The flurry of activity in the US State Department, with the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton making a brave attempt to explain to the world that US policy remains on course in spite of the free wheeling nature of the documents outed by Wikileaks. Though I have not gone through more than a small fraction of the documents, I cannot imagine any real probblem emanating from the publication of the embassy records. Of course there is that odd bit of political gossip, a carping comment, a biting sacr...
This afternoon Ari Force One touched down in Mumbai ariport bringing Michelle and President Obama and their two wonderful daughters to India. The Republican Administration of George Bush was quite sensitive to Indian demands particularly on the nuclear issue and right from the very first day of his Administration Obama has been taking a very firm and tough line against nuclear proliferation. It came as a huge relief to the Indians that the sanctions imposed after the Pokan nuclear tests against...
On September 23rd, 2010 a woman , was stretched out on a duree to have her arm punctured with a lethal cocktail of chemicals designed to stop a working, healthy heart. This scence that played itself out in Greensville Corectional Center sent shock waves across the world. For one, this incident put the USA in the same league as Iran, China and sundry other countries which routinely carry out executions and i mpose the death penalty even on women. I must say that I do not think that a criminal ...
It is often said that India and China are rivals both in terms of economic power and soft power. While India has shown an impressive growth rate of 8.2 % per annum, its political class is under the delusion that it can rival China in organizational ability and projection of image. If China can host the Olympics and make a spectacular spectacle before the wohle world, India can host the Commonweath Games and earn some brownie points. Unlike Chinma, India does not have a political system that can...
The Af-Pak War has finally found a dubious notoriety, in the same manner as the Vietnam War found its in New York Times publication of the Pentagon Papers. The founder of WikiLeaks Jackie Assange, the Australian founder of this web site, has declared that the documents revealed on his site make a strong case for war crimes. This statement is sheer hype and the real story lies in the sordid nexus between the Government of Pakistan and its Army under Genaral Kayani and the Taliban. Du...
Israel enjoys a high degree of goodwill in many parts of the world and even professional critics of Israel have found much to admire in the manner in which the State of Israel conducts its no nonsense foreigh policy. The world opinion be damnned. As long of USA is not overly critical Israel does not seem to care. The lastest outrage committed on the high sea seems to have taken even the Obama Administration by surprise and Hilary Clinton has joined the rest of the world in condemning Islaer's a...
The US war effort in Iraq is undermined by the very savergery of its sometimes unrestrained killing. Of course, in a war zone the forces are at liberty to shoot and shoot to kill if need be, but it apperars that gratuitous acts of great violence are being carried out without any tactical advantage or objective. On July 12, 2007 an employees of Reuters, Baghdad,Namir Noor-Eldeem who was all of 22 years old was killed by a deadly burst of 30 millimetre M230 chain guns mounted ...
The elections in Iraq have produced a result that the US had not anticipated. Allawi, a former Prime Minister has emerged as a front runner. In Afghnistan the US and its surrogate Hamid Karzai are openly squabbling and the US has even threatened to "withdraw" the invitation extended to Karzai to visit the White House. I think the only major power that has a policy of "uninviting" a head of state is the USA. Karzai has served US interests well by providing a pashtun face for what is essentially a...
Each war faught during the course of this century of "extremes" as one prominent historian put is has had its own unique features. The horrendous bloodletting in the trenches during World War I, captured so evocatively by Remarque in All Quiet on the Western Front, the large scale destruction of cities and civillian life and property at Dresseden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, not to forget the Japanese atrocities at Shanghai and Nanking, the Nazi genocide planned and executed by the state, are a...
The long awaited "surge" has finally happened. In another 3 weeks 30,000 US servicemen and women will head toward Afghanistan. Unfortunately, President Obama has set a deadline for the troops to meet: July 2011. This unrealistic deadline already spelt out by the President and admitted as such to be unrealistic by both the Secretary of Defence and the Secretary of State will make things easier for the terrorists holed up in the mountains of AFGHANISTAN. They have only to wait out the "surge"&nbs...
When the American constitution was being debated and faught over, there was only one point on which there was consensus across the board: no royalty, no highness and no titles of nobility. I think the US for all its not so pleasant attributes has lived up admirably to the ideals of a truly republican constitution. In the US there is no real taste for high sounding titles. Even the most powerful president is addressed asm Mr Presisident and there are no apparent distinguishing marks of distincti...
The horrific incident at Fort Hood, Texas, should come as a wake up call to all those in the American academia who promote identity based politics:Gays, lesbians, minority, sexual preference, etc etc. Now the Muslim identity is becoming increasingly problematic in the USA and I believe that years and years of promoting identity politics has left the country without the means of even admitting to itself that the islamic identity clashes head long with that of a secular nation state. The US media...
All those who were enamoured of Barack Obama's magic with words, literrally spinning a gossamer web of dreams with his rhetoric,will of course welcome the announcement from Oslo. Unlike George W. Bush, who reached out to his gun instead of quiet diplomacy, Obama has so far shown restraint and has given primacy to statecraft. I think like Theodre Rooseveldt Obama believes in taliking softly while carrying a big stick. Let me first then congratulate President Barack Obama. I am happy with the choi...
The war in Afghanistan is getting uglier by the day and NATO casualities are mounting. The US forces are finding the job of fighting in Afghanistan so difficult that the policy makers in US are slowly becoming aware of ther folly of supporting the mujahudeen against the Soviets. The insurgency is becoming more sophisticated and the Taliban are learning the lessons from Iraq very well. If domestic support for the war evaporates upon mounting casualities then US and NATO troops will withdraw. In ...
I am extremely familiar with the work of Professor Henry Lois Gates jr and have the greatest regard for his scholarship and academic attainments. Having said that, I must however say, that he comes off very poorly in the incident that is causing such an uproar all over the world. Professor Gates was known to President Obama right from his Harvard days and so he can be forgiven for "wading in" where mightier hearts fear to tread. Dr Henry Lous Gates front door was stuck and he tried to ente...