The Ultimate Guide

Darkness Under The Lamp - Temple At BJP Headquarters Craves For Attention!

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:17:00 +0000

The BJP may have grand plans about construction of a magnificent Ram temple at Ayodhya with its national president, Nitin Gadkari even imploring Muslims to extend their support to the cause, but an already existing Shiva temple inside the party’s state headquarters compound here is badly craving for attention.

And curiously the party that boasts of having liberated Ram Lala from the Babar’s encroachment at Ayodhya, is finding it an uphill task to get the temple inside its own office campus ‘liberated’ from its priest who has challenged party’s efforts to evict him from the temple-cum his one room residence, in the court.

The party cites the encroachment as the reason responsible for the plight of the temple—a charge the priest strongly refutes and alleges that having once demolished this temple the party wants him to vacate the place he has been taking care of before the building was allotted to the BJP.

As someone enters the bungalow no 7, the BJP state headquarters, from the main gate at the Vidhan Sabha Marg, he is invariably shocked to see a dilapidated and neglected temple with statues of Shiva, Hanuman, Vishnu, Ram, Laxman, Sita among others under a canopy inside.

The white wash that might have been done on the canopy and walls long back has been covered with black muddy coat, forget about flooring and plaster. And in the back of it there are heaps of rubbish functioning as an urinal for many.

“Yes, we agree the temple in the party office complex is in a bad shape and often becomes a cause for embarrassment for us,” BJP state vice-president and spokesman, Hridaynarayan Dixit said, adding, “We do want to give a facelift to the temple but the priest who has encroached the temple does not allow us to do this.”

However, priest, Pandit Ram Gopal Sharma has a different story to tell. According to him his father Ganga Sahaya was a personal servant of first chairman of the Legislative Council, Sir Sita Ram who got him employed as cyclo-operator at the government press then situated in the same building, which is now known as the BJP headquarters.

“My father started taking care of the temple inside the building before Independence and also lived there in the same room within the temple ground,” he said showing a copy of electricity connection in his father’s name.

The priest alleges that BJP leaders asked him to vacate the place when the building was allotted to the party three decades ago and when he did not oblige, the care takers of building started harassing him.

“A man whom the party leaders clamed was mad smashed statutes in the temple in 1991 and later in 1998 they demolished the temple wall,” said he pointing to some newspaper clippings recording the incidents.

The priest says his Suit of Injunction (Shakarji vs Laxman Singh) in the lower division court here for last 12 years. “My submission is that I am a rightful caretaker of the temple where anybody has the right to worship and the BJP cannot claim it as its own property,” said the priest, himself a law graduate.

Dixt said that party leaders once did request the priest to allow them renovation of the temple, dispute notwithstanding. “But he did not allow us”, Dixit regretted.

“This is true they once casually asked me,” the priest admitted, adding “But I told them to donate me money and I will renovate the temple and give accounts of the spent money but they did not agree,” he said, adding “If they will renovate it, I fear they could produce the renovation cost etc as a proof of ownership of the temple in the court.”

It seems like Ram Lala who is endlessly waiting to get a grand temple at Ayodhya, Shiva, his reverent senior, also has no option but to wait and wait for a facelift of the temple at the BJP headquarters.

Source: The Hindustan Times

Bihar Maoists Used Child Soldiers For Massacre In Jamui

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:24:00 +0000

In a shocking revelation, Bihar police claimed on Saturday that the Maoist attack on a village in Jamui late on Wednesday night that killed 12 villagers was carried out by children as young as 12-13 years old.

It has been known for long that Maoists recruit children as part of plans to promote their ideology, but it is probably the first time that young minds have been used to kill people. Women have already been used by Maoists in combat operations, as witnessed in the recent attack on a security camp of Eastern Frontier Rifles in West Bengal’s Sialda.

According to the police, around 50 children were part of the 200-strong Naxal team that attacked the village and burnt 40 houses during the two-hour rampage. A woman and her child were also killed in the attack.

The attack was seen as a revenge operation by the Left wing extremists, reportedly in retaliation to the alleged killing of eight Maoists by the villagers some 15 days back.

“The incident seems to be purely out of revenge though we have no proof of these villagers killing eight Naxals,” DIG Amit Kumar had said after the attack.

This was the second biggest Maoist attack during Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s rule. In 2009, 14 persons were killed by Maoists at a village under Alauli block of Khagaria district.

Thirty-one of Bihar’s 38 districts are Maoist-affected and over 1,500 Maoists are believed to be active in major parts of the state.

CCTV Footage - Israeli Mossad Behind The Assassination of HAMAS LEADER in Dubai Hotel? Part-3

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:27:00 +0000

CCTV Footage - Israeli Mossad Behind The Assassination of HAMAS LEADER in Dubai Hotel? Part-2

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:24:00 +0000

CCTV Footage - Israeli Mossad Behind The Assassination of HAMAS LEADER in Dubai Hotel? Part-1

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:12:00 +0000

Internet Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:51:00 +0000

It's official. The Internet, which has virtually revolutionised the world, has been nominated for the '2010 Nobel Peace Prize'.

The Internet was proposed by the Italian edition of the popular 'Wired' magazine for promoting "dialogue, debate and consensus through communication" as well as democracy, the media reported.

Premier endorsers of Internet for Nobel Peace Prize nomination include 2003 Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi and famous Italian surgeon, known for his contributions to breast cancer treatments, Umberto Veronesi.

'Wired Italy' has also launched a dedicated campaign, 'Internet for Peace', which will carry on till September 2010, featuring different stories and experiences of those who with the web have tried to do something concrete to promote peace and harmony in the world.

"We have to look at the Internet as a huge community where men and women from all over the world and with very different religious views can communicate and sympathise, spreading a new culture centred on collaboration and sharing of knowledge that breaks all barriers.

"For this reason, the Internet can be considered the first weapon of mass construction, which we can deploy to destroy hate and conflict and propagate peace and democracy.

"What happened in Iran after the latest election and the role the web played in spreading information that would otherwise have been censored, are only the newest examples of how the Internet can become a weapon of global hope," Riccardo Luna, Editor of 'Wired Italy', said at the launch.

Fox History Channel - The Cult of Suicide Bomber Series Plagiarizing History

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:09:00 +0000

Fox History Channel is running a documentary titled The Cult of Suicide Bombers. The series is directed by David Betty and Kevin Toolis, This documentry was filmed in 2005. The narrator and interviewer of the program is Robert Baer, a former CIA Agent.

The entire program is based on suicide bombing incidents conducted by a group of Muslim suicide bombers. The program is trying to show that the suicide bombing is invented by Muslims, Palestinians, and particularly Iranians. This program is providing false information in disguise of a well researched documentary.

They narrated a suicide act of a teenage Iranian boy during the war between Iraq and Iran in 1980's and the narrator told it was the first suicide bombing incident in the history. The boy was carrying a grenade thrown himself on an Iraqi tank, killed himself and all the occupant of the tank. The same act was done by an Indian Army Hawildar, Abdul Hamid during Indo-China War in 1965; posthumously he received the highest military decoration of India, Param Veer Chakra for this act of ‘Suicide Bombing’. But this incident was described by Indian Government as an exceptional form of courage and bravery shown in the battle field.

The program is hiding the facts. Incidents of suicide attacks are far older than a 20th century or 19th century invention. Group of Assassins or Hashshashin led by Hassan Bin Sabah of an old Jewish Sect, in 11th century was notoriously famous in history. The acts of Scariis, Zealots, Illuminatis, Templar Knights and many other secret societies are very famous for suicide attacks.

In the 20th century, suicide bombing was pioneered by the Dutch, Russians and perfected by the Japanese Kamikaze wing during WW2, Khmer Rouge in Vietnam war against USA and LTTE during modern days. Chechens and Palestinians recently started this form of attack to take revenge of atrocities and targeted killings of Israel and Russia. In the western world, Basque in Spain and Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Britain are also involved in suicide attacks. This is contradicting the statement made by the presentor that the suicide bombing is alien to western world.

By looking in depth, the program is only plagiarizing history and the sole purpose of this program is demonizing Islam and its followers as psychopathic brutes.

Apple Launched Its Much Hyped 'iPad'

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:02:00 +0000

After the launching of legendry iPhone, Apple recently launched its second most sought after electronic toy "iPad" (sounds like a sanitary product). The Gadget is like an elongated iPod and having many features but lacking some importnat things like no Flash support (no Hulu), no camera, no multi tasking, no USB, no user-replaceable battery, no phone calls, no Drag and Drop file system, no OSX, no full GPS, no SD card slot, no HDMI output to TV, no OLED screen. The price is ranged between USD $499 to USD $799. iPad will challenge the established market of Netbooks and Kindle.

Here is the promo video of the much hyped Apple iPad.

Living On The Edge: The Controversy Over 'Himalayan Glacier'. Part - III

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:13:00 +0000

This is what the controversial study quoting various sources states:

'Himalayan glaciers cover about 3 million hectares or 17 per cent of the mountain area as compared to 2.2 per cent in the Swiss Alps. They form the largest body of ice outside the polar caps and are the source of water for the innumerable rivers that flow across the Indo-Gangetic plains.'

'Himalayan glacial snowfields store about 12,000 km3 of freshwater. About 15,000 Himalayan glaciers form a unique reservoir that supports perennial rivers such as the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra which, in turn, are the lifeline of millions of people in South Asian countries (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh).'

'The Gangetic basin alone is home to 500 million people, about 10 per cent of the total human population in the region.'

'Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate. Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 km2 to 100,000 km2 by the year 2035 (WWF, 2005).'

'The receding and thinning of Himalayan glaciers can be attributed primarily to global warming due to an increase in the anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases.'

'The relatively high population density near these glaciers and consequent deforestation and land-use changes have also adversely affected these glaciers. The 30.2-km-long Gangotri glacier has been receding alarmingly in recent years.'

'Between 1842 and 1935, the glacier was receding at an average of 7.3 meters every year; the average rate of recession between 1985 and 2001 is about 23 meters per year (Hasnain, 2002).'

'The current trends of glacial melts suggest that the Ganga, Indus, Brahmaputra and other rivers that criss-cross the northern Indian plain could likely become seasonal rivers in the near future as a consequence of climate change and could likely affect the economies in the region.'

The controversy over the Himalayas melting deadline started in India last year with many scientists contradicting the IPCC statement.

"The health of the glaciers is a cause of grave concern but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) alarmist position that the 'glaciers will vanish by 2035' was not based on an iota of scientific evidence," Jairam Ramesh said.

"In fact, we had issued a report (by scientist V K Raina) that the glaciers have not retreated abnormally. That time we were dismissed, saying it was based on 'voodoo science'. But the new report has clearly vindicated our position," Ramesh said.

The study released by the environment ministry last year said Himalayan glaciers were not shrinking at the rate that scientists have warned.

V K Raina, former Deputy Director of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) who presented a paper on the Himalayan glaciers to the Union environment ministry last year, said it is premature to make a statement that glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating abnormally because of global warming.
According to his study, the glaciers in the Himalayas, over a period of the last 100 years, behave in contrasting ways. For example, Sonapani glacier has retreated by about 500 meters during the last 100 years. On the other hand, Kangriz glacier has practically not retreated even an inch in the same period.

Siachen glacier is believed to have shown an advance of about 700 meters between 1862 and 1909, followed by an equally rapid retreat of around 400 meters between 1929 and 1958, and hardly any retreat during the last 50 years.

Gangotri glacier, which had hitherto been showing a rather rapid retreat, along its glacier front, at an average of around 20 meters per year till up to 2000 AD, has since slowed down considerably, and between September 2007 and June 2009 is practically at a standstill.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is in talks with China to monitor the glaciers in the Himalayas and plans to collaborate in climate change negotiations.

While the controversy rages over the exact date, scientists across the world agree that global warming is a huge threat to the mighty Himalayas. It time to act, to work jointly towards maintaining ecological balance before it is too late.

In the picture, Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman IPCC

Living On The Edge: The Controversy Over 'Himalayan Glacier'. Part - II

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:03:00 +0000

The IPCC, which boasted about its research prowess, now finds itself in the eye of the storm.

"The IPCC doesn't do any research itself. We only develop our assessments on the basis of peer-reviewed literature. So this is really hundreds and thousands of years of research efforts that go into the distinct material that comes into the report," R K Pachauri had said in an interview with rediff.com in 2007.

"You know there may be someone who knows a lot about glaciers. We will get him to write something on glaciers and send it to the writing team. So if you look at all these inputs, you have well over 3,000 people who participate in this process. The IPCC doesn't do any research itself. We only develop our assessments on the basis of peer-reviewed literature. So this is really hundreds and thousands of years of research efforts that go into the distinct material that comes into the report," he said in the interview.

"I can't think of a better process. There is not a parallel on this planet in any field of endeavour as you have in the case of the IPCC," he added.

The IPCC has now said it regretted "the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance".

"It has recently come to our attention that a paragraph in the 938 page Working Group II contribution to the underlying assessment refers to poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date for the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers," an IPCC statement said in Geneva.

"The Chair, Vice Chair and Co-Chairs of the IPCC regret the poor application of well-established procedures in this instance," it added.

IPCC said the broader assessment remained correct that warming of the earth would lead to widespread losses from the glaciers. The concluding document of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report stated: "Climate change is expected to exacerbate current stresses on water resources from population growth and economic and land-use change, including urbanisation".

Meanwhile, leading glaciologist and senior fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute, Syed Iqbal Hasnain, who was quoted in New Scientist and Down to Earth magazines as saying Himalayan glaciers were likely to disappear by 2035, defended himself, saying, "I must stress that a journalistic substitution of the year 2035 was made -- without my knowledge and approval -- that was markedly contrary to my research supported finding of the likelihood of the central and eastern Himalayan glaciers disappearing in 40-50 years."

Hasnain had made a presentation at the Centre for Science and Environment in February 1999, where he had talked about the controversial 2035 deadline. The CSE published the details in its magazine Down to Earth.

He said IPCC experts had never approached him for his research papers on Himalayan glaciers.

Hasnain also said that technology had improved in recent years and results could be better. "Now we have more sophisticated and accurate instruments and techniques, as compared to those 10 years back. So, precision has increased and the new results are coming out," he added.

He said, he was "a scientist with years of painstaking study, collation and analyses of field experience who relies more on facts and figures, and not an astrologer who may give any date on the demise of glaciers."

Interestingly, the IPCC study is reported to have taken the deadline on the melting of the Himalayas from a Russian study, which predicted the melting of the glaciers by 2350. IPCC changed it to 2035, making it a 'Himalayan' blunder.

The IPCC also took references from a study done by World Wildlife Fund, which carried a report based on an article in a magazine called New Scientist in 1999. The magazine had attributed the report to statements from Prof Syed Iqbal Hasnain.

Now the WWF admitted that its 2005 report 'contained erroneous information'. "Although scientists remain deeply concerned about glacier retreat in that region, this particular prediction has subsequently proved to be incorrect," the WWF said in a statement.

The IPCC study on Himalayas distorts facts and gives a misrepresentation of the state of glaciers.

In the picture Machoi Glacier in 1967 and 2007.

Next Part - III

Living On The Edge: The Controversy Over 'Himalayan Glacier'. Part - I

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:22:00 +0000

The highly serious issue of climate change and global warming has taken a beating with vital research figures on climate change being distorted and 'falsified'. With contentions over important timelines -- like the melting of the Himalayas -- being disputed, scientific studies that contradict each other are losing credibility.

The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now admitted its goof-up on the 'deadline' on the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.

The panel, headed by Rajendra K Pachauri, had claimed that the Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035, causing a lively furore . "The clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly," said IPCC in a statement on its website, accepting the error.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said such forecasts were alarmist and without scientific basis.

He also took a dig at the comments made by IPCC chairman R K Pachauri, who had dubbed the Union environment ministry's report, which stated that global warming is not the only reason for glaciers melting, as 'voodoo science'.

Pachauri now faces an embarrassing situation.

Stressing on enhancing scientific capability, Jairam Ramesh said that the most important lesson that India must learn from the whole episode is that there is no substitute for domestic scientific capability.

This is the second time that the world has been proved wrong on its views on climate change and India, the minister said. "The first time was when the United States government estimated in the early 1990s that wet paddy cultivation in Indian fields produced yearly 38 million tonne of methane gas and that this was the second most preponderance for emission of greenhouses gases.

"But it was later established by the India's leading agro-scientist A P Mitra, who challenged the US administration's estimates and found that the emission was four million tonnes per annum on average," Ramesh said, adding the second time was on the 'glacier melting' issue.

"What it shows is that there is no substitute for indigenous study, monitoring and modelling. That is why we have set up a network of scientists and researchers to carry out researches based on our local requirements and conditions," the minister added.

In the picture Himalayan Glacier.

Next Part - II

Divide And Rule - Commonwealth Games Federation Website Shows Gujrat, Jammu & Kashmir Part of Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:38:00 +0000

A Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) map of the subcontinent that sought to make common ground of areas in Pakistan and India on Tuesday exposed the insensitivity of the Games authorities to potentially explosive issues that have bedevilled relationships between the two countries.

The distorted map on the official website of the London-based CGF, showing parts of Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir within the territorial bounds of Pakistan, appeared on day when India celebrated the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution.

The blunder came to light in the day, forcing embarrassed CGF officials to correct the map and apologise to the nation for the mistake. “It was a mistake and we apologise for it,” CGF chief executive officer Mike Hooper said.

The map of India on www.thecgf.com showed some areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat as parts of Pakistan. The corrected version, uploaded within hours of a media storm, shows these areas in Indian territory.

The map on website’s countries page — http://www.thecgf.com/countries — shows northern areas of Jammu and Kashmir — Chilas, Gilgit and Skardu — as part of Pakistan. The Gilgit-Baltistan region is part of a disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Similarly, it shows some parts of western Gujarat's Kutch region as belonging to Pakistan.

Once the mistake came to light, the organisers of the 2010 Commonwealth Games claimed they had brought it to the CGF’s notice. “We have noticed it and told the CGF officials about it. They have promised to revert back to us on the issue,” organising committee secretary Lalit Bhanot said.

The run-up to the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held here from October 3 to 14, has already seen a series of controversies with the CGF and the organising committee constantly at loggerheads over the pace of preparations.
Unintentional ‘goof-up’

Hooper said the goof-up was entirely unintentional. “It was not intentional but we have rectified the matter immediately. And we certainly apologise to all concerned,” he said.

“We generally use reliable sources for the territory of the Commonwealth countries but we are going to double check all of those again.”

In a close observation of the controversial map one can also find that CGF showed Bhutan and Maldives as part of Indian territory.

This website is designed, developed and maintained by ID Communications Ltd and the rights are reserved with the CGF.

Lessons From The Solar Eclipse

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:55:00 +0000

Over millennia, humans have woven myths, legends, and superstitions around solar eclipses. But this phenomenon occurs only because the moon is just the right size and far enough from earth to block out the sun when all three bodies are appropriately aligned. All solar eclipses are, however, not the same. Since the moon’s orbit is elliptical, not circular, its distance from earth varies, apparently changing its size in the sky.

So while people in northern India witnessed a total solar eclipse in July 2009, this time it was an annular eclipse. The moon did not cover the entire disc of the sun and it did not get as dark as during a total solar eclipse. In India, the eclipse could be seen by people in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. An annular eclipse was last seen from this country in November 1965. If the plane of the moon’s orbit were not slightly tilted, solar eclipses would be occurring at every new moon. There are, in fact, between two and five solar eclipses in any given year but these are visible from different parts of the globe.

But that was not good enough for scientists. In 1715, the British astronomer Edmond Halley published the first prediction of the path of a total eclipse. Since then, scientists have been travelling to the far corners of the world, telescopes and other equipment in tow, to take advantage of the natural phenomenon. Their work has resulted in some major advances.

In August 1868, the French astronomer Pierre Jules Cesar Janssen camped in tobacco fields in Guntur in coastal Andhra Pradesh to make his observations. His work led to the discovery of an entirely new element, helium, which derives its name from the Greek word for the sun. Data from a 1919 eclipse validated a prediction of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity that the sun would bend the light from stars. A total solar eclipse remains a major opportunity for studying the sun’s corona, its outer atmosphere that is ordinarily not visible.

Such investigations are not possible during an annular eclipse. The Indian Space Research Organisation is, however, using sounding rockets fired from Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram and Sriharikota as well as balloons and ground-based equipment to look at changes that could occur high up in the atmosphere during the eclipse. Most important of all, the eclipse is a rare opportunity for millions of people to behold a grand spectacle and learn some science in the process.

Prioritising Life

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:08:00 +0000

...on the US's back doorstep a million people may die soon, thirsting to death under piles of bricks or in those rapidly-spreading diseases that follow earthquake, unhelped by America whose borrowed billions were that day bombing Kandahar not funding ambulance teams in Port-au-Prince.

By Bob Ellis*

Fewer deaths occurred in Hiroshima in August 1945 than in Port-au-Prince last week and more people will die there soon than in Rwanda in 1994. Yet the modern global world was unprepared for it, so busy were they with Terrorism, which has killed fewer people in the last thirty years than quarrelsome Americans with handguns in the last eight months.

When are we going to get the arithmetic right, and distinguish what threatens us mightily from what threatens us barely at all?

Cuba, a socialist state, is well-prepared for natural disaster and few die there in the hurricane season, and rebuilding happens quickly. The United States, a capitalist nation, was ill-prepared for Hurricane Katrina though experts had warned for years of broken dykes, inundation, chaos, disease and looting, and its response was an international joke.

China, a socialist state, handles earthquakes well. Australia, a social democratic state, handles floods and bushfires fairly well. Yet on the US's back doorstep a million people may die soon, thirsting to death under piles of bricks or in those rapidly-spreading diseases that follow earthquake, unhelped by America whose borrowed billions were that day bombing Kandahar not funding ambulance teams in Port-au-Prince.

When will we get our priorities right, and realise our biggest foe is wild nature not militant Islam and do such things as we can to survive it?

Thirty per cent of earth's carbon asphyxiation comes each year from bushfires, and for a hundred billion in the next ten years we could fly a lot of Elvises over Indonesian forests round the clock and we do not. We're installing electronic peekaboo machines in airports instead, though strangely not in theatre foyers or football stadiums, lest one more Underpants Bomber board a plane. Half a billion dollars would redirect an eastern river and save the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray but we're spending the money instead on gyms and computers for private schools. While you've been reading this three Haitians have died under heaped-up stone unrescued and an AIG executive has earned two hundred dollars for helping wreck the world economy, and he'll earn three thousand more in the next hour while twenty more Haitians die.

When will we get our priorities right, and learn how useless the free market is in dealing with tsunamis, earthquakes, Aboriginal health, African AIDS, Middle Eastern pogroms, Chinese tyranny and the sort of shameful poverty that breeds terrorists everywhere and sends them walking in explosive underpants out of universities into airline waiting rooms? When will we understand that twenty dollars a week is better spent on tax-funded air ambulances and Elvises and hot rocks and wind power and stem cells and solar cars than on oil magnates who are killing the planet as we speak?

Hundreds of thousands of dead are piling up in Haiti and global capitalism has failed; discuss.

You can argue that Haiti was a basket-case already and had been that way for decades. But in those selfsame rapacious decades capitalist America had been refusing aid to it, and sending back Haitian immigrants who might not then have starved, or whored themselves, or taken up voodoo if America had taken them in, and not spent their money instead on the drug-running, election-cheating Karzai brothers for reasons that altered each month. Why was faraway Afghanistan more urgent to America than Haiti, its near neighbour? Why? Oh yes, that's right, a certain tall Saudi was thought to be living there so it had to be bombed to smithereens. Makes all the sense in the world, when you come to think of it.

Why don't we get our priorities right? Why don't we do our sums? We could spend five billion dollars on aid that civilises East Timor and ten billion dollars buying up Indonesia's forests and a billion buying eighty Elvises over three years and the cost per week per taxpayer would be nine dollars fifty, the price of an hour's parking or two Toblerones. Why don't we do this?

Why don't we get our priorities right, and pay the small sums they cost for the things we need, like flood mitigation or bushfire prevention or ambulance helicopters or stem cells or electric cars?

Why are we in a War on Terror at all? Why not a War on Earthquakes, which kill hundreds of thousands more people each year than some goose with incendiary BVDs who was on a suspect-list anyway?

Why are we getting it so wrong? Why are we so afraid of tax, and so welcoming of useless executives on ten million a year, or a hundred and forty an hour around the clock? Why are we spending so much of our money on them, and so little on bushfire prevention or flood rescue? Why are so many people dying because we find a young stranger's jockstrap more interesting than the end of life on earth? Are some people making money, perhaps, out of emphasising the unimportant and spinning the planet's fate into invisibility? Arms manufactures, oil barons, Halliburton, Blackwater and so on?

Could be, old friend, could be.

Helicopter-gunships have been illegally over-flying Pakistani villages while you've been reading this, and they could have been rescuing buried children in Port-au-Prince.

Was this well done? Was this honourably done? How clever was it? How useful in discouraging future terrorists to reject jihad and choose capitalism instead?

How are we doing, old friend?

Are we winning?

Or are they?

* Bob Ellis has had a long and close involvement with politics, covering as a journalist twenty-four campaigns in Australia, the UK and the USA, and writing speeches or slogans for Kim Beazley, Bob Carr, Mike Rann and others. Ellis's work for film and stage has won numerous nominations and awards for writing and direction. His most recent book is The Capitalism Delusion and is also the author of And So It Went: Night Thoughts in a Year of Change.

Movie 3 Idiots - Idiot Is As Idiot Does

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:16:00 +0000

By Sagarika Ghose*

3 Idiots is a fun caper and thoroughly enjoyable. Yet, at the core of the film is a dark and troubling cynicism about the future of India’s young. The technicolour fun and games conceals a destructive anger and a condescending disdain for all those across India who may be aspiring to join centres of excellence or study or teach in them. The incredible popularity of the film shows that as a nation we are in no mood to study and are delighted that idiocy is at last legitimate.

The movie 3 Idiots has broken all box office records. Raju Hirani, Aamir Khan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra are laughing their way to banks to encash their Rs 300 plus crore. Critics are gushing, audiences — cutting across gender and age — are packing into theatres in hordes, and declaring that there is no better film. The pressure to enjoy Three Idiots is almost similar to the pressure to enter the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) — deviate from the orthodoxy of relentless breathless appreciation and you’re likely to flunk the admission test into your family circle or group of friends.

Undoubtedly, 3 Idiots is a wonderfully made film. The superbly talented Aamir Khan always brings energy and innovation to his roles and Raju Hirani is perhaps the Hrishikesh Mukherjee of our times, a master of the art of gentle middle class comedy but told with high tech razzmatazz. Yet, the success of 3 Idiots reveals that we are on our way to becoming brain dead.

The film tells us that India’s system of higher education is idiotic, teachers are lisping semi-insane brutes who drive students to suicide, rote learning is always bad and the IITs produce nothing but Lamborghini-chasing mercenaries who are only waiting to land corporate jobs in the US. Is that true? The IITs have produced among others Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, Jairam Ramesh, the whistleblower Satyendra Dubey, Magsaysay Award-winner Sandeep Pandey — who served on its faculty, — and many among the group that created the inspiring Karadi Tales (the audio story tapes for kids). The IIT winter festival, luminously titled ‘Mood Indigo’ once showcased how many talented poets and musicians there were among its students!

Of course, the film is a fictionalised version of the IITs, and perhaps a better reflection of the vast number of engineering colleges mushrooming across India, which are indeed soul-less factories where real education is substituted for cramming. And, of course, we are not meant to take 3 Idiots too seriously, as it is after all just about having an escapist laugh and not thinking too much. After all, if you think too much you may discover that 3 Idiots is a dangerous, preachy and sanctimonious film that disdains all forms of hard work; that subliminally condemns studying as a pathetic exercise in rote learning and scorns the sadhna of higher education.

The film establishes that unless you are a naturally gifted scientific genius like Ranchordas Chanchad, there’s no point wasting time with your books. Then you’re better off singing songs or becoming a wildlife photographer. As if becoming a ‘wildlife photographer’ is a sweet extracurricular hobby that doesn’t require hard work and determination and an equal amount of sadhna.

If we continue to lose our minds over films like 3 Idiots, we will soon become a nation of idiots and will have to hire foreign brains to do our thinking for us because we will be wallowing in hatred of the system and escapist pleasure. In the same vein as 3 Idiots, Mahesh Manjrekar has made a Marathi film titled Shikshanaaka Aicha Gho, which literally translates as ‘Screw The Education System’. Do we want to bring up children on the notion that the education system is idiotic and deserves to be screwed?

Of course, there is a need for reform. Of course, there is a need to urgently relieve the pressure and strain. But where does the pressure come from? It comes from vast numbers that apply — not necessarily from diabolical teachers and emotionally blackmailing parents. The pressure comes from the fact there are too few IITs, too few medical colleges and too few quality universities. For a country of our size, why is there only a single All India Institute of Medical Sciences? Why aren’t there at least ten?

Sure, there are many terrible teachers at our universities. But has any Indian graduate come across a total caricature like Professor Virus? Instead, graduates in India can provide many stories of learned, and inspiring teachers who fought to keep students interest alive, that, often in criminalised and politicised campuses it is the idealistic teacher who is the victim of ‘spoilt brat’ students who demand high grades and favours through means fair and foul.

The Nehruvian dream which gave us centres of excellence like the IITs and Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs) should be a source of pride for us. These are institutions that students should aspire to join, not scorn and curse simply because it is fashionable to do so. There is still no substitute for hard work, no substitute for sadhna and no short cuts to academic excellence.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s education reforms for Class 10 board exams are indeed visionary. But caution has to be exercised that urban middle class children are not pampered into thinking that anything that causes ‘stress’ is evil and should be attacked and, worse, not be even attempted.

Encouraging students to abuse their teachers, hate their books, throw metaphorical tomatoes at all centres of excellence is to encourage an illiterate lumpen rage against anything that isn’t dumbed down to the shocking level of intellectual nothingness that we seem to be comforted by these days. If our children cannot use proper grammar, if they cannot spell, if they are unable to sit for examinations, if they are unable to speak a language correctly, if they are unable to study because they are turned off by stress, if they are led to believe that all effort is a waste of time, is this the kind of generation we want to rear as future citizens? Saraswati is a gentle goddess. Maybe we need to change our mode of worship, but let's not disrespect her.

3 Idiots is a fun caper and thoroughly enjoyable. Yet, at the core of the film is a dark and troubling cynicism about the future of India’s young. The technicolour fun and games conceals a destructive anger and a condescending disdain for all those across India who may be aspiring to join centres of excellence or study or teach in them. The incredible popularity of the film shows that as a nation we are in no mood to study and are delighted that idiocy is at last legitimate.

*Sagarika Ghose is Senior Editor, CNN-IBN.

Burj Khalifa - Behind The Glitz Of The Tallest Tower

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:24:00 +0000

By Rafia Zakaria*

The inauguration of the tower and the acquittal of the sheikh is a lurid juxtaposition of the hypocrisy, gluttony and crude injustice that lies beneath a glitzy façade. None of the innovation or glamour is indigenous; the architecture is American, the designers European and the slave labour South Asian.

Over 160 storeys, it boasts the world’s highest swimming pool and perhaps as expiation also the world’s highest mosque. Its golf course requires over four million gallons of water a day. Last week, amid much fanfare, the legendary tower finally threw open its majestic doors to the public.

Previously known as Burj Dubai the structure was renamed Burj Khalifa in honour of the Abu Dhabi ruler and UAE president who had bailed out struggling Dubai with a sum of billions of dollars. Envisioned and designed by a Chicago firm, the Burj is said to have been inspired by the vision of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sky City which was to be built in Chicago. However, it was never realised as it lacked both the funds and labour. Neither of these were seemingly a problem in the construction of the Burj which employed thousands of labourers from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh for several years for its construction.

According to reports, the vast majority of these workers have never even been to the top of the building they spent years constructing. But not seeing the view from the top is hardly the biggest problem faced by those who constructed the Burj; there are allegations that many have died in the construction of the Burj. Such construction projects take a huge toll. Records kept by the Indian mission for only one year showed that nearly 1,000 Indian workers had died, more than 60 in accidents on the site. The Pakistani and Bangladeshi missions do not keep records of the many labourers who have died possibly deterred by the criticism of the UAE authorities. Based on estimates the total number of workers killed in such construction projects is believed to be well into the thousands.

Days after the opening of the Burj a UAE court absolved the president’s brother for the beating and torture — an event that was videotaped — of an Afghan grain merchant. Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan was recorded brutally thrashing the man, stuffing sand into his mouth, burning his private parts with cigarettes and beating him with a nailed board. The video, which is available on the Internet, shows the sheikh literally pouring salt on his bloody wounds.

The court that heard the case acquitted the sheikh on the grounds that he had been under the influence of ‘drugs’. Put simply, despite incontrovertible recorded evidence, the sheikh was simply too powerful to be brought to task for hurting a man who was in the Emirati scheme of things little more than a slave.

The inauguration of the tower and the acquittal of the sheikh is a lurid juxtaposition of the hypocrisy, gluttony and crude injustice that lies beneath a glitzy façade. None of the innovation or glamour is indigenous; the architecture is American, the designers European and the slave labour South Asian.

Only 10 per cent of Dubai’s population is indigenous and actually has some say in how the emirate is run. The rest, either labourers or the educated middle class from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, are only too happy to swallow their pride and meekly accept second-class status as gratitude for employment. The slave-like labourers languish in camps hapless and helpless at the hands of sheikhs and companies who may choose to abuse them at whim.

In the meantime, the lurid contrast of limitless wealth and gluttonous consumption is seemingly lost on middle-class expatriates in Dubai. The expat bankers, engineers and doctors who have got work permits to escape dim prospects in their own countries unquestioningly consume the capitalist wealth of Dubai without ever contesting the injustice of their own political silencing. They wander in the malls, stare in veneration at the towers and flaunt their designer trinkets at cousins and relatives left at home as markers of their economic superiority.

Never once do they ask what basis of justice allows a government to pay two people different amounts based on their nationality. Nor do they wonder at the justifications of virtual labour camps where workers toil for 18 hours a day and are not paid for months, conditions that would result in protest in any part of the developed world. Similarly, tourists from around the world visiting Dubai are happily duped by the fireworks, the pretty beaches and now the tall towers without taking a moment to question the inequity that fuels them or the injustice that makes them possible.

True, injustice exists everywhere and Dubai sustains Pakistan’s exported labour force whose remittances are crucial to the country’s economic survival. But it must be remembered that the case of Dubai is unique. There is no place in the contemporary West where workers may live and work and even be born and never have the opportunity to participate in the governance of the country.

Unless those who make up the expatriate labour force of the emirates are allowed a voice Dubai’s progress will continue to be a product of exploitation of poverty and need. Indeed, if the world is revolted by reports of torture in Guantanamo, and campaigns to hold the US accountable, so too must it demand accountability for the sheikhs of Dubai without being duped by the luxurious façade of their towers.

*The writer is an attorney and director at Amnesty International, US.

January 15, 2010 Solar Eclipse - Exclusive Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:15:00 +0000

Collection of Exclusive Pictures of Solar Eclipse January 15, 2010

Manila, Philippines - January 15, 2010

Ghaza City, Palestine - January 15, 2010

Crescent Moon, Kerala, India - January 15, 2010

Mauritius - January 15, 2010

Ring of Fire, Nairobi, Kenya - January 15, 2010

Solar Bangle - Dhanushkodi, Tamilnadu, India - January 15, 2010

Bangkok, Thailand - January 15, 2010

Different Locations, India - January 15, 2010

Beauty of Solar Eclipse. Through a Mosque Minarate, Pakistan - January 15, 2010

Male, Maldives - January 15, 2010

Nairobi, Kenya - January 15, 2010

Dali, China, January 15, 2010

Different Stages of Solar Eclipse, January 15, 2010

'Ring of Fire' Witnessed In South India, Solar Eclipse 2010 - Exclusive Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:45:00 +0000

The longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium began at 0616 GMT (11.06 a.m IST) on Friday in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, as thousands of people converged here to watch the celestial spectacle. There was total darkenss at noon in Thiruvananthapuram, Rameshwaram and that the ring of fire was a big draw.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon's shadow is smaller than the visible disc of the sun, making it appear like a ring of fire.

The spectacle, visible in a roughly 300-kilometre band running 12,900 kms across the globe, set a record for the longest annular eclipse at one point that will remain unbeaten for more than a thousand years. The Moon's shadow first struck the southwestern tip of Chad and western Central African Republic at 0514 GMT (10.44 a.m IST) and then reached Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia before racing across Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and China.

Partial Solar Eclipse Over Mauritius - January 15, 2010

The eclipse, which was followed live on Indian cable television, also temporarily put a halt on the world's biggest religious gathering in northern India. Temples in Haridwar, site of the Kumbh Mela which sees millions of Hindus bathe in the holy river Ganges, were closed for the duration of the eclipse because the phenomenon is considered inauspicious.

Solar Eclipse Over Narobi, Kenya - January 15, 2010, 8.30 a.m Local Time

The duration of 'annularity' - the time the moon is in front of the sun - was 11 minutes, eight seconds at 0706 GMT (12.36 p.m IST), making it 'the longest annular eclipse of the 3rd Millennium,' according to Nasa. Only on Dec 23, 3043 will this record be beaten. The lunar umbra, or shadow was set to expire in the Shandong peninsula in China at 0859 GMT (14.29 p.m IST).

Partial Solar Eclipse over Ghaza City

A Perfect "Ring of Fire"

Don't Miss Longest Solar Eclipse Of The Century Today

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 06:19:00 +0000

If you have still not been alerted by my earlier story on the 2010 Annular solar eclipse, here we go again.

Today is the day you will witness the longest solar eclipse of this century take place. The annular solar eclipse would be visible in most parts of India but only the southern fringes of the country will see it as an Annular eclipse. For the rest of the country, it would be a partial solar eclipse.

The best places to see the eclipse in its annular from would be Dhanuskodi town near Rameshwaram. If you are already there, wait for the show to begin! The eclipse will last for over 10 minutes in mainland India and can go up to a maximum of 11 minutes 8 seconds in parts of the Indian ocean thus making it the longest solar eclipse of this century. The eclipse starts a at 10:44 am IST and will end at 2:29 PM (IST). This is not the total duration of the eclipse but the range of time different places would see the eclipse happen.

Also, it has been reported that The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a series of rockets from its two centres to study this solar eclipse and its repercussions. These were supposed to be sent out from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Thumba in Kerala.

Annular solar eclipses occur when the Moon is too far to cover the Sun entirely. Therefore, when the eclipse reaches totality, you would see a ring (Annulus) around the moon and hence the name annular.

Please do exercise caution while watching this eclipse. DO NOT look directly at the Sun during the eclipse for it might put your eyes at risk even with your cool sunglasses. Also, do not try to use binoculars or telescopes and point at the eclipse directly without sufficient protection as you run the risk of being blinded.

Don't Miss Annular Solar Eclipse On January 15

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:41:00 +0000

2010 has just dawned upon all of us and we Indians would be the lucky ones to catch a glimpse of the first Solar eclipse of this year.

On January 15, we would be seeing an annular Solar eclipse in our skies. Unlike total solar eclipses, it won't have the diamond ring. Instead, there will be a gold ring around the Sun because the moon would be too distant from the earth to be able to cover the sun completely. This would also be quite a long eclipse and is expected to last over 10 minutes. It is expected to begin by 13: 23 IST, and will last for around 10.4 minutes. If you happen to be somewhere in the Indian Ocean, it will last a minute longer and continue for 11 minutes and 7 seconds.

The only issue is that this eclipse would be visible only in the southern part of the country. If you happen to be a lucky resident of Kerala, Tamil Nadu
or Mizoram (we know Mizoram is quite far from South India), the Annular eclipse should be quite a feast for your eyes. Annular Solar eclipses are rare and the last one to happen in India was when were fighting the second war with Pakistan in 1965; November 22 to be precise. Also, the next Annular eclipse is scheduled only in 2020, so you better watch it this time or wait for a decade to pass.

In other parts of India, the eclipse would be a partial one. However, even the next partial eclipse will happen six years from now - so you might not want to miss this one on Friday!

Living On The Edge: Copenhagen - A Flop Show

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:32:00 +0000

A landmark conference on climate change turned out to be another show of the arrogance and insensitivity of the Western powers led by the United States.

Leaders of developing countries and environmentalists left Copenhagen disappointed. The summit could not produce an inspiring global climate change mitigation regime. As matters stand uncertainty prevails.

What they thought would be a landmark conference on climate change turned out to be another show of the arrogance and insensitivity of the Western powers led by the United States. China did not fair any better, despite committing itself to reducing emissions just as India and Brazil did.

What also emerged is that Europe and Japan cannot have their own minds on major global issues without the endorsement of the United States. The United States' stance on climate change has been particularly disappointing. It could not be part of the Kyoto Protocol a decade ago. We all thought this position would change with the coming into power of the Obama administration.

Obama had promised during his election campaign that he was going to Washington to change Washington and that he would not pander to the whims of interest groups in Washington. Hardly a year after coming into office, Washington has changed him and he is now a slave of these interest groups.

Rightfully, he is being criticised for failing to offer firm leadership on issues that matter most. He did run around in Copenhagen but at the end of the day produced nothing praiseworthy.

The claim that the Western countries are champions of human rights and that they care most about the well-being and welfare of people have been proved to be just empty rhetoric. How could they claim to care when they cannot commit themselves to a deal that could save whole countries that are threatened with extinction due to climate change? A number of coral islands could sink under the waters in the not-so-distant future.

Their leaders made a loud appeal to the big powers to save them, but were not heard.

President Mugabe, who is known for not mincing his words on major issues, was once again a voice for the oppressed. "Why is the guilty North not showing the same fundamentalist spirit it exhibits in our developing countries on human rights matters on this more menacing question of climate change?" he asked.

"Where is its commitment to retributive justice, which we see it applying on other issues placed on the global agenda? Where are the sanctions for offenders? When we spit at the Kyoto Protocol by seeking retreat from its dictates, or simply refusing to accede to it, are we not undermining the rule of global law?"

The hard-hitting speeches and demonstrations by activists could not move the hard-hearted Western leaders. They could not care enough about the droughts, floods and other forms of extreme weather conditions that have already started bringing misery to millions of people mostly in developing countries.

While indeed the experts will continue to work on more acceptable measures ahead of the Germany meeting in June next year, what is needed most is a political declaration which will commit the developed countries to far-reaching climate change mitigation measures. Developing countries were right in insisting that the United States and its allies should ratify the Kyoto Protocol and keep it in place until 2013.

We doubt if the next summit in Mexico in December next year will produce anything given the rigidity by the big powers that was displayed in Copenhagen. There was enough time in Copenhagen to hammer out a good deal. There was just not enough sense of global responsibility on the part of the big brothers from the North.

Perhaps the citizens of those countries need to put more pressure on their leaders to be sensitive enough to the effects of the continued rise in atmospheric temperatures. By the time we get to Mexico in 2010 enough pressure must have been exerted on Western powers to agree to something that can save this planet for posterity.

Source: The Herald Zimbabwe

I’m Sorry But We Blew Up Your laptop (Welcome To Israel)

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Brutality of Israel

On November 30th, 2009, American tourist Lily Sussman traveled to Israel from Egypt via Taba Border Crossing. During the Israeli security checkup her computer was deemed a suspicious package and destroyed.

By Lily Sussman

I was sitting on the deck overlooking the Red Sea. Israeli security officers (most who looked around 18 years old) had completed around two hours of questioning and searching me. They had pressed every sock and scarf with a security device, ripped open soap and had me strip extra layers. They asked me tons of questions–where are you going? Who do you know? Do you have a boyfriend? Is he Arab, Egyptian, Palestinian? Why do you live in Egypt? Why not Israel? What do you know about the ‘conflict’ here? What do you think? They quized me on Judaism,which I know nothing about.

Then they asked me to wait. Since they had asked for friends and families phone numbers I assumed they might be calling to verify my answers to questions or confirm I really had extended family in Tel Aviv. An announcement played over the sound system, interrupting my break in the sunshine. First in Hebrew, then Arabic, then in English. It was something along the lines of, ” do not to be alarmed by gunshots because the Israeli security needs to blow up suspicious passanger luggage.”

I went inside to check on my bag. I had left it unattended, where they instructed. It was still there so I went back outside.

Moments later a man came outside and introduced himself as the manager on duty. And then, “I’m sorry but we had to blow up your laptop. “

What….all my client case notes and testimony, writing, pictures, music and applications. Years of work. NO!!!! What?? Are you insane?? What were you thinking? THAT’S ALL MY WORK!?

After much yelling, crying and frantic phone dialing (don’t be alarmed if I called you repeatedly this morning), he took me outside to see the wreckage. It turned out it hadn’t been quite blown up, but rather shot through with three bullets. We were able to extract the hard drive, seemingly unscaved. Thank goodness…

Security had never asked for my password. Was it my peeling Arabic stickers on the keyboard? Or something else during the questioning which set them off?

Toward the beginning of the search an officer began clicking through the photos on my camera. She froze on a picture of graffiti, which read “Fuck” scrawled next to the Jewish star of David. “Why do you have this picture?” She asked me rather aggressively. “Because I was disturbed by it too,” I answered. She didn’t press the subject but continued clicking…presumably looking at pictures from a photo exhibit about Israel’s January attack of Gaza.

Though I usually delete all my pictures when uploading, unluckily I had clicked save rather than delete when uploading this set and never got around to manually deleting on my camera. Whoops…

Among other suspicious item; an Arabic phrasebook, a journal entry that mentioned a Palestinian(yes, they even flipped through my journal), stamps from Syria, Qatar and the UAE, Palestinians in Palestine guidebook, and a map a friend had drawn with a main street in Jerusalem, the central bus station and my intended hostel. “Who are you meeting there?” They asked me.

Anyway I am in Jerusalem. Years of my life and my RLAP work is not destroyed. *sigh*. Insha’allah I will like Israel better tomorrow….

Israeli Politicians' Fear Of Legal Action

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Tzipi Livni's refusal to enter Britain because she fears arrest on war crimes charges increases the number of Israeli ministers and ex-ministers who fear legal action, and is to be welcomed (British court issued Gaza arrest warrant, 15 December). Richard Goldstone's report for the UN detailed serious war crimes and potential crimes against humanity carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.

It urged international governments to take action to bring those responsible to justice. It is now almost a year since the Israeli government started its brutal and bloody Operation Cast Lead, killing over 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza. The British government has already acted shamefully by not voting for the Goldstone report at the UN.

We are shocked at reports that the Foreign Office is seeking to avoid its responsibility to uphold international law and bring war criminals to justice. The statement that Israeli leaders must be able to come to Britain and that the Foreign Office is "looking urgently at the implications of this case" implies meddling with due judicial process. The government should rectify this immediately, reaffirm the principles of international law and justice, and take action itself to ensure those responsible for war crimes are brought to justice. And if the government does not act, we are ready and willing to take action.

Source: Betty Hunter, guardian.co.uk

Living On The Edge: Farmers Outsmart Nature, Adapt To Climate Shifts

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:49:00 +0000

"I don't know what those big people in foreign countries can do about the weather, but we are doing what we can to help ourselves."

As world leaders and top scientists in Copenhagen debate how to deal with climate change, farmers a world away in flood-prone areas of northern India are taking it into their own hands to adapt to shifts in the weather.

For decades, inhabitants of Uttar Pradesh state have been witnessing erratic weather, including increasingly intense rainfall over short periods of time.

The rain, combined with heavy mountain runoff from nearby Nepal, which is also seeing heavier-than-usual rains, has inundated villages, towns and cities in the region.

The flooding often results in thousands of people being displaced, homes damaged and possessions destroyed. It has also brought major livestock and crop losses for many of India's poorest farmers.

But farmers in Manoharchak village, on the banks of the Rohini river, are outsmarting nature and using simple but effective techniques to deal with negative impacts of climate change.

"For the last three years, we have been trying to change our ways to cope with the changing weather," said Hooblal Chauhan, a farmer whose efforts to adapt have included diversifying his farm production from traditional wheat and rice to incorporate a wide variety of vegetables.

'WE ARE DOING WHAT WE CAN TO HELP OURSELVES'
"I don't know what those big people in foreign countries can do about the weather, but we are doing what we can to help ourselves," said the 55-year-old from Manoharchak, situated 56 miles (90 km) north of the bustling city of Gorakhpur.

Villagers in Manoharchak have raised the level of their roads, built homes with foundations of up to 10 feet (3 metres) above ground, elevated community hand pumps and created new drainage channels.

Supported by the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group - a research and advocacy organization interested in environmental and resource management issues - farmers are also planting more flood-tolerant rice, giving them two harvests a year where they once had one, and diversifying from traditional crops to vegetables such as peas, spinach, tomatoes, onions and potatoes.

The diversity of crops, they say, is particularly beneficial when their wheat and rice fail. And the vegetables give them not only a more varied and nutritional diet but help in earning an income when excesses are sold.

Increasingly intense rain means farmers in the region also have to contend with water-logged soil. Vast swathes of fertile land in the area have been turned into massive ponds.

The water-logging is a serious problem, experts say, and is caused not only by the low-lying terrain but by build-ups of silt which restrict water flows, leaving farmers unable to work their land for months until the water has drained.

But 50-year-old widow Sumitra Chauhan, who grows about 15 different vegetables as well as rice and wheat on her two-acre plot, says she has learned ways to overcome the problem.

"We used to have to wait up to one month for the water-logged land to drain before we could plant any crops. But now we use nurseries for our vegetables," said Chauhan, standing in her lush green plot packed with vegetables including mustard, peas, spinach and tomatoes.

"We plant our seedlings in the nurseries and then when the water drains, we transfer them to the land so there are no delays," she said.

CROPS RAISED ABOVE WATER-LOGGED SOIL
Farmers have also started using "multi-tier cropping" where vegetables like bottle gourd and bitter gourd are grown on platforms raised about five to six feet (1.8 meters) above the ground and supported by a bamboo frame.

Once the water-logged soil drains, farmers can then plant the ground beneath the platforms with vegetables and herbs such as spinach, radish and coriander that require less sunlight and do not grow very tall.

Warmer temperatures and an unusual lack of rain during monsoon periods in eastern Uttar Pradesh have also led to dry spells. To cope, villagers have contributed to buying water pumps for irrigation, lowering their dependency on rain-fed agriculture.

While developing countries battle with industrialised nations at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen, including over the provision of billions of dollars to help poorer nations adapt to climate change, experts say farmers can start adapting even before a deal is struck by using low-cost strategies like those in Manoharchak.

"It is true that developing countries need a lot of investment to adapt to the effects of climate change, but small and marginal farmers, who are some of India's poorest, can make a start by using simple, cheap techniques to help themselves," said Ekta Bartarya of the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group.

About three-quarters of farmers struggle to survive on as little as a third of an acre of land, experts say.

Most are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Shifts in weather patterns have made it difficult for them to predict when to sow, reap and harvest their crops, and meager harvests as a result of temperature hikes, floods and droughts have often left them with little to survive on.

4.5 MILLION IN INDIA AFFECTED BY CLIMATE SHIFTS
According to Oxfam, which is supporting the action group's work in eastern Uttar Pradesh, around 4.5 million people in India have been affected by climate-related problems.

Some have been forced into debt. Others have migrated to towns and cities to search for manual labor or have had to sell assets such as livestock to cope.

Experts say low-cost adaptation techniques, developed by combining scientific knowledge with existing community knowledge, can be used to help farmers across India who are vulnerable to climate change.

"Certainly each region in India would require a different kind of adaptation technique," but all are aimed at building climate resilience, said Aditi Kapoor, a specialist in economic justice for Oxfam India.

But she warned that successes in home-grown adaptation do not mean developed countries should be able to avoid financing adaptation projects.

"We estimate that rich countries must provide at least $200 billion per year of new and additional public money (by 2030) to help poor countries cope with the impact of climate change," she said.

Source: Reuters

Living On The Edge: Effects of Climate Change Today

noreply@blogger.com (Aftab Ahmad) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Over 100 years ago, people worldwide began burning more coal and oil for homes, factories, and transportation. Burning these fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These added greenhouses gases have caused Earth to warm more quickly than it has in the past.

How much warming has happened? Scientists from around the world with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tell us that during the past 100 years, the world's surface air temperature increased an average of 0.6° Celsius (1.1°F). This may not sound like very much change, but even one degree can affect the Earth. Below are some effects of climate change that we see happening now.

Sea level is rising. During the 20th century, sea level rose about 15 cm (6 inches) due to melting glacier ice and expansion of warmer seawater. Models predict that sea level may rise as much as 59 cm (23 inches) during the 21st Century, threatening coastal communities, wetlands, and coral reefs.

Arctic sea ice is melting. The summer thickness of sea ice is about half of what it was in 1950. Melting ice may lead to changes in ocean circulation. Plus melting sea ice is speeding up warming in the Arctic.

Glaciers and permafrost are melting. Over the past 100 years, mountain glaciers in all areas of the world have decreased in size and so has the amount of permafrost in the Arctic. Greenland's ice sheet is melting faster too.

Sea-surface temperatures are warming. Warmer waters in the shallow oceans have contributed to the death of about a quarter of the world's coral reefs in the last few decades. Many of the coral animals died after weakened by bleaching, a process tied to warmed waters.

Heavier rainfall cause flooding in many regions. Warmer temperatures have led to more intense rainfall events in some areas. This can cause flooding.

Extreme drought is increasing. Higher temperatures cause a higher rate of evaporation and more drought in some areas of the world.

Ecosystems are changing. As temperatures warm, species may either move to a cooler habitat or die. Species that are particularly vulnerable include endangered species, coral reefs, and polar animals. Warming has also caused changes in the timing of spring events and the length of the growing season.

Hurricanes have changed in frequency and strength. There is evidence that the number of intense hurricanes has increased in the Atlantic since 1970. Scientists continue to study whether climate is the cause.

More frequent heat waves. It is likely that heat waves have become more common in more areas of the world.

Warmer temperatures affect human health. There have been more deaths due to heat waves and more allergy attacks as the pollen season grows longer. There have also been some changes in the ranges of animals that carry disease like mosquitoes.

Seawater is becoming more acidic. Carbon dioxide dissolving into the oceans, is making seawater more acidic. There could be impacts on coral reefs and other marine life.

By: Lisa Gardiner (UCAR)