Banner Advertiser

Friday, January 28, 2011

[ALOCHONA] CROP CIRCLES



CROP CIRCLES

Introduction

Crop Circles - formations, usually found in grain crops, where the crop has been mysteriously found laid flat, in patterns, that did not exist in daylight the previous day. Although thought by many to be a phenomena of the 20th Century, crop circles and formations have been around for a very long time, and records even date back well before the invention of the camera.

The most well known positive depiction of a crop circle is found in a woodcut made in 1678 with the title 'Strange News out of Hartford-shire'. 
It depicts a devil-like creature cutting out a pattern in a crop with a scythe. 
The woodcut has text, which told of a greedy farmer, who, having refused to pay a mower a reasonable rate for reaping his oats, swore that he would rather have the Devil do the work. The very following morning, the farmer awoke to find his crop had been harvested, but done so in such an amazing manner, with rounded circles of incredible exactness that no human could have done the same within the period and darkness of one night. The farmer was so afraid that he could not enter the field to collect his harvest.


Source:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/crop_circles


It is suggested by some cryptologists and others that crop circles are depicted in prehistoric stone and wall carvings, such as in the spiral patterns carved in a stone at Newgrange in Ireland. For those that hold the view that crop circles are created by extra-terrestrials in spacecraft, some would say that reasonable recorded proof of this is depicted in some ancient Egyptian pictures.

The recorded incidence of crop circles in more modern times seems to have started in the early 20th century, with a gradual increase in numbers through to a marked incr4ease in the 1960's, leading to a quite dramatic upturn in the 1990's. At least 190 formations were discovered and documented in 1999, perhaps an omen for what is to come in the new millennium.

There are many who are under the impression that crop circles are only indigenous to the U.K. Sure, they are more prevalent here than elsewhere in the world, but there are countless examples of them appearing all over the world - in the USA from 1920, in Europe from the mid 20th century and in Africa, Canada, Australia, Central & Southern America, Russia in 1970, and Japan in the late 70's.

Many visitors to the U.K. are amazed to discover that crop circles actually appear in their own country.

What odds, that formations in the 21st century will be found on the surface of the Moon and Mars, and beyond?

View a large selection of images of the Crop Circles.

 
 

A Brief Education
Of Crop Circles


by Freddy Silva

Crop circles are not a modern phenomenon.

They are mentioned in academic texts of the late 17th Century, and almost 200 cases- some with eyewitness accounts- have been reported prior to 1970. Since then some eighty eyewitnesses from as far away as British Columbia have reported crop circles forming in under twenty seconds; cases are often accompanied by sightings of incandescent or brightly-coloured balls of light, shafts of light or structured flying craft.

Serious attention was given to the simple circles in 1980 in southern England. The designs appeared primarily as simple circles, circle with rings, and variations on the Celtic cross up into the mid-1980s. Then they developed straight lines and created pictograms, not unlike petroglyphs. After 1990 the designs developed exponentially in complexity, and today it is not unusual to come across designs mimicking computer fractals and elements that relate to fourth dimensional quantum physics. Their sizes have also increased, some occupying areas as large as 200,000 sq feet. To date there have been over 10,000 reported and documented crop circles throughout the world, with some 90% emerging from southern England. While many still go unreported each year, the emegence of the phenomenon in the world media and the internet has allowed more information to be lodged.

If you happen to buy the story that all crop circles were originated by two sexagenarians with planks of wood, string and a weegie board, you are not in the minority. Once in a while, governments like to control public interest in unexplained phenomena by generating a disinformation method called 'debunking', a technique invented during the Cold War for the sad purpose of controlling mass opinion in the face of unexplainable phenomena (this was the prime motive of the 1953 Robertson Panel, details of which are obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act). The method is very effective because the media provides little or no scientific or factual data with which the public can form an educated opinion on the subject. This absence of evidence is then replaced by ridiculing the subject through association with other 'fringe' topics; so-called experts are brought-in to explain away all the events as freak weather conditions or the work, general pranksters, even sexually excited animals!

According to TV documentaries, all crop circles up to 1992 were made by two simple, elderly men called Doug and Dave. It has since been discovered by researchers such as George Wingfield and Armen Victorian that the D&D story was tied to the British Ministry of Defense- in collusion with the CIA, among others. Evidence supplied by a high-ranking informant in the British Ministry of Defence suggested that the government had every intent to discredit the phenomenon by putting forward two hoaxers in an effort to quell growing public interest in crop circles (for a fuller story see Crop Circles History 1991). When confronted to provide evidence on certain claimed formations, Doug and Dave changed their story, even reversing previous claims; or they simply remained silent when asked to explain the list of features found in the genuine phenomenon. When they claimed making all the formations around the English county of Hampshire, for example, it was pointed out that half the known formations had actually occured in another county- "Er, no, we didn't do those either," they replied. In the end, not even Doug and Dave knew which ones they had made. And although they claim to have made hoaxes since 1978- at the time the published date of the first design- evidence witheld confirmed crop circles dating back into the 1930s. The public has never heard these retractions, nor been given the opportunity to compare the mess created by D&D with the mathematical symmetry of the real phenomenon.

In 1998, however, the surviving member of the deceptive duo did make an incredible admission to British newspapers that he'd been guided by an unknown force.

Since Doug and Dave's inauguration, many copycat hoaxers have appeared on the scene. Some do it to disprove or derail researchers, some for profit, some because they are sociopaths, some because they genuinely believe they can communicate back to the phenomenon (with very interesting results, I may add). Prior to 1989 the hoaxing problem was virtually unheard of. After 1990 designs of man-made origin vary by year- in 1992 and 1998 it was as high as 90%, in 1996 as low as 20%.

That people with a good amount of training can go into a field and eventually create a coherent pattern has never been the issue- recently, a group of known hoaxers called TEam Satan/the circlemakers was paid to go to conveniently out-of-the-way New Zealand to make an elaborate formation for The Discovery Channel. The deceptive tactics used to trick a viewing public into accepting the hoax theory are dealt with here.

The issue is that no man-made crop circle has satisfactorily replicated the features associated with the real phenomenon, and this has baffled scientists and researchers. Crop circles are created by a force seemingly at odds with modern science. Central to the hoax argument is that a physical object is required to flatten the crop to the ground, resulting in the breaking of the plant stems. In genuine formations the stems are not broken but bent (left), normally about an inch off the ground at the plant's first node. The plants appear to be subjected to a short and intense burst of heat which softens the stems to drop just above the ground at 90�, where they reharden into their new and very permanent position without damaging the plants. Plant biologists are baffled by this phenomenon and farmers, who know how the land ticks, are baffled by this. It is the singlemost method of identifying the real phenomenon. Research and laboratory tests suggest that microwave or ultrasound may be the only method capable of producing such an effect.

Crop circles are sometimes accompanied by trilling sounds, since captured on tape and analysed by NASA as artificial in origin, with a harmonic component in the infrasonic range.

The detection of electromagnetism also differentiates genuine formations from fakes. This naturally-occuring energy is known to exist at ancient sites such as stone circles, long barrows, tumuli, dolmens and menhirs, and in churches and cathedrals which were built upon these sites. Crop circles, sacred sites and other places of worship are also found upon intersecting points along the Earth's invisible energy grid, and the size and shape of a crop circle is typically determined by the area of these 'node' points on the Earth's surface. The frequencies of this energy are associated with changes in brainwave patterns and affect the body's biophysical rhythm, so it is not unusual to find reports of people experiencing heightened states of awareness and healings in crop circles- a situation also common to sacred sites. People may also experience dizziness, disorientation and nausea- effects caused by prolonged exposure to infrasound or microwave frequencies.

Biophysical evidence includes plants' expanded epidermal walls, and drastically extended node bends in fresh formations (normalright, crop circle far right); also observed are distortions of seed embryos, and the creation of expulsion cavities in the plants as if they have been heated from the inside. In genuine formations there is a disruption of the plant's crystalline structure, as these microscope photos demonstrate. Yet in all cases, the plants are not damaged and will continue to grow and ripen if left untouched. This would not be possible had they been trampled by force.

Genuine crop circles are areas of gently laid and swirled plants which create a floor in mathematical proportions similar to the Golden Mean, the vortex nature uses to create precision organisms such as shells, sunflowers, the spatial relationship of the bones in the human hand and galaxies. The floor of crop circles can have up to five layers of weaving, all in counterflow to each other, with every seed head intact and placed beside each other as if arranged in a museum case; the centres can contain nested, woven, crested, or wreathed swatches of plants- sometimes the center will consist of a single standing plant.

They are not perfectly round but slightly elliptical (a hoax, requiring a fixed central rope, cannot achieve this adequately). Their edges are crisply defined from the flattened crop as if drawn with a compass and incised with surgical precision. Hoaxes, by comparison, bear a stylistic resemblance to tuffs of greasy, uncombed hair- and, of course, all their plants have been trampled, bruised and crushed.

Other anomalies indicate an increase infra red output within and around a new formation, indicating that both the heat content of the plants and the watershed have been affected. Evidence even exists of four non-naturally occuring, short-life radioactive isotopes in the soil inside genuine crop circles (these dissipate after three or four hours); the soil in around them appears to have been baked.

Mathematically, genuine crop circles encode obscure theorems based on Euclidian geometry as well as the unalterable principles of sacred geometry. They have the capacity to alter the local electromagnetic field so that compasses cannot locate north; cameras, cellular phones and batteries fail to operate, and aircraft equipment fails whilst flying over them. Then there are levels of background radiation up to 300% above normal, radio frequencies falling dramatically or rising sharply within their perimeters, animals in local farms avoiding that particular area or simply acting agitated hours before one materializes, and car batteries in entire villages failling to operate the morning after one is found nearby. In some of the major events, entire towns are left without power.

Since genuine formations materialize at crossing points along the Earth's magnetic energy currents, they are influencing the energy pattern of local phehistoric sites. They reference local Neolithic sites in size/shape/direction, and are dowsable upon entry, with as many as 150 concentric rings of energy outside their physical perimeter. In fact, a year after they have been harvested and the field ploughed and re-sown, the energy imprint of the formations will still be dowsed, long after their physical traces have vanished.

This area of research has allowed for the possibility of crop circles as a healing force, and they are already being successfully employed in radionics, flower essences and resonance therapy around the world, both for people and environments in distress.

Crop circles are generally formed at night between the hours of 2-4 AM, traditionally during the shortest evenings of the English year when darkness lasts but four hours, in fields eagerly watched by farmers, military, laser alarms, scientists or hundreds of enthusiasts in their sleeping bags hoping to be the lucky ones to witness a crop circle forming. Some of those lucky few have witnessed large balls of brilliant colour project a beam of golden light into a field which next morning displays a new crop circle.Yet despite many stakeouts and fields rigged with top surveylance equipment, crop circles have appeared out of the mist right under the noses of those looking for them. On one occasion, the Circlemakers even materialized in full view of the British Prime Minister's heavily-guarded country residence.

At Stonehenge in 1996, a pilot reported seeing nothing while flying above the monument, yet 15 minutes later this huge 900 ft formation resembling the Julia Set computer fractal, and comprising 149 meticulously layed circles, lay beside the heavily guarded monument. It took a team of 11- including myself- no less than five hours just to survey the formation.

Still not convinced? This web site contains a sampling of the on-going research dedicated to enlightening the public. More will be added as time goes by. Look at the pictures, study the research or better still, visit a genuine crop circle. You'll get the message pretty quickly.

http://www.cropcirclesecrets.org/

For over a decade Crop Circle Secrets has led the way in helping the public make an informed decision on the true origin of crop circles. Its factual research provides an antidote to deliberate falsification of the genuine phenomenon by skeptics, hoaxers and their allies in the media.

Crop circles are scientifically proven to be manifestations of energy under intelligent guidance. Over 80 eyewitnesses describe them to be made by tubes of light in less than fifteen seconds. The evidence for crop circles as a genuine phenomenon is found in Freddy Silva's book
Secrets In The Fields and throughout this site.

Contrary to popular perception, crop circles are not a modern phenomenon. They were witnessed by policemen and farmers as far back as 1890, they exist in the folklore of South Africa and China, and are mentioned in 17th Century academic texts. Around 1980 they re-appeared as simple circles and rings in southern England, where 75% of designs are reported. By the late 1980s they developed into pictograms, not unlike the petroglyphs found at sacred sites. After 1990 the designs developed exponentially in complexity, and today the crop circles display as fractals and elements expressing fourth dimensional processes in quantum physics.

To quell the public's growing interest in crop circles, the British Secret Service MI5 presented two individuals named Doug and Dave to the media, via a fictitious press agency, as the makers of all crop circles. The majority of their claims were later proved to have been fabricated but never reported in the media. So, what exactly lies behind real crop circles?

In genuine formations the stems are not broken but bent and swirled; they are subjected to a short and intense burst of heat that softens the stems to hover just above the ground, where they re-harden without damage. Research suggests that
infrasound is producing such an effect. It has also been scientifically proven that soil samples taken from within crop circles show changes in its crystalline structure and mineral composition. Expert analysis concludes that heat of 1500ºC would create such a change. These are hardly the kind of anomalies created by pranksters with planks!

Crop circles also show evidence of
ultrasound, and such frequencies are known to exist at ancient sacred sites such as stone circles and pyramids. And like all temples, crop circles appear at the intersecting points of the Earth's magnetic pathways of energy. Consequently, it is not unusual for people to experience heightened states of awareness and healings in crop circles – a situation also common to sacred sites and ancient temples. Biophysical evidence shows the plants' seed embryos are altered, and the liquid in the stems has been heated from the inside. In genuine crop circles there is also a reorganization of the plant's crystalline structure. Other evidence from crop circles shows how the floors of laid plants are swirled in mathematical proportions relative to the Golden Ratio – the vortex used by nature to create organisms. Mathematically, genuine crop circles have yielded five new geometric theorems based on Euclidian geometry. They are also encoded with sacred geometry – those harmonic ratios that govern the relationship between the orbits of planets. Crop circles alter the local electromagnetic field; affecting the proper function of compasses, cameras and cellular phones; the frequencies are also known to affect aircraft equipment.

Look at the pictures, study the research or better still, read the
comprehensive book. You'll get the message pretty quickly. And when you do, please link and share this extraordinary phenomenon with your friends. It is indeed the most important event shaping our lives. Which is precisely why it is being debunked.

 

 


 

How hoaxers and the media brainwash you into believing that crop circles are made by people.

The main theory of how genuine crop circles are created.

What exactly are they? Believe it or not, what you may have heard bears no resemblance to reality.

There exists over two decades of science behind crop circles. Here are a few examples proving the existence of a genuine phenomenon.

Scientific evidence for genuine crop circles is found in my book. Here are some case histories to whet your appetite.

The most comprehensive crop circles book, several DVDs, posters and other nice things.

The fascinating thing about crop circles is they work at a subtle level. It's here where communication takes place with the invisible.

A number of scientists and inquisitive people have discovered crop circles encode advanced technology.

Sacred geometry is embedded in crop circles, much in the same way as it is used in ancient sacred sites.

Advanced maths have been proved to be encoded in crop circles. And for the first time in 2300 years, five new theorems have been discovered.

Crop circles and their subtle forces. are often found through dowsing or the use of magnetometers. Either way, these subtle energies interact with biological systems in interesting ways.

A year-by-year synopsis of the phenomenon.

http://cropcirclesecrets.org/

Yes, crop circles influence biological systems.

 



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] The dying Pakistan



What next?

Humayun Gauhar

"How do you read the situation?" a friend asked. "I cannot," I replied. "The pages are blank. Let the imagination run."

"Let it run."

"Anything could happen in a flux. The situation could go many ways. But that doesn't mean that some forces are not trying to channel it towards their own interests."

"Who could they be?"

"Well, America is first. Then there is the army, most likely in tandem with America. The third is the hidebound mullah under the generic name 'Taliban'. All three are retrogressive: one has yet to hear of revolutions organized by colonizers or formal armies or obscurants. Only when people are in the vanguard but they are almost always betrayed."

"What next?

Certain facts are given. Things are out of control because Pakistan has only illusory governments. Its sovereignty is in tatters, its independence fiction. It has become a vassal state. Its treasury is bankrupt. Debt has gone beyond the repayable and no one is prepared to lend it money any longer. The State Bank is printing Rs 2 billion daily to lend to the government. Inflation has is breached the roof. Population is growing faster than anywhere while jobs are shrinking. Soon we will be consumed by our own procreation.

Civil war has started in Karachi and Balochistan. Sindh is in a sulk. The Pushtun is in a sulk. Many of them want out, either openly or in whispers. The Punjab is fed up. Chaos and anarchy are spiraling out of control. There's no gas, no electricity, no water, no jobs, no education, no shelter, no security, no affordable food and, worst of all, no police, now law and no justice. Our governments impotently whimper and whine at America's capers, escapades and shenanigans. Public transport is diminishing. People cannot afford the rising price of tickets. Soon we will return to the tonga. The only things rising are oil prices, rampant corruption and rampant obscurant clerics in the guise of scholars that are anathema to the spirit of Islam. Obscurant moderates and liberals are unable to break the shackles of their colonized minds and adapt their pet western political and social constructs to our political, social, cultural, religions and historical milieu to counteract them. That, I'm afraid, is the way things are going: towards de facto clerics who have hijacked Islam by occupying the space left vacant by the educated and interpret it according to their own prejudices and convenience.

To fathom where we are going we have to fathom where America is going. Its debt is the same as its GDP; soon it will be more. Its fiscal deficit is over 10 percent and rising, for its appetite for borrowing remains undiminished. Forty million Americans live below the poverty line. It has lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and cannot find an exit from the latter. The might of the Dollar has become fiction. It cannot last as the preferred reserve currency. Its dependence on China is growing. We are harvesting the crop of the seeds we sowed in 1971 when we swapped the Gold Standard with the US dollar based on hot air. Now reap the whirlwind.

European economies have gone down, with country after country seeking bailouts. Whatever Sarkozy and Merkel might say, the Euro born in a laboratory with many fathers and no mother is seeking an orphanage. The Sterling remains artificially strong while the UK declines into a second rate European state, at par with Portugal, Greece, Italy and Spain. Britain's debt is equal to its GDP; its fiscal deficit well over 11 percent and no manufacturing base, only financial services and shops. America can hardly afford an economically weakened Europe.

Riots have broken out in Europe and the Middle East. The scare of anarchy and uncertainty is upon them all. The obvious has become apparent: if you cannot feed your people, if their standard of living keeps declining, if educated youth and workers cannot find jobs and state funded social sector projects get cut, regardless of what ideology their governments hold or whether they are 'democratic' or 'dictatorial', the volcano of the people will erupt. It has started and the lava is spewing out. Wait for the big one. Hunger and hopelessness have no religion, no ideology, only anger and violence.

None of this is good for America but it too is going south. It will have to share global polarity with China, Russia and perhaps Germany but it will still remain the dominant global player. It has a manufacturing base and the richest knowledge bank. Like all dead empires and superpowers before it, America's greatest danger is implosion from within rather than explosion from without.

There is a distinct rightward swing in the Republican party. First it was the Neocons, in tandem with Zionists and the Evangelists. Their failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and the global economic recession led to the rise of the Democrats. When it seemed obvious to the right that McCain would lose the presidential election to Hilary Clinton, they preferred Obama. The Clinton machine could well secure two terms. A black Muslim with a Kenyan father and doubtful nationality would become ineffective in two years. He has. He's not a lame duck; he's a dead duck. They will play on this in the next presidential campaign and defeat Obama.

The Neocons now have a vanguard, the Tea Party, peddling small government and low spending. They have already taken Congress. Next it will be the White House. The Neocons and Tea Partiers believe that Bush's mistake was not to go far enough, pandering to world opinion and the UN. America has spent more on the world than anyone has in history. Enough is enough. It will now spend on itself and revive and modernize its economy – a Marshall Plan for America. All irritants will be obliterated, like lancing boils. America has incredible military power that it has hardly used. Places they consider as nests, nurseries and of terrorists will be bombed and even vaporized with tactical nuclear weapons if necessary. The world will stand by and watch and let America do the dirty work. No one will lift a finger. And Muslims have no fingers left to lift.

This is the worst of many possible scenarios. Here's hoping that this madness doesn't overtake America. But don't bank on it.

 



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] That businessman !



That businessman !
 
 


__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] What Everyone Should Know about Tablighi Jamaat



What Everyone Should Know about Tablighi Jamaat
 
by Seth Mandel
January 26, 2011

This past weekend in Bangladesh, tens of thousands of Muslims from around the world participated in what is fast becoming the largest Muslim pilgrimage event in the world. Next weekend, the event will continue. It is the annual gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat—and its popularity is starting to get noticed as a unique challenge to the West's relationship with Islam.

Here is Reuters's initial report on the gathering:

"It is organised by the World Tabligh Council, a group of mainly Bangladeshi Muslim scholars who preach the teachings of Islam and its Prophet Mohammad, as well as Bangladesh's religious affairs ministry.

"The three-day event focuses on prayer and meditation, and includes lectures from Muslim scholars about the faith.

"This year, an estimated 2 million Muslims are expected to attend — nearly the same number of pilgrims who go to Saudi Arabia to perform the annual haj pilgrimage."

So why would such a gathering portend anything troubling?

Timothy Furnish, an analyst of Islamic movements, has an article in the current issue of the Journal of International Security Affairs explaining what all the fuss is—and should be—about. The Tablighi Jamaat, originating on the Indian subcontinent early in the 20th century, is neither radical/extremist nor moderate, Furnish points out. Thus, because it is so difficult to classify, Western officials aren't quite sure how to deal with it.

One of the reasons the West needs a strategy toward the group is because of its unique evangelical approach, inducted into the group's methodology at its official founding in 1934. This approach held that spreading the word of Islam was not simply the obligation of leaders, but of each and every individual.

"In countries with a majority, or substantial, Muslim population, TJ's target list starts with the ulama, then moves to the intellectuals and professionals, followed by influential merchants and, finally, hoi polloi," Furnish writes. "This approach obviously has worked, since TJ is now, according to the few experts on the group, the most followed Islamic program on the planet; indeed, it may well be the most influential transnational Islamic organization, bar none."

Furnish explains that the group's strict adherence to Islamic law and Mohammadan tradition (following the example of how the prophet did basic acts unconnected with religion) puts it at odds with many of the prevailing Islamic authorities in countries where TJ operates, especially those in Africa. It is building a structure of youthful Islamic rigor, and therefore, Furnish writes, many Islamic scholars see its precincts as not-so-subtle training camps for future jihadists.

This trend presents most clearly in Tanzania, especially Zanzibar. Two of those indicted in the 1998 attack on the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi were Zanzibari members of TJ who then went on to work with al-Qaeda. "It would seem that in Tanzania—or at least in Zanzibar and Pemba—TJ is fulfilling the alarmist prophecy of providing at least some of jihad's willing legionnaires, if not quite legions, as some have posited," he writes.

The reason for this is that TJ preaches a literalist reading of the Quran—and through the concept of abrogation, Quranic verses preaching violent jihad supersede any previous verses, be they peaceful or otherwise.

"Thus, when some learn about Muhammad leading armies in battle or ordering the execution of theological and political opponents, they may decide that the jihadist groups are more faithful followers of their prophet than TJ itself—and so make the transition," Furnish writes. "Thus, the key issue is not whether TJ is actively inculcating jihadist thought, per se. What is more important, and disquieting, is that the organization is instilling Quranic literalism and Muhammadan emulation, both of which are also staples of violent jihadist groups."

But this also presents an opportunity. TJ's popularity makes it an authority to quite a sizeable portion of the world's Muslim community. Therefore, the rifts that exist between TJ and other Islamic groups should be exploited, Furnish writes. Particularly because it is deemed too Sufi for more violent Wahhabi/Salafi sects, it could be presented as a more peaceful—but just as authoritative—alternative. And TJ's anti-Shiite beliefs could make it a candidate to counter Iranian influence, especially in Africa.

"The key to a constructive approach, then, lies in understanding what makes TJ tick—and thereafter harnessing it as a tool to promote American interests," Furnish concludes.

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1237/what-everyone-should-know-about-tablighi-jamaat



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] On strategic tight rope



On strategic tight rope
 
by Mohammad Amjad Hossain
 
IN Asia, two economic and military powers are on the rise: China and India. Both these countries are huge geographically as well as in terms of population. While India has been flexing its economic and political muscles in South and East Asia, China has not been a silent bystander. China has also been expanding its sphere of influence in Asia as it progresses to become a global economic and military power. Both the countries are nuclear powers. It is evident that China has been making serious progress in expanding its influence by building up naval bases around the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, which has prompted both India and the United States to develop strategic convergence. Against the backdrop of this scenario, Bangladesh, sandwiched between the two Asian giants, has no other alternative but to walk a tight rope in conducting its relations with both India and China.
 
Bangladesh attracts both India and China as she has demonstrated steady economic growth with an expanding market of over 150 million people. Both India and China are exploring markets to sell their products. In this area, China has advanced much more than India.
 
Bangladesh has had troubled relations with India since independence. Mistrust and suspicion between the two neighbouring countries have constantly hampered the process of developing friendly relations. Disputes over the sharing of water from the Ganges and other common rivers, demarcation of land and maritime boundaries, exchange of enclaves coupled with accusation and counteraccusation of harbouring insurgents have lingered on.
 
In 1974, Bangladesh signed a land boundary agreement with India, but India has not yet fulfilled its obligation. The same is the case with exchange of enclaves. As pressure has been mounting on it from its north-east region for independence and China's claim on some parts of its Arunachal province, India now seems to be paying attention towards developing relations with Bangladesh for its own national interest. Ironically, India could not maintain friendly relations with any of the neighbouring countries around its border. Its image in the neighbouring countries remains questionable.
 
On the other hand, Bangladesh-China relations are mutually beneficial. Bangladesh relations with China have begun from the changeover of the administration of Bangladesh in August 1975. Since then, relations between Bangladesh and China have expanded in every sector. The contribution of China in building Bangladesh infrastructure is significant. China is planning to help build an eighth bridge in Bangladesh, apart from another fertiliser factory. Over the past few years, China has turned out to be the biggest trading partner of Bangladesh. It has granted duty-free access to some 84 products of Bangladesh as goodwill gesture whereas India is still reluctant to give such privilege to her next-door neighbour.
 
As requested by the Bangladesh government, China has succeeded in persuading the Myanmar government to build a highway linking Chittagong in Bangladesh with it via Myanmar. The tri-nation highway would certainly bring benefit to commercial relations. China is likely to build a deep seaport at Sonadia Island near Chittagong. During the visit of the Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to China from March 17 to 21 last year, China agreed on:
 
• Construction of Chinese Exhibition Centre with car parking facilities,
 
• Construction of road and rail infrastructure connecting Chittagong with Kunming through Gundum of Myanmar,
 
• Construction of 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge,
 
• Water purification project in Pagla,
 
• Financial and technical support for the construction of power plant in Bangladesh, strengthening organisational cooperation between China National Hybrid Rice Research Centre and Bangladesh Rice Research Institutes, and
 
• Waiving Chinese loan
 
These are positive developments in Bangladesh-China relations. In other words, Bangladesh's infrastructure, which includes roads, bridges, power plants and industrial complexes, is built and is in the process of being built with Chinese assistance.
 
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a regional organisation of 1.47 billion people, could have been successful if the countries that comprise the organisation were not prevented from building friendly relations by India's arrogant and hegemonic attitude. Instead of strengthening SAARC, India has moved towards building relations with ASEAN. This is the real picture of the situation in South Asia.
 
Bangladesh's attempt to develop relations with China is viewed by some Indian commentators as a potential source of regional tensions. One commented that China had been maintaining relations with ULFA of Assam and National Socialist Council of Nagaland in Dhaka and China's engagement with Bangladesh had the potential of influencing security interests. Another commentator holds the opinion that 'Beijing's imminent presence in Chittagong and Dhaka's interests to Chinese offer to Sonadia port construction would inevitably pose as serious geo-strategic threat to India and affect New Delhi's maritime interests.' These commentators are talking about the Shiliguri corridor which links mainland India by rail, road and air with its north-east region, a part of which (90,000 square kilometres) in Arunachal Pradesh is claimed by China. They note that this has become a significant source of tension between China and India.
 
Viewed from this perception, Bangladesh should maintain, as much as possible, friendly relations with both India and China without compromising national interests. However, the Awami League-led government should take a bold step in resolving border and maritime problems with India. Incursion from Indian borders and grabbing of land have become serious problems for Bangladesh. National interests of the country should be the uppermost concern of the government in power.
 
______________________________
 
Mohammad Amjad Hossain, a retired diplomat
 


__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___

[ALOCHONA] New ULFA strategy challenges Bangladesh foreign policy



New ULFA strategy challenges Bangladesh foreign policy

M. Shahidul Islam

Much like the sinking stock market, our foreign policy parameters too have hit the precipice. Those who wanted to write off the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) by allowing Indian secret service members to capture and whisk out of Bangladesh the outfit's leading personalities now find themselves boxed up and faced with a protracted dilemma involving major foreign policy implications.
   Amidst a series of debacles since late 2009, the ULFA's military command has re-organized its structure and strategy, posing enormous challenge to Bangladesh's regional foreign policy pursuance and creating bitter acrimony with Delhi, despite the latter having succeeded so far in securing most of its desired concessions from the AL-led coalition regime.
   
   Video footage
   The re-organized senior command of ULFA, which that has been fighting a war of cessation since 1979 to liberate the Indian state of Assam from Delhi's tutelage, has released on January 21 a video footage of its fighters from a remote hideout in Myanmar. Present among the guerrillas was their Commander-in-Chief, Paresh Baruah, who posed himself in battle fatigue to let the world know the group's ability to outsmart Delhi and to carry on with its struggle to liberate Assam.
   The orchestrated showmanship also had a lot to do with a series of decisions made by the AL-led coalition government since coming to power in early 2009. According to one source within the government, "process is underway to deport the outfit's political guru and general secretary, Anup Chetia, from Bangladesh." He seemed as yet unaware of the availability of the video footage of the outfit's Commander- in- Chief.
   The source said the decision to handover Chetia to Indian authorities received a final nod during the recently concluded Home Secretary level meeting in Dhaka of the two neighbours.
   Although much of what happened to the Dhaka -based ULFA leaders never got exposed to the public over the last two years. In December 2009 all hell broke loose following a spate of mysterious events resulting in the controversial apprehension from Dhaka - alleged by Indian law enforcers - of ULFA's founding member, Arabinda Rajkhowa, his family members and a number of other leading personalities of the outfit.
   Despite the uproars, Bangladesh authorities never confessed to carrying out those raids, resulting in Indian secret service members being blamed for forays inside Bangladesh, causing considerable embarrassment to a regime that has, by then, piqued enough suspicion of being blindly pro-Indian.
   Besides, Bangladesh being a signatory to a number of international Conventions relating to the status of refugees, and, Chetia and his colleagues having applied for asylum pursuant to those conventions, the incidents spurred a number of legal complications.
   
   Legal minefield
   The issue began to degenerate into a major crisis during the army-backed caretaker (CT) regime when the Indian influence peddling multiplied and the CT tried to deport Chetia to India. In desperation and treading through a legal minefield, his counsel, Advocate Mohammad Abdus Sattar, formally applied to the UNHCR to have his client recognized as a convention refugee. Addressed to Antonio Guterres, head of the UNHCR, Chetia's counsel wrote to the UNHCR, "Not only his prayer for asylum in Bangladesh did not make any headway, he was being detained beyond the statutory 7 years limit for illegally entering Bangladesh. He therefore needed UNHCR intervention as a person in need of protection."
   There is evidence to prove Chetia indeed had endured inhumane torture. He was first arrested in March 1991 in Assam, tortured in custody, but was later released by political intervention of then Chief Minister of Assam, Hiteswar Saikia. Fearing further arrest and threat to life, he fled to Bangladesh where he was again arrested on December 21, 1997 under the Foreigners Act and the Passports Act of Bangladesh. Sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, he was supposed to be freed in 2004, but still rots in Bangladesh prison without any justification.
   
   Poisoned relations
   Meanwhile, the Chetia factor had poisoned bilateral relations almost intermittently and the Indian request to extradite him remained stalled due to (1) his yet-to-be-disposed asylum application in Bangladesh court, and, (2) There being no extradition treaty between the two countries.
   "Unless the court takes a decision denying Chetia's claim for refugee status, or he himself withdraws his petition, the matter may not move further," said a concerned source within the government. The crisis has meanwhile morphed into a major foreign policy headache, involving the compulsion to comply with international Conventions on one hand, and, adhering to the request of a friendly neighbour, on the other.
   Sources say, Chetia is being approached and pressurized by mandated representatives of the Indian government to withdraw his asylum application in return for promise not to be harmed. But other ULFA leaders are not convinced.
   Sensing an imminent danger to the outfit's very existence, Paresh Barua, the military chief of the outfit, decided to re-cast the outfit and its stratagem from the mountain ranges astride Myanmar-China border. The latest video snapshot comes from one of those encampments where the temporary leadership of the outfit is currently based.
   Curiously, Delhi never exerted the kind of pressure on Myanmar or China as it has been exerting on Bangladesh. This smacks of duplicity and dubiousness. May be the China factor is playing a major role in Delhi's imbalanced attitude toward its smaller neighbours.
   Be that what it may, our investigation shows, the 54-year-old Baruah has an anchor in China's Yunnan province bordering Myanmar, and he often frequents between northern Myanmar's Kachin areas and the Yannan of China. India's external affairs minister, S M Krishna, had informed the Rajya Sabha last month that India had taken up with China the issue of Baruah's presence in that country.
   Meanwhile, a seemingly desperate Chief Minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi, had said his government has received 'encouraging signals' from the ULFA for holding peace talks, something ULFA leadership never confirmed as yet.
   All these prove one thing for certain: The Assam factor has internationalized to the level where a lasting peace with ULFA can only be achieved with cooperation from Bangladesh, Myanmar and China. Bangladesh is particularly pivotal to any peace deal due to the outfit's political chief being inside Bangladesh prison and, Assam being sandwiched between China and Bangladesh.
   
   BSF arrogance
   Delhi may not be unaware of such realities, but its border force, the BSF, seems too haughty to acknowledge their ramifications. According to the Guardian newspaper (Jan. 23), killing of Bangladeshi citizens at the Indo-Bangladesh border 'is endorsed by Indian officials."
   Any official endorsement of a policy makes that policy an official one, period. The Guardian report carries further evidence of that being the case; at a time when Indo-Bangladesh border shooting incidents created serious uproar in the global media outlets, especially since the brutal killing of a Bangladeshi teenager, Felani, last month.
   Guardian reporter Brad Adams wrote, "India has the right to impose border controls. But India does not have the right to use lethal force except where strictly necessary to protect life. Yet some Indian officials openly admit that unarmed civilians are being killed." The report adds, " The head of the BSF, Raman Srivastava, says that people should not feel sorry for the victims, claiming that since these individuals were illegally entering Indian territory, often at night, they were "not innocent" and therefore were a legitimate target." Even if one is goaded to accept such an illegitimate, foolhardy argument, can anyone show other example of unarmed civilians being shot to death in any other bordering areas of the world; in such huge numbers, so often, for so long?
   That the government had failed to challenge Delhi on this particular count remains a matter of unmitigated shame and despair. It's also a blot that can not be easily erased from the litany of undoing of a regime that knows not how to fashion a sustainable foreign policy.

^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE


Is fresh insurgency giving Delhi
a headache?

Shamsuddin Ahmed

Is separatist group ULFA re-emerging in Indian state of Assam? Last Tuesday militants bombed a goods train and attacked a passenger bus wounding three people. All night passenger train services in the region have been suspended for five days following the incidents. The train carrying food grains was on its way from Lumding to Silchar in Assam. Police said the bomb planted beneath a culvert was triggered by a remote control device in North Cachar Hills district
   Intelligence reports in Guwahati said six frontline separatist groups - ULFA, NDFB, MPLF, KLO, NLFT and TPDF based in Assam, Nagaland, Monipur and Tripura - called a boycott of the Republic Day and called for a general strike on the day. Thousands of army, police and paramilitary troopers stood guard in the northeast to foil militant attacks.
   ULFA is preparing for renewed strikes under the leadership of all powerful commander-in-chief of Paresh Baruah. He is believed to have got safe sanctuaries along the Myanmar border and support from China. Paresh and his two top commanders Jibon Moran and Bijoy Das, alias Bijoy Chinese, are said to be in full control of the ULFA fighters. Fresh recruits trained in Yunun have returned in November. They are now camping at a place that ULFA shares with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in the Sagiang province of Myanmar. They are preparing to launch campaign against the government forces.
   Support from China and its closed ally Myanmar to ULFA came under the context of changing geopolitical situation in the region. It is mainly India's growing strategic partnership with USA. Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation deal and subsequent moves have raised suspicion in Beijing of some kind of design against Tibet. About the same time, Awami League came to power in Bangladesh and launched a crackdown on the ULFA hideouts, ostensibly at the behest of New Delhi.
   Taking advantage of China's annoyance at growing Indo-US strategic relationship and sensing imminent trouble for them in Bangladesh, Paresh dashed to Beijing to a glowing reception. Highly placed sources in ULFA in Assam confirmed his moves giving details with specific dates to a Guwahati-based journalist which was carried by TEHELKA.COM last week.
   They say before the crackdown on ULFA hideouts in Bangladesh, ULFA C-in-C Paresh Baruah, Manipur's Peoples' Liberation Army (PLA) chairman Irengbam Bhorot and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) chairman Ranjit Deb Barma had at least three meetings with senior Chinese military intelligence officials. That was the time when China had started resenting India's growing strategic alliance with US. Baruah used the situation to his advantage and sent some cadres of ULFA and PLA to China's Yunnan province for training.
   Baruah flew to Kumming and had two meetings with Chinese military officials between 13 and 17 February 2009. On 23 May 2009, he went from Bangkok to Beijing and was in the Chinese capital for nearly a week. The Chinese military intelligence directorate assured him of all help in the wake of a large-scale crackdown in Bangladesh. Sources claim it was through Baruah that the outlawed Communist Party of India CPI (Maoists) got Chinese weapons.
   ULFA insiders have confirmed that a batch of 80 odd ULFA and PLA rebels had left for China in three batches in June 2009. They underwent training of guerrilla warfare in Tinsum in Yunnan. The trained guerrillas returned to their bases along the Myanmar border couple of months ago.
   Meanwhile, ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowa and few other top leaders of the outfit were arrested in Bangladesh. They have now been set free on bail for peace talks with the government. Arabinda is set to hold meeting of the ULFA executive council for adopting decision of unconditional peace talks.
   As Arabinda was preparing for the executive council meeting, Paresh Baruah this week sent out a message to the people of Assam along with a photograph through the media of Assam, presumably to frustrate the pro-talks group. He said he was not opposed to talks with the government but it has to be with agenda of independence of Assam from India for which thousands of Assamese have made supreme sacrifice. The photograph showed him flanked by the hardcore commanders Jibon Moran and Bijoy Das with a galaxy of fighters in high military gear.
   It came at a time when the government has been preparing for peace talks with divided ULFA group led by Arabinda Rjkhowa. Trumpeting peace talks the government facilitated those still in underground to join the talks. But analysts are sceptical about its success without Paresh Baruah taking part. ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia will also be absent from the talks. Completing his jail term in Bangladesh years ago Chetia had declined to return to India fearing for his life and sought for political asylum. He had also appealed to the United Nations for his security. New Delhi has been pressuring Dhaka to hand over him immediately. But Assam chief minister has assured the pro-peace talks group that Chetia will be made available by May.
   Assam Gano Parishad, opposed to the ruling Congress government in Assam, said the so-called peace talks are eye wash on the eve of election to the state legislative assembly. It viewed that Arabinda now in his 60s and his associates are long detached from the movement. Enjoying easy and cosy life in Bangladesh hideouts they have become paranoid, lost the revolutionary zeal and spirit.
   The message of Paresh Baruah is loud and clear. He has threatened to prove that the outfit's striking capacity is far from finished. Some of the pro-talks group leaders are heard whispering that New Delhi has made a mistake by sidelining Paresh Barua in adopting 'minus one' formula.
 



__._,_.___


[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com




Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___