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Praveen Swami

Praveen Swami

Indian Express

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Israel is repeating mistakes of 1982 Lebanon war in Gaza. It might get revenge but not peace

Israel has learned few lessons from its campaign in Lebanon. War in Gaza has no strategic end.

19.11.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Most important agreement Xi & Biden can make—keep AI out of nuclear warmaking decisions

An agreement to keep AI out of nuclear weapons control systems will be a solid step forward, even if months of discussions are needed to agree on how...

15.11.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Pakistan’s solution for terrorism is to expel Afghan refugees – but it’ll only get worse

The seeds of war sowed by the ISI in 1973 have yielded a long, bitter harvest, which now threatens to overrun Pakistan itself.

12.11.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Israel’s border defence defeat should make India think how it manages LOC in Kashmir

India is testing a smart fence in Kashmir, using sensors from Magal that developed the systems in Gaza and US. But what does Israel experience tell us...

01.11.2023 20

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Gaza’s Islamist wave can fuel jihadism in India—Don’t forget the ‘Silk Letter Movement’

Elegantly written on yellow silk, sewn into the waistcoat of a new convert to Islam, Shaikh Abdul Haq, the words were to be carried across the Khyber...

29.10.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

The only true law of war is savagery. Gaza isn’t facing anything different

There’s no reason to believe that any other kind of war in Gaza might have been more humane. The idea that war can be civilised by law has...

25.10.2023 4

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Pakistani fundamentalists are rejecting Darwin’s theory. Nawaz Sharif must choose secularism

Islamist pop preachers like Tahir-ul-Qadri and Zakir Naik popularised this anti-science posture—largely relying on pseudoscientific arguments—and...

22.10.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Allahabad High Court’s Nithari judgment shows Indian criminal justice’s rotted beyond repair

The Nithari killings is just the latest in a long series of high-profile cases that demand thorough reinvestigation to establish what went wrong.

18.10.2023 6

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

The next front in the Israel-Hamas war will be Europe

Antisemitic incidents have quadrupled in the United Kingdom, and Germany has banned the pro-Hamas organisation Samidoun,

15.10.2023 6

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Hamas isn’t just a blood cult. More than tanks, Israel needs political imagination to crush it

Hamas has battled Palestinian nationalism, allied itself with Israeli intelligence, and capitalised on regional geopolitics. It's skilled at not just...

11.10.2023 5

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Israel-Gaza crisis holds brutal lessons in how not to fight terrorism & insurgencies

There’s little doubt the tactically skilled IDF will succeed in crushing Hamas incursions in the next few days. Like the 1973 war, the crisis holds...

08.10.2023 20

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Islamic State rising in Balochistan. Pakistan doesn’t have the resources to win this fight

The Taliban were once pushed back into Afghanistan by the Army. For a time, the Generals congratulated themselves, imagining their Taliban clients...

04.10.2023 8

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

India hitting enemies on global scale, govt winning applause. But there’s cost being paid too

From RAW assets convicted of espionage in Germany, to former naval officers facing trial for spying on Qatar, India’s efforts to expand its global...

01.10.2023 30

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

5 Eyes hold the secrets behind Trudeau’s charges. India must worry about its vulnerabilities

For all the talk of cyber-espionage by China or Russia, the Five Eyes are the largest intelligence-gathering organisation in the world, with the...

24.09.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

No signs of a looming pro-Khalistan insurgency. India needn’t fear the ghost of BKI’s Parmar

In 1984, Parmar succeeded in turning his low-grade marketing campaign into a movement due to political missteps in Punjab, which empowered...

20.09.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Xi’s men are falling off the wall one by one. Even extreme loyalty doesn’t guarantee safety

For centuries, dictators have used arbitrary terror, so no one knows for certain which actions might be punished, to what extent, and when.

17.09.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Nawaz Sharif is on his way back to Pakistan. But history shows he must prove his ‘piety’ first

There is no way of telling how the courts will deal with the issue, but the requirement of piety goes to the heart of Pakistan’s dysfunctions.

13.09.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

G20 has flagged off a new train race in the Middle East. This time India is at the heart

Hejaz railway to the new train race—will the G20 project be any different?

10.09.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

G20 shows summitry remains an ‘addictive drug’ for world leaders. But does it get work done?

In a world where encrypted digital communications enable leaders to speak instantly and securely, there is no purpose for the summit except pageantry.

06.09.2023 3

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

George Soros who attacks Modi govt is no evil supervillain but he can’t buy a better world

No amount of cash can buy a liberal culture where individuals respect each other. To imagine that billionaires can shape the course of history is pure...

03.09.2023 7

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Imran Khan’s prosecution won’t do much. The military is at the heart of Pakistan’s corruption

Lacking even the meagre comfort of an after-dinner cognac to calm their nerves, the assembled billionaires listened silently as their guest’s rage...

31.08.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

How a poisoner’s handbook helped Vladimir Putin rise to absolute power

Throughout Putin's political career, dozens of powerful rivals have died—in circumstances far too opaque for Russian authorities to even trouble...

27.08.2023 40

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

India’s proposed criminal law codes can modernise justice – if they begin with police first

Even though the new laws have generated criticism, analysis suggests much of their content is similar to the colonial-era legislation they replace.

23.08.2023 4

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Football stars, desert ski resorts, 2029 Asian Games—Saudi Arabia is building post-oil future

Saudi Arabia will now need to form alliances with Iran, China, and the US. And for that the country will need to do more than just sell oil.

20.08.2023 9

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Depsang crisis needs a political solution. And Modi-Xi’s G20 meet could break the deadlock

The lowering of aggressive polemic in both Beijing and New Delhi shows politicians in both countries realise that the crisis of the Gates of Hell...

16.08.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

1980 Moradabad riots probe shows there’s no neat conclusion. Both Hindus, Muslims to blame

To some, the MC Saxena report is evidence that Muslims were responsible for the riot—but that isn’t the full story. It casts new light on the...

13.08.2023 30

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Power game in Pakistan remains unfinished. Imran’s arrest shows army playing with a weak hand

Even though Pakistan’s PMs keep ending up in prison cells, Imran Khan has shown that civilian leaders aren’t giving up fighting for control of the...

10.08.2023 6

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Gurugram’s is a hard-won economic gain. But Nuh violence shows it’s imploding

This story warns us that the incendiary politics that led to Gurugram—an icon of India’s economic ambitions—could easily set off larger fires.

06.08.2023 7

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Oppressed for centuries—Kashmir’s Shias get their due as Muharram procession restored

From the time of before Aurangzeb and EIC to the Dogras and now. Shias have been sidelined and systematically targeted. This procession is a step...

30.07.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

This battle over an uncrowned queen’s uncertain kingdom can tell us what comes next in Manipur

As India intended to end the Nagaland insurgency forever 8 years ago, it announced the construction of a statue and memorial to Gaidinliu—the...

26.07.2023 6

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Jihadist hate can thrive in prison. The story of a cook, a guitarist & a Sufi shows how

Fifteen years ago, the man now alleged to have indoctrinated 5 Karnataka jihadists, Kannur-born Tadiyantavide Naseer, had recruited the Kerala men to...

23.07.2023 5

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Pakistani Generals have a dilemma—keeping Imran Khan out can destabilise country’s politics

The Generals know Pakistan’s political parties are important, or they wouldn’t spend so much time attempting to control their leadership and...

19.07.2023 20

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

How women’s movement in Manipur became a platform for chauvinist elements

Few places in India have seen a sustained women’s movement of the kind seen in Manipur—but the grinding ethnic war tearing the state apart has...

12.07.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Sweden’s Quran burner may not be a free speech activist. But defending him protects us all

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference have periodically lobbied for blasphemy to be made a global offence. But they have been soft on violations...

09.07.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

The Dutch have apologised for their part in slave trade. Now, India must own up to its mistakes

‘No day goes’, the chronicler Shihabuddin al-Umari recorded during Alauddin Khalji’s rule from 1296-1316, ‘without the sale of thousands of...

05.07.2023 30

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

In Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing, look beyond the usual suspect. There is gangs, guns and God

Killings of Khalistanis in recent weeks raise the obvious questions about possible Indian state involvement.

02.07.2023 8

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

India went to Myanmar to hunt down Manipur soldier killers. Now, it’s letting them slip away

Faced with escalating ethnic violence in Manipur—and a stalled peace process in Nagaland—New Delhi faces impossible choices.

28.06.2023 8

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Putin sees himself as a tsar. He’s even repeating their deadly mistakes

Putin’s failures in Ukraine — material shortage, incompetent leadership, deserting soldiers — are the same as the tsar during World War I. The...

25.06.2023 5

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Pakistan is being run by its very own Ayatollahs. But this time, Jihadists aren’t to blame

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s Generals can’t risk opening a fourth front. Their surrender to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik last week...

21.06.2023 5

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

In Manipur govts have manufactured dystopia for decades, not peace. It’s showing now

Learning all the wrong lessons from the British empire, independent India chose to rule the northeast through cash and coercion.

18.06.2023 40

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

75 years of blasphemy killings in Pakistan. God is the vigilante army

There’s no will in Pakistan to engage in the fraught debate that the Quran has 'no notion of blasphemy'. The blasphemy laws show that real power...

14.06.2023 2

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Celebration of Indira Gandhi’s killing shows old communal hatreds still hurt Indians abroad

The inability of Indians to have a conversation about the past—the bombing of Air India, 1984 riots, storming of the Golden Temple—has poisoned...

11.06.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Pakistani Generals have a history of censoring media. Imran Khan is just the latest victim

The chokehold of the Pakistani military on ideas has created a republic of fear. For Indians, the crisis ought to remind just how fragile democratic...

07.06.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Pakistan was broke in 1953 too and Nehru had a deal on Kashmir. Then this happened

For all the talk of jihad-without-end over Kashmir, leaders of Pakistan knew the country needed to reduce military expenditures. That meant seeking...

04.06.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Ethnicity was manipulated to control Manipur insurgency–the hate this unleashed set it on fire

Finding resolutions to identity conflict needs genuine democratic institution building, which will allow communities to meaningfully exercise power...

31.05.2023 20

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Afghan, Pakistan cartels survived empires. Now they are drowning Indian Ocean region in drugs

Like their colonial-era ancestors, smugglers are the economic backbone of impoverished communities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

28.05.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

Middle East can be crucial ally for India on Kashmir. Its G20 absence shows challenges ahead

Five nation-states' absence from the meeting might not seem a lot. But with China supporting it, Pakistan may resume nurturing jihadists, even risk...

24.05.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana to be extradited, but main players remain protected in Pakistan

The real story of the Mumbai attack remains how terrorists—and a national state which backed them—got away with mass killing.

19.05.2023 10

ThePrint

Praveen Swami

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