#dnaEdit: Jottings of the week..

China’s military salute
Many would find the Chinese government’s commemoration of the Second World War victory somewhat perverse — even intimidating — particularly, for countries inimical to China. At Beijing’s Tiananmen Square this Thursday, the Chinese army put on display its massive military strength as tanks, missile launchers and more than 12,000 troops paraded through the square. “This great triumph … put an end to China’s national humiliation …re-established China as a major country in the world,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Communist party stalwarts. Not surprisingly, the US and Japan governments stayed away from the ceremony. The show of military strength seemed to be a sinister reminder of the destruction China is capable of wreaking on its enemies as well as of Xi’s unassailable hold on power. Paradoxically, Xi made an unexpected pledge to slash his army by 300,000 troops even though without committing to a deadline. Surely, there could be less aggressive ways of commemorating the end to a devastating war. 

True to form
Political consistency has never been one of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s virtues. In the past — and on more occasions than one — his socialist friends have fallen prey to his infamous flip-flops. True to reputation, the Samajwadi Party leader has yet again ditched his Janata Parivar allies even as they are readying for a head-on collision with the BJP in the Bihar polls. On Thursday, Yadav abruptly pulled out of the “grand alliance”, protesting as “inadequate” the five seats allotted to his party, which hardly has visible presence in Bihar. Recall — in the last Bihar polls, the SP drew a blank in all of the 170 seats it had contested. But wanting a larger share of the pie, Yadav has now declared his resolve to go at it alone. Never mind, that his move has the BJP gloating. No wonder the Mulayam-sceptics doubt his sincerity in fighting the BJP and communal politics. 

Searching for trouble
The Competition Commission of India’s charge that search engine giant Google has “abused its dominance” in the Indian market promises to trigger a legal battle in the top courts of the country. The CCI ordered a probe in 2012 after CUTS, a consumer rights website, and match-making website Bharat Matrimony complained about Google’s online advertising model. Last year, the CCI had fined Google Rs1 crore for not cooperating with the probe. Two areas reportedly red-flagged by the CCI was the ad-sense and web search agreements that the company enters with search users. But penalising Google for skewing search results in favour of its advertisers and its own services is a tricky issue. Unlike net neutrality where the Internet is gamed in a particular manner by service producers, Google search, though the most popular search engine, is just one of several competing services available. So companies like Bharat Matrimony that complain of Google’s business model of monetising search keywords and promoting their competitors’ ads are on weak ground. However, a search engine like Google attempting to restrict advertisers from placing ads on competing online platforms would be a serious charge. The CCI’s final ruling, expected on September 17, will reveal whether the charges against Google hold any water.