- Occult Symbolism pages:
- Part I (Egyptian symbolism: Mythology, Pyramid, All-seeing Eye, Obelisk)
- Part II (Astrology)
- Part III (Stars)
- Part IV (Cross, Fasces, Arrows, Death, Satanism, Alchemy, Bell)
- Part V (Masonic symbolism)
- Part VI (Circle symbolism: Circle, Intertwined circles, Infinity, Energy spiral)
- Part VII (Deities)
- Part VIII (Colors)
- Part IX (Alphabets: Runic, Ogham)
- Part X (Animals)
- Part XI (Plants)
- Part XII (Sexuality)
Important note: The symbols on these pages are not intrinsically sinister by themselves. Much of the symbols are beautiful examples of applied geometry or elements of nature, and have cultural origins that are probably much older and more benign/spiritual than their prominent masonic usage by some organizations today.
However, it is clear some people want to associate those various symbols with their secret and subversive societies. Those societies use occult symbolism as a secret language of carefully hidden knowledge, and to hide their relations and agenda. Some (many?) societies may not be fully aware of the real esoteric meaning of the symbolism, since that often requires in depth knowledge of a lot of different topics: nature observations (astronomy, cataclysms, life cycles, human consciousness), early civilizations (mythology, shamanism, art), technological/political/religious history, etc.
So discovering the usage of these symbols does demand further research into:
- The occurrence of these symbols (and their variations) throughout time and space.
- The meaning(s) of these symbols throughout time and space.
- The organizations that utilize/utilized these symbols, and their possible masonic history, relations and agenda.
See also:
October 11, 2008 02:01 PM
You really have to give it to Charles Moore in his column today. He has really excelled himself – in his blind, vapid, malign stupidity. It transcends all his previous efforts and stands as a towering monument to the blindness of our political classes (of which he is a fully paid-up member).
Compare and contrast – first Charles Moore:
…the fact that the British authorities are able to put together a huge rescue package with the banks is a sign that our political condition is not as weak as we think. The same can be said of the Paulson plan in America. It has become commonplace to say how appalling it was that Congress argued over it for a week. Not at all. The elected legislators were duty-bound to ask difficult questions about what looked like the biggest transfer of wealth from relatively poor taxpayers to rich bankers ever undertaken.
The debate happened. Compromises were made. The Bill passed. The system worked. I hope Parliament will submit the Brown/Darling plan to the same level of scrutiny and correction, and then agree it.
In both cases, the countries involved are sovereign democracies. They have electoral legitimacy, proper institutions, the rule of law, and the capacity to act.
Now read this, extracted from our
earlier piece, contrasting events in the US with what happened over here. "Over here, what do we see?" I write:
As the crisis develops, the complaint arises of government "dithering" – reacting to events rather than taking the initiative with a pro-active strategy. The main action we see is a series of meetings with the European "colleagues" behind closed doors, poorly reported and completely misunderstood.
Then, after the final, key meeting of Ecofin on Tuesday, we see action taken. Parliament is not consulted. There is no debate. Parliament is simply told what is going to happen. It is then allowed to discuss the issues. But there is no vote, no approval. None is needed. Your government has spoken – the government of Europe.
Therein lies the difference – on the one hand in the United States we see, with all its imperfections, a functioning democracy in action. Here, we see a cabal of rulers working behind closed doors, coming out into the daylight only to inform us what they have done and how much it is going to cost us.
This indeed is the politics of denial and this is what is blighting our attempts to bring any rationality to the debate about the European Union. It is not that the evidence is not there – simply we are doomed by this wilful determination of our political classes to shut their eyes to reality and pretend everything is normal … nothing has changed.
Repeat after me, they say: "we are a sovereign democracy … we are a sovereign democracy … we are a sovereign democracy …". "Now, off you toddle, little man," they say in that infuriating, patronising way they have got down to such a fine art: "nothing has changed."
Other posts on the financial crisis here.COMMENT THREAD
October 11, 2008 12:22 PM
http://www.infowars.com/?p=5223
Olbermann is sometimes in this left/right paradigm, but he has a right to dissent with McCain. Olbermann is dead wrong to defend abortion, when abortion is nothing more than a form of eugenics. Abortion views unborn human beings as subhuman necessary to be killed.
By Timothy
______________
SIPCAT-C Says: October 11th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Olbermann slams eugenicists while defending abortion.
His crush on Obama precludes him from realizing this or any other of his glaring hypocrisies.
Like when he evokes the Constitution and then slams gun owners and gun ownership.
_____________________
spicoli Says: October 11th, 2008 at 1:28 am
Of all the Mainstream Media “news” shows, I am somewhat of a Countdown fan.. yet, still skeptical.
Here is what I don’t understand…
Why does this site put out an article that slams Glen Beck for being a pawn for the NWO, yet they seem to praise Olbermann. Is he not on the same MSM as Beck? How could be possibly be better? Is he not backed by the same corporate interests?
____________
ive Says: October 11th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Olbermann slams eugenicists while defending abortion
____________
ice Says: October 10th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
olbermann says somethings that are closer to the truth than anyone else in the propganda media.I am surpised he stil has a job..unless it is scripted and allowed to be said , for some other porpose.. it is a wonder that both Obamma and Mc caine have so much dirt and both come from a congress with and 9% approval rating and both come from the senate the most hated part of congress,, and they are the nominees of both parties. why on earth would anyone vote for either one of these basturds , Mc caine is not a war hero he launched a missile from he airplane while sitting on deck of the forrestal and caused the gretest lost of life on the carrier.. and burned up several aircraft, google it aircraft carrier forrestal..what a loser..
___________A blog with relevant information for the world.
October 11, 2008 09:51 AM
From http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=12313
1 In 4 Girls Got Cervical Cancer Shot
10-09-2008
AP
One in four teen girls have rolled up their sleeves for the relatively new vaccine against cervical cancer, federal health officials said Thursday.
The figures represent the government's first substantial study of vaccination rates for the Gardasil vaccine — Merck & Co.'s heavily advertised, three-shot series that targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV.
The vaccine protects against strains of the virus that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.
Health officials recommend that girls get the shots when they are 11 or 12, if possible, before they become sexually active. Also, age 11 is when kids are generally due for another round of vaccinations.
The survey only covered children in the 13-17 age range.
Vaccine proponents had been hoping for much higher vaccination rates, saying the shots could dramatically reduce the nearly 4,000 cervical cancer deaths that occur each year in the United States.
But many families are cautious about the safety of new vaccines, said Patti Gravitt, a Johns Hopkins University associate professor of epidemiology.
Other things about the vaccine may give some families pause. It is expensive, retailing for about $375, although many health insurers now cover it. And there are questions about whether it confers lifetime immunity or if a booster shot will be needed.
"Some parents may be adopting the attitude with their daughters that, 'Well, you're still young. I can wait a couple more years before you're sexually active,'" said Gravitt, who was not involved in the research.
"My personal opinion is that this seems quite reasonable after the first year," Gravitt said, of the 25 percent vaccination rate.
Merck officials said they were pleased with the vaccination rate.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based the study on household telephone surveys done in late 2007. The survey results cover the time frame from when the vaccine came on the market in mid-2006 to when the survey questions were answered.
The results are based on nearly 3,000 teens ages 13 to 17 for whom the researchers could verify vaccination information through medical records.
Of the girls in the survey, 25 percent had received at least one Gardasil shot. That's about 2.5 million of the 10 million girls in that age group.
The CDC, which has been promoting other shots for adolescents, also studied other teen vaccination rates.
About 32 percent of teenagers got a recommended meningitis shot, up from 12 percent in a 2006 survey. Also, 30 percent got another relatively new shot, one that guards against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough. That's up from 11 percent in the survey the year before.
About 75 to 90 percent of children have had the better-known vaccinations that have long been required by schools, such as chickenpox, hepatitis B and measles, mumps and rubella, the study found.
"There's a lot of good news in the survey results," said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of the CDC's Division of Immunization Services.
But while the study showed improvements in the number of preteens and teenagers being protected against serious diseases, health officials are pushing for 90 percent immunization rates for all recommended shots, he said.A blog with relevant information for the world.
October 11, 2008 09:40 AM
ARS Technica | Oct 5, 2008
By Julian Sanchez
An appropriations bill signed by President Bush last week allows the controversial National Applications Office to begin operating a stringently limited version of a program that would turn military spy satellites on the US, sharing imagery with other federal, state, and local government agencies. The government’s own [...]
October 11, 2008 08:34 AM
Matt Simmons has been wrong about virtually every important trend he has tried to call.
He was wrong in his shrill predictions about US gas "going over a cliff". He predicted a catastrophic drop in US natural gas production by summer 2005. That never transpired, and in summer 2008 US gas production is *rising* at a rapid clip. Details
He also predicted a near term collapse in Saudi oil production (Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock) which never transpired. The book was released in June 2005, and in the last 18 months, Saudi crude+condensate production has steadily risen, reaching a high of 9,700mbd in July 2008 (EIA stats, Table 1.1c). Historically, that's an extremely high level. The last time Saudi crude+condensate production was that high was October 1981 (see EIA, 2008 Monthly Energy Review, Table 11.1a Link).
Simmons staked his reputation on the claim that Saudi Production was going to collapse, and it did exactly the opposite. No wonder he's having a nervous breakdown and promoting bizarre schemes like mowing the bottom of the ocean with "underwater lawnmowers":
“Call it seaweed, if you want,” Simmons said. Whatever you call it, Simmons said the world must start harvesting this micro algae using what he called “underwater lawnmowers.”
Simmons acknowledged that any plan for large scale harvesting of micro algae likely would be strongly opposed by environmentalists. His blunt message to them: "Get over it. We’ve already destroyed the fish stock."Source
Simmons' consistent view has always been that high prices will not temper demand, that demand will continue to follow optimistic IEA forecasts even if supply massively undershoots that level (economic gobbledygook like "In seventeen years the world’s demand for oil may well be more than 50 percent greater than it is today, while production capacity may well sink to 1985 levels."
Source), and that prices are going to go through the roof. Which, of course, is completely at odds with the actual situation of falling demand and prices. The man is overwrought and out of touch: on Sept. 22, 2008, his comment was: "There really is no roof on oil prices at this point."
Source-- by JD
October 11, 2008 07:42 AM
Certainly a wild, unprecedented week - the last forum filled up quickly. Please use this one for any new comments, links, discussion, etc.
Additionally, feel free to comment on the great cartoon below
October 11, 2008 07:42 AM
B.RAMAN
A bleeding stalemate on the ground in Afghanistan, a bleeding Pakistan tottering towards a possible collapse of the State and a total policy confusion in the corridors of power in Washington DC and other NATO capitals.
2. That has been the outcome of seven years of Operation Enduring Freedom, which was launched by the US on October 7,2001, in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist strikes by Al Qaeda in the US.
3.In Afghanistan, the US and the other NATO forces and the Afghan National Army (ANA) control Kabul, the Capital, and other major towns and the Neo Taliban, resurrected from the pre-10/7 Taliban , controls the rural areas. Neither is in a position to dislodge the other from the areas controlled by it, but each is able to inflict bloody casualties on the other--- the US and other NATO forces through the use of heavy artillery and air strikes and the Taliban through weapons of Pakistani origin and through the inexhaustible flow of suicide terrorists.
4.In Pakistan, a Pakistan-version of the Taliban called the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has arisen post-2002 and has been operating in tandem with the remnants of Al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden and his No.2 Ayman al-Zawahiri, who are now reported to be based in the North Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It is a coalition of jihadis, which has been operating in the FATA and in the Swat Valley of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)---- Afghan Pashtuns, Pakistani Pashtuns and Punjabis, Uzbeks of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), Chechens of the 1980s vintage who had deserted from the Soviet Army, Uighurs of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in the Xinjiang province of China and Muslims of different ethnicities from the Muslim immigrant diaspora in the West----jihadis of Pakistani origin from the UK, Spain and Denmark, Turks and Uighurs from Germany and some others.
5. The post-2002 Pakistani version of the Taliban has proved to be even more deadly than its Afghan counterpart. The Pakistani Taliban carried out 56 attacks of suicide terrorism in the tribal and non tribal areas in 2007 and it has already carried out 40 so far this year. The number is just one-third of what the Afghan Taliban has carried out, but strategically more significant and deadly----- attacking carefully chosen military and intelligence targets in heavily-protected cities and cantonments----even in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army are located.
6. In the "News" of October 10, 2008, Dr Muzaffar Iqbal, a Pakistani analyst, wrote: "With an average of three suicide attacks per week in which at least thirty persons die, there will be 1,560 dead Pakistanis within a year. Add to this approximately 15 "extremists" being killed daily in the northern region, and we have a total of 7,035 dead. Further: for every hamlet, village, and hideout bombed, and with every "extremist" killed, we have an average of ten families displaced. So within a year, northern Pakistan will be a huge graveyard and there will be several thousand internally displaced persons living in makeshift camps in the rest of the country. In addition, there will be thousands of emotionally and mentally unstable persons available to anyone who can convince them that life is not worth living anymore, so come on and die for this or that cause. The net result will be an escalation of violence in all parts of the country and the spiral of violence and death reaching all corners of the country. How did we get here? "
7. A more difficult question engaging the attention of military commanders and policy-makers of the NATO countries is---- is a mid-course correction necessary and how to carry it out? Senior military officers of the NATO have started telling their policy-makers that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is unwinnable. Better make a deal with the Taliban to bring the war to an honourable end where there will be neither winners nor losers. However, they are not yet saying that the war against the Taliban in Pakistan is unwinnable. They think that if the Pakistan Army steadily maintains its present offensive in the tribal belt with discreet air support from US Drones (pilotless planes), the TTP can still be defeated.
8. It is a policy nightmare. What one has been seeing in the Pashtun tribal belt on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border is three wars in one---- against the Afghan Neo Taliban, against the Pakistani Taliban and against Al Qaeda. The war against the Afghan Taliban is not vital for the security of the West and for preventing new terrorist strikes in the West. No Afghan Pashtun has ever travelled outside his country to indulge in an act of terrorism in foreign territory. The Afghan Pashtuns, who never indulged in suicide terrorism in the past, look upon their present fight against the US and other NATO forces and their wave of suicide terrorism as part of their resistance struggle against the occupation of their country by foreign forces. They are just not interested in another 9/11 in the US homeland or another Madrid or London or Bali or Mumbai.
9. The war against Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban is vital for the security of the rest of the world, including the US, other NATO countries, India, China, Russia and the Central Asian Republics. The tribals, whom the Pakistani Army used in Jammu & Kashmir in 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and 1999, were brought from the FATA. Many of the jihadis, who had indulged in acts of terrorism in different parts of the world after 2001, were trained in the training camps of Al Qaeda and its allies in the FATA. If the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda are not defeated, the world will have to live constantly under the fear of another 9/11 or another Madrid or London or Bali or Mumbai.
10. Is it possible to reach a separate peace with the Afghan Taliban, while continuing the war against Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban? The US is in the forefront of the war against the Afghan Taliban. It can take a decision, whether to continue fighting or whether to reach a peace and, if so, under what terms.The outcome of the war against Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban depends more on the sincerity and willingness of the Pakistani security forces to fight the war to the finish, with US assistance. It is the Pakistan Army, which has to be in the forefront of this war. It has been fighting sporadically and with varying spells of intensity, but the determination to win the war is not there.
11. Just as US officers have come to the conclusion that the war against the Afghan Taliban is unwinnable and hence calls for a mix of the military and political approaches, the Pakistani officers too are coming to the conclusion that the war against the TTP is unwinnable on the ground and hence a different approach is called for in order to protect their population and security forces from the wave of suicide terrorism.
12. Is it possible to make peace with the Taliban on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border without weakening the war against the FATA-based Al Qaeda? With whome to negotiate? On the Afghan side, there are two vintages of the Taliban---the pre 10/7 vintage, which consists essentially of the political advisers of Mulla Mohammad Omar, the Amir, before 10/7 and the post-2002 vintage which consists of the remnants of the pre-10/7 commanders such as Jalalludin Haqqani and his son Serjuddin and the new commanders who have come to the fore in the recent fighting. The recent interactions between the representatives of the Government of Hamid Karzai and the Taliban under the auspices of the King of Saudi Arabia in Saudi Arabia during September were essentially with the Taliban of the pre-10/7 vintage.
13. Among those who reportedly attended the dinner were Mullah Muhammad Ghaus, a former Foreign Minister under the Taliban Government, Abdel Hakim Mujahed, former unofficial Taliban representative in the United Nations, Abdul Salaam Hashimi, former director of finance of the Hizb-e-Islami of Gulbuddin Heckmatyar, Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, a former Deputy Minister, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, another former Foreign Minister, and Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaif, former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan. The influence of these leaders on Mulla Omar was limited even before 10/7. Before 10/7, the Saudi Intelligence had repeatedly tried through them to persuade Mulla Omar to hand over bin Laden to Saudi Arabia in order to avoid an American military strike. They could not succeed. Some of them were either captured by the Americans or surrendered to them after the war began and were in US custody for some months before they were released. They are, therefore, viewed with suspicion by the Taliban commanders.
14. Moreover, the US and other NATO forces may want a political face-saving because they are not doing well in the fighting, but why should the Taliban Commanders want one when they think they are winning? The same is the situation on the Pakistan side of the border. The TTP thinks it is doing well against the Pakistani security forces. Why should it agree to a compromise without achieving its objective?
15.Gen . David Petraeus, who was till recently the Commander of the US forces in Iraq, is shortly taking over as the Commander of the US Central Command. In that capacity, he will be responsible for the strategy in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. In Iraq, he successfully drove a wedge between the secular Iraqi resistance fighters and the Wahabised Arab terrorists of Al Qaeda. There is a talk that he might try a similar approach in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region by driving a wedge between the Taliban on both sides of the border and the Al Qaeda remnants. He succeeded in Iraq because the former Baathists of Saddam Hussein's Army, who constituted the resistance fighters, were secular and did not like the Wahabised Al Qaeda. But, in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Wahabism provides the binding ties which strongly unite the Talibans with Al Qaeda. They all feel that the future of Islam is going to be decided in the fight against the US-led NATO forces. They have two common objectives--- the defeat and withdrawal of the NATO forces and the proclamation of an Islamic sharia-based rule in the entire region. So long as these objectives unite them, the Talibans are unlikely to agree to separate peace with the NATO forces. Media reports of a split between the Afghan Taliban and Al Qaeda have not been substantiated.
16. Unless and until the US is able to hunt down and kill at least bin Laden, Zawahiri and Mulla Omar, there is unlikely to be a change in the ground situation. Instead of nursing illusions of engineering a split between Al Qaeda and the Taliban and negotiating a separate peace with the Taliban, the US should focus on eliminating the Al Qaeda leadership. That was the main objective of Op Enduring Freedom and that should continue to be its main objective. (11-10-08)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
October 11, 2008 07:01 AM
BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
Speech by
Shri L.K. Advani
Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)
Inauguration of National Seminar on Terrorism
Organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini
New Delhi – 4 October 2008
- - - - -
Our commitment: To make India terror-free
è POTA will be re-enacted; Strong action will be taken to bust terrorist cells that have mushroomed in different parts of India.
è The contrast is between NDA and UPA is that one alliance cares for India and the other cares only for its vote-bank.
è Stigmatising any faith or community in the fight against terror is wrong.
è Maligning of security forces is a dangerous new trend.
è Obnoxious propaganda by the likes of Arundhati Roy must be
firmly countered.
è Our vision is not limited by the considerations of where will our Party be after the next elections. Rather, it extends to caring about whether India will be united and strong after a hundred years, after a thousand years.
- - - - -
It gives me great pleasure to be with all of you this morning. My hearty congratulations to Shri Gopinath Munde, Prof. Bal Apte, Shri Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and others at the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini firstly for organizing this seminar and, secondly, for organizing it in New Delhi. The Prabodhini regularly holds seminars and training workshops on important topics for social and political activists at its beautiful campus near Mumbai. This is perhaps for the first that it is holding a major event in the national capital. I look forward to the day when the Prabodhini can have a full-fledged centre operating in Delhi.
India is the worst victim of terrorism in the world
The subject of this seminar is highly topical. Over-familiarity with a problem sometimes lulls one's awareness about its seriousness. Therefore, it may surprise many to know that the problem of terrorism has persisted for nearly half the period of the life of independent India. Since the closing yeas of the 1970s, India has been in the vortex of foreign-sponsored terrorism, which has claimed nearly 80,000 lives, both civilian and of security forces — in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, North-Eastern states and in the rest of India. There is no country in the world which has been a victim of terrorist onslaught for so long, and which has suffered such enormous loss.
If a menace has continued for so long, it means that its perpetrators have a definite purpose, a definite goal. We in the BJP had correctly assessed right in the beginning that the goal of terrorists and their patrons abroad was not only to threaten the common man and the civil society, not just to create ordinary law and order disturbances , but to endanger the very unity and security of the nation. What is happening in India today has vindicated our assessment.
History will not pardon us if we fail
In the history of nations, it is important to know what challenges they face. But it is far more important to know how they respond to these challenges. Nations oblivious to the threats that eat into their vitals run an imminent danger of losing their ability to protect themselves. The warning bells are loud and clear that, even though the nation's internal security today stands seriously threatened, our response lacks political will. India does not have a seamlessly integrated counter-terrorism strategy backed by resolute operational capabilities.
There is one more thing to be said about internal security challenges. These do not manifest suddenly, nor do they mature overnight. The ominous signals they send over a prolonged period of time can be noticed unmistakably. However, if we choose not to notice them, or are incapable of taking self-protective action, history will not absolve us. It is our charge against the Congress party that it is keeping its eyes wide shut, choosing not to see, nor to strike, all for the fear of losing its vote-bank.
As far as the BJP is concerned, let me make it absolutely clear that we shall never conduct ourselves in such a short-sighted way that history would hold us guilty of not doing our duty at the right time and in the right manner. We are prepared to make any sacrifices for defending the unity and ensuring the security of our Motherland. Our vision is not limited by the considerations of where will our Party be after the next elections. Rather, it extends to caring about whether India will be united and strong after a hundred years, after a thousand years.
In the last millennium, India suffered many a blow. In the last century, India suffered blood-soaked Partition on account of a pernicious ideology. Therefore, all political parties and all sections of our society should so conduct themselves that no evil power, external or internal, can set its eyes on destabilizing, debilitating and dividing India.
Terrorism: Invisible enemy's low-cost, asymmetrical war
For such strong protective force to emerge, it is necessary to know that in today's world, failure to protect internal security has emerged as the most potent threat to the unity and integrity of nations, to the stability of their polity and to the protection their Constitutional values. In post-World War period, failure to deal with internal security challenges, as opposed to foreign aggressions, has been responsible for the degradation of a large number of nation-states. Most states when confronted with serious internal threats thought it to be a passing phase and allowed the drift to reach a point where retrieval was no longer possible.
Quite often, the adversarial forces won not because of their own strength but because of the weaknesses and mistakes of the regimes that were hit. Thus, history has a big lesson for us and it would be tragic if we failed to learn from past mistakes, both of our own and of others.
An important lesson that we in India should learn — this lesson is indeed globally relevant — is that conventional wars are becoming increasingly cost-ineffective. As instruments of achieving political and strategic objectives, their outcome is unpredictable — and often, counter-productive. Hence, foreign aggressions today come disguised as proxy wars in the form of terrorism and other forms of violence. The enemy targets internal fault-lines for furthering his strategic and political objectives. Even less powerful nations are able to exercise this low-cost sustainable option, giving rise to the new doctrine of asymmetric warfare.
We can see this clearly from what both Pakistan and Bangladesh have been doing to us. Neither can match India's military strength. Yet, both have been threatening India with cross-border terrorism.
This warfare is waged by an invisible enemy, for whom the civil society is both a source of sustenance and the target. The enemy exploits the liberties, freedom, technological facilities and infrastructure to his advantage, making even the more powerful, better equipped security agencies feel helpless.
Maligning of security forces: A dangerous new trend
Maligning the security forces is often a deliberate ploy employed by the civil society supporters of terrorist outfits. Unfortunately, it sometimes influences the thinking of even well-meaning human rights activists. However, it should not be forgotten that our security forces work under extremely difficult circumstances. The rest of society can sleep peacefully only because of the diligent service rendered by our police, paramilitary and Armed Forces. I fully agree that innocent persons should not be harassed and penalised. But let us spare a thought for this question: What will happen to our society, to our Nation, if the morale of our security forces is allowed to be weakened?
Sadly, this is precisely what has happened in recent times. What is sadder is that leaders of the Congress party and the UPA Government have allowed this denigration of our security forces to take place in the mistaken belief that those who are targeting our uniformed forces are defenders of "secularism". Their thinking about secularism has become so warped that anybody who targets the BJP becomes their friend.
For example, there is this book 'Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India' by Omar Khalidi, an Indian scholar based in America, which provided the inspiration for the Sachar Committee to seek a communal census in the Armed Forces.
Another example is a book by Arundhati Roy, a well-known author, on the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001. The book argues, quite obnoxiously, that the attack was not carried out by terrorists but orchestrated by the security forces themselves with prior knowledge of the leadership of the NDA Government. Her recent statement that "India needs Azadi from Kashmir as much as Kashmir needs azadi from India" is seditious. The intellectual and literary community should strongly condemn such anti-national pronouncements, which are being given legitimacy by pseudo-secularists.
Minorityism has gripped the Congress mindset
Here is yet another example of how the UPA Government has chosen to be influenced by the sinister and sustained campaign launched by such people. In spite of a Supreme Court verdict, it has not carried out the death sentence on Afzal Guru, who has been convicted for his role in the terrorist attack on Parliament. His was no ordinary crime. It was an offence of hitting at the country's legislature, the highest seat of India's Constitutional authority, which symbolizes its sovereignty and democratic polity. Not even the national outrage on this issue has dented the UPA Government's apathy. Not even the extraordinary decision of the families of the martyred security personnel to return the gallantry awards has made it act. Such indeed is the grip of minorityism on the Congress mindset today.
The same mindset has dictated the Congress party's anti-national response to the issue of unchecked infiltration of Bangladeshis into Assam and other parts of the country. I was in Guwahati last week, where, among others, I met Shri Jaideep Saikia, an eminent Assamese scholar who has written a widely acclaimed book 'Terror Sans Frontiers: Islamist Militancy in North East India'. The book is indeed an eye-opener, a strong warning against a problem which the Supreme Court itself, while striking down the IMDT Act as unconstitutional
