Best of BS Opinion: Quiet powers that are shaping a tumultuous world

Business Standard

10-05-2025

Have you ever noticed that a candle with a steady flame doesn't scream for attention? It doesn't flare or flicker. It simply holds — quiet, consistent, defiant. In a world hooked on chaos and speed, that kind of constancy is easy to overlook. But this week's stories, wildly different as they are, are all drawn to that image: forces that burn without blinking, whether they illuminate, unsettle or quietly persist. Across economics, politics, technology, and culture, the flame holds its shape—even when winds rise. Today's stories are a reminder of that little flame. Let's dive in
Kenneth Rogoff analyses one such flame in the form of a misunderstood economic strategy — the so-called 'Mar-a-Lago Accord' aimed at weakening the US dollar. While presented as a fix for deindustrialisation and trade deficits, the plan, like a draft caught in an open window, misunderstands the physics of the room. It fixates on the currency's strength but forgets to ask why that strength exists. Rogoff gently but firmly lights the path toward real solutions — fiscal discipline and domestic investment, not artificial interventions.
In a flickering corner of the literary world, Sandeep Goyal explores the AI-assisted resurrection of Agatha Christie. BBC Maestro's controversial writing course has ignited both admiration and outrage. Is it a tribute, or is it torching ethical lines we've barely drawn? Whether you see it as flame or flammable, it's part of a broader fire catching hold in creative industries — where nostalgia, AI, and commerce spark together, sometimes beautifully, sometimes destructively.
Meanwhile, in India's political heart, Aditi Phadnis writes on a rare show of unity amid conflict. 'Operation Sindoor' has seen opposition and government walk side-by-side, drawing on a deep democratic tradition of solidarity during war. Like the candle, this consensus glows steadily — difficult to notice in daylight, deeply reassuring in the dark.
But in Shekhar Gupta's piece on Pakistan's General Munir, we meet a man not lighting candles, but stamping them out. His aggressive stance on Kashmir, timed with India's peaceful gestures like the Vande Bharat launch, suggests a deliberate attempt to quench the symbolism of normalcy. When one flame rises, another tries to snuff it.
Vanita Kohli-Khandekar closes the loop with a cultural reflection: as Hollywood faces tariffs and internal tremors, its soft power dims. Trump's proposed restrictions on international shoots could hollow out the emotional fire America exports to the world. If that flame flickers, no other nation — despite talent — can quite replace its glow.
Stay tuned, and remember, even in the darkest rooms, it's not the storm that matters the most, it's the flame that holds!