W’end Links: Revisiting 1962, Greed and Melamine, Media Knavery

This weekend, please revisit 1962’s incredible saga of valour

Read about the unfortunate link between “greed” and science in China

and finally read what Sandeep has to say on the Media Knavery following the attacks in Mumbai.

As usual, excerpts from all the article are below.

*** Excerpts from Revisiting 1962’s incredible saga of valour ***

…The ironies of history take strange shapes. In 1962, Nehru didn’t listen to the warnings of the erstwhile Jana Sangh, believed ‘the Chinese can never attack us’ and lost face and land both to his ‘bhai’-like friends. Then the government arrested more than 400 top Communist leaders on charges of sedition and invited volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh to participate in the 1963 Republic Day Parade at Raj Path in New Delhi in full uniform, recognising its services during the war.

In 2008 the Communists have become the darlings of the Congress that still sources its legacy to Nehru, and the RSS is sought to be banned.

By 1962, China had taken Aksai Chin and invaded NEFA.

In 2008, China is still occupying Aksai Chin and has rebuffed our foreign minister with a renewed claim on Arunachal Pradesh (formerly known as NEFA).

But can the nation forget the 1962 war? Who were those who fought and died? For who? And to what avail?

One of the stories India can never forget is the battle we fought in the Indus valley, near Chushul village.

The battle of Rezangla, fought at an altitude of 17,000 feet, is one of the most incredible sagas of valour and courage that Indian soldiers have showed. That was November 18, 1962, exactly 46 years earlier. They fought and died for Indian soil.

In 2008, we are still waiting for a leader to show any will or resolute action to indicate we are serious to take back the land that China grabbed.

The Congress changed post-Nehru, so did the others. Politics and immediate interests have overpowered security concerns, and distinctions between the identities of the enemy and patriots are as blurred as they were in 1962.

Unanswered questions

Forty-six years later, the question remains still unanswered: why did we have to fight a war, and why was it that the brave 114 soldiers of the 13th Kumaon had to offer their supreme sacrifice fighting till the ‘last man and last bullet’ in sub-zero temperature (minus 15 degrees Celsius) at Rezang La on November 18, 1962? What were the causes of that war and what happened afterwards? Who remembers them except a few ex-soldiers and the patriotic crowd at Rewari (Haryana), hometown of most of the martyred Ahirs who had fought at Rezang La? Why does no politician think it a matter of honour to send his children to join the army? Why do we have an important road in Delhi named after Krishna Menon, the disgraced defence minister of the ’62 war, and nothing significant to honour the men who gave their lives to save India in Chushul?

These were the thoughts on my mind when I set out for Chushul last fortnight to get a feel of ‘November in Rezang La’ and pay my homage to the bravehearts.

The 1962 war with China is a sad story of a completely incapable leadership, favouritism at the top echelons of the army, and a disregard of the nation’s security needs by those who were hailed by the people as their saviours. Neville Maxwell, a British journalist, writes in his famous book India’s China war: ‘At the time of independence, [B M] Kaul appeared to be a failed officer, if not one disgraced. But his courtier wiles, irrelevant or damning until then, were to serve him brilliantly in the new order that independence brought, after he came to the notice of Nehru, a fellow Kashmiri Brahmin and, indeed, distant kinsman.’

*** End of Excerpts ***

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*** Excerpts from Greed, mad science and melamine ***

SHANGHAI – China’s scandal over melamine-contaminated food products is far from over. In the latest development, the poisonous chemical has been found not only in an array of dairy products – from infant milk formula to chocolate European sex toys – but as a widely used additive in poultry, fish and cattle feed.

It’s not just a few bad eggs. The trail of greed and negligence that allowed melamine – a toxic industrial chemical – to slip from modified animal fodder into the human food chain has now led to some of China’s top scientists – many of whom are widely regarded to have put personal profit over the public safety of billions.

Recent reports have found that China’s top scientific research body – the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) – “discovered” as early as 1999 that adding melamine to food could boost its protein levels. In turn, the reports allege that rogue biologists cashed in on their chemical invention by promoting the sale of products containing melamine – even charging for training in how to use them – for years.

…The scandal broke in September after melamine-polluted milk killed four babies and sickened as many as 60,000.

It spread from the milk industry to the animal feed industry in late October when Hong Kong authorities found melamine in eggs imported from the mainland – the result of tainted feed given to chickens. There have been subsequent reports of melamine found in feed for pigs, cows and fish, prompting fears that meat and meat products could be contaminated.

…scientists say warnings signs were apparent as early as last year when melamine in Chinese-made pet food killed house pets across the United States.

…While unscrupulous milk and fodder producers – and subsequently the government – came under public accusations for making and covering up melamine-contaminated products, angry Chinese consumers are now pointing fingers at scientists.

The prestigious, government-funded CAS was among the first to be linked to the chemical.

Last month, Chinese bloggers exposed that as early as in 1999, a CAS institution placed advertisements for an additive to cattle feed called “DH Composite High-protein Fodder Supplement”. The advertisement claimed that the technology could be used to manufacture “high protein fodder using organic nitrogen and special catalysts”. The technology was sold by the Appliance Technology Institute of CAS for 10,000 yuan (US$1,466) plus an extra 5,000 yuan ($700) for training, according to the advertisement. The online ad was soon posted on major websites and forums. Many believed that “DH Composite High-protein Fodder Supplement” was based on melamine.

The CAS, however, was quick to deny the charge. Jiang Xiezhu, spokesman of the CAS, told the media that an investigation launched by the academy showed that the supplement “had nothing to do with melamine”. His explanation was that the advertised technology could not produce the high temperature needed for the production of melamine.

Few are convinced by the explanation, however, because the investigation was done unilaterally by the CAS. Without an independent observer, people began to doubt the objectivity of the results. And while denying that “DH Composite High-protein Fodder Supplement” is based on melamine, the spokesman also failed to publicize its formula or ingredients.

The CAS also failed to mention who invented the technology. It only said that the contact person named in the advertisement, Gao Yinxiang, was not a scientist, implying that Gao was not the inventor.

This is not true. In an interview with the Beijing Evening News, Gao acknowledged taking part in the development of the product. The Beijing Evening News later exposed Gao as a former director of the Appliance Technology Institute of CAS, and a biologist.

It’s not clear whether the CAS deliberately hid Gao’s identity. However, the process of investigation and the contradictory statements made the CAS’s explanation quite weak. Even commentaries in major newspapers demanded the CAS give a more thorough clarification.

…It might never be known whether the CAS invented the melamine supplement. Still, the online ad did reveal a fact: China’s top government-funded science institution researched chemical fodder supplements nine years ago for profit.

Making chemical additives can be highly profitable. Industry insiders say that the price of melamine was only 600-800 yuan per tonne, but its price could jump 500% to 4,000 yuan a tonne when it was made into protein supplements.

As the Washington Post reported, “Melamine is used to make fertilizer and plastic but the factories where it is made regularly sell melamine scraps to whoever wants them. The scraps, in turn, are frequently used to make protein powders that are used to spike animal feed and watered down milk in order to pass protein tests.”

*** End of Excerpts ***

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*** Excerpts from On the Media Knavery by Sandeep ***

…Secular progressives have been peddling this perverse theory for a few decades in the Indian public discourse. However, in recent times, the field has widened. When taken to its logical conclusion, this theory reverses roles where the victim becomes the aggressor. In the current case, it simply means that India deserved this attack for we invited it upon ourselves.

This grand narrative is the sense of Muslim victimhood. The central premise of this narrative rests upon the all-encompassing and institutionalised Muslim discrimination that exists in India. In the wake of the Mumbai attacks, this theory has been revived almost instantly. Several editorials and opinion pieces assert that this attack is proof that anti-Muslim discrimination has reached record proportions. They worry that it is continually driving thousands of Muslim youth to willingly get brainwashed by the Pakistani jihadi industry.

This narrative has now been globalised.

A Time magazine article (November 27) ostensibly tracing the “beginning of (this) problem,” presents a one-sided account of Indian history, which is at once biased and inaccurate. For example, it traces Mangal Pandey (and the subsequent Indian independence war of 1857) as the cause for the final removal of the Mughal Empire by the British! The piece also faithfully repeats the standard clichés about the Gujarat riots.

Another article in the Huffington Post (November 28) blames the BJP for bringing India to this state of affairs! But the most shameful of them all hails from an Indian media outlet. In a news report, it inserts a cunning speculation about the religious identity of a terrorist who was found wearing a religious band on his wrist. The speculation hints at the possibility that the terrorist was Hindu but adds a disclaimer that it is unfounded. While this qualifies as accurate reporting, the insinuation has already been made, and picked up. A prominent observer on a news channel repeatedly emphasised the existence of a “beast” called Hindu terrorism.

Amid all this Muslim-victimhood trumpeting, the media seems to have forgotten a basic, simple truth: Common sense. On the contrary, it advertises its lack of common sense with great pride. It brandishes every explanation and analysis except the most obvious. Common sense says that the Mumbai attack is the latest and most severe evidence that the Pakistan jihadi machine has declared a war against India; and that this jihad is no longer restricted to Kashmir. It is well-oiled and, thanks to a pusillanimous Government, can strike at will.

Instead of focusing on national security and kicking the Government awake to take action, the media takes refuge in spinning reams about the psyche and motivation of the terrorists and whether they are “really” Pakistani terrorists and other assorted mindlessness.

*** End of Excerpts ***

As an aside,

Some commentators suggest that the United States is actually financing the Taliban. The point is to tie down the Pakistani Army, they say, leaving the way open for the Americans to grab Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

Recently, in the officer’s mess in Bajaur, the northern tribal region where the Pakistani Army is tied down fighting the militants, one officer offered his own theory: Osama bin Laden did not exist, he told a visiting journalist.

Rather, he was a creation of the Americans, who needed an excuse to invade Afghanistan and encroach on Pakistan. [ link]

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Bonus: Nice travelogue from Sandeep in which he failes to spot a single temple in spite of covering 200kms of God’s Own Country

Have a safe, enjoyable weekend.