Surprise! Surprise! Resistance in Kashmir

Kashmir

The Reuters story is about one neighborhood.[1] There’s no word on to what degree such resistance might also be occurring elsewhere in Kashmir or on what shape other forms of resistance might be taking.

That Indian forces haven’t already crushed this resistance suggests to me 1) that India fears bad publicity, either internationally or domestically as its dubious claims of Kashmiri backing for its moves are unmasked, or 2) that the army is stretched thin, in part because of the face off with Pakistan at the Line of Control and in part because of resistance in other locations, or 3) some combination of more than one of these factors. But I just don’t know.

Zeba Siddiqui and Fayaz Bukhari, “Besieged Kashmiri neighborhood in test of wills with India’s Modi,” Reuters, August 19, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-kashmir-hotbed-insight/besieged-kashmiri-neighborhood-in-test-of-wills-with-indias-modi-idUSKCN1V921T


Pacific Gas and Electric

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) had been cleared by the State of California of blame for the Tubbs fire that burned through large parts of Santa Rosa in 2017,[2] but a bankruptcy judge is allowing suits to proceed against the company,[3] which surely has far deeper pockets than the homeowner whose private equipment the state blames.[4]

PG&E stock and bonds “plunged” in response,[5] but it had “soared, closing up 75 percent on Thursday [January 24] at $13.95,” following the state’s decision.[6] “The stock ended the day [August 19] at $10.67, a drop of 25.3%.”[7] I’ll leave the arithmetic here to others but it sounds to me like investors should, in aggregate, still be ahead on the deal.

I’m no fan of PG&E and I couldn’t care less about its investors—they accepted a risk with their investments and if they don’t like that risk, they shouldn’t have accepted it in the first place. But presumably, the state’s conclusion will weigh heavily against the plaintiffs.

Joe Ryan and Mark Chediak, “PG&E stock craters after ruling Tubbs fire suit can proceed,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 19, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/9924652-181/pge-stock-craters-after-ruling


Brexit

Boris Johnson’s latest demand that the European Union drop the Irish backstop was just more of the same old bullshit and the E.U. is responding accordingly.[8]

France24, “EU rejects Johnson’s demand to scrap Irish backstop,” August 20, 2019, https://www.france24.com/en/20190820-eu-rejects-johnson-s-demand-to-scrap-irish-backstop

Rebecca Staudenmaier, “Brexit: UK to end EU freedom of movement immediately in no-deal scenario,” Deutschewelle, August 20, 2019, https://www.dw.com/en/brexit-uk-to-end-eu-freedom-of-movement-immediately-in-no-deal-scenario/a-50090564


Donald Trump

George Monbiot blamed Donald Trump’s election on the absence of a competing narrative to neoliberalism.[9] I still don’t really see that narrative. Even ideas such as the “green new deal” need to be fleshed out—and it seems like to the extent that they are, they lose credibility—it seems unlikely they could ever actually be enacted.

Monbiot’s point stands, even if it is an incomplete explanation. For a lot of people, including me, whom the neoliberal party (the so-called Democratic Party) ignores at its peril, neoliberalism is as evil and as fascist as Trump.


Guns

Just in case you thought this time might be different.

Jack Crowe, “Trump Assures NRA President That Universal Background Check Bill Is off the Table: Report,” National Review, August 20, 2019, https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-assures-nra-president-universal-background-check-bill-off-the-table/

Elaina Plott, “Trump’s Phone Calls With Wayne LaPierre Reveal NRA’s Influence,” Atlantic, August 20, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/08/trump-background-checks-nra/596413/


Climate change

The news on climate change keeps turning out to be worse than the predictions we had only just previously heard. Now we’re starting to see why. It’s phrased differently from how I have phrased it and in more detail, but the upshot is similar: scientists feel pressure not to appear to be exaggerating their findings.[10]

Naomi Oreskes, Michael Oppenheimer, and Dale Jamieson, “Scientists Have Been Underestimating the Pace of Climate Change,” Scientific American, August 19, 2019, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/scientists-have-been-underestimating-the-pace-of-climate-change/


  1. [1]Zeba Siddiqui and Fayaz Bukhari, “Besieged Kashmiri neighborhood in test of wills with India’s Modi,” Reuters, August 19, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-kashmir-hotbed-insight/besieged-kashmiri-neighborhood-in-test-of-wills-with-indias-modi-idUSKCN1V921T
  2. [2]Ivan Penn and Peter Eavis, “PG&E Is Cleared in Deadly Tubbs Fire of 2017,” New York Times, January 24, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/business/energy-environment/pge-tubbs-fire.html
  3. [3]Joe Ryan and Mark Chediak, “PG&E stock craters after ruling Tubbs fire suit can proceed,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 19, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/9924652-181/pge-stock-craters-after-ruling
  4. [4]Ivan Penn and Peter Eavis, “PG&E Is Cleared in Deadly Tubbs Fire of 2017,” New York Times, January 24, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/business/energy-environment/pge-tubbs-fire.html
  5. [5]Joe Ryan and Mark Chediak, “PG&E stock craters after ruling Tubbs fire suit can proceed,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 19, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/9924652-181/pge-stock-craters-after-ruling
  6. [6]Ivan Penn and Peter Eavis, “PG&E Is Cleared in Deadly Tubbs Fire of 2017,” New York Times, January 24, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/business/energy-environment/pge-tubbs-fire.html
  7. [7]Joe Ryan and Mark Chediak, “PG&E stock craters after ruling Tubbs fire suit can proceed,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, August 19, 2019, https://www.pressdemocrat.com/business/9924652-181/pge-stock-craters-after-ruling
  8. [8]France24, “EU rejects Johnson’s demand to scrap Irish backstop,” August 20, 2019, https://www.france24.com/en/20190820-eu-rejects-johnson-s-demand-to-scrap-irish-backstop
  9. [9]George Monbiot, “The Deep History Behind Trump’s Rise,” November 15, 2016, https://www.monbiot.com/2016/11/15/the-deep-history-behind-trumps-rise/
  10. [10]Naomi Oreskes, Michael Oppenheimer, and Dale Jamieson, “Scientists Have Been Underestimating the Pace of Climate Change,” Scientific American, August 19, 2019, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/scientists-have-been-underestimating-the-pace-of-climate-change/