And they call themselves Secular !!!!

Here's an interesting article written by TJS George for newindpress:


WE live in a racist world. At immigration counters, we accept this as routine. But at the higher levels of international finance and business, manifestations of racism do cause surprise in this age of globalisation.

The world saw a nasty example of colour-culture discrimination when L.N. Mittal tried to take over Arcelor in Europe. He was already the ‘steel king of the world’, yet an executive of Arcelor refused to deal with ‘monkey money’. That was a crude reminder of Europe’s white football hooligans who put on monkey imitations when black players score goals. That the executive had to eat his words and watch Arcelor becoming Arcelor-Mittal is another story.

Perhaps more significant is the mentality that made the US-listed luxury hotel chain Orient Express ridicule Tata’s suggestion of a tie-up. The CEO of that company, appropriately named Paul White, explained that ‘any association of our luxury brands with your brands would result in a reduction in value of our brands’. White Saheb took umbrage that, despite an earlier rebuff by Orient Express, Tatas dared to write again expressing an interest in the alliance. Hence his expression of contempt for
`your predominantly domestic Indian’ chain.

A week earlier an American automobile chief had scorned Tata Motors’ bid for Ford’s luxury models. ‘I don’t believe’ he said, ‘that the US public is ready for ownership out of India for a luxury-car brand such as Jaguar’. He said ‘there are unique image issues’ with Tatas and Mahindras that the third bidder, a white American, did not have.

All of which is of course asinine white rubbish. For one thing, Tata is a globally respected brand. For another, the US public last week was ready for Vikram Pandit as the boss of Citigroup, America’s largest financial conglomerate, just as it was ready for Indra Nooyi as head of Pepsi, a symbol of American nationalism. Before them Rajiv Gupta was GM of Hewlett-Packard, Arun Netravalli was President of AT&T, Rajat Gupta headed McKensey, Rana Talwar led Stanchart, not to mention Vinod Dahm who created the Pentium chip, and Sabeer Bhatia who founded Hotmail.

Clearly, when it comes to brainpower, the White man wants what the Brown man has, and there is no image issue there. But when it comes to simple racial arrogance, even bureaucratic factotums in American consulates show their colours. Not long ago scientist Kesavan, duly called for visa interview in Chennai, was made to wait an hour in the midday sun, then two more hours inside, before he was given a questionnaire and told, ‘fill it up or you won’t be interviewed’. Scientist Govardhan Mehta was told that he was lying about his research; visa denied.

Perhaps the fault is ours. Finance Minister Chidambaram recently complained that America discriminated against Indian banks that wanted to open branches there. Instead of complaining, would he make American banks run from pillar to post when they come to do business in India? Remembering how Defence Minister George Fernandes was body-searched in Washington, will our Sarkar subject Condoleezza Rice to a frisking in Delhi?

The way to get respect in this mixed-up world is to do unto others what others do unto us.

Pakistan's Sanity Hangs by a Thread

The common dogma [of fundamentalists] is fear of modern knowledge, inability to cope with the fast change in a scientific-technological society, and the real breakdown in apparent moral order in recent years.... That is why hate is the major fuel, fear is the cement of the movement, and superstitious ignorance is the best defense against the dangerous new knowledge. ... When you bring up arguments that cast serious doubts on their cherished beliefs you are not simply making a rhetorical point, you are threatening their whole Universe and their immortality. That provokes anger and quite frequently violence. ... Unfortunately you cannot reason with them and you even risk violence in confronting them. Their numbers will decline only when society stabilizes, and adapts to modernity.

On November 3, Pakistan's President Musharraf declared a state of emergency and martial law in Pakistan, suspending the Pakistan constitution, stating that Pakistan's sovereignty was at stake.

Reasons:
This emergency declaration was made as the continuing growth of power and influence of the Taliban has turned the area of Swat into a mini-state within Pakistan, as Pakistan army and police are surrendering to Taliban, and as the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. (NWFP) government has publicly offered to meet the demands of the Taliban to enforce Shariah throughout the Swat area.

This grim news also comes after repeated polls taken among the Pakistani public which shows between 60 to 76 percent of those polled favor the growth of Islamist Shariah law throughout Pakistan, as well as news reports of growth of Pakistan Taliban armaments and tolerance of Taliban in major cities within Pakistan.

This emergency declaration also comes less than a week after a suicide bomber attack near the heavily-fortified Pakistani Army HQ in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which houses President Musharraf's office. Pakistan's internal security has been challenged in the past several months with a continuing series of suicide bombings and attacks, including one on Benazir Bhutto's convoy last month that killed 145 people.

Threats from Fundamentalist groups:

The September 2006 peace pact between Pakistan and the Taliban has allowed both the Taliban and Al Qaeda to regroup in Waziristan and carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In August 2007, while President Musharraf was holding meetings with Taliban representatives, encouraging the Taliban to become a mainsteam political organization, the Taliban has continued to solidify a base in the North-West Frontier (NWFP) Province of Pakistan.
This NWFP base of the Taliban is centered in the Swat area, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have created a mini-state within Pakistan, where pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah uses FM radio to broadcast the Islamist ideology of the Taliban to the public.

On November 2, the Pakistan NWFP government announced an initial appeasement to the Taliban to help it achieve its Islamist goals in enforcing Shariah throughout Pakistan -- the creation of a committee to enforce Sharia law in Malakand Division. The Pakistan Daily Times reported that the "provincial government has directed the committee to submit its report as soon as possible for swift implementation of Sharia law".

On November 3, prior to the emergency declaration, NWFP governor Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai announced that Pakistan was considering enforcement of Shariah in Swat valley to meet the demands of pro-Taliban militants, stating "[t]he government is considering the implementation of Sharia law in the view of the demands of the local people."

Today November 10, The islamic fundamentalists have shown a repeat telecast of what they did at Bhamyan, Afghanistan by destroying another Buddhist Heritage.

Where are we heading:

Even though Musharaff's declaration of emergency seems to be displaying his autocracy. Considering the rise of fundamentalism, maybe his staying as the general makes sense. A known devil is better than an unknown friend.

Bhutto's alliance with Musharaf seems to be making some rough waves.

Sharif's call on suspending all contacts with musharaff and taking the country towards democracy is novel but does not seem to be promising considering the recent changes.

The failure of American leadership to have a policy on Islamism has prevented the ability to provide a pro-active coherent policy in Pakistan that addresses both the strategic issues of pro-Islamist Pakistani public sentiment along with support in areas of the government

Indian Govt seems to be supporting Musharaf as far as he can keep the fundamentalists at bay.

The industry whiz'z are preparing to take their stakes out of Pakistan as the country loses its stability yet again.

However, with all fairness to Musharaf, the avant garde general did help Pakistan increase its GDP, improve trade defecits (thanks to US aid) and did start a lot of development for Pakistan.

How long will Musharaf last!!!.... I guess my money is not on him

Mums the Word

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
- Oscar Romero

India has been silent on the human rights violation in Burma.

The issue began when the monks started demonstrating the 500% hike in the gas/power prices by the dictatorial junta. Over 150 political activist groups including the 88 generation student groups led the protest.The autocrat crushed the protest thr' brutal voilence which has caused a bug uproar in the international community.

This kind of violence is not new to the dictator genral Than Shwe. He had crushed the protest in 1988 by the university students and the had killed over 3000 people at that time.

While the UN Human Rights Council and the others have passed on comments. The EU has imposed more sanctions against the Junta. Japan, one of the biggest donors has threatened sanctions to the Buddhist nation. India and China, two of the largest trading partner of the Junta govt. have turned a blind eye to the whole affair.

Why is India, a peace loving nation, who in the past has supported the Dalai Lama, the Tibet cause, the Bangladeshi cause etc... silent on the whole deal.

Indian Govt. had a deal with the Junta a couple of years back that India would make it a trading partner. In return, they would help India in removing the training camps in burma that train the insurgents in the North-East. They would not support the rebel groups in the NE.

India trades with Burma on military supplies. Recently, India has sold a maritime defender from the 80's that India brought from the Brits. Other items also include the tanks and other artillaries. There are talks of selling that helicopters made at HAL. China has been their other major arms supplier which today supplies them the helicopters and the other artillaries.

Indian oil companies including ONGC has large investments in the Oil & Gas exploration in the burmese oil rigs.

India is already having different problems with each of its neighbor Pakistan, bangladesh and Nepal. Looks like it is reluctant to add one more to the list by
adding Burma to the list.

Should we stay mum or support the efforts of Aung San Suu kyi's democratic efforts?

Unforgiven
- Metallica

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man strugggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away
Chorus

What i've felt
What i've known
Never shined through in what i've shown
Never be
Never see
Won't see what might have been
What i've felt
What i've known
Never shined through in what i've shown
Never free
Never me
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN

They dedicate their lives
To RUINING all of his
He tries to please THEM all
This bitter man he is
Throughout his life the same
He's battled constantly
This fight he cannot win
A tired man they see no longer cares
The old man then prepares
To die regretfully
That old man here is me
Chorus


You labeled me
I'll label you
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN
Never Free
Never Me
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN
You labeled me
I'll label you
So i dub thee UNFORGIVEN

Indo - US N Deal

Over the last few months, the India- US N deal or the 123 Agreement seems to be in the headlines every other day thanks to the left.

This deal would get India recognized as a civilian nuclear power and the US will aid India with its status with IAEA and shall help in lifting the sanctions imposed against India.

In return, India, would have to:
i. identify and separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities and programmes;
ii. declare its civilian facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA);
iii.voluntarily place civilian facilities under IAEA safeguards;
iv. sign an Additional Protocol for civilian facilities;
v. continue its unilateral nuclear test moratorium;
vi. work with the United States to conclude a Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty (FMCT);
vii. refrain from transferring enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do not have them, as well as support international efforts to limit their spread;
viii. secure its nuclear materials and technology through comprehensive export control legislation and through harmonisation and adherence to Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and NSG guidelines.

All these seem to be fine.. So why are left creating Havoc on this?

Current Capability:
The 15 functioning reactors produce abour 3K MW. Of these, 4 of them are already under the IAEA safeguards. The US wants all the reactors including the Fast Breeder Reactor in Kalpakkam to be under the IAEA scanner.

India's Stand:

Scientific Community:
Indian scientists are not willing to keep the Fast Breeder Reactor Programme under the scanner as they feel it would jeopardise our strategic interests; Leak our IPR on these reactors and could affect the scope of on going research in India

Political Community:
The left has vehemently opposed to the 123 agreement and have claimed that the Hyde act could affect india as they could use this as a pawn to steer India towards thier national interests.
They feel that operationalizing this deal could make India succesptible to the US policiies and could lead towards NPT
However, of late there have been some fagments within the left who have openly supported the bill
BJP has asked for a parliamentary committe to review this so that it is in the best interest in the country
Congress has favored this. Manmohan Singh took a great daring stand (for a politician) on the issue and sensationalised it. Since then Congress has been awry but taken small steps towards it. The recent move to have an open and non commital review with IAEA is one such step. Sonia's recent comments in Washington however have caught the wrath of the left.


Business Community:
With India's GDP growing at close to 10% Power and Infrastructure is at most concern to the Indian business community. We need to more than double our investment on Infrastructure and Power if we need to maintain this growth rate.

So it seems like the only opposition is coming from the Left and has caused enough damage that the Congress-Left marriage seems to be headed for a divorce. Will India sign the deal or will it go on hold.... Only Time can tell

Terror sans frontiers

The recent car bomb scare in central London last week has brought the terrorism to a new level. This is the first time when a person of Indian origin was found in terrorist related activities. It just end at that, the person invovled were all doctors. Traditionally, high skilled people including doctors and engineers were always viewed as low risk as they are not the typical mercenaries or brain washed people trained to kill or do suicide bombings. This has certainly elevated it to a new level.
This reminds me of the Al Banna's brotherhood in Egypt, which was made up of middle class muslims most of whom were professionals inclding doctors, engg, architects etc... Sayyid Qutb the guide for the brotherhood is also supposed to have inspired Osama in his early days.
On one hand this seems to be an amateur operations and not backed by Al Qaeda and the likes as he seems to have done his research and operated on his own, the comment by one of AQ leaders saying "Those who cure you will kill you" could mean a possibe connection. Even if not, thier network seemed to have caught this that the MI-5 did not.
The bigger concern is the Indian muslims had never been involved in the world of terror outside. This Indian connection seems to be scary... Al qaeda seems to be spreading like a Mc Donald franchise. They are backing up groups from Indonesia to Kashmir to Iraq to London. I think we need to re-think and take a new approach to curb this terrorism. But one thin is certain; Contrary to the generally accepted dogma, education does not stop terrorism !

"The Dogs Of War"
- Pink Floyd
Dogs of war and men of hate
With no cause, we don't discriminate
Discovery is to be disowned
Our currency is flesh and bone
Hell opened up and put on sale
Gather 'round and haggle
For hard cash, we will lie and deceive
Even our masters don't know the web we weave
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
Invisible transfers, long distance calls,
Hollow laughter in marble halls
Steps have been taken, a silent uproar
Has unleashed the dogs of war
You can't stop what has begun
Signed, sealed, they deliver oblivion
We all have a dark side, to say the least
And dealing in death is the nature of the beast
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world
The dogs of war won't negotiate
The dogs of war don't capitulate,
They will take and you will give,
And you must die so that they may live
You can knock at any door,
But wherever you go, you know they've been there before
Well winners can lose and things can get strained
But whatever you change, you know the dogs remain.
One world, it's a battleground
One world, and we will smash it down
One world ... One world

Wolfowitz - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

The Wolfowitz scandal seems to have brought the World Bank into limelight. The board led by the european union wants the current president of the world bank to step down amidst the scandal.
Wolfowitz is accused of giving a promotion and a huge raise to his girl friend Shaha Riza.
Shaha Riza, a Libyan born and brought up in Saudi, is a big advocate of the female rights. As per Time magazine, she shares the American passion in spreading democracy in the Middle-East.
Paul Wolfowitz, an American has been of the opinion of striking and eradicating a threat before it becomes a threat. He was a strong supporter of the War in Iraq. It is speculated that he was made as the President of the World Bank by the White House as an award to his contribution to the War on Terror.
It is also told that the relationship between them pre-dated his joining the World Bank. The world bank has a rule that a couple cannot work in the bank together or people dating each other cannot be in each others chaing of reportee. This would've been a conflict of intrest to Shaha and hence the external assignment.

Now back to the scandal, after Wolfowitz became the president of the world bank, Shaha was put on an external assignement with the US State Department with a huge raise and promotion and was routed thr' the ethics committe. The then chairman however says that the committee was not aware of her previous salary and the extent of raise.
This is also backed by the employees of the bank who seem to have been averse to Wolfowitz style of management.
American backed journalism however advocates that the middle management is percepting a threat from some of the new initiatives started by Wolf including anti-corruption drives. The White House is backing Wolfowitz. This couldn't have been more ill timed as the US President is also being crushed on the War on Iraq and the time table to bring back the Amrican troops. The African continent seems to be supporting Wolfowitz, for his keeness to help Africa (or maybe driven by the White House), while the European Union and the Nordic countries which are promoters of the bank want him to step down.
The White House is also seeing this as a threat to the US. As the biggest share holder, the president of the United States has been always been choosing the president of the World bank and it now seems that they might want to bring in a non US president to cool down the storm. The EU is also showing it's dominance and is being percieved as a hostile behavior by the US.
Wolfowitz has hired a lawyer with international reputation to take him out of this hell hole. The coming weeks should give more clarity into the issue as the board of directors would be deciding on the fate of Wolfowitz.