Friday, December 31, 2010
Petty crime in Delhi
At least 20% of murder cases registered in the Capital in 2010 was over petty reasons, possibly around 100 convictions.
A man murdered his neighbour for kicking his dog in Outer Delhi.
A man was killed for breaking the queue at a public toilet in Civil Lines, North Delhi.
A man refused to let another man make a call from his cellphone, and was murdered.
An educated couple was arrested after they beat up and set afire the hands of their underage domestic help after the girl burnt the chapattis for dinner in January this year.
A man was beaten to death after he raised an objection to his neighbour passing urine at the wall of his house.
Is it 'just Delhi'? Perhaps not. The tinge of sarcasm in the two letters Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s sent recently to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddha-deb Bhattacharya cannot be missed. Chidambaram has not only asked Buddhadeb to himself suggest another word for ‘Harmad’ (hired killers) — the usage of which had been strongly objected to by the Bengal CM — but also sought to correct him on the number of his own party’s cadre killed or injured.
Now it seems Buddha can't meet Chidambaram in Delhi at the moment.
Didi says (in some detail) that Buddha is arrogant and a friend of the Maoists. As noted earlier in this blog, CPI(M) militia seem to be killing off potential TMC supporters.
IMO: What a sad state of affairs. But AFAIK, at least the 'murder buses' in Delhi may have been reduced with the introduction of the now crowded subway
A man murdered his neighbour for kicking his dog in Outer Delhi.
A man was killed for breaking the queue at a public toilet in Civil Lines, North Delhi.
A man refused to let another man make a call from his cellphone, and was murdered.
An educated couple was arrested after they beat up and set afire the hands of their underage domestic help after the girl burnt the chapattis for dinner in January this year.
A man was beaten to death after he raised an objection to his neighbour passing urine at the wall of his house.
Is it 'just Delhi'? Perhaps not. The tinge of sarcasm in the two letters Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s sent recently to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddha-deb Bhattacharya cannot be missed. Chidambaram has not only asked Buddhadeb to himself suggest another word for ‘Harmad’ (hired killers) — the usage of which had been strongly objected to by the Bengal CM — but also sought to correct him on the number of his own party’s cadre killed or injured.
Now it seems Buddha can't meet Chidambaram in Delhi at the moment.
Didi says (in some detail) that Buddha is arrogant and a friend of the Maoists. As noted earlier in this blog, CPI(M) militia seem to be killing off potential TMC supporters.
IMO: What a sad state of affairs. But AFAIK, at least the 'murder buses' in Delhi may have been reduced with the introduction of the now crowded subway
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Recorded comments
Henry Kissinger said it was no concern of the United States if Soviet Jews were gassed, in conversations barely a year before Nixon was forced to quit over the Watergate scandal.
Seems to have upset some Jews, who clearly did not grasp Kissinger's 'big picture'. And 'Slate' seems to disapprove of his views.
And it also seems he did not like Irish or Italian people either. "The Irish have certain -- for example, the Irish can't drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I've known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish."
"The Italians, of course, those people course don't have their heads screwed on tight". "The Jews are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality."
About black Africans Kissinger said " they have to be, frankly, inbred."
IMO: Looks like Kissinger might not have been a suitable advisor for Pres. Obama, then. But Kissinger certainly 'helped' the Han Chinese a lot. Obviously a real master of diplomacy - as long as his privately recorded comments were not made available. But you wonder what he would have made of Wikileaks. Anyway politician's statements should not have to be watered down enough to be practically meaningless. Well they do not have to be watered down in a democracy, but if not carefully considered before utterance, nowadays they could lose a lot of votes. Overall the eventual worry may mostly be about the state of the democratic process.
Seems to have upset some Jews, who clearly did not grasp Kissinger's 'big picture'. And 'Slate' seems to disapprove of his views.
And it also seems he did not like Irish or Italian people either. "The Irish have certain -- for example, the Irish can't drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I've known gets mean when he drinks. Particularly the real Irish."
"The Italians, of course, those people course don't have their heads screwed on tight". "The Jews are just a very aggressive and abrasive and obnoxious personality."
About black Africans Kissinger said " they have to be, frankly, inbred."
IMO: Looks like Kissinger might not have been a suitable advisor for Pres. Obama, then. But Kissinger certainly 'helped' the Han Chinese a lot. Obviously a real master of diplomacy - as long as his privately recorded comments were not made available. But you wonder what he would have made of Wikileaks. Anyway politician's statements should not have to be watered down enough to be practically meaningless. Well they do not have to be watered down in a democracy, but if not carefully considered before utterance, nowadays they could lose a lot of votes. Overall the eventual worry may mostly be about the state of the democratic process.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Road Traffic in Margoa
The last time I was in Bangkok, some years ago now, it could be said to have had the worst traffic in the world. Along one of the main local arteries, the Sukhumvit, the congestion was so bad that it was customary enough for cab drivers to carry a mobile toilet in the back of the car, for their own puposes as much or more than for the passengers.
Now you could argue that, of course that would not be necessary in a town like Margao where it has been reported that the waste from pig toilets has been run into the street in front of open air restaurants. But no ! The traffic is actually far worse in Margao than I can recall in Bangkok - if anyone can imagine that - but there are no delays of the same nature.
"It Worked For Us" is a nicely written article which sums up a view on India and introduces the ideas of a 'secular' rate of growth and a 'Hindu' rate of growth. I would take the matter further and make it multinational and suggest that there may be a "Buddhist" road traffic pattern and a "Hindu" road traffic pattern. Once that assumption is taken the matter is clear. In Buddhist traffic, everyone uses the time for Buddhist contemplation (or at least a sizeable minority do) and in Hindu traffic many are hurrying to get to their next reincarnation. So you do not have as many delays but many people find the rides scary. And there seems to be worse traffic problems in Margao.
Maybe that is fanciful, I hope so. The argument could be made that there are many Christians in Goa but appearances aside, there are actually mainly Hindus. According last year's 'Lonely Planet' there are 65% Hindus, 30% Catholics. And anyway the Catholics seem even more eager to reach the presence of St. Peter and the 'pearly gates' of Heaven.
The big worry may now be Ratnagiri - nuclear energy waits for no-one. Of course Ratnagiri is far from Delhi, so 'that's all right' to a Delhi politician.
Now you could argue that, of course that would not be necessary in a town like Margao where it has been reported that the waste from pig toilets has been run into the street in front of open air restaurants. But no ! The traffic is actually far worse in Margao than I can recall in Bangkok - if anyone can imagine that - but there are no delays of the same nature.
"It Worked For Us" is a nicely written article which sums up a view on India and introduces the ideas of a 'secular' rate of growth and a 'Hindu' rate of growth. I would take the matter further and make it multinational and suggest that there may be a "Buddhist" road traffic pattern and a "Hindu" road traffic pattern. Once that assumption is taken the matter is clear. In Buddhist traffic, everyone uses the time for Buddhist contemplation (or at least a sizeable minority do) and in Hindu traffic many are hurrying to get to their next reincarnation. So you do not have as many delays but many people find the rides scary. And there seems to be worse traffic problems in Margao.
Maybe that is fanciful, I hope so. The argument could be made that there are many Christians in Goa but appearances aside, there are actually mainly Hindus. According last year's 'Lonely Planet' there are 65% Hindus, 30% Catholics. And anyway the Catholics seem even more eager to reach the presence of St. Peter and the 'pearly gates' of Heaven.
The big worry may now be Ratnagiri - nuclear energy waits for no-one. Of course Ratnagiri is far from Delhi, so 'that's all right' to a Delhi politician.
Ratnagiri worries
The Ratnagiri project has invited fresh trouble after the impact assessment report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) came out in open. The TISS report said that the proposed area of the nuclear plant, coming up in 968 hectares of land spread over five villages, was sitting on a high to moderate severity earthquake zone and it will have a ‘huge negative impact on social and environment development’. The TISS report complied by social scientist Mahesh Kamble alleged that the state government subverted facts and called the fertile agricultural land as ‘barren’.
IMO: Konkan coast development has been marred in the past, leading to protests, apparently often ill-informed. Certainly the Dehanu Road area seems to have been ecologically adversely affected by a large coal plant. But the Ratnagiri nuclear project sounded good. However the TISS report seems to be against it, and could be very important. Congress say they want to 'clear public confusion' and the phrase is a worrying one as it is often associated with attempts at excessive spin.
IMO: Konkan coast development has been marred in the past, leading to protests, apparently often ill-informed. Certainly the Dehanu Road area seems to have been ecologically adversely affected by a large coal plant. But the Ratnagiri nuclear project sounded good. However the TISS report seems to be against it, and could be very important. Congress say they want to 'clear public confusion' and the phrase is a worrying one as it is often associated with attempts at excessive spin.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
‘Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will.’
‘Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will.’ was of course Gramsci's great motto.
Whilst many people disagree with Gramsci, the motto is pretty good.
Accept nothing at face value, doubt all that we are told, and question everything, not in the spirit of cynicism but of scepticism.
Optimism of the will is based instead on historical realities, on the fact that the application of human ingenuity and struggle is what has brought us from the caves to something that may some day approach civilisation,
We need to reassert an optimism of the will if our pessimism of the intellect is to ask the right questions and hope to come up with some better answers.
IMO: All fair, general stuff, but do we really have time ? Mick Hume writes "Some of my old friends on the left wasted a lot of time and intellectual energy this year protesting against a visit to Britain by the pope. But I really could not care if some still have faith in the powers of the pope. What concerns me far more is that so few, including the left, appear still to have faith in the power of humanity." I think that a flimsy humanism/secularism, such as that of Dawkins and the like, almost falls into the same category as some rather obscure "universal religion" like that of pope Benedict and if anything I believe it may be even more of an abomination. Politics, at the end of the day, is the art of the possible. We look at the recently disclosed 800 Radia tapes and the 140 available Radia audios and ask "Do we really have time to attend to this matter, and where does Jegath Gasper Raj fit into all this ? Also Raj is apparently some sort of crony of Manmohan Singh. One may muse on the devastating effect of the Goan Inquisition on the splintering of the Thomas Christian church, the Roman splitting of the Thomas faith and perhaps surmise that fragments of that sort of problem remain clearly with us today. Indeed recently I found an old Thomas Cross found in my home and I was minded of alleged tales of Belfast taxi drivers and the saying "I know you are a Hindu but are you a Catholic Hindu or a Protestant Hindu". Some say that true Christianity is actually the Christianity of the great 'Thomas the Doubter' who allegedly even doubted the return of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion - and in the story, far from being rebuked by Christ was even given a fair and honest answer to his doubts. (That being said, I have to say I prefer Ganpathy ). At the same time, the secularists could be said to be posing a greater threat than the religious, doubters or not.
Whilst many people disagree with Gramsci, the motto is pretty good.
Accept nothing at face value, doubt all that we are told, and question everything, not in the spirit of cynicism but of scepticism.
Optimism of the will is based instead on historical realities, on the fact that the application of human ingenuity and struggle is what has brought us from the caves to something that may some day approach civilisation,
We need to reassert an optimism of the will if our pessimism of the intellect is to ask the right questions and hope to come up with some better answers.
IMO: All fair, general stuff, but do we really have time ? Mick Hume writes "Some of my old friends on the left wasted a lot of time and intellectual energy this year protesting against a visit to Britain by the pope. But I really could not care if some still have faith in the powers of the pope. What concerns me far more is that so few, including the left, appear still to have faith in the power of humanity." I think that a flimsy humanism/secularism, such as that of Dawkins and the like, almost falls into the same category as some rather obscure "universal religion" like that of pope Benedict and if anything I believe it may be even more of an abomination. Politics, at the end of the day, is the art of the possible. We look at the recently disclosed 800 Radia tapes and the 140 available Radia audios and ask "Do we really have time to attend to this matter, and where does Jegath Gasper Raj fit into all this ? Also Raj is apparently some sort of crony of Manmohan Singh. One may muse on the devastating effect of the Goan Inquisition on the splintering of the Thomas Christian church, the Roman splitting of the Thomas faith and perhaps surmise that fragments of that sort of problem remain clearly with us today. Indeed recently I found an old Thomas Cross found in my home and I was minded of alleged tales of Belfast taxi drivers and the saying "I know you are a Hindu but are you a Catholic Hindu or a Protestant Hindu". Some say that true Christianity is actually the Christianity of the great 'Thomas the Doubter' who allegedly even doubted the return of Jesus Christ after the crucifixion - and in the story, far from being rebuked by Christ was even given a fair and honest answer to his doubts. (That being said, I have to say I prefer Ganpathy ). At the same time, the secularists could be said to be posing a greater threat than the religious, doubters or not.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Andimuthu Raja
Tehelka, the paper who did the pioneering spy reporting on George Fernandes, now give some information on Andimuthu Raja of the DMK, and his associates.
IMO: The UK papers tend to be some way behind the times in their methods - many still seem to blame the Official Secrets Act - but the UK Telegraph, a rather capitalist outfit, has tried to bare some of the Westminster facts in the way that Tehelka has done for many years in the more democratic country of India. Is David Cameron yet another George Fernandes ? More important, will we ever find out ? Cameron certainly does not seem to be such a kindly chap as most people seem to rate Fernandes, so we may never know. (On the Official Secrets Act, the Home Office has informed the Committee that, in its view, the proposed Bill should remove the common law defence of ‘duress of circumstance’ in order to address unauthorised disclosure by members, or former members, of the intelligence and security Agencies. The Bill should also put an element of the associated ‘authorisation to disclose’ procedure onto a statutory footing and increase penalties. This proposal has yet to receive policy clearance across Whitehall. So the Cameron Government are trying to make it 'worse' again.)
Anyway, Raja had set up front companies well before the spectrum allocation: a mix of hawala channels, realty firms, NGOs, family trusts and export firms ensuring safe passage for the spoils of politics. For this, he established contact with NRIs, audit firms in Malaysia and local companies in Chennai, Perambalur, Trichy, and Coimbatore. With easy money flowing in, many became millionaires overnight.
Sadiq Batcha, a door to door sari salesman and small time DMK politician, met A. Raja - so Raja is now allegedly worth more than 2000 crore.
The money seems to have flowed as follows: companies that were favoured with spectrum allocation sold it off at a huge profit, sent the money abroad, from where it flowed back to show up as profit in Raja’s business empire. Raja also depended on his family, friends and associates to park the money while others dumped their shares in Dubai, Singapore, Malyasia and Sri Lanka. The money involved was so huge that it could not be absorbed only in benami properties, which is the usual way to stash away ill-gotten wealth in India. Swiss bank accounts are no longer safe, as they were for earlier generations.
A charity Tamil Maiyam run by Catholic priest Jegath Gasper Raj received large amounts of money from Green House India Promoters, Equaas Real Estates and Kovai Shelters. The ETA Ascon Star Group also made donations. If the CBI manages to establish that spectrum beneficiary companies gave large donations to Tamil Maiyam, the noose will tighten around Raja and his close friend Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and Karunanidhi’s daughter, who is on the non-profit’s board of directors.
IMO: It is all good (UK) 'Private Eye' back page stuff and of course there is much much more. On J.G.Raj, he states “I pray that my countrymen, as true children of a great civilisation, will courageously raise their voice against the immoral and undemocratic foreign policy of India that has substantially contributed to the genocide of our Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka.” Holy and reasonable words, which could be considered to be born out by current facts in Sri Lanka but rather than simply ponder and ask 'Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' it certainly looks as if Raj's affairs should be probed by CBI.
FWIW, Shangkalpam Ltd. which seems to be a key firm in these matters, has an office in London, registered at the address 188 Royal College Street. The Tehelka series of articles contain much more information.
IMO: The UK papers tend to be some way behind the times in their methods - many still seem to blame the Official Secrets Act - but the UK Telegraph, a rather capitalist outfit, has tried to bare some of the Westminster facts in the way that Tehelka has done for many years in the more democratic country of India. Is David Cameron yet another George Fernandes ? More important, will we ever find out ? Cameron certainly does not seem to be such a kindly chap as most people seem to rate Fernandes, so we may never know. (On the Official Secrets Act, the Home Office has informed the Committee that, in its view, the proposed Bill should remove the common law defence of ‘duress of circumstance’ in order to address unauthorised disclosure by members, or former members, of the intelligence and security Agencies. The Bill should also put an element of the associated ‘authorisation to disclose’ procedure onto a statutory footing and increase penalties. This proposal has yet to receive policy clearance across Whitehall. So the Cameron Government are trying to make it 'worse' again.)
Anyway, Raja had set up front companies well before the spectrum allocation: a mix of hawala channels, realty firms, NGOs, family trusts and export firms ensuring safe passage for the spoils of politics. For this, he established contact with NRIs, audit firms in Malaysia and local companies in Chennai, Perambalur, Trichy, and Coimbatore. With easy money flowing in, many became millionaires overnight.
Sadiq Batcha, a door to door sari salesman and small time DMK politician, met A. Raja - so Raja is now allegedly worth more than 2000 crore.
The money seems to have flowed as follows: companies that were favoured with spectrum allocation sold it off at a huge profit, sent the money abroad, from where it flowed back to show up as profit in Raja’s business empire. Raja also depended on his family, friends and associates to park the money while others dumped their shares in Dubai, Singapore, Malyasia and Sri Lanka. The money involved was so huge that it could not be absorbed only in benami properties, which is the usual way to stash away ill-gotten wealth in India. Swiss bank accounts are no longer safe, as they were for earlier generations.
A charity Tamil Maiyam run by Catholic priest Jegath Gasper Raj received large amounts of money from Green House India Promoters, Equaas Real Estates and Kovai Shelters. The ETA Ascon Star Group also made donations. If the CBI manages to establish that spectrum beneficiary companies gave large donations to Tamil Maiyam, the noose will tighten around Raja and his close friend Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP and Karunanidhi’s daughter, who is on the non-profit’s board of directors.
IMO: It is all good (UK) 'Private Eye' back page stuff and of course there is much much more. On J.G.Raj, he states “I pray that my countrymen, as true children of a great civilisation, will courageously raise their voice against the immoral and undemocratic foreign policy of India that has substantially contributed to the genocide of our Tamil brethren in Sri Lanka.” Holy and reasonable words, which could be considered to be born out by current facts in Sri Lanka but rather than simply ponder and ask 'Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?' it certainly looks as if Raj's affairs should be probed by CBI.
FWIW, Shangkalpam Ltd. which seems to be a key firm in these matters, has an office in London, registered at the address 188 Royal College Street. The Tehelka series of articles contain much more information.
Joe McCarthy still lives - and assassinations by failing corrupt big business begins
Bank of America, PayPal, Mastercard and Visa now refuse to handle payments for WikiLeaks.
Assange says "It's a new type of business McCarthyism in the US to deprive this organization of the funds that it needs to survive, to deprive me personally of the funds that my lawyers need to protect me against extradition to the US or to Sweden."
Naturally people affiliated with Wikileaks have already been assassinated - sources say this, but details are not yet available.
Some say that when Assange is assassinated, there will be a seance which reporters from most newspapers will attend. Assange will appear as a bright green ghostly figure. He will be asked - who was your killer - was it the British-trained Bangladesh murder squad, for example ? Assange will doubtless answer - "I have all the answers: I know who God is, I know what heaven is like, I even know who killed me. But God has asked me, as a special favor, just to answer one question as time is limited because of the big bottleneck caused by the huge number of American citizens being transported to eternal hell". Immediately a Fox News reporter shouts "Why have you turned green ?" Assange answers "That one is easy, it is because the grass is always greener on the Other Side".
IMO: Perhaps viral jokes will be the only hope in a non free world of the kind we seem to be getting.
Assange says "It's a new type of business McCarthyism in the US to deprive this organization of the funds that it needs to survive, to deprive me personally of the funds that my lawyers need to protect me against extradition to the US or to Sweden."
Naturally people affiliated with Wikileaks have already been assassinated - sources say this, but details are not yet available.
Some say that when Assange is assassinated, there will be a seance which reporters from most newspapers will attend. Assange will appear as a bright green ghostly figure. He will be asked - who was your killer - was it the British-trained Bangladesh murder squad, for example ? Assange will doubtless answer - "I have all the answers: I know who God is, I know what heaven is like, I even know who killed me. But God has asked me, as a special favor, just to answer one question as time is limited because of the big bottleneck caused by the huge number of American citizens being transported to eternal hell". Immediately a Fox News reporter shouts "Why have you turned green ?" Assange answers "That one is easy, it is because the grass is always greener on the Other Side".
IMO: Perhaps viral jokes will be the only hope in a non free world of the kind we seem to be getting.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
North Korea
North Korea, which carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, has yet to show it has a deliverable weapon as part of its plutonium arms programme, but a third test would raise tensions further on the divided peninsula and rattle global markets. South Korean media reported earlier this month that the North was digging a tunnel in preparation for a nuclear test.
IMO: Surely the 'shock and awe' campaign by the US on Iraq, made it clear that the attempted threats by small nations using nuclear or the easier bioweapons could lead to the smaller nation simply receiving the result of a very heavy nuclear hit but by slightly more acceptable non nuclear means. Germany has been able to make very large fuel-air bombs for many years, for example. And in fact Iraq turned out not even to have a WMD apparently. One reason this sort of thing can so easily happen could be the suppression of news to the public in areas like North Korea. And we must hope that suppression of people like Assange may not make things worse in the West.
IMO: Surely the 'shock and awe' campaign by the US on Iraq, made it clear that the attempted threats by small nations using nuclear or the easier bioweapons could lead to the smaller nation simply receiving the result of a very heavy nuclear hit but by slightly more acceptable non nuclear means. Germany has been able to make very large fuel-air bombs for many years, for example. And in fact Iraq turned out not even to have a WMD apparently. One reason this sort of thing can so easily happen could be the suppression of news to the public in areas like North Korea. And we must hope that suppression of people like Assange may not make things worse in the West.
Friday, December 24, 2010
A Bayesian Take on Julian Assange
This was outlined in the New York Times. It does look as if Assange was set up.
IMO: Amost everyone believes Assange was set up. Perhaps the real question is - "How much more can Western authorities continue to anger the public on such matters in the 21st Century ?" We already know, for instance, that one of Cameron's own cabinet ministers already says Cameron is a liar, probably on life and death issues. Are we heading for a Western society full of reprisals and authoritarian oppression. Rather like a war with fragging conscript troops. I certainly hope not.
IMO: Amost everyone believes Assange was set up. Perhaps the real question is - "How much more can Western authorities continue to anger the public on such matters in the 21st Century ?" We already know, for instance, that one of Cameron's own cabinet ministers already says Cameron is a liar, probably on life and death issues. Are we heading for a Western society full of reprisals and authoritarian oppression. Rather like a war with fragging conscript troops. I certainly hope not.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
UK Telegraph said to undermine MPs
The UK Daily Telegraph has caused "great damage" to the relationship between MPs and constituents with its undercover sting tactics, Vince Cable says.
IMO: But surely people should know what is happening. For example, Care Minister Paul Burstow told the undercover reporters: "I don't want you to trust David Cameron". Well that sounds essential advice to all, for a start. Vince Cable is probably a bit annoyed that the fact that his personal opinions on Sky and on Murdoch came out. But they are probably correct views anyway, as so much in Murdoch's media publications is, and always has been, total crap. Fox News in the US, for example, is clearly appalling, and the continuance of such media publications is in itself a heavy threat to the continued existence of free enterprise and indeed capitalism per se. It is really no surprise that Murdoch is now based in China, with its anticapitalism and authoritarianism. Do not forget the Tiananmen square massacre, that still is very much the overall Chinese approach. And many Chinese would benefit if things improve for them without yet another 'great leap backwards'. And the UK would benefit a lot if Cable's views were considered more rationally, rather than merely rebuked by two-bit journalists in it for the money.
IMO: But surely people should know what is happening. For example, Care Minister Paul Burstow told the undercover reporters: "I don't want you to trust David Cameron". Well that sounds essential advice to all, for a start. Vince Cable is probably a bit annoyed that the fact that his personal opinions on Sky and on Murdoch came out. But they are probably correct views anyway, as so much in Murdoch's media publications is, and always has been, total crap. Fox News in the US, for example, is clearly appalling, and the continuance of such media publications is in itself a heavy threat to the continued existence of free enterprise and indeed capitalism per se. It is really no surprise that Murdoch is now based in China, with its anticapitalism and authoritarianism. Do not forget the Tiananmen square massacre, that still is very much the overall Chinese approach. And many Chinese would benefit if things improve for them without yet another 'great leap backwards'. And the UK would benefit a lot if Cable's views were considered more rationally, rather than merely rebuked by two-bit journalists in it for the money.
Corruption and 2G
According to Transparency International, it seems that perceived corruption in both India (3.3) and China (3.5) are too high, and about the same level. India, as a democracy, currently seems to have more elbow room than China to improve and is trying hard to do so.
IMO: What puzzles me is the UK's moderately good rating of 7.6. Other EU countries like Italy at 3.9 and Greece at 3.5 are pretty awful and one suspects that "perceived corruption" rather than "corruption" is what we have here. Certainly there is an approximation to fact at least in Western eyes, with Scandanavian countries with apparently lttle corruption and places like Afghanistan with a lot, and it must look bad for a country to "seem" to be corrupt to the big spending countries. So improvement on the list should generally, probably, be good. But there is undoubtedly a lot of "spin" with the list, and spin itself is often corrupt.
According to the Jakarta Globe, India's 2G scandal, involving the 2008 allocation of valuable telecommunications spectrum to favored firms at throwaway prices, already brought this year’s winter session of Parliament to a halt over unsuccessful opposition demands for a wide-ranging inquiry. The man at the center of the storm, A. Raja, the former telecommunications minister, was forced to resign pending an investigation. Raja claims innocence.
IMO: But see Raja's alleged land grab activities, which seem well attested.
Meanwhile, the publication by two news magazines last month of a series of secretly taped phone conversations between Nira Radia, a high-powered lobbyist for two of India’s richest men — Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries and Ratan Tata of the Tata Group — and influential journalists, politicians and industrialists has India agog. The recordings, part of an income-tax probe of Radia, reveal a country run by clubby elites whose allegiance to one another is apparently greater than to the general public they’re supposed to serve.
Though most speakers on the tapes are not accused of illegal activity — and virtually all claim that the conversations have been misinterpreted by the public and the press — taken collectively the tapes nonetheless create an overwhelming impression that the exercise of power in India is compromised by a culture of rampant cronyism.
The Globe also points out that India’s splintered polity is littered with caste-based or regional parties with little conception of the national interest. The former telecommunications minister, Raja, belongs to one such party, the DMK, an important Congress ally from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
IMO: But even worse, the CPI(Marxist) who allegedly campaign for the opposite to corruption like that - claiming Marxist origins - have for many years been the most corrupt party in India at their power base in West Bengal. However, Indian democracy is really likely to lead to much improvement at least in the longer term. And the Globe have a slightly jaundiced approach to these matters.
IMO: What puzzles me is the UK's moderately good rating of 7.6. Other EU countries like Italy at 3.9 and Greece at 3.5 are pretty awful and one suspects that "perceived corruption" rather than "corruption" is what we have here. Certainly there is an approximation to fact at least in Western eyes, with Scandanavian countries with apparently lttle corruption and places like Afghanistan with a lot, and it must look bad for a country to "seem" to be corrupt to the big spending countries. So improvement on the list should generally, probably, be good. But there is undoubtedly a lot of "spin" with the list, and spin itself is often corrupt.
According to the Jakarta Globe, India's 2G scandal, involving the 2008 allocation of valuable telecommunications spectrum to favored firms at throwaway prices, already brought this year’s winter session of Parliament to a halt over unsuccessful opposition demands for a wide-ranging inquiry. The man at the center of the storm, A. Raja, the former telecommunications minister, was forced to resign pending an investigation. Raja claims innocence.
IMO: But see Raja's alleged land grab activities, which seem well attested.
Meanwhile, the publication by two news magazines last month of a series of secretly taped phone conversations between Nira Radia, a high-powered lobbyist for two of India’s richest men — Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries and Ratan Tata of the Tata Group — and influential journalists, politicians and industrialists has India agog. The recordings, part of an income-tax probe of Radia, reveal a country run by clubby elites whose allegiance to one another is apparently greater than to the general public they’re supposed to serve.
Though most speakers on the tapes are not accused of illegal activity — and virtually all claim that the conversations have been misinterpreted by the public and the press — taken collectively the tapes nonetheless create an overwhelming impression that the exercise of power in India is compromised by a culture of rampant cronyism.
The Globe also points out that India’s splintered polity is littered with caste-based or regional parties with little conception of the national interest. The former telecommunications minister, Raja, belongs to one such party, the DMK, an important Congress ally from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
IMO: But even worse, the CPI(Marxist) who allegedly campaign for the opposite to corruption like that - claiming Marxist origins - have for many years been the most corrupt party in India at their power base in West Bengal. However, Indian democracy is really likely to lead to much improvement at least in the longer term. And the Globe have a slightly jaundiced approach to these matters.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Will Didi have to quit ?
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she can prove that CPI (M) is using the central security forces to kill the innocent workers of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and if she fails to do so she will quit.
“We will have to be prepared [to go it alone in the coming Assembly elections] if the Congress decides against an alliance with the Trinamool,” Ms. Banerjee said. “If anyone asks me to choose between the CPI(M) and the Congress, I will choose the Congress… But the Congress has to decide whether it will choose the CPI(M) or the Trinamool.”
IMO: I hope I have understood and made clear enough the situation. Coalition politics are very common in India but do have difficult situations. I think many people can see that Didi hardly needs more proof, and that has been known for years. Whether Congress, now in a difficult state because of their complex coalitions, can face up to the facts of course cannot be guessed. At least we can hope that if Didi and Sonia are still on friendly terms, that that situation can be retained. Certainly such a situation can be often seen in UK politics.
“We will have to be prepared [to go it alone in the coming Assembly elections] if the Congress decides against an alliance with the Trinamool,” Ms. Banerjee said. “If anyone asks me to choose between the CPI(M) and the Congress, I will choose the Congress… But the Congress has to decide whether it will choose the CPI(M) or the Trinamool.”
IMO: I hope I have understood and made clear enough the situation. Coalition politics are very common in India but do have difficult situations. I think many people can see that Didi hardly needs more proof, and that has been known for years. Whether Congress, now in a difficult state because of their complex coalitions, can face up to the facts of course cannot be guessed. At least we can hope that if Didi and Sonia are still on friendly terms, that that situation can be retained. Certainly such a situation can be often seen in UK politics.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Cable - "the man of the moment" ?
According to the "Sunday Herald", Vince Cable is the man of the moment.
On the Murdoch issue, it is said that Cable correctly referred the proposal to the communications regulator, Ofcom, to remove himself from the process.
If the high-profile Vince Cable is the man of the moment, what on earth has happened to the Chancellor, George Osborne? In British politics chancellors have been very prominent figures, second only to the prime minister. Mr Osborne is bucking this trend, and lying pretty low. No doubt it suits him to do so. The Opposition should be flushing him out, if that is the appropriate phrase. But this Opposition is weakly led, and generally inept.
IMO: It is certainly true, as the Herald says, that the Labor opposition is inept. Any party that could appoint as leader a person who his own mother said she would not vote for is lacking in many respects. And the Labor platform is muddled and undisciplined, as is the Labor party. It was not always thus, and one of Cable's big problems is the shabby nature which any alternative government might have, let alone the even shabbier coalition which he supports and which seems to want to kill off the poor elderly by life termination due to the cold weather. The latter is very typical Tory behaviour. And have things really changed with the Liberals since Jeremy Thorpe seems to have gone around killing rent boy's dogs and helping himself to money ?
On the Murdoch issue, it is said that Cable correctly referred the proposal to the communications regulator, Ofcom, to remove himself from the process.
If the high-profile Vince Cable is the man of the moment, what on earth has happened to the Chancellor, George Osborne? In British politics chancellors have been very prominent figures, second only to the prime minister. Mr Osborne is bucking this trend, and lying pretty low. No doubt it suits him to do so. The Opposition should be flushing him out, if that is the appropriate phrase. But this Opposition is weakly led, and generally inept.
IMO: It is certainly true, as the Herald says, that the Labor opposition is inept. Any party that could appoint as leader a person who his own mother said she would not vote for is lacking in many respects. And the Labor platform is muddled and undisciplined, as is the Labor party. It was not always thus, and one of Cable's big problems is the shabby nature which any alternative government might have, let alone the even shabbier coalition which he supports and which seems to want to kill off the poor elderly by life termination due to the cold weather. The latter is very typical Tory behaviour. And have things really changed with the Liberals since Jeremy Thorpe seems to have gone around killing rent boy's dogs and helping himself to money ?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Cable may be talking sense again
Vince Cable claims that David Cameron will seek to scrap or reduce the winter fuel allowance paid to pensioners from next year.
Downing Street sources said yesterday that Mr Cameron had no intention of scrapping the payment.
Cable says "the problem is not that they (many Govt actions) are Tory inspired, but that they haven’t thought them through. We should be putting a brake on them.”
He also says "If they push me too far then I can walk out of the Government and bring the Government down and they know that.”
IMO: Good for Vince ! It is well known internationally (e.g. India, Australia) that coalitions do work, but this one (the 'Duckpond and Moat' coalition) is not doing very well. The idea seems to be to steal from poor people and pay the wealthy. That is a method of governing which was successful in the past, but it hardly fits modern times, even in an intellectually backward country like the UK. I wish Cable success if he can put forward decent moral views. But I rather doubt it, in the present climate. In some respects the UK seems to be getting some of the bad morals of late Weimar in pre-WW2 Germany and I am not referring (particularly) to discrimination.
Downing Street sources said yesterday that Mr Cameron had no intention of scrapping the payment.
Cable says "the problem is not that they (many Govt actions) are Tory inspired, but that they haven’t thought them through. We should be putting a brake on them.”
He also says "If they push me too far then I can walk out of the Government and bring the Government down and they know that.”
IMO: Good for Vince ! It is well known internationally (e.g. India, Australia) that coalitions do work, but this one (the 'Duckpond and Moat' coalition) is not doing very well. The idea seems to be to steal from poor people and pay the wealthy. That is a method of governing which was successful in the past, but it hardly fits modern times, even in an intellectually backward country like the UK. I wish Cable success if he can put forward decent moral views. But I rather doubt it, in the present climate. In some respects the UK seems to be getting some of the bad morals of late Weimar in pre-WW2 Germany and I am not referring (particularly) to discrimination.
Gawker hacking
Gawker were seemingly hacked because they did not wholeheartedly approve of Assange (of Wikileaks). It is presumably not known whether that is the reason they were hacked or simply that somebody wanted to make money at their expense.
Anyway the material exposed now by Gawker in turn, in this case about Assange, was apparently genuine and honestly offered to Gawker.
It certainly makes Assange seem a creep and a nerd of some sort but hardly seems to affect Wikileaks as such.
IMO: The disclosure may turn out to be good for Wikileaks, removing Assange as a personality cult figure but there may be many other effects. But, whilst often transparency is to be favored and so far the guilty parties have seemed to be the US politicians who complained rather too vigorously about Assange, sooner or later the words "Animal Farm" come to mind in such circumstances. Anyway, let us see what happens.
Anyway the material exposed now by Gawker in turn, in this case about Assange, was apparently genuine and honestly offered to Gawker.
It certainly makes Assange seem a creep and a nerd of some sort but hardly seems to affect Wikileaks as such.
IMO: The disclosure may turn out to be good for Wikileaks, removing Assange as a personality cult figure but there may be many other effects. But, whilst often transparency is to be favored and so far the guilty parties have seemed to be the US politicians who complained rather too vigorously about Assange, sooner or later the words "Animal Farm" come to mind in such circumstances. Anyway, let us see what happens.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Cartographic disputes
Yashwant on Dec 19 stated that as China showed Jammu Kashmir out of India's border, India should show some of China's territories as someone else's as he said, "this kind of cartographic aggression, there is no reason why we should also not do it."
"There are areas which China claims as its own and which we have always shown as part of the Chinese territory. There is no reason why we should not show it as somebody else's" asserted Yashwant.
IMO: This could show a very much smaller 'real' China, very much smaller indeed. Tibet for a start is obviously not part of China but was illegally annexed and it probably should not have been. One is minded of the former USSR. During a trip to Moscow during the Kruschev era, Russian citizens told me that they would rather not have the USSR as those foreign countries were costing them too much to run. Adharma brings bad karma, prehaps Chinese people will suffer the most. It reminded me of Salazar and others. Portugal lost its colonies almost 'naturally', and benefited as a result.
"There are areas which China claims as its own and which we have always shown as part of the Chinese territory. There is no reason why we should not show it as somebody else's" asserted Yashwant.
IMO: This could show a very much smaller 'real' China, very much smaller indeed. Tibet for a start is obviously not part of China but was illegally annexed and it probably should not have been. One is minded of the former USSR. During a trip to Moscow during the Kruschev era, Russian citizens told me that they would rather not have the USSR as those foreign countries were costing them too much to run. Adharma brings bad karma, prehaps Chinese people will suffer the most. It reminded me of Salazar and others. Portugal lost its colonies almost 'naturally', and benefited as a result.
Jail today for chief minister who opposed A. Raja
Demanding a relief package for farmers affected by recent rains, former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu continued his indefinite fast for the third day Sunday.
Around 5 am today, several plain-clothed policemen belonging to the City Task Force made their way to the dais to lift Chandrababu while the police in riot-gear allegedly beat up the party workers and tried to disperse them. TDP workers jostled with the police to thwart their attempts.
On November 11th Chandrababu had urged dismissal of A. Raja .
IMO: This does not encourage the idea of a vote for Congress, a coalition who have not always chosen wisely.
Around 5 am today, several plain-clothed policemen belonging to the City Task Force made their way to the dais to lift Chandrababu while the police in riot-gear allegedly beat up the party workers and tried to disperse them. TDP workers jostled with the police to thwart their attempts.
On November 11th Chandrababu had urged dismissal of A. Raja .
IMO: This does not encourage the idea of a vote for Congress, a coalition who have not always chosen wisely.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
UK is now "third world" - offical comment
Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted were closed for much of the day, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded on one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year.
In contrast, Stockholm airport, where more than a foot of snow fell yesterday, remained open with the only cancellations those flying to the UK. In Sweden there was some bemusement that the UK had ground to a halt. At Stockholm's Arlanda airport its three runways can be cleared in six to 10 minutes
Balpa, the pilots' union, last night blamed the airport owners for failing to invest in the equipment that would keep runways open. David Reynolds, Balpa's flight safety spokesman, said: "We have known we were getting this weather for at least a week. There should be no reason why these runways are not cleared. It is appalling. ... They don't have enough snow ploughs and de-icing equipment to cope. (the UK) is absolutely Third World."
IMO: Standards have greatly fallen since and during the Thatcher years throughout in the UK - from thieving and incompetent politicians like Clegg, Cameron,and most of Labor - down to lazy greedy workers expecting large sums of money for no work. The UK has for so long lived off foreign countries from Australia to Africa that they have forgotten that they have to work to survive. Morally the UK has reached the low standards of the PIGS, and the UK citizens are hardly fit to be pigs in a pig toilet.
In contrast, Stockholm airport, where more than a foot of snow fell yesterday, remained open with the only cancellations those flying to the UK. In Sweden there was some bemusement that the UK had ground to a halt. At Stockholm's Arlanda airport its three runways can be cleared in six to 10 minutes
Balpa, the pilots' union, last night blamed the airport owners for failing to invest in the equipment that would keep runways open. David Reynolds, Balpa's flight safety spokesman, said: "We have known we were getting this weather for at least a week. There should be no reason why these runways are not cleared. It is appalling. ... They don't have enough snow ploughs and de-icing equipment to cope. (the UK) is absolutely Third World."
IMO: Standards have greatly fallen since and during the Thatcher years throughout in the UK - from thieving and incompetent politicians like Clegg, Cameron,and most of Labor - down to lazy greedy workers expecting large sums of money for no work. The UK has for so long lived off foreign countries from Australia to Africa that they have forgotten that they have to work to survive. Morally the UK has reached the low standards of the PIGS, and the UK citizens are hardly fit to be pigs in a pig toilet.
TMC and state-sponsored terrorism
Accusing Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee of remaining silent on the 2G spectrum scam , the BJP today said she should resign as Railway Minister and dissociate from the UPA , if she was against corruption.
In fact Mamata Banerjee on Saturday threatened the Marxists with an early Assembly election to stop the alleged state-sponsored terrorism. ''I have informed the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister with all documents the kind of situation prevailing here. I do not know why the state government is still being allowed to go on like this,'' she said.
Mamata Banerjee today issued a veiled threat saying if this situation continues, her party "might have to go other way" (than Centre support).
IMO: Clearly BJP, CPI(M) and Congress all seem to have a much worse corruption record than Trinamool Congress. CPI(M) seems to have such a bad record that strong measures seem needed. In some ways, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra seem to have indicated some flaws in Congress, in Vasai/Virar as I have blogged earlier.
In fact Mamata Banerjee on Saturday threatened the Marxists with an early Assembly election to stop the alleged state-sponsored terrorism. ''I have informed the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister with all documents the kind of situation prevailing here. I do not know why the state government is still being allowed to go on like this,'' she said.
Mamata Banerjee today issued a veiled threat saying if this situation continues, her party "might have to go other way" (than Centre support).
IMO: Clearly BJP, CPI(M) and Congress all seem to have a much worse corruption record than Trinamool Congress. CPI(M) seems to have such a bad record that strong measures seem needed. In some ways, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra seem to have indicated some flaws in Congress, in Vasai/Virar as I have blogged earlier.
Monday, December 13, 2010
A. Raja now at centre of land grab
Former telecom minister A Raja, already facing the 2G-spectrum storm, is now at the centre of an emerging land scam in his constituency Peremabulur in Tamil Nadu. He has been accused of helping his family and friends grab land a very low prices. About 250 farmers have alleged that Green House Promoters, in which his wife and brother were directors till recently, had coerced and tricked them into selling their land at prices varying between 3% and 16% of market rates.
Green House managing director Sadiq Batcha, Raja’s close business associate, was questioned by the Central Bureau Investigation in the 2G spectrum scam, as he was suspected of laundering part of the money received as bribes in the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G scam.
Raja has been accused of using the district administration to put pressure on the farmers. N Chelladurai of the CPI (M)-backed Tamil Nadu Vyava-sayigal Sangham cited the example of Senthil (32), a farmer who owned 3.5 acre.
Senthil was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in a false case and the police repeatedly offered to quash the case if he agreed to sell his land. Finally, he had to give in.
But district collector N Vijaykumar told Hindustan Times that the government could not interfere in dealings between two private parties. “If, indeed, force or coercion has been used, I would strongly advise them (the farmers) to file a criminal complaint.”
IMO: Of course we had somewhat similar problems with Lalu Prasad but he is still going strong. In the present case it is particularly unfortunate that the law should apparently be badly misused. One way or another, things should be improved. And I am not sure that, generally speaking, formal complaints are the answer. So often they are simply ignored and a more direct approach is needed. But circumstances often indicate the best approach. The end result at Nandigram and Singur, for example, was far from perfect but enormously better than no result at all for many people.
Green House managing director Sadiq Batcha, Raja’s close business associate, was questioned by the Central Bureau Investigation in the 2G spectrum scam, as he was suspected of laundering part of the money received as bribes in the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G scam.
Raja has been accused of using the district administration to put pressure on the farmers. N Chelladurai of the CPI (M)-backed Tamil Nadu Vyava-sayigal Sangham cited the example of Senthil (32), a farmer who owned 3.5 acre.
Senthil was arrested and remanded in judicial custody in a false case and the police repeatedly offered to quash the case if he agreed to sell his land. Finally, he had to give in.
But district collector N Vijaykumar told Hindustan Times that the government could not interfere in dealings between two private parties. “If, indeed, force or coercion has been used, I would strongly advise them (the farmers) to file a criminal complaint.”
IMO: Of course we had somewhat similar problems with Lalu Prasad but he is still going strong. In the present case it is particularly unfortunate that the law should apparently be badly misused. One way or another, things should be improved. And I am not sure that, generally speaking, formal complaints are the answer. So often they are simply ignored and a more direct approach is needed. But circumstances often indicate the best approach. The end result at Nandigram and Singur, for example, was far from perfect but enormously better than no result at all for many people.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Cyberwar ? Fiction or not ?
The campaign has fallen short of a real cyber war, said the Center for International and Strategic Studies, a Washington think tank. The Brookings Institution's technology innovation center call it "a piece of rhetoric." "It's not clear what political purpose it would serve, given the context," said an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, (Russia).
IMO: After the rather unfinished attack on Amazon, the continued possibility to use credit cards, and so on, the experts could say that. But I have the notion that a cyberwar need not be quick. We have the continued successes of theTaliban which have gone on for well over a century. And think of Chechnia, whose problems featured very strongly in the Russian mind as early as Tolstoy's novels. Guerilla war, even guerilla cyberwar, need not be short and sweet. All sides need to realise this, and unless the authoritities behave in a more moderate manner, the authorities can be more easily targeted individually than in a shooting war, which could anyway also arise. But a lot of this is metaphor. The Tories could even have been said to have indulged in cyberwar with the Labor party when they hired Andy Coulson, and current political spin is little short of cyberwar anyway. But it could well be that the geeks still lack enough moral fibre to make the matter any more than a Press publicity stunt. The hacking of the life support machines of all ill politicans so that they all die quickly could be one obvious, though not very efficient way to carry on and there is clearly a lot that could be done. The geeks may not have enough moral courage to carry the matter through, but cynical politicians will be attracted to their cause by the smell of filthy lucre, like a mangy dog is attracted to a bone.
IMO: After the rather unfinished attack on Amazon, the continued possibility to use credit cards, and so on, the experts could say that. But I have the notion that a cyberwar need not be quick. We have the continued successes of theTaliban which have gone on for well over a century. And think of Chechnia, whose problems featured very strongly in the Russian mind as early as Tolstoy's novels. Guerilla war, even guerilla cyberwar, need not be short and sweet. All sides need to realise this, and unless the authoritities behave in a more moderate manner, the authorities can be more easily targeted individually than in a shooting war, which could anyway also arise. But a lot of this is metaphor. The Tories could even have been said to have indulged in cyberwar with the Labor party when they hired Andy Coulson, and current political spin is little short of cyberwar anyway. But it could well be that the geeks still lack enough moral fibre to make the matter any more than a Press publicity stunt. The hacking of the life support machines of all ill politicans so that they all die quickly could be one obvious, though not very efficient way to carry on and there is clearly a lot that could be done. The geeks may not have enough moral courage to carry the matter through, but cynical politicians will be attracted to their cause by the smell of filthy lucre, like a mangy dog is attracted to a bone.
TRAI license removal list
Wikileaks again
Evgeny Morozov of the Financial Times says "An aggressive attempt to go after WikiLeaks ... could install Mr Assange (or whoever succeeds him) at the helm of a powerful new global movement able to paralyse the work of governments and corporations around the world."
And Sen. Huckabee apparently wants Mr. Assange executed. So now all that is needed is for Assange to be sent to Sweden by the Brits who seem to be holding him on trumped up charges, and then extradited to the USA and Sen. Huckabee may soon have his wish.
IMO: Well according to Evgeny Morozov those steps might please Iran and China, but they give one no faith in Mr. Huckabee, Sarah Palin and their chums. It is really quite hard to see any logic in their posturing, except in terms of their own personal greed and ambition. Pres. Obama and his wife already seem to be almost continually surrounded by the secret service and they clearly need to be when there are major politicians prepared to state such foolish views. I would think Pres. Obama is most at risk from certain US citizens who are not hard to name.
And Sen. Huckabee apparently wants Mr. Assange executed. So now all that is needed is for Assange to be sent to Sweden by the Brits who seem to be holding him on trumped up charges, and then extradited to the USA and Sen. Huckabee may soon have his wish.
IMO: Well according to Evgeny Morozov those steps might please Iran and China, but they give one no faith in Mr. Huckabee, Sarah Palin and their chums. It is really quite hard to see any logic in their posturing, except in terms of their own personal greed and ambition. Pres. Obama and his wife already seem to be almost continually surrounded by the secret service and they clearly need to be when there are major politicians prepared to state such foolish views. I would think Pres. Obama is most at risk from certain US citizens who are not hard to name.
Czech republic criticised for human rights breach
The EU's leading human rights agency has sharply criticised the Czech authorities for using a controversial method of testing whether homosexual asylum seekers are genuinely gay.
Gay asylum seekers are hooked up to a "phallometer" and shown straight porn. If the phallometer registers they are told they must be straight and to go back to Iran or some such hellhole and be tortured to death in the usual way of such places.
IMO: Civilised ? If it had happened to "the good soldier Schweik" or even to Franz Kafka I imagine they would have been able to handle the situation. Immigrants to the Czech republic are clearly expected to reach extremely high standards, perhaps beyond those of many ordinary people.
Gay asylum seekers are hooked up to a "phallometer" and shown straight porn. If the phallometer registers they are told they must be straight and to go back to Iran or some such hellhole and be tortured to death in the usual way of such places.
IMO: Civilised ? If it had happened to "the good soldier Schweik" or even to Franz Kafka I imagine they would have been able to handle the situation. Immigrants to the Czech republic are clearly expected to reach extremely high standards, perhaps beyond those of many ordinary people.
Friday, December 10, 2010
No New Charges in British Phone-Hacking Case
British prosecutors said Friday that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against Andy Coulson, the alleged porn star in adult films and current chief communications adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron.
IMO: It seems clear to many people from information given, that Coulson either was consistently doing his job incompetently or was simply a dishonest liar, or both. This does not look good for Coulson or his employer.
IMO: Concerning the matter of no charges being brought : Obviously there seems to be many faults somewhere. In another recent case, innocent young demonstrators reasonably protesting claim to have been trapped into police violence. In yet another case the UK police almost ended up allowing Prince Charles and his wife to be physically attacked, and I think you can't help feeling sorry for that eccentric old pair. As the saying goes 'something should be done' and at the moment the buck stops with the LibDem coalition.
IMO: It seems clear to many people from information given, that Coulson either was consistently doing his job incompetently or was simply a dishonest liar, or both. This does not look good for Coulson or his employer.
IMO: Concerning the matter of no charges being brought : Obviously there seems to be many faults somewhere. In another recent case, innocent young demonstrators reasonably protesting claim to have been trapped into police violence. In yet another case the UK police almost ended up allowing Prince Charles and his wife to be physically attacked, and I think you can't help feeling sorry for that eccentric old pair. As the saying goes 'something should be done' and at the moment the buck stops with the LibDem coalition.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Telecoms and Tata
Ratan Tata called a lawmaker's claim that Tata Group jumped a queue for spectrum 'attempted character assassination.' He also said Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s indictment of policy on the sector was not factual and meant to meet political ends.
IMO: My own experience of Tata mobile is that it is total crap. In Vasai East, I can't even get a signal with a Tata card in my own home and have complained to the firm about this over a period of time. In South Goa I know that a number of small businesses have lost work owing to the bad coverage by Tata in this area. And it is other firms as well as Tata. I reluctantly obtained an Aircel card in Goa to save time, but I took it that their name was possibly a knock-off of Airtel as that sort of thing is common practice in other areas where firms try to steal a consumer base and then sell it off. Indeed, Aircel tried to sell off later to several firms, for what reason I do not know. Actually, the Aircel card gave extremely good coverage for about 6 months until just before the A. Raja matter. But at this time there is 'no coverage' anywhere at all with my Aircel card where I am in South Goa so I have abandoned the Aircel card. Lately the regulator TRAI has been trying to punish Aircel, along with other operators.
IMO: My own experience of Tata mobile is that it is total crap. In Vasai East, I can't even get a signal with a Tata card in my own home and have complained to the firm about this over a period of time. In South Goa I know that a number of small businesses have lost work owing to the bad coverage by Tata in this area. And it is other firms as well as Tata. I reluctantly obtained an Aircel card in Goa to save time, but I took it that their name was possibly a knock-off of Airtel as that sort of thing is common practice in other areas where firms try to steal a consumer base and then sell it off. Indeed, Aircel tried to sell off later to several firms, for what reason I do not know. Actually, the Aircel card gave extremely good coverage for about 6 months until just before the A. Raja matter. But at this time there is 'no coverage' anywhere at all with my Aircel card where I am in South Goa so I have abandoned the Aircel card. Lately the regulator TRAI has been trying to punish Aircel, along with other operators.
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi
Terminally ill Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is on a life support machine in Libya and his family expect him to die within days, it has been reported.
Megrahi has been termed the "Lockerbie bomber" by many, but the evidence is slight and he may well have only been "one of the usual suspects". However many feel that he could have disclosed much more information than we have yet heard.
The whole matter seems to have been marred by rotten politics all round. It was considered by many that al-Megrahi was not seriously ill and that he had been returned to Libya for reasons of personal gain.
Last week Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi said Megrahi's family would be suing over his "neglect" in Greenock Prison.
IMO: Bad treatment is possibly all anyone can expect in a UK prison, and many people (such as TalkSport listeners) seem to want things even worse in jail. Prisoners, even when innocent, are expected to admit guilt, presumably to keep police and government records looking nicer. But the UK government allows decent Old Aged Pensioners to die in their own homes, even allowing electricity to be cut off to them when it is apparent that they are in bad health and need of warmth to stay alive. So sympathy and understanding are too much to expect in such a country, particularly with bad governance like there certainly has been since during and just before the Thatcher era. Certainly sympathy and understanding should go to those deserving of it, and jail prisoners are normally pretty low in that list.
Megrahi has been termed the "Lockerbie bomber" by many, but the evidence is slight and he may well have only been "one of the usual suspects". However many feel that he could have disclosed much more information than we have yet heard.
The whole matter seems to have been marred by rotten politics all round. It was considered by many that al-Megrahi was not seriously ill and that he had been returned to Libya for reasons of personal gain.
Last week Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi said Megrahi's family would be suing over his "neglect" in Greenock Prison.
IMO: Bad treatment is possibly all anyone can expect in a UK prison, and many people (such as TalkSport listeners) seem to want things even worse in jail. Prisoners, even when innocent, are expected to admit guilt, presumably to keep police and government records looking nicer. But the UK government allows decent Old Aged Pensioners to die in their own homes, even allowing electricity to be cut off to them when it is apparent that they are in bad health and need of warmth to stay alive. So sympathy and understanding are too much to expect in such a country, particularly with bad governance like there certainly has been since during and just before the Thatcher era. Certainly sympathy and understanding should go to those deserving of it, and jail prisoners are normally pretty low in that list.
The Tea Party
People sometimes ask why the Tea Party can be termed "ridiculous" . Well, purely as an example, they continually claim commitment to cutting government spending. Yet, they requested from the 111th Congress a total of 764 earmarks that added more than 1 billion (tax payer funded) dollars to the federal budget. Details here.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
UK comments on Australia
The UK Daily Telegraph writes "Something in the Australian national psyche does seem to be shifting. A recent poll by the Australian National University revealed that interest in sport is in decline. According to Dr Rod Lamberts: “We see Australians saying they are more interested in science, technology and medical issues than films, music and even that most sacred Aussie pastime – sport.”"
IMO: Of course that is a splendid thing, if true. But I think Australians were never really fanatical about sport. Certainly for hobbies, the Brits were the real fanatics. For example, for model railways, hiking, even chess, and all the rest of it, Australians would take these things for what they were - leisure pastimes, but the British were often enough quite the opposite. Unfortunately there is just possibly a general decline in Australian moral standards, possibly because of the selfstyled "two bob Poms" now running the Australia and continually going cap in hand to generally quite noxious foreign powers without even UK levels of 'fair play'. At least the UK politicians and civil servants at one point had the grace to admit that they are 'economical with the truth'. They certainly are, and that is putting it mildly.
IMO: Of course that is a splendid thing, if true. But I think Australians were never really fanatical about sport. Certainly for hobbies, the Brits were the real fanatics. For example, for model railways, hiking, even chess, and all the rest of it, Australians would take these things for what they were - leisure pastimes, but the British were often enough quite the opposite. Unfortunately there is just possibly a general decline in Australian moral standards, possibly because of the selfstyled "two bob Poms" now running the Australia and continually going cap in hand to generally quite noxious foreign powers without even UK levels of 'fair play'. At least the UK politicians and civil servants at one point had the grace to admit that they are 'economical with the truth'. They certainly are, and that is putting it mildly.
French internet service provider OVH said it had no plans to end the service it provides to Wikileaks.
"OVH is neither for nor against this site. We neither asked to host this site nor not to host it. Now it's with us, we will fulfil the contract," said OVH managing director Octave Klaba. "It's neither for the political world nor for OVH to call for or to decide on a site's closure," he added. French industry minister Eric Besson had called for the site to be shut down, saying France could not host internet sites that "violate the confidentiality of diplomatic relations and put in danger people protected by diplomatic secrecy". But on 6 December, a French judge declined to force OVH to shut Wikileaks down, saying the case needed further argument.
Dr. Joss Wright, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute thinks it could be too late to legislate Wikileaks offline. And a group called Anonymous has hit sites that have refused to do business with the controversial whistle-blowing site with a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks.
The sites hit include PayPal and the Swiss bank who will not pass on donations to Wikileaks.
IMO: There has been a lot of criticism of Wikileaks by US politicans but, only too obviously, you would expect that. On the face of it Wikileaks on the whole seems to have behaved fairly and lawfully, to the point where its enemies look like the guilty persons. But many otherwise reasonable (but usually US) sites have come out against Wikileaks.
The operation 'Avenge Assange' made a statement
"While we don’t have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons. We want transparency and we counter censorship. The attempts to silence WikiLeaks are long strides closer to a world where we can not say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas.
We can not let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship. This is why we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
IMO: On the face of it their statement sounds honest, fair and well-intentioned. Those in the Soviet Union who opposed Stalin, those in the US who opposed Joe McCarthy and so many others, those in Spain who opposed Franco, etc. etc. etc. seem to have told much the same story. But there are various sides to this. We can only hope that the facts willl emerge to public benefit.
Dr. Joss Wright, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute thinks it could be too late to legislate Wikileaks offline. And a group called Anonymous has hit sites that have refused to do business with the controversial whistle-blowing site with a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks.
The sites hit include PayPal and the Swiss bank who will not pass on donations to Wikileaks.
IMO: There has been a lot of criticism of Wikileaks by US politicans but, only too obviously, you would expect that. On the face of it Wikileaks on the whole seems to have behaved fairly and lawfully, to the point where its enemies look like the guilty persons. But many otherwise reasonable (but usually US) sites have come out against Wikileaks.
The operation 'Avenge Assange' made a statement
"While we don’t have much of an affiliation with WikiLeaks, we fight for the same reasons. We want transparency and we counter censorship. The attempts to silence WikiLeaks are long strides closer to a world where we can not say what we think and are unable to express our opinions and ideas.
We can not let this happen. This is why our intention is to find out who is responsible for this failed attempt at censorship. This is why we intend to utilize our resources to raise awareness, attack those against and support those who are helping lead our world to freedom and democracy."
IMO: On the face of it their statement sounds honest, fair and well-intentioned. Those in the Soviet Union who opposed Stalin, those in the US who opposed Joe McCarthy and so many others, those in Spain who opposed Franco, etc. etc. etc. seem to have told much the same story. But there are various sides to this. We can only hope that the facts willl emerge to public benefit.
Sunday, December 05, 2010
MPs exploiting the poor
UK MPs have been exploiting rules intended to end the scandal of second-home expenses – by claiming taxpayers’ money for a third. Some are earning thousands of pounds by letting out the second homes they bought with public funds, then moving into a rented third home nearby – and claiming Commons expenses on that instead. The move also means they can dodge a new clawback measure that would force them to pay back up to £20,000 of profits made on the sale of second homes.
The Daily Mail lists a few of the many offending MPs, as does the Independent, and the Mirror points out that Cameron's new rules have even made MPs 'better off'.
IMO: So much for the "Duckpond and Moat" crowd who run Westminster clamping down on corruption. They have made it worse. The poor and the elderly are dying of the cold and getting no help from the Government and pretty well most other people just want to get rich quick, usually at the expense of the poor, the elderly, scholars, genuine charity workers and so on. What a disgrace ! So far only Labor MP David Shaylor has been jailed but half the Tory Government should rightfully be in prison.
The Daily Mail lists a few of the many offending MPs, as does the Independent, and the Mirror points out that Cameron's new rules have even made MPs 'better off'.
IMO: So much for the "Duckpond and Moat" crowd who run Westminster clamping down on corruption. They have made it worse. The poor and the elderly are dying of the cold and getting no help from the Government and pretty well most other people just want to get rich quick, usually at the expense of the poor, the elderly, scholars, genuine charity workers and so on. What a disgrace ! So far only Labor MP David Shaylor has been jailed but half the Tory Government should rightfully be in prison.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
India and United Nations Security Council
The influential New York Times said that by endorsing India for a permanent seat Obama had "signalled the United States' intention to create a deeper partnership of the world's two largest democracies that would expand commercial ties and check the influence of an increasingly assertive China".
French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed India's case for a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, saying it was "unthinkable" to keep a country of over one billion out.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday said that it fully backed India's bid for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.
IMO: The existing permanent members of the UNSC are China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. It seems absurd for India not to be a member and I agree with President Sarkozy on that. There are a lot of actual protesters against the proposed Ratnagiri nuclear project, which should increase India's use of nuclear power by a factor of 8. It might even reduce the enormous number of power cuts in Vasai and allow reduction in the over-supercrush congestion on the local railways. This is quite a different matter but it also should be good and aid the environment along the Konkan coast if well organised. The first new nuclear plants will probably be organised by the French. Certainly the Dehanu Road coal-fired plant, a little north of Vasai, is ruining the area with its pollution and hopefully the big nuclear facility at Ratnagiri will have the opposite effect on the Konkan coast.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed India's case for a permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council, saying it was "unthinkable" to keep a country of over one billion out.
The United Arab Emirates on Monday said that it fully backed India's bid for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council.
IMO: The existing permanent members of the UNSC are China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States. It seems absurd for India not to be a member and I agree with President Sarkozy on that. There are a lot of actual protesters against the proposed Ratnagiri nuclear project, which should increase India's use of nuclear power by a factor of 8. It might even reduce the enormous number of power cuts in Vasai and allow reduction in the over-supercrush congestion on the local railways. This is quite a different matter but it also should be good and aid the environment along the Konkan coast if well organised. The first new nuclear plants will probably be organised by the French. Certainly the Dehanu Road coal-fired plant, a little north of Vasai, is ruining the area with its pollution and hopefully the big nuclear facility at Ratnagiri will have the opposite effect on the Konkan coast.
Friday, December 03, 2010
The lunatic who thinks he's Barack Obama
According to the "Asian Times" (of HongKong and Thailand), Napoleon was a lunatic who thought he was Napoleon, and the joke applies to the 44th United States president - Obama - with a vengeance. The paper says Obama is beyond reality; he has become the lunatic who thinks that he is Barack Obama.
The reasons given include the fact that the US State Department has massive evidence that Obama's approach - "engaging" Iran and coddling Pakistan - has failed catastrophically. The crisis in diplomatic relations heralded by the press headlines is not so much a diplomatic problem - America's friends and allies in Western and Central Asia have been shouting themselves hoarse for two years - but a crisis of American credibility. Much more is said in the article.
IMO: Many people feel Obama is too pro-Islamic and present good reasons. But Obama has had a lot of problems with the remains of George Bush's created problems, John McCain's created problems and indeed Bill Clinton's created problems. The latter two characters created the current US depression. But we can see why Obama lost mid-term votes, it is not just the ridiculous so-called "tea-party" but Obama should have acted in a more pro-American way right from the start (when he could have done and had electoral support) and certainly that does not mean a pro-Islamic way - Islam hardly needs enemies if it has friends like Obama. Dealing with Iran and Pakistan should have been an early priority, and so should helping Russia. Certainly Russia's problems were caused by itself not by the US and very certainly it is still prosperous, but how long will Europe be able to support the US if it does not improve its posture. One small question: which new member would benefit the EU most ? (Islamic) Turkey or Russia ?
The reasons given include the fact that the US State Department has massive evidence that Obama's approach - "engaging" Iran and coddling Pakistan - has failed catastrophically. The crisis in diplomatic relations heralded by the press headlines is not so much a diplomatic problem - America's friends and allies in Western and Central Asia have been shouting themselves hoarse for two years - but a crisis of American credibility. Much more is said in the article.
IMO: Many people feel Obama is too pro-Islamic and present good reasons. But Obama has had a lot of problems with the remains of George Bush's created problems, John McCain's created problems and indeed Bill Clinton's created problems. The latter two characters created the current US depression. But we can see why Obama lost mid-term votes, it is not just the ridiculous so-called "tea-party" but Obama should have acted in a more pro-American way right from the start (when he could have done and had electoral support) and certainly that does not mean a pro-Islamic way - Islam hardly needs enemies if it has friends like Obama. Dealing with Iran and Pakistan should have been an early priority, and so should helping Russia. Certainly Russia's problems were caused by itself not by the US and very certainly it is still prosperous, but how long will Europe be able to support the US if it does not improve its posture. One small question: which new member would benefit the EU most ? (Islamic) Turkey or Russia ?
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Ed Miliband is simply Gordon 2.0
So says the UK Daily Telegraph.
Well, a scathing assessment of Gordon Brown's "abysmal track record" by American officials based in London has been revealed in the latest leaks of US diplomatic cables. The US embassy portrayed Mr Gordon Brown as lurching from "political disaster to disaster" and leading a "rudderless" party only a year after he succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 2007.
IMO: Labor needs another Harold Wilson and a much more up to date approach. A unified policy which could meet taxpayer's complaints and solve the euro problems would help, especially now that Belgium, which seems to virtually live off the EU bureaucracy, looks like joining the PIGS crisis. No hope with the Condemn party, they are just living off the proceeds of their election results.
Well, a scathing assessment of Gordon Brown's "abysmal track record" by American officials based in London has been revealed in the latest leaks of US diplomatic cables. The US embassy portrayed Mr Gordon Brown as lurching from "political disaster to disaster" and leading a "rudderless" party only a year after he succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister in 2007.
IMO: Labor needs another Harold Wilson and a much more up to date approach. A unified policy which could meet taxpayer's complaints and solve the euro problems would help, especially now that Belgium, which seems to virtually live off the EU bureaucracy, looks like joining the PIGS crisis. No hope with the Condemn party, they are just living off the proceeds of their election results.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Indian hacker group defaces websites; more than 100 targeted
Some of the targeted Pakistan sites are mentioned here, and of course include such sites as the Pakistan Scientific and Technology Center.
The hackers posted a message stating “Hacked by Indian Cyber Army”. This message was followed by a picture of the US soldiers raising a flag on the Japanese island at the time of World War II and the American flag was digitally transformed into the Indian national flag. The hackers apparently wish to pay "homage to the martyrs of the Pakistani 26/11 terror attacks".
IMO: UK media already are concerned with the latest WikiLeaks cables which highlight a probable Pakistani nuclear terror threat. The UK media seems to consider that the US strategy of keeping quiet over fears about Pakistan's nuclear security is not working. Certainly the efforts of ordinary Indian patriots those like Jackh4x0r, LuCkY, SiLeNtp0is0n]-, Str1k3r, InX_ro0t, Darkl00k,Ne0h4ck3r, Mr52, Th3.rdx, G00gl3warr10r, Atuldwivedi, c00lt0ad and eXesouL do suggest a laxness of Pakistan with regards to necessary security, a point which I have already made about North Korea. And that is of course the very least of it !
The hackers posted a message stating “Hacked by Indian Cyber Army”. This message was followed by a picture of the US soldiers raising a flag on the Japanese island at the time of World War II and the American flag was digitally transformed into the Indian national flag. The hackers apparently wish to pay "homage to the martyrs of the Pakistani 26/11 terror attacks".
IMO: UK media already are concerned with the latest WikiLeaks cables which highlight a probable Pakistani nuclear terror threat. The UK media seems to consider that the US strategy of keeping quiet over fears about Pakistan's nuclear security is not working. Certainly the efforts of ordinary Indian patriots those like Jackh4x0r, LuCkY, SiLeNtp0is0n]-, Str1k3r, InX_ro0t, Darkl00k,Ne0h4ck3r, Mr52, Th3.rdx, G00gl3warr10r, Atuldwivedi, c00lt0ad and eXesouL do suggest a laxness of Pakistan with regards to necessary security, a point which I have already made about North Korea. And that is of course the very least of it !
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