horrible, horrible (never seen before) market crash, is something that really stands out. That's some political attack! Whatever one may say of Trump, one thing is certain - he sure knows how to verbally attack his political opponents and, many times, gain political traction from the attack.
I alone can fix it - that was one of his themes in the 2016 campaign. Perhaps this can be viewed as the 'All others will wreck it' theme.
Is this fear-mongering? Perhaps it is. But perhaps what may really matter is whether such an approach will deliver the desired results to Trump who is running to be re-elected President of the USA in 2020.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about USA politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in USA elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the USA.
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Interesting! Vegan food and no booze for Boris Johnson to shoot for PM position
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjWQaxeXOmk. 1 min. 26 secs by the Daily Telegraph (if I recall correctly, Johnson was/is a columnist for it).
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Rory Stewart is an outsider candidate for leader of UK Conservative Party. He speaks quite logically and persuasively. But can he match the charisma of Boris Johnson, especially in a future general election against Jeremy Corbyn of Labour? That's the big question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl1iQRGQkVw, 8 min. 22 secs.
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CNN's view of Boris Johnson after he won the first round vote for UK Conservative Party leadership, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XddsBaHmU_k, 3 min. 38 secs.
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Who Is Boris Johnson? He May Be the Next Prime Minister of Britain | NYT News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUqFGQg8as8, around 3 mins.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2516307061919189
Interesting!
The Final Report: Watergate (National Geographic), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC9PE2CiSGA, around 45 mins.
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2511203255762903
Very happy to see Steve Smith & David Warner back in Australian team after having served their 1 year ban period; India beat Australia convincingly in ICC World Cup
Steve Smith and David Warner played their first Australian international match after their 1 year ban period got over on 1st June 2019. Here's an article on that:
Steve Smith, David Warner did the crime and served their time: Nasser Hussain, https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/story/salaam-cricket-2019-nasser-hussain-steve-smith-david-warner-booed-world-cup-2019-1541722-2019-06-03, 3rd June 2019
Yesterday, 9th June, Smith and Warner played their first match against India after their ban. It was good to see them back. I wish them well.
Unfortunately, Smith and Warner have got targeted by the crowd unfairly. It was great to see Indian captain Virat Kohli publicly ask the crowd to applaud Steve Smith. Here's an ICC video of it: Virat Kohli Asks Indian Fans To Applaud Steve Smith | ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1H-zvqPg0, 19 secs.
And India beat Australia convincingly in the match: India vs Australia - Match Highlights | ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkWHGy70jIg, 5 min. 26 secs.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2508761146007114
Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989? - BBC News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3RzKKfNkTk, 10 min. 40 secs. published by BBC News on 6th June 2019.
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Nice Hindi film oldie song
Musafir hon yaaron, Hindi Film -- Parichay (1972), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjvLyBgv6Hg sung by the Great Kishore Kumar, lyrics by Gulzar, music by R.D. Burman
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Very interesting interview! Rory Stewart comes across as a sensible guy who can connect to people. He is running for the post of leader of the Conservative Party in UK. There are many contenders with Boris Johnson seeming to be the favourite.
Rory Stewart interview: Can he beat Boris Johnson to be prime minister?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB6VAt9qGro, 17 min 3 secs, published on 29th May 2019.
Here's his wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Stewart
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY (POLITICALLY) NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about UK politics. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in UK elections. I am a well-wisher of the people of the UK.
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2506440409572521
The power of a lightning strike! Video is less than a minute long.
[Shared video: https://www.facebook.com/TimesofIndia/videos/855571341478860/]
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https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2506145149602047
Mount Everest is in the news nowadays for the wrong reasons. I saw some videos covering the good & great parts of Mount Everest and also the current problem climbers are facing. Thought I should share a few of those video links with readers.
1) Everest Start to Summit in 3 min., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kRycxdU2nA, around 3 mins, published in May 2018.
2) The current problem: Mount Everest climber describes trip up mountain as 'a death race', https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVXkXQIbSM, 3 min. 24 secs, published by Daily Mail on 28th May 2019
3) Helicopter Tour of Mt. Everest - Stunning Views of Himalayas in Nepal | Trek Tips, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usuubU_0QCI, 9 min. 38 secs, published in Dec. 2018
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