SUPERPOWER INDIA: Don't just talk, ACT LIKE ONE!

This is an excerpt from the op-ed section of the daily Deccan Chronicle newspaper dated 9th January, 2009, written by Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh (retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Vishakapatnam)

THE SERIES of events after 26/11(including the January 1 Guwahati bomb blasts) have left no one in any doubt about a few facts. Any naval specialist will agree that the manner in which the 10 terrorists attacked Mumbai, including the transit in the Indian fishing boat Kuber, could only be possible with the involvement of the ISI, the Pakistani Army and Navy. There is an urgent need for certain regulations to be implemented in full force, since the roller coaster-initial "vehement denial" followed by "Yes, Kasav is Pakistani", ISI leaflets given to Pakistani Army about dismembering India by 2020 - indicate that Pakistan does not have peace on its mind. Poonch firefighting indicates the shape of things to come from the "epicentre of terrorism" aka Pakistan.
The manner in which the Pakistan military, hell-bent on destabilizing and dismembering India, took over the decision making process from the President Asif Ali Zardari and his nascent government to win public support for the discredited military and from the terrorists to "defend Pakistan" in case of war, has left no one in doubt that the Pakistani Army Chief, General Ashraf Parvez Kayani, is the decision-maker in that troubled land with the Pakistani government acting as his spokesperson. Indeed, temperatures went up last month when Gen. Kayani said "Pakistan will act in minutes", and things cooled down only when, on Dec 29th, he said "There is a need to de-escalate" Why did Gen Kayani raise the war hysteria pitch to such levels, and why did the media report that the Pakistani Army has withdrawn troops from the Afghan border? The answer may not be too difficult. Unlike India, where the Indian military has been denied hardware viz the Comptroller and Audit General(CAG) report of Oct 24, 208 showing gaping holes in air defence, submarine force levels etc. The Pakistan military machine on the other hand, has been kept well-oiled with the $10 billion in aid received in the last seven years. It is, indeed, amazing that Pakistan despite being totally bankrupt has managed a $8 BILLION IMF loan, asked for a $60 billion "grant" to boost its economy, is acquiring three German-type 214 submarines, co-producing 150 Chinese FC-17 light fighter jets, inducting 36 Chinese FC-20(J-10) heavy fighter jets, three Chinese frigates, Swedish and Chinese AWACs, F-16 fighter jets, artillery and Brazilian SAMs.Buoyed by the "success" of the 10-man terrorist strike on 26/11, and emboldened by the "civilized and diplomatic" response of the Indian government and international community (the US is planning to give Pakistan another $15 billion, God knows how could that be possible!!), the Pakistan military, ISI and various terrorist outfits would be planning more devastating attacks in the near future. These attacks could be form the sea, air or land, or a combination which would aim to saturate India's response mechanism, cause maximum damage and pull us into the "failed state quagmire" of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

So how does India prepare for this "doomsday" scenario? The answers are equally complex. The government has taken a few punitive steps by introducing the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and making the 1967 Act stiffer. A few other highly publicized steps are on the anvil. However, preventing future attacks will require a series if urgent and transparent steps. In addition to deporting the estimated 25 million Bangladeshis, and introducing a proposed single accountable window, a homeland security adviser, electronic data link and bank, it is essential to introduce accountability in the bureaucracy. The same needs to be done with so many non-performing DRDO projects which have consumed thousands of crores of rupees and still left the nation with no option but to import hardware - even the DRDO electronic transponders for fishing boats have been "on the anvil" for over three years. It is hoped that past bureaucratic delays are not repeated and the nation gets the hardware and the man-power needed to deal with terrorism.

The government needs to promulgate by Jan 31 a list of organisational changes (including single window accountability), along with manpower and hardware which have received financial approval for a time-bound completion, particularly with regard to intelligence, police, industrial and nuclear plants' security, maritime security(port, coastal and blue water), artillery, night vision devices, radar cover, air defence and strategic deterrent. The dragon entered our "porous blue water backyard" when the Chinese Navy dispatched two destroyers and a logistics ship on December 29, 2008 for a prolonged anti-piracy deployment in the Gulf of Aden. No doubt these Chinese warships will now use the Gwadar port(which China built and gifted it to Pakistan) for 'operational turnaround" of its warships and submarines.The Chinese naval presence will further embolden Pakistan and the security implications of this "blue water" capability, augmenting the current asymmetric "brown water" coastal threat to India, need to be understood by the Indian Government. While coastal security measures are finally on the front burner, the only antidote to Chinese blue water capability would be Indian nuclear hunter killer submarines (SSNs) and Long-Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft(LRMP of the recently contracted Boeing P8i type). Four SSNs would need to be inducted on priority.

The next few weeks will be critical as India gears up for national elections and the political leadership may need to remind itself that the security of the nation is paramount. In addition to raising the military's morale, India must prepare contingency plans for the "almost inevitable" terror strikes in future. Our options are, perhaps, limited to initiating prolonged covert strikes(by "non-state actors") against "official and unofficial" terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Bangladesh(i.e reversing Pakistan's policy of "death by a thousand cuts"). Diplomatic pressure alone is not expected to provide early results given Pakistan's geo-strategic location and multiple power centres. The option of withdrawing the Indus Water Treaty is a non starter since China will then have a precedent to divert its rivers from flowing into Assam and Himachal Pradesh. Similarly, the talk of a "naval blockade" shows ignorance of the fact that such a blockade(like a surgical strikes) is a declaration of war.

The time will soon come for India to "stop talking" and start acting like an emerging superpower of one billion people, "exercise the covert option" and not expect other nations to provide security to our citizens. And if a combination of diplomatic and covert operations fail to eliminate terror networks in Pakistan and Bangladesh, THEN INDIA SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR WAR....

JAI HIND!!

The Taj Is Falling

A classic example of the Media going overboard was their coverage of the Mumbai blasts during the past weeks.

Terrorism is, as the cliched line goes, a despicable thing and has to be rooted out entirely. But I see half-baked notions of protest coming from all the wrong areas, blaming the Government for security failures and demanding action from the central powers.

The Mumbai attacks have in fact exposed numerous flaws in our security system. And ignoring Intelligence reports from Russia was the least of them. Ratan Tata paid dearly for his lethargic response, or null response to security reports of hotels being targeted. The fact that ten terrorists docked at the Cuffe Parade neighbourhood with zero police resistance speaks more than we need to know about our Coastal Guard.

Now its a known fact all over the world that Pakistan manufactures almost 75% of the World's terrorists. And the Paki claim that they had absolutely nothing to do with the attack was in the lines of George Harrison claiming he had nothing to do with the Beatles. A Pakistani daily went as far as accusing India of conspiracy, and here is the link to the article.

Titled '5 Points That Destroy India's Latest Mumbai Fairytale', the guys have listed 8 credible (in their opinion) points (and we know a Paki's opinion is held in high esteem worldwide), so its a wonder that those guys can count at all. The article states that the Mumbai attack has all the makings of a Bollywood blockbuster and that its incredible how a gang of armed terrorists managed to enter Mumbai through the sea, divide into various groups, take over posh hotels dodging security systems and the coastal guard along the way, battle it out with the NSG, and all but one terrorist is killed and he confirms their identity as LeT. The article further states that had the ISI been involved, things would have been more professional, that is, the terrorists would have sailed from Dubai, Chittagong or Eden and would not have carried along ID cards in their pockets confirming their identities.

Though their points seem highly incredible, it is true that our security systems have been asleep all the while.

And what does the CM then do?? He takes Ram Gopal Varma, yes, the very same bastard who sent us to hell and back through his Aag, to the battlesite and gives him a guided tour. These two-bit politicians are not to blame, though. The ones that elected them are to blame.

I see scores and scores of 'indignant' citizens in Mumbai holding protests and doing peace marches, and I feel that they have no darn right to protest anyway. Did they elect the current Government? Did the angry middle class go vote for their leaders? How then can they expect peace in a city, which houses scoundrels like Raj and Bal Thackeray? Why should every terrorist be viewed as a goddamn muslim? Almost all terrorists are Muslims, yes, but let us first scourge out the ones that stir trouble up every single week in the name of upholding their 'culture'. The major ones strike once in a while, but the minor ones are a constant pain in the ass.

The media has exploited the story for all its worth, with their reporters in the 'field', giving out the same reports again and again even if there is nothing new to tell us. They have dubbed these attacks 26/11 too. Are we so worthless a nation that we name our film industry after the American counterpart, and also our terror attacks on theirs? Don't we have an identity? They spent a whole week showing the 'remains' of the battle, jumping about, fake tears in eyes, screening interviews with the 'indignant' 'protesting' citizens. It is a shame, but then, the media thrives on shamelessness.

Celebrities and Page-3 circles complain of lack of security from behind their bulletproof walls and police barricades. They complain of a sense of fear, when thousands walk the streets homeless and without a shelter above their heads, braving the odds stacked up against them. The attacks have been predominantly on posh high-class areas like the Taj and the Oberoi, and thats why you see so much coverage and anger this time.

The media did not harp on about the previous Train blasts or other riots with this frenzy and intensity, because for the first time, the higher circles have been targeted and affected. The Big-B's with their goatees and their Limo's have seen their hangouts trashed, and they have realised that all the money in the world can't save them in the face of mindless terrorism. And thats why you see the cogs finally moving, thats why you see the various resignations.

This Mumbai attack is no different than the ones that have shaken our country periodically, its just a matter of class. The furor generated by the general public is just a facade, there is no substance in it, and outrage shown by the cream of our society is just a simple case of peeing-in-one's-pants. All this Mumbai attack has resulted in is extra security for our politicians and the celebrities and a lot of fodder for the Media. The common man remains sadly lost in the background.

We need to eliminate the sources of tension, the land where all this springs from. We need to elect our leaders to expect security in return. Or we should just cope with the situation and mind our business.

And somebody please shut Barkha Dutt up. She's gonna get herself killed.

AN HONEST APPROACH

Its common knowledge now, the whole world is grappling with a severe economic crisis. Every newspaper is devoting at least half a page to impress that fact, the business section of the electronic media has been broadcasting nothing but plunging statistics, dwindling figures and unbelievably sluggish trading. Now, this topic is one of the most talked about by the masses ranging from the elite creme de la creme to the legendary middle class people. To be honest, this blog I'm attempting to create is equivalent to jumping head-long into an ocean without any diving kit. But contrary to that life-threatening situation, I don't stand at any risk of being fatally harmed. I may be at the receiving end of brickbats rather than bouquets, but its a worthy attempt. The primary aim I wish to achieve through this post is to elucidate the gravity of the current economic situation in simple words by which, particularly the student community can be enlightened. So here I go..

The symptoms of the current economic recession started showing up in the year 2006. Check out this video http://westtnliving.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/peter-schiff-predicting-the-us-economic-recession-in-2006-watch-video-here/. Those big fart-mouths who had smugly rejected Peter Schiff's predictions as downright outrageous would be very glad to evaporate from the face of this planet. Peter, though said this just 2 years back. Some renown economic gurus of our country predicted this as early as 1992! How was that? Well, it took the Americans a lot of time to get to atleast half the depth of this economic abyss. Or to be precise the Western minds just don't want to get to the bottom of this problem; its more than an economic crisis. Its a sociological, cultural and a political crisis which is gripping the United States of America. It all started with the advent of GLOBALIZATION, the merging of all discrete markets of the world into one humongous world market in the year 1991. The very idea of globalization has its roots in the very framing of the American economy.

The concept of Communism was given a death sentence during the 1980s. The West looked upon this event as a victory not only for Capitalism, but also for unbridled democracy and individualism. Francis Fukuyama, one of the most widely acknowledged intellectuals of the West, in his book " The End of History and the Last Man" said that the end of Communism has brought an end to the possibility of human conflicts in the future after the Cold War period and the fall of the Berlin Wall. He predicted that the society will achieve the highest perfection after embracing the ideals of free market and liberal democracy based on individualism. Before we make any judgements about this intellectual, let me also point out that Mr. Fukuyama is one among the forty co-signors of William Kristol's September 20, 2001 letter to President George W. Bush after the infamous 9/11 attacks that sugested the U.S to 'capture or kill Osama and to destroy his network of associates'. But after witnessing the gravity of the sacrilege committed by USA, he began shying away from the arena of Neoconservatism, his forte. And later on, he flipped sides and voted for Barack Obama during the 2008 Presidental elections. He's an intellectual indeed!!

Here are the reality bites... "Individual-centric liberal democracy and free market capitalism are eroding the civilisational and cultural assets and unbalancing the society." The validity and legitimacy of Fukuyama's theory underwent the acid test during the last couple of years and now the time has come to declare the result. Let us assess the performance of the Capitalist market from various points of view. It all started with the passing of the Federal Reserve Act on December 23 1913, which paved the way for private bankers to gain control over America's money. The then President of America, Woodrow Wilson repented deeply mind you, for having signed the act to come into full force. Therefore it is no accident that America is an empty shell of the great economic power it once had. Bled dry by debt imposed by those whose sole intent was to profit, the US is now bankrupt at a time it desperately needs the resources it no longer has. The Federal Reserve Bank is controlled by a small group of dominant men-private bankers who through their control of the Federal Reserve now control America . This group comprises of the Rothschilds of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers of Paris; Israel Moses Seif of Italy; Kuhn, Loeb and Warburg of Germany; and the Lehman Brothers, Goldman, Sachs and the Rockefeller families of New York. The Federal Reserve is so sinister in its existence! I'm not able to log into any of their official websites! FED is the only-for-profit corporation in America that is exempt from both federal and state taxes.The FED takes in about one trillion dollars per year tax free! The banking families listed above get all that money.Their practices are equally sinister as it is the only banking system in the world which creates "money from nothing". How is that?

This is achieved by a form of banking called "fractional banking". The money created is then lent to the concerned party and an interest is levied on that sum. This practice existed before the birth of banks. Goldsmiths rented out space in their vaults to individuals and merchants for storage of their gold or silver. The goldsmiths gave these "depositors" a certificate that showed the amount of gold stored. These certificates were then used to conduct business.

In time the goldsmiths noticed that the gold in their vaults was rarely withdrawn. Small amounts would move in and out but the large majority never moved. Sensing a profit opportunity, the goldsmiths issued double receipts for the gold, in effect creating money (certificates) from nothing and then lending those certificates (creating debt) to depositors and charging them interest as well. Since the certificates represented more gold than actually existed, the certificates were "fractionally" backed by gold. Eventually some of these vault operations were transformed into banks and the practice of fractional banking continued. Hence the concept evolved. The first bank of the United States, BUS practiced fractional lending at a 10:1 rate i.e ten dollars of loans for each dollar they had on deposit. This abuse was eventually discovered and the BUS was forced to stop operation.

The current functioning of FED is just equivalent to "an old wine in a new bottle". For further details on debt monetization, refer to this link http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2005/09/what_is_debt_mo.html. The plight of the faithful citizens of USA is woeful. Many of them are not aware of the exact functioning of the FED, which thrives in its complex functioning matrix. The people of USA are waking up to the impending doom that may befall their homeland gifted to them by their mighty forefathers in 1776. Thomas Jefferson, though envisioned this 150 years ago. And this is just reason #1. The second cause for the fall of the US economy will be discussed in the next post. Dear readers, i kindly request you to understand every point of this blog. Your self-awareness will be your only trustworthy armor in times of trouble.

(References: Excerpts from S.Gurumurthy's coillection of speeches, The World Beyond Marx and Market by S.Gurumurthy, wikipedia.org, petitiononline.com,economistsview.typepad.com,www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7920.html,fdrs.org)

Prologue

This one is for the commoners, the massive swarm of citizens in the Indian Subcontinent, the general public.

The living mesh of ideals and cultures, the poor, the rich, the successful, the downtrodden, the passer-by and the on-looker, the hater and the hated, the critic and the layman, and even single conceivable entity completing the significant amalgamation that is India.

This is a platform to discuss you hardened political or social views, a platform where criticism is welcomed with open arms. No ideal can be deemed perfect enough to run a country of billions, every view needs its prior pruning. Only through criticism will there be two sides to the discussion, the debate, which will ultimately lead to more clarity in viewing our social spectrum and probably will yield satisfactory results.

Our ideas and thoughts keeps evolving or changing, so self-contradictory comments will be part of the game, and I trust those with a broad mind shall overlook these small inaccuracies and concentrate more on the core of any issue.

This is me, Ganesh, signing off.