Bush gets more for Iraq!

At the end of the struggle, president Bush finally got his way with the congress approving nearly 70 billion$ for his Iraq campaign. I am not here to say whether the war was right or not, but the fact of the matter is that the Americans are in control of Iraq now and any lack of funds at this crucial stage may impact in a negative way on the development of Iraq as a whole.
We all know what the lack of funds will do, for one it may result in the temporary withdrawal of the U.S forces and once that happens, the whole of Iraq will explode under sectarian war, causing more innocents to shed blood. I think that although Bush should have not started this war, what the democrats are doing, that is holding the very existence of Iraq hostage to their whims is unconscionable.

Iran and the United states!

The tango between the United states and Iran has been nothing but bitter all the way. It sounds bitter even to us who just get to hear a watered down version in the news so can you imagine the actual bitterness that is present in the Iran-United states relations. It seems that they must have caught the India-Pakistan bug. The relations between the two Asian neighbours was so bitter at one time that it would have given the word 'bitter' take a closer look at itself. But they have since then progressed to toleration to acceptance and now to friendship. The road to peace is never smooth and one can always count on it to be rocky at the least. Both the United states and Iran should take a leaf out of the India-Pakistan relations and learn from it.
If I were to take a guess, I would say that the bitterness with Iran started with the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis. Since then, relations between the two have taken quite a beating. The Americans in general have a very warped vision of Iran, not surprising considering that most of the Americans think that Cuba is only good for cigars. The relations between India and Pakistan , although bitter to start off with, has normalised as a result of the shared heritage between them. No matter that they have come to blows in the past or may do so in the future, but this shared heritage that has bonded them is here to stay. So they both have very wisely decided to build on that, both literally and figuratively.
Where as the Americans and the Iranians do not have much of a shared heritage to build upon and what is more they do not consider one other as humans so the question of bonds and heritage is kind of moot here. Recently the Stanford university had invited president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the guest speaker only to insult him publicly which says volumes about American manners. It is no wonder that the Europeans and the rest of the world do not think much of the American manners,to invite a foreign dignitary and to insult him like that is unheard of in almost all countries all over the world except for the Untied states. Either way whether they choose to improve their manners or not, the Untied states needs to resolve its issues with Iran in a peaceful and Democratic manner. That is the way of the world and we most certainly do not need another war!

iran,stanford university,united states,war,manners,resolve,iranian revolution,

More bomb blasts in Pakistan?

Is the peace and security destabilising in Pakistan? Is General Musharraf aware of the world's perception of his government and his presidency? The recent suicide bomb blasts at an army camp could not have come at a even worse time for Musharraf. As things stand, the Supreme court is mulling over his presidency and may soon issue a decision that will shake all the politico's in Pakistan.
Coupled with the recent bomb blasts in Pakistan, the release of the controversial book,
Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy where it is claimed that Musharraf had his finger on the nuclear button and wanted to nuke India, this is only causing the whole world to turn up the spotlight on the general and Pakistan. When a person can be so irresponsible to almost start a nuclear war, can the world really trust this man? That is the question that a lot of the Indians, Americans and the whole world at large are asking themselves today. With the general elections due in Pakistan, is it any wonder that the general is left with few friends and the ones that he has are increasingly distancing themselves away from him and his 'gung ho' policies?

Turkey gearing up to invade Iraq??

The recent clashes between the Turkish military and the Kurdish rebels has only made an already bad situation even worse. With Turkey gnawing at the reins it is going to be a difficult job to convince the Turks not to invade Iraq at the moment. The problem is further compounded by the fact that most of the Iraqi's will view any such unilateral action on the part of Turkey as an act of invasion and will oppose any such moves by direct action on their part.The Turkey - Kurdish clashes is fast turning out to be one major headache that no one wants to handle at the moment.
If they are not careful, Turkey could well start of another war that no one wants. As things stand Iraq is not exactly a realm of peace and security at the moment. The district that Turkey is itching to invade is one of the more peaceful districts of Iraq and any action by Turkey on it could well start off a chain reaction that will be hard to stop. Either the United states or the Iraqi government must act now before it is too late. The Untied states must make it clear to Turkey that if Turkey were to start any incursions into the sovereign territory of Iraq, it will view it as an act of invasion and take what ever action is needed to be taken to counter such a move. one can only hope that patriotism aside that Turkey is listening!

turkey,iraq,united states,kurds,war,

Iran hardens its stance in the Nuclear issue!

Iran has hardened its stance in the Nuclear issue with having appointed a hardliner as the new chief nuclear negotiator. The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accepted the resignation of the last nuclear negotiator and has appointed a hardliner in his place. Things may start to get a bit sticky as the Untied states increases pressure on Iran by way of more sanctions. At the moment, Russia who has invested a lot in Iran is currently objecting to any further sanctions on Iran. But this will change as soon as Russia sees that Iran is not serious of backing off the 'Nuclear quest' and that all this talk has been more of a way of buying time than accomplishing anything concrete. Things are going to come to a boil sooner or later regarding Iran. Bush has certainly not helped matters along by linking a Nuclear Iran with World war 3!

iran,united states,power,russia,nuclear,

Turkey planning to invade Iraq??

With things not exactly all there yet for Iraq, all it needs now is to worry about Turkey invading it on the pretext of dealing with the Kurdish insurgents who are supposed to have a base of sorts in Iraq. The Turkish parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of sending additional troops to Iraq, this time not to impose peace and security in the region, but rather with the sole purpose of dealing with the insurgents. The Kurdish insurgents have formed a group called the Kurdistan Workers' Party. This group is camped in the Kurdish areas of Iraq and this group has often carried out attacks against the Turkish military in the past. Now they may well have pushed Iraq into another conflict with another one of its neighbours. Turkey should note that although there is not much love between the Kurds and the rest of the Iraqi's, still the Iraqi men and women will not feel that kindly to Turkey sending its troops in a very invasive method with the only purpose of dealing with other fellow Iraqi citizens. If no caution is exercised now, the whole region could well explode onto the scene with another war that no one wanted in the first place to begin with!

turkey,iraq,kurdish rebels,invasion,united states,

George Bush to talk about the new Iraq Vision??

What a vision it has been for the rest of the world.this war was wrong to start off with.anyway now that Iraq is in the midst of the 'war on terror',with civilians and soldiers dying there day by day,is it any surprise to any of us that George Bush has a new vision on Iraq now?
But truth be told,there has to be some changes made to the current Iraq policy as it is now.especially with more deaths being reported from there day by day.and the U.S soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners certainly did not help matters any way whatsoever.so what can the new policy be all about?well,for one,total withdrawal out of the question as that would only result in Iraq getting into a civil war or worse into another 10 year war with Iran.but what the U.S can do now is to do some damage control and bring the United Nations into the picture and make the force that is currently based in Iraq more multinational and at the same time try to see what the Iraqi's really want.bottom line,every Iraqi man and woman,want peace and democracy but that should certainly not come at the price of terror!

iraq,iran,war,peace,george bush,

Iraq withdrawl a mistake??

As much as i hate to agree with president George Bush,i have to say that in this,he is indeed right.leaving Iraq like that will be nothing short of disaster not to say that it will push the country into a civil war which may soon lead to a full fledged war between Iraq,Iran and Turkey.
So for the moment,a withdrawal out of Iraq is out of the question at least until an effective peace and stability has bee secured.regarding peace,well,that still seems to be a pipe dream.but who knows,maybe if the United Nations was to take on a more full fledged role in this,perhaps then,we may[operative word is may] consider a withdrawal of the American troops out of Iraq.but until then,Bush is right!

united states,iraq,withdrawl,civil war,

Sierra Leone-Test of fire!

Sierra Leone is heading for the polls today which will see if the conflict ravaged country can pick up the pieces and hold a democratic election.this country more than any other country has seen so many conflicts that if one were to talk about wars and Sierra Leone,one would have to ask 'which war'.most of these conflicts have been caused by the diamonds.the diamonds from Sierra Leone are known as 'blood diamonds' for a very good reason and they are banned from being sold world over.
Now that the U.N has taken charge,one can only hope that this will see the end of the conflicts and that the flag of democracy and reign of peace and prosperity will truly reign in Sierra Leone.it is sad that a country had to suffer so much in so little time but when you are at the bottom there is only one way to go and that's up all the way.Seven candidates are vying for the nation's top post, with 69-year-old Vice President Solomon Berewa the main front-runner. President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, 75, cannot run again because of term limits.
It is nice to see democracy work and to see all of them equally participating.good luck,Sierra Leone,you deserve it and we all wish you and all your citizens well!

sierra leone,war,united nations,diamond,

U.S to use force to free hostages!

The U.S is planning tom use force to free the south Korean hostages being held by the Taliban.if one were to pay attention to all the public statements that are coming out of the United states one would note that the U.S has made it aptly clear to P[Pakistan in not so many words that it would not condone a Taliban resurgence.with the latest so called tiff over territorial aggression,Pakistan is increasingly finding itself in a bind,what,with the need to allay its domestic voting banks who are increasingly radical to that of the need to weed out the so called Taliban militia and exterminate the problem once and for all.with the elections so near,this just makes things all the more problematic!

Of course the U.S may be planning something more than merely rescuing the hostages.they could use this as an excuse and mount an all frontal assault against the Taliban bases in Pakistan.the Pakistan intelligence has thought of this and have issued statements to the effect that Pakistan will not condone any territorial aggression by anyone[meaning the U.S].with politics and diplomacy one always has to read between the lines and reading so,the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S is heading downhill and fast at that!

pakistan,united states,taliban,hostages,

The United States warns Pakistan!

The United States intelligence agencies have warned Pakistan that Al queda may be regrouping in the NWP of Pakistan.that is only logical to assume that in view of he ongoing attacks on Nato troops stationed in Afghanistan.and naturally the Pakistani government is a bit peeved that it is now being asked to act on assumptions and ideas without any factual proof.the Pakistani government in a recent press conference pretty much said that.what is more they have indicated to the United States that they are doing a lot in this war against terror and hope to be suitably rewarded,so the United States has made a recent grant of 1 Billion dollars to Pakistan in its fight against terror.what remains to be seen of course is whether the erstwhile president mr Musharaff can deliver on his promises to the U.S.

Thank god Nixon did not win!

Even today most of the Bangladeshi's are happy that the U.S did not get its way especially during the India-Pakistan war of 1971 which gave independence to Bangladesh from the Pakistani rulers.as foreign policies go by,1971 saw most of the well formed foreign policy plans of Nixon and Henry Kissinger go into the dumps.the Bangladeshi's were suffering under the control of their Pakistani rulers and there were protesting for their independence from their Pakistani rulers.East pakistan as Bangladesh was known then was biting at the reins and things were going from bad to worse with the Pakistani army taking affirmative action against the rebels.
India,being aware of all this wanted a dialogue to be started between the various parties with the hope that peace would prevail.but that proposal did not even get off the ground.in the meanwhile Pakistan which was allied with China was taking serious action against the rebels in East Pakistan,driving the rebels into the Indian territories.Indira[India's prime minister] seeing that India was becoming overcome by the wave of refugees decided to meet with Nixon prior to which she and India had signed an all weather friendship pact with Soviet union.the all too infamous meeting between Indira gandhi,Henry kissinger and Nixon took place in late 1971.the U.S and nixon in particular wanted India to back off East Pakistan so that no war interferes with the U.S plans vis a vis China.but that did not happen.the U.S and Nixon in particular undrestimated Indira gandhi's resolve and the rest is history.Bangladesh got her independence and both India and the Soviet Union can truly be credited for helping her achieve this.all that the U.S did at that time was to vehemently object to the idea of a free Bangladesh,also the U.S asked China to attack India and at the same time the U.S had also sent in one of her warships into the bay of bengal thinking that would be a deterrent to the creation of Bangladesh.of course as history would tel you,the U.S failed miserably in its foreign policy at that time because in one dumb decision by a paranoid president[Nixon] and an arrogant adviser[Kissinger] the U.S managed to rub off India the wrong way,the consequences of that decision still resonates ever so loudly in the sub continent.of course the parameters as well as the players have changed and probably the new generation may not remember much but India and Bangladesh both have a long memory and they are not going to forget what the U.S tried to do in 1971,sacrificing democracy so that the U.S foreign policy vis a vis China would be on track!the recently declassified documents sheds light especially on the Nixon-Indira meetings.

india,united states,pakistan,1971,war,nixon,bangladesh,

Palestine civil war!

The dream of a single palestine state receded further with the militant Hamas taking over Gaza.the Fatah then started to consolidate themselves in the west bank.the way the situation is right now,a clash between the Hamas and the Fatah seems more likely than ever especially with the west restoring aid and backing the current fatah led government in the west bank.
It is indeed a shame that a movement led by Yasser arafat should have come to this.but i do have to point out that with the militant Hamas out of the government the west finds the current government of palestine much more palatable to deal with.so lets hope that the Middle east peace process is renewed ASAP.

36 killed in Iraq today!

Today the death count went up by 36 in Iraq.the violence seems to be fast spiralling out of control.with the U.S and the Iraqi forces continuing their operations to the north and the south of Baghdad to hunt the militants down,about 36 Iraqi citizens were killed today as a result of these operations.
What is becoming more and more obvious is that a very large chunk of the Iraqi populace are being killed either as a result of being caught in the crossfire between the militants and the U.S forces or as a result of 'over enthusiastic' action on the part of the Iraqi and the U.S lead forces.either way you look at it,the very population that the United States led alliance swore to protect are fast disappearing into their graves.is this what the war is all about?should not the iraqi people be allowed to live in some semblance of peace and democracy?personally,although i have never been to Iraq i think that the Iraqi citizens had more peace and security under Saddam Husein than they do under the current Iraqi government!

the tension factor!

With all the tension that is raging all around us all the time one can only wish that the world was amuch quieter place.but that does not seem to be happening anytime soon.especially with Iran increasing the tension levels in the middle east.
thinngs in the sub continent are not that great either.especially with the recent anti china view proposed by the defense department.but the facts do remain that China is building up her military and they seem to be quite aggresive about it.
the defense department siad in not so many words that if China was to attack any country be it Taiwan or India itself,it can mean only one thing -war.and thats all we need right now.why is it so hard for the people to think of peace?

Another blast in Baghdad!

This seems to go on again and again.trying to prevent such bomb attacks from happening is not going to be easy.but i think that the solution to the problem is tackling it at the groundroots rather than just building a bunker.events in baghdad are spiraling out of control and the fatalaties seem to be on the rise all over again.if the U.S as well as the other allied powers are not careful then we may end up having a full fledged sectarian war.it is sad that two sects belonging to the same religion can hate one another so much but then again,in christianity,the roman catholics and the protestants hate one another with the same intensity as it can be seen more clearly in Ireland.
Regarding Baghdad,we cannot simplify the problem.there are militants there who would like nothing better than to see a civil war break out and watch them tear the country apart.this is what the heads of both the communities must realise.they must realise that as more car bomns and attacks of sectarian nature take place,the militants are slowly but surely tearing Iraq apart and that they are winning the war,not the Iraq government or the sunnis or the shias or the Allied powers.That is the sad truth.so tackle the problem at the ground roots and make both the communities realise what is at stake.after all religious sentiments or false pride alone is not going to put the food on the table,is it?

Running away from Condoleezza Rice

Well,i have heard that to avoid a lady a man can go to any lengths and this was only prove to be all true when at a dinner of diplomats the iranian foreign minister boycotted on the reason that the violinist was not dressed appropriately.either way the quesiton that is doing the rounds is whether it was the woman in the red dress or the state secretary that got to him.either way he was seen fleeing the scene.
The Egyptians offered to host a lunch for the americans and the iranians to work out the Iraq imbroligo.when asked by the press if the Iranain foreign minister and the secretary of the state would be seated next to each other,Egypt's Aboul Gheit stated "no,no".the emphasis he made on his answer makes one wonder if all will ever be well between Iran and the U.S.

A shot for peace!

Well with the recent Iran imbroligo,it seems that peace fianllyhad a say.but i do wish that the Iranians had choosen some other way than to try and hold hostage all those sailors.well it has already complicated an already bad situation in ways that no one had anticipated!
will Pax fall,it onlyt remains to be seen!

All about Pax

Well it seems that Pax is the only thing in this world that is hard to maintain,from Africa to India to Iran to China.anyway you look at it it seems that half of the world's population is fighting with itself and the other half is just intrested in sitting on the sidelines to see what is happening.all is going down yet we cannot seem to help ourselves.so is all Pax just a dream to be.
can we truly have a peaceful world or is it just too much for the realpolitik to bring about??