“An avalanche of resignation of Sarpanches in Kashmir,” is how an English news channel has defined the recent political crisis that has beset the valley. The serial resignations were triggered in the wake of killing of a deputy sarpanch by unidentified gunmen in Wagoora area of Baramulla district. Earlier in the month, a sarpanch was ki
On the eve of the opposition conference in Damascus upon an invitation from the coordination committee, a number of committee members arrived at the Damascus Airport and were kidnapped on their way back. What is certain is that since the beginning of the preparations to hold the conference, the political decision of the Syrian state was to encourag
The Kashmir valley has for long been a victim of the global terrorism being perpetrated in the name of religion. It is the only place in the world that witnessed proliferation of an armed insurgency by international Islamic warriors alongside an extremist Islamic resurrection in Afghanistan. Pakistan being at the centre of both movements was natura
The Western states are confirming their colonial character and racist perception of the Eastern populations, whether they are Muslims or Christians. Firstly, the experience of the offensive film towards the Prophet enhances this idea, after the Western adoption of the extremist terrorist groups exposed the United States’ and Europe’s tr
There has been much praise for the Richard Goldstone-led UN investigation into war crimes committed in Gaza during Israel’s conduct of Operation Cast Lead between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009. Yet this report did not go far enough to investigate some more serious allegations which involved a breach of the Geneva Convention. Quot
Congress has tossed a coin in the air. If the party calls right, it will have a fresh tenure of batting at the Centre. If the call proves wrong, it may face an innings of bowling and fielding, a thoroughly non-appealing prospect. This is the long and short of the sudden burst of hyperactivity over economic ‘reforms’ in the last fortnigh
One billion Hindus worship a multitude of Devas, Devis (Devatas) in their temples and in the worship rooms or corners in their homes. Some who do not openly do so have no disrespect for those who do, or vice versa, because of the very tolerant nature of Hinduness. Growing up in such tolerant society makes a Hindu child intuitively underst
Despite frantic denials by the Obama Administration, there is now clear evidence that the murder of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other State Department personnel on Sept. 11 was a pre-meditated, highly professional attack, carried out by members of al-Qaeda-affiliated organizations. While White House spokesman Jay Carney att
Last week, four American diplomats were killed when armed men attacked the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attackers' apparent motivation was that someone, apparently American but with an uncertain identity, posted a video on YouTube several months ago that deliberately defamed the Prophet Mohammed. The attack in Benghazi was portrayed as retr
India’s freshly-minted millionaire club lost a whopping 18% of its membership as the economic slowdown coincided with the exposure of multiple scams that tripped the gravy train of our crony capitalists. Most citizens would be shocked to learn that despite the global financial crisis ruining millions worldwide, the number of high net-worth in
When Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna proceeded on a three day official visit to Pakistan on Friday, 7 September, a new visa regime was a major issue listed on the agenda. Commenting on the new regime to a leading Pakistan daily, The Express Tribune, Krishna reportedly said, “it seeks to introduce or considerably improve visa facilities f
Early this week, sixty-five American soldiers landed in Kathmandu and moved to Dhikurpokhari of Kaski district of Nepal. They are also travelling in Manang and Mustang districts bordering China’s Tibet region. Israelis hold the highest Passover Seder festival each year on 9 April in Manang! Ostensibly the soldiers are on a “humanitarian
The recently concluded ministerial level meeting between India and Pakistan resulted in the declaration of a liberalised visa regime, a positive development of course, but also one which will be judged by its application on the ground. Regardless of the processes, Indians can enter Pakistan only after clearance from the country’s dominant spy
Since time immemorial, there have been many kings and crowns. Many of them ruled with grace and dignity, yet not a single ruler in any part of the world had courage to declare his religion as justice. On 9 July 1925, immediately after being crowned as Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh declared, “My religion is justice”. This mig
- “I have met with these brave fighters, and they are not Al-Qaeda. To the contrary: They are Libyan patriots who want to liberate their nation. We should help them do it.” – Senator John McCain in Benghazi, Libya April 22, 2011. McCain’s “Libyan patriots” have now murdered US Ambassador John Christopher Stevens
Before his retirement in from the US Senate in January 2005, Bob Graham (D-Fla.) served for a decade on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, ultimately chairing the committee during the period surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, DC. He headed the Joint Congressional Commission on US Intelligence Failures
On September 11, 2001, a neighbor telephoned and said, “turn on the TV.” I assumed that a hurricane, possibly a bad one from the sound of the neighbor’s voice, was headed our way, and turned on the TV to determine whether we needed to shutter the house and leave. What I saw was black smoke from upper floors of one of the World Tra
Indian defence forces now have a unique front to fight - the Indian court. It would be no surprise if a study showed that Indian forces fight the maximum court battles against their own government in the whole world. They are fighting all sorts of battles - for promotion after attainting retirement, for one rank one pension, for administrative inju
On Sunday, 9 September, around 2 a.m. in Anand, Gujarat, when Verghese Kurien breathed his last, India lost not simply the most formidable “milkman” of the world but the bravest of our post Independence reformers who would not sell India to the White man. Note this: In the early 1990s, when an MNC was trying to prevent a joint vent
The circulation on the Internet of the trailer for a film, The Innocence of Muslims, sparked demonstrations across the world and resulted in the killing in Benghazi of the US Ambassador to Libya and members of his entourage. At first glance, these events can be located in the long line leading from Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses to the burni
“We pledge allegiance to the republic for which America stands and not to its empire for which it is now suffering.”[1] Louis XVI needed a revolution, Napoleon needed two historic military defeats, the Spanish Empire in the New World needed multiple revolutions, the Russian Czar needed a communist revolution, the Austro-Hungarian and Ot
The murder of the US envoy and three other diplomatic staff members in Libya on the night of Sept 11 following telecast on YouTube of a film maligning the Prophet, which inflamed sentiments of Muslims worldwide, has given an entirely new dimension to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pre-scheduled visit to Pakistan early next month. As Washi
On 7 September, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced that Canada is suspending all diplomatic relations with Iran, expelling all Iranian diplomats, closing its embassy in Tehran, and authorizing Turkey to act on Canada’s behalf for consular services there. Baird cited Iran’s enmity with Israel, its support of Syria and terroris
It is an irrefutable fact that Christian missionaries have been using all kinds of fraudulent means to convert the hapless dalits to Christianity, the purpose of which is to change the demography of India and bring it under foreign (read western) rule once again. Despite the tall claims of missionaries, Christianity has not redeemed some 20 mi
I am proud to deliver this lecture in the memory of a man I admire greatly without knowing him personally. I have not read everything Sri Sita Ram Goel has written, but I have read some of the most important things I have read anywhere, which I deem to have utmost significance for Hindus in these difficult times. I also found courage and inner cert
The sudden murder of J. Christopher Stevens, US ambassador to Libya, and three of his staff members after an enraged mob attacked the American consulate in Benghazi on the night of Tuesday 11 Sept. raises several questions that merit serious deliberation. Amidst reports of violence in some Muslim capitals, one is struck by the silence of devotedly
Are Norwegians weird, or what? Seventy-seven of them get massacred by a killer who gets a prison term of only 21 years and they don’t take to the streets in protest, especially when their President, without a drop of machismo, says: “The bomb and bullets were aimed at changing Norway. The Norwegian people responded by embracing our valu
The articles by Dr. Rajiva on the topic of Hindu Polytheism are to be considered revolutionary. They are in tune with recent articles by other writers that are equally revolutionary in exposing modern Hindu and non-Hindu thinkers who erroneously equate Brahman of the Vedic tradition with the Abrahamic concept of God, either out of unconscious or co
‘A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious, but it cannot survive treason from within’ - Cicero, 42 BC. How many western soldiers want to stake their lives to capture global resources for western corporations in which they would not have even one cent share? Their life is not worth even a cent. When they die, th
As diwan of Travancore, Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer struggled desperately with the departing colonial rulers to prevent the kingdom’s riches, including its thorium deposits, from falling into the hands of the Congress Party whose leadership he did not trust. Thorium’s importance has been known since the early twentieth century when a German
A fundamental feature, but also an enduring flaw of the modern scientific method is that it strives to ignore ancient data in order to set up a cultural “tabula rasa” on which it may carry out research and build its own edifice. Traditional annals are regarded a priori as inaccurate, due to the positivistic prejudice that people in the
The non-alignment summit in Tehran constituted a major and important international event, as it was held in the presence of delegations from 120 states, including active and influential countries that are part of the rising powers at the level of international fabric and are contributing to the establishment of a new global reality. Firstly, throug
We have gathered here to continue a movement with God’s guidance and assistance and to give it new life and momentum on the basis of the current conditions and needs in the world. The movement was founded almost six decades ago thanks to the intelligence, time awareness, and courage of a few caring and responsible political leaders who were a
Army Chief Gen. Bikram Singh completes one hundred days in office on 8 Sept 2012, no doubt a short period in the tenure of such a senior functionary, but significant as it gives an insight into the policies being adopted by the incumbent. Gen. Bikram Singh took over at a time when the army was in the throes of its worst ever internal crisis. An acr
In the aftermath of the second Russian-Chinese veto which formally prohibited foreign intervention in Syria on February 4, the West feigned seeking peace while actively organizing a vast secret war. On the diplomatic front, they appeared to accept the Lavrov-Annan Plan, even as these same countries were facilitating the movement into Syria of tens
How societies, civilizations and nations invite their own ruin and destroy themselves is exemplified by developments in Assam over the last few decades. The problem is clear, it has been steadily worsening over the years; its lethal consequences are visible even to the blind. And yet the rulers, opinion makers, media and the public hope that if the
The NGO revolution started in India in 1989; Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan suffered too. That year the Planning Commission of India circulated a paper seeking suggestions from management consultants like us whether the Government should allow non-governmental organizations [NGOs] to work in educational, welfare and developmental sector. Despite my
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled three reports in Parliament on Friday 17 August 2012 indicting the Congress-led UPA government for having caused major losses to the state through its policies on power, coal and aviation, totalling up to a humongous sum of 3.8 Lakh Crores. According to the figures provided by the CAG, the C
The government of Jammu and Kashmir has been quick to shoot down a request by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to move two battalions (2000 troops) out of the State. “We have written to the Jammu and Kashmir government requesting them to relieve the two battalions, but they are not willing to let them go. They say security will be comp
In the wake of several deaths among its contingent of troops in a previously peaceful province in Afghanistan, New Zealand (like France and South Korea) is now expediting the departure of its 140 soldiers. That’s not exactly headline-making news here in the US. If you’re an American, you probably didn’t even know that New Zealand
According to official records of the Department of Defense (DoD), another 11 US soldiers were killed and 109 wounded in the week 12-18 Aug in Afghanistan. Some of them were killed by the Afghan “soldiers” and “police officials” whom the Americans had trained. These killings, labeled as “green on blue” (green-unif
The BBC commemorated the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible last year in a special edition of the TV programme “The Big Questions” debating just one topic: “Is the Bible Still Relevant?” The chief participants were, inter alia, the former Anglican bishop Michael James Nazir-Ali and biblical scholar Francesca Stavrakop
Hindus worship the Devas and Devatas of the Rig Veda as standing outside of their consciousness as objective realities. The Rig Vedic Rishis also worshipped them in this manner, and through the homa, the sacrificial fire. They worshipped the terrestrial, atmospheric and cosmic deities. Agni was the central deity of the homa. Sayana, the great comme