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Commentary

A collection of 57 issues

Reducing the Nuclear Threat by Reducing Local Threat Perceptions

The drive to acquire nuclear weapons is thought to stem largely from local threat perceptions. The point becomes all the more clear when we take stock of the countries where the nuclear weapons activity is limited to. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) nuclear weapons program initially

Akshardham: A Spiritual Theme Park

The huge red sandstone and marble monument, visible from the nearby highway, stands alone, proud, and out of place. The local road abutting the walled complex has a few informal ‘checkpoints’ where men in plain clothes check cars. As our Maruti Zen lurches into the ‘complex’, the true enormity of

Bemoaning Delhi

Delhi doesn’t look like anything. It is amorphous, and as misshapen as only third world cities can be. It is but a mass of hutments, box-like houses built to occupy every available inch of space (and a couple more created by bribery) crammed together across narrow lanes interspersed by

Shining India: The Marvel of Marble

The Singapore Airlines flight SQ 408 landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at 8:45pm, a full 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, there was no gate available to greet the early arrival. After waiting for about 15 minutes, a gate was found and the weary passengers

The Role of Argument in Natural Sciences, Law, and Social Sciences

The following article has been written by Chaste, who has contributed to this blog before. I will assume for the purposes of this piece that argument is the dominant form of writing in academia. This is also true of public discourse, but this piece will limit itself to academic writing,

Immigration Reform

The following article has been written by Chaste Note: The author has used the phrase, “illegal workers” only when the illegality is specifically implicated. Elsewhere, he has used the phrase “foreign workers.” Discussions about immigration reform have acquired a feverish intensity. Not only is there a pervasive sense of the

Bijli, Sadak, Makaan: Art at the Crossroads of Infrastructure and Culture

The questions that Ashok Sukumaran asks of us are, to say the least, unusual. The way he asks them is more unusual still. Yet these are questions that are uniquely applicable to India â€“ especially an India that is in the throes of globalization and a technological revolution. Mr. Sukumaran,

Waxing poetic

“India has a growing middle class estimated at 300 million people.” Emily Wax 300 million is an astounding figure and just a shade below the US population. If indeed India has a “growing” middle class that is 300 million strong, then the US and the rest of the world better

Sidhwa's Lahore, A Lovingly Embroidered Family Heirloom

Every great city deserves a worthy admirer. Lahore has just found one. Bapsi Sidhwa’s edited volume is a tribute to the city, a celebration of its landmarks, its cuisine, its gourmets, its brutalizing summers, its people, and its stories. The book strikes an immediate rapport. It is akin to