10 reasons to feel grateful this Thanksgiving
by Rashmee
Posted on November 25, 2020 / The National
Despite these testing times, American Thanksgiving (November 26) may be a useful moment to take stock. What should we, as a planet, give thanks for in a year that threw up the depressing new word “doomscrolling”? It is true that 2020 has felt like a particularly bad year. It was roiled by two spreading crises, … Continue reading “10 reasons to feel grateful this Thanksgiving”
Read MoreBolsonaro sheds crocodile tears for Trump. Don’t cry for him, Brazil
by Rashmee
Posted on November 23, 2020
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s public truculence about dealing with a new US president who is not Donald Trump raises a pertinent question: What did Mr Trump ever do for Brazil? Peter Hakim has an excellent blog on US-Brazil relations, which underlines the showy nature of the relationship between Mr Trump and Mr Bolsonaro and the … Continue reading “Bolsonaro sheds crocodile tears for Trump. Don’t cry for him, Brazil”
Read MoreThat pointless but pleasant email? Don’t press send if you care about the planet
by Rashmee
Posted on November 21, 2020
It’s not just paper and all those dead trees. Your online life is also bad for the planet. Especially pointless emails or ones in which the point is purely to be pleasant, courteous, social, even. In an astonishing revelation, the Financial Times has covered the idea that it’s better to limit brief, pointless email exchanges. … Continue reading “That pointless but pleasant email? Don’t press send if you care about the planet”
Read MoreGeorgia on our collective, climate-conscious mind
by Rashmee
Posted on November 16, 2020
President Joe Biden will be in office, come one-minute past noon on January 20. The US will, that very day, rejoin the Paris climate pact. Good. But what happens next? How does the US, the second biggest carbon emitter in the world, become consistently climate conscious, by federal order, no matter who’s in the White … Continue reading “Georgia on our collective, climate-conscious mind”
Read MoreThe US has already elected to exit the Paris climate pact. It happens today
by Rashmee
Posted on November 4, 2020
Today, the United States formally leaves the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change. That it is happening the day after US election day has nothing to do with the result of the American presidential election. It’s been a year since president Donald Trump’s administration notified the United Nations that America would exit the climate agreement. Formalities … Continue reading “The US has already elected to exit the Paris climate pact. It happens today”
Read MoreGuess who’s holding a national election on Nov. 3. A republic with the world’s first nuclear-free constitution
by Rashmee
Posted on October 12, 2020
So who’s holding a general election on November 3? (Hint: It’s a democratic republic.) This isn’t, dear reader, a trick question. I know you know that the US general election is on November 3. But the US doesn’t have a constitution that dreams of a world free of nuclear weapons. Obviously, we’re not talking about … Continue reading “Guess who’s holding a national election on Nov. 3. A republic with the world’s first nuclear-free constitution”
Read MoreClimate refugees is not a new term but get used to hearing it more often
by Rashmee
Posted on September 22, 2020 / The National
This is officially Climate Week and it’s brought to the world by the United Nations and New York City, on the sidelines of the ongoing, virtual 75th UN General Assembly. Unofficially, climate week now runs throughout the year in some form or other, somewhere — an extreme weather event, a call to action, or a heated argument … Continue reading “Climate refugees is not a new term but get used to hearing it more often”
Read MoreThis second Elizabethan age is just as uncertain as the first. How we respond is up to us
by Rashmee
Posted on July 28, 2020 / The Focus
Like William Shakespeare, we live in an age of great uncertainty, King’s College law professor Lorenzo Zucca recently reminded us. It is a timely point, well made. For the Bard of Avon, the uncertainty was created by several big and weighty imponderables. There was the question of who would succeed the ‘Virgin Queen’, Elizabeth. There … Continue reading “This second Elizabethan age is just as uncertain as the first. How we respond is up to us”
Read MoreHow much will the EU’s ‘historic’ new deal change life in Europe?
by Rashmee
Posted on July 26, 2020 / The National
For the first time in nearly seven decades of Europe’s union, the 27-member bloc is prepared to jointly raise billions of euros on the capital markets. It is rare for European solidarity to go beyond declarations of shared values, the thicket of common regulations, cluster of continent-wide institutions and the more partial 19-country eurozone. The … Continue reading “How much will the EU’s ‘historic’ new deal change life in Europe?”
Read More6 non-Coronavirus ‘white swans’ that could still fly, post-pandemic
by Rashmee
Posted on July 11, 2020 / The Focus
Before Covid-19, there were black swans — unknown unknowns — and white ones, or predictable financial crises. Not too long ago, economics professor Nouriel Roubini laid out the “white swans” of 2020, which is to say predictable financial crises that occur because vulnerabilities are not addressed. The professor’s list, briefly summarised, contained six, non-Coronavirus white swans. They could still … Continue reading “6 non-Coronavirus ‘white swans’ that could still fly, post-pandemic”
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Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK