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Author of "How United States Shot Humanity", Senior Journalist, TV Presenter
Inbound nephews and nieces of Joe Biden: A return to killing fields
Posted on December 1, 2020 by Ashish Shukla
(This is a reprint from NewsBred).
It's as good a moment to laugh at or mourn for the Americans and verify this utterance four years down the line in 2024.
For men like me, it's a moment of chuckle since the US media is having an orgasm on Good Old Joe and his team even though Georgia, Wisconscin, Arizona and Nevada and 79 critical electoral votes are being challenged.
But then the US media, in the presidential campaign, never raised the little matter of "war and peace" while pitching for Joe Biden and now wouldn't like the Americans to peek at the dossier of his inbound nieces and nephews.
So, we have Tony Blinken as Secretary of the State who was disappointed that the United States didn't apply enough force in Syria and advocated that Saudi Arabia be sided with in their bombings in Yemen. He had chortled along with Biden for military action in Libya. Those polite call him Biden's "alter ego." Those blunt prefer the phrase of "war-mongering psycho."
Somehow, this essential on the man misses the US media completely as they harp on his experience, having been a deputy both in the offices of the National Security Advisor (2013-2015) and Secretary of State (2015-2017).
This once aspiring film producer couldn't have found a better script than his own journey: Jewish parents, father who dominated the world of venture capital, mother a patron of arts, a stepfather who survived the holocaust and became one of the most influential lawyer on the global stage.
Blinken's access in the ante-chambers of White House was visible as back as on May 1, 2011, peering behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton while the Operation Abbottabad against Osama bin Laden was on ( Blinken in red circle in image below).
Then you have Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor, who once wrote to her boss Hillary Clinton that "Al Qaeda is on our side" in Syria. He also was a key player in hyping up the fake allegations of Trump-Russia collusion. He too is all for "American exceptionalism" which is America-in-the-palm-of-military-industrial-complex-again in the post-Trump world.
Then there are nieces. Michele Flournoy who is most likely to be the Secretary of Defense. Janet Yellen, treasury secretary, who is an inflation hawk, unlikely to support large spending on social welfare, and generally means that the rigged US financial system, a private monetary system, is ruling the roost again.
If still unconvinced, they say, follow the money and truth would reveal itself to you.
The two most-common link between most of these nephews and nieces is CNAS (Centre for New American Security) and CSIS (Centre for Strategic and International Studies)—the 2nd and 6th highest recipient of US government and defense-contractor funding.
Who are the top donors to CNAS? Northrop, Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and the Department of Defense. Now Michele Flournoy is co-founder of CNAS. One of her well-documented sleight of hand was in getting the UAE to pay CNAS $250,000 to draft just a report that it must buy American drones. These pilotless birds, US-made, have never stopped ending up in Gulf theocracies, never mind their human rights record or brutal bombings in neighbourhood such as Yemen.
Tony Blinken has been with CSIS, Jake Sullivan with Macro Advisory Partners, run by British spy chiefs, not to say with Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, funded by 10 military agencies and defence contractors. Watch out for the names of Avril Haines (top contender for CIA director) and Kathleen Hicks (CSIS) in case their names pop up in your New York Times of Washington Post tomorrow morning.
There is this moral from Aesop's fable: "A man is known by the company he keeps." To me, it means the return of GIs boots in the far-flung corners of the world. The US media would never mention that this set cost the United States humiliating defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan, just as in Vietnam. Some three million service members spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan for no gain in the last 19 years. Some $6 trillion dollars of the taxpayers have gone down the drain. Some 515,000 people have been killed, including 260,000 civilians.
So the sacred cow of foreign policy and the golden calves of defence establishment would again be venerated. Those who found Donald Trump an evil incarnate in the last four years, a Hitler reborn, would sing peace hymns in the background to genocides. Meanwhile, you could carry on with your clowns in NYT and Washington Post.
Posted in Blog Tagged Aesop, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Arizona, Avril Haines, Barack Obama, Boeing, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, CNAS, CSIS, Donald Trump, Georgia, Grumman, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Jack Sullivan, Janet Yellen, Joe Biden, Kathleen Hicks, Lockheed Martin, Macro Advisory, Michele Flournoy, Nevada, Northrop, Tony Blinken, UAE, Vietnam, Wisconscin Leave a comment
Amnesty, the fraud of our times: It was time they were brought to book
Posted on September 30, 2020 by Ashish Shukla
There is no case for Amnesty International. Hypocrites, cheats, lackeys, frauds, war-instruments—and you could think of many more nasty adjectives which would fit this body like a glove.
For a multimillion-dollar world body which claims to have Human Rights as its abiding principle, they had their lips zipped when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and murdered 20,000 of its inhabitants. It whipped up a campaign on Kuwaiti Dead Babies Report and Campaign to promote a war against Iraq and afterwards quietly slunk back in their ratholes when it proved a fake insertion. Never mind, it ended up killing 200,000 Iraqis, half of whom were civilians. Did they ever make a noise against apartheid in South Africa when millions of black people couldn't even set sight on white rulers' houses or streets or swimming pools or shopping arcades? Does anyone remember them to have been outraged on Julian Assange who has been hit with 17 Espionage Act, facing a sentence of up to 170 years, a case which whistleblower Edward Snowden has described as the one which would "decide the future of media"?
These mafiadom calls out Narendra Modi's government on human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and described Delhi riots of this February as "state-sponsored" which is perfectly in sync how a group which is hand-in-gloves with those who advocate Talibans and terrorists ought to behave. They love Jihadis—be it in Kashmir, in northeast Delhi or Talibans and Islamic State of our world.
They have no compunction to cry "victims" but won't tell its accounts were seized even in 2018 when there were no Delhi riots. It won't tell you that it has had to shut its office even before Modi took over India. It won't tell you that its' foreign funding was in crosshairs of even Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It won't tell you it had backed "Urban Naxal" Arun Ferreira who was arrested on Koregaon Bhima violence and an alleged assassination plot to murder Modi. Yet, our thespian Naseeruddin Shah was more than eager to do a video for Amnesty which painted a grim law and order situation in the country.
Who gets tens of crores of dollars to this body to pick up selective Human Rights violations around the world? Apparently, the colonial and imperialist powers, in the post World War-2 scenario, wanted to keep a tab on their erstwhile "subjects" and floated NGOs in sanguine garbs to pressurize governments less friendly. Amnesty, founded in 1962, profited from this patronage. It would help explain how they acquired the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize or the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978. Or how its' tentacles are spread in nearly 200 countries or its members are close to 3 million.
Don't you believe that this matter would fade away quietly. Already Indian Express is huffing and puffing and reaching up to European Union for its reaction; BBC is shedding copious tears; Washington Post is comparing India to authoritarian Russia; which should tell you a thing or two how deeply embedded and connected this rotten network is in causing mayhem around the world. All they want is subservient governments; those which surrender their political and economic independence; mortgage their foreign policy; reduce their masses to serfdom and fete these NGOs even as they violate the laws of the land, brazenly flout financial regulations to the tune of millions of dollars, and still preen as if no holier spirit has ever set foot on this planet of ours.
Aren't you sick of them folks? I already am.
Posted in Blog Tagged Amnesty International, Apartheid, Arun Ferreira, Delhi riots, Edward Snowden, Human Rights, Iraq, Israel, Jammu and Kashmir, Julian Assange, Koregon Bhima, Kuwaiti Dead Bodies Report, Lebanon, Narendra Modi, Naseeruddin Shah, NGOs, Nobel Peace Prize, South Africa, United Nations, UPA, Urban Naxals, World War 2 Leave a comment
Could India be attacked both by China and Pakistan together?
Posted on July 25, 2020 by Ashish Shukla
If India is attacked, it would have not just China but Pakistan also to take care of on multiple fronts.
The two enemy allies would bear down on India together, not just from the west and north but also on the north-eastern theatre encompassing Arunachal Pradesh.
There is no denying the threat as multiple talks between India and China, even involving our foreign minister and national security adviser, isn't making Beijing see reason in Ladakh. As for Pakistan, this year alone it has made 800 ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indians are acutely aware of the situation. In January itself, army chief General MM Naravane had admitted of a collusion between China and Pakistan which would push India into a two-front war. The general had pinpointed Siachen and Shaksgam Valley (see image below) where the "threat of collusion is maximum."
India can't wait till July 29 when it would receive the first set of five Rafale jets from France and in all likelihood would deploy them on the Ladakh theatre without much delay.
The first Rafale set would land into the 17 Squadron "Golden Arrows" in Ambala next week, taking off from Istres in France, touch the French airbase in Al Dhafra near Abu Dhabi in the UAE and after a night's halt, Indian pilots would bring them home with at least two rounds of mid-air refuelling during its entire journey. (Midair-fuelling in itself is a spectacle you mustn't miss watching).
Rafale, a 4.5-generation fighter jet, with its Meteor missiles could end China's presence in Ladakh in minutes. China admittedly have 600 fourth and fourth-generation-plus jets yet Rafale is said to be a league apart than both the F-16s and JF-17s in terms of range, armaments and electronic warfare capability. Most jets in Pakistan's inventory are US-made F-16s besides JF-17s which are China-made.
But India is hampered by a lack of central command and after decommissioning of the MiG-21 Bison, it's down to just over 30 squadrons, far less than at least 42 required to take on China and Pakistan in air in a two-front war.
India has rushed Rafale-maker Dassault co. to make several India-specific changes in the jets which were not part of the initial agreement.
India-specific enhancements include cold-engine start in high-altitude bases; radar-warning receivers, low-band jammers, infra-red search etc but the clincher is air-to-air missile Meteor and 5.1-meter-long cruise missile SCALP which could hit targets with precision as far as 120km and 600km. India, literally, won't have to leave its airspace to hit the target it wants to smoke out across the border.
Manufactured by European firm MBDA, the Meteor leaves no escape zone once the pilot looks at his radar and pulls the kill switch. The analysts believe there is no air missile presently which is better than Meteor.
The unthinkable Nuclear slide
Rafale jets, critically, could also deliver nuclear weapons. While India hasn't bought a nuclear warhead delivery missile along with the jets, it could do so at a short notice. The Mirages, presently, are the aircraft for nuclear weapons with India.
Sure, we are not walking down the nuclear-war path yet. It would pop humanity out of existence. There is no point in discussing who has more nuclear weapons as Pakistan and China, put together, are way above India's N-stockpiles. Analysts expect a conventional war, if god forbids it indeed breaks out, as a nuclear war would leave no winners.
Sure, India is pulling out all the stops. Its defence allocation for the 2020-21 fiscal year stood at Rs 471,378 crores (US$65.86 billion). The latest we hear is that defence ministry has approved the purchase of 21 Russian MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter aircraft, costing $2.43 billion. In the pipeline is incomparable S400 missiles, a $5.2 billion deal with Russia. And then there of course is Rafale jets, a deal worth Rs 59,000 crore (US$7.9 billion).
While on Rafale, how do they perform in real situation? Well, in 2011, Rafale operated over Benghazi and Tripoli in Libya and carried out a flawless mission. It has also taken part in operations in Mali and destroyed the enemy infrastructure without a fuss. Then it was Chad in Africa where four Rafale jets hit 21 targets after remaining airborne for nearly 10 hours, starting from their base in Saint-Dizier in eastern France. India would be the third country, besides Egypt and Qatar, to induct Rafale in its squadrons.
All this spend is to improve India's deterrence which of course act to reduce the threat of conflicts. It hasn't stopped Indian prime minister Narendra Modi from declaring that India could take care of Pakistan in 7-10 days. His time frame is not too off the mark: The 1971 War lasted a mere 13 days. The one against China, which we lost, all put together was a fortnight's affair.
As for China, gone are the days when bigger countries could gulp down another nation like you would do a spoonful of honey. Saudi Arabia hasn't been able to bring Yemen to its knees yet; Americans failed in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Soviet Union couldn't keep Afghanistan in its palm and instead it hastened the demise of the Communist regime. India won't be a cakewalk too if China and Pakistan were to mire it down on multiple fronts. It could only be a Looneys' mission. But then who would've thought before June 15 that things would come to such a sorry pass between India and China?
Posted in Blog Tagged Abu Dhabi, Al Dhafra, Ambala, Benghazi, Chad, Dassault, Egypt, F-16s, Golden Arrows, Iraq, Istre, JF-17s, Korea, Ladakh, Libya, Mali, MBDA, Meteor, MiG-21 Bison, MiG-29, Mirages, Qatar, Rafale, S-400, Saint-Dizier, Saudi Arabia, SCALP, Shaksgam Valley, Siachen, Sukhoi Su-30MKI, Tripoli, UAE, Vietnam, Yemen Leave a comment
China moves to turn Iran into a client-state; stakes up for India
India would watch with concern a blood-pact in the making between China and Iran which could mean trouble both at home and abroad.
China put an agreement in place last month which would virtually turn Iran into a vessel state. Tehran is already in bed in wild anticipation, once its parliament approves the union.
The 18-page agreement, accessed by the New York Times, involves 100 projects worth a staggering $400 billion. China would get discounted oil for next 25 years and in exchange would pepper the Persia of old with subways, high-speed railways and airports. There would be free-trade zones in strategic locations, including two which would overlook the critical Persian Gulf (Abadan) and the Strait of Hormuz (Qeshm).
Iran plans to hand over Jask, a port just outside the Strait of Hormuz, to China which is the vantage point through which most of the world's oil transits. India, which imports 84% of its oil, has reduced its dependence on Middle East in recent years but it still accounts for 65 per cent of its needs. Saudi Arabia and Iraq are two of its biggest oil suppliers from the Middle East.
China has a string of ports in Indian Ocean, such as Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Pakistan, and now soon in Jask, which puts New Delhi at unease on its energy and security needs, if China was to block the free seas and give these ports a military makeover.
It also messes up the Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman which India has helped build and now controls since 2018. India had soaring ambitions of turning this base into access to Central Asia and much of Eurasian landmass, through a mix of sea-land routes, not to say oil pipelines, bypassing the physical barrier of Pakistan on its north-western borders (see image).
Now India is hemmed in on its north and west flanks by two enemies and in between are the impassable Himalayas. It would be increasingly reliant on the military muscle of the United States for its freer access to seas upwards.
The United States would be no less alarmed by China's move on Iran. It had sought-and controlled—the Middle East for decades since the World War II. Now its Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, could face China's build-up. Its warships have regularly tangled with Iranian fleets in the busy sea lanes of the Persian Gulf.
The proposed deal also makes a nonsense of the United States sanctions against Iran under the Trump administration, which had brought Tehran on its knees with crippled oil supply and blocked access to world's financial highways. China, it seems, has braced itself too for the US economic sanctions which are inevitable in the wake of this agreement and would intensify the trade or covert war between two of world's biggest powers.
Iran needs to produce—and supply—at least 8.5 million barrels a day in order to be relevant in the energy sector. China seeks to import at least 10 million barrels a day for its energy needs. It imports 75 percent of its oil from foreign oilfields.
The agreement also outlines China's plan to help Iran build its 5G telecommunications network, riding on its major player Huawei. The Trump administration has barred Huawei from the United States and India is set to do the same under prime minister Narendra Modi.
The Shia Factor
India's ties with Iran have plummeted in recent months. The Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif had made inflammatory remarks on the CAA and on Delhi riots in February for which it was rebuked by the Modi government. India has the second highest number of Shias in the world after Iran. India's Shias have been a moderating influence on a virulent Muslim section in India.
The document also outlines military cooperation, joint training, exercises and research besides intelligence sharing and manufacturing weapons. The military ties between China and Iran have only scaled up in recent years. The Chinese navy has participated in military exercises in Iranian waters at least three times since 2014.
Then there is the Russia factor. Moscow is India's biggest defence importer but if asked to make a choice, it would look after China's back than of India. It is India's oldest and most reliable friend but the ties now are facing its litmus test. The clincher would be the supply of S400 missile system in 2021 which India is committed to buy and the United States is determined to prevent. It would be a make or break moment for India-Russia ties, at least in the immediate future.
The second Cold War is unfolding. In its first version, the United States and Soviet Union were ranged against each after World War II, in the battle-lines drawn by the NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the European theatre, their respective allies in the neighbourhood of Central-Latin America and Eastern Europe-Central Asia visible in plain view. The contours of the second Cold War is no less apparent. The United States and China are snarling at each other, with Indo-Pacific and the Middle East the two most likely flashpoints. The stand-alone moment for India is gone.
Posted in Blog Tagged Abadan, Bahrain, CAA, Central Asia, Chabahar, China, Cold War, Delhi riots, Eurasia, Fifth Fleet, Gulf of Oman, Gwadar, Hambantota, Himalayas, Huawei, India, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific, Iran, Iraq, Jask, Javad Zarif, Middle East, Moscow, Narendra Modi, NATO, New York Times, Persian Gulf, Qeshm, S400 missile system, Saudi Arabia, Shias, Soviet Union, Strait of Hormuz, Tehran, Trump administration, United States, Warsaw Pact Leave a comment
US riots: Modi should watch out for a repeat post Covid-19
Posted on June 1, 2020 by Ashish Shukla
The riots in United States have spread across the nation. From Minneapolis to Dallas, Los Angeles to Atlanta, New York to Portland, 40 cities are under curfew. National Guard have been called out in Washington DC and 15 other states. Today is just one week since Floyd George was murdered.
Innocents are confused at the clockwork precision of multiple riots. All four concerned police officers were fired the next day. The offending police officer with his knee on George's throat has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is holding its own investigations. Yet the violence has bubbled over.
The United States suffers from racial discrimination. That's a truth. Blacks might be up to 40% of the entire population but they carry little weight. That's a truth. Most jailed in the US prisons are blacks. That's a truth. But could we call it spontaneous riots when pallets of bricks, of same size and standard, shape and colour, are spotted across the rioting cities?
Donald Trump's government has gone public in naming the alleged conspirator. Trump has blamed the riots on "Antifa and the Radical Left". Attorney General William Barr, in a statement, has claimed that the "violence (is) instigated and carried out by Antifa and other similar groups." National Security Adviser Robert O' Brien has told CNN that the violence "is being driven by Antifa." Anti-Fascists in short is Antifa.
The principal funding of Antifa, and Black Lives Matter groups, is by George Soros and his Open Society Foundations in which he has stuffed $38 billion for operations in 120 countries. He has been funding terror activities and disruption of government around the world for decades. He pledged one billion dollars last year against "resurgent nationalism" and openly named India's Narendra Modi as the man on his radar. This was in the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Everything you want to know about George Soros you could find in this article of mine I penned early this year. His alleged role in overthrowing elected governments; the prime ministers and presidents who have openly accused him of coup d'etats; and his control on media as revealed in Wikileaks, among others. This man, in essence, is part of global cabal which through bankers control the world governments and sees existential threat in "nationalism" which runs counter to their "profits and profits only" agenda of free trade. They fear the likes of Modi and Trump, like darkness would to light.
Invariably they succeed. They succeeded in Libya and Iraq; Ukraine and Egypt; those Arab Spring revolutions; countless Latin American and African countries; and nearly succeeded in Syria. The "pro-democracy" movement in Hong Kong is one such manifestation. The "anti-CAA protests" in India, before it was halted by Covid-19, is another.
The standard method is to bring people on streets, make police duck, splash it in media they control and bring the elected government on its knees. This is what's being attempted against Trump now. This is what surely would be resumed on Modi after Covid-19. They work on a country's faultlines which exist in every country of this world. In US, its' Whites vs Blacks. In India, it's Hindus vs Muslims. Before long the country is torn asunder.
Trump has moved swiftly. He has announced his intention to declare Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Barr has announced a similar resolve. Once done, Antifa and Open Society Foundations would be prosecuted and the assets of their backers seized. The international banking system could be cut off to Soros and his octopus of affiliated groups.
More importantly, the alleged tie-ups between Antifa and the Democrat party could be laid bare in public. It's apt to remember that Minneapolis is run by the Democrats. And that Democrat-candidate Joe Biden and his campaign staff have made donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund. The group donates to pay bail fees for those who are arrested in Minneapolis, a city of Minnesota. President Trump's campaign finds it "disturbing" that Biden's team "would financially support the mayhem." He has called upon Biden to condemn the riots. Biden incidentally is for free-trade or is pro-China compared to hawkish Trump who openly berates the Middle Kingdom
The US presidential elections are slated for November 3. Minnesota is critical. In the 2016 elections, Hillary Clinton had won narrowly by a 1.5 per cent margin. Trump had struggled to attract African-American voters. Only 8% of this group had voted for him in 2016.
Knowing how Trump is raising trade barriers against China; and how it could win him another presidential term this year; and how Modi could follow his best friend in raising the stakes against China; which is important for these pirates of "open trade" there is little wonder that US cities are burning.
Or that similar would be the fate in India after Corona Virus.
Posted in Blog Tagged African-American, Anti-CAA protests, Antifa, Arab Springs, Black Lives Matter, Corona Virus, Covid 19, Donald Trump, Egypt, FBI, Floyd George, George Soros, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Joe Biden, Libya, Middle Kingdom, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minnesota Freedom Fund, Narendra Modi, Open Society Foundations, Robert O' Brien, Syria, Ukraine, United States, William Barr Leave a comment
Indians can't desert Modi and leave him at the mercy of sharks
Posted on May 19, 2020 by Ashish Shukla
All of us would agree that public transport should've been allowed to let migrants reach home. Done and dusted in the first week of Lockdown 1.0 itself. Free food and community centres are not homes.
Then came mischief. One fine day, we had thousands of migrants at a bus station in Delhi. Somebody had promised them transport home. This whisper also worked in Mumbai. Thousands poured into Bandra station. Somebody was trying to get them on streets. An educated guess is it was politics. As we would presently see, any political upheavals can't be caused without people-on- streets.
It's now Priyanka Gandhi on the move. Her bleeding heart has arranged a thousand buses for migrants for Uttar Pradesh. She has chosen buses over trains. Never mind UP is successfully requisitioning tens of trains by the hour. Half of all Shramik Trains, 301 out of 642, have headed to Yogi's state. She won't tell, and our media won't ask, if she has allergy to Indian Railways. She is surely not living up to her surname who once discovered India on trains and ended up as Mahatma.
So let's agree on the basics: One, State made a mistake in denying migrants a window to escape. Two, somebody wants human misery on streets. This agenda was bound to soar on the headwind of people's trauma. This was one reality which was wired to favour fiction.
We got to know of fictions on a regular basis though our media don't give enough credit to its readers for intelligence. This usually happens when you are unchecked. NDTV was caught arranging migrants through a staged performance. They were shamed enough to delete the video but its men were soon up to another mischief. So, a report has Priyanka's buses lined up, only the image actually is of Yogi's buses for Kumbh Mela last year. One recalls a fake report in The Hindu of migrants being extra charged. Indian Express isn't leaving a single migrant on a single highway who could add to its' misery editions. India Today group meanwhile is selling migrants photos for thousands of bucks.
These are the kind of times when Western media wakes up to India. Washington Post has run dozens of photographs on Indian migrants; New York Times likewise; The Guardian wasn't quite British in overplaying it as India's greatest exodus since the Partition. Quite interestingly, the newspaper in a matter of 24 hours, was praising the United States and Australia for enforcing a complete lockdown on its people; no escaping the measure. It had drooled on UK lockdown as a "necessary hardship.'
All this doesn't blind us to migrants' nightmare. People have lost lives on roads, trucks and railway lines. Centre hadn't seen it coming. Nobody had, truth to tell. Smiling idiots who pass off as experts were moving between one media house to another, predicting catastrophe for at least 40 million Indians. The end was near.
This is the thing about images. Young kids are psychologically scarred by Corona Virus. Possibly in lakhs. But they don't make up images. Indifferent couples, in 24×7 proximity, hate each other more than ever. We possibly have lakhs of divorces sowed. Again, there are no images. Young entrepreneurs are ruined. Again, no images. Corona has been a pandemic which in real gritty world, outside our Netflixes and home-bakeries, has been nothing short of death to millions. Again, no images.
The political beasts know this truth from ages. In modern world, it's the most important tool of imperialism. These days they don't send out armies, well not everywhere. They strangulate you by propaganda. A government, howsoever loved, is pulled down through steps in these orders: (a) Bring people on streets; (b) Show police as murderers; (c ) police freezes; becomes spectators; (d ) anarchy on streets morphs into violent mobs; (e ) Pressure groups—UN, EU, Media, Human Rights Groups, NGOs—pounce on its prey. Its' "sleeping cells" they have fattened all these years in the home country—opposition and corrupt media—are the proverbial fifth column. Judiciary succumbs. Before long, the popular leader is pulled down. Those who know the truth of Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Iraq, Libya and "Arab Springs" –and a pro-democracy fake in Hong Kong—would agree.
Narendra Modi is in this unfortunate situation. He is popular and nationalist – two traits which financial sharks don't allow to exist. It hurts free trade and their agenda of endless profits. They hold the presidents and the prime ministers of the world by their little finger. Men like Modi, or Putin, Xi or Kim, who put nation first, are caricatured and shown as savages unworthy to be in office. First the world opinion is won over by propaganda. It paves their road for intervention in the name of "democracy" and "human rights." The suffering nation would face financial sanctions; or worse military action.
This is Modi's fate for next four years. People-on-streets is an agenda which has been set in motion. Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was the first roll of the dice. Migrants is another. They would keep recurring, in the guise of one or other, to bring anarchy on streets. Every day, every month, every year. This much I know for sure. What's Modi's response we would know. India can't desert its man in this hour.
Posted in Blog Tagged Arab Springs, Citizenship Amendment Act, indian express, Iraq, Libya, Narendra Modi, NDTV, New York Times, Priyanka Gandhi, The Guardian, The Hindu, Ukraine, Uttar Pradesh, Washington Post, Yogi, Yugoslavia Leave a comment
Western Media: Modi's new India has learnt to ignore the barking dogs
Posted on November 22, 2019 by Ashish Shukla
Who's afraid of Western media? Certainly not Modi's India. The telltale signs of recent times convey a stunning departure from India of old when every censure from a New York Times or British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) sent a chill down the government corridors of New Delhi.
Now an extremely well-networked Western journalist Aatish Taseer, who writes for Time, Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, has his OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card revoked by New Delhi for concealing his parentage and despite a personal written appeal by 260 celebrated men of letters, including Salman Rushdie, to the Indian prime minister, it hasn't elicited a word in response from Narendra Modi.
It's nearing four months since the political heavyweights of Jammu and Kashmir were put under house arrest by the Modi government after it abrogated the "special status" of state of Jammu and Kashmir and broke it into three separate territories. Despite the din and orchestrated campaign in Western media, the Modi government hasn't bothered to put a timeline on their release.
In the altered reality of our times, the gravity of the world has shifted to Asia where India along with China, and Russia, have popular leaders in control of the destiny of their countries. Nationalism is at the heart of their policy which by its very definition runs counter to the liberal narrative of the Western media.
Western media isn't just about the United States or the United Kingdom—it by and large represents most West European countries and comes in a language-bouquet of English, French, German, Spanish, Italian etc. Western media is the foot soldiers of West in winning the public perception in latter's favour. It has a veneer of independence but actually is an extension of the liberal establishment which acquired hegemony after World War II. West detests any assertion of sovereignty and nationalism and so does its media. Brexit is a case in point.
The evidence too is hard to ignore. The Economist openly urged Indian voters to vote for Congress and not Modi's BJP in both 2014 and 2019 elections. Yet voters overwhelmingly voted for BJP. The Guardian bemoaned Modi's win as "India's soul lost to a dark politics." The New York Times found India to be suffering from Modi's "raw wisdom." Washington Post believed Modi won because "India had no credible alternative." All through, the Western media narrative has been the demonization of Modi, on the "divisive" politics of beef and "lynchings" of Muslims. Yet it made little dent to Modi's popularity.
Modi's India thus sees no benefit in trying to cultivate a network which is fundamentally in conflict with their sovereignty. It relies on its strong domestic base which won them a second successive term with full majority this summer. As an economy which could be third largest in coming years, it knows it's attractive to the world's largest corporations and business. It received its largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) ever this financial year. India now ranks very high in the Ease of Doing Business rankings too. It's also aware that millions of Hindus, quite a few well-heeled and a force in Western capitals of New York and London, are quick to pick up the cudgels against orchestrated campaigns.
India appears to have hedged its bets well. The two strongest cards West and its' media plays are "human rights" and "democracy." West uses these two weapons to wreak havoc in countries as diverse as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan are from Bolivia, Chile and Cuba. Sometimes there are direct military interventions overriding international laws; on other occasions, there are suffocating economic sanctions; at other times it's stage-managed internal eruptions as have been witnessed in Ukraine, the Middle East and now Hong Kong.
India bets against such a scenario because it's not only economically attractive to the West but also Donald Trump's United States hopes to ride on its shoulders for its' Act Asia policy. Internal eruptions are a powerful tool which the United States has perfected over the years. But India is assured it won't happen to them in the near future, at least till the 2020 US presidential elections are over, a year from now. Without an active US intervention, New Delhi's streets won't be filled with demonstrators as it's happening in Hong Kong or Bolivia. Modi knows well within he could ignore the barking dogs.
Posted in Blog Tagged Aatish Taseer, Afghanistan, Bolivia, BrExit, Chile, Cuba, Donald Trump, Ease of Doing Business, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Narendra Modi, New York Times, Overseas Citizenship of India, Salman rushdie, Sunday Times, The Economist, The Guardian, Time, Washington Post, World War II Leave a comment
Who is Donald Trump fooling on Iran?
Posted on June 23, 2019 by Ashish Shukla
I am not a stockbroker but if I was I would bet big against Donald Trump unleashing a war against Iran.
I mean he heads a country which needed half a million of its servicemen to tame a small Kuwait and prepared six months to arrange for its logistics. How would do you do against a large territory like Iran?
His country United States can't fight two medium-sized wars and can it really afford to free up Far East and China who would strangulate Taiwan the moment it's off-radar?
And please don't give me this Nuclear-muscle nonsense. It works best before you use it. You can nuke a Hiroshima or Nagasaki but you can't nuke the whole of Iran.
It's also as if Trump doesn't know that Pentagon would give a damn to his command for war. US can only declare war if its army wants so—as was the case with Vietnam and Iraq. The military generals of the US have already rejected the notion of abiding with the President's order for an illegal war.
We know the US, the adolescent that it is of only 200-odd years, makes some silly mistakes (Remember the hostage crisis of the 70s: Jimmy Carter's helicopters couldn't fly over Iran at a low height because its filters got clogged with sand). But a war with Iran would be worth an Oscar of the Absurd.
For one, if you don't allow oil out of Iran to the world; Iran would stop any oil to go out of the Middle East (see picture). Shias are everywhere: 60% of Iraq is Shia; 80% of Bahrain is Shia; the majority in Kuwait is Shia; the oil in Saudi Arabia is controlled by Shia. Iran would damage tankers and make sure the blame doesn't come its' way. In the last one month itself, four tankers anchored near Fujairah in UAE were damaged. Two tankers with petrochemical products were attacked in Gulf of Oman this week. No traces were left. It would become a routine. Saudi refineries could go up in smoke. Iran has strategic partners in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and even Afghanistan.
We also know that the US' Iran policy is based on a single agenda: Change of Islamic revolutionary regime in Iran. This agenda is unfulfilled even after 40 years. This is a country which unlike a France or England could survive on half a bread. Threat of a war, doesn't open up the factional feuds in the country. Instead it draws them together—as Western-oriented parties and hardliners are hugging each other at the moment.
It's also as if the US doesn't know that its' tough stance would probably make Iran a nuclear-powered regime in six months. Iran announced on June 17 that it would start withdrawing from compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement. But if the US pulls out of the deal unilaterally and the other signatories of the pact—China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany—hold their silence, what options Iran is really left with but to press on the raw nerve which inked the pact in the first place?
In this week itself, Iran would exceed the limit on enriched uranium which the 2015 deal had stipulated—only 300kg of uranium hexafluoride enriched to 3.67 per cent, or it's equivalent, for 15 years. If Iran adds a few thousand extras of centrifuges, it would reduce the time Iran needs to arm itself with a nuclear weapon.
And how do you think Iran's opponents would face up to the Persians? Saudi Arabia is so pathetic it can't even bring tiny Yemen to submission. They can't do anything to Houthi. A war would only make Turkey stronger. Iran is already being wooed by Russia and China. A common bank is being set up by Syria, Iraq and Iran to facilitate trade between these countries.
If anything a war would break up the United States. By mid-2020, oil prices would hit the roof. Insurance premiums on tankers would be prohibitive. Consumer prices of oil products would multiply. If oil prices exceed $100 per barrel, it would hit China, Europe and the US. If the oil prices are doubled, the US would be in ruins. It is the biggest consumer of electric power. It doesn't matter where it gets its energy from, be it Texas, Siberia or Saudi Arabia: if it's 150% per barrel, US is destroyed.
Then why the hell is the US tightening its screws on Iran? And Donald Trump is increasingly sounding like John Wayne with holster unbuckled?
The short and sweet answer is: Trump wants to stoke up fears in the Middle East so that it could sell its military hardware to Iran's opponents and fatten up its GDP. It never wanted a war, it never would. If the US wanted a war, it wouldn't be looking the other way as Iran continues to sell 300 million cubic feet of gas to Iraq. Iran's sale of oil in the region could go up to two million barrels of oil daily.
The trouble is, Iran knows the game and is upping the ante: It has given an ultimatum to remaining signatories of the 2015 Pact either fall in line by July 7 and help preserve the nuclear deal or face the music. It's a classic case of the hunter becoming the hunted. Trump has climbed up a tree but doesn't know how to get down.
Fun, I say.
Posted in Blog Tagged Bahrain, Britain, China, Donald Trump, Far East, France, Fujairah, Germany, Gulf of Oman, Hiroshima, Houthi, Iran, Iraq, Jimmy Carter, John Wayne, Kuwait, Middle East, Nagasaki, Nuclear, Oscar of the Absurd, Pentagon, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Shia, Syria, Taiwan, UAE, uranium, US, Vietnam, War, Yemen Leave a comment
India going ahead with S-400 missiles from Russia
(This has also been published in NewsBred).
India doesn't intend to scuttle its plans to buy S-400 Triumf from Russia despite the spectre of US sanctions.
The visit of India's defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to Moscow last month was a firm indication of India's resolve to ignore CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) which Donald Trump's regime had invoked last year on Russia for its alleged interference in 2016 US elections.
India has always relied on Russia for its military hardware and technology which remains undiminished despite Modi government's increased military reliance on United States. Presently, it imports 62 per cent of its military needs from Moscow.
US is adviced to go easy on India in case the deal materialized for one, it's a bulwark against China in the Pacific Ocean; (2) It's world's largest arms importer benefiting US directly; (3) It could push India into the arms of China and Russia and thus completely neutralizing influence of US in Asia.
New Delhi had expressed its caginess against US sanctions during a visit of foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale to US recently.
The S-400 anti-air missiles have been billed as US F-35 killers by Moscow. During the cruise missile strikes by US, French and British army on suspected Syrian chemical weapon sites recently, it was noticeable they avoided areas protected by S-400 systems.
Russia has already begun delivering S-400 missiles to China; Turkey has a $2.5 billion deal to purchase S-400s from Russia. Iraq has expressed its interest too rather than US Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system which was dubbed a failure to protect Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh against the missiles launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
S-400 is one of world's best interceptor-based missile defense system. It has an estimated operational range of 400 kilometres and an altitude of up to 185 kilometres. It could intercept missile warheads in their terminal stage.
India is expected to announce the purchasing of S-400 missiles from Russia when the leaders of the two country, Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin, hold a bilateral summit in October this year.
Posted in Blog Tagged CAATSA, China, Houthi rebels, India, Iraq, Modi, Moscow, New Delhi, Pacific Ocean, Patriot missiles, Putin, Riyadh, Russia, S-400 missiles, Trump, Turkey, Yemen Leave a comment
You must doff your hat to Times of India
Posted on March 5, 2016 March 5, 2016 by Ashish Shukla
Today, Times of India (March 5, 2016) has three stories on its front page:
Government says no to visit by US Panel: US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has been denied Indian visas to "discuss and assess religious freedom." (NewsBred had an insightful take on it at least four months backwhich you must read if India concerns you).
India takes US to WTO over visa: India has hauled US in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over their controversial new visa rules.
India rules out joint naval patrol in South China Sea: India refuses to join US in joint patrolling in South China Sea (all you read on South China Sea is hogwash. Read this and you won't need to read anything else on South China Sea ever).
INDIAN EXPRESS HAS NONE OF THESE STORIES. FROM ITS FRONT PAGE TO ITS LAST– FROM ITS MASTHEAD TO IMPRINT LINE.
May be Express, busy as it is with all its resources on Kanhaiya affair (just count on the stories in today's editions—I gave up after 1-2 dozens), just couldn't free its reporters on other India issues (but that's ok, they didn't have time and space to discuss Indian budget).
May be, Express thinks other India issues are not important. (Remember they didn't have time for India's win over Pakistan in cricket on its front page; instead writing a fictional "mahaul" story for which got an official rap).
May be, they genuinely missed the 3 stories since all international news agencies AP, AFP, Reuters blocked these stories too from reaching newspapers offices (I couldn't find one in google search). Never mind if these same agencies cried themselves hoarse on India's promised joint patrol with US in South China Sea.
The only Express story on US in today's edition was on its business page, Pg 19: "Monsanto threatens to exit India."
So the facts established: Issues that India take up with United States didn't find space in Express. Issues that United States takes up with India (like Monsanto) is a screaming headline.
What is Monsanto? Well it's been dubbed as the "most evil corporation on earth." We won't waste time here on Monsanto. Readers can take their own sweet time to find about it.
Is Express of today a one-off thing? Or has there been a pattern?
The pro-US role in Indian Express is increasingly getting established. It publishes US envoy Richard Verma, president Barack Obama, Moody's, Ford Foundation (which had infiltrated Nehru government to the core) and Greenpeace etc on issues where these divine voices question India's freedom of speech, tolerance etc. (Even though the world knows that US has quarter of world's all prisoners; its horrific track record against blacks; it snooping and spying on its citizens; the Patriot Law etc probably qualifies it as a "deep state." today).
I won't get so far as to question how Express runs without advertisements on its pages. There must be godly-souls in this world who would do anything for "tolerance" and "freedom of speech" issues. Or for that matter the allegations of "foreign funds' to Kejriwal's AAP for which, it must be told to readers, got a clean chit from none other than the Modi government last year!!! (can't help taking a potshot: Kejriwal talks of "freedom of speech" but let's not forget what he did to Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan—it wasn't the best case of "freedom of speech, was it?).
Just as the JNU issue was hotting up, Modi addressing farmers in Bargarh, Odisha had said that NGOs with foreign funds were "conspiring" to destabilize his government and defame him.
Let me connect all the dots: A resurgent India would never be "allowed" by the United States. They don't allow sovereign nations to functions: they only allow vassal—such as Europe, Japan or Gulf kingdoms to exist. Look at what it does to China, Iran, Russia, North Korea and Venezuela. Or what they did to Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Syria and countless Latin American and African countries. You would be naïve to believe that imperialism and colonialism just disappeared after World War II. They only turned more sophisticated and scientific with modern technological tools.
Vajpayee broke the pattern with Nuclear explosion; Modi now is pursing a dollar-free BRICS agenda. The empire would strike back and strike back hard.
What are the tools of those seeking world hegemony? Corporate and bought media for one; NGOs and funded foundations for another; intellectuals such as Amartya Sen (who is married into the Rothschild family); film celebrities (you know whom); superbly controlled academic institutions etc.
These intellectuals, writers and elites conveniently forget that tens of millions of Asians were murdered in Tokyo and Osaka firebombing (I am not evening mentioning Hiroshima and Nagasaki), horrific liquidation of Korean civilians or killing of millions in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, East Timor and Philippines. Or what's happening in Middle East where wars have been waged on lies of WMD and Benghazi or Syrian chemical use. So Indian elites, this is the future you have in mind for you and your children?
So a word from a neutral Indian citizen like me to the rest of the countrymen, more importantly to media: "Don't support BJP or Congress or vice versa if that's what you are convinced about. You support Kanhaiya–do it. You don't want to support JNU–don't do it. But don't play into such destabilizing forces.
Remember there are forces who don't want a strong, resurgent India. Those who are blocking Muslims in their own country; who won't allow a Muslim women to wear "hijaab" but can allow cartoons against the Prophet while taking a legal action against those having anti-Semitic views–these are not the ideal countries that you think they are. Don't be a tool in their hands.
All they want is a polarized India. Want to test it? I can even predict a headline you would see in paid media next week/month (Ok, watch this space for my prediction in next 48 hours—my wife tells me they won't leave you alive. Who cares).
If you have interest and safety of your children in your heart, please don't allow such polarization forces to gather wind. A polarized society would be an ideal breeding ground for ISIS/Al-Qaeda to find its recruiters and wreak havoc on our buses, trains, monuments etc. India would become a living hell. I can foresee such a scenario if you are not alert to this agenda of foreign forces/Indian media/NGOs/academic institutions.
There are people who are after the life of me, you and our children—and they are not Hindu or Muslim
Posted in Blog Tagged academic institutions, AFP, African countries, Amartya Sen, AP, Ban on hijaab, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Cambodia, Cartoons against Prophet, China, dollar-free BRICS agenda, East Timor and Philippines. WMD lies, Ford Foundation, Freedom of Speech, Greenpeace, Hindu, India beat Pakistan in cricket, India block US panel visit, India refuses joint patrol in South China Sea, India takes US to WTO, indian express, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, JNU, Kanhaiya, Korean civilians killed, Laos, Latin American countries, Libya, Minority official, Modi addressing farmers in Bargarh Odisha, mohaul, Monsanto threaten to exit India, Moody's, Muslim, North Korea, Osaka firebombing, Patriot Law, Religious tolerance, Reuters, Richard Verma, Rothschild, Russia, Syria, Syrian chemical use, Times of India, Tokyo, US imperialism, US vassal states are Europe Japan and Gulf countries, USCIRF, Vajpayee, Venezuela, Vietnam, World War II, Yugoslavia Leave a comment
Decoding Hyderabad polls: And the meaning it carries for Indian politics
Farmers have already lost this game: The only option left is violence
Malviya is just a start; even Modi would be muzzled on days next: Unless this road is pursued
If Modi's Centre agrees on MSP, it would be betrayal of India & its farmers
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