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"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," she said. "In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them."

How is this kind of rhetoric any different from what Ahmadinejad spews? She might be better than the incumbent in that she could probably find Iran on the map but that just makes things all the more dangerous.

I guess alternatives there are no different from alternatives here. In a list out today, H D Kumaraswamy, our esteemed ex- con...I mean ex chief minister has seen his net assets go up from 3 crores to almost 50 crores in 4 years time!

These are the alternatives we have and we're lectured about voter apathy...

It is I, Satan

I find it deliciously ironic that Salman Rushdie has become Sir Salman Rushdie around the same time that I am reading one of the best books I've ever picked up, by another Muslim author titled "My Name is Red" penned by Orhan Pamuk.

It gets better because I just finished reading a chapter in the book which is titled "It is I, Satan". Without giving too much of the book away, the way Pamuk has written the entire book is in a series of chapters where the narrator of the chapter is one of the many characters in the story. So the way he (magically) weaves the entire tale is through this incredibly powerful style of writing.

"It is I, Satan" is a chapter where Satan is speaking in the first person to the readers about how he (Satan) is unnecessarily vilified, cursed and hated by mankind. Satan goes on to share with us his perspective on why man does the stupid things man does and how Satan is, for the most part just a stirrer of the pot, a stoker of the flame or even a mere (albeit gleeful) bystander as Man goes about his own demise.

The complete significance of this chapter, I have not yet understood. Is Pamuk secretly mocking (God forbid) Islam's beliefs of right and wrong, of what is Evil and what is not? Is this chapter his way of heaping scorn on radical Islam or even extreme religious beliefs that judge us on what is pure and white and what is the dark side?

It seems to me that Pamuk's writing is replete with messages for those who care to spot them...maybe one of the things he's telling us is man has enough latent malice and evil within himself and it really doesn't matter if Satan tempts you.....or if people like Sir Rushdie write the things they write. And of course right on cue the "satanic" element is there for all to see with Sir Salman Rushdie's knighthood being condemned by Pakistan (!)

Its a reflection of our society (in India, Pakistan and the other Islamic and supposedly secular nations) that we treat one of the brightest intellects of our time in a manner befitting a social leper. India has of course stayed true to form in displaying her hypocrisy by long banning one of his best pieces of writing, stating it not fit for a "secular" society and it not being kind to the "sentiments" of certain people. At least we still have countries and societies such as the United Kingdom that have the fortitude and foresight to do what should be done, to have the conviction to challenge misbegotten beliefs born out of an unholy alliance of religion and degeneration.

Where will it end?

$3 there, $15 here

I love wine. Especially a good Red. And unfortunately a combination of socialism, Gandhi, Nehru, Communist morons, protectionist practices & vote grabbing holier-than-thou pretences by politicians combine in a mind bogglingly malicious manner to make all but the cheapest (in terms of taste) Indian wine completely inaccessible to me.

While Indian wine makers try hard and churn out barely respectable stuff costing a ludicrous Rs.1100 or $25 USD a bottle, the grapes grown in Nashik simply aren't good enough. And the prices are unacceptable. A similar wine in the Netherlands would cost me no more than $10 USD. I still remember buying cheap Port for $8 USD which was still pretty decent.

The bottomline is India imposes unreasonable tarrifs and import taxes on Wines that increase the cost of all foreign wines (be it from Napa or Bordeaux or Chile) by an incredible 550 % ! The US and the EU have both filed infringement law suits against India at the WTO and there is a strong lobby at work in India too, to reduce these unreasonable tarrifs.

And I follow these developments with a thirst that will not be quenched until I can pick up that Greek or California Red at a nearby supermarket....*sigh*

Beer's beer, people are people

I just got back from attending a summit in Hyderabad on education & employment issues in several developing economies. It was a first in many ways for me, not least because I hoisted a jar with a Pakistani delegate and also spent a fair amount of time exchanging views with the Pakistani delegation. It was great to see them feel at home in India, talk about how its like any other Pakistani city and how politics is politics but people so similar can & should get along & enjoy sharing culture, food, tradition, music and many other things.

But the beer along with dissecting all the teams & their chances at the world cup was the most fun.

come on over

Despite growing evidence of Pakistani support for the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, the Bush administration has so far rejected pleas from President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan for a showdown with Islamabad's military ruler, President Pervez Musharraf....

Disturbing on many levels. The article goes on to explain the enormous subsidies totalling billions of dollars that Pakistan receives in military aid and debt relief in return for cooperation in the fight against terror. This really is an impossible situation because to begin with General Musharaff is, at the end of the day a dictator and not an elected representative, hence making it extremely difficult for him to build any form of consensus around sensitive issues.

Secondly, in spite of genuinely good intentions, his hands are tied: to satisfy the radical Islamic elements in his own country (to whom he has to pay allegiance because without their support he would not remain in power too long or he would be assassinated), he has to look the other way when the Taliban hop across the border into Pakistan to seek refuge while planning another insurgency. The first step would be to root out radical elements in Pakistan...but how to begin when the radical elements are intwined so with the ruler, that too of a nuclear armed state?

The easy way

Who's up to make a few billion dollars? All we need is a few square kilometres of land, preferably somewhere remote and inaccessible...like the Andaman Islands for example and declare it to be say ''East Bengalooru'' . Just a short flight away. Once we get there, we build a big - ass fence all around us, a few bunkers and we purchase some fierce looking weaponry from the international arms black market (ala Lord of War). Of course we have broadband there. Now we start sending out emails and issuing press releases that we have a secret uranium enrichment program. We pay Hollywood to make some irreverent & caricature like movies about life in this desolate place as well as on the cruel & despotic leader(s) ruling it. We then allow a major international news network inside the fence to survey some of the hardships citizens in our country face (all in a day's work for the chaps at Universal studios). Throw in some fake missile tests and stories on how much we like our cogniac and voila! We got ourselves a few billion dollars. Anyone interested in pitching this concept to a VC? Or is anyone on a first name basis with the Junta in Myanmar?