Former United Nations Spokesperson, globe-trotter, freelance writer, TV commentator, tennis fanatic, unabashedly liberal.
www.facebook.com/edmathew
Joined May 2009
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My two cents on the U.S. mid-term elections on Mathrubhumi online. (In Malayalam) youtube.com/watch?v=s2W4W-95…
The most revealing part of Sibal's reaction is his anxiety about the Modi government being seen as wounded by street protests. Since when did protecting a government's international image become more important than protecting citizens' voting rights?
Can’t read the article but what does protests “across India” mean concretely? India is vast. In how many places?
Why give the impression it was nation wide?
What is the purpose of briefing the global audience about the protests?
Already the western media has given the protests a lot of coverage and see them as a challenge to the Modi government.
Is it to further build this narrative internationally that India’s election commission has disenfranchised millions, has worked in favour of the ruling party, that the Modi government is being wounded by the street protests and is in trouble?
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E D Mathew retweeted
India’s economy is showing deep cracks. Youth unemployment is shocking high, pollution is enveloping north India, net FDI inflow into the country is close to zero. India’s youth is losing hope. We need the courage to admit to the shortfalls & use the ample talent in the country to design policy.
The thrust of Tharoor’s piece is that middle powers can act as coalition-builders and help reform institutions whose legitimacy is eroding. The argument that countries like India must help shape the rules is worth debating, not sneering at.
A lot of froth.
He argues that Europe and the Global South have common interests and act as bridge builders in different parts of the world.
Where’s the concrete evidence of this.
Europe has now begun to sanction Indian companies for ties with Russia.
How is Europe trying to reshape the existing global order? Evidence?
Or mediating conflicts?
Evidence?
On the contrary Europe is fuelling the Ukraine conflict.
No mediatory role in the Iranian conflict.
Astonishingly, he is crediting Germany for stabilising the European order?
Really?
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Congratulations @unnycartoonist on your MV Raghavan Memorial award. Well-deserved recognition!
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The post-war international order is showing its age. Institutions designed in 1945 cannot adequately represent a world transformed by decolonisation, economic shifts and new centres of power. It's time for middle powers to be decisive and seek meaningful reform,✍️@ShashiTharoor
The company we keep! India and Israel stand alone against a UN resolution on conventional arms control. What happened to India's moral voice, its commitment to multilateralism and its leadership of the developing world? @DrSJaishankar #Vishwaguru
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India can break the deadlock while opening the door to candidates whose credentials have already stood the test of international scrutiny. @ShashiTharoor's 2006 candidacy comes readily to mind. He lost not for want of support or merit, but because of a veto. @narendramodi @UN
This excellent and thought-provoking suggestion from Prof Vesselin Popovski of @JindalGlobalUNI looks all the more relevant after the latest inconclusive @UN SC straw poll on Oct 31. Should India consider taking an initiative to discuss with other UNGA member states the possibility of expediting a selection, if the USC cannot get its act together this month?
“End the UNSC control on picking the next UN chief” @HindustanTimes share.google/xnG7RCem2RqIyhL…
What next, @PiyushGoyal ? Will India offer investors workers who work for free, sleep under their desks? A nation of 1.4 billion people deserves better than being marketed as a land of compliant labour. We need dignified jobs, not glorified servitude.
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Barrot’s response cuts to the heart of the issue: the next SG must reform the UN to strengthen its legitimacy, representativeness and not discredit it further. The UN was created to uphold peace and human rights, not to reward political failure. Orban out! diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/presse…
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When the integrity of electoral rolls and the sanctity of the vote are questioned, silence is not an option. Support @ShashiTharoor’s call. Join the November 1 gathering in Delhi. Save the Vote. Save the Constitution. Save India. #ChaloDilli!
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Diplomacy is not measured only by whether Pakistan abandons its hostility. It is also about preserving communication, building constituencies for peace and preventing conflicts from becoming irreversible. We'll be neighbours for ever. Disengagement cannot be a permanent strategy.
When we had ambassadors- and that for decades- did our diplomatic expertise acquired through contacts with the leaders and people of Pakistan lead to Pakistan abjuring terrorism, shedding its obsession about Kashmir, agree to give transit rights or give MFN treatment etc.
It is Pakistan that sought withdrawal of ambassadors.
Is there any discernible change in Pakistan’s hostile attitude towards India?
Look at Pak PM’s speech on Kashmir Day.
Asim Munir’s thinking about India and Hindus is known.
In any case, why is India alone that is losing diplomatic expertise in dealing with India but not Pakistan in dealing with India?
Why do we put on our shoulders the sins of Pakistan?
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Except for Asha Nair, the rest of the photos don't correlate with the story @KochTimes @timesofindia !
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There is something profoundly moving about a person from UP finding belonging in Kerala. Beyond prejudice and parochialism lies a simple truth: we are strangers only until someone makes us feel at home. @DeepikaLeo @ShashiTharoor @vdsatheesan indianexpress.com/article/op…
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RK Laxman’s Common Man once held up a mirror to those in power. Today, cartoonists find their work restricted. What changed?A government that cannot tolerate cartoons has no business lecturing the world on democracy. @ShashiTharoor bbc.com/news/articles/cm3elp…
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From Serbia to India, the message is clear: students can change the course of a nation. Can India’s students write a similar chapter? When anger finds organisation and courage finds a cause, even the most arrogant rulers can fall. @Cockroachisback bbc.com/news/articles/c574pv…
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What a way to damage India’s global democratic credentials! A democracy confident of its freedoms does not fear photographs. The removal of Raihan Vadra’s images from Bikaner House raises troubling questions about censorship and the shrinking space for expression in India.
This is a disgrace at so many levels:
1. the images are of events that have already been burned into the public consciousness, and many of the photos would have echoed similar images that the public has already seen in the media and online;
2. While Bikaner House is free to have a policy against political stands, photographs of a protest demonstration are a depiction of an event and not political in themselves; they would almost certainly have passed muster had the matter been brought to a court as an issue of freedom of expression;
3. and worst of all, this censorship has driven one more nail into the coffin of India’s global reputation as a freedom-loving democracy.
Anyway, the publicity this episode has received will have reached a far larger audience, in Delhi and worldwide, than the exhibition itself might have, had it been allowed to proceed undisturbed. I thank heavy-handed officials for giving a well-deserved boost to the photographic talents and career of @RaihanrVadra.
instagram.com/reel/Dey1xfapl…
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When diplomacy fails, wars spread and powerful nations act with impunity, who speaks for the smaller states? The UN remains indispensable, despite its flaws. Its 81st anniversary should be a call to rebuild multilateralism, not bury it, ✍️@ShashiTharoor
In today's #TharoorThink column in the @IndianExpress, i look at the @UN on the eve of its 81st birthday, deadlocked on its choice of SecGen, assailed for its failures on maintaining peace & security, yet with tangible accomplishments it doesn't get enoiugh credit for. Reform is the watchword but different states mean different things by the word. Whatever we do, we need to preserve its unique original promise:
E D Mathew retweeted
In today’s @the_hindu, on the occasion of the conclusion of the @RSSorg’s centennial celebrations, I ask if the organisation’s fundamental majoritarian bigotry is yielding to a more inclusive approach, and what it needs to do to prove that the evidence for its evolution is not just a set of superficial bromides for global consumption:
