SPY EYES

Since the September 11 tragedy, Israel and Jews who had overtly and covertly jumped on Bush’s anti-terrorism enterprise in order to targeting Pakistan, Iran and China in particular and other Islamic countries in general have been damaging their global economic interests by manipulating the US war on terror.

On the other side, in the aftermath of 9/11, various suicide attacks in Israel, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Spain, Britain etc., and an unending wave of the same in Iraq and Afghanistan shows that the Muslim revolutionaries are giving a greater setback to the world economic which especially safeguards the interests of the Jews at the cost of the small states which have become arena of this new style conflict.

It is notable that many big cartels of the world are owned by the Jews. By controlling the major multinational corporations, arms factories, five star hotels, oil companies, liquor business, food industries, mining and mineral resources, banks, film industry, print and electronic media on international level—having influence on the financial institutes like World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Jews have direct and indirect hold on the global economy.  

In this regard, many intellectuals like Don Allen and others reveal, “the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) was founded in New York City by Col. Edward Mandell House (real name: Haus–Jewish), chief adviser to President Woodrow Wilson, in league with stockholders of the Federal Reserve Bank…was part of a conspiracy to gain control of both US political parties to use them as instruments…seventy-three percent of the members of the Council on Foreign Relations are Jews. There are a number of organizations that comprise the Invisible Government that runs America and the world– from behind the scenes. A Jewish group is in control of national governments and multinational corporations, promotes world government through control of the military, media, foundation grants and education including NGOs…and controls and guides the issues of the day, and thus they control most options available. They will manage the money, the land, the food, and the guns—of everyone in the world.”

According to Ted Pike, “almost every substantial library in America contains a number of books confirming such Jewish control.

The extent of Jewish grip on the US Administration and American policies could also be judged from the observation of Mike Stathis who, while quoting Senator William J., writes, “The great majority of the Senate of the United States…somewhere around 80 percent…are completely in support of Israel, anything Israel wants. This has been demonstrated time and again.” And “without the all out support by the US in money and weapons and so on the Israelis could not do what they have been doing.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. The New York Timeshas describedit as “the most important organization affecting America’s relationship with Israel,” while other sources calls it “as one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, DCstating that it “acts as an agent of the Israeli government with a stranglehold on the US Congresswith its power and influence.”

However, Jews who shape and mould the American foreign policies including those of some western countries in one or the other way have also got the services of some Hindus and Americans so as to continue their anti-Muslim campaign. In this respect, by availing the ongoing international phenomena of terrorism, Jewish-Hindu lobbies are collectively working in America and other European countries to manipulate the double standards of the west in relation to terrorism and human rights vis-à-vis Pakistan, Iran and China in particular and Syria, Libya, Yemen, Egypt etc. in general in wake of the violent protests and uprising in these Middle East states. Particularly Israel and India are equating the ‘war of independence’ in Kashmir and Palestine with terrorism. If New Delhi considers Pakistan as her enemy number one, Tel Aviv takes Iran in the same sense especially due to its nuclear programme which is also negated by the US. Israel is also against Pakistan as it is the only nuclear Islamic country.

It is due to the Jewish control over world media and collective secret alliance of American CIA, Israeli Mossad and Indian RAW that some Indian, Israeli and western  politicians have introduced dangerous socio-religious dimension in their societies by equating the “war on terror” with “war on Islam” and acts of Al Qaeda with all the Muslims. Their media have also been contributing to heighten the currents of world politics on cultural and religious lines with the negative projection of Islam. In this connection, reprinting of the caricatures about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and release of a Dutch film against the Holy Quran in the recent past might be noted as an example.

It is noteworthy that in a prolonged war of more than ten years, despite heavy aerial bombardment and ground shelling in Iraq, Afghanistan and now in Pakistan through intermittent drone attacks, US-led forces have badly failed in obtaining their objectives.  These tactics have killed more innocent civilians—created massive resentment against Washington, and have been expediting the radicalism among the young men, turning them into suicide bombers, giving a greater setback to the security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. US-led different war between the sovereign and non-sovereign entities has proved that big powers have failed in crushing the power of the Islamic militants on global and regional level through armed forces, equipped with sophisticated weaponry. Such a state terrorism by the solesuperpower has resulted into more terrorism from Somalia to Iraq and Nigeria to Afghanistan, while destabilising the economy of the whole world which is in fact dominated by the Jews.

America whose external policy is directed by the Jews intends to convert particularly Pakistan into a “failed state” by causing political and economic instability as a perennial wave of suicide attacks, bomb blasts and targeted killings sponsored by CIA, RAW and Mossad coupled with the US threat of high-value targets inside the country indicates. Besides, Washington is going to act upon exit strategy from Afghanistan, so it has started shifting Afghan war in Pakistan. Nevertheless, such an ill-conceived strategy will create external insecurity which is likely to further harm America’s larger geo-political and economic interests on regional and international level.

While taking cognizance of the US-led prolonged war on terror, decline of dollars, heavy cost of war and intensity of financial crisis which severely hit the economy of the US in particular and other European countries in general—in the present era of globalization of markets, multi-nationals and media networks, even western thinktanks have recognized inter-relationship between peace, economics, politics and terrorism. Now, they agree in light of the US failed strategy against terrorism and defeatism in Afghanistan that religious fanaticism and stiff resistance of the Islamic militants are linked to political and economic injustices.

Under the pretext of terrorism, it is because of anti-Muslim developments that a greater resentment is being found among the Muslims who think that the US in connivance with the Jewish-Hindu lobbies is sponsoring state terrorism, directly or indirectly in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kashmir and Palestine including other countries of the Middle East and Africa.

Nonetheless, if Jews want to protect their economic and financial interests in the modern world of today, they should abandon the old theories of Machiavelli, Morgenthau, Waltz and Kissinger who emphasise power as the main determinant of international relations, endorsing the principle of might is right. Otherwise, Muslim militants, fighting against the imperialist powers through ambush assaults, rocket attacks and suicide bombers have broken the myth of old model of power-based theories which only safeguard the economic interests of the Jews which are well-penetrated in the US and other western countries, and want to continue present war against the Islamic radicals. In this regard, in a short war of 2006, Tel Aviv and American Jews should also learn a lesson from Israel’s defeat by the non-state entity-Hezbollah.

No doubt, experience of war against terrorism has now clearly proved that the militants are bringing about instability in the world economy dominated by the Jews visibly and invisibly. So Jews are rapidly damaging their own economic and financial interests in a word which has changed into a global village. In this context, Jewish interests demand peace and security in the world. For this purpose, they must give up conspiracies against Pakistan, Iran, China and other Arab countries. They must also play a positive role in resolving the thorny issues of Kashmir and Palestine. 

Reporting from Tripoli, Libya

 The 6/27/11 International Criminal Courts (ICC) arrest warrants issued for Muammar Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, and Libya intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi, however pleasing to the “rebels” and NATO, probably won’t have much effect on negotiating a settlement between the two camps and certainly the warrants will not facilitate a voluntary regime change.  Quite likely, the warrants effects will tend toward the obverse, with the Libyan government ignoring, but ridiculing the much criticized ICC and pointing out its historical pattern of targeting African leaders. At Tripoli’s Rixos Nasser Hotel, just a few hours after the arrest warrants were announced, Libya’s Justice Minister and a high ranking Foreign Affairs official did just that and then refused to take any questions from the large gathering of western journalists of whom Libya is distrustful of, given a spate of recent false main stream media reports that have been exposed as hoaxes.

Colonel Qaddafi and his supporters, in a series of what this observer refers to as “Hezbollah style free give and take dialogue sessions” are making it very plain that they will prevail in re-unifying Libya and probably before Ramadan which begins, this year, in early August.  They argue that the “rebels” are increasingly fighting among themselves and are losing popular support. It’s an argument similar to the one the “rebels” are using to explain how their victory is all but assured, also by the end of Ramadan.

A subsequent report will also detail NATO terrorism and crimes against the civilian population that have included the  2/17 /11 to  6/27/11 bombing of 294 civilian targets, killing and wounding a total of 6,232  according to the Libyan Red Crescent Society statistics. These civilian targets include the Libyan Down's Syndrome Society, a school that provided speech therapy, handicrafts and sports sessions for disabled children, as well as Tripoli’s Nassar University, homes, schools, medical facilities and food storage warehouses, bombing these sites are all outlawed by the Geneva Conventions and constitute NATO war crimes. An additional massive documentation project by international organizations is expected to be completed by July 30, 2011.

Once entering Libya from Tunisia, the roughly 115 mile drive to Tripoli currently provides a fascinating if unsettling introduction to the current situation in Tripoli.  By the time I arrived at the hotel, my mouth tasted like I had sipped kerosene and my clothes reeked of the same.  The reason is that the acute petroleum products shortage has meant that Tunisians and others are transporting for quick cash, whatever they can get to Tripoli to supply thousands of cars that are stranded along the roadside without fuel in their tanks.  Just about every opened car trunk I observed being inspected randomly at more than 50 check points between Jerba, Tunisia and Tripoli, Libya, were jammed with full plastic fuel containers. Many apparently leak and over the past three months have left a heavy pall and stench for nearly one hundred miles.  Some trucks, loaded with perhaps close to 1000 55 gallon drums of gasoline seemed quite ready to topple over from being seriously top-heavy with the center of gravity being at tire level. Bread, children's toys as well as dry and canned goods also fill many cars.

The main attitude one encounters on the streets of the old city such as Avenue Omar Muktar, and along the cornice  is defiance and strong nationalist support for Libya’s Revolution.

 “It’s our country.  What choice do we have but to defend it? “is a commonly expressed sentiment. One woman asked me, “Shall I take off my white Hijab and wave it to surrender when the NATO troops come to my neighborhood or shall I wear my green scarf and fire my weapons. For sure my choice is the second!”

 A Libyan businessman, who admits he has lots of free time these days, and who was educated at George Washington University, commented: “UN Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya to supposedly protect civilians from Muammar Gaddafi. The reality is that we need NATO to just declare ‘mission accomplished’ and then stop slaughtering our “protected” people?”

This morning during a long and exhilarating discussion with an official at the Libya People’s Congress HQ in Tripoli, the General=Secretary told me that more than two million of the 3.5 million Libyans over 18 years  have been armed and are training to fight NATO when/if they arrive on the ground.

Virtually everyone who is asked gives assurances that “Baba (Father) Qaddafi” will not flee but will, if necessary, die defending his country. They believe he will survive even more NATO assassination attempts.  More than once officials confidently stated that Qaddafi will be here after US President Obama is rejected by the American people in the 2012 election.

Support for this idea is found in the seemingly widespread support Qaddafi appears to enjoy and also certain “benefits” resulting from a certain Libyan pride in five million citizens still full of resistance after 100 days of facing 27 countries. The bombs have united the people, forced the sometimes too comfortable population to face the future even one without Baba Gaddafi; learned that the media strikes with false stories is stronger than the military assault in some respects, the exposure of several in the government who were ready to quickly sell out, with one million young people injected new blood into the 42 year old revolution, relearning that the “Arab system” i.e. Arab League is worthless, that it’s the poor people of Libya who truly believe in the Revolution and are remaining loyal to it, and not to  those with foreign bank accounts who NATO and the US were able to quickly threaten and pressure to defect. The confidence that the peoples arms and their self-confidence will ultimately win this attempted occupation, the “rebels” have exposed the Muslim Brotherhood as a US partner and also  has shown the true nature of the Jihadists, Al Qaeda and NATO itself;  that the African Union has a key function to perform, that Libya is not divisible because of its social and economic interdependency; the realization that Libya must reform and reject the IMF system and learn from its mistakes in  trusting the US and certain countries in 2002 when it gave up certain weapons systems and placed billions of dollars in American banks;  a return to peoples capitalism, not government capitalism, and the need to become more self-reliant.   In addition, due to the crisis, Women have stepped forward and are surprising many by “taking charge” of many governmental functions and encouraging the population to defend their country.  The youth of the country are following many much like themselves across the Middle East and are getting involved not just in defending their country but also in working on reforms, including the drafting of a Constitution in a convention being held in Tripoli next week.  Libyans are saying that they have to rejuvenate their revolution and rely on themselves.  Nearly everyone is claiming that Libya was deceived in the 2004 negotiations and agreement with the US and Western countries. They admit that they have paid a big price in terms of lives lost and infrastructure damage.  

Libya also intends to continue their gold based currency project and continue improving relations with African countries.  Libya’s squeezing the former French colonial power out of most of Africa is one motive of that country to seek regime change.

Regime Change?

President Obama is likely to be defeated in 2012 according to former Bush advisor, Karl Rove and a swelling number of US political pundits. The US economy is very weak and unlikely to experience a significant recovery by Election Day. Key voter groups are rejecting Obama partly because of his war of choice in Libya  which is seen as a bad strategic decision with NATO’s actions increasingly becoming a deadly farce with his justification increasingly ridiculed and the cost now more than 500 billion USD.

In addition, the unemployment is approaching 10% with close to 14 million Americans out of work with half of them having been without work for more than six months.  They remember that Obama promised much better, declaring that his February 2009 stimulus would cause unemployment to peak at 8% by the end of summer 2009 and drop to roughly 6.8% today.

 Gallup has reported Obama’s job approval rating this week at 45%, down from 67% at his inaugural. Among the groups showing a larger-than-average decline since 2009 are whites (down 25 points); older voters (down 24); independents and college graduates (both down 23), those with a high-school education or less, men, and Southerners (all down 22); women (down 21 points); married couples and those making $2,000-$4,000 a month (down 20). This all points to severe trouble in suburbs and mid-sized cities in states likes Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Moreover, approval among younger voters has dropped 22 points, and it's dropped 20 points among Latinos. Even African-American voters are less excited about Mr. Obama than they were and many deeply oppose his policies, and he tends to be weakest on issues voters consider most important. In the June 13 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 56% disapprove of Mr. Obama's handling of the economy. Fifty-nine percent in the Economist/YouGov poll of June 14 disapprove of how he's dealt with the deficit.

The White House is reportedly becoming reconciled to the fact that Qaddafi may remain in the Libyan leadership.

Whether Obama will be re-elected is increasingly uncertain.

Gaddafi has survived assaults of various types from US Presidents' Ford, Carter, Reagan, George Bush 1, Clinton, George Bush 2, and Obama. Vegas book makers are giving odds he’ll be the leader of Libya’s Fatah Revolution after the voters retire Obama, whose broken promises included telling them that the US would be involved in Libya for days, not months.

We have people among us that have this very real to them. We call them schizophrenics.Schizophrenics have the experience of being unable to partition their psychic activity from their physical senses or internal sense of self.

We’ll often comment on a person’s vibe when they feel friendly or threatening though there is no obvious behaviour on their part. They have even discovered in science that the electrical field around you does affect other people, and can influence their behaviour regardless of your actual overt behaviour. They used to believe it was just meaningless noise, but they have discovered the field even regulates internal functions of your brain.

Well, even the biological energies associated with consciousness have a presence on this level of being. They form the general geography of the psychic realm, for lack of a better term.

Is this the same field that allows an animal to pick up on your anger or fear of it? That field and what their physical senses tell them. Someone who is angry begins to smell like sour coffee.

For all intents and purposes, these fields are as solid and tangible in the psychic realm as matter fields are in the physical realm, and there are creatures that have evolved to exploit psychic events to meet their own needs. They even have abilities and traits that closely parallel physical evolutionary traits like camouflage.

I always embarrass my boyfriend in aquarium shops. The fish start to follow me even when I don’t touch the glass. Fish feel the energy somehow. Oh, indeed. Fish and birds are both especially sensitive to this energy but most animals are, and it’s this energy that cats and dogs respond to when people feel their pets are seeing ghosts.

It’s part of being in a group isn’t it? A school of fish that move like one entity? Oh, yes. Their sense of energy fields is part of how they form schools.

Fish is a good example. They don’t smell us through the glass. They react to the energy. Yes. They don’t smell you and they don’t see you very clearly either.

Then the whale gobbles up the whole lot. Whales are sensitive also, and humans could be sensitive as well. It’s usually blocked by intense habit and psychological conditioning. Too busy obsessing over their own thought processes to pay any real mind to external psychic energy.

Psychic abilities need to be exercised to be really strong. Indeed. Human psychic abilities grow stronger with use.

Are there some exercises one can try to hone the psychic? There are and I will touch on a little of that here, but it’s a very broad realm of study. A whole path of development all by itself.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Raja Mujtaba, the Analyist

The analysis were conducted in two parts, first was the actual analysis of the attack and second was on the high powered visit led by Hillary Clinton who was accompanied by Admiral Mike Mullen. Both the analysis were live during the 2 PM CNBC News bulletins of  26^th and 28^th of May 2011.

The first analysis covered as to how the events took place and who were the forces behind it. This also had the mention of 200 US Marines that have been or are under the process of being dispatched said to be under the pressure of Pakistan Government or Military Establishment. Here it was necessary to point out that out of 7000 or so Blackwater personale even if 200 hundred are deported means nothing. Pakistan has been a close ally of the US for over six decades but at every critical juncture it has always dumped Pakistan. Now of late, sine 9/11, it has become a part of destabilizing factor. Raymond Davis is a living proof of that.

Seeing the depth of US involvement in destabilizing Pakistan it demands that the US Embassy should be shut down completely but to keep the working relations going, it’s imperative  to cut it down drastically so that no anti Pakistan activities get a back up support from here.

What the US did in Abbottabad was just a fake exercise to test the Pakistan defences. Also as said by Senator John Kerry, that the US will study the strategic capabilities of Pakistan. This was reported in “US Attacks Pakistan.”

The precision with which the entire PNS Mehran destruction was carried out was not the job of any ordinary terrorist organisation. They were highly trained people, as per the information received from sources, they were trained and backed up by Delta Force.

PNS Mehran was selected for it had the latest PC 3 Orion aircraft that has the capability of long range surveillance and anti submarine warfare as a force multiplier. This was done to weaken Pakistan Navy so that it can not influence any US attack from the sea that is likely to happen on Makran coast.

The press statement of Admiral Nauman Bashir was incorrectly reported by the media. He never said yes or no to a security lapse, in fact he left it to the judgment of the media and the people.

To avoid such embarrassments for future, Chief of Naval Staff should speak through his DG Public Relations.

The second analysis was to cover the visit of Hillary Clinton and her delegation that was here to further pressurize Pakistan in carrying out more. Pakistan has had enough, now it must back off from the so called war on terror that is basically launched to weaken the Muslim countries.

Hillary, true to her character, like a jungle queen, has been issuing warnings to Pakistan. So has been Mike Mullen. The reception that was accorded to her should never have been done. Every visitor must be treated according to his/her level. She was treated like a head of state that was never liked by the people of Pakistan.

Washington Post had carried a report that there are extremist and hardliners in Pakistan Army. This was a complete disinformation campaign launched against Pakistan. This needs to be countered effectively by our media under the direction of Ministry of Information and ISPR.

Pakistan should not scum under any pressure, instead it should further strengthen her relations with China and get more closer to Russia the two big powers in our neighbourhood. Same time, we must develop more strong relations with Iran. In fact we should have soft border with Iran and open relations for our mutual benefit.

 By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

One of my good friends was Netanyahu’s neighbor for years.  He said Netanyahu was a funny guy, “ha ha funny,” not that other kind.  I believe him, especially after seeing this video.

Maybe Netanyahu doesn’t hate America as much as some think.  With new proof about 9/11 running from Israeli foreknowledge to full complicity, one can only guess Netanyahu’s role in the 3000 American deaths and the two subsequent wars.

I can’t hate the guy, not like Bush and Cheney.  He seems to care about his own people, the Jewish ones at least, or at least some of the Jewish ones whereas Bush and Cheney obviously despise all humanity, particularly Americans.

Netanyahu and Hitler are much the same in this way.  Hitler loved Germans like Nethanhu loves Jews.  Without unfair comparisons which, according to revisionist historians, might be unfavorable to either, we can clearly say that both leaders are responsible for their nation’s great strides while portions of their population suffered castigation and internment based on racial or religious theories.

These guys aren’t alone, this goes on everywhere, always has.

This year the American congress dragged itself to its feet 29 times to cheer a leader who orders killings based on race and religion and may have been fully complicit in the murder of thousands of Americans.

Does that surprise anyone?

In 1940, Adolf Hitler, not only could have kept congress on their feet in continual cheering, he could easily have been elected president of the United States.  He only needed the right birth certificate and a few English lessons, not too many.

There are parakeets that speak better English than former President George “W” Bush.

We will be avoiding another unfair comparison here.  Hitler was a war hero, wounded in action, who loved the “German” people.

Comparisons are funny things.  With our history largely fabricated, our news totally falsified and even President Obama, the “reasonable man” having said so many totally ignorant and duplicitous things during his short tenure in office, there can be no certainty.

Netanyahu, a genuinely clever guy, goes before congress, blithers like a trained ape for a few minutes, giggling under his breath.  I would have given anything for an open mike when he was done;

Without the occasional polemic by Ron Paul, where he dances around “third rail” issues like Israel or 9/11, almost everything said in Congress is as stupid as Netanyahu’s speech.

I give the guy credit.  He has managed to get congress to legalize Israeli spying, legalize bribery then outmaneuvered every other special interest so that congress works for and answers to him only.  He even rents  congress out.  He has a couple of dozen members working for his buddy Gaddafi.  Note Gaddafi’s silence on Israel lately?  Last year, Gaddafi’s son paid for an aid ship to Gaza.

Israel phoned up dad and the mission was called off.

The best part, he used American foreign aid to finance the whole thing.

Congress now has this down pat.  The more given to Israel, not just cash but bloated defense contracts, $10 billion at a time, the more money they get back.  Give Netanyahu a billion and he gets one of his friends to hire your wife for $150,000 a year to lick envelopes (among other things).

Israel didn’t invent this game.  Do some research.  When former president “W” Bush went broke at his only attempt at holding a job, bin Laden paid his bills and kept him out of bankruptcy.  Why do you think the huge bin Laden family was flown out of the country on 9/12/2001?

It was all Bush could do, having scapegoated them.

When Netanyahu arrived in America, he came to a country where the top celebrities were Lady Gaga, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann.  He knows a freak show when he sees one.

Who could blame him for taking part.

By Air Commodore (R) Khalid Iqbal

President Obama has announced the draw down schedule of American troops from Afghanistan. Eighteen months ago, he was mis-led by his generals into a massive troop surge that he personally didn't fully support. He has now re-shuffled his war and diplomatic teams to lead the path of de-escalation. However, America and its ISAF/NATO paraphernalia appear as bewildered and clueless about the end objectives as they were ten years and billions of dollars earlier.

Neighbouring countries of Afghanistan are fearful of negative fallouts from Afghanistan similar to post Soviet withdrawal era. Though there are nearly a dozen functional initiatives at the international level focused on the Afghan conflict, unfortunately all of them are missing the very basic ingredient, the role of the six countries which have common borders with Afghanistan. It is interesting to observe that on the heels of Obama’s drawdown declaration, Iran has hosted a trilateral summit in Tehran where Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan have agreed to fight the terrorism jointly. Hopefully, the initiative would expand in due course to include other bordering countries of Afghanistan as well.

 The UN Security Council has voted (resolutions 1988 &1989) to split joint sanctions` blacklist for Al Qaeda and the Taliban (mandated under resolution 1267). This distinction has long been argued for by independent analysts. It is indeed a long way from Holbrooke’s rhetoric that ‘only good Taliban are dead Taliban’. Bifurcation of these two entities is yet another major American retreat since Secretary Hillary Clinton`s speech to the Asia Society last February in which longstanding American preconditions to talks with the Afghan Taliban were reconfigured as end objectives.

Strategic failure for America is not that its military component in Afghanistan has failed; this has been a foregone conclusion by all serious security analysts since 2002, when America pushed the Afghan militants to the countries bordering Afghanistan. Real fiasco is that structures and institutions essential for incrementally squeezing the space for insurgency have failed to evolve. Even where there have been nominal military successes, a quandary haunts as to the viability of sustainable security, sans overwhelming American firepower and manpower. The Afghan government simply doesn`t have the capacity or ability to hold a fragile country at its own. Ultimately Americans are poised to handover Afghanistan to almost same forces from whom they snatched it a decade ago, and in an almost same status.

Last week President Karzai acknowledged for the first time that Afghanistan and the United States are engaged in peace talks with the Taliban. Though substantive negotiations are going on for over a year and are at a fairly advanced stage, America has underplayed it by saying that contacts are at the initial evaluation stage.

Under these circumstances, credit goes to the visionary approach of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov who foresaw the importance of regional dynamics towards peace and stability in Afghanistan way back in 1997, to mitigate the ill effects of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan which were, by then, beginning to threaten the stability of the entire region. At that time, collapse of Soviet Union had triggered a number of conflicts in Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, and instability in Afghanistan was reinforcing the conflicts throughout Central Asia and beyond.

To provide structural and institutional support, “6+2” initiative was launched by Uzbekistan in 1999 involving six bordering counties of Afghanistan plus the US and Russia. Other five immediate neighbors of Afghanistan viz Pakistan, Iran, China, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan enthusiastically supported the initiative. In 1999 and 2000 two rounds of peace talks were held in Tashkent, under the patronage of the UN, between representatives of Taliban Government and Northern Alliance of Afghanistan. The six neighboring countries of Afghanistan along with the US and Russia opted to become the guarantors of the peace process between rival factions of Afghanistan. This process was well on its way to conclude a comprehensive agreement, however unfortunately it was interrupted by post 9/11 invasion of Afghanistan by foreign troops. 

Moving forth, President Karimov proposed a variant of his previous concept to resolve the current impasse on Afghanistan during the Bucharest NATO summit in April  2008; “Since we are speaking about establishing the stability in Afghanistan, along with providing living needs of the Afghan people by using the possibilities of international assistance, it was expedient to resume the negotiation process on achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan in the framework of contact group ‘6+2’, which effectively operated during 1997-2001 with the support of the United Nations”. President Karimov proposed to transform the 6+2 contact group into 6+3 including NATO; he also spoke about the proposal at the United Nations General Assembly’s 65th meeting in 2010.

We need to evaluate this proposal in the context of success story of ‘Shanghai Cooperation Organization’. The SCO started off as a humble entity, created by China to enlist neighbouring states’ cooperation in maintaining stability in its turbulent Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan agreed to work with Beijing to prevent the cross-border population of ethnic Uighurs from mobilizing to challenge Chinese rule. In turn, they gained China’s cooperation in opposing their own separatist movements. Over the years, the SCO has developed an interesting infrastructure for security cooperation.

The SCO’s military and law-enforcement related military drills have become a regular event. Cooperation is not confined to terrorism alone; a number of organizational agreements require member states to target separatists and extremists as well. SCO states are under treaty obligation to honour each other’s blacklists of individuals and organizations accused of terrorism, separatism or extremism. A Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) based in Tashkent operates a sophisticated shared intelligence database accessible to all member states. SCO member states have agreed to extradite, and prevent the granting of refugee status to, individuals who are flagged by any member state as a terrorist, separatist or extremist threat.

Uzbekistan’s “6+3” initiative needs to be transposed on SCO’s practical experience to evolve appropriate structures and institutions to suit Afghanistan’s local conditions. There is absolute consensus on the composition of “6”; however “+3” factor needs careful scrutiny. Due to dubious strategy and ambiguous objectives, America has lost its credibility as an honest underwriter of peace in Afghanistan as well as in Asia. Russia’s recent military intervention in Afghanistan on the pretext of anti-narcotics operation drew a rage from Afghans who considered it as a litmus test by Russia on behest of America to explore the possibility of filling of post- America void in Afghanistan. Moreover, NATO is perceived as extension of America’s military power, hence its membership will only enhance the American clout in the “6+3” setup.  Furthermore, Afghanistan needs to be associated with the process. Russia and America may be invited to join the initiative as observers.

It would be worthwhile to revise the “+3” component to comprise of Afghanistan, the United Nations and the OIC. Key groups of Taliban may be invited as observers. America may be asked to expedite its withdrawal and the security void may be filled by a UN peace mission composed of contingents drawn from the OIC member states, excluding the “6” and other neighbouring countries of Afghanistan. The “6+3” should find out the causes that have lead to frequent foreign interventions in Afghanistan and recommend measures to avoid recurrence, such measures should be implemented through UNSC resolution under chapter VII of the UN charter.

Countdown to Zero is a documentary film released in 2010 which argues that the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons has increased since the end of the Cold War due to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, theft of nuclear materials, weapons, and other factors.The documentary film released in theatres in the US in mid 2010 and in London on June 21 this year to coincide with the summit of Global Zero, the organization, which is the driving force behind the concept of destroying all nuclear weapons. The film features interviews with leading statesmen and experts, including Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Robert McNamara, Pervez Musharraf, Valerie Plame Wilson and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the Atom Bomb. 

I happened to attend a security seminar in London last week, organized by Thomson Reuters Foundation, where a special screening of the film was arranged for the participants. Dr. Bruce Blair and Matthew Brownintroduced the film and fielded questions after the screening. Dr. Bruce Blair is Co-Coordinator of GLOBAL ZERO and President of the World Security Institute and an expert on US and Russian security policies, specializing in nuclear forces and command-control systems. The duo explained that the idea for the film occurred after watching Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize winning documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. More than 84 people were interviewed for the film, including Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, the peacenik and a former Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz from Pakistan. The film discusses the perils of nuclear weapons, the horror it wreaked in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the dangers that lurk ahead if terrorist organizations get hold of nuclear weapons.

In all fairness, various nuclear and radiation accidents at Chernobyl and the USA were discussed critically, including nuclear weapons disasters involving the United States Air Force bombers, in which they either jettisoned their weapons with nuclear warheads or crashed or disappeared without a trace. When it came to Pakistan, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan network was flogged mercilessly, while a video footage was shown with Osama bin Laden negotiating with some unnamed Pakistani engineers, trying to obtain a nuclear weapon. In the Q&A session, Dr. Bruce Blair expressed concern that Pakistan was on the brink of disintegration and in case its nuclear weapons fell into the hands of the Al-Qaeda or Taliban, it would be a major disaster. I took on Dr. Blair and asked him what were the parameters on which he had based his conclusion that Pakistan was on the brink of disintegration.

The honourable Dr. Blair corrected himself and said that he meant that Pakistan was on the path of disintegration and he said that he was fearful because of the state of Pakistan’s economy. My obvious retort was that the United States was passing through one of the worst economic crunches in its history since the crash of 1929, why did he not conclude that the US is on the path of disintegration? He replied that the leaders of Pakistan were corrupt, to which my response was that a few corporate leaders and some politicians in the USA were reportedly corrupt and that is how they brought about the current economic meltdown.

When Dr. Blair was speechless, I explained to him that far from being on the brink or path of disintegration, the Pakistani nation is very resilient and was passing through a temporary crisis, but will certainly bounce back. As far as the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons is concerned, there is an operational and fully active nuclear command authority, which has put in place checks and balances that will ensure both the safety and security of Pakistan’s nukes. I further added that nuclear weapons are not akin to tennis balls, which can be hidden under one’s armpits and stolen and later lobbed at targets like hand grenades. They required a sophisticated technical knowhow and wherewithal, which was far beyond the capacity of the ragtag militia comprising the Al-Qaeda and Taliban. I did point out to him the danger of nuke thefts lurking in India, where Naxalite insurgents are effective in 22 states, posing a clear and present danger since they are operating in the Red Corridor of India, which also houses India’s nuclear facilities and the Al Qaeda are reported to have approached the Naxalites to steal nukes from the Indian arsenal for them. Dr. Bruce was unaware of this threat.

Countdown to Zero may be a noble idea but will only be effective if all the nuclear weapon states agree to destroy each and every nuclear weapon in a credible manner simultaneously.

By Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui

There is quite a famous saying that tells us to “Look at life through windshield and not through rear view mirror’. But unfortunately when there is nothing much to view through the windshield you are left with nothing else but to keep on looking and staring  at the rear view mirror.   At the verge of next Elections the country today still stranded at the same square of uncertainty that prevailed the then pre-election 2008. Thereafter that internationally designed and arranged so called ceremonial exit of Mr. Mushurruf and transfer of his powers to that NROised machinery of total incompetence that could not make us move even an inch to break the nuisance cycle of chaos and uncertainty. All these yrs because of all good and bad reasons we could not set ourselves free from clutches of our misfortunes, mishaps and misdeeds out of multiple events.

Through the rear view mirror let me again take you back to those days of extensive regime of Gen. Mushurruf. which did have considerably the days when  our economy was said to be comparatively much better than what it is today. But in my humble opinion of a layman and ordinary citizen of this sad land, let me assert that the bubble like Economic boom  of those days had really nothing much to do with Policies and competence of the governance of Mr. Mushurruf.  Although it was of course a unique opportunity of its kind that may never come again like a windfall in our laps. But because of some vested interests and intents or because of the lack of competence of that set of  stalwarts of  Mr. Mushurruf  that opportunity slipped  from our hands like a golden fish a fish that could really turn into a fairy to change our fortunes for good.   In the make of 9/11 renewed ties with Washington (especially out of that controversial midnight phone call) pushed in substantial air to blow the bubble  of  our economy. Even before the realization of that notorious 10Billion Dollars US military economic assistance which started to flow in, our western allies wrote off Billion of Dollars of debt which no-doubt helped bring the weak & meek economy to a greater strength. In the aftermath of 9/11 many rich expatriates  in US and Europe  who had parked their wealth in foreign banks began investing back in their homeland‘s capital market and their new strategy was not really irrational. After nine eleven many Muslims in US and West started facing serious Govt Scrutiny. Suddenly that enthusiasm of hit & run investment back home in Stocks and Real State picked up as a much more attractive & lucrative sport for overnight  money multiplications and additions. This aromatic blend of  Foreign Aid + Loans Write off + Stocks investment + Foreign Remittances together buoyed our Economy to the level of considerable strength.

Yet Mr. Mushurruf’s so called professional but capricious machinery of money managers never used that most appropriate windfall kind of God given opportunity to address the country’s endemic underlying problems. As like today, tax receipts in those days despite  absolute power of Govt, continued to remain at lowest ebb due to continued vested interests, reluctance and hesitation to crack down on powerful mainstream business players and giant landlords mainly because of political considerations and fears.

This shear neglect and non-seriousness of proper investments in real infrastructure of our country like agriculture inputs, water conservation projects  for energy & power sectors, almost strangled the growth of economy to adding more and more miseries in lives and livelihood of commoners and ordinaries of this country.  This incompetence and  negligence of so called team of economic professionals of those days made the richs richie-rich and the poor like worms and slum dogs on extensive heaps and mounts of garbage  throughout the country.  Economic and financial policies  of  his so called the most  professional economic master Mr. Shaukat Aziz merely evolved around converting Pakistan’s Agriculture based economy into a Trading and consumer based economy. Affluently liberal, disorganized, and rather unchecked functioning  of Consumer Financing particularly by private and foreign banks and financial institutions at artificial markup rate though was a major source of historical  incremental  profits  but could did not at all help to strengthen and  sustain  real foundations of our economy on solid grounds. Instead of real economics measuring indicators like unemployment rate, consumer pricing index, rate of  inflation, growth of industrial production, GPD, industrial machinery imports  and  the figures of our agriculture and textile exports, the quantum sales of Cell phones, domestic appliances, automobiles, personal loans, mortgages and such non-productive and non-development items were widely propagated as  the Indicators of our national economy.

Their was no strategy and contingency planning to counter local and international threats, influences and challenges to our economy. Global Oil prices began to climb and Pakistan’s treasury faced a dramatic and drastic outflow of funds for settlements of oil bills in hard cash. The sky rise in global food prices further jolted the economy into tailspin. Confidence in Pak Rs started tumbling down-hill resultantly making imports  more and more expensive and our exports more and more non-competitive in international market that resulted into imports & exports deficit out of  scale. Foreign investors out of their keen observations took serious note of non-serious approach of our economic managers and growing flaws in their policies , decided to divert the interests of their investments towards more secure and safer destinations.

Highly controversial, self centered, reactionary and rather vengeful decisions of Genl. Mushurruf  specially at last leg of his rule  impacted with never ending miseries specially on the lives and living of commoners and ordinaries of this country. Simultaneous crackdown on Judiciary & media under rules of emergency , the assassination of Nuwab Akber Bugti in Baluchistan and of BB at the national horizon are  jolts so intense that  cracked the walls of our national unity and cohesion which remain irreparable even today.    

On this deserted field of cactus and mess spread all over  the country  that international arrangement of Mushruff’s NROised based safe exit and transfer of absolute power and prerogatives to yet another highly controversial machinery of incompetents further enhanced the level of  dejection, disappointment and mistrust between state and nation. Thereafter that continued series of melodramatic episodes full of natural and manufactured disasters, insurgencies, general disturbances, strikes & riots and above all the continued domination and stronghold of absolutely incompetent and corrupt elements particularly on treasury benches are parts of our prolonged nightmare.  Moreover our continued useless involvement into this so called fight against terrorism and continued foreign interventions and intrusions of all these years into our sovereignty keeping our country  under arrest in the same prison of uncertainty.

Now again at the verge of new elections we are on vehicle stranded on flat wheels and its windshield is   smeared and smudged with thick layers of bird drops.  In view of such a poor and disappointing performance of our civil and military rulers and their bureaucratic machinery especially in the last  fifteen consecutive years there is of course a genuine sense of outright rejection on hope and scope from the results of new elections.  More or less every intellectual  from within and across all sections of our society is desperately looking out for a  Peaceful Revolution under fear at the same time with  the real  bloody revolution. Now after  decades of repeated Military regimes every time in the name of peaceful revolution  I am yet to find out the real definition of a peaceful, fruitful and blissful revolution specially for the poor, downtrodden and ordinaries of our country. But in this age of indifference ness expecting a team of angles and messiahs out of  any kind of  revolution to my opinion is not a wisdom but a wishful thinking. Despite all imperfections and heart rendering failures of  politicians we still have no choice but to find and look for the remedy and cure  of  our every illness from within the same system of change whether we like it or not.  Therefore out of forthcoming elections we have no choice and alternate but to keep on dreaming for a new and fresh service team with honest sincere and dedicated intents and efforts for complete restoration of our national vehicle which strands hanging at the cliff.

As the two main political parties of Pakistan sharpen their teeth, dulled by greed and mutual bargaining, let it be said once again that it is too late to fool people; there have been noora kushtis one too many for people to take the current reciprocal diatribes anything but false. Let the lions of Punjab and Sindh be rest assured: they might be the only contenders in the ring, but those who watch them hopelessly cannot take their fight seriously. If the gallery is full, it is not because people are genuinely interested in their rotten politics; it is just because Pakistanis have not lost their hunger for superficial fun. Thus the entertainers can perform, but they must know that no one is taking them seriously.

Yet, even for fun, the performance of Nawaz Sharif, now on his first leg of tour in Azad Kashmir, is so poor that one cannot even be amused by it. As if one is listening to a broken record filled with self-pity, defeatism, self-constructed past glories, repeated apologies to the army (“I am not criticizing anyone”), repeated mention of what he thinks he achieved during his previous stints, and helpless pleas to be given a chance once again.

There is absolutely nothing solid that comes out of these speeches. There is no indication of any policy, foreign or domestic, that he will implement. There is no indication of how he would tackle huge problems of the country, such as power shortage, poverty, corruption, and so on. Nothing, in fact, except mere empty rhetoric filled with self-pity: my heart aches, my heart aches about Pakistan! Ache it may, but that is not what a politician is supposed to be telling his audience, gathered from here and there in busloads for the purpose of listening to him, who has controlled and contributed to one half of Pakistan’s political drama for a lifetime now.

Pity the nation which has nothing but these nauseating faces which have destroyed Pakistan through mismanagement and corruption for as long as one can remember. The ruling party has nothing different to offer. Now comfortably enjoying its secure position in the absence of any real opposition, it has no fear from anyone, at least not until the next general elections when unpredictable results may rock the boat. But until then, all is well. The Presidency has full grip on the party, the parliament, the senate and the sheepish elected members of the two houses. Those who could not stand the corruption and feudal control, have left and there is no immediate danger from any side. The smoothly oiled machinery is yielding what it was primed for.

The boss is happy as well, despite his little uproar over the May 2nd drama. Actually, Americans never had it so good: a political setup so fine tuned to the dictates of its wishes that it does not even need to send its emissaries on urgent missions, a military fully supportive of the idea of a long-term American presence in the region; a teeth-less judiciary which can make all the noise it wants to make but which cannot implement anything. Thus configured, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is rolling along at full speed toward its disastrous future: with every passing day adding to the miseries of its teaming millions, with no plan for curbing the increasing power deficit, hunger, lack of educational and health facilities, and poverty. Its politicians, with scant self-respect, sitting in the driver’s seat facing backwards, the engine rolling on its own on a steep incline, the whole train is destined to fall in some ravine.

Silence is better in these times of strife without an end, but one cannot remain silent when lives are taken out on regular basis through state violence. When children and women are killed in drone attacks and no one stands up for these devastating violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty. What future can there be for a nation for whom all the major decisions are made in another capital?

Pakistan’s foreign policy is made in Washington DC; its economic policy is determined in Brussels; even decisions about its educational institutions are made outside the country. All that the ruling party is interested in is an unending supply of lucrative deals and equally unending postings of its own cronies across the country.

One cannot find a ray of hope in this gloomy scenario. Carefully considered, the situation seems to be a direct result of lack of genuine leadership in Pakistan. This has been the case since 1948, a long and barren stretch of time which has shaped the present state of this country and which continues to shape its future. There is not even a process through which a new generation of leaders can come to the forefront. All avenues have been suffocated to death. The only possibility left for the country is a violent reawakening of masses through desperation, but even that scenario is only remotely possible since masses are struggling to merely survive.

Survival has been made difficult by successive military and civil regimes. The middle class has all but disappeared and there is an increasing gap between those who have and those who do not. The wretched and the poor are dispossessed to such an extent that they do not even have a consciousness of what they are dispossessed of; such is the scale of Pakistan’s tragic millions. There is not even a poet left to say, with dismay: this is not the dawn for which we had hoped for, as one from the previous generation was able to say. In the absence of even a poetic protest, one can only hope for miraculous resurrection and awakening, a possibility that keeps one’s hopes alive to some extent, even if it is not grounded in any rational consideration.