Imperialism hurts
An unbiased chronicle of tragedy in West Asia

In this age of "embedded reporting" and brazen propaganda being dished out in the name of 'objective' media, it is difficult to find truly objective accounts of the momentous events that are sweeping across the world. Difficult yes, but certainly not impossible. For, if you really want to know about what exactly is happening in Sudan, Algeria, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, simply take a few days off from office, switch off your mobile phone and go through the 1,400 pages of masterful reportage and history written by Robert Fisk, one of the few remaining journalists who cover the crisis and tragedy in the Middle East without ideological blinkers.

The Middle East correspondent for the British daily, The Independent, Fisk has imaginatively titled his tour de force as 'The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of Middle East'. The amazing thing about the book is that Robert Fisk has been actually reporting from the frontlines and fault lines of the volatile regions first for BBC and then for The Independent for close to three decades. He was there when the CIA-armed Afghan Mujahideen battled the Soviet army of occupation. He was there when Saddam Hussein (tacitly encouraged by the West) launched a 'one week' invasion of the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran. Fisk witnessed the 'one week' war degenerating into an eight-year war of attrition where Saddam used chemical weapons against Iranians. He was there in Beirut when Israelbacked- militias ruthlessly massacred more than 2,000 Palestinian children, women and elderly in refugee camps. Fisk was also around when the first major suicide bombing rattled Uncle Sam - a "terrorist" rammed a truck into a Marine base in Lebanon, killing 268 American soldiers. The brave warriors that the Americans are, they promptly packed their bags and quit Lebanon. Fisk was witness to the frenzy of extra judicial killings after Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran.

Fisk has also reported on the civil wars in Algeria and Sudan. And of course, he has met and interviewed the elusive Osama Bin Laden in both Sudan and Afghanistan during the 1990s when the brutal Taliban regime was in power. From every battlefront in every country, Fisk has been eyewitness to one simple message that local populations have been trying to convey to the Imperial powers. The message is: "We don't want your troops. We don't you to teach us democracy. We are tired of your double standards when it comes to the conflict between the Israeli Army and the Palestinians".

His coverage of the monumental tragedy in Iraq is educative, and chilling. Way back in the 1920s, the then Imperial power England had tried to impose 'democracy' on Iraq through military means. Of course, England eventually failed. But what is chilling is the bizarre similarity between the excuses offered by England for the military conquest of Iraq then and the platitudes offered by the Bush administration now. British troops were then busy massacring and torturing Iraqis who resisted the British version of democracy. American troops are doing quite much the same now.

Don't for a moment think that Fisk is an apologist for Islamic terrorists who use the American military presence in Middle East (particularly Saudi Arabia) as a valid reason for 'Holy War'. Fisk oft en laments at the inhuman depths to which the terrorists descend for their political agenda. The book is great because he also laments the inhuman depths to which western democracies have descended in the conquest of Middle East.

Book extract

Why, they ask, do they still have no electricity and no water? In whose interest is it for Iraq to be deconstructed, divided, burned, dehistoried, destroyed? Why are they issued with orders for a curfew of millions of people by their socalled liberators?... It's easy for a reporter to predict doom, especially after a brutal war which lacked all international legitimacy. But catastrophe usually waits for optimists in the Middle-East, especially for those who are false optimists and invade oil-rich nations with ideological excuses and high-fl own moral claims and accusations like weapons of mass destruction, which have still been unproved. So I'll make an awful prediction. That America's war of 'liberation' is over. Iraq's war of liberation from the Americans is about to begin. In other words, the real and frightening story starts now.

Desiree
Hotel Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi Corniche
35,494 INR to 514,141 INR per night

(column by Akansha Pradhan)

Hear this: Gold interiors, golden flagpoles, golden finails and 1,002 Swarovski crystal encrusted chandeliers. What you just read is the description of the superlatively expensive - $3 billion plus in construction - and exquisitely new Hotel Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi Corniche. You have a mile long private beach, a dozen restaurants with fine cuisine; and getting hold of a suite with huge plasma screen televisions is a no brainer. A simple room is Rs.35,494 per night; and the palace suite that houses a separate living & dining room (and three bedrooms too, eh!) shoots upto Rs.5,14,141 per night.

2006 Koenigsegg CCX
27,542,170 INR

It's an awe-inspiring vehicle. Defined by a Supercharged V8 engine, 806 horsepower and an excess top speed limit of 395 kilometres per hour, it speaks power at every instance. True to Koenigsegg's spirit, the new CCX model re-emphasises the coupe's strength and aerodynamic styling. And with the scorcher celebrating the CCX's 10th anniversary, what better tribute than this?

Ignorance, Envy & Jealousy
12,957,098 INR - 17,276,131 INR

Painted by James Ward, 'Ignorance, Envy and Jealousy' remains true to his symbolic style of painting. The oil canvas captures an authoritative and yet perennial battle between the forces of good and evil. Truth is depicted as a woman dressed in white flowing robes and a Bible in her lap. Three deformed and ghoulish forms on the left hand side figuratively speak of Ignorance, Envy and Jealousy. The monsters are shown clawing at Calumny's throat to fill it with deceit and contempt. The glowing lady, who is shown sitting on a rock, is surrounded with Christian representations of the Holy Trinity that ultimately link her to the divine Virgin Mary. The light in the backdrop is salvation. Indeed, a painting with a deep and undying statement...

Mithras Tauroctonos
9,166,849 INR to 13,750,215 INR

It's a 2nd century Roman marble relief artwork from the era before Christ. Being auctioned by Christie's, it is believed to be a part of a Mithraic temple. Mithraeum is a mysterious religion that was very popular between the 1st century and 5th century till the Roman emperor Theodosian The Great banned it attributing to certain pagan rites practiced by the cult. This particular marble relief represents the killing of a sacred bull, though there are accounts that show that this killing was actually an emblematic depiction of constellation Perseus. Curious? Own it and keep searching!

(End of Akansha Pradhan column)

The truly unfathomable American oil wells...
How can the US thrive in a terror stricken world? A graduation class provides answers...

I went to a high school graduation Monday and a United Nations meeting broke out. The commencement was my daughter Natalie's, the high school was Montgomery Blair in Silver Spring, Md. There were some 700 kids receiving their diplomas, and as I sat there for two hours listening to each one's name pronounced, the fact is that I became both immensely fascinated and deeply touched by the stunning diversity - race, religion, ethnicity - of the graduating class. Of course, I knew my daughter's school was diverse, but I had no idea it was this diverse.

The names, which I pulled from the graduation book, were typical of her entire class, which included exactly five people named "Smith." In my high school in Minnesota, it seemed like there were only five people not named "Smith." My daughter told me that the names in her class were so difficult to pronounce, that for graduation, the school had had all the students write their names phonetically on a card, so the announcer would not mangle them in front of family and friends.

There is a lot to be worried about in America today: A war in Iraq that is getting worse not better, an administration whose fiscal irresponsibility we will be paying for a long time, an education system that is not producing enough young Americans skilled in math and science, and inner cities, where way too many black males are failing. We must work harder and get smarter if we want to maintain our standard of living.

But if there is one reason to still be optimistic about America, it is represented by the stunning diversity of the Montgomery Blair class of 2006. America is still the world's greatest human magnet. We are not the only country that embraces diversity, but there is something about our free society and free market that still attracts people like no other. Our greatest asset is our ability to still cream off not only the fi rst-round intellectual draft choices from around the world, but the low-skilled-high-aspiring ones as well, and that is the main reason that I am not yet ready to cede the 21st century to China. Our Chinese will still beat their Chinese.

This influx of brainy and brawny immigrants is our oil well - one that never runs dry. It is an endless source of renewable human energy and creativity. Congress ought to stop debating gay marriage and give us a framework to maintain a free flow of legal immigration. What is so striking about Blair is that it is just a neighborhood public high school. It was not designed to be diverse. Yes, it has some magnet programs, but for the most part it just reflects its surroundings - about one-third black, one-third Hispanic and one-third Noah's Ark of everyone else. As I mingled with the other parents afterwards, waiting for our kids to emerge from the ceremony, I found myself at one point surrounded by families in which no one was speaking English.

The only familiar voice that came through the din was one that made me laugh - an African-American mom, gripping her child's diploma, saying: "This diploma is mine! I'm keeping this!" She said, she had worked as hard as her kid for this day. Bless her heart, as I am sure she spoke for many parents. It is hard to watch a graduation like this, and not think about our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan - the Taliban, Islamo-totalitarians like bin Laden and Zarqawi and the retrograde regimes that support them. Their whole mind-set is about how to purify their world from "the other," from diversity, from "infidels." With enough brutality, they may win in Iraq. I still hope not.

But they will never win the future - because as soon as their oil wells run dry, their societies will be as barren, bland and unproductive as their deserts. Our oil wells, by contrast, will still be pumping. They're right there, hiding in plain sight, in the Blair commencement book: Yueyang Li, Kenia Lopez-Reyes, Lucy Fromyer, Raya Steinberg, Zahra Gordon, Sreva Ghosh, Juan-Jesus Louis, Yendil Furcal, Yenusa Eke, Sofonias Frezghi, Yohanes Dejen, Edra Comegys-Brisbane, Yoel Castillio-Ortiz, Elijah Zuares, Placido Zelaya, Mimi Zou. And of course again, Jessica Smith!