Occupy Wall Street celebrates 6 months since start

NEW YORK: Chanting and cheering down Wall Street on Saturday to mark six months since the birth of the Occupy movement, some protesters applauded the Goldman Sachs employee who days ago gave the firm a public drubbing, echoing the movement's indictment of a financial system demonstrators say is fueled by reckless greed.

"I kind of like to think that the Occupy movement helped him to say, 'Yeah, I really can't do this anymore,'" retired librarian Connie Bartusis said of the op-ed piece by Goldman Sachs manager Greg Smith, who claimed the company regularly foisted failing products on clients as it sought to make more money.

Carrying a sign with the words "Regulate Regulate Regulate," Bartusis said the loss of governmental checks on the financial system helped create the climate of unfettered self-interest described by Smith in his piece, although Goldman's leadership suggested he had not portrayed the bank's culture accurately.

"Greed is a very powerful force," Bartusis said. "That's what got us in trouble."

On Saturday, six months after the protesters first took over Zuccotti Park near the city's financial district, the protesters gathered there again, drawing slogans in chalk on the pavement and waving flags as they marched through lower Manhattan.

China exerts rare public pressure on North Korea over missile plan

SHANGHAI: China put rare public pressure on ally North Korea over the reclusive state's plan to launch a long-range rocket which is raising tension in the region and could scupper a recent aid deal with the United States.

The announcement of the launch immediately threw into doubt recent hopes that the new young head of the family dynasty ruling North Korea was ready open up more to the international community.

Experts said the planned launch is clearly a ballistic missile test, banned by U.N. resolutions, and would be in line with North Korea's long practiced diplomacy of using threats to regional security to leverage concessions from the international community, and the United States in particular.

It would also be used to boost the stature of the North's new young leader Kim Jong-un, who took over the family dynasty after his father's death late last year.

Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun expressed China's "worry" when he met North Korean ambassador Ji Jae Ryong on Friday, the Xinhua news agency said.

"We sincerely hope parties concerned stay calm and exercise restraint and avoid escalation of tension that may lead to a more complicated situation," Xinhua on Saturday quoted Zhang as saying.

Though he stopped well short of condemning the planned launch, Beijing only rarely goes public with pressure on the isolated North which relies heavily on its giant neighbor for its economic survival.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday called the announcement highly provocative, telling North Korea to honor its obligations including U.N. Security Council resolutions banning ballistic missiles.

Washington said a launch carrying a satellite could violate Pyongyang's agreement last month to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches - and thereby scuttle U.S. plans to resume food aid.

Those talks were in part brokered by China and had triggered expectations of a thaw in relations with North Korea under Kim Jong-un.

Their unraveling in less than a month is a major blow to any serious multilateral talks on denuclearizing North Korea and analysts said it was unlikely Pyongyang would back down on the launch planned to coincide with celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il-sung, the current leader's grandfather.

"It certainly suggests that Pyongyang places greater emphasis on promoting the Kim Family Cult than on its external relations," Richard Bush, Director, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution wrote after the North Korean announcement.

Japan said any such launch would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution. One Tokyo daily quoted sources on Saturday as saying that if the probability of a launch was deemed to be high, Japan would consider deploying PAC3 missile interceptors as is did during a 2009 rocket launch.

TOUGH LANGUAGE FROM MOSCOW

Russia, resorting to tough language, warned Pyongyang not to defy the international community. It stressed that the launch would undermine the chances for a revival of long-stalled six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program. South Korea, Japan, Britain, France and others also expressed concern.

North Korea pledged that next month's launch would have no impact on neighboring countries. Pyongyang has provided few details on the new satellite, but has said it will be a "working" satellite developed using indigenous technology.

The launch will take place between April 12-16, around the time South Korea holds a parliamentary election, and just over three weeks after a global nuclear security summit in Seoul.

In April 2009, North Korea conducted a similar ballistic rocket launch that resulted in a new round of toughened U.N. sanctions, squeezing the secretive state's already troubled economy and deepening its isolation.

That launch, dismissed as a failure after the first stage fell into the Sea of Japan without placing a satellite in orbit, provoked outrage in Tokyo. Another test failed in similar circumstances in 1998. (Reuters)

National Security versus Civil Liberty

The threat of military intervention in political affairs has always loomed large in Pakistan.
 
Click

Such intervention – whether through overt military rule or covert operations during democratic rule – has been frequently defended on grounds of national security. Since the army is responsible for security and because political actions have security implications, the army must manage political affairs.

But a country needs more than mere security to thrive. There is also a need to protect political civil liberties such as freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial. Not to mention the freedom of assembly.

It is this particular freedom that the Mehrangate scandal revolves around. After all, the freedom to assemble and express popular will is useless if that popular will is replaced by the will of an army chief, an ISI chief, and a banker.

By choosing to hear the Asghar Khan case while Gilani’s contempt-of-court case is ongoing, the Supreme Court has shown that it isn’t unfairly targeting the civilian government and supporting the military in the battle between state institutions. Rather, the Supreme Court understands the importance of both a corruption-free civilian government and a restrained but effective military establishment.

Such a balanced approach has been on display on numerous occasions. At one point during the case hearing, the Chief Justice remarked that there were conflicting statements from all the players involved in the case and that, as a result, a judicial commission would be required to launch a full inquiry into the case.

The Supreme Court also displayed an understanding of unnecessary versus necessary national security concerns.

At one point, the counsel for Mirza Aslam Beg requested that the court proceedings be held behind closed doors in the interests of national security. However, the court refused the request and pointed out that most of the information relating to the case had already been laid bare. On another occasion, however, the Chief Justice requested that reports relating to the workings of security and intelligence agencies be kept confidential in the interests of national security.

Do such actions indicate a court intent on jeopardizing national security?

Contrast that with the actions of Beg. In the affidavit that he submitted to the court, Beg mocked the Supreme Court by thanking it for allowing Beg to complete a “hat-trick” of appearances before Chief Justices – an “honour” that no other Chief of Army Staff could claim. He mocked the Chief Justice by sarcastically referring to Chaudhry’s “dynamic leadership”.

Regardless of the truth of the allegations, it is clear that the Supreme Court understands the gravity of the situation while Beg doesn’t.

What is troubling is that the case has taken 15 years to be heard. The players involved have long since lost their power. The events that are being discussed occurred 20 years ago. Even the petitioner of the case, Asghar Khan, has stated that he is only looking for a “symbolic” judgment from this case. Nonetheless, the public illumination of such state secrets will go a long way towards correcting the military establishment’s perception that the fear of national insecurity can be used to continually abuse civil liberties.

Congo under scrutiny over Hezbollah business links

LONDON: Democratic Republic of Congo has awarded lucrative forestry concessions to a company controlled by a Lebanese businessman who also runs a firm subject to sanctions by the United States as a front for Hezbollah.

The 2011 concessions issued by Congo's environment ministry to the Trans-M company, seen by Reuters, could complicate Washington's efforts to curb what it says are the Lebanese militant movement's growing business activities in Africa.

The concessions cover 25-year leases for hundreds of thousands of hectares of rainforest in the central African country, the world's second forest "lung" after the Amazon. The concessions are capable of generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues over 25 years, if fully exploited, forestry experts say.

Trans-M is controlled by businessman Ahmed Tajideen (whose name is also given as Tajeddine in U.S. Treasury documents). He also runs another company, Congo Futur, which the U.S. government says is a front for Hezbollah. Congo Futur cites sawmilling as one of its businesses.

The U.S. Treasury Department put Congo Futur under targeted sanctions in 2010, saying the firm was part of a network of businesses ultimately controlled by Tajideen's three brothers, Kassim, Husayn and Ali, and that this generated "millions of dollars in funding" for Hezbollah.

The sanctions aim to block U.S. dollar transfers linked to the trio, part of wider U.S. efforts to counter what Washington sees as increasing business activity in Africa by Hezbollah, which it calls "among the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world". Hezbollah has denied U.S. accusations that it is linked to money-laundering and the international narcotics trade.

Ahmed Tajideen, who is not subject to U.S. Treasury sanctions, says his brothers have no share of Congo Futur or Trans-M and that the companies are neither directly related to each other nor act as front companies for Hezbollah.

"I am the majority shareholder of both companies," Tajideen told Reuters earlier this month.

"I created both companies independently of each other", he said. "My brothers have nothing to do with the companies".

EMBARRASSING FOR KABILA

But leaked U.S. diplomatic cables produced in 2000 quote Ahmed Tajideen as saying Congo Futur established Trans-M, which is also described as a "subsidiary" of Congo Futur on the website of Congo's official investment authority, ANAPI.

"The question for the Congolese government is whether they really want to continue doing business with a company that is linked to a terrorist organization?" said a U.S. official who monitors Congo, but asked not to be named.

John Sullivan, a U.S. Treasury spokesman, told Reuters that if Trans-M was majority owned by Congo Futur, it would face sanctions. He would not comment on the immediate status of Ahmed Tajideen or Trans-M.

"Treasury does not comment on possible enforcement actions or designations," he said.

The Trans-M forestry concessions are an embarrassment for the government of President Joseph Kabila, who was returned to office in last year's troubled presidential elections that were criticized by the United States as "seriously flawed".

Seraphim Ngwej, a senior advisor to president Kabila, told Reuters the U.S. government had not officially communicated any allegations about the concessions to Congo's government.

He said he would be willing to assist. "But there must be proof," Ngwej said.

Leopold Kalala Ndjibu-Kalema, a senior legal adviser to Congo's environment ministry, said in an official statement that there is "no concrete proof" that Trans-M is involved in Hezbollah activities and insisted its concessions had nothing to do with Congo Futur.

But a European Union-funded forestry publication in 2011 refers to Congo Futur as the "parent company" of Trans-M. Employees and a business partner of Congo Futur contacted by Reuters have also stated Trans-M is a "subsidiary" of Congo Futur and is owned by all the Tajideen brothers.

"WEAK STATES"

U.S. officials are concerned that Congo, whose location in the heart of Africa makes it important for the continent's stability, may become a safe haven for Hezbollah financiers looking to take advantage of weak financial regulation in the lawless and commodity rich central African giant.

"We do have major concerns about all weak states, and especially places like Congo," said one U.S. official who asked not to be named. "The attention here in Washington is pretty high," he added.

U.S. authorities last year put the spotlight on Hezbollah's Africa-based activities by unveiling a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) probe alleging the Iranian-backed group was involved in money laundering activities in West Africa linked to the narcotics and second hand car trade.

The Tajideen family has operated real estate, diamond export, supermarket and food processing businesses across Angola, Gambia and Sierra Leone and Congo for many years, the U.S. Treasury says.

West and Central Africa host significant and long-established Lebanese diaspora communities. But U.S. interest in the Tajideen family sharpened in 2003 when Belgian police raided the Antwerp offices of a company managed by Kassim Tajideen and accused it of "large scale tax fraud, money laundering and trade in diamonds of doubtful origin". No charges were brought in Belgium.

The U.S. Treasury made Kassim Tajideen subject to sanctions in 2009 and in 2010 also sanctioned Husayn Tajideen and Ali Tajideen, who it says was once a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon. The Treasury says Husayn and Ali are amongst Hezbollah's "top financiers in Africa".

A Hezbollah official declined to comment on the U.S. allegations. When the Treasury sanctioned some of the family's companies in 2010, U.S. citizens were barred from doing business with them. But some of the companies continued to operate freely in their host countries, including Congo Futur.

Israel has also expressed concern about what it says are growing Hezbollah financial interests in Africa.

Ron Prosor, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council last month that he was particularly concerned that West Africa had become a "hub" for Hezbollah. But he did not refer to central Africa or Congo.

Powerful Israeli businessmen still retain good relations with president Kabila, notably Dan Gertler, a wealthy diamond merchant who controls numerous mining and other interests in Congo, many managed via offshore companies.

Damascus bombs kill police, civilians: state TV

DAMASCUS: Twin bombings hit security buildings in the Syrian capital early on Saturday killing several police and civilians, state television said, amid fears Al-Qaeda is trying to exploit the anti-regime revolt.
 
"Two terrorist bombings struck Damascus this morning," the television said, adding that preliminary reports suggested the bombers had blown up vehicles packed with explosives.

It said the attacks targeted the criminal police headquarters and an office of Syria's intelligence services, killing several police and civilians, but it did not give immediate numbers.

The blasts hit on Baghdad Boulevard in Al-Qasaa district and in the Duwar al-Jamarek area.

"According to our initial information, they were car bombs," the television said.

The state broadcaster showed gruesome pictures of a smoking vehicle in Duwar al-Jamarek.

"First pictures of the body of one of the terrorists who targeted Damascus today in Duwar al-Jamarek," a message running on the screen said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that two powerful explosions targeted security service buildings in the capital.

A spate of bombings have hit Syria's big cities in recent months amid growing concerns that Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of a year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad to shift its focus of operations from neighbouring Iraq. 

Alleged US shooter in Afghan massacre identified

WASHINGTON: The US soldier who allegedly shot and killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan was identified Friday by a US official, and a picture emerged of a battle-hardened veteran who saw tough battles in Iraq.

US Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales had served three combat tours in Iraq, and was on his first deployment to Afghanistan.

US media identified Bales, 38, as the alleged shooter, and a US official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP the reports were "correct."

On Friday the soldier was en route from Kuwait to the US military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after Sunday's attack in the southern province of Kandahar, in which mainly women and children were killed, plunged US-Afghan relations into a deep crisis.

Several websites containing pictures and stories about Bales, including a 2009 Department of Defense page, were taken down by the time his identity was revealed Friday, but some versions of the webpages could still be accessed.

Bales participated in one of the bloodiest clashes of the Iraq war -- a January 2007 battle in southern Iraq against a messianic Shiite sect known as the Soldiers of Heaven, according to a cached online article, dated February 2009, from the official US army homepage.

Bales is quoted in the article describing the battle, in which 250 militia members were killed, but no US soldiers.

Separately, in a photograph appearing on cached webpage of the High Desert Warrior, an online military publication, dated March 4, Bales appears in camouflage fatigues and wearing body armor during a training exercise at an army training center in California's Mojave desert.

The decorated soldier's civilian attorney, John Henry Browne, stressed to US media that his client had been upset by a serious injury sustained by a comrade the day before the massacre, but held no animosity toward Muslims.

"Investigators have reason to believe that alcohol may have been a factor in this tragic incident," a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"When it all comes out, it will be a combination of stress, alcohol and domestic issues -- he just snapped," another unnamed official told the New York Times on Thursday.

Afghan leaders have demanded the shooting suspect face a public trial in Afghanistan over the killings.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday again lashed out at Washington over the massacre, one day after he said international forces should leave villages in his country, potentially jeopardizing NATO operations two years before combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan.

In a phone conversation between the leaders Friday, US President Barack Obama agreed to resolve Karzai's concerns over night raids as the two said they would discuss complaints about NATO troops in villages. (AFP)

Panetta says no sign he was target of airport attack

KABUL: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday he had no reason to believe he was the target of an attempted attack as he landed a day earlier at a military airfield in Afghanistan.

"I have absolutely no reason to believe that this was directed at me," Panetta told a press conference, but added: "This is a war area" and "we're going to get these kind of incidents". (AFP)

The Joys of Reading Fiction

I have to begin by making a confession. I love to read fiction. Or, let me put it this way, I still love to read fiction. Being as old as I am, doing the job that I do (you could call me a journalist, the ‘senior staff member’ is off-putting I know!) and still wanting to read fiction appears a little odd; even to me sometimes.


But that’s how it has always been. I enjoy good fiction like no other piece of writing.


A colleague in office finds that heartening and tells me that fiction is understood to be the ‘ultimate’ or ‘high’ reality. Conversely, autobiography is the biggest lie, he says. In fiction, you are not compelled to hide anything, so that’s the ultimate truth; everything else is a lie.


Some consolation his words but my sheer inability to read non-fiction makes me think that, perhaps, it’s time to problematise the issue. The issue in question being: why is fiction such a joy and where does it leave a reader who happens to be a journalist.


In my mind, there had always been a linear self-constructed rule — the teens and some part of the twenties are reserved for fiction; soon after, one must turn to non-fiction — history, politics, biography, philosophy, literary criticism, linguistics and what not.


Logistically speaking, I worked as per the linear rule in my mind. I got all the right books (or always had them) placed neatly on the shelves — from Seervai to Hamza Alavi to Feroze Ahmed to Ayeha Jalal. The more than one biography of Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah keep each other company as well as to that of Mandela, Clinton and Gian Singh Shatir in the shelf. I even have my share of feminist literature (the Germaine Greers and all), philosophy and literary criticism.


Every few months, this huge collection needs to be dusted thoroughly. I do that lovingly but with a profound sense of guilt; for not having read most of it.


Because, to fiction I must return, and with a fondness and interest that is unmatched. The plans of a chronological reading of non-fiction (Taliban must come first before Descent into Chaos) never seem to materialise. I find fiction more liberating because you can break all chronological rules; an Oscar Wilde can be read before or after a Mirza Waheed, and Dickens, Milan Kundera or Rohinton Mistry can all be read together and enjoyed.


This has not been for want of trying I tell you. I have tried reading almost every single non-fiction book that would turn me into a smart reader/analyst/opinion-maker. Somehow I couldn’t finish it. The only books I could read till the end were those that read like fiction. I know that’s a silly un-definable criterion but, to me, that’s that.


In the process of trying, I developed a love for a genre other than fiction and that is the essay. George Orwell has amazed me with his clarity of thought and lucid prose, and Mencken I am still discovering.


But essay I found is closer to journalism; hence limited. The possibilities of fiction, on the other hand, are endless.


Close to home are Intizar Husain and Manto and so many more. The discovery that Manto is a pure genius came to me a little late. To me, Manto is literature, history, politics, biography, philosophy, society and journalism all rolled into one. A master of irony, he is a story-teller par excellence who had the courage to challenge God.


Must I then crib why I’m reading fiction only?

All six Arab Gulf states to close embassies in Syria

RIYADH: All six Arab Gulf states will close their embassies in Syria in protest at the year-long crackdown in the country, said Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) head Abdullatif al-Zayani early Friday.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait took the step, he said, citing the regime's "massacring its people, choosing the military option and rejecting all initiatives aimed at finding a solution to the crisis."

Zayani asked the international community to "act urgently and decisively to stop the killings and massacres in Syria as well as the gross violations of the dignity and legitimate rights of the Syrians."

Before this collective decision, two GCC countries -- Saudi Arabia and Bahrain -- had announced the closure of their missions in Damascus.

Saudi Arabia took the step Wednesday and announced the return of its diplomats from Syria, followed the next day by Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world heavyweight, has been highly critical of the Syrian regime. Last August, it withdrew its ambassador from Damascus and expelled the Syrian ambassador.

Its five partners in the council have done the same to denounce the "mass slaughter" committed by the regime.

Modi’s Gujarat defies Gandhi’s India

The past is never dead, wrote William Faulkner, in fact it’s not even past. The past lives on and smoulders in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. Ten years after the worst communal massacre in the 21st century India under the watchful eyes of the state, the ghosts of Gujarat are yet to be put to rest. Even if the victims of the 2002 pogrom wanted to move on, Modi has seen to it they do not. As India marks the tenth anniversary of the anti-Muslim massacre, justice still remains elusive for the families of more than 2000 victims. The wounds have turned into festering ulcers.

 

After a decade of endless investigations, testimonies of top cops and the supreme court interventions and above all substantial evidence, those who presided over the slaughter haven’t just managed to evade the long arm of the law, they continue in power as defiant and far from repentant as ever.

While India has had a long history of recurring communal violence, Gujarat 2002 remains unique in many ways. The obscene dance of death that went on for weeks in full media glare wasn’t spontaneous. It was carefully calibrated and executed with surgical precision with those high in power enabling, overseeing and encouraging it.

The state didn’t merely watch the madness for weeks on end; it joined in the fun with all the power and resources at its disposal. The findings of the three judicial commissions and special investigative team, not to mention numerous eyewitness accounts, including those by courageous policemen like Rahul Sharma, Sanjiv Bhatt and Sreekumar and investigations by independent media prove the collusion of the state government beyond doubt.

You had senior cabinet ministers like Maya Kodnani, in jail now, personally monitoring the ‘punishment’ meted out to Muslims on the streets of Ahmadabad. Two ministers, Ashok Bhatt and I K Jadeja, took over Ahmadabad and the state police control rooms to ensure no help reached the victims, desperately begging for it even as they were raped, hacked to death or set on fire within their homes.

Mobs armed with swords, trishuls and kerosene and acid bottles went around with voter lists in their hands, systematically identifying and eliminating Muslim families. One such mob surrounded the Gulbarg Society, a largely Muslim gated community. Ehsan Jafri, a former MP and prominent Congress politician, who lived in Gulbarg, made hundreds of desperate calls to senior officials, including to chief minister Modi, even as the mob blasted its way through his apartment block. Help of course never arrived and Jafri – along with 68 others – was hacked to pieces and burnt right before his septuagenarian wife who’s now running from pillar to post for justice.

Which isn’t surprising since the chief minister had issued clear instructions to the top police and administration officials the night before at a meeting at his residence to shut their eyes and ears and allow “Hindus to vent their anger” over the Sabarmati Express blaze, promptly blamed on Muslims without any probe or proof even as many experts discounted the possibility of a running train being torched from the outside.

But then who said this had anything to do with Godhra? It was an excuse for Modi and his party to penalise the minority community, burnishing their own credentials as the protectors of Hindus and the motherland. The love of all things Muslim is the raison d’être of the BJP-RSS-VHP combine. Gujarat 2002 was no aberration. Given an opportunity, they would do it again and again.

The question is, how long will the rest of India tolerate this worldview and treat the bloodthirsty killers with kid gloves? If the 2002 bloodbath in the land of Gandhi’s birth and failure to prevent and stop it was disgraceful, even more scandalous has been the state’s inability to bring the perpetrators to justice. Words like rule of law, fair play and human rights remain just that – mere words. Except in one case, the Sardarpura massacre where 33 people were burnt alive, there has been no conviction.

Let alone finding justice, Muslims are facing continuous witch-hunt at the hands of a vindictive state administration. Locked in their ghettos and deprived of basic amenities, they find themselves totally marginalised and ostracised – politically, economically and socially. They can’t even sell their homes and business to move to safer neighbourhoods for a fresh start, thanks to the new laws.

During a much sobering visit in 2009, one experienced, almost physically, the palpable pall of fear and gloom that has enveloped Gujarat’s Muslims since February 2002. Scores of young Muslims have been bumped off in staged police encounters. Hundreds have been languishing in prisons as ‘terrorists’ and ‘Pakistani spies.’ No wonder thousands of Muslim families have fled to neighbouring states.

What’s most disturbing is the fact that no one seems able or willing to confront Modi or the mindset that he represents. Instead of confronting him on his crimes, the increasingly shrill, TRP-driven media has been lionising the chief minister and portraying him as a market-savvy and forward-looking CEO, committed to good governance.

Indeed, whitewashing his bloody past and numerous cases pending in courts, Modi is increasingly being projected as the prime minister-in-waiting and the hope and future of the billion plus nation. The Congress-led UPA coalition too has failed to rein him in. Ever mindful of its electoral calculations and majoritarian sensibilities, the party has gone to great lengths to avoid a confrontation with the Gujarat satrap.

But is this just the problem of one party or community? The fascist worldview that is at the heart of what is going on in Gujarat, often described as the Hindutva’s lab, has emerged as a challenge to Gandhi’s India and all that it stands for – pluralism, democracy and social justice.

As CPM leader Sitaram Yechury warned this week, ten years after the pogrom, the RSS and BJP have sharpened communal polarisation all across the country, weakening the foundations of India’s secular polity. The creeping saffronisation isn’t limited to Gujarat or other BJP-ruled states. It’s a national project, with thousands of RSS schools and shakhas and saffronised textbooks driving it. With the terror attacks on the Samjhauta Express, Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid and Ajmer shrine now being traced to Hindutva groups, it seems this war for India’s soul is being waged on all fronts.

Where will all this end? I do not know but it’s not going to be pretty. And we will all pay for it. If anyone could defeat these fascist designs, it is the Hindu majority of the country which is peace-loving, reasonable and incredibly tolerant. They have demonstrated the generosity of their spirit time and again, which was seen in the tenacity with which cops like Sharma and Bhatt have confronted the chief minister at great cost to their careers. Let’s hope that spirit will prevail in the end.

The article is printed in today’s newspaper February 28, 2012

Israel, India and the Persian Puzzle

This is perhaps what the expression ‘setting the cat among the pigeons’ means.  Just when Israel was putting up that little show,  going around the world crying about the way Iran was targeting its peaceful diplomats around the world, the Ayatollahs come up with their own little performance taking everyone’s breath away.

Not that Ahmadinejad didn’t warn us.  As always, everyone was sufficiently intimated of the glad tidings on the nuclear front were on their way.  Yet it was a master stroke. Give the Iranians their due.  If the Israelis are known for their cunning and craft of obfuscation and manipulation, it’s not easy beating the Persians at mind games either.  After all, they invented the game of chess.
 
Defying years of Western sanctions and the endless talk of war by Israel, the Iranians seem to have gotten another decisive step closer to their goal.And they have all the players and pawns where they want them to be. And for all their bluff and bluster, Israel and its guardian angels can’t do much about it.

As a former Indian envoy to Iran put it, this is like the classic Persian puzzle.  Iran takes one step forward and waits and watches for the reaction of adversaries before taking the next cautious step. Call it the Persian incrementalism or whatever but it seems to have worked so far.

The calibrated ‘diplomatic incidents’ in New Delhi, Georgia and Bangkok were of course a stroke of brilliance.  They were apparently meant to hit two birds with one stone:  First, pin the blame on Iran, as Netanyahu did within minutes of the Delhi blast calling Tehran ‘the biggest exporter of international terror,’ and create a credible pretext to hit the Islamic republic.

Second, derail the growing Iran-India relationship.The Israelis and Americans haven’t been too pleased with India’s refusal to stop buying the Iranian oil after recent sanctions.  By the way India isn’t the only one to do so.China, Japan and South Korea too have refused to toe the Western line.

But Israel has been there and done it all so many times before that these shenanigans do not fool the world anymore.  These attacks purportedly targeting Israeli diplomats are rather too convenient and perfect to be genuine.  Notwithstanding Ahmadinejad’s punch-drunk love of Israel andpreoccupation with its past and future, the Iranians are not stupid.

At a time when they are isolated internationally and the West is looking for an excuse to punish it, why would they stick out their neck and resort to something as suicidal as this? As Dr Trita Parsi, the Iran hand at Johns Hopkins University and author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States agues, why would they do something so foolish as this and that too in New Delhi? It’s an insult to the Iranians’ intelligence.

India is, after China, Iran’s biggest trading partner and importer of Iranian oil.  Besides, the two have shared a quiet partnership since Russians left Afghanistan.  It has even survived the Indian vote against Iran in the IAEA.  Incidentally, Thailand is another major trading partner of the Islamic republic.  So why would the Iranians choose the distant tourist paradise to settle scores with the Israelis, hurting their own interests?

Secondly, in both India and Thailand, it’s the Israelis who have been quick to declare that the sticky bombs used in Delhi, Bangkok and Tbilisi are similar to the ones used in killing four Iranian nuclear scientists over the past two years.  Be that as it may, how does that link them to Tehran? Indeed, having repeatedly used the device to deadly effect against the Iranians, why couldn’t the Israelis have used it again in Indian, Georgian and Thai capitals?

The detention of an Iranian, who blew up his legs while handling the explosives, proves nothing.  It’s hardly a secret the Israelis and Americans have been using the Mujahideen-e-Khalq terrorists against Iran.

The Israeli embassy on Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi exists in the sniffing distance of the Prime Minister’s residence. It’s a high security zone with theelite ‘Z’ security force monitoring every inch of the area every minute.  So how come that red bike got so close to the embassy car and got away after sticking that bomb? No wonder Israeli watchers suspect all this is part of a campaign to corner Iran and fortify the case for the war that the world has been waiting with bated breath for some time.

I hate a triumphal I-told-you-so but this is what many of us have feared and warned about all along.  That Israel and its enablers in the US establishment are hell-bent on sparking another Western war to destroy another oil-rich Muslim country.  This is what happened in the case of Iraq.  Remember the comical claims linking Iraq to 9/11 and Niger uranium, not to mention Tony Blair’s 45-minute strike talk?

As the West turns up the heat on Iran by way of economic sanctions, trade blockade, and crippling of its banks, coupled with the rising chatter of coming war, the region has been on the razor’s edge for months now.  All that is needed is a tiny spark to blow it all up.  A minor skirmish here, a misunderstanding there or a perfect false flag in distant lands could prove excuse enough for a full blown conflagration with catastrophic consequences.

That moment seems to have arrived with the explosions in India, Georgia and Thailand.  Israel is desperately looking for a pretext–or a provocation–to punish Iran.  With the arrival of US poll season and Europe being preoccupied with its economic mess, perhaps there cannot be a better time to do so. But it’s easier said than done. Israel cannot do so on its own without the US help. If it was doable, Israel would have done it by now.  Iran is not Iraq.

Unlike Iraq’s Osirak plant which Israel bombed in 1981, Iranian nuclear installations are heavily fortified, many of them underground and spread all across the country, not to mention the forbidding distance. Besides, an Israeli strike might put back the nuclear clock but wouldn’t stop it, especially now when Tehran appears to be a screw-turn away from going full nuclear if it wants.  Iran’s leaders of course insist it is for ‘peaceful’ purposes and that they aren’t interested in the ‘satanic arms.’

Even though a demonstration of the capacity doesn’t mean willingness, would you be terribly surprised if Tehran indeed goes for the nukes? GivenIsrael’s terrorizing of the region over the past six decades and West’s hegemonic wars, it’s actually tempting and makes sense to go for the comforting reassurance that a couple of nukes seem to inspire.
More to the point, what right does Israel–and other world powers–have to lord over their nuclear arsenal while the rest of the world has to submit itself to the IAEA scrutiny? If the international community is indeed serious about a nuke-free world, it has to first address this NPT duplicity. Nuclear weapons are a clear and present danger to the Middle East and the world, no matter who owns them.

Violence across Syria; soldiers killed in ambushes

BEIRUT: Syrian government forces killed dozens of people in the northern city of Idlib, dumping their bodies in a mosque, while some 22 soldiers died in two separate rebel ambushes, opposition activists said on Tuesday.

The army intensified its assault on the Idlib province near the Turkish border, intermittently shelling built-up areas and spraying houses with machinegun fire in a bid to dislodge anti-government fighters.

Clashes were also reported in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor and security forces shelled Syria's third largest city, Homs, as the year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian rule increasingly resembles a civil war.

The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have died in the uprising and its refugee agency said on Tuesday that some 230,000 Syrians had fled their homes during the past 12 months, of whom around 30,000 have sought safety abroad.

In an apparent bid to deter the exodus, Syrian forces have laid landmines near its borders with Lebanon and Turkey, along routes used by refugees to escape the mayhem, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said.

Speaking after meeting opponents of Assad in Turkey, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said he was expecting to hear later on Tuesday the response from Syria to "concrete proposals" he had made to end the escalating violence.

By evening, there was no word on an answer, although the Syrian parliament said Assad had ordered a legislative election for May 7. It will be held under a new constitution, approved by a referendum last month which the opposition and their Western and Arab backers dismissed as a sham.

Both Russia and China have welcomed Assad's reform pledges, including the promised election, and have blocked moves in the United Nations to censure the Syrian leader.

But the U.S. State Department was dismissive of the plan: "Parliamentary elections for a rubber-stamp parliament in the middle of the kind of violence that we're seeing across the country? It's ridiculous," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

STREWN BODIES

Following a brutal crackdown in the central city of Homs, the army has intensified its operations in the north and has been shelling the town of Idlib for the past three days.

An activist in the town, speaking by telephone, said security forces had killed more than 20 people trying to leave the area in the past two days and dumped their bodies in al-Bilal mosque. When locals went to inspect the corpses, they too came under fire, pushing the death toll above 50, he said.

Another activist gave a slightly lower death toll.

"When people came from the neighborhood early this morning, the security forces also started firing at them. In total, about 45 people were massacred," said the man, who like many in Syria gave only his first name, Mohammed, for fear of reprisals.

Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified as the authorities deny access to rights groups and journalists.

Video footage showed the bodies of several unidentified men strewn on the floor of the mosque. An unseen voice said it was impossible to move them due to heavy shelling.

Army defectors killed at least 10 soldiers in an ambush in Idlib region, while rebels also killed 12 members of the security forces in the southern town of Deraa, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Following meetings with Assad at the weekend in Damascus, former U.N. chief Annan held talks in Ankara with the Syrian National Council (SNC) - a fractious assortment of Assad opponents whose leadership lives abroad.

"I am expecting to hear from the Syrian authorities today, since I left some concrete proposals for them to consider," Annan told a subsequent news conference.

"Once I receive their answer we will know how to react."

Annan has not disclosed what his proposals entailed, but a diplomatic source said the U.N. envoy had told Assad he wanted an immediate cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access to the conflict zones and political dialogue.

SNC leader Burhan Ghalioun said the aim remained to secure a political and diplomatic solution, otherwise foreign governments would deliver on promises to supply weapons to rebel forces.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Qatar have called for arms to be sent to help in the fight Assad, who is a member of the minority Alawite sect and is allied to Shi'ite Iran.

However, the SNC is deeply divided, as resignations from the council showed. Haitham al-Maleh, a former judge and veteran dissident, quit the SNC and another opposition leader, Kamal al-Labwani, said he too was preparing to resign.

"There is a lot of chaos in the group and not a lot of clarity over what they can accomplish right now," Maleh told Reuters in explaining his resignation from the SNC. "We have not gotten very far in working to arm the rebels."

Syria lies in a pivotal position, bordering Turkey, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Lebanon. Its 23-million population comprises a mix of faiths, sects and ethnic groups, and analysts say the gathering conflict could destabilize the entire region.

While the rebels have only light weapons, the army has repeatedly used tanks, mortars and artillery.

"I have heard shelling in the Old City since 8 this morning," one activist in Homs told Reuters. "There is gunfire everywhere," he added, asking to be referred to only as Sami.

Human Rights Watch said anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines of Russian origin had been found near Syria's borders, with indications they had been planted by the army this year.

Syria, like Russia, the United States and over 30 other states, has not signed up to a global ban on landmines.

"Any use of anti-personnel landmines is unconscionable," said Steve Goose, Arms Division director at HRW.

Azerbaijan says will not allow Iran attack from its soil

DUBAI: Azerbaijan will not allow other countries to use its territory to launch an attack on neighboring Iran, Iranian media reported Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Safar Abiyev as saying on Monday.

The former Soviet republic, which borders Iran, has friendly ties with the United States and Israel and has experienced increasing tension with Tehran in recent months.

Last month, the Islamic Republic accused Azerbaijan of assisting Israeli intelligence in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed when a bomb was attached to his car.

“We will not allow Azerbaijan’s soil to be used against Iran under any conditions,” Abiyev was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying after meeting his Iranian counter Ahmad Vahidi in Tehran.

“We want regional security and peace and believe strengthening military ties between the two countries will guarantee that,” he said.

At least four scientists associated with Iran’s nuclear program have been assassinated since 2010 and a fifth was wounded in a bomb attack. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Ahmadi-Roshan’s killing a “cowardly act” and accused the United States and Israel of responsibility.

Relations between the two countries worsened in January after Azerbaijan arrested two men suspected of plotting to attack foreigners, including the Israeli ambassador in Baku and a rabbi. Authorities said the two suspects had been helped by an Iranian linked to Iran’s intelligence services, who supplied them with guns and explosives to smuggle from Iran.

Azeri authorities have also said they thwarted a plan by agents of Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia to set off a car bomb near the Israeli embassy four years ago, and a plot targeting the U.S. and British embassies in 2007.

Tehran has eyed its neighbor with increasing suspicion because of its growing trade links with Israel. Israel signed a multi-billion-dollar agreement with Azerbaijan last month to supply missile defense hardware and imports more than a quarter of its oil needs from the country.

US soldier could get death for Afghan shootings: Panetta

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT: The US soldier suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians in a shooting rampage could face the death penalty if convicted, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday.

The Pentagon chief told reporters aboard his plane en route to Kyrgyzstan that the suspect in the Afghan shooting spree would be brought to justice under the US military legal code, which allows for the death penalty in some cases.

Asked if the suspect could be sentenced to death, Panetta said: "My
understanding is in these instances that could be a consideration."

Panetta condemned the incident as a "terrible loss of life" and said it remained unclear what may have led the gunman to murder civilians.

After walking off his base, the suspect entered Afghan homes and fired on civilian families, "then at some point after that came back to the forward operating base and basically turned himself in. Told individuals what happened," Panetta said.

When asked if that amounted to a confession, Panetta said: "I suspect that was the case."

"We're not sure, what the reasons were. But he is in custody. I have assured President (Hamid) Karzai that he will be brought to justice and held accountable," the US defense chief said.

Panetta repeated the US administration's stance that the shooting, the latest in a spate of damaging incidents that have strained US-Afghan relations, would not derail the war effort or force a change to the current strategy, which calls for a gradual drawdown of US and NATO troops through 2014.

"We cannot allow these events to undermine our strategy or the mission that we're involved in," Panetta said. "It's important that we push on," he said.

The US soldier walked off his base in southern Kandahar province and broke into three village homes before dawn Sunday, killing 16 people including women and children -- an event described by Karzai as "unforgivable."

Egypt brokers Gaza truce after days of bloodshed

GAZA: Israel and militant factions in the Gaza Strip have agreed to an Egyptian-brokered truce to end four days of cross-border violence in which 25 Palestinians have been killed, a senior Egyptian security official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The official said in a telephone call from Cairo that both sides had "agreed to end the current operations", with Israel giving an unusual undertaking to "stop assassinations", and an overall agreement "to begin a comprehensive and mutual calm".

The agreement was set to take effect at 1 a.m. local time (2300 GMT). There was no immediate comment from either side on the agreement. Previous ceasefire deals after earlier rounds of fighting have often got off to a shaky start.

Israeli media quoted Israeli officials as reiterating the longstanding policy that Israel would "answer quiet with quiet" but stopped short of providing any guarantees to withhold fire in response to rocket attacks.

An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment.

Israel signalled earlier it would not halt what it calls "preventive targeting" operations aimed at stopping rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

"The Israeli army will continue to attack the terrorists in Gaza with strength and determination," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers in his Likud party on Sunday.

But while Israel was keen to bar rocket fire at its home front there seemed to be little public enthusiasm for waging a longer military campaign reminiscent of a 2008-2009 offensive in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

PALESTINIAN FACTIONS "COMMITTED"

A Palestinian official close to the talks said "the factions are committed," alluding to the Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees, who were most active in the fighting, but that these groups were waiting to see how Israel would respond.

Gaza's Hamas Islamist leadership, whose own cadres have kept out of the fighting and seemed eager to avoid a larger conflict with Israel, had confirmed on Sunday that Egypt was working on a deal to stop the violence.

The truce agreement also followed appeals from world powers - the United States, the United Nations, France, European Union and the Arab League - for both sides to exercise restraint.

Israel said Gaza militants had fired about 150 rockets at its southern towns and cities from Gaza since fighting flared on Friday after Israel killed a senior militant it accused of plotting to attack Israel from Egyptian territory.

Eight Israelis were injured by the rockets, dozens of which were shot down harmlessly by Israel's "Iron Dome" missile interceptor system.

Twenty of the Palestinians killed since fighting flared in the Hamas-controlled enclave were militants and five were civilians, according to medical officials.

At least 80 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been wounded in the violence which also paralysed life in much of southern Israel, forcing schools to close and hundreds of thousands to remain indoors.

Gaza, home to 1.7 million people, was under Israeli occupation from 1967 until 2005 and remains under blockade.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since seizing it from West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, and is fighting for an independent Palestinian state but has shunned the stalled peace process supervised by international powers and refuses to recognise the Jewish state.

Violent flare-ups have been frequent between Israel and Gaza's militant factions in the past few years, in most cases lasting no longer than a week.

The last conflagration of this intensity was in August after a cross-border attack launched from Egypt killed seven in Israel and Israel struck back killing 15 Gaza gunmen.

Obama, Panetta call Karzai over Afghan shooting

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama called Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday "to express his shock and sadness" over a shooting in Afghanistan which a US soldier allegedly killed 16 civilians, the White House said.

In the phone call, Obama "extended his condolences to the people of Afghanistan, and made clear his administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible," the White House said.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta assured Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a phone call that a "full investigation" was under way after a US soldier allegedly killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan.

"A suspect is in custody, and I gave President Karzai my assurances that we will bring those responsible to justice," Panetta said, adding that he is "shocked and saddened that a US service member... clearly acting outside his chain of command" has been linked to the incident.

The shooting spree erupted early Sunday when a US soldier walked out of his base in southern Kandahar province and opened fire on men, women and children in a rampage that has raised new questions about the long-term viability of the US mission

Obama congratulates Russia's president-elect Putin

PRINCE GEORGE: President Barack Obama Friday called Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his election win, despite earlier US concern over reported vote irregularities.

The call inaugurated a relationship that will decide the fate of "reset" US relations with the Kremlin which the White House sees as a key foreign policy achievement headed into Obama's reelection campaign.

The US president called the once and future Russian leader from Air Force One "to congratulate him on his recent victory in the Russian presidential election," a White House statement said.

Obama "highlighted achievements in US-Russia relations over the past three years with President (Dmitry) Medvedev, including cooperation on Afghanistan, the conclusion and ratification of the START agreement, Russia's recent invitation to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and cooperation on Iran."

Obama and Putin "agreed that the successful reset in relations should be built upon during the coming years" and the US leader said that he looked forward to hosting Putin at the G8 Summit in May at Camp David. (AFP)

Students clash over public transportation in Bogota

BOGOTA: Student protesters demanding better public transportation in the Colombian capital of Bogota destroyed the city's TransMilenio rapid bus transit station on Friday (March 9).

The protesters blocked downtown streets, adding to already jammed traffic, and riot police used tear gas to disperse the demonstors.

The students called for lower student fare bus tickets on the city's TransMilenio rapid bus transit system.

Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro denounced the disturbances.

"With these violent acts, they're not going to detain the mayor's office from publically negotiating the conditions of the city's new model of transportation," he said.

While riders say the service is poor, the city has said the protests are politically charged.

City officials have called on high school and universities to "calm" their students who are blamed for leading the demonstrations.

US signs deal to hand Bagram prison to Afghans

KABUL: The United States on Friday signed a deal transferring control of the Bagram prison to the Afghan government, marking a breakthrough in negotiations over a strategic treaty between the two nations.

Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and the US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, signed the accord, which will see authority over the prison transferred gradually over six months. (AFP)

Australia flood bill mounts, more rain forecast

SYDNEY: Australia's flood crisis was set to cost in excess of Aus$500 million (US$530 million) in New South Wales alone and more rain was on the way, the state government said Friday.

Eastern Australia has endured torrential rainfall for more than a week, leaving hundreds of homes flooded, damaging roads and bridges and soaking farmland in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria states.

"We have a damages bill at the moment that my guys are telling me is heading way north of $500 million," New South Wales Roads Minister Duncan Gay told ABC radio, adding that the state had been "horrendously hurt".

"The weather forecasters are telling me that April will be the worst that we've faced yet," due to a weather pattern known as "La Nina".

La Nina conditions typically bring higher-than-normal rainfall with Sydney on Thursday feeling the force of nature with an estimated 119 millimetres (more than four and a half inches) falling on the city -- the highest daily total since 2007.

As the waters eased in some areas across NSW, communities downstream from the floods were bracing for the surging torrents yet to pour through the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan and Hawkesbury river systems.

In Sydney, where heavy rain Thursday swept away cars and flooded railway lines, residents on the city's northwestern outskirts were being urged to prepare to evacuate their homes.

Further inland, residents of the country towns of Condobolin and Narrandera were bracing for the coming floods and people in the Victoria town of Nathalia were hoping their levee would hold.

Elsewhere, such as in New South Wales's biggest inland city of Wagga Wagga, emergency officials began the massive clean-up as flood waters began to subside. But residents were still faced with waterlogged homes and farms.

"It's fairly devastating but what else can we do? I don't think we are as bad as some people. I don't know what our losses would be," one flood-hit farmer, Lance Gillespie, told the ABC.

Hundreds of fire and emergency workers were hosing out homes, businesses and schools and clearing roads, Deputy State Emergency Operations Controller Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch said.

"While it's not over yet, some areas are starting the process of recovery and that generally begins with cleaning up," he said.

So far two people have died in the floods, after they attempted to cross waterways in cars