CounterCurrents: The Only Choice Isn’t Just Between The Evil Of Two Lessers

Dear Friend,

The Election charade ends. USA goes to poll today. The times are perilous. Climate Change was not an election issue for a country which must bear responsibility as the biggest historical polluter. A dying empire, in its last gasp, is on a self-destructive mode for full spectrum dominance. Whoever gets elected, will have his/her fingers on the nuclear trigger. 

Here is something I wrote on a forum yesterday, I'm sharing it    here for public interest,

"The emergence of fascism in India is a long story, may be extending for three millennia or more. To put it succinctly the Nazis borrowed it from the Aryan supremacism of  India, perfected it for the final solution and the Hindutva fanatics in turn borrowed it back from the Italian fascists and the Nazis. It's a long story. I'll stick to the more immediate one.  Here's  my two pennies worth wisdom on the emerging blocs and world security.

The BRICS coalition was supposed to be a bulwark against imperialism. They even floated a BRICS bank, now called New Development Bank. The BRICS is now dead for all purposes. See the impeachment of Dilma Roussef, was there a whimper  of protest from these countries?

How did this come about? American Imperialism sabotaged it!

India with its Big Power ambitions was hooked into india-US strategic partnership. That followed India-US nuclear alliance and most recently India has agreed that US warships and aircrafts can refuel and restock water, food, and other supplies at Indian bases. It is a total break away from India's long held non-alignment principles. US arms traders are selling their wares like hot cakes to India.  A volatile South Asia is a big market for western arms manufactures. It is in their interest that South Asia, especially the relationship between India and Pakistan remains tense.

USA has been traditional ally and arm exporter to Pakistan. India thought it would be to their strategic advantage to draw USA from Pakistan and build stronger ties to USA. Although the relationship between Pakistan and USA remains strained and economic aid to that country has declined substantially during this decade, USA continues to sell military hardware to Pakistan. China found this as an opportunity and stepped in. China has increased military and economic cooperation with Pakistan. It has built strategic Gwadar port in the volatile Balochistan, where a freedom movement is going on. Gwadar port is crucial to China with USA's possible embargo in South China Sea. Russia and China have held joint military exercise with Pakistan.

With increasing turmoil in Kashmir and continuing skirmishes with Pakistan at the border, India threw in the hat into the bargain with Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India,     raising the Balochistan issue in his last Independence day speech. India went further and agreed to give asylum to Baloch separatist leaders. This clearly didn't amuse Pakistan or China.

What it all means is that BRICS is as good as dead and the South Asian (India-Pakistan) conundrum now has become an international issue involving big powers. All have strategic interests in the region. India and Pakistan being nuclear power, any war between the two can escalate into a large scale war involving big powers, either involving directly or playing the proxy game.

We know that Pakistan's democracy is very fragile and the its military and intelligence establishment can sabotage the fledgling democratic arrangement at any moment.

Our major concern now is that religious fundamentalists (Hindutva fundamentalists on this side of the border) are trying to sabotage the robust democratic establishment in India. That's a big worry.

In Syria, the situation is more fluid where competing forces are trying to establish their influence in an emerging (or collapsing?) Middle East. There too  the situation can escalate into a nuclear war. You know the situation on the Russian border with the dirty games NATO is playing.

All in all, we are closer to a nuclear war, more than ever before. "

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




U.S. Election: The Only Choice Isn’t Just Between The Evil Of Two Lessers
by Irwin Jerome 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/u-s-election-the-only-choice-isnt-just-between-the-evil-of-two-lessers/

The real danger, of course, in whatever account is to be given of this conflict as it continues to escalate or devolve, is that if a peaceful resolution doesn’t come soon from either President Obama’s administration or that of America’s new President-Elect, it could, itself, end up turning into yet another Wounded Knee-type 1973 Siege scenario with a lot of people getting hurt in the process. Democracy Now’s recent video of a DAPL employee menacingly waving an AK-47 at Sioux Water Protectors before, thankfully, he was peacefully disarmed, is one such early red flag warning





On The Eve Of The Vote: Trump Values, Islam And Militias
by Dr Binoy Kampmark 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/on-the-eve-of-the-vote-trump-values-islam-and-militias/

Not all of this should be laid at the feet of Trump malignancy; in the United States, visions of utopia and promised land rhetoric have mingled with crude realities and hatreds long before The Donald held sway.  In typically crude businesslike fashion, he has marketised such fear.





Jefferson, Newton, Your New President And You
by Rachel Olivia O'Connor 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/jefferson-newton-your-new-president-and-you/

The operative word above is revolution. But nobody’s really talking about that. Or, rather, I should say… if they are, they’re — pretty much to a one — only talking. Or making or watching faux revolutionary cinema like Mr. Robot. And, then, perhaps, writing reviews, or texting their thoughts out into Newton’s authentic world, where they’re unworthy of securing an atomic number.






2016: Media Backs War Candidate But Wall St. Divided
by Jay Janson 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/2016-media-backs-war-candidate-but-wall-st-divided/

But for media management, election 2016 would be a playing out in public of indecision within the ruling rich 1/10th of 1%, whether to switch to less profitable investing to build up USA, or continue wildly enriching themselves in wars & investing in higher profit rendering low wage 3rd world nations, at the same time helping these nations, led by China, to overtake the US & Europe in economic and political power sooner.






At Risk of Being Dupes
by David Smith-Ferri 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/at-risk-of-being-dupes/

In the midst of rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia, a small delegation of peace activists travels to Moscow and St. Petersburg to learn from Russian people about their perspective on war and international relations. The hardships suffered by ordinary Russians as a result of U.S.-imposed economic sanctions, and the failure of U.S. media to report on this, remind them of similar failures during the time of sanctions against Iraq. 






Kindness
by Rachel Olivia O'Connor 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/kindness/

We must find a way to make kindness a part of our day. The major part. For everyone. Talk about hardly anything else for now. Be the kindness you seek from those most different than you are. Our bar must be that high. Set clearly with our family and strangers. Before it is too late.






Refuelling At Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant A Major Health Hazard
by VT Padmanabhan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/refuelling-at-koodankulam-nuclear-power-plant-a-major-health-hazard/

During December 2016, the world’s first Generation-III pressusrized water reactor (PWR)at Kudamkulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in India will be shut down for its second refueling.





In The Name Of Religion
by Ishaan Saxena 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/in-the-name-of-religion/

So go on polluting the skies during the Hindu festivals of Dusshera and Diwali or anytime Dhoni hits a six and no one will stop to check you. Smear the streets with colour on Holi and use gallons of water. Who cares? India has an abundance of water. Air pollution, noise pollution and climate change is a myth. The cancerous air in New Delhi post the festival of lights does not seem to be bothering anyone. Life goes on as usual.





The Incapacity Of Indian Jails
by Shrikrishna S. Kachave 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/the-incapacity-of-indian-jails/

Most of the jails were built in the nineteenth century or at the turn of this century. They are in a state of disrepair and are overcrowded. The Shah Commission reports that on the eve of the Emergency, in as many as 15 of the 27 States and Union Territories, the actual population of the prisoners far exceeded the authorized accommodation.





Dopdi In Mahendergarh: Encountering Saffron Terror In The Academia

http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/11/08/dopdi-in-mahendergarh-encountering-saffron-terror-in-the-academia/

Report of a fact-finding team which visited Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh on 20th October 2016  . Team members: Anirban Kar, Deepak Gupta, Jitender Dhankhar, Sachin N, Sameeksha Khandelwal and Saroj Giri