Bofors ex-accused 'given bribes' in India arms deal

Mr Quattrocchi has always maintained his innocence

India's income tax department has ruled that illegal commissions were paid to an Italian businessman accused over an arms scandal which ended Rajiv Gandhi's term as prime minister 20 years ago.

It said over $9m (£6m) was paid to Ottavio Quattrocchi and an Indian arms dealer, Win Chadha.
In 2009, India dropped a graft case against Mr Quattrocchi and withdrew his name from Interpol's wanted list.
The main opposition BJP has now demanded the case be reopened.
Mr Quattrocchi was an accused in the high profile Bofors corruption case, one of the longest-running criminal investigations in India.
The Swedish firm AB Bofors was alleged to have paid $1.3bn in bribes during the sale of 400 howitzers to India in 1986, when Rajiv Gandhi of the Congress party was prime minister.
Politically sensitive The Bofors issue is extremely sensitive politically for the governing Congress party, as Mr Quattrocchi was known to be a friend of Italian-born party leader Sonia Gandhi.
Now an income tax investigation has found that commissions were paid to Mr Quattrocchi and a now deceased Indian arms dealer Win Chadha, and that tax should be paid on such income.
"Inaction in this regard may lead to a non-existent undesirable and detrimental notion that India is a soft state and one can meddle with its tax laws with impunity," the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal said in its order.
Correspondents say the ruling will embarrass the Congress party.
A party spokesman told reporters it will give a response after examining the income tax ruling.
The main opposition BJP demanded that the case against Mr Quattrocchi be reopened, insisting that there had been a "huge cover-up operation" while closing the case against him.
The Italian businessman has always denied any involvement, arguing he was the victim of a political vendetta in India.
Indian investigators have tried unsuccessfully for much of the past decade to get Mr Quattrocchi extradited to India.
The case contributed to the election defeat of Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, two years before he was assassinated.
In 2004, he was posthumously cleared of any wrongdoing in the deal.

China 'in nuclear power advance'

China is determined to reduce its heavy reliance on coal as an energy source

China has developed its own technologies that will enable it to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, state television has reported.

The country has launched an ambitious programme to build a number of new nuclear power stations.
This latest breakthrough could provide fuel for those plants for years to come.
Chinese scientists have apparently been working on this technology for 24 years.
State television says they have now perfected a procedure that will allow them to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
It is a complex and costly procedure but the recycled material can be used again to fuel nuclear power stations.
China is not the first country to develop its own reprocessing facilities. France, Britain and India are just three countries that already have their own operations.
But this breakthrough will have major implications in China.
The country is building a number of new nuclear power plants in an effort to diversify its energy sources.
At the moment it mostly relies on coal. This latest development could help its nuclear power programme.
State television says the country currently has enough known uranium for at most 70 years.
It claims this new process could mean that supply will now last for 3,000 years.

Iran 'invites foreign diplomats to nuclear sites'

Diplomats will be shown Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, reports say

Iran has invited foreign diplomats to tour its nuclear facilities, according to reports.

The invitation, which has not been confirmed by Tehran, comes ahead of fresh talks with key world powers over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
Delegates from Russia, China and the EU are among those invited, but not the US, AP news agency reported.
Many Western countries suspect Iran is developing nuclear weapons but Tehran says its programme is peaceful.
A senior European diplomat in Brussels told Reuters news agency that Iran had invited several ambassadors accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit its nuclear sites.
The Associated Press said it had seen a letter in which senior Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh suggests the weekend of 15-16 January for the tour.
Bushehr and Natanz were the venues to be toured, the agency added, citing a diplomat accredited to the IAEA.
Tehran is already subject to inspections by the IAEA but it would appear that this tour may be aimed at diplomats not inspectors, says the BBC's Iran correspondent James Reynolds.
A new round of talks between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany, is tentatively set for Istanbul, Turkey, in late January.
The talks will follow a two-day meeting in Geneva early last month which EU foreign affairs chief Baroness Ashton described as "substantive".
The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran and demanded that it stops its uranium enrichment programme.
Uranium can be enriched to make nuclear fuel or be more highly enriched and used in nuclear weapons.
Iranian negotiators have flatly ruled out discussing such demands at the Istanbul meeting.

Stop Insulting Pakistan and Pakistanis…!

Stop Insulting Pakistan and Pakistanis…!

Nariman House

What will be more insulting for Pakistan and Pakistanis that a court of USA has issued summons to ex and present Chiefs of ISI? Although these summons have no value. But will not this act of American court support on going propaganda against Pakistan? Or American govt./foreign ministry were unaware that successors of Jewish couple murdered in 26/11 Mumbai attacks have registered a case in American court? On this basis judge has issued summons to present Chief of ISI Shujaa Pasha, ex-chief Nadeem Taj, two officers of army Major Ali and Major Iqbal along with leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhnavi and Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat Dawaa.

Present Chief of ISI Lt. General Shujaa Pasha

Major General Nadeem Taj, Ex-Chief ISI

We imagine that American officials were unaware from the activities of Brookline Court. However when in last month the reports were issued that there are possibilities of issuing summon to the Chief of an extremely important institution responsible for safety of Pakistan, then American rulers always pressurizing Pakistan to “Do More” in spite of resisting any such act kept purposely silent. In reaction to American court’s summons the family of an innocent Pakistani killed in Drone attack filed a case against higher officials of CIA and also requested to stop him from fleeing out of Pakistan for murder of innocent Pakistanis. After this with the haste Jonathan left Pakistan shows that his further stay might have resulted in his arrest or other problems for CIA. However his leaving Pakistan like criminals cleared it to the whole world that CIA is involved in illegal activities in Pakistan. The statement given by Prime Minister of Pakistan after the summons from USA court also needs attention. He had issued that statement in response to Opposition’s protest in parliament, Prime Minister said, “The Chiefs of ISI will not be sent to American court without their will, if they do not want to go to America no one can force them to go”. However this is a separate discussion, but the summons to Shujaa Pasha or Nadeem Taj is just a routine court activity? Or this is just to ensure Indian supervision in the region, force Pakistan to step back from Kashmir dispute and accept Indian role in Afghanistan?

A room of Nariman House (just like as a restaurant)

Whatever the reason is, Giving ISI under control of Rehman MAlik and issuance of notification on the night of 25^th July 2008 by Prime Minister, on the night of 26^thNovember 2008 of Mumbai attaks the demand from Indian Prime Minister that Chief of ISI visits New Delhi and acceptance from Pakistani side, the accuse of Indian Foreign Minister that ISI is involved in Mumbai attacks, arrest of agent of CIA “David Headley” and struggle to prove his links with ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba. And now summons from the American court, cancellation of bales of two police officers and their arrest in Benazir murder case, FIA’s declaration that it will include two on duty persons from ISI and MI, do not you think after looking all these that secretly some great plan to limit role of ISI in integrity of Pakistan and paralyze it is being fulfilled? Although many politicians have concerns about ISI’s political role which are based on facts and ISI should not have a political role but how much politicians are responsible for this role it should be discussed as well. In the 90s our politicians blamed agencies for their mutual disputes but the now their quarrel has gone far beyond personal problems. They are now openly humiliating each other, why? Just for being in power? But they should keep this reality in mind that all these are conditioned with integrity of country, if country is then there is politics and govt. and enjoyments of being in power…

Representatives of Jewish Organization ZAKA, going to Nariman House to receive dead bodies

Now let us come towards Mumbai's Nariman House and its inhabitants, they are trying to involve ISI in murder of those inhabitants. According to careful calculations Jews living in India number approximately to 6000 out of them 90% live in Mumbai. Mostly they are linked with education. The education standard of their schools is much better so that rich families from other provinces prefer to send their children to these schools. In the South of Mumbai on a coastal belt in well inhabited area the construction of Nariman house was completed 29 years ago (Jews call this building as “Chabad”). Nariman has been center of suspicious activities since last 29 years. Even the nearest neighbor’s are ignorant that this 6 storey building is being used for what purposes? Neighbors have been told that Nariman house is a cultural center which is used to serve tourists from abroad. However neighbors were aware that as night falls Nariman house awakes. When tourists came there and when they left, no one knew that. Neighbors also knew that young Jew “Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg” and his wife “Rivakh” are supervisors of the house and they are responsible for providing accommodation and food to tourists. Besides couple a maid “Sandra” also lived in house, she was responsible for taking care of their baby “Moshe”.

Jewish Couple: Gavriel and his wife Rivakh

According to journalist community media has been always kept in chaos about Nariman house, what happens there? When few journalists entered in this building on being invited by jews from USA, they tried to take some pictures they were stopped from doing so by saying, “In this way terrorists might be able to know the internal layout which will be beneficial for enemies”. When journalists asked who are those enemies, they changed topic. Journalists were further told that no one is allowed to take pictures even from outside. The journalists who visited this building included “Virendra Ghunawat” from local TV channel. On 27^th November 2008 when he was informed about attacks on Nariman house he went their along with his cameraman, the attacks have been launched about 24 hours ago. Building was under control of terrorists and Indian Commandoes were planning to enter into the building through helicopter from the rooftop. The police was standing at a far point. A good number of media personnel was present there. When Virendra started talks with local people a fisherman named as Vathal Tandal told him, “few days ago on the front coast of building 7 boats stopped, there were about 12 persons with harsh looks. They all were looking as local BHAI Log (Mumbai underworld persons). Boats were filled with different sized boxes and bags. They were first of all shifted to coast (Vathal Tandal helped them in unloading) afterwards they were shifted to Nariman house. Until all of the luggage was not shifted to the building few persons kept on guard”. Fisherman was astonished that all those persons riding on these boats might have been terrorists and possibly the luggage consisted of their ammunition. Fisherman raised this question to “Virendra”. This conversation was also heard by other journalists.

The conversation with fisherman was uploaded to different Indian News Websites. Vriendra also issued this conversation in the article “Mumbai Attack: Was Nariman House The Terror Hub” on a website named as “Mid day”. Virendra also included the conversation with a policeman who told gave him this information on the condition of keeping his name secret. Read in the own words of Police man.

“The role that Nariman House is coming to play in this attack drama, is puzzling. Last night residents ordered close to 100 Kilograms of meat and other food, enough to feed an army or a bunch of people for twenty days. Shortly thereafter the ten militants moved in, obviously indicating that the food and meet was ordered, keeping their visit in mind”.

Sandra along with young Moshe who succeeded in escaping from Nariman House attack

These are just two examples  otherwise local newspapers of Mumbai are filled with questions about Nariman house. After the incident important thing about that supervisors of Nariman house Rabbi Gavriel and his wife are told as American nationals, in their accuse court of Brookline has issued summon to ISI chief while after the incident their dead bodies were received by agents of extremist Jewish organization A.K.A established in Israel and were their dead bodies were taken to Israel. Moreover the journalists of Mumbai also raise this question when terrorists killed all the persons in Nariman House (their number is told as six) then how Sandra (maid) escaped with “Moshe”? Why journalists have not been allowed to talk with Sandra, why have not investigated from her, at least why Sandra has been kept away from media? Whether terrorists left her or she succeeded to flee? Sandra can tell that what language terrorists were speaking? There are hundreds of such questions which people of Mumbai want to ask from their police, investigators, secret agencies and govt. The most important question is how terrorists from Pakistan succeeded in entering into Nariman House? The neighbors of this house are ignorant about this Jewish Center then how terrorists knew about its internal layout? But no one is there to answer these questions. Why should Indian govt. reply these questions while its purpose is being fulfilled? For the whole incident Pakistan, Pakistani Secret agencies and freedom fighters of Kashmir has been accused. The world is silent over the genocide of Kashmiri people in Held Kashmir and busy in assuring India that they all will pressurize Pakistan that by punishing Pakistanis for Mumbai attacks Pakistan confesses the crime. While neither Pakistan nor any Pakistani is involved in these attacks at all but RAW of India. There is one solution of this problem that Pakistani media should raise its voice against this. It should tell the world by analyzing every moment of Mumbai drama that it is based on lie. Enough is enough stop insulting Pakistan and Pakistanis…

About Article

Article By Khalid Baig

Russian Air Force to receive up to 100 Sukhoi fighter jets by 2015

07:55 02/01/2011
MOSCOW, January 2 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Air Force will receive up to 100 Sukhoi fighter jets by 2015, the Defense Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
Three state contracts with the Sukhoi design bureau on the supply of the jets have been already signed, Vladimir Drik said.
Fifty advanced Su-35 Flanker-E multirole fighters, billed as "4++ generation using fifth-generation technology," more than ten advanced Su-27SM Flanker multirole jets and five Su-30M2 Flanker-C multirole fighters are among the aircraft to be supplied.
The Russian Air Force will also receive twenty-five new Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers in the next few years, the spokesman said.

Most Chinese doubt superpower status for China

Most Chinese doubt superpower status for China

Most Chinese doubt superpower status for China

December 31st, 2010 | Global Times

Despite an increase in national pride, the Chinese public seems more cautious in evaluating the country’s relative international strength, with fewer people in this year’s Global Times survey categorizing China as a world superpower, compared with the previous four annual polls.

Despite wide acknowledgement of China’s economic might and its political and diplomatic leverage – the two major parameters in defining a superpower – only 12 percent of respondents deemed China to be a “superpower,” down by 14.4 percent from 2008.

In all, 57 percent of respondents voted China as the most promising emerging nation among BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), a 10 percent drop from last year’s result.

“The result shows that Chinese people are becoming more objective when considering these issues,” said Wu Xinbo, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.

The diplomatic rows China encountered this year fueled public awareness about the difficult factors China will face as it continue to grow, he added.

Conducted by the Global Poll Center run by the Global Times, the poll is based on telephone interviews of a random sampling of 1,488 people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chongqing to analyze how Chinese see the world.

The patriotism of Chinese people is seen in the findings, with China topping the US as the most favored country to travel in.

Additionally, 19 percent of participants selected the US as the foreign country they would most like to visit, followed by France, with 21 percent saying they had no desire to visit foreign countries.

More than half of participants in the survey said China’s international status was boosted in the past year by the Shanghai World Expo, while more than 60 percent denounced corrupt officials for tarnishing China’s global image.

The poll also reflects the belief that the quality of “made-in-China” products is gradually getting better, with 80 percent of those polled expressing their hope that improvements were being made.

This positive attitude also extends outside the Chinese border, with 84 percent of respondents optimistic on the future global setting for China’s rise, seeing either improving or stabilizing ties with other major global players.

More than a third of respondents saw the relationship between China and Europe improve during the past year, with fewer negative factors such as trade friction, human rights and religious issues compared with previous years.

Ties with South Korea, drawing more attention in this latest survey, were seen stabilized without dramatic changes, with 46 percent of respondents saying the tensions on the Korean Peninsula will be eased in the coming year due to China’s diplomatic role.

Su Hao, director of the Strategy and Conflict Management Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that the result showed that Chinese people have high expectations for China to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Looking at relations with Japan, more than half of participants said the ties were unlikely to deteriorate next year.

However, the poll also shone a light on concerns, with more than 80 percent of the participants expressing their worries about Western intentions to contain China’s development, with around 40 percent calling for countermeasures to be taken against threats to China.

Among the issues of greatest concern, US intentions to strategically contain China placed ahead of trade disputes as the most important bilateral issue this year. Ties with Washington were chosen as the most significant bilateral relationship for China for the fifth consecutive year.

Jin Canrong, vice director of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that the survey findings reflect the dynamics of this year with the US strengthening its presence in Asia.

“Some Chinese people remain suspicious of the outside world, especially the Western countries. They still don’t trust these countries,” he said.

Equipment Modernization vs. "Modernization" of the Indian Army.

Equipment Modernization vs. "Modernization" of the Indian Army.

Modernization vs "Modernization"


Piecemeal 'modernization' is of no use to anyone. All arms have gone through two and a half modernisation cycles since independence. For people with less than the usual quota of a sense of humour it amounts to a three-legged arms race in which the Joneses are driving the Javeds, Joshis and Jiangs to follow suit.

At least with the Indian Army it is not really so. It is conscious of working out an edge or even proximate ability to see that a catastrophic disadvantage does not undermine operational viability. Even the most articulate and vehement critic would agree that the army is appreciative of what the country has provided to it in material, though it is somewhat hard pressed to do so.

Equipment modernisation alone is not sufficient. Or else, any banana republic collecting martial objets d'art for gracing the palace gates of the head of state would constitute a formidable foe. Modernization of the Indian Army gives rise to paradoxes of time and meaning. It constitutes in its basic form the timeless creed of the warriors and their feeling of comradeship in war and pestilence. The individual styles of the arms actually complement each other in combat. The pivot is the ability of field commanders to accept organizational, doctrinal, and equipment changes (not in that order) plus a finer perception of the strategic issues involved. With that, is their ability to mix individual assets into a combined arms and logistics team of very high combat worth.

It is in this narrow area that modernization is usually talked about. By themselves, 'equipment' may just remain well-produced ironmongery or an intricate series of integrated circuits. But when these are synthesized in a complementary mix, they come to life - and present a threat out of all proportion to their arithmetical aggregate on inventory.

Overall, the Indian Army is adequately equipped. There certainly remain areas where improvements or 'modernization' is pending, but that does not, in any way, detract from the fact that overall the Army has achieved a dissuasive quality, in which a potential aggressor will go into lip-biting conclave before deciding upon a violent course of action.

The mechanized armies in the Western Sector are mobile, balanced groupings of high striking power. The fine synthesization of cutting-edge weaponry into high-value, capital-intensive combat groups is seen at it's best here. The T-72, BMP series Infantry Combat Vehicle, Anti-tank Guided Missiles of many varieties, Aviation, fast reconnaissance vehicles, the FH-77/B-02 Medium Gun together with a number of other field pieces indigenously designed and developed, varieties of self-propelled air defence missile and gun systems, 'Black' Electronic Warfare arrays, first-class assault bridging for dry and wet crossings are found together in supportive mixes. Here, all ballyhoo of We are the queens/kings of the battlefield' is easily given a quiet burial.

In the mountains, it is light infantry and artillery, supported by engineers, signals, helicopters and animals which make for the combined-arms approach. The most visible manifestation of modernization in equipment is in Siachen, which without these assets, can not be garrisoned much less defended. This includes a combative logistical infrastructure to prevail 'AGAINST ALL ODDS'