Re-Fortifying National Security

The siege at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel is over and the rest of us can now sleep in peace. Of course we are still curious enough to wonder why this happened in the first place.

There are some things we know for sure, and others that we think we know, but there is no denying the fact that the Mumbai drama is heightened uncertainties and geopolitical qualms in national security concerns around the world, not to mention here in America. The attacks are over, and as the authorities try to sort out the mess from the rubble, the fingers are pointing where they normally would, - to the prevailing tensions along the Pakistan/India border. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I am not naïve enough to assume that it’s all gravy from here on.
Since the partition from the colonial British, no one imagined that these two countries with nuclear capabilities would be hanging out at Starbucks anytime soon.

For that logical reasoning, I will assert that the Mumbai attacks will have wider implications for international relations across the region and as it relates to the United States foreign policy. Just when we thought the financial crisis was all Barack Obama would inherit from Geoerge Bush, the terrorist idiots (not sure which) are reminding the rest of us that they are still a force to be reckoned with. So we know the history; if anything bad happens in India, the usual suspect is Pakistan, and that in itself is the crux of the problem.
Until the rest of the world figures out who is responsible for the mess and how to avert idiots from propagating whatever preposterous agenda they have, I am hoping that my boy Barack will make sure his national security team is on point. “On point” is slang for excellent. I will be stuck to CNN all day tomorrow.

Remember however, that two days earlier, the Oberoi Hotel and Nariman House, two of the three hostage sites in the city had been secured.The siege of the Taj has become the headliner, largely because that is where we find most of the pieces to this crazy puzzle. As a side note: residents from Mubai are called Mumbaikars. Just a piece of extra unnecessary information.

According to reliable sources, at least 195 people and wounded 295, and I will be first to admit that I could not afford to eat Thanksgiving dinner without wondering what some people were enduring in that same moment halfway across the world. No Indian lives with a false sense of security, but the Mumbai attacks caught everyone off guard, literally.

The Pakistani militant Deccan Mujahideen group with links to the disputed region of Kashmir, may very well be the brain behind the unfortunate chaos, and in the interest of sanctity and the sanity of our humanity (that’s an unintended rhyme), the thought of 10 young men armed with rifles and grenades to terrorize a city of 18 million sent chills down my spine.
Our hearts and prayers go to the families who lost their loved ones in what is become one of the deadliest attacks in India's history.

What the hell is really going on?

A Palin who won't go away

This is an interesting headline flying around in cyberspace, as hard as I try to ignore, I come full circle to it. Sarah Palin is the Alaskan governor who just wont go away. She was virtually unknown until John McCain picked her to ruin his chances for the president. Decades from today we will all be looking back wondering what on earth Sarah Palin was doing on the campaign trail in the first place but for now, and rightfully enjoying every piece of the spotlight.

I know Hillary won't like the sound of this but Palin is become the leading lady is American politics (the popularity contest at least) and that tells you how fickle the imagination of the American public is. I am not going to camp in front of my TV and watch Palin talk about nothing on Oprah, Letterman or Leno. Of course she represents a fraction of American populace, and very soon will be writing books only God knows what it would be about) and in films too.
According to some sources, the porn industry took the lead on the Palin frenzy a long time ago, with a porn star making money off her resemblance to Palin. Either way, Sarah Palin may be close to finding her true calling and find a career in Hollywood. She could have her slot after Maury or Tyra Banks, and try to win over the hearts of the rest of hockey moms and the "All My Chidren" soap opera crowd.

However you slice it, Sarah Palin is an interesting character and I am dying to know what her next move is, certainly the last thing on her mind is to quietly go back to Alaska and serve the public. This may be presumptuous on my part but something tells me that Sarah Palin had a taste of Hollywood, and will do whatever it takes to stay in the glamour and glitz. Forget the Senate, forget 2012 and forget the delirious Republican Party, Sarah Palin is ready to get paid.

Only in America.

Saving Detroit

Let’s face it, CEO’s of the giant automakers arriving in Washington yesterday to beg for some bailout money in the corporate jets was downright stupid. I am even more baffled at the PR guy at General Motors who had the audacity to contend that such a bad image from a company on the verge of bankruptcy does not raise valid questions.
Personally I can’t imagine a beggar at my door asking for a dollar, but in spiffy Amani suits. It’s just commonsense. You want taxpayers to bail you out, and in the least, you would imagine that these overpaid CEO’s will think outside the box for a minute.
Moving right along. . .
The big three automakers are facing touch economic times but with so many lives employment arguments at stake, my instinctive repost is to approve the bailout, Of course GM and their buddies need to show exactly how they plan to squander the $25 billion(reference AIG weekend trips to California). Of course I see the arguments of the Pelosi’s and Harry Reid, and it hits home even harder because Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are not making a solid case for taxpayer relief. I am generally in support of federal aid (obviously I’m not Republican enough to worry about fiscal decision of government to rectify economic downturns).
A month ago, Congress approved the $700 Billion bailout, and since the money is still sitting on Henry Paulson’s desk, I suggest that we take $25billion to fix Detroit. I mean fix Detroit and save families going through unprecedented unemployment crisis. I oppose any management bonuses and fancy trips to Bermuda under the guise of crucial business deals.
For that reason I applaud the opponents of this new auto package, for a variety of reasons, the most prominent is the ever increasing trench of debt and deficits. Of course, that is a legitimate argument, but if we fail to travel beyond out petty ideologies and watch Detroit sink, there probably won’t be a tomorrow for the rest of us here in America.

Just a thought.

Flipping the Page in the Middle East

Today’s Middle East development will probably fly under the radar, but is a very important piece on the ‘war on terrorism’, mote like an exit strategy from the Iraq mess.
The Iraqi Cabinet has approved a security pact that would set the terms for U.S. troops in Iraq. If you don’t trust me, look at the picture on above, and you can bet there is no Photoshop involved here.

The agreement sets June 30, 2009, as the deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from all Iraqi cities and towns. The date for all troops to leave Iraq will be December 31, 2011. The interesting twist here is that Iraqi’s are opting to move on with their lives even before Barack Obama takes center stage and according to the leading members of the Iraqi cabinet, the dates are "set and fixed" and are "not subject to the circumstances on the ground”.
Of course everyone is concerned with the security of the Middle East in general and the fear that a hasty withdrawal of US troops may plunge the country into chaos. Fair enough, but with the United States government shifting priority from the Iraq war to the domestic economic crisis, the Iraqi’s are jumpstarting the inevitable.

The interesting storyline is that Obama will take credit for a peaceful transition of power, but will able to deny blame should the transition turn into a renewed sectional conflict between the Sunni’s and the Shiite’s.

At the end of the day, this process is a long way from over but it is not a question of whether the US troops surge worked or not. Even if we assume it did, the way forward ought to be cognizant of the country's sovereignty and a flexible timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal
For now the Iraqis have spoken loud and clear, and in the interest of ending the war, the rest of us will respect their sovereignty.

Just a random thought.

Bretton Woods II - Road To Recovery

Rewriting the rules? Not so fast; but that is exactly what world leaders embarked on with the preliminary discussions of the G-20 Summit. Leaders of the free world (and the not so free) are pitching in their two cents to resolve the financial slump that is hit the global markets for some several months now.
There is a formal declaration (more like an action plan), to begin the multilateral rescue mission. Don’t blame the chaos on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or even the gurus at Lehman Brothers, because there is a lot of blame to go around for everyone. At least for mow most people are coming to terms with the fact that international isolationism and fragmented ideologies will not be the way forward if anyone should attempt to restore some order to the turmoil.
The year 2008 has seen its share of historic moments, and maybe this two-day meeting in Washington, D.C. will go down into the history books as the collective initiative to rescue a deterioration financial market. July 1994 saw the Bretton Woods agreement, and an international response to hard times after the Great Depression. I don’t want to assume that we have come full circle, but maybe we are close.
The presidents and prime ministers from Group of 20 countries will not claim to have answers; at least they can point fingers and come out with some simple straightforward solutions without the risk of geopolitical realignments. At one pivotal corner of the problem is the collapse of the U.S. housing market and the risky lending and borrowing programs (sub prime scams).

According to what we know today, the key word at the G20 Summit is ‘stimulate’. If consumer confidence and interest rate cuts by central banks could have solved the problem, Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke would have pulled it off by now. Stocks are falling across the board, from Russia, Japan, Brazil, China, and everywhere in between. Germany officially is in a depression, the rest of Europe is in denial. I intentionally didn’t mention United States for obvious reasons.

The Group of 20 has called for regulators to improve oversight of credit rating agencies and to take swift action to minimize the risk of the giant and largely unregulated market of credit default swaps - complex financial instruments whose proliferation is believed poses a great danger to financial stability. Stimulate the economies across the board, even if it means cutting taxes globally (that was British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s idea). Of course there is a lot more to it than my simplified (oversimplified) version, but at least the rest of humanity can have a clue of what is in the works here.

This morning on Fox News, former president of Spain carefully shared his disapproval for any interventionist policies from government as that is to some extent an overreaching activity of government in what is believed to a private arena. According to such economic theorists(or anyone who believe like former president Jose Ansaz), the solution should be less government interventionist measures, less tightening of regulations, and in fact less of everything else.
Wait a minute, if the markets would have worked as it should, we wouldn’t be sitting here today wondering if we would be working tomorrow or staring at Wall Street tickers at the bottom of my television screen wondering what the heck is going on. No wonder he wasn’t invited to the party. I am not a proponent of any form of socialism, I just like to think with both sides of my brain, and something tells me that we are on the edge of a cliff (both capitalist and the millions of proletariats alike) and the sooner we rethink our economic structures the better off we would be.
Where is the International Monetary Fund when we need it the most? Where are all the financial wise guys who I read about in college? I don’t know where they are, but I know where they aren’t.

The G-20 leaders cannot repair this busted faucet over a weekend, but I will go on a limb to hope that some of their initiatives will at least stop the bleeding, stabilize the markets and ease the credit crunch, while we figure what the heck John Maynard Keynes was talking about. This may very well be a long road to recovery, but it took an even longer road to pile up this measure of a global financial mess.

In the meantime, some of us should keep spending to boost consumer confidence, watch MSNBC and pray. The rest of us should get busy with global financial resolutions and serious economy-fixing tasks.
I don’t know which group I belong to, but first I need a nap.

A View from Afar - Republic of Congo/Africa

I may be overly optimistic or borderline naïve not to subscribe to the assertion that Africa will always be a continent stuffed with chaos of turmoil.
Except for a fraction and a lucky few, every country in Africa has faced some political upheaval, unrests or coup d’etat one form or another since their independence from colonialism. Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone are just a few that sticks out, and now Congo. The East African country (formerly Zaire) is not one of the lucky few with an extended period of peace or tribal accord. What else is new?

Africa has a slightly complicated problem with tribalism entrenched and woven into the concept of political and economic sovereignty. I am not the one to suggest that Africans may not necessarily be ready for democracy (at least the western version), but it is hard to ignore the fact that the remnants of colonialism and totalitarian governments turned the progressive clock backwards on Africa (and that is my ethnocentrism on full blast). But the past is never an adequate excuse for a future crisis for any society, and certainly the Republic of Congo has had ample opportunities to fix their country’s divisions and political factions.
In the recent installment, government forces and rebel groups are engaged in a civil war, and a ceasefire is no where in sight. Hundreds of people have been killed so far, more than 250,000 people displaced, adding to roughly 800,000 estimated already driven from their homes. According to inside sources, there is a spillover from lingering tensions over the 1994 slaughter of ethnic Tutsis by majority Hutus in neighboring Rwanda. If this is indeed true, that gives the word ‘linger’ an entirely new meaning on the African continent.

The same reliable sources estimate about 17,000 U.N. troops in Congo, but with refugees oozing out of the country like a broken faucet, it is only a matter of time before the crisis take a different shape altogether.
For the sake of peaceful coexistence and the symbolism of harmony anywhere in Africa, I hope I am wrong.

Remember the Titans

The NFL’s last unbeaten team is the Tennessee Titans. That is one storyline that sends every fantasy football prediction down the drains, especially to think of the fact that the starting quarterback is Kerry Collins.
Kerry Collins? That’s what makes the story as mesmerizing as it stands, to think that Tennessee could win more games than the Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions and the Houston Texans combined. It is a story that hardcore fans in Nashville and everywhere else in Tennessee are finding it almost surreal.
However long this hot streak continues is anyone’s guess but one thing is certain that Jeff Fisher’s team will make it into the post season even if they decided to lose the rest of the way. That’s some serious luxury to have 10 weeks into an NFL season especially for a team in an AFC South division with the ever surging Jacksonville Jaguars and the always-present Indiana Colts.
Last year the Houston Texans had company at the race to the bottom of their division, but with Sage Rosenfels and Matt Schaub throwing interceptions like a United Way donation center, it looks like they will be living at the bottom alone this time around.

The storyline in Tennessee is simple; a team can only be horrible for so long, and after a while it is bound to bounce to the top. Wait a minute, bounce to the top, but not this fast. Of course that is the consolation that bad teams hang on to keep their losing season in perspective. It is called hope, and mediocre teams cling to it.
9-0 start is beautiful; and the last team that pulled that off was my New England patriots who threw the Super Bowl away to the Giants (that’s a different story for week 17).
I contend however that the one piece of the puzzle relegated to the background is Vince Young. Kerry Collins took over halfway through the first game in week 1, and won every step of the way. I bet there will be many fans who will swear that the teams is better without Vince and I can hear the boos already when he throws his first interception whenever he takes over. Titans’ insiders claim the contrary, that Vince Young will be the main man when he is healthy to play but until then, the team is riding high in a dreamlike season; one for the Hollywood moviemakers.
I am not sure how far this righteous wind will blow the surprise team of the season, and I am not in the business of making bold premature Super Bowl predictions. They may not even make it past the first round (see the 2007 Dallas Cowboys), but whatever the rest of the season turns out to be, 2008 has been incredibly good to them Tennessee.

And for all that, the Titans will have a lot to remember.

Fathers Ate Sour Grapes. . .

Some stories are usually morally conflicting even to the most objective and unbiased mind. I thought Ill take a stab at it anyway.
One of Osama Bin Laden's sons Omar is struggling with the simple civil liberties and freedoms that the rest of us take for granted, and is almost bluntly unwelcome anywhere on planet earth. He is in Qatar after being deported from Egypt and Spain following failed asylum bids.
From the moment I heard his story on CNN about a year ago, I wondered what life would really be like for the son of a terrorist who genuinely loathes his father’s geopolitical antics. This is not one of those storylines that you change your name and pretend your family history does not exist, if your father is Bin laden you are stained for life.
Omar Bin Laden has a hard time doing anything (including smiling) around the world without raising suspicion and doubts about his most altruistic of efforts. On one hand, that’s an unfair blacklist for any man trying to live his life in a complex world. On the flip side however, how do you explain, or at least acknowledge your father’s terrorism activities to millions of innocent people around the world.
The phenomenon is noting new; George Bush’s children will forever be linked to W, just as any idiot will receive preferential treatment for being Oprah’s child (and I am not referring to the 200 South African girls). I know my life is crazy; having to balance my infatuation with Sarah Palin and the inexplicable crush on Britney Spears; but Omar Bin laden is in a tough spot.

For the record, Osama’s son is extremely opposed to his father’s and the Al Qaeda operation, but I have a funny feeling that the rest of the world may never find space in their heart to listen to his side of the story. All hypocrisy aside, how awkward will it be if Omar Bin Laden invited you to hang out with him? I know what I would say, ‘no hard feelings dude; Ill pass on this one.’ Pardon my low level of enlightenment but I don’t want the rest of America busting through my front door with sticks and stones, even before I get the chance to explain. .

Just recently, Omar Bin Laden was barred from entering Egypt and deported to Qatar. The irony of the story lies in the fact that according to the Omar, his life is in danger because he "stands up and asks for peace".
That is seriously messed up, but the duality of human nature will have a long way to go to resolve its animosity towards an innocent man who is paying a hefty price for the sins of his father.
I don’t purport to know every phrase in the bible, but one verse sticks out in my mind “the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their children’s teeth are set on the edge.’

Just a random thought.

A Black Man in the White House

If a picture is the equivalent of a thousand words, the intrinsic non-verbal body language (which I agree is about 80% of any communication process) is priceless.
President-elect Barack Obama arrived in Washington today to meet with President Bush for the first time since winning the historic election.
This is one of the most poignant pieces of Western democracy, and for many more reasons than one, it is somewhat more emotional for the Bush’s than it will be for the Obama’s.
Of course, there is more photo ops involved here than real conversations about economics and foreign policy. A meeting of the outgoing and the incoming presidents is the first step to presidential takeover here in the United States, and even more emotional than many more would have imagined.
The cameras had to capture every bit of Michellle Obama and Laura Bush’s smiles, because for logical reasons they would probably get along quicker than their husbands. Never mind the color differences or the racial representation; it is a matter of being out with the old and heralding the arrival of the new. This is America.

What makes this meeting particularly interesting, but not as awkward as CNN pundits would have you believe is that Barrack Obama spent a chunk of his time outlining the failed economic policies of Bush’s administrations. Objectively speaking, Obama whacked out John McCain simply because he tied him nicely to a president who’s earned the lowest approval rating in American Presidency. Only Truman came close but even then, 10 clear points apart.
The president and president-elect also are expected to talk about a myriad of subjects including national security and the war in Iraq; that is the part that I would pay anything to be the fly on the wall. How will that conversation even begin? How about why did you lie to the American people GW?

President George Bush extended the invitation to Obama, and he gracefully responded (not like he could have declined it anyway) but nothing at all, this is a photo op to Robert Mugabe, African and Latin American dictators, and European power peddlers of how democracy really works.

Barack Obama has said repeatedly that he ‘goes there with a spirit of bipartisanship’ and the fact is that the president, president-elect and various leaders in Congress all recognize the severity of the situation right now and no time left for bickering and petty squabbles. It will be a cordial afternoon, but I can bet it will be very uncomfortable.

One image I know that will take a minute to register in the minds of many American's is that of a black man in the White House. On my July 27, 2007 post I predicted this historic moment on this blog, but even genuises continue to amaze themselves with their spot-on predictions.

Just a random thought.

Ctrl+Alt+Delete - In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union

The day after the historic presidential elections happened to be one of the most sentimental moments from Middle America and independent minded global citizens who saw more than just a candidate vying for the highest office in the world. The symbolism is different things to different people but ultimately that we live in a remarkable and wonderful country, and Americans are a wonderfully insightful as they are confusingly complicated people.

The phrases “we the people” and "all things are possible" found a rejuvenated resonance among a generation whose connection with them were a farfetched historical document drummed up in 1776 by a group of white men somewhere in Philadelphia. The dream they talked about was essential the dream for a chosen few, and a nightmare for the rest of us. Since then, the rest of us read the preamble of the United States constitution, but never with that sense of genuine belonging. At best, it was an illusion of what was indeed possible. Until November 4, 2008.
In President Obama’s words, hard work, sacrifice and perseverance can unlock the doors to any dream we all aspire to, even the President of the United States of America. The reflections will continue around the world, the opinions will vary from inspirational, supporting to disappointing; but ultimately Barack Obama did not just ascend to the country’s top gig with two buckets of luck and hope. Not many of us will ever know the work and the enormous sacrifice by millions of people to change the destiny of millions more, but only history will be able to reflect on this day in its full measure.

The election is over, and the rest of us can look forward to life after George Bush; and be grateful that Sarah Palin is not our Vice President. The history is breathtaking and for the rest of our lives, we will remember the moment when America became the country we all hoped for. It has a long way to go, no question about that, but beyond political alignments and labels, this happens to be the dawn of a new day for the world as a whole.

God Bless America, and the pursuit towards a more perfect union; and for that, I say “Yes We Can.”

CHANGE. . .Yes We Can!

Change We Can Believe In

Red, blue and every other color in between will wake up tomorrow morning to Barack Obama making history. Of course, I am not one of the hundred CNN Pundits who say the first thing that comes to their mind (apart from David Gergen and Gloria Borger). I actually happen to ‘know stuff’, ‘feel stuff’ and you can take my word to the bank. After almost 24 months of election fever (craziness) and one of the longest campaigns in American history, the rest of the world hold their collective breath awaiting a single decision with a potential for changing the world as we know it forever.

Of course John McCain and his campaign aides are still banking on a come-from-behind victory Tuesday, that’s what maverick do. People like John McCain can be out of touch and out of time, but still believe the rest of the American people will vote out of some weird emotional response to the sight of Sarah Palin. You know this is not any ‘regular’ election when Republican guru Karl Rove gets on record to predict an Obama landslide. I predicted a landslide too, but who cares what I think?
No one is taking anything for granted, and from battle ground states to sure-fire state, people are lining up in record numbers to make their vote count, and from what the instincts re telling me, overwhelmingly for Barack Obama.

Today is not 2000, and every vote will count. Reports of voter fraud is largely absent so far, and as the day rolls along, I bet some idiot will show up with a lame story to try tarnish the facts of the case. What I know and have said repeatedly is that Obama won this election the very first day John McCain chose Sarah Palin.
In less that 10 hours, I will be right . . again.

At the Cusp of History

No matter what happens on Tuesday night, two things are certain. First, the successor of George W. Bush will have a name. Second, America would usher itself into a historic moment.
The Barack Obama story is still a dream to many people who have seen the improbable candidacy an African American come so close. A recent Ebony magazine’s cover page read: ‘In Our Lifetime’. This is really happening in our lifetime, a black man to lead the free world and the world has not ended yet.

Of course there is Sarah Palin, who hopes to be the first female Vice president (but will pray to never have to be president, for obvious reasons.) The Palin story is cute at best, but the very fact that she knows almost nothing about real national and international policies is an unsettling thought for many people, to some extent including me.
In 3 days the 44th President of the United States of America will have his name etched into the history books, and the election itself to be one of the most interesting, entertaining and nasty campaign in American history. What I know for a fact is that Americans are not the only group of people curiously anxious to wake up on November 5.

The Republican Party will have to dig deep and resuscitate their agenda if they hope to draw anyone (apart from the hardcore Evangelicals who will never be Democrats). The politics and the implications to the global society have changed tremendously, and Barack Obama has exploited every possible avenue to get his message across. John McCain, not so much but the Republican engine is still one of the most effective and potent tricks on planet earth.

Every credible poll in America points to an Obama win, but until the last ballot is accounted for in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the excitement and anticipation lives on. In about 48 hours, our country and world will either ‘change forever’ or ‘change again’.

Either way, we are on the verge of historic moment in America and never a better time to be alive.
Rock the Vote - Obama/Biden 08