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What is the cost of U.S. invasion of Iraq? George Mathew

A war fought in the name of democracy has weakened accountability and transparency and degraded governance within the U.S.

Six years ago on 20 March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. President Bush went to town saying this military invasion of oil rich Iraq was to bring that country, suffering from brutal dictatorship, to democratic governance. Moreover, the United States took upon itself the task to wipe out weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein had allegedly kept in his possession.

It did not take long for the people of the United States and the whole world to realise that the pretext of the war was patently false and the Iraq war was bound to be a big failure. President Bush stuck to his gun and pushed Iraq into the Dark Age and the entire world into an unprecedented economic doom. Mercifully, President Barack Obama has reversed the suicidal course by pledging to end the U.S. Combat Mission by August 31, 2010. Today, the U.S. force in Iraq numbers 142,000. Out of this, 92, 000 will be brought home in the next 18 months. The remaining 50,000 will continue till 31 December 2011. Thus the doomed mission will end after eight long years, but the conflict will rage on.

Naturally, one question comes to everyone’s mind: What is the cost of this war? While launching the war, there were various estimates. The official figure was hovering around $57 to $69 billion (adjusting the inflation in 2007). When Larry Lindsey, President’s economic adviser, stated that the cost could touch $200 billion, the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed it saying it was a “balcony” estimate. The Bush Administration believed that part of the war expenses would be borne by other countries and that oil revenues would meet the post-war reconstruction costs.

After six years what is the real cost of the Iraq war? Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Joseph Stiglitz along with Linda J. Bilmes of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government had estimated last year (2008) that the cost of the Iraq war would be more than $ 3 trillion (in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London, 2008). Incidentally, the U.S. budget for 2010 is $3.55 trillion.

Linda Bilmes is an expert in government finance. Stiglitz and Bilmes have used rigorous, scientific, economic methodology to come to this mind-boggling figure. The formidable data collected from all available as well as rare documents to quantify the cost have been detailed in separate notes from page 273 to 341. The book is an eye opener as to who suffers and to what extent, when rich and powerful nation(s) decide to go to war. Also, it gives an insight into who reaps the riches from the wars.

Two critical issues inter alia dealt with in this book by Stiglitz and Bilmes attract our attention because they speak volumes about deepening crises behind the façade of war.

First is the human cost and its implications for society, economy and nation. The cost of war is not merely expenditure on machine, fuel and personnel but also includes compensating for death and disability and the economic cost of loss of productivity due to loss of lives and disability. Such quantification is not easy. What this publication has done is admirable.

The coalition has incurred 4,576 deaths — 4,259 Americans, in addition to 179 Britons, 33 Italians, 22 Poles, 18 Ukrainians, 11 Spaniards, 13 Bulgarians, and the rest from Australia, Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, Estonia, Fiji, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Latvia, Romania, El Salvador, Slovakia and Thailand as of March 13, 2009, says the CNN. At least 31,102 U.S. troops have been wounded in action (Pentagon). The number of violent civilian deaths in Iraq is touching a lakh (from March 2003 till February this year the civilian death is 91,059 -99,431 according to Iraq Body Count website).

According to a survey by the American Psychiatric Association, 32 per cent of those who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan suffered from mental health complaints. Another shocking trend is rising suicide rate. In 2007, at least 115 soldiers killed themselves, in 2006 it was 102, and 87 and 67 in 2005 and 2004 respectively. “There were also 166 attempted suicides among troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 935 attempts in the army as a whole, with young, white, unmarried junior enlisted troops the most likely to try. The trend worsened in 2008” (p.213). How does one quantify the loss of life and its impact on society and economy? Take the case of 24 year-old Staff Sergeant Ryan D. Maseth, a Green Beret, who was electrocuted in his living quarters in Baghdad because of faulty wiring by a U.S. contractor. His family will receive $100,000 “as death gratuity” and the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance has to pay $ 400,000. If he were alive, he would have reached higher professional levels. Maseth’s death has caused much higher economic loss than just $500,000. If we multiply the lives lost, wounded, mentally ill and their impact on economy and society, the three trillion dollar cost is a gross underestimate.

The huge monetary cost of war has had significant implications for the social security and welfare measures within the U.S. The National Priorities Project website estimates that the budgetary amount spent on the war could have provided for nearly 5,103,740 Affordable Housing Units or 193,370,980 people with health care for one year. Stiglitz and Blimes have argued that the diversion of resources to Iraq was one of the main factors due to which the National Guards could not effectively respond to national crises like Hurricane Katrina.

The second frightening issue is the weakened structure of accountability and the increasing corruption. It poses a vital question: whose interests did the Iraq invasion serve? The answer probably lies in the warning President Eisenhower gave as early as 1961 in his farewell speech wherein he warned against the military-industrial complex. The military industrial complex, simply understood, is an informal alliance of the military and related government departments with defence industries that is held to influence government policy.

Stiglitz and Blimes have highlighted this in the case of Iraq by pointing out that the defence contractors have been the most notable beneficiaries of the Iraq conflict as reflected in the rise in share prices of Halliburton, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and others. The linkages of the Bush administration with some of these firms are all too well known. For instance, Dick Cheney formerly headed Halliburton and the Republican Party received $1,146,248 as campaign contribution from it. Throughout the six years of the war it has been funded by emergency funds marked by reduced transparency and lack of detailed analysis. The result has been rampant waste and corruption. “Shoddy accounting practices at the Pentagon and lax oversight of contractors make it difficult to know how much of the money flowing towards private industry is being squandered on abuse, fraud and war profiteering,” write Stiglitz and Blimes. The Defence Department employs 196,000 private contractors. Interestingly, between 1998 and 2004 the Department of Defence’s total spending on contracting increased by 105 per cent while the number of people it employed to award and supervise the contracts declined by 25 per cent. In Iraq the money spent by the U.S. for reconstruction was through American contractors. Henry Waxman, the Congressman from California had revealed that non-Iraqi contractors charged $25 million to repaint twenty police stations – a job the local firms could have done with $5 million.

The book describes the direct and indirect ways of contractors evading tax and never completing work (pp 218-225). While the executives of the big contracting companies make enormous gains, the workers doing “cooking, driving, cleaning, and laundry, are poorly paid nationals from India, Pakistan and other Asian and African countries. Indian cooks are reported to earn $3-$5 per day. At the same time, KBR bills the American taxpayer $100 per load of laundry.” Of course the Indian workers are there against the wishes of the Indian government.

This large scale reliance on private contractors coupled with reduced accountability has led to large scale profiteering and corruption. According to the authors, in America “corruption takes on a more nuanced form than it does elsewhere. Payoffs typically do not take the form of direct bribes, but of campaign contributions to both parties.” Ironically a war fought in the name of democracy has weakened accountability and transparency and degraded governance within the U.S.

All said, President Obama’s decision to end the Messianic war in Iraq is welcome. Whether the new administration will support and encourage conflict resolution and anti-war movements remains to be seen.

(The writer is Director, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi.)

Queen Rania ..The legenry Woman of 21st century

IROM SHARMILA ,The real icon

IROM SHARMILA ,The real icon

Irom’s iron in the soul

Young, stoic and dogged, Irom Sharmila has been on a fast-unto-death since November, 2000. She wants the repressive Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act repealed. The Act gives draconian powers to the security forces and has repeatedly been used with brazen brutality in the Northeast. For five years, she has been imprisoned and force-fed by the State for her ‘crime’. Filmmaker Kavita Joshi spoke to her in the hospital room in Imphal, her prison

Soul Fight: Sharmila in her hospital room Photos by Kavita Joshi

An eye: piercing, intent. A nose, covered by a swatch of medical tape, as a yellow tube forces its way in. Lips, stretched tight as if in pain. A woman sits against a bare wall, huddled under a blanket, tightly hugging herself. This is my first impression of Irom Sharmila as I walk to her hospital bed. She is incarcerated at the security ward of JN Hospital in Imphal, Manipur, in custody of the Central Jail, Sajiwa. It takes her immense effort to speak, but she tries her best. “How can I explain? This is not a punishment. It is my bounden duty at my best level.”

Irom Sharmila has not eaten for over five years now. For this, she has been locked up in jail by the government under very dubious charges and is being forcibly nose fed. Since November 2000, Sharmila has been on a fast-unto-death, demanding the removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 (AFSPA). AFSPA is a law that can come into force in any part of India declared as “disturbed”. The act allows anyone of any rank in the army or a paramilitary force under its operational command to shoot, arrest or search without warrant; and to kill on suspicion alone. Furthermore, there is little scope for judicial remedy. The whole of Sharmila’s state — Manipur — has continuously been under this law since 1980 (with minor exceptions in recent times).

It’s been five years since that day which changed her life. November 2, 2000 was just another Thursday. Till, that is, a convoy of Assam Rifles was bombed by insurgents near Malom in Manipur. In retaliation the men in uniform went berserk: 10 civilians were shot dead. You could say that neither the killings nor the brutal combing operation that followed were new to the people. Manipur had been ravaged by umpteen number of such incidents in the past. But for Sharmila, Malom was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. “There was no means to stop further violations by the armed forces,” she says. She began her epic fast.

From then to now, Sharmila’s frail body has become a battlefield. Within days of her fast, she was arrested on charges of ‘attempted suicide’ and put in jail. She refused bail; she refused to break her fast. For five years now, she has been in custody, being forcibly nose-fed. Time and again, the courts have — rightly — released her. But she resumes her fast and is invariably re-arrested each time.

Mothers of Manipur: Outside Assam Rifles HQ, Imphal, after Manorama’s rape and murder, 2004

She lives with the nagging pain of a tube thrust into her nose. What’s more, for five years, Sharmila has not seen her ageing mother

In the five years that she hasn’t eaten, Sharmila’s body has begun to get damaged severely. She lives with the nagging pain of a tube thrust into her nose. She is 35 but has become feeble and looks older. What’s more, for five years, Sharmila has not seen her ageing mother. In her mother’s own words, “I am weak-hearted. If I see her, I will cry. I do not want to erode her determination, so I have resolved not to meet Sharmila till she reaches her goal.”

In times that are inured to violence, Sharmila’s protest is remarkable for its insistence upon the Gandhian ideals of ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (insistence upon truth). And though her protest is ignored every day in the world’s largest democracy, Sharmila is resolute — “Unless and until they remove the AFSPA, I shall never stop my fasting.” In a rare interview, shot for the film Untitled: 3 Narratives — On Women and Conflict in Manipur, she unravels her heart, slowly, like a stream of amazing struggle and hope amidst intense despair.

Why did you start upon this fast?

For the sake of my motherland. Unless and until they remove the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958, I shall never stop my fasting.

Could you tell me something about the incident that sparked this off for you?

I had gone there (to Malom) to attend a meeting. The meeting was towards planning a peace rally that would be held in a few days.

I was very shocked to see the dead bodies on the front pages of the newspapers. That strengthened me to step on this very threshold of death. Because there was no other means to stop further violations by the armed forces against innocent people.
I thought then, that the peace rally would be meaningless for me. Unless I were to do something to change the situation .

But why choose this particular method? Why a fast unto death?

It is the only means I have. Because hunger strike is based on spirituality.

What about the effect this has on you, your health, your body?

That doesn’t matter. We are all mortal.

Are you certain that this is really the best way? To inflict this upon your body?

It is not an ‘infliction’. This is not a punishment. I think this is my bounden duty.

‘Although the State may think so, I am in no mood for suicide. In any case, if I were a suicide-monger, how could we talk like this? I have no other choice but fasting’

How does your family react to your fast?

My mother knows everything about my decision. Although she is illiterate, and very simple, she has the courage to let me do my bounden duty.

When did you last meet your mother?

About five years ago. There is an understanding between us. That she will meet me only after I have fulfilled my mission.

It must be very hard on both of you…

Not very hard… (pauses). Because, how shall I explain it, we all come here with a task to do. And we come here alone.

Just why are you in custody? Why exactly?

It is not my will. But the State insists it (the hunger strike) is unlawful.

But the government is saying that your fast-unto- death is attempted suicide, which is an offence…

Although they may think so, I am in no mood for suicide. In any case, if I were a suicide-monger, how could we communicate like this, you and I? My fasting is a means, as I have no other.

How long are you prepared to go on like this?

I don’t know. Though I do have hope. My stand is for the sake of truth, and I believe truth succeeds eventually. God gives me courage. That is why I am still alive through these artificial means. (Indicates the tube going into her nose.)

How do you spend your day in the hospital?

A lot of the time I practice yoga. It helps me keep my body and mind healthy. (She points to the tube again.) It is circumstances that make things natural. Though this (tugs the tube) is unusual, it is natural to me.

What do you miss the most?

The people. As I am a prisoner here (in hospital), everyone is restricted from meeting me without permission. So I miss people a lot.

If you had one wish that was yours for the asking, what would it be?

My wish? We must have the right to self determination as rational beings.

Do you think the AFSPA will be repealed? Will you get what you are fighting for?

I realise my task is a tough one. But I must endure. I must be patient. That happy day will come some day. If I’m still alive. Until then, I must be patient. (My time was over, and my crew and I were preparing to leave, when Sharmila stopped us.) Will you help me? I would like to read about the life-history of Nelson Mandela. I have no idea about his life. Will you send me a book about him? It is full of restrictions here. Make sure you address it to the security ward. If not, I may not recieve it.

(We sent Sharmila, the book from Delhi. Her friends tell us that it has reached her.)

Mar 25 , 2006

FIRST INDIAN CABINET AFTER INDEPENDENCE

• Abul Kalam Azad --he became the first Minister of Education in the Indian government.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inducted him in the Interim Central Government as a Minister for Industry and Supply. Mookerjee was widely respected by many Indians and also by members of the Indian National Congress, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of its chief leaders.

• Upon India's independence on August 15, 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first law minister, which he accepted.

• Dr.Panjabrao Shamrao Deshmukh famously known as Bhausaheb Deshmukh was a great social activist and a Farmer's leader in India. he was first Minister of Agriculture in Cabinet of Pandit jawaharlal Nehru in 1952

• John Mathai was an economist who served as India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1948. Mathai graduated in economics from Madras Christian College. He presented two Budgets, but resigned following the 1950 Budget in protest at the increasing power of the Planning Commission and P.C. Mahalanobis. His nephew,Verghese Kurien, was the father of India's White Revolution.His son Ravi.J.Mathai, was the director of Indian institute of management, Ahamedabad. Dr.John Mathai Centre, Thrissur, located on the large plot of land donated by his family, is named in his honour.

• Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, DStJ (February 2, 1889 – October 2, 1964) was the health minister in the Indian Cabinet for ten years after India's independence from the British Raj in 1947. She was an eminent Gandhian, a freedom fighter, and a social activist.

• Rafi Ahmed Kidwai was a major ally of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. After India gained independence from the British Raj in 1947, Kidwai became India's first Minister for Communications. (Kidwai and Abul Kalam Azad were the two Muslims in Nehru's central cabinet.)

• Syama Prasad MookerjeePrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inducted him in the Interim Central Government as a Minister for Industry and Supply. Mookerjee was widely respected by many Indians and also by members of the Indian National Congress, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of its chief leaders.

• Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi: जवाहरलाल नेहरू, IPA: (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was a major political leader of the Indian National Congress, a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first and longest-serving prime minister of independent India. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He is also referred to as Pandit Nehru ("pandit," Sanskrit, "scholar", as honorific) and in India, as Panditji (-ji, honorific suffix).

• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organised relief for refugees in Punjab and Delhi, and led efforts to restore peace across the nation. Patel took charge of the task to forge a united India from the 565 semi-autonomous princely states and British-era colonial provinces. Using frank diplomacy backed with the option (and the use) of military action, Patel's leadership enabled the accession of almost every princely state. Hailed as the Iron Man of India, he is also remembered as the "Patron Saint" of India's civil servants for establishing modern all-India services. Patel was also one of the earliest proponents of property rights and free enterprise in India.

• R. K. Shanmukham Chetty ,,, Sir R. K. Shanmukham Chetty (1892 – 1953) was an economist. Chetty graduated from the prestigious Madras Christian College . He became the first finance minister of India after it became independent in 1947. He belonged to Tamil Vania Chetty family who were traditional businessmen in Tamil Nadu that owned mills in Coimbatore. He believed in constitutional means rather than confrontational means to secure self-rule and independence. He was the Chief Whip of the Swarajya Party for some time.

• Jagjivan Ram (Devanāgarī: जगजीवन राम) (5 April 1908 - 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji was a freedom fighter and a social reformer hailing from the backward classes of Bihar in India. He served as a minister in the Indian parliament with various portfolios for more than forty years, and also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India.

• Baldev Singh was an Indian Sikh political leader, he was an Indian independence movement leader and first Defence Minister of India. Moreover, he represented the Punjabi Sikh community in the processes of negotiations that resulted in the independence of India, as well as the Partition of India in 1947.

  After independence, Baldev Singh was chosen to become the first Minister of Defence, and served in this post during the first Kashmir war between India and Pakistan. He is addressed often with the title of Sardar, which in Punjabi and Hindi means Leader or Chief.

Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality

Israel and Gaza: rhetoric and reality

Avi Shlaim

The historical record of Israel's dealings with Gaza sheds light on its strategic aims in the current conflict there, says Avi Shlaim.

7 - 01 - 2009

The only way to make sense of Israel's senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. The establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials were aware at the time of the grave injustice perpetrated by one-sided American support for the Israelis. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to foreign secretary Ernest Bevin that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". I used to think that this judgment is too harsh; but Israel's vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the George W Bush administration's complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.

Avi Shlaim is a professor of international relations at St Antony's College, Oxford. Among his books are The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (WW Norton, 1999) and (as co-editor) The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (Cambridge University Press, 2001). His most recent book is Lion of Jordan: the Life of King Hussein in War and Peace (Penguin, 2007)

Also by Avi Shlaim in openDemocracy:

"Israel, free speech, and the Oxford Union" (13 November 2007)

"Israel at 60: the 'iron wall' revisited" (8 May 2008I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the "green line". The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip in the aftermath of the war of June 1967 had very little to do with security and everything to do with territorial expansionism. The aim was to establish "greater Israel" through permanent political, economic, and military control over the Palestinian territories. The result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times.

The legacy

Almost four decades of Israeli control did enormous damage to the economy of the Gaza strip. With a large population of the refugees from 1948 and their descendants crammed into a tiny sliver of land, with no infrastructure or natural resources, Gaza's prospects were never bright. Gaza, however, is not simply a case of economic underdevelopment but a uniquely cruel case of deliberate de-development. Israel turned the people of Gaza into a source of cheap labour and a captive market for Israeli goods. The development of local industry was actively impeded so as to make it impossible for the Palestinians to end their subordination to Israel and to establish the economic underpinnings essential for real political independence.

Gaza is a classic case of colonial exploitation in the post-colonial era. Civilian settlements in occupied territories are immoral, illegal, and an insurmountable obstacle to peace. They are at once the instrument of exploitation and the symbol of the hated occupation. In Gaza the pre-2005 Jewish settlers numbered only 8,000 compared with 1,400,000 local residents. Yet the settlers controlled 25% of the territory, 40% of the arable land, and the lion's share of the scarce water resources. The majority of the local population lived in close proximity to these foreign intruders in abject poverty and unimaginable misery. 80% of them subsist on less than $2 a day. The living conditions in the strip are an affront to civilised values, a powerful precipitant to resistance, and a fertile ground for political extremism.

In August 2005, an Israeli government of the rightwing Likud headed by Ariel Sharon staged a unilateral pullout from Gaza, withdrawing all 8,000 settlers and destroying the houses and farms they left behind. Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement, exacted a price that even Israel's rightwing leaders were no longer prepared to pay. The withdrawal was a victory for Hamas and a humiliation for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). To the world, Sharon presented the withdrawal from Gaza as a contribution to peace based on a two-state solution. But in the following year, another 12,000 Israelis settled on the West Bank, further reducing the scope for an independent Palestinian state. Land-grabbing and peacemaking are simply incompatible. Israel had a choice and it chose land over peace.

The real purpose behind the move was to redraw unilaterally the borders of greater Israel by incorporating the main settlement blocs on the West Bank to the state of Israel. The withdrawal from Gaza was thus not a prelude to a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority but a prelude to further Zionist expansion on the West Bank. It was a unilateral Israeli move undertaken in what was seen, mistakenly in my view, as an Israeli national interest. The withdrawal from Gaza was anchored in a fundamental rejection of the Palestinian national identity, and part of a long-term effort to deny the Palestinian people any independent political existence on their land.

Among openDemocracy's many articles on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

Eyal Weizman, "Ariel Sharon and the geometry of occupation" - in three parts (September 2003)

Stephen Howe, "The death of Arafat and the end of national liberation" (18 November 2004)

Mient Jan Faber, "Talking to terrorists in Gaza" (14 February 2005)

Eric Silver, "Israel's political map is redrawn" (25 November 2005)

Jim Lederman, "Ariel Sharon and Israel's unique democracy" (12 January 2006)

Eóin Murray, "After Hamas: a time for politics" (30 January 2006)

Thomas O'Dwyer, "Did Hizbollah miscalculate? The view from Israel" (14 July 2006)

Laurence Louër, "Arabs in Israel: on the move" (20 April 2007)

Eric Silver, "A united, worried Israel" (21 July 2007)

Thomas O'Dwyer, "Israel's post-heroic disaster" (30 April 2007)

Yossi Alpher, "Israel: you can't reverse time" (7 June 2007)

Fred Halliday, "Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq: three crises" (22 June 2007)

Volker Perthes, "Beyond peace: Israel, the Arab world, and Europe" (22 January 2008)

John Strawson, Rosemary Bechler, "Palestine: the pursuit of justice" (28 January 2008)

Yossi Alpher, "Gaza's agency, Israel's choice" (29 January 2008)

Eyad Sarraj, "'Gaza is quite a dynamic place now':an interview" (29 January 2008)

Geoffrey Bindman, "Gaza: unlock this prison" (7 March 2008)

Jeroen Gunning, "Hamas: talk to them" (18 April 2008)

Paul Rogers, "Gaza: hope after attack" (1 January 2009)

Israel's settlers were withdrawn but Israeli soldiers continued to control all access to the Gaza strip by land, sea, and air. Gaza was converted overnight into an open-air prison. From this point on the Israeli air force enjoyed unrestricted freedom to drop bombs, to make sonic-booms by flying low and breaking the sound barrier, and to terrorise the hapless inhabitants of this prison.

The contradiction

Israel likes to portray itself as an island of democracy in a sea of authoritarianism. Yet Israel has never in its entire history done anything to promote democracy on the Arab side and a great deal to undermine it. Israel has a long history of secret collaboration with reactionary Arab regimes to suppress Palestinian nationalism.

Despite all the handicaps, the Palestinian people succeeded in building the only genuine democracy in the Arab world (with the possible exception of Lebanon). In January 2006 free and fair elections for the legislative council of the Palestinian Authority brought to power a Hamas-led government. Israel, however, refused to recognise the democratically-elected government, claiming that Hamas is purely and simply a terrorist organisation.

America and the European Union shamelessly joined Israel in ostracising and demonising the Hamas government and in trying to bring it down by withholding tax revenues and foreign aid. A surreal situation thus developed - where a significant part of the international community imposed economic sanctions not against the occupier but against the occupied, not against the oppressor but against the oppressed.

As so often in the tragic history of Palestine, the victims were blamed for their own misfortunes. Israel's propaganda machine persistently purveyed the notion that the Palestinians are terrorists, that they reject coexistence with the Jewish state, that their nationalism is little more than anti-semitism, that Hamas is just a bunch of religious fanatics, and that Islam is incompatible with democracy. But the simple truth is that the Palestinian people are a normal people with normal aspirations. They are no better but they are no worse than any other national group. What they aspire to, above all, is a piece of land to call their own on which to live in freedom and dignity.

Hamas, like other radical movements, began to moderate its political programme following its rise to power. From the ideological rejectionism of its charter, it began to move towards pragmatic accommodation to a two-state solution. In March 2007, Hamas and Fatah (the secular-nationalist movement led by Yasser Arafat until his death in November 2004) formed a national-unity government which was ready to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with Israel. Israel, however, refused to negotiate with a government which included Hamas.

Instead, it continued to play the old game of divide-and-rule between rival Palestinian factions. In the late 1980s, Israel had supported the nascent Hamas in order to weaken Fatah. Now Israel began to encourage the corrupt and pliant Fatah leaders to overthrow their religious political rivals and recapture power. Aggressive American neo-conservatives, led by Elliot Abrams, participated in the sinister plot to instigate a Palestinian civil war. Their meddling was a major factor in the collapse of the national-unity government and in driving Hamas to seize power in Gaza in June 2007 to pre-empt a Fatah coup.

The deception

The war unleashed by Israel on Gaza on 27 December 2008 was the culmination of a series of clashes and confrontations with the Hamas government. In a broader sense, however, it is a war between Israel and the Palestinian people - because the people had elected the party to power. The declared aim of the war is to weaken Hamas and to intensify the pressure until its leaders agreed to a new ceasefire on Israel's terms. The undeclared aim is to ensure that the Palestinians in Gaza are seen by the world simply as a humanitarian problem and thus to derail their struggle for independence and statehood.

The timing of the war was determined by political expediency. A general election in Israel is scheduled for 10 February 2009; as it approaches, all the main contenders are looking for an opportunity to prove their toughness. The army's commanders had been eager to deliver a crushing blow to Hamas in order to remove the stain left on their reputation by the failure of the war against Hizbollah in Lebanon in July-August 2006. Israel's cynical leaders could also count on the apathy and impotence of the pro-western Arab regimes and on blind support from President Bush in the twilight of his term in the White House. Bush readily obliged by putting all the blame for the crisis on Hamas, vetoing proposals at the United Nations Security Council for an immediate ceasefire, and issuing Israel with a free pass to mount a ground invasion of Gaza.

As always, mighty Israel claims to be the victim of Palestinian aggression but the sheer asymmetry of power between the two sides leaves little room for doubt as to who is the real victim. This is indeed a conflict between David and Goliath, but the Biblical image has been inverted - a small and defenceless Palestinian David faces a heavily armed, merciless, and overbearing Israeli Goliath. The resort to brute military force is accompanied, as always, by the shrill rhetoric of victimhood and a farrago of self-pity overlaid with self-righteousness. In Hebrew this is known as the syndrome of bokhim ve-yorim ("crying and shooting").

True, Hamas is not an entirely innocent party in this conflict. The movement, denied the fruit of its electoral victory and confronted with an unscrupulous adversary, has resorted to the weapon of the weak - terror. Militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad kept launching Qassam rocket-attacks against Israeli settlements near the border with Gaza until Egypt brokered a six-month ceasefire in June 2008. The damage caused by these primitive rockets is minimal but the psychological impact is immense, prompting the Israeli public to demand protection from its government. Under the circumstances, Israel had the right to act in self-defence but its response to the pin-pricks of rocket attacks was totally disproportionate. The figures speak for themselves: in the three years after the withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, eleven Israelis were killed by rocket-fire; whereas in 2005-07 alone, the IDF killed 1,290 Palestinians (including 222 children) in Gaza.

Whatever the numbers, killing civilians is wrong - period. This rule applies to Israel as much as it does to Hamas but Israel's entire record is one of unbridled and unremitting brutality towards the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel also maintained the blockade of Gaza after the ceasefire came into force which, in the view of the Hamas leaders, amounted to a violation of the agreement. During the ceasefire, Israel prevented any exports from leaving the strip in clear violation of a 2005 accord, leading to a sharp drop in employment opportunities. Even by official estimates, almost half of the working-age population in Gaza is unemployed. At the same time, Israel restricted drastically the number of trucks carrying food, fuel, cooking-gas canisters, spare parts for water and sanitation plants, and medical supplies to Gaza. It is difficult to see how starving and freezing the civilians of Gaza could protect the people on the Israeli side of the border. But even if it did, it would still be immoral, a form of collective punishment which is strictly forbidden by international humanitarian law.

The brutality of Israel's soldiers is fully matched by the mendacity of its spokespersons. In April 2008, Israel established a National Information Directorate. The core messages of this directorate to the media are that Hamas broke the ceasefire agreements; that Israel's objective is the defence of its population; and that Israel's forces are taking the utmost care not to hurt innocent civilians. Israel's spin-doctors have been remarkably successful in getting this message across. But in essence their propaganda is a pack of lies.

The problem

A wide gap separates the reality of Israel's actions from its rhetoric. It was not Hamas but the IDF that broke the ceasefire. It did so by a raid into Gaza on 4 November 2008 - the night of the presidential election in the United States - which killed six Hamas men. Israel's objective is not just the defence of its population but the eventual overthrow of the Hamas government in Gaza by turning the people against their rulers. Moreover, far from taking care to spare civilians, Israel is guilty both of indiscriminate bombing and of a three-year old blockade that has brought the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Biblical injunction of an eye for an eye is savage enough. But Israel's insane offensive against Gaza seems to follow the logic of an eye for an eyelash. After eight days of bombing with a death toll of over 400 Palestinian and four Israelis, the gung-ho cabinet ordered a land invasion of Gaza that is ongoing and whose consequences are incalculable.

No amount of military escalation can buy Israel immunity from rocket-attacks from the military wing of Hamas. Despite all the death and destruction that Israel has inflicted on them, they kept up their resistance and they kept firing their rockets. This is a movement that glorifies victimhood and martyrdom. There is simply no military solution to the conflict between the two communities.

The problem with Israel's concept of security is that it denies even the most elementary security to the other community. The only way for Israel to achieve security is not through shooting but through talks with Hamas which has repeatedly declared its readiness to negotiate a long-term ceasefire with the Jewish state within its pre-1967 borders that would last twenty, thirty or even fifty years. Israel has rejected this offer for the same reason it spurned the Arab League peace plan of 2002 which is still on the table: it involves concessions and compromises.

This brief review of Israel's record over the past four decades makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that it has become a rogue state with "an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders". A rogue state habitually violates international law, possesses weapons of mass destruction, and practices terrorism - the use of violence against civilians for political purposes. Israel fulfils all of these three criteria; the cap fits and it must wear it. Israel's real aim is not peaceful coexistence with its Palestinian neighbours but military domination. It keeps compounding the mistakes of the past with new and more disastrous ones. Politicians, like everyone else, are free to repeat the lies and mistakes of the past. But it is not mandatory to do so.

MBA Aspirant 2009-10

World's most competitive economies

The 20th annual World Competitiveness Yearbook, published by IMD business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, ranks 55 economies based on economic growth and how they manage their path to prosperity. The 12 of the world's most competitive economies with their ranks are as follows

1. U.S.
2. Singapore
3. Hong Kong
4. Switzerland
5. Luxembourg
6. Denmark
7. Australia
8. Canada
9. Sweden
10. Netherlands
11. Norway
12. Ireland
13. 
    

India's top 10 pharma companies

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the second-fastest growing industry sector in the country. It has shown a revenue growth of 27.32 per cent (as per the latest data available) to touch Rs 25,196.48 crore (Rs 251.96 billion) in 2006-07.

#1. Ranbaxy
Ranbaxy is India's largest pharmaceutical company with a 2007 turnover of Rs 4,198.96 crore (Rs 41.989 billion) by sales. The deal will create the 15th biggest drugmaker globally.

#2. Dr Reddy's Laboratories
Dr Reddy's Labs, with a 2007 turnover of Rs 4,162.25 crore (Rs 41.622 billion), is India's second largest drug firm by sales.

#3. Cipla
Pharma major Cipla is India's third largest pharmaceutical firm. Its 2007 revenues stood at Rs 3,763.72 crore (Rs 37.637 billion).

#4. Sun Pharma Industries
The Dilip Sanghvi-led Sun Pharma is the nation's 4th largest pharma company at a 2007 revenue Rs 2,463.59 crore (Rs 24.635 billion).

#5. Lupin Labs
Lupin Labs is India's 5th largest drugs firm. Its 2007 revenue was at Rs 2,215.52 crore (Rs 22.155 billion).

#6. Aurobindo Pharma
Aurobindo is India's 6th largest pharma firm by sales. Its 2007 revenues stood at Rs 2,080.19 crore (Rs 20.801 billion).

#7. GlaxoSmithKline Pharma
GSK is India's 7th largest drug company with a turnover of Rs 1,773.41 crore (Rs 17.734 billion) for 2007.

#8. Cadila Healthcare
Cadila's 2007 revenue was Rs 1,613.00 crore (Rs 16.13 billion), which makes it India's 8th largest pharma firm.

#9. Aventis Pharma
Aventis Pharma, with a 2007 revenue of Rs 983.80 crore (Rs 9.838 billion) is the 9th largest Indian drug company.

#10. Ipca Laboratories
At a revenue of Rs 980.44 crore (Rs 9.804 billion), Ipca is India's 10th largest pharma firm by sales.

Germany - world's biggest exporter

• World's largest exporter: Germany
• Revenues: $1.3 trillion from exports Share: 9.5% of all merchandise exports
• Close behind: China & America
• The 3 together: 1/4th of the world's exports.
• Biggest importer: America, $2 trillion of merchandise imports from abroad, nearly twice as much as its nearest rival, Germany.
• Growth in merchandise exports fell to 5.5% from 8.5% in 2006 as demand weakened in developed economies.

Global Business Leaders

Sheldon Adelson: Chairman of Las Vegas Sands Corp., While honeymooning with his wife in Italy, Adelson came up with the idea for creating the Venetian in Las Vegas. The property, which has won many awards, is not only recognized as one of the best hotels in the world, it is also widely credited for revolutionizing the hotel and casino industry in Las Vegas.

Paul Gardner Allen : Co-founder of Microsoft Philanthropist, Allen co-founded Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates, cementing his place in the list of all-time most accomplished entrepreneurs.

Micky Arison: CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, Turned Carnival Cruise Lines into the largest cruise ship operator in the world and continues to expand the company.
S. Daniel Abraham: Founder of Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation, Abraham turned Slim-Fast into a household name. Later, he used the money he gained from selling his company to raise political and social awareness for many issues, most notably peace in the Middle East.

Leonard Abramson: Founder of U.S. Healthcare, Philanthropist, This former cab driver founded U.S. Healthcare. He ran the company as CEO before selling it to Aetna in 1996 for an astounding $8.3 billion.

John Abele: Founder & Director of Boston Scientific Corporation, John Abele is known as pioneer of less invasive medicine. Under his direction, the corporation he founded, Boston Scientific, has developed medical products that reduce risk, trauma, and recovery time for patients looking for an alternative to surgery.

Ratan Tata (Chairman, Tata Group): As head of one of India's most venerated family businesses, Tata, has unique stature. The Tata Group, which is one of India's largest conglomerates, includes India's largest software house, one of its most prestigious hotel chains (the Taj), and sprawling steelmaking operations, as well as leading players in consulting, wireless, and cable services. Since taking over in 1991, Tata has made numerous big-ticket deals. But his heart is set on a project closer to home: creating a $2,500 car that middle-class Indians can buy. He is again into the lime light for the historical Tata-Jaguar deal (See details of this deal).

Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican businessman and multibillionaire who made his fortune in the Latin American telecommunications industry with controlling interests in firms such as Teléfonos de México (Telmex), Telcel and América Móvil.

George W. Buckley, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer at 3M Co. since December 2005. Before joining 3M in 2005, Mr. Buckley was Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Brunswick Corporation since 2000- 2005, and served in other executive positions at Brunswick Corporation from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Buckley is on the board of the following public company in addition to 3M: The Black & Decker Corporation. Director since 2005.

Warren Buffett: Known as "the Oracle of Omaha", Buffett is Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and arguably the greatest investor of all time. His wealth fluctuates with the performance of the market but as of 2008 his net worth was estimated at $62 billion, making him the richest man in the world. Buffett is a value investor. His company Berkshire Hathaway is basically a holding company for his investments. Major holdings he has had at some point include Coca-Cola, American Express and Gillette. Critics predicted an end to his success when his conservative investing style meant missing out on the dotcom bull market. Of course, he had the last laugh after the dotcom crash because, once again, Buffett's time tested strategy proved successful.

20080414

More taglines of major companies

Thai Airways - "Smooth as Silk"
MICROSOFT- "Your Potential. Our Passion"
Ford ICON - "The Josh Machine"
NOKIA - "Connecting People"
The Economics Times - "The power of Knowledge"
DLF - "Building INDIA"
Rivolta - "Undress Code For Men"
WILLS CLASSIC - "Discover a Passion"
ZEE NEWS - "Haqueqat Jaisi, Khabar Waisi"
MARUTI SX4 - "Men are Back"
AVIVA LIFE INSURANCE - " Kal par Control"
Thai Airways - "Smooth as Silk"
Panasonic - "ideas for life"

Taglines and brands of major companies

ABN AMRO Bank - Making More Possible
Accenture - High Performance. Delivered
Adobe - Simplicity at work. Better by adobe.
AIG or American International Group Insurance Company - We know Money
Air Canada - A breath of Fresh Air
Allianz Group - The Power on your side
AMAZON.COM - Earth's Biggest BookStore
ANDHRA BANK - "Much more to do, with YOU in focus."
Apple Macintosh - Think Different.
ARCELOR - Steel solutions for a better world
AT&T - The World's Networking Company
Bank of America - Higher Standards
Bank of Baroda - India's International Bank
BANK OF RAJASTHAN - Dare to Dream
Barclays - Fluent in Finance; Its our business to know your business
Be Fearless. - SYMANTEC
BIG BAZAAR - Is se sasta aur Achcha kahee nahee milenga
BIOCON - The difference lies in our DNA
BLOGGER.COM - Push Button Publishing
BLOOMINGDALES - Like no other store in the world
BMW - The Ultimate Driving Machine
BOEING - Forever new Frontiers
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) - The Edge is Efficiency
BPCL - Pure for Sure
British airways - The Way to Fly.
British Petroleum - Beyond Petroleum
BUSINESS INDIA - The Magazine of the Corporate World
BUSINESS TODAY - For Managing Tomorrow
BUSINESS WORLD - Play the Game
Caring for life - CIPLA
CAST AWAY - "At the edge of the world, his journey begins "
CEAT - Born Tough
CENTRAL - Shop. Eat. Celebrate
CHEVROLET AVEO - When Good is not good enough.
Chevron Corporation - Human Energy
CHIP - Intelligent Computing
Choose Freedom - TOSHIBA
CITIGROUP or CITIBANK - The Citi Never Sleeps
CNBC - Profit from it
COMPTRON and GREAVES - Everyday Solutions
Dell - Easy as DELL.
Deutsche Bank - A Passion to Perform
DIGIT - Your Technology Navigator
DR. REDDY'S LABORATORIES - ÿLife. Research. Hope
DUPONT - The Miracles of Science
EBAY - The World's Online Market Place
EPSON - Exceed Your Vision
Ernst and Young - Quality in Everything we Do
Essar corp - A positive a++itude
Exxon Mobil - Taking on the World's Toughest Energy Challenges
FIAT - Driven by Passion. FIAT
FORD - Built for the Road Ahead
GAIL - Gas and Beyond
GM - Only GM.
HAIER - Inspired Living
HINDUSTAN TIMES - The Name India trusts for News
HOME DEPOT - You can do it. We can Help.
HONDA - The Power of Dreams
HP Invent - Everything is Possible
HSBC - The World's Local Bank
HYUNDAI - Drive Your Way
IBM - ON DEMAND
IBM - " I think, therefore IBM."
IBP - Pure bhi. Poora bhi
Infosys - " Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values; Improve your odds with Infosys Predictability"
Intel - Intel inside.
IOCL - Bringing Energy to Life
Jet Airways - The Joy of Flying
JVC - The Perfect Experience
Kingfisher Airlines - Fly the good times
KMART - The stuff of life.
Kotak - Think Investments. Think Kotak.
KROGER - Costs less to get more
LARSEN and TOUBRO - We make things which make India proud
LEE - The jeans that built America
Lehman Brothers - Where Vision Gets Built
LENOVO - We are building a new technology company.
Life's Good - LG
Lufthansa - There's no better to fly
Macromedia - What the web can be.
Malaysian Airlines - Going Beyond Expectations
Master card - There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there'sÿMASTERCARD.
Max NewYork Life Insurance - Your Partner for life
McDowells Signature - The New Sign of Success.
METRO - The spirit of Commerce
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company or Metlife. - Have You Met Life Today
Microsoft - Where Do You Want to Go Today ; Your Potential Our Passion
MITTAL STEEL - Shaping the future of steel
Monster.com - Never Settle
MRF - Tyres with Muscle
NASDAQ - Stock market for the digital world
NDTV Profit - News you can Use.
NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) - The world puts its stock in us
ONGC - Making Tomorrow Brighter
PHILLIPS - Sense and Simplicity
Prudential Insurance Company - Growing and Protecting your wealth
Reliance industries Limited - Growth is Life
Sahara - Emotionally yours.
SAMSUNG - Everyone's Invited or Its hard to Imagine
SANSUI - Born in Japan Entertaining The World
SBI DEBIT CARD - Welcome to a Cashless World.
Servo - 100 % Performance. Everytime.
Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) - Tomorrow Market's Today.
SKODA - Obsessed with Quality since 1897.
SONY - Like. No. Other.
Speed - High Performance Petrol
Standard Chartered Bank - Your Right Partner
Standard Insurance Company Limited. - Positively Different.
Star Sports - We know your game
Sun Microsystems - The Network is the Computer
SUZLON ENERGY - Powering a Greener Tomorrow.
TATA MOTORS - Even More Car per Car
TCS - Beyond the Obvious
TESCO - Every Little Helps
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - Read a Bestseller everyday
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW - Where will you be
THE ECONOMIC TIMES - The Power of Knowledge
The Indian EXPRESS - Journalism of Courage
TIMESJOBS.COM - " If you have a reason, we have the job "
TITANIC - Collide With Destiny.
TOYOTA - Touch The Perfection
Toyota Innova - All you Desire.
UBS - You and Us
Union Bank of India - Good People to Bank with
VIDEOCON - The Indian Multinational
VIZAG STEEL - Pride of Steel
VOLKSWAGEN - Drivers wanted
WALMART - Always low prices. Always.
Windows XP - Do More with Less
WIPRO - Applying Thought