“You say...that you understand the urgency, but no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that, because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil, and that I refuse to believe.” pic.twitter.com/SA06P4bXZ7
Everyone is like "Give Greta Thurnberg the Nobel Peace Prize!" but idk it seems like she would settle for an earth that doesn't burst into flames when she turns 40
The formula for peace in South Asia is simple. And the case for it is compelling. And Modi might find in Imran a partner that he sought in Nawaz but did not get. Nawaz simply did not command respect from the Pakistan Army. Imran does.
It was not realistic for Imran to expect Modi to play game before the elections in India. But once the elections are over, and Pakistan bashing has delivered the votes, Modi might want to finally reach out. It might start with an accidental bumping into Imran at some summit where the two might find themselves. And then things could snowball.
The attack in Kashmir that brought the subcontinent to the brink of war, ably defused by Imran by the simple release of an Indian pilot, might also be the event that pushed Modi to a renewed mandate. Looks like Modi will win and come back as Prime Minister. But nobody knows. Predicting elections in India is not a science.
Modi's BJP might be able to strike peace with Pakistan in ways the more socially moderate Congress Party might not. It often takes the hard right to make the compromises. Because there is no one to the right warning the people you might sell out.
The case is that it has been long enough. The solution is to accept the Line Of Control as the permanent border which, by the way, might also be the formula for the longest disputed border in the world, that between India and China.
Before the British came along there was no clear border between India and China. There was no line. The idea of the border as a line is a modern invention. Back then the border was a frontier. Nobody who crossed the frontier ever knew where India ended and China began. You trekked for hours through uninhabited land. Until you came to a settlement, it did not really matter what country you were in.
Recognizing the LOC as the permanent border would normalize relations between India and Pakistan. Kashmir might remain two, but then, hey, so does Punjab. But with a normal border, there might be trade, travel, and tourism between the two Kashmirs and the Kashmiris might experience normalcy after long decades. The two countries might be able to pull their armies from the border.
The tension is a political sinkhole. Political capital that should be going to issues like poverty go to a war that never happens, can not happen. It is stupid.
That India will get Pakistan occupied Kashmir is fiction. That Pakistan will get India occupied Kashmir is fiction. That Kashmir will become an independent country is fiction.
If Modi and Imran can bring permanent peace, they will win the Nobel Peace Prize. Modi wondered why he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after he settled the border between India and Bangladesh. Well, nobody really knew there was a dispute there. But the whole world knows about the border dispute on the other side. Figure that out and win the Nobel.
Imran is on the Time 100 List this year. If he can work with Modi and bring peace, he will be Time Person Of The Year. Might as well. And 2019 will be 1992 all over again when he put Pakistan on the world map by winning the Cricket World Cup.
But the cover of Time magazine is less important. Even the Nobel is less important. What is truly important is peace will allow the two countries to truly tackle poverty.
BBC News हिंदी - इमरान ख़ान : ‘मैं शांति का नोबेल सम्मान पाने के क़ाबिल नहीं हूं’ https://t.co/uixPz9awgQ
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) March 5, 2019
India lays claim to all of Kashmir. Pakistan does the same. That right there is the problem. Both should recognize that those are untenable positions. Both should recognize the Line of Control (LOC) as the permanent border. That is the solution. And once the border is normalized, and there is plenty of trade and travel across that border, it will be like Kashmir is now one. That is what will be best for the Kashmiris. India and Pakistan should achieve peace and then focus on trade. Both are ridiculously poor countries. Enhanced regional trade will increase economic growth.
Accept the fact that Kashmir got divided and live with it. Imran could announce this unilaterally. That he is ready to accept the LOC as the final, permanent border if the Indian government will then agree to demilitarize Kashmir. And Modi can afford to get this done before the election in India. He can't afford to back down if there is tension. But he, of course, can afford to make peace. In fact, if he manages to make peace now, he will win the election hands down. So why wait!
In one stroke, by releasing the Indian pilot, Imran Khan brought a release to the tension. War no longer is on the horizon. That was a political masterstroke. How about another Imran!
इमरान ने पायलट को रिलीज़ कर के चौका मारा। अब वो काश्मीर समस्या समाधान करें, छक्का मारें और अपनी नोबेल शान्ति पुरस्कार क्लेम करें।
Of all the heads of state on the world stage right now, Modi is the most remarkable. He promises to be the economic Gandhi of India, the Deng Xiaoping, the Lee Kuan Yew. None of the three - the Mahatma, Deng, or Lee - had to contest elections like Modi has to. And it is not just every five or four years. In India a France size election is just round the corner all the time.In that sense India is not just the largest democracy. It is a perpetual democracy.
The true test of political leadership is if you can get the people to make short term sacrifice for long term gain, and Modi seems to have managed to do it. His grand moves of demonetization and the GST ("good and simple tax" in his words) might have dragged the growth rate down from a high of 7.9% to a still impressive 5.7% but without demonetization and the GST perhaps India could not have aspired for a growth rate of 10% or more. Now it can.
But Modi does not have the luxury of time. The growth rate has to now go past at least 8% before he has to go back to the people in 2019 to renew his personal mandate.
Job creation is a major hurdle. It will happen or not in the so called informal sector. Making available credit to the chaiwalas (tea sellers) of India is what will do the trick.
On the political front Modi seems to be defying gravity. He repeated his total sweep of Uttar Pradesh. Nitish Kumar, projected by many as his most likely rival in 2019, has instead switched sides and joined him again. This would be like if John McCain were to join the Democratic Party.
Modi's challenge is to remain Prime Minister for at least 15 more years and give India sustained double digit growth rates, and then give the country a successor who will continue on that double digit path. All electoral victories however impressive will not mean much unless that economic objective is met. So far he shows all signs he will deliver.
In his very first year as PM Modi successfully concluded India's border dispute with Bangladesh. The dispute made the Israel Palestine land dispute look like a piece of cake. Just recently he got China to step back from potential war, or at least a skirmish. These are Nobel Peace Prize size political moves. A prize that he deserves, by the way. But it will be Gandhiesque if he does not get it. There is no telling he will not fall into the white blind spot. This is Time magazine Man Of The Decade if you ask me.
The thorn in his side continues to be the extreme right wing of his own organization. Hindu pride is fine. But anti-Muslim intolerance is offensive. If ever the BJP ends up in disgrace, that social weakness is going to be the reason why. It is the same God both Hindus and Muslims pray to. Five blind men are touching the same elephant.
It is said India and China have a border problem. That is not true. India has no problem. What China has is a Tibet problem. China gulped down Tibet, but it is not done digesting yet. Digesting would be when it could afford to open up the border like it was open for thousands of years before it showed up. In the mean time, let the line of actual control be. Let it slide. It's just rocks. Let trade bloom.
Not even the Dalai Lama wants Tibetan independence. He is happy 400 million Chinese are now Buddhist. He wants a few hundred million more. The Dalai Lama visiting China and Tibet is a great idea. I can't think of a better way of settling the issue of whether Tibet should be a separate country or not.
मोदी ने ढाका में कहा बंगलादेश और भारत के बीच की बोर्डर डिस्प्यूट जो solve किया, उसके लिए उनको और बंगलादेश के प्रधान मंत्री को नोबेल पुरस्कार मिलना चाहिए। सही कहा। पिछले पचास साल में solve नहीं हुइ थी, मोदी ने युँ solve कर दिया। दुनिया को चाहिए मोदी को नोबेल पुरस्कार दे और कहे, आप ने करना है कि इजराइल और पलेस्टाइन को भी इस बात पर मदत कर दो और एक और नोबेल पुरस्कार ले जाओ उसके बाद।
न जाने जमीन में क्या है --- देश के भितर लैंड बिल पर उतना ज्यादा उठापठक, इजराइल और पलेस्टाइन के बीच विश्व राजनीति हिला देनेवाली टेंशन।
एक और नोबेल पुरस्कार मोदी को मिलनी चाहिए। अल गोर ने कुछ किया नहीं, काम तो कुछ किया नहीं, सिर्फ एक डाक्यूमेंट्री फिल्म बनाई। और उस पर उनको नोबेल पुरस्कार मिल गया। मेरे को कोइ शिकायत नहीं। लेकिन मोदी ने तो काम किया है। १०० गीगावाट कोई मजाक नहीं। ये तो सिर्फ शुरुवात है --- आगे जा के राजस्थान में इतनी ज्यादी सुरजकी रोशन है, ५०० गीगावाट और बड़े मजे में आ सकती है --- ५०० आ सकती है तो १,००० भी आ सकती है। कोयले को phase out करो। लोगों को फेंफड़े में दिक्कत हो रही है।
Image via WikipediaThe US is uniquely positioned to conclude the War On Terror in 2011. The Cold War lasted decades. If we play our cards right, the War On Terror will have only lasted a decade. And Barack Obama might qualify for yet another Nobel Peace Prize.
The way the War On Terror concludes is when every Arab country has been turned into a modern democracy. The roadmap is simple. People come out into the streets and shut the country down completely until the dictator vacates the seat of power. They don't have to leave the country. They just have to vacate the seat of power without engaging in any bloodshed. Then an interim government takes over. That cabinet has one year to hold elections to a constituent assembly. And that's it.
Where the US federal government comes in is there is no other entity that has the option to stay deeply engaged with all levels of the state apparatus in these countries. The idea is to stay neutral politically in the beginning, but make sure there is no bloodshed. And then once the streets have boiled over and achieved tipping point, you call for the dictator's ouster in no unclear terms. You don't incite the street protests. You don't help escalate it. But once they hit that tipping point, you stand on the side of democracy. The clearer stand you take, less bloodshed there will be, and smoother the transitions will be in those countries.
This is not the time to stay neutral. Revolution is not a spectator sport, not for those braving the streets, not for the President Of The United States, not for the Vice President Of The United States, not for the US Secretary Of State.
This momentum that took centuries to build can not be wasted. This is our opportunity to turn the tables across the Arab world. If the sexism in the Arab world has been bothering you, now is the time to act. A country that becomes a democracy starts taking steps to curb all that sexism.
I must not have a knack for collecting many small dollar donations. Yet another proof that I am not exactly a politician. I am extremely political. But I am not a politician. For one, I don't seem to enjoy hanging out with the herds of them. I am more comfortable with people emailing back, tweeting back.
Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs: a hypomanic episode..... symptoms include grandiosity, an elevated and expansive mood, racing thoughts and little need for sleep.... He can work 96 hours in a row. .... a thin line separates the temperament of a promising entrepreneur from a person who could use, as they say in psychiatry, a little help. ..... just crazy enough .... “If you’re manic, you think you’re Jesus. If you’re hypomanic, you think you are God’s gift to technology investing.” ..... Instead of recklessness, the entrepreneur loves risk. Instead of delusions, the entrepreneur imagines a product that sounds so compelling that it inspires people to bet their careers, or a lot of money, on something that doesn’t exist and may never sell. ..... Next Zuckerberg Syndrome — the urge to find another Mark Zuckerberg before he starts another Facebook. ...... He does not socialize. He no longer reads books, nor does he watch TV or movies. He works from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., seven days a week. ....... Jobs is also routinely described as a despot and control freak with a terrifying temper .... He is a gifted software engineer but a terrible driver. (“I hit things,” he says.) He’s perfectly at ease negotiating with V.C.’s, but has had just one girlfriend .... “I want to build the game layer on top of the world.”
(1) Obama did not run for president to fix the biggest economic crisis in 70 years. But he responded well to it. And now we have an economic recovery.
(2) He could easily have used the crisis as an excuse to postpone work on health care. He did not. He is the reason we are talking health care right now. Health care is the domestic version of Mideast peace. Mind you, presidents have been trying to do this for the past half century, this dude just might deliver. This is a highly emotionally charged issue. Chances are that one thing you want is not what everyone else wants and, in a democracy, everyone counts.
(3) His first call as president was to Abbas. This dude is serious about Mideast peace. And he might even deliver. That is like handling the toughest domestic issue, and the toughest global issue. I would give him an A for trying and an A+ for achievement, once we have the fruits.
(4) He won the Nobel Peace Prize for work already done. He has done the political equivalent of curing global warming. The dude has fundamentally changed the global political climate. Yo Americanos, your standing is up in the world, thanks to Obama.
(5) He is on schedule to tackle immigration reform, another emotionally charged issue.
This guy symbolizes a new kind of politics. Governing is different from campaigning, in many ways harder. Can you support the guy in office? You supported him when he ran.
Kirsten Gillibrand Is A Good Choice This is not happening. I think this is a major league technical error. I once pressed a button somewhere and everyone in my Yahoo mail contacts list ended up getting an invite to link with me on LinkedIn. One email back read, I would really like to get back in touch with you, but I really don't know I want to do LinkedIn and Facebook.
Or this is a group account, and another DL21Cer is playing a prank on the honorable Ms. Caputo by quietly adding my name to the guest list. Which one?
Or Ms. Caputo is worried about the future political fallouts from pressing two bogus charges against me, bogus as determined by the New York City authorities: I hired no lawyer. That is going to become really problematic after I win the Nobel Peace Prize next year. Here is a recent email from the guy who only a few days back became Prime Minister of Nepal:
But the two women running for office in New York are named Brooke Ellison and Jessica Lappin. I am honored to be Facebook friends with both, and to have an active Facebook friendship with one of them. Brooke is my favorite New York politician. She makes my day every time she says something to me.
I am a Third World guy. I am not an Indiana person. I ran away from Indiana. And I still think Dan Berger is a major league asshole, a lowly staffer to a lowly Congressman (as measured by the standards of world history). I mean, who gives a fuck about Charlie Rangel? I don't. Nobody seemed to have heard of him down there in Alabama. I asked a whole bunch of black guys.
My life for most of this year has been at the Netizen blog, not the Barackface blog. Barackface was last year, or at least the first half when I was on the surface. I am a tech startup guy, I am not a politician. And no, this is not a career change. Internet access is the voting right for this 21st century. I am Third World (that is the nigger version). I am Global South (that is the Afro Americo version).
This invite has opened up a can of worms for me.
The first time NYPD took me away for a night, two of the questions on the way were, is that your car, and where is the tunnel? I have been through so many 9/11 generated humiliations, this was not the first time, I was yawning. The day 9/11 happened, I happened to be in a small town in KY. The locals called the cops on ME! 9/11 did not make this country racist. This country was racist way before 9/11, like way before.
And then the little nonprofit motherfucker Justin Krebs did what he did. A few days back I also had a Drinking Liberally invite to show up for his organization's sixth birthday party. I thought I had unsubscribed from their mailing list.
NYPD and the immigration people could work in close coordination on everything except that on April 22 recently the court clerk said they sent my immigration letter last year to "Indiana!" NYPD forgot to tell the immigration people that I was, well, in New York! NYPD, New York Police Department. Hello.
The six months felt like a death sentence. Once I got into a really bad road accident upstate in April 2002. Road ice in April, can you imagine? I realized the difference between life and death was three seconds, 1001, 1002, 1003. I counted. Another time I missed a major 100 vehicle pileup on the interstate in Atlanta by only a few hours: dense fog. I was a few hours too early. Another time I missed a bridge collapse in Oklahoma by a few hours. I was a few hours too late. One fine morning - like 1 AM - a bunch of Texas police officers rained bullets about 10 feet from me. I was not holding a wallet, but they later said they thought the gun was inside the vehicle. I once drove overnight through a hurricane: I followed it up along the East Coast.
Summary.
She did like me, a few different times, including on day one. Day one was special, but the little nonprofit motherfucker had to mess up.
Finally in early 2008 especially after the Zipper bar event I was like, it is not like I don't like you back, but we have to talk. Day one was the only day one there ever was going to be.
But she has to act protective of a lowly Congressional staffer and a little nonprofit motherfucker. (Mideast Peace: Tech Industry Style) At the Texas event I decided, okay, so your latest is that you don't like me, I respect that. I have seen these pendulum swings a few times.
This was no Harvard bond. Mike Luchipuchinachi never went to Harvard. Dumb white guys including those that might have gone to Harvard love doing the border patrol thing: color line border patrol.
But showing up for DL21C events was my right. I thought and still think DL21C would be honored to have me. You can not like a guy, and then not like a guy, and then that be a reason he can't show up for public political events.
By January this year even that logic got boring. Barack was already in. The presidential politics is all I care about. I still don't get excited about local races. And I had things to take care of.
I like doing creative, innovative work. My attention had shifted.
This was a broad experience in race and gender. That is what it boils down to. A sexist pig, racist bitch thing. A racist, sexist pig thing.
But this invite did remind me of a Senator Kirsten article I recently read on the Huffington Post and commented on there.
I am not really angry about the six months. I have had a technical attitude since I got out in November. There were legal details that needed taken care of. The two city charges were soon gone. Then the immigration thing had to be taken care of.
I don't think this invite is real. So I am not going. The last thing I want is to show up for a DL21C event and then get told I am not welcome, to be shown the door. Also, political events like this one don't excite me all that much. At some level it is scary how they can do the exact same thing over and over again. The format is so concrete. It scares my innovative mind.
That makes me think of another detail. At one point in late 2007, early 2008 my attitude was, so what do you want? You like me? You don't like me? Or do you just want me to join DL21C? I don't see the point. I don't get the impression DL21C wants to do anything more than it is doing already. You don't need me to join DL21C. But if you do, here is what I would like to suggest. I had a whole bunch of digital stuff to suggest. I guess that was like Steve Wozniak taking his prototype to the HP people. They were absolutely not interested.
It makes no sense for me to show up for DL21C events unless things are normal between Ms. Caputo and me one on one, outside of DL21C. Right now I don't think it is. So I will stay put with my tech startup work. Fuck politics.
Twitter anyone?
But I have to be honest, there is a political animal part of me that keeps going back to Godfather I and Godfather III where the Marlon Brando and Al Pacino characters are opposed to retaliating after attempts on their lives. Instead they want to do business with the strong opponents, strong enough to have made attempts on their lives.
"That is not what I wanted!" says Al disapproving of the retaliation.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ubSh6971QT4mq2aW4ewVJVqYOWT0WCzqlo8BfIXawUxqrIK1WmzDJNaN4fSt3Ryc-TZkX-hoMe4xTylqa_7mD3TdJyP95FclALQezfkl2E97jxohuzBsiI3a-_VWw_pKSumlxSVOOsSS8bOaK88n4=s0-d)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_voKsIuYe5IlcBAtTUpRt0vqgxs-CW0J5SlyjgZAFuP9i0znZ34cY3TODJwkSGvBhN5U1xNrK_RzTyf1qdFhMFosvxhuxO-d_VFfbImajgImVe_aoxECjl5ltVSaoTMG3RWxfRAK1HJJlhkf6cCUZIM=s0-d)