NIAILL FERGUSON'S CIVILIZATION: THE WEST AND THE REST

Niall Ferguson has won for himself the status of a "rock star" among historians. Like Fernand Braudel, he too takes history not in short bursts of time but surveys large processes of historical change and development from a comparative perspective. World historians have turned their attention to a singular aspect of woprld history especially after the onset of Globalization as an economic force backed by multi lateral institutions such as the WTO< IMF and World Bank. The rise of China from the middle of the 1970's under the leadership of Deng Xio Ping has resulted in the dram tic shift in the center of economic gravity from the Washington Consensus to the Pacific region. China holds nearly 3 trillion US dollars in her kitty and is the largest subscriber to US Treasury bonds. In the unlikely event of China deciding to undermine the stability of the dollar, the world monetary and fiscal architecture will collapse like a house of cards. Hence, historians have turned their attention to an exploration of the roots of economic growth and the concomitant social and cultural transformatiom it engenders. Long ago Karl Polanyi in his wonderful but sadly neglected The Great Transformation attempted to expalin just this question. The intellectual arrogance of Marxism and the dominance of the leftists in the field of History resulted in other theories doing the rounds including the dressed up version of Inmanuel Wallerstein, the World Systems Approach with its circular center/periphery dichotomy.

Niall Ferguson's Civilization explains the growth of the West in terms of its inherent historical processes. Competition which enabled economic production to compete for markets and patent laws that protected intell;ectual property rights enabled the western world to make the transition to economic growth. The wide spread diffusion of atrisanal skills which kept the labour market wide open, unlike the closed caste structures in socities such as India meant that there was close cooperation between those who practiced crafts and those who theorised about tham. The Scientific Revolution together with the print culture made knowledge widespread in western societies.

Ferguson writes like a true believer. He completely ignores the horrendous human tragedy that ensued in the wake of Western advance into the world of the "REST". Can there be a greated human tragedy than slavery that became the basis of Western economic dominance. Aferall as an economic historian he is well aware that there are "competitive advantages" due to low labor costs.

In spite of the fact that NIall Ferguson sings hosanas for Capitalism, this is an interesting read.

Masquerade's Wizard of Oz at Sivakami Petachi Auditorium, Chennai

On Friday, 20th May 2011 my daughter and I watched the Wizard of Oz. I remember reading the Puffin
version of the story to my daughter when she was a little girl and the checked dress of Dorothy made
quite an impression on her. She even set aside a green Magyar sleeve frock aside as her Dorothy dress
and named a white stray dog which she persuaded us to adopt as Toto. So Wizard of Oz was a must see
for both of us.
The Chennai Theatre Group called Masquerade put up an adaptation of this story in Chennai recently. A
simple and innovative set design was the main feature of this production. The props were kept to a bare
minimum and the stage lighting was excellent. The yellow brick road was realistically done with a sliver
of light on the stage. Obviously Harshavardhan Ganesh is talented and it showed. The costumes were all
well designed and suited the character. The ‘Cowardly Lion’ played by Shankar Chockalingam was
dressed in a yellow suit complete with tail and all. Rahul Murali, the Tinman, looked metallic with silver
grease paint on his face. It was Neetha Srikanth as the Wicked Witch of the West who took all the
honours for acting. Her performance was electric and there was a certain menace in her demeanor. She
seemed a perfect witch and her sidekick the “cat” looked pathetic as he suffered at her hands.
Frank Baum’s classic tale set in the corn fields of Kansas is really a parable dressed up as a fairy tale: a
story of self discovery and realization. If the yellow brick road is the magic path to self awareness
offered by religion, a straight path to certitude, the four travelers in our play find out that all the
knowledge they sought was within them. Thus the Cowardly Lion discovers that he is brave, the
Scarecrow finds out that he is brainy afterall and the Tinman finds out that he has a heart at the end of
the adventure and even Little Dorothy has within her the ability to return back to her farm in Kansas.
The director has taken some liberty with the text and the innovations such as the Mylapore Mami, could
have been avoided. I am not opposed to innovation as such but a classic text such as the Wizard of Oz
cannot be amended to suit the taste of a contemporary audience. The dance movements introduced to
represent movement and change of scene and tempo derived from Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk was
stunning. Chennai does have talent in the field of theatre.
I enjoyed the play immensely for two reasons. To a large extent it recaptured the lost wonder of
childhood and the innocence of a era long gone. Second the screen adaptation and the script was tight
and well organized leaving few loose ends. And Mitra Vishvesh as Dorothy was the icing on the cake. She
delivered her lines like a seasoned professional and she will go a long way in Theatre.
After a long time I saw a play that I really enjoyed

OSMAMA BIN LADEN AND HIS KILLING;LEGAL OR A LAWLESS ACT

Early this morning the US Special Forces acting on a tipoff launched an attack on a villa near Abbotsbad, a town 150 kilometers from the capital. The US attack was successful and without the loss of life the master mind on 9/11 was killed. It would have been foolish to take him prisoner as that would have encouraged hostages situations. So he was killed and no one can fault the US forces for this successful attack. I must say that there will be a sense of closure for a national trauma and my thoughts go out to those who lost their loved ones on that day in September2001.

The death of Osama bin Laden will certainly weaken the al-qaeda network and I am sure the Special Forces will continue the hunmt for other key elements. Unexpectedly this victory has given Obama's presidential relection bid a big boost and I ma sure he will cash in for what it is worth.

The situation in Pakistan will deteriorate and it may be time to call the Army out to lead. The Zardar Government has helped the US to carry out drone attacks and men like Raymond Davis on whom I have written are really the unsung heroes. But for such men thsi operation wopuld not have been a success.

Fist things first. USA gave an accurate and truthful account of the mid night encounter in which Osama bin Laden was killed. Had the same event happened in my part of the world, the Government would have lied saying that the man was armed and was using women as human shield. A rifle or M-16 would have been placed next to him to make it appear that the truth has been said. I appreciate the Obama Administration and the Navy Seal VI unit for resisting the temptation to score brownie points. Second, as I have often said the Pakistani Administration was abetting in the crime of shielding Osama. The fact that he was found within meters of the Military Base at Abbotabad shows that the ISI and the Army knew of the high value asset located there. It is quite possible that the Pakistanis surrendered Osama bin Laden to the US for some concessions in Afghanistan. The truth will eventually come out. For the moment let us assume that the civilian administration knew little of value. The CIA, NSA, the Department of Defense handed the entire Operation Gerimono is a professional manner, and they deserve a big round of applause.

There has been a controversy over the burial--some would even say, hasty and thoughtless--of the body of Osama bin Laden. The fact is that a tomb or burial site anywhere in South Asia would become a magnet for would be jehadis and a cult would have grown around it. A lieux de memoire is uncalled for and an anonymous burial was the need of the hour. The body of the terrorist could have been burnt and disposed off. Instead the Arabian Sea has been polluted with this corpse. The Obama Administration did what it thought best and it need not have revealed the facts about the disposal of the body. A picture of the dead Osama should have been published in order to quell the nay sayers and the inevitable conspiracy mongers. Why there was such haste is disposing off the remains of Osama bin Laden. USS Carl Vince and its identity ought not to have been revealed.

The hunt for Osama bin Laden was long and wearisome. Countless false leads and deliberately misleading clues were sifted in order to establish the identity of al-Kuwati the courier whose existence was first revealed by Khalili,a Git Mo detainee. In fact the success of the operation shows that the policy of questioning the detainees in a thorough manner was not off the mark. The CIA did a good job in tracking down the fugitive. I do not know why the lack of internet connectivity was troubling. The man was using a data card and it is just possible that WI FI connectivity was there. As for telephone who has land lines in these days of mobile phones. I just do not think that these were important clues that led to the identification of Osama bin Laden. I would like one of the 22 seals who participated in this encounter to write the history of this extraordinary event which in the words of a great historian of ages past, an event likely to be remembered for eons to come.


On 29th April 2011, President Barack Obama signed an excecutive order that authorised the Navy Seals VI unit to seek and kill Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the targets in USA. Are we to believe that the US president has the authority to order the execution of those deemed inimical to the US. Is this argument that USA can violate the sovereignty of a state, enter its territory, carry out a clandestine operation, pick up the evidence and leave, all actions done in accordance to domestic or international law. No court of law has ever convicted the target of the May 1st attack and therefore what is the legal basis of Obama's actions. I have no problem at all with the killing of terrorists, but I am raising a larger issue: the legal and constitutional validity of the presidential order of April 29th 2011.

The nearest example that comes to my mind is the infamous case of Adolf Eichmann who was captured by the Israelis in Brazil and brought to Jerusalem for trial and execution. In this case, the Government of Israel acted according to the testimony of several who gave evidence in the Nuremberg trials. Eichmann was indicted for crimes against humanity and there was ample eyewitness accounts of his direct involvement in the crimes at several camps in Europe. Further there was also the domestic legislation in the new state of Israel that made the capture and trial of German war criminals a responsibility of the Government of Israel and international law went along with this extended interpretation of the doctrine of eminent domain over German war crimes claimed by Israel. I want to know whether there is any provision in US law that enables or authorises the US president o carry out attacks on targets chosen by the US. I am not going into the merits of this particular case. I am raising a larger legal issue. Of course the USA can come out ans declare that they violated the sovereignty of Pakistan as they believe that the situation in that country makes it a "terrorist state" and hence the USA is not obligated to be constrained by the principles of international law.

Pakistan has become a haven for terrorists of every kind and therefore it is not a state in the true sense of the world. It does not have full control over its territory. Sayed Hafiz, a known terrorist is moving about freely in the country. Dawood Ibrahim a known criminal is being protected by the ISI. Since Pakistan does not have control over its territory and its so called civilian government has no monopoly over the use of force within the borders, USA can make a strong case for the violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan. As far as Osama bin Laden is concerned, though there is no evidence that can stand up in a trial court, the law of national self defence does permit nations to defend themselves.

There is now controversy over the killing of the man. I had raised this issue in my very first blog on this subject. The Obama Administration made things difficult for itself by giving contradictory version of the sequence of events leading to the killing of Osama. First they said that he fired at the raiding assault party and Leon Panetta stood by this version. Then they said quite truthfully that that he was not armed. This has not gone well. USA should have stood by one version. Then they said that he used a woman as a human shield and then they back tracked. Now both these contradictions are fueling speculations about the manner in which Osama was killed. There is even one theory doing the rounds that Osama bin Laden was killed in cold blood. I do not subscribe to this version.

Finally the pictures. THe most gruesome image was of the fall of the Twin Towers. How is it that USA is not revealing the pictures of the dead Osama bin Laden. Is there something in the pictures.

PURULIA ARMS DROP NEW FACTS AND QUESTIONS

In December 1995 when the Congress regime under P V Narashima Rao was in power a Latvian ari craft flew into India from Karachi and dropped nearly 500 Rifles and cases of magazines and high explosives on a sleepy village of Purulia on the Bengal Bihar border. Since that time there have been numerous quetions that have cropped up but no answers have been given. I am not surprised that the Congress regime did nothing to stop the arm,s drop, as I strongly believe that the dynastic fascist Congress Party is only a prop for a putrid dynasty and is not a political party. Be that as it may, the large Anotov aricraft flew right across Indian territory and at the exact coordicates alredy known to the Indian Government the arms were dropped. The aircraft was intercepted over the Arbian Sea and orced to land in Mumbai from where Kim Davy, the mastermind of this operation escaped. It now transpires that he escaped to Nepal in the official car of one of the Yadava crimals who was an MP at thatr time Shri Pappu Yadava. This Yadava criminal is now serving a life term in prison for murder and we hope his country cousins the other Yadava criminals--Mulayuam and Laloo--follow him soon.

Questions began to surface right from the start. For whom were the arms meant for. Kim Davy in an interview with Times Now claims that the arms were meant for the Ananda Marga who were being massacred by the CPM goons. I fully understans that the CPM is a Party of goons and so is the Trinamool COngress for that matter. So this part did not come as a great revealation to me. However, I am under the firm understanding that the RAW tried to intercept a consignment of arms commisioned for the Anand Marga and tried to divert it to a small local insurgency unit operating in Bangla Desh. This angle alone enables me to anwser the question why the Government of India disd not act even though the British MI 5 had tipped off the Indian Government and the Joint Secretary sent this information to the West Bengal Government by registered post aCKNOWLEDGEMENT DUE-- THE SLOWEST POSSIBLE WAY OF COMMUNICATION.

Kim Davy and Peter Bleach both seem to be speaking the truth. Peter Bleach was in prison for 8 years and Indian Government let him off with a presidential pardon before he could be tried. This itself shows that the Government of India is hiding something. Kim Davy on the other hand lives in mortal fear of being extridited to India where, like Batcha, he too will probably be eliminated if he sings like a canary. Thwere are far too many loose ends in thsi case and it only goes to show that the CBI, IB and RAW consist of men who like the Pink Panther are incompetent and at times even act the double or triple agent.

The fact that the radar was switched off on the crucial night of the air drop needs to be explained. Second, why was the CBI looking for KIm Davy in New Zealand and South America when it was well known that he was living in Copenhagen, Denmark. In oter words the CBI as it did in the sacr of Octavio Quatrrocci, the Bofors scamster, was adept in searching in the wrong palce and covering up after the ded had been done. As far as the RAW is concerned thetre is little parliamentary or political scrutiny over it. A Joint Parliamenmtary Probe must be conducted on it for the year 1985. The Purulia case shows that the RAW is incapable of even ferrying illegal arms to a small insurgency near the Indian border and that is the main reason I find it hard to beleive that the Balucci insurgents are being funded by Insdia. The only time the RAW tried its hand at the big boys's game was when it trined the LTTE in 26 trining camps all over Tamil Nadu in the 1980s and India ended up in a bloddy bloody mess in Sri Lanka. I think the Indian nation needs to be told the truth and the then Jt Directon of the CBI J K Dutt was so unconvincing innhis rebuttal that it left us wondering wheteer his blatant falsehoods serve only to escalate the questions marks on the subject.

The complicity of the Indian Givernment in the Arms Drop is there for all to see. However I do not think that the arms were meant for directing and fomenting an insurgency against the Left in Bengal. The RAW and MI 5 tried to use the viceral anti communism of the Ananda Marga to allow it to purchase arms ferry them to India and once over Indian airspace the Raw felt that it could hijack the operation and have the arms dropped in the Bangal Desh insurgent territory. As usual the Indian Government proved to be utterly incompetent.

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,.