Broken Bangles: Putting Together Life and the World

  The Iran-Israel Conflict Iran, the hitherto glorious empire of Persia, has had a magnificent past of cultural, academic, economic and socio-political heights. But for some time now, the country is an eyesore for the West, and its economy is in dire straits. The country’s nuclear programme and long-standing hostilities with Israel have now culminated in an all-out war.  What is Happening in Iran Now? As Israeli fighter jets rain bombs and rockets on Tehran and Iran’s nuclear sites, and in retaliation, missile barrages from Iran hit Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, two leaders and their policies hold the maximum responsibility for this devastating beginning of a new war: one is Benjamin Netanyahu and the other, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Much is known about Netanyahu, but Khamenei still remains a leader very little understood and analysed in the public sphere due to his religious stature and inaccessibility to journalists.  The relationship betwee...

Benjamin Netanyahu as a Leader The Israeli response to the October 7 Hamas attacks has been disproportionate and genocidal. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been held responsible for this unnecessary killing of thousands of Gazan people, though it is a collective decision taken by Israel’s leadership to wage a brutal war until they destroy Hamas completely.  Netanyahu’s public approval has eroded even in Israel. A s a leader and a politician, Netanyahu has navigated through pernicious and tenebrous political waters. He is a fervent follower of a right-wing and liberalism-based world order and a strong believer in military solutions over peace processes and negotiations. People close to him have observed that he believes himself to be “a messiah with a duty to protect Israel”. His one peculiar trait is that he can unflinchingly make unpopular decisions if he believes they are necessary to protect Israel. During his many years in the prime ministership, he has been ...

  Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, one of the few leaders who was left in Gaza to lead the war on the Palestine side. For many in the Western world, Yahya Sinwar will be just a terrorist, and for many in the Middle East, he will remain a hero. It is difficult to answer who he really was amidst the chaos of misinformation and troubled history that has turned this region into a hellhole of violence and mistrust.  Obviously, Sinwar was a strong leader, a man capable of making the hardest of hard decisions, as witnessed in the October 7 attack of Hamas against Israel. The last interview that Sinwar gave to foreign media was with VICE News and journalist Hind Hassan in 2021. Al Jazeera Television has interviewed Hassan in the aftermath of Yahya Sinwar’s assassination.  Hassan remembers Sinwar as a man who unceremoniously walked out of a mosque in Gaza, surrounded by his colleagues, amidst an escalation of the conflict in 2021. She and her TV crew could walk up to ...

  Naim Qassem has assumed charge as the new secretary-general of the Lebanese military-political group, Hezbollah. He is another Hezbollah hardliner, referred to as the “Hezbollah intellectual” in the outside circles. The New Chief of Hezbollah Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut by Israel on September 27, 2024. Naim Qassem, the new Secretary-General, was the founding member of Hezbollah, a cleric, and has been the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah since 1991. After Nasrallah’s assassination, he has served as the acting Secretary-General.  Naim Qassem has also been the general coordinator of Hezbollah's parliamentary election-related campaigns since 1992, when the organisation debuted in electoral politics. He lacks the charisma of Hasan Nasrallah. Qassem has been Hezbollah's face before international media, giving interviews and functioning as its spokesperson. Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and the potential su...