Sushil Suri, owner of pharma company, Morepen Lab is to face trail for forgery and cheating as directed by the Supreme Court. He had taken a loan from Punjab and Sind Bank to buy new machinery but diverted the funds to other uses as is common in India. He then used forged papers to show purchase of machinery to claim large depreciations on his tax. His lawyer argued in court that since he had repaid his loan on time and the bank is not a party to the complaint so there is no case to answer. Suri must be feeling aggrieved because this is standard practice in India. That he forged papers to show purchase of new machinery and cheated on his tax by claiming false depreciation on machinery that did not exist would not seem a criminal or immoral act to him because everyone is doing it so why pick on him. Not fair. Meanwhile the former chief of the Securities and Exchange Board of India or SEBI, CB Bhave allowed tens of thousands of fake depository accounts to be opened in December 2008. This would have allowed crooks to corner the market in Initial Public Offerings which followed. An NGO filed a Public Interest Litigation in Delhi High Court which rejected the charge and fined the NGO Rs 50000 for filing a frivolous case. The SEBI board tried to shield Bhave by closing its investigation but now the court has asked SEBI to reopen it. The government has embarked on a project to force a Unique Identity card with biometric details on every citizen. When every politician and civil servant is a criminal what is the guarantee that someone's identity will not be sold to a criminal or terrorist? India has never been in such danger.

Seems that the Prime Minister's Office, PMO has written to the Sports Ministry to ask the CBI and ED to investigate the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee,OC for " irregularities " in organising the Games as pointed out in the Shunglu committee report. Why? The Supreme Court is already seized of the matter and has instructed the two agencies to work without fear or favor. Everyone knew about the blatant loot before the Games were held in September of last year so what has taken the PMO so long to wake up to the fact. Fact is that the Comptroller and Accountant General,CAG had reported serious misconduct while auditing the OC's accounts for 2007-2008, three years ago. The CAG talked of " no proper guidelines in regards to maintenance of records ", " camouflaging of figures in accounts " and " a serious lapse of internal control". This is as explicit and damning as the CAG can get. Why does the PMO have to direct these agencies to investigate? Does it mean that CBI and ED are controlled by politicians and civil servants who are all criminals? Why specifically the Organising Committee of the Games? The OC, after all, had budget of Rs 25 billion while the Delhi government had a budget of Rs 700 billion and was responsible for building the infrastructure which was collapsing even before the Games started. Is this an effort to protect the " Wide Receiver "? Meanwhile the CBI is having to send officers to Mauritius to investigate one of the scams. Let us hope we do not have a repeat of Bofors which lasted for years and required our sleuths to run all over the world including St Kitts before filing for closure. Buy them girlie magazines. Cheaper by far.

Member of the Legislative Assembly in UP, Shekhar Tiwari has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a government engineer, Manoj Kumar Gupta on December 23, 2008. Tiwari's main business was extortion and he wanted Gupta to pay for celebrating the Chief Minister's birthday which Gupta refused. Enraged, Tiwari planned to implicate Gupta in a false case of sexual assault with the help of the local police officer, Hoshiyar Singh. However, on the night of December 23 Tiwari got drunk and determined to teach Gupta a lesson. Next morning Gupta was found dead. All witnesses were threatened into silence except another engineer called Rai who has been suspended on charges of buying Rs 10000 worth of unauthorised equipment. Rai has since retired and is not being paid any pension. He has not been seen for 18 months, most probably because he is in hiding to save his own life. This case is a clear illustration that the entire Indian establishment is criminal. Tiwari had 14 cases registered against him but 10 of these cases could not be proven because the police cooperated with him and witnesses were silenced. He was chosen by the BSP to be a candidate for election, not by mistake, but with full knowledge precisely because he had the goons to silence opposition and could collect funds through extortion. After murdering Gupta he was able to frighten every witness except Rai who was then suspended by his own department on some unproven charge. He should have been hanged because he can continue his crimes from jail and may be freed on parole by his party. Politicians, police, civil servants, all criminals. This is India.

In spite of using massive force the Syrian government is finding it difficult to control anti government protests. From demanding reforms protesters are now demanding a regime change. Syria has cut the internet, is not allowing foreign journalists and its army is using tanks to attack its own people. All tactics learnt from Iran, with which Syria is particularly close, but whereas Iran was successful in suppressing its revolt Syria seems to be failing. The difference maybe that God was on Iran's side in that it is an Islamic Republic ruled by Ayatollah Khamenei who is also called Supreme Leader. Since only God is supreme it means that Ahmadinejad has God on his side which Assad does not. Iran also has a paramilitary squad of thugs called the Basij militia who are allowed to beat up anyone, rape and murder. Assad could also learn from China which changed the dictionary to stop any protests. The Chinese government deleted the word " jasmine " from the vocabulary which quickly brought all protests to a halt. If you cannot have a name for your protests how can you write articles, print pamphlets or energise your supporters? However, prevention being better than cure India has to be the world leader in how to enslave its people, loot the exchequer in the name of development and pass on power from one generation to the next. Political gangs have divided the country into zones of influence with various families fighting for control rather like Italy where the mafia has done the same. Every few years an expensive joke called " elections " is played on us where we are forced to choose between gangs and then we go on as usual. It is called " democracy ".

Milking it for all its worth Obama laid a wreath at the 9/11 memorial site in New York yesterday. One African- American woman was waving a US flag while chanting " Obama got Osama, Obama got Osama " over and over. Meanwhile Pakis refuse to believe that the Americans actually killed Bin Laden unless they are shown his picture. Some say that Bin Laden had died two years back and the Americans, having just found out, are claiming the credit. The Pakis, having been thoroughly humiliated, have resorted to snarling at India. Mad dogs will do that. Sadly our traitors are already saying that we need to go on talking to Pakistan. No we definitely do not. Why, when we spend millions of dollars on defence, are we so weak? About a week back a helicopter carrying the Chief Minister of Arunachal, Dorjee Khandu went missing. Two Sukhoi fighters were deployed for mapping the area and 35 columns of army were used to search for the remains. When advanced fighter jets are being used to look for missing politicians is it any wonder that we have to talk peace on " bended knees " with our enemies? These same traitors are determined to allow the French company, Areva to build a European Pressurised Reactor at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. This is a new technology which has not received regulatory approval anywhere including in France. The first such reactor was being built in Finland but is hopelessly behind schedule with costs already more than double the initial estimate. The obscene haste and strong arm tactics of the Congress seem extremely fishy. Berlusconi is friendly with Sarkozi and such a large order needs suppliers. Are we sacrificial goats?

The propaganda channel BBC showed unconfirmed pictures of young men in Syria lying on the ground, their hands tied with wires, being beaten by the police. This was supposed to be evidence of the brutal repression of pro democratic protests by a hated regime. The pictures, however, looked strangely familiar. Arab men, hands tied with wire, being beaten by men in uniform. Flash back to Baghdad in 2003 and these could be Iraqi men being kicked by US soldiers before being taken to Abu Ghraib and photographed naked by US perverts. The US can kill, kidnap, rape, poison, torture and imprison while Britain and other white countries applaud from the sidelines. It is all done for world peace and to free the locals from bad dictators. Meanwhile the International Criminal Court is deciding whether to issue arrest warrants for certain Libyan officials who they think are guilty of crimes against humanity. Started with great fanfare the selective justice of this institution makes it another weapon in the armory of the white man to legitimise attacking other countries. Just as the Security Council supports US gangsterism across the globe so the ICC provides the necessary fig leaf to European governments to attack weaker nations. If Charles Taylor or Gadhafi are to answer charges of crimes against humanity then so should George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Tony Blair and all other American and British fellows guilty of genocide in Iraq. The US is also guilty of unimaginable stupidity. Humiliating Pakistan while supplying more aid will only will make its army more determined in helping terrorists. Seems that Bush is not the only moron.

At last the Reserve Bank of India, RBI got up its courage and increased interest rates by 0.5% yesterday. This increases the Repo rate at which banks borrow from the RBI to 7.25%. The sudden increase in courage may have been caused by panic as the government is scheduled to increase retail petrol and diesel prices after elections in some states are concluded. Again this should have been done weeks ago at the start of the Libyan crisis but was cynically deferred so as not to harm Congress chances in the elections no matter what it does to the finances of the oil companies. Any rise in fuel prices will instantly cause a rise in inflation, especially food prices as fruits, vegetables, milk, fish and meat are all transported by trucks. The other reason for the sudden courage of the RBI may be because there are rumors that Mr Subbarao's tenure as governor may not be extended for another two years as promised before. The government is solely focussed on growth in GDP and a high rate is touted as a badge of honor. However, a growth rate of 9% with inflation at 12% is actually a negative growth of 3%. Much better to have a growth rate of 6% with inflation at 2%. The RBI must bring down inflation to 2% and hold it there by keeping interest rates high. Property prices must be brought down to 30% of present values and not allowed to increase by more than the rate of inflation. This will keep black money out of the economy allowing healthy growth, affordable housing for everyone, low rents and increased savings. One would think that the greatest economist would never allow inflation to be out of control. Trouble is he only thinks of his buttocks. On gaddi.

So, Osama bin Laden sleeps with the fishes. Apart from a few hairy moments in Tora Bora he had a great life. A millionaire, he was living in a $ 1 million villa, served by his two loyal servants, Kayani and Pasha, entertained by a succession of wives and so feared by the Americans that, even in death, they gave him a proper funeral and dumped him into the sea. Americans are rejoicing for killing their one time ally who was responsible for the deaths of a few thousands. Now the world should demand the same for Bush, Blair and their comrades who were responsible for the genocide of hundreds of thousands in an illegal war in Iraq. What of Pakistan? This whore of a country allows itself to be violated by a Saudi Arabian bin Laden, an Egyptian Zawahiri, Pashtun Taliban from Afghanistan and Americans who fly in armed Navy Seals, attack a house just a couple of hundred yards from their military academy, execute a sick man with a couple of women and a courier and fly out with prisoners and bodies of the dead without bothering to take permission. When it was all over Obama phoned Zardari to tell him that his country had been violated and there is nothing he can do about it. It is the old saying about rape - if you cannot prevent it just lie back and enjoy it. This is because Pakistan is a bankrupt beggar nation existing on handouts from the US and the IMF. They have been spending enormous sums of money on a rapacious army and in training and arming terrorists to inflict a " thousand cuts " on India. Instead they have inflicted a billion cuts on themselves. Now Zardari is having to claim credit for helping the US to rape his own country. Impotent nation.

The Federal Aviation Administration or FAA has been taking action when it emerged that air traffic controllers were falling asleep at their posts. Managers have been replaced and the whole system is being shaken up to prevent repeat of such incidents. In India pilots with fake mark sheets have been licensed to fly after paying bribes of Rs 700,000. Flying is an ordeal in India. Ticket prices are too high because of taxes up to 35% on air fuel. The developer of Delhi and Mumbai airports was illegally charging domestic passengers Rs 200 per ticket and Rs 1300 for foreign flights. The Supreme Court has ordered that to stop. Further misery is being caused by a strike by pilots of the domestic part of Air India demanding parity of salaries with pilots flying foreign routes. In spite of a court order the pilots are still on strike after 5 days. Air India is government controlled which allows criminal politicians and thieving, parasitic civil servants to fly free with wives, children, friends, servants and, who knows, may be even mistresses and toy boys. The airline has accumulated losses of Rs 130 billion, employs 40000 at a ratio of 243 employees to each aircraft as opposed to the industry average of 150 per aircraft, earns Rs 210 million/ per day while spending Rs 570 million losing Rs 360 million per day and each plane flies for a paltry nine hours per day. One would think that pilots would have some shame when they are already among the highest paid in the country while working so little but sadly Indians have learnt from politicians and have lost all sharam and izzat. Since the strike is illegal they should all be sacked but then how will politicians fly for free.

India is perhaps the only country in the world where the word " elite " is used as an abuse. The pseudo secular, pseudo intellectual english press has been especially scornful of the support Anna Hazare received for his fast in favor of a Lok Pal bill. Freeloading journalists have, with scant exceptions, dismissed supporters as selfish elites, page three socialites or confused middle class out of touch with poor of the country. At the same time they are effusively complimentary about our Dear Leader who has blithely allowed thieves to loot the country calling it " coalition dharma." He is constantly referred to as " squeaky clean " and " scrupulously honest." The argument is that it is undemocratic to resort to fasting in support of a cause as it is political blackmail. Why is it wrong to blackmail an accessory to adharma. The press should ask the Dear Leader's daughter the definition of the word " accessory " in the US. One woman has quoted Gandhi's words, " Democracy is an impossible thing until power is shared by all but let not democracy degenerate into mobocracy." So let the criminal politicians loot, lie and disrupt all investigations but the people should meekly respect the scum as leaders. Lincoln's words were so much better when he said that the constitution should be " dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal " which should be protected by a " government of the people, by the people, for the people." Two lawyers but such different views. Is it any wonder that India has no one of world class in any field because to be " elite " is to be shunned. When the fourth estate works as the fifth column the danger is great indeed.

Criminal politicians in India are scrambling to cover up their numerous crimes and preserve their stolen loot. After stalling the Supreme Court for months the government has suddenly decided to form a committee of 10 people to probe black money stashed in foreign countries. This is not driven by a desire to catch the culprits or recover stolen wealth but to preempt the Supreme Court from ordering a Special Investigation Team or SIT. The idea, no doubt is to sooth the court and stall its investigation. Unfortunately for the criminals Assange has said that WikiLeaks has a list of all those who have secret bank accounts in Switzerland and will be releasing them soon. Already one fellow has derided WikiLeaks saying that its exposes are unproven. It is the sacred duty of the government to prove the charges. Unless, of course, the criminals are running the government. Meanwhile the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, PAC has concluded its investigation into the 2G larceny and has accused the Prime Minister's office of masterly inactivity while Raja was awarding telecom spectrum for paltry sums of money in return for bribes in spite of opposition from the Law Ministry. The Prime Minister has acknowledged his own complicity by calling it " compulsions of coalition politics." Now the Congress and DMK members are disrupting the meetings of the PAC trying to stop it from publishing its report. No shame, no dignity, no self respect, no pride and absolutely no honor. These creatures in human form are an affront, not only to Indians, but to entire humanity. The entire world should shun them.

Do they know some form of black magic or witchcraft? How can Pakistan allow terrorists to launch attacks from its soil, openly declare its intention of using nuclear weapons, refuse to take out the Taliban and yet be able to get billions in financial aid. Paki Prime Minister, Gilani visited Kabul along with army chief, Kayani and chief of ISI, Pasha where he asked Afghan President, Hamid Karzai to distance his country from the US and befriend China instead. This when Pakistan is begging for money from the US and the IMF just to survive. There is no doubt that 9/11 was planned and financed from Pakistan but the US is supplying it with drones, fighter jets, night vision goggles, precision guiding equipment and much more. Why? Why destroy Iraq, bomb Libya, institute sanctions against Iran while supplying money and arms to the country responsible for killing so many of your citizens? As for India, our most revered Prime Minister invites his Paki counterpart to a cricket match, starts direct train link with Pakistan, asks for peace talks on " bended knees," wants to increase trade and allows Pakis to work in our film industry just one year after the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. Why? It is natural that a rogue state like China would be ally to a failed state like Pakistan. Cockroaches like to feed on putrid filth. China is also friend of Burma, North Korea and gave refuge to Pol Pot. But we do not need Pakistan. There is no need to waste time on this country of rabid fanatics. No need to fight, just ignore them. Cut off all diplomatic, trade and people contacts with that filthy country, lay land mines on the border and then get on with life. We cannot destroy it, just forget it exists.

It is the old story of the boy who cried wolf. Bush and Blair deliberately lied about WMDs in Iraq to have an excuse for attacking Saddam. It was pure personal vengeance that motivated Bush and Blair tried to legitimise the illegal war with the support of the UK government. The result was sectarian division leading to permanent destabilisation of Iraq, death of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and a dangerously powerful Iran. Recently UK, France and the US obtained a divided UN Security Council resolution backing a " no-fly zone " over Libya to " protect civilians." Many countries supported the motion following the Arab League which believed, naively as it turns out, that only Gaddafi's air force would be taken out and there would not be any attempt at regime change. The liars had other ideas. They have used the vague language about protection of civilians to help armed rebels, bomb government soldiers and even bomb Gaddafi's residence. Propaganda channels like the BBC and CNN continue to show children alleged to have been injured by Gaddafi's soldiers. It could even be that a lot of the injuries are because of rebel shelling or allied bombing. The reporting is totally one sided and biased. Now the US wants sanctions against Syria for the killing of civilians protesting against the regime but other countries are not listening any more. The tragedy is that Syria will kill many more than Gaddafi would have. Syria has learnt from its friend, Iran how to suppress any dissent with devastating force but most countries will be suspicious of any US moves to impose any form of punitive action against Syria. Lies lead to impotence.

Three items of news in the front page of newspapers yesterday. The Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI arrested Suresh Kalmadi, the former chief of the Olympic Committee, for conspiracy in awarding a contract to a Swiss firm costing Rs 1.4 billion for the Commonwealth Games when it could have been done much cheaper. He is accused of personal gain from such contracts. Kanimozhi, daughter of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, has been charged with conspiracy and money laundering as director of Kalaignar TV. Strangely her mother who owns 60% of the company has not been charged because she speaks only Tamil. The CBI could not find one person in the whole of India who speaks both Tamil and English or Hindi. The 3rd news item is the even stranger case of murder of Aarushi. This 14 year old girl was found dead with her throat slit in her own bed. The local police blamed a male servant but he was later found dead on a terrace. The house was locked with only the parents inside. The local police messed up the evidence whether through incompetence or deliberately is not known. The father was accused of murder. The CBI was called in but came to no conclusion. They applied to the trial judge to close the case but the judge refused. Now the CBI claims to have proof of the father's guilt. Will Kalmadi and Kanimozhi be punished. Very unlikely. The CBI is controlled by politicians and has never managed a conviction. Even if convicted judges will allow the case to drag on for years and then they will be pardoned. Sukhram is still free after 30 years. The Congress has been at the root of all corruption in India. They are absolute masters.

According to Nomura Holdings private equity funds may sell up to $5 billion of their investments in equity in India in the next two years. Seems that property developers need to find some $33 billion to repay or refinance their debt and $5 billion to pay back private equity investors. This could force developers to a " fire sale " of assets leading to a steep fall in property prices. This is profoundly to be desired. Property prices need to fall by 70% to wipe out black money from the economy and bring down inflation. Fall in rents and inflation will help the people. The Reserve Bank must play its part by maintaining a high interest rate so that property prices never increase by more than the headline rate of inflation. Paying 10% on a property of Rs 8 million will be less than paying 5% on Rs 20 million so house buyers will not be inconvenienced. Business people will be the only ones who will howl about high borrowing costs and how this will hamper growth. We must not be taken in by these old lies. Low inflation will bring down wage pressures. Businesses can borrow overseas at very cheap rates. Interest rate in the US is still close to zero. Borrowers can hedge against dollar appreciation by investing a part of their borrowings in the US with SEC permission. So if one borrows $1 billion one can invest, say, $200 million in debt funds in the US. This will protect against rise in the dollar, reassure investors, increase safety and lower interest rate. Business men like to borrow in India because they often use the money for buying cars, houses and foreign trips. No one ever goes to jail. That will not happen in the US. The inflation boil needs to be lanced.

As per service rules IAS officers in UP were asked to file Immovable Property Returns or IPRs but till 5pm on April 20 only very few of over 500 officers had done so ( Times of India, April 22 ). Civil servants in India are known to be totally corrupt and it is impossible for anyone to maintain honesty. The reason is that there is a chain starting from the lowest clerk going up to the highest level. Bribes are collected at the point of contact with the public and then shared up the chain. If one officer refuses to accept bribe money it affects everyone by breaking the chain. Such an officer is asked to join the crooks, then transferred repeatedly to harass him and may, finally, be murdered. Since the only safe place to hide black money is in property IPRs give an idea on how much money is being stolen from the public. By not submitting IPRs these officers will not get vigilance clearance and will be ineligible for promotion. But who cares for an increase in salary of a few thousand rupees when one has to hide billions in black money. That the vast majority of officers in UP have chosen not to file their returns shows that all, except a handful, are crooks. Civil servants obtain their cue from politicians governing the state. Bihar had the reputation of being the cesspit of India but UP has now taken over the coveted spot. A consultancy group based in Hong Kong called The Political and Economic Risk Consultancy ltd has rated India as the 4th most corrupt nation in the Asia Pacific region but such is the lack of shame that the scum just carry on, each one pointing at the other and pretending to be honest. If the leader is lacking in honor the troops will follow.

Satya Sai Baba passed away this morning. Such was the passion of his numerous followers that the government of Andhra has rushed in large numbers of police to Puttaparthi. His followers believed him to possess divine powers while his critics accused him of being a charlatan whose so called miracles were mere magic tricks. However, discussions about one man's divinity is a futile waste of time because opinions on both sides are so entrenched that any rational debate is impossible. What is inexplicable is the human tendency of worshiping other humans rather than God directly. Hindus do not believe in prophets but have innumerable " holy " men and women held as divine by followers and derided by pseuds as " God men." These " holy " people did nothing for the country or Hindus in general, living extremely comfortable, even luxurious, lives on the money paid by devotees to listen to long lectures on how to achieve moksha but not one fought against waves of attacks on Hindus by fanatics of other religions. If they had such divine powers to perform miracles why did they not get rid of Muslim and Christian conquerers who killed Hindus in their thousands and continue to do so today. Thankfully all these people attempted to explain our scriptures to us and did not write down an entirely new book by claiming to have talked to God as the prophets of other religions have done. Once you believe a " holy book " to have been dictated by God then you have to defend the fellow, who took the dictation, against accusation of lying. So you declare him a prophet and kill others to prove his divinity. Poor God. He creates, prophets kill.

Five executives of large companies have been remanded in custody in the 2G scam. One, Mr Sanjay Chandra is chairman of Unitech Wireless which holds 32.7% in Uninor, a telecom services provider in India. The other 67.3% is held by Telenor of Norway. In spite of his bail plea being refused by the judge Mr Chandra has not resigned his post as chairman of Unitech. Now the Norwegians have formally asked Mr Chandra to step down which he still has not done. There are two reasons for this. First, Unitech was founded by Mr Chandra's father and he has grown up knowing that this is his entitlement. Second, the concept of honor does exist in India. It is customary to continue to plead innocence in spite of cast iron proof of guilt. Contrast this with what happened to Mr Rajat Gupta who has been accused of providing insider information to Rajaratnam who ran the Galleon hedge fund in the US. Although none of the accusations have been proven Mr Gupta has resigned all his positions as he fights to clear his name. It is common knowledge that business people have to bribe criminal politicians and thieving, parasitic civil servants large sums of money to obtain licenses or large government contracts. They cut the quality of the goods and services they provide to maintain profits. In return for the money they have paid out they expect complete protection from any investigation or punishment. Politicians regularly hector business leaders to help the poor. It is not the function of business to provide social services. Instead they should concentrate on providing the best products at the cheapest prices. Sadly honor and class cannot be bought.

The UP government debt has risen from Rs 830 billion in 2001-2 to Rs 1.88 trillion in the last fiscal and will reach Rs 2.04 trillion in the current year. UP has to pay Rs 333 billion which comprises interest payment of Rs 150 billion and repayment of capital of Rs 183 billion. Total borrowings by the UP government stands at Rs 339 billion which means that UP is taking on new debt to pay off the old one. This means that the state will have no money for infrastructure or development or will have to raise taxes even further. However, UP spent Rs 20 billion to erect a large number of ugly statues to present and past politicians. Tamil Nadu has debt of Rs 890 billion which will rise to over one trillion if even some of the promised bribes are distributed to voters. People have been promised color TVs, mixers, goats and cows among other bribes to vote for different gangs. It matters not a jot who wins the elections because people will have voted for the goodies and not the politicians. It would be best if the next state assembly consists of TVs, mixers, goats and cows and all the criminal politicians are dumped to where they belong. At least goats and cows will not steal, fight or murder. Sadly economists in India do not give us a total of all the debt incurred by the central and state governments and total interest payments compared to total income. It is possible that they are scared of writing the truth. At least a dozen activists using the Right to Information Act to expose corruption have been killed. Indian politicians are no different to the Ndrangheta in Italy or drug gangs in Mexico. By controlling the police they are much more successful.

Seems that the US just cannot stop meddling in the affairs of other countries without knowing what the outcome is likely to be. According to WikiLeaks the US has given $ 6 Million a satellite TV channel based in London whose broadcasts were against the Syrian establishment. Called Barada TV, its chief editor is Malik al-Abdeh who co-founded a Syrian exile group called Movement for Justice and Development. Majority of the Syrian people are Sunni ruled by minority Alawis who are related to Shias, the exact opposite of Bahrain where minority Sunnis rule a Shia population. Protests against Bashar al Assad's government in Syria is gathering momentum but no one knows who or what is going to replace him if he is deposed. The US financed the Orange revolution in Ukraine, thinking it would result in a pro western government but it fizzled out and pro RussianViktor Yanukovich is back in power as President. The US drove Saddam out and dismantled the Ba'ath party and the army resulting in a power vacuum which was filled by Al Qaida and other terrorists resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands. Everyone knows of supplying arms to the Taliban to fight the Russians, a stupidity the US is still paying for. NATO is attacking Libya trying to get rid of Gaddafi without having any idea as to who will replace him. Libyan bombing could end in a civil war or a rebel government led by Al Qaida. No one knows what personal reasons made tiny Qatar join in the bombing of Libya. Iran is making its own calculations. The middle east is muddle of personal and tribal loyalties and enmities. To stir the pot is an act of incredible stupidity.