World War One - The Real Cause

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo. A murder that led to the outbreak of the First World War ... Now the important part .. read it ... The Archduke was visiting Sarajevo and was waving at people from an open carriage, there were security fears and because of which the route for the convoy had been changed ... the would be assassin was standing at a turning en route the original planned route ... the new route was that the convoy was not supposed to take that turn and go straight ... but but but ... THE DRIVER FORGOT THAT ... and took the turn .. then he realized and was planning to go back and go straight ... but by then the assassin had marked the Archduke and his Wife and fatally shot them... they died and that TRIGGERED THE FIRST WORLD WAR ... Phew so conclusion .... THE WORLD WAR ONE WAS caused because of a DRIVER'S ERROR

India's Shame- Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

    It’s been more than a year since the International Olympic committee (IOC) suspended the Indian Olympic Association for violating its charter, and doing things like electing leaders with pending criminal charges, well we keep doing that all the time in India don’t we. But the thing is the IOC gave these bumbling buffoons a deadline to fix the entire mess and guess what, they didn’t and it doesn’t look as if it’s going to be fixed anytime before the 7^th of February which is the date of the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics.  

So what does it mean?

    There are three Olympic contenders representing India in this winter Olympics, but they won’t be able to fly the Indian Flag in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and will be walking under the Olympic banner and neither will they be able to wear the Indian insignia anywhere on their person. So basically they will be like independent athletes representing no country. The Indian national anthem will not be played if the win medals. Basically there won’t be any India in the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. 

This basically reduces the status of India from a functioning (so called functioning) democracy to a banana republic. We are now officially in the same league as South Africa was once put in when it had Apartheid practiced and other nations in the world facing civil war and with no effective recognized government. The more frustrating of funny thing, I don’t know what expression to give it, maybe just plainly stupid thing is that the IOC had given our moronic ministers or administrators until the 7^th of February to hold the elections and what do they do they schedule the election on February 9^th , two days after the opening ceremony. Now, if that’s not moronic what is?

The curious case of North Korea

    However, having said that and yes I don’t mean to justify the position taken by the moronic morons of the Indian Olympic Association in any way. I just want to ask something out of general curiosity to the IOC. How, in the world do you verify the credibility of the North Korean Olympic Association ? Do you take a personally signed letter from the leader of the country to say that the North Korean Olympic Commitee or Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as it is called has followed or follows all the rules framed by the IOC to elect their committee leader? 

Shame Shame

    Okay North Korea was just a mention, I don’t want to dwell on it that’s for the IOC to think or consider. What’s appalling here is the behaviour of the officials of the IOA. They seem least bothered of the fact , whether the Indian Tricolour flies high or not in the winter Olympics. They simply don’t care.  One of the factors contributing to this official apathy maybe that we have just 3 athletes in the winter Olympics, maybe if we had as many athletes in the winter Olympics as we have in the summer version, then there would have been more noise in the country with a of of political parties jumping into the fray for free publicity. That would in turn have led to the IOA officials being forced to react.

But, that’s not the case here, and we will have to see our athletes representing us in their hearts and minds and with no national insignia. For one of the world’s largest democracy that is a shameful fact. These athletes sweat their heart out to try and reach that stage and once they reach the Olympic stage, they try their best to bring glory to their nation. Shouldn’t we as Indians be ashamed of the fact that our sportsmen are being treated in such a manner or should we just ignore it as it has nothing to do with cricket? We go for a lot of demonstrations and candle marches for a lot of pressing issues, don’t you think their case requires our support.  As, an Indian I feel ashamed about the way the country’s’ athletes are treated from time to time, when will we as Indians try and raise our voice against this official apathy and babudom.

War in Syria and the loss of Life

Wars seem ridiculous options sometimes, or maybe always. It’s January 2014 and currently the Syrian delegation is meeting with the Opposition in Switzerland. The Assad regime is backed by the Russian in the talks and the opposition is backed by the western powers, led by the USA. Currently, what I gather from whatever I am hearing in the news channels is both sides are arguing and blaming each other for the mess. Assad has his own support base in Syria while the rebels also have their own support base. While these talks are going on, the war is still on inside Syria and people are dying on a daily basis. The rebels are saying that they are fighting against a mass murderer and a very authoritarian regime, the regime is saying that they are fighting against terrorists. So, who is right here and who is wrong.

If you examine it closely, both are right from their point of you and both are wrong from each other’s point of view. I mean if you look at it from the point of view of the regime, it’s the opposition fighters who started the fighting while trying to overthrow the regime. For, them they are definitely terrorists and war mongers. Now, from the point of view of the opposition, they have been suppressed since a long time by a very oppressive regime, so its time they break free. So, you see both are correct from each other’s point of view. So, both want to win this war, or rather both will have to give it their best shot to win this war. The one who is going to win is definitely going to go after the leaders of the loser. So, if this war ends with one side winning then the leaders of the other side will have to run out of the country or hide out someplace where they can’t be found. So, these talks seem to be a way out of the mess for both. When I say mess, what I mean is the prolonged agony which has happened in Syria. When the war began everyone thought that this would be like what happened in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt and would get over soon. But, Assad has proved himself to be a tougher nut to crack.  

The loses are mounting on both sides, but the biggest loss currently is the loss of civilian life, the life of people caught in the crossfire. The exodus is enormous. Check the number of people trying to flee to neighbouring Turkey and Lebanon and you’ll know what I mean. The death toll is in millions and it cannot be verified independently as well because no news channels are allowed inside Syria. The talks currently going on in Switzerland is a way out for both parties, but for that to find any success, both sides will have to leave their ego’s aside and keep in perspective the loss of human life, which I seriously doubt anyone has taken into account.  These talks I feel are going to replicate what is going on in the battlefield, both will be at each other’s throats and in the end there will be no solution. Assad is not part of the talks himself, so whatever his foreign minister says is not going to stand ground unless Assad himself says so. The opposition want Assad gone and that is their primary demand to Assad’s foreign minister which I find highly impossible.

Having said that, I would like to say that I am no expert on Syria or the region as a whole. All I would like to say is whoever wins this war, its humanity which is going to lose. The amount of death and destruction the war has caused in the past three years is just too much. It’s the common civilians who are dying the most. They are the ones who are suffering the most. That happens in every war doesn’t it. Government’s fight and people die. Phew, and we call ourselves one of the most intelligent beings on this planet.  Being, the poet I am some lines come to my mind, here goes

The streets are deserted, the day is dark,

The demons are out, and the dogs bark,

Man is killing man with ease,

The cruelty makes my blood freeze.

Schools were full, not long ago,

Happy places for children to go.

They are still full, from what I see,

The fear within the walls baffle me.

Graffiti on the walls looks so gory,

The  splattered blood has a story.

Why do we fight, why do we kill,

Why do we go to war at will.

Whoever wins,

it does not matter,

When humanity is crushed

 and served on a platter .

Hope the suffering ends soon and everyone gets a better life.