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from Asia Times Online
The faster new technology is introduced, the more jobs it eats up, but the quicker its promised benefits are realized. As automation gains pace, there is no reason to expect a net loss of human jobs – or anything but continual improvements in living standards.
As 2017 came to a close these assertions by Anantkumar Hegde, India’s minister of state for skill development, signify the battle that is being waged over how India sees itself as a country. Challenges to the basic tenets of the constitution have become the norm, with several key ministers and leaders from the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party defending the articulation of India as a “Hindu Rashtra” and criticizing “secularism” as a boogeyman for minority appeasement. The largest obstacle to the dream of a Hindu Rashtra has been the caste question that each Indian political party has had to answer, to remain relevant in the country’s political reality. The difficulty has always been to allay the fears of one caste group while protecting the interests of another.
Witnessing Mumbai suffer caste violence on January 2 was a rude reminder of one of the biggest threats to India’s development goals: bigotry and intolerance. It’s a reminder for Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the dangerous company he keeps, and the price he and India could pay. I may be among the few journalists believing the sincerity of Modi’s development agenda, but that trust has always been clouded by the threat of bigots among his followers. And the dark forces in Modi’s party are gaining alarming strength.
US President Donald Trump’s recent tweets blaming Pakistan for all the failures in Afghanistan are seriously distorted. Since previous US administrations have also failed to achieve anything substantial in Afghanistan — the “graveyard of empires” — the current administration is desperate to find scapegoats. Besides Trump’s scathing tweets, the recent US National Security Strategy (NSS) is likely to further undermine Pakistan/US relations. The strategy’s major pillars over-emphasize the vicious geopolitical competition and exaggerate the use of military power to curb the challenges Washington faces.
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from MyNorthwest.com
Media/News Company in Seattle, Washington
For the last couple of decades, we’ve have the global warming cultists like Al Gore and Jay Inslee tell us that global warming is the greatest threat facing mankind. If they truly believed that, they would live their lives in a way that is consistent with their dire predictions. But they clearly don’t believe their own words.
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from New York Times
Newspaper in New York
In Clash Between California and Trump, It’s One America Versus Another
When drivers entered California recently from the borders with Arizona and Nevada, they were greeted with signs welcoming them to an “official sanctuary state” that is home to “felons” and “illegals.” It was a prank, but the message was clear: By entering California, they might as well have been entering foreign territory. And in many ways it feels like that these days, as the growing divide between California and the Trump administration erupted this past week over a dizzying range of flash points, from immigration to taxes to recreational marijuana use.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims victory against anti-government protests
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month. In a statement on its website, the force blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims victory against anti-government protests
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Sunday that the nation and its security forces have ended the wave of unrest linked to anti-government protests that erupted last month. In a statement on its website, the force blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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