The Indian Panorama

Month: September 2012

  • Anti-Islam film Protests set Middle East afire

    Anti-Islam film Protests set Middle East afire

    NEW YORK (TIP): Protests against the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims”, made in the US, have spread across the Middle East and North Africa, a BBC report says.

    In Yemen, demonstrators briefly stormed the grounds of the US embassy in Sanaa and burnt the US flag, but were driven back by security forces.

    In Egypt, 224 people were injured in protests, the health ministry said.

    In Libya, where the US ambassador J Christopher Stevens and 3 others were killed during protests in Benghazi on Tuesday, September 11, officials said they had made some arrests over the attack. Meanwhile, President Obama has vowed that “Justice will be done”.

    The demonstrations, and violence, which have spread through the Middle East and North Africa, are a reminder that, in this part of the world, religion and politics are often the same thing. Religion defines lives and is part of people’s identities in a way that secular Europeans forgot long ago.

    It is a big part of the political transformation that has been happening since the Arab uprisings started last year. In the old Middle East, there used to be protests against the United States and its Western allies when they were perceived to be attacking Islam – everything from insulting the Prophet Muhammad to invading or bombing.
    The authoritarian rulers of police states who depended on western support always kept them in check. But now the old red lines have gone.

    US officials say they are investigating whether the attack in Libya was planned, citing suspicions that a militant jihadist group may have co-coordinated the violence.

    Libya’s new Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagur told the AFP news agency there had been a “big advance” in the investigation in Benghazi.

    “Arrests have been made and more are under way as we speak,” he said.

    Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said that police were gathering evidence and, in addition to those arrested, some militants were being closely monitored.

    US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the film which gave rise to the protests as “disgusting” and “reprehensible”.

    The US utterly rejected its contents and its message, she said, but the film was no excuse for violence

    Anti-American anger

    Police in Sanaa shot in the air, but failed to prevent crowds from gaining access to the embassy compound and setting fire to vehicles.

    Security force reinforcements used tear gas, water cannon and live fire to drive protesters back.
    There were reports of injuries on both sides, although the Reuters news agency carried a statement from the embassy saying there were none.

    “The exact origin of the movie and the internet clip, and the motivation behind its production, remains a mystery”, says BBC’s Alastair Leithead.

    Windows were smashed. A US flag was torn down and replaced with a black flag bearing the Muslim statement of faith, “There is no God but Allah”.

    In Washington, a White House spokesman said all those working in the Sanaa embassy were safe and accounted for.
    In Egypt, protests erupted for a third day outside the US embassy in Cairo, with some demonstrators demanding the expulsion of the ambassador.

    Police fired tear gas at crowds throwing stones.

    Islamist groups and others have called for a “million-man march” in Cairo on Friday, September 14.
    The Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist al-Nour party and non-religious groups including the “Ultra” fans of Zamalek football club have invited Muslims, Coptic Christians and all Egyptian citizens to join them.
    President Mohammed Mursi appealed for calm, saying Egyptians “reject any kind of assault or insult” against the Prophet Muhammad.

    “I condemn and oppose all who… insult our prophet. [But] it is our duty to protect our guests and visitors from abroad,” he said in a statement broadcast by state media.

    “I call on everyone to take that into consideration, to not violate Egyptian law… to not assault embassies.”
    Some other developments:

    Mr. Abu Shagur says there is “no justification” for the Benghazi attack and investigations are under way to find the “criminals” responsible

    Russia says it fears “chaos” in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia condemns both the film and the violence

    Iranians chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans stage a protest outside the Swiss embassy in the Iranian capital, Tehran, which represents US interests

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai has postponed a planned visit to Norway, fearing violence could erupt in his country

    There were small protests in Bangladesh and Iraq, in addition to Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia

    Security has been increased at US embassies and consulates around the world; US officials say a marine anti-terrorism team is being deployed to Libya and two destroyers to the Libyan coast as a precautionary measure

    Protests Time line:

    11 September

    1. US embassy in Cairo attacked, flag torn down and replaced with an Islamist banner
    2. Mob attacks US consulate in Benghazi, US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans killed

    13 September

    3. Protesters break into the US embassy compound in Sanaa, Yemen, amid clashes with security forces
    4. Further violence reported in Cairo

    US officials have described the Benghazi attack as complex and professional, and suggested the attackers may have used the film protest as a pretext for the attack.

    Reuters quoted officials as saying there were suspicions that a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia brigade was responsible, although the group has denied the claim.

    The officials said there were also reports that al-Qaeda’s North Africa-based affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, may have been involved, the news agency reports.

    The obscure film which has sparked anger, called Innocence of Muslims, was shot in the US and posted online earlier this year. Clips have since been shown on Arab TV stations.

    It depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizer and the bloodthirsty leader of a ragtag group of men who enjoy killing.

    The BBC’s Alastair Leithead says the exact origin of the movie and the internet clip, and the motivation behind its production, remains a mystery.

    The most offensive comments regarding Muhammad appear to have been dubbed on later, says a BBC Correspondent.

    Some of the actors involved have since condemned the film, and said they had no idea it was to be used as anti-Islam propaganda. Makers of the movies have reportedly said they were “grossly misled”.

    (BBC)

  • Guatemala volcano eruption forces mass evacuation

    Guatemala volcano eruption forces mass evacuation

    MEXICO (TIP): Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in Guatemala after the Fuego volcano eruption, which specialists estimate to be the most powerful since 1999 in this Central American country, media reports said. The authorities of Guatemala announced the highest “red” level of alert on Thursday, as Fuego began spewing ash as high as 1,000 meters in the air and outpouring lava that covered an area of seven square kilometers on the southern slopes of the volcano.

    According to various local media sources, between10,000 and 33,000 people were evacuated from residential areas near the Fuego, located just 50 kms from Guatemala City. The authorities recommended air traffic controllers to reroute or suspend flights in the vicinity of the Fuego incase the altitude of discharged ash reaches 1,500 meters.

  • Clashes outside US embassy in Cairo leave 200 injured

    Clashes outside US embassy in Cairo leave 200 injured

    Cairo (TIP): Some 200 people were injured in clashes outside the US embassy located in the Egyptian capital, said an official related to ambulance service on September 13. “Eight people were hospitalised and the others were given first aid at the scene,” Ahmad Al-Ansari, deputy head of Cairo’s ambulance service, told reporters.

    Among the injured were 24 security personnel, including six officers and 18 soldiers, Xinhua reported.
    Riot police fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who were throwing stones and Molotov cocktails also known as a petrol bomb.

    Violence swept through Muslim communities around the world following the posting of a short film dubbed “Innocence of Muslims” on YouTube on Tuesday. The movie has been

  • Senate Sub Committee to hold a Hearing on Hate Crimes

    Senate Sub Committee to hold a Hearing on Hate Crimes

    NEW YORK, NY (TIP): In the wake of the tragic, hate motivated shootings in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a United States Senate Subcommittee announced September 12that it will hold a hearing on threats posed by extremist hate groups in the United States.

    The announcement was motivated in part by a request from a diverse group of more than 150 organizations, led by the Sikh Coalition, that the Senate hold hearings on hate crimes and domestic extremism.

    The hearing, entitled “Hate Crimes & the Threat of Domestic Extremism,” will be held before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, chaired by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226, Washington, DC starting at 2:30 p.m.

  • US initiates massive probe into Benghazi attack

    US initiates massive probe into Benghazi attack

    Washington (TIP): The US has launched a massive probe, involving several agencies including the FBI, to find out who was behind the attack on its Consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the killing of the US Ambassador to Libya. State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland said today that investigation had begun and till then it would be better to refrain from speculating on any possible involvement of al Qaeda or its affiliated groups in the incident. “I can’t draw any conclusions as to the who and how they were affiliated. We just can’t do that right now, and we won’t until we have more information. “What I would say is that as you have probably seen, what we’re seeing on social media, what we’re seeing in some of the local commentary is largely related to this reprehensible video,” Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference. She was responding to a question on whether there is any indication or possibility of al-Qaeda sympathisers involved in the Benghazi attacks.

    The Libyan Government, meanwhile, is conducting its own investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation too has been involved in the probe.”The FBI always becomes involved when Americans — official Americans are killed. It has opened its own investigation into the death of these four US citizens and the attack on the consulate, on the mission,” she said

  • Indian-American Forum offersinternships in USCongress and WH

    Indian-American Forum offersinternships in USCongress and WH

    TAMPA, FL (TIP): An Indian-American forum has announced internship program for young members of the community in the US Congress and the White House with the aim of creating political awareness among them.

    Noting that while there are two Indian-American Governors – Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal – there has not been much community representation in the Congress, the Indian-American Forum for Political Education (IAFPE) has said that it is time for more political awareness and participation among younger members of the community.

    “Internship program at the US Congress and the White House would help us achieve this goal,” IAFPE president Dr Sampat Shivangi said while announcing the internships. At its meeting in Tampa on September 8 to launch the Florida chapter of IAFPE, Dr Shivangi also announced programs to promote voter registration and encourage Indian- Americans to exercise their rights to vote and run for public offices. Inaugurated by the Deputy Indian Ambassador to the US, Arun Singh, IAFPE meeting also announced Student Ambassador Program for Indian-American students to visit India in association with Indian Embassy in US to maintain their Indian identity. Speaking on the occasion, Singh said that India-US relations have matured in last few years. The bi-lateral trade between to democracies has now touched USD 100 billion.

    India and US are natural allies as described US President Barack Obama and the Secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Singh said. Tulsi Gabbard, the Democratic Party Congressional candidate from Hawaii, was one of the guest speakers. Congressman Gus Bilirakis emphasized the contributions Indian-Americans have made in the US. The Congressman promised to join as a member of Indian Caucus in US Congress.

    Speaking on the occasion, the former Indian Ambassador at Large for Non-resident Indians, Bhishma Agnihotri, traced the history of Indian Immigrants and their contributions in the field of Medicine specifically by American Physicians of Indian Origin. (Agencies)

  • Mangano, Venditto, Bobby Kumar Honored at India Day Parade Gala

    Mangano, Venditto, Bobby Kumar Honored at India Day Parade Gala

    LONG ISLAND, NY (TIP): Woodlands at the Greens was a beehive of activity on September 9th with 300 prominent personalities, dignitaries, community and business leaders, IDP USA Team comprising of the IDP USA event Conveners – Mr. Harendra Singh, Mr. Kamlesh Mehta, Ms. Indu Jaiswal, Mr. Gobind Munjal and Mr. Mohinder Singh Taneja, Committees, Chairs and Co-Chairs and Volunteers who had organized the First India Day Parade on Long Island in Hicksville to celebrate India’s 66th Independence Day in keeping with the worldwide Indian Diaspora gathered together at a posh venue to rejoice in style. Hosts mingled with guests in the classy settings of the Clubhouse at Melville on Long Island to celebrate the Gala Dinner.

    Honorees, on this special occasion, for their outstanding contributions to Long Island’s ethnic diversity were Nassau County Executive Hon. Ed Mangano, Town of Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto and Mr. Bobby Kumar Kalotee who received the “Jewel of India in USA” Special Award on the occasion.

    Among the many distinguished dignitaries present who were recognized and thanked for sharing this momentous occasion with IDP USA were the many honorable judges from the supreme, district, family and many other appellate and division courts and candidates for judgeship who were present, among them being – Hon. Justices Francis Ricigliano, Hon. Sheri Roman, Hon. Andrea Phoenix, Hon. O’Connor, Hon. Robert Spergel, Hon. David Sullivan, Hon. Hope Zimmerman, Hon. William O’Brien, Hon. Leslie Stein, Hon. Stephen Bucaria, Hon. Anthony Paradiso, Hon. Sandy Pardes, Hon. Douglas Lerose, Hon. Andrew Engel, Hon. Rich Porcelli, Howard Taylor and others.

    Hon. John Venditto expressed his happiness at being part of the gala event. Mr. Bobby Kumar in thanking everyone present from the bottom of his heart said he was speechless and could not thank enough, recognizing the scores of individuals who supported him in his endeavors while at the same time paying tribute to his humble beginnings from a small village in India and the long road traveled leading to where he is now, an American dream come true, delivering his speech in his typical mirthful style. A short video carefully put together showcased Mr. Bobby Kumar’s life. Mr. Kamlesh Mehta, Director of Business and Economic Development, Nassau County accepted the Award on behalf of Hon. Ed Mangano.

    Mr. Mohinder Singh Taneja opened the event with a warm welcome to all. Introductions to the Honorees were given by Mr. Kamlesh Mehta and Mr. Animesh Goenka. Ms. Indu Jaiswal recognized and thanked her team in Indian American Forum consisting of Dr. Bhupi Patel, Dr. Azad Anand, Dr. Parveen Chopra and Dr. Arya and invited all on stage to jointly present together with all the Event Conveners a Special Gold Medal Award to Mr. Bobby Kumar in recognition of all his many outstanding achievements. In continuing with the honors and also recognised at the podium for their outstanding support were IDP USA’s lead sponsors – Mr. Harry Singh of Bolla Oil, Patel Brothers and Bollyarts, with Mr. Sanjay and Mr. Hiren Patel and Ms. Sunitha Sadhnani graciously accepting the recognition on behalf of their businesses. Among other sponsors recognized was Kingfisher Airlines.

    The entertainment segment in 2 parts while the program was underway was provided by Bolly Arts with dances performed in contemporary Bollywood style having DJ Kutcha at the mike. He was thanked together with Mala Bakshi, Ajay Batra and Kanika Marwaha for all work done in moving forward the various stages of the IDP USA events and the Gala Dinner, while Mr. Lal Motwani distributed up-to-date professionally prepared copies of the IDP USA Journal to all invitees present.

    Mr. Gobind Munjal heartily thanked all honorees, community leaders, fellow conveners including members of the press and media who contributed to the overall success of IDP USA. Certificates of Appreciation were awarded to all Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs and a roll call of recognition was read aloud. Among those mentioned were Mr. Rajan Nabe, Mr. Nagendra Gupta, Mr. Salil Zaveri, Mr. Raj and Mrs. Suchita Chadha, Mrs. Tina Shah, Mr. Vijay Goswamy, Mr. Ken Epstein, Mr. Ashok Sapra, Mr Rajesh Kumar, Mr. Zinda Singh, Ms. Bharti Desai, Mr. Rajendra, Nipun, Anuj and many others.
    (Press Release issued by Rekha Valliappan)

  • US Ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi

    US Ambassador to Libya killed in Benghazi

    NEW YORK (TIP): The US ambassador to Libya is among four Americans killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi September11. President Barack Obama has confirmed the attack and the Ambassador’s death, says a BBC report

    Unidentified armed men stormed the grounds overnight amid uproar among Muslims over a US-produced film said to insult the Prophet Muhammad.
    They shot at buildings and threw handmade bombs into the compound.It has not been confirmed how the ambassador, J Christopher Stevens,and the others died.

    In a statement, President Obama condemned the “outrageous attack” on the facility in Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city which was a rebel stronghold during the uprising against Col Muammar Gaddafi.

    “Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States,” he said.”Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi.”Mr. Obama ordered a tightening of security at US diplomatic posts around the globe.
    Libya’s interim leader, Mohammed Magarief, apologized to the US over the killings, which he called “cowardly criminal acts”.
    Reports say a militia known as the Ansar al-Sharia brigade was involved in the attack, but the group has denied the claim, the BBC’s Rana Jawad in Tripoli says.’

    Rocket attack

    Reports suggest that Ambassador Stevens and his staff went to the consulate in an attempt to evacuate the site after it was attacked.
    They were reportedly trying to leave the consulate building for a safer location when gunmen launched an intense attack, apparently forcing back security guards.

    “The American ambassador and three staff members were killed when gunmen fired rockets in their direction,” a Libyan official in Benghazi told Reuters news agency.

    A second US man killed in the attack was named as Sean Smith, a father of two who was employed as an information management officer. The names of the remaining two victims have not yet been released.

    US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Mr. Smith in a statement as “one of the best”. The attack was condemned by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague as “brutal and senseless”.”These diplomats were serving not only their own country but the people of Libya and were working for the peace and stability of Libya in the future,” he said in a statement. It is not the first time that a US ambassador has been killed while on active duty.

    Earlier, between 1968 and1979, at least five US ambassador shave been killed in line of duty.* John Gordon Mein – Guatemala,1968: Shot dead by rebels who ambushed his car in GuatemalaCity.* Cleo A Noel Jr – Sudan, 1973: Shot dead along with senior US and Belgian diplomats by the Black September Palestinian militant group, after being taken hostage in Saudi embassy in Khartoum .* Rodger P Davies – Cyprus, 1974:Killed by sniper gunfire during a demonstration at the US embassy in Nicosia by Greek Cypriots.* Francis E Meloy Jr – Lebanon,1976: Kidnapped by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine members in Beirut with another senior US official. Their bullet-riddled bodies were later found.* Adolph Dubs – Afghanistan, 1979:Killed in exchange of fire after Afghan and Soviet forces tried to free him from kidnappers in Kabul hotel.

  • Andy Murray Wins US Open: the first British male to win a major in 76 years

    Andy Murray Wins US Open: the first British male to win a major in 76 years

    Andy Murray of Great Britain lifts the US Open championship trophy after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men’s singles final on September 10, 2012 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York.

    NEW YORK (TIP): Andy Murray won his first ever Grand Slam on Monday, September 10 night, defeating Novak Djokovic, 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2 in the 2012 U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing, NY. After a heartbreaking loss at Wimbledon, Murray responded with a strong tournament in Flushing, N.Y., to become the first British male to win a major in 76 years.

    It had been 76 years since a British man won a Grand Slam singles championship and, at least as far as Murray was concerned, it was well worth the wait.
    Ending a nation’s long drought, and snapping his own four-final skid in majors, Murray finally pulled through with everything at stake on a Grand Slam stage, shrugging off defending champion Djokovic’s comeback bid to win 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.

    “Novak is so, so strong. He fights until the end in every single match,” Murray said. “I don’t know how I managed to come through in the end.”

    Yes, Murray already showed he could come up big by winning the gold medal in front of a home crowd at the London Olympics last month. But this was different. This was a Grand Slam tournament, the standard universally used to measure tennis greatness — and the 287th since Britain’s Fred Perry won the 1936 U.S. Championships, as the event was known back then

  • US Open: 27 August – 10 Sept

    US Open: 27 August – 10 Sept

    The spirit of the game: Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka hold their trophies

  • Serena Williams beats Victoria Azarenka to win US Open

    Serena Williams beats Victoria Azarenka to win US Open

    “I did it”. An excited Serena Williams seems to say. She overcame world number one Victoria Azarenka in three sets to win her fourth US Open and 16th Grand Slam title.

    NEW YORK (TIP): Serena Williams showed incredible resolve to outlast Victoria Azarenka and secure her fourth US Open title.

    The 30-year-old lifted her 15th Grand Slam singles crown – and fourth in New York – with a 6-2 2-6 7-5 win in 138 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

    World number one Azarenka served for the match, but Williams broke in a run of four ruthless games to triumph.
    She became the first player aged over 30 to win the US Open women’s singles since Martina Navratilova in 1987.
    “I honestly can’t believe I won,” said the American. “I was preparing my runner-up speech because she was playing so great.”

    Azarenka wept into a towel at the end as her dream of becoming the first Belarusian to win the US Open ended in agonising fashion.

    “It’s tough but Serena deserves to win,” said the 23-year-old. “She showed what a true champion she is.
    “I’m honoured to stand with such a true champion here. I definitely gave it my all today; stepping out of this court I have no regrets.”

    The win for Serena comes 13 years after her first US Open title in 1999 – the biggest span of success by a female singles player in the Open era.

    She is the fifth woman in the Open era to triumph four times in New York and now has a 15-4 win-loss record from her 19 major finals, including five Wimbledon titles, the latest coming this year.

    The result looked a formality as Williams blasted her way through the 34-minute first set with two breaks of serve.
    An inch-perfect lob in game two drew applause from Azarenka, while a series of brutal winners in game eight epitomised her dominance.

    Having come from a set down to beat Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals, Azarenka knew she was capable of mounting a fightback.

    Hope arrived with a Williams double-fault early in set two, and the American was further distracted by a foot fault in game three.

    Azarenka had captured the momentum and she struck again for a 4-1 lead before comfortably levelling the contest.
    It was the first US Open women’s final to go the distance since 1995 and breaks were exchanged in a nervy start to the decider.

    Azarenka made what seemed a decisive move when she punished an error-strewn Williams in game seven and held for 5-3.
    The crowd noise rose to deafening levels and it had contrasting effects – Williams growing in belief, Azarenka wilting.

    Williams produced a crunching forehand winner to put the set back on serve, levelled and then broke again when Azarenka netted.

    A flurry of ferocious serves moved the home favourite to within a game of glory, and she was able to celebrate when Azarenka fired long.

  • Remembering 9/11

    Remembering 9/11

    Pain remains. Fears linger. America is not what it was prior to 9/11. Americans are not what they were before the terrorist strike of 9/11. The dastardly attack on the USA on 9/11 not only took a heavy toll of life and property; it took a heavier toll in respect of a wounded psyche. Today, America feels threatened and Americans live in fear. 11 years after the Al Qaeda strike in the USA, Americans should have faith in themselves, in their capacity and ability to hedge any enemy attack on its soil but fear lurks. Eleven years of absence of any significant terrorist strike should encourage them to have faith that America is secure. Yet most Americans feel insecure.

    The last one year has brought about significant successes in America’s war against terror. Not only has America prevented any terrorist attack on its soil, it has broken the back of Al Qaeda by eliminating the most dreaded Osama bin Laden in a daring operation by US Navy Seals in Pakistani territory. US forces have also eliminated some of the top Al Qaeda leadership, including the dreaded Ilyas Kashmiri and the powerful Atiyah Abdul Rahman, the terrorist organization’s second-in-command who is believed to have been a trusted lieutenant of the slain Osama bin Laden.

    No doubt, America has lost many of its brave sons and daughters in its battle against terror. In terms of money, America has spent trillions to win the war against terror that is 11 years old since 9/11. But the end is not in sight yet which means America will be required to engage itself and continue to fight until it vanquishes the enemy or admit its incapacity to win and surrender.

    America is in a catch 22 situation. US President has declared he will withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in 2012, leaving behind a token presence of a few thousand troops only. How will that help either in the US fight against terror or Afghanistan government the US helped prop is anybody’s guess. On a seeming note, withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan without decimating the enemy appears to be a collapse of US policy of fight against terror. So many precious lives lost and so much drain on exchequer and the end result is humiliation for the nation. Is America ready for that?

    I find Americans overly worried about security of the nation. America should have confidence that it is secure. But, often, the signals are wrong. The emphasis on “a secure America” and on the need to “secure borders” has not always driven the American government in the right direction. Many of the fears of the Federal and State governments have been more imaginary than real and the resultant panic has forced them to take steps which are not always in the right direction.

    On the solemn occasion of the eleventh anniversary of 9/11 whereas we all must salute the heroes of 9/11 and pay homage to the martyrs, we must also tell ourselves that we are not weak, that we have nothing and nobody to fear and that we can always overcome. Only then shall we be able to enjoy our liberty which we prize so much and which is a way of life with us. God bless America!

  • DMK minister in the line of fire

    DMK minister in the line of fire

    Chennai (tip): A DMK minister is now in the line of fire in the coal scam. As reported by the national daily, Times of India, Minister of state for Information and Broadcasting S Jagathrakshakan is now being linked to the coal scam.

    In 2007, Jagathrakshakan’s company JR Power Gen Pvt Limited entered into an MOU with a public sector company PITDIC just five days before the PSU was allotted coal blocks.
    JR power had no standing in the industry at that stage. In 2010, the company sold 51 per cent stake to a Hyderabad based power company.

    The DMK, however, has said, “The MOS for information and broadcasting was not a member of the DMK in 2007.”

  • Pobe points the finger at four media houses

    Pobe points the finger at four media houses

    New Delhi (TIP): Even as the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) held its first meeting on September 6 to listen to 10 of the companies that have been issued show-cause notice, investigation into Coalgate is pointing to at least four media houses being beneficiaries of the coal blocks allocation.

    Sources in the government said that at least three print media publication houses and one electronic channel have benefited from the allocation of coal blocks by misrepresenting facts to secure critical coal assets.
    “Investigations have revealed that these companies managed to bag coal blocks after floating front companies in order avoid exposing themselves directly in the allocation process. One of the publications has also floated a power generation company, and was beneficiary due to that linkage. One of the companies is understood to have been summoned by IMG during its three-day marathon meeting.”

    CBI PROBE ON

    The matter is under investigation by CBI, and it is likely to file a formal complaint in the second phase of registration of FIRs,” a senior Coal Ministry official said. On the other hand, Monnet Ispat and Energy, one of the 10 firms asked to appear before the IMG, informed the group that it had plans to begin production in its Utkal B2 coal block in Odisha by March 2013.

    WORK FROM MARCH 2013

    “We have estimated the production from this coal block to begin around March 2013,” Monnet Ispat chairman and managing director Sandeep Jajodia told reporters after meeting the IMG members.
    The IMG has been asked to submit a report for de-allocation of blocks and encashing of bank guarantees of the captive mine owners by September 15.

    NOTICE TO COMPANY

    Between 1999 and 2009, Monnet was allocated five captive mines. Of this, the IMG had issued notice to the company for the Utkal B2 block that was allocated on August 16, 1999, with an extractable reserve of 77 MT but is yet to begin production.

    ‘MONNET ISPAT CREDIBLE’

    “I don’t know what decision the committee will take. I believe that we have given a good presentation and justified the reasons for the delay. I am sure the Ministry of Coal and rest of the people know that Monnet Ispat is a very serious player in the industry and a very credible company,” Jajodia said.
    The IMG has summoned players like Usha Martin, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), Visa Steel, Uttam Galva, Bhushan Steel, Orissa Sponge Iron & Steel, Electrosteel Castings and Adhunik Metaliks.

  • Cong protesters clash with police outside Odisha Assembly

    Cong protesters clash with police outside Odisha Assembly

    BHUBANESWAR (TIP): Thousands of Congress workers clashed with the police on September 6 when they tried to gherao the Odisha Assembly building demanding resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over the coalgate row leaving around 260 people including 60 police personnel injured.

    A woman police constable, who was allegedly thrashed and dragged by the Congress protesters, and another policeman were among the injured and they are in a critical condition, official sources said.

    The police resorted to baton charge when water cannons and teargas failed to disperse the opposition protesters on the MG road close to the assembly building, police sources said.

    Armed with sticks, the demonstrators fought a pitched battle for three hours trying to break a barricade and threw stones at the police, the sources said.

    Police and hospital sources said around 260 people including 60 policemnen were injured in the violence.

    DGP Prakash Mishra said the police was prepared to handle the protests but did not expect ‘organised hooliganism’
    Congress leaders including Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, however, alleged that policemen jumped the barricade and beat up party workers as their meeting was in progress.

    Also among the injured were DCP Nitinjeet Singh, OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik and his senior party colleagues Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Tara Prasad Bahinipati, police sources said.

    The protesters had gathered to demand the resignation of Patnaik alleging his involvement in the coal allocation scam and irregularities in supply of fertiliser and rice.

    The demonstrators were addressed by AICC general secretary in-charge of Odisha Jagdish Tytler and Niranjan Patnaik who alleged that the BJD government was the most corrupt in history of the state.

    Rejecting the allegations, the chief minister said Congress was in the habit of making baseless charges though people knew about the scams in which the Congress-led UPA government was involved.

    Accusing the state government of depriving the poor of rice and wheat provided by the Centre, the Congress leaders also alleged that the BJD government was providing only 25 kg per family against 35 kg given by the central government under various schemes like Antyodaya Anna Yojana and for BPL people.

  • AS I SEE IT – China thrives in soft corner with two-track U.S. strategy

    AS I SEE IT – China thrives in soft corner with two-track U.S. strategy

    The U.S. strategy long has been geared against the rise of any hegemonic power in Asia and for a stable balance of power. Yet, as its 2006 national security strategy report acknowledges, the United States also remains committed to accommodate “the emergence of a China that is peaceful and prosperous and that cooperates with us to address common challenges and mutual interests.”

    Can U.S. policy reconcile these two seemingly conflicting objectives? The short answer is yes.

    The U.S., in fact, has played a key role in China’s rise. One example was the U.S. decision to turn away from trade sanctions against Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and instead integrate that country with global institutions – a major decision that allowed China to rise. Yet, paradoxically, many in the world today see China as America’s potential peer rival.

    Often overlooked is the fact that U.S. policy has a long tradition of following a China-friendly approach.
    In 1905, for example, President Theodore Roosevelt – who hosted the Japan-Russia peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after the war between the two countries – argued for the return of Manchuria to Manchu-ruled China and for a balance of power in East Asia. The Russo-Japanese War actually ended up making the U.S. an active participant in China’s affairs.

    After the Communists seized power in China in 1949, the U.S. openly viewed Chinese Communism as benign and thus distinct from Soviet Communism. In more recent decades, U.S. policy has aided the integration and then ascension of Communist China, which began as an international pariah state.

    It was the U.S. that helped turn China into the export juggernaut that it has become by outsourcing the production of cheap goods to it. Such manufacturing resulted in China accumulating massive trade surpluses and becoming the principal source of capital flows to the U.S.

    America’s China policy has traversed three stages. In the first phase, America courted the Mao Zedong regime, despite its 1950-51 annexation of Tibet and its domestic witch hunts, such as the “Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom” campaign. Disappointment with courtship led to estrangement, and U.S. policy then spent much of the 1960s seeking to isolate China.

    The third phase began immediately after the 1969 Sino-Soviet bloody military clashes, as the U.S. actively sought to take advantage of the open rift between the two communist states to rope in China as an ally in its anti-Soviet strategy.

    Even though the border clashes were clearly instigated by China, as the Pentagon later acknowledged, Washington sided with Beijing. That helped lay the groundwork for the China “opening” of 1970-71 engineered by Henry Kissinger, who had no knowledge of China until then.

    Since the 1970s, the U.S. has followed a conscious policy to aid China’s rise – a policy approach that remains intact today, even as Washington seeks to hedge against the risks of Chinese power sliding into arrogance. The Carter White House, in fact, sent a memo to various U.S. departments instructing them to help in China’s rise.

    In the second half of the Cold War, Washington and Beijing quietly forged close intelligence and other strategic cooperation, as belief grew in both capitals that the two countries were natural allies. Such cooperation survived the end of the Cold War. Even China’s 1996 firing of missiles into the Taiwan Strait did not change the U.S. policy of promoting China’s rise, despite the consternation in Washington over the Chinese action.

    If anything, the U.S. has been gradually withdrawing from its close links with Taiwan, with no U.S. Cabinet member visiting Taiwan since those missile maneuvers. Indeed, U.S. policy went on to acknowledge China’s “core interests” in Taiwan and Tibet in a 2009 joint communiqué with Beijing.

    In this light, China’s spectacular economic success – illustrated by its emergence with the world’s biggest trade surplus and largest foreign-currency reserves – owes a lot to the U.S. policy from the 1970s, including Washington’s post-Tiananmen decision not to sustain trade sanctions.

    Without the significant expansion in U.S.-Chinese trade and financial relations since the 1970s, China’s economic growth would have been much harder.

    From being allies of convenience in the second half of the Cold War, the U.S. and China have emerged as partners tied together by close interdependence. America depends on Chinese trade surpluses and savings to finance its supersized budget deficits, while Beijing relies on its huge exports to the U.S. both to sustain its economic growth and subsidize its military modernization.

    By plowing two-thirds of its mammoth foreign-currency reserves into U.S. dollar-denominated investments, Beijing has gained significant political leverage.

    China thus is very different from the adversaries the U.S. has had in the past, like the Soviet Union and Japan. U.S. interests now are so closely intertwined with China that they virtually preclude a policy that seeks to either isolate or confront Beijing. Even on the democracy issue, the U.S. prefers to lecture some other dictatorships rather than the world’s largest and oldest-surviving autocracy.

    Yet it is also true that the U.S. views with unease China’s not-too-hidden aim to dominate Asia – an objective that runs counter to U.S. security and commercial interests and to the larger U.S. goal for a balance in power in Asia.
    To help avert such dominance, the U.S. has already started building countervailing influences and partnerships, without making any attempt to contain China. Where its interests converge with Beijing, the U.S. will continue to work closely with it. American academic John Garver, writing in the current issue of the Orbis journal, sees a de facto bargain between Washington and Beijing in the vast South Asia-Indian Ocean Region (SA-IOR): “Beijing accepts continuing U.S. pre-eminence in the SA-IOR in exchange for U.S. acceptance of a gradual, incremental and peaceful expansion of Chinese presence and influence in that region.”

    For the U.S., China’s rising power helps to validate U.S. forward military deployments in the Asian theater, keep existing allies in Asia, and win new strategic partners. An increasingly assertive China indeed has proven a diplomatic boon for Washington in strengthening and expanding U.S. security arrangements in Asia.

    South Korea has tightened its military alliance with the United States, Japan has backed away from a move to get the U.S. to move a marine airbase out of Okinawa, Singapore has allowed the stationing of U.S. Navy ships, Australia is hosting U.S. Marine and other deployments, and India, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, among others, have drawn closer to the U.S.

    The lesson: The rise of a muscle-flexing power can help strengthen the relevance and role of a power in relative decline.

    Let us not forget that barely a decade ago, the U.S. was beginning to feel marginalized in Asia because of several developments, including China’s “charm offensive.” It was worried about being shunted aside in Asia.
    Today, America has returned firmly to the center-stage in Asia, prompting President Barack Obama to declare his much-ballyhooed “pivot” toward Asia. To lend strategic heft to the “pivot,” the U.S. is to redirect 60 percent of its battleships to the Pacific and 40 percent to the Atlantic by 2020, compared to the 50-50 split at present.

    Despite the “pivot,” the U.S. intends to stick to its two-track approach in Asia – seek to maintain a balance of power with the help of its strategic allies and partners, while continuing to accommodate a rising China, including by reaching unpublicized bargains with it on specific issues and Asian subregions.

    Brahma Chellaney is a prolific writer. He has authored “Asian Juggernaut” (HarperCollins) and “Water: Asia’s New Battleground” (Georgetown University Press).

  • Coal blocks for private firms, CIL sent to Africa

    Coal blocks for private firms, CIL sent to Africa

    NEW DELHI (TIP): State-run Coal India Limited’s pleas for coal blocks may have fallen on deaf ears but the government did not hesitate in asking the Maharatna company to go as far overseas as Mozambique in south-east Africa to prospect for coal.

    For over four years, Coal India repeatedly wrote to the coal ministry seeking allocation of 130-odd blocks the public sector company said were essential for its expansion and for meeting existing commitments.

    The ministry woke up to Coal India’s entreaties only after Coalgate and files began to move. But prior to Coalgate singeing the government, the coal ministry was more keen on backing propositions in a corner of Africa than domestic options.

    In May, Coal India informed BJP MP Hansraj Ahir – whose complaint set off the CBI probe into allocations of coal blocks to private operators – that four CIL officers were posted in Mozambique to pursue opening of mines in that country.

    Coal India officers were deputed to Coal India Africana Limitada, CIL’s subsidiary set up to explore and source coal in Mozambique. The venture set up shop in the city of Tete in March and expressions of interest for drilling – duly reported in the media – were invited in May.

    Around the same time, Coal India was having a hard time persuading the coal ministry to consider the allocation of 138 blocks with reserves of 57 billion tonnes to “sustain long-term production programme of CIL to meet the country’s demand”.

    The government argued that CIL was unable to meet requirements of Indian companies, both private sector and state-run, and this had necessitated allocating blocks to private companies. But while CIL plans took a hit, private players failed to meet commitments defeating the government’s “power for all” policy.

    The PSU received no intimation with regard to its requests till very recently. Coal India has been writing to the ministry since at least August 2008 about the blocks to little avail. On the other hand, the government set aside blocks for private parties who now face threat of action for not meeting timeframes.

    Tete, a city located in the interior of Mozambique on Zambezi river, is the base of Coal India operations in the African country. A consultant has been appointed for undertaking an environmental impact assessment and preparing an environmental management plan so that drilling can start in a few weeks, CIL said.

    CIL informed that a memorandum of understanding has also been finalized for an apex training organization for local people and the planning and designing of an institute is in progress.

    The PSU’s enterprise in seeking to access coal deposits in a far flung country might be justified as mirroring similar ventures undertaken by Chinese companies in Africa, but CIL being denied access to coal blocks in India have raised questions.

  • One family that struck gold in coal mines

    One family that struck gold in coal mines

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Of the five companies raided on September 4, three belong to one family – the Nagpur-based Jayaswals. Split in two businesses, they are among the largest beneficiaries in the coal block allocations, holding 10 blocks with more than 900 million tonnes of coal. What is more striking is that they managed to get such a large allocation with only one project running on the ground. Outside Raipur, in the smog-filled industrial area of Siltara, exists a steel plant run by Jayaswal Neco company. Headed by the family patriarch Basant Lal Jayaswal, the company is managed by his son Ramesh Jayaswal. Until a few years ago, Ramesh’s elder Manoj was part of the Neco Group.

    But following a family feud, he branched out, taking control of companies under the banner of Abhijeet Group. Business circles in the region believed the brothers had parted on an acrimonious note and that their businesses, Neco and Abhijeet group, were separate. But on Tuesday, when an unknown company AMR Iron and Steel was raided, and journalists scoured through its returns filed with the registrar of companies, they discovered that the brothers jointly held stake in the company, with their father and family. People in Nagpur are now speculating if AMR in the company’s name stands for ‘Arvind, Manoj, Ramesh’. Arvind is their older brother. But the larger question is how did one family corner 10 blocks.

  • CBI names Congress MP, kin

    CBI names Congress MP, kin

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The probe into the mega-billion ‘Coalgate’ scam moved into a higher gear with the Central Bureau of Investigation registering five FIRs into irregularities against five companies and several individuals, including a leading political family of Maharashtra.

    Those named in the first set of FIRs include Congress member of Rajya Sabha Vijay Jawaharlal Darda, his brother and education minister of Maharashtra Rajendra J Darda and his son Devendra. They have been accused of criminal conspiracy, suppression and misrepresentation of facts and violation of Prevention of Corruption Act.

    Apart from the Dardas, promoters of Nagpur-based Abhijeet group — Arvind Kumar Jayaswal, Manoj Jayaswal and Ramesh Jayaswal — have also been named in the FIRs. The group, which has clocked spectacular growth in recent years, was one of the biggest beneficiaries of controversial allocations of coal blocks.

    The FIRs named three companies belonging to the Dardas — AMR Iron and Steel (Nagpur), JLD Yavatmal Energy (Nagpur) and JAS Infrastructure Capital (Kolkata). The promoters of Navabharat Power, which has since become a subsidiary of Essar group, and Vini Iron and Steel Udyog, now controlled by an alleged aide of former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, figure in the remaining two FIRs.

    The agency is likely to file at least six more FIRs shortly, and enlist the cooperation of the Enforcement Directorate as part of a widening probe into the alleged swindle which surpasses the 2G scam in scale, and has jammed Parliament for over two weeks, placing corruption prominently on the national frontburner.

    CBI has also listed “unknown” government officials in the FIRs registered for cheating, criminal conspiracy and under many sections of Prevention of Corruption Act as preliminary investigations showed that some officials involved in the allocation process may have colluded with private players. The CBI teams carried out raids in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Patna, Kolkata, Nagpur, Dhanbad, Ranchi, Hyderabad, Bhilai, Yavatmal and Raipur among others. They recovered several documents related to the cases and questioned officials including directors of the accused companies.

    The FIR against Navabharat Power accuses its original promoters, P Trivikrama Prasad and Y Harish Chandra Prasad, of fabricating facts to secure Rampia and Dipside Rampia coal blocks. The Prasad siblings later sold the company to Essar Power. The fifth FIR features Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited, with the CBI accusing Sanjeev Kumar Tulsyan, Prashant Tulsyan and five other directors as well as the company’s chartered accountant of making the false claim that they were part of a consortium. According to the FIR, the directors misrepresented facts in order to appear financially viable. Significantly, one of the directors, Vaibhav Tulsyan, said that they had sold the company to Vijay Joshi, a close aide of former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, five months before the block was allocated. The FIRs come when the confrontation between Congress and BJP looks set to intensify. Not surprisingly, CBI’s action evoked contrary responses from the two antagonists. Congress responded by suggesting that the law was taking its own course and that the government would ensure that the guilty don’t go unpunished.

  • US Healthcare System Wastes $750 Billion a Year: Report

    US Healthcare System Wastes $750 Billion a Year: Report

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The U.S. health care system squanders $750 billion a year – roughly 30 cents of every medical dollar – through unneeded care, byzantine paperwork, fraud and other waste, the influential Institute of Medicine said Thursday, September 6 in a report that ties directly into the presidential campaign.

    President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are accusing each other of trying to slash Medicare and put seniors at risk. But the counter-intuitive finding from the report is that deep cuts are possible without rationing, and a leaner system may even produce better quality

    “Health care in America presents a fundamental paradox,” said the report from an 18-member panel of prominent experts, including doctors, business people, and public officials. “The past 50 years have seen an explosion in biomedical knowledge, dramatic innovation in therapies and surgical procedures, and management of conditions that previously were fatal …

    “Yet, American health care is falling short on basic dimensions of quality, outcomes, costs and equity,” the report concluded.

    If banking worked like health care, ATM transactions would take days, the report said. If home building were like health care, carpenters, electricians and plumbers would work from different blueprints and hardly talk to each other. If shopping were like health care, prices would not be posted and could vary widely within the same store, depending on who was paying.

    If airline travel were like health care, individual pilots would be free to design their own preflight safety checks – or not perform one at all.

    How much is $750 billion? The one-year estimate of health care waste is equal to more than ten years of Medicare cuts in Obama’s health care law. It’s more than the Pentagon budget. It’s more than enough to care for the uninsured.
    Getting health care costs better controlled is one of the keys to reducing the deficit, the biggest domestic challenge facing the next president. The report did not lay out a policy prescription for Medicare and Medicaid but suggested there’s plenty of room for lawmakers to find a path.

    Both Obama and Romney agree there has to be a limit to Medicare spending, but they differ on how to get that done. Obama would rely on a powerful board to cut payments to service providers, while gradually changing how hospitals and doctors are paid to reward results instead of volume. Romney would limit the amount of money future retirees can get from the government for medical insurance, relying on the private market to find an efficient solution. Each accuses of the other of jeopardizing the well-being of seniors.

    But panel members urged a frank discussion with the public about the value Americans are getting for their health care dollars. As a model, they cited “Choosing Wisely,” a campaign launched earlier this year by nine medical societies to challenge the widespread perception that more care is better.

    “Rationing to me is when we are denying medical care that is helpful to patients, on the basis of costs,” said cardiologist Dr. Rita Redberg, a medical school professor at the University of California, San Francisco. “We have a lot of medical care that is not helpful to patients, and some of it is harmful. The problem is when you talk about getting rid of any type of health care, someone yells, ‘Rationing.’ ”

    More than 18 months in the making, the report identified six major areas of waste: unnecessary services ($210 billion annually); inefficient delivery of care ($130 billion); excess administrative costs ($190 billion); inflated prices ($105 billion); prevention failures ($55 billion), and fraud ($75 billion). Adjusting for some overlap among the categories, the panel settled on an estimate of $750 billion.

    Examples of wasteful care include most repeat colonoscopies within 10 years of a first such test, early imaging for most back pain, and brain scans for patients who fainted but didn’t have seizures.
    The report makes ten recommendations, including payment reforms to reward quality results instead of reimbursing for each procedure, improving coordination among different kinds of service providers, leveraging technology to reinforce sound clinical decisions and educating patients to become more savvy consumers.

    The report’s main message for government is to accelerate payment reforms, said panel chair Dr. Mark Smith, president of the California HealthCare Foundation, a research group. For employers, it’s to move beyond cost shifts to workers and start demanding accountability from hospitals and major medical groups. For doctors, it means getting beyond the bubble of solo practice and collaborating with peers and other clinicians.

    “It’s a huge hill to climb, and we’re not going to get out of this overnight,” said Smith. “The good news is that the very common notion that quality will suffer if less money is spent is simply not true. That should reassure people that the conversation about controlling costs is not necessarily about reducing quality.”
    The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is an independent organization that advises the government.

  • Middle East: United States Strategic Chessboard in Disorder

    Middle East: United States Strategic Chessboard in Disorder

    By Dr Subhash Kapila

    Introductory Observations

    United States unipolar moment in the Middle East seems to have passed away and is being replaced by a power tussle between regional actors, erstwhile staunch military allies of the United States. Each one of these erstwhile US allies are embarked on striking independent trajectories or engaged in hedging strategies. Concurrently, they also seem to be pushing the United States into possible military interventions in the region.

    The United States strategic chessboard in the Middle East appears to be in disorder in 2013. More importantly, United States strategic formulations in the Middle East seem to be driven by Israel on Iran and by Saudi Arabia and Gulf Monarchies on Syria. On Iran, Saudi Arabia and Gulf States seem to be on the same page as Israel.

    Perceptionally, the United States seems to be no longer shaping strategic dynamics in the Middle East. Further, in the American security architecture in the Middle East, the traditional mainstays of US strategic formulations, namely, Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia seem to have lost lustre and are no longer effective allies of the United States.

    The latest flashpoint to be added to a volatile explosive mix already existing is Syria in which local actors seem to be contriving situations and pushing the United States into a possible military intervention in Syria for a regime change. Nothing could be more ill-advised for US strategic decision-makers than to be goaded into a military misadventure by regional power-play.

    This Paper intends to examine the main theme under the following heads:

    • Egypt, Turkey. Israel and Saudi Arabia No Longer Furthering United States Strategic Interests in the Middle East
    • Syria: The United States on Path to Repeat Strategic Blunders of Iraq Military Intervention.
    • Iran: Congagement Not Conflict is Advisable Strategy for United States & Regional Contenders
    • United States: Inadvisable to Get Entangled in Islamic Sectarian Divisions in the Middle East
    • United States: The Way Ahead

    Egypt, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia No Longer Furthering United States Strategic Interests in the Middle East

    Egypt which after Israel was the second-most beneficiary of US military and economic aid and a staunch ally of the United States can no longer be said to be so. The Arab Spring has brought about a regime change and the advent of trajectories independent of the United States. The new Egyptian President to drive home this point will be visiting Iran and China before he visits the United Sates. In terms of internal political dynamics, the Muslim Brotherhood not much favored by US partners in the Middle East seems to be establishing sway.

    Turkey though continuing as United States NATO Alliance partner has for a couple of years now been striking independent trajectories in carving a regional power niche for itself. However this drive is confronting complex challenges for it in Middle East power-play. As a moderate Islamic democratic and Western-oriented secular nation it now seems to be strategically in company of conservative Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia.

    Israel secure in the belief that the United States has no choice but to stand by its side for its security and stability has been driving a one-pint agenda of military strikes against Iran on the nuclear issue. This limits United States newer initiatives for strategic transformation of the Middle East power play more realistically in terms of strategic realities obtaining.

    Saudi Arabia cannot capitalize its geostrategic and geopolitical leverages on its own because of its significant limitations in terms of manpower base and Wahhabi Islam. Strategic greatness on it is a bestowal by the United States. In terms of its leadership of the Islamic Ummah, one needs to remember the yawning Sunni-Shia divide in the overall Islamic Middle East. Saudi Arabia can no longer be counted as a US strategic asset because of its hedging strategies in moving closer to Russia and China.

    In brief, the United States traditional military allies in the Middle East on whom the United States had invested exorbitant political and military capital have all ceased to be loyal foot- soldiers of US strategy in the Middle East.

    Syria: The United States on Path to Repeat Strategic Blunders of Iraq Military Intervention

    Syria is primarily being targeted by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States primarily to downsize Iran because Syria is strategically close to Iran. Also because in the perceptions of the countries named, Syria along with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon could be establishing a ‘Shia crescent’ in the northern tier of the Middle East which could upset the balance of power being contrived by Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

    Saudi Arabia and Turkey more notably are all seemed to be engaged in pushing the United States towards a regime change in Syria for power-play reasons of their own. The United States so prodded has restrained itself from direct military intervention against Damascus but has not restrained itself from letting Saudi Arabia and Turkey funnel in sizeable quantities of advanced weaponry to the Free Syria rebel militia operating from Southern Turkey.
    Reminiscent of the run-up to United States military intervention in Iraq, the so-called US allies in the Middle East are calling for the imposition of ‘safety zones’ and ‘no-fly zones in Syria.

    In other words a civil-war seems to have been contrived forgetting the dangerous consequences of such an ill-advised step. Within the United States sane voices are sounding caution against such moves as would be evident from the excerpts from a recent piece in Foreign Policy Journal by Kenneth Pollack: “Civil wars like Syria are obvious tragedies for the countries they consume but can also be catastrophic for their neighbors. Long-lasting and bloody civil wars often overflow their borders, spreading war and misery”.

    Are Syria’s neighbors in the forefront to nudge the United States towards a military intervention in a contrived civil war in Syria listening?

    Further, in relation to the United States, the same piece opines that: “For the United States, these developments are particularly important because spill-over from the civil war could threaten America’s vital interests far more than a war contained within Syrian borders.”

    The United Sates would be ill advised to proceed with any direct military intervention in Syria or even indirectly by using its Middle East proxies.

    United States misplaced strategic aim of regime change in Iraq strategically distracted the United States from Asia Pacific for a decade facilitating China to come dangerously close to perceptionally downsize United States strategic stature in Asia Pacific. United States own losses in terms of loss of valuable military lives and bringing yawning deficits in the budget are well-known.

    While Saudi Arabia and Turkey may presently be engaged as US proxies against Syria, the ensuing dangers to the United States are multiple. It is easy to start a fire but difficult to put out the ensuing brush-fire. The United States would be unwillingly drawn into a military intervention in Syria to salvage and bail out its proxies when the going gets tough for them

    Secondly, what is the guarantee for the United States that once President Assad’s regime is toppled that peace and stability would automatically follow?

    Also, would the United States be prepared to handle the spill-over military effects from civil wars breaking out in Lebanon or an insurrection in Turkey by the Kurds? Can Saudi Arabia insulate itself against Arab Spring movements breaking out in its kingdom and in Bahrain where it snuffed out a regime change demand by the majority Shias in Bahrain?

    Iran: Congagement Not Conflict is Advisable Strategy for the United States & Regional Contenders

    United States and Iran have been in a conflictual mode for more than three decades now. The conflict between the two countries is marked by a singular distinctive feature and that is that the United States has despite its global military predominance and a multi-dimensional military superiority in the Middle East has not been able to be subdue Iran.

    Congagement is a strategic and political construct coined by United States policy establishment in relation to the strategy of dealing with a menacing China. It envisaged a mixture of containment and engagement strategy to handle China.

    There is no reason as to why the United States cannot employ the same congagement strategic approach towards Iran, to its consequent strategic benefits for the United States.

    The major problem inhibiting the United States in adopting congagement strategy towards Iran lies in the unremitting hostility towards Iran of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Lately, Turkey can also be said to be added to this list.

    Even if Iran submitted to US demands on rolling back its nuclear program, then too Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey would still continue to be hostile to Iran. New excuses and reasons would be invented by them to goad the United States into an avoidable armed conflict with Iran.

    Iran is the most dominant regional power in the Gulf Region and in coalition with Styria and its closely allied Lebanese armed militias extends its strategic influence from The Gulf to the Eastern Mediterranean. Strategically, both Saudi Arabia and Turkey perceive Iran and its allies as military threats.

    The United States needs to arrive at a bi-partisan political and strategic decision whether US long range strategic interests in the Middle East will be served by an unremitting hostility and conflict with Iran as the most dominant regional power or whether it would be more strategically advantageous for United States to accord strategic space to Iran within the overall strategic calculus of the Middle East, however distasteful it may be for US erstwhile military allies.

    United States: Inadvisable to Get Involved in Islamic Sectarian Divisions in the Middle East

    Deeply embedded within the regional power rivalries operating in the Middle East besides geopolitical and geostrategic factors is the Sunni-Shia Muslims divide within the Islamic World. There is also the Arab Muslims and the Non-Arab Muslims divide.

    Deeply disturbing in the present civil war in Syria fanned by external actors, are media reports indicating that Saudi Arabia has in some way or the other allowed the Al Qaeda to get involved against the Syrian established regime. Do religious sectarian rivalries or regional power struggles justify use of groups like the Al Qaeda as cats- paw to achieve Saudi Arabia strategic and political objectives?

    Jim Hoagland observations this month in The Washington Pot deserve attention:

    “The Sunnis of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations are putting all their chips in an effort to bring down Bashar-al Assad’s regime in Damascus and inflict a strategic defeat on Assad’s Shiite allies in Teheran.”

    “An Iranian decision to escalate to save Assad, perhaps by retaliating against the Gulf Arabs, would push the borders back on the Obama Administration-in the middle of a heated presidential campaign—-to define and protect US regional interests more clearly and decisively.”

    The greater call is on the United States having been a victim of the heinous terrorists attacks by Al Qaeda suicide bombers in the 9/11 attacks in Homeland USA to restrain Saudi Arabia from using terrorism tools in the on-going civil war in Syria.

    The United States needs to learn from its Afghanistan experience, twice over in the 1980s and in 2000s and also in Iraq not to get involved in the sectarian divides within the Islamic World. The Sunni Muslim-Shia Muslim conflict within the Islamic World has gone on for centuries and the United States is hardly in a position to change that reality.

    More importantly, the United States strategic fulcrum in the Middle East has shifted to The Gulf Region. In The Gulf Region the United States must realize that sitting at the head of the Gulf is Iraq and sitting astride the entire Eastern littoral of the Gulf is Iran. Both are Shia Muslim majority nations sitting on huge reserves of oil. On the Western littoral of the Gulf are Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies—–with Sunni monarchs ruling ruthlessly over the restive Shia Muslim majorities in their kingdoms.

    In such an explosive mix, strategic logic would dictate that the United States in its policy formulations adopts a more detached posture on the sectarian divisions within the Islamic World

    United States: The Way Ahead

    United States-Iran rapprochement for an effective embedment in the Middle East as an inescapable strategic imperative for the United States was being advocated in my Papers in the middle of the last decade. It was argued that if the United States could normalize relations with China which had fought a major war with USA, why America could not normalize relations with Iran which till 1979 had been a much vaunted ally of the United States. This however has stood thwarted all along under intense pressures from vested interests amongst US allies in the Middle East.

    Reading George Friedman’s recent book “The Next Decade” one felt gratified that similar suggestions from a reputed US strategic analyst now advocate the same approach. The excerpts of significance are as follows:

    ” “In the next decade, the most desirable option with Iran is going to be through a move that now seems inconceivable. It is the option chosen by Roosevelt and Nixon when they faced seemingly impossible strategic situations: the creation of alliances with countries that had been previously been regarded as strategic and moral threats.”

    ” “The alternative was a German victory in World War II. For Nixon, it was the Soviets using American weakness caused by the Vietnam War to change the global balance of power.”

    ” “Conditions on the ground put the United States in a similar position vis-à-vis Iran. These countries despise each other. Neither can easily destroy the other, truth be told, they have some interests in common. In simple terms, the American President, in order to achieve his strategic goals (In the Middle Eat) must seek accommodation with Iran,”

    ” “There will be several advantages to the United States. First, without fundamentally threatening Israeli interests, the move will demonstrate that the United States is not controlled by Israel. Second, it will put a generally unpopular country, Saudi Arabia—–a state that has accustomed to having its way in Washington—-on notice that the United States has other options. For their part, the Saudis have nowhere to go, and they will cling to whatever guarantees the United States provides them in the face of an American-Iranian entente.”

    While on the subject of the way ahead for the United States, one cannot forget the roles of Russia and China. Russia and China are the strong supporters of Iran and Syria. What would be their reactions and options to a US-Iran rapprochement?

    Then is the question of reactions of Turkey aspiring to emerge as the pre-eminent power in the Middle East? To what extent the United States would countenance an independent strategic stance in the Middle East, unmindful of US strategic sensitivities?

    Once again, one would fall back on Friedman’s prognosis and this time it is intriguing: “As a solution to the complex problems of the Middle East, the American President must choose a temporary understanding with Iran that gives Iran what it wants, it gives the United States room to withdraw, and that is also a foundation for the relationship of mutual hostility to the Sunni fundamentalists. In other words, the President must put the Arabian Peninsula inside the Iranian sphere of influence while limiting direct controls, and while putting the Saudis, among others, at an enormous disadvantage.”

    Concluding Observations

    United States global predominance in terms of power stand finely balanced in terms of equilibrium at two ends of the strategic balance, namely the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.

    While the United States has made a strategic pivot to the Asia Pacific, the United States strategic chessboard in the Middle East seems to be in disorder. This basically arises from change of policy stances of United States former staunch allies in the Middle East.

    The logical argument that so surfaces is that when US erstwhile allies in the region have adopted hedging strategies, is there any pressing imperative for the United States not to redefine its strategic calculations in the Middle East?
    The United States needs to go in for dramatic moves in the Middle East, the chief of which would be to arrive at a rapprochement with Iran, temporary or long-standing.

    In terms of balance-of-power strategies preferred by the United States, future perspectives would suggest that the United States biggest challenge would be to maintain a balance-of-power between Iran and Turkey.
    Nothing is inconceivable in international relations and power-play. Who knows that at some point in the future, the United States may be tempted to use Iran to check-mate a rising and powerful Turkey?

    (The author is an International Relations and Strategic Affairs analyst. He is Consultant, Strategic Affairs with South Asia Analysis Group.
    He can be reached at drsubhashkapila.007@gmail.com)

  • SM Krishna arrives in Pakistan with mandate to build trust

    SM Krishna arrives in Pakistan with mandate to build trust

    Islamabad (TIP): External Affairs Minister SM Krishna on September 7 arrived inIslamabad on a three-day visit to Pakistan to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, saying he had come with a mandate for building trust and confidence between the two countries.

    “I wish to reiterate the desire of India to see a stable and prosperous Pakistan living in peace with itself and the world. That would be in the best interest of everyone,” Krishna said in an arrival statement.

    The minister said leadership of India and Pakistan have mandated building of trust and confidence between the two countries.

    “We are committed to finding solutions of all issues that have beset our relationship through peaceful bilateral dialogue,” he said.

    Krishna stressed: “We look to the future where our two countries are able to live together in an atmosphere of friendliness and all-round cooperation free from terror and violence”.

    Speaking about the objective of his visit, Krishna said, “My endeavour during this visit will be to promote the objectives that I have just mentioned”.

    The minister was received at the airport here by Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir and Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal.

    Krishna will call on Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf later in the day. He will also hold meeting with leaders from various Pakistan political parties.

    While no substantive outcome is expected from the visit, both the countries are likely to sign a new liberalised visa agreement which would be a boost for people-to-people contact.

    Krishna and Khar will also review the resumed dialogue between the two countries, which has been termed as “successful”. The Minister will also chair the Joint Commission Meeting with Khar on Saturday.

    In an interview on Thursday, Krishna said he looked forward to his discussions with Khar, “which I believe will serve to promote mutual understanding and trust between our two countries.

    “India is of the view that normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan should be a step-by-step process. My visit to Pakistan is one more step in that approach,” he said.

    Krishna had also made it clear that “it would be unrealistic to expect a barbaric terror attack such as Mumbai not to cause a major setback to our efforts to build peace and co-operation”.

    Asserting that Pakistan must address India’s “terrorism related concerns”, he said India has given “more than adequate” evidence to Pakistan to enable them to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice.

  • ‘Chinese defence minister’s India visit a success’

    ‘Chinese defence minister’s India visit a success’

    Beijing (TIP): Terming Chinese Defence Minister Gen Liang Guanglie’s visit to India a success, China on Thursday said the two countries had agreed to push forwards relations and step up military to military exchanges.

    Gen Liang, the first Chinese defence minister to visit India in eight years, held talks with his Indian counterpart AK Antony, during his five-day visit to India.

    Hong Lie told a media briefing here today that the visit was successful, though he declined to react to the controversy over the cash gift to two Indian Air Force pilots who flew the Gen Liang from Mumbai to New Delhi.

    “Liang’s visit to India was a success. He had meetings with political and military leaders of India,” he said answering a question.

    “Both sides agreed to push forward China, India relations, step up military to military exchanges and work jointly to maintain the momentum of China and India relations,” he said.

    Asked about reports in the Indian media over Liang gifting Rs 50,000 cash to each of the pilot, Hong said he was not aware of the specifics of the incident.

    His visit is widely reported in the Chinese media while the defence and strategic analysts said the two countries should move beyond joint military exercises and firm up the defence ties with more exchanges.

    During the talks, India and China decided to resume at the “earliest” joint military exercises, which had been put on hold since 2010 over visa row, and agreed to enhance tranquillity at the borders, reflecting their keenness to improve mutual confidence.

  • Hundreds of Afghan soldiers detained, sacked for insurgent links

    Hundreds of Afghan soldiers detained, sacked for insurgent links

    KABUL (TIP): The Afghan army has detained or sacked hundreds of soldiers for having links to insurgents, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, September 5 as it tries to stem the rising number of so-called insider attacks, says a Reuters report.

    It made the announcement as NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen called Afghan President Hamid Karzai to express his concern over the attacks, in which Afghan servicemen have killed at least 45 NATO-led troops this year, including 15 in August, compared with 35 for all of last year.

    “Hundreds were sacked or detained after showing links with insurgents. In some cases we had evidence against them, in others we were simply suspicious,” Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told reporters in Kabul.
    “Using an army uniform against foreign forces is a serious point of concern not only for the Defense Ministry but for the whole Afghan government,” Azimi said, adding that Karzai had ordered Afghan forces to devise ways to stop insider attacks.

    Azimi declined to say whether the detained and fired soldiers were from Taliban strongholds in the south and east, saying they were from all over the country.

    He said his ministry started an investigation into the attacks, called green-on-blue attacks, within the 195,000-strong Afghan army six months ago.

    In his call to Karzai, Rasmussen outlined measures taken by NATO-led forces to stop the insider attacks and he urged Karzai to join the efforts, according to a NATO spokeswoman.

    The measures include strengthening vetting procedures, better counter-intelligence and giving troops cultural awareness training.

    NO LACK OF COMMITMENT

    The commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan, U.S. General John Allen, said his troops were constantly taking new measures to counter the threat from rogue Afghan soldiers, which have been trained and armed by U.S. and other foreign forces.

    Allen said he detected “no absence of commitment” by the Afghan government to counter rogue attacks.

    “I believe the Afghan government is committed to doing this, again remembering it’s a government that is still building its capacity,” he told reporters during a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels where he briefed ambassadors on the Afghan campaign and on the rogue attacks.

    Field commanders in Afghanistan have been given discretion to post more “guardian angel” sentries, who oversee foreign soldiers in crowded areas such as gyms and food halls, to respond to any rogue shootings, officials say.
    “We will seek to create … the opportunity for us if we see something going wrong, in terms of an insider beginning to reveal himself, that we are postured … to be able to take immediate action as necessary to defend the force,” Allen said.

    He denied rogue attacks had shattered trust between Afghan and foreign forces but hinted at deep-seated problems.
    “It’s not at a tactical level that I fear for the relationship, it is at a higher level,” he said, without elaborating.

    In an interview with Reuters this week, Rasmussen dismissed any suggestion that the attacks would lead to more members of the NATO-led force pulling out early from an increasingly unpopular and costly war that has dragged on with few obvious signs of success since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

    But tension is simmering.The killing of three Australian troops by an Afghan army sergeant in the south last week prompted a deadly raid to find the rogue soldier and led to a war of words between Canberra and Kabul.
    U.S. forces said on Sunday they had suspended training new recruits to the 16,000-strong Afghan local police, a militia separate from the Afghan national police, following the spike in insider attacks.

  • Rural spending outpaces urban consumption

    Rural spending outpaces urban consumption

    Mumbai (TIP): Rural spending outpaced urban consumption in the two years up to 2011-12, the first time in nearly 25 years, according to a study by Crisil Research. This, according to Crisil, was fuelled by a strong increase in incomes, led by rising non-farm employment opportunities and the government’s focus on rural employment generation schemes.For India, a young population, rising income and low penetration of many consumer durables means that rural consumption has the potential to remain an important source of demand. To sustain this phenomenon, it is critical to substitute short-term income boosters such as government-sponsored employment guarantee schemes with durable job opportunities in rural areas, said the study. Crisil said given the size of India’s rural population, the value of goods and services consumed has always been greater in rural India, but urban India had narrowed the differential during most of the last decade by growing at a faster pace. Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, additional spending by rural India was Rs 3,75,000 crore, significantly higher than Rs 2,99,400 crore by urbanites.

    Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, rural consumption per person grew annually at 19 per cent — two percentage points higher than its urban counterpart, according to preliminary data released for 2011-12 by the National Sample Survey Organisation.

    With rising purchasing power and disposable income, the study said that notable phenomenon that is increasingly discernible in rural consumption is a shift from necessities to discretionary goods. “About one in every two rural households now has a mobile phone. Even in India’s poorest states such as Bihar and Orissa, one in three rural households has a mobile phone,” said the study. Nearly 42 per cent of rural households owned a television in 2009-10, up from 26 per cent five years earlier. There are also interesting state-wise differences in the ownership of durables in rural India, depending on the differences in purchasing power and cultural preferences. While in rural Bihar, only 6 per cent own a two-four-wheeler, one in two households in rural Punjab has a two-/four-wheeler — a ratio even higher than that in urban Maharashtra and Karnataka.