President Zelaya of Honduras has just been kidnapped [Note: As of 11:15 am, Caracas time, President Zelaya is speaking live on Telesur from San Jose, Costa Rica. He has verified soldiers entered his residence in the early morning hours, firing guns and threatening to kill him and his family if he resisted the coup. He was forced to go with the sold
While contrarians are screaming “hyperinflation!”, the money supply is actually shrinking. This is because most money today comes into existence as bank loans, and lending has shrunk substantially. That means the Fed needs to “monetize” debt just to fill the breach. On June 3, 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke assu
The Yekaterinburg Turning PointThe city of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s largest east of the Urals, may become known not only as the death place of the tsars but of American hegemony too – and not only where US U-2 pilot Gary Powers was shot down in 1960, but where the US-centered international financial order was brought to ground.Challengin
Two Public Interest Litigations against the Tamil Nadu government’s Tamil New Year Ordinance were admitted on Friday 26 June 2009 by the Chennai High Court. A Division Bench comprising Justice D Murugesan and Justice K Venkataraman admitted the petitions, one filed by S Mani & 11 others and the other filed by K R Ramaswamy, and ordered th
It was on the noon of Thursday the 20th of December [18]’83 that the grandson of the Maharajah Sir Jotindra Mohun Tagore, a noble man whose name and fame is known through the length and breath of India, very courteously drove us in a cart barouche drawn by a pair of handsome chestnuts to show the princely villa of the Maharajah, which is call
This is the first of several articles on Ellen Brown’s superb 2007 book titled “Web of Debt,” now updated in a December 2008 third edition. It tells “the shocking truth about our money system, (how it) trapped us in debt, and how we can break free.” Given today’s global economic crisis, it’s an appropriate
The Western “civilising” project in its many guises has given rise to strange bedfellows. Not only do Christian and Islamic fundamentalists - officially enemies of each other - find common cause in demanding more public displays of religiosity and less liberal social policies regarding sex. In fact, as Joseph Massad shows in his new boo
Successful revolutions have three phases. First, a strategically located single or limited segment of society begins vocally to express resentment, asserting itself in the streets of a major city, usually the capital. This segment is joined by other segments in the city and by segments elsewhere as the demonstration spreads to other cities and beco
The Iranian drama was a good thing, because after years of demonisation, Iranians looked human to the Western audience. Even McCain bewept the killed Iranian girl, though yesterday he would gladly “bomb, bomb, bomb” her and million of her sisters into oblivion. Glenn Greenwald noted “the "Bomb Iran” contingent's newfoun
Sri Lanka has been subjected to Western duplicity, interference and bankruptcy, utilising the servile remnants of colonialism, which unfortunately were part and parcel of the ruling class. Although the seeds of destabilisation and exploitation were laid during colonialism, the plants grew to trees starting with the treacherous regime of J R Jayewar
The awareness of dharma as the underlying principle of all nature is the basic characteristic of a Hindu. Every other principle is considered subordinate to this. There are many definitions of this word and various translations that include “righteousness,” “justice,” “duty,” “religion,” etc., b
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on June 9 that the US deployment of 21,000 additional troops to war-ravaged Afghanistan could have serious implications for Pakistan. He was speaking at a news conference in Islamabad with the visiting Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. His statement is not only on the mark, it should hav
Calculus has two main variants—derivative and integral. The Eurasian energy pipeline geopolitics between Turkey, Washington and Moscow today has elements of both. It is highly derivative in that the major actors across Central Asia from China, Russia to Turkey are very much engaged in a derived power game which has less to do with any specifi
On 12 June 2009, Kanchi Sankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati engaged in a dialogue with Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. The most significant outcome of the talks was Sankaracharya’s revelation that exactly one month before the Mumbai meeting, Pope Benedict XVI
Not unexpectedly, the BJP national executive turned out to be much ado about nothing. The embattled president Rajnath Singh alone took responsibility for the electoral defeat; the master strategist Arun Jaitley enjoyed the European summer; and the sulking wannabe PM clung gracelessly, but tenaciously, to power. The rot in the BJP is not new; it has
Watching the protesters in Tehran, many Americans feel a strong sense of empathy, exhilaration and hope. I strongly share those feelings, especially since I know firsthand the danger the protesters face from government thugs on motorcycles, provocateurs and the secret police. But none of this should blind us to the likelihood that our own governmen
The stunning upward trajectory of benchmark indices has left people gasping for breath. With an eighty percent rise over a span of two odd months, many experts have proclaimed - “The worst is over”. While some euphoric observers have described it as the commencement of the next Bull Run, others have adopted a more cautious approach, dub
It has been a hot summer for British politicians, especially the Members of Parliament. Prime Minister Gordon Brown almost lost his job last fortnight. Several ministers have been forced to resign. So has the Speaker of the House of Commons, the first time such a thing has happened in 300 years. Leaders of the three main parties apologised to the p
The pansy juice wore off a long time ago; the beloved hero turned out to be, well, an anti-climax. Yet so great is the hangover of electoral defeat that the BJP cannot even begin to get its act together.One thing is clear – the dead weight of L K Advani and his coterie must be immediately lifted if the party is ever again to stand up straight
The interfaith dialogue, MumbaiAs the despicable actions of different Christian denominations continued unabatedly, including alleged complicity in the murder of Hindu saints in Orissa and the blasphemous distortions of Hindu sacred scriptures in Karnataka, the majority community spontaneously reacted with a vengeance as the acts went beyond the li
Inculturation techniques When the hosts are divided, the guest will enjoy! As Hindus stand divided, the Church and Missionaries are deep into an activity called “Inculturation.” This is nothing but copying our traditional practices like wearing saffron robes, rudraksha and tulsi malas, pilgrimage by padayatra, astotra and sahasranama ar
Dear Sudheendra,I have just read your “deeply introspective essay” on tehelka.com about BJP’s defeat in the recent elections. The article is described as introspective, but I failed to find anything that could be called introspection by any stretch of imagination. True, you say that “I too carry my share of responsibility,&r
“Interfaith Dialogue” refers to interaction between two or more religious traditions, at both individual and institutional levels, leading to understanding of values and respecting them, resulting in prevalence of communal amity. The compulsion to participate in interfaith dialogues arises due to two reasons. First, when the
Commenting on the total disarray in the BJP following its second successive electoral defeat under the uninspiring leadership of L K Advani, a party leader said one calamity did not mean defeat in war. Recalling the near-death of Laxman in the Ramayana war, he said Hanuman found the sanjivini herb and no less a person than the royal physician of La
Cardinal Oswald Gracias was one of the brains behind the designing, printing and releasing of the “Indian Bible” which contained hundreds of sacred verses usurped from Hindu texts such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Mahabharata and the Bhagwat Gita. The motive was to cheat the gullible masses and covertly lure them to follow Christia
When two Japanese Buddhist monks Shaku Soen and Shaku Kozen arrived in Galle, Sri Lanka in 1887, little did we realise that these two priests could represent the dilemma that Japan could face in a span of 125 years.Following the collapse of the Tokugawa era and the start of the Meiji period in 1868-1911, Japan opened up to the rest of the world on
[Currently, foreign interests headed by the colonial tool, United Nations, are propagating malicious stories about so-called human rights violations in Sri Lanka, where the government has won a splendid war against the separatist terrorist LTTE. Vicious threats of sanctions are being made to checkmate the island’s determination to introduce l
Early in 1982, Father Joseph Parekatil of the Catholic Church of Parasahi, Madhya Pradesh, destroyed the sacred murti of Goddess Visveshwari Siddheswari, enshrined on the nearby Nawain Tekdi hill, and erected a small wooden cross.Later, on 18 February 1983, a 31-foot high concrete cross was illegally erected on the hill. A month later, enraged vill
In the title of this article, the word jihadis has been put within quotes to indicate that the Afghan Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, al-Qaeda and a slew of other insurgent groups who are waging war against the US and NATO troops, the Afghan National Army and the Pakistani Army cannot be truly called “jihadis.” It is not only that a number
[Yesterday, Swami Jayendra Saraswati Ji, Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Matham, met Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, and others, in Mumbai for a Hindu-Catholic dialogue. The meeting was closed door, but informed sources said it was high voltage and shut the door on fu
In Catholic Ashrams: Sannyasins or Swindlers, Sita Ram Goel describes the Christian missionary strategists’ plan to infiltrate Hindu society and gain the confidence of the people: “Christianity has to drop its alien attire and get clothed in Hindu cultural forms. In short, Christianity has to be presented as an indigenous faith. Christi
In the name of a strange religious diplomacy called inter-faith dialogue, Swami Jayendra Saraswati, Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Matham, will today meet Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, and other religious leaders, in Mumbai. The catholic delegation will includ
Wall Street’s mantra is that markets move randomly and reflect the collective wisdom of investors. The truth is quite opposite. The government’s visible hand and insiders control markets and manipulate them up or down for profit - all of them, including stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies. It’s financial fraud or what former
“Washington tends to enforce a foolish consistency. If you are someone of some prominence whose views are known publicly, then everything you have ever said in the past tends to be projected forward and everything you say today is projected backward. Any discrepancy potentially brings charges of flip-flopping or hypocrisy or selling-out or wh
Little lion-hearted Lanka leads by example once again. It was the first nation in the post-Second World War era to elect a woman prime minister; then it became the first nation to spurn ineffective external intermediaries in a fratricidal war and launch a concerted armed effort to end violent secessionism once and for all. Now, the island’s B
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the Chief of the terrorist organization Jamaat-ud-Dawah, who was also the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack and against whose involvement the Indian government had given Pakistan incontrovertible evidences and proofs, was set free by the Lahore High Court last Tuesday, after nearly six months of house arrest. The High
Obama’s Cairo speech was a thing of great beauty. It had the best production, best actor, best script we have seen for many years, it deserves the Oscar of Oscars. America’s ruling elites have pulled up their socks and gotten their country the best leader to improve the rundown image. Obama is a next-generation model of a leader, not ye
From May 14-17, the global elite met in secret in Greece for the yearly Bilderberg conference, amid scattered and limited global media attention. Roughly 130 of the world's most powerful individuals came together to discuss the pressing issues of today, and to chart a course for the next year. The main topic of discussion at this years meeting was
[On 4 June 2009, the Dalai Lama followed the western world in paying tribute to those killed in China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown on 4 June 1989. Though the terms of his refuge in India specify he will refrain from politics, the Dalai Lama has in the recent past expressed support for Kashmiri self-determination (whatever that means) and now
Ten years ago it first became evident to the world that moves were afoot in major Western capitals to circumvent, subvert and ultimately supplant the United Nations, as the UN could not always be counted on to act in strict accordance with the dictates of the United States and its NATO allies. At that time in 1999 the NATO alliance was waging what
On 27 May, terrorists struck viciously in Punjab’s most important city, Lahore, where they targetted the provincial headquarters of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), detonating an explosive-laden car, leaving at least 35 people dead and over 250 wounded. The Lahore police rescue building, and the Capital City Police Office (
“Of all manifestations power, restraint impresses men most” - ThucydidesIt seems political turmoil is becoming increasingly common in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. More than five years after the 2003 Rose Revolution, it looks like another regime change might put an end to Mikheil Saakashvili’s presidency. During the last
Shared values of civilization and historical experiences unite India and Sri Lanka. The eternal ethic that binds the two nations together is dharma (Sanskrit) or dhamma (Pali, Sinhala). The Sinhala language is close to many Prakrits and many languages of India. Sinhala script is based on Brahmi, the foundation for many scripts of Indian languages.
America has many virtues; collective memory is not one of them. When history is invoked in the theater of the mass media, it generally appears as either sanitized nostalgia from our civic religion (something about the Founding Fathers), or as a one-sided flashback designed to give some oomph to some -ism (something about Hitler). Pandemic amnesia i
The government’s decision to suspend futures trading in sugar in response to the rising retail prices of the sweetener deserves to be welcomed. A complete ban imposed much earlier would have been even better. Indeed, it is high time to ban futures trading in all essential edible commodities and replace it with delivery-based forward trading.&
Yes, Stanley McChrystal is the general from the dark side (and proud of it). So the recent sacking of Afghan commander General David McKiernan after less than a year in the field and McChrystal’s appointment as the man to run the Afghan War seems to signal that the Obama administration is going for broke. It’s heading straight into what
Far from examining the causes of its second electoral debacle at the national level, the BJP seems determined to go the Congress way, further consolidating power in the hands of the one man who led it to ignominy and opprobrium. Little wonder that L.K. Advani advised the faithful not to ‘exaggerate’ the scale of the defeat (doubtless be
Rey Guerra, the former sheriff of Starr County, Texas, pleaded guilty May 1 to a narcotics conspiracy charge in federal district court in McAllen, Texas. Guerra admitted to using information obtained in his official capacity to help a friend (a Mexican drug trafficker allegedly associated with Los Zetas) evade US counter-narcotics efforts. On at le
Like Rajiv Gandhi, he started out as a promising national leader. Like Rajiv Gandhi again, he ended up in corruption scandals. But unlike Rajiv Gandhi, he took all the blame, took his conscience as his guide, became sensitive to public mood and … committed suicide.That was South Korea’s former president Roh Moo-Hyun. He was a human rig
US Association of Physicians calls for Moratorium on GMO FoodsThe American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has just issued a call for an immediate moratorium on Genetically Manipulated (GMO) Foods. In a just-released position paper on GMO foods, the AAEM states that ‘GM foods pose a serious health risk’ and calls for a moratori