Welcome Our Newest Co-Blogger

Welcome our newest co-blogger Brij Khindaria, whose first post appears on the site today.

Brij is the latest writer to accept an invitation to write on TMV, which seeks to present a diverse range of moderate viewpoints and thoughtful and thought provoking posts. (We again remind readers that just as Democrats, Republicans and Independents don’t agree on everything, neither do all moderates and centrists).

Brij is based in Europe and is a friend of co-blogger Swaraaj Chuahan — and just as solid journalistically. He has a VAST professional journalistic resume, having written for some of the top news agencies and publications around the world. He’ll explain more about his background in a later post when his schedule permits.

He is particularly interested in NATO issues, issues involving Europe and human development issues. In short: he’ll be a great addition to TMV’s roster of always independent writers.

A word on cobloggers. Some people have asked why blogs have cobloggers. This blog started with my own posts. Due to my travel schedule getting heavier, and my desire to offer people who might not totally see things the way I do but who are basically moderate, I began inviting some bloggers on board. The first two were Jack Grant and Greg Piper.

Jack has not posted much due to a major event in his life — but he may resume soon. Greg has started working for a publication in Washington and was recently named associate managing editor. Both will still post as time permits. I remain a HUGE fan of Jack and Greg, who have different perspectives but are true independent thinkers (which is why they were invited: I became a fan of what they did on their sites).

The majority of blogs are done as passionate hobbies. Few are done for the $$$ (since for most there is little or no $$$ in it). So the people who stay up late and cut out sleep to write posts do it because they believe it has other values. Peoples’ schedules may change; some may even be burned out, then go back into it again.

In my own case, my summer travel schedule (which entails long drives nearly every day and getting stuck in traffic) has cut down greatly the number of my own posts. Plus, with recent events here and abroad some additional sets of eyes — and minds — seemed timely. In my own case, I can now post almost exclusively late at night and early morning, and then am gone most of the day.

In the case of Brij, due to reasons above plus the fact that my schedule was far more brutal than anticipated, I was thinking of adding someone new — someone who wasn’t already coblogging on another site but someone who could stand back and look at issues, preferably at foreign issues. That was when Swaraaj sent his email.

In any event, Brij has the background, the references and as you can see from his first post the willingness to step back and think an issue through. All of TMV’s cobloggers are happy to have him on board — and we’re sure you will, too.