NDTV signs consultancy agreement with Astro Awani

It seems that NDTV has a consulting arm NDTV worldwide that specializes in providing the following types of services
Market Trends and Business Planning
Manpower Planning
Creation of newsroom
They have also got a number of worldwide clients like FBNC(Vietnam) & MRTV3 (Myanmar) in addition to the agreement with Astro
NDTV was clearly in the forefront in the electronic news media burst in India.Theu certainly have the adequate experience and expertise to provide such services.
I'm not sure about the revenues that they are able to achieve or the future growth prospects of such an industry but I think that it only augurs well for our country if India starts providing services for other developing countries rather than the usual low cost service provider for developed countries.

India is planning to send astronauts in 2016

Dexters Laboratory

Brings back old memories of this amazing tv series
Used to watch everyday after school

Nice article in Trak.in about Indian corruption

We have been reporting from time to time on this blog about how corruption is widespread (as if I had to tell you that :) in India and who are the people who take maximum bribes.
However, I was not able to actually provide any numbers on the extent of corruption in India. Finally after some research, we have some numbers for you that can quantitatively measure the extent of corruption.
India Corruption & Bribery Report
________________________________________
•
What is the amount of bribes requested by people in India?


The above numbers clearly suggest that Bribery in India is at a grass root level with close 86% demands were done for $5000 or less (2,50,000 rupees or less, out which more than half were for $26 (Rs. 1300) or less.
Because, corruption takes place at such a grass root level, it is extremely difficult to contain it.
Having said that, 14 people out of 100 taking bribes are for amount more than $5000 (Rs. 2,50,000). Actually, if you look at the top officials are even more corrupt. I will tell you why I say that –
The number of big bosses is merely 1%-2% of all officials, yet according to the report 14% of bribes are of huge amounts, showing that big bosses are involved even more compared to low level officials who are taking bribes.
On a sidenote, China’s number is much higher with 24% of reported demands were for amounts between $5,001 and $50,000, 6% of reported demands were for amounts between $50,001 and $500,000, and 6% were
for amounts greater than $500,000. interesting…
________________________________________
• What is the nature of Bribe Demands in India?

No guesses here – if you want to get your work done, bribe em’ ! thats what is quite clear and in line with the notion we have.
More than half of all the bribes were paid to get the work in time !
77% of all reported bribe demands in India are related to the avoidance of
harm, including securing the timely delivery of a service – which is actually a right of a person (such as clearing customs or having a telephone line installed) and receiving payment for services already rendered
Only 12% of the bribe demands were for gaining a personal or business advantage (including exercising influence with or over another government official, receiving inappropriate favorable treatment or winning new business).
One thing for sure, we are now used to this corrupt system and take it in our stride as part & parcel. We do not want to go extra lengths and take the easy way out. But this easy way out is actually the roots of corruption in India.
________________________________________
•
Who demand bribe in India?


No guesses here !
Whooping 91% of reported bribe demands originate from government officials in India.
The greatest sources of bribe demands, were from national level Government officials (33%), the police (30%), state/provincial officials and employees (16%), and city officials (10%) respectively .
Do you know which of the two Indian ministries ask for bribe more than other? – They are Customs office (13%) and Taxation and Water (9%).
China fares slightly well when it comes to Government officials taking bribe (85%) – Another major difference is that India Police (30%) are far more corrupt than their Chinese counterparts (only 11%).
________________________________________
•
What is the frequency of Bribe Demands in India?

Nearly 90% indicated being solicited for a bribe between two and 20 times.
Overall 60% people reported bribe demands of 5 times or lower from the same individual. However, 9% asked for bribes more than 100 times.
Compared to China, it differs significantly with 73% people indicating that they had received multiple bribe requests. Almost 20% of those individuals reported receiving more than 100 bribe demands in China.
________________________________________
•
In what form was the bribe requested?
Do you want any tips on how to give bribes? here is what our corrupt officials prefer..
If in doubt, give cash, as 92% of all bribes are preferred to be “cash or cash equivalent,” The next best thing is a “gift,” (5%) including requests for company products, jewelry and similar items. Less common still, at approx. 1% each, were requests for hospitality or entertainment items; travel for other than business purposes; and other assistance, such as
help with a visa, medical care, or scholarships.
Surprisingly, there were no reports in India of demands for “additional business” or “sexual favors.” In China, those demands accounted for a combined total of 7% of reported bribe solicitations.
________________________________________
So, there you have it – How, what, who and why of Indian Corruption.

My favourite scene of all time

Prospects for Boston Celtics in 2009-10 NBA Season

Just been following my favourite team Boston Celtics in NBA.
They have a decent start to the NBA Season and are sure to make the playoffs.
Analysis
The ageing super "3" are still going strong
Paul Pierce is averaging around 19 Points per game
Kevin Garnett is not injured and had played in 30 games so far and averaging 8 rebounds per game
The induction of Rasheed Wallace has had impact on their offense as they are averaging around 100 points per game.
But the star of the season so far is "Kendrick Perkins" who is shooting 64% FG and also averaging 8 rebounds per game.
But im slightly disappointed that the team is not dominating the league as i had expected at the start of the season.They are behind Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern conference standings.
But what matters is how they perform in the Playoffs.

Nice article on Indophobia in Western Foreign Policy

All prejudices are unpleasantly alike on some level, but the prejudice that India and Indians face on a global scale has proven to be exceptionally resistant to change.


By Vamsee Juluri


In a week that saw innocent Indians being murdered and imaginary Indians being maligned on opposite ends of the Western world, Foreign Policy published an article that labels India a "global villain." It is time for a serious reality-check, and an even more serious attitude-check.

Let me start with the Foreign Policy article in question. Barbara Crossette, who authored the piece, formally worked at the New York Times, a publication, which has devoted entire editorials to its briskly exasperating civilizing mission vis-a-vid India. Now, Crossette writes about how annoying it is to deal with India on important global issues, such as trade and nuclear non-proliferation.

She begins with a pithy demolition of India's supposed good press in recent times (to which, one must note, a witty commentator has responded by asking the obvious: What good press?) only to go on to denounce India as a sanctimonious rogue among nations. The words that are used to describe India include "pious," "craving," "petulant," "intransigent," and "believes that the world's rules don't apply to it," all of which a student of postcolonial cultural studies would recognize as obnoxious cliches that have come to characterize Western discourse about the colonies for decades now. What else could be flashing in a writer's mind when the word "petulant" or "intransigent" is used but the belief that a a whole nation is infantile? What colonial image of a gaping-mouthed ragged supplicant must have inspired the use of a word like "craving" to describe India's goals?

The bold labeling of a sovereign, democratic nation as a "global evil" marks, I believe, a new low in what must be recognized as nothing less than Indophobia. If we have not heard that frequently enough before, it is not because it doesn't exist. Just like how the most effective propaganda is never called propaganda, but rather it is accepted as truth, the most insidious of prejudices seldom even get named as such (perhaps it is no coincidence that the phrase "elephant in the room," which means exactly that, is centered around the animal most closely identified with India). There are perhaps as many anecdotes about Indophobia at a personal level as there are Indians in foreign countries, but it is at a deeper cultural level that we need to face it first. The first sign of Indophobia many of us encounter is really its own ideological defenses; phrases which are used to preempt any discussion about it, like "Indian chauvinism," "Indian supremacism," "Indian exceptionalism," "Indian victimism," or just allegations of childish over-sensitiveness coupled with some sort of vague Eastern cultural fetishism pertaining to notions of honor (I have heard all of these sentiments informally or otherwise in my academic career from grad school until now). If we can get past these, perhaps we can see things more clearly.

India's role in the Western imagination has been a long and important one. Despite some reverential accounts of Indian civilization in the earliest days of the encounter between Europe and India, the image that has prevailed has not been a nice one, or even a truthful one. The present Indophobia has its origins in colonial Hinduphobia. Fuelled by the crazy stories of missionaries determined to rid the world of heathen Hindus and steeped in the ideologies of the colonizers' civilizing mission, Indophobia infiltrated popular, journalistic, political and academic thought. In the cold war period, some things improved, but in the great conversation of powers that Washington thought it was having, Pakistan would appear to it as a reliable favorite; tough, dependable, monotheistic, and anti-communist. India, on the other hand, was seen as too weak, too Hindu, too vegetarian, precariously past its Must Break Up By Date. At best, or worst, India was seen as "pious," with its Gandhian austerities and Nehruvian Non-Alignment dreams.

But it is the present, the post cold war, post 9/11, post outsourcing nature of Indophobia that we must return to, history in tow. The examples are many. Why is it that some Australians reacted to the beating and killing of Indian students with the odd retort that "this happens in Mumbai"? Why did NPR cheerily lend its audience to one man's claim that he saw an Indian get the Nigerian airline bomber on board? Why does Foreign Policy get to call India "evil" without a drop of concern for how it feels to Indian readers or how dangerous words like this were in the past for the colonized nations? Why does New York Times choose to show agonizing restraint when Pakistani terrorists massacre civilians in Mumbai and run screaming headlines naming the arrest of an "Indian" after Madrid? Why does Slumdog Millionaire, one of the most exhilarating movies of our time, depict the majority of Indian characters in it as irredeemably cruel and barbaric (not the nice Indian hero with the British accent though, of course not)? Why did the fictional slur "slumdog" and the image of poverty reportedly figure so often in the Australian attacks? Finally, why does Glenn Beck find the name of a life-giving sacred river similar to the name of a disease? I must admit though that the last case is less depressing because it is Glenn Beck after all and the problem must naturally lie not in the word 'Ganges' but really in his ears or what's (not) between them.

After a brief decade or so of somewhat unexpected "India Rising" stories, India-bashing is once again becoming fashionable. As a media studies teacher, I always wonder what it means when a particular way of looking at things suddenly becomes prevalent in history. What does it tell us about our times and who we are? In the past Indophobia was part of a colonial and then cold war mindset. Thinking of India as the very embodiment of wretchedness and poverty fit in with the western self-perception of the time. In recent times, things have improved at some levels. Racism is no longer legal and in many places no longer cool. With globalization and the economic success of India and Indians abroad, it is no longer possible to deny to India its talent, labor, and its contribution to the world. All should have been well, at least now. But Indophobia has found new reasons to resurface--and some of these reasons have less to do with India and more to do with where the United States sees itself in the world right now. The world's most powerful nation has been only minimally successful in its wars against its most formidable adversary. It is beset by doubts about the mortality of empires and such. It has swung from gung-ho bombs-away leadership to a low-bow bombs-away leadership. It has perhaps even painfully sensed the barb in the saying "with friends like these who needs enemies?" when it comes to the whole question of its cold war-era role in the creation of Frankenjihadis in South Asia. All of these have a bearing, directly or indirectly, on its present story on India.

The present wave of Indophobia, starting with the hate-call campaigns against Indian call centers a few years ago and culminating in the execrably immoral devaluing of Indian lives in recent times, may be at least in some parts the result of an overcompensation for a sense of imperial loss. The pinnacle of western power and prestige is no longer the only high rise in town (and I don't mean the Burj Dubai). Globalization has done to the world what it has done in India too--the days of single nation world dominance, like single party dominance in Indian politics, are over. Accepting this won't be easy for some because the culture has not found the will to change; at least not as far as India goes. The culture can grudgingly accept China as a rival. It can deem the whole of Islam as a civilizational rival. India's rise, though, is harder to accept. America is used to dealing with things on the grounds of toughness, force, power. Doing so on the grounds of smartness is new to it.

So the whole old repertoire of Indophobia returns; images of poverty and disease, allegations of corruption and piousness, insinuations about culture and religion. This time around though, there is less of the sort of restraint that existed in the past. Just as how some people think it is okay to be racist now because we have a black president, the new Indophobia deems it okay to spew nastiness because India has arrived too. But of course, post Mumbai and Slumdog the arrival story is also questioned. This is an old tired story too; of the romantic westerner eagerly turning to India despite their friends' counsel only to be tremendously disappointed that they didn't find nirvana, or even a nice airport terminal. That sort of backlash tends to get extra nasty, leaping into large scale generalizations. That is the pattern that seems to be playing out in the present India story. "You think you know India? You think India has got better/richer/nirvana?" The pitch inevitably starts (In Crossette's article this part runs with "internet entrepreneurs, hospitality industry pioneers and gurus"). "Nope," the anointed Western (and sometimes South Asian) expert gravely retorts. "Here's the real India and here are the real Indians. They are evil." At least Foreign Policy had the honesty to put that word up in lights.

As someone with an emotional stake in both India and the United States, I wonder whose loss will be greater in the end. The nastiness of Indophobia is of course bad for India in the first instance. It is young Indians who have been bearing the brunt, whether of American hate-callers or worse, of Australian murderers. But India is a survivor country; it has survived conquest, colonialism, and it survives its own chaotic self every day. America though is inexperienced on this count. It has just about started realizing, after much needless suffering of its own from blowback and backbite, that surviving the whirlwind of globalization takes smarts rather than brute force. I fear that the return of Indophobia may once again distract America from the right direction. When experts like Barbara Crossette heap sarcasm on "India's colorful, stubborn loquaciousness" they fail to see that the more we ignore this supposed "loquaciousness" the more we are signaling that the only language we recognize is that of brute force. There is no dearth of precedent on that. There is no dearth of possibilities that the future may be exactly that too, if old prejudices run unchecked.

But I cannot make myself leave on a pessimistic note. Indophobia can be fought, and I believe there is enough goodness in all communities to do so. First, I think the Indian community, in India and abroad, must get its own stories right. There has been a tendency to shy away from naming Indophobia as such because we think it affects our image of India Rising, which has been hard fought, no doubt. But there is a need to name bad stuff for what it is. To be fair, as always, we must continue our introspection into our own prejudices and shortcomings; after all, as Ramachandra Guha once wrote, 95% of blame for India's problems today lies with us and not the British. India needs a better India story too (Guha and Khilnani are the best place to start) and it won't be easy because of how diverse, divided, and indeed complicated we are. But that is our task, and indeed for those of us who have the privilege of living and writing in the Western world, indeed an important one. For our Western friends, especially those in positions of authority in the media, the task is more daunting. Your responsibility may not be towards Indian feelings, not at all. But you do have a responsibility in your profession towards Truth. As long as your Indophobia is acting up, you will remain clueless about it.

Bayonetta

Just across this new game.Cant wait to watch the full walkthrough

What attracted me is that this game is from the creators of Devil May Cry.
If this was as exciting as DMC then this is a game to watch

Vietcong

This is an interesting and informative documentary on Vietcong

Amazing spy attack by Al Qaeda

Came about this article
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/world/asia/05cia.html?em
about the suicide bombing by an Al qaeda double agent posing as an informant for CIA and killing 7 Senior CIA officials.This kind of stuff only happens in movies.This clearly shows that the Al Qaeda is alive and well in Afghanistan and Pakistan.No matter how many drone attacks the CIA is conducting in afghanistan it is only getting the backlash.This proves that the terrorists are clearly looking at new ways of attacking their targets.I dont know how prepared is the Indian intelligence network to preempt and safeguard against such sophisticated attacks.

Pakistan Vs Australia

It is nice to see Pakistan doing well in Test matches.Hopefully they will win this match in Sydney.Cause it will ensure that India's reign at the top will last longer.England did us a great help by beating South Africa.These two series has proved that India deserves the place at the top as both South africa and Australia are struggling at home against the fifth and seventh placed teams whereas India won comfortably against the then second placed Srilanka

A nice documentary on Google

Max payne 3

Its been a while since i have played the Max Payne 2 game,I was crazy about it completed it 20 times i believe,finally Max payne 3 is going to be released in the first quarter of Max payne 3.Gotta love it.It is set in the city of Sao Paulo.But i dont like the look of Max in this game.
Link

empire state of mind

JAY Z is the undisputed king of hiphop

Interesting article on how we dont need Cable anymore

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/technology/personaltech/10basics.html?em

American Jingoism

IFRS Full text with Interpretations

Saw this wonderful site which gives all info on ifrs
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/accounting/ias/standards_en.htm

Tiger woods injunction order against British tabloid

This is the restraining order against the British Tabloid press against publishing any nude photos of Tiger woods or his mistresses.This is an interesting read of the laws in Britain.Don't think that any celebrity in India could get an order similar to this
I uploaded it in this link
http://www.esnips.com/doc/33c03c66-c445-4a17-baa7-ec66c4f3b98b/1210_schillings_doc_wm

Gov Mark Sanfords Divorce Papers

The case of Republican Gov Mark Sanford is well reported Just got in hand of the Divorce papers of his wife.It is a funny read .Uploaded it to ESnips
http://www.esnips.com/doc/73966a01-37e2-4979-a69c-6ca42cadf6c6/1211_sanford_divorce

Suicide Club - Another J Horror

What an amazing movie.The Japanese are really good in these types of movies. You can get to see their originality in the dialogues and screenplay.This you can say is a weird movie if you are used to watching only hollywood movies.The story revolves around the case of mysterious mass suicides of hundreds of people all around Japan.The fact that the movie does not explain the mystery surrounding the suicides only adds to the thrill of the movie.I want to watch more movie like these,keep main them Nippon IchiBan desu.

Dark Water

This is the Japanese movie based on which the English movie "Dark water" was remade(Starring Jennifer Connelly) .Eventhough you can categorize this movie as Horror genre this is more of a drama.It is the movie about a recently divorced mother who has rented a new apartment to live along with her daughter.She is undergoing a custody battle with her ex-husband for their daughter.The apartment she rented is haunted by the ghost of a child who has disappeared from her kindergarten a few years ago.
This is a decent movie with nice acting.

One missed Call2

Over the weekend watched two great Japanese movies.Both the J-Horror Genre.
This one is the sequel to the superhit "One Missed Call".
This continues from the original storyline but there are no recurring characters.
Here the story goes like people getting mysterious calls from themselves with a peculiar ringtone hearing the sound just before their death.The time of the call will be from the future and the exact time of their impending death.
The story follows the character "Kyoka" who receives the call after watching the corpse of her friend and her boyfriend who travel to Taiwan to get to the bottom of these calls.They are aided by a private nvestigator "Tabako".
This is a suspense filled movie and i loved it.

The Host Korean Movie

Just Finished watching this funny movie.This is just a parody of a typical special effects monster movie.Nice direction coupled with decent acting makes this a movie to watch.This is just a first of a series of Korean movies Im going to watch.

Losing 10 Kilos in 3 months

From Today i have taken the decision to lose 10 kilos in 3 months.Im planning to do this with strict diet and exercise regime.Hopefully by the end i will lose it.Time to start crunching.....

Inglourious basterds

I was looking forward for this movie, I had the opportunity to watch it today. I liked it.It is about the atrocities of Nazi Germany and the revenge exacted upon them by a select band of "Jewish Americans".It has the signature brutality of Quentin and it follows the similar style of Quentin going by scene by scene rather than as a single storyline.The scenes will always be a movie in itself.Here there are chapters as well.As far as the acting is concerned nothing is comparable to the performance of Christoph Waltz as Hans - a Nazi who is christenes as "The Jew hunter" based on his skill of snooping out Jews in france.Though the movie has noteworthy stars as Brad Pitt & Diane Kruger,it is Christoph Waltz who steals the show.There is also the Director of "The Hostel" Eli Roth in this movie with the character of "The Bear Jew" as the baseball bat wielding.Overall this is a nice movie for Quentin's fans like me.

Assasins Creed 2

The game has finally arrived.Cant wait to see whether this is as good as the previous one.

Dragon : Origins

A nice game Just went through with the Walkthrough Looks like one of the best of the year.Cant wait for the Assasins creed 2

Chinese Forign Policy Rhetoric

Pre-1979 Chinese Rhetoric: After India, Russia Targeted

By B. Raman

In my article of October 15, 2009, titled "Chinese Media Revert to Pre-Deng Rhetoric on India" available at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers35/paper3460.html , I had stated as follows: "The more hawkish line adopted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the party media indicate that the hawks in the PLA and the party have started influencing the policy towards India. "

2. An article under the bye-line Li Hongmei under the title 'How to respond to Russia's "Ambiguous Diplomacy"?' carried by the Chinese Communist Party's "People's Daily" on October 21, 2009, (annexed) indicates that the newly-evident hawkish line in foreign policy matters reflecting some of the arguments, characterisations and rhetoric of the pre-Deng Xiaoping era has been directed not only against India, but also against Russia.

3. The article carries intriguing references to Russia as a fair-weather friend and as practising an ambiguous diplomacy. There has been targeted criticism of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for some of his economic decisions affecting China and Chinese illegal traders in Russian territory. A comparison of the criticism of India, which has been accused of nursing hegemonistic aspirations, with the criticism of Russia indicates different motivating factors.

4. The motivating factor of the criticism of India is with reference to its foreign policy ---particularly its relations with the US ---, its aspirations of emerging as an important power and the border dispute. Economic factors do not appear to be behind the criticism of India.

5. In the case of Russia, economic factors seem to be mainly behind the criticism. The Chinese disappointment that Moscow did not give preference to China in respect of the award of the contract for the Far Eastern Oil pipeline project is writ large in the article. The article says: "Chauvinism and double-dealing tactics, which set the basic formula for making foreign policies in its Soviet time, can still be found in today's Russian diplomacy. This can be clearly illustrated by the 10-year-long competition between China and Japan for Russia's Far East oil pipeline project. The usual economic considerations inherent in a strictly commercial competition do not apply in this case. Instead, geopolitical considerations far outweigh any and all commercial considerations.Within the context, Russia had been cast in the role of exploiting the China-Japan rivalry. By waiting for the highest bid, Russia was fascinated by its triumph in converting the pipeline courtship into the pipeline diplomacy, in which Russia benefited from both sides while manipulating from behind the scenes."

6. There is also ill-concealed bitterness over the June 29, 2009, decision of Putin to put down the illegal trading activities of Chinese immigrants in Russian territory by closing down the Cherkizovsky Market, Europe's largest marketplace, located in the Izmaylovo District of Moscow. Putin had ordered it to be closed down on grounds of violations of regulations and illegal activities. The market, which was owned by a Turkish group, had thousands of traders from China and the Central Asian Republics. Illegal traders from China constituted the majority in the market.

7. The need to pursue and enforce core Chinese interests----against India on the border issue and against Russia on economic issues---- has been the underlying themes of the two recent articles on India and Russia. While the emphasis on the enforcement of core Chinese interests is understandable, the use of pre-1979 rhetoric and arguments indicates the growing assertiveness of "China first" hawkish elements in the party and the PLA, who have no use for the reconciliatory language of the Deng era. What they are indicating is that the time has come for China to start using its military, diplomatic and economic muscles for enforcing its core interests.

8. What support these elements have in the party and the Government? It is difficult to answer this question, but the fact that the "People's Daily" has found it necessary to give voice to them in its columns shows that these elements are not insignificant.

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)


ANNEXURE

HOW TO RESPOND TO RUSSIA'S "AMBIGUOUS DIPLOMACY?"

By Li Hongmei

Tightly pressed by the U.S.-led Western world since the end of the Cold War, and constantly beleaguered by the tit-for-tat measures devised by the West to counterbalance its military might---- just to name a few----NATO's eastward expansion, color revolution and deployment of missile defense system, Russia at times has to turn to China for a relatively sound security environment, but it has thus far remained a fair-weather friend to China, practicing "shadow-boxing" on its China policy.

Russia's ambiguous position seen in its diplomatic strategies could even trace back to its initial years in handling the ties with the then fledgling Chinese Communists. On the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the pro-Kuomintang U.S. Embassy and its Ambassador Leighton Stuart chose to remain in Nanking, former capital of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang government. But the Embassy of the Soviet Union, technically the sole supporter to the newly-born Chinese communist government, fled to South China with remnants of the overthrown Chiang clique.

This can partially showcase the "Ambiguous Diplomacy" Russia has since sought after purportedly to gain advantage from both sides. By playing balance between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang, the Soviet Union could probably maximize its vested interests, its intention being self-evident in this case.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union left the U.S. as the world's monolithic superpower, Russia has appeared to get closer to China after a history of suspicion, rivalry, and even open hostility in 1960s. But the legacy of Soviet-style ambiguous diplomacy lingers on and suspicions remain overshadowing its relations with China. To shrug off the pressure imposed by the West, to which Russia found inaccessible even after the Cold War, Russia tilted its diplomatic favor to the East by adopting the so-called "Two-headed Hawk" Strategy. And on this basis, it finally entered into "Strategic Collaboration Partnership" with China.

With the wheel of history rolling on, Russia has been making desperate efforts to cut off its blood tie with its bygone days as a communist giant. But Chauvinism and double-dealing tactics, which set the basic formula for making foreign policies in its Soviet time, can still be found in today's Russian diplomacy. This can be clearly illustrated by the 10-year-long competition between China and Japan for Russia's Far East oil pipeline project. The usual economic considerations inherent in a strictly commercial competition do not apply in this case. Instead, geopolitical considerations far outweigh any and all commercial considerations.

Within the context, Russia had been cast in the role of exploiting the China-Japan rivalry. By waiting for the highest bid, Russia was fascinated by its triumph in converting the pipeline courtship into the pipeline diplomacy, in which Russia benefited from both sides while manipulating from behind the scenes.

If this is not enough to reduce or limit the ever-growing Chinese clout, which has reportedly upset Russia for some time, Russia would go as far as it can to drag China down. For instance, its hard-line PM Vladimir Putin persisted in setting the limitation for issuing Russian Far East visas to the Chinese citizens, while the same Putin may speak in Moscow about bilateral ties being "at their highest level ever."

His recently wrapped-up debut Beijing visit as Prime Minister sealed a package of nearly $40 billion worth of orders and bilateral contracts. Nevertheless, Moscow's decision on the closure of Cherkizovsky, the largest market, which came in June unexpectedly like a bolt from the blue for the Chinese vendors, is still shrouding the minds of many Chinese, especially those who were born and bred in the years when the Soviet Union acted as China's Big Brother and who even today still cherish a subtle "Russia Complex".

Unfortunately, in reality, little has happened to strengthen the bilateral ties. On the other hand, Russia has attained a high degree of perfection in pushing its "Ambiguous Diplomacy" and even extending it to almost all the spheres of foreign affairs.

To China, what must be done in terms of its future bilateral relationship with Russia is, first and foremost, abandoning the one-sided wish, or so to speak, the thinking to "take a part as the whole". The best way to deal with Russia is to follow the path, more realistic and more reasonable, leading to a mature diplomacy, which will expect a reciprocal gesture of goodwill and satisfy the mutual interests as great powers.

AlQaeda planned attacks against India in US

LET Revives 2003 Plan to Use US As Launching Pad for Terrorism in India - International Terrorism Monitor--Paper No. 572

by B. Raman

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US has arrested and produced before a court in Chicago two local Muslim residents on a charge of conspiring with three others in Pakistan to carry out a Mumbai 26/11 style terrorist strike in Copenhagen and another strike in India.

2. The two arrested persons are David Coleman Headley (aged 49) also known as Daood Gilani, an American citizen, who is a white convert to Islam, and Tahawar Hussain Rana (aged 48), a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, who has been running an immigration services office in Chicago with branches in Toronto and New York. He has also been running a company which was supplying meat to Muslims.

3. Headley was arrested on October 3, 2009, and produced before the court on October 11. His arrest was kept a secret with the permission of the court for eight days to facilitate further investigation. The FBI arrested him at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as he was about to board a flight to Philadelphia for an onward trip to Denmark. According to the FBI, he was allegedly carrying a copy of a newspaper (not specified), a street guide for Copenhagen, a list of phone numbers and a computer memory stick with ten short video recordings of the offices of a Danish newspaper, which had published in 2005, a cartoon depicting the Holy Prophet, and the entrance to a military barracks in Copenhagen.

4. It was reported by the local media that Headley had "waived his rights" and made voluntary statements to the FBI about his connection to Pakistani terror groups. The authorities said the plot against the Danish newspaper, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, was referred to as the "Mickey Mouse Project" in communications between Headley and his contact in Pakistan. Headley had already traveled to Copenhagen in January and visited two different offices of the newspaper, the FBI said. Rana had allegedly reservations to fly to Copenhagen on Oct0ber 29. He was arrested on October 18 and produced before the court the next day

5. During his visit to Denmark in January last, Headley allegedly flew to Pakistan and met with his contact there, according to the FBI's affidavit filed with the court. The texts of the two affidavits filed by the FBI against the two arrested persons are available at http://abcnews.go.com/images/Blotter/Headley%20Complaint.pdf and http://abcnews.go.com/images/Blotter/Rana%20Complaint2.pdf .

6. The FBI authorities have identified the contact as Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Commando of the Special Services Group (SSG) of Pakistan, who gravitated to the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) of Pakistan and subsequently to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET). He was one of the suspects in Al Qaeda-inspired plots to kill Pervez Musharraf in December, 2003, and other terrorist strikes. He was recently reported to have been killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan in September, but this was subsequently reported to have been incorrect. He himself contacted some Pakistani journalists to prove that he was still alive. According to the FBI's affidavit, Headley was introduced to Ilyas Kashmiri by an individual referred to as Individual A during a visit to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in July-August 2008. A persual of the two FBI affidavits would indicate that Headley's subsequent communications with Ilyas Kashmiri were through this individual and not direct.

7. In the past there were conflicting versions of the organisational affiliation of Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri. While some reports described him as the Amir of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) branch of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), other reports described him as the head of a splinter group of the HUJI of Pakistan headed by its Amir Qari Saifullah Akhtar, which had split from it and was operating independently in Jammu & Kashmir of India from sanctuaries in the POK.

8. Ilyas Kashmiri was among those arrested by the Pakistani authorities in January, 2004, in connection with the investigation into the two unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi in December, 2003. While some of the others arrested, including some junior Air Force officers, were prosecuted and convicted, Ilyas Kashmiri himself was released for want of evidence of his involvement. It was claimed by sections of the Pakistani media at that time that Ilyas was released on the intervention of Syed Salauddin, the Amir of the Hizbul Mujahideen and the head of the United Jihad Council for Kashmir, who reportedly managed to convince the Police that Ilyas had nothing to do with the two attempts to kill Musharraf.

9. Ilyas was subsequently reported to have closed down the camp of his set-up in the POK and shifted to North Waziristan from where he was operating in the non-tribal belt of Pakistan. In a despatch of May 24, 2009, Amir Mir, the well-informed Pakistani journalist, who writes for the "News" and other papers said: "Commander Ilyas Kashmiri was recently named in a charge sheet filed by the Islamabad police in the November 2008 gruesome murder of Major General (retd) Amir Faisal Alvi, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the elite Special Services Group (SSG). The 12-page charge sheet submitted by the Rawalpindi police in an anti-terrorism court on May 12, 2009 stated that the former SSG commanding officer was killed to avenge the role he had played in the fight against Taliban linked militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The charge-sheet prepared by the Koral police station states that those involved and already arrested in the murder included Major (retd) Haroon Rasheed, a resident of Azad Kashmir; Mohammad Nawaz Khan of Peshawar and Ashfaq Ahmed of Okara. The charge sheet says the murder of Major General Amir Faisal Alvi was carried out on the instructions of Commander Ilyas Kashmiri who had provided funds and weapons. The charge sheet pointed out that Ilyas Kashmiri had already been named by the intelligence agencies for involvement in the October 2008 kidnapping for ransom of Satish Anand, a Karachi-based renowned film producer and distributor and the real uncle of Juhi Chawla, a well known Bollywood actress. After Satish Anand was recovered in the last week of April 2009 and the kidnappers arrested, it transpired during interrogations that one of them - Major Haroon Rasheed alias Abu Khattab – was a former Pakistani Army officer and involved in the murder of General Alvi. According to the murder charge sheet, the three accused – Haroon, Ashfaq and Nawaz followed Alvi when he left his residence in Bharia Town in Rawalpindi for his private office in Islamabad and killed him and his driver near the PWD Colony. Once considered close to General Pervez Musharraf, Amir Faisal Alvi was the first General Officer Commanding of the elite Special Services Group, and had also commanded the elite Group as a Brigadier. The first Pakistani Major General to have captained the Armed Forces Skydiving Team (AFST) as a GOC, Faisal Alvi was forcibly retired from the Army on disciplinary grounds ‘for conduct unbecoming’ by then Army Chief General Musharraf in August 2005."

10. Ilyas Kashmiri reportedly had his own training camp in the Razmak area of North (?) Waziristan and was collaborating with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

11.According to the FBI affidavit, "in July and August 2009, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A, including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT Member A had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveilling targets for a new terrorist attack. These e-mails reflect that LeT Member A was placing a higher priority on using Headley to assist in planning a new attack in India than on completing the planned attack in Denmark."

12.Although the affidavit named Ilyas Kashmiri, it did not identify two other Pakistan-based members involved in the plot, referring to them merely as LeT member A and Individual A. It said the LeT member A “has substantial influence and responsibility within the organization” and his “identity is known to the government.”

13. It is not clear what the FBI affidavit meant by saying that the LET member's identity is known to the Government. Which Government---the Government of Pakistan? If so, what action has been taken by the FBI to have him picked up by the Pakistani authorities and handed over to the FBI for interrogation and further investigation? The FBI has been silent on this till now.

14. The idea of using the US territory as a launcing pad for terrorist attacks in India had figured in the plans of the LET in 2003.On June 27, 2003, the FBI had charged seven men in the Washington area and an eighth in Philadelphia with stockpiling weapons and conspiring to wage "jihad" against India in support of a terrorist group in Kashmir. The FBI's charge-sheet against them described them as members of the LET. It also said that three others involved in the case were absconding and were believed to be in Saudi Arabia.

15. Although the FBI officials said that there was no evidence of a plot against the US, the members of the group had pledged support for pro-Muslim violence overseas, hoarded high-powered rifles and received military training in Pakistan. Nine of the 11 accused were American citizens, and three had served in the US armed forces for some time in the past. The charge-sheet said that seven members of the group had travelled to Pakistan in the last several years, and some received military training in small arms, machine guns, grenade launchers and other weaponry at a camp in northeast Pakistan connected to the LET.

16. The 41-count indictment charged the 11 accused with conspiracy, firearms violations and plotting against a friendly nation — namely, India. US officials connected with the investigation were quoted by the media as saying that there was no evidence that the accused were considering an attack within the United States or had ties to Al Qaeda.

17. However, the officials charged that the men conspired to help Muslims abroad in violent jihad not only in India, but also in Chechnya, the Philippines and other countries. The men, the indictment said, obtained AK-47s and other high-powered weaponry and practised small-unit military tactics in Virginia.

18. The indictment charged that the accused pledged their willingness to die as martyrs in support of the Muslim cause and gathered in private homes and at an Islamic center in suburban Washington to hear lectures "on the righteousness of jihad" in Kashmir, Chechnya and elsewhere. They also watched videotapes showing Muslim fighters engaged in jihad. They had also organised a function to celebrate the crashing of the space shuttle Columbia. One of the astronauts killed in the crash was of Indian origin. A message read out on the occasion had described the USA "as the greatest enemy of the Muslims."

19. According to the indictment, one of the accused Masoud Ahmed Khan, a Maryland resident, had a document titled "The Terrorist's Handbook," with instructions on how to manufacture and use explosives and chemicals as weapons, as well as a photograph of F.B.I. headquarters in Washington.

20. At least two of the 11 accused were described as of Pakistani origin. One of them, Mohammed Aatique, 30, was a work (H-1) visa holder while Khawja Mahmood Hasan, 27, was a naturalized US citizen born in Pakistan. But at least one more suspect, Masoud Ahmad Khan, 31, also had a Pakistani sounding name although his nationality was not disclosed. The other accused were Randall Todd Royer, 30; Ibrahim Ahmed al-Hamdi, a Yemeni national and non-resident alien; Yong Ki Kwon, 27, a naturalized US citizen born in Korea; Seifullah Chapman, 30; Hammad Abdur-Raheem, 35; Donald Thomas Surratt, 30; Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem, 29, and Sabri Benkhala, 28. Chapman, Hasan and Benkhala were stated to be living in Saudi Arabia.

21.Earlier, on June 20, 2003 FBI officials had disclosed that they had arrested in April Iyman Faris, also known as Mohammad Rauf, originally a resident of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), who had migrated to the US in 1994 and was working as a truck driver in Ohio and charged him with having links with Al Qaeda and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, said to be Osama bin Laden's operations chief, who is believed to have co-ordinated the terrorist strikes of September 11, 2001, in the US. Khalid was arrested in the house of a women's wing leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) of Pakistan at Rawalpindi in March, 2003, by the Pakistani authorities and handed over to the FBI.

22. According to FBI officials, as quoted in the US media, Faris had visited Afghanistan and Pakistan a number of times between 2000 and 2002, met Osama bin Laden and worked with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, in organising and financing jihad causes. After returning to the US from Pakistan in late 2002, officials said, he began examining the Brooklyn Bridge and discussing via coded messages with Al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan ways of using blow torches to sever the suspension cables.

23. "The plotting continued through March, as Faris sent coded messages to operatives in Pakistan. One such message said that the "weather is too hot."FBI officials were quoted as saying that meant that Faris feared the plot was unlikely to succeed---apparently because of security and the bridge's structure-- and should be postponed. He was arrested soon thereafter. Sources in Pakistan described Faris, aged 34, as a Punjabi ex-serviceman settled in POK, before he migrated to the US.

24. The above-mentioned details of LET activities in the US have been covered in my latest book titled "Mumbai--26/11: A Day of Infamy" released for sale by the Lancer Publishers of New Delhi on October 26, 2008 (www.lancerpublishers.com ).

25. The plans of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the parent organisation of the LET, to carry out terrorist strikes in foreign territory against those insulting the Holy Prophet came to notice from the following report carried by the Pakistani journal "Ausaf" in its issue dated September 18, 2006:"Pakistan's Jamaat-ud-Dawa has issued a Fatwa asking the Muslim community to kill Pope Benedict for his blasphemous statement about Prophet Mohammad. The Jamaat-ud-Dawa has declared death to Pope Benedict and said that in today's world blasphemy of the Holy Koran and the Prophet has become a fashion. The leaders of the Jamaat were speaking at a Martyrs' Islamic Conference in Karachi. Prominent Jamaat leader Hafiz Saifullah Khalid said that in the present circumstances, jehad has become obligatory for each Muslim. Muslims are being declared terrorists and our battle for survival has already started. The Muslim world has rejected the Pope's apology and decided to continue protests and demonstrations in big cities. The Pope's apology is just a drama and no political leader has any power to pardon him. It is part of a crusade initiated by the US in the name of terrorism. Instead of accepting fake apologies, Muslims should realise Europe's enemity towards Islam and Muslim Ummah should prepare itself to defend its faith. Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Abdur Rahman Makki said the West and Europe have started a campaign against the Holy Koran and the Prophet and have abused jehad. We should take appropriate steps to deal with the champions of crusade. It is time for Muslim leaders to open their eyes and understand that the West had never been a friend of the Muslims and will never be so."

26. A perusal of the FBI affidavits indicates the following: Headley was a self-motivated jihadi who volunteered his services for the LET and Ilyas Kashmiri. He seems to have come into contact with the jihadi world in Pakistan by frequenting an Internet chat group of "Abdelians" ---- meaning former cadets of the Punjab Government's military cadet college at Hasan Abdal, 40 kms to the north of Rawalpindi, set up in 1954 to prepare young boys aspiring to join the armed forces. He had established independent contacts with an LET operative and Ilyas Kashmiri. While the LET operative was interested in using him to prepare the ground for a terrorist strike in India, Ilyas Kashmiri was interested in using him for a terrorist strike in Denmark. He had visited Denmark at least once to study the ground conditions there, but there is no indication of his having visited India. The role of Rana seems to have been to provide Headley with a business cover for his travels to Denmark and Pakistan. The two had discussed the operational plans of Headley during a long drive together in the US.

27. Al Qaeda, the LET and their jihadi associates are like homing pigeons. Once they draw up a plan for a terrorist strike, they focus on carrying it out whatever be the difficulties. It came out during the investigation of the November, 2008, terrorist strike in Mumbai that the LET had originally planned to carry it out in September, but postponed it---presumably because security had been tightened up at the hotels which it was planning to attack. It attacked on November 26, when the security had become slack. Its plans for a terrorist strike in India from US territory in 2003 with the help of White and other converts to Islam holding US and other Western passports were foiled in time by the FBI, but it did not give up this idea and has once again tried to give it shape. Despite its failure for a second time, it will continue looking for another opportunity.

Obama Al Qaeda Strategy

Can Obama Strategy Destroy Al-Qaeda?

By Kazi Anwarul Masud

President Obama’s strategy to fight the Taliban is yet to get unanimous support in all the quarters in the US. US Senate Foreign relations Committee Chairman John Kerry expressed in May that Pakistan with its nuclear arsenal, terrorist safe havens, Taliban sanctuaries and growing insurgency has become the most difficult challenge faced by the US. He added that Pakistan at present has the potential to be crippled by the Taliban or to act as bulwark against everything the Taliban represent. Senator Kerry underscored the Pakistani feeling of being used by the US and then left in the lurch and also the American policy of cooperation with the military while paying scant attention to the wishes of the people.

In May also President Obama’s Af-Pak representative Richard Hallbrooke testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that a stable, secure, democratic Pakistan was vital to the US national interest. He said that President Obama’s policy towards Pakistan was to ensure Pakistan’s stability necessary for the security of the US and the rest of the world through increased security, governance and development assistance to Pakistan. Halbrooke spoke of the trilateral engagement among the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan in which the three parties shared commitment to combat terrorism and extremism.

South Asian expert Rory Stewart told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the final goal of the Obama administration to disrupt, dismantle and defeat the al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent their return to either country in future, " is trying to do the impossible. It is highly unlikely that the US will be able either to build an effective, legitimate state or to defeat the Taliban insurgency".

In the same vein Pulitzer Prize winner journalist Steve Coll( New Yorker October 19, 2009)writes that since the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 attempts by foreign powers to shape events there have repeatedly been thwarted by what intelligence analysts call "mirror imaging" which is the tendency of the decision makers in one country to judge counterparts in another country through the prism of their own language and politics . Coll cautioned that safeguarding American interests in AfPak region to free it from the Taliban should not be confused with the quest for an honest President in Kabul where rulers often have not been trustworthy

This converges to some extent with Samuel Huntington’s proposition made in his book POLITICAL ORDER IN CHANGING SOCIETIES(1968) that authority, even of a brutal kind, is preferable to none at all and that the degree to which a state is governed is more important than how it is governed. Huntington felt that despite ideological differences the US had more in common with the USSR than it did with any weakly ruled states. Unsurprisingly neo-con Michael Ledeen (rediscovering American character-September 11, 2009) quoting Alexis de Tocqeville’s description of the Americans as "a restless, reasoning and adventurous race" has called for dismissal of claims that "all people are the same, all cultures are of equal worth, all values are relative, and all judgments are to be avoided". He calls the al-Qaeda terrorism as the "latest incarnation of servitude – this time wrapped in a religious mantle" that must be defeated.

While one cannot contest that terrorism in all forms must be defeated his praise of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who openly said that it was Islam and not al-Qaeda that posed danger to the world is worrying. The skepticism relating to practice of democracy in many developing countries is in agreement with those of Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, Bernard Lewis, Joseph Stiglitz and others that as the practice of democracy requires a degree of prosperity of a nation the Western countries should not expect a faultless administration in countries where they are engaged in fighting the Taliban menace.

Robert Blackwill of Rand Corporation ( The geopolitical consequences of the world economic recession) thinks that over time G-20 will become more influential than G-8. In the next decade or so G -20 will exert more influence on IMF but is unlikely to shape the UN Security Council. Blackwill’s prediction is based on reading the transcending events in history like the French Revolution bringing in Napoleon, Bolshevik Revolution producing the Soviet empire, the Great Depression reinforcing the demise of the Weimar Republic, the advent of Adolph Hitler and such other historical events.

The point is that though unipolar moment may have pased but the US, as Leslie Gelb writes in his book POWER RULES, " the global power is decidedly pyramidical- with the US alone at the top, a second tier of major countries( China, India, the UK, France , Germany and Brazil and several tiers) descending below" will be the key determinants of security in the 21st century. But if power is the capacity to make people do what they do not want to do, then the US after the Bush administration may not want to force the doctrine of preemption as the way to solve global issues and instead as Nobel Committee has said in its citation while awarding Barak Obama the Peace Prize the US may opt for a global reconciliation among different groups pledging allegiance to different faiths and opposing further dissipation of national sovereignty.

Equally China has not in recent past, except in the case of Tibet, displayed any intention of using coercive diplomacy in settling bilateral issues and has played a responsible role in the UNSC. The problem with other G-20 countries is poverty and/or lack of good governance that are likely to divert their attention from international issues to more pressing ones at home. US therefore with its global reach and its surplus wealth (discounting the current recession that may be on the mend) will remain the determining power in the world for the foreseeable future.

One may be treading the fault lines in global politics if one were to assume that peace and tranquility would rule the world. China’s resurgence in Asia would worry Japan and to an extent India given Chinese objection to Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh for election campaign, China’s ire at the refuge given by India to Dalai Lama since he fled Chinese occupation of Tibet, and India’s objection to the building of a dam in Tibet by China that may affect water flow in the rivers flowing into India and Bangladesh.

Europe in this matrix, free of neo-cons like Robert Kagan who suggested the Americans making the dinner and the Europeans doing the dishes and his "co-religionists" like Paul Wolfowitz. Richard Perle and others, may opt for a more internationally acceptable legal framework for a new global construct. The opposing views are not exceptional in most countries. In Australia, for example, the differences between the Conservatives and Labor was based on "realism" and "idealism".

In this evolution of a new global architecture it has become difficult to discern the religious factor in the al-Qaeda and Taliban sponsored terrorism. Pakistan is now virtually fighting for its life though in the eyes of Bruce Riedel and some others Pakistan is now the epicenter of terrorism. Hillary Clinton during her visit to Pakistan in October virtually accused the country of complicity with al-Qaeda. She found it difficult to believe that no one among Pakistani authorities knew whereabouts of the al-Qaeda leadership though al-Qaeda has had safe-havens in Pakistan since 2002. She also implicitly crotocised Pakistani military security establishment. It is believed that Pak-Afghan border region had been the base of 9/11 hijackers and many other terrorists and that most terrorist attacks from World Trade Center in 1993 have been traced to Pakistan and not to Afghanistan, Iran or Iraq.

The terrorism at Bali testifies that the largest Muslim country in the world was not spared. The argument proferred that terrorism in Muslim countries is to establish the pristine spirit and practice of Islam does not hold water as the victims of terrorism are often innocent and pious men, women and children who by no stretch of imagination can be termed as "degenerates" and many are not even Westernized. What then do the Taliban expect to achieve? Already they reportedly have become unpopular in Swat and Malakand in Pakistan where they ruled for sometime because of their harsh and brutal treatment of the people, especially of the women.

The world should not stand by and see Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan and Pakistan and risk the falling of nuclear materials into the hands of the fanatics.

Some of the US leaders have questioned the logic of greater support to Pakistan than to Afghanistan at a time when al-Qaeda is gaining ground in Afghanistan and the billions of dollars of assistance given to Pakistan is being misused either through diversion to bolster Pak military along Indian border or through outright corruption. Unknown to the US taxpayers successive US administrations have tolerated misuse of military and financial aid to Pakistan during the period of ousting the Soviets from Afghanistan and to other military dictators during the cold war. One should not forget that the Taliban were created by Pak President Ziaul Huq with American money and materials. The task was easy because the Taliban given their tribal background and being brought up in Islamist tradition took up arms against the communist Soviets who did not believe in God. As the terrorist attacks of 9/11 demonstrated the West had in effect created a Frankenstein capable of destabilizing a world order that was emerging after the end of bipolarity of the cold war period.

The Western concern about extremist Islamic terrorism has effectively put on the global stage Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations theory, dismissed by many Western scholars and political leaders, due to lack of solution of the Middle East crisis and general underdevelopment in Muslim countries the world may be divided along religious lines. Despite Bruce Riedels prescription for a democratic dispensation in Pakistan doubts has always remained whether Pakistani society being largely ruled by oligarchs where the individual still has to free himself from tradition, where primordial tribal loyalty predominates decision making process, where religious edicts by village Maulanas have quasi-judicial force, and gender inequality is accepted as normative social order, institution of Western liberal democracy would not remain a far cry. Benazir Bhutto was, perhaps, the most secular and determined among Pakistani leaders to face up to the increasing Islamic extremism in the country and was decidedly most favored by the Western powers among the political leaders in Pakistan. Her death, says Stephen Cohen, dealt a death blow to the idea of a liberal and moderate Pakistan. In Pakistan separatism did increase as did violent extremist Islamism.

Given the odds stacked against them it is not clearly understandable what is the end game of the Taliban. Eminent Muslim scholars by and large have condemned the Taliban claim to purge Islam of so-called western degenerative elements and to establish Caliphate of the 6th century Saudi Arabia. Indeed the Taliban consider the Muslim countries of abandoning the true faith as they understand Islam and have threatened to unseat the present regimes in Muslim countries.

It is undeniable that most of the members of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) would not fulfill the criteria of democracy practiced by the West. Yet to expect that these countries, all being developing or least developed countries would be adorned with the socio-political sophistication of the developed countries acquired over centuries is not practical. In making this statement the debate of what is democracy or its different forms has been deliberately avoided. In tribal societies it is difficult for the people in power not to help ones kith and kin, a sin and nepotism surely to be accused of in Western societies. Equally the preponderance of the values of common welfare over individual welfare in the Eastern societies cannot be wished away.

Luckily for the world George W Bush’s wrecking ball diplomacy and his determination to spread democracy everywhere is now a matter of the past. But the responsibility of the global players to keep the world safe for the present and future generations has to remain a constant in the agenda of the leaders of the world

India China Truce

Dalai Lama's Visit to Tawang: Studied Ambivalence

By B. Raman

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who discussed India-China bilateral issues with Prime Minister Wen Jiabo of China, on two occasions during his visit to Hua Hin in Thailand for the summit with ASEAN leaders, has maintained a studied ambivalence on the question of the reported plans of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh next month to declare open a hospital constructed with assistance from the Tibetan exile community in India. China has repeatedly protested against the proposed visit. The latest protest was handed over by the Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi to the Ministry of External Affairs on the eve of the Hua Hin meeting between the two leaders.

2. Bilateral issues figured in the meeting of the two Prime Ministers in the margins of the summit on October 24, 2009, as well as during a dinner hosted by the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for the participants in the summit. While the subject of the Dalai Lama's proposed visit did not appear to have figured at the bilateral meeting, it did figure during the discussions at the dinner as reportedly stated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself during his interactions with the Indian journalists, who had accompanied him. It is not clear whether the Thai dinner preceded the bilateral meeting or followed it.

3. Dr. Manmohan Singh was careful in the formulation of his remarks on the Dalai Lama visit. He said: "I explained to Premier Wen that Dalai Lama is our honoured guest and he is a religious leader. We do not allow Tibetan refugees to indulge in political activities and proof of that is that we took resolute action against some Tibetans during Olympics (torch relay) last year following reports that some Tibetan refugees might create problems."

4. The most significant part of his formulation came in reply to a question from a journalist on the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh. Dr. Singh said HE WAS NOT AWARE OF THE DALAI LAMA'S PLANS. (Emphasis mine)

5. The proposed visit of His Holiness to Tawang in response to a local invitation from Arunachal Pradesh had been figuring in media reports for nearly two months now and the Chinese have repeatedly protested against it. India's Minister for External Affairs, Shri S. M. Krishna, had said that His Holiness was free to visit any part of India.

6. Till now, the Prime Minister himself had maintained a total silence on the issue. To have ruled out the visit would have been politically unwise for the Congress (I) in view of the recent elections in Arunachal Pradesh. Now that the elections are over and the Congress (I) has retained power, the Prime Minister no longer seems to feel the need to observe political caution on the subject lest the electoral fortunes of the Congress (I) be affected.

7. Is he preparing the ground for ending the controversy and defusing the tension with Beijing on the subject by quietly persuading His Holiness to postpone the visit for some personal reasons?

Call of the Lover - Sun Charkhe di

A great song by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan recreated in the magical music of Sandeep Chowta with the voice of Sonu Kakkar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbP_aptf2iA

Yee Haw NBA season starts

Atlast the NBA has started

Lebron James 60 Minutes

60 Minutes did a segment on Lebron James

Office UK

Finally i got to see the original version of "The Office" Found this on you tube

balaji6161 has sent you a photo!

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Great speech by young ted kennedy(now deceased) in Alaska

Will Pakistan breakup

Read a nice article in SAAG(South Asia Analysis Group)
The title of the essay is the question posed by Selig S Harrison, Director Asia Program of Center for International Policy to an assembly of people at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in June this year.

For South Asia it is a disturbing question and as it is for global security. Bruce Riedel, ex-chair of President Obama's AfPak study group, describes Pakistan as a complex and combustible society undergoing a severe crisis. "America helped create that crisis over a long period of time. If we don't help Pakistan now, we may have to deal with a jihadist Pakistan later?"

Whether the nationalists want to accept or refuse to accept the fundamental reality of international relations today is the overwhelming reach of the US in global politico-economic affairs. UN Charter, characterized by John Foster Dulles as a 'pre-atomic document' and various international covenants cannot undo the reality of American hegemony over global affairs.

From time to time various countries do try to assert their Westphalian sovereignty in national/regional affairs. But at the end of the day both developed and developing countries have to ask for American lead to steer out of the global complexity despite American culpability in the current global meltdown. Fidel Castro has all but vanished and his 'arrogance' in the eyes of the Americans has little value. Venezuelan Chavez and left leaders of Brazil, Chile, El Salvador and Nicaragua can have little influence beyond their borders and the inflaming of socialist spirit in Latin America does not appear to be the solution of the financial woes afflicting the region. One must, however, admit the change in the conduct of foreign policy with the change of guard from "wrecking ball approach to foreign affairs" doggedly pursued by George W Bush to a more accommodative and consultative approach of Barak Obama.

The change, the detractors would say, is more confined to the US willingness to listen to the views of her Atlantic allies and perhaps, giving some weightage to those of emerging economies but is yet to be seen as a credible interlocutor in the Palestinian issue, for example, breaking the shackles of Jewish influence at home. But in the eyes of many Barak Obama's Cairo speech heralded a new beginning that brought a breath of fresh air. His words were soothing and promised justice to the long suffering Palestinians in bondage. "There is so much fear, so much mistrust" Obama said that has built up over the years. "But if we choose to bind by the past, we will never move forward." He disagreed with the thesis "that we are bound to disagree and civilizations are doomed to clash" .

Journalist William Galston ( The New Republic- 4thJanuary 2009) thinks that if Obama is right in his assessment that now is the time ripe for change then he will be a "transformative President of historic stature". But then the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister and the appointment of a Jewish extremist as Foreign Minister may mar the prospect of George Mitchell as Barak Obama's point man in the Middle East echoing John Cavanaugh's (Institute of Policy Studies) observation that "so far what you are seeing is rhetoric that we cam make bold changes in our foreign policy. But when he lays out specifics it is not as transformational as the rhetoric"

But the developing world has expectations of the first African-American President of the US partly because, remarks Robert Dreyfuss (The Nation-July 21, 2008), "with his Kenyan and Indonesian roots Obama can credibly claim that he has an inherent understanding of the crushing burden that poverty, disease and lack of clean water and education taking place on the Third World population. And he has said that such abysmal conditions can make angry, oppressed population susceptible to the appeal of violent extremism"

The violent extremism found expression in the destructive activities of al-Qaeda, its terrorist acts of 9/11, and in many parts of the world before and after the 9/11 atrocities. The problem has now been centered in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Though Islamic extremism was basically given its power by the US and Pakistan in their desire to end the Soviets occupation of Afghanistan by installing the Taliban in Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda installed themselves in that country under the patronage of the Taliban.

Professor John Mueller ( Foreign Affairs-April 15, 2009) observes that the Taliban was a reluctant host to the al-Qaeda in the 1990s and felt betrayed when the al-Qaeda started to issue inflammatory statements and finally sponsored the 9/11 attacks "which the Taliban had nothing to do with" but led to the expulsion of Taliban from Afghanistan's seat of power. Mueller argues that the Taliban has very little interest in areas beyond AfPak region and should they come to power the Taliban are unlikely to sponsor any terrorist acts against the US that would inevitably lead to outside military intervention. But the activities of the Taliban in disrupting the recent Presidential election in Afghanistan and the virtual occupation of Swat till recently, declaration of Sharia law in Swat and adjoining areas belie the assessment of many about the strength of Taliban in the two countries.

The death of Baitullah Meshud by US drone attack from across the border and the announcement that Hakimullah Meshud is the new leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan demonstrate that the TTP has "consolidated" its fighting force that was thought to be in disarray after the onslaught by the Pakistan army in Swat and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Though the selection of Hakimullah Meshud has momentarily stopped the tide of factionalism in TTP the very fact that his rival has been made the Taliban chief in South Waziristan displays factionalism in the movement because South Waziristan is reportedly the center of TTP's strength.

This does not mean that the jihadists no longer constitute a threat. They are and will remain a significant threat in the foreseeable future? (Kamran Bokhari & Fred Burton-The counterinsurgency in Pakistan-August 2009-Stratfor Global Intelligence). Pakistan army's long held love with the Islamic extremists had to end due to continuous US pressure on the Pak authorities to break up with the Islamists, not as a strategic manoeuvre as General Musharraf had done after being faced with "for us or against us" threat by Bush administration, but among others by Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Admiral Mullen's public chastisement that Pakistan's spy machinery-ISI-was riddled with Taliban sympathizers. Added was the Mumbai massacre that brought the two countries to the brink of war, an economy on the verge of collapse, and finally the terrorism unleashed by TTP and al-Qaeda elements who are reportedly hosted by Beluch Pashtuns and FATA tribals angered by the killings of innocent women and children in US drone attacks on Pakistan territory. Change of ISI chief in September 2008 by Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and replacement of scores of intelligence officials were dictated by the factors enumerated above.

As mentioned earlier in June this year (2009) Selig Harrison of Center for International Policy raised the question: WILL PAKISTAN BREAK UP? In answering this question Harrison delves into the UNTOLD STORY OF INDIA'S PARTITION (Narindra Singh Sarila, a retired Indian diplomat and ADC to Lord Mountbatten) that as early as March 1945 Winston Churchill and British General Staff were promised by Mohammed Ali Jinnah military facilities that were refused by Pandit Nehru. As a reward they deliberately set out to create Pakistan. This version contradicts former Indian Minister Jaswant Singh's assertion that Nehru and Patel were primarily responsible for the partition and Jinnah was a great Indian, a "sacrilege" for which Jaswant Singh has been expelled from BJP. Harrison argues that from the beginning Pakistan being an artificial entity that put together different ethnic groups was bound to be dysfunctional. The independence of Bangladesh is a testimony to the artificiality of the making of Pakistan because religion alone cannot be the binding force of nationalism as is evident in the existence of many Arab Muslim countries and of the Western world professing Christianity.

Even after the liberation of Bangladesh Pakistan today consists of Punjabi, Baluch, Pashtuns and Sindhis where the Punjabis dominate while the rest account for 33% of the population but 72% of the territory. Apart from the Baluch grievance that their natural gas is being sent out of Baluchistan by the Punjabis on unfair terms, Harrison reminds us that "prior to the British rule the Pashtuns had been politically unified since 1747 under the banner of an Afghan empire that stretched eastward into the Punjabi heartland up to the Indus River. It was traumatic for them when the British seized 40000 square miles of ancestral Pashtun territory between the Indus and the Khyber Pass, embracing half the Pashtun population, and then imposed the Durand line formalizing the conquest.

The British subsequently handed over the territory to Pakistan in 1947 after a controversial referendum in NWFP". The referendum was largely boycotted by the Pashtuns because their demand for an independent Pashtunistan was not included in the referendum. Till today Afghanistan does not recognize Durand Line as the international border between the two countries. Dr.Hasan Abbas, a research fellow at Harvard ( Solving FATA-The National Interest) points out Pashtun domination of more than 27000 kilometers of mountains terrain of FATA along with adjoining NWFP and the influence straddles Pak-Afghan border areas as well. This influence is rooted in ethnic affinity and tribal ethos.

The Pashtuns, according to Hasan Abbas, are proud of the fact that they provided space to Pakistan army, ISI, and the US to train and arm fighters to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Bruce Riedel was told by a senior ISI commander at that time that ISI had trained eighty thousand fighters from forty three countries After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 many of these fighters drifted back to Pakistan as did the Taliban after their defeat at the hands of the Americans and now the al-Qaeda leaders have reportedly taken refuge in Pakistan-a charge the Pak government denies. Many analysts are not optimistic about the secularization of Pakistan. They trace the "Islamization" process of the Pakistan society, in particular the of the tribal areas to the regime of General Zia-ul- Huq who saw Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as an Indo-Soviet plot to destroy Pakistan and hence his determination to form a force to defeat this 'plan'. In the process General Zia encouraged in the army devotion to Islamic ideals and practices and was blind to the growing religious extremism in Pakistani society. The policy was followed by General Musharraf who saw his interest in dominating Afghanistan and fighting India being served by the religious extremists both in the armed forces and outside.

The present army chief General Kayani was ISI head under Musharraf. The difficulties now being faced by the civilian government in their control of the army is nothing new. In addition to its enormous fire power the army has wide ranging business interests estimated at $38 billion. Mumbai terrorist attack proves that Pakistan?s banning of Laskar-e-Toiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad are more a matter of form and the rogue elements either cannot be controlled or are being patronized by the authorities. Even US pressure does not appear to be effective or Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's envoy to AfPak may be convinced of the earnestness of the Pak authorities claim that fighting al-Qaeda is no less necessary for the country?s survival as it is for global security.

One has to remind oneself of Leon Haader's (of Cato Institute) warning to Washington to view Pakistan "as a reluctant supporter of US goals at best and as a potential long term problem at worst" He did not see former President Musharraf''s decision to join the US on its "war on terror" as reflecting a structural transformation in Pakistan's policy but a tactical move to cut losses resulting from the demolition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Besides, the reported choice given to President Musharraf by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage of either to cooperate or be bombed to stone age helped to expedite Pakistan's decision to join the US in the war on terror.

Owen Bennet-Jones of BBC quoted political analyst Frederic Grare's recommendation that Pakistan be treated as a rogue state. Grare wrote in 2007 that "Pakistan state bears responsibility for the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, the resurgence of the Taliban, terrorism in Kashmir, and the growth of jihadi ideology and capabilities internationally". South Asian expert Stephen Cohen writes in his book THE IDEA OF PAKISTAN that the Taliban grew out of a generation of leaders who had received their education in Pakistan's religious schools in NWFP and Beluchistan who sought to gain power in Afghanistan and then purify it of contaminating elements. Their success was due in part to support received from Pakistani intelligence and various Pakistani military groups, especially JUI. Unfortunately for Pakistan the Taliban began to see Pakistan itself as a ripe fruit to be plucked. The defeat of the Taliban at the hands of the Western powers had a blow back effect on Pakistan in the form of sectarian violence, appearance of drug culture, easy availability of guns and general social breakdown that came with a big cost to the socio-political structure of the country.

Neo-conservative Robert Kagan dismisses the possibility of cataclysmic effect of "the struggle between modernization and Islamic radicalism" on international affairs because "Islamic resistance to Westernization is not a new phenomenon" and "in the struggle between traditionalism and modernity, tradition cannot win". The contrary view is expressed by Historian Bernard Lewis that democracy is peculiarly a Western concept devised to conduct public affairs which may or may not be suitable for other people. Lewis mired in his belief of eternal clash of civilizations between Islamic vs. Christians and post-Christians, rigid theocratic hierarchy vs. permissive secular modernism argues that the millennial rivalry between the two great religions has been caused by Muslim humiliation over being defeated by the "inferior Christians and Jews". He further argues that while democracy requires democrats, "even when in power to give freedom and rights to Islamist opposition. The Islamists when in power are under no such obligation. For Islamists, democracy, expressing the will of the people, is the road to power on which there is no return". Francis Fukuyama differs in that the Islamic countries cannot practice democracy because often they do not separate the mosque and the state and therefore can not sustain a true liberal democracy and may use "one man, one vote, one time as a route to establishing theocracy of the sort that exist in Iran today" is necessarily reflective of the situation prevailing in the entire Islamic world. Fukuyama cites the examples of untiring efforts by the Islamist party ruling Turkey to change its laws in order to get into the European Union (now all the more uncertain after the French and Dutch referendum on the European Constitution), Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and post-Suharto Indonesia of countries sustaining democracy.

In the case of Pakistan it is possible that because of the lack of practice of democracy that the people of Pakistan was denied for the better part of its existence by the military-industrial-landed aristocracy combine who wanted to hold on to power aided by the existence of low literacy among the landless peasants, and the tradition of obedience to the Tribal elders/Maliks that democracy will remain fledgling for the near future. The reluctance of President Zardari to cede the powers usurped by Musharraf back to the Parliament has forced Prime Minister Gilani to shake the hands of the military and thereby halt the transformation of the country to democracy as it is universally understood.

Bruce Riedel paints a black picture that the terrorists may be able to tap into the deep anger of the landless peasants in the India-- bordering provinces of Punjab and Sindh where the extremists already have considerable support to mobilize a mass movement similar in some respect to the one that toppled the Shah of Iran. His thesis is supported by reports that anti-landlord agitation partly contributed to the Islamist's victory in Swat. It is, however, difficult to accept that Pakistanis who are largely not wedded to Islamist ideology and more particularly the army would let it happen. It is possible that given the structure of Pakistani society and the fact that the country was born to be a homeland for the Indian Muslims a degree of Talibinization of the country is almost inevitable. The opposing factors will include a large segment of the armed forces and the civilian population, albeit deeply religious, but unwilling to accept the strict dictates of the Taliban. The greatest opponent will be the Pakistani women who would not accept Taliban edicts on education, dress and pursuing independent professions of their own.

Given the immigration barriers put up by the developed countries to keep themselves away from the contagion of suspected terrorism and forcing the Third world people to remain in badly governed countries, a form of historian Nial Ferguson's global division between islands of affluence in the midst of sea of poverty, the failing states have to be given assistance to bring themselves up to a level of economic development that Francis Fukuyama, Joseph Stglitz and Milton Friedman will be comfortable with, taking these countries on an irreversible course of democratization. But given the Indo-Pak tension in the subcontinent mainly due to Pakistan's notion of India as the primary threat to her sovereignty it will be necessary to engage India for constructive talks with Pakistan (the composite talks were suspended after Mumbai terrorist attacks) on all issues including the intractable issue of Kashmir. The main global players and the US in particular will have to continue their efforts to ease the Indo-Pak tension and free South Asia from the stigma of being called "the most dangerous place in the world?"

Donnie Darko Amazing movie

I have just seen this not very popular movie "Donnie Darko" This is one of the best movies i have seen in the past few months.The complexity of emotions along with the highly imaginative personality who i can relate to in the form of "Donnie" has really fascinated me.The science element of time travel is only a backdrop for the wonderfully created an emotional movie with avenues for alternative theories for the storyline.This must be a creation of a genius and that is Richard Kelly(Director)
Here is the video on the ending of the movie with a commentary by Richard Kelly and Jake(the protagonist)

Bowling to Colombine

Just watched the documentary yesterday an interesting documentary about gun control in America and also delves in the racial and financial Crisis over the years and how they are related to each other

2Movies on the weekend

2 Movies on the weekend "White Chicks" a funny movie with the Wayan Brothers and Street Fighter 4(Anime)

Great Obama Sppech

I liked this Obama Speech on the Race and Equality issue to NAACP(National Assocation of Advancement for Colored People)