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[Guest]

Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian Past

by Dilip K. Chakrabarti

[acharya]

Dilip K. Chakrabarti: Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian Past



New Delhi, India: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1997. This book explores some underlying theoretical premises of the Western study of ancient India. These premises developed in response to the colonial need to manipulate the Indians' perception of their past. <b>The need was felt most strongly from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, and <span style='color:red'>an elaborate racist framework, in which the interrelationship between race, language and culture was a key element, slowly emerged as an explanation of the ancient Indian historical universe.</span></b>

The measure of its success is obvious from the fact that the Indian nationalist historians left this framework unchallenged, preferring to dispute it only in some comparatively minor matters of detail. This book argues that this framework is still in place, and implicitly accepted not merely by Western Indologists but also by their Indian counterparts. The image of the ancient Indian past remains the same. The persistence of the old image is reflective of India's relationship as a part of the Third World with the West and Western historical scholarship. This book has a further argument. Mere dismantling of the current racist structure of our perception of ancient India and all that implies will not lead by itself to an Indian perception of the ancient Indian past. Besides, any alternative sense of this past should be something in which all Indians, irrespective of their individual affiliations, can feel having a share.

Among other things, the book underlines the total inadequacy of ancient Indian texts to offer fine resolution historical images in chronological and geographical order, and argues that this goal is unlikely to be achieved by combining our historical texts with some social science theories. This can be achieved only through detailed grassroots investigations of the ancient history of the land and its interrelations with human beings. The academic context of the book lies in an increasingly expanding area of archaeological studies of the sociopolitics of the past. This is the first major exercise in this direction in the context of India.

Printed Pages: 272.. ISBN: 81-215-0750-2. First Edition. Hardbound. New/New. 15 Cms x 23 Cms. Colonial Indology History India.

[acharya]

Dilip Chakrabarti is one of India's pre-eminent archaeologists. Currently a professor at Cambridge University, he has tirelessly exposed the colonial and racist prejudices that plague Indian historiopraphy. This book presents a masterly overview of the politics of India's past and how it has been held hostage by Marxists in India and colonialist/racist scholars outside India.

[Guest]

for a good introduction to all of india's strategic security agencies, and a kick-ass introduction to them all (the exerpt), check this out -
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/india/index.html

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Pioneer, March 5, 2006
BOOKS
<b>The governing genesis of Islam</b>

<i>Irshad Manji's book is extremely controversial and in some ways harsh but one suspects that in its very provocation lies Islam's road to greatness </i>
- MV Kamath

<b>THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM TODAY, BY IRSHAD MANJI, IMPRINT ONE, RS 295 </b>
Irshad Manji is not Salman Rushdie; were she one, the Islamic fundamentalists would have come down heavily on her. But she is a self-proclaimed Refusenik, one who refuses to accept everything said in the Quran at face value. Even for that, she would have invited punishment, of a severe sort. But, surprise, surprise - her book carries a foreword by Prof Khaleel Mohammed who is an Imam who studied sharia at Muhammad bin Saudi University in Riyadh (Sunni) and Zoinabiyya in Damazscue (Shia) and holds a PhD in Islamic Law from MC Gill University and is currently a professor at San Diego state University.

In his revealing foreword he writes: "Let us face a simple fact. I should hate Irshad Manji. If Muslims listen to her they will stop listening to people like me, an Imam who spent years at a traditional Islamic university. She threatens my male authority and says things about Islam that I wish were not true. She has a big mouth and fact upon fact to corroborate her analyses. She doesn't fear death. She is a lesbian and my madarsa training has instilled, almost into my DNS, that Allah hates gays and lesbians. I should really hate this woman. But then I look into my heart and engage my mind and I come to a discomfiting conclusion: Irshad is telling the truth. And my God commands me to uphold the truth - which means that I have to side with her..." What brave words. They seem especially brave as one reads this provocative work that pulls no punches.

Rarely, as Professor Khaleel Mohammad himself notes, has a Muslim stated publicly "what so many of us know but dare not confirm" like "Jew bashing, as well as the urge to lay the responsibility for all of Islam's ills on Western colonisation, while neglecting Islam own history of imperialism and continued human rights abuses in the name of Allah."

Irshad Manji often quotes from the Quran itself to make a point. She cites the holy book saying: "Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient... as for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in bed apart and beat them." The thorough feminist that Manji is, she can't accept this injunction. No woman likes to be beaten, as no man would. Is that Islam? Manji, who also happens to be a TV journalist, says many people ask her: "Are you allowed to be a Muslim and feminist?" And some also ask her, "Aren't you afraid to speak up?"

Sadly Manji notes - and she alone should know - that Islam has a popular teaching against "excessive laughter". She says, "If the black magic of laughter is so offensive, why isn't the hypnotic, lyrical effect of the Arab language, recited aloud, also frowned upon?" Good question.

There was a time when Irshad attended a madarsa. Now, having become a madarsa "causalty" she asks: "Should I bid goodbye to Islam?" After discussing the issue Irshad adds: "Since the Quran makes room for the exercise of free will who do the governing geniuses of Islam seem to default into narrowness? Why don't more of them choose the path of openness." Irshad opted for Ijtihad, the Islamic tradition of independent reasoning, which allows every Muslim, female or male, straight or gay, old or young, to update his or her religious practice in light of contemporary circumstances. She started reading, surfing and talking to scholars.

Who made Ijtihad a tradition? Where was it practiced and what did that society look like? She found many answers. In Iraq, the heart of the Islamic Empire, Christians worked along side Muslims to translate and revive Greek philosophy.

In Spain, the Western rim of Islam's reach, Muslims devoted what one Yale historian called a "culture of tolerance" with Jews. Innovation and the spirit of Ijtihad went hand in glove. In Baghdad, the centre of empire bustled. Irshad insists that if Muslim Spain crumbled, it was not because of "ravenous" Christians, but because of Muslims themselves. As she puts it, "Our problems didn't start with the dastardly crusaders. Our problems started with us." A courageous thing to say. It was only when the gates of Ijtihad were closed that the right of independent thinking became the privilege of the mufti.

In countries where Jews and Christians as a minority lived with a Muslim majority, the ruling majority imposed insufferable conditions on the former. Thus rules were enforced that Jews and Christians should not occupy the middle of the road or seats in the market, obstruct Muslims and differentiate themselves by their saddles and their mounts. Irshad obviously does not know, but similar and even worse rules were laid down in India.

But, Irshad points out, Muslims are intolerant not only of non-Muslims but even of Muslims themselves. According to her, a majority of the world's refugees spill out from Muslim countries and she quotes Amir Taheri, an Iranian journalist, as saying that the Arab states have fought open or secret wars against each other since the 1930s.

In the past 10 years alone, Islamists and their socialist foes have bombarded a hundred thousand Algerians and that in February 1982, the Baathist forces of Syria's Hafez Assad had bombarded a town harbouring Muslim extremists and obliterated 25,000 people. And from 1975 to 1990 the Lebanese civil war cost at least 150,000 lives most of them Palestinians. An angry Irshad asserts that Muslims "exhibit a knack for degrading women and religious minorities". She should know. Irshad has her critics.

But as Pakistan's Friday Times has noted, Manji has in no way abandoned her Muslim identity. It states her case: "What exactly (she) is refusing to do is simple: she refuses to accept that Islam is a stagnant and unchanging structure. She blames the Arabness of Islam for many things and adds that even in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir Mohammad has let it slip that Islam's leadership can no longer come from the Arabs."

There may be strong opposition to it from certain sections of Muslims, but it is clear that in many ways she has got the support of many thinking liberal Muslims. This book reflects that it is controversial and in some ways somewhat harsh but one suspects that in its very provocation lies Islam's road to greatness. At least that is what many who praised her book seem to say. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[acharya]

India : the most dangerous decades

Contents

I. The Politics of National Survival 3

II. Past and Future 12
The Ganges and its Dependencies 17
The Deccan - Fact and Memory 27
Eden in South India 37
Bhakti and the Regional Languages 48

III. The New Regional Elites 55
The Legacy of English 56
What Language for Education ? 60
What Language for Leadership? 71
The New Regional Elites 78

IV. The New Caste Lobbies 96
Caste and Region 98
Behind the Banner of Lanugage 105
The Ubiquitous Marwari 114
The Brahman and the Bania 122
New Claims to Power 132

V. Indian Communism : The Grand Strategy 137
The Soviet Example 138
How Many Indias ? 146
Marwari Whipping Boy 158
A Respite for Nehru 169

VI. Indian Communism : Where Strategy Succeeded 178
'A BUNCH OF BRAHMAN BOYS' 180
Tamilnad 182
Maharashtra 190
Kerala 193
The Pattern of Success 199

KULAKS IN ANDHRA : A CASE STUDY 204
'Kulak Pettamdars' 207
The Role of Landless Labor 213
The 1946 Elections 217
'Telugu Motherland' 220
The 1951 Elections 226
The 1955 Elections 237

VII. The Stresses of Indian Politics 246
THE INDISCIPLINE OF INDIAN COMMUNISM 246
The Loyalties of a Communist 249
Multi-Lingual Revolutionists 254
The Hindi Controversy 258
Proletarian 'Internationalism' 264
Caste and Class 269

THE CONGRESS : STRENGHTS AND STRAINS 273
The Hinterlands Win 274
Hindi and the South 278
Andhra-Pandora's Box 284
The Tartar and the Chinese 287
A National Party System? 291

WILL THE UNION SURVIVE? 297
The Constitutional Issue 298
The Imbalance of the Union 303
Totalitarian Equilibrium ? 308
'God Speaks in Five' 314

VIII. The Most Dangerous Decades 319
After the 'Tall Leaders' 319
India, China and the West 333

Maps 17

Index 341

[ramana]

Book reveiw in The Telegraph, 5 may 2006

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A STUDY IN SCARLET 


Up in arms 
Global Jihad: Current Patterns and Future Trends
By Rajeev Sharma,
Kaveri, Rs 495

India has been one of the worst victims of terrorism. Since independence, the country has witnessed different kinds of terror — religious, ethnic, ideological and externally-sponsored strife. Ironically, there is a dearth of literature on terrorism in a country that has been a victim of this menace for a long time. Rajeev Sharma’s book, however, is a welcome addition to the scarce body of work on this subject.

<b>Sharma analyses the concept of jihad, both in its theocratic and empirical form, and delves into the organizational structures of terrorist groups in different parts of the globe. However, while referring to terrorism in India, Sharma covers only those outfits that operate from outside the country. The book is well-written with titles that are relevant and logical. Unfortunately, the text often shifts its focus to peripheral issues. Dissension in the global jihadi movement, its content, alignments, emerging trends and implications do not find a place in Sharma’s book. Moreover, the thematic unity of the subject has been broken by issues that are not strictly relevant. It would have been better if the author had identified the basic parameters of terrorism and its manifestations in the opening chapters of the book. </b>

Sharma also alludes to subjects that are important in their own right, but have little to do with jihad. Issues like China’s emergence as a major power and its relations with America, Pakistan’s diplomatic initiatives and the country’s internal affairs, bus diplomacy with India, and so on are of secondary importance while discussing international terrorism. Very little has changed in the jihadi movement in Pakistan since Musharraf assumed power. The president’s carrot and stick approach to deal with different terror outfits and constant changes in his views on terrorism find no mention in this book. The author has also desisted from mentioning the Kargil episode and its integral association with a Pakistan-sponsored covert military offensive.

There is another problem with Sharma’s book. The author develops an idea, but jumps on to a new one without concluding his previous line of thought. This leaves the readers confused and makes the book appear like an amalgamation of disjointed ideas and facts.

Sharma’s analysis of the future of jihad is quite interesting. However, it would have been more rewarding if the author had assessed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s personality and interpreted the writings of Ayman al-Zawahri instead of digressing to the London blasts. Sharma also fails to incorporate a number of important issues — the ideological rift between the moderate and extremist elements in Islamic society, the consequences of America’s possible withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, the implications of Hamas assuming power in Palestine, and the effects of Iran entering into conflict with America.

<b>The limitations notwithstanding, Sharma provides crucial information about the various terrorist organizations operating in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and southeast and central Asia. This will prove to be useful to the lay reader, helping him to understand the ideologies, strategies, activities and the inter-connectivity of various terrorist groups.</b> By and large, the author has done a good job of presenting the various dimensions of terrorism and readers will discover little-known facts about this global malaise in these pages.

<b>A.K. DOVAL</b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Brobst, Peter John:
<b>The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia.(</b>Book Review)

History: Review of New Books; 9/22/2005; Kerr, Ian J.


Brobst, Peter John The Future of the Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India's Independence, and the Defense of Asia Akron: University of Akron Press 210 pp., $39.95, ISBN 1-931968-10-1 Publication Date: January 2005

As a popular concept, the "Great Game" dates from the nineteenth century when British strategists, soldiers, and spies sought to safeguard British rule in India from the pressures of rival empires, notably Russia, exerted along India's frontiers and on frontier states. However, as Peter John Brobst, an assistant professor of history at Ohio University, cogently shows through an examination of the career and writings of Sir Olaf Caroe (1892-1981), the geopolitical imperatives that animated the Great Game continued to be relevant through the twentieth century and into the early twenty-first century.<b> India, in Caroe's view, is at the strategic center of a stable interstate system in Asia. India's maritime and terrestrial border regions are crucial to the security of the Indian subcontinent. An abiding theme in Caroe's thinking was that those border regions extend from the Persian Gulf to Southeast Asia and that China would have to be counted among the future major players in the Great Game--as indeed did happen.</b>

Caroe thought about, wrote about, and played the Great Game. He was a senior official in the colonial Government of India including deputy foreign secretary 1934-39, secretary 1939-1946, and the last British governor of the North-West Frontier Province, 1946-47--the turbulent area now located between Pakistan and Afghanistan. After 1947 and his retirement to England, Caroe continued to be influential through his writings, lectures, and many high-level contacts.

Brobst provides a succinct exposition of Caroe's often prescient views--and the views of those with whom he was associated closely including a secret, high-level study group Caroe formed in Delhi in 1942--and an assessment of how those views proved influential (or not) in the formulation of policy. Brobst also tries to end some controversies surrounding Caroe. Did Caroe advocate the partition of the British Indian Empire--that is the creation of Pakistan--in the crucial years before 1947? No, Brobst argues, Caroe did not, although, like many others, he came to accept it as necessary. Did Caroe have an important influence on the decision of the U.S. in the 1950s to arm Pakistan (and hence sour relationships with India) as the anchor of a Middle Eastern alliance? Again, Brobst's persuasive argument is that Caroe did not.

This is a well-researched and readable little book. Although the The Future of the Great Game could use more chapter development, it should interest many of the educated specialists, nonspecialists, and political scientists interested in the historical and current geopolitical dimensions of a turbulent part of the world.

IAN J. KERR

University of Manitoba

COPYRIGHT 2005 Heldref Publications

This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[acharya]

Marx on India under the British




His essays in The New York Daily Tribune thoroughly expose the hypocrisy of "Free Traders"

KARL MARX ON INDIA - From the New York Daily Tribune
(Including Articles by Frederick Engels)
Editor - Iqbal Husain
Publishes by Tulika Books,
35 A/1 (3rd Floor), Shah Pur Jat, New Delhi-110049.
Rs. 495


This book, edited meticulously and with commendable scholarship by Iqbal Husain and brought out by Tulika Books and the Aligarh Historians Society, is a very important addition to the scholarly literature on both Karl Marx's analysis of India and the nature of British imperialism in the 19th Century. At the same time, the book is also accessible to the lay reader who wishes to understand the views of the most significant thinker of the modern era on the specific issue of India under the British rule.

The main body of the book contains articles written by Marx in The New York Daily Tribune (NYDT) and a few by Marx's comrade-in-arms Frederick Engels between 1853 and 1862. It also contains excerpts from the letters of Marx and Engels relating to India as well as a very thorough compilation, by Irfan Habib, of references to India in other writings of Marx and Engels.

Husain has included in the appendices unsigned articles on India — not conclusively established to be by Marx — published in NYDT between 1853 and 1858. Most importantly, the book includes, besides Husain's useful prefatory note, two outstanding articles, one by the foremost Marxist historian of India, Irfan Habib, and the other by the foremost Marxist economist of India, Prabhat Patnaik.

Insightful essays

Marx's articles are a treat to read and enormously insightful. Of the numerous NYDT articles by Marx, two namely `The British Rule in India' (NYDT, June 25, 1853) and `The Future Results of British Rule in India' (NYDT, August 8, 1853) have been widely cited, and understandably so. In these essays, Marx provides a brilliant critique of the horrors of British colonial rule in India as well as an incisive analysis, breathtaking for its prescience, of the consequences of British rule, which were to be very different, as Marx correctly pointed out, from the intentions of the colonial masters.

These and other essays thoroughly expose the hypocrisy of the `Free Traders' and bring out the `happy coexistence' of imperialism and free trade. One finds the letters strikingly relevant for contemporary times, as a critique of present-day neoliberalism as much as of classical liberalism whose attitude on the question of colonial exploitation was typically Janus-faced!

Dialectial

Also to be noted is the dialectical understanding that Marx provides. Thus even while he notes that "England has broken down the entire framework of... Indian society, without any symptoms of reconstitution yet appearing. This loss of his world, with no gain of a new one, imparts a particular kind of melancholy to the present misery of the Indian, and separates India, ruled by Britain, from all its ancient traditions, and from the whole of its past history" (NYDT, June 25, 1853), Marx also remarks that British actions in India undertaken with the aim of benefiting British capitalists, would nevertheless lay the basis for far reaching changes.

Thus he says: "All that the English bourgeoisie may be forced to do will neither emancipate nor materially mend the social condition of the mass of the people, depending not only on the development of the productive powers, but of their appropriation by the people. But what they will not fail to do is lay down the material premises for both. Has the bourgeoisie ever done more? Has it ever effected a progress without dragging individuals and people through blood and dirt, through misery and degradation?" (NYDT, August 8, 1853).

Completing his argument, Marx adds, "The Indians will not reap the fruits of the new elements of society scattered among them by the British bourgeoisie, till in Great Britain itself the now ruling classes shall have been supplanted by the industrial proletariat, or till the Indians themselves shall have grown strong enough to throw off the English yoke altogether."

Contrast this incisive analysis of 1853, more than three dacades before even a very timid Indian National Congress was born, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's views expressed at Oxford University last year on the benefits of British rule(!).

Marx's perception

Habib in his essay `Marx's Perception of India' demonstrates both the perspicacity of Marx's analysis of British India and its contemporary relevance, and the fact that Marx was constantly, till the very end of his life, reading up on India, and enriching his views in the light of new knowledge. He also provides a stimulating critique of the notion of the Asiatic mode of production.

In his essay `The Other Marx', Prabhat Patnaik brings out the very important theoretical implications of Marx's articles on India in NYDT, especially for understanding the relationship between capitalism and pre-capitalist modes of production and resolving the debate over the necessity or otherwise of imperialism (in various forms) for sustaining capitalism as an economic system.

All in all, this is an exceptionally important book, well worth the time of the interested lay reader as well as the specialist.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/br/2006/06/13/st...61300521400.htm

[acharya]

<img src='http://www.organiser.org/dynamic_includes/images/2006-07-23/Book-cover-of-second-story-.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />


The distortion of India’s past by western historians

V. Lakshmikantham & J. Vasundhara Devi; What India Should Know, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, pp 308, Rs 250.00
By Manju Gupta

The deep-rooted prejudices about the qualities, traditions and religions of the East have been a pervasive and marked characteristic of Western thought of centuries. It was a thought reinforced in the 19th century by industrialisation and imperialism, and which resulted in identification of the East with backwardness and ungovernability.

We also agree that today scholarship means being at home with what is written by Western scholars, who have more than often discredited the ancient past of Indian culture and distorted the history and chronology of events.

The book under review, written by mathematicians Dr V. Lakshmikantham and Dr J. Vasundhara Devi, begins by throwing light on the confusion till today between Gupta Chandragupta and Maurya Chandragupta. They point out that actually Gupta Chandragupta flourished in 327 BC and was the contemporary of Alexander, while Maurya Chandragupta lived in 1534 BC. “But the Western historians wrongly identified Alexander’s contemporary with Maurya Chandragupta, thus affecting more than 1,200 years in the history of ancient India. This colossal blunder upset the whole scheme and brought terrible chaos into the Puranic dates of India.” They point out that it was Sir William Jones, “the first historian of India”, who changed this date to effect a sort of similitude between the Biblical and Indian conceptions of time and they add, “twelve centuries of time after the Mahabharata war (3138 BC) and 10 centuries before that are struck off like this and the history the Indians got to know is put upon this wrong base. The Western scholars have not only bungled facts and tampered with texts, but even gone to the extent to hurling abuse at ancient Indian historians and sages.”

The authors feel that colonisation had affected the Indian mind in certain aspects. Through Macaulay’s education policies, the British ensured that they left behind an inferiority complex among the Indians by constantly denigrating Indian culture. “This is why the intellectuals of India today repeat what their masters said before and ape them after having hated them,” say the authors.

They add that another masterstroke of the British was the propagation of the “absurd” theory of Aryan invasion according to which India was invaded by a tribe called Aryans who originated in western Russia and imposed upon the Dravidians of India, the hateful caste system. They continue, “To the Aryans are attributed Sanskrit, the Vedic religion, as well as India’s greatest spiritual texts, the Vedas and a host of writings like the Upanishads. The Aryan invasion myth has shown that the Indian civilisation was not that ancient and that it was secondary to the cultures that influenced the Western world. Also, whatever good thing India had developed has been a consequence of the influence of the West.”

The book deals with the general prejudice about the East, the distortion of Indian history and the superficial translation of the Vedas by Western scholars. The authors comment ironically that the “supposedly enlightened writers” such as Edward Gibbon who never set foot east of Switzerland, in his History of the Roman Empire, loved to make play of the “despicable people of the East”, and Voltaire, who never travelled beyond Berlin, “fantasised about the misery and bigotry of the Eastern nation”. They add, “The most conspicuous example was Lord Macaulay, who carried his all-consuming racist hatred of the East to ridiculous depths by asserting that the entire corpus of knowledge that the Orient possessed could be contained in half a thimble.” They add that the world is but one and the East and West bifurcation is a mythical boundary.

The catastrophic event of the formation of a Mediterranean Sea resulted in the loss of culture and civilisation existing in Europe. The history of the Greeks, Roman and the British are traced briefly and so is the awakening of Europe from the “dark ages”.

The book ridicules the theory of Aryan invasion and gives in points the reasons for its dismissal. It says that the Aryans spread from the Bharatavarsha in different directions to spread the Aryan culture. “There was never any Aryan invasion of India or any Aryan-Dravidian war. The cradle of civilisation was not Sumeria in Mesopotamia, but the Sapta Sindhu, the land of seven rivers in north-west India.”

Then it expounds on the misrepresentation of the two Chandraguptas and tries to set right the chronology of events in India.

It points out that the Aryan invasion theory was aimed at dividing India into factions. It explains that the Aryans were extremely sensitive to the high walks of life, righteousness and nobility, both in thought and action. That is, the Aryans followed the Vedic Dharma, also called the Sanatana Dharma. Dharma is “that nature which makes a thing what it is.” Thus Manava Dharma implies that human beings “should be true to their own essential nature, which is divine; therefore, all efforts in life should be directed towards maintaining the dignity of the atma (the self) and not plodding through life like helpless animals. Thus Dharma is the ‘law of being’.”

The book exposes the deliberate distortions wrought by Orientalists in their efforts to write the history of India.

The book traces the great traditions laid down by Sanatana Dharma throughout the world that endured in Bharatakhand in the 12th century.

And the authors try to synthesise India with its glorious heritage and the present technological advances ready for taking India into the twenty-first century. The chapter ends on a positive note that this entry “will have a new awakening and the humanity will be much more spiritual than it has been.”

The book concludes by saying that the Sanatana Dharma “is much more open than any other religion to new ideas, scientific thought and social experimentation. Many principles basic to Sanatana Dharma initially appeared strange to the West, such as yoga, meditation, reincarnation and methods of interiorisation, but these principles have now found worldwide acceptance. Sanatana Dharma is, of course, a world religion…”

(Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulpati Munshi Marg, Mumbai - 400 007.)

[acharya]

Ikle, Fred. Every War Must End.

By LCDR Martin Beck, USN, NOPC 2002

<b>

Without referring to either Clausewitz or Sun Tzu, Fred Charles Ikle's, Every War Must End, emphasizes their most fundamental tenants: “Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered (The Art of War, pg 129), and, “Theory... demands that at the outset of war its character and scope should be determined on the basis of the political probabilities. </b>The more the belligerent states are involved and drawn in to its vortex, the clearer appear the connections between its separate actions and the more imperative the need not to take the first step without considering the last (On War, pg. 584) (emphasis added).

However, it is precisely these principles that both military and political leaders fail to evaluate in their pre-war planning and assessments. Instead, Ikle contends that the majority of the effort of military planners is directed toward how best to employ the instruments of war, rather than the political and military conditions that must be achieved in order to achieve successful war termination. Nationally defined, strategic end states are often deliberately vague leaving a great deal to the imagination of the war planner as to what environment must be established to satisfy the national objective. Consequently, the means are heavily relieved upon to provide an end.

Every War Must End contends that military leaders dedicate themselves to achieving quantitative successes, such as victory in battles and campaigns, rather than to determining the qualitative factors that give rise to and evolve during the conflict and what is required to resolve those factors in order to end the fighting. Like doctors only treating symptoms, the disease continues to thrive or enter a remission, only to manifest latter itself in another form, despite the resources and heroic endeavors of the medical profession. War, as disease, transforms so that the original therapy may be ineffective.

Ikle's work is as applicable today as when it was written in 1971. Although Ikle only uses examples from both World Wars and Korea, his descriptive concepts are relevant to the war termination deliberate planning for any contingency. However, little if any planning was dedicated to conditions for war termination in the conflicts that have followed in this century: Vietnam, Panama, Somalia, the Balkans, and now, Afghanistan. The primary descriptive concepts relevant to the war planner on which Ikle focuses is arguments include: War estimates, the “knock-out blow” as a major uncertainty, internal struggles within participating nation states, the substitutes for victory that evolve out of those struggles, escalation versus prolongation of the war effort, and “Psychological Shock” required to influence national decision makers.

The exchange of war estimates between Japan’s Army Chief of Staff and Emperor prior to embarking in a war with the United States, were probably not much different than those exchanged between the theater commander and U.S. President at the onset of the crisis in Kosovo. Sugiyama’s estimate to defeat the U.S. in three months was remarkably optimistic, yet similar to U.S. military estimates to defeat Serbia in three days! Military war estimates that predict how long it will take to defeat the enemy, and courses of action that will evoke capitulation, are notoriously inaccurate and optimistic, with little foundation in fact. Ikle argues, "that the aggregated estimates required to forecast the outcome of war are too large, abstract, and difficult to construct and agree upon for a government bureaucracy to successfully evaluate" (pp 22). Short war syndromes develop from poor assessments, relying on quantitative analysis of hard data such as orders of battle, industrial resources, cost, and the opponent’s ability to mobilize military forces. Unfortunately, it is the soft data, the subjective analysis of the adversary’s political and military mindset, that is the most difficult to interpret. Consequently, decision makers rely on the means of warfare, which can be measured quantitatively, and their intuition to assign relative values to particular strategies and courses of action.

Reliance on quantitative analysis continues to permeate the decision making cycle throughout the conflict as each side searches for a means to deliver a “knock-out blow” against the other. However, because this strategy is associated with imposing significant deprivations on the enemy either in a decisive battle or destruction of a center of gravity, it is difficult to estimate what the net, psychological effect will be. Therefore, critical uncertainty must also be recognized with the plan, and with it, great risk. As Ikle points out, World War I Germany painfully analyzed the quantitative impact of unrestricted submarine warfare on England but failed to assess the impact of drawing in the United States in response to such a course of action. Conversely, England analyzed the effects of saturation bombing Germany’s infrastructure and civilian population during World War II, but failed to account for the resolve and hardening of the German people’s will in response to that bombing.

Ikle continues to propose that as courses of action are executed, declined, succeed or fail, internal struggles develop within the horizontal and vertical chains of command within each leg of the Clauswitzian trinity. This directly or indirectly impacts the ability of a nation to negotiate or may contribute to an erosion of the government’s power. Individual decision makers within a government, whose freedom of action is subject to the will of the people, loose or gain credibility based on the people’s perception of the war effort, the personal sacrifices they must make to sustain it, and the ultimate effect it will have on them if concluded successfully or otherwise. Ikle uses the example of Tsarist Russia to illustrate how a government can be replaced by strong forces operating within the population when the people are dissatisfied with the course the war has taken. In this example, the Bolshevik government made vast territorial concessions to Germany, once it gained power, in order to guarantee its survival and removal from WW I. This example also highlights Ikle's point that ending an unsuccessful war evokes an intense struggle within the nation. Debates between conservative ("hawks") and liberal ("doves") distorts perceptions of reality. Each side manipulating data to support independent agendas, ultimately contributing to inhibiting war termination.

This gives rise to a notion of assigning values to absolutes such as treason or adventurism, vice and virtue. Correctly identifying or creating the conditions to generate the desired characteristics within the population, military, and government to precipitate favorable war termination criteria is critical to the calculus of war. Consequently, as a conflict extends beyond its predicted length, governments seek substitutes for victory that are vastly different than the war aims initially envisioned. This is the crux of the argument: Predicting what conditions must be created to create "psychological shock" to the enemy's decision makers, causing them to abandon their war aims and seek alternatives to conclude the conflict. Vietnam represents an excellent case study where the United States deviated from its surrogate war against the Soviet Union to contain the spread of communism, and settled for “peace with honor” due to it own internal struggles brought on by a prolonged and unsuccessful war.

Ikle does not accuse either the political decision makers or military of failing to properly assess the subjective variables of war. However, he does emphasize the importance of understanding the dynamics of how to end a war before initiating it. This is even more vital today when the United States is engaged in a conflict not against nation states, but against ideas and individuals. More emphasis on understanding the fundamentals of war termination strategies is required in our war colleges rather than the mechanics of how to wage war. This is not only a strategy and policy issue, it is also a critical variable to planning successful joint military operations.

Fred Charles Ikle served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in the Reagan Administration from 1981-1988 and was Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency during the Ford Administration from1973-1977. He has been a professor of political science as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Head of the Social Science Department of The Rand Corporation, and a distinguished scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has written several books on arms control, international negotiation, and socio-political issues and is author of How Nations Negotiate and The Social Impact of Bomb Destruction.

Every War Must End reflects his years of experience and insight, emphasizing the need for military planners to consistently and regularly conduct thorough assessments of not only the enemy, but of themselves. Data should be questioned to ensure we do not erroneously accept indications at face value that simply support our agenda, but may or may not be in the best interest for the country. Regrettably, Ikle does not propose any recommendations on how to resolve the dilemma of objectively sifting through the aggregate of intelligence estimates to ultimately arrive at the correct formula for successful war termination. An excellent analysis is done of identifying the variables, however, a formula to predict their interaction remains elusive. He repeatedly emphasizes, however, the need to objectively consider each of the variables prior to becoming involved in conflict and not to discount or diminish those that may be contrary to the plan.

An insightful, well written text supported with historical facts that are applicable in today’s environment. An excellent supplemental to Clausewitz’ On War, Book VIII (War Plans) that should be mandatory reading for all military personnel who may become involved in the deliberate planning of future conflicts.

[Guest]

Spy Princess: India acknowledges Noor Inayat Khan
<img src='http://www.ndtv.com/images/features/Noorinayatkhan.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shrabani Basu in her book <i><b>Spy Princess: The life of Noor Inayat Khan </b></i>has put together the story of the incredible woman who worked for the resistance as the last link between Paris and London.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Noor, spy princess, was the daughter of Hazrat Inayat Khan who introduced Sufism to the West family descendants of Tipu Sultan.

She started working for the women's auxiliary British force as a radio operator and then later joined the Special Operations Forces.

Recently, at a small monument in her house near Paris, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee paid tribute to this remarkable woman.

Known as Nora Baker to some and Madeline to others, Noor specialised in dropping agents behind enemy lines. She died at the age of 29 executed by the gestapo.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[acharya]

The Hindu Equilibrium
India c.1500 B.C. - 2000 A.D.
Revised Edition

Deepak Lal

Price: £60.00 (Hardback)
ISBN-10: 0-19-927579-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-927579-3
Publication date: 18 November 2004
484 pages, 7 maps, numerous tables, 234x156 mm

A sample of this book is available in PDF format
Ordering
Individual customers:
order by phone, post, or fax

Teachers in UK and European schools (and FE colleges in the UK):
order by phone, post, or fax

Reviews

* 'Review from previous edition [India in the World Economy is] a fascinating volume to be read by everyone who wants to understand the country and ask: where is India going? ... Some chapters succeed better than others. All of them, however, contain deep analysis that displays a master at work.' - Sumit K Majumdar, THES, 21/1/00
* 'I believe the book [The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity, and Growth] to be essential reading for every serious analyst of development ... it is packed with thought-provoking ideas, evidence and discussion.' - Development Policy Review
* 'The insights gained [from The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity, and Growth] constitute a richer explanation for the divergent development outcomes in East Asia compared with Latin America and Africa.' - Oxfam: Review of Journals


Description

* Broad sweep of Indian history, providing a wide ranging, novel and controversial interpretation of Indian society, economy and policy.
* Novel interpretation of India's long economic stagnation and its recent emergence as one of the world's fastest growing economies.
* Explanation for the unique caste system, and its continuing hold over Indian politics and society.
* Explains why India- a poor and illiterate country- has succeeded in establishing democracy when so many others in the Third World have failed.
* This new edition brings the story up to date with India's recent move from plan to market.

New to this edition

* In this revised and abridged edition of the previous two volumes, the story is brought up to date. It includes India's recent moves from the plan to the market which is at last shattering the age old Hindu Equilibrium.

India is an emerging giant. This book explains its long economic stagnation and recent rise by examining its social, political and historical evolution in long term perspective. It explains how its distinct social system based on caste arose and why it still is of importance in its political and social arrangements, despite India's recent move from the plan to market.

Readership: Academics, researchers, and policy-makers in governmental and non-governmental organizations

Contents
Introduction
1. The Pre-colonial Millennia, 1500 BC -- AD 1757
2. Hindu India
3. An Economic Rationale for the Hindu Social System
4. Muslim India
5. The Colonial Centuries, AD 1757 -- 1947
6. The Economy under the Raj, I: Overall Trends
7. The Economy under the Raj, II: Rural Development
8. The Economy under the Raj, III: Trade and Industry
9. The Evolution of Labour Markets
10. The Effects and Legacy of the Raj

Authors, editors, and contributors


Deepak Lal, University of California, Los Angeles

http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199275793

[acharya]

http://www.theoccidentalquarterly.com/vol3...xr-genetic.html


.

As stated above, "total white survival" will not meet the ethnic interests of a person or group if their specific ethny or ethnies of ancestry are diminished or destroyed. These issues need to be resolved, and the best way to do so is via the ideological acceptance of everyone's ethnic interests, properly balanced against the overall interests of the race.

It is likely that the twenty-first century will be the crucial one in deciding whether peoples of European descent will continue as genetic ethnic entities, and the issues discussed in this essay are likely to be fundamental in deciding this future.

[acharya]

The New Relevance of Oswald Spengler

Prophet of Decline:
Spengler on World History and Politics

John Farrenkopf
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001
paperback, $24.95 US
http://www.theoccidentalquarterly.com/vol2...farrenkopf.html

[acharya]

Global Shift, Fourth Edition: Reshaping the Global Economic Map in the 21st Century (Paperback)
by Peter Dicken "The title of this book, Global Shift: Reshaping the Global Economic Map in the 21st Century,


It just keeps getting better. This latest edition of Global Shift is the best yet. The new material has added substantially to a book that was already the first destination for those who wanted a balanced view of the global economy and its geography. If there were a word beyond definitive, then that would be the word I would use here."--Professor Nigel Thrift, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK

"Global Shift shatters our easy slogans about globalization, corporations, and nations with bold new insights--modern economies are complex networks of productive processes that are both local and global, technology acts as a 'great growling engine of change,' corporations and governments form clusters of conflict and cooperation at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Peter Dicken has created a powerful conceptual framework not to be missed by those who hope to grasp the logic of this emerging global order."--William E. Halal, School of Business and Public Management, George Washington University

"Dicken identifies states and transnational corporations as the two key actors in the multiple processes of restructuring and institutionalization that we usually call the global economy. In so doing, he has written a political economy of globalization and produced a far more comprehensive account than is typically the case in books about the global economy, most of which tend to confine the analysis to firms and markets."--Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology, The University of Chicago

"In these uncertain times, it is reassuring to have Peter Dicken as our guide to the world economy. No other commentator has his eye equally attuned to both the big picture of global corporations and capital flows, and the fascinating stories of local places, people, and industries. In this new edition of Global Shift, Dicken shows us once again why he has become one of the most respected social scientists studying the world of global business and economy."--Meric Gertler, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Canada

"...the book presents not only a thorough and balanced description and analysis of globalization, but also a nuanced explanation of the globalization-antiglobalization debates and provocative examination of the distributional consequences of globalization. I will certainly continue to use Global Shift in my graduate seminar. In fact, I am contemplating using it in my introductory economic geography course as well."--Economic Geography

"....a solid 640-page text on the phenomena of globalization in the modern age....provides detailed case studies of crucial global industries, more than 200 updated figures and tables, and well serves to broaden and illustrate the critical points toward understanding the world's economic future. This is an ideal text for classroom instruction and recommended to the attention of non-specialist general readers with an interest in understanding the complexities of global economics."--Library Bookwatch


Review
"It just keeps getting better. This latest edition of Global Shift is the best yet. The new material has added substantially to a book that was already the first destination for those who wanted a balanced view of the global economy and its geography. If there were a word beyond definitive, then that would be the word I would use here."--Professor Nigel Thrift, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK

"Global Shift shatters our easy slogans about globalization, corporations, and nations with bold new insights--modern economies are complex networks of productive processes that are both local and global, technology acts as a 'great growling engine of change,' corporations and governments form clusters of conflict and cooperation at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Peter Dicken has created a powerful conceptual framework not to be missed by those who hope to grasp the logic of this emerging global order."--William E. Halal, School of Business and Public Management, George Washington University

"Dicken identifies states and transnational corporations as the two key actors in the multiple processes of restructuring and institutionalization that we usually call the global economy. In so doing, he has written a political economy of globalization and produced a far more comprehensive account than is typically the case in books about the global economy, most of which tend to confine the analysis to firms and markets."--Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology, The University of Chicago

"In these uncertain times, it is reassuring to have Peter Dicken as our guide to the world economy. No other commentator has his eye equally attuned to both the big picture of global corporations and capital flows, and the fascinating stories of local places, people, and industries. In this new edition of Global Shift, Dicken shows us once again why he has become one of the most respected social scientists studying the world of global business and economy."--Meric Gertler, Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Canada

[acharya]

Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq (Paperback)
by Victor Davis Hanson "September 11 changed our world



Hanson (An Autumn of War), who has been compared to John Keegan as a historian of war, doesn't display the objectivity of a scholar here. These 39 previously published essays (35 from National Review Online) assessing the U.S. war on terrorism mostly focus on broad-brush denunciations of Europeans, Arabs, the U.N. and Muslims, reserving praise for the U.S. and Israel as beacons of democracy. America's pre-emptive war in Iraq is applauded and, Hanson says, Syria should be next. Saudi Arabia should be seen more as an enemy than an ally and actively subverted. His targets are mostly caricaturesâ€"he portrays Europeans, for instance, as reactionaries in their anti-Americanism. Hanson, a scholar of the ancient Greek military, does not appeal to research or direct experience in the Arab world, but merely to what one can infer from mass media accounts. He professes faith that U.S. arms and good intentions will bring secular democracy to Iraq, and then beyond, but his dark portrayal of Arab culture gives little cause for optimism. The volume might have been more interesting if Hanson had confronted the difficult issue of just how less corrupt secular democracies might take root in the Middle East, including the problems of previous democratic experiments in the Arab world (in Lebanon, Algeria and Iraq itself before Saddam). What went wrong? Will the presence of U.S. soldiers insure that things go right this time? Hanson thinks so, but his reasons are not spelled out.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"Between War and Peace" is a remarkable book which discusses many serious political and cultural issues, mainly associated with recent events in the Middle East and Iraq. Hanson has written a few books dealing with the combination of military and cultural issues (I think that the best one is "The Soul of Battle").

The best explanation that I have ever read for the strange fact that so many American and European "intellectuals" prefer dictators like Arafat and Castro (And, in the past, Stalin and Mao) to the democratically elected George Bush and Ariel Sharon, is Dr. Hanson's chapter in this book "Anti-Americanism".

Dr. Hanson discusses the fundamental misunderstanding of Western and American culture by the Arab world in "Occidentalism" (A counterweight to Said's "Orientalism" nonsense that dominates the thinking of the Middle East Studies faculties).

Feeling apologetic about America's role in the Middle East? Dr. Hanson's book will help expunge these feelings.

I have never read a better explanation of the world's reaction to Israel's barrier (It is a fence, and not, as frequently portrayed, a wall) than Dr. Hanson's "Fortress Israel". Why is Ariel Sharon so reviled by the left? Please read "Israel's Ajax: The Tragedy of Mr. Sharon".

I have always found it ironic that the left despises Israel, by the far the strongest country in the Middle East in terms of minority rights (Arab members of Knesset), gay rights, an independent judiciary, women's rights etc.. (Supposedly issues of concern to the left). To find out why, read "On Hating Israel" and "Flunking With Flying Colors".

I am not American, but if you are worried about America not contributing enough to foreign aid? Please read "Misunderstanding America": "Just how much foreign aid is a multibillion-dollar carrier battle group worth, when it patrols...ensuring that Koreans do not blow each other up".

Contrary to some opinions, Dr. Hanson does not always support American policy (For example, he took issue with the leadership of Jimmy Carter).

I highly recommend this book, as well as the author's columns on National Review online.




This is a strange, but ultimately good, book in two ways: First it is not so much a single book but a collection of essays arranged into topics and then arranged chronologically within each topic, and second it is a work of modern history and thus lacks the 20/20 vision of hindsight. This second quality however is what makes it so interesting, especially the further we get away from the time when each essay was written.

Hanson is a classics scholar and an outstandingly good military historian who views the world through a Thucydidean paradigm, namely, human nature is the same throughout all time and anything we're experiencing has basically been seen before in the history of warfare. This gives him a perspective unique from most of the scholars and pundits we see or hear on TV, as he makes frequent and salient comparison with modern events to similar events in ancient Greece.

The main argument of this book is that America and the West are not at fault for Arab and Islamic terrorism -their own internal forces cause terrorism-, that we must fight terrorism with resolve, and that we may only be victorious if we belive in our cause, and may only be defeated if we doubt ourselves. Unfortunately he showcases just how much Westerners, particularly the Left, do doubt oursevles and our civilization, and how this makes us vulnerable to the tactics of the terrorists.

Hanson tackles a lot of issues with a harsh clarity of thought and unapologetic conclusions, including: Anti-Americanism, Who are friends really are and who are enemies really are and why we don't treat them as such, The amount of duplicity and irrelevant -if not dangerous- ritual and senseless tradition in how we conduct our foreign policy and how we should do it differently, the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and similar such topics. He has some very interesting prescriptions for reshaping the American military and re-directing our foreign policy. Yet even should we follow his suggestions it seems implicit that so long as there is so much self-loathing and reluctance for the West to act in any manner the Left sees as slightly objectionable we are still doomed to never truly defeating terrorism, since defeat and victory are more intangible mental states than tangible physical realities.

Being a work of modern history however the book is replete with predictions that have failed to come true (as well as many that have), showing the difficulty of making sense of a situation in real-time, the effects a paradigm have on what you believe the situation is and what will happen, and the limits of a thorough knowledge of history. In the end you have to act however, in spite of the knowledge that you don't know what the consequences of your actions will be. Hanson is a historian unafraid to make decisions about what should be done, and by publishing his essays in a book format like this he shows he is also unafraid of exposing when events ultimately prove him wrong. An admirable trait in a world so enamored with self-image, delaying any decision or action with the blanket excuse of trying to add nuance, and rationalizing away any dirty laundry.

[acharya]

America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It (Hardcover)
by Mark Steyn




n this, his first major book, Mark Steyn--probably the most widely read, and wittiest, columnist in the English-speaking world--takes on the great poison of the twenty-first century: the anti-Americanism that fuels both Old Europe and radical Islam. America, Steyn argues, will have to stand alone. The world will be divided between America and the rest; and for our sake America had better win.

From the Inside Flap
It’s the end of the world as we know it…

Someday soon, you might wake up to the call to prayer from a muezzin. Europeans already are.

And liberals will still tell you that "diversity is our strength"—while Talibanic enforcers cruise Greenwich Village burning books and barber shops, the Supreme Court decides sharia law doesn’t violate the "separation of church and state," and the Hollywood Left decides to give up on gay rights in favor of the much safer charms of polygamy.

If you think this can’t happen, you haven’t been paying attention, as the hilarious, provocative, and brilliant Mark Steyn—the most popular conservative columnist in the English-speaking world—shows to devastating effect in this, his first and eagerly awaited new book on American and global politics.

The future, as Steyn shows, belongs to the fecund and the confident. And the Islamists are both, while the West—wedded to a multiculturalism that undercuts its own confidence, a welfare state that nudges it toward sloth and self-indulgence, and a childlessness that consigns it to oblivion—is looking ever more like the ruins of a civilization.

Europe, laments Steyn, is almost certainly a goner. The future, if the West has one, belongs to America alone—with maybe its cousins in brave Australia. But America can survive, prosper, and defend its freedom only if it continues to believe in itself, in the sturdier virtues of self-reliance (not government), in the centrality of family, and in the conviction that our country really is the world’s last best hope.

Steyn argues that, contra the liberal cultural relativists, America should proclaim the obvious: we do have a better government, religion, and culture than our enemies, and we should spread America’s influence around the world—for our own sake as well as theirs.

Mark Steyn’s America Alone is laugh-out-loud funny—but it will also change the way you look at the world. It is sure to be the most talked-about book of the year.

At least, that's how he signed my copy. I'd call Mark Steyn's essay the single best distillation of the challenge posed to the West by radical Islam that I have ever read.

Regular readers of Mr. Steyn will not be unfamiliar with his central points:

1) In the ongoing conflict between the West and Islam, both the demographics and the will to power favor the Islamists. That a country like Spain, with a birth rate of 1.15 children per adult women, will extinguish itself in a few generations, while immigrants from countries such as Pakistan (birth rate 4.53) will move in to fill the vacuum.

2) That as an aggressive, unassimilated minority edges closer to a majority (as in France, with an estimated 30% Muslim population in the under 20 age group), the character of the democratic institutions will become more closely aligned with Islamic law and culture.

3) That the post-Christian welfare state is largely to blame for the pessimism and failures of will demonstrated by Europe.

4) That America represents the primary exception to this trend, if only by degree, and that only a concerted effort to save our society stands a chance of reversing these trends.

That's a reasonable précis of Steyn's book, and he is certainly not unique in either his diagnosis or his prescription for the West. What sets this apart is his writing. The argument is made in a way that is the most engrossing and entertaining presentation of these ideas I've ever read. Steyn, as part of his superhuman writing regimen, is the obituarist for The Atlantic Monthly, and he puts that talent on display. This is not just a description of a set of demographic realities, but a loving, if premature (he hopes), obituary to a dying great culture. It's Steyn's ability to blend humor with the terminal diagnosis that sets him apart.

Take the following, from letting the book fall open at random (pages 60-61), where Steyn weaves together these seemingly disparate ideas: a photo of Lincoln with his future assassin in near proximity, the globalization at the root of a bird flu scare ("Any minute now there would be toxic cockatoos over the white cliffs of Dover, and the East End would be reeling under a blitzkrieg of sneezing parakeets"), the Black Death in Europe in the 1340s, the exportation of radical Islam from the Bedouin to the West, and finally a quote for Dean Martin's old nightclub act. I can't even describe it adequately; Steyn actually pulls it off, brilliantly.

Finally, I'd like to try to approach the book from the opposite direction. Invariably, political book reviews become contentious. It may be apparent that I came to this book predisposed to agree with the thesis, and I would not argue. That said, I think this is one of the rare political books that could be read and enjoyed regardless of personal politics. Dare I say it, but Steyn might even change some minds. Between his inventive turns of phrase, his references to pop culture and classic Americana, and his interesting digressions on topics as diverse as the heyday of French television and European history in the Middle Ages, Steyn offers something for everyone. And that's appropriate. Unlike many political books, this does not seem written to say "I'm right and you're wrong", but rather "we're all in this together".



---

Most are by now aware of the demographic implosion stalking the West. Fewer have given it the consideration that it deserves. Patrick Buchanan's recent "State of Emergency" is must reading on the topic and with his new book, "America Alone" Steyn enters the pantheon of insightful writers addressing the problem of demographic atrophy plaguing the West. Steyn's analysis goes far beyond a simple statement of the harrowing fertility rates in Western nations. As is his usual wont, Steyn brings to the table an important, unique and fresh perspective intermingled with his usual refreshing wit.

According to Steyn, this book is about "the larger forces at play in the developed world that have left Europe too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia and that call into question the future of much of the rest of the world, including the United States, Canada and beyond. The key factors are: Demographic decline; The unsustainability of the advanced Western social-democratic state; and Civilization exhaustion."

Steyn pokes fun at the leftist doomsayers' preoccupation with global warming and resource exhaustion, for which there is little or no hard evidence, in favor of the very real and unequivocably established collapse of Western fertility rates. As Steyn points out, "A people that won't multiply can't go forth or go anywhere. Those who do will shape the age we live in." And guess who those people are who ARE reproducing? Why the Muslims of course.

The Western world has become enervated and overcome by civilizational ennui which should come as no surprise since the "state has gradually annexed all the responsibilities of adulthood to the point where it's effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, not least the survival instinct. In the American context, the federal deficit isn't the problem; it's the government programs that cause the deficit. These programs would be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each month. They corrode the citizen's sense of self reliance to a potentially fatal degree. Big government is a national security threat: it increases your vulnerability to threats like Islamism, and makes it less likely you'll be able to summon the will to rebuff it."

Europe has all but succumbed to the dull opiate of multiculturalism. Caught between the rock of collapsing fertility rates and the hard place of their increasing dependence on a government which has annexed most of the core functions of adulthood, Europeans cannot muster either the will or the babies to resist the inexorable collapse of their civilization. Their plight is compounded by the fact that Islam is providing the babies and the will to fill that vacuum. Europe is for all practical purposes lost.

The central thesis of this book is that demography IS destiny. For without favorable demographics a civilization cannot long survive. And with favorable demographics, even the crude, brutish and largely unproductive can prevail. What single factor led to the civilizational dominance of England in the 1820s? A bursting population brought about by the conquest of infant mortality allowing England to send her sons and daughters to populate America, Australia, New Zealand and countless other outposts as well as civilize many many others. All of mankind owes a debt of gratitude to providence that so benign and beneficial a civilization as that of 19th century Britain first achieved demographic critical mass. Today we face a much more pernicious civilization wielding the demographic sword. That would be the sword of the prophet.

There are two points that Steyn makes in "America Alone" that I take issue with. He says we have one of three options in dealing with Isalm: Surrender; Reform Islam; or Destroy Islam. Steyn says that we must work to reform Islam since the other two options are unthinkable. I believe there is a fourth option: Defeat, contain and isolate Islam. Islam cannot be reformed as history has taught us. Islam is a vicious circle of violence, mayhem and destruction called jihad. Attempts to alter this vicious circle in any way is short circuited by the Koran which asserts that any deviation from the its teachings is punishable by death. This is not a religion in any legitimate sense, but rather a death cult combined with a political ideology. It can be thought of more appropriately as the perfection of the Nazi creed. Could we have reformed Nazism?

Steyn says that we Americans have failed to export our magnificent American political innovation of limited republican constitutional government which theoretically reins in the appetites of the mob. And while I generally agree with this sentiment I think it is important to point out that Americans themselves no longer share a common civilizational vision nor accept the founding tenets of our republic. Steyn believes that to consider an exit strategy in Iraq is tantamount to a shirking our civilizational responsibilities and he points to the British who managed to successfully export their form of government to the world to the benefit of mankind. But, we live in different times, and as I pointed out above, Islam cannot be reformed. Attempts to do so are a foolhardy waste of time.

So, we are left with isolation, containment and the defeat of Islam as a challenge to our way of life. This will require in itself considerable will. And while we do not currently have the will to defeat Islamic supremacism and their desire for worldwide hegemoney that will come. Hopefully sooner rather than later for the longer we wait the further the scales will be tipped in Islam's favor.

This is an exceptional and important book that should be read by anyone interested in the impending civilizational collapse and what, if anything, that can be done to reverse the trend. It is already too late for Western Europe. Hopefully America, civilization's last great hope, can stave off the rot of leftism and multiculturalism.

[Guest]

Should be in humor discussion forum. Review of Musharraf's book <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->


<b>Loyalties Of Our Pakistani 'Ally' Come Through Loud And Clear</b>
BY PERVEZ MUSHARRAF



It's highly unusual for a head of state to write a memoir while still in office. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says he penned his because "there has been intense curiosity about me" in the West.

<b>He's clearly flattered by what he thinks is personal interest in him and his "skills" as a "bold" and "inborn" leader. Musharraf sees himself as a historic "reformer" with wisdom to spare.</b>

Of course, Westerners are interested in this Third World Muslim dictator mainly because terrorists inside his country, under his rule, hatched two major attacks against Western capitals. The 9/11 plotters met in Karachi (Musharraf's hometown), while the 7/7 masterminds trained in Karachi and Lahore.

And mystery of mysteries, he happens to be the chap to whom we've outsourced the all-important task of hunting down the senior-most leaders of those attacks, who are holed up — still — in his country. <b>Musharraf interprets all the attention as an invitation to catalog every award and certificate he's earned going back to boarding school.</b>

We learn, for instance, that our front-line "ally" in the war on terror took third in a college bodybuilding contest, as if anybody cares. "All in all I earned the most certificates," he boasts. A judge "told me that I had a most muscular physique."
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Next, Gen. Musharraf regales readers with his feats at the military academy, where he was, among other things, a first-rate saluter. <b>"In fact," he says, "my physical bearing and drill were so good that I passed my 'saluting test' on the first try with a special commendation from the adjutant." Good for you, generalissimo.</b>
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Musharraf says that as an artillery officer in the 1960s, he was cited for heroism in a battle with India. His gun battery was hit by an enemy shell and caught fire. Most of his men ran for cover. Musharraf rushed in with a comrade and pulled ammo from the big gun before it could be blown to bits.

"I received an award for gallantry for saving lives and equipment," he recalls. <b>"The brave soldier who helped me was also decorated for gallantry. I can never forget that night." The name of the brave soldier, however, apparently eludes him</b>. At least, he's never identified. If anyone deserves a medal, it's Musharraf's wife, Sehba, for putting up with such an insufferable narcissist.
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Oddly, the leader of a country with more than 140 million people and nuclear weapons feels the need to tell us, <b>page after page, that he's an "exceptionally good shot" — "better than most of" his men — and a "good runner," as well as a good speller, speaker and instructor — "and quite a popular one." There is nothing that Musharraf has not received a commendation for.</b>

Missing from his trophy case are the heads of al-Qaida and the Taliban, subjects he seems far less passionate about. Musharraf tries to impress the West with tough terror-fighting rhetoric, but the keen reader observes he never condemns Osama bin Laden, a hero in Pakistan, as a murderer or even a terrorist. Nowhere in his 368-page tome does he have a harsh word to say about America's Enemy No. 1 (though India, which he describes as "our most dangerous enemy," comes in for all sorts of scorn).

Musharraf casts bin Laden as a kind of Robin Hood figure, attacking the allegedly corrupt West for what he says are "political injustices" against Muslims. "This accounts for the likes of Osama bin Laden," he contends.

The general also insists jihadists fighting India over Kashmir are not terrorists but "freedom-fighting mujahedeen."

"One man's terrorist can be another man's freedom fighter," he reveals.

<b>Since bin Laden helped train and fund Kashmiri militants, one wonders if Musharraf even considers him a terrorist.</b>

Musharraf claims he's done "everything possible" to track bin Laden down. Yet he offers no examples of operations he's launched to that end, while providing exquisite detail of his massive manhunts for the men who tried to assassinate Musharraf. In the end, we find out they weren't even al-Qaida, but members of his own military, including a former bodyguard.

You get the sense after reading Musharraf's breathless chapters on those assassination attempts (he even proudly displays a gruesome photo of the blown-off face of one of his attackers) that <b>the only terrorism he really cares about is the kind that threatens him and his regime, not the West</b>.

He brims with pride at bringing all the conspirators of the failed coups to justice. Searching for them was like "looking for a needle in a haystack," he says, but he set up a "special exclusive unit" within his intelligence services to find them. And they did it in short order. One wonders how fast he could find bin Laden and his deputies with a similar unit.

Musharraf in the media and press conferences makes a good show of cooperating with us. But in his book he makes it fairly clear he's been a reluctant partner from the start. <b>He admits the only reason he signed on to our war was for "self-interest and self-preservation." Turns out the CIA has even had to bribe him with millions in stipends to hand over terror suspects. </b>

It's in the topic of faith that the Pakistani leader's true agenda — and loyalties — come through loud and clear. Above all, "I am a Muslim," Musharraf asserts. Not just any Muslim, he says, but the head of "an Islamic state created for the Muslims of the subcontinent."

He wraps the cover of his book in green, the color of Islam and the Pakistani flag. He displays a picture of himself on pilgrimage to Mecca. <b>He makes a point of saying his father's side came from Saudi Arabia, and that his mother's mother wore a burqa. He recounts crying "Allahu Akbar!" with his artillery unit as they charged a village to kill Indian Hindus.</b>

He reprints a prayer he wrote to Allah on Page 80. And he forcefully defends Islam from critics, claiming it "is in fact a very progressive, moderate and tolerant religion."

Make no mistake: Our "trusted partner" in the war on Islamic terror is Muslim first — and so is his country. "The sooner the West accepts this reality, instead of thrusting on every country ideas that may be alien to people's aspirations, the better it will be for global harmony," he asserts.

It sounds as if our ally thinks we're the problem, not the terrorists, casting serious doubt on his commitment to our cause.

It's the "responsibility of the West in general and the United States in particular to put their full weight behind finding a just resolution of all political disputes afflicting Muslim societies," he says. "Justice for Muslims around the world must not only be done, but seen to be done." The 7/7 bombers attacked London because they saw "atrocities meted out to their co-religionists," he says, warning that even if we crush al-Qaida, the jihad will march on.

"The tree of terrorism will continue to flourish as long as the roots remain intact," he says. And "injustices" committed by Western infidels "are the roots of the terrorist tree."

Musharraf says we can't win the war on terror until we make right with aggrieved Muslims the world over. No justice, no peace. "Ultimate success will come only when the roots that cause terrorism are destroyed: that is, when injustices against Muslims are removed," he says. "This lies in the hands of the West, particularly America."

And here we thought the keys to victory were in his hands. Musharraf's memoir provides a valuable window into the mind-set of our supposed ally in the war on terror. What we see is a reluctant Muslim partner only temporarily on our side for tactical and selfish reasons, a picture that does not inspire confidence we'll see bin Laden and his deputies brought to justice soon.

— Sperry, formerly IBD's Washington bureau chief, is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."

[Guest]

Came in email: A review of the book by Anwar Sheikh

Islamic Havoc in Bharat
By A. Ghosh

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->This book , containing 387 pages deals with the atrocities of the Muslim rule in India, right from the first invaders to the last perpetrators, who could have qualified as Indians had they shown an iota of respect to the land  where they were born, grew up and died. They inflicted disgrace, death and devastation on India in return for the glory, grandeur and greatness that she had bestowed upon them. This ingratitude of the Muslim rulers had ruffled Purushottam Nagesh Oak, the author, whose patriotic instincts have responded to the foreign tyranny without any regard to the repercussions that the bold narrative of this book may have upon him.

P.N.Oak was born March2, 1917. He is a scion of the Maharashtrian Brahminical tradition, but he is also endowed with the Kshatriya spirit for having played an active role in the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army). So keen is his passion for history that he has set up the Institution for Re-Writing World History. He is its Founder-President. Mr. Oak is known for his plain speaking, which earned him wrath of the authorities. He was tried on the charge of using “harsh” language when he called the Muslim raiders as the “Muslim Monsters” but was honourably acquitted.

Having dealt with the Muslim atrocities, Mr. Oak in the Post Script has asked the fellow-patriots to expose the tyrannical conduct of the Muslim rulers. While I am not averse to this suggestion, I think that such an exposure will be more fruitful if its scope is extended. Therefore, I may divide the discussion into three headings:

Why did the Muslim suzerains make plunder and rape the guiding principle of their rule?
Why did the Muslin rulers succeed in displaying their atrocious conduct with such a baffling impunity?
What is the legacy of the Muslim rule to the Indian subcontinent i.e. Bharat , Pakistan and Bangladesh ?
1. Islam, in fact is an expression of Mohammedanism, which

seeks to glorify the person Muhammad, whose stature towers over God (Allah) Himself and
which represents the Prophet’s patriotism as the Arab National Movement.
In several articles, I have explained the fact: “a” by quoting chapter and verse from the Koran as well as the relevant hadiths. Is it not strange that in every religion, it is man, who supplicates God but in Islam, it is Allah and His angels, who pray salutations to Muhammad? Is it not baffling to note that on the Day of Judgment, Muhammad will occupy the right hand side of the Throne of Justice with Allah, and it is his word which will decide whether a person will go to heaven or hell? Again, it is not stunning that a person cannot become a Muslim just by having faith in Allah, but remains the Kafir (infidel) until he also confess to believe in Muhammad? Obviously, Islam has less to do with Allah, and more with Muhammad. This is what makes Islam Mohammedanism, removing its religious veneer.

Having written a book: “Islam, The Arab National Movement” to illustrate the “b,” I hardly need go into details here but may add briefly that the Prophet Mohammad adopted Moses as the Model, and raised Arabia over the rest of the world in Divine esteem and honour. He realised that only a strong Arab nation could fight for his name and enforce his holiness in the globe. This is why he founded the Arab Empire.

The spiritual yoke of Mohammedanism needed the strength of a secular Empire, which required a highly efficient fighting force, but people do not kill their fellow-men without a compelling inducement, especially when they have done them no wrong. For this purpose, the Prophet Muhammad coined the concept of Jihad which states that “Allah had bought the lives of Muslims in return for the reward of paradise, because “they kill and get killed while fighting for Allah (Jihad), he goes to paradise, the highest place for sexual merriment and economic affluence. If he survives, he becomes entitled to plunder, which includes, not only the wealth and property of the vanquished, but also their women and he can legitimately, seduce them at will. As this is an unusual statement, I may provide some quotations from the Koran to satisfy the skeptics:

“Eat of what you have taken as booty; this is lawful and good…..”         (The spoils VIII: 70)

One must realize that Islam is the only religion, which holds that murdering innocent people, plundering their property, enslaving their children and seducing their women is legitimate and good. This gives evil the status of good, and the lure of such a philosophy provides a tremendous incitement especially when the fighter fares better if he gets killed because doors of paradise are opened for him eagerly.

For hoisting Mohammedanism, over a head of humanity, the lure, lust and lactation of Jihad (fighting for Allah), has been made endless:

“Fight….such people as practice not the religion of truth……..until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been humbled.”  (Repentance:IX:25)

Here Islam has been portrayed as “the religion of truth,” thus declaring all other faith, false, fallacious and facinorous; their followers have been subjected to a payment to tribute as a symbol of inferiority unless they accept Islam to adore Muhammad like Allah and His angels.

From these introductory explanations, one can see why the foreign predators played havoc with the Indian society. It is simply an article of faith for a Muslim to molest the non-Muslim. However, this conviction, as the wheel of time rolled on, lost its luster and was imbued wit the gloss, glow, and glitter of manipulation, alien to the purpose of Islam, and became representative of personal ambitions. The reason for this attitude is also astonishing.

Shedding blood of a Muslim by a fellow Muslim is a heinous in Islam. After passage of several centuries, many of the wealthy countries have come to be ruled by the Muslim princess, and therefore, the more ambitious Muslim rulers could not multiply their wealth and prestige without invading the fellow-Muslims. Therefore, they concocted excuses to treat their intended victims as kafris i.e. non-Muslims, so that they could march against them as the Holy Crusaders. Take for example, Amir Timur, considered as the saintly ruler of Islam by the Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent. He started raiding the Muslim rulers on the pretext that they were quasi-Muslims for lacking the true Koranic spirit. At sixty-two, he invaded India in 1398. This Barlas Turk was a sincere Muslim, and the lust of booty, which has been the major cause of motivation to the same effect on him what steam has on a locomotive engine. He had set up a Booty Department at Samarqand, his capital, which he strived to keep full by plundering the rulers of his time. Who was who did not worry him, nor was he bothered by the consequences of his actions on history as long as his raids secured him sufficient booty.

At that time, India was governed by the Tughlaq dynasty, which was in disarray owing to the succession-dispute. Both the Muslims and the Hindus (Rajputs) united to fight this formidable conqueror of history but were deciminated by him at Bhatnagar. He reached Delhi in mid-December; he defeated the army of Sultan Mahmud and sacked the city with professional thoroughness. Before the battle began, he slaughtered the 100,000 prisoners both Hindu and Muslim that he captured before reaching the city. On his return, he took with him thousands of horses laden with the Indian gold, diamonds, rubles and precious merchandise. Among these carriers of plunder were eight hundred elephants, which carried green marble to build Jamla Masjid at Samarqand. One wonders what kind of God approves of His worship house built with stolen goods! Among the plunder were several thousand screaming Indian virgins, physicians and artists of various kinds.

Tmur dealt a severe blow to the Muslim ruling dynasty of India but there were no Hindus to make the most of this opportunity to reinstate their lost glory. On the contrary, when he defeated the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid in 1402, the Ottoman Turks rose from their ashes like a phoenix and rebuilt their empire in the Eastern Europe .

Why is it that the Hindus failed to retrieve their honourable past but the Turks rose again to build a stupendous future for themselves? The straight answer lies in their respective beliefs. The Turks believed in Jehad, the will to fight, but the Hindus believed in Ahimsa, the will to flight. The truth is that survival depends upon both fight and flight. The animal that seeks flight as the only way to staying alive becomes what a sheep is to a wolf or a sparrow is to a hawk. This world is full of wolf or a sparrow and they seem to have the divine license to molest, mortify and mutilate the sheep and sparrows. This is what brings us to discuss the second point of this review i.e. why did the Muslim rulers succeed in displaying their atrocious conduct with such a baffling impunity?

Hawk is the Vedic bird, which must have formed part of the national Indian flag in the ancient Vedic times. The people, who label themselves as Hindus, have relinquished hawkish way of life as dictated by the Vedas and have adopted the demeanor of a sparrow. This being the truth, they do not deserve the social majesty that is the prerogative of a hawk, due to his heroic manners.
Instead  of acknowledging the truth that they have flouted the Vedic doctrine of heroic life, which expects of its devotees to resist torture, torment and tyranny to uphold the cause of joy, justice and joviality, they blame Buddhism for preaching the doctrine of Ahimsa. Quite openly, the Indian history declares that Hinduism drove Buddhism out of India . With it should have gone out Ahimsa i.e. non violence, but it did not. The truth is that the Emperor Asoka held the largest empire of the day; it extended over Afghanistan and almost entire India . His rule was dignified and philanthropic. Since nobody ever dared attack his dominions, and he died as a highly successful ruler, he certainly did not believe in the type of ahimsa as the Hindus do. His principle of Ahimsa meant non-aggression against peaceful neighbouring countries and an honorable individual conduct free from the pollution of pusillanimity, culminating in Drama, which meant a practical life of piety, purity and probity. Asoka’s Ahimsa represented non-aggression and not cowardice, which has become the Hindu way of life. This is what this great Indian Emperor called Dharma – piety in personal life, justice in public life and fairness in secular affairs. Frankly speaking, I ought to add that the modern Hindus use the word: Dharma to fool fellow-Hindus for personal gains through a conduct of cowardice and hypocrisy peculiar to themselves.

The nations that have accepted Buddhism, are one of the bravest today; to maintain their martial spirit, the Japanese developed ju-jitsue, a system of bare-handed fighting and the Koreans developed high karate kicks, whereas the Hindus invented feet-touching, and incorporated their Vedic martial postures in dancing!

The truth is that it is the Hindus who first perfected civilisation and then speared it in the east and west. The ethos of their culture was essentially martial. Not only the Vedic gods and warriors but the Vedic goddesses are also eager fighters. Even Agni, the Vedic priest, “the Son of Strength,” is a keen combatant. The major feature of the Vedic deities is that they themselves take part in the battles and their devotees solicit their help to fight their enemies. No matter, what the situation, whenever, the forces of vice, virulence and viciousness threatened the good, great and godly, out came the Vedic sword to crush and cremate the wrong doers. It is a law of nature that what goes up, must come down.

This is what happened to Hindu nation. Affluence and ease mellowed their character; we see in the battle of Kurukshetra that Lord Krishna, and God- incarnate, done not fight himself but acts as a coachman and persuades someone else(Arjuna) to lead the fight. Krishna performs here the priestly role giving the sermon but does not take part in the battle like the Vedic gods! It demonstrates a marked fall in the Hindu military fervor. As the wheel of history rolls on into the 20th century, there emerges another “god” known as Mahatma Gandhi, who exhibits the total collapse of the Hindus, who refuse to fight even for the honour and integrity of their Motherland and agree to the Partition!

It is this Ahimsa, the total addiction to cowardice that the Hindus enjoy under the shameful cover of dharma that enabled the foreign predators to display their atrocities conduct with complete impunity. Should not Hindus share a part of this disgrace? It is natured for a robber to rob, but the person who gives in without defending his possessions, in fact, is guilty of aiding and abetting the robber.”

3. Finally, we come to discuss the legacy of the Muslim rule in India .

Frankly speaking, I ought to say that the legacy is the complete realisation of the Arabic national dream which seeks to impose the Arab Cultural Imperialism on other nations through a subtle stratagem of divide and rule in the guise of religion  by splitting humanity into Momins (the Muslims) and Kafirs (the non-Muslims), Islam has set father against son and brother against brother, so that they should forget the significance of blood ties, human values and moral standards, and kill one another to enjoy the hallucinations of paradise. This is not an emotional mumbo-jumbo. Look, how Islam has created the most dreadful hatred among the Indian brethren who zealously murdered one another in 1947 to partition their own Motherland for the glory of the Arabian culture. Those who have embraced Islam believe that the fellow Indians are totally alien to them; India is not their Motherland but the battlefield, which justifies mischief, malevolence and misbehaviors. These people are Indian through and through, and this fact is vouched for by their blood, language, culture, land of birth, customs, traditions, colour and even temperament. Instead, they believe that they share nationality with the Arabs, Egyptians, Iranian, and so on! This is certainly the height of brainwashing; only the most seductive concept so Islam, which offers unlimited sexual merriment in paradise, could perform this miracle.

The destructive influence of Islam has become the social bane of Bharat , Pakistan and Bangladesh . In India , the Muslims are deadly opposed to a unified Civil Code; in Pakistan and Bangladesh , the Muslims demand the introduction of the Islamic Law which is totally impracticable in modern age. The result is social unrest, slowly leading to anarchy.

The truth is that owing to their unsocial and divisive tendencies, the Muslims all over the world, have lost the ability to live peacefully, not only with the non-Muslims, but also among themselves as a result of the sectarian hatred. The Sunni- Shia divide testifies to this fact.

India was once a peaceful, prosperous and powerful country, but with the arrival of Islam it has sinking lower and deeper everyday. As things are nationalism – a healthy nationalism as opposed to racism seems to be the only remedy which can save countries of the Indian subcontinent by resuscitating the feeling of brotherhood. Another essential step for the Hindus is to discard the most disgraceful grab of Ahimsa and return to their ancestral military values as dictated by the Vedas.

Mr. Oak had rendered a considerable service by reminding the country of the depression. Degradation and destruction that she has suffered at the hands of the Muslims rulers, who could have enjoyed a place of honour in the Indian history by associating themselves with India, its culture and traditions.

  ----------------------------------

SAD DEMISE OF ILLUSTRIOUS SON OF AKHAND BHARAT, ANWAR SHAIKH.

We learn with great regret and grief of the tragic death of one of 20th century's greatest authority on Reality about Islam, Dr. Anwar Shaikh, in Wales, Great Britain on November 25, 2006. He will be mourned by millions who read his books and articles over several decades.

Those privileged to know him personally or through his writings admired him for his originality and courage of conviction.

His death has taken away an intellectual giant from our midst. He stood for an era, for a century.

His greatest achievement was to DEMOLISH Islam with the sword of logic and reason. He exposed it as the cult of brutal conquerors and the destroyer of civilisations.

His legacy is all the books and articles that he wrote and published. He will live through his WORD.

Most recently we read his interview with Chandigarh Times. Please see:

http://www.hvk.org/articles/0805/82.html

Anwar Shaikh (Converted to Hinduism “ called Aniruddha Gyan Shikha).

After his conversion to Hinduism, he wrote many books to expose Islam as religion. His death is mourned across the whole world, especially in Bharat.

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