Significant economic growth in the world’s two most populous nations - China and India - over the last two decades has also ushered in an awkward development, which is often tied to rivalry between these two large nations. Just beyond India’s coastal waters, the presence of the Chinese navy is growing. It is difficult to tell at this po
In every instance the overriding factor was simply the stupidity with which the administration behaved. That, more than any ‘evil’ intention, was the hallmark of the Bush gang and their hangers-on and allies, as well as their yes-men and stooges in the media. It was what got us into the ‘cakewalk’ war which they, the civilia
It is neither accident nor coincidence that the now America-friendly Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called for an ‘independent state’ of Kashmir at the UN General Assembly on 23 September 2009, even as news reports hint at New Delhi’s plans to cede more autonomy, vindicating Hindu fears about disproportionate concessions to separat
There is a Jewish tale, in which a man is promised that he will be granted any wish he chooses, so long as his neighbour will get twice as much. After some thought he states his wish: please put me out one of my eyes! This is a very American attitude. An American refuses to get free medical care, if the condition is that others will get it, too. Th
[This is the abstract of the Vijayadashami Mahotsva speech delivered at Nagpur annually by RSS Sarsanghachalak on 27 September 2009, Yugabda 5111. The speech is traditionally delivered in Hindi; this is a ready translation by his aides - Editor]The path-breaking work of the RSS to organise ‘Hindu Society’' was launched on this very date
On the 80th day of the coup, both the de facto government and the resistance movement against the coup held marches to celebrate the anniversary of Central America’s independence from Spain. At a military parade, de facto President Roberto Micheletti defiantly insisted that it would take a military intervention to remove him. Meanwhile, thous
I was born millions of years ago and have, since birth, given rise to many a civilisation in the length and breathe of Asia. I am the mother of the whole of Asia. It is from my sweat that the great rivers, the Ganges, Indus, Yangtze, Mekong, are continuously supplied with water. It is around these big rivers that all my children developed the civil
A Message to Truth Activists9/11 has become an American enigma. For many, 9/11 remains a puzzling, inexplicable, phenomenon that defies understanding in its complexities and misinformation. Most people doubt the full truth of the 9/11 Commission’s report, but are unable to accept that people inside the government could be so evil as to allow
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, ....The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand - William Butler YeatsPresident Obama travelled to Wall Street on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers that triggered the worst financia
Following his meeting with the visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sep.15, US President Barack Obama told newspersons that there is no “immediate decision pending” on more troops to Afghanistan. When asked if US and NATO forces are winning the war, the president offered no direct response. “My determination is to ge
When I first met Michael Moore more than 20 years ago, he was showing a half-finished documentary to a few dozen people in a classroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was funny and poignant and had a powerful message. He had taken a second mortgage on his house - equipment for filmmaking was a lot more expensive back then - and raised some money from li
September 15 marked a year to the day when the iconic investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Its repercussions were felt across the globe with lightning speed and nearly bankrupted most of the world. Within weeks reputed names on Wall Street and across the Atlantic were on the brink. By the year-end, the entire global financial syste
The Iranians have now agreed to talks with the P-5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China) plus Germany. These six countries decided in late April to enter into negotiations with Iran over the suspected Iranian nuclear weapons program by Sept. 24, the date of the next UN Gen
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Secessionism in Kashmir is not new. The state has been witnessing secessionism since 1846 when Kashmir became part of the Jammu Kingdom under the Treaty of Amritsar. Between 1846 and 1946, the separatist movement in Kashmir was directed against Jammu and its Dogras, and the stated objective of the secessionists was separation of the Valley from Jam
The International Atomic Energy Agency says its present objective regarding Iran is to try to determine whether the intelligence documents purportedly showing a covert Iranian nuclear weapons programme from 2001 to 2003 are authentic or not. The problem, according to its reports, is that Iran refuses to help clarify the issue.But the IAEA has refus
The current political spectacle in Andhra Pradesh reminds us once again of the phenomenon of “dynastic politics” in India. The deceased chief minister YS Rajshekhar Reddy’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy is virtually dictating to the Congress high command to accede to his claim over his father’s “throne.” Irrespective of
The current global downturn, the worst since the Great Depression 70 years ago, pounded the last nail into the coffin of globalization. Already beleaguered by evidence that showed global poverty and inequality increasing, even as most poor countries experienced little or no economic growth, globalization has been terminally discredited in the last
An immoral economic system compels a society’s moral decline. Because of Congressional devotion to our traditional economic system, American government seems to have enshrined all the disadvantages and none of the advantages of democracy. We have a government based on dissent, in which delay is a common tactic and secrecy is regularly employe
On the day of the 9-11 attacks, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked what the attack would mean for US-Israeli relations. His quick reply was: “It’s very good…Well, it’s not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy (for Israel).”Intelligence wars rely on mathematical models to anticipate the
Story of an Indian mode of dissent and protestIt is a general notion that the spirit of nationalism that blossomed in the closing years of the nineteenth century was the impact of colonial education. A careful examination of our national history through the ages reveals that this hypothetical conclusion has no base at all. Bharat as a rashtra [nati
It is time again to reflect on the 9/11 disaster as we reach yet another anniversary. Many questions keep burning deep within our hearts as to who was responsible for this evil act and was there any evidence of a conspiracy theory? It has been some considerable time since this sad event and many experts have had time to evaluate all of the evidence
The attacks on September 11, 2001 have been a defining moment for America. The political and psychological impact on Americans of a concerted and visible attack in America was enormous - indeed, it is an interesting “coincidence” that the attacks occurred on the one day of the year whose mention reinforces a public sense here of danger
A week ago [20 Aug.], two convicted mass murderers leaped back into public consciousness as news coverage of their stories briefly intersected. One was freed from prison, continuing to proclaim his innocence, and his release was vehemently denounced in the United States as were the well-wishers who welcomed him home. The other expressed his contrit
Sardar Patel must be smiling wryly in the heaven. Even a statesman of his foresight could not have foreseen that there would be so many claimants to his mantle of the Iron Man of India. Morarji Desai claimed to be the political heir of Sardar Patel, just as Jawaharlal Nehru was Mahatma Gandhi’s. There was a small difference, though. Nehru was
On August 21 the chief of the US Marine Corps, General James Conway, arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to begin the training of his host country’s military for deployment to the Afghan war theatre under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). “During the meeting the sides discussed a broad spectrum of Georg
US President Barack Obama is under massive pressure from the American population not only on his two domestic issues - the health-care reform and the cap-and-trade bill - but also on the increasingly dangerous Afghan War. On the Afghan War front, London has become more and more outspoken, advising the US President to commit more troops, using argum
A year after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, questions still swirl around its collapse. Lawrence MacDonald, whose book A Colossal Failure of Common Sense came out in July 2009, maintains that the bank was not in substantially worse shape than other major Wall Street banks. He says Lehman was just “put to sleep. They p
In an act of brazenness aimed at formally integrating Kashmir’s Northern Areas into the Islamic Republic, the Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on 29 August 2009 unveiled a plan to replace the existing Northern Areas Legislative Council with a Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, a Governor, and a Chief Minister with a six-member C
RSS Chief’s Chennai visit Just when the trio of Jaswant-Yashwant-Shourie was making matters worse for the party, RSS Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat made his maiden visit (as RSS Chief) to Chennai. The RSS organized a press meet, wherein he answered a volley of questions. He said, “Though many swayamsevaks are serving as leaders and cadre
Present status of BJPThe 2009 election defeat was more humiliating for the BJP than that of 2004. The latest defeat can be attributed to failure to analyse the reasons for the 2004 defeat. The party failed to analyse state-wise, constitution-wise problems, reasons for receiving the people’s mandate in 1999, what promises were made to the elec
“Climate change,” “infant mortality,” “fair trade”... the list goes onThe English language needs periodically to be given a spring-clean, where we scrape off the phrases that have become stuck to the floor and toss out the rotting metaphors that have fallen down the back of the settee. George Orwell warned that l
Recently we have been treated to a grand vaudeville show by the mainstream media about the alleged fake encounter in which a 19 year old Muslim girl, Ishrat Jahan, was killed five years ago, on June 15, 2004, along with three others - Javed Ghulam Sheikh, a Malayali Hindu convert to Islam, and two Pakistanis believed to be LeT operatives. According
There has been an explosion of Modernism or, to quote a TV anchor, “the sublime assertion of modern thinking” in the last few weeks. One was the celebration by homosexuals after a Delhi high court ruled that homosexuality is not a criminal activity. As if society anytime considered it criminal. Society considered it a mental case or per
Jaswant Singh’s latest book has raised a fresh controversy on who was responsible for the Partition of India. Some think it was Jinnah; others say Nehru/Patel. The truth is that the seeds for Partition were sown at least eighty years before Partition actually happened. This article seeks to share some insights, though it is by no means an exh
This final article is dedicated to the millions who have become victim to the US, UK, NATO and IDF continued use of weapons containing uranium. It is in support of all war veterans and innocent civilians in the Balkans, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Gaza and now Pakistan. It is dedicated to those thousands that have suffered terrible pain and
On the evening of Aug. 28, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi Deputy Interior Minister - and the man in charge of the kingdom’s counter-terrorism efforts - was receiving members of the public in connection with the celebration of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. As part of the Ramadan celebration, it is customary for members of the Sa
We all fully understand how Low Level Radiation (LLR) Particles are formed and how they drift around the world. We also know that such particles can be rained out of the atmosphere and fall to earth to contaminate the land, crops and water. So let’s now look in more detail at the health implications associated with the inhalation of these aer
It sounds like the plot for the latest summer horror movie. Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been allowed a third term as president, had run and had won or stolen it, and that we were all now living (and dying) through it. With the Democrats in control of Congress but Bush still in the Oval Office, the media would certainly be talking
We have seen governments and military refuse to accept that uranium based weapons have been used in all the theatres of war. Only when independent tests and conclusive evidence is provided do these authorities back down. We have seen this in the Balkans, Kuwait, and Iraq. We now have good evidence from Afghanistan with further news of a leaked Germ
In previous reports I have explained the dangers associated with weapons containing uranium. This can be used in many ways. As a penetrator rod, a Shaped Charged Liner or as a counterweight etc. Whatever the application, we know that DU will ignite at 170c. On behalf of the US Army, Major Doug Rokke led a 434-man depleted uranium clean up tea
Addressing a day-long workshop of the Astronautical Society of India recently in New Delhi, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair told newspersons that ISRO has begun preparations for a robotic mission to Mars. ISRO says such a mission may take place after 2015.ISRO would use its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle
Can we force our governments to hold a full and transparent enquiry on the true effects of Low Level Radiation and Depleted Uranium aerosols on the human body? Can we force our governments to acknowledge that the respective so called war syndromes and the alarming rise in cancer, diabetes, infertility and birth defects are directly related to the e
Sri Lanka offers a student of history an opportunity to study and compare our ancient forms of governance with the present forms of governance borrowed from the west. Sri Lanka has been under colonialism for 600 years, but thanks to the resilience of Buddhist society, Christianity, the religion of the conquerors, failed to take hold. Buddhist socie
The majority of high tech weapons today contain Depleted Uranium and or other Heavy Metals. Some are coated in DU and others have both DU and Heavy Metal in their warheads. DU is also used to act as a counterweight. Both DU and heavy metals have the ability to kill indiscriminately subject to how such weapons are used and if those
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s tragic death in a helicopter crash, at the peak of his career, has shaken the entire political spectrum; our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, relatives, colleagues, party men and followers. Political careerIn a career spanning over three decades, YSR as he was popula
There was a small news item dated 4 August 2009 in some newspapers, stating that the prosecution witnesses in the case pertaining to the Kanchi seer are turning hostile and the case itself might be revealed to be a foisted one. The time period for which a sacred institution has been humiliated and the assault the state conducted on an age old tradi
The recent biography of Jinnah by Jaswant Singh has ignited a heated controversy. In the light of the new exposition, the names of Jinnah and Nehru are being debated widely in Indian elite circles. These were very scarcely debated in the days of our freedom and ensuing years. The main reason for this was the carnage following the vivisection of &ls
Devotion, Patriotism and UnityBhagwan Ganesh is the most worshipped deity in the Hindu pantheon. Hindus begin each and every work only after worshipping him, for he is believed to be the remover of all obstacles. All of us, children and elderly alike, adore, admire, revere and worship him with a ‘personal’ touch and the moment we look a
A month-long White House review of a pair of US ballistic missile defense (BMD) installations slated for Poland and the Czech Republic is nearing completion. The review is expected to present a number of options ranging from pushing forward with the installations as planned to cancelling them outright. The Obama administration has yet to decide wha
That Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah is selling like hot cakes in Pakistan should bring him no cheer. The Pakistanis have no use for his scholarship, such as it is. That a BJP politician, a proud Rajput to the fingertips, with an army background to boot, sticks his neck out in favour of Jinnah is enough for them. A great propaganda advantage i
On Aug. 24, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill addressed a special session of the Scottish Parliament. The session was called so that MacAskill could explain why he had decided to release Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of terrorism charges in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, an
By a flawed logic, Jinnah, who was never jailed by the British, has become a “freedom fighter.” It is like leaving out the last fifteen years of Hitler’s life and describing him as a mere painter, or Rajiv Gandhi as only a pilot. Not that Jaswant Singh does not provide many details of his hero’s chequered career; yet he does
You have to hand it to congressional Democrats. Mendacious grifters whose national security agenda is virtually indistinguishable from Bushist Republicans, when it comes to rearranging proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic, the party of “change” is second to none in the “all terrorism all the time” department.While promising
If anything has changed in the BJP, it is that after five years of sustained denial from the defeat of 2004 to the debacle of 2009, the party has finally admitted it is in crisis. This breaks the mental blockade that vetoed honest assessment of poor performance and barred corrective measures. The high command remained frozen in status quo, with RSS
Children born with abnormally enlarged or small heads, disproportionately short arms and legs, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and other complications. Increasing instances of infertility among women. A spurt in cases of lung cancer and intestinal ulcer.Punjab, a state in India bordering Pakistan, has reason to be concerned about this scary picture