Orbat.com

  Please bookmark Orders of Battle as a backup in case site is inaccessible.

Editor
Ravi Rikhye

Associate Editor
Mandeep Singh Bajwa

Chief Technical Officer
Dale Atkins

Publisher
Ravi Rikhye

Concise World Armies 2010

Ravi Rikhye

1268  orbat pages

$75 E-book

Order via Paypal, account of editor@orbat.com

Analysis

Swat, Pakistan North West Frontier Province

[February 13, 2009]

 

WE BRING YOU THE WORLD ©
PUBLISHED ON AN AD HOC BASIS

 

Long War Journal on new US Afghanistan Strategy

For general news about US deployments/operations, visit www.globalsecurity.org  

For solid reporting from Iraq from the US military's view, read Bill Roggio at www.longwarjournal.com  

 

 

Somalia Piracy

March, 2010

30 ships from 17 nations


European TF 465

(Operation ATALANTA)

HQ Northwood, London

  • Sweden Carlskrona (Flag)

  • RNLMS Tromp

  • Sweden Maritime Patrol aircraft

  • Several other EU ships

Authorized to December 2010

NATO Task Force

Denmark: Absalon (Flag)
USS Boone
HMS Chatham

US CTF 151

Turkey, Command

  • USS Gettysburg (Flag)

  • Canada

  • Denmark

  • France

  • Netherlands

  • Pakistan

  • Singapore

  • United Kingdom

  • Australia

PLAN Sixth Flotilla

  • DDG Lanzhou

  • AO Wieshan Hu

  • LPD Kunlunshan

Start date August 2010

 

 

Independent command

Japan (2 destroyers)

India (1 destroyer)

Russia (2 ships)

 

 

Support by US 5th Fleet

CTF 150

Primarily oriented toward operations in Afghanistan/Iraq but steps in whenever possible

Ideas for US Energy Independence

Energy Facts

New At TOE

100+ pages of Vietnam era TOEs 

Somalia Piracy

 

America Goes To War Resources 2001-2004

 

Concise World Armies 2010

If you have purchased CWA 2009, particularly with updates, there is no need to buy CWA 2010. We are changing the publication cycle from July 1 each year to 1 January. There is not enough new material in 2010 as yet to justify the expense of a new purchase.

E-Book $75; hard copy $200 (two volumes, not yet published) 1268 orbat pages (11 point type, pages  537 x 697 points).

List of Countries

After you order, kindly let the Editor know at rikhye1@hotmail.com

Purchasers are reminded that 95% of the material in CWA 2009 is copyrighted proprietary information and is sold to you in the explicit understanding it is solely for your private use.

CWA Updates 2010-2011

#1. July 10, 2010 Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea
#2. July 23, 2010 Japan, Turkey
#3 July 25, 2010 Venezuela
#4. July 26, 2010 Spain
#5. July 27, 2010 Italy

America Goes To War

0230 GMT September 3, 2010

  • The US as a pathetic wimp Americans like to think of their country as powerful, but in one case, at least, the US shows it has become a pathetic wimp. The case concerns Dr. AQ Khan, father of Pakistan N-weapons program and master proliferator.

  • Just as background, the good professor sold N-weapons technology to Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea. He also sent two of his top men to discuss sale of two N-warheads to our equally esteemed friend, Osama Bin Laden. The good professor even arranged for China to "loan" Pakistan N-weapon grade materials for its 1998 tests.

  • US tried to get access to Dr. AQ Khan, but the Pakistanis told the Americans to go back to where they belonged. They did put him under a farcical house arrest; but this house arrest was like putting a suspect in the Waldorf Astoria and letting visit anyone he wants to see.

  • Now he has been released even from this "house arrest."

  • Editor needs to be clear for our readers. As a Pakistani, Dr AQ Khan has every right to develop N-weapons for his country. His nuclear dealings were conducted with the full knowledge and assistance of his government, and frankly, that is the Government of Pakistan's business. We are not making this into a moral issue of any sort.

  • What we are saying is that Dr, Khan and the Government of Pakistan powerfully acted against American interests. So just as the Pakistanis have the right to pursue their interests, US has the right to pursue its interests.

  • Except the US cannot even get to talk to Dr. Khan, leave alone get him in its custody.

  • This from the world's alleged sole superpower.

  • If the US looks at the man in the mirror, it will not see Uncle Sam or the American Eagle. It will see Mr. Alfred E. Neuman, of Mad magazine. Mr. Neuman's motto? "Wot, me worry?"

  • Follow-up on Indian food grains story The Hindu daily reports that the Government will release an additional 2.5-million tons of food grains to Below Poverty Line families, consequent on Supreme Court orders that it is better to give away the grain then let it rot. The Government sells subsidized food grains to 65-million BPL families, up to a maximum of 35-kg/month. It is also thinking of raising the number of eligible families to between 77- and 82-million.

  • The normal foodgrain buffer maintained by the Government is 27-million tons, but at present the buffer has 55-million tons.

  • The Government says food grain distribution costs $14-billion/year. First, India can certainly afford that sum to help feed its below poverty line people. Second, it does NOT cost the government $14-billion/year. It costs far less because the grain if not distributed will spoil. Sure it has to be purchased in the first place. But when millions of tons go to waste each year, you cannot say distribution to the poor is costing money.

  • We congratulate the Government on its decision, even though its hand was forced by the Supreme Court. Further, we urge the Government to spend less time thinking and more time doing. Indians are very smart. if their thoughts could be spun into material wealth, India would be the richest country in the world. In China, however, they haven't gotten where they have by thinking.

  • BTW, we don't know to what extent the poor can afford 35-kg/month of grains even if subsidized. Is this enough to see a family of 5-6 through the month? Does the food grain actually reach those for whom it is designated?

  • Another episode in the Annals of the Absurd if anyone thinks we are making up the story below, please visit Washington Post September 2, 2010, Metro section, Pages B1 and B6.

  • There is a local elected official in Washington called Michael Brown. He holds one if the two "at large" seats on the Washington DC Council. He does not have to run for his seat this year because apparently at least the at-large members are elected in staggered years.

  • There is a second Michael Brown, who wants the second "at large" seat. Opposing him is a gentleman we will call Mr. A, to protect the moronic.

  • Mr. A. is attacking Michael Brown #2 for running his campaign under the name "Michael Brown". Mr. A. says that by running as "Michael Brown", Mr. Brown #2 is using the popularity of Mr. Brown #1 into deceiving voters into believing that he is actually Mr. Brown #1.

  • Now let's look at the facts. Mr. Brown #1 is not running for election this year. Washington DC is a small place, perhaps 600,000 people. Presumably Washingtoons know that Mr. Brown #1 is not running because it's not time for him to run for reelection. Mr. Brown #1 is black and 45, and trim of build. Mr. Brown #2 is white and 57, and is described as "portly". Mr. Brown #2 is asking people, in bewildered fashion, what is he supposed to do? Michael Brown is his name, and he had it first.

  • If Mr. A is worried that the good people of Washington cannot tell Mr. Brown #1 from Mr. Brown #2, and that is unfair Michael Brown should run under the name Michael Brown, possibly the US Congress is right in not giving Washingtoons representation in the US Congress. (The District of Columbia is a federal district, not a state. Only states can send people to Congress.) After all, even in a democracy you want voters who can tell a 45-year black man not running for election from a 57-year white man who is running for election. Even if they have the same name.

  • Letter from Jupiter: Re your September 1 statement  that "And of course, the 90% of Muslims who probably agree that both stoning to death and the name calling are wrong, will not utter a word, further convincing non-Muslims that Islam as a religion is unacceptable."

  • Actually it is incorrect to say 90% of Muslims agree stoning is wrong.

  • More than 80% of Pakistanis ( > 95% are Muslim) support stoning. Source:http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1683/pakistan-opinion-less-concern-extremists-america-image-poor-india-threat-support-harsh-laws

  • Half of Indonesia support stoning (though its illegal). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning#Support_for_the_practice_of_stoning

  • Even if one assumes that none in other Muslim countries support stoning, it is still incorrect to say that 90% of Muslims oppose stoning.

  • Considering the historical association of stoning with mid-east, Saudi, Iran and neighboring Muslims countries probably support stoning at least as much as Indonesia or Pakistan.

  • Probably more than 2/3 of Muslims support stoning.

  • Editor's note We haven't seen the latest population figures but Indonesia and Pakistan hold about a third of the world's 1-billion Muslims.

 

0230 GMT September 2, 2010

  • After UAVs, UUVs Unmanned Underwater Vehicles are the next big thing in military robotics, with widespread research being conducted around the world. Aviation week and space Technology has a summary report of several programs. One we found of interest was the British Archerfish, a mine killer.

  • "BAE Systems’ Archerfish, (is) a single-shot minekiller with a directed-energy warhead, scanning sonar and twin propulsors that let it hover beside a target for remote video identification. Archerfish can be launched from surface ships, UUVs or dropped from helicopters."

  • http://aviationnow.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/dti/2010/09/01/DT_09_01_2010_p26-248224.xml&headline=UUV%20Development%20Accelerates&channel=defense

  • China can now rendezvous two satellites says Wired Magazine. The US is known to have done the same thing in 2005, but apparently the capability is an advanced one.

  • We congratulate the Chinese on their new capability, and offer our sincere thanks at creating a new threat the US will have to respond to. Since the end of the Cold War the US has gone to sleep on many types of advanced weapons as the threat no longer existed. we are appreciative the Chinese are getting into a serious competition with the US on space weapons. As is understandable, the US is at its technology best when there is competition.

  • http://www.wired.com/dangerroom You have to scroll past a few other articles, each of interest. The story is dated August 31, 2010.

  • Royal and French Navies to share aircraft carriers? Defense News says the move is under consideration. From the Royal Navy's view, it can afford to cancel one of the two 60,000-ton carriers it plans to construction, saving $8-billion (though presumably the costs for a one-off will be higher than half of a two-carrier deal). The French get to have the use of a carrier for most of the year. Currently, they have only one CVN, the Charles de Gaulle.

  • Strictly speaking, you have to have three to keep one on station at all times. When the US has a 15-carrier force, it kept three with the 7th Fleet and two with the 6th Fleet. There are many tactical reasons why you want at least two carriers working together, not least being you want to keep four elements of two fighters up at a time in a potentially hostile air environment, and also you have a backup deck should one deck be fouled due to enemy action or accidents. These imperatives get reduced if you have AEW coverage and air support from land.

  • Also, with three carriers in your fleet, with some warning time you can put two to sea.

  • http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=4761937&c=SEA&s=TOP

  • Latest on invisibility cloaks http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727755.800-real-invisibility-threads-would-be-fit-for-an-emperor.html

  • Why we need to believe climate change is solely man-made The Marxist philosopher of science Slavoj Zizek says the reason may be that we are unable to accept we are at nature's mercy. Read about this and his other insights at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727751.100-slavoj-zizek-wake-up-and-smell-the-apocalypse.html

  • Full disclosure Till Editor read this article, he had no clue there was any such thing as a Marxist philosopher of science. But honestly, this gentleman has a lot to say, and New Scientist in its usual reduce-science-to-pap-for-the-masses style makes his complex ideas easy to understand.

 

0230 GMT September 1, 2010

  • Iran's Newspaper Kayhan and Ms. Carla Bruni So Iran decided it was going to stone to death a woman, mother of two children, accused of infidelity and conspiring to murder her husband, who was killed.

  • World gets upset, Iran says it will not execute the woman by stoning, but reserves the right to execute her some other way.

  • Fair enough, we at Orbat.com have no clue what the truth of the case is, and it's for Iran to handle the judicial aspects. We have no comment on that.

  • Then the First Lady of France, Ms. Carla Bruni, writes a letter to the woman. Ms. Bruni is part of an international effort to save the woman's life.

  • So the Iranian state-run newspaper Kayhan first calls Mrs. Bruni an Italian prostitute; then after an Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry gently chides the newspaper saying calling foreign dignitaries names is inappropriate, the newspaper calls for Mrs. Bruni's death.

  • Kayhan is not doing any favors to either Iran or to Islam when it froths like a mad dog. Of course, seeing as Kayhan is state-run, obviously some factional fight is going on among Iranian elites.

  • The point is, does anyone really care about what are the finer points of internal Iranian arguments? We think not. The enemies of Islam will seize on this incident as just one more in an endless series to show Islam is a savage, cruel, and barbaric religion.

  • And of course, the 90% of Muslims who probably agree that both stoning to death and the name calling are wrong, will not utter a word, further convincing non-Muslims that Islam as a religion is unacceptable.

  • The extremists, who believe that anyone who doesn't agree with them are not true Muslims, will care less what the world thinks. But here is the problem: if you go around shouting anyone who doesn't agree with you should die, and you follow up by taking active steps to kill those who disagree, regardless of if they are Muslims, you end up at a point where the rest of the world decides it has had enough and you must die.

  • So of course the extremists will say it is their honor to die for their cause. History shows that who kill for their cause, and are ready to die for their cause, usually get their wish.

  • Department of Irony Mr. Glenn Beck, a conservative media person, says that President Obama's version of Christianity is not recognized by Americans.

  • We have no idea what kind of Christian is Mr. Obama or if Americans reject that kind. We do know Mr. Beck converted to Mormonism, and many Christians do not accept that Mormons are Christian.

  • A Cheer for the Indian Supreme Court Here is a legal decision that will turn white the hair of American constitutionalists. The Indian Supreme Court told the Government of India that rather than letting food grain stocks rot, the stocks should be distributed to the poor.

  • The Union Food Minister, who is quite a "in your face, b___h" type of politician, said he'd think about the Court's suggestion.

  • The Court told him it wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.

  • We have to admit, that the American side of the Editor definitely feels a bit seasick when he sees the Supreme Court handing down social decisions left and right. After all, India has a free press, a democratically elected government, a constitution, and an elected Parliament. The Supreme Court should hardly proclaim itself the final authority on a matter of socioeconomic policy.

  • But lets reverse the issue. Let's suppose that in America, millions of tons of foodgrains a year the government buys for buffer stocks just rot, or are eaten by rats, or otherwise contaminated. Suppose half of Americans get by on $2/day, and a third suffer from malnutrition. Suppose neither the free press, nor the freely elected government or the freely elected politicians,  care much if the foodgrains are spoiled and that a third of America goes hungry each night while rats eat foodgrain stocks.

  • Lets suppose this has been going on for decades.

  • Would you still say the US Supreme Court should not issue an order saying rather than lets stocks spoil the food should be given to food banks?

  • You see, Americans are rich. We can afford to develop ideologies and stick them them like leeches regardless of the reality. But India, while it has made unbelievable progress in 20 years, is still poor. Those foodgrains in Indian government buffer stocks are paid for by taxpayer money. Because in India excise and sales taxes are universally levied, it doesn't matter how poor you are, if you buy anything for cash you're paying taxes.

  • No one is confiscating the foodgrains from private people to feed the poor. All the Indian supreme Court is saying: "give it away if the best alternative you can come up is letting the foodgrains rot."

  • Case in point: Yesterday in India's parliament some MPs were trying to get answers to why 4-million tons of rice stocks in the buffer have gone bad. of course, no one will be held accountable. India is not America. That's why maybe, just maybe, we have to swallow an activist Supreme Court.

 0230 GMT August 31, 2010

  • Karakoram Highway and Railroad Reader Sparsh Amin and Editor have been discussing the widening of the Karakoram Highway and plans to build a railroad from Kashgar to Havelian, Pakistan, where the line would link to the Pakistan railway network.

  • It seems the highway is to be expanded from 10-meters to 30-meters, which indicates six lanes. Some have expressed doubt about the feasibility of a railway through the Karakorams, which are geologically young and unstable mountains. Others have said that parts of the railway will cost $30-million a kilometer, which might make the venture uneconomical. The planned oil pipeline along this route has been shelved for now and the proposed gas pipeline Iran-Pakistan-China appears to be on hold.

  • Mr. Amin doubts the highway/railway can transport bulk commodities at rates competitive with sea freight. Perhaps China intends to use these routes for containerized cargo, but again, its hard to see how the economics work out even though containerships will take twice the time. One way the routes via Pakistan may make sense is if China is planning large-scale development of its westernmost regions.

  • Perhaps some of our readers know more about this topic?

  • Pakistan floods receding  says BBC and rivers are expected to return to their normal flow in 10-12 days as the monsoon is coming to an end.

  • Aside from the immense problem of resettling 17-million Internally Displaced Persons, crops cannot be planted in time in much of the flood affected area. That's if the farmers have managed to save their seed stocks. Additionally there is another great problem: livestock losses have been heavy so there will be a shortage of milk and motive power.

  • Some estimates are that Pakistan may have to wait till 2012 for a normal harvest. This is going to depress incomes of people who need the money the most as well as cause food shortages.

  • Political Correctness Watch 1 An Israeli is leading the charge to get a US Navy building in San Diego, California, rebuilt because from the air it looks like a swastika. When the architects designed the building 40 years ago, they thought they were making a building with four "L" shaped blocks.

  • http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/focus-u-s-a-the-ongoing-saga-of-the-u-s-navy-swastika-building-1.309169

  • We sincerely hope this gentleman does not ever visit India.

  • Political Correctness Watch 2 The US Department of Justice has challenged a recent Arizona law that requires residents to carry proof they are in the US legally. The reason? US DOJ says the law unfairly targets Hispanics.

  • We agree this law is unfair because the Arizona Government is not targeting the hordes of white, yellow, and black people trying to slip into Arizona from Mexico.

  • Political Correctness Watch 3 In Mexico authorities found a mass grave with the bodies of 72 Central Americans, apparently illegals murdered while on their way to the US. The Government of Mexico has been criticized by some for failing to do enough to protect illegals transiting its territory.

  • Letter from Reader Agneya on the need for infrastructure for India's poor Indeed the poor in need basic infrastructure, but that should start with agriculture.  The land, and especially the water from the Monsoon, in India is inefficiently used.  This is a byproduct of British rule, when such infrastructure was destroyed.  The agricultural output from India is nothing compared to its true potential, and with two-thirds of the country belonging to the agricultural sector, naturally, it needs to be strengthened.  This should start with proper use and storage of water - both river and rain.  India has the potential to dominate the world agriculturally.

0230 GMT August 30, 2010

  • Sinai missile cache consists of SAM-7s says Haaretz of Israel. The Strela has not been manufactured for over 30-years as far as we know, so we're wondering even if these are "new" missiles what good are they. Egyptian police have discovered more arms caches, including one three kilometers from Rafah. The new discoveries include 10 anti-tank mines and two caches of machine guns.

  • Meanwhile, so much for the Egyptian "Iron Wall" Egypt has been trying to stop Gaza tunnel smugglers by creating an underground iron wall. So apparently the smugglers have simply cut through the wall and continue merrily about their business.

  • In case anyone wonders why this sudden new Egyptian love for Israel, the effort to stop arms getting to Gaza has nothing to do with Israel. Egypt is worried that the Islamic Brotherhood will brings the arms into Egypt and use them against the government. Not that Egypt had much concern for the Palestinians, but this concern had led Egypt to cooperate with Israel in the people/material blockade of Gaza. So much for Arab brotherhood, which was a joke from the very start.

  • Russian-built SSN leaves for India The Nerpa, an Akula 3-class boat, is leased for ten years at a cost of $650-million. This is not the first time that India has leased a Russian nuclear submarine. In the 1980s, a Charlie-class boat served with the Indian Navy for a few years. It was to be the first of three, we don't recalled now what happened to the plan. The new boat will have the same name, INS Chakra, as the previous SSN. Unlike the US Navy, which seems to have no regard for its warship naming conventions, the Indian Navy is careful about names, particularly traditional ones.

  • To get details about the travails of India's submarines programs, and their direction, read http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/ You will also learn about the shenanigans that seem to be a perpetual feature of Indian defense production. The case in point is a radar which was supposed to be built indigenously. The government agency in charge simply purchased them overseas, and marked up the price. Yes, there is massive corruption in China too, as much in their defense sector as anywhere else. But at the end of the day the Chinese do not do stupid things like spend 25-years on a competition for 155mm guns, then cancel the whole thing and start rebidding.

  • You can also read about the progress of a proposed contract for 2600 IFVs to replace the Army BMP-2s. This will cost near $11-billion. And you thought India was a poor country. Forty years ago, the cost of raising an entire armored division was $300-million, which will today suffice to buy IFVs for one mechanized infantry battalion (plus reserves). It was only after the 1971 the Government of India finally agreed to a second armored division, to achieve parity with Pakistan which had had two armored divisions for 7 previous years. The reason? Money. Now days $10-billion seems to be a standard large contract for India: for example, the six squadrons of fighter planes to be purchased from abroad, six French submarines, and the IFV deal. The artillery modernization will also run about $10-billion.

  • Now if only India would use some of its new wealth to provide the poor with basic infrastructure, we for one would have no complaints. The other day some genius came up with the finding that the reason India has so many really poor people has nothing to do with money, it has to do with organization. This in turn is blamed on the indifference of the elites. Fancy that. Believe it or not, this has always been the case with India, even when it really was a poor country.

0230 GMT August 29, 2010

  • The solution to the secret Northern Territories tunnels as mentioned in the New York Times (see August 28, 2008 lead article) may lie with uranium.

  • Sanjith Menon sends an article from the website of the Balawaristan National Front, which says it is fighting for independence of the Kashmir Northern Areas, specifically the districts of Chitral (North West Frontier Province), Gilgit, and Baltistan (last two are Northern Areas). The BNF says Balawaristan is occupied by China, Pakistan, and India.

  • The claim China is occupying territory comes from the gifting by Pakistan of 2500-square-miles of the Northern Areas to Pakistan in 1963. The claim India is occupying territory comes because India some territory in the southern parts of the Northern Areas.

  • Sanjith Menon saysThere are unconfirmed reports especially from  the Balwaristan National Front, they suggest that there are high grade Uranium deposits in the region and the Chinese are there to exploit it. Here is the news put on the BNF site on Friday, July 16, 2010:

  • In Choporsan, Gojal, Hunza of Gilgit, 80 Sq Kilo area of mine which is being used in space technology has been given to China by Pakistan. In Shimshal of Hunza near China border (this is the area where 2500 Sq
    Miles area has already been ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963 by violating UNCIP resolution). Pakistani goverment  has given about 1200 sq km (30% total area) leased out for Pakistani forces. On high pasture of Chhalt Nagar a strayed missile has hit Chinese work mining area recently.

  • In Gandai of Yasen, 4000 Blast were done by Chinese Military Engineers in 2008, as result glacier burst and local people climbed up the mountain and kicked them out Chinese. Pakistani forces arrested local people, tortured and put 22 local leaders behind bars.

  • The translation, unfortunately, is bad.

  • The presence of Uranium comes in from the same source.
     http://www.balawaristan.net/index.php/Latest-news/world-urged-to-save-gilgit-baltistan-parwana-in-mumbai.html (Editor's note: we could not get the URL to work.)

  • Egyptians recover 190 SAMs from Sinai says Jerusalem Post. It is assumed the cache was destined for Gaza and was located in a remote area in the middle of the peninsula.

  • Bruce Riedel writes a very peculiar article suggesting that since the US cannot accept an Israeli strike against Iran, US should seek to enhance Israeli security through various measures.

  • One sensible measure mentioned by Mr. Riedel is, of course, already in place, a joint defense against Iranian missiles.

  • But Mr. Riedel goes on to suggest NATO membership for Israel, plus the transfer of nuclear missile submarines.

  • Now, Mr. Riedel has always struck us a sensible sort of fellow, and we cannot even begin to imagine from where he is getting these wild ideas. Israel in NATO? About as likely as Iran in NATO. Transfer nuclear submarines? Beggers the imagination.

  • In Washington, you can never be quite sure why someone says something. Have they gone Looney Tuners? Trial Balloon? Quietly backing an interest group while pretending to be "objective"? Whatever Mr. Riedel's motive, he has certainly managed to confuse us. We're going to have to be extra careful while reading his analyses?

  • http://nationalinterest.org/article/israel-attacks-3907?page=3
     

0230 GMT August 28, 2010

Chinese Troops Are In Pakistan Kashmir

  • Reader Vikhur Akula sends us a New York Times article saying 7,000 to 11,000 Chinese troops look to be taking up permanent residence in Kashmir's Northern Territories, which are under Pakistani control.

  • We need to note that Mr. Selig Harrison, has studied South Asia for decades. He is both a journalist and a scholar, and is careful about what he says. Below are excerpts from the article, which you may access at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/opinion/27iht-edharrison.html?_r=1

  • Islamabad is handing over de facto control of the strategic Gilgit-Baltistan region in the northwest corner of disputed Kashmir to China.
  • The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.
  • China wants a grip on the region to assure unfettered road and rail access to the Gulf through Pakistan. It takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese oil tankers to reach the Gulf. When high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit and Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours.
  • Many of the P.L.A. soldiers entering Gilgit-Baltistan are expected to work on the railroad. Some are extending the Karakoram Highway, built to link China’s Sinkiang Province with Pakistan. Others are working on dams, expressways and other projects.
  • Until recently, the P.L.A. construction crews lived in temporary encampments and went home after completing their assignments. Now they are building big residential enclaves clearly designed for a long-term presence.
  • Media attention has exposed the repression of the insurgency in the Indian-ruled Kashmir Valley. But if reporters could get into the Gilgit-Baltistan region and Azad Kashmir, they would find widespread, brutally-suppressed local movements for democratic rights and regional autonomy.
  • In Gilgit and Baltistan, where Sunni jihadi groups allied with the Pakistan Army have systematically terrorized the local Shiite Muslims. Gilgit and Baltistan are in effect under military rule. Democratic activists there want a legislature and other institutions without restrictions like the ones imposed on Free Kashmir, where the elected legislature controls only 4 out of 56 subjects covered in the state constitution. The rest are under the jurisdiction of a “Kashmir Council” appointed by the president of Pakistan.
  • Mr. Harrison also notes there are 22 tunnels in the Northern Territories that are closed to Pakistanis. The rail route between China and Pakistan will require much tunneling. But if their purpose is purely civil, why can Pakistanis not enter? Further, as far as we know the Pakistanis have only recently signed an agreement for the rail line. So these tunnels must have been built earlier. Are they part of the Karakoram Highway? This would not seem to be the case because Pakistani trucks are the major users of the KKH. So there would be no question of declaring them off-limits.
  • Mr. Harrison's story also explains the fighting between two groups in the Northern Areas Dawn of Karachi reported the other day. The fighting would have had to been between Shias and Sunnis.
  • Letter from Shawn Dudley on should the US assist terror-group charities On reading the bit about Long War Journal's article on relief agencies run by terror groups, I'm reminded by the Jim Jones People's Temple from the 1970s.  Jones was a rarity: a "Christian" Communist (I'm not kidding), who used his church-based organization to gain power and control over people while avoiding scrutiny under 1st Amendment protection. The People's Temple used widespread charity works in the poorest areas of first Indiana and then San Francisco to recruit members into his organization.  Once inside of the "Temple" it was as ruthless of a totalitarian environment as you could imagine: Kim and Mugabe could take lessons from this guy.
  • Ultimately the People's Temple ran afoul of the law after 20+ years and he moved the entire 1,000+ group to Guyana (having failed to find a more suitable location in Brazil).  Even in such splendid isolation the US government was still in slow pursuit and following an investigative tour of his commune by a Bay Area congressman Jones ordered the man killed along with reporters and defectors. He then proceeded to slaughter the whole of his congregation to avoid having them be captured (liberated) by the Marines.
  • The point of this story is two-fold: one is that use of charity by totalitarian groups to recruit members is nothing new: the Communists have done it all over, as has Hamas and Hezbollah. This is a strong tactic to prey on the most vulnerable in society. The second point is that, upon taking the aid, the recipients were basically sentenced to death by their "benefactors" as they were used in unspeakable machinations by their betters in the organization.
  • Bringing this back to the question of "do we cooperate with any aid givers in the light of such disaster," the answer is clearly no.  It matters not that they have bread in their hand in front: the hand in back is holding chains and that is surely not to the benefit of those caught in the web.  Terror is terror, and Slavery is slavery. We should tolerate neither, and those who bring such pain on others should not be allowed to further proliferate no matter the circumstances.
  • Letter from Richard Dickhaus on US assistance to Pakistan terror-group charities My thoughts are simple and I do appreciate subject is complex.Sometimes I wonder if our goal is to win.
  • We should be there to win, if we choose to engage with enemy then they remain our enemy until we are no longer engaged.
  • No time out or halftime show. George Washington may have changed history by not recognizing a holiday break. Why do we refuse to do the same thing now?
  • It is bad enough that our tax money is being misused or stolen by our own incompetent or corrupt people but to think it is being used by our enemy is even worse.
  • Editor's note The director of USAID has denied that the charity he visited is terror-related. Nonetheless, Mr. Bill Roggio of Longwarjournal showed in detail how the chairty is just a front for the particular terror group. Media says the USAID director had to leave the camp in some haste after his bodyguard told him they apprehended a threat from some of the people among the crowd that the director was addressing.
  • Sparsh Amin on Selig Harrison's article Mr. Amin writes that China cannot substitute a Pakistan-China rail and road link for cargo ships because of the economics of rail and road traffic compared to sea traffic. He also wonders how high-speed these links will be because the Karakorams are a formidable obstacle to any construction of a high-speed line.
  • We did a few calculations and came up with a back-of-envelope figure of 10,000-tons a day for the Pakistan-Kashgar railroad, which will be broad gauge. There are all sorts of qualifications to this figure, obviously but it is not unreasonable. This indicates high-value cargo will go through the Karakorams rather than bulk.
  • It also appears that the Chinese have backed out of the Pakistan-China oil pipeline, and postponed the Pakistan-China gas pipeline in favor one going from Burma to China.
  • 848-tons of blasting explosives missing in India Reader Sanjith Menon tells us 164 trucks carrying 848-tons of explosives have gone missing in India between a production factory in Rajasthan and a private dealer in Madhya Pradesh. The shipment includes several hundred thousand detonators.
  • BBC quotes Indian sources to say that likely the explosives have gone to illegal mining outfits, but there is concern that Naxal Communist rebels may have obtained explosives. The police have arrested two men and are looking for five others, so presumably they know what they are talking about.
  • We know that our western readers will be reading this with dropped jaws: how can one hundred and sixty four trucks just go missing to begin with, leave alone that many carrying explosives.
  • We'd like to be able to explain this to our readers. But it would take too much time. You have to take it on faith that no one in India will think this is at all a strange occurrence. India is a fabulous land in many different ways. and this casualness is just one of them.

 

 

0230 GMT August 27, 2010

Bill Roggio of Longwarjournal presents a moral dilemma. He notes that the head of USAID visited a a Pakistan flood relief camp run by a terror group to deliver two truckloads of supplies and to commend the group for its efforts. US Government has denied that the visit was to to a terror group, but Mr. Roggio explains that though the group is operating another name, it is very much a proscribed terror group. The moral dilemma is: should the US place priority on helping Pakistanis by working with any credible relief group, or should it place priority on the GWOT? The group in question has strong ties to Al Qaeda and Pakistan ISI. What are your thoughts, readers? http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/usaid_leader_in_paki.php

  • Kashmir gets 11 times its share of Central assistance says the Indian daily The Hindu, quoting an opposition parliamentary leader. The parliamentarian says that Kashmir has 1% of India's population but gets 11% of Central money given to the states.

  • Editor was disturbed to learn this. Why is the Government of India trying to bribe Kashmiri Muslims, particularly when they are taking the money with one hand and rejecting India with the other?

  • Either Muslim Kashmiris are part of India or they are not. The Government of India says, and we accepted, that they are part of India. That being the case, they need to be treated just as are other Indians. No special status, no autonomy, no toleration of people calling for secession.

  • For decades Muslim Kashmiris have made a fool out of the central government. We can hardly blame them for so doing when the central government just keeps begging to be kicked in its large, fat rear. Separatist Muslim Kashmiris are not evil: they are simply taking advantage of a center that is constantly bent on appeasing them. if GOI keeps assuring them they are special, why shouldn't they think  are special.

  • Readers know we are hardly supporters of the Israeli Army. It is nowhere near as good as it thinks, and its complete indifference to the fate of civilians during its actions is reprehensible.

  • At the same time, we feel the current controversy over pictures taken by soldiers including a woman, showing them with Palestinian prisoners, is way overblown. The soldiers are not mistreating the prisoners, nor is there any allegation they did so. Yes, Geneva frowns on parading prisoners for the media. But the men in question are not military prisoners in any sense. Moreover, the upper half of their faces are covered, so you cannot make out who they are.

  • It is PC-ism run amok to put those soldiers on trial. we would like the Israeli Army to show some perspective and spend its energy on better training rather than on punishing soldiers who are guilty of no more than youthful hijinks.

  • http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=186141

  • Letter from Hale Cullom on why Taliban are fighting even though they know US is leaving.

  • In answer to your question about why the Taliban isn't just laying back and waiting for the US to leave, I would suggest that local leaders are looking ahead to the struggle after the US departure. It stands to reason that Afghanistan will be in a much less nailed down condition than Iraq, and that there will be a good deal of fighting between factions once the US leaves. Experience in actual operations against US troops will certainly be valuable for the survivors. 
  • Also, it follows that local Taliban commanders and those of other factions want to be able to claim glory for forcing the infidels out -- inflecting casualties (or claims of inflicting casualties) on US forces probably helps local reputations. We know the US will probably leave anyway, but credulous locals may buy the argument that the Taliban drove them out.
  • Increasing attacks and activities also allows those who have blotted their copybooks by collaborating with the US or its Kabul friends a shot at redeeming themselves and their families by joining the struggle (who will be the highest ranking Pham Van Dinh in this war?). They might get killed off, but it might help their families work their passage to some kind of safety in a post-US Afghanistan.
  • The US departure from Afghanistan was always certain, at some point. But proclaiming it, and the date, in advance was just plain stupid.
  • On Gini constants from Prof. Feisal Khan It is meaningless to talk about Gini Coefficients (presumably for income and not wealth) in China without looking at whether the coefficient given is (i) before taxes, (ii) after taxes or (iii) before taxes and transfer payments (both cash and in-kind.  You can also get really fancy and try to work out the market value of subsidies (if any) and factor that in (unless that is already done in counting transfers).
  • If you do this kind of breakdown, the data for the US, for example, looks very different ‘before’ and ‘after.’
  • There is an excellent post on this at http://blog.sustainablemiddleclass.com/?page_id=162.  Scroll down and look at the second post, the one from Craig Shelton.
  • Editor's note Professor Khan teaches economics at Hobart College. We have no idea how the Chinese Gini Coefficient was calculated, but it's from official sources that are expressing concern about China's income disparity. In the article Prof. Khan cites, the US Gini Coefficient is computed at 34.

     

     

    0230 GMT August 26, 2010

  • Why is the Taliban attacking now that it knows US is preparing to leave starting mid-2011? This is one of the mysteries of the day. A number of people, including most recently the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, believe they are attacking because the US has set a withdrawal date. But this makes little sense. The reason insurgent groups like the Mahadi Army stopped attacking US forces in Iraq was (a) they were getting massacred each time they attacked; (b) it occurred to them that since the US was going to leave - this is before a withdrawal date was announced - there was no sense in sacrificing lives and dissipating strength.

  • In Afghanistan, the (a) above also applies. Whenever US/NATO troops are involved, the Taliban suffer heavily. So why aren't they following (b), especially since the US has set a withdrawal date?

  • Thoughts, readers?

  • Trouble in Pakistan Kashmir Normally if Kashmir is in the news its usually Indian Kashmir. The Pakistanis keep their part of Kashmir under very tight control. So we were surprised to learn from Dawn of Pakistan that two groups - unidentified, by the way - have been having at each other in Gilgit, the capital of the Northern Territories of Kashmir, plus in three other towns, plus at other places. In Gilgit, Dawn says, 70,000 bullets were fired in the fighting which left four dead.

  • Authorities have called in the paramilitary Northern Area Scouts and the Punjab Rangers, and issued shoot-in-sight orders.

  • This shoot-in-sight business is quite interesting. Human Rights groups would have a heart attack if they understood what it entails. One version of shoot-on-sight is any armed person not in a uniform gets killed without warning. The other version is that anyone violating curfew, armed or not, gets shot without warning.

  • Terrible, isn't it? Not really. People in the Indian subcontinent are peculiar in that most of the time they are "live and let live". Everyone gets along, regardless of ethnicity or caste or religion. But if trouble starts, sub continental people simply go berserk, and violence escalates so rapidly that the police simply cannot handle it. That's when shoot on sight comes in. It is the fastest and most efficacious way of stopping the violence. It is by far the best way to minimize loss of life.

  • In the terrible anti-Sikh riots that broke out in Delhi after the 1984 murder of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, by her Sikh bodyguards, the death toll quickly went past 3000. Then the Army was called in, with shoot on sight orders. Within hours the violence finished. It is not known if the army actually shot anyone - these statistics are never given out. But Editor was in Delhi at the time and for some years later. He never heard anyone speak of army firing. People know when the army enters, that's it. You either stop rioting, looting, and murdering, or you will be killed.

  • We've mentioned this early in the context of the US occupation of Germany. Contrary to what most people think, the German surrender did not mean insurgent bands were not attacking US forces. But a shoot-to-kill if armed order was issued. Brutal as the order was, and sad as it was that many teenaged boys drafted into the insurgent bands were shot down, it ended the violence quickly. Editor recalls reading a letter to the editor in the Washington Post, where a lady tells of her father who was responsible for the German police in a big area. He was the only American in sight. He did not need to travel in armed convoy to get from home to work and vice-versa. He did what he had to do, armed at best with a pistol.

  • Now lets scan Iraq. Iraq was occupied by the US. Any killing, whether of civilians or insurgents, was investigated as if it was a murder case back home. Sure, a lot of soldiers got away with their "crimes". But when you get a situation when the rules-of-engagement said you were not to shoot a fleeing insurgent - even if armed and wanted, then you've pretty much lost control. And that means the Human Rights people are somewhat mollified, but everyone suffers much more.

0230 GMT August 25, 2010

  • US, ROK preparing military contingencies for Korean reunification Reader Luxembourg sends an article from Breitbart.com, an online news aggregator, that says the purpose of the current US-ROK military exercises is to examine military responses to several contingencies ending in reunficiation. One envisages a counteroffensive if DPRK attacks, stopping at the Chongchon River 80-km north of Pyongyang. Breitbart quotes ROK's Yonhap which also says the purpose of the current "stabilization" exercise is reunification.

  • The website is run by Andrew Brietbart, who helped Arianna Huffington set up her website, and who writes for the conservative Washington Times. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.60d0175d237b195337baaf43871770ad.491&show_article=1

  • Meanwhile, ROK MinDef reports the presence of a large number of reinforcement troops near Pyongang. It is speculated they are present for the October 10th party meeting which is expected to name Kim Il Jong's youngest son as his successor.

  • Hezbollah-Sunni clash in downtown Beirut kills two, says Jerusalem Post, including a Hezbollah district commander. The Lebanese Army has taken up position in the area, but JPost says firing is still going on. The two involved groups are known to periodically clash with other. Hezbollah is Shiite.

  • China's Parliament seeks to act against income inequality says Xinhua of China. Inequality is measured using the Gini coefficient: 0 indicates perfect equality, 1 indicates maximum inequality. Sweden has a Gini coefficient of 0.23.

  • In China, the coefficient has shot up to 0.47, which is considered dangerous as the maximum coefficient before social instability sets in is said to be 0.4. But 30-years ago, when China began its economic revolution, the coefficient was 0.21 to 0.27.

  • The US Gini coefficient in 2000 was 45, and should be closing in on 48. By 2045 according to the US Labor Bureau, the coefficient is expected to hit 0.55, which is where Mexico is at currently. We tried to get a URL for the original study, but the URL has been moved so we are quoting http://www.sustainablemiddleclass.com/Gini-Coefficient.html

  • Al-Shabab kills 30 in a suicide attack in Mogadishu's small safe zone. The dead included six members of parliament taken hostage and then murdered, and five soldiers.

  • Meanwhile, additional troops from Uganda have arrived to reinforce the under strength African Union peacekeeping force which controls a few blocks of Mogadishu. We estimate the arrivals as the advance party of one infantry battalion.

  • All creatures great and small wrote Cecil Alexander in his hymn "All things bright and beautiful" (1848). Now we have to thank some very small creatures for gobbling up oil from the Gulf Of Mexico Macondo well. Apparently these microbes, a new species, love the light, sweet crude from Macondo, and have been pigging out, without depleting oxygen.

  • There is now dispute on the underwater oil. Some are saying it is still around. Others, mainly the US Government, is saying not. A NOAA research ship is in the Gulf to check on the underwater oil. So far it has not detected anything significant.

  • Odd facts about the Gulf  before man started drilling for oil, the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez spill was occurring from natural seepage. And Business Week says that even before the recent spill, the Gulf was in catastrophic shape due to fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi River.

  • Stranger than fiction A bizarre story from France. A mother's brother dies. She calls her son to persuade him to attend the uncle's funeral. Son refuses. Mother and son quarrel. Mother goes to her brother's funeral. As the party is leaving, someone discovers a marker in the poor persons' part of the cemetery. The marker has the name of the son.

  • Apparently at some point after the argument the son died without proper identification so his mother had no idea he was dead.

0230 GMT August 24, 2010

  • US General says he will step up training for Afghan security forces He plans to recruit and train 140,000 soldiers and police in the next 15-months, aiming to offset a 50% attrition rate. In the police, the attrition rate (which here means desertions) has fallen from 70% to 47%. Is this progress? We don't think so, because once Afghan forces have to take the lead, the desertions are going to zoom up. Incidentally, the Taliban are particularly fond of targeting the police with the enthusiastic support of the locals, who correctly look on Afghan police as a plague.

  • We don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but no fighting force can be built when 50% of its recruits drop out or desert. If one of two Afghans who enlists decides he's made a mistake - and this is after the US has been training people for 7-8 years, its time to face the obvious: Afghans do not want to fight for their country.

  • Caracas has a murder rate of 200 per 100,000 says New York Times, compared to 23 in Bogota and 14 in Rio. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html?pagewanted=2&ref=general&src=me

  • In the US, among cities with more than 1-million population, Chicago is highest at 18 and New York is 6. Among cities larger than 250,000 people, New Orleans is highest at 68. This is almost twice the rates for Baltimore, Detroit, and Washington DC, which are hardly models of communal harmony and calm.

  • Chinese set another record This time for the biggest traffic jam ever. Reuters says a 100-km jam on a highway leading into Beijing lasted 9-days.

  • Last year China became the world's largest producer of automobiles.

  • Letter from reader Ravikiran re. Kashmir “Kashmiris wish to emphasize that their land is not a real estate which can be parceled out between two disputants but the home of a nation with a history far more compact and coherent than India’s and far longer than Pakistan’s.” This quote is from the article you carried yesterday.

  • Every person occupying any  piece of land can say that. Please ask them how the name Kashmir came along. Why not encourage the so called self determination in other parts of the world. Kashmir is already free i.e., it is part of India which is free and hence it is free. It is India. Asserting that Kashmir has a history far longer than India … please ask the gentleman to read history again.

  • All princely states on the planned borders of India had to accede either to India or to Pakistan. The decision was solely that of the ruler. The Maharaja of Kashmir acceded to India and that is all there is to it.

0230 GMT August 23, 2010

  • Top "Caucuses Emirate" leader killed Longwarjournal reports that in the same Dagestan clash that saw the death of the March 2010 Moscow metro bombings, the leader of the "Caucuses Emirate", a much more senior figure, was also killed. The emirate is allied with AQ

  • Good for the Russians. Being an old Cold War type Editor is not comfortable with Russia, but when it comes to Islamic fundamentalism, the more leaders are killed the better, and we're not finicky about who does the job.  Sure, they will be replaced. The solution is not to leave them alone, but to kill them faster than they can be replaced.

  • http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/russians_kill_top_ca.php

  • Pakistan accepts Indian flood aid Critics said this was done after US pressure. Demmed busy, these Americans, what? Not content to be behind everything that happens in the world, they still find time to pressure Pakistan to accept Indian aid. Of course, the Americans have been unable to pressure Pakistan to get rid of the Taliban, but there so omnipotent we're sure the alleged "failure" is part of a sinister plot.

  • Another person accusing the US of dirty tricks is the Wikileaks founder. We noted yesterday that two women visited a Swedish police station alleging rape by the gentleman, but they did not file a formal complaint. The on-duty prosecutor nonetheless issued an arrest warrant, which a higher prosecutor cancelled after, she said, she received additional information.

  • So there you have it: the Wikileaks person thinks the Pentagon might be behind the false accusation. The gent travels secretly, so not only did the Pentagon figure the gent was in Sweden, it arranged for two women to entrap the poor gent.

  • "I don't know who's behind this but we have been warned that for example the Pentagon plans to use dirty tricks to spoil things for us", said the gent to a Swedish media source."I have also been warned about sex traps," he added. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11053329) 

  • But clearly the Pentagon was incompetent because the two women refused to file a charge. So there you also have it: why do people get agitated about US plots? Clearly none of them work.

Kashmir: A Moderate's Viewpoint

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai

  • Editor's note Editor's position on Kashmir and Pakistan is well known. At the same time, this is not a propaganda blog even though we have definite positions we take. We are obliged to put across different viewpoints.

  • Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India’s assertion that "Kashmir is an integral part of India” needs to be supplemented by some observations from the viewpoint of the people of Kashmir. This deserves to be borne in mind by all those who wish the conflict to be justly resolved once and for all.
    When the Kashmir dispute erupted in 1947-1948, the United States took the stand that the future status of Kashmir must be ascertained in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of the people of the territory.

  • The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on 21 April 1948 which was based on that unchallenged principle. So the idea that ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India’ is in contravention to India’s international obligations. Any such suggestion is an insult to the intelligence of the people of Kashmir. The people revolted against the status quo and status quo cannot be an answer?

  • Also, Kashmiris wish to emphasize that their land is not a real estate which can be parceled out between two disputants but the home of a nation with a history far more compact and coherent than India’s and far longer than Pakistan’s. No settlement of their status will hold unless it is explicitly based on the principles of self-determination and erases the so-called line of control, which is in reality the line of conflict.

  • Secondly, under all international agreements, agreed by both India and Pakistan, negotiated by the United Nations and endorsed by the Security Council, Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the United Nations. So, if Kashmir does not belong to any member state of the United Nations, then the claim that ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India’ does not stand. And if ‘Kashmir is not an integral part of India’ then Kashmiris cannot be called separatist or secessionist. Because Kashmir cannot secede from a country – like India – to which it has never acceded to in the first place.

  • My opinion is confirmed by a poll conducted jointly by major news outlets on Aug 12, 2007: CNN-IBN and Hindustan Times in India and Dawn and News in Pakistan. A majority of those polled in Kashmir Valley (87% to be precise) preferred freedom (Azadi). The Azadi means the rejection of the idea that ‘Kashmir is an integral part of India.’

  • However, there is but one fair, just, legal, and moral solution to Kashmir which was provided by the United Nations. The procedures contemplated at early stage of the dispute at the United Nations for its solution may be varied in the light of changed circumstances but its underlying principle must be scrupulously observed if justice and rationality are not be thrown overboard. The setting aside of the UN resolution is one thing; the discarding of the principle they embodies is altogether another. So the settlement has to be in accordance with the wishes of the people; impartially ascertained; in conditions of freedom from intimidation.

  • Kashmiris are open to a constitutional dispensation that answers all of India's legitimate national security and human rights concerns. With regard to the former, they are willing to explore permanent neutrality for Kashmir along the model of the 1955 Austrian State Treaty and a renunciation of war or the threat of force in international affairs along the model of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. They are willing to consider abandoning a military force like Costa Rica, Haiti, and Panama. Moreover, they hold no objection to providing community quotas in government offices along the lines of the 1960 Constitution for the Republic of Cyprus to safeguard against invidious discrimination of any religious or ethnic group, i.e., Pandit, Buddhist, Sikh, and Muslim alike.

  • With good faith by all parties common ground leading to a final settlement of the Kashmir tragedy can be discovered.
    And an appointment of a special envoy by the United Nations or by President Obama, like Bishop Desmond Tutu will hasten the way of peace and prosperity in the region of South Asia.

0230 GMT August 22, 2010

  • Al-Shabab's Multi-National Force Dawn of Karachi says 11 insurgents in Somalia were killed when a bomb they were preparing exploded. The dead included: three Pakistanis, two Indians, one Afghani, one Algerian, and two Somalis. To us the arrival of Indians is highly inauspicious. We will attempt to contact Mandeep Sign Bajwa for more information on the implications.

  • Russians say they have killed the organizer of the March metro attacks The attacks killed 40 people in Moscow earlier this year. The organizer died with four other rebels in a clash with security forces in Dagestan. The gentleman's wife was one of the suicide bombers that hit the Metro. Which leaves us wondering what kind of husband sends off his wife to blow herself up while keeping his own hide intact.

  • Wikileaks leader rape arrest warrant withdrawn The Australian gentleman is visiting Sweden, where he feels safer than other places, apparently. Two women went to complain about rape and molestation but did not register a formal complaint. The prosecutor decided to register a charge anyway because of the seriousness of the allegation and the possibility evidence may be compromised. A higher prosecutor overruled the warrant. The molestation investigation is still on. In Sweden, we learn, molestation (presumably of a major) is not a jail offence.

  • He is now preparing to release 15,000 more documents which earlier he held back for concern that the names contained within might put lives at risk.

  • Aside from blowing wind - the stinky kind - the US Government seems to be doing nothing to get the gentleman in its custody. So we are guessing that despite all the weeping and wailing from the US Government at the time of the leaks, the matter is not particularly serious.

  • The problem, however, remains. Breaking US law is breaking US law. If the US Government decides it is going to apply the law selectively, then it isn't much a of a government.

  • From Walter Wallis: Korea 60 years ago the 6th of August I landed, with the 23rd Infantry, in Pusan. So today the 23rd, called Stryker under the new, incomprehensible to me order, departs Iraq. I guess parts of the 23rd are still in Korea so the old badge is still at battle risk. My nephew is commanding a QM outfit out in the desert somewhere, and he says they still attract hostile attention.  Since last we corresponded four years ago, my grandson, a mud Marine, spent 2 tours in Fallujah.

  • Editor's note In one of Mr. Wallis's letters, he recalls the fur-lined boots worn by the ground observer for the air force attached to his unit. Mr. Wallis was frozen so cold he kept thinking if the observer got killed, he could grab his boots. A very small incident, but it shows the reality of war.

  • US divisional organization In Mr. Wallis's day, three regiments made up a division. That was a simple system, but US Army deemed it inflexible for the demands of modern warfare. So it shifted to the Pentomic Division (PENTANA, 1955) , but before anyone got used to that it shifted to MOMAR (1959), another failed concept, and then came ROAD (1960s). That was followed by a modification called AIM (1970s) , followed by Division-86 in the 1980s. That was followed by the Army of Excellence, itself followed by Army XXI, and followed by the current organization. So it 55 years, the US Army went through seven changes in division structure.

  • If from this you get the feeling the US Army is clueless on its division structure, you may be justified.

  • Meantime the USMC still has it basic World War 2 division structure.

0230 GMT August 21, 2010

  • Yemen fighting Eleven soldiers have been killed fighting rebels in a South Yemen city. Some say the rebels are allied to AQ; others say that they are with a separatist southern group.

  • Americans should take heart: we in India have media idiots too The Press Trust of India, a news agency, has a story saying even after a triple increase in pay, Indian members of parliament are still paid 13 times less than US Congresspersons.

  • To begin with this a big fat lie because the Indian count is for salaries only, not for perks and allowances. . PTI acknowledges as much, but that does not excuse the story because, as Times of India estimates, an Indian MP gets nine times her/his salary in perks and allowances. (We've taken accommodation provided to MPs at market rates rather than Times of India's assumption of half market rate). Yes, Congresspersons also do get some perks and allowances. But are these nine times their salaries?

  • More to the point, India's per capita income is ~$1500+ (more on this estimate tomorrow), the US's is over $40,000. We rest our case.

  • http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-hike-Indian-MP-gets-13-times-less-pay-than-US-lawmaker/articleshow/6382006.cms

  • China cuts export quota of rare earths says Japan Asahi Shimbun. The 2009 quota was 50,000-tons, it will now be 30,000-tons. According to the paper, China produces 97% of the world's rare earths, India 2%, and Brazil 0.5%. We are not sure these figures are correct, we'll check. Rare earths are a group of 17 elements which are used mainly in production of alloys, such as batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.

  • The Chinese, with a completely straight face, say the reduction is because of "environmental" reasons. The real reason is, of course, by limiting exports China gives its domestic users of rare earths a significant advantage.

  • Personally, we find it difficult to blame China for its openly monopolistic behavior. The world, after all, tolerates the oil cartel, which has caused untold loss to poor countries. So why should anyone get upset if China plays with the price of rare earths?

  • Russian fires burning out says ITAR-TASS, thanks to rainfall. The emergency in three regions including Moscow has been lifted. Some 8500-square-kilometers has been burned.

  • Piper Bill dies at age 88 We are sorry to report that Bill Millin, piper to the British commando leader Lord Lovatt, has died. The fictional adventures of Lord Lovatt and Piper Bill have been featured in orbat.com from time to time.

  • Read how Bill came ashore at Normandy on June 6, 1944 inhttp://www.france24.com/en/20100820-normandy-town-mourns-d-day-piper-death-bill-millin-france-uk-world-war

 

 

0230 GMT August 20, 2010

  • Nine US combat brigades still in Iraq A day after we reported that the last US combat brigade has left Iraq, we learn seven ground combat and two aviation combat brigades still remain in Iraq. DefenseNews says these brigades are named "Advise and Assist Brigades". 3rd Infantry Division has four brigades still in Iraq, 1st Armored Division has two, and 4th Infantry Division has one. There are also two National Guard Brigades.

  • We'd like to ask a question: what is about the US Government that it cannot, just cannot, tell the truth? You can call a dog a cat, but that doesn't change the dog into a cat. saying, "oh, these brigades are here just to train the Iraqis and provide security, they're not for combat" is calling a dog a cat. And saying "oh, the only way they'll be involved in combat is at the request of the Iraqis" doesn't change anything either. And saying "See, most of the support troops needed to sustain these brigades in combat have gone, so it's not a real combat capability" also doesn't change anything either.

  • www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4750200&c=AME&s=LAN

  • Least readers think we are overstating the case, DefenseNews says the Army deliberately chose to build its "Advise and Assist" and "Security" brigades on regular combat brigades because "the brigade(s) can shift the bulk of its operational focus from security force assistance to combat operations if necessary."

  • Because President Obama is, well, the President, he and only he is responsible for this legal legerdemain. Where most Americans come from, what the President is doing is called lying. This is obviously far too sophisticated a concept for a Harvard graduate to grasp. First we had a Yale graduate who famously said "Depends what the definition of "is" is." Then we had a Yale+Harvard graduate who got us into a war by telling us lies. Now we have another Harvard graduate who said he would get us out of these foreign wars, only to expand one and to lie about the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq.

  • Do you see a pattern here, people?

  • Of the Supreme Court justices, four are from Harvard, three are from Yale, one started at Harvard but graduated from Columbia. There is only one "normal" Supreme. And incidentally he appears to be the only Supreme from west of the Mississippi. we are not saying Supremes lie. We are saying that first you have a presidency that thinks lying is okay, then you have a Supreme Court that nowhere near represents America, and last, you have a Congress that is - that is - gwarsh, we cant find any descriptive adjective that is acceptable in a family blog.

  • Now, your Editor is not quite ready to relocate to Idaho and build a bunker. For one thing there's the slight matter of skin color. The Editor can pass for Sicilian or Greek, but definitely not for a Fraternal Member of the Bunker Society.

  • At the same time, Editor is starting to think: maybe, just maybe those Americans who are displeased with Washington are not all mindless bigots. Maybe they have good reason to fear Washington, aka the Federal Government.

  • Dr. Laura and the N-Word The (in)famous (depending on your point of view) TV advice giver Dr. Laura asked a rhetorical question on her show: Why is it wrong for non-blacks to use the word "nigger" when blacks use it all the time between themselves, often affectionately?

  • Now, Editor is willing to concede that perhaps he has a different point of view on African Americans, having worked 14 years in jobs where African-Americans were either 70% or 99% of the people around. But if Dr. Laura cannot under why outsiders cannot use the word "nigger" while blacks can use it, it shows she has a very, very serious problem.

  • At his last school, Editor was an honorary member of a local gang who called themselves the Swamp Niggers. Fortunately, his main duty as a gang-member was when asked "Where are the Swamp Niggers?" to respond "You're looking at one." That would crack everyone up - and incidentally appall the Hispanic students.

  • It was also perfectly okay to reply, when a black student said: "Mr. Ravi, don't bother with him, he's just one dumb nigger" to say "No problem, I'm one too."

  • But under no conditions, and Editor means no ifs-and-buts, just under no conditions could he call anyone a nigger, not even members of his gang.

  • Now, however hurtful was Dr. Laura's saying "nigger" to make her point, she should not have been fired for that.  Dr. Laura was asking a valid question. But in doing so she showed she is not a particularly intelligent person. How can you live in America and not know the answer? 

0230 GMT August 19, 2010

  • Last US combat brigade leaves Iraq 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division has left Iraq. 50,000 troops remain to support the Iraq forces and will leave next year.

  • Meanwhile, a US State Department spokesperson says the "US had a trillion dollar investment to protect in the country and also wanted to see a significant return on the 4,415 troops who have lost their lives in the conflict." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11020270 So it will pay close attention to Iraq; it is not abandoning the country.

  •  That the US "invested" in Iraq will come as a big surprise to Americans. Was any cost-benefit analysis done before making the investment? Was there a business plan? A 10% return on equity is not unreasonable - its nothing exciting, but okay. So US should be getting $100-billion a year from its investment in Iraq.

  • Does the State Department have a plan it can perhaps share with the public as to how the US is to earn $100-billion from Iraq?

  • See, here the Editor is tottering along peacefully, sunk in existentialist angst about not having a date for Saturday - again - and why is it so hard for a highly qualified to get a job (no luck in six months of trying, though he has been unemployed only for two), and then along comes a man who is paid a salary the Editor can only drool about by the taxpayer, who has to ruin the Editor's day with moronic statements

  • Aside from the sheer absurdity of the statement, just think what a fine day anti-American conspiracy-theorists will have with the spokesperson's statement. "Aha! we told you the Americans went in for the oil!" Useless to point out that so far no American company has a major contract in Iraq: everything has gone to non-US firms.

  • Useless also to point out that if American firms get Iraqi oil contracts, the firms will have to invest in Iraq. So the returns will go to them, not to the US Government which has spent the trillion or to the taxpayers, who gave that trillion to the US Government.

  • US government will gain taxes on that money, true. But let's suppose that American oil companies do eventually get major contracts, and lets suppose they get paid $10/barrel as royalties. Lets suppose half is profit, so the US Government gets $1.33 per barrel as tax. Now, since a 10% return on the $1-trillion is reasonable, US companies would have to produce 206-million-barrels/day in Iraq to give a half-way decent return. That is ten times as much oil as the US consumes, and more than twice the total oil daily produced in the world. US companies would have to produce 75-billion barrels of oil a year in Iraq.

  • Lets assume by some miracle such production rates could actually be practical. Even if we say, okay, most of Iraq is unexplored and it may have 300-billion-barrels of oil, in four years there will be no oil left in the country. Iraq wont care, because it'll have a a few trillion dollars in the bank and can live off the interest. But the US Government will get nothing after four years.

  • So far we haven't talked about the interest the US has foregone on its investment in the last seven years.

  • Enough - we're sure readers get the point and there is no need for the Editor to get carried away more than he is already carried away. It doesn't seem fair that this State Department feller gets to pay his bills while mouthing inanities, while the Editor plods along looking for a job.

0230 GMT August 18, 2010

  • Great Leader may hand over rule next month That's the speculation since the first party congress in 30-years has been called for September. The successor is likely to be the GL Mini Me, his youngest son who is about 27.

  • Meanwhile, ROK president calls for starting a fund that will pay for reunification. At least someone is thinking ahead to the inevitable.

  • Also meanwhile, defensenews. com has a picture of DPRK's new MBT, believed based on the T-62. The tank is named "Pokpung-Ho". We are not making this up. In Korean it means "storm". We are certain the tank will get through the US 2nd Division in ROK. The troops will be shouting "Pokpung-Ho!" and laughing so loudly the tanks will roll over the division. Very devious strategy.

  • http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=4748528&c=ASI&s=TOP

  • Pakistan flooding now affects 20-million, or one person in nine. Compare to: US with 35-million flood-affected. Thousands of Pakistani towns and villages have disappeared: swept away or submerged.

  • Because the international community is not stepping up, the World Bank is reprogramming $900-million earmarked for Pakistani development projects to flood relief. Glad that World Bank is showing sense for a change.

  • Our least favorite dictator gets a new lease on life Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe was allowed a one-time exemption to sell diamonds. No one is sure at this point how much was the revenue, might be between $100-million and $1.5-billion. Either way, Mr. Mugabe has gotten his grubby paws on a bunch of foreign exchange.

  • Zimbabwe was locked out of the Kimberly process because among other things workers toiling to recover diamonds were being treated like slaves: children being forced to work 11-hours a day, women raped, death threats, all the gentlemanly behavior one associates with Mr. Scumbag.

  • So why was an exception granted? In the "hope" that things would improve for labor. Mr. Mugabe's government "promised" labor abuses would be ended.

  • http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/diamond-auction-brings-zimbabwe-16312bn-pay-day-2050135.html

0230 GMT August 17, 2010

  • Longwarjournal challenges US government on AQ numbers in Afghanistan Some time back the CIA director said there were only 50-100 Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Longwarjournal says that using official news releases it seems AQ is operating in 48 districts in 17 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. For US readers, province=state and district=county.

  • Not only is AQ or affiliates providing training and money for Afghanistan Taliban, in at least two cases, including one a few days back, Coalition has killed "dual-hat" commanders. These gentleman work for both the Taliban and AQ.

  • This melding of AQ and Taliban is not something anyone needs, least of all the US. Worse, if the US government is spinning facts so blatantly, whatever credibility it has will be destroyed.

  • Iran official heading UAV program assassinated, says Debka Reader Vikhir Akula sends a Debka story saying the engineer heading Iran's UAV program was killed by a massive blast that brought down his house in an exclusive residential district of Ahwaz. The Iran government said it was an exploding cooking gas cylinder - these do tend to occasionally blow up in less safety-conscious cultures. But Debka says three bombs were planted in the corners of the building by someone who managed to get access to his protected house.

  • http://www.debka.com/article/8971/
  • Here is a link to a thoughtful Atlantic article also forwarded by Vikhr. The article says decision time on Iran's N-program is fast approaching, and it analyses the principal actors, courses of action, and outcomes.
  • Pakistan calamity: Indian Government does something sensible India has offered even more aid than the $5-million initial sum to Pakistan. Moreover, it has said it is willing to channel the aid through the UN, and even offered India as a staging base for the UN.
  • This puts the ball squarely in Pakistan's court. Pakistan has yet to reply to the original offer, which we thought was  insultingly small.
  • We were going to finish up our rant on Kashmir by explaining that everytime some Kashmiri factions are unsatisfied with the state government, instead of political action they resort to violence, blame India, and scream "independence."  Here is an article which explains better, though it is a lot more sympathetic to the Kashmiri agitators than we are. We dispute they are as wronged and as innocent as the writer makes out, but the article will explain a great deal of what the current trouble is about.
  • http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Multiple-Mutinies-Now/articleshow/6316002.cms

0230 GMT August 16, 2010

No news today. Here's three articles of interest

 

GMT August 15, 2010

  • Civilian losses in Afghanistan: Lose-Lose for Coalition It was another rare day for the Washington Post, because it had an article on the GWOT that actually made sense. On Saturday the Post explained that whether the civilian casualties are caused by the Coalition or by the Taliban, Afghanis blame the Coalition in both cases.

  • The reasoning is two fold. First, the Afghanis blame the Coalition for drawing Taliban fire on them and making them the victims of Taliban retaliation for Coalition activity. Does this make any sense, to blame the person who is helping you, in effect saying: "you said you were here to protect us but instead we are getting killed by the enemy"? It makes no sense at all. But that is the reality.

  • Second, as a US officer told WashPo, the Coalition operates in uniform and is always identifiable. The Taliban are not. The come, they kill, they vanish. So obviously the side in the uniform gets the flak.

  • We can add a third reason: Just how do you go and complain to the Taliban about their murder of civilians? We suppose you could try, but where's the assurance the Taliban will listen and make restitution? You worry more likely you too will be murdered. But you can always come and complain to the Coalition. They will give you medical attention if you have been injured, regardless by whom, and if the Coalition has made a mistake, it pays compensation.

  • Needless to say, now the Taliban know the game they take full advantage of the civilians. They are not just hiding among them, they take civilians hostage to protect themselves from attack. No guesses as to who gets blamed when the hostages are killed accidentally by the Coalition.

  • So, what does this add up to in terms of CI? The same old thing we've been saying for ages. This hearts and minds business does not work. The most recent example is Sri Lanka. The nation decided to go after the LTTE regardless of how many civilians died - and it looks as if several thousand may have been killed. West is muttering "war crime". The reality is, the LTTE are defeated. Sri Lanka, after 30 years of war, is returning to peace.

  • Machiavelli advised his Prince: "If you have to do something bad, do it all at once and get it over with". (Conversely, if you have to do something good, don't do it all at once - dribble it out.) Sound feller, ol' Machi.

  • Of course, in Afghanistan the US ignored one of the great fundamental principles of war: Define your objective. US kept changing its objective, and is still confused as to what to do. So victory by any definition is impossible. In situations like that, we are sure if the Italian Schemer had been around, he would have banged his head against the wall and said: "Just get up and leave, before you do, kindly pay this invoice for my advice."

  • India offers $5-million aid to Pakistan: Mingy offer, Mingy response. Come on, people: $5-million? India is close to becoming a two trillion dollar economy. Ethnically, the Pakistanis are the same as Indians. It's politics divided them.

  • But trust the Pakistanis to equally sink to the occasion: Pakistan says it is "considering" the offer.

  • Editor doesn't need to read the Indian newspapers and blogs to tell exactly what the Indians are saying: (a) Don't we have enough poor people of our own who need help?; and (b) @#$%^& those &^%$#@ ungrateful Pakistanis.

  • Actually, we do have an answer to the first question. In India its never been about the money when it comes to failing to help the poor. Its never been important enough for the government to help the poor, and for that the people of India must take the blame along with the Government. You can provide everyone in India with clean drinking water, basic health services, education, and food security. It's just we Indians are not bothered. And we do have an answer to the second point. What Would Ashoka Do? What would this most moral of Indian kings do if his offer to help a suffering neighbor was rudely rejected? Think about it.

  • India Shining - Not The phrase "India Shining" is meant to epitomize the new India: economically, culturally, and historically vibrant.

  • Well, according to the Times of India, there's a hefty bit of tarnish on the shine. In 1965, a thirty year old farmer saw two army boats collide in a river. He led a rescue effort, getting 68 men to shore, and saving 20 others from drowning. He even recovered some of the weapons the soldiers were carrying.

  • So, the government gave him a peacetime gallantry award, and a pension that today amounts to $30/month, or a dollar a day. The man is now 75. He hasn't received his pension in four months, and no one seems to know why. He and his wife are not doing well in the absence of the money.

  • OK, so you thing we're going to smack the Government upside the head because the pension stopped? Not really. Mistakes happen. For example, the man may have not filed his "I am not dead yet" certificate that all pensioners are required to file annually.

  • No. The people we want smack upside the head with an 18" iron skillet are the district authorities. "District authorities said they would take up the matter with the Centre and officials would visit (his) residence soon." Why don't the baboon bureaucrats get off their fat tushis and do something instead of making vague promises.

  • At the same time, we have to note that people in India and Indians abroad are changing. Thirteen of 23 letters to the editor ask how they can help this man. Good for them.

  •  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Braveheart-of-1965-Indo-Pak-war-now-lives-in-misery/articleshow/6312376.cms#ixzz0wdD5Yyvk By the way, in true Indian journalistic tradition, the headline is misleading: the incident happened during the 1965 War, but took place a thousand miles from the front and had nothing to do with the war. The article of course says the war was over on the day of the incident, which it was not. It all makes perfect sense if you are Indian.
  • Indian Air Force to modernize base infrastructure (The delay in reporting this story is because Editor passed out in shock that the Indian military is actually doing something sensible, and it took time to revive the Editor.)
  • Times of India reports that all four Indian military services (including the Coast Guard) are to modernize their airfields in two phases. This includes the Air Force's 51 operating bases, and 9 Air Force Advanced Landing Grounds used to support the Army on the China border. All nine were shut down and only recently reopened in view of the increasing China threat. We saw photographs of one of the ALGs, at Daulet Beg Oldi (or DBO if you want to be cool and act like you're in the know) near the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh. This ALG is is at a height of 16,200-feet, just under 5000-meters, and it is the highest airfield in the world. It was a very neat job and runway lights had been installed for the first time. The surface was not yet paved.
  • The Times of India says: "The upgrade includes resurfacing, expansion and lighting of runways for night operations as well as installation of new tactical navigational (TACAN), instrument landing (Cat-2 ILS), air traffic management and air-to-ground radio communication (RCAG) systems."
  • Helicopter pads on the China border are also to be improved. All this will make a huge, huge difference in India's ability to quickly reinforce positions in the north.

    0230 GMT August 14, 2010

     

  • Pakistan wins one Dawn of Karachi said US is no longer pressing Pakistan to open operations in North Waziristan. One official; said pressure was "counterproductive". Another said Pakistan needed time to "consolidate" previous gains. At least one of the officials was being honest.

  • We've said several times Pakistan has told the US enough is enough and it is not going to do more against the Taliban. Seems US is publically acknowledging that reality.

  • As far as we are concerned, Pakistan's successful stonewalling should be taken as another sign we're not going to win in Afghanistan and we should adjust our plans accordingly.

  • Meanwhile, we at least are going to congratulate the Pakistanis. If America is stupid enough to be taken for a ride, no sense blaming Pakistan, is it?

  • Meanwhile, re. the floods In just one area, Jacobabad, 1.5-million people are stranded by rising waters and 500,000 - the city's population - have been told to leave.

  • Even the US could not handle a disaster of this magnitude. And remember, this is just one little area that is affected.

  • Russia aims to deter Israel by placing S-300 SAM's in Georgia's breakaway regions says Debka. The website has been insisting for some time that Israel will attack Iran using Georgian bases. And the Russians do appear to have shifted at least one S-300 battery to the region.

  • First, however, Russia has bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It seems reasonable it would want SAM protection for the bases. Debka argues the Russians don't need S-300s to deter attacks on their bases. Attacks from Georgia, yes, they don't need S-300s. But they do need them for attacks from NATO. Further, S-300 is their standard modern SAM. Why should they put obsolete junk into the region? Second, to go from Georgia to northwestern Iran requires overflying Armenia and Azerbaijan. When Israel can overfly Syria - SyAF cant do much about it - why would Israel depend on three separate countries to cooperate in a preemptive attack.

  • http://debka.com/article/8968/

  • Former Sri Lanka army chief found guilty by court-martial of engaging in politics while in service, says BBC. General Sarath Fonseka and the Sri Lanka President were Best Friends Forever after the war against the LTTE rebels. But General Fonseka felt he was being increasingly sidelined and decided to go into politics. The Government says he engaged in politics before resigning. The General denies that.

  • Oh baby, can this really be the end warbled the great poet/songwriter Bob Dylan. We think this really is the end: the Easy India Company has been purchased by an Indian. The EIC was, of course, the colonizer of India. It had its own armies to protect its commercial interests. After the Indian Mutiny of 1857 - or as the Indians call the First War of Independence - London took over direct rule of India and the EIC was dissolved. One hundred and thirty five year later arrives this Indian and revives the company, which apparently had survived as a tiny trading enterprize.

  • Is this Indian a Tata or a Mittal, a new billionaire corporate baron of which India has so many? Nope. He is a shopkeeper.

  • One the one hand: England, we feel for you. On the other hand: you deserve this, England. It's the ultimate insult. (PS: not that the English are the least bit bothered. They are probably going: "Boooooorrrrring!")

  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10971109

0230 GMT August 13, 2010

  • Top Iraqi officers says US withdrawal premature: BBC The 3-star general says Iraq security forces may require another 10-years to become ready.

  • Au contraire, Pierre. One reason the Iraqis calmed down is the US announced a firm withdrawal data to which it is adhering. For the last two years US troops have increasingly been leaving the Iraqis alone, and the Iraqis have reciprocated. Iraq is an exceptionally nationalistic place. If the US said it was going to hang around till the Iraqis are ready, at some indefinite point in the future, attacks on US forces would resume.

  • US has achieved all its goals in Iraq. Stability in that country cannot be defined in terms of developed countries. Look at India: if you judged it on developed nation standards, it is highly unstable. But actually India chugs along just fine. Elections are held regularly, the government governs, there is no political unrest over 90% of the country in terms of population, the economy is blasting away, and by 2025 India will have the world's third largest GDP.

  • India managed when the British left, and it managed better because Indians knew whatever happened to them, independence was better than servitude to foreigners. Same applies to Iraq.

  • Sure there will be blood because the US presence has prevented the working out of many problems, such as the role of the Sunnis and Kurds in the new Iraq. But this has to be settled by the Iraqis themselves, not by outsiders.

  • So: good job US, and to the Iraqis we say: "It's been real."

  • Independent Afghan operation goes awry says New York Times. A 300-man battalion from 201st Corps (Kabul), likely the best trained Afghan corps, went to root out Taliban from their positions in a village in Laghman province. The operation was not conducted with the Coalition, and ran into trouble apparently after detailed were betrayed to the Taliban. There are varying reports on casualties; US says they run about 10 killed and 20 wounded, others say more.

  • Anyway, US and French troops had to go to the rescue, but the Red Cross says it could not recover bodies due to intense fighting.

  • One Taliban boasted of taking three Afghan Army prisoners to his house and then executing them, so his house will be that of a hero. We did not know murdering POWs confers hero status on anyone. But that standard one supposes Hitler was the greatest hero of them all.

  • http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/world/asia/13afghan.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Findex.jsonp

  • AQ running low on money?  Associated Press says Al Qaeda had issued its third appeal in a year for money. AQ says its fighters in Afghanistan cannot operate for lack of resources.

  • Wonder what's going on here.

  • Next time you wanna complain about that speeding ticket you received, you might want to consider this: A Swedish motorist in Switzerland is facing a potential $1-million fine after being clocked at 290-kmph in a 120-kmph zone. The latter is 72-mph, so it's not exactly slow.

  • In Switzerland (and in Sweden too, we believe) the richer you are, the heavier the fine. The previous world record is a Swiss driver who had to pay $290,000.

  • Wonder if there's a chance the US will have such an equitable system some day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
A