Aid 2.0

Interesting article in Economist about new players for global aid for poor countries..  Especially about India. Felt good to know that India is active in global aid business to help poor countries remove poverty!!!  There are both sides of the this coin.. First is good news.. Great that India is becoming economically stronger to go out and help other countries..  Second is confusing.. What the hell!!! there are bloody 400 million below poverty line in your own country and you are still taking aid from world bank and many other aid agencies and you are going out and trying to fix problem of other countries..

This "Gareebi Hatao" (remove poverty) is going on in India for last 5-6 decades.. Despite that there is growing divide between rich and poor.. You can't fix problem in your own backyard and you are going out to fix it for others!!! amazing.. I guess, this will be another scam pretty soon.. this time in foreign policy side.. I am sure there has to be some economical ties between Gaddafi and our political leadership.. otherwise there was no reason for India to support dictator like Gaddafi for so long... When you have such a screwed up foreign policies and on top of that you are adding this 6-7 Billion USD aid every year.. We can imagine what will come out of it..

Libya Air Strikes

Lot of my friends have expressed their opinion about Libya No Fly Zone or Libya Air attacks. Lot of people are shocked to see Noble Peace Prize Winner Obama going for war or going to kill hundreds and thousands of people..
There are different arguments against air strikes.

Primarily, Why only Libya? Why not other countries in middle east where similar protests by population are suppressed without much of noise from western world. Is it just because Libya has more oil and gas than those countries? or those regimes are more friendly to US/West than Col. Gaddafi. Why not similar action in Myanmar (Burma) where "Junta" Regime has killed thousands of people in last decade. There it would have been even more easier to dislodge them. They will simply go if US and West simply stops trading with them. But no body cares about these countries for variety of reasons.

Then, second question is about exit strategy.. We are saying that there won't be any boots on the grounds. CIA is already working with rebels. What does that means. Can we get away without sending any boots on ground. What if all this results in further deterioration in conditions in Libya. What if new government is somewhat similar to Afghanistan's Taliban. There is no guarantee of decent regime if Col. Gaddafi is dislodged. If he some how manages to stay then we are in even bigger trouble. Probably, Libya will become even better sanctuary for Al-Qaeda type organizations.

In my view, there was imminent danger of wiping out couple of cities in Libya by Col. Gaddafi's forces if air strikes were not started. Unfortunately,  I think it was question of number of causalities. Which action will result in how many loss of lives. I guess, result was more in favor of air strikes.

Then about exit strategy. I am assuming with US and western tactical support, Rebels should be able to dislodge Col. Gaddafi and his regime. There is very slight chances that he might survive. I feel that is worth the risk. Also, if some sense will prevail in rebel groups and Libyan mass population, I think something good will come out of it. They are not fighting just to get rid of Col. Gaddafi. Hopefully they are looking for bigger goal of true freedom and democracy in their country/area.

I hope for best and wish them all the best!! 

Is it too little and too late?

Glad to see some action by international community (aka US, France, Britain & Arab League) on Gaddafi Inc. Honestly, same action would have dramatic impact if our Dear Mrs. Clinton would have worked harder on getting coalition sooner. However, I am happy to see some action, for which I had lost all hopes after Japanese Earthquake/Sunami tragedy. I am happy to see some support, even though it is too little and too late and if it was taken earlier, it would have save lot of lives. but... never mind..

At the same time, I was ashamed to see India abstaining from voting for resolution on Libya. It just shows how much guts we have to face truth and do what is right and then we want permanent position on UN Security council. Shame on Indian government and diplomats. This totally exposes them. They need to accept the fact that world order is changing and there can't be neutral postion. You have to on the side of truth and people. You simply can't sit in a corner. If Gaddafi Inc. was that great friend then you are better off opposing resolution. But then you don't have guts to do that. As an Indian, my head goes down when these type of incidences happen.. We simply can't keep on supporting Dictatorships like Gaddafi Inc. and Myanmar Junta and such.. Come in open and support "Satyamev Jayate" which is more of symbolic icon of Indian government rather than anybody really following or understanding it. Hiding or running away from truth is only going to prolong these kind messes we are in. We need to understand that People are friends not rulers.. Rulers come and go but your image and reputation stays as a true friend with People. It doesn't make any difference, if you get couple of billion dollars worth oil services contracts or get lot of your gas/LNG (in case of Myanmar). You need to support truth and only truth.. truth is never easy to follow but rewards are equally greater if you follow path of truth and base your friendships and relationships on truth..

I hope people's revolution wil continue to spread and continue to become mature. Governments as a whole will become better and thus this whole world!!!