Disqus - Friends of doubtinggaurav

Re: http://varunvijay.tumblr.com/post/1149456340

Varun Vijay — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 08:32:36 -0000

http://www.dailypioneer.com...

Re: Fear of Islamism is not a good enough reason to oppose the revolution in Egypt

Varun Vijay — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:30:07 -0000

Just wanted to post this quote by Andrew C. McCarthy as a counterpoint.
Civilizational Progress is not Historical Inevitability
Civilization is not an evolution of mankind but the imposition of human good on human evil. It is not a historical inevitability. It is a battle that has to be fought every day, because evil doesn’t recede willingly before the wheels of progress. Andrew McCarthy

Re: The worst political ad ever

Varun Vijay — Fri, 13 May 2011 16:52:14 -0000

I think technical word for it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: http://karishma.me/post/8195151836

Varun Vijay — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:26:27 -0000

very sexy :)

Re: Aphorism: Intellectualism

Varun Vijay — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:24:55 -0000

The aphorism sounds a little nihilistic.

---------------------------------------------------

Politics, Pursuit of Power and Ideology: Hans J. Morgenthau

While
all politics is necessarily pursuit of power, ideologies render
involvement in that contest for power psychologically and morally
acceptable to the actors and their audience. (Ideologies) are either
ultimate goals of political action… or… pretexts and false fronts behind
which the element of power, inherent in all politics, is concealed.
They may fulfil one or the other function, or they may fulfil both at
the same time. The nation that dispensed with ideologies and frankly
stated it wanted power would… find itself at a great and perhaps
decisive disadvantage in the struggle for power.” —Hans J. Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations
---------------------------------------------------

I think what Morgenthau says about ideology also applies to intellectual arguments.

Re: Aphorism: Freedom

Varun Vijay — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:28:11 -0000

Sounds too black-or-white. What about the grey shades?

Re: Punctuations, Episode 5: Dr. Arun Shourie

Varun Vijay — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:51:57 -0000

#fail Arun Shourie said he is more in favor of alternate source of energy like Wind and Solar.

How silly to ask about Presidential system? Neither CON nor BJP will ever let it happen!

Ramnath Goenka suddenly inexplicably lost his mental balance and
comprehension abilities. Must be some poisoning by CON with help from
KGB!

http://articles.timesofindi...
I think this is the link Sandeep was referring to when he said "babus do not want to work with Shourie".

Re: Reaveled: The common link between fans of Modinomics and blockbuster Karan Johar

Varun Vijay — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 05:25:33 -0000

Also on matters where Central and State coordination is required, we can at least safely assume that where state governments are led by BJP and it's allies, we can see some quick action. In states where anti-BJP forces are in government, BJP has to inform the people of the state about how their state government is blocking reforms which will benefit them.

Re: Speculators Come Back, All Is Forgiven!

Varun Vijay — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 09:13:17 -0000

https://www.facebook.com/vi...
Quoting "Vivek Kaul"

//BeginQuote
So now real estate buyers are being unrealistic. I think this is a new low in real estate writing.

"These worthies, expecting a crash in prices as the crisis deepens, are gleefully seeking ever more unrealistic bargains before committing themselves. To them, the builders are profiteers, bloated on black money, and unethical, one-sided, contractual arrangements," a column in Swarjya points out.

I am truly amazed as to how can anyone insult people who are looking to buy a home to live in. And what unrealistic bargains are we talking about? An average flat in Mumbai costs Rs 1.3 crore. In NCR it is Rs 75 lakh. It's the prices which are unrealistic, not the buyers. Calling buyers unrealistic is basically nonsense of the first order.
And yes builders are "profiteers, bloated on black money, and unethical, one-sided, contractual arrangements." What is wrong with that?
Further, a right wing magazine is now carrying columns recommending government intervention. How ironical!
I guess in the content game, anything sells these days.

//EndQuote

Re: Indians and invasions

Amar — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:08:10 -0000

Why didn't Indians do well 'going out' ?

They always kept 'coming in' from the North West. Greeks, Huns, Muslim invasions...

The Himalayas to the north and north east. And the sea with no significant landmass tenable for invasion other than Sri Lanka in the south. Considering how far they went we really did well with the Cholas. It's our friggin geography!

Re: Avatar, the Right and the indigenous tribes

Amar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:44:33 -0000

Excellent post. But I can't seem to go beyond the question you pose: what is the Right’s position on the right to property and the concept of eminent domain?

Re: Say no to Sinophobia

Amar — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:49:55 -0000

Sid, I fully concede the threat China constitutes. But it is a good idea to insist on objective assessments. Some of the claims made by Suman Sharma are naive, laughable and should not be published.

As far as IA being able to stop China is concerned it would be interesting to study why the Chinese withdrew all of a sudden in 62. I believe we will be fully able to stop and hold our ground. :)

Re: No more hartals

Amar — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 08:51:07 -0000

Sujeet, trust me this is not a bad idea at all. Only where can we get traders who'll take a loss? j/kidding!

Re: Say no to Sinophobia

Amar — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:22:43 -0000

Sid.

When you say "They withdrew because they achieved their objective" what objectives do you think they had in their mind?

There are three possible objectives in a military conflict. You can aim for military, political or propaganda victory. The Chinese won a propaganda victory - in terms of their military objective they could not keep what they captured because they had outrun their supply lines and fresh Indian troops were marching towards them!

Re: Civil Nuclear Liability Bill III: A Response to Siddharth Varadarajan

Amar — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:27:22 -0000

An increase in liability limits over a period of time is a good idea indeed.

Re: The new Dravidian movement.

Amar — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:34:32 -0000

Sai, I was at the premises when the President was speaking. Didn't hear any students but if there indeed were any rest assured they could not have been more than a dozen. And I'm sure they were packed up soon.

And, the idea of Tamil nationalism is dead. Long since.

Re: The new Dravidian movement.

Amar — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:50:27 -0000

Balaji, do not assume that I was ignorant of what was happening at the Conference. You may be surprised at the extent of my, and my family's involvement in it.

The book fair is a side-show - in anycase I believe its an annual event in Coimbatore.

The public conventions were comic to say the least - what with bold pronouncements of Tamil being the ancestral language of Sumerian and Egyptian languages etc.

Once again, I applaud your confidence in the cadre and the Tamil proletariat. I don't know why you think they'd understand whats happening inside the seminar premises when they were not even allowed access. How many paper presentations did you visit? Do you realise most of them only had single digit audiences?

And as for alternative perspectives: were papers presenting an alternate perspective of interpreting the indus script called for? No. They invited and so recieved the sort of papers they wanted. That is not how real science works.

Whatever good work INFITT has done in the past the DMK or MuKa can't lay claim to it. Once again it was more or less a side show: to the leadership and proletariat what happened in the public convention area was *the conference*, and that didn't say anything else except that Tamil was the mother of all languages in the world.

Asko Parpola represents *one* perspective. How many invites were sent for historians with other perspectives?

Re: Dear NAC

Amar — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:24:31 -0000

Undermining one establishment or the other is a characterstic trait of the Congress party.

Manmohan Singh's feeble attempt to retain some self-respect and independence in decision making appears to be back-firing. What with dole-out programmes and this wanton act of vote-back appeasement!

Re: Ayodhya-aftermath: De-constructing victimhood

Amar — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:26:03 -0000

@Offstumped: The amateur speculation is *mine* not yours. :-)

I quite agree with your examples but I also believe its time to recollect equally important issues such as the need to deconstruct the Left-Liberal establishment.

Re: Ayodhya-aftermath: De-constructing victimhood

Amar — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:32:12 -0000

@Vijay, dude, yes in the overall sense the defeat of the idea of Pakistan is the only way Hindu-Mozzie rivalry is gonna die. We are some distance away from being capable of dismantling Pakistan.Reshaping the Indian political landscape is a pre-requisite to building capablity - both strategic and political.

Re: Ayodhya-aftermath: De-constructing victimhood

Amar — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 07:53:50 -0000

@Pilid Lao, I agree there is the possibility of the discourse getting hijacked by the anarchists. Perhaps I could have phrased it better...in anycase the essence of the argument is that the stagnated establishment first firmed up in the British era needs dismantling and replacement with modern, effective government machinery. In other words: reform and cutting down to size.

Much of the strife - communal, casteist and otherwise has a better chance of being handled better in a reformed environment. The judiciary, police and other relevant government agencies would have been turned turtle, shaken down and kicked into shape by then!

Re: Ayodhya-aftermath: De-constructing victimhood

Amar — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:02:01 -0000

Palahalli,

I'm not making a case for truth and reconciliation. However. Reconciliation would mean the frank acknowledgement of the past and present. It would mean *mutual* accommodation.

As to tangible gestures: yes there must obviously be some but let that not be maximalist. Let demands not be made with belligerence or malice. ;-)

Re: Ayodhya-aftermath: De-constructing victimhood

Amar — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:45:57 -0000

PalahalliS, Perhaps you would draft your queries more elaborately than what it is. I need to fully understand your concerns to be able to answer - I don't have the brains for debates such as those you attempt you begin, I'm too slow :-)

Re: Ayodhya-aftermath: De-constructing victimhood

Amar — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:05:45 -0000

Dubash: I didn't realise Mozzie was disrespectful. It's just a term I picked up from someplace I don't remember! So let no offence be taken where there was none intended. :)

As for Muslim presence: well, CRI will not hesitate to publish a decent post on the issue. Yes, even if it were written by a Muslim. Its just that there are only two admins for the site - both with a career to work towards!

We have our Diwaan E Aam for guest posts, Vijay usually manages the site - any contribution would be more than welcome!

Re: Recording of Centre Right India’s Live Broadcast, 28th October

Amar — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 06:16:50 -0000

Thank you Vivek. That is certainly our aim.