Rules Based

 A friend sent me this article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/28/united-states-should-practice-the-rules-based-order-it-preaches/. She asked: Why are so many democracies unwilling to condemn Russia?

My response: "A much better way to frame the division in the world is between countries that believe in a rules-based international order and those that don’t. " From the same article. 

If Western democracies were  so rule bound as the author suggests why were UK USA etc in bed with Saudi, China and Russia all these years? Why was uk so cosy with Russian oligarchs until the Ukraine invasion? How did those oligarchs suddenly become persona non grata in Feb this year? 

Why are we still doing business with China or Saudi (despite what we know Saudi did to khashoggi)? 

Are we, Western democracies, so honorable really? Isn't survival the driving force really behind our actions? Do we think the western democracies were ignorant until Feb? 

Why this holier than thou attitude suddenly?

Zelensky And Ukraine

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/opinion/why-we-admire-zelensky.html

Additional reading 

• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2022/03/emotions-and-ukraine.html
• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cohen-ukraine-commentary-idUSKBN1GV2TY
• ThePrint: Why it’s obscene to tell Ukraine to give in & how war-upended global balance of power brings openings for India: very nice comparing with India, China and Pak.
• Five Blunt Truths About the War in Ukraine
  
• Will Russia Pay for Ukraine’s War Damage? Very nice.
  

Le Pen Le Pew

 Le Pen Closer Than Ever to the French Presidency (and to Putin)

Kamila Hyatt

 

• https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/592059-a-glimmer-of-light: On India
• https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/951928-a-land-without-law: On Punjab assembly. Very nice
  
• https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/535467-an-unclean-partition: On Kashmir
  
  
  
  

Additional reading

• https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/538976-a-little-bit-of-panic
• https://www.dawn.com/news/1686729/haughty-culture: that was awesome
  

Imran Khan And Pakistan

 Interesting articles about the man that show his character.

Imran Khan blames America for his downfall. He should blame himself.

Additional reading:

• https://www.rt.com/news/554069-political-crisis-pakistan-foreign-police/

Akshara Murty And Rishi Sunak

• https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/09/five-key-questions-rishi-sunak-and-akshata-murty-have-yet-to-answer?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/10/stench-entitlement-now-oozing-from-rishi-sunaks-home-as-well-as-boris-johnsons?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other: By the same token, the queen enjoys more privilege then the average Briton. Why is that entitlement not having a modicum of stench..How is the chancellor and his wife different from the queen? Why is the entitlement of one acceptable and that of the other, not?
• https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/f595bd44-b9c5-11ec-94e5-2197dead5942?shareToken=a5e9e77491db25c342963c1631dd931e
  
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/07/akshata-murty-non-dom-rishi-sunak-wealth-chancellor?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
  
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/14/rishi-sunak-parliaments-icarus-fraud-furlough-chancellor?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
  
• NDTV.com: UK PM Contender Rishi Sunak's Wife Akshata Murty In Hot Water Over Teacups. Since when did a person have to be embarrassed about their own wealth? What is happening to UK that media seems to look down upon akshara using expensive tea cups in her own home? This expectation is certainly unacceptable.
  
• How Sunak is doing
  

Victor Orban Of Hungary

Interesting articles about the man that show his character.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/129cf03e-b50b-11ec-8c29-375fe0cc1f19?shareToken=82372ecdb49af14d858f9c0b3a81f3d8 : ""Instead, he sees autocracies as natural partners. Hungary has repeatedly blocked EU initiatives to hold China accountable for maritime expansionism in the South China Sea and for human rights abuses." So similar to Trump"

Additional reading 

• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2022/02/putin-character.html
• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2022/03/trump-vs-boris.html
• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2020/11/trumps-character.html
  
• https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/acf213ae-d936-11ec-a481-0e21da1b3b09?shareToken=19d2da8d191e552ee9f9d3b0d733c886
  

Interactions with Emotions (FP's, MBTI)

 

I was talking to a doctor from Delhi yesterday. She said she didn't want to know more about a person she liked because that might make her judge them.

So a medical student might tell the professor they don't want to learn more about vagina, kidney, heart, brain because they might start judging them!. What an excuse to not show interest..

We were then talking about Delhi and how unsafe it is for women. I said Delhi is considered the rape capital of the world. She said that's not true. And that Delhi is no more unsafe than any other city in India. It's just that Delhi has gotten itself a bad name.

I said that rapists are women most of the time. It's just that men have gotten the blame always.

She retorted that I am speaking like this because I don't have any daughter. Right.

Today I was talking to a woman from Chennai. I asked her "if you ask a woman if she is happy, would you ever hear an affirmative response?"

She asked me why I don't want women to be happy.

I am packing my bags.