Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Taliban was not only willing to hand over Bin Laden to the US

Documents suggest that in the years leading to 9/11, Taliban was not only willing to hand over Bin Laden to the US but also warned the latter of an impending terrorist attack

For example, an ISI official told visiting US Congressmen that “Pakistan will always support the Taliban”. This “policy cannot change”, he continued, because “it would prompt rebellion across the Northwest Frontier Provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and indeed on both sides of the Pashtun-dominated Pak-Afghan border.”

It is now common knowledge that the US had been asking the Taliban to hand over Laden since 1999. These discussions stopped only a week before the 9/11 attack. However, the US was so adamant on its stand that Laden be tried by the Department of Justice— and not in a third country as Taliban suggested— that Taliban refused to hand him over. Officials described it as a missed opportunity. The former CIA station chief Milt Bearden said, “We never heard what they were trying to say. We had no common language. Ours was, ‘Give up bin Laden.’ They were saying, ‘Do something to help us give him up’.” Bearden added, “I have no doubts Taliban wanted to get rid of him. He was a pain in the neck but this never clickedwith us”. The US thought it was “unreasonable” on Taliban’s part to ask for evidence indicting Laden. Taliban, on its part, even cautioned the US that Laden was planning a big attack on American soil. In fact, former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil maintained that his repeated warnings, delivered because of apprehensions that the US would respond by waging war against Afghanistan, had been dismissed. US officials admitted to this fact but said that warnings were dismissed because they were “hearing a lot of that kind of stuff”.

Declining the Taliban’s offer to have Laden handed over shows that the US rather followed the policy of regime change well before the 9/11 happened. India was considered to have joined Russia, the USA and Iran in a conjunct front against Taliban, which enclosed aid for Northern Alliance, including “information and logistic support” from Washington. Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik claimed that he had been informed by senior US officials as early as in July 2001 that military action would be taken against the Taliban by the middle of October. Readies had already been coordinated with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. Naik also said that “it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taliban.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The silk route still remains jagged

India’s Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2009-14 is a half step undone by more omissions than commissions, say anchal gupta and niharika patra, who argue all is not lost...

The term was originally coined by the German geographer Ferdinand Von Richthofen in 1877. It has been considered as the first ever link between the east and the west in recorded history. Its role in being one of the pillars on which the great ancient civilizations of India, China, Greece and Egypt stood is undisputed. It was the panacea to large trading communities who survived because of it. Unfortunately, the silk routes that can lead India back to brighter shores are still blocked. With demand for India’s exports still remaining low than its 2007-08 levels in the biggest markets of US and Europe, the dark skies for India’s trade might take some more time to clear up. However, with certain developments sending a whiff of fresh air in the suffocated dungeons that is India’s exports, the picture gets complicated.

There is no denying the fact that India’s over dependence on USA and the EU for its cheap and labour intensive exports (same is true for services also) has hurt India in the short term as there have been huge job losses in some of the biggest export sectors. According to latest figures released by the Labour Bureau, the job losses amounted to 1.72 lakhs in the April – June quarter mainly in the textiles and gems and jewellery sector with export oriented units accounting for 1.67 lakhs of the same. It must be remembered that the government itself declared that the total job losses amounted to 5 lakh in the October to December quarter last year owing to the meltdown. With varied statistics putting the job losses at different levels, the in total job losses owing to depression can be put in the range of 1-1.2 million including indirect losses.

However, with the first signs of recovery beginning to pour in the last 2 months, it is widely hoped that the trade train of India can be back at full throttle soon. But, the trade picture can be more complicated than Einstein’s field equations at times. With the drop in demand in biggest economies like USA, Japan, EU and slowing down of China, the oil prices went down to nearly US $40 a barrel from its peak of $145 in the middle of 2008.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Monday, November 05, 2012

Uranium is next yellow fuel

The most sought after investment after oil

The escalating population and the rising energy demand is forcing the global leaders to look out for more alternative sources of energy. With oil becoming unaffordable and increasing stress on environment-friendly fuels, the only alternative left out seems to be nuclear energy. But then this yellow fuel is not enough to fulfill all energy needs, thus disturbing dreams of energy investors. The uranium market is not only affected by the standard forces of supply and demand but also to whims of geo-politics. There are 440 reactors operating worldwide and 69 reactors under construction. Nations like France, Germany, Netherlands, the UK, USA and Russia form the core of the uranium market and influence all global buyers.

The worldwide demand already exceeds the supply by 139% and the prices have risen by almost 500% in last five years. With China building more nuclear reactors, it will be consuming 11% of the world’s nuclear energy capacity alone. Moreover, China is negotiating with Australian foreign ministry, to purchase 44 million pounds of uranium every year. As per the International Nuclear Inc., the stock of ready-to-use uranium is at an all-time low, and the commercial reserves fell by more than 50%. Global electricity use is projected to increase by 66% i.e. 22 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2020. With current supply at about 135 million pounds per year and mines of Australia & Canada contributing only 79.2 million pounds per year, there seem to be a ‘gold rush’ to purchase this yellow fuel in the near future. To meet increasing energy demand, there is no question that uranium will become a key to global affairs.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….

IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global

Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face