Roy called it... ๐
Heartbreak for England as late goals from Enzo Fernรกndez and Lautaro Martรญnez send Argentina into the World Cup Final. ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ
A college in Karnataka taped the traditional nose ring worn by girls students before an entrance exam
College - MES College in Chikkamagaluru
Exam - CET held on Thursday
The management covered the nose rings with adhesive tape before entering exam hall. Many bled after trying to remove it later
Similar incidents keep repeating across Indian schools and colleges - even Janeu thread was removed from students recently. At the same time, more and more institutions are allowing hijab just to avoid mob pressure
@KanoongoPriyank, please take note
The institute must be asked to provide, in writing:
- What exact rule allowed this and why?
- Why was adhesive tape used on studentsโ bodies?
- Who authorised it?
If the college cannot give a satisfactory written explanation, strict action must follow
If youโre looking for a polite take, this isnโt it.
Iโve said it repeatedly on the Conflicted podcast: Pakistan was never a neutral mediator between Washington and Tehran. Not for a second. What weโre watching now is not diplomacy, itโs pure manipulation dressed up as statecraft.
Letโs call things by their proper names. Under field marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan isnโt some balanced civilian democracy playing honest broker. Itโs a military system with a democratic faรงade, pursuing its own interests with a level of cynicism that should surprise no one who has followed its behavior over the past two decades.
What did they sell to Donald Trump? A fantasy. A pipe dream. That the Islamic Republic can be reasoned with. That it is pragmatic, not ideological. That it is capable of compromise if only you flatter it enough and give it incentives. In short: that you can extract โthe deal of the centuryโ from a regime whose entire strategic doctrine is built on resisting precisely that outcome.
And Trump - obsessed with the optics of a deal - bought it.
Meanwhile, senior voices inside Pakistan werenโt even pretending neutrality. A defence minister pushing conspiratorial narratives, blaming the โZionists,โ portraying Iran as a victim, while 6,000 missiles and drones were raining down on GCC states that host millions of Pakistani workers. That alone should have been disqualifying.
If a country is willing to throw its own economic lifeline (the Gulf) under the bus for ideological or tactical alignment with Tehran, what exactly makes anyone think it would safeguard American interests?
And hereโs the uncomfortable part: this isnโt new.
Weโve seen this movie before. The United States spent years, treasure, and blood in Afghanistan, only to discover that Osama bin Laden, and his network, were living comfortably in Pakistan all along - while Pakistan was simultaneously cashing in on US counterterrorism billions in funding. They didnโt fail to find the target. They bloody managed it.
Why end the hunt when the hunt itself pays and pays pretty well?
Fast forward to today, and the pattern repeats, only this time the battlefield is Iran. At the very moment the regime was under maximum pressure (militarily strained, economically cornered, strategically exposed) Pakistan steps in, not to mediate, but to buy Tehran time. Time to regroup, breathe, and ultimately survive.
Thatโs not mediation. Thatโs intervention - on one side.
From a cold, historical lens, this may well be remembered as the pivot point. The moment when pressure was lifted prematurely. When momentum was lost. When a winnable strategic position was traded for the illusion of a negotiated breakthrough that was never going to materialise, ever!
Five years from now, looking back, this could read like a familiar chapter:
First Afghanistan - undermined from within.
Now Iran - diluted from without.
In both cases, Pakistan didnโt just mislead Washington. It shaped the battlefield to its advantage, all while claiming partnership with a clueless US administration.
And Washington, once again, chose to believe what it wanted to hear.
Huge congratulations to Bodhana Sivanandan on becoming Englandโs top female chess player at just 11 years old.
We once played each other in the Downing Street garden. Letโs just say her success has not come as a shock!
THANK YOU EVERYONE for all the love, accolades and applause for the #Varanasi Announcement Video. Our whole @VaranasiMovie team is grateful to all of you. ๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป๐๐ป