Chinese Commandos in Delhi is a VERY serious security Breach!

Last updated on: April 7, 2008 at 11:22 pm By Desh Kapoor

Chinese commandos in India - specifically the center of the capital - is a grave security breach! Everyone who is has had any interest in the Indian security news and who is connected to the Indian security knows very well that Chinese have been instrumental in pushing the Maoists and also arming the Pakistani forces and the jehadis with the weapons and tools. This would be an ideal time for the Chinese commando units to do a thorough reconnaisance of the most important landmarks in the capital and in the rest of the country while being our guests. As for the norms and principles of what a guest should or should not do, let us not even get into that emotional BS. Chinese are not known for their "principles" in foreign affairs. I don't think there is any need for us to be any emotional either! Read more

Chinese commandos to drop on India Gate; Indian Foreign Minister has no idea!!

Last updated on: April 7, 2008 at 9:59 pm By Desh Kapoor

Look at these two things - do you think it makes sense? 1. China is also understood to have indicated that a team of its commandos will arrive in India a few days ahead of the torch relay and would provide the proximate security to the flame during its run on Rajpath. 2. Asked about reports that China would be sending security personnel for the torch relay here, Sharma said he had no knowledge about it This is Anand Sharma - the Minister of State for External Affairs of India. Read more

Time to send the CPI and CPM on a long foot voyage across Himalayas to China!

Last updated on: April 7, 2008 at 7:56 pm By Desh Kapoor

There was “no abstract right for self determination for any minority groups”; says Prakash Karat of CPI(M) in context of the Tibetans fight in Tibet against the Chinese. Well... what about the basic human rights! Tibetans - specifically Dalai Lama - have long stopped fighting for the self determination or a separate country... they have been fighting for simple human rights! The Right to live as a human being! Is even that "an Abstract right" for a minority group?? India's biggest failing in Kashmir has been that it did not do a good job of this with the Kashmiri Muslims. Of course, according to me, given how the Pakistani Army behaved with its Kashmiri soldiers in Kargil (left them without burial, made them "canon fodder') it is difficult to say who has a worse record - India or Pakistan in dealing with Kashmiri Muslims .. specially when you know how the Pakistani Government had sold of part of Kashmir to China for its own interest as opposed to Kashmiri interests! Read more

Texas and California part of Mexico in Absolut Ad Campaign

Last updated on: April 7, 2008 at 7:36 pm By Desh Kapoor

In 1848, the Mexican-American war was the culmination of the hostilities between the two nations after the US annexation of Texas from Mexico. After Mexico gained independence from the Spanish Empire at the end of its War of Independence in 1821, the Mexican Empire inherited the provinces of Alta California, Nuevo México, and Texas, from Spain. Weakened and virtually bankrupt from the war, the new government found it difficult to govern its northern territories, which were thousands of miles from Mexico City, the capital. Seeking to better control the border region of Texas, which had few settlers, the Mexican government permitted a few hundred U.S. families to settle the area. This, however, led to settlement of Texas on a scale unanticipated by the Mexican government, as its inability to control the border allowed thousands more Americans to settle than had been agreed upon. English-speaking settlers quickly formed a majority in Texas. There was misrule from Mexico in Texas and after Texas had declared independence from Mexico post Texas Revolution, Mexico invaded Texas. On April 21, 1836, Texans defeated Santa Anna's forces. Read more

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Last updated on: April 7, 2008 at 6:04 am By Desh Kapoor

Hey folks out there - don't get offended but this is just freaking hillarious!! It was sent by my friend, Sheela. Read more

Bull and Bear Markets – an investment guide for the ups and down of stock market

Last updated on: April 7, 2008 at 12:07 am By jessicafick

This article was written by Atul Surana. He is a Certified Financial Planner. What causes bull and bear markets? They are partly a result of the supply and demand for securities. Investor psychology, government involvement in the economy and changes in economic activity also drive the market up or down. These forces combine to make investors bid higher or lower prices for stocks. To qualify as a bull or bear market, a market must have been moving in its current direction (by about 20% of its value) for a sustained period. Small, short-term movements lasting days do not qualify; they may only indicate corrections or short-lived movements. Bull and bear markets signify long movements of significant proportion. There are several well-known bulls and bears in American history. The longest-lived bull market in U.S. history is the one that began about 1991 and is still climbing. Other major bulls occurred in the 1920's, the late 1960's and the mid-1980's. However, they all ended in recessions or market crashes. The best-known bear market in the U.S. was, of course, the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost roughly 90 percent of its value during the first three years of this period. There were also numerous others throughout the twentieth century, including those of 1973-74 and 1981-82. PREDICTING BULL AND BEAR MARKETS Investors turn to theories and complex calculations to try to figure out in advance when the market will scream upward or tumble downward. In reality, however, no perfect indicator has been found. In their attempts to predict the market, economists use technical analysis. Technical analysis is the use of market data to analyze individual stocks and the market as a whole. It is based on the ideas that supply and demand determine stock prices and that prices, in turn, also reflect the moods of investors. One tool commonly used in technical analysis is the advance-decline line, which measures the difference between the number of stocks advancing in price and the number declining in price. Each day a net advance is determined by subtracting total declines from total advances. This total, when taken over time, comprises the advance-decline line, which analysts use to forecast market trends. Generally, the A/D line moves up or down with the Dow. However, economists have noted that when the line declines while the Dow is moving upward, it indicates that the market is probably going to change direction and decline as well. Read more

Love and my path

Last updated on: April 6, 2008 at 5:17 pm By Desh Kapoor

Last night I was discussing the how somehow the wisdom and the ways of great Saints and Masters like Rumi, Sultan Bahu, Nanak, Buddha, Bulleh Shah although extremely profound had seemed a bit incomplete to me and those did not resonate with me. Not that what they said was "wrong" but just somehow "incomplete". This has been a predicament for sometime for me. Somehow the joy I find when I read or think over my own self after I have read Krishnamurti or the Upanishads or Gita - my sense of joy and completeness is far more. Not that these writers/thinkers are more "right" but somehow they are able to complete a circle that the earlier mentioned Saints do not for me. Why is that? My own introspection says that this is because of the "way" they followed and then "preached" or talked about. Majnu was in love of Laila. He knew the depths of his love. He could experience it. He might sing those songs of love in front of me in the most profound manner, but will it help me love Laila just as he does? Is love transferable? Can love be "taught"? Yet all the Saints I mentioned above were "lovers" or Bhakti Yogis. Of the highest order perhaps but ones who followed the path of Love. Those who follow the path of Love can only talk of that way unless they can keep aside their experience while preaching and handle the seeker with his/her own baggage. Krishnamurti somehow appeals to me because he was more of a Jnana Yogi. He approached the Eternal through knowledge. To me that is easier to impart and easier to understand although difficult to inculcate. And in that sense it is as difficult to transmit as Love. My knowledge and experience is mine and your is yours. Knowledge being an estimation in any case is as much a personal expression as Love. But knowledge is the way I feel resonates with my soul. Love, yet, has not found the string in my heart. Gita, of course, transcends all these paths in that it documents the 4 topographies - the Love, the Knowledge, the Karma, and the Meditation (Raja Yoga). Most paths are built across these topographies it reaches a conclusion. Its an analytical take as opposed to a prescriptive dictate. And then it goes on to discuss the 4 topographies and what they generally entail. Not as a pros and cons assessment but more an analytical discussion. Ultimately they all end where the dissolution of ego is complete. The Karma path however gets more footage simply because Krishna believed that is an inherent path for all humans. One cannot escape action. Read more

Nothing is gained from a god or guru…

Last updated on: April 6, 2008 at 4:28 pm By Desh Kapoor

If you think that lord Vishnu can be seen without self-effort, why do the birds and the beasts not get uplifted by him? Read more

Why the Dollar Bubble is about to Burst

Last updated on: April 5, 2008 at 9:40 am By jessicafick

This article was written by Atul Surana. He is a Certified Financial Planner. The Voice (issue 264 - 11th May) ran an article beginning, "Iran has really gone and done it now. No, they haven't sent their first nuclear sub in to the Persian Gulf . They are about to launch something much more deadly -- next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade oil, not in dollars but in Euros." This apparently insignificant event has consequences far greater for the US people, indeed all for us all, than is imaginable. Currently almost all oil buying and selling is in US-dollars through exchanges in London and New York . It is not accidental they are both US-owned. The Wall Street crash in 1929 sparked off global depression and World War II. During that war the US supplied provisions and munitions to all its allies, refusing currency and demanding gold payments in exchange. By 1945, 80% of the world's gold was sitting in US vaults. The dollar became the one undisputed global reserve currency -- it was treated world-wide as `safer than gold'. The Bretton Woods agreement was established. The US took full advantage over the next decades and printed dollars like there was no tomorrow. The US exported many mountains of dollars, paying for ever-increasing amounts of commodities, tax cuts for the rich, many wars abroad, mercenaries, spies and politicians the world over. You see, this did not affect inflation at home! The US got it all for free! Well, maybe for a forest or two. Over subsequent decades the world's vaults bulged at the seams and more and more vaults were built, just for US dollars. Each year, the US spends many more dollars abroad that at home. Analysts pretty much agree that outside the US , of the savings, or reserves, of all other countries, in gold and all currencies -- that a massive 66% of this total wealth is in US dollars! In 1971 several countries simultaneously tried to sell a small portion of their dollars to the US for gold. Krassimir Petrov, (Ph. D. in Economics at Ohio University ) recently wrote, "The US Government defaulted on its payment on August 15, 1971. While popular spin told the story of `severing the link between the dollar and gold', in reality the denial to pay back in gold was an act of bankruptcy by the US Government." (1) The 1945 Bretton Woods agreement was unilaterally smashed. The dollar and US economy were on a precipice resembling Germany in 1929. Read more

Indian Movies, poetry and that crazy Bollywood lyricist

Last updated on: April 5, 2008 at 9:36 am By Desh Kapoor

Poetry is heart's deepest feelings shared in words. Words form the basic structure of poetry, but word smithing is not poetry. Poetry goes beyond mere words. It has a soul that reflects the soul of the poet. Poet's soul is often a reflection of his society and how he/she interprets that society. Some times and some societies are great breeding grounds for thoughtful poetry but not all poetry in those times rise above the fray. The ones that rise above all else are the ones where the poet looked at the already ripe poetic times in a way that was very compelling and difficult to forget. Indian experience is not complete without its movies and movies have provided the canvas where the times of the society - within and without have been chronicled. These movies had a soul - as abused and revered it may have been but it did reflect our combined selves. The Indian soul - how ever you may define it from time to time has been refelcted and aggregated by the large screen. We may feel shocked by our own reflection but that is part of us. Arguably, the most important of part of our movies have been the songs. Songs that made the Indians in India and outside, their kids and their spouses laugh, cry, love, hate, get up with courage, challenge the status quo and seek more responsibility. The poets from the begining of the times when movies were made have given our souls a voice. It has often been accepted at a superficial level by the audience but the poet was at many times very honest. Even those who were not completely honest to their own selves reflected the dilemma that the society lived in. The revolutions that we saw are participated or ignored were all part of this growing up and evolution that is eternal. Given such a rich history of poetry in India cinema, specially the Hindi, it is rather tough to pin point any list of poets who rose above the fray. There were scores who were revered and have pushed to become better or startled us at our dishonesty and hypocrisy or made us love better. Nevertheless, there are three poets that have, in my view and mind heads and shoulders above all others of their times. They may have seen the same things that their peers saw but they gave those an interpretation that defied straight lines. The complexity of their thought process to arrive at a very simple but profound line in a very mundane setting has baffled me always. Who were these three? Read more