Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese citizen has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is serving an eleven year term in a Chinese prison for “subversion” (Liu Xiaobo was active in the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests). Recently Liu Xiaobo authored a document called Chapter 08 which demanded greater freedom for Chinese citizens. This is by [...]
Every time there is a terrorist attack on Indian soil the Indian and Pakistani governments and the people of India go through a very familiar set of rituals. The Indian side will blame the Pakistani government for aiding these terrorist attacks and for not arresting the leaders of these militant groups who live in Pakistan. [...]
I have always wondered about what the right to self determination means. According to the United Nations “All peoples have the rights of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” This statement raises more questions than answers. Can my neighbor claim [...]
I want you to think about these numbers for a moment. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates the GDP of the United States is $14.26 trillion (2009). For the same period India’s GDP was $1.16 trillion. American defense spending was approximately $663 billion for 2009 which is more than half of India’s GDP. [...]
“You can build a Mosque at ground zero when we can build a Synagogue in Mecca” read the sign carried by one of the protesters. They protesters were trying to pressurize the city of New York and prevent the city from granting permission to build a 13 story Islamic community center a few blocks from [...]
Shangri-La is a mythical Himalayan utopia. If you are a fan of rock like I am then I am sure you have listened to the song “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin is one of the all time bands and Kashmir in my opinion is their best work. The song is a tribute to their [...]
Those of us who are in the software industry have been in situations where we release a product to the customer only to find that the customer has found some issues that requires another full release or a patch release. In such situations one of the first questions that management wants answered is why we [...]
Recently a co-worker of mine who is a Muslim from the Middle East asked me whether Indians like the people of Pakistan. I explained to her that an average Indian citizen probably has never heard of Pakistan and would not be able to point out Pakistan or Kashmir on a map (an average Indian most [...]
We in India know that we have a great history. I am not sure how we know this for a fact but we know. The Chinese hold a very similar opinion. Maybe the concept of the great past is something that our forefathers passed on to us as we pass on to our future generations. [...]
Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace has published the failed states index for 2010. The group aims to rank nations based on what they call “12 Degrees of Failure”. This includes among other things demographics, number of refugees, illegitimate government, brain drain and human rights. For the record Somalia came in first with [...]
The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi has described the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) as “a notoriously violent paramilitary unit engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and responsible for torturing suspected criminals”. This was used as an excuse to deny visa to a former BSF jawan who wanted to travel to Canada. Such language [...]
The story of Alexander the Great is very familiar to most Indians (at least we think we do). We are taught in history classes that Alexander invaded India in 326 BCE. He fought a fierce battle with King Porus (battle of the Hydaspes River) in modern day Pakistan. Porus was defeated but Alexander spared his [...]
A special Mumbai Court judge on Thursday sentenced Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab to death for his role in the 2008 Mumbai bombings. Kasab who is from Pakistan was the only gunman captured alive. The method of execution in India is by hanging. Many organizations including prominent Muslim organization in India have welcomed the verdict. Prominent [...]
A day before Pakistani citizen Ajmal Amir Kasab was sentenced to death by the Indian courts another terrorist with Pakistani connections, Faisal Shahzad, was arrested by the American government for trying to set off a bomb in Times Square New York. Pakistan has quickly distanced itself from both these individuals. So far Pakistan has not [...]
Most of us know by now that Ramkishan Alipur Yadav (known as Swami Ramdev) has started a political party. The party named Bharat Swabhiman will contest all 545 Lok Sabha seats in the next national elections. The Swami himself will not stand for elections (this stance reminds me of Sonia Gandhi and her relationship with [...]
The Chennai Corporation has started enforcing the rule that shops in the city should display name boards in Tamil. According to the corporation the names and details in Tamil should occupy at least 50% of the total space. Such laws have been in the books in Chennai and most other parts of Tamil Nadu for [...]
There are approximately 2 million Indians who live and work in Saudi Arabia (in all Saudi Arabia has about 6 million foreign workers). This is a large number considering the total population of the country is only about 28 million. Saudi Arabia like many other nations in the Persian Gulf and the larger Middle-East are [...]
