Opinion Open secrets
The release of secret US cables by WikiLeaks has given the comrades yet another we told you so moment.
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The release of secret US cables by WikiLeaks has given the comrades yet another we told you so moment. Many of the revelations show the dubious role that the US plays in the Middle East peace process and its plans to spy on high-ranking UN officials,the lead editorial in CPM organ Peoples Democracy says. US missions in Israel,Jordan,Syria,Saudi Arabia and Egypt were allegedly asked to gather biometric information on key Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaders and representatives particularly the young guard inside Gaza and the West Bank Needless to add,all this information goes into ensuring that both the US and Israel together work to continue denying the Palestinians their right to a homeland, it says.
It points out that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has strongly condemned the illegal disclosure of classified information. Note the condemnation is about the disclosure and not the content! it argues. The editorial rubbishes Clintons argument that the US administration was advancing human rights and universal values. For US imperialism,universal values means values that promote US interests,human rights means rights for human beings who advance US strategic interests even when it means the abrogation of such rights for millions of people who have to suffer US hegemonic policies as those in Iraq,Afghanistan,Palestine,etc are doing today, it says.
Party to demolition
The lead editorial in CPI(ML)s weekly mouthpiece ML Update focuses on the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It notes that even after 18 years of the demolition,the perpetrators of that dastardly act have not been punished. The Liberhan committee came out with its belated report indicting BJP and Sangh leaders,but even after the report was tabled,the UPA government has done nothing to ensure justice for the demolition, it says.
It says the Sangh Parivar mobs that demolished the Babri Masjid were led by the top leaders of the BJP. The Congress,which watched mutely as the idols were smuggled by communal forces into the Masjid,which facilitated the opening of the locks on the Masjid,and whose prime minister presided over the demolition of the Masjid,would like to bury the memory … The Congress and its UPA government are neither interested in acting on the Liberhan report and punishing the guilty,nor in ensuring that justice is done in the title suit case. It is the Congress vacillations and double standards that have emboldened the Sangh Parivar time and again, it adds.
Wheels within wheels
An article in CPIs New Age suspects a link between the 2G spectrum allocation scandal and the recently-unravelled housing loan scam. It says the question arises whether money was drawn from the fraudulent bank loans to buy 2G spectrum.
There is the possibility of a link between the two because after one of the beneficiaries,real-estate firm DB Realty,appeared to be a stakeholder in Etisalat DB,a 2G spectrum beneficiary…. The CAG report in 2G spectrum had named Swan Telecom as one bidder which violated norms to win the bids. Swan is now called Etisalat DB, it says.
It says the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) believes that the companies benefited in the syndicate may have inflated their assets value and balance and points out that Sebi suspects that the unscrupulous activities began at least a year ago. But what were they doing while irregularities were going on? A similar kind of profit inflation was observed during the investigation of Satyam scam,in which Ramalinga Raju falsified the assets and profits for years,in order to project his company to be successful and thereby attract more investments, it argues.
The reality was,it says,that instead of catering to the differentiated needs of a vast segment of the middle class,developers have been focusing at the high end of the market. In the last two years,due to the impact of recession,banks had reduced interest rates and offered teaser loans to encourage people to buy property. But while such loans played a part in reviving the property market,the suspicion remains that builders are rigging up prices in metros.
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
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