A load of crap from an idle brain

A good writeup on the assassination of Hamas’ top leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on January 19 at a hotel in Dubai allegedly by 11 members of Israel’s secret service organisation.  The whole operation by Mossad has many lessons for the Indian government to learn.

While dealing with terrorist supporting countries like Pakistan, an aggressive covert assassination program can go a long way in controlling the terrorism perpetrated by Pakistani supported terrorists on India.  Taking out select leaders of the rogue intelligence agency, ISI sponsoring the terrorism and leaders of JuD, LeT etc should be actively considered by India.

After the disastrous policy by the ex-Prime Minister IK Gujral who shut down the Counter Intelligence Teams of R&AW, its time India flexed its muscles.  A few targeted killings will send a strong message across to our neighbours that their transgressions will not be tolerated anymore.  The only way to stop terrorism is to increase the cost on the sponsors.  They slap you and you gouge out both their eyes and bash their face up badly.  That’s how you respond to terrorism and not by getting apologetic about it.

But it needs leaders with guts and conviction to take up such measures.  Do we have any of them?  Our leaders are either busy dividing us on caste, religion, region etc or sucking up to minorities.  Anyone out there who can implement these measures?

According to a report in the Telegraph, the group, which included a woman, entered the hotel dressed as businessmen and tennis players, and managed to strangle Mabhouh inside his room. The assassins arrived in Dubai carrying French, German, Italian and Swiss passports, and checked into different hotels, says the report. They used fake names like Gail Folliard, Kevin Daveron and Peter Elvinger.

They met later at a shopping mall, and communicated with each other before that via a ‘command centre’ in Austria, says the report. Traveling under the alias of Mahmoud Abdul Ra’ouf Mohammed, Mabhouh was spotted at the Dubai airport by a member of another surveillance team, who had waited hours for him.

Meir Dagan – The current head of Mossad

After he checked into the al-Bustan hotel, one of the hit squad dressed as a tennis player accompanied him in the lift, and followed him to his room, the daily said. The information was then passed on to Elvinger, the group’s leader, who promptly checked into the room across the corridor from Mabhouh, says the Telegraph.

Soon, another surveillance team arrived to keep a check on the target, who left the hotel half an hour later. The group tried to take advantage of his absence and attempted to break into his room, while the woman and Daveron kept a look out for other guests. The police have not released footage of what happened next, but the assassins somehow managed to force or fool Mabhouh into opening his door, and suffocated him, said the paper. They then locked the door from inside and left.

The team left Dubai on different flights over the span of the next 12 hours, and fled to various destinations including Frankfurt, Hong Kong and South Africa [ Images ], said the Telegraph. Mabhouh’s dead body was discovered over twelve hours later, and his killers, ‘a professional team that is highly skilled in these kinds of operations’, were thousands of miles away by that time, said the daily.

Read the full article here

And now, Dubai has threatened to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu if Mossad’s complicity in the assassination is proved.   It would be good for Dubai to first explain as to what the leader of a global terrorist organisation was doing in its country?  It would be better for even Britain who is now blowing hot and cold against Israel to see why most of the terror plots in the world today are being hatched on their own soil and why most of the terrorists seem to have some connection with Britain?

Countries like Britain and Dubai seem to be in the crosshairs of global terrorism and it would be good for these respective governments to get their houses in order before pointing their fingers at others.  As for Mossad, its job is to keep its people and country safe.  And to chase down anyone who hurts their people/country and kill them like dogs.  Three cheers to Mossad for a job well done.

Some good reading on Mossad in the Telegraph paper here – “Mossad’s license to kill“.  How i really wish our so-called external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) would grow some balls and do their job properly than being caught with their pants down.

Above pictures source:  FPP & Wikipedia

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Finished reading 3 books actually.  2 of them are pretty small and I could finish them in2 days each.

1. Games Indians Play – Why We are The Way We Are

If you are someone who easily gets offended by criticism, this book is surely not for you.  If you are someone who believes in chest thumping patriotism, the kinds we find in Sunny Deol – Anil Sharma movies or the kind of person who likes to forward chain mails which proclaim that 35% of employees working in NASA, Microsoft etc are Indians, then this book is not for you either.

Games Indians Play is a hard hitting look at the way we Indians manipulate our way around the system, looks at reasons why our cities are dirty, creaking, why our roads are full of potholes, why our system, law and order machinery is corrupt, why we keep raking up examples of our thousand year old culture and morals, but are the worst behaved, immoral and culture-less people around.

The author, V Raghunathan uses game theory to explain the ills of India, as to why we are free loaders, corrupt and do not stand up to our rights etc.

Though the author goes great lengths to analyse the problems facing India, he doesnt suggest ideas or solutions to mitigate the problem.  That i believe is the only negative point about the book.

A few comments on the book that i found at Amazon website reinforce the author’s point of view

“It’s a very interesting book and does a great job of explaining some of the bizzare things that go on in India and why people say “it’s like that only”. As an Indian living in US for two decades, I can relate to author’s observations about Indian and western societies. I have been puzzled by some of those things over the years but couldn’t figure out why it was so.

And to Mr. Raghunathan: Lots of Indians/asians in US don’t behave much differently. Just go to any temple and you can see a pile of shoes/chappals on the floor right next to empty shoe shelves & just below the sign “please don’t leave your shoes on the floor”. Or visit any south asian grocery store and you can tell instantly if they sell “paans” by looking at stains all over the parking lot.”

“As an expat currently living in India, this book affirmed what I’ve found difficult and perplexing about living in New Delhi. The constant helplessness, petty jealousies and a sense that some of the observed poverty is just another one of India’s treasured rackets (an alternative route for their bizarre and seemingly increasing corruption) is overwhelming and frustrating to watch on a day-to-day basis. I enjoyed this book immensely as it helped me to understand the behavior I see around me, why it continues without change (or question) and in the end, why and how others perceive their continued benefit from this seemingly irrational paradigm (from a Western view point).

Listening to Indians and the media in India, there is a view that Westerners are selfish, lack connected communities and have no “family values” or “morals” (whatever this means by whomever defines it). It’s almost as if Indians have it reversed from Westerners. In particular, Americans who value personal independence coupled with a sense of civic duty and responsibility to others whereas Indians emphasize family and communal relationships to guide their behavior and actions but do not necessarily extend their concerns outside their immediate circle.”

“The author postulates that it is ‘Supreme Selfishness’ which drives every Indian. The author then creates models of everyday situations using principles of Game Theory to explore how Indians react to such situations given that they are driven by ‘Supreme Selfishness’. For example, the author uses Prisoner’s Dilemma to model the common situation every Indian faces while emptying his trash can every morning – should I empty the bin on the road or should I have to walk two hundred feet to the nearest municipal waste bin?”

Games Indians Play
Author – V Raghunathan
Pages – 170
Publisher – Penguin Books

2. Germany – Cultures of the World

I have a good collection of the Lonely Planet series.  But they are books for the hardcore traveler.  Though i love to travel; finances, time and other considerations deny me that pleasure.  I love reading up on the countries, their cultures, people, society, food etc, but i find the Lonely Planet series of books too bulky to read and i find its a book good for people who like to micro-manage their travels.  As for me, i like to take the leisure way out and i just like to do a broad research of the place before i travel.

Europe is a dream destination for me.  Germany is one of my most admired countries and i happened to chance at this book in the library.  Its small, concise and covers all aspects of the country just the way i love it.  The book covers the geography, government, culture, food, people, cities, environment, politics, history etc in a precise manner.

3. Hiroshima – Story of the First Atom Bomb

Its a pretty small book, mostly for kids which traces the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima.  Capturing mostly pictures of both before and after of the destruction and a few explanations about the bomb, the politics behind it.  The book is mostly about Manhattan project, nuclear theory, progress of World War II, Truman’s decision to use the bomb, the mission of Enola Gay, results of the Hiroshima explosion and the subsequent use of the bomb on Nagasaki.

Above picture source: Amazon & Nowpublic

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Yup, its the 60 years since India became a Republic.  Have we gone the right way or wrong?  Well, there is still time for such discussion.

Meanwhile, best wishes of the day.

Above picture source: Santabanta

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I had always wondered about the procedure of choosing a guest for the Republic Day celebrations that happen in New Delhi.  Going by this article, there seems to be a strategy behind the whole selection.  It all depends on the way India percieves the person its inviting, the kind of relations between the two countries and if India wants to elevate the relationship level and lots more.  This year’s Republic Day guest is South Korean President, Lee Myung-Bak.

In an innovation increasingly evident, the government has been weaving strategy with hospitality to decide its chief guest for the Republic Day. So in the 60th year of the republic, as it gets ready to host chief guest and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, New Delhi has given the final environmental clearance to Posco, the South Korean steel giant, to set up a $12-billion steel plant in Orissa. The project is the single biggest foreign investment in the country.

There are other reasons as well for India to extend this year’s honour to Lee. South Korea is an influential player in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum where India has a growing stake, because of which New Delhi feels the need for a greater engagement with APEC member countries.

Read the full article here

Pictures courtesy: Wikipedia & 26alphabets

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Was it expected?  Well, it depends on the people you are asking.  If you ask the rulers of the kingdom, then everything is and was hunky dory.  If you ask the economists and people tracking the business of Dubai, it was always sitting on a debt bubble, ever willing to burst.

The tallest building, the biggest man made island, the biggest snow world in the midst of a desert, the largest mall in the world, the glitziest and grandest hotels in the world…the list of biggest, largest, tallest was never enough for Dubai to conquer.  And in this context, the tiny city state of Dubai over leveraged itself and built an empire of debt.  A debt that is bigger than its GDP now.

For a country that hardly has any oil, it had to build its future on something else than oil.  So, the charismatic ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum decided to move to finance, tourism to hedge its economy.  Good vision no doubt, but its the execution where the fault lay.  Mindless borrowing was fun and fine till the economic collapse happened in the USA.  With the collapse of Lehman, Merrill Lynch and a host of big banks, the easy money dried up.  And it was just a matter of time before which this was to happen.

Just three days before Eid, the Dubai government’s announced a six-month reprieve on debt repayments. This  sent shockwaves through the world markets, as it raised doubts over the Gulf emirate’s ability to meet its financial obligations.

Dubai is being crushed under a mountain of debt. The emirate has a debt in excess of $80 billion which it incurred by expanding in banking, real estate and transportation. Dubai World with $60 billion liabilities has sought a six-month standstill on its debt repayment to all its lenders.

The Dubai government requested the creditors of Dubai World (one of three conglomerates that are backed by the emirate), to agree to a ’standstill’ on repayments until May 30 2010.

On one hand the Finance ministers and bankers are saying that the markets are behaving erratically.  But believe them at their own peril.  These are the same people who just days before the collapse of the American banks proclaimed that all was well.

For most of this decade Dubai has been the Victoria Beckham of the Arab world–the biggest, glitziest, most heedless spender. It’s been the sort of place that invests $7.6 billion subway system few of its 1.6 million people are likely to use, the sort of place that builds artificial islands in the shape of palm trees, the sort of place that builds the world’s tallest skyscraper, the sort of place that sells designer seat-belts to encourage drivers to be safer in the very cars it wants them to trade in for a subway ride, and the sort of place where office buildings have been the Gulf’s most copious crop of the decade.

Dubai hasn’t limited its excesses to its corner of the United Arab Emirates. Through Dubai World, the Emirate’s investment arm, it partnered with MGM Mirage and invested in such projects as Las Vegas’ City Center, a 67-acre development that includes a 4,004-room hotel-casino, 2,400 high-rise residential condos, dining and entertainment venues and its own retail district. At $8.5 billion, it’s the most expensive privately financed construction project in the United States.

Now the bad news.

The Dubai subway has been running since September, albeit to empty quarters. A quarter of Dubai’s office space is vacant. Workers have taken salary cuts of up to 30%. The Emirati government is in debt to the tune of $80 billion to $120 billion. CityCenter? It’s “worth about half of what it cost MGM Mirage and Dubai World to build the massive Strip development,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in October. lost half its value. MGM Mirage took a $1 billion write-down already, Dubai World ate a $348 million loss (so far).

Read rest of the article here

So, does that mean that the Dubai dream is all over?  Not really.  Am sure the more conservative cousin of Dubai, Abu Dhabi will come in with its oil money to rescue it.  But Abu Dhabi has conveyed that the help will on a case to case basis.

That would mean that we would see lesser flamboyance from everyone associated with Dubai, at least for some time now.

More articles on the Dubai mayhem

Recession and debt dissolve Dubai’s mirage in the desert
Dubai’s Debt Troubles: Beginning of the Next Leg Down?
Dubai: an emirate in crisis
Sober ruler of Dubai whose vision is crumbling in the face of the storm