What is your mission?

By Dr. Haider Mehdi

Unusual as it was, Dubai in the UAE remained under dark clouds, chilled, and rainy for several days last week. Equally unusual, at about the same time, was the fact that Pakistan’s Attorney-General, Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum, a symbol of the neo-colonial mindset of the incumbent political establishment in Islamabad, was spotted shopping all alone, unattended by the subservient bureaucracy of the consulate’s office, in a Hypermarket at the Dubai Festival City. Indeed, it was an indication that the Attorney-General, wanting to be unnoticed, was on a secret mission in the Emirates.

Then came the news that Asif Zardari was also in town to see his children. What a coincidence! This was followed by other news that the Attorney-General had met the PPP Chairperson and offered him the premiership of an interim administration on the pre-condition of accepting certain government demands that included postponing the elections for another year. In the meantime, the General (retd) has been telling his audiences in Western Europe that there is “no way” elections could be delayed.

No less surprising, another media story surfaced: Shahbaz Sharif, President PML (N), had flown to Islamabad to inquire about the health of an old friend, a retired army officer who happens to be a close confidant of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. By absolute coincidence, it was claimed, the younger Sharif and the retired Brigadier flew to London for a medical checkup at about the same time.

In the meantime, the General (retd) continues to claim, abroad as well as at home, that by imposing emergency and dismissing the Supreme Court judges on November 3, 2007, he has upheld the constitution of Pakistan. How one justifies such an absurd and contradictory claim is only known to the General (retd).  Ironically, in a similar analogous assertion, the General’s (retd) personal friend and staunch supporter, George W. Bush, considers himself “a president of peace” – notwithstanding a “holocaust” in which over a million and a half people have perished so far in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.  This human carnage has been explicitly orchestrated by his 8-year neo-conservative ultra-Right-Christian-supported regime in Washington D.C. This is despite the fact that the Center for Public Integrity in the US says that the top US officials, including President Bush, lied 935 to the American public and the world in a two-year period leading to the Iraq war – in spite of this, the American president maintains that he and his administration were merely the unwitting victims of “bad intelligence”. Amazing incidents of deliberately intended falsehood, aren’t they? What can you say about these shameful charades of the ultra-Right-Wing politicians?

An internet website is currently circulating two pictures of the former two-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In the first photograph taken nearly 2 decades ago, Nawaz Sharif is seen on the mazar (grave) of General Zia-ul-Haq saying, “Hum ap ka mission poora karain gay (We will accomplish your mission).” In the second picture, the former Prime Minister is at Benazir’s mazar (grave) and repeating exactly the same statement verbatim, “Hum ap ka mission poora karain gay.”  What is this twice- (in two different eras) promised mission exactly?

No human relationships, honorable, dependable, mutual, respectable and lasting can be built on falsehood – let alone solid, healthy and confident relationships between political leaderships and the national masses at large. The war in Iraq is based on falsehoods.  So is the so-called incidental meetings between the Attorney-General and Asif Zardari. Contrary to the impression given in the media, the meeting between Shahbaz Sharif and the brigadier was pre-planned for specific political purposes. Similarly, the General’s (retd) assertions, in totality, are based on absolute falsehood and are intended to manipulate the public and the global audience. Just as Nawaz Sharif’s two declarations of “Hum ap ka mission poora karain gay” are purely rhetorical for public consumption.

Falsehood, at an individual level is precipitated by three fundamental psychological factors: (a) The people who habitually lie have no respect for the intelligence of others. They assume that others cannot figure out the truth. Also, they believe that if a lie is told consistently and continually, it will eventually be taken as “the truth” (this is the basis of the media-driven democracy doctrine in the US in the present technological civilization). Politicians (mostly the ultra-Right-Wing media-dependent majority) make another addition to this psychological equation: they believe that people have short memories, and there is no moral dilemma involved in lying to the public.

The second factor at the base of individual falsehood is that the feelings of others, in mutual interaction and human discourse, are not considered as important. What is assumed important is one’s personal agenda and its fulfillment. Politicians’ interpretation of this component is that the masses are too ignorant and lack basic intelligence to understand the dynamics of Realpolitik – It is not the public’s role to decide what and what not to be said in a given situational context. Nor does the public have the right to make judgments on national issues.  It is simply a prerogative that belongs to politicians, who are obviously knowledgeable and in power.

The third element that operates within the psyche of individual falsehood is personal arrogance and intrinsic disrespect for seeking mutually and an in-depth strength of relationship with others: “If you do not like what I say and do, then tough luck. It is your problem, not mine.”  Politicians extend this personal arrogance to another psychological level: “We are above and apart from the public.  We make history.  We know what you don’t. The common people neither have the right nor the knowledge nor the vision to question our judgments.”

The question is: If the politicians and the present ruling leadership in Pakistan (for that matter globally, especially in the US) are so aptly visionary, then why are we at the edge of an abyss today? One explanation of the prevailing chaos is the politics of falsehood that has become the “modus-operandi” of our political existence and the intended perpetuation of the said system.

At a time of a seemingly national political renaissance (thanks to the civil society, lawyers and the courageous judges of the apex courts), Asif Zardari did not have to lie to the nation about a pre-planned meeting with a top government functionary; all he had to do was to tell the nation that he wanted to find out about the government’s offer and make a counter-proposal to benefit the national movement for the restoration of democracy.  Shahbaz Sharif did not have to invent a story which no one considers credible; he simply had to say that he wanted to listen to what was being proposed to him. Nawaz Sharif should have remembered that people, after all, do not have such short memories, neither are the masses so remote from understanding what is going on in their country. Nawaz Sharif should have qualified his statements with a reasonable and sensible explanation.

As for the incumbent political establishment, we all know that its leadership suffers from an incurable paralysis of political incorrectness, lack of vision, poor management skills, and above all, from a futility of falsehood that cannot be healed – nor can it be restored to any meaningful dimension that is the call of our time. Judging from the severity of its misjudgments and flawed political decision-making this administration is beyond the possibility of redemption or salvation.

Surely, we as a nation have the right to know where the leadership of both the PPP and the PML (N) firmly stand on the questions of a national political renaissance movement – unequivocally.

What is your mission?

Let it be known that the masses are not ignorant, neither are they willing to accept falsehood as the ideological “modus-operandi” of our political existence.

Perhaps the nation should listen to Imran Khan more attentively, more carefully – more diligently – that is where a clear line is being drawn between political falsehood and the political truth of our times!

Seek the truth – and the truth shall set you free…!

The Nation, January 30, 2008

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Kaiser Bengali explains the Economic performance of Shaukat Aziz and Musharaff's claims

Kaiser Bengali is currently working for Collective for Social Science Research, a research company based in Karachi, economist Bengali has also served as the managing director Social Policy Development Centre between 2001-2004. Here he talks with TNS about a range of issues and gives his own economic blueprint which is closely tied up with politics. Excerpts of the interview follow:

The News on Sunday (TNS): How do see the relationship between military regimes and economic progress?
Kaiser Bengali (KB): There is a myth about development and economic performance of military regimes. In Pakistan, Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Musharraf have all received unprecedented support from IMF and World Bank. In the case of Musharraf, it was the rescheduling and, of course, money that was coming as rental from the United States for using our space.

There were four factors which contributed to the high growth during the Zia period, none of which can be located in Zia’s economic policy. The oil price shock hit the world in 1973 but it was 1975-77 when the first emigrants from Pakistan began to leave for Saudi Arabia and it was 1978 when the remittance inflow began and it peaked in 1982onwards. So the price of the oil price shock was borne by the Bhutto regime but the benefits were accrued by the Zia regime. This rate of remittance inflow gave the govt sufficient fiscal space.

Second, there were very large investments made during the Bhutto period that had long gestation periods. The Pakistan Steel Mills construction started in 1974, and it started commercial production in1982. Similarly there were Heavy Mechanical Complex, Indus Highway, Heavy Electrical Complex, Port Qasim and Ittehad Chemicals (chemical lindustry’s foundation was laid in 1970s and chemicals are a major input in a large number of consumer industries). So this investment in the 1970s began to fruit in the 1980s leading to large chunk of output increases.

Third, because of Afghan war Pakistan received enormous amount of foreign funding, almost unlimited.

And fourth, Zia resorted very heavily on borrowing and deficit financing. When he took over the debt-GDP ratio of the country was 24%and in 1988 when Zia left the scene, it was 48%. So if you get manna form heaven your performance will be good. However, the poor performance of Zia regime became apparent in the 1990s and till later.

TNS: What happened in the 1990s?
KB: In the 1990s the civilian governments had no fiscal space because all the resources they had were mobilized for repaying the dept which Zia had left them. You will recall in 1984, Mahboob ul Haq, Zia’s finance minister floated whitener bonds with a ten year maturity period. They matured in 1994. If you look at the budget of 1994, debt service rate went very high - almost 40% in nominal terms. Zia government had collected money and spent it [on defense], so in 1994Benazir government had to repay that money.

So, if you say 1990 were not an era of good economic performance, it was there were no resources. I once asked somebody very senior in Nawaz Sharif government as to why the ninth five year plan was not being prepared. His reply was that whenever the economic team met, all they discussed was when was the next installment due and where would the money come from. He said there was no point in discussing any thing else.

TNS: In this backdrop how do you look at the economic performance of Musharraf in the last eight years?
KB: GDP growth rate is an average of growth in its component sectors. So in the years that GDP growth rate was around 8%, in 2003 for instance, banking sector growth rate was 29% and the automobile sector growth rate was 45%. Now if you have some sectors where growth rate is so high, your average will go up, even if the variance is very high.

The banking sector growth rate was high because the government, or the State Bank rather, allowed consumer financing from 2002 onwards. The monetary was you could get a loan for a house, car, fridge, camera, if for nothing else, a vacation or a personal loan. Banks made enormous profits out of consumer credit and profits are a component of GDP. A lot of this credit was going in for buying cars so automobile production went up by 40-45%.

So basically it was a one legged growth and that one leg is consumer financing. You remove consumer financing, everything else collapses. You are only managing an economy for your numbers to look good, for headlines.

TNS: What is the other leg of the economy?
KB: Largely there are two legs of an economy, agriculture and manufacturing. The services sector is the body. If you look at the national accounts, more than 50% of growth of GDP is coming from services sector. Agriculture is stagnant, and so is manufacturing barring one or two sectors, like automobiles. Today we have an economy with weak legs and a bloated body. It is not sustainable.

TNS: What is wrong with consumer financing?
KB: What it did was that it increased money supply in the economy. In the first two years, inflation remained low because there was excess manufacturing capacity in the country. So factories which were operating at two shifts began to operate at three shifts and the supply increased. But once that capacity was reached demand continued to increase because people kept going to restaurants and kept paying out of credit cards. Once supply was constant and demand continued to increase inflation was the result. Sp today we have runaway inflation, nearly double digit and food inflation which is certainly more than12%.

Another things that has happened is that a lot of demand has been created for imported products. W are importing billion dollars worth of mobile phones. We are importing cars, because we only assemble cars here. And with cars come petroleum imports as well.

So we have created two problems: inflation that is out of control and a trade imbalance. Our imports have risen sharply while the exports are stagnant. And this is what the coming government is going to inherit. Just as Zia gave a debt mountain to the incoming government, the Musharraf regime is going to give the next government a massive foreign exchange crisis.

TNS: What about the outgoing government’s privatization policy?
KB: Our services deficit which has always been very small is rising sharply because of our privatization and foreign investment policy. All the large entities have been privatized to foreign companies. And the investment (FDI) has been in terms of telecommunications, mobile phones and food. All of these companies earn their profits in rupees but remit their profit in dollars. So there is dollar outflow in terms of profit remittance against which there is no dollar inflow. We have created a liability without creating a countervailing asset.

In 1999 total profit remittance outflow, which in monetary language is called reverse remittance, was 97 million dollars a year. Today it is close to a billion dollars and rising.

TNS: About PTCL, is there a justification for a profit-making enterprise?

KB: There was no real policy or principle involved. This is a neo-liberal government which believes it is not the business of the government to be in business. What they have done is that that have sold PTCL to a company which is a state enterprise. So de facto their policy was that is not the business of the Pakistani state to be in business in Pakistan but it can be the business of a foreign state to be in business in Pakistan.

TNS: There is a massive power and energy crisis n the country. Where did we go wrong?
KB: The last investment that was made in the power sector was in the Ghazi Barotha project, which was an achievement of the political governments of the 1990s. In 1988, the Benazir govt. saw a power crisis coming and they went ahead with establishing thermal power plants which takes about three years to build. If those power plants had not been setup, we would have seen the same situation in 1990sthat we have today. There would have been power outages for eight to ten hours.

Since 1999, the Musharraf regime has not invested n a single megawatt of power. In 2001, we had surplus power, today we are living with power shortage. When Benazir’s govt. contracted to buy power at 6cents per hour, there was excessive criticism. Today, for one project they are contracting at 11.5 cents per hour. Today, the world knows that we have a power crisis, it will increase its power knowing that Pakistan has no choice but to buy.

So it is mismanagement of the highest order of the economy. All the investment that they talk about is either portfolio investment, which is the stock market, equity markets or soft investments like telecommunications. These are all investments which do not require these companies to build any brick and mortar and steel structures. So if they have to leave at 24 hours notice, they don’t lose much. What do banks lose, furniture?

TNS: But they have paid huge licensing fees.
KB: That is peanuts compared to the kind of profits they have made. They have recovered several times their licensing fees.

TNS: So are big dams like Kalabagh the only solution to the energy crisis?
KB: Dams don’t produce water, they only store water and you don’t have water. Even now you cannot store water in Tarbela and Mangla to their full capacity.

TNS: You are a strong advocate of low GDP growth rates. Comment.
KB: For about ten years we need to run an economy where the finance minister and the prime minister have the courage not to get good headlines. We need to invest in infrastructure which has deteriorated to a point that we don’t have productive capacity.

When you are investing in infrastructure, and by that I also mean cities which are totally chaotic where no foreigners wants to come, and physical and human infrastructure, the results are going to come after a while. So you are not going to get any output and the GDP is going to be low. Ten years later when you have infrastructure in place then you can target double digit growth rates. That growth will be based on real sectors - on agriculture and manufacturing outputs, not an hot air balloon sectors like mobile phones. By doing so, you will have a massive boost in employment, income generation and poverty reduction.

As for inflation it will be controlled by switching expenditures from current heads to development heads - by abolishing concurrent list ministries and reducing defense expenditure.

TNS: In an idea economic model, what sort of a role do you see for the private and public sector.
KB: Private sector is good in producing those commodities, which are low technology and require small capital investments. We have seen that our private sector is unable to put together large outlays. We have no one in this country of the caliber of Tata or Ambani in India. These are areas where the state will invest.

TNS: But then the state tends to over staff?
KB: There is no problem with that. This is where your economic and social values come in. Is the purpose of the state merely to fill the pockets of profit makers? Or is the state supposed to work for the welfare of the maximum number of people?

It’s a value judgement. When Shaukat Aziz went out for all out privatization, he made a value judgement. The welfare of the people of Pakistan didn’t matter, what mattered was the corporate profits and he made that decision accordingly. As a state we need to determine what are our values. Are we prepared to have a few people who can enjoy summer holidays in Switzerland and the rest of the people virtually starving? If that is acceptable, then fine. We should follow that policy.

TNS: And now to the most immediate issues. How do you look at the current food crisis?
KB: There was a mala fide intention to begin with. The Shaukat Aziz ministry (Finance) predetermined the growth rate they want to achieve. So when you increase the wheat output you increase the agricultural sector growth rate. When you do that GDP growth rate will go up.

There was something else that was suspect here. The estimate for the wheat crop is made after the rains, but this time they mad an announcement of a bumper crop before the winter rains and, based on that announcement, allowed certain part to export wheat to India, apparently half a million tones. After that transaction was complete, the rains came and news began to come in that we are going to have a normal crop. A normal crop means that you import two million tones of wheat which is a routine

Because they had earlier announced a bumper crop, they took time to admit that they were wrong. So the LC for import of wheat was also delayed. One wheat had been exported and we had a normal crop, the wheat market knew there was to be a shortage. Now stockists every wherein the world will behave like that that when they know there is a shortage and prices can go up, they withhold their stocks. They are not evil people. This is normal behavior and this is what a market economy will do if there is a shortage.

They made another mistake. Instead of placing an order for 2 million tonnes of wheat, they placed an order of 1.5 million tonnes of wheat first. Then they realised this mistake and placed another order for half a million tonnes of wheat. After their first order, the signal had already gone out in the market that shortage will remain. So they continued to withhold stocks. If they knew that wheat was arriving and prices will fall, they would have released stocks and that would have taken care of the shortage.

TNS: Prices of other commodities have doubled alongside?
KB: There are two components of economic management: fiscal policy and monetary policy. The State Bank is following a restrictive monetary policy while the finance ministry is following a liberal fiscal policy, one is contradicting the other and neither of them effective. The government is borrowing heavily from the State Bank for its expenditure. That means the money supply increases. On one hand, the State Bank is trying to restrict money supply by increasing interest rates, and on the other the government is raising the money supply. When money supply increases prices will rise.

There is another reason for increasing food prices. Our agricultural yield per acre is constant on declining for most crops because we are not investing in our land, in supporting agriculture. The government’s adhocism is causing problems. When the government suddenly imported tomatoes and prices crash. As a result the farmer will not grow tomato next year, shifting the crisis to the next year.

For eight years Shaukat Aziz has mismanaged the economy like no other finance minister. Because Shaukat Aziz knew he does not has to go back and ask people for votes, he couldn’t care less about what he did to the economy. All he had to show for was the stock market performance which is only hot air.

Courtesy Teeth Meastro

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Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

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Torrent for his interesting book

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GOD FATHER

          
         

Now is the time to think about our future, not just "my" or my family's future because frankly speaking, Pakistan has no raison d'etre (The purpose that justifies a thing's existence). If there ever was a reason in the first place, that was Islam, and unless we are willing to make a marked difference there, I'm afraid, history, nature and time have shown again and again, that things without any purpose haven't had too long a time. They are destroyed and forgotten, not nurtured and grown or given numerous chances. Apart from a few prayers here and there, we are involved in every form of disgusting practices that Allah has forbidden in Quran or are ethically and morally incorrect. It's a matter of few years perhaps before we are going to be physically slaves to a more principled or powerful nation, although mentally, we are already slaves to the american dream of capitalism. We want to be rich over night, and want to lead luxurious lives!! We should either leave Pakistan now, now that we can, now that there's still time, or else, make immediate reform. Why don't we start from the man in the mirror!!!

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Welcome To The Technocratic Dark Age Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Enslavement

By Michael Vail
As posted at Intel Strike

“The Technocratic Age is slowly designing an every day more controlled society. The society will be dominated by an elite of persons free from traditional values (!) who will have no doubt in fulfilling their objectives by means of purged techniques with which they will influence the behavior of people and will control and watch the society in all details”. “… it will become possible to exert a practically permanent watch on each citizen of the world”.

- Zbigniew Brzezinski, co-founder of Trilateral Commission

There are many today that have become accustomed to living in servitude. The systems of control are layers upon layers, so much so that the average Joe would rather succumb to it than to fight it. I have taken a hard look at these control mechanisms; we are living in a matrix of constant manipulation. We need to deeply examine it and ourselves if we are ever going to free ourselves from it. Let us go now into the rabbit hole.

Systems of Control:

The two dimensional political paradigm:

The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can “throw the rascals out” at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy. – Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope p. 1247

We are given false choices with misrepresentative government officials. Take your pick, Democrat or Republican. There are some naïve people in this world who think we decide who will be president of the United States. The harsh reality is that the Bilderberg Group[1] and the Council on Foreign Relations makes their picks and we vote on ‘Diebold’ machines from the list they have already arranged. The whole election process is choreographed like WWF wrestling.

The political spectrum is so narrow that the debate is always left verses right. The Pournelle chart[2] originally showed that people are not so limited in their political stances and that for people like myself libertarians we have commonality with both Democrats and Republicans but only in certain areas. The Republicrats are in place only to make sure that America does not return to a constitutional republic. They will continue to trot out these slick snake oil salesmen but we aren’t buying it anymore.

Group Think/Adult Peer Pressure:
In this world of compact cities and gated communities we have exchanges of thoughts and ideas with friends and family. It is only natural to want to get along with everyone and have them respect you. That is why many people cannot tell others their beliefs if it is outside the norm. In your heart you may know for a fact that 9/11 is an inside job but you can’t admit to your friends and family because you believe that they will look down on you. So you just talk about ball games and mundane issues around the water cooler. You are engaging in self-censorship which will only lead to self hatred and depression

This is called group think. I like to call it adult peer pressure because that is exactly what it is. ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ is another form of group think. You are constantly putting yourself in debt up to your eyeballs because you feel you need to buy something that your neighbor bought so that you can be apart of the ‘in’ crowd. You criticize others who do not think with the crowd and will even be willing to do horrible things to others when you are with your peer group. That is exactly how the brown shirts terrorized Nazi Germany and the Nashi[3] bullies Russia today

Television and the Hypnotic State:
The television has caused irreparable damage to our society. Today you can drive around your neighborhood and see the hypnotic blue glow of the ubiquitous television set. Families no longer talk to each other but go to their separate rooms to watch television. Children used to get exercise by going outside to play football or baseball and now many children[4] are obese[5] and out of shape. To put it bluntly, the television is an emotional stimulation box. You can find people staring at the tele with their mouths open and tears rolling out of their eyes.

The television creates the state of mind which leads to ‘mind fog’[6]. That is how people can watch television for hours and not even notice. What is far more sinister is that the television is literally programming your mind. When you watch television your brain shifts from the left-hemisphere the analytical side to the right hemisphere which leads to accepting ideas in wholes without thinking. If children are raised on television[7] from an early age they don’t begin speaking and reading properly[8] as their brains become right-hemisphere dominant.

What’s worse is that too much television can lead to a spike of endorphins[9], a natural sedative similar to heroin and opium. So you can be literally addicted[10] to the TV. If you watch more than 4 hours of television a day try to stop watching it for a week and you will suffer withdrawals and mood changes. There is a part of the conscious mind called the ‘critical factor’ which prevents your subconscious mind from being affected by outside stimuli. As soon as you turn on your television set the critical factor[11] is bypassed and your subconscious mind is under a barrage of suggestions. You might want to drive to Wendy’s for a juicy burger or buy a used car. Your brain is being programmed by advertisers and they have mastered the art of CFB ‘critical factor bypass’.

Now think about every time you have watched CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. These mockingbird media anchors are shaping your opinions and altering your thoughts. Turn off the television and do not let the television babysit your children. There will be a generation of children who cannot speak or read properly be cause of this infernal box. These will be the leaders of our society in the future. Now do you realize the matrix of manipulation that we live in?

Blind Patriotism:

“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.” – Malcolm X

There is a segment of our population who are cheerleaders for the neoconservatives. They believe might makes right and the ends justify the means.
They squat in front of their television sets and watch the fireworks from far, far away. Sitting there drinking beer and enjoying the carnage from their soft Lay-Z boy chair. Sadly they almost get sexually excited watching a country get smart bombed. Standing up saluting President Bush as he puts on a uniform like some tin-pot dictator under a banner that says ‘mission accomplished’. These people make my physically ill. They are lost in the wilderness of the matrix and are nothing more than slaves watching their lords go to the crusades.

Final Thoughts:
These so-called elites are waging a war on the population. We are punch-drunk from a nonstop PSYOP campaign and also being physically and chemically brainwashed. We stare at the television, drink the fluoridated water, eat the genetically modified foods and ask for seconds. Let’s find our way out of this technocratic hell and detox our friends and families. Even if you have to give them some tough love it is worth it. I at least want to look my ancestors in the eye and said that I tried to change the world around me.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever. – George Orwell, 1984

 

Notes:

1. WorldNetDaily. Will secret clubs pick next prez? 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58425.

2. Answers. Pournelle Chart. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.answers.com/topic/pournelle-chart-1.

3. New York Times. Youth Groups Created by Kremlin Serve Putin’s Cause. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/world/europe/08moscow.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.

4. Daily Mail. Child TV addicts ‘are greedy and unhappy’. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=468603&in_page_id=1770.

5. Media Family. Media Use And Obesity Among Children. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_tvandobchild.shtml.

6. AC. Your Brain Waves Change When You Watch TV -Low Alpha Waves Can Lead to “Mind Fog”. 2007 cited; Available from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/pop_print.shtml?content_type=article&content_type_id=247802.

7. Marita Huxholl. Television and Child Development by Marita Huxholl. cited; Available from: http://www.willungawaldorfschool.com.au/pages/Resources/Television%20&%20Child%20Development.pdf.

8. Japan Today. Too much TV spoils kids’ speaking skills. 2001 cited; Available from: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/kuchikomi/140.

9. BBC. TV ‘can numb pain for children’. 2006 cited; Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4795287.stm.

10. Naira Yaqoob. TV Invasion An Addiction to Resist! 2006 cited; Available from: http://www.boloji.com/perspective/176.htm.

11. Infinity Institute. Hypnosis. What it is not. What it is. How it works. How it is used. cited; Available from: http://www.infinityinst.com/articles/hyp_whatis.html


Welcome To The Technocratic Dark Age Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Enslavement at Go Think Blog

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New World Order and Education

Published December 3rd, 2007 in Control the Past, Control the Future, Social Engineering & Psycho-Social Change Agents, New World Order.

This article is about negative changes in education that cannot be explained by any competent, professional justification. Although reasons are being given to rationalize them, a quick summary of these changes, shown in a larger political context, is alarming. The fact that all of them started after the collapse of the Soviet Union and all point in one direction indicates deliberate sabotage.

By Lech Biegalski
As posted at Candawatch.org

The Ideological Competition Is Over
Second World War did not end in 1945. It continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term “Cold War” referred not only to the arms race but also to the ideological competition between communism and capitalism in which political propaganda played a major role. In response to the Warsaw Pact, the West created NATO. In response to the Workers’ Rights, the West promoted Human Rights. In response to communist social programs, the West established its own social support networks.

Those who grew up on this continent may not understand my conclusions. While living in Poland from 1950s till mid 1980s, I regularly listened to Polish language broadcasts of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. These propaganda tubes, funded under the umbrella of the U.S. Congress, consistently painted a picture of America as a paradise in which freedom, democracy, human rights, job security, high standard of living and excellent social programs allowed people to live with dignity. ‘Happy American Families’ was the most appealing theme.

On the other side of the Iron Curtain, the “representatives of the working class” ran communism and the working families were supposed to have it better there. By investing in people, by creating higher standard of living and decent social conditions in the West, western elites stirred an ideological conflict in the Soviet Block and inspired revolts in Eastern Europe that contributed to the collapse of communism.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, the West won the war, and the ideological competition was over. “Restructuring” was implemented promptly and our 46 year old magic carpet began to roll back. And so did job security, high standard of living, decent social programs, full time jobs, paid holidays, benefits, democracy and the focus on human rights and human dignity in general. It seems that all the goodies we enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s were not given to us out of a genuine support for decent life of working families. It seems that they were not “won” in a struggle between the workers and the capitalists. Rather, they were temporarily used by the elites as weapons in the ideological war between the West and the East. The war is now over and so is “capitalism with human face.”

Culture

“Body and soul make up man and all that is human and bears any kind of relation to man; all this possesses form and content, an internal and an external side. Fullness of life requires both, for the failure of one leads to dislocation of the whole. To the internal, spiritual side of life belong the concepts of Good (morality) and Truth; to the bodily, health and prosperity; in addition there exists the category of Beauty common to body and soul. There is no manifestation of life which does not bear some relation to one of these categories, often to two or more. Here every fact and every opinion belongs.” — Prof. Feliks Koneczny, Plurality of Civilisations, 1935.

At the beginning of the 20 century, a new science was born in Europe. It was allowed to grow for three decades before being classified and contained in secret institutions. It was called “Historiosophy” or Philosophy of History. One of the leading representatives of Historiosophy was Prof. Feliks Koneczny of the University of Vilno.

Koneczny believed that civilizations were formed by people sharing common priorities and common cultural values. He argued that historical changes have always been enabled by dynamically changing values and priorities. His work concentrated on these values and on five domains of human activities in which all these values originated and existed. Following is a short summary of his core theory.

All human activities can be contained in five existential domains. Koneczny called them the Domain of Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Health, and Prosperity. In this summary, we will use more modern terms:

1. Intellectual Domain - includes purely intellectual activities. In this domain people try to recognize the Truth and distinguish between True and False. Activities that fall into this domain include education, research, sciences, and all other sources of information based on facts, logic, and rational, realistic approach.
2. Moral and Legal Domain - includes moral values and legal regulations. In this domain people distinguish between Good and Bad, and also between Right and Wrong. Fields in this category include religion, traditional customs and moral values, as well as the whole cluster of legal sciences and activities.
3. Emotional and Spiritual Domain - includes emotions and spiritual experiences. In this domain people distinguish between their likes and dislikes based on their feelings, and experience happiness, sadness, anger, fear, love, hate, jealousy, pride, shame, and spiritual fulfilment. Art, Music, supernatural beliefs, good taste, fashion, religion, fanaticism, sad times, happy times, and many other emotionally loaded activities can be found in this domain.
4. Biological Domain - includes all activities that promote and protect healthy living. Examples include food production, healthy diet, active life style, hygiene, and clean environment, as well as all medical and pharmaceutical services.
5. Economical Domain - represents all activities that provide material security and well-being.

Using concrete examples, taken from historical sources, Koneczny showed that many of the basic cultural values contained in each of these five domains are common between different civilizations. For example, most civilizations recognize killing, stealing, lying, and cheating as Bad and Wrong. However, many other values may be interpreted differently. What is deemed true in one culture, may be deemed false in another. For example, the story of Creation in different religious traditions differ from each other and differ from the theory of evolution. Another example is the old Indian tradition of (male) public masturbation, as an expression of religious ecstasy, which could hardly be recognized as “Beautiful” by any Western cultural or religious standards.

According to Koneczny, differences within specific domains have a minor impact on the culture as a whole. What is more important is the hierarchy of the domains themselves. To understand it better, write down the five existential domains in order of your priorities, from the most important in your life, to the least important. Note that the first, the top domain is especially important, as it is the one for which you will sacrifice all other values, whenever you make your choices. Even though different people will come up with different priorities, and consequently will make different choices in their lives, culture on a scale of a nation can be defined as a prevailing system of existential domains, usually supported by local religions or ideologies, and accompanied by the Triple Law governing the organization of clans: Family Law, Property Law, and Inheritance Law. Using this classification, Koneczny concluded that there were only between 20 and 30 different civilizations in all human history. Seven of them still exist today.

How important is culture? Nations that have been wiped off the map know that preserving cultural values, when all other means of resistance fail, is the only way to stay strong and united. People in Quebec have preserved their national identity for hundreds of years. Poland has regained independence after 10 generations of foreign occupation. Culture is a backbone of a nation. This is why the burning of libraries and pauperization of culture always accompany occupation and assimilation efforts. Resistance and patriotism are proportional to the degree of national and cultural identity.

I have a strong feeling that we are experiencing the same phenomena today. It is better camouflaged but I can see many examples of a deliberate destruction of traditional Western culture that is being sacrificed on the altar of the New World Order. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, we witness an unprecedented attack on nationalism, family, religion, education, human rights, labour movement, and every institution promoting patriotism, critical thinking and social solidarity. This also explains why “the system” supports “multiculturalism”, and other modern “trends” opposite to traditional customs and values. Big push to derail the young generation into the virtual culture and virtual world of computer and video games completes the picture.

The Role of the State
Political systems become “official” and “binding” through an organization called state. States, with their legislative, executive and judiciary branches, provide the elites with means of control that keep in check the rest of the society. Manipulation of public opinion through “embedded” media and powerful lobbies, through which the elite ensures the support of the “representatives of the people”, complete the picture. This role of a state is universal and applies equally to kingdoms, to most of the so called western democracies, to communist or other totalitarian dictatorships and to states run by religious fundamentalists. The name is not important; what counts is the mechanism, the way it works.

In an ideal world, the state would promote and protect the cultural values historically developed and traditionally accepted in a given society. Such a state would act as an “a posteriori” stamp guarding and reflecting the popular values, traditions, and aspirations of the majority. In most cases, however, the situation is opposite. The state becomes an “a priori” tool used to implement policies that serve the best interest of an outside force (a foreign power or an occupant), or the best interest of an inside minority (the elite). These policies are forced upon the majority without any regard to their historical and cultural background and often, without any regard to the official democratic obligations of the state itself.

The New World Order
According to many progressive thinkers, the New World Order is an attempt, by international elites, to monopolize our political and economical reality on a global scale. It is also said to include demographic modifications, especially the depopulation policy aimed at reducing the overgrown world’s population. Successful implementation of the New World Order would mark the end of democracy, the end of national self-determination, the end of human rights, and the end of many publicly run services (including health care and education.)

An open announcement of these changes would most certainly cause massive and violent protests worldwide. This is why they are being introduced gradually, secretly, and with a great degree of disinformation. The use of powerful lobbies and financial incentives to corrupt politicians, the use of a network of strategically located enablers, and the use of corporate media to cover up the truth and to spread propaganda, prove that preparations for the entire operation took a lot of time and planning. The lack of substantial opposition within the system also proves the presence of an organized web of willing collaborators who infiltrated the system and are doing the “dirty work” for the elites. It is often hard to believe that the elites managed to extend their power over so many control posts across the combined economical, political, and social spectrum of our life. Perhaps this is where the scepticism and the term “conspiracy theory” originate from. Unfortunately, the fact that all changes point in one direction, excludes the possibility of a coincidence. Opportunism and conformism are wide spread in a society that continues to liberate itself from any restrictions, moral values included.

As part of the New World Order agenda, all sources of independent cultural values have been placed under attack. This includes the institutions of family and church, the organizations of human rights, labour, and international law, as well as many traditional means of promoting moral values (for example in literature, art, and media.) We are witnessing unprecedented attempts to “deregulate” traditional family model, to weaken parental authority, and to reduce the quality time families spend together. We see under-funding, overloading, and confusing of public education and public health care in an attempt to destroy their effectiveness and prepare grounds for privatization. We see the closing of affordable, out-of-town, recreational opportunities for working families in an attempt to contain lower class masses in city ghettos. We witness efforts to reduce various survival and ‘handy-man’ skills, resulting in increased public dependency on state and corporate services. We see the cost of living growing to unreasonable levels. Consequently, we see decreasing standard of living and increasing poverty, a trend that makes it impossible for most working families to achieve financial independence, a trend that traps people in mortgages and credit loans for a lifetime, a trend that enslaves people. We see increasing support for multiculturalism and deregulation of most cultural, moral, and national standards. Considering that all these “restructuring” changes started to take effect immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this, too, can hardly be seen as a coincidence.

In a rich country people should be rich. System that increases the wealth of the elites at the expense of the masses is a colonial system focused on exploitation. Since the end of the Cold War, people became another commodity.

Family
Family has always been the basic unit of society, one in which values and culture were created and preserved independently of political and economical influence. If you destroy traditional model of family and dissolve culture in communities, creative cultural abilities of the population will collapse and the society will become dependent on political and corporate overseers.

Much has been done in the last 16 years to achieve this goal, relaxed family laws and “liberating” media campaigns included. Perhaps the most serious damage to the traditional model of family came with the new employment policies. Fewer full time jobs, reduction of benefits and paid holidays, and lower employment security resulted in overloads and stress. Parents work longer and often irregular hours, quality family time is shrinking. Children are brought up by TV cartoons and video games, in a completely unrealistic virtual world controlled by corporations. Schools are taking over the parental role and introducing various virtues / values / character traits programs, which further reduces instructional time needed to teach academic subjects and meet curriculum expectations.

In the atmosphere of constant uncertainty, opportunism and conformism replace integrity and traditional values. Model of family, that used to preserve these values, is quickly disappearing.

Education

“There is a campaign under way to essentially destroy the public education system along with every aspect of human life and attitudes and thought that involve social solidarity. It’s being done in all sorts of ways. One is simply by underfunding. So, if you can make the public schools really rotten, people will look for an alternative. Any service that’s going to be privatized, the first thing you do is make it malfunction so people can say, “We want to get rid of it. It’s not running. Let’s give it to Lockheed.” — Noam Chomsky, The Progressive Magazine, September 1999, p.37 –

Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Canadian Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) televised a speech delivered to the Toronto business leaders by a president of one of the major Canadian banks. Addressing the necessity of restructuring, he also mentioned education. He said, “Our education has outgrown the capacity of our economy in terms of employment.” The meaning of this statement was clear: we had too many educated people, our economy did not need them, we should not over-invest in education. In other words: our education was too good.

The following government of Mike Harris understood this message and took steps to “fix” the school system by cutting funds and by implementing changes that permanently decreased its effectiveness. Coincidence? I don’t think so. For the elites, the education system is nothing more than a factory producing workforce. In the age of computerization and outsourcing, well educated workforce is no longer required, and neither is the middle class. Education for a better quality of life is not supported. People who know more and understand better are harder to manipulate and more difficult to satisfy. They may even know how to challenge the system.

Here is what transpired in public elementary schools in Ontario, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991:

1. The School Council system was empowered during the Bob Ray and Dave Cooke’s reign. Officially intended to give parents more extensive decision-making powers, the role of parents in School Councils was quickly derailed and limited to various fund raising initiatives. These hidden “user fees” allowed the Ministry to cut funds to schools under the umbrella of the “Social Contract” and the consequent policies.
2. A high school dropout in Mike Harris’s government became a minister of education. By his own admission, John Snobelen tried to create conflict in education. This conflict was then used to justify changes that people would otherwise oppose. In order to “fix” the alleged problems in education, the government cut more funds and implemented a number of changes that had a negative impact on the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process in the classroom. The new curriculum, new evaluation and reporting, business-like management and organization, commercialization, and bureaucratization, the cutting of programs and Special Education services, additional responsibilities and requirements downloaded on teachers, and many other “inventions” overloaded, dehumanized, and pauperized the whole system. These changes continue to be supported and new changes are being implemented under the consequent Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty. It seems that the policy does not depend on which political party is in power.
3. The Industrial Arts program has been eliminated. As a result, students do not learn how to use simple tools and machines anymore. This decreases independent life skills and increases future dependence of the society on corporate services and on the state.
4. The Family Studies program has been eliminated. Students do not learn basic home-related skills, with the same results as above.
5. Science and Technology program has been stripped of Scientific Method and Science Fairs, the most important components of the old curriculum that provided students with understanding how science works. The remaining material lacks theory and mostly consists of descriptions of often unrelated facts and examples. Some of the explanations are wrong.Human Geography textbooks present one-sided point of view focusing on the globalization agenda.
6. Special Education classes are being closed and Special Education services limited. Only 12 years ago, we had many different Special Education services in Ontario. There were self-contained classes for Slow Learners, for Trainable Retarded (later renamed to Developmentally Delayed), services for students with Learning Disabilities, classes for students with Behavioural problems, self-contained classes for Gifted Learners, 1-on-1 assistance and in-class support, scheduled replacement programs on withdrawal basis. Students with special needs received programs and assistance at their level of abilities 100 percent of the time. Regular students had their programs and instruction 100 percent of the time. Gradually, Special Education services were “reorganized” and students with special needs were moved to regular classes without any extra assistance.In many cases, regular classroom teachers receive directions from Special Education teachers on how to modify the program, the teaching strategies, and the assessment techniques but the regular replacement programs and support by the Special Education staff are no longer there. Teachers have to divide their time between the regular students and the students with special needs. Since this often means two (or more) different programs and two (or more) different assessment/evaluation procedures, all students receive only half (or less) of the teacher’s time and attention. Teachers’ ability to prepare good learning materials for students is also reduced due to increased workload and reduced preparation time.
7. Introduction of the “core” model forces teachers to teach all subjects by grade level rather than teaching by subject (specialization). In most European countries, teaching by subject begins in grade 4. In Japan, specialization starts in grade 2. It is understandable that primary children (K-3) benefit from the stability and emotional comfort of being taught by one teacher. The same explanation applied to Intermediate classes (7-8) is preposterous and proves incompetence or deliberate sabotage of the system. Until now, I have not heard one convincing reason why students in grade 7 or 8 could not benefit from programs run by teachers specializing in their subject areas, by teachers who understand better the subjects they teach and show special interest in them. Drawing on strenths of individual teachers would also be a good preparation for the transition to high school environment, in which teaching by subject and working with different teachers are a norm.It is clear, beyond any doubt, that teachers specializing in one or two subjects have more time to prepare better programs, better materials for students, and better assessment tools, especially if they teach the same subject for a few consecutive years. It surely is more efficient than having to prepare six different lessons in many subject areas every day. Teaching by subject also allows teachers to improve their knowledge and skills better by attending targetted workshops and taking courses in selected subject areas, and therefore, developing a better understanding of the subjects taught. Due to insufficient time, such effective professional development is not possible in all subject areas at once.Every single year during my last four years of teaching, I was assigned a different grade level and different subjects. Even though my specialty is Mathematics, Geography, Science and Technology, and Computers, this year I am teaching English, History, Geography, Drama, and Dance. As it is obvious that this situation cannot benefit students, I wonder what is the priority here. Why would the Boards and the schools avoid using teachers’ strengths? What sense does it make? I know more similar cases and it really looks like a pattern when you see it right across the city.
8. Increased workload and responsibilities assigned to the teachers under the new differentiated model of instruction create a crisis practically impossible to overcome. As a result of the core-oriented model and the elimination of regular Special Education programs, regular classroom teachers have to prepare six different lessons per day, each further multiplied by the number of modifications necessary to meet the needs of special education students. This also means multiple evaluation and assessment procedures.In each class, students are expected to work in groups reflecting their levels of achievement and individual programs need to be adjusted to these levels. As one principal put it in his letter to parents, “Staff work diligently to organize our classes to provide the best program for each child. It is important to note that within each classroom there are students working at a variety of grade levels in each subject area based on each student’s individual strengths, needs, and interests.”The hypocrisy of this otherwise attractive model originates in the fact that teachers are not given any time to prepare all these wonderful programs on daily basis and this alone renders the model useless. Since the expectation is unrealistic, the whole model will not work, providing further ammunition for those who want to privatize the system.The differentiated model of instruction also reduces the instructional time per student. The teacher’s time to teach a lesson, explain the tasks, and help students do their work is now divided between two, and often three different groups of students. The differentiated model is sometimes being used to justify a refusal to purchase full class sets of textbooks. Also, the formalized and lengthy diagnostic reading assessment (the DRA) further reduces the instructional time. Too much testing creates a situation in which there is not enough time for teaching and learning.
9. The elimination of Special Education behavioural classes dramatically reduced the remaining instructional time. In the past, students with severe behavioural problems were placed in self-contained classes at the ratio of up to 10 students to one teacher, one assistant, and often one social worker. Many of these students were on medication to help them stay on task and control their temper.Nowadays, students clearly displaying behavioural characteristics are placed in regular classrooms of 20 to 30, with one teacher. Following the regular placement, many parents conclude that their children do not need medication anymore. Consequently, in some schools and in some classrooms, teachers spend 80 percent of their time on hopeless crowd control and the remaining 20 percent on attempting to teach (which is not always possible.) Nobody seems to care about the 80 percent of the students who want to learn. Nobody cares about the level of stress in this unhealthy working environment.Boards of Education and most principals are afraid to confront the parents and to execute parental responsibility for children’s behaviour and attitude. Due to a lack of support by the system, teachers are paralized, as any intervention may result in false accusations and disciplinary action against them. Nobody is prepared to enforce the school rules effectively. During my teaching career, I have personally experienced many variations of this situation, first hand.
10. Computer Labs and computer programs are being eliminated. Just a few years ago, schools were running fund raising campaigns in the communities to purchase computers for computer labs. Computer teachers and Computer Lab programs were widely advertised, as most future jobs would require computer skills. Then, computer teachers were dropped and teacher librarians were used to supervise the lab activities on a part time basis. Currently, computer lab programs and schedules are being eliminated all together. Classroom teachers, many of whom are not computer experts, will randomly take their classes to the computer lab, when needed. Progress is being achieved, progress in the New World Order, but not in education.
11. School libraries and library programs are being reduced and, in some cases, eliminated. The number of full time teacher librarians is decreasing. The number and quality of books in school libraries are decreasing. At my school, I cannot find any class sets of books for novel study. Some teachers privately buy class sets of books at different reading levels for their students, but they should not be expected to do so. This is not right.
12. Unprecedented and unheard of before, there is an insufficient number of textbooks in schools. Last year, I taught Grade 8 Science and Technology at a school that had 10 textbooks for four classes, divided between two different teachers. One hundred and eight students went to high school “undereducated” because our school’s priority was to pay for new computers and because new textbooks were to be published soon. New textbooks were never published and the computer lab program is being chopped across the board, as we speak. In my present school, there is a shortage of Geography and History textbooks, students use Atlases that still show Soviet Union (16 years later), and teachers don’t have enough teaching manuals or blackline masters. When I was a student in a small and poor country of communist Poland 50 years ago, a situation like that was unthinkable. This is now and here, 21st century, Canada, New World Order.

13. Good old textbooks are being replaced with new and not-so-good textbooks. While older textbooks included relevant information, logically organized and competently presented, the newer textbooks are often confusing, include disconnected pieces of information, ineffective methodology, and a lot of colourful pictures. They look good, especially to people who don’t know any better, but their quality and educational usefulness are unacceptable. It is often difficult to argue this case, as teachers and administrators are not required to specialize in specific subjects, and most of the younger educators don’t remember the old textbooks. Nevertheless, the difference between the old and the new textbooks is noticeable and alarming.

Probably the best example of a sabotaged program is Mathematics. The old textbooks were well organized and the material was presented in a simple, easy to understand way. New concepts and skills were logically derived from concepts and skills learned earlier, each section included the explanation of the concept, related definitions and formulas, algorithms and exercises to practice skills, and problem solving assignments to apply new knowledge in real life situations.

The new Mathematics textbooks present material using the “reversed pyramid” technique, where complex problems are first introduced and then students are expected to discover the underlying concepts and skills. Definitions and formulas are usually missing, and so are exercises to practice basic skills. New, unknown to parents and unnecessarily complicated algorithms are being taught. Information is not logically and sequentially organized, irrelevant or less important information is presented while more important elements are missing. Many examples are discussed but concepts and skills are not introduced clearly. Material presented in such a way leads to incidental learning and to learning by memorization of isolated skills instead of learning by understanding. Material learned in such a way is quickly forgotten. Only a small percentage of exceptionally talented students can actually benefit from the modern, up-side-down textbooks, providing that extra help in learning the concepts and practicing the skills is given.

I can understand why publishers, who compete with the old textbooks, develop “different” approaches and “different” methodologies. However, different does not mean better. It would be better, if publishers focused their efforts on a sound understanding of the subject of mathematics instead. It would also be better, if ministry officials, who order and select the textbooks for our schools, were more competent.

Actually, I don’t believe that they are incompetent. Welcome to the New World Order in education.

Lech Biegalski is a former “Solidarity” activist, currently living in Ontario, Canada. For nearly 30 years, he has taught grade 7 and 8 classes in two different political systems (communist and capitalist), and in three different school systems (private, Catholic, and public). He has coached teams that placed 5th and 2nd in the provincial finals of the Ontario Mathematics Olympics and initiated the annual Intermediate Math Olympiad sponsored by the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. He publishes the Canada Watch website and can be reached at canadawatch@cogeco.caThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

New World Order and Education at Go Think Blog

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Causes of Today's problems

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Wah Shaukat Wah - Real trickle down

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Tata Motors unveils cheapest car

BBC NEWS | Business | Tata Motors unveils cheapest car

The vehicle, called the Tata Nano, will sell for 100,000 rupees or $2,500 (£1,277) and enable those in developing countries to move to four wheels.

The four-door five-seater car, which goes on sale later this year, has a 33bhp, 624cc, engine at the rear.

At the unveiling ceremony Mr Tata said: "I observed families riding on two-wheelers - the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby.

"It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family.

"Tata Motors' engineers and designers gave their all for about four years to realise this goal.

I just wonder where is Pakistan headed, with the severe shortage of flour, electricity, gas, huge unemployment and inflation problems?

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The Destabilization of Pakistan

The Destabilization of Pakistan

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Pharmaceutical Killings

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