Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

The foreign ministers of Japan, China, and South Korea held trilateral talks in Tokyo on Saturday, seeking to further cooperation and lay the groundwork for a potential leadership summit as the countries confront economic disruption and rising global political tensions.

Faculty, alumni, rabbis outside the Columbia Manhattanville campus this afternoon, condemning the detention of Mahmoud Khalil by ICE , and the University’s response www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGzx...

#TheWireLive | Global Boom, Indian Bust: M.K. Venu Explains India’s Historic Share Market Crash Zeeshan Kaskar in conversation with The Wire's founding editor M.K. Venu Join here at 4.30pm: youtube.com/live/U84mSvD...

#Special: Modi Govt’s Plan for the ‘World’s Largest Museum’ Raises Many Red Flags Little is known about the much-touted, controversial Yuga Yugeen Bharat National Museum set to come up in New Delhi, or about the future of the existing National Museum.

“We were on the Titanic, and everyone knew it was hitting the iceberg.” Eric Hobsbawm, on living in Berlin in the Thirties. Eerily resonant.

I keep seeing takes like this marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo... 1. I don't like the status quo on policy X 2. Trump is thoughtlessly blowing things up, including on policy X 3. It might turn out better after being blown up so 🤷 We're on the road to authoritarianism, not your preferred policy.

India, Globally: The Rupee, Persecution and an Ideology of Concern A fortnightly highlight of how the world Is watching our democracy.

An Era of Darkness: How No Data Helps BJP’s Politics The absence of data is not about academics and researchers losing out. It is actively helping the ruling party carry on with its politics without any roadblocks and preventing basic questions being asked of it. @seemay.bsky.social ✍️

Losing moral authority, trust and respect. What could go wrong? paulkrugman.substack.com/p/sabotaging...

In Manipur, a Pawn Is Sacrificed to Save the King Why exactly did the national leadership of the BJP, which had been throwing its weight behind Biren Singh, get him to resign? Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty✍️ thewire.in/politics/man...

Tomorrow, 12pm onwards, The Wire's team of editors and reporters will be live to analyse the #DelhiElection2025 results. Join us for real-time updates and insightful analysis here: www.youtube.com/live/552eBpg...

Completely agree. But can we stop saying "illiberal" when these figures are actually coming for democracy itself, not just "liberalism" (seen by many as a distinct, problematic ideology, or a luxury addition to democracy, etc.)?

Frustrated there's not more I can do directly, but for now I can just try to document reality. Elon is bringing his Twitter destruction playbook to the US government, and it's impossible to explain just how serious and bad this is. www.techdirt.com/2025/01/31/e...

People wonder if caste matters any more in Indian society. Well, it does - on a large scale. thewire.in/health/outca...

We like to pat ourselves on the back because of the antiquity and richness of our civilisation. Yet, when it comes to preservation and conservation, no one seems to care. This piece in the Economic Times is just the latest example.

There is nothing normal about a company that helps define what almost half of humanity sees on their screens explicitly promising to support a far-right leader, writes João C. Magalhães.

Point is not that every move by aspiring autocrats is tactical or strategic genius. Important not to fall into the trap of "authoritarian inflation," i.e. overestimate these figures. Point is that much of our political language obscures agency altogether.

December 1969.

Christians huddled in Gaza speak to the Pope every night https://www.ft.com/content/03ea2234-6308-4978-917a-65368ccc58a5

7yo: “I have encouraged everyone in my class to believe in Santa because parents definitely don’t have time to buy all those presents. Certainly not for Christmas.”

Love it when bookshops or libraries arrange their books appropriately...

This piece on the rise of Vivek Ramaswamy is a good illustration of how material and economic conditions can give rise to a certain type of individual. english.elpais.com/opinion/2024...

This lack of oversight of emerging AI technologies, keeps me awake at night. We made this same mistake w/ social media. Its lack of oversight has led to harmful effects on our mental health & it has been weaponized by nefarious actors to manipulate public opinion & elections. When will we learn?

Elon Musk's charitable foundation ballooned to $9.5 billion in assets last year while handing out $237 million in gifts, most of which went to other entities controlled by him. The figures are part of the Musk Foundation’s latest tax filing, obtained Thursday by Bloomberg News

Build build build. Don't stop until we're all buried. #Himalayas #warning #whybother

#Cartoon #JagdeepDhankhar Linktr.ee/MANJULtoons

India needs more, not fewer, powerful tycoons, argues Shritama Bose “The risks of being dependent on a few conglomerates is becoming too big for India to ignore. It's the second time Adani’s problems have spooked the country's markets in two years” | www.reuters.com/breakingview...

“India’s apathy – and to some extent its antipathy – towards Bangladesh’s democratic aspirations reflects a gradual but radical shift in Indian foreign policy. Some key themes that have emerged within this shift include the saffronisation of Indian diplomacy” thewire.in/south-asia/b...

Meta donates $1mn to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund https://www.ft.com/content/d4c10a1b-425b-4245-ab5a-b396de8232c7

Sitaram Yechury’s work lives on. Three books will be released on December 6, 5:30 pm in New Delhi. Jawahar Bhawan, New Delhi.

Mohammed Zubair: Top Indian fact-checker in court for post calling out hate speech

Research supported by NIH has led more than 100 Nobel Prizes and has supported more than 99% of drugs approved by federal regulators from 2010 to 2019. But come January, NIH may face a wrecking ball nytimes.com/2024/12/01/h...

A majoritarian polity and an unequal economy: "may not be causally related to each other. They, however, are mutually facilitating." "Hatred is trafficked now as virtuous patriotism." Parakala Prabhakar www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/twin...

“Inequalities are at the core of the monsteous dramas unfloding today” Amitav Ghosh thewire.in/world/full-t...

Oh dear it's the annoying roundtable season along with the endless annoying awards season.

Sally Rooney on how capitalism is driving the destruction of our planet and why we have to think beyond the framework of our current political system. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

What will people say. (Drawn for India Love Project)

🧵1/2 The opportunist resolution to boycott Haaretz, which passed in today's government meeting without legal review, is another step in Netanyahu's journey to dismantle Israeli democracy www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Uruguay elects centre-left former history teacher in presidential run-off https://www.ft.com/content/38772277-1a75-454e-81d0-3d65ad194f92

Surprise

Democracy is great for your Christmas stockings!

Boss mode on Cricket Australia's website is truly a thing of beauty I could only dream of such easy access to plain information from tennis or AFL

Already diminished public trust in India’s stock exchange regulator erodes further after Adani’s US indictment thewire.in/business/gau...

Tune in to the Wire’s ElectionShow for the latest updates and insights from Jharkhand, Maharashtra and bypolls. From 9am 👇🏾 www.youtube.com/live/AKn4dzU...

‘Numero Uno’: US takes aim at Gautam Adani https://www.ft.com/content/d9e3f97e-fe76-44e8-a437-9c40cead32bc