Shadow Warrior

manufacturing consent to "declare victory and run": wsj on Taliban 2.0 charm offensive. But remember Bamiyan and AI 804.

2012-01-29T18:10:00.001-08:00

jan 29th, 2012 CE

this is part of obummer's "surge, bribe, declare victory and run like hell" strategy (with apologies to @chellaney).

this is the "declare victory" period, and the US media is colluding with the military-industrial complex in manufacturing consent to paint the Taliban once more as -- what was it that Reagan said, the moral equivalent of the founding fathers, which i think is what he called the mujahideen fighting the soviets -- cuddly people "we can do business with".

but let's not forget Bamiyan. or the hijacked AI flight.

the Northern Alliance is still india's best bet in afghanistan. the tajiks have been our friends since day one. the taliban (aka ISI guys wearing black turbans) can never be india's, or the US's friend.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203806504577177074111336352.html?KEYWORDS=taliban

Killer Bugs And The Post Antibiotic Era

2012-01-28T21:02:00.000-08:00

Highly resistant bacteria are spreading around the world. The killer bugs often originate in factory farms, where animals are treated whether they are sick or not.

Spiegel Online: Antibiotics Prove Powerless as Super-Germs Spread

Issues with online privacy

2012-01-28T18:31:00.001-08:00

There are nameless faceless corporations or the one you'd know in your
daily use. Facebook, Google or unknown companies like double click
(acquired by Google) and many others. Facebook is known for leaking
profiles through third party applications even if you are marked private.

Over a period of time, your face (via pictures) is with
Facebook/Google,your searches tied to the profile, your ideological bent
of mind, political leanings, your tax returns, your sources of
entertainment etc. and in fact every aspect of your life is online.
These companies can build remarkable profiles for free. That explains
their net worth of these individuals because in this holy grail of
internet, it's impossible to define the users with accuracy.

It's impossible to get in the details for how you can avoid tracking on
the net. The methodology is very convoluted and technical. I am not
related to the computers field but I was concerned that with changes in
the privacy policies (that no one cares to read), searches being
filtered, websites tracking me with their unknown codes and bugs and ip
address broadcasting my location, I was concerned. I have not done
anything illegal but tomorrow the same issues would come to haunt you.
Got any incriminating picture? Or comments on your previous employer? Or
you have fouled up with anyone? It's remarkable that we don't take ANY
precautions while being on the internet.

The browser of choice is Firefox. It's open source. Opera ia fine
browser but it's a closed source and they are known to profile the users
as well. I remember some controversy where it was relaying the users
profile to their servers. While Opera is a fine company, still when it
matters the most, stick on to basics.

There are 5 ways that companies use to track you:

1) Through web bugs. Use Ghostery to block them.

2) Cookies: Either use private browsing mode to block all cookies (you
can refuse to accept them), or reject them after the web pages have
loaded up.

3) LSO's or "supercookies" residing in Flash Objects. Use Better Privacy.

4) ip address. Use a VPN service provider which offers openvpn
configuration.

5) Through Java Script. Use Noscript to block the offending java
scripts. Well, there are enough tutorials on the net to guide you how to
use them.

And finally through browser fingerprinting. There is no way to avoid
this completely, but I use useragentswitcher addon from Firefox, block
java script that prevents detection of my browser or the operating system.

In Ubuntu/Linux, use Bleachbit program (open source) to clean off the
cache and persistent storage (HTML 5 and DOM objects).

I strongly recommend to use openSuse, Linux Mint Debian or Debian,
Chakra Linux or PC-BSD as operating systems of your choice. They are
easy to install and learn. Ubuntu is moving towards an "eco-system",
backed by a corporation and I don't like corporations.

AVOID Windows and Macintosh Systems. They may offer ease of use but are
one of the lousiest systems on this planet. Majority of the users don't
like tinkering with their systems but be prepared for the midnight knock
from Big Brother some day; just because you expressed an opinion.

Beware. Beware. Beware. That's the catch word.

Highly recommended to use duckduckgo/ixquick/yauba as your search
engine. These guys don't profile the visitors. If possible always use
https:// by default; the extension is available from addons (https
everywhere).

I hope that this helps.

FBI seeks to monitor social media. will kapil sibal be far behind?

2012-01-28T18:29:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

and of course, there will be cross-correlation opportunities with the UID, location-based data etc.

Big Brother is definitely trying to watch you. be afraid, be very afraid, tweeple.

http://mashable.com/2012/01/26/fbi-social-media-monitoring/

twitter's decision to censor: san jose merc reports

2012-01-28T18:24:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

this is a sad day for freedom of expression. however you market it.

===== from good morning silicon valley copyright san jose mercury news

Twitter leads the way. To censorship, or transparency about censorship? After the San Francisco company announced yesterday that it will censor tweets on a case-by-case, country-by-country basis, disappointed tweets and reactions abound. After all, Twitter has had a reputation as the social network that gives the most leeway to its users, such as allowing them to use pseudonyms, for example; CEO Dick Costolo once proclaimed Twitter as “the free speech wing of the free speech party”; the company fought a government gag order in order to inform those with WikiLeaks ties that the U.S. government had subpoenaed their information. (See As U.S. pursues WikiLeaks, must Twitter turn over user data?)

But Twitter is a business. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Jillian York writes, “Twitter is not above the law. … Just about every company hosting user-generated content has, at one point or another, gotten an order or government request to take down content.” In its blog post/announcement, Twitter says that as it expands its new policy is simply about staying within the limits of different countries’ laws, and says “we have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.” Twitter general counsel Alex Macgillivray told Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing that “this is not a change in policy.” In addition, he shot down rumors that the policy has anything to do with the Saudi prince’s $300 million investment in Twitter, which was announced last month. (See Quoted: Twitter’s royal investor has faith.) Meanwhile, Dave Copeland writes for ReadWriteWeb that by allowing users to change their country settings, Twitter is actually providing them with a workaround.

sandeepweb rocks. JAIPUR LIT FEST : "FESTIVAL OF THE POLITICALLY CORRECT SISSIES" !!!!!!!

2012-01-28T18:20:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

sandeep takes the great white mogul whale and his festival to the cleaners.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanjeev nayyar

http://www.sandeepweb.com/2012/01/25/festival-of-the-politically-correct-sissies-part-1/

Festival of the Politically Correct Sissies: Part 1

Sandeep

January 25, 2012

There's nothing literary about the Jaipur Literary Festival. It's as political as political is. The list of who's who that make up its firmament year after year reads like the Forbes List of Liberal Fundamentalists. Perhaps Dalrymple's List of Liberal Fundamentalists is a more accurate phrase. What "literature" have Shobaa De, Manil Suri, Pankaj Mishra, Ashis Nandy, Sonia Falerio, Suketu Mehta, Annie Zaidi, Anurag Mathur, and Tarun Tejpal written? Here's a sample of the kind of "literary" discussions you get at that "festival:" political trash, milking the victimhood mammary, non-existent identity issues, gender nonsense, and the rest.

And it isn't surprising because what has been bandied about as literature starting roughly from a couple of decades after World War 2 is usually this: sob stories of oppressed/colonized people, shrill & vacuous feminism, and increasingly, micro-sub-specialization of the Oppression/Victimhood sob stories—here's an idea for your next novel:

The Utterly Agonizing (or Utterly Heroic) Story of a Black (oh wait, make that "African American") Muslim American Woman, the child of a single dad, who struggles against all odds to become a pilot in an international airline. For added drama, have this pilot-chick go in search of her mother who had left the family when this pilot-chick was a kid. In the course of her flying to various international destinations, bring her to India where she finds that her mother was a Dalit nurse who had briefly stayed in the US, fell in love with this pilot-chick's African American Muslim father and gave birth to her.

THIS is the specimen of "literature" served at vulgar political charades like the Jaipur Literary Festival. Hell, you don't even need to read such books in full: just the title & a few words in the blurb is enough to give you a fair idea of the variety of the manure within.

... deleted

--
K.Vijayan

3/2, Vasanth Apts.II, 312, Lloyds Road, Chennai 600014

Google IS evil.

2012-01-28T18:10:00.000-08:00

Google is definitely evil. They can do anything for money; even bend
their own rules for advertising for illegal prescription drugs.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970204624204577176964003660658-lMyQjAxMTAyMDIwNTEyNDUyWj.html

What is the assurance that they would keep your privacy profiles to
themselves? What stops them from not sharing it with others or to target
advertising effectively? Or set it over to the regimes that snoop on
their populace?

You'd be surprised at the technology which is there to target you from
your ip location and estimate your probable location. Internet privacy
would be more and more intrusive in the long run.

what? no bharat ratna in this year's honors for the cricket god? why? aussies got your tongue?

2012-01-28T11:00:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

i just noticed that the aussies trounced the so-called indian team in cricket. and, yet again, the jewel of india fails to win the bharat ratna. all fixed, these honors, i tell you!

why, i wonder, hasn't the great cricketing legend won the bharat ratna this year?

is it because they are waiting for him to take on the surname 'nehru' or 'gandhi' as i surmised?

uk dailymail: modi will beat rahul [hint: time to get that good ole EVM machinery in gear]

2012-01-28T10:56:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

Full Story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2092318/Narendra-Modi-Gujarat-leaders-rating-rise-whilst-PM-Manmohan-Singh-struggles.html

28 January 2012
www.dailymail.co.uk

Interfaith Dialogue: Discourse of the Deaf and the Dumb – Virendra Parekh

2012-01-28T10:54:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ishwar Sharan
Date: Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 8:05 AM
Subject: Link: [New post] Interfaith Dialogue: Discourse of the Deaf and the Dumb – Virendra Parekh
To: Virendra Parekh

New post on Bharata Bharati

Interfaith Dialogue: Discourse of the Deaf and the Dumb – Virendra Parekh

"The Church inviting Hindus for an interfaith dialogue while going ahead with converting weaker sections of Hindu society through force, fraud and allurements, is like a pickpocket preaching virtues of renunciation to a man while relieving him of his purse. Hindu scholars and sanyasins must make stoppage of conversions by Church in theory and practice as a pre-condition to their participation in any interfaith dialogue." - Virendra Parekh

"Vade vade jayate tattvabodhah" (Every debate brings forth understanding of principles), says a Sanskrit subhashita. In their long history, Hindus as a people have been fond of discussing matters of religion, philosophy and spirituality, among themselves and with others. In spite of what Islam and its votaries had done to Hindus and their civilization, Brahmins participated in discussions organized by some Muslim rulers between scholars of different faiths. When a German missionary Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg (1682-1719) sent in 1712 a large number of letters to a selection of Hindus inviting answers to a number of questions, he received no fewer than 104 responses.

Christianity, on the other hand, has traditionally preferred monologue i.e. it alone talked and others were made to listen. It was ensured in advance that the monologue was not disturbed by arguments from the other side. Convinced that it had the monopoly of Absolute Truth which others had to accept from it in all humility, it saw no need for holding any dialogue with any kind of paganism.

But times have changed. The collapse of Christianity in the West and the retreat of Western imperialism have forced the Church to change its methods. Buyers of its stale and discredited merchandise are becoming increasingly scarce. Gone are the days when the Church spoke and others had to listen. It can no longer use the might of the state (once described as secular arm of the church) to crush the adversaries. So, now the church is not just prepared to enter into a dialogue with heathens, it is actually organizing it.

But the Church is uncomfortable with the new environment. It knows, from its experience in the West, what reason and open inquiry can do to its dogma. At the same time, the closed and arrogant mindset, fashioned by centuries of dominance, has not changed. Short-term tactics have changed, but the long-term goal remains unaltered. There is a change in the language, but not in the ideology. These show a striking continuity over the centuries.

For instance, annals of the mission record one instance of a public debate in sixteenth century Goa, when Jesuits, aided by a convert, deputed with pundits. After a while, forty pundits were banished from the debate for "proving obstinate." No more dialogues were held in Portuguese possessions thereafter.

Writing four hundred years later, Richard Fox Young, who records this incident in his Resistant Hinduism (Vienna, 1981, pp. 20-21), concludes that Hindu tolerance towards other religions is a myth because Hinduism resisted Christianity instead of accommodating it! The author sees nothing wrong with the wanton Christian onslaught of which he himself provides prolific proof.

In our own day, the ex-communication is practiced in a more sophisticated way. Fr. Francis Xavier Clooney, professor at Harvard Divinity School, says that in the past Swami Dayanand Saraswati and Swami Vivekanand had attempted a critical look at the West from a Hindu perspective, but post-colonial authors like Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel had politicized the Hindu-Christian relationship. In other words, even the adversaries of the Church need a character certificate from it before their contributions are recognized. And the grant of that certificate depends on the degree of accommodation shown by the Hindu scholar to Christianity, especially to conversions.

Fr. Clooney would have been within his rights as well as bounds of a healthy dialogue if he had pointed out where these authors had misquoted a source, or quoted it out of context, and how the context altered the apparent meaning, or used logic which was not straight, or passed a value judgment which was not valid. But that is not on his agenda. The Church has no use for authentic scholars like Ram Swarupji or Sita Ramji precisely because their critique is too comprehensive, too accurate and too fundamental for its comfort.

... deleted, see below for URL

Acknowledgment

History of Hindu-Christian Encounters: AD 304 to 1996 by Sita Ram Goel, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1996

» The author is Executive Editor, Corporate India, and lives in Mumbai

IS | January 28, 2012 at 7:54 am | Tags: arun shourie, christianity in india, conversion, de nobili, francis xavier clooney, inculturation, interfaith dialogue, jesuit scholar, ram swarup, religious politics, sita ram goel | Categories: christianity, conversion, geopolitics, hegemony, hindu dharma, history, inculturation, india, indigenisation, interfaith dialogue, jesus, monotheism, proselytize, protestant church, psychological warfare, religion, roman catholic church, sanskrit literature, sanyasi, theology | URL: http://wp.me/pEi6D-7hE

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drowned roma (gypsy) girls on beach; italians enjoy sunbathing http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-picture-that-shames-italy-873743.html

2012-01-28T10:34:00.001-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

i have seen the pathetic condition of roma in italy with my own eyes. there are old roma women on the streets of rome who prostrate themselves, begging for loose change.

and they look distinctly indian.

and these are the people, especially the vatican types, who lecture us about caste.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-picture-that-shames-italy-873743.html

by the way, there are plenty of bangladeshi vendors hanging around the coliseum and so forth. so if you see subcontinentals, they are bangladeshis. i bought a small trinket -- a paperweight with a laser inscribed 3-d coliseum inside a transparent resin cube -- from them using my poor hindi to bargain them down from 5 euro to 3.

HP Celebrates Mobile-free Future

2012-01-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

"I didn't know there was such a thing as corporate suicide, but now we know that there is. It's just astonishing." -- Ex-HP Board Chairman Tom Perkins on the company's struggles

DailyTech: HP Dumps Ex-Palm CEO, Celebrates Mobile-free Future

internet as a no-longer private medium: aumkar wasn't kidding, he was prescient

2012-01-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

jan 28th, 2012 CE

when aumkar mentioned his concerns about the internet and lack of privacy, i was one of those who didnt take it so seriously. however two things in the recent past make me rethink (well, this in addition to india's Big Brother stuff, both from sibal and the radiamedia screaming to censor, and also from nilekani's UID project, which is a good way of identifying everybody you don't like and herding them into... well, let's not go too far down that path).

1. google has decided to consolidate the info it has on you from all its platforms. this is a little dangerous, because we use google mail, google chrome, google blogger, google android, google calendar, google youtube, google plus, google docs,....

this is precisely the reason i have been queasy about facebook and in fact i am not at all active on facebook. i don't want them to know more about me than i do myself.

2. twitter, which recently saw an investment of $300 million from the saudis -- i am not saying there's cause and effect, though one wonders -- has just declared that it will censor tweets by country.

so, aumkar, you were prescient.

so i took his advice, and first brought up ubuntu on an old machine. it was not so painful, and in fact i am writing this on ubuntu, which comes with firefox and libre office (which is the old openoffice) built in, and wifi as well.

second, i am moving away from chrome and to firefox

third, i will also look for a VPN. i was using tor on my old laptop (before it suffered a disk and CD drive crash, and so now i run it with ubuntu from an 8GB thumbdrive!), but i wonder if there's a need for anything more.

fourth, i will move off gmail slowly and get on some other platform

that's if for now, maybe you guys have some further thoughts on the matter.

Why are Ficino children taught Sanskrit?

2012-01-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

Why are Ficino children taught the Sanskrit language?

Parents often ask why we teach Sanskrit at Ficino. There are many excellent reasons why we have chosen Sanskrit as the focus of language studies. It stands at the root of very many eastern and western languages, including English and most other European languages, both classical and modern. The word 'Sanskrit' means 'perfectly constructed' and its study illuminates the grammar and etymology of language. It is a language full of beauty: of pure sounds, of structure, of script, of poetry and prose. Study of its grammar brings order to the mind and helps clarify thinking as well as speech and listening skills. Sanskrit has one of the richest and most extensive literatures of all known languages; vast epics, profound scripture, subtle philosophy, voluminous mythology, exquisite poetry and much else. Sanskrit literature embodies a comprehensive map of the human makeup: spiritual, emotional, mental and physical. The Study of Sanskrit therefore provides a wonderful teaching resource as well as being infinitely stimulating for the developing mind. Finally, Sanskrit is a language of impeccable academic credentials and is hugely respected by the academic community. It often forms a point of interest, comment and admiration when scholars are interviewed for university admission.

She loved what she saw at Ficino School and was particularly impressed with the care given to handwriting, the stunning art work and the clarity of enunciation in the children’s speech. This latter point, which is a hallmark of the school, is a direct benefit of learning Sanskrit.

New Zealand school teaches Sanskrit and claims it helps children understand English

Congress Govt Scapegoating Nair?

2012-01-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

Former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair has suddenly been dismissed from his post and barred from holding future govt jobs, along with 3 other ISRO scientists. No allegations had been raised against him personally before, but now suddenly he's being blacklisted, and a slough of allegations are being raised at the last minute. This may be an attempt by senior politicians to cover their own tracks on the Devas-Antrix deal by turning those below them into fall guys.

China Hype

2012-01-26T00:08:00.000-08:00

Michael Beckley demolishes the current China hype

Working Age and Dependent Populations, 1990–2050

"China's Century? Why America's Edge Will Endure"

Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China

2012-01-25T23:18:00.000-08:00

This is indeed a "minor headache" for Apple to deal with:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all

New York Times' "reporting" is full of hot air, warts, farts et al.

Apple has become a huge ecosystem and they zealously guard it. Silicon
Valley is a huge echo chamber because of the multitude of people willing
to rub shoulders with people who can spare cash to launch careers. Apple
knows the game and plays it very well spawning a huge enterprise of
people writing about it favorably.

Apple doesn't care two hoots about the "supply side" code violations
because all that matters is the bottom line.

The real reason perhaps is the migration of jobs away from America.
Obama has said nothing about such issues but rather makes headlines for
jobs being "bangalored". Manufacturing phones needs huge labor willing
to work for a pittance. Imagine Apple setting up sweat shops there in
US; paying less than $8 per hour to the white man sans medical,
insurance, paid leaves and other benefits. It would quickly go
"bankrupt". Not to imagine the "class-action suits" and Tim Cook (the
"supply side specialist") being hauled on hot burning coals for these
transgressions. Hence they prefer to hire their fancy PR specialists to
turn the tide in their favor; trick accounting practise's to show
"handsome quarterly profits" and being the "darling of the tech media
and consumers".

The slave labor has taken other meaning in these days and times.
Affirmative action has ensured that blacks don't get called as "niggers"
but rather euphemistically as "racial minorities" or
"African-Americans". Chinese (and Indians) are the next generation
slaves. All this is quietly hushed under "supply efficiencies" and
"capitalism". I am expecting automation of key components down the line
where human labor would be replaced by robots and other machines
rendering such issues useless in the coming years. Hence, this hot air
from New York Times is definitely a headache, but very unlikely to
affect Apple in the long run. For everything that you hold (most of the
electronics anyway), are being manufactured in China. Ditto for Nike,
Addidas, Blackberry, Samsung, Sony etc. Have they ever responded to
charges of child labor? If yes, has it affected the sales of these
multi-billion dollar corporations? No.

The first world is going to balk at what they are going to read, but
still going to show off the next generation of iPhone (I consider that a
useless piece of technology- it's just a pretty interface, that's all).
This is sheer duplicity; but then these are first world problems.

The Chinese are not going to loose their sleep on this. Why? Because
their burgeoning population is a good way to fuel the human organ
markets. So what if people get killed? Hunt down their organs and make
huge profits in the process. Their priorities lie elsewhere.

So what do these corporations do? Call up their PR agents, discredit the
story, launch FUD campaigns or fund the next conference more vigorously
calling it "effective engagement" with people bought to write for them
or feeding their fanboys more aggressively.

manufacturing consent: here come the 'good Taliban', via washpost

2012-01-25T22:40:00.001-08:00

jan 25th, 2012 CE

weren't you just dying to know who the good taliban were? well, here you go.

i am always amazed at the ability to the US to make believe that its 'surge, bribe, declare victory, and run like hell' strategy is meaningful.

yup, former taliban ambassador to pakistan, that is, the main link to godfather ISI. he *must* be a good taliban.

the americans also kid themselves that the taliban and other fundamentalists are techno-illiterate. they are not. i once met a mullah dressed in a mundu and a turban in a train in kerala, who was holding forth on womens' place according to their texts; but then he confided that he was about to buy a new laptop and asked me about the specs of my laptop. he was quite knowledgeable about computers.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:

Washington Post, Jan 23, 2012

Former Taliban officials find new role

By Kevin Sieff

KABUL — A Toyota Corolla full of former Taliban officials and armed guards stopped in front of Abdul Salam Zaeef’s home in western Kabul this month, awaiting the man who helped direct the Taliban from Pakistan before his capture and detention at Guantanamo Bay.

With Zaeef inside, the car sped off for President Hamid Karzai’s palace, where the once-fugitive Zaeef has lately become a frequent guest.

As Karzai weighs the prospect of talks with Taliban officials in Qatar, Afghanistan’s government has invited Zaeef and others with long-standing ties to the Taliban to offer guidance and help mediate.

Afghan leaders have been disappointed by their lack of access to Taliban negotiators who have been speaking directly to the United States. But they have found an alternative in former insurgents — many of them imprisoned and later reintegrated — who live only a few miles from the palace gates.

And so Zaeef — a broad-shouldered, bearded man who was once the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan — has seen an unlikely resurgence in his diplomatic career. This time, he’s trying to convince the government, and anyone else who will listen, that the Taliban is serious about peace if its preconditions can be met.

“They are ready to discuss peace,” he said in an interview. “They have received the message from their leadership, and they are ready.”

Attempting to bridge divide

Thousands of former Taliban members have put down their weapons in recent years. Most are low-level fighters whose peace deals with the government were unceremonious and of little political consequence. But a few, like Zaeef, were offered early release from prison if they agreed to work with the government rather than against it.

Members of this small group have been having occasional conversations with Karzai for several years. But with peace talks drawing closer, they are meeting with top Afghan officials much more often, according to the president’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi.

... deleted

His large home holds the religious paraphernalia that he amassed as a Taliban leader, but there are hints of a new, secular life in the capital: an Adobe Photoshop user guide, files from his nascent real estate business and a newly purchased iPhone that, every once in a while, lights up with an incoming call from Karzai’s palace and blasts his ringtone, the Muslim call to prayer.

“I’m proud of what I did before,” he said before answering a recent call, “and I’m proud of what I’m doing now.”

Intrepid @SandeepWeb takes the white guy and #jlf to the cleaners. Nice!

2012-01-25T08:03:00.001-08:00

William dalrymple is a metaphor for what's wrong with India: white moguls

http://t.co/ENgK9A9C

(Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

on sony android phone

nehruvian secularism in glorious living color. #jaipurlitfest #rusdhie #insixwords

2012-01-24T22:07:00.001-08:00

stratfor agrees with my pov that there should be iran-us detente

2012-01-24T21:43:00.001-08:00

jan 24th, 2012 CE

i think it makes little sense either for iran or for the US to fight too much with each other and it's even worse for india. in fact it's a good opportunity for india to be the honest broker between them, as it is in india's national interest.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/considering-us-iranian-deal?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120124&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=3f933937ac824a869b295edf39e11bbe

here's my firstpost piece on the same topic:

http://www.firstpost.com/world/why-india-could-play-honest-broker-between-iran-and-us-186563.html#disqus_thread

stanford: January 30: Becoming Harappan. [such great difficulty in calling it indus-sarasvati, even though it is mostly around sarasvati!]

2012-01-24T21:19:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sangeeta Mediratta <smedirat@stanford.edu>
Date: 2012/1/25
Subject: Anthropology Colloquium on January 30: Becoming Harappan: Configuring the Socioenvironmental Landscapes of the Indus Valley Civilization in Gujarat, India
To: southasia@lists.stanford.edu, southasiafaculty@lists.stanford.edu, southasiastudents@lists.stanford.edu

VoA on russia-iran history. quite entertaining: amoebas, 'countries w/o borders'!

2012-01-24T09:44:00.001-08:00

jan 24th, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: m

VOICE OF AMERICA, Jan 23, 2012

Russia and Iran: Uneasy Neighbors — Since the 16th Century

JAMES BROOKE, VOA Moscow Bureau Chief

Countries without natural borders are like amoebas. Over centuries, they expand and contract, expand and contract.

As the Western world wonders why Russia has such a nuanced policy toward Iran’s nuclear program, it is important to skip back over four centuries of history.

Under Ivan the Terrible, Russia defeated the Tatars and Russia started to expand east to Siberia and south to the Caspian Sea. There, it first encountered Persia, forerunner to modern Iran.

Persia’s first ambassador to Russia visited the Kremlin four centuries ago, in 1592. For the next century, wary coexistence ensued between the two empires, one Christian, the other Muslim.

Then, in 1722, Russia expanded south again, embarking on the first of four successful wars against Persia. Steadily, Russia gobbled up chunks of Persia’s Central Asian Empire. With the 1828 Treaty of Turkemnchay, the Caspian Sea became a Russian lake.

One author of that treaty was Russia’s new ambassador to Persia, Alexander Griboyedev, a witty and charming poet and playwright, recently arrived from the court in St. Petersburg.

But Persian resentment of the treaty boiled over when an Armenian eunuch escaped from the Shah’s harem and two Armenian girls escaped from the harem of his son-in-law. Under terms of the new treaty, Armenians were allowed safe passage from Persia to Russian-controlled Armenia. Ambassador Griboyedev stood on principle, and protected his Armenian charges.

What happened next, made the Iranian seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in 1979, or the sacking of the British embassy two months ago, look like tea parties.

A mob of thousands of rioting Persian overwhelmed the Russian Embassy’s Cossack guards and slaughtered everyone inside. A few days later, the remains of the eunuch were so disfigured that he was only recognized by a scar on his hand.

When Griboyedev’s 16-year-old bride, Nino, learned of her husband’s fate, she became so distraught that she miscarried, and lost their baby. For the rest of her life, she refused all suitors. Today, a larger than life Griboyedev statue in Moscow is a popular meeting point for young people. In St. Petersburg, Griboyedev Canal is a picturesque waterway in the heart of historic city.

The embassy slaughter may live on in Russian’s popular image of Iran. But it did not deter the Kremlin, which retained control of Northern Iran through 1946.

In 1907, with the military rise of Germany, Russia and Britain decided to stop wasting their energy in their “Great Game” over the former Persian empire. That year, they signed in St. Petersburg, the Anglo-Russian Convention. Under this treaty, Persia was divided up between a northern Russian zone, a central neutral zone governed by a Shah, and a southern British zone. This allowed Britain to develop oil deposits in southern Iran and to build a refinery in Abadan. Founded in 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company grew into what is known today as BP.

This division continued until August of 1941, when Britain and the Soviet Union conducted a joint, three-week military campaign and deposed the pro-German Shah, installed his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. For the next five years, the two foreign nations to oversaw what had now come to be called Iran.

In early 1946, the British pulled out, but the Red Army stayed in Northern Iran well beyond an exit deadline stipulated in the Teheran Conference of 1943.

By early 1946, the Cold War was starting and Stalin tried to prolong control over northern Iran by setting up two puppet Soviet republics and signing a oil treaty with Teheran that gave the Soviet Union ownership of 51 percent of northern Iran’s oil deposits. But soon after Red Army troops withdrew from northern Iran, the puppet republics collapsed. In late 1947, Iran’s parliament refused to ratify the oil agreement.

With this history in mind, I could barely repress a smile Wednesday as I sat in the Russian Foreign Ministry’s comfortable new press auditorium building. Minister Sergei Lavrov, perhaps hoping that no one in the hall knew history, was sternly warning that interference in the internal affairs of Iran is “impermissible.”

Here, morality in diplomacy may be dictated by changing realities on the ground.

Six decades of oil earnings and a swelling young population have given Iran a powerful military machine. Now, it may be building a nuclear bomb.

In contrast, the Russian amoeba has retreated. With an aging and shrinking population, Kremlin power projection has dramatically ebbed from the Soviet era high water mark.

In the Caspian, post-Soviet Moscow’s control has receded to about 20 percent of the 7,000 km shoreline. And half of the Russia portion is in Dagestan, where currently the hottest insurgency is underway in Russia’s Islamic south. Instead of Moscow reaching across the Caspian to destabilize Northern Iran, Moscow now fears Iran reaching across the Caspian to destabilize southern Russia.

Last year’s Arab Spring, ended a series of Soviet legacy relationships. Russian influence in the Mediterranean receded to a toehold in Tarsus, a naval base on Syria’s coast. Now, Russia seeks to prop up Syria’s government, its last Arab ally in the Mediterranean. This month, Russia sent to Syria its last aircraft carrier and fresh supplies of bullets for Syria’s army. But a large question mark hangs over the future of Syria.

And the Russian public has little taste in overseas military entanglement, whether Syria or Iran.

In Central Asia, Russia talks loudly, but acts cautiously, In June 2010, Roza Otunbayeva, then president of Kyrgyzstan, publicly asked Moscow four times to send troops to end ethnic rioting in Osh. President Medvedev replied that he would study the matter.

Russia’s political system may be authoritarian. But the Kremlin keeps its ear close to the ground through an extensive public opinion polling system.

A weakened military, an aging population, and little popular support for military adventures – these were not the concerns of Ivan the Terrible, or of his modern day equivalent, Joseph Stalin.

So, today, as the Russian amoeba retracts, there is no indication that Russia’s leaders want to tangle with Teheran.

Ensure your anonymity...NOW!

2012-01-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

There are several reasons why you should always cover your tracks online. Internet is no longer anonymous; but with improvement in technology and geo-location, it's surprisingly easy for the websites to track your every move, every link you click and potentially turning all this to repressive regimes.

It starts with few basic precautions and assumes that you have a working knowledge of the terms. I am not an expert in all such issues but here it goes.

1) Use Firefox alone as your browser. Google Chrome may be good, but it sends across tonnes of encrypted data to Google servers tracking your every move and the searches you make. Although it says that it uses the information to "enhance the usage", it's load of BS.

2) On Firefox, use Ad-Block Plus, Ghostery, Better Privacy and No-Script extensions. No-Script may be difficult for beginners but there are tonnes of tutorials available.

3) Avoid Flash. If possible, use HTML5 on sites like Youtube. Flash leaves tonnes of cookies in your browser session; this is potentially dangerous.

4) Ditch Windows and Mac OS and use Linux. Ubuntu is a perfect operating system for those who are migrating to Windows. I prefer to use Open Suse. I have NEVER used a firewall or an antivirus for linux; this may not be an acceptable practice but I have never faced an issue ever with this. For those who are bit more experimental, PC-BSD is an excellent choice and highly recommended for intermediate users.

5) Use VPN to get a new ip address. Look for a service provider that offers open VPN and high security like 256 bits. All your isp would see is an encrypted connection.

These are some of the measures to escape the oppressive regimes. Make sure that your tracks are well covered, use a paid email service provider instead of Gmail or Yahoo, remove all cookies at end of session. These are some of the common sensical means to avoid "detection" and have the things traced back to you.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, that for basic needs a person might use a proxy like "hidemyass". It's available on the Firefox extensions menu and when you click on it, it routes the traffic through it's own proxy. But beware, this company got a lot of flak recently for exposing it's users.

Our English Obsession

2012-01-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

We shouldn't even be having English medium in Primary schools, leave alone English Headmasters.

A British national, who was working as the Head Master of an international school at Sahakaranagar, was arrested by Kodigehalli police on charges of seeking sexual favour from a boy at his school.The accused has been identified as Paul Francis Meekan (38), a native of London.

Briton held for seeking sexual favour from boy

Fatwa against Xtists in Kashmir

2012-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

SRINAGAR: A self-styled Sharia court in Srinagar on Thursday issued a fatwa asking three Christian priests to leave Jammu & Kashmir for "luring the Valley's Muslims to Christianity". The fatwa also directed the state government to take over the management of Christian schools in J&K, besides monitoring church activities. The outrageous edict follows last November's arrest of pastor M C Khanna of All Saints Church in Srinagar.

According to Nasir-ul-Islam, deputy to grand Mufti Bashiruddin, four Christian priests are involved in luring Kashmiri Muslim youth to convert to Christianity. "Punjabi MC Khanna, Dutch national, Jim Borst, and Gayoor Messah were told to leave the Valley for their involvement in conversions. Case against the principal of Tyndale Biscoe School, Parvez Samuel Koul, is under investigation. A judgment will announced in due course," said Naib Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam. Besides the decree, Sharia court asked the government to involve itself with the management of missionary schools.

I'm tickled pink to imagine the reaction of Messrs. John Dayal and Cedric Prakash, et al - enablers, chroniclers and propagandists of Jihad terrorism in India as a whole. These fellows have fashioned a grand alliance between Mullah and Missionary, based on their fundamental unity of purpose, namely to destroy India's Hindu identity.

After filtering out the Jihad/ Sharia bellicosity reflected in the Fatwa, I do find myself in agreement with the wise
Mufti Nasir-ul-Islam - to the extent that Christist missionaries
are perpetrators of terror at a civilisational level whose activities need to be curbed urgently across the country, not just in Kashmir. Taking over the administration of Christist institutions is also a good idea.

These need to be nationalized by the government and the curriculum decided after thorough vetting by patriotic minded Indians. The Vatican is welcome to continue funding of course, provided that mischievous elements with dubious credentials, ex: John Dayal are given an appropriate severance package, namely that they would be spared any physical molestation.

Escaping Afghanistan: the Graveyard of Empires by @chellaney

2012-01-22T09:53:00.001-08:00

jan 22nd, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanjeev nayyar

Lovely article. Shooting straight. Also read ‘What the West can learn from Afghanistan’ by Rakesh K Simha http://www.esamskriti.com/essay-chapters/Conquering-Afghanistan~-What-the-West-can-learn-from-India-1.aspx.

It was Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army who defeated the Afghans. Has anyone defeated them after that?

http://chellaney.net/2012/01/21/escaping-afghanistan-the-graveyard-of-empires/

The Japan Times, January 21, 2012

Since coming to office, President Barack Obama has pursued an Afghan war strategy summed up in just four words: “surge, bribe and run.” The U.S.-led military mission has now entered the “run” part, or what euphemistically is being called the “transition to 2014″ — the year Obama arbitrarily chose as the deadline to wind down all NATO combat operations.

The central aim is to cut a deal with the Taliban — even if Afghanistan and the region pay a heavy price — so that the United States and its NATO partners exit the “Graveyard of Empires” without losing face. This effort to withdraw as part of a political settlement without admitting defeat is being dressed up as a “reconciliation” process, with Qatar, Germany and Britain getting lead roles to help facilitate a U.S.-Taliban deal.

Yet what stands out is how little the U.S. has learned from past mistakes. In some critical respects, it is actually beginning to repeat past mistakes, whether by creating or funding new local militias in Afghanistan or striving to cut a deal with the Taliban. As in the covert war it waged against the nearly nine-year Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, so too in the current overt war, U.S. policy has been driven by short-term considerations, without much regard for the interests of friends in the wider region.

To be sure, Obama was right to seek an end to this protracted war. But he blundered by laying out his cards in public and emboldening the enemy.

Within weeks of assuming office, Obama publicly declared his intent to exit Afghanistan, before he even asked his team to work out a strategy. He quickly moved from the Bush-initiated counterinsurgency strategy to limited war objectives centered on finding a face-saving exit. A troop surge that lasted up to 2010 was designed not to militarily rout the Taliban but to strike a political deal with the enemy from a position of strength. But even before a deal could be negotiated, rising U.S. casualties and war fatigue prompted him to publicly unveil a troop drawdown, stretching from 2011 to 2014. If the surge failed to militarily contain the Taliban, it was largely because its purpose had been undermined by Obama at the very outset.

A withdrawing power that first announces a phased exit and then pursues deal-making with the enemy undermines its regional leverage. It speaks for itself that the sharp deterioration in U.S. ties with the Pakistani military has occurred in the period after the drawdown timetable was unveiled. The phased exit has encouraged the Pakistani generals to play hardball.

Worse, there is still no clear U.S. strategy on how to ensure that the endgame does not undermine the interests of the free world or further destabilize the region. It is also unclear whether the U.S. after 2014 will be willing to rely on its air power and special forces to keep Afghanistan in the hands of a friendly government and army — or whether it will do what it has just done in Iraq: pull out completely and wash its hands off the country.

Think of a scenario where Obama had not played his cards in public. Immediately after coming to office, Obama could have used his predecessor’s diversion of resources to the Iraq war to justify a troop surge in Afghanistan while exerting full pressure on the Pakistani generals to tear down insurgent sanctuaries. Had that happened without the intent to exit being made public, not only would many Afghan and American lives have been saved, but also the side desperate for a deal today would have been the Taliban, not the U.S.

The outcome of the current effort to clinch a deal with a resurgent Taliban is uncertain. Even if a deal materializes and is honored by the Taliban on the ground, it cannot by itself pacify Afghanistan.

Although Afghanistan historically was designed as a buffer state, it does not today separate empires and conflicts. Rather, it is the center of not one but multiple conflicts with cross-border dimensions. Given Afghanistan’s major ethnic and political divides, genuine national reintegration and reconciliation would make a lot of sense.

However, instead of opening parallel negotiating tracks with all key actors, with the aim of eventually bringing them together at the same table, the U.S. is pursuing a single-track approach focused on achieving a deal with the Taliban. Such is its single-mindedness that a conscious effort is under way to keep out representatives of the National Front (formerly Northern Alliance) from even international conferences on Afghanistan.

In fact, the choice of Doha, Qatar, as the seat of U.S.-Taliban negotiations has been made with the intent to cut out the still-skeptical Afghan government and to insulate the Taliban negotiators from Pakistani and Saudi pressures. The choice also meshes with U.S. efforts to build Qatar as a major promoter of Western interests in the Arab world, on the lines of Saudi Arabia.

Just as oil wealth has propelled the Saudi role, gas wealth is driving the Qatari role — best illustrated by Qatar’s military and financial contributions to regime change in Libya and its current involvement in fomenting a Sunni insurrection in Alawite-ruled Syria, the last remaining beacon of secularism in an increasingly Islamist-oriented Arab world.

Meanwhile, the new U.S. containment push against Iran threatens to compound the internal situation in Afghanistan. Iran’s nuclear program is a factor behind the new containment drive. But a bigger factor is the intent not to allow Iran to be the main beneficiary of the end of U.S. military operations in Iraq and the planned NATO exit from Afghanistan. Yet, without getting Iran on board, building a stable Iraq or Afghanistan will be difficult.

In truth, U.S. policy is coming full circle again on the Pakistan-fathered Afghan Taliban, in whose birth the CIA had played midwife. President Bill Clinton’s administration acquiesced in the Taliban’s ascension to power in Kabul in 1996 and turned a blind eye as that thuggish militia, in league with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, fostered narco-terrorism and swelled the ranks of the Afghan war alumni waging transnational terrorism. With 9/11, however, the chickens came home to roost. In declaring war on the Taliban in October 2001, U.S. policy came full circle.

Now, U.S. policy is coming another full circle on the Taliban in its frantic search for a deal. This has been underscored by a series of secret U.S. meetings with the Taliban last year and the current moves to restart talks in Qatar by meeting the Taliban’s demand for the release of five of its officials who are held at Guantánamo Bay. Mohammed Tayeb al-Agha, an aide to the one-eyed Taliban chief Mohammad Omar, has emerged as the Taliban’s chief negotiator with Marc Grossman, America’s Afghanistan-Pakistan (Afpak) envoy.

The Qatar-based negotiations serve as another reminder why the U.S. political leadership has refrained from decapitating the Taliban’s top command-and-control. The U.S. military has had ample opportunities to eliminate the Taliban’s Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, often called the Quetta Shura because it relocated to the Pakistani city in 2002.

Yet, tellingly, the U.S. military has not carried out a single drone, air or ground strike against the shura. All the U.S. strikes have occurred farther north in Pakistan’s tribal Waziristan region, although the leadership of the Afghan Taliban or its allied groups like the Haqqani network and the Hekmatyar band is not holed up there.

The sanctity of existing borders has become a powerful norm in world politics. Border fixity is seen as essential for peace and stability. Yet, paradoxically, the norm has allowed the emergence of weak states, whose internal wars spill over and create wider regional tensions and insecurities. In other words, a norm intended to build peace and stability may be creating conditions for greater regional conflict and instability. This norm is likely to come under challenge in the Afpak belt, where the dangers of political fragmentation cannot be lightly dismissed.

When history is written, the legacy of the NATO war in Afghanistan will mirror the legacy of the U.S. occupation of Iraq — to leave an ethnically fractured nation. Just as Iraq today stands ethnically partitioned in a de facto sense, it will be difficult to establish a government in Kabul post-2014 whose writ runs across Afghanistan.

More important, Afghanistan is not Vietnam. An end to NATO combat operations will not mean the end of the war because the enemy will target Western interests wherever they may be. The U.S. hope to regionally contain terrorism is nothing more than self-delusion. If anything, this objective promises to keep the Afpak belt as a festering threat to regional and global security.

Brahma Chellaney is an Asian geostrategist and the author of six books

Warm Regards
sanjeev nayyar
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[New post] Theology of monotheism is disguised materialism – Sita Ram Goel

2012-01-22T09:36:00.001-08:00

jan 22nd, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ishwar Sharan
Subject: Link: [New post] Theology of monotheism is disguised materialism – Sita Ram Goel
To:

New post on Bharata Bharati

Theology of monotheism is disguised materialism – Sita Ram Goel

"One may spend a lifetime searching this theology of Monotheism for a factual or rational proof of what it proclaims so pompously. But the search will be in vain. For, all the time it assumes what it wants to prove, and proves what it has already assumed. At its best, it is a syllogism of which the major as well as the minor premise are arbitrary assertions." - Sita Ram Goel

Let us for the time being forget the Freudian analysis of Christianity and Islam, though that analysis provides an intimate peep into the psyche of these primitive creeds. Let us have a look at the philosophy underlying their doctrines, and find out if they have any share in the spiritual seeking which is intrinsic to human beings and which stands systematized in Sanãtana Dharma.

Christianity and Islam differ on many points of detail. But they share a common view of what they invoke as the creator and controller of the cosmos, as well as of the cosmic process. In the language of theology, they describe their basic dogma as Monotheism as opposed to what they denounce as Polytheism and Pantheism. It is this basic dogma which needs a philosophical probe deeper than that to which it has been subjected so far.

The term Monotheism casts such a magic spell on certain minds that they stop at its literal meaning - the concept of one God as opposed to many Gods. But the literal meaning tells us little, almost nothing, about its theological inspiration or its practical implications.

In the theology of Monotheism, God is extra-cosmic. He created the cosmos out of Nothing in order to demonstrate his almightiness and, consequently, kept himself outside and above the Cosmos. There is nothing in God's creation which can partake of God's divinity. The elements and forces of Nature are devoid of any divinity whatsoever. The sky is empty space, and the Sun and the Moon and the Stars are only bright spots in that sky. Matter is absolutely material, and animals and birds are mere brutes unless they are domesticated when they show some improvement. Trees are timber, and the flowers embody no more than colour and fragrance. Air and water and fire and earth are what they are, and point to nothing beyond.

It is only man who is placed on a higher pedestal because the Almighty God blew his own breath into the handful of dust which he used in order to manufacture Adam, the male ancestor of the human race. Woman cannot share man's status because Eve, the female ancestor of the human race, was carved out of Adam's rib without the benefit of God's breath being blown into it. Man is thus the best of God's creation, the ashraf-ul-makhlûqãt.

But it is an unpardonable folly and a cardinal sin for man to fancy that he shares even an iota of God's divinity. The only privilege which man enjoys as God's best creation is to lord it over the lower creation which God has made for man's use and benefit. Man can exploit the material resources of the earth in whatever way he pleases. Man can eat every bird and fish and animal for God has created them specifically for man's consumption. And man can marry and divorce and keep as his concubines any number of women, at any stage of his three score and ten years. (The monogamy we find in Christianity is not prescribed by the Christian scripture. It was an institution which it borrowed from the pagan Romans.)

... deleted

http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/theology-of-monotheism-is-disguised-materialism-sita-ram-goel/

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america: fast food nation? china: factory to the world? india: ?? nyt on the hollowing out of the US

2012-01-22T09:30:00.001-08:00

jan 21st, 2012 CE

those jobs have gone bye-bye. and they have not come to india. they went to east asia where they invested in primary education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

UPA minister invites xtist missionaries to subvert tribal areas

2012-01-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

"Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday made a strong pitch for roping in organisations like those run by the Catholic church to bring development in Maoist-hit areas but asked them to respect the 'Lakshman Rekha' and not engage in "religious mobilisation"."

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-help-naxals-but-respect-lakshman-rekha-ramesh-to-churches/20120120.htm

This is an astounding statement to make for a government representative in an ostensibly "SECULAR" nation. It constitutes an open invitation to Christist evangelicals to play havoc in the remote Vanvasi (tribal) areas of Orissa, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Marathwada etc.
It is a well known principle of the Nehruvian Stalinist Kaangress state to relegate Hindus to second class citizenship in their own country - and
simultaneously encourage Jihadi fundamentalism and Christist proselytisation under the cloak of "Charity" (sic). Yet, even the two faced
sycophants of the Nehru dynasty used to keep up a half baked pretense of "equality" of religious denominations until now

The mask of pseudo "secularism" is now officially off. Hateful Christist missionaries are being openly invited by GOVERNMENT functionaries
to contribute to "development". It is hard to believe that Jairam Ramesh is a naive fool, credulously believing in the Church's altruistic motivations regarding "development" in Maoist infested "tribal" areas. In case it is news to brainwashed idiots in the "progressive" fans of the
Nehru dynasty - the Church is already well entrenched in these tribal areas, operating under a "Maoist" burka, sowing social discord, altering the demographic character of the Indian hinterland and destroying natal traditions with its belligerent soul harvesting.

A disproportionately large number of the so-called "Maoist" cadre and leadership are converted Christists. A prominent recent case was the
Maoist ideologue and terrorist courier, "Dr. Binayak Sen" (sic), sentenced to life imprisonment by the judiciary for waging war against the nation, then rehabilitated by the UPA government in the Union Planning Commission's committee for healthcare, in violation of all principles of law and justice.

Another recent "contribution" of stealth Christist "Maoists" to tribal "development" was the brutal assassination of Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati on the eve of Krishna Janmashtami day in Orissa a few years ago. The Christian terrorists behind that ghastly murder are yet to be brought to justice.

The Christist church, an exponent of "liberation theology" to undermine the sovereignty of independent nations is in de facto control of large
areas of land ranging from Pashupati to Tirupati, by virtue of stealth Christist usurpation of power in Nepal and not so covert action in tribal India. Further South, the Christists are in power indirectly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the former now provides for Christist Haj to Jerusalem funded by Hindu taxpayers. The North eastern states have been largely converted, with the exception of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam - where conversions by force, fraud and allurement continue unabated.

Whose agenda is Mr. Jairam Ramesh advancing, inadvertently (or deliberately) with his unconstitutional, illegal and anti-secular invitation
to Christist missionaries to play further havoc in such areas that remain under Indian sovereignty?

The billions of dollars in foreign funds pumped into India for soul harvesting by Christist powers - needs to be seized by the government and declared a national wealth, to be used for genuinely secular developmental activity for the benefit of all, without the threat or requirement of conversion to alien ideologies. This is as much a threat as the spiriting away of ill gotten wealth by Indian citizens into foreign tax havens.
Ideally, those agitating for the return of Indian wealth (black money) from Switzerland etc would also pay attention to the money being pumped into India to finance the perpetration of black deeds (proselytisation).

harvard head in india, presumably soon will be asking for money

2012-01-21T11:18:00.001-08:00

jan 21st, 2012 CE

and it figures: just after they unceremoniously dumped swamy and showed that they are sharia-compliant, harvard head comes, hat in hand, to india.

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/01/20/harvards-indian-connection/

intriguing that romney's chances may well be determined by how nikki haley gets out vote in s carolina

2012-01-21T10:48:00.001-08:00

romney, the leading republican candidate -- and one who is considerably less creepy than rick santorum or newt gingrich, and also more likely to win against obama if he gets the nomination -- may find that his road to the nomination is dependent on how well gov nikki randhawa haley (of indian origin) is able to get the vote out in south carolina.

i am not obsessing on the US elections, as it is a) a circus, b) makes no difference. however, romney's reversal of fortunes -- santorum, the bizarre bible-thumper, wins iowa? -- is certainly startling.

Is this a direct correlation?

2012-01-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Apologies about the origin of this graph; I think it was probably on
imgur web gallery or possibly on Graph Jam. But this made a lot of sense
to me to share it with a wider audience.

See India anywhere in the lowest possible list?

complaint about misleading headline

2012-01-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

jan 20th, 2012 CE

well, arvind, since it was from 'china's national newspaper', you should have known they would *never* use the term 'chinks' with disrespect. :-)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind

I saw this link and headline on Google and thought it was about Sitaram Yechury, N.Ram, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Chidambaram. Turned out that was not the case.

India's chinks have been thoroughly exposed

-a

Wsj: Apple Jumps Into Textbooks: another industry about to be disrupted?

2012-01-20T17:22:00.001-08:00

http://bit.ly/xSb79I

After music, mobile telephony, and media, one more. Be afraid, McGraw Hill and Pearson, be very afraid.

on sony android phone

RadiaMedia Rewarded

2012-01-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

At 7, Race Course Road, this is Pankaj Pachauri

lucky italians - always 'tripping' into nice things

2012-01-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/hunt_for_cruise_victims_on_hold_KkQKxmm2QnXyPNNSft6LAL

o.k - so at least you have to admire the chutzpah of the guy - a most creative explanation.

i am amazed at the skill of some of these italians, how they manage to 'trip' into nice things.

like a certain italian lady 'tripped' (or should I say she also 'tripped up' others) and became an uncrowned queen of a benighted nation.

also her italian children and semi-italianised son-in-law - simply 'tripped' into managing all those 'chaacha', 'grandma' and 'papa' foundations - all of which foundations seemed to have 'tripped' into being sodden with cash (mostly I suspect stolen from schemes that 'tripped' indian villagers into life-long servitude)

another italian 'day tripper' - that de nobili fellow - just happened to 'trip' into composing the "Yesurvedam"

not to forget Il Duce Uncle Benito - who 'tripped' from his early socialist roots into becoming a dictator (not to forget surviving all those assassination attempts).

in fact - i have half a mind of starting the 'greatest italian trip' contest.

....

finally - I am NOT knocking all Italians - some of which countries' first generation immigrants are my friends - and all lovely folks. Did you know Italians like living in joint-families like us Indians (yes even after they move to North America).

and though they put up a show of being good catholics - once you get to know them - they are full of cruel jokes about El Papa and his gang - all very pungent and hurtful.

should India get Iran-US to chummy up ?

2012-01-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

I originally meant to post this as a comment on rajeev's earlier post - but the HTML tag restrictions (not to mention the word limit) defeated me. In the interest of free debate here goes ...

Without suggesting that you are wrong - it is possible to cogently argue the reverse of this case. I don’t think it is any of India's business making peace b/w Iran and the US (in other words becoming the US lapdog - like the Pak's in 1971). A better bet is to start diversifying oil suppliers and get in the door with the Iraqis and Saudis
We have seen in the case of India and Pakistan that no amount of sanctions is going to have an effect on a determined and technologically-capable nation (especially if, as in the case of Pakistan, there is sugar-daddy China lurking in the background).
There is no Chinese sugar daddy proliferating to Iran as no Chinese objective is met by such proliferation. This is reserved only for those countries that can tie down India (read Pak) and Japan/ S Korea (read N Korea). And actually - sanctions may have stopped Pak proliferation (a possibility not a certainty); but as Clarke-Scott and Levy show in their excellent book - Uncle Sam chose to look the other way. Maybe Foggy Bottom learnt something from their Pak fiasco. Your statement is true for India – but then India’s economy is not dependent on oil and pistachio exports – sanctions cannot bring India down, but can constrain Iran.

Two, Iranian nuclear weapons are fundamentally less dangerous than nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable Pakistan, the epicentre of terrorism.
Less dangerous for India maybe - but certainly not for Israel -which will face more Hezbollah attacks - completely secure in the knowledge that they will not hit back at a nuclear Iran. Just like Pak screws India under the safety of the bomb - Iran will screw Israel - safe in the knowledge that it will invite no retaliation. This is not "Israeli paranoia" - it is just plain hard fact. Just because India is too chicken to stop Pakistan from going nuclear – does not imply others have to be chicken too!

In a region where there is increasing Sunni fundamentalism (the sad outcome of the Arab Spring) it is good to ensure that Shia Iran acts as a brake on the onward march of the good soldiers of Wahabism.
As a statement of principle - this is true enough. But the practical implication of a nuke-armed Iran is it will inevitably carve out a sphere of influence in Shia majority eastern Saudi Arabia; when added to its protectorate of shia dominated eastern-southern Iraq – it will give Iran a “monopoly type” access to the wells of power. That is in no one’s interest (including ours) … and Wahabism is hardly on an onward march – islamists may win Egypt and possibly Libya for now – but wahabism is on the back-foot in Iraq and indeed even in shia parts of Saudi.

Four, Iran is not rash enough to want to invite nuclear annihilation upon itself, which is the likely outcome if it were to attack Israel.
But that is not what Iran will do (not even Israelis think so) – the nukes are just the muscle to escalate hezbollah like covert war and carve out the saudi sphere.

Five, an exhausted America is not going to be able to carry on another two-front war in Afghanistan and Iran
I thought you subscribed to my favorite ‘surge, bribe and run’ in Fak-Ap (ok that phrase is yours – but I love it!). The US is not going to be in a two front war – it is preparing to run from Fak-Ap – so thanks but no thanks – it does not need no access route for military supplies through Iran (seriously Rajeev – I cannot believe you think this is possible – even if US-Iran kiss and make up – which will never happen cause that will send Barack packing in the next election).

Here are the counters for why India should do it
First, India would not at all be happy if the Straits of Hormuz are closed.
There will be no closure. The US may not be able to do another land campaign – but it’s strength on the seas will simply overwhelm any Iranian attempt to ‘blockade’ ( – which by the way will hurt the Iranians more than anyone else). I think this is just plain empty bluster by the Ayatollahs – and it will be called if they really try it.

The reason the US is rattling sabres so cavalierly is that it has reduced its dependence on oil from this region …..India, and for that matter, China, does not have that luxury
But isn’t the answer for us to reduce dependence on Iran too? If the US has reduced dependence the Saudi’s will be keen to sell to somebody (anybody). Why is it that the Chinese are running away with this prize too – should Indians not buy from Saudi’s / Iraq etc? (.. and no – I do NOT like the wahabis – but this is business)

Third, an Iran that is not treated as a pariah (remember how India was forced to vote against it in the UN based on US pressure during the so-called ‘nuclear deal’ days?) would mean that India can expand its relationship with that country without fear of sanctions and suchlike.
I don’t think the security council (read China and Russia) are going to go along with stricter (and ever more stricter) sanctions. Likely India can do this even without Iran and the US being buddies – and if we cannot; well – too bad. The US and Israel are not going to give up their self-interest (namely national security and steady and divided oil suppliers) – just cause we sunk money into Chah Bahar.

Demoralizing the Armed Forces

2012-01-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Army-chiefs-age-row-PM-steers-clear-Gen-V-K-Singh-meets-MoS-defence/articleshow/11556897.cms

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-03/news/30471898_1_sukna-land-scam-avadesh-prakash-avdesh-prakash

The UPA Govt. has well and truly gone mad. Even if guilty of such petty offences, the Govt. has no business publicly humiliating such senior officers whom thousands of fighting soldiers look up to.

Both, Gen. V K Singh and Lt. Gen. (Retd) Avdesh Prakash are known to be not "compliant" characters and so may have attracted the Govt's ire.

Unfairness of The US Tax Code

2012-01-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

If Mr. Romney has done one good thing with his partial disclosure — although it clearly wasn’t his goal — he has reminded Americans of the fundamental unfairness of the current tax code and of how determined Mr. Romney and his party are to keep it that way.

Currently, the tax code imposes a top rate of 15 percent on investment income — generally, capital gains and dividends — that flows overwhelmingly to wealthy taxpayers. In comparison, top rates between 25 percent and 35 percent are applied to the wages and salaries for many working Americans.

Worse, an egregious loophole in the law lets private equity partners pay the lower 15 percent rate on much of their income — known as “carried interest” — even though those earnings are not typically gains from investing their own money, but rather a share of profits from investing someone else’s money.

NYT EDITORIAL: The 1% and That 15%

utterly telling how #radiamedia stays silent on Kashmir Holocaust 22 years later #KPexodus

2012-01-19T08:58:00.002-08:00

jan 19th, 2012 CE

jan 19th, 1990, a day that will live in infamy.

and the crass media does not shed a single tear on this greatest crime against humanity in india in a century.

are the media the worst sinners in india? or is it the politicians? or the bureaucrats? tough choice.

the media has no right to wax eloquent about anybody's human rights the way they ignore the ongoing troubles of the pandits.

they who pretend that the pandits have no human rights have given up any right to be considered anything other than monsters.

my firstpost piece on why india should try to bring Iran in from the cold

2012-01-19T06:52:00.001-08:00

jan 18th, 2012 CE

http://www.firstpost.com/world/why-india-could-play-honest-broker-between-iran-and-us-186563.html

The recent fuss by the Americans about Iran’s nuclear programme and the ongoing war of words between the two countries is not a good thing as far as India is concerned. It could lead to grave consequences, and, therefore, it is a good idea to do something proactive to avoid further escalation.

In fact, what India should look at is the big picture. Based on its relatively good relationships with both countries, it could attempt to broker a deal which will, in effect, bring Iran back out of isolation – partly self-imposed and partly forced by the US because of Israeli paranoia – that is has faced for some years.

The media shrieking about Iran in the US has reached fever proportions, and there are suggestions of some major Armageddon coming up. This is laughable because of several reasons. One, whatever the West does (including targeted assassinations), it is quite likely that Iran will develop whatever nuclear technology it wants.

... deleted

Remarkable tweet from #radiamedia maven

2012-01-19T05:11:00.001-08:00

Army-worshipping, democracy-hating, yearning for machismo, abusing independent women, middle class India is such a drag..

RT @sagarikaghose: Army-worshipping, democracy-hating, yearning for machismo, abusing independent women, middle class India is such a drag..
— Barbarian Indian (@barbarindian) January 18, 2012

retweet of @sagarikaghose tweet

(Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

My comment: this is an absolute classic tweet in, let me count the ways:

1. Accusing others of things you are guilty of: it is the radiamedia that fawns over pak army men and gushed about the 'democracy' of tahrir square

2. 'independent women' such as rajbala, who was beaten to death by police, get no support from the media. Nor did sowmya, a retail employee in cochin, Kerala who was pushed out of a train, raped on the tracks, and then had her head crushed with a rock by a one armed thug named charly. Nor ex-sister jesmi, who exposed the church's molestation and exploitation of nuns

3. Yearning for machismo: it was shekhar Gupta of the radiamedia who promised musharraf that the radiamedia would finish off the bjp

on sony android phone

Who Hacked US Commission - China or India?

2012-01-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

Suspicion is growing that operatives in China, rather than India, were behind the hacking of emails of an official commission that monitors relations between the United States and China, U.S. officials said.

News of the hacking of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission surfaced earlier this month when an amateur "hacktivist" group purporting to operate in India published what it said was a memo from an Indian Military Intelligence unit to which extracts from commission emails were attached.

But U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the roundabout way the commission's emails were obtained strongly suggests the intrusion originated in China, possibly by amateurs, and not from India's spy service.

William Reinsch, a former top U.S. Commerce Department official, said he could think of "no particular reason" why the Indian government or Indian hackers would be interested in him. By contrast, he and several other U.S. officials said that Chinese hackers, whether amateur or directly affiliated with Chinese government, would have great interest in the U.S.-China Commission's activities, both public and private.

Suspicion grows China was behind hack of U.S. commission

santa cruz initiates 'pre-crime' screening: using #data #mining to #predict #crime

2012-01-17T21:18:00.001-08:00

jan 17th, 2012 CE

in scenes reminiscent of the film "minority-report", it is believed that the town of santa cruz, CA is now beginning to forecast where and when crimes will occur.

and of course, to take preventive measures.

why does this make most people feel a little queasy?

will 49ers beat giants this sunday? hope so! go, san francisco!

2012-01-17T21:15:00.001-08:00

kochi has been pushing propaganda kochi=kerala. it has worked. kozhikode-bound plane lands in kochi.

2012-01-17T21:07:00.001-08:00

jan 17th, 2012 CE

much like hans push propaganda that asian == chinese, kochi has been pushing the notion that kerala == kochi.

unfortunately, it seems to have worked.

next, kochi will claim that chennai == kochi. and then bangalore == kochi.

also, there are too many airports in kerala, a tiny state. it only really needed one, which was the existing airport in trivandrum that had been around since the 1930s. but no, the 'lobbies' (we know who they are) wanted to build more. in addition to trivandrum, kochi and kozhikode, new airports are coming up in kannur and aranmula.

the aranmula airport is a simple excuse for a land grab. i don't know much about kannur airport. but generally the result is (extremely valuable) land ends up in the hand of some big developers and other friends of politicians.

history repeats: #hawaii 1893; #nepal 2008: #american instigated #overthrow of sovereign kingdoms

2012-01-17T20:37:00.001-08:00

jan 17th, 2012 CE

in hawaii it was the planters and sugarcane farmers who got the queen overthrown on jan 17th, 1893.

in nepal it was the missionaries, with their pals the communists, who got the king overthrown in 2008. it was a joint operation with the chinese, who supplied the weapons to the so-called maoists.

that's the only difference.

at least in the case of hawaii, there was an apology in 1993.

now why aren't the republican americans overthrowing the arab monarchies or european monarchies?

krishnaswamy iyengar on indian mathematics. http://www.ms.uky.edu/~sohum/AAK/PRELUDE.htm

2012-01-17T20:26:00.001-08:00

ian pearce's history of indian mathematics (and astronomy): http://bit.ly/51PRvp

2012-01-17T20:05:00.001-08:00

why is the #radiamedia and western chatterati so exercised about #pakistan's pre-announced coup?

2012-01-17T18:43:00.001-08:00

jan 18th, 2012 CE

i fail to see the great excitement behind the question: does kayani love gilani/zardari, or doesn't he?

what the hell difference does it make?

the very fact that it is an announced coup, as it were, makes it a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? a coup is supposed to be a surprise! that's the whole damned point of a coup!

therefore, the only conclusion to be drawn is that this is diplomatic theater, and it doesn't make a whit of difference. no wonder the scum media -- which loves dictators, especially pakistan dictators -- is experiencing a frisson of almost pre-orgasmic proportions.

choice A:

gilani, zardari et al run a 'democratic' government. army is the real power

choice B:

kayani takes over. army is the real power

choice C

another mask is elevated to 'democratic' power (say the freshly re-invented cricket player imran khan, who let us remember, practically lost his deposit in the last 'democratic' election. his current visibility is a creation of ISPR, i suspect.). another candidate is the freshly re-habilitated musharraf (wait, just because he's hung up his khakhis, he's a 'democrat'?). army is the real power

the operative part of all these scenarios is, you got it, "army is the real power".

in pakistan's interesting vocabulary, 'democracy' == 'army has a fig-leaf, plausible deniability and power without responsibility'. that's it.

otherwise, pakistan's 'democracy' is a kakistocracy, just like others we could name.

Cowpox in Ayurveda: unacknowledged indian intellectual property

2012-01-17T18:32:00.001-08:00

jan 18th, 2012 CE

this was indeed a brilliant insight which is falsely attributed to some brit named jenner.

it is unfair to steal it and then give no credit to the inventor at all. this, unfortunately, has been the case with many indian inventions that the whites have generously attributed to the greeks or chinese or somebody. that is, anybody but indians.

retroactive recompense, eh, pharma companies? any lawyers want to pursue this pro bono with the World Intellectual Property Organization?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arvind Kumar

Not only is the use of cowpox virus as a vaccine mentioned in texts on Ayurveda, but it was also acknowledged in Western journals. Two references follow.

http://books.google.com/books?id=D_ooAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA243

Proceedings of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 37

By American Veterinary Medical Association

Session of 1900

Centuries ago in India inoculation to prevent smallpox with cowpox virus was practiced by the Hindoos and an accurate description of the procedure is given in an ancient Hindoo medical work.*

...

----

*"Take the liquid of the pustules of the cow's teat, or from the area of a human being between the shoulder and the elbow; place it upon the point of a lancet and introduce it in the area at the same place, mixing the fluid with the blood; the fever of variola will be produced. This disease will be mild like the animal from which it is derived. It need not cause fear and requires no remedies the patient may be given the food he desires." -- Sacteya Grautham (a Hindoo Book of Medicine).

http://books.google.com/books?id=X4BYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA133

The American practitioner, Volumes 13-14

1892

Along with certain collateral information that we are glad the author has been tempted to give, is the information that vaccination was as well understood by leading Hindoo physicians, probably three thousand years before Christ, as it is to day among us. In a medical work called Sacteya Grantham occurs this remarkable passage: "Take the liquid of the pustules of the cow's teat or from the arm of a human being, between the shoulder and the elbow, place upon the point of a lancet and introduce it the arm at the same place, mixing the with the blood, the fever of variola will be produced. The disease will be mild, as it is in animal from which it is derived. The is perfect when it is of good color, filled with clear liquid, and surrounded by a red circle "

UK Sunday Times: Inside Mossad's war on Tehran

2012-01-17T18:07:00.005-08:00

jan 17th, 2012 CE

disclaimers:

1. i am sensitive to israel's worries about being a besieged island in a tough neighborhood

2. i am not enamored of iran, but have no ill-will toward it and believe a US-iran detente will benefit it

yet, i believe israel's security paranoia should not be the reason for american policy against iran.

america should not saber-rattle against iran just because israel is paranoid.

iran is a much smaller villain than pakistan, the epicenter of world terrorism.

consider: iran struggled hard to beat iraq. but pakistan has beaten the americans in afghanistan.

so who's the bigger threat to world peace?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: B

The Sunday Times January 16, 2012

Inside Mossad's war on Tehran

BY: MARIE COLVIN AND UZI MAHNAIMI  

EARLY in Tehran's grey wintry morning last Wednesday, Mustafa Ahmadi Roshan, a young scientist in Iran's controversial nuclear program, got dressed at his home in the northern suburbs. The events of this last hour of his life could have come out of a spy film.

Small groups of Israeli agents were watching key points in the Iranian capital. Their target was Roshan. They would be dead themselves if they were caught.

For Israel it was a classic assassination mission. "What is seen in espionage films as a simple operation is a result of hard work, many months of intelligence gathering and a well trained team," said a source who released details, impossible to verify, to The Sunday Times.

"There is zero tolerance for mistakes. By nature, every failure not only risks the neck of the agents but also risks turning into an international scandal."

Since its foundation in 1948, Israel has used assassination as a national weapon, striking targets abroad ranging from Palestinians who killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, to enemies on the streets of Amman and a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel room in 2010.

Now Iran is the target. In the past two years assassins have attacked five scientists in the state nuclear program, killing four of them. Mossad, the Israeli external intelligence agency, is widely believed to be responsible.

The murder of civilians divides Iran's critics -- and Israel's. Some find it repugnant, others see them as casualties in an undeclared war that is greatly preferable to the alternative of full-scale conflict.

... deleted

nyt: 'science' in 'peer-reviewed journals' is getting pretty ancient http://nyti.ms/A0n8y7

2012-01-17T18:07:00.003-08:00

jan 17th, 2012 CE

even in the 'hallowed halls' of the west's establishment, there is scepticism about 'peer-reviewed' journals and the costly, elaborate and elitist methods.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/science/open-science-challenges-journal-tradition-with-web-collaboration.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

oh, that's why indian cricket team failed in perth. bad boys, those curators.http://bit.ly/xRKSxm

2012-01-17T18:07:00.001-08:00

happy makara sankranti, and astronomy misconceptions: Sankranti is not Uttarayana

2012-01-17T18:06:00.001-08:00

jan 13th, 2012 CE

i wish all of you happy new year. i count the year from the makara sankranti. (there is also the kaliyuga year 5114 which will start with at ugadi if you so choose :-)

jan 14th is the makara sankranti and makara vilakku at sabarimala.

it is the day the sun enters the constellation capricorn. (that is current and has always been correct).

it coincided with the winter solstice at some time in the past. but the precession of the equinoxes has meant that the two have not coincided for a long time.

thus the makara sankranti and uttarayanam do not coincide. uttarayanam begins on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

the indian calendar was far superior to the western, julian calendar, which was hopelessly wrong. therefore jesuits in kerala circa 1400-1500 CE contacted the astronomers there to get corrections which helped them build the gregorian calendar. these jesuits are believed to have taken the manuscripts of the kerala school of astronomy and math which had the infinite series for trigonometric functions (so-called taylor and maclauren series really should be called the paramesvara and madhava series) to europe, which, alas, helped them navigate the open oceans! and oh, to lay the foundations for the calculus.

the writer of the frontline article that jayasree refers to must be -- what else could he be, if he gets to write in frontline -- a raving lunatic communist, for whom the only truth is what is written in mao's little green book.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ram

Namaste Rajeev,

There have been many who claim Hindu astrologers are out of touch with
reality, therefore the Sankranti doesnt fall on Dec 21. Here is an
interesting article why they are wrong.

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2011/12/indian-astrology-is-more-scientific.html
--

Humanity travels not from error to truth, but from truth to truth; it
may be, if you like it better, from lower truth to higher truth, but
never from error to truth - Vivekananda

british description from 1767CE of indian prior art on vaccination: let the patent lawyers loose!

2012-01-16T18:14:00.001-08:00

jan 16th, 2012 CE

indians had perfected the art of vaccination long ago, but we get no credit for it. instead our medical system is insulted as 'unscientific'.

in the typical western view of IPR, this would mean that indian intellectual property has been copied without compensation, and thus we should sue them for theft of IPR and demand compensation. or at least demand acknowledgment of prior art.

this is much like the indian calendar was stolen by jesuits who came to kerala around 1500CE, and now they tell us our calendar is wrong simply because their calendar has not taken into account the precession of the earth's axis. (in other words, they did not understand our calendar, merely stole the superficialities: the indian calendar, to this day, is accurate about the makara sankranti, the rise of the sun in capricorn), but the winter solstice keeps drifting backwards: which is why the western astrological calendar is 22 days off and therefore totally wrong, whereas the indian astrological calendar is correct -- whether or not you believe in astrology).

so when is the entire world going to give india the royalties due to the theft of intellectual property regarding vaccination against smallpox (and all other diseases where the principle is re-used)?

of course, instead of celebrating this brilliant invention, the british banned it as a 'barbaric hindoo' practice! talk of adding insult to injury!

thanks to arvind and parag.

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=C4lHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA367&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

the west continues to steal indian inventions and discoveries; they will then repackage them as 'western' 'science' and sell it back to us. this is happening with yoga these days.

rajan parrikar, ace photographer, celebrates the humble Jackfruit

2012-01-16T18:01:00.001-08:00

jan 16th, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rajan P. Parrikar

http://www.parrikar.com/blog/2012/01/16/jackfruit/

Amazingly inane economist podcast on UID: great success! Voluntary!

2012-01-15T19:14:00.003-08:00

Jan 15th 2012 ce

Just listened to economist India guy gushing about UID; absurd claims abound. Where on earth do they get these ideas from? JNU and radiamedia, must be.

Claims:
1. UID is voluntary. No, unless you have one you will become a non person
2. It is a great success for manmohan singh
3. It is an incredible technology success
4. With this and NREGA manmohan will win elections

on sony android phone

Amazingly inane economist podcast on UID: great success! Voluntary!

2012-01-15T19:14:00.001-08:00

Jan 15th 2012 ce

Just listened to economist India guy gushing about UID; absurd claims abound. Where on earth do they get these ideas from? JNU and radiamedia, must be.

on sony android phone

nyt: who are top 1% in US? docs, lawyers. not engineers. http://nyti.ms/wZWGQX

2012-01-15T07:38:00.001-08:00

jan 15th, 2012 CE

not even the much-reviled bankers?

so this is why the US is going to the dogs: non-productive people like lawyers make the most money. doctors are quasi-productive, but they end up making money for pharma, not really improving health -- while healthcare costs skyrocket, actual healthcare experienced in the US is pretty poor, and it shows in the obesity, health problems etc. but the doctors have formed a great cartel, and have managed to transfer a whole lot of public and private money to themselves. sort of like the OPEC cartel.

engineering is a low-status occupation in the US. well, it became so in britain, too, which is why you now have no industry worth the name in britain, which ironically started the industrial revolution.

http://nyti.ms/wZWGQX

non-chokers: 49ers bt saints last minute comeback; chokers: well... you know who they are. gloating :-)

2012-01-15T07:17:00.001-08:00

if i remember right some brits burned some wickets to create the ashes to commemorate the death of brit cricket.

i suggest burning something more substantial (no, not public property, and emphatically no violence please). yeah, indian cricket was nice while it lasted (not really, but let's not quibble), and now it's time to cremate it.

can all you fans now stop wasting your time on this inanity?

Corpse-shrine of the Immortal Secularist

2012-01-13T22:38:00.001-08:00

jan 13th, 2012 CE

i am also reminded, yet again, of the wonderful short story by ponkunnam varki titled "the beatified kochappi", who, after he was thought to be dead, and 'beatified' (like MT), was discovered wandering around, and thereupon was beaten to death and buried in his own 'holy grave' where 'miracles' had been happening! the earth from the 'holy grave' had been selling for Rs 100 a pop! and had been replenished every night by the truckloads!

it is amazing that the semitic ideologies worship death, not life.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Krishnan

http://in.news.yahoo.com/kim-jong-ils-body-permanently-displayed-022030283.html

"What is still worse, Monotheism and the monstrosities that logically follow from it such as the saviour, the prophet, the revelation, the ilham, the church, the ummah, have been selling the most degenerate type of idolatry known to human history. Being dead to the intimations of immortality conveyed by icons of Gods, the monotheistic mind manufactures any number of myths about its all-too-human saviours, prophets, saints, and sufis, and attributes any number of miracles to them. Being bereft of any true sense of divinity, this materialistic mind starts seeing the supernatural in the dirt and dross of its prophets and saints such as the saliva, the hair, the shoe, the shirt, and the shroud. And this mind ends up by kissing and kowtowing before these dead objects in a surfeit of sickening superstition. There is a brisk trade in 'holy relics' till the total number or weight of each relic reaches fantastic proportions, far in excess of what had really survived the prophet or the saint. Stinking tombs and sepulchers take the place of sublime temples." S.R.Goel, Defence of Hindu Society

for makara sankranti, an old column of mine from 1997 on tibet, potala, sabarimala and hsiuen tsang

2012-01-13T22:30:00.001-08:00

http://www.rediff.com/news/dec/31rajeev.htm

The Buddhist Connection: Sabarimala and the Tibetans

It is a winter phenomenon, starting in mid-November, at the beginning of the Malayalam month of Vrschikam (Scorpio), and lasting until mid-January. All over South India, you find pilgrims in the distinctive attire of the Ayyappan sect -- dressed all in black or blue, hirsute; singing songs in praise of the Lord of Sabarimala. They set out, after forty-one days of penance, on a long journey to the River Pamba and then a rugged trek to the sanctum.

The appeal of Sabarimala, a remote and tiny temple in a valley in the Western Ghats of Kerala, has increased phenomenally in the last couple of decades; it is now believed to be the world's second largest annual pilgrimage in terms of the number of devotees, second only to the Haj in Mecca. It is a most unusual pilgrimage to a most unusual deity; for Sri Ayyappan is Hariharaputra, the Son of Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva -- and this is the only ancient temple to Him.

It is likely that the unusual myth of the Son of Vishnu and Siva is due to another historical event: a reconciliation between Saivite and Vaishnavite Hindus. Unlike other parts of the South, where the two were often in conflict, Kerala has typically seen harmony between them.

I have been on the Sabarimala pilgrimage several times, and it is a remarkable experience: one is swept away by the palpable tide of faith all around one. The climb up from the Pamba riverbank to the sanctum is difficult: up steep slopes, through dense forests. Since you walk uphill barefoot, with a small sack on your head (a two part sack, representing one's deeds, both sins and good deeds), it is not easy: but the pilgrims chant that the sharp pebbles underfoot are as mere flowers.

And it is a very democratic pilgrimage: all the devotees address each other merely as 'Ayyappan'; class or caste or even religion is not at issue. Interestingly, the pilgrims pay obeisance at the shrine of the Muslim Vavar, apparently a friend of the historical Prince of Pandalam (a small kingdom) who has become identified with the deity in another legend. However, there is some controversy: women in their child-bearing years are not allowed to go on the pilgrimage. Personally, I find myself ambivalent on whether this restriction should be lifted: on any given day, I can argue either way.

There is considerable evidence that Lord Ayyappan was once a Buddhist deity, and that Sabarimala was once a Buddhist temple complex. However, it appears that prior to its Buddhist incarnation, the temple was an early Dravidian Saivite centre; therefore it has been a sacred spot of singular merit of at least three or four millennia. Its famed Makara Jyotis (Divine Light) which appears mysteriously in the forest on Makara Sankranti day gave it the name Potalaka.

Astonishingly, it appears that the Dalai Lama's Palace in Lhasa, the incomparable Potala, is named after Sabarimala! The Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) Avalokitesvara Padmapani, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who is, by tradition, reincarnated as the Dalai Lama, was also the one worshipped at Sabarimala.

I am indebted to my cerebral friend Devakumar Sreevijayan (formerly of Austin, Texas and currently of New York City) for almost all of this fascinating research. It is in three texts: the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Hymn to the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, and the writings of the intrepid Chinese traveller Hsiuen Tsang (Zuen Xang?), that we find the detailed references. Dev found a good deal of information in the book, The Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara by Lokesh Chandra.

But there is ample circumstantial evidence for Kerala's Buddhist/Jain past. Unlike Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh and Sravanabelagola in Karnataka, they have left no large monuments in Kerala, but it is known that Kodungallur, for example, was a Buddhist centre. Kodungallur, at the time known as Muziris, was a major port; a Buddhist nunnery there became a great Devi temple later, associated with Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic Silappathikaram (The Jewelled Anklet) written by the Chera Prince Ilango Adigal, who lived in what is now Kerala.

The revered Patriarch Bodhidharma (Daruma in Japanese) from Kodungallur was the originator of the Zen sect (dhyana in Sanskrit, Ch'anin Chinese) -- he went to the Shao-Lin monastery in China (420-479 CE), and he took the martial art of kalari payat there for the protection of the unarmed monks, whence the various martial arts of East Asia. According to Chinese legend, Bodhidharma also created the tea plant, by tearing off his eyelids and planting them in the ground: presumably this means he also took the tea plant with him.

The legend of Mahabali -- the asura king sent to the underworld by an avatar of Lord Vishnu -- also gives clues to the Hindu-Buddhist past: an egalitarian Buddhist rule overthrown by Brahmin-led Upanishadic Hindus. Perhaps there was a period of co-existence, much like the centuries-old peaceful co-existence between the followers of the Buddha and Eswara/Siva in South East Asia. In the great temples of Java and Cambodia, Eswara/Buddha are almost seen as interchangeable.

At Prambanan in Java (the Hindu counterpart to the great Buddhist complex at Borobudur) and at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the images of Siva/Eswara and of the Buddha are sometimes intermixed; apparently there was no great animosity between the worshippers of both. Similarly, one might hope, the transitions from Siva to the Buddha to Ayyappan were relatively peaceful.

The circumstantial evidence for the Buddhist nature of Lord Ayyappan is compelling. For one, the devotees chant: "Swamiye saranam Ayyappa," so close to the Buddhist mantra: "Buddham saranam gacchami, Sangham saranam gacchami, Dhammam saranam gacchami."

Furthermore, the very sitting posture of the Ayyappan deity is suggestive: almost every Buddhist image anywhere, including those sometimes unearthed in the fields of Travancore by farmers, is in sitting position. Whereas practically no other deity in Kerala is in that posture.

Says Lokesh Chandra: 'The Avatamsaka Sutra describes the earthly paradise of Avalokitesvara: ''Potalaka is on the sea-side in the south, it has woods, it has streams, and tanks''...Buddhabhadra's (AD 420) rendering of Potala (or Potalaka) is ''Brilliance." It refers to its etymology: Tamil pottu (potti-) ''to light (as a fire)''...brilliance refers to the makara-jyoti of Sabarimala.'

'Hsuen Tsang refers to Avalokitesvara on the Potala in the following words, summarised by Waters (1905): ''In the south of the country near the sea was the Mo-lo-ya (Malaya) mountain, with its lofty cliffs and ridges and deep valleys and gullies, on which were sandal, camphor and other trees. To the east of this was Pu-ta-lo-ka (Potalaka) mountain with steep narrow paths over its cliffs and gorges in irregular confusion...'' '

All of this is still true; Hsuen Tsang's description could easily be of contemporary Sabarimala. The only difference perhaps is that the forests are no longer so dense. Pilgrims believe that those who ignore the strict penances -- abstinence from alcohol, smoking, meat-eating and sex -- are in danger of being attacked by wild animals while on their trek. However, there are not too many large animals in these forests any more, as a result of human encroachment.

Lokesh Chandra continues: 'Hsuen Tsang clearly says that Avalokitesvara at Potala sometimes takes the form of Isvara (Siva) and sometimes that of a Pasupata yogin. In fact, it was Siva who was metamorphosed into Avalokitesvara...The image at Potalaka which was originally Siva, was deemed to be Avalokitesvara when Buddhism became dominant... The Potalaka Lokesvara and the Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara have echoes of Siva and Vishnu, of Hari and Hara.'

'...Lord Ayyappa of Sabarimala... could have been the Potala Lokesvara of Buddhist literature. The makara jyoti of Sabarimala recalls Potala's "brilliance"... The long, arduous and hazardous trek through areas known to be inhabited by elephants and other wildlife to Sabarimala is spoken of in the pilgrimage to Potala Lokesvara. The Buddhist character of Ayyappa is explicit in his merger with Dharma-sasta. Sasta is a synonym of Lord Buddha.'

Thus, the history of Sabarimala is to some extent a microcosm of the religious history of India. It is interesting that there are connections between Kerala, in the deep South, and Ladakh/Zanskar in the far North, where the last of the Tibetan Buddhists practise their religion unmolested.

Those devout Ayyappan pilgrims in their dark clothes symbolising the abandonment of their egos, who flock to the hill temple in the cool winter months, are thus, in a way, celebrating two of the great religious streams of Mother India: both the Hindu present and the Buddhist past.

happy makara sankranti, makara vilakku, pongal, etc. to all! sun enters capricorn on the 14th; makara jyoti at sabarimala

2012-01-13T22:26:00.003-08:00

happy makara sankranti, makara vilakku, pongal, etc. to all! sun enters capricorn on the 14th; makara jyoti at sabarimala

2012-01-13T22:26:00.001-08:00

saving indigenous cattle breeds: p sainath in the hindu

2012-01-12T17:22:00.005-08:00

jan 6th, 2012 CE

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/article2775282.ece?homepage=true

#asia rising 1.0. on jan 2, 1905, russia surrendered to japan. admiral tojo had defeated russians in yellow sea

2012-01-12T17:22:00.003-08:00

jan 2nd, 2011

first time an asian power defeated a european power in recent history, certainly in a naval engagement.

i got this from the new york time, but not sure if the year is accurate, because there were further battles in 1905.

On Jan. 2, 1905, Japanese Gen. Nogi received from Russian Gen. Stoessel at 9 o'clock P.M. a letter formally offering to surrender, ending the Russo-Japanese War.

is the NYT wrong by a year? wasn't the major battle of tsushima later? http://www.cityofart.net/bship/tsushima.html apparently the japanese trounced the russians then.

however, let us also remember how little travancore had defeated the dutch at the battle of colachel in 1741. see my piece on this from 1996. http://in.rediff.com/news/jan/14raj.htm

Pak coup: not if or when, but why? Army has good deal now

2012-01-12T17:22:00.001-08:00

Today pak army has total control (as always) with not even nominal responsibility. (as sonia enjoys). Why screw this up by removing figleaf 'democracy' and rubber-stamp PM? So this coup talk is all diplomatic theater. Entertainment but no substance, sort of like sachin's century.

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Burmese separatists sign peace treaties as soon as US warms to junta

2012-01-12T17:03:00.001-08:00

We are seeing in front of our eyes a complete 180 degree makeover of Myanmar as soon as US decided it has strategic value vs china. No longer painted as evil (compare reverse transformation of saddam hussain). Karen and other (christian) rebel armies signing truce. So US can turn on or off the pressure at will.

Similarly if India were ever seen as valuable, naga, mizo etc (christian) separatists would be told to shut shop.

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Genocide in South Sudan, newly created 'homeland for Christians'

2012-01-12T16:54:00.001-08:00

Sounds like Pakistan-Bangladesh story on fast forward. Christian groups massacring each other. Also sounds like hutu - tutsi genocide in Rwanda some years ago. Or the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Moral: countries based on Abrahamic religions are not viable, as the us-vs-them syndrome will turn on other differences like tribe or language or race once everyone is converted to the religion of love or the religion of peace or the religion of marx, and the infidels have been wiped out.

Those supporting communists, or the DMK, or the Christian separatists in the Northeast please note.

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Misplaced priorities on Science

2012-01-11T23:19:00.001-08:00

I had earlier raised the issue; pure scientific output alone based on the quality of research AND thought process would lead India to the status of soft power.

India's record as far as citations or pure academic research is appalling. It is not surprising because the basic education system is rotten to the core. Although there are concept papers to "kick-start" the interest in science, there is no urgency on these counts.

For the same reason, patent filings are minuscule as compared to US/Europe which is reflection of poor scientific output.

I am not overtly concerned by the Hans increasing their scope of scientific research, their efforts to scale up super computers or efforts culminating for deep space research etc. Cost overruns and red tapism is inherent in all systems because of unforeseen circumstances but this does not commensurate with the quality of output.

For the same reason, the health care and hence the quality of publications is sparse in the scientific field. There is a total breakdown of the primary and secondary health care leading to rush of patients towards "super-specialists". With falling investments in public health care, the private entrepreneurs have reared their ugly head leading to significant increase in costs for all parties concerned. In this scenario, it's even harder to expect quality output because of excessive demands on the health care service providers.

The idea behind this blog post is to identify the problem; because this affects us in a fundamental manner-directly or indirectly.

Irrespective of the party in power, these questions are almost never asked. Disproptionate column space is allotted to "bollywood stars"; the space for scientific articles has slowly been replaced by tender announcements, Government ads, classified and cricket news.

Sad state of affairs.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

jan 12th, 150th birth anniversary of the great Swami Vivekananda

2012-01-11T22:29:00.001-08:00

jan 11th, 2012 CE

he was an example of a renaissance man, who had an element of the divine in him.

my hypothesis: the 'yuga' in hindu scripture means 1,200 years. because the Lord says 'sambhavami yuge yuge' whenever dharma is in decline.

let us look at history:

2500 years ago, when dharma had declined badly, He reincarnated Himself as the Buddha and Mahavira to reform the faith.

1300 years ago, when the reform itself had deteriorated, He reincarnated Himself as Sri Sankara and the Bhakti Saints such as Manikyavachakar, who rescued the dharma

100 years ago, when dharma was under attack from the whites, He reincarnated Himself as a galaxy of great saints such as Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Narayana Guru

thus the Lord returns whenever dharama is in decline.

let us remember the incredible Swami Vivekananda today. his works and those of Sri Aurobindo are brilliantly written in very modern English idiom, and are worth every minute you spend reading them.

hans show contempt for indians: India China relations - the Yiwu incident by Bhaskar Roy

2012-01-11T21:30:00.001-08:00

jan 11th, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sanjeev nayyar

The Chinese are always right and can do no wrong! seems their moto.

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers49/paper4852.html

India-China Relations: The Yiwu Incident

By Bhaskar Roy 11/1/2012

Small incidents sometimes reveal deep malice resting somewhere deep down in the body. The recent incident in which two Indian employees of a Yemeni company were abducted by owners and employees of a local company is not only related to India- China business relations, but how Chinese business entities deal with their foreign partners with support from local authorities.

Yiwu is a trading town in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. It is bustling business center where businessmen and traders from all over the world come. Business is a two-way street and sellers and buyers are interdependent partners. Therefore, Yiwu will continue to function and flourish.

In this particular case, a Yemeni businessman and owner of the defaulting company, vanished overnight, leaving a substantial debt which his Chinese partners. The two Indian who were illegally held by the Chinese company were employees, and not owners. To get out of this situation the two Indians offered to pay whatever they had in their personal savings. But that was not obviously enough. They were ill treated and beaten up. Even this could have been sorted out, but things took a bizarre turn in the hallowed precincts of a court room.

An Indian diplomat from the Shanghai Consulate, Balachandran, who under diplomatic rights guaranteed under the Geneva Conventions, went to Yiwu to hear the court proceedings, was held in the court house with the two Indians for over seven hours without access to food, water and even medicines with support of the local court officials and law enforcers.

Balachandran’s detention has two aspects. One is medical. Denial of medicine and food to a diabetes patient can result in death due to diabetes shock. This is well known. Balachandran fainted. Had he died it would have been a major incident.

The other is diplomatic. Diplomatic impunity enjoins the host country to allow the diplomat to perform his duties without hindrance. In fact, the host government is supposed to facilitate a diplomat to do his work and enjoy certain privileges including protection from arrest or confinement. Any violation of these codes by the host government means violation of a very important international agreement and can destroy the established diplomatic behavior.

If there is so security to the life and dignity of a diplomat, what can Indian traders expect. A combination of all these factors apparently led to the Indian Embassy to issue a travel advisory to Indian businessmen planning to visit Yiwu. The Indian Embassy’s move may be questioned by some as an over reaction. But the issue had grown to proportions in India especially on the treatment meted out to the diplomat that some visible steps had to be taken by the Ministry of External Affairs. Without these steps the two Indian businessmen would be still languishing in some jail in Yiwu, and Indian diplomat’s confinement would have been brushed under the carpet.

After recouping, the Chinese official and media propaganda arm has decided to hit back in the most unfortunate manner. Arrogance and acting with impunity appears to have become the hallmark of the Chinese authorities.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hon Lei (Jan-05) suggested India to educate its businessmen in China to “practice honest and trustworthiness: and abide by Chinese laws and regulations. The State owned news agency The Xinhua (Jan 06) alleged that the Indian diplomat had tried to sneak out the two businessmen out of the court house on the pretext of going to the toilet. As with propaganda some flaws are always there. The Xinhua report did not think where the Indians would escape to when surrounded by China in Yiwu.

The Global Times, a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily, not only questioned the business ethics of Indian businessmen involved, but took the attack to the Indian Foreign Ministry. It described the actions of MEA in this case as “full of narrow nationalism, which is not wiser that the editors of Indian media”.

Certainly, there are honest businessmen and dishonest businessmen in all countries. China had its own share of dishonest businessmen, a large number of whom are absconding abroad with a substantial amount of Chinese money. Adulteration of food stuff by Chinese companies, which are also exported are well known. Tainted milk, chemically treated lean meat, tainted suchi are just among a few. These manufacturers have their own supporters among the authorities. Chinese business unscrupulousness is of legendary proportions.

One significant example of Chinese official business collaboration to coerce a foreign partner has become a must reading for businessmen doing business in China. The Australian mining giant, Rio Tinto, had its top executive in China, standby Hu, jailed on corruption charges. Hu, an Australian citizen of Chinese origin was Rio Tinto Chief Executive in China. The company had prevented a Chinese conglomerate from a $18 billion partial takeover bid. There were other political and strategic issues.

The Indian and Australian examples are only examples. There are other Indian experiences in China, and many countries have suffered more. On the contrary Chinese companies and workers have got away lightly and with dignity when their shoddy work led to an accident killing 41 Indians.

China’s national slogan is China can do no wrong. Its national driving force is making money by whatever means. The mixture of the two make for heady concoction there reason and truth are the main casualties.

It must also be admitted that China’s Central government’s control over the provinces and countries are not strong enough. The business mafia-party officials-government officials – police/security have established such a strong nexus to usurp and cheat there own countrymen with impunity, that a serious backlash from their people is only a matter of time.

The world and India will continue to do business with China, as China will do business with the outside world. The Chinese must realize that despite its overall economic strength, it is still a largely developing country, and is export dependent. The India-China trade is around $60 billion and is poised to expand much more. China holds a huge trade advantage over India, and its exports are manufactured low cost industrial goods. Chinese misbehaviour with Indian businessmen and diplomats may cause them to lose substantial portion of this market eventually. It is not only India, but many other countries have complained about China’s business ethics.

Warm Regards
sanjeev nayyar
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Reminder: Katha Fiction Contest 2012 is on!

2012-01-11T21:27:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: India Currents

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Katha Fiction Contest 2012

India Currents and Khabar magazines invite submissions for the KATHA FICTION CONTEST 2012.

Cash prizes (First Prize $300, Second Prize $200, Third Prize $100) and two honorable mentions.

CONTEST GUIDELINES:
1. One submission per individual.
2. Submissions should consist of one short story or extract from a longer work up to 3,000 words in length.
3. Entries should be unpublished works and should not have won previous awards or contests.

E-MAIL YOUR STORY as a Word File Attachment to: editor@indiacurrents.com
with Subject: KATHA

In the Word file, include only the title and the story itself.

In the body of your e-mail, write this statement:

Here is my submission for Katha: Desi Fiction Contest 2012.

Title of Story:
Word Count:
Name:
Address:
Email Address:
Brief Biographical Statement:
(Include publication or award history if applicable)

I warrant that I am the sole author of, and have exclusive rights to the enclosed material. I hereby release full rights for the enclosed material or any segment or portion thereof to Katha and its sponsors, and authorize Katha to use my name and work in any publicity or promotions for Katha. I also understand that if my story is not shortlisted for publication by the Katha sponsors, the rights will revert back to me on March 30, 2013.
-(your full name)

Submissions not following these guidelines will be automatically disqualified from the contest. Disqualified entrants will not be notified.

DEADLINE: MARCH 30, 2012

All entrants will be notified of the results by e-mail by June 30, 2012.
Winning entries will be considered for publishing in upcoming issues of India Currents and Khabar.

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non-proliferation by assassination?: Israeli daily report haaretz on Iran killing

2012-01-11T21:26:00.001-08:00

jan 11th, 2012 CE

of course, the americans or israelis never thought to bump off a q khan or any chinese nuclear physicist. curious, ainnit?

but they found ways of bumping off homi bhabha and vikram sarabhai.

shows you who the US considers allies and enemies.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: mk

Haaretz, January 12, 2012

Le Figaro: Israel's Mossad recruiting Iranian dissidents to work against Tehran regime

French report quotes security sources in Baghdad as saying that Israel is training Iranians in Iraq's Kurdish region to operate against Ayatollah regime

The leading French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Wednesday that Israeli Mossad agents are recruiting and training Iranian dissidents from Iraq’s Kurdish region to work against the regime in Tehran.

Quoting a security source in Baghdad, Le Figaro reported that members of the Israeli intelligence agency are actively operating in Kurdistan and recruiting Iranian exiles in the region.

Foreign media has reported in the past that Israel's Mossad has been recruiting Iranians in opposition to the Ayatollah regime in Tehran and uses them to carry out bombings.

On Wednesday, Iranian media reported that a nuclear scientist who was supervising a department at Natanz uranium enrichment facility was killed by a car bomb in Tehran.

Fars cited witnesses as saying a motorcyclist stuck a magnetic bomb on the side of the car which then exploded, killing one and wounding two people inside.

Deputy Governor Safarali Baratloo blamed Israel for the bombing, saying it was similar to ones targeting nuclear scientists a year ago.

"The bomb was a magnetic one and the same as the ones previously used for the assassination of the scientists, and is the work of the Zionists [Israelis]" Fars quoted Baratloo as saying.

The attack coincided with the second anniversary of a explosion that killed senior Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari.

Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in recent years. Tehran has blamed the killings on Israel and the U.S. Both countries deny the accusations.

Dubious advances at CES: connected cars, intel-based smartphones

2012-01-11T17:42:00.001-08:00

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Tariq ali on pak dictators via Kanchan Gupta (KanchanGupta)

2012-01-11T16:56:00.001-08:00

Kanchan Gupta (KanchanGupta):
The series of Army-dictators-in-Pakistan tweets were from Tariq Ali's New Statesman essay which everybody should read. http://t.co/5WetZybh

The series of Army-dictators-in-Pakistan tweets were from Tariq Ali's New Statesman essay which everybody should read. bit.ly/yUdA16
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) January 11, 2012

(Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

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Wsj: Huawei smartphones rock bottom of pyramid segment in US

2012-01-11T16:36:00.005-08:00

the Chinese are coming! Lock up your daughters!

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Skyscraper boom: economic disaster in india, China via H.G.ಚಿನ್ಮಯ (RhivasSeagull)

2012-01-11T16:36:00.003-08:00

H.G.ಚಿನ್ಮಯ (RhivasSeagull):
@RajeevSrinivasa "unhealthy correlation" b/n world's tallest buildings & impending financial crisis says Barclays - http://t.co/cU6B4czc

@RajeevSrinivasa "unhealthy correlation" b/n world's tallest buildings & impending financial crisis says Barclays - news.yahoo.com/china-india-sk…
— H.G.ಚಿನ್ಮಯ (@RhivasSeagull) January 11, 2012

(Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

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Wsj: regulation, downturn, case against Vodafone, all cooling India ardor

2012-01-11T16:36:00.001-08:00

Not so sure about this case alone, but India story is in the toilet. Credit to great economists including NATIONAL ABOMINATION COUNCIL who are fiddling with communal violence bill and food insecurity bill while country burns. Foreigners wisely exiting dysfunctional economy.

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Taking on the Speculators

2012-01-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

What Would a European Tobin Tax Really Mean?

The European Commission, the EU's executive, has proposed implementing a tax starting in 2014 on all transactions involving stocks, bonds and derivatives that are conducted between financial institutions. It would apply to banks, insurance companies, investment funds, stockbrokers and hedge funds, among other financial firms.

The taxes would be paid by both partners in the transaction, the seller and the buyer. For stocks, a tax of 0.1 percent has been proposed. For derivatives, such as, for example, futures or credit default swaps (CDS), the tax would be 0.01 percent.

So, if a bank were to sell stocks worth €100,000 to a hedge fund, each would have to pay €100 in tax on the transaction. If, on the other hand, a manufacturer of heavy equipment were to buy a currency futures contract worth €100,000 to protect itself against fluctuations in the euro-dollar exchange rate, it would have to pay €10, as would the bank that was its party in the contract.

Britain itself still has a tax on trading of shares -- the so-called Stamp Duty Reserve Tax of 0.5 percent of the sale price. It currently generates revenues of around €5 billion per year. With the introduction of a Europe-wide transaction tax, the charge would also be applied to other securities and to foreign exchange markets. Indeed, that is precisely what the British government wants to prevent.

Spiegel: Taking on the Speculators --What Would a European Tobin Tax Really Mean? By Stefan Kaiser

Congress' shame, not nation's: Kanchan Gupta (KanchanGupta)

2012-01-10T17:23:00.003-08:00

Kanchan Gupta (KanchanGupta):
Congress in power for nearly 55 years since 1947. We are told by Shri Pradhan Mantri 42% of our children are malnourished. Signal success.

Congress in power for nearly 55 years since 1947. We are told by Shri Pradhan Mantri 42% of our children are malnourished. Signal success.
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) January 10, 2012

(Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

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Triple Entente in asia: Brahma Chellaney (Chellaney)

2012-01-10T17:23:00.001-08:00

Brahma Chellaney (Chellaney):
Asia's New Triple Entente: My Project Syndicate column on the emerging trilateral geopolitical configuration: http://t.co/I1IK4jLB

Asia's New Triple Entente: My Project Syndicate column on the emerging trilateral geopolitical configuration: bit.ly/ya71SJ
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) January 10, 2012

(Sent via Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com)

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wsj: one laptop per child has morphed into 'one tablet per child'.

2012-01-09T08:58:00.001-08:00

jan 9th, 2012 CE

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/01/07/one-tablet-per-child-non-profit-now-says/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=

malaysia's anwar ibrahim acquitted of sodomy charges. amazed given trends there.

2012-01-09T08:54:00.001-08:00

wsj: #akash is good. oh, did you know bulk of india's middle class is call-center people?

2012-01-09T08:10:00.001-08:00

jan 8th, 2012 CE

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/01/08/the-inside-story-of-indias-50-computer-tablet/

gotta love these american experts.

Tulsi to be Used as an Anti-Radiation Medicine

2012-01-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

The ancient Indian tradition of growing tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) in the backyard is not without scientific backing.
Research shows that the tulsi, or Indian basil, mitigates the ill-effects of radiation, whether background or nuclear, and could protect cells in patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer.

Scientists at the DRDO’s Institute of Nuclear Medicines and Allied Sciences, and the Department of Radiobiology, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, have successfully tested tulsi extracts on mice for its anti-radiation and anti-cancer properties. The DRDO is now preparing a herbal concoction from tulsi that will serve to both prevent and cure the ill-effects of radiation.

In the mouse model, there was no impact on bone marrow after the mice exposed to radiation ingested the tulsi preparation. It is the bone marrow that is affected in case of radiation exposure, and this brings down the immunity level.

The DRDO now proposes to take up human trials, says Dr W. Selvamurthy, chief controller (research and development), DRDO, who presented a research paper on the anti-radiation impact of tulsi extract at the 99th Indian Science Congress, which concluded in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.

DC: Tulsi mitigates radiation effects - By Syed Akbar

Dalal Dhimmi media

2012-01-07T16:51:00.000-08:00

About a week ago, a deranged person, possibly a racist bigot went on a rampage attacking a Hindu place of worship, a Shia Islamic center and an African American church - in the New York area with Molotov cocktails, ostensibly motivated by "personal vendetta".

I was watching the news on TV.
Even CNN, which usually exhibits a condescending and derisive attitude toward anything Hindu - thought it appropriate to report the incidents as a possible hate crime, including the attack on what turned out to be a Hindu priest's home where people congregated occassionally for Bhajans and ceremonies.

Browsing through channels in between advertisements, I switched to Nehru Dynasty TV (NDTV, if you didn't get it) where
a "breaking news" item was reported from the U.S. A Detailed account of the Molotov cocktail attack on the Islamic center followed. I waited for Burka Dutt's channel to mention the attack on the Hindu place of worship - but there was none!

Nehru Dynasty TV simply omitted any reference to the incident - in keeping with the long (7 decade long) tradition of Nehruvian Stalinist negationism and distortion of history pertaining to iconoclasm against Hindu objects of reverence, practised by invading hordes of the binary death cults.

Is there any reason not to conclude that NDTV considers Hindus as a sub-human class of people - whom it is ok to oppress, attack and denigrate?
Hate crimes, even terrorist attacks against Hindus are to be simply NEGATED, to be treated as too trivial to report?
Hindus are to be considered unworthy of respect, sympathy or fundamental human rights?

There needs to be full disclosure regarding:
Burka Dutt's marital & religious antecedents. Isn't it a fact that Burka is married to a Kashmiri Mohammedan called Haseeb something?

There also needs to be full disclosure regarding NDTV's sources of funding, ex: are there any Saudi or other Gulf Arab investors as in the academic prostitution in JNU, facilitated by the late, unlamented Arjun Singh?

The non-neutral, pimp/dalal nature of NDTV, Burka in particular as the running propaganda dogs & fixers of the
Nehru dynasty is already evident from the Nira Radia tapes. The ideological and/or pecuniary considerations underpinning
NDTV's unique brand of intellectual masturbation needs to be inquired into.

UPDATE: To "Unknown" commenter.(updating post because of issues with blogger interface)

What more evidence of NDTV's anti- Hindu bias is required other than viewing a few hours worth of their
"content"? To our chatterati, seeing is believing. How many people bother to go read the "content" on their website? When they are enthralled by Burka & company's journalistic dishonesty. What evidence do you have that you are a neutral observer, given your odd
pseudonym "Unknown"? Please provide evidence to the effect that you are not a NDTV troll on Burka's pay or otherwise

Whither Science??

2012-01-06T18:54:00.001-08:00

Strange but true. The Indian National Science Congress ONLY made news because Man"moron" Singh said that women need more "space" in the scientific output.

That's it. Unless you actually see the huge gap of citations in the scientific journals.
Sent from my BlackBerry

How to Bypass Internet Censorship

2012-01-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is an excellent tutorial for the lay people to understand the reasons for "by-passing" the Internet. Indeed, the time is ripe for such user based interventions because the Government is getting increasingly edgy about the "free speech".

http://en.flossmanuals.net/bypassing-censorship/index/

As described on the above link, this is defined as:

Depending on who is restricting access to the Internet and/or monitoring its use, and the perspective of the person whose access is being restricted, nearly any of these goals and any of the methods used to achieve them may be seen as legitimate and necessary or as unacceptable censorship and a violation of fundamental human rights.

The users should increasingly become aware of taking back their private lives. For example, spending too much time on social sites like Facebook, clearly increases the chance of identifying you publicly based on your activity. Infact, it is very easy to trace anyone through various means; specifically when you visit the web sites.

For best results use ONLY Firefox browser and not Chrome because it "tells" Google EVERYTHING about the sites you visit, the time spent and even the usernames and passwords (an allegation though because it sends everything to Google through encrypted channel).

These companies like Google can easily be served warrants to reveal information about unique identity allotted to each user.

The best you can do is to install Ad-block plus, No-script and https everywhere add ons in Firefox. Make sure that you also delete the Flash Cookies (the so called LSO cookies), and in firefox, can easily avoid detection by rejecting the "third party cookies". Indeed, this is very technical subject and needs a separate post to make it accessible and understandable to a vast majority of users.

On the flipside, I am looking for a good reliable VPN host, preferably European because the privacy laws in Europe are generally deemed better than Americans. Any idea/suggestion is more than welcome!

theodore dalrymple on how #brits have reverted to thuggery: http://www.city-journal.org/2012/eon0105td.html

2012-01-05T22:34:00.001-08:00

jan 5th, 2012 CE

we should not be amazed. britain has always been full of brutes, but they wrote the history books to make themselves look good. now that the empire (read India) which kept them in clover -- they stole about $10 trillion in today's money -- they are reverting to their natural state as thuggish ruffians. the football hooligans and the yobs are a sneak preview of what the brits are REALLY like. don't let the plummy accents and talk of 'tradition' fool you. they are barbarians. the romans had much to say about how savage the brits were: and that remains true (ok, it's not as though the romans' descendants are all that great, either, i admit.)

of course, there are a couple of really wonderful brits, such as the late christopher hitchens and theodore dalrymple. but they are the exception that proves the rule.

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/eon0105td.html

petition: Stop the Talibanisation of W.Bengal's border; Protect India's Sovereignty

2012-01-05T21:21:00.001-08:00

jan 5th, 2012 CE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anita Ray <mail@change.org>
Date: Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 3:00 AM
Subject: His Excellency, Hon. Prime Minister of India: Stop the Talibanisation of W.Bengal's border; Protect India's Sovereignty
To:

Hello,

I just signed the petition "Honourable Prime Minister of India: Stop the Talibanisation of West Bengal's border; Protect India's Sovereignty" and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.

Our goal is to reach 10,000 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/his-excellency-hon-prime-minister-of-india-stop-the-talibanisation-of-wbengals-border-protect-indias-sovereignty

If you agree, PLEASE sign this online petition and forward it to your contacts.

Every time this online petition is signed by each supporter, a copy of the petition letter is automatically emailed to all the officials in the TO and CC lists below.

Overview:

This is a Petition to the Hon. Prime Minister of India, requesting immediate action to Stop the Talibanisation of West Bengal's border; Protect India's Sovereignty".

Why This Is Important:

This is an urgent petition, requesting the Hon. Prime Minister to take immediate cognisance of the Frequent Trans-Border Violations of India's Sovereignty (which has been Repeatedly Compromised) and take stringent action to Stop the Talibanisation of West Bengal's lawless border with Bangladesh.

We request an immediate enquiry into the drastically worsening Law & Order situation in the international border towns of Bangaon and Taki-Hasnabad, as well as the border villages of Sutia and Bagan Gaon (P.S.Bangaon) - all of which are in North 24 Parganas district.

We request the Hon. Prime Minister to take immediate action to stop the repeated transgressions of India’s national sovereignty, since the Government of India is duty bound by the Indian Constitution to preserve our country’s sovereignty, failing to accomplish which would prove to be quite disgraceful for the Government.

We implore the Hon. Prime Minister to direct the errant Border Security Force (BSF) officials to stop pandering to extremist elements by willfully turning a blind eye towards cross-border terror and take immediate steps to prevent the atrocities being committed by the extremist culprits on those tens of thousands of Indian citizens who refuse to kowtow to the Talibanisation of Paschim Banga (West Bengal).

We urge an end to official abetment and collusion with cross-border fanatic infiltrators who endanger India's National Security, worsen the Law and Order situation, commit wanton Atrocities on Women, indulge in Human Trafficking and openly violate the fundamental Human Rights and Animal Rights laws enshrined in the Indian Constitution, thereby creating an adverse impact on Poverty and Environmental Sustainability in this vulnerable border region.

Please click on the "Letter" tab (right next to the "About" tab) to see the full draft of the petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/his-excellency-hon-prime-minister-of-india-stop-the-talibanisation-of-wbengals-border-protect-indias-sovereignty

Text of the Letter:

Protect India's Sovereignty Against Intrusions from Bangladesh

Dear Hon. Prime Minister of India (His Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh),

Whilst New Delhi celebrates the New Year in a carefree manner, those tens of thousands of Indian citizens, who live along West Bengal's lawless international border with Bangladesh, are spending each and every day in excruciatingly dangerous environs, reminiscent of the dark days preceding India's partition in 1947.

We request an immediate enquiry into the Frequent Cross-Border Violations of India's Sovereignty (which has been Repeatedly Compromised) and proactive steps to reverse the drastically worsening Law and Order situation in the international border towns of Bangaon (P.S. Bangaon) and Taki (P.S. Hasnabad in Basirhat), as well as the border villages of Sutia and Bagan Gaon (P.S. Bangaon) - all of which are located in North 24 Parganas district.

Here is a detailed assessment of the alarming situation vis-à-vis important issues regarding national security from Mr. Tapan Kumar Ghosh, who is a renowned human rights activist, grassroots community organiser and social reformer in West Bengal.

1) Bangaon:

Bangaon is the most important check-post on the India-Bangladesh border. The regions under Bangaon Police Station and Bangaon Sub Division are Hindu majority. Demographically, on the Indian side of the border, there are more Hindu-dominated villages and fewer Muslim-dominated villages.

But Bangaon is nevertheless the hotbed of illegal Human Trafficking (into India) and clandestine Cow Smuggling (into Bangladesh) for beef slaughter. Touts (dalals) are directly involved in bringing thousands of infiltrators from Bangladesh into India on a daily basis. This reflects the ground reality in not just Bangaon, but also in several locations throughout the India-Bangladesh border.

All these movements described above do NOT include legal passage (with passports and visas). These are entirely illegal movements of infiltrators accomplished by the touts bribing the officials of the Border Security Force (BSF), Border Guards Bangladesh (formerly known as Bangladesh Rifles or BDR), West Bengal Police and local clubs. All it takes is a bribe of 500 rupees per infiltrator to persuade the Indian border officials to let the infiltrator through. No questions are asked. No passports or visas are required for entry into India. Just a 500 rupee currency note, emblazoned with the smiling visage of Mahatma Gandhi, substitutes for the passport and visa. In other words, the price of India's sovereignty is on sale for a paltry 500 rupees.

Considering the demographic pattern in Bangaon and the entire India-Bangladesh border in Bangaon sub-division, it should not be difficult for the BSF to “control” the area in view of National Security. (In sharp contrast, the neighbouring Basirhat sub-division, especially along the international border, is entirely Muslim majority and Muslim dominated, which can understandably prove to be a tougher area for the BSF to “control” and enforce the rule of law.)

But, for the past one year (since 2010-2011), it is a veritable understatement to say that the gates of Bangaon are absolutely wide open to the Bangladeshi infiltrators. Every day, scores of Bangladeshi infiltrators are freely entering India and loitering in the predominantly Hindu majority Bangaon town, and going to their respective destinations inside West Bengal and the rest of India.

It is shocking to see that the Border Security Force (BSF) has become totally defunct and non-existent at Bangaon. We apprehend that this treacherous metamorphosis is either due to extreme corruption at the upper echelons of BSF or due to a clear directive from the Government officials or both.

The end result is invariably that National Security is being seriously compromised. And the side effect is that the position and security of Indian citizens are being increasingly weakened in Bangaon town and all surrounding villages throughout the border region.

2) Taki-Hasnabad:

Another dangerous incident occurred recently at Taki (under Hasnabad P.S) in neighbouring Basirhat sub division. One can only guess the powers-that-be at whose behest this travesty was orchestrated.

This small town Taki-Hasnabad is situated on the international riverine border, where the Ichhamati river flows between India and Bangladesh, separating the two countries. It is a tradition that on the day of Vijaya Dashami, the villagers from both sides, i.e. West Bengal and East Bengal (now Bangladesh), meet together on boats in mid-river on the occasion of joint immersion of Durga Deities. Taking advantage of this opportunity, every year, some Bangladeshi infiltrators sneak into India. In the past, the BSF kept a vigil.

However, during the most recent Durga Puja immersion (October 6, 2011), the BSF was totally absent and/or defunct in Taki. The BSF facilitated the free entry of foreign nationals and allowed one and all to enter India without any type of checking. The Indian citizens of Taki were shocked to see that, since the very morning, thousands of Bangladeshi infiltrators were pouring into India with their luggage, trunks etc. But the BSF and West Bengal police did not take any cognisance and did absolutely NOTHING - which is an unforgivable act of treason given that none of the interlopers carried passports or visas.

While officials conservatively estimate that more than 20,000 illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators openly entered into India on that single day, the Indian residents of Taki contend that 100,000 cross-border miscreants entered Indian territory on that very day, sexually molesting Indian women and girls while rampaging and ransacking Indian shops before proceeding to their final destinations inside West Bengal and the rest of India.

In their October 8, 2011 and October 10, 2011 editions, two prominent Bengali newspapers in India reported the details of this blatantly shocking invasion and "Open Door Policy" of the BSF that has severely compromised the National Security and Integrity of India.

Ananda Bazar Patrika: http://www.anandabazar.com/archive/1111008/8pgn2.html?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email

Bartaman Patrika: http://bartamanpatrika.com/archive/2011/october/081011/index.htm?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email

3) Sutia and Bagan Gaon (P.S. Bangaon):

More recently, on the night of Dec 31, 2011, about 60 Bangladeshi Cow Smugglers entered Indian territory by crossing the knee-deep waters of Kudulia river into the border villages of Sutia and Bagan Gaon. In a routine operation, these smugglers intruded into India to collect thousands of Indian cattle (kept ready by their Indian counterparts) and herd them into Bangladesh for beef slaughter. These two Indian villages faced the fourth such intrusion within the past 3 months; the first one being on October 10, 2011.

The third intrusion was on the night of Dec 30, 2011 where over 500 Bangladeshis crossed into Indian territory for the same purposes. BSF jawans had chased them back to the “zero line” of the border. When the intruders retaliated with heavy brickbats, some BSF jawans were injured. But the BSF jawans could NOT open fire in self-defence as there is a strict order to the BSF from the Government of India not to open fire, under any circumstances, at any Bangladeshi smugglers, infiltrators or dacoits who rule the roost in the border areas. The Bangladeshi intruders know this "open secret" very well and so, they are taking full advantage of the fact that the BSF is pretending to go about the motions of defending India with both hands tied behind its back.

During the fourth intrusion on the night of Dec 31, 2011, in spite of desperate appeals from Indian villagers, BSF jawans did not even bother to come to the spot because of their previous night's traumatic experience. So, this time, there was no BSF and no West Bengal police to stop the intruders and assist the Indian villagers. While the BSF shirked its primary responsibility, the only resistance came from about 50-odd unarmed Indian villagers and civilian volunteers who kept valiantly chasing the well-armed infiltrators, even though they were outnumbered and outgunned by the Bangladeshis. This night is a shameful New Year’s Eve that will live forever in infamy in Indian history.

Ananda Bazar Patrika, in its January 1, 2012 edition, covered this incident of Cow smuggling on Friday night in page 15.

http://www.anandabazar.com/jibjagat.html

http://www.anandabazar.com/1jibjagat1.html

The photographs and details of the raid on October 10, 2011 are available at:

http://www.hindusamhati.blogspot.com/2011/10/armed-bangladeshi-muslim-intruders_14.html

Not only does these recurring incidents point to the willful transgression being condoned (and even encouraged) by the complicit or fearful Indian authorities conveniently turning a blind eye to this massive problem looming on our frontiers, but these also underline how the entire border region of West Bengal has become the bastion of anti-Indian smugglers whose writ runs unchallenged throughout the India-Bangladesh border.

In addition, these routine cross-border smuggling raids result in a great deal of damage to Indian-owned farmlands. For example, when thousands of cows are smuggled, they are driven through Indian agricultural fields thereby damaging both fields and crops irreparably. Such unlawful activities are a clear violation of the Constitutional Rights of the Indian citizenry and exacerbate Animal Cruelty, Agricultural Land Degradation and the Criminal-Official Nexus.

Therefore, the people of West Bengal, nay India, are forced to wonder if the BSF actions, or the lack thereof, are a direct result of possible "concessions" gifted by the elected Government of India to the Bangladeshi Government during the September 2011 visit by Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh where bilateral agreements on land boundary demarcation and exchange of adversely held enclaves were signed under the cloud of the last-minute scrapping of the Teesta Water Sharing Deal.

The motivation for the authorities’ blatant contravention of the law and their turning a blind eye to such atrocities is debatable. The root cause may be monetary or a new rule of pandering to extremist elements to appease their political masters. Such unscrupulous elements bring notoriety to the uniform they wear and the positions they hold.

We request the Hon. Prime Minister to take immediate action to stop the repeated transgressions of India’s sovereignty, since the Government of India is duty bound by the Indian Constitution to preserve our country’s sovereignty, failing to accomplish which would prove to be quite disgraceful for the Government.

We request the Hon. Prime Minister to take immediate action to stop the growing Talibanisation of West Bengal's lawless border with Bangladesh as it is the dire need of the hour. We urge a thorough investigation of these issues (which have deep repercussions) and take stringent action against such errant public servants, who break the very law they are supposed to enforce.

Sincerely,

CC:

Hon. Home Minister of India (Mr. P.Chidambaram)
Hon. President of India (Dr. Pratibha Patil)
Hon. Chief Justice, Supreme Court of India (Mr. Sarosh Homi Kapadia)
Hon. Finance Minister and Member of Parliament from West Bengal (Mr. Pranab Mukherjee)
Hon. Chief Minister of West Bengal (Ms. Mamata Banerjee)
Hon. Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal (Mr. Samar Ghosh, IAS)
Hon. Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Government of West Bengal (Mr. G.D. Gautama, IAS)
Hon. Director General, Border Security Force (Mr. U.K.Bansal)
Hon. Director General of Police, West Bengal (Mr. Naparajit Mukherjee)

[Your name]
----------------
If, you agree, PLEASE sign this online petition and forward it.

http://www.change.org/petitions/his-excellency-hon-prime-minister-of-india-stop-the-talibanisation-of-wbengals-border-protect-indias-sovereignty

My sincere apologies if you received this email more than once.

Thanks!

@salmanrushdie remembers christopher #hitchens @hitchbitch. hitch, the best essayist of a generation.

2012-01-05T21:14:00.001-08:00

jan 5th, 2012 CE

and one of the very very few decent Brits around.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nik

http://salmanrushdie1.tumblr.com/post/15369634397/christopher-hitchens-vanity-fair-feb-2012

limeyland: a country of drunk thugs

2012-01-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

who am i to disagree with the good doctor

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/eon0105td.html

seriously though this is also a problem in india with the idle rich. i remember a couple of cases in delhi where the scum drove over some homeless people sleeping on the pavement - not to forget the jessica lal case. i think they were all connected with kkkangress higher ups - a talent for murder methinks!

darn good phishing mail: PayPal Notification: Temporary suspension

2012-01-05T10:14:00.001-08:00

jan 5th, 2012 CE

those nigerians or russians or whoever are getting pretty darn clever! this note is almost indistinguishable from the real thing, except for minor spelling and verbiage errors.

hmmmm... epiphanycamden.org is a site for a christian fundamentalist organization. interesting. they are phishing for logins and passwords?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PayPaI <noreply-alert@paypal.corn>
Date: Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 5:09 PM
Subject: PayPal Notification: Temporary suspension
To:

----------------------------------------------------------------

Recently, PayPal received a notification from a user
regarding unauthorized access to their PayPal account. Consequently,
one of the payments credited to your PayPal account has been
temporarily suspended while we investigate the claim. PayPal
constantly monitors transactions to prevent fraudulent
use of accounts and ensure the safety of users.

The details of the transaction are:
Transaction Date: December 25 , 2011
Transaction amount: $ 60.00
Email address of the buyer: dubbed12@gmail.com

Good sales practices, such as shipment tracking, fast
shipping and good communication between buyer and seller
can avoid litigation.

Currently, we have limited your account until the issue is resolved.
please feel free & follow the link bellow to unsuspend your account :
http://paypal.com-us.cgi-bin-webscr-cmd.login-submit-dispatch-00293657217786.epiphanycamden.org/0fc50930fcv49/paypal/update/us/webscr-cmd=_login-run&dispatch=1b8b5fecadd6f81d2d3c524b9e875c9b-645656

Sincerely,
PayPaI.

----------------------------------------------------------------
PROTECT YOUR PASSWORD

NEVER give your password to anyone, including PayPal
employees.

----------------------------------------------------------------

PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A.
Company Limited by Shares
Registered office: 5th Floor 22-24 Boulevard Royal L-2449,
Luxembourg
RCS Luxembourg B 118 349

PPID PP334

@rvaidya2000 on terminological terrorism http://bit.ly/wHY8gT my old blog on nomenclature terrorism http://bit.ly/x3fgoN

2012-01-05T09:32:00.001-08:00

jan 5th, 2012 CE

i am beginning to wonder if 'kim-il-jung-ism' is better than 'stalinism'.

that might piss off the nomencalture terrorists even more :-)

if raj krishna who came up with 'hindu rate of growth' is an economist, i am the queen of england. what a bloody lowlife moron communist that blighter was!

here's what professor vaidya says:

Who will save us from Terminological Terrorism?

Posted By Professor Vaidyanathan on January 4, 2012 in Columns, Featured | 6 Comments

When I was in college in the seventies during every winter the migratory birds in academia used to come to India from Europe/USA during Dec/Jan and impart wisdom to the lowly Indians. The white variety is the most preferred but the Indians in phoren institutions were also fine. The talk used to be on “American Economic models”/ “European Economic systems” and “Indian Economic problems”. India was sold to Indians as a problem. That is the initiation for me into terminological terrorism. Next came the most bizarre identification of our abysmal economic growth of the sixties and seventies as “Hindu rate of growth”. The Marxian economist Raj Krishna is the originator of this spurious and dangerous title since the economic growth rate during that period can better be called “ Nehruvian growth rate” since it was the direct result of the policies of Nehru and his advisors who wanted to usher in a “ Socialistic Pattern of society”

... deleted

this is what i said:

Nomenclature terrorism

November 2, 2008

Nomenclature terrorism

Rajeev Srinivasan on the fuss about “Hindu terrorists”

The recent fuss about alleged “Hindu terrorists” has entertained me hugely because all the usual suspects played their expected roles to perfection. The pseudo-secular media had a field day insinuating that Hindu terrorism is as major a problem in India as is Mohammedan and Christist terrorism. The UPA forgot its axiom that “terrorism has no religion”, and joyously crowed about “Hindu terrorists”. The BJP was apoplectic in its attempts to distance itself from the alleged “Hindu terrorists”.

... deleted

here's what i once wrote to the wsj re "hindu rate of growth" [sic]:

http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/07/hindu-rate-of-growth-is-racist.html

and about the 'nehruvian penalty'

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/jan/14rajeev.htm

New Legitimacy For 'Fake' Treatments

2012-01-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

It doesn't seem to matter whether people know they are getting a placebo and not a "real" treatment.

A 2001 study published in Science found that placebo was effective at improving Parkinson's disease symptoms at a magnitude similar to real medication. The placebo actually induced the brain to produce greater amounts of dopamine, the neurotransmitter known to be useful in treating the disease.
With depression, an estimated 30% to 45% of patients—or even more, in some studies—will respond to a placebo, according to a review published in December in Clinical Therapeutics. An additional 5% of patients were helped by an antidepressant in cases of mild depression, and an additional 16% in cases of severe depression.
Fertility rates have been found to improve in women getting a placebo, perhaps because they experience a decrease in stress. A recent randomized trial of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome found that 15%, or 5 of 33, got pregnant while taking placebo over a six-month period, compared with 22%, or 7 of 32, who got the drug—a statistically insignificant difference. Other studies have demonstrated pregnancy rates as high as 40% in placebo groups.
Eighty patients with irritable bowel syndrome, a chronic gastrointestinal disorder, were assigned either a placebo or no treatment. Patients in the placebo group got pills described to them as being made with an inert substance and showing in studies to improve symptoms via "mind-body self-healing processes." Participants were told they didn't have to believe in the placebo effect but should take the pills anyway. After three weeks, placebo-group patients reported feelings of relief, significant reduction in some symptoms and some improvement in quality of life.

WSJ: Why Placebos Work Wonders

better link: my rediff piece on why 2012 will be an even worse annus horribilis than 2011 http://bit.ly/wq1G3t

2012-01-04T05:55:00.001-08:00

jan 4th, 2012 CE

this was an invited piece that the chief editor of rediff asked me to write.

well, actually he just asked me to write something on 2012, and i wrote this.

http://bit.ly/wq1G3t

my rediff piece on why 2012 will be an even worse annus horribilis than 2011: http://www.rediff.com/news/column/yearend-2011-india-in-2012-another-2011-coming-up/20120104.htm

2012-01-04T05:45:00.001-08:00