… one of the country’s most industrialized states, there are 10 to 15 hours of power cut a day, …. small units are closing down…… The rupee is sliding, India is downgraded by many countries as an investment risk and the stock market tumbles. The government allows …. bled dry by extravagant airport charges, huge fuel taxes, while it keeps pouring thousands of crores into Air India…….. India is the laughing stock of South Asia ………… Maoists have a field day, ………… Even the army, India’s last non-politicized, caste-less barrier is not safe ….., and lastly by the concerted attack on General VK Singh (Indian Army Chief), the man who dared to expose the total disinterest of the Indian government on the army’s preparedness ………. government that is racked by scandal after scandal…… government has no shame: it does not care if it brings down the country with it, as long as its ministers can keep their perks and loot the country……. government has lost trust of its people……. governors shamelessly hijack democracy by twisting the laws……….. India has now entered an area of semi-dictatorship, where hundreds of thousands of phones are tapped, emails are read, letters opened, gurus arrested, journalists scared to speak aloud………
Sad developments for India!! There are numerous articles such as this which reflect that all is not well with Indian governance. While a small segment is benefiting from governments current pro-corruption policies, majority is sadly getting frustrated. A wake call for India.
The Taliban’s announcement that they plan to open an office abroad and possibly begin peace negotiations deserves a close look……. President Obama has pledged that the bulk of NATO troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. That will be easier to achieve if there is a political agreement with the Taliban, but it must be one that ensures that Afghanistan does not again become a launching pad for attacks on this country and doesn’t revert to the horrors of Taliban rule.
Consequent upon Russian’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, Taliban was created to pacify the leftover Mujahideen / militants with the help of Pak ISI in the region. These Mujahideen, mostly Afghanis, who felt betrayal and left to fend for themselves, were given a new role to take charge of Afghanistan with active support from Pak ISI to provide depth to Pakistan against Indian troops. Others were sent to other areas including Kashmir to fight against Indian Army. The situation is no different even now. But if a peaceful negotiation is worked out, it is likely that it may be able to contain the violence and curb anti-American feelings in the region. So notwithstanding its outcome, US efforts to find a political settlement is a step in the right direction before finally leaving Afghanistan.
“The youth of today will need to recognize that they shoulder a great responsibility… They will need to fight for rooting out corruption, for ensuring that no one is above the law, and uniting the citizens of India as ‘Indians first’ instead of communal or geographic factions”……….. Tata wrote on the social networking site Twitter, that the next decade can be the decade of the youth of India – their voice, their vigor and their energy could have a profound impact on the shape of India of tomorrow.
It is an encouraging development that a leading industrialist has given such a call to the Indian youth to fight corruption in India. It is statement is being viewed with lot of interest especially when the government and seasoned politicians of India have literally failed on this front and embarrassed India in the eyes of the world. Actually one can understand government predicament. Because if it introduces effective laws to deal with this menace in the Indian society, most politicians, who are natural suspects, may find themselves into serious troubles and lose what they made through tainted means. It is also interesting to observe that there is hardly any tangible support from the Indian elite like intellectuals, politicians (both ruling and opposition), media and industrialists against corruption as many of them stand fully assimilated to existing fraud system. Since India’s last hope is in their youth who have yet to adapt corruption as part of their lives, Ratan Tata has rightly tweeted his statement.
“This is a critical moment,” demonstrator Paul Knick,….. “It seems like there’s a concerted effort to stop the movement, and I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”……… At least 177 people were arrested in New York, where the day’s events began with hundreds of demonstrators gathering at the edge of the financial district……. Some onlookers applauded the demonstrators from open windows, while others called out: “Get a job!”……. Frustrations boiled over in Zuccotti Park, the cradle of the nationwide movement, as hundreds of people tried to remove barricades surrounding the area and scuffled with baton-wielding officers.
The question that comes to one’s mind is as to why it is happening. Such protests are not only confined to USA as they have been reported in various other parts of the world including Canada, UK, Europe and Australia. The irony is that most of these countries have been affected by the unfavorable consequences of “sudden globalization” where instead of helping the general public, the jobs from such places stand exported to other countries. The other reason troubling the public is that the benefits accrued by globalization are benefiting only few which include mostly the senior management in the corporate sector and the insensitive corrupt political leadership who are accumulating wealth disproportionate to their known earnings by joining hands with some industrialists in developing countries. Anna’s anti corruption movement and violence in the form of Maoist movement in India reflect similar sentiments. Similarly the revolution in various parts of the Arab world is nothing but their way of frustration against their corrupt rulers. While the specific reasons for each countries are different, the irony is that unless such issues are addressed, the global public may continue to protest.
From being given up as dead during the Kargil……with an artificial leg and more than 40 shrapnel still embedded in his body, Major DP Singh (retd)….. “I weighed just 28 kgs when I was admitted to the army’s artificial limb centre……. This is my second life and I don’t want to squander it,” Singh said…….. “I completed my first race in 3 hours and 49 minutes and improved my timing by 15 minutes with every subsequent race. This time I want to finish in less than 3 hours.”……… Asked if he could have won the marathon if he were not dependent on prosthetics, Singh said, “Maybe I would never have taken part in a race if I were fit. It’s ironical that we don’t value what we are blessed with.”
It is a reminder to all of us. We do not value what we all are blessed with. I would like to “salute” him from the core of my heart.
Using some of his toughest language yet against China, Obama, a day after face-to-face talks with President Hu Jintao, demanded that China stop “gaming” the international system and create a level playing field for US and other foreign businesses…….. “We’re going to continue to be firm that China operate by the same rules as everyone else,” Obama told reporters after hosting the 21-nation APEC summit in his native Honolulu. “We don’t want them taking advantage of the United States.”……… China shot back that it refused to abide by international economic rules that it had no part in writing……… Obama insisted that China allow its currency to rise faster in value, saying it was being kept artificially low and was hurting American companies and jobs. He said China, which often presents itself as a developing country, is now “grown up” and should act that way in global economic affairs……… Though Obama acknowledged a “slight improvement” in the value of China’s yuan, he insisted it was not enough….
Such steps should have been taken much earlier. The developed countries have become victims of globalization at the behest of the corporate sector and whereas the developing countries are benefiting on account of cheap labor, currencies, migration of jobs and free technologies as a result of outsourcing. For globalization to succeed, there has to be a level playing field and not one way traffic. But unfortunately that is not possible especially when issues like cost of living, moral values, corruption scandals and scams prevalent in developing countries are incomparable with most developed countries or societies. However, there is no rocket science to fix the problem. It is also understandable that while the corporate sector will make a lot of hue and cry purely for the sake of their personal benefit, mostly senior management, the people in general cannot be taken for a ride. Firstly they are losing jobs in their home countries and secondly there are hardly any raises at the junior functional levels. The business of “outsourcing as a trend” and giving “bonuses to the only upper management” has to stop to create domestic production, generate jobs and improve home economies. When people’s purchasing power rises, they do not mind paying more for quality products.
Israel has awkwardly and desperately renewed its outworn war threats against Iran in recent weeks,…… now even the most optimistic advocates of war with Iran within the fractured cabinet of Benjamin Netanyahu know that “empty vessels make the most noise” and that a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities will be practically the same as the evaporation of the Zionist entity. They are well aware of Iran’s military might and the recent advancements and progresses in Iran’s weaponry industry……. The Israeli regime is too fragile and small to pose a threat to Iran’s security……. The irony is that it is Israel, the only possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, that is hell bent on disrupting Iran’s nuclear program which it impetuously and irrationally claims to be aimed at military purposes……. Israel does not even have the credibility of asking Iran to halt its nuclear program while it possesses 300 atomic warheads.
The author has given logical reasoning that Israel’s threat to Iran is hollow but it is felt that it may not hold the water. If Iran has to be dealt by Israel or US / West as a potential danger to their interests, the time is now “with” or “without” consent from other countries like Russia or China. Common sense suggests that they are unlikely to wait and allow Iran to become an anti Israel / US “regional giant” against them.
Iran said on Sunday it had detected the Duqu computer virus that experts say is based on Stuxnet, the so-called “cyber-weapon” discovered last year and believed to be aimed at sabotaging the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites…….. While Stuxnet was aimed at crippling industrial control systems and may have destroyed some of the centrifuges Iran uses to enrich uranium, experts say Duqu appeared designed to gather data to make it easier to launch future cyber attacks.
Moscow lashed out at the IAEA’s latest report on Iran Wednesday, saying it undermines the international effort to defuse tensions around the Islamic republic’s nuclear program and holds it guilty without cause……… authors juggle the facts to create the impression that Iran’s nuclear program has a military component…… the report said, after assessing carefully and critically the extensive information available to it, the agency finds the information to be, overall, credible…….. The information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.”………. Iranian officials slammed the report as a distortion of facts aimed at satisfying U.S. political interests…… President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called IAEA head Yukiya Amano a U.S. puppet……. The UN nuclear watchdog’s report has triggered a new wave of threats from Israel as some cabinet members suggested Iran’s nuclear facilities could become a target of surgical strikes……. Israeli President Shimon Peres reiterated Sunday that an attack on Iran is becoming more likely.
The issue of nuclear armament is not new. Many other countries do possess nuclear weapons but they are not nurturing hostilities towards West or Israel. However the Iranian President is repeatedly threatening the very existence of Israel without having any such capability and banking on ‘notional capabilities’ that may or may never materialize in future. The irony is that such harsh statements from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are facilitating perfect conditions for a military retaliation from Israel / West. Ground realities suggest that “militarily” Israel and West are far superior than Iran. And if Iran is banking on the issue of oil leverage or support from China or Russia or other countries like India, it may not work like Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya. Even if Iran is having any grudge against Israel or West, the way it is handling is not going to be favorable to the Iranian interests.
Washington should negotiate a long-term strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan that would keep 25,000 to 35,000 US troops in that country well beyond the 2014 date which the US and its allies have set for withdrawal …….. punish those ……….. supporting or otherwise cooperating with terrorist groups, ……… A Regional Security Strategy for South and Central Asia also called for Washington to quietly broker confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan, ….. “strategic public engagement plan” aimed at reversing “growing tide of anti-American sentiment,” especially in Pakistan……….. bin Laden’s death, combined with the scheduled beginning of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, “presents a new opportunity for the United States to protect its enduring interests in the region …….. “stability in the region requires stability in Pakistan” and suggests that cutting off assistance or treating the country as an adversary would constitute a strategic mistake……… Washington must also devote more resources to countering anti- American sentiment in Pakistan ……. and develop long-term programs to address anti-Americanism. “Any US strategic partnership with the Pakistani state will simply founder if the Pakistani people continue to view the United States with deep-seated mistrust and suspicion,” it said.
As for US, the report prepared by the American think tank is so true. For any meaningful peace in the region, there are indeed three factors and all have been included vis leaving a small batch of troops after troop’s withdraw, a patch up between India and Pakistan and lastly ensure that anti American feelings are reversed in Pakistan especially after billions of dollars have been invested in that country..
