Putin's Romance with Power

Love stories of politicians (of all hues) fascinate us all. Such affairs, most kept under wraps for obvious reasons, help the media make money, lend political rivals ammo, and the general public fun and scandal (depending on your point of view).

Last week, Moskovsky Korrespondent, a racy tabloid, published an editorial stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin had divorced Ludmila (Lyudmila), his wife of 25 years, and is all set to marry Alina Kabayeva, an Olympian gold medalist gymnast and a sitting member of the Parliament (she represents Putin's party). My first reaction? I thought Putin was going the Sarkozy way!!

While Putin reacted angrily to the news report, the gymnast also rubbished the story.

It is a rare first for a Russian publication to carry a story on their President's love life. In a polity whose every nuance is controlled by Putin, the publication of such a story, unsubstantiated at that, was bound to have repercussions. Heads had to roll.

And heads did roll. The editor of the publication resigned. The company that financed the publication backed out. It is now widely believed that the publication is all set to shut shop.

In the current international system, Putin is an exception. Exception because of his I-don't-give-a-damn-attitude towards the U.S. and western Europe. An autocrat, the former KGB spy has only one goal: to turn Russia into a global military powerhouse.

Putin believes that he can achieve this on the back of military technology amid an unprecedented oil boom - the idea being that energy money would help finance the development of highly advanced military technology.

More on Putin's plans for Russia later. But here's a peep (published in 2005 - well, three years in a marriage is an age) into the Russian President's conjugal life, in the words of his wife, Ludmila. And yes, Putin is a typical Oriental husband.

After stepping down from the presidency, Putin is returning as the Prime Minister. Who said that autocracy died with the demise of the Soviet Union?

XP's going out

Almost all posts on this blog feature issues concerning our national security, defence, foreign policy, and international terrorism.

This time around, I am posting a note, albeit a short one, on a tech-related issue that concerns most computer users. Microsoft has announced that Windows XP will be phased out by June 30. So what does it mean for XP users? Check out this article.

Commie Doublespeak

It is an open secret that the Communists in India owe their allegiance to China. That they care more for the progress, welfare, and 'image' of China than for their motherland could be known from their policies on defence and economic issues.

Last week, the ruling Communist party banned protests by Tibetan exiles. For a change, the print media (count out The Hindu) spoke out against commie doublespeak.

Here's an excerpt from an editorial in The Telegraph, published from Kolkata:

“Many years ago, the walls of Calcutta buildings used to declare in ugly graffiti that “China’s chairman is our chairman”. The possessive pronoun in the slogan signified the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). This craven loyalty to China was resurrected by none other than the government of West Bengal, when last week it prohibited a rally to protest against the repression being carried out in Tibet by the Chinese government. That prohibition order is somewhat unique: neither the government of India nor any other state government has instituted such a ban on any show of protest by Tibetans against the Chinese government. To see such an order being passed on a protest rally in a city like Calcutta is enough to take anyone’s breath away. Calcutta is famous (or infamous) as a city of processions and rallies; the party that heads the government of West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has on innumerable occasions taken out rallies to protest against acts of “imperialist aggression” by the United States of America. But when it comes to China, the CPI(M) and the government it runs quietly and shamelessly retract their radical fangs... The exhibition of this kind of solidarity has only served to reveal the scant respect the CPI(M) and the government of West Bengal have for democracy and its rights. This might win the CPI(M) a few points in China but will fetch it none in India. It has covered the party in shame.”

I could have hardly put my views better than this.

Source:
Doublespeak
Editorial
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080416/jsp/opinion/story_9141947.jsp

China's Cyber War

China has, over the years, been indulging in industrial espionage. It has been trying various means to get its hands on sophisticated western technology.

China has, in fact, penetrated (with alarming success) American and western European companies and research labs to get access to sensitive military and industrial technology, especially related to missile defence and advanced weaponry.

The Communist giant is now waging a cyber war through hacking the networks of the western industrial behemoths. It's only natural that these attacks have left the governments in these countries nervous and shaky.

Shaken by these attacks, the western intelligence agencies, backed by their political masters, all pulling all stops to stop the Chinese hackers. Will they succeed?

Just last week, the Government of India vehemently denied that Chinese hackers have crashed the computer networks belonging to the Ministry of External Affairs.

We in India always live in denial.

A cup of tea for $204 million!!

Would you buy a cup of tea for Z$204 million? Yes? No? Or are you simply confounded? I guess you would not be if you were in Mugabeland. Check it out here.

In this article Chris McGreal of The Observer traces the history of the current crisis in Mugabeland. In this superb article, the author talks of how a seemingly innocuous letter sent a decade earlier could have ignited the flames which have engulfed today's Zimbabwe.

And yes, do not forget to read why Mugabe has called Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, a tiny dot.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Mugabeland

I became interested in countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa when I was around 13. A land's physical geography, history, people, culture, and polity have always fascinated me.

I remember the names of three leaders from Africa: Robert Mugabe, Sam Nujoma, and Nelson Mandela. Let me ramble about Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is one of Africa's most 'in-the-news' countries. The history of Zimbabwe since its independence from Great Britain in 1980 runs parallel to the history of the presidency of Robert Mugabe, one of the world's longest serving head of state.

Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe has turned into an international basket case. Polity-wise, Mugabe has, with an iron fist, turned the country's sham democratic system into a one-man rule. There is press censorship, political repression, and arbitrary detention of political rivals. In fact, last year Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s biggest rival and head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was tortured after being arrested on a trumped charge of treason.

Also, Mugabe has systematically, and, to the dismay of ordinary Zimbabweans, 'successfully', destroyed the country's economy. He pursued radical and arbitrary land reforms, which saw the transfer of land from white farmers to blacks. Like his other corrupt policies, the end beneficiaries here were not the poor Zimbabweans but Mugabe’s political supporters. (Come to think of it, politicians everywhere are the same.)

Foreign investment has dried up. Unemployment is peaking. Power supply is almost non-existent. Infrastructure is crumbling.

Today, Zimbabwe has the world’s highest inflation rate – 26,000 per cent, though unofficial figures put it at a staggering 8,00,000 per cent!! The purchasing value of the currency has plunged so much so that it is now being issued with expiry date!!!

In a recent article, Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe's biggest challenger, has voiced fear that Mugabe might use force to 'steal' the presidential election. Mugabe's ZANU-PF has already lost the recent parliamentary election to the MDC.

Will there will be change in Harare? The events in the next few days will give us the answer.

9/11 hatched by the CIA?

How often have you heard that the 9/11 attacks were a conspiracy hatched by the CIA, hand in glove with the Bush Administration? Another famous conspiracy theory is that these spectacular attacks were the end result of a plot hatched by The Mossad.

Were these attacks really conspired by the CIA / Bush Administration / The Mossad? How about a rebuttal from Al-Qaeda itself?

Check this Video.

When all else fails, cry conspiracy.

Lies, Distortions, & The Hindu

An independent press is one of the four pillars of democracy, a genuine one at that. The press in India is free, well largely, of government control. But is it free from prejudice?

The Indian Express is largely anti-establishment while The Times of India is pro-whatever increases its bottom-line.

Even regional newspapers have their own axe to grind. Take for example, the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chronicle which is pro-Congress while the vernacular daily, Eenadu, is pro-TDP and vehemently anti-Congress.

Not that I care about these newspapers. Newspapers tell us what they want to tell us.

When it comes to reflecting bias and a deep prejudice, one newspaper, which calls itself India’s only national newspaper, takes the cake. No marks for guessing the name of the newspaper. Yes, I am referring to The Hindu.

The Hindu is owned, managed, and edited by hardcore communists. Run like a family enterprise, The Hindu is unabashedly pro-Communism, pro-China, anti-Hinduism, anti-BJP, anti-America, and anti-Capitalism.

Never mind, the “liberal and secular” intellectuals would have us believe otherwise.

Let me cite a couple of examples. The Hindu advocates a tough line against the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal. The daily says that the government should not go ahead with the deal as it is loaded in favour of the U.S., the epitome of imperialism. It also says that the deal impinges on our national sovereignty.

All the while the newspaper maintains an eerie silence on China’s nuclear deal with the U.S. To get the deal, China agreed to all terms dictated by the U.S. To propel its fast-growing economy, China needs energy. So it got the deal, whatever be the conditions.

So what about India? Well, the daily says that India should rely on indigenous technology to get energy and also import such resources from untrustworthy nations like Iran (I will reserve this for some other day). China should progress, India should not. Why? Because China is communist!!

Just look at what’s happening in Tibet. While the unrest, riots, and consequent repressive measures unleashed by the Chinese authorities made headlines across the world, The Hindu didn’t carry any major news story on the explosive situation. The commie mouthpiece simply toed the Chinese government’s line, copied reports from the Chinese official media agency and published them in its pages.

Like the Chinese government, The Hindu has called the Dalai Lama a liar and a subversive element. In fact, in an op-ed in the edition dated April 3, 2008, The Hindu had this to say about the Dalai Lama:

"What those urging China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama fail to recognise is the fact that Beijing’s main constituency is not the international community but its own domestic public. For Beijing to appear ‘soft’ on the Dalai Lama would be as politically unpalatable domestically asit would be in the United States were Washington to decide to engage in dialogue with Osama bin Laden."

To read the article, click here.

Just look at the comparison: the Dalai Lama is like Osama bin Laden!! One of the greatest pacifists of our time is being equated with the most dangerous terrorist the world has ever seen. A bankrupt ideology (read Communism) has coloured the way The Hindu reports the truth.

Think. Think hard.

India's Tibet Travails

A short backgrounder on Tibet:
Tibet, before its occupation by China in 1959, was a theocracy. The occupation saw the killing of thousands of Buddhist monks by communist China’s military. In the years after the escape of the Dalai Lama, the besieged nation’s top spiritual leader, on horseback to India, almost all symbols of the ancient heritage of Tibet have been systematically erased. Jawaharlal Nehru had, even before the ’62 war, recognized Tibet as part of China.

Today there is a Tibetan government-in-exile with its headquarters in McLeodganj in Himachal Pradesh. Thousands of Tibetans—both first generation refugees and their descendants—have made India their home. Over the years, India extended moral and diplomatic support to the Tibetans.

All that is changing and how.

Last year the U.S. Congress conferred the 'Congressional Gold Medal' on the Dalai Lama. China was quick to denounce the U.S. move to honour its bête noire.

For fear of antagonising China and its stooges in India – the Indian commies (like Prakash Karat & A. B. Bardhan), the UPA government asked its ministers (& top bureaucrats) to avoid meeting the Dalai Lama upon his return from the U.S. (In more normal times, such meetings would not even classify as news. But then we live in not-so normal times.)

In March this year, India’s External Affairs Minister (EAM), Pranab Mukherjee, ‘advised’ the Dalai Lama not to conduct any political activities from India. The EAM said that “[We] will continue to extend the Dalai Lama all hospitality, but during his stay in India, he should not do any political activity that could adversely affect relations between India and China”.

I believe that this policy of publicly distancing herself from the Tibetans is a deliberate move by the Government of India. The reasons for this significant shift are not far to seek:

(a) Nuclear Deal. India needs China’s approval in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to get a waiver;
(b) Trade. Burgeoning trade between the two nations – as of now, China is India’s second biggest trade partner;
(c) Reciprocity. Kashmir is India’s bugbear just as Tibet is China’s.
(d) 1962 defeat. Rarely acknowledged but nevertheless our humiliating defeat continues to shape our almost condescending attitude towards China.

However, what worries me more is that if this could happen when the Dalai Lama is around, imagine what would happen after his death. As of now, the Tibetan community (outside Tibet) does not boast of even a single individual with the charisma, and more importantly, spiritual hold, to replace the Dalai Lama. So is the Tibetan movement doomed? Let me not sit in judgement here.

I hate to sound pessimistic, but maybe the Indian government is simply waiting for the Dalai Lama to pass away. At least then, we would not have to put up the charade of standing up for the freedom-loving, oppressed, and repressed.

Afghanistan's Opium Brides

One of my major interests is to read and write on international affairs. (I write for my company publication.) Societies especially those that promote violence elsewhere have always sustained my interest for a good 19 years now. As a logical corollary, I am equally interested in societies that are at the receiving end of such exported, often proxy, violence.

One such society is Afghanistan. A God-forsaken place (the Taliban would kill me for this blasphemy!), Afghanistan is one of the world's most lawless states wracked by ethnic, sectarian, and political violence. Almost all violence is perpetrated by the Taliban (the word comes from Talib, meaning 'student'), created and nurtured by Pakistan.

Pakistan promoted the Taliban and helped it capture Kabul in 1996, in the process ousting a pro-India regime. One major objective behind this Paki move was to secure the Durand Line (the boundary line between Afghanistan & Pakistan). Why? Well, Pakistan strategised that if the western border could be secured by putting in place a pro-Pak regime in Kabul, then it could move its military forces away from the Durand Line to the eastern border with India, esp. in Kashmir. (In light of these facts, we can well appreciate the rise in infiltration and terrorist activity in J&K, all culminating in the Kargil misadventure by the Pak army.)

When the Taliban captured power, of course in league with Al-Qaeda, it became the first terrorist organisation in the world to run a state. The Taliban government was, as expected, recognised by three states only - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

The Taliban imposed a very strict and ultra-orthodox variety of Islam on the multi-ethnic society of Afghanistan. Men had to grow beards; women had to sit at home and could venture out only if accompanied by male member of the family. All forms of entertainment - TV, cinema, music - were banned on grounds of being unIslamic.

The country under the Taliban resembled a medievel state with terrorism and opium being its major exports. It was from here that Osama planned the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. In hindsight, the spectacular attack on the twin towers also brought about the terrorist regime's downfall.

America issued an ultimatum: Either you are with us, or against us. Pakistan, faced with a Hobson's choice and afraid of dire consequences, preferred to sleep with the Taliban's enemy. The War on Terror had begun when the Pakis threw out their baby (read Taliban) with the hot water.

Backed by the U.S.-led coalition forces and India, the Northern Alliance, a ragtag alliance of desperate warlords all united by their fear and hatred of the Taliban, captured power. Ever since, the Taliban, now covertly supported by the Pak military and the ISI, has been trying, albeit in vain, to recapture Kabul.

Where do the Taliban get money to fund their military strikes against the U.S. & NATO peace-keeping forces? The zealots extract ransom from opium farmers. While Islam forbids the cultivation of such crops, it is a matter of convenience for the Taliban. (I guess 'faith in religion' has always been a matter of convenience.)

Today Afghanistan contributes 91 per cent of all opium produced in the world. Most of it is grown in the south, especially in the Helmand province controlled by the Taliban.

The Hamid Karzai administration, under pressure from the U.S., has systematically destroyed thousands of acres of opium farms. While the move appears positive, it has brought in its wake massive suffering to those whose farmlands have been destroyed. How?

In a land where the State, if we look at the welfare function of it, is absent, eking out the simplest form of existence often becomes a matter of life and death. No irrigation, no organised credit, no seed bank, and no help of any kind from the State have pushed even the unwilling farmer into producing opium.

A dangerous consequence of the destruction of the opium farms has been the growth in the number of the opium brides. What's this?

Let me explain this social tragedy. When an opium farmer borrows money from a drug trafficker, who's hand-in-glove with the Taliban and corrupt government officials, to raise a crop, he promises to pay the trafficker a particular quantity of the crop (opium).

The razing of thousand of acres of standing crop by the government has driven the opium farmer to the edge. The ruthless drug trafficker, as is his wont, presents a stark choice to the opium farmer: face death or give the daughter in marriage.

More than the fear of death, it is for his love of the whole family, the farmer is forced to 'sell' his daughter to the drug trafficker. The girl, in most cases is under 14; the drug trafficker is generally not below 40. Girls married off in this fashion are called opium brides.

Such opium brides live a life worse than death. They are not allowed to commit suicide, for death would be an escape, escape from the clutches of hell.

She works like a slave, from the crack of the dawn to the end of the day. She can't leave the house without being accompanied by a male member of the family; can't talk to anyone deemed a stranger; can't attend school or educate herself, and is covered from head to toe by a burqa.

For all practical purposes, she remains the trafficker's sex slave, to be sexually and physical assaulted by him. All this would happen to someone who is below 14.

If a farmer would say no i.e. not 'sell' his daughter, then he meets death in a ghastly manner. Wish to know how?

First, the farmer's hands and legs are bound. Next, he is thrown into a windowless room with a smouldering fire. The farmer slowly chokes his way to death.

I strongly believe that violence is endemic to societies which lack respect for basic human freedoms. The Taliban's atrocities have only reinforced my belief.

Rowing through Hell

I am being rowed through Paradise on a river of Hell:
Exquisite ghost, it is night.
The paddle it is a heart; it breaks the porcelain waves...

I'm everything you lost. You won't forgive me.
My memory keeps getting in the way of your history.
There is nothing to forgive. You won't forgive me.
I hid my pain even from myself; I revealed my pain
only to myself.
There is everything to forgive. You can't forgive me.
If only somehow you could have been mine,
what would not have been possible in this world?

- Agha Shahid Ali, The Country Without a Post Office

20 Great Money Rules

Recently, I came across this list of so-called great money rules. Are they? Post your comments.

1. Be humble
When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it -- this is knowledge. (Confucius)

2. Take calculated risks
He that is overcautious will accomplish little. (Friedrich von Schiller)

3. Have an emergency fund
For age and want, save while you may; no morning sun lasts a whole day. (Benjamin Franklin)

4. Mix it up
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow and not to venture all his eggs in one basket. (Miguel de Cervantes)

5. It's the portfolio, stupid
Asset allocation...is the overwhelmingly dominant contributor to total return. (Gary Brinson)

6. Average is the new best
The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund. (Warren Buffett)

7. Practice patience
It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It was always my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! (Edwin Lefevre)

8. Don't time the market
The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them. (Peter Lynch)

9. Be a cheapskate
Performance comes and goes, but costs roll on forever. (Jack Bogle)

10. Don't follow the crowd
Fashion is made to become unfashionable. (Coco Chanel)

11. Buy low
If a business is worth a dollar and I can buy it for 40 cents, something good may happen to me. (Warren Buffett)

12. Invest abroad
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. (St. Augustine)

13. Keep perspective

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know. (Harry Truman)

14. Just do it
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

15. Borrow responsibly
As life closes in on someone who has borrowed far too much money on the strength of far too little income, there are no fire escapes. (John K. Galbraith)

16. Talk to your spouse
In every house of marriage there's room for an interpreter. (Stanley Kunitz)

17. Exit gracefully
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. (Pablo Picasso)

18. Pay only your share
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward. (John M. Keynes)

19. Give wisely

The time is always right to do the right thing. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

20. Keep money in its place
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. (Jonathan Swift)

Source:
20 Timeless Money Rules

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0708/gallery.20_rules.moneymag/index.html

My First Post

Here's one of my most fav poems:

She by the river sat,
And sitting there, she wept,
And made the river,
Deeper by a tear.