About: the world this week, 3 November to 9 November 2024: Israel infighting; USA’s new old President; Amsterdam street-hunt; Cricket-Kiwis make ants of India; and Quincy Jones departs.

Everywhere

Israel: Infighting

This week, Israel’s Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu fired his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, 14 months into the Gaza War, and the attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran.

Netanyahu said there has been too many ‘significant gaps’ between them over the management of Israel’s wars. He added, “In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the PM and the defence minister. Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister”.

The two have regularly been at odds over the handling of the Gaza war. A previous attempt to fire Gallant, in March last year, led to widespread street agitations against Netanyahu, with opposition groups calling for mass protests.

This time, the ‘gallant’ sacking comes amid a backdrop of disagreements over drafting of ultra-orthodox students into the IDF, with Gallant deciding to send out thousands of draft notices. Leaders of ultra-orthodox Haredi parties in Netanyahu’s coalition Government have called for a law exempting full-time religious seminary students from service.

Religious young men are exempt from military service, which is compulsory for most Jews in the country. Many Israelis are annoyed the ultra-orthodox remain exempt from national service when so many of the country’s young men and women are fighting.

Yoav Gallant was replaced by Israel Katz, was previously foreign minister. Katz has nowhere near the military command experience of Gallant-who is so well regarded within Israel that when he spoke about the direction of the war, often in opposition to Netanyahu, people listened.

Amsterdam Hunt

Late this week Jewish soccer fans were ‘attacked and hunted like animals’ by Islamists, Pro-Palestinian mobs, and antisemitic hit-and-run squads who went on a rampage in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Israelis were abused and pelted with fireworks around the city, and riot police had to be called-in to protect them and escort them to hotels. At least five people were treated in hospital. Israel despatched its aeroplanes to the rescue and said it would fly many fans home. However at the end of the day all missing people were accounted for and Israel sighed in relief.

Dutch police said they had launched a major investigation into multiple incidents following the Europa League soccer game this Thursday night between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch side Ajax.

Later, the King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander said: ‘We failed the Jewish community during World War II, and last night we failed again’.

United States (US): a New Old President

The US has a peculiar, long-drawn process of electing its President and Vice-President, beginning from the nomination of candidates through Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, Conventions, and ending on Election Day. They are not chosen by a direct popular vote. The US Constitution requires that a process known as the Electoral College ultimately decides who wins the Presidential election. In all other US elections, candidates are elected directly by popular vote.

Each state gets as many Electors as it has members of Congress (House and Senate). Each state’s political parties choose their own slate of potential Electors. Who is chosen to be an Elector, how, and when varies from State to State.

After a voter casts his ballot for President and Vice-President, his vote goes to a statewide tally. In 48 states and Washington, DC., the winner gets all the electoral votes for that State. The States of Maine and Nebraska assign their electors using a proportional system. A candidate needs the vote of at least 270 Electors—more than half of all Electors out of a total of 538—to win the presidential election. In most cases, a projected winner is announced on election night in November after voting is completed. But the actual Electoral College vote takes place in mid-December when the electors meet in their States.

Electoral votes are awarded on the basis of the popular vote in each State. The Electoral College is not a physical place. It is a process which includes: the selection of Electors; meeting of Electors who cast votes for the President and Vice-President; and counting of the Electors’ votes by Congress.

This week on 3rd November, Tuesday, America voted to elect a new President and Vice-President for the next four years. Counting of votes begins on Election night and typically proceeds in a specific order: election day votes first, followed by early and mail-in ballots. Local election officials are tasked with verifying and counting votes, a process that is meticulously regulated to ensure accuracy and transparency.

In this year’s Presidential Elections, former President Donald Trump of the Republican Party trounced Vice-President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party to become the 47th President(Elect) of the United States. Trump won the Electoral and the Popular Vote: 295 Electoral votes and 50.8% of the Popular vote, to Kamala Harris’ 226, and 47.5% respectively. The vote for the Vice-President-the running mate- runs alongside that President. And J D Vance becomes Vice President-elect.

Donald Trump made history in many ways: he is the oldest President, at 78, to be elected; the first convicted felon; and the first Republican to win the popular vote in over two decades.

Trump’s strategy of courting a coalition of less engaged voters and minority groups, especially Black and Hispanic men, paid off. His messaging on immigration and the economy resonated with voters, giving him an edge, as many expressed dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden’s administration-baggage Kamala Harris struggled to shrug off.

Trump has proven to be political Teflon: no matter the scandal or issue, he has outmanoeuvred it and garnered support. Voters chose Trump despite the litany of offensive or racist remarks at rallies, concerns about his age, questions about his mental acuity, the fallout from the 6 January 2020 insurrection, and a colourful trial that ended with a criminal conviction.

In his first speech, Trump said the nation delivered “an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” while JD Vance called the election “the greatest political comeback” in US history.

How did Trump pull it off?

He had the fortune of running when Americans were frustrated by inflation, high prices and, to a lesser extent, illegal immigration across the US southern border. On the campaign trail, Trump said he opposed a federal abortion ban but that states are free to pass laws as restricted or unrestricted as they choose. He also became a vocal advocate for having insurers cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.

Trump’s emphatic win seems to be a revenge of the normal working class and a message by the ordinary man on the street to get the job done of making their lives easier, and better. And doing what he said he will do.

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk lent his entrepreneurial, start-up muscle techniques and his dollars, to the win, especially with the social media platform ‘X’. He endorsed Trump and set a winning narrative. Maybe, America has reached a fork in its destiny, worked, after all. Microsoft’s Bill Gates and a galaxy of Hollywood stars in turn endorsed Kamala, but they acted to a wrong script, ‘divorced from the mega reality’ and it was a flop show.

Those were the Trump’s signature issues, ones that proved to be anvils that weighed down Vice President Harris’ candidacy. The result was a quicker-than-expected set of returns that secured Trump an unbelievable, landslide victory.

India was not let down in ‘trying to place its person’ in the White House, or at least in the neighbourhood. If Indian origin Kamala Harris lost the Presidency, Indian origin Usha Chilukuri won the job of the Second Lady as wife of Vice-President J D Vance – that’s a family vote. Usha becomes the first Indian American, Telugu American, and Hindu Brahim American to reach the position. An elated Chief Minister of the Indian State of Andra Pradesh was quick to give a ‘shout out’, welcoming them home, sometime.

Usha Chilukuri, 38, is the daughter of Indian immigrants. Her father is a mechanical engineer from IIT Chennai and a lecturer at San Diego State University; her mother is a molecular biologist and provost at the University of California, San Diego.

Her parents’ ancestral village is Vadluru in West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, though Usha grew up in a San Diego suburb.

Usha graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in history and from Yale Law School with a Juris Doctor degree. After law school, Usha served as a law clerk for multiple federal judges, including Chief Justice John Roberts, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and Judge Amul Thapar. Usha married Vance in 2014, and in 2019 she was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar and subsequently worked for a leading law firm handling civil litigation and appeals in cases involving higher education, local government, entertainment, and technology. She resigned from her law firm job in July 2024 to help her husband in the Vice-Presidential campaign. The Second Couple boast three children – two boys and a girl.

Cricket

The New Zealand cricket team’s tour of India ended with a perfect white-wash, topping-up with frothy white cream, to the already won 2 test matches, in the 3 Test Match Series. Words such as historic win, first-ever… etc., were hit to the boundary.

Indians expected their team to salvage some pride by winning the Third Test match played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, starting on the 1st November, but it was a huge disappointment. Set to chase 146 runs for a win, India disastrously floundered and lost by 25 runs. They left the stadium with their tails firmly between their legs while the Kiwis, who had no tail to wag, or wings to fly, sturdily walked home with the Victory Trophy. Feet firmly pitched on the ground.

‘Q’: You Were The World

This week, American record producer, songwriter, composer, and film and television producer, Quincy Jones, the man known simply as ‘Q’ died on Sunday at age 91. With reasons not being disclosed, we can assume that old age kicked-in.

Q worked with musicians ranging from Count Basie to Frank Sinatra and reshaped pop music with his collaborations with Michael Jackson in a music career spanning more than 65 years. There was little Jones did not do in his career. He was a trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, composer, producer and winner of 28 Grammy Awards.

Quincy Jones was a studio workaholic and a virtuoso at handling delicate egos. He shaped recordings by jazz greats such as Miles Davis, produced for Frank Sinatra, and put together the superstar ensemble that recorded the 1985 fundraiser, ‘We Are the World’, the biggest hit song of its time. That was to raise money for fighting famine in Ethiopia. Jones organised ‘We are the World’ along with Jackson and singer Lionel Richie. The huge all-star chorus featured Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and Smokey Robinson. Q set the tone for the recording session with a sign that said, ‘Leave your ego at the door’.

Quincy was also a prolific writer of movie scores and co-produced the film, ‘The Color Purple’, as well as the 1990s television show ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’, which launched the career of Actor Will Smith.

Jones’ most lasting achievements were in collaboration with Michael Jackson. They made three landmark albums – ‘Off the Wall’ in 1979, ‘Thriller’ in 1982, and ‘Bad’ in 1987 – that changed the landscape of American popular music. ‘Thriller’ sold as many as 70 million copies, with six of the nine songs on the album becoming top 10 singles.

Hits like ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’ and the title song made ‘Thriller’ the biggest-selling album of all time. It won three Grammys for Quincy Jones and seven for Michael Jackson. They followed that in 1987 with ‘Bad,’ which had five No. 1 hits, including, ‘Smooth Criminal’ and ‘Man in the Mirror’. Over to their music in Heaven!

More thrilling stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Listen to the music of World Inthavaaram (wish Q was here to make a recording).