The excecution of Saddam Hussein aon the day of Id marks an opportune moment to look back on his life, his brand of politics and of course, his relationship with the US which extended over three decades. I must say at the very outset that I deplore all that Saddam Hussein did in his life time, but yet maintain that the killing was not just bad politics but totally unjustified due to the fact that he did not receive a fair trial. Saddam Hussein was born on 28th April 1937 near Tikri to a s...
The Bush White House has let it be known to the world at large that though the Iraq Stusy Group had called for negotiations with Syria and Iran, the strategy of the Bush regime is to "surge"troops in Ieaq. What on earth does this mean. There are two options only. On the one hand it means that there will be more American troops on Iraqi soil and therfore more casualities. Instead of saying that troop strength is to be increased the Bushmen have mangaled the English language and term it "sur...
In a few months from now Tony Blair would have given up the Premiership to Gordon Brown, his long neglected successor. As he leaves Downing Street, it is time to reflect upon the remarkable carreer of Tony Blair and his most uninspiring legacy he leaves behind. He shares along with Dame Margret Thatcher the distinction of being the only PM re elected thire in English history. He shares with Maggie the credit for reshaping the very contours of contemporary politics. While the Graet Dame enjoy...
In a few months from now Tony Blair would have given up the Premiership to Gordon Brown, his long neglected successor. As he leaves Downing Street, it is time to reflect upon the remarkable carreer of Tony Blair and his most uninspiring legacy he leaves behind. He shares along with Dame Margret Thatcher the distinction of being the only PM re elected thire in English history. He shares with Maggie the credit for reshaping the very contours of contemporary politics. While the Graet Dame enjoy...
The Establishment has finally spoken. Nearly 10 years after the tragic death of Princess Diana, a Report prepared by the British Establishment tries to do the impossible--square the circle. The fact that the death of Princess Diana appeared to follow exactly the same sequence of events as she predixcted to her buter seems to me to be crucial. She said that the Palace will try to kill her in a car accident and that happened within weeks of her making that prediction. Does that not appear too ...
It is now clear even to the most fanatical Bush acolyte that the neoconservative agenda in Iraq has come unstuck, horribly so. President Bush is trashing about for a solution and the old statesmen of the first Bush Presidency are there to help out in the Baker Commission. A few important points need be stressed. First, the partition of Iraq along sectarian lines will not help in establishing peace in the region. On the contrary it will only add to the list of failed and failing states. Secon...
Now that the Democrats have 51 seats in the Senate and the Republicans 49 there is a small bot effective shift in the balance of power in the political establishment . Beltway politics will be a wee bit different as a result. However the Rpublicans have won a convincing majority in the House of Representatives. If the USA had a parliamntary form of government then the government of the day would have to resign. Bush is trying to brazen his way out of a political crisis by sacrifcing the Secr...
The verdict from the Baghdad court did not come as a surprise. Just a few days back the Prime Minisster of Iraq who is of course backed by the occupation forces had publically called for the execution of Saddam Hussein. This raises the question of the fairness of the entire judicial proceedings instituted by the Iraqi Government. It is a moot point that the massace carried out in 1982 for which President Saddam Hussein has now been sentenced to death was the direct outcome of a botched assasi...
In the run up to the Iraq war three years ago, both Republicans and Democrats vied with each other to denounce the threat posed by Saddams alleged weapons of mass destruction and his support for the Al Qaeda. Now after destroting a rich and vibrant country, after killing nearly 650,000 Iraqis ans spending huge sums of tax dollars, the US cotizens now know that their president took them to war for totally unwanted and probably self delided reasons. This is not the time nor the place to state ...
The going hasd not been better for the Democrats if only they get their act together. The Democratsd have taken 11 percentage point lead over the Repuli8cans and the Republicans do not even have a strategy to respond to the Fo9ley Affair. I do not call this a scandalo because Mark Foley by no means misused his position to proposition thye cdongressional page, something Bill Clinton did in his affair withy MONICA. The Repulicans are behasving like a buch of scared buffaloes, trampling over eac...
Those of us who have been fgollowing the Iraq war have always known that the USA cannot win the war there. Afterall, the so called Christian, right wing ideo9logues should have known mthat the land and deserts of Irawq have been the graveyard of all empires known to the ancient world. And the USA went into9 thye war, not really with an intention of winning but of intimidating thye Arab world into accepting US hegemony, not imperialism. The real agenda was to help Israel reshape the political ...
It is very difficult to be the Head of State of Pakistan, especially if you are an unelected one having grabbed the throne by a coup d'etat. President Parvez Musharaf overthrew the elected government of Pakistan in a military coup in 1999 and has ruled the country with a mixture of tact and bloodletting. He had his army kill the popular leader of the Baluchi tribal Agency and it could well be the beginning of the end of his regime. However during his recent visit to the White House where he ...
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York. On that fateful day my thoughts were only about my neice who was to take up a job as an architect in a firm headquartered in the WTC building. As we live far away we could only think of her safetty on that day until her husband sent an e-mail saying that she was safe. I am writing all this to make tha larger point that the attack on the Towers was felt all over the world in a very personal way. On this day, I stan...
The hilly, mountainous territory lying south of Afghanistan, straddling the trade routes of the ancient world, is now the happy hunting ground of the Pakistani Armay and the Baloach Nationalist Rebels under their leader Nawab Bugti, who was killed a couple of days ago. What is the implication of this development? How is the killing of Sardar Nawab Bugti going to impact on the war on Terror? These questions have been largely ignored and it is time to address them. Baloachistan is an oil ric...
Israel's stated objectives in the just concluded war against Lebanon was (a) degrade the military capability of the Hizbollah and (2) secure the release of the two soldiers captured in the run up to the conflict five weeks ago. After launching a most savage and unrestrained attack on the civilian population of Souther Lebanon, Beirut and Tyre along with Sidon Isreal has had to concede defaeat in that both these objectives reamined beyound realisation. Of course, this has not been a victory fo...