Break Up the Banks by: Robert Reich, RobertReich.com A fight is brewing in Washington – or, at the least, it ought to be brewing – over whether to put limits on the size of financial entities in order that none becomes “too big to fail” in a future financial crisis. Some background: The big banks that got federal bailouts, as well as their supporters in the Administration and on the Hill, repeatedly say much of the cost of the giant taxpayer-funded bailout has already been repaid to the federal government by the banks that were bailed out. Hence, the actual … Continue reading Break Up the Banks NOW!

The radical alternative: hardcore UK Muslim militants who came in from the cold The wreckage of the double-decker bus in Tavistock Square, London after a suicide bomber blew himself up in one of four explosions on July 7, 2005. PA Archive / PA Photos Two former members of an organisation banned in most of the Middle East have turned their backs on extremism and taken a leading role in the debate within the British-Muslim community on the role of Islam as a religious and political force. Hamida Ghafour reports. “Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people all … Continue reading Muslim militants who came in from the cold

Best of friends the jang news.com.pk Chris Cork How many friends have you got? Me? One hundred and sixty-six. That’s a lot of friends you may think, but I know people who have thousands. Out of my list I have actually met sixty-four face to face, the rest I am unlikely ever to see in the flesh. Why? Because they are my Facebook friends, I have another hundred or so with many duplicates on Orkut, fifty or sixty in various scale modeling chat-rooms and thirty-eight on Skype. My ‘virtual’ friends have long outnumbered my ‘real’ friends and living far from … Continue reading Making friends with Chris Cork in Pakistan!

Imran’s stand on the Taliban Dr Arif Alvi The terror situation in Pakistan is getting worse every year. If the number of killings and suicide bombings are any indicator, statements by many politicians and by government functionaries that the terrorism is the terrorists’ last stand is based more on optimism than reality. Mr Imran Khan offered to negotiate peace much before the Americans started to talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan, but our lobby supporting the ”War-on-Terror” accused him of being a Taliban sympathiser. The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf is not a supporter of the Taliban. Far from it. We condemn the … Continue reading Imran Khan stand on the Taliban!

Maoists threaten Gandhi’s legacy Peaceful resistance in India has fallen by the wayside as Naxalite rebels believe their violence will be justified Eric Randolph guardian.co.uk Members of the Naxalites. Photograph: Mustafa Quraishi/AP The most tragic aspect of India’s civil war between the state and Maoist rebels is how it is destroying the country’s greatest ideological legacy – non-violent resistance. Arundhati Roy’s article on her time spent with the Maoists (or Naxalites, as they are also known) in the jungles of Chhattisgarh has been much debated here in India. No one can deny it offered a valuable insight into the suffering … Continue reading Maoists threaten Indian Union

Being a spy sounded fun – so when I had a message from the security services asking me to apply, I thought I should give it a go . . . Sonia Van Gilder Cooke guardian.co.uk Judi Dench as M, the head of MI6 Photograph: Allstar/UNITED ARTISTS/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar A tranquil evening was interrupted by the ping of an incoming email: “MI6 Graduate Event.” Intrigued, I clicked. “The event no one is talking about,” the email ran. “For the first time, the Secret Intelligence Service (sometimes known as MI6) is holding graduate events. Please do not mention or forward this email … Continue reading The day MI6 tried to recruit me – by email!

Diplomats ‘allowed’ to have foreign security personnel By Baqir Sajjad Syed dawn.com US special envoy Richard Holbrooke is surrounded by armed guards as he visits internally displaced persons at a UNHCR camp near Islamabad. Pakistan uses its intelligence agencies, diplomatic protection department of police, Frontier Constabulary and other security arrangements to provide protection to diplomats. – Reuters World China won’t confirm it’s ready for Iran sanctions China won’t confirm it’s ready for Iran sanctions ISLAMABAD: Responding to concerns expressed by diplomats about their security, the government is reported to have quietly allowed them to employ their own nationals for their … Continue reading Why do you think Diplomats in Pakistan have foreign security personnel?

Karzai Slams The West AGAIN AP/Huffington Post KABUL – President Hamid Karzai’s scathing attack on the West for its role in Afghanistan drew criticism from Afghan politicians after the White House described his remarks as genuinely troubling. Despite Karzai’s attempt at damage control, including a telephone conversation Saturday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, his allegations laid bare the growing mistrust between the Afghan government and its international partners as the United States and NATO ramp up troop levels to try to turn back the Taliban. Moreover, on the same day of Karzai’s call to Clinton, he also held … Continue reading Karzai cannot be trusted! Time to talk with the Afghan Taliban directly?

Gas fat cat pockets £28m in a year as pensioners struggle to pay bills By Becky Barrow Frank Chapman, who is the chief executive of gas production firm BG, scooped a pay and pension package worth £28m last year The boss of one of Britain’s biggest gas giants scooped a pay and pension package worth an astonishing £28million last year, it emerged today. The size of the handout given to Frank Chapman, chief executive of the gas production firm BG, fuels the row surrounding executive fat cats. It comes as families are being crippled by average gas bills of £750 … Continue reading Frank Chapman – British Gas – Blood sucking bastard! Here is the reason why?

Some of the restrictions imposed by Taliban on women in Afghanistan The following list offers only an abbreviated glimpse of the hellish lives Afghan women are forced to lead under the Taliban, and can not begin to reflect the depth of female deprivations and sufferings. Taliban treat women worse than they treat animals. In fact, even as Taliban declare the keeping of caged birds and animals illegal, they imprison Afghan women within the four walls of their own houses. Women have no importance in Taliban eyes unless they are occupied producing children, satisfying male sexual needs or attending to the … Continue reading Read this and then ask ‘why’ I am against political mullahs!