Afghanistan: A quick update
One: India is offering e-visas to all Afghans seeking refuge in India. There are no restrictions based on religion contrary to the citizenship law—which excludes Muslims. But the emphasis continues to be on rescuing Hindus and Sikhs. Below is a clip of Sikhs huddled at a Kabul gurdwara making an appeal for help:
NDTV has the story of how India evacuated all its diplomatic staff after negotiations with the US.
Two: The Taliban announced that there will be “amnesty to everybody, there is no revenge.” But it also made clear: “Afghanistan will have an Islamic — and a strong Islamic — government.” In its first comments on women, a spokesperson said: “The Islamic Emirate doesn’t want women to be victims. They should be in government structure according to Shariah law.” No one knows what that means, but women TV anchors and reporters continue to bravely report and appear on air. In fact, one of them interviewed a member of the Taliban’s media team (see photo). Slate has more on this. Also this: A small group of women staged a protest asking for their rights—in the presence of Taliban fighters. Some claim the armed men were sent to “protect” them.
Three: Palestinian group Hamas congratulated the Taliban “for the downfall of the American occupation,” saying: “This is a lesson for all oppressed peoples. Will they learn the moral of this story?” That is sure to underline the recent warning issued by the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff that there is a “medium” risk of terrorist groups reconstituting in Afghanistan within two years—and that timeline is likely to be accelerated thanks to the Taliban’s easy victory. A good related read: ‘What happens in Kabul will not stay in Kabul’.
Four: Meanwhile in Kabul, Taliban fighters freely roamed the streets, arbitrarily accosted passersby—checking their phones—and entered homes and hotels. But there was no mass violence or detentions. People are hiding in their homes, destroying any evidence that will tie them to the government. Some of the Taliban even enjoyed a time out on dodgem cars at the local amusement park.
Bob Dylan accused of child sex abuse
A 68-year-old woman has accused the singer of grooming and then sexually assaulting her as a 12-year old in New York:
“The suit alleges that Dylan — whose given name is Robert Allen Zimmerman — established the ‘connection’ to ‘lower [her] inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day.’”
Dylan’s spokesman said: “This 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.” The woman’s attorney has declined to say how she came to meet Dylan and “would not elaborate on the nature of sexual abuse claims.” The suit was filed on the eve of the deadline for a New York law that created a window within which sexual abuse victims could file a suit irrespective of how old their claims are. (Page Six)
A series of surveys
One: Mint’s latest online survey shows that urban Indians do not blame the government for the effects of the second wave:
“The online survey, which covered 10,285 respondents across 203 cities in the June-July period, shows that 41% respondents find the Prime Minister (PM) responsible for the covid tragedy. But 48% said that the PM’s efforts can’t be faulted at all… Support for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also remains largely intact.”
The reasons for this continued faith include:
“First, the public gets more blame for the second wave compared to governments. Second, social networks compensated for the absence of the state during the pandemic peak, and in a society which has low expectations from the state, that can be easily normalized. Third, the second wave didn’t impact people’s economic outlook significantly, and hence they may have been willing to overlook the failures of politicians.”
But, but, but: India Today’s ‘Mood of the Nation’ survey shows that the percentage of Indians who pick Narendra Modi as their next PM has dropped from 66% to 24%. FYI: The second most popular choice is Yogi Adityanath at 11%, while Rahul Gandhi takes third place with 10%. When it came to ranking Chief Ministers, Tamil Nadu’s MK Stalin beat the rest with a 42% favourability rating. And contrary to the Mint survey, this one shows that Indians are very worried about inflation, unemployment and the future of the economy. (The Wire)
A climate change survey: of G20 nations (i.e. the world’s largest economies) shows that 73% of their citizens are concerned that human activity has pushed the Earth close to a tipping point—and 58% of them were “very concerned or extremely concerned about the state of the planet.” The not-so-good news about Indians:
“Only 25% felt governments should prioritise jobs and profits even if this meant harming nature. Only in India was there 50% approval for putting the economy first… In G20 countries, there was widespread agreement (75%) that the pandemic demonstrated how rapidly behaviour could change. A similar proportion (71%) accepted the recovery from the pandemic provided a unique opportunity to make societies more resilient. However, in India 56% felt the need for economic recovery meant that nature was a lower priority.”
About the origins of Covid…
A delayed research paper study points to evidence that the coronavirus likely originated in infected wild animals. It is based on data collected over 30 months by virologist Xiao Xiao—who was trying to find the source of a tick-borne, Lyme-like disease. He surveyed shops in Wuhan selling wild animals from May 2017 right up to November 2019—which is when the first known Covid cases popped up:
“Xiao checked the animals for injuries and disease, noting that almost a third bore trapping and shooting wounds consistent with being caught in the wild, and that none of the shops displayed an origin or quarantine certificate, making the commerce ‘fundamentally illegal,’ according to the study. His animal logs included masked palm civets and raccoon dogs—both involved in the 2003 SARS outbreak—and other species susceptible to coronavirus infections, such as bamboo rats, minks, and hog badgers. Of the 38 species Xiao documented, 31 were protected.”
Now, none of this will make Beijing happy since Chinese authorities have clamped down on any suggestion that illegal wildlife trade is responsible for the origins of the virus—preferring instead to blame overseas sources, however improbable. (Bloomberg News)
In other Covid-related news: A new investigation of death registers in Gujarat shows that the actual death toll was 27X the official figure—2.81 lakh uncounted deaths compared to the government’s number of 10,075. (The Wire)
Elsewhere in the world: New Zealand has imposed a nationwide lockdown because of a single new Covid case. (BBC News)
A pi-sized world record!
Swiss researchers have calculated the mathematical value of pi to a new record of 62.8 trillion figures. The previous world-record pi calculation achieved 50 trillion figures. Their supercomputer took 108 days and nine hours to complete the calculation—which is “almost twice as fast as the record Google set using its cloud in 2019, and 3.5 times as fast as the previous world record in 2020.” Why this matters: “The Swiss team said that the experience they built calculating pi could be applied in other areas such as ‘RNA analysis, simulations of fluid dynamics and textual analysis’.” Reminder: Pi represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. (The Guardian)
An Indian 'mermaid' plant
Biologists have discovered a new species in the Andamans called Acetabularia jalakanyakae. The beauty of the marine green algae was inspired by a Disney fairytale:
“Jalakanyaka in Sanskrit literally means mermaid and a goddess of oceans. The scientists say they were influenced by the fictional character Little Mermaid in the eponymous fairy tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson. ‘The newly discovered species is so stunning. It has caps with intricate designs as if it were umbrellas of a mermaid,’ said Dr Felix Bast, who led the study.”
BBC News has more. Also, it looks like this:
Also quite a sight: The Washington Monument in DC being struck by lightning—an event that damaged its electrical systems.
OTOH, in more unsightly news: Two murals recently painted by Banksy—as part of his ‘A Great British Spraycation’ series—have been defaced by vandals. They are among ten new pieces of graffiti art spread across coastal towns in the UK. Smithsonian has more on this—and why two other murals were taken down by unhappy locals. See sad before and after pics below: