- US President George W Bush on Friday called Cuba a "dungeon" and vowed Washington would not lift its economic embargo until Havana released political prisoners and allowed free expression. ...
2008-10-11 00:37:48
- NAT2National/Opinion/Politics/CommentaryBirds of a feather: Prakash Karat and Mamata Banerjee CommentBy Amulya GanguliIf Prakash Karat is honest with himself, he will see the similarity between his opposition to the nuclear deal and Mamata Banerjee's scuttling of the Nano automobile project in Singur in West Bengal.Both the general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI-M and the Trinamool Congress president were guided by the interests of their respective parties to the exclusion of all other considerations.Karat, for instance, did not care whether his stalling of the nuclear deal would harm the overall national interest by continuing to keep India under the post-Pokhran I sanctions on nuclear fuel and advanced technology. Pokhran I in 1974 marked India's first nuclear test. It was followed by Pokhran II in 1998.On her part, Mamata Banerjee wasn't bothered whether by forcing the Tatas to quit Singur, she would scare away all investors from West Bengal, thereby undermining the state's developmental efforts aimed at its long-delayed industrial rejuvenation.To be fair, both offered cogent, if partial, explanations for their stand. Karat's view, as that of his other Leftist colleagues, was that the nuclear deal would tie India to American apron strings, making it a junior partner in serving the interests of US "imperialism".Mamata Banerjee's view was that not only were the Tatas given fertile land on favourable terms, but not all the farmers gave their consent to the acquisition. Hence her demand that the disputed 400 acres of the total of 997 acres be returned to the owners.However, the failure of the two leaders lay in their restricted outlook. For instance, Karat's views recalled the post-1945 period of confrontation between the American and Soviet worldviews without any appreciation of the fact that the Cold War had ended, the Soviet Union had collapsed and socialism was no longer the inspiring beacon it once was.It was pointless, therefore, to keep India locked in a posture of antagonism against America like Cuba and Venezuela. The Left's position also ignored the fact that in the emerging world India is no longer a weak Third World country but one with a booming economy and a vibrant multicultural polity which had earned the admiration of the rest of the world.It was fatuous to believe, therefore, that India would be a clay model in America's hands if only because the US itself had learnt the limitations of its power. The only purpose which the Left's outdated ideological obsession would serve was to keep India devoid of nuclear fuel and technology at a time when China and Pakistan continue to have a clandestine nuclear relationship. It is necessary to remember that India has been at war with both these less than friendly neighbours.If Karat sees the world as it was in the 1950s and 60s, Mamata Banerjee's eyes are focussed on her inveterate enemy in West Bengal, the CPI-M. Having been at the receiving end of the violence unleashed against her personally and against her party by the Marxist militias throughout her political career, she has made it her life's ambition to oppose the Left tooth and nail.While her guts and determination has many admirers across the board in West Bengal and the rest of the country, she has made the mistake this time of overstepping her limits by opposing the CPI-M even when it was trying to rectify some of its own past mistakes. She would have shown greater political wisdom if instead of blindly opposing the Singur project, she had taunted the comrades for wooing the capitalists back after having driven them out of the state with pointless militant agitations in the sixties and seventies.Such a nuanced stance would have shown that she was not opposing the Left for opposition's sake, but was generous enough to let the communists repent for their past sins by supping with their former "class enemies".If she had taken such a position, she would have emerged as a mature leader who was willing to take into account the changing realities. Now, however, she is likely to be seen as a reckless maverick with little idea about the state's developmental needs. What is more, if she now carries her pro-farmer agitation to Katwa in Burdwan district to oppose the acquisition of land for a super thermal power station, then she will be doing a great disservice to her own political future.What is obvious from the single-track minds of Karat and Mamata Banerjee is that the regional base of their parties has severely restricted their perspective. As is known, the CPI-M has failed to expand beyond West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura while the Trinamool Congress exists only in West Bengal.The result of this tunnel vision is that while the CPI-M leader is unable to place India in the present-day global context, the Trinamool Congress chief cannot even understand what is good for her own state.Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at aganguli@mail.com--Indo-Asian News Serviceag/ak/jg 880 Words**11100843
2008-10-11 00:02:10
- Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called Cuba a "dungeon" and vowed Washington would not lift its economic embargo until Havana released political prisoners and allowed fr...
2008-10-10 18:27:04
- AP - Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables people can buy at farmers' markets, irritating some customers but ensuring there's enough — barely — to go ar...
2008-10-10 17:09:27
- INT31International/HealthCuba breaks national record with 200,000 medical studentsHavana, Oct 9 DPA Cuba broke its record for domestic and foreign students studying medical sciences in the communist island country, with a total of 200,000 this year, the Communist Party daily Granma reported citing public health ministry sources. Close to 23,000 of the students are foreigners, most of them coming from developing countries, Granma said, claiming that this is a result of the Cuban government's "traditional policy of internationalistic solidarity." Cuba holds its free health system as a flagship government programme. At Cuban universities medical sciences include medicine, stomatology study of mouth and its diseases, nursing, health technology and health psychology. Cuba has four medical science institutes, 24 schools of medicine, four of stomatology and four devoted to nursing and technology, Granma said. More than 26,000 people teach medical science courses on the island.--DPAdkg152 Words09101107
2008-10-09 01:03:11
- Reuters - A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslims held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba....
2008-10-08 18:51:06
- INT33International/DiplomacySpanish aid worker barred from CubaHavana, Oct 8 IANS Cuban authorities have detained Spanish aid worker Garcia Regojo and are making arrangements to send her back home, EFE reported Wednesday.The Spanish mission in Havana said they had no idea why Regojo, who arrived in the eastern city of Santiago to help Cuba's storm victims resettle, was detained Tuesday. Spain had been instrumental in lifting a five-year European Union diplomatic sanction against the communist ruled island and only weeks back helped in opening up a dialogue between the two to accelerate development of the island economy. Regojo was being held at Havana's Jose Marti international airport by immigration officials to be flown back to Madrid, Spanish consulate-general said.In Madrid, senior leader of main opposition Popular Party Jorge Moragas said Regojo had been held in custody in Cuba for 15 hours.At a press conference, Moragas said that his party knew of the detention through the family of the woman, who works for a non-governmental organization that collaborates with the Cuban Catholic Church.--Indo-Asian News Servicedkg/jg187 Words08101201
2008-10-08 04:02:11
- A federal judge ordered the Bush administration to immediately free 17 Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay into the United States, a dramatic ruling that could set the course for releasing dozens of o...
2008-10-07 17:43:29
- INT16International/Politics/Business/EconomyCuba will remain socialist: Fidel CastroHavana, Oct 6 IANS Former Cuban president Fidel Castro has said his country will remain socialist and rejected calls by Western experts to speed up the reform process in the wake of the global financial crisis, the EFE news agency reported Monday. In a commentary published Sunday, the leftist leader also criticised capitalist countries, especially the US, for the ongoing world financial crisis. "We are not a developed capitalist country in crisis, whose leaders are going crazy today looking for solutions amid depression, inflation, the lack of markets and unemployment; we are and should remain socialists," the 82-year-old former president said."The production and distribution of food and construction materials, I reiterate, have an absolute priority at this time," Castro said, referring to the recent damage that the island sustained from two hurricanes.Cuba said it suffered $5 billion in damage to crops, homes and infrastructure from two recent hurricanes. Hurricane Ike affected nearly all of Cuba's territory Sep 7-9, 10 days after Hurricane Gustav battered the western part of the island.Fidel Castro's latest commentary, like other recent commentaries he has written, focussed on the economic situation in Cuba, which is suffering from shortages of food, fuel and other essential products.Recently some Western diplomats and experts had said that the global financial crisis was another blow to communist Cuba, already reeling from two powerful hurricanes and soaring import prices, and it could force the government to speed up reforms.According to them, the crisis has made credit tighter and softened demand for nickel, the island's key export. It could also slow tourism revenues and financial support from family members living abroad."Cuba has a serious deficit of diesel," Castro said, adding that "too much is being used" and it is "essential to reduce the allocations being demanded".Cuba's former head of state has been convalescing from a serious intestinal illness and has not appeared in public since July 2006.In February, Fidel's younger brother, Raul, officially took over the island's presidency.Since taking over from Fidel, Raul Castro has made more idle state land available to private farmers, legalised cell phone use by ordinary Cubans, granted Cubans access to tourist hotels and allowed some workers to seek legal title to their homes.--Indo-Asian News Service skp/jg407 Words06101029
2008-10-06 01:00:00
- A Royal Navy ship has visited Cuba for only the second time since the country's revolution 50 years ago...
2008-10-04 20:25:03
Antigua and barbuda, map of Antigua and Barbuda- Austria, Austria education
- Aruba, Aruba politics
- Tajikista, Tajikistan politics
- Northern mariana islands, politics of Northern Mariana Islands
- Heard and mcdonald islands, HEARD AND
- Bahamas, map of Bahamas
- Chad, president of Chad
- Netherlands, map of Netherland
- Guyana, Guyana education
- Andorra, Andorra culture
- Belgium, Belgium politics
- Micronesia, education in Micronesia
- Estonia, Estonia travel
- Uk, Great Britain politics
Cuba Yellow Pages
