Fear, hatred & annihilation

WORLD : RELIGIOUS THEOLOGY

Root of all fundamentalisms is the fear of being obliterated…
22/11/2009


9/11 reminds the world the brutality of extremism that the US went through, which took lives of 2,993 people including the hijackers. The entire world knows that the brutality was the outcome of extremist religious theology – which is considered to bring peace. But unfortunately that came out to be one of the prime reasons of conflict in the society. Though there is enough written, talked and investigated about the issue – terrorism, there is a little scope of analysis on the fact that all extremisms – whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish – are rooted in a profound fear of obliteration.

The historical case of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, where ten thousand to possibly one-hundred thousand Huguenots (French Protestants) were killed by the Catholic mobs out of fear that Catholics were losing power and getting increasingly overshadowed by the Protestants is worth to mention. Peace-mongering popes like Pope Gregory XIII showed his frustration stating that, "That massacre gave him more pleasure than fifty Battles of Lepanto." Another case of Christian extremism is the attempt by Guy Fawkes and other Catholic revolutionaries to overthrow the Protestant aristocracy of England by blowing up the Houses of Parliament.

Similarly, Jewish extremism was rooted from the same fear. Two incidents created a feeling among Jews of being ceased to exist, making them severely violent. First is the Nazi atrocity. Out of fear of being completely extricated by Nazis’ conspiracy, Jews took swords in hands. Second is insecurity of losing the Jewish state of Israel in the Middle East. Thus, it was irrelevant for Jews whether they were killing Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian or Palestinian, all were their enemies because all of them were against their land of Israel. And finally, Islamic faith became too “violent” in the modern days. Only God perhaps knows how many are killed by people influenced by Islamic extremism. However, history shows that Islamic terrorism is rooted from the days of the fall of Ottoman Empire. One of the reasons behind al-Qaeda’s coming into existence and Talibans or Iraqis becoming violent and are in killing spree today is the fact that they are severely afraid of losing their faith and culture due to excessive influence and domination by the West.

As China’s stand against Tibetans’ desire of achieving independence is gradually becoming visible, the Dalai Lama may continue to protest peacefully but common Buddhist Tibetans may not continue the same for long. Remember, it would not take much time for Tibetan Buddhists to be violent.

Kirill on a mission

RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY: ROLE OF ORTHODOX CHURCH

Is it the Orthodox Church that Putin is using in his new diplomacy?

For the uninitiated, ‘Patriarch’ Kirill, the newly elected Patriarch in Russia, is alleged to have been and to still be a KGB agent. He has been very successful and influential in diplomatic issues, more regional than global. He succeeded to lay down the foundation of Orthodox Church in Cuba and Venezuela, where he is alleged to have secret political dialogues with top level diplomats like Fidel Castro. He is also one of the richest Russians in Russia with a personal wealth over $4 billion. Compare that with the Pope: rich, yes; millionaire, surely; but billionaire? (Even the Vatican operates on a budget deficit these days; one guesses after the billions of dollars payouts globally on child abuse cases). For the initiated, Russian neighbours including Ukraine are not ready to accept Russia’s presence and domination in their territory. On a key multiple tier diplomatic level, Russia desperately needs to keep its existence and influence in the neighboring states for its economic benefit and to retain supremacy. Thus, as it has exhausted all possible options, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is now all set to launch another contrivance to resolve political and diplomatic issues with its neighbours – the Russian Orthodox Church. Putin is trying to use the Orthodox Church quite cleverly, with the recent visit of Patriarch Kirill to Ukraine evidence of the same. Analytically, the 10-day visit of Kirill to various churches in Kiev and other cities of Ukraine might not seem very successful at the political level on the face of it, but it seems to have laid down a strong positive foundation in the minds of the common Ukrainians with respect to acceptability of anything Russian. Religion, especially the Christian Orthodox faith, has been very influential in the region, especially in countries like Ukraine, Georgia. About 17.3% of the Ukrainian population is of Russian origin. In addition, the long history of Christian faith binds people of these countries in common terms. There are three sects predominantly in Ukraine; Kiev patriarchate with 50.4% followers, which is predominant in the Western part of the country backed by the President, Yushchenko. The Moscow patriarch is another with 26.1% having enough support of Russian government.

Finally, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church with 7.2%. This demographic picture is giving substantial support to Patriarch Kirill to put forward the Russian political agendas. For the Russian polity, some of Kirill’s recent initiatives have been witness to clear political cognizance. His recent statement that it’s very important to increase Russian speaking presence in EU bodies was one of his first political remarks as Patriarch; interestingly, this statement garnered enough support in the Russian polity. But what separates him from his quite normal predecessors is that fact that he is the first Russian Patriarch in known history to consider himself as the universal patriarch for the world in the Christian Orthodox faith. That is quite a gargantuan consideration, given the expanse he is trying to address. But as his Ukraine trip showed, he is not without his stable followers. Kirill is also trying to strengthen the current weak relation with Georgia. In addition, his recent statement that “there are no conflicts, even most cruel, [and] no human hostility that could ever destroy the church unity, including the unity between the Russian and Georgian Churches” caught the attention of the intellectual Georgian community. Common Georgians look forward to Kirill’s visit more positively in Georgia now more than ever. Kirill’s further attention to control food consumption for joy and save the world from ruin has increased his general popularity and exemplified his knowledge in world economics. His speech in Crimea to thousands of people including Russian and Ukrainian navy personnel urging them for a peaceful cooperation was meaningful. He said, “Keep the Orthodox faith! Keeping the faith means not only attending church but building good relations with people,” more broadly between Ukrainians and Russians. To top the brilliant effort, Kirill even met Obama recently where he talked about universal Christianity. Most importantly, Kirill now aims to visit Islamic countries in two years to convince them to support minority Christian groups through which he aims to strengthen relations with these countries, a job that he seems to be already succeeding in doing with Cuba and Venezuela. What plays to Kirill’s huge advantage is the fact that unlike Putin, Kirill is not given to using flamboyant words and giving veiled – and unveiled – challenges to unnamed adversaries, an art Putin seems to have ingrained even when he is fishing with Medvedev. Globally, when Kirill speaks, he is considered a stable, well read and knowledgeable intellectual, discussions with whom will always result in amicable interactions rather than virulent arguments. With his below the surface closeness to both Putin and Medvedev (who are both comfortable with his non-power-ambitions), it is also being conjectured that Kirill is being encouraged and goaded to visit troubled spots and entities with his overtly zero-political agenda. One has to realise that since the time of Mikhail Gorbachev – in fact, both before and after – rare has been the year when one has seen a sane, non-mafiosi (the allusion obviously is to Putin!) and non-military personality speaking on behalf of the Russian philosophy and movement. Ergo, Kirill comes with a huge premium and is adding to it with each day of brownie points gained. And today, Russia needs these points desperately. From threatening Chechnya and other Central Asian countries, to waging many wars against neighbouring states (the South Ossetia War in 1991-92 and war in Abkhazia in 1992-93), Russia has managed to escalate tension regularly in the region. Even in the 2008 battle against Georgia to ostensibly free South Ossetia and Abkhazia, thus making then independent states, Russia earned killing hatred reserved for few. Ukraine, as a key example, has been predictably disloyal and antagonistic in its affairs with Russia, as Russia has almost always used energy to threaten Ukraine. Ukraine, being a Russian neighbour, depends on Russia for its energy as 35% of its energy needs are met by Russia. Just after the split of USSR, Ukraine started witnessing oil and gas embargoes by Russia. As anti-Russian movement started rising in Ukraine, Russia suspended gas supply to Ukraine in 1992, 1993, and 1994. Russia also blamed Ukraine for the non-payment of fares and gas debts. The last decade exemplified how vulnerable foreign relations caused major oil disputes between them and in the region. The twenty first century also witnessed time and again efforts by Russia to control Ukraine and other eastern European nations that support Ukraine’s independence and anti-Russian policies. Ukraine, for its part, refuses to accept Russian supremacy. The history of Ukraine, which testifies the long struggle through which it gained its sovereignty from Soviet Union, enforces a patriotic zeal against Russia. Unfortunately for Russia, Ukraine is the most viable route of energy exports as 85% of the Russian gas delivered to Western Europe passes through Ukraine. The worry that Russia has is that some years later, if and when Ukraine develops alternative energy sources, Russia would lose the power of wielding the energy stick; a scenario which Putin knows could become inevitable. Add to this the fact that Ukraine doesn’t want Russian naval bases to be in its territory; and the treaty that permitted Russia to continue its naval base in Ukraine will expire in 2017. Ukraine has already warned Russia to withdraw its bases. Given all this, Kirill’s unique positioning and intelligent networking with stakeholder groups is nothing short of brilliant. If Putin is intelligent – which undoubtedly he is – Kirill should never be openly asked to support or reject any of Putin’s political manoeuvres. The fact is that if Kirill is allowed to simply do what he is doing best, Putin just might see his own popularity ratings soar even in Ukraine. Think about it; when was the last time you heard about a religious leader in either Chavez’s Venezuela or Fidel’s Cuba influencing public opinion with such power?

Delhi Metro; systemic losses

Pricing the Metro tickets low is ridiculous; is it a social service effort?
01/10/2009


Is Delhi Metro a costly mistake? Well, it surely will become a national heritage once it gets completed, but would it qualify on the strictest parameter of becoming a financially sound public transport model? Or has it been set up just to beautify Delhi’s landscape on taxpayers’ money? Let’s see some interesting facts.

The concept of metros has never been a profitable business proposition internationally. There are 135 metros worldwide but only four metros have been successful in making profits. These are Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and Tokyo. The Kolkata Metro is another example of a staid loss maker. If the financial year 2004-05 saw it incurring losses of Rs.43 crores, last year stood at Rs 48.6 crores (It earned Rs.48 crore from passenger traffic against operating costs of around Rs.91 crore in the same year). In other words, tax payers are paying for the inefficiencies of metro’s employees and processes. The Delhi Metro railway project is purportedly one of Delhi’s brightest projects. The first phase of Delhi metro is complete and the total cost stood at around Rs.10,571 crore. The estimated cost of the second phase is Rs.8,118 crore. In spite of having the lowest fares compared to other metros internationally, Delhi metro has earned operational profits of Rs.398.69 crore. Since there is hefty capital investment and certain amount of operating cost involved, it seems that it will take many years to make net profit.

Claude Jeanrenaud, Council of Europe member, writes in his report, Funding of Urban Public Transport, “Urban public transport systems are systematically loss making,” the reason clearly being pricing travel tickets lower than true cost in an ostensible effort to cater to lower income groups, a clearly misdirected strategy at the cost of other taxpayers. Delhi Metro was not and should not be considered a social service effort, especially when it is not free money that is going in. It’s time to price its tickets higher; ruthlessly!

A new revenue model?

Is the Indian government missing out on billions?
15/10/2009

One of the fastest growing nations, India faces a severe problem when it comes to effective and adequate revenue generation. For example, the government succeeded in generating only Rs.6,279.49 billion as gross tax collection while the proposed budget expenditure is Rs.9,532.31 billion in the budget year 2009-10. The country faces a budget deficit of Rs.2412.73 billion, which is 4.4% of GDP, a figure high for an emerging nation (in 2009, China’s budget deficit stood at yuan 111 billion, which is just 0.4% of the GDP). Since taxation is the major revenue source, the Indian government keeps attempting to look at increasing as well as ‘innovative’ ways generate more money. We looked around, and think we have one which will qualify in their standards. And that is to bring net based companies under an organised tax structure – beyond simply service and profits tax payments – on a narrow premise that we’re forwarding.

As a case study, search engine Google follows a unique revenue model with innovative products and services. It has AdWorks, which is a pay per click advertising program. This allows advertisers – on Google search and on other Google sites – to present their advertisements instantly to people who are looking for information similar to what the advertiser has to offer. And the advertiser pays Google for every click that surfers make on their links. Moreover, it has Ad-Sense, which allows Google to place clients’ advertisements on partner sites, wherein the partner sites earn part of the per-click payment. This unique double combo revenue model helped Google earn $21.79 billion in the FY2008, up from $16.59 billion in the last year. Even in the last quarter ending June 30, 2009, Google generated astounding revenues of $5.52 billion despite all talks of an economic slowdown. Yahoo is another internet service provider that generates a hefty chunk of money following a very similar revenue model. Yahoo Inc. generated $7.2 billion in the FY08 compare to $6.9 billion in the last year. In the last quarter ending 2009-06-03, Yahoo generated $1.57 billion.

There are thousands of other search engines, internet service providers, online news portals and community networks that attract millions of surfers and earn billions of dollars for simple clicks.

The critical issue is that a significant number of these clicks that generate the above said billions originate in India – where surfers clearly use national infrastructure (routers, cross-country transponders, transmission lines, and the works). We propose that the government taxes a small part of the revenue that various international and national net based companies earn through the pay-per-click route. That is, we’re proposing that in the same way as Google (through their Ad-Sense module) pays a part of their earned revenues to partner sites – if the click on Google’s client’s ad was made through the ad displayed on the partner’s site – Google should also then necessarily pay the Indian government a part of that pay-per-click revenue earned, if the click has been made inside the national boundaries of India.

Interestingly, online ad spending is on rise in India. The online ad expenditure in 2006 was around Rs. 2.1 billion, which increased to Rs. 4.5 billion in 2007. The same is expected to reach Rs.22.5 billion by the end of 2009. There are 2.707 million internet hosts while the country has 80 million internet users; even this is increasing drastically. Today, online advertising contributes $300 billion to the American economy (2.1% of the GDP). What say the Indian government partakes of some of it?

Why Iran will survive!!

IRAN : INNER STRENGTH

Iran’s changing strategies would perhaps bring back its old glory
06/09/2009

Reacting to a question on whether Iran can survive against western threats during a press interaction, the Iranian Ambassador to India, HE, Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh avowed that such an old culture and dynasty can not wipe out so easily. Though it apparently seemed an emotional response, an in-depth analysis exemplifies that Iran has been incorporating certain intellectual and effective policies which are likely to bring a tectonic shift for the nation. Apart from some of the attributes such as democracy, strong economy, energy hub and a strong military power which made it influential in the region, there are many other areas on this land yet to be explored as it experiences rapid transition. To begin with, Iran though along with many other anti-American nations is affected indirectly due to oil price decline, its proactive response is credible enough to praise and effective than some of the worst affected economies. Some of the immediate policy response were to prepare an annual budget, taking into consideration the new international prices to avoid the budget deficit, policy to increase more reliance over domestic tax income, reduction of increase in money supply and controlling inflation, creating institutions of funds for increasing absorption of the running domestic and international capital and most importantly forming a committee for analysing the results of the crisis over the country and initiation of adequate policy needs to confront the same.

A report by Harvard Polytechnic Massachuset published in the Washington Times stated that the world attention has been mainly diverted toward the progress of Iran in the nuclear field, whereas Iran presently is one of the ten developed countries of the world in the field of Stem Cells. Moreover, it also enjoys the highest place from the point of view of growth of scientific papers in the region as well as in the world. The number of world class scientific papers of Iran is around 26,000. According to a report by International Statistical Institute, Iran holds first place in the seven fields of mathematics, mechanical, polymer, chemistry, chemical engineering, nano technology and medicine in the region. It also reached 19th from 52nd in the world in the field of nano-technology during the last five years. It is one of the three important dam making countries of the world. It ranks among the ten countries of the world to have got access to the satellite production and launching technology. Iran is also progressing rapidly in the field of space technology. Interestingly, it also proved wrong to those who thought Iran to be not a foreign investment friendly country. During 1992-2009, it attracted over $34.6 billion of investment from abroad. Its trade with foreign countries amounted to a whopping $150 billion between 2000 to 2007. Iran also invested $62 billion abroad.

Now Iran is initiating an international exhibition of press and news agencies to be held in Tehran this year too to expand cultural dealings, interactions and sharing its thoughts on some of the significant issues with media. This would definitely help in reshaping its negative image across the world. All in all, Iran is doing substantially well. This might not bring back its old glory it had during the Ottoman Rule but importantly progress in Iran is beneficial for all; Iran itself, the Middle East region and the world broadly.

Neigh-bros!

INDIA : NEIGHBOUR

India can learn from some of the unique attributes of neighbours
13/09/2009

Learning is a continuous process of gaining or inheriting knowledge and skill. There is no class or caste bar when it comes to learning from someone. However, the same is also applicable in trans-national relationship; especially a country can learn a lot from its neighbours. Many of the Latin American countries have gone democratic because, the big neighbour the US, inherited it successfully. Many preferred capitalism because it turned out to be a successful economic system in the US. Similarly, if European countries are somewhat equally prosperous and united, it is because each strived to learn lessons from neighbours. Even in Asia, China is perhaps a classic example. It's incorporation of positives of capitalism - initiating liberalisation and privatisation led by Deng Xiaoping after he found that neither the socialist command economy favoured by Communist Part of China (CPC) nor Maoist ideology of shifting from socialism to communism as exercised in agriculture but failed had actually worked in favour of an economy unique in itself. Initiating reforms in a communist country like China was not easy!

In that context, India has many to learn from its neighbours. To start off with, Bhutan, perhaps India’s closest neighbour possible, have some things unique to teach India, if fact, the world. No other country in the world perhaps witnessed such a peaceful transformation from monarchy to democracy that took place in the country in 2008. 100 years of monarchy went democratic silently. Credit goes to His Royal Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, en spite of peoples' request the King democratised Bhutan simply for the sake of the future generations of Bhutanese. The speech of the incumbent king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, delivered while inaugurating the first parliamentary session in its capital was unique in itself. We are so engrossed with Obama’s speech that we forget the fact that a 28 year old king can deliver such a revolutionary speech – rare in India! Another aspect to learn from Bhutan is infrastructure and architecture that the country has to offer. A tiny country surviving by donations can have better infrastructure than its donor. India had financed Bhutan's first two Five Year Plans (Bhutan is grateful for the fact though). India’s donation to Bhutan has gone up from just Nu.107 million to Nu.10 billion while Bhutanese government urges Indian authority to improve its infrastructure, what an irony!!! The kind of architecture Bhutan offers to the world remind us that architecture and wealth are not necessarily synonymous. Similarly, Pakistan may be its biggest headache for India but there is lot to learn from it especially when it comes to handling international politics and world diplomacy. It is such a country that can host world’s most dangerous terrorists like Laden, Baitullah Masood or Dawood Ibrahim and terror organisations while it can also maintain good relationship with world’s most powerful countries who spend billions of dollars to find and kill them. It’s not easy to do. India has also a lot to learn from Sri Lanka. Despite being a tiny and poor nation it has proved that if a country truly wants, it can overthrow world's dangerous terror group, LTTE.

Learning is something that helps always, that which enlightens the thought process and keeps learners updated. For a country aspires to be a leader, it should also have the temper to learn from its fellow brethren leaving apart personal enmity, hatred and ego. India has ample scope to improve. Let not that aspirations go in vain.

Europe's fret is US' greed

EUROPE : INSECURITY

Is fining US firms deliberately reflecting it’s insecurity?
20/09/2009

Rules are meant to be broken. Well, this might be a famous aphorism in Asia but aptly inapplicable in Europe. Europe is a classic example which, on one hand, can attract big MNCs but on the other hand, can be too harsh on them when they indulge in fraudulent activities or bribery. Apparently, it is unique in itself in treating the MNCs.

The case of Microsoft is a famous one. The IT giant was heavily fined when it failed to meet the regulatory norms set up by the European Commission (EC). In 2008, the antitrust regulators fined a whopping $1.3 billion for not being able to comply with the antitrust laws since 2004 and thus bringing the total amount of fines on Microsoft to a gigantic $2.5 billion. In 2009, EC imposed a fine of $1.45 billion (£1.06 billion) on American giant, Intel Corporation on the ground that illegal anticompetitive practices of Intel would harm the continuation of a healthy competitive market. The EC, in fact, has gone unique in this century with its antitrust activities. It fined Archer Daniels Midland, along with 13 other leading pharmaceutical companies, which the EC suspected were seeking to control the European vitamin market. The most horrifying one was when EC blocked the $43 billion merger deal between General Electric and Honeywell on the ground that American firms are targeting and buying European firms to retain their growth. Surprisingly, the deal was allowed by the US regulators.

Recently, BAE Systems, an European giant engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defence, security and aerospace systems, has been given a deadline this month to negotiate with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for being allegedly involved in bribery in relation to the sale of aircrafts and air defence equipments to Czech, South Africa and Tanzania. This would mean that if BAE systems fails to negotiate with the SFO, as the director Richard Alderman avowed, it will end up paying a fine of millions from the £2.5 billion-plus contracts with these countries.

The region has always been a bright prospect for MNCs since decades. It is flooded with Foreign Direct Investment inflows. With new opportunities, South-eastern Europe as well as Commonwealth of Independent States are becoming more attractive. According to UNCTAD, these states attracted around $69 billion dollar foreign investments in 2007. The region is further attributed with one billion consumers.

Though fining MNCs is not a new phenomenon, it's unique way of treating MNCs is giving scope for debate. Undoubtedly strictness proves that the region is having stringent regulatory framework but sometimes its over-reactive regulatory approach seems to be biased against foreign firms, especially Americans. Many a time, American firms are ending up to be victims of Europe's strict regulation. It has also been witnessed that Europe often ends up debating the US vs Europe on issues like the GM crop. The US too fined £500 million to German's Siemens for bribery. However, fining the BAE system indicates that laws are common for all in Europe but the examples of Microsoft, Intel, GE and others epitomize that Europe is apprehensive of American firms and their aggressive approach. Does it mean that Europe is insecure? Hard to conclude but still debatable.

Making sense of democracy

PHILIPPINES : ELECTIONS

dynasties remain influential in the Asian politics
27/09/2009

Philippines is all set to elect its 15th President. The country has scheduled to hold the Presidential, legislative and local election on May 10, 2010. A formal colony of Spain and the United States, Philippines has lot of hope from the upcoming President as the country has been hit hard by global recession. It further aims to revive its economy with a fresh election and a new president. Unfortunately, the reality doesn’t seem to be as glassy, as people of the country are expecting nothing drastic out of this election as the same old corrupt and greedy dynasties are going to end up running this beautiful south Asian country.

Family dynasties bind the politics of this land. Since its independence in 1946, politics has been dominated by old, powerful and rich dynasties. For example, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the incumbent President is from the very influential Diosdado Macapagal dynasty. Her father Diosdado Macapagal had ruled Philippines from 1961 to 1965. And very surprisingly, her two sons are also following her. They are already members of the nation’s lower house of parliament. What is more horrifying is that there are estimated 250 political families’ nationwide occupying positions at all level- at least one political family in every province, according to the Centre for People Empowerment in Governance, a nonprofit group that examines people participation in politics. It further says that 160 of the 265 members of Congress are from these clans. The Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism also says that two-third of the members of Congress are from political dynasties. The Isabela province was dominated by Dy dynasty for decades. The influence of dynasties is so much so that it reminds the common Philippinos of the reintroduction of the electoral politics that was there in America in the 20th century where only the wealthy used to control the government. However, if closely viewed, it is not the case of just Philippines; there are many other Asian countries where politics is dominated by a few dynasties. The outgoing Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso is the grandson of a former PM while his wife is also the daughter of a former premier. Moreover, a quarter of parliamentarians and 40% of the legislators of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) belong to influential political families. The same is the case in Bangladesh, China, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

However, the issue is not that removing dynasties will guarantee good governance and transparency but that would certainly ensure and encourage the entry of fresh and new talents in the politics. This would certainly break the age-old bureaucracy- perhaps for a better democracy. Though, fortunately, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is expected to make his debut in the upcoming Presidential election and seems to have been gaining popular support, unfortunately he is not being promoted for his charms but because of sympathy he has gained for his mother, Corazon Aquino, who died last month, who was Philippines’ democracy icon who overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Well, can we expect change here?

Health ads in unhealthy US

HEALTHCARE : AD SPENDING

Obama and his lobbyists not only shake but also shock the world…
25/10/2009

Anything associated with the US surprises or shocks the world - be it its hyped space missions, interference in world diplomacy or booms or bursts in its economic activities. Even President Obama, recently, grabbing the Nobel peace prize surprised many while flabbergast the rest. Congratulations to him for his noble intentions and most importantly his ability to convince people across the border, though people are still waiting to see Obama and his administration working effectively other than making frivolous speeches. Moreover, the trend of healthcare ad spending in the US is going to shake rather shock the world. Surprisingly, Obama is giving more attention on how innovatively and effectively he can convince people to accept the plan rather how innovative and effective the plan actually is!

Undoubtedly, an important issue that concerns each American is the turbulent healthcare system. The surprising fact is that though the US spends highest on healthcare; it ranks way behind many European nations. Obama intends to overhaul healthcare with his reform plan which is yet to get through the US Congress and which requires popular public consensus too. That is where the game begins. Americans are bombarded with healthcare ads and similar programs. A recent figure revealed that healthcare reform ad spending reached $114 million mark, a figure believed to be the costliest ever. The Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ads and national spending on healthcare, states that while $50 million was spent over the course of first seven months, the second $50 million was poured in just last six weeks. And as this 'healthy' debate is at a very crucial phase, about $1.5 million is spent daily on advertising and campaigns. There were 1 lakh commercial ads aired by 49 different groups in last 60 days. Obama himself went to dozen different talk shows to discuss and thus convince people to accept the healthcare reform. Healthcare ad spending on television is a small part of the total money being spent. Over $240 million was spent so far by hospitals, pharma companies, nursing homes and lobbyists. Americans for Stable Quality Care and Families USA promised to spend $12 million and $7 million respectively on ads and activities in support of the reform. Interestingly, Obama succeeded in convincing PhRMA, a drugmaker who opposed former President Clinton’s health overhaul 15 years ago. It also agreed to invest $150 million in support of the reform. However, ads against the reform have also increased tremendously reaching $32 million.

In democracies, organising political ad campaigns to influence people to vote is now an old phenomenon. Sadly, repeating the same in healthcare instead of debating crucial issues like whether to include public insurance option or how Canada is having an effective healthcare system following the same model with far lesser investment — is not going to improve the condition. It will be interesting now to see what next Obama comes up with.

Taste of the thunder

INDIA : AIRSPACE SECURITY

India no more ignores any security glitches
01/11/2009


18th October, 2009. It was an ordinary Sunday for most of the Indians. But then this Sunday marked a historical day for India. For the first time, the country was resilient against those who break the laws. India detained an American Boeing 767. News channels were busy flashing and discussing this unconventional step by Indian authorities. The plane was coming from Fujairah, UAE, Middle East and was headed towards Bangkok along with 205 American marines. And reasons for detaining the plane were that it didn’t follow the guideline of using Indian airspace, it was grounded by Indian authorities at Mumbai airport. The plane took permission from Indian airport authorities but didn’t bother to seek AOR consent and clearance from the Indian Air Force. As per the norms, any military charter plane of any country needs approval from Indian Air Force, necessarily, in order to use Indian airspace. This norm was ignored in this case and hence, detention was the consequence.

However, this incident has certain positive corollaries for India. This has been the second instance of US violation of Indian airspace. The surprising thing is that US military has been repeatedly ignoring the mandatory procedures required for international air traffic. The US military intentionally violates air traffic out of its overconfidence that no one has the gumption to raise a finger against it. But this incident of detaining the American military plane for violating rules sent a strong signal as well as a warning to them. This made it clear that India is not Afghanistan or Iraq. One just can’t ignore the country’s rules. The blow will remain vivid in their minds. Another important thing that the incident conveyed is that India respects superpowers but not at the cost of law and order or sovereignty.

However, there is another important positive outcome. If we look at the recent past, India detained a UAE plane at Kolkata airport which was headed towards China for carrying weapons without prior approval from Indian authorities. In fact, nothing was informed about the weapons to any of the Indian Authorities. Similarly, a Korean ship was detained for suspicious reasons. Well, what do all these 'detention' incidents indicate? It speaks volumes about Indian military, intelligence and defence mechanisms, which are on high alert. It further exemplifies that the country has realised the need, urgency and importance in sophisticating its intelligence and advancing its defence mechanism.

As the country grows, threats from neighbours or interference of countries like China or Pakistan are ought to get loud. Moreover, with countries using and abusing Indian airspace for their own purpose be it transporting arms or transporting army, it becomes imperative for India to be cautious. With Airspace being used extensively for terrorism and other illegal activities, it is important for India to follow all the security measures. Surprisingly, India is rightly doing so. Long live India!

Please spend!!!

MONEY USAGE: MLA

MLAs need to use the funds

India might have 450 million paupers; it has never been a poor nation in the sense of availability of funds. But sadly, it has always been a poor performer when it comes to the efficient allocation of these funds. The capital city itself is a stark indicator of this unfortunate situation; so one can imagine the issues with the rest of the country. According to a report by CAG that was released in 2006, there were 34 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of Delhi in the list of blacklisted MLAs, who hadn’t been able to utilise the funds allocated especially to them for their constituency development under the Assembly Constituency Development Programme (ACDP). The report stated that in the financial year of 2004-05, there were 3 MLAs who didn’t spend even a single penny for development. The remaining spent less than half of the amount that was allocated to them. Further researches reveal that even in the financial year of 2008-09, at least 12 MLAs haven’t fully utilised the funds allocated to them under ACDP and around Rs.75 lakh in funds have got lapsed. Similarly, in the state of Karnataka, a shocking 45% of the funds allocated under various drought or flood relief schemes remain unused. The state government had Rs.4.94 billion for drought and flood relief work, but it was able to spend only Rs.2.76 billion out of the same. In Tamil Nadu, information revealed under the RTI act depicts that an alarming 43% of the funds allocated to 15 MLAs remained unused in 2008. Around Rs.450 million had been allocated to those 15 MLAs. The scenario is pretty similar in most of the states. Actually, these MLAs are guilty of not doing the needful in envisioning the right kind of development projects and ensuring that they are successfully executed. This gives us a clear idea as to why most of these states face a dearth of modern infrastructure and facilities; besides lacking seriously in opportunities for the have-nots to improve their lot and lead better lives.

Terminally well

HEADS OF STATE: NO MORE

Sigh... I resign with a heavy ‘head’

Holding the highest office of the State is gradually becoming tougher by the day. While Obama’s swearing in as President of the world’s most advanced democracy and Dr. Manmohan Singh’s second term as the Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy are some of the big achievements of democratic elections, the same year is also witnessing some of the erstwhile popular heads leaving office due to economic recession.

Facing sustained economic recession and lacking intelligent methods to resolve the situation, March 2009 saw Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek formally resigning, making the dream of a reformed European Union even harder as it is set to take a distinct position in ratifying the Lisbon Treaty. The economic crisis also had Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis being forced to resign after months of struggle on the Latvian political battleground.

Joining the inglorious recession casualty club is the Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, who along with his government, resigned at the start of this year over a legal banking scandal amidst the breakup of Fortis Bank and its sale to BNP Paribas amidst the severe banking crisis. The recession and related industrial issues has also led to street demonstrations in Iceland forcing the Prime Minister Geir Haarde to reign. Hilariously, not to be left out, the Hungarian prime minister has also threatened to resign (though to his credit, he has not yet forwarded his formal resignation letter).

And on the other front, for a change, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown refused to resign despite his party’s shameful defence (or lack of it) of the expenditure bills of many MPs. What is the learning from all these? Jefferson, the author of America’s Declaration of Independence, had famously quoted, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% may take away the rights of the other 49%..” Interestingly, there is not even one reference to ‘democracy’ in the said Declaration. Thankfully, there are a million references to democracy in all the reports we presented to you... Democracy lives, like how...

‘Which’ hunt?

IRAN: ELECTION

Iran’s done well as a democracy

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is back on the seat of power, but victory celebrations have been dampened to an extent by a string of violent protests post the elections. The protesters, led by opposition party leader Mir Hossein Mousavi maintain that the election results were fraudulent. However, the authorities have ruled it out. While they admitted irregularities, they have maintained that they were not large enough to affect the landslide victory. So finally, he can afford to get back to business.

Global reaction has been mixed, though, and understandably so. Countries like India, China, Venezuela, Russia, Brazil, Sri Lanka and Pakistan (besides the Middle East) have appreciated and congratulated Ahmedinejad. Ironically, most of the western countries including the US, France, UK, Dutch were mute during the peaceful election and suddenly got into action as the violence spread. So much so that French President Nicholas Sarkozy branded the election result as a fraud and attributed the subsequent unrest as the result of Ahmedinejad’s failures in his first term. There were also many discreet protests against Obama’s as well as Sarkozy’s victory but these were never brought into limelight by the western media. Such petty gestures only show the Western world in a poor light, and elevate Ahmedinejad further in the eyes of the Iranian people.

In fact, Iran has proved to be a fine example of a democracy in this election. Going by voter turn out rate, Iran fared better than many successful democracies. Iran had voter turnout of 85%, slightly better than France, which had 84% in its 2007 presidential election and the US, which had a mere 61% voter turnout in 2008 presidential election. Rather than wasting their time in wishing Ahmedinejad away, the western world would do better to accept the reality and look to improve their relations with Iran.

Damn that rose!

POLITICAL PARTIES: OPPORTUNISM

A party is a party, by whatever name you call it, right? Yeah, right...

We wanted this one to be a frivolous piece (aren’t all of our articles?). It started with a strange trivial piece of history that took quite a lot of us quite a lot more double checks to confirm; but when we did, it put us on to something more trivial, something that possibly can’t add to your intellectual base this century – or the next. But given the irresistible urge we regularly have in bringing to you facts that generally can make even electricity (used here as a noun) go off to sleep, we decided any which way to present to you this trivia.

First, the curious historical fact playing shamelessly to the famous Shakespearian rose (...is a rose). During the regime of Richard M. Nixon, the 37th US president, finding Republican economic policies ineffective, Nixon borrowed all Democratic policies shamelessly, including Keynesian management theories. But that’s not where we come from or even half as eye opening as what happened next. Nixon, shockingly, went on to the extent of proposing that the Republican party name be changed to Conservative!! And why? Polls ostensibly showed, then, that a majority of the voters identified themselves as conservatives. Not that Nixon was known for thinking straight – but to imagine that you can fool masses with just a change in the party’s name... well, might probably be right. And it motivated us to look at all the Einsteins globally who have got it brilliantly right, seemingly!

Leading the butcher’s dozen is the State Peace and Development Council. Guess which country this peace loving party rules? Burma. It’s the name given by the ruling army to its own so-called party. Next in line is the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the ruling party of Eritrea, which strangely – or perhaps not so strangely – doesn’t allow any other party, and doesn’t seem to be that much in love with democracy either.

So what if Vladimir Putin has been accused by various observers and political bigwigs of operating Russia in a Mafia-like manner by not allowing civilians have their fair, democratic and free say? His political progeny Medvedev is not far behind when it comes to understanding Shakespeare. If United Russia is Putin’s ruling (rightist?) party, Medvedev supports various other interestingly named ‘opposition’ parties like Fair Russia (supposedly leftist, has recently shallowly repledged allegiance to Putin/Kremlin) and Civilian Power (used to claim that “freedom for every civilian” was their highest value; in 2008, once the sham was over, they supported Kremlin openly).

And how can we leave the Brits out of the discussion? If anyone can tell us how labour friendly has been UK’s famously ruling Labour Party, we’ll tell them how supremely patriotic has been Robert Mugabe’s National Union Patriotic Front. And if you had an issue with the name that the former Soviet dictator Saparmurat Niyazov gave to the only autocratic party existing in Turkmenistan – the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan – then you perhaps forget that there’s a wonderful li’l country down south somewhere run by the loving, harmonious and modestly impressive Kim brothers; it’s known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Well, Shakespeare could never have understood his own statement as well as we did. For a dictator, is a dictator, is a dictator, by whatever name you call his party...

Why defeating Taliban is vital

PAKISTAN : STABILITY

It will surely mitigate the age-old predicament of separatism


There is lot said about India’s closest but deadly neighbour Pakistan. Apart from its internal conflicts, economic doldrums and social unrest, growing separatist movements in several provinces are also a reason for instability. Movement for separate states has its roots since 1950s. Separation of East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh) in 1971 is the first outcome of it. The last decade has been at its peak with innumerable severe demonstrations witnessed in several provinces. There was agitation seen in Sindh over Government’s discriminatory policy of resource allocation. Pakistan saw marches, protests and demonstrations in Balochistan. Emergence of Ataullah Mengal, an exiled Balochi who popularised the concept of separate Balochistan as recently as 2004 proved the relevance of urgency. There were debates on whether Punjab should also be given status of an independent state. Tough there were internal discriminations which were responsible for separatism, there were external interventions too. Pakistan's Senate Committee on Defence blamed British Intelligence for illogical interference, support and aid to Balochi separatists. The US military lieutenant colonel Ralph Peters reiterated on several occasions that North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) should be separated from Pakistan and included with Afghanistan. CIA and Mossad are also allegedly said to have links with Balochi separatists.There is also a strange co-relation between separatism and military regime. Military has ruled Pakistan for over half of its six decades of democratic history and every time, it had to pay a huge price. Pakistan lost Bangladesh during General Yahya’s regime, Siachen during Zia-ul-haq’s regime and lost faith of Afghanistan during Musharraf’s presidency. But, there now seems to be some hope. Though separatism is not a history but as democracy is gradually installing after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and central political parties are overshadowing popularity of regional parties along with their weak separatist agendas; it can see some light of unity. The more it closes towards victory against Taliban in the Swat Valley and across the NWFP; more people are joining for the cause of Pakistan than the cause of their provinces. And as the country is in the final stage to launch a full-fledge military operation against the main Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, it seems to mitigate Pakistan’s age-old severe predicament of separatism, both psychologically and physically. Breaking the necks of Talibans will indirectly also destroy the confidence of others with similar intentions. History also testifies the fact that foreign economic and military aid can only provide temporary relief to its woes unless there is strong intention to eliminate Talibans, install democracy and impose centralised, indiscriminatory policies. Perhaps, for the first time in history, Pakistan seems to be on the right track but, can it finally make it?

Myth with green collar jobs

GREEN MANIA: JOB CUTS

Real focus should be on reducing pollution and not subsidising jobs
17/05/2009

In December, 2008; about 11,000 metal workers marched before the EU headquarters to protest against EU's new global warming policies which aimed at creating more green collar jobs. They were afraid that their industries would be badly affected by it and they will end losing their jobs. Reason? The new stringent pollution control norms would make their products much more expensive and eventually make them uncompetitive in the global markets. In the US, Obama, on the similar lines, announced his endeavour to boost the green industry and that creating five million green collar jobs is one of the major priorities of his economic recovery plan. He in his speeches, reiterated the efficacy and indispensability of renewable energy and praised Spain and other European countries as to how their governments have utilised their taxpayers’ money in creating employment opportunities and in revolutionising the green industry to make it a blueprint of success. But recent researches show that Spain's investments in creating green collar jobs depict more of a cautionary tale, than what Obama avowed! A recent study by King Juan Carlos University reveals that investments in creating green collar jobs have, in contrast, destroyed many jobs of other industries. The same study states that Spain invests € 571,138 to create a single green job, including subsidies worth over €10,00,000. Moreover, too much focus on the green industry destroys 2.2 jobs in other industries for every job created in the green industry. Going by that estimation, US will lose about 9 jobs for every 4 green jobs it will create and it would have to sacrifice 6.6-11 million jobs in other industries to create 3-5 million green jobs as Obama promised. San Diego is one of the US biggest destinations for green jobs but surprisingly a recent study by the US Conference of Mayors reveals that there has been no considerable change witnessed there in the green collar job market as a result of Obama's promises, supports and subsidies. UK too has been doing everything for the sustainability of green jobs but in reality the green industry is actually firing people. Emergence and growth of green industry is imperative but problem is that the growth is not because of productivity and increase in consumption of green energy. On the contrary, it's more because of massive government investments. The present trend of re-emphasising on creating more green collar jobs rather than productivity is actually encouraging low-paying, less sustainable conditions and making the industry less competitive. Green industry along with green collar jobs should be encouraged, but the way Obama wants, his plan might not yield much results and might end up repeating what most of the European countries ended up with, i.e. more chaos, more protests and of course more pollution and job cuts.

Why Modi needs to be Modi’fied

OUTCOME: STATE PATRONAGE

Though crony capitalism is not the want, perhaps a modified model...

Nothing is right unless it gives results and nothing is wrong unless it fails to produce any results. There has been considerable criticism for state patronage in private business. It all started with the setting up Ratan Tata’s ‘prestigious’ Nano project in West Bengal. To encourage Ratan Tata, the West Bengal government agreed to provide a loan of Rs. 200 crore at a shockingly low interest rate of 1%. Tata (perhaps correctly) left West Bengal despite his “gun to the temple” theory; and entered straight into the alms of Gujarat. If the Left can do it right, the Right wants to do a Left it seems. This time, the Modi government has assured more gifts for Ratan Tata with a promise to provide a loan of Rs.9,570 crore (five times of what West Bengal promised) with an interest rate of 0.1% (whoa!!!) that is payable after 20 years. One wonders whether the Nano will also be made available on such lucrative rates to its customers. But wait, there’s more! Modi has also provided land worth another Rs.1,000 crore. Similar cases are strewn across (refer B&E’s Crony Capitalism issue, Feb 5, 2009). Eg, the Maharashtra government recently announced free land for all industrialists who agreed to invest in backward regions and hold 80% of the job for local people. These incidences have drawn national attention and brought severe criticism for the government’s irresponsibility and lack of accountability. It is true that the government has spawned generations after generations of crony capitalists. But rather than blindly criticise the government and hack off the State’s connect with the private sector, this is a good time to ruminate and work out a better model of an efficient public-private partnership. Given the fact that leaving projects with government departments more or less achieves nothing, private companies should be provided support albeit on a commercial basis (rather than on the back of questionable subsidies).

A beggar means an Arab?!?!

RACIST: ENGLISH DICTIONARIES

And the US ex-Veep was a Dick! Online dictionaries shock in racism

Why this hasn’t created a global controversy is a wonder to us! Over time, the world has seen the emergence of different kinds of racists; English dictionaries now join the inglorious club. To start off with, the San Francisco based online dictionary, www.freethesaurus.net, provides the synonyms of various English words. Imagine our surprise when we noticed that the synonym for the word ‘beggar’ is given as ‘Arab’. That for the word ‘terrorist’ are ‘Castroist, Communist, Leninist, Maoist and Marxist’. A ‘loafer’ is again our lucky ‘Arab’; an ‘atheist’ is a ‘blasphemer’, and so on so forth! If freethesaurus.net was too free for our digestion, Webster’s dictionary churns it further, hilariously defining ‘fundamentalism’ as a movement in American Protestanism that arose in the 20th century. The Oxford dictionary rocks the cradle by defining ‘fundamentalism’ as “strict maintenance of ancient or fundamental doctrines of any religion, especially Islam.” There, we get it now; how English tutored kids understand Islam.Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was embroiled in a censorship controversy recently. The repeated use of the word ‘Negro’ in the classic saw virulent objections from African-American community. While the teaching community tried to justify Twain’s work on its literary value, the naysayers said that by that logic, even Hitler’s concepts would qualify as quite ‘literary’ in comparison. Well, while we personally stick to the literary stand, we also know there are some things you can change and some you cannot. Online dictionaries surely are the biggest hypocrites here that can be changed and should be regulated on their usage at the soonest. But yes, there are some synonyms that can never be changed. Richard Cheney is the former US Vice President. You got it, ‘Dick’ is what he’ll be called years hence too...

Can Obama ‘barrack’ racism?

RACISM: THE US
Believe it or not, the world will witness the resurgence of a new era of racism than the end of it...


Obama’s win in the US Presidential election and his swearing in as the first African-American President was predicted to be a case study on the beginning of a new era But perhaps history doesn’t want it to happen that way. And thus even before the euphoria over his historic swearing in has settled down, the dark side of the American racism has started raising its dirty head. And for some it was not absolutely unexpected either. And the more unfortunate thing is that even Obama’s charisma and his incredible campaign for nearly one and a half years could not bridge much of the deep divide that run deep between the Whites and the Blacks of the US.President elect Barack Obama himself was skeptical about it. His confession at a civil rights group’s convention stating – ‘our work is not over, mere electing me President doesn’t mean our work is over, we got more work to do’ to the NAACP bears testimony to it. In fact, the ugly aspect of racism was blatantly evident in the presidential election result itself. The voting pattern between two presidential candidates- John McCain and Barack Obama was biased and discriminatory. A closer scrutiny at the voting pattern reveals that McCain won greater support in white dominated counties of states like Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Northern Texas. For example, about 80% of the voters in Arkansas are Whites and 70% of them unanimously voted for McCain. The same was witnessed in case of Obama who equally gained greater support from Blacks and minority groups. Research reveals that 67% of Latinos and 62% of Asian voters voted in favour of Obama. It wasn’t a surprise that 88-95% of Black voters who comprise 13% of total the US population unhesitatingly supported him. Well, even the most die hard optimist who would love to find a silver lining in it would accept rather grudgingly that if this does not exemplify racism then nothing else perhaps does. However, moving further, what was a little more horrifying than this was the fissures among the Democrat leaders. Reports state that when Obama was to take oath, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was busy convincing Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and other Democract leaders to replace Obama’s vacancy at the Senate by any of the two White women (Veteran Affairs Chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan) and rejecting the three potential Black candidates namely Jesse Jackson, Jr. Danny Davis and Emil Jones.

Yet the fissures run deeper than what is visible to naked eyes. Bruno Serato, the Presidential-themed restaurant owner in the Anaheim, White House, e-mailed his announcement to some of his several high profile customers that he has dedicated a special room to Obama as has been the customary in the presidential theme (in the past he dedicated similar rooms for Nixon, Reagon, Carter, Kennedy, Washington and Jefferson). But then this time, he literally got the shock of his life with strange and revulsive responses from some of his regular customers. Some of the replies indicated utter disregard for Obama. Later when Serato revealed some of the angry responses to the press, one read as follows , ‘I am not an Obama supporter, I could never be and as much as having an African-American in the White House could be a good thing, having one with Marxist ideals is certainly not a good thing! I will not be patronising your restaurant, much less the Obama Room.’ The next one goes as ‘Do not insult us with a Barack Obama room. … You have no idea whether he is a great leader or a hopeless socialist. You may regret your hasty judgement of what he will do to this country. May you remain Orange County’s hidden treasure with the emphasis on Hidden.’ The one as ‘you must be kidding? He didn’t do anything yet other than weaken our internal security. May be you could house all the Gitmo internees there instead.’ Moreover, tensions between the national and state security forces are not at all healthy for the US or its president. No one can kill an American President without involvement of someone from its own intelligence forces (read: Vantage Point). Obama’s failure to replace FBI director Robert S. Mueller reveals Obama’s hard struggle against racism. Muller was appointed FBI director in 2001 by former President, George W. Bush and was obvious to be replaced by someone nominated by the next President. When Obama pronounced his time tested aide Sandy Berger as the next FBI director, Muller didn’t agree to resign and made it clear that he intends to complete his first ten years term which will be over by 2011.
In another case, though Obama succeeded to replace the CIA’s director by the former Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, he had to face huge criticism from press, polity and public. Adding salt to the woes, the relation between the President and New York Police Department (NYPD) is exemplified by the recent cartoon controversy in New York Post. In it, two NYPD policemen were shown shooting a chimpanzee with a caption that read, ‘they’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.’This agitated Black civil rights activists. These issues raised questions over the extent of control Obama has on the intelligence and security establishments of US. One has to remember that US is nothing much without its key intelligence agencies and the world’s most sophisticated armed forces. Amidst all these, the arrest of two Tennessee guys- Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselmen who were planning to kill 102 African-American children and then assassinate Obama vindicates the resurgence of white racists and reminds the assassination of another American President John F. Kennedy. It’s better to hope less than to expect that Obama can completely end racism. He can at best abolish it from English language. If he does, it would just be the word and not its essence that would be wiped from earth and especially from the US. Poor Obama.

Alright, Hallelujah! What next?

INFLUENCE: RELIGIOUS LEADERS
How religious leaders can help the world for its betterment

A close scrutiny exemplifies the fact that be it the Pope in Christianity or Dalai Lama in Buddhism, Rabbis in Judaism or Imams in Islam, religious leaders do all have implicit and explicit influences in the lives of even non-devotees.To start off with, Pope Benedict XVI. Given the current global scenario, each of the Pope’s visits, addresses to the common people, official statements marks history. For instance, his mind-boggling address to the youths of Germany, inter-faith talks with Jews and Muslims and many other similar visits to Brazil, Austria, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the US have been overwhelmingly successful in garnering more international attention than his religious designation should warrant. His recent visit to Africa might have drawn some controversies due to his remarks on condoms as ‘not [being] the solution to end HIV/AIDS’, but what one misses is that his visit in itself helped Africa get enough attention from world authorities. Even Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, despite the Pope’s ‘condom-controversy’, had to accept, “We are very grateful for all the advice that you have given to our people.” Similarly, the Israeli chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, has contributed considerably by reaccepting the Falash Mura community – a group of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity – and also fighting for the rights of non-Israeli immigrant Jews. Similarly, calls or addresses by Muslim leaders like the 49th Imam, Prince Karim Al Husseini or Imam of Jama Masjid remain very prominent. And the Dalai Lama’s politico-religious influence is in another seventh sphere already. Quite clearly, if with great power comes great responsibility, then would it be too churlish for us to comment that with great responsibility comes great duty? Towards global peace?

Election elects the unelected!?!

MANDATES: PARADOX
Major countries in the world hold elections but and most of them end up electing the unelected


Imagine the course of the history if Al Gore were to be President of the US instead of George W. Bush and Zharmakhan Tuyaqbay the opposition leader of Kazakhstan instead of Nursultan Nazarbayev. This might seem like a fairytale but would not have been impossible had the world had ‘free and fair’ elections. Thus, here we attempt to analyze how fraud and gun power in elections have changed the world’s history which otherwise would have been quite different .Often countries across the world hold elections which end up electing the ‘unelected’. A bigger irony is that even dictators hold elections to vindicate the fact to the world that how democratic they are. Yet no prizes for guessing how fair those elections eventually turn out to be. Consider this: Enver Hoxha, former communist leader of a South European country, Albania garnered 99.90% of the vote (upset because his expectation was 99.99%) which not only surprised and outraged the Albanians but the world at large. Perhaps the most notorious of all elections was witnessed in Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein. His rule in Iraq since 1979 notwithstanding, the first presidential election took place in Iraq in 1995 - framing a referendum where no one from the opposition parties was allowed to contest. Iraqis were given a paper ballot asking “Do you agree that Saddam Hussein should be the President of the Republic of Iraq for another seven years?” And all the option they were given was just to tick ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The next day, Izzat Ibrahim, Hussein’s deputy declared Saddam Hussein as the winner with 99.96% of the 8.4 million votes. This trend is bluntly pervasive in many of the African and Central Asian countries too. Most recently, Nursultan Nazarbayev and his political party, the Fatherland won 91.15% votes in Kazakhstan in the 2005 Presidential election and left no seat for the oppositions in the Mazhilis, the lower house of Kazakh parliament. The opposition leaders criticised this severely and then rejected the result stating it as the most fraudulent election that has ever taken place there and warned people of the shape of things to come if Nazarbayev is allowed to hold on to power. International observers like The International Election Observation Mission too agreed that the election failed to meet many international standards.

Other international monitors like the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed their agony for the limited ‘possibility of a meaningful competition’ due to rigorous harassments and intimidations of opposition candidates by the ruling party. In another case, a tiny African country, Equatorial Guinea has for long been striving for ‘free and fair’ elections in order to achieve a transparent democracy. Yet its efforts have been in vain. President Mbasogo won the presidential election for the third time in 2002 with an incredible 99.5% of vote share. This, however was not because of his popularity but because of official threats, irregularities and frauds which forced many opposition leaders to back out from contesting. Those who had planned to vote against him were threatened with dire consequences. The list of such fraudulent elections is rather long even in the 21st century.The sad part of this saga is that it would be unfair to blame only the dictators of impoverished countries of the third world for allowing such dictators to continue with such malpractices. Such irregularities are also witnessed in countries which otherwise take pride in having advanced democracies. What can be a better example than George Bush’s victories in presidential election? Perhaps no other election was so openly fraudulent as that of George Bush’s in the year 2000 which not only got censured globally but also created resentment and dissatisfaction among democracy advocates.. It was the first US election which showed that Al Gore failed to win in spite of gaining more popular votes than Bush. The result was actually in favour of Gore and Florida was the key state in deciding the winner, but then the world was shocked when Bush was declared the victor! However, his win was not possible without the alleged irregularities in Florida. “Butterfly ballot” in the Palm Beach county was designed strangely to confuse the voters. As a result, their votes had gone for a third party candidate which would have gone for Gore. Duval county had also wasted over 27,000 votes because of the bewildering design of ballot papers.
More strangely, around 50,000 voters were declared felons during the election, of which half were African-Americans and thus were not allowed to vote. Majority of them were not actually felons and were eligible to vote. A survey by John McLaughlin & Associates estimated the number of voters who also did not vote due to inappropriate closing time of the polling booths was as high as 15,000. Moreover, several incidents of cancellation of votes due to voting machine failures, security issues, road blockages etc also hampered voting and greatly favoured Bush. The US is also an example of an advanced democracy which had an unelected president to run their democratic country. Rudolph Ford Jr. suddenly became the Vice President for the first time under the terms of 25th Amendment two months after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign after a tax evasion charge. Incidentally Rudolph Ford Jr became the 38th president after Richard Nixon resigned as a result of Watergate scandal as recently as 1974.All the big talks of elections being the backbone and the very fundamental of democracies notwithstanding, malpractices are increasingly becoming the fifth pillar of democracy. At this rate, democracy would increasingly lose its very right to criticise countries like China who refuse to repose faith in democracy. Yet at least China is honest with what it does and unlike the US does not take the excuse of creating a free world to invade Iraq for oil.

Saviour of the world

The nation building missions of the US & UN aren’t fake always


There might be ample reasons to blame the US for its imperialistic policies and United Nations for being weak and non transparent but if scrutinised, there are innumerable reasons for praising them too. The US and UN are often blamed for being too interventionist but the truth that should not be ignored is that their interventions somehow and somewhere have worked in favour of building nations, to a greater extent! It is said that peace and prosperity can’t be gifted - they can only be earned. But, for all those countries who failed to claim the same, the world hould not forget how hard the US and UN have strived to help them in fetching the same. However, the US and UN are distinct in their approaches when it comes to their nation building
operations. For instance, the US invades a country while the UN never does it. US operations are very expensive compare to operations run by UN. UN spends $4 billion every year currently in its 17 nation building operations worldwide which is equal to one month’s spending of the US in Iraq. But howsoever different approaches they adopt, they have had significant contributions. The US endeavour in stabilising and democratising Germany and Japan during the Cold War era is outstandingly praiseworthy. History testifies how hard US fought to save Germany from anarchy. Japan was another challenge which made US realise that defeating emperors was easier than rebuilding and reconstructing a nation. It later formed two global bodies – Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council for Japan to engage elite countries for development of Japan and make sure that all of the surrender terms made in the Potsdam Agreement were fulfilled. The rest is history of how Japan emerged as a democratic, peaceful and a prosperous
nation. However, of all the US led operations during the post Cold-War era, Bosnia and Kosovo have been successful while Somalia and Haiti proved to be less fruitful. According to the Brookings Institution, America's sending of troops to a new country once in a decade notwithstanding, since Clinton’s regime it went up to once in every alternative year. UN had only 14 peacekeeping operations in the last four decades during Cold War but that had increased to 40 in the decade after the Cold War. Though its performance in Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Cambodia, Eastern Slavonia, El Salvador, Sierra Leone and East Timor isn't satisfactory but considering all the parameters from bringing peace to democratisation and ending wars, they
weren’t complete failures either. There is now peace in most of these countries except Congo. Moreover, six out of above stated eight countries are democratic nations today. The struggle in Afghanistan and Iraq might not yield expected results yet. And both the US and UN are already being criticised for the same. Yet the situations weren’t very different when they fought in
Japan, Kosovo or Cambodia. People criticised the US severely then but they praise the US today for what it has done for them. When Iraq or Afghanistan will emerge democratic and peaceful in a decade or two's time, same people who criticise today will praise them tomorrow. That's perhaps the predicament of being leaders or change agents! Damn if they do, damn if they
don't, criticism would remain.