Finally, dreaded NRO list is out and official–>The News

In a country where people are not able to find sugar and other daily usage items and where electricity has become a real luxury , the elite political , military ,corrupt business and bureaucratic classes consider themselves above every law of the land and don’t think of themselves answerable to any system of justice.

Below is the list of NRO beneficiaries which include list of accused criminals who got their selves cleaned with this draconian law introduced by the dictator Musharraf.

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Finally, dreaded NRO list is out and official

The News

By Ansar Abbasi
Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=25672

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented to the government on Thursday a list of 248 politicians and bureaucrats, who were alleged to have plundered hundreds of billions of rupees but were cleared by the NAB under the NRO.

Sources in the Law Ministry while sharing with The News the “complete list” of NAB’s NRO beneficiaries, explained that thousands other cases of NRO beneficiaries did not belong to the NAB but with the provincial governments because they were criminal cases and were not covered by the NAB law.

On top of the list is the name of President Asif Ali Zardari while his several close associates, both political and bureaucratic, including Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and his brother Usman Farooqi, Hussain Haqqani and Siraj Shamsuddin are also reflected.

The list, which also reflects a brief introduction of the cases dropped against each name under the NRO, also includes the name of serving and former ministers, federal and provincial secretaries, ex-chief secretaries, existing or former members of the national and provincial assemblies and others.

According to the list, Asif Ali Zardari remained the beneficiary No 1 of the NRO as at least eight of his NAB cases of corruption and misuse of authorities were dropped. These cases included the alleged kickbacks from SGS PSI Company, grant of licence to ARY Gold causing huge loss to government, corruption in purchase of Ursus tractors under the Awami Tractor Scheme, illegal award of contract to Cotecna for pre-shipment, assets beyond means, received kickbacks from Sajjad Ahmad (late) ex-chairman Pakistan Steel Mills, illegal construction of Polo ground at PM House and the money laundering SGS Swiss case.

Others amongst politicians include Nawaz Yousaf Talpur, ex-MNA and former minister, who was co-accused in URSUS tractors case; Ms Nusrat Bhutto, assets case; ex-MNA and the PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badr, assets case and corruption in Sui Southern Gas Company; ex-minister for commerce and presently Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, misuse of authority in issuing sugar export permit to non-entitled persons in 1994; ex-MNA Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Awan, embezzlement in Octroi contracts; ex-MNA Rana Nazir Ahmed, assets case and misuse of authority; ex-MPA Mian M Rashid, assets case and illegal appointments; ex-MPA Tariq Anees, assets beyond means; ex-MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood Dina, assets beyond means; ex-minister of education Sindh Agha Sirajuddin and others, misuse of authority; ex-chief minister and former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, misuse of authority, illegal allotment of plots and assets case; ex-provincial minister Ghani-ur-Rehman, assets beyond means; ex-senator Haji Gulsher, misuse of authority and acquisition of land; ex-provincial minister Habibullah Khan Kundi, misuse of authority and acquisition of land; ex-MNA Mir Baz Muhammad Khan Khethran, misappropriation of government funds allocated for people’s works programme; ex-federal minister Anwar Saifullah Khan, misuse of authority in allocation of LPG and illegal appointments; ex-provincial minister Sardar Mansoor Laghari, corruption in Utility Stores Corporation; ex-Mayor Sargodha Ch Abdul Hameed, assets beyond means; ex-chairman Zila Council Lahore Ch Shoukat Ali, ex-MNA Haji Kabir and ex-chairman Zila Council Lahore Ch Zulfikar Ali in Zila Council fraud case.

Amongst government servants and others, who had benefited from NRO and got themselves cleared from NAB cases include ex-additional director general FIA and presently Interior Minister Rehman Malik, embezzlement of funds on account of un-authorized released of imported yellow cab cars, illegal detention of complainant and illegal gratification; ex-secretary information and presently Pakistan’s ambassador in the US Husain Haqqani, co-accused in Ms BB case of TV channels; ex-federal secretary and presently principal secretary to the president Suleman Farooqi, illegal allotment of textile quota, forgery and fraud, obtained illegal benefits in connivance with exporters; ex-chairman Pakistan Steels Mill, caused loss to Pak Steels through illegal disposal of 15.93 MT of end cuts, procurement of Ferro Silicon at higher rates; ex-joint secretary PM Secretariat, former principal secretary to the PM Gilani and presently Executive Director ADB Siraj Shamsuddin, illegal appointment; ex-NBP president and presently Pakistan’s ambassador M B Abbasi, corruption and corrupt practices and loan default; ex-secretary Sindh Rasool Baksh Rahoo, KPT land cases; Mashook Ahmed Usmani, Aurangzeb, Moin ul Arfeen, Akhtar H Askari and Kher M Kalochi of Pakistan Steels Mills (PSM) in the case of purchases on exorbitant prices for PSM; ex-DG textile quota Nayyar Bari and ex-DD Export Promotion Board Anees Alam, illegal allotment of textile quota, forgery/fraud, obtained illegal benefits in connivance with exporters; ex- secretary commerce Brig (R) Aslam Hayat Qureshi, co-accused in ARY Gold case; ex-advisor to Prime Minister A R Siddiqi, co-accused in AAZ and BB cases; ex-principal secretary to the PM Saeed Mehdi, co-accused in polo ground case; ex-principal secretary to the PM Ahmed Sadiq, assets beyond means; ex-chief secretary Punjab Javed Qureshi, fraud in Zila Council Lahore contracts; ex president HBL, willful default, ex DG Intelligence Bureau Brig Imtiaz, assets beyond means; ex-MD Printing Corporation of Pakistan Pir Mukarram, corruption and corrupt practices; ex-DG Textile Quota Akhtar Alam in textile quota case; ex-secretary Petroleum Capt (R) Naseer Ahmad, misuse of authority in awarding contracts for OGDC; ex-Director Textile Quota Syed Arfeen, textile quota case; customs officials Khalid Aziz, Muhammad Nawaz Butt and Mumtaz Ali Changezi in illegal evasion of tax duties case and wrong refund of customs rebate case; Pak Steel employees Syed Iqtedar Rasool, Qaiser Raza, Irfanuddin, Hisamuddin and Qurban Ali Jatoi in import of PIG iron for PSM case; General Manager Port Qasim Authority Abdul Sattar Dero, corruption in PSM; businessman/transporter Pir Deedar Hussain Shah, yellow cab scam; ex-FIA Assistant Director Sajjad Haider, ex-Inspector Muhammad Sharif Qureshi and inspector Moeen Ashraf, all three co-accused of Rehman Malik in embezzlement of funds on account of unauthorized release of imported yellow cab cars case; Assistant Director FIA Agha Ishrat Ali, assets beyond means; ex-Deputy Director FIA Ch Muhammad Sharif, assets beyond means; ex-Additional Commissioner Income Tax Javed Iqbal Mirza, assets beyond means; ex Managing Director Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Aftab Ahmed, misuse of authority in awarding contracts; Project Director Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Fareed Ahmed, misuse of authority in awarding contracts; ex-Regional Commissioner of Income Tax Sindh Abrar Ahmed, assets beyond known resources.

The names of other beneficiaries are Collector Customs Imtaiz Ali Taj; ex-Secretary Javed Burki, DG Port Qasim Authority Irshad Ahmed Sheikh; AD FIA Noor Muhammad Kaka; Maj (R) Rashid Khan; Additional Director FIA Ali Qaswar Bokhari; ex-DG Peshawar Development Authority Syed Zahir Shah; Suptd Customs Check Post Mand Muhammad Younas Butt; Customs officials Sherdad Khan, Sajad Hussain, Muhammad Sarwar and Abdul Hameed Siddiqi; Senior Store Manager Muhammad Iqbal; District Engineer Water Supply Quetta Zamarak Khan; Revenue Officer Pashin Rehman Ali; Assistant Revenue Office Pashin Hafiz Matiullah; Superintendent Revenue Officer Pishin Muhammad Iqbal; Junior Auditor Ibrar Hussain; ex-SP Railways Inamur Rehman Sehri; ex-DC CDA Ch Muhammad Aslam; ex-Secretary CDA Abdul Ghafoor Dogar; ex-AD CDA Mushtaq Ahmed Baloch; ex-Sub Engineer CDA Muhammad Ismail; ex-DC CDA Ahmed Khan; ex-Account Officer Attaullah Khan; ex Patwari Muhammad Farooq; ex-Patwari CDA Muzamil Hussain; Clerk CDA Dawood Khan; ex-Deputy Director Planning CDA Muhammad Iqbal; ex-DC CDA Muhammad Amin; ex-DC CDA Shoukat Ali; Supervisor PTCL Sheikh Liaqat Ali; Assistant Manager GHQ Habibullah Tasnim; Assistant Store Keeper Muhammad Saeed; ex-DG Services CDA Mohiuddin Jameeli; ex DD CDA Muhammad Ashfaq; ex-Asstt Estate Manager CDA Din Muhammad; EGDC official Raheel J Qureshi; GPO Rawalpindi officials Muhammad Farooq, Salim Raza, Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Akhtar and Arshad Mehmood; ex-Tehsildar Raja Zahid Hussain; Dy DG Military Land and Cantonment Department Abdul Naeem Khan; ex-SSD MEO Rwp Sh Muhammad Amin; Assistant Director Military Land and Cantonment Abdul Hayee Qamar; ex-DG Military Land and Cantonment Qazi Naeem Ahmed; Abdul Ghafoor Khan, Muhammad Ali; ex-Chairman SLI Zaheer; ex-DG NHA Iqbal Ahmad; ex-Chief Engineer CAA Raees M Irshad; CAA officials Ghulam Qadir Lakhan, Shafique Siddiqi, Ahmed Hussain, Iqbal Bangash, Khurshid Anwar, M Akbar, A D Abbasi, Kh Farooq Ahmad and Rafique Shad; OGDC officials Jaffar Mohammad, Khalid Subhani, Capt (R) Nazir Ahmed; Najmul Hassan, M Ishaq, Muzaffar Hussain, Shahid Ahmed, Qamar Hussain Shah, M Israel Khan and Bashir Ahmad Bhatti; PWD officials Mureed Ahmed Baloch, Sadaqat Ali, Khalid Mehmood Nasir, Akram Rao, Rashid Mujib Siddiqi, Aslam Shahid, Zahid ullah Khan and Shabbair Husain; Wapda officials Anwar Hussain, Wapda Line Superintendents Saifullah, Muhammad Arshad, Syed Ehsan Ali Shah, Mirza Saeed Ahmed, Akbar Ali and Allah Wasaya; Nadra officials Hakim Din, Sardari Ali and Nadir Khan; Zakim Khan Masood, Sadiq Ali Khan, Sardar Mansoor Leghari, Din Muhammad, Sikandar Ali Abbasi, Ahmad Yar Gondal, Amin Jan, Sharif Alam Padri, Usman Ghani Khatri, Adnan Khawaja, Nadeem Imtiaz; ex-official Abdul Hakeem, proprietor M/s Techno Int Pir Bux Solangi; private person Abdul Sattar Mandokhel; official S M Attaur Rehman; Sahib Dad Mengal; Hamza Khan Gabol; Riaz ul Hassan Rizvi; Shamsuddin, Ayaz Ahmed, Mukhtiar Ahmad, Muhammad Ali, Abdul Aziz, Rasheed Muhammad Qureshi, Mumtaz Ahmed Bhutto, Maqsood Ahmed, ex-UDC MEO Sialkot Naeem uddin, ex Asst Audit Officer Muhammad Hanif Rahi; ex-cameraman Abu Zar Jaffari; Auditor General officials Muneeruddin Ch, Abdul Razaak Bhatti, Mehr Sajjad Ahmed, Mirza Sajjad Ahmed, Mirza Muhammad Ayub, Muhammad Iqbal Shah, Mukhtar Ahmed, Malik Shahmat Ali, Mian Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Shafique, Syed Javed Hassan, Syed Muzaffar H Shah, Muhammad Sarwar Safi, Muhammad Shabbir and Tariq Mehmood; Food Department officials Ch Nazir Ahmed, Safiullah Awan and Muhammad Usman; Wapda’s Liaqat Ali, Customs Ali Muhammad Sheikh; PTCL’s Munawar Hussain, Muhammad Ashfaq Naz and Muhammad Shahid; Lahore Wapda’s Shahid Iqbal Ghauri, Manzoor H Chohan, Muhammad Javed, Abdul Rehman, Iftikhar Ali and M Qasim; Amjad Hussain Sandhal, Syed Zahir Hussain, Ghulam Mustafa, M Hanif; Sadiq Muhammad, Sameer Amjad, Ch M Siddiqi, Rasheed Ahmed Patwari, Mirza Sher Muhammad; businessmen Seth Nisar Ahmed and Zahid Mehmood; official Murid Ahmed Baloch, Qazi Afzal Hussain, Shaukat Hussain Shah, Maqbool Ahmed, Noor Jamal, Sardar Muhammad Nasim, Mirza Sher Muhammad, Rashid Ahmed Patwari, Muhammad Usman, Arshad Mehmood, Muhammad Akhtar and Waheedur Rehman.

Einstein Letter to Shepard Rifkin on Isareli Terrorists

One of the best minds in history, a great physicists and a Jew himself,Albert Einstein criticized the creation of  Israel by Zionist terrorists and called it a possible reason for future catastrophe for Jews.

Many Jews who believed in Orthodox Judaism also oppose the state of Israel and consider Zionism as anti-Semitic.
Below is the letter by Einstein to Shepard Rifkin on Israeli Terrorists.

The letter was written on 10th April after the massacre of Arabs at Deir Yassin by the Stern Gang terrorists or Lohamei Herut Yisrael (LEHI) meaning fighters for the freedom of Israel.

The Stern Gang terrorists were supported by American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel and Mr. Shepard Rifkin was the executive director after the UN Partition of Palestine and prior to the creation of Israel in May 1948.

Slave minds

There are people who don’t know the meaning of bilateral peaceful/friendly relationship between states on equal grounds , they only know master-slave relationship or enemy-enemy relationship.

We find them in politics,media,intellectual classes and everywhere just like other people because they represent a mindset, mindset of a slave.

They criticize those who talk about protecting the sovereignty and self respect of the country and nation. They think by talking about protecting the sovereignty means going into baseless wars and talking about self respect means insulting others or breaking all ties with others.

I have seen people who demand the freedom loving people not to go to foreign countries or not to send their children in those countries for studies because freedom loving people  oppose the occupation and control of these countries on our country  and the reason is same slave mindset about relationships.

They can’t understand that countries promote bilateral people to people, government to government , institution to institution relationships with each other without ceding their sovereignty and backing off from their principle stands.

Hersh claims US nuke team already in Islamabad–>TheNews

It has been said over and over again that this so-called war against terror is a trap for the humanity to get engaged in a never-ending weapon-blood-dollar game which seems to torn every thing apart which comes in the category of justice, humanity, truty or peace.

Pakistan needs to come out of this war and for this people need to take serious actions and show united resistance as the civil and military leaderships have become pets of these evil imperialists.

Wake up justice and freedom loving people or it will be too late.

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Hersh claims US nuke team already in Islamabad

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=25579

By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir

ISLAMABAD: Pulitzer prize winning American journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed that an elite US special forces squad which operates covertly and includes terrorism and non-proliferation experts from the US intelligence community — the Pentagon, the FBI, and the DOE — is already present in Pakistan and could well be housed in the US embassy in Islamabad.

The startling disclosure was made in Hersh’s candid interview with Pakistan’s most popular TV channel Geo News’ widely viewed current affairs programme ‘Meray Mutabiq’, hosted by Dr Shahid Masood. The programme was aired on Saturday late evening.

Seymour Hersh said that the Americans had been constituting such crack teams for various purposes and the team in question here was to deal with any eventuality including any fear of takeover by Taliban or any other ‘development’ with regard to Pakistani nukes.

Group Editor of The News Shaheen Sehbai taking part in the programme expressed the view that Musharraf’s remarks about President Asif Zardari, as attributed by Hersh, could not be casually ignored. He said it must be investigated why Musharraf accused Zardari of not being a patriot, because, according to Sehbai, Hersh had some inside information given to him in interviews with Musharraf and Zardari which he did not reveal in his report. But Sehbai said journalists always attribute information given to them by responsible people to “reliable sources” if these people ask them to refrain from quoting them directly.

Former Director General, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan, Lt Gen Hamid Gul also participating in the programme, verified the credentials of Hersh and gave a detailed account of US presence in the sensitive areas in Pakistan. He opined that the US wanted to delegate the role of proxy super power of the region to India and for that Pakistan had to be denuclearised.

Former Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmad Khan expressed his apprehensions about the alleged activities but he ruled out any possibility of the US team being in a position to gain access to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.

The programme (to be telecast again at 2:05pm today – Sunday), host Dr Shahid Masood had raised the question about the action that the team/squad could take in any eventuality. He referred to previous reports of Hersh which appeared in New Yorker magazine last week in which Hersh disclosed that after the US authorities received a report by their embassy in Islamabad indicating that a Pakistani nuclear component had gone astray, a highly classified US military and civil-emergency response team was put on alert. The team which operates clandestinely is reportedly under standing orders to deploy from Andrews Air Force Base, in Maryland (Washington), within four hours of an alert.

When the report turned out to be a false alarm, the mission was aborted but by the time the team got the message, it was already in Dubai while on its way to Pakistan. Hersh quoted a consultant of the US Defence Department in his write-up and later he discussed the role of the US embassy in ‘Meray Mutabiq’ last week, which was hosted by Dr Shahid Masood and participated by Group Editor The News Shaheen Sehbai.

It was the maiden interview of the US investigative journalist in the wake of his thrilling write-up about the US plans towards Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the controversial observations of former President Musharraf regarding his successor. Seymour Hersh while standing by his report, pertaining to the comments offered by former President General (R) Pervez Musharraf about incumbent President Asif Zardari, has disclosed that the former president had given some harsher comments about his successor but in the ultimate scrutiny he allowed the remarks that he made part of his article.

General Hamid Gul disclosed in his talk with Dr Shahid Masood that former president General Pervez Musharraf allowed the US planes to land in Pakistan to pick Osama bin Laden about whom they had an inkling that he was present in a remote village of Balochistan. He said that when Hersh visited him to verify the veracity of the information, “I requested him to publish the story and he obliged. I was of the opinion that the Americans want to get in Pakistan under the pretext of the story that had yet to appear and it could open the way for future US incursions,” the General added.

British commander urges on winning Afghan hearts–>TheNews

I don’t know how they will win the hearts by bombing innocent people and killing children. The solution is to sort out an exit strategy taking the real stake holders of Afghanistan in confidence not the phony ones in the form of Karzais or Abdullah Abdullah.

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British commander urges on winning Afghan hearts

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=91424

LONDON: The British government has faced repeated accusations that troops are being put at increased risk because of insufficient equipment and helicopters.

But Lieutenant General Nick Parker, the British deputy commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan insisted shortages of kit were not to blame for his 26-year-old son Harry losing both legs in a booby-trap bomb in July.

Parker told the News of the World that the equipment supplied to British troops was right for the job they are doing.

He suggested that the key to stemming casualties and achieving military success in the country was not more helicopters but a strategy to win the hearts and minds of local people by getting out into their communities.

“Rather than asking for more helicopters — which may be a requirement — what we’ve got to do is develop tactics that get you out and amongst the people and re-establish ourselves as a force for good in the community,” he told the newspaper.

“I know my view, as a fat general sitting behind a desk, will be treated with derision… (but) I genuinely believe there is no need to buy extra kit.

“I’m absolutely convinced that what Harry was given was right for what he was doing. However, nothing was ever going to stop his leg getting blown off.”

A total of 232 British personnel have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001.

YEH HAIWANON KI BASTI HAI

YEH HAIWANON KI BASTI HAI
YA INSAANON KI MASTI HAI
JAHAN ZINDAGI HAR PAL MARTI HAI
AUR KHOON KAI AANSOO ROTI HAI
KAISA HAI YEH HAAL HOA
GHAZAB HOA BARBAD HOA
JO SAPNA KHUSHI KA DEKHA THA
WOH SAPNA PHIR SAI KHAAK HOA
PHIR LOG YEH HUM SAI KAHTAI HAIN
REHNAI DO AISI BAATON KO
JIN SAI KUCH HASIL NA HO
REHNAI DO IN UNDAAZON KO
MEHAIZ GUMAN HAIN YEH AFSANAI HAIN
IN KO SOCHNAI WALAI SIRF DEEWANAI HAIN
KHUD TAREEK IN RAHOON PER
BHATKAI HAIN GUMRAHI MEIN
LAIKIN PHIR BHI KEHTAI HAIN
SAARA JAHAN KION SUNA HAI
KHAMOSH MAUT KAI SAI HAIN
ROOSHNI ANKHON ANKH NAHI
ZINDAGI SANSON SANS NAHI
PHIR BHI CHAIN SAI BETHAI HAIN
YEH HAIWANON KI BASTI HAI
YA INSAANON KI MASTI HAI

Day That Shook the World

by Eric Margolis

In 1975, physicist Andrei Sakharov and a group of fellow Soviet academicians warned the Kremlin leadership that unless the nation’s ruinous defense spending was slashed and funds refocused on modernizing the nation’s decrepit, obsolete industrial base and its wretched state agriculture, the Soviet Union would collapse by 1990.

Their grim warning was prescient. Twenty years ago this week – 9 November, 1989 – boisterous German crowds forced open the hated Berlin Wall, Communist East Germany collapsed in black farce, and the once mighty Soviet Empire began to crumble.

This was one of modern history’s most dramatic and dangerous moments. No one knew if the dying Soviet Union would expire peacefully, or ignite World War III.

In November, 1989, the vast empire built by Stalin that stretched from East Berlin to Vladivostok was on its last legs. The USSR had 50,000 battle tanks and 30,000 nuclear warheads, but could not feed its people. Military spending consumed 20% of the economy. As I saw for myself while traveling around the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s, conditions were often primitive, even third world outside the big cities.

Afghanistan’s “mujahidin” had all but defeated the mighty Red Army. Poland’s Solidarity Union, secretly funded by Pope John Paul and the CIA through Panamanian shell companies, had risen in revolt. So, too, ever rebellious Hungarians, joined by Lithuanians and East Germans.

The old joke in Moscow was that the East Germans were the only people who could make Communism work. Now they were in revolt.

The reformist Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev had to make a fateful decision: allow events to take their course, or order the Red Army and KGB to crush the spreading uprisings – and run the risk of war with NATO, particularly so if the Warsaw Pact’s armies turned their guns against the Soviet occupation forces and fighting spread across the Inner German Border.

Unlike his brutal Soviet predecessors, Mikhail Gorbachev was a man of profound moral values, a genuine humanist and idealist who believed he could reform the USSR through democratic socialism and patient, open debate – his “glasnost and perestroika.”

After a violent incident staged by Communist hard-liners in the Baltic, President Gorbachev refused to use force against his own people.

But once fear of repression was removed, the Soviet Union, a nation of 120 languages spread over eleven time zones, shattered. Gorbachev simply could not control the ensuing whirlwind of nationalism his reforms had sown.

Today, most Russians revile Gorbachev for wrecking the Soviet Union. The sinister Communist era, including Stalin’s monstrous crimes, are being sugarcoated with nostalgia.

Russia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, called the collapse of the Soviet Union “the greatest tragedy of the 20^th century.”

In truth, the Soviet Union was history’s most brutal, murderous tyranny that killed three times more victims than Hitler.

Gorbachev did not plan to destroy the Soviet Union but to reform and revitalize it. But by refusing to hold it together by force, he brought about its doom.

Gorbachev did the world a huge favor.

In any event, the Soviet Union was destined to crumble, Gorby or no Gorby. Like the old Ottoman Empire, the USSR could only survive by gobbling up its neighbors.

In 1989, the state that had run on virtual war footing since 1945, died of exhaustion. As Voltaire said of Prussia, the Soviet Union was an army, disguised as a state.

For me, Gorbachev was one of the greatest men of our time. He put international law, basic humanity, and civilized behavior before the demands of brute power. We must also salute Gorbachev’s chief lieutenant and powerhouse behind the reform movement, former Georgian KGB chief and Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard Schevardnadze, who urged total de-communization and disarmament.

Later, as president of independent Georgia, Shevardnadze was overthrown – ironically – by a US-organized revolution.

Gorbachev purged hardeners from the Soviet military-industrial complex, vetoed an antimissile system, sharply downsized the Soviet military, and wisely ended the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, a lesson Nobel Peace Prize Winner Barack Obama has yet to learn.

But when Gorbachev and Shevardnadze sensibly sought total nuclear disarmament, President Ronald Reagan, obsessed by the unworkable Star Wars antimissile project, refused Russia’s offer that would have eliminated all nuclear weapons and missiles.

Other courageous Russians reformers who helped end the Cold War deserve to be remembered: Anatoly Chernayev; Georgi Shakhnazarov; former ambassador to Canada, Alexander Yakovlev; and Gorbachev’s brave, cerebral wife and confidante, Raisa.

Germany’s Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President H.W. Bush also merit kudos for their able management of the Cold war’s end. By contrast, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher shamefully relapsed into Europe’s evil old ways by trying to block German unification.

President Gorbachev kept begging the western powers to launch another Marshall Plan to rescue the dying Soviet Union and democratize it. Tragically, they did not. Instead, the Clinton administration chose to treat the new, battered Russia as a client state.

Communist die-hards launched a farcical, drunken coup against Gorbachev that was thwarted by the courage of the then still sober Russian president, Boris Yeltsin; Aviation Marshall Yevgeny Shaposhnikov; and – a story that is still little known in the west – KGB moderates.

In 1990, I was the first western journalist ever allowed into the dreaded Lubyanka Prison, the headquarters of KGB, to interview senior KGB officers of the elite First Directorate (from whence came Vlad Putin) who had turned against the Communist Party and were seeking to reform Russia.

In the end, Gorbachev was left the leader of a nation that had ceased to exist, the USSR, the object of popular wrath, a great statesman without a country, a Russian King Lear on a blasted heath.

Twenty years later, the world owes Gorbachev an enormous debt of gratitude for ending the Cold War, and freeing Eastern Europe and the Baltic states. Thank our lucky stars Gorbachev was in power when the Soviet Union met its inevitable collapse – or we could have faced World War III.

Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev showed that once in a millennium a great political leader can rise above the law of the jungle.

November 10, 2009

Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis168.html

Ab Tu Jaag Jaiay–>Dr. Shahid Hassan Siddiqi

A really informative article on the economic situation of Pakistan,friends of   Pakistan, the crisis we are facing due to our role in so called war against terror  and foreign interference in our issues.

Fake encounter to save IGP?–>The Nation

By: Imran Mukhtar

ISLAMABAD – The incident of killing a suspected suicide bomber by police in the Federal Capital on Sunday night was actually a fake police encounter and was engineered to establish good repute of cops, TheNation reliably learnt on Monday.
The police high-ups, after the incident, had claimed to save the Capital from another devastating terrorist attack.
The sources privy to the developments informed that the deceased, a suspected suicide bomber as claimed by police, had been in the custody of police for the last couple of days and was made a scapegoat only to defuse the prevailing impression that Capital Police were incapable to prevent terrorist attacks. The sources claimed that the deceased was arrested some days ago in a police raid at a house in the outskirts of the Capital during a routine search operation.
The sources also disclosed that it might be possible that the deceased was involved in some terrorist activity or was a potential suicide bomber but he was under detention of police and shot dead in a fake encounter.
The sources also informed that there was immense pressure on Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, Syed Kaleem Imam, from higher authorities after the consecutive three terrorist attacks on senior Army officials in the vicinity of the Capital. It is pertinent to mention here that Brigadier Moeen was shot dead as well as two other senior Army officials namely Brigadier Waqar and Brigadier Sohail were critically injured by terrorists in three different attacks.
The news of the transfer of IGP was also heard from concerned quarters after the terrorist attack on Brigadier Sohail, as the law and order situation in the City was going from bad to worse despite installation of various police pickets and barricades.
TheNation also learnt that IGP had been remained busy in the meetings for the last two days with the other top brass of Islamabad Police to defuse the immense pressure on him. A senior police officer working under the command of IGP suggested his boss to conduct a fake encounter of some suspected suicide bomber, which was acknowledged by the latter, the sources disclosed.

“Now the next was to accomplish the idea. For this, after detailed meetings with another senior police officer, Altaf Aziz Khattack, Station House Officer (SHO) Shalimar Police Station, was selected as a suitable and fit police officer to accomplish the task and thus, in this way, the script of the play was written under the guidance of IGP,” the source revealed.
After accomplishing the mission, the SHO through a private phone conveyed to the IGP that “the mission was over” and soon after that the news was disseminated to the electronic media where it was regarded as a “great achievement” of the Capital Police.
A senior doctor at PIMS on condition of anonymity told that the deceased sustained seven bullet injuries, four on head and three on arm, according to initial post-mortem report.
Another question that arises here is that all police officials were not professional shooters but still it is interesting that the four bullets hit the head of the alleged bomber and not a single one damaged the suicide jacket.
Syed Kaleem Imam, when contacted, ruled out the possibility of any fake police encounter and said it was a genuine fight and the Islamabad police acted very wisely and boldly to foil a terrorist activity and, thus, saved the residents of the City from another bloodshed. He further said that any terrorist who would try to enter the Capital would be dealt with an iron hand.

Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/10-Nov-2009/Fake-encounter-to-save-IGP/

Great People Great Thoughts–>Iqbal on slavery and conviction

“Why hast thou made me born in this country, The inhabitant of which is satisfied with being a slave? ” (Allama Muhammad Iqbal)

“Conviction: Conviction enabled Abraham to wade into the fire; Conviction is an intoxicant which makes men self sacrificing; Know you, Oh victims of modern civilization!” (Allama Muhammad Iqbal)