Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YouTube. Show all posts
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Monday, February 28, 2022
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Saturday, February 19, 2022
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
YouTube: September 14
The US in 2002-2003 had a good outcome in Afghanistan. We should just have left then. The central government stood up by the US was corrupt on a galactic scale. Freighter airplanes full of US dollars in hard cash regularly took off for Dubai from Kabul International Airport. The new Afghan elite fleeced the people and bought fancy islands around Dubai with the money, even embezzling from the Da Kabul Bank. In 2008 the island resorts became worthless and Da Kabul Bank collapsed, leaving people in long lines before its branches seeking to recover their life savings. They did not. ......... Pakistan and India have fought 3 wars and a smaller border skirmish, and Pakistan is a much smaller country with fewer allies. Islamabad feels it cannot afford to have a government in Kabul that tilts to New Delhi, lest Pakistan be surrounded. .......... US officials sent out to Afghanistan knew that it was a Washington Ponzi scheme. Billions were disappearing into the pockets of contractors and warlords. Only the arms manufacturers were happy. The US was massively bombing the country every year, the only reason that it was still able to be there. US officials confessed as much to government watchdogs, and
the Washington Post managed to get those interviews and publish them in 2019. Nobody believed in the mission. There was no mission. There was a morass of corruption and incompetence.
Many of the regional warlords under the new government were not easier on women or minorities than the Taliban had been, and were fundamentalists of a different stripe.Monday, June 15, 2015
आल इंडिया मजलिस मुसलमान
आल इंडिया मजलिस मुसलमान नामकी कोइ पार्टी है हैदराबाद से। मैंने YouTube पर भाषण सुना दोनों भाइयों का। वे भी भारतीय लोकतंत्र के उपहार हैं। मजलिस शब्द का अर्थ क्या है? मंजिल का मतलब destination. मेरे को कोइ मंच पर से राज ठाकरे की धुलाई करे तो बहुत अच्छा लगता है। उस आदमी ने बैठे बैठे अमिताभ को खरी खोटी सुना दी। अमिताभ अपना फिल्मों में काम कर रहे हैं। इस बात का उस आदमी को ऐतराज है?
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Indian Elections: A Big Mystery
I am used to following US presidential elections surveys where the polls are often within points of being accurate. They are quite often within their declared margin of error, if not individually then definitely collectively. Measured by that standard, I have no idea what's going on in India right now, and half the country has already voted.
If the Indian surveys get it right this time, it will be the firs time. As recently as the Delhi assembly elections the surveys were way off the mark. We did not see Kejriwal coming. Heck, I was not paying much attention to the guy at all until he became Delhi Chief Minister. And I had never heard of Kumar Vishwas until then. A friend mentioned the name in a phone conversation, only then I did a search on him on YouTube.
So I am looking forward to May 16. It might be another week or so before a clear picture emerges. It is going to be a frenetic few days.
I get a lot of my news through Google News. I have created a section there for Nitish Kumar. After Nitish came out saying he is better qualified than Modi or Rahul, for days there was no news about him. It was as if the Indian media had collectively engineered a Nitish blackout. For about a week there was no news item on Nitish in my Google News section on Nitish Kumar. I was used to reading a few new news items on him every day. How could that happen? It is not possible the BJP paid all of Indian media to stop writing about Nitish. I think what happened is the Indian media has never had to face a Mandal Commission to date. The Indian media's power structure mirrors the power structure of Indian politics before VP Singh came along. And there is a huge upper caste bias against someone like Nitish in the Indian media. That is harmful for democracy.
The same goes to campaign finance. Why does Rahul not know how much money the Indian corporate houses are giving to Modi? Why is he left guessing? That information needs to be public information.
Indian democracy will be better served if laws are passed such that (1) it becomes easier to create new media houses, (2) all media houses must publicly disclose money received from political parties or political groups affiliated with them, (3) those conducting polls are made to disclose their sources of funding, and (4) it goes without saying all political parties must do what AAP is doing voluntarily, they must disclose all their sources of funding on their websites.
And on that note I think Kejriwal has a real shot at winning in Varanasi. He has an advantage: he can actually spend time in Varanasi. He has been telling people, if Modi will not come meet you before the elections what are the chances he will come meet you after?
I could not tell you where the political parties stand today. I will patiently wait until the votes are counted. I know for sure the surveys are off the mark, but that does not mean I know where each political party stands. And it is best I not guess.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Indian Surveys Are Off
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| हिन्दी: देश के उप राष्ट्रपति मोहम्मद हामिद अंसारी पटना में पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री सत्येन्द्र नारायण सिन्हा(छोटे साहब) की 94वीं जयंती पर आयोजित व्याख्यानमाला श्रंखला पर पूर्व सांसद किशोरी सिन्हा और मुख्यमंत्री नीतीश कुमार के साथ (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
But that cutting edge thing does not seem to be happening with the Indian polls. In 2004 the surveys showed the BJP coming back to power. Instead Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. The surveys were off also in 2009. This time I do think there is a Modi wave, but it is a wave in that it will take the BJP from about 100 seats to 200 seats. When you double your seat count, it can be called a wave. But there are surveys that show Nitish Kumar getting five seats. How do you explain that? His job approval rating in Bihar is close to 70%.
Recently I came across a survey that claimed the BJP was set to get half the seats in the South. That is when I threw the towel. That is not possible. The BJP has no presence in the South. How could it end up with half the seats in the South?
If anything the polls and the surveys have added further mystery to the process. You know no one knows for sure what’s going on. If you give 200 seats to the BJP, and 100 seats to the Congress, that leaves 245 seats to the rest. And the Congress is already giving hints it will stop the BJP at any cost, even if that means supporting the so-called Third Front.
Only Nitish is now calling it the First Front. It is obvious there is a need for a new name. If you are going to build a coalition where the Congress is itself a junior ally in power, you cannot call it the Third Front. Mamata calls it the tired front.
India is such a large democracy, and most Indians are so rural, you have to ask for the methodologies in those surveys. Who are these pollsters calling? And what are they asking? What is their sample size? There was a sting operation a few weeks back that showed all the leading polling agencies were happy tweaking the poll results for the highest bidder. That is like when the search engines before Google put you at the top if you gave them money. There is also an upper caste bias against people like Nitish. And Indian media has been slower to change than Indian political leadership. Indian media is still upper caste dominated. And then there is the corporate bias. The big media houses are owned by the big Indian corporate interests who threw their lot behind Modi a long time ago.
There are two Indians who speak amazing Hindi. One is Amitabh. Another is Nitish. I just love watching both of them speak Hindi on YouTube.
I admitted to my Bihar bias a long time ago. But that does not change the fact that Nitish is the far superior candidate. And that is why I support him. The polls projecting Nitish getting five seats is like some polls projecting the BJP will get half the seats in the South.
I think something new is about to happen in India. India is finally about to prove democracy is a superior form of government to whatever they have in China, but you do have to apply it all the way. And if you do that, you end up with double digit growth rates. Something happened in China around 1980. Something is about to happen in India in 2014. That positive change will be the gift of the Kumbh Mela called the Indian general elections.
Just like there is a global Chinese identity and community, there is a global Indian identity and community. And that identity gets a boost when India does well.
At some point down the line, poll taking in India is going to get a little more scientific, a little more reliable. But that time is not now. So I am not putting too much stock in the polls. And the Indian election procedure lasts a full month. So there will be a lot of waiting before the final results are out. But when they are out, there will be a flurry of activity. I expect Nitish to be camping out in Delhi at that point in time. Coalition building is an art form. Nitish’s ways speak to the diversity of India. And that is what will carry the day. It helps that he is also the top performing Indian politician today. Like Salman Khan said, may the best person get the top job. Nitish is that best person.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Whoever Wins California Will Win
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| Image via CrunchBase |
That is also my prediction. That is how confident I am that my man Obama will win.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/election2012 is better than anything you can watch on TV, although I am doing both. http://www.youtube.com/politics is awesome. I skipped a party for YouTube Politics and Twitter.
Thursday, October 04, 2012
The First Debate
Mitt Romney is a decent debater. I must give him that. He did well.
The president stood his ground.
I did not watch it live, but thanks to the New York Times, I was able to watch it all on YouTube a few hours later. I was hoping to watch and tweet it live. Oh well.
There was not a clear winner. I guess most people stayed with who they were with before the debate began. That piles up the pressure on the future debates.
America is not about to see a dramatic uptick to its economy. Because I don't see a second stimulus on the horizon. The tax cuts in the first stimulus were a mistake. All that money should have been actively spent. The center piece of the stimulus needed to be about taking every American to gigabit broadband era.
It will be a close election, but Obama will win.
Monday, October 01, 2012
The Debates
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| Mitt Romney (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
October 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Vice Presidential)
October 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)
October 22 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)
Watch on YouTube.
Ex-wrestler props up India's PM, but he may want the job
GOP bid to retake Senate looks good in homestretch
Maverick Mamata Puts An End To UPA-II Stability
Thunder From The East Call Him Swami Modi
PM Meets With President To Discuss Political Situation As Talks Of Reshuffle In Ministry Rages On Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Recites Om Shanti To Convey Message Of Peace At United Nations
Re-rise Of Rupee Likely To Continue On Reform Hopes, Capital Inflows
Muslim Rage: Why they won’t calm down
Xi Jinping: Back in the frame
Mitt Romney's problems: Elite defection
Indian reform: At last Politics in India: Sister sledgehammer
The war in Syria: Death from the skies
Meddling at their peril
Friday, November 18, 2011
Somewhere To Start
Image by david_shankbone via Flickr(1) A second term for Barack Obama, with a super majority in the Senate and a majority in the House in exchange for total campaign finance reform within the first 100 days of his second term. If that is not delivered, launch a new third political party. This is me saying 2012 is about The Agenda, not Barack Obama. (2) Wealth Equity Tax of 10% on all corporations with a valuation over a billion dollars.
(3) Nationalize Zuccotti Park.
Jeff Sachs: New York Times: The New Progressive Movement: Following our recent financial calamity, a third progressive era is likely to be in the making. This one should aim for three things. The first is a revival of crucial public services, especially education, training, public investment and environmental protection. The second is the end of a climate of impunity that encouraged nearly every Wall Street firm to commit financial fraud. The third is to re-establish the supremacy of people votes over dollar votes in Washington....... The progressive era took 20 years to correct abuses of the Gilded Age. The New Deal struggled for a decade to overcome the Great Depression, and the expansion of economic justice lasted through the 1960s. The new wave of reform is but a few months old. ...... The young people in Zuccotti Park and more than 1,000 cities have started America on a path to renewal. The movement, still in its first days, will have to expand in several strategic ways. Activists are needed among shareholders, consumers and students to hold corporations and politicians to account. Shareholders, for example, should pressure companies to get out of politics. Consumers should take their money and purchasing power away from companies that confuse business and political power. The whole range of other actions — shareholder and consumer activism, policy formulation, and running of candidates — will not happen in the park..... To put it simply: tax the rich, end the wars and restore honest and effective government for all....... Finally, the new progressive era will need a fresh and gutsy generation of candidates to seek election victories not through wealthy campaign financiers but through free social media. A new generation of politicians will prove that they can win on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blog sites, rather than with corporate-financed TV ads. By lowering the cost of political campaigning, the free social media can liberate Washington from the current state of endemic corruption. .... A new generation of leaders is just getting started. The new progressive age has begun.
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