Today we talk of geo-politics and the freedom of information. But what is happening today technically (i.e. politically) began on 12 December 2008, though some say September of that year, but it took four years for the shock waves to reach Europe and America. The issue relates to Julian Assange, Wikileaks, and the Republic of Ecuador. Mind you
India has great cultural wealth. A multi-religion, multi-language population comprising several ethnic groups makes us rich. We can truly boast of enjoying the unity in diversity. However, this uniqueness in composition also carries its own problems. What happened in Azad Maidan in Mumbai on 11 August 2012 and its ripple effect across the country i
The news of an attempted mob lynching in Jerusalem’s Zion Square is trickling into Western news sources. It has been translated from angst-filled Hebrew-language Facebook pages written by eyewitnesses, stunned and harassed first responders, and translations gleaned from Ha’aretz via Mondoweiss, IMEU and others. The lack of outrage, and
The discrepancy between Western media on the Middle East and the reality is astounding. Egypt’s Mubarak is a good guy and reliable ally until, presto, he is a bad guy, corrupt, a tyrant, yesterday’s goods. This extreme myopia in the interests of empire is the case across the board. So it should come as no surprise, that ‘Axis of
What is happening in Syria is a sign of things to come for the region. Regime change is not the sole goal of the US and its allies in Syria. Dividing the Syrian Arab Republic is the end goal of Washington in Syria. Britain’s Maplecroft, which specializes in consulting on strategic risk, has said that we are witnessing the balkanization of the
When a resolute MP chaperones Rohingya Muslims from far eastern Myanmar to Hyderabad in the south without a hitch en route, it is obvious the Centre has consented to compromise nationality. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should explain if the entrenched complicity with the demographic invasion from Bangladesh is the template for his quest for open b
A popular idiom refers to soiling one’s hands in brokering coal (koyle ki dalaali mein haath kaale). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, widely believed to be a man with clean hands, might find his spotless kurta soiled by the coal mines allocation scandal exposed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its recent report. Despite stout den
Honey bees are the angels of agriculture, but they're disappearing at a startling rate in a mysterious phenomenon dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Since 2007, North American honey bees are literally disappearing without a trace. There are no massive dead bee bodies appearing in or around the hives - the bees are simply GONE, bewildering beeke
Universally admired, Pussy Riot (or PR for short) has been promoted as superstars. But what are they? A rock or punk group they are not. A British journalist marvelled: they produce no music, no song, no painting, nada, rien, nothing. How can they be described as “artists”? This was a severe test for their supporters, but they pass
The recent developments in Syria revealed a series of important signs which will have decisive repercussions over the course of the global war led by the United States to destroy this country. Unlike the information and impressions of American strategists and their European and Arab accomplices - as conveyed by hundreds of media outlets engaged in
The world is living through a veritable slow-motion earthquake. If things go according to plan, the US obsession with Afghanistan and Iraq will soon be one of those ugly historical disfigurements that -- at least for most Americans -- will disappear into the memory hole. Like Nixon and Vietnam, US President Barack Obama will be remembered as the pr
India emerged as a regional power with the end of the Cold War and established a military setup to take on antagonists. Yet, since independence, policy makers in New Delhi focused Indian defence modernisation mainly towards deterring Pakistani misadventures, thus distorting our overall defence upgrades. Now, the rise of China as a regional Asian po
I thought they were just con-men, Alexander Cockburn said to me about the intelligence website Stratfor when the Wikileaks published a huge cache of their emails. The late lamented CounterPunch co-editor’s opinion of state intelligence agencies was not high, but of private intelligence services like Stratfor it was lower than a barm
Deep beneath “Damascus volcano” and “the battle of Aleppo”, the tectonic plates of the global energy chessboard keep on rumbling. Beyond the tragedy and grief of civil war, Syria is also a Pipelineistan power play. More than a year ago, a $10 billion Pipelineistan deal was clinched between Iran, Iraq and Syria for a nat
It is widely realized now that the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime would leave Syria riven by bitter ethnic, religious, and ideological conflict that could splinter the country into smaller enclaves. Already there has been a demographic shift in this direction, as both Sunnis and Alawites flee the most dangerous parts of the county, s
There is much more to the conflict in Syria than meets the eye. Syria is currently the scene of a cold war between the US, NATO, Israel, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on one side and Russia, China, Iran, and the Resistance Bloc on the other hand. Amidst the fighting between the Syrian government and anti-government forces, an intense
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s role in the Syrian crisis has endangered stability within Turkey and threatened its integrity and sovereignty. Driven by his not-so-hidden desire to re-establish the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, Prime Minister Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, the two Islamists at the helm, aided by Foreign Min
It has been the ancient dream of both Christianity and Islam to overcome Hinduism. Both overran Europe and the Middle East respectively; Europe became Christianised in half a century, with the now dead ancient cultures of Greece and Rome are remembered in museums; Iran and its neighbourhood adopted Islam and relinquished their own rich ancient cult
There are two, not one, political asylum seekers in the Ecuador Embassy in London - the founder of WikiLeaks and a yet unknown entity Andrea Davison who gets little or no coverage! We are all led to believe that the information made available via WikiLeaks is explosive in its content and in some cases an embarrassment to certain leaders and countri
On 9 August, when a 31-member Parliamentary Committee (inc. nine from Congress, six from BJP) unanimously decided to put a ban on field trials of genetically modified crops in India, the decision had both historic significance and scientific significance. It was on this day in 1942 that Gandhi gave the clarion call “Quit India” to the B
The latest disturbances shaking the north-east, particularly the conflict-torn Bodo territorial areas of Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Chirang, etc., are a reminder to the powers that be in New Delhi and the rest of the country that the hidden volcanoes in the North-East need to be defused with wisdom and courage by the Central leadership while taking the reg
British Indians who have never been proud of their own history, culture, civilization, technological achievements, and their own truly nationalist leaders, will celebrate the 65th Independence day on 15 August. True Indians who feed the British Indians still slave for Rs 28 per day, as officially conceded. Rupees 27 means they are poor, one rupee e
A television debate following the simultaneous failure of three grids on 31 July revealed India’s plans to integrate its power grid with China, and other neighbours. Not being a subject expert, one cannot opine if this conflicts with current moves by states to ensure ‘islanding’ so that sudden fluctuations in drawing power from th
Watching the burning vehicles on television, the mind raced back to December 1992 when Muslims went on the rampage after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Then, as now, their strategy was broadly the same: protest violently, provoke, take a small incident and use it as a reason to make a point. When police try to control restive crowds
One wonders what Syrians are thinking as “rebels” vowing to “free Syria” take the country down the same road to destruction as “rebels” in Libya. Libya, under Gaddafi a well run country whose oil revenues were shared with the Libyan people instead of monopolized by a princely class as in Saudi Arabia, now has no
In the wake of the UN Security Council face-off with Russia and China, a new dangerous phase of the war on Syria is unfolding. The Obama administration, in liaison with London, Paris, Tel Aviv and NATO headquarters in Brussels, is mulling over various military “intervention options”, including the conduct of both naval and air operation
On July 17, David Bagley, who had been HSBC’s head of group compliance since 2002, resigned from his job in front of a US Senate subcommittee after it emerged the bank had exposed the United States to billions of dollars worth of money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorist financing. The US Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subc
The old Greeks believed that the gods made insane those they wished to destroy. Indeed, the governments of the western world appear to be sinking ever deeper into the spiral of a mental disease that is becoming apparent to many in their otherwise media-stultified and consumption-hypnotised populations, although an enduring belief in Euro-American i
An enigmatic personality who has periodically vanished from the scene of politics in different junctures in time, Prince Bandar bin Sultan was appointed as the Director General of Saudi Arabia’s main intelligence agency on July 19, an appointment which took place at a critical time, namely when the unrest in Syria was growing gravely worrisom
At one time, calling the large multinational banks a “cartel” branded you as a conspiracy theorist. Today the banking giants are being called that and worse, not just in the major media but in court documents intended to prove the allegations as facts. Charges include racketeering (organized crime under the US Racketeer Infl
In 1948, when the United Nations adopted the “Right to Food” covenant, and subsequently India became a signatory to this, none expected that the government of free India, after almost three-quarters of a century from being a signatory to this very important covenant, will play with politics of food and hunger. A food crisis is star
As thousands of Sunni terrorists from Britain, the Arab world, the Maghreb, and South Asia converged on the outskirts of Syria’s most populous city, Aleppo, planning a violent confrontation, the Syrian military was poised to counter the terrorist offensive. According to some analysts, the battle for Aleppo is a decisive one for Syrian Preside
It is basic human nature to cover-up misdeeds that could be embarrassing. Politicians go to any length without remorse, so do military leaders. The dawn of the atomic age in the Alamogordo desert of the United States of America saw the ugliest cover-up by the military-industrial complex, in which even scientists got ensnared, knowingly or unknowing
Israel retains its ability to control the Syrian ‘Islamist’ rebels. Netanyahu is not worried about Syria’s possible disintegration. Despite the received wisdom claiming that Israelis prefer a stable and familiar Assad to the great unknown of Islamic guerrillas, the new and sensational information we received points out to the oppo
Though the Western press portrays the Free Syrian Army as an armed revolutionary group, for more than a year Thierry Meyssan has affirmed that it is on the contrary a counter-revolutionary body. According to him, it would have progressively passed from the hands of reactionary monarchies in the Gulf to those of Turkey, acting for NATO. Such a non-m
“You seem to be a Congress sympathizer in disguise. You want BJP to project Narendra Modi as its commander-in-chief in the next Lok Sabha election so that its allies and Muslim voters desert it and the ground is cleared for another UPA victory,” commented a friend, who thinks highly of himself as a shrewd political observer, on my artic
WikiLeaks supporters around the globe are informed, talented, and wonderfully passionate people. But supporting WikiLeaks day after day, week after week, month after month, can be an emotional roller coaster. We all have our highs and lows, and surely nobody knows that better than Julian Assange's mum Christine. So I decided to take up Christine's
Prince Bandar bin-Sultan’s appointment as new head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service on 22 July is presumably in gratitude for the terrorist attack in Damascus a few days earlier. At the same time, there are unconfirmed reports of the Prince’s demise – also connected with the same terrorist act, by Thierry Meyssan, Volt
On July 17, the US Senate released a report on the old British colonial drug bank Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp’s (now called HSBC) ties to drug money laundering and funding of terrorists through Saudi and Bangladeshi banks. That is, however, just one part of HSBC’s role. The other part was to flow billions in drug money, launde