Check Point Charlie!

Throughout the cold war Berlin was divided between east and west by a wall. Checkpoint Charlie was a crossing point in the Berlin Wall located at the junction of Friedrichstrasse with Zimmerstrasse. Without argument it is the most well known and famous exit and entry point between any two borders. Countless books, films and spy thrillers have used its mystique and intrigue to tell their story.

In real life too the situation was no less exciting. Many world famous and infamous historical events have taken place at the site. A teenager Peter Fechter, who was shot in the pelvis by East German guards while trying to escape from East Berlin became a media sensation as his body lay tangled in a barbed wire fence, bleeding to death, in full view of the world’s media. President Kennedy’s famous quote “Ich bin ein Berliner” was delivered around here. This site has been the stage for many other singular events, escapes, protests, tragedies and triumphs as well.

None were bigger than the Berlin Crisis of October 1961. For a tense week or so dozens of US and Russian battle tanks were facing each other off; across Check Point Charlie. All ready to fire and start WW III. That tension eventually got diffused by diplomatic means.

Communist regime kept the area around the checkpoint desolate on the eastern side by design. Even on the western side it was rather an outlaying run down working class district of Berlin. There was nothing really to recommend it but Check point Charlie. That fact alone however made it one of the most sought after tourist destination. Every visitor to West Berlin went there at least once. The place had a unique importance.

Eventually the wall came down. East Germany ceased to exist and Berlin became one again in the nineties.  As can be imagined there were no more crossing points and no check points and no check point Charlie. The area around check point Charlie got demilitarized and suddenly from an outlaying district it became the central part of Berlin. Smart café’s and tony businesses mushroomed. Property values zoomed and it turned into a smart district. So what happened to Check Point Charlie? It has no political or military importance now; it is of no use any more to anybody. Was it dumped or leveled?

That is not what happened! Check Point Charlie is well and truly alive. It is where it was and has been turned into a sort of open air museum. Two actors wearing the uniforms of US military and the Red army stand guard.  Hordes of tourists come to take a picture and relive the nostalgia. It is still a people magnet.

There is a lesson in it for both Narendra Modi and L. K Advani. The lesson is that as time changes you have to make way for what is relevant to the era. However what was important in the past is not entirely useless. It usually has other uses. You only need to use a bit of imagination and smarts! 

Mad in Pakistan!

The world is around 4.5 billion years old. Evidence of human activity in the Indian subcontinent has been found to be almost 500,000 years old. Some of the oldest civilizations of the world were found in these geographical locations. There is some argument about how old exactly but the concept of India itself is very old. Much  older than any other country in Africa ,Europe or anywhere else. India's cultural influence easily extended beyond the Indian Sub continent to Thailand, Burma , Indonesia and Malaysia and Tibet on one side and Afghanistan on the other. It exists even today and is quite apparent to even the biased eyed.

Various kingdoms and civilizations controlled different geographical boundaries at various times in history; but India is really not a line on the map. Cliched it maybe but it is a state of mind. If you feel Indian, you are one. As Arabs invaded their country and imposed Islam  on a Zoroastrian Iran;  that community migrated over from Iran many centuries ago and landed in the present day Gujarat.They are still known as Parsi( from Iran)  and they still follow their foreign faith; yet no one has any doubts about them being anything but Indians today. Least of all they themselves. Hundreds of individuals participated the other day in Manhattan ,NYC in the India day parade. Had anyone checked their passports they would have counted only a handful with Indian ones. Who were the rest ? Technically all non Indians ;yet  all of them feel strongly Indian even though they are the citizens of a different state.

There are countless lessons to be learned from India's ancient wisdom,culture and history. Some however must be learned from the recent history as well. Last 70 odd years should have taught us that as there are individuals outside of India that feel and act Indian ; there are individuals inside  India, that do not! Further it should have told us that a bulk of them control their own territory outside of present day Indian control and call it Pakistan. Genetically , culturally and historically Indians ; these individuals completely reject their Indian roots. Do not ever treat them as such. They want to be someone else. They are not sure what but 'Indian' is not one of them! Kapish ?

Once we get that basic fact through our confused minds ,  we can begin to design the contours of our relationship with each other. It is not about who is right and who is wrong! It is not about good Indian Vs. evil Pakistani! It is only about being realistic and responding to actual situations on the ground. Unfortunately India's Pakistan policy has been determined by misty eyed, geriatric brains; completely addled by the grief of their  homes  lost several decades ago in obscure places like Gah and Jehlum. Their pining has incapacitated their analytic faculties and their responses have swung like a pendulum from military confrontation to taking a bus trip. In between they have  wound down intelligence assets in Pakistan; paid obeisance at the grave of the founder of Pakistan and even organized candle lit vigils at the border too. As far as one can tell none of of this has worked. We are where we were!

Pakistan's India policy is far more clear. They have learned their lessons from the history rather well. They know that Indian culture has the infinite capacity to overcome other subcultures. They fully know that they are a small nation that needs a force multiplier. They know that their resources are no match and they have to find ways to get a bigger bang for their buck. They know that they need to keep India unhinged or it will become an existential threat to them just by simply being there. No matter who led whatever form of government in Pakistan they have followed their own advice and stayed with the plan all these 65 odd years. Starting with inculcating an aversion of everything Indian through school system to successfully pursuing nuclear capability and running world's most efficient terrorist operations. And from blank refusal to let Indian artistes perform in Pakistan to dragging their feet endlessly on giving it MFN status. They are doing it all.

Pakistan is acutely conscious of its fault lines. They know that the idea of Pakistan lies buried in Dhaka ( they blame India for it) and they do not have even a sad apology left as a rationale for a separate country( keep chanting the 'Islam' mantra). They are bothered by the fact that there are more Muslims in India than there are in entire Pakistan and there are a whole lot of them that have done exceedingly well. From film stars to business tycoons and from army generals to being presidents of the state; Muslims have figured prominently. So they continue to harp on Kashmir. They are hanging in by the very last thread in Baluchistan and are now faced with the spectre of a 250,000 strong Afghan army on their western border. Army that is being trained by and is friendly with India. What do you expect them to do?

Notorious terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda was caught recently with a perfectly valid Pakistani passport. How did the document get issued? Fact is that Pakistan will always be attracted to asymmetrical warfare and terrorism as their leading edge. They have always exercised this option and always will. From their standpoint they do not have  other options. Starting now and leading upto 2014 draw down from Afghanistan; these measures in combination with nuclear blackmail will be deployed more and more by them. No Nawaz Sharief will change these policies , especially Nawaz Sharief in his present term. Prominent politician Sheikh Rashid and retired General Hamid Gul ; both close to Pakistani security establishment and terrorist networks ,openly talk about making a first nuclear strike to take down India even if means total annihilation of Pakistan when India retaliates. Do not blame Pakistan, they are threatening Mutual Assured Destruction as a blackmailing point to circumscribe Indian plans. They  however are not mad. This tried and tested policy has paid them rich dividends and been very cost effective  to boot. India has to decide if issuing press releases in the media about dead soldiers on the border and mouthing inanities about peace and brotherhood in the region are adequate responses ? 

India will need a  short term policy that  arrests this situation right here and right now !  They will also need a long term action plan that not only addresses Pakistan's concerns substantially but also has enough teeth to impose an unbearably prohibitive cost on any  misadventure. Recent history however tells us that we should not hold our breath for anything spectacular from the Indian state . Even a reasonable counter is really too much to ask for. They do not look like it! At least not yet!

Merchants of Death !

At the height of the glorious Roman empire , death was a spectator sport. Trained fighters fought each other to death in the Colosseum. These gladiators sometimes fought lions and other animals. Both the Roman citizens as well as high and mighty of the empire watched and enjoyed the deadly combat of the mostly hapless individuals forced into this situation. It was financially, socially and politically lucrative to trade , train, own and run these slave fighters. Time passed on; the world changed. Roman empire became  history. Slave trade is dead; death however is still big business.

West is systematically  organized and a recent research for CNBC put the value of "death care" industry in the USA alone at a staggering $ 17 Billion. The business is recession proof and immensely profitable. If one was to scan the commercial real estate listings ,one would not find too many funeral homes listed for sale. If you find one it would never be  under several million. There are funeral directors, casket manufacturers;embalmers;hearse providers; grave diggers, headstone providers;musicians who play during the ceremonies; caterers who provide refreshments and of course the clergy to conduct religious ceremonies. There are real estate sellers who sell  "subterranean condos";(euphemism for grave) and grief Councillors who will help survivors come over the loss . They all deal with the rituals of death and turn it into a neat profit for themselves. There are multi-locational companies that operate as corporations,have a fully developed sales and marketing department and provide all these services as a package that you can  book and pay for , well in advance of your expected departure date. For all I know there maybe a "group discount" or "buy one - get one free" offered as well!

Like everything else this industry in India is not so well documented or regularized . It is part of the massive underground economy and based on individual entrepreneurs. There are no incorporated companies yet , although some professions are passed on from generation to generation.  One can however easily guess the size of the business considering a population that is four times the US. Everyone has to die.There are some social organizations providing transportation of the body and other basic services free of charge ; but mostly everything else costs money. From the small shop keeper who sells the bier; white shroud; rope to tie the body,incense, camphor ,flowers and  other required material;  to the  licensed wood seller outside the cremation ground. From the cremation ground keeper who will help in washing the body ,setup the pyre and conduct the cremation; to the pujari who performs rituals at the tenth day or thirteenth day at the river ghat and the barber to shave the head off. They all have an interest in death with a slick ,successful and proven business model built around it.

Other people deal in death too! Hangman at the jail will have no job if there was no one sentenced to die. Military men skirt with death all the time, sometimes their own. Insurance agent's commissions are entirely dependent on his skills in making you afraid of sudden death. Doctors see death around them everyday and have a job of keeping it at bay for their patients. Coroner and Postmortem performer however needs the dead to make a living. Butchers and abattoirs need to kill and sell the dead. Only in this case it is animals and not humans.

Some moral and ethical issues apart, none of them however can be called "merchants of death". It is clear that all of them provide  an actual service or fulfill a genuine need. This pejorative can only be applied to drug peddlers who prey on weaker minds to sell their deadly wares as well as criminals who make and distribute fake medicines . Both virtually murdering innocents for their profit . Terrorists and arms dealers also can be termed as such. One for their heavenly profit other for their worldly one. These are the kind that generate the feeling of acute abhorrence. Did we miss some thing here? Is there someone worse than them ?

Lord Shiva recently had to open his third eye a little bit in the Himalayas. He was forced to do so by the human greed and human propensity to misuse and exploit nature. That however is another story but the fact is that he did open his third eye  with the result thousands had to die and several times more were seriously impacted. Worst Merchants of death immediately swung into action. What kind of low life will loot from the dead and nearly dead is beyond me, but it did happen. The victims of nature's fury were made the target of petty crime as well. The matters did not rest there. The dead , the dying and the destitute also became a spectacle just like in the old Roman days. Kings of the merchants of death watched the dance of death sitting high on their perches in the sky; some came up close later on for disaster tourism and for political point scoring with their entourage, disrupting rescue operations ; uprooting rescue personnel and generally wasting precious resources. Some merchants came and hand picked their own slaves to save. Sometimes two merchants came to save but they got into fisticuffs to save the same group of slaves. Slaves  that will vote for them again if saved. These were blind to others crying for help and who could be rescued instead. These are the real heartless, self centered merchants of death. They enjoy and profit from the dead and give absolutely nothing in return. Not even to survivors. May heavens worst curses fall on these scum! Amen!

Old Wine in an Old Bottle !

Wine Colors No. 2, "11x "14, oil on linen by Mary Beth Gaiarin

Some kind of history was made recently when the world witnessed a transition from one civilian government; which actually completed its term in office , to another civilian government in Pakistan. This was a first in their history. First time people  voted to affect a change of guard in a democratic way. Pakistan army's 111 brigade , famous worldwide as a coup specialist stayed home for once. This election is historical and will be considered a watershed in Pakistan's history. It is worth celebrating for those reasons.  Pakistani's can genuinely pat themselves on the back.

A change this big has its own dynamics that will carry far and wide. Or is this a change? Primarily the people will have a lot of expectations and hopes from these events. What can they expect ? Economic well being; probity in public life; safety and security; health and education opportunities. That's what they need. Does it  look like they are about to get it? For several years now the country itself has earned a dubious distinction in the eyes of the world as  the epicenter of terrorism; untrustworthy ally; on the verge of economic collapse; most likely to fail ..... and several other such descriptions ; none very flattering. Will the world have to revise its opinion  after this election?

 As for Pakistan's neighbours; China is a close friend with friendship " higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the sea". Verbiage apart that means an unequal master and servant relationship. Iran on the other side is a brother Islamic nation. Although everyone realizes that given the Saudi Influence on Pakistan and its own Sunni Punjabi mindset; this brotherhood with a Shia Iran has a very thin shell. Well there is Afghanistan too. Another brother nation although of late there are several reports of   'not exactly brotherly', exchanges of fire on the border!  There is an obvious lack of trust in each others motives. Afghans are certain that Pakistan is bent on making them their fifth province and Pakistan is sure that Afghans are sitting in India 's lap. And yes , there is the BIG I; India! It is everything Pakistan is not and does not want to be.That is the crux of the entire gamut of problems between the two.  Can all these neighbours expect something new ?

These elections are strange in the sense that although so much happened and so much seemed to have happened; nothing really happened! Imran Khan's supporters may not agree but despite accusations and counter accusations of fraud the election results largely reflect the public mandate. Fact is that Imran Khan's tsunami lost steam mid way. He did get a lot of middle class votes and about 30 seats in the national assembly though. Not quite enough to be the king or even the kingmaker. His controversial stance on the Drones and his soft corner for the Taliban confused a lot of people. His "born again" Islamic idiom sounded a little hollow in the light of his own rather colourful past.His being absolutely clueless on economics and governance did not help matters either. He said one thing to an Indian Channel , another to a western one and quite another in public meetings. Widely considered a proxy for the army, he did register a strong presence on the national scene though and a chance to form a provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Something that will come and bite him later.

Nawaz Sharief ; the winner , did all those things in a more sophisticated way. He hobnobbed with Islamist too and even gave them party tickets. Reportedly the individual who produced the fatwa that got Salman Taseer butchered in broad daylight  was among them. He also highlighted some day to day problems like Load shedding and people lapped his populist rhetoric up. Although any sane person will realize that you can not add watts overnight ; neither can you stop the losses as a result of faulty distribution lines and shortages of infrastructure like transformers etc. Yet he promised to get it right within ninety days and he may deliver too! How ? Because monsoons will hit the country by then  and the power demand will taper off with cooler temperatures ! Sharief was a creation of the army in the first place and this time round he has been very careful not to ruffle their feathers. In fact he seems to have already done a deal to go soft on Musharraf and give him an out as a small sop. To expect him to act around the wishes of the army in the matters of foreign policy  will be foolhardy. Specially when it comes to Afghanistan and India. Both will assume a large significance as the deadline for the draw down comes nearer. Ditto on the matters of Trade and MFN status etc. Despite PML-N's 130 odd seats,  one shall  still have to watch the army for all of that.

Other than them ,amongst winners are Jamait Ul ulema and Jamait-i -Islami who got 15 seats between them and 27 independents , several of whom have already joined PML- N. More than the winning combinations it is far more instructive to learn about who has lost at the hustings. Firstly the woman of Pakistan lost  big time when in a large part of the country several ordinarily opposing parties agreed not to allow woman to cast their votes. It is not difficult to imagine what does it point to. Not a peep came out of Mr. tsunami's mouth. Secondly any combination even remotely secular ; professing a modicum of inclusiveness or even considered middle of the road in name only ; was decimated at the polls. ANP  was completely put on the back foot by incessant bombings of their meetings and workers. In fact they had to stop organizing public meetings much before the campaign got truly underway. Who was bombing them out of the elections is known to all but nobody lifted a finger to help. Parties that got spared this violent bombing were PTI , PML-N and the Islamic ones. This must be another clue to what is in store. ANP did not get much vote anyway and just managed 1 seat. MQM was under attack too for similar reasons but the fact is that it  has also lost a large chunk of its vote to other parties. They could muster 18 seats only; all in and around Karachi. Rural Sindh was barely held by PPP with a tally of 31; reducing them  all to being a regional party from being a national one.

Baluchistan may as well already be a separate entity. They almost did not  participate in this exercise, so thin was their presence at the polling booths. Trouble is that bulk of Nawaz Sharief's wins have all come from Punjab. Pretty soon when the euphoria of winning dies down, this will become his Achilles heel. More things change , more they remain the same. Pakistan will be ruled by the same Punjabi Sunni establishment that has ruled it for most of her history. Regional imbalances and grouses will deepen and battle lines are clearly etched along provincial lines. Both PML-N and PTI are the  children of the same deep state and establishment .Both have close ties to Islamists and most importantly  both of them actually have the mandate of the people. It should give you a picture of the direction Pakistan as a state is headed towards. 

Wish Nawaz Sharief well. However cosmetics apart, only a blind fool will expect a miracle or any major deviation from existing state policies and methodology during his time in office. Sadly it is all old wine in an old bottle.  So let him prove me wrong!

General Miscalculation !

To be a general is an extraordinarily arduous job.  Several  experienced and senior officers  have failed at it.  History records that during World War II,  Sixteen out of the 155 American officers who commanded Army divisions in combat were relieved for cause, along with at least five corps commanders. For every Marshall Gregory Zhukov and Napoleon there are many more that did not make the cut.  Military campaigns require meticulous planning; rigourous preparation; flawless execution; bravery and a highly disciplined & ethical personal conduct of the operation. Any deviation from these exacting norms has usually resulted in strong reverses in the field and even total failures; always blowing back on the leader.

Adolf Hitler commanded Nazi Germany to conquer large swathes of the continental Europe as well as chunks of Asia and  Africa.   His armies conquered France while holding off the combined might of the U.S., British and Russian forces during World War II. His armies  were masters of the successful military tactic; Blitzkrieg. That's as long as he was behaving as a military commander with a clear chain of command and delegation of authority to his generals in the field. Soon these victories got to his head and he decided to micromanage the war.  He simply ignored  his commanders and marched on Moscow with winter approaching. Hitler never expected that campaign to last as long as it did or the Red Army to provide the kind of resistance that it did. War  dragged into the severe winter months and Nazi war machine and men got trapped in the fierce bear hug of the old man Russian winter. Far away from their supply lines, wearing their spring uniforms and thin combat shoes; Nazi army's famous battle skills just froze out. Motivated by intense patriotism Red Army first stopped the Nazi march and then counter attacked; inflicting one reverse after another on the Germans. Russian march stopped only when they triumphantly entered Berlin and planted the red flag on the Brandenburg Gate .  Hitler single handedly managed to get Germany into this serious mess and despite  brilliant generals under his command , lost the war by overruling them. We all know how he ended. Defeated and dead  in a cold bunker ,with his brains blown out and  his country completely destroyed in the bargain. Just imagine if this Austrian corporal had been accepted into the art school as he had wanted to, he might not have joined the army in the first place and would never have got the chance to get promoted way beyond his station as Fuhrer. Hitler had an obvious talent for art so we might have seen him develop in to a decent artist instead of the worst villain in history. 

Every nation has had their share of good and bad commanders . Pakistan sadly has seen more than the usual "Jekyll and Hyde" personalities.  One reason could be that army has a larger than life role in their polity so it throws up more individuals to the top. As a result more bad apples come in the limelight with the army background as well . Pervez Musharaff is considered one of those apples. Admittedly he  got promoted out of turn to the post of the chief of staff by a crafty politician to serve his own political ends.  So some of the blame lies with Nawaz Sharief. What if Miyan sahib had  let normal seniority play its role ? But he did not. Whatever else Musharraf learned about war craft in the army , he definitely took Clausewitz's saying ," war is the continuation of politics by other means" to his heart. He is the one who single handedly brought Pakistan their latest military defeat - in Kargill. Badly planned, thinly disguised as a "mujahedin" action, shoddily executed and timidly fought, the general grossly over estimated his own capabilities in this campaign. What is worse that he not only kept the Pakistan Government in dark about what minefield he is stepping into  ; he kept in dark , his own commanders in the field  as well. Taking a big leaf right out of Hitler's Russian campaign playbook; he micro managed  the  movement and deployment of the attacking army units.   Things might have been salvageable had he got the enemy strengths and their response levels right. That was not to be. He miscalculated there  and got that estimate wrong too! By miles ! Indians responded with overwhelming force and vehemence. They deployed special forces; elite fighting units,  heavy field artillery and extensive air power against him.  Musharraf's armies were soon  running for cover. Abdicating and vacating  post after post. Thoroughly demoralized , totally defeated  and nursing their wounds; they had to leave behind their equipment and their dead for the enemy. It was a complete rout . Musharraf had to swallow his pride and go to his Political masters with his tail between his legs. Who in turn had to scamper around  Washington begging for a US mediation for a way out of the imbroglio. Whatever this comprehensive defeat did to the army morale; the campaign succeeded in wiping out the Northern Light Infantry divisions of the Pakistan army. This is the very campaign Musharraf is "proud" of.

And just as a post script, to get out of taking responsibility for his own follies, he also staged a coup against the same civil government which bailed him out.  That is another "feather" in his cap.  He "saved Pakistan", not realizing that had there not been people of his ilk, Pakistan would not need saving in the first place. While he was saving Pakistan for a decade or so , he believed in the mantra of "Enlightened Moderation". It sounded good to the western ear but nothing else came of it. Musharraf also claimed credit for the economy doing well during his regime; media getting a boost and surprisingly, for improved  relations with India. Really !  What he does not claim and knows nothing about is : who hid Osama bin laden? Who killed Benazir ? Who is using helicopter gunships on the baloch and how did Akbar Bugti die?  So much for his moderation and so much for his enlightenment! I guess he does not own a dictionary!

Eventually his time came up and he was forced to declare elections, primarily for being stupid enough to pick a fight with chief Justice. He badly miscalculated.  Reportedly he either colluded to have Benazir Bhutto killed , or looked the other way. All of his calculations did not help him or the political forces he backed win the mandate. Ironically and expectedly, riding on the sympathy vote Benazir's husband won ! Miscalculating Musharraf had to send himself away in exile for several years. The allure of power  is magnetic though. He kept on planning his return to Pakistan and eventual rise to power again. True to his form he over imagined and under planned. Maybe this time  round his calculations were based on his Facebook friend's comments and likes. Or maybe he consulted a crystal ball. All we know  is that  he miscalculated and  when he landed back instead of the teeming sea of humanity he had dreamed about ;charitable estimates put the number of his greeters to a couple of hundreds .

His spook friends in the army he used to head, had advised him not to return. They told him to stay put in the salubrious foreign climes ; enjoy the fruits of his "service to Pakistan", and live the well provided for , ultra rich life of a  retired Pakistani general.  Why did they even bother? Did they not know "miscalculation" is general's middle name?  Although in his latest avatar Musharraf has totally abandoned enlightened moderation. Not even for name sake. Now he is the chief of a version of Muslim league. Maybe it is the rightist version, maybe it is the Islamist , maybe it is something else. Nobody is quite sure. Trouble with that  is that  enough members do not exist for this party and the sample size is miniscule. People are unable to form any definite opinion about them. The party is a serious joke,so is its leader.  

Musharraf  forgot that he was a commando a long time ago. Today he is an over the hill "has been". He forgot that he is unable to  para drop on the enemy camp, whip out  his Heckler & Koch  and shoot down everyone in sight ! Not any more! After his return he is being tied up in so many legal tangles that it will be major miracle if he escapes unmolested.  Musharraf has already been denied the permission to be a candidate in the elections, so there go his political ambitions up in smoke. In addition , his various bails have been cancelled in serious cases like Benazir murder  . He is facing  treason charges for subverting the constitution and staging a coup. He is in serious trouble and is technically already in jail. It is beyond belief that the general failed to see this coming during his campaign preparation! Anyway he will get ample free time in jail, during which he should read Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'. It may not moderate his risks but will surely enlighten him. The ancient Chinese Military treatise says," If you know the enemy & know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you'll also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you'll succumb in every battle". The above passage might have been written with him in mind.

Although the rumour in the street is that Khaki's are planning a rescue of their erstwhile chief, to avoid all those tumbling disclosures in the court singeing the army. If the street talk is to be believed, as soon as the elections are over Musharraf will be  provided bail to visit his supposedly ailing mother  who lives in his mansion in the middle east. Reportedly a middle eastern kingdom has kept a jet at  Musharraf's  disposal and will immediately whisk him away from the hangman's noose.  Hopefully never to be seen again in public. Everyone can then take a sigh of relief  and carry on with their lives! Sounds like a plan! Fear however is that  the miscalculating general will somehow manage to botch that  simple an operation too!  Well he can . He surely is capable.

 

Speed Of Darkness!

El Lissitzky, Poster, 1920, Titled "Schlagt die weissen mit dem roten keil" ( Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge)

" Two things are infinite "; Albert Einstein said; "the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe". As is the case with several of his other theories,this one of Einstein's  theory, probably proposed in jest ,is hard to be proven wrong. Just as darkness is an absence of light;stupidity is simply an absence of intelligence.

Nawa-e-waqt is a well known newspaper published from Pakistan. Recently it reported a case of a 'suicide bomber' whose suicide jacket malfunctioned and failed to detonate properly. Result was that he himself  got severally injured and  passed out instead of getting blown apart as planned. Along with his victims he was also taken to a hospital. Some time later as he woke up in the intensive care unit his gaze  fell upon  the nurses milling around . Even in his weak and battered condition the bomber got electrified and started shouting, "I got them; I got them; I got the houries".... Normally the incident  would bring a chuckle or two to one's lips if it was not such  a serious matter.

It is not as if his is a one off case.Unfortunately he is not alone and his tribe is increasing. It is also not a case of an unlettered, uneducated ,impoverished and a brain washed individual either. Someone that got easily influenced by radical elements and lost his sense of reality.  Just before he was hanged, Afzal Guru; a far more sophisticated, typically middle class , comparatively well read and decently educated individual requested his family to "respect the stature he has attained and thanked Allah a thousand times for giving him this stature". The act of terror for which he was hanged; Dec 13, 2001 attack on the parliament; was an act of honour for him. According to an earlier letter he wrote in 2008; that surfaced after his hanging, he took strong exception to hizbul mujahidin chief Salahuddin's remark of describing these attacks as a 'conspiracy'(of India). " We should never feel ashamed of December 13", Guru maintained.

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism is Robert Pape's analysis of suicide terrorism from a strategic, social, and psychological point of view. The book first published in 2005 has some good pointers although I do not agree with his hypothesis  that suicide bombers are  only after a secular and strategic goal. In my opinion it is rarely the case specially in the current context where radical salafist Islam is the DNA of worldwide terrorism.  In fact the word 'secular' itself is anathema to them. Author tries to prove his point by talking about now extinct LTTE and Khalistan movement. However it is well documented that  even in those cases  the terrorism was not " secular". Battlelines were drawn across a religious divide and  blind faith provided the impetus and rationale for their terrorism as well. Pape's  ideas however are not the point of debate here.

The main question remains as to what should be done with a terrorist? Where are we going wrong in managing this menace? The first big mistake we make is hiding the origin and inspiration for terrorism. For the sake of being politically correct or at the altar of political expediency we keep on telling and repeating the lie that terrorism has no religion! It actually has and unless we stop lying to ourselves , we can not even begin to find a counter. Secondly we must stop treating the terrorist as a common criminal and terrorism as a law and order problem. Terrorist is not a common criminal and hence the current laws, rules , judicial processes and punishments  meant to control crime are inadequate to deal with it. 

Deterrence comprises of denying the opposition their strategic goals and highlighting the futility of their methodology. Sadly we have failed in producing even a namesake deterrent  so far. Most governments are still diffident and unsure about taking the terror head on but none is worse than the Indian establishment. There was no rationale for hanging Guru at this time after they kept him alive for 12 years! Except to derive a very narrow political mileage against political opponents. Even a right thing done for entirely wrong reasons loses its validity. It was not even deterrence either. Remember the terrorists are brainwashed to seek death and by providing it the government only provided fodder and impetus to the myths fueling terrorism. It also unwittingly provided help in getting the most mileage that a terrorist and their support organizations could get out of this episode. As later events are proving, they have lost no time is cashing on it. Why in the world would any terrorist be deterred by a hanging. This gives them the "religious martyr" ( Gazi) status they are seeking in the first place. Terrorism is successful for them . Hanging Guru  will do nothing to stop future attacks and I am not  even so sure about any political benefit accruing to the party in power. If anything, death of their choice should be denied the terrorist. This will defeat one of their main strategic goal. Sadly we do not even want to understand the kind of beast we are dealing with. Problem really begins with us lying to ourselves that terrorism has no religion. Talk about infinite stupidity!!

Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles / second; by inference darkness which  is an absence of light also travels at the same speed. It is our choice if we let light recede or ensure that the darkness is mitigated. The way forward has some milestones we must pass. Firstly we must evolve a national consensus about terrorism. Politicking with this issue is doing incalculable harm . Outlandish claims of existence of Hindu terrorism takes the focus away from the job that needs done. If there is evidence of it, government must act immediately and nip it in the bud . Otherwise it is counter productive at best to spin yarns for the sake of votes. Actually it is no less than treason; because if it is a lie you are plying with national security; and if it is true you are failing your duty to guard national security!

Also we must deny ground to the terrorist. Understand that a foreign terrorist just can not operate without local help. Shut that help down and we'll see the number of terror incidences nosediving as if by magic - instantly!  We must set our own house in order before blaming this or that country. It is just a lot of hot air and empty rhetoric anyway. It will never get us any results. Pakistan will continue with the same policy as before , no matter what. Fact is  that they also have no choice, but that is quite another discussion. As for us , we can not afford to wait for terrorists to strike anymore. Assume the worst because they will do so again and soon. We are already at war so we have to act proactively and use full force at our command to smash home grown modules before they have acted or provided succor to the inimical alien forces. This will mean taking some tough decisions. 

Effective local intelligence gathering and taking swift forceful action based on the information must be our watch words. Hit them and hit them hard. Learn from the drone strikes USA is making in Pakistan. Their principle is to take the war to the enemy. We must act on the same principle and take the war to the terrorist in their lairs spread all over India. It is not the time to be coy or spare the rod. Forget fanciful ideas like "human touch'; it is just another word for " let the terrorists regroup" . It does not stop terrorism entirely but it will act as a deterrent ; it will degrade their strategic objectives and it  denies them a ground  to operate. In the process  if they get liquidated  before they have had a chance to perpetrate an act, the event will pass without too many ripples. If they get caught, they must either be dealt with swiftly or locked up quietly and remotely ; without allowing them any leverage or concessions. What was done in the case of Guru is a prime example of how a terrorist should not be dealt with.

We must learn the ropes quickly as time is running out fast. We can not control entirely whatever is happening in Afghanistan or how USA or Pakistan will behave. Neither can we dictate what secret pacts will they ink with each other or with Taliban.  All we can control is how  we modify and apply our own security policies within our own country. We need to be proactive not reactive. Post 2014 the challenges are going to increase exponentially and this kind of dilly dallying, self serving and  knee jerk reactions will certainly  lead to a security crisis of catastrophic proportions. There is no other choice but to act now. Remember that the darkness will move in with the speed of light.




 
 

Three Little Pigs!

Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme and monkeys chewed tobacco, 
hens took snuff to make them tough, and ducks went quack, quack ,quack,O!

So this is an old children's story, told and retold many times and in many different ways;depending on what message was sought to be emphasized. However one thing that is common to all variations is the Mama pig who sends  her three little pigs out in the world, where a  mean wolf huffs and puffs  at their respective homes made of straw , sticks and brick. Straw  home is blown away and the stick one comes crashing down. Only one home  remains intact. Obviously it is the one made of bricks. Children are supposed to learn several good things from this story. Like how they should not be lazy and how they need to keep their wits about......

It is all very nice as long they do not learn about constructing homes from it! It  really is an old nursery  story that may not be taken  very seriously by adults today, yet they do !  Building science and technology knowledge we have toady does not support the story and its suppositions.  Take R-value for instance which is a measure of thermal resistance.Under uniform conditions it is the ratio of the temperature difference across an insulator like a wall and the heat transfer per unit area,  through it. Higher the R-value of a structure, better its resistance to heat loss or heat gain. Terrible though it sounds but solid brick and mortar structures, including reinforced cement concrete ones have way lower R- value than the one made with wood or surprise - surprise; straw ! That was the choice of the lazy pig. Or was he the smart one?

How can you build with straw ? You can and you should too ! Straw buildings have been made in almost every country in the world and across various climate zones. Some buildings have been standing for hundreds of years. Even when they were made with older technical know how. New knowledge and building methods have made this construction far more viable and desirable. Straw is simply a biodegradable byproduct of agricultural produce and a lot of it simply gets wasted anyway except what is fed to farm animals. So it is cheap to begin with even when it is not completely free from your own fields. No energy resources or raw materials are used in producing it, unless you count the solar energy, which is absolutely free and abundant in India. Straw is available locally to villages and farming communities where it is meant to be used. So transportation costs are near zero. End users can make the bales themselves which are then used as building blocks of the construction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HMsO42hTVA

The concept of straw bale construction is easily understood by even novice builders. With some supervision by one knowledgeable straw bale trainer, first-time builders and  home owners can assist in the construction process. Maybe build it as a family project. Which most do anyway even now with their brick dwellings to save on labour  costs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEdDfGg5ngA
A simple manual baling machine can be made at home. Even Pine  straw can be used for hilly terrain where it is available.

http://www.appropedia.org/A_Hand_Powered_Hay_and_Leaf_Baler
http://essmextension.tamu.edu/pinestraw/baling.html
       

Despite what might seem logical, properly constructed walls made from straw bales have proven to be flame retardant. A serious consideration in a place like India where open cooking fires are still common and will be for a long time. Homes made with straw bale can have insulation values of R-30 or more. Brick has an R- value of 0.2 as a comparison !  No it is not a typo ! Straw means comfortable inside temperature both in summer and winter with minimal use of artificial cooling or heating devices. These people can not afford them anyway , even if there is power available to run such devices.Which it never is. Unlike  brick walls which under the forces of economics is usually  4" thick;  the walls of straw-bale buildings are 18" thick and can easily support  the roof  for most homes.Without the need for any other complex load bearing structure. This makes construction simple and accessible to a lay person. Although it works fine in colder Himalayan region too ; what does it really mean for an agrarian and largely hot tropical climate like India?

Agreed that this method is not a panacea for the chronic housing shortages and astronomical home prices in India's burgeoning and bursting at seams cities. Villages and countryside is another matter where poor marginal , small farmers and farm workers live in very tough conditions. That's where nearly 70% of the total population is . They do not have a lot of funds to spare yet do not lack traditional wisdom, fortitude and knowledge. Although it has been smothered by  consumerist and materialistic half baked knowledge and propaganda . Adobe buildings are known to all of them and it is just another step up . In fact some form of straw construction is known to them already.They will easily adapt if they are shown how to channelize what they know with what they need to know more. It is  sad to see badly made brick dwellings that are incomplete ,ramshackle and totally inadequate to provide shelter; across the length and breadth of the country.The home owners can not complete it or maintain it for lack of money and would not think of the straw and earth as a  viable solution for  lack of knowledge and guidance. They can easily help themselves but there has not been any  effort to spread the word and  dispel the myths surrounding it at the governmental  level. Clique of Construction materials industry, architects and contractors as expected are not going to be interested  in something that does not benefit them.  The little pig was right  to use straw .This story needs to be told. Some information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw-bale_construction

More background knowledge is available at:

http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/pdf/projects/low_impact_materials/IP15_11.pdf

http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Ecological_Building/strawbaleguide.pdf

 

And there is  certainly a need to revise the story . Let's try this one.  Three little pigs went out in the world. They  banded together and called it "Pragaash"; meaning the "Light just before dawn". Unfortunately before the dawn could break out  several big bad foul smelling wolves started huffing and puffing at them. Blinded by their  own clouded vision and visceral hatred of light known as "Dugaash", this pack of menacing mentally blind wolves managed  to snuff out the band and force everyone back in darkness ; the absence of light. Light known as "Gaash" will elude us  too if we keep quite at this injustice to "Pragaash". Now this here is a children's story that every adult should take very seriously.

 

Message in Black border.

 
Larry Niven is a celebrated science fiction writer well known for his “RingWorld” series. In 1966 he also wrote the story,” Bordered in Black”. Traditionally a message bordered in black is used to announce death. In this story two astronauts reach a planet deep in space in the Sirius system. This planet was known from a previous robotic exploration to include an earth like atmosphere. During their orbit they find that a continent of the planet is bordered in black. After exploring the edges of the smaller continents and discovering that the ocean hosts only one life form, a single species of algae, they decide to closely examine the large continent with the curious black border.


To their utter shock and dismay they discover that the black border actually is an enraged mass of trapped human beings feeding off the algae and feeding on each other. The story, however, ends on a hopeful note, with the project leader believing that Earth can help the humans at Sirius. Crewmen however strike a fearful note by speculating that the humans on our earth were seeded by those same cannibalistic aliens!

Science fiction sometimes comes true! The United Nations defines "major wars" as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. The new millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way with as many as two dozen "lesser" conflicts ongoing with varying degrees of intensity.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html

Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial, ethnic, or religious animosities as by ideological fervor. Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are non-combatants. From Afghanistan to Syria and from Pakistan to Palestine; Egypt; Congo or Yemen; it is the same story being repeated again and again. We are killing each other for little “algae”; and feeding off each other. In the animal kingdom there is an established food chain. Worms are food for a small bird, that becomes food for birds of prey and it goes on along various groups. Animals kill too, but for food. When they attack and fight it is for their survival. They have left it to the worst animal on the planet; Humans; to kill; maim; assault and tear other innocent humans apart just for the fun of it! As they did the other day in a moving bus.

If an alien ship arrived in the earth’s orbit today it would certainly see a black border around burning continents and they would be smart enough to realize that the earthlings are so far gone that they can not  be helped . Afraid that we’ll contaminate their world with our depravity, they do not touch base with us. The message in the black border is clear to everyone but us. Science fiction has come true as our nightmare.
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