A dangerous friend

For the first time Indian troops travelled to a Chinese outpost in the border of Arunachal Pradesh and celebrated China’s national day. Immediately statements were issued like “I can say the winds of change are blowing across the Himalayas and we want to be friends.”, and “China and India will be friends forever.”
It is too early to pop champagne as the communists across the border were never lovers of India and will never be. You don’t have to go too far in history to find evidence of this hostility and it is well known among the countries around the world. When India conducted the nuclear tests in May 1998, the Americans were cordinating a worldwide condemnation of that. In June, there was the meeting of the P-5 Nations (nations who have nuclear weapons), and Madeline Albright was sent to Geneva for it. The statement issued by the P-5 nations was crafted by Bob Einhorn, a state department employee, after talking for hours with the Chinese because of their preference for India-bashing.
Few days later the United Nations Security Council passed the resolution 1172 which condemned the tests and the US Delegation let the Chinese insert some of their harsh wordings and impossible demands. Even Madeline Albright, who was no friend of India tried to get the Chinese to back off, but it was too late. Here is a sample:

“5. Urges India and Pakistan to resume the dialogue between them on all outstanding issues, particularly on all matters pertaining to peace and security, in order to remove the tensions between them, and encourages them to find mutually acceptable solutions that address the root causes of those tensions, including Kashmir;
“7. Calls upon India and Pakistan immediately to stop their nuclear weapon development programmes, to refrain from weaponisation or from the deployment of nuclear weapons, to cease development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and any further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons, to confirm their policies not to export equipment, materials or technology that could contribute to weapons of mass destruction or missiles capable of delivering them and to undertake appropriate commitments in that regard;[UNSC Resolution 1172]

Claude Arpi has an article asking if China is encircling India.

We could continue the list with the supply of arms to Bangladesh; or the Beijing orchestrated saga of Dr A Q Khan in Pakistan, the enhanced Han presence in Central Asia, particularly in Kyrgyzstan where President Akaev has leased 125,000 hectares of the most valuable Kyrgyz land to China ‘with glaciers full of fresh water and with a uniquely designed border outpost.’ Though Kyrgyzstan has not direct borders with India, the encirclement is getting tighter by the day.[Is China encircling India?]

China is building the Gwadar portin Pakistan, Bangladesh is offering its Chittagong port to China and Myanmar is developing facilities on Great Coco Island with Chinese help.
This is one friend we be careful about.
[Reference: Engaging India]

Buddhism, Korea and India

Korea and India had relations from the middle of the first century AD when a princess of Ayodhya travelled to Korea and married there. Here is some more information on the relations between the two countries due to Buddhism.

Many Buddhist monks worked to shape the religion, a major early figure being Marananta, who came to Paekje in the 4th century A.D. However, it is the Samguksagi is not clear on how an Indian monk came to receive a warm welcome from the king. In A.D. 574 three Indian monks came to the peninsula with a Korean monk, Anhong, and initiated the construction of many monasteries and temples.

According to one story, King Ayuk (Muwa), identified with Ashoka Maurya of India, sent iron and gold to Korea to cast the image of the Buddha. Koreans used the metals to construct the monastery. However, the historical records show the Ashokan period was much earlier than the construction of the Hwangnyong Monastery.

After the introduction of Buddhism to Korea, many scholars and monks exhibited great enthusiasm for visiting India to learn more about Buddhism or for pilgrimages to places important to the memory of the Buddha. Some Korean monks set out for India in the early 6th century A.D.

The monk Kyomic was the first to visit India. He studied the Vinaya text, first going to the Samghana Temple of central India where he collected the Sanskrit text of the Mahisasaka Vinaya. Later an Indian monk, Devadatta (Pei-da-duo) ,came to Korea with Kyomic where he translated 72 books of the Vinaya under the patronage of the King Song of Paekje.

From the early 8th century onwards, Korean Buddhists showed a keen interest in India and Indian culture. The cultural bridge between the two countries grew from then onwards, Buddhist monks being credited for nurturing the relationship. Biographies of eminent monks of the Tang Dynasty in China recorded the brief histories of some 56 pilgrims who went to India. Among these was a Korean monk, A

India's competitive advantage

Last night I attended a talk by Rajeev Srinivasan, Rediff Columnist, at Stanford University on India’s competitive advantage.

First he talked about what a great past India had, when there were great accomplishments in Mathematics, Medicine, education etc. Even as near as 1750, before colonialism set in, India had 25% of world trade. There was a school in each village and India was enjoying the fruits of globalization.

But then after Independence, Rajeev says that India fell into the Nehruvian Growth Rate of less than 5% due to the policies of the Governments which did not make infrastructure investments and popularized the licence-raj. The bureaucrats were spending more time telling people what they could not do.

To make India prosperous, we have to promote the advantages India has and for that we have to promote what he calls “Brand India”. As a case study he said, it is good to study how the Japanese entered the US Markets. Also there is a need to improve infrastructure and the legal framework.

There is lot of fear in India regarding multinations assuming that Indian companies would not be able to compete with them. But then he said that Indian companies can definitely adapt to the circumstances. He told the cases of Aravind Eye Clinic and the Japur Foot, both of whom are providing world class services at low rates. He also mentioned about the my home state of Kerala, where they have packaged Ayurveda and Tourism and created a industry which is providing employment to many people.

He then compared India against United States and China offering the pluses and minuses. One of the biggest problem with Indians is inferiority complex. But as the IT industry has shown, India can survive in a globalized world. In the past India has survived in a globalized world and it can again.

I have been reading Rajeev’s columns for long time and this is the first time I saw him and heard him talk and I have to say, I like his columns better. But I appreciate the fact that he has taken time to put a comprehensive view of India from cultural, economic and historical angle. But to spread Brand India he will have to reach to a wider audience, especially non-Indians.
For those of you who wonder, how he looks like, here is a picture. For people in Bay Area, there is another talk on Oct 7th at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Draft coming back ?

President Bush in the first debate mentioned that United States would have an all volunteer army. Then I was watching an interview of Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont with Tim Russert where he told candidly that a draft is unavoidable given the current circumstances. Now the NY Times has an article about it.

More than one-third of nearly 3,900 former soldiers mobilized under a special wartime program have resisted their call-ups. The Army National Guard fell nearly 10 percent short of its 2004 recruiting goal of 56,000 enlistees. The Army, concerned about recruiting, has eased some standards. And there have been bipartisan calls in Congress to expand the Army by more than 20,000 soldiers.

Just months ago, Pentagon officials suggested that a new draft could be avoided if recruitment and retention numbers stayed high. But as fighting in Iraq escalates, signs are growing that those numbers may not be adequate in the coming years. Thus, the new talk about a draft. [The Option Nobody’s Pushing. Yet]

If Bush gets re-elected, there can be more pre-emptive strikes against other nations as well. With the war now going on in two fronts and if the size of volunteer army is not increased, maybe the inevitable will happen.

New Plan in Kashmir Valley

Yes, the Indian Prime Minister talked to the Pakistani Dictator. There are journalists visiting India from Pakistan. Pakistan has volunteered not to take over Siachen. Does all this mean that life is going to be great from now ? Unlikely, if according to this Times of India report.

Pakistan wants to bring a bit of Gaza to Srinagar. While publicly waving an olive leaf, Pakistani foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri and foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar privately met Kashmiri separatist leaders during their New Delhi visit and suggested that an Intifada was Islamabad’s new strategy to keep Kashmir on the boil.

Recognising that cross-border terrorism no longer delivers, Islamabad believes generating an Intifada is the new means to both bleed Indian security forces and keep alive the claim that India is suppressing people’s aspirations. As Islamabad sees it, an Intifada has multiple plus points. The phrase will evoke global sympathy because of its association with Palestinian children throwing stones at Israeli tanks, an effective imagery of Davids pitted against a Goliath. [Pak plots Intifada to keep J&K on the boil]

The only problem is that there is no Yasser Arafat in the Kashmir valley. So who will motivate people to give up their lives ?

Invading Pakistan

Apparently the US had plans to invade the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan to capture the al-Qaeda network.

“The United States will threaten Iran with war if it aids the al-Qaeda. The United States will have to invade northwest Pakistan. There are plans for this already. In addition, if Pakistan collapses due to an invasion, the United States and India will have to jointly occupy Pakistan. The end game is Pakistan,” the Daily Times quotes Friedman as saying.[US had plans to invade Pakistan via JihadWatch]

Even though there have been incursions by American troops and ex-Special Forces are on the prowl, this full scale invasion of Pakistan can have disastrous consequences. But this is not to say that such scenarious have not been thought about. Democratic Senate Candidate Barak Obama has gone on record suggesting that Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities be taken out if Musharraf is overthrown.

In the case of Pakistan, the Senate hopeful added,

The Andorra Proposal

Ok, so after the adjusting the LoC proposal, we have another one, this time from the Hurriyat.

The Hurriyat has been propounding the ‘Andorra Proposal’, under which Kashmir becomes an independent principality with foreign policy, defence and financial support shared by India and Pakistan. Sources say the proposal would result in the Kashmir Valley – including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir – dominated by Muslims, being carved out into a principality with its own Parliament. However, India and Pakistan would have nominated representatives.

India and Pakistan would also share the responsibility of defending a demilitarised Kashmir, which would only have a police force. According to the proposal, the Line of Control (LoC) could be recognised as International Border (IB) by both India and Pakistan but would on ground remain a soft border across which Kashmiris would move freely.[Hurriyat opens Andorra’s box on Kashmir crisis]

Even though the previous Indian Govt. had considered adjusting the LoC, now they are suggesting that Pakistan Occupied Kashmir should be merged with India. I wonder if this proposal will get approval from Pakistan as they would be giving up the land they grabbed in the 1948 war. But since the puppet masters of the Hurriyat are the Pakistanis, wonder who came up with this idea.

Movie Reviews

  • Bad Santa – Bad Movie.
  • Cold Mountain – Slow but a very moving film by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient). Excellent perfomance by Jude Law and Renée Zellweger.
  • Passion of Christ – The pain of Jesus gets to you in this powerful movie about the last 12 hrs of Jesus. It is a must watch.
  • Samay (H) – If you want to see one good hindi movie, see this. Well made, well directed, and well thought out murder mystery. The end is not very believable, but then it is a Hindi movie.
  • Cast Away – Boring for most part. But amazing performance by Tom Hanks
  • Outfoxed – a documentary analyzing the biased journalism of Fox News Channel who still claim that they are “Fair and Balanced”. Must see.