In the period 1989–2017, Latvia haemorrhaged 27 per cent of its population, Lithuania 22.5 per cent, Bulgaria almost 21 per cent. Two million East Germans, or almost 14 per cent of the country’s pre-1989 inhabitants, went to West Germany in search of work and a better life. 3.4 million Romanians, a vast majority of them younger than forty, left the country only after the country joined the EU in 2007. The combination of an ageing population, low birth rates and an unending stream of emigration is arguably the principal source of demographic panic in Central and Eastern Europe.This fear of nation-killing depopulation is seldom openly voiced, perhaps because publicizing high rates of expatriation will encourage imitators. But it is nonetheless real and may well be expressed indirectly in the nonsensical claim that migrants from Africa and the Middle East pose a threat to the existence of the nations of the region. According to UN projections, Bulgaria’s population will shrink by 27 per cent between now and 2040. Almost one-fifth of the territory of the country is predicted to become a ‘demographic desert’. Indeed, ‘Bulgaria experienced the largest percentage drop in population not attributable to war or famine for a country in the modern era. Every day, the country was losing 164 people: over a thousand a week, over 50,000 a year.More Central and East Europeans left their countries for Western Europe as a result of the 2008–9 financial crises than all the refugees that came there as the result of the war in Syria.

from the book, ‘The Light That Failed’

It is necessary to kill a few xenophobic myths.

When i write on the Khaleej, my folders on Indian Ocean Studies, Gulf and Middle East History which have country level sub folders as well and the Archival & Ethnographic Methods Folders speak to each other. Connect the dots to write different.

GE2020SG Party Political Broadcast is an opportunity to be honest for the opposition parties apart from Workers Party, it was on Immigrant bashing unabashed, bordering on xenophobia. Pritam’s message was constructive, one geared for governance. Very ‘PAP Lite’ lah!

Ah Keat was clinical, taking about the issues that matter. The contrast was like daylight. Singapore is the ‘PAP State’ for all the right reasons.

Opposition needs better speech writers and policy research. Hire consultants please!

It seems the opposition in Sg GE, has only one weapon which is anti immigrant sentiment, which does not make it any different to the major populist zeitgeist globally. As a Fallen Talent or FT who has studied on a NRF Scholarship plus worked in the country and is a Singapore-phile🇸🇬 proudly I can assure many that there are folks like me who are not PR do serve the island in our ways.

I work with non profits to serve unserved communities and businesses on the island to take them to international markets to the best of my abilities. I travel on short term visas and love the country.

Not all are leaches. Stop the white washing.

Digital Covid era election Singapore style is one of a kind. The ruling PAP sends in the very best in the form of suave and soft spoken Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Foreign Minister and master debater to demolish the opposition. SDP’s Dr CSJ was a terrible choice given his fractious history. He was called out many times during the debate as the weak link. The Progress Singapore Party representative on the debate asked some difficult questions.

Ivy League educated Dr Jamus Lim of the Workers Party held his ground and was forceful, gently. He set out the Worker’s Party’s scope of work very clearly when Dr Vivian called his party ‘PAP Light’. His training as a sovereign wealth fund economist came of good use.

Dr Paul’s intellectual heft was missed. SDP will remember this blunder for many years.

Today I updated my Academic Publications list, which I had not done over the past three years since I was in the Gulf. Publication list is a language is alien for the consulting space I know but intellectual production is vital even for a knowledge sector such as consulting, rife with a copy-paste mindset. Innovation is the currency in the new normal where growth prospects seem bleak.

I have been publishing since 2006 when I was hardly out of my teens. Not bad as I have been trudging away scrubbing one abstract/paper at a time for the past 15 years.

15 international conference papers, 3 journal papers, 2 conference papers and numerous articles for the popular media which I did not enumerate. Neither the consulting reports that I have authored or led.

It’s important to step back and count ones work and impact. Detractors are a dime a dozen. Let the work speak.

I speak to students at Delhi Technological University formerly Delhi College of Engineering on personal growth in this pandemic on July 4th. May the Forth be with you!

On the second day of the #BaluchistanDialogues hosted by @tilakchronicle and CASS, Pune has Mr. Hyrbyair Marri of The Free Baluchistan Movement speak along with Human Rights Lawyer Arif Ajakia. The session is moderated by Major Gaurav Arya.

Day one was an introduction with Major Arya speaking on India’s responsibility towards the Baloch cause called upon our government to act. Air Marshall Gokhale spoke as well to commence the online seminar.

Arif Aajakia rips apart the underbelly of the architecture of oppression in Baluchistan. From forced conversations to the wobbly basis of the idea of partition, he focused on the raw realities of a colonial state. He focused on the top down nature of the Pakistani state to implement its strategic objectives.

Mr. Marri speaks about the rejection of all shades of foreign occupation in Baluchistan from the Chinese, Turks to the Pakistanis. The speakers reject the Pakistani claim of a religious state, stating they are also of the same community of faith, but have an identity.

The two sessions spread across the weekend brought the vital topic of this space of aspirations to the spotlight of policy conversations. Excellent questions were asked and apt answers enlarged our collective understanding of the historical and contemporary dynamics of Baluchistan.

Major General Shishir Hari of CASS, Pune offered his vote of thanks in conclusion to the online seminar.