US Financial Crises

The turmoil we're seeing on the share market is largely thanks to a free and easy approach to lending by US banks in recent years.

US banks and other lenders made loans to people who would tradtionally not have met credit criteria. When the inevitable happened and these loans turned sour, banks were left with billions of dollars out of pocket.

Here's how it all unravelled.

March 16

-Hard-hit by its heavy exposure to the faltering US mortgage market, Bear Stearns teetered close to collapse after an acute cash shortage caused its trading partners to lose confidence in the firm.

But the US Federal Reserve and Treasury brokered a deal for JPMorgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns at a rock-bottom price, with the Fed agreeing to guarantee $US29 billion in Bear Stearns assets taken on by JPMorgan.

July 11

-US regulators seized control of IndyMac Bank, the ninth-largest US mortgage lender, after a massive run on deposits and mounting loan defaults.

The IndyMac failure, the largest this year and the third largest commercial bank failure ever, was expected to cost the FDIC about $US8.9 billion from its $US52.8 billion insurance fund.

July 25

-The Australian share market suffers its biggest one-day fall in six months, on the back of bad news from National Australia Bank and a weak lead from Wall Street.

The share market fell about 3 per cent after NAB (nab.ASX:Quote,News) announced it set aside an additional $830 million to deal with potential losses stemming from the its exposure to the US sub-prime crisis.

July 28

After revealing a gigantic $1.2 billion bad debt provision for the second half of 2008, the ANZ had its stock hammered, dropping 9 per cent to $16.14.

September 7

-The US Government seized control of mortgage finance institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stabilise them after massive falls in their share price made it impossible for them to raise needed capital to sustain mounting mortgage losses.

The Treasury's move to put the government-sponsored enterprises into conservatorship and inject up to $US100 billion into each gave their debt and mortgage-backed securities a full US Government guarantee.

September 14

- Investment bank Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy protection, while rival Merrill Lynch agrees to be taken over by Bank of America.

- The US Federal Reserve says for the first time it will accept stocks in exchange for cash loans and 10 of the world's top banks agreed to establish a $US70 billion emergency fund, with any one of them able to tap up to a third of that.

September 15

- Insurer American International Group (AIG), says it is struggling for survival after losing some 92 per cent of its value this year.

September 16

- The US Federal Reserve Board says the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will lend up to $US85 billion to AIG, in a plan aimed at saving the company from a "disorderly failure" that could damage the global economy.

The US Federal Reserve says under the two-year facility, the US Government will receive a 79.9 per cent equity interest in the insurer and has the right to veto payment of dividends to common preferred shareholders.

September 17

- Plunges on Wall St sent doom and gloom around the world, including in Australia where the local market lost about $40 billion in one day and plenty of companies saw their shares nosedive.

- British bank Lloyds TSB agrees to buy rival HBOS, scooping up Britain's biggest home loan lender in an all-share deal which values HBOS at more than £12 billion pounds ($27 billion).

September 18

- The Fed expands its currency swap lines to $US247 billion, increasing the line with the European Central Bank to $US110 billion and the line with the Swiss National Bank to $US27 billion, while opening new swap facilities with the Bank of Japan of $60 billion, the Bank of England of $US40 billion, and the Bank of Canada of $US10 billion.

- The Lloyds TSB deal for HBOS is officially announced as the UK Government eases competition rules.

- The UK Financial Services Authority imposes a temporary ban on short-selling financial stocks.

September 19

- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls for the US Government to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to take toxic mortgage assets off the books of financial firms to restore financial stability.

- News of the bailout plan lifts shares, with the benchmark S&P 500 posting its best two-day rally in 21 years and Britain's top index notching up the biggest gain in its 24-year history.

September 20

- The Bush Administration asks Congress for $US700 billion to bail out firms burdened with bad mortgage debt, seeking extraordinary authority. Secretary Paulson would have sweeping powers over the funds.

- A US bankruptcy judge approves a revised version of British bank Barclays' purchase of the core US business of Lehman worth about $US1.75 billion.

September 21

- Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are granted approval to become bank holding companies regulated by the Fed, effectively killing off the investment banking model.

September 22

- Nomura Holdings says it will buy Lehman's franchise in Asia Pacific, including Japan and Australia and 3000 staff. It also acquires Lehman's business in Europe.

- Morgan Stanley agrees to sell an equity stake of as much as $US8.5 billion to top Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

September 23

- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tells lawmakers that a bailout is "embarrassing" but needed to stave off a deep recession and restore confidence.

September 24

- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway says it will buy up to 9 per cent of Goldman, which also announced plans to sell $US2.5 billion in common stock.

- CNN reports that the FBI was investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and insurer AIG and their senior executives for potential mortgage fraud.

September 25

- Washington Mutual is closed by the US Government, in by far the largest failure of a US bank. Its banking assets are sold to JPMorgan Chase for $US1.9 billion.

September 28

- Congressional leaders from both US parties say they have a tentative agreement on the $US700 billion fund.

September 29

- Britain announces the nationalisation of troubled mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley. Spanish bank Santander will buy its retail deposits and branch network.

- The Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments agree to inject €11.2 billion ($20.1 billion) into Benelux banking and insurance company Fortis.

- The US Congress votes against the $US700 billion bailout package overnight.

Today

The share market fell more than 5 per cent this morning, following the biggest ever single-day point decline on Wall St overnight.

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India and France have signed the N-Deal

Reports coming in suggest that India and France have singed a Nuclear deal which will allow India to import nuclear technology from France, this the first deal between India and any country after the NSG paved the way for civilian nuclear copration between India and its member counter, the first deal would have been with the US, but due to the financial crises in the US , the US was unable to sign the deal. The deal "will form the basis for enlarged bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy and research", the French presidency said in a statement.

American Congress had passed and agreement that would allow the US to provide nuclear materials to India last week the Senate, is expected to vote on the deal later this week.

The Framework Agreement for Civil Nuclear Co-operation was agreed with France in January.

Reports say the deal includes providing India with France's latest model of the European Pressurised Reactor as well as other civilian nuclear material.

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Indian secularism: Innocent Simi, but a communal VHP

By Balbir K. Punj

The recent serial bomb blasts across the country have got the “secularists” busy in building smoke screens, raising red herrings and finding scapegoats — all to save the real culprits. The terror machine in India has two faces: The “underground” one which plans and executes the violent operations, while the “over ground” face hides behind masks of human rights, social activists and NGOs and operates under a common brand name of “secularism”. Together, they provide an atmosphere conducive to the germination and growth of terrorism in the country.

How does the “secular” cabal provide covert and overt support to terror in the country? It does so by discouraging the rational and forward-looking elements in the Muslim community and promotes only renegades. Remember how Rajiv Gandhi dumped his progressive minister Arif Mohammad Khan and instead courted bigots and reversed the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case? Or how V.P. Singh wooed the Shahi Imam?

Not in the too distant past, the Kerala Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution seeking Madhani’s release, a man then behind bars for his alleged role in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts which had left 33 dead and 153 injured. A couple of weeks ago, leaders of three “secular” parties (the Congress, the BSP and the SP) were vying with each other in expressing their support for Abu Basher in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, after he was arrested for his involvement in the Ahmedabad blasts. What is the message being sent here?

While subsidy running into hundreds of crores of rupees is given for Haj, nothing tangible is done to wean away the Muslim youth from madrasas and motivate them to join the mainstream. In fact, the reverse is being done. Madrasas are being promoted and computers are being made available in a bid to “modernise” them. Equipment is not the issue; it is the mindset. Modern tools are being used to add to the lethal capacity of a medieval mindset. Right from the young men involved in flying planes into the Twin Towers in New York, to the ones involved in Delhi blasts, all are computer savvy and come from comparatively well-off backgrounds.

The 14-page email of the Indian Mujahideen, sent minutes before the Delhi blasts, started with a quotation from the Holy Quran. It said, “When you encounter (in fight) those who disbelieve, strike their necks first, till when you have completely massacred and wounded many of them. Then bind them firmly (taking them as captives). Thereafter is the time, either for generosity or a ransom, until the war lays down its burden (Quran 47:4).”
In the public outrage following the Delhi blasts, the “secularists” have been careful in not mentioning the fact that the terrorists quoted the Quran.

However, they have repeatedly recounted from the same email message the demolition of the Babri structure and the riots in Gujarat as the cause for jihadi anger. If the presumed injustice to the Muslim community is the cause of strike on India’s capital and other cities, why are their fellow jihadis attacking the national capital of the Islamic state of Pakistan? The continuing jihadi violence against Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the large number of Al Qaeda-inspired terror modules functioning in many European countries can only lead to one conclusion: This is radicalisation calling for a throwback to strict Islamic laws that deny education to women, discourage all entertainment, insist on strict implementation of purdah and carry out summary executions.

And what about 9/11? The US did not have any history of either Gujarat or Babri. The truth is that a section of the Muslim community is now ideologically motivated to impose its will on the rest of the world.

The demolition of the Babri structure, Gujarat riots or Muslim grievances are just smoke screens which “secularists” build to camouflage the real intention of terrorists. Then there is a well-practiced effort on the part of the “secularists” to blame the police of targeting “innocent Muslims” and of staging “false encounters”. The obvious attempt is to obfuscate issues and prevent security agencies from getting to the conspirators.

To divert attention from the real issues, “secularists” frequently raise red herrings.
For them, the Simi is an innocent organisation of Muslim youth fighting for justice, and a little bit of violence on the side is a minor indiscretion on the part of some misguided among them. So the ban on Simi is wrong. Shift the focus instead to the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, term them dangerous and ask for a ban on them. To “secularists”, Simi’s call for “Nizam-e-Mustafa” is probably only an expression of Muslim aspirations and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” is a provocative slogan endangering communal harmony!

There is no end to this sort of perverse logic. The other day, in a television studio, a Congress leader sought to redefine terror. To him, Hindu-Christian clashes in Orissa and Karnataka and the demolition of a mosque or church were in the same category as the serial bomb blasts. This logic has only one aim: Dilute the severity of the crime of the terrorists and find scapegoats.

If at all the definition of terrorism has to be enlarged, then logically it should include the Congress consenting to Partition, reversal of the Shah Bano judgment, demolition of temples and the forced eviction of Kashmiri pandits, revocation of land allotted to the Amarnath shrine board, the move to demolish Ram Sethu, allowing religious conversions through fraud and bribes, permitting hate literature against Hindu deities, displaying vulgar paintings of Hindu gods and Bharat Mata by M.F. Husain etc... the list is endless. Will “secularists” still insist on enlarging the scope of “terror-related” activities?

“Secularists” won’t allow laws which can help security agencies combat terror. Such laws already exist in most western countries. In most European countries a terror suspect could be detained for up to 30 days before being produced in the court. In the US, the anti-terror provisions are even stricter. Besides, as recent events in our own country have revealed, the trail often goes cold if even one cell is alive.

Muslim alienation and economic distress is leading some of the community’s youngsters to look to terror as an instrument of action — this is another “secular” argument. This is an absolute lie. Every other group that feels alienated or discriminated against is using democratic means of organized protest, political clout and intervention in the political process to get its demands accepted. Why is it that only one community is keeping away and sympathising with the merchants of terror? Why is it that Osama bin Laden is an icon within one community? Is there an theological underpinning to this macabre drama? Will “secularists” have the intellectual honesty to discuss this aspect of the problem?

Balbir K. Punj can be contacted at punjbk@gmail.com

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Headlines Today !!!!

I am an avid news watcher; the only thing I watch on the TV is watch the English News Channels. I am bit confused about one thing, so I am trying to find out from the world whether I have misunderstood the motto of the “Headlines Today” English channel, they clam that they are different for other news channels and what I have found out in the past 6 to 7 months is that then new on this channel is an afterthought, whenever I try to watch the channel I can see only the movie stars and mainly the Bachan’s on the channel, I only advice to the news editors is to stop clamming the channel as a news channel and rename as Entertainment Today channel

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Nanavati report

For the past 24hrs the news channels are making a hue and cry about Js. Nanavati report because the report was not up to what the media was expecting, the media and the so called the secular forces has come to a conclusion that what happened in Gujarat, Narendra Modi is to be blamed and no one else is responsible. If some one tried to question this thought then they are labeled as communal. If the report has blamed Mr. Modi, then justices Nanavati would have been hailed as the savior of secularism, but what to do the man has done his job and now every one is crying foul not because the report was done in a wrong way but the final conclusion in the report was not what the “secular” forces expected. The CPM party Politburo in a statement said that the report comes at a time when the country as a whole was bracing to meet the challenges posed by a series of terrorist attacks.” It (report) tends to reinforce communal stereotypes and prejudices rather than strengthening the need to pursue unbiasedly and impartially the anti-national criminals who are perpetrating such terrorist attacks. We are of the opinion that these findings must be kept aside and the country must await the directions of the apex court and the contingent investigations ordered,” I don’t what to write, I think the only country where bashing the majority in the norm is India, can’t we do some thing about this, the Hindu are also citizens of India.

The other day there was a report about a clash between some Hindus and Christian in Karnataka, the new reader was specific about reporting the causalities on the Christian side and not on the other side. Why this bias against Hindus. Why?

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Russia paying back the US

Russia has sent it warships Peter the Great and destroyer Admiral Chabanenko to the Caribbean for a joint exercises with a Latin America since the end of the Cold War. This action is seen on the world stage as a pay back to US for sending its fleet to the black sea to support Georgia. Peter the Great is armed with 20 nuclear cruise missiles and up to 500 surface-to-air missiles, making it one of the most formidable warships in the world. The Kremlin has courted Venezuela and Cuba as tensions with the West soared over the proposed US missile shield in Eastern Europe and the Russian invasion of Georgia last month. Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, said recently that Russia should “restore its position in Cuba” – the nation where deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in 1962 brought Russia and the United States to the brink of nuclear war. Will US be able to take any action against this ? I don't think so. The US is already facing a financial crises. It doesn't have the will or the power to counter the Russians at this point of time.

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Nuke deal caught in US financial storm

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike are gone from mainland United States, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is flying into a perfect financial storm that could make the US-India nuclear deal, a pet project of the Indian leader and the US president, a momentary casualty.
Singh, a distinguished economist himself, will understand that, and perhaps even revel in studying the Bush administration's titanic struggle to contain the cataclysm on Wall Street ahead of the nuke deal. By the time he lands in New York late on Tuesday, America's financial landscape would have changed, with the transformation of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last of the hoary investment firms on Wall Street, into humble retail bankers who will submit to more rigorous control by Washington in return for greater protection.

"What a fall there was, my countrymen," might well be the week's ironic refrain in reference to the monumental changes on the first day of autumn, the equinox falling on September 22. As the Bush administration rushed its $ 700 billion rescue package to the Hill on Monday, there were dirges aplenty for "the death of capitalism."

There was also a political confrontation brewing in Washington DC over the "You've Got Bail," rescue package that augured ill for the nuclear deal. Democrats sought greater oversight over the $ 700 billion bailout and protection for homeowners. Bush urged them not to stall the emergency legislation to tag their provisions.

"The whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly to shore up our markets and prevent damage to our capital markets, businesses, our housing sector, and retirement accounts... Failure to act would have broad consequences far beyond Wall Street. It would threaten small business owners and homeowners on Main Street," Bush warned, as America held its breath about the next steps for its flailing economy. Oil shot up by $ 25 a barrel – a record for a single day – because of the uncertainty.

The immediate consequence for India of this crisis was the stalling of the nuke deal, a singular obsession for the media in India even though it is on the margins in the US. A Senate panel which held a hearing on the deal last week did not list it for mark-up at Tuesday meeting although it scheduled Nato expansion protocols, US-Brazil Energy Pact, and Foreign Service Overseas Pay Equity Act among other items for consideration.

The House side has not even scheduled a hearing. Congress adjourns on September 26, and Prime Minister Singh is slated to visit Washington on 25th afternoon. There are indications that Congress might extend its sitting by a week or more to deal with the financial crisis, in which case there will be a more time to vote on the agreement, although it won't be done when, or by the time, the prime minister is here.

Both sides are keen that it be tied up before the PM comes here and officials are exploring all kinds of legislative strategies, including a "continuing resolution," to get around the wrinkles, but with little help from a distracted Congress. Some Democratic law-makers, especially on the House side, also want to ensure that President Bush does not take home bragging rights for the nuclear deal – even if it means the Indian prime minister has to return from Washington empty-handed. All that may come out of Singh's meeting with Bush may be a hello, thank you, and goodbye, but no one is ruling out surprises.

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Want to settle scores? File police complaint

Chennai : Most people find a visit to the police station a harrowing experience even if it is for a trivial matter like filing a complaint for a missing ration card or passport. But a few others can get away with complaints that defy all logic. The cops, who normally ask so many questions to find out if a missing passport or ration card was ‘really’ missing, did not even blink at the incredulous claim of a woman that she had gone to the her relative’s home with 32 sovereigns of gold for no apparent reason and that somebody had stolen it while she was on her way back home one evening.

No questions were asked as to why she went carrying so much jewellery at that time. In another incident, the police approached an elderly couple, in their sixties, from Virugambakkam claiming that they had received a complaint from a relative of the couple who claimed that the husband had killed his 100-year-old father-in-law and was trying to swindle their ancestral property.

“My wife and I built this home after taking a loan from a nationalised bank. Since we do not have children, my wife’s brothers are now threatening us to give away the property. When we refused, they went and filed a police complaint against us,” said the retired executive who requested anonymity. The couple spent sleepless nights for more than a week waiting for the local inspector to call them for an interrogation after the police summoned them to the police station. “Such incidents are common. If your neighbour has recently been selected for a government job and you don’t want him to get the job, all one has to do is bribe the local station and file a complaint.

The police will file an FIR which will eventually be withdrawn, meanwhile the job offer goes for a toss,” said a police official. The person who knows his ways around local police stations gets to register a case at will solely for the purpose of harassing people. Corrupt policemen, who sense a kill, also take lot of interest in such cases especially if the person against whom the complaint appears vulnerable with no proper connections. “Ideally they should get in touch with their family lawyer, which often puts off troublesome relatives,” advised a senior police officer.

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Is this the end of US Economic Supremacy

GLOBAL CAPITALISM has now entered a new phase, one that is unprecedented in its history. And the core of capitalism — the US economy — has certainly entered uncharted territory, particularly in the financial sector. The still-unfolding financial crisis has already gone way beyond the predictions of even relatively pessimistic observers and threatens to cause a financial collapse at the heart of the international economy.

Of course, much of this could easily have been predicted even by policy makers in the US if they had not been in denial about the very dubious and fragile foundations of the recent boom in the US. Now there is no doubt at all that the financial deregulation of the 1980s and 1990s, aided by the incentives to finance provided by successive US governments, is essentially responsible.

This financial liberalisation allowed banks and other financial institutions not only to behave in completely irresponsible and greedy ways, but to do it in such a non-transparent manner that they themselves were unaware of the full extent of their own exposure and vulnerability. But US officials and market analysts all tended to underplay this, arguing that finance companies would be efficient at regulating themselves simply because they stood to lose in the event of failure.

This argument even determined the new codes of conduct of the Bank for International Settlements, in its “Basel II norms”, which effectively put the onus on banks to assess their own risks and thereby regulate themselves. So the malaise spread beyond the US to other countries, such as the UK and even developing countries in Asia and elsewhere. Thus, in India too, we have problems in terms of an over-extended financial sector that has tried to disguise its exposure to problematic debt by converting them into securities.

The bubble in the US attracted savings from across the world, including from the poorest developing countries, so that for at least five years the South as a whole transferred financial resources to the North. And now all this is also under threat as the list of creditors, who directly and indirectly transferred funds to troubled US financial institutions, includes workers’ pension funds from developing countries as far apart as Malaysia and Chile. The current chairman of the US Federal Reserve (the US’ central bank) Ben Bernanke actually argued that this financial flow from South to North reflected the innate and continuing real strengths of the US economy, rather than a search for speculative gains during a bubble.

All that is now history as more banks, mortgage companies and insurance providers reveal their problems and it becomes evident that this enormous and dynamic financial structure was mostly rotten. The declared losses are already huge, and major institutions have already collapsed or had to be rescued with enormous bailout packages.

Already, the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve have spent unbelievable amounts — estimated to be more than $600 billion in the past year and more than $200 billion in the past two months alone — to help bail out some of the most respected institutions in American finance. Yet this may still be only the tip of the iceberg as the crisis is far from over and more institutions will definitely face problems.

The former chief economist of the IMF, Kenneth Rogoff, has said that “it is hard to imagine how the US government is going to succeed in creating a firewall against further contagion without spending five to 10 times more than it has already, that is an amount closer to $1,000-$2,000 billion”.

Even that may not be enough in the bottomless pit that is now being created by financial fragility. So, quite apart from the problem of moral hazard generated by such large bailouts, there is the problem of financing these large outlays from the government budget. On September 17, the Fed actually asked the US government to sell debt on its behalf, in order to finance these huge bailouts.

There is more involved than the cost to taxpayers. Even if the bailouts are financed through debt, the prescient Mr Rogoff has noted that ”a large expansion in debt will impose enormous fiscal costs on the US, ultimately hitting growth through a combination of higher taxes and lower spending. It will certainly make it harder for the US to maintain its military dominance, which has been one of the linchpins of the dollar”.

The most recent evidence suggests that the crisis in the US is now entering what economist Charles Kindleberger called “the revulsion phase”, whereby credit dries up as investors seek more safe ways of holding on to their wealth. After the middle of September, many credit markets stopped working normally as investors all over the world tried to move their investments into safe areas, such as buying gold or US Treasury Bills. Indeed, by September 18 the yield on US Treasury Bills, at 0.06 per cent, was lower than it had been for more than 50 years as terrified investors scurrying to “safety” bid up the price. Globally, stock markets have also been falling, and the stage seems to be set for a move from revulsion to the next stage of crisis — panic.

So it is clear why we are moving to a different world economy: in which predatory finance has got itself into such huge problems that it must be rescued with huge resources by the State using taxpayers’ money; where that State itself is weakened and its ability to continue as the dominant imperial power and provide a stable international regime is under question; and most of all, when the economic paradigm that underlined all this is finally being rejected even by many of its own practitioners. This is a tremendous opportunity to reinstate a more progressive international economic order. We in the Left should not waste it.

By --- Jayati Ghosh

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Should we change the terror law

Should we not have a specific law to deal with the terror in this
country? The UPA government tells the country that any anti terror law
will be used against the minorites. Dose this government worry about
only about the minorites and not about the majority. Dont we count for
the votes. Terror dose not target any one community, it affects every
one. Because of this soft handling of terror in this country, we have
become a soft target.

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Delhi Serial Blast

Terror has stuck again in india and that to in the capital city. Reports coming in suggest that nearly 20 dead and many injured. The reports also tells that there were 5 blasts and 2 bombs were defused. This time the terrorest have selected markets to target the people of this country. The first bomb went off around 6.15pm and in the next 45 mins 4 more bombs went off.

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Smoking Ban in India

Should smoking be banned in India? Most people will think that I am crazy to ask this question, but think hard, the health minister has come out with a plan that smokers will be fined Rs.200 (which will be increased to Rs.1000), the reason the minister is giving is that nearly a million people die due to smoking related issues, but what is the lose to the government? India doesn’t have welfare system which take care of the it’s people, we don’t have social security net, the government doesn’t pay for the health care, if the minister is so concerned for the public health , why not ban the cigarettes? Which he can not do, the Finance minister will kick his ass, and the tobacco industry is one of the main revenue generators for the government. We have banned drugs which normally kill a few thousand, but we are unwilling to ban cigarettes, why? Don’t we have the right to choose what is best for us? Many people will argue that most of the western countries have banned smoking in public places, there is a good health care system in place where they look after there own people , if a person is admitted in hospital the government incurs a lose. But what about in India, first the minister should look into providing a good health care to the masses. Then we can look into banning things

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US offers India 24 harpoon missiles

The US has offered India a $170 million deal for the sale of two dozen Harpoon air to ground anti-ship missiles to modernise its air force anti-surface warfare mission capabilities and improve its naval operational flexibility.
The Pentagon announced the possible sale of the Harpoon missiles to India as Defence minister A K Antony met his US counterpart Robert Gates Tuesday "to discuss ways to deepen the bilateral security cooperation and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest."
There was no official word from the Indian side but the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said it had notified the Pentagon of the possible Foreign Military Sale to India of Harpoon Block II Missiles as well as associated equipment and services. Such a deal would be worth as much as 170 million dollars. "The Government of India has requested a possible sale of 20 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles and 4 ATM-84L Harpoon Block II Exercise missiles," the agency said.
"This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of an important partner and to strengthen the US-India strategic relationship, which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in South Asia," it said. "India intends to use the Harpoon missiles to modernise its Air Force Anti-Surface Warfare mission capabilities and improve its naval operational flexibility.
"The missiles will assist the Indian Navy to develop and enhance standardisation and operational ability with the United States. India will have no difficulty absorbing these missiles into its armed forces," DSCA said. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale, it said. The prime contractor will be The Boeing Company of St. Louis, Missouri.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not affect the basic military balance in the region. There will also be no adverse impact on US defence readiness, DSCA said. The Harpoon is an all weather, subsonic, over the horizon, anti-ship missile which can be launched from surface ships, submarines and aircraft.
The Harpoon Block II is the latest version of the Harpoon missile and is able to strike land-based targets and ships in littoral environments. The Harpoon Block II missile can discriminate target ships from islands and other nearby land masses. The Block II is fully compatible with current operating Harpoon platforms with no modifications required.

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Aarushi murder case

This is not the first time the CBI has not filed a charge sheet and this will be not the last time also.

but why this hue and cry over a single murder case in the media, if a any one watched the news channels on 9Th Sept they will think that this the first murder in India, we had a lot of cases which affect the common man which has gone into cold storage because of CBI not filing the charge sheet, which was not take by the media with this much glee. so let us stop bugging the family any more and let the police and the CBI do there job.

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US worried about Zardari's control over N-arsenal

Several US officials have expressed concern over reports that PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari, who was diagnosed with mental problems as late as last year, will have partial control over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if elected president, a media report said on Monday.
Though Zardari's spokespersons contend that he had been cured, the American officials were wary of Zardari having a partial control over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if elected to the post in the September six presidential polls, Newsweek reported.
"Typically (the US) would not want that kind of person involved in a nuclear chain of command," said Pete Hoekstra, ranking Republican on the US House Intelligence Committee.
Doctors hired by Zardari had reportedly diagnosed him with problems like including dementia, depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
Lawyers for Zardari, the report noted, argued in London's High Court that he was too ill to testify in corruption-related cases, and they submitted recent mental health evaluations as evidence.

In March 2007, the Financial Times reported, New York psychologist Stephen Reich concluded Zardari was "chronically anxious and apprehensive" and had thoughts of suicide, though he had not acted on them.
The newspaper wrote that a New York psychiatrist, Philip Saltiel, found that Zardari's long imprisonment in Pakistan while facing corruption probes had left him with "emotional instability" as well as memory and concentration problems.

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Indo-US Nuke Deal – Victory in Vienna

At last India got the much awaited waver from NSG today in Vienna, but China which was supporting the Indian stand (Publicly) played a spoil spot in the private, this incident clearly shows that we can not believe China in the futher for what it tells, India has been as responsible nuclear power which strongly supported non-proliferation unlike China which passed nuclear tech to Pakistan and reports suggest that it even conducted a nuclear test for Pakistan in 1990’s, The victory in Vienna will be a big boost for the UPA and the Indian PM Dr.Monmohan Sing. Now let us come to the economics of this deal. What will be the price of Electricity produced from nuclear power, will Indian consumers willing pay the price. If the cost comes around Rs.7 per Unit, will the state governments willing pay for it? Nuclear energy alone will not be able to meat the demands of Indian power consumption in the coming years, the government should take steps to tap in to other sources of energy generation like wind and tidal power. The waver in Vienna has ended the Indian isolation in the nuclear club.

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Indo-US Nuke Deal - Did BUSH mislead India

Is this the case of Bush misleading India or Indian PM misleading the
country? Reports suggest that our PM knew about the letter but did not inform the parliament or the people of India about it. If what is written in the latter is true then we have to have a close look at the deal once again, The Indian PM gave an assurance in the parliament that there is no link between India testing a nuclear device and the Indo-US nuke deal. The letter clearly states that all cooperation between US and India will end if India conducts a nuclear test. One more thing, why was this letter kept secret for nearly 9 months even though it was not labeled as secret, does Indian PM and the US state dept. knew that the Indian government would not survive the trust vote? The state of India cannot depend on one man’s (US President Bush) word regarding the nuke deal; this is not a deal between two people but a deal between two nations. The fate of the Indo-US nuclear deal will be sealed today, at the all important Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting at Vienna. India specific waiver draft placed in front of the NSG states.India has voluntarily committed itself to continuing its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing and its readiness to work with others towards the conclusion of a Multilateral Fissile Material Cut-off treaty.India refraining from transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do not have them and supporting international efforts to limit them.The NSG governments can transfer nuclear technology to India for peaceful purposes and for use in IAEA safeguard civil nuclear facilities satisfying clauses.After going trough the draft I am in a dilemma whether we will get that deal.

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Tata to shutdown singur nano plant

What now? Is this the end of industry in West Bengal? The protest will affect the people of Singur who want to get out of poverty. A lot of young people have got jobs in the Tata plant, which will be lost now. All local people did not support the protest in front of the plant. Mamtha may gain some support but she will loose a lot if TATA's pull out of Singur. A man committed suicide on 3rd sept. In Singur because he feared that his 3 sons will loose their jobs if TATA pulls out of Singur. Dose Mamtha wants the people in Singur to live in poverty all their life. I am a son of a farmer and I know from my personal experiences that we don’t get much return from agriculture anymore in India. Daily farm hands can earn a max of Rs.60 to Rs80 a day, but if they work in a factory as daily labors then they can earn nearly Rs150 to Rs250 a day. A person who has visited Singur can tell you the difference last 6 to 8 months. So let us stop bringing in political in to each and every thing in this country.

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