Latest news with #TheSilkRoad
The Hindu
21-05-2025
- The Hindu
Silk Route brought various cultures together, says author
The ancient Silk Route that connected the Roman Empire with China was not merely a road that facilitated transportation of goods but it also was a channel for exchange of cultures, author and retired IPS officer D.V. Guruprasad said in Belagavi on Tuesday. 'The Silk Route was not just a road. It was an organic being. It led to the growth of informed civilizations that assimilated languages and cultures that were alien to each other. It acted as a chain that held various land masses and cultures together,' he said. He was speaking at a function to release his 100th book, Silk Route, in Kannada, and an interaction with readers at the Belgaum Club. He described the book as a historical non-fiction work and not a travelogue. 'I have tried to cover historical facts that tend to have an influence on our modern life,' he said. He said that he is working on five more books, including a detailed work on drug lord Pablo Escobar. 'All the five books will be released at once in June this year,' he said. He said that he was fascinated by stories of the Silk Route since his childhood. 'I began reading all the books about it. They included The Silk Road by Peter Frankopan, I Xanadu by William Dalrymple, Colin Thubron's Shadow of the Silk Road, and Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud by Sun Shuyun,' he said. He said that he prepared for writing the book for over a decade, of which he travelled two years. 'In preparing to write the book, I travelled to all the 40 countries on the Silk Route, except four. I met scholars, historians and even common people from these countries. I will go back and visit the four countries that I left out in the first leg of my research tour once the political conditions improve. I plan to write a sequel,' he said. He said that he has ended the book saying how the world learnt important lessons on spirituality, culture, science, trade and agriculture and how it (Silk Route) has been a teacher of the world in the past. 'My research on the osmosis of Buddhism from India to the world made me curious enough to consider writing a book on spirituality,' Dr. Guruprasad said. Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar S. Guled introduced the book. He described it as a treasure trove of stories that tries to capture a brief history of over 3,000 years in its 235 pages. Dr. Guled engaged with young readers in the crowd by asking them questions about the Silk Route and the ancient civilisations of Asia and Europe and read out answers from the pages of the book. Dr Guled said that the Silk Route read like a racy thriller but educated the readers as well. 'The reader is transformed into a time traveller who moves from China to Rome and back. It describes kings, merchants, commoners and even highwaymen,' he said. Vice-Chancellor of Rani Channamma University C.M. Thyagaraj said that the book can help arose the curiosity of today's youth who have almost given up reading books. He appreciated the author's use innovative language. 'The book raises and answers several questions like, how was the Silk Route in the past, how is it now, what remains of it now? What was the life of the people like then and how it has changed now? It is history for the layman, presented in simple and engrossing language,' Dr. Thyagaraj said. Commandant of the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre Brigadier Joydip Mukherjee released the book. He gave examples of books by various authors on history and international relations. He said that such works in Indian languages will lead to better research and publication of interesting material. M.K. Jainapur, who has bought the first copy of every book by Dr. Guruprasad, received an autographed copy of the book. The readers observed a one-minute silence in honour of Ramakant Joshi of Manohara Grantha Mala, Dharwad-based publisher of the book. The event was organised by Belagavi Geleyara Balaga, World on Wheels and Belgaum 360. Writer Sarjoo Katkar, Superintendent of Excise Vijay Hiremath, Assistant Drug Controller Raghuram Nidavanda and others were present.
Telegraph
03-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Trump has bailed out crypto. The US taxpayer risks being the biggest loser
As the cryptocurrency market fell to its lowest level since the days after his father's November election victory, Eric Trump urged investors not to lose faith. 'Buy the dips!!!' he tweeted last week. The phrase is a common one in the volatile world of cryptocurrency, where shared momentum and optimism drive the markets. But a few days later, observers might wonder whether there was more behind the message. On Sunday, Donald Trump announced that his administration was pressing ahead with plans to set up a US crypto reserve, identifying three digital coins – XRP, Solana and Cardano – that would be included in the fund. The values of the three lesser-known tokens, popular in crypto circles but obscure to much of the general public, instantly surged by up to 20pc. Trump later added that Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two biggest cryptocurrencies would 'obviously' be included, adding: 'I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!' The two digital coins subsequently enjoyed their own price spike. In the space of an hour, roughly $250bn (£197bn) was added to the value of the cryptocurrency market. There is no evidence that Eric Trump's advice was informed, but it was certainly profitable. In Trump's first term, he saw the stock market as a proxy approval rating. In his second, he may prefer the price of Bitcoin. While Wall Street has been relatively languid since his second election win, cryptocurrencies have traded at all-time highs. Trump cheered as Bitcoin hit $100,000 for the first time in December, posting on Truth Social: 'Congratulations Bitcoiners … You're welcome!!!' The Bitcoin price – a single, simple metric – may also appeal to the president as the wider US economy appears to struggle. On Friday, an economic tracker from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggested that the economy could shrink at an annualised rate of 1.5pc in the first quarter of the year. Inflation fears have also returned, in part owing to Trump's tariffs. The momentum-fuelled crypto market has proven an easier beast to tame. After a crackdown by the Biden administration, which fretted about the lack of protections around digital assets, Trump has been able to boost prices with a series of crypto-friendly appointments at key government agencies and promises to make America the world's 'crypto capital'. Once a sceptic who criticised cryptocurrency as a scam, Trump himself has demonstrated little personal passion for the industry. Policies such as freeing Ross Ulbricht, the founder of online drug market The Silk Road, have appeared designed to win the community's support rather than demonstrate a coherent vision of what cryptocurrency means in Trump's America. But they have endeared the president to a new legion of supporters who felt that their industry was under threat. The crypto industry, despite being set up on libertarian principles, spent $133m to help elect Trump and dozens of other supportive candidates in last year's election, becoming a devastatingly effective new power in Washington DC. Among Trump's big supporters were Marc Andreessen, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist whose firm has become one of the crypto industry's heaviest backers; Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twin brothers who became billionaires through Bitcoin; and Brian Armstrong, the boss of crypto exchange Coinbase. Most prominent has been David Sacks, the former PayPal executive and close ally of Elon Musk, who was a relatively early Trump backer in Silicon Valley and has since been appointed the president's 'crypto tsar'. He will be charged with developing plans for Trump's crypto reserve, which is likely to be outlined in more detail at a 'summit' on Friday. Trump's announcement led to a backlash on concerns that taxpayer money would be used to prop up an asset disproportionately held by a rich clique. 'Torn as to whether this is more dumb or more corrupt,' wrote Jason Furman, a key economic adviser to Barack Obama. Joe Lonsdale, the founder of tech firm Palantir and a major Trump supporter, wrote: 'It's wrong to steal my money for grift on the Left; it's also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.' Trump's specific shopping list of cryptocurrencies also raised eyebrows. XRP, Ripple and Solana, whose combined value is roughly one seventh of Bitcoin's, are relatively niche even among those who have parked money in Bitcoin. One meme spreading among Bitcoin fans on Sunday called the plan a 's---coin reserve'. Others pointed out that the list closely mirrored a cryptocurrency fund that Sacks had invested in – despite Trump's crypto tsar having denied any conflict of interest on Monday, saying he had sold all of his cryptocurrency holdings before Trump took office. The sense of injustice rose when it emerged that an anonymous 'whale' had made a highly leveraged bet on Bitcoin and Ethereum on Sunday on the trading service Hyperliquid, closing the position after the cryptocurrencies' price rise and making a $7m profit. The move led to frenzied social media speculation about the trader's identity and whether they might have an inside line to the White House. Regardless, the Trump family itself stands to benefit from soaring crypto prices. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr have positions at crypto company World Liberty Financial, and the technology company behind Trump's Truth Social has said it will put up to $250m into assets – including cryptocurrencies. So far, the design of Trump's crypto reserve is unclear. Some have speculated that it could merely be funded by cryptocurrencies seized from criminals by law enforcement, a stockpile estimated to be worth almost $20bn. Meanwhile, US senator Cynthia Lummis has suggested a 1m Bitcoin reserve, which would cost $93bn at today's prices. 'Government waste and expenditures are under the microscope right now, especially with the emergence of DOGE, so I strongly doubt a majority of Americans will take kindly to the government using taxpayer dollars to accumulate Bitcoin or other crypto assets (especially more obscure coins like Cardano or XRP),' says Nic Carter, of cryptocurrency investment firm Castle Island Ventures. 'Bitcoin (and crypto) holders are still a small minority of Americans. Trump's close associates have a lot of interests in cryptocurrency, so to the broader public, and especially his critics, these moves will seem self-interested, even if they are made with sincere intentions. 'I think Bitcoiners underestimate the political backlash that they will face if the general public views the policy as a government bailout for a small set of (already affluent) Americans, at the expense of the US taxpayer.' Sacks pushed back on the idea that any fund would be financed by new taxes, saying more details would come. But as American citizens fret about the price of eggs, any suggestion that Trump is bailing out his crypto-owning backers is unlikely to be popular.
