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.
Do you want all or nothing at all? Will you be any different when you done either way?
When Sage Yajnavalkya was asked “What is God?” He said Neti, Neti.
What you can observe is not the Divine.
So, one started discarding everything that was observable.
The body, the emotions, the world, the self, the universe.. until one came to the constant sound of hum. Even that was put aside.
And nothing remained.
Differentiating through the existence - X5 to X4 and so on till one reached the constant. And then to Nothingness.
There was another way yet.
When Arjuna asked Krishna - “Who are you?”
He likened himself to Sam Ved, Meru mountain, and many things - including gambling. Until he said - “I am All.”
He went Integrating the entire existence. His way was not of discarding but embracing. Until he reached infinity.
Whether I am Nothingness and Rest Infinity; or Rest Nothingness and I Infinity - the state is the same.
And therein lies the Calculus of Spiritual realization.
When I am, you arent; When you are, I can’t;
When will we both be?
She laughed and whispered, but my love, I AM you!
But those who really desire to understand, who are looking to find that which is eternal, without beginning and without an end, will walk together with a greater intensity, will be a danger to everything that is unessential, to unrealities, to shadows. - J. Krishnamurti
Today is Raksha Bandhan. A day when the sister gives the gift of life to her brother. The brother promises to save her from the dangers.
The ignorant wokes gang up against the idea that a man can save a woman from danger. Male Chauvinism, they shout.
They entirely miss the gift of life that the sister wishes. Fetish for the macho is held above the nurturing, the life itself.
What good is a promise to save when there is no life left?
Quarter on quarter we yearned to double our profits. One who mined the earth and spread steel all over the planet wanted to mine more and install steel more. One who pulled oil out and spewed the plastics for profits, wanted to double the pollutant. One who added more artificial chemicals for they created certain artificial reactions in our sophisticated bodies - wanted to create more of them. More complex, more potent.
Then nature struck.
And, the mankind is waiting for the right chemical to come along to beat the natural foe.
No one wants to work on life within ones own body. No one wants to work on immunity, lose weight, eat natural, walk barefoot on the ground, be covered with mud - be of the nature.
Everyone wants the macho.
Beat the virus down.
Oh, how we want to fight the danger, but not nurture life!
This Raksha Bandhan reflect a bit. Is the wish of life a greater gift or fighting the danger a greater promise?
And, therein lies the profundity of today’s celebration of life. Not safety.
The Chinese have infiltrated every section of Western society now and the push back has started. But is it too late? From large media distributors to cinema owners to studios and media companies - are being owned by the Chinese.
In India, however, the situation has been very different.
After the 1962 Indo-China War, 50+ Communists were arrested for colluding with the Chinese during the war. And even infiltrating the Indian Army.
Two of those arrested were Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu. One became a long serving Member of Parliament and the other the longest serving Chief Minister of the most progressive state in India at that time. After over two decades of rule, West Bengal’s economy, industry and society had been run into the ground.
What the Chinese did in India is quite unbelievable. And it continues. Here is a very detailed discussion on the whole scenario.
Chinese Media Influence around the world is having devastating impact in many sectors. In India however, the Chinese influence is much deeper.
In Israel, protests are going on and protests seem to be creating situation of anarchy within the country.
And Israeli media is participating in those protests.
“I reject the one-sided attitude of the majority of the media,” he said. “They are not reporting on the protests but are participating in them and fueling them. This is not just media that has got onboard [with the protests]; it is enlisting people to the protests.” (Source)
The opposition is trying to show how protesting is the fundamental right of people even when people are calling for murder of the Prime Minister and his family along with their protests.
Does that sound familiar? The forces are similar and motivation the same.
The dance of COVID continues in the US and keeps claiming more lives as the politicians bicker and play politics. As one can see - after a little dip, the cases have increased to a peak and show no sign of slowing down. (Source)
The deaths are also picking up in a march to the peaks.
Pakistanis in Chinese cloth: Many of the ‘Chinese’ accounts that mushroomed on social media this summer and spread false information about the border clash with India have been traced to Pakistan, in what is believed to be a coordinated disinformation campaign aimed at India. These accounts previously had different profile names and handle names. Some of these accounts even had user bios that were earlier in Urdu, before morphing overnight into Mandarin. (Source)
‘Mind your own business!’: We had talked about the hooch tragedy in Punjab yesterday. The vultures have started hovering. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday hit back at his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal for the demand of a CBI probe into the state’s hooch tragedy, saying the AAP leader should “mind his own business”. (Source)
Unknown Swarm of Drones over Nuke Plant: Security guards at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix noticed something odd on a September night last year. Five or six drones buzzed over the perimeter fence of the nuclear plant— the largest power generator in the United States — 50 miles west of Phoenix. They went across the open desert, stayed for nearly an hour, and came back the next night for a repeat performance. No one knows who did that and why? (Source)
Internet Constellation Wars: Amazon won approval from the Federal Communications to build is $10 billion Kuiper internet constellation of 3,236 satellites (stock) that would compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink network. Amazon has until 2026 to launch 50% of the satellites into orbit (Source)
Only 60 are left in the US. As Artificial Intelligence and CCTVs take over, the fire lookouts are being closed and destroyed. Lookouts are people who observe every part of nature closely to know what is about to engulf it. A beautiful like movie on one such couple.
An ode to desolation.
Ode to Desolation by Lindsey Hagen on Vimeo
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