Seems that our esteemed Prime Minister has promised his Paki counterpart that in future terror talks will be delinked from peace talks. Not sure what this means. Does it mean that the Pakis have succeeded in making itself equal to India as victims of terror? Or does it mean that we will be discussing peace and brotherhood of man with them while the ISI sends more mad dogs into India to kill our innocents? Why after 62 years of constant murders do we fail to understand that every Paki is a terrorist, if not active then as supporter? The Paki Prime Minister, Gilani said later that Dr. Singh was ' magnanimous.' That is a terrifying word because it seems to indicate that India has given away something major to the benefit of Pakistan. Yet to the surprise of all Dr. Singh claimed later that peace talks are conditional on Pakistan taking action against terrorists. Is our Prime Minister saying different things to different people? If so which is the truth? Meanwhile Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is coming to India. No doubt she is carrying a message from her Paki loving boss urging India to talk peace with Pakistan because the life of one American soldier is more important than the whole of India. No doubt, also, our boot licking politicians and kleptocrats will tug there forelocks and accept her dictat instead of telling her to go jump. Wonder who is more dangerous- our enemies or our politicians.

While everyone lauds China's economy it remains one of the most barbaric countries in the world. Its people are enslaved by a murderous regime which thinks nothing of driving tanks over innocent people. It is not surprising, therefore, that they are attracted towards equally brutal and crooked dictators probably feeling comfortable in such company. China has always been a haven for the Pol Pots of this world and today is the chief supporter of assorted thugs such as in Burma, North Korea and Sudan. It has paid billions of dollars to these thugs and in exchange is plundering the natural resources of these countries. China has over 50000 workers in Algeria, an oil producing state ruled by the dictator Bouteflike. For over a decade this brotherhood of bastards has worked wonderfully to the advantage of all except for the exploited people of Burma, North Korea and Africa who are dying of hunger. Suddenly this comfortable brotherhood has been shaken up by another bunch of rabid killers, the Al Qaeda. After the recent killing of muslim Uighers in Xinjiang province Al Qaeda has issued an invitation to its followers to kill Chinese workers in Africa. In panic China has issued an advisory to its people working in Africa. Must confess that I shall enjoy this one.

The British like to say that they are not overtly religious. This makes them less emotional and more logical in their thinking and how they run their country. They proudly point to falling attendances in their churches as evidence and sneer at Americans whose religious fanaticism interferes in rational discussion about subjects such as abortion or homosexuality. Yet every year around this time a bunch of Protestants, called the Orange Order, march through Catholic areas in Belfast, Northern Ireland dressed as clowns in orange coloured clothing and heavily protected by the police. This, apparently, is to commemorate some sort of victory in battle over the Catholics in the distant past. To Catholics this is a painful reminder of British brutality, of potato famines and bloody sunday and naturally they react to this blatant taunting by throwing stones and sticks. This gives the police an excuse to beat up the Catholics and vilify them as thugs. Sure the Protestants have the right to dress up as clowns and march up and down like idiots all year if they so desire but there is no need to go through Shankill Road just to goad the Catholics. By their incredible brutality the British have managed to bring Sinn Fein under control but the IRA could yet revive unless they feel they are respected as citizens. Brutality built an empire in the past and it seems to still guide official British policy.

In August, 2006 Prof. Sabharwal, head of department of political science of Madhav College, Ujjain was beaten to death during student elections in front of other students. Inspite of so many witnesses the six accused have been freed by the sessions judge because the prosecution ' miserably failed ' to prove its case. Meanwhile there is tension in Kashmir because police destroyed evidence in the case of rape and murder of two young women. No surprise. Police in India are under the control of politicians who are villainous scum. Poorly paid and demoralised they are vilified by the people who see them as enemies. Half the police are used for guarding politicians instead of arresting and hanging the criminals. If they do arrest a criminal politicians interfere to get him off. They are used as collectors as in organised crime. Their main work is to create traffic obstructions and then collect fines from motorists. In Delhi traffic fines have been increased from Rs. 100 to Rs. 1000. Previously you paid a bribe of Rs. 50 to be let off but now you have to pay at least Rs. 500. It is a win win solution. The government earns more without being cursed for increasing taxes. The earning of the entire police force has jumped because the money is shared all the way up the chain thus effectively increasing police pay without increasing government expense. By keeping the entire force dependent on immoral income the politicians keep their hands on the leash. The public cannot complain because we are told that this is being done to reduce accidents and save lives. So why are Indian roads so hazardous? It is because everyone gets a licence by paying touts and hence no one knows how to drive. Who is in charge of driving licences? The police of course. Beautiful.

The Wall Street Journal, India has an article which says that the Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI is formulating a policy to tackle corruption in India. They are trying to decide whether to go after the top officials or the two penny clerks because, apparently, the government is worried about India's image as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. What a laugh. It is the Congress party which has been in power for 52 of the 62 years since independence and is solely responsible for corrupting the entire social fabric. Corruption is how they maintain their hold on power and they will do anything to keep it. If they are serious I have a few suggestions. Make the police and all the investigative agencies autonomous answerable to committees with public participation. Pass a law that all cases must finish within two years. When cases take decades the accused very often die before the verdict. Shut down the IAS school and recruit top officials from the market. Cut down the number of kleptocrats by 80%. Pay them not to come to work. This instantly cuts down the number of thieves and stops dilution of responsibility. Stop bribing journalists so that the press is free and not freeloading as at present. Pass a law so that no first degree relative of an elected politician may stand for elected office until 25 years have passed from the day the politician leaves office. Will it happen? Not a hope. It is like asking a cat to guard your milk.

China has promised to execute as terrorists all those who take part in protests in its muslim province of Xinjiang. Uighars, who are muslims, killed some Han Chinese in rioting and now the Han are demanding revenge. They obviously do not see anything wrong in the migration of huge numbers of Han people so that the Uighers are becoming a minority in their own province. The same tactic has worked very well in Tibet where the locals are now a minority in their own land and are employed as menials by their Han masters. In Sri Lanka, doctors who had reported about Tamil civilian casualties have said that they were forced to do so by the Tigers. After months in prison, where they must have been given the third degree, it is not much of a surprise. Meanwhile at least 200 innocent Tamils die everyday of disease and beatings in the concentration camps that they are confined in. In Iran the Basij militia continue to beat up anyone protesting against the stolen elections. It is so easy for those in power. Commit any crime, do anything you like and if people protest then they are either criminals or terrorists. Yes Naxals are terrorists because of the methods they have adopted but why have people resorted to armed struggle 62 years after independence against their own government? After all Congress won the elections in May and so claim support of the people. Pity the people who have no choice.

Reacting to President Sarkozy's attempt to ban the burqa in France a hardline Islamic cleric, Anjem Chaudhary has called Mr. Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni a prostitute. Writing on Islam4UK website he says, 'Sarkozy may be content with being wed to a prostitute who flaunts her body to the world believing it to be righteous conduct, but he is reminded that a Muslim is not this shallow and depraved.' Mr. Chaudhary should be reminded that it is depraved to abuse a man's wife especially since she is unlikely to retaliate. It is also very depraved to take advantage of life in a liberal western country where freedom of speech allows dissent even if it is totally disgusting. Would he dare to criticise rulers of any muslim country while living there? I would advise Mr. Chaudhary to travel to the middle east where buying 'wives' is the norm. In the middle east it is customary to pay money to the father of a girl and rich old men frequently pay large sums to marry 17 or 18 year old girls. It was common to see girls of that age being admitted to hospital with hysterical illness just to avoid a dirty old man. Mr. Chaudhary should know that, for the rest of the world, a prostitute is a woman who is bought for sexual purpose. How does he categorise the wives of the middle east? Difficult, no?

The coup in Honduras that deposed Jose Zelaya as President has united every political villain in the world. The UN General Assembly which can never agree on anything of benefit to the world was unanimous in its condemnation as was the Organisation of American States. No one is condemning Zelaya who was trying to corrupt the constitution to stand for another term. Chavez and Morales have already done it. Politicians all over the world are united in their belief that winning an election gives them the power to ride roughshod over every rule of decency. Firstly, very few politicians actually have any mandate at all. People have become so sick of lying scoundrels who have the money to become candidates that vast numbers do not bother to vote. Getting 50% of the 60% who bother to vote gives you only some 30% of the total and is no mandate at all. Yet politicians all over are united in their belief that an election victory is an advance acceptance by the public of any corruption that they wish to carry out. Thus Berlusconi used the parliament for immunity from prosecution for bribery and other charges. The MP's expenses scam in Britain is another example. In poorer countries elections are made meaningless by bribes to the poor majority in the form of cheap food or free electricity that the country can ill afford. Having squandered Venezuela's oil wealth Chavez is in a frenzy. Indian politicians love the poor who give them the excuse to tax us to death. Also competition to survive brings down the price of labour helping companies to make huge profits. Democracy has become a shangrila for villains. We need citizen's corporations to cut down on the power of politicians to end the world.

Seems that Nepal government is thinking of issuing trousers without pockets to all employees at the country's airports. Shows that there is still some innocence and honour left in Nepal. It shows that the amounts of bribes must be small to fit into trouser pockets. Secondly, the government believes that such a simple stratagem as taking away pockets will stop bribes because people are not really criminals. Unfortunately, such simple tactics will fail spectacularly in India because our kleptocrats are career criminals. Why would a person choose to become a civil servant, pushing endless files, cheating, lying, sucking upto bosses for promotions or a lucrative transfer or carrying shoes of politicians on their heads unless the person is useless and is getting in through the backdoor of reservation or is a congenital criminal wanting to get rich quick? If pockets are eliminated in India kleptocrats will think nothing of using their chaddis or even their orifices. It would be impractical to check all chaddis and orifices everyday. Also our kleptocrats think big and steal in tens of millions. Whenever an official is arrested we learn of bank boxes full of cash, many properties and luxury cars. Indians are said to hold about $ 1.5 trillion in numbered accounts abroad. No wonder we are always voted one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

The President of Honduras, Jose Manuel Zelaya was woken up by soldiers and put on a plane to Costa Rica still in his pajamas. Coups by armed forces are always harmful and almost always result in a destructive dictatorships. No better example than Pakistan. On the other hand politicians everywhere seem engaged in increasing their powers and have become intolerant of dissent. Any criminal act, natural calamity or terrorist strike is an excuse for increasing police powers and surveilance of honorable taxpayers. There is Patriot Act in the US, the ubiquitous CCTV in every country and a DNA database in the UK. India is already a police state where every citizen is suspected to be a criminal and treated as such. You want a mobile connection? You have to provide proof of address, photograph and full personal details. Six years ago I wanted to buy a new car, a most harmless exercise and good for the economy. The problem was that it could not be registered as I was living in rented accommodation. How would they catch me if I suddenly changed my residence? Wonderstruck I asked if I was supposed to buy a house for Rs. 3 million to register a car costing Rs. 3 hundred thousand and I was told that I am a trouble maker. Now the government is to award a unique number to every citizen which will identify that person from cradle to grave. How long before a number is tattooed on the skin or a chip implanted into every baby at birth? Sound familiar? Hitler thought about it half a century ago.

Pakistani cricket captain, Younis Khan, has called on his players to demand more money to play in the IPL. I really fail to understand why any Pakis should be playing in the IPL at all. There are a lot of people who say that politics should not intrude into sport or art so Pakis should be treated the same as others. There are others who say that people to people engagement will improve understanding and end decades of hostility. Firstly, it is not about politics. Whether you are a cricketer, a film star or a singer you are first an Indian. You are born of the womb of this country and, therefore, must not have anything to do with enemies of this country. Secondly, you may engage with Pakis till doomsday but they will continue to be our enemies. Their school books are full of lies and teach them to hate India, their mullahs teach them that hindus and jews should be exterminated and their armed forces need the hysterical hostility with India to justify their hold on power and the economy. These are facts and whistling in the wind will not change them. We should drop all contact with Pakis at every level. We have nothing to lose but individual Pakis will lose millions. It is just possible that some among these might start challenging the lies put out by the establishment. Thank God the Chinese do not speak any Indian language otherwise they would have taken over this country with the help of these idiots.

The Inter Services Intelligence or ISI is seen as the main problem in Pakistan. It is a state within a state, obeys no one and its loyalty to the state is questionable. The ISI created the Taliban and even now may be helping them fight the Paki army. No one knows what its agenda is and it is possible that there are elements who want a panislamic Caliphate stretching over the globe and following universal sharia. Thus Pakistan will never be able to control or eliminate the Taliban and may eventually collapse leaving nuclear weapons in the hands of rogue elements. India also has a similar organisation which is beyond the control of the politicians. It does not want a Caliphate but wants effective control of all institutions of the country to do as it wants. It is called the Indian Administrative Service or the IAS. It is also a state within the state. The IAS has concentrated all power in its hands and does whatever it likes. It has the distinction of being the worst administrative service in Asia but awarded itself huge pay rises last year. It is not trusted by the other services such as the Police, Foreign service and Customs. Last year, while awarding itself huge salary increases, it humiliated the armed forces with pennies so infuriating the chiefs of the forces that they refused to meet IAS officers. IAS fellows ignore RTI enquiries or give false reasons why they will not answer and regularly ignore court orders including those of the Supreme Court with impunity. The country will remain third world while the IAS remains in existence and, unfortunately, there is no one with the stature to take them on.

In 1980 I bought a 78 rpm vinyl single of ' Blame it on the Boogey ' by one Michael Jackson. Billy Jean followed and the rest is history. He was a genius and no other singer had his movements and sense of rhythm. He was definitely eccentric but perhaps too much of a super star for a black man. He was accused of child molestation and months of court case followed. No man, however rich, can match a government's spending power and although pronounced innocent he was in severe financial trouble. Hounded by creditors, rumours and innuendos he appeared to be a broken man. Perhaps it is best that he has died before he was reduced to singing on the sidewalk for pennies thrown into an inverted hat. Whether the charges were trumped up I do not know but Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and Mike Tyson were certainly put in their places for getting too uppity. Perhaps Americans may be entertained by a black man provided he does not become too famous. Mr. Obama better watch his back.

In 2000 the north of Uttar Pradesh was broken off to form the hill state of Uttarakhand with its capital in Dahradun. Elections a couple of years later brought in a Congress government noted for one man who was revered because he had carried Sanjay Gandhi's shoes on his head. There followed a boom in property prices with prices doubling almost every week in unregistered sales. A construction boom followed and virtually all trees were chopped down making Dehradun indistinguishable from any stinking UP town. Suddenly everyone including maid servants and vegetable vendors were property dealers. New expensive cars replaced older, smaller models. Two years ago elections brought in a BJP government headed by retired Maj. Gen. Khanduri who was immediately hated because he refused to accept bribes and, horror of horrors, expected the kleptocrats to work for salary. He increased property rates of various circles and made registration compulsory reducing black money. He stopped destruction of river beds for extracting free sand and stones for construction. He mandated registration of illegal marriage halls and would pay contractors only for work done. All black money fellows combined to ensure that Congress won all five parliamentary seats in last month's elections and jubilation followed. Vicious infighting ensued among BJP ranks and two days back Gen. Khanduri was made to resign as Chief Minister. Two lessons. As the inventor of the totally corrupt neta-babu raj Congress is still in demand by the black money fellows and instead of trumpeting its clean administration the BJP chose to descend into the slime for personal gain. Mother India weeps.

You have one family with complete power for around fifty years kept in their position by vast numbers of poisonous invertebrates and a freeloading press. Power flows down the generations from father to daughter to son to wife to son as easily as the slime of sycophancy. Members occupy public properties each worth about Rs. 2 billion at taxpayers' expense and travel everywhere in 7 star comfort. They are above the law and have no reason mind their Bs and Qs because they are absolutely certain of the allegiance of the security services. There is no demand for any merit because they have been told since birth that they deserve. They must be hyper intelligent because they have been feeding the people the same garbage about concern for the poor for half a century and are still believed. This simple stratagem allows them to levy crippling taxes while doling handouts to the grateful naked subhumans. It also allows them to control industries and banks with which to finance their lives. Yes, Naxals are terrorists and deserve to be exterminated but why did people reach such a stage in their own country? Why are the locals and tribals supporting them? Why did locals protect a filthy murdering bandit like Veerappan for decades? Woolly headed liberals forever talk about the inequality of wealth when it is inequality of justice which is infinitely more infuriating.

Every country in the world seems to have a large number of humans, mainly men, who are parasites and survive by preying on that society from inside. We are not talking about romantic psychos like the Baader Meinhof gang or murderous psychopaths such as Al Qaeda but about ' followers ' or, as is commonly known in India, chamchas. These men appear normal, will probably be employed and give very pursuasive reasons why they follow but, in actuality, they are ruthless, lacking in any form of morality and ready to carry out any act, however depraved, for the men they follow. We are seeing practical examples in Iran in the form of black shirted Basij militia who are so ready to kill and wound even when professional police hold back. We have the same men in Bengal, killing and burning for the CPM, called cadre. Same men are seen dancing like demented baboons when Congess wins elections. Same men regularly tune into Rush Limbaugh, swear that guns are religion and think that Ronald Reagan was a prophet. Same men are Zanu PF veterans hacking opponents of Mugabe with machetes. These parasites are present in every human society. They are physically healthy and capable of work but would rather attach themselves to a politician. They will carry out any order, take the blame if caught and do anything to bring victory to their chosen master. Once that is accomplished they will hope to be rewarded with riches that they could not accumulate with honest labour. That is why the word democracy is so beloved of every villain from Mugabe to Kim il Sung to Khamenei.

The Supreme Leader, Khamenei, has blamed the ' evil British ' and the ' evil Zionist media ' for the troubles in Iran and not the blatant stealing of the elections and the subsequent murders to cover up. This in a theocracy that believes in chopping hands for theft and in hanging as a punishment for murder. Before that it was the Great Satan during Khomeini's time. Mao's China blamed the running dogs of capitalism and capitalist lickspittles. Reagan found the Soviet Union an evil empire while Bush wanted to sort out the axis of evil. Mugabe is surviving by blaming evil neo colonialists led by the British. Evo Morales of Bolivia described the killing of indigenous people in Peru as genocide and Peru retaliated by calling him an enemy. Hugo Chavez regularly describes the US as a regional bully. China is described by its neighbours as a hegemon which is true. All these people describe themselves as leaders while they strut around on the world stage indulging in name calling like stupid schoolboys. Perhaps we should follow Sacha Baron Cohen and call all of them ' batty boys.'

Only a month after the so called greatest democratic exercise on earth, namely the great Indian elections, we are seeing what democracy really means to people. Maoists or Naxals have taken over Lalgarh, a village in West Bengal killing members of CPM which is the ruling party in the state. Naxals armed with AK7s and local tribals armed with bows and arrows have taken over police stations, killing police men, and local administrative offices. CPM, or the Communist Party, Marxist, was the firm ally of the Congress during virtually the whole of the life of the last government and is supposed to be for the poor especially the village poor. Congress is still celebrating its election victory which it attributes to its wonderful policies for helping the aam aadmi, policies which it has been trumpeting for almost fifty years it has ruled India. Yet farmers and tribals have to take up arms and kill to be heard. It is not surprising that the Congress and CPM are brothers seeing their love for the poor. Truth is that they love the poor so much that they will always keep them that way. After all how will they win elections if they do not embrace a few Kalawatis and announce grandiose plans for helping the aam aadmi. Anything so that they can remain khas.

Enthused by its massive election victory the Congress is apparently thinking of ways to bring more wealth to the villages. What could be more laudable than bringing prosperity to rural India thus getting rid of poverty as well as creating some 700 million more consumers whose spending will stimulate industry leading to job creation thus leading to more consumers and so on? So the thinking goes. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has already been there and done that. When elected President he started a massive social program bringing thousands of doctors from Cuba to improve health care and opened schools to bring education to the poor. His distribution of the country's oil wealth made him very popular with the poor until the prices dropped. Having increased spending and people's expectations he is suddenly faced with collapsing revenues leading to desperation. He nationalised rice mills accusing them of inflating prices and is now nationalising the oil industry. Inceasing government controls will reduce efficiency, increase corruption and cause scarcity. Suddenly he may find himself facing a situation like Zimbabwe. The reason is that every policy built on lies is bound to fail. The truth is that poverty is because of increasing population especially of the poor and unless politicians face the truth and start to seriously address this problem nothing will happen. With the poor growing exponentially neither the earth's resources nor increasing wealth creation is going to work. Time to read some fables to politicians i.e. who will bell the cat?

Seems that whatever happens in any corner of the world at any time there is some person taking pictures with a mobile phone. Recently pictures of police in the UK brutally beating and repeatedly tazing a fellow on the ground at 3AM were shown on television news. Now we are getting pictures and news of peaceful protestors being beaten and shot by police and Basiji thugs in Iran. The authorities are trying desperately to stop the spread of information by restricting foreign journalists to their hotels, blocking internet access, disconnecting mobile phone and sms services but people are still finding a way of getting news and pictures out through Twitter, Facebook and by going through computers in other countries. Recently pictures of the successful landing of a passenger airliner on Hudson river was being seen all over the world even while the television giants were still trying to get their helicopters to fly. Suddenly there is hope that technology will bring an end to dictatorship unless your people are destitute and cannot afford computers as in Zimbabwe and North Korea. China seems to be the only exception. Its people see their children crushed by tanks, killed by collapse of sandy buidings in an earthquake or die of melamine poisoning but its people still defend the brutal thugs ruling the country. Perhaps when you are human cockroaches eating everything that lives you start to hide in dark crevices at the sight of any light. After all technology is light.

In the last one week there have been revelations about private medical schools in the south demanding between one to four million rupees from candidates seeking admission. Apparently this came about as the result of a sting operation by a newspaper. Apparently the medical school in question belongs to a minister in Delhi elected last month. Our freeloading journalists must be either completely stoned or brain dead not have realised that most doctors practising in India are quacks. Firstly there is reservation for various scheduled castes, tribes, widows, ministers recommendations and so on which allows completely unfit candidates to get seats in medical schools. Then there are private schools where rich parents can pay millions to get there stupid children get medical degrees including postgraduate ones. The most perverted are the so called alternative medicine schools. Absolute duds enter shady ayurvedic, unani or homeopathy colleges, get some degree, put Dr. in front of their names and start prescribing allopathic medicines without even the basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology or phramacology. Even physiotherapists call themselves doctors and prescribe any drug they want without any control. Only the candidates that qualify for admission from the general list have some knowledge but to survive the competition from totally unscrupulous quacks they have to get down to that level. So the people die. If only we had an honourable press.

Just as he is putting pressure on India not to react to Paki terrorism Mr. Obama is putting pressure on Israel to accept a two state solution, stop settlement building and allow Palestinians to control half of Jerusalem. Yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu offered to accept a Palestinian state provided it is demilitarised, Israel is accepted as a Jewish state and the international community gives ironclad guarantee of Israel's security which would mean real troops on the ground. These are very reasonable requests. A separate state for all Palestinians with its own government to look after its people, increase trade with the world and protected from any attack by Israel by the presence of foreign troops. This could bring untold prosperity for the Palestinians and permanent peace to the region. As expected, the Palestinians have rejected the offers straight away. Hamas, which is an Iranian terrorist arm, will never accept any proposal for real peace because it will have no reason to exist. The farcical theft of the Iranian elections shows that the country is no different from North Korea. It will speed up its efforts to get a nuclear weapons and continue its attacks on Israel. However Israel is not India. Its small size means that any serious attack will mean annihilation and its leaders are patriots. If seriously threatened it will not hesitate to use its own nuclear arsenal. Thus Mr. Obama's overtures to Islamic zealots while pressuring genuine democracies may yield exactly the opposite result to what he really wants.

On June 22 an exhibition on packaging will be starting at the McCormick Center in Chicago, US of A. A lot of business men and company managers applied for US visa but to the shock and dismay of all about 80% seem to have been refused. We are not talking of students who might stay back as illegal immegrants or suspicious shifty eyed fellows with heavy bulging belts. We are talking about people with high paying jobs in this country who were travelling at great expense to see what new machines or materials they could buy to improve their businesses. They may have been tempted by the rise in the exchange rate of the rupee against the dollar but that is nothing unsual. All tourists, including Americans, look at exchange rates. So why would the US refuse visas to legitimate businessmen who would have spent money in the US these recessionary times? Maybe it is to do with the Obama administation's AfPak policy wherein Pakistan has been embraced as an indispensable partner in the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Just after the Mumbai attacks the US pressured India not to react because they did not want the Paki army to divert soldiers from the Afghan front. Recently the anti Indian fellow Burns was in Delhi talking about a demilitarised border with Pakistan which means giving a clean highway for terrorists to enter India. How they can have the effrontery to come to our country and say that no matter how many Indians die American lives are more precious I do not know. Sadly our craven politicians will still bow and scrape. When Obama was elected I wrote that blacks are no less racist than whites. It is no comfort to be proven right.

Trouble with stuffing ballot boxes full of false votes in a countrywide presidential election is that you are never sure of exactly how many ballots to stuff. When the order comes down chamchas have to make sure that they guarantee a win and will tend to err towards overkill. The margin of victory can thus become embarassing. That is what seems to have happened in Iran. Mr. Ahmadinejad is said to have around 65% of votes cast although the opposition candidate Mr. Moussawi was earlier claiming victory. The government has already gone into damage control by interfering with mobile messaging services and forcing opposition newspapers to print only ' official ' announcements and delete any opposition statements. The fascist Revolutionary Guard thugs are threatening to beat up anyone demonstrating against the results. And what of the Supreme Leader whose word is law and may not be challenged? I would have thought that the word 'Supreme' may only be used for God especially in an Islamic Republic but obviously I am wrong. Mr. Khamenei may profess to be just another religious leader but he obviously thinks he is God just as Hitler, Idi Amin and many other dictators have thought before. We are yet to hear what this God like Supreme Leader has to say about the fast one pulled by his protege but I am not holding my breath hoping for truth and justice. I think that the real God is hiding in fear from the true faithful while the infidels look on.

There seems to be a concerted effort to brainwash the Indian public. The interesting question is now that the election is won what is the necessity to constantly forecast evermore fantastic growth of the economy? One day it is the Prime Minister forecasting above 9% growth followed by other members of the countless ministerial crowd. The freeloading press is doing its very best to spread the fairy tales. All this gas has sent the Sensex zooming upwards like a hot air balloon from below 9000 a couple of months back to over 15500 today. News from other countries would suggest that recession in the US and the OECD countries may be bottoming out but onset of genuine recovery is far from certain. China is desperately trying to avoid deflation. The very suggestion of the end of recession has sent oil to $ 70 a barrell. Dollar has weakened against all major currencies and the Indian rupee has jumped from over 50 to around 46 to a dollar which will hit exports even harder. After a brief appearance monsoon clouds seem to have disappeared. Fiscal deficit, including the states, is over 10%. By increasing salaries of useless kleptocrats expenditure has jumped. So why this phony optimism. According to the economics expert of a sunday paper all this is creating confidence and a feelgood effect which will stimulate happiness. Apparently people will happily start to spend and happy bankers will start lending and happy industrialists will employ more people thus creating a virtuous cycle of happiness. And unrestrained happiness will lead to enormous growths. Doctors have a term for this - nuts.

Two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were arrested by North Koreans apparently having crossed over from China without permit and have been sentenced to 12 years labour. To get so far inside China they must have received permission from the Chinese government and must have been accompanied by Chinese minders or, at least, interpreters. How could they cross the border to the North Korean side without any warning from the Chinese? A lot of people smuggling occurs along this border as North Koreans try to escape hunger and poverty and hence the Chinese are sure to have numerous guards all along the entire border. How were the ladies allowed to just cross over without going through customs and immigration check points? One theory is that North Korean soldiers kidnapped the two from the Chinese side of the border. Again it is hard to imagine the Chinese allowing such violation of their territory and sovereignty. Now that the ladies have been sentenced surely the Chinese can easily secure their release by leaning on the North Korean government which cannot survive even one day without Chinese support. The more I think about it the more it stinks of Chinese dirty tricks. This is a country that is quietly extending its influence across the world and dreams of total domination. Perhaps they are gauging the toughness and determination of the Obama administration. Let us hope Obama does not fail this test.

What a sad place the world has become. In the elections to elect members for the European Parliament or MEPs the results show a sad lack of choice for people to trust. In Britain the far right British National Party has won two seats and its leader said that the members of the main parties are all liars. Of course, the main parties are suffering because of the revelations about expenses claimed by MPs. In France Nicolas Sarkozy's party have done well bcause of the divisions among the Socialists. This inspite all the lampooning Mr. Sarkozy has faced regarding his personal behaviour. Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is widely reviled as the man who uses his control of television channels to win elections and then uses parliament to block corruption cases against himself. Photographs printed in Spanish newspapers show topless girls cavorting with a naked man in his villa and his wife is divorcing him because of his penchant for teenage girls. Despite all the scandals his party has done well. The only leader with some credible popularity is Angela Merkel who is seen as a sober person getting on with her job. Of course, all the dishonourable politicians will claim to have been vindicated by the voters just as the Congress has claimed after its recent victory. This is the party which instituted the neta-babu raj synonymous with absolute corruption but won because the BJP was led by a greedy old man whose craving to become Prime Minister led him into complete negativism. It is not just Burma or China where people are deprived of any choice. All these countries which loudly extol their democratic systems have no choice either. How extremely tragic.

I never cease to marvel at the white man's genius at whitewashing his savage and brutal nature. Mr. Obama is in France to attend the anniversary of the DDay landings on Normandy beach. There will be fly pasts, wreaths and plenty of salutations to the heroes of the past beautifully presented to make us believe that the Nazis were an aberration and that basically white folk are, well, white. As schoolboys we thrilled to see movies like The Longest Day, Guns of Navarone and The Dirty Dozen and believed the Holywood version of good British and Americans fighting bad Germans. No mention of the fire bombing of Dresden or the nuclear genocide of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since World War 2 the whites have decided not to kill each other and formed the EU but there is still the hunger to kill. So they have chosen Asia. From Korea to Vietnam and Laos to Iraq and Afghanistan asians are providing fodder for their hunger to kill. Not just war. The white man uses savagery in politics and economics as well. The ghettoisation of Native Americans and Aborigines in Australia still go on. Apartheid had to go because it brought bad name to whites but whiteskin descendants of European still control most of the land and mineral wealth of South America from Bolivia to Brazil to

Seems that Sri Lankan President Rajapakse's mother did not teach him the simple lesson which is that if you tell a lie then you have to tell many more lies to cover the first one. Truth is that Mr. Rajapakse's lie is a whopper and his efforts to cover it is gradually leading him into a dark alley of no return. Sri Lanka has consistently claimed that no civilian was killed as a result of heavy bombardment of the safe zone. The government did not allow any journalist anywhere near the conflict area thinking that it could control outflow of news. Once the refugees came pouring out there was a problem with so many eye witnesses to what had happened so it has confined to refugees into concentration camps under the pretext of looking for LTTE fighters. Yesterday it has arrested doctors who were saving lives in the conflict zone and charged them as terrorists. Their crime was to tell the media that thousands of civilians have been killed and injured in shelling which appeared to come from government forces. Mr. Rajapakse has two options. To come clean and offer compensation to Tamils for injury and death or continue to deny the truth and use increasing amounts of force on Tamils to stay quiet. On the 20th anniversary of the massacre at Tianannmen Square he can take the Chinese option and try to silence any Tamil that speaks out but he should remember that humiliating a people will not bring peace to Sri Lanka and another Prabhakaran could arise. The world does not forget. Ask Mr. Kissinger who is unable to leave the US for fear of being arrested for crimes in Vietnam. Pity, the president's mother forgot to tell him that truth is often the best option.

Politics, it seems, is all about lies and hypocrisy. British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown is under fire for the scandal over claims made by members of parliament for expenses. The Conservative Leader, David Cameron scents blood and repeatedly asks Mr. Brown to call a general election. From his performance at Prime Minister's Question Time in the Commons one would be forgiven for thinking that Tory MPs are squeaky clean and reluctantly claimed only the barest expenses. Nothing can be further from the truth. The list of Tory MP's claims published by the Telegraph show that Tories were just as greedy and twotiming as Labour. Tories claimed for cleaning swimming pools, horse manure and even a love seat. One Tory who owns 24 houses claimed over 100,000 pounds as expenses for a second home. Such expenses claims must have been going on for decades under various prime ministers and with everyone's hands in the till it is hard to understand why Brown is being singled out for approbrium. It is his bad luck that the scam has been exposed at this time. However Brown should be made to pay the price, not for the expenses scam, but for the state of the economy. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years and did nothing to regulate the excesses of the financial sector. He allowed bankers to claim huge bonuses, companies to evade taxes by registering in low tax countries and privatised utilities increasing household bills. Yet he is being acclaimed for his bold financial rescue plan. The Tories should circumspect before shouting for a general election because even if they win they will be illegitimate only 25% of voters turn out. As they say, when you are in a hole stop digging.

In an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce the outgoing British Deputy High Commissioner, Simon Wilson said that the condition of roads is West Bengal is ' horrible and dangerous.' Last week Ms Mamata Bannerjee, the new Railway Minister asked the central government not to provide any financial help for the victims of hurricane Aila because, according to her, the money will not reach the affected people but will end up in the pockets of CPM cadres. This from the leader of Trinamul Congress who has herself been elected from Bengal. In over thirty years that the communists have ruled Bengal they have reduced the state to one of the most backward. They have successfully created a culture of sloth and hostility to private enterprise. Companies have left the state and when Tata wanted to set up a plant to manufacture the Nano he was driven out. Young people prefer to get handouts from the Party rather than get an education and work for high wages. Whereas the Metro in Delhi builds entire sections in two to three years the same work takes over a decade in Bengal. Same with flyovers. On the twentieth anniversary of Tiannanmen Square massacre you wonder why the Chinese people do not boot out the murderers. At least they have an excuse in that they do not know anything different but Bengalees travel all over India. Do they not see how the rest of the country is bounding ahead? Yet they keep voting for the commies. Maybe the electronic voting machines are not so foolproof after all.

Mr. Obama is travelling to the middle east with a message of democracy, rule of law, and human rights for all citizens. Fortunately for politicians and lawyers there is no tax on words so they can endlessly spout big sounding sentences without really meaning any of it. Throughout the world democracy has come to mean periodic marking of a piece of paper after which politicians are at liberty to do whatever they please. At the bottom of the league of nations are countries like Zimbabwe, North Korea and China which allow no freedom at all and any opposition to the ruling junta will get you into prison and even killed. Just above are countries such as Egypt and Iran where people are allowed to travel in and out but not to criticise the rulers. The majority of countries are a mishmash of freedom and repression. From outward appearance India would appear to be totally free but a freeloading press, controlled police and a judiciary that drags cases for decades means that there is no law and those in power can and do get away with murder. Even in countries which preach democratic values through megaphones it is much the same. Thus, in Britain, the murderers of Stephen Lawrence got away scot free and the coroner would not allow a verdict of unlawful killing against the police in the execution of De Menezes. In the US, the President and all the members of the House and Senate quake before the National Rifle Association, a right wing organisation which has put the right of gun ownership above the right to life. Different problems in each country but no true liberty for the people. It is time we have citizens' corporations which protect our rights and hold politicians to account. I cannot imagine any politician agreeing to that.

Salute to Mr. Amitabh Bachchan for refusing an honorary doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, because of racist attacks on Indian students in Australia. Officials there repeatedly say that these are random crimes and not racist attacks as if that somehow reduces them to teenage pranks. Australia was founded as a penal colony where the dregs of Britain were dumped and so people have criminal genes. The whites tried to wipe out the aborigines by kidnapping their children in early twentieth century. Australia sees itself as a western nation and despises its Asian neighbours. It sent troops to fight alongside Americans inVietnam and Iraq. Even now it has troops controlling East Timor thus trying to gain control of oil and gas in the Timorese sea. About forty years ago in a spat with Britain Malaysia stopped sending its students to British universities thus cutting off valuable funds. Britain had to go on its knees begging for forgiveness. So what is our government doing? Nothing, not even a travel advisory. Therefore thanks to Mr. Bachchan who says his ' conscience does not permit me to accept this decoration from a country which perpetrates such indignities on my fellow countrymen .' Seventynine ministers and one aging actor. Who is a greater patriot and loves his people more? Easy to guess.

Two industrial bodies namely CII and FICCI have prepared a wishlist for the new government. They demand that interest rates should be cut by at least 50 basis points to spur industrial growth. It would also help the government reduce its interest outgo since government borrowing is set to zoom because of all the bribes doled out to win the election. Unfortunately food prices are still increasing at over 10% and if petrol and diesel prices are decontrolled, as demanded by the oil minster, food inflation could jump still higher. Already Saudis are predicting crude at $ 100 a barrel by the end of the year. Bye bye aam aadmi. They ask for simplification and lowering of taxes. A very good move which will stimulate domestic spending and increase demand. Again, with fiscal deficit at over 6% and debt, including those of the states, at around 80% of GDP there is very little room for maneuver. Not forgetting 79 ministers, each with attendant kleptocrats, requiring billions to service. The last demand is for good governance which means honesty and no corruption. I am sure politicians and kleptocrats will crack up at the joke. Why go through exhausting and expensive campaigning or spend hundreds of hours cramming for the civil service exams if you do not make enough so that at least five generations can live in luxury without having to work? We have to remember that Congress has promised 'continuity' which means that the aam aadmi will be kept naked while the khas will party in Delhi and other capitals of the world. Who wants a new world order when the old one is working so well?

Five years back when the Congress sneaked into power with support of the commies the world was about to embark on a liquidity fuelled binge which would end with the mother of all bubbles. As the Indian economy grew, inspite of the Congress, taxes were increased to stratospheric levels. In 2008 useless, parasitic civil servants were bribed by almost doubling their salaries costing hundreds of billions. Then all farmers' loans were waived costing further billions. More bribes were offered by promising rice at Rs. 3 a kilo. Once the results were in smaller parties have been bribed with ministerial posts resulting in the largest government ever with 79 ministers. Indian politicians being criminal beggars there will be demands for VIP status with resulting security, free bungalows, free cars, foreign junkets and countless other freebies. The hapless taxpayer will foot the bill for all these bribes which should keep the Congress in power for another five fruitless years. Meanwhile according to a thinktank, CMIE, Indian companies have lost Rs. 430 billion because of erratic power supply with voltage fluctuations. Will anything change? Doubtful. After all it is in the service of the naked aam aadmi that the Congress is khas.

Must confess that it was great pleasure to read about the bomb in Lahore killing at least seven ISI bastards. For dacades these filth have trained, financed and supported terrorist attacks in India so deserve to get bitten by the mad dogs they have created. We are constantly told that as a nuclear weapon state Pakistan cannot be allowed to fail so it should be given money to survive, help to build up its institutions and support to educate its children. The truth is that Pakistan is aready a failed state. The army, including the ISI, was the most powerful block in the country and could bring order because of the respect it commanded. No longer. The machinations of Musharraf and his fall due to public agitation led by the lawyers has eroded any respect the army enjoyed. There is militancy in Sindh and Baluchistan. Taliban openly defy the government and promise a sharia state under its control. No amount of killing in the Swat valley is going to get rid of the Taliban. It will be good if there is open civil war in Pakistan with total chaos. The decision will then be forced on the world about what to do with this womb of terrorists. Paki nuclear weapons were made with Chinese help. We have seen that murderers you create invariably turn against you so if there is a terrorist nuclear bomb, even a dirty one, it will be in China. No other country deserves it more. Let Pakistan disintegrate and we shall be rid of the scourge once and for all.

Last week's repairs of the Hubble telescope by US astronauts was beautiful. It is hard to imagine the intelligence and hard work required to carry out such difficult work in space where any accident would mean certain death. It is hard to imagine that a country which produces such geniuses selects imbeciles to conduct its foreign policy. When Soviet Union broke up Russia was weak and insolvent. Instead of helping it to stand on its feet and develop strong institutions the west chose derision and contempt. The US financed Rose, Orange and other peaceful revolutions in former soviet republics and managed to put some of its stooges in power. It continued to expand NATO to these former republics and wants to set up missile defence shields in Poland. The drunken buffoon, Yeltsin was replaced by a black belt, Putin and the bear is snarling back. The US is losing its influence in central Asia. Yushenko is certain to be kicked out in Ukraine and Sakashvili is barely hanging on in Georgia. The Baltic states are in an economic mess as is Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria and the US cannot help because of its own economic problems. It is turning to China, the most dangerous country, for help. The US is still unable to distinguish its true enemies from competitors. It should develop and strengthen Russia and India to counter China and finish off Pakistan. These countries may be far away from America but 9/11 should have taught the US that distance is no barrier to attack. Imbeciles are no good in planning strategy.

The US is calling for tougher sanctions against North Korea for testing a nuclear weapon. The hypocrisy is mind blowing. The only country in the world to have wiped out two towns in Japan with nuclear weapons the US has been involved in genocide for decades. Dioxin over Vietnam and Laos, depeleted uranium on Iraq, the US refuses to appologise for its crimes let alone pay compensation. What the US is saying is that we have the right to kill you or wipe you out if we please but you should not develop any capacity for self defence in case you hurt any American. The other criminal nation in this complicated puzzle is, of course, China. Hated and feared by all its neighbours its danger is multiplied by it being uncivilised and by its voracious appetite. It is the only supporter of the North Korean regime which is overseeing the gradual death of its people due to starvation. The Burmese junta continues to murder its people due to China's support. Pakistan's nuclear weapons were developed by China. It is feared by its South East Asian neighbours such as Phillipines because of its aggression over the Spratley Islands. It threatens Japan and Taiwan who have to depend on US help for survival. The other major threat of China is the ecology of the entire region. The Chinese tendency to eat anything means they are wiping out all living creatures from tigers to sea horses and may turn the whole of Asia into a barren land. The US in the west and China in the east, will the world survive?

Ever since human society evolved there has been a generation gap between parents and children. Children have always felt that parents are old fashioned fossils set in their ideas and unable to understand them. A hundred years ago arguments may have been on whether to wear dhotis or trousers but there would have been only minor changes between generations. Now, however, the gap is real and big as a mountain. Everchanging technology means that by the time we have learnt to use one gadget it is already out of date. Computers and internet mean that information is passed on within seconds and adopted throughout the world. Not every innovation is progressive however. I still think that the VCR was a much better device than the DVD because it gave me the freedom to record television programmes to be seen at a more convenient time. Having a hard disk in your tv is not the same thing because it will crash sooner or later requiring the hassle of gettting it fixed. In this world education has become as important as nutrition and vaccinations for children. A child deprived of learning computers and english will be the new scheduled caste and will earn in hundreds while others will earn in millions. That is why politicians in India who still force vernacular education on children are enemies of the people. Human sacrifice?

Before the elections the freeloading press was constantly reminding us about the reforms initiated in 1991 by Dr. Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister and now the Prime Minister, and moaning the fact that being reliant on communist support he has been unable to carry out any reform in the last five years. Well, if he is such an honourable man of such high principles surely he should have resigned rather than hang on to his gaddi inspite of barbs about being a remote controlled PM. Perish the thought. Now that the Congress has won the freeloading press has changed tack completely. We are now being prepared for the fact that no reforms will take place and it will be much the same as before which means good old 'neta babu raj' wherein grand projects to help the aam aadmi will be announced only for taxpayers' money to end in the pockets of politicians and kleptocrats. The aam aadmi will be kept alive on a drip feed of small change so that they stay suitably grateful but remain hungry and naked. The private sector will be threatened with reservation for undeserving people who have barely managed to pass their school leaving exams. High taxes will cripple airlines and devious laws such as censoring the internet will be enacted to emasculate the educated middle class. The Congress cannot exist without the naked aam aadmi and will do everything to keep the people poor and illiterate as they have done for 50 out of the last 60 years. If we had a free press the Congress would not get away with its pernicious policies but our journalists also come from the same society that has been conditioned to beg for alms since independence. A freeloading press has been the biggest success of the Congress.

The Congress never ceases trying to censor the outflow of information. After the Mumbai attacks it shamelessly tried to bring a bill to stop live television coverage of such events but failed, presumably because some politicians own news channels and opposed the measure. Earlier it had tried to censor the press but backed down against massed opposition. It seems that it managed to pass a bill in December which would give it powers to censor content on websites including news items, articles, advertisements and blogs. The censorship will come under six headings namely interest of sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or incitement to commit any cognizable offence relating to other five reasons. For a party which is full of genuflecting, foot licking, invertebrate chamchas any criticism of the Family could be construed as being against the integrity of India. Democracy is not just winning a chance to loot the exchequer every five years but ensuring true freedom for the people and no freedom is more important than freedom of speech. India is surrounded by countries which fiercely censor the web including China and Iran and there is no internet in Burma. Seems like we are going down that road. How much longer before people are arrested or beaten for what they have written and how much longer before an Indian is begging for political asylum in a foreign country? Loot and shoot.

So President Obama is finding out that being president is more problematic than making campaign speeches. His promise to close Guantanamo has run into trouble from both sides. Democrats refuse to fund the closure because they do not want any detainee inside the US. They are afraid of public disapproval for bringing dangerous men into the country. Perhaps they forget that the US regularly brings in far more dangerous men onto its soil. These are drug lords from Columbia and elsewhere . These are completely unscrupulous men who think nothing of killing judges, policemen or even politicians to prevent capture. Some of them have killed hundreds without any second thoughts yet they are tried and imprisoned in the US without any complaint. Then there is Dick Cheney, the former Vice President, who is going on air everyday lying his head off. His thesis is that since there were no further attacks on the US since 9/11 it was because of information revealed by torture. His bluff can be easily called by releasing all information gathered from detainees under torture and seeing if they were relevant. It must have been a hugely expensive logistical problem to launch 9/11 and the Al Qaeda leadership probably did not have the funds and educated recruits to carry out such an attack. Also with Afghanistan under heavy bombardment they were fleeing for their lives. Yet Americans are listening to Cheney instead of throwing rotten eggs at him. Much like Indians believing the Congess.

What ecstasy! On monday the Sensex jumped within seconds of opening and trading was halted by the circuit breaker. It ended the day up 17%. Fundamentals had not changed since last week. Exports are still down. Deflation in construction, mining and manufacturing is being camouflaged by double digit food price inflation. Oil companies have reported heavy losses and oil price has jumped to near $ 60 a barrel. Fiscal deficit at over 6% means there is no money for further stimulation of the economy. So why did a Congress victory cause such dizzying rise in the Sensex? The answer, according to the freeloading press, is 'continuity' or no change. Already the former Trade Minister, Mr. Kamal Nath has said that there will be no reform of the banking, insurance and retail sectors. The same gang being returned to power means industrialists can continue with the same 'setting' and do not have to bribe a completely new set of gang members and kleptocrats thus saving hundreds of millions of rupees. A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the revelation of the names of everyone with black money in foreign banks. The previous Congress led government opposed the PIL and one may suppose that the case will be eternally drawn out much like Bofors until people have time to shift there money to safer alternatives. The only good thing is that the evidence is all in foreign hands and cannnot be destroyed. I thought that Indians are goats to vote for the Congress until I realised that there was no alternative. It is so depressing that I wish I had not lived to see this.

Seems like LTTE chief, Prabhakaran has been killed trying to fight his way out of army blockade rather than be caught and hanged. He was a terrorist and a diabetic. Another diabetic, Saddam Hussein did nothing. He should have planted huge bombs all along the highway to blow up the Americans as they drove to Baghdad from Kuwait. He should have poured oil all over the desert and set fire to it as US tanks and humvees drove in. He should have rigged one palace with RDX, invited the Americans in and blown himself up in one final, glorious fireworks display that would be talked about for centuries. Instead he hid in a hole in the ground like a rat, had his mouth examined like a dog, was made to wash his own clothes in prison, was tried and hanged like a common criminal and buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. An ignominious end to one who had been an absolute dictator for a generation. Its a mystery how a stupid coward could terrorise a people for a generation. Meanwhile his victor is gradually coming under the spotlight in the US as drip by drip more revelations emerge about torture and lies about WMDs. George W. is in no personal danger but his reputation could be drawn and quartered in the near future. Ignominy has no friends.

The final results are in and the Congress is set to form the next government. Obscene celebrations by the chamchas would have you believe that they have won a trillion dollar lottery which, in a sense, they have. Now the trillion dollar Indian economy is at their mercy to loot as they please. Also the future of sons have been assured so the loot can continue for generations as it has done so far. The freeloading press has been unbelievably successful in its hatchet job. It has been lying about the economy, conjuring up a rosy future and suppressing the truth. In the last five years the Congress led government increased taxes astronomically, stopped all liberalisation, wasted taxpayers' money on bribing kleptocrats with huge undeserved pay increases and allowed inflation to jump to double digits. We can look forward to more of the same. The massive fiscal deficit means further rise in taxes thus eroding spending power of the people. Inflation of food items has remains stubbornly high and with oil prices rising one can expect further increase in inflation. Exports are down some six months in a row and millions of jobs have been lost in textile, construction and in diamond polishing sectors to name a few. The symbol of the Congress is a raised palm signifying obstruction to any progress and one can expect that to continue. After all without the naked aam aadmi there would be no Congress so it makes sense to remain static and keep the aam aadmi naked.

Seems that pop singer Madonna is to marry her toy boy called Jesus. As a piece of news it is so inconsequential as to be rubbish but it was so nauseating in its perversion that I was disturbed for the rest of the day. After all Madonna was the mother of Jesus and, even though I am not a christian,I am shocked at the symbolic sacrilege. If we believe in God we have to believe that he cannot possibly be insulted. No mud can stick to Him, He cannot be beaten and He is too great to be affected by any abuse. When any religion is insulted it is not God who cares but the believers who are insulted. For instance a dead man does not feel any pain, joy or insult so if a dead man is insulted deliberately it is his children who are being targeted. A while ago a German company put pictures of the Hindu God Ganesha on footware. The company and its directors are temporary and disposable but Ganesha is forever and hence could not care but this was a deliberate and gratuitous insult to all Hindus. In a civilised country people have the freedom to be atheist and have the guarantee of the right to free speech but do they have the right to cause anguish by deliberate humiliation?

In 2007 fellow called Hassan Ali was charged with money laundering. He had apparently transferred $ 8 billion or Rs. 400 billion to an account in Switzerland. Now a spokesman for the Swiss government, Folco Galli has said, in an interview to a private tv channel, that the documents submitted by India regarding the case were forged. He also said that India is dragging its heels in asking the Swiss about details of black money stashed away in Swiss banks. This is only a small news item at the bottom of the front page. There is no sense of outrage at this news report, no editorial denouncing the last government and no campaign to nail the minister and civil servants responsible. After all the freeloading press is hardly likely to embarass the Congress during the elections. At the top of the front page in large letters is the treatment of passengers by Air France at a Paris airport. Appears that a plane was called back after developing technical problems and whereas the whites were taken to a nearby hotel the Indians were corralled in a small room without food and water for the night. When a government, which is solely responsible for law and order, submits forged papers to another country in a massive laundering case then all the people become tainted. Every European who reads this humiliating incident in the papers is likely to develop a deep scorn for India and its people. No point in blaming Air France for being racist. They are just showing what they think about all of us. The only remedy is to hang those responsible by their privates. With the present trash, very unlikely.

It is election day in this hill town. The last day of the month long circus which, to me, is a turf war between political gangs rather than citizens choosing their representatives. All schools, offices, banks and most shops were shut but, thankfully, my friendly vegetable vendor was open, cheerfully overcharging as usual. Various companies and newspapers have been running ads and commercials asking people to go out and vote. Their message is essentially that every citizen must vote to show whether they approve of their sitting member of parliament. Problem is not that your MP is rubbish, which in the vast majority of cases he is, but that there is noone to choose instead. You have the southern fat lady who spent hundreds of millions on her foster ( read bastard ) son's wedding. Then there is the decrepit geriatric sleazeball whose sons are known murderers. There is the rustic buffoon whose chamchas looted all new car showrooms for his daughter's marriage and, looming large, the lady who claims to be oppressed but is reputed to possess over Rs. 20 billion and erects her own statues at taxpayers' expense. These people are very keen on everyone casting their ballot and there is even talk of making it compulsory. However, these scum are not interested in our right to choose our representatives but because a large turnout gives them legitimacy. If everyone votes the winner can claim that a genuine majority of people turned out to vote for him and hence he has the right to do whatever he pleases which means steal, rape and murder. Why should we give legitimise these scum by voting? It is my life and it is unacceptable to waste even a minute for these garbage.

As expected the Iranians have released Roxana Saberi, the journalist with dual American/Iranian citizenship. She was arrested in january and charged with trying to buy a bottle of wine. The charges were later increased to include those of spying. Her first trial lasted barely an hour and she was sentenced to eight years in prison. The President, Mr. Ahmadinajad wrote a letter to the judge of the appeals court asking for leniency which passed a two year suspended sentence thus setting her free to get back to the US. This case shows the Iranians in a very poor light. First, they charge her with one offence and then later make it much more serious thus giving the impression that the charges were trumped up. That is not to say that Ms Saberi could not be a latter day Matahari but the manner of how the entire case was conducted makes it seem that Iranian judges are a bunch of clowns. Second, the fact that she is released after a letter from the President shows that the judges carry out orders of higher authorities. Third, this is clearly a victory for Obama and Hilary Clinton who had gone on the offensive and demanded her release showing that Iran, for all its huffing and puffing, is scared of the US after all. This is a clear strategic and moral victory for the US who have demonstrated that their citizens are untouchable no matter what crimes they commit. A year or so from now we may expect Ms Saberi to write a book describing her time in jail and painting Iranian government in the worst possible light. No doubt the book will be banned in Iran and some copies may be burnt in public demonstrations bringing further ridicule for the lack of free speech. Fanatics are stupid.

So the Pakis are fighting the Taliban. Whether it is because Taliban came so close to the capital or because the americans kicked some Paki ass I do not know but they claim to have killed some 700 militants. It is impossible to know if that is true because Pakis are genetic liars and also because their army is totally corrupt. Starting with Ayub Khan to Musharraf the army has ruled Pakistan on many occasions and controls a lot of land and businesses. Such armies usually become unprofessional and cowardly and it is doubtful whether the Paki army has the guts to really take on the militants. The wonderful thing is that the country which provides much of the inspiration to Al Qaeda is a huge friend of Pakistan and it is Saudi Arabia. Because of its two holy mosques Saudi Arabia is a compulsory pilgrimage for all Paki muslims and its government provides money for religious education for the spread of Islam. This money goes to madrassas which in turn brain wash the young into becoming mujahiddin. Because the country itself is so fanatical its citizens join the Al Qaeda to fight jihad and gain paradise. Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers of 9/11 were Saudis. There is nothing the Pakis can do to stop Saudi financing madrassas and exporting terrorists to their country and the US and NATO are hamstrung by all the oil that country possesses. Therefore, all this fighting is not going to yield anything longterm. A few Taliban will be killed no doubt but thousands will replace them. Only one thing can stop jihadists and it is something George Bush, remember him, recommended. Massive research to find a cheap substitute for oil and then send the Saudis back to sleeping with camels.

The Telegraph in Britain has published a list of expenses claimed by members of the House of Commons. They have started with members of the governing Labour Party and will publish details of all MPs including the Tories and the LibDems. Already it is causing massive controversy as people realise that MPs have been claiming for toilet seats, fertiliser and laundry charges. One lady claimed for two blue movies watched by her husband on pay per view but has since refunded the money which is a shame because when the lady in question is spending all her time serving the people her husband needs to forget his loneliness. Better the virtual, in my view, than looking for actual flesh and blood to pass his time. There is a huge public outcry that MPs are wasting taxpayers money so much so that it is part of BBC's overseas news broadcast. Contrast this with India. Everyone knows our MPs are bandits looting the exhequer but they are also beggars. They beg for free government accommodation, security officers, even free travel on the railways and anything that they can scrounge out of the system. Yet we can see that most are immensely wealthy from the declaration of assets before the elections. They even steal from Hindu gods. Some of the wealthiest places of worship in the world are Hindu temples such as Tirupati which get offerings of hundreds of millions every year yet never declare their accounts. They get so much wealth every year that the money could possibly pay for the education of all the children in the country. Thieves and beggars, the lowest class of human trash is running this country. What hope do we have?

The cat, it seems, has been let in among the pigeons. President Obama has announced changes in the tax structure whereby US companies will have to pay taxes on overseas earnings. Until today companies paid taxes only on the money they repatriated back to the US and paid nothing if they ploughed their earnings back into the overseas country. No more. Indian politicians and industrialists already resemble headless chickens. Some are puffed with indignation at this effort at protectionism, predicting big losses for the IT sector while others say this will only harm US companies by increasing expenses and thus reducing competitiveness. Today the pharma sector has caught cold because they are afraid of the big pharma companies cutting down on backroom operations and R&D that they are doing in India at present. No one has a clue. Politicians are engaged in a turf war called elections and anyway stand for elections to loot the exchequer and not to formulate policy. In contrast the US has a plethora of thinktanks staffed by any number of phds from Ivy League colleges with experts in everything from the effect of locusts on Africa to the recruiting practices of LeT. Yet a look back at US policies does not inspire confidence. From the Bay of Pigs fiasco to the war in Iraq the US has repeatedly made huge blunders. Its support of right wing dictators in Latin America has resulted in the rise of anti american left wing leaders like Chavez and its support of Pakistan has resulted in US troops dying in Afghanistan today. So are we better of in having political thugs and kleptocrats running the country? Perhaps ' Ram bharose ' will see us through. Fingers crossed.

Under Obama's stick the two donkeys, Zardari and Karzai, were calling each other 'brother' and promising whatever. They are two beggars come to ask for alms and would have done anything Obama asked but as soon as they are back home they will go back to fighting. Truth is that muslims will fight and kill. If they are a minority they will fight the majority as in India, Thailand and Phillipines but where they are the majority they will kill each other. Thus the Kurds will fight the Turks in Turkey but will kill Turkmens and Sunnis in north Iraq. In south Iraq Shias will kill Sunnis. In Pakistan Sunnis kill Shias, Ahmadiyas and Sufis while the Taliban kill Pakis and Afghans. Hamas will fight Fatah in Gaza while the Hezbollah will kill Palestinians and the Druze in Lebanon. Black Arab Janjaweed will kill black Nubians in Darfour, Sudan while everyone will kill each other in Somalia. Wherever in the world there are more than 100 muslims there is bloodshed. After all it is the religion of peace. Best are the fellows who live in western countries where they enjoy personal freedoms, which are not present in any muslim country, but want to bring shariah through bloodshed. Abu Qatada, a Jordanian, kept fighting extradition to Jordan on the grounds that he will be tortured there but kept on preaching hatred against the British while his case was going on. If he believed in glorious martyrdom he should have proclaimed 'subhanalla' and gone back to Jordan happily but he knows that once his kind get hold of him his end will be anything but glorious. Unless politicians recognise the truth people will keep dying.

It was heartening to hear Mr. Ben Bernanke testifying that he thinks the recession is bottoming out and he hopes, with a few caveats, that recovery will start towards the end of this year. With respect to Mr. Bernanke, who obviously knows vastly more than me, I still doubt he knows what he is talking about. This entire crisis was brought about by record low interest rates started by his predecessor, Mr. Greenspan, and continued by him. Not only that he allowed the Bush administration to cut taxes and thus add to the already huge liquidity. He has been presiding over massive spending by the present administration increasing deficit to over one trillion dollars. Can he swear that he will be able to reduce money supply if inflation starts to take off? What will he do if the dollar were to fall by, say, 50%? If recovery indeed takes off it will again put upward pressure on commodity prices. Oil has jumped to over $ 54 already. What will he do if oil goes to above $ 100 and chokes off any nascent recovery? If the US starts to recover and customers start buying again it will only increase fiscal deficit by sucking in imports. The East Asian crisis, the dot com crisis and now the subprime one, not one of the hotshot economists foresaw them coming. Why should we believe they have the treatment when they cannot diagnose. We may yet have a Mugabe-syndrome crisis wherein currencies become toilet paper and toilet paper costs in millions. Mugabe will enjoy that. Scary.

In today's paper Rahul Gandhi is featured as quoting his father saying that only 10 paise of every rupee spent by the government reaches its beneficiary because corruption eats away the other ninety. He is promising that if Congress is voted back to power this will be corrected. Yeah, right. Mr. Gandhi is a young man so maybe he should go and read the history of post independence India. This country has been ruled by, er, the Congress for about 50 of the 60 years and mostly by members of his family. In the last five years his mother has been in charge as the puppet master preparing the stage for her sonubaba. In all these years coruption has increased exponentially. Previously a sarkari fellow was described as honest if he did your work without asking for bribe. Today bribe is demanded openly and the fellow who does your work after pocketing your money is very honest. Politicians are criminals, political parties are gangs and the elections are a polite version of turf war. The police are mafia in uniform mainly used by the local government for extorting money from motorists while allowing murderers to go free. So Mr. Gandhi, my question is this: will your party make the police independent? Will you pass a bill which says that all civil cases must finish within two years? Will youshut down the IAS school and reduce the kleptocrats to a third of their present number? Will you stop Bangladeshis taking over this country? Mr. Gandhi, you will not dare to kill a street cow because that would cause a riot but you know that if you shoot me in front of the police chief in daylight and the fellow will cover up for you. Will you gurantee that you will be hanged if you are to murder me? If not, please can it.

Silvio Berlusconi's wife has filed for divorce citing his flirtations with teenage girls. She thinks he is 'shameless.' Surely after thirty years of marriage she must know that he is one of the most corrupt politicians who actually used his majority in the parliament to pass a law protecting him from prosecution as long as he is Prime Minister. Using parliament to condone his crimes is surely infinitely more shameless than jumping, sorry flirting with teenage girls. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela lost a referendum which would allow him to stand for a third term but held another one this year and won. The newly elected President of Paraguay, who fathered one proven and possibly another two as yet unproven children while a Cotholic bishop sworn to celibacy, refuses to resign and wants to move on. Nixon was pardoned by his successor Gerald Ford as was Karl Rove by George W. Now Obama is reluctant to prosecute Cheney, Rumsfeld and company for torture and illegal renditions because it would divide the country. Tony Blair, who supported the US in an illegal war by lying to the Commons resulting in the death of about 170 British soldiers, is still free. Only leaders of small weak countries are made to pay for their crimes. Thus Charles Taylor is under trial while Bashir of Sudan remains free. Noriega who was captured by the US in a blatantly illegal attack on Panama has served time in US prison and has been passed on to France for further punishment. It is for this reason that Kim Jong Il of North Korea desires nuclear missiles. The only medicine is to reduce the power of politicians by forming citizens corporations which will ask questions keep them in check. Hope.

With election circus ongoing the government officials keep telling us that the economy is going to grow at 6.50% and that there will not be any recession in the country. The freeloading journalists faithfully echo these comments without question. However we are also told that industrial production is declining and exports are falling. Inflation is down to 0.54% but food prices are rising at near double digits which means that wholesale prices of other goods are declining which is deflationary. With declining production and exports we can expect job losses or,at best, no new job creation and increasing spending on food means less money to spend on other goods. House prices have fallen by 25% but they should fall by another 30% to reach fair value. With fiscal deficit rising to the stratosphere government borrowing will have to jump putting pressure on interest rates which will hold back recovery. Also the IMF is predicting a global slowdown which in turn will affect exports. Yet we are being told that India is immune. Either our economists are on ecstasy or they are lying to us to facilitate a Congress win in the elections. Once the new government is formed and a proper budget is presented we may get a glimpse into the future. Meanwhile as I predicted a Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court to force the government to investigate and reveal the names of individuals holding illegal accounts abroad amounting to $1.4 trillion. Maybe some of that money is being smuggled back in through Participatory Notes wherein foreignors can invest in the Sensex without disclosing their identities. We are but sheep praying that we will be spared.

At last the government has put the final nail in the Bofors farce by asking Interpol to withdraw its red corner notice against Quattrocchi. This insulting farce has been going on for decades costing the country billions of rupees. There was never any chance of the fellow having to face any sort of justice just as there has never been any punishment for the murderers of sikhs after Indira Gandhi's assassination. Probably the Congress party is not sure of forming the next government and wanted to finally end the matter for the countryman before the election results are published. The point to note is that nothing was done during the five years that the BJP was in government just as nothing has been done on Tehelka or the Kargil coffins scam during the five years of this government. Today political parties are gangs of dishonourable, lying scoundrels and do not want to start a gang war between each other. It is possible that if results are borderline the Congress and the BJP may form a coalition to form a government. Arresting and jailing criminals belonging to the other side may result in tit for tat prosecutions when the other side comes to power. That would be debilitating for each gang and half the members might end up serving time. Horror of horrors the court might not allow them to stand for election again. How would they loot the exchequer and pass on the mantle to their drug taking, murderous children if that happened? The only gainers in this insulting farce were the CBI sleuths who went all over the world eating, drinking and enjoying the pleasures of expensive resorts while failing to catch him every time. I hope they have brought nice souvenirs to remind of the pleasures they enjoyed at taxpayers' expense.

At last the government has woken up to the threat of swine flu and announced yesterday that travellers from certain countries like Mexico, USA, UK and others will be checked for illness. I think that the disease has been here since the end of March and India was probably the first country it travelled to from Mexico. For about a month I have been seeing at least five cases of fever everyday. Our clinic is small so this means that physicians with larger practices must be seeing at least 10 cases a day. So what is strange about fever? Firstly this is not the season for viral fever. Secondly patients have high fever upto 105 F with slight dry cough and headache. Not one has a cold with runny nose as one would expect in normal flu. Most children also have vomiting and a few have tummy ache. This hill town has a thriving industry of conversion and christians from all parts of the world come here for the thrill of converting children from poor Hindu families. We have people from the US, UK, Australia, Brazil and many other countries combining the pleasures of tourism with reserving a spot in paradise by redeeming as many Hindu heathens as they can. I suspect that one of them also brought a present of the swine flu virus for us. With everyone busy with the election circus who has the time to deal with unimportant pubic health issues? I suppose I might as well enjoy my increased income while I can.

They are at it again. Just when Sri Lankan forces are about to eradicate the LTTE from the face of the earth the western countries have started crying for them to stop for the sake of the civilians. For 25 long years the so called Tigers have been killing civilians, extorting money from poor Tamils, abducting children and forcing them to fight and using poor civilians as shields to hide behind. All this while the western countries did nothing except belatedly declaring the LTTE a terrorist organisation. Had they actively helped the Sri Lankan government by providing anti terrorist training to their armed forces and cut of all funding from abroad they could have saved thousands of lives. Now that the Tigers are reduced to 6 sq. miles of beach they offered a ceasefire which is false and an insult to all the dead people.Clearly the cowards want to save their filthy hides. The Sri Lankan government has rightly rejected this ridiculous 'offer' instantly. Western countries have a habit of preventing resolution of conflict in the developing world. Every time that India was within distance of a decisive victory over Pakistan they cried stop and the Congress immediately obliged. Thus the Pakis have acquired nuclear weapons and continue to send jihadis into India. After the Mumbai massacre last year the US immediately asked India not to retaliate because any war would occupy Paki forces and allow the Taleban to kill NATO forces in Afghanistan. What they were saying was that western lives were more precious than Indian ones and our craven Congress government accepted it supinely as it has done for 60 years. At least the Sri Lankans are made of sterner stuff. Bravo.

Never ceases to amaze me when I see third world politicians celebrating after an election victory. Jacob Zuma, the next President of South Africa was singing, dancing and jumping after getting a twothirds majority in the next parliament. I would have expected him to be sober, even a little apprehensive, about the problems his government is going to face. Black townships have unemployment >25%, HIV is rampant, XDR TB is spreading and crime is beyond control. People have voted for him in such huge numbers, inspite of his less than respectable past, because they expect him to solve their problems. They want jobs, roads, water, housing, schools and crime control and they want everything now. These are all long term capital intensive projects and people will be impatient. With the world entering deep recession where is he going to find the money? Thus one would have expected him to be quiet and introspective but instead I saw champagne corks popping like one would see after a Formula One race. Clearly Zuma feels he is entitled to the presidency because he was in prison during apartheid. If Mandela and Mbeki can get it why can't he? Well, Steve Biko is probably more entitled but then he sacrificed his life so Zuma can jump like a kangaroo. In India children of politicians are brought up to regard assembly and parliament membership as their birthright. You see a fellow who has never held any employment, never done any social or humanitarian work or achieved any academic excellence standing for elections with chamchas at his feet. Surely being mom's 'sonubaba' is not a terrific recommendation for a MP? In our corrupt footlicking country having a momma is the ultimate qualification. Madame Guillotine could not give long term results but she sure cleared out some deadwood. I welcome her.

The hot topic all over the world is Ms Susan Boyle, a not so pretty 47 year old church volunteer from Scotland. When she appeared on stage at a talent show people sniggered at her appearance but when she sang she became an instant star. A clip featuring her on YouTube has received millions of hits from all over the world. Naturally there is also a lot of tut-tutting on how people judge others on appearance instead of their merit. Scientists explain that stereotyping is essential for survival and the ability to form instant judgement enables us to avoid situations or persons who could pose a threat. Others talk about an instant rush of serotonin at the beauty of Ms Boyle's voice. I think that it is much simpler than that. Human beings have a natural attraction towards beauty. It is partly cultural in that we find beauty in people who look like our parents but it is also genetic because there is no such attraction towards science. Little children are automatically attracted towards music and bright colours. There is no child that does not listen to a story about dragons with absolute attention which appeals to the child's imagination. Every year Nobel prizes are declared for five categories. Whereas the one who gets in literature becomes an instant star and very rich there is no such reward for the ones in physics, chemistry and medicine. Millions of tourists spend billions of dollars to see the Sistine Chapel or the Louvre but how many are bothered about Einstein, Newton or Curie. A plastic surgeon who romeves moles and injects botox in the butt will always earn more than a heart surgeon who saves lives. Whether animals have a sense of beauty and imagination I do not know. Perhaps this is what makes us human. Unfortunately if something does not match upto our standards of beauty we tend to dismiss or destroy it. Maybe that is what leads to racism.

In her testimony to the Congress, Hilary Clinton opined that Taleban is an existential threat to Pakistan, a nuclear armed state. At long last the Americans are becoming foggily aware of how dangerous a country Pakistan truly is but they have still not grasped the truth, which is that Pakistan is an existential threat to itself. This was a state born out of hatred and has been surviving on that bile for 60 years. Since its conception its leaders and people have fixed their eyes on India and every activity has been designed to compete with and try to destroy my country. For sixty years the US in its stupidity, born of its cold war hatred of the USSR, supplied the Pakis with money and weapons choosing to view our nonalignment as an aggressive posture. It financed the ISI which in turn financed the mujahiddin against the Russians and subsequently formed the Taleban to drive out their old friends in Afghanistan. Alas once the demons are let out of their cesspool they will naturally refuse to go back. So now the US faces the possiblity of the Taleban taking over nuclear weapons and greater losses in Afghanistan. Interestingly North Korea has adopted a far more aggressive stance and has captured two US journalists probably from inside China. Iran has speeded up its centrifuges and sentenced a US/Iranian journalist to seven years in prison. Suicide bombings have suddenly restarted in Iraq and Somali pirates are attacking American ships. It is possible that along with the economic crisis, President Obama's friendliness is being perceived as weakness born out of necessity. Will Obama's outstretched hand gradually turn into a clenched fist. Interesting.

The conference against racism sponsored by the UN in Geneva ended in disaster when Iranian President, Ahmadinejad described Israel as a racist country. Instead he should have started with a history of Israel. Palestine was under British control and Balfour was British. He should have quoted Shylock's humiliation in the Merchant of Venice. He should have talked about jews collecting gold to ransom Richard I so that John could not become king of Britain. He should have pointed out that Israel was formed by jews fleeing persecution by christains in Europe. He should have described the pogroms in eastern Europe and the activities of the Vichy regime in France. He should have described the holocaust and the gas chambers at length instead of denying them. Then he should have asked if it would not have made poetic justice to establish a Jewish state in a part of defeated Germany instead of faraway Palestine? Were the christians hoping that the Arabs would wipe out the jews or did they want to protect their noses from the stench of jews? Instead he allowed the sanctimonious hypocrites to walk out on him and win the argument. Shows that fanatics are brain dead.