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. 

Boris And The Drinks

A conversation with my friend about Boris, the PM of UK.

My Friend:

I find it totally bizarre when Boris keeps saying even now that no rules were broken regarding the Partygate affair, and that he never attended any parties. It is now abundantly clear that rules were broken both after the Sue Gray report and now after the Police Report. Twenty people have been fined, but nobody is telling us so far whether the prime suspect, Boris, has been issued a fine or not. Still a secret that. Still the idiot Boris says no rules were broken in Downing Street even after people have been issued fixed penalty notices (FPN).

This is exactly like another idiot called Trump who keeps talking about the 'stolen election' even though he knows fully well that it is a total lie.

I don't know much of psychology, but this is just denial of facts when there is evidence flying against it in the face. What is it about these liars? Do they think the public are total fools, and simply denying it will somehow make it true?

I just don't get it. Clearly I am not as clever as they are.

My response:

Facts aren't a binary (Yes/no) for some people. They thrive on the grey. 

Their defense usually consists of a 3 step process:

1. No it (whatever they are accused of) didn't happen.

2. God forbid, if there is proof that it did happen, then the next response is "no, I didn't do it"

3. And if there is incontrovertible proof that they did do it, then the brahmastra "I never intended it". Boris is at step 2. He will move to the last step of expressing his intentions if proof of his drinks emerges.

Of course, we all know how important intentions are. And the great thing about intentions is that its existence can neither be proved nor denied. CCTV doesn't record intentions.

Thus one moves from the realm of incontrovertible proof of an act to the ambiguous realm of "didn't intend".

People from different walks of life follow this process. You just need to abstract their actions and words to see the 3 steps. 

Beware of anyone who focuses on intention rather than on action.

If you had chosen mostly wrong answers in an exam, would you have been allowed to pass it by just having expressed your fervent intention to choose the right answers?

But in life, our intention to choose right actions (without corresponding actions) gives us an enormous amount of bonus points that our exams never did!

Choose your intentions wisely, Sudha. And express them often. They give you far higher returns than actions..

Emotions And Ukraine War

A conversation between my friend and me about the Ukraine situation. 

Polish Friend: I'm not in favour of Putin, but I'm also not in favour of Ukraine. I just hope that we, Poland, will not get involved.

Me: Well I think you are going to be [involved] as things stand now. You will fight on behalf of Ukraine, If you ever get involved.

PF: I really hope we won't.

Me: You won't like what I am going to tell you. But I anticipated that the war (not "special military operation") will proceed and involve NATO. I sold stocks anticipating it. Note that this is not my wish. But what I think will happen. My money is at stake!!

PF: Is that supposed to be a joke?

Me: Why do you ask that?

PF: Because it is ridiculous.

Me: What is ridiculous?

PF: Should I bet that India and Bangladesh go to war??

This conversation was illuminating to me. Note that my friend asked me whether she should bet and not whether she should wish for a war between India and Bangladesh. Meaning, she understood that I was betting and not hoping for a war. And she still thinks that a bet is offensive. A bet is the result of analysis, not what we hope will happen. The belief that a logic thought is no different from a desire is striking. 

An emotional person doesn't get the difference between what we wish and what we think will likely happen and hence conflates the two. Just as they don't understand the concept of cause and effect. They often think that the cause is the result of the effect.

Strange.

Additional reading 

Acknowledging the Limits of Sanctions: Very nice article

Desire And Image Gets Us To Our Goal

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend about the current Ukraine situation and Indian stance.

Friend: Modi's condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding there will slightly soften the West's attitude to India. India's decision to sit on the fence in the UN Security Council resolution to condemn Russia did not go down very well in the West.

Me: India is a non entity.

Friend: India may not be as much of a non-entity as you think. If it was, why did the West criticise their recent decision? Nobody criticised North Korea, Sri  Lanka  etc.

Me: True to some extent. The only way India makes a difference in this equation is that it may buy oil from Russia (but not food grains, India itself exports that and hence competes against Russia). Plus the defence contracts and [India's need for] spares will provide revenue to Russia. I doubt India will [in future] buy any military requirements from Russia. Otherwise who gives a damn whether India votes for Russia or against.

Friend: It's all about the impression that people have about India. We do want the world to think of India as democratic, liberal (now under threat according to the West), has freedom of speech, independent press - all features constituting motherhood and apple pie. Don't we?

Me: :) you are talking about what we want. I am talking about what is. 

Friend: Yes to get what we want, we want to be seen to be on the right.

The parts in italics are so revealing, eye opening.

Friend: Referring to the article above: "This is one of the numerous articles we have seen recently about why democracy is still motherhood and apple pie! You asked the other day, I am sure only to engage in constructive discussion, about the point of this war because Ukraine cannot win on its own because of Russian military superiority. This tells us why."

Trump Vs Boris

A friend sent me this article: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/19/pms-comparison-of-ukraine-resistance-to-uk-brexit-vote-criticised-as-crass?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Now I think I am beginning to understand Boris. I am not sure he is like Trump. True they both share indifference to protocol, do what they please. 

Trump has motivations that are evil. He is an alpha male. I doubt Boris is one.

Boris seems to be a person who wants to be "free", lead a life where he is free to do what he pleases, and not be bothered with do's and don'ts. He has to follow his heart all the time. There isn't much head in him except for that unruly hair. I think he saw this Ukraine thing and thought he could drain himself out of the quagmire he had found himself in as a result of Partygate.

He went one step further and compared Ukraine's situation with Brexit. Possibly he that he would make a martyr out of himself by putting his pet baby on par with a much more legitimate issue. 

Like when someone talks about their brain cancer don't we have the urge to say "yes, I know what you mean, I too had my tooth extracted last week".