Those who have been following events in the Indian Sub continent, whould have realised the importance of recent developments namely the elimination of Balochi Nationalist(tribal warlord as per the Pakistani version) leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. Most of the material I have read suggests that this might prove a catalyst to the nationalist movement in Balochistan.
For India this would seem like a God sent.
For decades Pakistan has been exploiting the various fissures that exist within India. Not to say that India hasn't returned the compliment, but the sheer size and the disparate nature of its people means that there are a lot more fissures for Pakistan to exploit.
There will be those in the Indian leadership who will want to steer clear of this conflict. Their argument will be that India would lose the moral grounds on which it asks Pakistan to stop meddling in its aaffairs, stop arming terrorists etc.
To those people I have something to say. Make no mistake , all your moral posturing has yielded India no divedends. Insurgencies in India continue to rage along with regular terrorist strikes all which has happened with the Pakistani leaderships assistance. Even if geo-politically you do not see the case for an independent balochi state, do your utmost to exploit the situation.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Spare us the bullshit
I started blogging precisely for this reason, to vent theonly way I can against the idiocy that some people indulge in when they have the ability to have their opinions read by millions. One such idiot is Praful Bidwai. The self appointed flag bearer of secularism in India and beyond.
His article in Rediff is an abject piece by any standards . Most commentators intellectuals and common folk are appalled at the degree to which the Israeli war machine has been coming down upon Lebanon.
Mr Bidwai has the gall to compare that situation with India-Pakistan situation. Even to one with the thinking capacity of Mr Bidwai, it should be apparent that the presence of nuclear weapons in this region make the possibility of open conflict well nigh impossible.
But to think that peace overtures will stop terrorist attacks as Mr Bidawai seems to think would be possible only in Alice's Wonderland. We have been at the recieving end of a covert war, and circumstances have made it difficult to bring our conventional weapons superiority into play. We can't rely on the 'World Powers' to do anything, if the last 20 years has been any indicator. We need not accuse Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism, they have provided suffiecient evidence to the world about that. The only way we have left to respond is respond with a covert war of our own.
Just as our civilian populace has realised that there are no innocents to be spared in such a war, the same realisation must dawn on those who target us. Raise the cost of each strike to unbearable levels. Israel might not have stopped the attacks, but neither will w eif we stand by and do nothing.
His article in Rediff is an abject piece by any standards . Most commentators intellectuals and common folk are appalled at the degree to which the Israeli war machine has been coming down upon Lebanon.
Mr Bidwai has the gall to compare that situation with India-Pakistan situation. Even to one with the thinking capacity of Mr Bidwai, it should be apparent that the presence of nuclear weapons in this region make the possibility of open conflict well nigh impossible.
But to think that peace overtures will stop terrorist attacks as Mr Bidawai seems to think would be possible only in Alice's Wonderland. We have been at the recieving end of a covert war, and circumstances have made it difficult to bring our conventional weapons superiority into play. We can't rely on the 'World Powers' to do anything, if the last 20 years has been any indicator. We need not accuse Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism, they have provided suffiecient evidence to the world about that. The only way we have left to respond is respond with a covert war of our own.
Just as our civilian populace has realised that there are no innocents to be spared in such a war, the same realisation must dawn on those who target us. Raise the cost of each strike to unbearable levels. Israel might not have stopped the attacks, but neither will w eif we stand by and do nothing.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
The fighting in Lebanon
I guess what struck me at first about the fighting in Lebanon was how qucikly it pushed the Mumbai bomblasts off the frontpages of CNN.
Generally speaking on the intractable Israeli-Arab conflict I have always viewed Israel as the agressor, In fact I have always felt that Israel flouted international Opinion and norms with impunity knowing that big brother was watching theor back and Uncle Sam's was the only opinion that mattered. At times even that did'nt matter. Almost as if the world owe-ed them something. Even in this conflict there are signs of Israeli heavy handedness, wiping out Lebanons painstakingly rebuilt infratructure was neither necessary nor do I believe it will help Israel in any particular way.
Having said all that it must be unequivocally noted that the further continuance of the Hezbollah in its military avtaar wont contribute to peace in the middle east. Admittedly on their own terms, but if anyone has been making moves towards peace in the middle east its the Israeli's. They have a right to demand Hezbollah's disarmament. The Hezbollah is a group formed with the sole purpose of the destruction of the state of Israel, and Israel has a right and duty to see that does not happen. This is a fight between David and Goliath true, but can we really root for the underdog everytime irrespective of who is right.
The origins of the current fighting can be traced back to 2000 when Hezbollah captured 3 israeli soldier and managed to secure the release of hundreds of lebanese prisoners in exchnage of 3 Israeli bodies. Hezbollah tried a repeat of that tactic and this time Israel decided to take action.
It is not always possible to correct the wrongs perpeterated by history, the Arabs in the middle east who have not as yet reconciled themselves to the existence of Israel, are merely deluding themselves. A lasting peace can be achieved if and only both sides agree that they have an equal right to the land on which they live and die .
Generally speaking on the intractable Israeli-Arab conflict I have always viewed Israel as the agressor, In fact I have always felt that Israel flouted international Opinion and norms with impunity knowing that big brother was watching theor back and Uncle Sam's was the only opinion that mattered. At times even that did'nt matter. Almost as if the world owe-ed them something. Even in this conflict there are signs of Israeli heavy handedness, wiping out Lebanons painstakingly rebuilt infratructure was neither necessary nor do I believe it will help Israel in any particular way.
Having said all that it must be unequivocally noted that the further continuance of the Hezbollah in its military avtaar wont contribute to peace in the middle east. Admittedly on their own terms, but if anyone has been making moves towards peace in the middle east its the Israeli's. They have a right to demand Hezbollah's disarmament. The Hezbollah is a group formed with the sole purpose of the destruction of the state of Israel, and Israel has a right and duty to see that does not happen. This is a fight between David and Goliath true, but can we really root for the underdog everytime irrespective of who is right.
The origins of the current fighting can be traced back to 2000 when Hezbollah captured 3 israeli soldier and managed to secure the release of hundreds of lebanese prisoners in exchnage of 3 Israeli bodies. Hezbollah tried a repeat of that tactic and this time Israel decided to take action.
It is not always possible to correct the wrongs perpeterated by history, the Arabs in the middle east who have not as yet reconciled themselves to the existence of Israel, are merely deluding themselves. A lasting peace can be achieved if and only both sides agree that they have an equal right to the land on which they live and die .
Friday, July 21, 2006
Bombay blasts , why those bleeding heart liberals are idiots.
Now by american standards I am a liberal(my pal megan might take issue with that). But then Americans have different standards.
World over there is a consensus that no cause can justify the the killing of civilians , there is also a consensus that all nations can and should co-operate to irradicate the scourge of terrorism. But when it comes to India all such consensus does not apply.
India has been shouting itself hoarse for ages about Pakistan sponsored terrorism , and yet nobody took it seriously.
Pakistan's complicity in Afganistan and in the supply of nuclear bomb making know how to just about every rogue state in the world have all been forgiven or atleast gone unpunished.
This however does not infuriate me, because the world will not change to suit India and why should it. Every nation does and should act in solely its interest(the folks at the UN will disagree but who listens to them anyway).
What does infuriate me is those idiot liberals in India, who after every major terror strike will trot out the same tierd list of excesses of the Indian state some real and some imagined.
Time and time again those idiot liberals have had the nerve to value the lives of Indian civilians and military personnel as less important than those of terrorists. I view this as a manifestation of the Stocklholm Syndrome, where an abductee identifies with his captor.
Admittedly there are things about the Indian state that need to change, but right after a major terror strike , to say anything other than that the perpeterators should be brought to book is flirting with treason. No terrorist checks the identity of those he intends to kill( true they target certain sections) but Mr/Ms Bleeding heart idiot liberal , you might be an unintentional casualty as well the next time you use public transportation, of wait my bad, you probably have an A/c car with a driiver no doubt paid for by an "NGO", so you can turn up after the next terror strike to berate the "heavy hand of the Indian state" that has "forced frustated young men to adaopt the path of terrorism".
World over there is a consensus that no cause can justify the the killing of civilians , there is also a consensus that all nations can and should co-operate to irradicate the scourge of terrorism. But when it comes to India all such consensus does not apply.
India has been shouting itself hoarse for ages about Pakistan sponsored terrorism , and yet nobody took it seriously.
Pakistan's complicity in Afganistan and in the supply of nuclear bomb making know how to just about every rogue state in the world have all been forgiven or atleast gone unpunished.
This however does not infuriate me, because the world will not change to suit India and why should it. Every nation does and should act in solely its interest(the folks at the UN will disagree but who listens to them anyway).
What does infuriate me is those idiot liberals in India, who after every major terror strike will trot out the same tierd list of excesses of the Indian state some real and some imagined.
Time and time again those idiot liberals have had the nerve to value the lives of Indian civilians and military personnel as less important than those of terrorists. I view this as a manifestation of the Stocklholm Syndrome, where an abductee identifies with his captor.
Admittedly there are things about the Indian state that need to change, but right after a major terror strike , to say anything other than that the perpeterators should be brought to book is flirting with treason. No terrorist checks the identity of those he intends to kill( true they target certain sections) but Mr/Ms Bleeding heart idiot liberal , you might be an unintentional casualty as well the next time you use public transportation, of wait my bad, you probably have an A/c car with a driiver no doubt paid for by an "NGO", so you can turn up after the next terror strike to berate the "heavy hand of the Indian state" that has "forced frustated young men to adaopt the path of terrorism".
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Terror and our response
"Bomb blasts rip through crowded commuter trains at Rush hour" , this headline is from yesterday, but it could easily be from any of the preceeding years. Terror has been brought to Bombay almost as an annual feature.
Prior to these bomblasts there was in mind an event that was probably not unrelated. The bust of Shiv Sena chief Bal ThakerayLate wife was blackened. Predictably , Shiv Sena activists who are scrapping for a fight at the best of times, came out onto the streets in protest forcibly downing shutters and forcing the police to come out in large numbers to prevent violence.
Two days later you have these bom blasts, its no ones case that in the absense of a violent reaction form the Sena, these bomb blasts could have been prevented. But any thinking man is going to ponder on the timing.
How do we respond? Our ususal sabre rattling at Pakistan? Well that wont work , anayone remember OP parakram where half a million Indian troops spent a good part of a year on the border with Pakistan, and came back with absolutely nothing.
Should we target Indian muslims? Surely you cannot hold 200 million Indians responsible for the acts of a few.
So what do we do then. Give a chance for the Bombay police to run a proper investigation and determine who the perpetrators are , discover all apsects of the consipiracy. Then go after the killers by fair means or foul. Any Indian or foriegner , however big is fair game. Announce their guilt publicly, no courts no trials, let the Indian public take care of business.
What do u say , another Rang De Basanti script? Yeah I am working on it.
Prior to these bomblasts there was in mind an event that was probably not unrelated. The bust of Shiv Sena chief Bal ThakerayLate wife was blackened. Predictably , Shiv Sena activists who are scrapping for a fight at the best of times, came out onto the streets in protest forcibly downing shutters and forcing the police to come out in large numbers to prevent violence.
Two days later you have these bom blasts, its no ones case that in the absense of a violent reaction form the Sena, these bomb blasts could have been prevented. But any thinking man is going to ponder on the timing.
How do we respond? Our ususal sabre rattling at Pakistan? Well that wont work , anayone remember OP parakram where half a million Indian troops spent a good part of a year on the border with Pakistan, and came back with absolutely nothing.
Should we target Indian muslims? Surely you cannot hold 200 million Indians responsible for the acts of a few.
So what do we do then. Give a chance for the Bombay police to run a proper investigation and determine who the perpetrators are , discover all apsects of the consipiracy. Then go after the killers by fair means or foul. Any Indian or foriegner , however big is fair game. Announce their guilt publicly, no courts no trials, let the Indian public take care of business.
What do u say , another Rang De Basanti script? Yeah I am working on it.
Monday, July 10, 2006
The head butt of the decade.
There is really no need to describe(or for that matter discuss) the Zidane head Butt on an Italian defender that ended in , France's greatest player(maybe all time with due respect to Platini) recieving a red card.
A lot of people including me immediately after the game , believed that Zidane had no business losing it, no matter what was said.
Is that entirely possible? Is it wise on the part of FIFA to come down hard on this offence when it has let so many others off?. When replays are available ther is a strange refusal on part of authorities to use them to administer justice.
I recall incidents in Australia where spectators who were found to be indulging in racial taunts against the visiting south africans were banned from the cricket, why apply different standards to the players themselves?
If Zidane's 'victim' did indeed use a racial slur(as is widely believed) he shouldn't be going unpunished. If the focus of this world cup has been on the reffereeing there is a reason for that. Instead of lamenting the fall in quality, FIFA would do better to apply more resources to see that games are played in the right spirit.
A lot of people including me immediately after the game , believed that Zidane had no business losing it, no matter what was said.
Is that entirely possible? Is it wise on the part of FIFA to come down hard on this offence when it has let so many others off?. When replays are available ther is a strange refusal on part of authorities to use them to administer justice.
I recall incidents in Australia where spectators who were found to be indulging in racial taunts against the visiting south africans were banned from the cricket, why apply different standards to the players themselves?
If Zidane's 'victim' did indeed use a racial slur(as is widely believed) he shouldn't be going unpunished. If the focus of this world cup has been on the reffereeing there is a reason for that. Instead of lamenting the fall in quality, FIFA would do better to apply more resources to see that games are played in the right spirit.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
Buffet's anouncement.
Not for the first time I am blogging about something that I have a very sketchy idea about.
So Warren Buffet has decided to give his considerable wealth to charity , changing his long held views on the subject.
We should all be breaking out the champagne . And yet I am left with a feeling of unease. Maybe its the realisation that dawned on Warren Buffet himself, he wasn't going to be around forever. All the shares he holds will be tranferred to charitable trusts(Bill and Melinda Gates mostly).
No doubt those trusts have very competent managers, but for all their competence they are not Gates or Buffet or any of those other remarkable men who will no doubt be thinking on similar lines.
History has taught us that the mightiest empires have stumbled when leadership changed hands from those who were great to those who were competent. Men like Gates and Buffet have been at the forefront of the prosperity that America has seen in the past few decades.
Fact is ownership brings with it an incentive to make things grow and improve. I am not convinced that will continue to be the case when such large business giants are run by charitable trusts.
On the flipside, this is the best shot we have of finding a cure to AIDS.
So Warren Buffet has decided to give his considerable wealth to charity , changing his long held views on the subject.
We should all be breaking out the champagne . And yet I am left with a feeling of unease. Maybe its the realisation that dawned on Warren Buffet himself, he wasn't going to be around forever. All the shares he holds will be tranferred to charitable trusts(Bill and Melinda Gates mostly).
No doubt those trusts have very competent managers, but for all their competence they are not Gates or Buffet or any of those other remarkable men who will no doubt be thinking on similar lines.
History has taught us that the mightiest empires have stumbled when leadership changed hands from those who were great to those who were competent. Men like Gates and Buffet have been at the forefront of the prosperity that America has seen in the past few decades.
Fact is ownership brings with it an incentive to make things grow and improve. I am not convinced that will continue to be the case when such large business giants are run by charitable trusts.
On the flipside, this is the best shot we have of finding a cure to AIDS.
5"9+ faithful , dependable , music lover.
Today in the subway as usual I was listening to my ipod and nodding off. At Grand Central there is always a lot of people getting off and a girl got into the seat next to me. Immediately she whipped out a notebook and started writing what looked like a list. From the length of the list she had been working on it for a while. She proceeded to finish one A4 sheet and moved on to the next and made it all the way through the middle of that page.
I caught a glimpse of the lsit ofcourse. And these are the things I can reproduce from memory.
5 '9+ , faithful, dependable , music lover, successful.
Somehow I feel this wasn't a list to select a puppy.
To all guys out there, thats what we are expected to live up to. A list that spans 1 1/2 A4 pages.
Never mind that we'll still will always be no 2 after Brad Pitt. No matter that the list writer is no Angelina Jolie either.
I caught a glimpse of the lsit ofcourse. And these are the things I can reproduce from memory.
5 '9+ , faithful, dependable , music lover, successful.
Somehow I feel this wasn't a list to select a puppy.
To all guys out there, thats what we are expected to live up to. A list that spans 1 1/2 A4 pages.
Never mind that we'll still will always be no 2 after Brad Pitt. No matter that the list writer is no Angelina Jolie either.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Mr Burns? Its a pleasure to meet you.
Recently I was able to obtain a one week free trial for this oh so great gym called Sports Clubs LA.
It costs excatly double of my current gym, but what the heck, I really wanted to see what the other half lived as.
The facilities on offer , justified the price. The space, the equipment the general opulence of your surroundings were amazing.
As soon as you enter, you are left in no doubt, what kind of people go there, the rich(and by new york standards) that means the really rich.
But one sideffect of being rich(with some honorable exceptions) is that you are usually a little older. I mentioned this to my friend as we were entering.
While working out I realised that they were playing Michael Jackson numbers from the 80's and thought to myself, this would make a great post for my blog. "They are so old they play Michael Jackson".
And then as I moved on to the bench press, I saw something that really blew me away. There was a guy who looked exactly like Mr Burns from the Simpsons , only older. Lest you think I am making fun of old people , I admire the guys drive to be in the gym, though I am not sure how it was physically possible.
It costs excatly double of my current gym, but what the heck, I really wanted to see what the other half lived as.
The facilities on offer , justified the price. The space, the equipment the general opulence of your surroundings were amazing.
As soon as you enter, you are left in no doubt, what kind of people go there, the rich(and by new york standards) that means the really rich.
But one sideffect of being rich(with some honorable exceptions) is that you are usually a little older. I mentioned this to my friend as we were entering.
While working out I realised that they were playing Michael Jackson numbers from the 80's and thought to myself, this would make a great post for my blog. "They are so old they play Michael Jackson".
And then as I moved on to the bench press, I saw something that really blew me away. There was a guy who looked exactly like Mr Burns from the Simpsons , only older. Lest you think I am making fun of old people , I admire the guys drive to be in the gym, though I am not sure how it was physically possible.
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