Why dost thee behold the mote in thy brother's eye?

Is corruption at the root of all violence in the world today, including terrorism? One Sarah Chayes thinks that it is. From Afghanistan to Nigeria and every country in between, she finds every country rife with corruption. The Arab Spring started in Tunisia when Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest against corrupt municipal officials, forcing the president, Zine Al-Abedine Ben Ali to run away to Saudi Arabia. Every person in India thinks that politicians, police and civil servants are totally corrupt. Our civil servants are so used to corrupt ways that they have stopped working because of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Why have they stopped working now when the Act became law in 1988? Because they were looting with both hands during the 10 years of the Congress regime and are now terrified of being caught. Indian firms do not make proper disclosure of their accounts and practices which allows promoters to divert funds for their personal use. Our magnanimous judges dole out token punishments which makes crime a very lucrative trade. The Satyam fraud was valued at Rs 71.36 billion, shareholders lost Rs 140 billion but Ramalinga Raju, the man who confessed to the crime, has been fined a laughable Rs 50 million. Compare that with the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme where the trustee appointed by the court has recovered around $10.5 billion to be distributed to his victims. Companies borrow vast amounts from public sector banks by bribing bankers with no intention of repaying their loans. Money is sent abroad through hawala system and then brought back as white through countries with which India has a double tax avoidance treaty. Corruption is encouraged by politicians who need money for campaigning. They will debase themselves without shame to butter their party chiefs. Perhaps, Pakistani terrorists coming into India is because of corruption. For some reason that we are never told we always give up any gains that our soldiers make by sacrificing their lives. Did our politicians sign away our sovereignty? If so, to whom and why? But is the terrorism by the Naxals a protest against corruption or is it criminal gangs taking advantage of a weak state? Veerappan could smuggle sandalwood worth millions, killing scores of policemen, because he was protected by politicians. True, corruption is endemic in poor countries but Ms Chayes suffers from the ' white-man's-burden syndrome ' when she is unable to see the enormous corruption practiced on the world by the US. The corruption in Afghanistan is coming from Pakistan, which is a client state of the US. From Vietnam to Libya to Iraq the US has slaughtered millions without any compunction or regret. Using GATT the US looted commodities from poor countries which are now refusing to conclude the Doha round of negotiations. The biggest criminal has covered itself in a coat of false righteousness. Sermons are useless.