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WikiLeaks cables reveal a disturbing picture of India-U.S. relationship: Prakash Karat
“They are a sad commentary of where Manmohan Singh and Congress leadership have landed the country”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Thursday that the WikiLeaks exposé laid bare the nature of India-U.S. relationship during the UPA and NDA regimes and revealed a disturbing picture.
“The publication and analysis of the U.S. embassy cables accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks is ongoing; but what has been made available so far reveals a disturbing picture… the cables are a sad and revealing commentary of where Manmohan Singh and the Congress leadership have landed the country,” general secretary Prakash Karat said an article in the latest edition of the party organ, People’s Democracy.
Washington’s reach
Commenting on the influential reach of Washington in India’s strategic affairs and foreign and economic policies, he said the U.S. had access to the bureaucracy, military, security and the intelligence system and successfully penetrated them at various levels.
Mr. Karat marks out specific areas — foreign policy, defence cooperation, security and intelligence cooperation, penetration and espionage, political influence and political corruption — where American Read more…
Critical U.S. Infrastructure at Risk of Cyber Attack, Experts Warn
AP
Oct. 26: The reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.
Just as the computers that ran Iran’s nuclear program were sabotaged and crippled by a cyber “super worm” virus, the software used to run much of America’s industrial, transportation and power infrastructure — including nuclear power plants and major airports — is vulnerable to cyber attack, and two software companies have revealed dozens of successful hacks to prove it.
The issue lies in specialized software systems sold by Siemens, Iconics, 7-Technologies and others to power plants and other infrastructure. Called “supervisory control and data acquisition” systems, or SCADA, they run software solely for industrial use.
And it’s just as vulnerable as every other program on your Read more…
Libya no-fly zone cost could hit $1 bln in months
WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) – The no-fly zone over Libya could end up costing the Western coalition more than $1 billion if the operation drags on more than a couple of months, defense analysts say.
Zack Cooper, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the initial cost of eliminating Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s air defenses was likely to be between $400 million and $800 million.
The expense of patrolling the no-fly zone once it is established is likely to be $30 million to $100 million a week, he said.
The U.S. military has no official cost figures yet for the operation, which has been going on less Read more…
US bars some Japan foods over radiation fears
AFP
WASHINGTON – The United States has announced it was barring some food imports from Japan due to fears of radiation and nuclear contamination in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The US Food and Drug Administration said it had placed an import alert on all milk, milk products, fresh vegetables and fruits from certain regions.
This means that no products of these types from the prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma can enter the United States without first being shown to be safe.
“In addition, FDA will continue to flag all entries from Japan in order to determine whether they originated from the affected area. FDA will test all food and feed shipments from the affected area,” an email statement said.
“FDA import investigators operating at ports of entry have radiation detection devices (radiation pagers) available to them for their personal safety,” the statement Read more…
A global energy war looms
Here’s an alarming chart to ponder. HSBC has calculated what would happen to energy consumption by 2050 given plausible forecasts for economic growth and assuming no constraint on resources, or that humans carry on using energy in the “taken for granted” way they do at the moment.
As you can see, demand in China, India and other emerging markets soars, but there is also quite considerable growth from advanced economies too. The big picture is that with an additional one billion cars on the road, demand for oil would grow 110pc to more than 190 million barrels per day. Total demand for energy would rise by a similar order of magnitude, doubling the Read more…
Russia, U.S. begin data exchange under New START
The right to begin conducting on-site inspections officially begins 60 days after the treaty’s entry into force, which is April 6.
The United States and Russia have begun exchanging information on their nuclear stockpiles under a new U.S.-Russian arms reduction treaty, a senior U.S. official said.
“With entry into force of the Treaty, we have begun implementing an extensive regime of mutual monitoring and information exchange,” Rose Gottemoeller, the Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, said.
“Our Nuclear Risk Reduction Center transmitted the U.S. database to Russia over this Read more…
U.S. military considers mandatory evacuations in Yokosuka, Japan
Washington (CNN) — The U.S. military is considering the mandatory evacuation of thousands of American troops and their families in Japan out of concern over rising radiation levels, a senior defense official tells CNN.
The official, who did not want to be on the record talking about ongoing deliberations, says there are no discussions to evacuate all U.S. troops across the country. The talks have focused exclusively on U.S. troops in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, the official said. Yokosuka is home to America’s largest naval base in Japan. The military is monitoring radiation levels on a constant basis.
As of Monday, the U.S. Navy had no more warships Read more…
True Obama debt bigger than planet’s entire GDP
 President Obama |
As the Obama administration prepares to finance a Fiscal Year 2011 budget deficit expected to top $1.6 trillion, the American public is largely unaware that the true negative net worth of the federal government reached $76.3 trillion last year.
That figure was five times the 2010 gross domestic product of the United States and exceeded the estimated gross domestic product for the world by approximately $14.4 trillion.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. GDP for 2010 was $14.861 trillion. World GDP in 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund, was $61.936 trillion.
“As government obligations continue to spiral out of control and the U.S. government shows no willingness to make the magnitude of spending cuts required to return to fiscal responsible, the U.S. economy is headed to a great collapse coming in the form of a hyper-inflationary great Read more…
Look who’s in line to replace Gadhafi
 Anjem Choudary |
British cleric Anjem Choudary says al-Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood have assets on the ground in Libya and are ready to take control if Moammar Gadhafi is removed from power.
The top Muslim cleric accuses the U. S. and French-led coalition trying to topple Gadhafi of working to install a puppet regime, but he says there are al-Qaida operatives in Libya who will stop the West from installing a friendly government.
“Al-Qaida has their own agents and their own people in the region who are propagating their own Islamic ideas and their agenda. At the right time they will make the move, and we will see the emergence of Islam and Shariah in that particular region,” Choudary said.
“The power vacuum is very useful for anyone who has an agenda and an alternative Read more…
U.S. Dollar at 15 Month Low
The dollar fell to a 15-month low against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, with sterling among the biggest gainers after a rise in UK inflation increased the chances of a UK interest rate hike sooner rather than later.
Relative interest rate expectations also lifted the euro to its highest against the dollar this year, but a reported options barrier at $1.4250 and a sharp sell-off in euro/sterling following the UK inflation data capped its gains.
Consumer prices in the UK last month rose by 4.4 percent, a 28-month high, and more than double the Bank of England’s mid-point target of 2 percent. Money markets are now fully pricing in a quarter point rate hike from the Bank of England in July, versus August before the data.
The yen, meanwhile, was little changed on the day in a tight Read more…
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