QUESTIONS TO PONDER OVER AS INDIA COMPLETES 62 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE!

On its 63^rd Independence Day India and its people are faced with many questions:

- Will India ever get good governance?

- Will and when the Indian lawmakers get their priorities right?

- When will caste based politics and election of law makers end?

- When will the Indian Federal and State ministers stop amassing personal wealth by plundering public funds?

- Will the benefits of economic development ever percolate down to the very poor?

- Can this nation ever get over the disorganized, chaotic way of working?

- Will honesty and ethics ever become a way of life of the majority or people?

- When will competence and merit alone be the basis of selection for the working echelons?

- Will this country be only a copy cat of the west in its outlook towards art and culture?

- Will the people ever develop a unified, integrated sense of national pride? 

The answers to the above are near to impossible. However, if one goes by trends, if any, the outlook is not very promising. Priorities are still hugely screwed up – the Indian government gets quickly in to act when some schmuck moron film star of India is detained at an US airport for about two hours. But when it comes to making rapid response to drought situation, the government and its officials are found wanting and decisions are made in a tardy manner. The India media reported that 20 farmers had committed suicide in 40 days (during July-Aug ’09) because of failure of rains.

Caste based politics, political corruption is still rampant in India. The country has not been making much improvement in the sphere of corruption – India’s position in Transparency International’s rankings of most corrupt countries did not show any notable change in 2009.

Mediocre people continue to control the major political parties of India. Rarely any country which has pretensions of an emerging power seen prime minister of that country tethered to some extra-constitutional authority and working as per commands flowing from outside.

The business environment has improved than before but power peddling still reigns supreme. The big money bags and/or the favourites of the ruling government continue to influence the policy making. Common man’s interests continue to get trampled under the road roller of greed.

Well, this is certainly unfortunate for a country which has produced some outstanding talents who have distinguished themselves in India and abroad in various fields. The tragedy is that the good people don’t get to become law makers – it is said that in India to be a State or Federal legislator one needs to be big time criminal.

When will the tide in India turn towards First World type conduct and attitude? Some say there is a faint movement in that direction. One hopes for India’s sake this movement will gain in strength sooner than later before it is too late for some key areas of Indian polity. Probably the Gods will take some pity and help India in this matter!

LOSER INDIANS’ DELUSIONS THAT INDIA WILL ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH IN RELATIONS WITH PAKISTAN

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being hauled over the coals for his alleged mishandling of joint statement issued on sidelines of NAM summit at Sharm el-Sheikh. However, some people have now propounded a theory that Singh, who is apparently not showing any signs of failing mental faculties, at least to the world at large, is not stupid and, in fact, behind Manmohan’s mild manner is a resolute resolve — he has a vision for a subcontinent at peace with itself and he will pursue it.

Some theorize that since Singh doesn’t carry much authority in domestic governance – in this area people say he looks towards his Mistress Sonia for instructions – he thinks foreign policy is something where he can act independent of the leash tied to 10, Janpath (where his Mistress lives) and leave behind his own legacy in Indian history. Or else, he will always be remembered as ‘His Mistress’ poodle.

But there is another aspect that the blinkered, pathetically incompetent loser Indians can not comprehend: In case of Indian prime ministers it has been a strange coincidence that whenever they got a second term, gradually they seemed to be hallucinating toward achieving a grand diplomatic ‘vision’ of some sort. They became increasingly vulnerable to a compulsive desire to do something so spectacular at the international field that they could become potential contenders for Nobel Peace Prize and/or secure a high pedestal in the Indian history.

The above mentioned compulsive ‘disorder’ was apparent to a huge degree in India’s first Prime Minister Nehru who, besides chasing white woman’s c**t, wanted to be a colossus at the international stage. He was one of the triumvirate of NAM – so far so good for India in the sense it didn’t hurt India that much (this NAM thing though did put him on the wrong side of the Americans who always considered him to be close to the Soviets).

But when this effeminate incompetent, spineless schmuck went to strike a grand ‘vision’ of India-China friendship he got kicked hard in the face by the scheming Chinese and India lost thousands of square miles of land in the 1962 incursion by China. The Chinese haven’t vacated those areas till date. India paid a very heavy price for Nehru’s stupidly conceived and incompetently executed ‘vision’.  

His daughter Indira Gandhi also fell victim to this compulsive disorder of ‘vision’ of peace in subcontinent and in the process completely f****d up the Shimla Agreement negotiations in 1972 during the last one-on-one meeting which she had with her counterpart Z.A Bhutto. India was left sucking her thumb and failed to gain any diplomatic or strategic advantage; in fact, Pakistan walked away with a tacitly favourable position something akin to Sharm el-Sheikh.

Then another Indian prime minister who was afflicted by the ‘vision’ bug was the doddering and generally inebriated A. B. Vajpayee. He also had a grand vision of bringing lasting peace to Indian sub-continent and went on to launch a goodwill bus service between India and Pakistan. He too tried to implement a diplomatic initiative which was not properly thought through. Consequently, he too got kicked smack in face, this time by Pakistan who surreptitiously attacked and captured Kargil.

India had to pay a very price to dislodge the gutter elements of Pakistan from Kargil. Pakistan never publicly acknowledged to have attacked Kargil, and therefore did not even claim the bodies of their dead soldiers. Kargil is one of the darkest chapters of modern Indian history which highlighted disastrous failure of Indian diplomacy and intelligence gathering system.

And, so now it is Singh who is keen to implement a ‘vision’ of lasting peace in Indian subcontinent. One hopes his mental faculties are at least functioning to the extent that he can realize that lasting peace in Indian sub-continent can happen only when Uncle Sam would like it to happen. As long as the Americans don’t kick the asses of rogue, sons of wedlock Pakistanis till then Pakistan will not let peace reign in the sub-continent.

One hopes Singh realizes that Pakistan’s leverage with western countries (US and UK) is through a volatile Kashmir and an unstable Afghanistan. Pakistanis will not surrender this leverage just because the loser incompetent spineless Indians are caressing their chins by agreeing to some disgraceful (for India) joint statements like one issued at Sharm el-Sheikh. 

But if USA has given some hint to Singh that if he (Singh) plays ball per Washington’s instructions, that is the only scenario wherein there is some likelihood of permanent solution emerging out of these two canine-like fighting neighbours. But Washington will do such a thing only if it serves their interest in Afghanistan where their soldiers are dying at a nagging regularity. 

But Pakistanis can not be expected not to know this or anticipate this, and they are capable of outmanoeuvring the US. So, Singh, better watch out if you playing the game sitting in the lap of the Yankees!! One hopes for India’s sake that Singh does not get a bloody nose or a foot print on his ass from Pakistan in his attempt to implement a grand ‘vision’ of peace. If not anything else, he needs to be continually watched from over his shoulders to see what he is up to. One is getting an uncomfortable feeling of Déjà vu!

INDIA’s INGLORIOUS HISTORY OF INCOMPETENT PM’s COMMITTING DIPLOMATIC BLUNDERS!

India’s long list of misfortunes, including loss of innocent lives, lack of international prestige, and diplomatic gaffes has been the result of string of incompetent and third rate prime ministers governing India since independence in 1947. The latest person to make to that inglorious list of incompetent hopeless prime ministers is Manmohan Singh.

By issuing the infamous and damaging (to India) joint statement with Pakistan Prime Minister recently at Sharm el-Sheikh, Singh, like some of his utterly incompetent predecessors, contributed to perpetuation of India’s miseries and problems.

In the above cited joint statement, of the total three summary points one point alluded to India’s role in creating troubles in Balochistan. As per another point, the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan was de-linked from Pakistan’s responsibility to take action against people who planned and helped execute 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

As expected both the above points have put India in a disadvantageous position. To save incompetent Singh’s face, first, Foreign Secretary Menon made a hugely foolish statement to media saying the joint statement was “wrongly drafted’. Wrongly drafted?!! Does the Foreign Secretary get paid to help make ‘wrong drafts’? If not, for failing to do his job properly, Menon should have been booted out immediately for making such a stupid remark.

It is only possible in third world loser countries like India where top bureaucrats could make such a stupid remark and get away with it. After Menon’s disgraceful attempt, Home Minister Chidambram tried to cover Singh’s ass by saying that India had nothing to do with fomenting any trouble in Balochistan.

As if this was not enough, the mediocre, moron Sonia Gandhi weighed in to support Singh. With the impoverished intellectual ability that she demonstrably possesses it is amusing as to what two cent worth could Sonia offer on international diplomacy. But then, oh yes, like a Labrador Retriever she sure can sniff potential kick-backs, in the longer term, on a given diplomatic vector.

The bottomline is: India got screwed fair and square in that joint statement issued at the sideline of NAM summit at Sharm el-Sheikh due to utter incompetence of the confused but obstinate Singh, and India will have to rue that moment for some time to come.

India has had a history of incompetent prime ministers screwing up their country in the diplomatic field. It started with the effeminate incompetent white woman’s skirt chasing schmuck Jawaharlal Nehru who left a legacy of gargantuan diplomatic blunders which till today continue to be the cause of thousands of innocent Indian lives to be lost. Not only that, India still has to pay very heavy price -nationally and internationally – in various spheres because of his goof-ups.

His daughter Indira Gandhi totally messed up the Shimla Agreement with Pakistan in 1972, and lost a golden opportunity to get India off the hook on UN resolution of 1948 on plebiscite in Kashmir. Besides, as well informed people know, on the national level her hugely disastrous contribution has been in the form of sowing seeds of Sikh alienation and institutionalizing corruption in government and politics.

After her first stint she was succeeded by a maniac named Morarji Desai who preferred to carry out international diplomacy through discussions on advantages of auto-urine therapy. Needless to say, Morarji was considered as a nut case by the world at large and was shunned.

Indira’s mediocre and just junior high school pass son Rajiv, who ascended the throne after his mother’s second stint came to an abrupt end in 1984, had no clue of international and regional diplomacy. He made a complete hash of diplomatic chess play in Sri Lanka, bumbled around vis-à-vis Pakistan and had no idea how to deal with Bangladesh, Nepal, China, and with the super powers – US and former Soviet Union.

Then sat on prime minister’s chair this psychopathic, son of wedlock – V P Singh. This cold blooded destroyer of social fabric of India caused serious damage to India’s relations with Japan and India’s economic standing in the international community by his utterly nonsensical remarks.

There was some redemption for India when Narsimha Rao governed thereafter for five years as prime minister. It took an arduous and patient effort on his part to mend relations with various countries and restore India’s standing in the comity of nations. However, after Congress lost the elections, Rao was hounded out by the self seeking shameless bootlickers of Sonia, and the ungrateful Indians and the Congress party went back to licking this lady’s footwear.

After the brief inconsequential but mostly disappointing prime ministerial stints of Deve Gowda and I K Gujral, there was 5-year tenure of doddering, befuddled, mostly tipsy Prime Minister Vajpayee. During his time India bobbed in the high seas of diplomacy like a ship helmed by a confused captain. Vajpayee’s blindfolded friendship overtures to Pakistan culminated in utter disaster for India – the Kargil invasion by Pakistan.

Vajpayee was succeeded by Manmohan Singh who seemed to be going alright in his first stint when he clinched Indo-US civil nuclear deal with George Bush. But in his second tenure he seems to have dropped his marbles. May be he is getting senile and/or grossly shaky (post 26/11) which may be affecting his mental faculties. It may not be a bad idea for India to re-assess Singh’s mental capabilities and decide whether he should be allowed to make a call on matters of national interest.

But the billion dollar question is: who will be approved by Sonia to succeed Singh – after all, this mediocre scheming lady still calls the shots in Congress. The curse on India in the form of Nehru family continues to haunt and harm!!

LOSER INDIANS ONCE AGAIN GET HUMBLED BY PAKISTAN IN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY

The recent joint statement issued by India and Pakistan, following the meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two nations on the sidelines of NAM Summit at Sharm El-Sheikh seems to indicate that the bickering  greedy impotent loser Indians have once again been humbled by the shrewd Pakistanis.

The joint statement sees some departures in both Indian and Pakistani positions in that there is no reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the statement but both countries have agreed to discuss outstanding issues.

There is nothing in non-mention of Kashmir for the idiot Indians to gloat about because Pakistan got a significant victory by getting to include a reference to threats in Balochistan which is an oblique reference to allegations by Pakistan of Indian involvement in the region. This reference on Balochistan will prove very disadvantageous for the Indians in the overall diplomatic duel between the two countries.

Within days of the joint statement K-word got mentioned. As Pakistan wanted, Kashmir was mentioned in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement on reaching India. The fact of the matter is that to make its Af-Pak policy more effective, the US is playing all the necessary political games. And, in this process they are getting the ‘pawns’ to do what they want them to do to suit their tactical moves. From US’s point of view this totally makes sense.

As part of all encompassing diplomatic push there was a statement from Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J Crowley  who said “The meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh and the statement between the Indian leader and the Pakistani leader in terms of cooperation on terrorism (is) vitally important to stability in the region.”

But what is disturbing from common Indian’s point of view is: what did or will India get in return from US by playing ball with it in making Pakistan happy. It is important to note that Pakistan wants to extract some pound of flesh as quid pro quo for acting militarily against the Taliban – Pakistan wants US to pressure India to yield on Kashmir issue permanently.

US wanted to throw some crumbs in Pakistan’s way and they got the Indian suckers to drop their pants to the Pakistanis. US would think that this will help them in pushing the rogue Pakistanis further in their (Pak’s) overt military action against the Taliban. May be it will, may be not, because the schmuck Pakistanis have proven time and again shrewder than the Americans in the Af-Pak geo-political theatre.

If US thought that they can get the Pakistanis to completely crush the Taliban in NWFP and FAP, they would be foolishly mistaken. Pakistan will NEVER EVER destroy the chess piece that gives them THE leverage vis-à-vis USA. When the other day in an interview with CNN correspondent the former ISI chief of Pakistan said that they (Pakistan) can mediate between US and Mullah Omar, it was immediately clear that the rogue Pakistanis had another important card up their sleeve.

Pakistanis know that without their support the US and the ISAF can achieve f**k all in Afghanistan and this IS their biggest trump card. And, US with all their vaunted intelligence network and military might will not able to make any friggin’ damage to the Taliban network unless their schmuck bootlicking poodle Pakistan provides necessary support.

Well, to do some ego massage of the ever obliging stupid Indians, Hillary Clinton has visited India first but this visit is just a window dressing. The main substantive portion of the Af-Pak policy will be further pushed by Richard Holbrooke visiting India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Brussels in the week of July 20.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is facing disquiet within his own political party, while the opposition parties in Parliament are tearing him to pieces for the perceived ‘disastrous’ joint statement issued at Sharm El-Sheikh. Singh’s foreign minister S.M. Krishna does not seem to have much clue about how foreign policy games are played. He seems to have merely gone by the strategy paper prepared his Foreign Secretary.

Except for the golden (for India) period 1971-72, India never had an outstanding diplomatic team as compared to their Pakistani counterparts; and, India has been consistently beaten, humbled, trashed by the Pakistani diplomats in the last 50 years.

Sad for a country which has ambitions to be a world player, sad for a country which has 1 billion+ population and has a fairly strong economic clout! Sad for a country which has a very large educated mass base! What India probably lacks to be a genuine global power is the political/national unity which is the vital ingredient in playing firmly with the adversaries and superpowers alike.

TRANSITIONAL PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA – DR. SINGH – HAS HIS HANDS FULL!

The world’s largest democracy – India – carried out its parliamentary elections 2009 in an outstanding manner. Fortunately, there weren’t any large scale violent incidents, or any terrorist attack as feared. And, what is most remarkable is that the people of India have opted for stability. The verdict of the masses stunned every political party – the victors and losers alike – however, the biggest surprise gift was for Congress led UPA coalition which has been handed a stronger mandate as compared to the previous time.

For the present it seems that Dr. Manmohan Singh will be the Prime Minister of the new government. But it is already clear from Dr. Singh’s statements that he will most likely be warming the seat for the 38 year old Rahul Gandhi – the son of Ms. Sonia Gandhi whose writs runs the Congress party. But then that has been the bane of India, which is to a large extent a country of losers, sycophants and confused ideologues.

[Sidebar: Indians were never able to comprehend the disastrous consequences of the foolish policies obstinately implemented by the effeminate, incompetent and white woman chasing first prime minister of India – Jawaharlal Nehru. His succeeding family members have very shrewdly manipulated their stranglehold on the Indian polity, with the help of ever obliging and bootlicking Indian media, and have been successful in perpetuating their dynasty.]

Of the most mediocre lot of Nehru-Gandhi clan, this fellow Rahul is intellectually the brightest of them all – after all, he could manage to get a degree from Harvard. Till now he appears to be a straight forward person with an open mind to bring good change. However, Indians will have to wait to see what Rahul eventually delivers  when he ascends the prime minister’s chair.

In this election, one of the notable things though is that any heavyweight candidate who was perceived to be a negative minded person, or more criminal/obnoxious than his rivals has been defeated regardless of which party he contested for. Be that as it may, this particular phenomenon is simply amazing; there is no doubt that it is good for India.

The opportunists who were partners in the outgoing UPA and thought they could stake claim for prime minister’s berth got a short shrift from the electorate. However, one of them, who is considered to be past master in plundering state resources – Sharad Pawar, is likely to continue in the cabinet. This fellow had made clear his intentions of climbing to PM’s position but fortunately for India his hopes have been dashed.

This guy Pawar is said to be responsible for such anti-farmer policies in the previous 5 year tenure that many farmers in his own state and some other states had to commit suicide due to falling prices of their produce. But such is the country India that no one ever had the guts to render such corrupt people incapable of being in position of power. In India, people can go after each other’s throat for 1000 Indian Rupees or a minor insult but nothing stirs the hapless, impotent and loser Indians even when the country’s interest is put on sale.

Another classic example of India being a country of losers and spineless confused populace is the continuance of Prakash Karat as the General Secretary of Communist Party (Marxists) – CPM. This fellow is not even in position to win a parliamentary seat but he controls the destiny of his party as a boss. Mind you, till now most of the CPM MP’s came from state of West Bengal. Interestingly, the communists of Bengal – another lot of paper tigers and losers – could never dominate the CPM party. Despite the terrible wrong notion the Bengalis have about themselves that they are a very intellectually bright race, these bunches of Bengali CPM losers allowed them to be ruled by inconsequential, useless creatures of some neverland.  

Why India appears to be a country of (intellectually) dead men walking is also borne out by the fact this self-serving schmuck Karat is said to have fought tooth and nail against the civil nuclear deal with USA, concluded by Dr. Singh in the previous tenure, just because Beijing did not want this deal to go through. In some other country of sane elements such people would have been tried for treason but then in India an ordinary person can be charged for an apparent attempt to steal a piece of bread but a politician never gets prosecuted for doing anything wrong, including selling country’s interests.

One disturbing statistic of the newly elected parliament: according to a report by the National Election Watch (NEW), there are 150 newly elected MPs with criminal cases pending against them. Out of these, there are 73 MPs having serious charges against them. As compared to 2004, the number of MPs with criminal records has gone up. There were 128 MPs with criminal cases in 2004 lower house of parliament out of which 55 had serious criminal records. There is an increase of about 17.2% in MPs with criminal records and 30.9% increase in the number of MPs with serious criminal records.

What the above bodes for India only time will tell. Not only this factor, will the performance of the new government also depend on the coalition partners’ attitude towards development policies. In India the political parties rarely bother whether any policy is good for country; they are always more concerned whether any policy furthers their political interest. The political parties of India have such money thirsty self-seeking megalomaniacs at the helm that good of the country is generally missing from their agendas – their one point agenda is how to ensure their self-propagation, amassment of wealth and continuation in power.

India faces quite challenging situations in the region – the Af-Pak complexities, turmoil in Nepal, instability in Bangladesh, defeat of LTTE in Sri Lanka. Plus, there is the problem of global economic recession. The new government has its hands full.

There will be hardly any time for political wheeling-dealing and/or recriminations – the new cabinet of India will have to hit the ground running. Will the new UPA coalition focus their attention towards well being of the people, which is the loud and clear message sent by the electorate, or get busy in the typical true loser-India like characteristic of ‘forget the country, plunder the spoils of the government power’!? Alas, the hapless general masses of India have no other choice but to wait for their next turn at the electronic voting machines!

PAKISTAN’S ANOTHER DRAMATIC ATTEMPT TO SPREAD FALSEHOOD, AND DIVERT ATTENTION!

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said recently to an American TV channel that Pakistan was now fighting for its survival and that Taleban had established a presence across “huge parts” of Pakistan. “We are aware of the fact [the Taleban are] trying to take over the state of Pakistan,” he reportedly told the channel. Zardari’s statement comes in the wake of US President Obama’s recent assertion that there was no doubt militants were operating in safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal belt. 

 

Those unfamiliar with how Pakistani leadership operates its diplomacy may feel sympathetic and greatly concerned on what the Pakistani President said about the so-called Taleban threat to Pakistan. But the fact of the matter is that this is precisely the reaction Pakistan intends to elicit from its masters in Washington (and US lackey Britain).

 

People who are not fully knowledgeable about genesis of Taleban and its connection with Pakistan will tend to get carried away by sentences, like, ‘Pakistan is fighting for its survival’. By exploiting ignorance on such aspects of the policy makers in previous US administrations that Pakistan could carry on with its nefarious hobnobbing with Taliban and Al-Qaida.

 

For those who don’t know, Taleban was created by US with the help of Pakistan to fight the Russians when the former Soviet Union had occupied Afghanistan. Pakistan’s intelligence agency known as ISI provided all kind of assistance to Taleban cadres, including training.

 

By the time Russians withdrew from Afghanistan Taleban had grown in to a deadly monster which had developed its own brain and started acting on its own. And, its relationship with ISI continued unabated even after the Russians left.

 

Pakistan (through ISI) wanted to keep Taleban alive for a number of reasons. First, to keep the free and democratic Afghanistan (under President Hamid Karzai) destabilized because of Karzai’s ‘special’ relations with US and friendly relations with other countries, especially with India, which Pakistan doesn’t view kindly.

 

Second, Pakistan was using Taleban, as necessary, in supporting the proxy war against India in Kashmir. Pakistan wants to keep Kashmir issue alive to use it as a lever to extract favours from US, and also as an excuse for its failure to deal with Taleban and other radical Islamic elements. The excuse it puts forward to US is that ‘the issue on Pakistan’s western border (Kashmir) needs to be settled first for it to be able to concentrate on the eastern border (Pak-Afghan border)’.

 

Up until the beginning of George W Bush’s second term, Pakistan used Kashmir issue, vis-à-vis US, to its advantage. This was basically because US had been overlooking what Pakistan was doing. It couldn’t care less even if innocent Indians were being killed regularly in Kashmir and Pakistan sponsored terrorist activities were taking place in India. As long as things were happening thousand of miles away from US shores what was there to be worried about for US?

 

But the 9/11 event kicked the Americans in their guts. Bush felt compelled to realise the dangerous game Pakistan was playing by providing safe havens to Taleban and Al-Qaida and also providing even logistical and intel support. Bush started turning screws on the then Pak President Musharraf. Till 9/11 Musharraf, who had hijacked democracy in Pakistan and was virtually an autocratic ruler, was darling of US because he suited American interests.

 

After 9/11 the US leadership eventually felt compelled not to look the other way regarding the threats posed by the radical Islamic terrorism funded, supported and aided by Pakistan. US realised that it would be disastrous for its own people if it remained blind to the fact Pakistan was in fact the epicentre of Islamic terrorism. After all, it was the question of American blood that had got spilled in 2001, not the ‘cheap’ Indian bloodletting that was going on for last two decades due to Pakistan’s disgusting dirty games.

 

During the last 15-20 years ISI also learnt the ropes of playing double games and playing dirty. It is common knowledge that ISI acts virtually autonomously reporting only to Pak Army Chief. ISI got so big and evil during the years that a significant section of this organisation remained sympathetic towards Taleban (and Al-Qaida) and remain so even today.

 

This gets validated by the fact that Taleban announced to the world that it will fight for Pakistan if India decided to attack Pakistan after the Nov 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai in which hundreds of innocent lives were lost. No wonder one gets to read such farcical statements from Pak leaders, “ISI is no longer supporting Taleban”. One such statement was issued a few days after the Mumbai killings.

 

Zardari is worried that Obama administration may get tougher with Pakistan in its resolve to stamp out Taleban. US already are firing missiles from its drones to kill the terrorists operating with impunity from enclaves inside Pakistan (near the Afghan border).  

 

So, in order to deflect attention from the real issue Zardari thought what better way than to be a bit theatrical and say things that may sound alarming to US and its allies, especially, Britain. It is worthwile to mention here that Britain can be said to be partly responsible for Pakistan becoming epicentre of Islamic terrorism. The British have played dirty diplomatic games (a number of times with tacit US approval) to prevent India from taking any retributive action against Pakistan sponsored terrorism. Why? To keep India under ‘check’!

 

Zardari is now playing the victim card to curry sympathy. Mumbai killings have exposed Pakistan’s complicity in Islamic terrorism so much that they have no place to hide. In desperation they have thrown out there a huge falsehood to cloud the issue, and to deflect international attention from its sponsorship of terrorism. This is a typical ploy straight from Goebbels’ book (Goebbels was Hitler’s propaganda chief).

 

Pakistan purveys lies and falsehood with such shamelessness and such a straight face that one wonders how they do it. Somehow they have got away till Bush started wielding its shoe to deal with Musharraf. Pakistan is worried that Obama administration may continue to use the shoe with greater firmness. And, hence this shameless lie (about Taleban threat) poured out of Zardari’s mouth.

 

Zardari probably thinks that US are idiots who will swallow everything he would say and Pakistan will be off the hook. Pakistan tried to confuse General Petraeus when he visited Pakistan after taking over US Central Command. They tried similar lies and confusing logic with US envoy in the region Richard Holbrooke when he visited Pakistan early February.

 

One doesn’t know whether Pakistan will be successful this time in its theatrics and falsehoods. If they are successful and US’s focus in the region gets obfuscated, God have mercy on the Americans and the world at large because the Islamic terrorism that Pakistan nurtured to such devastatingly lethal and dangerous form can do only one thing – wreak vengeance on innocent people whether they live in US, Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Australia, Russia, Middle East or India.  

DOES INDIA HAVE IT TO BECOME A SUPERPOWER?

Some time ago a news item caught my attention. It said “CIA Predicts India to be No. 2 Economic Power by 2025″. It made interesting reading. It made sense for CIA to study and analyse future world scenarios and prepare assessments for its top brass, but I wondered why should the Agency let the world know about it. Surely, there must be some well thought strategy behind this.

I did not get time to ponder over any ’strategy’ and, meanwhile, I happened to be in India days after the Mumbai killings (which had taken place on Nov 26). I had a first hand opportunity of witnessing how Indian govt was carrying out its diplomatic activities and how the whole incident was being covered in the Indian media. I don’t know why but the whole handling of this ghastly incident by the Indians suddenly brought back recollection of the aforementioned CIA’s assessment.

The coverage in the media and the ‘activities’ at the governmental level impelled me to cogitate over whether India and the Indians had the necessary societal, political, racial, temperamental, intellectual adequacy to be bequeathed a no. 2 position at some point in time. It is well known that a challenging situation like that of Mumbai killings tests a nation, and a qualitative evaluation of India as a nation on road to superpowerdom started taking place in my mind.

First, I was appalled at the sloppy way of handling the terrorists. Forget about the lack of preparedness to tackle such a situation, the inability of the authorities of the financial capitalof India to deal with the situation in a prompt, cohesive and systematic manner was pathetic to the say the least. The ineptitude and casualness of the State Chief Minister was disgusting (he was later booted out by the Congress party supremo).  

Next, the Indian TV coverage on the day of the terrorist attacks, and post-26/11 coverage indicated how immature and idiotic the people who run this medium are. It did not occur to the simpletons overseeing the TV operations that there should not be any ‘live’ updates on how the security forces were confronting the terrorists. Nor did the senior-most Administrative and Police officials of the State have some grey matter in their heads to realise that they had necessary authority to stop the nonsensical ‘live’ coverage if they wanted to.

The ’live’ coverage provided by the Indian channels (and foreign channels borrowing footage from them)  were making it easier for the people remotely guiding the terrorists (allegedly from Paksitan) and making the task of the security forces difficult. Much after the security forces had started their operations against the terrorists, the channels started to broadcast their footage with a time delay of few hours.

If a nation is wishing to achieve a no. 2 position, that nation had better started pulling up its socks to move to that spot. This would include, among other things, being prepared on various fronts. Remember, you are in 21st century in which the rapid technological changes are completely transforming the way things happen. Information is multiplying at an incredible rate, therefore, older work processes are getting overhauled at a frenetic pace. 

In such a scenario a country such as India, if it has to really reach no. 2 spot in the world, has to be able to anticipate and respond to Mumbai-like situations in a proper manner, not in the stupid and haphazard manner the Maharashtra State folks handled it. Even the kids watching American channels know that there is something like SWAT teams in major cities of America (and in Canada too). The SWAT teams deal with the terrorist attacks Mumbai witnessed rather than the commandos from Armed forces.

Terrorist attack is but one unexpected scenario that one needs to be prepared for. There can be unexpected situations on other fronts too – on economic, military, medical, social fronts et al. And, if you are not ready for the various unexpected situations you will be caught napping and suffer setbacks. Mind you, some setbacks can be serious enough to set the country back by a few years.

A classic example of that is Japan. It was predicted, incidentally by CIA only, that Japan will be world’s no. 2 power in the 90’s (albeit based on economic power). But what happened in reality? Japan went in to a decade long stagnation and recession-like situation in the 90’s, and could not come even close to becoming world’s no. 2 power. It did climb to no. 2 spot in the GDP rankings though but this achievement did not translate in making Japan a world superpower. On the contrary, in the new millennium China not only became an economic power in its own right, it became a major international player.

Why did Japan stumble? It faltered because it was not prepared to be exalted to that pedestal – to be a world no. 2 power. Strong GDP numbers, or massive international trade surpluses were not enough; it required a vibrant domestic economy, a steady upward economic growth of the society as a whole to enable Japan to be a force to reckoned with. Instead, Japan was left to grapple with its economic woes, and slowly got relegated to back benches of international power  equation. 

So, if it can happen to Japan - a nation of fiercely nationalistic people, very hard working populace, and a highly disciplined society- then things are going to be hundred times more difficult for India which is notorious for being disorderly, corrupt, socially and politically fragmented, confused, low on national pride, and sense of purpose. The post-26/11  Indian scene did not throw up many encouraging signs that India was on its way to be a real no. 2 international power – a superpower. 

In India, things seem to happen in fits and starts whatever be the realm, ad-hocism reigns supreme. At any given time one can see nothing but crises management going on, fire fighting taking place at various fronts. There is hardly any coordination amongst the key stakeholders. On top of that there is no dearth of people who are willing to do things contrary to national interests if they are paid a suitable price.

In fact some don’t even need any price – they are so madly sold on alien ideologies and/or to their alien masters that they will do anything to make the alien/master’s ideology successful, never mind that that might mean screwing up country’s interests. It is said that some Indians in key policy making positions, who have worked for well known international bodies, are more wont to further the objectives of their former international masters  rather than India. 

From now  to 2025 it is another 15+ years to go. By 2020’s will India be able to get over its disorderliness, corruption at highest levels, societal/political fragmentation, all-pervasive confusion, lack of national pride, cohesiveness and sense of purpose? Will it really be possible for India to achieve this, given so much of illiteracy, poverty, casteism, provincialism (and other ‘isms’), insularity, lack of proper leadership, moral degradation/erosion etc prevailing in the country?

On top of this all, there will be inimical forces that will try to create umpteen hurdles on India’s road to becoming a superpower. What else are the intelligence agencies of various countries for, if not for doing all this?

Do Indians have in them to do whatever it takes to achieve that exalted position in the international polity? Well, at some point in the history India was envied for all its affluence, riches and power (agreed, that time the country’s structure may not have been same as that of today but it was not too different either). But for a country to succeed, one of key requisites is ‘proper leadership’ which India has been lacking most of the time since independence. What are odds that this key requisite be available to India from now till 2020’s?

I don’t think there are easy answers for the questions raised above. It is for the Indians to figure out the answers for themselves. How to work the way to proper answers and how best to implement them will, again, be left to India and its people to decide. History will be waiting for year 2025 to arrive, and it will at that time pronounce its judgement whether CIA’s assessment of 2008 turned out to be true.

INEPT INDIA FLAILING DIPLOMATICALLY POST-26/11 TERRORIST ATTACK

Once again India got outsmarted in diplomatic manoeuvring post 26/11.  India handled the whole episode like classic idiots.  India, the fool, believed that US came running to help India or to assure categorically that US will kick on the backsides of Pakistan to give up terror plots and implementation against India.

India failed miserably to extract FIRM commitment towards the above from US by suitably capitalising on the fact that 2-3 US intelligence operatives were killed in Taj Hotel. All US wanted was to get information that they thought was relevant to probe in to leakage about the presence of the said 2-3 US intelligence operatives in Mumbai, and plug any loopholes.

Dr Rice at the very outset made a fool of India when she said the terrorist act seemed to have been carried out by Al-Qaida. By not mentioning the daylight like clear fact that the terrorists were LeT (who are supported by Pakistan) she deflected the immediate blame away from Pakistan.

Subsequent US interaction with Pakistan was aimed only towards securing US nationals’ safety in the region and strategising US operations in Afghanistan. That’s why Joint Chiefs of Staff and CIA topdog visited Pakistan recently – not to help India, but to safeguard their own interest.

If Indians had the unity and the guts of the Israelis, this festering issue would have got sorted out decades ago. But West knows that will not happen with the political parties/bosses squabbling like canines, and ready to sell their mothers/motherland for peanuts.

When a country has a PM but only in name, and instead the country is run by a mediocre, sycophant seeking megalomaniac party president, that country ought to get the treatment it deserves. And, India is getting the treatment it deserves from the international community.

Since 1947 India has been cursed with a number of incompetent prime ministers starting with the most incompetent of them of all – the effeminate white-c**t seeking Jawaharlal Nehru. Till today India is paying the price of his foolishnesses, one of which was to take the Kashmir plebiscite matter to UN.

The other was to stop the Indian army chasing the Pakisiani Rangers out of Kashmir in 1948. For this horrible mistake was another person responsible – a person who was growing increasingly senile, who was a shrewd schmuck from inside and who was a disaster for India in his later years. This person was Gandhi who pressurised Nehru to stop the Indian army to chase the Pakistanis out of Kashmir, and the bootlicker Nehru instead of convincing his political godfather succumbed to Gandhi’s pressure.

Not only Nehru’s horrendous foolishnesses have caused the Indian blood to flow since 1947, the Nehru/Gandhi family itself has been like an accursed cancer that has caused India all kinds of grief. Manmohan Singh is just another example of how abovementioned family been like a gangrene afflicting India literally, financially, politically, militarily. 

Prime Minister Singh is begging one country after another to pressurise Pakistan to bring the terrorists to justice because India doesn’t seem to have the unity, political will or the potency to fight its own wars.

Since 1947 India has behaved like poodle to Pakistan’s illegitimate father – Britain. This was because Nehru was so keen to sleep with the then Governor General Mountbatten’s wife – Pamela – that he could be easily manipulated by the British.

Mountbatten apparently got this impotent, white woman seeking Nehru to agree to some secret agreement concerning Pakistan that even today India gets bullied in to agreeing anything Britain wants India to agree to. After the Nov 26 terrorist attacks when India was dithering whether to carry out surgical attacks on terrorist camps operating inside Pakistan, in came rushing the British PM Gordon Brown to Delhi.

God only knows what Brown told the Indians after which he went to islamabad and signed a 6million Pound agreement with Britain’s bastard child – Pakistan – for ‘intense’ cooperation on terrorism. Subsequent to that Indian leadership kept on talking of ‘all options on table’ but nothing materialised out of it.

Finally, everything that India was contemplating to do, came to nought – ended in a whimper. Pakistan tried to deflect the world attention from it being the epicentre of all Islamic terrorism to being a victim of likely Indian military attack. Towards that end Pakistan seems to be somewhat successful.

Anyway, after the initial diplomatic manoeuvrings which saw UN declaring LeT and its affiliate Lashkar-e-Dudwa as terrorist organisations, the international community has stopped pressurising Pakistan to ACTUALLY act on eliminating terrorist camps inside Pakistan. But Pakistan and its intelligence agency (ISI) have not shown anything manifestly that could clearly demonstrate that Pakistan has heeded to UN resolution and also taken follow up action.

India is now flailing like a blind person seeking someone to help its diplomatic efforts. It has made a caricature of itself by even begging Iran to pressurise Pakistan – a move that will blow the fuse of US and its lackeys.

A sad commentary of where India is finding itself a month after the Nov 26 killings. A country which is said to be militarily strong, a country whose GDP is 5th in the world is finding itself being treated like an insignificant, third rate entity. It is indeed sad for a country which boasts of so many educated and intellectually sharp people. Sad to see that when it comes to diplomacy, exercise of self-pride, India is found to be pathetically inept, incompetent and hopeless.