Freedom of Speech vs Freedom of Thought Thursday, Jan 3 2008

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Freedom of Speech vs Freedom of Thought

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The Threat from the Terrorist State Saturday, Jul 28 2007

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The Threat from the Terrorist State

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World War III – Potential Flash Points Monday, Jul 23 2007

One of my favorite quotes about wars is

“A war does not decide who is right, it only decides who is left”

No sane person wants to see another world war, but at the same time it is ludicrous to say that there won’t be any wars in the future, unless and until the whole world starts following Buddhism!

The Scenario

The news we see everyday, the news we read everyday, the news we hear everyday is filled with how one country is pitted against the other, how one group wants to finish the other, ethnic violence, religious violence, racism, ideological violence, political violence and what not…

And enter Al Qaeda and Pakistan’s home grown breed of terrorists, kahani mein twist, a twist in the story…. Now its not just the political leadership of countries that can start a war, even terrorist groups can initiate one! The threat is not about sophisticated nuclear arsenals and delivery systems of US or Russia, but its more about dirty nukes in the hands of terrorists!

US and allies have waged a war on terror, Pakistan’s Musharraff is playing the game of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, China is uneasy over Taiwan, Israel is watching Iran, Russia is irritated over UK, AlQaeda wants to wipe out the civilized world..

What are the possible flashpoints to trigger a third world war? Well, I am not a pessimist, but the triggers do very much exist in the world today. So as a member of a responsible(?) species with a duty towards its own species and more towards the planet, we have to identify all these triggers and not just TRY to put them off, but have to LITERALLY PUT THEM OFF..

The List

So here is the list, in the reverse order from the lowest to the highest probability of occurrence..

5. Musharraff overthrown by fundamental elements in Pakistan, a preemptive strike on Pakistani military facilities by India, An entry by China to assist Pakistan, US enters to support India, North Korea enters to support China, Japan enters to support India…..

4. US missile defense installations in Czech and Poland cause Russia to deploy ICBM missiles in its European borders, a misunderstood testing by the US systems in Poland or Czech is all that it takes to trigger a global escalation..

3. Taiwan declares Independence, China forcefully tries to annexe Taiwan, US strikes China, Russia enters the war, Japan enters the war, North Korea, South Korea….

2. Realizing the fear of acquisition of a nuclear weapon by Iran, Israel strikes Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran retaliates and the US enters into the equation…

1. A dirty nuke exploded by a terrorist group in any of the major western cities! Say US, and US reacts, and reacts strongly, on the root, the root as usual leads to Pakistan, enter China, India forced into the war, and then Russia, parallel ignition by Iran on the Israel….

The Solution

First of all, for heavens sake all countries should get rid of all their nuclear weapons. If not humans, at least other species should be allowed to survive on this planet after a world war.. All nuclear weapons should be disposed immediately and the process should be started in the order mentioned – USA, Russia, France, China, UK, India, Pakistan, Israel..

This ensures that even if there is a war, innocent people wont die, at least not in the number of millions. Let the wars not target any civilian locations. Nuclear fuel is meant to generate electrical power inside the nuclear reactors and let us stick to that use…

Fundamentalism should be wiped out of this planet, rather than trying to wipe out the terrorists.. All young kids all over the planet should be given proper civilized education and should be protected from being brainwashed by the fundamentalists..

It is a known fact that USA used fundamentalist terrorist elements against USSR during the cold war.. Pakistan is using them against India… This should not be allowed to continue any more…

Any regime supporting terrorist or fundamentalist elements should be thrown out and democratic institutions should be installed all over the globe. Every country’s fate should be decided by its own people and not by dictatorial regimes..

Having said all this, does it sound practical enough? Will US and other countries give up their nuclear arsenal? Can we prevent terrorist organizations from misguiding and recruiting youth?

Hope is a very beautiful and promising word, isn’t it?

Let us hope that the hope for a better future ultimately prevails..

Let us hope that the future generations on this planet will refer to the above mentioned list of flash points as, possible world war or nuclear flash points that once existed in this world, like the way how we today refer to the Cuban missile crisis as a possible nuclear flash point that once existed during the days of the cold war…

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Is India Iran Gas Pipeline Feasible? Sunday, Jan 8 2006

India’s energy needs are running high. We are one of the fastest developing economies in the world and we need more and more energy to sustain our growth.
India currently imports 70% of its 105 million ton crude oil requirement every year..
Currently has a reserve of 7.5 million ton which can serve the country’s needs for about 20 days.. Today the cabinet also approved building of 5 million ton strategic oil reserves which can supply oil during short term disruptions in supply.. by the way, India is the first country in south asia to build oil reserves for strategic purposes..
Why do we need oil reserves?? well, bcos we import most of our crude oil (over 70%) and are becoming increasingly dependent on our suppliers.. so reserves are a short term plan to get around disruption in supplies…
Do we have any long term plan? Yes, the previous NDA government has initiated a gas pipeline from Iran via pakistan to India. This would provide a good supply for our enerrgy requirements.. but is it strategically a reliable option??
Look at what Russia did to ukraine recently… a Putin rival came to power in Ukraine and Russia increased the prices of gas it supplied to ukraine four times!! When Ukraine didnt agree it cut off the supply.. this also affected European countries which depended on gas pressure from Russian side for their supplies..
Cant it happen to India if we go ahead with this pipeline?? Cant pakistan stop gas supply to Indian at will whenever it wants.. even if the pakistani government did not do so, cant the terrorist outfits in pak do that? and as usual pakistan will say that they are not under the government control…
what if a tension comes between Iran and Pakistan?? or what if pakistan starts stealing gas from this pipeline?? these are all practical issues that need to be addressed.. India is becoming increasingly dependent on gulf for its energy needs…
the other day India voted against Iran on the nuclear issue.. can it continue to do that once the gas pipeline becomes operative??
Americans are targetting Iran as one of the rogue states.. What if America collides with Iran and that affects our gas supply??
To summarize India needs to carefully chalk out its long term energy supplies… with minimum dependencies on external factors…

YOUNG INDIAN FACTThe Indian city of Varanasi, also known as Benares, is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

YOUNG INDIAN QUOTE“Many of the advances in the sciences that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India centuries ago.”- Grant Duff, British Historian 

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