Preetha Salil

@AJENews @AJEnglish So have turned their attention to Iran

@AJENews @AJEnglish They can’t get Israel to do anything

US President Donald Trump says he 'doesn't care' if Iran comes back to ceasefire talks as the US military prepares to blockade all maritime traffic heading to and from Iranian ports through the Strait of Hormuz. He reiterated the US stance 'Iran will never have a nuclear weapon'.

“Any delimitation involving an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha must be politically, and not just arithmetically equitable.” Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi ji writes about how the real concern in the important process of women’s reservation are the risks and inequities posed by a rushed delimitation.

Reservation for women is not the issue here. That has already been settled. The real issue is delimitation which, based on the information unofficially available, is extremely dangerous and an assault on the Constitution itself: Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, Congress Parliamentary Party.

First generation founders are still emerging and taking risks but the inherited elite are opting out of the riskiest and most transformational kinds of building

When Dhirubhai Ambani built d Patalganga refinery, he was betting everything on an outcome that was far from certain. What changed in the last two decades or so ?

Gerrymandering is much easier if delimitation is done in a hurry + the (ongoing) caste census will not be a basis for delimitation. What a super-scam to somehow achieve both objectives - hustling delimitation with census in 2011. Fun-reminder: Census 2026 is on!

Mere questioning is not helpful. The stress should be on analysis and understanding. Every state is beset with different sets of problems, their strengths are different, so are migration patterns into the state, climate, rainfall, lay of the land , the expertise and skills they possess which are shaped by historical factors. Within each state also there exist a lot of variations.

@nramind What a sight it would be if the fourth pillar of democracy did its job of questioning the government instead of campaigning for them!

The Hindu’s Data Point analysis shows that poll-bound Tamil Nadu is significantly ahead of most other States in various social and education-related indicators — and there is scope for improvement in some other indicators in the period ahead.

French Govt Starts Replacing Windows With Linux To Reduce Tech Dependence On US Giants In a major push for digital sovereignty, the French government has officially started replacing Microsoft Windows with Linux on its workstations. The decision was finalized during an interministerial seminar on April 8, following a directive from Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. The move aims to reduce France’s dependence on non-European technology and regain control over its digital infrastructure and data. WATCH:youtube.com/watch?v=jTqmHK…

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron say ceasefire should include Lebanon.

While seeking to halt Iran’s hypothetical nuclear bomb, Trump has aggressively expanded and modernized America’s own nuclear arsenal, discarding nuclear arms control in favor of greater “counterforce” capabilities explicitly geared toward fighting and winning a nuclear war. The U.S. already possesses thousands of nuclear weapons — more than enough to destroy the world and end human civilization. Yet instead of restraint, Trump has poured tens of billions into new nuclear warheads, delivery systems and expanded production capacity, lowering the threshold for nuclear use even as he polices others in the name of nuclear nonproliferation.

@VishnuNDTV @RURALINDIA It’s not right to expect just one country to make all the sacrifices , all the surrendering when another country in the region goes on a rampage unhindered by anyone. Iran has been made to suffer for far too long.

A US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz - which Trump has now announced ... will basically mean that India will not be able to get our ships in and out of the Persian Gulf. This, therefore, becomes an even bigger energy crisis for us ... The way out, something which Trump wants, is for countries like India to play a role in resisting Iran, clearing up mines and defending the strait of Hormuz from Iranian attack. In other words, potentially being in the line of fire in an area where Iran is locked and loaded with cruise missiles, armed kamikaze boats, airborne drones, mines and probably semi-submersible attack drones. This is the last thing Delhi will want to do. Our wartime arrangement with Tehran to allow a limited number of ships to pass seemed to be working fine, all things considered. But if the situation worsens ... and an energy crisis begins impacting the lives of citizens, there may be little choice but to join the Americans in a fight to clear the Strait, in other words, ending up being a participant in this war.

And if Israel wants Iran to give up its missile program, then Israel should do without its fighter jets ( and it’s Israel that has employed its weapons without any second thoughts ) . Besides this entire conflict goes back to a feeling of resentment at the over dependence on Western powers for technology , for the extraction of oil, and at the kind of influence that American ideas were having in the region and the failure of Arab leaders to hold ground against Israel in 1967 . One reason for their failure was the lack of democracy in these countries, where the leaders plan and decide unilaterally.

@johnstanly If what they want is a nuclear weapon free neighborhood, they should insist that every country in the region give up nuclear arms.

Vance in Islamabad: “I won't go into all the details, because I don't want to negotiate in public after we negotiated for 21 hours in private, but the simple fact is that (1) we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and (2) they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.” Translation: 1. Iran is not ready to hand over its highly enriched uranium; 2. Iran is not ready to give up its enrichment right.

@johnstanly Iranians have said Vance got a call from Netanyahu during the talks. I guess that ended it right there and then.

And if Israel wants Iran to give up its missile program then Israel should be ready to forego its fighter jets. One country can’t be made to surrender its strengths and the other country, ( which without any compunction has eliminated leaders and killed and destroyed civilians and entire neighborhoods)allowed to keep their lethal capabilities.

When I met Vice President Vance just hours before the war began, I formed an impression that both he and the President had a genuine and strong preference to avoid the entanglements of war. So I urge that the ceasefire be extended and talks continue. Success may require everyone to make painful concessions, but this is nothing as compared to the pain of failure and war.

My city, Beit Hanoun, a city once home to 50,000 people, the “green city” that exported citrus and olives to the world. Its hospitals and clinics, its schools and mosques, its kindergartens and bridges, its homes, streets, and infrastructure, everything was completely bombed. And after it was bombed, it was bulldozed, until the city became a barren desert filled with piles of rubble. Here, the “most moral” army committed a genocide, leaving not a single house undestroyed, not even an olive tree remains.

On two occasions today, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers rammed UNIFIL vehicles with a Merkava tank, in one case causing significant damage. The soldiers had blocked a road in Bayada that is used to access UNIFIL positions.

@elonmusk But people don’t want to be helped too much.