Desicritics Author: DeeptiA

Hugo Chavez Removes Term Limits - The Right to Keep on Going

DeeptiA — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:26:26 EST

Hugo Chavez just keeps on going. He is the most important face of the anti-American resentment in South America, and has inspired many people to react against American policies. He allies with Iran and Cuba, both states that are an anathema to the US. Inside Venezuela, he is a strong figure, who inspires strong feelings both for and against. Ever since becoming President, Chaves has got strong support from the poor and the downtrodden (enough support that he gets re-elected easily, and has been able to push for the changes he wants). At the same time, because of him being a polarizing figure, he has been actively opposed by the richer and more affluent section of society who cannot stand his policies.

It is not that Chavez is a do-gooder who is opposed by richer sections because he is a true democrat; Chavez is for all practical purposes a strongman who will push for getting his policies in place, and will take actions when he deems them sufficient. However, term limits for the Presidential post were an important impediment for him being able to continue with his policies, and hence the push by him to change the policy so that he could continue to keep on standing for the post of President. He was rebuffed by the voters the last time he tried, but this time, he has managed enough support to get the change passed:

Without a constitutional change he would have had to stand down when his term expires in 2013; instead he had secured the right to stand again for office in the next elections due in 2012, and elections beyond. "I am ready!" He told them. "With today's victory we start the third historical cycle of the Bolivarian revolution, from 2009 to 2019." This has been a crucial victory for Venezuela's president. He had a lot riding on the outcome, both personally and politically.

While Venezuelans have shown with this vote that President Chavez still has more than enough support to win another presidential election, a lot can happen in four years and the road to the 2012 election may well be rocky.

A lot of what Chavez did earlier was due to the high price of oil for the past many years, providing him revenues that enabled him to dole out huge sums of money to his supporters (while kicking out foreign oil companies). However, with oil prices down to the $40 level from the $140 level of just some time back, it is difficult for Chavez to provide the same amount of largesse. It would be interesting to watch his policies for the next several years to see what he can achieve.

Satellites Colliding in Space

DeeptiA — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:26:08 EST

One always thinks of space as a large open area, with plenty of space in all directions. You combine this space with the concept of satellites being well regulated and following controlled orbits, and then it is difficult to believe that satellites under the control of such countries such as the United States and Russia could actually collide, and yet that is exactly what seems to have happened:

The collision between a U.S. and a Russian satellite over Siberia may have been accidental and the first of its kind, but experts say more crashes will inevitably occur and could have geopolitical consequences. "This is an event that really makes us realize that things are not so straightforward as we originally thought," said Francisco Diego, a senior research fellow in physics and astronomy at University College London.

The collision, between a spacecraft operated by U.S. communications group Iridium Satellite LLC and a Russian Cosmos-2251 military satellite, happened 485 miles above the Russian Arctic on Tuesday afternoon. The crash sent at least 600 pieces of debris off into space, officials said, increasing the risk that other satellites, including the vast International Space Station, which orbits 220 miles up, could be struck and damaged.

This crash may have been accidental, but what is to prevent countries from investing in such technologies? For example, a couple of such crashes have the effect of impacting the GPS and communication technologies that are used by the US military to great affect. Already, the US is looking at even guiding bombs through the use of GPS and satellite, which makes the demolition of satellites an important aspect in war.

World Oceans Turning More Acidic

DeeptiA — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:53:29 EST

The oceans of the world hold a huge amount of life, and are seen as the life giver to the world. The oceans trap many greenhouse gases, provide food to vast communities, are a critical part of the world climate. However, the increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (especially Carbon Dioxide) have been seen as a major risk factor; the validity of this theory has been disputed for some time. Getting absolute proof of this theory is fraught with risk; exact climate models are so complex that modeling them leads to more controversy. The only proof is when this actually happens and that will be too late. Scientists have been studying this possible impact, and here is a news item that researches whether the acidic levels of the oceans increase:

WASHINGTON: In a new research, scientists at the University of Chicago, US, have documented that oceans are growing acidic faster than previously thought. In addition, they have found that the increasing acidity correlates with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). "Of the variables the study examined that are linked to changes in ocean acidity, only atmospheric carbon dioxide exhibited a corresponding steady change," said J. Timothy Wootton, the lead author of the study and Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago.
The ocean plays a significant role in global carbon cycles. When atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves in water it forms carbonic acid, increasing the acidity of the ocean. During the day, carbon dioxide levels in the ocean fall because photosynthesis takes it out of the water, but at night, levels increase again. The study documented this daily pattern, as well as a steady increase in acidity over time.

Human activity may be overwhelming the capacity of the system to respond. The increasing acid will start to have a negative effect on sea life, thus also impacting the food chain that is based out of the oceans, and this is bound to have a major effect on a large section of humanity. And given that emissions are not being capped or rolled back, there does not seem to be an easy way of reducing this acidic level of the ocean in the near future.

Ashutosh the Big Boss 2 Final Winner

DeeptiA — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:11:34 EST

So, after a lot of drama, the winner of Big Boss Season 2 is finally in. The last few weeks must have been nerve-wracking for the inhabitants of the house, since they would be so close to the prize, and in tension of getting evicted at any point. The last 4 included those who a lot of people had speculated would always be in, and these were Zulfi (not so sure), Ashutosh, Rahul, and Raja (all these 3 always seemed like contenders). And then came the one night that essentially meant that Rahul would no longer be in the show.

In a fit of insanity, when wracked by hunger and by egging each other on, they decided to revolt and broke out of the house by climbing the fence. They were encouraged to go back in, but somebody had to pay for this. The Big Boss started the nomination procedure as a punishment, and finally Rahul decided that he would be the one who would leave, especially since the others all regretted their actions.

The show was helped a lot by the ongoing strike, since all other shows were off due to the television workers strike, and only Big Boss was excluded from this strike since the inhabitants of the house had already spent months inside, and hence they were exempted from the re-run show.

With the final 3, it must have also got very boring for them, and the television all the time was showing them that they have just a few days left, and the money involved was all of Rs. 1 crore. Finally, the 22nd of November came, and Shilpa Shetty got into the act. After almost 3 hours of drama (including with performances from the previous participants), first Zulfi was eliminated, and then Akshay Kumar joined the show to make the final announcement, and he then announced that it was Ashutosh who was the winner. For me, the show ending was a disappointment since I used an interest in this show to prevent the usual insane serial from showing up.

Video of Ashutosh winning the Big Boss Season 2 on youtube:

Tension between Sarah Palin and McCain's advisors

DeeptiA — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:26:49 EDT

More and more, it seems like John McCain did not do the right amount of thinking before selecting his vice-Presidential candidate. Sarah Palin has turned out to be an extremely polarizing figure, with a section of conservatives very enamored of her; a large section of the electorate however sees her a person who is certainly not presidential. Her view-points, her seemingly lack of grasp of international issues and the fact that if McCain became President, she would be next in line to be President (in case something happens to McCain, and he is 72 years old after all), all have combined to turn large sections of the electorate away from her.

It also seems clear that she has ambitions, and the support of sections of the conservative legion have only increased this level of ambition. Initially, when the McCain campaign seemed to be running close to the Obama campaign in terms of numbers, she would have accepted the lead of the McCain campaign to govern her activities, including a stifling press interaction. But as time passed by, and it seemed that McCain is on the verge of losing, Sarah is striking out.

She is projecting that she was not comfortable with some of the campaign policies including a reduction in the direct attacks on Obama, that she was not comfortable with her careful and gradual introduction to the campaign. For her, the current campaign is just a springboard to get the public and the conservatives to get to know her as a national figure, not a Governor of a state on the edge of the country. Towards this end, she is also constantly projecting herself as a person representing small town America, the real America. This is also making the McCain campaign staffers see red:

With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say. Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue." A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. "Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom." But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.

No matter whether she decides to increase her national persona, and campaigns for the 2012 election (assuming that McCain loses this one), she will remain a deeply polarizing figure - somebody very popular with the conservatives and who turns off a large section of voters on the center and the Democratic voters. If a section of the Republican Party feels that with her current appeal to conservatives, she can become a national figure who could stand for President in the following election, they have another think coming.

Supreme Court Orders Police Officer To Compensate The Victim

DeeptiA — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:33:30 EDT

In India, the police derive their powers from laws enacted during the British time. These laws were meant to enforce the power of the state (and the rulers), and this sentiment drives the power and role of the police. Throughout India, if citizens are polled over the role of the police, you will find it hard to find people who have positive views.

This is also my personal view; my interaction with and observations of the police have convinced me that they are generally inclined to enforce the law and protect the rule of law (and there are many honest and great police officers as well), but they also see the law and the threat of force as a way to get benefits for themselves and their masters (who certainly are not the citizens of this country). Further, as every small trader / streetside vendor / other small businessman would volunteer, if you do not keep the local policemen happy, then things will be tough:

AHMEDABAD: Supreme Court has asked additional director-general of police Rajan Priyadarshi to pay Rs 8 lakh towards compensation to the person he assaulted blinding him in one eye, during a demonstration in 1987. The incident took place on February 1, 1987, when Priyadarshi and then inspector RJ Yadav resorted to lathicharge during a protest demonstration. In this, a Congress leader, who has recently joined BJP, Dr Prafull Thaker was injured and lost his right eye. He moved the court seeking compensation for the injury.

This must be a shock to the police officer, since the police assume that the right to use any amount of force during suppressing a protest is their given right (all the way from the brutal attack on Lala Lajpat Rai during the rule of the British), and the fact that a court could force them to pay compensation was unheard of. In the more advanced nations, powers given to the police are with responsibility and they can be prosecuted for excesses.

Bush Signs Nuclear Energy Deal With India

DeeptiA — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 13:20:17 EDT

In a landmark deal that broke many facets of the international nuclear embargo on NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) non-signatory nations, the US has finally signed a nuclear deal with India. This has been among the most heated and debated agreements in recent times. Part of a mission to make US-India ties closer, and to relax some of the restrictions on India in the nuclear area, the deal took a lot of diplomatic effort to get through, and the final legal step of the deal was signed in by President Bush. This last step was not necessary for India to go ahead with nuclear deals with other nations, but in light of the recent efforts by the US administration to push the deal, the Indian side decided to wait for the US Congress approval.

US President George W Bush has signed into law a nuclear deal with India, which ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi. The landmark agreement was approved by the US Congress nearly a week ago. The deal will give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
India says the accord is vital to meet its rising energy needs. Critics say it creates a dangerous precedent. They say it effectively allows India to expand its nuclear power industry without requiring it to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as other nations must. The US restricted nuclear co-operation with India after it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974.

The Indian side faced tremendous challenges in getting this deal through. The process was started by a discussion with the BJP ruled Indian Government and the Bush Administration, and was then negotiated by the Congress Government with the US Administration a couple of years back. The Indian Government was a minority Government, and dependent on the Communist Parties and many other parties.

The Communist Parties, although against the nuclear policies of the Indian Government, have always despised a closer relationship with the United States and refused to flatly support such a policy, warning of a end to the Government (and since the Government was in a minority, an end seemed quite natural if their support ended).

For a long time, it seemed that the Government had given up, after all the nuclear deal was not a vote-winner, the deal also seemed to be against the interests of the Muslim minority vote that the Congress wants, and so on. And then, after many months, Dr. Manmohan Singh finally decided that enough is enough; he literally forced the Government to agree to his stand that they back the deal; to the extent that manipulations were allowed in order to make sure that the Government retained a majority in Parliament.

Getting the deal through the Nuclear Suppliers Group was another difficult task. There were many nations wedded to the cause of denial of technology to anybody who had not signed upto the NPT, and it required intensive effort by the US to get the group to agree. China in the end tried to prod other nations, but the US pressure (and a small amount of Indian pressure) was enough to get the member to eventually agree, even though it was totally under pressure.

The United States also had to face opposition internally, both within the Administration, and outside in the strategic community; people were reluctant to approve any exemptions to the NPT; thought was that this gave India the right to use its uranium resources to push its military weapons program; also that this gave the wrong signal to others such as Iran and Pakistan.

Overall, this deal will provide a vast impetus to the nuclear energy commercial business; with India planning a large number of reactors to meet a portion of its energy needs, a number of companies worldwide will benefit.

Rape victim uses RTI to get case moving

DeeptiA — Sun, 5 Oct 2008 14:58:11 EDT

The Indian Right to Information Act, for all its slowness, and huge backlog, is still proving to be beneficial to common citizens. I am fond of describing the RTI Act in a phrase - a lightning torch that exposes sloth and shines the beacon of openness on the red tape present in our Government. This feeling gets reinforced when you read about cases such as this one where a rape victim was running from pillar to post to get her case filed and investigated, and the police was not exactly the picture of cooperation:

Now, Right to Information (RTI) Act has brought justice to a rape victim in Umarpada taluka in south Gujarat. Following a notice by Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) in May, an FIR was finally lodged and action taken against the accused. In its notice, GIC slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 jointly on two police officers for violating provisions of the Act. This followed an RTI application filed by a 15-year-old rape victim demanding to know why action had not been taken on her complaint.

The girl was raped in February last year but the accused was roaming free and police was refusing to register an FIR. GIC has penalised police sub-inspector and public information officer (PIO) DN Patel and assistant police sub-inspector Chandubhai Chaudhary, the deemed assistant public information officer (APIO) of Mangrol police station in Surat district, Rs 12,500 each.

RTI, in this legal form is a very effective tool. It allows citizens to get information about matters that concern them either personally or affects society, and enables this information not to be hidden unless it can be proved that the information being sought is either for commercial purposes, or affects national security.

There is an ongoing debate about whether the Central Information Commission (CIC), the nodal body appointed to hear RTI cases is actually not working as well as it should; on the other hand, there are numerous cases where RTI ensures that people get beneficial effects. In addition, RTI cells and mobile units that seek to empower people by making them aware of their rights are also on the job.

The writer of this piece still believes that to get rid of corruption, all other instruments that have been tried, whether they be strict laws, exposure, penalties for people caught, etc, all have failed to work; the RTI Act however, by its very nature is meant to get information. This availability of information to the common man is a welcome first step to reduce corruption and inaction in our society. If any of you have had personal experiences with RTI, please share.

American and Pakistani Skirmish: An Engineered Distraction?

DeeptiA — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 06:11:30 EDT

At the border with Afghanistan actually. There is an under-current of simmering tension between the United States and Pakistan, and this firing incident between the forces may be a grave portent for what may happen in the future as well.

What actually happened ? It depends on whom you believe, but there were 2 US helicopters near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan (over it and in Pakistan, if you believe the Pakistani side). Pakistani troops shot at the helicopters (shot at them with flares in order to tell them that they were over the border, as per Asif Zardari, the President of Pakistan). These helicopters were actually covering a troop of US and Afghanistani forces that were patrolling the border, and these troops then fired at the Pakistani side in retaliation, who then fired back. It was supposedly over in 5 minutes, but you can be sure that the repercussions of this incident will not be over in 5 minutes:

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari lashed out at the United States after their troops traded gunfire sparked by claims Pakistan forces shot at two US helicopters for alleged violation of airspace on the border with Afghanistan. "Just as we will not let Pakistani's territory to be used by terrorists for attacks against our people and our neighbors, we cannot allow our territory and our sovereignty to be violated by our friends," he said without citing the United States or the border flareup. "Unilateral actions of great powers should not inflame the passion of allies," he further said, cautioning that any cross border raids could be counterproductive.

But a State Department spokesman earlier said Washington wanted an explanation from Pakistan, commenting that "the Taliban are not flying helicopters." "We have been in touch with the Pakistanis about this and we certainly want to have an explanation," the spokesman said.

A US official told AFP recently that Washington was frustrated with "delays and sometimes non-answers" from Islamabad regarding "actionable intelligence" on militant movements in the tribal areas in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, where Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants were believed to be hiding.

This is a natural step up in the series of incidents that have been escalating over the past few months, tremendously fraying the relationship between the United States and Pakistan. It has been an open secret that sections of the Pakistani military have been supporting the Taliban, and the previous Pakistani administration of Musharraf and the military were unwilling to do all they can to get rid of the support to the Taliban from their side (even if these same elements caused much trouble to them inside Pakistan).

Reports started appearing in the US media about how the Bush administration is having second thoughts about whether Pakistan really wants to get rid of the terrorism within its borders, and then when the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul happened, the press was all over about how the US wants Pakistan to weed out the elements of the ISI that support terrorism and is no longer willing to believe everything that Islamabad says.

The Pakistanis, under US pressure, have been letting drones into Pakistani territory and attack suspected terrorist hide-outs over there through missiles launched from these drones. However, when President Bush decided in July that rules have changed, and that the US will even attack inside Pakistani territory, this rattled Pakistan. After all, how can a Government allow its sovereign territory to be invaded by foreign forces without permission, and the Government cannot even think about being able to justify this internally.

Already there is wide-spread anti-American feeling inside Pakistan.

It would seem that General Kayani, the Pakistani Army Chief is fully behind the push to make sure that American forces cannot come inside Pakistan. Of course, since he is perceived to be not favoring President Zardari, what better way to embarrass him than to create an incident when Zardari is visiting the US and will not be able to explain things.

What the Pakistani Government (including the Army Chief) may not have fully accounted for is the feelings that remain regarding September 11th. No US Government can afford to not be taking action when there are elements of terrorism at large and have been behind the past major attack. With the US being a country where a lot of the pressure happens through the media, there is an incredible amount of push towards making sure that Pakistan cleans up the terrorism in its backyard and gives up the policy of being state sponsors of terrorism.

It has already been mentioned in the US campaign as well, and another such incident of firing could quickly escalate the political heat (currently the politicians are pre-occupied in scoring political points with respect to saving the economy). In addition, the Pakistani military gets a good source of funding from the US, and Congress is likely to put more pressure on linking that to showing a determination to get rid of terrorism.

End of the Investment Bank Era on Wall Street?

DeeptiA — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:59:29 EDT

It has been decades now that Wall Street has been run by big investment banks. The exact names may keep changing as some of the smaller firms became bigger, and some of the bigger firms fall (and of course, names keep on changing with mergers and acquisitions), but the basic structure of large investment firms that handled investments for individual depositors as well as large institutions (as distinct from banks who depend on deposits for their cheap source of capital) has more or remained constant for so long that most people do not know of any other mechanism on Wall Street. And then suddenly, in the space of an year, Poof!, it all disappears.

It started late last year when reports started coming in of problems in the category of non-collateral high-risk loans known as sub-prime. And these loans were in turn converted by financial magic into a range of investment instruments (explaining at more this level of detail will make this a highly technical discussion!) that were traded by a variety of financial institutions including banks and investment firms. When these sub-prime loans started collapsing, the sheer extent of these loans the subsequent losses caused huge losses for those holding these instruments.

Once people sensed that these investment firms were in danger, further credit to them was slow in coming, people started withdrawing their investments, and then the credit rating agencies started declaring them as various shades of high-risk, junk status. Once this happened, for all practical purposes, these institutions were finished, with the actual spiral of destruction collapsing very fast. And, now with the Administration and Federal Bank of the USA very worried, they have taken steps to prevent some of the more huge ones:

Federal regulators converted Wall Street's remaining stand-alone investment banks - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - into bank holding companies Sunday night. The move allows Goldman and Morgan to scoop up retail banks and to streamline their borrowing from the Federal Reserve. But it also puts Goldman and Morgan under the Fed's supervision, increasing the agency's regulatory oversight and possibly forcing them to raise additional capital. As banks, Morgan and Goldman will be forced to take less risk, which will mean fewer profits.
And it brings to a close the era of the Wall Street investment bank, a storied institution that traded stocks and bonds, advised mergers and showered lavish bonuses on its executives. In the past eight days, the federal government announced a $700 billion plan to rescue the financial sector by buying up troubled mortgage assets and an $85 billion emergency loan to insurance titan American International Group. Also, Lehman filed for bankruptcy and Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch.

So, even though both these huge huge firms were not in immediate financial danger, they were sensing that they were in grave danger of running afoul of sentiment. In a scenario where investment banks were automatically assumed to be in danger, neither of these firms would have wanted to be the next company picked up for speculation; once in the target of negative public sentiment, even a profitable investment bank could quickly reach the edge of collapse.

This action goes against the normal distance that the US Government would like to maintain from the private market, but politicians of all shades have realized the extreme danger to the economy, and are willing to run with this. Making these investment firms as companies that will act like normal banks will give far more stability.