M.J. AKBAR

 

 

 


 

Blog on Books, Current Affairs, Politics & More....

Biography | MJ Byline Blog | MJ Washington Post Blog | MJ Books | MJ Books & BB Reviews | Blood Brothers Book Launch | MJ Interviews & Book Excerpts
Other Book Reviews & Recommendations | RSS Guide | MJ - Eloquent Voice on Web
 | LETTERS | MJ PICS & Praise for BooksFREE SPEECH

Bylines 

Books

Bookrec

Letters

M J Akbar's Books
Read MJ Book Chapters & Reviews, etc.

New Book Published by M J Akbar

 "Fratelli di Sangue"
Italian Translated version of Blood Brothers

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISBN 978-88-545-0186-7
Pagine 352 Pages 352
Euro 18,50 Euro 18.50
Collana: Le tavole d'oro Series: The tables gold

Fratelli di Sangue
Published by Neri Pozza


Click for Pics & More on

Books
 


Shade of Swords by MJ Akbar
The spirit of jihad entered Islam at Badr. It is a spirit that inspires among believers a heroism beyond the bounds of reason; equally, it inspires dread among those outside the fold of Allah. Its root lies in the Arabic jehad, meaning exertion or striving. Its resonance comes from the nature of this strife: jihad is the holy war, the war of righteousness, the struggle against tyranny.
-
Read Chapter 1 & 2
SHADE OF SWORDS
Buy Here
Kashmir Behind The Vale by MJ Akbar
Of Human, and Inhuman, Bondage:
The poet did not quibble:
Agar firdaus bar ru-e zamin ast
Hami ast o-hami ast o-hami ast.

If there is a Paradise on earth, he said after seeing Kashmir, it is this, it is this, it is this. One problem, however, with any Paradise is the envy it tends to arouse. Kashmir has been coveted by a succession of armies, at least from the time of the Aryans Many came to conquer, but only a few were able to stay: Kashmir absorbed those few who broke the forbidding defensive wall of the Himalayas.
-
Read Chapter 1 & 2
KASHMIR: BEHIND THE VALE
Buy here
Riot After Riot by M J Akbar
Law and order have two enemies: the Full Truth and the Complete Lie. When people realize the truth, they start revolutions. When they are fed lies they begin meaningless riots. Lies are the staple of every communal disturbance. They are spread by people who have a stake in this stupid violence, who have something to gain out of impoverished Hindus and Muslims fighting each other.
-
Read Chapter 1 & 2
RIOT AFTER RIOT
Buy here
Nehru : The Making of India by M J Akbar
Nehrus are believed to have migrated, Noar, or Naru, in Badgam district and the other near the small town of Tral. Another claim says that the family came from the Rainwari area on the outskirts of Srinagar. (A famous family, as is well known, suddenly gets many ancestors.)
- Read Chapter 1 & 2
NEHRU: THE MAKING OF INDIA
Buy here
India: The Siege Within  by M J Akbar
Traces the history of India since the Partition in 1947, and analyzes the current political situation and India's future : Amazon.com Synopsis
India: The Siege Within is the account of achievements of India’s secular democracy as well as its vulnerability and failures. I've elaborated the origins and nature of the strains on Indian unity which have deep roots in history.
-
Read Chapter 1 & 2

INDIA:  THE SIEGE WITHIN
Buy here
Byline by M J Akbar
A collection of Bylines
"Journalism is the only profession that permits you to travel without making you a travelling salesman. You become, in a way, a travelling purchaser...Words are the currency of this transaction: You buy images with words, and then you pass them with words as well" - M.J. Akbar
BYLINE
Buy Here

Blood Brothers  by M J Akbar
(Last Published 2006)

Blood Brothers
| MJ Books & BB Reviews

Prayaag
My grandfather died while I was playing on his chest, that was my first stroke of luck. My elder aunt, dark, wise, hunched against her corner of the courtyard, promptly declared that his soul, seething with miracles, had passed into me.

-
Read Chapter & Author Interviews

Read MJ Book Chapters & Reviews, etc.
If you've read the Books, send  your Reviews 

Columnist @ MJA : SUSENJIT GUHA
Susenjit Guha is a freelance writer based in Kolkata and a columnist at UPI Asia Online
He can be contacted at:
Email: sguha60@yahoo.com
Column  url:

Susenjit Guha - Columnist

Posted on June 11, 2008

US will have to play Chinese checkers
-By Susenjit Guha

How can the US confront China with the cold war worn
policy of ratcheting up US defense budget which John
McCain has in mind while being saddled with billions in piled
up debts?


Barack Obama and John McCain may differ on domestic
issues and foreign policy, but their near unanimity on China
as they head toward the final showdown proves the
emerging Asian tiger will be a future big bother.

Obama’s talk of friendship with China rather than
competition early on in the campaign has been scaled up
recently urging punishment for manipulating the Yuan,
dumping goods into the US and violating intellectual
property rights. McCain wanted hazardous cheap toys
banned and took a swipe at the Chinese leadership for
gagging free speech and religion.

But how far will they be able to walk the talk when China is
holding nearly $491 billion in Treasury securities---
financing US’ budget deficit compared to $60 billion in 2000
--- is anybody’s guess. Since George W Bush took office,
US exports to China rose 400 per cent according to
Commerce department figures, while Chinese exports to US
tripled.

Again, ground realities made both George W Bush and Bill
Clinton earlier temper their campaign speech rhetoric on
China soon after they took over.

Now the surging- ahead –Chinese-juggernaut, ready to
devour resources at any cost in any part of the world, may
upset certain set in stone ethics and democracy
parameters.

Public opinion in the United States and most parts of the
world about George W Bush’s foreign policy has impacted
the need for a change which has propelled little known
Barack Obama into the forefront. But there are no safety
nets for ordinary Chinese who cannot affect any changes
to their near totalitarian regime which sups with the most
reviled despots of the world, sells them arms while going on
an overdrive in defense expenditure themselves. If the US
Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices, 2006 is to be believed, the Chinese state is
brutal, officially executing somewhere between five
thousand and twelve thousand people every year, more
than all other states in the world combined.

So how can the US confront China with the cold war worn
policy of ratcheting up US defense budget which John
McCain has in mind while being saddled with billions in piled
up debts?

Recent tamping down of Tibetan protestors and veto for
any aggressive UN aid push into Myanmar where a man-
made humanitarian crisis was underway and tens of
thousands--- most of them children--- were starving,
proved the Chinese leadership still does not care for world
opinion, not even before the Beijing Olympics. It will foil
global attempts to bear on despots who trample human
rights to clean up their act.

And this happened when China was working toward an
image makeover after foreign investments started flowing in
and when people form all walks of life were urged to build
national image. Support for the Sudanese government
accused of genocide in Darfur went alongside the sprucing
up exercise.

As Xinxua News Agency, CCTV, China Daily and China Radio
International competed with BBC in SE Asia, the Chinese
administration worked toward creating regional groups
sidelining the US, a concern expressed by John McCain. And
the rebuttal that China was a developing country incapable
of sophisticated cyber crimes like allegedly hacking into
congressional computers, have few buyers in the US.

The lid is firmly placed after a semblance of measured
openness following the catastrophic earthquake. AFP
journalists were told in no uncertain terms to keep off
earthquake ravaged school buildings to avoid contacts with
parents of victims who blamed the government for
corruption.

It would be naïve to expect China’s interest in the six-party
talks to make North Korea give up nuclear arms production
to be without any reason. US presidents in the past have
stuck to a one China policy regarding Taiwan. But nearly
40000 US troops are stationed in South Korea. A near equal
number in Japan, Philippines and a few in Guam may also
have to be pulled back after troops in South Korea head
home in case North Korea comes clean. US cannot bank on
the other traditional pro-US partner nations where latent
nationalism may surface once US troops leave South Korean
soil.

Can the US leave the region totally exposed to China if the
six-party talks finally succeed and Kim Jong-Il suddenly
turns benign, unshackles North Koreans and opens the
gate? China may have an interest in such a scenario. But,
how will the US deal with such a situation?

Resisting democracy, protection from eroding influences,
sidelining Japan, an US ally, tacitly resisting India, another
emerging, but democratic Asian economy and setting up
firewalls to shield despotic regimes floating on scarce
energy resources, may warrant compromises in US’ China
policy once again.

And it would also be a test in diplomacy when an emerging
superpower enjoying the best of both worlds---some in
Beijing’s Security Ministry want to trace back to the Middle
Kingdom era and centuries of dominance in Asia--- will keep
playing by its own rules.

- Read More and add Comments

What does Obama hold for South Asia
-By Susenjit Guha

Not many US presidents in the recent past have had close relations with South Asians from their college days as Barack Obama seems to have had. Despite Hillary Clinton's active fund-raising Indian Punjabi lobby in the US, neither she nor John McCain had any links with Indians or Pakistanis during their formative years or shared their anxieties and concerns of funding as graduate students. And one wonders if George W Bush could have located South Asia on the map when he took over.

- Read More and add Comments

Subscribe Feeds

This is Columnist's Own Space - Own Voice! The views expressed in these Blog Posts are of the Author. www.mjakbar.org is not responsible for Write-ups on this page.
The columnist articles are Copyright and the respective Author should be contacted for permission whatsover.
 


HAVE YOUR SAY! POSTED ON YOUR BLOG ON MJ? Send your Link to be posted ON Blogroll here.

 

WRITE FOR MJA:
Global Issues, Politics and Current Affairs.

BE A COLUMNIST ON MJA Weekly Columnists Space - Send your Sample Article in 500-700 words with your profile and url, if any. (No Attachments, please)

Subscribe Feeds

SUSENJIT GUHA "QUOTES"

...The United States is sprucing up and restoring the history of nations where it lies in ruins, or where natural calamities have wreaked havoc and local funds are not available for repairs - even though the necessary funds are pittances compared to those spent on defense and wars..
- SUSENJIT GUHA

Google Ads

SUSENJIT'S BLOG ARCHIVE

 Alternative Zindabad....
 Bush tried to Wedge ..
 Caste, Cream and Quotas...
 Global Problems need global...
 Gas Baalu
 America's Obama Dilemma
 Some Justice for Biharis
 Medvedev makes his mark
 What does Obama hold for South Asia
 US will have to play CC

Susenjit's Favorite Web Reads

The Economist
Foreign Policy
Foreign Affairs
The New Republic
Political Science Quarterly
Sydney Morning Herald
Tampa Bay Newspapers
Toronto Star
New Zealand Herald
LA Times
New York Times

Susenjit's Fav Columnists

M J Akbar
Maureen Dowd
Paul Krugman
David Brooks
Bob Herbert
Paula Brooks
Rekha Basu
Andrew Bacevich
Paul Gailey

Susenjit's Current Book Reads

Super-State by Stephen Haseler

Slow Man by J M Coetzee


 

Susenjit's Fav Books

Complete works of Vivekananda

Pieces on Islamic Culture by M.T.Akbar
(Fomerly CJ, Supreme Court , Ceylon)

Islam in India by Humayun Kabir


Blood Brothers (In Books)

TECH BRIEFS


Covert Group on Facebook

Join Discussions with Columnists

Have you Joined the 'Covert Group'? Well, if not, here's the link above.  All you do is, click and enter Facebook and there, you're in! Facebook's now web surfer's darling. I am sure you've been reading a lot on Facebook lately. You can create not only Group like Covert but now, Create your Business Pages and promote with Facebook Fans and Social Ads.

-Read More Tech

- ilaxi
-
Read More Tech
  Subscribe Tech Briefs in a reader

Members of this Blog:
M J AKBAR - ILAXI 

Translate this Blog

DONATE

Donate & Support for a Cause!
"Zakat means Purification  & growth Muslims make 2.5% Charity to the poor and needy every year. This is Almsgiving as per the Quran 9:60"

Click Here to Donate

 

 

  

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
Powered by FeedBurner

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Read Reviews Here

     

Copyright © 2007  M J Akbar.  All rights Reserved | Biography  | Home

Ask M J Akbar 
Feel free to send E-mails or Post your comments on Bylines Posts.
Send your reviews on Books, comments on War Pages, Your concerns, etc.
Anything you wish to communicate to MJ Akbar. 
He doesn't always have the opportunity to reply to everything, but he certainly reads it all! 
(E-mails Without Attachments, please!)

M J Akbar
 E-MAIL: mjakbar@mjakbar.org / ilaxi@mjakbar.org
Did you like this Blog of MJ Akbar? Send
me your comments, suggestions, etc. Bouquets or Brickbats please:-)

M.J. AKBAR'S BLOG : Edited & Brought to You By Ilaxi (Official Blogger for MJ Akbar)
Kidsfreesouls.com - Newspaper for Kids with Resources for Parents & Teachers

a

Started on September 28, 2004. We are Thankful to our Readers, supporters and well wishers |
Best viewed in 1024 by 768 Screen Resolution