Tagore's Pasarini

The Hawk Maid
By Rabindranath Tagore

[Translator’s note: Poem ‘Pasarini’ from the book ‘Bichitra’, written in February, 19341.]
Translator- RAJAT DAS GUPTA (Kolkata) - e-mail: rajatdasgupta@yahoo.com & dasguptarajat@hotmail.com

The Hawk Maid depicts the inherent passion of the humans to perceive the origin of life which remains ever mysterious to us. Our mundane existence keeps our concentration with the narrow perspective of our daily business and other temporal most of our life Yet, there are some escape moments, maybe more towards the end of our life. On 3 January, 1938, 3 years before his death, the Poet wrote to his poet friend Amiya Chakraborty –
“My mind craves to move far where, within myself, I am trying my creations. One means is science, with which I had my pilgrimage through the stellar space and time. The universal network which webs my existence with the same light as of the inconceivably distant nebulae, I have surrendered my whole heart to its pull, which is dragging me towards that infinite mystery where is latent the significance of life and death with some eternal purpose which is being conveyed towards the Infinite, all through the Universe.” ‘Hawk Maid’ is a wonderful flash of this profound philosophy of the Poet.]

Hawk Maid, O Hawk Maid,
In daytime at rialtos thou had trade,
On thy way home
Freely did thou roam
Took seat under a tree,
Thy earnings left free
In thy basket unnoticed,
And where thy ponderings did flit!

There the land
Blurred with ruddy sand,
Basked in the wintry sun
The tender leaves of the Banyan,
The breeze tepid
What euphoria did breed,
What message did whisper
In thy ear?
The water in the river
Flashes light afar,
What hymn plays on
In thy meditation!

The primordial memoir
In thy vein does stir,
So in the vegetation around
Life itself found;
In autumn end at high noon
In thy clay playroom
For ages to search its clue
In games of varied hue,
Amidst the meadow solitary
Takes away the curtain contemporary,
Thy mind,
With the lighted firmament combined,
Sees close to the eye,
In thy heart plays up high
That solemn hymn
That goes within
All pervasive time,
Emanating from that supreme rhyme
Of the Universal dance,
That took thee to trance.
All calls urgent,
Towards the horizon lent
Of the world familiar,
Losing track of time there;
All around without a message,
Neither any proclivity does trace,
The voiceless sound
The stark summer does hound;
Sigh of the vacuum
Reticent does roam.

Hawk Maid, O hawk Maid,
To-day thou played truant to thy trade.
Thy merchandise, the river ghat, (a)
Thy home, and the mart,
Days of cacophony, far recede
To the eternal message to cede,
Thy person and heart are keen,
Imploring deliverance serene.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note: (a) landing to the river

Obama's War and Peace

Obama’s Afghanistan war and India
ND Batra
India has vital interest in the success of President Barack Obama’s surge-and-exit strategy for destroying the Al Qaeda-Taliban nexus and plexus in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Af-Pak region is not a passive sanctuary for the Taliban-Al Qaeda; it is the global supply-chain hub of terrorism.The US Federal prosecutors have charged a US citizen David C. Headley for aiding and abetting Pakistan-based Islamic terrorists who perpetrated the honorific bombing in Mumbai last year that killed 170 innocent people. Five more American citizens of Pakistani origin have been arrested in Pakistan for their suspected links with the Taliban-Al Qaeda and for planning to commit jihadist terrorist acts. Mr. Obama reminded the American people at West Point that the paramount goal is “to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.”

It is an existential war against a global menace from which no one, not even Pakistan can escape, despite the fact that it nurtured the Taliban and has been providing safe havens to Al Qaeda. Although Mr. Obama strongly disagreed with the Iraq War which he regarded as a war of choice, the lessons of the war and insurgency cannot be lost, especially how the Bush administration’s well-planned troop surge worked enabling the US to handover security responsibilities to the Iraqi government.

Mr. Obama is not looking for a closure or an endgame because there can be none so long the United States remains an indispensable global power. Finishing the job does not mean quitting. Sixty-four years after World War II, the US maintains a significant military presence in Germany and Japan, as it does in South Korea since the armistice in 1953.

Central Asia is too important to be left to jihadists; or any aspiring power to dominate the region. Other countries may be rising but the United States is not declining. In fact the United States too is rising, even during the recession. Since the new surge-exit strategy announcement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, two most powerful cabinet members who have played a decisive role in shaping the new military thinking, have been going around on public forums to explain how the job will be done and how much flexibility is built into the exit date which the president set as middle of July 2011.

Secretary Gates, who also served the Bush administration in the same capacity and was responsible for the successful surge strategy in Iraq, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the mid-2011 exit strategy would be the beginning of transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghanistan government keeping the ground actualities in mind, nonetheless, with continuous partnership with the United States.

Success is not being conceptualized in binary terms—success/failure—but rather as a continuum, for which there will be assessment outcome metrics. Exit strategy is not abandonment, as Secretary Clinton told the Armed Services Committee, “We will help by working with our Afghan partners to strengthen institutions at every level of Afghan society so that we don’t leave chaos behind when our combat troops begin to depart.” This sounds a tall order to the naysayers, who wonder: Can Afghanistan secure itself? Can it govern itself?

Can it manage its borders? Again, these questions do not require yes or no answers but rather how much Afghanistan can do on its and how much help it would need from the US and the 43-nation NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, which committed another 7000 troops in addition to the 30,000 troop surge announced by Mr. Obama.Except for Tony Blair’s reluctant Britain, Europe showed little enthusiasm for the Iraq War. But for fighting the Taliban-Al Qaeda in Af-Pak, European countries, who have been victims of terrorism, London, Madrid, Paris, for example, are absolutely committed.

A day after Mr. Obama announced the troop surge, the Nato Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, spoke unequivocally, "What is happening in Afghanistan is a clear and present danger to our citizens. Instability in Afghanistan means insecurity for all of us."

When the United States and Europe work together in solving international security problems, the probability of success increases as it happened in the Bosnia-Herzegovina War (1992-1995), the post-Yugoslavia break up tragedy that led to international conflict resulting in the ethnic killing and massacre of more than 100,000 people. Though belated, the Nato intervention brought the war to an end.

The hope of bringing peace to Af-Pak rests on the US-Europe strategy and concerted action, in which India must play a constructive role to protect its own national self-interest.

(ND teaches communications and diplomacy at Norwich University, US)

US and India

The Feeling’s Mutual
Sharing values, India and US have much to offer each other
N D Batra
From The Times of India
24 November 2009

Today, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the White House, he will face the diplomatic challenge of his lifetime.

Seeking reaffirmation of the warm relations that began with Bill Clinton and saw an upsurge during the times of George W Bush will be a Himalayan task to accomplish. Especially after President Barack Obama’s China visit during which he acquiesced to Beijing’s hegemonic ambitions in Asia.

But what better way to warm up the dinner conversation than to avow the shared values about which Obama reminded his stone-deaf Chinese audience: “These core principles, freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation, we believe are universal rights.” And who could better embody these universal values than a Sikh gentleman politician from India!

It is important not to forget that the United States is more than the White House; that political power is decentralised and distributed; that Congress matters; that Republicans are not dead; and that there will be time to rectify the misguided statement in the Obama-Hu Jintao joint communique that China has a role to play in South Asia. The declaration sounds ridiculous considering that China is afraid of meeting with a humble Buddhist monk.

Let’s think about the positives. US perception of India is changing for the better, thanks to the mature and savvy ways India has been managing its internal and external affairs. For example: the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attack; keeping up economic growth despite the global financial crisis; the India-China verbal pyrotechnics arising out of China’s flagrant territorial claims and the Dalai Lama visit to Arunachal Pradesh; and the contribution to Afghanistan’s reconstruction in spite of chaotic conditions. India is viewed as stable and open, and an attractive place to do business.

US goodwill towards India is undiminished, in spite of the Obama administration’s effort to up-end its relations with China. Few Americans want China to play any role in Afghanistan and Pakistan, contrary to what Obama told his bankers in Beijing. In contrast, most Americans do believe that the US has an abiding interest in India’s gradual but steady rise as an economic and diplomatic power. Asia is too important to be left to a single country to exercise hegemony, as the recent Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Thailand also acknowledged.

The forecast that India would become a responsible economic power was not ignored at the summit. Braving the recession with the prospect of 6.5-7 per cent growth in the current fiscal year has rekindled hopes that 8 to 10 per cent economic growth in the future is achievable

Looking at the phenomenal economic rise of China and, consequently, Japan’s efforts at repositioning itself in light of new realities, it is all the more important for the US to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with India. It also must be understood that for most Indians America’s attractiveness is genuine and is based upon its dynamic culture and values. American culture is perceived as a culture of open minds and open roads that lead to the free marketplace of goods and ideas. It is a culture of optimism that holds the prospect of expanding human possibilities. Americans fervently believe that global poverty can be eliminated and sickness can be cured.

The Clinton Global Initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, are built on the faith that the human condition can and must be improved. India shares these universal values.

Americans fondly hope that, as China keeps growing, it would open itself to other cultural influences including free expression and democracy and, therefore, US-China interdependence is good for keeping the peace. Scholars like Joseph Nye of Harvard argue that a country can become attractive by engaging other people rather than isolating them. So if trade with China and rising prosperity have rechannelled the Chinese people’s energies and given them new hopes and global dreams, a similar policy might work for other countries too.

What is needed most is investment in regional and global networks for economic interdependence, rather than assertion of military power. In this respect, American civil society and its universities are far more persuasive in presenting the US to other people than anything the government can do. Brand America too makes the US attractive. When an American apparel maker opens a factory in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Indonesia, it spreads feelings of goodness among the people.

Extremists cannot stop Indonesians or Bangladeshis, for example, from improving their economic condition by making themselves smart for foreign direct investment. Therefore, bonding American national interests with other nations’ strategic interests is the key to the management of regional conflicts for which India can offer the US a great partnership. The impact of joint exercise of India-US smart power will be felt across central Asia, ASEAN and beyond the Indian Ocean – a topic of great interest for Prime Minister Singh and President Obama to explore when they break bread in the White House.

The writer is professor, communications and diplomacy, Norwich University, US.

Publication: Times of India Mumbai
Date: Nov 24, 2009;
Section: Editorial;
Page: 16

China's Global Economic Diplomacy

Bullish In China Shop
China uses economic muscle to build global influence
From Times of India
N D Batra

China is using its growing trade power to enhance its global influence, especially in Africa, Latin America and Asia where it is perceived as an all-weather friend. Since opening up its economy in 1978, China’s foreign trade has been growing by leaps and bounds. In 2008, its foreign trade volume exceeded $2.56 trillion – 70 times more than what it was 10 years ago, according to the US-China Business Council. China has now become the world’s largest exporter, beating Germany, reported the World Trade Organisation.

To fuel its booming export-driven economic growth that has been averaging 9 per cent for more than two decades, China desperately needs to access, on a long-term basis and with accelerated pace, oil, minerals and other natural resources. No wonder it has been establishing listening posts, bunkering facilities at friendly ports and in some cases developing altogether new harbours to protect ocean routes and sea lanes to ensure an uninterrupted flow of goods and materials with its trading partners especially in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

With $73 billion annual Sino-African trade, mostly with Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo and Sudan, for example, China is Africa’s second largest trading partner next only to the US. African countries welcome China’s low priced manufactured goods, foreign direct investment as well as development aid for building railroads, dams, schools, roads, hospitals and fibre-optic networks with no strings attached, no human rights questions asked.

China makes resource-rich countries offers so attractive that they just cannot refuse. These offers are long-term trade and development opportunities bundled in benign aid packages that invariably include diplomatic support for authoritarian rulers, arms sale and, occasionally, debt forgiveness. Today, Chinese multinational corporations are engaged in scores of hydropower, oil, gas and mining projects in Myanmar. In March, China signed a $2.9 billion agreement with Myanmar for construction of oil pipelines for transporting crude oil from the Middle East and Africa via Myanmar to China.

After a savage victory over Tamil Tigers in a long-drawn-out bloody civil war that resulted in the death of around 70,000 civilians, Sri Lanka’s economic and diplomatic relations with China have seen a tremendous upsurge. Sri Lanka has granted China rights to develop an exclusive economic zone, the first for any foreign country. Recently, China signed two significant developmental projects worth $350 million with Sri Lanka for construction of the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway and the Hambantota Bunkering Project – a major part of the multibillion-dollar Hambantota Port Development Project substantially financed by China. China is building the $1 billion port to use it as a refuelling and docking base for its navy to patrol the Indian Ocean and protect its oil supplies from the Middle East and Africa. Since March 2007 when the Sri Lankan government signed the agreement, China has given it all the necessary aid including arms and diplomatic support to crush the Tigers.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the completion of the first phase of a power plant built with Chinese assistance, presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa, younger brother of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, called China “a major stakeholder” in the island nation’s reconstruction and development. Interestingly, the ceremony was attended by a group of Chinese Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple including its chief priest Ven Shi Yongxin. A statue of the Buddha, another gift from China, will be installed at the plant. Diplomacy is the art of persuasion by all available means, regardless of what China says about the Dalai Lama. Diplomatic relations elsewhere have not been that easy. Consider, for example, the announcement in August of the China-Australia $41 billion liquefied natural gas deal, which highlights China’s economic importance to Australia. A month earlier the Chinese government had cancelled a scheduled visit by vice-minister He Yafei to Australia in protest against Canberra’s decision to grant a visa to the exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in the US and was scheduled to appear at the Melbourne international film festival and the National Press Club. Australia did not buckle under Chinese pressure, but it trembled in fear.

The point is that, as China pursues its trade-driven diplomacy, it simultaneously strives for other vital national interests whether it’s Taiwan, Tibet or Xinxiang. Whatever it takes, naked bullying or tremendous buying muscle, China will not hesitate to intimidate others to submission. The case of Rio Tinto, a British-Australian mining giant, is an instructive example. When state-owned Chinalco’s plan to acquire a major stake in Rio Tinto was blocked by public hue and cry, the Chinese government cried foul and accused some of the latter’s executives of spying (the charge later changed to bribery). Rio Tinto’s Shanghai-based executive Stern Hu was arrested along with three others. Australia, like India, remains befuddled about how to deal with China, which uses massive bargaining power not only to have the best trade deals but also to advance its global diplomatic agenda, which is cultural, territorial and hegemonic.

The writer is professor, communications and diplomacy, at Norwich University, US.

Tweet by tweet...the revolution

Printed from

Message Is Loud And Clear

N D Batra
4 September 2009

On Twitter, the message is the thing. The medium is not the message, contrary to Canadian media scholar Marshall McLuhan's theory more than a generation ago that the meaning of a message is shaped and controlled by the medium in which it is embedded. On television, for example, the news sometime ago about the sex scandal in Kashmir provoking chief minister Omar Abdullah's impulsive offer to resign would have given us a different feeling and perception about the troubled Valley's political problems than if the story had been read in a newspaper. Call it the filtering effect, which in Twitter is minimal.

Twitter is unique. If you can't compose your thoughts in 140 characters, the maximum length allowed in Twitter, try something else. Buy an ad page, write a blog or stand up on a soapbox and harangue the world. In Twitter, the message dominates the medium and thus can carry an awesome punch, the impact of a direct force. ''Marg bar dictator!'' they chanted and tweeted and YouTubed ("Death to the dictator") in Farsi and English in Tehran in recent post-election rallies protesting the reported rigging that re-elected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iranian president.

We saw how last November mobile Mumbaikars tweeted in real time about the Pakistani terrorist attack that killed 163 people, an event that highlighted the unprecedented role of new social media in our daily lives. And, in fact, tweeting about the Mumbai attack has become an important case study on American campuses.

"There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy," tweeted Janis Krums on January 15 with the photo of the US Airlines that had belly-landed on the Hudson River, not far from New York's LaGuardia airport where the plane was struck by a bird. Before news media crew could get to the scene, Americans were stunned watching the rescue of passengers tweet-picture by tweet-picture, ferry by ferry.

From cybercasting ethnic riots in China's Uighur and Iran's cheating mullahs to accidents, from airing personal grievances to promoting business and services, people are using Twitter in myriad ways. But if you tweet publicly, be careful. Someone might feel offended and file a defamation suit. That happened to a Chicago tenant Amanda Bonnen who tweeted, ''Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay.''

She was complaining about a water leak that had occurred in March making her apartment mouldy which Horizon Group Management, the realty company, had failed to fix. America is a litigious society and Horizon asked for $50,000 in damages, but whether the court takes it seriously or not is another matter especially when everyone from janitors to senators and Hollywood celebrities is urging us: Follow me on Twitter. Celebrities, who can't tweet, hire ghost Twitterers. But some do it themselves and get into trouble, as with Courtney Love.

Courtney Love, an American rock musician who was married to the grunge band Nirvana's singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain, tweeted against her clothes designer about excessive billing for custom clothing. She fumed in her shrill irreverent ungrammatical rant, ''oi vey don't f--- with my wardrobe or you will end up in a circle of corched eaeth hunted til your dead.'' Last March, Dawn Simorangkir, the clothes designer, filed a suit against Courtney in Los Angeles superior court for defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress, making it one of the myriad free speech (First Amendment) cases regarding the emerging social media. "The law is an ass" and can hit anyone with any leg at anytime, so a business should be careful before suing anyone.

The power of Twitter comes from its brevity and, as it evolves, it becomes a mass organising tool as well as a global listening post for the collective brain of a community. One reason why Barack Obama's presidential campaign was so successful against all odds was the deft use of social media including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, MySpace, BlackPlannet.com, LinkedIn and many others, which helped him raise millions of dollars to fund his political campaign. His message through the social media reached the younger tech-savvy mobile generation and his campaign kept the sites updated with the latest videos, photos and campaign messages.

Since entering the White House, Obama has continued to be in a political campaign mode, out of habit and out of necessity, especially when struggling to have his massive health reform Bill passed by Congress. Apart from hopping from one town hall meeting to another, he asks people on his website 'Organizing For America' to "Tweet Your Senator" and urge them to pass the health insurance reform measure that would guarantee health benefits to all Americans, something as revolutionary as the social security scheme passed by Franklin Roosevelt after the Great Depression. When people tweet, powers that be corporations, politicians, democrats or autocrats must heed their voices.

The writer is professor, communications and diplomacy, Norwich University, US.

If China's So Powerful, Why Isn't It More Powerful? | Foreign Policy

If China's So Powerful, Why Isn't It More Powerful? | Foreign Policy

"This week, during the latest meeting of the twice-a-year U.S.-China strategic dialogue, leaders from both countries are talking economic policy. Cabinet members, led by their respective finance ministers and central bank governors, are discussing trade, climate change, the fates of the dollar and yuan, and other vital issues. But there are signs that this dialogue may become bogged down in the same old tit-for-tat economic disputes and fear-driven rhetoric. " Wen Liao in Foreign Policy

Epic Exaggerations

Epic Exaggerations - Edit Page - OPINION - The Times of India:
"Jaswant Singh's expulsion from the BJP, for writing a book on history, shows how powerful historical narratives can be. National narratives can be organised around who the heroes and villains of partition were. India and Pakistan can even go to war around these narratives. One possibility that remains obscured by them, however, is that the holocaust that accompanied partition was not actually willed by anyone. It was just the result of extraordinary political incompetence all round."

Tech giants unite against Google

"Three technology heavyweights are joining a coalition to fight Google's attempt to create what could be the world's largest virtual library." BBC News

India gives Maldives defence help

India gives Maldives defence help

US New Diplomacy

Times of India
Top Article:
Exercise Of Smart Power
N D Batra
27 July 2009, 12:00am IST

Recently, US defence secretary Robert Gates, a no-nonsense seasoned hand from the Bush administration, stated explicitly in Foreign Affairs that "to fail - or to be seen to fail - in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a disastrous blow to US credibility, both among friends and allies and among potential adversaries".
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton - who recently visited India to reaffirm the strategic and economic bonds built by the previous administration - wholeheartedly endorses Gates's views when he said that because of its grinding poverty and unfriendly neighbourhood, "Afghanistan in many ways poses an even more complex and difficult long-term challenge than Iraq - one that, despite a large international effort, will require a significant US military and economic commitment for some time". Read "some time" as a long, long time, even though it has been often said that Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. Gates has asked for an additional 22,000 troops for the army, for the next three years. An extra 17,000 troops and 4,000 military trainers are being sent to Afghanistan. Do not expect the US to leave the Af-Pak region to its own devices; nor will US presence be against India's national interest.
Gates's national defence strategic vision goes far beyond what has ever been attempted anywhere. A most serious problem that the US military confronts is how speedily it can move forces from one danger zone to another. Gates's solution: build a swift and lethal force fitted with precision-guided weapons, on-the-spot intelligence-gathering by a network of satellites; troops that can be airdropped to a battle zone bypassing existing bases or beachheads. Networked with GPS, unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles and remotely controlled drones that can provide real-time battlefield view, a lighter and speedier force can end the war quickly with fewer civilian casualties.
In the early days of Iraqi operations, swiftness was achieved through maximum cooperation among Special Forces, army, navy, marines and air force, enabling them to act as one cohesive yet flexible force. This strategy that the Pentagon should incorporate into its war manual, according to Gates, will nevertheless not be enough. The army must be trained for the unconventional war carried out by a dispersed and networked enemy that draws its sustenance from many non-state actors sheltering in failing or unfriendly states. Besides, 'GI Joe' should be ready for doing social reconstruction and building civil society for which much more than a smart military doctrine is needed. Neither the Rumsfeld doctrine of 'shock and awe' nor the Powell doctrine of massive force application to serve a well-defined public-supported national interest is enough for the Af-Pak situation.
The al-Qaeda-Taliban asynchronous warfare strategy has made nonsense of every military doctrine. The US needs a new model for dealing with the enemy. "Terrorist networks", Gates has said, "can find sanctuary within the borders of a weak nation and strength within the chaos of social breakdown. A nuclear-armed state could collapse into chaos and criminality. The most likely catastrophic threats to the US homeland ^ for example, that of a US city being poisoned or reduced to rubble by a terrorist attack ^ are more likely to emanate from failing states than from aggressor states." The new defence strategy must take into account "the lethality of state conflict with the fanatical and protracted fervour of irregular warfare" and "wars...in which Microsoft coexists with machetes and stealth technology is met by suicide bombers," added Gates quoting defence scholars. That has been India's dilemma.
While Pakistan's nuclear threat has held India back from taking defensive-offensive measures, ISI-backed and professionally-trained terrorist groups under the disguise of charities and civic societies have been causing mayhem from India's heart of democracy, the majestic Parliament, to its city of palaces Jaipur to its most cosmopolitan corporate and cultural nexus and plexus, Mumbai. The Taliban-al-Qaeda in Afghanistan-Pakistan cannot be eliminated by traditional military strategies. The enemy has to be tracked down "hilltop by hilltop, house by house, block by bloody block", argues Gates, for which "the United States needs a military whose ability to kick down the door is matched by its ability to clean up the mess and even rebuild the house afterward".
Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations before her India trip, Clinton called it the exercise of "smart power...the use of all means at our disposal, including our ability to convene and connect. It means our economic and military strength, our capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation...The question is not whether our nation can or should lead, but how it will lead in the 21st century...America will always be a world leader..." As the Pentagon is "re-programmed" and recalibrated to become a new effective global force, the US cannot forget the much larger potential threat emerging: China's growing mastery of outer space and cyberspace, satellite warfare and cyber warfare. That is where the future US-India strategic dialogue should begin.
(The writer is professor, communications and diplomacy, at Norwich University, US.)

India's Challenge

Imagining post-election India
ND Batra
From The Statesman

India’s elections might seem a trivia pursuit to some observers in the West — just an exercise in ritualistic vote casting by 714 million voters driven by narrow considerations of caste and creed or, maybe, monetary benefits. It is true that most political parties, especially at the regional level, are not motivated by any big ideas or ideological agendas except to jockey for a piece of the pie when the post-election government formation begins to take shape. Neither of the two major national parties, the ruling Congress and the BJP, however, can be accused of having no ideology or lacking a political and economic platform; nevertheless, it is most unlikely that either of them would have a dominant position in Parliament after the election.

Localism and regionalism have been dominating Indian politics for several years and there is nothing particularly wrong with this state of affairs. National parties must reflect and accommodate regional needs and aspirations so that no one is left behind; but they cannot do so if they cast themselves up in ideological straitjackets. Even if a great national leader like Jawaharlal Nehru rises again, India would remain a country divided against itself, which would not necessarily be a disaster. In fact these divisions create opportunities for greater economic and political freedom; and experimentation. You can see the cultural differentiation between West Bengal and Gujarat. That is the beauty of the federal system. You can see how India’s culture of differentiation and the abiding spirit of free enterprise (the Gujarati-Marwari spirit) have been gradually transforming the country into a dynamic economy. In spite of the global slowdown, the economy is still likely to grow 6.5 per cent for the year ending March 2009 and according to Reserve Bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao, “India will be one of the countries that will recover fast.” About a decade ago, India reached the tipping point when economic growth became irreversible, regardless of who would govern the country.

After the post-election realignment of political forces when the new government takes office on 2 June, disciplined liberalisation of the economy ushered in by the Manmohan Singh government would continue. The need for steady economic growth and the role of the marketplace have begun to dominate thinking, which would subsume as well as transcend everything else including local and religious interests. More and more Indians have come to accept the view that the way to prosperity is through well-regulated banking and financial system, free marketplace economy and bold entrepreneurship.

An entrepreneur seeks innovations, builds networks and breaks barriers, and in the process he enriches society as you can see it happening in India’s burgeoning health industry that has begun to draw global attention. In spite of Satyam and the global slowdown, India continues to excite the world’s imagination and investors keep exploring its possibilities. For many global investors India offers another avenue of growth and diversification where they can put their resources to alternative productive uses. Tata, Reliance, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Wipro are not the only companies for which India has become famous. There is also the growing field of auto industry, biotechnology, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, where Indian companies have built international brand names. The global buzz that India is full of talented young people who can perform competitively in knowledge economy continues undiminished. Knowledge economy depends upon extracting and creating new knowledge from existing knowledge databases.

Although India is far from becoming a full-fledged knowledge economy, this is the trend. Other developing fields such as genetic engineering and high-tech healthcare will hasten the transformation of India in the next decades. But much more needs to be done to “go back to nine per cent... we need the world to recover fully. Private investment demand has to pick up”, said Mr Subbarao. One of the biggest hurdles for rapid economic growth in India is the red tape, which takes myriad forms such as expectations of under the table money; fear of the loss of bureaucratic power due to privatisation; and the fear of foreign direct investment.

The primary goal of rapid economic growth and its ultimate measure is poverty reduction by generating opportunities for employment, especially for the rural people, who mostly depend upon agriculture. Even today rural India is being held hostage to nature’s uncertainties.Technology can break nature’s stranglehold on poor farmers, many of whom have committed suicide. Most rural workers need to be absorbed into agro-industry, manufacturing and service industries; and that again will necessitate massive investment in building rural and urban infrastructure and upgrading the existing one.

Rising expectations at home and abroad would create compelling conditions for the new government, regardless of its ideology, to put its act together and become pro-active in anticipating crisis and solving problems. India has become an integral part of the globalised economy and the country has flourished on the synergy between multinational corporations and the ingenuity of its people for innovative solutions to complex problems. Ingenuity means transcending a system’s limitations by finding an alternative route to reach the same goal. When a creative and ingenious mind hits a block, he gets energised to find another way and improvise by transferring intelligence from one application to another.

The challenge is whether India’s ingenuity can be tapped to undertake collective action to build reliable highways, ports, railroads, power plants and airports speedily enough to handle future growth. Corruption is a serious problem in every society but more so in India. The source of corruption is the unchecked exercise of power. Elected officials can be removed, though one might say cynically, only to be replaced by another bunch of hoodlums. But democracies do have methods of dealing with corrupt people in high places.

Public accountability through the media, including television disclosures as well as social networks and blogs, is the key to fighting the menace. If laws are enforced rigorously, the corrupt will find their rightful place in jail. War against corruption and poverty will never come to an end but the media can play a great role in fighting the scourge through courageous reporting. It is the moral responsibility of leaders to create conditions that encourage risk-taking and reward entrepreneurship. It is only through free spirited and full-blooded entrepreneurship that the post-election India can meet the challenge of national, local and regional aspirations.

(ND Batra is Professor of Communications at Norwich University. He is taking time off from the weekly column “Cyber Age,” which he has been doing since 1995, to complete a book about the American spirit of ingenuity and innovation. He will be back with a new column of ideas soon after the book is done.)

Spying on Amricans

Why America spies upon Americans
From The Statesman
ND Batra
The Obama administration is keen to have a clean image at home and abroad. But spying is a dirty business and a necessary evil. The American spy outfit, the National Security Agency (NSA), is under scrutiny again for the right and wrong reasons, for example, that it over-spied and over-collected information on American citizens by tapping their private phone calls and e-mail messages and that its intelligence gathering activities went beyond the legal limits established by Congress last year.

Since NSA’s intelligence gathering is classified, no one exactly knows how much and what kind of excess the agency has committed and how much harm has been done to people’s privacy and civic liberties. Responding to the concern raised by The New York Times last week, the Justice Department promptly assured the public that it has taken steps to comply with the law and re-affirmed that it “takes its national security oversight responsibilities seriously and works diligently to ensure that surveillance under established legal authorities complies with the nation's laws, regulations and policies, including those designed to protect privacy interests and civil liberties." Times have changed. Americans are less ready to give the NSA the benefit of the doubt than they were a few years ago.

In 2008 Congress put stricter controls over the agency’s unbridled spying power that was given to it by George W. Bush after the 9/11 terrorists attacks. The NSA could still collect information by tapping e-mail and phone conversations without court warrants provided the target was believed to be outside the United States; but for domestic spying on suspects who might be collaborating with foreigners it must have the authority of the special court. But Congress did not ask the agency how it would distinguish between domestic and foreign communications as the digital stream passed through the telecommunication system. So the technology neutrality excuse could be used by unscrupulous agents to eavesdrop on domestic suspects for political reasons also.

Although Americans worry about the government agencies spying on them, Internet companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL and others automatically collect and archive huge amounts of personal data, which can be used to profile the behavior of the user. If a company accidently released search queries done by its users, digital crooks could profile the users. It would not be difficult to put together the profile of a web surfer Joe Doe, for example, and what’s preoccupying his mind. The questions a person asks and the searches he makes online reveal his mind. People quietly submit to whatever brings them a feeling of assuredness. Protests against intrusiveness by the government and businesses into their personal lives have become less vociferous.

People are being gradually pushed into a gentle non-obtrusive surveillance society not only to pre-empt terrorists and apprehend child molesters; but also for commercial and financial reasons.It is common knowledge that online surveillance devices are being increasingly used by businesses to track users. Tracking is done inconspicuously and the user can never suspect that he is being traced; nonetheless, the practice is questionable, especially when the website does not declare in its privacy policy. Cookies—small software programs the advertisers put on our hard drives to track where we surf so that they can customize the most appropriate advertising message for us to achieve target marketing, reaching the right person with right message—don’t seem to bother us. But you turn off cookies, though some websites won’t let a person search unless are cookies are allowed. On the other hand, a web bug, also called web beacon, can be programmed to collect whatever data is required without the knowledge of the user.

A web beacon can track whether a particular message, including junk mail, has been opened and acted upon or not. Any electronic image that is part of a web page, including a banner ad, can be programmed to act as a beacon and spy on the user. Search companies claim that the information enables them to personalize the surfing experience when a frequent user visits their portal. Similarly marketing companies use beacons to do demographic research on behalf of their clients, albeit they assert that no personally identifiable information gathered from the beacon research is shared with the clients. Users can opt-out, but most of them don’t know whether the option is available; nor do many of them pay attention to the privacy statement.

Surveillance technologies are not limited to Internet companies. Several companies are using biometrics, face recognition, radio frequency and global positioning system (GPS) technologies, to keep a watch on their properties and track suspects. Many car rental companies in the United States use GPS to keep track of their rental cars. If a car is stolen or is involved in an accident, the company would know the exact location of the car. GPS also enables them to check the speed of a rental car. Airports use digital fingerprint identification technology to conduct background checks with little protest from anyone. Face recognition technology is being extensively used not only in airports but also in ballparks, banks and other business establishments.

The US Customs and airports use body scanning machines to electronically scan a person for drugs, bombs and contrabands. A body scanner electronically scrutinizes a person and projects the image on the screen for examination without the person being asked to take her clothes off. Hundreds of air travelers, including women, are randomly subjected to electronic search.The radio-frequency identification tag (RFID) is another promising security technology, which is attached to a suspect’s baggage as he checks in. The tagged baggage is automatically routed to a security area where it is screened with special cameras and sensors for explosives and other hazardous materials.

Along with the baggage, in the future boarding passes too may have radio-frequency ID tags so that a suspect can be watched as he moves from one airport to another, from country to country via GPS. The only problem is that everyone is given the same treatment.

Both the government and corporate America have a common interest in keeping Americans under surveillance. They want to make their lives safer and better.
Although surveillance has not diminished American innovativeness, creativity and productivity, one does not know its long term effect.

India goes to election

Reflections on India at election time
ND Batra
Fromg The Statesman

The public trust in leaders in India is limited by their parties’ narrow-minded regional-and-caste based ideologies, rampant corruption and unscrupulous opportunism despite their occasional Madison Avenue style public relations image-building. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, of the 1,425 candidates 222 have criminal records, including “charges of murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion,” and other heinous crimes. The scars and burns of the Gujarat communal massacre in 2002 and the mass killings of poor helpless Sikhs in Delhi in 1984 are still seared into people’s visual memories.

Thanks to television and global media, we saw how ugly and inhuman people can become at times and felt ashamed of ourselves. This is what the media revolution does to a democratic society like India. It never lets you forget the past and it also fuels the desire for change at a rapid pace.

Dr N Bhaskara Rao, writing for the Center for Media Studies, observed that “in the last fortnight of March 2009 there were more than a dozen instances from around the country that we saw news channels showing cash in large volumes being transported or distributed by political leaders in the context of the Lok Sabha poll.” Although this kind of anecdotal observation needs to be vetted by empirically verifiable evidence, perception is reality in the public mind.

While the Internet makes India global, it is television that mirrors the actual realities and can uncover hidden problems including corruption and criminality. Television gives everyone easy access to information and even the most complex topic has to be simplified into terse statements, sound bites and visual moments. Television turns the abstract into the concrete and the visual. It can make corruption and injustice visible.

An uneducated worker or a farmer can easily understand what is happening; and given the Indian habit of building quick grapevine communication, eventually every topic ends up in political discussion, and into the voting booth. So when television shows some parts of India clean and bright, naturally the voters, the urban and rural poor, may ask, what about us, the slumdogs?

With cell-phone cameras everywhere, every “note for vote,” to borrow Dr Rao’s phrase, can be captured for the 24/7 television.

It is legitimate for a farmer on the verge of suicide to ask the question: How can you leave us behind? Trickle down economy has not been good enough even for the United States; but for India the economic growth must reach every nook and cranny, the lowly and the humble, the rag pickers of Dharavi-Mumbai and the rat eaters, Musahars, of Bihar.

I regard it as an assertion of the people’s right for equal access and equal opportunity to share the good life that one sees on television, soap operas and commercials. In other words, the pace of economy cannot be slowed down; rather it has to quicken to meet the rising aspirations created by television news media in India.

Since globalisation, privatisation and free market have begun to create more jobs, there’s no reason why any government, communist or otherwise, could afford to oppose the trend and still stay in power. On the contrary, one sees a growing trend in various states in India for generating competitive advantages to attract direct foreign investments and collaboration.

I have always wondered why Bengal lost Tata’s Nano, the little beautiful car which has become part of the global chatter. Competition: This is the global paradigm shift that Indians must understand. So if Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai rise, can Ahmedabad with Nano in its workshop remain far behind?

In a competitive environment of the free marketplace, the states, communists or communalists, have to position themselves to attract private investments and encourage entrepreneurship. Information technology industry in India has reached a critical mass and in spite of the Satyam scandal it will continue growing.

But India needs balanced development, including massive emphasis on agriculture and rural development to spread wealth and reduce disparities.

This is not to minimise the importance of information technology as an engine of economic growth. The change of government will not adversely affect the information technology base and the trust that Indian knowledge workers have been building for more than a decade. The Satyam hiccup would not change the fundamentals that India is a reliable source of off-shoring for major companies like General Electric, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and others, who value India’s knowledge workforce.

One can say with confidence that the technology sector will continue to receive the excellent support that it has been receiving regarding infrastructure and developmental policies. ITs foreign collaborators and partners need not have any concern. In fact, whatever party or coalition comes to power in New Delhi, it will certainly make all-out efforts to ensure a growth-friendly environment to attract foreign investment. But at the same time we should keep in mind that since not everyone can go to IIT or IIM, jobs off-shored to India from the United States and Europe would play a marginal role in lifting people out of poverty and raising them into the growing middle-class. There has to be something else, something much more dynamic like the rise of millions of cell-technology mobile small entrepreneurs who can grow like giants.
The next leadership must forge millions of levers to lift India out of poverty.
This much I know that once again India’s millions of electorate will regretfully affirm that the age of giants, those larger-than-life men and women ~ Jawaharlal Nehru (Tryst with destiny), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Integration of states) and Indira Gandhi (Liberation of Bangladesh, accession of Sikkim, bank nationalisation that has protected India from the global financial crisis today) ~ is over forever.

Nonetheless, Dr Manmohan Singh has been good enough for the country. He has kept the hurly-burly political alliance together for five years, persuaded the country to accept the path-breaking nuclear deal with the United States, braved the Mumbai terrorist attack, and on the top of it, he has managed to keep up the average economic growth around 8 percent. Now it is the age of exploration of space, outer space, rural space and cyberspace, for which India needs bravehearts, men and women with courage, integrity and imagination.

Song of Tagore

Thou Hast Made Me Endless

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941 AD) the Nobel Laureate of 1913 was introduced to the West primarily through the collection of English translation of some of his poems/songs captioned as ‘Gitanjali’ (=Offering of Songs).More translations of his works followed by the poet himself and others after he had won the Nobel, including poems/songs, dramas, short stories etc. However, such efforts were sporadic and sluggish, mostly on individual initiative, which still remain so.As a result, a vast volume of the poet’s works remains un-translated while, it appears, it is an impossible proposition to translate even a substantial part of the poet’s total works to permit those, not privileged by the knowledge of Bengali language, a reasonably broad view of his myriad creations where unfathomable perceptional depth of top grade aesthetics runs through, literally true to his song “Thou hast made me endless / Such is Thy pleasure”.Notwithstanding this, an upsurge of Tagore translation took place in the last decade of the twentieth century by virtue of a good number of eminent poets/translators e.g. William Radice, Joe Winter, Ketaki Kushari Dyson, to name a few, all of whom left their valuable contribution to this oeuvre and my book
THE ECLIPSED SUN is a modest addition to this. I have put stress on a few aspects of the poet’s works, particularly those in his twilight years, which seemed to me quite inadequately covered so far. The followings are presented mostly based on this book. RAJAT DAS GUPTA: Calcutta: e-mail: rajatdasgupta@yahoo.com & dasguptarajat@hotmail.com
Rabindra Sangeet – Songs of Rabindranath Tagore: (Part 2) – 6 samplesTranslator’s note: The songs of Rabindranath Tagore are known as Rabindrasangeet which number approx. 2500. It is no exaggeration to say that Rabindrasangeet has explored every corner of human emotion and perception to give them best possible expression. Their philosophical depth also is unparalleled in the music world. It may be claimed, Rabindrasangeet has climaxed wording of the ineffable in literature of all time. Anybody not knowing Bengali definitely miss this aesthetic treasure. A translation can at best explain the central idea of a song, but cannot surface the wonderful matching of music with the original poesy so intimate with its philosophical/spiritual canvas. Unfortunately, therefore, the best of Rabindrasangeet, with all its humanistic appeal of highest order, will remain confined within the Bengali circle. It may be possible, some highly talented musicians endowed with literary command also, will emerge with versions of Rabindrasangeet in other languages, equally appealing. Such experiment in Hindi has not been disappointing and has gained popularity. Hindi is of course quite close to Bengali which must have been a contributory factor to such success. But the Western languages are likely to pose insurmountable challenge to any such effort. While hoping that some highly talented musicians will some day perform this magic of perfect cloning of Rabindrasangeet even in the Western languages, a sensible suggestion in the meantime appears to be to keep its translation handy while the Westerners (and in general all not having access to Bengali) will give their ear to the original Bengali song and try to perceive its import. Those knowing Bengali can only sympathize those not so privileged for such a plight in their struggle to enjoy a song! Below appears translations of some Rabindrasangeets, with a few initial lines of the original Bengali given in Roman script to enable the listeners to relate the translation to the song.Amra dujana swarga khelana garibo na dharanite
Mugdho lalito asrugalito geete
………………………………………….
………………………………………….
[Notes: The song was composed in early thirties of 20th Century, presumably dedicated to the great revolutionary Jatindra Mohan Sengupta and his foreign (Irish, I guess) wife Nellie Sengupta, who had worked shoulder to shoulder with her husband in the freedom struggle for India. In 1932, on his return voyage from Europe, Jatindra was arrested by the British police near Bombay. He was since interned and eventually breathed his last on 22 July 1933 at Ranchi (in Eastern India). Many a couple dedicated to freedom struggle had similar plight at that time and, naturally we may assume, this song was directed to them all. Yet, its appeal extends universally, beyond a particular milieu, to all the couple whose objective is far beyond a mere happy family life to respond to the cause of service of the people at large.]

To compose the toy of heaven
Is not our aim craven –
In emotional songs occult
The nuptial night to exalt
In nostalgic charm
With a heart infirm
To beg at Fate’s feet
All our imploring to meet –
Is not for us intrepid
Both standing firm in our daring bid.

The banner of love we’ll hoist high
Along craggy path our perilous mission to vie;
The distress of the cruel day
Overwhelm us may;
Yet, for peace to languish
Or consolation we’ll not wish.
If the radar is broke, the sail torn,
To us this will be ever known,
That both of us are there
Even when Death at us will stare.

Both of us to vision the Earth there
And each other;
The desert heat to bear
Not to rush for the mirage mere
Evading truth to self beguile
This glory be ours all the while;
This message oh dearest
Be our heart’s closest –
Till we die
That you’re there; so am I.

* * * * * * * * * * * ** ** *
Tumi hatath haway bheshe asha dhan
Tai hatath paoyae chamke othe mon
…………………………………….
……………………………………..
[Note: God’s revelation to us is off and on in course of our life, without notice or ritualistic processes, but even through the simplest objects of Nature if we keep our perceptions open.]

Thou art my treasure windfall
So my mind does startle.
On my secret travel
Thy abrupt reveal I marvel –
In the wind fragrant
On Thy fancies errant.

Daily as we come and go
Each other we do not know;
Kicking up dust visit many
To convey message hardly any;
All of a sudden Thy flute yonder
Alerts the lost passenger.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * *
Tomar holo shuru, amar holo shara
Tomay amay mile emni bahe dhara
…………………………………….
…………………………………….

[Note: Among the Hindu gods, Vishnu is the protector of Creation while e Shiva is for its destruction. One will agree, concepts of Vishnu and Shiva are more philosophical, rather than religious, to perceive this dual faces of Existence. This song brings out this very philosophical perception.]

You set out as I end;
Such a stream founts as we blend.
For you the light does glitter,
At home with mate you are.
For me is the night,
The stars above only I sight.
You have the shore,
For me the seas roar.
You have station,
Mine is motion.
You preserve, I undo,
You fear, I brave in lieu.

* * * * * * * * * * * * **
Bhenge mor gharer chabi niye jabi ke amare, Bandhu amar
Na paye tomar dekha aka aka din je amar kate nare
…………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………….
[Note: While we are confined to the narrow limits of our life, we pine for a bigger significance of our existence beyond our mundane boundaries. This song wonderfully brings out the distress of the human soul seeking exit beyond its confinement and, in the case of the Poet, I believe the eternal Truth is his quest.]

Who’ll break loose oh
My room’s lock for my bondage to go,
That from me does fend
Thou, oh my friend!
Without Thy sight
Lone days are my plight.
Is the night over
The Sun soon to appear
At the horizon Eastern
My rescue to earn;
By the long road ahead
Thy chariot to my door will be led?
In the sky stars countless
Stare at me blink less
Awaiting the dawn
With Thy floodlight to be gone.
The travelers in the morning
All come amidst din;
Pass their pageants with music
Thy glory to seek
In the flowers blooming
Tunes struck by the Sun’s golden string.

* * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * ** **
Charanrekha tabo je pathe dile lekhi
Chinnha aji tari apani ghuchale ki
…………………………………
………………………………
[Note: Everything beautiful in our life is only transitory. Yet. the Poet’s conviction is that only the eternal Truth manifests in these temporal.]

On the path Thou left Thy footprints
To-day to blot out all its hints.
Pollens of Ashoka (*) rendered Thy dust crimson (*= tree)
Only to be lost in the grass on Thy lawn.
Ends flowering,
Birds forget to sing;
The southern wind ceases
Oblivious, self-forfeits as it pleases.
Yet, the Immortal did they not carry,
In death will end its memory?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He nutan dakha dik arbar
Janmero prathama subhakshan
……………………………….

[Note: There has been a boom of celebration of birthday parties of young and adults alike in the Western style even in our country with the trite song ‘Happy birthday to you …..etc.’ preceded by the ritual of cutting/eating of delicious birthday cakes to be followed by sumptuous dishes and, of course, the incumbents are flooded with costly gifts from their guests. Thus, the birthday parties do provide plenty of enjoyment. However, it may be interesting to compare this ethos with that which pervades the whole of Bengal during the Kabi Paksha (Poet’s fortnight) which starts on the 25th day of Baisakh (this month in the Bengali calendar synchronizes with the mid April to mid May period), the birthday of the Poet, when the entire clime here is inundated with Tagore’s songs/recitals etc. in various functions taking us deep into the perception of Creation’s mystery, which we badly miss in our said birthday rituals which, one may feel, are in utter mediocrity once one has experienced the ecstasy and philosophical height in Kabi Paksha. Out of many other recitals relevant to the profundity of ‘birthday’ the following song is sure to be heard on this occasion ]

O Ever New, may Thee reappear
Through Life’s holy primal hour;
With the mist torn
Like Sun be Thy manifestation.
From the midst of inane
Thy victory be over its bane.
Let be hailed by Thy glow
And my heart’s trumpet blow;
Music of Life’s marvel
Infinity’s eternal wonder to reveal;
The clarion call to the Ever New be sent
At the advent
Of Baisakh the twenty fifth
For its un-blighting gift.

Obama and Afghanistan

Obama’s War
Milton Bearden writes in Foreign Affairs:
“Since the United States first dispatched troops to Afghanistan in October 2001, the war in Afghanistan has been an orphan of U.S. policy. But with the release last week of a revamped U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, the conflict has, by default, become Barack Obama's war.”
Read the full article …

Obama as global shepherd

President as global shepherd

ND Batra
From The Statesman

Reflecting on the G-20 meeting in London, it would appear that world leaders of the most powerful economies had succeeded in realising that concerted action was needed to halt the precipitous global economic slide and begin taking concrete steps to effect global recovery, regardless of the primary source of the trouble; which of course everyone knows started with the United States banking system’s disastrous financial innovations like sub-prime lending, credit default swaps, liar’s loans, et cetera.

Although the time for finger pointing and mutual recriminations, as some Asian and European leaders had been doing earlier, seemed to be over, the contentious issue was what would work the best to lift all boats, for example, whether to inject fiscal stimulus to let credit flow again and kick start the recovery or to erect regulatory frame work to control Wall Street’s rapacious capitalism. That was the great Atlantic divide the G-20 communiqué tried to bridge with rhetorical flourishes such as “The era of banking secrecy is over.” Much credit is being given to President Barack Obama for parlaying his well-honed campaign-style charm offensive into global diplomacy, which certainly is true.

Wherever Mr Obama and his graceful lovely wife Michelle Obama went, they won people’s hearts and minds. Through their grand symbolic gestures, eloquent speeches and transparent smiles, America seemed to be refurbishing its image sullied by the Iraq war and the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

But no less could be said of other leaders also including the powerful European duo, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Markel Angela of Germany, who asserted that the Anglo-Saxon form of unbridled marketplace capitalism is dangerous for the new world order, especially now when the global economy has become so integrated that a single Wall Street investment bank failure could cause worldwide financial tsunami. The world just cannot leave the United States to its own financial devices, however innovative they may be.

With Prime Minister Gordon Brown, like his predecessor Tony Blaire, being secure in the American safe haven of “special relationship,” the new Europe is essentially a Franco-German Europe. And in the ultimate analysis, French and German leaders prevailed in their views that mandatory stimulus spending by individual countries as the US and the UK have been insisting, would not work without a global regulatory structure.

Although China and Russia, prior to the Summit, made lot of noise about creating a new global currency under the tutelage of the IMF, they had no takers. As Nobel economist Paul Krugman said in his New York column, China is in a dollar trap. The IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is a convertible mechanism based on a basket of currencies including the dollar, pound, euro and Japanese yen. Nothing should worry China more than the value of the dollar, whose collapse will wipe out China’s massive, rather frightening, foreign exchange reserves.

China and other developing countries have to determine the optimum level of foreign exchange reserves beyond which the accumulation becomes more of a liability than an asset. China’s excessive dependence upon exports and obscene accumulation of foreign exchange reserves is as much responsible for global financial crisis as the US fraudulent and criminal lending practices.

China and the United States have let down the world, but Mr Obama would not say so much so bluntly. Measured as he is always in his public utterances, Mr Obama said in his post-Summit radio-Internet address: “Ultimately, the only way out of a recession that is global in scope is with a response that is global in coordination.” In broad terms, there was an agreement that banks need to start lending again in order to stimulate growth and generate jobs, but Europeans were unsure about the wisdom of infusing their economies with massive multi-billion dollar stimulus packages, the kind of seemingly bold steps that the Obama administration has announced, for example, to buy toxic bank assets and shore up their finances so that they start lending again.

European leaders see the global crisis primarily as a consequence of lack of financial controls and most of the G-20 communiqué is about establishing the regulatory framework, including the closure of tax havens (Switzerland, Hong Kong, Macao, Mauritius, for example) and close supervision of hedge funds and private equity firms. But it was the eye-catching amount of $1.1 trillion through the IMF and World Bank in loans and guarantees to help developing countries, who have been badly affected by economic downturn, that answered the question, Where is the beef? “The whole world has been touched by this devastating downturn, and today, the world’s leaders have responded with an unprecedented set of comprehensive and coordinated actions,” said Mr Obama, calling the agreement “a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery.” The market responded to his optimism with a surge and the Dow closed over 8,000 in spite of the increasing US unemployment figures. Looking from a glass half-full half-empty perspective, the Obama stimulus package for the global economy through domestic spending, which was rejected by the Europeans, might be seen as being funneled though the International Monetary Fund ~ in spite of the IMF’s dubious reputation of being an organisation whose actions in the past, some believe, have caused more harm than good to the recipients of its loans. But beggars have no choice.

Although Mr Obama’s all embracing inclusive diplomacy shepherded the G-20 Summit superbly, it was essentially an European theatrical performance. The so-called BRIC countries were seen but not heard much.

(ND Batra teaches communications and diplomacy at Norwich University)

Advertisment can stimulate the economy

When the economy is down, call the adman

CYBER AGE ND Batra
From The Statesman

In spite of the fact that unemployment has been rising, more than 90 percent Americans still have their jobs. But people are not spending liberally as they used to do. In this season of recession here and depression there, the adman’s song and dance is becoming extremely loud and captivating.
In the United States, advertising since long has been a most important mode of social, political and economic discourse; it is partly so because the adman knows how to cut through the glut of information and hit the target audience with promises of fulfillment of needs and desires.

The adman knows who you are: your taste in wining and dining; your preferences for the car; whether you love kids or pets or both; what’s in your medicine cabinet; what’s in your refrigerator; whether you play golf or video games. He knows what you do each part of the day and how to reach you through your demographic-psychographic profile. The adman researches people not as individual human beings but clusters of interests, preferences and tastes; as communities of shared values, seeking similar pleasures. The adman is a cultural spy as well as promoter of culture.

You need to observe how the adman cleverly propels millions of children to toy stores in order to get to the parents’ pocket books. He does it through after-school television programmes and Saturday morning cartoons, programmes that alternate with commercials so rapidly that the kids can’t make sense whether they are watching programmes or commercials. And at the same time kids feel fascinated with imaginative characters from SpongeBob SquarePants to Power Rangers.

Few parents know how to withstand the pressure from their children, ranging from outright grumpiness to passive-aggressive non-communication. Even in these difficult days when household budgeting is a challenge for many families, children come first. Children and teenagers’ consumer market is huge. Adman turns everything into “cool,” and that is the buzzword.

But imagine how the adman is dealing with a most rational group in the United States, the physicians. Direct-to-the patient “Ask Your Doctor” ads about prescription drugs, which are mostly aimed at the elderly and women, have become so common that sometimes you wonder if Americans suffer from every global disease ranging from allergies and erectile dysfunction to sagging breasts in urgent need for uplifting.

A typical “Ask Your Doctor” advertisement, for example, Detrol, which is used for incontinence and overactive bladder, may show a happy middle-aged couple walking on the beach hand in hand, so happy because they have discovered Detrol through their doctor; or middle age buddies who can sit through an entire baseball game without rushing to the bathroom.

Through these direct-to-patient ads that seem to give vital and authoritative information, the adman uses persuasion to elbow people to take the initiative and ask their physician why this drug is right for them. Of course in a rapid-fire speed-reading mode, the narrator issues warnings for the drug’s side-effects.

In a behavioural advertisement, the adman appeals directly to people’s emotions and tickles the image they have of themselves especially when he sells a value product such as an expensive luxury car to uppity rising people trying to catch up with their neighbours. But by mixing both kinds of appeals, emotional and informative, many pharmaceutical companies make a direct pitch to patients from “If Viagra isn’t everything you hoped for, don’t give up” because there is Cialis for 36 hours and even for daily use to “Now I trust my heart to Lipitor”; and so on.

Many drug manufacturers are using television celebrities to push their prescription drugs, a strategy that might make a physician wonder if it’s worthwhile to resist the pressure and lose his or her patients to another healthcare provider.

The adman’s approach to these two large and almost captive markets, children and the elderly, is quite similar. To get to parents, the adman, like a magician, snares children by creating what is “cool”; to get to physicians, he goes to their patients by using a direct and immediate health benefit appeal. Both appeals use subtle emotional pressures, pushing on ethical boundaries.

But in spite of all his faults, the adman is indispensable to a free market society. The adman impacts society in multifarious ways by bringing buyers and sellers together in the marketplace of goods, services and ideas, and thereby helps distribute economic and intellectual resources of the society.

The social discourse today is all about stimulating the economy through buying and selling because in a consumer society like the United States if the trips to shopping malls diminish, so would the economy. Sooner or later, therefore, the adman would get us because he can take us everywhere we want to be. And he keeps the economy moving even in these times of recession when our lives have become rather fearful of tomorrows. The American adman may be President Obama’s best ally in fighting the economic downturn.

(ND Batra is professor of communications at Norwich University)

China, US, India

Battle of ideas shall continue

CYBER AGE - ND BATRA
From The Statesman

Before the global financial meltdown began last September, the whole world watched with fascination the unstoppable rise of China as a model of economic progress. China as a global workshop ~ that exports, exports, and exports ~ became an exemplar of the energy born of nationalistic commercialism.

Except for those pesky Tibetans and their conniving agents abroad, it looked China had become a global brand with a single dominant story of harmony and peaceful rise. But now because these bankrupt Americans and Europeans are not buying much, many factory sites in China look like a vast wasteland. The euphoria of Asian values and uniqueness is no longer visible. China of course is not crumbling like a cookie but it is also not speeding like a shining silver bullet train.
China as an idea has to compete with others in the international marketplace of ideas. So you can never say that the battle of ideas has been finally won. For example, we did not realise that the end the Soviet Union was not the end of the battle of ideas but rather the beginning of new ones. Think of history as a dynamic landscape where the battle of ideas continues.

Some people, especially those trained in propaganda believe that all that a country needs is a new image and therefore it must re-brand itself. It is not that easy. Even a most authoritarian nation cannot control the message and its image even though it may be the sole source of information about itself. Of course you can never control the image of an open society because there are so many independent actors, institutions and corporations competing for attention.

For example, the Slumdog Millionaire image of India can never be done away. When some of my colleagues ask me as to how accurate is the portrayal of India in the movie, I say it’s a beautiful and accurate “misrepresentation” of India. But Mumbai slumgdogs are better than Mother Teresa’s hopeless downtrodden. Add to this tapestry, the millions of Indians who are using their mobile phones to become entrepreneurs; and the Tata Nano; and the rise of silicon whiz kids in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Kolkata, et al, and you have a throbbing compelling image of India.

Similarly, Hollywood, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and all others contribute to the US image abroad. But now you add to this mélange the financial meltdown, increasing joblessness, and the bloody news from Afghanistan! The US image abroad is the materialisation of what the USA is doing at home and abroad.

Foreigners who see only Hollywood violent movies and video games are likely to have a distorted image of the USA. But if you bring them to university campuses, cultural centres, and workplaces, you would see the image of the USA in their minds change radically. Keeping the dynamic nature of the emergent image, it should not be difficult to understand why the public perception of the USA differs from one country to another. The image depends upon the quality and the extent of its presence and its usefulness to the host country.

Even the smartest public diplomacy campaign won’t change perceptions overnight especially when America is deeply engaged in multiple missions abroad. Events might occur beyond its control, which could further blur the image in some countries. China’s presence in the USA is huge but poor quality China-made toys, tainted pet foods and defective tyres have shattered its image of a reliable manufacturer. No amount of public relations or threat of going to WTO as it recently tried to do with India over toys would help China unless it realises that good products are manufactured by countries where the Press is free, where there is political and corporate transparency.

The always-on 24-hour global communication, blogs, instant messaging, and news cycles, make it impossible for practitioners of public relations to devise a central strategy to impose a message control, as it can be done in advertising campaigns for a product or a political candidate. In an environment of unbridled communication, you might still control the message, but you cannot control the meaning when instant alternative interpretations are available.

Each nation is different, so what works in Indonesia may not work in Pakistan. The challenge is to find the right vehicle to carry the message for a specific local audience. Public diplomats must use local leaders to champion and advance their cause and they should do so in such a manner that it makes the local people feel good while at the same time generating goodwill towards the country that is using information culture to foster goodwill. Hollywood is still the best cultural export, but US popular culture, due to proliferation of senseless violence and explicit sex, creates negative impressions in foreign audiences, in spite of the fact the world has been spending billions of dollars importing American entertainment.

The paradox is that in spite of negative feelings about American popular culture that it depicts profanity, nudity, mayhem and crime, the popularity of mass culture, even in the Islamic world, remains strong. In countries like India and the USA, corporations, educational institutions, and non-profits organisations represent most precious values such as individual initiative, innovativeness, entrepreneurship, freedom of speech, and competition. Google and Apple, for example, embody as much of what America stands for as does Hollywood.

India’s massive general election starting 16 April in which an electorate of 714 million would participate makes the idea of India very persuasive and appealing. I would rather have free and fair elections in India than a glamorous summer Olympics.

(ND Batra blogs at http://globaldiplomat.blogspot.com and teaches communications at Norwich University.)

Song of Tagore

Thou Hast Made Me Endless

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941 AD) the Nobel Laureate of 1913 was introduced to the West primarily through the collection of English translation of some of his poems/songs captioned as ‘Gitanjali’ (=Offering of Songs).More translations of his works followed by the poet himself and others after he had won the Nobel, including poems/songs, dramas, short stories etc. However, such efforts were sporadic and sluggish, mostly on individual initiative, which still remain so.As a result, a vast volume of the poet’s works remains un-translated while, it appears, it is an impossible proposition to translate even a substantial part of the poet’s total works to permit those, not privileged by the knowledge of Bengali language, a reasonably broad view of his myriad creations where unfathomable perceptional depth of top grade aesthetics runs through, literally true to his song “Thou hast made me endless / Such is Thy pleasure”.Notwithstanding this, an upsurge of Tagore translation took place in the last decade of the twentieth century by virtue of a good number of eminent poets/translators e.g. William Radice, Joe Winter, Ketaki Kushari Dyson, to name a few, all of whom left their valuable contribution to this oeuvre and my book THE ECLIPSED SUN is a modest addition to this. I have put stress on a few aspects of the poet’s works, particularly those in his twilight years, which seemed to me quite inadequately covered so far. The followings are presented mostly based on this book. RAJAT DAS GUPTA: Calcutta: e-mail: rajatdasgupta@yahoo.com
ajarch@cal3.vsnl.net.in
Rabindra Sangeet – Songs of Rabindranath Tagore:

Translator’s note: The songs of Rabindranath Tagore are known as Rabindrasangeet which number approx. 2500. It is no exaggeration to say that Rabindrasangeet has explored every corner of human emotion and perception to give them best possible expression. Their philosophical depth also is unparalleled in the music world. It may be claimed, Rabindrasangeet has climaxed wording of the ineffable in literature of all time. Anybody not knowing Bengali definitely miss this aesthetic treasure. A translation can at best explain the central idea of a song, but cannot surface the wonderful matching of music with the original poesy so intimate with its philosophical/spiritual canvas. Unfortunately, therefore, the best of Rabindrasangeet, with all its humanistic appeal of highest order, will remain confined within the Bengali circle. It may be possible, some highly talented musicians endowed with literary command also, will emerge with versions of Rabindrasangeet in other languages, equally appealing. Such experiment in Hindi has not been disappointing and has gained popularity. Hindi is of course quite close to Bengali which must have been a contributory factor to such success. But the Western languages are likely to pose insurmountable challenge to any such effort. While hoping that some highly talented musicians will some day perform this magic of perfect cloning of Rabindrasangeet even in the Western languages, a sensible suggestion in the meantime appears to be to keep its translation handy while the Westerners (and in general all not having access to Bengali) will give their ear to the original Bengali song and try to perceive its import. Those knowing Bengali can only sympathize those not so privileged for such a plight in their struggle to enjoy a song! Below appears translations of some Rabindrasangeets, with a few initial lines of the original Bengali given in Roman script to enable the listeners to relate the translation to the song.

Ganer bhitar diye jakhan dekhi bhubankhani
Takhan tare chini ami, takhan tare jani
……………………………………….

[Note: Music of highest aesthetics and philosophical values starting from the Vedic hymns down to folksongs inundate the Poet’s university Viswa-Bharati at Santiniketan. The Poet’s own songs Rabindrasangeets, approx. 2500 in number, have freely drawn from India’s and also from West’s various musical traditions which gift us a new look to the world for our deepest perception of the creative wonder behind it. Maybe, the few songs translated here will give one glimpse of it, though not having access to the original Rabindrasangeets due to linguistic barrier.]

Through music the world as I see,
I know it, reveals its intimacy.
Language of its light
Fills sky in loving delight;
Its dust speaks the innate
Divine words ultimate;
Ceases to be external
In my soul melodies to spell;
On its grass
My heart’s throbs pass;
Beauty shapes up, flows the nectar
My own bounds to blur;
With all then I see
My camaraderie.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Amader Shantiniketan, Se je sabar hote apan,
Tar akash bhara kole, moder dole hriday dole
…………………………………………….

[Note: In various celebrations/functions of Santiniketan, the University of the Poet, this song is sung in chorus. Is there a better paean for any institution anywhere in the world?]

Our Santiniketan,
She is our very own;
Lapping our heart
Her sky rocks it to spurt
To see her novel again
In our renewed vein.
The rows of her trees
Our frolic in the field sprees;
Affection of the blue above
Dawn to dusk showers love.
In the shades of our Shawl trees
Music from the wood conveys the breeze.
The Amlaki (*) bowers gay *
With dancing leaves play.
Where we ramble for pleasure,
That never eludes from us far.
In our mind the Sitar (**) of love **
Is tuned to put us hand in glove
With my brothers
Who are one with me and others.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(*) tree (**) musical instrument

Purano sei diner katha bhulbi kire hai
O sei chokher dekha, praner katha
Se ki bhola jai.
………………………………..
…………………………………
[Note: This song as a rule is heard in the alumni associations of the educational institutions of Bengal when old mates meet after a long time gap after they have left their Alma Mater. There could not be a better outlet of their emotions at that moment than this song. Of course, this song is not the exclusive preserve for the alumni and may be appropriately used in similar other get together]

Will you forget that yore,
Our sighting then and heart’s talk that still lure;
O mate, come once more,
To my heart’s core;
Let’s talk our weal and woe
To quench our soul parched so.

At dawn we plucked flower,
Cradled in our bower,
Played flute under the Bakul tree
And sang in musical spree.
In between was our departure –
One from the other flung far;
If we’ve met again,
Be within my heart lain.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Amra sabai raja amader eai rajar rajatwe
Naile moder rajar sane milbo ki swatte?
………………………………….
………………………………….
[Note: In God’s kingdom all his subjects are one with their King. While we are bound by His axioms, we never feel the bondage, while the human kings or even the rulers in a democracy tend to be tyrants, maybe with a difference in degree.]

We all are kings in our King’s kingdom
Else how we be one with Him on what other term?
We are arbitrary
Yet, His cravings carry,
Not bound in slave’s bondage
To fear His rage.
He gives honour to all
That bounces on Him to fall;
None is there us to stunt
With any untruth blunt;
We go on our own
To meet the path He had shown;
We won’t die
In the whirl futile.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Austrian Culture

A darker side to Austrian culture
“When I moved to Austria last September to research a book on the Fritzl case I found a flat in Vienna’s Judenplatz, where Rachel Whiteread’s imposing monument dedicated to the Jewish victims of Austrian fascism was unveiled in 2000,” says Stefanie Marsh in Times (London). Read more..

US Global Pre-eminence

Obama and emerging American values

CYBER AGE - ND Batra
From The Statesman
IN every country there is always some or the other cultural struggle going on. When the struggle becomes too fierce to be contained in civil discourse, it becomes a cultural war that is fought in the media, legislature, or even in the streets. Jihad is essentially a cultural struggle over the interpretation of what Islam means; and when some extremists believe in the absoluteness of their interpretation, they think it is righteous to use violence to impose their meaning on others. But this is not limited to Islam. Culture-driven sporadic violence occurred during Valentine’s Day in India, for example.

For a long time a cultural war has been going on in the USA over gay marriages, abortion rights and stem cell research. Americans are no less fierce in their views than are Islamists, except that they use the ballot box rather than the gun in prevailing over their opponents. Most Americans, for example, believe in the traditional concept of marriage, that it should be a union between a man and a woman; but at the same time they condemn discrimination against gay couples, according to several polls. Some states, such as my home state Vermont, have enacted civil union laws that give same sex couples the same rights as heterosexual married couples enjoy, for example, health insurance benefits.

Massachusetts has made gay marriages legal. The gay marriage battle is being fought in every state but in the course of time most states would recognise some form of civil union. The 14th Amendment’s equal protection and due process clause that was originally meant to give equal rights to blacks after the Civil War is being invoked by gay rights advocates.

Last November, Californians passed Preposition 8 that banned gay marriages, which is now being challenged in the California Supreme Court. President Barack Obama has an open mind on gay marriages, which means he will go with the flow. As a presidential candidate he promised to fight hard for equal rights for gay couples in civil unions but now, as the President, he is confronted with the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act that extends health insurance benefits only to heterosexual spouses of federal employees. And let’s recall: the invocation at the January 20 presidential inauguration for Mr Obama was delivered by the anti-gay evangelist Reverend Rick Warren. The Obama big-tent politics accommodates so many contradictions.

Though Mr Obama, like most Americans, seems to be conflicted over the equal rights protection, including the right to marry for the gay community, he is more certain about abortion rights and life-enhancing embryonic stem cell research. Deep divisions no doubt continue about when life begins and the rights of the unborn from the petri dish to the womb; nonetheless the abortion rights of American women (vide Roe v. Wade decision) are not only intact but Mr Obama has struck down the Bush Administration rule which prohibited US money from being used to fund international family planning clinics that promote and offer abortion, provide counselling or referrals about abortion services. The right to life movement nonetheless continues to be very strong in the USA but its proponents have to use some other methods of persuasion rather than depend upon the power of the White House.

Although the controversy over embryonic stem cell research, which necessitates the destruction of human embryos but holds great promises for fighting diseases, continues more or less, Mr Obama has reversed George W Bush’s policy and removed all restrictions on the use of federal money for research using embryonic stem cells. Of course, when the health care benefits arising from embryonic stem cell research are commercially exploited by the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, even the most social conservative diehard pro-lifers would pipe down their shrill criticism. Embryonic stem cell research would eventually revolutionise healthcare and disease management and has an immense potential for the pharmaceutical industry. To some extent, the marketplace drives American values, which is perhaps true of other societies also.

Americans are absolutely undivided over the value they treasure and esteem the most: the USA’s pre-eminence in the world. Nor have they lost faith in the value of free market capitalism, in spite of the crash of the financial markets. Americans want the whole world be open to them so that they could look at what is going on. Shut doors intimidate Americans. Just consider China-US relations. In spite of its high economic growth and global ambitions, much of China’s foreign exchange reserve ($727.4 billion) found its way into US treasuries. China has no choice but to keep its door ajar. Disputes over trade and Taiwan and Tibet human rights can be managed diplomatically. Last week, the US House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution asking China to restore to Tibet its human rights. China huffed and puffed and lodged a protest but the USA will not give up its moral right to speak against human rights violation. China will not be able to shut the door on Tibet even if it agrees to buy a trillion dollars more of US treasuries.

Indo-US relations have been growing. The outsourcing of technology jobs has made India a breeding ground for knowledge workers, but at the same time it is a kind of co-dependent relationship that Americans have built up with China. India is now looking for development in biotechnology, auto outsourcing, civilian space programmes and nuclear energy, ambitious plans that would require transfer of advanced technology from the USA. India cannot opt out of this soft power mutually beneficial relationship with the USA. Nor can Mr Obama deviate much from the existing co-dependent relationship, whether it is India or China.

The USA is re-establishing its global pre-eminence through the principle of dominant co-dependency, which no other great power has ever done before. This is the new emerging value in American foreign policy.

(ND Batra teaches communication and diplomacy at Norwich University.)

Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan Conundrum

Obama’s diplomatic initiative on Iran

CYBER AGE - ND Batra
From The Statesman

So far the USA’s focus has been shoring up unstable Pakistan with billions of dollars in direct aid as well as occasional bombing by drones the Taliban-controlled border region in order to stabilise Afghanistan.

The strategy is not working. Much more is needed. For example, it is being realised that ignoring Afghanistan’s historic neighbour, Iran, would not bring about lasting peace in the region.

In a new diplomatic initiative, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Iran would be invited to an international summit meeting on Afghanistan. Under the auspices of the United Nations, the Netherlands would host what Mrs Clinton called “a big-tent meeting” on 31 March. Iran’s response to the proposal has not been negative.

Unlike in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan against Al-Qaida and the Taliban is supposedly the NATO’s war, though the USA has a major commitment including 38,000 troops, while the rest of NATO has contributed 30,000 troops. President Barack Obama has decided to send another 17,000 troops by the summer, but the number would increase substantially as the US presence in Iraq decreases over the next eighteen months, according to the Obama withdrawal plan.

Since the 1979 revolution under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the toppling of the Shah and the holding of 52 American hostages for 444 days, Iran and the USA have treated each other, rhetorically at least, as mortal enemies. The diplomatic relations were broken off in 1980 after which the USA imposed trade embargo on Iran. Added to these cold war hostilities has been the Iranian support for the radical Islamic groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, which the USA regards as terrorist organisations. But what worries the USA most is Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons programme, though Iran claims that the nuclear programme is only for peaceful power generation purposes, which is hardly convincing.

At the same time, Iran cannot but realise that a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, with opium flowing freely in all directions, would not be in its best national interest. Bringing about reasonable governmental functionality and political stability to Afghanistan would make Iran’s backyard safe. Geopolitically Iran’s diplomatic face is turned towards West Asia where it would like to play its historic role and exercise its influence, though it has growing trade relations with India and China.

A failing and chaotic state like Afghanistan ruled by drug lords and the Taliban (supported by Pakistan’s ISI) would be a terrible threat for Iran. So if Iran and the USA could cooperate in Afghanistan in pursuit of their common interests, so goes the rationale, there might be some thaw in the long frozen diplomatic relations. Eventually some acceptable international solution to Iran’s so-called peaceful nuclear programme might be reached.

Iran-US relations have always been marked with complexity and opportunism since the British-US engineered coup d’état against Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953 brought Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power in Iran, who continued to rule the country authoritatively, albeit secularly, until he fled the country after the Khomeini revolution in 1979.

In 1986, the Reagan administration entered into a secret arms-for-hostage deal with Iran (through Israel) in order to get the release of American hostages held by pro-Iran militant organisation Hezbollah in Lebanon. At that time Iran was also fighting the long lingering war against Iraq under Saddam Hussein, who was ironically being supported by the USA.

During the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan (1996-2001), Iran supported the Northern Alliance, which after the 9/11 terrorist attacks became a US-NATO ally in the fight against the Taliban. Perhaps the US-Iran relations might have improved but in January 2002 President George W Bush in his messianic zeal clubbed Iran with other countries that formed “an axis of evil,” accusing it of clandestinely working on nuclear weapons.

The coming of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power as Iran’s president ~ with his rhetoric of Holocaust denial and a bizarre vision of a West Asia without Israel ~ further aggravated the relations. Nonetheless, Mr Obama in his new approach to global diplomacy expressed his willingness to talk with Iran, if it “unclenched its fist”.

The important point to keep in mind is that Americans are seldom shy of discarding dysfunctional political principle; rather they are eager to find new diplomatic ways to seek a workable solution to a difficult international problem. Consider this: Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 normalised relations between the two most ideologically extreme countries, which eventually hastened the end of the Vietnam war.

No principle is more sacred to Americans than their paramount national interests. Today the Obama administration is determined to stabilise Afghanistan by eliminating the Taliban and Al- Qaida regardless of the cost because Afghanistan, unlike Iraq, presents an existential threat to the USA.

So it may be necessary to develop working diplomatic relations with Iran whatever the carrot and stick strategy is needed. Although our attention is drawn to Afghanistan-Pakistan badlands that provide sanctuary to Islamic militants, Afghanistan’s trade relations with Iran have been flourishing since the overthrow of the Taliban. The new road network, one built by Iran that connects Herat to the Iranian border and the other built by India that gives Afghanistan access to the Iranian port of Chah Bahar and the Arabian Sea, has substantially enhanced trade between the two countries. This could be the beginning of the US-Iran cooperation for stabilising Afghanistan. Pakistan is the only problem for Afghanistan. “The whole question about Afghanistan and Pakistan is one that we’ve given a great deal of thought to,” Mrs Clinton said in Brussels after the NATO foreign ministers meeting, according Reuters. “It is clear that the border areas between the two countries are the real locus of a lot of the extremist activity. It’s becoming obvious that Pakistan faces very serious internal threats, and that Afghanistan faces continuing external threats that emanate out of Pakistan.”

So the biggest challenge for Mr Obama is to explore what would work in Pakistan, a country that gives the nightmarish impression that neither President Asif Ali Zardari nor the all-powerful Army (including ISI) is in complete control of the whole country, considering what happened in Swat.

Building bridges between Iran and the USA might be a challenging diplomatic role for India for which the rewards will be immense.

(ND Batra teaches communications and diplomacy at Norwich University)