Sunday Posts

The idea of an East Asian Union is suddenly real. The idea has a long history: Been proposed by Count Okakura in the early Twentieth century, and championed by Rabindranath Tagore and Sun Yet Sen in India and China respectively. But the idea died its death with the emergence of imperial, fascist Japan, which cruelly enslaved the rest of East Asia and reached India. Since then, the idea became discredited, seen as a smokescreen for Japanese imperialism. Post-war, Asian divisions became harder to bridge, and many Cold War battles, in Korea, Vietnam, India-Pakistan, India-China were fought in Asia. World's most dangerous points of tension, Kashmir, Taiwan, are all in Asia: It is widely seen as the most likely battleground for a Third World War if it has to happen. But, suddenly, an Asian statesman, in Japan, is talking about an United Asia. This is a bit strange. Because, when the idea was somewhat revived in the 1990s, by Malaysia's Dr Mahatir Mohammad, Japan cold-shouldered i...

The world is divided on what President Obama said, and did not say, in his Nobel Lecture. An unlikely recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he felt hard pressed to present a justification for his various wars, but he should not have. The prize, in the world's eyes, was given to Obama The Symbol - of culmination of a long struggle of rights and dignity of the African-Americans - than Obama The Man. But, President Obama turned it into an endorsement of himself and his actions, and in doing so, he ended up justifying wars as a legitimate, and unavoidable, instrument of state policy. The point is, of course, that wars are not justified. In Obamaspeak , there were wars between armies, and then wars between nations, which has now turned into wars within nations. But, despite this evolutionary formula of war, there are some things which never changed. First, wars were between interests, which saw the world as a zero-sum equation, and parties which wanted to take all and leave none. Second,...

Krakow: Where History Envelops Everything The Market Square & St Mary's: Where the trumpet stops halfway Gates to the old, walled city The Palace of the Polish Kings in Krakow The Market Streets The River Vistula from the Palace: Where the dragon lives

Warsaw: Where History Was Wiped Out and Was Built Brick by Brick Stanislas Poniatowski: The Last King of Poland University of Warsaw The Old Warsaw: Not The Concrete Jungle like the Rest The Polish Academy of Sciences

Wootz: Where History is best forgotten Ul. Piotrkowska - Lifeline for Lodz, and Europe's Longest Street As obvious, a Gas Station without Gas And, a ghostly side street The New Lodz, Infosys and all that

I am in Krakow now, and just having a free morning. This is the last day of a quite demanding visit, but a thoroughly illuminating one. It was also quite a bit of travelling - flew in Krakow [pronounced Krakuv], took a train to Lodz [pronounced Wootz] and then on to Warsaw [pronounced Varsava] - all by train and with a lot of walking around. That always helps, as I am getting a hang of Polish sounds, and for example, understood that the place I am supposed to go to next time, Worclaw, is to be pronounced Vorcwava. Yes, W is like V, L with a sign is like W, and a few other things. I am now getting used to Zloty at 4.5:1 with English Pound, and 3:1 with US Dollar. Suddenly, the world has started making more sense. There are other things which are becoming a little more clear. The three cities I visited could not be any more different. I shall put up the photos sometime, but here is a description. Lodz is an industrial town, mainly developed after the war, and was left to rot after the co...

No non-violent movement would have been effective against Hitler's armies! Yeah, right, only if the British and the French did not think they were too clever and they are actually preparing Hitler to contain the soviets, there would be no Hitler's army. Nor will be Saddam Hussein's, few decades later, if the United States and Saudi Arabia did not want to use him as a prop against Iran. The point is there are always solutions other than war, if you accept equality of rights - of voicing an opinion, maintaining freedom and of earning the daily bread - for everyone. I am actually surprised President Obama said this. He was receiving a Nobel Peace Prize. In my mind, that prize is given to honour extraordinary individuals who followed the path of peace in the face of extreme difficulties. Like Martin Luther King, who Obama mentions. Gandhi, who he does not mention because he never got a Nobel, but in fact, mentions in context - in that extraordinary comment he made. Presiden...