Posts

Iran is fighting for its Sovereignty and not Shia Islam

Image
Picture of Protestors in Islam. (Picture Courtesy BuzzFeed) I did some reading on Iranian history to get a perspective on the current conflict and also put in some of my analysis. This thread was first posted by me on Twitter but here is its blog version.  It emerges that unlike popular perception Iran is not fighting to defend Shia Islam but its current tensions with the west has its roots all the way back in 1891 starting with colonial Britain.  Iran had weak foreign backed Shahs who did what foreign powers told them to. In 1890 Nasir al-Din Shah granted concessions to the British to be sole growers and exporters of tobacco in Iran impacting 200,000 Iranians. Protests backed by influential clergy led to its withdrawal.  The Anglo-Persian Oil Company owned by British had monopoly on Iranian oil from 1901. It was Britain's most profitable company but Iranians who were largely impoverished did not see that money. In 1952 the popularly e
Post a Comment
Read more

In between Mao’s ‘Five Fingers’ and Hindutva India’s ‘Akhand Bharat’

Image
As we head towards our 112 th  National Day, it is a moment of pride for us that we never have to celebrate an ‘Independence Day,’ with Bhutan never being colonized in its history, but it is also a time to reflect and not take our security and sovereignty for granted. Many Bhutanese are familiar with a term attributed to Chairman Mao who in the 1950s is reported to have said, ‘Tibet is the palm of China and Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and NEFA (Arunachal) are its five fingers.’  There was also talk among the Chinese troops in Tibet in the 1950s to also ‘liberate’ the five fingers. The Chinese later expunged this from its official government position and carried on a much more conciliatory policy towards Nepal and Bhutan, especially after the 1960s, emphasizing on the sovereign status of both the countries. While relations today are much better and the above is history, it did, however, betray an expansionist mindset in the early stages of the People’s Republi
1 comment
Read more