Scams by individuals is bad enough but when nation states start indulging in scams then it becomes very serious indeed. Saw a minister from Somalia saying that the pirate situation cannot be tackled unless money and arms are provided to the Somali government. The solution is not on the water but on land, he said. Similar reasons are being provided by Saleh, the president of Yemen. Give us money, lots of it and arms or else we cannot control Al Qaeda. Problems originally started because of bad governance and lack of democracy. When opposition and the people are brutally silenced then armed resistance is inevitable. Terrorists are encouraged as state policy and gradually start devouring the state itself. The originator of this scam is Pakistan. For decades the army and ISI encouraged terrorists and even planned 9/11. At the same time they wring their hands and whinge that without money and arms they are helpless. Money enriches the top bastards of the army and ISI and the arms help keep the population and the civilian government under control. The western countries seem to be in a state of brain death. They were spectacularly resolute against Libya, a country which financed its bad deeds with its own oil money and did not ask for assistance. It should be so much easier against these pariah failed states but we are told that they must be helped. Is it any wonder that people believe in conspiracies.

One idiot stitches up a bomb in his underpants which misfires causing him serious burns in the most tender regions of his body. He has to be one of the stupidest men in the world because what man would allow anyone to put a bomb in his underwear. Not surprising, therefore, that his father surmised something was afoot and warned the US embassy which ignored the warning and issued him a visa nevertheless. Much like the Indian consulate in Chicago issued a visa to Headley. So who pays for the stupidity of the officials? We the travelling public, of course. Searches at airports, which were unbearable before, will become even worse. You will not be allowed to leave your seat well before landing and will not be allowed to cover your lap or use a blanket. Time may come when they may close all the toilets and force passengers to use diapers. A lady in FBI had sent a memo warning about the 9/11 perpetrators receiving flying lessons but this was ignored. So the idiot Bush attacks Iraq killing hundreds of thousands and making the terrorist situation worse. The Fed and the Treasury allowed banks to gamble with the savings of ordinary people so when the crash came ordinary people lost their jobs and homes while the bank crooks continue to get huge bonuses. Criminal politicians and uncivil servants never get punished while we, the people continue to suffer. Not much difference between the US and China, only one of degree.

When you are convinced that you are the Supreme Leader then you cannot conceive of anybody higher than you. This makes you God and everyone knows that God is always right. So if anyone has the audacity to protest you can strike him or her down with fire and brimstone. Or in this case tear gas, batons and bullets. First you steal the elections, then you lie about the authenticity of the results and finally when people protest you suppress them ruthlessly. They expose your lies through facebook and youtube so you shut down the internet. They take pictures with their mobiles and send them abroad so you shut down telecommunications. You let lose your angels of death, the Basij militia to frighten the populace but their righteous anger overcomes their fear and they turn on the police and the militia. The police kill about ten protesters on the holiest day of the year and are then made to lie about the causes of death. The body of Ali Musaivi, nephew of the winner of the elections is made to disappear because you do not want the pictures all over the world. Torture and rape are your weapons against protesters who have been arrested but you continue to deny that they ever happened. You can do anything because you are God. You are the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In a sting operation a Telugu channel broadcast pictures of an elderly man in a ' compromising ' position with three women. They claimed the man to be the 86 year old governor of Andhra, Mr. ND Tiwari and the clinching evidence was that the man had raised his shirt. It was alleged the he preferred ladies from his home state of Uttarakhand but we do not know which particular hill. Mr. Tiwari approached the courts which banned the broadcast of the pictures without any consideration to the right to free speech but the damage was done. Mr. Tiwari, who is regarded as the ' poster boy ' of Congress resigned due to ' health reasons.' Further, his name has been dropped from the list of invitees during the celebration of the 125th anniversary of UP Congress Party. This is wrong. In these days of viagra he is an example for all Indian men. The Indian Medical Association should research his diet and fitness regime and make the findings available to all us doctors. An 86 year old man who can entertain three sturdy ladies from the hills by lifting his shirt is my hero. Feminists can eat their hearts out.

Apparently 364 government clerks in UP have been discovered to be multimillionaires or as we say in India ' crorepatis,' where one crore equals 10 million. One lower division assistant in the education department owns a cold storage, a shopping complex and his wife stood for election for MLA. Thankfully she lost. Another fellow owns three palatial bungalows and half a dozen cars. Surprise, shock, scratch your head. However could this have happened? Only the police, Vigilance department and the CBI do not know what every Indian child knows and that is that 99% of sarkari fellows are thieves, crooks, cheats, liars, confidence tricksters and hustlers. Everyone knows of the ' chain ' wherein bribes taken by the clerk go up the ladder to the very top. Go to the housing department of any municipality and you will find fixed rates of bribes without which you will never get planning permission or completion certificate. The fee of the architect includes the bribes he will have to pay to get your house built. The remedy is simple. Reduce the number of kleptocrats by 80% and increase the salaries of the remaining by three times provided they agree to the' hire and fire ' system. Applications must be approved within one month or written explanations must be given. Unfortunately criminal politicans are part of the chain and they are the ones who can pass laws.

Sean Goldman, a nine year old boy was handed over to his father, David Goldman of Tinton Falls, New Jersey by his Brazilian relatives in Rio after a five year old legal battle. The Brazilian mother had taken the boy to Brazil, divorced the father, remarried and died. His relatives wanted to keep him in Brazil but his father mounted a legal battle and won. Apparently the US government got involved and threatened to withold billions of dollars tax free benefits to Brazil. The boy cried when he was forcibly handed over. Clearly no one was thinking about the welfare of the child. He is now old enough to remember his life in Brazil and may hate the father. The father wanted to establish his rights over, what he considers, his possession. Whether he has remarried and what kind of life he will give to the boy we do not know. He obviously thinks that as an american he must be superior to latinos. By putting economic pressure the US government may have forced judges to rule in favor of the father and thus subverted the legal structure of Brazil. The people of Brazil and other countries of the continent already see the US as a bully and their impression will have been strengthened. This will only increase support for anti US leaders like Chavez, Morales and Castro. You can only handle so many enemies.

Assembly results in Jharkhand have ushered in the usual mixture of friends and relatives of scamsters, unproven murderers and other assorted thugs. Three reasons come to mind as to why people would vote for a bin full of garbage. The first is that people in the state are stupid and illiterate and have voted for caste and tribe without giving any thought to consequences. The second is that people were threatened or bribed with cash, hooch and clothes to vote for them and the ones with the most black money and guns i.e. the worst scoundrels won. Probably a combination of these two reasons worked on the ground again proving that elections in India are a sham. The third reason is the scariest. It is possible that after careful and informed judgement the voters thought that these are the least villainous of all the scoundrels on offer. This is probably also what happened in the general elections in May, 2009. If that is the case we do not need China or Pakistan. India is doomed by the garbage it elects.

The economy is growing at nearly 8% and we are told that we can expect growth at 9-10% within a couple of years. Car sales are booming because of low interest rates and the Sensex has got its antigravity belt on. Food inflation is running at 20% but we are reassured that prices will come down in the new year. Companies are hiring again, exports have turned positive after months of fall and property prices are rising again. Thank God for our criminal politicians and uncivil servants who are managing everything so fantastically. Meanwhile the UK is in bad shape with high unemployment, enormous public debt and negative growth. The US grew by 2.2% in the last quarter but questions remain about how robust the growth is and some are forecasting a double dip. Japan is desperately trying to avoid deflation. There is serious concern about asset price bubbles forming in Hong Kong, Singapore and China. Inflation remains a serious threat everywhere but no one seems to know when to start tightening monetary policies again. Perhaps we could export our lot to other countries to show them how it is done. They would learn about pay commissions for gigantic numbers of useless kleptocrats, criminal politicians using public money for personal and family comfort, using Participatory Notes, PNs to reroute stolen black money into the stock market, creating wealth through land mafia, illegal mining in ecologically restricted areas and so many other wealth creating schemes. Stupid firangs.

The criminal beggars have done it. They have passed a bill that allows a minister to take any number of passengers at the same travel rates allowed to them. These may be relatives, friends or just acquaintances or, who knows, donors as well. Apparently this abomination already exists for members of parliament and ministers are just being brought upto par. Where MPs go can MLAs be left behind. Only a couple of weeks back I was unlucky enough to have a runin with one of these travelling to Mumbai escorted by two armed policemen. Then there are luxury aircrafts, helicopters, expensive cars and foreign junkets all paid for by the long suffering taxpayer. We, the people, need a charter of absolute rights. Right to life, property, education and medical care are not enough. We need the right to the lowest taxes, small government, best services, best roads, best utilities and, most importantly, the right to have our own representatives monitor government expenses. Winning an election is not a carte blanche to treat the public exchequer as private property to be squandered at will. We need citizens' corporations to represent us and keep these leeches in check. No sharam, no izzat.

After nineteen long years former Director General of Police of Haryana, SPS Rathore has been found guilty of molesting 14 year old Ruchika who committed suicide. As DG of police Rathore not only contrived to delay any sort of justice but hounded the family mecilessly to have the complaint withdrawn. Ruchika's brother was thrown out of school and arrested on eleven different charges of car theft, all of which were later thrown out by the court. He was also beaten up by the police. Blaming herself for the suffering of her family Ruchika took her life by swallowing insecticide. So what is the punishment for this monstrous bastard? Six months, yes months, in jail and a fine of Rs. 1000, just 20 lousy dollars. His wife, Abha Rahthore, is an advocate. So we have the chief of police molesting a 14 year old girl, protected by his lawyer wife and his sarkari friends and receiving a derisory sentence from the court. Rathore has promised to appeal and says he is confident of being found innocent. Of course he is. With a criminal justice system as ours criminals, especially politicians and sarkari bastards, can enjoy their life of debauch while the souls of the victims continue to cry for justice.

There is a lot space being devoted to Afghanistan in ther media and whether President Obama's strategy will lead to success. The aim seems to be to root out all taliban, train Afghans into effective army and police forces and encourage the formation of a democratic government without the levels of corruption as at present. Unfortunately all this planning is based on the assumption that Afghans can be civilised into a society based on democracy, rule of law and loyalty to the nation which overrides loyalty to clan and family. The evidence is to the contrary. These are a brutal, narrow minded people used to eking out a living from dirt and living like prehistoric savages would have done. Civilisations ( Persian, Indian, Chinese ) have grown up around them but they have managed to retain their illiterate savagery. The famous Afghan resilience is also born out of this lack of humanity. The best bet for the Americans would be to revive the Northern Alliance and support them with air power. The aim will not be to build a nation state but to bring about a standoff which will prevent planning and execution of further terrorist attacks. This is the only way Nato forces will be able to reduce casualties.

Indians are probably wondering enviously when our politicians will be treated like they are being treated in Pakistan at this moment. The Paki Supreme Court has struck down the National Reconciliation Ordinance, NRO which gave amnesty to around 8000 politicians and officials for stealing and bribes. The Defence and Minister of Interior have been barred from travelling abroad on official visits and notices have been issued to Jehangir Badr, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari. All this would be laudable if it was being done for the nation but it seems to be revenge by the Chief Justice, who was under house arrest during Musharraf's rule, egged on by Nawaz Sharif, who was exiled by Musharraf. They are playing a dangerous game if they think that they can grab power by embarassing the present lot because Sharif and his brother are high up in the rogues gallery. Zardari is immune while he is president but he will see a constant erosion of power and will eventually be brought down. His main defence should be to leave behind a poisoned chalice for Sharif that removes all immunity from every politician and then instigating investigations into the activities of the Sharif family. If all this leads to another coup by the army all the jokers in this farce could end up at the end of a rope. Russian roulette.

Went to Delhi by train couple of weeks back. Fellow, around 40 years old, gets up with a wife, a son and a two year old daughter. He has two police bodyguards armed with automatic guns and a huge amount of luggage. Space in shatabdi trains being limited to overhead racks he wants to move my solitary case. When I object mildly he tells me to shut my mouth. This unnecessary rudeness annoys me so I tell him that I will not shut up and what will he do about it. His wife says that she will teach me a lesson and that I have not seen what she can do to me. Fellow calms down and then starts to phone people telling them of his travel plans. At each station when the train stops people come to pay their respects with biscuits and chocolates for the children. Obviously the fellow is a hustler and a fixer but what entitles him to official protection. I find out that he is just a member of the state legislative assembly or MLA. It is shocking that a two penny MLA is travelling to Mumbai with two armed policemen at taxpayer expense. The policemen have tickets in a rear compartment and spend their entire journey in their own seats leaving the fellow and his slag of a wife completely unguarded. Clearly they are for show, a kind of status symbol. It is garbage like this that we Indians have to vote for. What future do we have?

Suppose you warn your mother not to go out in the winter cold without proper warm clothes but she does not listen and catches a severe chill with high fever, severe cough and probable pneumonia. Because she is solely responsible for her illness does it follow that you will not get her treated? Let us assume that you know that her fate and your fate are linked and that her death will result in your death as well. Will you still refuse to get her treated choosing to blame your brothers who did not take her money and are very poor? This is exactly what the rich countries are doing at Copenhagen. The fact is that mother Earth is rapidly developing a fever which has the potential to deatroy us all. It is criminally stupid to argue whether this warming is man made or due to natural causes. Whatever may be the cause it has to be treated and we should try and bring down the temperature. The rich countries are trying to force poor countries to accept the same level of cuts as them. Even if they succeed, which they will not, the poor will continue to cut down forests and burn wood for cooking. When you are worried about your next meal you do not think 50 years into the future. The US may have the best defence shields in the world but it cannot air condition the whole country. Obama was full of hot air about change but he is no different from Bush in trying to destroy Kyoto. He is just a bull**** artist.

The climate summit at Copenhagen is rapidly descending into farce. The African countries walked out in outrage over the one sided proposals put forward by the Danes who are presiding over the conference. The western countries want to tear up the Kyoto protocol and sign a treaty which would treat everyone the same, the rapists of mother earth and the victims of the rape who live in the third world. Now Hedegaard the presiding Danish minister has resigned claiming that it was decided beforehand because with heads of states arriving it was only proper that the prime minister chaired the conference. Everyone was taken by complete surprise but Gordon Brown provided the proverbial fig leaf by claiming that he knew all along. The most believable explanation would be that the lady was seen as a craven, racist and shameless tout for the western, read white, countries and lost any shred of credibility. Why would Denmark behave in this dishonorable and servile manner? Why would Norway award a Nobel prize to Obama for doing nothing? The answer usually lies in lucre, filthy though it may be. Is their something in their economic state that they are hiding? We remember Iceland. Maybe the divorce settlement of Tiger Woods will help.

The state run telephone company, BSNL has reduced roaming charges within India to 1 paisa per second or 49 paise minute. This is to compete with the private companies in a trend started by Tata Docomo. Twenty years back in the dark days of landlines a call from Delhi to Chandigarh was a trunk call at Rs. 100 a minute and you had to wait for hours after booking with rude, ill tempered women at the exchange. This was because BSNL was a monopoly in those days. The same with Prasar Bharati, the parent of Door Darshan. Before private television channels came in the output was not worth watching. Now Door Darshan has dozens of channels in all languages covering the country. Unfortunately old habits, that of gouging the people, die hard. No matter who your service provider, whether DTH or cable, everyone is forced to pay Rs. 110 per month for a bunch of ' free ' channels provided by Door Darshan. Every business, from BSNL to Door Darshan to Air India to nationalised banks, that is run by the criminal politicians and kleptocrats is anti people and bad for the country. We, the people, are powerless to do anything except writing tortured blogs that noone reads.

China is the biggest supporter of Iran because of the tremendous similarities of both governments. Both are brutal oligarchies ruled by a small coterie of thugs. Both ban free speech and any form of protest. Iran has the Basij militia, China has ' black ' jails. Both control internet and media stringently. China arrested and threatened parents of children killed in the Sichuan earthquake, by melamine in milk and recently by poisoning due to lead discharge from factories. Iran arrested mothers of protesters killed in custody by the secret police. Iran supports terrorists in Lebanon and Palestine while China supports terrorists in Pakistan and Sudan. However, there are two main differences. Iran is governed by religious fanatics while China's rulers are avowed atheists. The main difference is that Iranian people have the courage to give their lives in support of their beliefs while Chinese cockroaches will tolerate any amount of indigity inflicted on them by their leaders. After all cockroaches deserve to be squashed under foot.

Since 2006 the state Vigilance Bureau in Bihar has arrested 365 uncivil servants for corruption and of these 300 were found to be multimillionaires. With just one vigilance court to try these cases of ' trap ' very few have been convicted so far. Charge sheets have been submitted against a staggering 596 gazetted officers and 632 non gazetted fellows. Gazetted officers are those whose names are published in the president's gazette and as such are supposed to be the brahmins of the kleptocracy in India. Copies of documents for any important work or application involving government departments have to be attested by gazetted officers which gurantees that they are super kosher. The irony is that the uncivil servants are the most corrupt in India which is regularly rated as one of the corrupt in the world. Only about one or two of these creatures in a service employing thousands would be honest which means 99.99% are thieving scoundrels stealing public money, taking bribes and helping criminal politicians in any act of depravity that they desire. Solution is easy. Pass a law saying that every application will be handled by only one fellow whose name will be stamped on the paper. Such application must be approved within one month or written cause supplied for refusal. Flimsy excuses will be punished with loss of salary. So easy but with politicians in the chain no hope in hell.

Russia has declared a day of national mourning for the death of 119 in a fire in a nightclub in the city of Perm. The grief is genuine because with a small population Russia can ill afford to lose so many of its young people in one tragic accident. It is completely different in India. With a population over one billion and the underclass breeding like rodents who cares if a hundred or a thousand die. Criminal politicians never talk about population control because large numbers of dirty, half naked and hungry people means so much cheap labour for the building, transport, ship breaking and other labour hungry industries. An army of filthy children in rags can be seen in the streets, inside municipal garbage bins and on rubbish tips searching for anything that can be recycled. After a whole day of mucking around in extremely toxic conditions they may earn a few rupees which would not buy them enough to fill even their little bellies with food inflation running at 20%. Labourers price themselves down to be hired by building contractors in a competition of hunger. This inflates profits of the robber barons, friends and relatives of criminal politicians. Since life has no value it is easy to give parole to perverted murderers and to help Union Carbide treat dying Indians with contempt. Forget glory, Mother India would be grateful for a little reapect.

Twentytwo year old Amanda Knox from Seattle, US has been convicted of murdering 21 year old British girl Meredith Kercher in Peruggia, Italy. In usual anglosaxon arrogance americans are pouring scorn on the italian justice system and the public prosecutor. The British do the same if one of their citizens is convicted of crime in another country, unless the country is the US, but this time they are satisfied with the verdict. One commentator from Seattle claimed that a lot of the evidence was circumstantial and Knox would have gone free in any US court. Of course she would have. She is white and pretty, your typical all american girl. But what if she had been black and poor? Most likely she would now be on death row because her pro bono lawyer had fallen asleep in court. DNA evidence has seen 140 death row convictions overturned in the US. Last month two men sentenced to death and life imprisonment for the murder of 4 teenagers were cleared. Governor of Texas has been accused of gerrymandering a commission set up to examine the evidence against Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in 2004 for the murder of his three daughter by arson. And then there was the conviction of Mike Tyson for rape that never happened. Americans have a long history of justice by the lynch mob. Perhaps it is time to learn something even if it is from the Italians.

Remember Gadgil? He was the promoter of the Western India group of companies valued at around Rs. 40 billion in the early nineties. Suddenly one day we heard that he was in jail in Dubai because one of his cheques had bounced. Within months the whole Western India group was declared bankrupt and shareholders lost all their money. The law in Dubai is very specific. If you default on any debt you are put in prison until such time that you are able to raise enough capital or someone else pays for you. That is why last year when the economic crisis broke expatriates who lost their jobs just left their cars at the airport while flying home to avoid being stuck in jail for their inability to pay off their car loans. Yet now that Dubai World is defaulting on its debt repayment the Emir Of Dubai is still free. Not just that, his spokesman said that the government of Dubai would not guarantee the loans choosing to blame the creditors for investing in the country. S&P have downgraded six Dubai government companies to junk status. They should reduce them to dung status because the entire Dubai justice system is fraudulent and the government consists of lying crooks.

One anniversary after another. First it was 26/11, today is the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal tragedy. Twentyfive years on the site is still highly contaminated, large numbers of children are being born with congenital defects and people are still dying of respiratory and other illnesses. Victims say that they have received little or no compensation. Meanwhile public sector banks have written off Rs. 250 billion in bad loans in the three years since 2007. This occurred because bank officials, who are sarkari, arranged one time settlements with wilful defaulters where loans were written off for token amounts. This action by officials closed cases where the CBI was sure of proving criminal intent by the defaulters. No doubt the bank fellows laughed all the way to the bank. Meanwhile three agencies, CVC, CBI and now CAG, are investigating the department of telecom for dishing out 2G licenses at dirt cheap prices incurring a loss of some Rs. 600 billion to the exchequer. The telecom minister Mr. Raja's defence is that he did this with the knowledge of the Prime Minister meaning any attempt at indicting him will affect the Congress government. A fraction of all this trillions of rupees stolen by sarkari bastards could have easily paid for Bhopal. It is not just that the politicians that are criminals, the whole government is a crime syndicate and enemy of the people.

Madhu Koda, who was once chief minister of Jharkhand, is under investigation for illegaly amassing billions of rupees. Since all politicians in India are criminals it is possible that he offended one higher up the criminal hierarchy and had his protection withdrawn to teach him a lesson so that he pays a bigger share in the future. Recently Manu Sharma, convicted murderer of Jessica Lall, was let out on parole to enjoy himself with a few drinks at a night club. Convicted double murderer, Gouru Venkata Reddy, was granted pardon by th governor of Andhra Pradesh on advice from the Congress Chief Minister, YSR Reddy because his wife was a Congress MLA. Meanwhile two other Reddys, Karunakara and Janardhana, have their mining liceses suspended in Karnataka for violation of Forest Conservation Act. The really big ones are too powerful to get caught. To have real democracy, and not the criminal syndicates we have at present, we need to cut the powers of politicians. We urgently need citizens' corporations.

Seems that China is building 27 airstrips along the Line of Actual Control, LAC with India but our government is not concerned. Meanwhile the Chinese army objected to India building a road connecting two villages in Ladakh and we have promptly stopped work. This is the same sector that has seen repeated incursions by the Chinese army into Indian territory. The Chinese continue to build attacking positions along our border, continually block India's progress at international forums, threaten us by repeated incursions, insult us by calling our ambassador in the early hours of the morning and we are not concerned. Pakistan kills hundreds by repeatedly sending in terrorists and we advise restraint. Bangladesh kidnaps and kills BSF soldiers and gives shelter to ULFA terrorists we want to trade with them. Nepal is arming and sending Maoists into India at the behest of China and we smile at them. Seems that politicians just want to continue with staus quo because that gives them the chance to loot the state at will never mind how many people die. It would be much kinder to give cyanide pills to all Indians but then there will be no one left to loot.

One year on from the attacks on Mumbai known as 26/11 Vinita Kamte, wife of additional commissioner of police, Ashok Kamte, has written a book titled ' To The Last Bullet ' in which she has asked several questions regarding events on that fateful night which resulted in the death of her husband. She says that she obtained her information from the police logs of the night to which she was provided access under the Rights to Information Act. Previously we read that the bullet proof vests provided to the police were substandard and were bought after being rejected when first offered. To compound the mess the vest worn by Mr. Kamte at the time of his death has gone missing making the whole thing even more disgusting. The police in India are gangsters in uniform which makes them even more dangerous for the public they are supposed to protect. Trouble is that police forces are under the control of state governments which are collections of criminals and they will never improve the quality of the forces for fear of being arrested for their own crimes. Thus the police remain undermanned, underpaid and undermined by politicians. Their job is to guard criminal politicians, extort money from motorists in the form of fines and destroy evidence to protect the same politicians and their evil children. What hope for the rest of us?

The report on sexual abuse of children by catholic priests at the Archdiocese of Dublin has detailed over 300 cases of abuse between 1975 and 2004. Unfortunately beautiful vulnerable children are being abused in many different ways all over the world very single day. From child soldiers in war zones to children in slave labour to abuse inside the home a child is not safe anywhere. However no abuse is worse than that visited by parents. Poor people everywhere give birth to children without having the wherewithal to feed, clothe and educate them. Whenever you see a news item of famine in a poor country you see families with six to 10 children, all emaciated from lack of food, dressed in rags scrambling in the dirt with nothing to do. Animals also give birth to large litters most of which fail to survive but this they accept as a part of life. Humans, on the other hand, demand that someone else, be it the government or an NGO or a charity should help them feed their children. In India poor people have a large number of children so as to send them out to work. Thus you see little boys swathed in acid fumes recharging lead acid batteries and little girls right inside a municipal rubbish bin trying to find stuff to recycle. Torture of children is an abomination and must be stopped but it will not be unless we accept the fact that a child has the right not to be born.

The fourth or is it the fifth enquiry on the causes of the Iraq war has just begun in London and already witnesses are testifying that there was absolutely no evidence that Saddam Hussein had any weapon of mass destruction. In fact all intelligence was indicating that Iraq had dismantled any chemical weapons it possessed and had not developed any biological or nuclear weapons at all. This was exactly what the UN weapons inspector, Mr. Hans Blix was shouting from the rooftops. Also there was absolutely no contact between Saddam and the Al Qaeda. Unfortunately the gun toting triumvirate of George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had decided to kill Saddam and excuses were for wimps. The British prime minister, Tony Blair decided to follow suit creating an almighty mess in the entire middle east. The US is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court but Britain is. This is the time when relatives of dead Iraqis should file for an arrest warrant for Tony Blair at the ICC like the one issued for Omar Bashir of Sudan. In the US families of dead soldiers could file a class action suit for compensation against Bush and his henchmen much like the one that got O.J. Simpson. Justice may still be done.

Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh is the first foreign politician to be given a state welcome by the Obama White House and he seems to be loving all the pomp and ceremony. However, Mr. Singh should remember that Mr. Obama is a lawyer from Harvard and could persuasively argue that black is white or that the sun rotates round the earth. Mr. Obama is a polished rabble rouser having talked his way into the White House when a complete unknown. His sonorous voice, flowery phrases and lofty ideas combined with the ' grace and charm ' of the First Lady may dull a man's senses and make him susceptible to mistakes especially a former bureaucrat selected as prime minister and used to ' jee hazoor.' The Congress party has betrayed India on numerous occasions including handing a UN Security Council seat to China, acknowledging Tibet as a part of China and the Shimla accord. While not grudging him all the tasty morsels he is plied with it is with enormous worry I would request the Prime Minister not to repeat the sharam of Sharm Al Sheik.

Following its election victory the new government in Japan is trying to free the press which has been a kind of closed shop till now. Apart from a couple of years the LDP has been in power and developed a cosy relation with major publications. Only members of the press club had access to ministers and top civil servants and membership was denied to independent journalists or smaller publication. Now the government is trying to open up the press club to new members but is facing resistance. Minister of Financial services, Shizuka Kamei showed his displeasure by cutting short his meeting with the press club and holding a longer session with other journalists where it was much more unofficial and relaxed. For an Indian this is fantastic to read because the press in India continues to retain its chamcha status and the Congress party enjoys near immunity from examination. Indian journalists are footlicking freeloaders looking for handouts from ministers and are loath to mount any sustained campaign for honesty, openness or punishment for criminal politicians. Normally newspapers are very critical of the BJP choosing to vilify it at every opportunity yet not one journalist had the guts or character to support Tehelka. Had it not been for public outrage Manu Sharma, the murderer of Jessica Lall would have got off scot free. Sadly we have hundreds of newspapers, radio and tv channels but all are liars.

Ninetytwo miners have died and another 16 are missing in an explosion in state run Xinxing coal mine in Hegang city in China. We are told that China adds one power station every week to generate enough electricity to maintain its scorching growth of over 10% which is required to keep its population contented. Most power is generated from coal hence the insatiable hunger for mining coal at any cost, never mind how many people die. The murderous regime maintains its hold on power by a combination of spectacular growth, brutal suppression of dissent even from parents of children killed by melamine and by whipping up nationalism whether xenophobic or jingoistic. Thus we see outbursts of foul aggressive language against the west or Japan or India and an expenditure of over $ 40 billion on the Beijing olympics. For all their talk of civilisation it seems that the chinese are basically a barbaric people incapable of producing a Gorbachev who can bring glasnost to the country. As the country grows economically and defensively stronger India and all its neighbours will be in danger. The only hope is a severe recession which will produce unrest and may bring about the downfall of the thugs. Miracles may still happen.

The Anglosaxons are known for their hypocrisy but this time they seem to have crossed all boundaries of shame and decency. The outcry against the handball by Thierry Henry, the French football captain, in the World Cup qualifier against Ireland has taken on the proportions of a witch hunt. Henry was the captain of Arsenal and played in the Premier League in England for many years and would have seen innumerable cases of cheating including handball and diving to earn a penalty or to get an opponent sent off. The most shameless is the Australian Daily Telegraph which said that Henry had ' outplayed some of the greatest scammers, hoaxers, match-fixers, ball-tamperers and blatant rule benders ....' The writer has clearly forgotten the Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting claiming a fair catch to win a match against India when the ball had clearly bounced before he caught it. In fact the Australians are systematic cheats in cricket where they continually abuse a batsman to make him lose concentration and get out. They call it sledging and shamelessly insist that it is a legitimate tactic. Not one Australian batsman walks if the umpire mistakenly refuses an appeal for a catch behind. How is Henry's action any different? It is the age old hatred for the ' frogs.' Disgusting.

Justice Kailash Gambhir of Delhi High Court showed his displeasure at the way the Delhi government gave parole to Manu Sharma, the killer of Jessica Lall. He was unhappy because a convict in the Connaught Place shooting, Sumeer Singh has applied for a three month parole which is still waiting. Mr. Justice Gambhir's dipleasure was because parole was being granted to influential convicts and not to all. What country in the world lets convicted murderers and terrorists out on parole in the middle of their sentence? Who passed such a law and have those persons been convicted of criminal lunacy and put away for ever for being a threat to the Indian state? Over a thousand criminals, including murderers and terrorists, have been allowed out on parole. Needless to say the majority have gone missing. This not only leaves innocent people including witnesses at the mercy of the criminals but results in the loss of enormous police time and expense to recapture them. Parole should come at the end of the sentence only for genuine remorse and good behaviour and should be for only a short period. Pakistani terrorists must be laughing. Get into India, kill as many people as you want, get sentenced to life, ask for parole because your maid is ill and get back to Pakistan on the direct train from Delhi. With politicians and the judiciary against the country how are we to survive?

Perhaps in an effort to muddy the waters freeloading journalists are trying to link various minor Bollywood actresses with Headley, the islamic terrorist arrested in the US for plotting bomb attacks against India and Denmark. Appears that Headley visited India on more than one occasion on a multiple entry visa and freely travelled round the country possibly to select targets for his bomb attacks. Actors, like other ordinary people, would have no clue as to a person's intentions and may meet such a person at numerous parties that are a part of life in Bollywood. That surely does not make them accomplices. It is the job off intelligence agencies to root out these criminals and for the police to arrest them. However our intelligence agency, RAW did not have secure telephone connections for over three months and a Pakistani spy, Sayyed Amir Ali was issued a valid Indian passport without police verification in Lucknow. Meanwhile criminal politicians keep talking about good relations with Pakistan and allow Pakistanis free travel in our country. India does not need Pakistan. Close the border. Mine it intesively so that not even a rat can get through. Stop all travel between the two countries and make it so that we do not have to know that Pakistan even exists. But they won't and we will continue to be killed. If only some politicians and their drug taking, criminal children get killed they will understand.

A study by Transport Corporation of India and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta has found that India wastes at least Rs. 1.5 billion in fuel costs because of delays to vehicular transport. The delays are caused by police checkposts between states where taxes called octroi are collected from every commercial vehicle increasing costs of goods manifold. Also there are booths collecting toll tax every few miles again adding to delays and costs. God alone knows what happens to the trillions of rupees raised each year in road tax, sales tax on vehicles and huge taxes on petrol. Apparently one journey from Delhi to Bangalore has over 25 delays, 15 of them due to toll tax booths. Delays are also caused by poor quality of roads. Huge potholes appear after one rain shower and if that is not enough various sarkari fellows from telephones, water or electricity dig up roads at will. This is done to give work to local contractors in return for bribes. Local communities construct speed bumps every few miles ostensibly to reduce accidents resulting in traffic crawling along in low gears multipying fuel waste. Apparently this is done to reduce accidents but is actually due to resentment of car owners who are seen as rich, a mindset dating back to socialist times. Freeloading journalists tell us of luxury car companies wanting to sell in India. What a joke! If only cars could fly.

The Pakistani army is claiming to have made significant gains in South Waziristan and have displayed large amounts of captured weapons. Equally significantly, they have managed to kill only a few low level Taliban, the senior leaders having managed to give them the slip yet again as they have done repeatedly in the past. Nice game this. Please the Americans by showing them some weapons, which can always be recycled back to the Taliban if required, while keeping the terrorist option alive for the future, just in case. The question which is most obvious, but which no one asks, is how a bunch of murdering loonies managed to get hold of sophisticated RPG launchers and thousands of automatic rifles. These are no ordinary pipe guns that a backstreet blacksmith can manufacture in the back streets of Peshawar but high end weapons which should only be sold by one state to another under strict control. Unfortunately for the world any murderous thug anywhere in the world seems to be able to get any weapon he desires putting the lives of innocent ordinary people and law enforcement officers at risk. News programs always seem to contain Somali pirates, Taliban fighters, Mexican drug dealers or Columbian paramilitaries armed with sophisticated weapons killing whoever they feel like. Behind this daily massacres are governments who are failing to stop weapons from reaching these killers. Hence governments are the true terrorists. Everything bad originates from politicians.

Killings and brutal torture of Iraqi prisoners, some quite innocent, by British soldiers are beginning to surface. Already a cover up is being readied. One fellow interviewed on BBC insisted that these were isolated incidents and that the vast majority of the soldiers were honourable. Unfortunately his words are belied by the fact that these incidents are coming to light only after the complete withdrawal of British soldiers from the Basra region of Iraq. So brutal was there control that Iraqis were terrified of complaining in their own country while the British brutes patrolled the streets. This is reminiscent of the people's fear of complaining against the mafia in Sicili. However the British are masters of lies and dissimulation. An enquiry will be held, one or two soldiers will receive a caution and the rest of the army will be honourably exonerated. One such enquiry was held in the past where Iraqi witnesses were not provided with proper interpreters or adequate explanation of how the process worked. Their testimony was dismissed as imagination and the soldiers were released. History is full of such British chicanery. The innocent Brazilian, De Menezes, who was executed and Black Sunday where Irish catholics were shot in the back come to mind. In today's world lies and propaganda win everytime while innocents die.

This is the twentieth year that Sachin Tendulkar has been playing cricket for India and tributes are pouring forth. People with nothing better to do are comparing his achievements with that of Brian Lara and Bradman trying to work out who can be called the best. Sadly in a country of this size and population we have only one such sporting hero while Australia with a population the size of Mumbai has hundreds of sporting greats in every variety of sports. The reason for such dismal record is not hard to find and as usual criminal politicians and kleptocrats are solely to blame. Every sports body is headed by a politician and controlled by kleptocrats. These criminal beggars use all the resources for their own enrichment and entertainment. It is well known that in any sporting event the number of athletes are outnumbered by these parasites who commandeer the facilities for their own comfort leaving the athletes to fend for themselves. Most times athletes end up sleeping on the floor. People are dreading the Commonwealth Games to be held next year in Delhi. There will be a frenzy of begging for free passes and traffic will cease to move as countless criminal beggars descend on the sporting site, not because they are fond of sports but because they will see it as bragging opportunity. No sharam, no izzat.

So President Obama is to visit China. Its blistering economic growth, reserves of $ 1 trillion and enormous armed forces has made China a dangerous and arrogant bully. On climate China will put the onus totally on the US and the west. On North Korea, Burma and Iran China will obfuscate with talk about sovereignty. On human rights violations its denial will be brusque. However on trade Chinese smiles will be crocodilian. They will strongly agree on free trade, oppose any increase in tariffs and deride non tariff barriers. When pushed on the enormous imbalance in the balance of payments in favour of the Chinese they virtuously point out how they have stimulated internal demand by injections of large amounts of cash and will flatly refuse to float the yuan so that it can appreciate against the dollar and keeeping it fixed at around 8 to a dollar. This will be the point when Mr. Obama can use his sucker punch. He can politely remind the Chinese that just as the Chinese claim the right to set the exchange rate of the yuan the americans do the same with the dollar and henceforth the dollar will buy, say, six yuans for Chinese imports making them instantly expensive. The Chinese will howl but they will be hoist by their own arguments. Unfortunately Mr. Obama will not dare because US businesses will not let him so like his predecessors he will return with his tail between his legs.

The Air India/Indian Airlines combine lost over Rs. 55 billion last year that is over $ 1 billion US. The politicians are mulling over how much money to put into this eternal cesspit to keep it going. This being a government enterprise criminal politicians and kleptocrats get to travel free with family. They can check in late and expect flights to wait for them thus inconveniencing paying passengers. They can behave anyway they like, for instance, molesting women knowing that airline staff will back them up. The airlines have too many staff, abysmal productivity and enormous corruption. It will, therefore, be a crime against the people if a single rupee is wasted on this useless airline. Instead we, the taxpayers, demand that the airlines be shut down immediately and the Rs. 55 billion is used to compensate the staff, not that they deserve any compensation. This would save vast sums in the future. Instead taxes on airline tickets should be calculated as a percentage of the offered price of the ticket which will allow private airlines to compete. That would really improve services and make them cheaper, much like mobile services have improved. The aam aadmi is tired of travelling ' cattle class ' on trains and yearns to fly.

Some games are so profitable that they are endlessly repeated. Seems that investigators from India rushed to Washington DC wanting to interview Headley and Rana who were planning bomb attacks in India. Only problem was that they ' forgot ' to ask the Americans whether they would be allowed this courtesy. Permission was denied so they enjoyed, er waited patiently in Washington for one week before returning back to India. Mind goes back to the fun Indian investigators had chasing Quattrochi all over the globe. Quattrochi being a wealthy man obliged by being sighted at the most expensive of resorts at various parts of the world and our tireless sleuths rushed over and tirelessly failed to catch him. All at taxpayers' expense of course. The Dc sniper, John Allen Mohammed was executed by lethal injection yesterday for the murder of Dean Harold Meyers. In Delhi, Manu Sharma, who shot Jessica Lall to death for refusing him a drink, was allowed out on parole for two, yes an incredible two months on compassionate grounds to tend to his sick mother. So upset was he that he was seen drinking at a night club. A filthy murderer gets so much compassion but Jessica will never be out on parole.

There seems to be no nadir for politicians in India. Fellow called Azmi, elected recently to the Maharashtra Assembly, insisted on taking his oath in Hindi during the swearing in ceremony. The Shiv Sena insisted that he take the oath in Marathi which he refused to do. When Azmi proceeded to take his oath in Hindi, because it is the national language, he was assaulted inside the House for which some MLAs have been suspended for four years. Who will represent the people these suspended MLAs were elected to represent? Will there be byelections or will these constituencies remain in suspended animation for the duration of the assembly? The Shiv Sena fellows have warned Azmi against criticising Bal Thackeray, the chief of Shiv Sena, and apparently there have been phoned death threats against Azmi. Why should it be an offence to criticise politicians who are all criminals anyway? It is not yet one year since the attacks on Mumbai, the economy is still critical, food inflation is over 13% and unemployment is so high no one bothers to count it but poiticians are fighting over what language to use to swear in. We all know that whatever oath they take they will enrich themselves even at the expense of the country so who the hell cares. The best would be to do away with the swearing in ceremony and spare the people the nausea of hearing lies.

Seems that Major Hassan, who shot twelve people to death at Fort Hood, Texas, was in contact with an anti American beard in Yemen, called Anwar al-Awalaki who has since applauded the actions of Major Hassan. Before that Chicago police arrested Rana and Headley who plotting bomb attacks in India and Denmark. Meanwhile China has executed seven people accused of rioting in Xinjiang province earlier in the year. The Uighurs in Xinjiang are muslims who have been subjugated by the Han Chinese and are being used as slave labour as is happening in Tibet. The jihadi cowards are ready to attack democracies because these are seen as soft even though muslims have a much better life in these countries than they have in any muslim country. However they do not have the manhood to go and fight for their Uighur brothers who are being enslaved and oppressed. They know that China will not bother with the niceties of an open trial but will execute them without any hesitation. One bullet in the back of the head, a bill to the family for the bullet and sell the organs for transplant. No wonder the jihadis are terrified. Fact is virgins are never attracted by to coward butchers.

Today is Remembrance Sunday in Britain when soldiers who died in battle will be remembered. Red poppies will adorn every bosom and veterans will come out in old uniforms decked with medals. Bugles will blow and wreaths will be laid at the Cenotaph. Newsreaders, voices throbbing with emotion, will ask the rest of the world to be grateful that AngloAmericans won the war and to be doubly grateful because they are still dying in Afghanistan. No mention will be made of barbarism, of millions of innocents killed, of the fire bombing of Dresden and other acts of bestiality that europeans are so good at. However Europeans reserved their ferocity for their neighbours and though the British built their empire by being more brutal than their enemies we have to thank the Americans for slaughtering Asians. Starting with Hiroshima to Iraq and Afghanistan they must have killed tens of millions. From nuclear weapons to napalm, from agent orange to depleted uranium everything has rained down on Asia. And it is all done with good humor by naming bombs 'fat boy' and 'daisy cutter' they like to show what jolly good fellows they are. We asians fight among each other and are thankful to the yanks for killing us. Enjoy.

Major Hasan, responsible for shooting twelve people to death at an army camp in the US, is a devout muslim who was outraged by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is sure to cause a debate in the US about the safety of having muslims, of which there are between 3 and 20 thousand depending on who you believe, in the armed forces. The FBI has arrested two US citizens, Rana and Headley, who are members of the terrorist organisation LeT, for planning attacks against India and Denmark. Headley was keen to bomb Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper which published photographs of the Prophet while his LeT commander in Pakistan wanted him to attack India first. The Presidential elections in Afghanistan ended in a farce with the election of the cheat, Hamid Karzai because his opponent Dr. Abdullah withdrew from the second round. Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not stand for reelection in January because peace talks are going nowhere, Israel continues to build settlements and Palestinians are being evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem. Barack Obama's speech in Cairo promised new relations with the muslim world but surely the US is on a collision course with muslims. This has nothing to do with the Republicans.

Climate change negotiations underway in Barcelona hit a roadblock when African nations demanded that developed countries have to sign upto absolute numbers in greenhouse gas reductions as promised under the Kyoto Protocols. As is usual, developed countries promise a great deal at first and then try to introduce sly clauses which puts all the responsibility on poorer countries while their businesses are allowed full freedom to rip off the developing countries. This is what happened in the GATT round of trade talks where developing countries, especially in Africa, were duped into opening up their economies to western businesses while the rich countries continued to put up barriers. This decimated African business and agriculture from which they are yet to recover. Since then developing countries have become extremely bitter and suspicious which is why the Doha round of WTO trade talks are getting nowhere. The developing countries have to understand that unrestrained populations growth destroys forests and harms the climate while the rich countries have to stop their dishonest and underhand tactics. Everyone has to understand that countries may be widely separated but global warming will affect the whole world. Unfortunately politicians are conditioned to tell lies.

Simon Mann, a white British mercenary was tried and convicted of trying to overthrow President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea. He was arrested in Zimbabwe with arms and served three years in that country before being extradited to Guinea where he confessed to his crime and was sentenced to 34 years in prison. He was therefore a terrorist equal to Osama Bin Laden. However he was released from prison yesterday after being pardoned by President Obiang in a humanitarian gesture and flew back to Britain. When Bobby Sands and 12 other IRA prisoners fasted to death in a Belfast prison Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister of Britain, contemptuously dismissed them as terrorists and not to be negotiated with. When three prisoners committed suicide in Guantanamo the Americans called it an act of propaganda. Yet here is a terrorist who was just as dangerous as the others and he gets to go home for christmas. No doubt the British armtwisted Obiang. We colored people are quick to accuse whites of racism but when we show our inferiority so blatantly the whites are encouraged to think that they can get away with they want. And they always do.

Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Khoda is under investigation for illegally transferring $ 110 million abroad through, what is known as, hawala transactions. It is believed that he transferred the money to one Abdul Bhai in Dubai for investments in Dubai, Liberia and other foreign countries. It is also thought that he used his position as CM to get cantracts for his associates in the government sponsored Rural Electrification scheme in UP and earned a profit of Rs. 300 million. Naturally, like every politician charged with crime, he has got himself admitted to the ICU in a local hospital. Being in ICU he can now evade questioning until such time that the doctors are really satisfied that there is nothing wrong with him. The doctors will be terrified. If they say he is alright they may be beaten up by goons belonging to his party so they will opt for safety and play along with whatever symptoms Mr. Khoda can dream up. Meanwhile a 32 year old kidney patient in urgent need of medical assistance was unable to get near a hospital in Chandigarh because the Prime Minister was visiting and his security personnel kept redirecting the ambulance from one point to another for over two hours. Politicians in India are really well protected by goons, in uniform or otherwise. Meanwhile we, the people, die.

So Hamid Karzai is officially reelected President of Afghanistan and has been congratulated for his victory even though he has blatantly stolen the elections. Politicians, it seems, are to be congratulated for theft even if it is hugely damaging for the whole country. Bankers are getting a lot of abuse for their greed but politicians congratulate each other. In the UK members of parliament were merely asked to return the money paid to them for spurious claims. In India every member of parliament gets Rs. 20 million of taxpayer money apparently for improving their constituencies. This is known as the MPLADS scheme whatever that stands for. It is not surprising that this money is stolen or used for nefarious activities. Now the MPs want the sum to be increased to Rs. 100 million. In India only those with lots of black money, guns and goons, otherwise known as chamchas, can win any election at any level. They are thus from the lowest strata of society and have no sharam or izzat. Their only aim is to beg or loot as much as possible, government bungalows, free travel, free hotels, bribes, and to use their positions to destroy criminal evidence. In today's world the scum always rises to the top.

The perverted adulation for boys in north India is hitting middle class women in an unusual manner. Many women are complaining of being under enormous stress with resultant health problems such as insomnia, high blood pressure and depression. A little probing reveals that stress is being caused by their adorable sons being unable to hold down any job for any length of time. In my childhood we used to refer to these fellows as
' sonubabas ' or ' golden boys '. They have been brought up as little sultans with every wish fulfilled. They do not know how to cook, cannot iron their clothes and are too lazy to even make up their beds. They pass out of some second rate engineering institute with a bachelor's degree and think that the world owes them a living for doing nothing. They expect to start as chairman of a multinational, work some three hours a day, get a salary of Rs. 1 million a month and have a pretty secretary to serve coffee. Unfortunately the real world pays much less and demands hard work. Women have no such problems. Brought up as second class they are happy to work ten hours a day for Rs. 25000 a month. They are thus seen as valuable by their employers, are promoted and seldom sacked in a recession. Mothers, meanwhile, are highly stressed. As you sow etc etc.

Seems as though Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton had enough. During question time with senior Paki journalists she told them a few truths which should have been told many decades ago. Pakistan has been the centre of terrorism for decades. The ISI has trained, financed and armed terrorists to kill Indians. They set up the Taliban which is now killing US soldiers. Al Qaeda leaders are still hiding in Pakistan with assistance from the Paki military. Virtually every terrorist being arrested in the west today have received training in terrorist camps in Pakistan. The 9/11 attacks were surely planned by the ISI. Although financially bankrupt and unable to feed or educate its people Pakistan continues to maintain a massive army and manufacture nuclear weapons. While its elite is westernised the vast majority of its people hate the US. While professing to be a friend of the US Pakistan is closer to China from where it obtains its nuclear weapons. The army officers are highly paid, have huge properties and control large businesses. In every way the Paki army is the same as that in Burma except for their love of western culture. Army officers have properties abroad and love to travel to western countries with their families and would hate travel restrictions placed on them. For decades they have begged for assistance to beat the terrorists they themselves have protected. At last Clinton has told them the truth. Hell hath no fury like a woman asked stupid questions.

On her visit to Pakistan Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton was asked why the US had attached strings to their defence aid. She should have told the reporter that Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism with its armed forces fighting against ISI assisted Taliban. Also Pakistan's economy is in shambles, kept going by foreign assistance so the Pakis, as beggars, are in no position to demand anything. Instead she sounded almost apologetic saying that the US respected Pakistan's sovereignty and had no wish to micromanage its internal affairs. The US should understand that Pakistan will never allow the Taliban to be defeated and will continue its blackmail with the threat of nuclear weapons falling into terrorist hands forever. The only way is to position US troops out of harm's way at key locations, block the Pakistan Afghan border and help the Northern Alliance to mince the Taliban with strategic strikes at Taliban leaders and supply lines.
On an entirely different subject, last week we saw pictures of beautiful Greek actresses going through the ritual of transferring the Olympic torch to a young athlete on Mount Olympus. Today we see pictures of one wrinkled old bag transferring the staff a lesser games to another wrinkled old bag. Entirely appropriate.

Men like to play games, possibly even in Afghanistan. Yesterday the New York Times had a story saying that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai, has been paid by the CIA for some time and that he has been renting Mullah Mohd. Omar's villa to american Special Forces. The timing is exquisite. The presidential elections, believed to have been stolen by Hamid Karzai the last time round, is to be rerun in a week's time. One would expect the Taliban to be furious at this betrayal and go gunning for him. Instead the Taliban hit a UN compound killing ten. One possibility comes to mind. It is entirely possible that the money received by Ahmed Wali Karzai from the CIA was being transferred to the Taliban as protection money and the rent for the villa was being paid to Mulla Omar after a suitable deduction for his own expenses, of course. Mulla Omar and his Taliban friends would certainly enjoy the pilao and gosht that the american dollars would buy for them. The americans probably expected the revelations would damage Hamid Karzai and lose him the election but suddenly they find that arranging the process itself is becoming impossible. Games within games. Delicious.

Two news items on BBC tv this morning, both on war criminals. The first piece was about Radovan Karodzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, who is on trial at the Hague. This report alleged that Karodzic was responsible for the deaths of upto 7000 muslims and interviewed a man, reportedly a relative of a victim. The impression was of an evil man who deserves the severest punishment. This piece was followed by one on Tony Blair who took Britain into an illegal war in Iraq by lying to the House of Commons and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, also muslims. However, this item did not mention the genocide that he perpetrated but chose to concentrate on whether this war criminal will be chosen as the first President of Europe as per the Lisbon treaty. Here the reporter did not interview an Iraqi whose children have been killed by the British but chose to interview David Milliband, a minister in the present Labour government. About thirty years back Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, threw BBC out of India for being a propaganda channel. Things have not changed much since then.

In the opinion of the Home Minister Naxals or Maoists are the greatest threat being faced by the country at this moment. Seems that police in Bengal, acting on information, were able to surround a Naxal called Kishenji in his hideout and were pretty confident of getting him when they were ordered to stop firing by the Communist state government in Bengal. Not only that, the Bengal government is to release 24 Naxal women in exchange for a policeman kidnapped by the Naxals who would have been rescued had the police operation been allowed to continue. It is hard to imagine why politicans, criminal though they are, would endanger the country in such a way. Are they taking instructions from a foreign power? If they are they should be hanged as traitors. At the very least the Home Minister, who is a hotshot lawyer, should make it possible for relatives of anyone killed by Kishenji in the future to sue the Bengal government collectively and the Chief Minister personally for compensation. Meanwhile the DMK is pressuring the Prime Minister not to pursue the case of 2G telecom licenses granted to companies for a pittance by Mr. Raja which were then sold to foreign companies for hundreds of billions. The government lost Rs. 600 billions in taxes and, possibly, trillions in license fees. Wonder if the rumours of Rs. 50 billions are true?

Hilarity has greeted the news that George Bush is to be paid to give a lecture on ' How to master the art of effective leadership ' at a Get Motivated seminar. And why not? After all the great american people, in their wisdom, voted for him twice to be the most powerful man in the world even if the first time was through
' hanging chads ' and the second time by Karl Rove inspired Swift boat veterans misinformation. The US never tires of telling the world what a great democracy it is even though women, who make up 53% of the polpulation, never make it to the White House and, in most states, the NRA has veto power over who may get elected. The present incumbent got in through his gift for hot air even though he is perilously lacking in any experience. In the US elections are won by how many countless billions of dollars you can raise and then spend on television advertising. In India guns play a prominent role thus giving criminals the upper hand. Many in Delhi claim to be white but do their dirty deals through chamchas who are a form of spineless lowlife ready to carry out any act of self abasement or mass murder to be rewarded by the winner. People serving jail terms for crime are allowed to stand for elections and often win because of loyalty by an electorate of illiterate beggars grateful for freebies doled out with taxpayer money. The depressing fact is that democracy is still the best form of governance. We desperately need citizens' corporations to keep democracy in check.

The lies they tell. Yesterday Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party or BNP was invited to BBC's Question Time. The BNP is a right wing party which won two seats in the European parliament on an anti immigrant agenda. There were protests outside the BBC and Mr. Griffin was attacked by all the other panel members eager to show their antiracist credentials. These fascists are stupid for denying the holocaust which is proven and for admiring Hitler who lost. Mr. Ahmadinejad did the same. This gives others an easy avenue for attack. Racists exist everywhere so the BNP is no rarity. Of more interest is why British people have voted for Mr. Griffin to represent them in Europe. Mr. Jack Straw's facile answer that it was because the people are dissatisfied with the mainstream is breathtakingly shameless. This was a reference to the MP's claims scandal but expertly hid the main reason which is terrorism by British citizens of Pakistani origin which is seen as an ever present danger by the British public. Attacks on the London Underground killed around 50 people since when more attacks have been averted by the arrest of would be perpetraters. Yet the UK and its master, the US continue to pour aid and military assistance into Pakistan. Until truth is told and the real source of terror targeted people will continue to vote for the BNP. No use abusing Mr. Griffin.

The latest proposal to diffuse the Iranian nuclear crisis is to transport its enriched uranium to Russia, where it will be treated, thence to France, where it will be cooked some more, and then back to Iran again for use in its nuclear power plant. In its tourist travels enriched uranium, which is extremely hazardous, may have an accident, may be hijacked or just blown up to create the mother of all pollutions equal to ten Chernobyls. Of course, Iran is lying through its teeth and will use every stratagem to delay transporting its uranium until it has enough for a few bombs which it will hide just as it had hidden its plant under Qom until caught. Why do countries continue to play games when nothing ever comes out of it? Is it just to give diplomats something to do to justify the enormous expense of maintaining them? Iran has huge oil and gas reserves while North Korea is a beggar nation surviving on handouts. Yet the international community does not have the guts to cut off all food aid in case it launches a last ditch attack on the south in its desperation. Yet talks about talks about talks go on while diplomats shuttle back and forth in first class, stay in five star and blabber about progress. Saddam capitulated because he was stupid and beaten. Perhaps we should prepare for round two.

Afghanistan is rapidly developing into a tragic farce. General elections were held a couple of months ago amid much hot air about bringing democracy to the Afghan people who, being stuck in a time warp of tribalism and islamic fanaticism, understand little about such progress of civilisation. Added to this were threats from taliban mad dogs who actually chopped off fingers marked with indelible ink. A majority of people chose not to vote so Hamid Karzai, the President, stuffed ballot boxes with his own votes and claimed victory, supported by the Afghan Election Commission, with some 57% of ballots. The UN said little but unfortunately one Mr. Galbraith refused to play and claimed enormous fraud. So the UN has cancelled some 30% of Karzai votes and John Kerry, of Swift Boat fame, was sent to arm twist Karzai into accepting a second round. With the same people and procedures still in place it is hard to see why Karzai, with a little help from his gangster friends, will not stuff ballot boxes again. Mr. Obama has hailed Mr. Karzai and the second round like he had hailed the first round. Lawyers will quickly tell us that two wrongs do not a right make but what if you are a hot shot from Harvard? Yes, you can.

Seems that all Indians will be forced to carry biometric identity cards in the near future. This has been decided by the politicians, no doubt with able assistance from the kleptocrats, and Mr. Nilekani, of Infosys fame, has been allotted the task of bringing this to fruition. There has been no consultation with the public or any attempt at finding out if there are any legitimate concerns because there is no need. With the aam aadmi comprising some 80% of the electorate the government is sure to win any referendum. The reason is simple. The politicians are promising that this will enable them to identify people in need and distribute aid swiftly and efficiently. This strategy of promising free goodies to the naked poor works every time and demonstrates the brilliance of maintaining a huge army of uneducated beggars with hands outstretched from birth and calling them the aam aadmi. In reality this is going to be a giant waste of public funds with a potential for enormous abuse. Previously we had a ration card which was bought by millions of Bangladeshis and used as evidence of citizenship. Then we had a I card which was distributed patchily and with numerous mistakes. We have driving licenses with finger prints but since there is no crosschecking any convicted driver can get one from another state, with a little bribe of course, and continue driving. Will Mr. Nilekani want to be remembered as the man who unleashed the biggest stupidity against the Indian people?

Seems that the government is thinking of outsiders monitoring performance of the kleptocrats. Apparently with evaluations being done by insiders the reports are always highly congratulatory and recommendations for promotions are always positive. It is hoped that an outside person will do a better job of evaluating the work and commitment of a sarkari fellow and provide an authentic report. It is not mentioned what will happen if a fellow is found to be a thief which most of them are anyway. Will the fellow be sacked? Will his pension be terminated? Will the report be made public? If not it will be a waste of public money as most government projects are. Most likely a friendly person will be chosen to do the assessment and if the report is indeed adverse it will be suppressed. The Prevention of Corruption Act prevents the prosecution of a kleptocrat without the permission of the politician in charge and since the said politician will be sharing in the loot there is hardly any possibility of criminal charges. If criminal charges are indeed filed it will take decades for the case to go through the courts, as in the case of Mr. Sukhram, and the person will have died of old age. Most kleptocrats are suspended and when the heat has died off they allowed to rejoin and paid all accumulated salary and allowances. Maybe it will fool some people.

The US is supplying eighteen F 16 advanced fighter aircrafts to Pakistan. These aircrafts are obviously not for use against the Taliban or the Al Qaeda. On west of Pakistan there is Iran, an islamic country. In the north are Afghanistan and China, friends of Pakistan and further to the north are Kurdistan, Uzbekistan and other stans which are all muslim countries. To the south is the Arabian Sea. That leaves only the east and India. Therefore, these aircraft are being supplied to the Pakis for the sole purpose of killing Indians. Why does the US want Indians to be killed is a mystery I have never understood. During the cold war years India was seen as a friend of the then USSR and the US demonstrated its displeasure by overtly trying to achieve parity between India and Pakistan. Those days are over and during the Bush years India and the US increased cooperation in various areas of trade, nuclear power and even defence. Indeed India has held several joint military exercises with the US. Meanwhile various US thinktanks are confident that Pakistan, and its talibanised defence forces, is the source of all terrorism in the world today. The 9/11 attacks were planned in Pakistan, most likely by the ISI. So why does Obama want to kill Indians? Just shows that all his talk of ' change ' is hot air. Can a huge gasbag become the president of the US? Yes, he bloody well can.

The government has decided to throw more than a billion dollars to save Air India/Indian Airlines for collapse. Apparently the company has been asked to reduce costs severely. It would be a joke if not for the millions of people who have lost everything to floods in the south. Surely this money would have been much better spent had it been distributed as cash to the victims. These companies have been losing money for decades because of huge overmanning, endemic corruption, misuse by politicians and criminal unions so the two companies were combined into one but without any layoffs. While numbers of flights are being reduced and services cut the staff numbers stay the same along with all the undeserving perks that they get. To save this corrupt behemoth ( in terms of the number of useless staff ) other measures are already in place. Private airlines are not allowed to serve alcoholic drinks and taxes on airtickets are calculated on the full price even though the airline may be charging only Rs. 100 for a ticket. This takes flying out of the reach of most people and inflicts heavy losses on private airlines so that many are on the verge of going out of business. Criminal politicians and uncivil servants are slowly choking the life out of India, never mind the Sensex.

Two brothers aged 12 and 10 years are being tried at Sheffield crown court in the UK for having lured two other boys aged 11 and 9 years to a field and then viciously assaulting them. They were robbed of a mobile phone and cash and the older almost died when he was smashed on the head with a portion of a bathroom sink and passed out. The younger boy's ear and eyelids were burnt with cigarettes and his face and genitals were stamped on. This in a country which has transformed itself into a police state. Britain has more CCTV cameras per square foot than any other country in the world, strange laws called Asbo, the largest DNA database, unlimited police powers of stop and search and holding suspects for long periods without charge. The government tried and failed to introduce a compulsory identity card system. Meanwhile in Newark, Delaware in the US a 6 year old boy faces 45 days in reform school for taking a camping item, which serves as knife, fork and spoon, to school. Apparently this violated the zero tolerance policy for carrying weapons into the school. This in a country which worships the Gun God and anyone who upsets the NRA can say goodbye to a political career. US and UK are the most vocal about advising developing countries to limit corruption. Surely the world is going mad.

A 31 year old white man from South Africa has sought asylum in Canada on the grounds that he had been attacked seven times by black South Africans only because he was white. He claimed to have been repeatedly persecuted, abused and stabbed and was in fear of returning to South Africa. Apparently he told the Canadian immigration and refugee board,' There is a hatred of what we did to them and it's all about the colour of your skin.' He has been granted refugee status in Canada. Predictably Ronnie Mamoepa, South Africa's home affairs spokesman said the government was ' disgusted ' by the ruling and accused the Canadians of racism. Two things come to mind. First, blacks are just as racists as whites. After all an overwhelming majority of blacks voted for Barack Obama only because he is white and despite the fact that his only achievement to date was that he had voted against the Iraq war. Second, blacks have been hiding too long behind the excuse of having been enslaved by whites. It is true that they were treated abysmally but it is time to move on and develop themselves which they have spectacularly failed to do inspite of having gained independence for decades. If they were exploited by the whites in the past they are wilfully allowing the Chinese to shaft them now. I see no hope for the future.

Another suicide bomb in Pakistan has killed 36 today. In another news the High Court in Lahore has released Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks, for lack of evidence of terrorism. Couple of days ago militants attacked the heavily protected army headquarters in Rawalpindi making the armed forces look stupid. These murdering fanatics are bred, trained and nurtured in Pakistan and are now getting out of control as mad dogs will. Strangely Pakistan portrays itself as a victim of terrorism in international arenas and countries like the US accept this enormous lie thus further encouraging it. Now it seems that terrorism is spreading into Punjab, the most populated and powerful province in that Punjabis control most of the top posts in the armed forces. As an Indian I am pleased to see evil Pakistanis paying the price for incubating evil. However this is not enough. Perhaps there will be a war between the army on the one hand and the ISI with its terrorist dogs on the other. Also perhaps one between Punjab and other provinces such as Sindh and Baluchistan. We have to close our borders to prevent any of the scum taking refuge here. If China were to suffer the same fate then that would be heaven.

Working in a lab in Cambridge Venkataraman Ramakrishnan has managed to win this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry along with two other scientists. Predictably the press has gone hyper in writing paeans of congratulations to him. What noone is talking about is why Indians never get anything working in the country. This is not something the freeloading press likes to explore. There lots of brilliant people in India but they can never achieve anything worthwhile because they will not be allowed to. All scientific establishments are headed by kleptocrats. These are a species of lifeform quite distinct from normal humans. Kleptocrats are crooks by nature or to put it in another way only those with criminal tendencies opt for this career. They have no decency or dignity and are willing to perform any act, however humiliating or nefarious, to please their political masters so as to obtain a promotion or a plum posting. They are despised by the people and often by their own children so they will not allow anyone to accomplish anything laudable. Above this will be a criminal politician. To be fair politicians in India are usually not bothered with small details as long as they are able to amass a substantial amount of loot, indulge their physical pleasures and prepare the means for their drug abusing, criminal children to continue in their profitable paths. Nobel in criminality? Absolutely.

In an act of cringe making political footlicking President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for having achieved precisely nothing. The reason given by the Nobel committee in Oslo is that he has good intentions. I have intentions of solving every problem in medicine so why not give me a prize in that discipline. One Russian parliamentarian is supposed to have said that this shows how awful the Bush administration was, so that Obama gets the prize for doing nothing. Since coming to office Obama has certainly given some magnificent speeches. However, he has not been able to pass his healthcare reforms. The US representatives blocked any progress in Copenhagen by refusing to entertain any specific cuts in greenhouse gases while trying to get India to commit to reductions. The Doha round of WTO talks are still in limbo. Inspite of numerous US thinktanks linking Pakistan's ISI with the Taliban the US has increased military aid to the Pakis while increasing numbers of US soldiers continue to die. Bomb in front of the Indian embassy in Kabul on Thursday, in Peshawar yesterday and an attack in Islamabad today. Guantanamo remains open. Iran continues building its nuclear bombs while Israelis continue building settlements. Perhaps instead of being called a Peace Prize it should henceforth be called Nobel Gas Prize.

The Italian judges have struck down the law giving the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution as long as he holds office. Like all corrupt and shameless politicians everywhere he has refused to resign trotting out the tired excuse of having been elected by the people. Unfortunately elections have tended to become meaningless. First, people have little to choose between various dishonourable liars. Second, large numbers of people, even in western countries have very little general knowledge and vote on very narrow considerations. Third, legitimacy of every elected politician is suspect because large numbers of the electorate avoid voting. Getting 51% of 50% of the electorate is not a convincing electoral victory. Still the judges in Italy have courage. In India justice is only for the rich and the powerful. One 75 year old woman, Jiwan Devi and five family members spent four years in jail waiting for trial before being found innocent of dowry harassment. Contrast this with Nanda who got a derisory two year jail sentence after killing seven with his BMW car and the criminal politician who was found innocent of murdering his secretary because his support in parliament was deemed crucial. Convicted criminals can even stand for elections from their jail cells. After all we are the largest ' democracy ' in the world.

Seems that Arab countries held secret meetings with China, Russia, Japan and France to end oil trading in dollars. Although denied the news depressed the dollar and gold prices jumped. If the slide in the value of the dollar gets out of hand the US will be impoverished. Imports into the US will drop while a weak dollar will encourage american exports. The Arabs, with their oil, will not feel it much. China and Japan have trillions of dollars which will lose value and exports to the US will stop throwing millions out of work. The Arabs probably want a weaker US so as to continue jihad across the world unhindered. However without US support the corrupt emirs will find their people impossible to control. The Russians want a weak NATO so as to be able to dominate their neighbours but the economic might of the EU will restrain any thought of military adventure. The Chinese want to conquer and enslave the world but without the american consumer may suddenly find that they have little money to finance their malevolent designs. The US has not used its financial and military powers wisely and a lot people want them to be brought down to size but a world where foaming, fanatic jihadis or Chinese cockroaches are running wild without any opposition is surely a horror out of hell.

A UNICEF report says that one third of all child brides in the world come from India. In 2007 nearly 25 million girls were married before the age of 18 years. Practicing medicine in this hill state we see girls as young as 15 pregnant with the first child. Inspite of laws forbidding child marriage this evil continues to thrive. The feminists propagate the lie that this is because society is patriarchal and so this is all the fault of men. On friday a 22 year old man called Sonu raped a girl of 15 in the town of Rohtak in Haryana. When Sonu's mother, Vidya Devi came to know of her son's crime she took him to the girl's house, poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. A dead girl would be unable to implicate her son. All north Indian women and women in the Hindi belt have a pathological love for their sons. If you ask a mother the gender of a baby you can hear the pride in her voice when she says that it is a boy whereas she is almost apologetic if it is a girl. This abnormal bond with sons drives all the crimes committed against women from child marriage to burning of girls for dowry to abortion of female fetuses. Stupid people want to encourage women to have more girls. Isn't it better for a girl to be aborted than to have to face a life in which she will know that she is not wanted by her own mother and is a burden to be disposed off as soon as possible? Is it any wonder that crime is epidemic?

Nearly one month on there is still no result of the Afghan elections. It is common belief that Hamid Karzai has stolen it and some votes are being recounted. The UN sacked its representative Mr. Galbraith for revealing the true extent of the fraud which shows the UN in poor light. This nothing new. After Kibaki stole the elections in Kenya the former Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan brokered a deal with the actual winner Mr. Odinga which allowed Kibaki to cling to the post of President. General McChrystal commanding the US forces in Afghanistan is asking for more forces but the American public is tired of the war and reluctant to sacrifice more money and lives. Eight US soldiers lost their lives yesterday to Taliban attacks. Yet the US was extremely successful at the beginning, just after 9/11, when they used the Northern Alliance to defeat the Taliban limiting their role in supplying money and weapons and using special forces selectively to hit the enemy at strategic points. The americans should forget about winning hearts and minds or about establishing a civilised democratic state in Afghanistan which is an impossible dream. They should go back to using Afghans to fight Afghans using drones to hit Taliban fighters and supply lines. They should also remind Karzai about the fate of his predecessor Najibullah and threaten to stop protecting him. After all you cannot civilise mad dogs.

Weak monsoon rains have resulted in food inflation at 16%. Now there are floods in Andhra killing hundreds, destroying crops and making hundreds of thousands homeless. However not everybody is miserable in this festival season. A government survey has shown that 40% of funds under the Rs. 400 billion National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in UP and MP are being stolen. If the government survey shows 40% we can be certain that the true figure is likely to be close to 80%. The chairman of Air India/Indian Airlines is allowed any number of free tickets for himself, spouse and all family members. This when the airlines have been losing hundreds of billions every year for years. Clearly the kleptocrats are going to really enjoy. Our most honourable leader took his grown up sons, who are nothing in the government, while on a trip abroad and now it appears that the lady of the cooperative bank scam fame is going to take her relatives. Since there will be no customs check they can smuggle whatever they fancy. At our expense of course. The criminal politicians are going to have a rollicking time. We, the brain dead people of India, are so grateful that some are travelling by ' cattle class ' and eating food in dalit houses. Meanwhile our HRD minister is so proud to have refused any pay increases for IIT professors. We desperately need a school for sharam and izzat.

A 19 year old Israeli conscript in the army, Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by Hamas three years ago and has been kept imprisoned since then. Negotiations are being conducted through Egypt and yesterday Hamas released a video showing the now 22 year old in good health. In return Israel has released nineteen low level Palestinian prisoners. Now that it is established that the young man is alive negotiations can move on to discuss the terms of his release. Seems that Hamas is demanding release of 400-500 high level prisoners, those convicted of murder of Israeli citizens, in exchange for the release of one ordinary young man. There was great rejoicing in Gaza when the nineteen released Palestinians came home. Perhaps the Palestinians should have paused to reflect the message there own leaders are sending to the Israelis and to the world. Hamas leaders are acknowledging that one relatively ' unimportant ' Israeli is equivalent to 400 Palestinians. Israelis are unlikely to forget this equation and in any future conflict and will inflict damage on the Palestinians which reflecting this balance. The biased Europeans have been accusing Israel of war crimes during the last conflict but they should see that it is Hamas itself which accepts that Palestinians are cheap. However politics is based on lies.

The International Monetary Fund, IMF has said that the world wide recession is finally over and we will see growth at the end of this year. China will grow at 9% and India at 6.4%. China has $ 2 trillion dollars in foreign reserves and can throw money at the economy to stimulate demand but it is still dependant on exports mainly to the US and EU. Unemployment in the US continues to grow and people are shy of spending as in the past. Oil prices are firmly above $ 70 a barrel and will quickly rise at the slightest sign of econmic expansion and will thus act as a permanent dampener on any future growth. Japan is still unable to get out of deflation. All governments have run up enormous deficits in order to support failing banks and stimulate lending and at some point will have to address the problem of inflation. Judging by the rise in the Sensex India is a great success story. Companies are hiring again and prices of properties are beginnning to rise once more. No one says anything about the enormous government deficit and the massive borrowing that is required to finance that deficit. With the monsoons having failed food inflation is likely to continue without respite. Perhaps the freeloading press is acting as an agent of the politicians and trying to fool the people to increase spending thereby stimulating growth and increasing tax collections. Can we trust the fifth column? Who knows.

China is celebrating 60 years of communist rule with massive security around Beijing, not against external terrorists as in India, but against its own people. A barbaric and uncivilised people who are proud of a government that is arguably more dangerous than the Nazis. The world has been mesmerised by furious growth of the Chinese economy choosing only to see a source of cheap goods and a possible growing market. This growth has been achieved at the cost of the environment and the lives of little children who have been poisoned by lead, developed kidney failure due to melamine and were killed by shoddy construction that fell while party buildings stood during an earthquake. The Chinese government has used its growing wealth not for the good of the world but to threaten its neighbours, to buy up resources in Africa by bribing corrupt dictators and shielding homicidal regimes such as those in Myanmar and North Korea. Like cockroaches the Han eat everything from sea horses to civets to human fetuses. They like to treat their manhood inadequacies by eating rhino horn or tiger parts putting these magnificent animals in danger. The Nazis were a threat to Europe but the Chinese are a threat to the world. As the old Chinese saying may we wish that they live in very, very interesting times.

An article in the New York Times states that Lashkar e Taiba is active and is planning another attack against India. Why wouldn't they? Since independence the Congress has rewarded Pakistan for killing our citizens and soldiers. Nehru would not allow Cariappa to clear Kashmir of infiltrators, Lal Bahadur Shastri signed away all the territory gained by the heroic sacrifices of our soldiers and airmen using totally inadequate equipment, Indira Gandhi handed over 95 thousand prisoners of war for nothing in return and Rajiv Gandhi would not allow Israeli aircraft refuelling facilities to bomb Paki nuclear installation. Now our most ' honourable ' Prime Minister has rewarded the Pakis in Egypt even though we are yet to mourn the anniversary of the Mumbai massacres. This same Prime Minister is so happy having his photo op with President Obama for the freeloading press back home that he has probably forgotten to ask why the US is increasing its military aid to the Pakis while, at the same time, delivering a sombre speech on the anniversary of 9/11. With the friendly Congress in power it is no wonder that LeT is planning more attacks while Chinese cockroaches continue to violate our border. India managed to survive repeated attacks by muslim marauders and christian killers but will it survive the Congress?