The Rohingya people of Arakan are the worst sufferers of human rights violations in the 21st century, and yet very little is known about their suffering in the outside world. The all powerful media rarely mentions them, as if the Rohingyas are the forgotten people of our time. Greedy about trade relations with the culprit SPDC regime, now ruling Burma (Myanmar), her neighbors have chosen to ignore the plight of these unfortunate human beings, who must now choose between living in hell in a place called the Arakan state of Burma and a life of an unwanted, illegal refugee outside Burma. They must brave the trigger happy NASAKA guards to cross the borders and enter illegal territories, sometimes in boats but most of the time on feet. In that process of exodus, they may die of hunger and thirst or end up in jails of their refuge. In the last few years alone, thousands have embraced that unfortunate fate of extinction. And yet, the world conscious has not gotten the better of this tragedy to either demand and force a change inside Burma that would ensure citizenship of the Rohingya people and allow them to live as free citizens, un-abused, un-harassed and protected by the government of Myanmar or ask international communities to allow the fleeing refugees to live honorably.
There are very few books available in a western language that are written about the Rohingyas of Burma. And fewer yet are books that are written by the Rohingyas themselves writing about their own inhuman experience either within the state of Arakan (now Rakhine state) of Burma or outside Burma as an unwanted refugee. Ahmedur Rahman Farooq is a Rohingya refugee who now lives in Norway. The book – Rohingyas: Tears Down the Cheeks – is a brave attempt by Farooq to fill the gap in our understanding of the plight of the Rohingya people. In this book, aside from providing information about the history, culture and politics around the Rohingya people, Farooq offers a first-hand account of Rohingya life inside Arakan. I recommend this book to anyone interested in broadening understanding of minority people inside Burma.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Informed comments of a reader on my article on free market capitalism
Hermann wrote in the Asian Tribune:
Your article is well timed. Most of the people who are rich and comfortable in life want no law or regulation when it comes to fleecing public of their savings. Yet, the same greedy lot wants other criminal laws well applied and strengthened. These are the people who want more police and defense mechanisms to keep the innocent civilians from voicing dissatisfaction.
The notion that people should be allowed freedom to trade in share market is a myth. Even a well educated resourceful person cannot fully grasp the market forces to make an intelligent investment. The media gives such a bang about money made in the stock market but they never visit the other side to show the losers. For every dollar one make, another has to loose. The stock market is an unregulated gamble like the lottery tickets. At least lotteries are well regulated, but stock market is not. That is why time and again we find fraudsters doing insider trading and siphoning billions of dollars from the system.
Enron scam should have put a stop on this unregulated financial transactions well in time before the current financial collapse came. But the greedy and the rich wanted more. They will not allow to share the wealth. They want it all.
Current crisis in the US healthcare reform is laughable. The very people benefiting from the proposal are being dragged for a few dollars to oppose the legislation. It is a fact most of the Americans do live sub-standard life. One major affliction at later part of their life will destroy all their life savings.
Then we have seen how insurance industry works in these capitals. They boast about the benefits on paper and get so many involved. But when the actual incident occurs to pay, they will read through the fine print to deny the claim. The so called well insured do live in an illusion in the west. When they need insurance payout most, will see their claim rejected or marginalized because of some fine print.
The people who can change laws and ascended to the pinnacle are rich and famous. They do not want any restrictions of their wealth and ability to make more money from the innocent soles. The so called independent media is also in the hands of rich and famous, so what do you expect. We hear and see only the rosy side of events.
Ref: http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/11/15/letter-america-free-market-capitalism
Your article is well timed. Most of the people who are rich and comfortable in life want no law or regulation when it comes to fleecing public of their savings. Yet, the same greedy lot wants other criminal laws well applied and strengthened. These are the people who want more police and defense mechanisms to keep the innocent civilians from voicing dissatisfaction.
The notion that people should be allowed freedom to trade in share market is a myth. Even a well educated resourceful person cannot fully grasp the market forces to make an intelligent investment. The media gives such a bang about money made in the stock market but they never visit the other side to show the losers. For every dollar one make, another has to loose. The stock market is an unregulated gamble like the lottery tickets. At least lotteries are well regulated, but stock market is not. That is why time and again we find fraudsters doing insider trading and siphoning billions of dollars from the system.
Enron scam should have put a stop on this unregulated financial transactions well in time before the current financial collapse came. But the greedy and the rich wanted more. They will not allow to share the wealth. They want it all.
Current crisis in the US healthcare reform is laughable. The very people benefiting from the proposal are being dragged for a few dollars to oppose the legislation. It is a fact most of the Americans do live sub-standard life. One major affliction at later part of their life will destroy all their life savings.
Then we have seen how insurance industry works in these capitals. They boast about the benefits on paper and get so many involved. But when the actual incident occurs to pay, they will read through the fine print to deny the claim. The so called well insured do live in an illusion in the west. When they need insurance payout most, will see their claim rejected or marginalized because of some fine print.
The people who can change laws and ascended to the pinnacle are rich and famous. They do not want any restrictions of their wealth and ability to make more money from the innocent soles. The so called independent media is also in the hands of rich and famous, so what do you expect. We hear and see only the rosy side of events.
Ref: http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/11/15/letter-america-free-market-capitalism
Is Free Market Capitalism Failing?
Is free market capitalism failing? Do we need a new economic system? Twenty years ago when the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Cold War ended, the mere suggestion that something was wrong with capitalism might have sounded preposterous, absurd, and almost insane. Back then we saw the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union and perceived the end of socialism when mother Russia itself dumped its trademark ideology, opting instead for free market capitalism. Come to think of those changes, surely those were no small matters! It appeared that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 might have been the crushing victory for free-market capitalism. And yet people today are questioning the merit of capitalism, even in its own cradle.
A new BBC World Service global poll, surveying 29,033 adult citizens (living in major urban areas) across 27 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America), conducted between 19 June and 13 October 2009 by the international polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland finds that dissatisfaction with free market capitalism is widespread, with an average of only 11% saying that it works well and that greater regulation is not a good idea. That is, eight in nine people believe that free market capitalism is bad; it has failed and is not working for them any more. So overwhelming is the verdict against capitalism that no statistical magic or jugglery can put a dent to the conclusion drawn from the study.
What is rather quite discomforting and embarrassing is that even in a country like the USA, the flag-bearer of capitalism, the dissatisfaction is quite high. Three in four (75%) Americans think that capitalism is not working satisfactorily in the USA. Outside Pakistan (21% in favor) and the USA, no other country taking the poll has a satisfactory rating above 20%. That is, if you take away the USA and Pakistan as outliers, the overriding view in all the other 25 countries taking the poll is that capitalism is simply not working for them. It either needs a replacement or a complete overhaul.
The most common view, held by an average of 51% among the people polled by GlobeScan/PIPA is that free market capitalism has problems that can be addressed through regulation and reform. An average of 23% feel that capitalism is fatally flawed, and a new economic system is needed—including 43% in France, 38% in Mexico, 35% in Brazil and 31% in Ukraine.
So, why this despair against free market capitalism that was once believed and put forth as the “cures all” and “fits all” economic system? The answer can be found in the collapse of the financial sector - banking and insurance institutions of the USA and many of the capitalist countries in the last couple of years (or more specifically in the last 13 months). So interrelated and inter-dependent the global economy has become that once the financial institutions inside the USA started collapsing the ripple effect could be felt thousands of miles away in distant continents. Even countries like Nepal and Bangladesh are not immune from what happens in the Wall Street! While hundreds of billions of dollars have been funneled in by the Obama administration to rescue the troubled financial institutions and giant industries, the US economy is still showing little sign of recovery. Some Wall Street experts tell me that we may not see a full economic recovery during Obama’s first term, i.e., we may have to wait for his second term, if he is reelected. Dissatisfaction against President Obama today is at an all time high. Most Republicans claim that Obama has no clue as to how to solve the current economic crisis. Forgotten are the sad facts that he had little to do with the collapse of the free market capitalism. As any Democrat would tell you it is Bush Jr. “stupid” -- the moronic predecessor with a peanut-size brain and low IQ -- who should be faulted and not Obama! The unfortunate fact for the Democrats is that the “intellectually disadvantaged” predecessor is no longer occupying the White House; it is Obama today who must now find the Aladin’s magic lamp to rescue America from the ills of Bush Jr. It’s a tough job for the new president while people’s patience is running thin! Many Americans are increasingly showing tell tale signs of PTSD!
So what could be done with capitalism? Is it fixable? The BBC poll suggested some interesting results here. In 15 of the 27 countries polled, a great majority would like their government to be more active in owning or directly controlling their country’s major industries. The formula suggested is nationalization of heavy or major industries - that is more like the old socialist model. This view is particularly widely held in countries of the former Soviet states of Russia (77%), and Ukraine (75%), but also Brazil (64%), Indonesia (65%), and France (57%). Knowing too well how some former party insiders within the collapsing Soviet system had overnight become billionaires one can sympathize and understand the rationale that the people living in those newer republics of the former Soviet Union today want more stringent government oversight. We can also understand the mindset of people within Indonesia and Brazil, where capitalism has not been as deeply rooted as it is in Western Europe and North America. But what is wrong in France, now led by Sarkozy, a tiny Hungarian, who can be mistaken for a dwarf, who is forced to talk about national identity yet unable to address his citizens as did General de Gaulle? He probably needs a burqa to hide his hideous self since that is a more passionate subject for silly politicians like him that are devoid of any brilliant idea about fixing their country’s economy!
Majorities of the poll takers support governments distributing wealth more evenly in 22 of the 27 countries —on average two out of three (67%) across all countries. In 17 of the 27 countries most want to see government doing more to regulate business—on average 56%. As we all know, the poll takers’ desire here cannot materialize without dumping the free market capitalism, which does not allow for a fair or even distribution of wealth.
The poll also asked about whether the breakup of the Soviet Union was a good thing or not. An average of 54% people polled said that it was a good thing. This was the majority view though in only 15 of the countries polled. An average of 22% said that it was mainly a bad thing, while 24% was neutral. Among former Warsaw Pact countries, most Russians (61%) and Ukrainians (54%) believed that the breakup of the Soviet Union was a bad thing. In contrast, four in five Poles (80%) and nearly two-thirds of Czechs (63%) felt that the disintegration of the USSR was a good thing.
The poll numbers from Russia should not come as a shock to anyone familiar with recent media news reports that confirm the nostalgia in Russia about the “good old” days. Free market capitalism, once considered an elixir, has not done anything positive for most Russians. The gap between the rich and the poor, almost invisible during the Soviet era, is too visible these days, widening exponentially every passing day. As is well known among social scientists, when under stress, especially in difficult times, people tend to blame the present and picture a rosy picture of the past. Forgotten then are the memories of short supplies and long queues in front of stores. The generation that grew up in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s associates their youth directly with the U.S.S.R. and see its once mighty empire fragmented into pieces, weak and vulnerable, having little role to play in the world today. Russia is not even part of G7! The younger generation, born after the collapse of the empire, feels romantic about an era that it has little knowledge about outside what it hears from the elders. Its theories are molded today by the despicable condition that it finds itself with a failed experiment with free market capitalism. So, we can understand the poll numbers from Putin’s Russia!
The BBC poll, while not a death-nail yet to the casket of all mighty free market capitalism, does poke some serious concerns about its health. If America fails to resuscitate her failing economy fast, thus reviving faith in its old economic system, it won’t be too far when one day we shall hear the death bell of free market capitalism. And who knows we may even see the resurrection of old socialism, or something entirely new that is a third way – a shift of paradigms from envy (destructive socialism) and greed (destructive capitalism) to contributive, distributive, and harmonic justice, so that interest-free money based on real goods rather than on debt can build universal capital ownership into every human being!
[The author is indebted to Peter Connors of the BBC for bringing the BBC poll results to his attention: Wide Dissatisfaction with Capitalism - Twenty Years after Fall of Berlin Wall.]
Ref: http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/bbc2009_berlin_wall/
To see the relevance of comments about Sarkozy, see, for instance, Shaykh AbdalQadir’s article: The political class as eunuchs, http://www.shaykhabdalqadir.com/content/articles/Art100_31102009.html
See, e.g., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/russia/articles/society/20091028/back_to_the_ussr_of_your_dreams.html
See an interesting topic “Model Islamic Justice Project Launched to Close the Wealth Gap in a Just Third Way” by Dr. Robert D. Crane: http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/model_islamic_justice_project_launched_to_close_the_wealth_gap_in_a_just_th/
A new BBC World Service global poll, surveying 29,033 adult citizens (living in major urban areas) across 27 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America), conducted between 19 June and 13 October 2009 by the international polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland finds that dissatisfaction with free market capitalism is widespread, with an average of only 11% saying that it works well and that greater regulation is not a good idea. That is, eight in nine people believe that free market capitalism is bad; it has failed and is not working for them any more. So overwhelming is the verdict against capitalism that no statistical magic or jugglery can put a dent to the conclusion drawn from the study.
What is rather quite discomforting and embarrassing is that even in a country like the USA, the flag-bearer of capitalism, the dissatisfaction is quite high. Three in four (75%) Americans think that capitalism is not working satisfactorily in the USA. Outside Pakistan (21% in favor) and the USA, no other country taking the poll has a satisfactory rating above 20%. That is, if you take away the USA and Pakistan as outliers, the overriding view in all the other 25 countries taking the poll is that capitalism is simply not working for them. It either needs a replacement or a complete overhaul.
The most common view, held by an average of 51% among the people polled by GlobeScan/PIPA is that free market capitalism has problems that can be addressed through regulation and reform. An average of 23% feel that capitalism is fatally flawed, and a new economic system is needed—including 43% in France, 38% in Mexico, 35% in Brazil and 31% in Ukraine.
So, why this despair against free market capitalism that was once believed and put forth as the “cures all” and “fits all” economic system? The answer can be found in the collapse of the financial sector - banking and insurance institutions of the USA and many of the capitalist countries in the last couple of years (or more specifically in the last 13 months). So interrelated and inter-dependent the global economy has become that once the financial institutions inside the USA started collapsing the ripple effect could be felt thousands of miles away in distant continents. Even countries like Nepal and Bangladesh are not immune from what happens in the Wall Street! While hundreds of billions of dollars have been funneled in by the Obama administration to rescue the troubled financial institutions and giant industries, the US economy is still showing little sign of recovery. Some Wall Street experts tell me that we may not see a full economic recovery during Obama’s first term, i.e., we may have to wait for his second term, if he is reelected. Dissatisfaction against President Obama today is at an all time high. Most Republicans claim that Obama has no clue as to how to solve the current economic crisis. Forgotten are the sad facts that he had little to do with the collapse of the free market capitalism. As any Democrat would tell you it is Bush Jr. “stupid” -- the moronic predecessor with a peanut-size brain and low IQ -- who should be faulted and not Obama! The unfortunate fact for the Democrats is that the “intellectually disadvantaged” predecessor is no longer occupying the White House; it is Obama today who must now find the Aladin’s magic lamp to rescue America from the ills of Bush Jr. It’s a tough job for the new president while people’s patience is running thin! Many Americans are increasingly showing tell tale signs of PTSD!
So what could be done with capitalism? Is it fixable? The BBC poll suggested some interesting results here. In 15 of the 27 countries polled, a great majority would like their government to be more active in owning or directly controlling their country’s major industries. The formula suggested is nationalization of heavy or major industries - that is more like the old socialist model. This view is particularly widely held in countries of the former Soviet states of Russia (77%), and Ukraine (75%), but also Brazil (64%), Indonesia (65%), and France (57%). Knowing too well how some former party insiders within the collapsing Soviet system had overnight become billionaires one can sympathize and understand the rationale that the people living in those newer republics of the former Soviet Union today want more stringent government oversight. We can also understand the mindset of people within Indonesia and Brazil, where capitalism has not been as deeply rooted as it is in Western Europe and North America. But what is wrong in France, now led by Sarkozy, a tiny Hungarian, who can be mistaken for a dwarf, who is forced to talk about national identity yet unable to address his citizens as did General de Gaulle? He probably needs a burqa to hide his hideous self since that is a more passionate subject for silly politicians like him that are devoid of any brilliant idea about fixing their country’s economy!
Majorities of the poll takers support governments distributing wealth more evenly in 22 of the 27 countries —on average two out of three (67%) across all countries. In 17 of the 27 countries most want to see government doing more to regulate business—on average 56%. As we all know, the poll takers’ desire here cannot materialize without dumping the free market capitalism, which does not allow for a fair or even distribution of wealth.
The poll also asked about whether the breakup of the Soviet Union was a good thing or not. An average of 54% people polled said that it was a good thing. This was the majority view though in only 15 of the countries polled. An average of 22% said that it was mainly a bad thing, while 24% was neutral. Among former Warsaw Pact countries, most Russians (61%) and Ukrainians (54%) believed that the breakup of the Soviet Union was a bad thing. In contrast, four in five Poles (80%) and nearly two-thirds of Czechs (63%) felt that the disintegration of the USSR was a good thing.
The poll numbers from Russia should not come as a shock to anyone familiar with recent media news reports that confirm the nostalgia in Russia about the “good old” days. Free market capitalism, once considered an elixir, has not done anything positive for most Russians. The gap between the rich and the poor, almost invisible during the Soviet era, is too visible these days, widening exponentially every passing day. As is well known among social scientists, when under stress, especially in difficult times, people tend to blame the present and picture a rosy picture of the past. Forgotten then are the memories of short supplies and long queues in front of stores. The generation that grew up in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s associates their youth directly with the U.S.S.R. and see its once mighty empire fragmented into pieces, weak and vulnerable, having little role to play in the world today. Russia is not even part of G7! The younger generation, born after the collapse of the empire, feels romantic about an era that it has little knowledge about outside what it hears from the elders. Its theories are molded today by the despicable condition that it finds itself with a failed experiment with free market capitalism. So, we can understand the poll numbers from Putin’s Russia!
The BBC poll, while not a death-nail yet to the casket of all mighty free market capitalism, does poke some serious concerns about its health. If America fails to resuscitate her failing economy fast, thus reviving faith in its old economic system, it won’t be too far when one day we shall hear the death bell of free market capitalism. And who knows we may even see the resurrection of old socialism, or something entirely new that is a third way – a shift of paradigms from envy (destructive socialism) and greed (destructive capitalism) to contributive, distributive, and harmonic justice, so that interest-free money based on real goods rather than on debt can build universal capital ownership into every human being!
[The author is indebted to Peter Connors of the BBC for bringing the BBC poll results to his attention: Wide Dissatisfaction with Capitalism - Twenty Years after Fall of Berlin Wall.]
Ref: http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/bbc2009_berlin_wall/
To see the relevance of comments about Sarkozy, see, for instance, Shaykh AbdalQadir’s article: The political class as eunuchs, http://www.shaykhabdalqadir.com/content/articles/Art100_31102009.html
See, e.g., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/advertisers/russia/articles/society/20091028/back_to_the_ussr_of_your_dreams.html
See an interesting topic “Model Islamic Justice Project Launched to Close the Wealth Gap in a Just Third Way” by Dr. Robert D. Crane: http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/model_islamic_justice_project_launched_to_close_the_wealth_gap_in_a_just_th/
Friday, November 13, 2009
Comments on a SAAG article on supposedly US-Myanmar relationship
My attention has been drawn to an article: UNITED STATES: DRAMATIC POLITICAL REACH-OUT TO MYANMAR, A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE, published in a website for the South Asian Strategy Group by one of its analysts Subhash Kapila (http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers35%5Cpaper3470.html). The group claims to be a non-profit and non-commercial think tank, with a declared objective to advance strategic analysis and contribute to the expansion of knowledge of Indian and International security and promote public understanding. It does not mention who pays for the group. However, a close look at its many publications make it amply clear that it is possibly a front for the RAW, working towards Indo-centric strategies to influence the decision makers, strategic planners, academics and the media in South Asia and the world at large. As such, anything published from the SAAG ought to be taken with much caution.
Idealism has never been important to India and many such hegemonic powers of our time. They were always willing to sacrifice such at the altar of self-interest. Thus, it was not unnatural for India to tie her knots with the SPDC regime, and other previous military dictators of Burma. In recent years, since 9/11, she has also tied her dirty hands with Israel and the USA to stop Chinese influence in the region. Yes, China has relationship with Burma - where there are more similarities than oddities for China. China also has strong relationship with Sri Lanka, where she is building a huge naval base. China has also been a trusted (a term which is increasingly becoming obsolete these days of geo-political self-interest) friend of Pakistan, which sees herself cornered by Indo-Israeli sphere of influence in Afghanistan. But then there are still some 'neutral' countries in the region - like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, where if the USA were to be serious about containing Chinese influence she would have a much better case to make that strategic inroad. (The USA, much in contrast to Kapila's theory, need not reach out to Myanmar if it is serious about an eastward strategic imperative!)
But as we have seen in the last few decades, the US interest has revolved around its own national security which is dependent on uninterrupted flow of oil to not only the USA but also its major allies - the European (more specifically the NATO) countries, and to some extent Japan. However, since the turn-around from Indo-China in the 1970s, the USA has not paid due attention to the eastward flow of oil through the Malacca Channel, concentrating more on the westward flow of oil from the Middle East. It is highly unlikely that under the Obama Administration we shall see a change in that strategy.
Oil or energy has decisively become very important for the survival of all developed and developing nations. China, for her own self-interest, wants to ensure the easiest and cheapest route for that inflow of oil. Shipment by sea is always much cheaper than over land. That is why China is more concerned about any shipment that would guarantee a cheaper flow of oil to her territories. The Sino-Myanmar relationship is built on that simple equation, and so do many other similar relationships in Africa, where China, followed by India, is buying millions of hectares of land, exploring oil and gas, and developing infrastructure to penetrate those markets.
Nor should we forget that the two major wars of this century owe themselves to oil. Had the Taliban government agreed to the the interest of the US oil companies in the closing days of Clinton and early days of Bush Jr., we may never have witnessed Afghanistan being attacked by the USA, whether or not 9/11 ever took place.
Kapila's analysis is a flawed one. Nowhere in his article did I get a hint of anything remotely stating that the USA had reached out to Myanmar. (If I am mistaken I would like to be corrected.) Many such analysts are basically working for the RAW to make a case for India, aiming to broaden India's hegemonic sphere of influence. Obviously, they know that as a poor country with much trouble spewing in the northeast corner, India on her own can't do it alone, she needs a big brother like the USA watching her back, so that in case of any tug of war with China, she could lean onto that brother. Kapila therefore conveniently ignores or leaves aside other better alternatives for the US strategy, and instead tries to pull her to tying her knots with the hated Myanmar regime.
The kowtowing of the so-called democratic Indian government with the brutal SPDC military oligarch has been nothing but a shameful and criminal display of self-interest that has resulted in prolonging the lifeline of the hated regime. India has no excuse for her despicable role in strengthening Myanmar. The hegemonic powers like that should not be trusted by anyone craving for human rights and fair play.
Idealism has never been important to India and many such hegemonic powers of our time. They were always willing to sacrifice such at the altar of self-interest. Thus, it was not unnatural for India to tie her knots with the SPDC regime, and other previous military dictators of Burma. In recent years, since 9/11, she has also tied her dirty hands with Israel and the USA to stop Chinese influence in the region. Yes, China has relationship with Burma - where there are more similarities than oddities for China. China also has strong relationship with Sri Lanka, where she is building a huge naval base. China has also been a trusted (a term which is increasingly becoming obsolete these days of geo-political self-interest) friend of Pakistan, which sees herself cornered by Indo-Israeli sphere of influence in Afghanistan. But then there are still some 'neutral' countries in the region - like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, where if the USA were to be serious about containing Chinese influence she would have a much better case to make that strategic inroad. (The USA, much in contrast to Kapila's theory, need not reach out to Myanmar if it is serious about an eastward strategic imperative!)
But as we have seen in the last few decades, the US interest has revolved around its own national security which is dependent on uninterrupted flow of oil to not only the USA but also its major allies - the European (more specifically the NATO) countries, and to some extent Japan. However, since the turn-around from Indo-China in the 1970s, the USA has not paid due attention to the eastward flow of oil through the Malacca Channel, concentrating more on the westward flow of oil from the Middle East. It is highly unlikely that under the Obama Administration we shall see a change in that strategy.
Oil or energy has decisively become very important for the survival of all developed and developing nations. China, for her own self-interest, wants to ensure the easiest and cheapest route for that inflow of oil. Shipment by sea is always much cheaper than over land. That is why China is more concerned about any shipment that would guarantee a cheaper flow of oil to her territories. The Sino-Myanmar relationship is built on that simple equation, and so do many other similar relationships in Africa, where China, followed by India, is buying millions of hectares of land, exploring oil and gas, and developing infrastructure to penetrate those markets.
Nor should we forget that the two major wars of this century owe themselves to oil. Had the Taliban government agreed to the the interest of the US oil companies in the closing days of Clinton and early days of Bush Jr., we may never have witnessed Afghanistan being attacked by the USA, whether or not 9/11 ever took place.
Kapila's analysis is a flawed one. Nowhere in his article did I get a hint of anything remotely stating that the USA had reached out to Myanmar. (If I am mistaken I would like to be corrected.) Many such analysts are basically working for the RAW to make a case for India, aiming to broaden India's hegemonic sphere of influence. Obviously, they know that as a poor country with much trouble spewing in the northeast corner, India on her own can't do it alone, she needs a big brother like the USA watching her back, so that in case of any tug of war with China, she could lean onto that brother. Kapila therefore conveniently ignores or leaves aside other better alternatives for the US strategy, and instead tries to pull her to tying her knots with the hated Myanmar regime.
The kowtowing of the so-called democratic Indian government with the brutal SPDC military oligarch has been nothing but a shameful and criminal display of self-interest that has resulted in prolonging the lifeline of the hated regime. India has no excuse for her despicable role in strengthening Myanmar. The hegemonic powers like that should not be trusted by anyone craving for human rights and fair play.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Comments on my previous article relating to Fort Hood violence
Soon after publication of my article on "Is America on a Wrong Track?", New Age, November 11, 2009, a reader, long known for his despicable cultural alienated attitude towards anything Islamic or Muslim wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper with a copy to me. In that he equated the act of the shooter in the Fort Hoot, TX army camp with criminal activities of suicide bombers of the Taliban. He, like his past observations, drew inappropriate and flawed conclusions by confusing symptoms with causes. My editorial piece far from going after the symptoms of the violence, now widespread especially amongst the members of the Armed Forces of the USA, pointed out the root cause, which is the never-ending war that was unleashed by former President George W. Bush. War is stressful and can lead to PTSD, or more correctly, post-war disorder.
No Muslim takes the loss or killing of life lightly since the Qur'an could not have been more explicit on this matter when some 14 centuries ago it declared - "Whoever kills a human being... then it is as though he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a human life it is as though he had saved all mankind."
What the Army doctor is allegedly reported to have done in Fort Hood, TX is criminal and condemnable. But to equate his alleged activity with that of a suicide bomber from the Taliban or al-Qaeda is debatable, if not utterly wrong, to say the least. Many of the U.S. war veterans, almost 40 percent, are now known to exhibit PTSD syndrome. While psychiatrists like the alleged killer are the ones who try to bring mental balance amongst the sufferers of this syndrome, studies have confirmed that thus far within the US Army, adequate attention to the very mental health of these providers - the doctors - has been missing. Many of these doctors can exhibit temporary insanity at any moment. If this simple fact was not clear to that reader, a talk with a psychiatrist, mental health expert, can help clear his ignorance.
What was also so hilarious was his proposing Gandhi's so-called non-violent method as a solution. I won't dwell upon this suggestion here since it is a very controversial subject in its own merit. Suffice it to say that the events leading to Gandhi's own assassination and the never-ending history of communal riots inside India do show very clearly that the method has not worked perfectly at its own source to remove the curse of violence that has been plaguing the country in the last 62 years. The reader's assertion about the success of Gandhi's fasting shows his ignorance of the history of the time.
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune by Zeenat Rahman agreed with my conclusions about the harmful effects of PTSD on many war veterans. But I was very disturbed reading some of the comments posted by bigots. One bigot questioned how could the shooter suffer from PTSD since he had not gone to the battlefield. True that the alleged shooter did not go to the battlefield, but anyone who is familiar with psychiatry would testify that these professionals are under tremendous mental stress. As human beings, many a time they are vulnerable to PTSD by simply listening and trying to help their victims. A prolonged war like the one we are seeing in Afghanistan and Iraq is now known to contribute PTSD syndrome amongst many war veterans. Very few can claim to be totally immune from its caustic effect.
Another bigot claimed that it was the violent passages in the Qur'an that was responsible for the shooting, i.e., the Islamic religion is violent by design. Let me state very clearly to such holier-than-thou bigots that if they are searching for such passages, they need not go beyond their own scriptures before passing judgment on the Qur'an. They simply have to study the Bible!
Ref: http://newsblogs. chicagotribune. com/religion_ theseeker/ 2009/11/zeenat- rahman-specter- of-fear-detracts -from-real- issues-.html
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/nov/11/edit.html#2
No Muslim takes the loss or killing of life lightly since the Qur'an could not have been more explicit on this matter when some 14 centuries ago it declared - "Whoever kills a human being... then it is as though he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a human life it is as though he had saved all mankind."
What the Army doctor is allegedly reported to have done in Fort Hood, TX is criminal and condemnable. But to equate his alleged activity with that of a suicide bomber from the Taliban or al-Qaeda is debatable, if not utterly wrong, to say the least. Many of the U.S. war veterans, almost 40 percent, are now known to exhibit PTSD syndrome. While psychiatrists like the alleged killer are the ones who try to bring mental balance amongst the sufferers of this syndrome, studies have confirmed that thus far within the US Army, adequate attention to the very mental health of these providers - the doctors - has been missing. Many of these doctors can exhibit temporary insanity at any moment. If this simple fact was not clear to that reader, a talk with a psychiatrist, mental health expert, can help clear his ignorance.
What was also so hilarious was his proposing Gandhi's so-called non-violent method as a solution. I won't dwell upon this suggestion here since it is a very controversial subject in its own merit. Suffice it to say that the events leading to Gandhi's own assassination and the never-ending history of communal riots inside India do show very clearly that the method has not worked perfectly at its own source to remove the curse of violence that has been plaguing the country in the last 62 years. The reader's assertion about the success of Gandhi's fasting shows his ignorance of the history of the time.
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune by Zeenat Rahman agreed with my conclusions about the harmful effects of PTSD on many war veterans. But I was very disturbed reading some of the comments posted by bigots. One bigot questioned how could the shooter suffer from PTSD since he had not gone to the battlefield. True that the alleged shooter did not go to the battlefield, but anyone who is familiar with psychiatry would testify that these professionals are under tremendous mental stress. As human beings, many a time they are vulnerable to PTSD by simply listening and trying to help their victims. A prolonged war like the one we are seeing in Afghanistan and Iraq is now known to contribute PTSD syndrome amongst many war veterans. Very few can claim to be totally immune from its caustic effect.
Another bigot claimed that it was the violent passages in the Qur'an that was responsible for the shooting, i.e., the Islamic religion is violent by design. Let me state very clearly to such holier-than-thou bigots that if they are searching for such passages, they need not go beyond their own scriptures before passing judgment on the Qur'an. They simply have to study the Bible!
Ref: http://newsblogs. chicagotribune. com/religion_ theseeker/ 2009/11/zeenat- rahman-specter- of-fear-detracts -from-real- issues-.html
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/nov/11/edit.html#2
Sunday, November 8, 2009
American Economy, Election and Endless Wars
Is America on a wrong track? Is the Obama administration failing to fulfill people’s aspirations and expectations?
In Wednesday, Oct. 28, a 26-year-old soldier from Fort Carson, Colorado set to return to Afghanistan intentionally shot himself in the shoulder to avoid deployment. On Nov. 5, a 39-year-old army psychiatrist, who had faced repeated harassment for his ethnicity and faith from his fellow soldiers, shot dead 13 people at the "Soldier Readiness Center" in Fort Hood, Texas, military base. He was opposed to the war and upset about his impending deployment to Afghanistan. This tragedy once again shows how the very individuals that are trained to help victims of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are themselves losing their own mental balance. Suicide and killings amongst returning soldiers from their duties in Iraq and Afghanistan are at an all time high now. Researchers report that the rate of PTSD and other mental difficulties tied to war may be as high as 35%.
On Friday morning, Nov. 6, a 15-year-old boy shot a 17-year-old fellow student with a history of bullying the young shooter on a school bus in west Philadelphia. The same day a 40-year-old fired engineer opened fire in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago killing one person and injuring five others. Just a few days ago a young man, in his early twenties, shot himself to death in my neighborhood. My neighbors told me that he had difficulty coping with stresses of life.
While the stock market has picked up, allowing some investors to recover losses suffered during the last couple of years, and the country appears to be pulling out of the recession, a full economic recovery may not happen anytime soon. The unemployment number is really bad in the world's biggest economy! In a fresh sign of financial misery at grassroots level, in October it rose to 10.2% from September's 9.8%, reaching its highest level since April 1983. Monthly figures from the US department of labor revealed that employers cut a higher-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October. There is a hiring freeze with many big corporations, especially for skilled workers. If any company is hiring, they want to hire for less pay. It seems it will take at least three years to recover the lost jobs.
It is not difficult, therefore, to understand why for the first time under President Obama, majority of Americans says the U.S.A. is on the wrong track (Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted Oct. 22-25, 2009). Fifty-two percent say the country is on the wrong track compared to 36% who say it is headed in the right direction with 9% saying conditions are mixed and 3% undecided. President Obama's job approval rating stands at 51%, the same number it had been during the previous two months. But the approval ratio for his handling of the economy has slid down from 51 in September to 47% in October. Forty-nine percent are very dissatisfied with the state of the economy and another 31% are somewhat dissatisfied. Seventeen percent are somewhat satisfied and only 2% are very satisfied. What is also worrisome is that 58% percent say that worst has not yet come. Twenty-nine percent believe the economy has bottomed out. Forty-two percent believe things will get better in the next 12 months compared to 33% who say they will stay the same and 22% who predict things will be worse. Sixty-three percent believe that current conditions are due to factors President Obama inherited while 20% say he is responsible for them. Well, one can surmise that a majority of those 20% were die-hard Republicans who still refuse to come to terms with the mess that George W. had left the country with.
Predictably, Bob McDonnell led a Republican sweep in Virginia on Tuesday night defeating the democratic contender in the gubernatorial race. So did the Republican Chris Christie who won the New Jersey governor's race, defeating the incumbent Jon Corzine. The latter seemed to have run out of ideas other than raising taxes to balance a looming $8 billion state budget deficit. The state also had an alarming 9.7% unemployment rate. President Obama’s multiple visits to rally Democrats to Corzine's side did not help. As can be seen, however, from a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, conducted on Monday, just a day before the election, the defeat was by no means a verdict on Obama’s presidency. The poll found 68% saying the country was heading in the right direction while only 34% saying that about New Jersey.
The WSJ/NBC poll numbers are equally bad for the Congress and on other burning issues. For example, 65% disapprove of the job Congress is doing compared to 24% who approve with 11% undecided. On health care, 42% say the reform plan Obama is pushing is a bad idea, 38% say it's a good idea and 16% have no opinion, with another 4% unsure. Forty-five percent say it is better to pass his plan compared to 39% who disagree. Forty-eight percent disapprove Obama's handling of the health care issue while 43% approve with 9 percent undecided, a ratio that has grown more negative since last month. On foreign affairs, the public approves of his handling of this area by 51% to 39% with 10% undecided. On Afghanistan, Americans support a troop increase by 47% to 43% with 10% undecided. However, when asked about specifics about increasing the number of troops, Americans oppose sending large contingents of troops, and nowhere close to the number requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan. The public is divided at 45% each on the option of withdrawing nearly all troops and using Predator drones and Special Forces to attack al Qaeda camps.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost some 5,000 dead American soldiers, a trillion dollars, and a divided America facing an endless war. General McChrystal needs at least another 40,000 soldiers to avoid the risk of "mission failure" in Afghanistan. Pakistan, which sided with the USA in Afghanistan, now has a war of her own to fight inside. As if these were not enough of a wakeup call to revise America’s interventionist policies, Israel and its powerful lobby are trying to push America to open yet another warfront with Iran. It goes without saying that Israel has mastered the art of exploiting regional instability to prolong her illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.
On Nov. 3, the House of Representatives passed H.Res.867, condemning the Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (known informally as the Goldstone Report) as "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy," by a vote of 344 to 36 with 22 abstentions. Through its vote, the U.S. Congress has once again proven that it has lost moral compass and is too reluctant even in the post-Bush era to shed its image as Israel’s “Amen Corner.” As the current events have also proven the Obama administration is simply impotent against Israel. It is not difficult to understand why Mahmoud Abbas will not seek re-election.
President Obama is now under tremendous pressure to decide as to what to do with Bush’s Global War on Terror. His anti-war supporters, the independents -- who played the decisive role in the last year’s election to put him to the White House, are noticing how he is failing them, compromising at every step to please the war party. Will he embrace the same fate as President Johnson? Will he just be a one-time president?
For those of us who are tired of America’s pyrrhic wars, not everything is lost. On Nov. 4, an Italian court convicted 22 CIA operatives and a U.S. Air Force colonel of orchestrating the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. The Americans were all tried in absentia. A Milan prosecutor said his office would seek to have them extradited from the United States, but a formal decision will be made later by the Italian Justice Ministry. The case is the only instance in which CIA operatives have faced a criminal trial for the controversial tactic of extraordinary rendition, under which terrorism suspects are seized in one country and forcibly transported to another without judicial oversight. The verdict, first of its kind, sends a strong signal against the crimes of the CIA and puts the so-called Global War on Terror on trial. A similar case involving a German citizen kidnapped in the Balkans has resulted in arrest warrants and a civil lawsuit but has not gone to trial.
These are some of the tell tale signs that things are rotting inside America. Seemingly, the American nation is suffering from PTSD. She needs psychiatric help. She needs an overhaul and not false promises. She has to get out of the vicious culture of war that is responsible for her breakdown – mental, moral, social and economical. Until Americans understand that wars are bad for the economy (especially when these are not short-term wars) and are not the prudent ways to promote national security or settle scores on terrorism, they will continue to send warmongers – sold to the military industrial complex -- into power that will prefer war over peaceful resolutions of such problems. If Americans have failed to learn anything from their recent troubles, nothing probably will educate them.
One can only hope that America will have the hindsight to abandon her outdated methods and do things that are morally right, just, fair and lawful. The sooner the better!
In Wednesday, Oct. 28, a 26-year-old soldier from Fort Carson, Colorado set to return to Afghanistan intentionally shot himself in the shoulder to avoid deployment. On Nov. 5, a 39-year-old army psychiatrist, who had faced repeated harassment for his ethnicity and faith from his fellow soldiers, shot dead 13 people at the "Soldier Readiness Center" in Fort Hood, Texas, military base. He was opposed to the war and upset about his impending deployment to Afghanistan. This tragedy once again shows how the very individuals that are trained to help victims of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are themselves losing their own mental balance. Suicide and killings amongst returning soldiers from their duties in Iraq and Afghanistan are at an all time high now. Researchers report that the rate of PTSD and other mental difficulties tied to war may be as high as 35%.
On Friday morning, Nov. 6, a 15-year-old boy shot a 17-year-old fellow student with a history of bullying the young shooter on a school bus in west Philadelphia. The same day a 40-year-old fired engineer opened fire in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago killing one person and injuring five others. Just a few days ago a young man, in his early twenties, shot himself to death in my neighborhood. My neighbors told me that he had difficulty coping with stresses of life.
While the stock market has picked up, allowing some investors to recover losses suffered during the last couple of years, and the country appears to be pulling out of the recession, a full economic recovery may not happen anytime soon. The unemployment number is really bad in the world's biggest economy! In a fresh sign of financial misery at grassroots level, in October it rose to 10.2% from September's 9.8%, reaching its highest level since April 1983. Monthly figures from the US department of labor revealed that employers cut a higher-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October. There is a hiring freeze with many big corporations, especially for skilled workers. If any company is hiring, they want to hire for less pay. It seems it will take at least three years to recover the lost jobs.
It is not difficult, therefore, to understand why for the first time under President Obama, majority of Americans says the U.S.A. is on the wrong track (Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted Oct. 22-25, 2009). Fifty-two percent say the country is on the wrong track compared to 36% who say it is headed in the right direction with 9% saying conditions are mixed and 3% undecided. President Obama's job approval rating stands at 51%, the same number it had been during the previous two months. But the approval ratio for his handling of the economy has slid down from 51 in September to 47% in October. Forty-nine percent are very dissatisfied with the state of the economy and another 31% are somewhat dissatisfied. Seventeen percent are somewhat satisfied and only 2% are very satisfied. What is also worrisome is that 58% percent say that worst has not yet come. Twenty-nine percent believe the economy has bottomed out. Forty-two percent believe things will get better in the next 12 months compared to 33% who say they will stay the same and 22% who predict things will be worse. Sixty-three percent believe that current conditions are due to factors President Obama inherited while 20% say he is responsible for them. Well, one can surmise that a majority of those 20% were die-hard Republicans who still refuse to come to terms with the mess that George W. had left the country with.
Predictably, Bob McDonnell led a Republican sweep in Virginia on Tuesday night defeating the democratic contender in the gubernatorial race. So did the Republican Chris Christie who won the New Jersey governor's race, defeating the incumbent Jon Corzine. The latter seemed to have run out of ideas other than raising taxes to balance a looming $8 billion state budget deficit. The state also had an alarming 9.7% unemployment rate. President Obama’s multiple visits to rally Democrats to Corzine's side did not help. As can be seen, however, from a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, conducted on Monday, just a day before the election, the defeat was by no means a verdict on Obama’s presidency. The poll found 68% saying the country was heading in the right direction while only 34% saying that about New Jersey.
The WSJ/NBC poll numbers are equally bad for the Congress and on other burning issues. For example, 65% disapprove of the job Congress is doing compared to 24% who approve with 11% undecided. On health care, 42% say the reform plan Obama is pushing is a bad idea, 38% say it's a good idea and 16% have no opinion, with another 4% unsure. Forty-five percent say it is better to pass his plan compared to 39% who disagree. Forty-eight percent disapprove Obama's handling of the health care issue while 43% approve with 9 percent undecided, a ratio that has grown more negative since last month. On foreign affairs, the public approves of his handling of this area by 51% to 39% with 10% undecided. On Afghanistan, Americans support a troop increase by 47% to 43% with 10% undecided. However, when asked about specifics about increasing the number of troops, Americans oppose sending large contingents of troops, and nowhere close to the number requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan. The public is divided at 45% each on the option of withdrawing nearly all troops and using Predator drones and Special Forces to attack al Qaeda camps.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost some 5,000 dead American soldiers, a trillion dollars, and a divided America facing an endless war. General McChrystal needs at least another 40,000 soldiers to avoid the risk of "mission failure" in Afghanistan. Pakistan, which sided with the USA in Afghanistan, now has a war of her own to fight inside. As if these were not enough of a wakeup call to revise America’s interventionist policies, Israel and its powerful lobby are trying to push America to open yet another warfront with Iran. It goes without saying that Israel has mastered the art of exploiting regional instability to prolong her illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.
On Nov. 3, the House of Representatives passed H.Res.867, condemning the Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (known informally as the Goldstone Report) as "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy," by a vote of 344 to 36 with 22 abstentions. Through its vote, the U.S. Congress has once again proven that it has lost moral compass and is too reluctant even in the post-Bush era to shed its image as Israel’s “Amen Corner.” As the current events have also proven the Obama administration is simply impotent against Israel. It is not difficult to understand why Mahmoud Abbas will not seek re-election.
President Obama is now under tremendous pressure to decide as to what to do with Bush’s Global War on Terror. His anti-war supporters, the independents -- who played the decisive role in the last year’s election to put him to the White House, are noticing how he is failing them, compromising at every step to please the war party. Will he embrace the same fate as President Johnson? Will he just be a one-time president?
For those of us who are tired of America’s pyrrhic wars, not everything is lost. On Nov. 4, an Italian court convicted 22 CIA operatives and a U.S. Air Force colonel of orchestrating the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. The Americans were all tried in absentia. A Milan prosecutor said his office would seek to have them extradited from the United States, but a formal decision will be made later by the Italian Justice Ministry. The case is the only instance in which CIA operatives have faced a criminal trial for the controversial tactic of extraordinary rendition, under which terrorism suspects are seized in one country and forcibly transported to another without judicial oversight. The verdict, first of its kind, sends a strong signal against the crimes of the CIA and puts the so-called Global War on Terror on trial. A similar case involving a German citizen kidnapped in the Balkans has resulted in arrest warrants and a civil lawsuit but has not gone to trial.
These are some of the tell tale signs that things are rotting inside America. Seemingly, the American nation is suffering from PTSD. She needs psychiatric help. She needs an overhaul and not false promises. She has to get out of the vicious culture of war that is responsible for her breakdown – mental, moral, social and economical. Until Americans understand that wars are bad for the economy (especially when these are not short-term wars) and are not the prudent ways to promote national security or settle scores on terrorism, they will continue to send warmongers – sold to the military industrial complex -- into power that will prefer war over peaceful resolutions of such problems. If Americans have failed to learn anything from their recent troubles, nothing probably will educate them.
One can only hope that America will have the hindsight to abandon her outdated methods and do things that are morally right, just, fair and lawful. The sooner the better!
Monday, November 2, 2009
My interview with the Energy & Power: Delayed Decision Stimulates Energy Sector Corruption
My interview with Mollah Amzad Hossain, Editor of the Energy & Power magazine, vol. 7, issue 9, Nov. 2, 2009 (http://www.ep-bd.com/news.php?id=373) can be read below:
Too many things are seemingly wrong with Bangladesh’s energy sector. Bangladesh lacks the right people in right place to making the right decision at the right time. It has failed not only to attract its skilled expatriates to return and take the mantle of leadership but also to retain its talented workforce. Outside the mediocrity in the technical and administrative leadership and lack of human resources and infrastructure, corruption is another dynamics that has a caustic and crippling effect on anything that it comes across, thereby adversely hindering the development initiative and smooth functioning of the energy sector. Many investors are compelled to bribe so that they can soften the attitude of bureaucrats and expedite matters in their favor. In that process often times it is the undeserving vendor that is chosen over more qualified ones. So, unless corruption is dealt severely and weeded out, it will continue to create a vicious cycle that breeds corruption and in the process gets sustained from players both within and outside the government.
This is how Dr. Habib Siddiqui, Non-resident Bangladeshi Energy Expert, a 1977 graduate in Chemical Engineering from BUET sketches the horizon in Bangladesh’s energy sector. Dr. Siddiqui has graduate degrees in both chemical and nuclear engineering from some of the leading research and engineering universities in North America. He earned his PhD in chemical engineering from the prestigious University of Southern California, Los Angeles, doing research in the area of enhanced oil recovery from disordered porous media. His web of technical interest also includes nuclear energy. He is a certified Master Black Belt in Six Sigma who has led deployment initiative within three major U.S. corporations (including Merck & Co., where he was a Director lately). He has authored more than 400 articles on a plethora of subjects from scientific and technical to international politics and human rights.
During his brief visit to Bangladesh, Siddiqui (HS) spoke to Energy & Power (EP) Editor Mollah Amzad Hossain. The following is the excerpt of his interview.
EP: How do you evaluate the crisis of energy in Bangladesh?
HS: Like many other 3rd world countries an efficient private sector has not flourished in Bangladesh. Massive government initiative was essential for the development of energy infrastructure, which could not be done for various reasons and that has kept us far behind many other countries today. What upsets me deeply is when I compare our particular case with that of our neighbour -- Myanmar, a country that is ruled by a ruthless military oligarchy for nearly half a century with the worst record in human rights. They are quite aggressive in their bid to explore petroleum resources in offshore. Side by side, they are active in establishing their right on the maritime boundary by submitting claim with the UNO.
And look at us. We have a longer history of democracy in Bangladesh. We have a more educated and talented technical workforce. Sadly, our government in the last four decades has done a lousy job to establish our rights on the maritime boundary and exploring natural resources. It is slow and shortsighted. We react rather than act. We are therefore always a few steps behind our more aggressive neighbours - India and Myanmar. Bangladesh would have been well positioned to avoiding the mess we find ourselves today, if we were thinking and taking the right initiative for offshore exploration for petroleum resources years ago. The lack of government initiative on our natural resources has been a terrible mistake, slowing our progress.
EP: After the independence, the Bangabandhu Government was the first among the South Asian countries to start offshore exploration for petroleum. What are the reasons for government’s inactions and why we lagged behind compared to our neighbours?
HS: Let’s take Petrobangla. I don’t think its works are transparent. Both Petrobangla and PETRONUS were born almost at the same time. Today you can see where they stand and their positions. The public perception is that Petrobangla has neither the capability nor the courage to take independent decision that is based on sound technical expertise; it is run by political whims. As a result, we the public are skeptical of its role in protecting our national interest. The failure to confront Magurchara and Tengratila blow-outs showcased Petrobangla’s inexcusable inability to deal with those kinds of critical issues of our national interest. The government has failed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of state-owned enterprises. It has also failed to provide incentives that are necessary for the growth of the private sectors.
Now as to your question on why the government has failed, there are many reasons I can cite. However, for our purpose here, I shall try to limit these to a few.
You need a representative government that caters and cares for public interest. It must understand the trust it carries and carry out the task diligently, honestly and transparently. Do we have that kind of government? The unfortunate political changes of 1975 triggered a domino effect that affected negatively each and every sector in our country. Energy sector has also suffered the burnt since then. After taking power, General Ziaur Rahman initiated the process of implanting military bureaucrats in many government-run institutions, including the energy sector companies, a process that was to continue until the end of the Ershad dictatorship. Instead of the people’s representatives, making the energy policy and ensuring that our people gets the best from any deal the bureaucrats in the military and civil administration took total control of the energy sector. With lack of accountability to people, they became corrupt and self-serving. Gradually, corruption got institutionalized over the next 17 years. Consequently, petty personal interests were served and development visions of these institutions were stalled by ignoring technical considerations.
The meritorious and competent professionals found no alternatives but to leave the country. The brain-drain of competent professionals from energy sector was simply alarming, and yet the successive governments didn’t take any initiative to stop this phenomenon. In the last 18 years, the elected governments have spoken about the talented non-resident Bangladeshis, or more correctly, the expatriates, and how they could have enabled technology transfer. But all such were empty talks. I still have not seen any concrete proof of engaging our expatriate experts into reviving the energy sector.
I remember when I was a BUET sophomore or junior discussing about the exploration of coal from northern Bangladesh and utilizing it for power generation in a class project discussion that was initiated by Dr Iqbal Mahmud. And look at it some 30 plus years later, we are nowhere close to mining that coal reserve! That coal remains underground while we complain about lack of power generation!
EP: Who are responsible for that?
HS: Obviously the political leadership. I hold it accountable for our failure in energy security. After Bangabandhu’s death, in all these years of Bangladesh, I have failed to find a single leader who really cared about Bangladesh and its ordinary people – the Salimuddin and Kalimuddins within our society. Every politician today, with rare exceptions, seems to care more about his or her greed. Politics is a vehicle for personal enrichment and victimization of others. These are by all means sure recipes for disaster and not nation-building.
We need a people’s government that truly cares, thinks rationally and is willing to formulate a policy that is built on hard facts and consensus-driven, and is aggressive enough to execute it once a decision is taken. Our past governments have miserably failed to provide proper policy and guidance for the energy sector. This has caused enormous harm to our economy, leaving us behind and almost unprepared to deal with alarming gaping energy shortage.
The bottom line is we need a patriotic political leadership that can initiate a fresh revival. We need right people in the right place making right decisions at the right time. Initiatives must be taken to develop governance, transparency and efficiency with everything we do. We need a healthy working environment that is built on meritocracy, and not sycophancy. We must retain the best of our talented workforce through a reward and recognition system, and enable a process that helps our technical folks to exchange and learn from their more talented and skilled expatriates. We must take lessons from other countries and provide appropriate pay packages to qualified professionals. If we fail in this talent management program, it won’t be too long that Bangladesh would be bereft of its best brains. Already, an alarming 80 to 90% of the best engineers have chosen to leave Bangladesh for bettering their livelihoods.
EP: Does that mean that energy sector development should remain stalled till Bangladesh’s energy sector enterprises and manpower acquires efficiency?
HS: No, I did not mean that. If we could afford to be self-reliant, capable and effective ourselves of doing the right thing, definitely it would have been better for us. But we are nowhere close to that ideal situation.
The globalization factor has completely changed our old thinking. We are forced to find the best alternative fast under the situation we are in. Even a communist country like China has opened all its sectors including energy to foreign investment – and mind that, to capitalist countries – its once-mortal foes. In terms of technology transfer in the energy sector that we are talking about, e.g., oil and coal exploration, Bangladesh is in its infantile stage. It needs someone to grab its tender arm and show it how to walk. That will be a much prudent way than being stupidly self-reliant while we don’t know the basics. Government can play a big role in encouraging both local and foreign investment to vitalize our energy sector.
EP: A section of civil society under the banner of Oil, Gas & Port Protection Committee (OGPC) is opposing open pit coal mining and leasing of offshore blocks to IOCs for exploration. How do you evaluate that?
HS: There are environmentalist groups in many countries, including the USA. They are quite active and protest on matters that seem harmful to them in a peaceful manner and the governments are not too offended by their activism. In these days of the Internet, many of these groups also have a very active petition campaign where individual supporters are asked to write to their elected representatives to oppose something that is controversial. You won’t see there the kind of vandalism that takes place in Bangladesh.
I strongly disagree with what the agitators are doing in Bangladesh. I believe this group is acting against national interest with funding from foreign sources. Our ordinary people, the vast majority, are not behind them. I observe with utter surprise when some University teachers get involved with them. They are not only hindering the development of the energy sector but also causing an image crisis for the country. We must note it. Whose purposes are being served by these agitators who oppose the coal mining and offshore oil and gas exploration? It is really saddening to see that we are not mining our high quality, less environment-polluting coal while we allow poor quality Indian coal polluting our environment. This attitude is simply unbelievable! I suspect that these agitators are basically serving the causes and interests of India, and not of Bangladesh.
EP: Agitators are opposing coal mining and offshore PSC. They are propagating that coal should only be mined after ensuring domestic need. What is your evaluation?
HS: If we like to discuss the PSC agreements, we can do that. Any agreement may have merits and demerits. If any clause of any agreement is found to be compromising national interest after signing of agreement, these can be mitigated always through negotiations. The modern commercial world does not favour arbitrary termination or scrapping of signed agreement. All agreements have inbuilt mechanism how these will be operated. Controversies of any signed agreement have to be resolved through negotiation. Government has to take initiative for that.
On the other hand regarding exploration of natural resources in the offshore, I am being reminded of a story in the Holy Quran. The Prophet Moses (Musa (AS)) had a wonderful encounter with Khidir (AS). The story is mentioned in the Surah al-Kahf. Khidir allowed Musa to accompany him on the condition that he must not ask any question as long he is with him. They went to a town where people did not give them food to eat or water to drink. But on the way, Khidir saw a wall that was on the verge of collapse and he fixed it. This behavior puzzled Musa (AS) who could not keep quite. He asked Khidir why he had fixed the wall. Khidir explained that the property where the wall stood belonged to some orphans whose God-fearing parents had hidden some treasure underneath that wall hoping that when their kids would grow up they would find the hidden treasure. It was God’s wish that such a treasure be not made visible to others before they come of age. So, fearing that collapsing wall might bare the hidden treasure, Khidir fixed the wall.
There is a big lesson in this story of the Qur’an. In contrast to the hidden treasure, the maritime resources of the Bay of Bengal, which is our share, now remains exposed and is getting stolen unless we try to grab which is ours before everything is lost. However, we are not mature enough to do this task ourselves. We need partners that can help us protect our rights. If we wait too long till we acquire capacity to explore and exploit nothing will be left for us. In this context, I am in favour of the initiative for PSC that has been taken to explore it now. We have already made much delay. We must not waste any more time. For exploring other blocks, the government must take appropriate initiative to resolve maritime boundary disputes.
EP: What government should do to encourage investment in energy sector?
HS: Not too long I have written on government measures needed to encourage foreign investment. There has to be transparency and simplifying of the government procedures for investment. It is too bureaucratic today with lots of steps, and sign-offs, which require, unfortunately, bribes to move from one area to the next. The system needs to be simple and investment-friendly so that every investor sees it to be fair and not bogged into corruption.
The government must first correctly assess how much investment is required for energy sector. Government should also decide how much it can invest from its own sources. As to the rest, it must have a clear vision on how much investment it may need from different sources.
As I hinted above, our government must realize that the bureaucracy is the main deterrent force toward attracting FDI. And for transparency in concluding agreements, we must take lessons from other countries. The policymakers must realize that dilly-dally attitude in decision making encourages corruption. Corruption must be weeded out to help investment.
Too many things are seemingly wrong with Bangladesh’s energy sector. Bangladesh lacks the right people in right place to making the right decision at the right time. It has failed not only to attract its skilled expatriates to return and take the mantle of leadership but also to retain its talented workforce. Outside the mediocrity in the technical and administrative leadership and lack of human resources and infrastructure, corruption is another dynamics that has a caustic and crippling effect on anything that it comes across, thereby adversely hindering the development initiative and smooth functioning of the energy sector. Many investors are compelled to bribe so that they can soften the attitude of bureaucrats and expedite matters in their favor. In that process often times it is the undeserving vendor that is chosen over more qualified ones. So, unless corruption is dealt severely and weeded out, it will continue to create a vicious cycle that breeds corruption and in the process gets sustained from players both within and outside the government.
This is how Dr. Habib Siddiqui, Non-resident Bangladeshi Energy Expert, a 1977 graduate in Chemical Engineering from BUET sketches the horizon in Bangladesh’s energy sector. Dr. Siddiqui has graduate degrees in both chemical and nuclear engineering from some of the leading research and engineering universities in North America. He earned his PhD in chemical engineering from the prestigious University of Southern California, Los Angeles, doing research in the area of enhanced oil recovery from disordered porous media. His web of technical interest also includes nuclear energy. He is a certified Master Black Belt in Six Sigma who has led deployment initiative within three major U.S. corporations (including Merck & Co., where he was a Director lately). He has authored more than 400 articles on a plethora of subjects from scientific and technical to international politics and human rights.
During his brief visit to Bangladesh, Siddiqui (HS) spoke to Energy & Power (EP) Editor Mollah Amzad Hossain. The following is the excerpt of his interview.
EP: How do you evaluate the crisis of energy in Bangladesh?
HS: Like many other 3rd world countries an efficient private sector has not flourished in Bangladesh. Massive government initiative was essential for the development of energy infrastructure, which could not be done for various reasons and that has kept us far behind many other countries today. What upsets me deeply is when I compare our particular case with that of our neighbour -- Myanmar, a country that is ruled by a ruthless military oligarchy for nearly half a century with the worst record in human rights. They are quite aggressive in their bid to explore petroleum resources in offshore. Side by side, they are active in establishing their right on the maritime boundary by submitting claim with the UNO.
And look at us. We have a longer history of democracy in Bangladesh. We have a more educated and talented technical workforce. Sadly, our government in the last four decades has done a lousy job to establish our rights on the maritime boundary and exploring natural resources. It is slow and shortsighted. We react rather than act. We are therefore always a few steps behind our more aggressive neighbours - India and Myanmar. Bangladesh would have been well positioned to avoiding the mess we find ourselves today, if we were thinking and taking the right initiative for offshore exploration for petroleum resources years ago. The lack of government initiative on our natural resources has been a terrible mistake, slowing our progress.
EP: After the independence, the Bangabandhu Government was the first among the South Asian countries to start offshore exploration for petroleum. What are the reasons for government’s inactions and why we lagged behind compared to our neighbours?
HS: Let’s take Petrobangla. I don’t think its works are transparent. Both Petrobangla and PETRONUS were born almost at the same time. Today you can see where they stand and their positions. The public perception is that Petrobangla has neither the capability nor the courage to take independent decision that is based on sound technical expertise; it is run by political whims. As a result, we the public are skeptical of its role in protecting our national interest. The failure to confront Magurchara and Tengratila blow-outs showcased Petrobangla’s inexcusable inability to deal with those kinds of critical issues of our national interest. The government has failed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of state-owned enterprises. It has also failed to provide incentives that are necessary for the growth of the private sectors.
Now as to your question on why the government has failed, there are many reasons I can cite. However, for our purpose here, I shall try to limit these to a few.
You need a representative government that caters and cares for public interest. It must understand the trust it carries and carry out the task diligently, honestly and transparently. Do we have that kind of government? The unfortunate political changes of 1975 triggered a domino effect that affected negatively each and every sector in our country. Energy sector has also suffered the burnt since then. After taking power, General Ziaur Rahman initiated the process of implanting military bureaucrats in many government-run institutions, including the energy sector companies, a process that was to continue until the end of the Ershad dictatorship. Instead of the people’s representatives, making the energy policy and ensuring that our people gets the best from any deal the bureaucrats in the military and civil administration took total control of the energy sector. With lack of accountability to people, they became corrupt and self-serving. Gradually, corruption got institutionalized over the next 17 years. Consequently, petty personal interests were served and development visions of these institutions were stalled by ignoring technical considerations.
The meritorious and competent professionals found no alternatives but to leave the country. The brain-drain of competent professionals from energy sector was simply alarming, and yet the successive governments didn’t take any initiative to stop this phenomenon. In the last 18 years, the elected governments have spoken about the talented non-resident Bangladeshis, or more correctly, the expatriates, and how they could have enabled technology transfer. But all such were empty talks. I still have not seen any concrete proof of engaging our expatriate experts into reviving the energy sector.
I remember when I was a BUET sophomore or junior discussing about the exploration of coal from northern Bangladesh and utilizing it for power generation in a class project discussion that was initiated by Dr Iqbal Mahmud. And look at it some 30 plus years later, we are nowhere close to mining that coal reserve! That coal remains underground while we complain about lack of power generation!
EP: Who are responsible for that?
HS: Obviously the political leadership. I hold it accountable for our failure in energy security. After Bangabandhu’s death, in all these years of Bangladesh, I have failed to find a single leader who really cared about Bangladesh and its ordinary people – the Salimuddin and Kalimuddins within our society. Every politician today, with rare exceptions, seems to care more about his or her greed. Politics is a vehicle for personal enrichment and victimization of others. These are by all means sure recipes for disaster and not nation-building.
We need a people’s government that truly cares, thinks rationally and is willing to formulate a policy that is built on hard facts and consensus-driven, and is aggressive enough to execute it once a decision is taken. Our past governments have miserably failed to provide proper policy and guidance for the energy sector. This has caused enormous harm to our economy, leaving us behind and almost unprepared to deal with alarming gaping energy shortage.
The bottom line is we need a patriotic political leadership that can initiate a fresh revival. We need right people in the right place making right decisions at the right time. Initiatives must be taken to develop governance, transparency and efficiency with everything we do. We need a healthy working environment that is built on meritocracy, and not sycophancy. We must retain the best of our talented workforce through a reward and recognition system, and enable a process that helps our technical folks to exchange and learn from their more talented and skilled expatriates. We must take lessons from other countries and provide appropriate pay packages to qualified professionals. If we fail in this talent management program, it won’t be too long that Bangladesh would be bereft of its best brains. Already, an alarming 80 to 90% of the best engineers have chosen to leave Bangladesh for bettering their livelihoods.
EP: Does that mean that energy sector development should remain stalled till Bangladesh’s energy sector enterprises and manpower acquires efficiency?
HS: No, I did not mean that. If we could afford to be self-reliant, capable and effective ourselves of doing the right thing, definitely it would have been better for us. But we are nowhere close to that ideal situation.
The globalization factor has completely changed our old thinking. We are forced to find the best alternative fast under the situation we are in. Even a communist country like China has opened all its sectors including energy to foreign investment – and mind that, to capitalist countries – its once-mortal foes. In terms of technology transfer in the energy sector that we are talking about, e.g., oil and coal exploration, Bangladesh is in its infantile stage. It needs someone to grab its tender arm and show it how to walk. That will be a much prudent way than being stupidly self-reliant while we don’t know the basics. Government can play a big role in encouraging both local and foreign investment to vitalize our energy sector.
EP: A section of civil society under the banner of Oil, Gas & Port Protection Committee (OGPC) is opposing open pit coal mining and leasing of offshore blocks to IOCs for exploration. How do you evaluate that?
HS: There are environmentalist groups in many countries, including the USA. They are quite active and protest on matters that seem harmful to them in a peaceful manner and the governments are not too offended by their activism. In these days of the Internet, many of these groups also have a very active petition campaign where individual supporters are asked to write to their elected representatives to oppose something that is controversial. You won’t see there the kind of vandalism that takes place in Bangladesh.
I strongly disagree with what the agitators are doing in Bangladesh. I believe this group is acting against national interest with funding from foreign sources. Our ordinary people, the vast majority, are not behind them. I observe with utter surprise when some University teachers get involved with them. They are not only hindering the development of the energy sector but also causing an image crisis for the country. We must note it. Whose purposes are being served by these agitators who oppose the coal mining and offshore oil and gas exploration? It is really saddening to see that we are not mining our high quality, less environment-polluting coal while we allow poor quality Indian coal polluting our environment. This attitude is simply unbelievable! I suspect that these agitators are basically serving the causes and interests of India, and not of Bangladesh.
EP: Agitators are opposing coal mining and offshore PSC. They are propagating that coal should only be mined after ensuring domestic need. What is your evaluation?
HS: If we like to discuss the PSC agreements, we can do that. Any agreement may have merits and demerits. If any clause of any agreement is found to be compromising national interest after signing of agreement, these can be mitigated always through negotiations. The modern commercial world does not favour arbitrary termination or scrapping of signed agreement. All agreements have inbuilt mechanism how these will be operated. Controversies of any signed agreement have to be resolved through negotiation. Government has to take initiative for that.
On the other hand regarding exploration of natural resources in the offshore, I am being reminded of a story in the Holy Quran. The Prophet Moses (Musa (AS)) had a wonderful encounter with Khidir (AS). The story is mentioned in the Surah al-Kahf. Khidir allowed Musa to accompany him on the condition that he must not ask any question as long he is with him. They went to a town where people did not give them food to eat or water to drink. But on the way, Khidir saw a wall that was on the verge of collapse and he fixed it. This behavior puzzled Musa (AS) who could not keep quite. He asked Khidir why he had fixed the wall. Khidir explained that the property where the wall stood belonged to some orphans whose God-fearing parents had hidden some treasure underneath that wall hoping that when their kids would grow up they would find the hidden treasure. It was God’s wish that such a treasure be not made visible to others before they come of age. So, fearing that collapsing wall might bare the hidden treasure, Khidir fixed the wall.
There is a big lesson in this story of the Qur’an. In contrast to the hidden treasure, the maritime resources of the Bay of Bengal, which is our share, now remains exposed and is getting stolen unless we try to grab which is ours before everything is lost. However, we are not mature enough to do this task ourselves. We need partners that can help us protect our rights. If we wait too long till we acquire capacity to explore and exploit nothing will be left for us. In this context, I am in favour of the initiative for PSC that has been taken to explore it now. We have already made much delay. We must not waste any more time. For exploring other blocks, the government must take appropriate initiative to resolve maritime boundary disputes.
EP: What government should do to encourage investment in energy sector?
HS: Not too long I have written on government measures needed to encourage foreign investment. There has to be transparency and simplifying of the government procedures for investment. It is too bureaucratic today with lots of steps, and sign-offs, which require, unfortunately, bribes to move from one area to the next. The system needs to be simple and investment-friendly so that every investor sees it to be fair and not bogged into corruption.
The government must first correctly assess how much investment is required for energy sector. Government should also decide how much it can invest from its own sources. As to the rest, it must have a clear vision on how much investment it may need from different sources.
As I hinted above, our government must realize that the bureaucracy is the main deterrent force toward attracting FDI. And for transparency in concluding agreements, we must take lessons from other countries. The policymakers must realize that dilly-dally attitude in decision making encourages corruption. Corruption must be weeded out to help investment.
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