Debating Syria
Apropos my two most recent posts, on Syria in the wake of Idlib and on the US strikes at Homs, Steve Spencer, a friend for close to forty years, emailed his doubts about my defence of Assad’s government and the … Read More »
Apropos my two most recent posts, on Syria in the wake of Idlib and on the US strikes at Homs, Steve Spencer, a friend for close to forty years, emailed his doubts about my defence of Assad’s government and the … Read More »
Yesterday I posted on chemical weapons at Idlib. I wrote: [The terrorists] are losing and, aided by corporate media in the west, have everything to gain by giving Washington, London and Paris a way of selling more direct intervention, posing … Read More »
Why do we buy the increasingly nonsensical reality-inversions of corporate media, including the sixth form apologetics of the liberal press? Because, I believe, the idea of our leaders as agents, conscious or otherwise, of the most predatory forces on the planet … Read More »
Seven am. The rhythmic thumping of dhobi women on the ghat below has been with me since before dawn. As Rajasthani summer gathers pace, nights as hot as day have me sleeping nude without covers on the bed; fan on … Read More »
Yesterday evening. I deem it a fine joint, given that it’s the first I’ve rolled in a quarter century, but Guddu’s tone has a dismissive note I don’t entirely care for at so milestone a moment. On what criterion does it … Read More »
It’s tricky, negotiating a way down this baked and rutted track to a lake spied from the road. I have to calibrate. Too little power and I come a cropper as front wheel fails to steer round or over the ruts, pitching the machine sideways. … Read More »
How rude of me! I haven’t yet shown the view from my window. Here it is: After coffee and fruit I took myself down to a park, south of town and near the lake. First thing I happened upon … Read More »
Stuff to do! My first task, after coffee of course, is to get myself to the spice market a mile to the northeast of my den on Gangaur Ghat. I prefer to walk at this time of day, though some … Read More »
Shame that. Typical prey for these guys (wiki claims forty types worldwide if we include shags, though at what point a local variant gets its own Latin name is a matter of hot contention for those who care about such things) … Read More »
Disinclined to write, I wandered the ghats and streets at the northern end of Lake Pichola. Later I’ll dedicate a post to the lake, so have focused here on faces, mostly human. This woman could be a model in the … Read More »