Offtopic: Obama (surprise??) gets Nobel 'peace' prize. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298580.stm)
Also, read this link, a blog from FT, where a critic writes some good points.. http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2009/10/what-is-the-point-of-the-nobel-peace-prize/
Off topic, I but saw this: Church to aid Karnataka govt in relief work, By: John Malhotra, Friday, 9 October 2009, and couldn't help but wonder if the Missionaries are going to take advantage of the calamity to convert a few lakhs of needy+gullible Hindus (and charge most of the expenses to the exchequers of the states cleverly). It will be useful if their conversion activity here (if any) can be tracked down systematically. Especially in AP, assuming that YSR's clan/gang is still running the show in the background, things should be watched closely. I have already read a report where the CM of Karnataka was talking about the center allocating a lot more money to AP than to Karnataka (I am from AP, but, needless to say, the money should be allocated in proportion to the rehabilitation needs of the two states, and it must not, under any circumstances, be used to aid missionary conversion activities), and so, perhaps, there is a sinister agenda to pipe the center's money through proselytizing missionaries that are apparently far better entrenched in AP and pick off a nice chunk of conversions. The whole affair needs to be kept close tabs on. This google news search link (as sorted/formatted) might be usful for tracking purposes: flood karnataka OR andhra (you can see other interesting groups getting ready for relief activity there. It's noble if their entire intent is purely altruistic, but if they have other nefarious designs, that's a different matter.)
On topic this time. I don't think I want to believe this strike cheater story as reported. Here's why.
The guy was apparently doing this gig/strike for weeks. If so, why didn't they arrest him immediately after they had him on tape as having cheated (and continuing to put on a show)? I don't buy the excuse the article gives ("Scotland Yard made no official comment but senior sources said police decided against dragging the bogus hunger striker out of his tent for fear it would start a riot") because there are a zillion ways they could have got the word out (even a youtube video being a possibility) while arresting him when the crowds were thin (say at midnight, when people would have gone home or resting) and thus ending the charade, instead of continuing to spend what they say was a "£7.1million overtime bill." Unless the alleged tape evidence was only obtained towards the very end of strike, why would you waste so much of tax payer money on a flimsy basis?
This story has the trappings of a deliberate HIT JOB by someone bent on smearing the Tamil people (who are probably having it worse than the general anti-Hindu environment we see being cultivated everywhere, most of which trace back to these four major players: China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the predatory proselytizing missionary joints).
I have therefore decided not to believe this story unless I see a video of the alleged evidence or we see a direct official account corroborating the story's account.
As you can in the comments section of the linked article, the response to it from the locals (presuming that most of the commenters are indeed locals) is an expectable reaction of extreme anger directed at the Tamils.
I wasn't all that familiar with the Lanka-Tamil problem (other than some loose accounts I've read over the years in papers and the web. My general view, in lieu of a clear and detailed knowledge of the details, used to be that the Lankan Tamils should have somehow found a way a get along with the Sinhalese and turned to more productive activities than resorting to insurgency/separatism), but I just visited this wiki section on Sri Lanka Tamils, and what I am beginning to see from there, through the decades to the present day situation (of 50K+ just killed in the military action and some 300K locked behind barbed wire persecution camps), is a terrible case of systematic discrimination and persecution (of the Tamils) followed by a genocide (and of the Sinhalese getting away with it!). Fits in the general pattern of Hindus being under attack and getting marginalized just about everywhere, it seems, these days (including, alas, in India, as your blog documents.)
Regardless of how one may view the events up until the Lanka military action, the current human rights situation looks exceedingly bleak for the Tamils being brutalized in those barbed-wire camps, and the following site seems to shed light on the developments as they happend, for those that want to become and stay aware of the situation: Tamil Net ( http://www.tamilnet.com/ ).
4 comments:
Offtopic: Obama (surprise??) gets Nobel 'peace' prize. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298580.stm)
Also, read this link, a blog from FT, where a critic writes some good points..
http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2009/10/what-is-the-point-of-the-nobel-peace-prize/
Off topic, I but saw this: Church to aid Karnataka govt in relief work, By: John Malhotra, Friday, 9 October 2009, and couldn't help but wonder if the Missionaries are going to take advantage of the calamity to convert a few lakhs of needy+gullible Hindus (and charge most of the expenses to the exchequers of the states cleverly). It will be useful if their conversion activity here (if any) can be tracked down systematically. Especially in AP, assuming that YSR's clan/gang is still running the show in the background, things should be watched closely. I have already read a report where the CM of Karnataka was talking about the center allocating a lot more money to AP than to Karnataka (I am from AP, but, needless to say, the money should be allocated in proportion to the rehabilitation needs of the two states, and it must not, under any circumstances, be used to aid missionary conversion activities), and so, perhaps, there is a sinister agenda to pipe the center's money through proselytizing missionaries that are apparently far better entrenched in AP and pick off a nice chunk of conversions. The whole affair needs to be kept close tabs on. This google news search link (as sorted/formatted) might be usful for tracking purposes: flood karnataka OR andhra (you can see other interesting groups getting ready for relief activity there. It's noble if their entire intent is purely altruistic, but if they have other nefarious designs, that's a different matter.)
http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/LiveWire/64626
Rajeev please post this on the Blog
On topic this time. I don't think I want to believe this strike cheater story as reported. Here's why.
The guy was apparently doing this gig/strike for weeks. If so, why didn't they arrest him immediately after they had him on tape as having cheated (and continuing to put on a show)? I don't buy the excuse the article gives ("Scotland Yard made no official comment but senior sources said police decided against dragging the bogus hunger striker out of his tent for fear it would start a riot") because there are a zillion ways they could have got the word out (even a youtube video being a possibility) while arresting him when the crowds were thin (say at midnight, when people would have gone home or resting) and thus ending the charade, instead of continuing to spend what they say was a "£7.1million overtime bill." Unless the alleged tape evidence was only obtained towards the very end of strike, why would you waste so much of tax payer money on a flimsy basis?
This story has the trappings of a deliberate HIT JOB by someone bent on smearing the Tamil people (who are probably having it worse than the general anti-Hindu environment we see being cultivated everywhere, most of which trace back to these four major players: China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the predatory proselytizing missionary joints).
I have therefore decided not to believe this story unless I see a video of the alleged evidence or we see a direct official account corroborating the story's account.
As you can in the comments section of the linked article, the response to it from the locals (presuming that most of the commenters are indeed locals) is an expectable reaction of extreme anger directed at the Tamils.
I wasn't all that familiar with the Lanka-Tamil problem (other than some loose accounts I've read over the years in papers and the web. My general view, in lieu of a clear and detailed knowledge of the details, used to be that the Lankan Tamils should have somehow found a way a get along with the Sinhalese and turned to more productive activities than resorting to insurgency/separatism), but I just visited this wiki section on Sri Lanka Tamils, and what I am beginning to see from there, through the decades to the present day situation (of 50K+ just killed in the military action and some 300K locked behind barbed wire persecution camps), is a terrible case of systematic discrimination and persecution (of the Tamils) followed by a genocide (and of the Sinhalese getting away with it!). Fits in the general pattern of Hindus being under attack and getting marginalized just about everywhere, it seems, these days (including, alas, in India, as your blog documents.)
Regardless of how one may view the events up until the Lanka military action, the current human rights situation looks exceedingly bleak for the Tamils being brutalized in those barbed-wire camps, and the following site seems to shed light on the developments as they happend, for those that want to become and stay aware of the situation: Tamil Net ( http://www.tamilnet.com/ ).
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