Who killed George Floyd? Chauvin or chauvinism?

When I first read the name of the Minneapolis officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck until he could breathe no more, it sounded vaguely familiar.

It was the second time round that I made the connection. 

Derek Chauvin. 

The last name is part of an 'ism' that we have known for a while, mostly as male chauvinism.

Turns out this school of thought -- Chauvinism -- has an interesting history. 

Nicolas Chauvin was a legendary, possibly apocryphal, French soldier and patriot who is supposed to have served in the First Army of the French Republic and subsequently in La Grande Armée of Napoleon. His name is the eponym of chauvinism, originally a term for excessive nationalistic fervor, but later used to refer to any form of bigotry or bias (e.g., male chauvinism). -- A-ha!

Chauvin was supposedly born in Rochefort, around 1780. He enlisted at age 18, and served honorably and well. He is said to have been wounded 17 times in his nation's service, resulting in his severe disfigurement and maiming. For his loyalty and dedication, Napoleon himself presented the soldier with a Sabre of Honor and a pension of 200 francs.^[1]

Chauvin's distinguished record of service and his love and devotion for Napoleon Bonaparte, which endured despite the price he willingly paid for them, is said to have earned him only ridicule and derision in Restoration France, when Bonapartism became increasingly unpopular.

Chauvinism is now defined by the Cambridge dictionary as:

the strong and unreasonable belief that your own country or race is the best or most important

While Wikipedia describes it as: 

Chauvinism is a form of extreme patriotism and nationalism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It can also be defined as "an irrational belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people".

In the Floyd case, all the connotations of the term seem to have converged in the name of that one officer who killed him.

Murder with most fouls

Saudi Arabia further admitted on Thursday that the murder of Washington Post contributor and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was pre-meditated. In one foul after another, the Saudi rulers first said Khashoggi had walked out of their embassy in Istanbul on October 2, when he had gone in to get clearance papers for marriage to his US finacee. Then they walked it back saying Khashoggi died accidentally within the embassy when an argument between him and his interrogators turned into a fistfight.
These interrogators were some investigators gone rogue, they claimed, asserting that the royalty was unaware of their motives or actions in interrogating Khashoggi.
By Sunday, October 21, with mounting international pressure on crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto ruler, and his father, King Salman bin Abdulazziz al-Saud, the kingdom finally admitted that his murder was indeed planned well in advance.
At the same time, US President Donald Trump was committing a lot of fouls in an attempt to save his middle-east strategy, which hinges on the US-Saudi relationship, not to mention a USD 110 billion arms deal between the two countries which Trump says cannot be touched, no matter the degree of Saudi's culpability in the appalling murder. First, he suggested it may have been done by some rogue elements from outside, then said they could be from within the regime, but rogue elements nevertheless.
He later changed his tune saying MBS and his father were investigating the murder and US was doing its own probe and that he didnt know if Khashoggi was indeed murdered and MBS was involved. He walked that back early this week saying he believed Khashoggi was dead and that it was 'sad'. Finally, he suggested this week that, since MBS was de factor the Saudi ruler, he has to be involved.
In the middle of all the different narratives put out on a global scale, on the one side by a panicked Saudi regime and, on the other, by Trump trying to save his "friends", Turkey has admirably been firm on its stance from day one that Khashoggi was murdered in cold blood by 15-odd operatives who flew in from Riyadh to Istanbul, with a bone saw to boot, who dismembered his body and disposed of it in different places within Istanbul. Turkish President Recip Tayyib Erdogan went so far as to demand that these 15 should be tried in Istanbul as well. He truly deserves credit for exposing a murder most foul, regardless of whether he had strong political motivations in doing so. 

Bizarre to Bizarrer

I was reading a news story on NDTV.com about Rs. 140 crore worth jewellery being robbed from a Kanpur shop that had closed down five years ago! Yes, it seems the partners running the shop had a big dispute and decided to close the shop in 2013. But, as bitterly feuding friends-turned-foes, each of them probably insisted that no one touched the stock, until their case was decided. And precious goods of such a high value were left in that shop for five years.
A Kanpur court recently ordered the shop be opened in police presence. But, according to the news report, the jewellery was stolen just a few days before the shop was opened. Now, how the reporter reached this conclusion is strange to say the least, considering that the police are yet to go through the CCTV cameras around the shop. They have promised they will. Soon.
Meanwhile, as comments on online news stories go, I was expecting most of the 4 comments on this one to be sarcastic, amusing or written in wonderment of the land that is India (in the 'It happens only in India' mien). However, one of the comments took a potshot at a file photo carried alongside the story by NDTV, showing some Kanpur policemen standing on some street. No relevance to the story whatsoever, except that they are cops. The commentator noted that the photograph has B612 stamped on it in the right hand corner and wondered why the cops had used B612 app to take the photo.
Here's where it went from bizarre to bizarrer for me, as I had never heard of this app. Turns out that it is a highly popular mobile app (more than 5 million downloads) among youngsters for taking selfies as it provides several filters and special effects when taking them. As to why the cops would use such an app to take their own pictures while on duty will forever remain a mystery to me.
But, then again, you learn something new every day. 

The Pullout President

Trump has done it again. He has announced that US would be pulling out of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty it had signed with Russia about 30 years ago. The treaty, signed in 1987 by Reagan and Gorbachev has been instrumental in de-nuclearisation and lack of armed conflict between Russia and Europe. The treaty bans ground-launch nuclear missiles with 500 to 5500 km range and has resulted in the elimination of almost 2700 such missiles.
Trump first pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord to the chagrin of much of the world, which has been looking at US to lead the way in protecting the environment. Then he pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, under which Iran has agreed to halt its nuclear program and allow UN inspections. He then pulled out of NAFTA, the trade agreement US had with its North Atlantic neighbours -- Canada and Mexico. And now this. Trump is turning out to be the Serial Puller.

But why the INF? John Bolton, his current National Security Advisor, and other hawks in his administration have been drumming up the narrative that the Russia is already developing such nuclear weapons despite being a signatory to INF, waving some videos Putin put out last year showing missiles which defy physics and logic to go over or under any territory to hit enemy targets at great distances. They have also been pointing to the fact that China is also into similar projects, while the US is the only one keeping its side of the INF promise.

So Trump is saying enough is enough. While that reinforces his tough and muscular image with his base right before probably the most crucial mid-terms in US history, it also makes the industrial-military complex drool with the opening up of the biggest area in military expenditure for the foreseeable future.

But by triggering off and open race to more nuclear arms between the three biggest military nations, Trump may end up making the world the most dangerous it has been for decades. Another example of how heads of state are choosing tactical and short-term political and monetary gains at the cost of permanent long-term damage and danger to the people of the world.

It would be better if Trump, instead, pulled out of his multi-billion dollar deal with the rogue Saudi regime which butchered a well-known journalist, while displaying brazen arrogance that only countries which know Trump will back them anyways have been doing. 

Painting the world Red

On sunday night, La Roja ("the Red One") showed how beautiful the beautiful game can be, kicking up their mesmerizing passing several notches and shooting the ball into Italy's net repeatedly, until the Azzuri were blue in the face.

Spain silenced all critics with their skill, speed and supremacy over Italians from the first whistle to the last. A placid Del Bosque sat back and relaxed as his all-star line-up set their traditional club rivalry aside to put the country first and make history.

On the other side, a frantic Prandelli made the cardinal error of replacing the only player who took some shots at the goal (Cassano) with Thiyago Motta, who pulled a hamstring and left the field, leaving a dispirited 10-member Italian squad wishing the match would end as soon as possible.

What a team! What a captain! What a coach! Is there anything that can stop them from lifting the golden cup in Brazil now?

Jail Ho!

It's election time once again in India. And the goons are grinning. From ear to ear. This is when all their hard work comes to fruition. The assualts, the rapes, the murders they committed. The longer the chargesheet, the more scared the voters and, hence, the better their chances of winning.

1300 cases are pending against MPs and MLAs in various courts. 40 of them were part of the Lok Sabha until yesterday. This is what the country's law minister, H R Bharadwaj, told the parliament recently. But these folks are standing now, for Lok Sabha elections. The poster boys are of course there: Laloo, Pappu, Amma, Shibu Soren, Shahabuddin, Mukhtar Ansari, Ajay Rai.....and now add Sanju Baba to the list.

The Supreme Court had disbarred convicted criminals from standing for elections. But, some of them are--as we speak--running for office from behind bars. Everyone knows the path to power in India: muscle->money->more muscle->more money.

Amidst all this, the silence of the Indian lambs--the voters--is ear-splitting.

Fatalists as we are, we continue to go out and vote for them. After all, we don't have much choice, do we? It is either Goon A, Goon B, or Goon C. If we vote, we put one of them into power. If we don't, the others will put one of them into power.

A few NGOs and intellectuals are maintaining a criminal watchlist for elections. Others, like Ramdev Baba, are vociferously campaigning for parties to those with criminal antecedents out of the fray. Of course, all this has already fallen on deaf ears.

On the other hand, the police--like in Pune, for instance--are rounding up "local criminal elements" to maintain peace and order, and reduce intimidation during the polls. That is like locking up the bear cubs while the bears are allowed to roam free.

It is the history-sheeter candidates who need to be thrown into jail when elections are announced and let off only after the government is formed (without them, of course). That would be a real 'model code of conduct'.

Capitulating Capitalism?

'American economy has fallen off a cliff'', Warren Buffet said recently. The rest of the world economies seem to perched precariously on the edge. It is a result of corporate greed and recklessness displayed by capitalism's poster boys such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, which have since gone out of existence. Other such 'demonic' institutions, now utterly reviled by people, are being nationalised in a hurry or are being bailed out by governments around the world.
Capitalism seems to be going bust, just the way communism did a couple of decades ago. The reds are having a field day, with I-told-you-so smiles on their faces.
Back home in India, everyone from the economists to ministers to armchair analysts are singing hosannas to India's public sector units (PSUs), saying how their conservatism saved the country from a similar disaster. Their share prices are getting better valuations in the stock market while those of private players in the same industry, such as banking, manufacturing, etc. are being dumped by retail and institutional investors.
Do the PSUs really deserve the credit they are getting for saving us from the evils of capitalism?
I don't think so.
The PSUs are--when examined in an otherwise favourable environment--behemothic examples of inefficiency, sloth, lack of innovation and even sheer incompetence. They are clear examples of what an enterprise should not look like.
The PSU banks did not lend recklessly not because they were averse to greed, but just out of their sheer bureaucratic red-tape and don't-care attitude to growth or bottomlines. The fact that this saved them from huge loan default risks is just coincidental. That they did not take risks was not by design but by their lack of motivation.
Risk is what keeps the world going. If everyone avoided risk, there were would be no businesses, no goods and services sold and hence no economy. Of course, the risk is taken with the motive of profit, which is the raison-d'-etre of capitalism.
How much risk should be taken is a function of the environment in which you operate. That is why people keep buying shares when the prices have reached stratospheric levels (since they see the prices going up everyday), instead of selling, and sometimes lose their shirts.
But to say that the person who does not take any risk, does not invest, does not innovate (all out of the fear of going wrong) and hence saves his money, is wise is just plain stupid.
The one who risked his money in investments or an enterprise is the one who needs to be given a hand when he falls because of a false step.
So, while the world is engulfed in negativism about capitalism, that is the only way out if we are to become more efficient, competent, innovative and--ultimately--wealthy.