The ecological effects of war, like its horrific toll on human life, are exponential. When the Bush administration (parts one and two) and its congressional allies sent troops to Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, they not only ordered these men and women to commit crimes against humanity, they also commanded them to perpetrate crimes against nature. Former Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said the environmental consequences of the Iraq war could be more ominous than the issue of war and peace itself. Blix was right.

Months of bombing during the first Gulf War by the United States and Great Britain left a deadly and insidious legacy: tons of shell casings, bullets and bomb fragments laced with depleted uranium. In all, the United States hit Iraqi targets with more than 970 radioactive bombs and missiles.

Half Life of a Toxic War

By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
and JOSHUA FRANK

Read more…

“How is India?” asked an erudite friend of mine from North America soon after I reached India last December.

How indeed? I write this piece this week as India goes to the polls: a mammoth process involving 714 million voters is about to unfold over the next one month. The polity looks fractured as never before. Each state – and India has 35 of them – has its own political dynamic shaped by a complex gamut of regional political parties. Relentless opportunism and political ambition, bolstered often by massive private wealth appears to have given rise to a multiplicity of candidates and parties who are able to cull a platform sometimes out of thin air, or even worse, by fuelling caste or ethnic conflict or abusing divisive ‘local’ issues. So deep is the fracture this time, that it looks like 543 discrete elections are being held for the 543 parliamentary seats. No party is able to shape or capture the national imagination, as it were.

Underneath this fractured polity, lies of course, a deeply exclusionary and unequal material reality. Some 200 million are chronically hungry, more than 90 percent of the workforce have no option but informal work with abysmal wages and no security; 80 percent live under $2 a day; 70 percent depend on agriculture for their livelihood; 182,936 farmers have committed suicide; and so on.

by Prof. Ananya Mukherjee Reed

Via The Reality of Mass Poverty and Social Exclusion: “How is India?”.

The BJP’s idea of India gives heart to the religious caboodle in Pakistan, and in turn fortifies what they would like their idea of Pakistan to be. —Reuters/File photo

A potentially sinister event has prompted this column. It is my sense from a few visits to Pakistan beginning with 1997 that a large number of Pakistanis prefer the rightwing religious revivalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to rule India. On the other hand, they are wary of the Congress. This tendency, I gather, is more pronounced within the Pakistani bureaucracy and the military. I know of Pakistani diplomats and officials who would be privately praying for the BJP to win the April-May elections in India.

To some extent this is true also of some of the journalists I have interacted with from different parts of Pakistan. They include those that claim to work for peace and dialogue between the two countries. The BJP has sold them the myth that it can alone solve the Kashmir dispute, not the Congress or anyone else.

There is a counter grouse among Pakistanis. Many of them feel, and they are probably spot on, that the bulk of the Indian establishment, including that media which works with the establishment, has a subcutaneous liking for the military in preference to civilian governments in Islamabad, and, in recent days, for General Pervez Musharraf in particular. This was reflected in some ways in the standing ovation the former army chief received recently at the end of a televised interaction he had with the movers and shakers of Delhi. And who was the one person Musharraf wanted to meet in Delhi but couldn’t? It was none other than his favourite BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee.

DAWN.COM | Columnists | Congress created Pakistan, Pakistan created the BJP?.

Rediscovering True Islam | pkpolitics.com.

Following is an email that was sent to me by Haris :-

This is by far the best explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation I
have ever read. His references to past history are accurate and clear. Not
long, easy to understand, and well worth the read.
The author of this email is Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a well known and well
respected psychiatrist.

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a
number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people
were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward
fanaticism.  ‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed
the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one
of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the
majority just sat back and let it all happen.

Read more…

The Following Is An E-Mail sent to me By Ahmed Karim

1. Ali Baba and the forty thieves are now Ali Baba and the thirty thieves.
Ten were laid off!!

2. Batman and Robin are now Batman and Pedro. Batman fired Robin and  hired
Pedro because Pedro was willing to work twice the hours at the same  rate

3. Iron man now “air-pooling” with Superman to save fuel costs.

4. Women finally marry for love, and not money

5.  Q: With the current market turmoil, what’s the easiest way to
make a small fortune?
A: Start off with a large one.

6.  The credit crunch is getting bad isn’t it? I mean, I let my
brother borrow $10 a couple of weeks back, it turns out I’m now  America ‘s
third biggest lender.

7.  Q: Why have Dubai real estate agents stopped looking out of the
window in the morning?
A: Because otherwise they’d have nothing to do in the afternoon.

8.  Q: What’s the difference between an American and a Zimbabwean?
A: In a few weeks, nothing.

9.  Dow Jones is re-branded as “Down Jones”.

10. Quote from a wall street banker: This is worse than divorce.
I’ve lost half of my assets and I still have my wife…!!!!..

Minister for Tourism Maulana Attaur Rehman is ambitiously optimistic of attracting foreign tourists to Pakistan through what he calls “Islamic and health tourism” instead of offering free access to liquor and other immoral acts considered sources of enjoyment in the west.

In a chat with The News on Friday, Attaur Rehman claimed closing down the last alcohol-sale point at the state-run Fleshman’s Hotel in Rawalpindi by imposing a complete ban on its availability through official channels.

“Definitely, the ban can result in financial losses, which will be compensated by implementing new ideas such as promotion of health tourism in the fist step and pure Islamic tourism in the second phase,” argued the minister, who said no religion allowed liquor consumption or indulgence in immoral practices.

“These practices are preferred in many countries to lure tourists but we, the JUI-F, will prove this notion incorrect,” he promised. Since every foreign tourist followed a religion, he/she was had a religious obligation to shun liquor and other immoral practices, he reasoned.

“I don’t think that tourism is necessarily linked to alcoholic drinks; there are certain other things that can be more effective (in promoting this sector),” remarked JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s younger brother.

With regard to ‘health’ tourism, he pointed out the treatment of different diseases in Pakistan was much cheaper than in other countries, particularly in Europe and the so-called welfare states. “According to our assessment, the treatment of an ailment costing $90,000 in the west can be provided for $3,000 in Pakistan. We, therefore, have floated the idea of health tourism; all hospitals will be taken on board in this regard.”

In an attempt to prove his point, Attaur Rehman pointed out India, Sri Lanka and some other countries were using cheaper treatment for different ailments to lure foreign picnickers. “At this stage, figures of foreign exchange earnings may not be believable to many, but they will be known in the near future. Our ideas, if implemented, will not only make up for the losses (resulting from the ban on liquor use), they will also earn the country a good name in the comity of nations,” he added.

Included in his repertoire of ideas are the Islamic culture and values. The JUI-F leader plans to set up Islamic art galleries on the pattern of Lok Virsa. “These art galleries will give a true picture of Islam.”

In response to a question about expected resistance to his moves, Attaur Rehman said the JUI-F had arrangements with its partners, particularly with the PPP, to ensure implementation of its policies in the ministries under its control.

“No one in the government has resisted the total ban on the sale of liquor at tourist points and, therefore, we don’t expect any hurdle to other steps that we want to take,” he asserted, alleging state-run tourism hotels and motels were sold at throwaway prices. “We are bound to remain within the limits defined by our religion without caring about losses (caused by his actions),” he said.

Article By : Dilshad Azeem                                       Source : The News