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Massive Kashmiri Rally in Indian Administered Kashmir

DrSivana — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:10:54 -0500

According to the BBC, hundreds of thousands of Muslims have taken part in a massive protest rally in Indian-controlled Kashmir's main city, Srinagar.

The rally ended with call for a three day hartal or strike, beginning Saturday, in the famed Vale of Kashmir, for 60 years a bone of contention between India and Pakistan. This is the fourth such protest in the Muslim-dominated valley in recent weeks.

The BBC says that anti-Indian sentiment has grown following a dispute over a land grant to the Amarnath Hindu shrine.

After violent protests by Muslims in the valley, the order was rescinded leading to equally violent protests in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region of the disputed territory, and a blockade of the Vale by the Hindus of Jammu.

Friday's protests come after three days of relative calm in the valley which allowed residents to stock up on supplies that had been interrupted by the Hindu blockade.

Throughout Friday morning, hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people on foot marched towards the Eidgah prayer ground in the old city area of Srinagar.

Schools, businesses and shops were shut across the region and a large number of troops were deployed in the city. Masses of people - including women - were lined up by the road-side cheering them on, says the BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar. In many places, the marchers were offered fruit juices and women could be seen praying for their success.

These recurring protests and violence (21 Kashmiris were killed last week) point strongly to the need of a lasting solution to the India-Pakistan dispute over the territory, through peaceful negotiations, that would be acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan.

Dzhugashvili would be ashamed of Saakashvili

DrSivana — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:34:50 -0500

Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, more commonly known as Joseph Stalin, or Uncle Joe as Churchill called him, must be turning in his grave at the recent turn of events in his native Georgia. The situation is full of ironies.

Stalin was born in the town of Gori, which for the past few days has been looted by Russian troops, Cossacks, Chechens as well as Ossetians. The man who started all this is none other than the president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who barely 10 days back bombarded the capital of South Ossetia in an attempt to bring the secessionist province of Georgia back to the fold.

The only problem was that Russian peacekeepers were present in Southern Ossetia and apparently they were there with the consent of the previous government of Georgia headed by Edward Shevardnadze. It appears that the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia do not want to be part of Georgia and the Russians had been encouraging them to secede by issuing them Russian passports, so that for all practical purposes the territories were not under the control of Tbilisi.

The president of Georgia, for reasons best known to him, decided to take the bull by the horns by launching his ill-fated attack against SouthOssetia. Had he anticipated the inevitability of Russia's ferocious response, he might have had second thoughts. Georgia’s perceived strength, that is its close ties to the United States, and the prospect of Georgia being accepted by NATO in the near future blinded him to the realities of geopolitics, which were far better understood by his fellow Georgian the late Dzhugashvili.

The United States is in no position to help Georgia through direct military intervention, though undoubtedly it will be refurbishing Georgia’s battered Armed Forces and providing its people with humanitarian relief and economic assistance, otherwise it is quite possible that the present regime will be overthrown.

Russia's robust response may be explained by a number of factors, including the Western powers decision to recognize Kosovo after it declared its independence and Georgia’s declared intention of joining NATO, Russia is disregarding the present ceasefire to which it had agreed under the auspices of the French President by letting its troops have free rein in Georgia.

According to latest reports, the Russian Army has been destroying bridges, scuttling Georgian warships, and blowing up the Georgian military installations.

The question arises, what could the United States have done to prevent the catastrophe that has befallen the people of Georgia? Firstly, President Bush ought to have read his protégé’s mind and realized that Saakashvili is headstrong (some of his critics call him hyper), and that he might do something really stupid, like inadvertently tangling with Russia.

Secondly, President Bush ought to have delayed the signing of the missile defense agreement with Poland at this time. The move has obviously incensed the Russians, who oppose it vigorously, and one can speculate that the continued Russian occupation of Georgia, in contravention of the ceasefire and troop withdrawal agreement they have signed the Georgia may be related to the missile defence deal with Poland.

Unable to provide immediate practical help of the beleaguered Georgians, President Bush has been quite vocal in warning the Russians that their aggressive policies in Georgia could have serious consequences for the state of relations with the United States. Perhaps Russia has calculated that at this stage, the United States needs Russia more than Russia needs the United States, particularly in the light of Iran’s perceived nuclear ambitions.

To sum up, Dzhugashvili (Stalin), although a Georgian, would not have sympathized with Saakashvili in the least, because his fellow Georgian belongs to the opposite end of the ideological spectrum and he does not understand the realities of power. Stalin, it will be recalled, was responsible more than any other man of transforming the Soviet Union into the Soviet empire. In short, Vladimir Putin has much more in common with Stalin than Saakashvili.

Russian Bear Wakes Up From Hibernation While President Bush Issues Warning

DrSivana — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:40:31 -0500

After three days of fighting with Georgia, it has become clear that after hibernating for many years, Russia is back in business as a great power to be reckoned with, respected and feared by its neighbors.

It may be recalled that after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the successor state, the Russian Federation, was beset with intractable political, economic and financial problems which reduced its power to the lowest ebb since the early days of the Bolshevik Revolution. The war in Chechnya sapped its strength and exposed the weakness of its military.

But with the installation of the pro-Russian government in Grozny under Ramzan Kadyrov, the Russian military was able to extract itself and rebuild its strength. With the unprecedented increases in the price of oil during the last couple of years and the heavy dependence of Western Europe on Russian energy, the country is in a strong position to reassert itself as the dominant regional power, especially in relation to most if not all of the former Soviet republics. Recently the Russians even planted their flag on the seabed of the North Pole to stake their claim.

In any event, Mr Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia, became too impatient to reunite his country by forcibly reincorporating South Ossetia and Abkhazia. He overplayed his hand a few days back when he launched an assault on the South Ossetia capital. This gave golden opportunity to Russia to intervene militarily. In recent years, Russia has been distributing its passports to the residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, enabling it to claim that it was Russia's prerogative to protect its nationals from attack.

Besides, Russia was quite annoyed with Georgia's president, who aspired to lead his country to NATO membership. To this end, Georgia had dispatched troops to help the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The present situation is that Russian troops have entered the Georgia proper from South Ossetia as well and as from Abkhazia.

Georgia has lost all hopes of regaining its former territories. The United States and other Western powers have thus far watched helplessly as Russia proceeds to teach their protege and would-be NATO ally a most painful and possibly crippling lesson in geopolitics. Georgia's leader should have understood that while it was possible for some of the eastern European states to become NATO members, such a luxury could not be availed of by a country located in the Caucasus. The geography was as just not right.

While this was being written, President George Bush appeared in the Rose Garden of the White House, and declared that he was deeply concerned at the situation in Georgia. He said Russia's actions, which appeared to be aimed at overthrowing the democratically elected government of Georgia, were unacceptable in the 21st century. He warned that if Russia did not adhere to its earlier proposal of a ceasefire and a return to the status quo of 6th August, when the conflict started, then its relations with the United States and the European Union would be seriously affected.

American Hospitals Deporting Sick Immigrants to Eternity

DrSivana — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 07:49:56 -0500

According to a New York Times story by Deborah Sontag datelined August 3, eight years ago, Mr. Jiménez, 35, an illegal immigrant working as a gardener in Stuart, Florida, suffered devastating injuries in a car crash with a drunken local. Martin Memorial community hospital saved his life, twice. After failing to find a rehabilitation center willing to accept an uninsured patient, it kept him as a ward for years at a cost of $1.5 million. So far so good. Thank you, Martin Memorial.

What happened next is quite shocking. After winning a state court order that would later be declared invalid, Martin Memorial leased an air ambulance for $30,000 and "forcibly returned" Mr Jiminez to his home country Guatemala.

He was reportedly hoisted in his wheelchair up a steep slope to his remote home, coping with a severe traumatic brain injury in the absence of medical care or medicines - just Alka Seltzer and prayer, his 72-year-old mother said. Over the last year, his condition has deteriorated with frequent violent seizures, convulsions, vomiting of blood and unconsciousness.

The New York Times reports that many American hospitals are deporting seriously injured or ill immigrants because they cannot find nursing homes willing to admit them without insurance. Medicaid does not cover long-term care for illegal immigrants, or for newly arrived legal immigrants, creating a serious problem for hospitals, which are obligated by federal regulation to arrange post-hospital care for patients who need it.

American immigration authorities are not involved in these private repatriations. Most hospitals say that they do not conduct cross-border transfers until patients are medically stable and that they arrange to deliver them into a physician's care in their homeland. But the hospitals are doing what they please, without governmental control, leaving ample room for legal and ethical transgressions on both sides of the border.

These heartless repatriations are carried out by ambulances taking patients in the wrong direction, away from first-world hospitals to less-adequate care, if any.

"Repatriation is pretty much a death sentence in some of these cases," said Dr. Steven Larson, an expert on migrant health and an emergency room physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "I've seen patients bundled onto the plane and out of the country, and once that person is out of sight, he's out of mind."

In fact, for the poor patient, it is often a journey to eternity.

K-2 the Killer Mountain Strikes Again

DrSivana — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 05:24:11 -0500

Mt. Everest is the world's highest mountain by over 200 meters but K-2 at 8611 meters is the one that strikes terror in the heart of the bravest climber. The ratio of deaths per attempt is far higher than for Everest.

According to a Reuters news report carried the DAWN datelined 2nd August, five foreign mountaineers are missing after being struck by an avalanche during their descent from the world's second highest peak, K-2, in Pakistan, an expedition operator said on Saturday. According to latest reports in the New York Times and the BBC nine climbers are feared dead.

The mountain climbers - which included two Koreans, two Norwegians and a Frenchman - were returning from the summit on Friday when the accident took place at an altitude of about 8,000 metres or 26,000 feet. One could only hope and pray for their safe descent because rescue helicopters cannot land or take off higher than 21,000 ft.

"Earlier we had reports of seven missing (climbers) but one Italian and one Korean (team members) returned to a rescue centre. There is no contact with the rest of them," Brig (retd) Mohammad Akram, vice-president of Pakistan's Adventure Foundation, said.

Last month an Italian climber was killed on the Nanga Parbat, one of the world's deadliest mountains, also in Pakistan. Two of his companions were rescued by Pakistani soldiers.

On several occasions, particularly in 1939 and 1953, K-2 decimated two American expeditions. The mountain was climbed in 1954 for the first time by an Italian expedition in a fitting tribute to the pioneering expedition of the Duke of Abruzzi in 1909.

In another expedition to K-2, the accomplished mountaineer Diemberger, who was the last companion of the legendary Herman Buhl, almost lost his life in 1986 during the descent from the summit, but his companion the beautiful swordswoman Julie Tullis died, along with others, in a shattering finale.

Mountaineers explain that K-2 is deadlier than Everest because it has steeper slopes and because there is hardly any place to pitch a tent along the mountain's sheer inclines. It becomes even more lethal if the monsoons manage to sneak past the Himalayan barrier into the Karakorams. That happens when there is an Arabian Sea monsoon in addition to the normal Southeast Asia monsoon.

Reportedly, the avalanche carried away the fixed ropes at the Bottleneck just below the summit, so climbers above the bottleneck are trapped in the so-called death zone, where climbers get pulmonary or cerebral oedema if they do not descend quickly.

Pakistan Must Get Its Act Together to Thwart Disinformation

DrSivana — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:03:49 -0500

According to a New York Times story dated August 1, American spy agencies have concluded that members of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) helped plan the deadly July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy.

The conclusion is said to be based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack.

The American officials have also claimed that members of the Pakistani intelligence service were providing militants with details about the American campaign against them, in some cases allowing militants to avoid American missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas.

According to the NYT, concerns about the role played by Pakistani intelligence not only have strained relations between the United States and Pakistan, a longtime ally, but also has fanned tensions between Pakistan and its archrival, India. Within days of the bombings, Indian officials accused the ISI of helping to orchestrate the attack in Kabul, which killed 54, including an Indian defense attaché and a counsellor.

Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman has rejected as false the latest claims made in the NYT story. One finds it hard to believe that the ISI would take such an irresponsible step that could go against the country's vital interests and drag the agency to disrepute. Besides, Pakistan has embassies all over the world, including Kabul, which are equally vulnerable to attack.

In sixty years, neither India nor Pakistan have deemed it appropriate to cross the red line by sanctioning a physical attack on each other's embassies. The same American officials who now blame Pakistan have probably forgotten that in September 1995, when the forebears of the present regime held office in Kabul, Pakistan's embassy was stormed by a mob and Pakistan's ambassador was injured and some officials killed.

The logical explanation for the Indian embassy attack is that the anti-Afghan Government militants know that India is supporting the Northern Alliance- dominated government of President Karzai, and they want to scare Indians away. Pakistan may be unhappy about the number of Indian consulates along its western borders, but not to the extent of derailing the movement towards normalization of relations between the two countries.

Having said this, it is imperative for the ISI to remove the perception that rogue operators are infesting the agency and cooperating with Taliban militants by leaking intelligence to them. All the agencies of the Pakistan government have to act in unison in defense of national interest. ISI cannot afford to give the impression of wanting to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds at the same time. In light of the latest accusations, General Kayani as Army Chief and DG ISI have to make doubly sure that the agency operates strictly under the chain of command in carrying out its mandate.

Ungrateful Aussie Damns Delicious Termites With Faint Praise

DrSivana — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:11:28 -0500

Theo Rosmulder, 52, is a former pest-control officer turned gold prospector who stupidly got separated from his group in Australia's Outback, while engrossed in looking for the noble metal. As expected, he almost perished from thirst and hunger but then lady luck smiled on him.

According to the BBC, he found a treasure trove of living, delectable, life-sustaining termites, creatures that in his previous incarnation he had exterminated without mercy for a living. In all, he managed to survive for four days by feasting on them as well as other insects before local Aborigines rescued him.

"Termites don't taste too bad," he told reporters in the mining town of Laverton in Western Australia.

Frankly, Rossmulder ought to be ashamed of himself for calling these unpolluted, pesticide free desert insects, which are highly prized by aadvarks and other gourmet anteaters, as "not bad".

Which reminds me that red ant or fire ant eggs are considered n even greater delicacy. If you have the courage to raid a red ant's nest and steal their eggs, and if you survive their fiery alkaloid bites, then those in the know will assure you that you are in for a treat in no way inferior to the best Caspian Sea caviar. For best results, eat them with lemon, onions and soya sauce on toast. The eggs exude a distinctly buttery flavor, so I have been assured, and have certain other uses and benefits that I am not at liberty to divulge, for fear that the species may become endangered as a result.

Defective ISI decision highlights need for return to basics

DrSivana — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:02:30 -0500

The Pakistan People's Party government has been belabored sufficiently for its breathtakingly defective decision to place the ISI under the Ministry of Interior, which it had to revoke hastily. Now it would be more constructive to consider timely measures to return to basics in administration. This is what the democratic government needs to do if it is serious about tackling the real problems of the country.

People have suggested that the Americans were responsible for forcing the government to take this misstep of trying to place the ISI under Interior. One finds this hard to believe. The Americans are not that naïve.

A more probable explanation is someone else really goofed up. Perhaps, the concerned bureaucrats were either afraid to advise the government, or they were not consulted. What is difficult to comprehend is how ministers in government could have been oblivious to the existing power realities, in particular the key role of the ISI and its subordinate relationship to the Chief of Army Staff. The ISI may have a large measure of operational autonomy but its head, a 3-star general, comes directly under the army chief.

Recently the country passed a milestone of sorts without anybody noticing. One of the last public servants to have joined the Foreign Service under Ayub Khan, foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan was forced to leave his post because he dared to advise the government on the correct course of action on a foreign policy issue. One is also saddened by news reports that our permanent representative to the UN in New York ambassador Munir Akram may be leaving government service. What the embattled government needs is public servants of their courage and caliber.

The rise of the Taliban may be the most talked about issue, at least overseas, but for the population at large the scarcity of wheat flour, and the rising prices of edible oil, sugar, lentils and petroleum products, and the load-shedding of electricity in hot weather, are more pressing concerns that could derail the government.

Failure to address these problems on a war footing is already eroding the government's credibility. And without honest, upright administrators who enjoy reasonably secure tenure to advise the government and help it carry out its mandate it will be never be possible to solve these problems.

Let logic and reason prevail in the US Presidential campaign

DrSivana — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:31:24 -0500

The war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues to claim hundreds of lives every month. The global economy remains under severe stress. Climate change represents a potentially devastating threat to Planet Earth. So, Senators Obama and McCain have a number of issues on which they can differ robustly without resorting to mudslinging and denigration.

The latest example of absurd criticism and childish attacks is the targeting of Senator Obama's recent tour of Europe and the Middle East. Although the tour won rave reviews in France and Germany, an effort is being made to project Mr Obama's success in helping to curb anti-America sentiments in Europe as a defeat.

Mr Obama is supposed to have sinned by crossing the ocean to meet world leaders and receiving the accolades of admiring crowds, at a time when the US was facing the threat of recession and inflation. Even more unfair was to project Senator Obama's cancellation of a visit to a veteran's hospital overseas in response to objections by the military as an unpatriotic act.

Another sterile issue is who said what about the Iraq war in its different phases, and when. Such argumentation cannot prove who would make a better president.

The candidates should focus on the real issues of the war on terror, and avoid quick, easy fixes. On his part, Mr Obama appears to have accepted a little too blithely the views he imbibed during his recent Afghanistan visit. In his recent post-tour interviews, for example at the Q & A Session with the Media with Color or a similar name which was covered live by CNN on July 27, Mr Obama gives the impression that if Pakistan cracked down with full force against the militants along the border, the problems in Afghanistan would be greatly eased if not solved.

The problem is far more complex than what is being suggested by Senator Obama. What about the extremely unpleasant consequences of starting something that Pakistan may not be able to finish? As it is, Pakistan's new democratic set-up is already beset with grave and apparently insoluble economic problems and also faces a potential constitutional deadlock over the judges issue.

In conclusion, it would serve the interests of the two presidential candidates if they define the real issues of the campaign and suggest appropriate solutions and remedies, rather than to blame each other or launch personal attacks. The impression one gets is that in spite of everything, they have not gone for each other's jugular, at least not yet, so that is a plus.

Israeli Article Justifying Iran Attack Infuriates NYT Readers

DrSivana — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:33:26 -0500

In a New York Times Op Ed article dated July 18, and titled "Using Bombs to Stave Off War", Prof. Benny Morris of Ben-Gurion University warns that Israel "will almost surely attack Iran's nuclear sites in the next four to seven months ...and if the attack fails, the Middle East will almost certainly face a nuclear war - either through a subsequent pre-emptive Israeli nuclear strike or a nuclear exchange shortly after Iran gets the bomb."

The article has aroused the fury of New York Times readers, many of whom have called Prof Morris insane for proposing a doomsday solution to resolve the impasse created by Iran's declared intention to enrich uranium for use as fuel to generate electricity. One of the readers speculated that this was a trial balloon to gauge US public opinion. If this is so, Israeli leaders should draw the sensible conclusion that the world does not favor a nuclear or conventional Armageddon in the MIddle East or anywhere else for that matter.

One can also hope that the professor does not reflect official Israeli thinking, otherwise the world will be in for horrors on the scale of World War II, with millions of casualties and shattered lives and economies all over the region.

It is not too late to arrive at a peaceful solution, if necessary a partial solution, that would safeguard Iran's right to have access to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and at the same time meet the goal of preventing nuclear proliferation.

The New Yorker's Obama Cartoon: Legal, Moral and Political Issues

DrSivana — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:30:14 -0500

The New Yorker cover cartoon portraying the Democratic presidential candidate Mr Barack Obama as a Muslim and his wife as an Afro terrorist raises legal, moral and political issues. From a legal point of view, the cartoon is more or less immune from challenge in the US courts on account of the protection provided by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. The question to be decided, however, is whether the New Yorker acted responsibly, as expected of a magazine of its stature.

Had such a cartoon been published in another country, for example Canada, it would have been possible to file a case against the offending magazine on grounds of defamation, or that it tended to foment racial hatred against the black community and the Muslims.

Theoretically, it might have been possible for Barack Obama to file a case of defamation on the grounds that by projecting him falsely as a Muslim, the cartoon could hurt his chances in the US presidential elections due in November. Of course, Obama is too savvy to take recourse to this legal remedy; in fact he has reacted coolly and rationally, as becoming a presidential candidate. He told CNN's Larry King, "You know, there are wonderful Muslim Americans all across the country who are doing wonderful things. And for this to be used as sort of an insult, or to raise suspicions about me, I think is unfortunate."

The ill-fated New Yorker cover cartoon has apparently fallen victim to the law of unintended consequences. While trying to convey that the far right was carrying out vicious attacks against the Democratic presidential candidate, the cover inadvertently or otherwise inflicted collateral damage on the Muslim community of the United States, which has been under stress since 9/11.

Also, while the cover may be protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, it goes against International Law because it violates the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), to which the United States is a party. This is particularly so as the cartoon portrays Mrs 0bama as an Afro terrorist. In fact, religion and race intersect in the cartoon so taken as a whole it may be said to violate the human rights of African-Americans and the Muslim community, although that may not have been the intention of the publisher.

In addressing this question, another point needs to be made. While trying a case in court in which bodily or psychological harm has been inflicted, it is not permissible to re-enact the crime against the victim for purposes of illustration. Unfortunately, in trying to show that Mr Barack Obama had been maligned, the cartoon re-enacted the wrong a little too vividly, though the publishers and editors have claimed that it was merely a satire.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's twins trump Osama bin Laden

DrSivana — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:26:35 -0500

Increasingly, news is becoming a red hot commodity. The first newsman to report Osama bin Laden's hideout could earn tens of millions of greenbacks from the media, not to mention the bounties.

But stories about wars, pestilence and their purveyors do not have the monopoly of the highest rewards. Celebrity stories too grab their share of the riches, as in the case of the recent birth of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's twins.

According to an AP Story datelined July 15, reported by Colleen Barry in the Globe and Mail, members of the world's entertainment media tripped up as they scrambled to be first to report the biggest celebrity story of the year - the birth of the famous couple's twins.

In the end, a provincial French newspaper Nice-Matin with a good record of handling celebrities landed the scoop.

"It was Brad Pitt who chose to give the scoop to Nice-Matin," assistant editor-in-chief Olivier Biscaye said. "He said to the doctor that the local media should be the first informed about the birth."

Reportedly, an unnamed U.S. publication has paid $11-million for exclusive rights to the first photo of the newly expanded Jolie-Pitt family, and the proceeds will go to charity.

The New Yorker Goes Bonkers With Obama Cartoon

DrSivana — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:29:54 -0500

The New Yorker magazine, long regarded as the considered, rational voice of the most sophisticated circles of New York City, has published a shocking cartoon cover in its July 21 issue depicting Mr Barack Obama in traditional Muslim garb and his wife as an Afro terrorist. The two are shown bumping their fists together.

The magazine claims the cartoon is meant as a satirical comment about some of the distorted right-wing attacks on the Democratic senator. While this may be true, the effect could be quite the opposite. Senator Obama's campaign spokespersons have called the cartoon "tasteless and offensive".

This is probably one of the most embarrassing gaffes that the magazine has committed in its long history. The editor must be faulted for lapse of judgement of titanic proportions, and only a plea of temporary insanity can get the magazine off the hook.

Greatest Animal Fight Ever Witnessed in Nature

DrSivana — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:59:25 -0500

The Romans had a great civilization, but their concept of sport and entertainment was bloodthirsty and extremely callous by modern standards. They made men fight with other men to the death as gladiators; they also sometimes arranged interspecies fights on a large scale between men and animals as well as between different animals as a sanguinary spectacle.

In this day and age, we have remnants of ancient practices that are considered legal, for example in professional boxing, bullfighting and Afghan polo known as Buzkashi, where ferocious cavalrymen fight over the carcass of a calf. Unfortunately, illegal practices such as dog fighting, bearbaiting, and cockfighting still flourish in different parts of the world.

The modern ethic frowns upon cruel practices that are organized by man. But same ethic does not permit tourists and photographers to intervene if they witness an attack by a predator against another wild animal.

About a year back a group of tourists at Kruger National Park witnessed and filmed a most remarkable animal fight, a tripartite war on land and water between buffaloes, lions and for a brief period crocodiles.

The photographer of this remarkable video is an amateur who used his video camera on rare occasions. The world is fortunate that he was able to capture a spectacle that far more accomplished professional wildlife photographers would have risked everything to match. Millions of people have seen and enjoyed this video footage from start to finish.

Enough Sabre Rattling in the Middle East, Please

DrSivana — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:38:45 -0500

In the latest of the tit for tat statements and actions that have characterized the Middle East in recent weeks, the BBC reports that Mr Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister has warned that his country would be ready to act against Iran if it felt threatened. Speaking in Tel Aviv on July 10, Mr Barak said Israel had proved in the past that it wouldn't hesitate to act when its vital security interests were at stake.

He spoke against a background of Iran's recent tests of the 2,000 km range Shahab-3 missile that could reach targets in Israel. The tests were carried out at this time probably because Iran fears that the United States and Israel may launch a series of preemptive attacks against it in order to derail Iran's fledgling nuclear program.

Mr Barak qualified the threat by adding that diplomatic solutions should be pursued before other options were taken up.

"Currently the focus is international sanctions and vigorous diplomatic activity, and these avenues should be exhausted," he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that the US had increased its security in the region and Iran should not be "confused" about US capabilities.

Israel has responded to the missile tests by putting on display the Eitam aircraft that has sophisticated intelligence-gathering systems to spy on Iran. In recent weeks both Israel and Iran have been testing and displaying their military hardware, each asserting its ability to defend itself.

It will be recalled that the Israeli air force recently carried out a large-scale exercise over the Mediterranean - regarded by many observers as a dress rehearsal for an attack against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Mr Barak spoke of the "potential for accords, particularly with the Palestinians and the Syrians", but stressed that the situation was very complex. He said that Israel "must work towards an accord - but if not, then we must strike our enemy when it is required."

"The responses of our adversaries must be taken into account. Hamas and Hezbollah and the Syrians and the Iranians - there is activity all around us. And there exists a potential for confrontation."

The USA and Israel are convinced that Iran's uranium enrichment program constitutes an existential threat to Israel. They reject Iranian claims that its nuclear program is purely for power generation.

Western leaders have been trying to convince Iran to stop enriching uranium, which it has continued doing despite sanctions from the UN and the European Union.

The bottom line is that the threat of a dangerous conflict in the Middle East is higher than ever before, unless a way is found to reconcile Iranian national aspirations with US-Israeli security concerns.

Indians debate sending troops to Afghanistan

DrSivana — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:34:54 -0500

According to the New York Times of July 9, the suicide car explosion that killed more that 40 people outside the Indian embassy in Kabul, including two important members of the mission, has sparked a debate whether India needs to dispatch troops to Afghanistan protect its people and investments.

Post 9/11, India has spent more than $750 million building a strategic road across Afghanistan's southwest, training teachers and civil servants, and supporting the project to erect the national Parliament building.

During this process the 4,000 Indian citizens working in Afghanistan have become increasingly vulnerable. The Taliban militants are aware of India's cozy relations with the Northern Alliance-dominated government in Kabul.

Pakistan suspects that India's five consular missions in Afghanistan are being used against its interests, while the Indian air base in Tajikistan just north of Afghanistan could also threaten its security. The presence of Indian troops in Afghanistan would ring alarm bells in Islamabad.

The embassy attack appears to be a strong signal to lay off Afghanistan. Militants and extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan have become bolder by the day. Across the border in Islamabad, a few days earlier a suicide bomber killed 10 policemen providing security to a Lal Masjid congregation. The day after the embassy blast in Kabul a large number of mysterious explosions rocked Karachi.

Some Indian policy makers may be gung ho for a strong presence in Afghanistan, but others remember India's ill-fated military intervention in Sri Lanka. Military involvement in Afghanistan may lead to open-ended embroilment.

Traditionally, Indians believe that Pakistan's ISI is behind every blast in India, and Pakistanis likewise suspect India's RAW for fomenting violence against Pakistan.

While these strongly held sentiments die hard, many reasonable, moderate people on both sides of the India- Pakistan border believe that the two countries ought to speedily resolve their disputes peacefully in a spirit of mutual accommodation, and focus their energies on tackling their economic, social and environmental problems.

World leaders at G-8 Summit devour eight-course feast while billions are famished

DrSivana — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:24:08 -0500

World leaders partake a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner with five wines and champagne at the G8 summit where the global food crisis tops the agenda.

According to Robert Winnet of the Telegraph, the leaders were served 24 different dishes during the first day at the G-8 summit - just hours after the British Prime Minister Brown urged the world to reduce the "unnecessary demand" for food and called on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food.

Mr Brown and his wife Sarah were among 15 guests at the "blessings of the earth and the sea social dinner".

The sumptuous dinner consisted of 18 dishes in eight courses including caviar, smoked salmon, Kyoto beef and a "G8 fantasy dessert". Bon Appetit!

Afghanistan’s descent into a Hobbesian hell

DrSivana — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:26:12 -0500

According to Anthony Loyd's article in The Times today, Afghanistan's descent into a Hobbesian hell began 30 years ago when President Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan was overthrown in a bloody Marxist coup. Perhaps a more authentic date was 1973, when Sardar Daoud overthrew his cousin King Zahir Shah in a bloodless coup, disturbing a rough consensus that had existed since the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani in the latter half of the 18th century.

The communist coup d'état was followed by Soviet military intervention in 1979, which triggered a war of national liberation and the humiliating withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan; this in turn contributed indirectly to the unravelling of the Soviet empire. Unfortunately, the unprecedented victory of the mujahedin was dissipated in an orgy of bloodletting and civil war, which led ultimately to the rise of the Taliban, their disastrous partnership with Al Qaeda, the attack of 9/11, and the presence of NATO forces in Afghanistan today.

The Times article focuses on the recent poignant discovery of the common grave of Sardar Daoud and his butchered family members and entourage by former Major Pacha Mir, who was in charge of the late Afghan President's burial detail 30 years ago.

Don’t bomb an Afghan Wedding Party!

DrSivana — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:36:06 -0500

One of surest ways of not winning the war against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan is to keep bombing Afghan wedding parties or their caravans.

According to Rahim Faiez's AP report in the Charleston Daily Mail of July 6th, Afghanistan's President Karzai has ordered an investigation into allegations that missiles from U.S. helicopters struck civilians two days earlier, though the Ministry of Defense said Sunday that the attack killed or wounded 20 militants.

Karzai has repeatedly called for better coordination between Afghan and foreign troops in pursuing militants through populated areas, and he has pleaded for international troops to cut down on civilian casualties. Deaths of ordinary Afghans caused a huge outcry in summer of 2007, but there have been fewer accusations of such killings in recent months.

Karzai's statement quoted allegations from Gov. Tamin Nuristani, the governor of Nuristan province, as saying that 15 civilians were killed and seven wounded.

The U.S.-led coalition insists those killed were militants who had previously attacked a NATO base with mortars. Despite Nuristani's claims, a coalition statement said there are "no official reports of non-combatant injuries or casualties.''

Meanwhile, the chief government official in the Deh Bala district of Nangarhar province said villagers reported that between 30 and 35 people walking in a group toward a wedding were killed in a bombing early Sunday. Up to 10 others were wounded, he said.

Haji Amishah Gul said the group was hit while resting in the shadow of a mountain. Those killed included men, women and children, he said.

One can imagine that young surviving male relatives who have lost their loved ones in such attacks are likely to make every effort to avenge their losses. That is why it is incumbent on the NATO forces in Afghanistan to exercise as much care in fighting the insurgency in Afghanistan as they would if they were fighting in their own countries.

http://dailymail.com/News/200807060057

Fisherman’s mortal combat with Bengal Tiger

DrSivana — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:01:01 -0500

According to a BBC report of July 4, West Bengal crab fisherman fisherman Fatik Halder has survived a tiger attack in the Sunderbans mangrove forest. The forest straddles India and Bangladesh and is home to the largest concentration of tigers in the world.

The wrestling match between man and beast lasted nearly 20 minutes, during which the tiger bit and clawed Halder repeatedly. As Mr Halder fought the tiger he remembered that his father, Gour, had been killed in a similar attack 20 years ago.

"Around 10 o'clock in the morning, when I jumped into the water in Benifeli forest and threw in the [fishing] net, I suddenly felt a searing pain," he told the BBC.

The tiger bit his shoulder and tried to wrestle him to the river bed with its paws, but the water and mud made it difficult for it to keep its footing and it finally gave up. Perhaps the water repeatedly got into the tiger's nostrils and made it choke.

Bleeding and traumatised, the injured fisherman then had to survive another ordeal - the 10-hour journey to Calcutta for medical treatment.

The Sunderbans reserve has several hundred tigers whose natural prey has been diminishing owing to the activities of wood cutters, honey gatherers and fishermen. Man's growing intrusions into the tiger's domain has forced many to turn to human prey.

Fatik's fishing days are probably over and he plans to look for some other job that will not force him to cross paths with the king of the jungle.