Thursday, January 1, 2009

India-Israel-US Axis

Alex Jones of Infowars.com sees the burgeoning India-Israel-US axis and talks about it in the aftermath of Mumbai. Jones is a controversial American journalist who challenges the news reporting and editorial policies of mainstream Western media. He is a strong critic of the "war on terror" and his detractors accuse him of spreading disinformation on behalf of the "terrorists" and "the enemies of Israel and India". He has been featured as a prominent figure of the "9/11 Truth Movement" in such publications as The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Popular Mechanics. He has appeared on Good Morning America, 20/20 Downtown, 60 Minutes, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, Fox News, TalkSport (UK), Russia Today, Channel 4 (UK), A&E, America's "most widely listened to late night radio show", Coast to Coast AM, C-Span, and many other venues. Patrick Beech of the Austin-American Statesman has described Jones as "an absolutely riveting television presence."

The key assertions in the following Alex Jones and Webster Tarpley video are:

1. Israel has been active in Kashmir. Israeli Army Chief General Mizrahi visited Kashmir in September, 2008.

2. Israel trained Indian forces which embarrassed their Israeli trainers when they miserably failed in Mumbai.

3. India's Anti-terror chief Hemant Kirkare was among the first to be killed in Mumbai.

4. The RSS, a right-wing Hindu fascist organization, has been killing large numbers of Muslims for years in India. It wants BJP to benefit from Mumbai to win the next elections in 2009.

5. CIA has a major presence in FATA and it is recruiting mercenaries to commit terrorism in Pakistan. Pakistan should kick the CIA out of FATA.

6. Indian intelligence agency RAW is recruiting Afghans to attack inside Pakistan to destabilize it.

7. War in South Asia would mean a complete disaster for both India and Pakistan.

Here is Alex Jones and Webster Tarpley discussing the current post-Mumbai crisis in South Asia, deepening involvement of CIA and Israel, and the rising Hindu fanaticism in India:



Related Link:

India, Israel and US

India, Israel Boost Ties

The Jones Report

Who was Behind Mumbai Attacks?

Rothschildistan: Murdering Again

Alex Jones' Infowars

Alex Jones Interviews Hamid Gul

64 comments:

Anonymous said...

add iran to this axis/nexus. it has been sponsoring numerous movements on sectarian basis all over the muslim world. for some reason iran keeps creating sectarian violence and in many cases has even supplied weapons. one has to look deeper into iran's involvement in pakistan, the afghan wars, in iraq and its support of destablizing and stubborn movements in the middle east. iran's actions are benefiting the americans in so many ways especially as it helps the americans create fear in arab nations and in turn sell them weapons to them. iran is not a country to be trusted and especially not a country that is working for the ummah at large - it has very specific objectives which can be guaged from the fact that ever since the 'islamic' revolution in iran sectarian conflicts have deemed their ugly head in many nations with a great force.

Riaz Haq said...

Huma,
I think Iran has as much or more to fear from India-Israel-US axis as Pakistan. Manmohan Singh described India's deal with the US and its vote against Iran as acts of "enlightened self-interest". The same excuse is applied to the link with Israel. The reality is that India's betrayal of the Palestinians, however profitable for a few, is not remotely in the interest of the vast Indian majority. It certainly diminishes India's status and influence in the developing world.

Anonymous said...

Do you know what a conspiracy theory is Riaz ?Alex Jones is a third rate conspiracy theorist. Of course India is building better ties with Israel and the United States, but it is driven by economic interests - not some wicked desire to destroy the muslim world. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and start going after the international terrorists that you have nurtured for so long.

I'd like to know if you think 9/11 was engineered by the americans or the jews.

Anonymous said...

Riaz,About India dumping Palestinians is becoz we were not reciprocated in thankless support given for non-aligned rebel causes like "Palestinian freedom struggle".Even though we supported them ferociously until late 90s..Arafat and Saudis always supported Pak in OIC(they only see things "green"). Only guy who supported us in OIC/UN(?) is Saddam Hussien who have quite a number of fan following here(I am not his fan). Jordan,Egypt, Morocco and US share quite a comfortable relation with Israel. So why should we standout and loose all their technology in defence,agriculture,biotechnology and medicine(and what not)? They are an elite species in terms of intelligence and enterprise. They are not supporting any unsolicited "freedom struggles" (Pak) in India or supplying nuclear weapons and delivery systems to rogue neighbors(China). Plz make a logical argument.however profitable for a few, is not remotely in the interest of the vast Indian majority Majority in India are Hindus(i.e. those who are not of Abrahamic faiths and Sikhs) and we(most of us - candlelight guys at Wagah) don't have any problems in Israelis killing Hamas or Hezbollah and since Israelis are really mature with a robust civil society that scrutinies and introspects and miles ahead of us in democratic and liberal values, I dont know how we can teach morality to them. Of course, we will "condemn" or "express our deep concern abt disproportionate use of force" by Israel as long as there is enough gas and oil in Saudi Arabia and Iran. Israel is gem and even Musharaf tried his best to grab Israel from us but were thankfully warned by Jamiat-e-Islami of widespread backlash.
Abt NSG, they are not trained by Israelis to best of my knowledge(may be MARCOs and SPG..but they are not in hostage rescue business) and Hemand Karkare is not Indian Ant-terror Chief.(he is chief of Mumbai special "encounter" cell..for fighting D-gang types with 9mm pistols not crack-commandos with SSG training). Mumbai is our "Munich Massacre" and the scale of attack was so unique that Chinese,Australian and Indonesians special forces are hurriedly studying "Mumbai attack" to take counter measure against copy-cat attempts. In Lal Masjid operation, your SSG(who is said to be better than ours) didn't take 3 days but deliberately killed 200+ girls armed with sticks along with usual jihadi nutjobs in the compound. That is not a commando operation, its called a "massacre" what ever the provocation just to please chinese. So there goes ur morality tale.

Ray Lightning said...

It has always been Pakistan who was at the beck and call of USA. It is still Pakistan who receives the lion's share of US military aid. Along with the dictatorships in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan etc, Pakistan qualifies to be an American ally during the worst periods of their aggression.

India has been as critical of the Israeli military assault on Gaza as any other country. One needs a wild psychedelic imagination to dream of a US-Israel-India axis.

India can offer nothing to US or Israel in return to military/economic co-operation. It is not a rich country. It is not sitting on a geopolitical hot-spot as Pakistan does. And as a democracy, it is not willing to pawn its sovereignty to the US on the world stage.

Riaz Haq said...

India's economic interests are tied much more closely with Arabs and Iranians than the Israelis. Not only does India get most of its energy needs from Arab nations, it needs gas from Iran to continue its economic growth. Nuclear energy will not a good and sufficient substitute.

Arabs are a major export market for Indian goods and services. There are also a very large number of Indians working in the Gulf countries sending enormous amounts of foreign exchange each year to India.

India needs to be a very careful as it cultivates close ties with the Israelis and the Americans in a neighborhood where both of these nations are despised by a vast majority of people.

Anonymous said...

It is all about geopolitics. U.S. is calculating India does not pose any strategic threat for next 30 -50 years but can be useful in containing China if it starts to flex its muscles. Most likely U.S. policy makers will eventually find out India is not willing to give back any meaningful concessions to U.S. in its global policy like Japan or other allied/client states.


India finds Israel useful in obtaining American/European military technology through backdoor without giving any strategic concessions. Easier to get away with it since Arab states are mess.

Anonymous said...

That energy blackmail won't work. I think in Yom kippur? war or something Arabs tried the oil trick with Americans and Russians replaced Arabs as their energy supplier.Anyway we have a strategic relation with Iran as to counter the Gwadar port etc which are mutually threatening. If somebody sane other than self-rightous Ahmedinajad replaces him in this election, relations will be back to normal. Personally, I think India should not have ties to a terror sponsoring state like Iran active supporting Hezbollah and Hamas. This is precisely the reason why Gazans today have no support from Jordan,Egypt and Saudis.Syria is already patching up with Israel.

Riaz Haq said...

Following comment received via email:

The strong friendship among US, Israel and India is quite understandable. But what is not understandable to me is why US wants to destroy Pakistan. In fact both India and Pakistan being nuclear powers create a power balance in the region which is generally desirable by the western world. And Pakistan's policies have always been favorable to the US. We hear this logic all the time that US is working towards destruction of Pakistan. Is this the writer's ego talking, or he has to be different and "sansani khez" to become famous, and these stories are baseless, or if correct, there has to be a very big motive for US to follow this destructive policy. What is that motive?

Sher

Riaz Haq said...

Sher,
I think your underlying assumption is that the US policies are completely rational and based entirely on US national interest however narrowly defined. The last few years have shown that your assumption is not valid. Domestic politics and short-term political advantages by US political leaders have been guiding US policies to the detriment of its people.
There are plenty of papers, books and publications by eminent people, including Harvard academics and researchers, that amply explain this.

little_saturn said...

Hi Guys,

Pls think out of box. Enough of islamic ummah and palestine cause. Read the following with open mind :

Islam has a billion followers across the world. Along with the world they stand to see the butchering of young children by isreal. Probably the rich countries want the unrest to continue so that their oil price go up. It has moved from 37 usd to 48 usd. As usual oil price is a conspiracy.

why did israel start this offence when oil reached 37 usd per barrel ?

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_petroleum_and_gasoline/index.html

1999 - 16 usd per barrel
2008 - 147 usd per barrel

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/rwtcD.htm

12/12/2008 - 46.27
19/12/2008 - 33.17 usd
26/12/2008 - 37.58
02/01/2009 - 46.17
06/01/2009 - 48.56

Oil export of the gcc country per day is 30.2 million barrel per day. Price moved from 37.58 usd to 46.17 in ten days [ thanks to violence in gaza and political instability in the region ] has made gcc country richer by 30.2 *
8.59 = 259 million USD per day.
I understand that the royalty paid by the GCC to the english oil companies are as high as 40%, so 100 million for english oil company and the remaining for rich gcc states.

http://www.opec.org/home/Monthly%20Oil%20Market%20Reports/2008/pdf/MR122008.pdf

http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Israel_Gaza_Strip_and_West_Bank

"We strongly advise you not to travel to the Gaza Strip. Israel commenced military operations in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008 and the security situation there remains dangerous and unpredictable. "

So who is the beneficiary of this fight, isreal or gcc ? Think dispassionately.

isreal gets a piece of land

GCC / america get more money from rest of the developing world and poor palestine living in gaza.

So there is nothing like religion, it is rich and poor. Rich would like to keep the poor fighting on the basis of religions & color so that they can be comfortable.

little_saturn said...

For america there is no friend. They spy everybody. Pakistan served them the interest to contain communist expansion in afghanistan.

They created osma and taliban to throw away communist. Unfortunately the same taliban gave a hit in their heart. So at last understood the danger of playing with islamic fundamentalism. Further US is in mess. They require market whether they can dumnp and earn money and the market must have capability to pay.

AT this juncture, USA does not require pakistan. That is the reason they are bombing the pakistani border and pakistan could do nothing.

They faught the whole world to sign the 123 becuase that will open up a market of 60 billion dollars in india.

Further look at india vs. pakistan for the last 60 years. India trained engineers to serve the whole world. You will know what pakistan trained. ITES earns 20 to 30 billon us to india.

India's dependency on oil import will come down once its own exploration in godavari areas start yield oil.

So for america, it makes more sense to have sudden love for india.

little_saturn said...

I have referred an article which i found very interesting and through provoking

"a protestant country invaded a muslim nation and hanged the leader on vaikunda ekadasi [ good days as per hindus ] because, he wanted to sell oil in any currency other than dollar"

http://blog.tnsatish.com/2008/10/global-imbalance-imminent-dollar-crisis.html

Global Imbalance - An imminent Dollar Crisis

By M.R.Venkatesh, Economist
By Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Vision India Trust

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I never expect the posting to go through moderation. Hope you guys read and give ur feedback.

little_saturn said...

MYTH OF ISLAMIC UNIVERSAL BROTHER HOOD.

If the islamic brother hood would have invested 50% of this amount in islamic developing country both would have benefited.

However even now, they invest in US market. GCC is india of 17th and 18th century with puppet kings and the real master is USA.


Once again it is rich vs. poor. Rich would like the poor to divided on religion and color for their convenience.

https://www.zawya.com/marketing.cfm?zp&p=/story.cfm?id=ZAWYA20081223041021


==============
23RD December 2008

JEDDAH - Gulf sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) will stand to lose around $450 billion, Henry Azzam, Deutsche BankDeutsche Bank CEO for the MENA region, predicted.

"This loss is equivalent to the region's oil income for a whole year," he said in an exclusive interview with CNBC Arabiya Fil Omoq program.

He said the region's sovereign funds may not perform well in 2009 after poor 2008 results.

During the show, Azzam speaks about his vision and expectations for the real estate market in the UAE.

"If multinational companies and banks in Dubai keep reducing their workforce, as well as the exit of the professionals who buy and rent real estate, then the correction process in the market might take longer time, or won't end in 2009," he said.

Commenting on the affects of the current economic climate on the banking sector, he said "investment banks are facing problems today, and a possible solution for those banks which have some capital is to acquire weaker commercial banks. With that we'll create more trade and investment banks." Azzam said the region should focus on key historical lessons and employ tactics to ensure financial growth.

"We must not lose what has been gained during the past twenty years, all of the openness should not go back to closure, on the contrary, we should learn from the crisis, and there should be some smart monitoring and controls employed," he added.

Deutsche BankDeutsche Bank, the largest German bank and one of the world's leading investment banks, has developed a strong presence in the MENA region, operating out of the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Algeria.

Saudi Arabia's plans for SWF are still "on the drawing board and is not going to be sizeable and will be around $6 billion only and run by the Public Investment Fund (PIF)", Sayari Hamad Al-Sayari, governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama)Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama), said earlier.

As SWFs are entities that manage state savings for the purposes of investment, a healthy national current account surplus is a prerequisite. Saudi Arabia is enjoying unprecedented wealth, with a current account surplus of more than $95.5 billion and foreign asset reserves above $250 billion.

SWFs have grabbed the limelight lately, mainly due to the size of some acquisitions. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia)Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), one of the world's largest fund, controls around $900 billion in assets.

Investments such as its $7.5 billion in CitigroupCitigroupCitigroup Global Markets Limited
Citi
Region-wide | Other
News | Profile | Officers
received plenty of attention.

The total assets of sovereign wealth funds have soared to nearly $3 trillion, surpassing the $1.5 trillion managed by hedge funds worldwide, according to Morgan Stanley estimates published recently.


=============

little_saturn said...

coming back to india-israel nexus, is that not quiet of obvious. Both are bitten by islamic fundamentalism. Further for the jews, this was the one country in the world were they lived peacefully for centuries without any disturbance where as in all other parts, they were targeted and victimized. Hence i think there must be a lot of cooperation with israel going further to enhance its own capabilities to handle terrorism whether it is state sponsored or not.

little_saturn said...

Had posted the two topic on multiple islamic sites and surprisingly unlikely of them they had published but nobody has responded.

Riaz Haq said...

little_saturn,

Here are some execerpts from a piece by an American Jew named Mike Marqusee:

Note how "values", "cultures", states and geo-politics are interwoven ... The existence of coherent "Indian" or "Jewish" value systems or cultures is casually assumed, and in each case casually attached to a state. These two entities are then somehow said to have "similarities" and the whole package is tied up with the help of the USA and the "war on terror".

Back in the days of the freedom struggle, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress opposed the creation of a ‘Jewish National Home' in Palestine. Nehru insightfully analysed the relationship between Zionism, Arab Nationalism and British imperialism. Newly-independent India voted against the UN Palestine partition plan in 1947 and the admission of Israel to the UN in 1949. As a leading force in the Non-Aligned Movement, India backed anti-colonial movements in the middle-east and enjoyed close links with Nasser's Egypt.

In many respects, Hindutva and Zionism are natural bedfellows. Both depict the entities they claim to represent as simultaneously national and religious. Both claim to be the sole authentic spokespersons for these entities (Hindu and Jewish). Both share an ambivalent (to say the least) historic relationship with British colonialism. Both appeal to an affluent diaspora. And, most importantly at the moment, both share a designated enemy (‘Muslim terrorism').

It's ironic that Indian Jews should find themselves used as a lynch-pin in this marriage of convenience. Of course, India's population is so diverse, its diaspora so far flung, that it can claim some kind of relationship with almost anyone anywhere. India's small Jewish communities were themselves highly diverse – in language, ritual, origin - but today they number merely 6000 (out of a population of one billion). During the 50s and 60s, most Indian Jews went to Israel, many to the US. The motives were mainly economic. The niche they had occupied collapsed after independence.

Although there's no history of anti-semitism in India, it's striking that one of the country's best-selling books is Mein Kampf, openly available at bookshops, stationers and street stalls. One young man pursuing a degree in business administration explained that the book was popular because it was "an excellent management text". Ironically, the aspirant bourgeoisie buying Mein Kampf is precisely that section of Indian society most keen on the alliance with Israel. The mentality is summed up by a catchphrase currently favoured by India's foreign policy-makers: "Non-alignment is for losers."

Manmohan Singh described India's deal with the US and its vote against Iran as acts of "enlightened self-interest". The same excuse is applied to the link with Israel. The reality is that India's betrayal of the Palestinians, however profitable for a few, is not remotely in the interest of the vast Indian majority. It certainly diminishes India's status and influence in the developing world. What price favor in Washington?


To read the rest, please read:
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/3701

Anonymous said...

Riaz

I would be keen to know your feedback on the following :

1. Gaza attack & oil price raise
2. Myth of universal brotherhood among islamic countries.

I would say what draws india towards israel are vice versa is their common problem of islamic fundamentalism over last 40 years. HOwever USA has learnt of late and since it is the super power in the unipolar world it could do anything whether it is invasion of iraq or afghanistan or bombing the border of pakistan.

Anonymous said...

Riaz

If the nuclear power islamic state of pakistan is keeping quiet, wealthiest nation of gcc are keeping quiet, why must india take on the palestinian issue on the own. India took up the issue of bangladesh and terrorist activities orginate equally from bangladesh for india.

Universally it is better to stay away from islamic fundamentalism, which i feel even USA has learnt with their experience with osma

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous,

You asked for my take on India-Israel-US axis. Here's my opinion:

I think the timing and the ferocity of Gaza invasion by Israel has more to do with the changing of the guard in Washington and the upcoming Israeli elections in which Ehud Barak is lagging behind Livni and Netanyahu. Each of them is trying to be more hawkish than the others to try and win Israeli votes. At the same time, Israel is attempting to change the facts on the ground in Gaza before Obama takes office.

In the US-Israel relationship in the last decade, it seems Israel has been in the driver's seat rather the US. AIPAC enjoys unchallenged power in Washington and guides US policy in the world.
I think it was an Indian journalist who once said "The road to Washington goes through Tel Aviv".

As far as India is concerned, it loves to hide the real issues of Kashmir and Indian Muslims' massacre and deprivation under the cloak of "war on terror". Israel has been trying to do the same by diverting world's attention from the real issue of Palestinian occupation to call it "war on terror".

What is common between India and Israel with the US is their ongoing effort for decades to sidestep the core issues of militarism, occupation and injustice and paint everything as "terrorism". In fact, it is the actions of Israel, India and the US that have strengthened the radicals (called Mujahideen in 80s and terrorists now) and weakened the moderates in the Islamic world.

In fact, both US and Israel were guilty of directly or indirectly promoting Islamic fundamentalists against the Soviets and the PLO (Arafat) when it suited them in the 80s and the 90s. Now they are strengthening the same people by committing major atrocities against them and others (calling it collateral damage). Each innocent Muslim casualty in Gaza and Afghanistan makes Hamas and Taliban and Al Qaeda stronger.

Anonymous said...

riaz

Pls read international review of the right of minority in india and pakistan. It will talk for itself.

Atrocities done by muslim during the partition and efforts that were made by gandhi to pacify muslim inspite of him aware of the problem created in bangladesh.

Further, once again you are trying to hide or run away from the classicial problems which haunts islam.

Why is that oil rich gcc countries not deciding to have an oil embargo against the world.

Why is the islamic community in different part of the world does not merge into the mainstream to move up like the black of USA.

Further can pakistan boast of any hindu organizatin like wipro in india. Once my pakistani friend sarcastically told about was that the islamic countries will churn out religious fundamentalism out of madarassa and not software engineers who will go win the world.

Anonymous said...

Finally you had mentioned that usa / israel promoted the extremist in islam.

If you are body is weak and it is exploited by an external virus you have to blame the body and not the virus. You will have to strength the body by taking medicine which proabably ur tongue will not like it.

Same manner muslim have to come under one banner atleast who are now sitting for this dicussion.

They must try to bring the youngster into modern views toward development rather than trying to move backward to 7th century.

Anonymous said...

Probably the GCC countries more business like rather than continuously looking backward. If history is the only reason for any fight then muslim in india will have night mare for what muslim rulers have done to the temples in india.


article in today times ofindia, mumbai
=======================


7 years after riots, Arab states see Guj differently


22 Islamic Countries To Attend Summit


Harit Mehta | TNN



Ahmedabad: Call it the seven-year itch. Those many years after the 2002 Gujarat riots, chief minister Narendra Modi is changing partners. And it is having effect, as the Muslim world too now sees the state in a new light. The fourth Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit 2009, which will unfold on Monday, is drawing a huge participation from Islamic countries, as well as those which are predominantly Muslim.
This, even as the US and the European Union, continue to deny Modi a visa to visit their countries, on the grounds of alleged state complicity in the riots which killed over 1,000 Muslims.
Also, human rights groups still allege that the Modi government continues to thwart the process of justice for the riot victims. And terror organisations place Gujarat high on the hit-list, the latest grim reminder of which came on July 26, 2008, when 19 serial blasts killed 58 people in Ahmedabad. Among those who have confirmed their participation is A S Vashishi, representative of the Arab League, officially called the League of Arab States. This 22-nation outfit includes members like Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. United Arab Emirates (UAE) send a business delegation from its National Investment Office, representing Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. There are also delegations from Malaysia, Maldives, Oman, Brunei, Iran and Indonesia on the list where participation has been confirmed.
Dwijendra Tripati, a former teacher of business history at IIM-Ahmedabad and ex-president of Indian History Congress, said: “Gujarat had mercantile trade with countries around the Red Sea and Persian Gulf for centuries. This trade continued even after the East India Company came on the scene. The 4th Vibrant Gujarat marks a change in the outlook of the world towards Gujarat and so the Muslim countries are coming looking for opportunities.’’

Riaz Haq said...

Anon,
It seems you read only one version of history taught in Indian schools. You know that during the BJP rule they tempered with the content of the curriculum that includes Hindutva revisionist history.

Muslims, being a minority in undivided India, suffered far more than the Hindus who migrated from Pakistan. I know it because I have studied this and read about it in books written by independent and objective writers. Pakistan does not have any history of riots and pogroms like you do in India. Get your facts straight by looking outside the pond you live in.

In fact, Muslims have been far more tolerant of other religions than the followers of other religions to Muslims throughout history. Have you heard about British historian William Dalrymple? Read his book "Xanadu" if you are serious about the topic.

Also read Israeli historian and former foreign minister Abba Eban's description of Muslim Spain as "The Golden Age of Jewry".

Get over your closed minded thinking and learn more. Human mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Difference is that india is a democracy where anything is opened and discussed. Pakistan had always been in dictatorship where muslim did not have right to talk where is the question of hindus.

http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=hindu+minortiy+in+pakistan&meta=

If you still believe that pakistan is the haven for hindu minority, just go through google.

I am trying to get hold of the book suggested. Let me go through the same and revert.

Still you have not put your feedback with regard to three

1. Oil as a conspiracy
2. Universal islamic brotherhood
3. Minority in pakistan having greater wealth and respect.

Cheers

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous,
I checked the link. The very first link to wiki says "This article does not cite any references or sources."
The rest of the search results show all Indian sources, hardly an objective way to look at Pakistan.

I think you know too little about Pakistan. Musharraf was considered a military dictator. Yet, in his rule, the independent media grew by leaps and bounds and eventually brought him down. Pakistan's "controlled media" is a myth. In fact, I read both Indian and Pakistani news sources. I find Pakistanis to be far more self-critical than Indian journalists.

Minorities including Hindus, Christians and Parsees are generally much better off economically than the mainstream Muslim population. It's an open and obvious fact you can observer any day in Karachi and Sindh where most of the religious minorities live. The live in better housing, have more education and better healthcare than an average Pakistani.

As far as oil is considered, I don't know or see any conspiracies, other than the Western nations' interest in protecting their lifelines by supporting favorable governments in the Arab world.

Universal Islamic brotherhood is nothing but a wish and a dream by some Muslims. It does not exist in any practical terms, other than expression of basic sympathy for the suffering of others.

Anonymous said...

Hi Riaz

Thanks for your open feed back on what we are trying to discuss. If you think pakistan is doing well, pls go the cia site which maintain economic details of all countries including pakistan and india.

YOu are investment analyst and you will be in a position to appreciate the same. I have prepared the excel sheet for comparision but there is no way to put it here.

AFter seeing that if you still feel pakistan is rocking i can only remember the word that "BEAUTY LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER"

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous,
I think you are misinterpreting my writings. I do not think Pakistan is "rocking" as you put it. On the contrary, I have written extensively about the challenges Pakistan faces in terms of economy, poverty, hunger, human development, politics and security. However, I also continue to believe that India's "resurgence" is overhyped just as talk of doom and gloom about Pakistan is overdone.

The bottom line is that the kind of human deprivation found in South Asia (both India and Pakistan) is shockingly comparable to Sub-Saharan Africa. And yet, their priorities are all screwed up. The amount of money both India and Pakistan spend on education, poverty reduction, healthcare and human development is woefully inadequate. There is a lot more each can do to better serve their people and ensure a better future for hundreds of millions in India and tens of millions in Pakistan.

The total amount of GDP each India and Pakistan take in as tax revenue is less than 10 percent whereas in US and Europe it is upwards of 30% of GDP. The taxation is critical to having the government resources to spend on social programs for the less fortunate in their society.

Anonymous said...

http://www.sbp.org.pk/reports/quarterly/fy09/first/Section_6.pdf

Invisible remittance of pakistan - 3 billion usd

Indian invisible remittance is 45 billion out of which 15 billion is NRI remittance.

http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Content/DOCs/89562.xls

However i agree that there is a lot need to be done. Politicains are corrupt. But since violence is not there without any extremizm in the mainstream society, indian tends to go back to their roots and setup something of their own. If you look at the pakistanis who are well educated and doing well in other countries, their returning and start something of their own is not that visible.

Most of the BPO and ITES was started by NRI who returned from USA to start something of their own which in turn has given employment to around 1 million engineers. Pumped in 20 to 30 billion usd per annum which gave a push of overall development.

so most important things is peace for development. In fast i would say if pakistan and india could have a no war deal including proxy war, the amount that will available for development would be very high.

Anonymous said...

Riaz

International stuy of minority status all over the world for your reference. Worst ranging is as under :

Rank 1 : Somalia
Rank 2 : Iraq
Rank 3 : Sudan
Rank 4 : Afghanistan
Rank 5 : Burma
Rank 6 : Congo
Rank 7 : Pakistan
Rank 8 : Nigeria
Rank 9 : Ethiopia
Rank 10 : Chad

If you want to reach the whole report u can download the same.

http://www.minorityrights.org/download.php?id=459

this would give you the right perspective of what is the standard of practice what is expected internationally ?

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous,

Pakistan today is not a model for treatment of its minorities. There are many radicals and agents of intolerance in Pakistan who engage in inflammatory rhetoric and occasional violence against religious minorities. There is no excuse for it. I have written about my view on this in the past.

Let me point out one thing to you that differentiates Pakistan from India on a practical level: You will be hard pressed to find any examples of Gujarat like pogroms in Pakistan where the state is directly involved in the massacre of a minority group.

Just food for your thought.

Anonymous said...

Raiaz

I think life is difficult if somebody want to feel all is good.

Just trace back on your comments. First minority practices are better than india and now you are saying that gujarat government is sponsoring violence.

Whole pakistan as a state had been sponsouring violence on india which is now engulfing itself. Best example is mumbai terror attack.

What pakistan is not understanding at this juncture is that USA is no more a reliable ally and he is out to flirt with india [ indias donot have any great expectation with USA with past experience ]. USA is trying to give an exit with honour which probably pakistan does not pickup, rather it is trying to black mail saying that the civil government will get disturbed.

End of the day, the pakistan economy cannot standa eny embargo by USA whether directly or indirectly as the countries forex position in a very bad shape. India sustained five year ban from usa when in blasted nculear bomb due to its inherent strength.

Anonymous said...

Riaz

I was going through "democracy in pakistan". I was amuzed and ticked by this line "Their per capita GNP is much lower than Pakistan, a country with directionless politics and a total lack of awareness"

did some googling and following facts : [ source is cia site ]
per capital income
Pakistan : 2400
India : 2600

Still i felt the per capita income is less and did some digging. Truth is the mortality rate of pakistan is much higher than india which bring down the denominator

Infant mortality rate: /1,000 live births
Pakista total: 66.94 deaths
India : 32.31 deaths

Life expectation :

Pakistain 64.13 years
India : 69.25

Pakistan secret of high per capita is that the death of children as much higher and early death of adults.

India has got 3.8 time more land than pakistan and in almost all the following parameter it has more value :

gdp 7.2 time of pk
gold reserve : 17.52 time of pk

My objective is not of comparing india with pakistan but india with other developing countries so that we can move forward rather than getting into tu tu main main.

More than riaz telling pakistan is great and me telling india is great what is required to be seen is what is the rest of world saying

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous,

You ask and assert, "did some googling and following facts : [ source is cia site ]
per capital income
Pakistan : 2400
India : 2600"

Well, here's the latest data from Asian Dev Bank based on PPP Per Capita GDP: India, one of the fastest growing economies in the region, has a per capita income lower than the regional average, behind its neighbors Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The PRC, the region's growth engine, has above-average real per capita income.

http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/12057-asian-economics-studies/default.asp

Foreign visitors confirm this reality. According to William Dalrymple who visited both India and Pakistan last year, wrote for the Guardian as follows:

"On the ground, of course, the reality is different and first-time visitors to Pakistan are almost always surprised by the country's visible prosperity. There is far less poverty on show in Pakistan than in India, fewer beggars, and much less desperation. In many ways the infrastructure of Pakistan is much more advanced: there are better roads and airports, and more reliable electricity. Middle-class Pakistani houses are often bigger and better appointed than their equivalents in India.
Moreover, the Pakistani economy is undergoing a construction and consumer boom similar to India's, with growth rates of 7%, and what is currently the fastest-rising stock market in Asia. You can see the effects everywhere: in new shopping centers and restaurant complexes, in the hoardings for the latest laptops and iPods, in the cranes and building sites, in the endless stores selling mobile phones: in 2003 the country had fewer than three million cellphone users; today there are almost 50 million."

Anonymous said...

riaz

Even i have said that the per capital income of pakistan is nearing that of india, but convenient you have not come back on the mortality rate and the life expectancy rate.

So good way to keep the denominator down to increase per capita. Great no problem

Anonymous said...

Riaz,

If you feel that pakistan is greater than india so be it. I can wake up a guy who is sleeping but not the guys who is posing to sleep.

Pls see every parameter of development in any common site whether it is adb or cia, india stands on its strength as it is not using its force for religious fanatism.

Once again convenience of not answering on mortality and life expection rates.

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous:

You said, "Even i have said that the per capital income of pakistan is nearing that of india, but convenient you have not come back on the mortality rate and the life expectancy rate."

Pak gdp nearing that of India? Did you even look at the numbers? If you did, you'd have found that Pakistan at about HK$13000 PPP gdp is well ahead of India's HK$9000 gdp.

Go look at it at:

http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/12057-asian-economics-studies/default.asp

Since all your data is from a dubious sources (CIA Factbook), it makes no sense for me to argue other figures such as life expectancy and infant mortality in the absence of reliable data.

This I do know from personal observation: Having visited both India and Pakistan many times, I can safely say that the level of human poverty and suffering in India is much more visible than in Pakistan.

Riaz Haq said...

Anonymous,

Here's some recent UN data published by the Hindu newspaper:

While Indian males have a life expectancy of 63.3 years, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans have 63.4, 65.4 and 68.8 years respectively while China has 71.4 years.

But when it comes to life expectancy of women, Indians are ahead though still much behind Chinese and Sri Lankans.

Indian women have life expectancy of 66.6 years whereas Bangladesh has 65.3 and Pakistan has 65.9. While China has a high female life expectancy of 74.9, it is still behind Sri Lanka with 76.3 years.

While India has 47 per cent births under skilled supervision, Pakistan does much better with 54 and Sri Lanka with 97 per cent.

In terms of improved drinking water sources, India again lags behind some of its neighbours. Pakistan tops the list with 91 per cent of the population having access to clean drinking water followed by Nepal with 90 per cent, whereas in India the percentage is 86.


So the case is not as clear cut as you make it out to be.

Bottom Line: Both India and Pakistan have ways to go in terms of providing basic healthcare and clean water to their impoverished populations.

Read more here:

http://www.thehindujobs.com/thehindu/holnus/001200811161321.htm

Anonymous said...

Extracts of speech by Hafez A.B Mohamed: Director-General, Al Baraka Bank.

Demographics:
o World Jewish Population. 14 million
o Distribution: 7 m in America
5 m in Asia
2 m in Europe
100 thousand in Africa
o World Muslim Population: 1.5 billion
o Distribution: 1 billion in Asia/Mid-East
400 M in Africa
44 M in Europe
6 M in the Americas
o Every fifth human being is a Muslim.
o For every single Hindu there are two Muslims
o For every Buddhist there are two Muslims
o For every Jew there are 107 Muslims
o Yet the 14 million Jews are more powerful than the entire 1.5 billion Muslims

Why?

Here are some of the reasons.

Movers of Current History
o Albert Einstein Jewish
o Sigmund Freud Jewish
o Karl Marx Jewish
o Paul Samuelson Jewish
o Milton Friedman Jewish

Medical Milestones
o Vaccinating Needle: Benjamin Ruben Jewish
o Polio Vaccine Jonas Salk Jewish
o Leukaemia Drug Gertrude Elion Jewish
o Hepatitis B Baruch Blumberg Jewish
o Syphilis Drug Paul Ehrlich Jewish
o Neuro muscular Elie Metchnikoff Jewish
o Endocrinology Andrew Schally Jewish
o Cognitive therapy. Aaron Beck Jewish
o Contraceptive Pill Gregory Pincus Jewish
o Understanding of Human Eye. G. Wald Jewish
o Embryology. Stanley Cohen Jewish
o Kidney Dialysis Willem Kloffcame Jewish

Nobel Prize Winners
o In the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 180 Nobel prizes whilst 1.5 billion Muslims have contributed only 3 Nobel winners

Inventions that changed History
o Micro- Processing Chip. Stanley Mezor Jewish
o Nuclear Chain Reactor Leo Sziland Jewish
o Optical Fibre Cable Peter Schultz Jewish
o Traffic Lights Charles Adler Jewish
o Stainless Steel Benno Strauss Jewish
o Sound Movies Isador Kisee Jewish
o Telephone Microphone Emile Berliner Jewish
o Video Tape Recorder Charles Ginsburg Jewish

Influential Global Business
o Polo Ralph Lauren Jewish
o Coca Cola Jewish
o Levi's Jeans Levi Strauss Jewish
o Sawbuck's Howard Schultz Jewish
o Google Sergey Brin Jewish
o Dell Computers Michael Dell Jewish
o Oracle Larry Ellison Jewish
o DKNY Donna Karan Jewish
o Baskin & Robbins Irv Robbins Jewish
o Dunkin Donuts Bill Rosenberg Jewish

Influential Intellectuals/ Politicians
o Henry Kissinger , US Sec of State Jewish
o Richard Levin, PresidentYaleUniver sity Jewish
o Alan Greenspan , US Federal Reserve Jewish
o Joseph Lieberman Jewish
o Madeleine Albright , US Sec of State Jewish
o CasperWeinberger , US Sec of Defence Jewish
o Maxim Litvinov , USSR Foreign Minister Jewish
o DavidMarshal , Singapore Chief Minister Jewish
o Isaacs Isaacs, Gov-GenAustralia Jewish
o Benjamin Disraeli, British Statesman Jewish
o Yevgeny Primakov, Russian PM Jewish
o Barry Goldwater , US Politician Jewish
o Jorge Sampaio, President Portugal Jewish
o Herb Gray, Canadian Deputy - PM Jewish
o Pierre Mendes, French PM Jewish
o Michael Howard, British Home Sec. Jewish
o Bruno Kriesky, Austrian Chancellor Jewish
o Robert Rubin , US Sec of Treasury Jewish

Global Media Influential
o Wolf Blitzer, CNN Jewish
o Barbara Walters ABC News Jewish
o EugeneMeyer , Washington Post Jewish
o Henry Grunwald, Time Magazine Jewish
o Katherine Graham , Washington Post Jewish
o Joseph Lelyeld, New York Times Jewish
o Max Frankel, New York Times Jewish

Global Philanthropists
o George Soros Jewish
o Walter Annenberg Jewish


Why are they powerful? why are Muslims powerless?

Here's another reason. We have lost the capacity to produce knowledge.

o In the entire Muslim World (57 Muslim Countries) there are only 500 universities.
o In USA alone, 5,758 universities
o In India alone, 8,407 universities
o Not one university in the entire Islamic World features in the Top 500 Ranking Universities of the World
o Literacy in the Christian World 90%
o Literacy in the Muslim World 40%
o 15 Christian majority-countries, literacy rate 100%
o Muslim majority - countries , None
o 98% in Christian countries completed primary
o Only 50% in Muslim countries completed primary.
o 40% in Christian countries attended university
o In Muslim countries a dismal 2% attended.
o Muslim majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims
o The USA has 5000 per million
o The Christian world 1000 technicians per million.
o Entire Arab World only 50 technicians per million.
o Muslim World spends on research/developmen t 0.2% of GDP
o Christian World spends 5 % of GDP

Conclusion.
o The Muslim World lacks the capacity to produce knowledge.

Another way of testing the degree of knowledge is the degree of diffusing knowledge.

o Pakistan 23 daily newspapers per 1000 citizens
o Singapore 460 per 1000 citizens.
o In UK book titles per million is 2000
o In Egypt book titles per million is only 17

Conclusion.
o Muslim World is failing to diffuse knowledge

Applying Knowledge is another such test.
o Exports of high tech products from Pakistan is 0.9% of its exports.
o In Saudi Arabia is 0.2%
o Kuwait , Morocco and Algeria 0.3%
o Singapore alone is 68%

Conclusion.
o Muslim World is failing to apply knowledge.

What do you conclude? no need to tell the figures are speaking themselves very loudly we are unable to listen

Advice:

Please educate yourself and your children. always promote education, don't compromise on it, don't ignore your children's slightest misguidance from education (and please, for God's Sake, don't use your personal contacts or sources to promote your children in their education; if they fail, let them and make them learn to pass; b/c if they can't do it now, they can't ever).
We are World's biggest and strongest nation, all we need is to identify and explore our ownselves. Our victory is with our knowledge, our creativity, our literacy...And nothing else.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Pakistan PM has to make a statement that pakistan is not a failed state.

He has ask US to stop attack on the borders.

It has to fight to keep SWAT as part of the pakistan.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an interesting report in Pak Observer about ISI Chief's confrontation with CIA chief in Pakistan:

After my four hour long informal interaction with Admiral Mike Mullen, the most powerful man in uniform and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the multi-barrel gun directed at Afghanistan and Pakistan, at the residence of US Ambassador on the rainy evening of April 6, 2009, I had in my comments mentioned that now the ISI was the immediate target of the US Establishment. This was no “breaking news” at all as every one who keeps an eye on the ongoing war on terror knew well that US was hell-bent on (i) getting the Pakistan Army sucked in the domestic turmoil in Swat, FATA and beyond Waziristan, and (ii) reining in what the US calls “rogue elements” in the ISI.

There are confirmed reports that to achieve its objectives the CIA hired the services of at least a dozen Afghan warlords inside Afghanistan and provided through them arms and finances to militants in FATA and Swat to carry out murders and devastations in the country. It was like a double-edged sword not only to get the Army launch attacks against Taliban on Pakistani side of the border but also to give a message to the ISI that the CIA can use the Pakistani Taliban against their own security forces. It was in this background that after a long, long tolerance the prime intelligence agency of the country ultimately confronted the CIA Director Leon E. Panetta with some highly classified and irrefutable evidence. Panetta was startled when DG, ISI General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, a no-nonsense General, placed the facts before him in Islamabad on November 20, 2009. The “deliberate leaks” after the meeting of the spy chiefs of the two countries, spoke of the mind of the ISI and the armed forces of Pakistan. General Pasha had earlier conveyed the facts about the interference of CIA in acts of terrorism in Pakistan to the Government but on realizing that either the message was not strongly conveyed to the Americans or it had no desired impact on them, finally put his foot down and expressed serious concerns over the CIA's crude interference in the country's internal matters. The proof about instances of covert US support to some hardened militant outfits and terrorist activities they carried out over the past few weeks and months, was presented to Panetta. It was indeed a startling revelation for the top US spy and a bold manoeuvre of Pakistan Army. General Pasha's tactical move baffled Panetta when he was told in categorical terms that Pakistan had incriminating evidence about the CIA officials' involvement in providing assistance to perpetrators of some terrorist activities within Pakistan, which had negative impact on Pakistan's efforts towards war on terror and that the CIA must shun such activities. The clarity with which the information was conveyed sent a loud message to Capitol Hills that if it wanted Pakistan's cooperation in the war on terror, it must give up playing double games. It is a known fact that the Indian intelligence agency RAW is operating in Afghanistan with the active backing of CIA and not only is it involved in acts of terrorism in the NWFP but also in Balochistan. The Indians cannot undertake such wide-scale activities in this region without the tacit approval and backing of the CIA. The question arises how come India has developed a huge presence in Kabul.

Riaz Haq said...

In a Dec 2008-Jan 2009 series of articles for UPI Asia, Hari Sud, an NRI Indian from Toronto, Canada, laid out very optimistic, wishful scenario of how an Indian attack on Pakistan would play out. Sud's scenarios include Israel's direct attack on Pakistani nukes, US help for both India and Israel, and much heavier losses inflicted on Pakistan than on India, resulting in near-total destruction on Pakistan's nukes, and major cities of Islamabad and Karachi, while Delhi and Mumbai escape unscathed.

Sud's has scripted the war as any chauvinistic Indian would wish to be, and it can be summed up as follows: Israelis are perfect, Indians are very good, and Pakistanis can't even shoot straight.

In the end, Sud fulfills his wet dream of bringing Pakistan to its knees, begging for peace!

Needless to say, Sud's wishful thinking was set aside in New Delhi, saner minds prevailed in India, and India decided to back off and pursue diplomacy instead. But Sud's writings give a pretty insight into the aggressive Indians mind, and point to the probability of a serious miscalculation by Delhi.

Here are the links to Hari Sud's dreamy forecasts:

1. India ready to avenge Mumbai carnage

2. Israel Joins India

3. Losses and Gains

4. The Missile War

5. Pakistan Seeks Peace

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an excerpt from a piece "Soldiers Tripping on Shanti" by UC Davis professor Sunaina Maira:

We left Israel to visit India after the wedding, and what did we see? Many things that were hopeful, including street protests against corruption and for women's education, and also some things that gave us pause—such as Israeli tourists in search of "shanti." Beginning about ten years ago, there has been a flood of young Israelis visiting India, usually after they finish their reserve duty in the Israeli military, flocking to Goa to do drugs or to Rajasthan to see the Pushkar fair. Some are in search of an Orientalized mystical culture and peaceful way of life that is labeled "shanti" culture in Israel—as if trekking in the Himalayas could absolve former soldiers from shooting children in Gaza or demolishing homes in the West Bank and Lebanon.

The sight of former Israeli soldiers flocking to India is strange for someone who grew up during the time when India did not have official relations with Israel, like other nations who supported the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. India's solidarity with the Palestinian movement began even before 1948, for Indian leaders opposed the 1917 Balfour Declaration to establish a Jewish state on Palestinian land. In fact, in 1946, Gandhi wrote that Jewish settlers "have erred grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism ... Why should they resort to terrorism to make good their forcible landing in Palestine?" Gandhi was referring to Zionist terrorist organizations, such as the Irgun and Stern gangs. It is ironic that today, a romanticized notion of Gandhian non-violent resistance is used as a weapon to condemn Palestinian resistance.

India was host to many PLO members and Palestinian students in exile who came to study in colleges all over India. India was in fact the first non-Arab nation to recognize the PLO in the United Nations, expressing solidarity with other anti-colonialist struggles during the Non-Aligned Movement era, as documented by Vijay Prashad in Namaste Sharon: Hindutva and Sharonism Under U.S. Hegemony. Even though India unofficially recognized Israel in this period by allowing an Israeli consulate in Bombay, Nehru's closeness to Arab nationalist leader Abdul Gamel Nasser led the Congress to distance itself from Israel. In fact, India voted to censure Zionism as Racism in the UN in 1975.

The landscape has changed since the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in India in 1988 and established official relationships between India and Israel, deepening the military and economic ties that were already in place. India now buys half of its arms from Israel, making it Israel's biggest customer. It is thus funding the Israeli occupation, because the Israeli economy rests on its defense industry, its main export, as well as the inflow of US tax dollars. The military agreements, collaboration on nuclear and missile defense, and sharing of intelligence has continued even with the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. India and Israel have found a shared enemy to target in their respective "anti-terrorism" operations, conflating Kashmir and Pakistan with Palestine, and also common agreement on a framework that has gained global currency with Bush's "war on terrorism," resulting in the new "India-Israel-US axis."

Srinath, Visakhapatnam - India said...

Dear Riaz,

Given your multifariuos qualifications and academic achievments that have served you well all these years, you should give a thought to promoting the cause of education in Pakistan, India & Indians do not share your views about the "anti-muslim" feelings that you constantly say exist. You will see more of our Indian Muslims educated & happy to lead a peaceful life. It is only those who are illiterate ( educated or otherwise )that align themselves to a fanatical cause. What you folks seriuosly need in Pakistan is an atmosphere of knowledge & progress, not one of religious fanaticism and human digression.
As some said " Knowledge is power" & "with great power comes greater responsibility"............stop your India bashing spree & look towards creating an environment of progress in Pakistan. Young Pakistanis & most Indians will welcome any initiative you decide to take in this regard.

Anonymous said...

My reason for writing these posts is simple, really: I want Pakistan to be a progressive state, with positive relations with all its neighbors, as well as the rest of the world. That necessarily means clarifying perceptions that I might see as untrue.
A tall order, admittedly, given the negative perception of the country and doubts that Pakistan may not even survive.
But the first step is to understand the truth of what is happening in the region, and to do that the question to ask is: Who benefits?
I may be wrong. If so, I am willing to listen to alternative viewpoints. Let's assume for the sake of argument that what I said was all 'conspiracy theory' etc. We would then need an alternative 'sensible' explanation and solution:
So, is India, indeed, magnanimous and altruistic in its spending of billions toward Afghanistan infrastructure, electric grids, education programs for Afghans, etc?Perhaps.
There's also this: that it's along with the two modern Indian air bases in Northern Afghanistan, the 14+ 'consulates' all along the Afghan-Pakistan border, the 'special' Afghan students in India, the creation of RAAM along the lines of RAW with Northern Alliance men, the frequent (photographed) visits of Baloch separatist leaders in Indian consulates, the bombers of mosques and shrines who have been followed, tracked and found to have ties to Indian 'consulates').
Who benefits? Is it true that the militant activity is blowback for Pakistan from its militant creations?
Yes, true. But who is funding/arming them now? Because after Pakistan went against them under pressure from the US, they turned against Pakistan, which was the only possible outcome. Whose strategy did this fulfil?
Who benefits?
Another element in the mix: Who created Jundallah? Who funds and arms it? After they killed several Iranian generals, Pakistan captured and turned over some of their leaders to Iran. Care to guess their funding?
Who benefits?

As regards Deobandi, Wahabbi, Naqshbandi, Cheshire cats, Muggles or any other ilk: These are just red herrings. They are levers to use and pull, in order to get the poor ignorant sods to blow themselves up by reinforcing their twisted beliefs.
The real question is: who is pulling the levers?
Who benefits?

But these are merely smaller subsets in the new overall "Great Game" which is what seems to be happening.

1. The present "Great Game" is control and access routes to oil/energy and the region for the next 40 or so years until alternative sources are developed
2. To provide a market for the military products of the military-industrial complex by perpetual war.
There is no intention of leaving the region.
The main competitors/players battling for access/control of the region are the US, China and the partners of these two. Within this battle are the subsets of regional conflicts.
China’s building of the port in Gwadar, Balochistan gives it direct access to the Persian Gulf and allows it a cheaper route for its energy needs. The only way to block this is to control Pakistan. One method to ‘control’ Pakistan was suggested by Maj. Ralph Peters in his now infamous redrawn map of the region which advocated a break-up of Pakistan.
India, ready and willing, is the means by which the break-up of Pakistan is being envisaged, through its ‘consulates’ in Afghanistan that fund the militant groups (the Baloch groups, the Pakistani Taliban, etc) which are bombing Pakistani cities, Shia/Sunni mosques, Sufi shrines etc. Mercenaries are already in place inside Pakistan.
Negative media portrayal of Pakistan is another important component to prepare the public should a war take place. They will be more accepting of a war on a country that has a negative image.
It is no coincidence that such portrayals are already at a high level, and that some violent incidents take place when needed.

Riaz Haq said...

India is joining US in stifling Iran trade, according to a WSJ report today:

The Reserve Bank of India instructed the country's lenders Monday to stop processing current-account transactions with Iran using the ACU. Last Friday, the central bank said Indian firms can't use the ACU mechanism when making payments for the import of oil or gas. While the earlier order didn't explicitly mention Iran, the Islamic republic is the only major crude exporter in the ACU.

Iran has ramped up its use of the clearinghouse by more than 50% this year compared to last year, after it advertised the clearinghouse to Iranian and Indian firms in early 2009 as a way to avoid having to use dollars for their transactions and thus "sidestep the U.S. banking system altogether."

The U.S. Treasury has regularly raised the issue with India for more than a year, according to officials briefed on the exchanges. Those conversations accelerated after President Barack Obama's visit to India in early November, when he endorsed India's bid to become a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council and join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the informal body that controls the trade in nuclear technologies.

The U.S. has been pushing allies to tighten the squeeze on Iran, whose nuclear program has aroused international fears. The U.N., the U.S. and the European Union began enacting new sanctions on Tehran in June. U.S. and European officials have said in recent weeks that they believe sanctions are exacting a growing toll on Iran. The Iranian currency dropped nearly 10% in October, as Iranian traders scrambled to obtain dollars. Iran's largest shipping company defaulted on over $500 million in debt in recent months as international insurers have refused to underwrite their cargoes.

Still, the long-term impact of the latest step by India and other recent sanctions remains unclear.

Riaz Haq said...

Here are some excerpts from an Op Ed piece "The US as Israel's Enabler in the Middle East" by KATHLEEN CHRISTISON:

Before the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the United States never considered that Egypt was quite the strategic asset that it became when it surrendered its military capability in the interests of Israel. The same can be said about the United States’ relations with several other Arab states. Its involvement in Lebanon over the years -- including its effort to remove Syrian forces from Lebanon --
---
The recent Wikileaks releases of State Department cables and particularly al-Jazeera’s release of a raft of Palestinian documents dealing with negotiations over the last decade also demonstrate with striking clarity how hard the United States works, and has always worked, to help Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process. U.S. support for Israel has never been a secret, becoming less and less so in recent years, but the leaked documents provide the most dramatic picture yet of the United States’ total disdain for all Palestinian negotiating demands and its complete helplessness in the face of Israeli refusal to make concessions. It is striking to note from these papers that the U.S. role as “Israel’s lawyer” -- a description coined by Aaron David Miller after his involvement in negotiations during the Clinton era -- is the same whether the administration is Bill Clinton’s or George W. Bush’s or Barack Obama’s. Israel’s interests and demands always prevail.

Beyond the Arab world, U.S. policy on Iran is dictated more or less totally by Israel. The pressure to attack Iran -- either a U.S. attack or U.S. support for an Israeli attack -- which has been brought to bear for most of the eight years since the start of the war on Iraq, ...
---
It has been clear to most analysts for years, even decades, that the United States favors Israel, but this reality has never been revealed so explicitly until recent events laid the relationship bare, and laid bare the fact that Israel is at the center of virtually every move the United States makes in the region. There has long been a taboo on talking about these realities, a taboo that has tied the tongues of people like my interlocutor. People do not mention Israel because they might be called anti-Semitic, they might be attacked as “singling out” Israel for criticism; the media fail to discuss Israel and what it does around the Middle East and, most directly, to the Palestinians who live under its rule because this might provoke angry letters to the editor and cancelled subscriptions by Israel supporters. Congressmen will not endanger campaign funds by talking honestly about Israel. And so Israel is taken off everyone’s radar screen. Progressives may “mention Israel in passing,” as my friend told me, but they do no more. Ultimately, because no one talks about it, everyone stops even thinking about Israel as the prime mover behind so many U.S. policies and actions in the Middle East.

Riaz Haq said...

Arab protesters demand democracy, but not secularism, says Michael Scheuer, former Bin Laden hunter at the CIA:

The Arab world’s unrest has brought forth gushing, rather adolescent analysis about what the region will look like a year or more hence. Americans have decided that these upheavals have everything to do with the advent of liberalism, secularism, and Westernization in the region and that Islamist militant groups like al-Qaeda have been sidelined by the historically inevitable triumph of democracy—a belief that sounds a bit like the old Marxist-Leninist claptrap about iron laws of history and communism’s inexorable triumph.

How has this judgment been reached? Primarily by disregarding facts, logic, and history, and instead relying on (a) the thin veneer of young, educated, pro-democracy, and English-speaking Muslims who can be found on Facebook and Twitter and (b) the employees of the BBC, CNN, and most other media networks, who have suspended genuine journalism in favor of cheerleading for secularism and democracy on the basis of a non-representative sample of English-speaking street demonstrators and users of social-networking sites. The West’s assessment of Arab unrest so far has been—to paraphrase Sam Spade’s comment about the Maltese Falcon—the stuff that dreams, not reality, are made of.

A year from now, we will find that most Arab Muslims have neither embraced nor installed what they have long regarded as an irreligious and even pagan ideology—secular democracy. They will have instead adhered even more closely to the faith that has graced, ordered, and regulated their lives for more than 1400 years, and which helped them endure the oppressive rule of Western-supported tyrants and kleptocrats.

This does not mean that fanatically religious regimes will dominate the region, but a seven-year Gallup survey of the Muslim world published in 2007 shows that a greater degree of Sharia law in governance is favored by young and old, moderates and militants, men and even women in most Muslim countries. While a façade of democracy may well appear in new regimes in places like Egypt and Tunisia, their governments will be heavily influenced by the military and by Islamist organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda. If for no other reason, the Islamist groups will have a powerful pull because they have strong organizational capabilities; wide allegiance among the highly educated in the military, hard sciences, engineering, religious faculties, and medicine; and a reservoir of patience for a two-steps-forward, one-step-back strategy that is beyond Western comprehension. We in the West too often forget, for example, that the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda draw from Muslim society’s best and brightest, not its dregs; that al-Qaeda has been waging its struggle for 25 years, the Muslim Brotherhood for nearly 85 years; and that Islam has been in the process of globalizing since the 7th century.

As new Arab regimes develop, Westerners also are likely to find that their own deep sense of superiority over devout Muslims—which is especially strong among the secular left, Christian evangelicals, and neoconservatives—is unwarranted. The nearly universal assumption in the West is that Islamic governance could not possibly satisfy the aspirations of Muslims for greater freedom and increased economic opportunity—this even though Iran has a more representative political system than that of any state in the region presided over by a Western-backed dictator. No regime run by the Muslim Brotherhood would look like Canada, but it would be significantly less oppressive than those run by the al-Sauds and Mubarak. This is not to say it would be similar to or more friendly toward the West—neither will be the case—but in terms of respecting and addressing basic human concerns they will be less monstrous.

Riaz Haq said...

Here's BBC on US Treasury chief Geithner seeking to broaden and deepen ties with India:

The US wants India to become one of its top 10 trading partners, treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said as the two countries agreed on improving access to each other's markets.

He made the remarks after meeting India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the second India-US Economic and Financial Partnership.

India is currently the US' twelfth largest trading partner, with bilateral trade of almost $50bn (£31bn).

US is the world's biggest economy.

"In the United States, we aren't just watching India's rise as an economic power, we support it. We encourage it. And we want to help advance it," Mr Geithner said.

"India's growth is good for us, just as our growth is good for India," he added.
Barriers to growth

However, Mr Geithner said that if trade between the two countries was to rise to the next level, then India needed to open up more sectors of its economy.

US companies have been lobbying to tap into India's lucrative financial and retail sector, but have not been successful so far.

"American companies still face barriers in India in sectors such as banking, insurance, manufacturing, multi-brand retail and infrastructure," Mr Geithner said.

Mr Geithner added that not only were these barriers limiting growth, they were also a hindrance to job creation in both the countries.

However, Mr Mukherjee said that given the political situation in India it was not easy to introduce reforms in key sectors.

"We do not have a simple, single-party majority in legislature and in parliament," he said.

"We shall have to carry other people with us and we are exactly trying to do that," Mr Mukherjee added.

Despite the limitations expressed by the Indian finance minister, Mr Geithner said he was happy with the overall outcome of the bilateral meeting.

"The single most important take away is the commitment of both governments to work hard to expand deepen this relationship," he said.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13954315

Riaz Haq said...

Here are some excepts from an article Jayshree Bajoria of Council on Foreign Relations:

..... Experts say RAW's powers and its role in India's foreign policy have varied under different prime ministers. Successes that RAW claims it contributed to include:

* the creation of Bangladesh in 1971;
* India's growing influence in Afghanistan;
* Sikkim's accession to India in the northeast in 1975;
* the security of India's nuclear program;
* the success of African liberation movements during the Cold War.
----
RAW had two priorities after its formation, writes B. Raman, a former RAW official, in the 2007 book ,The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane. The organization worked to strengthen its capability for intelligence gathering on Pakistan and China and for covert action in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Some experts say that RAW's efforts in East Pakistan, which was created from the partition of the Indian state of Bengal and completely separated from the rest of Pakistan, was aimed at fomenting independence sentiment. Over time, RAW's objectives have broadened to include:

* Monitoring the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security and in the formulation of its foreign policy.
* Seeking the control and limitation of the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, mostly from European countries, the United States, and China.
----
RAW had two priorities after its formation, writes B. Raman, a former RAW official, in the 2007 book ,The Kaoboys of R&AW: Down Memory Lane. The organization worked to strengthen its capability for intelligence gathering on Pakistan and China and for covert action in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Some experts say that RAW's efforts in East Pakistan, which was created from the partition of the Indian state of Bengal and completely separated from the rest of Pakistan, was aimed at fomenting independence sentiment. Over time, RAW's objectives have broadened to include:

* Monitoring the political and military developments in adjoining countries, which have direct bearing on India's national security and in the formulation of its foreign policy.
* Seeking the control and limitation of the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, mostly from European countries, the United States, and China.
----
From the early days, RAW had a secret liaison relationship with the Mossad, Israel's external intelligence agency. The main purpose was to benefit from Israel's knowledge of West Asia and North Africa, and to learn from its counterterrorism techniques, say experts.
------------
In retaliation, in the mid-1980s, RAW set up two covert groups of its own, Counter Intelligence Team-X (CIT-X) and Counter Intelligence Team-J (CIT-J), the first targeting Pakistan in general and the second directed at Khalistani groups. The two groups were responsible for carrying out terrorist operations inside Pakistan (Newsline), writes Pakistani military expert Ayesha Siddiqa. Indian journalist and associate editor of Frontline magazine, Praveen Swami, writes that a "low-grade but steady campaign of bombings in major Pakistani cities, notably Karachi and Lahore" was carried out. This forced the head of ISI to meet his counterpart in RAW and agree on the rules of engagement as far as Punjab was concerned, writes Siddiqa. The negotiation was brokered by then-Jordanian Crown Prince Hassan bin-Talal, whose wife, Princess Sarvath, is of Pakistani origin. "It was agreed that Pakistan would not carry out activities in the Punjab as long as RAW refrained from creating mayhem and violence inside Pakistan," Siddiqa writes.

..... experts point out that India has supported insurgents in Pakistan's Balochistan, as well as anti-Pakistan forces in Afghanistan.....-------....


http://www.cfr.org/india/raw-indias-external-intelligence-agency/p17707

Riaz Haq said...

Here's an MSNBC report about US contingency plans to "secure" Pakistani nuclear weapons:

It’s no secret that the United States has a plan to try to grab Pakistan’s nuclear weapons -- if and when the president believes they are a threat to either the U.S. or U.S. interests. Among the scenarios seen as most likely: Pakistan plunging into internal chaos, terrorists mounting a serious attack against a nuclear facility, hostilities breaking out with India or Islamic extremists taking charge of the government or the Pakistan army.

In the aftermath of the bin Laden raid, U.S. military officials have testified before Congress about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and the threat posed by “loose nukes” – nuclear weapons or materials outside the government’s control. And earlier Pentagon reports also outline scenarios in which U.S. forces would intervene to secure nuclear weapons that were in danger of falling into the wrong hands.

But out of fear of further antagonizing an important ally, officials have simultaneously tried to tone down the rhetoric by stressing progress made by Islamabad on the security front.

Such discussions of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, now believed to consist of as many as 115 nuclear bombs and missile warheads, have gotten the attention of current and former Pakistani officials. In an interview with NBC News early this month, Musharraf warned that a snatch-and-grab operation would lead to all-out war between the countries, calling it “total confrontation by the whole nation against whoever comes in.”

“These are assets which are the pride of Pakistan, assets which are dispersed and very secure in very secure places, guarded by a corps of 18,000 soldiers,” said a combative Musharraf, who led Pakistan for nearly a decade and is again running for president. “… (This) is not an army which doesn't know how to fight. This is an army which has fought three wars. Please understand that.”

Pervez Hoodboy, Pakistan’s best known nuclear physicist and a human rights advocate, rarely agrees with the former president. But he, too, says a U.S. attempt to take control of Pakistan’s nukes would be foolhardy.

“They are said to be hidden in tunnels under mountains, in cities, as well as regular air force and army bases,” he said. “A U.S. snatch operation could trigger war; it should never be attempted.”

Despite such comments, interviews with current and former U.S. officials, military reports and even congressional testimony indicate that Pakistan’s weaponry has been the subject of continuing discussions, scenarios, war games and possibly even military exercises by U.S. intelligence and special operations forces regarding so-called “snatch-and-grab” operations.

“It’s safe to assume that planning for the worst-case scenario regarding Pakistan nukes has ready taken place inside the U.S. government,” said Roger Cressey, former deputy director of counterterrorism in the Clinton and Bush White House and an NBC News consultant. “This issue remains one of the highest priorities of the U.S. intelligence community ... and the White House.”


http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/03/7189919-us-prepares-for-worst-case-scenario-with-pakistan-nukes

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a Rediff report on Israeli help for India during Kargil:

In a startling revelation, the Israeli Ambassador in New Delhi, Mark Sofer, has said that his country had assisted India in 'turning around' the situation during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.

In an interview with a weekly, the envoy disclosed how defence ties between the two countries got a boost after Kargil when Israel came to India's rescue at a critical time, helping turn around the situation on the ground.

'I think we proved to the Indian government that you can rely on us, that we have the wherewithal. A friend in need is a friend indeed,' he said.

He also disclosed that Indo-Israeli defence ties would go beyond mere selling-buying of arms.

'We do have a defence relationship with India, which is no secret. What is secret is what the defence relationship is? And with all due respect, the secret part will remain secret,' he said in the interview to Outlook weekly magazine.


http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/08kargil.htm

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a NY Times story of love for Hitler in India:

What’s wrong with naming your business after Adolf Hitler?

So asks Rajesh Shah, the co-owner of Hitler, a menswear store in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which opened earlier this month.

Mr. Shah said in a telephone interview that his shop is named after his business partner’s grandfather, who was nicknamed Hitler after he acted the role in a college play. The name stuck, owing to the grandfather’s strict disposition.

Now the name adorns the banner of his grandson’s shop, complete with a tilted swastika sign. (An upright swastika is regularly used as a Hindu symbol, a practice that predates Nazi Germany by hundreds of years).

Members of Ahmedabad’s tiny Jewish community, who number less than five hundred, have approached the store about renaming it, calling the German leader a monster, Mr. Shah said. But so far Mr. Shah and his co-owner have resisted a change.

“None of the other people are complaining, only a few Jewish families. I have not hurt any sentiments of the majority Hindu community. If he did something in Germany, is that our concern?” Mr. Shah asked.

He said he thought Hitler was a “good, catchy” name for his shop. In fact, his business plan seems to include cashing in on the name to attract customers. “We have not written anything below the sign or on our cards to indicate what we sell to generate mystery,” he said. “The customers who come in tell me they came in seeing the name.”

So far, business is good, Mr. Shah said.

If the Jewish community really wants the name changed, they can pay for it, Mr. Shah said. “I have spent too much on branding for my shop,” he said.

The Ahmedabad store is one of a handful of Indian businesses named after the Nazi dictator. Owners seem to have picked the name more for shock value than an embrace of or admiration for Nazism.

Baljit Singh Osan, the owner of a pool parlor called Hitler’s Den in Nagpur, Maharashtra, said the name is what has made it famous all over town.

Mr. Osan, who opened the pool hall six years ago, said he settled on “Hitler’s Den” because he was looking for a unique name, something that had recall value. He said he did not sympathize with the German dictator or his beliefs, but still he refused to change the name when the Jewish community in Nagpur protested.

“If I name my son ‘Hitler’ and I wanted to start a business in his name, would they have a problem with that?” Mr. Osan said. “There are no laws like that in our country.”

In an e-mail interview with The Times of India last year, David Goldfarb, the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, said of Mr. Osan’s business: “We can only assume that the owners of this new establishment are unaware of the horrendous meaning of the usage of Nazi themes and insignia for commercial gain.”

A television serial on Zee TV about a dictatorial woman, which began in 2011, also uses the name of the German leader in the title: “Hitler Didi,” or “Hitler Sister.” It was renamed “General Didi” in December 2011, after the Anti-Defamation League in New York protested the original title. The name change affects only its broadcasts in the United States, though. In India, it is still called “Hitler Didi.”


http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/in-india-businesses-named-after-hitler-defend-their-decision/

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a piece from American Thinker on close India-Israel tied:

There is also a blossoming military and commercial relationship between India and Israel. Israel is India's second largest arms supplier after Russia, and Israeli-Indian military cooperation extends to technology upgrades, joint research, intelligence cooperation, and even space (in 2008, India launched a 300-kilogram Israeli satellite into orbit). Israel has upgraded India's Soviet-era armor and aircraft and provided India with sea-to-sea missiles, radar, and other surveillance systems, border monitoring equipment, night vision devices, and other military support. Bilateral trade reached U.S. $6 billion last year and negotiations began this year for a free trade agreement.
Israeli-Indian cooperation in agriculture and water technology is growing both through government-sponsored initiatives and private business deals. Last year, Israeli and Indian government institutions jointly launched an online network that provides real-time communications between Indian farmers and Israeli agricultural technology experts, and Israel is in the process of setting up 28 agricultural training centers throughout India. Israeli Professor Yoram Oren has been studying the potential use of nano-filtration to filter out harmful textile dyes from India's polluted Noyyal River. Last June, a delegation of 16 high-ranking Indian officials from the water authorities of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Goa, and Haryana traveled to Israel to visit waste-water treatment plants and meet with some of Israel's leading environmentalists and agronomists to learn about the desert country's newest green technologies.

Tata Industries, the multi-billion-dollar Indian company, recently invested $5 million to kick-start the Technology Innovation Momentum Fund at Tel Aviv University's Ramot technology transfer company. Tata Industries hopes to capitalize on future Israeli innovation, like the algorithm for error correction in flash memory (which is one of the patents filed by Ramot and now inside billions of dollars worth of SanDisk products).
These are but a few examples of the remarkable cooperation between India and Israel. Such a synergistic relationship is unsurprising, given the historically harmonious relations between the peoples of Israel and India.
---
With the ongoing security threats posed by India's nuclear-armed rival, Pakistan, the Kashmir conflict (which recently claimed five Indian soldiers), and potential conflict with the other Asian heavyweight (China), India needs the kind of military edge that Israel can help it to obtain. Insofar as India provides an Asian counterweight to Chinese dominance, a powerful India bolstered by Israeli technological expertise is also in the interest of smaller Asian countries and the United States.
One area where India could deepen its alliance with both Israel and the U.S. is on the issue of Iranian nukes. India, the second largest importer of Iranian crude oil after China, won its third 180-day waiver from U.S. sanctions last June after reducing its oil purchases from Iran. But in 2012, Iran and India agreed to trade in rupees for shipments of oil, rice, sugar and soybeans, to circumvent U.S. financial sanctions on Iranian oil shipments. And Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals is now reportedly receiving a cargo of Iranian crude, after a 4-month hiatus, with Hindostan Petroleum also restarting imports soon. Iran may also become the top buyer of soybean meal from India for a second straight year, as Iran turns to Asia's biggest exporter to replace imports disrupted by Western sanctions....


http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/india_israel_and_iran.html

Anonymous said...

Israeli Ambassador Mark Sofer in 08 said Israel helped India in turning around the situation in Kargil War by providing the much needed imagery of Pakistani army positions . ’We do have a defence relationship with India, which is no secret. What is secret is what the defence relationship is ? And with all due respeThis led to embassy level relations between India and Israel in 1992 . Everyone was startled when Israeli Ambassador Mark Sofer to an interview in 2008 said that Israel helped India in turning around the situation in Kargil War . Israel helped Indian Army by providing the much needed imagery of Pakistani army positions . ’We do have a defence relationship with India, which is no secret. What is secret is what the defence relationship is ? And with all due respect, the secret part will remain secret.” said Mark Sofer in an interview to Outlook Magazine.ct, the secret part will remain secret.” said Mark Sofer in an interview to Outlook Magazine.

Israel provided India with Laser Guidance Kits for dumb bombs (Mark 82, 83 etc.) as well as some Laser guided bombs. These kits were the reason that India could bomb Pakistan's major logistics base located on a very sharp ridge on the mountains. This attack with precision weapons significantly weekend Pakistan's military position Kargil. Later US followed with sale of similar equipment to India.

Riaz Haq said...

NEW DELHI:India-Israel ties, which have been improving steadily in last few years, is now out in the open under the Modi government, according to Israel's new Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon.

Both countries have now more visibility in relations and ties are more talked about in open under the current the BJP-led government compared to the last decade, he said, adding that while bilateral relations have been productive in the past decade and growing across sectors, there is more vi ..

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/45737779.cms

Riaz Haq said...

#Israel will partner #India to develop missile system

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Israel-will-partner-India-to-develop-missile-system/articleshow/47364242.cms … via @timesofindia

NEW DELHI: India is close to finalizing another mega military project with Israel, which will further bolster the already expansive but secretive defence cooperation under way between the two countries since the 1999 Kargil conflict.

Defence ministry sources on Wednesday said the contract negotiation committee had now virtually sealed the joint development of a medium-range surface-to-air missile system (MR-SAM) for the Indian Army through collaboration between DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries.

Defence PSU Bharat Dynamics, in turn, will undertake bulk production of the systems in India. Incidentally, Israel is among the top defence suppliers to India, having already inked deals and projects worth around $10 billion over the last 15 years, which range from spy and armed drones to sophisticated missile and radar systems.

During his visit to India in February, Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya'alon had even offered the advanced Iron Dome interceptor, which was used to intercept the flurry of rockets fired into his country last year, for PM Narendra Modi's Make in India policy.

Riaz Haq said...

#Israel complains of #EU ban on Jewish settlement products, but not on products from #India "occupied" #Kashmir. http://nation.com.pk/national/11-Nov-2015/kashmir-an-occupied-territory-israel …

Israel has acknowledged that Kashmir is an occupied territory, accusing European Union of imposing double standards on different territories.
The EU has announced a plan to impose labelling on goods produced in Jewish settlements on occupied land. The EU does not recognise Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, lands it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
The EU says the labelling policy aims to distinguish between goods made inside the internationally accepted borders of Israel and those made outside.
“This is a discriminatory policy,” said Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, responding to EU’s stance, adding that the EU labelling is not enforced in other places of occupation, such as northern Cyprus, Western Sahara, Kashmir or Tibet.
Israeli ministers have cast the EU’s plans as akin to a boycott of Israel, regarding it as little different to the boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS) movement that Palestinians - who seek a state on occupied land including the West Bank and East Jerusalem - have advocated in recent years.
Some EU countries already affix labels to Israeli goods, differentiating between those from Israel and those, particularly fruits and vegetables, that come from the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. If the Commission goes ahead on Wednesday, all 28 member states would have to apply labels.

Riaz Haq said...

#Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu: “We (#Israel) are not enemies of #Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either.” #NetanyahuInIndia #India https://tribune.com.pk/story/1612753/1-pakistan-not-behave-like-enemy-towards-israel-israeli-pm-netanyahu/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed suggestions that his country’s partnership with India is a threat to Pakistan, saying, “We (Israel) are not enemies of Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either.”

Contrary to some media reports, the Israeli PM in an interview with Times Now categorically stated that Israel is not an enemy of Pakistan.

Netanyahu made the response while responding to a question regarding Pakistan issuing “a very bellicose statement” on the Israeli premier’s visit to India.


To a question on whether Israel would endorse India if it undertakes a ‘surgical strike’ against Pakistan, Netanyahu said, “We have some understanding,” before changing the subject.

Netanyahu also clarified that Israel’s partnership with India is directed to four things and not to some specific country. “Its directed to achieve greater prosperity and greater security for our people, better health, cleaner air, clean water, more productive crops, more milk per cow,” he said.

Throughout, the interview the Israeli PM emphasised that his visit to India had an economic focus rather than a military one. He skirted around a question on whether Israel would support India if it launched an attack on Pakistan.

He also claimed, “Israel is no longer viewed by most Arab countries as an enemy, but as an indispensable ally in their battle against radicalism.”

Riaz Haq said...

VOICES IN #PAKISTAN: LIKE #INDIA, WE TOO CAN HAVE TIES WITH BOTH #PALESTINE AUTHORITY AND #ISRAEL. #ModiInPalestine #netanyahuinindia

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Voices-in-Pakistan-We-can-also-have-ties-with-PA-and-Israelis-542118

fter rolling out a royal welcome for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in India last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to Ramallah on Saturday, leaving some in Pakistan – India’s archrival – asking whether a formula of maintaining constructive ties with both sides is something Pakistan should adopt.

While Pakistan has strong ties with the Palestinians, it has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

The two countries flirted between 2004 and 2005 when Gen. Pervez Musharraf was president.

But that flirtation, which peaked with a public meeting of both country’s foreign ministers in Turkey in 2005, petered out because of considerable domestic problems inside Pakistan and Musharraf’s resignation in 2008.

India’s formula is not overly complicated: Historic ties with the Palestinians does not mean that there must be no relationship with Israel, and good ties with Israel does not mean cutting off the Palestinians.

This policy will be on full display on Saturday when Modi starts a three-stop visit in the region – the Palestinian Authority, Oman and the United Arab Emirates – by going to Ramallah for a few hours. This will be what the Indians call a stand-alone visit, with the Indian president going only to Ramallah and not coming to Israel. In July, Modi came to Israel for a three-day visit without going to the PA.

In an op-ed this week in Pakistan’s The Daily Times, columnist Mohsin Saleem Ullah, who is a student at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, wrote – under the headline “Is trade between Pakistan and Israel possible? – that “praiseworthy eco-political syncretism” has developed Israel and India.

“These relations are predominantly the outcome of converging interests,” he wrote, adding that “a symbiotic union has developed – India’s free markets and multifarious needs are irresistible to Israeli enterprises keen to set up their franchises abroad.

India now endues [sic] Israel to dispense many of the technologies it needs to cater to its vast population.”

According to Ullah, “New Delhi’s tech relationship with Tel Aviv hasn’t gone unobserved and perhaps surprisingly, one country that has observed it and may imitate the relationship in the future is Pakistan.”

Ullah wrote that India’s government and business leaders ditched their previous reluctance to deal with Israel when they realized that Israel’s technology can help India’s people live better lives.

“The cost versus benefit analysis that made India conquer its historic Israel-aversion is now being embraced, at least to some extent, by Pakistan,” he wrote.

“In recent months, countless articles and statements by Pakistani pundits and scholars – and even political figures – have depicted a courageous attempt by appearing on mainstream Pakistani talk shows to voice support for Islamabad to follow New Delhi’s example.”

Ullah said Pakistanis endorsing better ties argue that Israel can help their country not only with technology but also with its international relations.

“The Jewish community all around the world can help Pakistan to elevate its image as an emerging friendly nation,” he wrote, quoting an “advocate for opening ties with Israel.”

Another opinion piece in the same paper in late January by columnist Muhammad Tahir Iqbal said while India pursues ties based on “foreign policy pragmatism,” Pakistan’s policy is “often determined by religio- political and ideological” sentiments. “Pakistan has always been inimical to Israel in open support to Palestine at every forum.”

Riaz Haq said...

NPR Correspondent Diaa Hadid: "How I Moved My Cat From #Israel To #Pakistan? I paid an #Israeli vet, apparently an ex #Mossad agent, to do it!" https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/02/10/583366242/how-i-moved-my-cat-from-israel-to-pakistan

I recently hunched over my desk lunch and typed: How to get a cat from Israel to Pakistan.

This is not a question that Google easily answers. There are no holiday packages from Israel to Pakistan — no direct flights, and no diplomatic relations.

But here I was, asking the Internet weird questions at NPR's Washington, D.C., headquarters in June. I was being trained there before I was to be dispatched as their Islamabad-based correspondent. Most of my worldly possessions — and my cat — were in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, where I was previously based as a Mideast correspondent for The New York Times.

Foreign correspondents are famous for adopting cats. It's a quixotic proclivity, because of how frequently we travel. But no other correspondent I've heard of had tried something like this. And I asked all the cat-loving correspondents I could find.

Finally, through the company Animal Airways, I reached Eytan Kreiner, an Israeli veterinarian. I explained the pickle I was in.

"Don't worry. We are experts in taking animals to enemy countries," he said in a thick Israeli accent. I imagined an aged Mossad operative.

"We just took a dog to Iran," he said. "We have an underground network of vets who help us. Everybody is sympathetic to animals. Even enemies."

Kreiner said he could fly my cat from Israel to a third country. They would change his papers and then fly him to Pakistan. I dutifully paid $350 to start the process.

My cat Shawareb — Arabic for "mustache" — was an accidental acquisition.

In 2015, I lived in the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank. There, one of my roommates brought him home: a stray, mewing, gray-striped fur ball with enormous green eyes. I liked him but I wanted nothing to do with him.

I grew up with countless cats in the yard of my parent's home in Canberra, Australia. In the late 1980s, my father, a postman, went broke and the cats became a luxury. Instead of cat food, we gave them scraps of meat from the sheep that Dad slaughtered for halal meat.

The cats were a burden. Dad abandoned a few at the local dump, but let two or three stay. I think he saw how much they meant to me. I didn't have many friends, and I spent my school lunchtimes in the library reading books. At home, the cats were reliable company.

But I developed nasty allergies as a teenager. Cat hair triggered violent sneezing. My eyes watered and my skin itched. My parents gave the last cats away. I didn't touch another feline for two decades.

Then I moved to Ramallah. It's a fun place, with hipster bars and country outings, but I had few friends. I was lonely. My old childhood yearning for a friendly cat welled up inside. My roommate lost interest in the kitten and soon I was letting him sit on my desk as I wrote. I took two or three antihistamines a day to breathe. He slept curled into a ball near my shoulder. I took more pills. I took to calling him "Shawareb" for his funny kitten mustache.

I knew he was mine when he got sick — a tooth infection left him a smelly, mangy mess. I drove him to Jerusalem to see a vet. He removed most of Shawareb's teeth and charged me $400.

Riaz Haq said...

Christopher Clary
@clary_co
A bit of a tour d'horizon of India-Israel Aerospece Industries cooperation in the Indian Express the other day. "The reporter was in Israel at the invitation of the Embassy of Israel in New Delhi." A few highlights. /1

https://twitter.com/clary_co/status/1595067490694045697?s=20&t=eh-ePoRuzHrlqM1h0gCXlg
------------------

From UAVs to refuellers: How Israel is helping India keep an eye on LAC
These days, Avi Bleser, vice-president of marketing for India at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), says he is working closely with the Indian Army and Indian Air Force to tailor solutions for their defence needs.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/from-uavs-to-refuellers-how-israel-is-helping-india-keep-an-eye-on-lac-8272676/

-----------------


Christopher Clary
@clary_co
IAI is working closely with India on "the induction of Heron MK II, a state-of-the-art UAV that can fly at a height of 35,000 feet, cover a radius of 1000 km, see through dense clouds, work in bad weather & fly for 45 hours. It’s learnt that MK IIs are being deployed in Leh." /2

https://twitter.com/clary_co/status/1595067492157849600?s=20&t=eh-ePoRuzHrlqM1h0gCXlg

-------------------


Christopher Clary
@clary_co
"Last year, the Indian Army had also taken on lease Heron TPs, a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) for all-weather missions, from IAI. Heron TP drones are one of the two drones made in Israel that can be armed, if needed." /3

---------

Christopher Clary
@clary_co
"The IAI and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have signed a joint venture whereby IAI will not only offer UAVs to India, but also help HAL in manufacturing them in India." /4


-----------------

Christopher Clary
@clary_co
"Earlier this year, HAL signed [an MoU] with IAI to convert civil passenger aircraft into a multi-mission tanker transport for air refuelling with cargo & transport capabilities. The MoU also covers conversion of passenger planes into freighter aircraft." /end

Riaz Haq said...

India, Israel, and Geopolitical Imaginaries of Cooperation and Oppression
Author: Nitasha Kaul
Date Published: June 17, 2022

https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2022/06/17/india-israel-and-geopolitical-imaginaries-of-cooperation-and-oppression/

Portrayals of India and Israel as strategic partners or allies in the oppression of Kashmiris and Palestinians often suggest that India emulates Israel in how it manages oppression. Yet, the designation of Israel as a unique source of learning for oppression limits the recognition of the indigenous Indian nature of the long-standing ideological and technological infrastructures of occupation in Kashmir. We must eschew simplistic geopolitical imaginaries of cooperation and oppression and pay greater attention to the similarities as well as the differences across contexts.

The contemporary global moment requires us to be alert to the multiple trajectories of repression. Tactics and technologies circulate amongst and between democracies and authoritarian regimes. Russian and Chinese models of digital authoritarianism have been regionally exported, and there has been Indian and Chinese mutual learning on modalities of repression. These circulations occur along supra- and intra-statal pathways, and via traffic in both economically profitable weapons and ideologies. To attend to these trajectories, we must carefully examine the preferred narratives adopted by the states as well as those offered by resistance and solidarity movements across national boundaries. In this context, the relationship between India and Israel is notable for how the two countries are celebrated as friendly partners for strategic cooperation, or alternatively, critiqued as allies for the parallel oppressions of Kashmiris and Palestinians.

The ties between India and Israel present a systematic divergence between official accounts of these relations and the perspectives of critical resistance scholarship on Palestine and Kashmir. The official story in the media unsurprisingly focuses on the mutually fertile and growing cooperation between India and Israel as strategic partners at every level of investment from infrastructure, innovation, and defense to people-to-people interaction. The bilateral trade between the two countries has been steadily increasing, and apart from growth in collaborative ventures, there is the imminent possibility of the conclusion of longstanding negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. Then, there is the resonance at the level of political leadership. The meeting between Netanyahu and Modi was perceived as a bromance between these leaders of deeply illiberal projects; the right-wing majoritarian nationalist projects championed by the regimes in the two countries both portray themselves as beleaguered by Islamists and resolute in combating terrorism.

On the other hand, there is no dearth of critical narratives that point to Kashmir and Palestine as being symmetrical occupations; here the focus is on the ways in which the oppressed populations in both cases are Muslims and oppressors are non-Muslims. India is the largest buyer of Israeli weapons and Israel is the second largest supplier to India; Israeli drones are used in Kashmir (one unmanned aerial vehicle called the Heron was specially adapted for such use). Indian forces have used Israeli Tavor rifles in 2008, used Spice-2000 guidance technology in the aftermath of Pulwama attacks in Kashmir in 2019, and bought Pegasus from Israel that same year.

Although these two portrayals of India and Israel as strategic partners for cooperation or allies in the oppression of Kashmiris and Palestinians are manifestly different, they have one important point in common. Both these narratives (often explicitly) suggest that India copies from Israel in the ways in which it manages oppression.