food for thought - non astro except for ending

[Guest guest]

Hi All!

A belated but perhaps still timely comment on some letters that were written

during my absence.

 

I must start with chastising two of my fans - alas - for their remarks: KV for

saying that the "US deserved what it got" and someone who suggested that the US

deserved what it got for it allowed meat-eating! Both were rather emotional

outbreaks, I guess, without either deeper thought or clearer explanation.

 

The second idea re. meat-eating is absurd: there is no vegetarian nation and as

such the US is no special sinner worthy of special punishment!

 

KV´s remarks were not clearly explained, for I´m sure that he did not mean what

his words apparently said.

 

I´m writing this because the attack on the WTC has has gained in tragic

substance for me during my holidays. In Geneva I met two Indian families who

were hit badly. One son had just got a coveted job there and had gone, for the

first time, to the WTC to take up his new post - and died????? No news of him!

Another son lived in Boston, had to go to New York for a business meeting, NOT

at the WTC. He could not get a ticket, was on the waiting list. At the last

moment the airlines callked him and offered a seat, owing to a cancellation. He

took the flight and banged into tower 1.

 

A person with a French name took great offence when I said things that were not

nice for US citizens to hear. Much later Hossesgirl has also reacted rather

violently, said that US citizens were not dumb!

 

On this list there are perhaps only 2 people who will understand me: Don and

myself! But i still venture to state:

 

US citizens in general are dumb and this applies to all nations! Regarding

dictator-governed nations one has to say nothing: the public never knows what is

going on. Re. so-called democracies the situation is a bit different. We elect

governments on a national basis: choose the party that seems to promise the best

for us - at home! So we choose a party that promises better social aid or

better schooling etc. Many of these aims and their fulfilment are "transparent",

depend on priorities and available funds.

 

BUT WHO CHOOSES A PARTY FOR ITS FOREIGN POLICY?

 

Foreign politics has always been a matter of secrecy and intrigue - be it

Chanakya or Machiavelli, HONESTY was NEVER the principle, but the advantages for

one´s own nation dictated the secret treaties - often in opposition to the

openly acknowledged treaties.

 

Charles II of England sat on a precarious throne and spent his time in

humanitarian activities and philosophical discussdions, AVOIDED political

matters, as he "did not want to go on his travels again", as he put it,

referring to his years of exile! A crony of his, criticizing some of the laws

passed during the time, asked him, "Charles, your words are full of wisdom, but

why are are your deeds so stupid?" Charles answered, "My words are my own, but

my deeds are those of my ministers!"

 

Today it is people and government, not king and parliament. I can say a lot

against the US, but mean the US government, not the people! The tragedy is that

the people pay for the sins of their governments.

 

Deliberately directed at US - and Indian - Citizens I say this:

 

 

The claims that the US has liberated Europe from Nazi terrorism is boloney. The

US was fixed on a policy of Isolationism. Philanthropy was nowhere involved,

neither in the US nor in the rest of Europe. All countries had their

intelligence services and knew what was happening to the jews. When Hitler

offered to "sell" the jews at a nominal price per head, NO NATION was ready to

buy - to save the jews at a moderate price!

 

The Marshall Aid given to Europe after World WarII was NOT a sign of

philanthropy. It was NECESSITY. Communist Russia had been a small factor but

had suddenly become a challenge. Western Europe - including west Germany - had

to be pepped up to withstand the soviet threat! Marshall Aid was given to stem

the Soviet hegemony.

 

US intervention in world politics has NEVER been for the defence of any moral

aim, but to serve its own interests.

 

NO NATION HAS EVER INTERVENED IN ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY TO DEFEND ANY MORAL

PRINCIPLE! ALL INTERVENTION HAS BEEN ONLY FOR ADVANTAGES.

 

NO GI WENT TO GERMANY OR VIET NAM OR KOREA TO DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS, BUT DID SO

BECAUSE HE WAS ORDERED TO FIGHT! AND GIS DID COMMIT ATROCITIES WHERE THEY

FOUGHT, INCLUDING IN KOSOVO!

 

India´s position in Kashmir is dubious, its intervention in Sri Lanka

questionable! NOT MORALS but EXIGENCIES dictated the actions. Hindus may have

holy places in Kashmir, but the majority of the population is moslem. So why

does India not withdraw? India cashed in on junagadh and Hyderabad, both had

moslem rulers but the population was hindu. why does this rule not apply to

Kashmir?..

Only political exigency!

 

There are occasions when terror in certain parts of the world benefitted other

parts. The terror of the Soviet Union was a boon for the people of western

Europe: the employee got his rights against the will of the employer! There had

been times when poor factory workers were not paid in cash, but in "material"!

It could be towels, soap, toffies or what you will, that the employee could buy

cheap! But the haves learned that if they treated the the have-nots like that

they would have a bolshevik revolution and lose their heads! So they started

recognizing trade unions and workers´rights.

 

The US is not PARADISE! It is not true that all human beings dream of the

"Green-Card". As a western country the US has the least social securities and

compensations. Eurpean countries offer much much more. Four to six weeks of paid

holidays are guaranteed, as well as 60% of wages during unemployment. No

average European will ever want to get to the US. Nor will anyone in the third

countries, but for the fact that Europeaqn states do not take immigrants - for

sheer lack of room! The US is huge and can take immigrants - for some time

yet! - and offers specialized opportunities. I personally love the US but will

never think of living there!

 

So let us forget this "We"! We are not our governments.

 

Don and I know that what the spokesmen of our governments say is not always the

truth. Even if "morals" should be the basis, the spokesmen can never say the

truth! Can the Pentagon or Bush ever clearly say what their plans are at a

press conference? Is glasnost so important or sensible that the enemy knows

exactly what is planned? All the interviews on TV are stupid! Who would ever

reveal the tactics for the enemy to guard himself? For the best of regimes, the

press is a damn nuisance!

 

Rule 1: re. foreign politics do not believe what the govt. spokesman says.

 

Rule 2. re internal politics: if the media suggest something and the govt. does

not react, it was only a rumour. But if the Govt. reacts with a denial, the

thing is on the move. If the denial is repeated more vehemently - a dementi -

the thing is certain to happen!

 

Weeks back, it was reported that the identities of the terrorists involved in

WTC had been found, farewell letters and even a passport found in the debris

(!!!!!) How could one be so naive as to believe in this shit? It should have

been obvious that all identities - and letters - were faked to give a false

trail and give the culprits time to obliterate all other clues.

 

Meanwhile I am prepared to take a bet that Bin Laden did not plan the attack,

but had only inspired it. I would take saddam hussein as the master-mind behind

the actual attack.

 

My neice in Brooklyn wrote that a number of the volunteers who came to help at

the WTC plundered the shops in the basement. This was confirmed by the Herald

Tribune a week later. VIVA AMERICA!

 

 

BTW she also said that 4000 Israelis had not reported for work at the WTC on

that fateful day. ... had they been warned?

 

 

 

I have visited many countries, but the moment any person of that country claims

superiority for his or her nation, I feel sick - and usually can bring enough

evidence to show that they have feet of clay! Perhaps it is only the eskimos -

who have no nation! - who can claim to have unsoiled shirts! ALL THE REST OF

US HAVE SHIRTS SOAKED IN BLOOD! .... And if Indians come up with quotations

from their beloved "vedic" literature to say how moral their heritage is, my

answer is as follows:

 

Nobody praises you for using a toothbrush! So any praise awarded to the heroes

of old was for their OUTSTANDING qualities. Rama was praised for his

"Ekadharavritha" - monogamy- because polygamy was the rule!

 

In fact both ramayana and Mahabharatha are not epics with characters to emulate

but to see the pitfalls into which even such heroes fell! Yudhishtira was

alwaqys truthful, but uttered a lie at a crucial moment .... and the whole

problem arose because he used his wife and brothers as stakes in a gambling

game!

 

Ethics is ethics - and if an avatar fails to conform, it is to show the contrary

effects.

 

But this attack has created a "World War". Many nations are involved.

 

Can this be a new beginning? Can this mean that foreign politics will be based

on morals in the future? Can powers realize that short-sighted and

self-interested policies will boomerang? Is there hope?

 

No academy can teach its students how to combat this kind of terrorism. Most

strategies are based on the idea that the enemy wants to survive. But if the

enemy is prepared to die, the problem becomes very difficult and the only way to

combat this is to give the suicide squad a purpose to live! or remove their

reason for being ready to die!

 

Someone expressed the view that in the past wars were fought on battlefields and

that the civilian population went unscathed. This rather widespread impression

is naive and shows a lack of knowledge of actual history. The battles were

fought not only on open fields, but also on the ramparts of besieged towns, and

the victor took it as his privilege to ransack the town, to rape and to kill and

to plunder!

 

 

So please get away from uninformed thinking, naive thinking and wishful

thinking; from identifying yourselves with your governments, - whose secret

policies and activities you do not know!... if you did, you would be ashamed,

not proud!

 

regards

Mani