A spark can start a fire!

I am quite upset about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan. She was a courageous lady who took it as a life mission to bring moderation to her country savaged by dictators and extremists. It is disheartening how a single act of violence can affect the lives of millions. I still wonder how things would have been if an assassin’s bullets did not bring down Robert Kennedy in 1968. With him as President (he was a shoo-in to win the election), the Viet Nam war would have ended early saving thousands of lives. The Democrates would have been power for many more years without letting a neoconservative like Reagan becoming the President. I digress. With Bhutto, there was a chance for democracy in Pakistan. Now that is gone. President Musharaf is not going to survive for long. What will happen if some extremists come to power, and get access to the nuclear weapons of Pakistan? Will India be then forced to invade Pakistan to prevent such risk?

This is so exciting!

I am hooked on the coming primaries for the 2008 U.S. Presidential race. It is like watching the final lap of a long distance race where every runner is neck to neck. On the Democratic side, there is Barack Obama catching up with Hilary Clinton, with Edwards striding strongly right behind. If either Obama or Clinton wins in Iowa, the race is over for the nomination of the Democratic Party. Nothing can stop Clinton or Obama afterwards, as they will breeze through the rest (This explains the desperate tactics of the Clinton campaign to stop Obama in Iowa. Even a win by John Edwards is not that bad for Clinton!). If Edwards wins in Iowa, and follows it with a strong showing in New Hampshire and a win in South Carolina, he will become the front-runner for the rest of the primaries. On the Republican side also things are equally unpredictable. Candidate Mike Huckabee, who came out of nowhere, is leading the race in Iowa. A win there, followed by a strong showing in South Carolina will set him on his way to become Republican candidate for Presidency (and the dream opposition for the Democrats!). On the other hand, if Mitt Romney manages a win in Iowa, he can win New Hampshire and Michigan, and become the front-runner. Meanwhile, a ‘strong’ third place finish in Iowa followed by a win in New Hampshire, can revitalize Senator John McCain to win the nomination (and become the toughest opposition for the Democrats). Even the fast fading Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson have a chance if the early primaries are split between Huckabee, McCain and Romney.
In short, with a little bit of luck or a good break (or a mistake by the other), any of these seven candidates can become the next President of USA! I watch T.V. shows like Hardball and Meet the Press, catching every word of the analysis and predictions by political pundits . I surf the Internet frequently to catch the latest poll results -- like the scoreboard of a Test Cricket match! I just cannot wait the elections to start on January 3rd in Iowa.

Bird of a different feather

Many are wondering if T.V. personality Oprah Winfrey’s campaign for Barack Obama, is going to help his Presidential campaign or not. I am of the opinion that it is going to hurt him badly. The reason is that the big turnouts of the blacks in the ‘Oprah events’, covered extensively on TV, have stamped Obama as 'the black candidate'. So far, the ‘blackness’ of Obama was in question as his mother is white, and there was no overwhelming support for him from the black community. (Blacks adore Clintons!) Now it is no longer the case. He has become the 'man of the moment' for the blacks. Over the years, the whites in USA might have become more tolerant of blacks – but not to the extent to elect one as their ‘supreme leader’!

This reminds me of a disturbing attribute of Indians who occupy high positions in corporations in USA – they mostly ignore other Indian employees in the company, and are least helpful to them. The reason? They do not want to be identified as an Indian, different from other executives!

Blind leading the blind

Presidential candidate Rudolf Giuliani’s refusal to release the list of the clients of his consulting firm, is creating a fuss here (at least in the blogsphere). Looks he had a nice deal with the Qatar government which paid him millions for his advice on protecting the country from terrorists. Protection from terrorism? I cannot understand what made Guiliani an expert here. Walking aimlessly in the streets of New York city after the 9/11 attack, because there was no place to stay and manage the crisis? (Despite the warnings from an earlier attack in 1993, Giuliani foolishly set up the city crisis management center in the World Trade Center). Come to think of it, I will not consult any ‘security expert’ from USA for protection against 'Jihadi's. It is like the blind leading the blind! I will trust more the experts in India.

What a joke!

The Secretary of State of USA used to command so much power and respect. When John Foster Dulles or Henry Kissinger or Madeleine Albright went to visit a country, it was a safe bet they are going to make an impact. I feel that our present Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making a joke of this esteemed office. Many of her actions do not make any sense, or appear to be token efforts for some publicity. After the USA National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report came out early this week saying that Iran has no plans for developing nuclear weapons, she took off to Europe to convince Russia to continue with the sanctions against Iran! What was she thinking? She obviously did not learn anything from the insults she got from President Putin when she went there some weeks ago with a proposal for installing a ‘nuclear shield’ in the border countries of Russia to protect Europe from the 'future' nuclear missiles of Iran (Putin was expected to be so dumb not to see that the ‘shield’ could work the other way protecting USA from missile attacks from Russia!) She is oblivious to the fact that the Europeans supported sanctions against Iran as a means to restrain USA from causing a huge disaster by attacking Iran, and that fear is now gone with the NIE report. And what happened to the much ballyhooed conference in Annapolis Ms. Rice organized to resolve the Israeli-Palestine conflict? After the big publicity about getting all the leaders from Middle East to attend this, I have not heard anything more about it. What a joke!

Bully tactics!

I just cannot make any sense about today’s President Bush’s demand to Iran to ‘come clean’ about their nuclear program. Only yesterday the United States NIE report was released saying that the Iran had suspended their program for nuclear weapons four years ago (2003). What are they now supposed to come clean about? I remember that in 2002, Iraq was given a similar ultimatum to come up with a list of their WMDs (which they did not have) or face war. The whole thing reminds of the school bully who demands a weak student to give back the money he ‘stole’ from him!

A nation of strangers

Today I heard that the teen age son of a family living two houses down from mine, got killed in a motorcycle accident two weeks ago. (I was out of town when this happened). Anyway, when I called my neighbors (who live next to this unlucky family) for more information, they had no idea that this had happened. They have been living next to each other for over 18 years, and still had no contact!

We live in a nation of strangers, all isolated sitting in front of their TV's and computers. This sucks .. as Americans would say!