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...
Early this morning around 12:30 Israeli F-16 jets dropped bombs on the southern Lebonese city of Qana. In this attack a building housing refugees who had fled from earlier Israeli bombardment were targetted and the men, women and children sleeping in the basement of the building were killed when the Israeli bombs demolished the building. The dispropotionate use of firepower by the Israelis is causing universal concern and while the world waits for the US to rein in the Israelis the pace of r...
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert looks straight at the camera and says without a touch of irony that Israel is "fighting terrrism" in Lebanon. Two days ago marked the 60th anniversary of the terrrist attack on King David Hotel at Jerusalem carried out by the members of the Irgun Gang whosr leader Menachem Begin rose to be the Prime Minister of Israel. In fact the father of Israel's present Foreign Minister Ms Tzipi Livni was one of the chief members of this gang whose activities Washingto DC will t...
Isaac Deutcher, the Jewish historian whose entire family perished in the Holocaust made the following observation after the end of the 1967 six day war with the Arab states: "To justify or condone Israel's wars against the Arabs is to render Israel a very bad service and harm its own long term interests". This statement is relevant today as Israel in a blaze of military tiumphalim is close to achieving abbolute mastery over Lebanon. The unrestrained use of firepower, and the highly self right...
The humanitarian crisis caused by the unrestrained bombing of civilian targets in southern Lebanon and Beirut by Israeli fighter jets has been ignored by the world. Even the Arab nations which are quick to condemn every act of reppraisal by Israel have largely been silent. While the governments of the so-called moderate Arab states have remained prudently silent over the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, the opinion in the Arab streets is getting polorised and this is a dangerous trend. The respons...
The domestic debate over the setting of a timeline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq has been most instructive. On the one hand it dlearly demonstrated to the whole world that there is dwindling support for the war in Iraq and the Republicans barely managed to stave off defeat in the Senate because Democrats like Hilary Clinton went along with the majority. However we have not seen the end of the debate. The Democrats made acrucial tactical blunder by emphasing the timetable for troop...
In the bad old days of the Roman Empire, there was a territory that the Romans tried to conquer for nearly 200 years, but never quite succeded. Known as Parthia, this territory roughly corresponds to south western Afghanistan and parts of the Iranian plateau. USA is meeting stiff resistance in exactly the same region and surprisingly for the same reason--imperial overstretch. While Iraq is getting all the attention, the original war on terror centred on Afghanistan is not receiving adequa...
One of the more attractive features of the USA is the great institutions of higher learning that flourish all over the USA. It can be said that the USA has the world's best Universities and the largest number of Nobel Prize winners and a tradition of fearless criticism. The faculty teaching in the Universities are undoubtedly the most talented and on the whole involved in their research and teaching. A open society that respects dissent is cultivated in the classrooms and lecture halls. Unfo...
A few days back I got a bitter lesson in how divicive Jack Murtha has become to some conservatives. The fact remains that Rep Jacj Murtha has a track record of being pro military and is a ranking member of the Armed Forces Committee. Rep Murtha has served as the former chairman of the Defence Appropriations Sub Committee. He voted in favor of the War and when he realized that the war is only putting US soldiers to needless risk, Murtha has changed his mind. He is not a peacenik as some r...
The embedded journalists from the USA and UK are doing a great disservice to their own people by consciously hiding the untold suffering of the people of Iraq in the face of American occupation. The impact of the war and the insurgency have been devastating on women and children. It is really sickening to see fat well fed Iraqi men, Quislings all of them, appear on Western TV and mouth innanities about the great job that is being done by the coalition. The pictures from Basra put paid to such...
More tham 45 years ago Dr Henry Kissenger wrote a book which is more relevant today than it was in 1958 when Harvatrd University published it. Entitled [I ]Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy[/I ]this book argued the provocative thesis that the Westphalia System of having the State with its monopoly on the coercive power represented by the army and the like will not be the sole determinant of foreign policy in the nuclear age. Any state attempting to change the international status quo will pe...