“Perhaps the US Navy seals did capture Osama alive...”

Cairo-based max rodenbeck, middle east bureau chief at the economist, discusses Bin Laden’s death, the involvement of Pakistan and the effects of Osama’s death on other terror outfits.

B&E: Recently, America celebrated the end of Osama bin Laden, as the end of the mastermind behind the biggest terror threats worldwide. Is it actually such a victory?
Max Rodenbeck (MR): Understanding that he was one of the biggest criminals in world history and the biggest threat to peace, the celebration was called for. But to hope that this would bring an end to all kinds of terrorist attacks like those masterminded by the al-Qaeda under bin Laden’s leadership, I think it is premature to think that such a thing will happen. Osama’s death is a big blow to al-Qaeda, The outfit has grown considerably weaker in the past ten years, and it is not clear as to who will be the successor to Osama.

B&E: While reacting to the news of Osama’s death, the British PM had said that there was a need for the West to be cautious of a backlash. Also, Taliban has vowed to launch an attack on US and Pakistan to avenge Osama’s death. How real are these threats?
MR: More than considering them real or not, it is better to understand these as short-term threats. The most striking response to Laden’s death from the Muslim world has been the silence. There was not a great deal of comment at all. Besides the people who are on the fringe of Islamic radicalism – the Jihadist fringe, which is a very small fringe element in the Muslim world today – the rest are not upset about Osama’s death. But in terms of an immediate backlash, it is pretty likely that some of those groups associated with al-Qaeda will feel the need to either express their anger or reassert the fact that they still exist by launching an attack.

B&E: Reports have claimed that Osama bin Laden, in recent times, was not as active as he was, say about 10-15 years ago. What are your views?
MR: It is true that Osama’s leadership has not been that important in recent years. In fact, the central leadership of al-Qaeda has not been that critical. The work of al-Qaeda around the world over the last couple of years has been carried out by groups that are only remotely linked to al-Qaeda. Laden’s leadership has been less important of late. I think this has also largely been because he has been unable to communicate. His leadership position had weakened even before his death.
 

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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

 

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Still on the ‘Bush’wagon?

Obama may not fare much better than Bush on intelligence oversight

Would it be intelligent enough to keep activities of intelligence agencies under wraps? Or is it time to let accountability take priority? Obama is not finding easy answers to these questions as the debate on the Intelligence Oversight Bill gains momentum. If and when the bill is passed, top level intelligence agencies like CIA, NSA or FBI would be accountable to the people. So far, their operations have only been known to the President and his team of advisers. A similar bill was raised earlier during the regime of former President Bush and he vetoed against it; giving former Vice-President Dick Cheney full authority to run anti al-Qaeda operations secretly. And whenever there has been scope of scrutiny; for instance, on the methods of interrogation used for al Qaeda suspects or the illegal use of state surveillance, the process has been stalled on the basis of the argument that information revealed would be detrimental to security interests of the US.

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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.
 
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America’s top commanders, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi

Iranians see Israeli actions as synonymous with Americans. And so do America’s top commanders, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi

What angers Americans and Israelis most is that unlike Egypt and Jordan, Iranians have never discounted their support for the besieged masses of Gaza. Israel’s image in Iran has suffered more hits because of recent incidents – assassination of a Palestinian leader in Dubai, identity theft and faking of passports by Israeli agents, announcement of further illegal settlements in the occupied territories are enough proof of that.

US Vice President Biden’s humiliation by the Israelis not only rattled the Americans but also made the administration sit up and take notice. The significance of this is not lost on the Iranians. “It is a classic case of ‘tail wagging the dog’ and not otherwise. The American and British regimes tried to appear angry. However, when the proposal was put in the UN to condemn the settlement, the US was the only one to vote against. Does the US think we Iranians are foolish not to see that?” adds Qummi.

Ask any Iranian and he’ll tell you that the relations with the US can only be mended when the latter stops its unequivocal support of Israeli actions. In fact, this feeling is widely prevalent in the entire West Asia. It was not for nothing that CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, in his brief to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, reported that “there was a growing perception among Arab leaders that the US was incapable of standing up to Israel, that CENTCOM’s mostly Arab constituency was losing faith in American promises, that Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing US standing in the region.”

Petraeus, in his capacity as the commander of American troops in the region, did not mince a single word in his commentary. He made it amply clear to the administration that America’s support for Israel is the biggest catalyst for the young boys to join al-Qaeda. And that the Israeli actions are jeopardizing the security of American troops in the region. The views in Iran are no different. Given the fact that the US regime is not what it used to be under the Bush era, Israel needs to rethink its stand.

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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. 

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Socking it to Whom?

Use of Sock Puppets Questions America’s Moral Value!

It is well known that Facebook and Twitter have been major tools in coordinating the civil society’s response in various uprisings across the world in recent times, the most recent one being Egypt. What would you then call a democracy that deliberately and unfairly attempts to manipulate public opinion to its advantage by controlling access to such sites; or by controlling the sites themselves? Not much of a democracy anymore, right?

The country in question is US, again! Apparently, the American military has now developed sock puppets that will not only manipulate social networking sites (through fake profiles) but will also zealously spread pro-American propaganda. This is quite similar to Chinese censorship of social networking. Ironically, while on one hand, the US criticises Chinese moves to manipulate media, on the other, it is following suit. These sock puppets will be able to influence and manipulate online discussions without being caught or suspected as fake profiles. These sock puppets can not only converse in English, but will also maintain profiles in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu and thus also manipulate & control conversations in these local languages. The program is supposed to make the US treasury lighter by $2.7 million. With sock puppets having capacity of talking in many middle-eastern languages, the intentions of Americans are quite evident and the targets can also easily be pointed out.

Of course, the official response is that this is a move only against supporters of al-Qaeda or perpetrators of other anti-US activities. The unofficial corollary is that from Wikipedia to Facebook, from Twitter to MySpace, from LinkedIn to Baidu, expect shameless eulogies of the American way of living in the next few months.

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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. 

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
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