fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The Joy of Advent: May Your Heart Be Full
By: Julie Ranson
Tags: Joy, Christmas, Shepherd, Advent, Christianity

Happiness can be a fleeting thing. One minute you’re happy, the next moment you’re not because of some thing. Your life is acted upon and suddenly your happiness is gone.

Joy and happiness are not the same thing.

But what if you possessed joy, true joy in your heart? That thing falls into your life and your momentary happiness flees, yet the joy of the Lord continues. Your joy will keep your perspective in balance, allowing you to overcome your temporary unhappiness.

What is joy?

Joy lives in your soul, your heart. It radiates, glows, overpowers. It is deep and resides in your core. Joy aligns with the hope you hold onto. Thus, it cannot be easily shaken.

According to theopedia, the word joy is found 88 times in the Old Testament and 57 times in the New Testament.

Joy is celebratory

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. (Luke 2:10, ESV)

The shepherds were shocked, amazed, and afraid when the angel appeared to them above the field where their sheep were grazing. They left the field to find what the angel had told them.

You know you can count on me to share a musical work that moves me. A few years ago, I learned to play Sheep May Safely Graze on the piano and absolutely fell in love with it. Bach wrote this sonata and it was set to the following lyrics by Salomon Franck in 1713. The music takes me straight to the shepherds that beautiful, peaceful night.

Sheep may safely graze and pasture

In a watchful Shepherd’s sight.



Those who rule with wisdom guiding

Bring to hearts a peace abiding

Bless a land with joy made bright.

Jesus promised joy

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11, NIV)

In the preceding verses (John 15:1–10), Jesus described his relationship with his Father, using the metaphor of the vine and branches. He assures His disciples that He will remain in them. And, thus, Jesus promised faithful followers that because He will keep his promises, they will have joyful hearts.

Faith. Hope. Joy.

See how they are linked?

Pray with me?
PEACE: The Second Saturday of Advent
By: Jeremi Richardson
Tags: Peace, Advent, Saturday

As we reflect on God’s peace this Advent season, may we be reminded of our role: to actively make peace as we await the fullness of God’s shalom through the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. How can you help usher in God’s peace this Christmas season? Some ideas might be to set aside extra time for personal devotions, help a busy or overburdened friend, or provide a meal for a family facing the anxiety of hunger. Advent is the perfect time to commit to pursuing peace in your life and that of the more incredible world as we look ahead to the time of shalom:

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God, Himself will be with them and be their God.” And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” — Revelation 21:3–4

Advent breaks the curse. His peace began to reign as his lungs filled with air for the first time. His calm and lordship over our lives create the sounds that carry the message of hope. His peace is what allows every word spoken to be drenched with grace and tempered with truth and clarity. Many things do not make sense through our humanity. But wholeness for the broken and well-being for the beaten-down is found as we look into his eyes. His peace is at hand!

Let Us Pray:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow charity;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, the truth;

Where there is doubt, the faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light; and

Where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life. Amen!

- St. Francis of Assisi
Calling us back to the song — Day 12 of Simplicity
By: Mike Rusert
Tags: Poetry, Spirituality, Healing, Advent, Poem

Day Twelve — Notice — 25 Days of Simplicity

Christ.

I don’t understand it.

Sitting outside, in the dark.



In the dark

Away from the blue light of the screen

Only a handful of stars

Orange streetlight and the dim

glow of an oak leaf on the ground



I don’t understand how this is all Christ.

That is what my tradition tells me.

All of it. All of us. Christ.

How can it be?



I left my phone inside.

I’m learning I need to do that.



I’m learning I need to sit.

To close my eyes and open them

To breathe



Are you noticing it too?



Are you noticing how much we’ve forgotten?



This body carries memory

Carries the drum

that is calling us back



Listen

Be still.



Listen



bmm bmm bmm bmm

bmm bmm bmm bmm



Heart

You’re calling us back

Back into these bodies

Back into gentle darkness



This body is hurting.

This body needs healing.



Blue light head games.

Fabricated desire

and disembodied enemies.

Threats and dopamine rushes

everywhere.





Shh

Turn it off

Step into the night’s embrace

Breathe in

the cool gift through your nostrils.

Notice your body



Listen



bmm bmm bmm bmm

bmm bmm bmm bmm



the drum

the Song



Let us keep breathing

until we’re beating together.



Remember the Song.
I can’t restart 2020 but I can
By: Linda Fode
Tags: Blogging, Christmas, Beginning, Advent, Creativity

restart Advent

I ‘ve gotten behind in my Advent writing . I typically write on a one word prompt for each day of the four weeks of Advent .

The Advent season begins four Sunday’s before Christmas. This year it. began on. Nov 29.

I had great plans .

I downloaded three different writing prompt plans . I joined several Facebook Groups featuring Advent readings.

I’m following several Advent plans on You Version.

The only thing I’ve really accomplished is catching up on reruns of ‘The Crown’.

That has led me to wanting to rethink my British ancestry.

In countries like the Ukraine , Christmas is January 6. That means that Advent begins again tomorrow, December 13.

I get an Advent re-do.

I get to write whatever I want.

I get to throw away all my ‘do to ‘ lists.

I get to write about three prompts or no prompts.

I can re-watch ‘The Crown’ or binge watch ‘Murder She Wrote’.

My only commitment is

to connect with you daily.

Watch for my Advent posts .

I’ll be sending them to you. daily.

Thank you for being my Team.

Virtually yours

linda
The Coming
By: Barbara Sliter
Tags: Joy, One Line, Advent, The One

besliter

The heart warms with the promise

of tenderness and of love,

of the One beyond understanding.

Joy creeps in.

In response to the one line prompt “advent” by our co-host Kathy Jacob.

As always, thanks to our hosts, Harper Thorpe, Kathy Jacobs, and the rest of the talented Chalkboard team!
Advent
By: Patsy Starke
Tags: LGBTQ, Poetry, One Line Poetry Prompt, Advent, Chalkboard

See the star in the east

Prepare the way

Hearts will be changed

Love and sacrifice

The truth and the way

Everyone may follow

No longer seeking

His unconditional love

Sent from high above.

Patsy Starke, 12/12/2020
PEACE: The Second Friday of Advent
By: Jeremi Richardson
Tags: Advent, Friday

One of the familiar melodies we hear during this season is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” The song, based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is fascinating. In 1860, Longfellow was at the peak of his success as a poet. Abraham Lincoln had just been elected President, giving hope to many in the nation. But things soon turned dark for America and Longfellow, personally. The Civil War began the following year, and Longfellow’s wife died of severe burns after her dress caught fire. Longfellow sustained severe burns on his hands and face from trying to save his wife. He was so severely burned that he could not even attend her funeral. In his diary for Christmas Day 1861, he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.”

In 1862, the Civil War escalated, and the death toll from the war began to mount. In his diary for that year, Longfellow wrote of Christmas, “‘A merry Christmas,’ say the children, but that is no more for me.” In 1863, Longfellow’s son, who had run away to join the Union Army, was severely wounded and returned home in December. There is no entry in Longfellow’s diary for that Christmas. Longfellow wanted to pull out of his despair, so he decided to try to capture the joy of Christmas. He began: “I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

As Longfellow came to the sixth stanza, he was stopped by the thought of his beloved country’s condition. The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past. Days looked dark, and he probably asked himself the question, “How can I write about peace on earth, goodwill to men in this war-torn country, where brother fights against brother and father against son?” But he kept writing, and what did he write? And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men!”

That could be said of our day as well. But eternal perspective shifts all stories into beautiful stanzas of hope.

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep; “God is not dead; nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, goodwill to men!”

Let Us Pray:

Father, you are the author of peace. Let this peace settle into our bones, and allow our souls the freedom to sing, dance. Respite is available for us, and let peace be also known through us. Amen!
Forbidding Never Ending Blurring Abstracts
By: Francine Fallara
Tags: Motivation, One Line, Poetry, Inspiration, Advent

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Sol Indiges
By: Daniel A. Teo
Tags: One Line, Poetry, Advent, Poem, Poetry On Medium

In response to Kathy Jacobs’s prompt: Advent, I have written a poem heavily inspired by Roman mythology, describing the advent of Sol ( roman personification of the Sun), domineering the presence of Nox ( roman personification of the night).

If you enjoyed my poem about the crack of dawn, feel free to check out Kathy Jacobs’s beautifully written one too! Stay safe. Stay healthy.
Love With Us
By: Ani Vidrine
Tags: Spirituality, Advent, Christianity, Service, Love

Love With Us

photo by Myriam Zilles on Unsplash.com

Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel!

Dear One,

I am writing to remind you of things you already know. Love is always with you, championing you, guiding you, and spreading peace and good cheer through you.

How would your experience of life be different if you realized that every day you are the embodiment of Love in the world; if you believed that yours are the eyes, hands, and voice of Love? Perhaps you would understand and feel the sacredness of your life and the holiness of this journey on which you are travelling. Love with us and for us shows up through you.

Remember, this moment is an opportunity to connect to Love, and therefore, to live into the fullness of who you are.

As always, do what best awakens you to love,

Your Inner Wisdom
Hey Kathy.
By: Harper Thorpe
Tags: Ending, Beginning, Advent, Poetry

Hey Kathy. Your prompt is perfect at this inflection point in your life — the bridge from past to new — a segue. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to respond to your introspective prompt, but here’s where I landed. I hope it works for you and is especially meaningful as you begin the next chapter in your life. ❤️
Tie a Ribbon of Hope to Advent
Tags: One Line, Perspective, Advent, Hope, Chalkboard

2020 — Year of extremes. Worst of the worst; the best of the worst. But it’s coming to an end. Let’s celebrate by putting a bow of hope on it.

Thank you is the biggest compliment for 2020.

Next… Pay it forward with hope!

Paying it forward: Kathy, Suryatapa, Dennett, LB.

THANK YOU FOR READING

I Wish You Miracles.
Ancient Warmth
By: Sylke Laine
Tags: Tanka, Winter, Poetry, Advent, Self

A friend of mine once said: “Looking at a campfire is like looking at a baby: Nothing much is happening, but you can’t take your eyes off.”

You can still join my 2020 email advent calendar. Emails with short reflections, haiku, meditations. Every day until December 25.
Questions for the Hay: An Advent Poem
By: Erina Kim-Eubanks
Tags: Creation, Poetry, Christmas, Advent, Christianity

QUESTIONS FOR THE HAY

What did it feel like to be a resting place for Jesus?

To follow Mary’s womb

as the second member of Creation

that hosted the Lord of hosts,

held his small, brown frame

freshly covered in blood, vernix, and lanugo?



Was his head disproportionately big-

as if the Mind of God were too vast

to be contained by human form

and would flop over if not supported by your

soft, foraged blooms?

Or was it perfectly proportioned-

round and bright,

like a halo in the dark night?

What did his cries sound like?

Were they loud and sharp,

high-pitched expulsions echoing through time and space

to emphatically announce God’s arrival on earth?

Or were they soft and low,

rolling in harmony with the bellowing cows

and bleating lambs-

the fist worshippers to greet our King?



What filled the atmosphere around you

at the event of his birth?

Was the air electric,

charged with the delight of miracle,

the energy of heaven,

the fulfillment of promise?

Or was everything quiet and reverent,

slowed and rendered speechless

by the tiny, infant King?



Was it both? And all? And so much more?



What was it like to know that your existence

was enough-

to realize that your presence was all that was needed

to welcome the Divine?
(Un)Mute Yourself, Day 13
By: Tuhina Verma Rasche
Tags: Advent, Christianity, Devotional, Psalms, Waiting

It’s March of 2020. I hear the news that a new disease has reached the United States, and it may be serious. My heart pivots towards skepticism…

It’s April of 2020. I am sheltering at my mother-in-law’s, doing all my graduate classes online, and longing for this to be over by summertime. My heart pivots back and forth between hope and resignation.

It’s Summer. It becomes utterly clear that we are in this for the long haul. My wedding — which was set a year ago for August 22, 2020 — must be completely re-imagined. My heart pivots towards despair. On the wedding day, elation; Afterwards, a crushing depression.

It’s October of 2020. I am exhausted and lonely. I consider quitting school. I consider running away — to where? I can’t get out of bed. My heart feels too heavy to even pivot anymore.
10 Epic Advent Hymns That Are Basically Heavy Metal Albums
By: Megan Preston Meyer
Tags: Christmas, Religion, Advent, Satire, Music

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

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Clean
Tags: One Line, Poetry, Advent, Pyschology, Chalkboard

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

My thoughts declutter, walking the ground, new faces around, my blood thins, the heart is light, lifting the Sun each morning on time, I’m clean and breathing is fine.
Medium - craving a poem
By: Aliasger Yusuf
Tags: One Line, Poetry, Advent, Separation, Love

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
PEACE: The Second Thursday of Advent
By: Jeremi Richardson
Tags: Peace, Thursday, Advent

“We know that Christ came to usher in a new era and that by dying in our place, we can by faith “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” — Romans 5:1

Isn’t it amazing that the arrival of Jesus and the sacrifice of his gift both were to process of accomplishing total peace? This new era brought about the answers and highlighted internal and religious conflict.

Walter Brueggemann says it this way: “Christ’s persistent vision of joy, well-being, harmony, and prosperity is not captured in any single word or idea in the Bible; a cluster of words is required to express its many dimensions and subtle nuances: love, loyalty, truth, grace, salvation, justice, blessing, righteousness. But the term that in recent discussions has been used to summarize that controlling vision is shalom. Shalom is the substance of the biblical idea of one community embracing all creation. It refers to all those resources and factors that make communal harmony joyous and useful.”

Ezekiel in a visionary passage expresses its meaning: I will make with them a covenant of shalom and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall cause its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them plantations of shalom. — Ezekiel 34:25–29

God’s people’s origin and destiny are to be on the road of shalom, which is to live out of joyous memories and toward more significant anticipations. This is why we journey this Advent season back to the place and origin of peace. We bring to the manger: our conflicts, our disagreement, our arguments — our religious spirits. We get our view of humanity, and we lay them at the feet of our Savior. We are moving into peace, and with every step, his faithfulness is guiding us into a place of calm and still waters. He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, and when we look back, we will be reminded of the promise of his coming. When we look forward, we will have a greater expectation for the security of his peace at hand. We are alive, and his promises are active in our lives. He is our peace — and has broken down every wall. Let’s stop trying to rebuild that which he has destroyed. Stay in a healthy mindset — his peace is at hand!

Let Us Pray:

Father, many times we sleep while you are speaking peace. We tune out your voice and roll over in our beds of preference and seclusion. But those places are where you step in — you rebuked the wind, and speak, “Peace! Be still!” So, we awake this day to the sound of your voice, and we partner with you in peace. Peace over us, peace around us, peace with us. Amen!
Religious Freedom in India: A Thing of the Past?
By: Pieter Friedrich
Tags: Religious Freedom, India, Freedom, South Asia, Foreign Policy

Religious Freedom in India: A Thing of the Past?

This past week, the first charges were filed under the new law against “Love Jihad” in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.

The law criminalizes religious conversions which occur for the purpose of marriage and requires interfaith couples who intend to marry to notify the government months in advance. Identical laws are currently being considered in at least four other states.

Aside from the requirement that citizens disclose their religion to the government, the laws are draconian in multiple ways. Accused persons are ineligible for bail. The burden of proof is on the accused. And punishment includes up to 10 years imprisonment.

Such laws, which essentially ban interfaith marriage, are a manifestation of the widespread Hindu nationalist conspiracy theory — called “Love Jihad” — that Muslim men are engaged in a nationwide campaign to surreptitiously marry Hindu women for the purpose of converting them and altering India’s religious demographics.

Since the burden of proof is on the accused, these laws potentially allow a disgruntled father angered over his daughter’s independent decision to choose whom she will love and marry to end her consensual relationship and destroy the life of her loved one with nothing more than an allegation — as appears to be the situation in the first case just filed this past week in Uttar Pradesh.

These laws strongly reflect so-called “anti-conversion” laws already in effect in eight states. Such laws essentially criminalize religious freedom by requiring people who want to change their religion to notify, and in some cases even receive permission from, the government. Under India’s ruling Hindu nationalist BJP, there is a renewed push to enact a national “anti-conversion” law.

This legislative agenda is foundational to the goals of the RSS, a paramilitary which is the parent organization of the BJP and which seeks to officially turn India into a “Hindu nation” where non-Hindus are treated as “foreigners” and “anti-nationals.”

In India today, freedom of religion is becoming a thing of the past.
Spengler and Hegel: the German battle for History.
By: The Pacific Orientation
Tags: Global Affairs, History, Fukuyama, Hegel, Foreign Policy

What are the two most relevant pieces of literature produced post-Cold War that detailed possibilities for the future of American unipolarism and post-communism? Francis Fukuyama’s ‘The End of History’ and Samuel P. Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’, the former of which I am currently reading. That piece, Fukuyama’s, was published in 1992 and detailed a world of American unipolar leadership and fundamental change to the human experience. Along the lines of what transhumanist detail in their idea of the ‘technological singularity’, a point at which technology will have progressed to a point where the human experience will fundamentally change forever, Fukuyama published what can almost be called a ‘political singularity’. A complete and total end to the historical trend of great power competition. No more Thucydides Traps (cycles by which rivaled polities enter conflict), an end to History with a capital ‘H’. History with capital ‘H’ is different from history with a lowercase ‘h’, the generic passage of events. History with a capital ‘H’ is a trend by which history happens, whether or not the passage of events has any tendencies. Fukuyama played into a controversial idea that History is directional, an evolution from barbarism to civilization, with liberal democracy triumphing over its adversaries from monarchism to fascism to communism. Fukuyama certainly wasn’t right about everything, as the resurgence of authoritarianism in the 21st-century reveals.

Huntington’s conception of History lies on the other side of the debate. While Fukuyama’s History is linear, Huntington’s is cyclical. Huntington conceived a post-Cold War world order as defined by cultural conflict, not state conflict, one that would never feature an end to History, as some new conflict would always arise between the world’s different cultures. While he was treated with skepticism throughout the 90s, he was largely seen as validated by the emergence of radical Islamic terrorism. By his death in 2008, he still seemed right. His view that radical Islamic terror would be the main threat to Western civilization’s global interest was even accepted by Francis Fukuyama, who said in 2006 that “Meeting the jihadist challenge is more of a ‘long, twilight struggle’”.

However…. this doesn’t seem to be true. We didn’t have to fight a “long, twilight struggle”, radical Islam was obliterated in the 2014–2017 war against ISIS and has been dormant since then. Years of lead beat decades of persuasion. As well, Huntington’s predictions have fallen flat in the rest of the world. Have China and Taiwan embraced cooperation on the basis of Sinic ties? Poland and Russia based on mutual Slavic culture? Of course not. Cultural connections mean nothing to geopolitical ambitions and ideological disagreements. While Fukuyama was wrong on some subjects, Huntington was wrong on nearly everything.
Joe Biden's Foreign Policy and National Security nominees & the implications for our country
By: Mhambi Musonda
Tags: Politics, Foreign Policy

President-elect Joe Biden unveiling his national security and foreign policy nominees.

President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees for key foreign policy and national security positions offer a return to multilateralism after four years of isolationism under the Trump administration.

President-elect Joe Biden has begun the task of selecting individuals to fill core positions in his foreign policy and national security apparatus, revealing a slate of consummate individuals with years and decades of experience in national security and foreign policy circles. Biden´s cabinet picks reaffirm his chief foreign policy ambition — restoring American credibility and stoutness after four years of norm-busting and isolationism under the Trump administration.

¨It’s a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure,” Biden said, introducing his nominees. “And it’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back.¨

A sundry of Biden´s nominees have long-standing ties to the president-elect, for instance, long time confidant Fmr. Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, whom Biden has nominated for Secretary of State. Many of the nominees have built their careers working in central roles in the administrations of past presidents, particularly the Obama administration, including but not limited to Avril Haines, a former deputy CIA director who has been nominated as the first female director of National Intelligence; and Jake Sullivan, an erstwhile State Department official and advisor to Hillary Clinton who also toiled for a time as national security advisor to then-Vice President Biden.

The current assortment of Biden nominees reflects his campaign pledge to craft an administration that reflects the diversity of America, nominating career diplomat Linda Thomas Greenfield, a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under the Obama administration and former United States ambassador to Liberia under President George W. Bush. Furthermore, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, a former deputy at the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama who if confirmed by the Senate would be the first Cuban-American to serve as Secretary of that department. Biden also handpicked former Secretary of State and long-time ally John F. Kerry for a new role within the national security community — Climate envoy, another gesticulation to the country, cynics on the political left — and global community of President-elect Biden’s appetency to morph his administration into one that puts the climate crisis at the forefront. Internal domestic predicaments from the ongoing pandemic to the weakened economy are likely to consume Biden’s first months in office.

The President-elect’s decision to nominate trusted advisers and virtuoso officials for these climacteric foreign policy roles shows that the President-elect is committed to crafting a foreign policy team that he knows can carry out the taxing task of rebuilding America’s global concordats and prominence.
The Fate of Export Incentives under the Foreign Trade Policy!
By: Rahul Saigal
Tags: Export, Foreign Policy

The Fate of Export Incentives under the Foreign Trade Policy!

The Story in the graphical representation which can be accessed by clicking on the link below of MEIS / SEIS Scrips is in sync with what is currently happening on the DGFT front and on field.

http://exportsathi.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-fate-of-export-incentives-under.html

Due to budgetary constraints, issuance of MEIS incentives for FY 19-20 and FY 20-21 has been stalled. Moreover a cap of 2 crores for certain shipments for a period was also announced, but the ECOM Module for filing of the application has not been revived yet.

As far as SEIS Incentives are concerned, government has failed to timely notify the Scheme for FY 19-20, which again has hurt various service sectors, especially the healthcare, hospitality and the tourism industry. Not only that, there has been severe delay in sanctioning and issuance of the SEIS Applications across various DGFT Offices, which again has had a huge impact on the Service Exporter.

It is understandable that India is facing WTO pressure, but with current on-going pandemic and news like, MEIS Incentives getting extended till 31.03.2021, are good to hear, but then it remains of little or no value unless the same materializes.

We hope Ministry of Commerce will take aggressive decisions and also ensure that the pending claims of MEIS and SEIS are released at the earliest.
Alliance strategy of the U.S.
Tags: Politics, Alliances, Foreign Policy

Since Mr. Joe Biden was elected as the next U.S. president, America’s allies have been expecting that the U.S. will strengthen its leadership again by supporting the existing alliance system. Some experts argue that President Joe Biden should strike a deal with America’s democratic allies to establish a more robust network against China. We need to focus on the word “democratic” because that word implies the possibility of “value alliance.” President Joe Biden also pledged to restore America’s moral leadership by hosting a global Summit for Democracy during his election campaign. It is crucial to rebuild the alliance system disrupted during the term of his predecessor. However, the emphasis on morality could be dangerous by reducing room for negotiation with competitors such as China and Russia.

The concept of democracy-alliance involves tying allies based on identity. This kind of identity politics is highly likely to define rivals as enemies or threats to the alliance’s values, thus considering a compromise with those competitors as an act of betrayal. As the possibility of cooperating with rivals decreases, the alliance system would gradually lose flexibility over time.

This change undermines not only the international stability but also America’s national interests. Today countries are closely interconnected. After China joined the WTO, China has become one of the most important trading partners of the U.S. and its allies. Moreover, in the era of the 4th industrial revolution, tech companies are forming a close collaboration with foreign partners regardless of the alliance system. The cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was relatively stable because it separated the communist and capitalist world. However, now the interests of countries are intertwined in a complicated way. Under this situation, the value-based alliance system will damage both sides by making it difficult to cooperate in areas where collaboration is essential such as curbing global warming, health, and technology.

That is why allies should unite based on the national interests of each member rather than values. Focus on gains will also reduce unnecessary conflicts within the alliance. The U.S. and its allies still share a lot of interests in broad areas like security, climate change, trade, and the digital economy. Instead of appealing to partners’ moral emotions, the U.S. would have to persuade them with substantial gains by using its leading position in the global economy and defense system.
I’m Looking For Resources On Foreign Policy.
By: Robert Potter
Tags: International, World, Foreign Policy

Right now, I’m taking a broad view of foreign policy that only really means I want to learn more about what goes on around the world. I’m only now dipping my toe into all this. I feel like I’m starting a three-thousand piece puzzle, and I’ve only gotten about ten in place right now. My recent fascination has been with A.Q. Khan. That man’s story seriously needs to be made into a movie. What he was able to pull off, combined with the many look-the-other-way decisions that multiple U.S. administrations opted for that led A.Q. Khan to thrive for so long are just so indicative of the infinite grey that is foreign policy.

Does anyone have any suggestions for books or documentaries that wowed them along those lines? Maybe about a lesser-known figure or event, good or bad, that had a significant, even outsized, impact on the state of the world today. Alternatively, I’m always down to learn more about any US fumbles abroad as well. Looking at the past, how could the United States have done better?

Let me know in the comments. I promise to respond to every single suggestion. :)
The US must engage with the rest of the world to solve “Problems Without Borders” like Covid-19
By: Navi Radjou
Tags: Barack Obama, Healthcare, Joe Biden, Covid 19, Foreign Policy

The US must engage with the rest of the world to solve “Problems Without Borders” like Covid-19 Navi Radjou ·Dec 6, 2020

In November 2008, right after Barack Obama’s election, I wrote a Harvard Harvard Business Review article arguing the US must build Innovation Networks with the rest of the world to solve “Problems Without Borders” like pandemics and climate change (read my HBR article here: https://lnkd.in/gnQ3jRV).

In my HBR article, I argued one day we would realize there is no separate “first-world” health crisis and “third-word” health crisis but “One World” health problem.

Covid-19 came to prove that.

I hope under Joe Biden’s leadership, the US will (humbly) engage with the rest of the world to co-create “ Solutions Without Borders” to global challenges like Covid-19 afflicting entire humanity.
Collapse
By: Renegade Inc.
Tags: Politics, Neoliberalism, America, Elite, Foreign Policy

Contrasting perceptions of collapse

Having extensively experienced, and written about, societal and economic collapse, Indi Samarajiva is ideally placed to comment on the breakdown of civilisation in his native Sri Lanka and more broadly in America where he spent 12 years of his life.

Samarajiva’s framing of the nature of collapse is shaped by contrasting social and economic contexts in time and space. So, for example, the perception of collapse for those displaced resulting from a three decades-long cycle of conflict in Sri Lanka, will be markedly different from the experience of those from privileged backgrounds in New York.

From this standpoint, the former perceive the collapse (and subsequent recovery) of their communities as an intrinsic part of the ongoing fabric of everyday life over time. Conversely, the latter view collapse as a psychological and dramatic event in the future.

A succession of ordinary days

For America, and Western countries more broadly, the ratcheting down of inertia, or what Goethe described as “a succession of ordinary days”, is indicative of the force that traps populations into a false sense of security.

Pithily, Samarajiva notes that for privileged societies, “collapse is just a series of ordinary days in between extraordinary bull***t, most of it happening to someone else.”

Societal collapse in America is the embodiment, over many decades, of the hollowing out of the state — a process facilitated by corrupt practices of various political and corporate lobbying vested interests. Samarajiva, argues that although in many respects the situations in the US and Sri Lanka are different, the common link that ties them together is one of human suffering.

Although the problems are structural, American society appears to be more vulnerable to any breakdown in human systems compared to developing world nations like Sri Lanka. The extent to which these structural problems are addressed depends on political shifts that occur during any given generational cycle.

The interregnum

“What Max Planck said is that new science only proceeds because old scientists die. I think it’s the same for politics. I think politics only proceeds because old politicians die”, says Samarajiva.
ANCA and HALC welcome NDAA provision mandating sanctioning of Turkey for purchase of Russian S-400s
By: Hellenic Leaders
Tags: United States, Russia, Congress, Turkey, Foreign Policy

WASHINGTON–The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) lauded the completion of the 60th Annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2021 included a provision that effectively mandates that the United States imposes sanctions on Turkey.

In the 115th Congress, ANCA and HALC launched a joint advocacy initiative to remove Turkey from the F35 program and to hold Turkey accountable for violating the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The ANCA-HALC advocacy campaigns warned members of Congress against the dangers of failing to hold Turkey accountable and allowing it to have weapons that he may turn against our allies — including Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and Armenia — and possibly even U.S. forces.

Senator Bob Menendez, who played a key role in the NDAA amendment, tweeted: “Incredibly proud to have helped secure inclusion of a provision in the NDAA to do what President Trump refused to do: Officially determine on behalf of the U.S. government that Turkey took delivery of Russian S-400 defense systems and therefore will be sanctioned under existing law.”

Endy Zemenides, HALC’s Executive Director praised Senator Menendez’s leadership and noted: “It took a while but the days of whitewashing Turkey’s consistent destabilizing behavior, violations of American and international law, and lack of reliability as an ally are over. Congress is sending a clear signal to the incoming Biden Administration that ‘Accountability’ and not ‘Appeasement’ must be the key to US-Turkey policy.”

“The adoption of this key NDAA provision — long sought by the ANCA and our HALC and IDC allies — holds Erdogan accountable for his increasingly reckless and anti-American actions,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “It is our hope that the incoming Biden Administration will reflect and reinforce this broad bipartisan consensus, bringing to an end a shameful era in which the first instinct of U.S. diplomacy has been to erase every Turkish sin, excuse every Turkish offense, and appease even the most irrational Turkish demand.”
Trump Madness -Let’s End It.
By: Robert Peach
Tags: United States, Business, Foreign Policy, Trump

Trump Madness -Let’s End It.

The fact that DJT denies defeat is at the very least madness and narcissism overdone.

The only minus I could find about el senor Biden was / is his age. But that’s what his aides are for and he will, the world hopes be amply endowed with those qualities. Trump was lacking these assets and indeed hundreds of others, Reagan made him look like a fool. A fool he is. A fool he repeatedly proved himself to be. This was well reflected in The Trump Show recently on TV.

Trump’s ubiquitous use of Twitter may not drift away from us till Mid January, but its focus will certainly divert from mainstream US policy from that point onward.

I believe Biden’s diplomacy skills will far exceed his predecessor’s, the damage Trump did to the West’s relationship with China, who still hold the keys to the castle that is Economic Recovery, was considerable .

Biden will also need able lieutenants in his support team; understanding and reacting positively to Asian practices and cultures can be testing. They will be tested.

There is too much at stake to trivialise this element of new US foreign policy, disequilibriums must be better balanced as we enter 2021. China may devalue its currency even? We shall have to wait and see.

Rob

Robert Peach

01 December 2020
Did He Win, Is It Over?
By: Bashar Salame
Tags: Elections, Politics, Society, Military, Foreign Policy

From Tokyo to Guadalajara, and every city in between, they recognize his face, and know his name.

How could they not?

His image is a staple on newsstands, television, the internet; pick a medium, any medium, and there he is.

The President of the United States.

According to various on-line sites and poles, former Presidents Barak Obama and Donald Trump are among the only world leaders more recognizable than celebrities, musicians, titans of industry, even The Pope; and Joe Biden will likely gain similar recognition.

When it comes to knowledge of foreign leaders however, less than half of Americans can name the leaders of Mexico or Canada, our only neighbors to the North and South.

Why fault the average American for this lack of knowledge? For them, the leader of another country makes little, if any difference in daily life. For the rest of the world however, the American President and America’s foreign policy do matter. To those in Asia, Africa, and The Middle East, even more so than their own leaders.
Advancing our leadership around the world
By: Kamala Harris
Tags: Kamala Harris, National Security, Foreign Policy

Advancing our leadership around the world

Thank you, Secretary Kerry.

And congratulations Mr. President-elect on bringing together this extraordinary team.

I have always believed in the nobility of public service, and these Americans embody it.

Their lives and careers are a testament to the dedication, sacrifice, and commitment to civic responsibility that have strengthened our democracy — and kept America’s promise alive — for more than two hundred years.

President-elect Biden and I have long known that when we were elected, we would inherit a series of unprecedented challenges upon walking into the White House.

Addressing these challenges starts with getting this pandemic under control, opening our economy responsibly, and making sure it works for working people.

And we also know that overcoming our challenges here at home is a necessary foundation for restoring and advancing our leadership around the world.

And we are ready for that work.

We will need to reassemble and renew America’s alliances; rebuild and strengthen the national security and foreign policy institutions that keep us safe and advance our nation’s interests; and confront and combat the existential threat of climate change that endangers us all.

I take these issues very seriously.

My whole career has been about keeping people safe, from serving as District Attorney to California’s Attorney General to the United States Senate, where I have served on the Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees.

I have come to know firsthand the gravity of the challenges and threats facing the United States.

And, over the past few months, I have also come to know the sound judgment, expertise, and character of the people on this stage.

I can say with confidence that they are — to a person — the right women and men for these critical positions.

And I look forward to working alongside them on behalf of the American people — and on behalf of a President who will ask tough questions; demand that we be guided by facts; and expect our team to speak the truth. No matter what.

A President who will be focused on one thing and one thing only: doing what’s best for The People of the United States of America.

When Joe asked me to be his running mate, he told me about his commitment to making sure we selected a cabinet that looks like America — that reflects the very best of our nation.

That is what we have done.

Today’s nominees and appointees come from different places. They bring a range of different life and professional experiences and perspectives. And they also share something else in common: an unwavering belief in America’s ideals.

An unshakeable commitment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.

And they understand the indispensable role of America’s leadership in the world.

These women and men are patriots and public servants to their core, and they are the leaders we need to meet the challenges of this moment — and those that lie ahead.

Thank you.
Antony Blinken, Remarks at Center for a New American Security
By: Stowe Boyd
Tags: Quotations, Antony Blinken, Foreign Policy

In times of crisis or calamity, it is the United States that the world turns to first and always. We are not the leader of first choice because we’re always right, or because we’re universally liked, or because we can dictate outcomes. It’s because we strive to the best of our ability to align our actions with our principles, and because American leadership has a unique ability to mobilize others and to make a difference.
Day 1,402: Trump skips G20 meetings about pandemic preparedness in favor of pitching and putting
Tags: Politics, Covid 19, G20, Donald Trump, Foreign Policy

The Group of 20 summit is occurring virtually this year in light of the coronavirus.

The summit, which features 19 of the world’s largest countries and the European Union, focuses on economic considerations and global coordination in achieving goals, as well as terrorism, health issues and more large-scale issues.

Donald Trump, who could attend just steps from his bed this year, managed to last just 13 minutes after the 8:00 am start time before he began tweeting baseless allegations about election fraud.

While the conference continued, discussion issues facing the world, Trump left to play golf. Saturday’s visit was Trump’s 303rd such trip to one of his private courses in less than four years. (For comparison, Barack Obama played 333 times during his eight years in office and didn’t line his own pockets in the process.)

While other world leaders were talking about COVID-19 and how to avoid the next one, Trump was lining up putts.

By 10 a.m. ET, the President had departed the White House on his way to his namesake golf club outside Washington, DC. He was there when the “side event on Pandemic Preparedness” got underway, featuring remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and several other world leaders. Trump did not participate.

Trump has totally checked out of a job he never had any interest in doing in the first play. Even with the world’s eyes watching, he couldn’t care less.

1,402 days in, 60 to go