Clearing the Backlog (May 9, 2021)

 Clearing the Backlog - May 9, 2021

In 1979, apropos the Moro affair, the Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia remarked that for the Italian Communist Party, the state appeared to be
“a kind of mythical and metaphysical entity, superior to anything like the rendering of services. For me, the state is nothing but a well-coordinated ensemble of services. And when these services are deficient or altogether absent, it’s necessary either to fix them or to create new ones. Otherwise all you are defending is corruption and inefficiency under the pretext of defending the state.”
In India, unfortunately, the state is defined almost exclusively in metaphysical or in Hobbesian terms. For some nationalists, it’s the living embodiment of India’s glorious past (and manifest destiny). For others, it’s an instrument of development and modernisation. For dominant castes, it’s a tool of social and political control. For political parties, it denotes an organised system of patronage. For liberals, it’s the fruit of a unique experiment in democracy. These definitions are not necessarily exclusive – the Indian state is some of these things and more. But what it is not and never has been is “a well-coordinated ensemble of services”.

  • Before He Wrote a Thesaurus, Roget Had to Escape Napoleon’s Dragnet 
    • Author: Claudia Kalb
    • Source: Smithsonian Magazine
    • Summary: History of Peter Roget's time spent in France as a chaperone for a Grand Tour during which tensions with Napoleonic France broke out. Moderately interesting story, generally uninteresting article.
  • ‘I’d Never Been Involved in Anything as Secret as This’
    • Author:  Garrett M. Graff
    • Site: Politico
    • Summary: Oral history of the raid on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad.
    • Quote:
      • I was impressed that Adm. McRaven and the leadership did not tell special operations forces, “Here’s how you should conduct the raid.” It was, “Here’s the mission. You guys figure out how to do this.”
    • Interesting article.  Multiple references to the Carter-era Desert One debacle

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