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.