There was a time and place when the Naxalite and Maoist movements in India had both following among the public and a set ideology that allowed their leadership to fight for a well-defined common goal. The 70’s are long gone, the 80’s have melted away and the 90’s ensured that the restless Indian youth could harness the world market with its unrivalled passion and useful skills. Cut out the air and the fire will die out- Cut out the unemployed and frustrated young men and the rebellion with guns and blood did slowly die out. It takes a lot to motivate a content and happy man to take up arms and be prepared to shed his blood. Fortunately for India and unfortunately for the ‘red warriors’, that motivation seems to have died out.

What seems to be both astonishing and amazing till today is how those few still in the forests of Central and North-East seem to be eager to spill blood without exactly defining their path towards the social, political and economic equality they so much crave for. Indeed life is hard for those displaced by modern industries, state border disputes and various other factors that dictated Indian society and its outdated social hierarchy. Yet killing the innocent, kidnapping the common man and taking lives of a few government servants, is barely the path towards a final solution.

It seems that just to satisfy their own ego and to wade away their sense of insecurity the headless few continue on a head hunt that is both lacking in a clear path and purpose. The end to this age old saga now seems farther and one-sided than it ever did in the past…

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Today one of the most elite and prestigious trains of India Rajdhani Express was held hostage for almost 5 hours. Some 200 people who surrounded the train and abducted the driver were no terrorists but yet they did manage to spread word of terror. The abducted driver was later released and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) rescued of 1200 stranded passengers. No one was seriously injured or killed and no one was arrested either

It is believed that these 200 local people belonging to the interiors of Jharkhand were part of Maoist group demanding release of their leaders who have been recently arrested during crackdown on Maoists operations in some states (mainly West Bengal).

Naxalite and Maoist movement has been gaining ground in the interiors of India mainly due to flawed development policies. Developmental projects like dams, mines, heavy industries have displaced thousands of people all over India who have been forced to live in slums in the cities. It is only activists and Maoists groups who have managed to reach out to farmers and poor tribals living in interiors of India and hence have found good haven and fertile ground for their revolutionary dreams.

If only administration and politicians had kept their promises of providing basic infrastructure like health,  primary education and right to livelihood to millions living in far flung villages this Maoist menace would not have grown into a big tree which if uprooted now will certainly shake the whole country. Its better to cut the roots  and let the tree to die out naturally to uproot this menace completely.

Via NDTV

India is a nation that is almost a mystery for outsiders. This mystery is the result of mystification of poverty, illiteracy, superstitions, and extremely gory practices like casteism, widow burning and dowry. The country also faces the great threat of Naxals and Maoists insurgency.

Apart from these real dangers, the India nation is also plagued by opinionated “intellectuals” who seem to know what is best for the nation and everything else around them, and such advices usually drop from their mouths at the drop of a hat. One such person seems to be Ms. Arundhati Roy.

In a recent interview with Karan Thapar (A Cynical view of Democracy), she advocates giving up all military action against insurgents and pave way for anarchy. It is not clear if she just needs limelight or is financially being “supported” to make such dangerous statements.

Whatever the case might be, it is the best interest of the nation that the mainstream and online media ignore and downplay such dangerous comments and opinions which might lead to not just anarchy but also large scale violence, kidnappings, bombings and killing of innocent civilians in the name of war against the Indian government and democratic system. Will the Indian government realize its follies and take necessary decisive military actions against such treacherous insurgents?

Plans to force UK ISPs to disconnect suspected of illegal downloading were rejected by 68% of citizens of the country. For them, at least one lawsuit in court would be required before, if the punishment be necessary. This is what the survey research firm YouGov, in the first time that the public was verified about the issue, says the newspaper “The Guardian”.

Peter Mandelson, known as Lord Mandelson, the British Secretary of Business and author of the proposal “clearly” is “against the grain of public opinion and rethink,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, an organization that commissioned the study.

Moreover, the question is up to something delicate for election: 44% of respondents believe that the disconnection would affect negatively their vote for a party that defended the policy.
However, although 16% were in favor of automatic sanctions based on accusations of copyright owners.

Anyway, the minister for the country’s Internet, Sion Simon, said the government will not allow any arbitrary disconnection and that “the offender (which can be, for example, a child) is often not the person responsible for the connection (perhaps one of the parents). ”

Finally we will be able to see who is stronger: the  public opinion or lobbies.

Via: The Guardian.

Obama’s refusal to give an interview to Fox news has foxed the channel completely. Fox News has publicly declared that it’s a war between Obama administration and the channel since it takes Republican stand on all the matters. The daggers are all out in open.

White House is adamant too since Fox News acts a propaganda tool of the Republicans and it feels channel need not be taken seriously. But non-partisan media can never ideally exist. All media toe some political line or the other. Fox News wears its loyalty on its sleeves and this move by White House and Obama will only give more publicity to the channel. Unfortunately that’s what the channel and Republicans seek – more publicity and more viewer ships.

It is a crucial time for America and Obama administration. The times are really bad – there is hot debate about health reforms, there seems to be no end in sight for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, recession is weakening the economy and Obama himself has courted controversy over his Nobel Peace Prize.  Most of his election promises remain unfulfilled too. It is definitely not going to help by antagonizing a section of media which already has trained guns on him.

Via Guardian

There has been much controversy about Barack Obama being awarded Nobel peace Prize for 2009. It is indeed intriguing that President of United States of America who is sending more troops and is engaging in a war in Afghanistan should be declared as an ambassador of global peace.

Interestingly Obama even maintained a tactical silence when Israel was bombarding Gaza strip and went on record only later, also he has made not statements about conflict ridden poor African nations like Zimbabwe, Somalia, Uganda etc or other nations like Sri Lanka, Burma. All his efforts of reconciliation with Latin American, European nations and Muslim world have a direct link to the American politics.

It is also equally true that Barack Obama has forever come across as a crusader for change and peace throughout his campaigns before winning polls and later after taking office. For a change there is a world leader who accepts that his nation’s role and its policies have a global impact. He has made the concept of ‘change’ and ‘peace’ quite desirable all over the world. Maybe he deserves an award for bringing these words back in vogue.

If anything needs to be questioned it is the award itself. In a world where nations have stockpile of nuclear weapons, there is widespread terrorism and most nations are forever engaged in violent internal and external conflicts the peace itself seems such an elusive utopian idea. In a polarized world where peace has become almost nonnegotiable why have Nobel Peace Prize?

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy was busted with 400 illegal copies of DVDs. The disks contained a documentary on the own president and they were produced by the service of audiovisual of the Presidency of the Republic.

Initially, 50 legitimate DVDs were given to political and personalities, but the demand was very larger.

According to The Inquirer, the French leader requested the alternative copies of the film to distribute among some diplomats during a conference. A request was made to the service of Audiovisual of the Presidency of the Republic to record some hundreds of copies, without asking any authorization from the producers of the film.

According to The Huffington Post, the absurdity was so much that the original layer and the logo of the producer Galaxie Presse were substituted by information as ‘Service audiovisuel de la presidence de la Republique’.

The copy of the documentary “A Visage Decouvert: Nicolas Sarkozy” ( 52 min.) it represents the possible most constraining situation to a president that is famous for the fight against the file sharing. The nation is embarrassed, said a French woman.

As news published by the site Guardian.co.uk in February of this year, is not the first time that that happens: Sarkozy used a music of the band repeatedly MGMT in some videos without the permission of the group.

Shame on him!

Via: The Inquirer.

Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard was a 21 year old Marine who succumbed to injuries in Afghanistan recently. Julie Jacobson of Associated Press had captured a picture of Bernard as he lay in the mud after an ambush. The picture was published recently on front pages and it has sparked a debate in America. It is intriguing that instead of war which is killing young innocent soldiers and civilians, the pictures of war are becoming controversial.

The picture really hits home reality of war which is being fought far elsewhere but is killing young American soldiers. Maybe government is worried about the impact of such pictures on the American people. As it is after the end of Bush era not everyone is supportive about this never ending war on foreign shores. Democrats have already warned President Barack Obama against sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Yes, the debate is legitimate about using picture of dying young soldier on front page but the primary duty of war photojournalists is to bring home the grim truth about war through images. Hope reality hits really hard this time and debate shifts to war itself and finally this war comes to an end before many more young lives are lost.

Via Guardian

Perma-tanned Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is right in the eye of the press freedom storm. Media have been grinding him to a pulp lately. He even says that he feels sorry for his country because media report “the opposite of reality.” Hence, Berlusconi has brought more than one local newspaper to court. His lawyers are also considering how best to deal with foreign media that pounce on him.

The goings on in the lives of political figures, in and out of office hours, are fodder to media grist and the very essence of paparazzi existence. Berlusconi has made himself into media candy that is why he is now busy running after publishers that have illegally obtained photos of him inside his private property. He has turned into some sort of decadent celebrity that he now worries about attacks on his privacy.

Does Berlusconi realize that his life story is simply too juicy for media not to gobble up? But of course, a link between the head of a country and prostitutes and orgies, not to mention his wife virtually dumping him in public, will surely corner the biggest fonts in headline space. Media want these things because these are precisely the lifeblood of media – juicy stuff.

He may have been used to randy behavior that money can cover up, he being Italy’s wealthiest man. But when he took on the political leadership of his country, he should have done two things: hire a platoon of bodyguards to serve as lookout and pay off anyone who could spill the beans.

And, of course, there’s one more thing that his money can buy – media’s silence. Waging war against the fourth estate is a futile battle, he should know.

But the biggest lesson for Mr. Berlusconi is this: if you don’t want to be tabloid fare, don’t lead a tabloid life.

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North Korea has announced that it has begun the ‘last phase’ in the process of enriching uranium to build nuclear weapons. At the same time, the North Korean communist regime said it is also into the parallel process of extracting plutonium from the nuclear fuel rods stored at its Yongbyon reactor. The North Korean delegation at the UN in a letter to the Security Council admitted that the extracted plutonium will become weapons.

The world was not entirely surprised with these revelations even if, for years, the regime of Kim Jong-il denied having a uranium enrichment program that would allow a nuclear bomb.

Given the continuing U.S. suspicions about its uranium enrichment process, Pyongyang has always acknowledged progress in extracting plutonium, a process found to be easier and cheaper, and for which North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

North Korea has also been dangling the proposition to have its critics level it with either sanctions or dialogue. It even said that it is ready and willing to get into diplomatic negotiations with the United States. It seems that North Korea is showing signs of wanting bilateral dialogue with the United States. The country has also eased tensions with South Korea through the normalization of the activity on the border between the two countries, after months of tension.

Much ado about all things nuclear.

All these media space about the nuclearization of North Korea is free advertising for the country that is known as a huge seller of nuclear technology. North Korea has long embarked on nuclear technology proliferation to terrorist-supporting states. All this talk about a nuclearized North Korea is very good for nuclear marketing.

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