This morning, we saw George Stephanopoulos of ABC conduct a round-table on Afghanistan as “Obama’s Vietnam”. Having written an article yesterday on this theme (“Afghanistan Is Today’s Vietnam Not Iraq” – https://cinemarasik.com/2009/01/31/afghanistan-is-todays-vietnam-not-iraq.aspx ), we listened carefully. Frankly, we were depressed with the quality of analysis and knowledge of this group. It was a rehash of…
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to print the comments (with his permission) sent by a reader in Mumbai. For inquiring minds who would like to know, the reader is a veteran Investment Banker who runs an Asset Management Company. This is our third article on Slumdog Millionaire.*Comments of a Reader from Mumbai – January 26,2009 While…
American Media uses the word Pakistan every day without even pausing to wonder what that name means. The word “Stan” is a Persian derivative of the Sanskrut word “Sthan“ which means “abode of “ or “land of”. So, Afghanistan means Afghan-i-Stan, or the land of the Afghans and Tajikistan means the land of the Tajiks,…
There is virtual consensus in America that the War in Afghanistan is going badly and unless some thing is done, America could end up losing it. Words like Quagmire are being applied to this war by pessimists and optimists are pointing to General Petraeus & his Iraq surge strategy as a way to victory. The invasion…
Last week, we wrote an article* discussing whether the public reprimand administered by the Indian Establishment to David Miliband, British Foreign Secretary, was a signal to the Obama Administration. This week’s events suggest that it was and that the Obama Administration interpreted it as such. This week, the Administration took the sensible and smart decision…
On Tuesday, January 27, 2009, Dylan Ratigan, the anchor of CNBC’s Fast Money and much invited guest on the New York Talk Show Circuit, proclaimed that he was launching a “War On Stupidity”. We support this initiative and hope that Mr. Ratigan actually launches this war.We translate our support into real help by suggesting the first…
We received several comments about our January 17 article titled “Slumdog Millionaire and The Merchant of Venice” https://cinemarasik.com/2009/01/16/slumdog-millionaire-and-the-merchant-of-venice.aspx In that article, we stated our case that “Slumdog Millionaire, like The Merchant of Venice, embodies a deeply hateful and utterly false characterization of an entire religion.” Clearly this was a unique viewpoint and one that readers could…
On January 10, 2009, we wrote an article titled “The Mumbai Attack – It Was Not Terrorism” www.cinemarasik.com/2009/01/10/the-mumbai-attack–it-was-not-terrorism.aspx This was a detailed article that discussed our views and analysis of the factors behind the attack and the implications of the failure of India to respond. Briefly, the article argued: In our considered opinion, this military…
During his recent visit to India, David Miliband, the English Foreign Secretary seemed to go out of his way to damage the relations between India and England. His behavior was described in the Indian media as presumptuous and condescending. But his most inflammatory action was writing an article in an English newspaper while he was…
This week, Barak Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States and the de facto Global Head of the World Economy. Mr. Obama had promised “change” through out his campaign and he told the America people in his inauguration speech that “We must change because the world is changing around us”.Little did…