The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Tuesday 31 January 2017

PADMAVATI BEING REAL OR FAKE IS NOT THE ISSUE HERE


Most in the Indian film industry have protested after Sanjay Leela Bhansali was slapped in Jaipur during shooting of his film Padmavati. Shooting was disrupted, the crew was manhandled with and some equipments were broken. 

An outfit called Rajpur Karni Sena started it. Then other outfits like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Hindu Sena jumped into the row seeing an opportunity to score political mileage. Many other fringe elements saw greener pastures in getting parasitic here. 

Anyway, the episode looks like a closed chapter now as Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the Rajput Karni Sena have reached to a settlement with a written agreement and Bhansali has assured that his film will not have any objectionable scene/ 

Bhansali's film Padmavati is based on the 13th Century queen Padmavati or Padmini who, according to Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s 16th Century epic poem Padmavat (written in 1540), had committed suicide in an act of mass-immolation along with many other women of Chhittorgarh seeing impending defeat and capture by the forces of Allauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate. Attackers alleged that some intimate and therefore objectionable scenes were being filmed between the characters of Rani Padmavati and Allauddin Khilji. For them it was like playing with history and people’s sentiments,.

The assault on Bhansali was outrageous and it left people outraged. Many pointed out that the whole drama was irrelevant as Padmavati was a fictional character created by Jayasi for his epic poem. Historians say we find no mention of Padmavati before 1540 when Jayasi came up with his creation. In that sense, characters of Padmavati is similar to Anarkali and Jodha Bai, the unreal characters of history made larger than life by cinema and by folklore. 

But Padmavati or Rani Padmini was real of fictitious is not the issue here. When it comes to the legends that have become part of our folklore, people go by sentiments and not logics.

The characters in our folklores become part of people's lives. People grow up listening to the stories of their valour and principles. Many of us even imbibe them. These legends who have been there for centuries have become part of our bedtime stories, our traditions, our imaginations. Many of us get attached to them sentimentally as we just saw in Jallikattu's case. It happens more in traditional societies. And whenever questions are raised over such legends or they are painted in some negative light, people react logically, and not sentimentally. 

Karni Sena or VHP or Hindu Sena, they all exploit these sentiments to get those desperate validations for their existences that they otherwise find hard to get. Their identity, their politics, their existence, everything is based on this lifeline only.  

Distorting history or manipulating historical facts for creative freedom or to add drama to an otherwise flat storyline is done all across and is a hotly debated issue, be it Hollywood’s Schindler’s List or Gladiator or Argo or other such productions or our own Jodhaa Akbar or Bajirao Mastani (Bhansali’s last film) or even 1982’s Gandhi that was an international production. 

Schindler’s List, Gladiator, Argo, Gandhi and many other films alleged for distorting history have emerged as milestones of the world cinema and have gone on to win Oscars. Even back home, despite all their controversies, Jodhaa Akbar and Bajirao Mastani were commercial successes.

©SantoshChaubey

Monday 30 January 2017

HAFIZ SAEED UNDER HOUSE ARREST AFTER US WARNING: PAKISTAN TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST JUD AND HAFIZ SAEED?

Here it is modified and extended.

Reports emerging from Pakistan says Hafiz Saeed is under house arrest in Lahore and the police is raiding his terror front Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) facilities, that operate under the garb of charity. In a video clip circulating in Pakistan's social media circles, Hafiz Saeed can be seen ranting against India, the US with his favourite Kashmir rant. In the clip he says to his supporters that today's developments will take him further to his goals.

Earlier in the day, a Dunya News report, quoting Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Interior, had said that Pakistan would tomorrow spell out the course of action it is going to take against Hafiz Saeed and JuD. Nisar said JuD which was declared a terrorist outfit by the US last year and was under observation in Pakistan since 2010. According to the Dunya News report, Pakistan is going to take action against Jamaat in line with the UN requirements. Now that Hafiz Saeed has put been under house arrest and a crackdown on JuD facilities is going on, let's see what Pakistan comes with tomorrow.

In December 2008, UN Security Council, under its Resolution 1267, imposed sanctions on JuD and Hafiz Saeed for supporting Al Qaeda and Taliban. India had named Hafiz Saeed, LeT and JuD as the perpetrators of the series of terrorists attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. Since then it has been an unending drama of Hafiz Saeed being put under house arrest or detained cursorily before being set free even if the US declared a bounty of $10 million on his head in 2012.

Let alone Hafiz Saeed, all other names including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the Mumbai attacks mastermind or Masood Azhar, the Pathakot airbase attack mastermind or many others on India's most wanted list, alleged for perpetrating countless terror acts in India, are free and even respected names in Pakistan. When international pressure demands, Pakistan does the routine sham of shielding behind its judicial process that had set Hafiz Saeed free of all terrorism charges in 2009.

It is not the first time that reports from Pakistan on banning JuD have come out. This is a regular spectacle, as recent as November 2016. Every time Pakistan clarifies that JuD has not been banned and as per the UN requirements, is under observation.

But this time, the crackdown on JuD and Hafiz Saeed has come out after the US warning that Pakistan could be added to the list of the banned countries on the US immigration list. Donald Trump administration has put a ban on immigrants from seven Muslim majority nations that are 'most identifiable with dangerous terrorism taking place in their country' - Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Sudan. Reince Priebus, the White House Chief of Staff, has said that countries like Pakistan that are 'having problems similar to those seven nations', can be added to the list in future. 

That may have set alarms bells ringing in Pakistan. Though Pakistan, a habitual offender, backstabber and master of doublespeak when it comes to using terror as a policy tool, cannot be trusted, even if its Interior Minister says that action on JuD was pending, a sense of panic can be seen when we see Hafiz Saeed's Twitter feed and his video clip.

As Twitter doesn't allow designated terrorists like Hafiz Saeed on its platform and blocks their Twitter accounts, they keep on changing their Twitter handles. @HMSaeedOfficial is one of the Twitter handles being used by Hafiz Saeed. Saeed tweeted today from this account, "We knew this would happen when we declared 2017 the year of #Kashmir. If I am arrested, millions will continue to raise voice for #Kashmir."

@HMSaeedOfficial 
We knew this would happen when we declared 2017 the year of #Kashmir. If I am arrested, millions will continue to raise voice for #Kashmir
If we are banned for raising voice for Kashmir, then we don't care about any such ban or restrictions.
The recent reports of JuD Ban are due to Indian pressure. In case of any such ban,  we will go to courts for justice

This can well be a strategy to garner support and pressurize the Pakistan's government to prevent from taking any strong measure against the terror mastermind or can be, again, an elaborate sham in collusion with the Pakistan's ruling establishment and the ISI to show the world that Pakistan, at last, is going to crackdown on terror, especially after the US warning of putting it on the immigration ban list. And if it is happening so now, it can well be the first in the series of sham crackdowns.

The first option looks more likely that Saeed may be made a scapegoat (remember the US bounty on Saeed) as Saeed initially deleted his tweet from @HMSaeedOfficial page. But after some hours, he again posted it along with other tweets that show his fear of being banned. Blaming India for reports on JuD ban, he wrote that If they were banned for raising voice for Kashmir, then they didn't care about any such ban or restrictions and they would approach the court.

To add to Hafiz Saeed's fear, Pakistan's The News today published a report, which says that the US has clearly told Pakistan to act against JuD after JuD's name prominently figured in the latest report of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering or else Pakistan would be put on the list of blacklisted countries in the International Cooperative Review Group (ICRG). That will make it necessary for Pakistan to put a formal request each time it goes about transacting any business through any of the international financial institutions.

This is an early January report, before Donald Trump's took over as the US President and now that the most clear warning to Pakistan has come from Trump's chief of staff, the writing looks clear on the wall for Pakistan. It is for Pakistan to decide which way it wants to go. Meanwhile, according the same The News report, Hafiz Saeed has adopted a new name for his outfit, Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir.

©SantoshChaubey

Sunday 29 January 2017

SUSHANT SANS RAJPUT: SUSHANT'S TWITTER CAMPAIGN AGAINST BHANSALI ATTACK

Most in the Indian film industry have protested the way Sanjay Leela Bhansali was manhandled in Jaipur during shooting of his next film Padmavati based on 13th Century queen Padmavati or Padmini who, according to Malik Muhammad Jayasi's 16th Century epic poem Padmavat, had committed suicide in an act of mass-immolation along with many other women of Chhittorgarh seeing impending defeat and capture by the forces of Allauddin Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate. Attackers alleged that, Playing with history and people's sentiments, some objectionable scenes were being filmed between the characters of Rani Padmavati and Allauddin Khilji.

The assault on Bhansali is an outrageous act and is being condemned widely and like has become the norm now, Twitter is the primary platform giving expression to people's anger. But some are going a step further and asking others to join by setting a precedent like actor Sushant Singh Rajput has done, by removing his surname from his Twitter handle. So his Twitter handle @itsSSR has Sushant only as his introduction. And it seems he is on a Twitter campaign to take the march further. He is still tweeting his thoughts on the issue and is replying back to trolls as well.

Tagging #padmavati, he had written on January 27, "We would suffer till the time we're obsessed with our surnames. If you're that courageous, give us your first name to acknowledge".

Naturally, it was an open invitation to trolls and they were there with a bang, with their obnoxious language and all unhindered obscenities. They started questioning his roots, his intention, his mental balance, even trying to give it a communal angle. Sushant hit back writing that 'people quote history to search for their relevance in future, not knowing that their names surely will be forgotten forever.

When someone commented that Sushant didn't have the balls to stand for history, Sushant retorted saying 'he has the balls to stand up for the future, so just shut up you joker'. It was yesterday, on January 28.

Today, on January 29, he tweeted his mind again on the issue, "There is no religion or cast bigger than humanity and Love and compassion makes us human. Any other division is done for selfish gains."

Trolls, too, were there, on their job again. People wrote that removing surname was a business driven decision and even after that Bhansali would not take Sushant in his films. Trolls name-called the whole film industry saying that they were an insensitive and apathetic lot.

When someone advised Sushant that we use 'surnames to respect of fathers and forefathers and due to some stupid acts by some idiots, we should not stop following them, Sushant replied gently, "Well I respect my father and he knows it. But that doesn't allow me to disrespect somebody's son. Violence is not bravery. You react on a speculation because of fear. There are ways to put up your point but that requires intelligence."

When someone tested his patience saying "why doesn't he change his name too, if he doesn't follow any religion then why a Hindu name Sushant?", the actor gave him a befitting reply, "I've  not changed my surname idiot. I'm probably 10 times more Rajput than you are if you're implying courage. I'm against the cowardly action."

It is interesting to see someone from the Indian film industry taking a principled stand. Hope it will inspire many others in his fraternity to do so. Padmavati or Rani Padmini was real of fictitious is not the issue here. When it comes to the legends that have become part of our folklore, people go by sentiments and not logics.

Many Rajput outfits led by Karni Sena have alleged that history is being distorted in Bhansali's movie. Distorting history or manipulating historical facts for creative freedom or to add drama to an otherwise flat storyline is done all across and is a hotly debated issue, be it Hollywood's Schindler's List or Gladiator or Argo or other such productions or our own Jodhaa Akbar or Bajirao Mastani (Bhansali's last film) or even 1982's Gandhi that was an international production. Schindler's List, Gladiator, Argo, Gandhi and many other films alleged for distorting history have emerged as milestones of the world cinema and have gone on to win Oscars. Even back home, despite all their controversies, Jodhaa Akbar and Bajirao Mastani were commercial successes.    

©SantoshChaubey

Saturday 28 January 2017

Thursday 26 January 2017

NEW ‘RUBRIC’ OF GEOPOLITICS IN A DONALD TRUMP WORLD

Here it is bit modified.

Geopolitics has always been shaped by few global powers, especially the US so far, even if it has been an increasingly multi-polar world.

But with the recent developments that have revolved around inward looking protectionist and autocratic powers taking central position not just back homes but in the overall flow of geopolitics, the world order is increasingly going to be shaped by four countries and an event, Russia, the US, Britain leaving the European Union (EU) or Brexit and China, the new RUBRIC that will shape the flow of geopolitics in the days to come. RUBRIC with changed evaluations and definitions that would try to outsmart the existing ethos in order to impose their own.

And the rules of this new RUBRIC will be written by their leaders, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the US’ Donald Trump, Britain’s Theresa May and China’s Xi Jinping, with new equations emerging after Donald Trump has taken over the world’s most prosperous and powerful nation.

WHY THEY MATTER

The US still wields enormous military power and if we say it remains unchallenged, especially after the demise of the Soviet Union or the USSR, it will not be exaggerating it. The US is also the world’s largest single nation economy and will remain so with its clout to greatly affect the trade blocks and negotiations.

Though the USSR is no longer there, it left behind a stockpile of nuclear arsenal that makes Russia a strong regional power that exercises considerable influence in Europe and Asia, even if it has had a volatile economy. Add to it the vast energy reserves Russia has that serves as Europe’s lifeline.

China is the world’s second largest economy and the manufacturing powerhouse of the world and is in a position to dictate trade terms with global power centres even if it derided for its one party autocratic system and poor human rights. In terms of purchasing power parity, China is already the world’s largest economy and is a growing military power with increasing clout in space, air, navy and on ground.

Britain, once the reigning colonial superpower of the world with economic and military might, has reduced to being just a small country with no influence to affect the geopolitical matters. Yes, but it remains a symbolic superpower of values that define the existing free democratic world order – free men, free markets and a freer world. And the country is still an economic superpower. Its GDP at 2.29 Trillion USD was at par with India’s GDP of 2.3 Trillion USD in 2016.

TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE IS SETTING THINGS IN MOTION

China has a production model back home that is antithesis of the values that the US and major economies of the free democratic world cherish and promote but nothing stops them or the big transnational corporations from engaging with China. China has absolute protectionism and labour laws heavily tilted in the favour of businesses.

With the new US President Donald Trump’s inward looking and protectionist views that aim to seclude the US economy in domestic shackles, the Asian economic giant is trying to take a global leadership position with Xi Jinping already saying that China is ready to fill the void created by the US.

The US under Donald Trump has effectively dumped the biggest global trade deal proposed, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), including 12 Pacific rim countries that already regulate the world’s 40% economic output. China would sure be happy to milk the opportunity that many including Barack Obama, the former US President, tried hard to grab and now believe that going away from it will be suicidal for America’s global dominance.

Trump’s next target is NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and no one knows what comes next. No one knows where he will stop in the name of preventing jobs and businesses from going out of the US and paying back to the countries who he believes have sucked the US wealth. Signs don’t look good. He is threatening businesses with counterproductive measures.

Military and nuclear confrontation with China already looks on the table. Trump has ratcheted up nuclear and military expansion rhetoric quoting Russia and China but while he has always been soft on Putin, hoping for ‘good deals with Russia’, he has never given such indications for Xi Jinping or China. Trump believes that ‘One China’ policy can be negotiated while China considers it blasphemous. Trump calls the Taiwanese leader breaking decades old US tradition and says it is not a big deal. The South China Sea dispute where it’s defiance is directly pitted against the whole world community is another in the series.

Russia is a big military power and big economy of its region of influence in Europe and Asia with an autocratic president in Vladimir Putin who believes in the unbridled run of power, military expansionism and has increasingly displayed a tendency to interfere in the theatres of conflicts like he is doing in Syria. And as Putin is sitting comfortably at home, crushing all the dissent, if he goes about pursuing his global designs, it will be a development that was just about to happen. The erstwhile USSR was one pole of the once bipolar world and Putin has not forgotten that.

And Trump, it looks like, is giving him a chance. He has indicated that he will lift sanctions imposed on Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. The US, so far, led in Syria peace talks but now, it is being led by Russia and Turkey with the latest round of talks between Syrian rebels and government representatives in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital. And experts believe this may be the beginning of the process that can effectively see the US dominance, first in the Middle East and then elsewhere, diminished to a great scale, thanks to the Trump’s policies that aim to make America an island nation, away from geopolitical tumults and thus stakes, away from the values that the US has globally promoted so far, democracy, free markets and human rights.

Britain is also picking signals from Donald Trump, emboldened by his anti-EU tirade. Trump says ‘Brexit will be a great development for the UK’.

Many in Britain fought hard and championed to create the world’s largest economy as a single trading block and single, border-free zone of countries in the form of the European Union (EU) – inspiring the world to create such free zones for men or economies to flow freely. But that is not the case anymore. Britain is leaving the EU, after a bitter referendum, or Brexit, that divided the country. Brexit will make US the world’s largest economic region again. Britain’s new leader Theresa May has said that the legal process for Brexit has already begun and she is looking forward to meet the staunch EU critic and therefore her big admirer Donald Trump this Friday to negotiate trade deals, like she has done with other countries including India. Trump has also predicted, in his inimitable style, that more countries will follow Britain in leaving the EU.

So, the next few months are going to be very volatile and challenging for the existing world order and geopolitical equations. RUBRIC have set things in motion. What happens only future can tell but the flow of geopolitics is going to be dependent on the movements of these four nations and their leaders.

©SantoshChaubey

Wednesday 25 January 2017

RUBRICHUS WITH PUMAXIT: BLOCK THAT IS GOING TO SHAPE GEOPOLITICS

Geopolitics is always shaped by few global powers, especially the US so far, even if it has been an increasingly multi-polar world.

But with the recent developments that have revolved around inward looking protectionist and autocratic powers taking central position not just at their homes but in the overall flow of geopolitics, the world order is increasingly going to be shaped by a block of four countries – RUBRICHUS (Russia-Britain-China-US) with their leaders – PUMAXIT (Vladimir Putin-Theresa May-Xi Jinping-Donald Trump).

The US still wields enormous military power. Russia and China are big military powers in their region.

The US is also the world’s largest economy and will remain so with its clout to greatly affect the trade blocks and negotiations.

But then autocratic China is also there with its economic might and a production model back home that is antithesis of the values that the US and major economies of the free democratic world promote.

There is absolute protectionism and labour laws heavily tilted in the favour of businesses. And with that model, China has become the world’s second largest economy. Further, with the new US President Donald Trump’s inward looking and protectionist views that aim to seclude the US economy in domestic shackles, the Asian economic giant is trying to take a global leadership position with its president Xi Jinping saying that China is ready to fill the space vacated by the US.

The US under Donald Trump has effectively dumped the biggest global trade dead proposed – Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with a potential to regulate 40% of the world’s trade. Trump’s next target is NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) and no one knows what comes next. No one knows where he will stop in the name of preventing jobs and businesses going out of the US. But signs are not good. He is threatening businesses with counterproductive measures

Russia is a big military power and big economy of its region of influence in Europe and Asia with an autocratic president in Vladimir Putin who believes in the unbridled run of power, military expansionism and has increasingly displayed a tendency to interfere in the theatres of conflicts like it is doing in Syria. And as Putin is sitting comfortably at home, crushing all the dissent, if he goes about pursuing his global designs, it will be a development that was about to happen. The erstwhile USSR was one pole of the once bipolar world and Putin has not forgotten that.

Britain, once the reigning colonial superpower of the world with economic and military might, has reduced to being just a small country with no influence to affect the geopolitical matters. Yes, but it remains a symbolic superpower of values that define the existing free democratic world order – free men, free markets and a freer world.  

Many in Britain fought hard and championed to create the world’s largest economy and single, border-free zone of countries in the European Union (EU) – inspiring the world to create such free zones for men and economies to flow freely. But that is not the case anymore. Britain, under its new leader Theresa May, in a bitterly fought referendum that divided the country, has said that it will exit from the EU and the legal process has already begun.

What happens to RUBRICHUS and PUMAXIT, only future can tell but the flow of geopolitics is going to be dependent on their movements. 

©SantoshChaubey 

Tuesday 24 January 2017

AT TIMES, IT IS BEYOND POLITICS: SUSHMA SWARAJ HELPS PARENTS OF DISABLED DAUGHTERS

Here it is bit modified. 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has earned a reputation of being a sensitive and active minister who is always there to help people in need, even if she is recuperating in AIIMS after her kidney transplant. She is one of the very few ministers in the Government of India who leverages the power of social media to make things go for the needy and has mobilized hopes among those millions who feel harassed and stuck in a labyrinthine administrative machinery to get things done, like getting a passport in India. 

Though the government is trying to make the process easier and has introduced many steps including use of online platforms, issues do crop up where we feel that why it is still dragging there and when would we get over such illogical requirements like making it mandatory for women to prove their identity through their husbands' or parents' supportive documents even if they have Aadhaar cards or asking differently-abled people to be present in person at a passport office even if they are 90 percent disabled. 

Heart-wrenching appeal of parents of two disabled daughters, one with 90 percent and other with 72 percent, thankfully got a serious listener in Sushma Swaraj who acted promptly, like she has done in so many other cases. 

Subbalakshmi (70) and RS Rallapalli (75), parents of R. Sarvani who has 90% disability and R. Gayathridevi who has 72% disability, made an appeal to Sushma Swaraj for passports of their daughters. They wrote that they have been taking care of their daughters for the past 40 years but as age is not on their side, they need to make arrangements for their daughters to be sent to their sons living in the US and Canada once they cannot.   

Subbalakshmi and RS Rallapalli wrote in their appeal, published on Change.org and so far signed by over 46,000 people, that they have not been able to apply for passports due to their daughters' 'severe physical disabilities' due to which they cannot take a bus or train to the nearest passport centre that is 110 kms away from their house. And their old age doesn't allow them to help their daughters travel either. They also uploaded Sarvani's disability certificate. 

Yesterday Sushma had acknowledged the petition asking for the parents' contact details and today she assured them that their problem has been taken care of and the passports of their daughters will reach their home. 

‏@SushmaSwaraj
I have gone through your Petition. We will definitely help you. Please give me your address and Phone nos. @CPVIndia
7:36 PM - 23 Jan 2017

‏@SushmaSwaraj
Your daughters do not have to go anywhere. The Passports will reach your house today.
6:55 PM - 24 Jan 2017

Responding to Sushma's gesture, Mr. Rallapalli wrote, "Sushmaji’s immediate and prompt action restores our faith in good governance and I’m really happy that our ministers are helping people". Thanking everyone who signed the petition, he said that they were overjoyed and deeply grateful for the intervention and the process to issue the passports of their daughters had already begun. 

©SantoshChaubey 

Monday 23 January 2017

THE TRUMP QUESTIONS

SO FAR..

As @realDonaldTrump is being inaugurated, the world looks even more volatile now. He may prove disastrous, for the US foreign policy and for the world.

Immediate @realDonaldTrump threats:
Nuclear proliferation
South China Sea dispute
Israel-Palestine and the prospects of two state solution
Protectionism and trade wars
Xenophobia, bias against immigrants and racial minorities, the Mexico prejudice
Taiwan and One China policy

As @realDonaldTrump is being inaugurated, people are obviously asking when he is going to be impeached??

What is the main problem with @realDonaldTrump? -
Too straight?
Foul mouthed?
Too casual?
Too shallow?

Is @realDonaldTrump really real? How real he is? His time begins now. Soon we will know.

Going by the state of affairs, in the US and the world, @realDonaldTrump has an extremely narrow window.
80% he is going to fail.
He has just 20% to make it.

Repealing Obamacare will unravel @realDonaldTrump. He simply can't give what he has promised - universal healthcare!  
Beginning of the end?

Which US President before @realDonaldTrump had seen so much protests? Probably none.

Will @realDonaldTrump make the US another island nation in isolation? Is that what people cheering him have in mind?
This @POTUS is going to be 'make or break' for the US.

Will @realDonaldTrump as the @POTUS will be the beginning of the end for Trump and American global prominence/dominance as we know it?

If @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS become synonymous, what would be the long term communication and branding consequences?

Does @realDonaldTrump/@POTUS have time, liberty and scope to go 'trial and error' in running the US and handling geopolitics?

©SantoshChaubey

Sunday 22 January 2017

TRUMP'S TRYST WITH CONTROVERSIES CONTINUES EVEN AS HE ASSUMES PRESIDENCY

Here it is bit modified and extended. 

The controversial businessman and President-elect Donald Trump is US President now with the White House as his official and residential address for at least the next four years, a distinction that makes him unarguably the most powerful person on the Earth.

But true to his controversial past, his tryst with controversies has continued unabated and has, in fact, seen two major controversies in just two days after his inaugural on January 20, 2017.

Donald Trump has had a bad reputation when it comes to respecting women. He has made several gaudy, bitter in taste sexist remarks against women with women even accusing him of sexual assault. His reputation on this front is sullied to the extent that news outfits run even 'Donald Trump sexism tracker'.

It was natural then that millions of women protested against Trump, not just in Washington but in many cities in America and across the world. According to an ABC news report, 'more than than 600 rallies in 60 countries around the world' were held. Reuters headlined the worldwide women protests as 'unprecedented'. They were all there, mocking and denouncing the new US President, as the Reuters report put it.

But Donald Trump, in his trademark style, a hangover from his past, chose to berate women again. Tweeting from his personal Twitter handle (@realDonaldTrump), Trump mocked women protesters, "Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly." Though he later tweeted to say that even if didn't agree, 'he recognized the rights of people to express their views', he left an impression that protests didn't matter for him.

And it seems Trump has chosen people like him to represent his administration. After the inauguration ceremony, Trump's Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed that it was the most watched inauguration ever of any US President, a false claim that fell flat with contradictory figures. According to Nielsen data, Trump's inauguration with 30.6 million eyeballs ranked behind Ronald Reagan (1981-41.8 million), Barack Obama (2009-37.7 million), Jimmy Carter (1977-34.1 million) and Richard Nixon (1973-33 million).

But Trump, in his familiar style, tried to belittle his predecessor Barack Obama again tweeting "Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!". Clearly, he was trying to shield behind a selective set of information, picking up what suited his purpose.

Both Trump and his Press Secretary have slammed the media for being preferential and biased for showing truth behind the numbers. Trump thinks media is dishonest when it says that Barack Obama's inaugural in 2009 had more people in attendance. Going a step further, his Press Secretary Spicer threatened to 'hold the press accountable' blaming that 'some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting'.

If it is the beginning, let's see what happens next. If Trump and his administration can't handle media coverage on his inauguration, imagine what would happen when it comes to media carrying in-depth policy analysis of Donald Trump's stated priorities where he said he would go against the established norms, be it Obamacare repeal or nuclear proliferation and military expansion or climate change protocols or trade protectionism or the US intervention in the geopolitical affairs. 

©SantoshChaubey

Saturday 21 January 2017

TRUMP ERA BEGINS NOW: WORLD WILL CLOSELY WATCH HOW HE HANDLES THESE FIVE ISSUES


US President-elect Donald J. Trump is now the US President Donald Trump. He was sworn in this afternoon as the 45th US President, taking over from his predecessor Barack Obama. He is one of the most controversial people in the US history to move the White House because of his background and the values that he looks to espouse.

He looks comfortable in his skin, a flamboyant but controversial businessman, be it his divisive and derogatory campaign rhetoric or his days since November 8, 2016 when he stunned not just America but the whole world by registering an impressive victory over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, former First Lady and the US Secretary of State.

His campaign rhetoric and post-election remarks have stirred the whole world and people the world over are waiting to see how he is going to handle his Presidency once he settles in the White House, because creating a mess around any of the issues that he has so casually talked or tweeted about can turn the whole world or a large section of it upside down.

NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION

Donald Trump has ratcheted up war and nuclear rhetoric to newer heights. US is considered the big daddy when it comes to enforcing international non-proliferation and disarmament measures but Trump’s campaign rhetoric and his post election words have instilled a fear that the world could see a renewed race for arms among the most powerful nuclear nations of the world, especially the US and Russia.

The world cannot easily forget the ominous tweet by Donald Trump post his victory in the US presidential polls where he asserted that “the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes”.

TAIWAN AND ONE CHINA POLICY

Like his victory, this signature Trump decision made the global headlines when he chose to talk to the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen post his election victory. It was a first for any US President or President-elect to speak to the Taiwanese President since 1979 when the US had closed its embassy in Taipei and severed its diplomatic ties recognizing the Mainland China as the sole Chinese voice.

After a growing global debate and Chinese displeasure, Trump’s transition team issued clarification that it was just a courtesy call. But nothing is seen as casual or ‘by-chance’ in geopolitics. The rift has deepened further with Trump’s recent statement that the One China Policy is open for negotiation.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Jerusalem is contentious. Both Israelis and Palestinians consider in their capital. Though it is where Israel’s power corridors are, no embassies are here but in Tel Aviv because doing so would compromise the peace process and would damage the prospects of the ‘two state’ solution beyond repair. Moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem has been a campaign rhetoric in the US Presidential polls. It never went beyond that.

Now, like his Taiwan move, Trump says he doesn’t break promises and will move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Protests have begun against it and if Trump’s designs materialize, it will force an entire region in flames again, something that even many Israelis are not in favour of, even if the Israeli leadership is encouraging it. A New York Times report writes, “It would only set off new fighting with the Palestinians as well as the rest of the Arab world, a big price tag for a symbolic change that would hardly move the ball on the broader conflict”.

ETHNIC DIVIDE

Trump’s campaign and his transition team have been harsh on immigrants and minorities. He has not desisted from issuing offensive statements against immigrants including Muslims, Black Americans and racial minorities. They talked of creating a Muslim Registry to humiliate them even further. His election saw protests not just in America but in many other parts of the world. Before and after his election, Trump has made clear his intention to build a wall along the Mexican border using choicest of words for Mexican immigrants.

The world had never seen society in the US so divided, at least in decades, since the days of segregation and counterculture. Okay, there is always this division, a group chooses this, the other one goes for that, but this all is at an electoral level. What happened in the US after Donald Trump’s victory is suggestive of deep fissures in the US society that Trump likes to flare up even if he talked of a united US society today – of Black, Brown and White Americans. After Trump, people are fearful of rising White supremacist tendencies in the US society.

If things really go out of control as the scenario looks now, its repercussions would be seen across the world because US has been a cosmos of ethnicities from across the world.

TRADE WARS

The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting was held in Davos from January 17 to 20. China tried to make a big presence there this time but the whole Chinese focus revolved around sending Trump a message that protectionist approach would lead to trade wars which would hurt everyone. Targetting increasing anti-globalisation, Chinese President Xi Jinping reminded Donald Trump and the world that “no one will emerge as a winner from fighting a trade war” and that China would pitch in to counter Trump’s moves.

Donald Trump has threatened to create protective barriers to stop businesses and jobs moving out of the US. He has been a harsh critic of outsourcing and the US under him would potentially see a much declined numbers of professionals heading towards the US. He has vowed to impose tariff barriers to check inflow and outflow of goods in the US.

Trump’s plans to go ahead with his promises took a large part of his inaugural address today. He said, “We have spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We’ve made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. But that is the past. And now, we are looking only to the future. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will never ever let you down”.

The Trump era begins now. He is officially now the most powerful person on the Earth. Let’s see where his domestic and geopolitical priorities take us. Trump says “the time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action”. Indeed!


©SantoshChaubey

Featured Image Courtesy: Donald Trump delivering his inaugural speech – The White House’s YouTube screen-grab

Friday 20 January 2017

MODI SAYS WALK AWAY FROM TERROR, NAWAZ SHARIF SHIELDS BEHIND K-RANT..AGAIN!

Here it is bit modified.

As expected, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has chosen not to answer Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demand that to resume dialogue with India, Pakistan must walk away from terror. Instead, he has picked the Kashmir rant again to blame India.

Nawaz Sharif is in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum. According to the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Pakistan report, Sharif, while talking to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said that Pakistan invited India for talks but India did not respond.

The report says that Nawaz Sharif said that resolution of all outstanding issues between Pakistan and India including the core issue of Kashmir is imperative for durable peace in South Asia. Exporting terror in Kashmir while continuing his double speak, Nawaz Sharif said that “peace in the region is in the best interest of the people of the region”.

While playing the victim Nawaz Sharif did not forget to polish his credentials by mentioning Indian violations of the Indus Water Treaty and that how India has been thwarting Pakistan’s sincere efforts ‘for durable peace in the region’, the foremost priority of his government. While he spoke of all outstanding issues including Kashmir, he did not mention terror and India’s only demand to resume dialogue with Pakistan.

While delivering the inaugural address of the 2nd Raisina Dialogue on January 17 in New Delhi, PM Modi said that if Pakistan wanted to resume dialogue with India, it must first renounce terrorism. Modi said, “Pakistan must walk away from terror if it wants to walk towards dialogue with India”.

While saying that a thriving well integrated neighbourhood was his dream, Modi said, “My vision for our neighbourhood puts premium on peaceful and harmonious ties with entire South Asia. That vision had led me to invite leaders of all SAARC nations, including Pakistan, for my swearing in. For this vision, I had also travelled to Lahore. But, India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan’s journey to make. Pakistan must walk away from terror if it wants to walk towards dialogue with India.”

Prime Minister Modi’s unscheduled Lahore stopover in December 2015, while returning from Afghanistan, had left everyone stunned and his unilateral move to improve ties between the South Asian neighbours was appreciated globally.

This was his one of many initiatives to improve relations with a country that has behaved as India’s sworn enemy ever since its birth in 1947, beginning with Modi’s invitation to the South Asian leaders including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony on May 26, 2014.

But Pakistan, continuing its tradition of backstabbing India, gave Pathankot airbase attack and declared Hizbul terrorist Burhan Wani a martyr and fuelled and supported the latest round of unrest in Kashmir.

Pakistan’s actions forced India to put forward the condition that the future India-Pakistan dialogue will be on the issue of terror only. Pakistan, the main sponsor of terrorism in India, obviously could not have accepted it and chose to escape, shielding behind its Kashmir rant. It said it would not go for dialogue with India until Kashmir is on the table.

Raisina Dialogue is organized jointly by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). It is India’s geo-political conference and is aligned with India’s foreign policy priorities. Its second edition is being held in New Delhi from January 17 to 19. More than 250 global leaders from 65 nations are slated to speak at the conference which has ‘the New Normal -Multilateralism with Multi-Polarity’ as its theme this year.

©SantoshChaubey

Thursday 19 January 2017

US JOURNALISTS SET RULES ON ACCESS TO TRUMP'S ADMINISTRATION, AIRTIME FOR NEXT FOUR YEARS


US President-elect Donald Trump has been livid over many issues and people and the US media is one of his main targets. He has slammed media left, right and centre, going as far as to mock a disabled journalist and threaten to keep media outfits away from the White House.

Now, just two days before his inaugural, the US Press Corp has come out with a strongly worded open letter, published in the Columbia Journalism Review of Columbia University, to set things in a perspective for the next four years clearly spelling out that who will be the boss saying while "Trump has every right to decide his ground rules for engaging with the press, they have some, too. It is, after all, their airtime and column inches that Trump is seeking to influence."

The open letter by a body representing US journalists, asserts, "We, not you, decide how best to serve our readers, listeners, and viewers. So think of what follows as a backgrounder on what to expect from us over the next four years".

The letter categorically rebuts Donald Trump's regular slanderous assualts and threats against media. Addressing Trump it says, "You've banned news organizations from covering you. You've taken to Twitter to taunt and threaten individual reporters and encouraged your supporters to do the same. You've advocated for looser libel laws and threatened numerous lawsuits of your own, none of which has materialised. You've avoided the press when you could and flouted the norms of pool reporting and regular press conferences. You've ridiculed a reporter who wrote something you didn't like because he has a disability".

The journalists body, through its open letter, sets rules on access to Trump's administration, off the record statements, airtime, objectivity and cultivating and embedding news sources in the government for the next four years or in best case scenario, for the next eight years, if Donald Trump gets the second term.

Journalists say that Trump may deny them access but it will be a challenge that they will relish. The letter clears it out that 'access is preferable, but not critical'. They say 'attending background briefings or off-the-record social events' will be their sole discretion and they deserve the right to give or deny airtime to Trump's spokespersons.

They lay out terms for the quality of coverage that will be driven by objective truth. Newsworthiness is must, but not without facts. And they warn Trump they will have upper hand in covering how his policies are carried out, even if he seeks to control information.

US journalists recognize where they have failed and credit Trump to highlight it and emphasize the need to 'regain trust' and say that "they'll do it through accurate, fearless reporting, by acknowledging their errors and abiding by the most stringent ethical standards they set for themselves".

But they blame Trump of trying to create a division in the journalistic fraternity and even trying to cause family fights. The letter says those days are over now as 'the challenge of covering Trump requires that journalists cooperate and help one another whenever possible'. The letter reiterates on its role in making the US a great Republic and expresses gratitude that "forced them to rethink the most fundamental questions about who they are and what they are here for".

©SantoshChaubey

Wednesday 18 January 2017

WORSE THAN PROSTITUTES! THATS WHAT PUTIN THINKS ABOUT TRUMP’S DETRACTORS

Here it is bit modified and extended.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that those who are trying to defame US President-elect Donald Trump with unsubstantiated claims are ‘worse than prostitutes’.

According to a report from Russian news agency TASS, Putin has said that ‘prostitution is a serious ugly social phenomenon as young women engage in this also because they cannot provide a worthy life for themselves otherwise and this is largely the guilt of societies and the state. But people who order fakes like this, which are currently being spread against the US President-elect, are fabricating and using them in the political struggle. They are worse than prostitutes’.

Putin was reacting on the claims that the Russian intelligence has compromising material on Donald Trump and Russia may use it to blackmail him in future. An unverified dossier, authored by a former British intelligence officer, made headlines last week with its sensational allegations on Donald Trump of accepting bribes and indulging in sexual favours while he was in Russia. Both, Trump and the Kremlin had dismissed the dossier as fake.

Putin added that the ‘people who ordered such information have no moral restraints whatsoever’.

Saying that Trump has been in showbiz, Putin doubted that ‘Trump fell for girls with reduced social responsibilities’. He said, “Trump is a person who has dealt with organizing beauty pageants for many years and has communicated with the world’s most beautiful women. You know, I can imagine with difficulty such a thing that he immediately headed off for the hotel to meet with our girls of reduced social responsibility”.

Trump had slammed people spreading such rumours and had taken to Twitter to question if John Brennan, the outgoing CIA chief, was behind the leak of the fake news.

‏@realDonaldTrump -.@FoxNews “Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand.” Oh really, couldn’t do…
5:46 AM – 16 Jan 2017

‏@realDonaldTrump – much worse – just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of Russian nukes. Not good! Was this the leaker of Fake News?
5:59 AM – 16 Jan 2017

Donald Trump has indicated that he would take a soft approach towards Russia and would ease sanctions slapped on the country if ‘Moscow decides to work with the US’. There are reports that during first foreign visit of Trump to Iceland, a summit between Putin and Trump is being finalized.

©SantoshChaubey

Tuesday 17 January 2017

PAKISTAN’S DEFENCE MIN AT IT AGAIN: DARES INDIA TO CONDUCT A SURGICAL STRIKE

Here it is bit modified and extended.

Pakistan has done it again, with its senate and top political leadership bragging about their military might and how they would teach India a lesson that would make it ‘forget making claims of even a fake surgical strike’ in Pakistan.

According to a Radio Pakistan report, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja said ‘if India tried to make any effort to carry out surgical strikes in future these will be responded with full force and they will forget to carry out even faked strikes in future.’

Pakistan’s senate today passed a resolution to condemn prime minister Narendra Modi’s statement where he called Pakistan ‘mother-ship of terrorism’ without naming it. During the BRICS Summit held in Goa in October 2016, Narendra Modi had said that ‘the most serious direct threat to our eco prosperity is terrorism; Tragically, its mother-ship is a country in India’s neighbourhood’. Condemning Pakistan for using terror as state policy, Modi had said that ‘this country shelters not just terrorists. It nurtures a mindset. A mindset that loudly proclaims that terrorism is justifiable for political gains.’

Passing anti-India resolutions in Pakistan’s senate is a regular scene and, it seems, is a favourite pastime, and during one such spectacle today, its defence minister, while terming India’s surgical strike in September 2016 as fake, said that India violated the ceasefire over 300 times last year in which 45 Pakistani civilians lost their lives. He went on to aggrandize his statement to the extent to say that ‘India was also involved in such violations with other neighbouring countries including Nepal and Bangladesh’.

The resolution said that the international community had rejected ‘baseless propaganda’ by India ‘attributing terrorism to Pakistan’ and ‘the statement made by the Indian Premier was an effort to divert the attention of the International Community from the Indian atrocities against the people of Occupied Kashmir’. Continuing Pakistan’s Kashmir rant, Khawaja Asif said that ‘Pakistan will continue political, diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for right to self-determination’.

Khawaja Asif is speaking in a similar tone that he used to go with before India conducted its highly successful surgical strike deep inside Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in September 2016 destroying many terror camps and killing dozens of terrorists. The surgical strike had left Pakistan shocked to the extent that its leaders initially didn’t know how to react on it and later on toed the Pakistan’s Army line of denying the surgical strike to save their face and humiliated bravado.

Before September’s surgical strike, the favourite line of Khawaja Asif happened to be that it will eliminate India with its tactical nuclear weapons if India tried to impose war on Pakistan.

After the Uri terror strike on September 18, 2016, that killed 19 of our soldiers, most of them sleeping, Pakistan had started feeling the heat as there was intense demand in India that the country should take some decisive, concrete against Pakistan this time. To handle this, and to thwart any serious response by the Indian establishment, (and buoyed by the past precedent, when India had hesitated to take any tough measure), the Pakistani ruling elite started blackmailing and threatening India with their so-called tactical or nuclear weapons.

The same Khawaja Asif, after the surgical strike on the intervening night of September 28-29, was stuttering while accepting that there was an aggression by India and ‘if India tries it again, Pakistan will give befitting reply’ (and not that ‘Pakistan will nuke and eliminate India), before toeing the line of Pakistan’s army. He had gone on to say even this that ‘India and Pakistan cannot take risk of a nuclear holocaust’.

Today’s development in the Pakistani senate seems more of a response to the Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat’s warning that, if needed, India will conduct surgical strike again. Like the Uri attack had forced Pakistan to issue threats to India to thwart any counter move, General Rawat’s open warning this time might have forced the Pakistani ruling establishment to issue a veiled threat to India again.

But see what a successful surgical strike has done. The ‘befitting reply by the Pakistan’ had no mention of tactical, nuclear weapons this time.

©SantoshChaubey