“Cowards cannot build nations…”
Read these extracts from an Op-Ed by Kanchan Gupta in The Pioneer, “Unlike Israelis, we lack guts” in the context of recent developments in Israel.
Excerpts:
“….On a winter forenoon we take off from this airport…for Sderot, a frontier town on Israel’s border with Gaza Strip. Sderot has been in the news for more than a year now and has earned for itself a unique distinction: It is the most bombed place in the world yet its residents remain defiant and unshaken.
…
The first Qassam rocket — a crude device crafted out of metal pipe and fixed with fins made from bits of scrap, and named after a fanatical preacher – was fired six years ago. Since then, it has been raining rockets on Sderot.
Till now, 2,000 Qassam rockets have landed on homes, playgrounds, schools and other public places; this year alone more than 300 rockets have been fired at Sderot. Luckily, in the absence of a guiding mechanism, the rockets cannot be targeted at precise locations. They take off with a thud, zig-zag through the air in a fiery trajectory, and land whenever they run out of fuel. Thankfully there have been no major fatalities, but then, psychological scars do not show.
…Life is tough in Sderot. But despite living in the constant fear of being blown up by a Qassam rocket or watching your loved ones taking a direct hit, nobody has left Sderot. People have dug in and their spirits are amazingly high. It’s a humbling experience to be among them, and an afternoon in Sderot teaches you an important lesson: Cowards cannot build nations and quislings cannot protect them.
If the people of Sderot have displayed remarkable courage in the face of adversity, their leaders in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem have been equally determined not to let them down….
…And so the great game continues in West Asia, with the victim refusing to surrender an inch and the aggressors — Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran — equally determined to wipe Israel from the map of the world.
What is admirable is the fight back by Israelis and their Government.
In India, a nation of more than a billion people, we cave in even before push comes to shove. All it took was a group of breast-beating women, not one of them even remotely related to the hostages abroad IC 814, for the Government and the nation to chicken out and release three wanted terrorists who have since committed further heinous crimes. We are expected to believe the bunkum about “zero tolerance towards terrorism” that we are hearing all over again!”
Related Posts:
Another day, another blast – �Kuch nayee baat batao�yaar�
�The nonsense about the �spirit of�Mumbai���
Anger, tears and�despair��and finally,
Four Years, Two Attacks, One�Story�
P.S. As could be expected, India’s official response to the developments�was: “The government of India is dismayed at the continuing violence in occupied Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip…India strongly urges an immediate end to the cycle of violence by all parties concerned….“
Dear Shantanu,
Let me assure you that this will not be very much appreciated by many “eduated intellectuals”. I am not an “Educated Intellectual” in the true sense.
All “educated intellectuals” believe that Israel should cease to exist as it was carved out by the “Dirty British” , just to satisfy the Jews and the rabid US.
All ” educated intellectuals ” believe that India shoild cease to exist as “Pakistan” was carved out of the Mughal Empire , (An Islamic Empire) taken over by the British, and once agian the “Dirty British” played dirty.
All “educated intellectuals” believe that the the Islamic invasions took place into “Bharat” because the “Bharatiyas” were just nomads who came in and were occupying the country by force!!
All “educated intellectuals” believe that Ghazini, and others came in peacfully to spread Islam but the “criminals” read “Hindus” in Bharat” did not want to let them do it peacfully and hence they had to rape, kill, pillage to teach them a lesson and spread Islam.
I am so sorry that you are just a person like me, not an “educated Intellectual” and have the audaucity to talk about the bravery of the people of Israel.
Shame on You,
Regards,
vck
Great article. We get drawn too much into diplomacy. We have politicians spending most of their time releasing vague statements to the media on the issue instead of pursuing a stable foreign policy. None of the political parties have the guts to put forth a “no-bilateral talks until you close down the camps” policy. I dont understand why it is so hard to pursue. This way the government can do some useful activities instead of taking a trip to agra or lahore. The General has made a fool of us indians.
I feel as they say coward dies every moment but brave is imortal & remembered always.
How many of us are really aware that our freedom is not on AHIMSA but the blood alteady sheded since 1857 to INA
We denounce the US at every opportunity in this blog ……. how blind can we be to our national and strategic interests? In the new “globalised” world, where even terror is decentralised and disseminated globally …. the United States, Israel, India and Japan are natural allies. The US also recognises this now, for the first time, since our independence. If we spurn them, the nation that will suffer the most will be India. China will cut us up at their leisure and we will be left wondering again, what if …….
This is the world of realpolitik. If we keep holding on to our old biases instead of recognising the new realities of this world, we only kill ourselves. In the real world, outside of ideological discussions, there are no permanent enemies or friends, only permanent interests. It is in OUR interests to link up with the United States today.
BTW, VCK, you should get your politics right …. the “rabid US” actually supports Israel ….. what was your point?
And, also an open question to everyone in this blog, who are the braves of our country? I can think only of our armed forces and the police forces fighting the naxalites everyday …… I do not think anyone of us qualify. We have passed on the responsibility.
There is a severe shortage of officers in our armed forces ….. If you believe that our country needs braves, let us all promise here to send our children to the armed forces.
@ Patriot: You say, “We denounce the US at every opportunity in this blog…”
Is it my posts/comments you are referring to? If so, can you pl. mention a few instances?
By the way, I agree that US, Israel and Japan are our “natural” allies. See e.g. a point made in this post from a while ago:
https://satyameva-jayate.org/2006/08/15/china-japan-politics-of-energy/
***
Also, I believe VCK was being sarcastic in his comments above…but I will leave it to him to reply.
Dear Shantanu,
At last you got the point. It was totally “Tongue in cheek”.
Where do you think i got the idea of army service, as in my post to you on Captain Verma.
Regards,
vck
Well, I think I understand sarcasm, but how would it please the rabid US if Israel were to cease to exist? As I think is the point being made by VCK.
Also, there has been plenty of US bashing in the posts related to the nuclear deal. There is a simplistic creed of bloggers here that US = christianity = domination over hindus.
@Patriot:
Opposition to the nuclear deal does not mean that one is just biased against the US. I am not in favour of the nuclear deal but I do welcome the strategic partnership. Plenty of experts including scientists from AEC, politicians (excluding communists) and political analysts have voiced their discontent with the deal. I know there is plenty of support for it too. I just think it must be debated in the parliament. In fact, all foreign policy issues must have political consensus. If it is such a good deal, why is the congress party trying to push the deal without trying for political consensus. I dont know if you have read Brahma Chellaney’s articles. He brings up a lot of valid points. Try his blog – http://chellaney.spaces.live.com/
@Prakash:
Most of the opposition (and the support) is not supported by facts, because of the secrecy surrounding our nuclear program. We can only go by what the experts connected with the nuclear program say.
In that context, the chief scientist of our nuclear program, who was completely against the nuclear deal is now fully in support as are virtually all the nuclear scientists who have gone on record.
The National Security Adviser to the BJP, Brajesh Mishra, was also initially against the deal. Then he said that if the govt told him what was the current status of our deterrence, he would be able to make an intelligent decision as he was aware of the status when he left. He is now in support of the deal, which led Manmohan Singh to make his appeal to Vajpayee (and Advani) to support the deal.
Brahama Chellaney is an external observer …… I would go by Brajesh Mishra over Chellaney anyday.
And, I think we need to understand the realpolitik of the US as well ….. it is naive on our part if we expect them to completely ignore the Hyde Act as the communists (who are bent on derailing any relations with the US) and their supporters are demanding. This is impossibe given the power of the NPT hawks among US politicians. Given this background, my limited understanding says that we have got a fabulous deal from the US – we are being allowed to stockpile nuclear fuel, we choose the reactors to put under safeguards, we have India-specific covenants with the IAEA (?) ……. these have not been offered to any country in the past, and certainly not one who has not been part of the NPT regime.
But, I am not an expert …….. the experts connected with the nuclear program say this is a good deal. I see no good reason to doubt them.
@Patriot: I am not an expert either. I agree that there have been commentaries and columns from politicians and scientists alike on both for and against the deal. The communists in India are up in arms against any partnership with the US irrespective of the benefits. So, I would ignore their call as well. In the US, the bill went through congress (which has politicians from both parties) and got through changes to placate the NPT hawks (mostly democrats). India also being a democracy, you would expect that such a process would be undertaken in India. My main qualm is that the ruling government is pushing the policy without discussing it in the parliament. Moreover, there have been contradicting statements issued from the US side as well as the indian side. This is a deal that would run past the term of this goverment. You have BJP politicians threatening to nullify it if they get to power. The BJP being naturally inclined to partner with the US, I would think congress would actually be happy to discuss it with them. Foreign policy has to be shaped to a certain extent by political consensus so that it is coherent and has a long term vision. If the leading opposition party is not roped in, I dont understand how the deal will be survive and be fruitful.