Palash Speaks

Take away our dalit lands, take away our fertile lands,
Take away our forest land,
Where do we go… to the President’s house?

Palash Biswas

Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

Take away our dalit lands, take away our fertile lands,
Take away our forest land,
Where do we go… to the President’s house?

Videos
• Smaller towns new terror target
http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/oct/17video.htm

Why I insist for the worldwide Black Untouchable anti imperialist resistance against Zionist, Brahminical White supremacy, latest news updates support my representation.I have talked and written this in my earlier writeups as well as I tried my best to represent the case in Tumkur peace event recently. Racial and caste hatred is a singular issue causing violence and strife worldwide with repression of enslaved masses and nationalities. Since Asian Nato has become a reality and plantation of Benjir heralds a new age in this divided subcontinent , the new allignment of imperialism and fascism has to be resisted with realignment of the forces of Peace. tumkur Peace event is a real beginning. In this context I have to discuss the happenings in UP and racial comments of a nobel laureate.Nobel Prize winning scientist Dr James Watson has exposed the chemistry of Islamophobia as well as the socil reality of War against terrorism while the persecution of Dalits in UP proves that only power sharing is not going to solve the complex issue until the society is changed. the cunning ruling class takes the mask of Dalit Ideology and submits itself to dalit leadership only to sustain the thousands years legacy of Hegemony. Mayawati is the face but the mind is working in accordance with the ageold system rotten.

The Science Museum in the British capital has cancelled a talk by Nobel Prize winning scientist Dr James Watson after he was accused of making racist comments implying Africans were not as intelligent as whites. Watson, who discovered the double helix structure of DNA along with Briton Francis Crick, has been condemned for saying he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really".

26 Muslim youth have been arrested in the aftermath of Hyderabad bomb blasts but none of them have been charged for bomb blast case. If Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee of India (CLMCI), a human rights organization based in Hyderabad is to be believed many more can be arrested. Muslims of Hyderabad are living under a terror where perpetrators are uniformed and all state machinery seems to be against its citizen.

Muslim youth are terrified and afraid to go out fearing that they will be picked up. Rich Muslims are able to bribe their way out of the illegal detention but poor Muslims have no protection. According to CLMCI, 26 Muslims were illegally detained by the Andhra Pradesh Police and tortured in Greyhounds compounds, Head Quarters of elite commando force of AP Police. Habeas Corpus filed in the state high court resulted in court giving a week for the Police to respond to it. This gave the cops enough time to torture them some more.

More than 25,000 Dalits and Adivasis from various parts of the country marched towards the national capital carrying flags and shouting slogans, to press their demand for land, water and trees from the government.The volunteers, including women, of the Ekta Parishad, mostly dalits and adivasis led by Gandhians P.V. Raj Gopal and Subba Rao, are walking in four files on the national highway that leads to the capital. Many of them are carrying backpacks and children along with them.An activist from Chhattisgarh told IANS "It doesn't matter if some inconvenience is caused. We are marching for a big cause. For decades the poor and the Dalits (former untouchables in the Hindu caste hierarchy) have been fooled and taken for a ride with all kinds of promises but nothing substantial has been delivered."

"The issues are basic. The poor and the underprivileged must get their share of the land. There should be community control on water resources and the jungles have to be saved from the marauding developers," he added.

They walk 10 km at a stretch and stop for food and rest on the roadside before resuming their journey. They cook in roadside kitchens, sing and dance and sleep on the road. They also discuss rights and importance of jungles.On Saturday morning, the marchers left Agra as their 4 km long procession meandered its way through the main M.G. Road. They stopped at Akbar's

AICC President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday launched a veiled attack on the Mayawati government for not properly implementing the national rural employment guarantee scheme in UP. Menwhile, Indian expressreports: Even though the state has a Dalit chief minister, cases of human rights violations against the community are still not being highlighted in Uttar Pradesh, said Additional General of Police (Human Rights) Shailendra Sagar. He was speaking at the inaugural day of a two-day meet on Dalit Rights, organised in the state capital by Pairavi, a New Delhi-based organisation.

“We already have a number of initiatives being taken to ensure the protection of the rights of the Dalits. The districts have special inquiry cells, but then, we are all aware their condition is not up to the mark,” said Sagar. The state is witnessing an announced politics when it comes to the welfare of Dalits, he added. Talking about the behaviour of the police when it came to Dalits, with special focus on Dalit women, Sagar said the police administration has a different attitude in cases related to scheduled caste women.

“The police question the character of a woman when they find out the case involves a Dalit. There is a need for a change in the attitude of the police,” Sagar said.

Suggesting active intervention by NGOs, Sagar said such organisations should have a proactive role in changing the behaviour of the administration, thus helping to bring a significant change in the present situation. Senior IPS officer V N Rai also shared his views on the issue. He said the issue of Dalits should not be mixed up with other issues involving human rights. “Their pain is incomparable,” Rai said. Former IPS officer and social activist S R Darapuri was also present. “The Dalits have to struggle hard to get their rights. The time has come when Dalits have to demand their rights and not merely plead for them,” he commented.

The 79-year-old American was due to talk at the Science Museum's Dana Centre on Friday but on Wednesday night a spokesman said Watson's comments had gone "beyond the point of acceptable debate and as a result the museum was cancelling the sold-out event, The Daily Telegraph claimed on Thursday.

The eminent American, in Britain to promote a new book, also said the assumption that different racial groups shared "equal powers of reason" was backed by "no firm reason".

However, he said people should not discriminate racially, because "there are many people of colour who are very talented."

His comments have been attacked by fellow scientists, anti-racism campaigners and politicians.

Last April he launched “Save the Farmers, Save India,” a nation-wide campaign in favour of farmers burdened by debts and ignored by local administrations. At the time he told AsiaNews that “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's package has not brought a solution to the plight of distressed farmers across the country. Their rising suicide rate has become a national disgrace.”Another priority for the Indian Church is the defence of life, one of Cardinal Gracias’ most heart-felt issues. Female infanticides, exploitation of minors, malnourishment among the poor are issues that he has always tried to put at the centre of the national debate, investing his time and those of the various Indian communities he has led.

In his pastoral activities, the archbishop of Mumbai has been close to issues dear to the Pope like Christ’s uniqueness, the tireless proclamation of the Gospel and the affirmation of the Church’s missionary nature. He has always reminded his priests of the importance of evangelisation, giving great impetus to the religious community of his diocese.The clarity with which he proclaims the Gospel has made him a point of reference in India’s pluralistic society. “Evangelical values must permeate our lives,” he said. “In a world increasingly shaped by the imperatives of globalisation it is necessary to engage in a profound dialogue but one that is not impoverished by syncretism. Mutual respect must develop in light of one’s own charisma.”

The clarity with which he proclaims the Gospel has made him a point of reference in India’s pluralistic society. “Evangelical values must permeate our lives,” he said. “In a world increasingly shaped by the imperatives of globalisation it is necessary to engage in a profound dialogue but one that is not impoverished by syncretism. Mutual respect must develop in light of one’s own charisma.”An official in the railway ministry, on condition of anonymity, said Prasad himself had written to the minister of minority affairs last month on a “4% reservation” for Muslims “across ministries”.India has 150 million Muslims—the second highest in the world—and according to the Justice Rajinder Sachar committee that was set up by the Prime Minister to study social, economic and educational status of Muslims, few members of this minority community are employed by the government.However, reservation is a tricky, sensitive and a highly political issue in India. A proposal by the Union government to create a 27% reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) in Central government-run institutions of higher education is currently before the Supreme Court.

See this report:
Asserting the right to be heard
Swati Sahi
OneWorld South Asia
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/154295/1/

18 October 2007
Take away our dalit lands, take away our fertile lands,
Take away our forest land,
Where do we go… to the President’s house?

This was a spirited cry from amongst four hundred women who had come together from different parts of the country to share their experiences and life stories of poverty at the capital, New Delhi, on October 17.

These women had come from 20 different states, across 300 districts, to participate in the Women’s Tribunal on Poverty at New Delhi on October 17, to mark the World Poverty Day. They voiced their testimonies before a jury of eight, comprising academics, political thinkers and social activists, demanding that women’s agenda be made central to policies and programmes of the government.

The delegation with the President, Pratibha Patil
These women hail from the invisible margins of society: the Dalits, Adivasis, Muslim women, women with disabilities and from nomadic tribes, who are often excluded and discriminated both by society as well as within their own communities. They have constitutional rights to life, security, dignity, livelihood and development and are yet bereft of most. Women who are single or disabled experience further disadvantages.

“As a nation we are shameful that villages are denied of the hope of ‘shinning India’, said Dr Ruth Manorama, one of the jury members and president of the National Alliance of Women (NAWO).

She applauded the courage of the women present who had come out of personal situations of displacements, evictions and deforestation to speak out their trials. “Evictions and displacements are the order of the day,” she said, stressing that it is rights to land that give women power and an escape from violence.

The issue of multiple displacements was also raised by Annie Raja, jury member and General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), referring to cases of “heartless evictions” in the name of development under the SEZs.

The lack of ownership and access to cultivable land was highlighted as the underpinning factor for women’s poverty in rural areas and the Tribunal called for the right to cultivable land as a must for them.

Jury members Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and Kamla Bhasin (SANGAT) noted that while the country is growing at phenomenal rates, the lives of poor women are getting further impoverished. The hearing emphasized the need to bring in the gender perspective into issues of poverty and recognize women as independent citizens, and not just linked to their families.

Annie Raja noted the growing violence against women, saying that poor women face the double burden of poverty and gender, which gets further aggravated when the women belong to socially unacceptable Dalit or Adivasi communities.

The jury also noted that schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) meant to augment the livelihood opportunities of the poor have had little impact on the lives of women in villages; in many cases employment cards not reaching those in need.

“The social security welfare bill does not adequately address issues of the unorganized sector,” added Ruth Manorama. In the social sector, BPL (below poverty level) cards were found to be denied to a large majority of the poor; it is more often that those undeserving have taken advantage of these cards.

Despite the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, education has remained elusive for children of Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims. Social stereotyping has led to high rates of drop-outs among those who have had access to schools, the jury held.

Sheba George, Director of Sahrwaru Women’s Action Resource Centre and jurist, commented on the inadequate attempts of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to provide trained health workers and professionals and the lack of medical services that have led to high rates of maternal deaths in the country.

She also drew attention to the state of Muslim women who (along with the Dalits and Adivasis) are socially excluded from socio-economic opportunities, and by being tagged to terror, are also not trusted by the administration and bureaucracy. The biases of the state have been evident in the case of post-conflict Gujarat rehabilitation.

“Bureaucracy is antipoor, antitribal, antidalit,” she said, while calling for monitoring of government schemes and punitive measures against those officials engaged in diversion of funds in implementation. She also pointed out the growing violence towards women by institutional mechanisms of the police and judiciary, who have proved to be gender insensitive and anti-poor.

Dr Rosemary Dzuvichu, of Nagaland University and jurist, brought attention to the issues of customary property laws that exploit and exclude women from their rightful share; and of conflict that has afflicted the lives of women in Kashmir and the North-east.

Jurist Nikhil Dey recommended that there should be a mandatory public audit or ‘jan audit’ on an annual basis where women would do social audits in every district.

Yadicon Njie-Eribo of the Feminist Task Force, GCAP and Coordinator of women’s group Femigam in Gambia, shared her experience of a similar tribunal conducted in her country in 2005. “Society has taught women not to speak about what happens at home,” she said, adding that it is this silence that breeds violence.

As the Tribunal came to a close, a delegation left to meet the President Pratibha Patil with a set of the recommendations put forth by the jury.

Development of the country is not possible minus the focused development of women and communities from the society’s margins. This infallible truth that drew out from the Tribunal was all-pervading in the voices of the women. In the words of Nikhil Dey, “the Tribunal is a step not only for the sake of women, but for the entire country.”

And see this also:
Mainstream, Vol XLV, No 43

Erosion of our Democratic Values and Unconcern of Political Parties
by Chaturanan Mishra
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article370.html
Tuesday 16 October 2007

Despite the fact that more and more downtrodden people have begun to exercise their right of casting votes and there is a new consciousness among Dalits, tribals, women and Other Backward Castes which deepen the roots of our democracy, this in itself does not result in strengthening the rights of the people. More Dalits are killed in India than what happened to the Blacks in South Africa during the apartheid period. Even elected Dalit Presidents of village Panchayats in Tamil Nadu are not allowed to function. Untouchability persists. Now the OBC people are launching more offensives against Dalits. Something new has happened in UP: Brahmins accepting the leadership of Mayawatiji; but it is too early to assess how far the Brahmins in general agree to end untouchability and give social respect to the Dalits. This has to be watched. More girl children in pregnancy are killed. There is no political movement for social reform though the society itself is reforming slowly. Gandhiji mixed political movement with social reform also to some extent.

The bureaucracy is uncontrollable. The colonial tradition of bureaucrats as the rulers and people as the ruled is continuing. Corruption even at the local level of administration has increased so much that people do not get even one-fourth of what is budgeted in Parliament and Assemblies for them. Rajiv Gandhi said people get only 16 per cent of what is allotted in the Budget for them. People are unable to check it. It has spread even to village Panchayats. The police has become more tyrannical. Lathicharges and shootings by the police are quite common. Even the Left Government of West Bengal is now no exception after what happened at Nandigram. In 2005 alone, 44 persons were killed in police firings. Between 1990 and 1999 the police opened fire 5994 times resulting in 1753 deaths and 6886 injuries. The same police is unable to check criminals who rule in cities also. Children are kidnapped and killed if firauti is not paid to them. Even in the central Capital of Delhi women are not safe. The days of Pattam Thanu Pillai, when he was forced to resign for firing, are gone. Politicians are party to it. There is a general feeling that all politicians, barring a few, are for making money. The old respect for politicians is no longer there. Similar is the feeling about political parties since now they don’t go to the people to solve their problems. This is the most dangerous feature since healthy political parties and politicians are a must for the strengthening of democracy. Members of Legislatures change parties for personal benefit. Politicians behave in such a manner as to prove that they have no ideology.

Though in our Constitution every citizen has the right to be elected to Parliament and Assemblies, as the election now costs a crores of rupees ninetyfive per cent of our citizens can’t think of contesting elections. Our janatantra is becoming dhanatantra. Though the Election Commission has recently taken some strict reformist measures, political parties are voicing their protest. Due to casteism, fear and communalism more and more veteran criminals are elected to Parliament and Assemblies as candidates of political parties. It is not safe to oppose such criminal candidates. Parliament is helpless in the case of Gujarat where thousands of Muslims, including women and children as well as even pregnant women, were massacred and so our janatantra is becoming gun-tantra.

Courts can help to provide some remedy and in fact the Supreme Court acted sometimes but courts are so much overburdened with a number of cases that it takes years to have a final judgement. It is so time consuming and costly that the mass of people don’t go there. Rich people use it to harass the poor. It is happening since the days of British rule and continues till today.

Political parties are a must for democracy. The old national parties are getting weakened and caste based regional parties are coming up. This gives us coalition governments. Though the formation of regional parties take democracy to so far unawakened people, the absence of a national party can weaken the Centre. This danger is there. However, so far regional parties have helped to strengthen federalism.

National parties failed to understand the new feeling of the caste people. Different castes of people want their development through their own caste or group of castes. National parties are dominated by high-caste leaders and they run the government. Backward castes united to change this and this they did through caste or group of castes organisations. While Hindu castes were earlier based on religious faith, now they are based on politics and they are changing their position from time to time. This may lead to weakening of the caste system. This problem needs to be tackled in the national interest. Now Dalits strongly protest and what happened in Rajasthan for reservation of Gujjars as tribal people is a serious warning. The tribal people’s position is worse than even the Dalits and poor Muslims. All over India except the North-East they are coming under the influence of Maoists. Very often policemen are killed by them. Terrorised government officials, contractors, truck owners pay them levy. They are equipping themselves with modern arms. They are spreading now in the plains too. Farmers are also paying them do kathia, that is, the produce of two kathas per acre. With its present policy towards the poor the government cannot stop this development.

The poor people are unable to maintain themselves in the rural areas due to the agricultural crisis; they are coming to cities and get shelter in slums making jhopris. Now the government and even the courts are evicting them without giving shelter. No political party takes up their cause and ultimately they may go over to the Maoists.

Farmers are in a serious crises. According to 59th National Sample Survey, a majority of small and marginal farmers are unable to make both ends meet. In the post-liberalisation period and after India joined the WTO, production and productivity of agriculture has been heavily reduced. The growth of agriculture has reduced from 3.08 per cent in 1980-90 to 2.65 per cent in 1991-2000 due to reduction of the Plan outlay in agriculture and also in public sector work in agriculture like irrigation and scientific research etc. While the input price of agriculture has heavily increased, the price of agricultural produce has been reduced. Because of this condition, 40 per cent of farmers have desired to leave agriculture if they get an alternative job. As many as 48.6 per cent of farmers are debt-ridden; of them 42.3 per cent are indebted to moneylenders at high interest and forcible realisation. We are again dependent on import of food at higher prices. Starvation and malnutrition have become commonplace for a long time. Now thousands of farmers commit suicides every year. No political party takes up their cause seriously to force the government to act. On the nuclear agreement with the USA political crisis has been created but on the issue of peasant suicides or for unorganised workers or against price rise no such political crisis was engendered.

There is a vast and big population in the poverty zone of Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and Orissa etc. Despite our high national GDP growth, they are becoming poorer. Every year floods from Nepal destroy them. Nepal being a foreign land it is the Central Government’s constitutional responsibility to tackle the problem but it does not. One can be certain that a time will come in the near future when this poverty zone will rise against the Centre and the Centre will be unable to suppress it.

Our people have deep faith in democracy but such issues as mentioned here are fast eroding that faith. It is time that political parties reform themselves to restore the people’s faith in democracy. At present people are highly frustrated and angry. Frequent spontaneous violent outbreaks are taking place. The police is the target. This has no backing of any party. If these violent outbreaks are coordinated which the Maoists can, then it will result in a countrywide or Statewide violent attack directed against the democratic set-up.

The author, a veteran CPI leader, was the Union Agriculture in the United Front Government at the Centre (1996-98).

'Blacks Are Stupid' Comments Betray Dark Mindset Of Eugenics
Geneticist says blacks inherently less intelligent than whites

Prison Planet | October 17, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson

Controversy surrounding the comments of geneticist James Watson, who
told a Sunday Times newspaper interviewer that black people are
inherently less intelligent than whites, should come as no surprise to
those who are aware of Watson's role in pushing the dark
pseudo-science of eugenics.

Watson told the interviewer that he was "inherently gloomy about the
prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the
fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the
testing says not really".

Watson said the notion that everyone is created equal is flawed
because "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

The geneticist explores this racist ideology further in his new book,
writing, "there is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual
capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution
should prove to have evolved identically" .

"Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal
heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so," he says.

Watson was the Head of the Human Genome Project until 1992 and is best
known for his contribution to the discovery of DNA, an achievement
that won him the Nobel prize in 1962.

But what most people are unaware of is the fact that Watson has played
an integral role in advancing the legitimacy of the eugenics movement
for decades.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=1-h1CBzGuTM

Alex Jones' End Game explains why the elite are obsessed with pushing
eugenics and bizarre race hygiene philosophies. Click here for more clips.

Watson is a strong proponent of genetic screening, a test to determine
whether a couple is at increased risk of having a baby with a
hereditary genetic disorder.

Since such screening obviously increases the rate of abortions of
babies considered "imperfect," many have slammed its introduction as
nothing more than a camouflage for eugenics or "voluntary eugenics" as
British philosophy professor Philip Kitcher labeled it.

Watson's advocacy of genetic engineering stretched to his call for the
"really stupid" bottom 10% of people to be "cured".

Watson even urged woman to be given carte blanche to abort babies
should tests determine that they are likely to be homosexual, despite
the vast body of evidence indicating homosexuality is a result of
environment rather than genetic code.

The geneticist has gone so far as to promote the idea of creating a
kind of Nazi super-race, where the attractive and physically strong
are genetically manufactured under laboratory conditions.

"People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think
it would be great," said Watson.

Watson's disgusting creed of racial and genetic purity by means of
state-enforced eugenics is a mindset embraced by a large body of the
elite minds in government, science and academia today.

Many of them advocate ethnically cleansing up to 80% of the human
population by means of genocide and forced sterilization.

Last year, Dr. Eric R. Pianka gave a speech to the Texas Academy of
Science in which he advocated the need to exterminate 90% of the
population through the airborne ebola virus. The vast majority of
those in attendance stood and applauded Pianka's open call for mass
genocide.

http://www.infowars .com/articles/ nwo/eugenics_ blacks_are_ stupid_comments_ betray_dark_ mindset.htm

Who is Planning Extermination of 90% of World's Population?
By Shah Nawaz Khan

While world population had doubled to over six billion in the last
forty years, the European population is increasing at much slower rate
than the Asian and African countries. In 1960, people of European
ancestry were said to be one-fourth of the world’s population; in 2000,
they were one-sixth; and it is estimated that in 2050, they will be
one-tenth. The eugenics experts are exploiting the statistics and say
that Caucasian race is facing the danger the becoming a vanishing race.

The word 'eugenics' is said to have been coined in 1883 by Galton,
Darwin's cousin and an amateur scientist. He based it on a Greek root
meaning good in birth. Extrapolating from Darwin's theories about
heredity, Galton contended that selective human breeding could produce
"a highly gifted race of men" and that regulating the population could
prevent the reproduction of people deemed undesirable. Techniques of
Artificial Insemination have been developed. It is a process in which
male spermatozoa are collected. to fertilize a female ovum. It was
first developed for breeding livestock. Now many European couples visit
India to find surrogate mothers. A woman is paid to bear a child for
another woman, either through artificial insemination by the other
woman's husband, or by carrying until birth the other woman's
surgically implanted fertilized egg. In India a surrogate mother could
be found at much lower cost than US or Europe.

Geneticist James Watson, contends that black people are inherently less
intelligent than whites. These days Watson is playing an active role,
in pushing the dark pseudo-science of eugenics. However, he stresses on
the need for help and assistance to Africans. But there are fanatics
among social and other scientists who are causing apprehensions about
population explosion.

According to a story in http://www.propagan damatrix. com/, last year,
Dr. Eric R. Pianka gave a speech to the Texas Academy of Science in
which he advocated the need to exterminate 90% of the population
through the airborne ebola virus. The vast majority of those in
attendance stood and applauded Pianka's open call for mass genocide.

Shah Nawaz Khan
See many other articles at:
http://www.netvert. biz/shah/ articles. html

SARVAJAN HITAYA SARVAJAN SUKHAYA-FOR THE GAIN OF THE MANY AND FOR THE WELFARE OF THE MANY

Eight Cabinet Ministers and two Ministers of State administered oath

Lucknow: October 17, 2007 In a brief expansion of State Cabinet,the Uttar Pradesh Governor, Mr..T.V. Rajeswar administered oath of office and secrecy to eight Cabinet Ministers and two Ministers of State (Independent charge) in a simple programme organized here today at Raj Bhawan. The Cabinet Ministers are –Mr.Badshah Singh, Mr. Rangnath Mishra, Mr.Nand Gopal Gupta’Nandi’, Mr. Kamla Kant Gautam, Mr. Chandra Dev Ram Yadav and Mr. Ashok Kumar,besides the new Ministers of State, Mr. Bhagwati Prasad Sagar and Mr. Jaiveer Singh. Mr.Badshah Singh (Small Scale Industries and Export Promotion), Mr. Rangnath Mishra (Rural Engineering Services),Mr.Anant Kumar Mishra(Medical and Health) were working as Ministers of State (Independent charge) and Mr. Abdul Mannan (Agriculture Foreign Trade and Agriculture Export) was the Minister of the State. All these four Ministers were promoted as Cabinet Ministers. Mr. Bhagwati Prasad Sagar and Mr. Jaiveer Singh took the oath as the Ministers of the State (Independent charge). Mr.Nand Gopal Gupta’Nandi’, Mr. Kamla Kant Gautam, Mr. Chandra Dev Ram Yadav and Ashok Kumar have been included for the first time in the Cabinet. The Cabinet Secretary Mr. Shashank Shekhar Singh conducted the programme of oath taking ceremony. On this occasion, the Chief Minister Km. Mayawati, Cabinet Ministers Mr. S.C. Mishra, Mr. Naseemuddin Siddqui, Mr. Babu Singh Kushwaha including other Ministers, party office bearers, MPs, MLAs, were present besides senior officers and eminent citizens.

Trilateral Cooperation Sought by India, China and Russia as Dalai Lama Gets Gold Medal in Washington
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com

As the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China gears up to its grand finale, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was bestowed with the Congressional gold medal, United States' highest civilian honour, at a ceremony on Wednesday. This is the highest civilian honour the legislature can bestow and the White House has already announced that President Bush and his wife will participate in the event.The 72-year-old received the honour in recognition of his role as 'one of the world's foremost moral and religious figures, who is using his leadership role to advocate peacefully for the cultural autonomy of the Tibetan people within China.'Nancy Pelosi, who has never missed a chance to criticise China's human rights record explained: "He [the Dalai Lama] has used his position to promote wisdom, compassion, and non-violence as a solution -- not only in Tibet -- but to other world conflicts." She was politically correct when she said: "The United States must continue to be committed to meeting the challenge that Tibet makes to the conscience of the world."The question, however, remains: will this new award help the people of Tibet to find a way out of the tragic situation in which they were plunged in October 1950 when the Roof of the World was invaded?
Expressing regret that the US's decision to honour him has caused tension between Washington and Beijing, the Dalai Lama ''categorically'' said he was not seeking Tibetan independence, but alleged that his homeland is facing social and environmental degradation due to Chinese rule.Speaking at a ceremony where he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour bestowed by the US Congress, the Tibetan spiritual leader also said resolving the Tibetan issue has ''important implications for lasting peace'' between neighbours India and China, even as he praised the two countries' economic success.

Ignoring China's objections, United States President George W Bush [Images] met the Dalai Lama [Images] at the White House on Tuesday, on the eve of a Capitol Hill ceremony to give the Tibetan spiritual leader the Congressional Gold Medal, America's highest civilian honour.The 30-minute meeting was held in the White House. However, officials gave no summary of their discussion, and, unlike previous visits, no photographs were released.According to reports, the Dalai Lama and Bush were joined by First Lady Laura Bush for a discussion on violations of human rights in Burma.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministers of India, China, and Russia will meet on October 24 to discuss "pragmatic" ways to boost trilateral cooperation, but their ties are not targeted at a third party, a senior official said here today. The ministers, who will meet in Northeast China's Harbin city, will exchange views on major international and regional issues and discuss "pragmatic cooperation" among the three countries, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced here at a biweekly news briefing.
"This kind of cooperation is helpful and open. It is not targeted at any third party," Liu said when asked to comment on the significance of the second such meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
According to past experience, the three foreign ministers will explore cooperation in many fields, including political and economic fields, Liu said.
The ministers are also expected to touch upon the potential of trilateral cooperation and synergy in the economic field, including energy, transport infrastructure, health, high technologies, including it and biotechnology.
The last such meeting was held in New Delhi on February 14 this year and the first was held in Vladivostok, Russia on June 2, 2005.
The other trilateral foreign ministers meetings have taken place on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York since September 2002.
''I believe that today's economic success of both India and China is most deserving. With their newfound status both of these two countries are poised to play important leading role on the world stage,'' he said adding that to fulfill this role, China has to show more ''transparency, rule of law, and the freedom of information''.
On the future of Tibet, the Dalai Lama ''categorically'' said he was ''not seeking independence.''
''I am seeking a meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people within the People's Republic of China,'' he said.
''I have no hidden agenda. My decision not to accept any political office in the future of Tibet is final,'' the spiritual leader said, and dismissed Chinese contention that he was ''an instrument of Western anti-Chinese forces''.
The Dalai Lama also used the high-profile event, attended by US President George W Bush, among others, to highlight his concerns about the consequences of exploitation of Tibet's natural resources by China and the effect of Chinese influx into the Himalayan region.
The Dalai Lama said the influx of Chinese into the Tibetan plateau is ''increasing at an alarming rate'' and there is a real danger that the Tibetans will be reduced to an ''insignificant minority in their own homeland''.
He added that the rapid increase in population is also posing a serious threat to Tibet's fragile environment. ''Being the source of many of Asia's great rivers, any substantial disturbance in Tibet's ecology will impact the lives of hundreds of millions,'' the Nobel laureate said.
''Furthermore, being situated between India and China, the peaceful resolution of the Tibet problem also has important implications for lasting peace and friendly relations between these two great neighbours,'' he said.

According to a report from Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi demanded cancellation of the award ceremony, saying it seriously violates the norms of international relations. Jiechi said that such a ceremony will wound the feelings of the Chinese people and interfere with China's internal affairs.Slamming Washington for awarding the Congressional medal to the Dalai Lama [Images], an infuriated China on Thursday summoned the US ambassador in Beijing [Images] and demanded "concrete steps to protect bilateral ties which have been gravely undermined".
"The move of the United States is a blatant interference in China's internal affairs. It has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and has gravely undermined relations between China and the United States," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.He was reacting to the meeting between US President George W Bush [Images] and the Dalai Lama as well as the awarding of the country's top honour to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
China, which considers the Dalai Lama a separatist, had already denounced the award as a farce that will hurt relations between Beijing and Washington.The spokesman also asked the US to take concrete steps to protect Sino-US relations.Liu said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi summoned Clark Randit, the US Ambassador to Beijing, and lodged a 'solemn protest' for disregarding repeated Chinese requests not to honour the Dalai Lama.
The 72-year-old Tibetan leader, who has lived in exile in India since fleeing his predominantly Buddhist homeland in 1959, received the US Congressional Gold Medal from President George W Bush on Wednesday. Earlier, while responding to China' criticism, Bush had called for an end to religious repression in China as he defiantly became the first US leader to appear in public with the Dalai Lama.
Meanwhile,The Left parties of India have expressed confidence in the improvement of Sino-Indian relations and praised China's 'great leap forward' under the leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China, poised to elect a new Chinese leadership till 2012.
In a congratulatory message to the ruling CPC on the convening of its 17th National
Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday said it was confident that bilateral ties will continue to improve and eventually contribute in bringing peace and stability in the region.
The CPI-M extended its 'warm fraternal communist greetings' to the ongoing CPC Congress, the party said in a statement.
The CPC's 'firm adherence to the socialist path remains a source of inspiration for the people struggling worldwide for an exploitation-free society,' the CPI-M said.
The CPI-M has been keenly following the developments taking place in China, it said, noting that the 'impressive economic advances made by China' since 1978 are 'receiving worldwide attention,' the statement said.
In a separate message, Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan said the CPC, under the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of 'Three Represents' and the Scientific Outlook on Development, has united and led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in building socialism with Chinese characteristics, and has made tremendous achievements in various fields.
Under the leadership of the CPC, China has yielded big results in the progress of socialist modernisation, and has attained the major goals set forth by the last Congress, he said.

America's Anti-Militarist Tradition
by Sheldon Richman
Carlos Latuff/ MWC NEWS
The right wing went apoplectic at the skepticism that greeted Gen. David Petraeus’s recent testimony about the alleged success of the military escalation in Iraq. It was as though a member of the military was incapable of engaging in spin to support his commander in chief’s war policy. President Bush summed up this attitude revealingly when he said it was one thing to attack him, but quite another to question General Petraeus. War, Clausewitz noted, is politics by other means.
That makes high-ranking generals a species of politician. Not a few have harbored presidential thoughts, and some have made it. It is said that Petraeus would like to be another. These are the people the pro-war conservatives are willing to trust implicitly? (Anti-war members of the armed forces, on the other hand, are, in Rush Limbaugh’s words, “phony soldiers.”)
It is unappreciated today that an earlier American culture was anti-militarist. In his classic study The Civilian and the Military: A History of the American Antimilitarist Tradition (1956), historian Arthur A. Ekirch Jr. wrote, “The tradition of antimilitarism has been an important factor in the shaping of some two hundred years of American history.” This tradition, Ekirch notes, stretched back to England, where until the seventeenth century the militia, not a standing army, provided defense and was unsuited to aggressive war.
This attitude was carried to the New World, where “subordination of military to civil power became the cardinal principle it was in England.”
Anti-militarism colored much political thinking as the new country took shape. The Pennsylvania constitution declared a peacetime standing army a “danger to liberty [and] ought not to be kept up.” All state constitutions contained language subordinating military to civil authority. The Declaration of Independence criticized the standing army and military independence. The Articles of Confederation, America’s first constitution, withheld from Congress the power to create a peacetime army (although attempts to expressly forbid its creation were unsuccessful in the rush to submit the Articles to the states for approval).
The Revolutionary War itself did not change the American attitude in a pro-military direction; Ekirch reported that states had trouble getting the required number of militiamen. When conscription was resorted to, it was not well received. Those who did don the uniform hardly exhibited the martial spirit.
After the Revolution, the conservative aristocracy that had emerged during the Colonial period wanted a strong central state with a powerful army. But the radical liberals of the day wanted a decentralized power structure and a militia. A standing army was anathema — its potential for domestic oppression was too well known. “The idea of any sort of a regular army in peacetime at once met with strong opposition in Congress,” Ekirch wrote. James Monroe and Richard Henry Lee warned of the danger to liberty, and Benjamin Franklin worried that a soldier’s training made him accepting of war.
At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the suspicion of the military led to the separation of the power of the commander in chief from the power to declare and finance war. (This has proven to be a weak protection against executive warmaking.) It was said of Convention delegate George Mason, “He was for clogging rather than facilitating war; but for facilitating peace.”
Although James Madison was a leader of the centralists, he warned, “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive, will not long be safe companions to liberty.”
The anti-militarists won only partial victories in the Convention, among them subordination of the military to the civilian authority. During the debates over the proposed Constitution, some of the writers known as Anti-Federalists railed against the standing army. “Centinel” proclaimed it “that grand engine of oppression.”
The upshot is that the conservative fawning over the military displays an attitude that would have infuriated those first generations of Americans who actually built this country.

Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, and editor of The Freeman magazine and author of “‘Ancient History’: U.S. Conduct in the Middle East since World War II and the Folly of Intervention.”.
Breaking with the 'National Consensus'
Towards Lebanese-Palestinian Reconciliation
by Fawwaz Traboulsi
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=14059 October 15, 2007
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[Translator's Introduction: The article below by Fawwaz Traboulsi first appeared in Arabic in the Beirut daily as-Safir of September 13, 2007.

For several decades, there was an official dogma regarding Palestinian refugees in Arab countries. According to this dogma, proclaimed by both Palestinian and non-Palestinian leaders, all that the Palestinian refugees wanted was to return to their homeland. True, that yearning was real enough, but understated or willfully ignored was the elementary fact that, before returning to Palestine or to whatever part of it that would be restored, Palestinians wanted their human and civil rights to be acknowledged and respected. Invoking this dogma thus became a way to prevent the implantation of Palestinian refugees and to justify various forms of discrimination they endured in their host countries. Officially, Palestinians were welcomed as fellow Arabs and their rights recognized by the governments of Arab countries where they sought refuge; notwithstanding official recognition, however, Palestinian rights were routinely trampled in practice. In the name of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, invoking this dogma was thus used to serve the interests of local elites totally unrelated to Palestinian welfare.

This official dogma regarding Palestinian refugees continues to this day, though with diminished force, overshadowed by the many conflicts other than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that have engulfed the Middle East in recent years. But the discrimination against Palestinians remains, now justified and enforced by other class and state interests.

In the case of Lebanon in particular, this official dogma has been combined with an elaborate fiction since the 1975-1990 civil war, and sometimes the fiction has become more important than the dogma and eclipsed it altogether. This Lebanese fiction has been to make the Palestinians into an alien presence that is supposedly threatening the very well-being of Lebanon and its citizens -- a fiction cooked up for fraudulent reasons, as Traboulsi carefully explains. What's more, in so doing, Traboulsi places himself squarely at odds with both of the two main camps in the current Lebanese standoff. Both government and opposition politicians routinely talk about the Palestinian presence as a burden Lebanon cannot shoulder or shoulder alone. If there is something on which the two camps agree, it is a refusal to a permanent settling of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Thus, in an otherwise inane speech to the UN General Assembly on September 28 and without fear of antagonizing either of the two camps back in Beirut, President Lahoud of Lebanon could declare with total confidence that a permanent settling of Palestinian refugees "will dangerously alter the delicate balance of Lebanon's existence as a nation based on diversity and coexistence among a large number of its sects" -- a statement thoroughly debunked by Traboulsi's article.

In years past, Palestinian refugees were ostracized in the name of that dogma that said all they want is to return to Palestine; today, they are further victimized under the pretense that they endanger "Lebanon's existence as a nation."

In the article below, Traboulsi is addressing Lebanese and Arab audiences familiar with events of recent decades, often evoked in passing without further elaboration. A few points to identify these events and place them in their historical context:

(1) Traboulsi refers to the Lebanese civil war of 1975-1990 not as a single war, but as a period of "many wars," which in fact it was. It involved Lebanese parties, armed organizations of the PLO, the Syrian army, and the Israeli army, with frequent infusions of weapons and money from parties further afield. Erstwhile allies often turned on each other during that period, and with increased frequency after the Israeli invasion of 1982.
(2) Traboulsi mentions several individuals and groups that were involved in the 1975-1990 wars; these or their successors all continue to play prominent roles in one of the two contending camps of the current Lebanese standoff. The Lebanese Front is a precursor of the Lebanese Forces, a right-wing organization now headed by Samir Geagea; Geagea is one of the three main leaders of the current pro-government coalition, along with Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt. Traboulsi mentions another chieftain of the Lebanese Forces, Elias Hobeika, who led the Lebanese militias involved in the 1982 massacre of Sabra-Shatila, before dissociating himself from the Israeli army and then throwing his lot with the Syrian regime; Hobeika was assassinated in 2002, a few days before testifying in a Brussels court against his former ally Ariel Sharon in a lawsuit brought against the latter by survivors of the massacre. Traboulsi also mentions the "war of the mountain," the "war of liberation," and the "war to unite all guns," commonly referring to different episodes of the 1975-1990 period.
(3) The Taif Accord was an agreement between Lebanese factions of the 1975-1990 wars, convened in the city of Taif, Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the League of Arab States. The agreement was negotiated in October-November 1989, based on which a cease-fire was enforced by Syrian troops and gradually took effect in the course of 1990. Once the cease-fire was in place, Syrian troops were to withdraw after a cooling-off period, but they did not do so, in violation of the agreement. That Syria was given a free hand in Lebanon throughout most of the 1990's, despite Israel's objections, was in exchange for Syrian participation in Desert Storm, the 1991 US-led campaign to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait.

(4) The "battle of Nahr al-Barid" is the devastating three-month battle of this past summer, which pitted the Lebanese army against the jihadi group Fateh al-Islam which had ensconced itself in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Barid in northern Lebanon. It resulted in the total destruction of the camp and the forced displacement of its 30,000 to 40,000 refugee inhabitants.
-- Assaf Kfoury]

After the battle of Nahr al-Barid, much has been said and repeated about a Lebanese "national consensus" regarding the Palestinians in Lebanon, a presumed rejection by all Lebanese of a final settling of Palestinians on Lebanese soil. Many commentators continue to voice their alarm about the "conspiracy" to permanently settle the Palestinians.

The writer of this article, a Lebanese citizen, wishes to openly declare that he will have no part of such a consensus -- and more, that it is time to expose it for the fraud that it is.

This presumed danger of a final settling of Palestinians is another tale in the politics of lies and self-deception that has prevailed since the Taif Accord. In a complex and diverse country such as Lebanon, this accord sought to develop a consensus based on a deception.
There is a history to this tale and the purpose it has served. At the time of the Taif conference, a party had to be found to bear the blame for the disastrous consequences of the many wars fought during the 1975-1990 period. These wars came to an end of sorts, but without an honest reckoning and accounting of the responsibilities that had led to them. And worse, they came to an end by elevating to the seats of power the very warlords that had fought each other mercilessly. The only party left out of this equation were the Palestinians. The other parties at the Taif conference had thus found the perfect scapegoat that would unite them all -- the Palestinian side -- which they thus turned into all of the following: the cause and object of that murky "conspiracy" that had to be feared, the reason that there had been internal wars, and the constant danger to fend off against, then and in the future.
The parties of the Lebanese Front have used the specter of a final settling of Palestinians to justify their blood-soaked history during the 1975-1990 period. They have never tired of declaring that they were fighting "against foreigners". In their account of that period, their history was one of resistance against the "conspiracy" of permanently settling Palestinians on Lebanese soil, conveniently ignoring who instigated the internal wars and who profited from them. Thus, not only have these parties concealed their responsibility for putting the country to the torch, they have also managed to confound the beginnings and ends of the 1975-1990 wars and everything that happened in between.

Twenty-five years ago, in September 1982, was the massacre of Sabra-Shatila. On this occasion, let us not forget that the massacre was planned with the intent to eliminate the "superfluous people" for which there is no room in a settlement of the Middle East crisis. That slaughter of Palestinian civilians took place in a drive to frighten them to leave Lebanon, after the eviction of the PLO and its armed factions in the summer months of 1982. The refusal of a final settling of Palestinians was a euphemism, pure and simple, for their forced migration out of Lebanon under the threat of death.

On the pretense that the many mini-wars in the years 1975-1990 were against the "conspiracy" aiming at a final settling of Palestinians, the conspiracy mongers have wanted us to forget that most of these wars, even after the withdrawal of the PLO and its organizations in 1982, were between Lebanese parties. What was the relationship between this "conspiracy" and what was then called the "war of the mountain" in 1983, which resulted in driving out most of the Christian inhabitants in the Shuf region? Further back, what was the relationship between the refusal of a final settling and the forcible migration of the Muslims out of the Nabaa district in 1976? And what was the connection between this "conspiracy" and General Aoun's decision to ignite the so-called "war of liberation" and the "war to unite all guns"? And what was its connection with the internecine war between the Geagea and Hobeika factions of the Lebanese Forces, or between the Amal movement and Hizbullah?

During the years of Syrian hegemony, from the early 1990's and until 2005, the bogey of a permanent implantation of Palestinians played an important role in rallying a number of politicians, particularly Christians among them, to the side of the Syrian regime. The declared reason was that only the latter would be able to keep the Palestinians in check and disarm their organizations. Thus, incitement against the implantation of Palestinians became another means to justify the presence of Syrian troops on Lebanese territory, although it was in clear violation of the Taif Accord.

What's more, all this talk about the refusal of a permanent settling of Palestinians is a perfect example of the kind of vile repudiation which Palestinians have had to endure, in this case the crass refusal to acknowledge their many and varied contributions to Lebanese life -- from the construction worker to the successful banker, and the many others in all professions from teaching to contracting. If this is what the refusal of a permanent settling means, it is a dark stain on Lebanon's much-trumpeted hospitality, which allows rich Saudi citizens to buy plots of land of one million square meters at the heart of the Lebanese mountains while denying a Palestinian refugee the right to own a dwelling not exceeding a few dozens of square meters!

Let's not overlook that the refusal of a permanent settling also presumes that Palestinians have to be taught lessons in patriotism and how to remain loyal to the idea of an eventual return to Palestine, which in turn presumes that Lebanese can be more concerned than Palestinians in defending the latter's right to return. On this phony presumption, it has been necessary for example to prevent construction material from entering Palestinian refugee camps, so as not to let camp dwellers be seduced by the idea of a permanent stay and aspire to remain in Lebanon! Everyone knows that foreign visitors, who have countries to return to, all aspire and are allowed to remain in Lebanon, so why shouldn't we allow those without a country to aspire to the same? Under repeated policies of encirclement and neglect over the years, the Palestinian camps have become infested with shadowy armed groups, which Lebanese and Syrian security agencies have, by turns, promoted and used to do their dirty work, and then incited to fight each other. And here is Lebanon belatedly awakening to the reality that these groups have the military means to take hostage an entire camp (Nahr al Barid) on the very watch of the proponents of the refusal of a final settling.

Last but not least, the tale of the refusal of a final settling of Palestinians comes in the wake of another issue that is rarely discussed honestly. The proponents of this tale maintain that Lebanon, because of its confessional makeup, cannot sustain the integration of Palestinian refugees who are Muslim in their majority. Because of Lebanon's confessional makeup, they claim, this will create an imbalance between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. The first flaw in this kind of logic is to equate the right of legal residency in Lebanon with the granting of Lebanese citizenship. Palestinians can be legal residents, with the same rights and duties of all non-citizen residents in Lebanon, without precluding their right to return to whatever part of their homeland that will come under the control of a Palestinian authority according to UN resolutions. But let's pursue this idea to the end: In a country where the confessional power-sharing formula is not based on percentages of the different religious sects in the first place, even if we were to equate the permanent settling of the refugees with the granting of Lebanese citizenship -- which is certainly not maintained by anyone -- what will be the effect of adding another 250,000 Palestinians to the number of Muslims in a country of 4 million where Christians represent no more than one-third of its inhabitants?

Treated with fraudulent remedies, the wounds in Lebanese-Palestinian relations have never ceased to fester and bleed. And here is another new wound caused by the events of Nahr al-Barid, once again treated with fraudulent remedies, as government officials have rushed to promise the rebuilding of the destroyed camp without drawing the necessary lessons for rebuilding relations between the two peoples.

Towards rebuilding harmony between the two peoples, we need to understand that Lebanon can no longer be a base for Palestinian armed organizations. Armed resistance from Lebanon is no longer an option for Palestinians, nor can the country provide the means to sustain such a resistance and serve its purpose. We also need to realize that the issue of Palestinian weapons in Lebanon is the result of fear -- fear caused by a history of massacres, further compounded by the growing racism peddled by politicians -- not to discount the fact that parties and governments have also used it, and continue to use this issue to serve external agendas unrelated to Palestinian interests.

If we want to avoid a repeat of the Nahr al Barid episode, with another terrorist organization abducting an entire Palestinian camp, we need an agreement that will stipulate the removal of all military weapons from Palestinian camps in exchange for the recognition and safeguarding of the Palestinians' civil and political rights. No need to spell out the details of such an agreement here, but the time has come to undertake the necessary steps towards its realization. And the first step on the long road to Lebanese-Palestinian reconciliation is to free ourselves of the fraud called the "conspiracy" to permanently settle the Palestinian refugees!

Fawwaz Traboulsi has taught at the Lebanese American University, Beirut-Lebanon. He has written on history, Arab politics, social movements and popular culture and translated works by Karl Marx, John Reed, Antonio Gramsci, Isaac Deutscher, John Berger, Etel Adnan, Sa`di Yusuf and Edward Said. His most recent book in English is A History of Modern Lebanon (Pluto Press, 2007). The translator, Assaf Kfoury, is Professor of Computer Science at Boston University.
My Iran Diary—Conclusion
Yoginder Sikand
Afzal, our driver, proves true to his word. We reach Mashhad five minutes before midnight, as he had promised, although I was not really convinced then. We have covered over a thousand kilometres in just eight hours, a journey that would have taken several days in India. Tomorrow being the birthday of the Imam Mahdi, the streets of the town are festooned with banners and ropes of multicolored lights. Many shops are still open.
I accompany Ali Hussain down a narrow alley, in a part of town which abounds in cheap hostels that are mostly used by pilgrims visiting the hallowed shrine of Imam Ali Reza, the eighth Shia Imam. The places we stop at are all full, and so we are forced to settle for an airless basement which is also used as a prayer room. Ali Hussain spreads his blanket on the cold floor, and despite the presence of an obese man, whose snore is more like a roar, whom we share the room with, we fall off to sleep almost immediately.
We are up early next morning, as Ali Hussain wants to offer his fajr prayers at the shrine of Imam Reza. Even at this early hour the town is abuzz with activity. The shrine is teeming with pilgrims, today being a special holy day. Ali Hussain says that we are bound to lose each other in the crowd, and so, from now, we must go our own ways. ' Inshallah', he says as he embraces me and plants a kiss on both my cheeks, 'We'll meet in Afghanistan sometime, if you come to my village'.
I scribble down his address. I would, of course, love to visit him sometime, if God permits, and, of course, provided the Americans are expelled, the Taliban put down and peace finally returns to that hapless land.
The shrine of Imam Reza is a sprawling complex, containing several vast squares, domed chambers, colonnaded corridors, museums, libraries and madrasas, and a grand edifice that houses the Imam's grave. It is, by all counts, one of the gems of Iranian architecture. Inside, I am pushed and shoved, and, in turn, I push and shove, too, till I barely manage to touch the grill that encircles the grave. I am not allowed to stand there for more than a couple of seconds, for behind me literally thousands of other people want to enjoy the same privilege.
I stroll around the shrine till mid-afternoon, mar

Daughter of the East returns home to add maximum US flavour to the comrador polity of this divided geopolitis
India and Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to a nearly four-year military truce
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
White House leaked classified info to FOX News, tipped off al Qaeda to secret surveillance, destroyed year-long spy effort
Published: October 9, 2007
http://www.americab log.com/2007/ 10/bush-staff- revealed- surveillance- of-al.html
Unbelievable. Seriously. Leaking national security info to Fox News and destroying a year-long surveillance of Al Qaeda should put someone from the Bush Administration in jail. We are in greater danger because of the continued incompetence of George Bush and his minions. From the Washington Post:A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified...
India and Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to a nearly four-year military truce on Thursday as they launched a new series of peace talks that are expected to achieve little due to domestic political pressures.Dismissing India's contention that ISI could be involved in recent blasts in its cities, Pakistan on Thursday said that such allegations could vitiate the atmosphere for the Composite Dialogue process.
''I will work for the betterment of the nation,'' Bhutto said while talking to media persons soon after she landed in Karachi.
Bhutto further added that her sole concern is to ensure victory to the people. “I want peace, progress and employment for the poorest of poor”, said Benazir. Her return marks the end of an eight year self-exile. Benazir promises to help restore democracy by fighting general elections due early next year.

Daughter of the East returns home to add maximum US flavour to the comrador polity of this
divided geopolitis.She successfully landed in Karachi and had not to face deportation like Nawaz Sharif. Well, she has been planted by the galaxy order to execute the strategy of War and civil war in Indian Ocean region as the War against terrorism is well escalated in this part of Asia after annihilating Man and Nature in middle east.Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned to her homeland after eight years of self-imposed exile Thursday, vowed to rid Pakistan of the military dictatorship and serve the people who are ''facing several threats''.Earlier, PML (N) leader Nawaz Sharif had arrived in Islamabad only to be bundled back to Saudi Arabia. He has announced that he would make a second attempt to return after November 15. Taking into consideration that there might be an assassination attempt by forces owing allegiance to al Qaeda and Taliban, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has ensured that multi-layered security arrangements are put in place at the airport. The Sindh province of which Karachi is the capital - seen as the stronghold of PPP- is completely geared-up to welcome its most famous daughter. Banners and hoardings in the PPP’s green, red and black colours are all over the place and people are waiting to welcome their ‘Mohatarma’.
Reportedly wearing a bulletproof jacket inside her green salwar kameez with a gown of the same colour and a white chador, the lifelong chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) thanked the people for coming to Karachi airport to welcome her.
''I am grateful to the people - my brothers and sisters - who have come to welcome me in a big numbers,'' said Bhutto.
''Today my country is facing several threats including insecurity, unemployment, terrorism and hunger. I have come back to give people food, clothing and shelter,'' she said while shouting a slogan 'Roti, Kapra aur Makan' - the same which her father and former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had raised during his election campaign in early 1970s.
Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan after a deal with the military regime led by President Pervez Musharraf, vowed to take the country back on the democracy track.
''I will get the country rid of military dictatorship. I haven't come to rule the country but to serve my people, to serve them with all my abilities,'' she said.
She said that during her stay in exile she studied Islamic literature. ''Now I feel that I am more close to the religion,'' said Bhutto, who faces threats from the extremist forces in Pakistan.

Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto landed in Karachi on Thursday after eight years of self-exile. Bhutto arrived in Karachi from Dubai and is accompanied by her sister, nephews, friends and supporters..A commercial flight carrying Bhutto from Dubai landed at about 1:45 pm local time (2:15 pm IST) at the Karachi International Airport. The 54-year-old leader is accompanied by her London-based younger sister Sanam, two nephews, several close friends and party workers apart from a large media contingent. Meanwhile,amid speculation that martial law will be declared if it rules against President Pervez Musharraf [Images], Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday said it attached "no value to such threats." The apex court said that it will give its judgment on legal challenges to the General's re-election within 12 days.Benazir Bhutto's second homecoming on Thursday in two decades had some of the trappings of her first return from exile in 1986 to successfully take on the dictatorship but challenges to the Muslim world's first woman premier this time are more daunting. Hoping for her political revival after being in self-imposed exile in London for eight years, the charistmatic 54-year-old leader of the Pakistan People's Party(PPP) is pinning her hopes to become the country's premier for the third time after getting a rousing welcome in her hometown of Karachi. Lakhs had greeted Bhutto when she returned from London in 1986.
Meanwhile,India and Pakistan pledged to maintain a ceasefire after resuming talks as part of their slow-moving peace process but reported no specific progress on issues under discussion.A joint statement said a meeting between mid-ranking diplomats here was "cordial and constructive," despite fresh accusations from India ahead of the talks of Pakistani support for terror groups.
"Consultations continued with the aim of strengthening the ongoing process of confidence building," the statement said. "The two sides reiterated their commitment to uphold the ceasefire."
The nuclear-armed neighbours have observed a ceasefire since November 2003 along the Line of Control, the de facto frontier dividing the region of Kashmir, the trigger of two of their three wars since 1947.The Indian foreign ministry said earlier the day-long meeting would focus on reducing tensions along maritime borders and the repatriation of people who inadvertently stray across land frontiers.
At present, fishermen, farmers or other people caught by Indian or Pakistani coast guards or border troops are usually suspected of being spies and can languish in prison in legal limbo even after serving sentences.
The statement did not say if any progress was made on these or any other issues.
The talks will be followed on Friday by discussions on nuclear safeguards, or ways of keeping their respective nuclear arsenals under control.On Monday, Indian and Pakistani officials will revisit efforts to put in place a regular joint anti-terrorism mechanism designed to share intelligence on militant activity.The latest round of talks came in the wake of renewed accusations from New Delhi that Islamabad continues to support terrorist attacks in India.
India's national security advisor M.K. Narayanan said Pakistan, already accused of backing Islamic rebels in insurgency-hit Indian Kashmir, was also trying to revive Sikh militancy in the northern state of Punjab.
The allegation came after a weekend bomb attack in a Punjab cinema killed six people and injured 32.Although no breakthroughs are expected in the latest round of talks, Indian foreign ministry officials said it was nevertheless "significant" that dialogue was continuing.
"The atmosphere between the two sides has improved. There are delegations crossing the borders. More people-to-people contacts are in place with improved bus and train links," a foreign ministry source told AFP.
"On October 1, we started a truck service to improve trade. Also significant is that despite all the political issues in Pakistan today no party there has questioned the dialogue process," he added.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran are close to finalising a gas purchase agreement for the $7.4 billion IPI pipeline during technical talks here, even as officials said India's decision not to take part in the talks did not mean it had pulled out of the trilateral project.
"These threats have no value for us. This is an issue to be decided in accordance with the law and according to the merits," Justice Iqbal, who heads the 11-member bench, said as he resumed hearing on the five petitions challenging Musharraf's candidature while in uniform for the October 6 presidential poll.
Justice Iqbal told the court that the bench will decide on the petitions within 10 to 12 days.Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had on Tuesday rejected the bench's recommendation that all 18 judges of the Supreme Court, including the CJ, should decide whether Musharraf was eligible to contest the poll without quitting the post of army chief.
Musharraf swept the presidential election, boycotted by the Opposition due to his decision to contest in uniform, but has not been sworn in for a new five-year term as the Supreme Court had directed that the poll result should not be formally notified till it decided on the petitions.
On the other hand,Exiled former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party is planning to delay his second return bid to Pakistan till after November 15, when a neutral caretaker government is expected to be in place to supervise next year's general election.Sharif, who was exiled after being ousted by General Pervez Musharraf [Images] in a bloodless coup in 1999, was deported back to Saudi Arabia within hours of landing in Islamabad on September 10 despite a Supreme Court ruling that he could return to the country.A final decision on Sharif's return will be taken at a meeting of the PML-N's central working committee to be held shortly in London [Images] after the former Prime Minister arrives there from Saudi Arabia, party officials were quoted as saying by The Dawn.
The officials said the decision to delay Sharif's return till after November 15 was made in the wake of his deportation when he made an abortive attempt to land in Islamabad.
Hailed as the "Daughter of the East" ever since she confronted military dictator Zia-ul-Haq in 1986 and became the country's premier two years later when she was just 35, Bhutto left Pakistan on her own before a court convicted her of corruption charges in April 1999 when Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister.
The conviction was later quashed and Bhutto's brush with law turned a full circle this month. As part of a possible power-sharing deal, Musharraf signed a corruption amnesty on October 5 covering other cases against Bhutto,paving the way for her return.
Born on June 21, 1953, into a wealthy landowning family in southern Pakistan, the mother of three children inherited the heavy political legacy of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who was hanged by Gen Zia in 1979.
The former president and prime minister sent his eldest daughter to study politics and government at Oxford and Harvard.
But his ouster in a 1977 military coup and execution over the death of a political rival put Benazir, just in her twenties, on a violent brush with the country's treacherous politics.

Some 20,000 airport security personnel, policemen and paramilitary personnel as well as bomb disposal squads have been deployed in Karachi to protect Bhutto, who return was facilitated following secret parleys with President Prevez Musharraf for a power-sharing arrangement.
Bhutto will be using at least two bullet-proof vehicles with 'radio jammer' technology similar to the one being used to protect President Pervez Musharraf [Images]. At least two bullet-proof or resistant vehicles will be used by Bhutto from Karachi's Jinnah terminal to her residence at Bilawal House, Pakistan People's Party sources said, adding they apparently have the ability to defuse explosives after detecting them.
Musharraf promulgated an ordinance early this month, which granted amnesty to Bhutto in corruption cases, paving the way for her return ahead of the general elections, but its legality has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
In the face of threats of suicide bombings by pro-Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, authorities in Karachi have thrown a massive security blanket over the airport and the route to be taken by 54-year-old Bhutto to Mazar-e-Quaid, the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Several thousand flag-waving supporters chanting 'Benazir welcome' gathered outside the airport. On the streets of Karachi, thousands of PPP workers, who have converged on the city in caravans coming from the country's four provinces, danced to frenzied drum beats and chanted slogans, waving the party's flag.
Through the night, her supporters drove through the roads of the city in trucks and buses decorated with lights and burst firecrackers. Banners and posters featuring pictures of Bhutto and her father, late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, hung from almost every lamppost and power pylon.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's [Images] second home coming after eight years of self-imposed exile has come amid a political crisis in Pakistan.
Following is a brief chronology of the major developments in Bhutto's political life:
April 4, 1979: Benazir Bhutto's father, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is executed by military dictator Zia-ul-Haq. Bhutto allowed to leave for England [Images] in 1984 after three-years of imprisonment.
April 1986: Bhutto arrives in Lahore [Images] from exile to a rapturous welcome by millions of supporters to lead the Pakistan People's Party against Zia-ul-Haq.
November 16, 1988: Zia-ul-Haq killed in an air crash. The PPP wins in the ensuing general elections
December 2, 1988: Bhutto sworn in as Pakistan's first woman prime minister.
August 1990: Bhutto dismissed by president Ghulam [Images] Ishaq Khan on charges of corruption and misrule. Her husband Asif Zardari arrested on kidnapping charges.
October 1990: PPP loses in the general elections and sits in Opposition for three years while Nawaz Sharif becomes prime minister.
October 1993: PPP returns to power and Bhutto is re-elected prime minister for a second term.
October 1996: President Farooq Ahmed Leghari sacks Bhutto on charges of corruption and abuse of power. Zardari arrested once again and imprisoned on a range of corruption and criminal charges.
April 1999: A Pakistani court convicts Bhutto and Zardari of receiving kickbacks worth millions of dollars for awarding a contract to two Swiss firms during her 1993-96 rule. The conviction is overturned two years later.
April 1999: Bhutto goes into self-imposed exile in London [Images] and Dubai, vowing to return to Pakistan and contest elections in 2002.
October 12, 1999: Army chief Musharraf overthrows prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a coup after Sharif tries to sack him.
July 2002: Musharraf issues a decree barring former premiers who have served two terms from serving a third, widely viewed as targeting Bhutto and Sharif.
October 10, 2002: Nationwide polls are held without Bhutto who is warned that she will be jailed if she returns. The PPP wins 80 of the 342 National Assembly seats.
July 2003: A Swiss court finds Bhutto and Zardari guilty of laundering US $12 million through Swiss bank accounts and hands them a six-month suspended jail term. The sentence is later overturned on appeal.
November 2004: Zardari is released from prison after serving eight years on corruption charges and reunites with Bhutto in exile.
January 2006: Interpol issues international notices following a request by Pakistan for the arrest of Bhutto and Zardari on corruption charges.
July 3-10, 2007: Pakistani troops besiege and storm the radical Red Mosque in Islamabad, killing at least 100 people.
July 13, 2007: Bhutto praises the operation, sparking outrage among hardliners. A suicide bomber later attacks her party headquarters, killing 15 people.
September 2007: Musharraf and Bhutto aides step up talks in London and Dubai over a power-sharing pact.
September 14, 2007: PPP announces that Bhutto will return on October 18.
October 4, 2007:Bhutto and Musharraf agree on a national reconciliation accord. Musharraf signs deal for an amnesty which clears Bhutto of graft charges.
October 6, 2007: Musharraf wins presidential election.
October 13: The government urges Bhutto to delay her return until a court rules whether the amnesty deal is legal.
October 17, 2007: At a press conference in Dubai, Bhutto confirms she will return as planned, saying "Pakistan's future is at stake."

India's policy flounders on Burma

Praful Bidwai

October 17, 2007
Nothing has exposed the grave failure of India's recent policy towards its immediate neighbourhood as thoroughly as New Delhi's support for Burma's military dictatorship -- just when the hated junta was confronted with the greatest pro-democracy upsurge since 1988.
Thanks to this support, backed by lethal arms supplies, India has become complicit in the ruthless repression of the popular movement, which killed up to 200 people and led to the detention of 6,000. The repression hasn't ended. Opposition leader Win Shwe reportedly died due to torture by the ruling State Peace and Development Council.
India has reluctantly, unconvincingly, revised its stand under international and domestic pressure, but this hasn't salvaged its credibility. Last week, India voted at the United Nations Human Rights Council for a resolution calling for the release of incarcerated National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and condemning the 'violent repression' of demonstrations, 'including thorough beatings, killings, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances.' The motion called for a 'reinvigorated national dialogue with all parties with a view to achieving genuine national reconciliation, democratisation and the... rule of law.'
India voted for the motion, but only after regretting that its text isn't 'fully in conformity' with its own 'forward-looking, non-condemnatory' approach. India's 'explanation of vote' said the resolution's tone won't contribute to 'engaging constructively' with the Burmese authorities. India's kid-glove approach to the junta sits ill with the latter's grave human rights violations, against which the world community is duty-bound to protect the Burmese people.
India wants the Burmese regime to conduct an investigation into the violence which saw soldiers raining bullets and tear-gas shells upon peaceful demonstrators. What this investigation will achieve is unclear. The violence was clearly state-ordered and -- executed.
Yet, India opposes economic sanctions or other tough measures against the Burmese regime. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New York: "We should instead try to engage [them] in negotiations... Sanctions... [can]... end in the suffering of innocent people." Blanket sanctions can be ineffectual. But 'engagement' has proved futile in Burma. This was again confirmed on September 23-24 when Petroleum Minister Murli Deora accepted an invitation to visit Burma to sign a $150 million gas deal -- just when state repression was peaking.
"This sent a terrible message," said Soe Myint, a Burmese pro-democracy activist exiled in India, and editor of the Mizzima news agency (www.mizzima.com). "The message was that democratic India wouldn't lift its little finger to restrain the Burmese regime. Instead, India would tail the generals as they butchered innocents. We were greatly disappointed."
Mukherjee has again given a clean chit to the junta. On October 7, in Guwahati, he pledged India's commitment to Burma-specific projects "in diverse fields such as roads, railways, telecommunications, information technology... and power" --- as part of the so-called 'Look East' policy, itself linked to 'a strategic shift' in India's world vision.
Ironically, he was only reading out excerpts from an earlier speech he made in Shillong in June! So much for the attention India pays to 'Look East!' Now, India is about to reward Burma with a $100 million transportation project (Kaladan), which will give it overland access to Sittve port.
India's ultra-conservative Burma position derives from four considerations: eagerness to enlist Burma's help in fighting insurgencies in the Northeast; interest in Burma's natural gas; anxiety to counter China's regional influence; and concern for 'stability' in the neighbourhood.
It's shameful that India's Burma policy should be determined by such narrow, parochial factors. This involves jettisoning universal principles and doctrines, including democracy and human rights, which India loudly stresses in the Western-sponsored Concert of Democracies. This speaks of double standards. 'Look East' also means turning a blind eye to dictatorship.
Yet, Burma isn't just another country. It is India's land bridge to Southeast Asia. Until 70 years ago, it was part of India, and bound to it through close cultural, economic and political ties. Without 'Burma Teak,' Asia's best-known hardwood, many of our historical buildings might never have been built. Burmese rice was as important in our kitchens as is Afghanistan's heeng.
Rangoon, now Yangon, was as Indian/subcontinental in ethnic composition and character as Bombay, Madras or Karachi. Many eminent Indians -- BG Verghese and Prakash Karat, to name two -- were born in Rangoon. Not long ago, we had a Burmese-origin First Lady (Usha Narayanan). India's South, East and Northeast all have major 'Burma connections.'
Like India, Burma is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious society. The two share a great modern legacy as well -- the Freedom Movement. Aung Sang, Suu Kyi's father, who led Burma's anti-colonial struggle, was inspired by Gandhi and Nehru. Suu Kyi studied here and regards India as her second home, with which she has a deep, abiding relationship.
The SPDC stands for the destruction of all these bonds. It represents the dominant ethnic group (Burman) and excludes 17 others. This predatory and super-corrupt regime has brutalised 50 million people with a huge 490,000-strong army. (This is like having an Indian army 10 times its present size!) It consumes a third of Burma's budget -- 10 times the allocation to education.
The military is selling Burma's magnificent resources cheap and perpetuating the poverty of three-fourths of its people. It routinely practises forced conscription, slave labour and torture. Its censorship is so drastic that anyone with an 'unauthorised' fax machine or computer is jailed for 7 to 15 years. The SPDC conducts extra-judicial executions, 'disappears' dissidents, and recruits child soldiers. It stands accused of arbitrary detention and violating freedoms of belief and religion, and of association and assembly. Regime-sponsored or tolerated drug smuggling and gun-running are Burma's biggest businesses.
India's Burma approach was spelt out in a crudely forthright manner by the new army chief, Gen Deepak Kapoor. He said the state violence is Burma's "internal affair", and "we should maintain" our "good relations" with its government. This policy statement is an intrusion into the executive's prerogative. Yet, it captures the essence of the government's 'realism'-driven stand, which hypocritically professes 'non-intervention' when that suits it, while practising the opposite when it can. In fact, serious rights violations anywhere are everybody's concern.
Ironically, India's policy has yielded none of the desired results. Burma has been ineffectual in preventing Northeastern insurgents from establishing camps on its soil. It has only restrained the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), with which it has a ceasefire agreement. It has taken token or desultory action against other groups. Burma has played China off against India, while milking both for assistance. India has walked into this trap.
India's famed 'interests' in Burmese gas have produced international embarrassment. Four Indian companies figure among the 'Dirty 20' implicated in terrible human rights violations and environmental destruction, detailed by EarthRights International and other groups.
However, India has received no gas or gas supply contracts from Burma. Just recently, Burma awarded two gas blocks off the Arakan coast to China. Originally, two Indian public-sector companies had a 30 percent stake in these. India does have other gas sources. Besides, Burma's gas delivery will crucially depend on transit through Bangladesh. Bangladesh isn't cooperating.
It's specious to argue that India should befriend Burma's regime to contain China. Those who demand that India must act as a countervailing force to China advocate a new Asian Cold War -- with disastrous consequences for India's long-term security. An arms race with China -- that too with a nuclear component -- will sharply raise India's already bloated military expenditure.
Finally, 'stability,' defined independently of legitimacy, is a recipe for freezing existing iniquities. India's long-term interests don't lie in a neighbourhood with 'stable' but tyrannical regimes.
India's major political parties, including the Congress, the Communists, and even the Bharatiya Janata Party, have demanded a change in its Burma policy. So have civil society groups. Particularly significant here are Northeastern groups whose ethnic identities cut across the Burma border.
Their pressure can bring Indian policy more in line with the position of the early 1990s, when India advocated a dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi, who had won the 1990 election with a thumping majority, and awarded to her the 1993 Nehru Prize for International Understanding. India made a strong political point -- without severing its relations with the Burmese government. But it soon shamefully reversed its stand.
There's a lesson in this: India can stand its ground if it wants to. In the 1960s, it did so on Vietnam despite its 'ship-to-mouth' dependence on the US for food. Later, India backed the African National Congress in the face of Western pressure. The ANC eventually triumphed.
India can and should follow a broad-horizon policy based on a universal international vision, which gives it many options in the neighbourhood too. Ironically, India's vision is shrinking just when its global profile has risen, opening up new opportunities to engage with the world. This isn't a sign of a confident rising power with an independent foreign policy.
Praful Bidwai
--
Together, We Can Change The World, One Mind At A Time!
Have a great day,
Tommy
David Podvin: Eternal Nightmare
Sunday, October 14 2007 @ 01:41 EDT
Contributed by: Caro
Views: 18
From MakeThemAccountable .com:
ETERNAL NIGHTMARE
By David Podvin
When Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez commanded the American troops in Iraq he passionately insisted that the United States was winning. Now that Sanchez has retired he describes our nation's occupation of Iraq as being "a nightmare with no end in sight." This statement not only reverses Sanchez' pronouncements made while in uniform, it also contradicts the optimistic congressional testimony of current commander General David Petraeus... who apparently really did betray us. Sanchez says it was his duty to obey orders and not dissent publicly when he was on active duty, but that in retirement he feels obliged to speak the truth. By acknowledging candor is incompatible with military service the former officer has mocked the Senate resolution that condemns questioning the integrity of warriors. According to the prevailing wisdom, Sanchez must be regarded as a traitor.
He is not alone. Everyone who tells the truth about the Iraq War is deemed to be a traitor, just as everyone who lies about the Iraq War is exalted as a patriot. Modern America is reality inverted, a fabulist's Wonderland that transcends the wildest imagination of Lewis Carroll. Once, the United States destroyed Vietnamese villages in order to save them. Now, we are winning a glorious victory in Iraq by getting our asses kicked. Surrealism is a wonderful artistic device, but it is even more effective as a governing tool. The American people have become so disoriented by ambient fantasy that they are subsidizing the war as they oppose it. Yet when the fairy tales are cast aside, it becomes clear that America is losing in Iraq and will continue to lose in Iraq because there is nothing to win in Iraq.
Except for oil.
MORE MORE MORE

The price of crude oil reached a new high on Friday, so the estimated Iraqi petroleum reserves are now worth eighteen trillion dollars. It should not be hard to believe that people will lie when so much money is at stake, especially when you consider that most people are willing to lie for free. But when the mammon is vast the lies become correspondingly enormous, with presidents and generals and senators and journalists all brazenly insisting that truth is fiction and vice versa.
It is not conspiracy.. . it is self-interest. In American politics those who lie on behalf of Big Business prosper, which explains why Democrats campaign by opposing the war but govern by supporting the war. Our system functions on the principle that you can fool most of the people most of the time, and that when you fool them to benefit the wealthy you share in the spoils…
--
"the republican party..supporting life right up until birth!" - Mark Binder

London: More than 130 Muslim scholars from around the globe on Thursday called for peace and understanding between Islam and Christianity, saying "the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake".

In an unprecedented letter to Pope Benedict and other Christian leaders, 138 Muslim scholars said finding common ground between the world's biggest faiths was not simply a matter for polite dialogue between religious leaders.

"If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace. With the terrible weaponry of the modern world; with Muslims and Christians intertwined everywhere as never before, no side can unilaterally win a conflict between more than half of the world's inhabitants," the scholars wrote.

"Our common future is at stake. The very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake," they wrote, adding that Islam and Christianity already agreed that love of God and neighbour were the two most important commandments of their faiths.

Relations between Muslims and Christians have been strained as al Qaeda has struck around the world and as the United States and other Western countries intervened in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Such a joint letter is unprecedented in Islam, which has no central authority that speaks on behalf of all worshippers. The list of signatories includes senior figures throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.

They represent Sunni, Shia and Sufi schools of Islam. Among them were the grand muftis of Egypt, Palestine, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Bosnia and Russia and many imams and scholars.

War-torn Iraq was represented by both Shias and Sunnis. Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti who prayed with Benedict in Istanbul's Blue Mosque last year, was also on the list, as was the popular Egyptian television preacher Amr Khaled.

'Mainstream Voices Drowned Out'

The letter was addressed to the Pope, leaders of Orthodox Christian churches, Anglican leader Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the heads of the world alliances of the Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist and Reformed churches.

Iran rejects Bush's 'World War III' warning
Putin justified his recent talks with the Iranian leadership in Tehran while Sri Lanka has voiced support for the Islamic country's right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashbiswaskl@gmail.com">palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
Iran rejects Bush's 'World War III' warning while Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his recent talks with the Iranian leadership in Tehran as an important contribution towards a peaceful resolution of the nuclear row with Iran during a televised question-and-answer session on Thursday.Iran rejected US President George W Bush's ''World War III'' warning as ''nothing more than a psychological war'', Tehran media reported on Thursday. Meanwhile,Opposing any new sanctions against Iran, Sri Lanka has voiced support for the Islamic country's right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Ruling comradors including the so called anti imperialist Communists failed to react as they are quite detached with the latest developments in this region, torn withsponsered War and Civil War.On the other hand,After five days of shuttle diplomacy, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, has returned home empty-handed today having failed to pin down participants, an agenda or even a firm date for a planned Middle East peace conference.

Bush had on Wednesday warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to a third world war because of the Islamic state's determination to destroy Israel.
''Direct dialogue leads to success faster than a policy of threats and sanctions,'' Putin said during a public event organized by state television in Moscow.
Iran was a ''very important partner'' of Russia in the energy sector, he said.
Putin also addressed secret service reports of a planned assassination attempt against him during the Tehran trip. ''That was nothing more than an attempt to halt the visit,'' he said.
Russian sources said the information about the assassination plot came from foreign secret services.Putin met the Iranian leadership in Tehran on Tuesday.
''This kind of remarks just reflects US anger over Iran's success in the international scenery and are nothing more than psychological war against Iran,'' the deputy head of the National Security Council, Rahman Fazli, told the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).
Fazli said that Iran's nuclear programmes were acknowledged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and even the five United Nations Security Council member states plus Germany have supported the agreement between Iran and the IAEA as the basis for settling the nuclear dispute.He added that the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran was another reason for US anger, claiming that the visit has weakened US status in the Middle East.
Bush on Wednesday had said Iran poses a threat to peace and referred to comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said Israel should be eliminated.
''We have got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel,'' Bush said. ''So I have told people that if you are interested in avoiding World War III it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.''
Bush's comments followed a visit to Tehran by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, where he met Ahmadinejad, pledged closer ties between the two countries and stated there was no evidence to support western accusations that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

With Tehran facing growing pressure from the US and its European allies over its controversial nuclear programmes, the Sri Lankan envoy to Iran Muhammad Zuhair backed Iran-IAEA negotiations and asserted that the UN atomic watchdog's conventions allow Iran to conduct nuclear researches.
The ambassador denounced "rumours" of a possible US attack against Iran and that Sri Lanka opposed the imposition of new sanctions against Tehran, the Asian Tribune reported.
The envoy's statement comes in the backdrop of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to Iran next week to discuss various issues including infrastructure support for the island country. During his visit from October 24, Rajapakse is expected to solicit Iran's support for two power projects and a credit line for oil supplies in the backdrop of rising international crude oil prices.
"It is learnt that the Sri Lankan president will in exchange for Iran's support provide an assurance that Sri Lanka will not support any move in the UN to impose any sanctions or other strictures on Iran over is nuclear programme," the newspaper said.
Noting that China is one of Myanmar's largest investor, a United States human rights watchdog has urged Beijing to use its influence to help end "state repression" in Myanmar.
"Chinese officials have publicly called for 'cooperation and dialogue' between the Myanmarese generals and their critics, but said nothing when these critics were arrested, disappeared or killed," regretted Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Richardson called for suspension of involvement by state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and Sinopec, both official Olympic partners, in proposed Myanmar-China oil and natural gas pipelines. He also wanted the state-owned firms, with business ties to Myanmar to publicly and fully disclose all payments made to the Myanmar military, directly or through the entities it controls.
"If China takes a strong stand on Myanmar now, it will be credited rather than criticized on 08-08-08," said Richardson. "Doing so isn't just right; it's also in China's self-interest."
HRW asked China to immediately place an embargo on all weapons transfers from Myanmar, suspend all military training, transport, assistance, and cooperation and support or abstain from vetoing UN Security Council resolutions calling for sanctions or other collective action to address the crisis.
HRW noted that 08/08/08 will not only be the opening date of the Beijing Olympics, but will also mark the 20th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy protests in Myanmar during which an estimated 3,000 people were killed.

http://www.ihr. org/news/ 040716_hollings. shtml
'Iraq was Invaded to Secure Israel,' says Senator Hollings, and 'Everybody Knows It.'
By Mark Weber
July 16, 2004
When a prominent American political figure speaks boldly about Jewish-Zionist power, that's news. So the recent remarks by South Carolina's senior Senator that Iraq was invaded "to secure Israel," and that "everybody" in Washington knows it, are indeed remarkable.
Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, a Democrat who has represented his state in the US Senate since 1966, is now serving his final term in Washington. That fact may also help explain why he's now willing to defy the pro-Israel lobby and speak candidly about its power.
It began with an essay about the Iraq war that appeared in the May 6 issue of the daily Post and Courier of Charleston.
"With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country?," he wrote. "The answer: President Bush's policy to secure Israel. Led by [Paul] Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and Charles Krauthammer, for years there had been a domino school of thought that the way to guarantee Israel's security is to spread democracy in the are