2007 in retrospect

As the year 2007 rolls before our eyes, this must be the best time to introspect about what was promised, what we gained and what was lost this year. The year 2007 was a mixed bag with new techies for nerds,lot of political and warmongering, debacles and resurgence in sports.Nature was a bit friendly this time around (still a day to go). As you sit in comfort in front of your screens sipping coffee and
enjoying New Year lets have 2007 in retrospect. This is not any best or worst list but is just the remainder of why will remember this year (or probably try to forget it).

Year when Apple became Microsoft (OS Wars):

This year saw the launch of much anticipated Apple iPhone with the aim of changing the way people use there phones and communicate. Replacing off all cumbersome
buttons with a beautiful touchscreen and providing all host of other features made this a most successful product of the year and this was confirmed as Apple sold approx. 5 million iPhones by year end. Apple also introduced latest of its series of macs with launch of feature rich Leopard. On the other hand Microsoft carried on with its scrappy and buggy Vista OS and released its sp1. On Linux front newer versions of OS were launched and conversion rate from Windows and Macs substantially increased. However the thing this year will be remembered for will be that Apple started adopting policies which made it assume the role of Microsoft. From DRM controversy to
ringtones on iPhone to 3^rd Party Apps and similar other anti-customer policies made lots of Addle devouts think again who were supported by iWoz. With growing sales of its iPod, iPhone and Macs there is also a growing resentment against Apple and Steve Jobs must do a serious thinking here.

Bush fire..Iraq..Iran and counting:
After “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, Bush this time around tried to turn Americans towards Iran. However due to American elections next year, lack of World support and findings of last NIE his support is all time low. Bush's position further weakened on
international front due to his stand on issues like Iran sanctions,emissions and also due to exit of his right hand man Tony Blair. He is at present not only troubled by internal problems like elections, medicare etc but problems in Pakistan, Middle East and growing clout of Russia also are a major cause of concern.

Europe loses its E:
Probably this was the biggest Sports news of the year as Mighty England were ousted from the Euro2008 Cup to be held in Austria-Switzerland next year. With a loss to Russia in Moscow and
poor performance in qualifying this was imminent. Even with all the big players like Lampard, Gerrard, Cole & Beckham this was quite embarrassing besides costing a fortune to FA. FA in the end made a face-saving attempt by replacing Steve McLaren with Fabio Capello. English football is rotten to roots as we see in every major
competitions and until work on building a sound base, team spirit and controlling player egos is done it will be difficult seeing England qualifying even for next World cup.

Even 123 gets difficult:
Probably this was the most embarrassing event for India. As India was about to enter Official league of Nuclear states, on the verge of getting perennial fuel supply, technology and
investment, the party was spoiled be CPI who claim to be the only true communist party in the World. They are neither communists, are a bunch of zealots instead of a party and are neither Indian taking orders from China. Not only have they stagnated West Bengal, they also prevent ruling INC from introducing any sound measures. And as
Nandigram boiled what they did was not less than Gujarat Carnage. There opposition to government policies, interrupting functioning and making Taslima Nasreen leave WB towards the year end always kept them in News but all for wrong reasons.

Global warming heats up the Big League:
This was the year when Environment and Global finally became important issues on International Stage. With a Nobel being given for this cause & various doomsday projections people have began to realize the severity of the problem. International Conferences & Bali Meet also highlighted the importance of the issue. This year also saw the efforts to reduce the cost of generation of solar electricity and first such commercial panels were also introduced. There success depends on availability, public motivation and government policies.But this has become clear that global warming is the most important problem facing mankind. Though many issues remain unattended like
responsibility of developed nations, adherence to emission standards etc.

T20 bang on:
Probably the only big and good news for India this year was T20 World Cup win in South Africa. Though started 3-4 years back as an experiment in county cricket, people had its first experience and they loved it. This World Cup in stark difference to earlier held World Cup was a big success. Not only matches were less time consuming making it highly audience friendly but the overall length of tournament was also decreased from original edition. Definitely T20 is here to stay and seriously questions the relevance of 50 over cricket.

Some more additions can also be made like
+ Ferrari-McLaren Dispute
+ Bhutto Assassination
+ Year of Rehabs
+ Resurgence under Wenger
+ 2 girls 1 cup :P

If you feel something more should also be added then surely fire me a mail
at jatiesch@gmail.com or leave a comment. Wishing you and your family Seasons greetings and a Happy New Year.

Bhutto Assassinated - Ramifications

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday after addressing a large gathering of her supporters. Bhutto died of a gunshot wound to the neck, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said. The attacker then blew himself up. The bomb attack killed at least 22 others, doctors said.
(Courtesy CNN)

Not unexpected. Yet unthinkable and horrible.This must be in the minds of most of the people as they come to terms with assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto was in present times a hope for Pakistan's future and had a massive following with masses.

Ever since Bhutto returned Pakistan was inflamed with Political activity. Her touchdown welcome attack with killed hundreds in October was just a remainder of things to come. Surely being a front runner for elusive PM seat she had many opponents ready to kill her to advance their political ambitions.A widow of former Prime Minister and being a woman in Islamic Republic further could have worked against her. Though myself not a big fan of Bhutto, I surely feel she was the need of the hour for mending Pakistani political turmoil. She had a large base, could bring people to table to solve issues and was probably most able face for Musharraf's scheme of things. But if Musharraf is not directly involved, it is still his fault of not maintaining law and order with whole truckloads of army and personnel. Now this tragedy will be introspected over the coming days and hopefully murderers will be caught. But its ramifications on various people and groups can be guessed:

On Pakistan: Surely will suffer the most. Losing their leader in a country seriously void of able leaders will give them a big jolt towards achieving free democracy. But this will surely fuel more violence and unrest in Pakistan in days to come.

On Musharraf: On top of the list of usual suspects at this juncture to point fingers at is Musharraf. Sadly he also knows this and also probably the attackers (considering they weren't in same league with Musharraf). Bhutto was an important part of Musharraf's future strategy and her loss along with violence accompanied with hit will be a big setback for him. Must assuage Bhutto supporters now and mend ways with Nawaz Sharif.

On Nawaz Sharif: will surely gain from this as his way is now almost clear for being next Prime Minister. However anti-government, pro-Taliban and pro-Bhutto supporters will be ready to pounce on him now. Must now lead the way is bringing all factions to table with the help of Musharraf and bring some order in already torn house.

On India: Sadly we can only wait and watch. As before, its still the case of choosing bad from worst. No leader in Pakistan has any genuine aspirations to maintain healthy cross border relations beyond regular PR exercises. But in my point of view Pakistan in turmoil is much worst than under the control of corrupt but stable government which can keep Talibani fractions under control.

On America and World: America has reiterated time to time of importance of Pakistan in so called "War on Terror". But with Pakistan in trouble they have a much bigger problem than Iran. In Iran there is a doubt of Nuclear weapons. But here is a full blown chance of the same passing into the hands of terror groups as government control weakens. Hence they must act quickly to somehow restore peace in Pakistan.

Though it is very early to comment on the outcome and ramifications of these attacks, we can only hope that peace is quickly restored and democracy prevails on our neighboring doors. Mrs Benazir Bhutto RIP.

Another Soviet in Making???

With declaration of date for Presidential elections on 2nd December media and blogosphere is full of news related to who will lead the largest country in world. Opinions are multifarious ranging from suppression of free speech to voice of liberal electorate and hailing Putin as most successful leader post Soviet breakdown. Well you can easily predict the media speculation depending on your media source. While US and western commentators have severely criticized the way elections are handled in Russia, reports coming from 'Mother Russia' are mostly favorable possibly due to state control of media. But the real perspective is confusing to people outside. Whatever be Putin's approval rating, whatever be the Russian economic progress the signs given by Russia surely decreases its credibility on International front instead of improving.

More and more Anti-Kremlin activists are attacked and arrested in Russia. Russian police broke up an opposition rally and detained about 150 people in St Petersburg, including opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. This happens after former chess champion Garry Kasparov, was arrested at a rally in Moscow on Saturday. Both protests were organised by opposition group The Other Russia. It accuses the government of crushing dissent ahead of elections. TOR has been accusing the government of crushing dissent ahead of elections.Since the last election there has also been a series of significant changes to electoral laws which opposition parties say aims to push them out of the political system. Major points are increasing the minimum percentage of votes required for a party to enter parliament, increasing the minimum number of members a party must have in order to be officially registered by the authorities and banning independent candidates from running for parliament. In face of these and no scope for independent financing, no access to independent media and no access to independent justice there's no possibility to become an opposition.

However pro-Putin supporters ( United Russia) are also not devoid of logic. They see Putin as provider of regional stability and a force against Unipolar World. Supporters of the Kremlin dismiss all allegations of opposition parties as the complaints of losers. Russia was falling apart when Mr Putin came to power. The country needed a strong leader, and it's to Mr Putin's credit that Russia survives as a geographic entity. He has also achieved another important victory. Russians are now proud to be living in their country, which few people could say in the 1990s. GDP growth has been exponential backing on oil and gas prices. These have helped Putin to leverage Russia's position on erstwhile soviet countries and World scene.

However even Kremlin supporters cannot negate the growing menace of corruption in Russian society and there increasing isolation in World community. The only achievement of Vladimir Putin is that some of the money brought to the county by high oil prices hasn't been stolen. There is some investment and it seems to be paying off. Business tycoons who defy Moscow are sent on Siberian Holiday and there is always a threat of nationalization.

Now Putin is bringing one Viktor Zubkov from obscurity to become Russian President and he being in control of strings from behind. Planning is probably done that Zubkov will resign in some time paving way for Putin to again become President. What will transpire, we will come to know in a month or so. Till then "Hail Mother Russia"

C2D in Working…

‘Centre would deal with Naxalism in a “holistic” manner.’ – Shivraj Patil (HM)

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee - “They were paid back with their own coin” while training his guns at Trinamool Congress workers.

Look within the two lines, its clear as a crystal. Bagging front lines in all National Dailies nowadays is the News of recent spate of violence in Nandigram and adjoin areas. These happenings in CPM’s own citadel reflects the results of there idealistic approach towards present world scenario. They remain cocooned in the Ideals of Bolsheviks when everyone including there forefathers (read Russia) and fathers (China) are giving up communism and fostering capitalism. But the picture is much murkier here. Not that CPM solely is responsible for killing, as it appears that Trinamool Congress supporters were also involved in the incident. But the scale of violence and the duration for which it has extended surprises us all. Why could so powerful CPM could not quell violence it its own adobe?? Further why was center so silent about the happenings?? It could have easily sent Army to Nandigram where it could have easily brought the onslaught under control. But No, Centre did not respond and the goons & mafia hired by political forces virtually rampaged entire area. Nandigram was almost cut from the country and no news, death toll or pictures were made available so as to give free hand to CPMs goons in the area.


Prakash Karat justified cadre action and blamed the Maoists and Trinamul for the violence while the Bengal CM argued that his government didn’t do anything in wrong politically cleansing Nandigram. What a shame! CPM cadres celebrating there victory over a small village is truly shocking. But much more unnerving was the quietness of centre and the U-Turn by CPM on its stance on Nuclear Deal. While CPM earlier was vehemently opposed to even discuss the deal now its supportive of the Central governments stance. This all gives us a view of bigger machinations running undercover where nor the violence nor the killing of innocent have any significance when political power comes into question. Cooperate to Dominate is the mantra of our truly headless chicken politicians and we paltry citizens can only watch.

Undemocratic Democracy

"This is not just a journey for me, but the beginning of a journey for the people of Pakistan for a better future" - Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister, on returning to Pakistan on September 18th after an eight-year self-imposed exile.

But what followed was a bloody massacre killing over 150. Over the last few weeks media, newspapers and blogosphere are filled with news of homecoming of erstwhile Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. There has been a mixed response to this home coming of PPL leader. Most are happy as they believe that this will see an end to long dictatorial regime of Gen Mussharaf as Bhutto comes waving the flag of democracy. But these trails for democracy have been too common and Army Generals have wiped them off easily as seen with Nawaz Sharif, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto etc. Main point to stress here is that army is way to powerful in Pakistan and is actively involved in day to day working of Pakistani State machinery. So its interference cannot be easily derided and so each and every so called democratic government is in fact only an enterprise serving Army rather than Nation.

Many do not recognize BB as a deserving candidate for leading the country. The reason was the way in which she left the country. Bhutto comes as a failed former prime minister, accused of grand-scale thieving who ran away to save her conviction (in fact she is granted amnesty by Mush). Ulterior motive is the face saving act by Mush to salvage something for his next stint as President. BB is just a vassal in this scheme of things and will just provide a face to connect with people and give right messages to international community. Rest will remain the same as before if one
go according to the deal between the two.

However strength of Musharraf itself is doubted by pundits as he is surrounded on all sides which are ready to pounce for his head. On one side are Al Quida people who are upset with Mush's American fling, then there is political opposition from other parties, there is Army who are not getting to many incentives (and wars), troubled regions of Balochistan and world pressure. So how effective and lasting this deal will be is questionable.

Another point is what should we Indians think about this development. Return of democracy can be a welcome thought for Indians but that of Bhutto is surely not. She was the first one to fuel terrorists in the region by arms, aids and money against India. Her provoking rhetoric against Kashmiri pandits cannot be easily forgotten. Many feel that she is herself responsible for Karachi bombings and this may again be a scheme to gather public sympathy and support.

Whatever happens will be eagerly watched but its foolish to think that India may gain anything from this. Pakistan is going towards destruction. It is already an International terror hub, biggest arms market and these things should be addressed by India on its own front. Mr. Mush will surely be either going to seek political asylum outside Pakistan or going to be hanged or killed( ok this is a bit extreme but Musharraf also knows this). But that will spell further disaster for Indians...

It all comes down to Nukes and Sensex

This has been a pretty long hiatus for me which was because of my system being down, me going home etc... So this post is not about any specific issue but gives a glimpse of happenings around the same time. Most important of all...Arsenal are still at top on league table despite ManU closing in. But young guns are showing real class and they do not seem faltering in near future...Stupid India-Aus cricket series continues which I just cant understand why is taking place without giving any rest to players after T20 WC....and the results are quite obvious with India down 1-4.

On political front major news was Congress mending ways with Left against the nuke deal giving up its 6 months long stand on the issue. As far as I am concerned this is one of the most backwards step taken by Indian Gov in recent years and will cause problems both nationally and internationally. On International front this will definetely lower India's position on globle platform and nations wll be vary of formulating any proposals with India. Nuke deal was more important for India than opposite way and Americans will sure be frustrated and vary of Indians. On national front also this mending ways with left will furthur give air to those out of age self made idealists and they will step up protests also on other issues opposed to them. This will further weaken the government as left realizes that Congress will easily breakup on applying pressure. So only people happy are Leftists and those sitting in Beijing and Islamabad...

Sensex as usual is breaking records after records and continues to surge ahead on account of heavy foreign inflows..however market is very risky and far from stable. Lets see how far this Bull run continues....

V(W)enger Vindicated

' It is still very early in the season, but when you see your players all dancing around the pitch and showing so much spirit, it fills you with hope' - Professor Wenger

First it was Spuds...now its Sevilla, the story is same. Team derided by all at season's start, even said to be relegated is now the eye of European football with soccer pundits coming out with new predictions about Arsenal's season. We're being treated to football with a smile, a deep-seated commitment to pure attacking at a pace most teams can only dream about. So long as Arsene Wenger is manager of Arsenal, and that should be for a considerable period of time after his signing the new 3 year deal, his team will only play beautiful football and even though their determination to impress their adoring public occasionally costs them, they will not be changing for anyone.

Arsene Wenger could content himself with another night of triumph in what is already becoming a season of vindication for the Arsenal boss. His move to off-load Thierry Henry and put all his faith in the youngsters he has been promoting for many a year was more than a little bold during the summer, but it looks set to pay off in the grand manner. The boring functional football displayed by sides such as AC Milan, Chelsea and FC Porto has brought success in Europe's premier competition in the last few years but now it appears that Arsenal's angelic football not only impresses one and all but also has started giving result with young guns maturing to their fullest this season.

What's more pleasing to see is people also learing the difference between the two schools of football thought.On first Champions league night. Emirates Stadium was packed out for the game just a day after Stamford Bridge was left half-full for the Blues first Champions League game of the campaign, Wenger also commented later on...

'The support at this club amazes me and maybe we will need to add some seats onto this stadium sometime,' he added. 'Maybe the football we play attracts more people than other clubs.'  - Wenger

While it's still early in the current campaign, it is easy to question - can any side in European football match Arsenal for aptitude and entertainment at the moment? Arsenal's Premier League win over Tottenham & Champions League meeting with a very capable Sevilla was mesmerizing 

Perhaps, it's too early to make judgements. After all, the resources of Wenger's squad have yet to be properly tested. But every season we're introduced to a new name or two and new names like Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure and the brilliantly gifted Cesc Fabregas have shone brilliantly this summer and future appears bright for young guns...