Sunday, October 28, 2012

Which Is More Important: Endangered Animals or Endangered Languages?

Shouldn't we strive to preserve both equally? In a perfect world: yes. Extinction usually occurs as a result of intolerance against the native language or species. Even the British Empire itself grew to be successful due to their intolerance of the native language of the invaded country; often allowing only English to be spoken and taught. Most languages cannot be preserved for a lack of time or finance; saving a language takes expensive amounts of both of these. On the other hand however, language is the medium of communication between humans, even sign language. Language is necessary among humans to prevent conflict and to develop themselves. There are hundreds of endangered languages which should be preserved. Here are some examples:

· Helambu Sherpa. This is believed to be extinct since no native speakers exist. It originated on Nepal.
· Squamish. This is spoken by Native Americans of the Suquamish Nation, and is sourced from British Columbia, in Canada. However, less than twenty native speakers remain in this nation.
· Awjila. This was traced back to the Oasis of Awjila in Libya wherein the 2,000 native speakers live.

In addition there are also many thousands of endangered and extinct animals which we have to fight for. Some unusual examples include:

· The Cassowary bird. This bright, blue bird is closely related to the Emu, but is incredibly close to extinction.
· The Tazmanian Tiger. Last known of in 1937, when the last one died on the 17th of September, then dubbed the day of Endangered Species.
· Lesser Bilby. The smaller breed died out in the 1960's, while the Greater Bilby is critically endangered.

More emphasis is placed on endangered animals but why is this? What is so gripping about animals that languages just don't have? Well, for a start, humans themselves are not endangered, and so culture doesn't seem so important in this ever changing world. When commercials request aid, they often use cute photos of animals like Pandas, Tree Kangaroos, Snow Leopards and most commonly Polar Bears. Language cannot be shown as cute in pleas for help in the same way, and so cannot attract our attention as easily.

We are also encouraged to preserve wild life because of our dependence on other species for our own survival. When a language becomes extinct, it does not affect mankind in the same way. Moreover, it does not affect all of mankind, only a minority of the population. Many people are of the opinion that language is language. As long as everyone can communicate, who cares about different dialects and idiolects? They argue that it would be easier to speak just one language throughout the world, to globalize and prevent destructive language barriers. To these people, the preservation of language is considered a waste of money, paper, ink and time.

Is extinction permanent? Apparently not. Extinction is dangerous, careless and often sad. Indeed every 14 days a language dies. By 2100, approximately half of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world today will disappear, according to the National Geographic. In Australia before colonization there were around 250 indigenous languages, while after colonization there are only 20 constantly used languages. The statistics are similarly depressing for animals. The rate of extinction in mammals has increased up to 120% in 2005 since the 1600s, according to research by UCR. Nearly 20,000 animals are considered critically endangered in the world today and three new, dying species are discovered every week.

Despite this, sometimes success stories emerge through perseverance. For example the Muwekma Ohlome tribe of California has revitalized their moribund language Chochenyo, last spoken in the 1930s. As of 2009, the tribe was able to teach their students and carry out fluent conversations in Chochenyo. Furthermore, the Woylie, one of the smallest marsupials in the world was reintroduced onto small, predator-free islands following a decline in their primary hunters, foxes.

In my opinion, we should try to make more effort to revitalize languages. If we're willing to spend millions on saving endangered insects like the 12 species of Cape Stag Beetle currently being preserved, surely we can afford to save a few interesting and culturally significant languages such as Squamish. I found an article which said that "When a language dies a specific understanding of the world and a culture formed over centuries dies with it." Each language has a different influence on society, as well as on the syntactic structure of the brain. The study of neurological patterns gives valuable insight into complex neuro-linguistic conditions, which could lead to a greater understanding of strokes and dyslexia, perhaps even providing a cure in the future.

Language is a main repository of human development and should be preserved as such. Language is one of the things that made us the way we are today; if we keep stuffed extinct animals in Natural History Museums, why shouldn't we hold onto languages as well? Language also represents identity for many minority tribes and races of the world, and gives each a unique inner-connection with them-selves. Finally I believe that it is more inclusive to have a polychromatic world of linguistic diversity than to have a monochromatic world of dullness.

I believe that language should be placed at a higher importance than animals because we live in an anthropocentric and secular world wherein we only care for ourselves. We ruin the world with our development and globalization, but even if that weren't to happen, the animal cycle would still lead to extinction for many animals, such as the Dodos in the Pleistocene epoch. Language represents us in a way that animals do not, and I believe that as many as possible should be saved from extinction.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Two Terrorist Organizations - How Hamas and Hezbollah Maintain Their Public Support

Are some terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah really social organizations bound by hatred? I would submit to you that this is the case. From Lebanon, Hezbollah started a war with Israel, when Israel retaliated, Hezbollah became a construction organization and rebuilt people's homes, built mosques and schools. They even gave hundred dollar bills to anyone whose home was destroyed during the fighting. No matter that Hezbollah started the war by shooting missiles into Israel, often using private property, schools, and even hospitals to launch their weapons from.

And the hundred dollar bills they were giving to people, they were counterfeit US currency. Can you believe it? Hamas, in many regards is using about the same strategy. Why are they using this strategy you ask; because it works, and they are able to gain support from the public. If they are in the cities helping out with community projects in between the next round of attacks, they can win friends and influence people. Once they have the popular support, they also have a nice recruitment tool.

It's often been said that to build a team you have to pick an enemy. The enemy has to be something terrible, mean, evil, and unjust. By firing rockets into Israel they can get Israel to retaliate. When it does they can use the media, and such events to show that Israel is evil to their local people; therefore justifying their existence as the resistance against evil. Very convenient isn't it? So how do you defeat a group which has united their community in hate, and is constantly picking a fight with its neighbors in order to label itself as the solution? It's your basic baiting technique.

You may not have thought of this, but this is very similar to how street gangs operate in the inner-city. One street gang does something to cause conflict with another, then the other street gang attacks them, this unites the first street gang through adversity, and gets them to work together as a team becoming stronger against the other gang. Then they go on the offensive again, and then you have a never ending circle of violence. The trick would be just to stop fighting, and this would diffuse the power of the instigators.

However, when one gang is terrorizing your neighborhood, you must defend yourself, but in this case when Israel defends itself this just gives more fodder to the media to uplift the notoriety of the terrorist organization. Amazing isn't it? Please consider all this and think on it.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

An Arab Spring in Argentina

Perhaps, it is good that the Arab Spring protests have ended for a while, but in many regards they haven't, they are ongoing. It's as if it is a wildfire which has been put out, but it's still smoldering waiting for the next breeze to come along. Where will it flare up next time? Currently, it appears that Syria is in serious territory, and the Assad regime may eventually fall meanwhile, until it does things are totally chaotic, society has crumbled, and the civilization is being destroyed. That's the worst scenario of an Arab Spring gone bad, I'd say.

What other nations may fall during the next Solar Storm X-Flare like flare-up? Well, we might see a problem in Jordan, as the demonstrations are getting larger, and there is more discontent this time. Last time Jordan had let go some of the top people in its government to appease the masses, but back then the demonstrations were quite a bit smaller, today they're incredibly large. When the weather gets better and the springtime comes it will be hard to contain all that animosity.

Of course, Jordan is not alone, there are other nations in the Middle East and on the African continent that also look ripe for their own Arab Spring, perhaps even a rekindling by the masses who are not happy with what happened in the last Arab Spring riots and protests, some would call them revolutions. We have turbulent times ahead and speaking of other continents, how about in South America?

It seems as if the socialist government of Argentina has run its course as well. They've run out of money, and can't deliver on all the promises they made. There were two interesting pieces in the Wall Street Journal recently about Argentina's growing economic challenges;

1.) An editorial titled; "Argentina Runs Out of Other People's Money," by Mary Anastasia, November 19, 2012.
2.) An article titled; "Argentina Battled by Labor Unrest," by Ken Parks, November 21, 2012.

The first piece noted the largest demonstration since 1983 in Buenos Aires, and the second showed the on-going protests with pictures of civil unrest and fires with the situation quite out of control, similar to those in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. The rioters were union members and very anti-Kirchner (the President there).

Are we about to see the equivalent of the Arab Spring in Argentina? And if so what will they call it? Will they call it an Argentina Spring, because more than just a leak has sprung in Argentina's economy. The dam has burst, and socialism has run its course, as it always does. Just as it is now also running its course in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.

It looks as if the humans on planet Earth are not all that happy, and many of them have learned that protests and riots are one way to get their voices heard and toppling their governments - "just don't bring that spring here," I was thinking to myself while doing research to write this article.

Will these masses of people destroy their own civilization and society in the process of trying to overturn their governments, and demand either democracy, or more services from the government - perhaps some of both? Time will tell, and 2013 will be in interesting year around the globe. Stay tuned. Please consider all this and think on it.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

China Appoints a Minister of Propaganda - The US Already Has A Better One

Well, I love the United States, and I surely love what we stand for even if we don't always completely live up to those high ideals that we proclaim. I love the freedom, liberty, and the ability to pursue happiness even if I realize there are many barriers in my way to fulfilling those wonderful rights. Yes, the United States could do better, but luckily we are doing better than most.

As I watch our State Department travel around the world and ask for human rights, democracy, and liberty for all, I often wonder why our government doesn't do more here at home to build upon the freedoms we have here. I am equally bothered at times by our politics and the intense level of propaganda they promote, which is also evident by the podium pushing politicians reading from their teleprompters. I think we can do better than this, and I don't believe we need to lie to the American people.

Some folks would say that with 300 million people in our country we do need at least a little bit of propaganda to hold the fort together. The only problem with that is it is a slippery slope and promoting a lie only causes you to tell more. We certainly aren't the only nation with a huge population and the need to create a stable society. Indeed I suppose all nations promote propaganda to serve their will and to push their agenda forward. I believe that's fine as long as the agenda serves the people, rather than those who are in power.

Nevertheless, we shouldn't be naïve to think that those powers that be in our own country and especially in other nations see things slightly differently. Let me give you an example; Reuters had an interesting article posted on November 21, 2012 titled; "China promotes conservative to propaganda minister," by Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard which stated;

"While media-savvy, Liu is unlikely to loosen media controls as China's leaders, nervous about stability and the need to ensure one-party rule, are likely to keep domestic media on a short leash and clamp down on China's increasingly unruly Internet, which has over 500 million users."

As bad as that sounds, because it seems like we are not making any progress in the world, perhaps it's time for us to look in our own mirror first, and look at the direction we are headed, and how we are pouncing on our own ideals, and shredding our Constitution in the process, not to mention the Bill of Rights. I'm not going to sit here and justify what China is doing, but I understand why they believe they must.

In China it's about centralized control, but in the United States it was never supposed to be. Perhaps someone needs to do a little "knock-knock" on this skulls of our leadership, and duly ask them; "is anyone home?" Please consider all this and think on it.

Monday, October 1, 2012

2012 Chinese Politburo Elections Amidst Global Financial Crisis

The new Politburo Standing Committee is a leaner 7 member group with an average age of 63.4. I guess the red "princelings" in China are more in Prince Charles style. Whereas the average age in legislatures and highest committee bodies has been falling in the wider Western world (with an exception of United States), the new Chinese leadership will be prone to gerontocracy along with its tied at the hip American tango partner.

Xi Jinping, one of the youngest at 59 is a trained chemical engineer (which is serious business much like Angela Merkel's doctorate on quantum chemistry and people with such backgrounds are often benefit to the public). Another old member, 67 year old Yu Zhengsheng, has missile and electronics engineering training. Two engineers and the rest of the 7 member group are economists, statisticians, and propagandists. All very wealthy of course. This is going to be a very cautious status quo bunch and the generation that will finally start making major mistakes. It is irrelevant whether mistakes will stem from general generational/class divide, overconfidence, above mentioned gerontocracy and cautiousness, or having to make the first major uncertain step into the darkness as a regional hegemon. No country has gone longer than 30 years on such a breakneck pace and on such scale without a major misstep or at least slide into some stagnation. Even with Washington DC and Moscow "reorienting" towards the far east, a vacuum will still be opened in the region due weakness of both powers in the area (US navy is currently being gradually strategically pressured/forced out of Western pacific with Chinese "carrier killer" and "satellite killer" missiles).

Many analogies can be thrown around concerning China. Here are some of them that we're all familiar with at this point:

1) The ruling center finally effectively centralizing after warlordism chaos period of the 1920s-1940s which is reminiscent of unification of large pieces of feudal France under 18th century monarchic absolutism. Thus effective first time creation of a modern nation state for China.

2) The current rapid Chinese industrialization and neo-mercantilist rise reminiscent of rapid rise of Germany within a multipolar world of the 1870s-1914 period. With current Anglo-American empire of today naturally playing the role of a deindustrializing British Empire hegemon of yesteryear.

3) The neo-mercantilist practices from Beijing attempting and aiming to be futuristic, evolving, and cutting edge (Deng Xiaoping was mentored by Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew [who is still alive!!] on Asian illiberal capitalism of the future). Thus Beijing aims to borrow and improve on the best of evolving neo-mercantilism of pre-1990s stagnation Japan, Kaiser's Germany of old, and of course smaller neighboring modernizers like Taiwan, South Korea and survivalist dictatorial city state of Singapore. Mercantilism, state sponsored industrialization, and protectionism have been observed to work again and again historically and so the previous article saw most of the world being pulled into the Chinese system and orbit.

[Sidenote: we may even add a new analogy of China partially learning from desires of Hamilton and Quinsy Adams in terms of development and rapid achievement of autonomy from a global hegemon. In any case, Beijing learns and absorbs from all corners much like Moscow does. This is a sign of health. The mass scale chaos and butchery from mid 19th century lasting into the 1960s taught them to never repeat such a time of troubles at any cost.]

The conclusion that could have been drawn at the start of the financial crisis in 2008 was a cold and geopolitical one since it was assumed China is becoming predictable along its heavy great power path much like Britain became predictable in 19th century. This would allow the Western progressive elites in conditions of a global crisis to out think and outmaneuver Beijing since they would know where Beijing would want to head next. The advise could have been to use the rather narrow 10-15 year widow of opportunity for the West to get its act together and to co-divide the world in terms of influence on the southern hemisphere countries (to put it in the crudest terms).

The window of opportunity refers to time period from the present to when China moves up the value product chain and begins to effectively compete with Siemens, IBM, GE, Boeing, and EADS when it comes to manufacture of advanced value added complex products like transatlantic super heavy passenger jets, high speed electric cars, high speed train wagons (and not just construction of amazing rail lines with Western assistance), super computers, rocket engines, small next generation fission reactors, tanks, robotics, stealth jetplanes, genetic medicine, etc. Even if a second wave of the financial crisis in the Western world triggers an American 1930s depression style event in China, such harsh transition and taking advantage of Chinese window of opportunity for West to unite remain relevant suggestions. Regional, semi-global, and global unification and globalization (taking new forms) remains inevitable but it would be nice for various unifications to have more individual and human friendly political ideology. Current Chinese state capitalist illiberal dictatorship model must be resisted and much of humanity should have access to alternatives. It is up to large swaths of the Northern Hemisphere (even totally stagnant regions) to develop such alternatives.

Admittedly back in 2009, the goal should have been to make Europe the "first among" equals" pole in a multipolar world arrangement (with best case scenario being Europe on friendly terms with both US and Russian Federation and perhaps even gently playing them off against each other the way Yugoslavia did with Americans and Soviets). The focus on preserving Europe as island of stability was because of European elites still having energy and desire for experimentation (unlike Americans) due to the sophisticated supranational nature of project they were engaging on (similar to what American elites of early 19th century faced). In a world of great paradigm shift due to automation, third industrial revolution, and very slow paradigm shift to post-scarcity, it was and still is very important to keep one continent as a fortress of civilizational safety with a dynamic cluster of elites overseeing it.

Now of course that was before the beggar thy neighbor currency wars between US and EU and the rest of the world, before the perpetual debt crisises born from private debts being socialized, and before it became clear of the sheer paralysis within American and European politics (although much less so in Brussels than in DC). China has moved along swiftly since then, bypassing Japan as #2 economy, humiliating Western powers at Copenhagen conference, and beginning to compete in high end products like solar panel technology with dramatic increase in subsidies. In global conditions where Western leaders decided to kick the can down the road, it is not surprising that China decided to do the same with election of the current Politburo Standing Committee. It appears Western elites don't yet fully appreciate the historical magnitude and paradigm shifting nature of the financial crisis they are facing and will not make major moves for another few years allowing China to bypass US by 2015 (the most recent estimate). Then we may see history repeat itself as a farce with Westerners asking to be financially bailed out (it has already been indirectly happening at G20 meetings) by the Chinese development and foreign investment banking organs. A Politburo with a lower average age might have stirred some worry in Brussels, DC, and Moscow.

The Chinese "overconstruction" has not been an issue so far (it is rather hilarious when economists are puzzled why China is building entire cities with nobody yet living in them). Considering how many Chinese still live in medieval conditions of poverty, eventually this infrastructure and residential areas will be filled. Yes, Japan dumped a lot of money into infrastructure in the 1990s to get its GDP and stock market growth back up without results but it didn't actually hurt the people since they got newer and faster roads, tunnels, transport, shelter, etc. In fact, preemptive dumping of mass resources and/or fiat wealth into seeming infrastructural bubbles of residential "ghost cities" is rather prudent considering robotic workers will soon make the concept of the "cheap Asian laborer" obsolete (and cheap African laborer and most of humanity for that matter. AI software and miniature electronics are finally catching up to make practical cheap robot workers possible and ever-present). These obsolete humans will need to live somewhere and Chinese may as well construct the shelter during the current paradigm. Talk of residential housing bubbles is as ridiculous as talk of bubbles in food production and such talk is a product of a sick global socioeconomic system (consider the millions of houses sitting empty in United States and the amount of the homeless). That is a story for another day but China may be one of the first countries facing the brunt of a new automation paradigm shift first and head on and with potentially the most painful of consequences.

The average age of the new politburo doesn't help with bringing potential flexibility and finesse when it comes to reacting to major issues. The accumulated wealth buffer (to be readily dumped on the problem as in 2009) is being relied upon instead of having rapid reaction flexible human leadership tools. Although most of the members of the new Politburo were not born directly in coastal provinces, their upbringing and the great power trajectory of the country will still push them to favor more resource expenditures on coastal integration than Western provincial development. The focus on the Chinese coast may allow China to play a civilizational role within trans-Pacific space that America played in trans-Atlantic space in later half of the 20th century (and that China could have played as far back as 500 years ago if it chose to). However, it will be very important for them to not forget infrastructural links with Central Asia, not forget to increasingly allocate resources to the Western provinces to create a societal shape more like Japan's than Brazil's or America's (olive shaped as one Politburo member said), and to push forward with high speed rail towards Europe.



Sunday, September 30, 2012

Is Jordan Going to Be the Next Government to Fall In the Spring of 2013?

After reading several CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) papers and a couple of RAND Corporation reports it is obvious to me that the Arab Spring was not merely caused by people getting together on social networks. There was a populist undercurrent of anger, despair, and helplessness and the protestors merely used the social networks for tools to promote their political agendas.

People took to the streets because they were angry at the economic situation, the rising food prices, and overall inflation. They demanded that their various governments do something to take care of these problems, but those governments couldn't.

The people in those areas also felt as if their voice was not being heard and that democracy was being stolen from them, also they were quite upset with the rising of wheat prices and food scarcity, this is what triggered those revolutions. It has often been said that a stable society is really only three meals away from total meltdown and chaos. Hungry humans will do just about anything to get food, just as wild animals do. Well, the Arab Spring touched many nations and harnessed those animal instincts, and there were Days of Rage (riots and protests) in some 10 different countries. Many governments moved very quickly to appease the masses, but it was too much for other leaders.

Well, we're coming up on another spring season, and as the weather gets better people will once again take to the streets, there seems to be quite a bit of turbulence and chaos and Jordan right now. Is this a sign of things to come? It certainly could be, and one has to ask, what is the next nation to fall in the region?

Strafor Global Intelligence had noted in an article on November 19, 2012 "The Gaza Conflict Reverberates in the West Bank and Jordan," and spoke of the growing angst amongst the masses there, explaining how the Muslim Brotherhood seemed to be behind much of the commotion causing larger protests than were seen in the previous Arab Spring which took down the governments of Egypt and Tunisia.

Just two days the prior the Wall Street Journal also reported on civil and economic unrest "Jordanianas Call for End of Monarchy - A Regime Long Sheltered from Arab Spring Sees Economic Discontent Feed New Demand for Revolution" by Bull Spindle and Suha Philip Ma'ayeh.

Is it possible that Jordan could also fall to the Muslim Brotherhood? Anything is possible, we already saw that when Egypt fell very quickly. A lot has happened in the last few years, and we might expect that some of this will continue for the next three or four more years. The interesting thing is we don't know what the outcome will be, or if this will end well. Nevertheless, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Is The United States of America Negotiating for a Terrorist Organization Now?

In mid-November of 2012 rockets were shot from across the Syrian border into Israel. Simultaneously, rockets and even Fajr 3 and Fajr 5 missiles were shot from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The culprit was well-known, and this was no surprise to Israel's intelligence service. Hamas was obviously behind it all, and they had recently hijacked the politic in the Palestinian territory. The US State Department has labeled Hamas as a terrorist organization, and in fact it is a proxy terrorist group for Iran.

Those Fajr 5 missiles are Iranian missiles. As the attack got going, and for the next week everyone was screaming that it was time for a cease-fire and negotiation. Israel asked a simple question; who will be negotiating for Hamas? Since it is a terrorist organization, and those terrorists are keeping their identities secret, and it's hard to tell who was in control, it's doubtful they will come out of the woodwork in broad daylight, show themselves, and negotiate.

After all, the longevity for a Hamas military leader, once known, and gallivanting around in public certainly wouldn't be more than a few hours considering Hamas is now at war with Israel in this latest round. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was dispatched to meet with Israel's leader in Jerusalem, from there she would go to the Palestinian territory, perhaps to talk to Mahmoud Abbas, and into Egypt to talk to their new Muslim Brotherhood leader Morsi. There's just one problem with this, first, Mahmoud Abbas doesn't speak for Hamas.

Thus, apparently Hillary Clinton will negotiate on behalf of Hamas with Israel I am guessing? But that brings up a very good question; is the United States of America negotiating for a terrorist organization? And if so may I ask under whose authority? It has been noted that the United States nor Israel negotiates with terrorists. One of the leaders for Israel said that if Hamas wanted a cease-fire, then all they had to do would be to stop shooting rockets and missiles into the country. Apparently Hamas doesn't want to stop shooting missiles until they run out of ordinance to shoot - Iran probably doesn't want Hamas to stop either.

You see, you can't negotiate with a ghost, or someone in hiding, and you should never negotiate with a terrorist organization. Only a fool would try, and therefore why is the United States even bothering to try to negotiate with a terrorist organization or on their behalf with Israel? It makes no sense whatsoever. Hamas wants to look good in the media to gain more support politically so they can overshadow Mahmoud Abbas, who by the way has been trying to join the United Nations a nonmember state, so that the Palestinian Authority might have a voice.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Women in India

Though India is a country where women are worshipped as goddesses, they were treated no better than slaves even a century ago. They were usually considered to be the weaker sex and were often kept subdued by the men folk.

Over the years, as the country went through political, economical and social changes, the condition of the Indian woman also changed for the better. They began to get their place in independent India. They stopped being mere domestic servants and saw the light of education and started playing a more pertinent role in the country's development. Today, no segregation is made between a boy and girl with regard to education. Indian women, now educated, have found their place of honour in the society.

Both Indian women and men enjoy equal voting rights. This means that the Indian woman has an equal say in deciding who will run the country. Their voices are now more dynamic and audible than ever. No leader or politician can ever ignore the voice of the Indian women or can oppose their rights. Women in India have become identical partners in electing and dismissing a government.

With the changing times and to grant more power to the Indian women, Hindu laws have been modified. The Hindu Marriage Act has undergone far reaching changes and Indian women have been granted the right to divorce. This has ensured them to get protection and relief against cruel and virulent husbands. Besides, the Hindu Succession Act has ensured the daughter's share in her parents' property. Such reforms have secured the position of women in India in the society.

The Constitution of the country has also guaranteed identical rights to the men and women of India. No distinction is carried out on the basis of religion, caste or sex. This has safeguarded their rights. Moreover, reservation of women's seats in Parliament, state assemblies and other democratic bodies is also on the cards. This would ensure greater women representation in the affairs of the country.

Many of Indian women have occupied the highest posts in the country. A case in point is Indira Gandhi. She was the first woman Prime Minister of India and often referred to as the iron lady. She was a leader of world stature. Guided by her success, more and more Indian women are entering politics to serve the people of the country.

Women are being recruited in the armed forces of the country and they are playing a vital role in maintaining law and order of the country. The observance of the international women's year in 1975, was a shot in the arm for the emancipation of women.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

How The US Blew It Big Time In Iraq - Oil, Energy, Iran, Russia, and Middle East Chaos

Well, I would submit to you that we sure blew it in Iraq. In hindsight it's really easy to make that statement because it is so obvious now. What we should have done is quite simple. We should have put in our own government, let the Iraqi people know that we would turn it over to them in the year 2020. And in the interim we would put in our oil companies, and take the profit to rebuild their civilization using US contractors, and paying off our war debt.

Then when we turned it back over to them they would have a civilization which would look more like Dubai or Kuwait than what it looks like today. They would have by then 15 billion barrels of oil flowing out per year, and all the money they needed to maintain a strong army for defense, and a stable society and government. If that would've happened, I have no doubt that the many different sects would have gotten along, and enjoyed economic prosperity.

Today, all we see is a giant disaster. Iran is now influencing the Iraqi government, Iran is also flying weapons over Iraqi airspace into Syria to help the Assad regime put down its rebel opposition and the continuous killing of its own people which is now in excess of 30,000. But that's not all that's happening in Iraq, they are still treating the Kurds like secondhand citizen, not that the Kurds haven't been causing their own troubles with their neighbors next door in Turkey. Things are a mess in that regard.

Then there is the issue of the 12 to 15 billion barrels a day potential crude oil export capacity of Iraq, as they aren't even producing a fraction of that yet. It is unlikely that with all the infighting in their own government that they will reach those levels in the next decade. You'd think with the huge demand in the rest of the world that they'd be able to get this done, and that they'd work nonstop to see it to fruition.

There was an interesting piece in Energy Daily on November 9, 2012 titled; "Iraq: Exxon pulls out, Russia wants in," by Staff Writers in Baghdad. Well, that's just great, apparently we are turning Iraq over to Iran, the Russians, and there is still no stability or peace in the region. What the heck did we do? If we really wanted to get rid of Saddam, he was only one man. Why did we spend $1 trillion there with nothing to show for it? The country is no better off today than it ever has been, and in hindsight we've accomplished nothing.

Well, that doesn't impress me much and it is rather embarrassing; and whereas, there are many we could blame, the comedy of errors that created this mess are truly unacceptable. It certainly wouldn't have happened under my administration. Please consider all this and think on it.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Why Israel Doesn't Need a Draft For A Ground War Against Hamas and Their Angry Friends

It looks like Hamas has been setting up some rather high tech missile equipment to shoot into Israel. Not just those little rockets, which are more of a nuisance than anything else, although they strike fear into citizenry when shot in large barrages or swarms. I suppose striking fear much as the German V1 and V2 rockets did in World War II, or the SCUD missiles did during the first Gulf War. How did Hamas get these industrial grade missiles? Apparently they got them from Sudan, from a missile factory, which was probably set up by the Iranians or from Iran directly smuggled in parts and reassembled.

Of course, Israel's Mossad knows what's going on in and around the region, they also know what's going on in Iran, and they've been very careful to remove threats one by one as they appear, constantly gathering information as they go. Apparently, Hamas thinks they are sneaky, or at least one of their main leaders did, who met his demise from an Israeli missile strike onto his Mercedes while he was busy with his body guards looking around every which way but up. Israel wants to remove the rest of this threat, as any nation wishing to defend themselves would.

Israel put out a press release that it might call up 35,000 people and draft them into temporary service for a potential ground war. Indeed I saw another news report that suggested that Israel might call up 75,000 reservists. They have people ready, everyone in Israel is militarily trained, everyone has served in the military for at least two years. Every single citizen is a reservist in a way. So should they call up tens of thousands of reservists for duty and service? They can you know, and I think all their adversaries know it as well.

To that I say; that's nice but they don't have too. In fact, if they just put out a sign-up sheet, and told interested citizens to report they'd have 500,000 within 24-hours. Further, there are probably a million Americans who'd volunteer too. Doubt what I am saying - don't, it's true. Even though there is an election getting ready to get underway in Israel, all the candidates are on board with defending Israel against this foe. Israel's response has been measured, calculated, and rather immediate I might add.

Once Hamas tried to create a diversion firing rockets into the Jewish state, Israel took it upon itself to take out the industrial grade missiles too, now they want to go get the rest, wouldn't you? Then there is Egypt, what should it do? Perhaps it should stand down and not re-learn the lessons of the past, or has all of this united Hamas, and the Muslim brotherhood in a common cause?

More to follow, and more players to be revealed, and I hope you will stay tune for the future of this conflict and latest round - and perhaps, the end of Hamas as a proxy terrorist group. Perhaps, they should have quit while they were they had the chance? Please consider all this and think on it.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Will Egypt Get Involved In the November 2012 Israeli-Hamas Conflict?

Okay so, I guess it's not news to anyone now that Hamas has been busy reloading, whereas some at the United Nations thought that perhaps a peaceful period was finally shedding light on the region. In mid-October of 2012 a rocket and missile factory was destroyed in Sudan. It turns out that in November of 2012 the same types of rockets and missiles which were shot into Israel by Hamas, as those weapons reappeared again on the international scene. This means Iran is also involved.

Is it possible that this small conflict could escalate into something much larger? Sure, especially if cooler heads do not prevail. At the same time the United States has discussed how large a force they might need to go in and get the chemical weapons that are in Syria. Someone estimated 75,000 troops. Okay so, let's step back and look at the bigger picture, starting with information we already know which has been in the news.

NBC News had an interesting feature on November 16, 2012 which was also posted at Reuters titled; " Israel authorizes more reservists after rockets target cities," which stated; " Israel's cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists late on Friday, preparing the ground for a possible Gaza invasion after Palestinians fired a barrage of rockets into Israel," and the article/TV news story went on to add that Egypt's new President Morsi said that Egypt would support Gaza against Israeli aggression.

Okay, but; what Egypt's Morsi does and says are two different things, remember he's trying to lead as a populist, but doesn't completely have control of will of the people, he hopes to gather full support over time but that might be difficult. The military in Egypt does not fully trust him yet, if he oversteps his bounds Morsi will become a political casualty (or worse) of this conflict. Inciting the masses would be a mistake on his part, and he'd certainly lose US support, and our President certainly doesn't have a mandate here to get away with taking sides with Morsi.

In the end Egypt's leadership will do best if it talks big but does nothing, then enjoys a diplomatic place at the table to return to temporary peace along that border area. Hamas is in a no-win situation now, and Iran is in a better place because Hamas is serving its will against Israel, and the Muslim population is riled up, and could be bound together in a common cause against Israel. If Israel takes troops into Gaza Egypt may be forced to play its hand out or its leadership could lose faith amongst is most staunch supporters.

Either way, this doesn't look good for anyone who wants peace in the Middle East, but then again those that believe that's actually possible perhaps don't live in the real world, rather some future utopian fantasy land. It's just not going to happen, and certainly not this year or the next. Please consider all this and think on it.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Indian Foreign Policy: An Overview

India has established formal diplomatic relations with most of the countries of the world. India is the second most populous country of the world, the most populous democracy and one of the fastest growing economies. Over the past several years, India has emerged as a regional power, taking slow strides towards being a potential superpower. Hence, the country's growing international influence has given it a prominent voice in various global affairs.

The Indian foreign policy has greatly evolved after it achieved independence. The country's moral authority and prestige were eponymous in all along the 1950s. This facilitated in acquiring development assistance from both East and the West. The prestige that the country acquired emanated from its non-aligned stand.

In the 1960s and the 1970s, the Indian foreign policy was much directed to get assistance from the Soviet Union. This, however, became a major eyesore of the West and India was somewhat alienated from the global community because of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. During the late 1980s, New Delhi improved its foreign relations with Washington and other developed nations out of the Soviet Bloc. Much of the core foreign relations issues were directed at forging closer ties with the South Asian neighbours, especially Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

In the 1990s India had to reanalyze its foreign policy following the end of Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. Previous policies were proved inadequate and India was distraught with several international and domestic problems. Following the disintegration of the USSR, the Indian foreign policy witnessed a paradigm shift. New Delhi bolstered its respective relations with Canada, Germany, France and Japan, in a bid to strengthen its position among the international community. India formally established its relations with Israel that grew in the later years.

Entering the new millennium, New Delhi has been urging reforms in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the UN. India's contention for a permanent UN Security Council seat is being backed by various countries like the UK, Germany, Japan, France, Australia, Russian, UAE, Brazil and others. Washington, in 2004, signed a nuclear cooperation agreement with New Delhi even though the latter wasn't a member of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Washington argued that New Delhi's strong record in nuclear non-proliferation made India an exception. This, however, has not been able to persuade members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to ink identical deals with India. US President Barack Obama, during a visit in November 2010, announced that his country would support India's candidature for the permanent UN Security Council membership as also its entry to the NSG, Australia Group, Wassenaar Agreement, and the Missile Technology Control Regime.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Israel Advances Into Gaza and Oil Prices Are Rising

This afternoon Israel attacked a key member of the Hamas led government in Gaza. Soon, afterwards Oil prices went up and will continue to rise in the near future as Israel moves into Gaza. Israel killed the letter of Hamas military wing whose name is Ahmed al-Jabari. After more than 115 rockets and missiles have been fired into Israel in the last few days, the Israeli government is ready to act.

Soon after news of the attack on Hamas was announced we saw Oil prices rise as much as 1.4 percent. "The Israeli strike on Gaza has raised the security premium," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based energy hedge fund. "The Israelis made it clear that this may be the first of many strikes. This episode raises tension in an already troubled region."

Even though so far on the year Oil prices have dropped 13 percent we can expect that in the wake of Israel defending itself that oil prices will rise. "This is a clear statement that we won't continue to tolerate this violence against us," Israeli vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said. Israel is prepared for an escalation in attacks from Gaza in response, Shalom said. The Israeli army said it called up reserves in advance of any possible infantry assault.

Countries in the Middle East and parts of North Africa account for 36 percent of the world's oil production. These countries also hold 52 percent of the world's oil reserve. "Prices surged on the initial shock that Israel killed the Hamas leader," said Phil Flynn, from Price Futures Group. "Now the market is retreating from the day's highs as cooler heads prevail. Tension between Israel and Hamas is ongoing, not something new."

Oil had been on the decline on the day and had fallen as much as.5 percent before the air strike. Prices of oil had slipped because the US Labor Department had reported a.2 percent decline in producer price index. This was the first drop we have seen since October.

Tomorrow the Energy Department will report that U.S. crude Stockpiles rose 2.65 million barrels last week. While it will also show supplies of gasoline, diesel and heating oil all declined in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The Energy Department will release the data tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Washington DC, a day later than usual because of Veteran's day which was on the 12th of November.

If you can get into a trade on Oil between 86-87 dollars for the end of the week, it would be wise to take a call.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Is The United States Fiscal Cliff Enough to Nudge China Over A Political One?

Well, we just went through a rather ugly presidential election. Over $2 billion were spent on campaign advertisements; most of them attack ads on one another. They were nasty, purporting half-truths, and totally attempting to degrade the personal character of the other candidate. There was nothing pleasurable about it, it wasn't pretty, but that's how we do American politics now. We should be ashamed of ourselves, and it seems as if politics is no way to run our great nation. Nevertheless, that's the way it is, but today I would like to talk to you about a different subject, not US politics, but the politics of China.

You see China is busy choosing its new leaders as well, and in the meantime they are having quite a bit of social unrest. There have been many protests over pollution issues, working conditions, food prices, and inflation. There is also a bit of class warfare going on, and somewhat corrupt politics. Yes, China is known for its brutal politics in the Communist Party, but these days things are getting into the media much more often, even with all the Internet censorship going on behind 'The Great Firewall'.

You may not realize this but what we do here the United States will very much affect the leadership in China and what happens from here on out over there. When China's economy is doing good and growing, more of the population is happy because they have income flow and jobs. They see things happening, and they see their lives getting better, as they have more money. They are able to save more, perhaps get a car, and move up in rank at their job while improving their quality of life and standard of living.

However, China's economy has been hurt due to the economic challenges in Europe, so China's exports to the EU have slowed drastically. Now China is relying on exporting more products to the United States so they can expand the number of jobs they have, and continue growing their own economy. However, if we go back into a recession in 2013, China may have already painted themselves into an economic corner, and they won't have the wherewithal to keep their economy going and growing. Will the county economically collapse or politically implode with massive civil unrest?

On November 7, 2012 there was an article in the Wall Street Journal titled; "China Gazes Over Fiscal Cliff in US," by Tom Orlik. Interestingly enough, China actually has more to lose by the US Fiscal Cliff than we do. After all, if we stop spending and go into subsequent quarters of negative GDP growth, sure it will hurt here, but we will have also perhaps gotten our fiscal house in order. China on the other hand will find themselves in a real tough spot as we stop buying many of the products produced there.

This is very problematic for China right now as they go through some "change management" issues in their Communist Party with perhaps more turbulent times ahead politically. Couple that with greater unemployment, slowed growth, inflation pressures, etc. and it could be enough to bring on some major significant changes that China doesn't necessarily want right now.

Note: Please see the article; "Hu Sets China Income Target for Xi as Communists Gather," in Bloomberg News, along with the accompanying video for a little more insight.

Indeed, suffice it to say that we are all globally connected now, this is one giant economy, and any time any of the major trading partners are affected, it affects the whole world. What we do in the United States and how we move forward will affect the future of politics in China, which will then affect us as well. You see that point yet? I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

The Man Who Prevented the Next World War

Stanislav Petrov is perhaps a name that doesn't mean almost nothing for the most of us. And still, it is the name of a man who avoided a Third World War, a nuclear war that could have lead slowly to the end of the earth we inhabit.

On 26 September 1983, in moments of big tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, Stanislav Petrov was the commander of a short notice secret bunker, Serpukov 15. This bunker was one of the Strategic Rocket Force bases and was situated near Moscow.

The Soviet - American relations were getting worse. Only three weeks before, the Soviet Military Aviation destroyed a South Korean aircraft, aboard which there was an important American official, the congressman Larry McDonald.

The Serpukov 15 bunker made part of an early satellite based warning system, used for the tracking of ballistic intercontinental rockets via SUA - the so called Oko warning system, of which the Kremlin leaders were very proud.

Petrov`s responsibilities consisted in the observation of the warning network through satellite and the immediate notification of his superiors about the inevitability of any nuclear attack over the Soviet Union. If the warnings were to be intercepted by the warning system, the strategy of the Soviets consisted in an immediate nuclear counterattack with all available rockets. This scenario was adopted by both parties and specified in the Commune Doctrine of Mutual Destruction, in the hope of mutual intimidation.

Shortly after nightfall, the computers from the bunker detected an intercontinental rocket attack, launched over the Soviet Union by the United States. The system was informing about five rockets, which were heading with speed towards the URSS. Instead of alerting the command center, which would have lead to a change of nuclear attacks from both sides, Petrov has decided to trust his own judgment. He believed that the warning was a false alarm. The human factor and the wish for peace of a normal human being turned out to be stronger than the political and military ideologies, with which the Kremlin used to wash the brains of its secret agents.

Petrov`s judgment turned out to be right. The system had a major malfunction. It was a false alarm. What was interpreted by the system as missiles was actually an optic phenomenon - the unusual reflection of the sunlight on clouds of high altitude.

Many months of surveys, questionings and researches followed for Stanislav Petrov.

His superiors praised him initially for his saving gesture, but he did not receive a prize or a public appreciation. On the contrary, he was quickly laid to rest and retired silently after a short period of time. This event was a particularly embarrassing one for the Kremlin leaders. Their damaged warning system exposed their vulnerability.