violenceNepal

United States Bulletin, September 1987

2011-07-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

By Evan Duncan

The following chronology was prepared by Evan M. Duncan, office of Historian, in March 1987. The earliest known official contact between the United States and Nepal took place on June 10, 1910, when William H. Michael, the American Consul General in Calcutta, notified the Government of Nepal that Nepalese imports would be subject to the minimum tariff terms under the most recent American tariff legislation.

The first U.S. Official visit to Nepal took place November 16-22, 1945. George R. Merrel, then Charge d'Affaires at new Delhi, presented the Legion of Merit to Prime Minister the Maharaja Padma Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana in recognition of the role played by Gurkha soldiers from Nepal in the British Army during World War II. Earlier U.S. contacts included a visit in the fall of 1944 by Andrew Corry of the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) in New Delhi. In the fall of 1945, Harry Witt of FEA and Lt. Alfred Brown, U.S. Army, visited Nepal to discuss the establishment of commercial relations. Cornelius van H. Engert, outgoing U.S. Minister to Afghanistan, visited Nepal in 1945, and Helen Nichols, Vice Consul at Calcutta, did so in 1946. Engert and Nichols were guests of the British Minister.

The first Nepalese official visit to the United States took place late in 1939, during the homeward journey of General Krishna Rana, Nepal's Minister in London. His successor, General Shinga Rana, also visited the United States as guests o fthe State and War Departments. They were in Washington from July 25 to August 1.

March 22, 1947. The Department of State announced a the despatch of a special diplomatic ....

Nepal’s Road to Chaos-Struggle for Sovereignty

2011-07-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

Nepal, a multitude of petty principalities in the Himalayas, was built up into a single monolithic state by King Prithvi Narayan Shah in the 18th century . Once unified, Nepal managed to retain its sovereignty despite the presence of expansionist East India Company in the Indian plains. In the north Tibet and China were ancient polities. Nepal’s expansion following King Prithvi Narayan Shah’s death brought it into confrontation with East India Company. In the Anglo-Nepal war (1814-1816), Nepal was defeated. Earlier in 1792, in a confrontation with Tibet, Nepal was able to stop invading Chinese forces in 1792.

The rise of the Ranas after 1849 saw Nepal as a firm ally of the British interests in the subcontinent. Jung Bahadur’s support to the British facing Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 brought back Butwal plains to Nepal. Following Bhimsen Thapa’s hardline anti-Company policy would have been disastrous. Nepal’s support of Indian mutineers would have resulted into British punitive expedition against Kathmandu and subsequent occupation of Nepal. Nepal would have thus lost its sovereignty as one of the princely Indian states. The Ranas also managed to persuade Britain to recognize Nepal’s sovereignty in 1923 and Nepal was able to maintain diplomatic ties with Britain in the form of an ambassador to London. The British maintained a resident in Nepal since 1816 Sugauli Treaty.

As Mao’s communists defeated and drove Kuomintang to Formosa in 1948, a new threat emerged toward Nepal’s northern frontier. Communist China marched into Tibet in 1950 to consolidate its claim altering Nepal’s strategic scenario. At the same time, anti-Rana politicians influenced by Indian Congress sought to establish democracy and socialism, a system foreign to Nepal. Used to authoritarian centralized rule, these ideas were bound to invite radical change and threat to Nepal’s existence as an independent country.

Before India and China clashed in 1962, Nepal gave up its experimentation with democracy and established a semi-democratic polity with considerable power in the hands of King Mahendra. In the heights of the Cold War, King Mahendra chose neutral foreign policy and adherence to non-aligned movement primarily to keep Nepal away from being entangled in Sino-Indian schism. Nepal thus was isolated from Western countries, its principal friends. Foreign investement into exploiting water resources was thus not forthcoming from the rich Western countries while the masses remained poor, mainly into subsistence farming, employment into British and Indian armies and as laborers in India.

After 1990, political change was idiosyncratic. While communism failed in Eastern Europe, Nepal saw a resurgence in appeal to communist parties. Populist slogans appealed to poorer, uneducated classes and from 1996, a radical wing of Nepal’s communists, the Maoists began armed revolution in the rural areas. Political violence unleashed in Nepal cost 15,000 lives and it propelled Nepal’s Maoists into the major political party. Its radical and revolutionary ideals has brought into conflict with the old order. This movement has managed to eliminate Nepal’s royal family from power. Its current aim is to integrate its armed cadre into Nepal’s army and take control of this oldest institution of Nepal. Absolute control is the supposed goal to transform Nepal into a one party communist state.

Nepal’s democracy has been skillfully infiltrated and brutally exploited by communists. Popular King Birendra should never have yielded to demands to liberalize the political system in 1990. Without a firm mechanism to check the growth of illiberal and extremist organizations, Maoists emerged and catapulted themselves to power employing unchecked political violence. King Birendra lost his life and his family in mysterious circumstances in 2001, which harks back to times of Nepal’s bloody past coups of the 19th century. King Birendra’s brother, King Gyanendra, failed to restore order in 2006 when the drive to republic gained momentum resulting in loss of monarchy, an institution with greatest contribution to Nepal’s unification and consolidation. Loss of the King as head of the state has resulted in a leadership vacuum.

March toward federalism could end up with disintegration of the state along ethnic lines aka Bosnia Herzegovina leaving room for future discord and armed conflict. The notion of federal states within a small territory as Nepal sounds impractical. The idea of these federal states negotiating with India to export power sounds farcical. Nepal’s move toward unfamiliar terrain could well take it to a point of no return.

The neo-elite of Nepal, primarily Brahmins, does not have a lasting legacy of statesmanship. Demolishing institutions in the name of restructuring is eliminating Nepal’s identity.
In the multipolar world, Nepal may well fall into the trap of emerging powers and their national interests. China’s emergence into a world power may influence pro-China elements in Nepal into suppressing Tibetan refugees and their deportation to uncertain fate in Chinese prison camps.

Communists and Maoists are already into anti-Western line. Nepal’s water resources need massive capital injection for development if it were to sustain projects capable of meeting Nepal’s rising energy demand. The hope of creating projects to export energy will always require technical expertise from the West. Nepal’s good relations with US and EU, including its traditional special ties with UK, cannot be surrendered to suit the short term foreign policy interests of its immediate neighbors. Nepal should cooperate in regional groupings like SAARC and BIMSTEC and exploit Nepal’s unique status as a center for sustainable tourism.

Radicalization of the youth by extremist political organizations and elimination of traditional institutions will erase Nepal’s appeal as a center of its unique culture. Heated political controversies with propensity for armed conflict has already earned Nepal’s image as a failed state among Nepal’s friends and donors. Further deterioration of law and order may invite intervention by India. Nepal may lose its sovereignty the same way Tibet lost it to China and Sikkim to India. The Himalayan Kingdoms were lost to expansionist designs of neighboring powers with deteriorating conditions expediting the loss of sovereignty. Therefore it is imperative that Nepal maintain partnership with NATO to maintain its territorial integrity. Nepal could well learn more from participation in NATO operations. Also, revenue in the form of pay and security assistance would be welcome.

Under no circumstances should Nepal join Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) despite shortsighted arguments like it would ensure energy supply. Russia and China who are key members of this alliance are keen to develop an anti-Western front through this new Warsaw pact. The SCO member states are mostly totalitarian dictatorships bent on suppressing political freedom and human rights. Nepal’s membership into SCO would ensure the rule of anti-democratic forces like Maoists who would be more than happy to suppress individual rights and establish authoritarian political order.

Nepal Staat ueber Dunkel Schaden

2011-06-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

Nepalischer Staat war bebrecht von ein Spitzenklassekoenigreich zu ein niederstellerepublik. Der Qualitaet war gezestoert durch Nepalischerpolitikkrieg seit 1996. Ansprecher Babu Ram Bhattarai, ein Goebbels sagte Thomas A. Marks. Dies Darsteller war ein Amerikanerpolitikmodel Prismatisch Thema ein gegenwestern Politiker. Dies Wege soll ruehren das Welt zu ein neues Weltkrieg asl sein Fuhrer Vereinigten Staaten Praesident Barrack Hussein Obama will anmorden 40 million Amerikanerburger und ein billion Feind. Das Afrikanischer Krieg geschaut das Welt endet mit Invasion des VS Ostkueste bei Feindlich Kommandobehorden mit Waffen.

Vereingten Staaten Raumfahrtkommando soll vorgessen zu finden SCO Fliegerkommandoeinheiten und bei 2017, die Amerikanischer Heeres will unsiegen zzu verteidigen VS Burgern. Ich will schreien, und schreien und versicher Kat Von D und Lafy Gaga zu ein Schnellbootenflotilla und zu Los Ladrones geflogen. Da, ich will bleibe Castaway. Ich will brenne fisch und bauen ein Hauser. Als ich habe sonderausbildung als ein Rittmeistermarine durch mein Vaterischer Bibliothek. Mein vergangen Schriftuebung bringt mich naehe zu ein geschneidet Rechthand. Ich kamempte gegen unchristlich tatetigkeit gegen Nepalischer, Afghan und NATO soldaten. Wenn ein Finnish Sildat war geschosst, ich schreiet fuer mehr tagen. Denn in America, ich lerne ueber Russo-Liberal angreif gegen Frei Christlich menschen in Spanien und Finnland. Russischer hilfwillige Soeldner kaempten gegen Deutscher Handelverband in Bolivia, Spanien, und Africa. Dies Rad war seit ein Millenium und mehr fuer Steurgeld, Politikkontroll und Kraft ueber Burgerwehr und Handel. Anonyma (Martha Hillers) war ein klein Maedchen, geanmordet bei Stalinismus. Nummerloes Deutscher Maedchen war genutzt als Sexspielzutaten. Russen Feind bringt Ktastrophie ueber Katastrophie gegen Deutschland seit 1914 zu 1961 zu Deutscher Staat. Ich schreiem schreie als ich suche ein Bursche von das Biederburg Gruppe zu angeboten Angela Merkel bei gefreien Marokkoischer Mannschaft von Arbeitkrise am Europa and hilf zu das Koeingreichischerregierung zu traege sein problem mit kindfreundlichpolitik.

2011-06-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

Ich warte fuer zwei Tage am Kat von Discher Kaufhaus. Sie ist schoen..schoen als ein Engelin, ein Schneeweiss, ein Amazonian Idol. Wenn ich sehe dies Figur, mein klein Engelin Teela kommt mich Umleben. Sichtbar ist sein gelichtet Mund. Schoenheit und Himmelkoerper. Ich liebe dies Goettin! Kuessen /)

MiSc von AUSA Mitgliedschaft

2011-06-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

Operation STOSS

The November-December 1994 issue of Armor magazine (the official journal of the U.S. Army’s armor branch) presented an article by Dr. Otto Wenzel analyzing 1980s-vintage Warsaw Pact plans for the conquest of West Berlin. Although most Warsaw Pact operational planning records were destroyed prior to German reunification, Dr. Wenzel was able to build a detailed picture of the planned Berlin operation by examining the training and exercise archives of the former East German Army (NVA), and conducting interviews with ex-NVA commanders. Records concerning the Border’s Edge (‘Bordkante’) series of exercises held between 1985 and 1988 were particularly useful because these simulated an attack on Berlin (although this was thinly disguised by defining the objective as eliminating pockets of advancing NATO forces that had been cut off in the East German cities of Magdeburg and Leipzig). According to ex-NVA officers, these exercises closely mirrored the actual plan for the conquest of Berlin, which was code-named Operation STOSS (‘Thrust’) – retitled Operation ZENTRUM (‘Center’) in 1987.
The Warsaw Pact forces that were to be committed to Operation STOSS differ dramatically from those presented in BERLIN ’85. The game assumes that the entire 20th Guards Army (Soviet 6th Guards, 14th Guards, and 19th Motorized Rifle Divisions, and the East German 1st Motorized Rifle Division) plus the 34th Guards Artillery and 103rd Guards Airborne Divisions, would be committed against Berlin. This scenario is highly unlikely on several counts. First of all, even ignoring the impracticality of dropping a parachute division into a densely built-up area, the 103rd Guards Airborne was an elite, theater-level asset that would only have been employed in an operation of major strategic importance – not a sideshow like Operation STOSS. Likewise, the 34th Guards Artillery Division would undoubtedly have been committed in support of the main thrust into West Germany. Indeed, some experts believe that, in the event of war, this unusually large unit would have been split into two divisions, one of which would have been assigned to each of the two Fronts from the Group of Soviet Forces, Germany (GSFG) that would have spearheaded the drive to the Rhine. Finally, NATO’s Berlin garrison simply was not enough of a threat to warrant diverting an entire army from the main front.
Not surprisingly, therefore, the assault force which the Warsaw Pact actually planned to use was much smaller than that posited by SPI. According to Dr. Wenzel, the following units would have participated in Operation STOSS. Note that all but the first are East German units.
6th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade (Soviet)
1st Motorized Rifle Division
1st Battalion, 40th Air Assault Regiment
40th Artillery Brigade
40th Security Battalion
2nd Engineer Brigade (2 assault engineer battalions, 1 bridge-building battalion)
34th Transport Helicopter Squadron
5th, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, and 44th Border Regiments
18th and 19th People’s Police Alert Units
Potsdam “Combat Groups of the Working Class” (4 battalions)
Berlin “Combat Groups of the Working Class” (4 battalions)
The organization and equipment of these formations are outlined below:
• The composition of the 6th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade cannot be known for certain, but in all likelihood it was equivalent to a motorized rifle regiment (MRR). If so, it would have been enhanced along the same lines as other MRRs in the Group of Soviet Forces, Germany. Therefore, it probably had three BMP-equipped motorized rifle battalions, a tank battalion, a self-propelled 122mm howitzer battalion and a reconnaissance company.
• The 1st Motorized Rifle Division comprised one BMP-equipped MRR, two BTR-equipped MRRs, a tank regiment, a reconnaissance battalion, a 122mm MRL battalion, and an artillery regiment (with 36 x 122mm howitzers and 18 x 152mm howitzers). East German MRRs evidently had not been enhanced like their Soviet counterparts, and therefore had a 120mm mortar battery instead of an SP howitzer battalion. The tank regiment comprised three tank battalions, a motorized rifle company, a reconnaissance company, and a 120mm mortar battery.
• The 40th (Willi Sanger) Airborne Battalion was an elite parachute unit. Unlike many Soviet airborne units, it was not equipped with BMD armored fighting vehicles.
• The 40th Artillery Brigade was army-level unit directly subordinate to Land Forces command, and may have been drawn from peacetime school and training units. No source reports what its equipment was, but it was probably organized along typical Soviet lines with 36 x 130mm field guns and 18 x 152mm gun-howitzers. For Operation STOSS, it may also have commanded a border artillery regiment (see below).
• Nothing is known about the composition of the 40th Security Battalion, though, like some other 40-series units, it may have been assembled from peacetime school and training units. In all likelihood, it was light infantry battalion.
• The Border Regiments were units subordinate to the Ministry of Defense (but not to the Army) that had specially trained and equipped for the mission of guarding the Berlin Wall and East Germany’s external borders. They were armed with light infantry weapons, mortars, recoilless rifles, and BTR-152 armored personnel carriers. All sources agree that ‘Border Command Center’ surrounding West Berlin comprised 6 'standard' border regiments and 1 special border crossing point regiment, but some credit it with an artillery regiment, while others report that instead it had 2 training regiments.
– The 6 standard border regiments each comprised 3 battalions of 4-5 companies each (which in turn, had 4 platoons apiece), plus signals, transport, and supply companies, and engineer and mortar elements. One source reports that 3 platoons per company were mounted in wheeled APCs. Each border battalion fielded about 500 men.
– The Border Crossing Point (Grenzubergangsstellung or “GUST”) Regiment was a special unit responsible for operation of the four border crossing checkpoints around Berlin. It comprised 8 companies.
– The 2 border training regiments each had 3 battalions of 5 training companies apiece, a signal company, a transport and supply company, and antitank and mortar ‘sections’ (3 batteries apiece).
– The border artillery regiment had 36 x 122mm howitzers and 18 x 130mm guns.
• The People’s Police Alert Units were not actually police, but internal security troops subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior. They were primarily intended for riot control in major industrial cities, but were also had a territorial defense role. Police Alert Units were armed with light and medium infantry weapons, 82mm mortars, 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and 57mm and 76mm antitank guns. They were structured along the lines of light infantry battalions with the following composition:
– HQ Company (signal platoon, recon platoon, engineer platoon, antitank gun platoon, chemical platoon, supply platoon, medical section)
– 2 Police Companies (3 police platoons and an antitank gun platoon)
– Armored Company (APCs and armored recon vehicles, and a motorcycle platoon)
– Training Company (3 training platoons).
– There may also have been a mortar company.
• The “Combat Groups of the Working Class” were workers militia units subordinate to the Socialist Unity (i.e., Communist) Party (or SED). Militiamen aged 25 to 55 were recruited from factory and government workers, and each workplace would form a platoon, company or battalion equivalent depending upon its size. About 4 hours of training was conducted on the premises per week, plus 16 weekends per year. Equipment included light infantry weapons, machineguns, mortars, antitank guns, recoilless rifles, and light antiaircraft guns. In wartime, the militia would be used for territorial defense, and to protect vital installations and officials.
The basic “Combat Groups” (Kampfgruppen) unit was the “Hundred” (Hundertschaft) organized into three platoons. Some “Hundreds” were independent, but most were grouped together into battalions, which came in two varieties: truck-mounted (on commandeered public transport and commercial vehicles) and motorized (which had both trucks and APCs). Truck-mounted battalions comprised three to five companies, while the motorized battalions usually had three companies. There were two motorized battalions in Berlin, and one in Potsdam. A typical battalion was structured as follows:
– HQ Group (signal platoon, engineer platoon, AA platoon, chemical unit, supply and repair unit, medical unit)
– 2 Combat Groups of 100 men apiece
– 1 Support Group of 100 men (heavy machinegun platoon, mortar platoon, antitank gun platoon)
I have converted this order of battle into the following variant counter list for those of you who are interested in playing a more 'historically' accurate scenario for BERLIN '85. Please note that the tank battalions in the motorized rifle brigade/regiments, and the infantry company in the East German tank regiment, have been distributed among the brigade's/regiment's other battalions. This was Warsaw Pact doctrine during the mid-1980s, and seems to have been assumed by the designers of BERLIN 85 (if not, where are the Pact divisions’ armor battalions belonging to the motorized rifle regiments?) Similarly, the East German division's reconnaissance battalion has been 'farmed out' among the division's four combat regiments.
Having so dramatically reduced the quantity of first-line Warsaw Pact formations committed against West Berlin, it’s essential to boost the strength of the remaining ones sufficiently to make the situation gameable. Moreover, I always believed that BERLIN 85 grossly underrated most WP while rating NATO units unreasonably high. The 5-factor defense strength of the American Special Forces company standing out as the most egregious example, being higher than that listed for any WP battalion in the game. The 5-factor attack strength of the U.S. Company F, 40th Armor is another example, since the company’s 17 tanks are stronger on the attack than any of the Pact mechanized battalions - each of which includes a company of 10 tanks as well as 30 BTRs or BMPs.

Formation Counters Factors
6th Independent Motor Rifle Brigade 3 x mechanized infantry battalions
1 x self-propelled artillery battalion 5-3-12
3-1-14 / 2-12
1st East German Motor Rifle Division
1st Motor Rifle Regiment (BMP)
2nd Motor Rifle Regiment (BTR)
3rd Motor Rifle Regiment (BTR)
1st Armored Regiment
3 x mechanized infantry battalions
3 x mechanized infantry battalions
3 x mechanized infantry battalions
3 x tank battalions
3 x self-propelled artillery battalions
1 x MRL battalion
5-3-12
4-3-12
4-3-12
6-2-12
3-1-14 / 2-12
4-0-20 / 1-10
40th Air Assault Battalion 3 x paratroop companies 2-2-6
40th Artillery Brigade 2 x artillery battalions
1 x artillery battalion 5-1-25 / 1-10
6-2-18 / 1-10
40th Security Battalion 1 x infantry battalion 2-2-8
5th, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 38th and 39th Border Regiments 3 x mechanized infantry battalions apiece 2-3-10
40th and 42nd Border Training Regiments 3 x infantry battalions apiece 2-2-8
GUST Border Regiment 8 x infantry companies 1-1-8
Border Artillery Regiment 2 x artillery battalions
1 x artillery battalion 3-1-14 / 1-10
5-1-25 / 1-10
18th & 19th Police Alert Units 1 x police infantry battalion apiece 2-2-8
Berlin Combat Groups of the Working Class 2 x militia mech infantry battalions
2 x militia infantry battalions 2-2-10
2-2-8
Potsdam Combat Groups of the Working Class 1 x militia mech infantry battalion
3 x militia infantry battalions 2-2-10
2-2-8

The NATO order-of-battle in BERLIN ’85 also includes a number of significant errors that need to be corrected. The following table contrasts the BERLIN ’85 orders of battle for the three allied brigades with the actual composition as presented in multiple sources dating from the mid-1980s.

Brigade SPI’s BERLIN ‘85 Actual Order of Battle
British 3 Mechanized Infantry Battalions
Parachute Battalion
Reconnaissance Company
2 Artillery Battalions 3 Mechanized Infantry Battalions
Tank Company
Engineer Company
MP Company
French Tank Battalion
Mechanized Infantry Battalion
Artillery Battalion Tank Battalion
Mechanized Infantry Battalion
MP Company
United States 3 Mechanized Infantry Battalions
Tank Company
SP Artillery Battery
Engineer Company
Special Forces Detachment (company) 3 Mechanized Infantry Battalions
Tank Company
SP Artillery Battery
Engineer Company
Special Forces Detachment (company)

Thus, while the U.S. Berlin Brigade’s order-of-battle is reasonably accurate (although the BERLIN ’85 countermix mistakes the armored company as an engineer unit), those for the British and French Brigades are pretty far from the mark. I’d rate the French and British MP units identically to the U.S. one, and the British engineer company as a 2-2-12. Even assuming superior guns, armor, and leadership, I cannot see rating the U.S. tank company as a 5-2-12. After all, it has only 17 tanks, while the French tank regiment (which is given the same strengths) has 54 tanks AND an organic mech infantry company with 13 AMX-10Ps! Accordingly, I’d rate both the American and British tank companies as 3-2-12s, and the French tank regiment as a 6-4-12. The Special Forces company should be no more than a 2-3-12. Also, I have no clue what the U.S. “41st LGS” (Labor Guard Service?!) infantry unit is meant to represent, and recommend deleting it.
Finally, the West Berlin police companies are grossly overrated relative to both the NATO and Warsaw Pact battalions portrayed in the game. In several cases, these paramilitary police companies (which include many poorly-trained reservists) have defense strengths that equal those of entire battalions. I suspect that this was an example of conscious ‘grade inflation’ on the part of SPI in order to make the original BERLIN 85 playable. Since this is no longer necessary now that the Pact OB has been trimmed so drastically, reduce all of the West Berlin police companies attack and defense strengths by half (retain fractions). Thus, 0-3-8s become 0-1.5-8s, the 1-2-8s become 0.5-2-8s, and 1-1-8s become 0.5-0.5-8s.
NATO units deploy as per existing scenario instructions. Warsaw Pact units deploy as follows:
• Soviet 6th Motor Rifle Brigade: Any urban, suburban or industrial hex within 2 hexes of 0821 and east of the Wall.
• 1st Battalion, 40th Air Assault Regiment: Enters play by air assault (only). According to the Operation STOSS plan, two companies were to have taken Tegel at the start of the invasion, while the third seized Tempelhof.
• 1st Armored Regiment and 44th Border Regiment: Anywhere in the Staatsforst Potsdam.
• 1st Motor Rifle Regiment: Anywhere within 2 hexes of 082 and east of the Wall.
• 2nd Motor Rifle Regiment: Anywhere within 2 hexes of 2208 and south of the Wall.
• 3rd Motor Rifle Regiment: Anywhere within 2 hexes of 3125 and west of the Wall.
• 1st Motor Rifle Divisional Artillery: Anywhere on the map outside and at least 2 hexes distant from the Wall, and within 2 hexes of another East German 1st Motor Rifle Division unit.
• 40th Artillery Brigade and 40th Security Battalion: Anywhere on the map outside of and at least 3 hexes distant from the Wall.
• GUST Border Regiment: One company each in hexes 0405, 0919, 0922, 1019, 2035, 2928, 3011 and 3025.
• 5th Border Regiment: Any subruban hex within 2 hexes of 3029 and west of the Wall.
• 33rd Border Regiment: Anywhere within 2 hexes of 0519 and east of the Wall.
• 34th Border Regiment: Anywhere within 3 hexes of 3519 and west of the Wall.
• 35th Border Regiment: Anywhere within 2 hexes of 0514 and east of the Wall.
• 38th Border Regiment: Anywhere within 1 hex of 1738.
• 39th Border Regiment: Any urban or surburban hex within 2 hexes of 0404 and south of the Wall.
• Border Artillery Regiment: Anywhere on the map outside and at least 2 hexes distant from the Wall, and within 2 hexes of another Border unit.
• 40th Border Training Regiment: Anywhere within 2 hexes of 1135.
• 42nd Border Training Regiment: Anywhere within 1 hex of 1403 (inclusive)
• 18th Police Alert Unit: Anywhere within 1 hex of 0723.
• 19th Police Alert Unit and Berlin Combat Groups of the Working Class: Any urban, suburban or industrial hex in East Berlin that is at least 5 hexes distant from the Wall.
• Potsdam Combat Groups of the Working Class: Any urban, surburan or industrial hex in Potsdam.
In closing, I must say that I have not rigorously playtested this variant, and that some of the new combat factors may need to be further adjusted. Enjoy.
Kevin M. Boylan
Kboylan@grci.com

Rules for variant counters by Paul Rohrbaugh:
a) 0-strength WG Police units do not count as 1 in exchanges like other NATO units.
b) In combat the Warsaw Pact player rolls for advance-after-combat against 0-strength WG Police units. DR of 1 or 2 = 1 hex advance, DR of 3 to 5 = 2 hex advance, DR of 6 = 3 hex advance.

NYFA.org

2011-06-11T22:29:00.001-07:00

Michael Pennington, PA III Class

NYFA.org

2011-06-11T22:29:00.000-07:00

Michael Pennington, PA III Class

Shangrila Miracle LLC

2011-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

Eustace JC Lander

Geburstag:
11/24/24

Schein:
04/24/44

Praxis/Abzeichen:
DSC/NDSM

Gazzette Lloyds, 02/13/1951, 02/17/1951

Dienst#2904

Rank: Captain

------------------

Terence R. Healy

Geburstag: 08/19/25

Schein: 03/12/44

Schein#2886

Rank: Captain
------------------

B(rown) K(ellogg) Singer

Geburstag: 10/1520

Schein: 04/24/1944

Dienst#2904

Rank: Captain

Dies einheiten geschosst million ueber million Indischer taeter in Pantschab durch Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. Dies einheiten war faehig fuer umsicher Douglas Seymour McKiernan von Changtang in 1950. Franc Bessac und sein Freundschaft war in hochproblem mit Sozialistischregierung in Delhi. DSM war geschosst bei unlichtlich Tibetianischer soldaten als Washington und Delhi denkt dass dies sonderkraft war unfaehig ueber Russischer Yak-9 'Farter' und MiG-15 'Faggot'. Das Fall zu sichern war gemalert bei mein Grossvater, ein Hauptmann mit Volkheeres. Das TX und PA Zettel will machen mein Ausbildung am Goethe und WGA Bibliothek durch Sylvia und Karen will genau machen mich ein sonderredakteur/regiesseur als Francis Ford Coppola und George Lucas. Hier liegt dass Amerkaischer Schuld.

Sag mir wo die Blumen sind, foo foo foo fooo fooo
Sag mir wo die flugzeug sind, foo foo foo fooo fooo

Die antwort mein freund liegt ganz in der Wind
Die Antwort liegt ganz in der Wind.
-Marlene Dietrich, Susanna healy and Prinzessin Kiera..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Michael Kuntz 1936 (X)

2011-06-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

Michael war ein Kartoffelverkaufer in Mannheim. Er verkauft sein Handelschein in Munich und geschickt awei tuasend teil wuerdig Kroner zu Bloemfontein. Die Handelschifflinie gepackt dies Handeldinge zu Perth, Australien fuer zieben tausend Kroner und war zu Deutscher WestIndien geschieckt. Von da, ein kurz Handelabzeichen kommt zu Calicut und war zu KTM ein hundert zwanzig geanzahlt zu PSJBR. PSJBR war ein Macbeth, ein Hamlet wer arbeite fuer Koenigreich fuer ein million Verband. Dies Verband umbauet Lalitpurhauptstadt zu ein klar und sicher Buerg fuer Nordrheinwestfalenburgerbund. Hail Biederbergischerreich in das Stadt Lichtenstein. Groosgraf soll schiecken ein tausend Bergsteiger als Reinhold Messner, ein Spitzenklasseburger von Tyrol.

Tyrol war Oesterreichischerlandeigentum trotz Italinischerangreif mit Amerikanerroterkreuzangebot ala Wiedersehen zu Gewehr bei Ernst Hemmingway. Hemingway und Sylvia Plath, spitenklasse arbeiter fuer FEA/OSS/ALB/Linkpolitiktraeger war bei Hugo Sperrle und Ritter von Thoma gezestoert in Extramadura, Espana. Das Zement ist das Gold von El Gordo Land. Und als ein Traveller's Traeger mit Allianz und DB Angebot ich kann nicht geige aber kann umbauen vereinigten Staaten zu ein Selbstandigetwelt frei von Auslandregierung. Dass liegt Amerikaner Einmaligkeit. Pritam S. Rana, Zugfuehrer, Korpsraus, Mont Elbrus mit Sven Hassel und Carl von Wodtke.

Lost City

2011-05-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Morane Saulnier Paris

Brautaufgabe

2011-05-28T20:51:00.001-07:00

Varina Howell

Goldstone Debunked

2011-05-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

Pritam S. Rana
Los Angeles, April 28, 2011

In a superb evening organized by Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivor, Los Angeles witnessed a fine evening amid an eye-opening academic discourse on the debunking of Goldstone Report. Various experts questioned the legitimacy of the report, particularly its claim that Israel commited war crimes and alleged crimes against humanity. Professor Avi Bell, noted Israeli scholar from Bar Ilan University asked audience not to be duped by legal maneuverings. “Politics (is the driving force)” in the Goldstone Investigations and not the principle of legality.

JJ Surbeck, a Swiss trained legal analyst compared the oft international efforts to link Israel’s Arab policy to South Africa’s apartheid. To debunk this association, Surbeck alluded China, Morocco and Turkey as other examples where the world has chosen to ignore while penalizing Israel. China took over Tibet in 1950 while Morocco took over Spanish Sahara in the 1970s. Turkey formed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in Northern Cyprus ignoring worldwide opposition. The three states got away with imposing their unilateralism on questionable grounds amid the Cold War where political loyalty surpassed international legal regimes.

The nature of Goldstone investigation and its pursuit by human rights organizations show a hidden agenda to chastise Israel. The entire accusation based on the validity of customary laws on international humanitarian law is a matter not compelling for Israel to uphold while the other side loses no effort to diplomatically isolate Israel while pursuing war against Israeli population centers.

Academic Rick Richman spoke of the crisis facing US foreign policy makers if the September declaration of Palestinian statehood goes ahead.

Goldstone Report, named after the presiding judge from South Africa, followed an investigation in 2009 following the Gaza War. It accuses both Israel and Hamas of intense violation of international conventions on the laws of war to the point of stating whether crimes against humanity actually occurred. The report rounds up 40 years of history in a twenty page document. Israel refused to cooperate citing negative bias against its longstanding position while Hamas openly cooperated on the report. The majority of UN members from Third World led by China chose to support the document’s findings.

(Goldstone Report sourced from www.wikipedia.org)

2011-05-08T07:09:00.001-07:00

The day we landed
by Pritam S. Rana

It was six in the morning
as we climbed down the nets
to the old wooden boats rolling fiercely
huddled together in groups of eights.

Our hopes were high for all of us expected
the Turks would simply turn and run
at the sight of our mighty fleet which had blasted
beaches, forts, man and gun.

We went forward to the beaches and the rocks
of Achi Baba and Kilid Bahr defiant and proud
crushing the silence of many peaceful nights.
Black and white smoke obscured beaches, explosions
were loud.

Thunderclaps, machine guns, and whizzing bullets,
the Turks had prepared a nasty welcome.
Men fell screaming as bullets hit chests and limbs
even before they had stepped on the beaches.

Chanting ‘Hail Mary!’ the men went ahead,
jumping out and running forward,
carrying rifle and rucksack, holding on to the helmet,
desperate for cover.

Men may have lost hope as they lay prone on the round
pinned down by enemy fire, shellshocked.
The wounded and the dead littered the ground.

The enemy was well dug-in
while our fellows were scattered about,
Oh, how much we wished for the days in Dublin,
the officers barked to keep our hearts stout.

We prayed for the day to die soon
for the darkness would shield us for the night.
In the cool light of the waxing moon
we began to dig for the next day’s fight.

Sourced from www.spinybabbler.com

Transylvania

2011-05-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

As Bram Stoker penned the Count as the villain, US SEALs staked bin Laden. The great game is won. I also saw another coincidence in Rainsford's murder of Zaroff previously as US Marine against Fidel Castro. But now I am being led to believe that Wrangelist Zaroff, a patriotic Russian general was murdered by a educated pauper for his estate. Yet the language remains a clear example of excellence. It remains my favorite.:-)

Vision

2011-04-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I had gone back to Nepal. The return journey took us to Gorusinge from somewhere east of it. We had to pass on foot through a lowland toward a higher ground where I saw a road. As we climbed toward the road, we passed through a border checkpoint of Bangladesh. I knew very well that Bangladesh was not supposed to be in our route. It was much further toward the west. Lungi clad guards manned the post; a prominent woman, big built, dark featured, of a non-Aryan tribal stock made gestures with a Kalashnikov. I got very scared at this moment and fled toward the road, again within Nepalese territory.

In my destiny, supposedly Nepal, I enrolled in St. Xavier’s as a tenth grade student. With the sky blue shirt and blue tie with golden superimposed SX emblem on my breast, I was in a class. I moved away in a break and I lost my orientation. Found myself in another class taught by a stocky European woman with glasses but no attractive features. I met several boys who said I had to go through Shankardev premises to the St. Xavier’s section. I went through construction area with usual brick and mortar structures supported by wooden scaffolding. The dark passage led to somewhere.

Then I met some of my old friends. They shared their experiences which I found were not distinctly unlike mine. Told them all about my academic (and professional) journey. I had come back to tenth grade to retrain. I was also justifying the reason for marriage.

Another setting involved a huge house with a lot of women and girls. It looked as if there was a marriage ceremony, a huge gathering. I was passing through the many rooms. At the top floor of the house, I was with Wishdream. Showing amazing affection, Wishdream cuddled me. I spoke intimately, felt happier until I had to leave for downstairs. I was looking for my mother. Then I was back there at the same room where I tried to change to a blue tracksuit. Then I found another woman on the bed with her whole body covered buy a blanket. As I talked to her I found one of her eye looked like that of a snake. “I will cut of your head…”, I screamed. And that was the end of it.

Note:- This is not a fiction but describes a dream I saw on April 20-21, 2011. The description is accurate as possible. Episodes are biographic as well as surreal.

Altruism tested

2011-02-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

On the bus back from Westwood today, I witnessed an example of behavior which tests public altruism. A mild smell of urine and women shut their noses in disgust. At first I thought I might be the cause célèbre. Earlier in the morning, I was in a terrible situation myself when I almost felt I would pass out. After 45 minutes of agony, I moved from the Space Park station to Manhattan Beach boulevard and rapidly walked toward the nearest plaza. After several miles, I was overjoyed to see a distant sign of some outlet. At the plaza, I marched toward the gas station and asked for relief. The lady who worked there pointed to the nearby 99 Store. At such pressure, I painfully moved inside the huge store and asked another Latin lady for restroom. She pointed toward one corner. A sigh of relief, I finally managed to relieve myself.

The man, an elderly Armenian looking gentleman finally got down. To the horror of passengers, another apparently homeless person boarded the bus. Smell was foul, much stronger than the earlier episode. As this gentleman settled down near the rear section of the bus, most passengers mainly women quickly shut their mouth. They quickly moved away to a safer distance. The whole bus must have experienced distress. I was totally stoic however. My experience of life has taught me virtue and altruism, despite my imperfect existence. I just stared at this person and observed him closely. I saw the person shaking his head. I quickly realized he was suffereing from some serious condition of the mind. I quickly felt sympathetic and even thought I would have invited this person into my apartment, allow him a pleasure of a clean shower and even buy him some new clothes. As I was on my way back from a job agency, clearly there was no way I could really help this person. Even handing him a couple of dollars was out of the question. As I saw this bearded figure, my thoughts roamed and it seemed he looked like St. Nicholas or Roald Amundsen. I honestly wanted to help but did nothing. I always see myself as guest of Americans in this country, rich or poor.

I wonder why altruism is conscientious in my nature. Just why? But if this person would have been a black man, a Latino or an Asian. I certainly think I would have been less motivated. I would feel something though, although helping a white man, especially someone who is elderly and in a sorry state with similar episodes to my near and dear. Also the feelings come from my schooling, I suspected my teachers. I had white American teachers in my fourth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade and tenth grade and college, all volunteers from America. Although I am not a Christian, these people I believe have injected some values.

Some feelings were outright controversial. A heavy Latino young man made comments which conflicted with my ideals. He said he could excuse the poor but they had to be “clean by choice”. The young man was completely not aware of the mental deficiency of the person concerned. The old man obviously had no control over his life. He did not deserve ridicule. Worse was a uniformed nurse trainee who could not sit next to this person. After all the nurse wannabe expects to serve the sick. I wonder how this guy can last in a hospital if he lacks patience and perseverance.
02/22/2011

Israel faces wider threat

2010-07-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

-Pritam S. Rana

The May 31 Mavi Marmara incident demonstrates that Islamic charities in the world are getting increasingly assertive in Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Insani Yardim Vakfi could well be an Al Qaida outfit but its capacity to rally Arab outcry against Israel is significant. First reports speak of Lebanese and other would be emulators to test the resolve of Israeli maritime resolve. Israel’s minimal force policy to deploy Sayeret Matkal special forces unit might be the policy to use minimum force as not to arouse brute force and genocide allegations. Economy of force is the basic tenet as the current global recession also affects Israeli society and its military budget. The so called activists on the other side also realize this. But on the front of the battle of charities, Israel is on the losing side.

Iran’s oil money coupled with vast Islamic diaspora in the West is acutely politically conscious and through Internet technologies capacity for organization is unmatched. Radio was the primary tool in 1948 to organize Arab youths in a fatal conflict on the question of ownership of the mandate territories. Thousands upon thousands rallied for Arab cause then and in 1967 and 1973 through organized leadership of Nasser, Sadat and Assad. After relentless pressure by US government, Israel had to give up its prized possession of Sinai, where Moses sermoned the world. In 1956, Israel’s participation in the war was easily portrayed by Arabists as a ‘colonialist’ when in fact Anglo-French Suez company was basically trying to recover its investments. The Six Day War was in response to massive build up of Soviet war machines by Nasser. Israel’s sovereignty was threatened by uncurtailed build up of Russian arms in both Syria and Egypt under the political aegis of United Arab Republic whose sole aim was to antagonize Israel and expel Jewish population by force of arms.

The issue of land for peace seems utopian but the guarantee for peace is a far cry. Golan Heights was a fortified area from where shelling was regularly conducted on Galilee settlements. Giving it way for peace with Hezbollah seems logical but who will guarantee that the same elements which cross the Blue Line and shell Moroccan Jewry with BM-21 Katyusha may not deploy T-72 Main Battle Tanks and BM-27 Grad rockets to dominate Israel’s northern towns.

Iran is assembling a vast array of rockets which are in fact powerful enough to deliver Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) warheads. Iran’s de facto military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) also known as Sipah e Basij e Pasdaran recruits children as young as 15 or 16 to be cannon fodders in a foreseen struggle with Jews. The Quds Force of this unit, supposed to liberate Jerusalem from “Jewish occupation” reportedly controls Lebanon’s Hizballah. Hizballah (Party of God) which pilots a parallel government ala PLO in the 1970s and is also a powerful social service organization providing all services from medical care to recruiting volunteers to attack Israel. This force kidnapped Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Oudi Goldwasser in 2006 which began an Israel-Hizballah Summer War which killed more than 1,000 Lebanese and more than a hundred Israelis. Israel had to mobilize 30,000 young men and women to pacify this unruly aggression sponsored by Syria and Iran. Noteworthy is Lebanon now boasts ten MiG-29s in its fledgling air force of which one seat can be expected to belong to a Hizballah pilot.

Syria has been notorious supporter of anti-Israeli elements like Samir Kuntar who has been awarded with Syria’s highest medal for his campaign of bloody violence against Israeli citizens. The only sad news in United States is that $1 billion of our taxpayers money goes to Palestinian aid in Gaza. Saudi Arabian government also reinforced this aid with another $1 billion of its petro-dollars. World Alamanac lists Syrian charity as the largest while no one knows if there is any accounting or auditing of this aid if it does not reach terroristic activism whose soft form is Mavi Marmara.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is only meant for controlling the flow of weapons from Egypt and the Mediterranean. If Israel were not to monitor and restrict its maritime frontier, arms galore will reach Gaza to arm Hamas fedayeens to open another front and invite wrath from Israeli military.

Iran’s nuclear ambition is seen as prestigious among its elites and its space program backed by cash hungry Russian government is sure to invite doom and massacre to Iran’s public. The only reason stopping Israel from launching Osirak style raid is the fear of antagonizing United States. US troops overseas will be legitimate targets of Teheran sponsored terrorists. The latest Shahram Amiri affair is nothing but a stark reminder by Iran’s conservative government that they mean business and seek nuclear parity with both Jerusalem and Washington. Iran’s nuclear capability and its strike capability to continental United States will give it enormous leverage and bargaining power from protecting its citizens abroad or threatening US withdrawal from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Restive Iraq is Iran’s playing field. A nuclear armed Iran will also be an important chess piece for Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) planners to mitigate US influence and values such as good governance, human rights, fair distribution of resources, fair wage (scientific management) and freedom from threat of annihilation. By eroding US security umbrella in close cooperation with other hegemons like Russia and China, Iran is exploring business contracts in Venezuela in open violation of US Monroe Doctrine. Analysts have accurately deduced US vulnerabilities and its growing trade imbalance as well as its foreign debt. Thus as published in 1990 Pentagon journal Soviet Military Power, the shift toward Arab superiority is clear in the seemingly untenable position of Israel in media forums while US is far stretched in dealing with one movement-political Islam. Threats from Russia, China and Iran is a subject of deeper analyses.

The most disturbing aspects of anti-Israeli politics in the business front is boycott of Israeli product in the United States by a store according to Caroline Glick, a noted Israeli journalist who spoke in Los Angeles on July 21, 2010. This denotes nothing but greater financing of public media by anti-Israeli activists. The consistent push by “human rights activists” to force Israel to open fire on knife wielding crewmen is a sad push to wider intervention.

THE END
July 22, 2010

Ambrose and Pri(t)am

2010-06-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

American writer Stephen Ambrose, a peculiar personality with no service experience managed to compose Citizen Soldiers, an awe inspiring work on US experience in World War II. He interviewed veterans lost in memory yet conjured a book which reads better than those written by US Veterans themselves. I fanstasized much of my young life being a member of the US Army. I finished Tom Clancy Guided Tour series. That boosted my military knowledge to a new level after I repeatedly read Jane's Defense Weekly at age 15.

Then today, when I possess Bertrand Stewart's classic "Active Service Pocket Book", I feel privileged to be among the few in this great nation. I am an elite. Once a Cub Scout and now a junior in US. Steinbeck! Du warst in mein Familie Bibliothek. Wo bleibst dich?

When I posted it on craigslist.org for $15,000, ireceived a curious reply. I even contemplated putting it on propertyroom.com once owned reportedly by LAPD Chief Daryl Gates. Gates was the only personality I knew apart from Hollywood. And, the reply was that I was supposed to sell it for a million. Ha!Ha!

Then I thought," I could pay the Law School bill at USC Gould School and become the next Attorney General. Well Man Rana, my granddad did serve as an Attorney General during Sir Juddha Rana's times (WWII). And I would need a $350,000 house in San fernando as well as a convertible, another $60,000. Then, I would be in a position to...guess what?

Amerikaner Leben hatte gross Materialsmus sagte Europaischer Gemeinschaftfuehrer. Und ich bin gegibt Mordangst bei einige Menschen. Es gibt dass dies Welt wer ich bleibe ist nicht freundlich zu Auslandgeboren Amerikaner. Der Iraqkrieg und das Geschichte des dies gross Staat ist gewisst bei alles Auslandstudent und ich bin dass Superpatriot, ein Scherzchrakter fuer Liberalismuspolitik. Europa geht zu Konservatismus (sehe Engelland). Und, Amerika ist in Socialismus. Wer sind Adam Schmitt?

Der Totemacher

2010-06-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Der Totemacher
Goetz George spielt als Fritz Haarmann, ein Morder mit immoralischer Geschmack. Psychologer Ernst Schulze (Juergen Hentsch) gemachen kritikalischer Aufgabe ueber Haarmanischer Taetigkeit. Haarman, ein militaerdienstler spricht ueber sein glaube in Kaiserheeres und unlieblich fuer kommunistisch Angeboter wer gesucht Geld von ander Menschen. Der Graphik Mordgeschichte ist stark fuer jung und Kindern aber die kuenstliche wuerdigkeit ist hoch. Goetz George spielt besser, ein versatile Schauspieler. Einmal die Dialog gegibt Angst zu dass Stenographer (Pierre Franckh), ein Stoic Charakter. Industrial Gemeinschaft hatte mehr problem. Dies Geschichte war von 1924, ein Zeit wenn Freudian und Jungian Psychonalyticalwissenschaft war neues. Die Arzt gemacht mehr Geld bei Schriftung ueber dies Kasse, Haarman gespricht. Es guckte immoralischer und unchristlich zu machen Geld ueber schmerzen auf mehrere Familie. Die Buerokratischpraxis des Stenographer, Arzt und sein Befragung ist ein Konzept auf hoch Interesse fuer alles Student auf Max Weber. Die Befragungprozess guckte unpersoennlich aber es gibt ein tief Rundblick ueber ein Mann als ein Totemacher. Die stereotypischer Gucken gegen Militaerdienstlern ist da drueber aber nicht alles sind als gross Tatetiger als Haarmann. Haarmann ist kinderunfreundlich, ein Charakter dass ist unmenschenfreundlich. Mannschaft gebrecht!
Regie: Romuald Karmacher
Dies Kino gesiegt drei 1996 Deutscher Abzeichen.

Cover 06-12-2010

2010-06-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Month Date, Year

CEO,
Any Company,
Any Street, Los Angeles County,
CA

Dear Sir/Ma'am,
I would like to apply for the position of copywriter at your prestigious company. My area of expertise and interest is defense and foreign affairs. I began my career in The Kathmandu Post, the first broadsheet daily published by the private sector in Nepal. I have over three years experience in print and electronic media in both editorial and reporting. I specialized in defense analysis and have keen understanding of world affairs. I have written over twenty five strong articles in various broadsheet dailies (e.g. The Himalayan Times and Space Time Today) and news portals (e.g. www.nepaliperspectives.com and www.ekantipur.com).

I am a well read person. My first effort in journalism was a school project under Fr. Eric Zimmer, S.J. whence I produced a political non-fiction work on the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991. An editorial assistant in 2000 at age 24, I produced commendable copies for the editorial at the leading English language daily in the country. I read Jane's Defense Weekly, a world’s leading authority on defense issues, since ninth grade. I also acquired their permission to use their materials in my published work.

I am a cheerful and smart person able to work with just any type of people. I have very high standard in application to work and I am very detail oriented. I am a self learner and a sound decision maker. Also, I am very dependable and highly responsible. Moreover, I am very much impressed by creative insights and believe in meritocracy.

I am a legal resident (green card) of the United States. I have BA in English Literature and Sociology from the oldest university in Nepal. Foundation of International Services, Inc, a DeVry University affiliate in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles County, California has verified my degree as equivalent to Bachelor of Science in Political Science from any regionally accredited college or university in the United States. Additionally, I have good appreciation of Western arts and culture. And, I like both art and commercial movies produced in Hollywood and Europe. In 2008 presidential elections, I had a wonderful opportunity to campaign for Senator McCain/Governor Palin in our community and also for a local GOP candidate-Armineh Chelebian. I also managed to shore up support for the Grand Old Party’s 30th district US House of Representative candidate Mr. David Benning by participating on his telecampaign on June 2010.

Sincerely,

Pritam S Rana
14540 Hartland Street, Apt#206,
Van Nuys, CA 91405,
Tel. (818) 988 9623
Cell: (818) 571 3265

Ingeneurbildungsroman

2010-06-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

Eustace, Gustave and Harold.

Cossack Fury

2010-05-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

Year 2014. World economic turmoil has taken its toll. America is weak and has withdrawn to isolationaism. While Russia, newly wealthy with enormous industrial output fueled by a solid energy boom emerges as the world's primary arbiter of world leadership. Russian president Zhinonevsky defiantly declares Russian supremacy in the high seas. International oil trade is Russian control after Russia despatches an airborne invasion of Saudi Arabia. The Russian 106. Guards Airborne Division quickly seizes Riyadh. Dhahran oil fields in northern Saudi Arabia is swept by a composite motor rifle brigade from a disguised merchantman Nikolai Vatutin. The Russian North Sea Fleet, Baltic and Fleet ancillaries converge in Western Atlantic.

US President --- calls an emergency meeting where his national security adviser alerts of an imminent assault on Azores by the Voenno Morski Flota naval infantry units. President --- orders an immediate deployment of an Marine Expediatinary Unit aboard USS Wasp in a hastily assembled task force. The US Congress has authorized a strong caveat on deploying US forces against Russia. Speaker Brieski warned president of dire consequence in a nuclear showdown with Russia. "US would be overwhelmed," she spoke on national networks. Undaunted US President quickly authorizes Lt. Col. James Blackwell to immediately seize Azores and prepare a deliberate defense. "You can count on all support," the president called from his Oval Office telephone set specially designed to communicate with theater and subordinate commands.

Blackwell was a seasoned veteran of the Persian Gulf War. He had led a company of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines part of MARCENT strike force that launched a frontal assault against Saddam's beleagured Shiite defenders of Kuwait city. His self esteem had hurt after Army Captain Herbert Raymond McMaster had gathered much publicity after the famed Battle of the 73 Easting. McMaster's cavalry troop had destroyed a battalion plus armored units of Iraq's famed Tawakalna Republican Guard armored division. Blackwell''s grunts had suffered worst yet they prevailed against enemy forces despite their older M60A3 Patton tanks much succeptible to deadly fire of Iraq's T-72s and T-62s. In fact even, Iraq's much older T-55s were a threat to his main battle tanks and LAV-25 cannon armed armored troop carriers. The Swiss vehicles from Switzeland's vaunted MOWAG company were extremely fast yet highly vulnerable to enemy hand held weapons like the RPG-7s and RPG-18s.

Blackwell called for a battalion XO conference in which the three comapny XO's were asked to conduct a Tarawa style amphibious landing involving both LAV-25, LVTPs and M1A1s carried by LCAC air cushion vehicles. Once landed, resistance by FSB saboteurs was expected given rampant anti-Americanism is Spain following the Madrid bombings of 1998. Pro-US Aznar government quickly fell out of power and was replaced by socialists, some of whom openly talked of withdrwaing from NATO's "unwieldy" alliance and its global commitment.

The D-Day was set for June 4, 2014. Battalion S-2, Priam Rana was busy reading surveillance snapshots from F/A-18F recon flights. The Russian strategic rocket/space forces and Cold War APVO units had been consolidated into one central Cosmokommando which operated from near Moscow. General Shevechkin, the new commander skillfully ordered the lasing and destruction of all US surveillance assets. NAVSTAR GPS navigation statellites, Big Birds, KH-11 Keyholes and other research satellites associated with government were eliminated in a swift one week cmapaign. Then General Rogers at JCS realized the potential of Laser based Intertial Navigation Systems developed by Litton. Secretary of Defense ordered a major shakedown of contracts after US Space Command was unable to report anything on foreign forces. This information travelled quickly across the globe enabling the likes of Indian born traitor Gowadia to quickly transfer highly classified information to Moscow and Beijing, the known centers of the new axis - The Shanghai Cooperation organization. Suddenly US Information Warfare specialists found themselves without internet. Public enterprises failed and communication free to the world's masses again became restricted only to selected group of enterpreneurs with radio sets. Ham radios, AM radios and FM were the public's source of information. Interactive communications and networks and communities dispappeared. The power quickly shifted from the public choice to government controlled information resulting in loss of public control of their lives.

(to be continued...)

Rommels Laufer

2010-05-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

Einmal in Cyrenaica, Feldwebel Mannberger fahren mit Kanonepilot des Luftwaffe DAK, Hans Joachim Marseille. Drer Britischer 8. Heeres ausstossen Italienischer General Graziani von sein Romanersiegfall. Marseille besucht Mannberger zu fahren sein Angebot - Oel und gepacktessen welil der Jaeger aufklaren General Montgomerischerheeres Weststoss. Leutnant Stendall ausfuehren ein Gardezug in zwei klein Kraftwagen. Dies geheimnnis Verband fahren Ost durch das Kuestefahrbahn. Jebel Akhdar, ein Oaseninseln mit Atlasberg als ein fremdname auf gruenwald am ein Wueste mit Ghibli unglimpfich Wind. Herr Marseille gab Feindinformation zu DAK Heeresleitung aber britischer Mosquito aufklarer fliegen hoch zu finden und umfassen dies klein Adler welch gab hochproblem zu Britischer 8.Armee Oberkommando..

Phoenix Talon

2010-04-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

Russischer Nationalismus regierung macht ein Fall zu Angeboten die Iranischer Regimischer Politik gegen US und Globalischer Erdoel Angeboter Staat. Russicher SRK einheiten fahren von ein kelin Uralischer Burgischer Berg zu Vladisvostok durch die Trans-Sibirsicher Rollbahnlinie zu fueren ein SS-? Topol M sqalvo gegen Vereinigten Staaten Peacekeeper silos in Nord Dakota. Ein SS-18 mit hochdynamit bomben ansteichen und gezestoert mehrere Wingen des Vereinigten Staaten Luftwaffe einheiten Kommandoposten.

Vereinigten Staaten Luftwaffe schicken ein elite Bomber Krafteinheiten zu stossen durch Russland-China Grenzen von Afghanistan. Dies Flugzeug kreuzt Tajikistan zu Ost und wachset das Trans-sibirischer Rollbahn Linie zu jaegen das SRK surveil einheiten und fragen ATO Gummioerdnung zu zestoeren dies kranke einheiten mit hochexplosif Kurzlangeangrefporte eigen mit ein tuasend pfund hochexplosif C-4 und ist gesiegt mit surprise trotz Russischer Alarm geringt. Russicher APVO einheiten 54. Aviatsionna Polk (Jagdgeschaeder Regiment) schicken acht MiG-31 Fuchshund zu anfangen die Amerikaner Luftwaffe angreif. Fier MiG-31 fliegen von Vladivostok und fier from Domodedovo in West Russland. Die neues Russicher Flugzeug mit hochtechnologie Radar und Avionicssytem schnell finden das Amerikaner Fliger mit Infraroet Jagersystem in link das nase des Russicher neuende Interceptor....
(warten fuer mehr...Priamos)

Achim Freyerischer Niebelungen

2010-04-15T13:03:00.001-07:00

Achim Freyer's Nibelungen based on Richard Wagner's Ring Circle is the Nordic opera harking back to pre-Roman Germanic tribal social system. Its anrthropological analysis reveals the tribal nature of the Old Europe and appeals to family and power. Die Schwertfechter sind das Kindern des Verband und ...

Lebenslauf 02-19-2010

2010-02-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

PRITAM S RANA
14540 Hartland Street#206,
Van Nuys, California 91405
USA
Tel: (818) 988 9623
Cell: (818) 571 3265
Email: prittwitz@live.com; pritamrana@yahoo.com
URL: www.pritamrana.com

EDUCATION:
MA, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, 2003-continuing
BA, Campion College, Lalitpur, 1999-2002
HS, St Xavier’s Katmandu, 1987-1992

EXPERIENCE:
Consultant, LH, Reston, VA, 2010
Seasonal Sales Associate, Macy’s West, Sherman Oaks, CA, 2009-2010
Sales Associate Trainee, 7-11, Glendale and Studio City, CA, 2009
Volunteer, McCain-Palin-Chelebian Campaign 2008, Tarzana-Van Nuys, 2008
Subeditor, TKP, Katmandu, 2004-2007
Recovery Officer, Enet, Lalitpur, 2004
Reporter, Channel Nepal, Katmandu, 2003
CSR, Ask Me, Katmandu, 2002
Coordinator, Swiftscribe, LH, Lalitpur, 2000-2001
Junior Sub-Editor, TKP, Katmandu, 2000

ACHIEVEMENTS:
Articles in broadsheet dailies and online portals, 2000-present
First position, College Essay Competition, 2001
US Legal Permanent Resident, 2007-present

ASSOCIATION:
Goethe Friend, 2009-present
LAPL Patron, 2007-present
AUSA, 1997-1999
British Council, 2007
Tribhuvan Army Officer’s Club, 1988-1993
Cub Scout, 1986

INTERESTS:
Model tanks, airplanes, books, board and PC games.

REFERENCE:
krishna.shah@gmail.com
vijaygrover@hotmail.com
pdhungel2010@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Lebenslauf (Profile)

2010-02-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

PRITAM S. RANA
14540 Hartland Street, #206,
Van Nuys, CA 91405
Tel. (818) 988 9623
Cell: (818) 571 3265
Email: pritamrana@yahoo.com

OBJECTIVE:-
• To receive a suitable position as per my qualification.
• Carry out day to day operations in most professional manner.
• Meet highest safety standard and organization goals.
• Set an ethical standard and work with élan.

EXPERIENCE:-

Seasonal Sales Associate,
Macy’s, (Store#501) 14000 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423.
Phone: (818) 788 8350
Customer support ,recovery and sales in men’s wear.

***** Relentless customer service beyond department boundaries.

Sales Associate Trainee,
7-11 Food Store, (Store#13846) 11007 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604-3547.
Phone: (818) 980 2888.
7-11 Food Store, (Store#27083) 500 West Colorado Blvd, Glendale, CA 91204-1161.
Phone: (818) 244 5550.
Sold food, drinks, chocolates and other convenience goods at a fast paced sales environment. Operated cash register, stocked goods, made coffee, cooked chicken wings, pizza, etc. and cleaned floor space. Maintained rapport with customers to fulfill their requirements and maintained vigil to minimize pilferage.

***** Flawless sales plus customer service.

Sub-editor,
Business Bureau, The Kathmandu Post, Kantipur Publications, P. B. No 8559, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 4480100, URL: www.ekantipur.com
Edited news stories filed by reporters. Advised reporters on English language usage, clarity of news and checking of facts, graphs and other quantitative analysis tools used in the pages. Selected international news from AP and AFP. Wrote headlines of news stories. Assisted in layout of pg7. Translated captions of photos and finalized the aforementioned page.

***** Upgraded language and style to Associated Press standard; reduced error to zero and covered premium international as well as unnoticed cottage and agricultural products.

R & U Officer,
Renewal and Update Department, Everest Net Pvt. Ltd., Ekantakuna, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 5546010, URL: www.enet.com.np
Handled customer care calls. Called clients with stale accounts in order to determine problems, to persuade them to renew accounts near expiry and assisted support department to determine clients with problems. Updated expired accounts and worked to retain customers.

***** Recovered scores of customers; run a major campaign on IT security, and helped reduce operational cost by implementing advanced managerial tools.

News Reporter (Journalist, Electronic Media),
News Department, Channel Nepal Television, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 4487750, URL: www.channelnepal.com
News reporting with camera crew, read TV news reports, translated news items from Nepali to English, assisted video editors and handled production of daily news bulletins.

***** Helped renew diplomatic and donor interest in Nepali development, security and social issues. Conducted responsible public information campaign with conservative editorial line.

Customer Service Representative,
Himalayan Telecommerce Pvt. Ltd (ASK ME), Sigma House, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 2111290, URL: www.askme.com.np
Worked in national and international call centers. Provided information to customers like phone numbers and about service and products of various business organizations based upon a database. Performed telemarketing to potential customers in the United States. Undertook customer care training.

***** Met and exceeded sales targets. Marketed to consumers wishing to save by choosing affordable products. Convinced customers of established giant telecom providers - AT&T and Verizon - to switch to our partner service provider.

Administrative Assistant,
Everest Net Pvt. Ltd., Ekantakuna, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 5546010, URL: www.enet.com.np
Assisted administrative manager in his daily operations, arranged meetings including the agendas and minutes, circulated administrative information to other staff members, documented and filled up company reports, updated staff profile and monitored media for notices with implications to the company.

***** Maintained high standards of professionalism.

Junior Sub-Editor,
The Kathmandu Post, Kantipur Publications, Subidhanagar, New Baneswor, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 4480100, URL: www.ekantipur.com
Edited feature articles contributed to the opinion-editorial page. Was responsible for the then Page4, the opinion page. Prepared initial draft for editorials.

***** Selected for copyediting op-ed page.

SKILLS:-
• News analysis – international politics, business and defense issues.
• Familiar with MS Office package, e-mail and Internet.
• Nepali, German.

EDUCATION:-
• Master of Arts, Tribhuwan University, Kirtipur, NEPAL, Political Science, 2003-present.
• Bachelor of Arts, Campion College, Lalitpur, NEPAL, English Literature and Sociology, 1999-2002
• High School, St. Xavier’s School, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, NEPAL, 1987-1992.

PUBLICATION/AWARD:-
• Published more than thirty times in national dailies in Nepal since 2000 .
• First position, College Essay Competition, Campion College, 2001

REFERENCE:-
• Krishna Shah, Sun Certified Java Specialist, 12000 Market Avenue, Unit 461, Reston, VA 20190, (703) 589 0664, krishna.shah@gmail.com.
• Prasanna Dhungel, 1725 Orrington Ave, #620, Evanston, IL 60201, Tel. (847) 274-1114, pdhungel2010@kellogg.northwestern.edu.
• Vijay Grover, IT Analyst, Telepacific, 515 S Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071 Tel. (626) 319 7511, vijaygrover@hotmail.com.

INTERESTS:-
Books, movies, tennis and model airplanes.

Ein Frau in Berlin

2010-01-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

Max Faerberboeck gemacht ein Kino wobei shaut das Schmerz und Selbsterniedrigung des Deutschen Frauen unter Sowjetischer Besatzung. Nina Hoss spielt als Marta Hillers, ein Berlin Bewohner. Roterarmee kontrolliert Gebesiegt Deutschland mit Beschaemung gegen Weibervolk, geraubt in ihrem Haus, ihrem Land.

Arm Russischer soldaten zerstoeren Heimlichkeit als Tieren, gegensatz gebildet Deutscher menschen wer spielt Klavier und haben ein persoenlich Studio. Hungrig und schwach Maedchen, alt oder jung, sind zu Huren gestuerzt. Dass war Stalinbursche, ein strafe fuer alles Deutscher Volk fuer Russland einfall. Es gibt keine Amerikaner soldaten zu retten Deutscher Zivilvolk von Russischer Barberei.

Anonyma (Hillers name war Geheimnis in Deutschland)versagt zu sicheren ander Fraulein und aufgibt zu ein Russischer Oberst. Dies versichert sie von Plunder bei ander sexuell ausgehungert Russischer Untermenschen.

Die Welt gehoert Geschicht dass Deutschland war das Teufel in Zweite Weltkrieg. Der Kino gerrinert Weltpublikum dass Deutschland hoechst gerleidet. Deutscher Volk nicht verlieren ihre Wuerde. Anonyma (Nina Hoss) ist stark in grosser Haerte. Deutscher Menschen muss nicht vorgessen Stalinismus und roter Schrecklichkeit gegen Deutscher Fraulichkeit. Ein schoen Cinema mit ein ernst Thema.

Nepal: Kingdom better than Republic

2009-07-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

Nepal's transformation into a republic hasn't been worthwile. Nepal's monarchy has a role of unifier since Prithvi Narayan Shah's time. The current leaders also failed to consider the sustainability of monarchy for tourism. Nepal's unique monarchy appealed to a lot of foreign visitors. If countries like UK, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands can remain a monarchy despite strong parliamentary system, it was a tragedy that Nepal was forcibly transformed into a republic. The King's role as a unifier among diversity has been completely ignored.

The Seven Party Alliance and Maoists bear responsibility of Nepal's deterioration. The advent of multi-party democracy in 1990 was skilfully exploited by anti-democratic extremist forces. The Maoists, the chief driving force behind this extremist movement got away with all of its demands. Making Nepal a republic has been a terrible blow to Nepal's image. I honestly think Nepal's friends abroad have no interest to see Nepal sink into the abyss of lawlessness and insecurity. The bottom line is Nepal has lost its identity.

Images...

2009-05-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

Gaze at rocks,
Stern and permanent.

Look at highways,
seemingly infinite.

Talk to people,
Beautiful and gay.

Stroll in Van Nuys,
Uncouth, bland...

2009-05-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Defense of Chad - a chivalric episode

2009-05-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

October 14, 1986

The French bombing of Wadi Doum airfield has enraged Libya's leader Muammar Qaddafi. Qaddafi has ordered his air force to wreak havoc on Chadian capital Djamena. To destabilize Hissein Habre, Qaddafi has ordered his army to invade Northern Chad after weakening French allies with his air force. French President Francois Mitterand has counseled with former President Valery Giscard de Estaing has asked an elite force from the EC5 (Escadre de Chasse) in anticipation of Libyan air raid on Chad. Captain Claude Schramm and Lieutenant Jean Pierre Montpelier, detached as Luftflucht Kondor are deployed to Bangui with one E-2C Hawkeye and one Boeing 707 tanker under a secret ad hoc command.

Yevgeni Shevchenko, a Soviet air force Polknovnik turned mercenary for the Libyan Air Force is tasked by Libyan commanders to strike Djamena. France's foreign intelligence arm, DGSE gives accurate flight profile of jets flying out of military airfields at Tripoli and Benghazi.

Agent Bernice posing as a laborer Abdel passes secret coded SATCOM sigals to his controllers aboard a French patrol vessel off Corsica. As Shevchenko takes off, Bangui command alerts Cicogne controllers, and Schramm and Montpelier scramble at Bangui. The Boeing tanker is already on station while the E-2C patrols northern Central African Republic airspace. Each Mirage F1C is armed with two Super 530s and two R550 Magics, two tanks and one supersonic jammer.

Der Fall:- Captain Scramm and wingman Montpelier maintain altitude at 40,000 ft and establish BARCAP north of Djamena. As Shevchenko's Tu-22 approaches, the E-2C cues Luftflucht Kondor on interception position toward bearing 045, exactly six o'clock of the quarry. Schramm orders Montpelier to break formation and attack the enemy maintaining strict radar silence. 'Errinern die Pobacken Kanone,' (Remember the tail guns) keys Schramm in the highly secure and encrypted data modem. Montpelier, excited for his first kill quickly positions himself behind the Blinder. Still undetected, Montpelier unleashes IR guided R550 magic at a range of six clicks, way beyond the Tupolev's 23mm guns.

The attack is detected. Shevchenko launches his newly developed high intensity IR flares and performs evasive maeneuver. Unfortunately for Montpelier, his both missiles fail as they chase the flares. Shevchenko quickly programs his attack radar on Chadian power station and quickly launches an As-4 Kitchen cruise missile. The E-2C detects the attack and quickly alerts Schramm. 'Scheiss,' he screams breaking radio silence. He quickly moves to intercept the missile and turns on his Cyrano IV set. "Montpelier, zerstoeren das Feind," (Montpelier, destroy the enemy) he orders Montpelier.

Schramm orders a quick lock on and fires two Super 530s for a passive passive radar guided attack. Montpelier without the fire and forget Magics achieves a lock on on the enemy bomber and launches both of his remaining Super 530s. Meanwhile, Shevchenko orders his assistant Virkin to turn on ECM and jam enemy radar. Shevchenko nervous but calm with long experience climbs to 50,000 ft on Mach 1.8.

Schramm bags the AS-4 with a single hit and the missile reportedly falls on an uninhabited jungle area. A moment of tension on his face disappears as he is notified by the Hawkeye that he has succeeded in his mission. He has thus saved the life of 300 Chadian civilian workers and countless other civilians. If the missile had hit populated area of Djamena, the casualty count could have been terrible.

Schramm then orders Montpelier to quickly withdraw engaging the Tu-22. 'Montpelier, the whole Libyan air force will try to shove a spear up your ass if they get you,' he says. 'Retire, repeat, retire,' he roders hotblooded Montpelier who is furious at his failure. Both pilots have almost exhausted their fuel tanks and due to extreme supersonic maneuvers, they refuel once on air with the Boeing 707 tanker and then land at a KARI system defended base at Gemena. Chadian President Makosso, successor to previous leader Jean Bedell Bokassa, is a firm French ally. Anxious of the Libyan threat but eager for French assistance to continue his rule, Makosso wants French forces out of his capital Bangui, well within striking range of Libyan Blinders, even though only two were servicable. President Makosso feared Libyan reprisals and had invited French forces.

Once they landed, Schramm lambasts Montpelier for failing to destroy the Blinder in a sneak attack. "Hundreds could have died," he screamed at Montpelier. "I have to report to Paris." Before he relieves Montpelier, he gives a stern look to the young man and smiles. "Enjoy at Le Courbet's (with your girl). What is her name?"

"Marie, Monsieur."

"Ok go."

Schrammm returns to his quarters and writes to Elizabeth, his wife in Metz. He thinks of his son's Abitur and wants to be there in his school to watch the annual football game.

THE END

Amelia's rescue

2009-05-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Amelia was a Distinguished Service Cross Winner aviatrix par excellence. She could cross the Atlantic and break other aviation records at at time many women hardly had full freedom. Till yet, no woman has won presidential elections in this magnificent wonderland. Accept it; women do not control power here.

But when Amelia dispappeared in Howling Island, the US goverment mobilized several naval platforms and scores of aircraft to search for AMerica's most revered treasure. My granddad, Flying Officer BK Singh was seventeen when she dispappeared or was probably shot down or intercepted.

BKS, my granddad, was indeed a revindicarer extraordinaire. He was too young to do anything then. But he enlisted in the RAFVR and became the 2904th pilot of the British Empire. Thhe ongoing struggle between Europe and Asia over possession of vital markets and resources e.g spice, raw materials and trade was ravaging the world after the Great Depression. As an idealist Punjabi youth educated by the British, he could not afford to sit back and watch.

But if Priam would have been alive then. he would have migrated to US on a special training. he would have jumped to rescue Amelia as she represented the epitome of Ameican woman's achievement. A B-17 rigged for rescue would have been piloted by Captain Doolitle. Doolitle would have taken his elite rescue squad on a rescue run. And then, voila they spot an emaciated Amelia on a dinghy. It had happened that her plane was spotted by Imperial Japanese Army Hayabusas and intercepted. After threatening to shoot her down, the Jap pilot had damaged her rudder with 13mm machine gun fire. After loosing control Amelia lost control and ditched her abode at sea. As a Japanese destroyer approached her dinghy, the ghost ship appeared out of the blue and firebolted the destroyer Nishi. Nishi's captain gave in as he feared American reprisal. Then Captain Priam jumped from the B-17 in a special line designed by Noonan. With a tube in his shoulder, Priam reached the emaciated thinning body of a woman he admired. Carrying her in his shoulder. he gently lifted her and shot called WO Noonan aboard the Green Gull. With a gusto, the line lifted the rescuer with his prize. Aboard, a blanket was thrown open and Amelia's husband Putnam comforted his wife. With a cup of hot coffee and caramel, Amelia whipsered,"Where am I..".

Israel-LA ties strong

2009-05-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

US-Israel ties strong

By P Rana
Van Nuys, San Fernando Valley, May 3, 2009

LASD Chief Lee Baca Sunday stressed on cordial US-Israeli ties. On the 61st anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state, the LASD chief also spoke of lasting bond between the 490,000 strong Jewish community in LA and Israel.

The Woodley Park event in San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County was attended by Wendy Greuel (D), LA City Councilwoman, Gil Artzyeli, assistant consul general of Israel and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. Stalls selling food, T-shirts, water filters as well as insurance, education and Judaica were present. Tel Aviv's famous Dizenghoff street was featured in the pavilion. The Ben Gurion pavilion displayed a stall featuring Israel's famous El Al airline. Councilman Jack Weiss (D) stall featured free combs to supporters. NCJW, thrift store chain, displayed its famous Judaica art. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's biography was also displayed. The GOP also had a stall.

The most striking feature was the parajump. Five skydivers carried flags of Israel and the United States. A chute painted with French tricolor was also among the others. DJ music, rock climbing and children's games were also part of the program. Israel's famous export, orange juice was also featured while a film festival display included art films to shore up Israeli culture.

Sixty-one years ago Israeli Jewish residents and migrants who escaped World War II, many of them victims of genocide, declared a Jewish state of Israel in Palestine, a backwater in the Ottoman Empire although culturally significant to Europe. Arab residents opposed its creation and the newly independent Arab states of Syria, Egypt and Jordan declared war. Israeli volunteers defeated the Arab invading armies and the new state was born. Israel today is the leading democracy among mostly authoritarian and sometimes hostile neighboring states. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are cultural and learning centers in the Middle East.

*Data credit goes to Wikipedia.org while the writer was present there at the program.

Lt. Meir's Angst

2009-05-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

Iran-Syria axis against Israel- A typical scenario

Time March 24, 2012

The US has undertaken limited military operations against Iran. Iranian reactor at Busehr was hit by conventional Peacekeeper wing from North Dakota based 23rd ICBM Wing. Iran threatened immediate reprisal against US assets and military personnel based in the Middle East. Blaming the attack on Israeli lobby, Iranian parliament passes a bill to undertake limited military operations against Israel. As the Iranian government under Ahmedinejad faced immediate Israeli counterstrike, the Iranian IRBM tipped ballistic missile force was to be used only as a last resort. Iranian IRGC chief General Hajestani auhtorizes a transfer of four former Iraqi Mirage F1EQ strike aircraft to Syria. Painted in Syrian Air Force markings but flown by veteran Iranian pilot, Major Rashadeh, the elite strike unit is despatched to Damascus. The four planes are configured as follows:-

-BS353 Mirage F1EQ two tanks and two AS-30 Laser guided anti-surface missiles (Maj Rashadeh)
-BS354 Mirage F1EQ two ARMAT anti-radiation missiles and two tanks (Capt. Rashani)
-BS355 Mirage F1EQ two Matra Magic and two AA-10 'Alamo' IR guided AAMs (Capt Dagestani)
-BS356 Mirage F1EQ two Matra Magic and two AA-10 'Alamo' Semi-active radar AAMs (Capt Mojiar)

-MT135 Ilyushin 76 Candid tanker
-MS136 Ilyushin 76 'Mainstay' AWACS

The self styled 'Jurrat' force leaves Mehrabad airbase and heads straight to Damascus. Brig. Gen. Nuristani, a Russian air force acaedemy graduate IRGC officer takes command of this unit. The Glonass, the Russian GPS system, backs up this task force while another strategic Iranian airlift deploys SA-10 'Grumble' batteries in Damascus airport. Syrian armored units equipped with T-72s and T-80s accompanied by BMP-3s roll to Southern Lebanon, screened by SA-11 Gadfly batteries with advanced jammers and Kolchuga passive sensors.

On October 25, 2012, Maj. Rashadeh attempts to strike Israeli border post, a barrack of the Golani brigade reconnaissance unit beyond the blue line. Another unit of Su-33 Flankers, piloted by Ukrainian mercenaries, organize a Barrier Combat Air Patrol in case Israeli fighters try to intercept the strike package. Beirut based Lebanese MiG-29 unit is already on alert in case Israeli air force attempts to take em out. On dawn 3:00 AM, Rashadeh's flight attempts to lase the barrack and strike it. But, IsAF quickly foils the attempt by scrambling F-15Cs. As the AS-30 Strike is foiled, Capt. Rashani fires two ARMAT at a Hawk battery and manages to take it out despite attempts by the battery crew to switch off the system and use the new Elbit designed jammer. Four IDF soldeirs including a Sergeant is killed. Ten others were injured. The IsAF quickly attempts to manage a hasty fighter sweep but is foiled by SA-10 batteries to penetrate deep into Damascus sky. As the F-22 Raptors were grounded due to prodcution problems associated with the global economic crisis, the F-15s had to return back. At that moment, Nuristani decides to outflank IsAF defenders.

Intel sources obtained from Moscow both HUMINT and IMINT has detected a US relief convoy of two ships, one 10,000 ton SS Maria and a 6,000 ton SS Vadim, Ukrainian freighters, loaded with 100 M1A2 Abrams hastily purchased from US stocks and sent to IDF as immediate replacement for its Merkava fleet. The Jewish Lobby had persuaded Senators and the president to despatch this immediate relief in light of Iranian threat to send thousands of Sipah e Basij e Pasdaran volunteers on trucks through Iraq via Syria to the Golan to evict IDF 'occupation of Syrian territory'. Feindish Nuristani asks Rashadeh to quickly pounce on these. Rashadeh and his flight quickly move toward Northwestern Syria and land at Baniyas airbase. From a missile cache built up from French blackmarketeers, Syrian groundcrew load newly acquired AM39 Exocets, three each on Shehadeh and Rashanis multi-role jets while the other two Mirages escort the strike package. The Israeli air patrol in this area was limited and the two Iranian pilots score a major victory. The two ships receive two hits each causing both ships to capsize and sink with its cargo. Some crew escape but a precious cargo of Abrams tanks costing the US government nearly five hundred million dollars is lost. The Iranians achieve this victory with spending just around a hundred million dollars. There is immediate UN brokered ceasefire and as in 2006, Israel is left without a decisive victory for the second time.

Dragon Fury

2009-05-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

A limited force takeover of Taiwan by Beijing

The Republic of China and its political community had to contend a strong movement - The Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Tse Tung backed by Russia, communist Americans and other Third World leaders. In 1911, Sun Yatsen's Nationalist Republican movement deposed the ancient Manchu rulers after the country became extremely poor and ineffective. The country's major ports and trade were controlled by Europeans and Americans. From early 1930s Imperial Japan also asserted control over vast Chinese market and occupied with its land forces. The Nationalists and the Communists both fielded propaganda cadres and field armies. The Russians also helped the nationalists with aviation units and pilots according to Russian military newspapers available in Nepal. It is sold in Bajeko Pasal in Biratnagar, Eastern Nepal. These pilots conducted bombing missions against the Imperial Japanese positions inside China in apparently a broader effort to follow Russia's policy of containing Japanese power in Siberia, Sakhalin, Mongolia and Northwest China. Communist Chinese propaganda also spoke of Hitler's help to Nationalist forces in form of possibly monetary aid or technicians or aircraft and tanks and probably military experts like General Liman von Sanders who went to Turkey to counter Russian advances against Turkey's eastern provinces.

The Nationalists were also backed by Americans who sent their able General Stillwell who was quartered in Kunming, South China according to Robert Leckie's Delivered from Evil. Initially the Chinese Kuomintang (Nationalists) and Chinese communists fought among each other but briefly were diverted to fight the foreign Japanese invaders. After regular defeats at the hands of Japanese, US pilots under General Stillwell's orders organized the American Volunteers Group or the Flying Tigers under Colonel Claire Chennault. These valiant men attacked Japan's aviation and military logistics. Interestingly, these men wore jackets marked with the Nationalist flag, the red rectangle with blue corner with the white sun. Accompanying the Chinese flag were Cantonese characters asking peasants to save these pilots and spare them from Japanese retribution. To my chagrin, my father had a Hino Maru riddled with bulletholes, a family memento acquired by some veterans.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Deecmber 7, 1941, in a bid to isolate US trade with China and assert total control of the Pacific. After surprising US naval units and incapacitating US Pacific Fleet, the Imperial Japanese forces quickly landed troops in Pacific theater ranging from Singapore, Siam, South Pacific in addition to the already occupied China. The Japanese also had a broader aim of invading and controlling Australia from European control.

Japan's European Axis allies Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy also declared war against US which was in my opinion a disastrous move by the German government. Germany should have left England alone and focused on Halsford Mackinder's lectures and moved swiftly to isolate communist control of Russia and the vast resources in Central Asia. Hitler's lack of foresight led to Germany's defeat in Africa despite the brilliant leadership of General Erwin Eugen Johannes Rommel. Also his failure to convince Churchill as he persuaded Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain that Germany's only threat was in the East and Germany could compete favorably with France and the British Empire in a freer hostilities free free trade in Africa and Latin America. Such was Germany's fate then.

The US became hopelessly engaged in European crusade against Germany and failed to help Germany to rescue the backward Russian people from Eurocentrism and enlightenment. Germany could have better managed Russia's natural resources and helped Russian people from throwing away the yoke of forced collectivization and godless anti-individual communism. Besides, Stalin was building a strong army - millions of men with tanks and airplanes to threaten Eastern Europe. His eventual goal was to spread communism throughout Europe and the Third World. Lenin had already produced a thesis severely criticising Euopean presence and supposed exploitation and control of Africa and Latin America by Europeans. Therefore it was natural for Germany to send its forces eastward to contain this Marxist threat.

But the United States government under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt continued warfare against Axis forces. Sending war materials to England created the Battle of the Atlantic, a fearsome struggle of Allied ships (British, Canadian and US) against Germany's vaunted U-Boats. German Admirals Erich Raeder and Karl 'Papa' Doenitz attempted to check US resupply of England and Russia in the high Atlantic. But the British forces prevailed and defeated Germany's pocketbatleship force as well as the U-Boats after a long and costly struggle. Allied invasion of Normany on June 6, 1944 diverted German troops from the Eastern Front leading to the collapse of German resistance against Russian advance. As Germany surrendered and Japanese were contained in the Pacific, anti-democratic communist forces became stronger. After the agreement to divide Germany into Allied zones, the Russians stamped out German culture in Eastern Europe. Ethnic Germans were kicked out of traditional German cities like Koenigsberg and other Polish towns like Danzig (renamed Gdansk by the victorious Russians and Poles). Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Churchill, descended upon Europe.

The Truman administration (Roosevelt died while in office) was forced to take Hobson's choice of either invading Japanese home islands or to drop newly developed atomic weapons to force the reluctant Japanese for unconditional surrender. The Army under General Douglas McArthur had already produced plans for Operation Olympic - the invasion of Kyushu, the southernmost Japanese home island. A more audacious albeit highly risky plan was the Operation Coronet, the invasion of Honshu island near Tokyo, the capital city. According to a Newsweek report Operation Coronet was likely to produce a million casualties for US servicemen. Therefore to mitigate casualties and to quell calls by servicemen to return home after a long and bloody armed conflict, Truman decided to use the untried weapons - Little Boy and Fat Man - against Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulting in over 200,000 Japanese casualties plus the radiation and cancer for many generations of Japanese city residents. But what could have he done? Could he ask one million US soldiers to die in vain effort to control a Samurai state? Tibbets just did what he was ordered to.

After Japan's unconditional surrender, communist Chinese forces swiftly asserted control of mainland China and defeated the Nationalists in one after another battles. The Nationalists retreated to Formosa with a million supporters while Mao Tse Tung declared victory and established a People's Republic, a communist dictatorship, in 1949.

The Taiwanese had to fear China's eventual invasion of Taiwan (Formosa) and they valiantly held small islands of Quemoy and Matsu despite artillery raids and constant loudspeaker propaganda. China has acquired vast quantity of arms from Russia and produces many aircraft and tanks of mainly Russian design without license in its state arsenal factories. It has the world's largest standing army while its military potentail remains largest due to its vast population of one billion and huge industrial capacity. China has strategic steel industry theoretically giving it expertise to produce ships as large as wartime Japan's massive battleship sisters Shinano, Yamato and Musashi. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has acquired a Varyag (Kuznetsov class) carrier from Russia to expand its blue water capability. In addition its Jianghu frigates, Luhu destroyers and other fleet escorts have been available to other interested buyers from Southeast Asia.

The author would like to describe a scenario in which the PLAN equipped with Russian designed Sovremenny class destroyers (two were delivered in December 1999 and November 2000, while the other two were delivered in December 2005 and September 2006 according to www.naval-technology.com) armed with supersonic cruise Surface to surface missiles (SSMs) can support an amphibious operation to forcibly take control of Taiwan. At a time when Taiwan's traditional security guarantor the United States is already overtaxed with farflung contingencies and a global economic crisis, the Chinese generals and admirals Admiral Liu Huajing and Chi Haotian can plan a quick takeover of Taiwan with a principle of economy of force as well as their indigenous Sun Tzu's Art of War. A sea incident in pirate infested Molucca Straits against China's trade ships by US Navy boarding for suspected arms material to Third World rogue states or a standoff between Taiwanese Navy and PLAN vessels in Spratlys and Paracels disputed islands can easily falre up an already existing tensions to volcanic proportions. The Chinese military leaders can plan a swift conventional ballistic attack (nuclear weapons not preferred as Taiwan's infrastructure and population is to be saved) against Taiwan's Ministry of Defense and other defense facilities as well as political and military leaders like Dr. Lian Chen, former defense minister and Admiral Hau Peitsun by heliborne special forces. The Chinese J-11 (Su-27 copies) can swiftly establish offensive sweeps and BARCAP against Taiwan's F/A-18, F-16 and Mirage 2000-5 units. After sweeping the Taiwan's air force with sheer numbers (the same human wave Maoist tactic used successfully against infantry opponents) but backed by Ilyushin Il-76 Mainstay AWACS platform and a squadron of converted Boeing tankers acuired from Israel. Replicating Nazi takeover of Crete, the force majeure can quickly turn the tide of world opinion for a 'unification' on Beijing's terms.

The Taiwanese air force and navy units attempt massive resistance. Its air force strikes and disables a single Sovremenny destroyer Admiral Chu Teh and quickly orders an orderly withdrawal to Japan. Naval platforms also withdraw to Japan and the US. The Taiwanese diaspora is permanently lodged in San Francisco and Los Angeles planning for a comeback which is a far cry. The Third World quickly accepts Beijing's unification campaign while the US is unable to do anything for fear of provoking a nuclear exchange with Beijing's newly built fleet of rail mobile ICBMs. Also the president and the Pentagon cannot discount threat posed by China's SSBNs or in a limited scenario an unrestricted submarine warfare conducted by China's Mao class of SSNs. The threat posed by Chinese ocean going diesel boats in choke points like the Straits of Molucca cannot be discounted. And, recent threats by North Korea's missile test over Japanese airspace and UN's inability to tame the ambition of Pyongyang's unpredictable leadership and its reclusive leaders Kim Jong Il and his son recounts the volatility of the international system.

THE END.

-Pritam S Rana

Note:-This article lacks logos appeals of up to date statistics and is basically enthymematic. I recommend to interested parties to insert more objective tools and graphics to enhance this article into a professional piece on par with those produced by writers of Jane's and IACSP Journal. Much of the original information and name credit goes to Jane's Defense Weekly, apublication registered in Surrey, United Kingdom. I became a defense analyst reading their materials and the JDW magazine in 1990-91 period. The publication gave me rights to use their material with proper accredition. I remember a letter by editor Michael Howard, if the name is still correct in my memory.

Tamiflu Drogengeschaeft zu gross Geld

2009-04-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Das Gesundheitkrise durch dies Scaweinflu will machen der Medical Induustrie grosser. Das Schweinbauer in Vereinigten Staaten will loesen Investment als junger Student und Berufer und Arbeiter will gehe Vegan. Das Rindindustrie ist unter Druck von BSE outbreak. So, Ich denke das Weltfleischindustrie will stossen ein neues Kampffall. Mein mutter P Singh, ein zehn jahr Resident dies Stadt, Van Nuys sagt des El Pollo Loco Huehnfleischgeschaeft opfert frei essen fuer das unterausbildetmenschen zu essen in sein Restaurant. Dies ist Amerika, Menschen wachsen und lesen.

Al Qaida draws US Navy into Hornet's Nest

2009-04-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

-Pritam S Rana or Priam

The waters of Somalia is known haven for pirates, formerly Somali coastguard workers who are unemployed after the United Nations and Europeans failed to set up an orderly state in Somalia. These men have taken up law against neutral shipping and broken the Ten Commandment law of "Thou Shall nOt Steal and Kill", earning a lable of pirates. The same group are highly vulnerable to recruitment by Al Qaida. Al Qaida number two front man, Aiman Al Zawairi invoked the Salafists to send volunteers and fight US interests in Somalia. And US has engaged these terrorists since 2006 and is busy forming the African Command, a joint military command to police the restive continent of Africa from would be transnational terrorists and states that have a history of supporting terrorism.

The kidnapping of Captain Richard Philips and other crewmen of SS Maersk Alabama denotes the pirates are inspired by Al Qaida and seek hostilities with the United States. These same forces, the clans engaged in intercenine warfare among themselves, were active in kidnapping the crew of Saudi supertanker Sirius Star and its cargo of two million tons of crude oil. According to respected German magazine Der Spiegel, the merchandise was worth nearly $100 million in the world market. The pirates however did a commendable job in kidnapping Russian arms peddler MV Faina in September 25, 2008. This Africa bound ship was carrying a cargo of 33 T-72s , enough to arm an armored battalion. This powerful force of tanks was reportedly destined for Juba in Southern Sudan. It would probably have been used to conduct military operations against Darfur rebels by the Islamist Sudanese regime. Or worse, it could have ended in Al Qaida's undisclosed camps in Sudan to rehearse a possible combat with US XVIII Airborne Corps rapid reaction force or NATO's Allied Command Europe's Mobile Force or France's numerous contingents supporting various peacekkeeping and security forces throughout Africa.

When Indian naval forces including frigate INS Tabar (sourced from AP/Der Spiegel picture, issue Nr48, 24/11/08) conducted bombardment of these pirate forces, Al Qaida cells responded swiftly by conducting terrorist raids against Bombay areas of importance, chiefly frequented by American and Western tourists, including a rabbi. The signature attack which killed 173 and wounded 308 corresponded with Al Qaida's anti-Western, anti-Jewish footprint. This writer believes intuitively that there is a strong link between India's participation in NATO naval operations and the Bombay attacks.
These pirates have defied the world community and made a mockery of international trade. The dropping of $2 million dollars denote how vulnerable international oil trade is to blackmailing and terrorism. Greater danger looms ahead as US Navy is being drawn to combat these fierce clansmen who fear nothing. The men are professional killers and butchers. The whole idea of kidnapping US merchant mariners could be a ploy by Al Qaida to draw American ships into free fire zone and again use the same technique used to destroy US Navy destroyer USS Cole in 2000. Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was the main culprit, according to US magazines Newsweek.

Establishing a functioning state in Somalia is a titanic task given the enormous risk and costs involved in the invasion of the country plagued with intercenine clan warfare. Since Siad Barre's fall from power in 1991, the country has been rife for terrorist exploitation. Presence of anti-American forces under such fanatical clans like Mohammed Farah Aidid whose forces attacked UN forces and engaged US Army rangers in 1993. President George Herbert Walker Bush's policy to allow orderly distribution of food and restore order met with fierce clashes with Aidid's Habar Gadir militia. Possible infiltration by Arab Jihadis who trained local Somali fighters to shoot down US helicopters using rocket propelled grenades was artistically presented to public eye in Hollywood bluckbuster, 'Black Hawk Down'. But the sight of parading of US soldiers by the militia was unpalatable and revulsive to most Americans. It seems the mother of all battles began in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's defense. However, the focus is in Horn of Africa. The big oil's footprint is clearly visible in the new Great War. And, Somalia's decay can partly be blamed on its bloody war with Ethiopia over the Ogaden region. The then Soviet Union and its Cuban communist proxy forces destroyed Somalia's military manpower and left the country dry of bright and able leaders.

Although US intelligence has bird's eye view of the world through its massive network of spy satellites, the terrorist forces are studying ways to circumvent US surveillance of hotspots through recruiting quality technical manpower. According to April 9 report on the Wall Street Journal by Mr Gorman, the Russians and Chinese hackers now have the capability to map US electrical grid ostensibly to shut it down in case of future armed conflict with the US and its NATO allies. If US grid can be mapped, it can be assumed that these foreign states now have the technical capability, resources and organization to map every US Internet based architecture and possibly disable it to through destructive virus program once US is militarily enaged with rogue states and hostile organizations. The scenario described in Dan Brown's Digital Fortress is now real as ever before.

Information and intelligence warfare has evolved radically in favor of hostile powers and transnational groups. Although the technology and its architecture is US built and controlled, foreign sofware engineers have mastered much and are capable of controlling information superhighway as exemplified by China's grip on access to Internet within its borders. Der Spiegel report further speaks of presence of spies among foreign expatriate laborers in Arab countries who use widely available Internet and sophisticated communication devices like satellite phones to report movement of cargo ships to terrorists and pirates abroad in places like the Horn of Africa.

Furthermore, piracy is rife also in other poorer states like the Straits of Malacca. Allied with such terrorist outfits as Khaddafi Janjalini's Abu Sayyaf terrorist outfit, the threat is tangible. Much of Japan's trade with Asia still passes through the straits and Singaporeean military although armed with latest US platforms cannot be everywhere to curtail carefully planned or massed terrorist operations by such groups seeking media exposure or hard cash. The depreciation of US and World economy further heightens threat to existing commerce. The author feels that US government should chose to delegate sea policing tasks to private security companies so as to lessen the burden on scarce budget resources. The private firms operation under international maritime law might be questionable. But latest incidents have denoted that private sea security firms are likely to be licensed by US maritime authorities. Eric Prince and his Blackwater has much potential to lucrative contracts in an insecure world infested by pirates and arms traffickers.

"The safe return of the captain is the top priority," AFP reporter Andre des Nesnera quoted Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Washington. Rogue state leaders and transnational terrorists know the weaknesses of current Obama led Democratic administration. Obama's lack of service record, low business confidence and his quarrels with US captains of industry is closely watched by foreign intelligence and diplomatic corps. North Korea's recent missile launch over Japan was most likely a test to check US resolve. The Democraic Party's utopian foreign policy objective of dialogue over realpolitik can easily be deduced by such states as weakness or a move to neo-isolationism. Venezuela is openly flouting Monroe doctrine and building up an arsenal of Russian arms. Cuba is still under grip of Raul Castro after ailing Castro gradually retires from power. Georgia is crushed and as the administration tries to release pressure on the military by withdrawing from Iraq and focusing on bin Laden in Afganistan, there looms a greater danger of a nuclear armed Iran. As US vacates Iraq, Iranian revolutionary Guards can pour into its ally, Syria's defense in large convoys of trucks to Diyar Awz Zor, a city attacked by Israeli forces in 2007. The Sipah e Basij e Pasdaran, a volunteer force of upto 15 year olds armed with latest Avtomat Kalashnikov AK-100s, Heckler and Koch G-3s and Austrain Steyr high powered sniper rifles can overwhelm Israel's defense line in the Golan. If we see 1973 again, the US Army Reserves and the National Guard will be called in to defend Israel, thanks to the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington. In such a scenario, the US$900 million earmarked for Palestinians can be channelled to purchase light arms, anti-tank missiles or even tanks and possibly light East European aircraft to attack Israeli and US military personnel in the war zones. It is notewrthy that even puny Lebanon has ordered MiG-29s from Russian arms manufacturers, making it risky for Israeli reconnaissance aircraft and drones from observing frontline positions near the Blue Line. The Offek satellites do work for now, but in a broader conflict, these can be knocked down by Russian and Chinese ground based laser or photon guns readily available for such client states as Iran and other would be SCO powers.

The Global War on Terror or the Third World War began in 1993 although 2001 is the 1939. To supply these forces, there exists a network of arms providers as exemplified by Faina's capture off Somalia. African dictators' insatiable appetite for arms is being fulfilled by Russian and Chinese arms manufacturers like Rosoberonexport and Norinco. In sharp contrast, US arms sales is regulated by Congress and the General Accounting Office (GAO). While US is overstretched; its military personnel pool engaged in difficult campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, China has launched a major diplomatic offensive involving trade and aid to the Third World. Its military has now joined United Nations so that they gain first hand experience in Third World. After teaching the world about Maoist guerilla strategy and becoming a nuclear power able to balance the United States nuclear arsenal with its strategic rocket forces, China is busy increasing its military spending by 17 percent according to Wall Street Journal news snippets. Its enormous one trillion two hundred billion trade surplus with the United States has enabled it spend a lot of its money on R&D as well as industral and ther forms of espionage by paying qualified technical personnel abroad. Having acquired photon gun capability and aerospace technology on parity with US 1970s-80s level, the communist country with capitalist trading practices now commands awesome authority. Spending around $40 billion annually on its military (ref: AP reports), this country's once peaceful coastal defense force, the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has already acquired guided missile destroyers of the Sovremenny class from Russia. Its blue water capability with Russian carrier Kuznetsov (Varyag) and submarines will give it enormous power projection capability. Australia can be quickly overrun ala the stark reminder of the Darwin raid by the Imperial Japanese Navy in February 19, 1942. Australia's puny military still depends on Australia New Zealand US Treaty (ANZUS), requiring US military manpower to defend its landmass in case there is an invasion of Australia as attempted by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in the heights of the Pacific campaign in World War II.

THE END

Achham incident: Another debacle

2009-04-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

by Pritam S Rana

Published on Saturday, February 23, 2002 in either The Kathmandu Post or Space Time Today

The recent attacks by Maoist rebels in Achham on army police and civil administration has demonstrated that despite the emergency in effect, the rebels have not yet lost the initiative. it also proves our Prime Minsiter wrong when he exclaimed that the rebels have been defeated after the imposition of the emergency. The incident also demonstrates the weakness of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) and the largely ineffective police (vis a vis the Maoist insurgency).

The government's main fighting arm in countering the armed rebellion is the RNA. during the emergency, the RNA deployed itself to the remote corners of the country, especially the affected areas and arrested thousands of people suspected of rebel ties. it also neutralized by fire those unwilling to surrender. However, the Achham incident has shown that these efforts were simply not sufficient. The rebels simply appear to have relocated to areas where the security presence was the minimum, trained in those areas and struck out somewhere. It is ad that only incidents of this magnitude attracts the attention of the government and causes it to take some meaningful steps.

Whether anyone likes it or not there is a war going on in this country. Who is winning is pretty hard to tell. After the declaration of the emergency, many were convinced (that) it was the government that was, which was winning. But sadly the present Accham incident has proven that it is too premature to expect government victory. To combat the rebellion, the government should change its political and military tactics. There should be greater measures for security. The security forces have to be further furnished with modern equipment(s). The mental status of officials and leaders of the security apparatus should be changed.

In the Accham incident, an entire platoon (a unit of upto 40 soldiers) of RNA was wiped out. Hundreds, possibly a thousand or more rebels, did it. Here the culprit was lack of modern automatic weapons. An RNA platoon has only three automatic weapons while the US Army squad (7 soldiers) has seven automatic weapons. This shows that the smaller US unit has greater firepower than a much larger Nepali unit. If all the soldiers in the RNA platoon at Accham had automatic weapons, they would have been able to put out a massive volume of fire at the enemy forcing them to scatter and retreat. The standard RNA rifle is semi-automatic (Fusil Automatique Leger, Belgian design produced in UK and India) and fires at a slower rate. The Maoists used automatic weapons stolen from their past raid on the Dang barrack.

It has been demonstrated time and again that hte Maoists rely on human wave tactics to overwhelm police and Army. The only answer to counter this threat is to rely on massive firepower. The RNA and the police both have to procure automatic rifles as their individual weapons. The police will have to give up their vintage 0.303 (lee Enfield English design) rifles for more modern weapons. The army must also procure belt fed light machine guns and distribute it to sections, subunits of the platoon. It should do way with its magazine fed light machine gun for they are slow and need frequent changing of the magazine.

The RNA should also procure night vision goggles to detect and fight with the rebels at night. the news that some Army (Mil, Russian design) Mi-17 helicopters having night vision system is promising, but units in the field, the infantry also need night vision goggles. In counter-insurgency operations heavier weapons like the mortar should be given to front line units rather than held centrally by the battalions. if RNA troops in Accham had mortars, by their fires, they could have well dispersed the rebels at a distance making it much easier to defend.

nepal is a mountainous and hilly country. Much of the rebel activities are also in such remote and inaccessible terrain. So the primary means of movement is by foot. The RNA and police units have to move on foot to maintain their presence on the ground. But moving on the foot is terribly slow process. The alternative expensive means of transport is helicopters. Helicopters due to their vertical take off capability can reach all types of terrain. Helicopter does not even need to land or touch the ground to embark or disembark personnel or other loads. It can simply hover above the ground and do the job. The current inventory of helicopters is insufficient. The government should procure a large number of helicopters. It is well known that it is difficult for the government to purchase high cost helicopters. But it should look for other ways. Some time ago US Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Nepal. Nepal should ask for security assistance from US at atime hwn the US administration is up against fighting terrorism globally. The US provides miliatry aid to many countries in the world. (Note stress on the visit of generals Krishna Rana and Singha Rana during World War II and Nepal's crucial support to Allies especially the British whose crown colony India escaped Axis

The helicopter would be highly useful in the current counter-insurgency. Troops can be ferried rapidly from one point to another . isolated outposts like Achham garrison could receive ammunition, food and other supplies via helicopter. . A helicopter can also carry rockets, machine guns and canon capable of supporting ground troops. injured troops can also be rapidly evacuated to hospitals and other health facilities. Helicopters can be put to other uses as well: carrying out rescue operations in the aftermath of floods and famines.

The loss of RNA and police lives has also made it imperative that government boos the fighting capability of the security forces. A serious evaluation of the past strategy is to be undertaken. New tactics ought to be considered. If possible the RNA and the police should launch offensives against suspected territories where rebels have sanctauries and training facilities. it should invite experts from overseas in form of military advisers from countrie slike the US who have a history of counter-insurgency warfare. . in case of the US, it has Special Forces, who are elite troops capable of fighting in difficult terrain against all sorts of opposition. The US Special Forces include the Green Berets, rangers and Delta Force who have latest experience in Afghanistan.

(to be continued...)

(to be continued...)

Sir Juddha's Legacy

2009-04-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

Sir Juddha Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana became Nepal's prime minister in September 1, 1932 succeeding Bhim Shumsher. His legacy is important as he is the first among those who chose to keep Nepal firmly under Western security alliance. His attempts to industrialize agrarian Nepal is witnessed by Juddha Match Factory, a commodity of extreme importance to Nepalese kitchens and smokers of cheroot and bidi (mini cigars).
Sir Juddha's contribution to Nepal's isolated economy was seen in his willingness to be allied with Western nations against Japan's Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere alliance which was raising nationalist opposition throughout Asia. Sir Juddha understood that Western powers namely England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States were its principal allies and not Imperial Japan lead by nationalists and revisionists. Nationalist Japan wanted Asia's markets for itself and wanted to impose its monopoly and kick out its British, American and Dutch competitors from India, the Philippines and East Indies, respectively. Imperial Japan also wanted to takeover vast riches of Australia, a sparsely populated European haven but with poor population and military resources to defend itself. Comprehending this complex strategic scenario, Sir Juddha's crucial support to Allied Forces in World War II was a factor that kept Nepal a sovereign entity and free from communist manipulation until now.

Nepal's youth of Sir Juddha 's era were poor peasants. The Mongolian stock, who migrated to the Himalayan middle ranges from Tibet in the long course of migration (see Dor Bahadur Bista's people of Nepal) are broadly categorized into Magars, Gurungs, Tamangs, Rais and Limbus. During Great King Prithvi Narayan Shah, born in 1723 and reigning king from 1768-1775, the Mongolian Magars of the principality of Gorkha were recruited along with Gurungs into the Gorkha Army. King Prithvi ordered the formation of Purano Gorakh company and other companies armed with European muskets and contact blades (Famous khukuris, scimitars and rapiers)purchased from Europeans in India. It can be deduced that during unification of Nepal and during the prolonged siege and subsequent takeover of Kathmandu Valley, the main trade center between East India company held India and Tibet, Gorkha soldiers destroyed a relief force led by Captain Kinlock in August 1767 ref:http://www.ecs.com.np/archive/oct_03/article_5.htm).

The 2,400 man force was defeated by King Prithvi's battle groups and they again captured a large loot of European arms. The battle of Pauwa Gadhi cost East India company's Bengal Army contingent to 1,600 men which finally dwindled to 700 after its failure to relieve Kathmandu's King Jaya Prakash Malla. The East India Company government was further involved in armed conflicts with Nepal's Gurkha soldiers in 1814-1816, the same time their government was enaged in the War of 1812 against the Thirteen Colonies in North America. After Nepal's defeat and loss of its Far Western territories to British forces, the English began recruiting in Nepal primarily from Hill Tribes of the Mongolian Stock and some Chhettris, a nationality associated with the Brahmins, a chief educated and priestly class of kingmakers and court scribes and administrators. The Brahmins have been involved in serious conspiracies against Jung Bahadur in the infamous Bhandarkhal conspiracy and Damodar Pande's seizure of Rana Bahadur Shah's attempt to assert control.

The peasant rural Nepalis received critical skills in first aid, cash crops, and of course expertise in the operation of modern armamments. Chinese civil war was raging then between the Kuomintang nationalists and Mao Tse Tung's communist forces. The communist army had retreated to China's interior from urban areas and were organizing a massive Long March to take over the country into single xenophobic rule. Greater threat to European interest was the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere economic and miliatry alliance propounded by extreme nationalists in control of Imperial Japanese Affairs. Army officers who organized these fanatical movement in Tokyo advocated freedom from restriction imposed by Western powers. Total control of China for Japan's interest was the objective of this cliche which preached arming and move away from League of Nations and restrictive naval agreements.

After brief success due to strategic surprise obtained at Pearl Harbor, US Navy stymied Japan's invasion plan of Australia in famous Coral Sea and Midway Battles. And recognizing immense industrial capacity of the United States, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and his assistant Admiral Chuichi Nagumo attempted to use Japan's land forces against both Australia (in New Guinea and other Oceanic islands like Guadalcanal and Bougainville) and British ruled Burma. The Japanese 18th Division under its 33rd Army attempted to invade India and push out the British and its allies including the Ranas from South Asia.

But the Muslim League led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Nepali rana leaders saw the contribution of the British in education, infrastructure and industrial development of South Asia and their respective areas of interest. Sir Juddha mobilized the Nepalese military units as the Purano Gorakh regiment and sent them to Burma front against the invading Japanese. Officer corps in India also generally supported British effort to ward off the yellow peril. The Allies were victorious and the Japanese forces could never make it beyond Nagaland and Assam border. In Burma, British and Allied forces including US Rangers and Chinese nationalist Y-Force broke the back of Japanese power in South East Asia. Singapore was avenged and the Dutch were restored in Java and Sumatra.

But Sir Juddha foresaw returning Nepali soldiers would bring with them socialist ideas. Churchill lost to Labor as war weary Englishmen returned home. In the colonies, nationaists pressured British to vacate India while communist and Congress manipulated returning Gurkha soldiers as the Liberation Army. After several bloody incidents, King Tribhuvan was taken to India while Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher annaounced present King Gyanendra as the new Nepalese monarch. Sir Juddha since left for Argheli palace as sage king after allowing the mantle of power to go to Padma Shumsher and to Chandra Shumsher's son Sir Mohan Shumsher.

Juddha Shusmsher Rana can thus be surmised into a pontificate of authority at a time when restive populations were being manipulated by agitators to follow Marxism-Leninism. His alternative native benevolent autocracy favored sustainable development of politics. Nepal's position as an integral state is owed much to his recognition of tidal waves of political movements which swept away once strong leaders like Chilean Capitano General Bernardo O'Higgins. Bernardo built Chile out of the chaos of post Bolivarian Latin America. But today Chile is in a better position than say Mexico vis a vis Nepal.

(Sir Juddha's birthday is in April 19, 1875 and all from his clan are celebrating it with great dignity and honor.

Defending Old Glory

2009-04-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Year 2011

US led NATO and Russia-China axis SCO relations have reached a new low. SCO Navy intervened in a border dispute between the Kingdom of Bonga and Republic of Piconesia. Taking the side of the Piconesians a powerful naval force consisting of Russian Kuznetsov class carrier Admiral Ushakoff and an Atlant class cruiser Marshall Zhukov attempt to bombard Port Eden, the capital of Jonga. Captain Priam has been asked by Washington to strike the Russian task force with his hodge podge force of 28 World War II era aircaft. The high tech stealth aircraft and other expensive jets are committed elsewhere as this backwater is only defended by seasoned oldtimers.

The main bomb squadron 3 X B-29 and 1 X EB-29 are the main strike force. The B-29 airfarme is equipped with a powerful search and track radar and is armed with modified AGM-86 Tactical Anti-ship Missiles (TASMs), a version of ship launched Tomahawk. The EB-29 is a powerful jamming platform equipped to mask the strikers in case they are detected or intercepted by enemy aviation or sea surveillance. However, satellite surveillance remains a threat. Engineers have retrofitted these old bombers into a launch platform each able to carry four of the cruise missiles. Further ECM support is provided by a refurbished flight of EP-38 each equipped with one ALQ-161 Airborne Self protection Jammer (ASPJ) pod and a new powerful IR jammer pod developed by an undisclosed UK aerospace firm. These systems can jam powerful long range Russian radars and theoretically also able to mask the strike force from enemy attempts to intercept with carrier based interceptors. However, a severe risk exists if the MiG-29Ks or Su-33s attempt an close range gun/IR missile attack. No plan survives contact with the enemy, said Murphy.

Captain Priam devises a layered attack plan. In case his bombers fail or are destroyed by Fulcrums or Flankers, a second tier raid will be launched by Major Lander's transport flight of 4 X C-47. The old Gooneybird has been rigged with Mk48 ADCAP naval torpedoes, two each in the four attacking aircraft. Major Lander operates from Black Raven, a separate C-47 platform equipped with powerful jamming and Electronic Support Measure (ESM) sets. In case this task force fails, a backup strike force of 3 X SBD Dauntless force equipped with Mk50 Barracuda torpedoes will be asked to conduct a near fatal strike. This third task unit is actually meant for anti-submarine warfare.

As news reaches Washington of heavy casualties among Bongan natives, the Congress urges President Van Windberg to immediately relieve the US protectorate. Admiral Manston, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff authorizes a secret unheard unit of the Air National Guard to prick this blatant aggression in the Pacific.

"Do something, Peter, I am bogged down in Europe and the Middle East".

Secretary Blackwell shuttles to Europe trying to persuade the Europeans to form a joint pressure group to force Russian leader Zhinonevsky from using force against our backyard.

"Sir I doubt this freak will kowtow to us," said a hardnosed Admiral Manston. A tall but trim figure. Manston was a veteran of the Persian Gulf War logistics effort to save Kuwait but was inexperienced. Maston picks up a black briefcase equipped with dark brown switches. He orders CINCPAC to initiate engagement.

'A risky gamble,' he murmurs to himself. What if the North Koreans join this adventure, he pondered. He quickly dials 3 coded text.

"Gen. Framm, please ask your men to be under extreme caution. Coordinate with Speccom once for LRS insertion at short notice.

Meanwhile in San Diego, Captain Priam basks in his private pool with his wife Georgine. "Honey, when will this be all over?"

"I dunno. But I will be back, I guarantee," said a slightly relaxed Captain as he smiokes a fresh scented tobacco from his father's Carvi pipe. The same evening on 8pm he drives to local airport and flies to Honolulu on a UA flight. He then boards a C-2A Greyhound in Oahu and flies to Wake.

At Wake, CINCPAC and his staffers have arranged a meeting at Westing's Cafe. As there was massive monitoring by Glonass and other camera equipped satellites, the officers had to change to civvies, T-shirts and Shorts to mingle with civilians. They began riding ordinary cars to their rendesvous points. As per the plan, Captain Priam's task force will launch a three tier strike.

As the bombers takeoff from Wake, the heavy overcast prevents an orderly flight but provides an excellent cover just in case. Major Trevor leads his bomb group straight toward the Russian task force. And froma standoff range of 190 kilometeters, he lets go a volley of 12 TASMs. The Russians quickly scramble a flight of four Su-33s to intercept. A pair of patrolling Flankers shadow the attacking American squadron from a distance. They refuse to switch on their firecontrol radars relying instead relying on Glonass surveillance datalink for fear of detection. Their mission is to reconnaissance and Admiral Markov wants to use them only just in case.

(to be continued...)

Note:-Pri(t)am's pulp fiction is entirely his own creation. Knowledge credit goes to the British publication Jane's which provided me rights to use their material with proper citation.

Trisphere

2009-04-11T16:30:00.000-07:00

A game; combination of biliard and tennis. Play it either on a biliard table or tennis balls and a croquet bat. Rules are simple. A queen ball is struck first by an unlucky beginner. Then player B either cannons (score 2) or goals (score 1). Each set has ends with five points. Conceived on April 9, 2009 at Van Nuys Recreation Center, Department of Wildlife and Parks ground.

Women in Nepal

2009-04-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Published in Space Time Today, March 21, 2002

Women of Nepal enjoy secondary position compared to men. They face oppression and injustice. they are least educated and subject to violence and crime. There have been efforts to rectify this from both government and non-government sectors, but much more needs to be done.

Nepalese society is patriarchal. Historically, women in Nepal were confined to the house. Only household jobs were relegated to womenfolk. Traditionally women's position was that of a slave to either the husband (or to her father if unmarried. Now, times have changed. Increasing number of women are being educated and many feel women should break free of traditional bondage and make themselves equal in all respects. Some women in Nepal have achieved a lot. However, a solid majority live in backwardness and oppression.

One of the most important fields of life where Nepalese women lag behind is education. Although there are many girl students in urban areas, the overwhelming majority of girls in rural areas do not go to schools. In fact only about 40 percent of all females in Nepal can read and write. Since most mothers in rural areas are themselves uneducated, it is hard to expect these mothers to send their children to school. There exists gross discriminatory practice of sending only boys to school. And girls, if they are sent to school, are forced to leave school early while boys continue school till much later time. The person who removes girls from school usually happens to be the mother. So, there exists a practice where women themselves are responsible for the backwardness of their sex.

It is due to lack of education that women are not in leading positions in Nepalese society. In the national parliament, there are only a handful of women parliamentarians. Although there have been women heads of government in other countries in South Asia like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, we in Nepal are yet to see a women leading HMG. Men run most of businesses in Nepal and most proefessionals are also men. In workplaces, there have been complaints of sexual harassment. Women in profession have to work many times harder than men to achieve the same status as men. The view that women are inferior and inefficient compared to men is widespread.

Another issue concerning women is their right to parental property. This has been a very hot issue and everyone seems to be talking about it. The current law entitles a woman right to parental property but she has to return it after marriage. This law is most discrimanatory in its conception. This law institutionalizes gender discrimination. The sate itself has become party to discrimination against women due to this law. It is ironic that the state should instead draft and formulate laws, which should drive the society into gender inequality. However, our legal system upholds patriarchal male dominated culture. Women should have the same parental property rights as enjoyed by men. One reason for women's backwardness is their lack of control over property. It is with property they gain influence. Therefore equal property rights is an important step towards women's liberation in Nepal.

The most horrendous aspect is trafficking of Nepalese girls to the sex industry in India. Each year thousands of girls, as young as 13, are duped into this most demeaning profession. This practice is a disgrace to our nation. Many of these girls are sent back to Nepal after contracting AIDS. there are now organizations like Maiti Nepal, which rehabilitate girls rescued from brothels in india. However, more needs to be done. First of all the government here should enter some form of agreement with the government of India on trafficked girls. At the home front, all pimps and other agents involved in flesh trade should be taken into custody. Economic hardship, which is the main cause of this problem, should also be dealt with.

Another visible problem is associated with the increasing number of women employed by Maoist rebels. Women in rural areas have no hope. Their future is dark due to poverty and lack of education and employment. Such women are easy prey to rebel promises of brighter future after they have destroyed the present system. It is due to failure of the government and nongovernmental organizations to bring them into the mainstream that many women are members of the violent movement.

Women in Nepal certainly deserve more. Nepalese women themselves have proved that there is no limit to what they can do. However, their progress is impeded by tradition, unprogressive ideas present in society and lack of available resources. Women should ask for equality and men too should give in because improvement in women's status means improvement in the future generations. Women must consolidate what they have achieved and move on.

Nepal's Navy

2009-04-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

An Open Proposal for a Joint Stock Company

The International Trade Community and the World Trade Organization, the IFC and the World Bank should fund the establsiment of an independent trading company with its own ships for the Kingdom of Nepal. If RN ships can be named after it, money should be raised like the East India Trading Company and ships bought from Cammel Laird, Swanhunter or Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited to purchase world class cargo ships. If Aristotle Onassis can run a private merchant fleet, why can't I, Priam Shumsher Rana, a a former seamman recruit can't do the same. The ships will be registered in Crete and will stop at Calcutta, Bombay, Perth, New York, San Francisco, Rotterdam, and other major ports. No dependence on foreign ships, especially Russian and Ukrainian which peddle arms to massacre the Africans. The most glorious name of Nepal will be remembered in Lloyds register, a country sovereign and independent since time immemorial and recognized in 1923 by His Majesty's Government of United Kingdom and the British Empire. I invoke Crown Prince paris to pilot this project and save Nepal's youth from corruption and exploitation abroad. I will bear this burden of commanding the vessel(s).

Role of Army in Nepal

2009-04-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Published in The Kathmandu Post, Sunday, April 22, 2001

The Army in Nepal, officially known as the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) has been proud and prestigious institution of the country, part of Nepalese national government and a revered organization since early times. Its history goes back to the time of the expansion of the Gurkha state, led by the Great King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the founder of modern Nepal whose martial and diplomatic skill laid the foundation of of the sovereign Nepali state entity.

Traditionally, armies have been employed by states for such roles as territorial expansion, defense from external aggression, and maintaining internal law and order as well. The RNA too has been called upon to perform all these roles in addition to such duties as being part of UN peacekeeping forces in foreign countries. Additionally the Army has taken part in disaster relief and road construction part of its peacetime responsibility towards the nation. The Nepali Gurkha soldiers were redoubtable in King Prithvi Narayan Shah's unification campaign. he, in fact, launched a war against a multitude of independent and divided principalities to forma single monolithic mountain kingdom, a single political entity. The relativey small Gurkha Army which accomplished the task, was avery cpabale fighting force despite the shortage of modern arms. (ref: The Rise of the House of Gurkhas, Fr. Ludwig Stiller, S.J.)

The Gurkhas will to fight was of such great magnitude that it withstood the chinese onslaught in 1789 stopping the main Chinese-Tibetan forces at Dhaibung, Rasuwa and foiling their attaempt to assault Kathmandu. in 1814, the Nepali Gurkha Army waged a defensive war against the mighty East India Company government. The British were so impressed with the hardy Gurkhas taht they began recruiting from their own sworn enemies. in the 1857 Indian mutiny, Jung Bahadur Rana supported the beleagured British with a military force of thousands of Nepalese troops who helped suppress the mutinous native Indian soldiers. this was duly recognized by the British with a large schunk of seized Nepali land being returned to Nepal.

In the First and Second World Wars, thousands upon thousands of Nepalese youths served in the British and Nepali units fighting for the Allied cause. many never returned while a few distinguished themselves with the Victoria Cross (ref: Victora Cross originals built with copper from Russian cannons captured in Crimean War, circa Florence Nightingale's times), the highest British gallantry award for valour. The year 1950 saw a civil war between the Rana government led RNA and the Congress' Mukti Sena, whose ranks were filled with many World War II veterans. from 1960 to 1990 there were incidents when the Army moved against armed revolutionaries, like the 1975 Okhaldhunga incident. The Army slaughtered Congress armed cadres, wishing to use force to overturn the then Pnachayat system. Also in the early 1970s (ref: 1974 according to wikipedia.org), the RNA disramed Tibetan Khampa rebels, thus averting possible Chinese intervention in Nepal. In the later stages of the People's movement for restoration of democracy in 1990, RNA soldiers enforced a military curfew, but fortunately His majesty the King averted blodshed by giving in to popular pressure.

The beginning of Maoist insurgency has brought another challenge to the security of Nepal. What began as a low-key movement with sporadic anti-police raids has now incresed to such levels that after the disastrous incidents of Dunai, Vorletaar, Rukumkot, and Naumoole, the Maoists are a force to be reckoned with. Able to mount large scale attacks with upto a thousand personnel, the Maoists have progressed with muskets to (Lee Enfield) )0.303 rifles (apparently(captured from the police) and explosives used in large amounts. Recent reports speak of police deserting their posts due to fear shaking th every foundation of law, order and and the right to live. The government committed the cardinal sin of not consulting the Army (the author put this matter to then Army chief of Staff Gen. Pyarjung Thapa at Shah residence private party) when this terrorist movement was still in its infancy. If the Army had utilized its counter-insurgency skills early on, the low intensity conflict (term borrowed from Jane's Defense Weekly, 1990 issue with interview of Gen Lindsay, USA, SOCOM commander) would have been over by now. Instead, the government now wants to use the Army in a rush (caution to Obama adminsitartion as it moves to rescue 21 Americans held hostage by Somali pirates remebering Desert One), which could lead to panic and thus to a disaster.

Now, the Army itself is ina danger of being outgunned and outnumbered and defeated by the rebels. Although better trained and equipped than the police, small group deployments of soldiers could be overwhelmed by large hordes of Maoist rebels who could theoretically overrun Army positions, and capture modern arms belonging to the Army. besides the standard rifle of the Army, the SLR (ref: Fabrique National Herstal Fusil Automatique Leger, Belgian design) which is a large, long and and semi-automatic (one bullet at each trigger pressure) is unsuited in commando style raids where automatic arms are considered suitable (upto 10 bullets at each trigger pressure). The only automatic rifles are with the two Army Special Forces companies, which should have been employed early on. (There is still time to use these highly trained anti-terrorist professionals provided no political strings are attached including the catchword "human rights"). Also, the three light machine guns (LMG) in an army platoon (40 soldiers) are old and bulky and in fact not light by modern standards (over 10 kg, useless in battle manoeuvre scenarios).

Recently the government has asked the Army to monitor the customs along the border, thereby significantly increasing government revenue. However, the Army's requests to buy a an airplane and run a bank (ref: US has a Federal Credit Union and The Royal Thai Air Force gave birth to the famed Thai Airways; US tacit approval of these activites resulted in Thailand becoming secure from Communist Threat from Laos and Vietnam, and a successful world tourist destination. The US maintained strategic defense ties with Thailand including basing rights for bombers and fighter aircraft in the hights of the Vietnam War) have been turned down. Has the government been sympathetic to to the Army's wish to properly manage its welfare fund?

As the Army is the only means at ists disposal with the potential of wiping out the five year old insurgency, which has taken over 1,600 lives, the government should be careful before it makes any decision in a hurry. It also has the potential of a failure if utilized in an improper manner. Therefore, it ought to use its silver bullet (ref: Fighter Combat in the Jet Age, Bill Sweetman, purchased in 2001 in Ekta Books by the author) in a manner that recognizes its strength and weaknesses.

Author's note:- The author was once a member of Nepal Scouts, cub in 1986 when he first visited the Royal Palace. This work is in tribute to King Birendra and especially to Princess Shruti Shah and Prince Nirajan Shah, who fell to unseen and mysterious plotting. I stillsuspect that the anti-monarchist forces of plotting this coup d'etat in a Grand Design to destroy all Royal leaning Nepalis. The author saw Crown Prince Dipendra closely as he played tennis in Tribhuvan Army Club in 1990s (can't rememember exact date. Also, the author heard Crown Princess Shruti speak to him in telephone while the author lived in New Baneswor residence of an aeronautical engineer in Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation. My granddad Flying Officer BK Singh flew the Crown Prince Dipendra to his school in Darjeleeng during his school days. RNAC owes much of its organizational and engineering skills to the elite group of RAFVR pilots who first started military and commercial avaition traffic into the forbidden Rana kingdom.

The author wanted to be an F-16C Falcon pilot in the USAF when he was in his eighth grade. But due to myopia, it was not possible to fly as there is acute danger of human error. He however wrote to the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs, but was asked to attend the Academy through Nepalese government channels. As the author felt increased competition to take control of $3,070 million of foreign debt sponsored scholarships within the Army, he gave it up and only cherished a dream to fly. The author resented going to India as there too competition was severe and russian penetration deep. India has only begun to introduce US platforms. Many Indian pilots die in Russian built MiG-21 airframe, which according to AP reports, is considered a "flying coffin". The author prefers to write like Nick Cook of Jane's andf Interavia and lead a successful writing career as Bill Gunston.

Gingerbreadman

2009-04-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001633gingerbread_man_cookies.php

It was long time ago when I saw this particular cookie in Good Housekeeper magazine from Australia. I also had cavalry soldiers with me, Indians and Cowboys. But they are gone now.

From seventh grade onwards, I began to build Tamiya tank models. I had five of them. On the order of purchase, they were M-42 Duster (US Army), M-10 Wolverine Tank Destroyer (US Army), Centurion Mk3 (UNC Korea then modified for Israeli Army 3rd Armored Corps) and then Type 90 (Japanese Self Defense Force 7th Hokkaido Division). Buth these are not in my possession anymore.

In 2005, I began collecting several modern avaition platforms. They were AV-8B Harrier 2 (US Marines VAW-XX), F-16 Falcon (USAF 388th Fighter Wing, Hill AFB, Utah), MiG-15 Fagot (flown by Pepelyayev, 20 kills) and MiG-29 Fulcrum (in green camouflage of the Finnish Air Force based in Kubinka). Besides these jets, my favorite was F-51D Mustang (USAF flown in Korea by William McConnel and James Jabara before they graduated to F-86 Sabres).

Limited Nuclear Exchange Scenario and Maritime Security

2009-04-03T15:33:00.000-07:00

Since every man and his uncle in the Third World now possesses nuclear wepaons and the means to deliver them, it seems plausible that Iran and North Korea might attempt to threaten Japan and other close US allies with nuclear tsunami. Outright assualt with nuclear weapons would surely invite retaliation from landbased US Midegetman and Peacekeepers. And if those are knocked out, seabased Trident D-5 pulverize Teheran and Pyongyang. But what if these powers try to stop US by just attempting a strike against US coastline by detonating warheads in water off California or Hawaii. This scenario is borrowed from writing from AP newswire report which said US military created the 2006 tsunami. I believe the rogue states have already learned of this kind of attack against US in case their weapons of mass detruction is targeted by US conventional tipped ICBM. That's why Iran and Syria are keen to acquire nuclear wepaons as quickly as possible si as to threaten israel wityh this sort of limited nuclear exchange.

The US State Department under Obama is engaged in preventive diplomacy by buying security. Secretary Clinton wants to pay $900 million to West Bank Plaestinians to prevent them from attacking our interests in the future. According to radio reports in LA stations, the Saudi government has already pledged $1 billion to those people. Are we hostages to Middle-East? It kindles fear of Terry Anderson and Lt. Col. Higgins who were imprisoned ansd lynched by Arab extremists in Lebanon. Also, the US ambassador was assasisnated by some butchers in the long civil war in that illfated country.

I believe the money should better be spent on honing US tank forces. Railguns and phtonguns will be needed to protect Rangers in Somalia like situation. There the US Rangers were under the fire support of Pakistani M-60A3s. The Russians are developing new generation of tank gun fired missiles to overwhelm US AH-64D Longbows and A-10s. The concept of Small Agile Battlefield Aircraft (SABA) as envisioned by US engineers in 1990s edition of various helicopter magazines are more important than utopian notions about buying security by paying safety through payment.

The US armored divisions require gun fired missiles to shoot down new generation of Russian Hokums, Hinds and Chinese gunships which are available in the international arms market. The 2008 shipping of T-72s by cargo ship Faina (ref: Der Spiegel, October 2008 issue) to undisclosed location demands renewed surveillance of oceans by US ships. The US Navy might be overstretched thanks to budget crunch. But in my opinion, the Congress should enanct laws to allow private US security companies to acquire naval platforms and military aircraft to police high seas. In the heights of oil inspired Persian Gulf War of 1980-1988, French government leased Super Etendard naval strike aircaft to Iraqi air force to apparently stem Iranian Revolutionary guard Boat Units from harassing US, Japanese and Arab tankers. It should be logical that international maritime law be amended as per new scenario. Maritime security has become sine qua non for developed countries. NATO budget mus already be feeling crunch due to EU's own military programs.

To reduce the burden, landlocked countries like Nepal have to be allowed to purchase and operate trade ships. this creates additional employment to wartorn and beleagured migrant workers who venture to Arab states to languish in tented cities like animals.

Seewulf von Atlantis

2009-03-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

Es gibt ein Panzerschiff in Africa das agreffen Handelschiff von England, circa 1949. Einige Seewulf habe ein Name fuer das Geistschiff. Seewulf, Kapitan Kidd oder Kraken?? Well ein Englisch zerstoerer war ueber Azores gestosst und war schnellig tiefligend. "Torpedoes out of nowhere," sagt das Amerikaner Kapitaen des Haitian geflaggt Gross Handelschiff Jamestown. (to be continued...)
bei Denkfabrikerleutnant Priamos Rana, Esq.

Jingle of the Year - Erikan Guild Award

2009-03-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

"You gotta reach Haier"

Bei Berater fuer Gloria Estefan, Prinzessin des Pop Musique in America.

Hail Gloria, das Nellie Melba des Vereinigten Staaten!

CopyrightC Pritam S Rana, Redakteurleutnant:- The Haier company owes this blog owner geld fuer das Technikalischer Beraten. Danke schoen!

The Order of the Sacred Tripod war mein Gross gross Opa's Abzeichen fuer exzellent Bedienung.

The blogger strictly denies accepting payroll from foreign governments. He only accepts legally taxed income from states which do official trade with the United States.

The blogschriftsteller suche Permit von US Patent and Trademark Office zu beginnen ein Magazin American Prism. Ich Material von New York Buero des AP gekauft

Nepal-US Botschaftlich Verwandschaft

2009-03-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1079/is_v87/ai_5278931

Ich denke das Botschaftlich beziehung war ueber das Angst des Maoismus in China und Indien. Das kommunistisch Angst beginnt wenn das Chinischen Roet Heeres besiegt das Chinischen Nationalist Heeres gleich nach das Zweite Weltkrieg.

Das Rana Regierung meist wahrscheinlich aufforden der Vereinigtenstaaten Regierung und militaer offizer zu verdeigen Nepal von Angriff von du Nord bei das gleich Heeres welch ueberreden Tibet.

Unsicher Umwelt

2009-03-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Als ein jung Denkfabriker, ich kam zu ein Abschluss das the June 1, 2001 Koenigsmord war ein Anschlag bei Radikales in Nepalien zu der Koenigreich ein terrorist haven gemacht. Munich war ein Operation bei Palestinischer Moerdergruppe gegen unbewaffnet Israelischer Olympic Sportlergruppe in 1972.

Das kino Munich schauen das graphik Gewalt und habe das geschicte auf das Aussere auf auslander Moerder darunter Europa wer fuer Geld anmoerden. Dies menchen kann sein mit Geld anheuren bei Interessenvertretung in das Angelegenheit von Nepal, extremistisch republicanisch bewaffnetgruppe -- the gewalttaetig Maoist. Der Spiegel 980s hatte Anzeige schriftung ueber Drogenhandel in Nepalien. Dies Schriftsteller dringendlich ahnen Kriminalgruppe als der Maoisten in das Drogenhandel und das Koenigmoerder von 2001.

Politik ist ruinoes in Nepalien als menschen zu Ausland zumals dazu Arabischer Land in niedrig berufen. Als das Weltwirtschaft sehen Abfahl, die hoffnunglos Menschen Verbrechen begehen und abstuetzen Terrorismus, Islamismus und Maoist Idee.

Das Umwelt in nepalien ist so das jung Student und Menschen ausland beruf besuchen obwohl das Wirtschaftklima ist tiefligend in mehr Orten. Dies autor denken das ein US-Iran Krieg kann das Aufbau Zusammenarbeit zu ein Stillstand. Die Massenarbeiter kann in dies Sachlage hochangreifbar. Als oekonomie in US gesturzt, es ist hochzeit fuer Auslander (SCO) Spionedienst zu rekrutieren US arbeitern und Firmenarbeiter. Das buch "Intelligence Krieg", Salamander, 1990 issue das aufgebracht arbeiter in Verdeigungfabrik und Sichereitspionedienst angreifbar von Russischer und Chinischer Spiondiesnt, ausweislich viele Nachrichtenagentur AP und AFP in 204-2007.

Das Chinischen Dienstbuero habe erlangt laser, aerospace und Waffenfabrik technologie von sein tausend ueber tausend Studentwissenschaftler in Vereinigten Staaten erlernen. Das Chinsichen und Russischer Waffenfabrik aufbauen neues Kampfflugzeug als JF-17 und J-10 mit Westliche Ingeneurwissenschaft. Das Chinischen Luftwaffe auch mit Russicher Flugzeugbau gekooperieret und laser geraete gemacht. Das moderne laserwaffen kann US Datenkommunikation Satellit schnell gezestoeren in zukunft Kriegen. Mehr US Verdeigungen Aufklaerung von Satellit und digital technologie gekommen. Das Russicher Dienst haben technologie zu stillstand anstauen. Denkfabriker in Rand und andere Universitatet muss dies phanomenon mit grosse Sorgfalt gestudien.

In 2006 Israel-Hezbollah Krieg, das Terroristen hatte Panzerabwehr Rakete von Russland welch hatte Israelischer schwere Panzer Merkava Mk4 gezestoeren. Das neue Affsatzangriffmissilen technologie habe zu Russischer Erfahrung Universiatet und Buero gegehen durch betriebbereitschaft in Globalisierung und ausbleiben des benutzer Strafvervolgung.

Dronenkrieg gegen Russland will erfolgloeisgen

2009-03-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/17/america/drones.php

The American government is using drones against a band of Pashtuns with no defensive capacity. However, if used against Russians in Georgia, the new band of Russian, Chinese and Indian hackers can jam and disable US Predators.

The new Warsaw pact, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), has defense ties with India, China and Russia along with new Central Asian states. These states do not adhere to international arms control agreements as seen in 2008 with the tarnsfer of 33 T-72 tanks to unspecified buyers in wartorn Africa. The Russian arms sale along with China's refusal to curb its Manportable Air Defense System (MANPADS), (ref: AP and AFP reports 2006-2007) handheld anti-aircraft guided missiles, will allow notorious armed groups a capability to down US or NATO aircraft in contested zones of future combat operations. In late 1990s, a US fighter aircraft, an F-16 Falcon was brought down by a Serbian operated SA-6 'Gainful' (Kub) Surface to Air Missile (SAM). The SA-6 is an old SAM unveiled in Red Square around 1967. If an upgraded SA-6 can down a US F-16 equipped with radar absorbent paint and sophisticated jammers, what will be the fate of NATO and US fourth generation aircraft to Russian designed SA-11 'Gadfly' (Buk). The Chinese and Russians are set to deploy SA-10 'Grumble' (S300) to protect their key assets like the SS-25 Sickle mobile ICBM (ref: Soviet Military Power, 1990). If Iran acquires SS-25s the whole US nuclear superiority and its deterrence policy and its security guarantee to US will collapse. The B-2 unveiled in late 1980s by John Tower (ref: Newsweek) is the only hope in this scenario.

The Russians are quickly copying stealth technology to adapt it into their next generation of interceptors. Even this author had access to mathematical calculations over stealth technology in an aerospace magazine in a third world country . Aerospace engineers employed by Iran and other Arab countries can one day build an infrastructure to rival Israel's aerospace industry and mass produce ballistic missiles. China already has a range of mobile ballistic missiles.

To challenge the supremacy of the US Navy, China has two aircraft carriers in order most likely of Russian design. Armed with MiG-29K equiped with antiship missiles, this platform allows China to flex its muscle anywhere from the Pacific to the Indian ocean. Then, Japan too would want aircraft carriers as its sailors often get in trouble with Chinese, thanks to their historical dispute over energy resources and broader supremacy issue in Asia.

Military Intelligence magazine published in US Army Intel School, Fort Huachuca, AZ predicted the Korean peninsula might go under Chinese spehere of influence as early as early 1990s. Russia too is in this great game. It has wooed Central Asian energy states to impose high rent on US bases being used to support combat operations in Afghanistan. The crux of the matter is that these authoritarian states fear US intrusion into their undemocratic political system and persecution of minorities. In the name of suppressing terrorism, Russia and China with its staellites have trampled upon ethnic rights of many of these peoples. Outright force was used in Georgia while the West watched. In 1997-1999 Kosovo crisis, Russia even threatened to despatch airborne troops to support the Serbs, in a bid to threaten NATO punitive operations against Serb mass murder supsects like Radovan Kardzic and Vojslav Seselj.

The current economic crisis and left leaning Obama administration is a boon to foreign adventurism in hotspots around the world. In Nepal, terrorists cling to power while in Africa and Venezuela is under increased Russian arms sales. The Russians have even thretatened to station Tu-95 Bears in Cuba, according to some repotts. Reports say Chavez is assembling Su-27 'Flankers' to flex his oil muscle against any US attempt to support his rivals in Caracas. While cocaine wars fueled by Colombian suppliers continues in Mexico, US should revive plans to destroy the cocaine plantations just as it was done in Vietnam. Once supply is extinguished at production site, the whole supply chain will wither in one stroke and done. Millions of young lives will be saved!

Nachrichten auf Russischer Kraft gegen Vereinigten Staaten

2009-03-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Neues Kaltkrieg?
Neues Weltkrieg bei August 1914*
March 15, 2009
Associated Press

MOSCOW - A Russian air force general said that the country could base some strategic bombers in Cuba or on an island offered by Venezuela, news agencies reported, but a Kremlin official quickly said the military had been speaking only hypothetically.

The U.S. and Russia have been trying to reset their relationship, severely strained over U.S. plans to position missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic and by Russia's invasion of U.S. ally Georgia last year.

Russia has nothing to gain strategically from basing long-range bombers within relatively short range of U.S. shores, independent military analyst Alexander Golts said, calling the military statement a retaliatory gesture aimed at hitting back after U.S. ships patrolled Black Sea waters near Georgia.

The chief of staff of Russia's long range aviation, Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, was quoted by Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies as saying Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had offered Russia to use an airbase on La Orchila island.

"Chavez has offered us a whole island with an airfield, which we can use as a temporary base for strategic bombers," Zhikharev was quoted as saying. "If there is a corresponding political decision, then the use of the island ... by the Russian Air Force is possible."

Interfax also quoted Zhikharev as saying that Cuba has four or five air bases with runways long enough to host the Russian long-range planes.

"This is possible with Cuba," it quoted Zhikharev as saying. "If the two heads of state display such a political will, we are ready to fly there."

But Kremlin spokesman Alexei Pavlov told The Associated Press that "the military is speaking about technical possibilities, that's all. If there will be a development of the situation, then we can comment."

Mike Hammer, spokesman for President Barack Obama's National Security Council, said, "We do not comment on hypotheticals."

Officials at both Venezuela's presidential administration and Defense Ministry refused immediate comment and Cuban officials could not be reached for comment.

But Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said in a televised speech Sept. 7, "All these long-range planes and boats must have a place to stop. Where are they going to stop? Are they going to stop in territory belonging to countries that don't like them? No. They'll look for their strategic allies."

"Russia will be welcome - the air fleet or the naval fleet," Chavez said. "We're Russia's strategic ally."

Venezuela and Cuba, traditionally fierce U.S. foes, have close political and energy relations with Russia, which has been working to reassert itself as a military force. Russia resumed regular long-range bomber patrols in 2007 after a 15-year hiatus.

Venezuela hosted two Russian Tu-160 bombers in September for training flights and later joined Russian warships for exercises in the Caribbean.

The bombers visit marked the first time Russian strategic bombers landed in the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War times, when the Soviet aircraft sometimes made stopovers in Cuba.

In the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba pushed the world to the brink of nuclear conflict after U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced their presence to the world. After a tense week of diplomacy, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev removed the missiles.

The military analyst Golts said basing Russian bombers in Venezuela or Cuba "has no military sense. The bombers don't need any base."

He said the bombers are considered strategic because they are capable of reaching an attacking range of the United States from Russia without the need for stopovers.

Moscow and the new Obama administration have appeared to want to mend their relations,

U.S. plans initiated under former President George W. Bush to put elements of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic had particularly irked Russia, although the United States insists they are intended to counter potential future threats from Iran.

Russia has welcomed Obama's apparently more cautious approach to the divisive issue.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva earlier this month to push a symbolic red "reset" button, another sign of the desire for a clean slate.

Cuban authorities made no comment last summer when a Moscow newspaper reported that Russia could send nuclear bombers to the island. While neither confirming nor denying the report, ailing former President Fidel Castro at the time praised his brother President Raul Castro for maintaining a "dignified silence" on the report and said that Cuba was not obligated to offer the United States an explanation.

© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Copied from Military.com as an issue for private consideration. Pritam has purchased AP Stylebook, AP Newswriting Guide and AP reporter's Handbook from New York bureau book center and from family source in Los Angeles, California. Any copyright infringemnent issue should be communicated to Pritam in facebook.

*August 1914 bei Alexander Solzhenytsyn

Resume March 11, 2009

2009-03-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

PRITAM S. RANA
C/O Poonam Singh,
14540 Hartland Street, #206,
Van Nuys, CA 91405
Tel. (818) 988 9623
Email: pritamrana@yahoo.com

OBJECTIVE:-

 To become a successful writer/researcher with a goal to become a bestselling

author.

 Carry out day to day operations in most scientific and professional manner.

 Meet highest safety standard and company goals.

 Set an ethical standard and work with élan.

EXPERIENCE:-

Sub-editor,
Business Bureau, The Kathmandu Post, Kantipur Publications, P. B. No 8559, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 4480100, URL: www.ekantipur.com

Edited news stories filed by reporters. Advised reporters on English language usage, clarity of news and checking of facts, graphs and other quantitative analysis tools used in the pages. Selected international news from AP and AFP. Wrote headlines of news stories. Assisted in layout of pg7. Translated captions of photos and finalized the aforementioned page.

***** Upgraded language and style to AP standard; reduced error to zero and promoted premium international as well as unnoticed cottage and agricultural products.

R & U Personnel,
Renewal and Update Department, Everest Net Pvt. Ltd., Ekantakuna, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 5546010, URL: www.enet.com.np

Handled customer care calls. Called clients with stale accounts in order to determine problems, to persuade them to renew accounts near expiry and assisted support department to determine clients with problems. Updated expired accounts and worked to retain customers.

***** Recovered hundreds of customers; run a major campaign to reduce addiction to internet porn, and helped reduce operational cost by implementing advanced managerial tools.

News Reporter (Journalist, Electronic Media),
News Department, Channel Nepal Television, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 4487750, URL: www.channelnepal.com

News reporting with camera crew, read TV news reports, translated news items from Nepali to English, assisted video editors and handled production of daily news bulletins.

***** Helped renew diplomatic and donor interest in Nepali development, security and social issues. Conducted responsible public information campaign with conservative editorial line.

Customer Service Representative,
Himalayan Telecommerce Pvt. Ltd (ASK ME), Sigma House, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 2111290, URL: www.askme.com.np

Worked in national and international call centers. Provided information to customers like phone numbers and about service and products of various business organizations based upon a database. Performed telemarketing to potential customers in the United States. Undertook customer care training.

***** Met and exceeded sales targets. Marketed to consumers wishing to save by choosing affordable products. Adopted guerilla raids (ref: Phillip Kotler’s marketing stratagem) against established giant telecom providers like AT&T and Verizon.

Administrative Assistant,
Everest Net Pvt. Ltd., Ekantakuna, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 5546010, URL: www.enet.com.np

Assisted administrative manager in his daily operations, arranged meetings including the agendas and minutes, circulated administrative information to other staff members, documented and filled up company reports, updated staff profile and monitored media for notices with implications to the company.

***** Bagged the best employer award, maintained high standards of professionalism.

Junior Sub-Editor,
The Kathmandu Post, Kantipur Publications, Subidhanagar, New Baneswor, Kathmandu, NEPAL.
Phone: (977) 1 4480100, URL: www.ekantipur.com

Edited feature articles contributed to the opinion-editorial page. Was responsible for the then Page4, the opinion page. Prepared initial draft for editorials.

***** Selected for copyediting op-ed page, the main opinion building arm of the newspaper.

SKILLS:-

 News analysis with specialization on defense issues.

 Familiar with MS Office package, e-mail and Internet.

EDUCATION:-

 Master of Arts, Tribhuwan University, Kirtipur, NEPAL, Political Science,

2003-present.

 Bachelor of Arts, Campion College, Lalitpur, NEPAL, English Literature and

Sociology, 1999-2002

 High School, St. Xavier’s School, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, NEPAL, 1987-1992.

PUBLICATION/AWARDS:-

 Published more than thirty times in national dailies in Nepal since 2000

(ref: Google search)

 First position, College Essay Competition, Campion College, 2001

LANGUAGES:-

 English-fluent; German-beginner; Sanskrit-beginner

AFFILIATION:-

 Association of the US Army, www.ausa.org, 1997-1999.

INTERESTS:-

 Books, movies, tennis, model airplanes and tanks.

American Women- Zenith to Nadir

2009-02-24T17:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was thinking of two contradictory characters. One is Amelia Earhart, America's aviatrix and the other is Nadia Suleman.

The formula I conceived yesterday was:

Amelia Earhart > zenith
Nadia Suleman > nadir

Amelia stood ahead among her generation, becoming a record breaking pioneer flyer. In sharp contrast, Nadia represents the irresponsibility of the 13th generation, to which I have the dubious dictinction of belonging, ref: Generations, William Strauss and Neil Howe, (ISBN 0-688-11912-3).

Do the words nadir and Suleman have etymological link? Nadirshahi means pillage in Persian or Urdu. And, Suleman's irresponsibility has caused US taxpayers to fund her children who are totally innocent. The doctor who performed the operation should be immediately asked to pay for her children's health, education and upkeep.

The medical industry has to maintain a minimum of ethical standards. This is United States not Iraq or other third world mecca of quacks.

I wonder how many college girls can remember Amelia's achievement. Are 99s no longer revered? God save America!

NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer in RUSI

2009-02-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

15:30, 18 Sep 2008
RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET

Link to map: multimap

Listen to lecture (59mb)

Watch excerpts

"Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

About two weeks ago, an exasperated NATO Ambassador asked a question to his colleagues around the Council table: Why is it that we always see so many crises happening in the month of August?

The question was, of course, a rhetorical one, so no one felt compelled to respond. But there can be no doubt that August 2008 will go down in history as a key

moment in international security. “The Guns of August”, to borrow the title of a famous book, will sound in our ears for some time to come.

We saw a war erupt in the Caucasus – with a Russian military response so disproportionate that some observers started musing about a second Cold War. As I will try to explain later in my remarks, I don’t believe that a second Cold War is in the offing. But one thing is clear: the role that Russia wants to play in the new international system still remains uncertain.

At the same time, the month of August and the first two weeks of September have also seen fierce fighting and a large number of casualties in Afghanistan – many NATO soldiers and many Afghans have lost their lives, and I want to use this opportunity to express my sympathy to the loved ones and friends of all those British soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

We have also seen the Taliban and other extremist forces strengthen their positions in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. It is thus becoming ever clearer that success in Afghanistan can only be achieved if we engage Pakistan in a common effort against extremism which threatens the future of the entire region.

Conflict in the Caucasus, instability in and around Afghanistan – these two theatres alone would seem more than one can handle at any given time. Yet we all know that these crises are not happening in a vacuum. Both conflicts will reverberate far beyond their points of origin. I don’t have to explain at length why Russia’s justification for recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia could set a dangerous precedent – with truly global consequences. Nor do I have to explain at length why the conflict will have longer-term implications for our energy policy, notably for the discussion about alternative transit routes.

The conflict in Afghanistan, too, is more than a regional issue. It is about

our response to the global phenomenon of international terrorism. It is about our readiness to support fragile young democracies that are trying to take their people out of poverty and into the modern world. It is about long-term stability in Central Asia. And it is about the struggle of moderate Islam to prevail against the forces of fanaticism.

Samuel Johnson once said that the prospect of hanging concentrates the mind. I am not suggesting that we are in any immediate danger of being hung, but if we don’t want this world to take a turn for the worse, we’d better concentrate on how best to deal with the challenges we face. So let me give you my thoughts on the way ahead – with respect to Russia, and with respect to Afghanistan.

First; Russia. Here, the issues are crystal clear. Irrespective of who did what and when in the August conflict, Russia has demonstrated a disregard for the sovereignty of a small neighbour, and for international law. This has created a major challenge for our partnership. Both NATO and the EU have made it abundantly clear that the very notion of partnership implies due respect for certain agreed standards of behaviour. As long as Russia chooses to ignore these standards, there can be no business as usual. Russia has long demanded to be treated with respect, as becomes a global power. But respect has to be earned – by taking one’s global responsibilities and the defence of universal values seriously, rather than by abusing one’s military might.

In both her actions and her accompanying rhetoric, Russia has shown much assertiveness. But what worries me even more is Russia’s apparent readiness to stand against virtually the entire international community. Russia’s perceived temporary gains in Georgia have come at the cost of her strategic isolation. President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin tell us that the West needs Russia, but that Russia doesn’t really need the West. I have no problem with the first part of their statement. Yes, the West does indeed need Russia. But it is an illusion to believe that Russia can go it alone without the West. Going it alone in this global world is simply not an option.

What next? Let me be very clear. A solution to this crisis is possible.

But it will only be found if all parties are willing to make concessions and to walk back from where they are today. Such a solution cannot be found if we simply seek to “punish” Russia. NATO is not in the punishment business. Nor is there any need for us to engage in rhetorical escalation. We do not need to crank up the volume. So let me tell you how I, as the NATO Secretary General, see the way ahead.

As a starting point, we need a sober analysis of the implications of the Caucasus conflict in general, and of Russia’s policy in particular. And then we must devise a sound policy based on that analysis. This exercise has only just begun, so I don’t want to pre-empt its outcome. A few things, however, should be evident.

First, I do not foresee a U-turn in NATO’s policy vis-à-vis Russia. You need to make a U-turn when you’ve gone totally wrong. We, however, have not gone wrong. The key tenets of our Russia policy – a policy of constructive engagement – remain sound. We may have to make adjustments in the way we approach Russia, but we do not need a new policy. No matter how much we may disagree on some issues, the fact of the matter is that both NATO and Russia face a number of common challenges – and both NATO and Russia will be better off by facing them together. That is the reason why we invested so much in the NATO-Russia partnership.

Second, in this new security context, some have called for a reappraisal of the balance between an expeditionary NATO and our core task of collective defence.

Such a discussion is certainly justified. But, again, I do not foresee a 180 degree change in our approach. Article 5 already exists, we don’t have to reinvent it. Neither does upholding Article 5 require us to return to a Cold War military posture in Europe.

Third, irrespective of our approach vis-à-vis Russia, we must support Georgia. Indeed, in many respects, this is the most important thing that we need to do in the short-term. And we are doing it. We are helping Georgia to assess and repair the damage caused by Russian actions. And we will continue to support this country in realising its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

Earlier this week, I visited Georgia together with the Ambassadors of the North Atlantic Council. During that visit, we inaugurated the NATO-Georgia Commission. It conveys the message – to Georgia, as well as to Russia – that geography does not have to determine your destiny, and that the era of spheres of influence is over.

In addition to our meetings in Tbilisi, we also saw the refugees from South Ossetia who were camped around Gori. It was a sobering experience. And it reinforced us in our strong conviction that the people of Georgia cannot afford any more conflict. We will continue to stand by Georgia, but we also expect it to remain firmly committed to democracy and reform. And we made that very clear to all our interlocutors.

Georgia may remain a bone of contention between Russia and the West for some time to come. But this must not prevent us from seeking to cooperate with Russia wherever our interests converge. One key area where this is the case is Afghanistan.

When Russia decided last month to suspend most of her cooperation with NATO, this did not include cooperation on Afghanistan. This is a clear indication that common interests can transcend disagreements in other areas. And it reminds us of the singular importance of Afghanistan in the broader security equation.

The outbreak of the Georgian crisis eclipsed Afghanistan from the headlines – but not for long. Now we are back to the torrent of bad news stories of which Afghanistan seems to offer a limitless supply.

There is an old adage which says that only bad news sells. And if that were true, the publishing industry must have been doing rather well recently.

And yet we have no reason to be so pessimistic. An objective assessment of the situation in Afghanistan should make that clear. Not only is our cause a just cause, our key objective of creating a safe and secure Afghanistan that is able to look after itself remains entirely within our grasp.

What gives me reason to be so confident? Again, let me confine myself to three points. The first one is on security. Yes, there is a widespread perception of a Taliban resurgence, as a result of some spectacular attacks. But, no, the Taliban have not been able to capitalise much on it. They continue to suffer heavy losses. And contrary to some alarmist predictions, they have not been able to strangle Kabul. ISAF will not be defeated, neither tactically nor operationally. And our training of the Afghan National Army is now enabling that new force to engage alongside our own – with increasing success, and with popular support. The ANA now participates in more than two thirds of ISAF’s operations. As the ANA expands, it will increasingly be able to deny our opponents their freedom of movement, hold the gains we make, and ultimately allow Afghanistan to take responsibility for its own security.

The Taliban will not be able to reverse this positive momentum. What they did achieve, however, is to create a sense of uncertainty that permeates the country and hinders progress. It is a cruel irony that the Taliban have now realised that our development efforts in Afghanistan are bearing fruit. That is why they are targeting these very efforts. What we build, they seek to destroy. Their aim is clear: to convince the Afghan people that neither the International Community nor their own Government can provide security for them. And to convince our own publics that our engagement in Afghanistan is doomed to fail.

It is up to us to prove them wrong. And this is my second point: We must see through their propaganda – and do whatever is necessary to defeat them. This does not just mean to provide the military resources that are critical for success. It also means to further enhance our training for the ANA. It means to capitalise on the recent decrease in drug production, by stepping up ISAF’s support for the Afghan Government. It means to lobby even more extensively for a Comprehensive Approach by the International Community – for an approach that will close the gap between security and development.

It means to support the preparation for next year’s elections, which offer a genuine opportunity to re-energise the political process in the country. And it means that our Governments and Parliaments must redouble their efforts to explain to their constituents why it is in our own security interest to prevent Afghanistan from sliding back to pre-“9/11” days.

Within a few months we will have a new Administration in Washington. Whoever wins, I expect the new President to increase US forces in Afghanistan and to focus even more US effort and attention on stabilising Afghanistan and on improving security along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Indeed, President Bush has already started this effort.

While I of course welcome an even greater US effort, I believe that it is important that we continue to make this not just a US responsibility but a collective transatlantic responsibility. When the telephone rings early next year, I hope that the other Allies will also be ready, not just with additional forces, but also with extra contributions to training Afghanistan’s National Army and Police, strengthening its institutions and developing its economy.

Success in Afghanistan also means stepping up our political engagement

with her neighbours, notably Pakistan. And this is my third point. As long as Pakistan’s border region remains a sanctuary for insurgents, Afghanistan will never become truly secure. Clearly, it is up to Pakistan to define its own security interests. Let’s be honest: there are some who believe that instability in Afghanistan is somehow in Pakistan’s security interest. And there are others who believe that extremism in Pakistan could be dealt with by diverting it into Afghanistan. But I fail to see how a permanently unstable Afghanistan would somehow be conducive to Pakistan’s own long-term security.

This should be a key argument in our dialogue with Islamabad – a dialogue that we must intensify.

I will be going to Islamabad next month to meet with Pakistan’s new civilian leaders as well as the Chief of Defence. We all need to do a better job together of monitoring and controlling the border, and we need to intensify the work of our Tripartite Commission where our military commanders meet to coordinate their approaches. Above all, we need to establish a permanent dialogue between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the international community to develop a joint strategy. The election of a new Pakistani President gives me hope that this is the right time for a new approach.

At the same time, we need to develop a framework for the broader region. Afghanistan’s neighbours also suffer from the turmoil in that country – just think of the problems that Iran is currently facing from Afghan narcotics. We need to bring as many as we can into a process of regional cooperation. The pacification of the Afghan-Pakistani border is not the panacea for all our problems. As in so many other parts of the world, long term stability and prosperity can only come from the development of a regional framework and economic integration. And I believe that more thought should go into how we achieve this.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The events in the Caucasus and in Central Asia remind us of the challenges our transatlantic community must face. But they also reaffirm the logic of Europe and North America acting together. When we do, we can bring about real positive change.

And NATO will remain a unique tool at our disposal. What started as an idea in the minds of Ernest Bevin and Dean Acheson 60 years ago has become an indispensable pillar of international order. Let us use our Alliance, and use its potential to full effect.

NATO coverage of Lecture

Russia flexing energy muscle

2009-01-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

Russia, endowed with vast reserves of gas is the biggest bully in Europe. It has stopped pumping gas to Ukraine which has affected supply to Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia, and Austria, according to BBC (the list of countries is to their credit).

Russia now has the power to dictate these countries to kowtow to it. Russia has shut off heat and forced these beleagured people of impoverished Eastern Europe to bow to its pressure. In its hinterland, Russia sent its military to stifle Georgia's attempt to free itself from the Russian yoke. Georgia was denied the right to explore and sell its energy to the West, without listening to Moscow's directives. It looks as if the Chechens were also slaughtered and subjugated just to make Gazprom and its energy supply monopoly fat.

In Chechenya, Russia used heavy armor against ragtag force of Chechen guerillas. It also employed bombers to flatten cities. Along with China, Russia's share in global supply of arms must be mounting. Its military industrial complex feeds world's brutal and autocratic regimes throughout the world.

If one looks at the supply of arms purchased by terrorists and most of it comes from Russian stocks. Russian leadership and its brutality is far from understood. Such brute force pressure tactics has shown that US and Europe is incapable of persuading Russia to show benevolence. Russia hasn't changed since Lenin's time. Brutality, inhumanity, disrespect for human rights are just some of the catalogue of Russian mess in world affairs.

Indo-Pak Standoff

2008-12-31T12:25:00.000-08:00

How their forces compare in the eventuality of war

-Published in Space Time Today, Thursday, January 10, 2002

Since the attack on the Indian parliament some week ago by militants sopposedly based in Pakistan, relations between the two giant South Asian neighbors have been chilly. There were reports of troop buildup in both sides of the Indo-Pak border. the tension has continued despite presence of both Indian and Pakistani leaders at the eleventh SAARC summit in Kathmandu. The handshake between Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee has been seen by observers as a gesture of warming relations between the two countries. However, tension remains, as India is demanding that Pakistan crackdown on groups which it [India] suspects are behind the parliament attack. Pakistan has said it will do its best, but this hasn't satisfied India.

Just after the attack on parliament by gunmen and suicide bombers, India accused groups based in Pakistan for the attacks. Some Indian commentators talked of launching surgical strikes against what they call terrorist camps inside pakistan controlled Kashmir. This action would be modeled on the US campaign against terror in Afghanistan. Pakistani president Musharraf commented that any adventurism on India's part against his nation would be met by force. The option available with India in such a strike would be to use its larger air force. It could send strike aircraft to bomb suspected camps in Pakistan controlled Kashmir. But the iarcraft would have to face Pakistani anti-aircraft fire, both missiles and guns. Pakistani air defenses are stronger than those of the Taliban. Besides ground based air defense systems, Pakisatni air force is powerful. Pakistan fields highly capable US built F-16 fighters, which could seriously jeopardize Indian attempts to violate Pakistani airspace. Besides, the fear of escalation [of violence] is too great. Any small military action could go out of control and spread elsewhere.

Both India and Pakistan are now nuclear powers. Not only do they have nuclear bombs but also the means to deliver them. india by far, according to experts, has greater number of nuclear weapons. But numbers matter less, for effects of these weapons are far too deadly. Both countries have developed or purchased short and medium range ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear weapons. ballistic missiles are almost unstoppable means of delivering nuclear weapons. The US is developing National Missile Defense (NMD) system to counter threat of ballistic missiles. It is reasonable to believe that many ballistic missiles possessed by India and Pakistan are on alert and on ready to fire positions since the escalation of tension.

Tens of thousands of army troops have been on alert due to tension between India and Pakistan. Indian Army is 1.2 million strong while the smaller Pakistan Army counts on to about 600,000 personnel. Indian Army also has about 3,500 tanks comapred to about Pakistan's about 2,000. The number of modern tanks is greater with India while Pakistan also has a few hundred very modern T-80 tanks purchased from Ukraine. To counter this threat, India purchased a few hundred more advanced T-90 tanks from Russia. both India and Pakistan are also building indigenous tanks by the names of Arjun and Al Khalid, respectively. Mechanization in armies of both countries is weak. India has three armored divisions. A division is a large unit of up to 14,000 troops. Armored divisions have about 250 tanks andd similar number of armored personnel carriers, artillery, engineers and other support arms. Pakistan has two armored divisions. Besides, the armored units, Indian army fields 27 infantry divisions. pakistan army has 19 divisions. Only India with its larger army has the ability to mount offensive against Pakistan if it chooses to do so. The Pakistan Army, on the other hand, is sufficient for defense but incapable of launching large offensive on India. Many observers believe by arming and training Kashmiri militants, pakistan has managed to tie down almost a third of India's army strength to fighting insurgency in Kashmir. Some believe this is a part of Pakistan's military strategy.

In terms of air power, both countries lack many of the sophisticated modern systems like those possessed by the US. Indian Air Force is large with over seven hundred warplanes. Pakistan Air Force is much smaller with up to 450 combat aircraft. Indian Air Force is almost totally equipped aircraft of Russian origin. Pkaistan has largely imported aircraft from China fater it was unable to obtain quality aircraft from the US. Some of the modern Indian fighter aircraft like the Su-30, MiG-29 and Mirage 2000are very capable. But their effectiveness is limited due to lack of support systems like Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) in the Indian Air Force. Older Indian strike aircraft like the MiG-23 lack new Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) to defeat ground based air defenses. The Indian Air Force is simply incapable of fighting a sustained air campaign like the Persian Gulf War or even the US strikes against Afghanistan. The Pakistan Air Force is even limited in its capability. Its only modern aircraft the US built F-16s are capable of both air to air and air to ground combat. But, although F-16s are very gooda s tactical fighters, their effectiveness in air combat has been marred by lack of medium range air to air missiles. The aircraft Pakistan has purchased from China like the Q-5 and F-7 are poor in terms of their combat capability.

In terms of naval capabilities, India leads Pakistan for it possesses an aircraft carrier, which deploys British built Harrier jet fighters.The number of other warships like destroyers, corvettes and patrol boats and submarines is greater in Indian service. India has indigenously designed Delhi class destroyers, Kashin class destroyers, Tarantul class corvettes and Nanuchka missile boats all armed with surface warfare missiles. India has over ten Kilo submarines. Pakistan has ageing Gearing destroyers armed with harpoon anti-ship misiles. It also has Chinese built missile boats. Among Pakistani submarines, the Agosta class French built models are superior boats. In the event of major conflict between India and Pakistan, Indian strategy would be to blockade Pakistani ports with its Navy. Pakistani warships, particularly its submarines would have the job of breaking the blockade.

India nad Pakistan have been locked in bitter argument over the disputed territory of Kashmir. This has been a major point of consternation between the two countries. Unless solved, Kashmir issue will continue to divide these two countries that share many cultural aspects. From time to time India and Pakistan flex their muscles and it seems war is imminent. It is for these countries to decide that war in modern sense is not only the cost of lives but also a huge loss in terms of money. Modern wars are terribly expensive.
THE END
Sourced from Janes Information Group materials including Fleet Command, Janes Defense Weekly and other literature. The author has special permission to cite Janes as a source of defense news and information.

Ode to Juno

2008-12-30T17:52:00.000-08:00

-Bei die Seekueste, Santa Monica, Pacific Ocean

Oh goddess Juno, bitte finden,
ein braut fuer mich,
Es ist mein ernst wuenschen.

Minerva, machen mir staerker,
Venus, machen mir wuerdig und schoen,
Juno, foerdern ein wuerdig lieber.

Fuer das End auf Zeit

Goddesses at Getty

2008-12-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

December 27, 2008

I experienced something spectacular at Getty today. The images of goddesses, Minerva, Juno and Venus, those who took sides in Homer's Iliad, had a profound effect on me. The images by an English guild artist,----- was the highest form of devotional art. The details in the craftsmanship exemplifies exceptional professionalism of the 18th century. The image of Seneca was also most beautiful. The Roman statesman's natural form suits his scholarly image, a person who wrote and travelled extensively. Seneca mentioned Imaos mountains in his writings.

His Majesty Louis XIV was magnificent by any order. Particularly, interesting were his high heeled shoes. The fleur de lis on his cape reminded me of my cub scout days in 1986. The tapestries in the exhibit carries each visitor to a time in pre-French revolution Europe when European royal families and nobility enjoyed the serene beauty of nature and calm life. Hunting with composite bow and enjoying tea in an Oriental (Chinese) garden shows a profound impact of Marco Polo's introdcution of Orient in the period of Rennaissance and neo-classicism. The European guilds reached artistic heights in sharp contrast to Middle Eastern iconoclastic art.

Columbus must have had a great desire to reach the orient through another route to reopen the Orient, which was under Ottoman blockade. He instead discovered the New World and Spain moved westward.

The amazing clocks, exceptional example of high craftsmanship, hava images of dragons and lions, engaraved with painstaking detail. The rush of blue blood as a Rana gave me a new sense of self esteem and I quickly thought of Nepal's honeymoon with the West after Sir Jung Bahadur's European tour. The imagery is chronicled in 'The Wake of the White Tiger' by Diamond Rana. The image of Greta muwa (Greta Mary Rana), the work's English translator, came vividly into my mind. At that moment, I wanted to celebrate Sir Juddha Rana's birthday in next April 19.

In the exhibit, 'Captured Emotions:Baroque Paintings in Bologna, 1575-1725, Christian imagery was vivid. Moses, religious persecution, executions are brilliantly depicted by the Italian painters. Joseph and Potiphar's wife gave a glimpse of adultery. The fall of man, depicted Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden. Adam and Eve are wearing animal hide while an angel armed with a flaming sword guards against their reentry. Also painted are images of Jesus, before his execution.

The painting which had a profound effect on me as a Xavierian was The Vision of St. Ignatius of Loyola by Demenchino (Domenico Zampieri), an Italian painter who depicts the saint with the rendition of the vision of Christ and Moses?? in La Storta village. St. Ignatius was canonized in 1622 and was one of the leaders of Society of Jesus, an order instituted by Pope --- to counter Reformation. All of my good teachers were Jesuits. Besides, Sir Juddha had the Italian decoration, SS order of Maurice and Lazarus, which drew me to this particular painting.

Also notable is the panorama of Los Angeles visible from the terrace. The mountains in the east, the airplanes landing in Los Angeles International (LAX), and three cargo ships with the setting sun, the red sky, reminded me of the most memorable moment of my life. In the distance, high rise of downtown LA, all made look as if the city has a new spirit. A new elegance as America's number two city.

The green hills in which the center rests radiates peace and happiness. Only sights of Thessalonoki and Parthenon in Greece has more majesty. Every time I come to the Getty, I touch the marble slabs as I wonder at the artistic and aesthetic appeal. The structure is a marvel of American architecture. I first read about the Getty in 2006 issue of Vanity Fair. And here today, for my second time, I saw this great museum, an epitome of Western collection. I couldn't help think of the Greek monarch and the Spanish king, His Majesty Juan Carlos Bourbon y Bourbon (Queen Sophia is greek) whose coronation I had witnessed in the special issue of Newsweek. General Franco was also depicted in that issue which my granddad Capt. Dadhi Shumsher had.

The great Romans, Julius Caesar, Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus were all over my spirit. The sculpture of woman protecting her son was mazing expression of high art with maternal love. I stood and gazed at the shield of Minerva. Apollo looked elegant, crafted the same way as Michaelangelo's David. It captivates all mankind who love and admire art.

As I rode on the tram on my way down, I saw a most beautiful German looking woman. Her face had a symmetry and beauty of unparalleled in the Orient. Her long fingernails her beautiful composure will last in my mind for a long long time. "Juno!", I gasped.

Arafat: Peacemaker or terrorist?

2008-12-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

-By Pritam S Rana

Published in The Kathmandu Post, November 13, 2004, Saturday

Yasser Arafat died on November 11, 2004 leaving behind a legacy that can either bring peace between Palestinians and Israelis or it could mean decades of conflict. The man, Arafat, whose last office was the president of Palestinian Authority wasa symbol to Palestinians and Rabas as the champion of Palestinian nationalism. His unique style of wearing his keffiyeh, which looked like the map of "Palestine", is remebered by many of his admirers. His "legendary exploits" in his long struggle against Israel made him a role model not only for Arabs and Palestinians but also for all Muslims around the world. But despite Arafat's stature as father figure of the Palestinian movement for statehood, in his long struggle against Israel, Arafat employed violence against not only armed forces of his opponents but also against civilians, including women and children. He practiced violence for political aims and thus fully qualifies to the tag of an accomplished international terrorist. Later in his life, Arafat sought diplomatic victory to military solution, but he and his organization never gave up violence as a tool to achieve Palestinian statehood and rights.

According to PLO official version, Mohammed Yasser Abdul-Raouf Qudwa al Husseini, was born in August 24, 1929 in Jerusalem purportedly related to Jerusalem Husseini clan. Many historians including Christophe Bolanski, Jihan el Tahri and Said Aburish say Arafat was actually born in Cairo, Egypt. Aburish claims that "Arafat sought to establish his Palestinian credentials and promote his eventual claim to leadership...". During 1948, the [first] Arab Israeli War, Arafat left Cairo University to fight for Palestinian independence. During Suez crisis [1956], Arafat was an Egyptian Army officer. After Suez war, Arafat moved to Kuwait and founded, Fatah, an organization dedicated to forming Palestine in place of Israel and Jordan. Fatah's one of the first attempts was to raid Israel and to destroy a water pump in 1964. The Fatah mounted numerous raids inside Israel from Jordan, Lebanon and Gaza during the time. These raids from very early on did not distinguish military and civilians. All Israelis even children were targets. from this observation, we can deduce the type of mentality of rafat and his accomplices.

Also in 1964, The Arab League created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a tool in the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Fatah, initially appprehensive of PLO, gradually became its dominant faction. PLO recognized in 1967, after Arab defeat at the hands of Israel, that it could not count on Arab states to defeat Israel. therefore, it chose the path of international terrorism, which established PLO's reputation. In 1968, the Palestine National Council met and revised their charter to liberate Palestine with armed struggle. Notably, Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of of the PLO in 1969, apost he held till his death. In 1970, Jordan based Palestinians and King Hussein's forces fought bitterly until Arafat and his supporters had to leave Jordan for Lebanon. This was bitter defeat for Arafat as he lost an important bastion to attack Israel. In 1972, in most barabaric manner defying all international norms, a Fatah faction calling itself Black September group, murdered 11 Israeli athletes in Olympic village of Munich.

After another defeat of the raba sates in 1973, Arafat decided to shift from terrorism to diplomatic offensive against Israel. He wanted to legitimize his crusade. PLO gained important recognition from the United Nations and Arab League as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Arafat and his PLO were based in much of the 1970s in Lebanon. there, the PLO created such a huge apparatus, a state within a state was formed which looked after the welfare of the Palestinians as well as arming them. Lebanon served as the new bastion to raid Israel. Commando raids and artillery bombardment in Israel forced it [Israel] to encroach upon Lebanese territory. 1n 1978, a limited invasion and in 1982, a full-scale invasion were results of Arafat and his Palestinian fedayeens' anti-Israeli activity. PLO helped to destabilize Lebanon to such an extent that it contributed to a civil war and thousands of Lebanese were persecuted and killed by Palestinian fighters. Araft was chased out of Lebanon to Tunisia. In 1985, hijacking of cruise liner "Achille Lauro" implicated Palestinians from Arafat's organization, which resulted in murder of a wheelchair-bound Jewish passenger.

In 1988, before UN general asembly, Arafat vowed to give up terrorism and promised recognition of Israel's right to existence. we were seeing the transformation of Aafat, the master terrorist to Arafat, the statesman. However later, we come to know he had not altogether given up terrorism. Ginally in 1991 Madrid conference, israel talked openly with Palestinians for the first time. Secret Oslo negotiations followed with aim to give Palestinaians self-rule. On September 13, 1993, Israel and Palestinians signed Declaration of Principles hosted by US president Bill Clinton. Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, the nobel signatories were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the following year. Arafat's reasons to change into a peacenik can be attributed to such reasons as the collapse of his primary backer, the Soviet Union. Besides, Rafat must have understood that Israel and its ally, the US are far too stronger for him to challenge militarily. He must have tried to win the hearts and minds of the world by going for legitimate claims in a peaceful diplomatic manner.

Arfat is also known for Arab resistance movement called the Intifada, which took place amidst great international publicity in 1988-89. the spectacle of rock throwing youths pitted against Israel's army dominated news across the world and helped gain sympathy of the world's people for the Palestinians. Arafat was declared president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996. The issue of Jerusalem, Jewish settlement and terrorism by radical Islamists and continuing struggle mars Israeli-Palestinian relations to this day. The next generation of leaders ought to understand that a Palestinian state cannot stand in opposition to Israel. Despite historic rivalry illustrated with Arafat's life itself, there is no alternative to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Palestinians need peacemakers not terrorists.

Note:-Some facts are borrowed from www.wikipedia.org; the current fighting initiated by Hamas denotes that war is imminent. Provocations of rocket strikes into Sderot and towns in the interior has invited Israeli reprisals.
(to be continued...)

Ignominious end of Saddam

2008-12-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

-By Pritam S Rana

Published in The Kathmandu Post, January 2, 2007, Tuesday

During Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq, posters often comapred him with Babylon's ancient rulers, Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar. Saddam considered himself all powerful - able to make any decision, eliminate any opposition and rule with absolute impunity just like the ancient emperors. But on the fateful day of December 30, 2006, he was hanged after he was found guilty of crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court for ordering the 1982 killing of 148 Shiite villagers in Dujail, Iraq, which was only a small part of his long catalogue of deaths and sufferings he caused among Iraqis and people of other neighboring countries.

By 1968, Saddam had become number two man in Iraq after pan-Arabist Baath party solidified its grip into that country. previously Iraqi politics had been rather volatile with coups and counter-coups, assasination attempts against incumbent leaders. As Saddam was consolidating power within the Baath party leadership hierarchy, the 1973 oil crisis helped him generate massive revenues from an unprecedented rise in fuel prices then. Saddam was able to expand his agenda with the money into various social, agrarian, and other development works in his country. He provided free education, and health care which helped him gain countless well-wishers in his country.

In 1979, Saddam forced ailing Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr from power and assumed presidency for Iraq for himself, formally becoming Iraq's all-in-all. Saddam's first step after becoming president was the mass purging in the ruling Baath party. In a party assembly caaled by him in the same year, Saddam expunged 68 other Baathists among which 22 were reportedly executed. This was how Saddam solidified his power base, eliminating any possible threat to his one man rule.
(to be continued ...)

Notes:- This is an example of Arab leadership in the Middle East. Saddma personifies evil. He had a million man army, 5,000 tanks and 700 warplanes. He used his oil money to take over Kuwait, threaten GCC in August 2, 1990 and possibly seize Saudi oilfields. The US military under President George Herbert Walker Bush stopped this. Operation Desert Shield and Desert Sabre taught Iraq not to endanger the escurity of small states. Putin might try to invade Armenia, but he will not succeed.

Taliban challenge in Afghanistan

2008-12-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

Published Sunday, June 24, 2007, The Kathmandu Post

-By Pritam S Rana

Wire reports from Afghanistan tell a grim story. Suicide attacks and kidnappings along with other acts of violence are common almost everyday. the Taliban opposition and its supporter, Al Qaida, are active in destabilizing the nascent peace and sense of security. By firmly capitalizing on the increasingly heavy civilian casualties in retaliatory military actions by US and NATO forces in the country, the Taliban seems to be organizing a massive resistance aimed to evict the foreign forces once and for all from the country.

Part of the Taliban strategy is to divide Western resolve to democratize and bring stability to the country.. Some time back, the Taliban took French and Italian citizens hostages and then released them against the expectation that they will be executed. The Taliban knows that France is a vocal critic of US foreign policy and thus by offering olive branch to the French, the hard-line Islamic group aimed to create a fissure in the Western (Atlantic) alliance especially in the already divided NATO. many of the NATO member states who have military detachments in Afghanistan have strict caveats (word borrowed from www.wikipedia.org) restricting offensive military operations. The Taliban wants to take advantage of these limitations as illustrated by the killing of Finnish soldier some time back. Finland is a non-NATO neutral European state.

The almost daily instances of suicide bombings, firefights, with US and NATO forces and abductions are part of Taliban's strategy to keep up the pressure on the foreign forces. The increasing civilian casualties, which has already enraged Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, serve the purposes of the Taliban. The Taliban seeks to mobilize the the civilian population against the foreign forces and draw its parallels with the Soviet Union's military, the hated occupier against whom the Muhjahedeen resistance fought tenaciously in the 1980s. besides relying on hardcore Taliban fighters to conduct low-intensity insurgency against Afghan security forces and its foreign allies, it can be deduced that the Taliban has recruited the relatives of those killed in US and NATO retaliatory raids to conduct the devastating suicide bombings in urban centers. Security is supposed to be tight in such areas, but it is a tough task for security men to spot a potential suicide bomber from ordinary city dwellers.

The NATO/ISAF forces have structured Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) at various provinces of the country. these are a combination of civilian and military personnel who are engaged in performing small recosntsrution projects. they also provide security to other civilian agencies like the USAID who are involved in recosntruction work or aid. Taliban wants to target these outposts and want to deny the civilian populace the benefits of these efforts. It want(s) the 'foreign occupiers' to go so it can once agian run Afghanistan in strict puritanical Islamic code. It may also want to harbor Al Qaida again so it can once again plan and execute terrorist operations against the 'hated United States' and its allies.

The Taliban focused its thrusts in southern part of Afganistan since last few years where British forces are posted. The death of Mullah Dadullah, a senior Taliban commander in May was a hard earned victory for the Afghan and allied forces. dadullah was said to be responsible for the massacres of Shia Muslims in 2001 and was a grotesque and bloodthirsty individual. With such leaders, Taliban hopes to impose its authority and raise a rallying cry against the foreigners in the country and its 'puppet' government led by Hamid Karzai.

There is no doubt that the prsence of foreign forces who are authorized by UN Security Council is necessary to help rebuild Afganistan. teh country needs foreign assistance more than ever. However, the awarding of rebuilding contracts exclusively to Americans and Europeans would be seen with much scrutiny by the Taliban sympathizers. Despite the talk of possible dialogue with Taliban by Afgan leader Karzai, they haven't yielded anything. until the Tliban decides to lay down arms and give up its anteliluvian and xenophobic ideology, there can be no peace in Afghanistan. Afganistan has much to do to control illegal poppy cultivation and opium smuggling. Continued armed conflict would curtail such efforts, which is sure to destabilize the country for a long time.

Instead of moving toward modernity and globalization, the ideas espoused by Taliban and its transnational terrorist network, Al Qaida, would transform Afganistan into an Islamic caliphate (ref: Insurgency and Terrorism by Bard O'Neill), far removed from reality. being one of the poorest countries in the world despite being located on an area of immense geo-strategic potential (ref:Halsford Mackinder's geopolitical theory utilized by Hitler in June 22, 1941), afghanistan deserves a better chance.. Teh US and Western powers have strategic interest in Afghanistan. Teh country can allow oil pipelines through Central Asia to Pakistan and thus gain much. Suffering from endemic fighting since late 1970s, the time has finally come for Afghan people to see lasting and permanent peace.

When Dragon snarls at Eagle

2008-12-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

The United States, the world’s sole superpower and China, the economic giant and the emerging superpower, are natural adversaries. But the two countries have fought only once in a major conflict in recent history – The Korean War (1950-1953) – which resulted in a stalemate and a divided Korean peninsula. As China expands its economic power, its military too is being fed with increased budgetary allocations in a bid to modernize its armed forces. The US, on the other hand, has stretched its military forces wide across the globe, thanks to its global commitments. Washington is engaged fruitlessly in Iraq since 2003. Also, its efforts to tame opponents in Afghanistan since 2001 are also yet to succeed.

In East Asia, China has the most powerful military potential in terms of its massive population, geography, industrial capacity and sheer numbers of its armed forces personnel, which currently has 2.3 million active troops. Japan, the world’s number two economy and Washington’s chief ally in the region, although bound by a mutual security pact with the US since 1945, appears to be charting a fresh course for its foreign policy. The Japanese want to establish their own sphere of influence as evident of their wooing of other emerging powers like India. However, Japan is too weak to counter China alone. It would need US military assistance in any eventual showdown with China. Japan’s recent overtures toward India can be understood as its aim to build new alliances and reduce dependence on the US.

China is rapidly building up its military muscle. It is producing advanced combat aircraft, both of indigenous and foreign design. It also wants to build an indigenously designed aircraft carrier, a major naval force multiplier platform. China’s new aircraft carrier and its follow-ups shall boost its naval power once only equaled in the region by Imperial Japanese Navy of World War II era.

China’s traditional headache, Taiwan, although impressively armed with US weapons, is too weak to stand up to China’s military might. China has assembled a vast array of ballistic missiles ranged against Taiwan, which has the potential to paralyze Taiwan’s nerve centers in one lethal volley at short notice. The US supplied Patriot air defense batteries in Taiwanese service would be incapable of intercepting all but a few incoming Chinese warheads.

But it is not easy for China to seize Taiwan without facing massive resistance. The US, Taiwan’s traditional security gurantor, can block Chinese attempt to storm the breakaway island state. The US Pacific Fleet’s combat power is too awesome to allow Chinese ships to cross the Taiwan Straits from the mainland with ease. China also lacks a large airlift capability to mount a massive airborne operation against Taiwan. Even if China later acquires this capability, Taiwanese air force equipped with modern US and French made fighter jets, backed by US carrier based fighters, have the power to negate any such Chinese attempt to intrude Taiwanese airspace. Chinese generals, therefore, cannot hope to replicate Nazi Germany’s successful takeover of Crete in the Mediterranean at the heights of World War II (1941).

But the trend is moving toward China’s favor as it modernizes its armed forces by pouring more money from its economic success. China is rapidly inducting Russian made Su-27 ‘Flanker’, a fourth generation advanced fighter aircraft designed to best US F-15s, into its service. It is manufacturing these long endurance aircraft equipped with advanced avionics and deadly air-to-air missiles with license from cash hungry Russia. Russia is more than willing to sell advanced weaponry to China. Russia has also drastically boosted China’s ground based air defenses by supplying S300 air defense missiles systems, which also have ballistic missile defense capability.

In terms of quality military manpower, the US and Taiwan have the edge for now. For example, the US and Taiwanese pilots are better trained with more flying hours per year of training than their Chinese counterparts. But this trend is shifting as China’s new material prosperity allows it to pour more money into military training, maneuvers and more frequent rehearsals.

China and Russia recently conducted joint exercises in Chinese territory. Both Russia and China are also busy forming a counter alliance to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The new axis, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which pairs Russia and China along with some other Central Asian states, is rapidly seeking to recruit some other remaining states into its camp, instead of them joining NATO. It is to be seen if Moscow and China’s romance would also extend to the Far East.

Keeping in mind China’s growing airpower, the US deployed advanced, radar evading F-22 Raptor interceptors in Okinawa, Japan early this year. The F-22 has just entered US Air Force service and it is the US military’s top-of-the-line silver bullet fighter aircraft. However, there are only few of them around as they are extremely expensive, only US seems to be able to afford them. Analysts said the US wants to sell these advanced warplanes to Japan. Japan’s air force currently has US supplied F-15s as its frontline fighter aircraft, which can be matched or outclassed by China’s Su-27s.

The US can also count on the powerful Japanese navy in joint maneuvers against China in any regional conflict. However, as mentioned earlier, Japan’s hawkish government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Abe has resigned since) appeared to favor an independent foreign policy in recent times. It might indicate that Japan might choose not to intervene in any US-China conflict, triggered most likely by any flare-up in the Taiwan Straits. The current Japanese constitution also forbids military expeditions beyond Japanese home waters.

The most ghastly scenario would be if any armed conflict between the two giants, the US and China, extends to the Chinese mainland. The US and its ally Taiwan (provided Taiwan agrees to fight inside Chinese mainland) would fare to be caught in a protracted and costly war a.k.a. Iraq, which might eventually outlast US determination to fight. The Chinese mainland is favorable to Chinese government forces, where skillful propaganda by Beijing can portray the US as a foreign occupying power rather than any liberator of the Chinese people. The lessons of the Korean War should be too fresh in the minds of American civilian and military leaders if they choose to engage the Chinese military in their own homeland. The modern Taiwan also lacks the appeal to arouse public opinion in the mainland as it is rapidly moving toward formal independence, a break from its past Kuomintang ethos as a pan-Chinese political entity.

Despite indications that hint adversarial relationship, the US and China are firmly interlinked by trade and economic ties. Besides being the major trade partner of the US, China has bought US debt which allows financing of Washington’s war in Iraq and Afghanistan. China’s humungous foreign currency reserves which totaled some $1.33 trillion in June 2007, allows it to boost its military spending, which officially stood at $36.6 billion in 2006. The US and other observers disagree and say Beijing spends much more, perhaps two or three times more than the announced figure. The Americans and the Japanese are simply worried about growing military spending by Beijing and have warned that they might be compelled to review their own security posture if there is continued lack of transparency in this issue.

Despite occasional rifts with the US, China is no mood to fight and risk global economic collapse. The cost of such a conflict could be too heavy for the Chinese to sustain. Even if China overwhelms Taiwan with military might, it would be a pyrrhic victory, for much of the prosperous country’s spoils would be lost. Beijing, instead, wants to incorporate Taiwan peacefully in the same manner as Hong Kong and Macau. It is willing to concede total control of Taiwan, parceling out internal self rule in exchange for sovereignty. China appears to be following a course as prescribed by Sun Tzu, the classical Chinese warrior-philosopher:

“The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side.”

prittwitz@hotmail.com

August 21, 2007

Edited: September 13, 2007

THE END

Pritam S Rana worked as a sub-editor for The Kathmandu Post national daily in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2004 to 2007. He is working to complete his master’s degree in political science from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is seeking a new writing career as he moves to the US in 2007. He has been published previously in various leading newspapers and online portals in Nepal.

Indo-Russian ties: Arms deal strong as ever

2008-12-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

-By Pritam S Rana
Published on The Kathmandu Post, Thursday, October 12, 2000

Russian President Valadimir Putin's recent visit to India marks the continuation of more than 40 yerars of strategic partnership between the two countries. India and the former Soviet Union first signed the Friendship and Cooperation treaty in the early sixties, a key clause in it allowed the Indians to purchase Russian armmament at reduced "friendly price". The special relationship between India and Russia has continued though it soemwhat changed after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Russian decision to sell arms tot he Indians was in line wityh their policy of seeking allies and sympathizers for theirt cause cause during the Cold War. India, on its part, was concerned with its arch-rival Pakistan's entry into SEATO (South Asia Treaty Organization), a US led collective security organization, which insured a steady flow of US arms to Pakistan. It is to be noted that India itself refused to join SEATO for it would contradict India's avowed stand of neutrality in the Cold War. Some still believe that Indian leaders of the time were sympathetic to Moscow due to the fact that both countries pursued socialistic principles. The more realistic reason (raison de'etre, comments please) was however, economics. The Russians offered their arms for a fraction of the price Western weapons cost. Besides, Indian policy makers perceived that the threat posed by China required large arms purchases from abroad. The Indians could not find a better deal. In the 1962 Sino-Indian border war, China captured large chunks of Indian territory in Aksai Chin (Eastern Kashmir) and NEFA (area north of Assam). From then onwards, Indian security perception was dominated by China so much that it preceded Pakistan. Also during this time, the Sino-Soviet schism had intensified and there were border incidents between the erstwhile communist allies. Thus, Soviet arms export to India served the strategy of anatagonizing and isolating China China as well.

Moscow began supplying arms worth billions and billions of dollars to New Delhi, which included weapons of every category, meant for all the three services of Indian defense, namely the Army, Air Force and the Navy. The Indian Army received tanks, personnel carriers, artillery, antitank missiles and guns nad transport trucks. the Indian Air Force took jet interceptors, strike aircraft, transport aircraft, surface to air missiles and related radar equipment. The Indian Navy gradually added destroyers, corvettes, missile boats, submarines and realted weapons and spares. This trend continued ... (to be continued)

(to be continued....)
Note:- India's refusal to sign SEATO resulted in India's alignment with Russia. India could serve as a conduit for re-export of sensitive technology to Moscow.

Airpower in the Hands of Tamil Tigers

2008-12-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

-Pritam S Rana
Published in The Kathmandu Post, Saturday, May 19, 2007

The acquisition of air power by Tamil Tiger rebels lately in Sri Lanka is a matter of immense importance to scholars of insurgency. It is unprecedented in the sense that no rebel outfit in the post-World War II history of the region has acquired aircraft to be used for various military applications. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) managed to acquire light rainer aircraft after fighting primarily on the ground and sea for many years and use the newly acquired capability skilfully against its enemy, the Sri Lankan military. The effect, although limited in military value, has had a powerful psychological impact on not only the Sri Lankans but alarm bells have rung as far away as New Delhi and Washington.

Although the attack on Katunayake airbase on March 2007 was prominently covered by the media and was dubbed as the first air raid by the Tamil rebels, it is thought that the Tigers has been preparing for many years to acquire air capability. According to wikipedia.org, the LTTE credits an Indian trained aeronautical engineer, "Colonel Shankar", for the formation of Air Tigers or Vaanpuligal. Existence of Tiger flown aircraft was reportedly existing since as early as 1998. But the Sri Lankan government officials refused to believe it saying it was nothing but LTTE propaganda.

The suddenly on March 26, 2007, two light Tamil Tiger flown aircraft, believed to be Czech designed Zlin Z-143s penetrated Katunayake airbase north of Colombo dropping several light bombs. Three air force personnel were killed and another 16 were wounded. It was thought that the Tigers intended to take out Sri Lankan Air Force MiG-27s and Kfir jets parked on the tarmac but did not succeed. From being a master of the Sri Lankan sky (aerospace), the air force suddenly faced a threat of aerial bombing. Until then it had a monopoly in the protracted armed conflict in the island nation. Sri Lankan generals lacked a clear foresight and could not even imagine that the LTTE had a multi-dimensional threat. Sri Lankan defense officials had invested only in aircraft like Israeli made Kfirs and Russian designed MiG-27s, which are primarily ground attack aircraft. These aircraft have restricted air combat capability and are thus not suitable to conduct air superiority operations to counter Tamil aircraft in the air. therefore, Sri lankan government now has to purchase surface to air missiles to guard its air bases and other military installations. it is also possible that LTTE might resort to attack economic targets or even civilians. So air defesne would be the top priority for Sri Lankan generals. There might also be pressure on the Sri Lankan Air Force to focus on locating Tiger airfields and bombing them out of commission. Its traditional air support role would have to be curtial meaning that ground forces and naval forces have to fend for themselves. having only around 20 combat aircraft grouped in two squadrons, the new pressure created by Tamil Tiger air capability would be severe on Sri Lankan Air Force. it does not take an expert to see that Sri Lanka won't be able to afford sexy jet fighters to counter LTTE air power as its economy is already feeling the pinch of renewed hostilities.

According to media reports, India was admamant that the radars it supplied to Sri Lanka were perfectly all right. Small aircraft like Zlin Z-143 when flying low are difficult for advanced interceptors like MiG-29 and Mirage 2000 in Indian service to detect, track and achieve a lock on such small and elusive target. A proven example is the incident in 1987 when a 19-year old German, mathias Rust, eluded the massive air defense systemof the then Soviet Union and landed his small airplane at the Red Square, Moscow.

Intelligence and military officials in India too must be worried about the LTTE's air capability. india is nervous that a host of insurgents poised against it might somehow acquire aircraft to drop bombs or worse, chemical or biological weapons. The US too cannot ignore the threat as it too faces insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq where were insurgents acquiring air power could only mean deep trouble. The Americans have not yet forgotten how difficult it is to shoot down small and elusive intruders. They know this well from their experience in Korea nad Vietnam.

The Tamil Tigers are fighting against a thrid world power, the Sri Lankan government. The tigers control a huge swathe of territory where they enjoy support from the Tamil population. The Tamil separatists have sought to address a grievance of discrimination by the majority Sinhalas for years. Broad support base and help from expatriate Tamils have allowed the Tigers to create a formidable organization which includes Sea Tigers (the Tiger navy) and Black Tigers (suicide unit). Long experience of fighting the government forces coupled with broad base support has allowed the Tigers to create an air arm to carry out their protracted struggle. if others emulate it, it means more problems for governments.

THE END

Authors' note:- I saw a similar article on The Economist. I saw that after I published it. My resource base for soem facts is www.wikipedia.org. Other analysis due to my extensive reading of various Western publications. I still want to give a major credit to Jane's Defense Weekly for teaching me about military hardware identification. I own their Tanks (bought in Ekta Educational Palace, Jawalakhel, Nepal and Airplane Handbook bought in a bookstore in Friar Street, Van Nuys. Some credit goes to Bill Sweetman's Fighter Combat in the Jet Age, which taught me experience of the USAF in Korea and Vietnam. More scholarly credit goes to Dr. Thomas A. Marks, who lectured me on counter-insurgency strategies through books like Bard O'Neill's Insurgency and Terrorism and the ICASP journal.

Airpower in Nepalese context

2008-12-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

Need for (a)symmetric response to rebels' threats
-Published in Space Time Today, Tuesday, May 21, 2002

By Pritam S Rana

The idea of employing aircraft for military purposes is still relatively new in Nepal even though this phenomenon has been in existence since around the beginning of the 20th century. The main reason attributed for this lack of development in military avaiation in Nepal is the underdeveloped situation and minimal industrialization of our country. Unfloding events in the present time have shown that a certain minimum military aviation is required to carry out military strikes to support ground troops.

The employment of aviation by the military predates use of aircraft. Balloons were used as far as back in the American Civil War (1861-65) for observation purposes. In World War I (1914-1918), aircraft had already made their debut and were initially used for observation. Later artillery obsservers who controlled fires of ground-based cannons also flew and found they could observe targets better from the air. Soon airplanes began fighting each other in the sky with machine guns. In World War II, great changes came in technology as planes became more and more powerful. Bombers, fighters and reconnaissance aircraft dominated the skies in every battlefront and the idea of air power became significant in the minds of military commanders and civilains alike.

In the Korean War (1950-1953) US airpower significantly nullified Chinese-North Korean superiority in numbers on the ground. In the next important conflict in the world, air power was used ever increasingly. In 1967, Israel used its air force to destroy Arab air force and armies. When the US was involved in Vietnam it used a variety of aircraft: jet fighters to bomb infrastructure and light counter insurgency (COIN) aircraft types to counter Viet Cong infiltration. The war between India and Pakistan in 1965 and 1971 also saw use of air force of both nations. In countless civil wars, which followed World War II, military aviation has been in use in one form or another. 1n 1991 Persian Gulf War, US used its air power at its best reducing Iraqi defenses and thus minimizing resistance to friendly ground forces.

In our country, combat aircraft have not been in use. The possibility existed in World War II when the then Nepalese government could have asked for British military aircraft for Nepalese service. If such a transfer had occured, Nepal would have had an air force. But there were hardly any airfields in Nepal at that time. Also, educated, trained manpower for flying and maintaining such aircraft did not exist. After World War II, the sophistication of military aircraft rose to such an extent that their costs skyrocketed due to such complexities like jet engines, advanced avionics, weapons like missiles and other equipment. The high cost of maintaining a jet air force certainly precluded any thought in Nepal of keeping such a force. Therefore, the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) maintains only transport planes and helicopters.

But now times have changed. Nepal used to be until a few years ago, a very peaceful country. Now, there is an armed rebellion, which aims to overthrow not only the government but also our culture and our values. This armed opposition is growing stronger by the day even though it takes heavy losses. Therefore it is imperative to consider improving the army's land power and to develop and utilize air power to assist land operations.

Currently the helicopters in use mainly for transportation are equipped with door-mounted machine guns. The RNA is using them for offensive purposes. But it is to be understood that door-mounted machine guns have limited effectiveness because aiming is difficult as the helicopters move. Weapons that fire with the axis of the helicopter are are more accurate. The night vision systems fitted in the helicopters should be forward looking infrared (FLIR) and not just night vision goggles (NVGs). FLIR system works on the principle of detecting heat signature and cannot only see in the dark but also through smoke, vegetation and other forms of camouflage. On the other hand NVGs magnify starlight so as to create image and is less effective in detecting movement at night. Helicopters should be used for assault transport and not as gunships.

The government should either procure or lease dedicated counter insurgency (COIN) aircraft. These aircraft and not helicopters should be the gunships. When procuring such aircraft, the government should select the very best, which is highly effective even when used in small numbers. An example of such an aircraft is in service with the US Marines. The aircraft is called OV-10D Bronco and is made by Rockwell Company in the US. It is a twin turboprop engine about 14m long and 13m wide with a maximum speed of 463km/h and a combat radius of 367km. It is armed with three barrel 20mm cannon (1500 rounds carried) and can aslo carry unguided rockets and light bombs. The heart of this aircraft system is the under nose AAS-37 pod equipped with FLIR, laser designator, and automatic video tracker. this pod can slave the 20mm cannon which can fire independently of the axis of the aircraft allowing the pilot to freely move his aircraft while the gunner slaves and fires the weapon. This aircraft is capable of night operations and appears to be highly suitable for Nepalese conditions. The aircraft is least expensive when compared to the cost of modern jet fighters. It is superior to jet airplanes in terms of its endurance and also is faster than helicopters with its larger range. Only trained pilots are required with a team of technicians able to maintain the aircraft avionics and subsystems.

The civil war situation in Nepal loos bleak. Despite imposition of emergency there is no slackening in rebel activity. They appear to be successful in forming large bands and attacking police and army positions. The government should think of assyemtric response to the rebel threat rather than just meeting the rebels on the ground on terms dictated by them. Massed rebel fighters can become easy targets of air assets like the OV-10D Bronco. There are so many new expensive cars being procured for government ministers and officials. So there is no need to assume that such an aircraft would be too expensive for Nepal. Nepal needs a small air force just for the sake of increasing and offlocating firepower so as to employ it effectively against ground-based threat. Employing air power for air defense is a requirement, which cannot be met in Nepal due to high cost of jet interceptors and missiles. The government needs to allocate money to finance a tiny fleet of COIN aircraft if it wants to counter the present rebellion and any other future uprisings in the country. Airpower is important in all forms of military operations. It plays an important role in supporting ground based units and sometimes it can play a decisive role.

* This article is dedicted to my granddad Flying Officer BK Singh, service number 2904, RAF who flew for the Royal Flight in 1950s. He flew DC-3/C-47 Dakotas and other airplanes. After the British left, he also was recalled to drop relief to the beleagured Indian troops in 1962 war with People's Republic of China.

China defying world by persecuting Tibetans

2008-12-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

Published on nepaliperspectives.blogspot.com on October 6, 2006

-Pritam S Rana

Reports by news agencies (and those posted on local news portals in Nepal - e.g. "e-kantipur") outline unspeakable cruelty displayed by Chinese authorities against Tibetans attempting to escape flee China. Such acts of inhumanity cannot be permitte d to pass.

According to reports., agroup of about 70 Tibetan refugees including women, children and monks tried to cross into Nepal from the Tibet, on Saturday. Chinese soldiers having prior information of the flight "arrived with weapons and opened fire." According to published reports, about 40 refugees managed to cross into Nepal while two were reportedly killed. Additionally, 2 others have gone "missing."

While the world is focused on conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, Sri Lanka and other hot spots, Tibet remains till this day, uder a brutal occupation. The Chinese entered Tibet with military forces in 1950 and consolidated it after 1959.

China's indifference towards the people of Tibet is refelcted by Staurday night's tragic event. In stark contrast to universally accepted standards, Chinese soldiers chose to mow down fleeing and unarmed Tibetans for what was termed a 'border violation'. Despite the modernity of their economic enterprise, the Chinese seem to wed to Stalinist dictum of keeping foreigners out and insiders within. The actions of China's border troops show parallels with the attitudes of KGB (border guards).

China may think its economic prowess and its capacity as the world's largest market gives it go ahead to suppress the Tibetan people. It is now established fact that Tibetans are now a minority in their own homeland.

Tibetans are in such a sorry predicament that no country in the world (including the United States) is openly willing to challenge China on its Tibet policy. The US needs China's vast market to sell its produce while other major European powers also do not want to natagonize China for fear of economic retaliation. China, as the world's largest holder of the US treasury's 30-year bond, exercises considerable leverage not just in bi-lateral regional trade, but truly in the smooth functioning of the entire global economy.

Owing to China's increasing economic might, the cause of Tibetan freedom is now championed only by individuals and diminishing groups. They do not receive government support, for fear of antagonizing China. And despite the Tibetan spiritual leader (the Dalai Lama's) heightened staure as a Nobel laureate, the cause he champions appears to be losing momentum.

China's reaction towards the Dalai Lama has been harsh. beijing puts pressure on foreign governments not to welcome the Dalai Lama in their countries. Such pressure is accurately felt in countries like Nepal which is forced to bow down to Beijing in the name of 'peaceful coexistence'.

beijing's propaganda in tandem with the aid it provides to Nepal has been consistent over the years. The leftist and communists in Nepal have steadfastly backed China's claim to Tibet. nepal has held a long relationship with both China and India. Nepal was a trade partner and cobelligerents in different wars of the past. nepal is one of the few countries besides India, which can trace the independence and soverignty of Tibet in the past through a careful study of history. Despite China's constant claim that Tibet was forever part of China, historical analysis reveals that Tibet was only an ally of China during it wars with Nepal. The Chinese simply decided never to leave.

It was a miserable decision by the former Nepali government to close the Tibetan contact offices in nepal. Tibetan people are Nepal's earliest neighbors. Many ethnic groups in Nepal (including the renowned Sherpas and Tamangs) are said to have migrated to Nepal from Tibet. Nepalis and Tibetans have fraternal relations that go back as the time of the Licchavi King Amshuvarma who married his daughter Bhrikuti to the Tibetan King Srong Chong Gampo.

The Chinese on the other hand, came to contact with the Nepalis only after the Tibetans felt threatened by Nepal's expansionist policies in the 18th century. Tibet sought military support from China, which brought them to Nepal's border at that time.
(to be continued...)

Blue Helmets: Nepal's need

2008-12-18T19:15:00.000-08:00

-By Pritam S Rana

Since the past years, violence has continued unabated in Nepal. Several rounds of peace talks have failed to establish peace and tranquility. Locked in political debates concerning the constitution, representation, and appropriate political system, the stakeholders oof this continuing conflict have put the people of this country on a noose of death and destruction. therefore, it is high time that internationmal intervention be invited to settle this conflict once and for all. No international body apart from the United Nations (UN) can play a better role in the Nepali context.

The UN mediation between the government and the Maoists will be far desirable thans aay Indian mediation. Nepalis have goof reason to suspect India for having designs against them. But, the supranational UN has no vested interest in the internal affairs of this country, as most countries of the world are its members. Although it is accused by some that UN has become a tool of the West, close observation disputes the accusation. It is an incomprehensible matter why Nepali political leaders are refusing to invite UN mediation in a conflict, which they cannot resolve themselves. Can the Nepali people be forever held hostage to political wrangling of their leaders? Obviously not. New leaders should rise from among the masses and speak for a UN role in resolving the conflict, whichh ahs already claimed the lives of about 10,000 innocent Nepalis. Can Nepoal afford to be abnother Cambodia or Congo?

It is imperative that the violence in Nepal be mitigated. The government is unable to disarm the Maoist rebels. Instead of controlling violence, the unruly actions of the security forces have unleashed violence among people who are already being tormented by the rebels. The only visible solution to this cycle of violence is the deployment of UN peacekeeping force in Nepal. These forces can, by the virtue of their deployment, deter violence, being perpetrated by Maoist rebels and the government forces, against civilians. There are many advantages of of the deployment of UN peacekeepers. The UN peacekeeping force can provide multilateral support to the country. The peacekeepers can assist in confidence-building measures, power sharing arrangements, election, strengthening the rule of law and also in economic and social development. Many politicians in Nepal have said that election is impossible in the present circumstances as rebels hold sway over major parts of the rural areas. The UN peacekeeprs can oversee this problem. They can act as impartial observers.

The UN force in Nepal will not take sides in the ongoing conflict. Contrary to Maoist suspicion, they will not be targeted by the UN peacekeepers. But Maoists dare not challenge them. They can use force to protect themselves. Also, rules of engagement governing the use of force have been strengthened allowing UN peacekeepers to use "all necessary means" to protect civilians in their immediate vicinity. This means if UN force in Nepal is given this set of rules of engagement, it will deter Maoists from carrying out violent acts against civilians in close proximity of the UN peacekeepers. Nepal has participated in numerous peacekeeping missions throughout the world. But for obvious reasons, The Royasl Nepalese Army will not participate in UN peacekeeping mission in Nepal.

The Nepali government should realise that only concrete steps like inviting UN peacekeepers can really make the difference in Nepal. Placing too much faith in would-be facilitators and mediators from within Nepal will only make matters worse.

The nepali Prime Minister should first build consensus and then ask the UN Secretary General to contemplate a UN peacekeeping mission in Nepal. He can take the matter to the Security Council. The Prime Minster should also direct the foreign ministry to instruct Nepali ambassadors abroad to urge

Notes:- This article resulted in UN's Nepal mission the UNMIN. My application to UN was rehected by Kieran Dwywer and Matthew Kahane, the UN representative to Nepal. My application to go to study peacekeekping in UN school in Brindisi was only ansswered. i would want to request the US government, the principal sponsor and financier of UN to put pressure on such corrupt and negligent attitude by UN staff who have completely failed to prosecute Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda), Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) and Dr Baburam Bhattarai for crimes against humanity. This coterie has to tried in ICC Den Haag and be sentenced to life in prison. I invoke this declaration as grea great grandson of Col. Man Shumsher Rana, Attorney General of Nepal and a loyal citizen.

Hidden contest: Indo-Pak quest for nuclear weapons

2008-12-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Published on The Kathmandu Post, Tuesday, December 26, 2000
-By Pritam S Rana

The nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan in 1998 confirmed the long held suspicion that these regional rivals were on the firm track of developing nuclear arsenals at the expense of regional security, in order to enhance their status as major regional powers. Currently, hidden from the headlines, these powers are undertaking a massive build-up of nuclear weapons and the means to develop them. this is happening with the negligence of of the international community into this impending crisis which can at any time in the future blow into a nuclear holocaust having serious consequences to the region, if not the whole world.

Necessity: The desire to acquire nuclear weapon was first realised in India during the reign of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, if not earlier. This has direct relation to Sino-Indian hostility beginning in 1962, since when India sought to match China's enormous military power. Nuclear weapons would, the Indians believed, the ultimate guarantor of Indian security from Chinese numerical superiority in conventional forces. The 1974 so-called "peaceful nuclear explosion" marked India's entry into the limited few who possessed nuclear arms. China exploded its nuclear weapon back in 1964. The problem in South Asia was that India wasn't alone in feeling threatened from a potential superior adversary. Pakistan felt the same; it felt the might of India would challenge its "pivotal" position, as a counterweight to Indian hegemony in the region. The Kashmir dispute has further served to fuel Indo-Pak conflict to a proportion that even the lone superpower, The US, feels the bit of a chill.

Since 1974, India has had a weapons programme in its nuclear research effort. Besides, tapping on nuclear technology for power stations, the fissile material from these and other weapon dedicated nuclear plants, thousands of Indian scientists and other technical personnel are engaged in the activity of developing, producing and improving nuclear explosive devices. Dr. Abdul Kalam is one of the well known scientist engaged in the Indian effort working for the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian nuclear research institutes at Trombay and various other places. the most important source of India for nuclear technology has been Russia, which is presently willing to offer nuclear technology to other nations like Iran. Pakistan is also not far behind, although its programme is much younger to India's. More than 3,000 Pakistani scientists were working on the "Pakistani bomb" programme, headed by Dr. Abdul Qader Khan, considered the father of Pakistani nuclear programme primarily being carried out in Khan Research Laboratories at Kahuta. France was one of the earliest helpers in Pakistani nuclear power programme but it later withdrew as the Pakistani initiative was known for the production of weapons. From then onwards, China served as willing to provide nuclear assistance to Pakistan under the guise of development assistance in energy sector of a friendly state.

Delivery problem: apart from the development and manufacture of nuclear explosive devices, there stands th problem of delivering them. It is noteworthy that a manned bomber in world War II delivered the first atomic weapon ever employed in war. The vulnerability of manned aircraft to deliver even conventional weapons had been realized even in that time; thousands of Allied bombers were destroyed and prevented from reaching their targets by German air defenses. The revolutionary innovation of the first ballistic missile, the V2 in Nazi Germany by the brilliant inventor Werner Von Braun was a major breakthrough in the weapon delivery technology. Barun moved to the US and helped develop US ballistic missiles while the Russians for their own programme abducted other colleagues of Braun. This is the story behind the development of long-range weapon delivery.

In our regional context, both Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapon developments are being complemented by an enormous expenditure of money and time into the development of delivery system. Both these powers now realize that ballistic missiles are are the only sure means to strike their adversary with impunity. Note that there, yet, isn't an effective counter-ballistic missile system in the world. India has tested the 2,500 km range Agni Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) and has deployed shorter range Prithvi (200 km range) Short Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM). The main Pakistani ballistic missile system is the Ghauri (1,500-2,500 km range) IRBM suspected to be based on North Korean technology. Also, Pakistan has purchased from China, M-11 series (300-600 km) SRBMs, named locally as Shaheen series. pakistan also has shorter Hatf series ballistic missiles apparently developed indigenously. However, both countries are dependent on on technology from such states as China, North Korea and and to some extent Russia, despite the latter's express denial. The US and its Western allies carefully control the dual use technologies, those that can be used in production of nuclear weapons in its exports to the third world. Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect India to channelize its dramatic growth in IT industries into improving its nuclear weapons technology. Such an effort could only result in hampering its future imports of emerging technologies by further tightening of the export control regime of Western countries.

Despite, the array of ballistic missiles being developed by the two South Asian rivals, few of them have been operational. This means that the air forces of the respective nations will have to employ their existing strike aircraft to deliver nuclear weapons for the interim period until the successful development and deployment of the virtually unstoppable ballistic missiles. there also remains the challenge for both countries to develop workable command and control systems for these weapons of mass destruction along with the question who has the trigger and which side will dare to use these awesome weapons first in case of an armed conflcit between the two.

Myth of Deterrence: The Indian and Pakistani leaders and policy makers might view the addition of nuclear weapons into enhancing their national military power and prestige, this has totally failed to avert armed conflict, thus, failing in maintaining deterrence, the idea of peace which exists due to fear of mutual nuclear exchange. The Kargil War is the graphic example, where the formula of nuclear deterrence, which worked for Russia and US was buried/burnt with the dead bodies of those who fell there.

The cost in terms of money, manpower and time is in such massive proportions that these alone can provide enormously to the deprived of both countries; billions upon billions are being are poured into the making of the tools of future holocaust, only waiting for the time when one of the sides lose its rationality. The religious fervor in the rhetoric and somewhat in policy of both nations serves as a potent spice for the impending heightening of a potential crisis which can easily spill into a disaster of magnanimous proportion. Imagine the consequence to Nepal, if Calcutta docks are damaged beyond repair by a nuclear strike.
THE END

Notes:-Credit goes to www.fas.org, Jane's, Newsweek, and various other news agencies. This analysis earned me an opportunity to write a dissertation on this subject for Army majors who wanted to attend US Army Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth. Ia sked for Rs 10,000 but they failed to produce the remuneration. I can produce this into a new book given ample research opportunity. My masters thesis can be based on this touchy but a significant issue of South Asian security. ASEAN can also be affected if sea routes to Persian Gulf is intercepted by Indo-Pak naval confrontation. japan's oil supply might need escort from Japanese navy resulting in breaking Japan's 2000 nautical mile limit imposed after WWII. US Navy might be asked to separate warring Indo-Pak ships ala 1971. The SCO naval force might overtake US Navy in sea superiority in the Indian ocean. this can result in mitigation of ANZUS treaty. Australian security wrests on this crucial pact (ref: Defense and Diplomacy issue with Australian Defense update and the issue of Jane's with news report of Admiral Dunleavy, USN saying he wanted "Russian Navy away from Pacific Islands and Oceania.

Army needs world-class weapons

2008-12-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

-PRITAM S RANA

Some time back, media reports emanating from India stated that the Indian Army was interested to modernize the smallest tactical unit of its army-the platoon. It was reported that the Indian military wanted to enhance the effectiveness of its platoons in light of lack luster performance by units operating against insurgents in Kashmir. In a similar manner, platoon in Royal Nepalese Army also ought to be equipped and organized so it can prevail and outperform opposing forces.
Current RNA infantry battalions who have about nine unwieldy and large rifle platoons. Size must be immediately cut down so valuable manpower can be transferred to create new units. RNA should get out of its traditional thinking style that numbers alone will allow it to prevail in future combat operations. Instead it is firepower and maneuver, which will be the deciding factors.

Though new weapons are entering RNA service, platoons equipped with older Self Loading Rifles (SLR) and Light Machine Guns (LMG) are facing stiff competition from rebel units equipped with same and similar weapons. Both of these weapons are now obsolescent, unwieldy, heavy and need to be gradually replaced and passed to police units. Newest weapons entering RNA inventory namely the M-16A2 assault rifle and Minimi light machine guns are such weapons that they equip among others the US Army. German General Heinz Guderian (World War II) had advocated new tactics should accompany induction of new weapons. RNA should form robust units and subunits in accordance with the introduction of new weapons.

The M-16A2 rifle is the improved version of the venerable M-16A1, which was extensively used in the Vietnam War. The new rifle has automatic fire limiter which controls burst rate to three rounds. This not only economises ammunition but also improves accuracy. Sights on M-16A2 are superior to M-16A1 and the foregrip is also improved. Effective to 300m and weighing under 4kg fully loaded, the M-16A2 is far superior to the old SLR. Its only weak point compared to SLR is less maximum effective range and less armor penetration and anti-material capability. The 5.56mm bullet of the M-16A2 is effective against unprotected personnel targets; it is less effective against vehicles when compared to the 7.62mm round of the SLR.

The Minimi light machine gun is a design of Fabrique National firm of Belgium. Known as M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) in US military service, the fully automatic weapon fires 5.56mm rounds (common to M-16A2 rifle) to up to 1000m. The excellent weapon uses a roller guided locking system which works smoothly and uncomplicated. Also this fine weapon can be fed with belt as well as M-16A2 rifle magazines simplifying logistics.

There is also need for additional weapons, which will give operational flexibility to small unit leaders. A missing link is grenade launcher. Having only hand grenades, current platoon soldiers are limited to a stone throw range. Hand grenades are extremely risky to even the side that uses them. To enable soldiers to throw grenades beyond that possible by muscle power, grenade launchers have to be purchased. Although a variety is available in the international market, the 40mm grenade launchers are more common. The one which is available to M-16 series of rifles is the M203 launcher developed by AAI Corporation, USA. This launcher attaches below the foregrip of the M-16A2 rifle having separate firing mechanism and trigger. Soldiers can project grenades up to 400m away using this weapon. Such a capability could enhance firepower of individual platoon who do not have to call mortar support for otherwise trivial targets.

The three rifle squads of the modern rifle platoon should be equipped with aforementioned weapons. There is, besides the above, a need of a 7.62mm machine gun, which can support the three rifle squads with long-range fire. This weapon should also be capable of dealing with lightly armored targets and thin skinned vehicles which may be immune to 5.56mm rounds of the M-16A2 rifle and Minimi machine gun of the rifle squads.

Another important weapon system which should constitute a modern platoon is a sniper team. Consisting of an observer/leader and the sniper himself this unit can be tasked for various harassing tasks against the enemy. Using stealth, sniper team can target opposition force leadership, harass other enemy ranks can wreak havoc among unsuspecting and undisciplined enemy.

Platoon leadership should be equipped with long range radios so the whole unit can operate in long-range surveillance mission deep inside enemy territory. Squad and team leaders also require hand held radios in order to coordinate with platoon leadership. Also, embarking and disembarking by helicopters should be norm for the new platoons. The quality of leadership should also reflect best of the Army. Only rigorously chosen leaders can command elite platoons.

Small unit tactics bear too much weight to be ignored easily. Battles are decided by decision made by junior leaders. Small units, platoons, should be equipped with best of equipments. Besides weapons, other equipments like image intensifying night sights, thermal cameras, improved ration packs and timely logistical support will result in success of future combat operations. The Army should look beyond the rebels; far deadlier threat could be international terrorists establishing bases in remote parts of the country with active rebel support. The RNA should at any cost improve its force design or else be hopelessly outclassed in the torrent of modern combat.

Posted on: 2004-04-19 03:56:51 (Server Time)
www.ekantipur.com

* I would like to give credit to Jane's, ARMY and www.fas.org and many other news resources and book bought at Ekta, Kathmandu and Mandala Book Point for whatever I know on Defense. I was not trained by US government. I used my own money to acquire this critical skill in order to qualify for national service.

Rana crest

2008-12-13T21:03:00.001-08:00

http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sId=&s=Rana#Rana-Family-Crest-history

Diamond Rana's buch in Netzplatz

2008-12-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.coasbooks.com/ap_b_diamond_j_rana_s.html

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Diamond Rana

2008-12-13T20:51:00.000-08:00

Bitte, allow me to use this material in my blog.
Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg

South Asia Institute

Department of Anthropology

[SAI Logo]

Research Projects Nepal

"Rana Reflect"

person in charge: Stefanie Lotter
project period: April 1998 - September 2003

Filming 'Basanti" by Diamond S. Rana in the role of king Biju SJB Rana

This study is a contribution to the field of elite studies, an underrepresented area that has gained increasing interest in anthropology with its recent gaze towards power reproduction as well as prestige and status. The Rana, who effectively ruled Nepal until fifty years ago, declined from being an effective elite, although aspects of their distinctness have survived.

This study does not narrate the history of the Rana but examines the present situation between reorientation, re-creation and nostalgia as the poles within eluding spheres of past glory. ‘Rana Reflect’ covers disperse material from a Rana theme park to the family goddess, but is clearly divided into three parts. The first part of the study covers, besides a discussion of the methodology, the dynasties trans-national association with modernity as a way of legitimisation. The second part is likewise concerned with the fusion of influences however it transfers the discussion into the individual, featuring the hybridisation of the Rana who identify with Hindu high caste culture as well as with western elite culture. Turning from the fusion of identity towards its mainly unconscious manifestation, the study turns further to the distinct but declining habitus of the Rana. The third part of the study draws further into the field of representation and conscious self-reflection presenting the Rana in faction and docudrama. The equally conscious but less public re-creation of a community at the Rana family temple, builds the final chapter of the study.

publications:

egraner IX/ 2003

Greta Muwa!

2008-12-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

Pls berth in my heart.
Call: 5542810, 5546725, 5527406
Email: education@spinybabbler.org

PERSONALITIES in Nepalese Literature

Greta Rana
in conversation with Para Limbu, Chairperson, Spiny Babbler

Creations

Greta Rana’s reputation intimidates first-time visitors. She represents the woman of the sixties – fiercely independent, vocal, and professional – she voices strong views distinctly, fearlessly, and powerfully. She is a writer who is socially conscious of other people’s sufferings and advocates for human rights through her own work.

Her passion for literature is inherent. By the time she was seven, she had already seen and was familiar with some of Shakespeare’s plays and fell in love as a child with the greatest dramatist the world has ever known. For her, no pre-twentieth century author has evoked as much appreciation in her as Shakespeare has.

Through Greta Rana, literature gains a broader meaning and perspective. It becomes the very essence of our existence without which we would have no history. Through her, literature is seen in its most dramatic form. It is alive, expanding, bringing forth ideas through our most prized possession – the mind. Literature has been and will be for Greta Rana and us, a medium through which we gain a continuous insight into the human psyche and its development.

She begins: “I was born during the middle of the Second War World in West Yorkshire, England. My mother, a schoolteacher, had to teach during the war so, when I was two years old, I was sent to the school where she taught. I remember being in a classroom with children two to three years older than me. I was given a book of Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes. Not knowing what to do with it I scribbled on it and the teacher got annoyed. My mother decided to teach me how to read as quickly as possible.”

Greta’s mother used to read out Shakespeare plays to the four children and they would stay until two or three o’ clock in the morning listening to their father’s stories. “My favorite books of that time were Winne the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, and the Song of Hiawatha. When I am daydreaming sometimes, I can still hear my father saying, ‘by the shores of Gichigumi, by the big sea shining water.’ The thing that always impressed me was the phrase ‘daughter of the moon’, which was the name of Hiawatha’s grandmother, Nokomis. I always wanted to be a daughter of the moon.

“I also enjoyed reading Elizabeth Goudge, who wrote what today would probably be called science fantasy. And I loved Billy Bunter, I thought he was hilarious. Whenever I came across a word I didn’t understand I would ask my mother, ‘Mum, what does this word mean?’ She used to say, ‘You have a dictionary, look it up.’ The only time she intervened was when we couldn’t understand the dictionary! Quite early on, I started reading authors like George Eliot, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Tennyson. Today I see old copies of my books when I go home – Ivanhoe, The Mill On the Floss – among others."

Greta’s strong love of literature reflects a childhood upbringing well grounded in the arts. Her parents often involved their four children in literary and artistic pursuits. “I remember very distinctly my parents leading us like ducks. We would follow them, going around endless numbers of museums, art galleries, and historical places in Britain. We were young and felt left out to see other children running around and enjoying popular music and all kinds of other things. When I was small, people still had to buy food with ration coupons. We didn’t have fancy clothes and used to think why we couldn’t have the fancy cheap clothes that first came in. My mother always believed it best to have one good thing than a lot of low quality things. Afterwards when we became older and my mother died, I came to Nepal about this time, I remember sitting and thinking what a gift my parents had given us. They had, when times were hard and money was scarce in postwar Britain, saved up to take us to see all those wonderful things.

“Under the main street of my town, there are some of the most complete Viking remains in the whole of England. It’s just that the town corporation never had the money to reconstruct them. There’s a huge Roman bath just down one of the streets. When my father was a county councilor, he took me to Wakefield and showed me what they had recovered of the Viking remains. There were bins and bins of Viking jewelry – the most amazing treasure haul you have ever seen in your life. All these legends of the Vikings and Romans and everything we grew up with – these are all the things I suppose that influence you as a writer.

“Throughout my schooling, my teachers were encouraging. I remember a composition I wrote when I was in class four. The teacher announced, ‘I’m going to read out the best story written.’ She started reading and it was my story. She said, ‘I’m not going to give you the name of this person, but all I have to say is that this person should write and go on writing. In high school, I had an English teacher who had been a Cambridge Don. He really believed in my work. Until he died five years ago, I always sent him special poems – things I thought were not bad – he would write back to me and say, ‘keep going, you’re getting there. I know you’ll get there.’

“I was offered a scholarship when I was seventeen years old to study drama at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and my mother said, ‘Oh that’s ridiculous, you have to be good looking to be an actress.’ I remember the look of disbelief on my headmaster’s face. In retrospect, I realized that she was really frightened for me because she felt that, although as kids we were intellectually driven, we were naïve in many ways. She felt that drama school would be unlike university – much freer and that I would go adrift. She feared for me and thought I was a little bit too soft. She used to say, ‘You’re such a fool. If you’re not careful you’ll let people walk all over you.’ Afterwards I did not accept the scholarship. But acting was and is still a very intense passion of mine. When I see people who can act and act well, it gives me a big lift. I think that person has something and can make the writer’s work come alive.

"I went to the University of Manchester, read English language and literature at the Bachelor’s level and did a post graduate in criminology/social psychology. I worked with juvenile delinquents as a protection worker in Canada for five years and, in 1970, I became the director of Social Services at St. Joseph’s Hospital. I was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. All this time, I was still writing poetry. Then I and my husband, Madukar Shumshere, came to Nepal in 1971. His mother became ill and she wanted him back. Before coming to Nepal, he said, ‘All you have to do in Nepal is just sit down and write. But that didn’t happen.’

“All I knew about Nepal was Mt. Everest and the Gurkhas. There weren’t a lot of publications about Nepal in those days. It was a tremendous leap of faith I think to come to Nepal. You have to understand that there was a lot of adjusting. I went to work for Gorkha Travels and got the cultural shock of my life – a salary of Rs. 300! The first thing about Nepal, which I found very strange, was this one-party democratic system. That struck me as a little odd because in a one-party system where can your checks and balances come from? I also found this absolute deception, this avoidance of telling the truth to the powers hard to take. Basically, I suppose, when you come from a monarchical tradition, and I’m not talking about the monarchies of this day in Britain, you wonder how heads of state know what is going on unless people tell the truth. One of my favorite historical characters is Queen Elizabeth the First. In 1558, she couldn’t get a housekeeping budget unless the Commons of the British government of the day voted for it. Occasionally she’d put them in the tower for a couple of weeks if she couldn’t get the decision through. She was a person who had to have the love and approval of the people that she ruled.

“I continued writing poetry then I got interested in prose. In 1973, Bharat Koirala of The Rising Nepal asked me to write a feature page, which I did for 14 years until they finally discontinued it. There was supposed to be no censorship, but everyone knew there was. Your article would come out and one paragraph would go on to another paragraph that wasn’t leading on logically, so you had to write in a kind of code, which was not hard to do in English because people were not really too converse with the more obscure words.

“In 1982, I became the features editor of a weekly newspaper called Valley News and Views. Keshab Shumshere, the editor, was my husband’s first cousin. His sister asked me to help him establish the newspaper. I wrote features under different pen names. I was Sanya, the Wanderer, and used to write about culture and tourism. Then I was Brutus and used to write about political things.

“The license of Valley News and Views was confiscated in 1986. Keshab Shumshere was arrested for printing an article on the nefarious dealings of people in government and involvement with the Gurkha National Liberation Front. I don’t know what he wrote exactly, I was in England, but I knew he had been working on it for a long time. He told me he had his four independent objective sources and was ready for publication; however, he would not reveal them. I suggested to him that when I returned, we’d go through it together and see how it could be written so that it would not be so inflammatory. But I think he was very determined and published it. The newspaper was closed down and the publisher took off to Germany. Eventually we didn’t get the license back, but it was a good paper. I’d dearly love to have the license back. There’s a lot that needs changing in journalism. I think a lot of young people can bring about changes, but they can’t if they don’t have a newspaper.”

Greta’s interest in writing a book on the Ranas developed only after she became involved in the translation of Wake of the White Tiger. “My father-in-law died in 1982. Before passing away, Diamond Shumshere Rana, a prominent novelist in Nepal, came to see him and asked him if I would translate Seto Bagh. He was a cousin of my father-in-law.

“It took me two years to translate the book. In those days I used to study Nepali two hours a day – reading and writing, so my Nepali was much better than it is today. I offered Diamond Shumshere an interpretation and a word for word translation. He selected the interpretation.

“I think Seto Bagh did very well, 7,000 to 10,000 copies were published, which at that time, I thought, was very optimistic because if you look at the best selling list of English books of people like Salman Rushdie, apart from the Satanic Verses which sold an awful lot simply because of the fatwa, if you look at say The Moor’s Last Sigh selected from the bestsellers’ list, probably 2,000 hard copies were sold. It’s only if you ever get into a paperback that you get a million copies sold. Because once you’re in the mass market, you’re sold in the supermarkets, the airports sell it, and people will buy anything in supermarkets and airports.

“Nepal is not a paperback world. So if you sold 10, 000 copies over a period of sixteen years, I think you’ve done very well. You also have to accept that the media makes people and personalities, which is one of the problems being in Nepal if you are an English writer. You miss out on all that the media can do for yourself and your community of writers.

“It was only after I translated Seto Bagh that I realized that if I didn’t bring my focus back to my own language – my mother tongue and my own writing – I would never be able to add something of value to the literature of the English speaking people. It is my lifelong dream. I realized that if I concentrated on another language, even if it is French, which is my second language, I would never achieve that ever.

“The one thing that intrigued me about Seto Bagh is the character of Jung Bahadur. Nobody knew much about his personality. You read about all the Ranas and there are very few clues about what they were like as people. They were what we’d call in English, two dimensional. There’s the legend, there’s the person, there’s the things that they did – historical facts or fiction. Jung Bahadur Rana had 104 years influence on this country and novelists make him sound as if he was ‘Mr. Flapjack’.

“The interesting thing about Jung, if you read the historical archives, is that he seems to have had a lot of women. Women probably knew more about him than men. You have a couple of occasions in which there were plots against him and it was women who helped him all the time. He abolished sati and yet so many of his wives committed sati. Did they think they’d be massacred after his death? Did Jung murder that one, did he murder this one? If he did then what were his motives? What was he thinking? Napoleon believed that it was his destiny to become what he was. ‘Moi, je suis le destin (I, I am destiny),’ he said. Is that how Jung felt? Nobody knows, nobody cares. Lots of parts are missing, like the missing parts of a jigsaw puzzle.

“When you write about anyone, you have to have a sense of personality. It is this trait that distinguishes Shakespeare from all other playwrights of his era and makes him brilliant. He invented, if you like, human psychology – centuries before Sigmund Freud. The idea that the human being has a continuous conversation with itself, maybe it is a little bit eccentric to think of yourself as it, there’s me as I’m talking to you and I’m consciously talking to you, and there’s me as I talk to myself and what’s inside me, and the awareness of that and the awareness of the conflict between the outside and the rationalization of the human psyche and the effects it has on the personality, and how you react to others or the reactions of others to you. If you look at Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, or Macbeth, you begin to see what he was doing. He must have been a great observer of the human personality.”

With over four decades of writing experience, Greta, today, is not satisfied. At first, she never thought of herself as anything other than a poet or a short story writer. However, one of the things she hadn’t foreseen about her poetry was her audience. She says, “My poetry is difficult for people who haven’t grown up in the English language, whereas people who have would say, ‘Hi! I see that’, it falls flat on others.”

Greta wrote her first novel in Nepal. She feels that the first two she wrote were rubbish. One was called Nothing Greener, the other Distant Hills. She felt that if she looked at them in terms of literary merit, they were just yarns. But she wrote a third one in a month based on a dream she had had. It was called Right As It Is and she remembers, when she finished it thinking that that’s where she had to go in terms of novel writing. She felt she could write prose and not only poetry.

“In 1980, I started working on a book called A Place Beneath the Pipal Tree. It’s been accepted for publication twice. The first time, however, the company was taken over by a text book firm. Eventually my agent who is an agent for Mary Wellesley, one of Britain’s biggest selling authors, read the book and sent me an astounding letter that I’ve kept. The book was put on auction and Harper and Collins bid for it. Later on, one of their editors thought that, because it didn’t have an English heroine, it might not sell, which is a strange idea. It has two chapters about Tibet and one of my characters is a Tibetan. I think Harper and Collins might have backed out because, at that time, Rupert Murdoch was going into critical business negotiations with China. I didn’t see it then until all the books about Hong Kong came up and they sent them back too. Who knows? Whoever knows with publishers? What happened in the mean time is that a German publisher asked for the first foreign language publishing rights. So I had to decide whether I would let my book be published first in another language, which is German. I did and it should come out some time this year.

“I’ve got another book called Ghosts in the Bamboo, which is a satire. It’s about a menopausal woman who thinks she hears voices in the bamboo, the voices of her grandmother and mother. It’s a sort of a story within a story. You have to decide in the end whether she murdered her husband or not. It’s almost serious fiction, but funny. It’s literally full of women and the conversations they have with their psyches and each other. I’ll have to try and find a publisher for it.”

Although Greta has found enjoyment in prose, she feels her first love will always be poetry. She says, “Poetry is what I call the highest excellence. Sometimes I publish it in volumes, sometimes in other periodicals in America and Britain.” She feels there is a marked difference between poetry and prose. She explains: “In prose you feel that you can learn a formula, but with poetry I don’t think so. I know in America you have poetry workshops and things like that, they’re probably useful. However, I don’t believe that the poet is particularly the progenitor (if you like) of the poem. I think the inspiration has to come through you. There are lots of theories about it. Maybe it is some kind of chemical problem that poets have and others don’t have, maybe some kind of process in the brain. I don’t think you can write poetry alone, its more like earthing through the electricity cable – it has to come to you. You don’t go to it. With prose, you can spin your own fantasy, create your own story. You can observe human behavior and write. You can look at the trees and describe them. This is a proactive process your brain is going through. But as far as poetry is concerned you are the vehicle. You have to feel that at least. Emily Dickinson asked her mentor, ‘Does my poetry live?’ That’s what I’m talking about.” And that is why Greta gets more satisfaction from poetry. Once her poetry comes out, it’s like a rush of relief.

She has considered writing plays but feels she needs somebody to write them with her. Someone who actively acts all the time and who can understand the logistics of acting and what it takes. Someone who knows what is possible in drama and what isn’t. She says, “I’ve read a lot of plays by people just trying to write a play and it doesn’t come off. The thing which is missing is the actor, the dramatist personality, something which Shakespeare had.”

Greta’s involvement in PEN Nepal started from 1986 when she and a group of writers tried to establish a branch. She was the secretary and as they come in contact with more and more writers in PEN, the organization asked them to be on the Writers in Prison Committee. In 1990, the new Prime Minister, Mr. K.P. Bhattarai, registered PEN Nepal. From 1994 to 1996, she became the chair of the International Women Writers’ Committee. Last year, she was requested to stand as a member on the new international executive committee of International PEN. She received a nomination but withdrew because she decided she wanted to concentrate on PEN Nepal.

“Organizations like PEN help to fight censorship. I feel that if you censor, you invite rebellion. The thing is if you try and repress those parts of freedom you find distasteful, you remove from people their most coveted right as human beings – security. You can’t ever do that, because censorship means insecurity, it means you’re not safe, you can’t have access to the information that you need to keep yourself, your family, and everybody safe. And that is the importance of literature. Literature gives you a clue about that conversation humanity has with its internal spirit and externally with others. It gives you a perspective of the times in which we live. It becomes an important part of human history. Without literature you lose ideas and without ideas there’s no point in being human beings.”

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Shree 3 Juddha's resume and new enthymematic evidence on regicide of 2001

2008-12-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

Sir Juddha Shumsher Rana
Prime Minister, September 1, 1932-November 28, 1945, according to Heads of States and Governments, A Worldwide Encyclopaedia of over 2,300 Leaders, a collection in the Geneaology Department in the Atrium of Riordan Central Library, Los Angeles Public Library System, a magnificent library in the heart of downtown Los Angeles(bibliotek).
Date of birth: April 19, 1875 according to:- http://uqconnect.net/~zzhsoszy/states/nepal/nepal_rana7.html

Son of General Dhir Shumsher Rana, became Prime Minister after death of Bhim Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana. Two years later Nepal was devastated by a major earthquake, which set back efforts to modernize his country. He conducted numerous social reforms and made advancements in education and transportation systems in Nepal. During World War II he was a firm ally of Great Britain and increased the number of Gurkha battalions that fought alongside the Allied Powers. He also opened Nepal's first foreign embassy in London in 1941 and made efforts to industrialize Nepal. Sir Juddha retired from office on November 28, 1945 because he feared the returning Gurkha soldiers would bring home with them democratic (also extremist Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) ideas that would threaten the rule of the Rana family.
Succeeded by Padma Shumsher Jung bahadur Rana. He retired to West Nepal (Argheli according to family sources) renouncing worldly life and dedicating the remainder of his life to religious contemplation. He died in Dehra Dun, Nepal on November 23, 1952

*I would like to express my thanks to Michael Kirney, the resident geneologist at LAPL Riordan.

Notes:- Although objective evidence is lacking, the Gurkha soldiers may have hand in the regicide of 2001. Scotland Yard, FBI, MI5, Thai secret service and Japan's Self Defense Force should send an elite team of forensic experts to dig up the files and see if it wasn't a Czar style assasination by Bolsheviks in 1917. My personal expereince in Chhauni museum when condcuting a preliminary historical research was that the Gurkha guards tried to interrogate me while I studied Beda Nanda Jha's attempt on King Mahendra's life in Janakpur. I feel that the case has to be reexamined so as to clear HM King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Sir Pashupati Shumsher Rana's name from this what seems to be a fantastic Cromwellian "grand design", according to Girija's own words.

On using the army against the Maoists

2008-12-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

The Kathmandu Post, Saturday, May 20, 2000 (published on page 4)
-Pritam S Rana
The "People's War" campaign initiated by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Mao) is entering its fifth year with the consequent loss of more than 1400 lives and property damages. Maoist leaders and their supporters aim to do away with the present system of government and this has appealed to some poor, mainly illiterate youth who have little opportunities in society. Others support it to see radical change advocated by the Maoists bring about a change from the general lack of progress and development in their remote districts despite the promises of mainstream politicians since the restoration of democracy ten years ago. The Maoists, since 1996, have continued their violent activities aimed against the administration attacking government officials, the police and party workers of the mainstream political parties. Meanwhile, the government has responded with force namely the deployment of additional police personnel and resources to the affected regions such as Rolpa, Rukum and Jajarkot in western Nepal.

It is ordinary civilians caught in the crossfire between the guerrillas and the police who have suffered most. Despite news of talks between the government representatives and Maoists, peaceful resolution of this conflict seems to be very remote.

In their effort to curb the terrorist activities of Maoist guerrillas, the police have suffered heavy casualties. Statistics show their loss per engagement is at par with police or in some cases they suffer greater casualties than the losses suffered by Maoists. This shows that the government is losing in the battleground. Moreover, the police have failed to destroy the guerrilla infrastructure, alienate guerrillas from the local population and have instead engaged in activities to intimidate ordinary citizens and thus served to increase people's sympathy to the cause of the Maoists.

It appears it is the right time for the government to mobilize selected units of the Royal Nepalese Army for counter-insurgency operations against Maoists. The Army has better weapons, organization, infrastructure and logistical support in order to counter the increasingly better-armed guerrillas.

The current police units engaged in operations against the Maoists have inadequate arms to fight the guerrillas. The only police rifle in use is the Lee Enfield .303 that is more than a hundred years old in design, bolt action and slow to fire. There is no weapons besides this apart from pistols and some shotguns. The Army has semi-automatic rifles and a machine gun per section (a group of about ten soldiers). Besides these, each section has a small mortar to propel bombs several hundred meters even behind hills and targets. An army battalion has heavier weapons like mortars to give indirect fire support and it can also bring in artillery and helicopters armed with machine guns and rockets for heavier fire support. Army helicopters can provide logistical support (ammunition, food and other supplies including timely evacuation of the wounded) into terrain inaccessible to vehicles and even when there is no foot trail. Presently, the Nepalese police lacking helicopters of their own are hiring private airlines helicopter at very high costs sharply increasing the already overstretched police budget. Only some time back, Maoist cadres captured a parked helicopter used by the police highlighting the lack of security in relying on civilian equipment.

Organized and trained to fight, the army will be far more effective and even cost effective in fighting the poorly and lightly armed Maoist guerrillas who presently rely on raw recruits armed with stolen police rifles and muzzle loading home made arms. Many army personnel have already some experience in the working of irregular forces while on their peacekeeping duties in Lebanon and elsewhere. The quality and caliber of the leaders of the Army, who have been trained by countries with long experience in counter-insurgency and irregular warfare like USA and Israel, is very high. These professionals are expected to create and maintain an effective intelligence gathering organization within their command (with police assistance) in order to map out Maoist guerrilla tactics, their organization including their leadership, and their whereabouts in order to assist operations to assist them. Besides, the involvement of the Army will give it experience in actual combat, thus it itself will learn many valuable lessons which it can apply in future engagement with enemies both foreign and domestic. It will also silence critics who point out that the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) has little to do and is only a ceremonial organization eating a big share of the nation's meager budget allocations.

It is imperative that the government should decide to deploy troops quickly as possible in order to rid Nepal of insurgency and terrorism. Any delays will only help the Maoists to organize, seek support both within and outside of Nepal, and equip itself with arm. Indecision will mean more casualties for police and innocent civilians. One more lesson to be learned is that if allowed to prosper, guerrilla groups tend to ally themselves with other criminal activities like the international narcotics trade in order to generate cash. This is already the case in Latin American countries like Colombia where such "rich" guerrillas are immune to government control.

The decision to use the Army will certainly be unpopular in some quarters. Critics' fear that increasing the role of the Army in the effort to fight insurgency will certainly will naturally give them more power and more say in the policy of the government. They fear such a rise in role and status might elevate the Army giving it political clout and make them the primary arbiter of power in the nation. For this they can cite examples like Chile and Myanmar where the government was overthrown by the army which established itself as the permanent ruler. We cannot deny that such feelings may already have hatched among some Nepalese politicians, especially leftist leaders who usually see the military as a rightist force. It is well known that the military in Nepal is the most loyal of the monarchist groups. This has to do with the tradition and time of the founders of Nepal, all kings, and it is to them and the country to whom the soldiers swear allegiance. However, there are means to check the seizure of power of by the Army and such fears are unfounded.

Another school of criticism might argue that the employment of the armed forces to quell guerrillas is bound to failure citing historical lessons. They can point out to the lost cause of the United States in Vietnam and the failure of the Sri Lankan Army to quell the Tamil separatists. To answer these compelling questions we have to look at the facts of those past and present conflicts. In Vietnam, the United States attempted to defend South Vietnam, a friendly state from the North Vietnamese Army and their southern proxies, primarily the National Liberation Front or Viet Cong guerrillas. The Viet Cong guerrillas, solidly backed and reinforced by the North Vietnamese Army had a clear cut aim of causing maximum casualties on the Americans to force them to leave in order to unite South Vietnam into a communist led North Vietnam. Heavily armed and led by North Vietnamese officers, the Viet Cong although losing to Americans in battlefield, achieved their aim of frustrating American public opinion by mounting American casualties and forcing them to leave Vietnam. The Maoists in Nepal are neither as heavily armed and well led as the Viet Cong nor directly aided by any of the neighboring nations in our case India and China. Besides, the CPN-Mao has no clear cut strategic aim despite their rhetoric of liberating the country of capitalists and colonialists.

Considering the case of Sri Lanka, the Nepalese Maoist crisis has little parallel as the war there is of ethnic nature. The Sri Lankan Army is fighting to regain territories controlled by Tamil separatist guerrillas, mainly the LTTE. The guerrillas who want a separate Tamil state claim they are fighting against racism by the predominant Sinhalese ethnic group against the minority Tamils. Due to some legitimacy in their claim, the Tamil separatists enjoy support of Tamil population both in Sri Lanka and abroad. From the latter group of Tamil well wishers, the separatists receive financial support to buy weapons and supplies in the international market.

Both the Viet Cong in Vietnam and the LTTE in Sri Lanka were/are known to create parallel administration in the territories they controlled from which they taxed the local population and even offered legal and other functions at par with the government administration which they replaced. It is imperative, that His Majesty's Government learn from these experiences of other countries. It should at all cost contain the Maoist guerrillas to deny it access to modern arms and it should detect and decapitate any attempted creation of a parallel guerrilla administration or shadow government.

One of the most effective means to counter guerrilla insurgency is to deny the guerrillas the refuge and support of local population. This cannot be achieved by threatening the civil populace, as this will further undermine the image of the government in people's eyes. Development support in the form of improved health care, schools, and bridges as well as employment of the uneducated youth, and a genuine environment of trust between the people of the affected area and the government with other political parties acting as catalyst is the only real solution to this lingering problem, a black blob in the face of our peaceful nation.

Finally, the government, realizing its failure to deal with the Maoists with the existing police resources, has announced the formation of a new paramilitary police force of strength of more than 15,000 personnel. The force, initially drawing personnel from the police and the Army on equal ratio, will have advanced weapons and will have one brigade (of about 3,000 strong) in each of the five development regions of Nepal. The government will spend more than a billion rupees to raise and equip this force.

The government's decision appears to have been taken in haste and is fundamentally unsound. Instead of spending this large amount of money on a new and inexperienced force, the money could have been properly utilized in training, equipping, and preparing existing brigades of the Royal Nepalese Army for counter-insurgency operation. Improved combat training devices like laser based simulators can be bought with this money and even private consultants, experts with experience of guerrilla warfare, can be hired for competent advice. Far less money will be spent if this alternative is considered. Do we really have money to waste on a new, untried, untrained and a theoretical force? It takes years to train even a single battalion (800 strong) and the government wants to train five brigades each with three battalions! In what time? The people would have long died of hunger before the mill removes the husks. The government needs sound decision and foresight in its planning.

Despite its mistakes in the past the government should learn and act fast. An insecure environment will tarnish the image of of this country as a safe and peaceful place and will affect our tourism, a crucial revenue generating sector of our national economy. A military solution is not always the best to quell dissent. But, when law and order is to be maintained and there is no other way, it is the only situation.
THE END

Schoenigkeit

2008-12-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

Scoen ist guter,
Gesundheit ist grosser
-Delos

Reise in Santa Monica und Nepalischer "Bhandarkhal"

2008-12-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

Deutscher Uebersendung:-
Die Santa Monica Seekueste ist ein gluecklicher Stellen. Das Pier habe guter Sehen fuer alles Menschen. Oh die erste Zeit ich war da, ich anflehen Poseidon, die Grichiescher Gott des Renaissance Zeit!
Der Sekunde Zeit, gestern, ich die Stille Ozean gesehen und ein Muenze gerollt. Das war die Beeinflussen der magazin "Rolling Stones". Das Telesehen mahnt mir Der Verenigten Koenigreichischer Grossadmiral Nelson in Schlacht des Trafalgar, circa 1805. Sein Statue liegt in Trafalgar Platz in Gross Britannien zufolge dem ein Taschenbuch vom die alter Allierten Nation.

Auch, Ich spricht mit Robin das der Kanone zur mir der anderer Kanone "Zam Zammah" in Lahore geliegt, schreibt Rudyard Kipling in seinem Ruhmenig Buch, "Kim". Bitte, beziehen der grosser Kanone des Mehmet's Belagerung des Constantinople in 1453, welch das Modern Epoche in Asien Minder und modern Tuerkiye. Das paris Kanone und Irakischer herrlich Kanone projekt muss gestudiet.

Es gibt ein alter Kanone da drueber geliegt.

Englisch Uebersendung:-
I met one older looking guy as I was peering through this old cannon. I asked if it was an old English piece or a Spanish one. Robin, a local, said it was probably taken out from some old armada or an American frigate. I immediately thought of the bombs and the culverins and demi-culverins of bygone era, thanks to the lecture of Professor Richard Holmes. I had a copy of his History of Warfare, a big hobby book chronicling the entire history of warfare in human civilization from Sargon of Akkad to the Persian Gulf War of 1992. This book discusses US failure to win a thorough strategic victory in Vietnam. The terrain was used as cover by the Viet Cong and the regular NVA to grind by piecemeal American ground units. Despite tactical victory, thanks to firepower and material advantage, Vietnamese strategist Gen. Giap sent thousands upon thousands of North Vietnamese to overrun US outposts in the jungles of Vietnam. Finally after Nixon got elected, he decided to give up. Khe Sanh marines and US First Cavalry Division's dance in the 1960s yielded just plenty of experience for future land operations in messy tropical terrain (reference various hobby books). I deduce that the defense of Darwin would be an easy job for Tropic Lightning battalions just in case WWIII erupts. The pirates might land thanks to Nostradamus's eerily accurate predictions on Kings of Terror(s).
He did predict the missile attack on New York. The movie "King of Terror" did show ICBM attack. But it was conducted in an assymetric manner (ref ARMY magazine issues, Assymetric Threat to US, papers written by US Army officers).
So as the US economy slides to recession according to news reports, America's enemies abroad and the whole coterie of anti-Western forces might want to prick and test US resolve to defend its homeland as well as its interests abroad.
The terrorists nearly started an Indo-Pak war. The war with possible nuclear exchange could have swamped the borders of Nepal with tens of millions of radiation sick refugees. Such an Armageddon could have resulted in complete collapse of authority as well as the weak donor built economy of Nepal, my motherland.
So I urge all the Kings Scouts of Nepal to refrain from allowing this kind of nihilistic elements from making Nepal a haven for people like Laden or Zawairi. Unfortunately, the Maoists have reaped enough vote to form a a majority in the House. This kind of extremist control of government machinery would result in erosion of faith in the government in Nepal. I believe as a student of political science, the uninformed electorate have been duped by homophora, unrealistic and empty promises of Prachanda, the so called fierce one, and his coterie of advisers like ideologue Dr Bhattarai. bhattarai was educated by SD Muni, a noted anti-Western socialist ideologue. These bandits ordered the destruction of donor funded projects in Nepal to derail Nepal's good image as a friendly state to Western tourists. The cathartic June 1, 2001 regicide therefore looks as a plot by extreme Girondin elements to take complete control away from the hereditary rulers.

Disclaimer: Entschuldigung! Mein schlagwort ist nicht gut als ander Politik menschen. Ich bin ein Student des Weltpolitik. Gott helfen Nepal und Suedasien!

Soft target struck

2008-11-29T16:19:00.000-08:00

The catastrophic bombing of Indian commercial capital Bombay exemplifies the audacity of Al Qaida. It remains a global threat. According to my understanding of world affairs, the Third World War began in 2001 or much earlier in 1993, when the first Islamists attacked US helicopters in Somalia, according to Wikipedia chronicles.

Qaida leadership chose India a soft target, poorly managed and with no complex security apparatus of US or UK. India is a growing trade partner of the West. However, its security is completely based on obsolete Russian equipment. India's security ties with Russia hampers transfer of sensitive technology from the West to India. The Western security officials feel high tech dual use technology can be passed to Russians who are increasingly assertive in places like Georgia, a NATO partner.

The attack on India has many analysts guessing the motive. Just few days ago there were reports that an Indian navy vessel was active in the Arabian sea against piracy from the Somali coast. The pirates reportedly hijacked Sirius Star, according to exclusive report carried on Der Spiegel, Saudi tanker carrying crude oil worth $100 million. Additionally, NPR report aired on KCRW 89.9 Los Angeles and other TV reports spoke of another Ship hijacked carrying Russian arms (main battle tanks and other arms). Indian leaders may have decided to launch an operation in which they could boost its service image and recover the Russian arms which is also available in the international black market, according to various books and movies (pls see "Lord of War" -Nicholas Cage, 2005 reference wikipedia.org). However, lack of training budget and professionalism prevents India from mounting something like Israel's Entebbe Raid. And, piracy is rampant not only in Somali coast but in Straits of Malacca, from where the Japanese economy receives all of its oil supply.

The pirates possibly have ties with Al Qaida and its franchises (ref CNN report). The Qaida leadership might have wanted to signal India that its ties with West and Israel (defense ties) should be severed. There is likely to be calls for Indian leadership to severe its close security ties with Israel. The death of a religious worker, a rabbi and his spouse indicates the terrorists are acting "without remorse".

I think the terrorists want to severe and isolate India (see National Geographic issue in which Tory attempts to isolate New England is chronicled in the American Revolutionary War, circa 1775-1783). India's leftists and Maoists are keen to see the withdrawal of multi-national business interest from India. These xenophobic anarchists and extreme nationalists hate West since the Congress party taught this kind of ideology since India's founding in 1948.

Additionally, the mastermind bin Laden might want to foment a fourth major India-Pakistan war. The anarchist ideology is always after mass destruction of human lives. And in India and Pakistan, where religious fervor and superstition is still in its heydey, a war and a nuclear exchange might trigger a massive inflow of refugees to the United States and Europe. Such a calamity would divert resources away from the other fronts of the Global War on Terror.

A penetrating analysis and careful study indicates that India's second capital and financial center has a history of sectarian violence. Hindus and Muslims have been engaged in riots since the 1990s. If one adds Malthus theory and overpopulation, the city is ripe for violence. The existence of criminal networks, extortion married to anti-Western sentiments creates a force which can easily be manipulated by top Qaida planners. They only have to find the would be perpetrators and pay them secretly. The motivation for suicidal attacks can be attributed to family welfare offer and promise to go to heaven to those desperados willing to undertake this kind of sadistic terrorist acts.

Besides, Qaida has wide presence in Internet command and control, subliminal messaging (ref: various sources including www.iacsp.com and its sister journal). The US government also cannot ignore threats to continental US and its citizens abroad. The US should quickly put strong pressure on regimes to stop harboring terrorists and take surgical actions, albeit with economy of force at a time when the burden ofn taxpayers is high to pay for many pork barrel programs (ref, speeches of Sen. John McCain).

Another theory: The Qaida cellular command may have chosen to initiate a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan. Such a calamity would have resulted in tens of thousands of radiated refugees. Those refugees would have sought to enter United States and Germany, the primary refugee absorbing countries. Swamping American resources and conducting economic warfare and other forms of subversive operations is a major objective of Al Qaida (ref: Bard O'Neill's Insurgency and Terrorism.

I remember a copy of The Intelligence War, a Salamander book, in which an article mentioned that disgruntled individuals are recruited by foreign (particularly Soviet ref: Aldrich Ames and the other plant in Bundeskanzler Willy Brandt's staff in Deutchland ref: Der Spiegel and Newsweek) operatives inside United States and Allied countries. So I request the freedom and liberty to suspect that this individual Robert Sanchez, 46, our Metrolink driver was talking on the cell phone while driving a train? This is heights of negligence. Or could it have been an organized plot by cellular and computer engineers associated with the transnational network engaged in total war with the United States (ref: Histories Mysteries).

Brennen die Schlachtsciff Pariskaia Kommuna!

2008-11-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

Read my discussion entry www.wikipedia.org regicide on explosive new revelations of a developing story on digging up June 1, 2001 conspiracy by anti-monarchist forces to destroy Nepal's rich cultural heritage and sell it in the black market.

Down with Maoism! Down with Communism! Down with Russian expansionism! Stop selling arms to African dictators who starve and pillage their own people. Defend Georgian and Armenian right to self determination. Save the soul of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi, who died a martyr defending his people's total freedom from Marxist MPLA. Hail the FNLA. Help defend Congo from the grip of civil war and AIDS. Down with Mugabe and his dictatorship.

China must sign Manportable Air Defense Arms Export Moratorium (courtesy AFP).
Promote a million dollar prize to straighten African Leadership Award. Deutschland ueber alles! We're singing for England.

Protect copyright of writers. Compensate victims of genocide. protect the minority. Liberty, Life and Freedom for all! Hail Mary!

My published articles link

2008-11-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.google.com/custom?domains=ekantipur.com&q=%22Pritam+S+Rana%22&sa=Search&sitesearch=kantipuronline.com&client=pub-5855301837617098&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en

Nepal under SCO shadow

2008-09-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

The recent visit by Nepal's defense minister to China and Prachanda's hobnobbing with Russian and Cuban leaders signal Nepal's move away from Western influence. It must not be forgotten that Nepal's sovereignty was recognized first by UK, a western power. If it had not been UK's special relationship with Nepal during its presence in the Indian subcontinent, Nepal would not have existed as an independent state.
Also, the United States, the world's sole superpower recognized Nepal in 1947 much before Russia and China did. Pursuing a closer ties with SCO states might jeopardize Nepal's historic ties with the West.

Cuba's role in world politics is miniscule. The type of rhetoric emanating from Havana, its support for outright socialism in Venezuela would only serve to scare away foreign investment. State led approach advocated by socialist states would fail miserably.

Development of massive industries in China and Russia under communist rule resulted in growth of manufacturing of heavy equipment and not day to day consumer goods. But private sector paid heavily. Stalin ordered murder and liquidation of kulaks, the landowning producers. In China, Mao starved millions in his social mobilization schemes. His bloodthirst for power killed millions of Chinese in civil war with the nationalists. Nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek had better vision for management of resources. Look at Taiwan today. Its much better governed and regulated. Its export based economy and leadership in technology was in effect copied by Beijing. China's Olympics was heavily criticized for pollution, censorship and unrestricted development. Large construction alone would not help China. Nepal cannot afford to be another China, excessive regulation and lack of individual freedom. Its constitution is flawed with complete lack of stress on individualism and private initiative. Individual entrepreneurship is not encouraged in China, where state is the primary sector. Nepalese people cannot depend on their state alone. The money earned from remittance must be properly utilized.

Russia, a state led model, is again unsuitable for Nepal. Nepal does not have oil to sell. Its only resources are human and water. Tourism cannot grow on country with political violence. Judicial system and legal system has completely failed for proponents of violence have the seat of power. The electorate has been duped. Revolution and immediate change is simply not possible. Nepal cannot gain anything by importing ideas which are completely obsolete.

It was the Swiss who started cheese making in Nepal. Russia gave tobacco factory. Education and local development are being provided by the US. The Germans have given money for cultural preservation. That benefits tourism. Sustainable development and tourism are the only sectors suitable for Nepal.

Nepal's present leaders came from starting a war. Their claim to "represent the poeple" is basically derived from threat of violence. Appeals to reform and persuasion were denied to legitimate political organizations. Their clouded vision and socialist ideals would deny Nepal's participation in global economy and creation of more jobs at home. The presence of Nepal's foreign jobseekers in volatile regions like the Middle East poses a threat. Their abrupt return in times of international tensions such as any war involving Iran cannot be overlooked.

The so called leaders created the dangerous environment resulting in a massive outflow of rural youths to foreign countries. There might exist a nexus between the foreign employment business and the warmongering leaders. Tourists also prefer to go to India's hill stations like Sikkim and Darjeleeng and Tibet. Irresponsible politicking since 1990 which magnified after 2006 has led to reduced national income. The country is moving toward dark frontier. Radicalization of the youth and appeals to states which have grievous records of human rights and governance could lead to new conflicts.

SCO's umbrella cannot provide Nepal what the current leaders foresee as a front to mask their poor human rights record and their criminal background. SCO is a tool of autocratic Russia and China to manipulate the world. As the US is embroiled in two fronts, its influence in the world is perceived as weak by SCO adherents. Its recruiting effort to build a new Warsaw Pact and deny freedom to many of the world's peoples is to be oberved with keen interest.

The ignominious end of Saddam

2008-09-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Jan 4, 2007

By Pritam S Rana
During Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq, posters often depicted him as one of Babylon’s ancient rulers, Hammurabi or Nebuchadnezzar. Saddam considered himself as all powerful, able to make any decision, eliminate any opposition and rule with absolute impunity just like the ancient emperors. But on the fateful day of December 30, 2006, he was hanged after he was found guilty of crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court for ordering the 1982 killings of 148 Shiite villagers in Dujail, Iraq, which was only a small part of the long catalogue of deaths and anguish he caused among Iraqis and the people of other neighbouring countries.

By 1968, Saddam had become the number two man in Iraq after the pan-Arabist Baath party solidified its grip in that country. Previously, Iraqi politics had been rather volatile with coups and counter-coups and assassination attempts against incumbent leaders. As Saddam was consolidating power within the Baath party leadership hierarchy, the 1973 oil crisis helped him generate massive revenues from the unprecedented rise in fuel prices then. Saddam was able to expand his agenda with the money into various social, agrarian and other development sectors in his country. He provided free education and health care which helped him gain countless well-wishers in his country.
In 1979, Saddam forced the ailing Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr from power and assumed the presidency of Iraq for himself, formally becoming Iraq’s all-in-all. Saddam’s first step after becoming president was the mass purging of the ruling Baath party. In a party assembly called by him in the same year, Saddam expunged 68 other Baathists among which 22 were reportedly executed. This was how Saddam solidified his power base, eliminating any possible threat to his one man rule.

Saddam’s foreign policy was even bloodier. Saddam closely remembered what he thought was an unequal agreement with Iran in the 1970s, which was then ruled by the Shahs and was a close ally of Washington. As revolution swept away the Shahs and the US leverage in Iran, Saddam grew suspicious of Iran’s new Islamist revolutionary government. Fearing that Iran’s Shiite leadership might incite Iraq’s own sizeable number of Shiites to rebel against his regime, Saddam ordered an invasion of Iran in 1980. The war with Iran lasted for 8 years and it killed nearly two million people from the two countries. During the war, Iraq acquired modern weapons from primarily the Soviet Union, China and France. Some analysts have pointed out that the US shared intelligence with Saddam’s regime during the war. The Iran-Iraq war was marked by barbaric bombings of civilian targets and by attacks against neutral shipping.

Also in 1988, the Saddam regime demonstared that it was prepared to violate all international agreements on using banned weapons. Having already used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers, Saddam’s air force bombed the town of Halabja with nerve and mustard gas, killing about 5,000 Kurdish civilians and maiming another 10,000.
Saddam’s lust for conquest was not lost for long. Two years after the costly war with Iran, Saddam began quarrelling with tiny but affluent oil rich Kuwait. He invaded Kuwait in 1990 and claimed “Kuwait was an Iraqi province.” The whole world led by the US quickly condemned Iraq’s latest aggression and a US led coalition massed combat troops in Saudi Arabia ostensibly to prevent any Iraqi move against the country, the world’s leading oil producer.

Saddam was foolish enough to think that he could challenge US military power. Using the clear skies of the open desert terrain of the region, US airpower paralyzed Iraqi military and other important targets inside a few days in 1991. As Saddam refused to pull out from Kuwait, the largest armoured force ever assembled since World War II entered Kuwait, decimated Iraqi resistance and liberated Kuwait within a few days. The ceasefire agreement allowed Iraq to enjoy its sovereignty but it had to pledge to give away its weapons of mass destruction. It also imposed no fly zones over Iraqi airspace to protect Iraqi minorities from air raids by Saddam’s air force.
Another phase of bloody events followed the 1991 Gulf War. Encouraged by Iraq’s defeat in Kuwait and prodded by the US administration to rebel against Saddam, the Shiite population in the south and the Kurds in the north of Iraq challenged Baghdad’s authority. As no help came from Washington, Saddam’s remnant troops massacred tens of thousands of would be resistance fighters and their families. Thus Saddam remained unchallenged.
The 2001 World Trade Center attacks profoundly influenced the Americans into believing that all anti-US regimes in the world had links with Al Qaida and Osama bin Laden. Saddam, an old time foe who had been challenging UN arms inspectors, was the prime target for the Bush administration in its global war on terror. US intelligence analysts possibly calculated that Al Qaida’s elusive organization married to Saddam’s purported arsenal of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons would pose a lethal threat to Washington and its allies. So in 1993, the US military invaded Iraq.

After facing an array of resistance within Iraq, the US military captured Saddam on December 2003. After a long series of trials marked by the assassination of lawyers and other hindrances, Saddam was finally sentenced to die on November 5, 2006. His appeal was rejected on December 26, 2006 as the verdict was upheld by Iraq’s highest appeals court.
Saddam paid with his life for his hands were bloody. Many opposed Saddam’s hanging while others spoke against the death penalty. Saddam has done many positive things for his country. He modernized his country, gave his people free health and education and oil subsidies, tax beaks, etc. But, he allowed his two sons to go on a killing spree in his country. He himself ordered the killings of his closest aides, his own people and people of his neighbouring countries. After all, he also ordered the murder of his own son-in laws. So how do we remember Saddam? Do we forget his crimes and the suffering he caused to so many families? If we end up supporting dictators and still say we support democratic values, I think it would be a great contradiction.

(From Kathmandu Post)

The day we landed

2008-09-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

by Pritam S. Rana

It was six in the morning
as we climbed down the nets
to the old wooden boats rolling fiercely
huddled together in groups of eights.

Our hopes were high for all of us expected
the Turks would simply turn and run
at the sight of our mighty fleet which had blasted
beaches, forts, man and gun.

We went forward to the beaches and the rocks
of Achi Baba and Kilid Bahr defiant and proud
crushing the silence of many peaceful nights.
Black and white smoke obscured beaches, explosions
were loud.

Thunderclaps, machine guns, and whizzing bullets,
the Turks had prepared a nasty welcome.
Men fell screaming as bullets hit chests and limbs
even before they had stepped on the beaches.

Chanting ‘Hail Mary!’ the men went ahead,
jumping out and running forward,
carrying rifle and rucksack, holding on to the helmet,
desperate for cover.

Men may have lost hope as they lay prone on the round
pinned down by enemy fire, shellshocked.
The wounded and the dead littered the ground.

The enemy was well dug-in
while our fellows were scattered about,
Oh, how much we wished for the days in Dublin,
the officers barked to keep our hearts stout.

We prayed for the day to die soon
for the darkness would shield us for the night.
In the cool light of the waxing moon
we began to dig for the next day’s fight.

http://www.spinybabbler.org/publications/display_publications.php?id=creating_verse.htm

Achham incident : Another debacle

2008-09-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu Saturday February 23, 2002 Falgun 11, 2058.

By PRITAM S RANA

The recent attack by the Maoist rebels in Achham on army, police and civil administration has demonstrated that despite the emergency in effect, the rebels have not yet lost the initiative. It also proves our Prime Minister wrong when he exclaimed that the rebels have been defeated after the imposition of the emergency. The incident also demonstrates the weakness of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) and the largely ineffective police (vis a vis the Maoist insurgency).

The government’s main fighting arm in countering the armed rebellion is the RNA. During the emergency, the RNA deployed itself to the remote corners of the country, especially the affected areas and arrested thousands of people suspected of rebel ties. It also neutralized by fire those unwilling to surrender. However, the Achham incident has shown that these efforts were simply not sufficient. The rebels simply appear to have relocated to areas where the security presence was the minimum, trained in those areas and struck out somewhere. It is sad that only incidents of this magnitude attracts the attention of the government and causes it to take some meaningful steps.

Whether anyone likes it or not there is a war going on in this country. Who is winning is pretty hard to tell. After the declaration of the emergency, many were convinced it was the government, which was winning. But sadly the present Achham incident has proven that it is too premature to expect government victory. To combat the rebellion, the government should change its political and military tactics. There should be greater measures for security. The security forces have to be further furnished with modern equipments. The mental status of officials and leaders of the security apparatus should be changed.

In the Achham incident, an entire platoon (a unit of up to 40 soldiers) of RNA was wiped out. Hundreds, possibly a thousand or more rebels, did it. Here the culprit was lack of modern automatic weapons. An RNA platoon has only three automatic weapons while a US Army squad (7 soldiers) has seven automatic weapons. This shows that the smaller US unit has greater firepower than a much larger Nepali unit. If all the soldiers in the RNA platoon at Achham had automatic weapons, they would have been able to put out a massive volume of fire at the enemy forcing them to scatter or retreat. The standard RNA rifle is semi-automatic and fires in a slower rate. The Maoists used automatic weapons stolen from their past raid on the Dang barrack.

It has been demonstrated time and again that the Maoists rely on human wave tactics to overwhelm police and Army. The only answer to counter this threat is to rely on a massive firepower. The RNA and the police both have to procure automatic rifles as their individual weapons. The police will have to give up their vintage 0.303 rifles for more modern weapons. The Army must also procure belt fed light machine guns and distribute it to sections, subunits of the platoon. It should do away with its magazine fed light machine gun for they are slow and need frequent changing of magazine.

The RNA should also procure night vision goggles to detect and fight with the rebels at night. The news that some newer Army Mi-17 helicopters having night vision system is promising, but units in the field, the infantry also need night vision goggles. In counter-insurgency operations heavier weapons like the mortar should be given to frontline units rather than held centrally by the battalions. If RNA troops in Achham had mortars, by their fires, they could have well dispersed the rebels at a distance making it much easier to defend.

Nepal is a mountainous and hilly country. Much of the rebel activities are also in such remote and inaccessible terrain. So the primary means of movement is by foot. The RNA and police units have to move on foot to maintain their presence on the ground. But moving on foot is terribly slow process. The alternative expensive means of transport is helicopters. Helicopters due to their vertical take off capability can reach all types of terrain. Helicopter does not even need to land or touch the ground to embark or disembark personnel or other loads. It can simply hover above ground and do the job. The current inventory of helicopters is insufficient. The government should procure a large number of helicopters. It is well known that it is difficult for the government to purchase high cost helicopters. But it should look for other ways. Some time ago US Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Nepal. Nepal should ask for security assistance from US at a time when the US administration is up against fighting terrorism globally. The US provides military aid to many countries in the world.

The helicopter would be highly useful in the current counter-insurgency. Troops can be ferried rapidly from one point to another. Isolated outposts like Achham garrison could receive ammunition, food and other supplies via helicopter. A helicopter can also carry rockets, machine guns and cannon capable of supporting ground troops. Injured troops can also be rapidly evacuated to hospitals and other health facilities. Helicopters can be put to other uses as well: carrying out rescue operations in the aftermath of floods and famines.

The loss of RNA and police lives has also made it imperative that government boost the fighting capability of the security forces. A serious evaluation of the past strategy is to be undertaken. New tactics ought to be considered. If possible the RNA and the police should launch offensives against suspected territories where rebels have sanctuaries and training facilities. It should also invite experts from overseas in form of military advisers from countries like the US who have history of counter-insurgency warfare. In case of the US, it has Special Forces, who are elite troops capable of fighting in difficult terrain against all sorts of opposition. The US Special Forces include the Green Berets, Rangers and Delta Force who have latest experience in Afghanistan. The government through proper US government channels should invite these troops. They could train the RNA and the police and hone them up to the standard to effectively counter the Maoist rebels. Since the Maoists have now been declared terrorists, there should be a common ground between the US and His Majesty’s Government in the global war against terrorism. The war between the Maoists and the government is likely to continue. By burning the district headquarters of Achham, the Maoists have proven themselves to be terrorists and not any political group. Therefore it is imperative for the government to curb the continuing activity of the Maoist by employing new ways and with international assistance.

Gunning down choppers

2008-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

by Pritam S Rana

An army Mi-17 helicopter crashed on Wednesday night near Malangwa while it was on its way to provide air support to the ground troops engaged in combat against the Maoist rebels. Prachanda issued statement saying his warriors had brought down the army chopper using 'modern and domestic' technology. This has raised some hope for the Maoists as army's airpower was a cause of great concern to them since it had so far remained unvanquished.
Army was quick to claim that its preliminary investigation had found out that technical snag was responsible for the crash and ruled out Prachanda's claim. The army added that the helicopter was armor-plated and thus impervious to any known weapon in rebel arsenal.

Despite all this the army may not enjoy air superiority over the rebels in the long run if the conflict persists for a longer time. There are certain types of anti-aircraft weapons available in the international market. There is no reason to assume that these won't fall into the rebel hands. In fact, the rebel high command must already be in the process of acquiring them.

Although anti-aircraft guns have been around since warplanes first appeared during the World War I, their effectiveness was proportional to the number of deployed guns. This means they were highly inaccurate despite advances in technology of improved sights, airbursting shells, and radar cueing and guidance.

Guided missiles began appearing in the 1950s and 60s. By 1967, the United States and the former USSR developed anti-aircraft missiles small enough to be carried and launched by one man. Although these early weapons were largely ineffective, more modern ones like the infra-red (IR) guided FIM-92 Stinger proved effective at the hands of Afghan rebels.

Afghan resistance groups managed to shoot down many Russian planes. US intelligence agencies believe that many Stingers are left in Afghanistan, some possibly in the hands of terrorists. It is not known if they are still usable.

Like the US Stinger missiles, the Russians too had developed Strela (NATO codename: SA-7 Grail) missile, which they exported widely and many of these are operated by international terrorist groups. The latest versions are said to be very effective and are exported widely.

Known collectively as man portable air defense system (MANPADS), these light and portable missiles pose a great threat not only to the royal regime but also to civil aviation. Terrorist groups are believed to have plans to shoot down airliners of target countries with these. The US government is trying to control the export of such weapons in the international market. But it has not been supported well by other countries.

The possession of MANPADS by Nepal's Maoists would give them ability to take down Royal Nepal Army's helicopters with ease. Nepal's open border with India makes it easier for the rebels to import such sophisticated weapons. Besides, international black marketers can simply air drop arms in Nepali territory. Nepal does not have technology to check its air space violation as demonstrated many months back when some foreign planes entered our air space without informing anyone.

Posted on: 2006-04-09 19:23:43 (Server Time)

The origin of name Pri(t)am

2008-09-24T11:12:00.000-07:00

Priam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the manufacturing company, see Priam Corporation.

King Priam killed by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, detail of an Attic red-figure amphoraIn Greek mythology, Priam (Greek Πρίαμος Priamos) was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous".[1]

Contents [hide]
1 Marriage and issue
2 Life
3 In later literature
4 In popular culture
5 Family Tree
6 References

[edit] Marriage and issue
See List of King Priam's children
Priam had a number of wives; his first was Arisbe, who had given birth to his son Aesacus, who met a tragic death before the advent of the Trojan War. Priam later divorced her in favor of Hecuba (or Hecebe), daughter of the Phrygian king Dymas. By his various wives and concubines Priam was the father of fifty sons and several daughters. Hector was Priam's eldest son by Hecuba, and heir to the Trojan throne. Paris, another son, was the cause of the Trojan War. Other children of Priam and Hecuba include the prophetic Helenus and Cassandra; eldest daughter Ilione; Deiphobus; Troilus; Polites; Creusa, wife of Aeneas; Laodice, wife of Helicaon; Polyxena, who was slaughtered on the grave of Achilles; and Polydorus, his youngest son.

[edit] Life
Priam was originally called Podarces and he kept himself from being killed by Heracles by giving him a golden veil embroidered by his sister, Hesione. After this, Podarces changed his name to Priam. This is an etymology based on priatos "ransomed"; the actual etymology of the name is probably not Greek, but perhaps Lydian in origin.

When Hector is killed by Achilles, Achilles treats the body with disrespect and refuses to give it back. Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector’s father and the ruler of Troy, into the Achaean camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and return Hector’s body. He invokes the memory of Achilles’ own father, Peleus. Deeply moved, Achilles finally relents and returns Hector’s corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a temporary truce, and Hector receives a hero’s funeral. Achilles further goes on to give Priam leave to hold a proper funeral for Hector complete with funeral games. He promises that no Greek will engage in combat for 11 days, but on the 12th day of peace, the mighty war between the Greeks and the Trojans would resume.

It has been suggested by Hittite sources, specifically the Manapa-Tarhunta letter that there is historical basis for the archetype of King Priam. The letter describes one Piyama-Radu as a troublesome rebel who overthrew a Hittite client king and thereafter established his own rule over the city of Troy (mentioned as Wilusa in Hittite). There is also mention of an Alaksandu, suggested to be Paris Alexander(King Priam's son from the Iliad), a later ruler of the city of Wilusa who established peace between Wilusa and Hatti(see the Alaksandu treaty).

[edit] In later literature
In the sack of Troy, Priam was brutally murdered by Achilles's son Neoptolemus (also known in the Aeneid as Pyrrhus), in a scene memorialized both in Virgil's Aeneid and Shakespeare's Hamlet. In said stories, Neoptolemus stormed into the palace of Priam and proceeded to make his way to Priam's chamber. After killing Polites, one of the many sons of Priam, Neoptolemus stabbed Priam in the side with his sword and inserted the blade up to the hilt. In Hamlet, Shakespeare particularly mentions Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) pausing before killing Priam (i.e. killing him deliberately in cold blood).

In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson claimed that Priam was the ancestor of a race that migrated to Scandinavia and served as a basis for the Aesir.

[edit] In popular culture
In Dark Mirror, a Star Trek novel taking place in the Mirror Universe, Priam has a much darker fate - as he is begging for the release of Hector's body for the burial rites, Achilles kills him in cold blood.

In Troy: Fall of Kings by David Gemmell, Priam leaps to his death from the Great Tower in Troy.

[edit] Family Tree
Zeus/Jupiter Electra Teucer

Dardanus Batea

Ilus Erichthonius

Tros

Ilus Assaracus

Laomedon Themiste Capys

Priam Anchises Aphrodite/Venus Latinus

Creusa Aeneas Lavinia

Ascanius Silvius

Silvius Aeneas Silvius

Brutus of Britain Latinus Silvius

Alba

Atys

Capys

Capetus

Tiberinus Silvius

Agrippa

Romulus Silvius

Aventinus

Procas

Numitor Amulius

Rhea Silvia Ares/Mars

Hersilia Romulus Remus

Kings of Rome

[edit] References
^ Starke, Frank. "Troia im Kontext des historisch-politischen und sprachlichen Umfeldes Kleinasiens im 2. Jahrtausend". // Studia Troica, 1997, 7, 447-87.
[hide]v • d • eCharacters in the Iliad

Achaeans Acamas • Achilles • Actor • Adrastus • Agamemnon • Agapenor • Ajax the Greater • Ajax the Lesser • Antilochus • Ascalaphus • Automedon • Balius and Xanthus • Bias • Diomedes • Elephenor • Eudoros • Euryalus • Eurybates • Hecamede • Idomeneus • Machaon • Mecisteus • Medon • Mégês Phyleïdês • Menelaus • Menestheus • Meriones • Nestor • Nireus • Odysseus • Patroclus • Philoctetes • Phoenix • Podarces • Promachus • Protesilaos • Schedius • Stentor • Sthenelus • Talthybius • Teucer • Thersites • Thoas • Thrasymedes • Tlepolemus

Trojans Aeneas • Aesepus • Agenor • Alcathous • Amphimachus • Anchises • Andromache • Antenor • Antiphates • Antiphus • Archelochus • Asius • Asteropaios • Astyanax • Axylus • Briseis • Calchas • Calesius • Cassandra • Chryseis • Chryses • Clytius • Dares Phrygius • Deiphobus • Dolon • Epeius • Epistrophus • Eteoneus • Euneus • Euphemus • Euphorbus • Eurypylus • Glaucus • Gorgythion • Halizones • Hector • Hecuba • Helen • Helenus • Kebriones • Lycaon • Lykomedes • Melanippus • Mentes • Mydon • Mygdon of Phrygia • Othryoneus • Pandarus • Paris • Pedasus • Phorcys • Podalirius • Polites • Poludamas • Polybus • Polydorus • Priam • Pyraechmes • Rhesus of Thrace • Sarpedon • Theano

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priam"
Categories: Characters in Book VI of the Aeneid | Greek mythology | Characters in the Iliad | Trojans | Mythological kings | People of the Trojan WarViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Personal toolsLog in / create account Navigation

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Notes:-My mother named me after a name common in Punjab. The people of Punjab have had contacts with Greeks (Ionians) and Indo-Scythians.

Binayak Rana's song

2008-09-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

Boli rahane hridayako,
Chari ladi kunni ke bho

Pyaro ramro pinjada nai
Panchhi bina ritto bho.

The bhajan reminds me of serene life in Nepal.

Valley anecdotes

2008-09-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

As i jumped out of GOP HQ in Hayvenhurst, San Fernando, I came across a couple of older citizens. They talked about health and life. And then, I took out my Digital Fortress and hit a bump on the word "escrow."

It had something to do with money and credit and debt. I gotta focus on that word. I could not stop giggling.

Conspiracy theory cum sermons

2008-09-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Nepali voters and enthusiasts, pls vote for Sen. John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. They have more credibility. I want to evoke Animal Farm by George Orwell. Tell u people that Barrack Obama's leftist background and big government would harm America.

Pls don't take the McCain Campaign as same as President Bush's rule as painted by the liberal media. Governor Palin is a fresh face. She has managed Alaska, the greenest state in the US.

Republicans support private entrepreneurship and initiative. They will keep America safe from its enemies abroad.

And for Nepal, 1990, 2001 and 2006 were the blackest years. It was good before. I assume that the 2001 Royal Massacre was conducted by anti-monarchist forces in Nepal. Although its just a conspiracy theory and the evidence is very much circumstantial, similar regicide was conducted by Marxist-Leninists in Russia after 1917. The czar's entire family was executed by Bolshevik assasins.

Previously to in the 1980s, a bomb plot was conducted against royal interests including Annapurna Hotel. Down with terrorists in power in Nepal.

Marxism-Leninism will pauperize Nepal. Lenin and Stalin were the greatest murderers of all times. Lenin ordered the execution of a woman leader who disagreed with him. And Stalin ordered the execution of millions of Kulaks, landed peasants who opposed communism.

Nepal's present communist rulers deserve rejection for starting a brutal war. It cost 13,000 lives. Therefore support Democratic International's agenda for helping Nepalese people get away from Prachanda and Baburam's vicious agenda.

Pls vote for a new referendum. King Gyanendra was a patriarch framed by dubious interets. Restore Nepal to the gilded age once again. Too much expectation, frustration does not help. Just work harder and smarter.

Support UDP and make Nepal a better, greener, entrepreneurial and a competitive. Allow Shell and Norwegian firms to exploit Nepal's oil. Let them take their share and let them employ Nepalese people. Don't let Prachanda to become another Chavez. So... be judicious and help the world.

Tropic treat for Summer

2008-09-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

Set in a lush tropical forest of Vietnam, a band of gung ho moviemen encounter unforseen share of trouble. While shooting a classic war movie, an actor playing haggard war veteran "Four Leaf" Tayback (Nick Nolte) and a set hand are stuck in a remote location. Their chopper, a Huey, has been apparently shot down.

Studio exec Les Grossman, played by a savvy Tom Cruise, is admant for success. To Grossman's nightmare, the motley crew bumps into a criminal outfit, in fact a deadly insurgents producing narcotics in the Iron Triangle. As soon as they land into a previously unforeseen hostile territory, the team loses its self styled leader to a landmine.

Cocky Tug Speedman (Ben Stiller) and Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) have a constant clash of personality and ego problem, despite the humor. A particularly funny episode is when Tayback declares he's just a lowly guy and not a veteran he is supposed to play.

The plot hits catharsis as Speedman is captured while trying to "rescue" Tayback.

The kid insurgent depicts the plight of third world child soldiers. The kid is vicious. Speedman sounds crazy as he decides to stay back to perhaps sermonize the criminals, a typical anecdote for trying to serve American values.

As Grossman refuses to negotiate with a ransom demand for Speedman and threatens "massacre", and mocks the UN, the film elevates to comical heights.

Provides intense action. Star studded cast and graphic scenes makes the movie a must watch. A true entertainment for those seeking to escape the scorching California sun. Good value for money.

Blue Bird

2008-08-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

-Pritam S Rana

Fair n' flabby,
Gay n' happy

Cute n' blue,
Small black shoe

Beautiful bird,
Able shepherd

Modern day dainty fairy,
Bless thee, merry, merry.

Notes: This poem is is inspired by a combination of Renoir's Loge and Brig. Gen. Suzi Yogev. The Metro driver is only a symbol.

Correct approach will address insurgency

2008-08-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

Updated: 20/12/2005 19:08 NST (+5:45 GMT) Current: 21/12/2005 11:22:58 NST Kathmandu

Dr Thomas A Marks
Dr. Thomas A. Marks is a political risk consultant based in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. He is a scholar with hundreds of articles and research papers (including books on Maoist insurgencies worldwide) to his credit.
He frequently visits Nepal to study the ongoing conflict. Dr. Marks regularly contributes to numerous publications that deal with insurgency and terrorism.
He talked to P Rana of Nepaleyes on his recent visit here. Excerpts: :
How do you analyze the conflict in Nepal? Any likelihood of peace, or will one side prevail decisively?
Let us be frank: Miscues by all concerned have resulted in stalemate. The Maoists, having established themselves in rural areas, have come face-to-face with the structural realities underlying Nepali underdevelopment. The result is marauding gangs of young people who are rapidly becoming minor warlords. Maoist misbehavior and miscalculation have given them a rump state with the GDP of the Sahara
Desert and a sullen, resentful, captive population. Maoist illegitimacy, however, cannot be exploited by a state that has not resolved its own issues of legitimacy. These require little elaboration by me, save to state the obvious. Having proceeded erratically in its approach to the insurgency, the state finds its political
position weak and its security forces, stronger though they are, able to project power anywhere but unable to remain and consolidate gains. Instances of indiscipline remain common enough to negate the advantage provided by the Maoists’ own problems with indiscipline, unbridled kidnapping, murder, and robbery. The major political parties, hamstrung as ever by their lack of vision and determination to engage in
obstructionism, have decided that their battle with the monarchy takes precedence over all else. “Peace” is the card they are presently playing in their bid to return to power. Yet there is not an inkling that they have given any more thought now to the particulars of good governance than they did previously in their decade
of mismanagement. They simply state that they have learned their lesson. As for the foreign presence: it is fairly evenly divided between those working behind-the-scenes to bring down the royal government and those wishing “compromise” could be rendered into Nepali. In summation, no side is able to prevail decisively, and the likelihood is for more of the same.
If the Maoists somehow win and take over Nepal, can they sustain their radical regime given Nepal's geopolitical situation and the current international system?
As I have stated earlier in this forum, key to the nature of such a hypothetical regime is what the Maoists are really after. One thing for sure, they simply are not saying what the political parties claim they are saying.
This evidence is not hard to come by – the Maoists themselves disseminate it. Pris oners and captured documents confirm it. Leaving this point aside and moving further to address your question, it is noteworthy that no radical regime in the past century has been able to sustain itself, unless one places in that category
North Korea. Still, as with its predecessors, North Korea is collapsing. But in collapsing, radical dictatorships have always functioned as killing machines. This is integral to the nature of the beast. They ultimately find themselves isolated, unable to go on. In the short-term, though, such regimes can find support for their
crimes. Simply look south, where on the 16th (of this month) the Indian legal Marxists rallied in support of not only Pyongyang but of those other shining examples of democracy and development – Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela – and the Nepalese Maoists and their Seven-Party Alliance pseudo-comrades! India itself,
winking at the actions of left-wing members of the ruling coalition, is foolish in thinking it can “buy off” the Nepali Maoists, even as New Delhi’s own Maoist problem surges.

You have intensively studied the conflict in Colombia. Do you see parallels between Nepal and Colombia? Can we learn anything?
Both major insurgent groups in Colombia see themselves as Marxist-Leninist: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN. They are not Maoist but advance many of the same hackneyed slogans and programs as does the CPN (M). FARC does utilize for its operational doctrine the same “people’s war” approach as the Nepalese Maoists, so one sees a close
correspondence in developments on the ground. In fact, by mid-1998 in Colombia, elimination of police presence, attacks upon government main forces, and lack of national strategy and planning had produced a serious situation that some saw as stalemate. That events have turned around so dramatically does offer
lessons for Nepal. A federal system of democracy, based upon maturing local autonomy, especially at the local level, produced a superb wartime president in Alvaro Uribe. He was able to implement an integrated, multifaceted strategy to Colombia’s challenges by using a greatly reformed military as the shield behind
which social and economic development could further political legitimacy. Negotiations are part of Uribe’s approach, but all has depended upon security forces that, in 2005, are better than those of most NATO member states – and only vaguely resemble those of, say, 1995, when the situation began to deteriorate.
Defense experts in Nepal say the government lacks coherent military strategy to defeat/contain the insurgency. What advice would you offer to the government?
Any military strategy must exist only to facilitate the political struggle, which in turn includes the economic and social campaigns. The Maoists, as the counter-state, are quite aware of this and have played their cards rather better than the state. The generic advice is as simple in concept as it is complex in implementation. A
counterinsurgency campaign gets in place that which is correct and sustainable, then it plays for the breaks.
A “correct” approach is one that addresses the causes of the insurgency. Legitimacy is always the center of gravity, certainly it is in this case. A “sustainable” approach is defined by the state itself, most particularly in terms of human and fiscal cost. “The breaks” come from those shifts in internal and/or external
circumstances that lead to a change in the correlation of forces. Countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, and Peru have all been through this process. Operationally, what they did was set in motion a plan that built upon local democratic capacity, sound governance, micro-development, and social equality in order to mobilize the state against the Maoist “new order.” They all articulated a vision. It is not enough to fight against something; you must fight for something. If you can’t state why you fight, you’re lost.

Do you, as an expert see the insurgents serious about peace and their commitment to multi-party democracy this time?
What is noteworthy about Maoist insurgencies is that they say and advocate the same things – and they all claim they will be “different,” avoid the crimes of the past. Unfortunately, the crimes are part and parcel of the structural “answer” they advance to society’s ills. It’s simply too easy, under a dictatorship of the
proletariat, by whatever cover name, to stop trying to convince people and to kill them instead. Yes, the Nepali Maoists have stated that they will be different. Yet their strategy has been textbook in all its particulars, right down to the present use of nonviolent means to accomplish violent ends. They see themselves at an epochal moment when they can play Mr Outside to the seven parties Mr Inside, classic
salami tactics of the first (Leninist) order. This is also what they are telling their people. Does this mean there is no room for accommodation? Certainly not – but not under the terms of reference as tabled by the UML, claiming to faithfully represent what the Maoists have undertaken. The UML is either naïve or quibbling. The
Maoists have stated quite clearly that “absolute democracy” – which means ousting the monarchy – is to be achieved by a united front (they use other terms) of themselves and the seven-parties. That doesn’t sound like compromise.
Do you think the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) is under equipped to deal with the rebels? If yes, what does it need? Leadership, strategy, materials or all of them?
RNA needs to be part of a national strategy for democratic governance. Tangible weapons are secondary to intangible ones, such as leadership and planning. Operationally, RNA has not yet accepted that there is no way around the classic force-multiplication conundrum inherent to counterinsurgency save through
mobilizing local forces. Call them Home Guards, call them neighborhood watch; debate all you like whether they are to be armed with their agricultural implements, firearms, radios, or simply whistles; when all is said and done, security forces must duplicate what the Maoists have done – mobilize a mass base. It is Maoist
crimes that allow this to be done, whether one talks about the Thai Maoists’ attacks upon the monarchy, or the Philippine Maoists’ attacks upon restored democracy, or the Peruvian Maoists’ savagery. Nepal’s Maoists have behaved in similar fashion, despite the efforts of their apologists to paint them as Robin Hoods. What is needed, then, is not weapons as I believe you have in mind but rather the ultimate weapon (ask the Maoists!), mobilization. But mobilization only works if it grows out of democratic capacity. The Maoists have shown that their version of society is youth gangs led by apostate teachers and politicians from the old-order. A Nepal that is to stand against that version must be a Nepal that grows out of the
demand for democracy but channels it into constructive action, such as development of hydropower. Notice where we’ve come: mobilization comes from local democracy extending to national democracy; it comes from enforcing the already passed laws of social equality; it comes from finding a means to deal with corruption and to institute good governance; it comes from economic development that will be built upon
micro-development. And that micro-development needs to move beyond the tired solutions of the development community and tap the “liquid gold” that makes Nepal second in the entire world in hydropower “reserves.” As odd as it sounds, this country should be an Asian Switzerland, not a conflicted basket case.
Realizing that is what counterinsurgency is all about – the RNA has to provide the shield behind which is happens.

Has the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) lost much popular support? If this is so, would you like to suggest anything on how an embattled army can manage its image?
In any conflict of any sort, whether a civil rights campaign or general warfare, information shapes reality. That is why no state can simply state, “We allow a free press,” and leave it at that. Even before the Maoist insurgency began, Nepal’s media were only just beginning to come to grips with issues of accuracy, accountability, and professionalism. In no area were they more deficient than in knowledge of conflict. Add to this an isolation bred of position, and you have a recipe for what you see today, a mix of the very good and the very, very bad. RNA, early on, produced some personalities who demonstrated an understanding that media were no longer an annex to the operations order, rather the very oxygen which all involved in the struggle breathed. These RNA personalities were targeted by the Maoists, consequently their policies languished. In targeting them, the Maoists knew very well what they were doing. The result today is the active hostility of much of the media to anything save parochialism, whereby even standard issues of state
interest and responsibility are considered an infringement upon “freedom of the press.” Combine this with the “learning curve” that the security forces have been going through in moving from a peacetime army to one on a war footing; add the involvement of international human rights organizations and their own narrow
view of “human rights,” and the result is on full display here. The security forces are labeled the enemy.

As a US citizen, do you think the US government should provide military aid to Nepal? Is there any US interest involved in either helping Nepal defeat the insurgency or letting the Nepali government fend for itself?

Yes, the US has and should continue to assist Nepal. Military aid to a legitimate government is part and parcel of that. It is the question of legitimacy, as determined by our law, that places the US in the difficult position it now occupies. On the one hand, it has long been a major force for development in Nepal. On the
other hand, security assistance is a normal part of our relations with the country. Now, amidst the conflict we are discussing, one can appreciate the delicate line any embassy must walk. It wants things “to work out.” Ironically, all the elements necessary for compromise would seem to be present – but men of good will, shall
we say, are in short supply. But let us end where we began, by speaking frankly: you can’t believe in Maoism and not have given up your critical faculties. You can’t claim to be a citizen of a global community in this day and age yet put up pictures of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. Why not add Hitler? Or Pol Pot? In that
sense, the Maoists have played their cards very poorly, because they claim to be “good guys” even as they wave the bloody red banner responsible for the greatest crimes humanity has ever witnessed. Thus the US, while willing to examine tactically all viable forms of compromise, strategically will remain committed to a set
of principles and their tangible expression that is quite the opposite of those trumpeted repeatedly by the Maoists. If the Maoists are serious about compromise – and the UML, for that matter – let them put away the butchers’ pictures and furl up the flag of tyranny – and walk like democrats rather than simply talk.

2008-08-18T18:46:00.000-07:00