Tag: compared

The old guard: Joe Biden seems like a spring chicken compared to some of these guys

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When the U.S. president on Tuesday announced that he would seek reelection in 2024, attention quickly turned to his advanced age.
If elected, Joe Biden would be 82 on inauguration day in 2025, and 86 on leaving the White House in January 2029.
POLITICO took a look around the globe and back through history to meet some other elected world leaders who continued well into their octogenarian years, at a time when most people have settled for their dressing gown and slippers, some light gardening, and complaining about young people.
Here are seven of the oldest — and yes, they’re all men.
Paul Biya
President of Cameroon Paul Biya | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The world’s oldest serving leader, Cameroon’s president has been in power since 1982, winning his (latest) reelection at the age of 85 with a North Korea-esque 71.28 percent of the vote.
Spanning more than four decades and seven consecutive terms — in 2008, a constitutional reform lifted term limits — Biya’s largely undisputed reign has not come without controversy.
His opponents have regularly accused him of election fraud, claiming he successfully built a state apparatus designed to keep him in power.
Notorious for his lavish trips to a plush palace on the banks of Lake Geneva, which he’s visited more than 50 times, Biya keeps stretching the limits of retirement. Although he has not formally announced a bid for the next presidential elections in 2025, his party has called on him to run again in spite of his declining health.

Last February, celebrations were organized throughout the country for the president’s 90th birthday. According to the government, young people spontaneously came out on the streets to show their love for Biya.
Konrad Adenauer
Former Chancellor of West Germany Konrad Adenauer | Keystone/Getty Images
West Germany’s iconic first chancellor was elected for his inaugural term at the tender age of 73, but competed and won a third and final term at the age of 85.
In his 14-year chancellorship (1949-1963), Adenauer shaped Germany’s postwar years with a strong focus on integrating the young democracy into the West. Big milestones such as the integration of Germany into the European Economic Community and joining the NATO alliance just a few years after World War II happened under his leadership.
If his nickname “der Alte” (“the old man”) is one day bestowed upon Biden, the U.S. president would share it with a true friend of America.
Ali Khamenei
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei | AFP via Getty Images
84-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all strategic issues in Iran, and his rule has been marked by murderous brutality against opponents.
That violence has only escalated in recent years, with mass arrests and the imposition of the death penalty against those protesting his dictatorial rule. A mere middle-ranking cleric in the 1980s, few expected Khamenei to succeed Ruhollah Khomeini as Iran’s supreme leader, and he took the top job in hurried, constitutionally dubious circumstances in 1989.
A pipe-smoker and player of the tar, a traditional stringed instrument, he was president during the attritional Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and survived a bomb attack against him in 1981 that crippled his arm.
Thankfully for Khamenei, he doesn’t have the stress of facing elections to wear him down.
Robert Mugabe
President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe | Michael Nagle/Getty Images
You’ve heard the saying “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” — well, here’s a classic case study.
Robert Mugabe’s political career reached soaring heights before crashing to depressing lows, during his nearly four decades ruling over Zimbabwe. He came to power as a champion of the anti-colonial struggle, but his rule descended into authoritarianism — while he oversaw the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy and society.
Though Mugabe’s final election win was marred by allegations of vote-rigging and intimidation, the longtime leader chalked up a thumping, landslide victory in 2013, aged 89.
He was finally, permanently, removed as leader well into his nineties, during a coup d’etat in 2017. He died two years later.
Giorgio Napolitano
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano | Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
The former Italian president took his largely symbolic role to new heights when, aged 86, he successfully steered the country through a perilous transition of power in 2011 — closing that particular chapter of Silvio Berlusconi’s story.
Operating mostly behind the scenes, Napolitano saw five PMs come and go during his eight-and-a-half years in office, at a time when Italian politics were rife with instability (but hey, what’s new?).
Reelected against his will in 2013 at 87 — he had wanted to step down, but gave in after a visit from party leaders desperate to put Italy’s political landscape back on an even keel — Napolitano won the nickname “Re Giorgio” (King George) for his statesmanship.
When he resigned two years later, he said: “Here [in the presidential palace], it’s all very beautiful, but it’s a bit like jail. At home, I’ll be ok, I can go out for a walk.”
Mahmoud Abbas
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority | Sean Gallup/Getty Images
“It has been a very good day,” Javier Solana, the then European Union foreign policy chief, exclaimed when Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in 2005.
As a tireless advocate of a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas has enjoyed strong backing from the international community.
But three EU policy chiefs later and with lasting peace no closer, Abbas is still in power, despite most polls showing that Palestinians want him to step aside.
His solution for political survival: No presidential elections have been held in the Palestinian Territories since that historic ballot in 2005, with the Palestinian leadership blaming either Israel or the prospect of rising Hamas influence for the postponement of elections.
While Abbas seems to have found a solution for political survival, the physical survival of the 87-year-old chain smoker is now being called into question.
William Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone | Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Queen Victoria reportedly described Gladstone as a “half-mad firebrand” — and you’d have to be to chase a fourth term as prime minister aged 82.
At that point Gladstone had already outlived Britain’s life expectancy at the time by decades.
During his career, Gladstone expanded the vote for men — but failed to pass a system of home rule in Ireland, and he was slammed for alleged inaction to help British soldiers who were slaughtered in the Siege of Khartoum.
Gladstone was Britain’s oldest-ever prime minister when he eventually stepped down at 84 — and no one has beaten that record since. Similarly, no one has served more than his four (nonconsecutive) terms.
But should the Tories remain addicted to chaos, who’d bet against Boris Johnson starting his fifth stint as PM in 2049?
Ali Walker and Christian Oliver contributed reporting.

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#guard #Joe #Biden #spring #chicken #compared #guys
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 26, 2023
Pilot’s contribution to Congress less compared to Gehlot: Shah in Rajasthan

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Bharatpur: Targeting the Congress in Rajasthan over infighting, Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday claimed the party will always give precedence to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over Sachin Pilot as his contribution is higher in filling its coffers with the “corruption” money from the state.
“Pilot sits on dharna on any pretext but his number will not come because his contribution in filling the coffers of Congress party is less and Gehlot’s contribution is higher,” Shah said while addressing booth-level party workers meeting in Bharatpur.
#WATCH | “…Pilot ji whatever you do, your number won’t come, maybe your contribution is more on ground than Gehlot ji but Gehlot ji’s contribution is more in Congress’s treasure”: Union minister Amit Shah takes a dig at Ashok Gehlot-Sachin Pilot tussle in Rajasthan Congress pic.twitter.com/bZG4QHLMlP
— ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2023
Gehlot has made the Rajasthan government an “‘adda’ (hub) of corruption and has looted the state. This money of corruption has gone to the coffers of the Congress party,” the BJP leader alleged.

On the acquittal of the accused in the 2008 Jaipur bomb blast case, Shah alleged that the Congress government did not present proper arguments in the high court due to vote bank politics.
“The government is doing vote bank politics on the deaths of blast victims,” he alleged.
He that it is “a 3-D government in Rajasthan and three Ds stands for ‘dange’ (riots), ‘durvyavhar’ (ill-treatment) with women and ‘Dalit’ atrocities.
People “will vote out the government in elections,” Shah said and exuded confidence that the BJP will form the government with a 2/3 majority in assembly elections and will again win all 25 seats in Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan.
He said that the BJP will go to elections on the basis of the work of the Modi government, the party ideology and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government is one of the most corrupt governments in the history of Rajasthan. People are fed up,” he claimed.

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#Pilots #contribution #Congress #compared #Gehlot #Shah #Rajasthan
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 15, 2023
Up close in Taiwan with the Republican who compared Xi to Hitler

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McCaul is hardly alone in making saber-rattling comments about Taiwan while visiting East Asia. Most provocative may have been Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of State who previously served with McCaul in the House. Pompeo last year used a trip to Taiwan to call for the U.S. to recognize the island as an independent nation — the ultimate diplomatic red line for mainland China.
President Joe Biden has also engaged in McCaul-style gestures toward ditching strategic ambiguity. He has repeatedly indicated that the U.S. would defend Taiwan from an invasion, only to have his aides walk it back in the press.
But McCaul’s remarks underscored a reality that the Brookings Institution warned about in an analysis published while he was on the ground: American politicians who go too far in defense of Taiwan run the risk of drawing unwanted Chinese attention to the island.
A “client” state like Taiwan might normally enjoy support from a “patron” state like America, the Brookings authors wrote. But when “its security environment appears to be deteriorating, a client might not welcome signals of support from the patron if the client considers those signals to be so provocative that they undermine its security.”
The security risks are real. Hours before McCaul met with Tsai, China announced three days of live-fire military exercises around the island. Beijing imposed sanctions on the hosts of Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy, bringing U.S.-China relations to a recent low point, and later separately announced sanctions against McCaul, which he deemed a “badge of honor” in a statement.
But in an interview, McCaul didn’t back down. He stood by his comparison between Xi and Hitler, arguing that Russia and China together presented a threat unseen in generations.
“We really haven’t seen anything quite like this, on this scale and a threat to Europe and the Pacific, since World War II,” the 61-year-old said.
McCaul has made it his personal mission to enlist other Republicans in support of hawkish foreign policy, even as loud voices on the right — including Donald Trump — have questioned America’s interest in countering China and confronting Russia’s invasion. He brought fellow Texas GOP Reps. Keith Self and Jake Ellzey with him on a recent Ukraine trip, part of what Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) called his effort to “educate” Republican colleagues.

He’s particularly active on the U.S. airwaves.
“I joke with Mike because every time I turn on the Sunday TV shows, I’ll see McCaul. And then I’ll click over to the next channel, and I’ll see McCaul,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview. “He gets more TV time than the speaker.”
In the interview, McCaul notably declined to criticize Trump’s approach to both Xi and Putin. Trump “at least projected strength,” the GOP lawmaker said, alleging that Biden “seems so weak” compared with his predecessor.
McCaul even argued that Trump’s “personality probably prevented an invasion” of Ukraine during his administration and “certainly would have deterred Chairman Xi from invading Taiwan” — both dubious claims, given the former president’s past praise for both Xi and Putin.
The former president’s polling lead in the 2024 primary could soon force McCaul and other GOP backers of Ukraine to grapple with a standard-bearer whose foreign policy views clash with theirs.
While McCaul steered clear of Trump, he conceded that he is not certain Congress would be prepared to vote to authorize or otherwise fund a U.S. military response should Beijing escalate: “I do worry about that,” he said.
Even as he reiterated one-on-one that he wouldn’t shrink from supporting a military response against China, he used a public press conference in Taipei to sound a note of characteristic bravado that may or or may not go over well in Beijing.
Asked by a reporter near the end of his trip if officials like Tsai had shared concern privately about his harsh rhetoric, McCaul responded that the Taiwanese president “welcomes” the American lawmakers’ backing, particularly because it was bipartisan.
“Obviously,” he added about China, “you don’t want to poke the Panda.”
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#close #Taiwan #Republican #compared #Hitler
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 15, 2023
Muslims compared to snakes, call for Akhand Bharat at Digital Hindu Conclave

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Leaders from the ruling BJP delivered Islamophobic speech in full swing at the recently concluded Digital Hindu Conclave held on March 18.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra, Kajal Shingala aka Kajal Hindusthani and far-right author Kshitij Patukale compared minorities, particularly those belonging to Muslim community, to snakes, distorted history by calling for violence as the only way to attain Akhand Bharat besides raising the topic of Love Jihad.
Kajal Shingala said that there can never be brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims and called out those who support secularism and peace between the two communities as a “sinking ship”.
“I want to let these people who have one leg on the Hindu boat and the other on a Muslim boat, you are going to drown,” she said.
She stressed that the making of Hindu Rashtra is inevitable and no one can stop them. “They (Muslims) kept shouting against Ram Mandir. But we succeeded and now it will be completed by next year. Similarly, I am confident that we will achieve success by creating a Hindu Rashtra and that day is not far away,” she said.
Without mentioning names, Kajal referred to Shah Rukh Khan’s recent visit to Vaishno Devi temple before the release of his movie Pathaan as well as Aamir Khan’s photograph doing Kalash pooja.
“We will make sure each one of them undergoes ghar vaapsi,” she said.
Ghar Vaapsi is a Hindutva programme meant to convert those belonging to other religions to Hinduism. it is conducted by right-wing organsations Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal, and their allies.

She also alleged that the Waqf board is forcibly snatching land from the Hindus. “You people came some 1,400 years before. We have been here forever. How can you claim this is your land?” she said.
She also spoke highly about the bulldozer culture introduced by the Yogi Adityanath government. “Such large-scale demolitions of Muslim homes have never been recorded in Indian history,” she said proudly.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra spoke about Love Jihad. Taking the recent murder of Shraddha Walker, whose live-in partner Aftab Poonawala stored her chopped body in a refrigerator, he said, “There will come a day when we will see ads like keep fruits in the fridge, not ‘Shraddha’.”
Far-right author Kshitij Patukale said, “It is our duty to protect our dharma and if that comes at the cost of the country, we should not hesitate. This is not a 200-year-old slavery (referring to colonial invasion), but around 1,200 years of slavery.”
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#Muslims #compared #snakes #call #Akhand #Bharat #Digital #Hindu #Conclave
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 27, 2023
‘Rahul compared OBCs to thieves..’ says Nadda; Kharge hits back

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New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday refuted BJP chief J P Nadda’s allegation that Rahul Gandhi compared OBC communities to thieves and accused the ruling party of indulging in “caste politics”.
Amid a political fight between the BJP and Congress following Gandhi’s conviction in a defamation case over the “Modi surname” remarks, Nadda alleged that “lies, personal slander and negative politics is integral” to his politics.
“By comparing OBC communities to thieves, Rahul Gandhi has shown a pathetic and casteist mindset. However, his latest tirade is not surprising. For the last many years, he has always reduced levels of political discourse,” Nadda said.
Hitting back, Kharge, in a tweet in Hindi, said, “Modi government cannot escape from JPC! Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Mehul Choksi fled with the money of PNB and the public. OBCs did not do so, then how were they insulted?”
“SBI/LIC suffered losses due to your ‘best friend’!” he said slamming the government.
“‘Ek toh chori mein sahyog phir jatigat rajneeti ka prayog’ (First providing help in stealing then applying caste politics),” Kharge said and termed it “shameful”.
Gandhi was on Thursday sentenced to two years in jail by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his “why all thieves have Modi surname” remarks.
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma, which held 52-year-old Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500, also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal in a higher court.

Gandhi can escape immediate disqualification as a member of parliament if the appellate court suspends the conviction as well as the two-year jail term.
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#Rahul #compared #OBCs #thieves. #Nadda #Kharge #hits
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 24, 2023
Centre opposes same-sex marriage, says, ‘Can’t be compared to Indian family concept..’

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The Central government on Sunday opposed pleas in the Supreme Court over the recognition of same-sex marriage.
In a counter affidavit over the pleas, the Centre stated that decriminalising Section 377 IPC “cannot give rise to a claim to seek recognition for same-sex marriage”.
One petition, among the batch seeking the right to marry a person of one’s choice to be extended to LGBTQIA+ citizens, was filed by two gay men living in Hyderabad Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang.
It countered that living together of persons in same-sex relationships “cannot be compared to the Indian family concept of a husband, a wife and children born out of the union.”
The Centre added that the statutory recognition of marriage is limited to heterosexual in nature and is the norm throughout history and is foundational to both the existence and continuance of the State.
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#Centre #opposes #samesex #marriage #compared #Indian #family #concept.

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 12, 2023
Women spend 7.2 hrs on unpaid domestic work compared to 2.8 hrs spent by men

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Ahmedabad: Women in the working age category of 15 to 60 years spend 7.2 hours on unpaid domestic work compared to 2.8 hours spent by men, indicating they have “time poverty”, as per a research conducted by a professor from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
Even wage-earning women spend twice the amount of time on unpaid domestic work in comparison to wage-earning men in fulfilling basic needs of the household such as cleaning, preparing meals and caregiving, says the research which is based on the Time Use Survey (TUS) of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
Though it is a known fact that women spend more time in unpaid household activities, the research paper “Time Use Data: A Tool for Gendered Policy Analysis”, claims that it for the first time quantifies the time that women in India spend on domestic work.
“The new thing about this survey is based on the first TUS by the NSSO, we can now point out the exact hours women in the working age category spend on unpaid domestic work. On an average, Indian women spend 7.2 hours of their daily time for such work while men spend 2.8 hours,” IIMA Prof Namrata Chindarkar told PTI.
Over the years, time use data has gained significance as a tool to examine gender inequality. Studies based on harmonised time use surveys conducted in Europe reveal that time use data have been instrumental in understanding the allocation of time between women and men across various activities, she said.
“These studies particularly find that, across countries, women spend more time on fulfilling basic needs of the household such as cleaning, preparing meals and caregiving,” Chindarkar said.
“The TUS conducted by the NSSO in 2019 is the first national time use survey for India (with the exception of Andaman and Nicobar Islands). It collects data using a 24-hour time diary (4 am to 4 am the next day) on a normal day of the week,” she added.
The paper has examined the TUS data to assess whether expectations from gender roles shape the allocation of time between men and women in India.

It further finds out that “even wage-earning women spend twice the amount of time on unpaid domestic work in comparison to wage-earning men”.
It also says that “men spend nearly 150 minutes more per day on paid employment relative to women.”
“By itself, the average time spent on activities does not provide a sense of severity of the time burden. To capture the severity, we examine time poverty,” Chindarkar said.
She said they measure time poverty in terms of overwork based on the OECD definition of working more than 50 hours per week.
“We find that women are 24 per cent more likely to have less leisure time in comparison to men. In contrast, we find that wage-earning men are 72 per cent more likely to be overworked compared to wage-earning women. This could plausibly be because of the differences in the nature of jobs and occupations held by men and women,” the research paper said.
The analyses highlight certain gendered patterns. A greater proportion of women’s time is devoted to fulfilling domestic responsibilities irrespective of their employment status. For women in employment, this often results in a “second shift”, it said.
It is now a stylised fact that effective public services, such as access to electricity and clean cooking energy, can alleviate women’s time burden. However, the research paper finds that the magnitude of this difference is small.
“The TUS data suggests that, on an average, women in households that use LPG or other clean cooking fuels spend less time on domestic unpaid activities, which includes meal preparation time, compared to those using traditional fuels. We observe that women in households that use LPG or other clean cooking fuels enjoy an additional leisure time of 41 to 80 minutes compared to those using traditional fuels,” the research said.
Looking again at the TUS data, individuals who reported that electricity is the primary source of lighting for the household, reported, on an average, less time spent on domestic unpaid activities. For women, the time spent on domestic activities was less by around 20 minutes, it said.
“In addition, the average time spent on leisure by women in households having electricity as primary source of lighting was about 35 minutes more compared to those not having electricity as their primary source of lighting,” it said. The research paper suggested that TUS can be used effectively to form government policies for women.
“As observed from our analysis, by pointing to how women and men allocate their time on various activities, time use data can enhance our understanding of the effects of social norms and gender roles. The time use data can therefore form an effective feedback loop to strengthen policy design,” it said.
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#Women #spend #hrs #unpaid #domestic #work #compared #hrs #spent #men
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 12, 2023