VINDICA

M B Naqvi makes a realistic assessment of Pakistan's policy options with regards to Kashmir. The conclusion? Make LOC the permanent but porous border and move on towards improving the quality of life of the people.

UN has proposed expanding the security council. At this point, it is anybody's guess as to how India's membership will shape up. It seems unlikely that the current permanent members would let in additional nations into what has become a comfy cabal. What is more likely is a two tier structure that throws a bone to emerging nations.

ABC decides against airing Saving Private Ryan after "American Family Association, which mobilized the mob against "Ryan," was in full blaster-fax and e-mail rage. Its scrupulous investigation had found that the movie's soldiers not only invoked the Bono word 21 times but also, perhaps even more indecently, re-enacted "graphic violence" in the battle scenes."

The New Republic looks at possible Democratic party candidates for the presidential election of 2008 .

John Pilger wrote this piece about the US assault on Fallujah: "Normalizing colonial crimes like the attack on Fallujah requires such racism, linking our imagination to "the other". The thrust of the reporting is that the "insurgents" are led by sinister foreigners of the kind that behead people: for example, by Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian said to be al-Qaeda's "top operative" in Iraq." He also quotes a letter that Fallujah residents sent to Kofi Annan. The fact that we have never heard the voice of Fallujah makes me question the fairness of the media. "Almost a year has elapsed since they created this new pretext and whenever they destroy houses, mosques, restaurants, and kill children and women, they say, 'we have launched a successful operation against Al Zarqawi'. The people of Fallujah assure you that this person, if he exists, is not in Fallujah... and we have no links to any groups supporting such inhuman behav...

"With Blackwill gone, there may not be a strong voice for India anywhere in Bush II. The relationship, unfortunately, is still dependent on personalities and not on the process alone."

Michael C. Desch wrote this balanced view of the Palestinian conflict in the American Conservative magazine.

An interesting statistic pointed out in the story is that: "When the new Congress convenes in January, its fifty-five Republicans will be there on account of the votes of 57.6 million people, while the forty-four Democrats and one independent will be there on account of the votes of 59.6 million people." Winning a lot of small states instead of a few big ones gives the Republicans even bigger advantages in the Senate than in the Presidential election. The piece ends with this eloquent and poignant analysis: "The red-blue split has not changed since 2000. This is not a center-right country. It is a center-right country and a center-left country, but the center has not held. The winner-take-all aspects of our system have converged into a perfect storm that has given virtually all the political power to the right; conservative Republicans will now control the Presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate so firmly that the Supreme Court, which is als...

In the Times of India web edition today, the following is the list of news items: 1. Its all rumour. Arafat still alive. 2. Thackeray wants Rahul Gandhi to marry Indian. 3. Ms Jammu 2001, arrested for acting in a porn movie tells her sordid story. 4. Gangster Abu Salem's girlfriend Monica Bedi has written a letter to the President. 5. Shewag's in-laws involved in fraud charge. 6. Beckham writes to the British parliament saying he liked "Bend it like Bekham". 7. Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma) confesses he likes breasts. 8. Sienna to do steamiest scene ever Having reported the Arafat story as the top headline, I guess the Times decided it has fulfilled its obligations as a newspaper. The rest of the page was hence filled up with pornography of various kinds. And we all thought the American media was vacuous and dumbed down. The kicker is that this is the most widely read English language newspaper in the country. God save India (from the Times).

Kushwant Singh reflects on the riots of 1984 in which thousands of innocent Sikhs were murdered by Hindu mobs. Mr. Singh concludes on an optimistic note, with a call for justice: "(With the appointment of a Sikh as the Prime Minister of India)...the dark months of alienation are over; the new dawn promises blue skies and sunshine for the minorities with only one black cloud remaining to be blown away—a fair deal to families of victims of the anti-Sikh violence of 1984. It was the most horrendous crime committed on a mass scale since we became an independent nation. Its perpetrators must be punished because crimes unpunished generate more criminals."

I have been reading the opinions from a lot of news and opinion outlets getting a feel for the democratic opinion after the defeat. The initial gut reaction seems to have been that the election was lost on the issues of God, guns and gays . However, my own opinion is that it is inherently difficult to dislodge an incumbent in the middle of a real or perceived war . It is to the Democratic party's great credit that they were able to even come so close. In their despondency, the Democrats are unable to see the long term benefits of this election. The energy generated on the Democratic side in this election will be carried forward to the next. The energy on the Republican side, created largely due to some combination of social issues and the war, will not outlast this administration. The Democrats sure need to be reflect and mourn this loss. However, they cannot do this for long. A lot of work needs to be done. Many commentators have suggested that the Democrats adopt a ...

Bush's acceptance speech and Kerry's concession speech both graciously stress the need for Americans to pull together, now that the election is over. It is unlikely that Bush's policies are going to become any more centerist, but I would live to be pleasantly surprised. There is enough of an optimist still left in me to hope.

I wanted to see Bush defeated in this Election. So let me start by saying that this is a difficult one for me to write. Whichever way the Kerry's contest in Ohio turns out, it will remain a fact that Bush won the popular vote in this election by several million votes. When faced with a similar scenario, Nixon conceded the election in spite of being told by all his advisors that Kennedy had cheated in Illinios. Not dividing and radicalizing the country was more important than even party and the presidency. It was a different time. For a party that has spent the last four years legitimately complaining about Bush not being the duly elected President, the Democrats have indeed chosen a curious method to fight the injustice. It is time for Kerry to let go.

Slate predicts a tie in its final electoral college prediction . 269 electoral college votes each. The house of representatives would choose the president in this scenario. Each state gets one vote. This means that Bush will will easily.

Fox, long accused of running the show for the Right, has Kerry leading in its final opinion poll. Ironically, Newsweek and CBS/NY Times polls, which have long been accused of having a Democratic bias, have come out on the side of Bush.