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Opinion

Delayed Answers

One year after one of the worst aviation disasters in Indian history, the most unsettling reality is not that the final answer remains elusive. It is that, in the absence of definitive findings, competing certainties have rushed in to fill the void.

Cleanest Shirt

For much of the past year, economists have been waiting for the American economy to stumble. It has been hit by tariffs, labour disruptions, geopolitical tensions and renewed inflationary pressures.

A relationship redefined

Xi Jinping at his meeting with Donald Trump on 14-15 May 2026 in Beijing referred to the Thucydides Trap, a metaphor that refers to the inherent tensions and perils when an established power is challenged by a rising power.

Oil to AI

In the twentieth century, the Gulf’s strategic relevance was distilled into a simple equation: oil in exchange for global influence and security guarantees.

Europe’s Elements

For decades, the global economy has quietly relied on a small group of metals that most people have never heard of ~ cerium, neodymium, praseodymium, and others that make up the 17 so-called rare earth elements.

Partition must go…

At the request of All India Radio, Tiruchirapalli, Sri Aurobindo wrote a message for broadcast on the eve of 15 August 1947, the day India achieved independence.

A disaster waiting to happen

For decades, successive governments have avoided acknowledging that the Himalayan mountains are fragile and highly vulnerable to natural hazards because of their limited carrying capacity.

Chip Politics

In a sharp turn from the rhetoric of outright bans, Washington has brokered a deal allowing two of its leading semiconductor firms to resume sales of customised AI chips to China ~ on the condition that 15 per cent of the resulting revenue flows directly to the US government.