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Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for readers to comment on ATol articles or related issues. It should not be used as a forum for readers to debate with each other. The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct debaters away from the Letters page.

December 2008

The two main parties vying for control of parliament in the elections held in Bangladesh on December 29, 2008, were the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League. Early returns showed an unexpectedly huge margin of victory for the Awami League. To grasp the measure and meaning of this result one has to consider that BNP's primary ally in the elections was the Jamaat-e-Islami Party of Bangladesh, an organization whose stated mission is to establish Islamic Sharia law. Jamaat-e-Islami's sister party in Pakistan, also called Jamaat-e-Islami has ties to Lashakar-e-Taiba, the Islamic organization with alleged links to the terrorist events in Mumbai. These events in November 2008 have raised the specter of yet another war between India and Pakistan and generated unprecedented geopolitical tensions in South Asia. The Bangladesh elections follows in the heels of these events and the results are best understood in this context. The crushing defeat of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami alliance is a clear rejection of Islamic extremism by the Bangladeshis.
Cha-am Jamal
Thailand (Dec 30,'08)

[Re South Asia descends into terror's vortex, Dec 24] It is quite evident that Pakistan had nothing to gain by attacking Mumbai except complicating the already delicate situation that it faces on its western front, where it is forced to pursue an unpopular war due to US pressure brought on a compliant government put into place courtesy of the US. I feel quite sure that India, emboldened by a weak government in Pakistan and strong US support, has developed a devious plan to justify a potential attack on Pakistan. The plan, cleverly crafted by Indian intelligence with the help of right-wing extremists, was a dastardly act of terror imposed on the people of Mumbai. Strange and unusual as this seems, similar acts planned by the same coterie of players consist of the attack on the Samjotha Express, the demolition of Babri Mosque, the attack on Muslims in Gujrat, the attack on the Indian parliament, and the 1971 hijacking of an Indian airlines plane to justify curtailment of PIA flights over India to East Pakistan. It is quite clear India has abandoned its rapprochement policy with Pakistan and moved away from the regional approach to resolving problems such as the Iran-Pakistan pipeline, mainly due to pressure from the US and Israel, and a lucrative nuclear deal provided by the US to move it to a major global power status. India seems to be pressurizing Pakistan into cracking down on the mullahs so the ensuing civil war could lead to justification by vested interests of a seizure of Pakistan's nuclear assets and potentially the break away of Balochistan or North-West Frontier Province. A big game is in play here. A dangerous game in a very dangerous neighborhood that could have unforeseen consequences. A desperate Pakistan could use any and all its options.
Aziz Rashid
Houston, TX (Dec 29,'08)

The article South Asia descends into terror's vortex [Dec 24] by M K Bhadrakumar, definitely points to the lopsided relationship between the US and India. It also points to the intrusion of two outside powers entering India proper, the Taliban and the US. When the Mumbai attacks took place it was India's "9/11" and under the US/India strategic-alliance the US should have acted aggressively to defend her new ally. Now, according to the article, the reader is left feeling that under this alliance US interests come first and last. If this is the case then it is time that India "reminds" the US who really is the central power on the South Asian subcontinent. Simply put if the US is not willing to work with its new strategic partner to the partner's advantage then it could turn the tables and remind the US that India can be America's best friend or her worst nightmare in that region. Finally, I find offensive the line in the article: "Hubris crept into the Indian mindset, which was indeed a startling sight, altogether new to the millenia-old largely benign Indian civilizational temper". However "benign" Indian culture maybe, it was also host to some of the most militant cultures in the world, such as the Rajput, Jat, Maratha Sikh and Gurkhas.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Dec 25,'08)

Nepal caught in vortex of regional rivalry [Dec 24] is nicely written as expected from a noted journalist such as Dhruba Adhikary. I remember watching the first news about the Mumbai attack on television and saying, we just have to wait few hours to hear Pakistan being blamed for it and about a day to hear Nepal's name taken into this messy business. Pakistan's name was taken loud and clear and as I read through Adhikary's article I see that Nepal's name was indeed taken, but surprisingly this time by another "party". Be it the "fake Indian currency" case or the "dramatized hijacking", the Big Brother neighbor has always found reasons to add its influence in Nepal and Nepal has ended up having not-so-happy neighbors. What is shocking is that in spite of the many leaders of Nepal [who were] puppets in India's hand, India still seems displeased. The only thing that remains for Nepal to "give" to India is its sovereignty. Terror has no religion, ethnicity, color or country. As rightly pointed out by Arundhati Roy in The monster in India's mirror [Dec 16], it was terror when Mumbai was attacked (by Muslims and of Pakistani origin, according to India) but not to forget, it was terrorism in Gujarat where there were mass killings of Muslims (by Hindus of purely Indian origin). No religion teaches to kill. ... [T]he fact remains that Islam doesn't teach or encourage killing. Blaming a terrorist group makes sense, but blaming a country or a religion as a whole is a little too much on those other millions who follow the same religion in the most rightful way ... India pointing fingers at its neighbor is no longer new. What it needs to understand is that it is definitely not playing safe diplomacy by doing it time and again for its own failed security, politics and intelligence. The more the people of these countries (India's neighbors, but not friends) are getting literate and understanding of world politics, the more the anti-Indian feeling is ripening. Had India paid more attention to its own "business" rather than its neighbors' maybe the terror attack in India would have been a failed attempt ... As rightly said, when you point a finger at others, the remaining three fingers point at you. This is most certainly for India to learn.
Dr Anamika
New Zealand (Dec 24,'08)

[Re Weakest link in US-China ties endures, Dec 24] The Untied States and China are like twins joined at the hip, each pulling in the opposite direction. Although Professor Zhiqun Zhu hopes that a new year and a new American president will augur more felicitous Sino-US relations, it is too early to say. Yet, fundamental problems remain on financial, political and military matters. China holds billions in US debt, and Washington expects it to increase holdings of US Treasury notes. Furthermore, China is hurting from the meltdown in America's financial markets and is deeply affected by the sharp retrenchment in US consumer spending. America's recession has rippled outwards in China and is readily recognized in the closure of thousands of factories, massive layoffs, and a break on its economic growth. The US sees nothing but Beijing's stubborn effort in the pegging of the renminbi [yuan] to the US dollar as an expedient measure which is a drag on US-Sino trade. On subjects political, Tibet or human rights, Washington and Beijing will continue engaging in mutually appealing communiques, agreeing to disagree, thereby sidestepping delicate matters which require special handling. But, as Dr Zhu underscores, the weakest link in the chain of friendly relation is military. And it will continue to be so, the bridge-building measures taking place on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait notwithstanding. It is a well-known truth that China's military conceives of the Pentagon as its enemy, and has been long preparing war plans and upgrading its armed forces in the case of an eventual clash of arms with the US. Taiwan is a bone which sticks in Beijing's maw for the last 65 years, and what's more its idea of Taiwan is one which is out of step with present day reality. And then there are the US bilateral treaties with Taiwan which it is doubtful any US Congress will overturn, since China is considered a major challenger to US supremacy in Asia and a challenger for raw materials and influence in Africa and even in the US' own backyard of Central and South America. Concessions on military issues are therefore non-bargaining chips. It is more likely that the US-Sino dialogue will continue as it has but with less enthusiasm than the two George W Bush presidencies exhibited, and small arrangements will occur on peripheral issues without changing the nature of strategic issues and without serious challenges.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 24,'08)

I enjoyed reading the most recent insightful essay by Dr Kaveh Afrasiabi in your paper [A shot at Iran via Iraq, Dec 23], in regards to the region, and the United States foreign policy as it relates to the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The problem with the "GCC leaders" is that, having been imposed on the people in the region by colonialism, they are now afraid of their stolen monies and properties in the US, United Kingdom and European banks being confiscated if they stop obeying their "neo-colonial" masters. However, the present global economic crisis may force them to rethink their slavishness, one hopes. In any case, thank you for publishing Afrasiabi's great articles, which only adds to your paper's esteem.
Moji Agha
Tucson, Arizona (Dec 23,'08)

Orascom gets into pyramid business [ Dec 23] gives the gist of the deal that the Egypt-based telecommunications conglomerate has signed with Pyongyang. Yet, the contract has a longer life: its expiry date is 2033, although it retains exclusive rights for four years. Now that is news! It suggests that Pyongyang has long-term plans for improving North Korea's info highway, which would extend throughout the entire country, and that Orascom feels that it has an investment opportunity worth the venture. It is not surprising that an Egyptian company is testing investment waters in North Korea. Pyongyang and Cairo have long had dealings with each other, especially in the sale of missiles. Although short on details, the Egyptian-North Korean venture has risks as its critics are quick to point out, yet it also heralds that economic modernization is afoot in the land of Kim Jong-il, and that Pyongyang is willing to plan for a better future through an economic recovery which remains unclear. (It is equally hazy whether Orascom has agreed to wire the skeleton of the 105-story Ryugong hotel, which many have deemed structurally unsafe.) Let's not forget that since US President George W Bush has removed North Korea from his list of terrorist states, the company is open to investors who have little need to fear a US embargo or sanctions for doing business with it. Investors come in all shapes and sizes, and they [don't] need to come from the usual list of big Western banks or corporations, but as in Orascom's case from what was once called the "Third World". Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 23,'08)

[Re Another blow to NATO's supplies, Dec 16] I would have been very interested to read, with the help of a detailed map, how the supposed new supply route to Afghanistan is going to run from Georgia over Tajikistan and all the other countries, hills, seas and mountains, and how much longer that is going to take, and to cost, as compared to other supply routes. Even if this route were opened, the final run into Afghanistan to supply Kabul, the capital, and the main United States bases, will then be the new Road to Hell through the mountains and the attackers. There is no way such a long supply route can be maintained safely forever, especially when local inhabitants are opposed to it. Sun Tzu would never have endorsed such a fool's enterprise, putting men's safety and the army's survival at the mercy of an overdrawn route going through enemy territory. According to the figures presented by Syeed Saleem Shahzad, normal maintenance would require some 700,000 containers per year to be delivered to the troops. Obviously, this is an aberration in itself. The local fighters do not require anything close to these figures. There is no way to win this occupation or war unless the American troops begin to live like the locals, on close to nothing, and unless they are motivated by some inner goal, like the locals. Anything else will only mean defeat and retreat. Apart from my opinion, which may be erroneous, could one of your better analysts show us the new proposed road on a map, and comment on its feasibility? It might prove to be an illuminating article. Edward E F Vandoorne
Torremolinos, Spain (Dec 22,'08)

Of all the articles in today's ATol, this Tacitus quote is most appropriate to US military 'to defy' Iraqi pact, [Dec 20], by Gareth Porter:

They have plundered the world, stripping naked the land in their hunger, they loot even the ocean: they are driven by greed, if their enemy be rich; by ambition, if poor; neither the wealth of the east nor the west can satisfy them: they are the only people who behold wealth and indigence with equal passion to dominate. They ravage, they slaughter, they seize by false pretenses, and all of this they hail as the construction of empire. And when in their wake nothing remains but a desert, they call that peace. - Tacitus

Keith E Leal (Dec 22,'08)
Canada

Regarding the article US military 'to defy' Iraqi pact, [Dec 20], by Gareth Porter, I completely disagree with his angle in the article. The US military presence has to stay because the US-backed Shi'ite party will fall in the inevitable civil war between the Shi'ites and the Sunnis and Saddam Hussein's former Ba'athist party. A civil war that will surely bring in Iran, an emerging nuclear theocrat, into Iraq's ever-engulfing civil war that will bring back US troops to a much more dangerous war scenario that will cost far more in money and US military lives than if we stay there and prevent this looming Iraqi civil war from taking place in the first place. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is already preparing for a large military confrontation in Afghanistan. The last thing NATO and the world would want is for an Iraqi civil war and a full-scale war in Afghanistan to merge. The regional instability could negatively impact an already unstable world economy.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Dec 22,'08)

Once again ambassador M K Bhadrakumar has put his collective knowledge and experience at the service of Asia Times Online readers in All roads lead out of Afghanistan [Dec 20]. To me the weight of his thought is best found in the discussion of the trump cards that the US holds; the import of Bhadrakumar's argument is how fast and far US President George W Bush has placed his military and political pawns in what once was called "the great game" in Central Asia. As an interloper of sorts, the US has muscled into a region once thought of as a preserve of Iran, the Russians, the Chinese and the Indians. And so the US has to come to some type of modus vivendi with these countries, in order to claim and maintain a presence in the area. Bhadrakumar never shies from offering an opening to incoming American president Barack Obama as a way of using Washington's advantage in the middle game of the NATO war in Afghanistan against a resurgent Taliban. As he suggests, mending fences with Tehran and Moscow and Beijing, not to slight Islamabad nor New Delhi, will in the long run prove successful in prosecuting the war and enhancing political reforms in Afghanistan, but equally juxtapose solutions for peace and for regional collective security by admitting the presence of the US into Central Asia, a presence which seeks to reinforce a concert of nations' regional security and not overturn its apple cart. Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 22,'08)

M K Bhadrakumar has for years written clear, elegant and intelligent analyses on ATol. Every time an article from him is published on ATol, I read it carefully because I have learned that he is quite a lucid observer of geostrategy, and that the "Great Game" is still ongoing. It is also a bonus to the reader that as a good chess watcher, Bhadrakumar does not take that one of the two players ... is necessarily an idiot, even if it acts and talks as such - and whatever, on the chess board, some morons can be redoubtable ... His latest article All roads lead out of Afghanistan [Dec 20] is another demonstration of his talent as an analyst: he can see that despite appearances, the US, though its politicians quite often talk and act like morons, has access to large supplies of resources and has vast armies of clever "civil servants" and foreign employees that obviously know how to play chess on behalf of their master. When Georgia invaded South Ossetia in August, most analysts were seeing it as another case of US-Georgian stupidity and Russian intelligence (Russian statesmen are intelligent as a rule, and good chess players, and did react swiftly and intelligently to the US-Georgia move ... but they did not and still do not have the geostrategic initiative). Well, Bhadrakumar did not buy into this simplistic approach. In The end of the post-Cold War era [Aug 12] , he could see that in the Caucasus the US was cleverly playing its hand, and its Georgian pawn. Same observation here, on the matter of the axis that the US is trying to establish between the Mediterranean Sea and the Himalayas ... is the US over-reaching while its resources are dwindling? Probably. I look forward to reading future analyses on the subject from Bhadrakumar, who contributes to making ATol such a valuable information hub.
Dr Gabriel Bittar
University of Geneva (Dec 22,'08)

[The emperor gets the boot, Dec 18] As is his wont, Pepe Escobar reveals the terrible reality - the wanton destruction of Iraq - behind the "entertainment value" of a pair of size 10 shoes being cast at George Walker Bush. It is not merely in the Arab world that Munthather (or Muntazer) al-Zaidi has become a hero for his demonstration, for which he seems already to have paid dearly - one can only hope that his fellow journalists do not, by their silence, leave him unprotected in the dungeons and torture chambers of the Green Zone! Interesting to note, however, that no one, to the best of my knowledge, has seen fit to compare this "audience interruption" with that suffered by Chinese president Hu Jintao as the same George Walker Bush's guest on the White House lawn on April 20 , 2006, when pathologist and Falungong activist Wang Wenyi, accredited as a journalist by the US Secret Services, was permitted to scream ... for a full three minutes before being removed from the scene. Wang was expected to be charged with "harassing a foreign official". Let us hope that she received better treatment than Munthather al-Zaidi - after all, nothing in the available reports indicates that she took off her shoes ...
M Henri Day, PhD, MD
Stockholm (Dec 22,'08)

[Re Fools' gold in Indonesia, Dec 19] I want to thank your journalist Melody Kemp who wrote so much about my island, Lembata, East Nusa Tenggara province and mining. I'm from Lembata, and now live in Jakarta. I think [there are] many problems about the plan of mining the island. Thank you very much, you have helped people about this issue.
Ansel Deri (Dec 22,'08)

[Re Ben's big ZIRP! moment, Dec 19] It seems President George W Bush is hell-bent on employing "any means necessary" to prop up the markets until the day he leaves office. (Don't mean to be overly judgmental on the man as I would probably take the same course of action at this stage of the game. On the other hand, I would think that president-elect Barack Obama would want to inherit a near-bottom economy where it would then have but one direction to go. Looking at the Fed's and the Treasury's recent actions, one can safely conclude that the out-going president is winning this tussle while leaving his successor precious little ammunition (as duly noted by Obama) to combat the soon-to-be-raging recession. Sadly, President Bush's futile attempt to forefend a further drubbing of his already-sorry presidential legacy will prove even costlier for the country and the world. In all likelihood, the economic scene will turn downright horrific in 2009, and the more the current administration strives to stave off that eventuality, the more protracted the nightmare will become. John Chen
USA (Dec 19,'08)

[Re 'Opening up' China's vocabulary, Dec 18] A thought just crossed my mind that it would be a fantastic and popular feature if a reader could click on a foreign language word appearing in an ATol article and hear the correct pronunciation and perhaps even get a full dictionary explanation of the word. I will gladly pay for such a service. Man, just imagine the impression on a native speaker if one could just pronounce the name of his president or prime minister correctly, be it be in Chinese, Japanese, Tamil, Arabic or in any of the countries ATol covers so diligently. To be able to speak the correct terms appearing in news topics would be a tour de force.
Kelvin Mok (Dec 19,'08)

China, Taiwan tiptoe toward detente by Erdong Chen [Dec 19] raises some interesting points, which of course do not diminish the general tenor of the article. First, he wrote, "In Asia, gifts matter." Unfortunately, gifts matter everywhere in the world, especially monetary gifts which lead to all kinds of corruption, political or Wall Street-like. Then Chen states that the United States president-elect Barack Obama is a consummate diplomat. In all likelihood he will be, but we have yet to see. Finally, "arranging a quid pro quo with Beijing, in which the United States provides security assurances in exchange for Beijing allowing Taipei observer status at the WHO". The question is, "security assurances" for whom? For Taiwan? Then what does Beijing get in the "exchange"? For China, is "security assurances" necessary?
Seung Li (Dec 19,'08)

Syed Saleem Shahzad: Your article Pakistan groups banned but not bowed of December 18 about the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure - LET) is timely and well written. The chronology is punchy and relevant, and brings the reader quickly up to speed on the dynamics that sustain Islamist groups in Pakistan. Essential reading for Team Obama.
Moiz (Dec 19,'08)

In 'Opening up' China's vocabulary [ Dec 18], John Ng is right in this sense: China has for millennia used slogans to make a point. So, it is not surprising to commemorate Deng Xiaoping's first steps on the road to capitalism that the Communist Party has issued 10 new catchphrases to mark the slouch into full-blown liberal economics, and with Chinese characteristics. These new short, pithy mnemonics, issued in staccato rhythm, reminiscent of modern advertising hype, have the express purpose to galvanize support for China's falling economic position in a worldwide recession and its harsh repercussions on the daily lives of the ordinary Chinese, and on the other hand, to hail the infallible guidance of a Communist Party clothed in the skin of capitalism.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 18,'08)

Sreeram Chaulia, in his article A novel way to tackle Pakistan [Dec 16], sounds like one of those neo-con ideologues who was pushing "democracy" in Iraq on the back of some shock and awe. Yes, Richard Pearl and Donald Rumsfeld's simplistic notion that [the United States] would invade Iraq and the Iraqi people would welcome us as liberators and shower us with flowers. Instead, they got showered by a couple of size 10 shoes under the glare of world media. When will neo-cons like Chaulia learn that scaring people with weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) is not going to work anymore? Chaulia goes a step further and says that the whole country is one big WMD. Sounds like a dialogue from a Cheech and Chong movie. A couple of hits later Chaulia writes that the United Nations should take over Pakistan. What! Even Cheech Marin, after smoking all the pot in Amsterdam, couldn't come up with this solution.
Yusaf Khan (Dec 18,'08)

Dear Syed Saleem Shahzad, I am a regular reader of your articles in Asia Times Online. They have greatly contributed to my picture of what is going on in the actual area. Today, you had an historic overview in Pakistan groups banned but not bowed [Dec 18]. It mentioned the loss of "strategic depth" in Central Asia as a reason for the weakening of Muslim power in India after Aurangzeb. Interesting. But the common explanation here among historians is quite different. Around 1500 AD, Europeans began with expeditions and formed colonies overseas. What was relevant to Central Asia was that trade routes moved to the seas. Thousands of years of land routes like the Silk Road withered. It was so much cheaper to move things over water that the long and dangerous land routes fell into disuse. No more tolls or other income was to get there. This loss of income, because of massively diminished trade, was the main reason for the economic deroute in Central Asia. Apparently, this land trade had also been an important source of revenue for the Mughal rulers. When it withered, they had not enough money to finance their armies. Consequently, they lost military clout and at last their power to the British. The present Pakistani establishment is magnificently strange to economic realities. While India is currently getting more and more well off, in spite of global financial turmoil, Pakistan is almost insolvent and still wants to go on as usual. There is really much to do in Pakistan to correct the situation. The first thing is to realize that the country is going in the wrong direction.
Eeva Stene (Dec 18,'08)

I totally agree with you. There are several other reasons as well, but as far as the present "strategic depth" theory concerning Afghanistan is concerned this is what its advocates say. This is a Muslim mindset as well in South Asia, and that's why the Muslims of India migrated to Afghanistan to use it as their strategic depth and to launch resistance against the British Raj in the early 20th century. Under the same mindset, Muslim intellectual Shah Waliullah invited Ahmad Shah Abdali, an Afghan warlord from Kandahar, to help the Muslims of India defeat the Hindu Marhata militias. Ahmad Shah Abdali did attack and defeat Marhatas, but refused to stay in Delhi any longer (he wrote in his memoirs that he did not want his Afghan soldiers to be like Indian Muslims of Turk, Arab and Afghan descent who changed their warrior natures). Ahmad Shah Abdali's departure further weakened the Mughal kingdom. As a result, the situation was exploited by the British Far East India Company. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Dec 18,'08)

Most interesting that Spengler focused on The failed Muslim states to come [Dec 15], and said, "Financial crises ... kill the unhealthy first." Without realizing it, could he have been talking about the US with its home-grown financial mess? The depth of the rot was recently highlighted by the Madoff scandal which revealed how cozy conferences by SEC officials and Madoff ignored what Madoff was really doing. Indications are that the Madoff scandal is in no way an isolated aberration, but is representative of the modus opperandi of Wall Street and its supposed government regulators. Are we headed toward "failed state" status?
Ron Mepworth (Dec 17,'08)

Wu Zhong's China shelves island dispute, yet again, [Dec 16], misses the most important strategic consideration for China regarding the Diaoyu islands. It is the island of Taiwan. China is working slowly and methodically to cultivate a warmer relationship with Taiwan which is the ultimate prize. Once the Taiwan issue is settled, those few small barren islands to the north will be brought onto the table. Joint exploration may still be possible. But now is the worst possible time for China and Japan to get embroiled in a heated dispute.
Seung Li (Dec 17,'08)

[Re ASEAN tightens up to ride China's rise, Dec 16] Next year poses serious economic challenges for [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] ASEAN economies. The growing global turmoil present opportunities and challenges to the 10-member association's strengthening of its competitiveness. Accordingly, the rising tide of protectionism has hastened the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), facilitating the free flow of goods, capital services, investment and skilled labor within ASEAN, and which carries the weight of a combined GDP of $1.17 trillion. AEC is a protective barrier and a strong bargaining chip with ASEAN's formidable neighbor to its north: China. Furthermore, the new economic community seriously questions Beijing's policy to divide and penetrate markets through bilateral agreements. Especially now that China, too, is seriously feeling the economic pinch. Among ASEAN, the AEC won't have to rely on cheap Chinese labor and other financial carrots, but can draw from its own reserves in capital, manpower, and a wider pool of economic incentives. It also offers another stream of foreign investment, one which is more market-orientated, more transparent, and plays by capitalist rules which Beijing fudges. ASEAN, despite some structural weaknesses, has now come of age, as a stronger player in an Asia better to withstand the worldwide economic vissitudes of China, Japan and Korea, and are now going to rely on their own real and potential strengths as a regional and global player.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 17,'08)

I have been trading emerging market debt for a living since 1997, lived through the LTCM blow-up and the Russian default. Regarding Mr Spengler's lackluster predictions in, The failed Muslim states to come [Dec 15], a few facts must be pointed out. Facts that perhaps a non-market participant like Mr Spengler may not be aware of. Credit spreads of certain South American countries trade wider than those of the Muslim countries mentioned in the article, including Pakistan. Ecuador has actually gone bankrupt. Pakistan's bonds maturing in 2009 are trading north of 90 cents on the dollar, suggesting that market perception is that they will be paid - far from a default scenario. Before the bubble burst, in the "greed is good" days, liquidity was cheap so investors were able to borrow easily and buy "cheap" emerging market assets. Relatively open economies like Brazil, Russia, China and India were the biggest beneficiaries of this bonanza. Investment in "unfashionable" Muslim countries, like Pakistan and Indonesia, was a mere fraction. When the bubble burst and liquidity dried out, greed was replaced with fear, everyone dumped what they could. The message was clear: unless you own US Treasuries, sell everything! India, Russia, Brazil and Eastern Europe are a lot more exposed to this flight of capital than for example Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Though I would not go out and buy Pakistani debt, I sure will be selling my Indian and Brazilian bonds. As far as Pakistan, etc being failed states - I yawn at that. No one cares Mr Spengler because when the real elephant falls on the market it's not going to be Pakistan or Indonesia - it's going to be a big Western economy. Does Mr Spengler know where US credit default swaps are trading? Its a whopping 70bps - while it may not be clear to a layman, in the world of finance this is akin to a dirty bomb. This means that foreign holders of US debt are willing to pay $7 for every $1,000 worth of US Treasury bonds they hold to insure them against the possibility of the US going bust. Who would have ever thought that one would need bankruptcy protection on the world's only superpower. Furthermore, Mr Spengler is making a big deal of Pakistan accessing emergency funding from the [International Monetary Fund] IMF but in fact European countries like Hungary, Iceland and Ukraine have also accessed the IMF. That is much bigger news!
Yusaf Khan (Dec 17,'08)

Spengler in his interesting article The failed Muslim states to come [Dec 15] counts countries which will be "doing the same thing without money" and worries about the havoc this may cause. It is high time he also started counting intellectuals and politicians and the havoc they cause. One sees this brand of intellectuals all over world, especially among those who brand themselves to be "far left oriented". But India has the most. In India they are called communists, pseudo-secularists etc, and Chan Akya often writes about them. In one of his recent articles he pointed out that much more suffering in India is caused as much by them as by anything else. Arundhati Roy, with the weapon of exposure as a result of winning the British Booker Prize, perhaps considers herself to be the leader of this class and enjoys damaging all India's institutions. The manner in which she tried to even degrade the Supreme Court of India, is still not forgotten. She is of course popular among such leftwing journalists and anchors in India. Unfortunately, they practically control most of India's political news-oriented media. Arundhati's popularity among them is not just because of her stand on issues. It is more because, despite the left-leanings of this class, what they adore most is having even slight respect shown to them by American or European institutions. The value of respect shown by these countries is much higher than that shown by China or Russia, even though they sing the same anti-Western tune. The article The monster in India's mirror, [Dec 15] is no different. It has very little actual substance, just twisted facts to create a false image and fear. India has been fighting this twisting of the facts by intellectuals for the past two decades.
Soumya Srajan
Mumbai, India (Dec 16,'08)

Saransh Sehgal's piece Tibetans in exile still hold their dream [Dec 15] seems like it came straight out of the propaganda department of the Tibetan government in exile in India. Protests? If they and their supporters consider what happened in Lhasa in March "protest", when Tibetan mobs stabbing, kicking and beating Han and Hui Chinese citizens and savagely burning and destroying stores and other public property, then I must say these "protests" must be dealt with with brute force, just like how those terrorists in Mumbai were dealt with. Overwhelmingly brute force. No question about it. The Chinese authorities were caught off-guard the last time, it takes a fool to think they will not be better prepared coming next March.
Juchechosunmanse
Beijing, PR China (Dec 16,'08)

[Re The rich aren't different, Dec 15] Sorry, F Scott Fitzgerald was right. The rich are different. The rich, when they get caught with their hands in the honey pot, get off with lighter sentences, go to minimum security prison facilities, and though they suffer some social shame have the wherewithal to weather well the sea of trouble that they have created, and what's more perhaps chastened are welcomed back into the stratosphere of the monied classes. Look at Michael Millikin. He did his time and came back big and swam in a large pond of money and glamour and glitz before he went back to the slammer. Ivan Bosky did his time, and is not living like a down-and-out . Bear Stearns' Jimmy Cayne ruined his stockholders, yet he walked away with millions, and enough to purchase two condominiums in the renovated Tony Plaza Hotel in Central Park South. The list of hedge fund broker Bernard Madoff keeps growing longer and longer, and its fallout has dark implications not only for the individual wealthy clients, but also for the big-bracket banks which are simmering in the subprime mortgage soup. Madoff is assuming a Spartan-lad posture. He is taking all the blame, thereby saving his sons who have milked the Ponzi scheme for Madoff Securities Investments and their own pockets. Madoff pere is 70, and so the court will take his age into account in sentencing the old man; the depth and breadth of the fraud notwithstanding, he can count on its leniency. Scott Fitzgerald was right in this sense, too. In spite of the loss in Madoff's management of their wealth, they will not face foreclosure nor the loss of a position, but yes will have a few million less in the bank and walk away saddened but hardly wiser with a bruised ego. Had David Goldman quoted Shylock's monologue in the Merchant of Venice, his metaphor would have been spot on. The rich like anyone else when pricked will bleed, and bleed they will for trusting Bernard Madoff. Sympathy however is reserved for the students of Yeshiva University who won't find scholarship funding nor aid from the university, for example, but hardly for the wealthy who benefited from tax loopholes and the shifting of their share of the tax burden under the presidency of George W Bush.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 16,'08)

[Re A novel way to tackle Pakistan, Dec 15] Strangely, Mr Chaulia's "analysis" and "solution" of the "Pakistan problem" treats Pakistan as the only state actor in the region, with no mention of India, the United States, China, Afghan warlords, or others who over time perhaps have contributed to the current form of the Pakistani state. I wonder if these states (or entities) too, in Mr Chaulia's opinion, should be made into wards of the United Nations until they meet Mr Chaulia's expectations and standards. And if so, then how is the UN army to execute this task? Oh wait, I forgot - there is no UN army, so the former colonial powers will likely need to be involved under the auspices of the UN. Hey, that's a really great idea! Those powers have contributed so positively to the development of the region over the last three centuries.
John R Yates
Encino, California (Dec 16,'08)

I join in the hosannas and high-fives for Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who reminded Americans what bravery and integrity once meant to us, before we sold our souls to snake-oil neo-conservatives. The imagery of President George W Bush being "assaulted" by hurled shoes, in the forum of a press conference, was too timeless and iconic to be mere coincidence. This is the closest the draft-dodging AWOL Bush has ever come to being in combat. The shoe, symbolic of lowliness and contempt in the Arab world, was the perfect metaphor for a man who has ground his country and its prestige under his heel as if it were some slug-like vermin. Press conferences have always been the opportunity for America's journalists to show their courage and challenge the bald-faced lies of a president, opportunities repeatedly squandered as they scrambled over themselves to exhibit brown-nosing sycophancy to their corporate masters. But Mr al-Zaidi decided that he would show his people that their chances to denounce blood-thirsty tyrants did not die when Saddam Hussein met American-manipulated justice.
Hardy Campbell
Texas (Dec 16,'08)

I write to thank you for your Internet edition. Your publication is the finest I can find on many topics from economics to politics anywhere. I am sorry to say most US and UK publications have become highly propagandized. But you publish an array of views and authors from the Mogambo Guru to Arundhati Roy. You are an invaluable resource to many around the world.
Bonnie Moore (Dec 16,'08)

Regarding the December 15 letter of R Kline of Chicago, fundamentally, the global price of oil is determined by the principle of supply and demand, not by investment banks, individual investors and speculators. The role of the investment banks, individual investors and speculators is to evaluate supply and demand considerations for the present and the future and to "place their bets", whether figurative or literal, thereby adding their considerable influence into the pricing equations. These players will not depart significantly from the fundamentals of supply and demand for, if they do, they stand to suffer heavy loss for placing the wrong bets. That fact means that on a fundamental level the price of oil is now in the hands of those who produce it; if they can cut production sufficiently, then they can begin the process of eliminating the current global supply glut. That will in time force the price of oil higher as the markets begin to see data over the next several weeks and months that will prove a tightening of supply. If OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and Russia can present a case that is convincing enough coming out of their December 17 meeting, then the investment banks, individual investors and speculators will potentially sign on to the idea that supply will progressively tighten, and their influence on the markets and pricing can potentially shorten the time it takes for oil to return to a bull market. That is the idea behind futures contracts, after all. Minus any significant action by both OPEC and Russia, the price of oil will likely fall to $30 per barrel, or even less, very quickly. Producers therefore are going to lose significant sums of income in at least the short term if they do nothing to cut production, and if they do cut production significantly, they at least have the real prospect of seeing the price go higher to compensate for the smaller volumes they will be selling on the markets. Therefore, Mr Kline's assumption that they cannot afford to cut production is faulted because he evidently assumes (wrongly) that the markets won't permit a higher price no matter what OPEC and Russia do. He should look at the lift the oil price received in that last few days simply on the prospect that the OPEC and Russia production cuts might be very significant ones. OPEC and Russia are in the driver's seat, if they get serious about production cuts. The markets and all their players will have no choice but to follow the lead of producers if they do enact serious cuts. Finally, Mr Kline asserts that only a dollar collapse can afford Russia and other producers the opportunity to institute new pricing mechanisms such as pricing in a basket of currencies, rather than in the dollar alone. He is also mistaken here. There is growing evidence that the dollar may well have resumed its strategic decline after getting a short-term lift from the onset of the present global crisis. The further the dollar declines, the less producers like it, for they have to take payment for their product in a weakening currency. Added to this is the fact that such currency declines are most often accompanied by ever greater volatility - the decline is seldom orderly. A strategically declining dollar is eventually inflationary, and current US monetary policy is almost entirely inflationary. Consumer nations whose currencies are still pegged to the dollar strongly dislike a dollar decline as well. Not a collapse, but fundamentally a resumed strategic decline of the dollar on the world stage will eventually carry enough disadvantage and its volatility will produce enough financial and economic pain that a movement to pricing oil in a basket of currencies will continue to gain key adherents around the globe and it will be the only viable solution. Russia and OPEC are not "in check" or "checkmated" in the current game, as Mr Kline evidently assumes. They are presently at a serious disadvantage, but they hold the key to the outcome for themselves. That key is deeper coordination on global production, and eventually on pricing mechanisms. It is the West that is in very serious danger of checkmate, for if OPEC and Russia get their act together, nothing the West can do will be able to stop them. It is my prediction that they are ready, over the next several weeks, to do just that.
W Joseph Stroupe (Dec 16,'08)

Julian Delasantellis' article, US auto rescue - a society health check [Dec 10], is an excellent historical review of the problems of America's auto companies and should be required reading. However, what it did not address [are] the implications for US national security if a bridge loan is not provided and the auto companies fail. For years now, America's captains of industry have outsourced our manufacturing base, and this has especially accelerated in the last eight years. The only real manufacturing left is our auto companies. Should they disappear and we face a national emergency, where will the "arsenal of democracy" come from? Also, Delasantellis is absolutely right when he points out the burden of health costs that adds to the price of labor and every car, something the transplants do not have to suffer. Also, he does a great service in exposing the myth that unionized American auto workers are paid three times as much as their transplant counterparts. If the George W Bush/Dick Cheney administration can bail out Wall Street, banks and insurance companies who, by their bad investment decisions, have caused this economic disaster, can we dare do less for an industry that is so vital for our national security?
Fariborz S Fatemi
Virginia
USA (Dec 15,'08)

[Re Pakistan's military takes a big hit, Dec 15] The chickens have come home to roost for Pakistan's military. Had the United Nations Security Council not condemned Pakistan's Jamaatut-Dawa (Community of the Messengers of True Islam) as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET or Army of the Pure), the Kashmiri group blamed for the November attacks on Mumbai, the military establishment would have carried on business as usual. Now it cannot without drawing attention to its complicit hand in protecting, sustaining, and financing such terrorist groups. Saying this is really reheating stale bread, but the road from Mumbai has led to Pakistani terrorists, thereby giving the civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari, with the weight of a UN formal condemnation behind him, the power to rope in the military's prerogatives and put Jamaat-ud-Dawa leaders under house arrest. Zardari has wider powers to go after other terrorist groups with ties to the Pakistani military, and some whose activities are aimed at the overthrow of the state itself. It is then no secret that the military has found cover for extra activities especially since the days of the late-president Zia ul-Haq, who strongly sought to Islamize Pakistan's military, breaking with the secular legacy of the country's founder Mohammed Ali Jennah.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 15,'08)

[Re Gold fever sets in, Dec 11] I hadn't heard of either "backwardation" or the Comex before Professor Fekete's article came out, so I may be quite wrong here. However, it seems the Comex itself is as compromised as other key US institutions, and that gold owners are among the few who can just take their commodity and run. As I've said, I'm feeling my way in the dark here, but shouldn't more of the focus be on the exchange itself? This all reminds me of Spain in the latter part of its Golden Age [1492-1659], saddled with dysfunctional ideas, laws and institutions. As horrible as it all is now, it can get worse and stay that way for generations, without better ideas, laws and institutions.
Steve McCaffery
St Catharines
Canada (Dec 15,'08)

The scandal of [Illinois Governor Rod] Blagojevich is providing crisis-weary Americans a much-needed injection of comic relief. Additionally, heads collectively shake at the brazenness, stupidity and sheer greed the ill-advised Illinois governor has exhibited - corruption so vast that it rivals the numerous scandals of the George W Bush administration. Indeed, this may be the greatest hidden tragedy of this latest in a seemingly interminable chain of political corruption scandals, that Americans have become so inured and accustomed to the frequency and magnitude of the corrosion that it takes mega-scandals to register a blip on the public consciousness. Fifteen minutes of fame for politicos requires much more than just getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar. But this level of numbness has been building since former president Richard Nixon stained the Oval Office with his crude penchant for vengeance. His impeachment and conviction could have set a precedent that other presidents would have transgressed at their peril, but alas, that was not to be. The standard was thus set for continued violations of the public trust. Sure enough, the Reagan years gave us S&L scandals, Iran-contra and CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] drug-running, serious events, to be sure, which generated their share of outrage, but already the public was content to fume and vent with no real repercussions to the perps. Former president Bill Clinton's moral laxity was punished by politically vindictive Grand Old Party (GOP) operatives, not out of any moral zeal, of course, since so many of their own brethren were just as guilty, if not more so, of similar sexual and financial peccadilloes. But these were just more sedatives to the political consciousness, which now made every value or principle relative; as long as "my man/woman" didn't get caught, everything was kosher. The bar sank lower and lower, as so-called private business scandals, such as Enron, became cannon fodder for a zombified electorate. The stage was set for Bush Junior, who took all of his predecessors' scandals, magnified them by a factor of 10 or 20, and made no bones about it to anyone. By that time, and with the trauma of the September 11, 2001 attacks as his convenient and suspicious excuse, the public was ready to accept any and all violations and repudiations of every value the country had held dear. The crack that Nixon had started had become an open breach, allowing all of the ideals and noble sounding tenets of Americanism to gush out in a torrent, leaving nothing, absolutely nothing but drought and misery behind. So here we are, our economy, constitution, public trust, industrial base, military, core values and fundamental faith utterly destroyed, and there's no one to blame but ourselves. We started down this slippery slope in 1974 and kept looking the other way, thinking these were just "bad apples" and not the whole barrel. But they came from a diseased and infected orchard, grown from the poisoned soil of relative morality, opportunistic politics and American capitalistic-democracy. Blagojevich may be the poster boy of the day, but leaving out unconvicted criminals like Bush Junior, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon would be disingenuous in the extreme.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Dec 15,'08)

[Re Change or deja vu? Obama divides Iran, Dec 12] Mr Porter says that the Iranian leadership, (and, I'm sure, the ordinary people, as well), have both optimistic and pessimistic views of the new Barack Obama administration in Washington. One of the things I learned about the average Iranian, when I lived among them, just as their revolution was getting underway, was that they are very good judges of human character - and that they always say it the way it is. So I assume that the optimists are in the minority. In fact, I'd bet my US Vice President Dick Cheney t-shirt on it. The pessimists had spotted all the right omens when they decided that Obama's foreign policy would continue to be dictated by the Jewish Lobby. All the world knows that it's there, but only the Iranian leadership has had the "courage" to call a spade a shovel. So Gareth Porter's final words on this part of the matter should not be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the (American) world around them. "Now the Obama administration's early signals appear to have tilted the post-election debate [in Tehran] over negotiations in favor of those who doubt Obama's ability to deliver a change in US policy".
Keith E Leal
Canada (Dec 15,'08)

The article, Pakistan's military takes a big hit, [Dec 15] by Syed Saleem Shahzad, clearly outlines the terrorist arm of the Pakistani military. The United Nations statement that Jamaatut Dawa is a new terrorist group coupled with the action of freezing its assets has been tried before with other terrorist groups emanating from Pakistan but with no results. Pakistan's military will not give up this connection nor attempt to dismantle the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI); both sectors, one illegal and the other (the ISI) legal have served Islamabad diligently. If this US-backed government follows the dictates from the UN then there is a good chance that the current government may be overthrown and replaced by another military coup. The anti-India/US theocratic influence in Pakistan is rising and could joins hands with the military. If this happens, it could lead to full-scale war with India.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Dec 15,'08)

[Re Win-win opening for Russia and OPEC, Dec 10] The price of oil and natural gas are very heavily influenced by the NYMEX and ICE in New York and London, respectively, as well as by our largest banks (JPMorgan; Goldman Sachs). Short of an outright dollar collapse, which the Chinese will certainly not allow (considering what it would do to their own economy) and thus won't be happening any time soon despite the author's hopes, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia cannot do a thing to shift the current monetary arrangements involving the global energy sector towards any sort of multi-currency pricing standard. Also, the exporters the author mentions will not be able to set successful production level agreements while under the duress of rising domestic social and political turmoil (see Greece for a mild version of this too-common phenomenon). More likely than what the author paints is that an economically weakened Moscow will face a soft coup before 2010. Russians bitterly remember the hunger of the 1990s and will do anything to prevent it happening again, including removing their Kremlin-sponsored populist puppets.
R Kline
Chicago (Dec 15,'08)

[Re The search for a US envoy for Iran, Dec 10] Why does this thing about big, bad Iran and its big, bad nuclear bomb go on and on? It's a squandering of newspaper and cyber space, not to mention an insult to the intelligence of anyone with common sense and the ability to read and think. According to international law, specifically, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, (of which Iran is a signatory), and simple common sense, Iran has every right to develop its own nuclear energy. When we were in Iran, in the 1970s, the shah, who was much more of a loose cannon than what's there now, had a deal going with General Electric, et al, to build him six such generation plants. (Could it be that the real US powers-that-be had plans for making this guy their regional nuclear satrap? Knowing what we do about the US today, that's not such a kooky idea, is it?) In any case, the shah's (purported) reason for developing nuclear energy was that the fossil fuel route was/is terminal; so Iran - a non-industrialized country of 66 million people - should prepare for that event in advance with some of the proceeds of its petroleum resources. Good thinking and feasible - when you're a US lackey. But if you are a nation that has rejected the "American Way", you are, automatically, terrorist and deserving of punishment - any sort of punishment that twisted minds can conceive of. Finally, most important of all, if your real estate's location happens to be critical for the advancement of US geo-petro hegemony and your regional neighbors are indifferent to your cause, then you have to do what a man's gotta do. So Kaveh L Afrasiabi, the author of this article, has it right when he says: "The fact is that Iran has already mastered nuclear fuel technology and the only thing the outside world can do to prevent a 'break-out' is to address the country's national security fears and concerns that may one day trigger such a development."
Keith E Leal
Canada (Dec 12,'08)

Donald Kirk has set the right tone in Pentagon's faux pas pleases Pyongyang [Dec 11]. A slip of the pen in a US Department of Defense (DOD) report listing "North Korea as one of 'five nuclear powers' ... on the rime of the great Asian continent ..." has brought immediately a refutation from the Pentagon that a mistake was made in wording. The inclusion of the phrase "nuclear power" understandably raised South Korea's hackles, on one hand, and on the other indicates a degree of carelessness on the part of the DOD. It has as Kirk suggests two readings. One, a torpedoing of the six-party talks in Beijing being held at the present moment, or more simply, a statement of fact that yes Pyongyang has nuclear weapons, which has explosive diplomatic implications. But this curious wording in a Pentagon document won't derail the six-party talks, as little progress in the current round is expected, even without the Pentagon's indiscretion. North Korea has rejected out of hand China's proposal on nuclear verification procedures and the talks will extend into 2009 when president-elect Barack Obama is in office. Pyongyang's evasive shifts of humor in negotiations is nothing new. North Korea has used and will continue to play its nuclear card in six-party talks. Nonetheless, the wording of the Pentagon document signals a clear lack of clarity of thought.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 12,'08)

[Re US auto rescue - a society health check, Dec 10] For once, I, a diehard liberal-progressive American, find common ground with the Republicans, though perhaps not for the same reasons. The Senate GOPs' rejection of the auto bailout plan is justified, but not because this effort constitutes governmental picking-and-choosing of winners and losers. The failure of the US auto industry has been long in coming and with plenty of warning, red flags and prescient forecasts. Indeed, it is amazing it has not happened sooner, since it has long been obvious that the Detroit management was only interested in fattening their plutocratic portfolios - the American public, environment and economy be damned. Their feet permanently mired in the quicksand of the early 20th century, the Big Three struggled with each new non-Anglo-Saxon competitor, each new innovation or design, and every spike in fossil fuel prices. Their reaction times to such challenges makes quadriplegic snails look positively Mercurian by contrast, but not even that failure doomed the industry in the long run. Just as every general is condemned by history and human nature to fight the latest war by the tactics of its predecessors, so Detroit fought for survival using the paradigm and mentality of the post-war years. A massive, ponderous work force, using industrial practices with roots in the assembly lines of Ford, represented a past that was no longer viable or efficient, a fact tacitly acknowledged by the Detroitosaurians, since they always resisted the extensive the re-education, re-tooling and infrastructure revamping they required. So I support the rejection of a bailout because it is time for the dinosaurs to die and make way for nimbler, more daring and less reactionary managers to revolutionize the industry once more. Sadly, Detroit itself will probably wither away and die, or undergo gut-wrenching transformation, but the time is well past for gradual, painless tinkering and tweaking. American ingenuity and daring needs to let the forest fire clear out the diseased, old and tired deadwood for the new growth to be generated, without the suffocating shade of tottering giants to stifle their growth. For those who decry the domino effect that will cause millions more jobs to vanish, I say, better now than later, after billions more of our tax money goes into the wallets of the incompetents who destroyed their industry in the first place. Sure as shootin', the car industry that squandered money they owned will do so with even more gusto and less inhibition when the money's not theirs in the first place.
Hardy Campbell
Houston, TX USA (Dec 12,'08)

[Re China sends jitters to India through Nepal, Dec,10] Dhruba Adhikary's article regarding the uphill struggle that Nepal's current ruler is facing to balance Nepal's relationship with its two giant neighbors China and India is descriptive, analytical and to a certain extent realistic. Not only Nepal but also other close nations like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are feeling uneasy and having a hard time dealing with India, whose main intention is one day to rule the remaining smaller nations in the sub-continent. The double role played by India naturally creates a state of extreme concern in China, particularly the role India has been playing on the issue of an independent Tibet. India is the largest democratic country in the world and its constructive role undoubtedly contributes a lot to world peace and democracy, but its expansionist ambitions keeps it unpopular. Nepal's current Prime Minister Prachanda seems troubled by the lack of national consensus on foreign policy to deal with the nation's northern and southern neighbors. And both India and China are trying to influence him for sustainable strategic gains. The attachment with China by being Maoist is necessary to maintain ideological relations for future prospects, and it is necessary to be strong with India because of past pacts and surrenders to this country. As far as the population is concerned, they don't want to be unnecessarily trapped with either through the mistakes of their leaders. To secure a strong, prosperous,democratic and independent Nepal, the only option is a greater and broader leadership alliance encompassing all political forces and the monarchy, and the drafting of an effective constitution that best suits to the needs of the people and the land.
Dibakar Pant
St Paul, USA (Dec 12,'08)

I am a devoted reader and admirer of the articles published by Asia Times Online. But I'd like to bring a problem to your notice, that is that there often seems to be Pakistan-bashing between the lines of every article written about the country. Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and a frontline state for the fight against terror, and needs and deserves respect.
Mohammad A Sheikh (Dec 12,'08)
Strange. One of our correspondents based in India recently commented on purported India-bashing in our reports. - ATol

[Re Hit the road, Damascus tells Americans, December 11] This story reminds me of my experience in Iran, 1977-78, and I have had reason to say, many times since, that Americans never learn. After two years in residence there, my wife and I were becoming very attached to the country and its people. I was a process operations instructor in the oil industry, but my trainees, thanks to United States foreign policy, were the country's imminent "revolutionaries" - (I called them freedom fighters) - rather than its gas-plant operators. They were also the young guys who would fight and die (640,000 of them) in the eight years of the American-blessed Iran-Iraq War [in the 1980s]. So my wife and I can certainly empathize with the expats involved in this, (yet another), demonstration of "The American Way" abroad. However, I have long felt that these "good" Americans that are popping up everywhere these days are shirking a responsibility. They are the people who (purportedly) put the rulers of their nation in place. Do they not feel obliged to see that they then rule the "good" American way? And should they not take caution that the strings of control are truly in the people's hands ... and stay there? Since our time in the Middle East and the coming of the Internet, I have kept in close touch with events there and in the Central Asian region. This is where the future of mankind is being shaped today. So, to me, the new man in the Oval Office is little more than another case of I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it, another "American Dream". Let's hope it comes true ... with a lot of help from the "good" people of the world.
Keith E Leal
Alberta, Canada (Dec 11,'08)

Antoaneta Bezlova's Yuan's slide no power game [Dec 11] makes an interesting observation: China is trying to "dump" its export surplus on the world market to regain statistically strong economic growth in a global recession. In spite of China's deep pockets, the monumental downturn in the world markets has unfavorably affected its own industries and export trade, especially its own multinational corporations, which in the spirit of zhuada fangxiao - grasping the large and releasing the small - in order to enlarge market share. This model is a pale copy of Korea's chaebol; it means that the medium- and small-sized export subcontractors of the multinationals are left with hardly any political support and financial backing from the central government. And it is precisely the medium and smaller export industries which are feeling the full force of the worldwide economic problems. Viewed from this angle, the slide in the yuan is buffeted by the market which Beijing can no longer prop up nor protect its currency and trade policy, as it has done in the past. Simply put, China's road to capitalism has enmeshed it into the global capitalist economy. As such, it is open to the strong winds and high tides of the market. Bezlova cites Michael Pettis, a professor of finance at Beijing University's Guanghua School of Management, as saying that China is banking on a perilous strategy to maintain high growth which historically has led to a crash of fitfully resound. And that augurs little good. Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 11,'08)

The article US auto rescue - a society health check by Julian Delasantellis [Dec 11] states that the US auto industry and those that came up with this measly US$14 billion are hoping that this "bailout" will save the day. What a laugh! Car dealerships across the nation are having a very hard time selling their product - the car. One would conclude that this auto "bailout" is for the stock holders, CEOs and corrupt politicians, while thousands of auto workers are being laid off with little or no rescue package. Watch as these auto CEOs go back to Washington for more bailouts.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Dec 11,'08)

The article about taxi protests in China [Taxi protests test China's tolerance, Dec 11] causing worry to their government about social unrest is very significant when taken with the many signs of unrest elsewhere - for example, Greece, Africa. Much has been said about the resemblance of the current economic crisis to the Great Depression, but little has been said about the social unrest of today compared to the widespread social unrest of the 1930s. We can expect severe social upheavals around the world, very likely including the US. The political/social map of the world is due for drastic change.
Ron Mepwith USA (Dec 11,'08)

I agree with the analysis of David Gosset in An unnecessary quarrel [Dec 9]. Unless the Dalai Lama is able to print money, it is difficult to understand the motivation behind French President Nicolas Sarkozy's gambit. Ideological grounds are a possibility, but in the context of global financial and economic crises, an ideological ploy at this time is almost nonsensical, if not irresponsible. The most rational ground may be that the European Union (EU) does not have the upper hand in trade and finance negotiations with China and the developing countries. If the EU is to maintain some leadership or negotiating advantage by whatever is important to it, be it trade, government philosophy, redirection or reformulation of the global financial markets, moral authority, or a combination thereof, then the Sarkozy gambit is meant to introduce potential destabilizing consequences that the EU may utilize in future negotiations with China, particularly in view of the replacement in 2009 by a smaller and perhaps less influential country as the rotating head of the EU. If this is the case, the Sarkozy/Mirek Topolanek prime minister of the Czech Republic] gambit is functional in the short term. On the other hand, China's approach and policies are for the most part based on the long term. Hence, there is friction in an otherwise professed smoother, mutually beneficial relationship between the EU and China in these times of crisis; and the question becomes, who do you think will benefit?
mlee
New York, New York (Dec 10,'08)

[Re China plays Tibet card to the full, Dec 9] I would like to ask Wu Zhong what he thinks should be the reaction of the Chinese government regarding the issue of Sarkozy seeing the Dalai Lama. Personally, I think if China had shown a meek reaction then all the Western countries would take it lightly in future. The Western countries are probing the resolve of China. Needless to say, there goes Taiwan and Xinjiang. It really is a matter of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys. Wu Zhong should read the article written by David Gosset, An unnecessary quarrel [Dec 9]. It is unbelievable that Gosset is even an Westerner.
Wendy Cai
USA (Dec 10,'08)

Trombay is an island very close to Mumbai. India's biggest nuclear establishment BARC is situated there. It has nuclear research labs, nuclear reactors and a facility to manufacture nuclear weapons. It is a place where a lot of fissile uranium and plutonium can be found. The purpose of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai was to cause maximum damage and they succeeded partially. Now the indications are that they could attack another soft target. What better target is there than BARC? They can reach the target by sea using mini-submarines or hijack a plane from Mumbai airport and use it as a weapon. A truckful of explosives could be brought to the door of a reactor or the weapons facility. Just imagine the damage it could do! India's defenses at BARC are very poor. There is no radar system. No missiles integrated with the radar.The Indian navy is oblivious to the Chinese and Pakistani submarines that often cruise in the area. Some Asian smugglers use the mini-submarines on a regular basis. The police and some politicians know about it. But there is a nexus of police, politicians and organized crime and the underworld has its tentacles right into BARC. After all, they were able to persuade some scientists to make "black diamonds" for them. The loot was shared by all. The terrorists can easily use the criminals to get some inside help. Kargil [brief border war in 1999] would have not happened if India had paid attention to Pakistan's procurement of defense equipment. Why is Pakistan trying its best to get more submarines,air-to-surface missiles and [unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVS?
Jay Jolly (Dec 10,'08)

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had to be seen to be doing something to calm India's anger and so conveniently captured Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, whom Indian officials have fingered as a top controller of the 10 gunmen who staged the Mumbai attack. Why was he not captured months ago? It is inconceivable that such a precise, meticulous military operation could have been carried out from outside India. The entire Mumbai drama seems as scripted as a Bollywood movie.
Saqib Khan
UK (Dec 10,'08)

[Re US-China dialogue is Paulson's vital legacy, Dec 9] The US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue won't be scrapped by the incoming Barack Obama administration, it is easy to say. Nonetheless, its emphasis will change. As China's vice premier told US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson at the beginning of the recently completed round of talks, China's first and foremost concern is the "safety of China's assets and investments in the US", in the light of a widening global recession. Mr Paulson, as Jing-dong Yuan stresses, is a firm believer that "engagement" with China is the "only path" to resolving the dire economic mess in these highly globalized times. The US secretary of the treasury's view is optimistic, narrow and naive, and if we hold to the light his handling of the US subprime mortgage meltdown, it leaves us to openly question his position. It is equally disturbing that he is treating relations with China as though he were still chairman of Goldman Sachs and working for China as Goldman's client. The US is equally concerned with the safety of its assets and multi-billion dollar investments in a China, where the government has undisputed control over financial controls and the power to restrict internal markets to foreign capital. Furthermore, Beijing is looking to sharpen the presence of its overseas investments and its own corporations to operate as global enterprises. And as such, frictions will arise with the US. Obviously, the downturn in the US economy has a direct bearing on China's investments as placements and export trade with its largest market. The weakened US economy has had a direct and indirect and even unforeseen affect on China's own economic growth. Which has caused unease in Beijing. Yet, on the issue of currency reform, it has continued to resist any significant re-evaluation which would and could ease relations with the US across the board. Therefore, it is at the same time complicating any arrangements which would be mutually satisfying to both parties. China has been unwilling to see the broader and comprehensive picture in dire economic times, and has dug its heels in, thinking that its massive holdings of US debt put it in the driver's seat. Beijing, as it slips more and more into capitalist reality and a great awakening as socialism with Chinese characteristics, seems to have forgotten the wisdom of John Maynard Keynes. Loosely put, economist Keynes said it this way: if you owe the bank a million dollars, you are the bank's prisoner. If you owe them a hundred million, the bank is your prisoner. In spite of the multi-billion dollar holdings of US debt, in the short and long run, China is the US's prisoner, and its inability to show flexibility has proven futile. So with Mr Obama, China may find that the ground has shifted in the running dialogue that it has with Washington.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 9,'08)

Kent Ewing was spot on in 'Roses' lost before translation in China [Dec 4]. With the album Chinese Democracy, we have yet another rocker who feels the urge to turn all introspective and intellectual. But Axl is no Bono, and the Chinese leaders should have just had a good hearty laugh before going back to fixing their economy.
David L
USA (Dec 8,'08)

[Re Pakistan follows its own path, Dec 5] The dynamics of an overt state within a state, like the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and a covert state within a state, like the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), are more intriguing than any James Bond movie. I would like to see a piece from Saleem Shahzad on the ISI. How it unabashedly operates its own domestic and foreign policy, and how it was an asset for Pakistan but now may have become a liability. We need to know about the ISI's omnipotent existence in the historical context, and about its inner workings and lack of accountability in the "war on terror" context. We need to go deeper into the dark hallowed halls and dig up what defines this baleful organization. Maybe Saleem Shahzad can find this former Pakistan president Zia ul-Haq-era retired major who took orders on the jihadi agenda, and now runs a questionable charity. And maybe he can get an interview from the retired brigadier who ran former president Pervez Musharraf's secular agenda at the ISI (and now can be found at your local gymkhana playing bridge and sipping wine).
Moiz
Oregon, USA (Dec 8,'08)

[Re A change of wind over North Korea, Dec 5] The change in the wind is South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's approach towards North Korea. The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has exerted strong pressure on anti-North groups to end their campaign of sending the balloons full of leaflets towards Pyongyang which personally attacked Kim Jong-il and denounced the North Korea regime. Mr Lee's no-nonsense policy towards the North encouraged such groups to act without interference from the Seoul government. What has happened to make Mr Lee retreat from his firm position, and begin even resurrecting the ghost of the Sunshine Policy? One, the cold winds of war which Mr Lee threatened to unleash unsettled the delicate negotiations of the upcoming six-power talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program. China and the US want them to proceed towards a close of sorts. Two, the South Korean president's push for the establishment of a regime of righteousness in the North has backfired. North Korea's authorities won't brook any maligning of Kim Jong-il, and what's more they are willing to sacrifice any benefits from the free-trade zone in Kaesong; in addition, they are willing to "undo", albeit temporarily, any thaw on the 38th parallel by closing the borders between North and South Korea. The US is now leaning hard on Mr Lee to soften his policy towards the North, and South Korea is in the midst of a bad economic turn. In fact, Mr Lee's government is betting on exports to put a smile on a grim economic face, and Kaesong plays an important part in South Korea's export model. So, it is not surprising that it is from the South that zephyrs are blowing northwards.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 8,'08)

[Re Iran's breakout incapability, Dec 5] Kaveh L Afrasiabi is right. Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, former Palestinian/Israeli negotiators and retreads from the Clinton years, are not honest brokers when it comes to Iran. As pointed out by Aaron David Miller, author of The Much Promised Land and an expert on Middle Eastern negotiations who at times was part of the Ross/Indyk team: part of the reason the Palestinian/Israeli negotiations were not successful was because Ross and Indyk served as Israel's lawyers. What America needs for its Iran policy to be successful are honest brokers. A president-elect Barack Obama team on Iran composed of people who continue to perpetuate false assumptions based on "iffy" scenarios will bring more of the same, not change. In order for negotiations with Iran to get somewhere, the myths need to be challenged over and over again and dispelled. Myth number one, Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran has no nuclear weapons and there is no credible evidence that it is engaged in developing or acquiring them. US national intelligence agencies have said so, as has the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Myth number two, by enriching uranium, Iran is verging on "breakout capability". According to IAEA inspectors, Iran has not enriched uranium to weapons grade. The uranium it has enriched amounts to 630 kilograms of industrial grade. It would need 1,700 kilograms of highly enriched uranium for a single bomb. As Afrasiabi points out, all nuclear facilities in Iran are under IAEA inspection. Time and time again, the IAEA reports have said: "the agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear materials in Iran. Iran has provided the agency with access to declared nuclear materials and has provided the required nuclear material accounting reports in connection with declared nuclear materials and activities. All nuclear materials at fuel enrichment plants as well as all installed cascades remain under agency containment and surveillance." Myth number three, Iran's advancement in missile capability. This is another red herring. To have missile capability is one thing, but this does not automatically translate into a mechanism for delivering a nuclear bomb. The fact is, Iran has no mechanism for delivering a nuclear bomb. The question again must be asked why are all the lies and distortions continuing and constantly perpetuated? Whose interests does this serve? Certainly not the national interests of the United States. There must be a fresh approach to negotiations with Iran. It should be based on justice, dignity and real facts, not made up ones.
Fariborz S Fatemi
Virginia, USA (Dec 8,'08)

Al-Qaeda 'hijack' led to Mumbai attack [Dec 2], by Syed Saleem Shahzad, is indeed exceptional. It gives a much more clearer picture of what really caused recent and several earlier Mumbai terrorist attacks and who was responsible for it. With all their might, mainstream newspapers, media in the US, India and spies and intelligence agencies in India, the US and other countries still either do not have such a clear a picture or are not ready to bring it out in such a clear manner. I congratulate Asia Times Online and Shahzad for this exceptional analysis and the speed with which it has been brought out. It may indeed help all concerned in creating a truthful picture of the causes of this event.
Soumyasrajan (Dec 5,'08)

Mr Syed Saleem Shazad's article Mumbai after-shocks rattle Pakistan [Dec 4], is an excellent article that clearly illustrates the intrinsic connection between Pakistan's ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] and the LET [Lashkar-e-Taiba] terror organization of Kashmir. This article also reveals the obvious weaknesses of a war between India and Pakistan. The most blaring example is that the US will play the events to its advantage and truly enter the South Asian stage. Due to the recent emergence of strategic alliances between India and the US, the Pakistani army may face the full brunt of an Indian-US force instead of the traditional India-Pakistan faceoffs in the past. Secondly, any military action the al-Qaeda/Taliban nexus makes will factor into the [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] NATO's war plans against them. A classic example is when the article quoted the chief of the Jamaatut Dawa, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, saying, "LET would be the first line of defense against the Indian navy". He failed in his speech to mention the "US" factor and overestimates the LET's naval strength. He goes on to state that he would tell militants in Pakistan's troubled [North Western Frontier Province] NWFP to hold their fire against the Pakistani security forces. Again the "US factor" is not even whispered. These militants will still be engaged against the ever-intrusive NATO forces. Finally, Pakistan's economy is in the emergency ward, a war against a possible Indian-US force, and all the sanctions it will carry, is the last thing Islamabad needs.
Chrysantha Wijeyasingha
Clinton, USA (Dec 5,'08)

In 'Roses' lost before translation in China [Dec 4], Kent Ewing misconstrues the savvy of the Chinese censors. When the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy is available on the band's My Space page, why should precious dollars be spent to encourage those who want to make money out of others and at the same time make fun of them? To the Roses, it is a failure to capture a large segment of a potential market, but they could derive some consolation from a bystander like Ewing.
Seung Li (Dec 5,'08)

[Re Obama's choice: Straight talk - or more chaos , Dec 4] Hard times mean hard choices. Nonetheless, US president-elect Barack Obama is not faced with a Hobson's choice, nor for that matter with Ockham's razor. In other words, he has other choices than either or as the authors Hossein Askari and Noureddine Krichene imply. That is to deal with the horrendous economic crisis that he is inheriting from President George W Bush. If there is a certainty, the new president will lean towards a modified form of "dirigisme", in order to dig the country out of a deep recession, he would bring order back into the economy through government intervention (ie regulation), and spur economic planning through a mix of private and public enterprise. Askari and Krichene are right to bring up the US Federal Reserve's stewardship under Ben Bernanke ... Furthermore, Askari and Krichene seem to forget that as a public servant, Bernanke will serve at the request of the president of the US, who is Mr Obama. As the soon to be 44th president has many times said, he has chosen his secretary of the Treasury Timothy F Geither to carry out his policy to jump-start the economy along with Mr Obama's economic council and a strong Democratic presence in Congress and some willing Republicans, and Mr Bernanke has new marching orders. So, it is not going to be business as usual by a long shot.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 5,'08)

[Re China’s six-to-one advantage over the US, Dec 1] Spengler's example of potential Chinese originality is renowned pianist Lang Lang playing someone else's music. A bit counter-intuitive, but a defensible point that embracing other cultures can nurture originality. However, Spengler overstates the benefits of studying and performing classical music. China could dispense with classical music altogether and not slow its progress perceptibly. Their popular arts and literature show a lot more genius, inventiveness and promise than their take on classical music. A more reliable indicator of future originality and success on the world stage might be the number of high-schoolers who participate in forensics (debate teams), or who are comfortable raising their hand in class to ask a question. America may have a piano gap, but China is on the wrong side of many other gaps. But gaps aside, the Chinese renaissance is here and now, driven by curiosity, creativeness, self-sacrifice, personal ambition, greed, nationalism, racial pride, and family honor. It is not the zero-sum game that Spengler portrays, with winners and those who fetch their coffee. Americans are just as capable of learning from the Chinese as they from us. Of course, we Americans must first show that we can rekindle our desire to learn from our own mistakes before making too much of our ability to learn from others.
Geoffrey Sherwood
New Jersey, USA (Dec 5,'08)

I enjoyed reading the article, Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack [Dec 3] by Robert Dreyfuss. Just about seven weeks are left before president-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, but the uncompromisingly warmongering friends, aides and the vice president assembled by US President George W Bush still believe America should "inspire fear" and attack Iran with its full might before it is too late. They believe that the next administration’s intention of diplomacy would be dangerous, weak and lenient towards Tehran. Despite incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton's bellicose rhetoric of bombing Iran into annihilation if it threatened Israel, her vehement hatred of Iranian mullahs will be ineffective when she is in office. Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the leading warmongers, is hankering and hawking for military action before Bush leaves the White House, which would leave a bigger mess for Obama to tackle after the takeover. A point to remember is that American foreign policy is based on intimidating the world for its political and economic advantage. It is now accepted more than ever before that all along Kazakhstan's oil and gas reserves are the crux of all the destabilization of the region, which started with Afghanistan and Iraq. Next on the list is Iran, and finally will be a confrontation with Syria. This is to possess 20% of world's oil reserves, for the domination and free access to the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, to bully the region, control oil prices and supply to the world. With oil prices becoming unpredictable and threatening leading economies' flagrant lifestyles, it must be done for the sake of the West's and Israel's survival. With Bush and Cheney leaving soon, a full-scale bombing of Iran would appear to be certain, any time before January 20, 2009. Cheney and his cabal want to destroy Iranian mullahs' dreams of possessing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The matter is so serious that the president of Iran has ordered his country's leading banks to transfer billions of dollars of assets from Europe to the central bank of Iran to prevent them being frozen by international sanctions. Cheney's other sinister plan is to put Russia and China on the cold war footing that is already surfacing in Europe. But the consequences of bombing Iranian nuclear installations will engulf the globe. Cheney was the real motivator and propagator of America's evil foreign policy and the power behind Bush. He has shown the same amount of respect to Bush as a dog would show to a lamp post.
Saqib Khan
UK (Dec 4,'08)

[Re Neo-cons still preparing for Iran attack, Dec 3] Mr Dreyfuss says, "That such a high-level group of luminaries should even propose steps like these - and mean it - can only be described as lunacy. That an important adviser to [president-elect Barack] Obama would sign on to such a report should be shocking, though it has received next to no attention." And that is the crux of the whole American dilemma; the people who have controlled that nation for the past eight years are still in charge! It occurred to me early on during this most recent election that Obama might be a ruse, bought and paid for by the military industrial complex that president Dwight D Eisenhower warned about in his farewell to the nation.
Keith E Leal
Canada (Dec 4,'08)

Dr George Koo's Obama needs new start with China [Dec 3] is a cry from the heart. His suggestions for a new direction in Sino-US policy are as good as anyone else's. With an Barack Obama presidency all options seem open, although continuity in policy should not be ruled out. The new president is giving China much wool of worry to thread, for Mr Obama is a man who acts, as he has many times reiterated, out of pragmatism and necessity. Two cardinal virtures which Beijing practices and appreciates. In other words, although in a way Mr Obama in policy terms may appear as a soulmate, China is having trouble reading him. The days of the Bush family's close ties to China are about to change. This said, Dr Koo does not assess the content of China's international relations, which has points of convergence yet many differences with US concerns, be they oil, currency reform, sanctions and human rights. As for a reduction in military affairs, Dr Koo ignores studies which show that China has by a large margin not only escalated military expenditures to catch up with the West, but its strategy is based on the idea that its primary enemy is the US. It is a truism that for China, the US is a very important market. The growing global recession and downturn in bilateral trade has and will continue to affect the slowdown in China's remarkable economic growth, which as everyone knows is sustained by the wild west-like American consumerism and massive infusions of American capital. Those days are winding down, with serious socio-economic implications for the Chinese. Finally, the Wen Ho Lee scandal notwithstanding, Chinese Americans are no more targeted by homeland security than the ordinary US citizen in the light of the war against terrorism. Although Dr Koo never mentions it, the White House and the Pentagon are fingering worry beads since they do suspect that Chinese hackers have gained illegal entrance into highly sensitive national security databases. This is cause for concern, it goes without saying. On the whole, Dr Koo is right to think that under Mr Obama relations between Beijing and Washington will remain civil and even cordial, but different in emphasis if not of nature.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 4,'08)

[Re Al-Qaeda 'hijack' led to Mumbai attack, Dec 1] I wish to congratulate Syed Saleem Shahzad for his illuminating, well-researched and level-headed write-up about the genesis and the utter complexities involved in comprehending the Mumbai attacks. Please keep up the good work! An honest, uncompromising pursuit of the actual, unvarnished truth that lies hidden behind the disturbing headlines we see today; is the best - nay - the only hope we have of clearing the air of mutual suspicion or the "fog of war", which usually threatens to cloud our judgements in such troubled times. I sincerely hope the strategic planners in India have at their disposal the benefit of such in-depth analysis as well as the patience and wisdom to account for all these subtle insights and distinctions, which need to be kept in mind before taking the next step. I believe good sense among our troubled nations can only prevail in light of good journalism from people like you on both sides of that broken line!
Anand Kapoor (Dec 3,'08)

Juchechosunmanse's letter on December 1 claims India is almost a non-topic in Chinese cyberspace, yet one has just to browse through some of China's leading news portal websites' blog sections to find out how deeply Chinese netizens are obsessed with India.
BB
China (Dec 3,'08)

[Re Taj Mahal leads India's recovery, Dec 2] Once again Raja Murthy, thanks for your excellent reporting from Mumbai. However, we must also give credit to the Pakistani media for forcing India to focus on the failures of its politicians. Pakistani electronic media have vigorously attacked the Indian media's initial Pakistan bashing, and to their credit they changed their coverage on the third day of the siege. As others have said, it is hard for us ordinary citizens to assess who is behind this carnage. In this case, as the US and bad boy Britain don't want Pakistani forces disengaged, it leaves only al-Qaeda and Hindu extremists as the only beneficiaries of sustained hostilities between India and Pakistan. In the last five years there has been remarkable goodwill for India from the Pakistani people and finally they have realized that we have so much in common with Indians. So the last thing we want is renewed hostilities between the two countries. I don't understand why the Indian government let it happen when they had advance warning from the US, even last month. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is finding it impossible to control everything - more then 200 were killed in Karachi in the last four days during open war between two ethnic groups. It must be remembered that he lost his own wife [Benazir Bhutto] just 11 months ago and could have been killed in the Marriott blast, so I fail to see the Indian logic behind a public flogging of the Pakistani government. Could sending Indian armed forces to Afghanistan be part of this reasoning? Whatever it is and whoever has done this, it definitely was not the Pakistani people or the government, who would rather emulate the success of India and enjoy the fruits of bilateral trade and enhanced cultural exchanges between the two countries.
R Ahmed
Chicago, USA (Dec 3,'08)

[Re Obama team promises 'new dawn', Dec 2] The author is right about the hawkish tone of many of Barack Obama's appointments, particularly that war-mongering Hillary Clinton, the future secretary of state. At a time when we ought to begin supporting international law, he has chosen lawbreakers. The US has a splendid opportunity to strengthen international law and order by carrying out a concerted campaign against the pirates near Somalia and near Indonesia.
Ron Mepwith (Dec 3,'08)

The atrocities in Mumbai committed by 10 terrorists were solely in the name of those who committed them and not in the name of Islam, as so perfidiously portrayed by the Indian and Western media. What possible benefit could Pakistan have achieved or would achieve out of this barbarity when thousands of its own people have been killed and murdered by the same terrorists? As a consequence of terrorism, Pakistan's economy is in ruin and the country is going down the drain politically, financially and socially. Indian intelligence services had every possible information that a terrorist attack on Mumbai was imminent and even the CIA [US Central Intelligence Agency] warned them of the forthcoming threat, yet the central and Maharashtra government allowed the horrendous crime to happen. Either it was sheer incompetence or a deliberate attempt to ignore the intelligence to manipulate the aftermath for political gains before the general election. And why is it that Mumbai is always a "soft target" for these terrorists? The citizens of Mumbai are getting rebellious and disgruntled with the provincial and central government and still mopping up the blood on their streets, railway stations and counting the corpses in their hotels. So the Indian government has a motive to blame Pakistan without any concrete evidence, apart from what is coming out of the mouth of the captured terrorist? Is the word of a criminal and a terrorist to be believed and put India on a war footing, rather than trusting the Pakistan government? Indian politicians and their parties are itching to start a war against Pakistan to win the next general election. This is real: India and Pakistan have gone to war three times since the 1947 partition. The prospect of another war in the sub-continent is horrendous and chilling to imagine with the mushroom clouds of death and destruction dwarfing the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Indian politicians should speak, behave and act responsibly and stop being selfish and silly for the sake of wining their constituencies in the next general election. Pakistan is suffering even worse atrocities because of a lot of terrorism inflicted on its territory originates in foreign lands, but it does not accuse India or indulge in a childish "blame game" The attacks of September 11, 2001, on Lahore in July, on Islamabad's Marriott hotel on September 20, on London on July 7, 2005, in Bali and in Madrid were repugnant to the world's 1.87 billion Muslims and not compatible with Islamic teachings. Please do not call these terrorists "jihadis, Islamists or Muslims" because by doing so, you are sullying Islam.
Saqib Khan
UK (Dec 3,'08)

[Re Court brings down Thai government, Dec 3] The court's decision is a victory for the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has held the Thai economy hostage. The PAD, in spite of its name, is a coalition of the Thai elite and the monied classes who are waging their own form of class warfare to keep the rural and urban poor in their place once and for all. Is it a pyrrhic victory? It looks as though it were so. The dissolved People's Power Party has taken the precaution to rise out of its ashes as a new party. As such, the ancient regime in the guise of the PAD has much to worry about since its cannot stop the championing of the small people by the exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. On the other hand, in East Timor kills Chinese power deal[Dec 3], we see the courts in Timor Leste or East Timor striking down the hasty actions of the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP), who courted investment from China. Here, the AMP's plans were thwarted by the opposition FREITLAN party, which craves a return to power. The courts ruled against the AMP because it had strained the limits of the law. Further scratching the surface in Dili we see an example of not only a fight for power, which thank goodness has not broken out into armed conflict as it did a year or so ago, but also of the determination of the AMP to slip out of the grasp of Australia and reclaim the right of self-determining the use of its own natural resources. This would create a path to bring East Timor out of economic underdevelopment at a more rapid pace. In brief, in Thailand, we see the forces of the old who won't stop at anything to retain their own caste and privileges, and in East Timor, a double-layered struggle for the control of the future and to free a country from the colonial-like grip of Australia.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 3,'08)

[Re China's six-to-one advantage over the US, Dec 1] Stunning article by Spengler, the recent six-to-one scenario. Absolutely riveting, music to my ears. A natural piece of writing which flows like the classical music he has talked about, a smart vision of the future where minds will be more important than weapons. I was humbled by the vision and the award qualifying content. He may also consider this. The trans-Atlantic money cycle, which is an unnatural blip on the world trade cycles, is ending. The new, more powerful Eurasian cycle, with its 5 billion people, 75% of the world's resources, 70% of the world's population and largest land mass with the world's most interconnected roads to be built, is coming. This is why the "war on terror" is so important, with energy being the key to how the transference takes place. The trans-Atlantic cycle was unnatural in the first place, built on colonialism, unnatural communism, and slavery through the compound interest models of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which are now irrelevant entities except to those who intend to borrow money and just never pay it back. China produces more engineers, scientists and every other "ist" than anyone else on the planet. They don't need to innovate, let the hard research and development work be done by someone else. Just copy it, make it much cheaper by a factor of up to 90% and ask the competitor to challenge that! Let the customer make the decision who is relevant to their transaction. In industrial warfare, you have to create conditions where your competitor can always have the possibility of losing ... Can you take away the will to progress from your competitor? Can you make them give up without a fight? Can you force them into a position whereby the only industry they can supply is the military industrial complex? Can you make the competitor industry stay alive only by placing its energy into fighting its client and subject states? And that is where the downfall starts … when the only transaction which is suitable is one which is based on the destruction of people in wars fabricated for the purpose of just maintaining and sustaining an existence. When this position entrenches itself into a cyclical entity, then the whole empire starts to deplete itself, it is at war with the very principles that make it an empire: fairness, equality, diversity, strength through friendships, strength through trade, partnerships through growth. It usually culminates in the "run to the hills" process, where the industrialists, bankers, financiers, rich, powerful and decision-makers realize what is happening and start to run away from the quicksand ... The whole process of collapse gets faster until there is simply no place to go than just to collapse. This is what America is up against. Why do they have to follow the American rules, and who is really in the red and who is really in the yellow?
Ghengis Veddar (Dec 3,'08)

Genocidal loopholes in Cambodia by Stephen Kurczy [Dec 3], gives us a general lopsided look at the trial shenanigans of what remains of the leadership of the former Khmer Rouge. But somehow the whole trial sounds as if it is being held in a vacuum. Is no mention being made of American atrocities committed against Cambodia at this trial? If so, then why do we not hear about it? Obviously, the US would have to be defeated in war first before its leaders could appear in the dock in Phnom Penh. In the meantime, they are being allowed to hold the moral high ground. Who will ever, for example, pay for the crimes of president Richard Nixon and his national security advisor Henry Kissinger. In 1969, believing that the territory of Cambodia was being used by North Vietnam for the transportation of munitions and as a safe haven, the US began carpet bombing it for 14 months with B-52s; 3,500 bombing sorties were flown, resulting in an estimated 600,000 deaths. The US was not officially at war with Cambodia and the bombing and ground incursions into Cambodia were kept a secret from the worldwide public during that time. At the same time, Cambodia was supposed to be an ally of the US. It seems that history is written by the victors and those put on trial are put on trial by the victors. So unless you can get the US into the dock to answer for its crimes, it is pointless to put on trial the surviving leadership of the Khmer Rouge.
Wilson John Haire
London (Dec 3,'08)

One could posit that president-elect Barack Obama's election (and I know there are rumblings against some appointments, such as Hillary Clinton - but I feel these are misplaced; she will certainly prove herself a formidable enforcer) injects a technicolor element into things. For the recalcitrant terrorist, a world that is no longer transmitted in black and white but in fully nuanced color is a substantially different proposition. I am certain the president-elect will take the opportunity to engage previously pariah states, with both hands. One senses a pragmatist at work. Therefore, one would extrapolate that those state actors who were deeply alienated might be compelled to enter into a dialogue. Even their domestic and radicalized constituencies I am sure will demand an engagement and a conversation. This prospective rapprochement is clearly not to the terrorists' liking. In that context, one can better understand the viciousness of Mumbai. It might very well have been designed to drive a blood-stained wedge between the Pakistani and Indian governments, and India seems to be falling into that very trap. It is entirely alarming that 10 boys with AK-47s can cause such havoc and other cities in other countries need to be aware of what can happen. The asymmetry is plain alarming.
Aly-Khan Satchu
Nairobi (Dec 2,'08)

[Re Strange storm brews in South Asia, Dec 1] Unfortunately, both India and Pakistan have created a trap from which escape will be difficult, if not impossible. Pakistan under president Zia ul-Haq first created the trap for US money and patronage when the Soviets were in Afghanistan. America not only provided funds for the Zia government, but also took over the training of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) when Pakistan lost control over its own secret service. From then on, no administration in Pakistan has had any control over the terrorists and they feel free to terrorize anywhere inside or outside the Pakistani borders. Though the present civilian president of Pakistan is trying desperately to get out of this trap, the Indian administration needs to blow hot against Pakistan to escape from its own trap. That Mumbai has been a gateway to smugglers between the Gulf states and India using the sea route has been an open secret for a long time. The Indian authorities, using their infinite wisdom, believed that the route would only be used by the decent "law-abiding" smugglers, busy smuggling such harmless stuff as drugs, and turned a blind eye to their activities. Now, with an election looming, they have no other alternative but to play the blame-game - it is easier to move your army to the border area than to investigate how the attack took place, and hang themselves in the process.
TutuG (Dec 2,'08)

[Re Strange storm brews in South Asia, Dec 1] Thank you Asia Times Online for the comprehensive coverage from your journalists and commentators on the latest terrorist attacks on India. As someone who lived in Asia for a long period, including stints in India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh, besides the bigger cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo, my initial reaction was "not again". Your continued monitoring of the developments will be invaluable to all of us. What was the reaction of other Asian countries, including China, to this mess? Could we hope for more follow-up on those stories?
Salt (Dec 2,'08)

Obama's collision course with China [Dec 1], simply restates the problems that the Bill Clinton and George W Bush administrations have had with Beijing. Human rights, currency and trade. Broadly speaking, you can say that China is on a collision course with the US. The weakening of the American economy and the tightening of the American consumer's purse have had an immediate effect on China's economy. Immediately, we see huge inventories, the closing of thousands of factories, the spike in unemployment, and a noticeable slowing of China's "werkschaftwunder". And this is happening even before president-elect Obama is sworn in as America's 44th president. So if there is to be a collision course, its trajectory has long been set under Mr Bush's stewardship as president. Benjamin Shobert, the author, has reason to worry since it would disrupt opportunities in the market for say his Chinese clients to introduce high-technology ventures into the US. But his fears may remain simply that, for the two Congressional commission reports on China break no new ground, and do not necessarily indicate a radical departure in Sino-American relations. It is always difficult to give us an accurate forecast as to how Beijing is going to employ its sovereign funds. We do know that in the face of a growing global recession, China has dipped into its deep pockets to earmark $600 billion to deal with the downturn in its own economy. Let's face it, no one really knows Mr Obama's China's policy. As for Beijing, it has put itself into a snit over the fact that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was going to welcome Tibet's Dalai Lama. It worked itself into such a state of agitation that it refused to attend a Sino-European conference. China's wish for the Tibet issue to go away is unrealistic, for it won't, although the worldwide recession has slowly drawn British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to inch towards its view. Saying this doesn't improve our understanding of Mr Obama's thoughts on China. He is a man who keeps his own counsel, and when he wants to divulge it, he shall, no sooner, no later.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Dec 2,'08)

[Re The hottest place in the world, Dec 1] Chan Akya is losing himself, and keeping company with Spengler is doing him no good other than subverting his mind with failed ideas from the bad old 1930s. As I've previously pointed out, the original, clean Chan Akya was from Pakistan, and not Mitteleuropa. Anyway, our friend needs to look beyond a "Hindu resurgence". The BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government credited with 15% annual growth rate in Gujarat state is also responsible for sponsoring the massacre of some 2,500 Muslims. If nothing else, India's communists can be lauded for being strongly anti-fascist.
Dr Usman Qazi
Lahore, Pakistan (Dec 2,'08)

In regards to Mel Cooper's letter about Donald Kirk's article Pyongyang floats a border bluff [Nov 26], I am not sure Mr Cooper read the same article I did. Mr Cooper puts quotes around the line that President Lee Myung-bak will "teach North Korea a lesson", however that line does not appear in the article. Mr Cooper writes that South Korea is "looking to sideline and isolate the North". What Mr Kirk wrote was, "The game, as South Korean officials recognize, is the sideline of the South". Mr Cooper claims that the South is launching "incessant attacks on Kim Jong-il", however, the South has not fired off one attack. The North however has been incessant in its attacks on Lee. Mr Cooper claims that South Korea has a hostile policy towards the North. That is not true, Lee has merely ended the insane Sunshine policies of South Korea, which gave billions of aid to the North in return for nothing. North Korea is cutting back on the Kaesong complex because the $20 million the North Korean government gets from taking two-thirds of complex employees paychecks is not worth the exposure to the South's culture. A despot who believes in square wheels must make certain his subjects don't get to see round wheels in action, so North Korea must make sure its citizens remain ignorant and terrified, that I can understand. What I can't understand is why leftists like Mr Cooper feel compelled to defend murderers like Kim Jong-il.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Dec 2,'08)

[Re Mumbai's night of terror, Nov 27] Raja Murthy's bird's-eye narrative provided gripping details of one of Aristotle's "causal factors", commonly called the 3M axis of Motivation, Method and Means. Hopefully, Asia Times Online will follow up providing its readership with the other two Ms. A sample of what other websites have suggested include; the objective was to kidnap former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who was attending a conference of the India Industry and Aspen Industry groups at the Taj Mahal Hotel; another website intimated the main objective was sending a message about spying activities operated from an Israeli synagogue; and a third website suggested that the motivation was to have India attack Pakistan, thereby providing an opportunity for the Western powers to split Pakistan into two separate states. All readers would certainly appreciate any and all contributions from ATol's erudite contributors to the causal factors of this tragedy.
Armand De Laurell (Dec 1,'08)

[Re A country crashes and burns , Nov 26] Just want to say that Shawn Crispin's article was well written and informative. I'm in my 30s, come from the world's oldest democracy and am doing business here in Thailand. The PAD [People's Alliance for Democracy] has all but killed my business plans, putting eight Thais out of their jobs, and me out of my major investment. It's a frustrating time. I hope things come to a conclusion soon. With the horrible events unfolding in India, this situation has played second fiddle in the Western news. Keep digging and keep reporting.
Allan Dresner (Dec 1,'08)

[Re Debt cold turkey [Nov 26] Nice try, Chan. Asian "communists" conspire with Western financial capitalists, CEOs and a US ruling class that will not give up its dreams of imperial grandeur to loot their imperial homelands using Asian labor arbitrage and environment despoliation (along with financial engineering, crooked accounting and cooked statistics). Asian governments are so quietly delighted at this Western suicidal stupidity they plow every bit of money they can get into the factories and technologies which are the foundations of real wealth in the modern world and neglect (at least a little) infrastructure development. And now, with the consequences of Western financial folly and CEO treason coming home to roost, it is time for one last dip in the pool of Western financial credit before sending the credulous masses of the (formerly) industrialized world on their way to a future of poverty and despair. The state of public awareness and banker brainwashing in the West being what it is, you will probably get your way. A much better solution for everyone concerned, however, is for everyone to come to the realization that money is not wealth - including the trillions of hot dollars and euros in hot paper Western financial capitalists have hung on central banks and wealthy investors around the world. Any group of people aspiring to the status of an independent nation, including the US, requires at a minimum enough real wealth, ie factories, infrastructure and technology to support itself. The alternative for a country like the United States, left with only weapons to support its claim on the world’s wealth, has already been demonstrated in Iraq and Afghanistan. And while the situation of the US and other Western imperial powers riding on its coattails is becoming increasingly desperate, it has yet to break out the ‘big guns’.
Steven Lesh (Dec 1,'08)

Abanti Bhattacharya's piece entitled China's cyber-warriors challenge India [Nov 26], is the latest evidence showcasing India's self-perceived moral superiority and its disgusting obsession with China. There is no denying that Chinese cyber-nationalism is on the rise; however, cyber-nationalism is not an unique Chinese phenomenon, it is found in many countries, including India. Chinese cyber-nationalism targets Japan and the West almost exclusively, the Indians get so ahead of themselves by assuming the significance of India to the Chinese psyche and consequently picturing themselves as potential target. If Bhattacharya had spoken to Chinese he would have found out that India is almost a non-topic in Chinese cyberspace. The Chinese public simply doesn't care much about India, perhaps at their own expense. The obsession is certainly not mutual. Finally, Bhattacharya did not provide a shred of evidence to support his wild claim that Chinese cyber-nationalism is being used as a part of China's psychological warfare. What exactly is China's psychological warfare allegedly doing to harm India?
Juchechosunmanse
Beijing, PR China (Dec 1,'08)

In China's cyber-warriors challenge India [Nov 26] Abanti Bhattacharya, as if India like any other country does not have enough challenges, tried to add one more, namely ,Chinese cyber-nationalism. In each instance he cited the Chinese "cyber-warriors" reacted after being provoked. The change in the Japanese history textbooks, the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, the wanton disruption of the Olympic torch relay, and reports on a crackdown of Tibetan protests before it happened, etc. The 1962 war was more a result of border demarcation between China and British India. What Britain did elsewhere during its colonial era was well known. It is important for India and China to grow as friendly neighbors and look forward with understanding and cooperation, lest their own national interests will be compromised.
Seung Li (Dec 1,'08)

I was alarmed by the fallacies presented in the piece: The evil of the US dollar [Asif Salahuddin, Nov 25]. I'll agree that the modern financial system is a mess, but to suggest we return to a Medieval version of the gold standard is like trying to fix airline travel by having everyone walk or swim. Surely, complex institutions always look out of place from a simplistic perspective. The bottom line is the world is not simple, we have moved on from historical models because historical models did not work. Salahuddin’s cartoon account presents a very weak case against the international economic order. The global economy needs a lot of work, but against Salahuddin's feeble complaints I'd say it still stands as the best available alternative. In the opening analogy of the article, it is stated that "the banker simply prints some of the paper currency which the people in the building trade in and exchanges this for … whatever goods or services he may require". This is a fascinating thought except that no central banker in the history of central banking has ever done this. The piece is describing something which does not, nor has ever, existed. Obviously, central bankers do not employ or pay themselves. The author has confused the term "central banker" with "despot". In any event, it should be noted that plenty of kings, popes, amirs, caliphs, ayatollahs and the like have proven themselves perfectly capable of thieving and killing without central bankers ... In the end, Salahuddin offers us the benefit of unchanging rules to live by. The problem with unchanging rules is that they tend to work best in unchanging situations. Some may think it is unfortunate, but a lot has changed in the past 14 centuries. I suppose the unchanging rules would work fine in the world of his analogy which consists in large part of 50-person villages. We don't live in that world. If the program is to decimate and bludgeon the world until it conforms to these immovable ideas, Salahuddin could have dispensed with the charade. If on the other hand, Salahuddin's appraisal is honest, I suppose he should be applauded for at least attempting to use reason. Using logic at the same time would be more encouraging.
Michael Carroll
Planner, Pennsylvania, USA (Dec 1,'08)

[Re Pyongyang floats a border bluff, Nov 26] Pyongyang is not playing "Liar's Poker". It is willing to act on its threat to close border crossings at the 38th parallel, and reduce its participation in the Kaesong free trade zone. It is reacting to the hostile policy of South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak to "teach North Korea a lesson". Pyongyang is more hurt by the incessant attacks on its Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, the health and welfare of whom are open to much speculation, as well as what appears to the North as Seoul's moves to destabilize its economy, attempting to trigger regime change. So, from Pyongyang's standpoint, it is Lee who is looking to sideline and isolate the North. As such, Pyongyang's motives are more understandable. If Pyongyang sticks to its timetable, the border will close on December 1. As Donald Kirk points, the six-party talks will resume five days later in Beijing. We know already that at the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] meeting in Lima Peru, China, South Korea, the US and Japan had discussions as to the meeting's agenda in the light of Pyongyang's complaints. It is senseless to speculate on the outcome of talks in Beijing. More likely than not, they will not advance much. As for how president-elect Barack Obama will tackle the six-party talks and relations with Pyongyang, that, too, remains to be seen. What we do know is that the George W Bush administration is leaving behind a tortuous track record in dealing with North Korea. Furthermore, after eight years of high-mindedness, Bush has had to turn the clock back to 2000 and resume a Clintonesque approach towards Pyongyang. And that is how and where the matter lies today. In observing North Korea, it depends on which end of the binoculars the Pyongyang watcher is looking.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Dec 1,'08)

Your website is altogether edifying to read not only because of the quality of the writing but also because of the reliability of the authors and their access to the information that forms the basis of the articles. But the recent article titled Fleeing Tamils hit Indian political wall is not only exasperatingly tendentious but also is the very antithesis of reliability. I am somewhat disappointed that Asia Times Online allowed itself to be used to further someone's agenda to defame an upstanding freedom movement - the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - and surreptitiously attempt to isolate the movement from the Tamil people. Raja Murthy, the author of the article, quotes three sources for his information: One Mr Anandasangaree, "The Hindu" newspaper employee and the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI]. Mr Anandasangaree is a discredited and bankrupt politician who has no following among the Tamils. In fact he lives under the tutelage and control of the Sinhala government of Sri Lanka far away from Tamil areas in Colombo. In fact, when he visited, after a very long absence, the Sri Lankan government occupied Tamil area in the north of the island, he was in the constant company of the Sri Lankan army. Neither he nor "The Hindu" nor Raja Murthy has any access to the LTTE-administered areas. "The Hindu" is the voice of the Sri Lankan (SL) Sinhala government in India. Mr Raman, the head honcho of that paper, was awarded the Lankaratna "honor" for excellence in journalism for his services to the Sri Lankan government. Recently he was the intermediary for arranging a dialogue between the president of Sri Lanka and the prime minister of India - such is his closeness to the rulers of Sri Lanka! It is a pervasive suspicion among the Tamils that the "Hindu" is a conduit between the RAW Indian intelligence agency and the Sri Lankan government. It not only instigated the latest Sri Lankan government war against the Tamils of the island of Sri Lanka but also sustains its supply of arms and other support. Murthy's tears about the suffering of Tamils, knowing his connections, is simply crocodilian! The FBI's peremptory categorization of freedom movements, and individuals has no credibility. Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, Albert Eienstein, Charles Chaplin were designated "terrorists" by this organ of the US - the only country to commit atomic "terrorism".
S K Suntharm (Dec 1,'08)
Every terrorist organization in the world has its sympathizers and front men. Mr S K Suntharm runs the risk of falling in that category by calling the LTTE terrorists who are banned by over 30 countries, not just the US, as "an upstanding freedom movement". As a Tamil who was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, just before my Indian-origin parents returned to India, my sympathies are entirely with Sri Lankan Tamils and Sri Lanka, the land of my birth. Sri Lankan Tamils have legitimate concerns that have to be addressed by their government, just as endangered rights of ethnic minorities in many other nations, including India. But they can be only addressed by true representatives of Sri Lankan Tamils, not terrorists who have assassinated an entire generation of moderate Tamil leaders. -
Raja Murthy (Dec 1,'08)

November Letters

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