SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS!
Prior to the great NATURAL UPHEAVAL of 4500BC, which changed the landscape, what would have been the history of region that is called SOUTH ASIA and AFGHANISTAN today? We can only make certain assumptions based on archaeological studies, archaeological sites and folklores or what they say is the oral history.
The oral history is not only folk songs but the language, the dresses, the lingual dialects, typical traditions, the special food habits and many more things which leave their SIGNATURES on HUMAN STORY without finding a mention in written form or chronicled by those who marvel at history. HISTORY IS NEVER WRITTEN FOR THE PURPOSES OF SOME "TRUTH MISSIONS "OF THE FUTURE. IT IS WRITTEN TO DENIGRATE THE VANQUISHED AND GLAMOURISE THE VICTOR.
I rarely believe the written words of historical write-ups because they are not only sing-song melodies in honour of the VICTOR but also they only highlight the ONE-SIDED-STORY. Look at it: HITLER IS DEMONISED after the Second World War but he was as good or as bad as BUSH was in IRAQ in 2003. And of the two similar acts, one was villain and the other is a hero. As and when the world history is rewritten dispassionately, it might turn out that HITLER was a MESSIAH of AFRO-ASIAN nations, who could shed the YOKE of COLONIALISM in the wake of SECOND WORLD WAR STARTED by HITLER. Pick up any HISTORICAL BOOK, you will find it GLAMOURISED by the victors, for, vanquished have no glory. I discount written history.
This land called SOUTH ASIA and modern AFGHANISTAN was the cradle of a great NAGA CIVILISATION lost to mankind during the great NATURAL UP- HEAVAL of 4500 BC--some 6500 years before. It was more advanced and knowledgeable than the marauding hordes of so called ARYANS who came EAST in search of PASTORAL LANDS and livelihood. They were not INVADERS but usurpers of a great civilisation devastated by a NATURAL CALAMITY in and around 4500 BC.
Nagas, not the inhabitants of modern day Nagaland, were the worshippers of LORD SHIVA. They followed SHAIVITE CULTURE--which was not the part of VEDIC CULTURE or the VAISHNAVITES. Their confluence, along with BUDDHISM and JAINISM, gave birth to what you call today HINDUISM. It was born around 530 AD--exactly 5000 years after the great UPHEAVAL.(You might like to know as to how the word HINDU and its RELIGIOUS CONNOTATION CAME ABOUT. Kindly read my blog on HINDUISM. The link is :- http://rajee.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/12/is-hinduism-an-evolved-euphemism-for-a-people-or.htm)
Two of the modern HINDU GODS are of DARK COMPLEXION. Did you ever wonder as to why? It is my belief that they were NON-ARYANS and NON-VEDIC but were assimilated into VEDIC and ARYAN PHILOSOPHY because of the richness of their SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS. They are Lord SHIVA and Lord KRISHNA. Kindly do not think they were DRAVIDIANS. It is a derogatory term concocted by ARYANS. Its root are two SANSKRIT words "DRI" & "VID". "DRI" stands for "POOR" or "LACKING" ,as in 'DARIDRA', and "VID" is KNOWLEDGE or EDUCATION. So, the word DRAVID was concocted to show the NATIVES as POOR or LACKING in KNOWLEDGE. They were considered as INFERIOR. This was done to subjugate the natives. The Naga people were of not of fair complexion due to climatic and geographical pecularities--they might have had semi-dark or brown complexion as is today. But Aryans coming from the COLDER REGION were of WHITISH COMPLEXION. Therefore, they could not have had brown or Semi-dark complexioned gods as are LORD SHIVA and LORD KRISHNA. My belief is that they belonged to NAGA race.
Nagas, according to mythology, were the descendants of KASHYAP RISHI--A sage whose second wife was called KUDRU. It is said KUDRU gave birth to creatures who were "half-humans and half-snakes". It is a poetical description--I reckon they had ROUND and SPHERICAL EYES and were VERY REVENGEFUL in attitude and such they were called NAGAS or SERPANT type. Their presiding deity Lord Shiva, has a curling COBRA around his neck-----this, too could have given them the name NAGA. Kashyap's son NEELA NAG was their king and they mostly lived around water bodies--like lakes or ponds and rivers. We know all civilisations prospered around great rivers. River JHELUM (VITASTA--Vedic name) in KASHMIR and SARASWATI Rivers were their famous abodes. 75% archaeological sites of ancient India have been found around the submerged and lost channel of MYSTICAL SARASWATI which sprang from HAR KI DOON in Uttaranchal, ran along the course of a modern day GHAGHAR in HARYANA and RAJSTHAN, and then drained out into the sea near LOTHAL in GUJRAT.
The name KASHMIR is derived from KASHYAP--from KASHYAP MAR--because saint KASHYAP had helped his son NEELA NAG to eliminate a great tyrant JALODHAV or JALDEV who had troubled NAGAS in modern day Kashmir. It is a nice story. Some of you who are interested to know this might like to read my blog on Kashmir. Prior to this it was called "SATI DESH'--after the name of SATI--- the consort of Lord Shiva.The link to my blog on KASHMIR is:-
http://rajee.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/04/kashmir-a-curse-and-cure-of-its-history.htm
Nagas were NON VEGETARIANS. They believed in eating meat dishes and drank alcohol without inhibitions. Even today the PANDITS (so called HINDU HIGH PRIESTS) of KASHMIR eat MEAT and IF YOU PLEASE, THEY RELISH 'HALAAL' and NOT 'JHATKA' . The last one might be the environmental impact of last 650 years. But these PANDITS are the descendants of KASHYAP's NAGAS. The NAGAS were 'happy -go- lucky' people and they believed in DANCE and MUSIC. The finding of dancing girl at HARAPPA bears testimony to this. Lord Shiva was known for his dance and music--even in his anger he resorted to TANDAV NRITYA. They were, therefore, NON VEDIC and NON ARYANS. The NAGA civilisation was scattered along and between the GREAT INDUS (SINDHU) and GREAT SARASWATI. It later spread to EAST and SOUTH. This land was also called SAPTA SINDHU---THE SEVEN RIVERS. You wil find Lord SHIVA temples from modern day Pakistan in the west to North East in the EAST and from KASHMIR in the NORTH to MAHARASHTRA in the South.
This great civilisation of NAGAS finds a mention in VEDIC literature too, though in a disdainful manner. You might have heard that at the end of MAHABHARTA --the great grandson of ARJUNA, PARIKSHAT was killed by a NAGA prince called TAKSHAK. Though mythology says it was a serpent. But if you go before this period into KRISHAN LILA--you hear of how Lord Krishna had overpowered a "Naga Rogue" called KAALIA. I do not believe they were not HUMANS. They were demonized by the victorious Vedic people who wanted to establish the superiority of their own culture. TAKSHILA in Pakistan was a great city of learning and it belonged to Nagas. Later, BUDDHISTS made use of that knowledge. Today, it is in ruins and being robbed off its HISTORICAL SPLENDOUR by ILL-INFORMED and uncouth Pakistani Government.
Let me also tell you that SAPTA SINDHU LAND was the HEAVENLY DESTINATION for outsders as USA is today or MAY BE CHINA and INDIA would be in years to come. History always reverses its course after a given period. Therefore, people from the steppes of CENTRAL ASIA came in as migrants--looking for occupational opportunities. They came and got merged. The cities of the region of SAPTASINDHU, along SARASWATI and SINDHU Rivers, offered great opportunities to every one. It was the land of plenty. And then suddenly---
---The GREAT UPHEAVAL of 4500 BC took place. River SARASWATI disappeared along with its flourishing cities--whether it was HARAPPA, LOTHAL, PEELI BANGA, SANGHOL (Indian Punjab), Ropar (Indian Punjab) or many more such sites. Even modern day CHANDIGARH is set up on the great ruins of NAGA CIVILISATION. Punjab University has certain artifacts which were picked up when CHANDIGARH was established in the 50's. Archaeologists believe it could be on a long lost Harappa culture. Remember just 10 kms to the east flows the GHAGHAR--which was considered to be main channel of SARASWATI. Some 45 Kms WEST of it is ROPAR on the banks of river SATLUJ--which was once the tributary of river SARASWATI along with River YAMUNA. SANGHOL--another archaeological site is some 50 Kms away towards SW of Chandigarh.
River Yamuna and river Sutlej were the great tributaries of SARASWATI. After the UPHEAVAL they took a different turn to the EAST and WEST respectively. SANGHOL was located on the original path of River SATLUJ. Both Yamuna and Sutlej Rivers joined SARASWATI south of modern day PATIALA--some 60 Kms south of it. This UPHEAVAL WEAKENED and destroyed bulk of NAGA CIVILISATION. But the migrations from the WEST continued--and they were people of a LINGUAL FRATENITY---SANSKRIT------it was not a race but SANSKRIT speaking people who came to this land. They are called Aryans or VEDIC. They did not come as CONQUERERS or IN ONE GO--they came in a trickle and got spread. They picked up the knowledge from the NAGAS and assimilated into their own. It is something like the SILLICON VALLEY of USA today. It is humming with IT Indians there. Who knows 1000 years later what would be the demography?
Naga script is of some 434 characters--it has not been deciphered--it will unfold many myths once it is deciphered and one of them is on VEDIC KNOWLEDGE--It is mostly PLAGIARISED from LONG LOST NAGA CIVILISATION. I request you all to read JOHN KEAY's HISTORY of INDIA--though he does not come to any conclusion but he does make a point on the meaning of word ARYANS.
The incoming ARYANS--the estranged brethren of ancient PERSIANS settled around AFGHANISTAN (ALPGANSTHAN--old Sanskrit name) and the ruins of River Saraswati. Dr Rajesh Kochhar--ex Surveyor General of India and a renowned Archaeologist --in his book VEDIC HISTORY of INDIA --says there are similarities in the VEDIC PEOPLE and Ancient PERSIANS. The two languages, SANSKRIT and AVESTIC ZENDA have many commonalities.
Now I come to the enactment of two EPICS---RAMAYANA and MAHABHARTA.There are theories on their dates of occurrence and regions where they were enacted. Ok I will discuss it later in some other blogs but I leave you with pinching thoughts:
(a) MAHABHARTA might have occurred around 1000BC--KALHANA's RAJTARANGINI and NEELAMAT PURAN needs to be read.
(b) Ramayana, if it occurred before MAHABHARTA as is the general HINDU belief, then, it was enacted in present day AFGHANISTAN. The warm water port of GWADAR might have had the original Lanka. Look at some facts--
-----RAVNA MANDIR at JODHPUR; MANDODARI's village in RAJSTHAN;
------LAHORE in PAKISTAN was established by Lord RAM's elder son LUV.
------KASOOR again in PAKISTAN was set up by KUSH--SITA's second son.
-----SITA took her last breath at RAM TIRATH, near AMRITSAR in PUNJAB.
------BALMIKI who wrote original RAMAYANA lived at RAM TIRATH.
------RAM TIRATH was then along the river RAVI--one of the seven rivers
of SAPTA SANDHU.
-----The story of UTTARAKHAND in RAMAYANA was added later by BALMIKI.
----- If BALMIKI is the originator---how could he know about a place near
modern AYODHYA--He could have never gone there---the area was totally
undeveloped?
------Aryans as they went EAST from WEST they took the names of
GEOGRAPHICAL Places with them--right upto KAMPUCHEA, MALAYASIA,
THAILAND and INDONESIA. Do you know about the AYODHYAS there?
----River SARASWATI had disappeared much before the arrival of ARYANS
into SAPTASINDHU region---they began coming around 5000BC. By 1900-
2000 BC they had fully grown into a NEW and a RICH CIVILISATION over
the RUINS of NAGA CIVILISATION. The VEDIC SARASWATI is in
AFGHANISTAN--the river HEMLAND. Dr Rajesh Kochhar calls the mystical
SARASWATI as VANASUR SARASVATI.\
----They assimilated the NAGA KNOWLEDGE into their own and presented
it as VEDIC KNOWLEDGE. It could happen to IT KNOWLEDGE of India of
21st century.
(c) Ramayana, as an episode, might have happened around 1500 to
1900 BC at a very small scale. Rest might be glamorization by poets and
authors. Everyone has picked up the threads from BALMIKI who lived at
RAMTIRATH.
DISCLAIMER This is only my EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE based on some studies of HISTORICAL BOOKS and visit to HISTORICAL sites. If you do not agree. FINE. But do think about it. Do not believe in REGIMENTED and RITUALISED KNOWLEDGE. I can talk about more things on RAMAYANA and MAHABHARTA but suffice for the day.
Read more...
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
WHEN THE STORM BLEW AWAY-5(WOM-1)
Jaipur blasts incident of May 2008, is the symbol of a malaise which afflicts the nation but it has been refusing to accept since 1988. This began in the aftermath of an Exercise 'ZARB-E-MOMIN' ( STRIKE OF THE PURE) by late General Zia-ul-haque of Pakistan. This was an exercise to test his concept of strategic depth for Pakistan by extending the war into Indian borders by covert means and extend her Western borders by making 'Afghanistan a Surrogate'.
With this he had launched WOM ---WAR BY OTHER MEANS on India. But no one till date in India accepts this as war---from Indian public, misled by peacemakers to political leaders through military leadership----who thinks militancy is not their job. Everyone is confused and therefore a cohesive response to DESIGNER WAR LAUNCHED ON INDIA by PAKISTAN military since 1988, is lacking. Army wants to prepare for the actual war and want this job of internal security to be assigned to some one else.They are confused by their stratified thinking.
In real terms, there was nothing known as 'internal or external security'--it is only 'National Security'. Such divisions are only academic definitions. WHICH IS THE OTHER 'ACTUAL WAR' ARMY IS WANTING TO PREPARE AND FIGHT, IF INDIA WOULD LOSE THE CURRENT WAR? WHAT GOOD WILL BE ALL THOSE BOFORS and T-92 or 'ARJUNS' Tanks if India breaks up a LA-SOVIET. How? Let me give you an account of what has the war become? If need be, I will come back with analysis of SOUTH ASIA in the next instalment.
Forget, my friend, this IPL tamasha! IF YOU ADD SUGAR TO POISON IT DOES NOT BECOME SWEET DISH---Pakistan remains what it was in 1948 or 1965 or 1971/72 or 1999 or 2001--Agenda of 1947 is deeply entrenched into their minds, To this agenda, is added the humiliation of 1971 and the frustration of 1999. Unfortunately, PAKISTAN had understood the modern nuances of 'WOM'earlier and faster than us.
Rapid progress in Nano-technology, space research, robotics, computers, genetic engineering, chemical, physical and biological sciences have revolutionized communications and energized the weapon systems, whose synergistic impact questioned the old form of war and war – making. Everything from philosophy to doctrines; tactics to strategy; battlefield- fronts to battlefield- rears; combat soldiers to non-combat operators, there is a virtual shift from old form of war. Enhanced ranges, deadly lethality and perfect accuracy describe the modern world arsenal. Smart ammunition, with their mid-course and terminal guidance, has made the old dud-ammunition look ridiculous. There is a fusion of the battlefield and the rear areas, leading to extended frontiers, of war but sychronised and integrated fronts.
Now look at the other side of the coin. Nuclear devices, Ethno- bombs and chemical agents spell as much danger to the white-collared gentlemen in the rear as to the men donned in greens on the front, implying there is no shield from their deadly effect for any one. In a given geographical area, users may suffer as much damage as the target. Consequences of a nuclear conflagration are un-imaginable. World is now getting to the view that there are no winners in a nuclear war. Theories are being advanced which speak of war by other means (WOM) at the regional and local levels. Implicit in the WOM theory of war is a fact, where war is no more merely seen as a ‘Bull-Fight’ of the two opposing armies in the ringed arena of national borders. It is the military truism for the first few decades of the third millennium. Also, alluded to it is a corollary that future war would no more remain the sole domain of soldiers in olive green (OG). There are soldiers of different hue and cry who would play more vital role than the conventional soldiers.
Think of ‘Smart Solders’ (Computer boys, scientists and technicians); Irregular Soldiers’ of private armies call them terrorists, militants, insurgents, fifth columnists-what have you; ‘Cyber-Soldiers’ info-manipulators, software experts, spin doctors and media barons and defence analysts. Thus, the conventional soldiers have their roles considerably reduced. This is the reason most armies of the world have been cutting their flab. The trend is for lean and thin armies of quality for a future envisaged role rather than heavy weight armies of quantity and numbers. All this owes itself to the changing nature and form of war.
In the functional form, the war in the Twenty First Century is being viewed as a synchronised module of three acts- stage play rather than here-to-fore known one act-play of uniformed soldiers monkey-dancing across the borders. This monkey dancing has been relegated to the last act of the synchronised module, which neither may nor may not be necessary. Postulating his theory on the ‘Brain-Force-wars’ of the third wave civilization in the Twenty-First-Century, Alvin Toffler paraphrases them as ‘Niche wars’ or the ‘Designer wars’. Invite you to read his book, "WAR AND ANTI WAR". The first two acts of these Designer wars are more important than the third act because of their low costs. The first act is of ‘Info War’- a constant dia-tribe against the potential adversary to show him in the poor light. Information will be controlled, manipulated, twisted and distorted to show the adversary as the mother of all wordly evils-a ‘rogue state’ which ought to be punished. Remember Saddam Hussein of Iraq in 2001.
Cyber- soldiers and the Spin doctors have a tailor- made role to emotionally agitate the world public opinion. Electronic and print media is the stage (Read Battlefield) on which this show is enacted. Near authentic visual clips and in-person detail of gory tales of woes are planted in the media to hypnotise the targeted audience. World will; be shown what is intended to be shown. Visibly disgusting; apparently shocking and morally unbelieveable episodes, spun out of the fertile but imaginative minds of Spin doctors, will rake the moral consciousness of even the alleged accused. It is part of history now as to how the young daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to USA in 1990 was doctored to narrate to the US senate an imaginary tale of rape and molestation by Iraqi soldiers. The whole world cried action against Iraq.
The second act of the Designer-War-module is the ‘Bleeding and Squeezing’ show. It may follow two courses, either concurrently together or separately or even singly. The first course could follow aggressive ‘Economic-War’ in the form of trade embargo’ choking off development funds or levying economic sanctions. The second course would be to initiate covertly a ‘Bleeding War’ to destabilise or even balkanize the adversary. National vulnerabilities of the adversary in the form of ethnic and racial cleavages, religious divisions; regional dissimilarities, lingual heterogeneity; economic imbalances and the cultural-chasm would be exploited to create a condition of anarchy and chaos. Separatists movements will be encouraged.
The final act of the ‘Designer war’ is the quick surgical operation, using both smart-soldiers and conventional soldiers to inflict ultimate unacceptable damage to force the adversary to capitulate. This act, may or may not be enacted if ‘Act-one and ‘Act-Two have already produced the desired results. The 100 hours ground battle in the Gulf War was the culmination point of this nature of the ‘Designer-War’. ‘Act-Two’ was partially enacted as ‘Act-One’ had produced a very favourable world opinion for a quick surgical operation. The promised mother of all battles of Saddam Hussein turned out to be a damp squib. On one side was the high-tech army of Third Wave civilization which was lean and efficient. On the other side was a low-tech army of Second wave- civilization which was all flab and human mass. It was the brain versus the brawn or the quality versus the quantity. The brain won, the brawn disintegrated.
But imagine a condition where technological parity existed. Say, the erstwhile Soviet Union and the USA; was the third act of the designer war possible? It would not have been allowed by the world body as it had allowed in the case of Iraq. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union the geo-strategic environments have undergone a change. As the 20th Century came to a close, USA was the only ‘Ring Master’ in the world 'Circus of Nations'. It enjoys the freedom of action which no other nation does. It manipulates its freedom of action as it did in the case of IRAQ. Accusing SADDAM HUSSEIN of possessing WMD(Weapons Of Mass Destruction), it moulded the world public nation and destabilised a harmonious and stable IRAQ. Therefore, except the world ‘Ring-Master’ no other nation enjoys the freedom of pursuing its national interests across the borders. Perhaps the votaries of hot pursuit in India ought to understand this.
It would be apparent now that the Designer War aims at graduated escalation of conflict. Though each act of the module is aimed at virtual capitulation of the likely adversary, yet the real capitulation will come through second or third act. Thus, in all situations, the introductory act is a pre-requisite, where battlefield is the world media. But in most cases, either the second or the third act may be omitted. The omission or non-omission is subject to the non-availability of time to wage a protracted ‘Bleeding War’; degree of success achieved in the introductory act and finally the existing technological parity or disparity. If there was near parity in the technological quality of available weapon systems, then third act definitely will not be enacted. In such a case the Designer war may be kept limited only to the Bleeding war phase.
If there was total disparity the Bleeding War phase may only be partially enacted or totally omitted. Also, the success of introductory act is directly related to the third condition of technological parity or disparity. In the age of manifold lethality of nuclear weapons, the last thing the world wants to see is a world wide nuclear conflagration, where there will be no winners. All the same the basic reasons behind NPT (Non-proliferation Treaty) or the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban-Treaty) is not to rid the world of such deadly arsenal of mass-destruction but to allow Nuclear-Heaves a clear monopoly and a basic edge in the ‘Designer-War’ of the future. Albeit unsaid, implicit in these treaties is a clumsy attempt to keep the world unipolar and prevent it from becoming multy-polar.
The theorists of the Designer War in USA had clearly foreseen its implications in the mid-eighties and set upon to fool the world through NPT and START (Strategic arms reductions talks). They insisted on Non-proliferation but not on total destruction or total disarmament. In any case, in the world of today, to talk of total destruction and total disarmament is to fool you. We must know the knowledge and expertise to produce these weapons exists and will be safe-deposited. Therefore, what is the guarantee that they can not be assembled again even if total disarmament was carried out?
All the same, in a way, the availability of nuclear weapons have made the wars of active and naked-aggression, as in the case of Hitler’s war, a totally redundant phenomenon. Come what may, nuclear weapons have come to stablise outward peace in the world. Clandestinely and covertly, nations after nations, yearn for this capability to reduce the threat of naked aggression. If they do not, they will be subjected to a similar humiliation as was Iraq of Saddam Hussein. Whether the five nations of The Nuclear Club accept or do not accept the nuclear-status of the new member, it is immaterial. The fact remains the new member will have a proportionate deterrence to discourage naked aggression.
Thus, as the ‘Nuclar-Haves-Club’ enlarges itself, ‘Active and direct wars’ will be replaced by ‘Bleeding Wars’, where there will be no monkey-dancing across the borders. But a sole thrust will be on exploiting sensitive vulnerabilities deep inside the enemy territory. ‘Fronts’ and ‘Rears’ of the battlefield, as known to mankind, will soon disappear. The condition of ‘ugly-peace’ or ‘ugly-stability’ brought about by proliferating nuclear weapons, will make Bleeding war the only tool of Clavsewitzian concept of war as the other extension of political ambition of a nation. Bleeding War is going to be the order of the day in the first and second or even third decade of the Twenty First Century. Nations after nations are going to fall prey for it. Emphasis will shift to war by other means or WOM and Bleeding Wars will be the results. Internal vulnerabilities of nations will provide adequate spark for ignition by interested adversaries and become the battleground of this new war. Jaipur is the link in this chain.
Read more...
With this he had launched WOM ---WAR BY OTHER MEANS on India. But no one till date in India accepts this as war---from Indian public, misled by peacemakers to political leaders through military leadership----who thinks militancy is not their job. Everyone is confused and therefore a cohesive response to DESIGNER WAR LAUNCHED ON INDIA by PAKISTAN military since 1988, is lacking. Army wants to prepare for the actual war and want this job of internal security to be assigned to some one else.They are confused by their stratified thinking.
In real terms, there was nothing known as 'internal or external security'--it is only 'National Security'. Such divisions are only academic definitions. WHICH IS THE OTHER 'ACTUAL WAR' ARMY IS WANTING TO PREPARE AND FIGHT, IF INDIA WOULD LOSE THE CURRENT WAR? WHAT GOOD WILL BE ALL THOSE BOFORS and T-92 or 'ARJUNS' Tanks if India breaks up a LA-SOVIET. How? Let me give you an account of what has the war become? If need be, I will come back with analysis of SOUTH ASIA in the next instalment.
Forget, my friend, this IPL tamasha! IF YOU ADD SUGAR TO POISON IT DOES NOT BECOME SWEET DISH---Pakistan remains what it was in 1948 or 1965 or 1971/72 or 1999 or 2001--Agenda of 1947 is deeply entrenched into their minds, To this agenda, is added the humiliation of 1971 and the frustration of 1999. Unfortunately, PAKISTAN had understood the modern nuances of 'WOM'earlier and faster than us.
Rapid progress in Nano-technology, space research, robotics, computers, genetic engineering, chemical, physical and biological sciences have revolutionized communications and energized the weapon systems, whose synergistic impact questioned the old form of war and war – making. Everything from philosophy to doctrines; tactics to strategy; battlefield- fronts to battlefield- rears; combat soldiers to non-combat operators, there is a virtual shift from old form of war. Enhanced ranges, deadly lethality and perfect accuracy describe the modern world arsenal. Smart ammunition, with their mid-course and terminal guidance, has made the old dud-ammunition look ridiculous. There is a fusion of the battlefield and the rear areas, leading to extended frontiers, of war but sychronised and integrated fronts.
Now look at the other side of the coin. Nuclear devices, Ethno- bombs and chemical agents spell as much danger to the white-collared gentlemen in the rear as to the men donned in greens on the front, implying there is no shield from their deadly effect for any one. In a given geographical area, users may suffer as much damage as the target. Consequences of a nuclear conflagration are un-imaginable. World is now getting to the view that there are no winners in a nuclear war. Theories are being advanced which speak of war by other means (WOM) at the regional and local levels. Implicit in the WOM theory of war is a fact, where war is no more merely seen as a ‘Bull-Fight’ of the two opposing armies in the ringed arena of national borders. It is the military truism for the first few decades of the third millennium. Also, alluded to it is a corollary that future war would no more remain the sole domain of soldiers in olive green (OG). There are soldiers of different hue and cry who would play more vital role than the conventional soldiers.
Think of ‘Smart Solders’ (Computer boys, scientists and technicians); Irregular Soldiers’ of private armies call them terrorists, militants, insurgents, fifth columnists-what have you; ‘Cyber-Soldiers’ info-manipulators, software experts, spin doctors and media barons and defence analysts. Thus, the conventional soldiers have their roles considerably reduced. This is the reason most armies of the world have been cutting their flab. The trend is for lean and thin armies of quality for a future envisaged role rather than heavy weight armies of quantity and numbers. All this owes itself to the changing nature and form of war.
In the functional form, the war in the Twenty First Century is being viewed as a synchronised module of three acts- stage play rather than here-to-fore known one act-play of uniformed soldiers monkey-dancing across the borders. This monkey dancing has been relegated to the last act of the synchronised module, which neither may nor may not be necessary. Postulating his theory on the ‘Brain-Force-wars’ of the third wave civilization in the Twenty-First-Century, Alvin Toffler paraphrases them as ‘Niche wars’ or the ‘Designer wars’. Invite you to read his book, "WAR AND ANTI WAR". The first two acts of these Designer wars are more important than the third act because of their low costs. The first act is of ‘Info War’- a constant dia-tribe against the potential adversary to show him in the poor light. Information will be controlled, manipulated, twisted and distorted to show the adversary as the mother of all wordly evils-a ‘rogue state’ which ought to be punished. Remember Saddam Hussein of Iraq in 2001.
Cyber- soldiers and the Spin doctors have a tailor- made role to emotionally agitate the world public opinion. Electronic and print media is the stage (Read Battlefield) on which this show is enacted. Near authentic visual clips and in-person detail of gory tales of woes are planted in the media to hypnotise the targeted audience. World will; be shown what is intended to be shown. Visibly disgusting; apparently shocking and morally unbelieveable episodes, spun out of the fertile but imaginative minds of Spin doctors, will rake the moral consciousness of even the alleged accused. It is part of history now as to how the young daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to USA in 1990 was doctored to narrate to the US senate an imaginary tale of rape and molestation by Iraqi soldiers. The whole world cried action against Iraq.
The second act of the Designer-War-module is the ‘Bleeding and Squeezing’ show. It may follow two courses, either concurrently together or separately or even singly. The first course could follow aggressive ‘Economic-War’ in the form of trade embargo’ choking off development funds or levying economic sanctions. The second course would be to initiate covertly a ‘Bleeding War’ to destabilise or even balkanize the adversary. National vulnerabilities of the adversary in the form of ethnic and racial cleavages, religious divisions; regional dissimilarities, lingual heterogeneity; economic imbalances and the cultural-chasm would be exploited to create a condition of anarchy and chaos. Separatists movements will be encouraged.
The final act of the ‘Designer war’ is the quick surgical operation, using both smart-soldiers and conventional soldiers to inflict ultimate unacceptable damage to force the adversary to capitulate. This act, may or may not be enacted if ‘Act-one and ‘Act-Two have already produced the desired results. The 100 hours ground battle in the Gulf War was the culmination point of this nature of the ‘Designer-War’. ‘Act-Two’ was partially enacted as ‘Act-One’ had produced a very favourable world opinion for a quick surgical operation. The promised mother of all battles of Saddam Hussein turned out to be a damp squib. On one side was the high-tech army of Third Wave civilization which was lean and efficient. On the other side was a low-tech army of Second wave- civilization which was all flab and human mass. It was the brain versus the brawn or the quality versus the quantity. The brain won, the brawn disintegrated.
But imagine a condition where technological parity existed. Say, the erstwhile Soviet Union and the USA; was the third act of the designer war possible? It would not have been allowed by the world body as it had allowed in the case of Iraq. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union the geo-strategic environments have undergone a change. As the 20th Century came to a close, USA was the only ‘Ring Master’ in the world 'Circus of Nations'. It enjoys the freedom of action which no other nation does. It manipulates its freedom of action as it did in the case of IRAQ. Accusing SADDAM HUSSEIN of possessing WMD(Weapons Of Mass Destruction), it moulded the world public nation and destabilised a harmonious and stable IRAQ. Therefore, except the world ‘Ring-Master’ no other nation enjoys the freedom of pursuing its national interests across the borders. Perhaps the votaries of hot pursuit in India ought to understand this.
It would be apparent now that the Designer War aims at graduated escalation of conflict. Though each act of the module is aimed at virtual capitulation of the likely adversary, yet the real capitulation will come through second or third act. Thus, in all situations, the introductory act is a pre-requisite, where battlefield is the world media. But in most cases, either the second or the third act may be omitted. The omission or non-omission is subject to the non-availability of time to wage a protracted ‘Bleeding War’; degree of success achieved in the introductory act and finally the existing technological parity or disparity. If there was near parity in the technological quality of available weapon systems, then third act definitely will not be enacted. In such a case the Designer war may be kept limited only to the Bleeding war phase.
If there was total disparity the Bleeding War phase may only be partially enacted or totally omitted. Also, the success of introductory act is directly related to the third condition of technological parity or disparity. In the age of manifold lethality of nuclear weapons, the last thing the world wants to see is a world wide nuclear conflagration, where there will be no winners. All the same the basic reasons behind NPT (Non-proliferation Treaty) or the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban-Treaty) is not to rid the world of such deadly arsenal of mass-destruction but to allow Nuclear-Heaves a clear monopoly and a basic edge in the ‘Designer-War’ of the future. Albeit unsaid, implicit in these treaties is a clumsy attempt to keep the world unipolar and prevent it from becoming multy-polar.
The theorists of the Designer War in USA had clearly foreseen its implications in the mid-eighties and set upon to fool the world through NPT and START (Strategic arms reductions talks). They insisted on Non-proliferation but not on total destruction or total disarmament. In any case, in the world of today, to talk of total destruction and total disarmament is to fool you. We must know the knowledge and expertise to produce these weapons exists and will be safe-deposited. Therefore, what is the guarantee that they can not be assembled again even if total disarmament was carried out?
All the same, in a way, the availability of nuclear weapons have made the wars of active and naked-aggression, as in the case of Hitler’s war, a totally redundant phenomenon. Come what may, nuclear weapons have come to stablise outward peace in the world. Clandestinely and covertly, nations after nations, yearn for this capability to reduce the threat of naked aggression. If they do not, they will be subjected to a similar humiliation as was Iraq of Saddam Hussein. Whether the five nations of The Nuclear Club accept or do not accept the nuclear-status of the new member, it is immaterial. The fact remains the new member will have a proportionate deterrence to discourage naked aggression.
Thus, as the ‘Nuclar-Haves-Club’ enlarges itself, ‘Active and direct wars’ will be replaced by ‘Bleeding Wars’, where there will be no monkey-dancing across the borders. But a sole thrust will be on exploiting sensitive vulnerabilities deep inside the enemy territory. ‘Fronts’ and ‘Rears’ of the battlefield, as known to mankind, will soon disappear. The condition of ‘ugly-peace’ or ‘ugly-stability’ brought about by proliferating nuclear weapons, will make Bleeding war the only tool of Clavsewitzian concept of war as the other extension of political ambition of a nation. Bleeding War is going to be the order of the day in the first and second or even third decade of the Twenty First Century. Nations after nations are going to fall prey for it. Emphasis will shift to war by other means or WOM and Bleeding Wars will be the results. Internal vulnerabilities of nations will provide adequate spark for ignition by interested adversaries and become the battleground of this new war. Jaipur is the link in this chain.
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PURE FRIENDSHIP COMES WHENCE EGOS BLEED
By chance, we meet and click together,
Memories of the day are fresh as ever!
Jointly we planned a voyage of dreams—
To encounter the odds in our life together.
If you said ‘stop’, we stopped together,
If I said ‘laugh’, we laughed together;
Social codes, though, differently planned—
To dash the hopes of a joint endeavour.
“Go, dear friend!”, we then, did crow-
“Life is a bundle of ecstasy,and sorrows;
Hope drives mankind, hope sustains life,
Certainly, we’ll meet somewhere tomorrow.”
Tears came down as we painfully broke,
The Sun in the distance emitted rays of hope;
Life has moved over ‘roughs’ and ‘troughs’-
Never did we know we could singly cope.
We had, then, made promises together-
“Let us be friends, in life, for ever.”
Miles and miles we have drifted, today-
As I review the dream that was never.
You said and forgot and forgot for ever,
I had heard and learnt and learnt for ever;
Goodness must be taken, evil discarded –
While one moves with rogues and clever .
“As friends”, you said, “We must not explain,
Whatever one says is the truth contained”;
No doubts, friend! This laid the foundation--
Of mutual confidence without any strain.
‘Friend or a foe’, greet with a smiling face-
The spirit defined you in up and down phase;
Wonder! If you feel now, cut above the rest-
For, you certainly show some inhuman graces.
Other day I felt, dear, humiliated so much,
When you boasted of a “MIDAS” touch;
Humbly, I remind you of our golden rule--
“Greatness must show, not claimed as such.”
I know not for sure, I do have a hunch—
People around you, must be sycophants;
True friends emerge when crisis befall-
Fair-weather-birds, fly away in a bunch.
I do plead to you, as it is time to plead –
For, a friend in need is a friend indeed!
Live your dream but trust people with care-
"For, pure friendship comes whence egos bleed.”
A FRIEND IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS US BUT LOVES US ANYWAY-------Jerome Cummings
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Memories of the day are fresh as ever!
Jointly we planned a voyage of dreams—
To encounter the odds in our life together.
If you said ‘stop’, we stopped together,
If I said ‘laugh’, we laughed together;
Social codes, though, differently planned—
To dash the hopes of a joint endeavour.
“Go, dear friend!”, we then, did crow-
“Life is a bundle of ecstasy,and sorrows;
Hope drives mankind, hope sustains life,
Certainly, we’ll meet somewhere tomorrow.”
Tears came down as we painfully broke,
The Sun in the distance emitted rays of hope;
Life has moved over ‘roughs’ and ‘troughs’-
Never did we know we could singly cope.
We had, then, made promises together-
“Let us be friends, in life, for ever.”
Miles and miles we have drifted, today-
As I review the dream that was never.
You said and forgot and forgot for ever,
I had heard and learnt and learnt for ever;
Goodness must be taken, evil discarded –
While one moves with rogues and clever .
“As friends”, you said, “We must not explain,
Whatever one says is the truth contained”;
No doubts, friend! This laid the foundation--
Of mutual confidence without any strain.
‘Friend or a foe’, greet with a smiling face-
The spirit defined you in up and down phase;
Wonder! If you feel now, cut above the rest-
For, you certainly show some inhuman graces.
Other day I felt, dear, humiliated so much,
When you boasted of a “MIDAS” touch;
Humbly, I remind you of our golden rule--
“Greatness must show, not claimed as such.”
I know not for sure, I do have a hunch—
People around you, must be sycophants;
True friends emerge when crisis befall-
Fair-weather-birds, fly away in a bunch.
I do plead to you, as it is time to plead –
For, a friend in need is a friend indeed!
Live your dream but trust people with care-
"For, pure friendship comes whence egos bleed.”
A FRIEND IS THE ONE WHO KNOWS US BUT LOVES US ANYWAY-------Jerome Cummings
Read more...
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