Chai Chalk Chatter

Donald Trump, who has been quite infamous for his inherent and sometimes induced comic attributes has achieved something that will go down in history as one of the most important events of the current times. He has managed to broker peace in a 72-year-old dispute. The Arab world seems to have settled down with the reality of the existence of Israel and this, from the erstwhile position of Israelis being occupants of Palestinian land. Undoubtedly it is a major set-back for the Palestinian Intifada that had enjoyed major support from the Arab world. One of the most important factors that have contributed to this is the sharp disagreements between the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and the more militant Hamas. This deal is indicative of frustration that gripped the Arab states, for whom the normalization of relations with Israel, the most robust and functional economy of the region has been on the cards for a long time. It is also very bad news for Iran. The primarily Sunni...

“How can a man in a cave out-communicate the world’s leading Communication societies?” -Zaharna (2001) As Joshua K Fowler, in his paper on the ‘New Media Warfare’ ideates the transfer of traditional warfare to the virtual and information front and that in the specific case it becomes necessary to manage and control the respective space by the powers involved. He further suggests that the horizontal power structures that the terrorist organizations like the Hezbollah have are more efficient as compared to the vertical power structures that most conventional militaries have, with reference to information warfare because the red tape involved causes hindrance in the fast and efficient dissemination of information. Now Internet is supposed to be a platform where the freedom of expression is held paramount, at least that is the argument that the US and its other Western allies put forward when the MacBride Commission Report was published in 1980, which led to ...