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NDTV
12-06-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Is This How India Will 'Dehyphenate' Itself From Pakistan?
"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on," said Yossarian, the 'hero' of Joseph Heller's 1961 cult classic Catch-22. This absurdly dark and hilarious novel, set during the Second World War, contains some of the most astute observations on war and peace, a theme for our times. Or all times. Apart from one's own commanders, like Colonel Cathcart of Catch-22, the enemy could also be suboptimal actions driven by fallacious estimations of self. While our armed forces, as commanded, demonstrated their professionalism and precision, the same has been seen as lacking from other quarters in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. Despite India's consistent attempts at keeping the Kashmir issue out of the arena of international interference, Pakistan has doubled down on its efforts to the contrary and achieved at least some degree of success. India, regrettably, has also got 're-hyphenated' with Pakistan despite our government's forceful iterations that the victims and perpetrators of terrorism cannot be treated at par by the international community. Pak Is No Match The irony of the current situation is that India may have played some part in bringing this rehyphenation upon itself. Rather than setting the paradigm, India is seen as playing catch-up in its diplomatic oeuvre. Immediately after the high offices of the Pakistani government, including Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, embarked on their international mission to convince the world about India's alleged aggression, seven all-party committees were dispatched by India to different parts of the world. We are yet to see what such delegations have achieved for the long run, apart from generating newsy moments. As the world's fourth-largest economy, India has a stature that Pakistan can only aspire to achieve. Sharif's statement about India being more wary of the cost of war than Pakistan because the latter is still in a struggling phase is darkly humorous and unintentionally ingenious. It doesn't behove a superpower like India to be following Pakistan's diplomatic footsteps. The soon-to-retire chief of the Florida-based United States Central Command, General Michael E. Kurilla, has recently called Pakistan a "phenomenal partner" whose value "will only increase as the Taliban continues to face security challenges within its borders". President Donald Trump, too, has been underscoring how the US values its "beautiful" relationship with both India and Pakistan, which have "great" leaders. Rather than dismissing this 'both-siding' as classic Trump balderdash, India should devise a robust plan to offset Pakistan's geopolitical arm-twisting of the West. Pak's Sneaky Ways The Afghanistan-Pakistan hyphenation is what has been driving the West's response to Islamabad's backing of the terror outfits in Kashmir and other parts of India. Pakistan has managed to convince the West, especially the US, of its indispensable status in eliminating actors that pose a direct threat to people and property in the Global North. India's renewed engagement with the Taliban, short of recognising them, has only limited potential to counter Pakistan's perceived value as a partner of the West to counter terrorist threats originating from Central and South Asia. The spectre of ISIS-K looms large on any Western attempt at holding Pakistan responsible for terror activities in India. Pakistan has utilised multilateral platforms, such as the UN, to its utmost benefit. Currently, as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, Pakistan serves as the Chair of the 1988 Taliban Sanctions Committee, Vice Chair of the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee, and Co-Chair of two informal working groups. It is also set to become the rotational president of the UNSC in July. While these positions do not hold any substantive powers, Pakistan can be expected to initiate meetings and debates to internationalise the Kashmir issue. The Kashmir Question India may have brushed these concerns away in the past, upholding its policy of keeping Kashmir as an internal matter, but it will appear a little hypocritical now. Once you reach out to the world with an aim to share your side of the story, you cannot accuse the other party of doing the same. There has been a spirit of tentativeness with which multilateral platforms have treated India-Pakistan tensions. A large number of nations are not even aware of Kashmir and the eight-decade-long dispute over it. All they have perhaps seen is a half-hearted inscription on UN maps showing the border between the two countries. More importantly, India can no longer claim that it does not care for the "opinion" of the international community, particularly the US, when it was a foreign commander in chief of the armed forces who "announced" - however unwarrantedly - the ceasefire or the "pause" during Operation Sindoor. Classical Greek playwright and master of comedies Aristophanes said, "Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war; and this lesson saves their children, their homes, and their properties". While it may be important to learn from Pakistan the art of conning everyone all the time, India must continue to act like the regional power and global arbiter that it posits itself as.
Spectator
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
2707: Get-together
Twelve unclued entries can form six new words (not in the grid) Across 4 Each Chrome browser's opening changes online site for self-validation? (4,7) 12 No charge for these new dancing routines (9) 13 Goblin at last living in tree trunk (5) 14 Cover turned over, novel is Catch-22? (7) 15 Observe small branch (4) 16 A third of Americans put on weight – belly for some (4) 17 Internally, customer's right (4) 20 Taking time, sumptuous western showed triumphant joy (7) 21 Carpet fabric, mainly rush, packed into cube (7) 25 Last line of defence – boiler fixed (6) 30 Live start of match involving very good sweeper? (5) 32 Southern docks bringing in old military spies (6) 35 Mixture of perfume ingredients combined to net love (6) 38 Boss, lazy, missing first post (7) 40 Maybe still wearing stockings in care home (7) 43 Church blocks huge declarations in Scotland (4) 44 See you time and time again, always at the front (2-2) 45 Without antennae, nothing stops flying saucer (7) 47 School accepting odd boorish Aussie rugby player (5-4) 48 Tough trooper positioned around island infested with bugs (11) Down 1 Dippy sort of office aid? (7) 3 Chief good on breaking total silence linked to wrong (6,5) 5 One weeping about that gutted US animal (7) 6 Having elevated land, hardened by cold when removing top (6) 8 Area, but off beaten track (7) 10 Do away with chatty flier superior group absorbs (9) 11 Rarely go back to wish otherwise, finally yielding to case for defence (7) 18 State bore put up in No. 10 (5) 19 Injurious nasty DJ peculiar about single (11) 22 Tobacco plant aril oddly contains mostly fluid (9) 27 D-Day target of May has finally gone (5) 29 Young lady indulged over blunder (7) 31 Objective means upright (7) 34 Judge provided very loud reprimands (4,3) 36 Exclusive bunch accepts Lothario but not her (6) 37 Happy over solver being welcomed by Jeeves after vacation (6) Download a printable version here. A first prize of a £30 John Lewis voucher and two runners-up prizes of £20 vouchers for the first correct solutions opened on Monday 30 June. Please scan or photograph entries and email them (including the crossword number in the subject field) to crosswords@ or post to: Crossword 2707, The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP. Please allow six weeks for prize delivery.
Pink Villa
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
The Young and the Restless, June 6 Spoilers: Billy Gets Stuck Between Phyllis and Sally's Situation, Know What Happens
Billy Abbott finds himself in the middle of yet another Catch-22 predicament—this time between Phyllis Summers and Sally Spectra. While Phyllis has recently reached a ceasefire with Sharon, no such truce exists with Sally. Their rivalry may just be heating up in this Friday's The Young and the Restless, especially now that Sally is working closely with Billy. Their shared professional space is becoming a battleground, and Billy is likely to be caught in the crossfire. Phyllis's lingering resentment and Sally's strong personality make peacekeeping nearly impossible. As the fiery redhead clashes with his ex, Billy will be forced to play mediator, trying to hold things together without choosing sides. Mariah struggles with a secret she's yet to share with Tessa Meanwhile, Mariah remains haunted by something that happened during her recent trip out of town, and the burden is growing heavier. She's confided in Sharon, revealing that the incident is serious enough that she has not been able to bring herself to tell Tessa. As the guilt gnaws at her, Mariah continues to wrestle with whether to come clean. The secret threatens to drive a wedge between her and Tessa if it stays hidden much longer. With her conscience weighing her down, the question is whether Mariah can take the risk of honesty in hopes of preserving their hard-earned trust. Victoria seeks Nikki's comfort amid fears about Cole Elsewhere, Victoria is shaken by Cole's sudden illness at Nikki's birthday gala. She reaches out to her mother for support. Though Cole initially improved with rest, his condition has worsened, leaving Victoria frightened about what comes next. She turns to Nikki not for a diagnosis, but for strength and guidance. With so much uncertainty surrounding Cole's health, Victoria finds stability in her mother's presence—an emotional anchor during a deeply worrying time. Keep up with Pinkvilla for more updates from The Young and the Restless.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Opinion - The most psychotic musical since ‘Sweeney Todd' — and why America needs it
Luigi Mangione is accused of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in broad daylight. A clean shot. No hesitation. Very soon, he'll sing about the brutal act in a San Francisco musical. I say: Good. 'Luigi: The Musical' is absurd, possibly sociopathic — and yet somehow entirely defensible. In fact, in this grotesque, camp-addled culture of ours, it might be the most honest piece of art produced all year. Not because murder is funny. Not because the justice system is a joke. But because we now live in an age where satire is the last viable truth-delivery system. Much of journalism is corporate. Novels are afraid. Late-night comedy is neutered. You want truth? Put it in a musical. Wrap it in sequins. And give it jazz hands. Satire has always been the most ruthlessly efficient scalpel. Aristophanes mocked imperial war. Jonathan Swift proposed devouring Irish children. George Orwell, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Vonnegut — they didn't protest. They staged freak shows. Molière shredded hypocrisy in powdered wigs. Charles Dickens dragged Victorian England through the gutter it tried to ignore. Joseph Heller turned bureaucratic madness into 'Catch-22.' Before his comedy went off a cliff, George Carlin stood on stage and tore down empire with a smirk. With 'Four Lions,' a pitch-black comedy about incompetent jihadists, Chris Morris made terrorism absurd. Before that, he had already terrified the British establishment with 'Brass Eye,' a fake news satire so savage it tricked members of Parliament into denouncing fictional drugs on air. Trey Parker made everything absurd, or at least appear absurd. From Mormonism ('The Book of Mormon') to war propaganda ('Team America') to the bloated theater of American politics and celebrity culture ('South Park'), nothing was sacred — and that was the point. Satire doesn't whisper; it slaps. It offends. It remembers what the real world would rather forget. 'Luigi' stands firmly in that lineage — not in spite of the outrage it invites, but because of it. What are we really so scandalized by? The idea of a murderer with a musical number? Please. We've been there before: 'Sweeney Todd,' 'Chicago,' 'Heathers,' 'Assassins.' We have clapped for John Wilkes Booth. We have cheered for razor blades and ricin. What bothers people about 'Luigi' isn't the violence. It's the contemporaneity — the fact that it's still too soon and the wound hasn't scabbed yet. This character, the corporate assassin-turned-accidental folk hero, feels dangerously plausible. Deep down, we know the real absurdity isn't the musical. It is the world that created such a man. We live in a culture that glamorizes sociopathy but gets offended when it's reflected back. Netflix ran 'Dahmer.' You can now buy 'American Psycho' mugs, t-shirts and beanies. 'The Sopranos' has a wine label. Real-life cartel hitmen share their 'wisdom' on TikTok. And yet, when a fringe theater group stages a smart, cynical satire about a real-life killing, we're told it's 'too far'? Get real. 'Luigi' doesn't play by prestige rules. It's too camp. Too gaudy. Too loud. It isn't Oscar-bait. It's black box theater with blood under its nails. And that's why it matters. It's not Netflix. It's not Hulu. It's not a limited series you can binge and forget. It's theater. And theater — real theater — makes you sit with it. The show is Gulag humor for the Uber Eats generation. It weaponizes the ludicrous, stitches viral violence to choreography, turns cellmates like Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried into Greek chorus figures, and mocks our collective appetite for the borderline insane. 'Luigi'isn't glorifying Mangione. It's not trying to humanize him. It's trying to indict us. The audience. The algorithm. The economy of attention that turns killers into content. The culture that made a young man with a gun a trending topic before the body hit the pavement. This is a country where mass shooters get Wikipedia pages before their victims get autopsied. Where headlines blur into hashtags. Where the line between infamy and influence disappeared sometime around 2014. In that context, 'Luigi' isn't satire. It's realism. But there's a deeper tragedy here — not in the subject matter, but in the medium. Theater is dying — with its empty seats, aging donors and young people who'd rather scroll through cat videos, theater is losing the war for attention, and fast. This makes 'Luigi' both timely and, in some ways, necessary. Perhaps it's too campy. Perhaps it's too crass. Maybe it turns a murderer into a meme with a melody. But you know what? It gets people off their screens. It gets them out of their apartments. It gets them into a room with other humans, watching a live act of provocation unfold in real time. That used to be called art. Now it's called a liability. 'Luigi' won't win prestigious prizes. It might not even last its full run without protests. But it belongs. Theater isn't supposed to be sacred. It's supposed to be a mirror. Sometimes cracked, but always honest. So let them sing. Mangione won't be the last killer to dance under a spotlight. He's just the first one to do it with a chorus line and a cellmate named Diddy. John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
The most psychotic musical since ‘Sweeney Todd' — and why America needs it
Luigi Mangione is accused of gunning down the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in broad daylight. A clean shot. No hesitation. Very soon, he'll sing about the brutal act in a San Francisco musical. I say: Good. 'Luigi: The Musical' is absurd, possibly sociopathic — and yet somehow entirely defensible. In fact, in this grotesque, camp-addled culture of ours, it might be the most honest piece of art produced all year. Not because murder is funny. Not because the justice system is a joke. But because we now live in an age where satire is the last viable truth-delivery system. Much of journalism is corporate. Novels are afraid. Late-night comedy is neutered. You want truth? Put it in a musical. Wrap it in sequins. And give it jazz hands. Satire has always been the most ruthlessly efficient scalpel. Aristophanes mocked imperial war. Jonathan Swift proposed devouring Irish children. George Orwell, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Vonnegut — they didn't protest. They staged freak shows. Molière shredded hypocrisy in powdered wigs. Charles Dickens dragged Victorian England through the gutter it tried to ignore. Joseph Heller turned bureaucratic madness into 'Catch-22.' Before his comedy went off a cliff, George Carlin stood on stage and tore down empire with a smirk. With 'Four Lions,' a pitch-black comedy about incompetent jihadists, Chris Morris made terrorism absurd. Before that, he had already terrified the British establishment with 'Brass Eye,' a fake news satire so savage it tricked members of Parliament into denouncing fictional drugs on air. Trey Parker made everything absurd, or at least appear absurd. From Mormonism ('The Book of Mormon') to war propaganda ('Team America') to the bloated theater of American politics and celebrity culture ('South Park'), nothing was sacred — and that was the point. Satire doesn't whisper; it slaps. It offends. It remembers what the real world would rather forget. 'Luigi' stands firmly in that lineage — not in spite of the outrage it invites, but because of it. What are we really so scandalized by? The idea of a murderer with a musical number? Please. We've been there before: 'Sweeney Todd,' 'Chicago,' 'Heathers,' 'Assassins.' We have clapped for John Wilkes Booth. We have cheered for razor blades and ricin. What bothers people about 'Luigi' isn't the violence. It's the contemporaneity — the fact that it's still too soon and the wound hasn't scabbed yet. This character, the corporate assassin-turned-accidental folk hero, feels dangerously plausible. Deep down, we know the real absurdity isn't the musical. It is the world that created such a man. We live in a culture that glamorizes sociopathy but gets offended when it's reflected back. Netflix ran 'Dahmer.' You can now buy 'American Psycho' mugs, t-shirts and beanies. 'The Sopranos' has a wine label. Real-life cartel hitmen share their 'wisdom' on TikTok. And yet, when a fringe theater group stages a smart, cynical satire about a real-life killing, we're told it's 'too far'? Get real. 'Luigi' doesn't play by prestige rules. It's too camp. Too gaudy. Too loud. It isn't Oscar-bait. It's black box theater with blood under its nails. And that's why it matters. It's not Netflix. It's not Hulu. It's not a limited series you can binge and forget. It's theater. And theater — real theater — makes you sit with it. The show is Gulag humor for the Uber Eats generation. It weaponizes the ludicrous, stitches viral violence to choreography, turns cellmates like Diddy and Sam Bankman-Fried into Greek chorus figures, and mocks our collective appetite for the borderline insane. 'Luigi'isn't glorifying Mangione. It's not trying to humanize him. It's trying to indict us. The audience. The algorithm. The economy of attention that turns killers into content. The culture that made a young man with a gun a trending topic before the body hit the pavement. This is a country where mass shooters get Wikipedia pages before their victims get autopsied. Where headlines blur into hashtags. Where the line between infamy and influence disappeared sometime around 2014. In that context, 'Luigi' isn't satire. It's realism. But there's a deeper tragedy here — not in the subject matter, but in the medium. Theater is dying — with its empty seats, aging donors and young people who'd rather scroll through cat videos, theater is losing the war for attention, and fast. This makes 'Luigi' both timely and, in some ways, necessary. Perhaps it's too campy. Perhaps it's too crass. Maybe it turns a murderer into a meme with a melody. But you know what? It gets people off their screens. It gets them out of their apartments. It gets them into a room with other humans, watching a live act of provocation unfold in real time. That used to be called art. Now it's called a liability. 'Luigi' won't win prestigious prizes. It might not even last its full run without protests. But it belongs. Theater isn't supposed to be sacred. It's supposed to be a mirror. Sometimes cracked, but always honest. So let them sing. Mangione won't be the last killer to dance under a spotlight. He's just the first one to do it with a chorus line and a cellmate named Diddy. John Mac Ghlionn is a writer and researcher who explores culture, society and the impact of technology on daily life.
