Indian Shuakat Aziz and Pakistani Manmohan Singh

#76 Posted by Sanaullah on February 26, 2007 4:19:50 am

To ballukhan – for ur information Shahnawaz Farooqi could be any thing but “Jernail’s boot licker” he is one of the biter critics of Fauji rule in Pakistan, I am saying this bc I read his newspapper columns. Irrespective of our political views we should respect the brave souls who voice our opinions against illegitimate regimes.

#75 Posted by bjkumar on February 22, 2007 9:08:04 pm

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#72 Posted by plats8 on February 20, 2007 12:54:38 pm

Ranjit,

Infrastructure development is one area where the politicians have to do a much better
job of persuading people - mostly poor and insecure people where the land is all they
have. Forced displacements are neither humane nor sustainable in a democracy. The
govt has to come up with compelling arguments in this matter. A case in point is the
Singur incident in Bengal - the govt will surely follow a less ham-handed approach in
the future. If govt/big business plans to take away my land, it damn well better tell
me (in vivid detail) what I stand to gain from it. The gains always there; one just
needs to make a good case.

This will become increasingly relevant as India starts creating Shenzhen-like SEZs.

I don`t think the poverty fetish is dominant in India anymore. It used to be imposed
from the top in a morbid fashion, and has been eroding rapidly.

#73 Posted by Netizen on February 20, 2007 1:24:40 pm

Re: # 72

plats8:

``A case in point is the Singur incident in Bengal - the govt will surely follow a less ham-handed approach in
the future. If govt/big business plans to take away my land, it damn well better tell
me (in vivid detail) what I stand to gain from it. The gains always there; one just
needs to make a good case. ``

Thats a very good point. Personal/private property has to be respected. But what if some one is squatting on goverment property and then refuses to move without a ransom?

#74 Posted by plats8 on February 20, 2007 2:44:18 pm

Re: # 73

Netizen,

I don`t know how that would be handled. I suspect it will be some combination of political muscle-flexing/coercion/persuasion/offering jobs that works.

#71 Posted by zeemax on February 20, 2007 12:53:28 am

... re the rabid dogs if ITBillionairesville aka bhangilauru, now I know why the Taliban did what they did. They had to remove the head altogether to stop it shaking from side to side otherwise it just wouldn`t stop shaking ... haha.

#70 Posted by zeemax on February 20, 2007 12:51:24 am

#63 by ahmedmadani

... before landing 30 minutes before at Patana airport people go out to scare away cows, there was picture of cow not cooperating ...

Haha. Thanks for the anecdote. But Ranjit has a point in #64 re the Gandhian Guilt Complex.

#69 Posted by arjun2 on February 19, 2007 7:50:21 pm

Has anyone noticed that when capt clueless posts about the practitioners of the religion of peace ``hating`` some county(US, Israel), it`s always accompanied by some righteous justification...

if the world has a negative opinion of muslims, that`s islamophobia...

#68 Posted by zafar-1 on February 19, 2007 7:42:46 pm

[The weak and poor nations of the third world enthusiastically send their brilliant children to Oxford and Howard and think that they would return with more intelligence, expertise and knowledge.]

Such learned writers add to Chowk`s importance.;)

#67 Posted by plats8 on February 19, 2007 6:57:27 pm

#Nasah,

My point exactly. I was amusing myself with the idea of a Arab/French lovefest.

#61 by Bulleya,

Are you completely delusional ? You seriously think that the presence of a lot of
Algerian/Moroccan and assorted Arabs in France means that white France likes the Arabs ??? The racial divisions in France are about as deep as they can be - the entire country has been in denial for a long time. Most Arabs are completely ghettoized (by exclusion at times, by choice at other times) and there is a nice and healthy visceral dislike going in both directions. The riots didn`t happen for nothing.

As far as France speaking up for the Palestinians, it means jackshit. They don`t walk the talk. Tons of Arab countries speak up and down and sideways about Palestinians, with complete insincerity.

#65 Posted by arjun2 on February 19, 2007 4:17:24 pm

#61 by bulleya on February 19, 2007 1:03pm PT

only a population as naive as usa would buy it..

Umm...these are the same practitioners of the religion of peace that think 9/11 was a zionist/US conspiracy because we all know allah`s homies are incapable of such a thing...

#64 Posted by Ranjit on February 19, 2007 2:59:24 pm

Re:ahmedmadani#63

Madaniji, infrastructure development is a key problem in India. As you have mentioned roads, airports, harbors, utilities all need modernization. There are three levels of challenges on the infrastructure side. The first level is financial means to upgrade infrastructure. India now has the financial means to modernise infrastructure, unlike the past when it would have to beg the world bank for money to build a road.

The second level is political challenge. Typically infrastructure projects leads to displacement. Building roads, airports, dams or power plants requires land acquisition and change in ownership from public sector to private sector. Such projects immediately encounter bitter opposition from the people affected. Politicians then step in to take advantage of the situation. Soon you have dharnas, hunger strikes etc resulting in police reaction and so forth. On top of that you may have people filing lawsuits. This is the price of living in a democracy. In Pakistan or China, the government can swing the danda and can take over your land or kick you out on the street without any reaction. Not so in India. Therefore, the process is much slower.

The final level of challenge is cultural. Right from Gandhi`s time, India has made a fetish out of poverty - something that I call the Gandhian Guilt Complex. Poverty has been glorified in India, even championed while wealth is associated with amorality and lack of character. If you see bollywood movies, typically you find people emphasizing their poverty as a virtue while rich people are typically portrayed as bad, corrupt people or outright villains. You have Indian politicians at the topmost levels going out of the way to emphasize their simple lifestyle - driving Indian made cars, wearing simple clothes, living in modest accommodations etc. On the contrary, Pakistan has always picked up from Jinnah his love for the good life. Pakistani politicians and their spouses travel in luxury cars, live in palatial houses and are in a mad rush to acquire wealth. In such an environment in India, infrastructure changes are looked at foolishly as an indulgence of the rich. If you say you will build a superhighway or a modern airport, you will have 100 people saying that you need to build a tubewell or a road in a village instead or give Rs 2 per kilo rice to the poor. The communists and socialists make a fetish of this Gandhian Guilt Complex without realizing that without infrastructure improvements, the country stays poor. Of course, at the end, we dont get the highway or the airport, nor do we get the tubewell or the road in the village either. So everything remains backward.

The good news is that this culture in India is changing but it will take a long time for it to overcome these challenges. People are becoming more money minded but it is still difficult to overcome the Gandhian Guilt complex. Perhaps in a generation or two, people will forget about Gandhi and focus on getting rich.

#61 Posted by bulleya on February 19, 2007 1:03:36 pm

dullahbhatti #60:.......france has quite a close relationship with arabs......close to 10% of the population of france is arab....and france regularly speaks up for palestinians, and does not participate in us-led support of israel......which is why arabs have a high opinion of france.......

........the west is no longer a single cohesive entity......europe is going in one direction while us/israel are going in another......israel does not have nearly the influence in european countries as it does in usa.......hence european countries tend to act far more independently of israel, in their foreign policies.......as an example, a court in brussels convicted sharon of human rights violation in the shatilla massacre......

..........the picture painted of the arabs in the usa is obviously quite ridiculuos.......only a population as naive as usa would buy it........i think most europeans have a far more objective view of the arab situation.........

as for arabs wanting pakistan to be a superpower (after france and china), it was a bit surprising to me also......however, zogby`s survey`s are very authentic in all areas......so one must believe it.......i think indians should be happy that arabs want a fellow south asian country to be a superpower.........

.....i have always stated that arabs do not like usa and israel, but like europe.........which is what this survey proves.........though even i didn`t realize they wanted pakistan to take such a leaderrship position in the world.........

#60 Posted by dullabhatti on February 19, 2007 11:05:38 am

Arabs take the proverb my enemy`s enemy is my friend to the extreme. First America ia #1 enemy majorly because it is friends of Israel(arab`s eternal enemy). The Chavez and Chirac are lovely guys because they also hate America like them. One should not contstrue from this that they are appreciaitng Chirac for being christian or Chavez for being Communist. Islamists hate the west and all its idealogies (including Communism,Humanism and multi-culturalism) in entirity...it is just few individuals and groups in the west who seem to favour their viewpoint or seem to be usefull at the time that they appreciate. America is leading the Western band so it is the prime target of their viceral hate but don`t mistake the guys in the back row will be spared if the opportunity came. There is no need to bad mouth the back benchers at every point, they can be dealt if they come forward.

Arabs know only one aspect of superpowerism...the miliatry power...the bombs tanks, planes. When they see only one Mulim country with a Nuclear bomb they think it must be very close to being superpower.