Desicritics Category: Politics: World

Tarbela Dam & Karkoram Highway Threatened in Pakistan

C N Anand — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:09:57 EST

In 1840, upstream of the Indus, in the Shyok tributary, an ice bridge collapsed to form a dam resulting in the creation of a lake 19 Kms long, 800 meters wide, and 120 meters deep. When the dam breached, a 20 meter high wall of water and mud barreled down the gorges of the Indus, and burst into the plains at Tarbela, and reached Attock in two days time. The massive flash flood of mud devastated the Sikh army camping on the banks of the Indus near Attock! History would have taken a different course if the Sikh army had not been devastated!

In 1858, a similar landslide on the Hunza river (tributary of the Indus) created a reservoir. This also burst. Cultivated land was scoured out and villages flattened. When the flood waters reached the confluence of the Kabul river and the Indus, a reverse flow up the Kabul river, up to 50 kms, was created.

Coming to very recent times, two months ago, on 04 January, 2010, a portion of a mountain gave way to block the Hunza river at Atabad, in the Gilgit-Baltistan area. After hitting the lowest portion of the valley, the land-slide climbed up the opposite hill side and damaged the Karakoram Highway (KKH). Trade with China on the KKH remains disrupted since then. Fortunately, the water flow in the river is low in January, but the flow picks up as temperature rises and snow starts melting. By 27 February, 43 days after the landslide, the longest Bridge over the Hunza, 11 Kms upstream of the landslide area, got submerged. The water level is expected to rise another 30 meters above the bridge. The Karkoram Highway hugs the banks of the Indus and Hunza, crossing over at regular intervals to the opposite bank and back on bridges. Upstream of Atabad, the KKH is now submerged for a length of 15 Kms.

The final size of the lake is expected to be bigger than the lakes formed in 1840 and 1858.

The block in the valley at Atabad is long but narrow like the cork of a champagne bottle. It is 3000 meters long along the valley, and 200 meters wide. On top of the block, earth moving equipment has been placed to doze down the height to meet the rising waters at the earliest. The narrowness of the block restricts the number of dozers that can be deployed. Snow melt and water seepage has made the top of the earth block slushy and boggy, hindering the functioning of the earth moving equipment. The water flow is increasing day by day as temperature rises, resulting in the water level rising faster. In the race against time, the Pakistani engineers seem to be loosing. When the water level reaches the top of the landslide and starts spilling over, erosion will occur. Hopefully, the dam will be washed out slowly and not burst.

The difference between the earlier two situations of 1841 and 1858 and now is that Pakistan has created a lot of assets in the form of the Karkoram Highway (KKH) with many bridges, and the world's largest earth and rock-fill dam, the Tarbela dam. If the dam at Atabad bursts, the wall of mud will rip the KKH along the entire length of the Hunza and the Indus, till Tarbela. Bridges will be devastated. If the Tarbela reservoir is at the dead level as it is now, the wall of mud will push the sand delta over to overwhelm the off take tunnels, and clog up the turbines. The Tarbela dam will have to be written off, which will spell economic disaster to Pakistan.

Pakistan is advised to stop letting out water at the Tarbela dam immediately, and store water to a height of 30 meters above the dead level. The cushion of water in the reservoir will absorb the wall of mud well upstream of the dam and not allow the existing delta to be nudged forward and spill. The catch is that the Rabi crop will have to be allowed to wither away. Unfortunately, Pakistan is facing a drought.

The question that should be boggling every Indian's mind is how can India help? In the impending chaos, what will happen to the nukes? How will China be effected? Will history take another wrenching turn?

Obama's Curse

jay — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:36:55 EST

As President Obama continues to struggle with his agenda in what has become an ungovernable America, several questions are being raised about his leadership. Many who voted for him and saw him as a saviour are disillusioned. Those who took him to be a fraud are singing "I told you so". He is seen as the preacher-in-chief rather than the commander-in-chief. I believe what is happening here is that he is the only adult in the room and when he talks to Americans as adults no one is able to comprehend him.

There are many reasons for the situation in which he finds himself. The number one reason, I think, is his inexperience. This is coming through loud and clear in the way he has been manipulated in the health care debate. It was perhaps a mistake that he took up the health care issue as his primary concern even above the issue of restoring jobs and the economy. He believed that he had learnt from the debacle of Bill and Hillary Clinton's attempts at reform in the 90s and decided a diametrically opposite approach. Egged on by the democrats in Congress, he fell for the reasoning that if he wanted health care reform to be passed, then he had only a one-year window of opportunity. He also passed on complete control to the Congress to come up with the bill's provisions and to cut deals to ensure its passage. I think this whole process smacked of his inexperience in understanding the Congress' model of working and how things get done in Washington. This issue took so much focus out of his remaining agenda that nothing else mattered for the people. A failure on this front (as it already is, even if it passes as a budget reconciliation next month) has dealt a body blow to his reputation.

My second reason for his failure, may make many readers cringe. I believe that he is ahead of his time. Being a pragmatist centrist (many readers may not like this characterisation of him), he has already sensed the coming multi-polar world order. I think he has understood the inevitable fact that in the not-too-distant future America will no longer be the supreme power in the world that it has been for the past few decades. He is steering the country in a direction where it can co-exist with other powers. A world where America will have to listen to lectures from China and other nations. That is a world alien to most Americans. Perhaps he will be blamed for letting it happen. Perhaps that may turn out to be his greatest legacy. As a pragmatist he would rather accept that inevitable fact and embrace change rather than challenge it. Most Americans cannot digest this or embrace it today. And therein lies his curse.

In my opinion, the world needs a leader country that is one among many equals. Many people shudder at the thought of having China as that leader. When you look around you realize that with all the warts, all the faults and all the failings that they had, US is perhas still the only country who can provide that leadership economically, militarily and politically. So, it is as well that we hope that Obama succeed rather than fail in his attempt to reshape the American agenda.

Shaikh Dr Tahir ul-Qadri Issues Anti-Terrorism Fatwa Without Teeth

Jamal — Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:16:45 EST

Regarding Shaikh Dr Tahir ul-Qadri’s Anti-Terrorism Fatwa, recently launched in London, I guess any steps forward in fighting terrorism should be considered a good thing. However, these initiatives can be read in many ways and I’ll give you a few points off the top of my head, replicates what many others are thinking in the Muslim community.

Firstly, I doubt this will have the clout envisaged by one of it's apparent key promoters the Quilliam foundation (a counter-terrorism think tank) as the fatwa itself does not have the unanimous backing of the most prominent scholars and Sheikhs, although the opinions and rulings of some prominent scholars do appear to have been involved in drawing it up. Also this is not the first fatwa to condemn suicide bombings/terrorism, and Qadri is not the first ‘important/eminent’ Sheikh to issue such a fatwa, as many more prominent scholars and Sheikhs have done so already, and these are ignored by those idiots that seek to commit suicide bombings and terrorism anyway. Furthermore, most Islamic scholars and Imams have already consistently condemned killing people in the name of Islam for a long, long time. There is simply minimal publicity about these earlier efforts and therefore the time spent promoting Shaikh Dr Tahir ul-Qadri’s Anti-Terrorism Fatwa would have been better spent promoting that Muslims have already been condemning terrorism for some time.

Secondly, regarding Qadri's status, the Sheikh in question appears to head a Sufi organisation and as such there will be many branches of the Muslim community that will not recognise his rulings. In fact, its likely that most of his own followers will accept his fatwa but then as his followers they are likely to not support terrorism or suicide bombings anyhow. Furthermore, another reason he is not a universally accepted figure by all individuals and branches of the Muslim community is because in the past has made segregating comments about some other Muslim communities such as Wahabbis and Deobandis. So I’d suggest that this fatwa is not really groundbreaking apart from inside his own organisation and will never be widely acknowledged apart from by his own followers.

Thirdly, although it is important that such a Fatwa has been publicised, the importance and reach perceived by the press, Quilliam foundation, etc, does appear overrated/overestimated. Why? Because those that commit such crimes have already heard existing Fatwa’s stating it to be wrong and ignore them, those that do not recognise this Sheikh would have already heard existing Fatwa’s stating it to be wrong, those that follow this Sheikh should already be clear terrorism is wrong and do not need a Fatwa to tell them this, and those non-followers that already know it to be wrong do not need another Fatwa to remind them.

I’ve read a cross-section of interesting views which collectively place this Fatwa in it’s correct context and weight it’s relevance.

"The fatwa, running to 600 pages, has been written by Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri, founder and leader of a Muslim sect based in Pakistan, and highlighted in a press release from the Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremism thinktank which last year received £1m funding from the British government." (Guardian)

"It (the fatwa) plays on a widely-held (and sometimes willful) misperception that Muslim leaders have not spoken out against Islamist violence. Large numbers of Muslim leaders have denounced violence, suicide bombs, 9/11, 7/7 and many other bloody attacks by Islamist radicals (check out a long partial list here)." (Reuters)

"Tim Winter, a lecturer in Islamic studies at Cambridge University, said while ul-Qadri’s step of declaring "miscreants as unbelievers" was unusual, it was unlikely extremists would take notice of his edict." (Al Jazeera)"I dont think any Muslim will disagree with his fatwa .. Whoever has killed an innocent human beings regardless of religion , colour , race , nationality is a terrorist. At the same time he should have mentioned American and its allies are also terrorists (including govt of pakistan ). They have also killed millions of innocent human beings in Iraq , Afganistan … We cant say one side is terrorist and other is fighting for so called democracy." (Islamonline forum)

"The scholars of K.S.A have been condemning terror and issuing fatwas since the 70’s (maybe even before then) and no one took any notice…" …"The barelvis and assorted sufi councils are flavour of the month with the UK government to spread division, hate and doubt among Muslims." (Ummah.com forum)

"What’s funny is that the Government have money to waste in what’s supposed to be a recession. They give money to the Quilliam Foundation to elicit fatwas from men who have virtually no influence on the Muslims in the UK. How ironic that these munafiq "scholars" are seen as a joke by the very Muslims they are meant to be deradicalising." (Islamic Awakening forum)

So thinking more about the 'Qadri Fatwa' and The Quilliam foundation there are some concerns that need to be raised.The Quilliam foundation is headed by Ed Husain, a former religious extremist, and actually has minimal support from Muslims. I’ve said previously that his book, The Islamist appears to be another Wafa Sultan type attempt to profit off the back of Islamophobia and the fear of ‘Islamism’. As Craig Murray also has said, Husain has realized that, having tried to make a mark in the world through religious fanaticism, that he can make more money and career progress by instead jumping on the anti-Islamist gravy train.

When Husain’s not traveling the world lecturing on the threat of ‘Islamist ideology’, he benefits from the fact that the UK government has had Ed Husain up in the Quilliam foundation and has thrown more than £1 million of taxpayers’ money at it.

It’s about time the public (including Muslims) begin questioning and criticizing these self-proclaiming fatwa writers and the barrage of advice they give to the police and security agencies on counter-extremism methods that only serve to further demonise and stereotype Muslims.

Technology Lapses

Halima Khan — Wed, 3 Mar 2010 10:36:09 EST

The tools of the information age which were once welcomed as a great step forward for mankind are now progressively more so being turned into weapons in the "war on terror." For instance, the G8 countries in recent times approved to integrate biometric passports based on microchips or databases that predetermine physical characteristics such as facial dimensions, fingerprints, iris patterns and voice patterns. More than a few governments are operational in attaining, developing, and linking databases of personal information. Subsequently they will build up on data mining software to verify "signatures" of terrorist movement.

It is argued that these intricate information systems engage artificial constructions of the "terrorist" which are too complex for any single human being to comprehend, yet too reducing to serve as a dependable basis for suspicion. Additionally, sanctioning high technology to categorize suspects complicates the matter of liability and responsibility for what is already being practiced in a relatively low-tech approach: the detention, deportation, and even torture of suspects presumed guilty of terrorist association.

The role of information technology in countering terrorism in an era of globalization can itself come under question. Modern terrorism has been typified as a negative comeback to globalization, but at the same time, terrorism has become so effectual by exploiting the very engines of globalization itself. The role of information technology in fighting terrorism, especially intelligence analysis comes fully loaded with the legal challenges that lie as consequence. It takes a network to fight a network, an analyst puts very rightly. But then it takes a network to create a counterfeit network as well.

Information technology is at the heart of both modern terrorism and globalization. Globalization has distorted the distinction between international and domestic terrorism. Terrorism became strictly global in the late 1960s, with the arrival of cheap commercial intercontinental airline travel and international communications. Not accidentally, cheap intercontinental travel and international communications are two of the engines driving globalization and aiding terrorism. Terrorists veil their planning and preparation in a sea of global noise, but a well-resourced terrorist faction has a global scope, span, and presence, withholding no borders and jurisdictions. Terrorists have revealed an ability to exploit information technology. Many have hypothesized that terrorists may soon begin targeting information technology itself, as well as using it as a weapon, for instance with attacks against decisive infrastructures and cyber terrorism. To tackle these issues sufficiently, technology and law must be urbanized in parallel, with mutual respect for each other. This is unprecedented, but indispensable, if a balance is to be maintained in civil security, civil and economic liberty, and technological progress.

The Changing Geopolitics of South Asia

jay — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:27:45 EST

Afghanistan has been relatively quiet on the surface for the past couple of months. It might lull any one who has not been paying attention, into thinking that the situation is getting better. The truth is quite to the contrary. A lot of strategic maneuvers have been taking place between the various players in the region since the announcement of America's intention of withdrawing from Afghanistan. There are all indications that the various players, Pakistan being the primary among them, are jostling for their domination over the region once the US withdraws. According to some interpretations it appears that they are willing to go to any lengths to secure a favourable outcome for themselves.

In my December 13 article I had described how the next two years are crucial for India and others in the region. Although the doomsday scenario I painted in there will take time to play out (I hope it does not happen!), there are enough indications that Pakistan has already taken the upper hand in getting control of the situation in Afghanistan and is positioning itself to be the holder of the remote control of Kabul. The recent conferences in Istanbul and London are a case in point. Pakistan ensured that India was kept out of the conference. In fact it would like India to have nothing to do with Afghanistan - not even humanitarian assistance.

Given the utter dependence of the Western world on Pakistan, Gen Ashfaq Kayani is having a great time lecturing them about who he will target and who he won't. He has already given enough indications of how he will be maneuvering the various terrorist networks such that they will be good tools for him to use, whether it would be against the Western forces or against India. The sad part is that the double game being played by Pakistan is very clear to all but there is a feeling of all-around helplessness. Pakistan appears to be acting like a suicide bomber. It is like they have bombs tied to their body and are saying, "let me go or I will blow the world apart". Right now the world is ready to let them go.

A brilliant analysis by the Indian Defence strategist Mr. K Subramaniam (Indian Express dated 17-02-10) sees the recent Pune bombing as an indicator of things to come. At the surface, that bombing seemed more amateur than what the sophisticated groups are capable of, but there could be more to it than what is on the surface. According to him, the bombing was done to raise the temperature in India to such a degree that the ever-gullible media and the politicians of Thackeray's ilk would call for an armed response against Pakistan. This would provide all the proof that Mr. Kayani requires, to cry about the Indian threat and move his troops from the western to the eastern border of Pakistan. The American forces' recent surge in the Helmand province has made it untenable for the Taliban to survive there and they need a safe passage into Pakistan. This movement of troops will provide that safe passage with no consequences. According to Mr. Subramaniam, the Parliament attack of December 2001 was precisely aimed to have India raise the saber by amassing its troops at the Pak border. India fell into the trap pretty neatly. This provided Gen Musharaff the reason to move all his troops from the Afghan border to the Indian border so as to provide Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar a safe passage into Pakistan as the operation by the Americans at the time was making it difficult for them to continue to stay in Afghanistan. So, it looks like Deja vu all over again. India has done well to see through the game this time and announced that they will go ahead with the secretary level talks. One must realize that India does not expect to achieve anything out of these talks. This is purely a strategic move on India's part, perhaps a concession to the Americans. So, if India is not moved by a small attack, perhaps a bigger attack is on its way in the next couple of weeks.

It is just not clear where all this is going to end. But, it is definitely clear that there is going to be turmoil in this part of the world for the next few years. India needs to stand as one people and see through this game. Can we do it? Given the divergent motivations we have and the lack of trust we have for each other, I have my doubts. Have we forgotten about that 400-year old strategy of "Divide and conquer" again?

Technology Betrayal

Halima Khan — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:55:17 EST

A two-edged Sword is how it was and how it still is; technology is a blessing that turns into a nuisance without much warning. The War on Terror has been an ongoing activity since a fateful September 11. It has been waged in areas some experts pronounced as the hub of terrorism. Technology is an unparalleled weapon. However not only for the good side; it is available on both sides. This is where this whole War on Terror business gets tricky. And messy too!

It is unanimously agreed that this is the age of information technology with tools infinite with power uncontainable and global reach. As the War on Terror ensues, technology is more frequently leaned on to tilt the balance in favor. This advantage exists for both those who are waging the War and also those against. This to some extent goes to make a little clearer on why this war has been more or less in a deadlock. America’s unparalleled superiority in technology is considered supreme in maintaining homeland security just as it is considered absolute in the War on Terror. What is sometimes ignored is the implementation of particular technologies is important, but in the course of this struggle this information soon reaches the other side as well. Once the information has reached the other side and its understanding is achieved, they manage to either foil it or brainstorm a counterattack. Thus the technology is more or less fallible, even useless. The technology assessment of costs, benefits, effectiveness, impacts, economic brunt, human value, society is all washed down.

The technology related to War on Terror can vastly be divided into three categories. Technology concerning to precluding or detecting terrorist acts is continuously updated and tested for potential break-ins. As continuously it is being attempted to over rule these bars and void this security tactic. Then there is technology detecting when terrorist activities occur. Lastly, technology is put to use to cope with consequences of terrorist activities.

This vicious cycle hasn’t reached a concluding point and doesn’t seem to be going near one either. Perhaps this is why talks of negotiations are in the air. Finally, someone seems to be realizing war is war and it can never be good for humanity.

United Nations' "Voodoo Science": Churned by Jealous Advocacy Groups

Sumanth — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:01:58 EST

I will be happy if the United Nations is closed down. This useless organisation has outlived its natural life. If it continues to exist, and then just like radio-active waste, this organisation is going to have cancerous effects across the world creating misery for many future generations.

Issues concerning Children, Women, Families and Climate control have to be separated from UN and are to be governed by separate democratic global bodies. UN can only have UN Security Council and General Assembly. It has no business to expand itself in all other areas of our lives just to remain relevant in a fast changing world.

UNICEF, UNIFEM, UNESCO, UNFPA and UN Climate Control body IPCC have to be separated from UN and they all have to be reconstituted. If it is not done, then there can be severe catastrophes across the world due to its fraudulent theories and policies in issues related to children, women, families, culture and environment.

Putting all eggs in one “undemocratic” basket is a very bad idea.

Telegraph, UK reports (link),

The Indian government has established its own body to monitor the effects of global warming because it “cannot rely” on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), the group headed by its own leading scientist Dr R.K Pachauri.

The move is a significant snub to both the IPCC and Dr Pachauri as he battles to defend his reputation following the revelation that his most recent climate change report included false claims that most of the Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035.

Thomas Fuller writes in Examiner.com (link),

It's very clear what is happening. The IPCC decides on a political point they wish to make. They search for an iconic illustration and decide that that will be the example the world sees. They then search for data to show the icon in danger. If the data doesn't suffice, it is laundered through successive paraphrasing with more distant sourcing until it is in effect sanitised. They pick the subject and pack the data. And it just doesn't matter what quality of data is used or if the claim is even true.

These can no longer be considered as coincidental mistakes of differing gravity. It is now clear that these are the considered outputs of an institutional framework. In other words, the IPCC set up their reporting system to yield these statements, and the statements were far more important than the science that yielded them or the data that was meant to back them up. They needed the headline quotes, the soundbites. They hoped the data held up, or at least was hidden well enough to escape detection.

US Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming is outraged (link),

“Every day, new scandals emerge about the so called ‘facts’ in the UN reports. The integrity of the data and the integrity of the science have been compromised.”

“Concrete action by world leaders is needed. Government delegations of the UN’s general assembly and UN Secretary Moon must pressure Dr. Rajendra Pachauri to step down as head of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.”

“Administration policies relating to climate change will cost millions of Americans their jobs. We need to get this right. To continue to rely on these corrupted U.N. Reports is an endorsement of fraudulent behavior. It is a signal to the American people that ideology is more important than their jobs.”

I am horrified. United Nation is infiltrated and controlled by members of jealous advocacy groups and they churn out “voodoo science” (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_science">link</a>). As UN influences the policies worldwide, there is a danger posed to billions of people as policies based on such fraudulent science are implemented across the world.

It is like a doctor giving completely wrong prescription for your child, just because he is influenced by some quack. This is dangerous.

Marc Sheppard in American Thinker (link),

Simply stated, we've been swindled. We've been set up as marks by a gang of opportunistic hucksters who have exploited the naïvely altruistic intentions of the environmental movement in an effort to control international energy consumption while redistributing global wealth and (in many cases) greedily lining their own pockets in the process.

All UN bodies operate in the same pattern of behaviour. Their huge bureaucracy and lack of accountability makes it extremely difficult to question. Since last 3 years, I have studied the behaviour of UNICEF, UNFPA and UNIFEM regarding the gender issues. The same pattern of behaviour is observed there as well.

Highly exaggerated claims on violence against women (VAW) are made using methods, which are completely unscientific. UNIFEM literally controls the National Commission for Women (NCW) and Indian Ministry for Women and Children (WCD). You can check the details on how a bunch of foreigners in UNIFEM control our India's policies(Link).

Voodoo Science is used to create state policies that impact all of us and our children. I have found that there is a direct relation between the policies since Beijing 95 and female foeticide in India. The high exaggerated and one-sided statistics on Violence against Women (VAW) in India planted by UN scares young parents and reinforces their thinking that girls are burdens(Link).

India has walked out of UN IPCC and started its own climate control body. India should also get out of UNIFEM immediately, close down its office in New Delhi and start its own body for creation of peaceful and healthy families, because we are a big country and we cannot allow any harm to our one billion people and children due to policies derived using “Voodoo Science”.

Drones for Pakistan - a Potential Game Changer

jay — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:26:32 EST

Soon after the US Defense Secretary Robert Gates left India's shores last week for Pakistan, came the announcement that the US was considering offering UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles popularly called drones) to Pakistan. This was supposedly to appease Pakistan to get them to join the US' war against al-Qaeda (see the New York Times story here).

Although the drone technology being provided is meant to be used against al-Qaeda it does not require a long stretch of imagination to see where it will end up getting used eventually - against India. It is appalling how neither the Indian establishment nor the Indian press has made any noise about this particular handout from the US to Pakistan considering the immense game changing quality of this deal.

Drones are essentially unmanned aircrafts the latest of which can fly for more than 2000 miles, stay unobtrusively at an altitude of about 3 kilometers and stay put in its position for even up to 14 hours. The latest advanced versions are able to sense the heat of human beings on earth from that height and precisely destroy something as small as a car from that height using Hellfire missiles with much less collateral damage than an F-16 would. These are therefore highly preferred by the Obama administration to eliminate terrorists in Pakistan, the most high-profile recent casuality being Beitullah Masud. The drone program is considered to be so successful that Mr. Obama has authorized more predator killings in hist first ten months than what Bush did in 3 years.

What is all the more striking about this is that being unmanned, these are actually controlled by operators who could be sitting anywhere in the world. According to experts, more questions about what it means to be "at war" is being raised due to this program. The operators of these drones are very often suburban home dwellers who drive down to their office for an 8 hour war from an air conditioned office (much like a video game) and then go home for dinner to their family. It is not clear how the concept of "being at war" itself will change with this kind of technology.

Admittedly, the US is wary of providing this technology to any other country as it provides them a military superiority over anyone else in the world. What they are offering Pakistan is only the surveillance technology and not the firing capability. However, this first step itself is going to introduce an inequality between India and Pakistan. Pakistan will now gain the capability to intrude into Indian airspace without being detected. And its Air Force will gain knowledge of the technology which is just one step behind the Predator missile-enabled technology.

From the deafening silence with which this news is being greeted by the Indian establishment, it is clear that the Indians were probably told and their acquiescence sought by the US before this offer was made. Perhaps that was one of the items in the agenda of Mr. Gates' visit last week. If so, it is a shame that India has agreed to this deal without thinking through the consequences. This is like the old Arabian tale of the camel and the sheikh. We are letting the camel just enough room to get his head into the tent to make him more comfortable. It won't be long before he occupies the whole tent throwing the sheikh out.

For more details on the Predator program, robotic warfare in general, and its consequences, here is an excellent book by P.W. Singer: Wired for War.

Book Review: The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets

Vivek Sharma — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:02:14 EST

The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, edited by Jeet Thayil, includes an eclectic, exciting and incredible anthology of poems by seventy-two poets from India and Indian diaspora. These voices that span the last fifty-five years includes works by all the major poets, (more familiar names) of Indian English including Nissim Ezekiel, Dom Moraes, Arun Kolatkar, Agha Shahid Ali, AK Ramanujan, Arvind Krishan Mehrotra, Adil Jussawala, Keki Daruwala, Jayanta Mahapatra, Kamla Das and R. Parthasarthy. The collection also includes many younger poets and and many upcoming voices including Vikram Seth, Jeet Thayil, Ravi Shankar, Meena Alexander, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Kazim Ali, Daljit Nagra, among others. The voices bring forth influences and feelings excavated, collected, cultivated, imported, ingrained or extracted from a rich and varied landscape of Indian heritage, culture, philosophy, religion and echoing the daily chaos and beauty of Indian existence. Diversity in temperament and tastes, rich colors and varied textures, aroma of spices, shingle of bangles, Hindu and sufi mysticism, Kamasutra or censored sexuality, chutnified or dignified English, free verse and sonnets, and a grand tour of modern and ancient world is served in this collection. Voices that are of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians, Indians, Americans, Britishers, and World citizens versify such that each poem both represents the local, particular idioms, icons and ideas and transcends these in creating literature that is human, universal, eternal.

Adil Jussawalla, perhaps speaks for every Indian writer, who spend his lifetime pursuing poetry in a country, where there is little reward for bards writing in this 'phoren' language, and whose English poets, are yet to be welcomed in international circuits, where a bad translation from another language gets more audience, than original writing in English from a poet born in India/non-Western countries: "Bright sparks / on the international back-slapping circuit / are picking up prizes like static. // He's for the dark." Arundhati Subramaniam, in a poem titled "To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn't Find Me Identifiably Indian" provides a succinct portrayal of both Western prejudice about who they consider is Indian and what is not, and the frustration of an Indian writer seeking to speak in this language about his or her complex existence that is not bound by what textbook definition proclaims to be his or her territory or ideology. The anthology also includes essays by Jeet Thayil, Bruce King and Arvind Krishan Melhotra. These essays provide insight into the life and work of few of the famous poets as well as the state of/ regard for English poetry writing in India. Similarly there are poetic tributes to the likes of Nissim Ezekiel and Agha Shahid Ali by poets touched and transformed by their work, and other poems that stake claim on English as language of expression, exile, migration, longing, learning and spirituality .

"Considerthefemalebodyyourmost / Basictextanddontforgetitsslokas" suggests Rukmini Bhaya Nair, whereas "You are no plagiarist of dusk. / Nothing in the sky equals itself." writes Kazim Ali. At once, homage to a thirty century old tradition of Sanskrit verse form, shalokas, is made and in another poem, the limitlessness of possibilities is hinted at. The collection contains a large number of quotable lines, and startling sentences, each embedded in nicely sculpted lines and word images. Moreover, the collection includes works by poets who deserve way more attention than we have given them. Not many of us know of the poems by G. S. Sharat Chandra, who was once nominated for Pulitzer Prize. He writes: 'My good shoe has run away / with the tacks /of its slutty twin.' Similarly Agha Shahid Ali is quite unknown in India. He, like G. S. Sharat Chandra has a prize named after him (by University of Utah). Shahid was a Kashmiri-American poet, best known for his Ghazals in English. He was devoted to the cause, and taught many Americans that this form of verse is not merely about rhyming couplets, but about rendering a lament that stretches the personal grief, till it becomes an umbrella over everyone who reads the poems.The collection does not contain any of his Ghazals, but his accessibility and depth is reflected in these lines I often quote from 'Stationery', "The world is full of paper. / Write to me."

Works by Mamta Kalia, Leela Gandhi, Eunice de Souza, Kamla Das and others have an edge to them, a revolt against the Kaushalya-Sita-Sati-Savitri (ideal mother/housewife) image of Indian women, a celebration of contemporary movements in celebration of right and freedom of women. Eunice de Souza has lines like: " 'O Universal Lover / in a state of perpetual erection! / Let me too enter into / communion with the world / through thee.' " and others like: 'It pays to be a poet. / You don't have to pay prostitutes.' Leela says: "Our desire wanting we tried our love / and found it good enough without / this sex thing, this hip and lip thing. / Let other lovers sweat and grind, / our love's refined, raising virtues from necessity." In a poem titled Brat, Mamta Kalia, has a daughter say: "You, perhaps, were hardly proud / Of your creativity -- / Except for the comfort / That I looked like Papa / And not like the neighbour / Who shared our bathroom." While Vivek Narayanan celebrates the vamp from silver screen in "Three Elegies for Silk Smitha", Arun Kolatkar picks an "Ogress" from a poverty-striken street and describes her "has always been a kind / of an auxiliary mother, / semi-official nanny // and baby-bather-in-chief / to a whole chain of children / born to this street".

Reading the poems included in this collection helps us arrive at answers to our own quest in poetry, as well as in life. Jayanta Mahapatra, who is another pillar of Indian writing, usually keeps irony to minimum, but in a poem titled "The Quest" he says: "Even computers begin to understand our castes and prejudices. / The voluptuous figures of women in stone / only wish to save our feelings of love and freedom;" While Nagra and Ezekiel provide glimpses of Indian English, countless lines, similes, metaphors and allusions scattered throughout the book emphasize the "Indian" (in English).

Indian poets writing in English have had a few guiding lights in the subcontinent. The inimitable Nissim Ezekiel as a mentor, and the tireless P. Lal (Writers Workshop , Calcutta) as a publisher are two significant pillars. The anthology is a tribute to the lifelong struggles of these and other poets. Jeet has done a commendable job in compiling biographies, digging out unpublished and published poems from known and obscure sources and highlighting how poetry defies the artificial constraints and bounds of time, space, age, location and traditions. Philip Nikolayev, the editor of Fulcrum, who inspired the project, and everyone else who contributed to its completion deserve the gratitude of every Indian (especially of the poets). Other anthologies that deserve our gratitude include collections edited and/ or translated by AK Ramanujan and R. Parthasarthy.

I highly recommend this Bloodaxe anthology for its reach and range, and for a comprehensive and erudite introduction to Indian poetry in English. It includes most of the important poets born before 1975 (or as I jokingly tell myself, all poets older than me!), and provides exemplary poems about every imaginable theme and subject that poets and readers will remember and relish in years to come. I will close this review with another set of memorable lines from Ranjit Hoskote, who in a poem titled "Ghalib in the Winter of the Great Revolt" writes:

"The friend, with a spy at his shoulder, writes back: / When did you become a poet of adjectives / roosting in the rafters of a broken house? / Ghalib, the owl must hide in the tamarind for now, / but the genie of havoc will go on furlough soon. / You say your ink-well is empty, but your dry quill / still claws at the fibers of the heart."

The World Awakens to China

jay — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:26:45 EST

As China's economic engine continues to hum and scale newer and newer heights, it is interesting to see a number of commentators especially in the western world begin to get worried. Worried they are, as China overtakes them in metric after economic metric. China is now the biggest market for passenger cars in the world surpassing the US. It is the largest exporter in the world surpassing Germany. Of course, it is also the holder of more than $2 trillion dollars of American debt. With a billion-plus population China is only just beginning. Clarion calls have been sounded around the world in the past few weeks, some merely cautioning to some advising economic sanctions and tariffs. While much of this may be simply nervousness in having to share the bed with an upstart, the fire behind all that smoke is quite revealing.

The fact of the matter is that in 2009 China has realized that it is the foremost economic engine in the world. This acknowledgment by the world has given the Chinese the confidence to junk Deng Xiaoping's advice to "Keep a cool head and maintain a low profile". It now thinks that it has achieved the aim of proving to the world what China can do. It appears to have decided that it is no longer necessary to keep its ambitions and aims close to its chest but to further it as openly as necessary. This appears to be a strategic change to the direction in which the country had been going so far. Several recent events give credence to this fact.

1. China continues to peg its yuan to the dollar at devalued rates to further its exports to the rest of the world defiantly telling the world that it will adjust the rate only when it thinks fit. In another era of lopsided power equations, perhaps China could not have been so belligerent.
2. China has kept the border issue with India on the front burner in recent months while professing Asian unity just to keep India second-guessing and to remind her of who is more powerful if there was a need for a backyard brawl.
3. China's relentless pursuit of natural resources including oil, minerals, farm produce etc especially in African countries often by arming and supporting tin-pot dictators has been brazenly upheld despite international criticism. It has decided that it will seek what it needs, international obligations be damned. A lot of people in African countries who signed up for such largess are beginning to realize the negative effects but can't do a thing about it.
4. China has openly indicated that it does not need a Google to operate within its borders, if it does not comply with its draconian rules about dissent and openness. In an earlier era, China may have compromised (it may still reach a negotiated settlement with concessions from both sides) but the new resurgent country wants things done on its own terms.
5. There are several indications on the ground too where some have reported how business proposals have been shot down or supported according to the new rules even though none exist on the statute.
6. The Copenhagen summit was deftly steered into a do-nothing conclave at China's behest because it was not ready to commit to any numbers on paper.

These seem to point to a new belligerent attitude of the Chinese who are ready to flex their muscles to indicate that they have arrived on the global stage, and will run their business the way they like it. At this stage it does appear that it is going to descend into a fight between a wounded Bald Eagle and a "fresh-from-slumber" Dragon. China is well aware that the Americans have studied their Great Depression books well and understand that tariffs and sanctions are what did them in during the 1930s. The Americans are dead against protectionism for now and so China will play the brinkmanship game for some time to come.

It is instructive to remember the words of the late French hero Napolean who once said "Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world". If his words turn out to be prophetic, the shake is not going to be very comforting. Definitely not for India who may have a lot more to lose than just parts of its territory.