I get to see Ezekiel Isaac Malekar at least twice a year. A pleasant person wearing a kippah, Malekar is a permanent invitee at many Indian government’s national functions, including the birth and death anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi at the Gandhi Smriti, in the heart of New Delhi, where Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. Sitting next to a Maulvi, a Muslim teacher/scholar, Malekar recites passages from Torah and translates them into English as the President, Prime Minister and other people...

As David Headley gets ready to spill the beans at a Chicago court about Pakistan ISI’s direct involvement in Mumbai 26/11 attacks, the White House in Washington is nervous. Headley’s statements during Chicago trial “will be explosive,” said one senior Obama administration official, who confirmed that White House officials are well aware and closely watching, says MSNBC. But that’s not the main reason why Obama administration is chewing its nails. Headley may also reveal...

American media, by and large, seems to be doing a great injustice to the American people by keeping them in the dark about the looming crisis in Afghanistan. The US administration is refusing to admit major reversals although there has been a daring jail break by 500 Taliban militants, and now the killing of 8 NATO soldiers (see here). Barack Obama seems to have finally abandoned the slogan for “CHANGE” and has formally handed over American foreign policy to the US war machine. President...

If Pakistan and the US were a married couple, instead of being strategic players, counselors would recommend at least a long trial separation, if not a total divorce. This conclusion appeared after a marathon brain-storming session organised at Washington DC on Pakistan’s future and the US role that lasted for nearly five hours. One wishes that these think-tanks and specialists also put their ears to the ground instead of merely enjoying a clever argument and a repartee followed by a heavy...

Yes, that’s exactly what the British celebrity woman Jemima Khan, former wife of the world’s legendary cricketer Imran Khan, has to say. All governments lie at some time or the other. But when the web of lies becomes untenable and threaten world peace and financial security, then the alarm bells are set off. Jemima Khan in this video (http://bit.ly/dTDFaV) states: “Corruption, war crimes and torture have become a part and parcel of the US policy.” Jemima Khan, a British...

In this age when Internet has extensively intruded our public and private space, a literary event last evening held at the Alliance Française, New Delhi, marked a wonderful start to a new forum “Written Word, Etc.” A packed auditorium comprising young students as well as elderly folks, were in for a memorable treat. They listened with rapt attention the celebrated Indian author Vikram Seth in conversation with Sam Miller, journalist and author of “Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity....

Tibetan religious leader in-exile “Karmapa” Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is likely to replace the Dalai Lama as the world symbol of Tibetan Buddhism and icon of Tibetan aspirations, is now surrounded with a serious controversy. Police in India have raided his monastery near Dharamsala, and allegedly recovered foreign and Indian currency worth nearly Rs 70 million. Dorje, now 25, is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and has been in Dharamsala since his headline-making...

After the dramatic Tunisian uprising in the Middle East, violent unrest has broken out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities. Nowhere is the U.S. dilemma more urgent than in Egypt, writes Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center and a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. “The January 14 popular revolt in Tunisia, the first ever to topple an Arab dictator, has called into question a basic premise of U.S. policy in the Middle East...

Sargent Shriver, who died at age 95, was among those well-known Americans who pursued social causes with great enthusiasm. He highlighted the positive aspects of the American society. Unlike the present mindless “War on Terrorism”, Shriver ran the “War on Poverty” and founded, or was an early advocate of groups, including Peace Corps, “Special Olympics”, Head Start, VISTA, Job Corps, Community Action, Legal Services, Upward Bound, and Foster Grandparents…...

My friend Vlasta Molak informs me that the world’s oldest Jewish woman is Alice Herz-Sommer, who celebrated her 107th birthday recently on November 26, 2010. In my recent article I had mentioned that this honour goes to India’s Fori Nehru, 102. Thank you Vlasta. I had given the heading based on the information in The Week magazine. The author had stated: “While researching for this story, THE WEEK contacted the Israel embassy in New Delhi, and Galit Hoffman, former spokesperson...

I am sure this remarkable 102-year-old woman would never approve of the heading I have given to this story. Not long ago, I took a British friend to meet her at her house in Kasauli, an old quaint Indian town in the lower Himalayas. Fori smiled when she was told by my friend that his mother was “old” and in her early eighties. “You know at that age I was quite frisky,” she said, and we all had a hearty laugh. Born Magdolna Friedmann on December 5, 1908, in Budapest (Hungary),...

I have been a great admirer of Hollywood’s great war classics. Who can forget “All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)”, “The Longest Day’, “The Bridge on The River Kwai”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, and so on. But in the present times some see an unholy nexus between the war machine and the Hollywood. Al Jazeera has an interesting article and panel discussion on the subject. “War is hell, but for Hollywood it has been a Godsend, providing the...

The US administration’s clumsy handling of the WikiLeaks affair is endangering America’s traditionally strong ties with Australia, its trusted comrade-in-arms. In fact Australia’s prime minister Ms Julia Gillard and the Aussie foreign minister Kevin Rudd have begun to sing different tunes. (Kevin Rudd was removed from his post as prime minister owing to an internal coup and Ms Gillard became the prime minister). While prime minister Ms Gillard said the latest WikiLeaks information...

It seems my last post on TMV (WikiLeaks: Educating Americans About Open Society) has touched a raw nerve in some. Well that was the exact purpose. My journalistic mission has been to get people out of their comfort zone and provoke them to participate in a spirited no-holds-barred discussion. I try to irritate those who have a habit of trivializing issues I have been writing for more than two decades that Pakistan’s government/army/ISI has become a mere puppet in the hands of the US government....

William Kern, my colleague at TMV, quoted a Spanish paper’s headline: “WikiLeaks: The Assault on ‘Big Brother’ Begins (El Pais, Spain). He also mentions another article headlined “Thanks to WikiLeaks’ Disclosure, Classical Diplomacy is Dead.” To the world at large America now, post-United States diplomatic cables leak, appears as a large wild elephant caught in the quagmire of its own making. And a very very confused nation. Earlier, poor George W. Bush was blamed...

As the US establishment, and many in the American media, have begun to build up hysteria against WikiLeaks and virtually calling for the assassination of Julian Assange, I am reminded of the warning by President John F. Kennedy which is so relevant even today (See You Tube). Kennedy warned that there was a “danger to the survival of our nation if our traditions don’t survive.” Kennedy said: “The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society. Inherently and historically,...

After writing my earlier post, I came across an article in Bloomberg offering more clarity on this complex issue of US Federal Reserve disclosures that affects the security and economy not only of the USA but the global community. “The Federal Reserve withheld details on individual securities pledged as collateral by recipients of $885 billion in central bank loans, denying taxpayers a measure of the risks they faced from its emergency aid.” More here… The data from the Federal...

The real security threat, internal or external, to the USA may not come from Osama bin Laden or WikiLeaks. The Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says banks are undermining the rule of law in America and bad mortgages still fester. In 2009 Stiglitz had advocated nationalization of US banks. Yesterday, under the compromise contained in the Dodd-Frank Act, the US Federal Reserve Board released details of who borrowed what from its various emergency programmes from December 1st 2007 to July...

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, described as Burma’s Mandela, is no longer under house arrest. The Burmese military junta set her free on Saturday and she was greeted by thousands of her supporters. “I’m very happy to see you all again,” she told the crowd gathered near her lakeside home in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. (See video here…) U.S. President Barack Obama said: “I admire Suu Kyi’s courage. She is a hero of mine and a source of inspiration for all who...

Burmese leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, 65, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest, could be released tomorrow (Saturday) by Myanmar’s military junta. The Burmese junta says it is preparing for the release of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi after international condemnation (including president Barack Obama’s recent strong remarks) of last weekend’s election and fears that a delay could spark demonstrations, reports The Australian. ” ‘We haven’t got any instructions...