VINDICA

M J Akbar reads the mind of the Indian voter and comes up with a theory of why the voter votes the way she does: "The Indian voter has a simple formula for Indian democracy: he votes for himself. This may seem an obvious reality, but there are nuances."

First piece in a five part series about the prevalence of Hindu extremism in Dharavi.

Advani lays out the implications of communist influence on India's economic policy bluntly. He has the Indian Communists saying: 'It does not matter if the cat cannot catch the mice, but it must be of red colour.' A funny take on Deng's famous quote upon launching China on the path to market economy: 'It does not matter of which colour the cat is, so long as it catches the mice'

Shiv Sainiks are on one hand demanding free power for farmers and on the other hand, setting fire to state electricity board buildings. These guys sure are a piece of work.

Langston Hughes addresses America thus: You really haven't been a virgin for so long It's ludicrous to keep up the pretext . . . You've slept with all the big powers In military uniforms And you've taken the sweet life Of all the little brown fellows . . . Being one of the world's big vampires Why don't you come out and say so Like Japan, and England, and France And all the other nymphomaniacs of power.

German newspaper SPIEGEL's London correspondent admonishes the Brits for their obsession with WWII triumphalism. He suggests that the British should look critically at their own past (colonialism, Kenyan concentration camps, Boer massacres) instead of obsessively searching for Nazi sympathies among the third generation of post war Germans. Gordon Brown aparently said recently that Britain had nothing to be ashamed of about its colonial past. I am sure there are a few sardars in Amritsar who would wish to disabuse him of his stupidity.

New York Observer tears into the whole Star Wars phenominan.

India has come a long way since the day in "July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon; an emergency meeting of her cabinet was called by Indira Gandhi, then Indian Prime Minister to discuss the development. Many of her ministers felt perturbed that the USA had already achieved a major landmark, narrowing down the possible conquests which Indians were planning to make their mark in world history. One of her worthy ministers made the bright suggestion that perhaps India should plan a space mission to the Sun. Others laughed at his suggestion that the sun was too hot for exploration. The wise minister quipped back that perhaps India could plan a space mission to the sun at night!"

An unusually balanced and insightful article about communal harmony. One startling paragraph has the following to say: "Before his death, Ram divided his kingdom between the two sons, installing Lava as ruler of the Northern Koshalas and Kusha king of the Southern ones. It is one of the history’s ironies that both Lava and Kush are said to have migrated from their father’s Ayodhya and in time founded two cities — Lahore and Kasur — both in what is now the Islamic Republic of Pakistan." It ends with an appeal to reason: "It is over a thousand years since Islam came to the subcontinent. It qualifies not be treated as an alien immigrant, nor to be ostracised as an outsider. Is it not time that the various communities of the subcontinent — the Muslims, the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Christians — forgive a millennia of grudges and make peace with each other?" Amen

A satellite photo of the Korean peninsula at night. There is no question of where south ends and north begins!

Pat Buchanan questions American Foreign policy. "Why should the United States invest blood and treasure effecting regime change that could bring to power an anti-American populist – as happened when the kings and emperors fell in Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Iran and Ethiopia? Making the Middle East democratic may mean an end to monarchy. But it may also mean our expulsion from the region and a final Arab confrontation with Israel. Is that a goal for which we should shed American blood?"

It is amazing how the same story can be distorted to give totally opposing viewpoints. In this particular case, the event is the Muslim law board in India and its decisions on marriage and divorce in the muslim community. The Times of India story makes the Muslim Law board sound like some kind of a 19th century reactionary creature, while the story in The Hindu makes them sound decidedly progressive. For the record, I have trusted the Hindu for decades now. Times of India is now well set on the path to becomming a irrelevant tabloid.

After years of lying low, bidding its time ("hiding its brightness"), a new consensus is emerging among the Chinese foreign policy think tanks. A more nuanced approach to international relations is emerging. China is on the move.