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Saturday, February 12, 2011

[ALOCHONA] Egypt Today, Thailand Tomorrow



Egypt Today, Thailand Tomorrow

Tony Cartalucci, Contributing Writer

Egypt is still reeling in the midst of a foreign-backed color revolution. The protests led by International Crisis Group trustee
Mohamed ElBaradei and his "National Front for Change," have been assembling their forces and building up an opposition for over a year. ElBaradei's April 6 Movement had actually been in the US in 2008 to attend the US State Department and corporate sponsored Alliance for Youth Movements inaugural summit, before beginning their campaign and protests for ElBaradei. There are also the independent labor unions, organized and supported by the US National Endowment for Democracy(NED) funded NGO, the Solidarity Center joining ElBaradei's calls for "change."

With Mubarak declaring his resignation and the military taking over, it will be days, perhaps weeks before we can determine if the foreign-backed color revolution was successful and to what degree. The US State Department
is already preparing a "new package" of assistance to Egyptian opposition groups, specifically to reform the constitution and compete in elections. That's right, the US State Department that hosted the Egyptian protesters back in 2008 in New York City will now be funding their front ahead of elections to see their handiwork through to the end.

Who is Backing Them and Why?

The
Alliance for Youth Movements (AYM) is yet another tentacle of the globocrat combine crawling forth on behalf of the US Government and the big-businesses that own it. Everyone from the RAND Corporation to the Council on Foreign Relations and all the mega-corporations they represent are using AYM to literally recruit, train, organize and support an army of exploited youth activists to carry out US foreign policy abroad on behalf of corporate interests.
 
Like the AYM, the US National Endowment of Democracy funds many NGOs worldwide for a similar purpose. One look at their board of directors reveals a conglomerate of Council on Foreign Relations, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Brookings Institute, and CSIS members. These "research" organizations in turn represent the collective interests of the most powerful political figures, corporations and banks on earth.

A look at their board of trustees reveals that many of the very men involved in this "non-profit research" are direct representatives of the world's largest corporations, from the big-oil corporations poisoning the world's oceans and shores, to the banking houses plundering the world's economies, to a myriad of defense contractors fueling the endless wars the West is prosecuting globally. So then what change is it they seek to gain by creating and backing organizations like AYM or by backing unrest in Egypt? The short answer is empire.

The Long Answer

In the late 90's these think-tanks, NGOs, and research groups together with their International Monetary Fund and the World Bank made immense loans to developing nations around the world. Nations were forced to take these loans with the threat of sanctions aimed against them by the World Trade Organization should they refuse. Like a mafia loan shark, these globocrat gangsters decided to call in the loans knowing how hopelessly unpayable they were.

And like a mafia loan shark, favors were asked of those who defaulted on their payments. Target nations were called to exercise sweeping economic liberalization reforms, eliminating their control and protection over their economy, industry, infrastructure, and as a result, eliminating their national sovereignty itself. It was a new form of an old art. It was economic neo-colonialism.

This is no different than the one-sided trade deals made by the old European empires with target nations in the colonial age. These trade deals also included ownership of property by foreigners, the ability to operate a business, and travel with impunity throughout the host nation - all with minimum or no taxes imposed upon the foreign occupiers. The only difference would be that modern day concessions are forced through invasive economic policy, while colonial concessions were forced through "gunboat policy."
 
Thailand, then the Kingdom of Siam, was surrounded on all sides by colonized nations and in turn was made to concede to the British 1855 Bowring Treaty. See how many of these "gunboat policy" imposed concessions sound like today's "economic liberalization:"

1. Siam granted extraterritoriality to British subjects.
2. British could trade freely in all seaports and reside permanently in Bangkok.
3. British could buy and rent property in Bangkok.
4. British subjects could travel freely in the interior with passes provided by the consul.
5. Import and export duties were capped at 3%, except the duty-free opium and bullion.
6. British merchants were to be allowed to buy and sell directly with individual Siamese.

A more contemporary example would be the outright military conquest of Iraq and Paul Bremer's (
CFR) economic reformation of the broken nation.

The
Economist gleefully enumerates the neo-colonial "economic liberalization" of Iraq in a piece titled "Let's all go to the yard sale: If it all works out, Iraq will be a capitalist's dream:"

1. 100% ownership of Iraqi assets.
2. Full repatriation of profits.
3. Equal legal standing with local firms.
4. Foreign banks allowed to operate or buy into local banks.
5. Income and corporate taxes capped at 15%.
6. Universal tariffs slashed to 5%.

As you can see, not much has changed since 1855 as far as imperialist "wish-lists" go. The Economist argued, as would any 19th century imperialist, that Iraq needed foreign expertise to catch up, justifying the evisceration of their national sovereignty.

Color Revolutions

The IMF invasions of the 90's prompted leaders around the world to insulate their nation and its economy from similar attacks in the future. The prospect of using military force by these globocrat elite is also becoming more and more difficult, expensive both politically and economically.

Their proposed solution is staged color revolutions. With the help of their mass media in combination with agitators they themselves have organized via NED, Freedom House, and AYM, they can overthrow nations and install their own puppets who are sure to make favorable reforms. Not only is this accomplished without firing a shot, but it's done under the guise of a "people's power revolution" for democracy and freedom.

The key to balking these nefarious designs is to understand them and raise awareness of them before they unfold. For Egypt it may be too late. For other nations there may still be a chance.

Thailand Tomorrow

The next high profile targets will most likely be Iran, with the
AYM already gearing up, and Thailand. Thailand has balked Western ambitions toward its territory for centuries, not without making concessions, and has already put down 2 staged color revolutions in 2009, and 2010.These "red shirt" color revolutions are the work of former Thaksin Shinwatra and a myriad of foreign backers. Thaksin was a former Carlyle Group member before taking up the Premiership in 2001. He pursued a campaign of power consolidation, elimination of the nation's checks and balances, and a program of economic liberalization (read: selling out the country to foreigners).

On September 18, 2006, Thaksin was in New York City standing in front of the Council on Foreign Relations giving them a
progress report on "democracy" in Thailand. The next day the Thai military staged a coup and swept his treasonous government from power.

It was
previously reported that since his ouster from power in 2006, he has been backed by fellow Carlyle man James Baker and his Baker Botts law firm, International Crisis Group's Kenneth Adelman and his Edelman Public Relations firm, and now Robert Amsterdam's Amsterdam & Peroff, a major corporate member of the globocrat Chatham House. His proxy political party maintains the "red shirt" mobs which in turn are supported by several NGOs including the National Endowment for Democracy funded "Prachatai," an "independent media organization" that coordinates the "red shirt" propaganda efforts.

Also interesting to note is that the above mentioned Edelman PR firm is also a sponsor of AYM, and so it should come as to no one's surprise that AYM has been reporting favorably on the globocrats' "red shirts" since 2010,
here and here.

The International Crisis Group, upon which Thaksin's former lobbyist
Kenneth Adelman sits, has shown its support by issuing a paper on the color revolution, berating the Thai government's handling of the protests. Robert Amsterdam's Chatham House also issued a paper, in an attempt to define the "official" narrative. There are also several statements from Freedom House, a NED clone of which Kenneth Adelman is also a member, all coming to the general and unsurprising consensus that the "red shirts" demands are reasonable and should be met.

Recently the US
National Endowment for Democracy funded Prachatai bemoaned the banning of a recent Economist issue in Thailand in what it calls a display of government censorship. When we consider the Economist's corporate membership within the Chatham House, a membership shared with Thaksin's lobbyist Robert Amsterdam, and the Economist's depraved reaction to the military conquest and economic plundering of Iraq in their article "Let's all go to the yard sale," it seems more of a matter of countering overt enemy propaganda than "draconian censorship."

It's these games of calling governments oppressive for reacting to intentional provocations they themselves are a part of, that allows them to then vilify a nation in the eyes of the world, for they control the global mass-media. BBC, also a Chatham House corporate member, illustrates this in their "
defense" of the NED funded Prachatai.

Keeping all of this in mind, it is quite clear that the globocrats have an expressed interest in regime change for Thailand and are attempting to accomplish this through Thaksin, his political party and the mobs they command in the streets. Their goal is nothing less than it was in 1855, to turn Thailand, or Egypt, or Iran for that matter, into an extension of their business and banking empires. The only difference is that instead of gunboats, they are using color revolutions to extract concessions. It is an attempt to seal a Bowring Treaty 2.0.

Conclusion

Thailand's institutions, like anywhere on earth are far from perfect, but conditions in Thailand do not justify mobs coming out into the streets, conducting violence and insisting their extra-legal demands be met, especially when those demands come from a deposed traitor, backed in turn by foreign investors. Considering the largest "red shirt" protest to date gathered a mere 100,000 for less than a day, in a nation of over 70 million people (0.1%), it doesn't even intuitively appear legitimate.

As it should have been for Egypt, reform for Thailand must come entirely from within, pursuing pragmatic solutions to address specific problems independently and head-on. This is something politicians in general, worldwide are incapable of doing, and so it must come from real grassroots activism and charity, not street mobs and rigged elections.
 
emagogues leading the "red shirts" offer socialist handouts in exchange for servile dependence on their political party instead of empowering people with the education and technical skills needed to solve their own problems indpendently. What's worse is that "red shirt" leaders are not only neglecting to address the ignorance of their followers, but are compounding it by actually conducting political indoctrination camps instead.

The ruling government, for its part, has created this exploitable mass of needy, dependent people in the first place by equally side-stepping their responsibility to provide the proper education necessary for empowering society. It is real empowerment through knowledge and education that defines true freedom and is the very foundation of a sovereign society.

Many people in Thailand realize this, and it is real grassroots activism and charity that is slowly changing and improving society within the status quo and stability afforded to them by the current ruling government and Thailand's traditional institutions. It's these people that stand up for local villagers when their land is being encroached upon by industrial estates, not the ruling government, and certainly not Thaksin's globocrat-backed "red shirts."

Raising awareness of what transpired in Egypt, of what is sure to spread to Iran, Thailand, and beyond, is an essential key to balking the globocrats' plans. For each nation that falls, no matter how far from your own shores it may be, it empowers these already megalithic corporations to become even bigger and more domineering both at home in the West and abroad.

Tony Cartalucci's articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-today-thailand-tomorrow_12.html


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[ALOCHONA] The Spy Who Knew Everything



The Spy Who Knew Everything
 
 
The most important skill that a CIA officer can have is the ability to be at the right place at the right time—and to recognize the moment. By that taxing measure, Bruce Riedel has been extraordinarily successful.
 
His first country assignment for the agency was the Iran desk, where he arrived in 1978 during the twilight of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's reign. The Iranian revolution the following year irrevocably changed how the United States could operate in the Middle East—a reality borne out by the 444-day hostage crisis that followed.
 
Riedel then became the CIA desk officer for Egypt, authoring an intelligence report in the fall of 1981 that warned of the high risk of Anwar Sadat's assassination following the peace treaty with Israel. The briefing, in which Riedel predicted the rise of then–vice president Hosni Mubarak, proved stunningly prescient: during an Oct. 6 military parade that year, a group of soldiers, for whom peace with Israel was anathema, assassinated the Egyptian president.
 
"That was one hell of a day," Riedel recalls in a NEWSWEEK interview, during a week when an uprising in Egypt has once more thrown the region into turmoil.
 
Serving four successive presidents, Riedel went on to work at the Pentagon, the White House, and at CIA headquarters in Langley, getting to know the most important players in Washington and the Middle East. But it is his last assignment—Pakistan—that keeps him awake at night.
 
"In Pakistan, we now have, for the first time, the possibility of a jihadist state emerging," Riedel tells NEWSWEEK. "And a jihadist state in Pakistan would be America's worst nightmare in the 21st century."
 
His book Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of Global Jihad is being published this week by the Brookings Institution Press. Intended as a primer on Pakistan's turbulent history, the book sets out to explain, as he writes, "why successive U.S. administrations have undermined civil government in Pakistan, aided military dictators, and encouraged the rise of extremist Islamic movements that now threaten the United States at home and abroad."
 
Riedel describes the original democratic vision of Pakistan's engaging founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah—a dapper, chain-smoking, British-educated lawyer with a fondness for cocktails—and, at a brisk pace, takes readers on an excursion from the nation's birth in 1947, through the India-Pakistan wars and the military dictatorships that followed. Of particular interest is Gen. Zia ul-Haq, arguably the world's first jihadist head of state.
 
Among the brighter moments in the country's history was the election of Benazir Bhutto, the country's first female prime minister, whom Riedel got to know.
 
"If there was a Pakistani politician who could have found a better future for the country, she was probably the one," he says. "It was a great tragedy that we lost her. She had her failings, but she was by far the most modern and forward-thinking Pakistani leader of our time, and we're still suffering from her departure."
 
The genesis of Riedel's book was his appointment as chair of President Obama's 2009 strategic review of American policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan, and he is full-throated about the threat: an unstable democracy armed with the world's fastest-growing nuclear arsenal, and blighted by ungovernable Islamists.
 
As Riedel's book suggests, international strategy is an awkward mélange of ideals and realpolitik. And while there may have been good reasons why successive administrations supported military dictators in the Middle East and South Asia, Pakistan's past—and Egypt's present—suggest that America needs to change course to offer more than rhetorical support for democratic movements.
 
"The record of American presidents handling these crises is not particularly reassuring. Jimmy Carter failed disastrously in Iran, and George [W.] Bush didn't do much better in Pakistan. In Pakistan, America tried very hard to keep the dictator Gen. [Pervez] Musharraf in power long after the Pakistani people had said he should go," Riedel says. "There's a high risk that if you don't stay ahead of history and change, you'll be blamed by the populations, by the people of Egypt, by the people in other dictatorships—just as we're blamed in Pakistan for having stood by the military."
 
By definition, revolutions are unpredictable, but should democracy take hold in Egypt, the American administration will have to deal with a much more messy and turbulent situation.
 
"The challenge Obama has now," Riedel says, "is managing the whirlwind."
 


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[ALOCHONA] Government misguided about 'hoarders'



Government misguided about 'hoarders'
 
I find it tragic that your editorial 'Concerns about the price situation' on February 11, 2011(http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=125738&date=2011-02-11) suggests, as the government does, a crackdown on hoarders of rice who are unfairly, unjustly, and foolishly seen as the prime cause for hiked retail rice prices.
 
The Old Testament reveals how Joseph hoarded grains for seven years and saved the people as the Bible says, " all nations came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain because everywhere the famine was severe:" Genesis 41:57 The Old Testament. People would have perished in large numbers if Joseph had not stored or had the pharaoh sealed his warehouse.
 
In the short run, hoarding may increase prices but this critical economic function of hoarding helps to store available rice that is at present in shortfall worldwide. Only if it is stored, people can consume it when supply would be even dearer. High prices should also attract others to consider producing rice in their lands of whatever size or wherever available - in rural or urban areas.
 
Bangabandhu did it right when he asked people, not the government, to cultivate rice in whatever available land the people had, and the result was higher production. Supply response would come when prices rise but only if there are no barriers to supply and definitely no brutal treatment or threats by the government.
 
Government as always is inefficient, wasteful, and corrupt when they become entrepreneurs. They are not good producers or managers. It becomes a monster when it gets involved to correct market prices by physical monitoring and by violently cracking down on hoarders. These are all grossly erroneous exercise, which distorts, disrupts, and criminalizes the rice market further. Rice traders and importers would rather stop their business that would increase prices further. Anti-hoarding drive is a recipe for civil chaos as in North Africa.
 
Prices have increased just not for shortfall in global production but because currencies have lost there value too. With large inflow of foreign remittance for the past 10 years or less, the Taka has considerably lost its value and that is reflected in high prices of rice, land, and stock. The financial journals or the mainstream economists do not mention this point because they do not utter what the IMF does not. Food insecurity is an artificial hype cleverly created to shift global focus from a falling Dollar and the failing FED for their existence and continued domination of world economy.
 
Food security and ensuring constant flow of food is the first few things humans mastered thousands of years ago and if this role of providing our own food is not taken over by politicians, UN, and governments, food would always be plenty and affordable.
 
The government has made a mess out of the Stock market by their daily intervention and the promise of better policies. They will make a similar mess of the food market by their intervention that is a consequence of wrong economic understanding. The sure path is 'laissez faire' with government guaranteeing the security, not of food but of warehouses where food is stored and of traders dealing in food.
 
Nizam Ahmad
 
 


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[ALOCHONA] Felani leaves many questions behind: Who controls Bangladesh ?



Felani leaves many questions behind: Who controls Bangladesh ?
 
Mohammad Zainal Abedin, USA
 
 
 After 30 hours Indian BSF handover the dead body of Felani to BGB
 
It is very unfortunate that Bangladeshis are not allowed to express their anger originated due to the brutal murder and subsequent hanging the dead body of unfortunate, Felani a 15-year old Bangladeshi maiden.  This barbarity unquestionably moved those around the world who have minimum sense of humanity. Police arrested one Sirajganj-based leader of BNP (Bangladesh National Party) and nine other activists of JCD (Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal) of Kusthia. They were arrested on charge of carrying posters with a caption   -  Felani not hanging, Bangladesh is hanging. Police, however, claimed the posters had some derogatory remarks against the foreign minister Dipu Moni.
 
If this claim is true, yet police should know it that Dipu Moni is not a goddess who can't be condemned for her utter failure to read the feelings of the Bangladeshis, as she failed to lodge immediate and appropriate protest against India's barbarous cruelty. Her office took 10 days to call the Indian High Commissioner in office that expressed soft-worded merely phony reaction. It is clear Dipu Moni's office showed its inability to condemn India, or seek the punishment of the BSF personnel or compensation for the fateful family of Felani. Dipu Moni, being the foreign minister cannot deny her failure and inability in ventilating the feelings and agony of the Bangladeshi people.
 
Knowledgeable sources allege the foreign office is heavily influenced, even guided, by India and the silence of the foreign office, particularly over Felan's tragic murder, uncovered this reality. The role of the foreign minister threw a question-mark on the sovereignty of Bangladesh. Her performance was neither appreciable nor representative that resented, even disheartened, the cross-section of people. So the people deserve and preserve the right to express their resentment and agony in whatever way they prefer to do. It may be a demonstration, rally, poster, poem, novel, drama, film or so on. None should deny this fundamental right of the people. People are not anyone's servant; rather a minister is meant to serve the people and country. The foreign minister should have resigned immediately after her failure in tuning to the peoples' sentiment. It questions her integrity to her duty and responsibility. The foreign office, would have immediately asked India to :
 
1.  Explain under what situation unarmed Felani was killed and her dead body hanged on the barbedwire fence
 
2.  Seek apology for such uncivilized misdeed
 
3.  compensate to the loss of Felani's bereaved family
 
4.  Punish those  BSF personnel who were involved in the tragic episode
 
5.  Control BSF to refrain from committing such nefarious  act in future .
 
Critics allege, the foreign office, better to say, the sitting government policy, seem to be committed not to annoy India by words and deeds. They allege, Dipu Moni turned our foreign office to the Bangladesh chapter of India's external affairs ministry. The performances of the government repeatedly exposed this reality. If the government was sincere in lodging appropriate protest and reaction, activists of any party would have not tried to paste posters condemning Dipu Moni, and India as well. In fact, the arrest of those who carried or pasted posters is itself a condemnable act that violates the freedom of speech and opinion, more precisely democratic rights. 
 
Bangladesh is not ruled by any military and autocratic dictator. The Prime Minister on several occasions (even in London) proudly claimed that her government is institutionalizing democracy.  But her words are not ventilated in practice. Arrest of those who printed or carried or pasted or distributed the posterS on Felani is contrary to democratic practice. Such arrest establishes two-pronged realities: the government does not practice democracy and it will not allow anyone to defame Indian hegemonic bullies.
 
Felani at the cost of her life left many questions behind: who controls Bangladesh? Why Bangladesh government didn't dare to condemn India? Why the Home Minister took 29 days to visit the house of Felani? Why government arrested those who through pasting and distributing posters on Felani's murder ventilate their agony? Does the government have any acceptable and accurate answers to all these questions?* (Mohammad Zainal Abedin is a Bangladeshi journalist & researcher) Email: noa@agni.com
 


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[ALOCHONA] Truth Behind Twelve Twenty-Nine



The Truth Behind Twelve Twenty-Nine (12/29/2008)
 
Obaid Chowdhury
 
The cat is out of the bag. The truth of 12/29---that is the December 29 (2008) Elections in Bangladesh---is now open to the public.
 
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reminded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh in a tele-talk on January 15 that the 'Madam Prime Minister' should be mindful of the way she came to power. It was an Indian arrangement, supported by then Bush administration of the US. The transcripts of conversation were leaked in the US and found place in a few media outlets in Bangladesh. Some skeptics did doubt the authenticity of the talks; however, to my knowledge no official challenge came from the US or from Bangladesh yet. Shafik Rehman of Jai Jai Din fame wrote a very interesting analogy to the reported conversation, which he termed as 'Hillaryleak', drawing a reference from the now famous Wikileak of cyber wizard Julian Assange. For ready reference to Rehman's explanation, please visit the following link:
 
 
It is difficult to ignore the reasoning put forward by Rehman.
 
Apparently, US Ambassador in Dhaka James Moriarty informed his Home Office that the on going investigations and trial process of the War Crimes in Bangladesh were not following the correct procedures; it was geared more to serve partisan interests. US State Department sent Ambassador Stephen Rapp to Bangladesh to ascertain and report on the issue. He confirmed the reports of Ambassador Moriarty and addressed a press conference in Dhaka on January 13, 2011 to say that Bangladesh needed to revise and reform the War Crime Law in keeping with international norms. The unpleasant findings of the two US ambassadors prompted Clinton to make the call to Hasina.
 
Two things came clear from the Hillaryleak:
 
1. Sheikh Hasina's administration was following Indian advice, if not agenda, on the much-touted trial of the War Criminals of 1971.
 
2. The December 29, 2008 election was a deep-rooted conspiracy by India, with the support of the US, to ensure Awami League's victory. And, then army chief, the mastermind behind the almost-military takeover on 1/11, and the 'great patriot' General Moeen U Ahmad---who has now found a safe sanctuary in the US---was the front man in the conspiracy.
 
During the Moeen-sponsored emergency, many people voiced concerns that a conspiracy involving local and international elements was afoot to frustrate the democratic process in Bangladesh with a view to favoring a particular party and a vested group. The result of December 29, 2008 was something the Bangladeshis had never seen since Sheikh Mujib's partisan election in 1973. In fact, the chief of the Election Commission did brag on presenting a 1973-like elections in 2008. Few missed the joke that Moeen's 'computer-driven military efficiency' and the Election Commission's 'excellence per se' produced a 95-102% voter turnout! Consequently, Awami League led Mohajote bagged a dictatorial majority in the parliament. And, indeed, the party has since been running the show in a virtual autocratic manner that, according to many, surpassed that of Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's own in 1972-75.
 
The result of the past two years' rule in the country confirms the fact that the conspiracy fear was not a mere cry of wolf. The country saw a BDR mutiny---most say a stage-managed one---resulting in the massacre and elimination of scores of brilliant senior army officers. Indian BSF has had a free hand in target shooting the Bangladeshis on a daily basis, not mentioning the 'Felani' brutality, which one cannot even complain. The arrests of many locals who tried to speak for Felani are a case in point. While Bangladesh is being cordoned from all sides by wire fencing, yet it has no crib in allowing Indian legal or illegal border trades. The current administration did not even blink for once to provide the country's ports for Indian use and roads for Indian traffic or transshipment. It swallowed one billion US Dollar bait from an Indian private bank on hard terms to facilitate Indian business and transshipment. Interestingly, all these facilities would be made by India with Indian materials, resources and experts but to be paid by the poor Bangladeshi taxpayers. Most of the 52 rivers of Bangladesh are drying out, because water is diverted upstream in India rendering the lower riparian areas virtually deserts with insurmountable economic, social, ecological and environmental consequences. Bangladesh has no voice to complain for all these, because its destiny does not seem to be in its own hands. The history of the country's liberation war has been re-written to give it a partisan stamp, thanks to an obliging judiciary. The RAW, the Indian intelligence agency, is openly operating in Bangladesh. It ensured that the military, police and other law enforcing agencies, bureaucracy, judiciary, education, business, and in fact all aspects of life, are filled with pro-Indian elements.
 
Is it not time Bangladeshis wake up and see what game the current administration of Bangladesh and its sponsors are playing? Question arises: who owns this country----Bagladeshis or Sheikh Hasina's oveseas sponsors? Can we call ourselves sovereign?  
 
From the Hillaryleaks, one can assume that the Election of Twelve Twenty-Nine was a farce and conspiratorial. Therefore, the result of the elections, as well as the follow up government, was illegal. As such, Bangladesh has been under an illegal administration since January 2009.
 
To clarify the matter, as well as to challenge the above assertion, the administration should immediately constitute an independent commission to find facts and make available to the public a White Paper on the Election on December 29, 2008. Let the people know the truth of Twelve Twenty-Nine. The people of Bangladesh should not pay for the greed and follies of others, if there was a conspiracy. The country needs to be saved before it is too late!
 
This may please be read in conjunction to an earlier demand for a White Paper on 1/11. For ready reference, please see below:
 
 
Obaid Chowdhury
NY, USA
February 4, 2011
 
A White Paper on 1/11
 
General Moin U Ahmed, the former army chief, said in his memoirs that the main reason for his 'patriotic' action on 1/11 was the UN warning that if army helped in the scheduled elections of January 22, 2007, Bangladesh's participation in the UN Peacekeeping activities would be hampered. Renata Lok Dessallien, the UN Resident Representative in Bangladesh recently came out with the truth that there was no such communication from the UN. So who is telling the truth? The people of Bangladesh deserve to know it.
 
The two-year emergency rule of the Moin instigated Care Taker Government (CTG) though brought an immediate halt to the Awami League led savagery that killed scores of people and damaged properties worth millions it left a deep scar in the nation's nascent democratic process as well as development activities.
 
In an interview with the Weekly Thikana of New York last year, General Moin bragged—or perhaps lamented---that nobody could have stopped him if he wanted to be the President on 1/11. In fact, it sounded more like 'It was my mistake; I should have run the show as the President of the country rather than from behind the scene.'
 
Within the first few months of the CTG, jails were filled with arrested 'criminals', including the two former lady prime ministers. After about a year, these very criminals turned into saints overnight and walked out of the jails. These very 'Dhoa Tulsi Patas' of politicians were voted to the Sangsad again, some to rule while others to oppose. The people of Bangladesh definitely need an explanation of this Tamasha by the CTG at a huge cost to the exchequer of a poor country.
 
We saw the real or make-belief pictures of many such leaders dying at every moment due to physical abuse, torture, third degree method, poisoning and sedation applied by the law enforcing and intelligence agencies during custody. Yet, the perpetrators of such terrible and inhuman crime are not made to answer today for their actions. But the people want to know the facts, not the fiction.
 
People of Bangladesh would also like to know how over 90% people voted on December 29, 2008. Such thing does not happen even in the most developed countries and in the most educated and affluent societies of the world having the most advanced voting facilities. Conscientious people have since been wondering 'for whom the bell tolled' on that day! They shudder to think today if they will one day find an independent and sovereign country called Bangladesh being eclipsed!
 
A White Paper we need for 1/11, the two-year Emergency Rule of the CTG and the road to December 29, 2008.
 
Obaid Chowdhury
New York, USA
April 23, 2010
 


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[ALOCHONA] How Bangladesh Became Captive



How Bangladesh Became Captive 
 

Professor Mahfuz R. Chowdhury

Chowdhury1@aol.com

The rule of Bangladesh, a country of 150 million people, has pretty much turned into family affairs. The center of power now clearly revolves around two prominent families – one is of former civilian authoritarian ruler and the other is of former military autocrat. Both families currently lead the country's two dominant parties and pursue the same goal – grabbing state power by any means and using that power to promote their interests. They exercise similar autocratic rule in their parties and government, when in power, as their respective predecessors once did. They have been alternating state power since 1991. But when one family gains state powers the other consistently opposes everything that it does and takes up deadly agitation to bring down the government. The great irony is that they are doing all this in the name of democracy, and the country seems utterly paralyzed to change course.

Bangladesh began its liberation movement to separate from Pakistan through a democratic process. After independence in 1971, the country flirted with democracy for a while but quickly abandoned the democratic process by imposing one party rule. One party rule was supplanted by military rule after the assassination in 1975 of the authoritarian ruler, who also played a pivotal role in the country's independence struggle. The military ruler himself was a popular freedom fighter and gave his government a democratic label by luring the disgruntled politicians to establish his political party. But his autocratic government also fell like a house of cards following his own assassination in 1981. Then, another military ruler took over and perpetrated his autocratic rule for nine years and quit only when the nation's democratic forces mobilized an all out movement.

Many have come to believe that, following the election of 1990, the country has re-established democracy. Although the democratic process is in place, the reality may be somewhat different. Having gone through various changes and alignments over the years, the country's politics is now firmly under control of two political parties - Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party. These were the parties of the two most celebrated leaders; one who led the nation to freedom fight and the other who led the fight itself. When they were slain, for lack of intra-party democracy, no leader could emerge from within the party as the popular choice of rank-and-file party members to replace them. As a compromise, one party then inducted the daughter and the other the wife of their supreme leaders to take the party leaderships, though both were thought to be inept.

These ladies, by taking full advantage of popular sentiments for their slain predecessors and by also getting the needed support from unscrupulous politicians, assumed total dictatorial power within their parties. They determine their parties' electoral nominations and are brutal in their approach. Earlier, they sacked their parties' well admired Secretary Generals, deprived the independent minded party stalwarts from holding any party or government posts, and in one extreme case, even compelled the President of the country to leave the office in disgrace shortly after inaugural because he tried to rise above party politics. Obviously, they find themselves invincible and others treat them as permanent political fixtures as well. So the election is mainly to decide which lady to rule. There are also ominous signs that their young sons are being groomed to replace them in due course.

Bangladesh is facing serious crises in crucial areas such as, severe gas and electricity shortage (which continues to threaten daily life and investment), rising inflation, unemployment, rampant corruption, political murder, campus riot, law and order deterioration, and climate change effect. Instead of collaborating or working to address these critical issues, the ladies of the land persist on grappling for things like establishing or reestablishing whose predecessor were more relevant, gaining or regaining their personal property and legal protection rights, naming or renaming the national airport, writing or rewriting history books, and most importantly harassing each other by inciting riots or by using state machineries to confirm one's superiority. All of these heinous acts have come at a tremendous cost in terms of property and human lives, and there is no end in sight for such tit for tat actions. Whereas, economists believe that with better governance, Bangladesh economy could grow at a respectable rate of 7 percent or even more per year, which would indeed go a long way in reducing its poverty level.

The world is quite aware how these ladies' power capturing maneuvers had brought the country to the brink of anarchy in early 2007. Then, a military backed care-taker government tried to deport both of them, failing which it held them under house arrest. The same government also initiated badly needed reforms in structuring political parties, administering election, enacting power decentralization, and making the judiciary independent. Although its actions received immediate praise, it soon had to give in under tremendous pressures from both inside and outside.

In the end, by arranging an election the care-taker government was obliged to hand over power to the lady who won the election. Yet, hopes were raised that after the election the long awaited reforms that were initiated would somehow take hold. But apparently nothing has changed and no true reform has materialized. Both ladies are back to their old politics again, and continue to fight to preserve their personal interests. Bangladesh has thus became captive to the two politically dynastic families, and the impact of their family feud is being felt almost everywhere. Some observers believe that the situation cannot go on like this, so the country would inevitably face another upheaval. But if that were to happen its outcome remains very much uncertain.

(The author teaches Economics at Long Island University and SUNY Farmingdale, and publishes articles on issues concerning Bangladesh and developing economies)

 ------------

Dear Professor Mahfuz R. Chowdhury,

You touched on very important issues. The points you raised are equally important, however, your observation and analysis lags facts and scientific basis (don't take this comment as negative or personal rather take it as a reviewer's comment). Since you are an active thinker in this area I would like you to look into the most probable factors (among the multiple possible factors with varying wattage) that lead to this current situation which is ofcourse not healthy. It seems that the political community and the short term administrator (Fakruddin care taker) have/had no real representation of the general public of the country as a whole which is a danger for the wellbeing of the general public.

At this point in time, various models of democracy are coming to surface. Some of them, particularly representative form of democracy, evolved over 100 years of practice where citizens are actively participating (not the civil society, which is recognized as a representative of interest group but not the citizens) in forming the governing bodies and running the country. This type of democracy is more productive in terms of providing the service and looking after the wellbeing of the general public. There are tons of research materials out there on this subject, which you may review to enrich your article in terms of quantitative facts to be more specific. The other form, i would call it notoriously evil, is the participation form of democracy (this term may be different in different text books) where civil society are the key component in forming the government and running the country.

Regarding democratic process of independence, there are lots of research papers talking about the definition and interpretation of democratic process of independence. You may do some literature search on this subject and interpret the independence of Bangladesh in that context- which will have some scientific basis and facts.

I hope you will continue research in the area and keep us educated with facts and numbers.

Feroz Kabir

feroz_kabir@hotmail.com

 ------------------------

Prof Chowdhury's comments, "Bangladesh is facing serious crises in crucial areas such as, severe gas and electricity shortage (which continues to threaten daily life and investment), rising inflation, unemployment, rampant corruption, political murder, campus riot, law and order deterioration, and climate change effect. Instead of collaborating or working to address these critical issues, the ladies of the land persist on grappling for things like establishing or reestablishing whose predecessor were more relevant, gaining or regaining their personal property and legal protection rights, naming or renaming the national airport, writing or rewriting history books, and most importantly harassing each other by inciting riots or by using state machineries to confirm one's superiority. All of these heinous acts have come at a tremendous cost in terms of property and human lives, and there is no end in sight for such tit for tat actions. Whereas, economists believe that with better governance, Bangladesh economy could grow at a respectable rate of 7 percent or even more per year, which would indeed go a long way in reducing its poverty level."

This one paragraph tells all.  Price hike of essential commodities, crisis of gas, potable water and electricity, severe food shortage, law and order situation, manmade stock market crash making the situation uncontrollable.  "Price of rice is now Tk 35 to Tk 40 as the Awami League is in power. But the price would have increased to Tk 80 to Tk 90 per kg had the BNP stayed power," PM said in Parliament yesterday.  We don't want to hear the blaming each other anymore.  But general people want to have a better life, a better future for their next generation.  A holistic planning and implementation of that plan is the key for the future of the country. 

What will happen with the country in coming years can be viewed from various published data by the Bangladesh government agencies.  Although most of the information are not valid, such as there is a severe food shortage in Bangladesh and government is trying to buy food from international market. Based on 2010 data I tried to see what will happen in 2030 in Bangladesh taking the same rate of population growth, rate agricultural land loss and per capita food consumption rate at current level.

Bangladesh in 2010:

Population: 144 million

Population Growth: 1.5%

Cultivable Land: 11 million hector

Land loss due to infrastructural development: 77,000 hectors/year

Food Growth: 26 millions MT

Food Demand: 23 millions MT

Trade Imbalance: Exceeds $10.0 billion

Bangladesh in 2030:

Population: Exceeds 200 million

Cultivable Land: 8 million hector (due to loss of land referred above)

Food Growth: 19 million MT

Food Demand: 31 million MT

Cost for Food Import: $5.3 billion (2010 cost)

Does not matter how government tries to grow more food but there will always be a limit on that and we will be obligated to buy food from international market. After 2008 in February 2011 the food price (especially rice) has jumped exponentially and based on information by various international organizations this crisis of food shortage will raise further.  Other issue is serious for Bangladesh is that expatriates are sending over $10 billion a year to Bangladesh, but the recent findings are that we are losing that market also. It also demand immediate attention.

Therefore, a holistic planning and implementation of that plan is the key for the future of the country.  No more blame games. All party should work together for the future of the nation. Some of the approaches recommended by the American Association of Bangladeshi Engineers and Architects, Inc., are provided below:

-      Industrial Sector Improvement: Reduce dependency on importing products to meet the domestic needs. Conduct research and identify industrial sectors having export potentials. Develop controlled market -be master in those identified sectors with quality products, efficient production with the ability to control the global market segment.

-          Energy Sector Development and Improvement: Planned exploration of natural resources and adding power to the national grid with a goal of electrification of the whole nation.

-          Human Resource Development: Train human resources to meet the demand of manpower shortage in various countries; improvement of diplomatic relations to open new markets of manpower export --increase the foreign currency remittance.

-          Agriculture Development & Water Resources: Planned agricultural development, modern irrigation, use of technology for maximum food growth and minimize food wastage.

-          Create atmosphere to encourage NRBs to invest in Bangladesh. Use their expertise.

-          Provide opportunities to grow IT and Biotechnological industries and use the expertise to take the advantage of western countries out-sourcing requirements.

-          Trade Balance: Reduction of trade gap: reduction of import and increase of export. Impose import tax and provide subsidies to viable industries for national industrial growth.

Hares Sayed

hares.sayed@yahoo.com

----------------

I read Prof. Mahfuz R. Chowdhury's article, "How Bangladesh Became Captive" and I agree with him 100%. I was amazed to read his writing:

"The rule of Bangladesh, a country of 150 million people, has pretty much turned into family affairs. The center of power now clearly revolves around two prominent families – one is of former civilian authoritarian ruler and the other is of former military autocrat. Both families currently lead the country's two dominant parties and pursue the same goal – grabbing state power by any means and using that power to promote their interests. They exercise similar autocratic rule in their parties and government, when in power, as their respective predecessors once did. They have been alternating state power since 1991. But when one family gains state powers the other consistently opposes everything that it does and takes up deadly agitation to bring down the government. The great irony is that they are doing all this in the name of democracy, and the country seems utterly paralyzed to change course."

No one pointed out how Bangladesh can get out of this captivity. Syed hares gave the recommendations of American Association of Bangladeshi Engineers and Architects, Inc., but who is going to implement these? Can Bangladesh under this captivity implement these recommendations? No way.

I think the major problem is the "Education Curriculum of Bangladesh Education System", in which there is no "Ethical and Social Studies" part. Even if it is there, its very little. I am educated in Bangladesh and from Class I to B. Sc. (Eng.) level,  I had very little education on ethics. Same is true for all other groups. Due to this reason, even  our university professors are supporting these two ladies giving up their ethics and rational thinking to help Bangladesh to become a captive. Even  our students are divided mainly among these two political parties doing national politics [not seen any where, not even in our neighbor, India]. This kind of national politics without any ethical behavior/character is helping in making our university campuses places of riots and what not.

I also taught in Bangaldesh universities and I was responsible to make curriculum for "B. Sc. Agricultural Engineering" in Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh. There was no scope to put the ethical education part. In addition, we do not have any "Social Studies" part which requires "Studies of Social Responsibilities" for good citizenship and patriotism, a very important ingredient for a nation and nation building. We need to change our curriculum at all levels to include the "Social Studies Program" which will help in developing our students to become good patriotic citizens and make them to serve the country faithfully. The question is who is going to understand this and who is going to implement this? None, since the people who are at the helm of affairs are also educated, if at all, in the same old "System of Education"

without any "Social/Ethical Studies" program so they do not not give its proper value and will not undrstand its necessity. So what we can do? Make a revolution like Tunisia. Is that the solution? May be.

Mohammad S. Choudhury

msuc@hotmail.com

 


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[ALOCHONA] Shock & Awe Talk: Of RAB, Rub-Out and Creations of a Superior God

Shock & Awe Talk: Of RAB, Rub-Out and Creations of a Superior God

by Maqsoodul Haque - Mac

"The eye witness was unfortunately blind"- Arabic proverb. There is
something eerie in the way we address the issue of violent deaths.
Subconsciously as there is a paper thin chance of the ugly reality
hitting us we thank God for his Mercy – that is one half, the other
half comes from a near Pharaohnic arrogance of our politicians, that
death 'the ultimate reality' may never meet their fate!

Power inebriated murder merchants backed by trigger-happy uniformed
goons (a post-liberation legacy) all protected by the law, also
display an enduring 'talent' to stay above the law. That talent is
nothing more than an ability to lie with a straight face, knowing all
to well that murderous regimes that have trampled in and out of power,
live with lies and will probably die by the same. Justice therefore is
a misnomer in Bangladesh as it was none else, but us that
'democratically' voted these 'legal criminals' to power, overawed by
the promises they make every five years or so. We really have no
choice….or do we?

The term 'crossfire' is losing currency and our Media ought to start
replicating the Filipino expression – RUB-OUT. These phenomenon's are
not unique to Bangladesh alone, but the real problem is in the
'stories' the Government weaves to justify murders. Sample: usually
the victim is arrested on 'suspicion' or was challenged by RAB an
'elite force' or the Police, who are'fired upon by accomplices' of the
victim during weapon recovery operations…….end of the story.

More sinister is one where RAB is fired upon and in the ensuing'gun
battle the criminal is shot dead' while others flee - never to be
found! The real danger in this version is the authors do not know a
thing about covenants governing rules of engagement i.e. when
non-state actors attack state-actors with lethal weapons, it is not a
simple crime or 'terrorism' – it is an ACT OF WAR! Never followed up
is what happens to the ones that get away? So it looks like for every
Rub-Out victim, we have dozens of armed and dangerous 'living
criminals' lurking……………

Meanwhile as the 'war' escalates, we use fancy terms like 'terrorists'
and 'criminal Godfathers' without questioning why banned Jihadi groups
such as the JMB or HUJI never lose a single member in Rub-Outs (all
arrested, photographed, sent to jails – and in most cases
released…..Al-Hamudulillah!), while it is perfectly legit to shoot
dead real or imagined Maoist extremist in the country.

It is also a 'trifling matter' that innocent citizens are gunned down
as they were foolish enough to be in the 'line of fire'. Now after all
that 'clarification' if we so much as dare dissent the 'official'
verbal diarrhea…………the diagnosis is pretty straight forward……sorry
folks - you have chronic mental dysentery :)

The problem in my reckoning is as much with us as with the State. We
have been pitted into a thought process whereby we abjectly believe
that some of us 'lucky ones' are creations of a 'Superior God' – while
others are not! It's this duplicity of our demeanor, our double
standards that too often is exemplified in our pathological
quadruplespeak's that leads us bang-on to the hard reality: None of us
are safe from extrajudicial killings…….shocked?

Our Home Minister recently defended Rub-Outs, and in a salvo on the
Media and Human Rights Organizations commented,'these people actually
protect the HR of Criminals'. Visibly enraged she went on to ask –
'why do they remain silent when members of our Security Forces are
killed by criminals?'

Excuse me Your Excellency…….unless as a nation we have not slipped
into collective amnesia, wasn't it your predecessor the'Looking for
Shotruuz' – Lutfuzzaman Babar that said similar things in defense of
Rub-Outs in recent past, when all the HR organizations were indeed the
AL's best friends? Is this a case of what goes around – comes around?
Darn….gulp….gulp……

:( The quixotic equation: Members of Security Forces and Citizens
clubbed into the same bracket? It is for Security Forces to guarantee
our safety, and if they die - it is not as if they have gone beyond
the call of duty, nor have they done us a huge 'favor'. Men in uniform
are on taxpayers employ to do their jobs – and death most regrettably
is an occupational hazard they willingly volunteer when they sign-up
and swear by the Flag. The State in turn ensures Guard of Honor,
Floral Wreathes and many financial packages to compensate their
'martyrdom'….Salutes…….

To be more direct – do we or HR Organizations have anything to say
about the death of men in uniform who die almost every day anywhere in
the world? On our Home Ministers side, have we ever heard a word of
regret or has she visited members of families of Rub-Out victim/s who
her charges murdered in cold blood, either to express sympathy or
promise JUSTICE? Excuse me folks…….we are talking here about 281
people rubbed-out in two years – and does anybody remember how many
'elite' RAB or Policeman have bit the dust since?

Smarting perhaps from Wikileaks on RAB, in London the Prime Minister
admitted incidents of extrajudicial killings, (not making the Home
Minister look any prettier!) however what beats me is the hoo-haa that
went around after it was revealed that the UK trained RAB 'a death
squad' – and how much the Brit's abhor such 'wanton defilement of
Human Rights'….ah! Are we not being plain naive? Are there no
instances of extra-judicial murders in the UK?

There has been one too many actually……….from the Iraq War
whistleblower Dr.David Kellyin 2003 to the deranged Raoul Moat who
went on a killing spree in 2010 – the answer, remedy and propah
English variant is – 'suicide'….a silencer pistol to the head or a
lethal injection shot?

Then I think about Abir, a perfectly decent, clean-cut college going
kid in my neighborhood rubbed-out two weeks ago. I wonder if he fell
on the feet of his uniformed assassins to beg Mercy. Did he cry out
'mother' when he was mercilessly tortured, or at the penultimate
moment, when bullets pierced his fragile body – did he call out the
name of Allah………or did he curse……………………did he?

History reminds us that when tyrants Sins adds up, nature intervenes
ruthlessly and course of justice summons a merciless Court. Rubbishing
the RAB or Police is no solution. Time has come to think out
alternatives to our power salivating politicians. As I close, Egypt
burns and 60% of its Police stations are in ashes. At home, from small
pushes to mighty shoves Arial Beel faithfully documented the people's
apolitical natural wrath.

Is a Citizens Revolt in the offing……are we ready?

Maqsoodul Haque - Mac
E Mail : machaque@gmail.com

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=348183


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