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inick4u · 4 years

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Tame the Dragon

It was on 9 November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. It culminated in one of the most famous scenes in recent history - the fall of the Berlin Wall. An end to the Cold War was declared at the Malta Summit three weeks later, and the reunification of Germany took place in October the following year. It took US (and west) around 45 years after world war-2 to claim the triumph over mighty Soviet Union when it got dissolved in Dec 1991. The similarities between communist USSR and present day China in their hegemonic, expansionist, tyrannical, authoritarian, Orwellian regimes are not unfathomable.

Rise of China, its Military and Economical Potency

Rise of china started in 1980, due to initiation of economic reforms and trade liberalization with real annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 9.5% through 2018, a pace described by the World Bank as “the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history.” Such growth has enabled China, on average, to double its GDP every eight years and helped raise an estimated 800 million people out of poverty and becoming second highest GDP around 13.41 trillion USD in 2018.

In terms of Military strength, Second only to the U.S. and Russia, the Chinese military continues to grow alongside a local burgeoning Military-Industrial Complex with around 21 lakhs active personnel and around 175 billion USD budget.

Threat of China to India and stability of world at large

Chinese leadership interpreted 2008 financial crisis as decline of US supremacy & inadequacy to maintain stability in economy. First manifestation of China asserting its belligerent policies started in March 2010 with its expansive claim over South China Sea. Chinese claim over South China Sea was projected as their core interest and non-negotiable like Tibet and Taiwan. In November 2012 at 18th Party Congress of CCP ,Hu Jintao who was loathe to be seen as weak in foreign policy, especially in the context of a rapidly growing concern about social stability and regime legitimacy was succeed by Xi Jinping. After that number of steps undertook by PRC to increase their stakes in world stability. In series of that, Launching of Belt and road initiative in 2013 widely seen as agenda to threaten sovereignty, export sub-standard norms and practices, ensnaring developing countries with debt dependence and then translating that dependence into geopolitical influence. China’s actions in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Malaysia are central to the “debt trap diplomacy” debates. This was followed by numerous controversies over dubious cyber activities, maritime and land disputes with its neighbor (such as India, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, and Philippines), ethnic atrocities on Uighur Muslims in Xinxiang, curbing anti-china protest in Hong Kong and Trade war with US.

By any parameters, one can safely conclude that china has been overtly challenging US and west domination on world affairs in all facets over a decade now and pose severe threat to regional & world stability.

On domestic front, New Delhi has been very skeptical and apprehensive about Beijing and its hawkish polices after trauma of 1962 war. The event of Doklam, raising Kashmir issue in UN, blocking India’s entry into NSG (Nuclear Supplier Group), Supporting jihadi terrorist on international forums, pact with Pakistan for CPEC with an aim to undermine India’s sovereignty and now killing of 20 Indian soldiers in Ladakh by PLA has unsurprisingly conveyed the devious plot of evil Xi-Jinping regime to destabilize India. China is also following the strategy of containing India in maritime region by establishing bases for the forward deployment of their naval assets and to gain relative advantage and leverage Indo-pacific region.

Now, outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic allegedly originated in wet markets of Chinese city of Wuhan and its information suppressed by China has really triggered the conflict between world and China wide open. The world is now badly suffering with devastating effect of Covid-19 at all fronts and wants to hold the Chinese government responsible for hiding the information unscrupulously.

Infiltration of China in Indian Economy

We need to understand few basic facts about infiltration of China in Indian economy before going into the debate of boycott China campaign. India is running biggest single trade deficit with China comparing to any other country. The imbalance has continuously been widening year after year to reach USD 58.04 billion in 2018. Over time, our raw material-based export commodities of largely agricultural and pharmaceutical products have been overshadowed by Chinese exports of machinery, power-related equipment, telecom, organic chemicals, and fertilizers. Many Chinese electronic, IT and hardware manufacturing companies are also having operations in India. These include Huawei Technologies, ZTE, TCL, Haier etc. Chinese mobile handset companies Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, Realme occupy nearly 75% of Indian mobile handset market.

Apart from the bilateral trade, Chinese investments in a country come through direct, routed and through corporate penetration in technology and infrastructure sectors. Officially, China's FDI in India stands at over $2.34 billion. Some observers and think tanks report a higher investment including rerouted ones. They put the Chinese investments in India at over $4 billion. Some of our shining brands having massive Chinese investment are Ola, Flipkart, Swiggy, Paytm, Snapdeal, Zomato etc.

Can Boycotting Chinese Product help?

Any people movement of boycotting Chinese Product is not only going to be very futile engagement with very less dividend but shows our approach of banalisation of very complex international matter with united jingoism. Almost every experts are opining to the contrary and also we don’t have any history of such successful attempt or study of consumer boycotting in attaining self-reliance or penalizing the “enemy” nation.

The range of goods that we import from China is immense: consumer durables such as electronic goods, smartphones, industrial goods, vehicles, solar cells, and essential pharmaceutical products including tuberculosis and leprosy drugs and antibiotics, among many others. It needs to be acknowledged that China has increased its export to Africa, Europe, US and its dependence on export to India is not great (2% of its total exports). So even if Indians boycott all the goods imported from China, it will not make as big an impact on China. On the other hand sudden throwing out Chinese firms may impact Indian industries and tech startups due to lack of investment, raw material and low cost capital investment. Another impact could be further worsen of unemployment rate which currently stands at alarming 24% rate.

USP of Chinese goods has been its affordability and availability. With a careful study of global society’s multi-cultural needs – some of the cheapest saris, toys, Diwali firecrackers and god idols in India come from China. In our country where 75% of population only managed to earn Rs. 33 per day, consumer eventually prefer to go for the cheapest available option in the market. So call for boycotting anyways going to diminish sooner or later without achieving its goal.

Ways to counter the bully

To quote great ancient Chinese General and Military Strategist Sun Tzu “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

Conventional warfare cannot be a viable option to counter a nation which is 5 times bigger in GDP and 3 times bigger in terms of military spending. Hence opening remarks of this article about history explains why India needs a long term, stable, prudent multilateral strategy to counter china and can be classified as follows.

a) Economic Reforms, bilateral and multilateral Trade agreement – It’s not intricate to understand that reason China is able to challenge US is because of their sustained economic growth. And this is an undisputed opinion in the world that India has failed to reach its potential after forced Liberalization of 1991 (explanation needs another article).

An efficient government is one that draws down its intervention where it is distortionary and goes big where it needs to—is a better goal. The Indian state has made the wrong call too often. We have already lost a decade for structural economic reforms and cannot be further delayed. The Clarion call of Atmanirbar Bharat should not be misconstrued to the policy of protectionism and disruption. Though it’s impossible to suggest any magic wand to overturn India’s economic woes (going on now from long time) in few paragraphs but let’s discuss some basic concepts.

India is inadequately formalized, financialised, urbanized, industrialized and skilled. There are fundamentally two different part of economy i.e. Rural and Urban economy. Rural economy is mostly based on agriculture and constitute 65% of population. Agricultural reforms should ensure easier access to inputs like seeds, technology, power, finance and insurance. They should effect greater connectivity, both virtual and through logistic networks, of the farmer to warehouses, rural industry and final consumers.

Some bold steps for Land and labor reforms need to be undertaken. Though some states like MP and UP made some labor reforms but union government’s formulation with wider consultation of industry and trade unions required.

India, with its massive domestic consumption, can hunker down and resolve to boost domestic demand in the coming months. Government must put more money in people’s hands by creating more jobs through huge public investment projects that bring about new national assets. The government also needs to go further in reforming the banking sector & financial institute, including stricter regulations over lending and enhanced supervision from regulators. Government must work on issue like Simplification of GST, elimination of red tapism, avoiding crony capitalism, low tariffs to attract foreign investment, encouragement to startups etc.

India’s Spending on R&D is very low. In the process of self-reliance, it becomes paramount that along with improvement in our education systems we must spend on R&D of technological development. Eg. India has quadrupled its imports of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. 175 million such batteries were imported in 2016, 313 million in 2017, 712 million in 2018 and 450 million in 2019. About ¾ of this import comes from China causing surge in our import bill. With Robust R&D Infrastructure, increasing import tariffs and assisting our indigenous industry, this can be easily overturned in a span of 3-4 years. Same can be applied to electronics industry, mobile handset industry and some low cost equipment’s which now heavily depending on China.

Trade agreements with like-minded countries in non-sensitive sector will also help in much needed infusion of funds and making our products competitive globally and exportable.

This is long haul process and needs stable, strong vision and may not get us the headlines but surely will help to transform our economy.

(In April, the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported that for the first time in 40 years, China had applied for more patent applications than the U.S. including artificial intelligence, brain science, dark matter, genetic engineering and quantum computing and communications. These are areas at the cutting edge of science. No wonder why China’s firm Huawei is pioneer of 5G technology.)

Most of things mentioned here are very conceptual, subjective and aspirational. The downturn of Business friendly Chief Minister to the Prime Minister governing with heavy centralization, rhetoric, popular slogans, Communal division is tragic and still anew in our mind. But hope some sanity prevails because history won’t be as forgiving as present day electorate.

b) Military & strategic Co-operation with World Powers & Alliance with geo-political Anti-China Forces – Well the good news is that in the post COVID era, threats of rise of hegemonic China are acknowledged by all. Many countries including US like Australia, UK, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan have started aggressive opposition of Chinese polices. Hence analogy of Cold war -2 is not mere catchphrase. And threats posed by Beijing demand a ‘more global approach’.

India should realize that higgledy-piggledy strategy against China and non-alignment wouldn’t give the desired result. Strategic military co-operation without compromising the autonomy would play the most vital part in foreign relations. The expansion of G7 is being deliberated and UK is keen to have India join the D10 alliance. India already participates in the Quad (with Australia, Japan, and the U.S.) and in the Indo-Pacific Strategy, both U.S.-led anti-China platforms. Alliances would help to promote a coordinated response between friendly states to challenges posed by the present conduct and future ambitions of the People’s Republic of China. By developing a common set of principles and frameworks (diplomatically and militarily) that transcend conservatism will be able achieve the goals.

Regional players like Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are challenging Beijing draconian approach in the region. India should join their voices and the first step would be recognizing Taiwan and setting up diplomatic relation with them. India should also raise the concerns of Chinese policy towards Uighurs , Hong Kong and Tibet on international forums more often than not.

c) Peace on Domestic front – In pursuit of competing with a giant china and its proxies like Pakistan, the importance of peace and law & order on domestic front cannot be over emphasized. The prospects of being a democratic country is our biggest strength vis-a-vis China. However our insidious political class across the country has been indulged in sabotaging the democracy and interested in only grabbing the power. Without really going into the narrative of our Indian ethos and ancient culture of accommodating people of all beliefs, I want to underlay that the basic principle of wealth and prosperity is peace. Dangerous religious and Caste trends could destroy the social fabric of the nation in the long run. Alienation of Minorities should be reversed. Instances of communal riots across states, violent agitation of Jats in Haryana, perpetual violence in Bengal demonstrate very grim portrait of our society. The soft power of demography, importance of communal-social harmony and the need of unity against foreign enemy cannot be overlooked. Though it seems very trivial but in my opinion this is very crucial and hardest step of all.

Lastly it’s not a question of belling the cat, its how well world take snipe shots to kill this beast.

(Views expressed here are mine while source of most figures is google search)

#india #ladakh #China #USA

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alagalaska · 5 years

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“Get Help!”

Summary: Thor and Reader do ‘Get Help.’

Pairing: Thor x Reader. Very brief mention of past Thor x Jane

A/N: This is the first piece of fiction I have ever shared. It’s just a silly one-shot I’ve been meaning to write for ages. I recently re-watched Thor: Ragnarok and I love the scene where Thor and Loki do ‘Get Help.’ I hope you like it! There is a reference to MC Hammer in this and if you don’t know his song ‘Can’t Touch This,’ you can watch it Here. If you enjoy this please leave a comment or reblog to let me know. I’d like to mention the very talented @shreddedparchment whose own fiction inspired me to start writing again (Thank you, beautiful!)

Warnings: Violence, firearms, silly humour, puns, 80’s fashion.

Word Count: 4,321

Disclaimer: (I know, I’m old school) I do not own anything to do with Marvel or the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The idea of ‘Get Help’ is from Thor: Ragnarok and this is a piece of fiction that has been inspired by that. I do not own and did not create the characters of Thor, Tony, Sam, Natasha, Clint and Steve (or any other characters or entities from the MCU that may be referenced in any part of this fiction). I also did not write and do not own any rights to the MC Hammer song ‘Can’t Touch This’. The actual written content of this fiction, however, is my own and should not be used or copied, in part or whole. Plagiarism is a crime, kids.

Word Count: 4,321

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“It’s your turn!” You shout to Thor, over the roar of gun fire. You’re crouched behind an overturned desk in a Hydra facility; your back pressed against cool steel. It’s all grey walls and metal furniture. You’re in some sort of office, just off a corridor where Thor is busy punching a Hydra agent’s face into a wall. There’s four more at the other end of the room you’re in, shooting at you with assault rifles. One of their comrades lies unmoving in the middle of the floor, papers littering the space surrounding him. Bullets bounce around you; metal glancing off metal.

You pop up from behind the desk and take a shot at the shoulder of a woman in a long white coat, who you assume is some kind of lab technician. She is hiding behind a filing cabinet that’s tipped onto its side, fumbling to reload her gun; you guess she’s not had to use it very often. She’d left her shoulder exposed to you and your bullet hits it easily. She angrily returns fire over the top of the filing cabinet, exposing her whole upper half- another rookie mistake- and you shoot her in the chest. She falls backwards to the floor, dropping her gun.

Another agent, who is wearing black tactical gear and is clearly much more skilled with his weapon, fires a well-aimed barrage of bullets at you, causing you to duck back down behind the cover of the desk. He misses you by millimetres.

Thor sees this from the doorway as he finishes dealing with the agents in the hall, tossing an unconscious man to one side, and storms into the room to help you; blue lightning sparking from his hammer. He’s breath-taking to watch.

Thor snarls and hurls Mjolnir at the man who had shot at you. It collides with his chest and slams him backwards into the front of another filing cabinet, on the far wall. The metal drawers crumple around his body.

There are only two of them left now, both hiding behind another overturned desk, opposite yours. You’re pretty sure only one of them is armed. The gun fire has paused and you can hear them whispering in frantic Russian from across the room.

You look over your shoulder at Thor.

“How’d you wanna do this?” You ask him, gesturing with your head towards the closed door behind where the agents are hiding. He glances down at you then towards the door with a look of consideration; but before he can answer, one of the remaining men leans around the right side of the desk and shoots at you.

You return fire, dipping back behind cover as you avoid his bullets. You barely notice as Thor calls Mjolnir back to him. He hesitates, crouched (as best as his huge frame can be) behind you, waiting to see if you’ll need him.

The other man, another lab technician by the looks of him, makes a dash towards the door behind them, a manila folder clutched under his arm as he frantically mashes his security card against the electronic pad on the wall.

Thinking quickly, you switch targets, shooting out his knees just as he manages to unlock the doors. He falls to the ground, groaning in pain.

Covering you whilst you take down the lab technician, Thor throws his hammer at the last Hydra agent, who is still firing at the pair of you, and it smashes obediently into him. Thor holds out his arm again for it to return to him and, with a metallic ‘whoosh,’ Mjolnir whips past you, into his hand. It reminds you of how this whole silly game had started.

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It was still quite early on in your training and you were accompanying Clint, Nat and Sam on what was expected to be a simple take-down of an illegal arms dealership in Pakistan. Thor had also insisted on tagging along. Although this was probably too small a job for The God of Thunder, who could easily take down the whole depot single-handed, you knew he was just looking for an excuse to get out of the compound.

Since his break up with Jane, Thor had been around the Avengers compound a lot more and was helping wherever he could in order to keep himself busy; not that anyone was complaining, least of all you.

As the newest member of the Avengers, you were desperate to get as much experience in the field as possible, so you and Thor always seemed to be on missions together; and sometimes it was just the two of you.

You had become fond of Thor over the past few months, having spent so much time in his company; and you were starting to develop a bit of a crush on him.

So, although there would be more of you going on this mission than was entirely necessary, you didn’t mind at all.

It was lucky that Thor had been with you that day, because the base had been a lot more heavily guarded then you had originally thought.

“There’s at least six more hostiles in the room below you, Y/N. All armed,” Sam informed you through your ear piece as he soared around the perimeter of the building. “There’s a stairwell through the door on your left.”

“Thor,” You shouted to him as you wrestled with a man in khaki cargo pants and a black vest, both of you clutching at the same gun; you, trying to prise it out of his grasp before he could use it. “We need to head down!”

Thor nodded at your instruction, slamming his hammer into the chest of a man who had been aiming a gun at him. Behind him, another man, who had scaled a stack of crates, leapt down onto Thor’s shoulders. Thor let out a crazed growl, shaking the man from his back and into the pile of crates he had just jumped from, causing the whole lot to tumble; crushing yet another man in an avalanche of splintered wood and limbs.

So far, the raid had not been going to plan, at all. You had been really looking forward to taking charge on this one, proving to Thor and the rest of the team that you could handle the responsibility; but from the minute Sam had dropped you off on the roof, you’d been outnumbered and under prepared. You knew you’d let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security the second Thor had announced he was coming on the mission too.

They’ll be loads of us, you had thought, It’ll be a nice chance to spend some more time with Thor- it’s gonna be a walk in the park…

How wrong you’d been. You’d already lost the gun that Tony had had specially made for you- as a ‘well-done’ for making the team- whilst fighting your way through the top floor.

And there you were, struggling with one guy, whilst Thor had just taken on three, singlehandedly, as if they were nothing.

You continued to grapple for the gun when a bullet whizzed past your right arm from across the room, embedding itself in the wall behind you. Before you could do anything about it, Thor had sent a bolt of lightning into the back of the culprit’s skull, the air around him crackling with electricity. He’d obviously forgotten Steve’s very clear instruction to neutralise only, unless entirely necessary. The gunman fell motionless to the floor, blackened skin, crackling.

You let out a frustrated growl as you managed to yank the automatic from the man’s hands and butted him hard in the nose with the handle; knocking him out cold.

You glanced around at the bodies littering the floor then allowed yourself to double over, leaning with one hand on a crate, panting from the effort of your struggle.

You had been fighting with the same guy for so long that Thor had already cleared out the rest of the room before you had chance to properly get involved. You knew you shouldn’t be annoyed at him for that, but it didn’t lessen your frustration.

You’d come a long way in the short time you’d been with the Avengers and knew that you were obviously good enough to be on the team or you wouldn’t have been there, but it was difficult to remember that sometimes. Especially in times like this.

You were vaguely aware that Thor was watching you as he crossed the room, with a crease in his brow, as though he had heard your thoughts.

“I had it covered,” you said frustratedly as he came to a stop beside you.

“And I’m supposed to let you have all the fun?” he chuckled, good-naturedly. He took in your expression and, after a beat of silence, said more seriously, “You can’t always take everyone on by yourself.” It sounded like he was chastising you, the way you would a child that had eaten too many cookies- ‘You can’t have them all; you have to save some for other people.’

“You did,” you bit back.

“Y/N, our abilities are very different.” He sighed. “For us to work effectively as a team, you must learn to let others play to their strengths.”

You perched yourself on the edge of a crate, still sulking, so he continued.

“There is no shame in needing to rely on your team. That is what they are there for,” he paused, his expression softening as he dipped his head slightly to catch your eye, “What I am here for.”

You felt your cheeks heating up and guiltily dropped your eyes to stare at his feet, trying to avoid his gaze. He raised his hand to your chin and tilted your face so that you were looking at him. You could feel the lingering buzz of electricity in his touch, making the skin where he was touching you tingle. “You put far too much pressure on yourself. You do not need to prove yourself, least of all to me.” He moved the hand that was cupping your chin down to rest on your shoulder; only then did you realise how close you were both standing.

You tried to force yourself to focus on his words, rather than the heat of his hand, still on your shoulder.

You knew he was right, of course, as Thor so often is. You always put too much pressure on yourself.

You must have been frowning up at him or something, because he was prompted to add, “Stop taking everything so seriously,” giving your shoulder a small shake. He smiled, to show he was only joking, and then he released you.

You watched, finding yourself still at a loss for words, as he started heading towards the stairs Sam had mentioned earlier.

You stood up suddenly, remembering you were in the middle of a mission; this was no time to be feeling sorry for yourself. However, you couldn’t help but let out a small huff as you followed him. I do not take things too seriously, you thought.

Just then, your ear piece crackled into life again; Sam bringing yet more bad news.

“Hey guys, looks like they got bored of waiting; they’re on their way up to you.”

“Ugh, great,” you grumbled, picking up the gun you had been wrestling for earlier. “Got it. Thanks, Wilson. You hear that, Thor? We’ve got incoming.”

You could already hear the sound of large, heavily booted feet approaching from the stairwell, as you raced across the room at full speed, overtaking Thor and ducking behind the pile of toppled crates, facing the doorway. I am so done with this day, you thought resentfully to yourself.

You glanced over your shoulder at Thor; he was hesitating behind you, poised ready with Mjolnir. “It’s your call,” his deep voice rumbled through your headset. He was trying to appease you.

You knew it had been wrong of you to get annoyed at him for doing his job. He was right; you couldn’t expect others to hold back during a fight just to spare your feelings. You had plenty of time to finish honing your skills and improving your technique during training sessions with Nat; team work should be more important when on mission.

Now was the perfect time to show Thor that you had taken on board what he had said. You would let him do what he does best, and wipe out the enemy with one easy swing of his hammer. Then you could go home and be done with this god awful mission. Win win.

But before you could communicate that to him, the men from the lower floor burst through the doorway at the top of the stairs, each holding a gun strapped over their shoulder.

Thinking fast, (or possibly not thinking at all) you leapt out from behind the crate, hands held up in front of you, and yelled, “Stop!”

They faltered, caught off guard by your command. You could see a couple of men at the back of the group stumble into each other, as the rest came abruptly to a halt in front of them.

Perhaps if it had been Hydra agents you had been dealing with, they would have shot at you without a moment’s hesitation; but these men all stopped, looking uncertainly from one to the other, hands frozen on their guns, as though they were trying to decide if you were a civilian.

Then a thought popped into your head. It was too perfect not to say it.

“Hammer Time!” You spoke into your comms, but loud enough so that everyone in the room would hear it.

The words left your mouth with a smug little smirk. As far as improvisation goes, you thought that was pretty funny. You’re not sure what made you do it; perhaps it’s true what they say, that people do strange things when under pressure.

But Thor obviously didn’t get the reference- why would he, he’s Asgardian- because he was looking around expectantly, clearly waiting for something to happen. You sighed inwardly.

“Thor,” you said, exasperated, “Throw the hammer.” You gestured at Mjolnir, feeling stupid. You forget sometimes that he doesn’t always understand ‘Midgardian humour,’ as he puts it.

“Ohhh,” he said, glancing down at Mjolnir and back up to you with a sudden understanding, then hurled the hammer towards the group of men. It whipped past you, sending your hair fluttering around your face.

One of the men gripped his gun, as if with the afterthought to shoot at you, but the hammer smacked into him, knocking him and the other men back out into the corridor and down the stairs.

There was a moment filled with the thudding sounds of bodies falling down a flight of steps and then a chorus of muffled groans that floated up from the bottom of the stair well.

“Er, thanks,” you said to Thor as he walked forward to stand next to you.

Something in the way he looked at you made you think that he understood the layers of meaning behind your thanks, without you having to vocalise it.

You were awkwardly playing with the strap of your stolen gun, really hoping he wouldn’t mention what had just happened.

He smiled and gave your shoulder a small squeeze in response then went back to examine the unconscious gunmen, without speaking.

Peering over the railings of the stairs, you looked down to see the motionless tangle of bodies in a pile at the bottom.

Then a sudden, harsh burst of laughter came through your earpiece, causing you to jump in surprise and the comms to crackle with static. It took a moment for you to place that it was Sam.

“Woooh,” he let out one final hoot of a laugh, “uh, sorry,” he coughed, trying to compose himself. “Back up has arrived. All hostiles have been neutralised and are being… are being detained,” he stumbled around another muffled laugh. “Nat’s coordinating seizing all the fire arms now. You guys better make your way back up to the roof; I’ll give you a lift down from there, Y/N,” he said, poorly concealing the teasing edge to his voice.

“No thanks, Wilson,” you grumbled in response, “I’ll take the stairs down.”

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When you climbed back onto the quin jet afterwards, feeling exhausted from the mission and annoyed about making a fool of yourself in front of Thor, Natasha clapped you on the shoulder.

“Nice bit, MC Hammer. Real smooth,” she said, adding the last bit with a knowing smirk.

You could feel Thor watching the pair of you as he, too, climbed aboard.

Natasha laughed and passed you, moving to the front of the jet with the others. You heard Sam saying “Can’t touch this,” jokingly to Clint as they went and they both dissolved into laughter. Of course, they all must have heard you through your headset. Sam’s laughter earlier suddenly made much more sense.

“Ugh,” you sighed and took your seat in the back, opposite Thor.

“Who is Emsie Hammer?” he asked you as you strapped yourself in. You shook your head playfully, smirking at his mispronunciation, but didn’t correct him.

“He’s a… recording artist,” you tried to explain. “He makes hip hop music,” you added, seeing Thor’s blank look. “I’ll just show you,” you said, taking out your phone and opening the YouTube App. You pulled up a clip of ‘Can’t Touch This’ and leaned over the gap between your seats, showing him the phone.

“What is wrong with his pants?” asked Thor, looking up from the video briefly to catch your eye, then turned his gaze back to the screen, intrigued.

“It was the ‘80s,” you said with a shrug, “Everyone dressed like that.”

When it got to the part where he says ‘Hammer Time,’ Thor suddenly let out a bellowing laugh. It made you jump, looking up at him with startled eyes.

“I get it!” He boomed at you, “Hammer time- because I have a hammer!” he gestured to Mjolnir, propped beside his seat, as he continued to chuckle loudly. “That’s very funny!”

You felt your cheeks heat up again as you laughed lightly along with him, glad he finally got your joke, but still feeling like a bit of a fool.

You caught a movement in the corner of your eye and saw Natasha grinning at you over her shoulder from where she was flying the jet. You ignored her and turned your attention back to Thor as he handed your phone back to you. Nat resumed her conversation with Sam and Clint as if she’d never turned around.

“You know, it really surprised those guards. You screaming ‘stop’ at them, I mean,” Thor said, a smile lingering on his lips as he looked at you. “Maybe we should use that tactic from now on,” he suggested, with a chuckle.

You laughed at the thought to start with, but then you considered it properly. You’d heard worse suggestions, and, from your experience, surprise tactics were among the most effective; given the right circumstances.

“That might actually not be a bad idea,” you said, genuinely.

Thor looked at you with a hint of confusion, but you were quick to explain yourself, “It worked today, didn’t it? Granted, it might not always be appropriate, but, you know…” you continued, thinking aloud now, “we could have a bit of fun with this; make a wager or something?” His interest seemed to pique at that. “After all, you did tell me to stop taking things so seriously,” you reminded him with a smirk.

“That, I did,” he agreed, “OK… what do you suggest?”

“How about, most surprising entrance wins?” You were expecting him to say that he had only been joking and that it would be unwise to take such risks during missions; but you could see a faint twinkle in his blue eyes.

“But what will be the prize?” He asked you.

You both thought for a moment.

“How about,” Thor began, unable to hide the grin that was breaking across his lips, “If I win, you go on a date with me?”

You weren’t aware of how quiet Clint, Sam and Natasha had suddenly gone; with the fluttering that was happening in your stomach and the heat that had crept up the sides of your face and neck.

You had considered the thought of something romantic happening between you and Thor, of course you had; you’re only human. But you’d never taken those thoughts seriously, despite your growing feelings for him. He’s the God of Thunder, after all; why would he bother with a mere mortal? But then, you had said to yourself, he bothered with Jane; why not you?

“Ok,” you had said, suddenly feeling confident, “But if I win, you go on a date with me.”

He had laughed at that. “Win, win, wouldn’t you say?

“Ah yes, but, loser pays,” you said with a smirk.

That mission had certainly ended a lot better than it had started.

Since then, the pair of you had come up with such classics as, “Knock, knock,” “Who’s there?” “My Boot”- that was the time Thor had kicked down a door onto an unsuspecting Hydra agent.

And then there was the time you’d slid down the banister of a flight of stairs, childishly giggling “WHEEEEEEEE!” as you went, and knocked down three men who were running up them towards you. You and Thor had stood and laughed as you watched them tumble comically like surprised dominoes, one into the other, back down at least ten steps.

And you’d both been getting progressively sillier with your suggestions.

Thor looks at you now, a boyish twinkle in his eyes, and says two words.

“‘Get Help.’”

“Wait, what?” you ask him, as you step over the bodies of the fallen Hydra agents, peppered with bullet holes of your own making.

“‘Get Help.’” He repeats. “Loki and I used to do it all the time when we were children. It’s when you-”

You shake your head, laughing. “I know what ‘Get Help’ is,” you say, cutting him off. “I’m just surprised you know that, but you didn’t know ‘Hammer time.’”

You come to a stop in front of the door and pick up the file that the male lab technician had been trying to escape with and store it in the satchel slung over your shoulder, where you keep your emergency med kit. Whatever’s inside it, it was worth risking his life for; so you figure it’ll probably be useful.

“You ready?” he asks you.

“Yeah, alright, but can I please be the injured one?” you ask, sliding your gun into the holster strapped to your thigh.

Thor smiles at you. “Of course.” He pauses for a moment, thinking of something. “You’re more fun than Loki, he always used to complain.” He’s still smiling, but you notice a dull sadness that settles behind his eyes at the mention of his brother’s name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Get help! Please, get help; my girlfriend is dying!” Thor shouts dramatically, as he kicks the door open. Your stomach does a little flip as you register that he just called you his ‘girlfriend,’ but you try not to think anything of it. His left hand clings to your waist, your right arm draped over his shoulders as he all but lifts you against his left side. You hang limply in his grasp with your eyes closed, waiting for your cue. If you weren’t so focused on the current situation, you might have had more trouble ignoring his touch. You’d never been this physically close to him before.

Hydra agents run round the corner at the commotion and through slitted eyes you see them falter as they take in Thor holding your apparently lifeless body. They look at each other for a mere second then aim their guns. At this, Thor hurls you, unexpectedly, at the men. Going with it, you make yourself as long as possible, spinning in mid-air as you’re flung towards them. You smack into all three of them, knocking them to the ground. You go into a forward roll as you make contact with the floor, landing deftly behind them in a very Natasha Romanoff way; crouched on one knee, with your right hand on the floor between your legs and your left arm out to the side to steady you.

You look up at Thor.

“Did you really have to throw me?”

“I thought you said you knew how to do ‘Get Help?’” He says amusedly. “That’s how Loki and I always used to do it.”

“That might be why he didn’t like it!” you laugh, a little louder than you mean to. “You know, as much as I hate to admit it, I think this one puts you in the lead,” you say as Thor helps you to your feet.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Thor muses, “The time you lead us in that line; what’s it called? The… Conga? That was pretty good,” He remembers, with a smile. It had been good, and was the only time you’d managed to convince any of the other Avengers to join in; Steve had been very reluctant, complaining about how you and Thor’s little wager was ‘getting out of hand.’

Just then, Steve’s voice comes on over your earpieces, “Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but you think you could just call it quits and go on that date, already? Natasha is driving me crazy here.” You hear something that sounds a lot like Nat hitting him and then he laughs, “Aah, ok, ow!”

You both chuckle and Thor rubs the back of his neck with his right hand, looking nervous, which is unusual for him.

“Ok,” you say to Thor with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant, as your heart beats rapidly inside your chest, “But next time we do ‘Get Help’, I get to throw you.”

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kunalsoriginals · 4 years

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Pearls of Wisdoms for Pakis

Beloved Janta of Pakistan,

I would also like to share a secret with you, which you might never apprehend from a person from any other country, especially from an Indian. We LOVE YOU, We are obsessed with you. We enjoy infatuation comparable to that of a 14-year boy who has one on a girl living in his neighborhood, like that teenager whose heart warms up with the girl's sight. Still, he tends to tease her or plays whimsical pranks on her. It is his way of showing his affection.

Accept it, my fellow former Countrymen, you guys are in deep love with us as well. I have felt it first-hand. You folks love watching our Movies and fantasy our starlets. Sing Bollywood songs while proposing to your love. Ache to enjoy Mumbai and Delhi's nightlife. Some of you would even love to reside permanently here for a better future. There is also constant discrimination in every viewpoint; it may be Cricket or politics; in all honesty, you think of our day and night.

Keeping this indefinable affection for each other aside for a while, there is a bitter revelation that you people will have to accept and even feed it in the brains of the future generations to come. I am sure that maximum people over your side of the border should by now have conceded that India will never ever surrender Kashmir in your Lap. It won't be possible in at least another century ahead.

You see, in the manner where India's GDP had expanded from 10 Thousand Crores in the 1950s to more than 10 Lacs Crores in 2019, our sentiment of Nationalism has additionally, grown in a comparable pattern. There was a phenomenal hike in this feeling after India's general elections 2014 onwards; the reason for such an increase is unknown to me. So, the moral is, with such a vast Nationalism level in the hearts of the Aam Janta here, I don't think so parting away an inch of land to anyone would be possible.

Won't it look dishonorable for us in the front of the entire world if we lose the land to you guys who are quite behind then us in all the aspects? You will have to accept that technically both our countries are 73 years old this year. Over this side of the border, we have gradually upgraded in all aspects a Nation has to grow. I could virtually challenge you in where you guys can prove to be better in any improvement zone. This is the land wherein the year 1981 Indian Actor Amitabh enacted on the evergreen song "Dekha Ek Khawab " and his Dame Rekha in the movie Silsila hence parting away with Kashmir is painful to us as it will not only hurt our Ego and furthermore offer grief to Amitji.

Forget the BJP led NDA, Even the Congress-led UPA cannot think of such a gormless deal. The primary reason is that they want to come into power next term too to provide Public service. Now you people only tell which government will be such dimwits to kick their own rear and be signed on the history textbook of 10-year-old kids as the People who gave away Kashmir.

Realize this, Pakistani Government, Your Army and also ISI can't withhold the idea of getting the region of Kashmir in your Nation's Map, even they know that your national flag will never rise in Capital of Srinagar but since it was an Inaugural Political Agenda when your Country was created in where the principal objective of this agenda was to collect vote from you guys and funds from other countries in the name of Kashmir. It is their lollypop for you fellows that their respective parties if came in power, an ideal environment will be created where; a newly wedded couple from Lahore can drive to Srinagar for their honeymoon without a stamp on their Passport and enjoy a bite of Kashmiri Apple laying in the front deck of a Shikara in Dal Sarovar. It's All Fake, acknowledge it, and move on.

So to my Indian friends,

There was a massive inspiration for me to compose this article. It was shocking that it came from the other side of the border. In the great Indian lockdown of 2020, I who was ideally workless like many of us all, I went through many videos of this Pakistani Newsreader and Political Debate Show Host Dr. Fiza Akbar Khan on YouTube. By her venomous language, the passion for thrashing India and people over here and that high pitched voice made me think of another Indian Debate Show Host. I am convinced that they are unquestionably biologically related to each other. So I should not have a problem with her blabbering rubbish towards my Country as her Bhaiya here likewise.

But I have to admit that her language did hurt me because, unlike her Bhaiya over there who trashes Pakistan in the English language, she uses Urdu, which sounds quite similar to the Hindi language to illuminate unpleasant garbage, the reason is entirely psychological for me being hurt. For example, If somebody calls you a Motherfucker, you might not be offended in the same manner if you are called Madar***d (Pardon my Language).

This Pakistani Anchor goes on and on that How Poor, Uneducated, Physically and Mentally Weak, Shelterless, we Indians live in this Country where our economy is going into the drain. We are foolish people to elect Shri Modi as PM of our Country and that too twice. There is a vast level of discrimination on minorities over here. The world's biggest Democracy is over. In the distant future, if Kashmir is not given to them its freedom, then Islamabad will be the next capital of Pakistan and India.

Can you believe this, she has mentioned all this on her show and that too in a language which can easily pierce in our heart. Let's not get also angered about this and start calling her names. She is just doing her job. She is giving favored content to people of over there what her Bhaiya is doing over there.

As pragmatic as I can get about whatever she says on her show about us, I just can't accept it, I am too egoistic as an Indian to even reply or curse on her Video on YouTube comment section. Hence, I planned to dedicate this entire blog to Dr. Fiza Khan, whom I seriously don't mean to offend as Women, her Nation, and especially not her Religion and would like to give her some advice.

Avoid Echoing about Nukes: A round of applause towards Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan for building Nuclear Weapons, a program from a stolen uranium centrifuge design and a network of grey-market suppliers. But stop jabbering in your show that Pakis can nuke India in case a War erupts between us. Even If Jinnah Sahab from Heaven above commands your Arm Force to it, they will effortlessly deny his orders and don't stress. We likewise won't squander our atomic weapon on you. These weapons are like those expensive Portraits which you can proudly hang in your Living Room, but can't take it out on a date. Stop even using the word Nuke in your show.

Comparison between the PMs: PM Imran Sahab seems to be a jolly good fellow who also appears to try to administrate better than any other PMs or Military leaders of your Country. Let me tell you bluntly that there is no comparison with his Counterpart over here; in fact, he even doesn't stand anywhere nearby India's previous Prime Minister.

Paki's Diplomatic Policies Debacle: This is a typical miscue. You and many colleagues of you have repeatedly misguided your Citizens that Pakistan can easily use the benefit of its diplomatic relationship with a few First World Country and pressurize India on Kashmir Issue. Well, Honey, This is an open challenge to your PM, along with Mr. Qureshi Sahab go to any so-called super Power for assistance or call end numbers of meeting in OIC ( Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ). Nobody will be ready to intervene in the Valley issue for one of the main reason, Why would any country create enmity with the Country will more than 100 Million Population which is a significant business open doors for their corporates.

Playing Second Fiddle: I initially watched your Debate show of earlier years. You always mentioned the US as your elder brother and will still stand next to you along with Saudi Arabia. These were the two countries which you saw as your personal ATM. Lately, these ATM machines stopped removing Cash and Kinds, which they earlier showered on your Country, so you bashed them and accused both these Super Power for adultery. These started leaning towards us. Then you went to China and become a Virtual Puppet who dances on their tunes. Now the problem arises that the entire world started forming against your elder brother and accused them as the creator of the Pandemic of 2020. So you began a rigid assembly against them as well, and now your nation is in an arrangement for another development with Malaysia and Turkey. Understand this dear Fiza ben that in distant future you will have to abuse these two countries also while your government will go and beg to some other countries, maybe North Korea.

Last but not least, which I have already mentioned why Kashmir will never be part of Pakistan earlier in the blog. Read repeatedly till the concept is glued by heart, and if possible, explain it to your people there.

Defense products will be purchased in the name of Kashmir. For Fiscal Year 20-21 Defense expenditure of Pakistan is 1,289 Billion Dollars. India's expenses on the same would be around 66 Billion Dollars. Can you believe these Figures? This Moolah could otherwise be used in Infrastructure and improving the lifestyle of citizens of the respective Country. Civilians and Soldiers' blood will be shed on the name of Kashmir. Approximately 120000 deaths have been registered since 1989, which also includes unsympathetic deaths of militants and terrorists. Television Media will go on with Live debates inviting aficionados and enthusiasts to increase their TRP on the name of Kashmir. Newspapers and magazines will publish viperous articles vocalizing each other's blame for being troublemakers on Kashmir's name. Many commercial Movies and Web Series will also be produced on Kashmir's name. Still, by endeavoring all means of Peace or War, this dream of some of yours will never be fulfilled.

#pakistan #kashmir #fizakhan #india

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Headlines

Three Hours Longer, the Pandemic Workday Has Obliterated Work-Life Balance (Bloomberg) Six weeks into a nationwide work-from-home experiment with no end in sight, whatever boundaries remained between work and life have almost entirely disappeared. With many living a few steps from their offices, America’s always-on work culture has reached new heights. The 9-to-5 workday, or any semblance of it, seems like a relic of a bygone era. Long gone are the regretful formalities for calling or emailing at inappropriate times. Burnt-out employees feel like they have even less free time than when they wasted hours commuting. People are overworked, stressed, and eager to get back to the office. In the U.S., homebound employees are logging three hours more per day on the job than before city and state-wide lockdowns, according to data from NordVPN, which tracks when users connect and disconnect from its service. Out of all countries that NordVPN tracks, U.S. workers had tacked on the most hours. In France, Spain, and the U.K. the day has stretched an additional two hours, NordVPN’s data found. Italy saw no change at all.

Coronavirus relief pushing US deficits to staggering heights (AP) Spend what it takes, Washington said as it confronted the coronavirus. Well over $2 trillion later, it’s unclear where that spending will end. One of the lasting legacies of the coronavirus pandemic will be staggering debts and deficits on the U.S. balance sheet, with shortfalls hitting levels that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. It’s a fiscal clamp that is likely to persist for a generation, or even into perpetuity, with debt levels having passed the point of easy return in a capital where lawmakers are increasingly incapable, or unwilling, to constrain them. The latest, and dire, projection from the Congressional Budget Office, released Friday, states the U.S. deficits will mushroom to $3.7 trillion in 2020, fueled by the four coronavirus relief bills signed into law by President Donald Trump. A fifth bill is already in the works, and will be “expensive,” according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Trump says he will block coronavirus aid for U.S. Postal Service if it doesn’t hike prices immediately (Washington Post) President Trump on Friday threatened to block an emergency loan to shore up the U.S. Postal Service unless it dramatically raised shipping prices on online retailers, an unprecedented move to seize control of the agency that analysts said could plunge its finances into a deeper hole. “The Postal Service is a joke,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. To obtain a $10 billion line of credit Congress approved this month, “The post office should raise the price of a package by approximately four times,” he said. Trump for years has alleged the Postal Service has charged too little for packages and personally pushed the head of the agency to charge far more to ship goods for big online retailers. Several administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said Trump’s criticism of Postal Service rates is rooted in a desire to hurt Amazon in particular. They have said that he fumes publicly and privately at Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, for news coverage that Trump believes is unfair.

Turmoil in Brazil: Bolsonaro Fires Police Chief and Justice Minister Quits (NYT) Brazil’s justice minister, Sergio Moro, a former federal judge who became the face of a powerful anti-corruption crackdown that swept Latin America, resigned Friday after accusing President Jair Bolsonaro of seeking to assert improper control of the federal police for political gain. Mr. Moro’s acrimonious departure was a volatile and unexpected development in Brazil, where the rapid spread of the coronavirus has overwhelmed hospitals and roiled the political establishment. Mr. Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the gravity of the virus, last week fired his health minister after the two clashed over strict quarantine measures to slow the contagion. Mr. Moro was the eighth minister to leave Mr. Bolsonaro’s cabinet during the 15 months he has been in office.

Spain’s kids prepare for taste of freedom after six-week lockdown (Reuters) Spain released guidelines on Saturday allowing children to go outside after six weeks living under one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, as figures confirmed a daily coronavirus death toll running well below the peak seen early this month. Children were trying out their masks in anticipation of their first taste of fresh air since Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a state of emergency on March 14. The government said under 14s will from Sunday be allowed up to one hour of supervised outdoor activity per day between 9am and 9pm, staying within one kilometre of their home.

Pakistani prime minister sidelined on coronavirus (Financial Times) Imran Khan has been sidelined by Pakistan’s powerful military after failing to act decisively on the coronavirus crisis or impose a lockdown in an attempt to curb the spread of cases. On March 22, the prime minister told the nation that his government would not institute a sweeping lockdown, arguing it would put millions out of work and leave families struggling to find enough food to eat. But less than 24 hours later, military spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar announced that the army would oversee a shutdown to halt the spread of infections in the world’s fifth most populous country of more than 200 million people.

India reopens stores, speeding easing of virus lockdowns (AP) A tentative easing around the world of coronavirus lockdowns gathered pace Saturday with the reopening in India of neighborhood stores that many of the country’s 1.3 billion people rely on for everything from cold drinks to mobile phone data cards. The relaxation of the super-strict Indian lockdown came with major caveats. It did not apply to hundreds of quarantined towns and other hotspots that have been hit hardest by the outbreak that has killed at least 775 people in India. Last week, India also allowed manufacturing and farming activities to resume in rural areas to ease the economic plight of millions of daily wage-earners left without work by the country’s lockdown imposed March 24. India’s stay-home restrictions have allowed people out of their homes only to buy food, medicine or other essentials.

In Japan, children of nurses face discrimination, exclusion over virus fears (AP) Children of Japanese medical professions face discrimination or even exclusion from day-care centers over fears they might have the novel coronavirus, increasing the stresses on front-line workers as the country’s health-care system nears collapse, according to media reports. Although most schools and day-care centers around the country are closed, some remain open. Bloomberg reported that children of medical workers were being excluded or asked to prove they didn’t have the virus. Kyodo News reported that some medical professionals had been forced to quit their jobs because of the discrimination against their family members, deepening the crisis in a profession where staff are already under massive pressure and working round-the-clock. “There’s growing prejudice and discrimination against people in the medical field,” said Shigeru Omi, the deputy head of the government’s advisory panel on the virus, according to Bloomberg. “It’s even extending to their families.”

Gaza factories roar back to life to make protective wear (AP) For the first time in years, sewing factories in the Gaza Strip are back to working at full capacity—producing masks, gloves and protective gowns, some of which are bound for Israel. It’s a rare economic lifeline in the coastal territory, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since the Hamas militant group seized power from rival Palestinian forces in the strip in 2007. The blockade, and three wars between Hamas and Israel, have devastated the local economy, with unemployment hovering around 50%. Rizq al-Madhoun, owner of the Bahaa garment company, said he has produced more than 1 million masks in the past three weeks, “all for the Israeli market.” Gaza may not have the advanced machinery seen in other places, but he said residents’ sewing skills are unmatched. “Gaza workers are distinguished in handiwork and they are better than workers in China or Turkey,” he said.

Ghana’s dancing pallbearers (Washington Post) You may have seen them on the Internet: six men in black suits, sunglasses and patent leather shoes grooving to a techno beat while carrying a coffin. They are Ghana’s dancing pallbearers, a crew of funeral performers who have long sought to make mourners grin through grief. But as the coronavirus pandemic rages, they’ve become the accidental faces of a stay-at-home movement—comedic grim reapers edited into footage of risky behavior as a warning. Reopening a mall when cases are mounting? Cue the dancing pallbearers. Protesting a lockdown in a covid-19 hot spot? Cue the dancing pallbearers. Forget to wash your hands before eating? Cue the dancing pallbearers. People in China, Brazil and the United States have shared video after video since the outbreak began, garnering millions of clicks and an international fan base for the group. Benjamin Aidoo, who leads the group, isn’t sure how it happened. He woke up one March morning and saw his signature moves everywhere. “It’s a bit scary, but it’s funny, too,” said Aidoo, 32, who lives in Accra, the capital of Ghana. “People are saying, ‘I’d rather stay home than have these guys bury me.’ ”

#headlines #news

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rupsunar · 4 years

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Divided Region United by Caste Oppression

The South Asian region is looked at by the world with three intersecting interests. First, the region’s moderate development in infrastructure and welfarism. Second, the multitudes of diversity the region holds. And thirdly, the geopolitical tensions dominated mostly by India-Pakistan war. The troika of South Asia sits between development-culture-politics. However, other regional differences such as India-Nepal trade strife, India-Sri Lanka regional difficulties, Pakistan-Afghanistan do not account to sustaining disagreements. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh occupy overwhelming importance in the regional politics.

South Asian region is home to one fourth humanity of the world. Aside from human capital, there are flora, fauna and natural gifts that this region has as its treasure carefully handed down from over thousand years. Of the 8 countries that are part of South Asia there at least six known countries who retain experiences of age-old discriminations emanating from their native historical context. One of it is oldest surviving discriminatory tactic is caste. Human Rights Watch has identified caste like “corollaries” across South Asia in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

Caste inspired discrimination is not unique to India, although it offers most fertile space for caste like virus to take birth, thrive and contaminate every person in sight. The history of the region as such has a complex historical political-economy. That is why it is always insightful for one to detangle those past baggages by looking at the political space through the lens of subaltern, the working class, women, and the oppressed.

Each state policy heavily relies on the extraction of labor and abstraction of its value. In a society that hangs on to historical values as sacrosanct, distribution of labor’s value does not feature in its scope. How to credit someone for their labour who are meant to performing the duty as part of ordained duty? Asking for a favor in terms of service from lower considered body is a sin and therefore that body needs to be condemned. Such has been the practice for the most part in the region when it came to invasions and colonization.

Every religions and sects have developed anti-Dalit, casteist tendencies towards the lower considered others even if their scriptures do not have caste-based distinction. Six major religions have assimilated Vedic practices of discriminating people who are lowered as outcaste for their advantage. Although their scriptural doctrine discourages any form of discrimination Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Zoroastrians, and Christians have largely benefitted by assimilating with the caste system.

The hatred and fear of the lower considered caste assigns designated lowest job positions that has no respect and standard wage. The job of cleaning the filth, human waste and animal carcasses are single-handedly done by Dalits in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Due to the draconian rule of Taliban in Afghanistan there are no studies that could explicate the exploitation of caste bodies in the hyper-Islamist violence.

It is because of this the South Asian region is plagued with enumerable hurdles that have limited its overall development. On economic front the GDP per capita approximation is USD $ 7,600 while the US alone has GDP per capita at $60,000. In the global ranking on inequality, poverty and corruption, South Asian region stands as a leader in negative performance indexes.

The primary and secondary educational enrollment is sobering. However, when it comes to the breakup of caste, religion and gender one would see the apparent losses. For India, the Dalit student enrollment slides down from 81% in primary education to less than 11% in graduate education. The pass out rate for Dalit graduates is only 2.24%. In Nepal the primary education enrollment of Dalits and indigenous groups was 34% compared to their population of 57%. While in higher education it was merely 3.8% with a high dropout rate. College level graduation for Dalit in Nepal is depressingly 0.4% Completion of studies is equally low where gender plays an important part of disadvantaging Dalit females further. Along with this the Hill and Terai region's differences recreates more gulf.

Due to border related conflicts, the South Asian region has seen brutal wars since the departure of colonial powers. Luxurious spending on military aggressions makes it difficult to redirect some of those bucks for the social welfare and development of human capital as opposed to exploiting it in senseless battles. War and cross-border conflicts have been cornerstones of some of the hegemonic states in the region. What rationalizes one to impose such draconian policies? I think it is the inherent, imperialistic wishes aided with mistrust of Others.

Buddhist South Asia

There is possibly only one commonality that connects this vast region. It is the rich heritage of indigenously grown Buddhist culture. The Buddhist values have vast expanse over any other colonized religious, spiritual doctrines. And perhaps this is an ideal path to reimagine our current problematics. Buddha’s doctrine not only spread in this region, but it also prospered to give this region an iconic reputation.

In the spread of Buddha’s doctrinaire, through Ashokā one cannot see the colonized brutal invasions unlike other spiritual experiences. And it was Buddha who formally challenged caste on a macro level. It is to his credit that many anti-caste, and acaste initiatives were propagated in an otherwise oppressive Vedic caste society.

Through Buddha we can complicate the history and as well as geography of South Asia. It offers us an opportunity to reclaim a regional past that will usher a sense of belonging through expressions of solidarity and unity. As it stands, South Asia is a deeply divided entity. Apart from government sponsored scholarships and few SAARC-like annual initiatives there are not much people to people interactions. Much of it is mediated with stereotypes of each others propagated by the cultural industry and hostile governments.

Regional blocks like Latin America, Africa, Europe have a sense of belonging to the region. While in the South Asian context, one would not even acknowledge their nationality with the region. A balkanized, sovereign supreme identity of one’s nationalism—of whatever worth is strongly rooted in the individuated South Asian identity. At a recently held 2020 SAARC summit held over video conference, Pakistan's representative, health minister Zafar Mirza lamented, "SAARC region remains the least integrated region in the world". Mirza hoped SAARC can be used for "pooling of resources, expertise, and even financing".

South Asia still remains in a shadow of colonial powers and that is why perhaps the foreign sponsored NGO industry and other capital investment has an unequal balance of power. Development related issues like poverty, atrocity, caste discrimination, religious fundamentalism among others inform the region’s politics. To overcome this dependability and to preserve self as a united, strong block with a vast human reserve and natural abilities the region has every reason to aim for a solid economy rooted on people’s welfare.

This doesn’t happen because caste and its attitudes will continue to control our logics of operation. Caste creates mistrust and lack of faith. Due to this, there is no free sharing of knowledge and mobility of human capital. Caste produced insecure groupings amongst its own citizens in a national framework. Each South Asian country takes itself back every time it employs the creative labor and hardworking individuals to the designated caste jobs. A Brahmin becoming priest, a Baniya holding business and a Dalit or Adivasi doing the inhumane jobs of polluting nature becomes an unnatural organization of productive economy.

This then legitimizes the authority and power brokers to certify their discrimination upon the huge mass of people who could have been trained, equipped and prepared for more innovative tasks. Caste system not only deprives one from exercising their fullest potential, but it creates more barriers for a society to grow as a collective. This then puts the pressure on select few who have taken the responsibility to run the economic affairs. By not including a huge mass of people in formal employment the economic and social elites continue to bear the burden of huge taxes. Caste system disadvantages their own purse, yet the powerholders of caste regime involve in the sadist action of imposing caste punishments upon its own citizens at the cost of their own social, economic worth.

One day this has to end, and it will end. And when the time of reconstructing the society will arise the people who are enjoying their unearned, aristocratic privilege will have to go back and check their vile acts that have imposed such harsher measures on fellow humans. It is upon everyone to eradicate caste; however, the onus is more on the privileged ones as they are most invested in it.

This article is written by Dr. Suraj Yengde, who is an author of bestseller ‘Caste Matters’ and a fellow and postdoc at the Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Naya Patrika Daily published its Nepali translation: https://jhannaya.nayapatrikadaily.com/news-details/911/2020-03-21

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allpakistanjobs-blog · 6 years

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Front End Developer Jobs In Lahore 2018 (Allpakistjob) Front End Developer Jobs In Lahore 2018 (Allpakistjob) Job Description As a Front end developer, you will be in charge of making people see and feel LUNCH: ON's simplicity.

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gibbzer · 6 years

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To Scotland With Love

There was a gap of several years between the last blog post I wrote and this one. In that time, my dad developed dementia. I’ve written about dementia before - in my BBC film ‘Golden Wedding’ - and am working on two screenplays that deal with it just now. In 2017 the estimated proportion of the general population aged 60 and over with dementia was between 5 to 8 per 100.

“I was fifteen months old when I gave my mother a black eye. We were asleep, huddled together, in our wee hole in the wall bed, waiting for my dad to arrive home from East Africa. The knock came. I jumped up, startled, and smacked my mother hard in the eye. She hadn’t seen my dad for a year. The next day they were the talk of the close. The voices were hushed. Stilettos click click clacking on the stone stairs. (In time with their tongues) ‘He’s back a meal hour and look at the state of her face…!’

My dad never raised his hand to a soul. Well, not till the dementia took hold and he managed quite a few scraps with That Big Bastard John (his words, not mine) He'd dared to question my dad’s rightful occupancy of the care home bedroom overlooking the Clyde. No, Wee Andy Gibb (as he was affectionately known) was not your stereotypical west of Scotland hard man but a typical west of Scotland hard-working one.

Descriptions like hard-working are loaded, implying a superiority over those who don’t work for a living, but it’s exactly what he was. 'Salt of the earth’ is also overused but he was that too. Without him, our lives would have been devoid of all taste and flavour. My mother was in charge, there was no arguing with that, but he agreed to her having this power. Willingly, without rancour and with good grace.

He liked to look out, my father. Beyond the river he grew up on. The first time he left Greenock it was to join the marines, to do his national service. Duty done, he came home to serve his apprenticeship as an electrician but the bug had bit hard. He was soon on his travels again, this time to Borneo. Within a year he was home, on the point of death from Dengue fever, and no clue as to who or where he was. My nana nursed him back to life, told him he was never to set foot outside Greenock again, then waved him off six months later when the memories of those far flung places had returned to invade his dreams.

During his lifetime, he visited every continent bar South America. He plied his trade in eleven different countries, including his own. But he always seemed most proud of the jobs he’d done in Scotland. He never tired of telling us he’d rewired the big fire station in Greenock. My mother would raise one perfectly painted-on eyebrow, ‘Well. If you’re going to start a fire, I suppose a fire station’s the best place for it.’ It was water off my dad’s back, though he did have a temper when riled. Red hair, you see. But outburst over, it was soon forgotten. He never held a grudge. My mother, on the other hand, never forgot a trick. Especially if it was played on her.

He lived the last few years of his life in the place he was born. Not far from the Greenock fire station that had miraculously survived his workmanship. He spent his time, looking out beyond the river once more, from his small care home room. The fact he thought he was in Africa comforted me. I hoped he was not truly confined by those tiny walls but still travelling in what was left of his mind. The truth was, wherever he lived, my dad took Scotland with him. I've lost count of the number of Caledonian societies my folks belonged to. Everywhere they went, he and my mother found their kin. They organised highland gatherings in the sweltering heat of Jakarta and celebrated St Andrew’s Day in Lagos in kilts and sashes. Some might find this expat patriotism cloying. Or worse still, insulting. My nineteen year old self was mortified by it. But, make no mistake, there’s a hierarchy among ex-pats too. It all depends on whether you’re diplomatic or managerial. Or neither. Married. Or single. Then there’s the size of company car. Or where your house is. Or how many bedrooms it has. And how many locals are employed to work in it. It’s a dislocating experience for a working class family to be transported to another world, where Nigerians or Indonesians are paid to cook your tea. My mum responded by teaching every one of the men or women who graced her kitchen, how to cook mince, stovies and a decent lentil soup. She, in her turn, learnt how to make the best West African curry I have ever tasted.

My dad was never high up in the ex-pat hierarchy but it didn’t bother him. Because he was confident in who he was and where he came from. He worked alongside men of all nationalities and colour and was close to many of them. Once in Northern Nigeria, during the Biafran war, he was called out in the middle of the night to identify his foreman, Gabriel. Gabriel had been beheaded by Federal soldiers. He wasn’t even from Nigeria. He’d come from the Cameroons to find work to keep his family. The exact same reason my father had left his own country. All my dad could do was make sure Gabriel’s family were looked after but he never forgot his foreman or what he’d sacrificed to provide for his own. In my dad’s view, it was the mark of the man. The story of 'Dear Frankie' grew out of my long distance relationship with this absent father, because the first eight years of my life were spent communicating with him by letter. My mother point-blank refused to leave Scotland and my father could not stay. Who was the selfish one? Her for staying? Or him for going? Neither. It’s what suited them both.

I revelled in having a father who lived abroad. Our tenement flat was full of exotic treasures. We had a huge tiger skin rug in front of our fire, head and teeth included. (I'm ashamed when I think about it now.) But then I used to lie on it, pretend it could fly and go on adventures as far away as my dad’s were. I always had the best birthday cakes, because they were delivered in a box, sent by him. My Deputy Dawg cake was the talk of Primary Two. I told everyone it had come all the way from Pakistan even though, in all probability, it had been knocked up in Aulds the bakers, just down the road.

Then one day, out of the blue, my mother decided it was time we went with him and we were all shipped to the west coast of Africa. The first time I saw a black person was when the deck passengers alighted at Sierra Leone. My brother and I stood on deck, shoulders all pink and blistered, fascinated by the women with their babies on their backs. I was still feeling the wrench of being separated from my silver cross doll's pram and it confused me. Where were all the prams? My dad explained they didn’t use prams because babies preferred to be carried close to their mums. I never put a doll in a pram again.

My dad was a Labour man but he was not a radical thinker. Far from it. He and I agreed to disagree on many political issues but we almost had a catastrophic falling out in the 80’s because my folks were thinking of emigrating to South Africa. I was beside myself. How could he even consider it. His answer was simple, he needed to work. In the end, they didn’t go and our relationship remained intact.

I’ve been thinking about him a lot recently. It’s been prompted by many things, including the Clutha tragedy. Partly because he worked on the oil rigs in Indonesia for a few years, and travelled to and fro by helicopter. (Our hearts were always in our mouths when he took off for his fortnightly shifts.) And because the emotional coming together of the Scottish diaspora, in response to what happened in Glasgow, reminded me of how viscerally he reacted to any tragedy back home.

Perhaps it's easy to feel sentimental about a country when you're miles away, but why do men and women like my father remain so connected to a place they've chosen not to live in? Why do they cling to their national identity with such ferocity? Because it is who they are. It is them. My dad didn't travel half way round the world in search of somewhere to belong. He was striking out, in the sure and certain knowledge, that he'd already found it. And he always respected other people and their culture because his culture, his ‘Scottishness’ was everything to him.

The last six dementia years aside, Wee Andy had a great life. Rich in experience, full of adventure. For a man of his class and generation, he was extraordinarily lucky to have lived it. And I was equally lucky to have lived some of it with him. “

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truthshield · 2 years

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Tunisian Street Vendor Serves Success Despite Bureaucracy

Tunis, July 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 7th Jul, 2022 ) :Tunisian street vendors often complain of official harassment, but one sandwich maker-turned-social-media-star hopes his struggles against bureaucracy will motivate young entrepreneurs. Habib Hlila, 27, first set up a food van in the working-class Bab El Khadra district of Tunis in early April, selling sandwiches at the end of each day’s fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He quickly became a star of Tunisian street food, gaining a social media following as he used banter and theatrics to prepare his signature “El-Bey” sandwiches and grills, accompanied by his own special sauce. As videos on social media helped his name spread, Hlila started drawing ever bigger crowds. But in late April, police detained Hlila and seized his truck on the basis that he had no licence to operate. The operation was caught on camera and widely shared online, sparking anger among Tunisians who often complain of the obstacles authorities place in front of small businesses and everyday life. Hlila rode a wave of public sympathy and started appearing on television to talk about his experience. The story drew comparisons to Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire following police harassment in 2010, triggering a nationwide revolt that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Hlila rejects the comparison, despite his own experience coming at a time that Tunisia faces crippling economic conditions and a political crisis that some have warned could return the country to dictatorship. “I’m not Bouazizi and I would never resort to acts of desperation in response to crises,” he told AFP. “I’ve decided to succeed and to be a source of motivation for the young.” He says he wants to turn his experience into a positive story to inspire young Tunisians who often find it impossible to create a successful business in the face of suffocating bureaucracy. After a long struggle, he finally managed to procure a licence to organise cooking shows across Tunisia — then retrieved his van and started up his sandwich business again. Last Saturday, at an entrance to the Old City of Tunis, he held a show in a brand-new food truck worth more than $20,000, which he is paying off in instalments. Wearing a black outfit dotted with small Tunisian flags, he held court for more than five hours in his first meeting with customers since his arrest. “Bravo to this young man who kept going despite the obstacles,” Naziha Bahloul, 51, told AFP as she queued to buy a sandwich. “He’s a good example to young people who only think of leaving the country. It’s a beautiful success story.” But not everyone is inspired. Bilel, an unemployed 31-year-old who, like many young Tunisians, wants to leave in search of a better life in Europe, said that Hlila “was able to go back to work because his case got media attention — it’s not the case for other young people.” But Hlila said he wants “to prove to the young that you can reach your goals if you are determined. I want to tell them that you should never give up, despite the difficulties.” Hlila’s interest in street food began in 2021 after helping a friend make sandwiches and he has succeeded despite not completing high school. Handcarts and vans selling fast food are common in the Tunisian capital, but Hlila says the sector needs to be brought into the regular economy — something that could both create jobs and contribute to tourism. “I have a lot of ideas to develop a project that could inspire unemployed youth,” he said. https://ift.tt/e4WKJLy https://ift.tt/zSjAhiM

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faisal3068 · 3 years

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Front End Development Course in Lahore

I would say that yes. A person can get a job as a developer if he completes a proper course on web development. It will be more difficult to find a job without a reasonable amount of experience, but in case a person is able to find a job then a front-end development course would be sufficient to acquire the job.

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xtruss · 3 years

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Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants

Counterintelligence officials said in a top secret cable to all stations and bases around the world that too many of the people it recruits from other countries to spy for the U.S. are being lost.

— By Julian E. Barnes and Adam Goldman | October 5, 2021 | The New York Times

Members of the Taliban at the former C.I.A. Eagle Base in Kabul in September. The agency has devoted much of its attention for the last two decades to terrorist threats and the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but improving intelligence collection on adversaries like China and Russia is once again a centerpiece of its agenda.Credit...Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Top American counterintelligence officials warned every C.I.A. station and base around the world last week about troubling numbers of informants recruited from other countries to spy for the United States being captured or killed, people familiar with the matter said.

The message, in an unusual top secret cable, said that the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Although brief, the cable laid out the specific number of agents executed by rival intelligence agencies — a closely held detail that counterintelligence officials typically do not share in such cables.

The cable highlighted the struggle the spy agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world in difficult operating environments. In recent years, adversarial intelligence services in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the C.I.A.’s sources and in some cases turning them into double agents.

Acknowledging that recruiting spies is a high-risk business, the cable raised issues that have plagued the agency in recent years, including poor tradecraft; being too trusting of sources; underestimating foreign intelligence agencies, and moving too quickly to recruit informants while not paying enough attention to potential counterintelligence risks — a problem the cable called placing “mission over security.”

The large number of compromised informants in recent years also demonstrated the growing prowess of other countries in employing innovations like biometric scans, facial recognition, artificial intelligence and hacking tools to track the movements of C.I.A. officers in order to discover their sources.

While the C.I.A. has many ways to collect intelligence for its analysts to craft into briefings for policymakers, networks of trusted human informants around the world remain the centerpiece of its efforts, the kind of intelligence that the agency is supposed to be the best in the world at collecting and analyzing.

Recruiting new informants, former officials said, is how the C.I.A.’s case officers — its frontline spies — earn promotions. Case officers are not typically promoted for running good counterintelligence operations, such as figuring out if an informant is really working for another country.

The agency has devoted much of its attention for the last two decades to terrorist threats and the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but improving intelligence collection on adversarial powers, both great and small, is once again a centerpiece of the C.I.A.’s agenda, particularly as policymakers demand more insight into China and Russia.

The loss of informants, former officials said, is not a new problem. But the cable demonstrated the issue is more urgent than is publicly understood.

The warning, according to those who have read it, was primarily aimed at front line agency officers, the people involved most directly in the recruiting and vetting of sources. The cable reminded C.I.A. case officers to focus not just on recruiting sources, but also on security issues including vetting informants and evading adversarial intelligence services.

Among the reasons for the cable, according to people familiar with the document, was to prod C.I.A. case officers to think about steps they can take on their own to do a better job managing informants.

Former officials said that there has to be more focus on security and counterintelligence, among both senior leaders and frontline personnel, especially when it comes to recruiting informants, which C.I.A. officers call agents.

“No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent,” said Douglas London, a former agency operative. “Sometimes there are things beyond our control but there are also occasions of sloppiness and neglect and people in senior positions are never held responsible.”

Mr. London said he was unaware of the cable. But his new book, “The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence,” argues that the C.I.A.’s shift toward covert action and paramilitary operations undermined traditional espionage that relies on securely recruiting and handling agents.

World wide messages to C.I.A. stations and bases that note troubling trends or problems, or even warnings about counterintelligence problems, are not unheard-of, according to former officials. Still, the memo outlining a specific number of informants arrested or killed by adversarial powers is an unusual level of detail, one that signals the importance of the current problems. Former officials said that counterintelligence officials typically like to keep such details secret even from the broad C.I.A. work force.

Asked about the memo, a C.I.A. spokeswoman declined to comment.

Sheetal T. Patel, who last year became the C.I.A.’s assistant director for counterintelligence and leads that mission center, has not been reluctant to send out broad warnings to the C.I.A. community of current and former officers.

In January, Ms. Patel sent a letter to retired C.I.A. officers warning against working for foreign governments who are trying to build up spying capabilities by hiring retired intelligence officials. (The letter, promptly leaked, also included warnings about talking to journalists.)

Former officials say the broadsides are a way of pushing C.I.A. officers to become more serious about counterintelligence.

A message, in an unusual top secret cable, said that the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Credit...Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

The memo sent last week suggested that the agency underestimated its adversaries — the belief that its officers and tradecraft were better than other intelligence services. But the results of the study showed that countries being targeted by the U.S. are also skilled at hunting down informants.

Some former officials believe that the agency’s skills at thwarting adversarial intelligence services have grown rusty after decades of focusing on terrorism threats and relying on risky covert communications. Developing, training and directing informants spying on foreign governments differs in some ways from developing sources inside terrorist networks.

While the memo identified specific numbers of informants that were arrested or killed, it said the number turned against the United States was not fully known. Sometimes, informants who are discovered by adversarial intelligence services are not arrested, but instead are turned into double agents who feed disinformation to the C.I.A., which can have devastating effects on intelligence collection and analysis. Pakistanis have been particularly effective in this sphere, former officials said.

The collapse of the American-backed government in Afghanistan means that learning more about Pakistan’s ties to the Taliban government and extremist organizations in the region is going to become ever more important. As a result, the pressure is once again on the C.I.A. to build and maintain networks of informants in Pakistan, a country with a record of discovering and breaking those networks.

Similarly, the focus by successive administrations on great power competition and the challenges of China and Russia have meant that building up spy networks, and protecting those sources, is more important than ever.

In those countries, technology has also become a problem, former officials said. Artificial intelligence, biometric scans, facial recognition and other technology has made it far easier for governments to track American intelligence officers operating in their country. That has made meeting and communicating with sources far more difficult.

A breach of the classified communications system, or “covcom,” used by the C.I.A. helped to expose the agency’s networks in China and in Iran, according to former officials. In both cases informants were executed. Others had to be extracted and resettled by the agency.

In Iran and China, some intelligence officials believe that Americans provided information to the adversarial agencies that could have helped expose informants. Monica Elfriede Witt, a former Air Force sergeant who defected to Iran, was indicted on a charge of providing information to Tehran in 2019. The Iranians leveraged her knowledge only after determining she could be trusted. Later that year, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former C.I.A. officer, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for providing secrets to the Chinese government.

Former officials say there is no shortage of examples of where the agency has been so focused on the mission that security measures were not given proper consideration. And in some cases a turned agent can have deadly consequences.

The 2009 bombing at a C.I.A. base in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven agency employees was a good example of mission over security, Mr. London said. In that suicide attack, a Jordanian doctor the C.I.A. thought it had convinced to penetrate Al Qaeda had in fact been turned against the United States.

“We were in such a rush to make such a big score,” Mr. London said. “Those were tradecraft mistakes.”

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