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.

Thursday 18 January 2018

WHY THESE APPOINTMENTS WERE QUESTIONED?













CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (CBI) DIRECTOR ALOK VERMA

Former Delhi Police Commissioner, appointed CBI director in January 2017.

From AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories) Cadre.

Before it, Verma had never worked in the CBI, so his appointment was a departure from norms.  

The Supreme Court guidelines say the person heading the CBI should have prior CBI experience.

The Government cited his experience in vigilance behind his appointment as the CBI Director.  

Congress didn’t support his appointment – The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge Said "Selection must be made according to law, merit and seniority.”

The three-member panel that selected him included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Mallikarjun Kharge.  

Congress was supporting RK Dutta, a senior official from the Ministry of home affairs, saying Dutta had over 17 years of CBI experience.  











©SantoshChaubey

Wednesday 17 January 2018

NORTH KOREA: CHINA CALLS US LED MEETING ILLEGAL AND A COLD WAR VESTIGE


Just a day after Donald Trump and Xi Jinping phone conversation over North Korea, China has strongly objected to a US led meeting in Canada’s Vancouver that called for strict implementation of sanctions imposed on North Korea.

Calling the meeting illegal and a Cold War vestige, a spokesperson of China’s Foreign Office said, “It will only drive a wedge among the international community and undermine the concerted efforts to seek proper settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.”

The US and Canada hosted Vancouver Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula on 16th January. The meeting was aimed at “the Complete, Verifiable, and Irreversible Denuclearization of North Korea”, as the US State Department summed it.

Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, said the purpose of the meetings was to improve the effectiveness of the maximum pressure campaign and combat North Korea’s attempts to evade sanctions.

China raised objections over meeting and its participants, the 20 countries of the United Nations Command (UNC) that supported South Korea during the 1950s Korea War, “We all know that the so-called UN Command, as a product of the Cold War era, has long lost its relevance. As initiators of the meeting, the US and Canada co-hosted the meeting under the banner of the so-called UN Command sending states. That is Cold War mentality pure and simple.”

The meeting that excluded China and Russia was attended by 20 nations including the US, Canada, South Korea, Japan, France, Britain, the Philippines, Sweden and Australia and none of them had any trade relation with North Korea last year.

China argued that when no major parties of the Korean peninsula issue were present in the meeting, expecting any solution through it was a futile exercise, questioning the ‘legality and representativeness’ of the meeting.

China also countered the tough message of the military option that the US led meeting sent to North Korea. China’s Foreign Office said on the move, “Only through dialogue, equally addressing the reasonable concerns of all parties, can a way to an effective and peaceful resolution be found.”

Tillerson had warned that the ultimate responsibility for producing a new future lies with North Korea and it can only be achieved by abandoning its current path of pursuing missile and nuclear weapons technologies.

But if the North doesn’t do so and diplomacy fails, it may trigger military confrontation, "We have to recognize that the threat is growing and that if North Korea does not choose the pathway of engagement, discussion, negotiation then they themselves will trigger an option," Tillerson had added.

The daylong meeting concluded with a joint announcement that a nuclear-armed North Korea was not acceptable and if the country desired a future, it must follow the path of complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.

In spite of the international sanctions against its missile and nuclear weapons programme, North Korea successfully test fired many missiles last year including nuclear capable inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) and detonated a hydrogen bomb as well.

The country has now declared itself a nuclear power, threatening the world with its recent military advances and its acts like firing missiles over Japan or threatening the US military base at Guam in the Pacific, coupled with its no holds barred war rhetoric, have escalated the tension like never before. 

©SantoshChaubey

Tuesday 16 January 2018

DONALD TRUMP'S THREATS ARE SPASMS OF A FRIGHTENED LUNATIC: NORTH KOREA'S JIBE AT US PRESIDENT


After a brief hiatus, North Korea has resumed its verbal assault against US President Donald Trump. And the country's latest jibe at the US President tells the world that his acts are like 'spasms of a lunatic'.

The trigger behind the latest outburst was Donald Trump's 'nuclear button' tweet on 3rd January. In his typical fashion to exact fire and fury against North Korea through his tweets, Trump hit back on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un's claims that the later had a nuclear button on his table and the whole America was in the striking range of his nuclear missiles.

Adding humiliating and stinging words for Kim Jong-un's and his predecessors' rule, calling it a depleted and food starved regime, Trump asserted that he, too, had a nuclear button which really worked, and in fact was a much bigger and more powerful one than Kim Jong-un's.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un just stated that the 'Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times'. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a nuclear button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my button works!
- Donald Trump on Twitter

Though it took two weeks for North Korea to hit back, probably due to the recent thaw in ties with South Korea and the North's participation in the Winter Olympics in the South next month, the verbal retort from the country was equally humiliating and stinging, mocking Trump on a scale that could match the buzz created by his tweet a fortnight ago.

A commentary in North Korea's state-run publication Rodong Sinmun called Trump's 'bigger nuclear button' tweet warning a bluff, 'just a spasm of a lunatic frightened by the might of North Korea,' by a person who has the habit and making reckless remarks, "Recently, Trump who is crazy about the hostile policy toward North Korea, has once again stunned the world by twitting that he has a 'big and strong nuclear button.' After these reckless remarks were twitted, they have become the target of scoff and criticism."

Using choicest of words for him, like North Korea has been doing all along, the commentary added, "The spasm of Trump in the New Year reflects the desperate mental state of a loser who failed to check the vigorous advance of the army and people of the DPRK." Trump's mental health has been a favourite theme in North Korea's anti-America propaganda and the country has used terms like 'psychopath and mentally deranged dotard'.

And like the country has done in past, time and again, alleging Trump of escalating tension and ratcheting up war rhetoric, the commentary further said that the tweet, in fact, revealed who wants peace and who wants a nuclear war, "Experts on the Korean issue said that it is not fitting for the president to put the dangerous and serious issue like a nuclear war on twitter and it is an irresponsible behaviour leading the situation to the brink of a war."

Trump, in fact, was widely panned after this 'nuclear button' tweet. Critics said the tweet would needlessly provoke North Korea at a time when the North had declared itself a nuclear power and the possibility of a nuclear war was more real than ever.

Also, after persistent demand from different quarters, Twitter, in fact, had to issue clarification that Trump's tweet did not violate rules against abusive behaviour.

NORTH KOREA AND THE US

Tension between North Korea and the US has heightened to unprecedented levels since Donald Trump became US President last year.

Trump has been an advocate of adopting tough measures against the North, a rogue nation that is seen as a terror sponsor and nuclear proliferator.

Last year's successful inter-continental ballistic missile and nuclear tests by the North only added to it.

Comments like 'North Koreans will be met with fire and fury this world has never seen before' or 'the rocket-man or madman, Trump's inventions for Kim Jong-un, will be tested like never before' are common.

The North, in response, has its own range of words for Trump like 'a gangster fond of playing with fire', 'unprecedented rude nonsense', 'frightened dog', 'psychopath', 'mentally deranged dotard' or the latest one, 'spasms of a lunatic'.

©SantoshChaubey

Monday 15 January 2018

INDIA: FDI INFLOW AND OUTFLOW

STATALES

FDI: FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT – INVESTMENT MADE BY ENTITIES/ORGANISATIONS IN INDIA.
OFDI: OUTWARD FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT – INVESTMENT MADE BY ENTITIES/ORGANISATIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

SEPTEMBER 2017 – THE LATEST MONTH UPTO WHICH THE DATA FOR BOTH, FDI AND OFDI, ARE AVAILABLE.

DURING THE 12 MONTH PERIOD FROM OCTOBER 2016 TO SEPTEMBER 2017,

FDI INFLOW: RS 3,10,050 CRORE / $47.2 BILLION
OFDI: RS 1,42,754 CRORE / $22.3 BILLION 


©SantoshChaubey

Sunday 14 January 2018

SO, LONDON MAYOR REVEALS WHY DONALD TRUMP CANCELLED HIS BRITAIN VISIT YET AGAIN

Earlier this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan released a statement after US President Donald Trump cancelled his London visit due next month. He claimed the real reason that forced Donald Trump to cancel the visit is - he is very unpopular in his country.

Khan said Donald Trump finally got the message that he was not welcome in London after many Londoners ran campaigns to say ‘no to Donald Trump’ for pursuing a divisive agenda and asserted that ‘in case Trump visited London, he would, without doubt, meet by mass protests.

Sadiq Khan‏ @SadiqKhan
2:26 PM - 12 Jan 2018

Earlier, Trump had tweeted to let the world know that he was cancelling his London visit. The reason he cited was his distaste about the Barack Obama Administration decision of selling the existing embassy building, best located and finest embassy in London, for peanuts and shifting it to an off location, and that too, for a cost of $1.2 Billion.

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump
10:27 AM - 12 Jan 2018

But as Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted, Trump is quite unpopular in Britain. Last year, he had to cancel his state visit to Britain on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s invitation as he feared he was too unpopular in Britain, something that Khan highlighted in the message he tweeted, ‘what a mistake it was for Theresa May to rush and extend an invitation of a state visit in the first place’.

Trump’s Britain state visit was scheduled for June last year but it was postponed for October after fears of backlash over Trump’s controversial travel ban targeting seven Muslim majority nations, a report in The Sun said. Many British MPs had then snubbed Trump and protests were planned. “In June it was said the trip was being postponed again until people support him coming to the UK,” the report further added.

According to The Guardian, he even called Theresa May to inform her that he did not want to come to Britain if there were large-scale protests and he was postponing his state visit to the UK “until the British public supports him coming.” And with this cancellation, it can be said that Trump still fears that Britishers don’t like him.

Also, Trump misrepresented facts to make his point here. He tweeted that the decision to shift the London Embassy was taken by the Obama Administration but the fact is, the process to shift the US Embassy was initiated by the government of George Bush, in October 2008, another report by The Guardian said.

The Obama Administration finalized the deal and the amount was certainly not in peanuts. The US Embassy building at Mayfair, London was sold for £500m ($684 Million today). Barack Obama won the US Presidential Election in November 2008 and his government was inaugurated in January 2009.

©SantoshChaubey

Saturday 13 January 2018

INDIANS ABROAD – WHERE THEY ALL ARE

STATALES

13327438: NON-RESIDENT INDIANS (NRIS)

17905796: PERSONS OF INDIAN ORIGIN (PIOS)

31233234: OVERSEAS INDIANS

COUNTRIES WITH LARGEST INDIAN DIASPORA (ABOVE 1 LAKH)
(NRIs+PIOs)

USA - 4460000
Saudi Arabia - 3255864
Malaysia - 2975000
UAE – 2803751
Myanmar – 2008690
UK - 1825000
Sri Lanka - 1614000
South Africa - 1560000 
Canada – 1016185
Kuwait - 919354
Mauritius - 894500
Oman – 783959
Qatar – 697500
Singapore – 650000
Nepal - 600000
Trinidad & Tobago – 556800
Australia – 496000
France - 456470
Bahrain – 316175
Fiji – 315198
Guyana – 297793
Netherlands – 235000
New Zealand - 200000
Italy – 197301
Thailand - 195000
Germany - 169602
Suriname - 154471
Philippines - 120000
Indonesia – 107500

HOW THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEFINES THEM

NRI: An Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India and holds an Indian Passport

PIO: A person who or whose any of ancestors was an Indian national and who is presently holding another country’s citizenship/nationality i.e. he/she is holding foreign passport

Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder: A person registered as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Cardholder under section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955

HOW CAN THEY ACQUIRE INDIAN CITIZENSHIP?

NRI: He/she is an Indian Citizen

PIO: As per section 5(1)(a) & 5(1)(c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, he/she has to be ordinarily resident in India for a period of 7 years before making an application for registration.

OCI Cardholder: As per section 5(1)(g) of the Citizenship Act,1955, a person registered as an OCI cardholder for 5 years and who is ordinarily resident in India for twelve months before making an application for registration is eligible for grant of Indian citizenship.

INDIAN DIASPORA ACCORDING TO UN SURVEY – AS IN 2015
Trends in International Migrant Stock – conducted by UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

16 Million: India (Largest diaspora population in the world)
12 Million: Mexico

244 MILLION - POPULATION OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS IN 2015 – IT INCLUDES 20 MILLION REFUGEES

WHERE THEY ARE HOSTED

76 Million: Asia
75 Million: Europe

Countries with largest number of international migrants: Asia (11 countries), Europe (6 countries), Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Northern America (1 each).

*Data from Government of and United Nations resources  

©SantoshChaubey

Friday 12 January 2018

NATION FEELING BETRAYED BY US, WILL NOT SEEK REDEMPTION OF AID: PAKISTAN ARMY CHIEF


Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that entire Pakistan is feeling betrayed over recent statements from the US questioning Pakistan’s credibility and commitment in the war against terror and the unanimous national response denouncing the US stand was a reflection of that.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, Pakistan Armed Forces media wing, General Bajwa conveyed the prevailing sentiment in Pakistan to General Joseph L Votel, Commander, US Central Command (CENTCOM) during a phone call last week. CENTCOM’s area of responsibility includes 20 nations, from Northeast Africa across the Middle East to Central and South Asia including Afghanistan and Iraq.

General Bajwa said Pakistan will not seek resumption of US aid and will continue with counter terrorism efforts on its own but his country did expect an honourable recognition of its contributions, sacrifices and unwavering resolve in fight against terrorism.

General Bajwa also reiterated the routine Pakistani allegation that US was making it a scapegoat to hide its own failures in Afghanistan.

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor @OfficialDGISPR
4:16 PM - 12 Jan 2018

After US President Donald Trump’s declaration of no more US aid to Pakistan and the subsequent follow up steps and statements from the US Administration calling Pakistan a liar, a deceitful country that employs terror as state policy, there has been a rush of reactions from the Pakistani leadership, both military and civilian.

They say they don’t need US aid and in fact, have spent multiple times of the US aid in the ongoing war against terrorism. They have started alleging that the US has been an ally who has always betrayed. The Pakistani leadership also sees an Indian hand in all this and warns the US from giving India a prominent role in Afghanistan. Pakistan has also suspended intelligence and military cooperation with the US.

The US, on the contrary, feels betrayed by Pakistan’s double-dealings and treachery.

On many occasions, Donald Trump and his government’s senior ministers and officials have spoken openly against Pakistan that how it backstabs the US by harbouring the terror groups that harm US and other coalition forces in Afghanistan. The US has also described Pakistan a safe haven for terrorists in its official records including the Country Report on Terrorism and the Narendra Modi – Donald Trump Joint Statement last year.

Apart from economic and military aid, the US also reimburses Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund for its expenditure incurred on action against terror groups like the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network. But of late, it has started withholding the Fund, alleging that Pakistan has not taken any concrete action against these terror groups.

The US frustration was summed up in the New Year Day tweet by Trump where he slammed Pakistan for giving safe haven to terrorists the US hunts in Afghanistan in spite of receiving more than $33 Billion in US aid over the last 15 years. He then declared that Pakistan would not receive any more US aid.

Following Trump’s tweet, US has withheld $255 Million military financial package to Pakistan for fiscal year 2016 and $900 Million Coalition Support Fund for 2017, the White House has formally asked the country to do more against terror and a US senator is bringing bill to stop all aid to Pakistan and move has been endorsed by Trump.

©SantoshChaubey

Thursday 11 January 2018

PAKISTAN RAISES CONCERN OVER ISRO SATELLITE LAUNCH


Pakistan has raised objections over India’s satellite launch scheduled for tomorrow. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is scheduled to launch 31 satellites on 12 January from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota and began the 28-hour countdown today at 5:29 AM.

During his weekly briefing, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal warned India of using satellites for military purposes as it could destabilize balance of power in the region.  

“All space technologies, including earth observation satellites, are inherently dual use and can be employed for both civilian and military purposes and therefore it is essential that such pursuits are not directed towards a build-up of destabilizing military capabilities, which can negatively impact the regional strategic stability,” a release from Pakistan’s Foreign Office said.

There are only three Indian satellites among the 31 satellites that ISRO is launching tomorrow at 9:29 AM, under its first mission in 2018, PSLV-C40/Cartosat-2 Series Satellite Mission. 28 other satellites are from six other nations, i.e., Canada, Finland, France, Republic of Korea, UK and USA.

The three Indian satellites include the 710 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite for earth observation, a micro satellite in 100 kg class, Microsat, and a 5 kg nano satellite, Indian Nano Satellite IC. Both, micro and nano satellites, have been built as co-passenger payloads.

The Cartosat-2 satellite being launched this time is seventh in the series of remote sensing satellites and data obtained from it will be used in services like cartographic applications, Geographical Information System (GIS) applications, Land Information System (LIS) applications, coastal land-use regulation, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps and change detection to bring out geographical and manmade features.

Tomorrow’s launch event is the 42nd flight of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, India’s main space launch vehicle. ISRO defines PSLV as its reliable and versatile workhorse, that, apart from carrying out 39 consecutively successful missions so far, has also launched successfully the Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013. In 2017 alone, ISRO placed over 130 satellites into orbit.

The PSLV’s first failure came last year, during 39th mission on August 31, when it failed to deliver India’s eight navigation satellite, the IRNSS-1H, as the heat shield tip which houses the satellite did not open.

©SantoshChaubey

Wednesday 10 January 2018

2017 WAS COSTLIEST YEAR FOR NATURAL DISASTERS IN THE US


Natural disasters cost the United States $306 billion in 2017 says the country's scientific agency National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), making it the costliest year for natural disasters in US history.

2017 has been a year of extreme weather events in the US, including hurricanes, wildfires, floods, tornadoes, drought and freezes and the wildfire season is expected to continue in 2018 as well.

The assessment released by NOAA for 2017 says the US experienced 16 weather and climate disasters, with each of them costing more than $1 billion.

The disasters included 1 freeze, 1 drought (affected multiple areas), 1 wildfire (affected multiple areas), 2 floods, 3 major hurricanes (Harvey, Irma and Maria) and 8 severe storms and took at least 362 lives.

Following graphic shows natural disasters that cost the US 16 billion dollars. (Photo courtesy: NOAA)

The ongoing wildfire season in many western US states has caused dozens of wildfires in the country and their smoke has been visible from the space. They so far have cost $18 billion in damages.

This satellite image shows the wildfires that took place in US in 2017. (Photocourtesy: NASA)

But the three hurricanes cost the US most in damages, totalling around $265 billion with Hurricane Harvey becoming the costliest hurricane in US history in terms of the destruction it wreaked.

Hurricane Harvey lashed many states of the US in August, caused widespread flooding and displaced thousands.

NOAA estimates say the hurricane cost $125 billion, $17 billion more than the cost of estimated damage by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that had inundated 80 per cent of New Orleans.

Hurricane Maria that made landfall in September cost US $90 billion, becoming the third costliest hurricane in US history.

Hurricane Irma, that just followed Hurricane Harvey, cost the US $50 billion, the fifth costliest in US history of natural disasters, the NOAA assessment says.  

Like 2017, the 2005 hurricane season including Katrina had left huge destruction behind killing over 1,000 people.

Information from the US National Hurricane Centre shows Dennis, Cindy, Ophelia, Rita, Wilma were other hurricanes of the season that cost US $211.2 billion.

But the deadliest hurricane season in US history has been 1,900 when Galveston killed 8,000 people and caused damage worth $104.3 billion.

Since then, advances made in predicting hurricanes and in fact, other weather phenomenon, have been able to reduce loss of lives to a greater extent as evident from the 2017 hurricane season, which though caused second most widespread damage in US history, the human cost was limited to 103 deaths.

©SantoshChaubey

Tuesday 9 January 2018

PAKISTAN CHANTS DEATH TO AMERICA, WILL INTRODUCE BILL TO STOP US AID: SENATOR RAND PAUL


A Republican US Senator has said that he would soon introduce a bill to end US aid to Pakistan.

Rand Paul who represents Kentucky in the US Senate posted a video on Twitter and YouTube in which he said Pakistan had always back-stabbed the United States and should not receive even a penny of US taxpayers' hard-earned money.

He says the US should not give even one penny to countries like Pakistan, that burn the American flag and chant death to America.

He asserts that countries like Pakistan that stonewall access to information in fighting terrorism don't deserve American money and goes on to appeal, "I say we should stop now sending the hard-earned tax dollars to Pakistan. We have sent Pakistan over $33 Billion since 2002. What did we get for it?"

Highlighting Pakistan's double-dealings and treachery, he further says, "Pakistan didn't help us even in finding Osama bin Laden even though he was living in one of their cities for years. Then they jailed the informant who helped us get bin Laden. They have allowed suspected terrorist to operate from their country. Some say Pakistani intelligence agents actually aid and abate terrorists. It is wrong."

Senator Rand Paul ✔ @RandPaul
01:05 - 5 Jan 2018

Citing US President Donald Trump's New Year Day announcement a breakthrough, that enough was enough and no more aid to Pakistan as the country had only lied and deceived America in the name of helping in the war on terror in spite of receiving $33 Billion of US aid in last 15 years, Rand says he is going to introduce a bill in coming days to end aid to Pakistan.

"President Trump has publicly called to end their aid, and is currently holding up over $200 million of it. I want to end all of it and I am introducing a bill to do just that in coming days", he added.

He says his bill intends to take the money that would have gone to Pakistan and put it in an infrastructure fund to build roads and bridges back at home.

In another video message posted on YouTube that shows people in Pakistan burning Indian, American and Israeli flags and demonstrating against Donald Trump, Senator Paul asks some tough questions.

He says the continued US gesture makes no sense, "What I find particularly troubling is, US continues to give money to Pakistan over a billion dollar of taxpayers' money, to a country that imprisons the gentleman, the physician who helped us get Osama bin Laden" and concludes that as Pakistan only understands negotiation from strength so he is proposing a vote on ending aid to the country.

Senator Rand Paul has been fighting to end US aid to countries like Pakistan and in fact came up with a bill to stop US aid to the Palestinian authority in 2015. And the time seems opportune this time as both, Pakistan and Palestine, are on Donald Trump's radar.

President Trump has threatened to stop US aid to Palestine as well.

After Trump's New Year Day shocker, his administration has, in fact, increased pressure on Pakistan manifold and the message is clear, shape in or shape out.

First America withheld a scheduled $255 million military financial assistance to Pakistan the same day Trump tweeted his intent. Then White House came with a statement asking Pakistan to do more in the war on terror.

Yesterday it sent Pakistan a list of 27 Haqqani Network terrorists and demanded action against them by 15 January and shortly before Rand Paul's video message, in another decisive blow to Pakistan, announced that it was suspending all military, technological and financial assistance to Pakistan till it shows proof that it has taken decisive action against terrorists.

©SantoshChaubey

Monday 8 January 2018

NORTH KOREA’S ICBM AND HYDROGEN BOMB ARE US INTELLIGENCE BLUNDERS

“....their inability to foresee the North’s rapid strides over the past several months now ranks among America’s most significant failures,” that is how a New York Times report sums up the feeling. The Times report is based on assessment and interviews of former and current US officials.

The hard-hitting report says when Donald Trump began his presidency last year, he was told by the US intelligence community that a North Korean Inter-continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the US mainland with a nuclear warhead was at least four years away, maybe six, by 2020 or 2022. They made similar assessment about North Korea’s efforts to detonate a hydrogen bomb that they calculated was years away.

Only that they happened within months, shocking the US intelligence community and the whole world.

On 4th July last year, the US Independence Day, North Korea test launched its first ICBM with a range of over 4000 miles, and the feat was surprising successful, as analysed by experts and intelligence community the world over. The US military base at Guam in the Western Pacific was now within the striking range of a North Korean missile.

On 28th July, it test fired another ICBM with a range of around 7000 miles and the US West Coast including cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle came into the North Korean striking range.

And on 28th November, it launched its most advanced and longest range ICBM yet, with a range of over 8000 miles, capable enough of hitting Washington and whole America.

As if these missile launches were not enough, to compound the humiliation of the US intelligence community, North Korea detonated its sixth and most powerful nuclear bomb, in fact a hydrogen bomb, on 3rd September last year. It was again surprisingly successful with analysts assessing that it was 15 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atom bomb.  

In fact, the pace at which North Korea has achieved technological breakthroughs and military advances in 2017 has astonished the world. The country has now declared itself a nuclear power and openly resorts to nuclear blackmail to take on international sanctions being imposed on it for its continued missile and nuclear programme.

HOW NORTH KOREA DODGED THE US AND THE WORLD

The US intelligence estimates about North Korean missile and nuclear programme were based on their past experiences of handling the country.

In April 2012, when Kim Jong-Un, the newly elevated North Korean dictator, tried to show the world his country’s prowess in ICBM technology with a satellite launch, the result was a disaster as the rocket exploded soon after its launch.

Though the rogue country continued with its missile and nuclear programme, failures piled up. In 2016, seven of the eight of North Korean Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) test launches failed, the Times report says. The failures, fuelled by elaborate sabotage programmes run by the US government, made its intelligence officials go with their assessment that the North was still few years away from achieving any breakthrough in its military aspirations.

But they failed to gauge the elaborate counter move by North Korea.

The success of North Korea’s missile and nuclear programme in 2017 proves Kim Jong-Un was running parallel missile programmes, may be to experiment more to plug the lapses of recurring failures in the existing technology his country was using or may be simply to dodge the global intelligence spying on the country. He also increased efforts manifold to build missile parts and fuel indigenously to take on international sanctions and sabotage efforts.

The successful test launches of 2017 are driven by a new missile technology based on an old Soviet design that is more reliable and potent, the Times says. What he did that stunned the world was the speed with which his country mastered the new missile technology as it is believed that North Korea abandoned its old missile technology and started working on the new one just a 14 months ago, in October 2016.

SOME OTHER VITAL NORTH KOREA MISSES BY US INTELLIGENCE

It is not the first time that the US administration was caught off guard by intel failure on North Korea. In 2006, when North Korea had conducted its first nuclear test, the US could come to know only an hour before the test, and that too, when China informed about it.

In 2007, Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor in Syria which was being built by North Korea. America was surprised when Israel showed the photograph of the under construction reactor similar to North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor. Israel found the structure was a plutonium nuclear reactor and photographed many North Korean scientists and workers there.

In 2010, when North Korea successfully finished building uranium enrichment plant in its Yongbyon nuclear complex, the US was again surprised as the said nuclear complex was under constant satellite surveillance.

And, as the world knows now, 2017 has eclipsed all those failures, when we talk about the scale of US intelligence blunders on North Korea.

©SantoshChaubey

Sunday 7 January 2018

PAKISTAN WILL BECOME ANOTHER NORTH KOREA IF IT DOESN'T STOP NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL: US


US National Security General H R McMaster has said that Pakistan uses terror as state policy and goes after terrorists 'very selectively' and if the country tries its nuclear capability as a lever to blackmail others, it would end up as another North Korea.

McMaster, a former US Army General, was speaking on US President Donald Trump's New Year Day tweet on Pakistan in a Voice of America interview. 

He said that the tweet speaks for itself where Trump blamed Pakistan for being a lying and deceitful country in spite of receiving huge US aid and helping those very terrorists the US hunts in the Afghanistan and pledged 'no more US aid to Pakistan'.

McMaster said Pakistan's double-dealings have frustrated Donald Trump and America. He said by very selectively going after terror groups, hitting some while choosing others as an arm of its foreign policy, Pakistan has not only betrayed the values America hoped would make for a great partnership, but also its own people.

"What's frustrating at times is we see Pakistan operating against the interests of its own people by going after these groups only selectively, by providing safe havens and support bases for Taliban and Haqqani network leadership that operate out of Pakistan as they perpetuate hell in portions of Pakistan and in Afghanistan," he said.

"America has great sympathy for the Pakistani people and in particular, how much they've suffered at the hands of terrorists who have victimized so many Pakistanis with mass murders, with that horrible mass murder in a school a few years ago," McMaster says in the interview and emphasizes that for its own sake, the Pakistani government must go after these groups less selectively.

Putting the Trump tweet in a clear perspective, his NSA says this is not a blame game but an effort to communicate clearly to Pakistan that the US relationship can no longer bear the weight of contradictions, and that we have to really begin now to work together to stabilize Afghanistan, emphasizing that doing so would hugely benefit Pakistan.

PAKISTAN WOULDN'T WANT TO BECOME A PARIAH STATE

McMaster warns if Pakistan doesn't want to become a pariah state, it will have to stop going after terror groups only selectively, and will have to stop providing safe havens and support bases and other forms of support for leadership.

On asking if any other country may step in to aid Pakistan in case the US pulls out, McMaster says he doesn't think any country including China would like Pakistan to continue its support for terror groups like the Taliban or the Haqqani Network.

China may be Pakistan's all-weather friend and has defended Pakistan in the wake of Trump tweet but it has a terrorist problem on its southern border that does have connections back into Pakistan, "It's not going to be any other country in the region, certainly, who will want Pakistan to continue this, really, pattern of behaviour that we've seen, where it goes after these groups only selectively, while it sustains and supports others who act as an arm of its foreign policy."

NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL WILL MAKE PAKISTAN ANOTHER NORTH KOREA

On the possibility of Pakistan using its nuclear capability as a leveraging tool, or to extort or blackmail, something that North Korea is doing, McMaster says he doesn't think so, "It would just be unwise for any Pakistani leader - I can't imagine a Pakistani leader using nuclear weapons to extort or for blackmail. That's the day when Pakistan would become North Korea."

He puts a very vital question before the Pakistani leadership, "Does Pakistan want to become North Korea? Doesn't look too appealing a model to me. So, I think Pakistan could be on a path to increase security and prosperity, or it could be on a path to replicating North Korea. I think that's an easy choice for Pakistani leaders."

©SantoshChaubey

Saturday 6 January 2018

GOOD IDEA! SAYS DONALD TRUMP ON BILL TO END ALL FINANCIAL AID TO PAKISTAN


US President Donald Trump has supported the move by his party’s Senator Rand Paul to bring a bill in the US Congress to end all financial assistance to Pakistan.

Trump, while retweeting Rand Paul’s tweet this morning about bringing such a proposal, said it was a good idea. Rand Paul, a Republican Senator had tweeted yesterday that he was going to introduce a bill to end all aid to Pakistan.

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump

Donald J. Trump Retweeted Senator Rand Paul
Senator Rand Paul @RandPaul
9:49 AM - 6 Jan 2018

Rand Paul posted a video message along with his tweet where he voiced concern over Pakistan’s double-dealings and treachery saying the US should not give even a penny to Pakistan. He says the US should stop wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money on a country that prides in burning the American flag and chanting death to America. Instead, the money can put to better use here, in America, he adds.

Rand Paul narrates how Pakistan has betrayed America, “Pakistan didn’t help us even in finding Osama bin Laden even though he was living in one of their cities for years. Then they jailed the informant who helped us get bin Laden. They have allowed suspected terrorist to operate from their country. Some say Pakistani intelligence agents actually aid and abate terrorists.”

2018 has come as a shocker for US-Pakistan ties. On the New Year Day, Donald Trump announced on Twitter that from now onward no more US aid to Pakistan. His blunt declaration called Pakistan a lying and deceitful country that had betrayed the American trust by sheltering the terrorists who harm US interests in Afghanistan in spite of receiving $33 Billion over the last 15 years.  

Trump’s tweet began a rapid downward spiral in US-Pakistan ties that was already strained after Trump’s inaugural as the President of America last year. Trump has been a vocal Pakistan critic highlighting Pakistan’s betrayals like housing Osama bin Laden, Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network, the terror groups on the radar of the US.

Soon after Trump’s New Year Day tweet, the US announced to withhold military financial assistance to Pakistan worth $255 Million and yesterday, it announced to suspend all aid to Pakistan, technological and financial, till Pakistan came out clean on its responsibility to wipe out all forms of terror emanating from its soil. Since the New Year Day, the White House has released a formal statement demanding Pakistan to do more against terror and has handed over a list of 27 Haqqani Network terrorists against whom it wants action by 15 January.

©SantoshChaubey

HAFIZ SAEED THREATENS TO SUE PAKISTAN’S DEFENCE MINISTER FOR 100 MILLION FOR DEFAMING JAMAAT-UD-DAWA

Hafiz Saeed, a UN and US designated global terrorist, has sent Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir (spelt Dastgeer by Saeed’s lawyer) a notice demanding written apology and seeking forgiveness for calling him a terrorist and his organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) a terror organization in a BBC interview.

Dastgir, in case fails to do so, will have to face civil and criminal action in courts with a defamation suit of Rs 100 million and a possible jail sentence upto two years, the notice sent yesterday by Hafiz Saeed says.

Dastgir had in the interview on 3 January said that action against Hafiz Saeed’s organizations Jamaat-ud JuD, the front of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned terror outfit, and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), was not taken under US pressure.

He said, instead, the step was taken under Pakistan Army’s Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad after Pakistan’s own internal assessment and serious deliberation. Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad or operation for elimination of discord was launched in February 2017 with an aim to eliminate the residual and latent threats of terrorism like sleeper cells from Pakistan.

“It is not that we will take up arms against our own country — that time has passed and these terrorists cannot attack their own country with guns and Pakistan would now make calculated decisions so that the children can remain safe in schools,” Dastgir further added.

Pakistan’s Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a directive which bars JuD, FIF and other organizations listed by the United Nations Security Council from collecting donations. Pakistan’s financial regulator has also prohibited people to make donation to such proscribed organizations and individuals.

The action came soon after US President Donald Trump’s tweet on the New Year Day saying no more US aid to Pakistan and calling the country a liar and deceitful partner and was largely seen as taken under US pressure.

The notice sent by Hafiz Saeed under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance 2002 of Pakistan calls comments by Dastgir in the interview falsehoods, absolutely baseless, unfounded and intended to malign JuD and compares it with the the Edhi Foundation, a nationwide NGO in Pakistan founded by revered philanthropist and humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi, who passed away last year, and says calling members of such an organization as persons who hit the children at school with bullets is nothing short of a sin.

Hafiz Saeed had also served a similar defamation notice of Rs 100 million to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in September 2017. The notice came after Asif called terrorists and terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hafiz Saeed liabilities but decried the US pressure to neutralize them as these very terrorists used to be the “darling of the United States just 20 to 30 years back.”



©SantoshChaubey