Donald Trump and his new Cabinet may regard war as the most effective instrument of statecraft, but there is little appetite amongst the U.S.’ allies for armed action against Iran and North Korea.
A MID-LEVEL OFFICIAL IN THE UNITED States State Department smiled as he talked about Trump’s new Cabinet. It is sadly funny that the most serious person in the Cabinet is someone with the nickname “Mad Dog”. We talked about the career of General James Mattis, Trump’s Secretary of Defence. No one seemed concerned with the actual career of Mattis, said the official. He recalledMattis’ career in Iraq.Mattis had been responsible for the flattening of Fallujah in 2004 and for the Mogr el-Deeb wedding party massacre in May 2004. He had ordered the bombing of a tent in this
little village near the Syrian border. As many as 42 people died in that attack—14 of them were children.No one has been held to account for this murder. Mattis, as the person who authorised the bombing, has never been charged. “Mad Dog didn’t get his name out of thin air,” said the official. In Trump’s Cabinet, “MadDog”Mattis is seen as the moderate.He is the “adult in the room,” as the State Department official put it.
Trump’s cabinet has haemorrhaged. Many of the so-called sober heads have been fired. First went Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former head of Exxon-Mobil who was seen to be too rational for the Trump team. Then went National Security AdviserGeneralH.R. McMaster, a military man who was seen as insufficiently deferential to the neo-conservative view of the world. Neither Tillerson nor McMaster thought it prudent to box North Korea and Iran into a corner. Neither wanted to draw the U.S. into a major war on two ends of Asia. This is the reason why a petulant Donald Trump pushed them out the door.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
