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.