Articles for Your Reading Pleasure

People bear the burden of a flawed democracy through an increasingly unbearable cost of living. Until structured and transparent systems for financing political parties and political spending are established, corruption cannot be eradicated from society, and the benefits of democracy will remain elusive for the masses.

Today, contradictions, hypocrisy, and double standards expose the troubling gap between the ideals of civilization and the realities of global power politics. How can a world that tolerates ethnic cleansing, protects oppressors, and betrays the vulnerable be called civilized?

The upcoming election in Bangladesh is going to be a generational contest. Effectively using and managing social media will be key to success in this election. Posters, processions, and perks will no longer work the way they did before. To win, a candidate will need true character and credibility, because everything will be out in the open for public scrutiny.

The collective presence of all the tech giants of America at Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony was so strikingly noticeable that it sparked speculation about the extent of their influence on the President or the government. If a tech oligarchy were to emerge in the USA, it could transcend national boundaries, with a few tech giants potentially dictating the world order.

Two neighboring countries can choose to be either friendly or hostile, and that choice is made by their governments. The Indian government can choose to take steps to stop fostering enmity among the peace-loving people of India and Bangladesh. Maintaining peace and friendship with the people of Bangladesh will benefit India more than it benefits Bangladesh.

US President Donald Trump has withdrawn his country, the second-largest carbon emitter in the world after China, from the Paris Agreement once again. So, the Global carbon emissions will continue to rise unabated, and at some point, global warming will cross the critical redline of no return. Therefore, as Rupert Read and Samuel Alexander contend in their book, “This civilization is finished”.

Bangladesh's RMG industry faces challenges of worker unrest, increasing demands for higher wages, rising prices of raw materials and energy, and technological advancements. The country needs to initiate serious thoughts and actions to develop other sources of export earnings before it's too late.

Are we finally witnessing the dawn of a new era in social justice and human rights in Bangladesh? Only time can tell. The steps taken so far by the interim government look promising. But the future elected government would have to follow through and take it to a successful culmination. Let’s hope for the best.

In Bangladesh, leaders travel abroad for medical treatment and routine check-ups at public expense. They don’t feel ashamed that this implies they didn’t care to develop adequate healthcare facilities at home. They enjoy disproportionately higher benefits and privileges than the ordinary people they should serve.

In the world today, it looks like Israel is the James Bond with a license to kill. On average, Israel has been killing 122 Palestinians including 40 children every day since October 7, 2023. During this time, Israel has also destroyed more than 70,000 homes in Gaza and demolished 1,299 structures in the West Bank.

Democracy must be strong with its roots in the mindset of individuals, the culture of the societies, and the integrity of leadership. In weak democracies, many of the essential elements of democracy prescribed by the United Nations Human Rights Commission go missing. Weak democracies are vulnerable to turning into dictatorship or fascism in disguise.

The world average of democracy index over the decade from 2014 to 2023 published by the Economic Intelligence Unit shows a declining trend. The global decline of democracy is mostly driven by the lack of electoral integrity, economic challenges, political corruption, and an increasing distance between leaders and the people.

Hamas killed around 1200 innocent civilians and abducted over 200 people as hostages on October 7. So, they must be condemned and punished. However, Israel should also deserve to be condemned and punished for killing innocent people, mostly women and children, in Gaza. However, there was no condemnation of Israel from the West.

Among the 74 countries categorized as democracies in 2023 by the Economist Intelligence Unit, India ranked low at 41. In 2013, the year before BJP came to power, India’s rank was 33. Thus, it appears that the quality of India’s democracy has substantially declined during the BJP regime.

In the event of an apocalypse, all information stored in digital media will be lost forever. The memory of civilization will gradually wane and distort over generations. Facts of the past like the existence of electricity, aircraft, computers, space missions, etc. will turn into myths and legends. The Stone Age will begin all over again.

Freedom of movement of people across national borders would provide individuals easier access to better education and job opportunities abroad. Greater cultural exchange and workforce diversity would lead to greater understanding, collaboration, and innovation. Businesses would experience enhanced trade and economic growth that would ultimately boost the global GDP.

Most of the global wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. As of 2022, only 1.1% of the world’s adult population held 45.8% of global wealth. Another 12% possessed 39.4% of the wealth. Thus, only 13.1% of the adult population held 85.2% of the global wealth and the rest 86.9% owned a mere 14.8% of it.

The constitutional provisions for freedom of speech are not much different in democratic countries like the USA, UK, and EU members and countries known as authoritarian states like China, Russia, or North Korea. However, freedom of speech is valueless if decision-makers do not heed the voices of the people and persist in pursuing their own contrary agenda.

Identity may divide people between “us” and “them”. When “us” is the majority it’s easy for the political leaders to exploit people's emotions and sentiments toward majoritarianism - preferences or interests of the majority taking precedence over those of minority groups. However, we must not let any identity override our human identity and respect and uphold the human rights of both “us” and “them”.

In 1979 UN General Assembly adopted a Moon Agreement prohibiting the placement of weapons of mass destruction and the establishment of military bases on the moon. However, the agreement has virtually failed since only a small number of countries ratified it and the big powers like the USA, Russia, and China are not among them.

The word Anthropocene was coined by Eugene F Stoermer a Professor of Biology at the University of Michigan, USA, as a new epoch in the geological time scale. Many scientists including Stoermer and Nobel Laureate Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist Paul J Crutzen believe that the Holocene has ended and a new epoch Anthropocene has already begun.

As of July 2023, a report from the UN Global Crisis Response Group highlights that over 41% of the world's population lives in nations where the expenditure on interest payments on foreign loans surpasses that on education or health. The situation is only expected to get worse in the coming days. Therefore, it's time for countries to exercise caution against ‘too much and too fast’ increase in foreign debts.

The entertainment and amusements accompanying festivals vary with the economy, technology, and culture of nations or regions. However, the essence of festivals is the same everywhere: fostering togetherness and strengthening family and social bonds.

New ideas, philosophies, and doctrines can change the fate of individuals, nations, and even the course of civilization. The advent of major religions like Christianity and Islam, the evolution of democracy and socialism, and the impact of the Industrial Revolution have caused large-scale changes in societies, countries, and the world at large. Those who couldn’t withstand the winds of change or failed to accept it had to recede from the mainstream and get lost in oblivion or even face persecution and fatality.

If we engage in competition to advance and excel rather than to dominate and control, and if we use comparison to discover our shortcomings and improve ourselves instead of chasing after wealth to catch up with those who have more, then we could have a nice and peaceful society to live in.

The decision-makers of a country assume office with the mandate of the people and believe they have the endorsement of the public for all the decisions they make during their tenure. They need to develop a mindset of keeping in touch with their constituents and following their aspirations, emotions, sentiments, and views as they evolve with changing times and circumstances.

“Eyes wide shut” implies a stand where one is fully capable of perceiving or acknowledging something but chooses to ignore it. So, "Eyes wide shut" expresses the idea of willful denial or a conscious decision to ignore what is right in front of one's eyes. This is evocative of the way the USA and its European allies behave when it comes to the Palestinian issue. They keep their eyes wide shut when Israel kills innocent Palestinians.

Uncertainty leads us to question, explore, and inquire. It’s the source of creativity, resilience, and innovation that plays a great role in the progress of human civilization. In navigating the complex web of uncertainty, we discover our capacity to thrive in an ever-changing world. We muster the courage to move forward and keep going. So. let’s not resist uncertainty rather embrace it with an open heart. Let’s recognize that uncertainty turns our life into an ever-unfolding story, with its twists and turns making it worth living.

Commensurate with this fast-paced lifestyle, we have developed short-form content like Shorts and Reels so that we can convey everything in 60 seconds tops. We've also adopted abbreviations like OMG for Oh My God, BTW for By the Way, HAND for Have a Nice Day, and so on. We no longer have time to write out full words let alone express feelings in sentences. We now use emojis for that. Are we going back to the pre-alphabet era of writing? There is a good side to it though. We would be transcending the barriers of language.

A UNESCO study found that there is no scientific basis for arranging groups hierarchically in terms of psychological and cultural characteristics that are immutable and innate. This finding along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN in 1948: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person” establishes the right to live and propagate for all humans irrespective of ethnicity, language, religion, or culture.

The first thing we need to survive is food. Like all other animals in the world, we need food to sustain life. Hunger places rich and poor, intellectual and illiterate, civilized and savage – all in the same line. People dying of hunger in any part of the world at any time constitute a disgrace to human civilization. More so when we see wasting and overweight prevailing together in the world and along with food shortage there is no dearth of food wastage.

Corruption begins with individuals. The causes of corruption are diverse and complex. There may be various psychological, social, economic, and cultural factors that might be attributed to an individual’s corrupt behavior. However, the bottom line is always the lack of strong moral and ethical values. Strong personal ethics and morality can resist and override most of the causes of corruption.

The throwaway culture has evolved into a global problem. It perpetuates a cycle of waste production, environmental pollution, and resource depletion. Besides our own choice, the culture is fueled by various other factors such as rapid advancements in technology, profit-driven practices of businesses and industries, and aggressive marketing strategies. In a subtle way, this culture is contributing to environmental degradation, global warming, and climate change.

Christopher Nolan, the Screenwriter, Director, and Producer of the movie tried to create sympathy for Oppenheimer, generally known as the 'father of the atomic bomb' by showing his victimization and suffering. The movie was released just a fortnight before Hiroshima Day. The attempt to glorify Oppenheimer and evoke sympathy for him close to Hiroshima Day may look like a heartless affront to the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children who lost their lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After graduation when we get engaged in our work life, sometimes we look back to our academic institution and remember with fondness how it contributed to our personal growth and how it positively shaped our life like a mother raising her child. And often, these feelings evoke an urge to give back something to the Alma Mater as a repayment of the debt, as a token of gratitude, or simply by extending a helping hand.

China obtained the highest position in the Global Teacher Status Index 2018 calculated by the Varkey Foundation, a nonprofit global charity with a vision for ensuring quality education for every child. Thirty-five countries including G7 nations were surveyed on various attributes for building the index. Following China, the top five positions on the index list were secured by Malaysia, Taiwan, Russia, and Indonesia. At the bottom of the list was Brazil, preceded by Israel. The UK and USA ranked 13th and 16th, respectively.

Migrants don’t have the strength and resources to stand up against human traffickers. Governments, NGOs, and conscious communities need to do that. According to Statista, the total number of convictions related to human trafficking worldwide was 5,260 in 2021. While this number might offer a glimmer of hope, we need more light. Missing Migrants Project reports that the total number of deaths of migrants worldwide rather increased from 6,083 in 2021 to 6,876 in 2022.

Think about this: in ancient times, people traveled thousands of miles to acquire knowledge, and today in this digital world, we are overwhelmed by the amount of information or knowledge coming to us every moment. The sheer magnitude of this information overload is beyond the human capacity for retention and processing.

There is an interesting similarity between hegemony and bullying. Both involve the exercise of power and control. Hegemony operates at a larger international level while bullying occurs on a smaller interpersonal level. Looks like the desire for dominance is ingrained in human genes. In that case, the struggle for attaining or retaining hegemony is probably never going to go away. The world has just to live with it.

There is a famous quote from James Jesus Angleton. Angleton was the chief of the Counterintelligence Staff of the CIA from 1954 to 1975. The quote is, "Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the state." If deception is the mind of the state, then there cannot be trust among the governments. The cost of distrust and suspicion among governments is huge. Every year countries are spending billions of dollars on military build-up, arms race, weapons development, etc.

It's impossible to determine how much profit arms manufacturers are making from the Ukraine War. According to a US Congressional Research Service report dated February 27, 2023, the United States alone has provided security assistance to Ukraine of roughly $19 billion since the Russian invasion. Security assistance grossly means the supply of items like missiles, artillery rounds, helicopters, armored personnel carriers, etc. How much profit the manufacturers of these items made out of $ 19 billion is anybody’s guess. Obviously, the beneficiaries of the war will try to prolong it by all means.

Global Earthquake Model Foundation’s Seismic Hazard Map shows that the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) for Bangladesh ranges from 0.11 to 0.47. PGA 0.11 is in Chuadanga-Meherpur area and 0.47 is in Sylhet. PGA 0.11 corresponds to level 8 of the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) which means very strong shaking of the ground that may cause partial collapse of buildings. PGA 0.47 corresponds to level 9 of MMI which means violent shaking of the ground, general panic, and heavy damage or collapse of buildings.

With the advancement of medical science and the discovery of various life-saving drugs, vaccines, and cures we have reduced the death rate of our species. According to world bank data, the world death rate has come down from 17.71 in 1960 to 7.71 in 2020. By controlling the death rate, we have disturbed the natural balance. To restore and maintain that balance, we also need to control the birth rate in an equitable manner.

On April 5, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concerns about China's upcoming military actions in an interview with Euronews. He warned that any attempt by China to change the status quo with Taiwan by force would have global ramifications, affecting every country on the planet. That’s quite ominous! And it raises the question of why the USA indulged in activities that provoked China to this level of reaction.

We are living at a point in the timeline of human evolution when our extinction is threatened by climate change and weapons of mass destruction like nuclear and biological weapons. All of these are results of human indulgence and endeavors. In fact, humans are relentlessly pursuing the objective of eliminating other humans since the stone age. The weaponization of AI is just another innovative addition to that pursuit.

Albert Camus, Nobel Laureate French philosopher said, “By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.” Every year the UN observes the International Day of Conscience on April 5. The idea is to remember the importance of the human conscience. The observance would probably be more effective if the UN narrows down its focus on the importance of the conscience of people in power since it affects the lives of many – billions of people on Earth.

We can only hope that research on the development of biological weapons is not taking place anymore given the UN Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) that prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling, and use of biological and toxin weapons. However, there is no convention on the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry. And research on AI-driven weapon systems or, autonomous weapons systems (AWS), as they call it, is going on in full swing. The horrors of AWS can only be guessed.

Today people all over the world are wearing T-shirts, jeans, suits, skirts, etc. A globally uniform attire has developed. The same has happened to architecture. Modern buildings in all the cities around the world have more or less indistinguishable appearances – all multistoried glass and concrete structures. Differences in the looks of Osaka castle and Windsor castle are a thing of the past. Individual cultural traditions are giving way to emerging global traditions.

The hope that the killers of Shireen Abu Akleh will finally be brought to justice by the ICC is a far cry from reality. ICC calls itself a court of last resort. Unfortunately, it is helpless in cases of crimes committed by individuals of powerful countries or countries backed by powerful countries. So, where to seek justice?

Sir Edward Burnett Tylor’s definition of culture led us to observe that people are products of culture. But we must also recognize that culture is created by people. So, culture can be changed by the people who made it. If people find some specific custom or some element like dress, music, or food of another culture attractive, they will adopt it. They cannot be stopped by sermons about the preservation of culture or maintaining tradition. In course of time, these new elements or customs will become part of their culture, their culture will be changed.

Changes in the outlooks and lifestyles of people over time can modify the spiritual appeal and way of observance of a religious festival. Such adoptions, evolution, and commercialization may lead to the worldwide secular celebration of a religious festival transcending its nation or culture of origin and shredding its religious fervor. Valentine’s day is one such festival and Halloween is probably on the way to becoming another one like it.

The oath of office of the British MPs also changed after the Queen died and the MPs have taken the oath of office again in the new format. The oath in the new format reads as follows: “I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.” Amazingly, the oath is for the allegiance to an individual, not to the country or constitution as is common with democratic nations.

In the continuum of time, our present was the future of our ancestors. If they had a different vision about the future or could figure out more farsightedly how science, technology, and industrialization would evolve, and most of all how the world population would increase, we might have a better world today. Similarly, we will be the past of our future generations. Our outlook for the time to come, our decisions, and our actions should be appropriate to secure a better world for them.

Given the technological advancements of the 21st century and the comparative advantage of balloons over satellites, it seems that the HELEIOS and the Chinese balloon are an indication that a balloon race or balloon war is in the offing. Or, maybe it has already started.

The important thing is to eliminate the causes of unhappiness and to bring in the elements of happiness in our lives. Who will do that? Of course, we ourselves can try to boost happiness in our lives by adopting a positive attitude and acquiring and nurturing those elements of happiness that are within our reach like social connections, sleep, exercise, spirituality, etc. as identified by Michael Argyle. But there are also things beyond our control that affect our happiness. And here comes the role and responsibility of the people in power.

Imagine a world without Google! You don’t have YouTube to watch videos for entertainment or information, you don’t have Gmail to communicate with people around the world, you don’t have google maps to show you locations of your places of interest and directions to reach them by various means of travel, you don’t have Google Play for searching and downloading apps for your android phone, and above all, you don’t have the Google search engine to look for answers to your endless questions.

That reflected the discomfort of a society that was seeing an individual originating from a nation of their past colonial servant, taking the top job of former masters. Indian Hindu Rishi Sunak will now sit on the chair of Winston Churchill, ‘the savior of Britain’ who once said, “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion” as mentioned in the book “Churchill” edited by Robert Blake and William Roger Louis published by Oxford University Press in 1993.

On October 1, 2022, 125 people were killed and hundreds were injured in a football stampede in Indonesia that started with the violent actions of supporters of the losing team. In 2012, 74 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in the Port Said stadium riot in Egypt. The violence erupted during a match between two local teams when fanatic supporters of both teams attacked each other with bottles and knives. There are more such incidents in history. When fans become fanatics, entertainment turns into horror.

Macrotrends provides Pfizer revenue figures as $40.91 billion, $41.65 billion, and $81.29 billion in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively. Thus, Pfizer’s revenue just doubled in 2021 from its normal trend of around $40 billion. Now, a profit of $37 billion from sales of $81 billion implies a huge margin of over 45%. No wonder, Global Justice Now – a UK-based organization that campaigns for a just and equal world – accused the company of ‘pandemic profiteering’.

The first thing to note is lawmakers, ministers, prime ministers, presidents, etc. are not just jobs with corresponding salaries and benefits. These people do not work nine to five and buy bread for the breakfast from street shops on their way home after the office. They don’t learn about tax hikes from the newspaper, they increase the taxes. There are plenty of things like these that prove they don’t live like common people.

The question arises as to why the poor nations should take the brunt of climate change when it is caused by the rich nations. That’s the ethical basis for climate justice. The poor nations who have a negligible contribution to the accumulated carbon emissions compared to the rich must then be provided with financial support for making necessary structural and infrastructural developments to adapt to the impacts of climate change. They must also be compensated for the damages caused by climate events. That’s what climate justice should do.

This is corporate slavery. Another color of modern slavery. In the words of Henry Charles Bukowski, the German-American poet, novelist, short story writer, and columnist, “Slavery was never abolished, it was only extended to include all the colors.”

Richard Hollingham also estimated that the total cost of the Apollo program was around $25 billion which is equivalent to about $175 billion today. So, the Apollo program with a price tag of $175 billion in today’s equivalent was also a political decision to beat the rival Soviet Union and demonstrate the USA’s supremacy. It wasn’t actually meant to be ‘a monumental feat for human spaceflight and humanity as a whole.’

Because of technological advancements, transportation and telecommunication have become faster and cheaper than ever before. But people’s freedom of movement on earth has become more constrained than the ancient times. If people are allowed to freely interact, exchange thoughts and ideas, and work together across national borders, there will be more invention, innovation, and discovery.

While the world leaders are busy making complex calculations and strategic decisions toward the achievement of their respective goals in the war in Ukraine, the people of the world are counting the days for the war to end.

The rich nations are principally responsible for today’s global warming and they don’t want to give up their lifestyle of lavish consumption. On the other hand, the poor nations are racing to catch up with the rich. Meantime, the mercury is rising. In the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “We are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe.”

So, the world is in balance. A third world war is not on the horizon. That’s alright but globalization is also working in the background in deterring a major escalation of military intervention. That’s why we see nowadays the use of economic sanctions instead of direct military actions in many international conflicts. With the strengthening of globalization, military intervention may someday become an obsolete means of conflict resolution.

According to Reading’s interpretation, King Charles III will abdicate in favor of his son but this son wouldn’t be Prince William but Prince Harry! In Reading’s words, ‘That would make him King Henry IX, aged just thirty-eight.’

Maybe things happen as a result of individual or collective human activities as well as God’s design. That’s why sometimes we can’t figure out causality for certain events and attribute them to luck or destiny. It may be noted that our existence is rather insignificant in terms of the dimensions of the universe and so is our knowledge.

If we can’t get over the feeling of hatred in our mind, we can at least control our expressions of it and save ourselves from committing hate crimes by developing the simple understanding that the subject of hatred is not responsible for the cause of hatred.

Yes, we want to be remembered, we want to leave our footprints on this planet, we want to continue to exist, we don’t want to be extinct. From cave paintings to social media posts the underlying urge is the same. ‘Please remember … I sang a song …’

So, what happened to the West’s ideal of freedom of speech? How does muting the Russian voice goes along with the advocacy and pursuit of freedom of speech to the entire world? Of course, it can be argued that Russia invaded Ukraine. But does that abrogate its freedom of speech? Does it mean that they should not be allowed to tell their side of the story? Courts of law hand down judgment only after hearing both the accused and the plaintiff.

The power of the sword is transient but the power of the pen is eternal. We see people around the world stand up against injustice to others for no personal benefit or even enduring a personal loss. We see people volunteering for helping people in distress, even risking their own life to rescue others in danger. It’s all the work of the pen – principles, morals, ethics, humanity, etc. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword and it will always remain so.

A woman carries a male child in her womb for nine months, gives birth to him through labor pain, feeds him from her breasts, raises him with round-the-clock attention and care, and teaches him to talk and walk. The child grows up, becomes a man and denies education to women, refuses equal wages to them, prohibits them to vote, bars them from assuming positions of power, curbs their freedom of movement, imposes oppressive dress code on them, beats and bruises them at home, so on and so forth.

In 1934 Agatha Christie wrote her famous mystery novel ‘Murder on the Orient Express.’ It is considered the most widely read mystery novel of all time. The story took place on the Orient Express train which stopped because of heavy snowfall. But ‘Orient Express’ was not a fictional name that the writer used in her story. There was a real-life Orient Express at that time.

Human travel has not remained limited to the surface of the earth. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin of the then USSR left the earth by his spaceship Vostok 1. He returned safely after making a single orbit around the earth from space. We might have considered Gagarin’s space travel as an achievement of mankind. We the humans have traveled out of the earth!

If I have a gun, I have power and I can make you do things that you wouldn’t do otherwise. Now, if you have two guns then you have more power than me and you can rather control my behavior. So, power entails power comparability. Power comparability or relative degree of power leads to the concept of power distance. Professor Mauk Mulder of Utrecht University, the Netherlands first introduced the concept of power distance in 1958.

According to the estimates of the Small Arms Survey - an associated program of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Switzerland, there were 393,347,000 firearms in civilian possession in the USA against a population of 326,474,000 in the year 2017.

A single company in Taiwan, TSMC, short for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, accounts for 54% of the world’s microchip production. It supplies microchips to Apple, Intel, and Nvidia. Now, we can imagine what would happen to the production of iPhones, Intel processors, and Nvidia graphics cards if the Taiwanese supply of microchips is disrupted.