Saving Private Pakistan: Can it be Saved? Why and for Whom should Pakistan be saved?

 

Pakistan has become the private club of the perverse military, conspiring secret police, battling Taliban warlords, scheming politicians and a regressive mullah community. Each wants Pakistan for their own faction. What of the Common Pakistani?

Back to do what, Parvezbhai? Loot again? | Zahoor cartoon of May 4, 2010; source & courtesy – paksir.blogspot.in | Click for image.

No! Pakistan cannot be saved.

Unless you save Pakistanis first. A Pakistani life is the cheapest in the world today. Every power-centre in Pakistan is waging war against Pakistanis.

To gain control and influence Pakistan for their own benefit.

Why should Pakistan be saved?

1. So that its sad military can continue with its fun and games?
2. To let mad mullahs drive Pakistanis into a regressive ditch?
3. Or, that the Taliban warlords can become modern clones of ancient raiders and looters like Mohammed Ghori or Mahmud of Ghazni?
4. Maybe for rich oligarchs to stay feudal, own the land, control the labour and economy for their private benefit?
5. At the mercy of rich politicians and bureaucrats who promise a modern state. A modern State that will be able to do deals with Western Masters. Deals that ‘benefit’ Pakistani – but not Pakistanis?

Pakistan’s intellectuals, of late have become very protective about social media. See the future of Pakistan in social media. Nothing less than the capacity to ‘save’ Pakistan.

Tied to the West, but is that helping the Common Pakistani? | October 29, 2009, by ZAHOOR; source & courtesy – paksir.blogspot.in | Click for image.

They claim

Social media needs to be protected because it is the only safe space for intellectual discussion in Pakistan.

Imagine that you are a person of independent thought in Pakistan. Now imagine further that you would like to discuss your thoughts with other people. Where can you go?

In the real world, the short answer is ‘nowhere’.

The liberation of the electronic press by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf changed everything. Prior to the advent of cable television, the entire English press in Pakistan probably had a combined readership of less than 100,000. The Urdu press probably accounted for a million people more. Compared with the population of the country, print circulation was nothing. On the other hand, the audience for cable television was in the tens of millions. Suddenly, people were no longer getting their news just from PTV but also from Geo and ARY.

At the same time, the liberation of the electronic press changed very little. The same talking heads that wrote columns in the press started fulminating on talk shows. At the end of the day, the number of people actually involved in public conversation remained very limited. If you weren’t a talk show host or a talk show guest, then your options for expressing or discussing opinions remained nil. It was all extremely parochial and elitist.

The arrival of social media is revolutionary. Back to the example I started with. The young independent thinker out in the virtual world, it’s a different story. As a cartoon in The New Yorker once put it, “On the Internet, no one knows you are a dog”.

Pakistan’s sharpest wit at this time is an anonymous individual who delivers one-liners under the name of “majorlyprofound”. If the good major were to present his one-liners before a physical audience, he would probably require medical attention. But (on) the internet, he is free to deliver his barbs.

More importantly, social media not only provides true freedom of speech but it also allows a public space where people with ideas can not only present their ideas to acclaim but also to criticism. In a country like Pakistan where decision-makers live their lives in cocoons of silence and sycophancy, this is incredibly important.

Obviously, social media is no panacea. Members of the social world are reasonably polite. The result is that people are not just talking to one another in the virtual world, they are getting to know one another as well.

Many people — even people who should know better — think of Facebook and Twitter as time wasting fripperies. That is why periodic efforts to ban either Facebook or Twitter are met normally with a shrug.

Unable to handle either Islam or Westernization, Pakistan’s leadership should think of the people more – and less of the State | Cartoon on March 7, 2004 by Zahoor; source & courtesy – paksir.blogspot.in | Click for image.

We all hear about how Pakistan is sinking into a Talibanised abyss of enforced ignorance. If we are to avoid that awful future, it is vital to preserve intellectual freedom. And at this point, there is nothing more essential to that quest than embracing and protecting social media.(via Saving Pakistan, one tweet at a time – The Express Tribune; original text edited for brevity. Linking text in parenthesis supplied).

Every one is trying to save Pakistan for his own faction.

But where does this leave the Common Pakistani.

As usual Nowhere.

With Nothing!

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Drugs Use & Abuse: Why Some Estimates & Reports Make Me Wonder about Scale of Addiction to Narcotics

While India is a safe-haven for ‘sex-and-drugs’ tourism to Russians in Goa and Israelis in Kulu-Manali, would Indians get reciprocal courtesy?

Is it emptiness? | Cartoonist Drew Dernavich on Nov. 12, 2007 in New Yorker | Click for image.

A little over three years after Chabad House in Colaba was destroyed in an attack by Pakistani terrorists, the Jewish outreach center is struggling to find a new place to move in.

The Mumbai arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement is currently operating out of the Oberoi Hotel at Nariman Point after Ivanhoe building in Colaba, where it had rented an apartment for two years, refused to renew the lease citing security concerns.

Chabad House in Colaba was asked to move out of the five-storied Nariman House after the 2009 attack because the narrow lane in which the building is located was perceived to be a security risk. Six people were killed in the attack. Though Nariman House was rebuilt after the attack, the building remains unoccupied.

Chabad House’s two-year lease at Ivanhoe ran out on June 14, and ever since, its officials have been operating out of the Oberoi hotel.

“We tried our luck with five buildings, both residential and commercial, in Colaba, Nariman Point and Churchgate areas. However, our presence is now being perceived as a security risk and nobody is willing to rent space to us,” said a Chabad House official requesting anonymity.

The five-storied Chabad House, to which terrorists had laid a siege for three days, housed an educational center, a synagogue, a drug prevention unit, and a hostel.

While the outreach center in Oberoi is offering all these services, it can only be a temporary address because of the prohibitive costs.

via Shunned by housing societies Chabad House shifts to hotel – Mumbai Mirror.

Creative credits embedded | Click for image.

Hidden stories

Did I sense a hint of disapproval in this report? Or was it my imagination? Or is it my keen olfactory sense? But that (imagined?) disapproval is the lesser part of the story.

Hidden in this report is a bigger story.

Drugs

Why does Chabad House need a drug prevention unit.

Who were the target group of this drug prevention unit? Indians? Unlikely. After all Indians are not significant drugs and alcohol consumers. Remember this is Chabad House for support of Jewish travelers in trouble at foreign shores. So, is it Jews and Israelis?

Yes.

So what drug trouble can Israelis have in India?

For all who have come in late …

Israel is a 70 lakh population country – roughly the population of Pune city. What is not mentioned is something that 2ndlook covered 4 years ago.

Why is India a popular destination for Israeli youth? Why do they wing their way to India?

Sex and drugs.

And where in the world, would Israelis get most ‘sympathy’ for their ’cause’?

India, again. In India’s anonymous crores.

India which is a known, large producer of opioid and narcotic compounds, for the last 2500 years at least, is a minor consumer of these substances.

Legal mind-altering chemicals like alcohol, prescription drugs and illegal drugs together affect people deeply across the world | Andy Marlette of the Pensacola News Journal in 2007 | Click for image.

In some other countries

Opium addiction brought China to its knees.

Current estimates of drug-consumers in the US stands at a 2 crore users – from a working population of 16 crores.

Is drugs usage a poor-only phenomenon?

Apparently, there is no divide. A recent report based on anecdotal evidence, traces significant usage of narcotics (especially cocaine) on Wall Street.

Intricately linked to crime statistics, politics and policing, the market for drugs across the world is a puzzle, worth quantifying. The price-decline of cocaine, an argument goes, is reducing crime in the USA.

Israeli Drug Resort – in India

With India’s thin police system, low crime rates, some 3000 Israelis have set up a drug resort at  Kulu Manali.

For Israelis, by Israelis and to Israelis. When there is trouble, that local authorities won’t or cannot cover-up anymore, I presume, these drug-crazed Jews are brought to Chabad House.

Quietly.

All this would be fine by me.

My question is, would Indians get that courtesy in Israel?

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Living Root Bridges in Meghalaya

How roots of the Indian Rubber Tree are trained to build bridges across streams upto 30 metres long, in Meghalaya.

A living root bridge in the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya, India (courtesy of flickr user Seema K K)

In the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, where Ficus elastica are large, native outdoor trees that live near water, the local people have been using the ficus’s roots as bridges for generations.

These aren’t trees that have fallen naturally over streams, though, which are commonly used as bridges in other places. Instead, the people train the trees’ roots to grow over the streams, guiding them over a period of 20 or so years into the shapes of paths and handrails until they have a bridge strong enough to carry many people at once. And as the tree grows, so does the bridge, gaining in strength over time, as the magazine Geographical noted earlier this year:

Once the roots have been trained across the stream bed, they anchor in the soil of the opposite bank, providing the foundations for a living bridge. Usually, several roots are threaded together for strength, while others provide handrails and supports for longer spans. Flat stones from the stream bed are used to fill gaps in the bridge floor and, in time, these are engulfed by woody growth and become part of the fabric of the bridge itself.

A root bridge takes around 20 years to become fully functional. Once complete, however, it will probably last for several hundred years and, unlike its non-living counterparts, will actually increase in strength with age.

Known in the Khasi language as jingkieng deingjri (‘bridge of the rubber tree’), the bridges may be anywhere from ten to 30 metres in span. Unlike most artificial structures, they are able to withstand the high level of soil erosion brought about by monsoon rains and, being living material rather than dead wood, are resistant to the ravages of termites.

There is even a double-decker bridge supposedly capable of handling the weight of 50 people at a time. (via Amazing Living Root Bridges in India | Surprising Science).

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Pakistan’s ‘sevadar’: DAG of Pakhtun tribe polishes shoes in India

An action, sometimes, can be so powerful and loud, that all you can do is watch with your mouth agape.

What is the meaning of this?

Pakistan’s Deputy Attorney General during a visit to India polished shoes at the Golden Temple, Birla Mandir and Jamia Masjid (Chandigarh) – to expiate the sins that he had committed in his life.

On the online edition of Express-Tribune, this story attracted 37 comments. Of the 37 comments at 21:13 IST, only 5 negative comments. 2 by Indians. 32 comments from Indians and Pakistanis commended this action. Were some comments moderated’ – and not published.

One commenter complained of his comment not getting cleared? That complaint was approved. But not the comment?

Also read an earlier story – on Lahoris wanting Indian mythological serials back on cable TV.

https://twitter.com/majorlyprofound/status/224397029579821056

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday issued a show cause notice to Deputy Attorney General (DAG) of Pakistan Khurshid Khan at the Peshawar High Court, for ‘defaming’ the country during a recent visit to India.

DAG Khurshid Khan performed a deed which only a handful of politicians would contemplate doing: Polishing shoes, sweeping floors and washing dishes to promote interfaith harmony at the Jamia Masjid in Chandigarh, the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Birla Temple in New Delhi.

A delegation of 200 members of the SCBA, including President Yasin Azad, Muneer A Malik, Tariq Mahmood, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Asma Jahangir, along with present and former office bearers of bar associations and DAG Khan visited India in March to interact with lawyers from across the border. The visit was meant to enable interaction with the legal fraternity of India and to establish contacts amongst the legal communities of the neighbouring countries.

SCBA President Azad made it clear that Khurshid ‘defamed’ Pakistan by polishing shoes outside the places of worship.

“Khurshid told us that he did this to be pardoned for all the sins he has committed in his life,” Azad claimed.

When contacted, Khurshid told The Express Tribune that he was waiting to receive the show cause notice and was prepared to reply to it, adding that since he is the DAG, the attorney general was supposed to issue the notice. He questioned the basis on which the show cause notice was issued. “Have I been charged for violating an Indian law? There was no code of conduct we were told to follow.”

Khurshid stated that he was bestowed the status of a State Guest by Chief Minister of Indian Punjab Parkash Singh Badal and that his mission was to convey a better image of Pakistanis in general and Pakhtuns in particular.

“What is constituted as defaming the country, Ajmal Kasab’s alleged killing of Indians or a Pakistani polishing the shoes of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians outside their places of worship,” he questioned.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2012.

via Pakistan’s ‘sevadar’: DAG issued notice for polishing shoes in India – The Express Tribune.

What can you say to something like this?

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Mao proposed sending 10 million Chinese women to US as China has too many women

China’s infatuation with the West started right at the top. Mao Ze Dong’s belief in population control was possibly another import from the West.

Mao Ze Dong With Dwarakanath Kotnis circa 1939; source & courtesy – http://blog.sina.com.cn | Click for image.

Big Trouble in China

Fifty years after the Boxer War, he Communist Party was able to impose its authority on mainland China – ending more than 25 years of civil war in China. China, during this war, went through considerable dislocation.

India medical aid team on arrival in Guangzhou; source & courtesy – cctvpic.com | Click for image.

In 1937, after the Japanese invasion of China, the communist General Zhu De requested Jawaharlal Nehru to send Indian physicians to China. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the President of the Indian National Congress, made arrangements to send a team of volunteer doctors and an ambulance by collecting a fund of Rs 22,000 on the All-Indian China Day and China Fund days on July 7–9. He had made an appeal to the people through a press statement on June 30, 1938. In Modern Review S.C. Bose wrote an article on Japan’s role in the Far East and denounced the assault on China. The key element of this mission was it was from a nation itself struggling for freedom, to another nation also struggling for its freedom. The mission was reinforced with Nehru’s visit to China in 1939.

A medical team of five doctors (Drs. M. Atal, M. Cholkar, D. Kotnis, B.K. Basu and D. Mukerji) was dispatched as the Indian Medical Mission Team in September 1938. All, except Dr. Kotnis, returned to India safely.

via Dwarkanath Kotnis – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Dwarakanath Kotnis – before he went to China. Image source & Courtesy – cctvpic.com | Click for image.

Adversity can teach wrong lessons

Over the years after the fall of the Qing dynasty, China’s infatuation with the modern West (in China, earlier the West was India) has only grown. This infatuation has only driven the Chinese to learn the wrong lessons.

One such lesson was on population control – which Chairman Mao himself was an eager convert.

Chinese leader Mao Zedong proposed sending 10 million Chinese women to the United States, in talks with top envoy Henry Kissinger in 1973.

The powerful chairman of the Chinese Communist Party said he believed such emigration could kickstart bilateral trade but could also “harm” the United States with a population explosion similar to China, according to documents released Tuesday by the State Department on US-China ties between 1973 to 1976.

In a long conversation that stretched way past midnight at Mao’s residence on February 17, 1973, the cigar-chomping Chinese leader referred to the dismal trade between the two countries, saying China was a “very poor country” and “what we have in excess is women.”

He first suggested sending “thousands” of women but as an afterthought proposed “10 million,” drawing laughter at the meeting, also attended by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai.

Kissinger, who was President Richard Nixon’s national security advisor at that time, told Mao that the United States had no “quotas” or “tariffs” for Chinese women, drawing more laughter.

But Mao dragged the talks back to the topic of Chinese women.

“Let them go to your place. They will create disasters. That way you can lessen our burdens,” Mao said.

“Do you want our Chinese women? We can give you ten million,” he said.

Another image of India medical aid team with Mao Zedong; image source & courtesy – cctvpic.com | Click for image.

Kissinger noted that Mao was “improving his offer.”

Mao continued, “By doing so we can let them flood your country with disaster and therefore impair your interests. In our country we have too many women, and they have a way of doing things.

“They give birth to children and our children are too many.”

A shrewd diplomat, Kissinger seemed to turn the tables on Mao, replying, “It is such a novel proposition, we will have to study it.”

But Mao again lamented, “We have so many women in our country that don’t know how to fight.

The assistant Chinese foreign minister, Wang Haijung, who was at the meeting, then cautioned Mao that if the minutes of the conversation were made public, “it would incur the public wrath.”

Kissinger agreed with Mao that the minutes be scrapped.

But when Kissinger joked that he would raise the issue at his next press conference, Mao said, “I’m not afraid of anything.

“Anyway, God has sent me an invitation,” said the Chinese leader, who coughed badly during the talks.

Mao died in September 1976. US-China diplomatic relations were restored in 1979.

via AFP: Chairman Mao proposed sending 10 million Chinese women to US: documents.

Letter to Chairman Mao – from 2ndlook

Chairman Mao Sir,

On the eve of your departure to god’s kingdom, you lamented, that China had too many women.

There is good news.

Well! Now, China has fewer women.

Looks like god has been kinder to your country. He has reduced more women than, you Sir, probably wanted.

Fewer than what experts believe China should have. Did you specify exactly how many less you wanted, Chairman Sir.

A wise rishi once told me Be careful with your wishes! Careful with what you wish for and ask from god. He may just decide to go ahead and grant you your wishes.

Anyway, I thought I would let you know. Hope you are having a good time There.

Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai

Best Wishes,

– 2ndlook

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In Yumm-Rika There is no Corruption or How IAC Completely Gets The Story Wrong!

For reasons that are unclear to me, Indian activistas think that India alone faces a corruption issue. Ignorance or willful negligence?

Globally Govt. has become a set of slogans. | Matt Wuerker cartoon in politico.com on December 01, 2011 | Click for image.

https://twitter.com/fgautier26/status/216437980523536384

@fgautier26 Wonder what your views on IAC comments on Rajat Gupta conviction in Omita Paul report (pg.7) tweeted by you http://t.co/rL9yKmPf

— St. PT Barnum (@StPTBarnum) July 14, 2012

Impotent pin-pricks

This tweet refers to report by India Against Corruption (IAC) on the link between Omita Paul and Pranab Mukherjee. Based on significant surmise, innuendo, conclusions, suspicions, this report is quite short on fact.

To start with, the commendation of Rajat Gupta’s conviction, makes me doubt the integrity of this report. Domestic and global media who have tracked Rajat Gupta’s prosecution agree that the trial was based on circumstantial inconvenience of Rajat Gupta – rather than any evidence.

Subsequent events have shown far bigger scandals – for which the US DoJ or other Western authorities have done little. There is nothing that makes me doubt that the DoJ went after weak targets like Rajat Gupta. The DoJ team, led by Preet Bharara, went after Rajat Gupta, while in the same Goldman Sachs there were more viable and pressing targets – like David Loeb.

Hundreds of trillions of loans are done on the basis of the LIBOR – a compromised benchmark, for which no one is going to jail?

Of course waste by US Govt. does not mean that Indian Govt can also ahead and waste. But these silly examples of ‘It does happen in the US.’ has to stop. | Matt Wuerker cartoon from .politico.com on January 26, 2011 | Click for image.

False Flags

More than this remark on Rajat Gupta, the basis of IAC campaign is false.

It rests on two very weak pillars.

One – Corruption exists in India alone. Indians alone are corrupt. Indians alone tolerate corruption. None of this true.

Two – You can have an ever-expanding State that will rule with brutal honesty – and the State will  have more powers, more money, and become wiser and more benign.

Compared to the US$3 trillion that the US Department of Defence is unable to account for, this talk of notional loss of US$30 billion in the 2G scam makes for poor form.

Most recently, during the Iraq and Afghan Wars, the US Department of Defense has not able to properly account for (to the satisfaction of US Govt. auditors) a sum of (still being estimated) of US$2.3 trillion, says Donald Rumsfeld – to US$10 trillion, an estimate by Stephen Glain author of State vs. Defense: The Battle to Define America’s Empire.

In fiscal 1999, a defense audit found that about $2.3 trillion of balances, transactions and adjustments were inadequately documented. These “unsupported” transactions do not mean the department ultimately cannot account for them, she advised, but that tracking down needed documents would take a long time. Auditors, she said, might have to go to different computer systems, to different locations or access different databases to get information. (via Reforming Financial Management System Can Save Big  |  By Jim Garamone  |  American Forces Press Service).

For the accounting entries, $2.3 trillion was not supported by adequate audit trails or sufficient evidence to determine their validity, $2 trillion was not reviewed because of time constraints, and $2.6 trillion were supported. via DoD Audit Report No. D-2000-091 February 25, 2000 (Project No. 0FI-2115.01).

taking a look at the Department of Education, which, for the last three years hasn’t been able to get a clean audit. Then I understand that the Department of Defense shares many of the same problems that we have with the Department of Education. I think the IG just notes that in one of the audits that you went through of the 1999 financial statements included adjustments of $7.6 trillion — that’s trillion — in account adjustments, of which 2.3 trillion were supported by un — by reliable documents — were unsupported by reliable documentation. (REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R-MI) – Testimony before the House Budget Committee on the FY 2002 Defense Budget As Delivered by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Comptroller Dov Zakheim, Cannon House Office Building, Wednesday, July 11, 2001.?

Pentagon contracting has been broken for decades. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said — on September 10, 2001 — that “according to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions.” The next day was 9/11, and counting Pentagon dollars was no longer a top priority. (via The Pentagon’s Marauding Fraudsters|Time).

“We know it’s gone. But we don’t know what they spent it on,” said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service. (via The War On Waste).

DoD financial experts, Zakheim said, are making good progress reconciling the department’s “lost” expenditures, trimming them from a prior estimated total of $2.3 trillion to $700 billion. And, he added, the amount continues to drop. (via Zakheim Seeks To Corral, Reconcile ‘Lost’ Spending).

Problems, solutions, systems and procedures of governance have become standardized across the world. | Gary Varvel cartoon of May 18 2012 | Click for image.

In the case of the US$3 trillion (equal to notional loss of 100 2G scams), no arrests, no charge sheets, no court case. Heck, even a police report has not been filed. Thirteen years after the audit report was filed.

And IAC would like to hold the Rajat Gupta conviction as a candle to the 2G prosecution? The U.S. DoD scam was more money than the entire GDP of any other country in the world in 1999.

The Defense Department cannot account for $1.1 trillion that seems to have vanished within the tangled system of financial accounting put in place by private contractors.

Every year trillions of dollars are unaccounted for by federal agencies, and every year these same agencies are called before congressional oversight committees to explain this mismanagement of taxpayers’ funds.

Year after year the bureaucratic mea culpas are longer on process and shorter on substance, leaving overseers with little or no information that is useful to correct the gross mismanagement. Take, for instance, the financial mess at the Department of Defense (DOD).

In May, DOD Deputy Inspector General Robert Lieberman reported to Congress that “the extensive DOD efforts to compile and audit the FY [fiscal year] 2000 financial statements for the department as a whole and for the 10 subsidiary reporting entities like the Army, Navy and Air Force General Funds, could not overcome the impediments caused by poor systems and unreliable documentation of transactions and assets.”

Without ever using the word “money,” a practice common among inspectors general (IGs), the deputy IG at the Pentagon read an eight-page summary of DOD fiduciary failures. He admitted that $4.4 trillion in adjustments to the Pentagon’s books had to be cooked to compile the required financial statements and that $1.1 trillion of that amount could not be supported by reliable information. In other words, at the end of the last full year on Bill Clinton’s watch, more than $1 trillion was simply gone and no one can be sure of when, where or to whom the money went.

via DOD Can’t Find $1.1 TRILLION – Rumsfeld Inherits Financial Disaster.

And this was just one department of the US government. What about other departments?

Weak foundations

The fact is in an expanding State (an idea that IAC supports), executive discretion, latitude are essential – and misuse, abuse, doubtful use can always be alleged. The option is to either reduce the role of the State (which most of these activistas don’t want) or keep a balance between healthy accountability and executive freedom based on trust – and not on paranoia and distrust.

Exactly the opposite of Bharattantra – and all of recorded history.

End of the road. End of the cycle. It is Bharattantra from now on | Matt Wuerkar cartoon in politico.com on February 15, 2012 | Click for image.

The entire IAC-Anna campaign is based on distrust, paranoia and suspicion. If accountability is what is needed, prosecution like the 2G is the path to be followed. Based on evidentiary basis that will withstand Third Party scrutiny.

Not only was Dimon conflicted in his role on the New York Fed but the President and CEO of the New York Fed had an equally dubious conflict of interest.

William C. Dudley has been employed by the New York Fed since January 1, 2007, first heading up the powerful Markets Group. That Group manages the supply of bank reserves in the banking system according to the mandate of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). On January 27, 2009, Dudley was elevated to President and CEO of the New York Fed. Financial disclosure forms for 2008 through 2010 show that Dudley’s wife, Ann Darby, was a former Vice President of JPMorgan and had holdings of more than $1,500,000 in deferred income accounts at the firm as well as between $250,000 to $500,000 in a 401(K) plan there.

In a letter dated January 22, 2009, authored by the New York Fed’s General Counsel, Thomas C. Baxter, Jr. and Deputy General Counsel, Michael Held, two financial waivers were sought for Dudley. One involved $1.45 million in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) and the other involved a small monthly pension of $124.38 that Dudley would receive from his previous employer, Goldman Sachs, at age 65. (Dudley’s financial disclosure forms show over $1 million in his Federal Reserve Retirement Thrift Plan, which seems an extraordinary sum for his 5-year tenure. It could be that he was permitted to roll over most of his Goldman pension into the Federal Reserve plan, explaining why his monthly Goldman benefit at age 65 is so small.)

via Revealed: JPMorgan Paid $190,000 Annually to Spouse of Bank’s Top Regulator | Economy | AlterNet.

Similarly, without thinking Indian activistas seem to suggest that Indian Government is the most oppressive – and the US government is the most free and l9iberal.

Facts as delineated earlier in 2ndlook posts are otherwise.

On January 23rd, the Obama administration charged former CIA officer John Kiriakou under the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information to journalists about the waterboarding of al-Qaida suspects. His is just the latest prosecution in an unprecedented assault on government whistleblowers and leakers of every sort.

Kiriakou’s plight will clearly be but one more battle in a broader war to ensure that government actions and sunshine policies don’t go together. By now, there can be little doubt that government retaliation against whistleblowers is not an isolated event, nor even an agency-by-agency practice. The number of cases in play suggests an organized strategy to deprive Americans of knowledge of the more disreputable things that their government does. How it plays out in court and elsewhere will significantly affect our democracy.

Punish the Whistleblowers

The Obama administration has already charged more people — six — under the Espionage Act for alleged mishandling of classified information than all past presidencies combined. Prior to Obama, there were only three such cases in American history. (via Obama’s unprecedented war on whistleblowers – Salon.com).

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David Loeb

Did America really win the Cold War?

Boer War, WWI, WWII. After each victory, the British Empire became weaker. Is that what is happening to Pax Americana.

With the collapse of Soviet Union, the US became the single global power. With that position came adulation from client states. | A 1992 cartoon By David Horsey | Published December 27, 2011 | Click for image.

The presidents of Russia and Cuba signed a strategic partnership and several other documents on Friday aimed at rekindling an alliance that collapsed after the cold war. They pledged to expand cooperation in agriculture, manufacturing, science and tourism, but studiously avoided a public discussion of military ties.

It had been nearly a quarter century since a Cuban leader had set foot on Russian soil. President Raúl Castro’s visit to Moscow this week had little of the pomp and propaganda of the cold war days, when he and his brother Fidel were greeted with parades in Red Square and Soviet leaders affectionately referred to Cuba as the “island of freedom.”

But almost two decades after a crumbling Soviet Union hastily withdrew financial and ideological backing from Cuba, Russia is seeking to expand economic ties with the island and possibly forge stronger military relations in an echo, as yet still faint, of an alliance that lasted some 30 years.

It is part of a larger Russian push into Latin America to secure new markets, and also to swipe at the United States for what Moscow considers Washington’s meddling in Russia’s historic sphere of influence, particularly in Ukraine and Georgia, former Soviet republics.

via Russia and Cuba Sign Agreements During Raúl Castro’s Visit – NYTimes.com.

Tired Battles

As WWII ended, the Anglo-French alliance tried re-imposing their hold on their colonies – using Israel for local support. (In relation, Read on Indian Foreign Policy here).

But were soundly bested in each confrontation.

Across The World

In February 1946, Indian Naval Ratings raised the flag of independence. And lowered the Union Jack. Within a week, Clement Attlee announced a time-table for withdrawal from India – and this time there was no going back.

In the Middle East, Anglo-French forces in tandem with Israel tried to reinforce their writ in Egypt in the Suez War (1956). Roundly and soundly beaten, these forces had to retreat. Since the British were defeated, in English media and books, it was not a war but the Suez Crisis.

In Kenya, the Mau Mau War finally forced the British to vacate Kenya – after unprecedented brutality was used against Kenyan freedom fighters. Same story in Malaya – now Malaysia.

The French against the Vietnamese lost at Dien Bien Phu.

Birth of Pax Americana

But while the old powers were retreating – the US was rapidly building its own imperial system.

Using Communism as an excuse, nearly 1 million American soldiers between 1950-1975, killed 5 million Asians (Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, Thailand) and imposed Pax Americana in Asia.

Unlike the British or French colonies, the American Empire Pax Americana does not appoint Viceroys or Governors. Primarily covert, Pax Americana has subverted sovereign governments with war (Iraq, Libya in recent memory), regime changes (Kwame Nkrumah in Africa, Haiti) assassinations (Mossadegh in Iran, Allende in Chile, Lumumba in Congo), financial allurements (development aid).

Since the inner workings of the American Empire is hidden behind steel doors, for ordinary people, there is doubt if Pax Americana even exists.

20 years of celebrations

America has now been celebrating the fall of Soviet Union for nearly twenty years.

In the meantime, the successor State to Soviet Russia, freed of imperial obligations, is running with State debt at less than 5% of GDP – the only G-20 economy with such low debt levels. In contrast, the US government owes more than 100% of its GDP as debt.

Russia in the meanwhile, is gradually winning back old allies. Soviet allies, ignored by the US after the fall of USSR. With many allies and without an Empire, Russia may still be the last man standing.

The US did nothing for nearly twenty years to wean away Cuba from the Russians.

Why?

Was it hubris? Arrogance … Pride … Maybe, it makes the Inner Circle makes feel ‘more special’ if some countries, like Cuba are excluded. In some cases, more than their own inclusion in Pax Americana’s Imperial Court, the exclusion of the poor or the unconnected, is a source of satisfaction.

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People Inside Prisons: Why USA has so many? More so African-Americans. Is it punishment for not to be slaves anymore?

Why does the US of A have so many people inside prisons – especially African-Americans? Another way of punishing them for not willing to be slaves anymore?

The largest prison population in the world. Something’s wrong in here. Image source & Courtesy – lostrepublic.us | Click for image.

US Census Bureau says, 63% of US population, is between 18-65 – numbering 19.5 crores (from 31 crores).

US DoJ data release for the year-2011, says the number of people in correctional system (probation, parole or prison) excluding under prosecution number, is more than 70 lakhs – mostly from 18-65 years group. That is 70 lakhs people out of 19.5 crores – nearly 4% (3.63% to be exact).

Anyway you look at it, it is more than any other country in the world.

A Chicago man who spent more than 30 years behind bars before DNA evidence helped overturn his conviction in the rape and killing of a 3-year-old girl was released from prison late Friday, just hours after prosecutors dropped the case against him.

An Illinois appeals court in March had ordered a new trial for 50-year-old Andre Davis after tests found that DNA taken from the scene of the 1980 killing of Brianna Stickle wasn’t his. The girl was attacked in Rantoul, about 20 miles north of Champaign.

Is disproportionate imprisonment another method of keeping minorities under subjugation and control? | Image source & courtesy – http://beinglatino.wordpress.com | Click for image.

Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz had decided earlier in the day not to pursue charges against him.

Judy Royal of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, which represented Davis, said he was the longest-serving of the 42 people exonerated by DNA evidence in Illinois.

“Mr. Davis served 32 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn’t commit,” Royal said. “Tamms is a difficult place to do time. He’s hoping to rebuild his life, with the support of his family.”

More than 70 lakhs in prison, parole or probation. Number of people under prosecution not available for now | Image source & courtesy – prisonprofiler.com | Click for image.

Reitz said that while she didn’t doubt the results of the DNA tests, she decided not to retry Davis because of the difficulty in taking a 32-year-old case to trial — not because of those tests.

“After 30 years, witnesses are either deceased, missing or no longer credible to testify,” said Rietz, who has been state’s attorney in Champaign County since 2004. “Based on the age of the case and the current state of the evidence, we elected to dismiss.”

She noted that Davis was twice convicted by juries. His first conviction was overturned because of a mistake made by a bailiff during jury deliberations.

Rietz said any further steps in the investigation of Briana’s death will be up to police. Rantoul Police Chief Paul Farber did not return a call regarding the status of the investigation.

Women prisoners alone is US are as many as general population prisoners in Japan. Are US women also more criminal than the rest of the world? | Image source & courtesy – wpaonline.org | Click for image.

DNA testing wasn’t available in 1980. But in 2004, Davis requested that evidence gathered at the scene of Briana’s death be DNA tested.

According to the tests, blood and semen found at the scene weren’t from Davis. That led to the March appellate court decision.

via Ill. man exonerated after 30 years in prison for murder – USATODAY.com.

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Bangladesh: A Step Behind Pakistan or a Step Behind India

Finding out Bangladesh‘s true colors is difficult as often the colors clash. Is there a non-representative, vocal fundamentalist minority that has unequal share of voice? Or is there a psuedo-minority that poses to show Bangladesh in more liberal colors?

Is the current leadership strong enough to give ‘direction’ to Bangladesh? | Cartoon in September 14, 2008 By Arifur Rahman for ebangladesh.com | Click for image

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, like so many others in thrall to the All India Muslim League in the 1940s, was initiated into politics on the premise of a separate, independent state for India’s Muslims. Under the influence of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, then prime minister of Bengal and a leading advocate for Pakistan, Mujib was inexorably drawn to the communal politics pursued by Mohammad Ali Jinnah and defended to the hilt by Suhrawardy. The latter, one might recall, despite being the fount of political authority in Bengal, had no qualms about declaring a government holiday on August 16, 1946, as part of his plan to observe the so-called Direct Action Day that Jinnah had called to press the demand for Pakistan. Tragedy swiftly followed, with tens of thousands of Muslims and Hindus dying in riots that no one had foreseen.

Is the real Bangladesh? | December 16, 2008 By Arifur Rahman for e-bangladesh.org | Click for image.

In these incomplete memoirs, Mujib recalls the frenzy with which people hacked one another to death simply because of a difference in religious beliefs. Having survived and saved lives in Calcutta, Mujib moved to Patna, where a reprise of Calcutta had occurred. Despite all these troubles breaking out almost without warning, Mujib’s belief in the political leadership of Suhrawardy never wavered. As these recollections reveal, to the very end — until Suhrawardy’s death in late 1963 — Mujib remained a devoted, almost stubborn Suhrawardy loyalist. (via Mujib, in his own words – Indian Express).

Cartoonist Syed Rashad Imam on Bangladesh elites’ fear of the poor for himalmag.com in March 1993 | Click for image.

East Bengal was Pakistan

What is usually forgotten is that initial support for Pakistan came from what is now Bangladesh – and Suhrawardy was a bigger leader than Jinnah during the British Raj. Has Bangladesh outgrown its sectarian roots? Has the Bangladeshi-tree grown branches that will offer shade to all its people – and not just the extremist elements?

Color schemes

Finding true colors is difficult in case of Pakistan, as Pakistan keeps sending out monochromatic signals. Bangladesh produces more color – often in a color palette that has clashing colors. A Taslima Nasreen – and her opponents also, for instance.

The descent of Pakistan into a self-consuming fratricidal frenzy is a popular topic within Pakistan, in the neighborhood and international media. Sheikh Mujibur’s memoirs may add little value to that analysis.

Cartoon titled ‘How long will it continue?’ | December 19, 2008 By Arifur Rahman | Click for image.

Mirror, mirror

More interesting is how Bangladesh sees itself today?

1. An Islamic country with a hostile ‘Hindu’ neighbor?
2. A poor country which needs to stabilize its economy and provide growth opportunities to its people?
3. A dead-end country, ruled by a corrupt elite, from which all Bangladeshis must escape?
4. A country with abundant opportunities with cheap labour, strong agriculture and endowed with natural resources.

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The cow chronicles: Does it take a woman to understand India?

An operating view of Indian society. Even as India changes, it still retains Indian elements. For how long?

Homer’s struggle with Indian cows. Simpsons comes to India – and Homer successfully manages an out-sourced nuclear plant at Bangalore.

Sarala needs a cow. She tells me this when I chide her for giving me less milk that morning. It is 7am.

I have known Sarala for five years. I see her everyday when I cross the road to buy milk from her.

The milk squirts into the large iron bucket. Bubbles hive the top. Selva brings the bucket to the culvert. We crowd around like bees. Rookies in khaki half-pants and white banians (vests) show up from nowhere. They thrust their cans to the front of the line. A fight threatens to break out. Sarala soothes everyone, speaking in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi by turn. She pours out 1 litre for me but doesn’t give me the complimentary extra “kosuru” that she usually does. That’s when I complain about less milk.

“What to do, ma?” she says in Tamil. “One of my cows got hit by a corporation lorry.”

Once again, the casual tone in which she describes mortal tragedies shocks me. How will the happiness studies that put India low on their lists explain the resilient matter-of-factness of India’s poor? Take Shafi, the flower man who delivers strings of jasmine every day. He is always smiling. He was smiling when he told me that he couldn’t deliver flowers for a week because his brother died. Was that a reflex; or is that his nature? Or Sarala, for that matter. It is clear to me that Sarala loves her cow. Yet, the way she deals with her cow (and livelihood)

Is grief a luxury that the Indian poor cannot afford?

I ask how it happened. It was a month ago, she says. I had not known. I had talked and laughed with her. Life had gone on.

I make clucking noises, borrowed from the rooster nearby. You must be feeling terrible, I tell Sarala.

She nods. “My mind is all bejaar (messed up).”

We talk daily, Sarala and I, about brides and recipes; cows and corporation lorries; babies and bath water, in no particular order. On that Monday morning, Sarala approaches me with a proposition. She wants me to buy a cow for her. She is not sure of the cost but it would at least be Rs. 40,000. She has it all worked out. She will repay my loan through a monthly supply of milk and some cash to supplement it. Within a year, the loan will be repaid. “I need you to buy me more cows,” she says in explanation. “How will you do that if I don’t repay your loan?”

When I look doubtful, she lays it on thick. “You know, the Marwari family next door wanted to buy a cow for us. They like to do that, these Jains. But it didn’t work out. You are lucky. Else, why would I approach you instead of them when I need a cow?”

It is compelling logic. I agree. Next week, we plan to buy a cow.

via The cow chronicles: a loss and a replacement – Columns – livemint.com.

From cow-worshipping to car-worshipping? | Cartoonist – Rustam Vania; May 18, 2012; Image source & courtesy – downtoearth.org.in | Click for image.

I have known Sarala the milk lady for six years now.

The thought of getting organic milk with zero carbon footprint appealed to me. My family was dead against it and took a year to convert. To this day, I am the only person in my 70-apartment complex who buys milk from Sarala. The rest buy Nandini milk in plastic packets.

After Sarala asked me to buy her a cow, my main concern was whether she would consider me a sucker—an easy touch for “advances”, as loans are called here.

I can afford to give Sarala a Rs. 40,000 loan but I don’t want her to think that I can. I don’t want her to view me as her sugar daddy, or mummy in this case. So I exaggerate existing alibis: home loans, defaulting payments, ageing relatives. “You have your jewels with the pawnbroker. I have a home loan that is hanging like a noose around my head,” I say.

She smiles sympathetically. “Everybody has problems,” she says. “You have bungalow-size problems. I have hut-size problems.”

A week later, Selva, the son, approaches me. This continuous back-and-forth was “not setting” for them, he says. Would I or wouldn’t I buy them a cow?

When Selva tells me that our discussions are not “setting”, he means that I need to decide. I can no longer hide behind husband’s permission. I tell him that I will buy his cow.

We set out in an autorickshaw— Sarala, Selva and I. Sarala wants us to make this trip on an auspicious day, preferably Tuesday or Thursday, but she doesn’t want to add an astrological complication to an already volatile situation. Selva and I have been bickering for days because he springs trips on me first thing in the morning. “Shall we go today?” he will ask as I collect milk. I need notice, I say. I can’t just drop everything to go cow-shopping. Then, he says that he will go on his bike to scout out potential cows and take me in the end—to pay the money and seal the deal. I insist that I want to be involved from the very beginning. If I am putting up Rs. 50,000 (by now, the amount has crept up), I want to make darn sure that it is a good cow. We go back and forth, Selva and I, squabbling like children.

Selva has a surly demeanour. He rarely smiles and doesn’t encourage conversation. He is, in fact, a kind soul. Unlike Sarala, Selva is hard to figure out.

Finally one morning, they summon their friend, Kuppa, who owns an autorickshaw. We drive to Thanisandra village near the airport, where a cow is on sale for Rs. 55,000. Selva walks the cow around, peers into its mouth, and discusses how much milk it would give. it is an Indian breed: a red Sindhi cow. Selva is bent on buying a Holstein-Friesian, or HF, cow, valued for its milk fat. They cost more but they give more milk. That is the assumption anyway. I try arguing with Selva that Indian breeds are more hardy but our discussions don’t “set”.

via The cow chronicles: the price just doubled – Columns – livemint.com.

holly cow By Liviu Stanila on March 16, 2008 | Religion Cartoon | TOONPOOL | Click for image.

We are on a country road in search of a cow to buy for my milk lady, Sarala. Three of us, Sarala, her son, Selva, and I, sit in the back. Muniappa, our broker, takes us to a mango orchard nearby. We see the cows—a dozen of them—grazing underneath trees laden with green mangoes. Sarala is thrilled. Selva too is suddenly animated. There is only one problem. Their owner, Nanjappa, doesn’t want to sell them. He only wants to outsource the milking process. He is fed up of waking at dawn, squatting beside a dozen cows, and taking the milk to the local cooperative to be weighed and paid. He wants a younger man to take over and give his arthritic knees a rest.

India is the world’s largest producer of milk. Much of this comes from “milk unions”, or rural dairy farmers. Bangalore has more than 1,845 milk societies under the Bangalore Urban and Rural District Cooperative Milk Producers Societies Union Ltd, with the inapt acronym, Bamul, in honour of Amul, the nation’s first milk cooperative, founded in Gujarat in 1946, before India’s independence.

Karnataka has 2.13 million independent milk producers—such as Nanjappa—who have joined together to form 11,443 dairy societies, according to the Karnataka Co-operative Milk Producers’ Federation Ltd (KMF). The state rates high in milk production—it is the largest in south India—something that soon becomes obvious to anyone living in Bangalore. Milk producers such as Nanjappa deliver their milk to the local KMF (Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation), and sell their milk for about Rs. 14-18 per litre depending on how rural the location is. The milk is mixed together, taken to rapid cooling plants, homogenized, and poured into sealed plastic packets for delivery to Bangalore city the next morning. The average consumer pays Rs. 26 per litre for Nandini milk. Dairy farmers like Sarala sell their milk for Rs. 25 a litre, but have to cultivate a customer base.

We get back on the auto, the four of us. By now, it is 1pm. We are disgruntled, starving and thirsty. We see a man selling tender coconut water by the side of the road and stop. Selva offers to buy us all tender coconut water. As the vendor chops off the tops of the coconut, we continue bickering, Selva and I, about the wasted morning. Why wouldn’t he phone first and check with the sellers if they were indeed selling their cows, I ask. He responds by blaming Muniappa, who blames Nanjappa, the elderly gent. “That old man told me that he wanted to sell the whole herd,” says Muniappa. “He must have seen this pant-and-shirt Madam and changed his mind.” They all look at me accusingly, which irritates me because I am in a salwar-kameez.

“You want a cow?” asks the dusty, thin coconut vendor.

We look up.

Turns out that the coconut vendor has a cow that he wants to sell for Rs. 85,000. He promises to throw in her calf. Where is the cow? we ask sceptically. The coconut vendor waves at the palatial green mansion in a distance, standing like a neon gingerbread house amid the fields. That’s my home, he says. Just walk down this path and find my wife. She’ll show you the cow and calf.

We stare at each other, jaws agape. They all speak together in rapid-fire Kannada. At the end, Selva seems satisfied that the coconut vendor indeed has a cow.

Sarala and I can’t stop talking about the coconut seller. We are wonderstruck that this dusty, bony man who is selling coconuts by the roadside not only has a large mansion with fields all around, but also saleable cows to boot.

“Why would a man who owns this giant green mansion, fields and cows want to sell coconuts by the roadside?” I wonder aloud. “He must have seen all those coconuts on his land going to waste so he probably thought, ‘Why not stand on the road and make some more money?’” says Selva.

We walk single file in between the fields and go to the green mansion. An old man comes out. He is, indeed, the coconut vendor’s father, who has the leathery skin of a man who has spent his lifetime under the hot sun in the fields. When we ask about the cow, he points to the field and says that we will find the animal there, with his daughter-in-law, a woman clad in an orange sari. Had I passed her on the road, I would have put her down (correctly) as a farmer’s wife. I would certainly not have imagined that she was the owner of the green two-storey bungalow spread over 10,000ft of virgin Bangalore land.

The coconut vendor’s wife leads her cow out. Selva does his thing with examining the teeth and tail. As we walk back, he tells us that he is going to negotiate it down to Rs. 75,000. But he is not hopeful.

We motor back to the coconut vendor. Predictably, he refuses to lower the price. “I didn’t even plan on selling my cow,” he says. “Just because you people came here with such distress, I thought I’d do you a favour by pointing you to my cow.”

via Cow chronicles: the coconut vendor’s offer – Columns – livemint.com.

A few points stuck me as important: –

1. How advances fund and lubricate the economy.
2. How people take ‘mortal tragedies’ with ‘matter-of-factness’. Is that the reason why India has been No.1 on global Optimism surveys now for the last 50 years. Unlike India’s Westernized-Educated-Urban (WEUs) who can find 50 things wrong with India, before even stopping to take a second breadth. Of course, only they, the WEUs and their type can save India. Otherwise, without the WEUs, India is doomed.
3. How the WEUs see this approach for advances a con-trick – which comes from not being plugged into India.
4. The most amazing thing was how egalitarian India can be. Dress up a man in a dhoti – and everyone looks, feels, thinks and behaves the same. No brands to show that I am superior; no cachets that will prove I can spend more for the same thing.

All of us would instantly recognize these aspects.

Thought would share this rather perceptive view of India.

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