Breakdown of Values
No top leader of a sovereign State would use such extreme language as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier did when expressing his fear that the international order may disintegrate into a "Den of robbers," unless he saw it taking place right before his eyes. He was giving vent to his intense distress, growing alarmed about the anarchic order into which Trump was pushing the world. Flexing muscles is not dignified diplomacy. What else has Trump been doing while dealing with Venezuela, Iran and the EU?

But ambitious power-seekers and cultural nationalists hasten to imitate such a show of strength by a world hegemon. Stephen Miller, White House Adviser, was embarrassingly outspoken when he confessed the values that America sought to live by: "We live in a world, in the real world... that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power." Little wonder that, with the "breakdown of values" that the US has introduced, the world is fast going chaotic.

"I Command"
The way Trump intervenes worldwide, he seems to be the self-appointed master of the international order: Greenland, Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Iran, the Gaza Strip, and Taiwan. Even if colonies are not being built up, minerals are being "robbed"; even if his empire is not being expanded, his market is being widened. Venezuela, he claims, will 'turn over' up to 50 million barrels of oil to the US; America may control the country for years. Trump is planning a CIA foothold in Venezuela. International ethics is reduced to: "The mighty shall decide issues!"

The Iran situation is a little more complex. Trump himself knows that, despite his reckless boasts. Islamic solidarity in West Asia is too strong to be ignored, despite internal differences. American allies in the region were the first to ask Trump to hold off on striking Iran. Moreover, the Kremlin warns against any direct intervention against Iran. When might is met by might in whatever form, a shiver goes through the spine of the aggressor. Even Amit Shah knows that.

EU Allies Left Helpless
What now happens to the mighty nations that had remained clients too long? European nations, which once controlled 84% of the world's space, had become totally dependent on America after World War II. Too late have the Europeans realised that they had traded sovereignty for American protection. They have become a humble bunch of dependent nations. Now, under Trump's provocation, the EU nations are preparing to arm themselves once again, but it will take time. Mark Rutte has cautioned his NATO colleagues against their overconfidence. In fact, they are showing their helplessness in addressing Trump's Greenland threat. 

While benefiting from America's defence preparedness and trusting in the nuclear umbrella she provided, Europe's NATO team was dragged into many misadventures that the wider world perceived as imprudent, insensitive, even criminal: whether in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, or elsewhere. Thus, Gaza cruelty, for example, is a shared responsibility, as many other irresponsible US interventions in Eastern Europe, African countries or other regions. Ukraine's arms market has benefited both the US and the EU.

"Sell All You Have, and Buy American Arms"!
Initially, Trump's anti-Muslim attitude drew Modi closer to him during his first term. But during his second term, Pakistan's arms market pulled Trump nearer to Asim Munir, at least until a big weapons deal was done. Deals and deals; they have nothing to do with ideals, values, or consistencies. So, when the EU chummed up with India in despair, after being greatly humiliated by Trump and threatened by his Tariffs, the inconsistent world leader lost no time in rushing to a trade agreement with his "great friend" Modi, despite his many aspersions against India all along.

Other non-European allies of the US, too, growing anxious about being let down by Trump, are seriously thinking of arming themselves. Japan's Sanae Takaichi cabinet approved a defence budget of 9 trillion yen in December 2025. The rare majority she achieved in recent elections reflects the people's enthusiastic approval. Taiwan is unclear about where America stands regarding its future. Weapons' sale, yes! Any other assurances beyond that? It is not very clear. Arms spending by the US itself will be about 60% of the defence budget for the foreseeable future.

After all, the Defence Department has become the War Department. All countries get this one Message: "Go, sell all you have, and buy American arms to defend yourself!" We live in a world where one in six people is exposed to conflict!

Save Yourself!
Trump is capable of using arms not only against known or imagined enemies, but against fellow citizens as well. The shooting of Alex Pretti in Minnesota sent a shockwave through the nation. People's confidence in the Trump Administration has dipped. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he could not believe the report, much less accept it! Similarly, sober-minded Indians find it hard to accept the report of what is happening in their own country: e.g. Cow Vigilantes, Moral Police, and Bajrang Dal taking law into their hands.

"Social Discipline" has been outsourced by the BJP to these anti-social elements. Their spokespersons claim to be the sole interpreters of the Indian civilisation. The RSS-BJP think tank has appropriated the heroes, wise men, and deities of every region and community. They claim to be the sole guardians of the ideologies of those who differed completely from them (such as the Buddha, Kabir, Sankardev, Thiruvalluvar, Tagore, and Ambedkar).

No One Is Safe
Mosques are being bulldozed, and Christmas celebrations are being disrupted. It is said that the Punjab police have begun a drive against the "organised crime ecosystem." The so-called Maoists are being butchered every day in different parts of India. BJP-ruled states are turning into "Hate labs" in a quasi-Nazi nation. Minorities are being targeted systematically. Kashmiris are attacked in other parts of India. Northeast people are beaten up or killed in BJP-led zones of the country. Consequently, no one is shocked to learn that 61 IIT students committed suicide between 2021 and 2025.
Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, a Kashmiri Pandit of BJP loyalty, is frank in his assertion that the Indian State is determined to settle Hindus in Kashmir and every other part of India where the Muslims are likely to become the majority. According to the 1981 census, only 4% of the Kashmir Valley was Hindu. In 2011, it was less than 3%; however, mostly Hindus from the Hindi belt.

Rajasthan cabinet clears a bill to maintain 'demographic balance' in zones described as 'disturbed areas' (evidently aiming at Muslims). No one seems able to do anything about the flooding of people from the Hindi-Hindutva belt into Ladakh, Kashmir, Bengal, Assam, and the tribal areas of the Northeast... radically transforming the culture, traditions, and demographic composition of those regions.

No Future for Indigenous Communities
Shudhi movement, Ghar Wapsi drive, zonal development projects, creation of production centres, economic development initiatives, all these are joining hands together to wipe out the tribal identity of Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Dimapur, pockets of tribal states in the Northeast, areas of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, tribal regions with mineral resources. Nicobarese tribals cry that officials are 'coercing' them to surrender their land to government representatives. Contracts and the execution of government projects are awarded to people from Hindi-Hindutva regions. Adanis, Patanajalis, and others are swallowing up tribal lands at amazingly cheap rates.

We read that China has set up "Tibet classes" in Chinese cities for Tibetan students scattered throughout the nation. Perceptive people understand it as an effort towards indoctrination, assimilation and Sinification. Some 10,500 students have registered.

In India, similar efforts are being made to advance Hindutva causes (Hindutv-isation), using business leaders, migrant workers, corporate houses, centrally appointed government officers, Central government appointees (not excluding Governors) from Hindutva heartlands. Smaller ethnic groups, weaker communities, and tiny tribal groups feel threatened in their own homelands about preserving their identities and heritages.

Small wonder, Pawan Khera of Congress laments that the BJP has betrayed Hindus. He alleges that they have snatched India from Ram and donated it to the Ambani-Adani club. Even outright robbery can be given a refined appearance. Congress worries about the widening of inequality while welfare schemes are being rolled back. The official data have lost all credibility.

"Justice Is Crying Behind Doors"
Mamata Banerjee says the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is "bulldozing" genuine citizens. "Justice is crying behind doors," she moans. One has to understand local situations to understand why there is no precision in the spellings in the voters' list. Names like "Tagore" may be spelt differently. Rejection of names should not be based on some trivial incoherence. SIR haste worries Amartya Sen at 92. He found himself helpless until someone extended assistance. If Bengali-speaking people have become suspect all over India (for their possible Bangladeshi connection), Hindi-speaking people are becoming a horror when they become tools of Hindutva ideology.

The Chinese community, long settled in Calcutta, numbered over 50,000 in the 1960s. After the Chinese attack on India in 1962, they became an unwanted people. Most of them migrated. Their number has come down to 2,000. Some 484 of them found their names missing in the voters' draft rolls. Hindu Rashtra has no place for people who differ. Delimitation is also calculated to be partisan, as it happened in Kashmir.

Referring to the injustice poor people face in court, Akhilesh Yadav of Bihar insists that Court hearings should be conducted in a language people understand. The same should be said about the Central government policy in its relationship with the South and East as well, when imposing Hindi.

Uninspiring Titles
Similarly, there must be a certain neutrality in naming laws, projects, rockets, programmes, and no rousing of natural repugnance through the idolisation of Hindi and Sanskrit. Hindi-fication of laws is a mystification of fairness to the non-Hindi masses. The main contribution of the BJP governments in states has been the renaming of places (like Modi renaming all Congress projects).

A sickening feeling is being roused among non-Hindi groups against names of avatars, Hindutva heroes, unknown gurus, unwelcome ideas.

Protesters too Can Exaggerate
Even Opposition protesters can go to exaggeration, whether in the Parliament or in the streets. Trinamool protesters against BJP MLA Mihir Goswami, South Cooch Behar (West Bengal), dumped two trolleys of cow dung outside the BJP office, as a "gift" for his great services!

But there is nothing like Himanta Biswa Sarma's contempt for Bengali-speaking Muslims (Miyas). He says, "My job is to make Miyas suffer." He asks people to be hard on them. "Pay them less than they deserve," he says, referring to rickshaw fare. One cannot hastily classify all Bengali-speaking Muslims as Bangladeshis. According to the 1985 Assam Accord, those who migrated to Assam before 1971 are entitled to citizenship. But Sarma makes no such distinctions.

The Need to Resist the Brahminisation of Our Civilisation
In every era, alert Indians have resisted the Brahminisation (presently, Banianisation) of their civilisation, today especially by the South. The RSS is embarrassed. The southern claim on the independent origin of Tamil is strongly rejected by the RSS-affiliated Samskrita Bharati.

A government panel, headed by an RSS team, argues that the Southern contention is based on colonial classification. They point out that Tamil faithfully follows "Bharatiya cultural grammar" derived from the Mahabharata and Ramayana; that the Vedas and Upanishads were civilisational texts providing a "spiritual grammar" across the continent. Genuine linguists find it hard to accept such "emotion-led academics." They are convinced that mutual influences do not prove a common origin.

But the bulldozing of actual scholarship continues. Braj Ranjan Mani laments the Brahminic appropriation of Indian civilisation after the expulsion of Buddhism from India. Considering Jainism and Buddhism as 'heterodoxies' is preposterous, he says. Those communities stood for the older India, the native tradition, as the South and East do today. MK Stalin legitimately boasts how Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have grown, because they were spared the guidance of a 'double engine' BJP government that rules the Northern states.

Amidst Uncertainties, Consult Your Intelligence
While the Trump arms his nation with weapons, the RSS arm their communities with prejudices; while the former pushes warships into the Gulf region, the RSS stir the Bajrang Dal into the streets; while the former wants to expand his empire into Greenland, the latter reaches out into tribal land. George W. Bush had clumsily affirmed, "I had to abandon my liberal principles to save the free market system." But history shows that short-term gains don't last long. Paulo Coelho says, "Don't try to be brave, when it is enough to be intelligent." Don't abandon your principles for some short-term advantages.
Sonam Wangchuk, a cultural activist in Ladakh who is now in prison, noticed that the ant community had more 'solidarity and team spirit' than selfish humans!

Rediscover your happy relationship instincts, and develop them to the full. Arm yourself with affection, launch a campaign of assistance to the poorest and neediest. Change even a 'den of robbers' into a family of nation-builders and constructors of a shared human future.