Category Archives: Politics

The Modi protest

Posted on by

Shashwati reports backs from the protest against Modi at Madison Square Garden (photos here):

Among the anti-Modi and anti-Hindutva signs were some anti-Indian Army in Kashmir signs… the Kashmir folks had been piggybacking on the anti-Modi protest. They were politely banished to the other side of Seventh Avenue…

The passersby hurried by in a typical New York rush, some holding up their fingers in a peace sign, without slowing down… Stan asked him if it was true that two thousand people had been killed, the man very matter of factly answered, “sometimes people needed to be disciplined and taught a lesson…” They looked like they had been herded by the more affluent Indians, who were the organizers of the show. Unlike the folks who had been bussed in, most of these people weren’t wearing a tilak, and were barking orders in their walkie-talkies, and generally looking self satisfied. I spoke to a woman in a leather jacket, I asked her what she thought of the proceedings, which she had been watching with an eagle eye, she answered with great unsmiling certainty, “Modi will be the next great leader.”

While she was chatting up the better heeled delegates, a man draped in a saffron shawl stood on top of the steps, not speaking to anyone and standing very still. He seemed to be committing every protestor’s face to memory… At that point a very large man in a trench coat and hat told me to clear the sidewalk. he was the detective in charge. He was the spitting image of Orson Welles in “A Touch of Evil.”

On my way home, I shared a bus ride with some middle aged Gujarati people who had gone to the event, they seemed like nice people. It was chilling to think that they were unmoved by the brutal killing of so many people…

‘Modi will be the next great leader’? Where do they find these people, under the same rock as David Duke groupies?

Previous posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Religious hard-liners united by lunacy

Posted on by

Hindu and Muslim extremists share at least one thing in common: A knack for creating controversy where none should exist. The latter is up in arms over an on-screen kiss between Pakistani actress Meera and Bollywood actor Ashmit Patel in the yet-to-be-released “Nazar”:

Conservative Islamists are incensed at the thought of a Muslim woman kissing a Hindu. Some have called for an apology; others have filed a lawsuit, demanding that she be censured for an “immoral scene” — it is unclear what the court could do if it agreed – and still others have issued death threats. [The New York Times]

Not to be outdone, former BJP MP Vinay Katiyar is trying to pull an Ayodhya on the venerable Taj Mahal:

“The Taj Mahal was, in fact, a Shiva temple and was built by Raja Jai Singh. Its name was Tejo Mai Mahal (shining palace),” Katiyar said in Lucknow…“It (the Taj) actually belongs to us (Hindus) and we will do everything possible to reclaim it,” Katiyar said adding a ’Shankar Sena’ (Shiva army) would soon be formed and ‘Damrus’ (Shiva’s drum) distributed among the people to create awareness on this issue. [Hindustan Times]

Imagine the uproar from the zealots if a Hindu man and Muslim woman shared a kiss (with tongue, of course) on the steps of the Taj Mahal. Would the mere thought of it just cause their heads to explode? I hope so. Because that would mean that they’d be dead from a massive head explosion. And then we wouldn’t have to hear from them anymore. We can only fervently pray for such a peaceful fate.

The New York Times: Kiss a Hindu? Just imagine. Islamists did, with outrage (free registration required)
Hindustan Times: Taj Mahal was a Shiva temple: Vinay Katiyar

Previous post: Let sleeping Moghuls lie…PLEASE.

Continue reading →

Catching bin Laden? Not so much

Posted on by

The NY Sun blames the former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan for hindering Osama bin Laden’s capture (thanks, Prashant):

[Former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan] Nancy Powell refused to allow the distribution in Pakistan of wanted posters, matchbooks, and other items advertising America’s $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden… thousands of matchbooks, posters, and other material… translated into Urdu, Pashto, and other local languages – remained “impounded” on American Embassy grounds from 2002 to 2004…

A single matchbook helped lead to the capture of Mir Amal Kansi, who gunned down several CIA employees at the front gates of the agency’s Langley, Va., headquarters in 1993. Kansi was arrested in Pakistan in 1995 when a local fingered him for the $5 million reward…

Mr. Kirk [R-Illinois] said that he raised the issue directly with the ambassador. According to the congressman, she replied that she had “six top priorities” and finding Mr. bin Laden was only one of them. She listed other priorities: securing supply lines for American and allied forces in Afghanistan, shutting down the network of nuclear proliferator A.Q. Khan, preventing a nuclear war between Pakistan and India, and forestalling a radical Islamic takeover of the government of Pakistan, a key American ally.

The conservative rag may have an ulterior motive in blaming the State Department instead of the president for making bin Laden a low priority. Either way, nailing that bastard is still my #1 voting issue — 3.5 years and counting.

In other news, Pakistani businessman Humayun Khan makes a convincing case for why he’s not buying parts for nukes:

Humayun Khan… denied any involvement with the recent shipments, saying that “someone else” ordered the oscilloscopes and the switches, had them shipped to his office, then snatched them somewhere along the way. “It’s very tragic,” Humayun Khan said. “You don’t know where these things are landing. They come through and they vanish.”

Yes, boss, ‘someone else’ charged the strippers to the company AmEx, had them sent to our office and then snatched them somewhere along the way. It’s tragic, I say, tragic.

Missing in Acton

Posted on by

The Washington City Paper covers the M.I.A. buzz with some true musicology:

… M.I.A. [is] a battlefield acronym that’s also a play on her real name and the London neighborhood of Acton… despite being an exotic and a refugee, M.I.A. is no primitive. She found a well-worn DIY-aesthete’s path out of London’s housing estates, leading to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. As much a pop-music finishing school as anything else, Saint Martins offered an art career, but also introductions to Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, Pulp’s Steve Mackey, and electroclash diva Peaches… In her glammier shots, she looks a bit like multi-ethnic actress Rosario Dawson…

The title [‘Galang’] sounds Malay or Indonesian, not Tamil, although some experts insist that it’s actually a dancehall contraction of “go along…” “Pull Up the People” is a potential Peace Corps anthem with Baader-Meinhof attitude. “Fire Fire” name-checks the Pixies, the Beasties, and Lou Reed, but also invokes “Growin’ up brewin’ up/Guerrilla getting trained now…”

She’s been officially classified as a rapper, and though she’s no Celine Dion, that’s not quite right. M.I.A. is more of a chanter, and such vocal hooks as “Hello this is M.I.A./Can you please come get me” come as close to singing as the vocals of any monotone rocker… Arular recalls minimalist proto- and postpunk–maybe not Wire or the Stranglers, but definitely Suicide, T. Rex, and Bow Wow Wow…

There are but a handful of conspicuous samples on Arular, including the sitar bit that opens “Hombre”–ironically, given that the tune is a lustful plea to a Spanish-speaking hunk. (Sitars, by the way, aren’t prevalent in Sri Lanka, which feels almost as Indonesian as Indian, and where the dominant music is baile, derived from the Iberian dance music of the island’s former Portuguese rulers.)

Billboard reveals M.I.A.’s given name is Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulpragasam (subscription required). The magazine says she’s viewed by some as not a mere Asian, but rather the potential savior of UK rap (Dizzee Rascal has plateaued). She swaggers, saying she signed with XL Recordings because it was closest to her house, and so they’re lucky to have her. There’s this delicious little bit of braggadocio: she says she told the label, ‘Trust me, you’ve been looking for me,’ dropped off the ‘Galang’ tape, and they called her back 20 minutes later. She says her dad asked her not to use his name as the album title (maybe it increased his risk in the field?), but she refused. She’s sad he chose his cause over his family.

Continue reading →

U.S. to sell F-16s to Pakistan

Posted on by

Despite losing Osama Bin Laden, harboring A.Q. Khan, and participating in illegal nuclear deals, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was told by the U.S. on Friday that they will reward him with a long-sought-after sale of F-16 fighter jets. In order to spice things up, the Bush administration simultaneously promised Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a chance to bid on similar U.S. fighters. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice explained that the sales would bring stability to the region:

“What we are trying to do is solidify and extend relations with both India and Pakistan, at a time when we have good relations with both of them — something most people didn’t think could be done — and at a time when they have improving relationships with one another,” (she said). [The Washington Post]

Unlobotomized members of both parties aren’t buying it:

Critics in Washington assailed the decision, saying the administration would effectively supply both sides in a new arms race in one of the world’s most dangerous hot spots, even as it rewards an authoritarian government in Islamabad in conflict with Bush’s stated commitment to promote democracy around the globe…Former senator Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), who sponsored the 1985 law that ultimately forced the cancellation of the original F-16 sale, called Friday’s decision “an atrocity” that goes against “everything the Bush administration has stood for.” [The Washington Post]

The administration trumpets the sale as an integral part of its revamped South Asia policy, which aims to provide both countries with better ways to annihilate each other. Economic policymakers also praised the move, saying it would offer a badly-needed boon to U.S. defense contractors, and that the resulting nuclear holocaust would effectively end corporate America’s dependence on outsourcing.

The Washington Post: Bush: U.S. to Sell F-16s to Pakistan (free registration required)

Update: “Left, Right and Center” contributor Robert Scheer decries Bush’s Pakistan folly:

The announcement Friday that the United States is authorizing the sale to Pakistan of F-16 fighter jets capable of delivering nuclear warheads — and thereby escalating the region’s nuclear arms race — is the latest example of how the most important issue on the planet is being bungled by the Bush administration. [Los Angeles Times]

Los Angeles Times: A con job by Pakistan’s pal, George Bush (free registration required) Continue reading →

Speed dating starts up in Bombay

Posted on by

Wealthy singles in Bombay are getting their first taste of speed dating, which works by bringing together a group of the unattached, and giving them three minutes to impress one another before moving on to the next potential date:

Organisers feel Mumbai was the right venue as it is India’s most liberal and cosmopolitan city. “Mumbai accepts a lot, its very tolerant city,” says Sandeep Shetty, one of the local organisers. Another organiser, Maha Khan, 25, a London-based British Asian who runs the Asian Speed D8, believes India is ready for speed dating. “I think cities like Mumbai are ready for a safe, informal way of getting to know each other face-to-face with a view to finding partners.” [BBC News]

Experts say the western phenomenon of speed dating is bound to find success in India, as it perfectly complements its centuries-old tradition of speed marriage.

BBC News: Speed dating comes to India
Speed dating sites: Asian Speed D8, BombaySpeedD8

Continue reading →

U.S. misleads allies…again

Posted on by

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. may have misled its Allies into thinking that North Korea was actively helping build a new nuclear weapons state (Libya) instead of simply supplying an existing one (Pakistan):

In an effort to increase pressure on North Korea, the Bush administration told its Asian allies in briefings earlier this year that Pyongyang had exported nuclear material to Libya. That was a significant new charge, the first allegation that North Korea was helping to create a new nuclear weapons state.

But that is not what U.S. intelligence reported, according to two officials with detailed knowledge of the transaction. North Korea, according to the intelligence, had supplied uranium hexafluoride — which can be enriched to weapons-grade uranium — to Pakistan. It was Pakistan, a key U.S. ally with its own nuclear arsenal, that sold the material to Libya. The U.S. government had no evidence, the officials said, that North Korea knew of the second transaction.

Pakistan’s role as both the buyer and the seller was concealed to cover up the part played by Washington’s partner in the hunt for al Qaeda leaders, according to the officials, who discussed the issue on the condition of anonymity. In addition, a North Korea-Pakistan transfer would not have been news to the U.S. allies, which have known of such transfers for years and viewed them as a business matter between sovereign states.

Of course, this may shed light on exactly what some of Condoleezza Rice’s OTHER business was on her trip to India and East Asia.

In an effort to repair the damage, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is traveling through East Asia this weekend trying to get the six-nation talks back on track. The impasse was expected to dominate talks today in Seoul and then Beijing, which wields the greatest influence with North Korea.

And let’s end with the obligatory conclusion,

“The administration is giving Pakistan a free ride when they don’t deserve it and hurting U.S. interests at the same time,” said Charles L. Pritchard, who was the Bush administration’s special envoy for the North Korea talks until August 2003.

Continue reading →

M / F / E

Posted on by

Shashwati brings our attention to the news that the Indian passport will now recognize a third sex:

The new “Passport Information Booklet” relating to instructions for filling up application forms, states, “In case of Male / Female option, please write M or F in the box space provided. For eunuch, please write ‘E’ in this box.” … “Sexuality today is no longer restricted to male and female,” said Vivek Diwan, of Lawyers Collective. “Earlier, when hijras applied for a passport, their applications would be rejected on grounds that they were neither male nor female. This is a step in the right direction.” [cite]

But can they get insurance in Tamil Nadu? More seriously, what happens when they get to a country that doesn’t recognize a third sex – how will they be classified there? Will they be classified into Male or Female and let in, or turned away for the very same bureaucratic reasons that stopped them from getting passports in India earlier? Continue reading →

Hoteliers sweep out Modi, AIANA persists

Posted on by

The Asian American Hotel Owners Association is canceling its invitation to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi:

[AAHOA chairman Mike Patel] said Gujaratis settled in USA have decided to stand by the decision of the US administration on the visa issue. He said, “We support the decision of the American government on this issue.” Patel pleaded with Modi to expedite the process of justice for the riot victims in the state…

Modi’s search for the real killers will proceed about as quickly as Robert Blake’s and O.J. Simpson’s. But the Association of Indians of North America wouldn’t know a losing cause if it bit them in the ass. It’s hosting Modi via satellite feed at Madison Square Garden on Sunday:

[The Association of Indian-Americans of North America (AIANA)], the organiser of the public meeting in the Madison Square Garden in New York, said they plan to put up a huge screen in the hall to telecast Modi’s speech live from Gandhinagar… An [AIANA] spokesperson claimed that the organisation represented the point of view of the majority of Indian-Americans in the United States.

AIANA is feting the man behind the abbatoir of Ahmedabad. They sure as hell don’t speak for me. ‘Aina’ means mirror in Hindi — they need to take a good, hard look at what they really stand for.

In related news, desi Christians have set a new record for longest acronym: the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America applauded the visa denial.

John Prabhudoss, the chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee of FIACONA, said, “I applaud the decision of the State Department and I thank the US Congress for standing with us in the effort. Those who invited Modi to honour him in the US have done so in total neglect for the pain and suffering he has caused to hundreds of thousands of people in Gujarat and elsewhere…”

Update: Here’s a good way to show someone you disagree: torch an unrelated party’s godown.

Nearly 150 activists barged into the warehouse of U.S.-based PepsiCo in the western city of Surat, smashed bottles and set fire to the place…

Update 2: AAHOA is sending mixed signals about whether it still wants Modi to speak.

Previous posts: 1, 2

Continue reading →