Mr. Mukherjee's illusion

Recently on a visit to Myanmar, India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in diplomatic language that we don’t care if the people of Myanmar are suffering under dictatorship. India would not talk about democracy since it is not one of our exports. Mr. Mukherjee also comically said that democracy is something each country has to decide as if one fine day, the junta would decide to hand over power and fade away into oblivion.

Indian Govt. has also agreed to sell arms to the military rulers without uttering a word about the state of the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who celebrated her 60th birthday under house arrest. In fact our support of the dictators are  worse that when Senior General Than Shwe of Myanmar visited India, visas were refused to a number of speakers who wanted to speak about democracy.

In the most recent State of the Union Speech, President Bush mentioned that United States would continue to speak for the cause of freedom in places like Burma (The US refuses to call it Myanmar). The President also said that he would “continue to awaken the conscience of the world to save the people of Darfur”.

After maintaining silence about Darfur, the word finally appeared in the State of the Union, which is due to the activism by various groups, journalists and movie stars. They believe they can cause the super power to act. Now activists are targeting companies which do business in Sudan like Siemens AG and forcing them to pull out. States like Texas, Nebraska and Colorado have introduced bills, like the one passed in California forcing state pension funds not to invest in Sudan.

These activists know that United States can exert pressure both economically and politically to prevent the genocide. At the same time when Pranab Mukherjee says that he does not care about the state of the people in Myanmar, we have to ask if any change will be caused due to India’s pressure.  Our external influence extends upto Katmandu and not a kilometer more. Even that is questionable.

If, God forbid, India starts throwing its weight around, then Myanmar will just become a vassal state of China and nothing will change for the people of Myanmar. Somehow Mr. Mukherjee’s statement give an illusion that we have the leverage to cause a change in Myanmar, but we refuse to. It is vastly different from reality.

(Crossposted on INI Signal)

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Day Dreaming Explained

The most difficult task while sitting for meditation is to bring the wandering mind to focus on a single thing, like the breath or a mantra. Usually when you attempt these things the mind will go back into the past or future and start pondering various useless questions. Scientists have now found the neural mechanism which causes the mind to wander.

But now psychologists and neuroscientists in Aberdeen and America have revealed that a collection of areas in the brain termed the default network, supports what is known as mind wandering.

The findings are published today in top journal Science.

The scientists carried out their research with the help of volunteers whose brains were scanned as they performed simple memory tasks.

The results revealed that when participants performed practised tasks with which they were familiar, activity in regions of the default network was associated with episodes of mind wandering, a finding that underscores the importance of this system in guiding the stream of consciousness.

The paper in Science entitled Wandering Minds: The Default Network and Stimulus-Independent Thought was a collaboration involving the University of Aberdeen; Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA and Harvard University, USA. [What happens when the mind wanders?]

The default network are those parts of the brain that is active when you don’t need to concentrate and this day dreaming is the brain’s default setting.

He says that the new work suggests that activity in the default network is necessary to generate spontaneous thoughts and adds to evidence that it makes an important contribution to our inner life. In one published case study, Raichle notes, a woman who suffered damage to part of the default network initiated almost no spontaneous thoughts. “Her mind was empty,” Raichle says.

The study leaves open the question of why minds wander, says Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Schooler suspects that mental rambling is generally beneficial. “A lot of the time, people are thinking about worries or problems that they need to work out,” Schooler says, adding that creative insights often happen during these episodes. The new study could be a big help to researchers if it leads to a way to use fMRI to detect mind wandering without interrupting an experimental subject, Schooler says.[Peering Inside the Wandering Mind]

Metallurgy in Ancient India

Metallurgy in ancient India was advanced

Prof Anatharaman, also former director of Institute of Technology (IT-BHU) and presently Chancellor of Ashram Atmadeep (Gurgaon) said that recent historical studies and scientific researches have thrown considerable new light on the status of metal extraction and working in Indian sub-continent during the ancient period (1700BC to 1000 AD). 

He said that the world-famous ancient Damascus Swords had its origin in India.

“The Damascus Swords were fabricated from Ultra-high Carbon Steel, known commercially as Wootz, was produced in South India particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh around 400 BC,” he said.

“Fabrication of the Iron Pillar, seven-ton heavy and seven meter tall at Delhi known for its amazing corrosion resistance despite exposure to the Sun, wind, dust and rain in the open for more than 16 centuries is another metallurgical marvel of ancient India,” he added.

Dr K Krishnan of Archaeology and Ancient History Department at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Vadodara) delivered a lecture on ‘Ceramic Technology: Its Beginning and Advancements in The Indian Sub-Continent.’ He said that ceramic technology develops with the emergence of the first agricultural communities, designated by the cultural phase ‘Neolithic’, which had a wide distribution in the sub-continent in space and time.”

See Also: Wootz

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Legacy of the Harappans

Legacy of Harappan tech all pervasive even today

THE RECENT findings of glass beads proved that people of Harappan civilization had knowledge of glass. And, recent findings of Mesolithic tools in the excavation of Harappa also showed that the civilization had existed there before 10,000 BC, said Prof Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, from University of Wisconsin, Madison USA.

Delivering his lecture on ‘Harappan Technology and Its Legacy’, Dr DP Agrawal, director of Lok Vigyan Kendra Almora, said the legacy of the Harappan technology was all pervasive even today, for example the house plans, the technology of making carts, modern boats in Sindh, hydraulics, various motifs, the shapes of pots and platters and even ornaments seem to continue to this day.

Dr RS Bisht, former joint director general, Archaeological Survey of India, delivered his lecture on ‘Application of Science and Technology For Urban Planning, Architecture and Water Structures and their Management by the Harappans at Dholavira’. “Dholavira made a tremendous contribution towards the better understanding of the Indus civilization and the status of science and technology by its builders,” he said.

See Also: Parallel rural civilization to Harappa,  Were Harappans the Vedic people?, Earliest example of Vaastu,  Harappans = Vedic People ?

 

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The 1921 Model

It was on  March 3rd, 1924 that Kemal Ataturk abolished the Caliphate and transferred the power to to the Turkish Grand National Assembly. But sometime in 1921, rumors spread in India that the Caliphate was abolished  and violence erupted in Kerala.

Arsonists took to the street, burning and destroying government property. The initial focus was on the British, but when the limited presence of the British was eliminated, Moplahs turned their full attention on the Hindus. One Mohommed Haji was proclaimed the Caliph of the Moplah Khilafat and flags of Islamic Caliphate were flown. Ernad and Walluvanad were declared Khilafat kingdoms.[Moplah rebellion]

Following that there was a large scale murder of Hindus for something which happened in some other part of the world. This 1921 model is now being followed again to destroy lives and trigger communal trouble.

Saddam Hussein, the butcher of Iraq was captured and hanged and immediately there were protests in Kerala. That is nothing new for the goal in Kerala is to have a hartal every day and any reason including Britney Spears’ divorce is acceptable.

In Bangalore, it has taken a communal turn. Three weeks after the hanging, a protest was organized, deliberately to coincide with with a Hindu Samajotsav planned four months in advance. Then the predictable happened followed by the spin. All the usual suspects were blamed without any analysis of the intention of the Saddam fans.

Another “great” leader, Fidel Castro is either dead or is in the process of dying and it is time to wonder how many Indians will be killed for it.

 

Buddha Statue in Sarnath

The Hindu: Tallest Buddha statue coming up in Sarnath

“At least 20- 25 artisans are working on this statue for over three years…. it will take three to four more years to complete. Right now, we are through with the stomach, feet and the face. Two or three months will be taken for the finishing work,” said Jyoti Singh Khushwaha, the contactor undertaking the construction of the statue.

Workers at the site said the statue would use over 635 blocks of sandstone and would be made in the Gandharva style, which laid great significance to it. The Buddha attained enlightenment at the age of 35 in Bodh Gaya in Bihar and finally departed from the world at the age of 80 in Kushinagar. Situated 10 kilometres away from Varanasi, Sarnath is the place where the Buddha is believed to have delivered his first sermon in 500 B.C. The place has a number of stupas (hemispherical domes) and monasteries. In the early days of Buddhism, stupas were built to honour important events including Buddha’s enlightenment

I hope he meant Gandhara style.

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Book Review: State of Denial

State of Denial by Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster (September 30, 2006), 576 pages

Rumsfeld is a dick

Won’t flow the forces we need

We will be too light

This was a haiku written by Steve Rotkoff, a senior military intelligence officer with 25 years in the Army very early after he was drafted for the Iraq war planning. Rotkoff was not alone with such assessment about the Defense Secretary. When asked about Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Richard B. Meyers put both his hands on a small table and laid his head on it to express his frustration. At one point Rumsfeld stopped talking to National Security Advisor Condi Rice that the President has to step in.

Bob Woodward’s third book in the Bush at War series talks about the arrogance of Rumsfeld, clueless nature of the the folks who managed the war and ends with the constant denial of facts by the President and Vice-President. The book was written based on interviews with Bush’s national security team, key players in the administration responsible for military, diplomacy and intelligence. He talked to people in Defense, State and CIA including the Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld.

One thing I have always wondered is how the reaction against Sept 11 attacks transformed into a war against Iraq and who was responsible for it. Once again it turns out to be Rumsfeld. The day after the attacks, it was Rumsfeld who asked Bush on why they shouldn’t go against Iraq as well. Rumsfeld was one person who thought that George H.W. Bush had screwed up badly by not going against Saddam in 1991. Initially George W. Bush puts him off, but later decides to go with the plan, 71 days after the 9/11 attacks.

A think tank consisting of Bernard Lewis,  Mark Palmer, Fareed Zakaria, Fouad Ajami and the likes were gathered secretly and they analyzed the middle east problem and concluded that a confrontation with Saddam was inevitable. The question then was on what pretext would the war be started and WMD looked like a natural choice. The top intelligence officer for the invading forces, James “Spider” Marks was given a list of 946 sites where intelligence had indicated there were production plants or storage facilities.

The only problem was that the list was outdated. David Kay, who went to Iraq as the inspector after the first Gulf war was sent this time as well and he found that there was no new information on this. Still this did not prevent the President and Vice-President from repeating again and again about the WMD threats to America and its allies. The search teams did not find any WMD and in one instance the “Scooter” Libby calls David Kay in Baghdad and gives him the co-ordinates to search.

Besides talking to a large number of people, Woodward has also reviewed secret documents and secure communication between the leadership in Washington and Baghdad. After analyzing all this information the book is written in such a way that it is a page turner and you get to know a lot about the personality clashes that happened.

George Tenet at the CIA was against the White House. Rumsfeld was against Jay Garner. Condi Rice could not stand Rumsfeld. Then there is a president who doesn’t want to know any details and keeps on repeating that we will prevail. As you read those chapters, you are shocked to see the callousness with which this war was done.

When Jay Garner was replaced with Paul Bremmer and one of the first things he performed was de-Baathification. When he was dissolving the Ministry of Interior, Bremmer did not know that Police reported to ministry. Once that happened, the number of insurgent attacks increased exponentially. Then in a scene which seems inspired from Wag the Dog, President Bush asks Secretary Rice if they should approach Hollywood to prepare a propaganda campaign.

The number of people who grew frustrated with Rumsfeld were not just Condi Rice or the Generals. By Spring 2004, Paul Wolfowitz was frustrated  as he had been trying to get Rumsfeld to take on the training of Iraqi security forces and Rumsfeld was resisting it strongly. Even Laura Bush tells that she thought Rumsfeld was hurting the President.

There are some funny moments when Woodward reveals some secret conversation. After David Kay testifies before Congress blaming the NSC and Rice for the intelligence lapses, he gets a call from Robert Joseph, an NSC Staffer. “This conversation never took place”, Joseph says when he meets Kay, but the whole thing is there in the book.

Reading the book you get the feel that two people could have stopped the war. One of them was Colin Powell, who was at his peak of influence when the war started. According to Senator Carl Levin of Michigan Powell could have told the President that this the wrong course. The other person was President George H.W.Bush. He and Barbara Bush knew this was wrong, but did not influence the President because they thought that it was not ethical and W should make his own decisions.

The last line reads, “With all Bush’s upbeat talk and optimism, he had not told the American public the truth about what Iraq had become”. Even though everything was going wrong in Iraq, the President and Vice-President  and Rumsfeld were in denial. The final chapter of the book is an eye opener when Rumsfeld claims that he is not directly responsible for the deaths in Iraq though he was a micromanager of this war. President Bush was not even willing to acknowledge the fact that no WMD was found.

This scathing critique of Bush and Co. is a must read.

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Train your mind, Change your brain

There was a study done some three years back on the effect of meditation on the brain and it was observed that during meditation the brains of monks showed increase in brain waves called gamma waves during compassion meditation. There is a new book called Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley which has more details on the research in this area.

The question asked by the Dalai Lama was “Can mind shape brain matter” and the answer provided by neuroscientists was that physical states give rise to mental states and not the other way around. Now there is evidence that it can happen the other way as well.

Prof. Davidson then used fMRI imaging to detect which regions of the monks’ and novices’ brains became active during compassion meditation. The brains of all the subjects showed activity in regions that monitor one’s emotions, plan movements, and generate positive feelings such as happiness. Regions that keep track of what is self and what is other became quieter, as if during compassion meditation the subjects opened their minds and hearts to others.

More interesting were the differences between the monks and the novices. The monks had much greater activation in brain regions called the right insula and caudate, a network that underlies empathy and maternal love. They also had stronger connections from the frontal regions to the emotion regions, which is the pathway by which higher thought can control emotions.

In each case, monks with the most hours of meditation showed the most dramatic brain changes. That was a strong hint that mental training makes it easier for the brain to turn on circuits that underlie compassion and empathy.

“This positive state is a skill that can be trained,” Prof. Davidson says. “Our findings clearly indicate that meditation can change the function of the brain in an enduring way.”[How Thinking Can Change the Brain]

Where is Mullah Omar?

Apparently in Quetta protected by the ISI according to a captured Taliban soldier.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has made similar allegations in the past.

However, Pakistan’s interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, rejected the claim, saying “this is totally baseless”.

“We have no information on the whereabouts of Mullah Omar. He is not living in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the Afghan intelligence service had “made contradictory statements since the arrest of this so-called spokesman of Taliban”.[Mullah Omar ‘hiding in Pakistan’]

Turns out this information is the same as that found in some secret U.S Military documents found by ABC News.