2013

The acquittal of Sajjan Kumar, a Congress leader from Delhi, was bound to create a furore because he has come to symbolise the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Even though 29 years have lapsed since the killings, the anger has not lessened because the demand by the Sikhs to punish the guilty has not been met. Some way would have to be found to allay their hurt.
When the Blacks and Whites were at the point of clash in South Africa, a Commission for Law and Reconciliation was appointed. The purpose (…)

IMPRESSIONS
Karnataka votes today. If this election is different from previous ones, it is because the tragedy that has overtaken the State stands out more starkly today than before. Led by some wise leaders and legendary administrators, Karnataka had become famous for its pro-gressive pace. Decline set in with the 1975 Emer-gency, developing rapidly into decay and then ruin.
All parties contributed to this process of destruction and that is why a change of parties will not alter the (…)

This piece was written quite sometime ago. It is being published now as it still retains its relevance.
Epigraph
I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’other —
(Macbeth, I,vii)
“Intent” you will see is the horse that Macbeth wishes to ride to the glory of the Scottish throne. And the only spur he has to race that horse is his “ambition”. Wretchedly, he recognises this to be a “vaulting” ambition, and as (…)

From N.C.’s Writings
A week’s trip to Pakistan to attend a workshop on South Asian problems—part of the emerging people-to-people movement—may not have been adequate to get a comprehensive view of Pakistan’s problems and prospects, but it did provide an insight into many facets of life in Pakistan today which is valuable for a reporter’s notebook.
Kashmir is the talking point in almost every circle one meets, much more than what the present writer noted during his last visit there to (…)

Regulars of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China intruded ten kms deep into Indian territory in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector in eastern Ladakh on April 14/15. (Actually there is some confusion about it. There are reports that the Chinese entered 19 kms south of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and then retreated to their present position, 10 kms inside.) Our government came to know of this intrusion, it is reported, from aerial pictures. For ten or fifteen or twenty, whatever kms it is, (…)

The incursion by Chinese troops into the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector of Ladakh on April 15, 2013 by erecting and occupying tents was responded to on the ground by Indian troops erecting tents nearby to prevent further Chinese advance.
The incursion is said to be in the Burtse (mis-spelt as “Burthe” and “Burste” by some journalists) sub-sector. Most people do not know where DBO is on the map because they have no access to maps that have DBO marked on it, much less Burtse. A not-to-scale (…)

On an early September 2002 morning, as breakfast was being served in the cavernously high-ceilinged dining hall of Hotel Inter-continental in the devastated capital city of Kabul, a Pakistani turned to the Afghan bearer, “Where did you live during the mujahideen war?” “In Pakistan, sir,” the man replied. His questioner turned triumphantly towards his companion, a Westerner, and remarked, “Ha! Did you hear him? This is the story you will hear all over Afghanistan. Pakistan opened its doors to (…)

REVIEW ARTICLE
Kill Anything that Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam by Nick Turse; Metropolitan Books, New York; 2013; pages 370; $ 30.00, hardcover.
The Vietnam War is a case of state terrorism on a massive scale. This is made devastatingly clear from the evidence based upon official documents in the US National Archives and other records explored here. The book is thoroughly documented, backed up with some 86 pages of footnotes. While more than 30,000 books have been published on (…)

For a rare visit by a Japanese Prime Minister to Russia after a glaring gap of a decade, Shinzo Abe himself set three benchmarks as he set out from Tokyo on April 28. He said he sought to establish a relationship of personal trust with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Abe compared himself with Putin as a leader with a “clear-cut objective” to make his country strong and prosperous.
Secondly, he hoped to outline the “possibilities for the full development” of Japan-Russia relations in the (…)

“Citizens will be in charge, not the ‘Capital’,” said President Rafael Correa after being elected the President of Ecuador for the third consecutive time with an impressive margin. Rafael Correa defeated his closet rival, Guillermo Lasso, a millionaire, hawkish, neoliberal and the Executive President of Banko de Guayaquil, with a margin of nearly 40 per cent votes. Alongside the presidential election the PAIS bloc, the formidable alliance of Socialist, progressive, Communist parties, won 95 (…)