The war in West Asia, like the 18-day Kurukshetra War in the Indian epic, Mahabharata, appears to be fought fundamentally between muscle-power and the brainpower; between fury and the common sense; between ego and prudence; between a new power and an old civilisation; between hegemony and sovereignty; between insatiable greed and pure survival instincts; between action and retaliation; between aggression and defiance; between deception and reality; between lies and the truth, between reckless foolhardiness and brilliant astuteness; and between edginess and fortitude. The war has seemingly descended into uncertainty over the future of West Asia.
Iran’s retaliation to the US attacks
The war in West Asia is escalating, laterally and vertically. If not contained now, it will engulf the entire world. Thanks to the vision and ambitions of an individual and his power-drunken business associate, the US risks not only the oil and civil infrastructure in the gulf countries, but also precious human lives in the entire region, including the State of Israel. Emerging reports suggest that the United States (‘US’) may be slipping fast to a point of no return in its unwarranted ‘war of aggression’ on Iran, situated geographically thousands of miles from the mainland US. Imagine, if the mainland US was located within Iran’s established missile range, would the US have militarily attacked Iran in the first place or resumed its provocative attacks after experiencing the consequences of its initial 40-day war this year? Obviously not, then does the US continue to expose the gulf countries, including Israel, to Iran’s deadly firepower?
It is a case of self-harm. Both Iran and the United States at the crossroads.
Any reasonable person must be able to imagine that Iran’s eyes will always be fixed on its sky, space and horizon; ears pressed firmly to the ground’ and fingers locked on to the trigger? Therefore, any escalation in the war by the US will potentially boomerang on it, severely impact its interests in the gulf, and trap it in the region for a long time. History suggests that its past miscalculations bogged and bled it unnecessarily for years in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, deeply impacting its economy and taking a heavy toll on the lives and health of its military personnel. Unlike the past military engagements, however, Iran may not be as forgiving!
Will China confront the US to stop the war?
The Russians and the Chinese must be seeing Iran as a formidable outpost in West Asia. It has already surprised the entire world, including the US and Israel, with its supreme war preparedness, technological superiority and sharp military capabilities. Logically, therefore, China may not want to come in way of Iran or steal its show but instead allow it to bleed the US on its own as much as possible and, in the process, deserve to earn the tag of an emerging (4th) Superpower in the world, after the US, Russia and China.
China’s quick and phenomenal growth in its economic, defence and manufacturing strongly indicate that it outsmarts its friendly competitors as well as its threats. Unlike the US, ideologically, it does not believe in war or the zero-sum game. It would not be unreasonable, therefore, to assume that it will be closely watching not only the two current war theatres, in West Asia and Ukraine-Russia, but the entire world and, in doing so, hoping that Iran wears out and grinds down the US on its own, sufficiently, and averts any unsought Chinese intervention to propping it up. The longer the war goes, the more the US exposes its own weaknesses to the entire world.
In an unlikely situation, however, if the Chinese really need to jump in, it would possibly be in South China Sea to distract the US and force it loosen its grip on Iran.
India at the crossroads
While things look rather grim in West Asia, things within India don’t look promising either. Based on the reports, amongst many other areas in the country, India’s education system and space organisation have been capitalised over the past few years. What seems to be a self-goal, it looks like the entire education system in India has been corrupted insidiously by an (invisible) education mafia – operating surreptitiously with impunity for years – through an imagined organised crime structure right under the nose of those who are sworn to look after the country.
Has India surrendered its space autonomy to the US capitalist?
India prided itself for years on outstanding achievements of the Indian Space Research Organization (‘ISRO’), which emerged as one of best in the world in the space R&D, and the most cost-effective launching platform in the world. However, shockingly, between 100 and 120 elite scientists are understood to have resigned from the ISRO in the past one year alone, suggesting a systematic lack of support by the administrators and setup of rot in the overall scientific temperament in the country, possibly also triggered by influence and the ambitions of a capitalist space investor from the US.
Can India stand to the US like Iran did?
India’s external sovereignty demands India’s tactful, diplomatic defiance to the US hegemony, especially at a time when President Trump is at war against the entire world — both militarily against Iran and Russia, and via trade against all nations.
Trump’s bullying tactics and hammer approach to win over and subjugate his opponents and his partners equally is a brazen exhibition of his imperialist ambitions.
Capitalism and Artificial Intelligence impacting job market in India
Reports suggest that the advent of Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) has emerged as one of several factors underlying a growing unemployment in Indian youth, especially in the IT sector.
India is the world’s most populous country with a relatively young population and a median age of around 28.5 years. For sustainable employment of its significantly large workforce, it needs polices that provide jobs to the educated, less-educated and the uneducated, through both white- and blue-collared work industries. India can’t afford not to regulate the AI industry or do away with its traditional labour-oriented work methods and technologies.
India must follow the lead of Australia, which has recently announced that it will actively regulate and manage the use of AI within the country, given a high potential for its misuse and abuse by unscrupulous elements.
During our relatively brief, 200,000-year existence on Earth, humans have never been exposed so much to the AI, our rising (over)dependence on it has the potential to completely undermine our autonomy to think and do things, enslave us to machines and irresponsible capitalists who tend to look mainly after about their own bottom-line and maximise their profits at the cost of the human wellness and employment.
India’s colonial past threatens to return
During the British times, when Indian masses fought resolutely for India’s freedom from the British occupation, the British government’s policemen of Indian origin, at the command of their British superiors, would use a brutal force to mercilessly crush the protests by their unarmed fellow Indians. Now, a century later, when unarmed Indian youth protest for reinstating Constitutional democracy, rule of law, clean judiciary, employment and a corruption-free education system, they face the sticks and batons of the same Indian policemen who, at the command of their insecure, fearful ‘authoritarian’ masters, commit uncivil / insensitive atrocities on unarmed youth.
Not much may have changed in India in these 100 years, only the ‘masters’ may have changed, despite seeing initially a half century’s progressive democracy, economic growth, infrastructural development, educational revolution and industrialization. Has India returned to a colonial rule of 1920s?
The World watches India as it fights for Democracy
Recent reports of protests by Indians in many countries across the world in support of the ongoing youth movement in India, which is against corruption in the education system, followed by the alleged police brutalities against the youth protestors in India, have made headlines in the international media.
Reportedly, 152 paper-leaks have occurred in India over the past few years without any accountability. As a direct consequence, a large mass movement across the country, led by Indian youth (called the Gen Z), supported by their families, have protested for months and demanded accountability in the education system. But shocking reports of unprecedented police atrocities against unarmed protesting students, who had gathered in Delhi recently, are both deplorable and despicable at all levels of civility and morality.
The world watches India where recently an aggressive, authoritarian, stone-throwing, lathi-wielding Past brutally assaulted a peace-loving, democracy-aspiring, Constitution-respecting Present. Some lathis (sticks) also carried steel nails to cause maximum damage. If the Past wins, the Present may have not much hope for a progressive Future, instead, it may regress quickly to a distant medieval past. Paradoxically, the Past, supported by only about 1/3 of the population calls the remaining 2/3 of the population as ‘anti-national’ and blames some foreign counties for supporting the Present. Ironically, it is the Past that but travels continually around and hugs these foreigners at the poor Indian taxpayers’ money.
How could the armed police be so insensitive and uncivilized that it brutally and unashamedly assaulted the protestors with large, heavy sticks and pellet guns, which required the hospitalisation of several critically injured students, one of them reportedly losing an eye? The dignity of the female protestors too was not spared.
Democracy needs educated leaders
The struggling youth know that they can never expect any genuine support or sympathy or, least of all, empathy or compassion from those who usurp a phenomenal power and then exercise brutal authority over the common people despite being relatively illiterate or half-educated. Such power-drunken individuals feel pathetically insecure and exhibit a sadistic in nature, while operating and hiding behind a compromised law and order.
The recent events in India have proven that educated leaders are required:
- to earn an honest living;
- to value, respect and support education and the educated people;
- to be civilized and to know when (and how much) to open one’s mouth, and when to remain quiet;
- to never make a fool of oneself by talking nonsense before the educated people;
- to stand instinctively, speak out and act timely against immorality, injustice and corruption, and never pretend to be deaf or dumb or blind to crime or criminals;
- to develop, maintain and promote a knowledge-based, scientific temperament;
- to speak out freely, when appropriate, and live a free and fair life, and not hide behind one’s security personnel or written scripts or teleprompters; and
- to stand up free and dignified, without fear or self-doubt, and grow in life without an inferiority complex or a sadistic temperament.
This goes on to prove that, for democracy, educated leaders are essential for developing and massively populated countries like India, where the GDP per capita is amongst the lowest in the world (around $2,800) and unemployment amongst the youth is alarmingly high.
Democracy Happening!
The embattled youth, comprising more than 50% of India’s population, potentially face a grim future due to a high and rising unemployment, as India seems to be fight an uphill war for restoring democracy and independence from education scams, mafia, corrupt politicians, and an oppressive authoritarianism.
The recent resignation of its education minister could be seen a ‘chink in the armour’ or a symbolic start of an impending change in the system. The country is aware that the besieged minister did not resign out of any respect for the departed students or any moral conscience, but he was forced to resign under duress, by his mother organisation, as a strategic move to save those who stand behind him. The youth fear that he may be rewarded soon with a new lucrative appointment.
It is evident that, based on their sharp responses to the questions from scores of ‘independent and conscientious’ journalists, the Indian youth (derogatorily called the ‘cockroaches’ by the Chief Justic of India) from across the length and breadth of India seem to know, unlike most of their ‘authoritarian’ elders, what democracy requires to be functional and sustainable.
Based on numerous reports emerging from India, it is evident that, after years of relentless efforts — and overcoming a sustained slanderous campaign by his opponents — the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, has emerged as the brightest champion of democracy. He may have finally struck a chord with the Indian youth. It seems he knows the youth well, and their issues and concerns, and, in return, they know him well enough to trust him as their representative and be their voice.
After a recent ‘initial’ win by the youth of India against a determined, authoritarian and armed opponent, to overcome systemic corruption in India’s education system, India has shown that it has the potential to emerge as the world’s torchbearer for an accountable and meaningful Constitutional democracy. However, it is also possible, if the administration manoeuvres itself out of the crisis and then, out of vengeance, crushes or corrupts the ongoing youth movement, India may quickly regress hopelessly.
Resemblance between India and the US
Authoritarian autocracy and liberal democracy are oxymoronic. However, the world has lately come to see that both systems coexist and are intertwined in not only the two largest (so-called) democracies, India and the United States, but in several countries where a handful of authoritarian individuals, bedded with a handful of crony capitalists, rule unashamedly with impunity over disempowered masses.
Notably, a striking resemblance has emerged between how Iran has been treated by the US and how the Indian youth have been treated in their own nation run by the US president’s Indian friend. Aggressive-defensive! In their respective wars, the two allies may talk about dialogue with their respective targets but, on the other hand, they build fortresses around their respective targets, with intent to manipulate and damage and subjugate in the end.
Notably, both India and the US fall in the ‘flawed’ category of Democracy Index.
Democracy is a matter of conscience and not just mandate.
Democracy demands that the elected leaders must serve the peoples from all socioeconomic, religious, gender, and racial backgrounds, and possess as a minimum the 3Cs – Conscience, Commitment, and Compassion.
Notably, out of seven (7) prime ministers that the United Kingdom (‘UK’) has seen in the past decade, five (5) promise ministers resigned voluntarily, out of their conscience.
To be a democracy and to claim to be a democracy are two different things. These days, we see many wolves in sheep’s clothing. Many fake democracies throw dust on the eyes of people, both within and outside the country. What we see currently in flawed democracies raises uncomfortable questions about the fallible, dark side of democracy. Without doubt, the US has undermined the idea of democracy.
The alleged 152 paper-leaks in India would not have happened in one day or one year; obviously, it must have happened over years through an organised, systemic corrupt practices, undertaken by the so-called ‘education mafia’ operating through an ‘organized structure’. It would be interesting to see if the youth are able to expose that mafia structure and investigate all its individual operators and expose their bank accounts. In addition, the youth may be cognizant of the fact that there were several Trojans planted carefully their movement to
- Enable a ‘controlled and manageable’ release of a dangerously high youth frustration;
- Highjack the recent CJP movement, which seemed to be ‘orchestrated’ initially’ but grew phenomenally and survived the manipulation; and
- Sabotage a months-long youth movement across the country led by the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
The youth may still have several individuals in their crosshairs, including the individual who called them a ‘cockroach’ in the first place, followed by the person who ordered the use of a brutal force on the unarmed protestors; and, finally, the authority that remained negligently oblivious to a progressive breakdown of the entire education system and the subsequent mass protests.
Bill K Koul (27 July 2026, Perth, Western Australia)
Copyright © Bill K Koul