America's war on Terror - Lessons to be learnt

I read two really good articles today. One in "The Hindu" about the lessons to be learnt from the US War on Terror. You can read it here.

"As many as 654,965 more Iraqis may have died since hostilities began in Iraq in March 2003 than would have been expected under pre-war conditions. The deaths from all causes — violent and non-violent — are over and above the estimated 143,000 deaths per year that occurred from all causes prior to the March 2003 invasion. Iraq’s overall mortality rate more than doubled from 5.5 deaths per 1,000 persons before the war began to 13.3 per 1,000 persons by late 2006"

And other article, in Wall Street Journal, about the Indian Democracy. You can read it here. This article talks a bit about the recent elections in India and about the status of the Indian politics in general.

"The electorate's ability to look through the fog of terror, set emotions aside and focus on basic quality of life matters is a sign of the maturation of Indian democracy."

Proud to be an Indian

Really Inspiring !

Obama - The next president of the US

I am really glad, that Obama was elected the next president of the US. chuck all the effects, Bradley, Urkel, everything. He smashed all the records and has become the first African American president.

Like many people, i have been following the US elections right from the beginning. Initially, Obama said "change" and all other competitors even in the Democratic party laughed. In spite of all the silly and desperate campaign efforts from the McCain group, he has made history.

If you think about it, Obama's story can be made into a movie and it is a sure block buster. He is like a Hero now. If this indeed was a movie, then by this time, credits will be rolling. But it is not. And it seems like Obama understands that already. Do you know, Obama already has a 50-chapter transition booklet, with details on how, when and who he should appoint for which position? Just brilliant. Bill Clinton started the planning only after he got elected and reached a decision only 4 days before his inauguration.

As all the newspapers pointed out, it is indeed a success for Democracy. With a record turn out like this, newspapers are claiming that it looks like America is just re-inventing herself. The US behaves as if it is a newly formed Democratic country, as if people were given a right to vote just yesterday. Americans have proved that they are a lot more tolerant about race than any other country in the world. Imagine, if the Bradley effect did work and if Obama lost the election, it is a big scar for the country, that boasts its Democracy and Free Markets.

Now, what can I expect from a Obama era? It is weird and at the same time astonishing, how every single person in the world is asking this same question. This is a testimon of the American influence on the World, which is both good and bad, as i have always assumed. Anyways, in India, there is already a suspision that he will crush the Outsourcing industry. In my opinion, there is a slight possibility for that happening. He promised to give tax cuts for corporates, who employ more people in the US. Given the fact that the Corporate tax in the US is so high, and the forthcoming recession and the unemplyment rate in the US, there is a slight possibility of that happening. But again, it can be argued that all the above said reasons can work in favor of India as well. We gotta wait and see.

What about Finance industry? I am really worried about the answer to this question. The american president has enourmous power to bring about change in anything. And in general, the Democrats have always, always argued for more regulation. Therefore, we can expect to see more oversight and strict regulations for the American Banks. This can be a big blow to the Investment Banking industry, given the fact that the industry has been thriving because of less regulation and more risk-taking. All this will change. But to what extent? We gotta wait and see.

Obama said during the victory speech, "Change has come to America". I dont know how change can come, if he is going to appoint everyone in his team from Clinton era. Every president in the US, said he wanted to change the way business is done in Washington, but noone ever achieved it. (Even Bush said, he wanted change, during his 2000 election campaign). But lets hope, atleast Obama will bring about the Change we expect.

US Presidential Elections - III

After two long years, the race for the White house, is about to end this Tuesday. The race was so close. It was really tough. Even today you cannot be sure about who is going to win. It looks like Obama has a good chance. But anything can happen.

This week "Time" magazine had a good article about the leadership style of the two candidates and also, about the various problems that they might face in this presidency. I think it makes perfect sense. There are just too many things that the next president should fix. There is a huge Economic Crisis, Energy crisis, Unemployment, Housing crisis, Health care, possible Recession, Problems in Iraq, fragile Afghanistan, decaying Pakistan, Rise of China, newly refreshed ambitions of Russia, Climate crisis, Problems with Iran, Terrorism in the country itself.

Am just a normal university student, who occasionally happen to check the news. Even I can list down 14 critical issues that the next US president has to address. Then imagine the real trouble he is in.

Over the years, the world has developed a certain dependency towards US. We all tried to follow their Free Market Capitalism and Democracy and unknowingly became too dependent on US. The problems that the US president has to address just becomes too much when you add in this "Dependency" factor. Whether you like it or not, every decision, he is gonna make is gonna affect the world, not just the US. And that is the sad reality. We are in a once-in-a-century crisis right now, because the current administration for some reason, refused to acknowledge this fact.

You can read the 6-page article here and it will give a pretty good idea of how the next 4 years can be. Anyways, am eagerly waiting for the results of the US elections.

Obama informercial

Check this one. I found in Time website. Prolly shd hav been the effect of Obama buying primetime for an infomercial. If you havnt seen it yet, you can see the infomercial here. I think Obama has too much money to spent and is not quite sure, what he can do with it, with elections coming to an end. "Spend this many millions in this many days". lol.

Spoofing Sarah !

"Katie, I would like to use one of my life lines"

This is hilarious. I read something in Time website today, titled, "Shamelessly Spoofing Sarah". See the videos and have fun !

I dunno how many ppl saw the Sarah Palin interview with Katie Couric, where she said, she has foreign policy credentials, just because she can see Russia from Alaska. I bet, even Vladimir Putin would have laughed hysterically when he read about this. For some reason, when i saw the interview, i remembered the Miss Teen USA video.

After seeing the videos, i thought about President Bush. I mean, how is she different from Bush? Have you seen the "Sovereignty" video, where President Bush, tries to explain what tribal sovereignty is? lol.

I was actually feeling bad, that Bush is leaving, because with Bush it was too much fun. But i think we have Sarah Palin now. Atleast for this, Sarah should win.

US presidential Elections - II

Have you seen the "Google Docs rox" video in youtube? I kind of like the "commoncraft" series. I dunno how many people know about this. But check the following video, titled, "Electing a US president in plain English".

The US system is so complex. The first time i was introduced to the US politics, it was through the module "Introduction to Political science" in my second year. Until then, i had no clue about their presidential system. We often read about this in "Civics" (Last few pages of "History" book, where they vaguely introduce rights, duties, blah, blah) in school. But who cares about Civics, when you get enough choice in "History" portion. (That is the plus side of studying in State board syllabus)

As i was saying, the US system is quite complex. But this video makes it so simple. I wish i had seen this video when i was doing that political science module. (Not that, it would have helped my grade. Just that it would have made me go to classes)

Why Obama is winning

I read an article in Time website today, about the Obama's journey in the last two years. Was really interesting. You can read it here.

"He is undoubtedly as ego-driven as everyone else seeking the highest office — perhaps more so, given his race, his name and his lack of experience. But he has not been childishly egomaniacal, in contrast to our recent baby-boomer Presidents — or petulant, in contrast to his opponent. He does not seem needy. He seems a grown-up, in a nation that badly needs some adult supervision."

Is it really the end of America and Capitalism?

Is the current crisis, the beginning of the end?

America has always been the sign of Democracy and Capitalism. (or Anglo-Saxon capitalism, as the Europeans like to call it). No denying that. My opinion is, Democracy is the best form of government, in spite of all the trouble that comes as one package. And capitalism is the best way to increase the prosperity and also is the best ideology for nation-building.

A serious question is being raised these days. Is the current crisis, the end of American dominance in the Finance ground? The American government is planning to buy stake in all the big banks. They have publicly announced that this is a short term decision and the government will not interfere in the banks activities. But many Europeans have already started saying that the American system has failed. Is it really the end of capitalism? I hope not.

But what exactly is about to happen? If indeed America fails miserably, what will happen next? Read this article in Wall Street Journal, titled, "The dangers of Diminished America". I think every line makes sense in this article. The failure of America will indeed create a power vacuum. And given the current situation, where the world rogue countries are either afraid of America or dependent on America, this could prove disastrous. The Democrats in America are already talking about ending the war in Iraq, abruptly. They are already talking about cutting foreign funding. They are going to concentrate more in Nation building. Considering the current situation, where Recession in the US in unavoidable, i think this can create real trouble for the next president. Lets hope Obama can lead the nation, as he led his campaign in the last two years, which is the best example of how a campaign should be run. McCain campaign was chaotic. Not in line with the Democrat, as pointed out by Colin Powell.

But the serious question remain, What is his stance going to be? Is he going to pull out the country from the world and create a "Financially induced Isolation" or he is going to keep the country as the focal point for the world and pay the huge price tag? We are not sure.

I have a friend, and we constantly argue about this. His view point is that capitalism has failed; Deregulation and Decentralization has failed. My point is, yes, it has failed to some extent. But the question to be asked is, "What alternative do we have?" And i truly believe Capitalism and Democracy is the best way for prosperity and we are not going to achieve that in a world where America fails, and a place where there is no one else to take up the leading role.

Also, read this interesting article in Newsweek magazine titled, "There is a silver lining", by Fareed Zakaria. And also, another article in Newsweek, by Francis Fukuyama, titled, "The End of America Inc"

Anyways, lets hope for the best and wait until January 2009.

Power of Oil !

Check the following link. I found it using stumble upon. Btw, if you havnt started stumbling yet, now is the time. Great tool to kill time.

http://www.dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm