Re: Yay Alberto!
At 02:28 PM Monday 10/25/04, Alberto Monteiro wrote: > > The Alcantara Base should give Brazil a strong advantage over > competitors. > > Only 2.3 degrees from the Equator, the base is considered the perfect > launch site. > It is the best place in the world to launch satellites: close to the equator, dry weater [it almost never rains there] and a huge ocean to the East. Except when they have reason to go "Oops!" -- Ronn! :) "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever." -- Konstantin E. Tsiolkovskiy ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay Alberto!
> > The Alcantara Base should give Brazil a strong advantage over > competitors. > > Only 2.3 degrees from the Equator, the base is considered the perfect > launch site. > It is the best place in the world to launch satellites: close to the equator, dry weater [it almost never rains there] and a huge ocean to the East. Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay!
At 02:08 AM 5/16/2004 -0500 Gary Denton wrote: >The thing I was surprised at was the implied criticisms the reporters >who covered the story here in the US had of Gandhi's Congress Party >and the election results. It is worth noting that the US/Western press was full of implicit criticism of the BJP - for many of the reasons that Ritu mentioned - when they first unseated Congress a few years back. John D. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Yay!
Gary Denton wrote: > The thing I was surprised at was the implied criticisms the > reporters who covered the story here in the US had of > Gandhi's Congress Party and the election results. BJP had > become: borderline racist, religiously intolerant, tax cuts > for large corporations and the wealthy, nationalistic, > beholden to corporate interests, fawned over by the press... > Hmm, sounds similar. I guess maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. *chuckle* I wouldn't comment on the attitudes of the US press [though Rushdie did write a nice article, with an excellent line in there] but there are a few things I'd like to add: BJP rose to power on the basis of religious intolerance. It was the Ram Janambhoomi issue which catapulted BJP to national prominence. BJP's sister organisations are openly racist - they routinely quote Himmler and Hitler, display Hitler's photographs in their offices and, of late, have started insisting that anybody whose blood isn't 'purely Indian' is ineligible to hold any of the higher constitutional offices. BJP tacitly supported the stance - at least that is what I assumed since they neither forbade their party members from defining Rahul and Priyanka as outsiders/foreigners, nor made their position on the issue clear after raising the same. Still, all that hard work hasn't gone unrecognised and VHP and RSS have proudly claimed their rightful place in the top 20 racist organisations of the world. Ritu, who is always happy to see hard work rewarded appropriately ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Yay!
JDG wrote: > At 10:39 AM 5/14/2004 +0530 Ritu wrote: > >BJP with its Hindutva ideology [India is for Hindus, let the > muslims be > >aware that they need the goodwill of the hindus to survive > and thrive], > > In fairness, it is worth noting that BJP is steadily toned > down its Hundutva rhetoric while in government, particularly > during the most recent > campaign. Yep, they did tone down their rhetoric, even going as far as explicitly stating their intention of going mainstream in their Vision Document [at least until they could comandeer a majority all by themselves]. But I don't see how that makes much of a difference or why anybody should be impressed by that or assume that it is anything more than an electoral/political ploy. After all, Narendar Modi remained the poster boy of BJP all through the recent elections. I would have reassessed BJP's motivations had they taken any action against the architect and administrator of the 2002 pogrom but as long as they support him with pride, they can spout lines from Iqbal, Chishti and Nanak and I still won't buy their claims of having 'calmed down/grown up'. It is easy to spout sweet words but it is ridiculous to expect others to take them seriously when the Supreme Court has to move cases out of Gujarat to ensure that justice is done. > Also, it is worth noting that the Congress > campaigned on a > relatively socialist platform and against many of the > economic reforms that are absolutely essential to India's development. Which economic reforms would these be - the essential ones opposed by Congress, I mean? > Overall, however, I simply think that it is a good thing for > a maturing > democracy to periodically vote in the opposition. Heh. I am just glad that we'll have a government which stands a good chance of uniformly applying the basic law of the land. BJP's treatment of the muslims was not only deeply offensive on a number of levels, it was also giving rise to more terrorism. > I hope that the > Congress Party and their coalition partners will live up to > their promises to India's poor, vigorously pursue peace with > Pakistan, continue the path > of economic reform, and actively deepen ties with the United > States. And > I will say, that today I am optimisitc that Congress will do > precisely that. I wish I was that optimistic, JDG, but I do thank you for your kind words. I am not sure just how fast/slow the reforms would continue as I don't know what concessions the Left is going to insist on [Congress' manifesto insisted on a speeding up of the economic reforms]. But one thing which I can predict with relative safety is that the Indo-US ties would deteriorate unless one of these three things happen: A] US elects Kerry in Novemeber B] Bush changes his pre-emptive war policy C] Congress and the Left learn the art of disagreeing diplomatically I don't know how strong the chances of [A] are but I don't see much likelihood of [B] and [C] happening. Given the fact that, unlike BJP, Congress doesn't wish to launch pre-emptive attacks against Pakistan and given the fact that Bush administration seems even less fond of criticism than most govts. usually are, I think the Indo-US ties might suffer for a while. Ritu ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay!
On Sat, 15 May 2004 23:18:39 -0400, JDG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > At 10:39 AM 5/14/2004 +0530 Ritu wrote: > >BJP with its Hindutva ideology [India is for Hindus, let the muslims be > >aware that they need the goodwill of the hindus to survive and thrive], > > In fairness, it is worth noting that BJP is steadily toned down its > Hundutva rhetoric while in government, particularly during the most recent > campaign.Also, it is worth noting that the Congress campaigned on a > relatively socialist platform and against many of the economic reforms that > are absolutely essential to India's development. ~~ The thing I was surprised at was the implied criticisms the reporters who covered the story here in the US had of Gandhi's Congress Party and the election results. BJP had become: borderline racist, religiously intolerant, tax cuts for large corporations and the wealthy, nationalistic, beholden to corporate interests, fawned over by the press... Hmm, sounds similar. I guess maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. #1 on Google for liberal news ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Yay!
At 10:39 AM 5/14/2004 +0530 Ritu wrote: >BJP with its Hindutva ideology [India is for Hindus, let the muslims be >aware that they need the goodwill of the hindus to survive and thrive], In fairness, it is worth noting that BJP is steadily toned down its Hundutva rhetoric while in government, particularly during the most recent campaign.Also, it is worth noting that the Congress campaigned on a relatively socialist platform and against many of the economic reforms that are absolutely essential to India's development. Overall, however, I simply think that it is a good thing for a maturing democracy to periodically vote in the opposition. I hope that the Congress Party and their coalition partners will live up to their promises to India's poor, vigorously pursue peace with Pakistan, continue the path of economic reform, and actively deepen ties with the United States. And I will say, that today I am optimisitc that Congress will do precisely that. JDG ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay!
Ritu wrote: ... Ritu GCU Ain't Democracy Grand? Thanks for explaining it was an interesting read :o) Sonja GCU: Living in interesting times ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Yay!
Sonja wrote: > Is the replacing government well equipped to make changes? Well, we don't know what the composition of the govt. would be [other than it would be predominantly Congress] but there are some good men in the party and they do have long years of experience in governance. > Or is it just > more of the same but with a different undercurrent? Last I checked, the Congress is slightly less efficient than the BJP, is slightly more idiotic on a few fronts *but* it is also infinitely less dangerous for its policies are not quite as divisive as the BJP's. Congress, for all its faults, is a secular party and that is the basic difference between the two parties. > I still don't > understand how an originally born Italian can be a well > equipped prime > minister of the largest democracy in the world. Can she really have > enough background to handle this? I don't know how well Sonia would do but my reservations are based more on the fact that she is untried and was uninterested in politics [to put it mildly] than the fact that she was born an Italian. She has been in India for more than 3 decades and her circumstances have been such that she would have been hard put to avoid information about Indian politics and polity. What I don't know is how well she can translate that information into sound policies but if she does become the next PM, we'll find that out too. Fwiw, I was far less sanguine when her husband became the PM - he had been handed the post on a silver platter by a grief stricken nation. Sonia, otoh, turned down that offer 13 years ago when Rajiv was assasinated and if today she is in the same position, it is because of her own hard work, strategy and campaign. She has spent the last 6 years trying to lead her party out of the wilderness and somewhere along the way, she seems to have struck a chord with the people of India. Sonia's Italian origin was a prominent electoral issue for the BJP and they had launched many an attacks against her. But apparently, a vast majority of Indians don't consider her an outsider. It is an ages old tradition : 'she married into our family and now she is our daughter'. Peronally, I think she would be shrewd to recuse herself from the post of the PM and remain the party leader. Not only would that deprive the BJP of a major issue, her children would be able to make their own way up to wherever. But the fact is that Indians have voted for Congress knowing that she is the party leader and she does have the mandate to lead us. Ritu GCU Ain't Democracy Grand? ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay!
Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten wrote: Is the replacing government well equipped to make changes? Or is it just more of the same but with a different undercurrent? I still don't understand how an originally born Italian can be a well equipped prime minister of the largest democracy in the world. Can she really have enough background to handle this? At any rate, having grown up in Italy since WWII, she's pretty accustomed to replacing governments! Dave, who wonders how Italy can possibly have had something like 60 governments in 50 years. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay!
Ritu wrote: ... So this morning, after six long years, I woke up to an India whose next govt wouldn't dismiss secularism as 'leftist appeasement/cowardly reaction', wouldn't offend me by insisting that some citizens live on the sufferance of others, wouldn't infuriate me by acting as if the carnage of 2002 was 'understandable' or [even worse] 'expected' Mind you, BJP's defeat is not a panacea and Congress *would* infuriate me too but for now, BJP's exit is a good enough reason to celebrate. :) Is the replacing government well equipped to make changes? Or is it just more of the same but with a different undercurrent? I still don't understand how an originally born Italian can be a well equipped prime minister of the largest democracy in the world. Can she really have enough background to handle this? Sonja :o) GCU: Interested in this form of globalization ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Yay!
Robert Seeberger wrote: > > Vajpayee will resign this evening as BJP has managed to secure only > 184 > > seats. Congress should be heading the next govt. It already has 216 > > seats and needs 54 more seats to be in the majority. BSP, allied > with > > Congress, has 52 seats... > > > > Ritu > > GCU Thrilled To Bits > > Thrilled enough to explain it to us ignorant Americans? Certainly. :) BJP with its Hindutva ideology [India is for Hindus, let the muslims be aware that they need the goodwill of the hindus to survive and thrive], maniacal leaders [Narendra Modi, fr'ex] and selective justice has been voted out of power by the Indian electorate. All the billions of rupees spent on the 'India shining' and 'feel-good factor' campaigns amounted to nothing as people placed their trust in their own experiences and judgments. So this morning, after six long years, I woke up to an India whose next govt wouldn't dismiss secularism as 'leftist appeasement/cowardly reaction', wouldn't offend me by insisting that some citizens live on the sufferance of others, wouldn't infuriate me by acting as if the carnage of 2002 was 'understandable' or [even worse] 'expected' Mind you, BJP's defeat is not a panacea and Congress *would* infuriate me too but for now, BJP's exit is a good enough reason to celebrate. :) Ritu, who still can't quite believe that BJP is out GSV Yippee ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Yay!
- Original Message - From: "Ritu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 4:11 AM Subject: Yay! > Vajpayee will resign this evening as BJP has managed to secure only 184 > seats. Congress should be heading the next govt. It already has 216 > seats and needs 54 more seats to be in the majority. BSP, allied with > Congress, has 52 seats... > > Ritu > GCU Thrilled To Bits Thrilled enough to explain it to us ignorant Americans? xponent The Far Side Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
