Newfound suspicions about the role and intentions of Europe have arisen in India’s ruling circles, together with growing doubts about the viability of the European Union and its Euro-zone core, in their present form.The Indian government’s misgivings about the current and future positions of the USA and its NATO allies – which in
In a week when the European crisis continued building, the White House chose publicly to focus on announcements about the end of wars. The death of Moammar Gadhafi [Oct 21] was said to mark the end of the war in Libya, and excitement about a new democratic Libya abounded. Regarding Iraq, the White House transformed the refusal of the Iraqi governme
The economic and social experiments in the past three decades by British governments from left to right have left the plucky Brits reeling, as this summer’s unprecedented bread and iPod riots showed all too conclusively. For a year now, fiscal austerity and financial chaos have sent Britain’s economy into a nasty cycle of low growth and
After the Hindus were driven out of Kashmir in 1990, their return to their homes was never under the consideration of the people who have ruled India. Indian leaders never had the courage to deny Pakistan and the Muslim separatist forces the claim they lay to Jammu and Kashmir, on the basis of the Muslim majority composition of its population. Nor
The ethnic cleansing of the Hindus of Kashmir in 1990 was one of the few episodes after the Second World War in which a whole community of people was subjected to genocide and driven out of its natural habitat. The terrorist violence with which the Muslim Jihad in Kashmir commenced in 1989 aimed to achieve a number of military objectives which the
The 64th anniversary of the Accession of Jammu & Kashmir has gained fresh momentum in the entire State of J&K, including Occupied Kashmir and Gilgit. This is embarrassing for the Pakistani occupation forces which have been projecting POK as its ‘Shehrug’ (mind-pipe). Pak occupied 32,200 sq. miles of our territory in 1947. A stro
Two events over the last fortnight have uncovered the role of the Catholic Church in fostering Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka, with the aim of carving a separate Christian country out of India’s Tamil Nadu and the Tamil areas of the island-nation. The first was India’s deporting the Sri Lankan Tamil Catholic priest, Fr. S.J. Emmanuel, ba
The territory between the Mediterranean and the Hindu Kush has been the main arena for the US intervention that followed the 9/11 attacks. Obviously, the United States had been engaged in this area in previous years, but 9/11 redefined it as the prime region in which it confronted jihadists. That struggle has had many phases, and it appears to have
As the clever hopes expire Of a low dishonest decade: Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth, Out of the mirror they stare, Imperialism’s face And the international wrong. (W.H. Auden, 1907-1973) What a murderous, infanticidel, appalling, shameful, ignorant – and arguable, decade-long war crime
Under the Obama Administration the United States has expanded the “long war” into Africa. Barack Hussein Obama, the so-called “Son of Africa” has actually become one of Africa’s worst enemies. Aside from his continued support of dictators in Africa, the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) was unhinged un
On 14 October, President Barack Obama announced he was sending United States special forces troops to Uganda to join the civil war there. In the next few months, US combat troops will be sent to South Sudan, Congo and Central African Republic. They will only “engage” for “self-defence”, says Obama, satirically. With Libya se
While the administration of Barack Obama vows to hold the Iranian government “accountable” for the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, the legal document describing evidence in the case provides multiple indications that it was mainly the result of an FBI “sting” operation. Although the lega
Introduction by Cynthia McKinney: “Operation Gladio” Then and Now... I will begin with the scandal of Operation Gladio that climaxed in the murder of former ItalianPrime Minister, Aldo Moro, who on the day of his kidnapping, was to announce an Italian coalition government that would include the Italian Communist Party. Leade
In her notes to the Report of the National Commission to Review of the Working of the Constitution, Ms Sumitra Kulkarni, the only woman member of the 11 member Commission, made the following remarks: I, Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni am signing this document with grave concerns and reservations. My concerns and reservations should be a part of the r
The 6th national convention on the Right to Information was organised by the national RTI watchdog, the Central Information Commission, at Vigyan Bhavan on 14 and 15 Oct 2011. The theme of the convention was: Right to Information – Expanding Horizons. But right from the moment the Prime Minister delivered the inaugural address, doubts arose w
The 6th national convention on the Right to Information was organised by the national RTI watchdog, the Central Information Commission, at Vigyan Bhavan on 14 and 15 Oct 2011. The theme of the convention was: Right to Information – Expanding Horizons. But right from the moment the Prime Minister delivered the inaugural address, doubts arose w
From the outset, the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, and NATO’s subsequent jumping into the adventure, was destined to failure. The war has now reached the overripe age of 10 years, yet the reasons for failure remain beyond the scope of public discussion in Washington. They are many, but among the most important is the systematic underminin
Coinciding with advocate Prashant Bhushan’s explosive espousal of plebiscite-cum-azadi for Kashmir Muslims (the only section agitating for azadi being Sunni Muslim leaders of the valley, and their paid foot soldiers), comes news of a campaign to whip up support among Human Rights groups in the United States for re-instatement of suspended Pro
The 711 coalition deaths in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan last year made 2010 the deadliest one for foreign troops since the US invasion in 2001, continuing the upward trend since 2003. 2011 promises to be even more deadly, and already includes the most spectacular event in this gruesome body count, when insurgents shot down a helicopte
Anti-Roma sentiment continues to spread throughout Bulgaria, just in time for the presidential elections on October 23. What has been deemed a human rights issues due to the Roma deaths and injuries sustained throughout a week of anti-Gypsy protests [Oct 1-8], must also be seen as a strategic attempt on the part of nationalist and ultra-nationalist
Last month two important events occurred in Southeast Asia related to India’s “Look East” policy. One event had direct input from New Delhi; the other was the doing of Myanmar’s military junta. Both events could be of major significance for India’s emergence as a regional power, and both are tied to the two-decade-old
The last time I visited Cairo, prior to the ouster of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a feeling of helplessness pervaded the streets. Young Egyptian men spent the hot afternoons in shisha cafes complaining about not being able to get married because there were no jobs available. Members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood would shuffle from a
The current crisis of capitalism is textbook Marx. Greedy capitalists, craven politicians, scheming bankers, dispossessed masses. It is also textbook Lenin. Imperial wars awakening the masses to revolt – though the days of Lenin’s competing empires are over. Rather, we are all one big happy family, with the exception of a few blaggards
The crisis peaking in Britain is of a Caribbean-sea-pirate type: long time no trophies, while lifestyle has to be maintained. Neoliberal policies have undermined the toughest folk on earth, hard-working, prudent, obedient, stiff-upper-lipped red-faced Brits, the people who managed India, burned down the White House and withstood Hitler. Their backb
India, it would seem, has only two classes of people, the “upper class” and the “middle class”. Yet there is another, the totally forgotten “nothing class”, which the vast majority of educated, elite and intellectual Indians have chosen to ignore, which the Planning Commission has now defined. This art
Occupy Wall Street, the ongoing demonstration-cum-sleep-in that began a month ago not far from the New York Stock Exchange and has since spread like wildfire to cities around the country, may be a game-changer. If so, it couldn’t be more appropriate or more in the American grain that, when the game changed, Wall Street was directly in the sig
Wall Street and London hedge fund tycoon George Soros sent a signal to his minions and infiltrators when he stated that he sympathized with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Soros's statement dovetailed with David Plouffe, President Obama's Senior Adviser, making contact with certain newly-minted “leaders” of the “Occupy” mov
The untold story of the sources of the loot controlled by Paul “The Vulture” Singer, Ken Langone and the Kochs - and why they need to buy the White House. Hedge fund magnate Paul Singer likes to breakfast on decayed carcasses. What he chews down is sickening, but just as nausea-inducing are his new tablemates: billionaires Ken Lang
The concept of Human Rights is a political baton wielded by the West to keep former colonies and/or non-Christian nations in thrall. Yet Western regimes find the very human rights they peddle intolerable when invoked against themselves; hence the irresponsible liberalism of the post-World War II era is crumbling before a new conservatism in the nam
The High Court in London will soon decide whether Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual misconduct. At the appeal hearing in July, Ben Emmerson, Queen’s counsel for the defense, described the whole saga as “crazy.” Sweden’s chief prosecutor had dismissed the original arrest warrant, sayin
US-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an ideologue and spokesman for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen, was killed in a Sept. 30 airstrike directed against a motorcade near the town of Khashef in Yemen’s al-Jawf province. The strike, which occurred at 9:55 a.m. local time, reportedly was conducted
Fukushima’s nuclear disaster is a nightmare. Ghostly releases of radioactivity haunt the Japanese countryside. Lives, once safe, are now beset by an ineffable scourge promising vile illness and death. Large sectors of the population are accumulating significant levels of internal contamination, setting the stage for a public health tragedy. A
Iran celebrated connecting its first nuclear power plant to its electrical grid on Sept. 12. The 1,000-MW power plant in the port city of Bushehr was completed with Russia’s help. It will reach its full power generating capacity by the year’s end, following further testing, official Iranian reports said. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir
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Hari Om
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07 Oct 2011
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The Kashmir-centric National Conference (NC) is in serious trouble. Its top leadership is under sharp attack and it is unlikely to withstand the opposition’s concerted attack. Indeed, since September 26, when the 9-day-long Assembly session started, the NC leadership, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, acted unwisely, giving the oppositi
Turkey’s foreign policy shift is now in full gear. Having kicked out the Israeli ambassador and rejected the UN Palmer Report, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says that Turkey plans to take its case against Israel’s blockade of Gaza to the International Court of Justice, not alone, but with the support of the Arab League, the O
The war against Libya is built on fraud. The United Nations Security Council passed two resolutions against Libya on the basis of unproven claims, specifically that Colonel Muammar Qaddafi was killing his own people in Benghazi and Libya. The claim in its exact form was that Qaddafi had ordered Libyan forces to kill 6,000 people in Benghazi and Lib
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Hari Om
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05 Oct 2011
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The Congress party is in total disarray. Senior party leaders are fighting with each other and their eyes are on the office of Prime Minister. The party’s main spokespersons have gone into hibernation because they cannot face the nation and the media. Or, the party spokespersons have gone on the defensive. One spokesperson has tendered an unc
Amid the enthusiastic applause in New York and the celebrations in Ramallah, it was easy to believe -- if only a for minute -- that, after decades of obstruction by Israel and the United States, a Palestinian state might finally be pulled out of the United Nations hat. Will the world’s conscience be midwife to a new era ending Israel's occupa
The well-orchestrated attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul (Sept. 13) and the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, a Tajik-Afghan, by a suicide bomber inside Rabbani’s home in Kabul (Sept. 20), a stone’s throw away from the U.S. Embassy, have been passed on to the American people by the Western media as an omen t
Having cut his own nose to spite his face in 2009, Narendra Modi is now doing what lesser men do at such frustrating moments – bash up somebody / something else. Usually the punching bag is a weaker person or entity that cannot / does not hit back. So, because he dare not openly lambast the RSS stalwarts in Nagpur, Narendra bhai sulks by boyc
Geopolitically, a trip to Iran could not come at a better time. Iran is an emerging power seeking to exploit the vacuum created by the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq, which is scheduled to conclude in a little more than three months. Tehran also plays a major role along its eastern border, where Washington is seeking a political settlement with
Have you ever before heard of the Haqqanis? I didn’t think so. Like Al Qaeda, about which no one had ever heard prior to 9/11, the “Haqqani Network” has popped up in time of need to justify America’s next war - Pakistan. President Obama’s claim that he had Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden exterminated deflated the
Paramakudi in Ramnad district is the samadhi of late dalit Christian leader Immanuel Sekaran. On 11 Sept., Sekaran’s 54th death anniversary, the state police detained John Pandian, a self-proclaimed dalit Christian leader, when he tried to enter Paramukudi in defiance of ban orders. Pandian was detained as he planned to visit the family
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s nomination of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Russia’s pretender to the throne and Putin’s promise to keep his friend as premier was hardly a surprise. All along, except to a few starry-eyed liberals, it was clear, that the buck stopped not with Medvedev but Putin. The liberals were given their