OBAMA'S WAR IN LIBYA; WHY THE STAKES ARE HIGH

Libya was the last major territory to be seized by the Roman empire and the first to escape from its clutches along with Parthia. The Libyans fought long and hard against the Italians when they conquered the desert land in the 1930's. The fact is that Col Qaddaffi who was recently rehabilitated in the affections of Western powers after spending more than 30 years as an international paraiah is not a military and political pushover. In spite of the Lokerbee bombing he was able to get the main conspirator freed from a Scottish prison during the Labour regime because of the vast oil revenues that he holds.

The USA together with France has imposed a no-fly zone over Libya. Under the pretext of enforcing a no-fly zone NATO jets are bombing Libyan government and civilian positions. A no-fly zone would only mean that if case the Libyan air force attempts to land in rebel held areas, then NATO can enforce compliance of the UN resolution 1973. The Obama Administration and Sarkozy's France have chosen to interpret this resolution as a mandate to intervene and impose regime change in Libya: regime change is not implied in the UN resolution. On the first day of bombing US rained 110 Tomahawk missiles on Libya and US B-52 bombers dropped 45 1000 kilo bombs in the first day itself. Was such a massive attack justified? Is this not a savage and brutal act of war against unarmed civilians? Already in Iraq and Afghanistan, US intervention has caused untold suffering and there is no count of the casualties. What makes the matter even worse is that the war heads carried depleted uranium warheads making these attacks a nuclear attack on civilian target violating all lawa of civilised warfare.

The US, UK and France are keen to see the oil rich region around Bengazi is brought undetr direct rebel control. Like Chablis in Iraq, the US has propped up a quisling called Khalifa Heftir,a "CIA asset" of many years. It seems that the USA will not learn a lesson from its own recent history. The town of Sirte, the tribal area from which Col Qaddaffi come has borne the brunt of the bombing and there is just no military or political justification for this. The ragtag rebel troops are being finnced by the Saudis and the brutal Saudi regime is being hailed as an exemplar of democracy. Even the US Admiral James Stavridis has admiotted in Congress that the rebels are being infiltrated by Al Qaeda elements. It appears that the US policy is to strengthen the forces that are bent on destabilising the region. Though the Libyan Government assets of nearly 45 billion US $ have been frozen by the Western Governments, the so-called "interim transitional national council" has been permitted to acess these funds which are being used to fiance the NATO bombing of Libya. So we have Libyan money being used to kill Libyans in their own land.

The po;icy of Obama is bound to fail. USA cannot afford another long tern engagement in the deserts of Libya and the longer the war and Resistance continues the easier it would be for Col Qaddaffi to cling on to power.

One one really likes the Col and he is an unsavory sort of fellow. A megalomaniac with vision of grandeur extending throughout North Africa. It appears that al-jazeera is extremely influential; in the Arabic world just as I pointed out in an earlier blog. However, this channel is successful against secular dictators and is making no headway in countries like Saudi Arabia in which repression is a way of life.

Col Gadaffi is unlikely to give in to the US backed EU enforced no-fly zone. Bengazi is right now on the verge of falling to Col Gaddaffi's troops and since the US has ruled out ground troops, the no fly zone will only lead to civilian casualties which will turn the world opinion against the intervention. The only gainer from this ill advised move is al qaeda which will now have yet another cause to trumpet. With all his failings, the Col like Saddam Hussain had kept Islamic terrorism firmly under control and his weakening will only result in North Africa becoming another war zone. Already the civilian casualties have started increasing and the hospitals have started showing signs of overstretch.

The intervention in Libya is ill timed and will further erode US credibility in the Arab world.

PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION

I love the song and ceremony of convocations. Last year I wrote about my meeting with Dr Javed Akthar, the noted poet and lyricist who was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University with which I am associated with in a very senior capacity. The Vice Chancellor, Professor J A K Tareen is a good administrator and I can say with the authority of one who has attended almost all convocations, that our University puts up a good show and the meticulous planning of the VC is there for all to see. Today the 21st Convocation of the University was held and I had to attend dressed like a penguin.Though Mani Shankar Ayer has made some radical noises about the utility of the balck academic robes and his other Iyer colleague in the UPA cabinet Jai Ram Ramesh has even gone to the extent of pulling off his robes while addressing the Convocation at IIT Delhi, I think the robes do add a touch of the drama and enhances the moment. After all convocations are but theatre.

The Vice Chancellor began by saying that the University has grown 300% daring the course of the last 4 years. I agree that the Vice Chancellor has done a great deal to enhance the standing and stature of the University. I was associated with the Coffee table Book and can say that when it finally makes its appearance the visibility of the University would be indeed great.

Dr K M Cherian, the famous heart surgeon was awarded the D. Sc (honoris Causa) and I think he did deserve the honour. He has virtually given the gift of life to countless people and he did give a soul stirring speech on success.

Montek Singh Aluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission was the chief guest and he too received an Honorary degree. Educated at St Stephen's College, Delhi and at Oxford University, Montek made an unabashed plea for liberalisation. He indicated that until the onset of liberalisation in 1991 -92 India was growing at the rate of 3.5% annually with a population growth of around 2.5%. This rate of growth, cynically called the Hindu Rate of Growth was certainly a recipe for stagnation. During the past 2 decades India was growing at the rate 0f 9 to 10% and Montek was at pains to point out that at this rate of growth, India will emerge as a leading economic power house in the decades to come. Indian policy elites do not like comparisons with China and Montek Singh was honest enough to admit that by all parameters China was far far ahead of India. India, he could have added is held back by a Corrupt political system headed by the likes that are presently in power.

The convocation went off well and I though that I should put up my blog about it.

RAHUL GANDHI; AMUL BABY OR A DYNASTIC MASCOT

I normally do not agree with communists and with V S Achutanandan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, I have a particular kind of contempt because he insulted Major Unnikrishanan, the martyr of Mumbai. Those interested can read an earlier blog on this theme. However, in the recent controversy with the Yuvaraj of the Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, I am forced to side with VS. For all his faults, V S Achutanandan has been in electoral politics for more than 50 years and has maintained a clean public image though he is regarded as a rumbustious factional leader. Ask Pinyari Vijayan for details.

It is a crying shame and a blot on India that for the last 65 years the post of the Prime minister has become the virtual monopoly of one family. Dynastic succession and Democratic way of life are contradictory and Indians do not seem to realise that by giving space to the likes of Rahul Gandhi we are only encouraging a putrid and corrupt courtier type of dynastic politics. In fact the stink of political corruption goes hand in hand with dynastic politics. Just remember Bofor and before that the Nagarwala case all involved the Nehru family. Now the 2 G spectrum scandal too has a dynastic angle because the example of the Congress is followed by other criminal elements in the political system. Against this background, I think VS Achutanandan should not have bothered to put Rahul Gandhi on the same level as himself. In a way, V S Achutanandan is right. Afterall, Rahul Gandhi was born to political power, social and economic previlege and like every spoilt prince in history conflates his dynasty with the larger society. Once he is said to have remarked that his family got India freedom and forgetting that there was a Congress regime in place even made the absurd statement that if his family had been in power, the Masjid would still be standing. The young man believes that he is born to rule from a hereditary throne and it is time the electorate realised this.

Rahul Gandhi's utterances are stupid and it is time the Congress and its pretenders are shown the door,.

WikiLeaks and the Mad House of Indian Politics

India must be grateful to Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks. But for the expose published in the Hindu, few of us would have realised the depths to which Indian politics has descended. Many of us knew that the corrupt, criminal dynsatic fascist Party, the Congress will try to buy the votes in order to survive the political crisis caused by the withdrawal of support by the Left. Afterall did not Narasimha Rao, in whose Cabinet Dr ManMohan Singh was the finance minister not survive the full 5 years by bribing the MPs. Only the JMM group in Parliament was procecuted for the crime and even that rather half heratedly.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/article1559476.ece?homepage=true

In the interview with the Hindu whose link I have provided here, Julian Assange has answered a range of questions. It is certain that he takes the Freedom of Expression extremely seriously. After the WikiLeaks bombshell it will be impossible for any one to claim that the Great Powers are motivated by the desire to protect Human Rights and Dinity. Just see what Obama is doing in Libya.
Only one Indian politician come out squeaky clean in the WikiLeaks episode. Hon'ble Narendar Modi, the Chief MInister of Gujarat did not cringe before the US officials who raised questions about alleged human rights violations in the post Godhra days. He rightly rebuked the diplomat by saying that the US record on human rights is virtually non existent. I think, India will certainly benefit from the like of Hon'ble Narendar Modi. He is a true patriot and he deserves our respect. I wonder why the US diplomats do not ask the Congress to account for its criminality in 1984. This itself shows that US is selective in its approach to Human Rights.

Julian Assange has exposed the corruption in Indian political life and he will certainly go down as the one single individual after Gandhi who has changed the course of Indian politics.

MONEY POWER IN INDIAN POLITICS AND THE WIKILEAKS EXPOSE

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Indian Dynastic Democracy is criminal, corrupt and runs on the fuel of ill gotten wealth. The likes of Laloo and Mulayam, the Yadava duo have ensured that crime and political power walk hand in hand, step by step. The recent revelations by Julian Assange in his US diplomatic cables expose is only symptomatic of a political system is which the most cynical manipulation of the electorate by the distribution of cash has been instutionalised.
I have often written that the main cause for political corruption in India is the dynastic fascism that seems to be inherent in the very psyche of the people. I remember that when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister the famous scandal called the Nagarwala Affair took place on the eve of the 1971 election. That scandal involved only 60 lakhs, but what is really sinister aboput the whole affair was the fact that all those connceted with the scandal including the Judge and Migistrate who tried the case in court died in rather mysterious circumstances. I have written elsewhere that Ramachandra Guha in his India Since Gandhi ignored the scandal and I expected him as an honest historian to draw attention to the event that marks the first signs of the corruption and crime in the Indian political life.
In South India under the great Dravidian dispensation bribing the electorate has become a part and parcel of the electoral process. Jayalalitha may scream against Karunanidhi, but the fact remains that her party too indulges in this shameless practice of bribing the electorate with nose rings, mixies, saris and cash. Wikileaks has exposed the fact that in Tirumangalam election M K Alagiri ensured victory by bribing the electorate. T R Baalu who won from Sriperumbadur in the last elections is said to have distributed Rs 5000 for each vote. Where does all this money come from? The Indian electorate by participating in this charade called Indian Democracy is an accomplice in its own victimisation. The electorate will rail against corruption but is an active accomplice in the creeping criminalisation of Indian political life. Afterall Laaloo Prasad Yadava, D P Yadava, Mulayam Singh Yadava, and sundry other criminal-politicians have all been elected to the Lok Sabha. In Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry liquor, money and sarees are distributed by party workers on the eve of the elections. In fact political parties are finding inventive ways of subverting democracy in India.
The other revelation that made headlines is the fact that MPs were bribed on the eve of the trust vote during UPA I a trust vote that was held after the so-called Left withdrew support after the Indo-US nuclear deal. Steven White, a US Embassy official recorded seeing chests opf money in the house of a Gandhi family courtier called Satish Sharma. A sum of 50 to 60 crores is estimated and Ajit Singh's party the RLD may have received bribes. What is surprising is that none of the mainstream media brought out the fact that Narashima Rao's government survived its full term in office due to the bribes paid out to the JMM and Shibu Soren was even procecuted for the crime of taking bribes and then arranging the murder of Jha, his private secretary who was a witness to the whole affair. Crime and Corruption go hand in hand.
The dynastic fascist party the Congress and its criminal acolytes who call themselves the "secular parties" are primarily responsible for the corruption and criminalisation of Indian political life. I wish Baba Ram Dev all success in his noble venture.
Predictably all political parties involved in the corruption are crying foul. However the diplomatic cables were not meant to be made public and hence the Embassy staffers had no motive for making up allegations. As far as Tamil nadu is concerned I know from personal experience how corrupt the place is. Even Vice Chancellorships of Tamil Nadu universities go for a price of 5 to 10 crores.

DMK Congress and the Absurdity of Alliance Politics in Tamil Nadu

The last week has seen the histrionics between the two most corrupt political parties of India united by the ideology of dynastic fascism, the Congress and the DMK, engage in a bout of public posturing. Like thieves, who are partners in crime, both the political parties cannot afford to discard each other. The DMK is dependent on the Congress for survival in Tamil Nadu and the regime of Sonia-Singh is woeful;ly dependent on the support of the DMK MPs. Therefore one cannot exist without the other. The public declaration that the DMK has withdrawn support to the UPA regime is just that-- a declaration without any meaning. Given the fractured nature of the verdict in the last General Election, it is but natural that all major political parties in the state are attempting to stitch up an alliance. In this game, Ms Jayalalitha seems to have the advantage, at least for now. Her alliance with the mercurial and utterly unreliable Vijay Kant stems from the cold realisation that the vote bank of both is virtually the same and therefore it is in their mutual int erst to join forces. In the last Parliamentary election, Vijay Kant undecut the vote share of the AIADMK and by bringing him on board for a price of 100 crores, Jatyalalitha has stanched the hemeoraging of her vote share or so it appears. Like any mercenary, Vijay Kant is up for grabs. If the Congress offers him a better deal both in terms of seats and money, he will certainly leave the AIADMK alliance.

Will the DMK break with the Congress. As I have said both parties need each other. If the Congress following the line of the Yuvaraj, Rahul Gandhi, decided to go it alone then it will get just one IT two seats and this party is riven with factions. The man who calls himself Home Minister of India, P Chidambaram (this Harvard zero was defeated in the General Elections but got the returning officer to issue him the certificate) wants his son Karthik to succeed him and is doing everything to undermine the Congress. G K Vasan heads another faction inherited from his father G K Moopen. With factionalism rampant in the party and with a vote chare of 11-15% the Congress is hardly in a position to play hard ball.

The DMK is staring defeat in the face. The issue of Corruption will play a role, even though Tamil Nadu politics is a dirty cess pool of filth, corruption and crime. The DMK has a vote share of 29 to 31 % and hence if it enters into an alliance with a major Party it can hold on to power. However fighting alone the DMK will not be able to get a decent figure in terms of seats. The PMK like the DMK and teh Congress is a dynasty based political formation with a support base of Vanniyars in Northern Tamil Nadu. In Pondicherry because of the revolt of N Rangaswamy, the Vanniyar vote will go to the new party launched by N Rangaswamy and if AIDMK enters into an alliance with Rangaswamy, the NR-AIDMK alliance will grab power.

The next moves will be watched. Ground realities favor AIADMK and if it holds on to the Alliance and target the Karunanidhi Family rule for crime and corruption then the AIDMK has a chance. However, as we know the worst enemy of AIADMK is the General Secretary herself. Her inability to compromise with the smaller parties and her imperious style of functioning can alienate the electorate. I remember seeing her candidate fro a Parliamentry seat sitting on the stage on a plastic stool while she was seated on a splendid throne. The electorate did not like this scene.

If AIADMK is able to stitch up a good alliance then it has a chance of winning the upcoming polls.

P Sainath and the Faremer Suicide Debate

I have always admired the writings of Shri P Sainath, a distinguished journalist and an internationally acclaimed critic of Indian social and economic policies. His book Everbody Loves a Good Drought is a scathing indictment of the policies initiated and implemented at the block level both by the State and Central Government. He is able to show that the elected representatives of the people make money out of the misery people face and the Governments are only colluding with the rich and the powerful. We have seen pictures of rotting grain in the godowns forcing the Supreme Court to order its distribution. Sainath is a very good speaker and he was in a local University the other day and I happened to listen his key note address to an International Seminar on Farmers's Suicides in India. Sainath was perhaps too politie to point out the irony in the very topic of the seminar.
Being a student of History, an MA from JNU, New Delhi, Sainath began by pointing out that in Western Maharashtra in the late nineteenth century, farmers were out protesing against the agrarian policies that were pursued by the then British Government. Now in the 21st century they are committing suicide in large numbers. Sainath is a master both of statistics and rhetoric and he deployed both with devastating effect. At a time when according to the Census figures, the farmring population is showing signs of decline, the number of suicides is increasing. Hearing Shri P Sainath remined me of the great Victorian public figure and chronicler, Digby who wrote a 2 volume book on the Great Famine of 1877-79. Trenchent criticism without any alowance for intellectual sloppiness.

Sainath blames the Government policies for the present crisis. He draws attention to the fact that Aurangabad which has the largest number of Mercedes Benz cars, located in the very heart of darkness as it were, people are able to get State Bank of India loans for 7% while farmers get koans fopr 12.5%, a rate that is unsustainable as far as farm income is concerned. He also drew attention to the fact that farm subsidies in the form of electricity, fertilizer and seed, hels only the rich farmer and the irony is that the farmers with around 10 acres of land end up killing themselves because the rural credit mechnism has broken down. Sainath mentioned the tragic incident of a farmer in Vidhrbaha who killed himself with pestticides bought on loan.

I was very happy that a critic of government policies was invited and I hope the students of the University learn something from such personalities. In India all too often educational institutions paly it safe and invite sarkari intellectuals who give bland and insipid analysis of the situation. Sainath, like William Digby is a socially motivated critic and he said very poignantly that mothers in Western Maharashtra want double rations for the mid day meal progrm because the child has staved for two days over the weekend. A very moving statement.

Liberal critics have termed the farmer suicide and the increasing numbers as state genocide. Though Sainath did not use this term, it can be said that the wrong policies forced down the rural economy has led to such a situation. Sainath says that as India is increasing its GDP together with the rising income the rate of farmer suicide is also increasing. Gujarat under Narendar Modi seems to have devised policies that are more successful as that state has not withessed the same rash of suicides. The reasons must be probed and lessons drawn.