Why FT, IMF, WHO, UN, etc. don't matter anymore

So Financial Times called the current crisis, “a conflict in the hands of two religious strongmen”, essentially equating India with Pakistan.

Ideally, an entity like FT equating an economic powerhouse like India (and its leadership) to a perpetual problem child like Pakistan should start a huge fire. But here’s why this isn’t a surprise.

The book in picture - The Powerful and the Damned - is the memoir of Leonel Barber - the longest serving chief of FT. I read this book on Suhel Seth’s personal recommendation in 2021, and it offered me a deep insight into the world of the liberal intelligentsia. Here’s what I learnt.

Firstly, these guys are no intellectuals. These people are only good “politicians” adept at handling egos. They’re like actors in a permanent role. And their lack of intellectual standing on any issue is the basis of what they call “balanced view”. The truth is there’s nothing “balanced” about their view. Their understanding of things is just superficial at best, if not wrong completely.

Secondly, despite that very superficial and often incorrect understanding of things, their skill of managing egos with opportunistic political correctness makes them think they have a “higher ground of judgement” of things of all nature. So first comes incompetence, then comes a smug sense of intellectual superiority.

And finally (and most importantly and unfortunately), the ‘superficial understanding of things’, followed by the ‘smug sense of intellectual superiority’, all in the garb of ‘political correctness’ - makes them the perfect (and very dangerous) tools of “the establishment”, i.e. the global liberal world order. These people have no spine, and that makes them the perfect ambassadors of the evil forces. They’re same forces who ruined Iraq, Libya, Argentina, and countless other countries. Latest being Ukraine.

In my review of the book, I wrote:

“…And the flipside of Mr. Barber's universal appeal is his (disturbing) political correctness. Every opinion is wrapped in a contradictory condition, every compliment rounded with a cautionary note. The guy can't say anything without balancing it with a counterview, mostly without depth and sincerity. Also, I think it's not a coincidence that he had wrong opinions about most things I personally knew very well. But how does that matter, right? He got the job he wanted, and kept it for longer than anyone else could. Kudos to him for that!”

As I’ve always said: “Screw authority bias. Question everything. Think for yourself. Always.”

I’d like to extend that to make it more holistic:

“Screw authority bias. And screw establishment bias as well. Question everything. Think for yourself. Always.”

Here’s to the inevitable, and very necessary irrelevance of places like FT, IMF, WHO, UN, etc.

Screw you all.

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