http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...nationworld-hed

Hitler the trendy tyrant
German dictator no pariah to some in India, the Tribune's Kim Barker reports

By Kim Barker
Tribune's South Asia correspondent
Published December 21, 2006

KHARGHAR, India -- When an Adolf Hitler-themed restaurant opened its doors in a suburb of cosmopolitan Mumbai in August, many were horrified. The restaurant, Hitlers' Cross, changed its name a week later to Cross Cafe, but it is hardly the only example of how some Indians view Hitler and his legacy.

Hindu fundamentalist groups praise Hitler's leadership skills. A college poll a few years ago showed he was perceived as an ideal leader. Books and videos of him are top sellers. Most patrons prefer to call Cross Cafe by its previous name. Plates and cups still bear the Hitlers' Cross logo, with a Nazi swastika in place of the "O."


"We call it `Hitler' only," said Ashish Anant, 18, an aeronautics college student who likes to come to the cafe with friends. "We say, `Let's go to Hitler.' It's a trendy name. It's different."

It's not clear why Hitler is popular in some circles. Some experts say it's because of a belief that Indians were the original Aryan race. Others say it's because Hitler used the traditional Hindu good-luck symbol of the swastika, rotating it slightly. Those who believe strongly in the caste system of India also may like Hitler's eugenics and race beliefs.

Any praise for Hitler is not reflected in national policy. India has strong ties with Israel and views it as an ally in the war on terror. And Jewish and non-Jewish Indians were horrified by Hitlers' Cross. Daniel Zohar Zonshine, the Israel consul general in Mumbai, looked visibly upset when talking about the portrayal of Hitler in India, especially Hitlers' Cross. He said he thinks the owners wanted the free publicity that comes with such controversy.



Educating the public

The consulate has tried to educate Indians about Hitler, sending a Holocaust photograph exhibit and education materials last year to the western state of Gujarat, where government textbooks have praised Hitler. The Israeli Consulate will bring a Holocaust survivor and artist to Mumbai to talk to Indian audiences next month.

"It's not an Israeli issue," said Zonshine, adding that World War II was not ingrained in the DNA of India as it was in that of Europe or Israel. "It's not a Jewish issue. It's a humanitarian issue."

Joshua Reuben, 29, who belongs to India's small Jewish community, said he was offended by the restaurant but did not blame the owners.

"They probably haven't thought about hurting anybody's feelings," he said.

Interviews with many young Indians indicated that they had little idea of what Hitler actually did and that it did not really matter. They described Hitler as "cool" or "trendy." They did not know details of the Holocaust.

"I don't know much," admitted Puneet Sabhlok, 22, one of the co-founders of Hitlers' Cross, which serves only one marginally German item, German chocolate cake.

"He was a dictator," added co-founder Shakir Siddiqui, 27. "Gas chambers and all."

Hitler is glorified in other ways. A poll of 400 students from the country's most prestigious colleges by a leading Indian newspaper in 2002 found that Hitler was their third most requested ideal leader of India, behind independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and the country's then-Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

A pizza and cake chain in New Delhi, A Slice of Italy, sells a cake called "one for the Hitler," featuring Hitler's face. Last year the cake was sold with a swastika on the cap and was described as a children's cake over the phone. Last month there was no swastika.

"It's not common, but it's exciting, madam," a worker at the pizza chain told one woman who asked about the cake in November. "Order it."



`Hitler, the Supremo'

In Gujarat, textbooks have praised Hitler's leadership abilities, fascism and the Nazi movement. Until recently, state social studies textbooks have featured chapters on "Hitler, the Supremo" and "Internal Achievements of Nazism." The textbooks have been changed slightly this year but still barely mention the Holocaust.

This is the same state where Hindu-led riots led to the deaths of more than 1,000 Muslims in the spring of 2002. Several investigations blamed the state government, led by a Hindu-right political party, for permitting the riots.

Bal Thackeray, the founder of Shiv Sena, a Hindu fundamentalist party based in Mumbai, has openly praised Hitler and said he was willing to wipe out troublemaking Muslims. Shiv Sena's secretary, Anil Desai, said Thackeray liked Hitler's leadership abilities, not his attempts to exterminate the Jews.

Thackeray likes "the way Hitler pushed the things in his time," Desai said.

Hitler's autobiography, "Mein Kampf," flies off the shelves of many bookstores. The Bandra branch of Crossword, a major bookstore chain in the Mumbai area, sells 35 copies a week.

At the Rhythm House in downtown Mumbai, one of the city's oldest and most popular video stores, the documentary "Hitler a Career" is sold in the video section for children.

"Why are people buying it? Because they like him," store clerk Maqbool Sayed said. "If it was up to me, I would hide these. I wouldn't put them out at all."





My Reply:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Kim Barker,

This is in regards to your hate filled article "Hitler the trendy tyrant". Let's start by saying that Hitler was a white German who would gladly have killed all Indians if he had half a chance. In fact when Jews fled the horrendous antisemitism of Europe, they found a safe haven in India. Hindus and Jews have always got along well. The same cannot of said of Germans and Jews or Europeans and Jews.

Statements like "Those who believe strongly in the caste system of India also may like Hitler's eugenics and race beliefs. " comes out of ignorance. The word caste is a Portuguese word that does not accurately reflect the tribal diversity of India. The Aryan race theories were created by white British imperialists who wanted Indians to feel inferior about themselves, and to credit their cultural achievements to outsiders.

In summary, the whole Hitler issue is an internal issue of the European race. Indians are not responsible for what happened to Jews, and in fact Indians and Jews have had an excellent relationship for hundreds of years.


Joe Flanders

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><span style='color:red'>China becoming another imperialist power?</span>
By M.V. Kamath

History repeats itself in strange ways. Towards the end of the 18th century Britain was not much of a power. As late as 1870, Florence Nightingale, the nurse who made history, was to write: “Bombay at this time is healthier than London, Calcutta though not healthier than London is healthier than Manchester or Liverpool!” But it was in business and was spreading out from as early as the 17th century.

The East India Company came to India to indulge in trade and ended up as rulers. One wonders whether what Britain did in India is currently being repeated by China in Africa in another context. China started with wishing to gain influence in Africa and has so far done a great deal to win it over. It started with supporting African liberation movements in the 1950s and 1960s, helped build railways for the newly independent countries, bringing in Chinese labour in large number to complete the jobs undertaken. It even encouraged African students to study in China and did whatever possible to win African favour. Now, it has opted for trade with Africa on a massive scale.

In a way, it is a reversal of the British or even European role in Asia where Europeans came to trade and set up their factories whether in India, Indonesia or South East Asia, only to end up as rulers. In the present case, the Chinese approach to Africa is the other way round. It went there to seek influence but is now actively engaged in raising trade possibilities. Trade between China and Africa was around $ 3 billion in 1995. By 2005, in just about a decade, that trade has risen to $ 32 billion. By any reckoning this is a steep rise. It is competing with the European Union(EU) and the United States in a determined way. EU-Africa trade is declining but China seems determined to push it further down. Beijing seems to be in a hurry. It has one advantage over the European Union and that is that it can produce goods at a much cheaper price. In this matter no European nation can compete with China and it has been pushing its influence with a determination which is awesome.

Early this year in January, China’s Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, “swept through West Africa” to use a phrase originating in a British journal. Three months, later, in April, President Hu Jintao visited Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya. He was followed in June by Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao who, in turn visited seven other countries in the continent. It has been a kind of “diplomatic invasion” never before seen. In the first week of November, China hosted more than thirty African leaders for the first-ever Sino-African Summit in Beijing. The Indian media, it would seem, has not taken all these Chinese moves seriously. It had better. Meanwhile, State-owned Chinese companies have also been active.

Around 1991 there were 300 Chinese living in Zambia. Now, according to one guess, there are over 3,000. What are they doing there? Buying and selling, that’s what. The Chinese are in the civil engineering and construction business. Having done well in Zambia, the Chinese are apparently planning to move to neighbouring Angola and Congo. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Primarily, China’s eyes are on raw materials available in Africa, just as European eyes in the 17th century onwards were on spices in the East, with a foreign exchange reserve of $ 1 trillion—an unbelievable figure-China is spreading out to buy raw materials to sustain its growing economy, anything from minerals, farm products, and timber to oil and more especially oil. For China, oil is what it needs most to sustain its industrial development. </span>

According to the The Economist (October 28), China alone is responsible for 40 per cent of the global increase in oil demand between 2000 and 2004. Just as the European powers, especially Britain and France and later the United States kept a keen eye on middle eastern oil, China is now coveting African oil to sustain its rapidly growing industry, even while word is going round that it would like to co-opt India in its oil exploration efforts.

CNOOC, a state-owned Chinese company, paid in January $ 2.7 billion to get a minority interest in a Nigerian oilfield. Nigeria, needless to say, is Africa’s biggest oil-producer. China, similarly, has secured exploration rights in four Nigerian sites. And a Chinese company—obviously state-owned, has become a partner in local firms, exploring oil in several blocks in Angola.

<span style='color:red'>What on earth is India doing? </span>Angola, incidentally, has now overtaken Saudi Arabia as China’s biggest single supplier of oil. China seems to be spreading its tentacles to other African states such as Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville. The last named already sells a third of its annual output to Chinese refiners.

The Economist provides even more fascinating information on China’s interest in Africa. China, for example has now taken over 70 per cent of Sudan’s exports, compared to 10 per cent a decade ago. In mid-1990s, Burkina Faso hardly sold anything to China. Now it sells a third of its exports to China, mostly cotton. Chinese companies are building bridges, roads and other civic amenities in Angola and as payment is taking oil. Smart deal. With its firm foothold in Africa, China is undercutting scale of European goods, whether it is textiles of plastics or electronic equipment to a point that the developed world is sitting up. It has to, considering that by now China has invested as much as $ 150 million in Sudan alone.

As The Economist put it: “When American and Canadian oil companies packed their bags there, China quickly stepped in, drilling wells and building pipelines and roads.” In the circumstances, one can well understand the warning put up by The Economist to the effect that what is happening is “a warning to Africans that this new interloper in their continent is no more altruistic than its predecessors”—presumably meaning the French, the Belgians and the British. They, all went to Asia first to trade; then, to protect their trade, they got into politics. And to safeguard their politics, they sought to take over power. The United States is as much guilty of such behaviour in Latin America as elsewhere. Hasn’t China learn anything from history? Haven’t the African nations? But then, does it matter? All powerful nations, in their own way, are alike. Politics and amorality go hand in hand. One suspects that they are even compelled to, by time and circumstances.

In the past competition between trading nations often led to war as between France and England or England the Netherlands until each nation carved out its exclusive geographic boundaries to keep others out of bounds. Does one see a repetition of the old game? Is what we are witnessing a re-run of history in a different context? One can only wait and see. Meanwhile China is marching ahead. True, as of now its share of African trade is only around 2.3 per cent of its total trade. But one must begin somewhere, shouldn’t one? And who knows where it will end? Power is always beguiling.

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.p...pid=161&page=22
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Should not India work actively for trade and influence in East asia, and Latin America?

First it was Cambridge and now Berlin's Institute of Indology. Some of the academic cartels of ignorance and arrogance are shutting down. Right enough our bigoted racists "hostile academics" (Judge Damrell's words) are feeling the pinch.

Witzel and his cronies are on a new crusade to save their dwindling careers and dying profession. Seems like they are desperately seeking funding from NRIs to find 'chairs' for their stinky fat musharaffs. Paki lobby money squeezed tight for moolah? FOSA coffers going broke? FeTNA not offering help since it's busy bailing out it's officers on US gterrorism charges? "Dalit" orgs busy with Christmas collection? We don't know, we might never now - like the fate of that "Arun Vajpayee"

Nevertheless, enjoy some of the emails I've received on this..


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->How about an online petition congratulating Cambridge and the Berlin school authorities?

Apart from creating distortions and indulging in motivated denigration, what has indology contributed to unraveling the bharatiya traditions, ethos and civilizational inheritance?

I for one would congratulate Berlin's Institute of Indology for planning to close it down. Same goes for the closure of indolgy studies elsewhere outside of Bharatam. Bharatiya studies should be studied of bharatiya, for bharatiya and NOT allowed to be kept unde seige by eurocentric creationists. Arya, ayya, leave us alone; we have had enough of the colonial loot followed by william jones type indologists wearing skull-caps. It is reparation settlement time.

Some moves are afoot to tap funds from wealthy NRIs. I hope NRIs will see through the pathetic plight of eurocentric creationists who are themselves to blame for the emergency situation they find themselves in. Solution? Do prayas'cittam. Penance on Alps or Colorado heights may help. Of course, some may prefer Nepal or even China. There is little prospect that witzelites will really care to instill a sense of pride in the children in schools studying Hindu civilization. The mess is too deep for tears.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Minorities must have first claim on resources: PM</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi, Dec 09: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said plans for minorities, particularly Muslims, must have the "first claim" on resources so that benefits of development reach them equitably.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
He is a Sikh, so its his first right, We Hindus, original people with original religion should not claim anything. He should go back to Pakistan, his birth place.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BJP, its CMs condemn PM`s remarks on minority plans  </b>link
New Delhi, Dec 09: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday stirred a hornet's nest by his remarks that plans for minorities, Muslims in particular, must have the first claim on resources, with the BJP, its chief ministers and the RSS condemning it as having communal overtones.

"Such a statement does not behove a senior leader like the Prime Minister. It is unfortunate," Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, generally known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, told reporters after the conclusion of the NDC meeting.

He insisted that every citizen, irrespective of his caste and creed should have equal right over the resources of the country.

Such sentiments were echoed by Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh respectively. While Chouhan said that the Prime Minister's statement was "not only inappropriate but is dangerous also," Singh said that economic backwardness should be the sole criteria.

The RSS was more acerbic in the attack on the Prime Minister remarking that "this is precisely the language used by Mohammad Ali Jinnah before the partition."

"It is unfortunate our leaders have not learnt lessons from the tragic partition. They are pursuing the same politics of religion for electoral benefits," RSS leader Ram Madhav said.

"This is very unfortunate, appalling for a Prime Minister to say so," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said separately.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda of Congress, however, justified the Prime Minister's remarks saying it should be seen in the context that majoirty of Muslims are poor.
Bureau Report 
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


<b>'PM echoes Jinnah's language on Muslims'</b>

Not sure how many of you know... I dont see any main stream media reporting this...

1) Raghavendra Mutt @ Erode desecrated, the main idl of Shri Rama broken and thrown in the streets ...
http://dinamalar.com/2006dec08/specialne...p?newsid=4

2) Shankara Mutt is Salem vandalized.
http://thatstamil.oneindia.in/news/2006/...anchi.html

3) Couple of Ganapathi Mandirs at Villupuram and other places vandalized
http://dinamalar.com/2006dec08/specialne...p?newsid=1

4) Petrol bombs hurled at Ayodhya Mantap at heart of Chennai, devotees targetted particularly brahmins...

Its a sad day again in Tamilnadu... and as usual everyone is silent, except some noises by BJP <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>Old thread</b> Link


Australian muslim schoolboys urinate on Bible
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> www.theaustralian.news.co...02,00.html
<b>Muslim boys urinated on Bible</b>
Cameron Stewart
December 06, 2006
TWO Muslim students have been expelled from an Islamic school in Melbourne for urinating and spitting on a Bible and setting it on fire.
The explosive incident has forced the East Preston Islamic College to call in a senior imam to tell its 650 Muslim students that the Bible and Christianity must be respected.

Anxious teachers at the school have also petitioned principal Shaheem Doutie, expressing "grave concern" about an "inculcation of hatred and radical attitudes towards non-Muslims" at the school, including towards non-Muslim teachers.

The Bible desecration took place last week at a school camp held near Bacchus Marsh, about 50km west of Melbourne, attended by 33 teenage Muslim boys ranging in age from Year7 to Year 10.
..........<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I feel it important to list the major terrorist attacks that have occured in India due to pakistani sponsored terrorism. Too often we lapse into a sense of ease, and it would we wise to remember and realise the danger we face with pakistan as our neighbour and its constant threat to our society.

The list is compiled from wiki but i feel there's a lot more to be added. Hopefully we can start to understand why GOI needs to be pro active with regards to dealing with pakistan and not reactive whenever another blast occurs.

<b>1)</b> 1993 March 12 : Mumbai car bombings in India leave 257 dead with 1,400 others injured.

<b>2)</b> 1998 January : Wandhama Massacre - 24 Kashmiri Pandits are massacred by Pakistan-backed insurgents in the city of Wandhama in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

<b>3)</b> 1998 February 14 : Coimbatore bombings - Bombings by suspected Islamic Jihadi groups on an election rally in Indian city of Coimbatore kill about 60 people.

<b>4)</b> 1999 December 24 : Indian Airlines Flight 814 from Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi, India is hijacked. One passenger is killed and some hostages are released. After negotiations between the Taliban and the Indian government, the last of the remaining hostages on board Flight 814 are released in exchange for release of 4 terrorists.

<b>5)</b> 2001 October 1: A car bomb explodes near the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly in Srinagar, India killing 35 people and injuring 40 more.

<b>6)</b> 2001 December 13 : Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.

<b>7)</b> 2002 September 10 : A train derailment in India kills 130 people in the Rafiganj rail disaster. Naxalite terrorism is suspected.

<b>8)</b> 2002 September 25 : Two terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group raid the Akshardham temple complex in Ahmedabad, India killing 30 people and injuring many more.

<b>9)</b> 2002 December 21: Kurnool train crash, Islamic extremists derail a train and kill 20 people in India.

<b>10)</b> 2003 August 25 : At least 48 people were killed and 150 injured in two blasts in south Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India at the other at the Zaveri Bazaar.

<b>11)</b> 2005 July 5 : Terrorist attack on Ayodhya – Six terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba storm the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhomi complex in India. Before the terrorists could reach the main disputed site, they were shot down by Indian security forces. One devotee and two policemen were injured.

<b>12)</b> 2005 : July 28: Jaunpur train bombing: 13 are killed when militants detonate a bomb on a commuter train in India.

<b>13)</b> 2005 : October 29: Multiple bomb blasts hit markets in Delhi, India, leaving at least 61 dead and more than 200 injured

<b>14)</b> 2005 December 28 : Two or more unidentified gunmen open fire at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, killing a retired professor of mathematics and wounding four others.

15) 2006 March 7 : Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India kill 28 and injures more than 100.

<b>16)</b> 2006 July 11 : A series of explosions rock commuter trains in Mumbai, India, killing 209 and wounding another 714 civilians.

<b>17)</b> 2006 August 16: A bomb exploded in a Hindu temple near Imphal, India, killing three and injuring more than 30.

<b>18)</b> 2006 September 8 : At least 2 bomb blasts target a Muslim cemetery in the western town of Malegaon. The blasts kill 37 people and leave 125 others wounded.

The above i believe is no means comprehensive but it is a start. Was all compiled from wikipedia :
<b>List of terrorist incidents</b>

I shall try to scour and compile for more and will try and edit the list if any are added below. Too many Indian lives however have been sacrificed to terrorism from pakistan. It should be our hope and goal to see that none are done so in the future and pakistan itself as the threat is negated.

<b>Radiation grounds British airliners</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Radiation found on planes on which poisoned ex-spy was a passenger
• As many as 30,000 passengers have ridden on the planes
• British Airways making efforts to contact all affected customers
• On deathbed, former agent said Russian President Putin had him killed


All three planes had been on the London-Moscow route, British Airways said. In the last three weeks the planes had also traveled to routes across Europe including Barcelona, Frankfurt and Athens. Around 30,000 passengers had traveled on 220 flights on those planes, said Kate Gay, a spokeswoman for the airline.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Do you think it will really effect passengers in plane or as usual "cold war type of scare tactics"?
How radioactive material able to pass security? European security is much better than US.

<b>India carries out anti-missile test</b>

<!--emo&:bhappy--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/b_woot.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='b_woot.gif' /><!--endemo-->

I'm interested in any assessment/evaluations of British administrators people may care to provide. Who did the right thing, who did the wrong thing. And why?

To get the ball rolling.... My opinion of Sir Frederick Halliday. Purely a personal opinion based on extensive reading:

A pompous fool, who, during the events of 1857, misread pretty much every sign going, used the situation for personal aggrandizement (and that of his friends) and unfairly cast deep shadows on the careers of people like William Tayler and Dewan Mowla Baksh.

A case could perhaps be made for his (minor) contribution to the Islamic terrorism situation we face today.

Whatever, I'd rate him as a bad 'un. What do others think?

(I'm aware that many other, saints or sinners, may be more significant than Halliday. I, personally, just feel he is someone who should be noted as somewhat repulsive.... and appears to have got away with it)

But please, don't only note the bad ones..... Surely <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->