My dear friend John Santosh Rao - dit 'Tiger' - a nickname that we dont know where he picked up from or acquired, but need no 'elementary' sleuthing skills to attribute it to his now-famous silent, nocturnal sorties.
He has been 'prowling' around this blog recently and has unsuccessfully tried posting comments on some of my twisted tales'. Thus before 'tiger' snarls, I'm pasting a few of his responses to selected 'preys' in my blog.
ON THE DEBATE - BUMSTERS OR BOMBS
Hi Ram,
Tried posting this comment on your blog but couldn't, so here goes....
Me being me, I'll limit myself to the practical and give the metaphysical, existential, moral and other facets a miss.
The bumster industry is one of the shining success stories in the otherwise dismal post-globalization economic scenario in Africa.
Post-WTO, Africa has lost out to Asia in manufacturing and to the Old World in services. This might erroneously lead one to doubt that Globalization Heaven - that place in the clouds where all countries have unique products to export and all other countries are tripping over themselves to buy these products - actually exists.
The success of the bumster biz puts paid to such heresy and renews our faith in the capitalist model, sundry bank failures and home foreclosures notwithstanding.
Consider : the old biddies get arm candy (and more) while the bumster gets to travel to Europe in a plane instead of a pirogue. If this is not win-win........!
Instead of thinking of bumsters as a 'menace', I think the authorities should treat bumsters as investors and give them all possible facilities and incentives. For starters, they can be given free gym memberships, german/italian language classes, dreadlock cleaning kits and the like.
After all, like foreign investors, they also wear suits. And unlike foreign investors, they atleast spend a good portion of their earnings in Africa.
Finally, do keep in mind that this is one product which the chinese cannot easily duplicate and flood the market with cheap ripoffs.
How's that for competitive advantage !
Do invite my friend AC to your blog. He's a well-informed and curious guy who lives in Texas. His id is acreddy@gmail.com.
AC, This Ram is Ram Mohan, the Hony Consul General of India in The Gambia, and not to be confused with Ram Saab, who visited with you in Texas last week.
Cheerio.
tiger
Btw, Ram Saab is back this evening and Mike and me are planning to make some meat pickle over the weekend (basically Mike does the pickling and we do the guzzling while occasionally cheering him along).
(My Comment : I added his post-script here as a little ingredient to exhibit the flavour in which he cooked his pickled response)
*****
ON SANCTIONS - Death Sentences for the Dying
Hi Ram,
Why is it so bloody complicated to post a comment on your blog ?
Anyways, here is my two bits' on the sanctions post...........
ram, as bertrand russell said, people have feelings, nations have interests.
western populations and as a consequence, their leaders, no longer have an appetite to receive their soldiers in bodybags. at the same time, they also reserve the right to pontificate to other nations. it maintains the illusion of empire/power, i guess.
how do you reconcile these two contradictory objectives ? simple. you impose sanctions ! so what if a hundred thousand iraqi babies die or thousands of zimbabweans waste away due to cholera. it doesn't cost you one soldier. but it puts you on the moral high ground.
in this game of sanctions, it is important however to make a difference between 'our' bad guys and 'other' bad guys.
imposing sanctions on remote leaders like mugabe or past friends like noriega and saddam is ok. doing the same thing to, say, a saudi arabia (which just today has decreed that a 70-year old woman has to undergo 40 lashes followed by 3 months' imprisonment because she was talking in her house to a 30 year-old whom she treats as a son), is a definite no-no. lest we actually start believing the moral rhetoric, let me make it very clear that human rights can never ever take precedence over oil or other such staples of western life !
tiger
********
Hey TIger - I especially like your take on the 'Bumster Industry'. Ram
Monday, March 9, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
SANCTIONS - Death Sentences for the Dying!
This is something that I've felt very strongly about. Today President OBAMA renewed sanctions on the people of Zimbabwe. And he has just, I fear, not listened to his conscience here. What gives him and the rest of the West an impression that Sanctions are a tool to use against oppressive regimes? Its Paradoxical - These rulers are oppressive. The Sanctions are supposed to make them conscious of their peoples suffering - yet the people suffer as they, the leaders, are and have always been in-conscious of any one elses suffering. The people now suffer more while Mr and Mrs Robert Mugabe continue to live their luxurious extravagant lives with or without sanctions. The poor Zimbabwean people, for whom luxury means living a Cholera free hungry life or have atleast water to drink with a loaf of bread to eat - now find it more difficult to meet these 'luxuries' under sanctions. Anti-Malarials and Cholear vaccines are meant only for the super rich and the politically well connected.
What Sanctions does is to give the Governemnt of Zimbabwe an excuse to continue their oppression and blame the West for it.
The West needs to place travel restrictions on Robert Mugabe and his close family - Put pressure on the Chinese to prevent him from travelling and living 5-star lives in Hong Kong. Ensure that his personal jet is not allowed in any other airspace. Yet they must make trade free with the Zimbabwean people to provide the poor with basic food and medication. I blame the West for the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. I blame Bush and unfortunatley now our African hero, Obama, too.
Similarly wiith Cuba - Castro is a dying man. One must give the devil his due for holding out non violently against a Superpower - right at their doorstep - for several decades against all odds. Sanctions in Cuba have not made Castro weaker - they have made him a cult hero - to moderates like me too. Obama should, in my opinion, give the Cuban people a hug - and we will see an immediate response. One needs to see the suffering brought upon by Sanctions. Black marketeers thrive. The Politically powerful have no problems. Poverty becomes stronger. The Dying suffer and the Dead are the only ones relieved of their suffering.
What Sanctions does is to give the Governemnt of Zimbabwe an excuse to continue their oppression and blame the West for it.
The West needs to place travel restrictions on Robert Mugabe and his close family - Put pressure on the Chinese to prevent him from travelling and living 5-star lives in Hong Kong. Ensure that his personal jet is not allowed in any other airspace. Yet they must make trade free with the Zimbabwean people to provide the poor with basic food and medication. I blame the West for the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. I blame Bush and unfortunatley now our African hero, Obama, too.
Similarly wiith Cuba - Castro is a dying man. One must give the devil his due for holding out non violently against a Superpower - right at their doorstep - for several decades against all odds. Sanctions in Cuba have not made Castro weaker - they have made him a cult hero - to moderates like me too. Obama should, in my opinion, give the Cuban people a hug - and we will see an immediate response. One needs to see the suffering brought upon by Sanctions. Black marketeers thrive. The Politically powerful have no problems. Poverty becomes stronger. The Dying suffer and the Dead are the only ones relieved of their suffering.
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