Chinese Jumbo jets and aviation dominance

The Chinese have moved from light and heavy manufacturing to cutting edge military aircraft to the aviation industry. Chinese first produces small aircraft, but since 2007 it has now set its sights on the Jumbo Jets, the largest civil aviation aircraft in the industry.

 

Within a few years, the Chinese will conquer the summit of technological prowess–something that eludes even the Japanese. Once the Jumbo is built and flying, Red China of Mao Ze Dung will be able to transport the worlds passengers one one airport to the other without fear of embargoes or diktats from either the US or Europe. 2018 heralds the Chinese Aviation Century.

 

China aims for aerospace domination

COMACs "C919″: Chinese Jumbo Jet heralds The Chinese Aviation Century

 

They're already putting together aircraft parts for the big names in aviation, and now the Chinese, have set a date for putting themselves alongside the likes of Airbus and Boeing, Rolls Royce and G-E.

 

A four and a half billion US dollar cash injection, into China's aerospace engineering and manufacturing industry earlier this year, will help create a Chinese-made jumbo jet by the year 2014, and a jet engine two years later.

 

Presenter: Bo Hill

 

Speakers: Derek Sadubin from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, He Ren from Melbourne's RMIT University

 

HILL: It's been part of the plan for years, a Chinese aircraft engineering industry capable of designing and building its own jets and their engines. So will the announcement that the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China will be making aircraft and jet engines within a few years have the big names shaking in their boots? Derek Sadubin from the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation says he doubts it.

 

SADUBIN: It's a very large market and the Chinese government will probably be looking to involve them in some way through investment and technology transfer, so it is actually a net benefit for the industry in general to have the Chinese looking to get into this side of the industry.

 

HILL: Designing and building jet engines is a lucrative business, though much of the profits are made in the service and maintenance after installation. Aerospace engineering lecturer, He Ren (hay rin) from Melbourne's RMIT University, says it makes sense for the fastest-growing air transport region in the world to have its own manufacturers.

 

HE: Of course they can purchase from Rolls Royce or other company but they're thinking, you know, for the market prediction in the next 15 years they would like to purchase 2,400 aircraft – that's a big market, a lot of money. If we can build up themselves the capability, that can save a lot of money for them as well.

 

HILL: For the domestic airlines, buying Chinese is not a choice, but an obligation.

 

HE: The airlines are under the market controlled by the government, or government-owned companies. The government will have a big influence to the cooperation.

 

HILL: Asia Pacific aviation specialist, Derek Sadubin agrees.

 

SADUBIN: We suspect the airlines will be directed to buy these engines and aircraft in the future.

 

HILL: But there will definitely be opportunities for foreign-owned manufacturers and technology firms, and lucrative ones at that.

 

SADUBIN: I think the Chinese market will require that many aircraft and engines over the next 20 years that there's more than enough pie for everyone. The Chinese market potential is such that solid growth should be there over the long term.

 

HILL: Aerospace engineering lecturer Dr He Ren (hay rin) says even his students are excited about the potential in China.

 

HE: All the RMIT students who would like to find a job in China in future they do believe the Chinese aviation industry will become very strong. I do believe the Chinese aviation industry will be the third largest and strongest in the world in the next 10 years.

 

HILL: A miniature version of the Chinese-made passenger jet the C919 will be on display at the Asian Aerospace Expo in Hong Kong on Setpember the 8th. Radio Australia

 

It is called the Manufacturing PacManstrategy. Start with parts, and an export engine. Then begin duplicating large machines like the Migs. Reach technological independence and build your own aircraft. China has followed the path perfectly.

 

Chinese Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (CACC) was founded on May the 11th2008 with an opening ceremony in presence of Boeing and Airbus representatives. It has an initial capital of $2.7 billion, one third of which invested by state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission that is the biggest stakeholder of the firm.

 

Jumbo-jets are those high capacity planes, from 200 to 800 passengers, able to cover very long distance routes reaching almost every possible destination. This market has been controlled for years by the Boeing 747 and the new Airbus A-380 aircraft.(Avionews) (042) 090306173632-1100791 (World Aeronautical Press Agency – 2009-03-06 05:36 pm)

 

Like all other Chinese ventures, this one begins wth duplicating as much of Western technology as possible and then slowly moving up the food chain to the top of the line products. The indigenous Jumbo jet will first ues foreign engines, and then begin using domestically produced engines that promise to more powerful than Boeing's engines.

 

(WAPA) – Even if intellectual property, design and assembly of the jumbo-jet project will belong exclusively to China, Chinese Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China general manager, Wu Guangli, stated yesterday (Thursday, March 5th) that parts and materials will be collected worldwide. He invited all the suppliers to cooperate with Chinese enterprises participating in the project. China will keep supervision and control, being able to manage all the available international and local resources. It will take from 8 to 10 years to see these giants take off, but it can't be confirmed at this time, Wu Guangli said. Beijing, China – Anyway supervision, intellectual property, design and assembly will remain totally Chinese. (World Aeronautical Press Agency – 2009-03-06 05:36 pm)The name of the Chinese jet is C919. The jumbo jet has civil as well as military significance. The American Jumbo's were used for the AWAC planes, and also used to transport the Space Shuttle.

 

While Boeing is embroiled in malaise and Airbus is unable to lift its head out of a deep recession, China is embarking on huge development projects like Aircraft Careers and Jumbo Jets. China's Aircraft is genuinely indigenous, unlike the ships of Delhi where the main indigenous part is Tri-Colored Paint.

 

BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua)– China has named its first home-made jumbo jet C919, which will take off in around eight years, its chief designer Wu Guanghui said on Friday.

 

"C represents China as well as COMAC, the abbreviation for Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd," said Wu, who is also the deputy general manager of COMAC, the manufacturer of C919.

 

"The name also reflects our determination to compete in the international market for jumbo jet. C919 comes after Airbus and Boeing, so you will have ABC in the aviation industry," said Wu, apolitical advisor who is here attending the annual session of 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

 

The first 9 in the name implies forever in Chinese culture, while 19 means the first jumbo jet produced by China will have 190seats, he said.

 

Wu said that his company will choose suppliers of engines, airborne equipment, and materials through international bidding, and will encourage foreign suppliers to enter into partnership with Chinese manufacturers.

 

"We will choose foreign-manufactured products like engines at the beginning phase, but we will also independently do the research and manufacturing work at the same time," noted Wu.

 

The Shanghai-based COMAC wasset up in May, 2008 after approval in early 2007 by the State Council, China's Cabinet. It has a registered capital of 19 billion yuan (2.78 billion U.S. dollars), with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission as the biggest shareholder.

 

Wu said the jumbo jet project now involves 47 institutions from China and abroad, and that the preliminary general technical design plan and commercial feasibility study have been completed. China names first jumbo jet C919, to take off in 8 years. www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-06 22:46:00

 

Beijing has now perfected the art of reingineering and has made small aircraft. It has been mass producing fighter aircraftfor a decade. Now it has moved beyond small planes and gone into the business of large commercial aircraft.

 

Asked when the domestic-made jumbo jets can take flight, Wu said that this still cannot be confirmed, but estimates it will occur within 8 to 10 years.

 

By the end of next year, Chinese passengers will be able to fly on the ARJ21, China's independently designed and developed 90-seat regional jet.

 

Wu commented confidently, "The in-cabin experience is similar to jumbo jets with spacious, comfortable seating, and the jet also features low fuel consumption."

 

To date, China has received orders for 208 ARJ21 regional jets from home and abroad. Clients include seven or eight airlines in China.

 

Wu disclosed that the ARJ21 is priced at around 28 million USD each, less than foreign planes of the same type. "The foreign planes are generally priced at around 45 million USD each."By People's Daily Online

World leaders to stand by BD in fight against climate disaster

World leaders to stand by Bangladesh (BD) in fight against climate disaster Hasina assured at meetings with Chinese PM, UN Secretary-General and other leaders Friday December 18 2009 00:16:45 AM BDT World Leaders assured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of standing by Bangladesh in its grim fight against the climate-change impacts on human life, ecology, economy and agriculture.(UNB, Copenhagen) The Prime Minister got the assurances when she attended a joint luncheon hosted by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at his hotel Radisson Blue Scandinavia suite and a breakfast meeting with six international leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at the Bella Centre, the venue for the ongoing UN Climate Conference in the Danish capital Thursday.

Read full article at: http://www.markthetruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=520

Tendulkar panel claims every third Indian is poor

New Delhi: The poor in India have increased by 10 per cent, according to a report by the an expert group headed by former chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Suresh Tendulkar. Tendulkar Committee report says Bihar and Orissa are the worst affected states in term of poverty. The report says that in 2004 poverty in India was actually 10 per cent more than estimated with poverty in rural India at 42 per cent and not 28 per cent as was estimate earlier. So the overall poverty figure is 37 per cent and not 27 per cent as was estimated in 2004 The only silver lining is that there is no change in urban poverty which is 27 per cent.

Article Source: http://www.markthetruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=507&p=901#p901

Pakistan receives first AWACS delivery from Sweden

An Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft.

Pakistan has received the first delivery of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft from Sweden months after India obtained a similarly system from Israel. The first of four Saab-2000 AWACS planes was handed over to the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) on Tuesday, said a spokesman for the force. "The aircraft landed at one of the PAF's main operating bases, marking the achievement of a major milestone in the overall modernization plan of the PAF," the spokesman said in a statement. It's not clear how much Islamabad has paid for the planes. The AWACS can detect high- and medium-altitude aircraft. It can also pick up surface targets over the sea. Pakistan's main rival India received it's first AWACS from Israel in May. The nuclear-armed nations have fought three wars since their independence — more than 60 years ago.

http://www.markthetruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=502

Indian sea based nuclear capability

By Javed Arshad Jawahar Lal Nehru at the time of Independence had envisioned Indian Navy operating with at least three air craft carriers to achieve its strategic interests in Indian Ocean. Whosoever succeeded him as the prime minister, irrespective of his political affiliations, pursued Nehru's vision and worked towards acquisition of air craft carriers for Indian Navy. To add to this vision was her daughter's who in early 70s tasked the Indian Navy to avail all means to ensure that India enjoys dominance over Indian Ocean. Consequently, the Indian nuclear scientists commenced working in 1971 on production of a compact nuclear power plant suitable for installation on nuclear submarines. The construction of nuclear submarines (ATV programme) was started in 1974 and to avail the Russian help a delegation visited Russia in 1982 during which they were introduced to a Russian Charlie Class nuclear powered cruise missile submarine (K-43), the submarine that was later leased to Indian Navy. India rolled out its first of the ATV nuclear submarines named 'Arihant' and became the only sixth country in the world to possess under water nuclear capability. The launching of the nuclear submarine by India with Russian collaboration speaks of the kind of defense relationship that they enjoy with each other. Albeit, the development has altered the balance of power in the region and added a new dimension in Pakistan's threat perception. Since the on board missiles outfit comprise Club and Sagarika missiles with respective ranges from 300 to 1000 kms, the Indian nuclear submarines will be Pakistan specific. There is a need for Pakistan to acquire its own sea based nuclear capability over time to counter the impending threat. Coming back to the Russian connection in Indian Nuclear submarine development it established a training centre for the Indian sailors at Vladivostok in 1982 to train them on handling of nuclear submarines and qualified the first batch in 1983. They were then trained at sea on board K-43 that was later inducted in Indian Navy for two years on lease as INS CHAKRA. The Indian submariners were imparted extensive training on board by a group of thirty Russian experts that remained on board through out its operations with the Indian Navy. INS CHAKRA covered 72000 NMs wherein the on board nuclear reactor remained critical for over 430 days during its service with the Indian Navy. After expiry of the lease of INS CHAKRA in 1990, a similar deal was re-negotiated with the Russians in 2001 with two aims. One, to keep the Indian navy personnel trained on board INS CHAKRA current with the nuclear submarines operations and two, to avail Russian expertise to complete its own ATV. As per the deal, India would fund two under construction nuclear submarines under Project 971 Nerpa (Akula Class nuclear submarines) with the first one to be delivered in 2004. However, the process got delayed and the final terms of agreement were finally signed in 2004 along with the contract for Admiral Gorshkov, the air craft carrier. It was also initially agreed that four Indian crews would be trained in Russia on board Akula Class submarines, the submarines would be leased for between three to ten years and that India would pay lease money worth US $ 25 million every year. Transfer of the first Akula Class Submarine to the Indian Navy was planned for August 2007 however; it was later postponed to September 2009 mainly due to the increased expenditures on its completion. Later on an accident on board the first designated Akula submarine for the Indian Navy during its sea trials further delayed the delivery. The second submarine is stated to be transferred to the Indian navy by 2010 however; the same also would likely be delayed much further. However, there are reports that Russia might transfer its own operational Akula Class Nuclear Submarines to India to compensate for the delays in meeting the delivery schedule. As Russia is nurturing India to turn it into a global power so is United States. It was with the expertise of the later that India was able to install its first low frequency transmitter in the south of the country to communicate with the submerged submarines deployed over long distances. France also came handy in lending a great support to India in the provision of sonars expertise and helped it install the same on board India's ATVs. This courting of India in nuclear field by UN Security Council members who keep on voicing their concerns on nuclear proliferation, is despite the fact that India has a chequered history in safe guarding its nuclear stockpiles. Christopher Pine, a nuclear safeties expert working with Natural Resource Council in Washington has categorized India's nuclear safe keeping practices as worse with the least nuclear safeguards in the whole world. As per Press Trust of India's report of 12 April 2006, three people were arrested for selling a Kilogram of enriched uranium contained in India's Atomic Energy Department sealed box. There was also news that reported arrest of one Ravinder Singh, an agent of India's Intelligence agency 'RAW', trying to sell India's nuclear secrets to other countries. In November 2005 two British Companies were suspended for aiding India's nuclear capable Agni missile programme and a US court also fined 'Fibre Materials' a company that clandestinely exported missile control panel to India, which was reversed engineered by Indian DRDL and used on Agni Missiles systems. The way the India is being all around nuclearised by the UN Security Council members, there is no option for Pakistan but to focus its energies to acquire sea based nuclear capability to thwart Indian hegemonistic designs and threat to its own sovereignty. India's clandestine activities in Pakistan's Baluchistan Province and the North Western Frontier Province, speak of the threat that it poses to the national security of Pakistan. Pakistan has always worked to preserve its national security and bears no inclination to rule or influence littoral states through age old medium, the seas. (The writer is retired Naval Officer and free lance contributor) http://www.markthetruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=481&start=0

We must be ready to fight Hindus, says Nizami

LAHORE - Editor-in-Chief The Nation and Chairman Nazria Pakistan Trust Majid Nizami has said that we should remain well-prepared for war against Hindus as they were casting bad eye on Pakistan and our independence, which is a blessing of Allah.

He was speaking at Aiwan-e-Karkunan Tehrik-e-Pakistan on the 53rd death anniversary of Maulana Zafar Ali Khan on Tuesday. Majid Nizami said Maulana Zafar Ali Khan was a versatile personality as he was a journalist, poet, politician and orator. He stood with the Quaid in Pakistan Movement.

He started a movement in the name of Masjid Shaheed Ganj and wanted to take over the mosque but it is a dilemma that after freedom, the Muslims could not secure this mosque due to tolerant attitude and it is still closed. It is neither Gurdawara nor mosque.

He said Zafar Ali Khan published his poems on Page One of the newspaper Zamindar and it fetched great circulation. He said Maulana Zafar Ali Khan Trust should secure Zamindar office and make it a memoir. Majid Nizami mentioned J Thunder aircraft handed over to PAF, which can fly high than Indian jets and India admitted that Pakistan has taken supremacy in air defence. There would be a war against India on waters because it is building dams on our rivers and the solution lies is smashing the dams by missiles.

As such we should be prepared for war. He said though war is not good thing but it is better to die by warring instead of dying with thirst and hunger. He said Maulana Zafar Ali Khan was great lover of the holy Prophet (PBUH).

Vice Chairman Nazria Pakistan Trust, Prof Dr Rafique Ahmad said that NPT is reminding the forgotten lesion of Pakistan Movement and its heroes. Maulana Zafar Ali Khan was one of them. He fought for the Muslims particularly of the subcontinent. He remained successful whichever field he chose. He instantaneously translated Pakistan Resolution on the call of Quaid-e-Azam and formed Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Millat.

Chairman Maulana Zafar Ali Khan Trust and provincial Ombudsman Khalid Mehmood said that those nations who do not remember their heroes and benefactors, stop producing heroes. He said the Trust has built mazar of Maulana and published all his poetry particularly the naatia poetry, which is great asset and a source for devotion to the holy Prophet (PBUH). Chief Executive Khabrain Group Zia Shahid said that NPT keeps these personalities alive. He paid tributes to Majid Nizami and said he was above the professional rivalries. He said a party is demanding abolition of word Islamic from the official name of Pakistan but it should not forget that we will never allow nor nobody could dare to do that for the sake of receiving aid from America. He said corrupt of Musharraf era should be taken to task. He said people are poor but our rulers are rich. US did not give aid under Kerry-Lugar Act to the government because it considered them corrupt. Our rulers should bring their money back to shed the loans.

India do not want to talk to us but we are running after it for talks. Agreements are signed by weak nations and strong tore apart the agreements. President CPNE and chief editor daily Jinnah Khushnood Ali Khan said that PPP government, Army and Aiwan-e-Sadr have different viewpoint on India, which is our arch is our arch enemy. He said NAB victims should quit, as they are not our representatives. "I also do not recognise a government which do not celebrate days like Zafar Ali Khan's.

Raja Masood Ali Khan said Nov 27 should be observed as Maulana Zafar Ali Khan Day. He said Maulana Zafar Ali Khan spent every third day average in jail. His father had command on Urdu, English, Persian and Arabic who trained Zafar Ali Khan in these languages. Columnist Rafique Dogar said that Maulana was present in 1906 meeting of ML in Dhaka. He was elected in 1937 elections.

http://www.markthetruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=473

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad

Meeting The Mossad

60 Minutes' Ira Rosen Meets The Former Head Of One Of The World's Top Spy Agencies

 

Some kids read biographies about baseball players. In high school my favorite books were about the great accomplishments of the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service.

They had kidnapped war criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina before the police in the country knew he was there or even missing. A beautiful woman had inspired an Iraqi pilot to defect to Israel with his top-secret Mig-21. A Mossad mole nearly became Syria's Minister of Defense. And in a story popularized by Steven Spielberg's movie Munich, the Mossad quietly and systematically killed those responsible for the murder of their athletes at the Munich Olympics.

The man responsible for directing much of these accomplishments was the legendary Mossad chief Zvika Zamir, who I met and spoke with on several occasions in Israel. He was one of only three people who Egyptian spy Ashraf Marwan met with during his four years of spying for the Israelis. He didn't want to go on camera - Mossad agents are adverse to publicity - but Zamir wanted me to know how convinced he was about Marwan not being a double agent.

A former head of Israeli Military Intelligence revealed in the Israeli press a few years ago that Marwan was responsible for misleading Israel during the run-up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War; Zamir believed that the former military intel chief was just covering up for his own failings to predict the war.

Zamir is now in his late eighties but still quite sharp. He said that Marwan enjoyed fine cigars and good clothes and the company of beautiful women.

Zamir said he would often test Marwan. One time he asked Marwan to name the commanding officer of individual Egyptian military units, names Zamir had already known from another inside spy. Marwan, he said, never lied to him.

Zamir says the day before the war began, he met with Marwan in London where Marwan not only told him the war would begin but also gave him the war plans, which included specific points of where parachute landings would occur.

Amazingly, the Israel Army chief of staff didn't look at it until the fighting was well under way.

When Ashraf Marwan was found dead, Zamir said he blamed himself because he felt he didn't do enough to protect his identity. He also says Marwan's death will have long range repercussions for the Israelis in trying to recruit other Arab defectors.

Two days after my last Zamir meeting, I was directed, one afternoon, to go to a particular park bench in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb. I felt like I was in a spy movie, as an old Jewish man who looked a little like the Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky, sat down next to me and said simply, "I hear you have some questions about Marwan."

It turned out "Shmuel" as we will call him, was the former head of European operations for over 30 years for the Mossad. It was Shmuel who was first contacted by Marwan in 1969, and hurriedly arranged a meeting at a London restaurant.

He directed one of Israel's legendary agents to meet Marwan that day, an agent simply called "Dubi." If Israel had a James Bond, it was Dubi.

Everyone from the Mossad avoids discussing details about Dubi, in part to protect him and in part to keep his accomplishments part of the secrets held by a small fraternity of Mossad agents.

For one extraordinary afternoon I was a kid again, hearing stories about the Mossad, from one of its most important figures. They are a very proud organization which might explain why they will never publicly acknowledge that Marwan might have gotten the better of them.

As a last question I asked how the relationship between Israel and Marwan ended, my new friend told me that it was the Israelis that ended it: "We had a peace with Arabs and he wasn't worth paying $100,000 for each meeting. What do you think he would give us, the Egyptian wheat reports?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/12/60minutes/main5009197.shtml

 

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad

Babri Mosque

 

India does not realise it because of the prevalent Hindu-chauvinist ideology, but it will not come to any sort of closure over the 1992 Babri Mosque demolition until its main perpetrators are punished. This was demonstrated yet again as the Bharatiya Janata Party stalled business in the Upper House over the alleged publication in an Indian newspaper of the Liberhan Report into the demolition, and its naming of senior BJP figures, like former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party chief Lal Kishan Advani, as responsible, and for judging the demolition 'meticulously planned'. The BJP continued its protest despite Home Minister P. Chidambaram's assurance that there was only one copy of the report with his Ministry.

As the demolition was carried out by the BJP and it allies, the present Congress-led government wants to take action, but it will not, not just because it shares the BJP's Hindu-supremacist ideology, but because a Congress government at the Centre did nothing to stop the demolition, and therefore any full probe will tear the mask off senior Congress figures and reveal them for what they are: people filled with anti-Muslim hate who preach secularism at the same time as their actions show them to be filled with prejudice.

Yet the present Congress-led government must not duck the task of bringing all the culprits to justice, even if they hold, or have held, high office. Previous reports have found leading BJP figures responsible, so the party should not try to cover up the successive electoral defeats it has suffered by protecting them. The party should be ready to make necessary sacrifices. However, the real task before both parties is to make sure that no Babri Mosque demolition occurs again, something that is only possible by an acceptance that the Nehruvian model of secularism has not just failed, but was always false, and that Indian Muslims are just as good citizens as anyone else.

 

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/25-Nov-2009/Babri-Mosque

 

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad

India's N-doctrine dangerous, offensive: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD – Arch-rivals India and Pakistan are back to a cold war like situation with the dialogue process between the two neighbours taking a back seat, thanks to irresponsible Indian attitude, Hindu extremism and expansionist designs.

 

The two major South Asian powers that have fought three wars and were on the brink of a nuclear war in 1999 are back to 'Cold war' like situation following series of irresponsible statements by the Indian Prime Minister and Indian Army Chief.
Pakistan perceived the Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor's yesterday's statement as a warning for nuclear war. Deepak said on Monday "A limited war under a nuclear overhang is still very much a reality, at least in the Indian sub-continent."

 

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that these remarks only reaffirm India's dangerous and offensive nuclear doctrine.

 

India has long been working on the so-called 'Cold Start' strategy and preparing for a limited war against Pakistan. General Kapoor's statement confirms the hegemonic thrust of India's nuclear doctrine, Abdul Basit said on Tuesday.
"The international community should take notice of General Kapoor's remarks and India's long-term intentions", Basit suggested.

 

He also said that Pakistan is fully capable of safeguarding its national sovereignty and defending its borders. However, as a responsible country, we will continue promoting peace and stability in South Asia on the basis of equality and mutual respect. The "peace process" between the two countries came to a halt after the 26/11 terror strikes in the Indian business capital Mumbai. Since 26/11, dialogue process has not resumed despite several sincere attempts from Pakistan. The heads of state of India and Pakistan have met twice. During the talks between Indian and Pakistani premiers Manmohan Singh and Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, the two countries came out with a joint statement de-linking dialogue with terrorism and including the Balochistan issue. This generated hope that the two countries would restart the dialogue process.

 

However, to the shock and disappointment of peace-loving Pakistanis, India has is dragging the sub-continent back to 'cold war' era, many think.

 

According to experts, the joint India-Pakistan statement came under sharp criticism from the Indian opposition parties, especially right wing Hindu party BJP, who felt that the Balochistan reference and de-linking terrorism from dialogue process was a 'defeat' of Indian diplomacy.

 

Following sharp criticism and after being cornered at the home-turf, the Indian Government hardened its stand vis-a-vis resumption of dialogue process with Pakistan and linked the restart of peace process with Pakistan's action against 'terrorist elements'.

 

Pakistan has several times conveyed to India that the stalling of dialogue process between the two countries is benefiting the terrorists.

 

The 'cold war' like situation between India and Pakistan will not be in the interest of any of the two countries. Instead it gives an opportunity to extremist elements to prove that 'force' is the only relevant means to resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries, many think

 

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/25-Nov-2009/Indias-Ndoctrine-dangerous-offensive-Pakistan/1

 

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad

Islam and Pakistan can not be separated - Gen. Kayani

 

Chief of Army staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has arrived here at Peshawar on a day long visit on Wednesday. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said that Pakistan was achieved in the name of Islam and the religion (Islam) can never be expelled from the country. Addressing a gathering at Police Line Peshawar here Wednesday, the COAS said that no one can separate Islam from Pakistan as the country was achieved in its name. He said that Pakistan Army will succeed in its bid to root out extremism from the country in cooperation with the nation and the media. Announcing Rs 200 million for the martyrs of NWFP Police, Gen. Kayani said that the all kinds of needed weapons and ammunitions would be provided to police to make its progress better.The Chief of Army Staff was received by Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam at Peshawar Airport. During the day long visit to Peshawar the Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will meet the NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, Tribal elders and students. He will also visit city area to express solidarity with the bomb blast victims.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/25-Nov-2009/Islam-and-Pak-can-not-be-separated-COAS

 

Posted by - Sajjad Ahmad

How the State Treats Friends and Foes of the Oppressed By Anand Teltumbde

The State zealously sheltered its petty minion, Manohar Kadam, the police officer who, out of casteist prejudice, ordered the totally unjustified firing that killed 10 persons in Ramabai Nagar in Mumbai in July 1997, ignoring the persistent demands of dalits and acting only when it was impossible to do otherwise. In sharp contrast, it arrested Binayak Sen – the saintly doctor and civil rights activist who has been intensely sensitive to the plight of poor tribals – and persevered with its lies that he was actively involved in Naxalite activities. What explains this sharp difference in treatment? The grant of two bails by the courts last month has been a cause of much public uproar. One came on 22 May to Manohar Kadam, the infamous Maharashtra State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) officer who was sentenced by a special court to life imprisonment a fortnight ago but who had never lived a moment in prison. The other was a grant by the Supreme Court on 25 May to Binayak Sen, the famed doctor and civil rights activist from Raipur, who was never sentenced by any court and still languished in the Raipur jail for more than two years. The first one came as a rude shock to dalits who had struggled for 12 long years to get Kadam punished for what they thought was pure and simple butchery with a casteist prejudice. The second one came as jubilant reprieve to scores of civil rights activists all over the world and the poor of Chhattisgarh who had agitated against the naked injustice perpetrated against a saintly doctor for what they saw was pure and simple vindictiveness of the State for the challenge that Sen represented.

 

Cases of Kadam and Sen

 

On 7 May 2009, a special court in Mumbai sentenced suspended SRPF officer Manohar Kadam to life after he was found guilty in the July 1997 Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar firing case. The court held him guilty of culpable homicide in the incident that led to the deaths of 10 people and injury to 25 others. The court observed that Kadam had ordered firing before taking stock of the situation. Kadam had led the SRPF platoon that was sent to control a mob protesting desecration of a statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar in Ghatkopar, a Mumbai suburb. Expectedly, the judgment was hailed by dalits in general although the victims wanted Kadam to be hanged for what they regarded as the cold-blooded murder of their kin. There were indignant comments from some senior police officers against the harsh punishment. The most notable reactions were to be found however on the blogs that reflect the character of what we call civil society. Fed on superfluity and untruth, these cyber nerds appeared unanimous in their support for Kadam by adversely commenting on the judgment and trashing dalit sentiments. Binayak Sen was arrested on 14 May 2006 in Raipur when he came all the way from Kolkata and presented himself to the Raipur police as he learnt that they had come for him. The accusations against him were that he used to carry secret letters written by an accused Naxalite lodged in the Raipur Central Jail, Narayan Sanyal, to his associates regarding the monitoring of the unlawful activities of the banned organisation, the Communist Party of India (Maoist), to which Sanyal belongs. He was charged under the draconian provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005, and also the Indian Penal Code. It was clear to the world that the charges against Sen were trumped up to punish him for daring to expose the evil operations of Salwa Judum, a state-sponsored anti-Naxalite force in Dantewada district. What was not known was the State's intention to make this a case to silence all democratic dissent. Enlightened opinion represented by 22 Nobel laureates among others sought his release but the State refused to heed. His bail was refused thrice, twice by the Raipur court and once by the Supreme Court. Interestingly, while such blatant victimisation had shocked the democratic world and Chhattisgarh's poor, a section of civil society vehemently upheld it.

 

Butcher of Ramabai Nagar

 

On 11 July 1997, the people of Ramabai Nagar, a predominantly dalit colony on the west side of the Eastern Express highway in Ghatkopar woke up to find the bust of Babasaheb Ambedkar with a garland of chappals. Soon people came out in protest and halted traffic on the road. An SRPF platoon, led by Manohar Kadam, was sent to control the mob. Within minutes of reaching the colony, Kadam ordered firing, which killed 10 people and injured 25 others. A fact finding by the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) and the Indian People's Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) revealed, among other things, that the firing was totally unjustified, motivated as it was by casteist hatred for the protestors. The firing was from close range as could be noted from the dimensions of bullet holes in the metallic sheets of nearby houses and was intended to kill people. The gruesome incident was so revolting that it impelled a sensitive balladeer, Vilas Ghogre to hang himself in protest in his shack in a Mulund slum. There was a widespread disgust over the incident, which spilled out in the form of outrage against dalit leaders. The non-political youth formed a Ramabai Ambedkar Hatyakand Vidrohi Sangharsh Samiti (RAHVSS) and demanded action against Kadam. Despite an intensive agitation, the State did nothing and sheltered Kadam. It took full six months to institute a commission of enquiry under Justice S D Gundewar to further investigate the incident. The Gundewar Commission almost corroborated the findings of the above-mentioned fact finding reports, as also the contentions of the Sangharsh Samiti. Its main conclusions were that there was no need of firing, the entire liquefied petroleum gas tanker story created to justify the firing was a lie, the video film shot by someone, which was projected in support of the tanker story was fake, and that the firing had taken place not on the protesting mob but inside the colony where there was no protest. The commission unusually observed that a person like Kadam was not fit to continue in the police force. And yet the State continued to shelter him until it could not do so any more. It ordered Kadam's prosecution in August 2001. A first information report (FIR) was lodged against him with the Pantnagar police station on 30 August that year, and he was arrested in December 2002, only to be admitted to hospital in January 2003 as he complained of chest pain.

 

Saintly Sen in Chhattisgarh

 

Binayak Sen, General Secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties' (PUCL) Chhattisgarh unit and its national vice- president, was naturally involved in the investigation of cases of civil rights violations perpetrated by the State in the name of fighting a Maoist insurgency. He participated in many inquiries, which drew attention to severe human rights violations, including murder of unarmed and demonstrably innocent civilians by the police. For instance, he had exposed the fact that 12 alleged Maoists, killed by the police in Santoshpur village in a supposed gunfight on 31 March 2007, were actually tribals executed at close range. The State Human Rights Commission took note of this investigation, and ordered the bodies of the victims exhumed. Just a few days later, Sen was arrested. Sen had consistently spoken against Salwa Judum, a vigilante organisation southern Chhattisgarh that has been armed and supported by the state government and the Ministry of Home Affairs since June 2005, apparently in order to combat the Maoist insurgency. The primary motivation behind it is said to be the need to vacate this mineral-rich part of the country to make way for several corporate houses with whom the Chhattisgarh government had signed memoranda of understanding. It is primarily PUCL's investigations into the massive human tragedy that this evil design entailed that brought it to the notice of the public elsewhere. As it now stands, many civil rights' groups, journalists, intellectuals, study groups and committees of the government itself, and even the Supreme Court have adversely commented on this "ritual of cleansing" (as Salwa Judum translates into a local tribal language) the tribal community of the "disease" of Maoism. Already over 1,00,000 people have been displaced and hundreds of villages abandoned, besides the killing of hundreds in the crossfire between the police and the Naxalites. Despite this enormous human tragedy and huge load of condemnation of the Salwa Judum, it still continues to operate. The police case against Sen is mainly pivoted on his meetings with Narayan Sanyal. But the fact remains that all his visits took place with the permission of the deputy superintendent of police, and under close supervision of the jail authorities. The lies of the State were exposed in the trial, which began on 30 April 2008. As per the original charge sheet, 83 witnesses were meant to depose against him. Of these, six were declared hostile by the State and 16 were dropped while the remaining 61 testified in court. Not one of these witnesses has provided any legally admissible evidence to support the accusations in the charge sheet. Even the jail officials, the superintendent and the jailer, who were called as witnesses by the prosecution, have ruled out the possibility of Sen carrying letters from Narayan Sanyal out of the high security Raipur jail. This suggests that the alleged Naxalite connection of Sen was just a ploy to charge him under draconian laws that would retain him in jail for a long time and harass him still further. The purpose was well served inasmuch as the State could incarcerate Sen for over two years despite the clamour of the entire world for his release. The underscoring message was loud and clear that the Indian State could do anything to anyone who dares to disagree with it.

 

Uncivil State

 

A comparison of these two evidently incomparable persons may appear disgusting. Kadam is a run-of-the-mill police officer whereas Sen is a highly qualified, gold medalist doctor, who relinquished a potentially lucrative career and chose a path of service to the poor. Kadam has been utterly insensitive to the sentiments of dalits who protested against the insult heaped on their messiah. Sen has been intensely sensitive to the plight of poor tribals. Kadam sought to curry favour of the State by killing innocent dalits, whereas Sen incurred wrath of the State in exposing its unconstitutional and anti-people operations. It is therefore that the State zealously sheltered Kadam, its petty minion, ignoring the persistent demands of dalits and acting only when it was impossible to do otherwise, whereas it arrested Binayak Sen and persisted with its lies that he was actively involved in Naxalite activities. Kadam, despite serious indictment, was allowed to remain a freeman, and even when arrested, could be rushed to the hospital when he complained of chest pain, and be allowed to rest there. Sen, without even an iota of evidence against him, could be arrested and kept in jail for two years and not allowed to get due medical treatment despite having a history of heart ailment. Kadam gets bail within a fortnight without a single day in jail, whereas Sen is denied it repeatedly over two long years, without any court going into the merit of his case. The contrast could indeed be endless and rather shameful. The glaring difference between these two cases can be reduced to a single vital factor: their attitude towards poor dalits and tribals, the primordial marker of our intrinsically uncivil caste society which feigns civility for itself. It has zealously maintained the divide between the dalit and non-dalit universes within itself. It is unfortunate that the modern constitutional State that we created, instead of doing away this "un-civility", has itself imbibed it in full measure, in turn promoting and accentuating this divide. The State apparatus favours those who are against dalits and tribals, and vice versa. If you sympathise with dalits and tribals, you become an outcaste, but if you despise them, you get naturally accepted. Sen's taking cudgels for tribals being butchered by the police and by Salwa Judum provoked the State to teach him and his ilk a lesson, but Kadam's disdain towards dalits got him the natural protection of the State. Naxalism and nationalism then just become modern day euphemistic epithets for outcaste and caste, respectively.

 

Anand Teltumbde is a civil rights activist and writer based in Mumbai.

 

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad - http://www.markthetruth.com

Support the boycott-Israeli campaign

By Adel Safty

 

A new dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is emerging as an effective means of peaceful protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land: boycotting Israel. Some four years ago, a loosely connected group of Palestinian activists and civil organisations launched an international appeal calling on citizens and corporations to join the boycott-Israel campaign to protest the occupation.

 

The Israeli war in Lebanon in 2006 and the brutalities of the Israeli war on the people of Gaza galvanised opposition to Israel and its continued occupation and colony construction. It also brought the boycott movement to prominence.

 

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign quickly became a global movement, effectively protesting against Israeli violations of international law. It has been driven by ordinary concerned citizens distributing pamphlets in the streets of European and North American cities, and television and film stars withdrawing their films from film festivals.

 

The movement is gaining momentum. Recently, the vast Norwegian global pension-fund portfolio decided to divest from the Israeli arms company Elbit. Meanwhile, the French conglomerate Veolia, which has been involved in the building of the light rail system to connect Occupied West Jerusalem to Israeli colonies in the West Bank, has suffered setbacks as a result of negative publicity from the boycott campaign.

 

Western critics of the boycott movement argue that it is not likely to be effective, partly because unconditional American support for Israel guarantees that American taxpayers will continue to bankroll the Israeli economy, including the construction of Israeli colonies.

 

Firstly, while the above-mentioned examples may not bring the Israeli economy to its knees, they illustrate unprecedented and growing public awareness of the injustice and illegality of the occupation and of Israeli colonies. They also demonstrate a popular resolve to act to promote international law in the face of the impotence of the international system. In a recent message to the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, president of the UN General Assembly, illustrated that point: "With governments and the United Nations standing ... unable to provide...protection to the people of Gaza...we would do well to follow [the boycott movement's] example in bringing international pressure to bear on the Occupying Power...to bring about an end to the violations of international humanitarian law."

 

Secondly, cracks have started to appear in the unconditional American support for Israel. This is clear from the Obama Administration's insistence that all colony construction must stop, and from polls indicating American public support for their president's approach to the conflict.

 

Moreover, all violations of international law should be condemned regardless of who is committing them, but the enormity and persistence of the violations in the case of the Israeli occupation and the continued dispossession and collective punishment of a whole people for over 42 years set this case apart. However, what makes it a really special case is the ability of Israeli apologists in the West to blame the victim.

 

In a sense, the boycott movement represents a global grassroots response to this unique ability to justify the occupation, the dispossession, and collective punishment by blaming the victim. It is also challenging individuals and corporations to act ethically by dissociating themselves from violations of international law that perpetuate oppression and injustice. Therefore, these are compelling reasons to support the boycott movement.

 

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/03-Nov-2009/Support-the-boycottIsraeli-campaign/

 

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad - http://www.markthetruth.com

Area under cultivation reduces to 1.1m hectares

KARACHI - The net area under cultivation of Pakistan has been declined to 21.2 million hectares from 22.3 million hectares due to water shortage and raise in soil salinity during 8 years (from FY02 to FY09) in country.

 

State Bank of Pakistan in its annual report about economy of country for FY08-09 has also disclosed that a huge decline of 1.1m hectares has been observed in area under agriculture purpose.

 

However, the stress on the available cultivable land has increased in recent years and the share of area cultivated more than once, in total cultivated area, rose from 29pc in FY02 to 35.1pc by FY09.

 

Discussing the key issues faced by agriculture sector, the central bank said the repeat cropping reduces soil fertility, causing reduction in yield.

 

Maintaining yield then requires higher inputs, thus increases cost of production and reduces farm incomes. The reduction in net cultivated area is principally due to lower availability of canal irrigation water, water loses between canal heads and farm gate and rising underground water levels that raises soil salinity.

 

However, the intensity of these losses may be reduced through cut down in water losses with concrete lining of water courses to reduce irrigation seepages, enhancing of irrigation efficiency with use of laser technology for land levelling and adoption of sprinkling and drip irrigation, particularly for selected minor crops.

 

SBP noted that not only net area under cultivation has declined in Pakistan, but inappropriate use of inputs with traditional cultivation methods are also hindering the achievement of higher yields.

 

With efficient use of fertilizers, the SBP indicated that the yield of wheat may be increased by 34.2 percent, rice by 57.1 percent, cotton by 77.5pc and sugarcane by 45.8 percent relative to FY09 yields.

 

It should be remembered that rise in yields cannot be achieved without substantial investment in agriculture. In practice, levels of investment in this sector are negligible in Pakistan, with downward trend seen during most recent years, SBP says, adding that the surge in international commodity prices, including food commodities, reinforced the importance of food security as it is high time that Pakistan invests heavily in agriculture to improve supply of quality inputs, research and extension services.

 

SBP stressed that it is necessary to raise yields to meet the domestic food and fiber demand to ensure food security of the country as well as produce exportable surplus to earn foreign exchange.

 

Meanwhile, discussing the performance of agriculture sector during last year, the SBP noted that a robust agriculture sector performance provided a major impetus to FY09 GDP growth, with both, the crops and the livestock sub-sectors exhibiting above-target growth.

 

Particularly impressive contribution by crops was a result of clearer incentives to farmers in terms of higher prices, which motivated them to increase area under cultivation. The impact of this was supported by very favourable weather that helped mitigate under-utilisation of other key inputs due to uncertainty over fertilizer prices and lower availability of canal water. The weakness in usage of inputs was reflected in lower growth in fertilizer off-take and the fact that growth in credit disbursement for the agri-sector decelerated during FY09. This suggests that even the strong yields seen in FY09 could have been exceeded comfortably, given the use of optimal inputs mix, SBP says.

 

The most prominent feature of the FY09 agri-growth profile is the record harvest of three major crops (wheat, rice and maize), that together generally account for around 59.0 percent of value-addition by major crops; in FY09 this share reached 62.7pc, SBP maintained.

 

Consequently, despite a massive decline of 21.7 percent in sugarcane output, major crops recorded an impressive growth of 7.7 percent in FY09 against the target of 4.5 percent. The growth in minor crops was also impressive despite production declines in few crops including canola, onions, mangoes and some pulses; the 3.6pc growth seen in FY09 was higher than the target of 2.0pc.

 

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Business/30-Oct-2009/Area-under-cultivation-reduces-to-11m-hectares/

 

To Learn more about Pakistan Agriculture: http://www.parc.gov.pk

 

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad - http://www.markthetruth.com

US scientist faces death for plot to spy for Israel

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A leading US scientist who had worked at the White House and NASA could face execution for offering to sell secrets to Israel for two million dollars, according to documents filed in federal court.

 

Stewart David Nozette, 52, is set to appear in court Thursday for a hearing on whether he should remain in detention after he was arrested in a sting operation involving an FBI agent posing as an Israeli official.

 

Nozette, arrested October 18, is charged with two counts of attempted espionage for allegedly trying to sell secrets to Israel, according to court documents filed late Wednesday. Based on the indictment allegations, "the maximum penalty the defendant faces, if convicted, is death," said the government filing supporting Nozette's continued detention pending trial.

 

In Nozette's talks with the alleged Israeli agent, the scientist said he wanted "roughly two million dollars as compensation for his espionage."

 

Nozette "delivered and communicated this classified information to an individual he believed was an Israeli intelligence officer in exchange for an alias, a foreign passport, and cash payments," and therefore should remain in detention, the court documents said.

 

In their final discussion, the undercover FBI agent handed Nozette 10,000 dollars in one hundred dollar bills, which he tried to hide inside a hotel bathroom toilet tank when federal agents arrested him.

 

The FBI also searched Nozette's safe deposit box at San Diego, California bank. He earlier told the undercover agent that he had opened safe deposit boxes "out of state" to hide valuable information in case US authorities searched his home in the suburbs of Washington.

 

"In the box, agents discovered (among other things) three computer drives, eight videotapes, fifty-five gold 'Krugerrand' coins worth roughly 50,000 dollars, and 30,000 dollars in savings bonds," read the document, suggesting Nozette would use the funds in case he had to flee.

 

The investigation appears to have been sparked by his consulting work with an Israeli company along with comments he made to a colleague.

 

A prominent scientist credited with helping discover water on the moon, Nozette had worked at the US space agency NASA, the Energy Department, and even served on the White House's National Space Council in 1989 and 1990, under then-president George H.W. Bush.

 

Between November 1998 and January 2008 Nozette also did monthly consulting work for an Israeli government-owned aerospace company. He was paid a total of 225,000 dollars for giving the company technical data and advice, according to the indictment.

 

On January 30 Nozette pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges, and agreed to pay more than 265,000 dollars restitution to the government.

 

He earlier told a colleague "that if the government attempted to imprison him for fraud and tax evasion charges, he would flee the United States and disclose classified information to a foreign government," the document said.

 

Nozette "was plotting his departure from the United States long before he was charged with attempted espionage," it said.

 

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/30-Oct-2009/US-scientist-faces-death-for-plot-to-spy-for-Israel/

 

For more information about this news: http://www.ciacademy.com/spycase/NOZETTE_Stewart_David.html

 

Posted by Sajjad ahmad - http://www.markthetruth.com

Sino-US relations

If there is one issue which will determine the future course of the 21st century, it is the direction and substance of US-China relations in the coming decades. The driving factors behind this relationship are twofold: the US determination to prevent the emergence of a power in any part of the world capable of challenging its global supremacy and the phenomenal economic growth of China over the past three decades which in due course would translate itself in the growth and strength of its military power. The combined effect of China's huge size and rapid growth makes it inevitable that the world would, at first, see increasing rivalry between the two nations in the economic field followed by a challenge to the US global supremacy in the military field by China in the second half of the 21st century. Of course, this conclusion is based on the bold assumption that the present trends of growth in the economic power of the two nations are sustained in the coming decades. These developments would transform the global geopolitical scene with far-reaching strategic, political and economic implications for the whole world.

There is no denying the fact that the current world order has been shaped primarily by the West under the leadership of the US - a reflection of the Western countries' domination of the global political and economic scene since the end of the World War II. The structure, the procedures and the functioning of the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, the World Bank and the IMF, established after the World War II, were such that no major decision could be taken without the backing of the West. The position has remained more or less unchanged since then. This state of affairs is going to change dramatically in the coming decades reflecting the redistribution of the economic and ultimately the military power globally.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union did pose a challenge to the military supremacy of the West. The defeat and disintegration of the Soviet Union made the world unipolar briefly with the US emerging as the global hegemon. However, the rapid growth of China and other powers like India and Brazil, the re-assertiveness of Russia, and the emergence of other power centres such as the European Union, Japan and the ASEAN indicate that the US unipolar moment has already passed. The world is increasingly turning multipolar with several centres of power emerging on the scene even though for the time being the US is the only country capable of projecting its military power in the different corners of the world. It is inevitable that these developments would ultimately lead to the re-writing of the rules which determine the way in which the world functions in the political and economic fields. China's rapidly growing economic and military strength would make it a major player in this process of global transformation. An example of the kind of changes that can be expected in the coming decades was the call by the Governor of China's Central Bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, in March 2009 for the replacement of the dollar as the world's reserve currency by Special Drawing Rights (SDR's). Changes can, thus, be expected in the structure and functioning of multilateral institutions like the UN Security Council, the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO. The net effect of these changes would be the gradual decline in the influence of the US and the West and increase in the role of China and other emerging powers.

The changes in the structure and functioning of the international political and economic institutions will be only one consequence of the growing rivalry between the US and China. There will also be important consequences of this development for US-China bilateral relations. The US-China relationship is both cooperative and competitive at present. China is an extremely important trading partner of the US. In 2008, China's exports to the US were estimated to be $338 billion whereas its imports from the US amounted to $70 billion. China is also the recipient of the US private investment on a large scale. Many US firms have established their manufacturing facilities in China which has thus also benefited from the inflow of the US technology. As a result of its balance of payment surpluses, China has accumulated huge foreign currency reserves estimated to be over $2 trillion. Some 60 percent of China's official reserves are held in dollar-denominated assets.

These trade and economic linkages dictate a cooperative relationship between the two countries. But there are also elements of competition between them in the economic field. China's growing appetite for fossil energy resources in Africa, the Persian Gulf region, Latin America and elsewhere, which pits it against the demand by the US for the same resources, is just one example of this competition. China's trade surpluses with the US year after year generate increasing US charges of dumping against China and demands for the appreciation of its currency and the opening up of its market. Environment is another area where the two countries are pitted against each other in terms of emission reduction targets for climate warming gases.

But it is the strategic and political aspect of the relationship between the US and China, which will play a predominant role in determining its future direction. The US views China's rapid growth as posing a serious threat to its global supremacy and to its security interests, especially in Asia. Predictably, it is now engaged in a strategic manoeuvre of far-reaching consequences to contain China through an architecture of security alliances on the latter's periphery. That is why the US has pledged to make India a major world player in the 21st century, why it entered into an agreement with India in 2005 for close military cooperation and why it has agreed to commence cooperation in civilian nuclear technology with India despite the crushing blow delivered by it to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime through its nuclear explosions of 1998. The US would also try to strengthen its security relations with other countries like Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and even the ASEAN countries for the same purpose. The US focus on China also limits the extent to which it can put pressure on Russia for achieving its strategic goals in Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. The recent decision by President Obama to abandon the missile defence project in Poland and the Czech Republic is a reflection of this limitation.

China has naturally reacted to the US initiatives by its own moves to protect its vital national interests. Its strategic partnership with Russia aims at countering the US global hegemony and unilateralism. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation including China, Russia and Central Asia Republics excepting Turkmenistan as members serves the same purpose besides enhancing regional cooperation to combat terrorism, extremism and separatist movements within the member states. China's strategic relationship with Pakistan balances in South Asia the effect of the growing US strategic partnership with India. China is also engaged in diplomatic moves to strengthen its relations with the ASEAN countries, Japan and South Korea with which it maintains extensive trade and economic relations.

Historically, the rise of a new great power, which challenges the prevailing world order, has led to tensions and wars with the established great powers. This was especially the case when the existing great powers were not able to accommodate the emerging great power through necessary adjustments in the global political, security and economic architecture. The question whether the 21st century would be a century of peace or of war and conflict will be decided fundamentally by the ability or the failure of the US and the Western countries to accommodate China's rise, by adapting the existing world order dominated by the West to the strategic compulsions of China's phenomenal rise.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/27-Oct-2009/SinoUS-relations/

Posted by Sajjad Ahmad - http://www.markthetruth.com

Too many questions no answers

The terrorism issue in Pakistan has always been a multidimensional problem ranging from targeted acts of terror by political separatists in Balochistan to mass acts of terror by religious extremists and even here there are some critical differences which unfortunately the US has been attempting to erase and put everything under the label of "Al Qaeda". Had the government of Pakistan been able to resist this damaging effort to lump all terrorism under one label, we would have been able to tackle the multiple fronts confronting us in a more effective manner. As it is, even now, under US pressure, the far more serious issue of Balochistan is being neglected as the Pakistani state focuses simply on FATA, which will cost the country dearly. This neglect of our multidimensional terrorist problem has diverted us from dealing with the threats that are now confronting us. To take just one example of the present trend that has begun, targeting military installations and personnel, there are some issues that need to be highlighted.

There are certain questions that are beginning to come to one's mind the more one sees targeted attacks against the military in Islamabad. While soldiers and officials have been targeted by the "Taliban" - which has now become such an all-encompassing category that it defies explanation and allows so many elements to exploit the label for their own ends - primarily in the areas of the ongoing military operations, there is a new pattern that needs to be identified and discerned. To begin with, is it simply a coincidence that the GHQ was targeted in the immediate aftermath of the army's press release expressing concerns over the then Kerry Lugar Bill (now Act)? That attack effectively derailed the debate going on in Parliament and allowed Shah Mahmood Qureshi to do his Munich style appeasement and sell out the Pakistani nation to Washington. The opposition got diverted and the formulation of a strong resolution got lost somewhere in the terrorism cloud. Soon after the GHQ attack, we saw Brigadier Moin's targeted killing in Islamabad and on Tuesday (27th October) another Brigadier was targeted outside his home. Now both these attacks were not the usual Taliban-style terrorism and the young motorbike riders did not "look" like the typical Taliban either according to eye witnesses. Then there is the question of how they managed to disappear and remain hidden, even though the police managed to get their pen sketches made.

 

Linked to these questions is the claim made by the TTP that they had carried out the GHQ attack. This is interesting because the TTP is the only terrorist outfit that is not identified by name in the Kerry Lugar Act. We also know that the TTP's weapons are coming from Afghanistan and to top it all off, the Pakistani nation and military have been shocked at the US/NATO withdrawal from their check posts along the Afghan side of the border with Pakistan immediately when the Pakistan army began its full-scale action in South Waziristan. Given how the US had been pressuring Pakistan into commencing this action, why would they then decide to vacate their check posts and thereby create an enabling environment for arms flows to the TTP? These are questions that when linked up pinpoint to a questionable US design vis a vis the Pakistan military. The reasons behind this have been elaborated in earlier columns.

However, there is also anther link that needs to be highlighted. That is the shenanigans, in Islamabad, of US diplomats and covert operatives - be they linked to Blackwater, Dyncorps or Inter-Risk. On Tuesday, early morning, four US diplomats were caught with weapons in the vicinity of Margalla police station in sector F-8 - but as always the police were helpless in the face of US pressure and had to let the men go. This is the sixth known case in recent times of US diplomats and undercover operatives being caught with weapons and/or harassing local citizens. One such incident also involved Dutch diplomats. But the question is: what are these diplomats doing carrying weapons to and from their embassy? Whom are they delivering these weapons to and who are they taking these weapons from? When linked to the illicit weapons caches' of Inter Risk and arms licenses being given to the US embassy without following proper procedures, there is a very real issue about US involvement in questionable covert actions in the Capital and beyond.

This becomes even more tenable when one goes back to the Inter Risk company's training of at least 200 ex-servicemen for the US, whom the US refused to hand over for questioning to the Pakistani authorities and instead tucked them away in "safe houses. These trained guards were also supposed to have been given some of the illicit weapons.

Finally, returning to the attack on GHQ, the attackers were not random militants but well-trained men also adept in deception, especially their leader, Aqeel alias Dr Usman, who almost got away by mingling with the crowd after the siege had ended - but for a guard who recognised him and hit him from behind.

Given the serious concerns that are only growing over what exactly the US is up to, especially with some journalists like S. F. A. Shah from Peshawar facing life threats from US operatives in that city, it is time the state sought to re-examine the multidimensional terrorist threats emanating from different sources. Only when we are clear about whom we are contending with on different fronts, can we formulate effective policies to fight the threats. It is a dangerous reductionism to simply lay every act of violence and terror at the doorstep of the "Taliban" and Al-Qaeda. Even here, which Taliban group are we talking about? The US has mesmerized the Pakistani state into simplifying everything and thereby glossing over the American game plan in this region, especially vis a vis Pakistan. For this naiveté we are continuing to pay a heavy price, not only in lives lost but in institutions undermined.

 

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/28-Oct-2009/Too-many-questions-no-answers/

Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water

Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies.
 
Sheperds stand beside a cistern in the village of Umm al-Kheir, in the southern West Bank (OPT), September 2009.

These unreasonably restrict the availability of water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and prevent the Palestinians developing an effective water infrastructure there.

"Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies. In Gaza the Israeli blockade has made an already dire situation worse," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's researcher on Israel and the OPT.

In a new extensive report, Amnesty International revealed the extent to which Israel's discriminatory water policies and practices are denying Palestinians their right to access to water.

Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the main source of underground water in Israel and the OPT, while restricting Palestinian access to a mere 20 per cent.

The Mountain Aquifer is the only source for water for Palestinians in the West Bank, but only one of several for Israel, which also takes for itself all the water available from the Jordan River.

While Palestinian daily water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per person, Israeli daily consumption is more than 300 litres per day, four times as much.

In some rural communities Palestinians survive on barely 20 litres per day, the minimum amount recommended for domestic use in emergency situations.

Some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater.

In contrast, Israeli settlers, who live in the West Bank in violation of international law, have intensive-irrigation farms, lush gardens and swimming pools.

Numbering about 450,000, the settlers use as much or more water than the Palestinian population of some 2.3 million.

In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet, Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza.

Stringent restrictions imposed in recent years by Israel on the entry into Gaza of material and equipment necessary for the development and repair of infrastructure have caused further deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza, which has reached crisis point.

To cope with water shortages and lack of network supplies many Palestinians have to purchase water, of often dubious quality, from mobile water tankers at a much higher price.

Others resort to water-saving measures which are detrimental to their and their families' health and which hinder socio-economic development.

"Over more than 40 years of occupation, restrictions imposed by Israel on the Palestinians' access to water have prevented the development of water infrastructure and facilities in the OPT, consequently denying hundreds of thousand of Palestinians the right to live a normal life, to have adequate food, housing, or health, and to economic development," said Donatella Rovera.

Israel has appropriated large areas of the water-rich Palestinian land it occupies and barred Palestinians from accessing them.

It has also imposed a complex system of permits which the Palestinians must obtain from the Israeli army and other authorities in order to carry out water-related projects in the OPT. Applications for such permits are often rejected or subject to long delays.

Restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of people and goods in the OPT further compound the difficulties Palestinians face when trying to carry out water and sanitation projects, or even just to distribute small quantities of water.

Water tankers are forced to take long detours to avoid Israeli military checkpoints and roads which are out of bounds to Palestinians, resulting in steep increases in the price of water.

In rural areas, Palestinian villagers are continuously struggling to find enough water for their basic needs, as the Israeli army often destroys their rainwater harvesting cisterns and confiscates their water tankers.
In comparison, irrigation sprinklers water the fields in the midday sun in nearby Israeli settlements, where much water is wasted as it evaporates before even reaching the ground.

In some Palestinian villages, because their access to water has been so severely restricted, farmers are unable to cultivate the land, or even to grow small amounts of food for their personal consumption or for animal fodder, and have thus been forced to reduce the size of their herds.

"Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford," said Donatella Rovera.

"Israel must end its discriminatory policies, immediately lift all the restrictions it imposes on Palestinians' access to water, and take responsibility for addressing the problems it created by allowing Palestinians a fair share of the shared water resources."

Blast in Goa By Ram Puniyani - India

Goa, the paradise for tourists, witnessed a bomb kept in a scooter going off on the eve of Divali (17th Oct 2009) in Margao. It killed Malgonda Patil and seriously injured Yogesh Naik. Another bomb was detected in Sancoale in a truck carrying 40 youth for Narkasur competition. Interestingly Narkasur day, one of the five festivals of Divali, is celebrated in Goa on a big scale. Sanatana Sanstha, to which both the activists belong, is opposed to Narkasur festival on the ground that it is celebration of evil. The second aim of this blast was to create communal tension in Margao, which has a history of communal violence. Fortunately, the bomb went off before being planted in the crowded place and so the casualty was less.

This is the same Sanatan Sanstha, which came to light in the context of a blast which occurred in Gadkari Ragayatan in Thane on 4th June 2008, this had injured seven people. In one of the few cases of success in investigating such cases in Maharashtra or anywhere for that matter, the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Police, succeeded in nabbing the culprits, against whom cases are going on still. It was a clear case of involvement of Hindu Right wing organizations involved in a case of terrorism. The culprits belonged to Hindu Janjagaran Samiti (HJS), an outfit of Sanatana Sanstha, whose one of the ashrams is based in Panvel near Mumbai. These culprits were also involved in other blasts, in Vashi, Panvel and Ratnagiri.

In Thane the blasts were done to protest against the play Amhi Pachpute, a satirical play on Mahabharata. The allegation was that the play insults Hindu Gods. The earlier blast in Panvel was in a theater where the film Jodha Akbar was being screened. In this film the Hindu princess is married to Akbar, a Muslim king, and that is regarded by these outfits as insult to Hindu religion.

Sanatan Sanstha founded by Dr. Jayant Balaji Athwale is inspired by the political ideology of Savarkar of Hindu Mahasabha and Hedgewar of RSS. It has branches spread all over, including one in Panvel near Mumbai, while its head office is in Ramnathi in Goa. In earlier Thane and nearby blasts also all the accused belonged to this organization. Sanatan Sanstha says it has nothing to do with the blasts, despite the fact that those involved were members of the organization. Police is investigating the links of these accused with the recent Miraj Sangli riots in Maharashtra on the eve of elections (2009).

The same organization also brings out a paper called Sanatan Prabhat, carrying the ideas of Hindu Rashtra, and propagating against minorities. Since the last overt action from this organization, no serious action has been taken against this organization, despite Maharashtra ATS asking for a ban on this organization. Now it surfaces that Goa transport miniter Dhavalikar's wife Jyoti is also associated with this organization. It is again same organization which campaigned forcefully against the screening of M.F. Hussein's film 'Through the eyes of a painter', due to which the screening of the film in the Goa Film Festival held in November 2008 was shelved.

One recalls that starting from April 2006, many acts of blasts done by the RSS associates, Bajrang Dal, Sadhvi Pragya group etc. came to light. The pattern of these was to target the mosque at time when the crowd of Muslims is maximum there, especially on the Jumma, Friday afternoon namaz (prayer). In case of Sanatan Sanstha associates the blasts so far seems to be taking place to protest against something which they don't approve of, staging of play Amhi Pachpute, screening of Film Jodha Akbar to here in Goa the celebration of Narkasur festival. The Hindutva related terror seems to be having two types of operations, from which they can be demarcated. And so within the Hindutva inspired terror groups these two clear cut demarcations need to be understood.

What is strikingly painful is the police and media response to such events. One knows that in Bajrang Dal- Sadhvi Pragya variety of terrorism starting from Nanded to Malegaon, the investigation has been lukewarm and slow. Initially the investigators refused to believe that Hindu Right wing groups can be part of terror acts. It is only after Hemant Karkare'e immaculate investigation unearthing the role of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Dayananad Pande and company that it was taken with some seriousness. One recalls Karkare having stated that he has collected all the evidence against Sadhvi group. Despite that why the investigation is so slow?

One also recalls that while doing this investigation, Karkare was under immense pressure, he was called Deshdrohi (anti National) etc. His pain and anguish went to the extent that he shared this with a senior police officer, Julio Rebeiro, who in turn correctly advised him to continue doing his work with same degree of professionalism. It is same Karkare who got killed in the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai prompting the then Minorities Affairs minister A.R. Antuley to state that there may be something more than meets the eye in the murder of Karkare. Will the truth ever come out?

When any blast takes place, and what are popularly called 'Jihadi terrorists' are suspected, the newspapers generally devote front page banner headlines, with all details and suspicions spelt out day after day. In cases related to Nanded types or the ones related to Hindu Jagran Samiti type, the coverage is relegated to small columns in the back pages. The visual media which generally carries non-stop running commentary around such an event is now muted when it comes to Hindutva inspired terror.

Abhay Vartak, the spokesperson of Hindu Sanatan Sansthan said that his organization has nothing to do with these blasts. He went on to say that talk of his organization being part of it and so banning it, is meant to defame his organization. But still the problem remains, those who have done it are part of his organization. Why they are regularly involved in it, in personal capacity or as organization is a question which needs to be answered? What they preach, teach, indoctrinate due to which the terrorists are mushrooming in his Ashram needs to be investigated.

A terrorist is a terrorist. To mete out different treatments to them according to their religion is a product of biased minds and distorted social common sense, which needs to be overcome to strive for justice.

http://www.markthetruth.com/pakistan-a-the-world/168-blast-in-goa.html