The Puzzle & Launch Of Sunny Leone

Funding Sunny Leone: Not knowing Hindi or Bollywood, deep into porn industry, would Sunny Leone risk her own capital on a uncertain Bollywood future?

Not knowing Hindi or Bollywood, deep into porn industry, would Sunny Leone risk her own capital on a uncertain Bollywood future? | Cartoon by Satish Acharya in Santabanta.com

tardom in Bollywood is an uncertain creature. It takes a mix of the following three factors to come close to success in Bollywood: –

1. Talent: Like Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Madhuri Dixit, last and not the least Amitabh Bachchan had significant talent to make their screen characters come alive.

2. Audience Connect: Rajesh Khanna, Rajendra Kumar, Joy Mukherji connected with the audience mood of their times. A few like Dharmendra could change from being a romantic hero in Blackmail, Jeevan Mrityu to the famous action hero (कुत्ते मैं तेरा खून पी जाउंगा; Kutte main tera khoon pee jaonga).

Google’s high search-rank for Sunny Leone is probably due to combining porn-search and Bollywood search.

3. Family-Other Connect: To decode deal-making clues in Bollywood needs insider information – which is many cases means family support or a sponsor. Dev Anand, Subhash Ghai launched many heroines between the two of them. The Kapoor family has been integral to Bollywood for the last 60 years. Is there any commercial logic for a Bollywood entity to sponsor Sunny Leone’s career? None I could imagine!

Is Mahesh Bhatt dumb enough to fund and launch Sunny Leone? It staggers my low-opinion of Mahesh Bhatt to believe that he can be so stupid.

Is google aggregating Sunny Leone’s porn search with her Bollywood linked searches? | Cartoon by Satish Acharya in Santabanta.com

Twinkle, Twinkle

Sunny Leone has no Bollywood-related talent, no Bollywood-audience connect or unlikely to have a Bollywood sponsor.

A Bollywood career in the initial stages needs an estimated Rs.3.0-5.0 crores – to pay for people who will do the public relations, press management, contract negotiations, scheduling, coordination, deal-filtering. After spending Rs.3.0-5.0 crores, success in Bollywood is uncertain. It seems unlikely that Sunny Leone is funding her own career in Bollywood.

It has long been rumoured that some wanna-be superstars (Hint: A garment-exporter, a second-rung film-star, SS supposedly) fund movies to get a role.

This begs a question.

Dumb, Dumber

Who is funding Sunny Leone? Who is spending the nearly US$600,000-1 million that it costs to launch a Sunny Leone in Bollywood? What is the motivation behind launching Sunny Leone?

Sunny Leone has once again got the tongues wagging with her controversial tweet. This time it is quite more sensitive.

According to a leading news agency, the pornstar turned actress tweeted, “Rape is not crime, it is a surprise sex.”

In no time the starlet realized her mistake and deleted her tweet, but by then it got retweeted by her followers.

Later on Sunny even clarified her tweet on the micro blogging site and tweeted, “Who ever has said this rape comment is an idiot. I never said this. Grow up!!!!!!!!!?”

via For Sunny Leone, rape is not a crime but ‘surprise sex’ – Indian Express.

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UK loses top AAA credit rating

British Economy: What solution? Import another 100-Lakshmi Mittals+Ratan Tatas..

British companies are making third-grade acquisitions abroad – which is not helping British industry to stay the course | Cartoon on Jan 15 2013 by Randy Bish via Cagle.com

he combined debt of the UK economy – State, Corporate and household debt is at a staggering 500% of the GDP. This is the debt that the UK economy has to support. Assuming weighted average interest rates on this debt is at a low 5%, it means that the UK economy is spending 25% of its production on interest payments.

Since the savings rate of the UK is low-to-negative, it means that the UK economy will borrow more – just to make interest payments.

What could be a solution?

Massive inflation to get this debt down quickly.

Or slowly ratchet down the debt, and write-offs, low-inflation,  and desperate prayers that the economy:

1. Hits another North Sea oil
2. Builds another 1000 ARM-chips kinds of company
3. Imports another 100-Lakshmi Mittals+Ratan Tatas.

How likely is any of this?

The UK has lost its top AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978 on expectations that growth will “remain sluggish over the next few years”.

The ratings agency Moody’s became the first to cut the UK from its highest rating, to Aa1.

Moody’s said that the government’s debt reduction programme faced significant “challenges” ahead.

The UK has had a top AAA credit rating since 1978 from both Moody’s and S&P.It added that the UK’s huge debts were unlikely to reverse until 2016.The UK’s net sovereign debt was the equivalent of 68% of the country’s annual economic output, or GDP, at the end of last year.All three major credit agencies last year put the UK on “negative outlook”, meaning they could downgrade its rating if performance deteriorates.Germany and Canada are the only major economies to currently have a top AAA rating – as much of the world has been shaken by the financial crisis of 2008 and its subsequent debt crises.

via BBC News – UK loses top AAA credit rating for first time since 1978.

Without Comment: Gun Ownership in Germany

Germany is at No.4 on licenced gun-ownership numbers..

Germany’s Gun Population | Image source & courtesy – spiegel.de

Germany’s National Firearms Register, which came into effect on Jan. 1, 2013, recently published its first statistics. A total of 5.4 million legal weapons are registered with private owners in the country. The most are registered in the state of Bavaria (1.1 million), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (1 million) and Baden-Württemberg (700,000). Approximately 550 German authorities submitted data. The introduction of the register is broadly seen as a political reaction to killing sprees in Erfurt in 2002 and Winnenden in 2009. Moreover, the European Union has stipulated that all member states must launch central firearms registers by the end of 2014. Germany has the fourth highest per capita number of legal firearms, lower than the United States, Switzerland and Finland — but higher than Mexico, South Africa and Russia. Germany’s largest police union, the GdP, estimates there are up to 20 million illegal firearms in Germany.

via Information Graphic: Gun Ownership in Germany – SPIEGEL ONLINE.`

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Harvard Group To Offer Advice To Indian Government on Rape

Some nights, these new Don Quixotes from Harvard can be seen riding in the dark, on their quest to save us backward Indians.

A decrepit Don Quixote & Sancho Panza searching for ‘battles’ abroad – while there is darkness at home. | Cartoon by Lee Lorenz of New Yorker

am totally puzzled!

Why is Harvard offering advice, gratis, to the Indian Government?? Without being asked by the Indian Government?

Is it ignorance @Harvard?

Are Harvard professors so ignorant about the rape situation in the USA, that they waste time on India?

On some nights, these new Don Quixotes from Harvard can be seen riding in the night, on their quest to save us backward Indians

When the US has such a pressing problem at home, why are these professors not spending time at home – instead of concentrating on India?

Gawd, propaganda!

It must be the propaganda motive? Hide problems at home – and focus on negatives abroad?

Naah! Then it …

Must be altruism.

Are these Harvard professors so ‘genuinely’ altruistic that they don’t care of home problems?

Like Don Quixote, they go jousting with windmills in foreign lands!

Some Sancho Panza from India will ride on the quests of these Harvard Don Quixotes

the Harvard community to contribute to a Policy Task Force titled “Beyond Gender Equality”, convened to offer recommendations to India and other South Asian countries in the wake of the New Delhi gang rape and murder. Diane Rosenfeld, Director of the Gender Violence Clinic at Harvard Law School and Professor Jacqueline Bhabha, will head this group. Their principal task this semester is to produce a working paper that advises on the implementation of the recommendations from the Verma Committee. The committee in a bold move, points out the need to reassess the military powers that are allowed to operate with impunity in conflict zones. Part of our discussion will focus on real reparations and support for survivors of sexual violence, in a manner that allows them to function as integrated members of their communities.

via A History of Violence | Harvard College Women’s Center.

With their liberal-progressive Indian Sancho Panzas by their side?

Sancho Panza with Don Quixote from zazzle.com

Some good news for embattled and weary Indian feminists. All those endless submissions to the Verma Committee prepared and submitted, all those critiques of the Ordinance written and disseminated, all those street protests, all those meetings with students and the public, all those delegations to government officials, ministers…not to mention decades of efforts to amend the rape laws.

It’s been a long hard haul, so it’s a great relief that the Harvard Law School has stepped in to take this burden off our shoulders.

It’s so good to know that there are Harvard Professors to make all the “bold moves” that Indian feminists have never made. Attack the impunity of security forces? Now that’s a bold move indeed – would any of us shy Indian women be so bold as all that? I wonder where the Verma Committee got that crazy idea from?

via Harvard to the rescue! « Kafila.

I read Don Quixote (by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; Spanish: [miˈɣel de θerˈβantes saaˈβeðɾa]; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616) in school – and could not understand why such simplistic satire was so highly revered. I finally understood Don Quixote when I understood Liberal Progressivism a few years ago – and then Don Quixote made sense to me.

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<em>Don Quixote</em>

Kargil: Breast Beating In Pakistan

Kargil Misadventure: Pakistan’s superficial ‘analysis’ and breast-beating after each defeat hides a deeper problem.

India operated Hawker Hunter Mark 56 (designation for Hunter F.Mark 6) bought from Britain that was phasing out these aircraft.

n the India-Pakistan War of 1965, there was a real risk of China joining in with a third front against India. Thundering in the parliament, Pakistan’s foreign minister at that time, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto assured the Pakistani nation of China’s support.

In the event of war, Pakistan would not be alone. Pakistan would be helped by the most powerful nation in Asia. War between India and Pakistan involves the territorial integrity and security of the largest State in Asia. (Z.A. Bhutto, Foreign Minister, Pakistan, in the National Assembly; July 17, 1963).

Though China was neutral, India had its hands full. Pakistan as member of SEATO and CENTO, was brimming with the most advanced arms – supplied by the US. As a part of the Baghdad Pact, Britain was on Pakistan’s side.

When PAF Was In Better Shape

In the 1965 War situation, Pakistan was part of the CENTO and SEATO alliance, armed by the US with the US F-104 Starfighters, F-86 Sabres that were significantly superior to Indian Airforce (IAF).

The US attached, like in Vietnam, Laos, Norway, Cambodia what was then called a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to Pakistan. A few months before Pakistan commenced hostilities, the US head of MAAG was changed. In May 1965, General Robert Wiygul Burns became chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Pakistan. Over the next two years, in the face of increasing evidence of the US role in the 1965 war, the MAAG was withdrawn from Pakistan in July 1967. After neo-colonial wars in  Korea, Vietnam, Indo-China, the MAAG became infamous. Mostly renamed as United States Military Groups (USMILGP or MILGRP), MAAGs continue in some Latin American countries such as Peru, the Dominican Republic. Also MAAGs can be found in Africa for instance in Liberia.

Two years later, under a new name, US military advisers were back in Pakistan. Star pilots and trainers like Chuck Yeagaer were sent by the US to Pakistan – to help Pakistan prepare for a battle against Soviet weapons being used by India in 1971 War.

Hands Tied

Comprising of Vampires of WWII vintage, the French Mirage Mysteres, the Anglo-Hawker Hunters and Canberras or the Anglo-Gnats, the IAF went into the 1965 War at a disadvantage. By the 1971 War, the IAF had re-configured tactics, using numbers, altitude to overwhelm the Sabres with inferior Gnats – starting with the airfight at Boyra.

Compared to the nearly 10,000 Sabres that were manufactured world-wide, less than 450 Gnats were built; mostly bought by Indians. The Yugoslavs bought second-hand F-86s in preference to the Gnats. The RAF itself did not buy Gnat for any conflict role – but only for aerobatic, trainer usage.

Indian officers /soldiers atop captured Pakistani Patton tanks at Kemkaran. About 100 Patton tanks were left behind by the retreating Pakistan Army. These captured tanks were used to set up Patton Nagar war memorial.

Though believed, Pakistan’s more modern Patton tanks were not as superior to the Indian Centurions. At the end of 1965 War, India captured 97 Pakistani tanks – and set up a war memorial called Patton Nagar with these captured tanks.

India’s Diplomatic Position

India’s relationship with the Soviets had not yet reached the levels of the 1970s.

What and who stopped China from joining Pakistan in its assault on India? Stalin’s lukewarm response to Nehru’s overtures and the alleged CIA plot to kill Nehru in 1955, temporarily brought Nehru close to Eisenhower. After the 1965 War with Pakistan, India-Soviet alliance grew in strength.

Wailing & Breast-beating

The last one year has seen a lot of ‘analysis’ in Pakistan, about Pakistan’s misadventure in Kargil.

Pakistan’s superficial breast-beating after each defeat hides a deeper problem. Can a nation born out of blackmail – apart from hate, prejudice, have a foreign policy that makes sense.

ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: Former corps commander Lahore Lt-Gen (retired) Shahid Aziz on Saturday said problems in the armed forces are increasing as the army chiefs have been trying to cover up issues fearing it would defame the organisation.

He was speaking at the launch of his book Yeh Khamoshi Kahan Tak at Islamabad Club on Saturday.

Gen Aziz, who played a role in Pervez Musharraf’s coup and also held an important post in the army and ISI at the time of the Kargil war, said his aim to write the book was to guide the new generation.

It may be noted that Gen Aziz also worked as chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for about two years after his retirement from the army in 2005.

Gen Aziz said while taking part in the coup he knew that he was violating the law.

While in service, he added, so many times he had to disagree with the decisions of his seniors and even resigned from the staff college.

He claimed that he was against the decision of following the instructions of United States but Musharraf insisted that only he could see the full picture of the situation. “Even today the policy of Musharraf is being followed,” said Gen Aziz.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Ashraf Sarab of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), said when the Kargil adventure was started the Kashmiris were asked by the army to take to the streets because they (forces) had decided to enter the Indian held Kashmir.

“But after sacrificing a number of soldiers, the army went back,” he added.

“I talked to then Minister for Kashmir Affairs Majeed Malik but he said Kashmiris should not have started protests.”

It showed that the Kargil war was either a strategic mistake or launched on the directions of someone else, because after the war India and US came closer to each other, he observed.

Engineer Mumtaz from the research and development wing of the armed forces told Dawn that Gen Aziz was the key person during the Musharraf coup. Gen Musharraf used to get his input regarding every decision, he added.

via Army covering up issues, claims ex-general | Newspaper | DAWN.COM  .

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Looking At Mrinalini-Mallika Sarabhai: Progressive, Feminista, Activista

Using State patronage, Mrinalini Sarabhai emasculated Bharatanatyam, making it sterile and esoteric.

Annie Besant in Cardiff (1924) with two Theosophical Society officials from India greeted by Cardiff Theosophists at Cardiff Central Station. Back Row: (Left to Right) Miss Chambers (looking to right) Miss Wallis (almost hidden), Mrs Freeman, Mr Peter Freeman (General Secretary, Wales), Mrs Graham Pole. Front Row: (Left to Right) Mr Graham Pole, Babu, Dr Annie Besant, The Right Honourable Sastie. Lad presenting flowers is David Freeman, son of Peter Freeman.

ver the last ninety years, women from three generations of Sarabhai family have been a significant fixture of the Indian media-elitist press.

Look Down In Anger

Led by Mrinalini – widow of Vikram Sarabhai, the leader-pioneer of India’s successful space program. Looking down at her husband’s traditional Indian family, but hanging onto her revered husband’s coat-tails, Mrinalini Sarabhai inveigled herself into India’s ruling elites.

Using State patronage, Mrinalini Sarabhai emasculated Bharatanatyam, making it sterile and esoteric. So much so, thanks to Mrinalini and her acolytes, Bharatanatyam to an ordinary Indian has become a laughing matter.

In parallel was Rukmini Devi Arundale, married to British Theosophist Dr. George Arundale. Mainly responsible for ‘sanitizing Bharatanatyam by ‘removing the extraneous sringaar and erotic elements from the dance’ to obtain Western respectability. A dance form that was enriched by more than 2000-years of Indian culture, has now become dead in just 75 years.

Following in Mrinalini’s footsteps, is daughter Mallika Sarabhai and grand-daughter, Anahita. Promoting the toxic sludge leftover by the British Raj.

The Arundale-Sarabhai women are a small part of a larger picture. Rukmini Devi Arundale sought to ‘improve’ Bharatanatyam ‘inspired’ by ballerina, Anna Pavlova  – while Mrinalini Sarabhai went to USA, American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Col. Henry Steel Olcott,

Cogs In A Wheel

Rukmini Devi Arundale was influenced by her own family’s links with the Theosophical Society with its tangled roots and thinking.

From Germany.

The German nation is less than 150 years old. Born out of Napoleonic wars, the idea of Germany depended on Indian historiography for a national narrative. Indic concepts like Aryan values, were distorted by Anglo-German academics into an Aryan tribal identity. Taking this Aryan philosophy further, German thinkers progressed to create a new theology for their new nation – theosophy. From Germany, these ideas travelled to Britain, where Madam Helena Petrovna Blavatsky formed The Theosophical Society.

Theosophists were used by the British Raj to make a flanking attack on Indian society. The British Raj made prominent land grants to The Theosophical Society. Its HQ at Chennai is a landmark even today. Superficially ‘sympathetic’ to an Indian viewpoint, Theosophists subverted Indian history, building a base for the acceptance of trojan ideas like Aryan Invasion Theory. Theosophists promoted the image of ‘reasonable’ Britishers with whom Indians could do business with.

British Theosophists like Annie Besant and Allan Octavian Hume, of the Liberal Progressive kind, promoted the Congress.

Indians soon took over the Congress and made it into a raucous, Independence-demanding, anti-colonial organization. In the Congress, those with Theosophist-linkages were immediately welcome – and given important positions (like George and Rukmini Arundale).

Excerpts from a recent interview with three-generations of the Sarabhai women. Ideas that are toxic-sludge dressed attractively.

Mrinalini: My mother Ammu was a fashionable young lady. She drove her own horse and carriage, and was friendly with many of the women who were at the forefront of society. After my father’s death, my mother made our home, Gilchrist Gardens, a centre for both social and political circles.

Mallika: The legacy I got from my mother was to not have to think in terms of gender, to celebrate being a woman, a feminine feminist.

A flavor of Pre-Independence India

Mrinalini: With the growing unrest in the country and Gandhiji’s call to women to participate in the freedom struggle, she joined the Congress in the late 1930s, became President of the All India Women’s Conference,Sarojini Naidu visited us often, with her sisters Mrinalini and Subhashini and brother Harindranath. My mother was drawn into the women’s movement and became active in the struggle for their rights through them. Subhashini was an ardent communist, an enemy of the British, and once took refuge with us.

On marriage to Vikram Sarabhai

Mrinalini: For me, getting married and moving to Gujarat was a big challenge. Especially since I married into such an overpowering family like the Sarabhais, I felt very alone. Vikram was immediately immersed in the business and his laboratory, and did not have much time to be with me. The whole family was extremely self-contained, and seemingly so confident, which made me feel inadequate. To live up to the high ideals of the family, which were never put into words but very obvious from my mother-in-law’s behaviour, gave me a sense of isolation that has lasted all my life. They conversed in Gujarati, which I did not understand. People do not realise the trauma a girl goes through when she marries into an alien background. Perhaps that is why marriages in India are still arranged by the families whenever possible. Even little things like food suddenly take on enormous proportions. It was as though I did not exist, except when we met at lunch or dinner. It was so overwhelming. Small happenings, but they leave deep scars.

On economic ‘independence’ – and its effects

Mrinalini: I think economic independence is very much required to live the life of your choice. My father’s will was unusual. He had left my mother her own income, and equal shares to each of the four children. So all of us were financially secure.

Mallika: It’s been very, very hard. When I took over Darpana — the institution for performing arts which my mother had set up — in 1977, about 30 percent of its funding came from the government. I decided that if I wanted to chart an independent course, I had to reduce our dependence on the government. By the 1990s, we used to get a fair amount of corporate funding for either individual events or for festivals. But after 2002, and my stand against Narendra Modi and my public interest litigation against him in the Supreme Court, the corporate sponsorships gradually stopped. For instance, we have an amphitheatre space that Amul used to sponsor events at. Post 2002, that stopped. A lot of these CEOs are my classmates from IIM Ahmedabad, and they would say to me: “Mallika, we can sponsor you anywhere outside Gujarat. But in Gujarat we are told in no uncertain terms that we will not be allowed to operate here if we associate with Darpana.”

Mallika: In 2006-07, we were going to do a performance at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute in Gandhinagar. They were very keen to have us. The audience was in place and the show was set to begin at 6:30 PM. At 5:45 PM, the Director, looking very shame-faced, walked up to us and said, “Sorry, I have to cancel the show because I’ve just had a call from Anil Ambani’s office. The Chief Minister’s office called Anil Ambani’s office to say, ‘You will not have Mallika Sarabhai perform.’”

Activista Mallika

Mallika: But I continue the work because I believe it’s important. We’ve just done an outreach project in Jharkhand, in 400 villages. The performance was developed with the local people. It’s about the lives of two families — one has six children with one girl. At one stage, the woman is pregnant for the seventh time and she is brought in through the audience, screaming with pain. You had to see the faces of the women in the audience. Because this is all a nightmare they have lived. The woman goes into a government clinic behind the screen and there is silence. The doctor comes out and says, “We’ve lost her.” One year later, the university that sponsored this programme did a study and found that 85 percent of the people who saw that performance had adopted to family planning methods. It’s the highest they have seen anywhere in the world.

Mrinalini: It was always my desire to address the problems of life through dance. It was only when I came to Ahmedabad that I became aware of the problems of women. I was studying Gujarati and had begun to read the newspapers every morning. There were constant reports of young women who died, who were burnt alive. Slowly the horror of these incidents obsessed me and Memory, the dance drama about these hapless brides, was created. I set the plot in Saurashtra. It was the first time that Bharatanatyam spoke of a social problem. From then on, there was no looking back.

On their ‘brand’ of ‘feminism’

Mallika: I’m going to go back to Draupadi. Because in the Mahabharata, she said to Yudhishtra after he lost the game of dice, “I love you but you are a weak man and what you have done is wrong.” For us, when we say “I love you”, it means taking the whole package. We do not separate the fact that you can love somebody and still say, “you are wrong.” Draupadi also says: “I have a brain and a womb, and I’m proud of both.”

Mallika: I think where India can score is that our feminism does not have to equate with masculinity. I’m empowered because I’m empowered. Not because I’m powerful in relation to somebody else. It’s not a race with somebody else. That is essentially feminine. We were never a monoculture. The same woman could be a trident-wielding Kali and also become Parvati and who could then flow as Ganga. We are losing this.

via ‘Our feminism is not in opposition with masculinity. It’s not a race’.

Errata: Earlier version of this post wrongly linked the families of Rukmini Devi Arundale and Mrinalini Sarabhai families. Reader’s comments are pointers to the error. Suitable corrections made.

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In A G-0 World, Can BRICS Show Leadership?

For the world now, instead of ‘G-7, or G-8, or G-20, the more apt description is G-0’ – per Joseph Stiglitz. Can BRICS offer that leadership – starting Afghanistan.

From 1970s, when Pakistan started meddling in Afghan affairs, by how much have Soviet or the American invasions helped Afghanistan? | Cartoon By Jeff Darcy, The Cleveland Plain Dealer – 5/21/2012 12:00:00 AM via PoliticalCartoons.com Cartoon.

ith NATO turning tail and leaving, Afghanistan is not much better off than before America’s invasion.

Pakistan, as the sole Islāmic nuclear power, has assigned itself the role of an arbiter of Afghan destiny – a hold over Afghanistan’s future. With its dubious distinction of being a failed State, should Pakistan have any role in Afghanistan?

After ruining Afghanistan with 40 years of disastrous interventions, the West playing the victims is an offensive act | Cartoon By Taylor Jones, El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico – 9/7/2012 12:00:00 AM via PoliticalCartoons.com Cartoon.

The West, under NATO’s military command, is walking away from Afghanistan with nothing to show for this invasion.

After billions in dollars, with more than a million Afghans affected by death, combat injuries, manifold increase in corruption, and a Saudi-Pakistan financed Taliban is on the rise, Afghanistan is West’s biggest failure after Vietnam. Never before in the last 200 years has West’s leadership been in question so much.

In the current State of the world, in the memorable words of Joseph Stiglitz, why ‘talk about the G-7, or G-8, or G-20, the more apt description is G-0.’

Afghanistan was a much better place one millennium ago – as its agricultural exports, arts and crafts will testify. It is the US-Pakistani involvement from the 70s, which has made Afghanistan into a no-man’s land. | Cartoon By Jimmy Margulies, The Record of Hackensack, NJ – 10/11/2012 12:00:00 AM via PoliticalCartoons.com Cartoon.

Afghanistan will be the test of BRICS.

Till 1980s, the Soviet Union bordered Afghanistan. Today, while Soviet Union’s successor, Russia no longer shares a border with Afghanistan, as a part of BRICS grouping, it may continue to play a role in post-NATO Afghanistan.

Will China-India tensions come in the way of BRICS to do what is good for Afghanistan? Will China work with BRICS to keep Pakistan out of Afghanistan? When it matters, can BRICS nations put aside their differences and work on common problems – like Afghanistan?

Straightening Pakistan is a matter of hours. What will take time is building capacity among BRICS nations to work together on common problems – and put aside differences, when these differences are not directly relevant.

One thing is for sure.

If BRICS cam make an Afghan solution stick, a new age will dawn in global diplomacy. The current void in global leadership will start getting filled.

Civil war in Afghanistan is directly the result of Western interventions in the last 40 years. | Cartoon by By Arend Van Dam, politicalcartoons.com – 10/24/2012 12:00:00 AM via PoliticalCartoons.com Cartoon.

With the US and the UK apparently conceding to Pakistan the lead role in reconciliation with Taliban, India is set to hold talks with Russia and China on emerging scenarios in Afghanistan ahead of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force’s withdrawal from the conflict-ravaged country by 2014.

New Delhi is also expected to air its concern over Pakistan’s role in the peace-process in Afghanistan during British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to India scheduled on Monday. Cameron recently hosted Afghan and Pakistan presidents Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari at his country residence Chequers Court. India will get another opportunity to discuss the issues when it will have a trilateral talk with the US and Afghanistan in New Delhi next week.

Sources said India is expected to drive home the point that Pakistan continues to be “a part of the problem” and it cannot yet be seen as “a part of the solution” in Afghanistan. Any hasty careless move to launch the peace process would in fact give an opportunity to Taliban to crawl back to power after 2014. New Delhi is likely to point out that the US itself, in 2011, publicly slammed Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence for its role in fomenting terrorism in Afghanistan.

What worries India is the Afghan High Peace Council’s five-step draft roadmap to 2015, would ultimately give Pakistan the “strategic depth” it always aspired to have in Afghanistan. New Delhi is apprehensive about Washington outsourcing to Islamabad the peace-process with Taliban, before and after the drawdown of the International Security Assistance Force from Afghanistan.

The “draft road map” also seeks to give some key positions in post-2014 Afghanistan to the leaders of Taliban, including that of provincial governors, police chiefs and cabinet ministers.

To facilitate the peace-process, Pakistan, since November, released 26 Taliban prisoners from its jails, ostensibly on request from Afghanistan but without any oversight, triggering fear that some of them might go back to extremism.

When Menon broached the issue during a meeting of the BRICS high representatives for security in New Delhi last month, it was agreed that he and his counterparts from Russia and China would have a separate meeting to exchange views on the peace-process with Taliban and discuss the emerging scenarios in Afghanistan. Sources said the meeting might take place later this month.

New Delhi has made it clear that it is in favour an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process towards peace in Afghanistan but insisted that the “Red Lines” agreed in London Conference in 2010 were strictly adhered to and the extremists entering the process were made to severe all links with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.

via India to talk to China, Russia on Pak role in Afghanistan.

Related Articles

• Taliban dismiss outcome of Pak-Afghan-UK conference (dawn.com)
• US supports Pak-Afghan deadline for Taliban deal (dawn.com)
• You: US endorses Pak Afghan UK summit declaration (nation.com.pk)
• Pak-Afghan peace pact in six months – The News International (thenews.com.pk)
• Pak-Afghan Ulema conference in Kabul on March 10: FO (dawn.com)
• You: India’s concerns over Gawadar Port unwarranted: FO (nation.com.pk)
• In India, Putin finds support on Afghanistan, Syria (indrus.in)
• Afghan and Pakistani presidents in Britain for talks (dawn.com)
• First phase of Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan begins (dawn.com)
• Pakistan wants improved ties with India, Afghanistan: Ashraf (dawn.com)

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Does The State Have A Right To Decide Children Names?

Talking of names, in parts of the Free World, names are State policy. Progressive, liberal and modern West.

any years ago, on a visit to Odisha, I met a gentleman named Duryodhana Nayak. At that time, to me Mahabharata was not itihaas but mythology. I could not imagine or fathom why any parents would name their child after Duryodhana.

The reason I found later, was that Duryodhana married a princess, the daughter of Chitrangadha, the Kalinga king. Kalinga part of the five eastern kingdoms, that included: Anga (east, central Bihar), Vanga (southern West Bengal and Bangladesh), Kalinga (Sea shore of Odisha), Pundra (western Bangladesh and West Bengal, India), Suhma (north-western Bangladesh and West Bengal).

Subsequent search showed that Odisha has many more Duryodhanas. I could find Duryodhana Rout, Duryodhana Kuanr, Duryodhana Singh, Duryodhana Bisoi, Duryodhana Mangaraj, Duryodhana Biswal, a minister named Duryodhana Majhi, Duryodhana Pradhan, Duryodhana Dehury, Duryodhana Mahapatra, Duryodhana Kanhar, Duryodhana Das, Duryodhana Jena, Duryodhana Roy, Duryodhana Samanata, Duryodhana Behera, Duryodhana Satapathy, Duryodhana Das – and Duryodhana Nayak who I met.

Talking of names, in parts of the Free World, names are State policy. In the Progressive, liberal and modern West.

A 15-year-old is suing the Icelandic state for the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother. The problem? Blaer, which means “light breeze” in Icelandic, is not on a list approved by the government.

Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named. In a country comfortable with a firm state role, most people don’t question the Personal Names Register, a list of 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names that fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules and that officials maintain will protect children from embarrassment. Parents can take from the list or apply to a special committee that has the power to say yea or nay.

In Blaer’s case, her mother said she learned the name wasn’t on the register only after the priest who baptized the child later informed her he had mistakenly allowed it.”I had no idea that the name wasn’t on the list, the famous list of names that you can choose from,” said Bjork Eidsdottir, adding she knew a Blaer whose name was accepted in 1973. This time, the panel turned it down on the grounds that the word Blaer takes a masculine article, despite the fact that it was used for a female character in a novel by Iceland’s revered Nobel Prize-winning author Halldor Laxness.

Given names are even more significant in tiny Iceland that in many other countries: Everyone is listed in the phone book by their first names. Surnames are based on a parent’s given name. Even the president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, is addressed simply as Olafur.

Blaer is identified as “Stulka” — or “girl” — on all her official documents, which has led to years of frustration as she has had to explain the whole story at the bank, renewing her passport and dealing with the country’s bureaucracy.

Her mother is hoping that will change with her suit, the first time someone has challenged a names committee decision in court.Though the law has become more relaxed in recent years — with the name Elvis permitted, inspired by the charismatic rock and roll icon whose name fits Icelandic guidelines — choices like Cara, Carolina, Cesil, and Christa have been rejected outright because the letter “c” is not part of Iceland’s 32-letter alphabet.

The board also has veto power over people who want to change their names later in life, rejecting, for instance, middle names like Zeppelin and X.

via Icelandic girl fights for right to her own name.

Related Articles

• Icelandic girl wins right to name (bbc.co.uk)
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• 15-year-old girl with missing moniker set to sue Icelandic government in fight to legally use her name (independent.co.uk)
• Icelandic Girl Fights for Right to Her Own Name (abcnews.go.com)
• Girl fights to use name where only ‘approved’ list allowed (thestar.com)
• Iceland teen known legally as ‘girl’ fights for right to name (foxnews.com)
• Krishna, the messenger (thehindu.com)
• Teen legally known as ‘Girl’ fights for her name (worldnews.nbcnews.com)
• What’s in a name, asks this Icelandic girl! (thehindu.com)

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Live Insurance Scam: How To Steal A Trillion

A fool and his money are soon parted. Better that fools handover money to a Sahara or an LIC – rather than these firangi types.

ven though there are no (significant?) depositor-complaints, Sahara is being forced to refund Rs.24,000 crores to various ‘depositors’. As though, Rs.24,000 crores amount was lying around. In some account somewhere.

Rs.24,000 crores – waiting for refund command from regulatory or judicial authorities.

Unspilling Milk

I am not sure where Sahara Parivaar gets its thousands of crores from – but surely we know where most of this money goes. I can quibble about the end-use of these funds – but can’t complain.

Wonder what is bothering RBI-SEBI-SC?

Phoren Maal

On the other hand, no one seems to be bothered about a similar scam being executed in the insurance industry. The Sahara scam is being executed by a back-of-beyond Bengali-huckster who appeals to the UP-bhaiyya – and that is not acceptable.

The insurance swindle is run by foreign-returned, slick-MBA types, with MNC connections. And that is is an ‘important’ part of our economy?

A fool and his money are soon parted. Better that fools handover money to a Sahara or an LIC – rather than these firangi types.

With Sahara-LIC we know where the money is going.

When one lives in a country of over a billion people, big numbers seldom come as a surprise. But when I looked at the number of Rs.1.5 trillion, I was astounded. That’s about 1.5% of the Indian gross domestic product, was the first thought. . Knowing that the industry will come after this number, as my colleague in this work so graphically put it, with their bazookas, we did the numbers again. And again. And several times again. Checked and re-checked the methodology with insurance industry experts, actuaries and academics. We used another, totally different method to see if we were way off the mark. But the final number refused to back down. Retail investors lost a minimum of Rs.1.5 trillion to the insurance industry and its agents over a period of seven years that ended in the financial year 2011-12. Mint on 6 February 2013 here: http://bit.ly/X3YJDY.

Not only did companies manufacture toxic products, sold them through very large incentives (remember, the Insurance Act specifies the maximum limit for commissions, not the minimum), but once the policyholder let the policy lapse on finding out that it was unsuitable, kept the money with themselves, again imposing the maximum possible cost on the policyholder, and then moved that money over to their profit account. Question them about it and they say that the rules allowed it. They were just following the Insurance Act that allows them to do so after a waiting period of two years.

What next? One view is that now that the insurance regulator has changed the rules of the game, we should all get on with life. But is that the correct approach? Let’s look at how the industry behaved once the Ulip rules were changed in 2010. It moved to producing and selling traditional plans which still had all the features that made Ulips toxic.

The regulator will now change these rules as well to take most of the toxicity out before the end of the current fiscal year. But what does this market behaviour say about the industry? It says that the industry will continue to find loopholes in the rules and will use them to the detriment of the investor. What will make them move from checking regulatory boxes to really looking after the policyholder? It could be the fear of big ticket penalties.

We’ve proved that policyholders have lost huge sums of money. We now need the finance minister to put in place a mechanism to get this money disgorged and returned to the policyholder. And a stiff penalty for doing what they did.

via How to steal a trillion – Livemint.

Related Articles

• Who Insurance Fraud Really Hurts (InsuranceFiles.com)
• Again Policyholders Miss Out: the Delay to the Solvency II Legislation (thechristchurchfiasco.wordpress.com)
• 29 Insurance Industry Facts You Probably Never Heard Of (InsuranceFiles.com)
• Sahara’s significant other worth (rediff.com)
• Sahara: Sebi orders accounts freezing, attachment of property (news.in.msn.com)
• Sahara: SEBI orders accounts freezing, attachment of property (thehindu.com)
• Sahara’s clarification on Sebi action over Rs 24,000 crore refund to investors (profit.ndtv.com)

Currency Trade: War or Peace?

Now that Japan has joined the currency devaluation game, it leaves the Euro twisting in the winds of currency storms.

The yen, trading at about 87 per dollar, has shed about 11 percent since mid-November when Shinzo Abe, who became Japan’s new prime minister following elections last month, promised a more aggressive monetary policy. | Graphic source & courtesy – cnbc.com

iven a choice between a Japanese car and Chinese, almost any car buyer in the world will opt for a Japanese brand.

If price difference is small.

But as we know the price difference between Japanese and Chinese cars (and other products also) is rather big.

How the Yen has become expensive. From nearly 290 yen:1 USD to 80 yen:1 USD | Graphic credit – wsj.net

The big reason for this price difference?

The Japan Case

Though not the only reason, the high cost of the Japanese Yen after the Plaza Accord (September 22, 1985) has painted the Japanese economy into a corner.

Japan on Thursday reported a record annual trade deficit in 2012, the second straight year in the red for an exporting nation that has long built its wealth on its vast trading surpluses.

The annual trade gap of 6.93 trillion yen (about $78 billion) was brought about by surging fuel imports and a continued slide in machinery shipments and other mainstay exports. The deficit underscores the challenges Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces as he tries to lift the world’s third-largest economy out of years of stagnation.

The deficit also brings to the forefront the risks that accompany Mr. Abe’s bid to revive the economy through government spending, which will add to Japan’s public debt, already more than twice the size of its economy. For years, export surpluses helped Japan finance that enormous debt without having to turn to foreign investors.

But that delicate balance is now unraveling. The global economic crisis set off a fall in Japanese exports, and also caused the yen to strengthen, weighing on the country’s competitiveness and recovery. The prolonged shuttering of the country’s nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima crisis has led to a spike in Japan’s imports of oil and gas. A bitter territorial spat with China has hurt exports to Japan’s biggest trading partner.

The provisional data released by the Finance Ministry on Thursday showed exports continued to fall in December at a faster pace than forecast by economists, despite a weakening of the yen that should have come as a boon to exporters.

According to the data, Japan’s annual trade deficit jumped by 170 percent from the 2.56 trillion yen shortfall it recorded in 2011 to 6.93 trillion yen. Energy imports, mainly from the Middle East, surged, machinery and car exports fell across the board. By region, Japan’s exports to China tumbled by 10.8 percent, leaving Japan with a trade deficit of 3.52 trillion yen (about $40 billion) with its rising neighbor. Exports to the struggling European Union also fell by 15 percent.

Trade with the United States was brisk, however, with exports climbing 11.7 percent and imports by 2.5 percent for a 5.1 trillion yen (about $58 billion) surplus. Japanese automakers did particularly well in the United States last year, rebounding from production cuts brought about by Japan’s 2011 tsunami.

via Japan Reports a $78 Billion Trade Deficit for 2012 – NYTimes.com.

BoJ’s asset-purchase program has trailed other big central banks | Graphic source & courtesy – economist.com

The expensive Yen has increased the price of Japanese exports. Decreasing export-growth due to an expensive Yen, has led to a 20-year economic stagnation-deflation situation in Japan – now referred to as Japan’s Lost Decades (失われた10年 Ushinawareta Jūnen).

Could Japan’s actions to depreciate the Yen have been unilateral?

Highly unlikely.

Japan is the latest country to say enough is enough. Having seen its currency appreciate dramatically in recent years, prime minister Shinzo Abe’s new government is taking steps to alter the country’s exchange-rate dynamic – and is succeeding. In just over two months, the yen has weakened by more than 10% against the dollar and close to 20% against the euro.

via Currency war could cause lasting damage to world economy | Business | guardian.co.uk.

Japan’s new government has vowed to revive the economy and expectations for aggressive monetary easing are running high. This sets the scene for the yen to weaken to the 100-mark versus the dollar.

The yen, trading at about 87 per dollar, has shed about 11 percent since mid-November when Shinzo Abe became Japan’s new prime minister last month, promised a more aggressive monetary policy.

Keen to tackle the deflation that has dogged Japan’s economy for years, “The yen has fallen quickly and once it gets going, it gets going. What kind of number (in dollar/yen) do you need to fight deflation? I think we need to see dollar/yen at 110, 20 to say you’re on top of the deflation problem,” Jerram added.

Inflation in Japan fell 0.2 percent in November from a year earlier, after a 0.4 percent decline in October. A weak currency, brought about by aggressive monetary easing would help boost inflation, analysts say.

Japan’s current account surplus fell 29.4 percent in October from a year earlier to 376.9 billion yen ($4.58 billion) on a fall in exports.

They say another reason to expect further yen weakness this year is a brighter outlook for the global economy, which means there is more incentive for Japanese investors to put their money overseas.

“Everything is in place for a move in dollar/yen to 100, the only constraint being resistance from other major central banks to anyone else adopting a weak currency,” Societe Generale said.

via Picture This: The dollar at 100 Yen.

The Chinese Knot

A cheaper Japanese Yen affects China the most.

Any major currency appreciation, devaluation in the last 60-years has happened under the (what 2ndlook calls) USCAP system.

So, the noises being made of currency wars by Germany is probably to quieten other claims for currency depreciation – like Korea, Euro zone, Taiwan, Asian Tigers, et al.

Decreasing exports, incomes coupled with high production capacities has put Japan on the path of deflationary spiral. | Graphic credits embedded.

China seeks to replace the former Soviet Russia as the challenger to Pax Americana. This challenge by China to Pax Americana is based on manufacturing prowess and huge foreign currency reserves.

China’s Yuan has already appreciated to a 20-year high. In the current global scenario, China’s currency situation puts it in a weak situation. China’s economic engines will seize, if the Japanese Yen were to depreciate to ¥110-120.

EU’s Sports Complex

The interesting point is how EU manages its trade deficit. Without blaming China-Yuan.

EU-zone countries like Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, are on the verge of a sovereign default. Euro-zone is upto its gills in debt. The Euro is being called names. And EU is not snivelling about the Yuan and China?

Very un-European!

USA, EU Trade Balance with Oil Producers (Graphic source and courtesy – http://www.eurotrib.com). Click for larger image.

Usually…

Europe is at the forefront seeing dangers, damage, affronts, threats, effects, fall-outs et al.

The whole she-bang!

But in case of China and Yuan, Europe is not doing much of crying about the ‘undervalued’ Yuan. The Euro revaluation from USD 1.6 four years ago to USD 1.25 now is a recent affair.

So, not of much consequence. The Yuan undervaluation has been on the US agenda for a few years now – with varying intensities. Euro-trade balance with China is slightly in China’s favour. All in all, good management by the Euro-zone, it appears.

Which in the current scenario is the one-bright-spot on the Euro-horizon!

In today’s world, no significant group of countries is looking for currency strength. Some resist appreciation actively and openly; others do so in a less visible manner. Only the eurozone seems to accept being on the receiving end of other countries’ actions.

via Currency war could cause lasting damage to world economy | Business | guardian.co.uk.

The German Footprint

Behind the Euro-zone is the Germanic template.

In the last twenty years, Germany has absorbed East Germany, without a hiccup. During the same period Japan entered into a deep stagnation-deflation phase – but not Germany. While the world succumbed to Chinese manufacturing onslaught, the German industrial complex kept humming – steadily. While the US economy stumbled from bankruptcy of the auto-industry to the dotcom bust and is now deep into the housing crisis, the German economy remained stable.

All this without seeking competitive currency devaluation.

countries nowadays, including systemically important ones, are already actively weakening their currencies. Yet, because an exchange rate is a relative price, all currencies cannot weaken simultaneously. How the world resolves this basic inconsistency over the next few years will have a major impact on prospects for growth, employment, income distribution, and the functioning of the global economy.

via Currency war could cause lasting damage to world economy | Business | guardian.co.uk.

Wars Before The War

WWII was preceded by 15-years (1921-1936) of currency devaluations. Will history repeat? Will the US take a break after ending the Afghan War in 2014 to start WWIII?

Related Articles

• Japan reports record $78.3B trade deficit in 2012 (miamiherald.com)
• Yen at 100 Per Dollar Endorsed by Japan Official Nishimura – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Japanese Export Slide Bolsters Abe’s Case for Driving Down Yen – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Business › Japan reports record Y6.93 tril trade deficit in 2012 (japantoday.com)
• Japan min-not trying to weaken yen, central bank (uk.reuters.com)
• Japan minister: not trying to weaken yen, central bank (news.yahoo.com)
• Japan December Industrial Output Rises Less-Than-Forecast 2.5% – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Dollar Thrives in Age of Competitive Devaluations – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Better Factory Output, Lower Manufacturing PMI Contraction Put Japanese Economy On The Path Of Recovery (ibtimes.com)
• Japan runs record trade deficit (bbc.co.uk)

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