“Romila Thapar’s appointment to Library of Congress opposed”:http://www.rediff.com/us/2003/apr/25us1.htm
bq. regards to India, she is an avowed antagonist of India’s Hindu civilization as a well-known Marxist. She represents a completely Euro-centric worldview. I fail to see how she can be the correct choice to represent India’s ancient history and civilization. She completely disavows that India ever had a history. The ongoing campaign by Romila Thapar and others to discredit Hindu civilization is a war of cultural genocide. By your unfortunate selection of Thapar, America is now aiding and abetting this effort.
Why would you want to oppose an eminent historian ? Take a look at Rajeev Srinivasan’s article in Rediff, “Historicide: Censoring the past… and the present”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/03rajeev.htm
Violence in China over SARS
“Thousands Riot in Rural Chinese Town Over SARS”:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nyt/20030428/ts_nyt/thousands_riot_in_rural_chinese_town_over_sars
bq. Thousands of residents of this rural town, believing that a local school would be turned into a ward for urban SARS patients, ransacked the interior of the four-story building on Sunday night. The school attack is the first reported instance of civic violence directly associated with China’s epidemic of SARS or severe acute respiratory syndrome. It suggests that social tensions are rising as fear of the invisible, potentially fatal virus spreads faster than the disease itself, although nearly a hundred more cases were reported in Beijing today.
Is this another Tiananmen in the making ?
SARS and China
Mitchell Koss, a producer for Channel One News visited Guandong province of China a week back, and this is what he had to say
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Rock Bottom Reminders
This weekend I met “Dave Barry”:http://davebarry.blogspot.com/, Scott Turrow,Amy Tan, Matt Groening and many other people who made a career using the written word.
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How Peace is "Created"
Even after failing twice, the Indian Prime Minister offers talks again to stop violence by Pakistan in India.
“Reconciliation is PM’s message, dialogue his mantra”:http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEH20030418135243&Title=Top+Stories&rLink=0
bq. We want to settle all issues through negotiations. I visited Lahore for the same purpose. As prime minister, I went there for peace. I failed. They attacked us in Kargil. I invited General Sahib to Agra thinking that things will work out but it again failed. I don’ want to go into the details as to how it (these initiatives) failed or who was responsible,” Vajpayee said. “We want to extend the hand of friendship again but it should be reciprocated. It should come from both the sides”.
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Hindus in Pakistan
“Living in fear”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=308101
bq. Recently in Kashmore some 20 armed personnel allegedly attacked villagers with rocket launchers, rifles and other automatic weapons at a bus-stand, leaving 15 people dead including a Hindu woman, and kidnapped nine villagers including threeHindus. “The armed men threatened the Hindu communities of Kashmore and Thul talukas to either leave the towns or face the consequences,” said a local journalist who was present at the incident.
All the untold benefits of living in the “Land of the Pure”
SARS and Chinese Economy
“SARS as metaphor: a tale of two epidemics”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/25rajeev.htm
bq. Nike has contingency plans to move its production out of China. Motorola has restricted travel to affected areas, while Honda is moving the families of its expatriates out of China. Wal Mart has banned all travel to China. Cathay Pacific has been forced to ground much of its fleet due to rampant cancellations; other Asian airlines are affected. The tourist flow into East Asia, one of the region’s major money earners, has been curtailed dramatically. The Canton Trade Fair, usually the single largest trade show in China, is effectively dead this year.
The chinese may value secrecy above the life of their citizens. But the Capitalist who trades with China values his life more than money.
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Turning a blind eye
The “Unclassified Report to Congress”:http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/bian/bian_apr_2003.htm on the Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions published by the CIA is written in a very interesting way.
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Lies of Praful Bidwai
Shanti has this on Praful Bidwai’s latest column which is aptly titled “Of Lies, Trickery & Deception”
bq. It is unfortunate that people like Praful Bidwai are disseminating lies and a news organization like Rediff is giving them the forum to do it. The allegation that the toppling of the statue in Baghdad was stage-managed has been debunked at least two weeks ago, as soon as it surfaced. It is a great disservice to the readers to publish such columns without any mention of the other point-of-view or at least a note at the end of the column pointing to the debunking.
I would like to see how Rediff responds to this. “Ajit Balakrishnan”:http://ajit_balakrishnan.rediffblogs.com/, the CEO of Rediff has a blog. But he does not have comments enabled.
Update: Got a mail from Ajit Balakrishnan. He has asked his editorial collegues to look into it.
Secrecy in a Globalized Economy
niraj says on China Mishandling the SARS epidemic
bq. One wonders why China was not more proactive in this affair? Its reputation is not actually stellar among fellow Asian countries, many of whom see China as a hegemonic power. But this case will reaffirm the view that China is not to be trusted, and is a step back for a country trying to change its reputation from a Communist state to a flourishing democratic power.
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