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Columnists
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Bloggers
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Opinion | Trump, Tughlaq, Tariffs: The Dangers Of Strength Without Sense
Like Trump, Tughlaq was often described as an erratic ruler with no shortage of ambition but a chronic inability to foresee the consequences. That's their paradox: strength without strategy, vision without realism.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Aug 08, 2025 11:26 am IST
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Opinion | China, Now Trump: Pakistan And The Art Of Somehow Finding Patrons
Pakistan has successfully lobbied Western capitals into believing in its indispensability in the regional strategic landscape. The US continues to buy this narrative for various reasons, not discounting the naivete among them.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Aug 01, 2025 16:52 pm IST
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Opinion | How Many Dead Babies Does A War Need?
Given New Delhi's historical support for Palestine, its supposed 'neutrality' today in the face of death, starvation, and genocide, citing a strategic relationship with Israel, is incongruous.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jul 29, 2025 12:59 pm IST
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Opinion | India's Classroom Crisis: Why Your Teacher Is So Clueless About Everything
I've spent the past month in my ancestral village, setting up a dream project. What I've encountered here, once again, is a paradoxical crisis - an education system so hollowed out that hope and despair now coexist in equal measure.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jul 23, 2025 14:05 pm IST
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Opinion | Of Prada, Dior, And Manufactured Meanings Of Luxury
Let's not waste breath or bites any further on Prada and Dior 'stealing' from the Indian artisanal traditions: the Kolhapuri footwear and the Muqaish embroidery.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jul 07, 2025 17:16 pm IST
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Opinion | Who Wants Peace, Anyway? On War And The People Who Fuel It
The war industry cannibalises all others, and there's no shortage of hypocrisy in today's global security discourse. Powerful states lament instability while fuelling it through arms sales and proxy wars.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jun 30, 2025 16:38 pm IST
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Opinion | How Zohran Mamdani Has Given Indian-Americans An Identity Crisis
Suddenly, many Indians' urge to claim anyone even remotely Indian in terms of their genetic makeup for achieving anything on the global stage has turned into outright hate.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jun 25, 2025 15:22 pm IST
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Opinion | Whose Friend Is The US Anyway?
As of 2025, many countries, big and small, view the US less as a protector and more like an unreliable patron - slow to act if at all, unsure of its commitments, often causing embarrassment, and vulnerable to distraction.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jun 24, 2025 12:50 pm IST
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Opinion | Iran, Israel, And The Ghosts Of A Relationship Gone Bad
In a twisted way, Iran still seems to be helping Israel. In furthering Israel's narrative of being the victim. Iran, in turn, stands as isolated today as its arch enemy Iraq once was.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jun 20, 2025 15:21 pm IST
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Opinion | Is This How India Will 'Dehyphenate' Itself From Pakistan?
Rather than setting the paradigm, India is seen as playing catch-up in its diplomatic oeuvre.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jun 12, 2025 13:28 pm IST
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Opinion | Musk-Trump Saga is Not A Biblical Or Pop Culture Event. It's Dangerous
If the James Bond movies are to be trusted, your most vicious enemy happens to be a jilted lover or a close accomplice.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jun 06, 2025 18:38 pm IST
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Opinion | What Quick (De)Escalation Between India-Pak Teaches Us About War And Peace
The wanton public wants war one moment and peace the next. The state ought to eschew the urge to base its decisions on this wantonness.
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Nishtha Gautam
- May 12, 2025 17:04 pm IST
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Opinion | Op Sindoor, India-Pak, And What Sahir Or Faiz Can Tell Us About Wars
When we forget about the wounds of war, we don't think twice before waging one. The poems of Kishwar Naheed, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, and many more offer a jolt to such public amnesia.
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Nishtha Gautam
- May 08, 2025 13:16 pm IST
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Opinion | Ground Zero, Pahalgam, And A Conundrum Of Pain In Kashmir
If Ground Zero succeeds in making even a single member of the audience revisit their presumptions and prejudices, as one of the characters does before the climax, it should be deemed a hit, despite the box office verdict.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Apr 25, 2025 16:24 pm IST
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Opinion: What Has JD Vance's India Visit Achieved?
Apart from the minor detail that the US is India's largest trading partner, there's this critical matter of matrimony.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Apr 22, 2025 15:00 pm IST
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Opinion | What Ambedkar's Raised Finger Is Really Trying To Tell You
Ambedkar's raised finger, though routinely vandalised in different parts of the country, keeps the hope alive against all hopes.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Apr 14, 2025 10:04 am IST
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Opinion | Why Is Trump Invoking JFK? Hint: Russia
Now that the Trump administration is avowedly in favour of peace with Russia, invoking JFK's memory works in their favour.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Mar 21, 2025 17:43 pm IST
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Opinion | Can India And China Ever Really 'Dance' Together?
China keeps insisting that India is not a significant security threat. Yet, reportedly, it has significantly amped up its surveillance capabilities over India.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Mar 10, 2025 17:04 pm IST
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Opinion | Mo, Diversity, And The Indian Immigrant In The US
If an alien were to gain insights into the immigrant situation currently playing out in the US, the Netflix show Mo would act as a good gateway. Except, it might lead the alien to believe that there are no Indian immigrants, legal or illegal, in US
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Nishtha Gautam
- Feb 19, 2025 15:57 pm IST
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Opinion | Trump's Second Coming: When American Anxiety Met The Fist
A casual chat with a healthcare aide working for one of the largest health service conglomerates in Pennsylvania reveals several of the anxieties that explain Trumps stellar comeback as the POTUS.
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Nishtha Gautam
- Jan 20, 2025 14:46 pm IST
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