Giving it to Beebs, For What It's Worth

M.J. Akbar has apparently expressed outrage at the ultra-lefty beebs coverage of Mumbai Islamic terror massacre. I am not sure where Sri Akbar has been over the, say, past decade when Beebs has been sliding the down the path quite openly. But maybe it's worth a try to poke at lefty media. Europe has been following beebs path when it comes to issues related to Islam and its aggressive practioners. Just don't expect any change in behaviour from beebs or, as matter of fact, the rest of Europe.

Incredible: We Are Fighting By Doing Nothing, Seriously, Says PM

Even as western news agencies provide cover for Pakistani's inaction,

India pressed to share Mumbai evidence with rival
By SAM DOLNICK, Associated Press Writer

India demanded that Pakistan crack down on militants, shutter charities linked to extremists and jail suspected plotters.

With a flurry of raids, Pakistan took many of those steps this week. Now it's up to India to do what it likes least: share intelligence with its archrival about what it knows and how it knows it.

Keeping the alleged plotters in jail will require unprecedented investigative cooperation across a border mined with distrust and suspicion, and the onus has shifted to India.

Pakistani authorities say they will prosecute in their own courts anyone linked to the three-day siege in Mumbai that left 164 dead — they just need the proof.

India names Pakistani masterminds, date plot to 07
By SAM DOLNICK, Associated Press Writer

NEW DELHI – A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India's financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.

the tough talking Pranab Mukherjee is giving interviews to TV stations saying we may act but closes options on coercive actions,

Mukherjee asserted that the government will take all steps to protect the territorial integrity of the country but ruled out war as a solution to the problem.
(Did we miss something? Mumbai Islamic terrorists or any number of terrorists acts, in the past few years, were about separating Mumbai or other cities from Bharat? Is that what these acts of Islamic terrorism are about?)

and the nice talking Manmohan says he wants peace with the country the trained, armed, and funded the Mumbai massacre.

“It has always been my view that both countries (India and Pakistan) need to build their relationship together through mutual understanding. We want to make our relations normal with Pakistan,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan is playing its role as tough-to-get - on the one hand it claims to the victim and on the other letting go of perpetrators of terrorism, that it just put in "house arrest" - meaning free to travel to TV stations to give interviews.

The fault is not the pressure from US or UK, or presence of nuclear weapons in Pakistan, or even the Islamic terrorists who openly roam in that country, it is us and the so-called government in charge. Apparently recently held state elections gave the signal, to the psec media and Congress I lead government, that terror is not an issue any more, just days after Mumbai massacres, with the electorate. The inaction is probably the result of the presiding queen hasn't approved any action against the Land of Pure. I am sure there is a way to deal with enemy nations and enemy actors, but this is not it.

So it is back to business as usual as far as Manmohan and his apparent government is concerned.

Mumbai Islamic Terror In Drawing

Some of the best political cartoons (of US politics) I have ever seen are done by Ramirez of New York Post. The message of the cartoon is concise, but more than that, the colours are vivid and the cartoon is elaborate. Here is Ramirez on Novermber 29, 2008.

Warning and Execution

Few days ago, I said ATS (and everyone else in law enforcement) had adequate warning about the terror group but failed to prepare for the onslaught.

In the email, the IM stated, "You ( the ATS) should know that your acts are not at all unnoticed; we are keeping an eye on you and just waiting for the right time to execute bloodshed. We are aware of your recent raids at Ansarnagar, Mograpada in Andheri and the harassment and trouble you created for the Muslims."

Now Maverick thinks, ATS top tier seems to have been deliberately targeted by the two terrorists, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman, captured, and, Mohammad Ismail, killed, with the help of satellite phones, live TV and internet inputs on ATS top tier coordinates (and the make and model of their vehicle).

A rough sketch is that Ajmal Qasab and Mohd. Ismail were on the roof. They shot Addl. CP Date on the way down the staircase and then repositioned to ambush the Qualis. Why did they reposition to intercept the Qualis?

Were they instructed to do that? or were they simply pursuing an evasion strategy. The grenades changed the balance in the stairwell - that is what led to Addl. CP Date's position being exposed, but then there is a gap between there and the point that Qasab and Ismail were ready to ambush the Qualis.

TimesNow has Sri. Karkare on camera as he leaves CST. You can see him get a few words with DCP Korgaonkar and other Railway Police officials. I imagine there are media people who knew where he was going and while no footage of Cama Hospital is available - there is no reason to believe that there was no media presence there.

We understand very little about Qasab and Ismail's path. Why did they choose to wander in that way? - who were they in contact with while they were walking? were they directed to move in a particular way?

They were intercepted just short of teen batti - if you take a left at teen batti - you end up on Walkeshwar road - straight towards Governor's house - so where were these two going?

An employee of the J&K government has been picked for questioning because he was phoned by an LeT operative in Muzzafarabad and asked to watch local TV channels. There were continous updates of the situation via Twitter and Pakistani led blogs and fora in UK.

Admiral's Disgust With Media

On Navy Day, Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, expresses his disgust with the media coverage of Islamic death cult Mumbai terror attacks and the recent INS Tabar destruction of pirate mother ship. He also talks of how media endangered soldiers lives during Kargil war. Of course, here the media are English language TV channels - the silly media.

The competition among news channels to score brownie points reminded him of the “famous shot” during the Kargil War that led to the destruction of an ultra-powerful artillery gun of the Army. Three soldiers died and the Colonel, who yielded to a woman reporter’s entreaty to fire the gun for the camera’s benefit was dismissed from service...

Admiral Mehta said he was disturbed by the “extra heavy reporting” on the attacks. “When operations are taking place, you are reporting that two commandos are going inside. They [terrorists] were in live contact with their masters, who were telling them what the channels were reporting. I think it requires a certain amount of restraint in ongoing operations. Do you really have to give minute-by-minute coverage? Media is an enabling instrument. Today it is a disenabling instrument.”...

For the media, more “eye catching” was the owner’s claim that was unquestionably accepted.

“The Thai vessel was a pirated trawler. The ship was operating there for a long time. The ship was doing what it should not be doing. You went to his house to interview him. Those reports are now floating worldwide. The media should have asked what the trawler was transporting between Yemen and Oman for such a long time. What cargo was it carrying? If it was low on fuel, how come the fireball was so bright? It was because of all the ammunition that was lying on the ship. There is nothing wrong your Navy has done,” asserted Admiral Mehta...

The silly media in this case is CITV - Congress I TV, meaning CNN-IBN, and the so-called journalist that ended up causing the death of three soldiers is the famous psec talking head Barkha Dutt that works for another CITV.

Do Something About Live Advantage to Terrorists

Like most people I was appalled at the live intrusive TV coverage of the Mumbai Islamic death cult murderous rampage. One never knows, but it is likely a few people lost their lives because their whereabouts were broadcast to the Islamic terrorists live. And I am sure the various counter-terrorists operations were impacted by the live broadcast.

Composer Vishal Dadlani of the Vishal-Shekhar duo is trying to do something about.

...he believes will protect the lives of the security forces during anti-terrorism operations.

He has taken a stand against the live telecast by news television channels, which he says, exposed the plans of the military and National Security Guard as they tried to overwhelm the terrorists and rescue hostages.

Please sign his petition.

Calling It Everything Except Terrorism!

Here is an excellent op-ed in European Wall Street Journal, taking European media to task on why they won't call terrorism by its name. Even a casual observer would know what's going on with the so-called secular media by now. But it bears repeating. One already knows the conservatives in Europe are more leftists then left in US and Asia. Unfortunately they seem to be even when it comes to terrorism and religion of death cult. Of course the less said about ultra-lefty nutcase media like BBC, an Islamic death cult apologist funded by British tax payers, broadcasted through out the world.

Here is the entire article.

If this Isn't Terrorism, What Is?
By TOM GROSS | From today's Wall Street Journal Europe

Last week in Mumbai we witnessed as clear a case of carefully planned mass terrorism as we are ever likely to see.

The seven-venue atrocity was coordinated in a highly sophisticated way. The terrorists used BlackBerrys to stay in touch with each other during their three-and-half-day rampage, outwitting the authorities by monitoring international reaction to the attacks on British, Urdu and Arabic Web sites. It was a meticulously organized operation aimed exclusively at civilian targets: two hospitals, a train station, two hotels, a leading tourist restaurant and a Jewish center.

Reuters

Murder in Mumbai: The work of 'practitioners.'

There was nothing remotely random about it. This was no hostage standoff. The terrorists didn't want to negotiate. They wanted to murder as many Hindus, Christians, Jews, atheists and other "infidels" as they could, and in as spectacular a manner as possible. In the Jewish center, some of the female victims even appear to have been tortured before being killed.

So why are so many prominent Western media reluctant to call the perpetrators terrorists? Why did Jon Snow, one of Britain's most respected TV journalists, use the word "practitioners" when referring to the Mumbai terrorists? Was he perhaps confusing them with doctors?

Why did Britain's highly regarded Channel 4 News state that the "militants" showed a "wanton disregard for race or creed" when exactly the opposite was true: Targets and victims were very carefully selected. Why did the "experts" invited to discuss the Mumbai attacks in one show on the state-funded Radio France Internationale, the voice of France around the world, harp on about Baruch Goldstein (who carried out the Hebron shootings in 1994), virtually the sole case of a Jewish terrorist in living memory?

Unfortunately in recent years we have become used to leftist media burying their heads in the sand about the threat that Islamic fundamentalism poses, in much the same way as they once refused to report accurately on communist atrocities. But now even conservative media may be doing it too.

What is the motivation of journalists in trying to mangle language -- such as going out of their way to refer to terrorists as "militants," as one Mumbai story on yesterday's Times of London Web site seemed to do? Do they somehow wish to express sympathy for these murderers, or perhaps make their crimes seem almost acceptable? How are we going to effectively confront terrorists when we can't even identify them as such?

But then the terrorists in Mumbai didn't need to make any public announcements. They knew that many deluded Western journalists and academics will do that job for them, explaining that the West is to blame, especially the Zionists.

We have started seeing this already on the BBC -- the world's largest TV and radio network, which broadcasts in dozens of different languages around the world and is lavishly funded by the British taxpayer.

You would be hard pressed to find any talk of radical Islam on the BBC in recent days, or mention of the fact that Islamists think India should be a Muslim country. Instead the BBC continues to try to persuade its massive global audience that "it is a local Indian problem," that "the subcontinent has a history of unrest," and so on.

Even the Pakistani angle has been presented as some kind of local Pakistan-India dispute rather than as a problem with radical Islam -- this despite the fact that according to numerous reports the Mumbai terrorists themselves were screaming "Allah Akbar" (Allah is the Greatest) as they murdered "the Jews and the infidels" in line with bin Ladenist ideology.

For some time, many have argued that an element of anti-Semitism has distorted the way the BBC covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But now, following the Mumbai events, we can perhaps see that anti-Semitism may even be at work in the way the BBC covers foreign news in general. For much of the Mumbai siege, the BBC went out of its way to avoid reporting that the Jewish community center was one of the seven targets. At one point viewers were told that "an office building" had been targeted (referring to the Jewish center as such).

Then on Friday morning, TV pictures of Indian commandos storming the besieged Jewish center were broadcast by networks around the world. Heavily armed commandos, their faces covered by balaclavas, rappelled from helicopters onto the roof while Indian sharpshooters in buildings opposite opened fire and a helicopter circled overhead. Huge crowds of onlookers could be seen looking aghast as they watched from nearby streets. While Sky News and other channels were gripped by these dramatic pictures, BBC World was not, almost pretending there was no siege at the Jewish center -- even though by then it was one of only two sites that remained under attack in Mumbai. Had the terrorists chosen to besiege a church or mosque instead, can you imagine the BBC ignoring it this way?

Meanwhile -- perhaps even more disgracefully -- a New York Times report on the last day of the siege stated: "It is not known if the Jewish center was strategically chosen, or if it was an accidental hostage scene."

Has the New York Times learned anything since the Holocaust, when, even after the war ended in the spring of 1945, the paper infamously refused to report that the Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Germans and so on killed in the camps had been Jews, and killed as Jews?

Dozens of eyewitness accounts by local Indians said the gunmen shouted "Allah Akbar" from the Jewish center. It is housed in a nondescript block and is not obviously marked from the outside as a Jewish center. It is the one Jewish building in a densely crowded city of millions. And the Times, the self-proclaimed paper of record, wants to let readers think it might have been an accidental target?

Even the Times's British equivalent, the Guardian, began its news story: "The inclusion of the headquarters of an ultra-orthodox Jewish group was obviously intended to send its own message." Does the New York Times think that the seeking out and murder by Muslim terrorists of the only New York rabbi in Mumbai and his wife was "an accidental target"?

There was nothing accidental about any of the seven sites that the terrorists attacked. And it was no accident that Mumbai was hit. It is the most multireligious city in India -- with Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsees and Jews living in relative harmony.

Mr. Gross is a former Middle East correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph.

The Closest Thing One Will Find

Last week I had an incredible but possible, behind the scene, plot of a combined Maharashtra ATS, presumably by ruling state Congress I and its allies, the psec media, and Congress I action to overcome Congress I's failure to tackle extended Islamic terrorism in the country and at the same time to keep the marginal political vote, meaning majority of Muslim vote, in its column.

This is the closest evidence will find actions of the media and Congress I working in tandem. One can already see the hunt by Maha's ATS to pin any and every unsolved terror incidents on the recently detained so-called Hindu terrorists. One has to remember, when actions like these are launched, few people in Congress I party itself and in the media actually know what is unfolding and why.

Here is Praveen Swami of The Hindu doing some legwork to connect what the psec media is saying with what ATS is saying.

NEW DELHI: Late on Monday, a national television channel broke the latest in the series of prime-time exclusives that have characterised the unfolding of the investigation into September bombing in Malegaon.

Five Army officers, the television station announced, were being investigated for their connections with the Hindutva terror group Abhinav Bharat. Later, it claimed that a team of the Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad was in New Delhi to discuss the issue with top military officials and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan.

But as Tuesday wore on, Ministry of Defence officials insisted they had received no list of officials wanted for investigation by the ATS, while it turned out the NSA was not scheduled to hold meetings with Maharashtra Police officials. Indeed, two ATS officials separately told The Hindu their only representative in New Delhi was Deputy Inspector-General Parambir Singh and he was there to attend a wedding.

And this from Congress I spokesperson, Verrappa Moily

"The internal security of the country is today threatened by two 'A's--Advani and Abhinav Bharat," senior party leader M Veerappa Moily, told reporters alleging that the outsourcing of terror has become the "new cult with some of the outfits of BJP".

The Debate on J&K Needs to be Turned

Few facts of anything significant related to Bharatiya national interest or security are actually take up in the western media. So it's no surprise that following the new US president lead to intervene in Bharatiya border issue in J&K , the US media has taken to his call. NYT's Sri Kristoff has written that US needs to intervene to deliver J&K to the Land of Pure. Nitin's Acorn has something to say about it which are followed by some uninformed comments.

Before we talk about the issue, we first need to put a stop the debate on Sri Kristof's (and his type) terms. We need to put an end to his human rights abuse falsehood. People take it as truth, without question, that J&K people's, meaning apparently only Muslim's, rights are abused by a Hindu majority nation. What could be more absurd than this!

For a start, which group of people were ethnically cleansed, because of their religion, from Kashmir valley? We already Hindus don't count for very much India, and clearly they don't count for much with the NYT types. So even if we ignore Hindus that were forced to flee their homeland, how are Muslims living in this side of J&K border worst off then living in the Pakistani side of the border? I am sure the supposedly democratic human right activist Kristoff can tell us when was the last Muslims in PoJ&K voted for their own government? I am sure he can't tell the voter turnout during the current state elections in J&K. In fact, I am sure he doesn't even know that normal elections are being held in J&K at this very moment.

So even if one takes the bogus notion of human rights as expounded by Kristof types, that Tibetans should not fight for independence from commie China - well because China is a big fast growing economy and that Tibetans are better economically under the Hun commies, even if their freedoms, culture, language and religion are destroyed by the commies and by the mass migration of Huns into the Tibet plateau. Why shouldn't the people of J&K have the access to another big and growing economy? Such as an Infosys or Reliance or a Tata or an IIT. What exactly do the people living in PoJ&K look forward to? A few years in a madrasa?

The dubiousness of these human right groups and their spokespersons in the media is how shall we put it.....

Potential Impact to India's Image Due to Obama's Presidency

I was looking at some of the American news magazines and newspaper coverage after Barack Obama's victory in US presidential elections and was taken aback by the comparison he is already drawing. Obama is already compared to the top American presidents of its more than 200 years history - on par with Lincoln, who won the American Civil War and ended slavery in the country, and Roosevelt, who defeated Hitler's Germany along with Japan in World War II. What exactly are Obama's achievements to compare him to the well known and respected former American presidents is a mystery.

Then you hear that American TV media thinks that it is its obligation to make Obama's presidency a success. One has to wonder why the adoration and adulation for an unproven and unknown person? One obvious answer would be because Obama is the first black US president, a failure would cause American electorate to think twice before electing another black president in the near term - a valid fear for some. But the hype of Obama seems so high, even before he is in office, any slip up will be devastating for his presidency. That's where I see potential danger to India's image.

Meghnad Desai describes the contrast between European and Asia reaction to Obama's election:

But the Europeans are panting to be first in line when he takes up office. Sarkozy has boasted that he talked to Obama for 30 minutes after he was declared President-elect. Gordon Brown as Prime Minister of the UK, which boasts of a ‘special relationship’ with the US, got only 10 minutes but he is plotting to travel to the US soon after Obama’s Inauguration Day on January 20 and be the first European leader to meet him.

In contrast, the response of India and China to Obama’s election has been fascinating. Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh missed Obama’s call at first and Obama called him again. The Chinese are not hotfooting to Washington after January 20 to see Obama. While the Europeans are competing to be the new puppy that Obama can take to the White House (while his two daughters get a real one), the Asians are being cool. What’s going on here?

In order to keep Obama's presidency perfect, any country that may seem opposed to Obama's world view may be in for a pummel by American media, and there by the world media - which tend to follow American lead in any news coverage. We already know about Obama's take on Pakistan's relationship to India and India's strategic matters. If Obama pursues this line of thinking and India pushes back, I am afraid India image in the world will take a severe beating. And this would especially be true if BJP/NDA comes to power next year with a role for Narender Modi in the center because we know there are already plenty of centers of powers in US that control governmental actions towards Sri Modi.

I warned many months ago, in another forum, that relation between Bharat and US is excellent because of only one person - George Bush. Others disagreed. Now it'll be interesting to watch how the relationship changes with Bush gone and potential difficult issues between the two nations come front and center.

Welcome Media News, Probably

When I was in school I used to listen to it on shortwave every night at 11:30 to get an update on world affairs before dozing off. But BBC is different now. It now firmly falls into a left-wing hyper partisan news outlet that doesn't report news but sort of makes it up based on presumed facts on the ground. Here is just an example. But the welcome news is that the BBC may be winding down. There probably was a time when it could have continued on its past laurels. But that moment has long gone.

London, October 15: : The BBC is now in "its last stages" because budget cuts will make it increasingly difficult to maintain standards, the corporation' s world affairs editor has warned.

John Simpson, BBC's longest serving news reporter, said the corporation' s future is bleak as the world service was paying the price of the licence fee being "chopped away".

"The future? Well, I don't think that it's going to look very good for the BBC. I think the BBC we have known, for good or worse, is now in its last stages," the veteran correspondent, whose career at the BBC spans more than 40 years, told an audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Many creations in life outlive their usefulness and purpose. Surely BBC is one those creatures.

How Stupid Can BJP Be

One has to wonder if BJP lives in a self-created bubble. Is it blind to the fact that most, if not all, major English news channels are biased again BJP and generally biased against Hindu - as a religion - issues? CNN-IBN and NDTV, especially, have repeatedly abhorred BJP while playing second fiddle to Congress I and its allies, communists, until few days ago, or SP, now. Any sane thinking person can see this. Apparently not the BJP.

So when BJP wanted to perform a sting operation against the corrupt Congress I and Samajwadi Party bribing BJP MPs, it called CNN-IBN? What were they thinking? And CNN-IBN performed, along predictable lines, its duty for Congress I - after all it's payback time for its top editors after getting Padma Sris from the same Congress I government few months ago. We are told CNN-IBN couldn't show the tapes because the report wasn't complete. How convenient because, now, it will never be complete! We can see the completeness of their reporting everyday on every topic - from news flashes to journalists reports. In a classic Indian fashion, facts and events were muddied and doubt was created even as the actual tapes weren't shown. One can imagine how devastating the tapes really are to the Congress I's government.

Sudheendra Kulkarni, advisor to Sri Advani, says he was witness to the entire sting operation and that the CNN-IBN reporter, Sidarth Gautam, clearly said that the tapes will be broadcast.

I was a witness to most of what they have stated in their petition to the Speaker and vouch for its authenticity. I was with the CNN-IBN team almost from the beginning to the end of its sting operation and have witnessed its recording of the operation. I have no hesitation in affirming that the channel has double-crossed the whistle-blowers by flouting its own solemn assurance to telecast the tape before the trust vote was taken on July 22. I am willing to depose before the inquiry committee and ready to face any punishment if found guilty.

So much for assurances from any media, let alone a media that is hates BJP. Why exactly didn't BJP have its own cameras rolling? Or make another copy of the tapes before CNN-IBN took them away? And why didn't BJP look for a more friendly news channel, in the first place?

Apparenty BJP was not just naive but stupid. It got conned by the media and it should have known better. And the boycott is better late then never. May be now BJP will realize what the English news media is up to and do something about it.

Not Just a Mouth Piece But a Propaganda Machine in the Kingdom Itself

Sri B. Raman writes of The Hindu's editor N. Ram's attacks on Sri Dalai Lama that are being used as propaganda and required reading by, hold you breath, the Communist Chinese political honchos themselves!! Apparently N. Ram's thesis bashing his holiness Lama was translated into Tibetan and Uighur languages and made required reading for the people of those regions. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise how close N. Ram is to his beloved country and their leaders.

Shri N.Ram, the well-known Editor-in-Chief of "The Hindu" of Chennai, has been the toast of China for an article purported to have beenwritten by him refuting the allegations levelled by the Dalai Lama and his supporters regarding the events of March in Lhasa . The Chineseauthorities have been gratified by what they see as his vigorous articulation of the version of the events as put out by them.

2. A report on Shri Ram's article disseminated by the State-owned Hsinhua news agency of China is annexed. It is learnt that this has beentranslated into the Tibetan and Uighur languages and copies distributed in all the monasteries and educational institutions in theTibetan-inhabited areas of China. It has also been made required reading in the patriotic re-education classess for Tibetans being organisedby the Chinese authorities.

Here is that N. Ram's article that the Chinese Communists translated.

Was the Company Responsible?

The headline of story related to an arrest in the Jaipur bombings case says "Police probe Infosys Jaipur employee for ‘SIMI links’." Why exactly was Infosys name used in the headline?



Does this mean Infosys is implicated in the case? Infosys has tens of thousands of employees. Is it supposed to be responsible for all those employees off-campus activities? A passing mention of the name of company in which the arrested person worked for in the article would have sufficed. The headline adds no value other than dragging Infosys name into terror-related cases.

Defending the Defensible

Christopher Hitchens defends the term Islamofacisim - the term PC world of media does not want use and the self-appointed liberals jump up and down to label the term racist.

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...so the question remains: Does Bin Ladenism or Salafism or whatever we agree to call it have anything in common with fascism? I think yes. The most obvious points of comparison would be these: Both movements are based on a cult of murderous violence that exalts death and destruction and despises the life of the mind. ("Death to the intellect! Long live death!" as Gen. Francisco Franco's sidekick Gonzalo Queipo de Llano so pithily phrased it.) Both are hostile to modernity (except when it comes to the pursuit of weapons), and both are bitterly nostalgic for past empires and lost glories. Both are obsessed with real and imagined "humiliations" and thirsty for revenge. Both are chronically infected with the toxin of anti-Jewish paranoia (interestingly, also, with its milder cousin, anti-Freemason paranoia). Both are inclined to leader worship and to the exclusive stress on the power of one great book. Both have a strong commitment to sexual repression—especially to the repression of any sexual "deviance"—and to its counterparts the subordination of the female and contempt for the feminine. Both despise art and literature as symptoms of degeneracy and decadence; both burn books and destroy museums and treasures. [Defending Islamofascism - Slate]

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A Decent Interview with a General

Most of Shekhar Gupta's 24x7 interviews are mediocre. Most questions are like he's making unserious bata-kani with his guests over chai. The latest chat with Gen. J.J. Singh, recently Retd. Chief of Army Staff, is a little better although he could have probably gotten more out of the general.

The General is surely a serious man and I am glad he's on our side.

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When you write this history, how will you describe yourself? As the first Sikh chief of army staff? Or the chief of the Maratha regiment? I am an Indian first and an Indian last. After that I'm a Maratha, because I spent 43 years of my life with Maratha troops. And then I'm a Sikh. [It's possible for us to have military history... - IE]

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None of that Amartya Sen's muddled multiple identify nonsense.

Westerners Africa Story

I recently wrote about the usually underplayed India's Africa Story. Here is a westerners Africa Story, that usually gets overplayed in all the headlines in the west and facilitated in the east, as told by a concerned African, Uzodinma Iweala, watching the westerners, usually white, yearly tamasha (distinguishing from official Western governments support to African governments).

It seems that these days, wracked by guilt at the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East, the West has turned to Africa for redemption. Idealistic college students, celebrities such as Bob Geldof and politicians such as Tony Blair have all made bringing light to the dark continent their mission. They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs. This is the West's new image of itself: a sexy, politically active generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help. Perhaps most interesting is the language used to describe the Africa being saved. For example, the Keep a Child Alive/" I am African" ad campaign features portraits of primarily white, Western celebrities with painted "tribal markings" on their faces above "I AM AFRICAN" in bold letters. Below, smaller print says, "help us stop the dying."

Such campaigns, however well intentioned, promote the stereotype of Africa as a black hole of disease and death. News reports constantly focus on the continent's corrupt leaders, warlords, "tribal" conflicts, child laborers, and women disfigured by abuse and genital mutilation. These descriptions run under headlines like "Can Bono Save Africa?" or "Will Brangelina Save Africa?" The relationship between the West and Africa is no longer based on openly racist beliefs, but such articles are reminiscent of reports from the heyday of European colonialism, when missionaries were sent to Africa to introduce us to education, Jesus Christ and "civilization."... My mood is dampened every time I attend a benefit whose host runs through a litany of African disasters before presenting a (usually) wealthy, white person, who often proceeds to list the things he or she has done for the poor, starving Africans. Every time a well-meaning college student speaks of villagers dancing because they were so grateful for her help, I cringe. Every time a Hollywood director shoots a film about Africa that features a Western protagonist, I shake my head -- because Africans, real people though we may be, are used as props in the West's fantasy of itself. And not only do such depictions tend to ignore the West's prominent role in creating many of the unfortunate situations on the continent, they also ignore the incredible work Africans have done and continue to do to fix those problems. Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been "granted independence from their colonial masters," as opposed to having fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis? [Stop Trying To 'Save' Africa - WP; emphasis mine]

Talking of not recognizing African activists working to help other Africans, it's not just Africa - it's the treatment mended out to all non-western activists by western media which is in turn perpetuated by eastern media.

Self, Media, Inflicted British Bombing

Most of the doctors suspected in the latest British bombing cases - the unexploded Mercedes Benzs in London and the suicide Jeep bomb in Glasgow - seem young. Of those arrested, one was from Jordon, one was from Bangalore (although Australians think they may not have a case on him because he may have been just a roommate of other doctors suspected of masterminding the bombings), and the rest were Iraqis.

Ignoring the classic, but flawed, pet theory the the left-wingers, mainly the media, puts out that most terrorists are young people in poor Muslim countries that don't have a future and that development and democracy will turn these people around, what about these doctors? Surely they are well off than the July 7 2005 or other suicide bombers? Why are these doctors, apparently unconnected to al-Qaeda, planning and executing to blow up innocent people partying at night or traveling for vacation?

I think it has to do with Iraq war - not so much the US and UK attack on Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein to impose democracy by force but the coverage of the war in west, especially by the British press. Since before 2003, the media in Britain (and in Europe) was relentless in not just opposing the war but portraying the war as war against Islam and against Muslims. No credit is given to the removal of a tyrant who was in power for more than two decades, brutalizing his people, killing Kurds, gassing Shiites, and destroying the lives of river people. There is no balance in their coverage of Americans trying to hold the line against al-Qaeda under Abu Musab al-zarqawi, against relentless killing of Iraqis using suicide bombs, and against Iranian supported to Sunni milita killing Shiites and blowing up Shiite holy places.

True, it all began with the knaving war by the US and UK to get rid of Saddam Hussein under the deception of WMDs. And the American civilians leadership under Don Rumsfeld were utterly incompetent. But what about the liberated Iraqis free from Saddam's tyranny? Aren't they free people? Should the media, especially BBC and print, be worried about the their future also while going after the Americans and Tony Blair?

The relentless news and op-ed coverage with gory TV impacts anyone. It is especially powerful because it was played up as being an attack on Islamic nation - Saddam Hussien's Iraq was hardly an religious country, it surely was no Saudi Arabia - and as an attack on Muslims, although Muslims were being oppressed by Saddam for decades. Western media generally has two sets of rules - one set for the west and another set for everyone else. The others oppressed by tyrant are happy people, while any some curbs on western people freedoms is tyrannical.

In any case, while the media will hardly look at itself in the mirror - not the BBC, not the Guardian, or the Independent, they are the ones who arouse passion among Muslims living in Britain. It was teenagers on July 7th 2005 who blow up trains and buses after training in Pakistan's al-Qaeda outpost. Now it's young Iraqi doctors who have, it seems, came to think that Iraqis were better off under Saddam's and his brutal sons, Uday and Qusay, tyranny. The contrast between Iraqis living in US, who, at least, until recently were ardent supporters of Iraq invasion and removal of Saddam's dictatorship couldn't be starker.