Globalizing Terror sans Democracy

The cold war era rivalry of ‘Communist’ USSR versus the ‘Capitalist’ United States of America had divided the World in two blocks after the World War II till the end of 1970s. There after the World began to reorient on the lines of economic blocking and emergence of the G 20, SAFTA, NAFTA, ASEAN, SEATO, WTO and IBSA led the importance of economic blocks undermining the military groupings. The last direct confrontation of hegemony of super power was direct in Afghanistan during Mohammad Najibullah regime between USSR and the US.

Whatever the Soviet goals may have been, the international response was sharp and swift. United States President Jimmy Carter, reassessing the strategic situation in his State of the Union address in January, 1980, identified Pakistan as a "front-line state" in the global struggle against communism. He reversed his stand of a year earlier that aid to Pakistan be terminated as a result of its nuclear program and offered Pakistan a military and economic assistance package if it would act as a conduit for United States and other assistance to the mujahedin. Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq refused Carter's package but later a larger aid offer from the Reagan administration was accepted. Questions about Pakistan's nuclear program were, for the time being, set aside. Assistance also came from Saudi Arabia. Yes it here Sheikh Osama bin Laden joined the great company of the Mujahiddin (holy Muslim warriors) in support of the US camp against USSR. The then Osama bin Laden and Mujahiddin were the invertible arms of the United States of America.

During Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, the United States provided financial aid and weapons to the mujahideen leaders. By 1984, Osama bin Laden and Azzam established Maktab al-Khidamat, which funneled money, arms and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan, fighting neck to neck with good friend the United States of America. The US deposed Najibullah regime with help of Mujahiddin in 1992- immediately after the disintegration of the USSR in 1991. Burhanuddin Rabbani was installed the President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996.There after on 27 September 1996, Mullah Omar was installed as President and reign of Taliban flourished during his Presidency. In 1994, Mullah Omar started his movement with less than 50 armed Madrassah (Seminary) students, known simply as the Taliban (Students). His recruits came from Madrassahs in Afghanistan and from the Afghan refugee camps across the border in Pakistan. The US enjoyed the bonhomie with Omar till it started feeling the heat of Taliban rule in Afghanistan. This was the time period when Osama organized and strengthen the Al-Qaida.

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Saddam Hussein on August 2, 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the House of Saud at risk, with Iraqi forces on the Saudi border and Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism potentially inciting internal dissent. Bin Laden met with King Fahd, and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the United States and others, offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Mujahideen. Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and after the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi territory. This was the point of departure of Osama bin Laden from the US alliance and vice versa.  Since 1990, the Al-Qaida rose to the height of terrorism the US has not estimated.

The gory attack on World trade center on September 9, 2001 changed the way of discourse in the public life. After the attack on twin towers, the massive hunt was launched to destroy the terrorist bases in Afghanistan. The ‘Tora Bora’ region became the symbol of resistance from where Osama elude the US forces and made a safe exit. After the Taliban government was toppled during ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served as a temporary President from November to December 20, 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen at the Bonn International Conference on Afghanistan. Here it’s pretty clear; all the frank stein monsters were created by the United States to serve its opportunistic interests. A short sighted vision that has grossly misunderstood the history, culture, terrain and value systems of Afghan people led the chaotic situation in Afghanistan and adjoining areas.

The question of Afghan control for America and draining the billions in the region perhaps can secure the geo-strategic control over the Central Asian oil reserves in Black and Caspian Sea and adjoining countries. But, perhaps this idea could have worked better before the rise of China still it can compete as a potent force in the region. But American hunger of oil has made more enemies in the World than its worth has to be judged by America itself. The history of American intervention in Iraq & Libya prove its voluptuous greed for the oil. The weapon of mass destruction (WMD) was a canard in case of Iraq. So, was the collective effort of the US and NATO forces to target the Libya to poodle the UN in the name of civilian causalities. The US has destabilized the Afghanistan, perpetrated sectarian and religious clashes in Iraq. The latest victim is Libya sitting on the duck of ethnic and tribal clash. In the name of democracy, the worst can be the best for the US in search of the “Blood Oil”. In real politic there is no religion, no ethics and no morality-all political economy. Might is right. Malocrat Democrats and Malocrat Republicans- Business as usual –Uncle Sam-Gung ho!!!

Three Decades of a Retro Virus

The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in its ‘Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report’ in June 1981 had hinted cautiously among five immune compromised men in Los Angeles- the cause of infection due to sexual contact. In 1982, Max Essex and Professor Robert C Gallo first suggested AIDS was likely due to a new retrovirus. The first bona fide isolate of the new retrovirus was described in the seminal report in May 1983 by the French group. However, they did not link the virus to AIDS and cautiously did not claim to do so. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier discovered human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Virus production was identified in lymphocytes from patients with enlarged lymph nodes in early stages of acquired immunodeficiency, and in blood from patients with late stage disease. They characterized this retrovirus as the first known human lentivirus based on its morphological, biochemical and immunological properties. HIV impaired the immune system because of massive virus replication and cell damage to lymphocytes. The discovery was one prerequisite for the current understanding of the biology of the disease and its antiretroviral treatment.

Following medical reports of a novel immunodeficiency syndrome in 1981, the search for a causative agent was on. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier isolated and cultured lymph node cells from patients that had swollen lymph nodes characteristic of the early stage of acquired immune deficiency. They detected activity of the retroviral enzyme reverse transcriptase, a direct sign of retrovirus replication. They also found retroviral particles budding from the infected cells. Isolated virus infected and killed lymphocytes from both diseased and healthy donors, and reacted with antibodies from infected patients. In contrast to previously characterized human oncogenic retroviruses, the novel retrovirus they had discovered, now known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), did not induce uncontrolled cell growth. Instead, the virus required cell activation for replication and mediated cell fusion of T lymphocytes. This partly explained how HIV impairs the immune system since the T cells are essential for immune defence. By 1984, Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier had obtained several isolates of the novel human retrovirus, which they identified as a lentivirus, from sexually infected individuals, haemophiliacs, mother to infant transmissions and transfused patients. The significance of their achievements should be viewed in the context of a global ubiquitous epidemic affecting close to 1% of the population.

Soon after the discovery of the virus, several groups contributed to the definitive demonstration of HIV as the cause of acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery made rapid cloning of the HIV-1 genome possible. This has allowed identification of important details in its replication cycle and how the virus interacts with its host. Furthermore, it led to development of methods to diagnose infected patients and to screen blood products, which has limited the spread of the pandemic. The unprecedented development of several classes of new antiviral drugs is also a result of knowledge of the details of the viral replication cycle. The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease and dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients. The cloning of HIV enabled studies of its origin and evolution. The virus was probably passed to humans from chimpanzees in West Africa early in the 20th century, but it is still unclear why the epidemic spread so dramatically from 1970 and onwards.

Identification of virus−host interactions has provided information on how HIV evades the host’s immune system by impairing lymphocyte function, by constantly changing and by hiding its genome in the host lymphocyte DNA, making its eradication in the infected host difficult even after long-term antiviral treatment. Extensive knowledge about these unique viral host interactions has, however, generated results that can provide ideas for future vaccine development as well as for therapeutic approaches targeting viral latency.

HIV has generated a novel pandemic. Never before has science and medicine been so quick to discover, identify the origin and provide treatment for a new disease entity. Successful anti-retroviral therapy results in life expectancies for persons with HIV infection now reaching levels similar to those of uninfected people.

On  October 6, 2008 the Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for the discovery of the AIDS virus a quarter of a century ago, but the main co-discoverer, Professor Jean-Claude Chermann and Professor Robert C. Gallo were forgotten who had equally contributed in the development of the scientific study of HIV. This decision has given rise to lively criticism in the scientific community in France and USA.

Young Turks Versus Old Guards

‘Jasmine Revolution’, Tahrir Square’ and ‘Arab Spring’ are the terms that have defined the youth unrests in Middle East against the old languishing regimes during the last few months. The role of social media in mobilizing the discontented youths against long languishing regimes is a facilitating factor that seems to perpetual from now onwards. The global flow of information and media reach in shaping and building the global opinion is a lead in democratization process.

The discontent brewed from the local failures to global economic slowdown, demands for democratic reforms and new employment generations have raised new questions about the old guards. The youths largely targeting the old, self styled democracies like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria have come on streets, faced water cannons, brutal police assaults and bullets. The spirit behind such forceful demonstration shows the determination of youths for the change to a better system of governance and future possibilities of potential employability. In this respect, to achieve the goal of a systemic government, equitable justice and social security will bring the stability in lives of the people.

The peace is a pre-requisite for the development but a forced change (brutal) may prove short run stay than a change wrought through the democratic processes and institutional reforms gradually. Change from the top will not help much in structural democratic reforms. The institutional reforms at micro and meso level of democratic set-up will lead to sustainable democratic evolution of the institutions in electoral democracy. To do away the biases in health, education, employment and development policies from selective groups or regions of the society for equitable justice and empowerment in long drawn contours of social and economic development should be the priority. The gradual changes evolved in a systematic manner will be cohesive than short term superimposed fragmented ones from the top. The horizontal changes will be more effective than vertical ones.

Change is the beauty of democracy and self styled democracies must go for electoral process to claim their legitimacy of power in the current situation. The will of the people is sovereign in a democracy not the choices of the despot rulers. The revolution in Middle East is against the old jinxed system for a better tomorrow. The sudden outburst of anger among youths is much of manifestation of frustration against unemployment, sluggish development and bleak future prospects under long languishing regimes.

The times ahead, countries with young demographics of the world will face the stress of newer job creations, economic expansion, institutional developments as well as global green concerns in the near future. Growing disparity of class intervals between ‘have and have not’s due to sharp skill differences are fuelling the social discontent not the process of globalization. Despite all odds the World seems to be heading towards a more secular, developmental, liberal, democratic and sustainable ideas than before. Definitely not, if winter comes can spring be far behind.

Hope Durb Not…

As the implications of Climate Change are becoming evident across the globe; the World leaders are finding it difficult to reach on a general consensus to evolve the strategies to balance the agenda sheet that suits for the developed, developing, least developed countries and smaller Island states. The financial quagmire, poverty, development and sustainability among the concerned parties are the debatable points often raised in favor of their convenience. However, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) postulate of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, a principle that the entire international community has, by consensus, enshrined in the UNFCCC, concluded in 1992 at the historic Rio Summit still finds difficult to move forward.

The mainstay of Climate talks at Kyoto is reaching towards a dead end by 2012, unless a consensus evolved to adhere to its Protocol. With 194 Parties, the UNFCCC has near universal membership and is the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has been ratified by 191 of the UNFCCC Parties except the United States. Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing the process of transition to a market economy, have legally binding emission limitation and reduction commitments. The ultimate objective of both treaties is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.

A new Cancun Adaptation Framework was agreed to established and allow better planning and implementation of adaptation projects in developing countries through increased financial and technical support, including a clear process for continuing work on loss and damage. In the field of climate finance, a process to design a Green Climate Fund under the Conference of the Parties, with a board with equal representation from developed and developing countries, is established.  A total of $30 billion in fast start finance from industrialized countries to support climate action in the developing world up to 2012 and the intention to raise $100 billion in long-term funds by 2020 are included in the decisions.

Despite the deliberations at Cancun on fast start finance has not taken off well. The issue of technology transfer needs to be detailed for the mitigation efforts. The human efforts on adaptability and resilience can’t go beyond tolerance limits. The possible movements from harsh climatic zones to livable habitats in future will be the option to save from the vagaries of Climate catastrophe. Hard to say how it would be easy to move from a place or territory to another.

By now, it seems the US is not willing to put its sign on Kyoto Protocol. The China’s ambition to lead as the economic super power in near future will hardly yield any concession to the World. The India’s plea to eradicate poverty; the environment concerns are accommodated with development agenda.  Brazil, South Africa and Russia are other leading economies to support the Climate agenda to succeed at Durban. Europe, Canada and Australia have shown remarkable interest in curbing the emissions of CFCs gasses. However, the aggrieved Parties namely African countries, South Asia and small Island states have high hopes from the upcoming Climate Summit.

The planetary atmospheric space is a common resource of humanity and each citizen of the globe has an equal entitlement to that space provided with shared responsibility to adhere the international community and environmental laws. We expect that Durban will result in an ambitious outcome representing a cooperative global response to the challenge of Climate Change, but an outcome which is also fair and equitable. Let’s hope the blue planet succeeds in sustaining its green foot prints for the future descent.

Hope Durban Climate Summit Not Fails in South Africa when it meets from November, 28 to 9 December 2011.

Mr. BObama

In December 2008, it was euphoria in the air of the United States. Yes, We Can? Change! Yes, change from Republicans to Democrat regime in White House. Awesome!! It was feeling like to be in bliss those moments being at the National Mall in Washington, DC on December 20^th 2008. There was arousal of some two million cheering crowd in Presidential oath ceremony that day. Everybody was so elated in hope of change for better future prospects, good government policies and sensible international diplomacy that a new dawn has arrived. 

The then it was a defining moment in history for the first African-American President as beholder of the highest coveted office of the Nation. People around the World had expectations for peace, progress and prosperity from the new President. The youths were excited for new opportunities; entrepreneurs expected good business and troubled World hoped for a new order of the peace. That all was the then at the beginnings of a new cherish.

As the time passed, the great expectations of jobs creation, peace around the World and economic prosperity became elusive. The economic recession that engulfed in 2008 had deep roots of wars in the past. President Obama was a mere scapegoat to face the deeds of his predecessors. Sensibly, he faced the situation and pumped billions as stimulus package and tried to rescue the sluggish economy but failed to generate the multiplier effects. The stimulus package simply proved to be leveler. Perhaps, that is the greatest ill that has marred the robust march of his Presidency.  On diplomatic front, initially he had some success in closing Guantanamo bay detention camp, promising recall of army from Iraq, winning Nobel peace prize and of lately; elimination of Osama Bin Laden are high points of his Presidency

Unfortunately, in his capacity as President of the United States of America, he failed to improve the international relations with Islamic World. The attack on Libya by NATO in guise of American support, the fight with Taliban and Al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively are unending. The Af-Pak policy seems to be heading nowhere. The issue of Palestine and nuclear stalemate with Iran are unresolved. The recovery in economy is weak, unemployment rate is consistently high and domestic programmes are becoming unsustainable.

In such circumstances what lies ahead for the Democrats …perhaps the change in side of the treasury benches in the coming election. President Obama has travelled miles since 2008.The then image of the President was of a vivacious, tall, dark, handsome visionary leader to now a decimating, dwarf villain of the debt crisis.

While still, what makes the World trust in the United States is perhaps, the institutions and infrastructure they have built in home and around the World. For the time being, the US is down due to wrong policies and actions for a temporary phase and if corrected; in long run they will overcome. The US has got all resources to excel in the new World order.

Best, BObama!

World Population Day

What is the sense of a day, week or year in a linear perception of the time frame- perhaps to mark an specific purpose to commemorate a sense of an urgency that reminds everyone the concerned duties and responsibilities of the citizens? So, is the World Population Day to think, plan, execute and enable a congenial living environment across the societies? This may be an ideal precept but in reality the challenges are different, in different societies. The developed World has problem of ageing, care of elderly, narrow base o f population pyramid and managing work force in stark contrasts of developing World that is grappling with broad base of pyramid, population bulge, unemployment, underdevelopment, weak planning enforcement and brewing discontents. The growing pool of population in developing world seems to have reached the level of carrying capacity which is tearing the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the earth. The human-environment relationships are becoming abysmally degraded. The climate change is further complicating the living condition of human being in high tropical zones of the globe. The World seems to heading in an anarchic place where the sense and sensibility of the human being are losing the battle against the keeping the surroundings a livable place. 

The population explosion has maligned the pristine nature of the gift that one was supposed to preserve for the generations. The over-exploitation of natural resources, greed’s, commercialization of forest products, ecological degradation and exertion of population to meet the basic requirements of human lives have led the imbalance in chain of human-environment relations. Population growth, poverty, ravages from war and finite natural resources perhaps pose the tough challenge to fight climate change. Since every individual needs space, energy, development and their share of ecological footprints.  The carrying capacity of the earth should not be tested at this point of time since millions and billions of years are supposed to be the natural heritage for the human descents. There are wider ramifications of unaddressed population growth in the developing World for climate change. Population pressure has led many unfriendly environmental practices that have direct bearings on ecosystem. There is large scale ignorance amongst rural masses in developing World towards finiteness of the natural resources. In a sense there is unconsciousness about the judicious use of the natural resources. This lack of knowledge and vision for sustainable development is harming the environment. The natural resources are limited and there distributions are skew and there are unforeseen generations to come and claim their due shares from their predecessors. So every individual, every generation holds responsibility of only a fair share.

The ‘human actions’ on land have direct implications for the ocean World. The release of greenhouse gases in atmosphere has raised the global mean temperature in turn the normal oceanic phenomenon of wind circulations over the ocean’s surface have become either weaker or stronger than normal due to El-Nino and La-Nina effects. This phenomenon has led in unpredictability of rainfall and conventional changes in wind directions. The results are drought, cyclone and erratic rainfall that had wrecked havocs in recent past. Moreover, the rise in average global mean temperature is directly visible from the smelting Antarctic and Himalayan ice caps and rising sea level has threatened the submergence of many of the low lying World’s islands. The level of uncomforted is seen in behaviors of animals from different parts of the World. The species that can tolerate only a narrow range of temperatures will need to move quickly particularly in low lying areas.   The temperature sensitive micro fauna and flora in ocean will face the challenges of survival and reductions in algae and planktons productions.

The World Population Day was established by the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Program in 1989. It was inspired by the public interest in Five Billion Day on July 11, 1987, approximately the date on which the world's population reached five billion people. But are we concerned how reaching7 billion someday in October, 2011?  …and bigger questions beyond….

Birth of a Nation

South Sudan is poised to be the new nation of the world with effect from July 9, 2011. The citizens of the new nation are full of aspirations for a prosperous, progressive, peaceful and the harmonious relations with the rest of the world. In the process of the nation building, these are the ideal conditions. But in real world; the challenges of nation building are full of trajectories. Right from the inception of an independent Sudan since 1956, the soul of the nation was torn between the intermittent conflicts of North and South Sudan. A classical case of ethnic strife that divided Arab dominated Muslim North from Christian dominated African South. There are marked differences in ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural identities between North and South Sudan. But the matter of discord was more often the dilemma of development in South Sudan. South always pointed out towards North of exploiting its rich resources and building complexes around Khartoum. The negligence of South in the development processes as a periphery was one strong reason of discord.

In the course of the chequered history of Sudan, it became difficult to manage the nation together. As ethnically complex nation is where more than 100 dialects spoken and at least 50 major ethnic tribal groups with almost some 600 sub-groups. Since 1956, when British left Sudan; Jellaba (a group of Arab Sudanese) inherited the state power. As the Jellaba group was mainly concentrated in North-Central Sudan the consolidation of an Arab-Islamic hegemonic block in North-Central Sudan, and the conservation of underdevelopment and tribal peculiarities in the South. This evolved in the structural disequilibrium which manifests itself in the conflictual core-periphery dictomy to the most Southern Sudanese. Since the vision of Jellaba administration was constricted, self centered and self-serving.

Amidst the crisis at first stage, the constitution adopted in 1968 proclaimed Sudan as a unitary state, Arabic the official language and the Islam the official religion. This proclamation complicated relation between North and South even more. The new government in 1969 tried to diffuse the tension and announced the local autonomy for the socio-economic development of South Sudan. But internal political crisis in 1971 again caused tension and in 1972 the accord of regional autonomy was reworked in Addis-Ababa ending the 17 years old civil war. All was going well, suddenly in 1983, president Niemeyer declared that ‘sharia’ was to be the law of the land and this led the restart of the civil war. Further, the problem was escalated by SPLA attacking the ‘Nuba Mountains’, the zone of Arabs North and African South. The situation turned into worse in 1989, when the new government took over the power and perpetuated war till 1996. The country grappled four decades of conflicts. The new government was elected in March, 1996 and a 14 point peace agreement was signed between North and South Sudan that lasted to the UN process of deliberations, referendum, cessations and birth of a nation.

The imperatives of the new nation will be to forget the acrimony of the past and built a better future for its citizen. The oil rich South will be an attractive market for the world and secure nation for the human development.