Prof. G.C.Asnani News and Views 6th January 2009
Date: January 6th 2009 2:32:29 a.m.
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E-mail: i)asnanigc@yahoo.com, ii) gcasnani@vsnl.com
News and Views 6th January 2009
1. Fighting flares outside Gaza City. Israeli troops have clashed with Palestinian militants on the edge of Gaza City on the third night of Israel's ground assault on Gaza. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
2. Obama says US economy 'very sick' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
3. Bush casts wide net for marine conservation (cnn.com)
4. Opposition candidate wins Ghana presidential election (cnn.com)
5. Germany: Muslim father "abused," brother stabbed to honor-death, 16 year-old girl. The fate of Westernizing Muslim females? (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
6. Egyptian Icon: Hamas "should have known that Israel wasn't going to receive the attacks with roses"(http://www.jihadwatch.org/) (G.C.A.: Israel appears to know what they have to do, if they are to survive on this sacred Earth.)
7. Let's rate them too. They were the rating agencies for emerging economies. The fate of FDI flow to developing economies and the stability of their stock markets largely depended on these rating agency’s certificates. We are relieved that they and their rating analysis are no more hitting headlines. (organiser.org)
8. Time to look afresh at our fellow citizens. (organiser.org) (G.C.A: Hindus in India should learn to think a little; understand a little, and act a little.)
9. Pak should pursue leads provided by India: says US diplomat Boucher (http://dailypioneer.com/) (G.C.A: Pakistan refuses to see; what can USA or any other person do? Go ahead, headlong, straight along a line.)
10. After the dossier, what? -Pakistan can’t be tamed like this (http://dailypioneer.com/) (G.C.A: Dossier is supposed to make Indian population believe that Govt. is active, very active, and very serious about security of India, without even looking for the person in Indian soil who have surely helped the foreign terrorists on the Indian soil during the attack on Mumbai. Even a child has common sense to understand this simple thing; but bigger people will not.)
11. Can India Emulate Israel's Action In Gaza? - By B. Raman (southasiaanalysis.org) (G.C.A: People who have power in India refuse to understand; what can you do?)
12. SRI LANKA: The LTTE agenda after loss of Kilinochchi - Update No 161 (southasiaanalysis.org)
13. Tirukural - Chapter 9: Hospitality. The whole purpose of earning wealth and maintaining a home is to provide hospitality to guests. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
14. Vedic Verses for 1/5/09. May my voice remain strong, my breath unfaltering, my sight and my hearing acute! May my hair not turn gray nor my teeth become blackened, may my arms not grow feeble and slack! (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com) (G.C.A: We Hindus have generally forgotten the Techniques of our Vedas. Let us, Hindus read this and see the Teachings of our Vedas: strength, strength, strength, physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual.)
15. Christian Congress MP RK Nayak is on run as CrimeBranch starts chasing him in connection with murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four his disciples. (www.odishatoday.com)
16. Gospel of Jesus: Did Jesus advise to Divide, to Kill, and to Rule? Was he a Terrorist? Who can believe this?
i) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 12; 51-53: Jesus said:
"Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
ii) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 20; 27: Jesus said: “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.”
iii)Holy Bible, New Testament, MATHEW 16; 18-19: Jesus said, "Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; what you prohibit on Earth will be prohibited in Heaven, and what you permit on Earth will be permitted in Heaven."
17. Obama Seeks Wide Support in Congress for Stimulus (nytimes.com)
18. Galactic collision will happen sooner than scientists thought (guardian.co.uk)
19. Congress wooing the youth in Gujarat by organizing sporting events across the state. (ndtv.com)
20. Pak hackers plan attack on Indian cyber networks: Intel (Hindustantimes.com)
1. Fighting flares outside Gaza City. Israeli troops have clashed with Palestinian militants on the edge of Gaza City on the third night of Israel's ground assault on Gaza. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Date: - 6-1-09
Inside Gaza's al-Shifa hospital
Israeli troops have clashed with Palestinian militants on the edge of Gaza City on the third night of Israel's ground assault on Gaza.
The Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups say fighters engaged Israeli soldiers with machine guns and rocket fire.
Three Israeli soldiers were also killed by "friendly fire" in northern Gaza.
Some 500 Palestinians are thought to have been killed and 2,500 wounded in the 10 days since Israel moved to end rocket attacks from within Gaza.
Palestinian medical officials say at least 90 people have died since the ground assault began while Israel has lost four soldiers and four civilians over the 10 days.
Aid agencies in Gaza speak of appalling conditions for treating casualties of the continuing Israeli bombardments.
Rejecting international appeals for a ceasefire, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the operation would continue until it met its objective.
Foreign diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have borne little fruit so far.
Single shell
An Israeli army spokesman said three soldiers from the elite Golani Brigade had been killed accidentally by a single tank shell, with a further three severely wounded and 20 suffering lighter injuries.
The shell had hit a "structure" where the soldiers were located, he said
At nightfall on Monday, Israeli troops were reported to be battling Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the Shujaiya district of Gaza City.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters had engaged Israeli soldiers with machine-guns and rockets. Residents reported hearing loud explosions and heavy gunfire.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper, quoting Israeli army sources, reports that says Hamas lobbed mortars at the soldiers.
Artillery and helicopter gunships were reportedly brought in to drive back the Palestinian fighters.
Israeli tanks were also reportedly moving towards the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza and Beit Hanoun and the Jabaliya refugee camp saw clashes on Monday.
Information about what is happening inside Gaza is limited as Israel has barred foreign reporters from entering.
'Serious hunger'
Living conditions in Gaza are reported to be deteriorating sharply, with supplies of fuel, food, water and wheat running desperately low.
Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert, one of two foreign doctors working at Gaza's biggest hospital, al-Shifa, said operating rooms were full and people were dying because of a lack of supplies.
Israel says it is not targeting civilians but Dr Gilbert said he had only seen two fighters among hundreds of casualties.
The UN says a million people in the territory are without electricity and many are facing "serious hunger" within days.
Dominic Nutt, of the aid agency Save The Children, told the BBC that workers in the territory were reporting rapidly deteriorating conditions:
"They don't have any water most of the day, there is no electricity, they are freezing cold, the windows have to be left open to stop them smashing when the bombs fall.
"Children are at risk from hypothermia, they are malnourished, there is not enough food, the situation is getting desperate."
Thousands of Gazans are reported to have fled their homes, despite the dangers of moving around outdoors in the territory.
Israel says it has allowed a convoy of 80 lorries carrying food and medicines through Gaza's southern border with Egypt.
Peace bid
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to travel to Damascus on Tuesday along with an EU delegation in a bid to persuade Syria to influence Hamas leaders to accept his plan for a ceasefire.
He held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the region on Monday.
Accusing Hamas of acting in an "irresponsible and unforgivable manner" by firing rockets into Israel, he appealed to Israel for a halt to the violence to allow in humanitarian aid.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is due to attend a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, along with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France and Britain, in an attempt to put pressure on the Security Council to act decisively.
2. Obama says US economy 'very sick' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
Date: - 6-1-09
Mr Obama has just officially moved to Washington ahead of his inauguration
US President-elect Barack Obama has described America's economy as "very sick" and has said that the situation was worsening.
He said he expected that the latest US unemployment figures, due out later this week, would be sobering.
Earlier, he met politicians in Washington to discuss ways to boost the economy and create new jobs.
US media reports say he is planning a stimulus package worth more than $800bn (£551bn), including $300bn of tax cuts.
Mr Obama has said he wants a plan that will create 3m jobs by 2011.
The president-elect hopes to be able to enact the package shortly after his inauguration on 20 January.
"The economy is very sick," he said.
"We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession.
"We've got an extraordinary economic challenge ahead of us, we're expecting a sobering job report at the end of the week."
The US Labor department will release its December employment report on Friday and many economists are expecting the jobless figure to rise by 500,000, bringing the total US job losses for 2008 to about 2.5 million.
"Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American dream slipping further and further out of reach," Mr Obama said.
'Very serious situation'
The package is reported to include tax breaks for people earning less than $200,000 a year as well as tax credits for companies taking on additional staff. There's a tension here between wanting to do the most meritorious projects for the long term and wanting to do stuff that boosts the economy quickly
Bob Greenstein
Center on B`udget and Policy Priorities
Besides $500 tax cuts for most workers and $1,000 for couples, the proposals are said to include tax breaks of more than $100bn for businesses.
The plan is likely to allow firms incurring losses last year to take a credit against profits dating back five years, instead of the two years currently allowed.
Another provision would award a one-year tax credit costing $40-50bn to companies that hire new workers, and would provide other incentives for business investment in new equipment.
In a weekend speech, Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, called for the government to put more money into stimulating the economy.
Mr Obama's economic team has been carving out a plan for several weeks and Vice President-elect Joe Biden said in an interview that the plans had been almost finalised before Christmas.
Mr Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "We've seen statistics, we've seen Christmas sales, consumer confidence and obviously upcoming job numbers, which underscore that a very serious situation has only gotten worse and isn't likely to get better any time soon."
The president-elect has now moved to Washington from Chicago and his meetings with legislators on Monday were the first formal discussions since his 4 November election victory.
Spending plans
Mr Obama's economic recovery plan depends on swiftly pumping hundreds of billions of federal dollars into the economy to create jobs.
The focus is on tax cuts and government spending that can provide an immediate lift to the economy.
However, the proposals also appear to contain money that might not actually get spent for several years, such as plans to rebuild the electric grid and buy billions of dollars of computers and software for the health care sector.
Some Republican critics say that the Democrats are simply using the current economic crisis to put money into long-term projects now, rather than in a few years when concerns about record budget deficits might threaten the spending.
"It's incredibly difficult to identify things that are valuable in the long run, can be financed in the short run and get the money out the door quickly," said former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who advised Senator John McCain's presidential campaign.
Mr Obama's officials have promised a "use it or lose it" rule to force states and localities to spend new federal money quickly to stimulate jobs.
But some commentators say this could prompt local politicians to choose projects that can be built soon, rather than better ideas that might take longer.
"There's a tension here between wanting to do the most meritorious projects for the long term and wanting to do stuff that boosts the economy quickly," said budget expert Bob Greenstein of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
3. Bush casts wide net for marine conservation (cnn.com)
Date: - 6-1-09
Bush designates 9 sites in 3 areas of central Pacific as marine national monuments
Sites include Wake, Johnston, Palmyra, Baker, Howland, Jarvis, Marianas Islands
Rose Atoll, Kingman Reef also designated; New areas cover 195,280 square miles
New designations will expand protection to a 50 nautical mile area off the islands
By KC Wildmoon
CNN
(CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday will designate nine sites in three areas of the central Pacific as marine national monuments, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday.
The new designated areas make up the largest area of ocean set aside for marine conservation in the world.
The new areas make up the largest area of ocean set aside for marine conservation in the world -- 195,280 square miles -- and, coupled with a 138,000-square mile designation in Hawaii two years go, mean that Bush will have protected more of the ocean than any other president.
"The president's actions will prevent the destruction and extraction of natural resources from these beautiful and biologically diverse areas without conflicting with our military's activities and freedom of navigation, which are vital to our national security," Perino said. "And the public and future generations will benefit from the science and knowledge gained from these areas."
Bush is using the 1906 Antiquities Act -- first used by President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside public lands such as the Grand Canyon as national monuments -- for the designation. Many of those lands later became national parks.
Bill Chandler, vice president for government affairs for the non-profit Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI), said Bush is "to be commended" for his action.
"From a conservation history perspective, the message here is that Teddy Roosevelt laid the groundwork for our national park system when he withdrew a lot of public lands and called them national monuments," said Chandler.
"We see the president laying the foundation for a system of national marine preserves and parks," he said. "We had lacked such a system for a long time."
MCBI and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) partnered to identify eight of the nine sites the president will set aside on Tuesday. All but one of those eight remote areas already have Fish and Wildlife Service refuge areas at their cores.
"You have a core conservation mission already," Chandler said. "This is just basically going to expand them."
The MCBI/EDF-identified sites are Rose Atoll, Wake Island, Johnston Island, Palmyra Island, Kingman Reef, Baker Island, Howland Island and Jarvis Island.
Rose Atoll, part of American Samoa, is the smallest atoll in the world, but more than 500 fish species swim in the waters around it, and it supports 97 percent of America Samoa's seabird population. It is also the nesting ground for several threatened turtle species.
The Pew Environmental Fund identified the ninth site -- the waters around the northern Marianas and the deepest ocean canyon in the world, the Mariana Trench, 11,033 meters (36,201 feet) at its deepest.
The new designations will expand protection to a 50 nautical mile area off the islands, where commercial fishing will be prohibited. Other uses of the area -- research or recreational fishing -- will be allowed but will require a permit.
Bush has not gotten rave reviews for his conservation efforts on land -- according to the Audubon Society, he's signed wilderness legislation covering a little more than 2 million acres, fewer than any other president except Richard Nixon. But Chandler said that Bush "has really embraced ocean conservation as his own."
"Ocean protection ... is lagging 50 to 100 years behind land conservation, he said. "This is precisely the kind of leadership that we need to get the message across that there are places in the ocean that are rich with diversity."
"Scientists already know this," he said. "They have been calling for this for 10 or 15 years."
The president can cut through the bureaucracy that makes protecting resources such a lengthy process, and the Antiquities Act is a strong tool for those efforts. With the Act, the president can make a designation by executive order, essentially "writing the prescription for conservation" for an area, Chandler said.
4. Opposition candidate wins Ghana presidential election (cnn.com)
Date: - 6-1-09
NEW: Opposition candidate John Evans Atta Mills wins presidential election
Nana Akufo-Addo of the incumbent NPP has been ousted
Runoff election was so close it could not be decided until a final vote on Friday
(CNN) -- Opposition candidate John Evans Atta Mills has narrowly won Ghana's presidential election, the Ghana Electoral Commission said on its Web site.
John Atta Mills, left, of the opposition NDC has defeated Nana Akufo-Addo, right, of the ruling NPP in the runoff.
The chairman of the Ghana Electoral Commission, Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, said Mills had garnered about 4,521,032 votes, or about 50.2 percent of the total votes cast.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, of the incumbent New Patriotic Party, won about 49.77 percent of the total valid votes cast, Afari-Gyan said, according to the commission's Web site.
The two men led a field of eight candidates in the December 7 general election, but neither secured a majority of the votes. Akufo-Addo had held a slight lead in that vote.
The runoff election was so close that it could not be decided until the last of the 230 constituencies, the Tain constituency, voted on Friday.
"On the basis of the official results given, the results of the run-off election in the Tain constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, which was held on the 2nd January 2009, it is my duty to declare Professor John Evans Atta Mills the President-elect of Ghana," Afari-Gyan said, according to the government's Web site.
Both parties had alleged irregularities in voting in the Ashanti region and Volta regions, but Afari-Gyan said the commission did not find evidence in "purely electoral matters" that invalidated the results.
Mills, 64, will replace John Agyekum Kufuor as Ghana's president on January 7. Kufuor is stepping down after serving two four-year terms, the maximum allowed.
Mills is a law professor who served as vice president from 1997 to 2000 under Jerry Rawlings. He lost to Kufuor in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Ghana, a country about the size of England, is the world's second-biggest cocoa and gold producer. In 2007, leaders announced the discovery of oil off its shore.
The world recession, however, has hindered growth. Ghana has seen a decline in its exports and will not tap into its oil resources until 2010.
Part of a former British colony, Ghana was among the first African countries to gain independence in 1957. It endured a series of coups before military dictator Rawlings took power in 1981.
A decade later, Rawlings led the country through the transition to a stable democracy with multi-party elections.
5. Germany: Muslim father "abused," brother stabbed to honor-death, 16 year-old girl. The fate of Westernizing Muslim females? (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
Date: - 6-1-09
The fate of Westernizing Muslim females?
Perhaps her "conservative" father should have considered the possibilities of his daughter becoming "too Westernized" when he, no doubt, freely chose to immigrate to the West. More on this story.
The parents of the German-Afghan victim of an “honour killing” by her brother last year refused to testify in a Hamburg court on Monday. Meanwhile state prosecutors have also accused her father of abuse.
The 24-year-old Ahmad-Sobair O. is on trial after admitting to police that he killed his 16-year-old sister Morsal O. on May 23, 2008 because she had turned away from her family. The girl died after suffering 23 stab wounds in a Sankt Georg district parking lot. Both siblings, who immigrated to Germany 13 years ago, have German citizenship.
The two parents of the family, as well as the girl’s younger brother refused to testify. Her sister is scheduled to testify on Monday afternoon.
And, if she does testify, need she fear her late sister's fate?
Before she was murdered, Morsal O. had been seen by emergency youth services on several occasions, suffering from pressures by her family, which did not approve of her Western lifestyle.
Also known as the "non-Muslim" lifestyle.
Her brother had already been prosecuted for assaulting her and others. He was sentenced in March on an assault charge to one year and five months without possibility of probation. He had requested his March sentence be deferred, but was notified in writing - a day before the stabbing - that the request had been rejected.
Now state prosecutors have accused her 46-year-old father of abusing the girl in May 2008, a spokesperson told news agency DDP on Monday.
A series of six honour killings - including the shooting at a bus stop of 23-year-old Turkish woman Hatun Sürücü in Berlin - shook Germany in 2005. Sürücü's youngest brother, Ayhan Sürücü, later confessed to killing her because he did not approve of her Western lifestyle.
6. Egyptian Icon: Hamas "should have known that Israel wasn't going to receive the attacks with roses"(http://www.jihadwatch.org/) (G.C.A.: Israel appears to know what they have to do, if they are to survive on this sacred Earth.)
Date: - 6-1-09
Egyptian Icon: Hamas "should have known that Israel wasn't going to receive the attacks with roses"
Hamas...Hamas...whatever are we going to do with you?
It's rather telling when a beloved Egyptian celebrity and nationalist -- not a "Zionist" nor a "neo-con" -- clearly declares that Hamas, not Israel, is to blame. Another soon to be declared apostate?
"Egyptian film star: Hamas is to blame," by Khaled Abu Toameh for the Jerusalem Post, January 4 (thanks to She-Child):
The Arab world's most prominent comedian and movie star, Egyptian actor Adel Imam, has shocked many of his fans by expressing understanding for Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip.
Imam, a longtime outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism, lashed out at Egyptians who have been demonstrating against Israel's war on Hamas. He said calls for general strikes in solidarity with the Palestinians "harmed our economy and benefited Israel alone."
Imam was also quoted in the Egyptian press as strongly criticizing the leader of the country's Muslim Brotherhood organization, Mahdi Akef, for having accused Egypt's leadership of "collusion" with Israel.
The veteran 68-year-old movie star blamed Hamas for the violence, pointing out that the Egyptian leadership had warned the Islamist movement against an impending Israeli military operation.
"Hamas ignored our warnings and chose to lead an asymmetrical war," Imam said, echoing earlier statements by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. "It's preferable for Hamas to stop [the rocket attacks]. They should have known that Israel wasn't going to receive the attacks with roses."
Imam's remarks have been condemned by many of his colleagues in Egypt who have come out in support of Hamas.[...]
Imam's most recent film, Hassan and Morqos, also enraged extremists, prompting them to launch a campaign to boycott the actor. The movie is about a Muslim cleric and a Christian priest whose paths cross as they face threats from Muslim terrorists. Some of Imam's critics accused him of using the film to promote "apostasy."
7. Let's rate them too. They were the rating agencies for emerging economies. The fate of FDI flow to developing economies and the stability of their stock markets largely depended on these rating agency’s certificates. We are relieved that they and their rating analysis are no more hitting headlines. (organiser.org)
Date: - 6-1-09
By R. Balashankar
They were the rating agencies for emerging economies. The fate of FDI flow to developing economies and the stability of their stock markets largely depended on these rating agency’s certificates. We are relieved that they and their rating analysis are no more hitting headlines.
The eclipse of the investment banks which for over a decade epitomised the modern financial system was the most cataclysmic outcome of the economic meltdown of 2008. Not only that the fall of investment banks deprived millions of investors of their savings. It also dented the reputations of many economic wizards who blindly propagated and promoted the economic system founded on financial capitalism.
The Economist, which had been enthusiastically supporting the spread of financial capitalism, wrote in its issue dated December 6, 2008, “For America and European savers it has been a lost decade. After two booms and two busts, stock markets have earned them nothing or less, in the past ten years. …Nor has been the bad news confined to equities. This year the value of all manner of risky investments, from corporate bonds to commodities to hedge funds, has been clobbered. The belief that diversification into “alternative assets” could prevent investors losing money in bear markets has proved false… As a result, saving seems like pouring money into a black hole.”
This confession took long to come. Even after the collapse of the financial market in September, many commentators in India and the West pretended as if it were a temporary aberration and the system they promoted was essentially sound. See what The Economist wrote in its issue dated September 20, 2008. It said, “This is a black week. Those of us who have supported financial capitalism are open to the charge that the system we championed has merely enabled a few spivs to get rich. But it helped produce healthy economic growth and low inflation for a generation. It would take a very big recession indeed to wipe out these gains. Do not forget that in the debate ahead.” Well, the very big recession followed and the gains were indeed wiped out. Only that it is yet to evaluate the fullest impact. It took almost three months for the champions of the system to confront the reality.
I am quoting from The Economist to drive home the point how the systematic propaganda worked overtime to sell the superiority of money market instruments as a substitute for real economic activity for wealth creation. It is widely regarded as one of the most authentic voices of modern capitalism. And the point I want to emphasise is that system is unsuited for India.
It is now one year since I started this column. One of the reasons for me to write this column was the one-sided manner of economic debate in the country as if America and the IMF had the monopoly on economic thinking. We easily got used to outsourcing our economic strategy. In the last one decade there had been no original work in India on our economy. It was tragic that no alternative model was envisaged.
This debate would have been impossible but for the collapse of western financial capitalism in September last. Ten short days changed the entire scenario. The governments in the west are intervening to bailout and nationalise banks and manufacturing industry as if they are in the high noon of socialist takeover. Private and public sector banking institutions now stand side-by-side. After the bailout even the Detroit car-makers who once earned a turnover larger than US GDP are now practically in the public sector. Are all these developments teaching India any lesson?
Western hold on the Indian economic planning was total. As if it had mesmerised the entire generation of Indians. Making easy money was catapulted to the status of social virtue. The motto was whatever it takes—as if there was no tomorrow and India had no vision of its own to settle its problems of growth and creation of an egalitarian society.
We have a media, which will support anything that will enhance crony capitalism. Today everybody is talking about fear and return to sanity. That only proves they were so far leading us insane. The recession has forced the US to confront the bad habits, it developed over the past few decades. The US made up its unsustainable consumption by borrowing. For the last one year, the world’s largest economy, America had been in recession. The economies of Japan and Europe have been shrinking. The west could borrow and finance their spending spree because their house prices were rising faster for long and they had the collateral to work the so-called sophisticated financial instruments.
Let’s see how they promoted the myth. The investment bankers doubled up as investment advisers too and made enormous profit. They thrived also on sale and acquisitions of well-to-do corporate entities. They were the rating agencies for emerging economies. The fate of FDI flow to developing economies and the stability of their stock markets largely depended on these rating agency’s certificates. We are relieved that they and their rating analysis are no more hitting headlines in the pink dailies in India. But it is interesting to have a peep into their world before it is forgotten.
“On the top of the world” declared a cover story on Goldman Sachs in The Economist dated April 29, 2006, and concluded, “Love Goldman or hate it, you ought to admire it and the system it epitomizes. And hang on tight.” The weekly had a comprehensive reportage on the stunningly profitable business of investment banking. Marvelling at their phenomenal success, it recommended the world because they according to the weekly were “manufacturer of millionaires”.
In praise of their innovative ingenuity, it said, “Outsiders—and perhaps even insiders—find it hard to judge whether Goldman’s business is sustainably good or has thrived thanks to a dose of unsustainable goodluck and skill. In addition, the very improvements in risk management that have spread risk far and wide make it harder to know where risk is concentrated or how risks might combine to threaten the system’s overall health.”
This is what Thomas Friedman explained thus: Investment banks and hedge funds were leveraging themselves to crazy levels, paying themselves crazy salaries and investing financial instruments that completely disconnected the ultimate lenders from original borrower. And left no one accountable.
It produced big money, huge profits for sometime. The sharp-suited investment bankers acted as a sales force for the less well-dressed colleagues who work out how to make money from swaps, options and direct investments. As The Economist noted, from small beginnings in 1987, the face value of contracts in interest rates and currency derivatives Goldman grew to more than $200 trillion (2006)—16 times America’s GDP. Led by Goldman, investment bankers innovated at a furious pace and changed the mix of their own businesses. They took more risks as they moved from more transparent markets to more profitable portfolios of derivatives and direct private-equity investments. They were called simply the best. They have been claiming that they kept plenty of liquid reserves against the dread day.
It all turned out to be a pack of hoax.The investment banks thus featured included, other than Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. All these have now gone down the drain or converted themselves into routine banks. These were the ones projected as the signature brands of American capitalism expanded by financial whiz-kids. And they turned out to be sharp-suited crooks and swindlers. Should we admire them? Or shed a few drops of tears for the unsuspecting investors whose entire savings have gone for ever?
There was sufficient reason for a merciless postmortem. But the common refrain was again to “hedge” and go about as if nothing had gone wrong. The policymakers in India are still opaque compared to their counterparts in the west. Thankfully, the most brilliant criticisms of the racket in the investment market have come from western economists.
(The views expressed in this column are personal. The writer can be contacted at editor@organiserweekly.com)
8. Time to look afresh at our fellow citizens. (organiser.org) (G.C.A: Hindus in India should learn to think a little; understand a little, and act a little.)
Date: - 6-1-09
The Taliban and other extremist organisations have “a real chance of winning in Pakistan”. What they apparently want is power through bloodshed, not peace through economic progress. If our political parties do not understand that, they understand nothing. Constant appeasement is counter-productive. It betrays weakness.
Isn’t it time now to stop breast-beating and fault-finding and get down to the business of finding what is wrong with Muslims—in India and in Pakistan—and seeking a way to mutual understanding? In this context some generalisations become inevitable. It would be argued that not all Muslims feel alike, that there are differences among them as between Shias and Sunnis, north Indian Muslims and Kerala Moplahs and between liberal Muslims and extremists. Why presume that all Muslims are automatically anti-Hindu?
But the larger fact remains that, in the end, it is the extremist element among Muslims who dictate behavioural patterns and so, when one speaks of Muslim antagonism, one refers to that segment of Muslims who hate Hindus, who will not under any circumstances have anything to do with them. They are the Muslims like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and their foster parents in the Pakistan Armed Forces, to whom compromise is unacceptable. These Muslims cannot live in peace with anybody apart from “People of the Book”. They may accept being ruled by Christians, if barely, but being ruled by Hindus or living with Hindus in a multi-religious society is plain anathema to them. One has to read the speech of Sir Syed Ahmed, delivered at Meerut on March 14, 1888, a hundred and twenty years ago, Mohammad Iqbal’s presidential address to the 25th session of the All India Muslim League, Allahabad on December 29, 1930 and the text of Rahmat Ali&
rsquo;s Pakistan Document issued on January 28, 1933 to understand one aspect of the Muslim mind-set. They preceded Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
In his address Sir Syed Ahmed, among other things, said: “Oh my brother Mussalmans, I again remind you that you have ruled nations and have for centuries held different countries in your grasp. For seven hundred years in India, you have had imperial sway. You know what it is to rule…. Is it possible that under these circumstances, two nations—the Mohammadans and the Hindus—could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power? Most certainly not. It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other and thrust it down. To hope that both could remain equal is to desire the impossible and the inconceivable”!
In his address Mohammad Iqbal said: “One lesson I have learnt from the history of Muslims: at critical moments in their history, it is Islam that has saved Muslims and not vice versa. If today you focus your vision on Islam and seek inspiration from the ever-vitalising idea embodied in it, you will be only re-assembling your lost integrity and thereby saving yourself from total destruction”. As for Rahmat Ali who first proposed the concept of Pakistan, it was his view that “there can be no peace and tranquillity in the land if we, the Muslims, are duped into a Hindu-dominated Federation where we cannot be masters of our own destiny and captains of our own souls”.
No worse mind-set can one imagine of anti-Hindu sentiment. Is that mind-set still prevailing? If so, among which class of Muslim society? And by what percentage? We do not know. And possibly cannot tell. One would have thought that with the formation of Pakistan, all those Muslims in India unwilling to be under alleged Hindu ‘dominance’ would migrate to Pakistan. And if they wished to stay on in India would happily become part of the larger community without shedding their Muslim identity. That they seem determined not to. They have internalised resentment against their fellow countrymen, sought peace by distancing themselves from Hindus in dress, deportment and mental attitudes. Men must wear skull caps, women must wear burqa, female children should give up higher education and children should attend madrassas for mental conditioning. These are open and visible ways of separatism.
Then there are more sinister ways of planning for domination in India. One is by terrorising India and trying to bleed it with a “thousand cut”. The second is to use methods of intimidation to subdue Indians by methods foul and vicious; the third is to slowly, but deliberately ‘capture’ districts through ‘invasion’ by Bangladeshi Muslims. Not many realise that the districts of South and North 24 Paraganas, Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda and West Dinapur with a total population of 28,324,034 (last census) has a concentration of Muslims numbering between 16 and 17 million, forming a majority.
As Arun Shourie recently pointed out “there is a distinct danger of another Muslim country, speaking predominantly Bengali, emerging in the eastern part of India in the future”. The UPA Government seems sublimely unaware of this dangerous development. The Mumbai terrorist massacre is only one aspect of the Islamic project of undermining India. The setting up along the entire Indo-Nepal border of madrassas needs careful watching. The more subtle and less evaluated danger is from changing the demographic character of eastern India. As recently as in 1996, a former head of the Intelligence Bureau, later to be named Governor of Uttar Pradesh T.V. Rajeshwar had explained in a series of articles in the media how the entire Northeast, much of West Bengal and Bihar were being inundated by Muslims in demographic aggression.
Rajeshwar then warned that the Muslim swamping of strategic locations constituted a grave threat to national security. Worse, it has since been recorded by Intelligence Agencies that Islamic extremists have established a series of modules in western Uttar Pradesh. The facts are all available. Not available are meaningful responses. Eager to capture votes, Muslim communities in the North are being pampered by the Congress and the BSP, ever willing to face realities. The jehadi terrorists who attacked Mumbai belong to a group which, along with some 22 other known and recognised terrorist groups in Pakistan hope to destroy the unity of India. They still live in the 11th century of Mohammad of Ghori, with primitive social agenda that is to take the Pakistan back into the medieval ages of brutal Islamic invasions.
So, when India is embarking on Chandraayana, Pakistan jehadists and their mentors are bent on undertaking terror-aayana. What can possibly be done to change their mind-sets? According to a distinguished Pakistan scholar Pervez Hoodbhoy the Taliban and other extremist organisations have “a real chance of winning in Pakistan”. What they apparently want is power through bloodshed, not peace through economic progress. If our political parties do not understand that, they understand nothing. Constant appeasement is counter-productive. It betrays weakness. Sir Syed Ahmed may long be dead, but his successors are still alive as the events of the last one decade and more abundantly show. We don’t recognise them at our peril.
9. Pak should pursue leads provided by India: says US diplomat Boucher (http://dailypioneer.com/) (G.C.A: Pakistan refuses to see; what can USA or any other person do? Go ahead, headlong, straight along a line.)
Date: - 6-1-09
PTI | Islamabad
Insisting that the Mumbai attackers had links "that lead to Pakistani soil," a visiting top US diplomat on Monday asked Islamabad to pursue leads provided by New Delhi and to track down the perpetrators.
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher said it was "clear that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil" though he did not give details.
The US wants Pakistan to investigate the information provided by India today, follow available leads and track down perpetrators so that similar attacks do not occur in future, he said.
India and Pakistan both had "pieces of the puzzle" and need to cooperate, Boucher told a news conference at the US embassy here after talks with the country's top leadership.
"The two sides need to exchange information," he said, adding that India and Pakistan need to work together as this alone will ensure that the perpetrators of the attacks are tracked down.
The US had a "direct interest" in the probe as six of its citizens were killed in the Mumbai attacks, he said, adding, "We are interested that those responsible must be found".
The "scene of the crime" is in India and authorities there have made some arrests. At the same time, Pakistan had detained persons involved in the planning and execution of the attacks. Both sides will now have to follow up on the available information, Boucher said.
Replying to a question on whether the US believed Pakistan's state institutions, including the ISI, was linked to the strike, Boucher said: "Let us find out from the evidence (handed over by India) who was involved in these attacks" and "not jump to conclusions".
10. After the dossier, what? -Pakistan can’t be tamed like this (http://dailypioneer.com/) (G.C.A: Dossier is supposed to make Indian population believe that Govt. is active, very active, and very serious about security of India, without even looking for the person in Indian soil who have surely helped the foreign terrorists on the Indian soil during the attack on Mumbai. Even a child has common sense to understand this simple thing; but bigger people will not.)
Date: - 6-1-09
The Pioneer Edit Desk
By handing over a dossier containing ‘material’ about the 26/11 fidayeen attacks in Mumbai to the Government of Pakistan, we may have demonstrated to the world at large that our stand remains undiminished, but it would be naïve to expect an appropriate or honest response from the Pakistani establishment. Over the past month Islamabad has made it abundantly clear that it is in no mood to countenance the harsh facts, leave alone act upon them. The so-called civilian Government of President Asif Ali Zardari has merely moved from pathetic denial to comical belligerence, disowning its citizens as has been Pakistan’s wont ever since it sent troops disguised as ‘tribesmen’ into Jammu & Kashmir in 1947. There is really no reason to feel surprised by its brazen refusal to accept that the fidayeen who raided Mumbai came from Pakistan, were trained in terror camps on Pakistani soil
, owed allegiance to a Pakistani terrorist organisation, and were of Pakistani origin despite overwhelming evidence. Let us not forget that Pakistan refused to accept the bodies of its soldiers who were killed in the Kargil conflict lest the involvement of the Islamabad establishment in that misadventure be conclusively proved. That was a shameful act of cowardice; its repudiation of the truth about the bloodbath in Mumbai not only confirms that this cowardice is all-pervasive but also that the Pakistani state is a manifestation of everything that is evil and dangerous — for India as well as the rest of the world. Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon was stating the obvious when he said on Monday that “it is hard to believe that something of this scale that took so long in preparation and of this nature that amounts to a commando attack could occur without anybody, anywhere in the establishment knowing this was happening”. Nor is there any reason to draw a distinction between ‘state actors’ and ‘non-state actors’ — in Pakistan, the ‘state’ and the ‘non-state’ coalesce into what we and the world have come to dread: Jihadi terrorism. Indeed, to set the ISI and its patrons in the Pakistani military apart from the so-called civilian Government would be tantamount to offering the criminals an escape route.
Which brings us to the question: Where do we go from here? India really missed its opportunity to strike back after the ISI, with the full knowledge of the Zardari regime, bombed the Indian Embassy in Kabul. The second opportunity was missed in the immediate aftermath of the Mumbai attack. Instead of standing up to Pakistan and punishing it for its act of war against India, we chose to petition world capitals. Instead of acting decisively in the national interest, the UPA Government dithered and dallied, hoping others would do for us what we should have done without bothering about others. As a result, the perpetrator of terror now pretends to be the victim while the victim is left looking pitifully helpless and too meek to protect itself. It is immaterial whether or not the FBI has presented incontrovertible evidence to Pakistan about the involvement of Pakistanis in the heinous crime; it is of no consequenc
e whether or not the Americans will pursue the case to its ‘logical conclusion’. That is for the US to decide — it will be propelled by its own national interest, as it should be. What is of import is what does the UPA Government plan to do now that diplomatic niceties have been observed. The Foreign Secretary’s imagination alone is not beggared.
11. Can India Emulate Israel's Action In Gaza? - By B. Raman (southasiaanalysis.org) (G.C.A: People who have power in India refuse to understand; what can you do?)
Date: - 6-1-09
Ever since Israel started its military strikes in Gaza a week ago to put down the acts of terrorism of the Hamas, there have been demands from sections of analysts and the general public in our country that India should emulate Israel and retaliate in a similar manner against Pakistan for its complicity in the terrorist attack by the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistani terrorist organisation, in Mumbai from November 26 to 29, 2008.
2. Nobody can question Israel's exercise of its right of self-defence to protect the lives and property of its citizens from rocket attacks from Gaza by the Hamas for weeks and months now. As the Deputy Permanent Representative of the US to the United Nations said in a press interview after the US had refused to join in the condemnation of Israel's action by the UN Security Council: "Israel, like all other members of the UN, has the right of self-defence. This right is not negotiable."
3. Like Israel and other members of the UN, India too has the right of self-defence against acts of terrorism emanating from Pakistani territory and sponsored by the State of Pakistan and has the right to retaliate against Pakistan and the duty to do so to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
4. The question is not whether we should retaliate. We should if we want Pakistan and the horde of terrorists nursed by it to take us seriously. The question is whether a direct military strike will be the wise and appropriate way of retaliating against Pakistan or should we do it through political and diplomatic measures, followed by deniable covert actions if those measures do not make Pakistan change its ways.
5. For many years, Israel has been the victim of acts of terrorism by organisations such as the Hamas and the Hizbollah sponsored mainly by Syria and Iran. Its retaliation has been directed against these terrorist organisations and not against their State-sponsors. After the Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and the Yom Kippur war of 1973 Israel has indulged in military strikes in the territory of a sovereign state and a member of the UN only on two occasions---- against the Osirak nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq in the early 1980s and against the Hizbollah's infrastructure in the Lebanese territory in 2006. In the past,Israeli armed forces had operated in Lebanese territory on other occasions too.
6. Its action against Osirak in Iraq was a success, but its action in the Lebanon in 2006 against the Hizbollah was not. Despite its concerns over the nuclear sites in Iran for the production of enriched uranium, Israel has till now avoided any military strikes on these sites despite public pressure from sections of the Israeli people to do so. It did launch an attack on a suspected nuclear site in Syria last year, but as a deniable covert action and not as an admitted military strike. It has also indulged in covert actions against suspected Hamas operatives based in Syria.
7. It is able to indulge in openly admitted military strikes against the Hamas in Gaza because Gaza is not part of any sovereign State. In the past, Israel's retaliatory military strikes have been against terrorist organisations posing a threat to Israeli citizens and property and not against the States sponsoring them. Its actions against States sponsoring terrorism have been in the form of covert actions and not direct military strikes.
8. Practically all States facing the problem of terrorism have a covert action capability because it gives you a third option if political and diplomatic measures fail. If you don't have this capability, the only option you have if political and diplomatic actions fail is a military retaliation, which could be messy when used against a next door neighbour. If you don't use military strikes and if you don't have a covert action capability, the state-sponsor and the terrorists sponsored by it develop a contempt for you.
9. The US has bombed Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan in retaliation for their perceived anti-US acts, but it never does it against Cuba, its next door neighbour. It has declared Cuba a state-sponsor of terrorism and constantly keeps trying to undermine Cuba's political stability and economy, but avoids direct military action against it despite its being a super power because it knows it could be messy.
10. It is hoped the Government draws the right lessons from its dilemma after Mumbai and tries to revive quickly our covert action capability, which was discarded more than a decade ago as an ill-conceived unilateral gesture to Pakistan.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
12. SRI LANKA: The LTTE agenda after loss of Kilinochchi - Update No 161 (southasiaanalysis.org)
Date: - 6-1-09
By Col R Hariharan
[This update may be read in continuation of Sri Lanka Update No 160 "Fall of Paranthan, Defence of Kilinochchi and the War in Wanni"dated January 2, 2008 available at URL http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/notes5/note490.html]
The often asked but seldom answered question "what after Kilinochchi?" has become more relevant after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) lost Kilinochchi on January 2 and along with it control over most of its domain in the north. After Kilinochchi, two major actors in the war scene – the government of President Rajapaksa and the LTTE - will be reworking their agendas to suit the emerging environment.
Of course, a third but reluctant player is the Sri Lanka Tamil polity, which had avoided drawing up an agenda so far. For them it is confusion compounded now; and most of them have to put on the thinking cap for a change and think beyond blaming others. They have to take some hard decisions. But they might not be in a hurry to do this.
Though capture of Kilinochchi was expected for quite sometime now, the security forces did it just a day after the fall of Paranthan on January 1.This was faster than I had estimated in Sri Lanka Update No 160 written on the day Paranthan fell. Evidently, Task Force I after capturing Paranthan had maintained its momentum to exploit the pressure building up on at Kilinochchi to capture it in a joint operation with 57 Division.This speaks for the high morale of troops. Though the LTTE had vacated its de facto capital, troops in combat wasted no time and occupied Kilinochchi. So it is not surprising that the security forces are going ahead towards Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu supported by air strikes.
From a tactical point of view, the LTTE took the pragmatic decision to vacate Kilinochchi defences when it became untenable rather than get decimated. This is sensible if we disregard the sense of triumph and achievement among victors and dismay among the LTTE acolytes.
Past experience appears to have clouded the LTTE estimation of the staying power of the security forces in the Eelam War-4. The LTTE is now fighting highly motivated and clearly focused armed forces who are single-mindedly executing the presidential mandate to eliminate the LTTE. Their ability to attack and capture of Kilinochchi even after suffering heavy casualties earlier shows the determination of the security forces. The LTTE will probably rethink its "trusted" strategies because the security forces have disproved their validity in Kilinochchi operation.
LTTE agenda
According to a report from an unknown source in the usually well informed website www.transcurrents.com the LTTE has already started withdrawing from their defences in and around Elephant Pass in the narrow land strip linking Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country. According to the report the LTTE was preparing to vacate its defences in Eastern Mullaithivu district including Mullaithivu, Oddusuddan and Vatraappalai. Though the report is plausible it is not confirmed by other sources. If the report is correct, it would indicate the tectonic impact the loss of Kilinochchi is having on the LTTE.
The loss of Kilinochchi is a big blow for the LTTE's image. It is also the peak of achievement for the security forces in their process of demystifyig LTTE started in 2006. It comes when LTTE's woes are many: domain is restricted to a district or so, its conventional army has been mauled and left bleeding, use of Sea Tigers curtailed, and the Air Tigers grounded probably for many more months to come. Its international funding, logistic and propaganda machinery has been tampered and merchant supply fleet run aground. So conventional mode is out and guerrilla mode is in for the LTTE.
In the past, the LTTE had always managed to bounce back and come out stronger to take on the State more strongly than before for many reasons. The army commander has announced his intention to continue the war till the LTTE leaders are hunted out. So the environment is going to be even more risky for the LTTE to disengage, regroup and reassert. The security measures in cities have been tightened, often with draconian measures. This time that process is not going to be easy. The global, regional and national environments have changed after 9/11. To bounce back the LTTE will also hav to change.
However the question is not whether the LTTE will bounce back, but how it will try to do so. Prabhakaran's unique strength is his doggedness in pursuit of his goal. So he will put every ounce of strength and talent to bounce back. And that is the worst case scenario for Sri Lanka government. What will be Prabhakaran's agenda now? How he will try to stage a comeback with the LTTE? These questions are more relevant now than "can he stage a comeback."
To recover from the continued onslaught and reassert, the LTTE will have to first extricate itself from battle. This is a tricky operation in itself. Pulling out of Kilinochchi might well be its starting point. Other issues in the LTTE agenda could be – securing assets from further loss, regrouping and reorganising cadres in safe hides, rebuilding the logistic network, and reassert LTTE's power through a graded series of covert and overt actions.
Prabhakaran would have prepared hideouts for mothballing heavy armament and equipment. Assets not required for immediate use like heavy weapons, spare ammunition, and arms would be similarly cached. Other valuables would also need safe keeping. With the loss of Kilinochchi, the LTTE has lost its large infrastructure assets built there over a period of time. The LTTE is also probably facing cash crunch due to the high cost of war and drying up of a number of lucrative income sources like the "toll tax" on vehicles using A9 road, remittances, and local levies following the shrinking domain. Thus recouping financial assets and rebuilding revenue resources would be a top priority in LTTE agenda. It might result in some arm twisting of businessmen in Colombo, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Jaffna for "donations" and such activity would carry bigger risks than ever before.
Regrouping the cadres for a guerrilla mode after disengagement is not going to be easy either. Unlike earlier Eelam wars, few veteran leaders are available to do this task and they are also aging. There are quite a few other issues. Casualties have to be attended to and treated. (Tamil Nadu could become a refuge for such benign wounded cadres.) Other non-effective members will have to be shed and given shelter in secure conditions. The units have to be re-grouped in smaller subunits and assigned specific responsibilities. Guerrilla operation is executed by small groups or lone individuals in a decentralized fashion. To be successful the guerrilla requires a great deal of self motivation. LTTE's much heralded suicide terrorism has depleted motivated and cadres trained in special skills. In this ambience, burden of motivating the cadres is likely to rest on younger hardcore warriors who fought hard in the war. The success of the LTTE's c
ome back will depend upon them.
Through the years of war and peace, the LTTE had built a strong international network of supporters who had helped it to become one of the top insurgency movements in the world. They had been bankrolling the LTTE war effort. The Tamil expatriates had also provided international propaganda interface for the LTTE's cause and lobbied the governments for support. Their support cannot be taken for granted anymore as the war had been going on for too long and a new generation is emerging.
The LTTE's war has been going on for two decades in which over 25,000 of Tamil youth have lost their lives, without achieving any tangible results. As the LTTE continues to be a listed terrorist organization, the stringent international anti terror protocols (in place after 9/11 terror strike in New York) are not going to make it easy for external support to reach the LTTE. And the governments of 37countries which have banned the LTTE are unlikely to ease the guard or allow their soil to be used for rebuilding LTTE.
Lastly, despite their differences over LTTE's questionable methods, sections of Tamil expatriates had supported its efforts in the hope of realizing their dream of an independent Tamil Eelam. They find their hopes are now turning into a chimera. To broaden its appeal, the LTTE has to change its style of operation to a democratic one and accommodate different shades of Tamil opinion in the decision making process. Prabhakaran's personality does not allow even the thought of such "inclusive strategy." The Tamil National Alliance is a very good example of the still born result of LTTE's last attempt at inclusive strategy. It has merely reduced dignified Tamil politicians into 'yes men' of Prabhakaran and nothing more.
And to reach the reassertion stage, the LTTE will have to successfully go through the first three parts of the agenda discussed earlier.
In the past, the inability of Sri Lanka state to satisfy Tamil aspirations had been the biggest incentive for them to support the LTTE, despite Prabhakaran's repressive style. This had helped the LTTE "bounce back." Tamils had always found a yawning gap between what Sri Lanka government and politicians promise them and what they deliver. So far the doubts of Tamils have only been strengthened by the way President Rajapaksa had indifferently handled the political part of the issues raised by the LTTE and other Tamil politicians. In short, the bounce back of the LTTE will dependent upon how sincere the Sri Lanka government is in implementing an "inclusive strategy" to gain the trust of Tamil people and give them a feeling of security.
Translated into the hard reality of politics that is unlikely to happen merely by holding elections. The success of the LTTE's bounce back process depends upon how the state helps the people to recoup normal lives and avocations of the people battered by years of war. If the President can do it and give the Tamils a sense of ownership in their destiny, the LTTE comeback will not be easy, despite Prabhakaran's best effort. There it is, the answer to the question "after Kilinochchi what?"
(Col. R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90.He is associated with the South Asia Analysis Group and the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail:colhari@yahoo.com)
13. Tirukural - Chapter 9: Hospitality. The whole purpose of earning wealth and maintaining a home is to provide hospitality to guests. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
Date: - 6-1-09
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Tirukural
A daily chapter from South Indian saint Tiruvalluvar's Tirukural, "Holy Couplets."
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Chapter 9: Hospitality
Kural 81
The whole purpose of earning wealth and maintaining
a home is to provide hospitality to guests.
Kural 82
When a guest is in the home, it is improper to hoard one's meal,
even if it happens to be the nectar of immortality.
Kural 83
If a man cares daily for those who come to him,
his life will never suffer the grievous ruin of poverty.
Kural 84
Wealth's Goddess dwells in the hospitable home
of those who host guests with a smiling face.
Kural 85
If a man eats only after attending to guests' needs,
what further sowing will his fertile fields require?
Kural 86
The host who, caring for guests, watches hopefully for more,
will himself be a welcomed guest of those whose home is Heaven.
Kural 87
Charity's merit cannot be measured by gifts given.
It is measured by measuring the receiver's merits.
Kural 88
Those who never sacrifice to care for guests will later lament:
"We hoarded wealth, estranged ourselves, now none will care for us."
Kural 89
The poverty of poverties is having plenty yet shunning guests.
Such senselessness is only found in senseless fools.
Kural 90
The delicate anicham flower withers when merely smelled,
but an unwelcome look is enough to wither a guest's heart.
14. Vedic Verses for 1/5/09. May my voice remain strong, my breath unfaltering, my sight and my hearing acute! May my hair not turn gray nor my teeth become blackened, may my arms not grow feeble and slack! (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com) (G.C.A: We Hindus have generally forgotten the Techniques of our Vedas. Let us, Hindus read this and see the Teachings of our Vedas: strength, strength, strength, physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual.)
Date: - 6-1-09
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Vedic Verses
A daily collection of verses from the Vedas, Hinduism's revealed scripture
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Vedic Verses for 1/5/09
May my voice remain strong, my breath unfaltering, my sight and my hearing acute! May my hair not turn gray nor my teeth become blackened, may my arms not grow feeble and slack!
Atharva Veda XIX, 60, 1
May my thighs remain sturdy, my legs swift to go, my feet neither stumble nor flag! May my limbs remain whole, each performing its function, may my soul remain ever unconquered!
Atharva Veda XIX, 60, 2
For a hundred autumns may we see, for a hundred autumns may we live, for a hundred autumns may we know, for a hundred autumns may we rise, for a hundred autumns may we flourish, for a hundred autumns may we be, for a hundred autumns may we become, --andeven more than a hundred autumns!
Atharva Veda XIX, 67
Peaceful be heaven, peaceful the earth, peaceful the broad space between. Peaceful for us be the running waters, peaceful the plants and herbs!
Atharva Veda XIX, 9, 1
Peaceful to us be the signs of the future, peaceful what is done and undone, peaceful to us be what is and what will be. May all to us be gracious!
Atharva Veda XIX, 9, 2
15. Christian Congress MP RK Nayak is on run as CrimeBranch starts chasing him in connection with murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four his disciples. (www.odishatoday.com)
Date: - 6-1-09
From: unitedchurch@eml.cc
(Left) Late Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and alleged mastermind of Swamiji's murder Congress MP Radhakant Nayak (Right).(File photo)
Bhubaneswar ( Orissa): If sources manning Police Headquarters in Cuttack are to be believed, Crime Branch of Orissa Police would soon arrest high profile bureaucrat turned Rajya Sabha Member of Congress, Radhakant Nayak in connection with the brutal murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four his disciples.
The Hindu Seer and his disciples were gunned down by armed militants at Jalespata Ashram in Tumulibandha Police limits of Kandhamal district on August 23 this year. The police have already arrested seven people, including some Maoists, for the murder.
Crime Branch has reportedly found credible evidence against Nayak and it would found no difficulty in putting the Church leader behind bar for his role in Swamiji murder case.
Nayak's arrest was apparent from the fact that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been insisting his role behind the murder case and handed over several evidences to the investigating officials against the MP.
The investigating officials are preparing a case against Nayak and his supporters, sources added. "We can't disclose right now, but we are reaching out to the killers soon," a top Police official said in condition of anonymity.
It may be noted here that www.odishatoday.com had first broke a news under the headline of " Crime Branch sleuths chasing Congress RS Member Radhakant Nayak ' on October 28. The report is gradually turning credible with investigating officials zeroing on Nayak.
A senior official said the murder of the Seer was the result of a conspiracy hatched soon after the December 2007 riots. "It was a thorough professional job. Someone else hatched the initial plan. A separate group did the actual planning to kill Saraswati while another group trained the group of killers," they added.
Nayak who served the Central government as Secretary was short-listed for the post of Union Cabinet Secretary during H. D. Deve Gowda Government. Being a Dalit-Christian socialist, leaders including Ramvilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav had backed his candidature then.
However some adverse IB report against him came as a hurdle. In 2004 he was elected to Rajya Sabha on Congress ticket. Hindutava forces always suspected his hand behind the killing. Alleged involvement of Nayak would also help BJP to target Sonia Gandhi and her appeasement policies.
http://www.odishatoday.com/orissa/Congress_MP_RK_Nayak_is_on_run_as_CB_starts_chasing_271208-4858174966.html
--
Pastor
unitedchurch@eml.cc
16. Gospel of Jesus: Did Jesus advise to Divide, to Kill, and to Rule? Was he a Terrorist? Who can believe this?
i) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 12; 51-53: Jesus said:
"Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
ii) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 20; 27: Jesus said: “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.”
iii) Holy Bible, New Testament, MATHEW 16; 18-19: Jesus said, "Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; what you prohibit on Earth will be prohibited in Heaven, and what you permit on Earth will be permitted in Heaven."
17. Obama Seeks Wide Support in Congress for Stimulus (nytimes.com)
Date: 6-1-09
Doug Mills/The New York Times
By JEFF ZELENY and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: January 5, 2009
WASHINGTON — Two weeks before assuming power, President-elect Barack Obama took his economic recovery package to Capitol Hill on Monday and worked to build a bipartisan coalition to endorse his plan of tax cuts and new spending with an urgent appeal “to break the momentum of this recession.”
The Caucus
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Election Results | More Politics NewsMr. Obama, on his first full day in Washington since the election, held a series of face-to-face meetings with Democrats and Republicans as he began spending his political capital. He spoke of the nation’s economic condition in dark terms and urged Congress to pass the legislation within a month.
“Right now, the most important task for us is to stabilize the patient,” Mr. Obama said. “The economy is badly damaged — it is very sick. So we have to take whatever steps are required to make sure that it is stabilized.”
The meetings were a mix of symbolism and substance between the man who will be sworn in as the 44th president and the Congressional leaders who hold the fate of his agenda in their hands. The sessions, aides said, were particularly aimed at encouraging Republicans to buy into the plan and help ease resistance over a $775 billion price tag.
Mr. Obama pledged to help advance the legislation in any way he could, participants said, including inviting skeptical members of Congress to meet with him at his transition headquarters or at his temporary residence, the Hay-Adams Hotel.
“This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem at this stage,” Mr. Obama said Monday afternoon. “It is an American problem, and we’re going to all have to chip in and do what the American people expect.”
After meeting for about an hour in the Lyndon B. Johnson Room near the Senate chamber, Congressional leaders said they expected a bipartisan effort to approve the economic stimulus package by early February. Lawmakers said they were waiting for Mr. Obama to present a written proposal — perhaps even draft legislation — within days. Various House and Senate committees would fill out the details.
For Mr. Obama, it was his first return to the Capitol since he was elected on Nov. 4, and another reminder of how rapid his ascent has been. Four years after he took his first steps into the building, arriving as a freshman senator from Illinois, he swept in Monday under the cover of considerable security, with some roads barricaded outside the building and corridors inside closed off to accommodate his movements. At one point, large groups of tourists were forced to linger in the Rotunda to wait for Mr. Obama to leave his morning meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The president-elect returned to the Capitol in the afternoon for a meeting with Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader. He then proceeded past a huge crowd of photographers to the meeting with House and Senate leaders from both parties.
Mr. Obama listened as Republicans raised concerns about waste and transparency in the economic stimulus plan. He agreed with a suggestion raised by Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, about putting the entire contents of the legislation online in a user-friendly way to see how the money is being spent.
But participants in the private meetings said there did not seem to be agreement on the scale of the package. Mr. Reid said many economists have urged a bill of $800 billion to $1.2 trillion, while Mr. Obama’s advisers estimated legislation at no more than $775 billion.
The House Republican leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, said he was concerned about the overall size of the stimulus package. He said the American public was rightly agitated by the lack of accountability in the bailout bills that were abruptly approved last fall.
“While we want to get the economy moving again,” Mr. Boehner said, “the overall size and how we craft this is going to be very important.”
Still, Republicans praised Mr. Obama’s willingness to hear their ideas, which is something they have often felt did not take place under President Bush. They urged Mr. Obama to use the stimulus bill to provide a substantial tax cut to middle-class families and small businesses, but also pressed him to ensure that the legislative process would be fair to the diminished Republican minorities in both chambers.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, also said he encouraged Mr. Obama to consider providing aid to states in the form of loans that would have to be repaid, as a means of preventing wasteful spending.
“I thought the atmosphere for bipartisan cooperation was sincere on all sides,” Mr. McConnell said after the meeting. He added, “The best way to stimulate the economy obviously is to put money directly in the pockets of taxpayers.”
The legislation, which Mr. Obama and his economic advisers discussed Monday, includes about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses. A part of the plan that was a centerpiece of the presidential campaign would provide credits of up to $500 for most workers at an overall price of $150 billion. The plan also includes more than $100 billion in tax incentives for business to create jobs and invest in factories and equipment.
The series of meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill highlighted the fact that the new president is coming from their own ranks, for the first time since John F. Kennedy.
Mr. Reid, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said lawmakers were committed to adopting the economic plan as quickly as possible. But Congressional Democrats and the Obama transition team have pushed back their timetable, which originally called for the legislation to be ready for Mr. Obama to sign on the day of his inauguration. Instead, they said their goal was to have the bill completed no later than the Presidents’ Day holiday in mid-February.
Ms. Pelosi, who met with Mr. Obama twice on Monday, said that the stimulus bill would be taken up first in the House and that there was agreement to move swiftly.
“I won’t make any announcement about how soon, but we all know what our tasks are,” Ms. Pelosi said. “We know what the time constraints are. They are dictated by the sense of urgency that the American people have about their economic well-being.”
As the stimulus plan began to take shape, the search intensified for a new commerce secretary, one day after Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico withdrew from consideration for the position.
Democratic officials familiar with the search said prospective candidates include William Daley, who served as commerce secretary in the Clinton administration, and Laura Tyson, who has advised Mr. Obama on the economy and served as chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Obama, aides said, would like to make an announcement before week’s end.
18. Galactic collision will happen sooner than scientists thought (guardian.co.uk)
Date : 6-1-09
Ian Sample, science correspondent
If the return to work, grim weather and global economic downturn were not enough to contend with, astronomers added to the seasonal gloom today by announcing that the Milky Way is set to crash into a nearby galaxy sooner than they thought.
According to their most detailed measurements yet, scientists admitted to have grossly underestimated the mass of the Milky Way, and so the gravitational pull it exerts on our cosmic neighbours, including the giant Andromeda galaxy.
The oversight means that the two galaxies, which are on a cataclysmic collision course, will slam into one another earlier than scientists had previously predicted.
When the two galaxies meet, powerful shockwaves will compress interstellar gas clouds within them, triggering a dazzling flourish of newborn stars, in a last heavenly hurrah before the giant wreckage slowly dims and dies out.
Fortunately the galactic disaster still lies unfathomably far into the future.
Our solar system is around 28,000 light years from the centre of the Milky Way, itself one of more than 35 galaxies in our cosmic neighbourhood. The Andromeda galaxy, which is twice as wide, is around 2m light years away. Karl Menten, an astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, said that while the galactic collision would happen sooner than expected, there was no cause for alarm. "We still expect it to happen billions of years in the future," he said.
A team led by Menten and Mark Reid at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Massachusetts used a radio telescope called the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA) to make precise measurements of the Milky Way as it moved through space. As the galaxy rotates, parts that emit radiowaves move relative to Earth, allowing the researchers to work out how fast the galaxy is spinning.
The scientists recorded intense radiowaves coming from the galaxy's four spiral arms, where new stars are born. Heat from the stars warms up molecules of alcohol in interstellar gas clouds, which release the energy as radiowaves.
The measurements showed that our solar system is hurtling along at 600,000mph, 100,000mph faster than thought. "These measurements are revising our understanding of the structure and motions of our galaxy," said Menten.
The speedier rotation of the galaxy means its mass must be similar to that of Andromeda, around 270bn times the mass of the sun, or 33% greater than earlier calculations have suggested. "No longer will we think of the Milky Way as the little sister of the Andromeda galaxy," said Reid. The research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.
Astronomers believe the crunch to end all crunches could happen around the same time our sun is due to burn up the last of its nuclear fuel, within the next 7bn years. It is highly unlikely that planets and stars will collide. Instead the two galaxies will merge to form a new, large galaxy.
According to Gilmore, the research does more than bring forward the date of our galactic demise. The work also sheds fresh light on the nature of dark matter, the invisible substance believed to hold galaxies together. Gilmore said the findings point to more dark matter at the centre of the galaxy that may be colder and more compacted than astronomers thought.
Other astronomers at the meeting reported an updated map of the Milky Way's spiral arms. It shows two prominent and symmetrical arms spiralling our of the galaxy's core, which then branch into four separate arms. Earlier observations had confused astronomers by revealing different numbers of spiral arms reaching out from the galaxy's centre.
19. Congress wooing the youth in Gujarat by organizing sporting events across the state. (ndtv.com)
Date: 6-1-09
Rohit Bhan
For more than a decade the Congress in Gujarat has been put on the mat by its political opponent Narendra Modi.
Now, in a bid to revive its fortune and rope in the young, the party has resorted to playing Kabbadi. It believes sport can help revive its fortunes in Gujarat.
So, the Congress is now organising sporting events across the state. Aimed particularly at rural Gujarat the party hopes that would increase its popularity.
It would include tournaments in Kabbadi and Volleyball under the programme Abhay Udaan Mera Bharat Mahaan.
Whether the Congress benefits or not, people participating in those games are only too happy.
While some believe that could work for the party, others simply don't understand the motive.
Though there is no prize money in the tournaments, sport has always been a great unifier.
Whether that helps bring in more cadres under the Congress banner remains to be seen
20. Pak hackers plan attack on Indian cyber networks: Intel (Hindustantimes.com)
Date:6-1-09
After the Mumbai terror strikes, anti-India elements in Pakistan are now planning an attack on Indian computer networks, intelligence agencies have warned.
Already Pakistani hackers are trying out a dry run against Indian networks through popular websites registered there after the Mumbai terror strikes, Home Ministry sources told PTI on Tuesday.
Pakistani hackers have created websites such as the www.songs.pk, which are infested with software to hack data from the targeted computers, it said.
With these websites being highly popular, it will take only a few minutes for the hackers to take command of over 12 lakh computers in few minutes and the number of such computers can multiply in every minute, sources said.
Government websites have been highly vulnerable to hacking and they have been intruded many times by the Pakistani hackers.
The anti-virus software, too, cannot work in such situation as the virus used in such cyber wars are usually new and the anti-virus software cannot identity and detect it, he said.
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