In 58 posts with close to 100k words, we shared a lot in 2024! Explore 2024’s biggest geopolitical shifts, cultural battles, and bold insights with Drishtikone’s year in review. See you in 2025! Happy New Year! Be safe!
When you see Russia get into existential war over Ukraine, or Israel bomb Syria or India battle with Pakistan or Bangladesh, it is not because of some whim. It has a historical and geographical context. That is critical to understand for analyzing geopolitics.
Dive into the shadowy world of the Deep State—its hidden structures, powerful networks, and the far-reaching impact on global events and control.
“Every armour has a chink. Beat at it long enough, it'll break.” ― K.S. Villoso, The Ikessar Falcon
The history of humankind is littered with aggressors driven by annihilating a certain culture and nation helped by treasonous fools who gave them a way through the window. The aggressors used that window to create a door for a full-on invasion.
Those who betrayed, naively maybe, or for self-interest most of the time, were the first ones to be put on the chopping block. The only utility of these traitors was of being the pathway. Ushers, if you will.
As soon as that was done, the demand for a role in the leading of the system followed. And finally to the ultimate takeover.
Those who leave their values, their greatest reason for existence, and the good of their civilization to exact revenge, even political, lose everything in the process. The coming generations suffer tremendously.
I once read Indian history from the Harappa times to modern times after independence in one go. You could see something interesting happening. Kings, rulers, kingdoms would rise and fall and with every successive turn, you saw how things were made worse by those who had a very limited myopic vision. The current state of the nation was a sum total of the visions, or lack of them, that different powerful people had.
Unfortunately, many came to lead India without any vision. Afflicted by myopia.
Something that one always wondered about the founding fathers of the US. As flawed as they were, they were steadfast about one thing. Leadership position in humanity for this nation. No matter what happened, this one thing never wavered.
Political needs and complexities may have changed all that now.
No sooner has Joe Biden and Kamala Harris claimed victory in a deeply divided election, the knives within the Democratic set-up are out. Sharpened and strong.
“The Squad”, which represents the far-left group of four Congresswomen - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) - who have stood on extremely stringent political planks. The main components of their main agenda are:
Some of these may seem like things that are preferable in a very equitable society, that does not exist. But it is easy to understand that guaranteeing free medicare by the government in the US is a far-fetched idea and likely to bankrupt the country on its own. Add to that the guarantee of Federal jobs and you have a fool’s paradise.
In that scenario of free-living without responsibility in a country founded on free enterprise and individual responsibility, this squad then adds the most devastating clause - Abolishing the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
Let us look into that.
I am an immigrant in this country. I understand that most of the things in US immigration do not work well. But to abolish ICE is unthinkable.
This country is based on laws and as much as one sympathizes with those who want a better life from poor countries, and want to come to the US, sometimes at the risk of their lives, rampant illegal trespassing cannot be allowed to be a ‘human right’!
But this very political plank - abolishing of the ICE agency - has become the litmus test for Democrats! (Source)
Some quick history lesson on #AbolishICE ‘movement.’
In the spring of 2018, the Abolish ICE movement began to shift from a hashtag to a more formal stance. Political commentator Sean McElwee — who was the first to tweet“#AbolishICE” in February 2017 — wrote a piece about the movement in March for The Nation. Chardo Richardson, who is campaigning for a Florida House seat, made abolishing the ICE part of the platform for the Brand New Congress PAC in a February post. Recently the movement gained new momentum because of the surprise June New York City Democratic primary victory of House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who calls for ICE’s abolition. The family separation catastrophe — though executed by CBP – has put added pressure on ICE, which has become the poster child for DHS’s excesses. (Source)
All this happened due to the rise in deportations and arrests of illegal immigrants. Most importantly the focus on the family separations and images of kids in cages brought out the heartless part of the immigration agency.
Under President Trump, ICE appears to have taken the gloves off. While actual deportation numbers are lower so far than under President Obama, who oversaw a record-breaking number of deportations, the number of ICE arrests has increased, rising 42 percent between 2016 and 2017. Because the arrests are particularly visible, they have generated attention and outrage. (Source)
Here are some of the quotes from the main Democrats, which shows how abjectly they have surrendered to this “Progressive” Squad cabal.
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): "The president's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works."
California Sen. Kamala Harris (D), who like Gillibrand is seen as a potential 2020 candidate, earlier in the week called on her party to “critically re-examine ICE” and even to “think about starting from scratch.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), another likely candidate, came under fire from liberal activists after refusing to go that far. He said lawmakers should sit down with President Trump and “work on a national program which deals with this serious issue.”
This was in 2018.
Who knew that the woman who called for “starting from scratch” in terms of ICE will be a Vice-President and have a real shot at becoming the first woman President, in case the current President’s health goes downhill?
The many missteps by President Trump - for example, DACA termination, travel ban (from some Muslim countries), and family separation - created a perception issue and many of those issues had to be pushed back, at least in the way they were implemented.
That is where the #AbolishICE movement started from. But it is not restricted to people who are for the restructuring of ICE and Immigration agencies, which would be a worthwhile undertaking. It has also been usurped by those who want almost ‘open borders’. They are specifically for open and free migration from the Latin American and Muslim refugees. Something that they have succeeded to establish in Europe, often leading to the ghettoization of some European cities.
The spectrum is huge.
But there is that caricature, and maybe a group of people exist who believe in that. But what the critics of Abolish ICE were able to do is, because Abolish ICE came to represent all that we didn't like in everything that the Trump administration was doing, that is where you got the pushback by the Trump administration and their supporters of-- that the critics of the Trump administration were for open borders. And the Abolish ICE movement aligned with that. But the truth is, if you actually drill down on what people meant when they said "abolish ICE," they meant very different things. It was just a lens where people could focus their anger. It was just, OK, this is where I'm going to focus my hatred of all of this, just, I can't believe this is happening. And it became focused on immigration and the division called Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Source)
The window that Trump’s ill-thought-out executive actions provided was used to create a door for the anarchist elements to take charge within the Democratic Party.
Now, as the nation gets saddled with the Biden/Harris Presidency, the internal moratorium observed by these anarchist leftists is over.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has criticized the Democratic party for incompetence in a no-holds-barred, post-election interview with the New York Times, warning that if the Biden administration does not put progressives in top positions, the party would lose big in the 2022 midterm elections. (Source)
Now, they are demanding their pound of flesh. Or else…
Now let us also quickly get acquainted with the other characters of the ‘The Squad’ - we have looked at where AOC stands - to understand where the US and the world - because of its impact - is headed towards.
She holds the view of the extreme anarchist part of the Democratic spectrum on #AbolishICE as she thinks that ICE is an ‘existential threat’ to the immigrants.
Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley is endorsing a small but growing movement to defund US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agency poses an “existential threat” to immigrant communities. (Source)
Not just that, she also justifies prostitution and wants it to be normalized in the name of “sex work” and be recognized as an occupation since - as per her - it is the ‘only work available to some marginalized people.’ Exploitation as an occupation!
“Decriminalizing sex work would improve the health and safety of sex workers and put them on the path to greater stability,” Pressley said in an interview. She has embraced the argument that sex work is the only work available to some marginalized people — particularly transgender women of color — and that they would be less vulnerable if they could better advocate for themselves and report crimes committed against them. (Source)
Ilhan Omar is a Somalian born Congresswoman, who has a lot of accusations/charges against her.
She obviously sides with the Islamic genocidal forces like the Turkish genocide of Armenians. To understand the complete history of the Turkish-Armenian conflict - please read our newsletter issue # 138.
She has been accused of being a ‘Qatari asset’ (Ilhan Omar a 'Qatari asset' who passed secrets to Iran, Florida court told). She has also been suspected of aligning with the fascist and extremely radical dictatorship of Turkey’s Erdogan. She was for example, photographed with Erdogan’s cousin, Halil Mutlu, at a Turkish American Steering Committee (TASC) event. Mutlu donated to Omar’s political campaign as well.
Equally disturbing is her backing by portals which support and normalize Islamic extremist stances and terrorism. Worse, she welcomes their support.
Some of the news agencies seen racing to defend Ilhan Omar’s regular controversial statements are also the leading platforms in promoting Islamic extremism and terrorism. Which in itself should be alarming to Ilhan Omar, as to why she is the focus of many of their sanitizing articles. Instead, Omar happily welcomes their praise by retweeting their content and appearing on their channels. (Source)
Although some say that FBI is keeping a keen eye on Ilhan Omar’s activities, until now, the way she has run her campaigns in the most unapologetic way, that does not seem very promising.
And now, when the far left has succeeded in helping the presidency for the leadership’s support for the ascendancy of its pet agenda items, it is unlikely that she can be touched.
Rashida Tlaib has often played her positions well. But her antagonism to Israel is interesting. On the question of whether she acknowledged Israel’s right to exist, she never really answered the question, except for just saying “of course” and then moving on to the rights of Palestinians.
Tapper asked Tlaib twice if she believes Israel has a right to exist. “Look, I truly believe the State of Israel exists, correct,” she responded initially, adding, “But, understand, does it exist in the detriment of inequality for the Palestinian people, detriment of not really moving forward in a peaceful resolution? We’re never going to have peace, I truly believe, if separate but equal is the way they want to go.” On the second try she responded: “Oh, of course. … But just like Palestinians have a right to exist. Palestinians also have a right to human rights. We can’t say one or the other.” (Source)
The interview was in the context of Tlaib’s defense of her support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
She has also been seen engaging with pro-Hezbollah, pro-Hamas 'right of return' activist Abbas Hamideh and has equated Zionism to Nazism and called Israel a “terrorist entity.” (Source)
Uddhav Thackeray’s government has taken its war against Arnab Goswami to another level. They have been torturing and beating Goswami while not even allowing him to talk to his lawyers.
Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on Sunday said he was subjected to torture and was not being allowed to talk to his lawyers. A video released by the Republic Television showed him speaking to media from the police van which shifted him from Alibag primary school in Rajgad district to Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
This picture explains everything without any need for words.
The question that everyone has on his/her minds, specifically the Modi supporters is - when will Modi and Shah act?
This is no longer a case of helping those who back them. This is a constitutional crisis if there ever was one.
One journalist is being openly and publicly targeted using farcical ways - akin to hanging someone on the public square - and no one is doing anything substantive.
Protests are good. Writing columns is also great. Condemning, well is concealed cowardice.
Where is the real action?
Of course, there are many unscrupulous folks like Tavleen Singh who are justifying all this and dissociating the rampant exercise in vengeance by the Uddhav Thackeray government as anything but an attack on press and media freedom, which is precisely what it is!
One has heard NK Sood’s rather sensible commentary on why the Center is not taking action.
But his take makes sense in ‘normal’ times.
Not in extraordinary situations.
In extraordinary situations, those at the helm need to take extraordinary actions.
Yes, the Shiv Sena goons will go around on a rampage, which is their USP, if there is a President’s rule. Agreed that sending in the Army will put the entire nation’s security on the Pakistani and Chinese border into jeopardy.
But there has to be another way out to raise the cudgels and hit the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra government where it hurts the most. Also, the machinery to discredit them needs to be in overdrive.
But we find the ministers and the top BJP functionaries to be completely quiet. Just silent spectators.
This kind of handling and communication strategy does NOT create an ecosystem. Which is what we need to create.
Pak pushing terrorists: Pakistan Army is conspiring to push large groups of terrorists into Kashmir in order to create disturbances, said an intelligence agency report, adding that about 50 terrorists are camping at launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) opposite Machil sector of Jammu and Kashmir. The intelligence inputs stated that all 50 terrorists, stationed on the Kel, Tejiyan, and Sardari launch pads, are associated with terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. (Source)
Arnab thrown to the wolves: On Sunday, Raigad police shifted editor-in-chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, to Taloja jail to continue his judicial remand. Giving the reason for the shifting, police have claimed that Arnab Goswami was using a mobile phone inside the make-shift quarantine center for prisoners in a municipal school in Alibaug, where he was earlier kept. As per the regulations, he cannot use a mobile phone while in judicial custody without permission. (Source)
Armed Forces to train the Indian Cosmonauts: All the three services – Indian Army, Indian Navy, and the Indian Air Force Officers (IAF) are going to be involved in further training of the four Indian cosmonauts for the `Gaganyaan’ space mission in 2022. The four who were selected for the Indian Space Mission at the end of rigorous rounds of tests at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), of IAF. And are currently undergoing the first leg of intense training for the Space Mission at the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Centre, in Russia. And also on the systems of the Soyuz MS crewed spacecraft. (Source)
Pakistani Airlines banned in 188 countries: Airlines operating in Pakistan may face a ban from flying to 188 countries over their pilot licensing issue and failure to meet international standards as required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a media report said on Sunday. Due to the license scam, flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has already been barred from flying to the UK and the European Union, The Express Tribune report said. The scam came to light after Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the Federal Minister for Aviation, had revealed in August that 262 pilots including 141 of the PIA held fake credentials. Meanwhile, the ICAO in the 12th meeting of its 179th session approved a mechanism for addressing Significant Safety Concerns (SSCs) to its member states. The ICAO issued a serious warning to the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) over the safety concerns. In a letter dated November 3, the ICAO stated that PCAA had failed to meet the international standards regarding the personnel licensing and training in relation to the licensing process for the pilot. (Source)
China bullies Australia on Malabar: Australia's decision to take part in Malabar Exercise has outraged China, who has warned Canberra of "economic pain" if it continues to be part of the US administration "roughneck gang". In an editorial piece, Communist party mouthpiece China Daily chided the Australian government for 'aggressively sending warships to China's doorsteps' as part of Exercise Malabar, UK Daily Mail reported. The first phase of the Malabar naval exercise has culminated recently in the Bay of Bengal with the participation of the Indian Navy, United States Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, and Royal Australian Navy. The 24th multinational maritime naval exercise, which started on November 3, was restricted to the sea phase and conducted in a "zero contact" format considering the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source)
Here is a very interesting video of one guy who collected his and his friends’ savings to buy - well, a Ghost town near Los Angeles called Cerro Gordo.
A bit about this town and its importance in history.
The silver from Cerro Gordo was responsible for building Los Angeles. The prosperity of Cerro Gordo demanded a larger port city and pushed LA to develop quickly. The Los Angeles News once wrote: “What Los Angeles is, is mainly due to it. It is the silver cord that binds our present existence. Should it be uncomfortably severed, we would inevitably collapse.” In total, there have been over $17,000,000 of minerals pulled from Cerro Gordo. Adjusted for inflation, that number is close to $500,000,000.
Currently, Brent is living alone in this abandoned ghost town trying to make it into a place for more people to enjoy. Enjoy this rather different experience shared by a crazy adventurous person!
Check out today’s “The Drishtikone Daily” edition.
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