Columns

Weights and Measures

I don’t fly much these days, mainly because I never know whether my plane is being flown by a pilot, co-pilot or auto-pilot. That’s a problem for me because these days the pilot is usually busy having photo ops with his proud mom and dad in the cabin, the co-pilot is busy bashing down the […]

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A Single Bullet

A SINGLE bullet often becomes a pivot in history: Sarajevo, Dallas, Los Angeles, Memphis, and now Utah. And nearer home, Rawalpindi in 1951, and again in 2007. At Sarajevo, a Serb student Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophie on June 28, 1914. Within a month, World War I broke out.

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Book Review: The Kargil War Surgeon’s Testimony

The Kargil War Surgeon’s Testimony by Col (R) Arup Ratan Basu Published by Bloomsbury India. 2025 All wars are invariably followed by books, but these are usually about the blood and glory,  strategy and logistics, victories and failures. Colonel Basu’s book is delightfully different: while being both humble and unassuming, it is also humane and compassionate,

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It’s Not About Dogs – It’s About Us And A Morally Decaying Society

I for one was not surprised-shocked yes, but not surprised- by the 11th August order of the Supreme Court (since partially reviewed by another bench on the 22nd) on incarcerating stray dogs for life in non-existent dog shelters, condemning them to a sure and miserable death. For, given the downward trajectory of our social, legal

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Home Ground

NEGOTIATING on home ground yields a tactical advantage. Recent history offers some examples. Take the pre-World War II war meetings between Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in 1938. Hitler ensured that the talks were held in Germany — in his mountain eyrie of Berchtesgaden, at Bad Godesberg on the Rhine, and in

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In celebration of Independence Day 2025: Why do I publish what I don’t agree with?

As sole proprietor of Salt Desert Media/ Pippa Rann Books, why do I publish things with which I disagree? It is worth noting that I do so primarily where I feel that the work communicates a point of view that is soundly argued, well expressed, and should be heard. Let me explain that in the

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GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG

Will there ever be peace on earth? Not in my lifetime. And not on this earth. World War II detonated in sequence: the Anschluss or annexation of Austria by Germany in March 1938; Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939; or Hitler’s incursion (with Stalin’s support) into Poland in September 1939. World War III began

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