OBAMA STARTS LISTENING TO MUSIC...

The euphoria has subsided. Now, it is time to face the reality. From January 20 to February 5, it is a short period. The time for an ‘assessment’ is quite difficult and not proper at this juncture. Any how, Barack Obama has started listening to music from certain quarters in USA. Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman who remained his well-wisher throughout the election campaign expecting too much from his favourite Presidential- aspirant is slowly turning tables against Obama, beginning with the issue of health-care to the Americans. At a moment when the nation is reeling under recession resulting in large-scale unemployment, retrenchment has become a daily phenomenon- leaving many employees in a hapless situation with simultaneous loss of health-care facilities. During his storm-trooping campaign across USA, Obama had given to the electorate tall promises to provide, health-care facilities to all, thus inviting the applause of the majority.

Let me quote Paul Krugman here, “Just, about all economic forecasts, including those of the Obama administration’s own economists say that we are in for a prolonged period of very high unemployment. And high unemployment means a sharp rise in the number of Americans without health insurance”.

“After the economy slumped at the beginning of this decade 5 million people joined the ranks of uninsured and that was with the unemployment rate peaking at only 6.3 percent. This time the Obama administration that even with its stimulus plan, unemployment will reach 8 percent and that it will stay above 6 percent until 2012”.

Krugman is going on spitting fire. This time against preaching of the top economic officials like Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers. Krugman remained stunned for a moment thinking that he was caught in a ‘time warp’- felt like he was still living in the year 2005 with Alan Greenspan still the maestro, former Federal Reserve Governor, who was reported to be the Prime accused in the financial-meltdown - recall the housing bubble and subprime mortgage crisis. His advocacy of free Market economy is in a shambles now and even then the new maestros, Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers are seeming to toe the line of Alan Greenspan and let me quote Timothy Geithner, “We have a financial system that is run by private share holders managed by private institutions and we would like to do our best to preserve the system”. Krugman wonders the bankers are still heroes of capitalism.

Let the days pass by and the ‘periodical internal assessments’ go on, let us have a close look at the foreign policy of the new man in the saddle. I am surprised and embarrassed when observing that even when reeling under recession, the inherent feeling in the American psyche- the World Super Cop mentality is still raging in the mind of the man occupying the throne and the majority of Americans- whether black or white. Still Obama is in hot pursuit of Taliban and Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts, who are supposed to be, yes supposed to be, safely entrenched in their havens at the mountainous terrain of North West Frontier province of Pakistan (NWFP). Whether Bin-Laden, the most wanted criminal in the World is still alive is another riddle. Obama’s plan is to have a ‘surge’ along that border with 100000 army men and logistics to counter and crush the Taliban militants with the help of Pakistani Army men, and to protect his strategic interests providing non-military support to Pakistan. With the help of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jai-She-Muhammed and such other terrorist outfits can aim their guns against their (Pakistan) traditional enemy India and cause maximum damage across the border by massacring the innocent Kashmiri civilians and their properties- in the words of our Defence Minister A.K.Antony, Pakistan always engage in undeclared wars (systemic terrorism), thus causing many a sleepless night to the civilians as well as the rulers. And intermittent militant attacks against the economic nerve-centres like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. The recent Mumbai carnage is still sending shivers down the spines of peace-loving people of our nation. Pakistan is the epicenter of terrorism, both Barack Obama and his predecessor know it and without demolishing the terrorist networks across that nation, peace will always remain a mirage to the South Asian countries and with that grim awareness in his mind, providing support both military and non-military (‘smart’ and ‘hard diplomacy’)- to safeguard the strategic interests of USA, the peace-loving, cool and diplomatic President of America is toeing his predecessor’s steps. The age of unipolar world is over and it is high time that the young President of America has to accept that truth though reluctantly.

Before winding up this piece I want to write about an article (in ‘The New Indian Express’ dated 04-02-2009) by Anees Jillani, the eminent Supreme Court lawyer of Pakistan. I had a mistaken belief that Army was the real villain behind the frequent gun-toting militants and their bomb culture. Anees Jillani contradicts this with his points. The surviving assassin of the Mumbai carnage Muhammed Amir Kasab is a Pakistani, his name is still in the voters list and soon after the carnage in India and the news flashed across the nations that Muhammed Amir Kasab’s parents were removed from the “face of the earth” and their where abouts are still unknown. The civilian government under the President Asif-Ali-Sardari and Prime Minister Yusuf-Raza-Gilani stuck to their argument that those ten perpetrators of the carnage were non-State actors and they were not at all Pakistanis. The National Security Adviser of Pakistan disclosed the truth of Kasab being a Pakistani to the press-persons and he was immediately sacked by none other than the Prime Minister- Yusuf-Raza-Gilani.

Those in the civilian Government who once squarely blamed the former dictator Retd General Pervez Musharraf on various accounts like the long hours of load-shedding and those who promised full time power to the nation are forced to keep mum as the duration of load-shedding has now been increased upto 18 hours a day.

The rulers who promised the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftiqar Chowdhary, who was dismissed by the (former)- Retd General Musharraf and on that very issue the whole Pakistan under the leadership of the main political parties and the lawyers flared up against the Musharraf Govt for his reinstatement is still outside the judiciary even after the new civilian Governmet had sworn in. Now the same Government is not willing to take him back, obviously due to apprehension of President Asif Ali Sardari regarding the digging up of previous cases of bribery accepted from business tycoons would be punished by the former Chief Justice because he is a judge of integrity and principles.

Anyhow I regret to note here that the soft corner extended by Anees Jillani to the army heads cannot be justified because they have also a grudge against India even now.