Patriotism by ACTION

Yesterday's terror strikes in Mumbai have been unprecedented on more than one count. Though this is not the first terrorist attack happeneing in Mumbai - some reports indicate that there were six major terrorist attacks in Mumbai since the March, 1993, serial bomb blasts - the latest terror strike seems to have been carried out in a qualitatively different level.

1.  WAR ON INDIA BY TERRORISTS: For one, this time, the terrorists are not anonymous people (like many rogue commenters in blogs).  They have come in groups and opened gunfire & hurled grenades & bombs on crowded areas, without bothering about being captured.  This, according to me, is a clear signal by the terrorists to Indian State that they have declared War on India.

2.  WELL-CORDINATED NETWROK:  As the terrorist attacks have been cariied out across South Mumbai at 12 different public places - many of them already under high security - and with precision and co-ordination, they have shown the world that they have a well-oiled & co-ordinated network with latest and high quality weaponry at their disposal as also highly trained people (Jihadis) to carry their cowardly act.

3.  STRIKE AT INDIA'S ECONOMY:  The terrorists seem to have trained their ire this time on Mumbai tourists - mainly foreigners (Westerners).  It seems they want to kill two birds with one stone - One, to scare away the Western tourists from coming to India and at the same time take revenge on them for their countries' strict anti-terrorism measures.  Second, to strike at Mumbai, the Commercial Capital of India, and by targetting tourists & their likely places of stay in Mumbai, they want to strike at the base of India's flourishing economy & the support India gets from Western countries - particularly from the US.  They want to show that India is no different from Pakistan, where the Jihadis carried out a dastardly act on a five star hotel killing hundreds of people recently.

All the above shows one thing clearly - that the terrorists PERCEIVE INDIA AS A SOFT TARGET.  This is because of the following reasons:

1.  There are no tough anti-terrorism law.  Whatever was their like POTA & before it TADA, have been annulled by the "secularist" UPA Govt. in order to garner minority votes at the cost of country's security.

2.  The prevarication of UPA Govt. in NOT hanging the Supreme Court convicted terrorist Afzal Guru - again for garnering minority votes.  So, now terrorists seem to think that even if they are caught(!) and then convicted (!!), they will have the sympathy of Sonia Gandhi, Commies, "secularists" & "media" to ensure they are not hanged.  Provided, these terrorists belong to the "right community".

3.  There is no strong leadership in India.  Manmohan Singh, even though he is called the Prime Minister, is constantly under watch by the Super PM Sonia.  Sonia goes by the words of her cronies & other corrupt politicians like Lalu, Paswan, Karunanidhi, etc.  None of these people have ever shown any willingness or blodness to tackle terrorism related events with a firm & iron hand.  All these people have been regularly hob-nobbing with terrorists of some kind or other like Karunanidhi never speaks against LTTE or takes firm action against those speaking for LTTE.  Same is the case with Sonia whose daughter secretely met her father's killer & convict Nalini in the prison.  These kind of people only rule India today & we, the general public, are under their mercy.  So, any terrorist worth his salt, will get his first stint in India only and then graduate to other tougher places.

As concerned citizens, if we want to put a stop to these kind of terrorist attacks, we have to do the following:

1.  We should GO TO THE POLLING BOOTH & VOTE on the voting day.

2. We should, starting from today itself, canvass with our friends, relatives & other acquaintances, to enquire whether they are registered voters and if not, persuade them to get registered immediately.

3.  When the elections come, we should urge all our friends, relatives and other acquaintances to GO TO THE POLLING BOOTH & VOTE on the voting day.

Only by making more people to register & vote when elections come, can we ensure that a Government, which we think or perceive is capable of taking a firm stand on matters of country's security, comes to power & start taking firm actions against such terrorist outfits.

Till such time, if we allow the commies, secularists & corruptors to dictate matters, they will concentrate only on their selfish goals and will not bother about the security of India.  After all Commies live for the welfare of China, Sonia is for Italy and Karunanidhi will sell India or TN, provided he gets the right price.

It is high time, WE, AS INDIANS, TAKE THE MATTER IN OUR HANDS and DEMOCRATICALLY THROW-OUT THE INCOMPETANT & IMPOTENT UPA GOVT. TO THE DUSTBINS & usher in a new and competent alternative, which has the will to tackle terrorism head-on.

COME ON INDIA & INDIANS, THIS IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO SHOW YOUR PATRIOTISM TO YOUR COUNTRY BY ACTION RATHER THAN WORDS.

McCain will be a better bet for India than Obama as US President

Though Obama seems to be enjoying a clear lead over McCain in the race for the US Presidency, for India, from an Economic perspective at least, McCain seems to be a better bet as per the following piece written by the famous Economics writer Sawminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar in Times of India:

McCain is one of the few American politicians in either party with the courage and conviction to stand up to protectionist populism. By contrast, Obama embodies protectionism....

McCain has voted 88% of the time against bills creating trade barriers, and 90% of the time against export subsidies for US producers. Few other senators have such a splendid record.

Obama has served a much shorter time in the Senate, and avoided voting on many key issues. He has voted against trade barriers only 36% of the time. He supported export subsidies on the two occasions on which he voted, a 100% protectionist record in this regard.

In 2007, he voted to reduce visas issued to foreign workers (such as Indian software engineers), and to ban Mexican trucks on US roads. He sometimes voted for free trade - he supported the Oman Free Trade Act and a bill on miscellaneous tariff reductions and trade preference extensions. More often he voted for protectionist measures including 100% scanning of imported containers (which would make imports slower and costlier), and emergency farm spending.

In 2005 he voted to impose sanctions on China for currency manipulation, and against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He voted for the Byrd amendment, a disgraceful bill (later struck down by the WTO) that gifted anti-dumping duties to US producers who complained, thus making complaining more profitable than competitive production.

Obama says the North American Free Trade agreement is a bad one, and must be renegotiated. He has opposed the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on the bogus ground that Colombia is not protecting its trade union leaders from the drug mafia. In fact, such assassinations have fallen steadily from 205 in 2001 to just 25 last year. Obama is cynically twisting facts to woo the most protectionist US trade unions. This cannot but worry India, which may also be subjected to bogus slander and trade disadvantages.

By contrast, McCain has consistently voted for open trade. He has opposed federal curbs as well as private curbs on outsourcing to countries like India. He opposed the disgraceful Byrd amendment on anti-dumping duties. He voted against farm subsidies and labour standards for imports (which are not necessarily bad but could become a disguised form of protectionism).

Unlike Obama, McCain voted against imposing trade sanctions on China for supposedly undervaluing its currency to keep exports booming and accumulate large forex reserves. India has followed a similar policy, though with less export success than China. But if indeed India achieves big success in the future, it could be similarly targeted by US legislators and, will need people like McCain to resist.

Obama favours extensive subsidies for US farmers, hitting Third World exporters like India. This has been one of the issues on which the Doha Round of WTO is gridlocked. McCain could open the gridlock, Obama will strengthen it.

Obama also favours subsidies for converting maize to ethanol. The massive diversion of maize from food to ethanol has sent global food and fertiliser prices skyrocketing, hitting countries like India. But McCain has always opposed subsidies for both US agriculture and ethanol. While campaigning, he had the courage to oppose such subsidies even in Iowa, an agricultural state he badly needs to win if he is to become president.

Let us hope McCain stages a last minute recovery and pips Obama at the hustings.