Compounding Interest of the US in the Middle-East : Just not an act against terror.

The activities of the US in the middle-east have changed suddenly from acting just as a watchdog to a more proactive and sensitive nation which is willing to make mistakes to make things happen. Frustration seems to have clearly crept into the Bush Administration. Frustration became evident and got sufficient impetus after the September 11 attacks on their commercial capital and their defense headquarters. But we might be getting carried away if we think that a country of such a stature is actually preparing to leave its pedestal of rationalism. It is after all has been a one man show. The tag of the US has been used efficiently enough for the good of his oil group and his defense manufacturers. US invests more in defense like never before. There has been widespread tag-lines against the US administration by the home crowd regarding recent developments in the ME region and the defense budget, leaving little for domestic expenses. All because of the righteousness of one, Mr Bush. Who else?! Feeding his Carlysle group with vast oil reserves and feeding the army deployments in ME with arms and tanks, he thanks the US and the world for the support. No wonder he is in high spirits after the recent bill being passed on higher allocation of defense budget. There has been many instances where his assurances of a country's preparation to become a rogue state has been found baseless. Guess he was the only US president who was booed when he was elected for office. He talks of bringing back US troops home and then speaks of security lapses and re-deploys them. He is too clever and the World suffers in support to him. Our only hope for peace hinges on the fact that his greed will be satisfied before the world has something to save. Amen.

Iran : Key to Middle-East Stability

The recent build up of US navy in the middle-east is a cause of concern, as it contradicts their approach to a peace progress solely through diplomatic dialogue between the two countries. The build up have been attributed by the US as a boost up in security for the stability of the region; which we should severely doubt. It is a pity that US fails to see a potential alliance with Iran, which is the final Islamic political and military power in the ME which can be a key to solve the ME peace crisis. The sincerity of the US stance on the region has become questionable. What are they doing in Afghanistan now, when 50% of it is being re-taken by Taliban and Al-Qaeda? Iran have already voiced this concern.Why did US support Israel's attack on Lebanon without any complications? While US is following old instincts and unwilling to learn, another cold war seems to have already begun between the US and Russia. As the US sees Israel as a fitting Ally in the ME region, the Russians are busy helping Iran build its nuclear plant and providing nuclear fuel to feed Iran's power plants. The sight is ofcourse disturbing for the US. Unable to see Russia right in the eye, US tries to find a culprit in Iran-"an axis of evil" as Mr Bush states. It is the same Iran that helped US to destroy Taliban and Al-Qaeda. US is speculative of Iran's intentions even though IAEA officials find nothing to suspect. Iran lacks enough centrifuges to build a nuclear bomb. Iran also vows to limit uranium refining to 4-8% for making nuclear fuel for its power plants, much below the 80% threshold for building a bomb. The US aggression is only making it reasonable for the Iranians to have a bomb. The US like the Russians have helped eastern European countries of Poland and Czech Republic to have missile defense systems, much to Russia's dismay. Finally it seems, there is nothing to do with the bomb; just small countries caught in the cross-fire between the big guns. Lastly, Iran remains the last hope for ME stability and not US.

Russia : The Middle-East Sales-Man

Russia's ambition in the middle-east is to reduce dependency of the region on the US by being able to act as a mediator between the countries; to gain contracts to build refineries, nuclear reactors and infrastructure and to sell conventional weapons, and defense systems to the region. Russia has failed miserably in keeping US out of the Middle-East as it did not have any coherent foreign policy for the countries. Russia currently suffers with a weak economy, corruption and political imbalance. The Cold war has left Russia with most of its resources distributed among countries that once were part of it and, to make matters worse these countries hate Russian imperialism.

Russia's image in the middle-east can be seen as more of a sales-man than a diplomat. Russia have notable interests in Iraq, Iran, Israel, Turkey and also in the Palestinians. Israel have been one of the largest arms customer, but as relations dipped because of its confused foreign policy, the US entry was imminent. Currently Russia have good relations with Iran and the Palestinian Hamas lead government. It had good relations with Iraq, which of-course the US foiled it. One must note that the Russians did not support sanctions against Iraq. Firstly because it is a customer to Russia for arms and contracts and secondly, because if sanctions are imposed, Iraq will find it hard to pay Russia what is due. Billions of dollars was lost when US attacked Iraq. Russia was hurt and obviously may see a similar loss in Iran. Russia's nuclear and arms deal with Iran is something US sees as another chance. Russia recently equipped Iran with a missile defense which can destroy incoming cruise missiles. Russia says Iran has the right to have it. It also says that US will not be hurt unless it attacks. But Russians are careful not to help Iran to make the bomb, its a question of security for itself. The Bush Administration is not stupid to overlook this? On the other hand Iranians are scratching their heads- why US is being so rude and not willing to listen?

General Motors : The Pain of second place

As its sales slid back 4% last year, GM could not have done better in proving their critiques right. Every pace it lost was awarded to a more innovative, proficient and hard working competitor. Toyota have recently displaced Ford from second place and is bound to remove GM from first place by end of this year. It is expected to out-sale GM by half a million vehicles by the end of this year. Though GM hardly has any answers, it is expected to be competitive for the coming few years until steam runs out. GM was not able to keep up in many fronts where Toyota excelled. Toyota's design, fuel efficiency, customer service and innovation proved much better for the ever selective Americans. As Toyota moves into first place, only one thing seems to be good for GM. Atleast nobody will blame them if something goes wrong. But there will be too many things that will go wrong. GM's desperation to prove it has not lost will be similar to what Ford was facing with GM's position, like Ford it has to settle for second place even though it will manage to produce some good cars. Finally, GM has to follow Industry standards dictated by Toyota lest be called outdated. But GM is lucky, it could have in-fact lost this position much earlier; if there would not have been resent and suspicion at the Japanese giant's entry. The five decades of Toyota's presence in US was in no manner a smooth journey. The Japanese giant faced hurdles from many sides, mainly from GM, Ford and Chevrolet. Toyota had and have continuously worked to give the best to the Americans not only in the core business but in social welfare, and also considered environment's well being. While GM have been concentrating on job cuts, Toyota by contrast recruited more workers and opened more factories. The position of Toyota seems even stronger considering its pending market capture in Texas and its sister states. While GM falls to second place and continues to deny it for the coming decade, one can already start congratulating Toyota for a job well done.

Phase of Provocation by US to say “Iran pinched me first!”

As US prepares for another battle against an enemy reluctant to fight, it wants to set the legalities of the war straight. Iran is close to loosing patience, and US is ready to say-you pinched me, I am gonna pinch you harder. US must be the most war fanatic nation. It seems to have featured in almost all wars except for The War of Kurukshetra and The Trojan War. Unfortunately for US, it did not exist at that point in time. Currently it rejects to talk with Iran officials until it stops uranium enrichment and they talk of solving the crisis through diplomacy. The US have been planning this war since one year under the direction of the president. They are very desperate infact. Their prerequisites for the war have been changing inside weeks. The cumulative reasons are as follows: if the existence of a nuclear bomb is confirmed; if Iran does not stop uranium enrichment; or if they find proof of Iran's support to militants operating in Iraq. They talk of countries signing NPT then why did they overlook Israel when they do have nuclear warheads and Iran on the other hand have signed it and they do not have any! The US commitment to the NPT itself is questionable. The US has failed to disarm its nuclear warheads and has also shared information with UK regarding nuclear weapons. The NPT which is designed to disarm nuclear nations and restrict non-nuclear countries from making any seems almost a joke. While US remains the first and only one to use the bomb, it also is the country to cause highest civilian casualties, directly or indirectly. Recently US, Russia and China rejected to sign no-use of cluster bombs agreement while 66 other nations agreed to sign (A cluster bomb is a large scale destructive conventional bomb. The fragments of which when donot explode act as mines for years to come. The agreement makes the users to clean up the mess and expects no-use of the weapon.) As Iraq bleeds, Saddam's rule seems a golden era and blame the tons of bombs used over the past five years in ME for the climate changes.

Direct from Dell : The beauty and the beast

Kevin Rollins retired as chief executive last month leaving behind a shaken Dell. Dell have suffered losses, customer satisfaction is at an all time low, employees are frustrated and Dell seems to hardly know what to do. And as the founder Michael Dell returns as CEO to steer the company out of trouble, it remains the biggest challenge in the computer industry. But many wonder whether it is too late and the damage is beyond repair. Dell expanded too fast, which contradicted it's basic strategy. The Strategy was discovered by a college boy selling assembled PCs to interested customers from his hostel room. Mr Dell was severely criticized by his parents for the foolishness of competing with IBM, and his critiques severely mocked his idea of not considering retail as an option for his business. Dell proved all of them wrong. The essence and power of Dell is its inventory management which is greatly supported by its direct marketing concept and, good supplier commitment. It works like this: The customers orders, and he gets a customized PC with the latest technology, at a surprisingly low price and also with a responsive customer service. Inventory management has been the key to success to other companies also, like the Wal-Mart. It allows the company to have only required amount of stock in their inventory to complete submitted orders, thus cutting down on miscalculations of buying too much or too less stock. Dell also required that they have good suppliers so that they got the stock on time and also of expected quality. The trick of this trade is not to expand too fast and have much more customers to serve, with uncommitted suppliers. The beauty of the strategy is that it is hard to copy and there is always a strong committed customer base, but the beast of the strategy is that you cannot afford to expand as fast as in retail; if you do, it will result in degraded customer and product quality. Hope Mr Dell can bring back the lost balance of a uniquely positioned company.

Russia and Chechnya conflict : The Grave of Humanity

Chechnya(one of the 21 republics and 89 regions of Russia) is an Islamic Republic in conflict against Russia. In 1858 it was forced into the Soviet Union after years of bloodshed. During the following years the region reluctantly had to follow the laws of an unfeeling central government in Moscow. With the Fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 Chechnya declared independence from the Soviet Union. Russia sent troops to march to Grozny (Capital of Chenya) to disarm the republic and re-unite with Russia. The war that followed in 1994 was the most recklessly fought battle by Russia. The Russian army was young, and poorly trained and equipped. Grozny was grinded to the ground by indiscriminate air-strikes after Russian army failed to seize the capital. Thousands of civilians including women and children lay buried till this day under the tons of concrete of the razed capital. The people who survived fled to refugee camps in neighboring republics. Most of them were left with somebody in their family missing or dead. In 1996 Russians finally lost the battle and were driven out of Chechnya. In 1999 Russians returned and inflicted even more air-strikes and were more careful and merciless. Chechnya was captured with nothing much to rule. Most of the republic was destroyed and many were slaughtered. Many of the people who survived were to see a never ending war rage between Chechen rebels and the Russian army that still continues till this day. Russians routinely arrest and harass the people. There is widespread collapse of human rights. Chechens are systematically tortured. Their bodies are mutilated. Human rights activist have found a graveyard with thousands of mutilated bodies. But the world does not know; as reporters are banned in the region to allow greater brutality. Reporters if get in, can't get out. And Chechnya slips out of the world agenda. The conflict have left more than 2 lakh dead. More than 10000 of which are children. The screams of the people get muffled in the Russian blizzard! Pray for the lost and left.

The US favor

A sudden shift in US policies seems to remove the possibilities of a war against Iran. Everything seems to have been dialed down. There is no talk about the nuclear issue. No blaming each other. And US wants to have talks with Iran on the Iraq issue . It is highly unlikely that this is Mr Bush's idea(he never used to think other than nonsense); it seems a result of pressure from the opposition and the intellectuals at home. While Dick Cheney was busy proclaiming Iran as an “Axis of Evil” in his visits to Australia and Pakistan; Condoleezza Rice was busy planning a meeting with Iran in the first half of April. The meeting is to discuss possible solutions to the situation in Iraq. Iran must have whewed a sigh of relief; no war as of now. As the US has its military stretched, a weaker economy and a dwindling political support which is evident as it is loosing support at home and from coalition forces who refuse to take any more risks; US hardly can take up another war and sleep peacefully. The wars are already proving futile; moreover democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq is far from true until the violence stops; Which seems quite unlikely for sometime. Iran however is enjoying a freedom and a sense of relief. Ironically the savior is none other than the US. US removed Taliban and the regime of Saddam Hussain both of which were counter-balance of power to Iran's. This freedom has allowed Iran to develop itself and expand more control over the middle-east. Now, infact Iran enjoys a far more powerful diplomatic ability in the middle-east than the US. US will find it hard without Iran; it has infact become a necessary evil to solve the ME crisis. Recently Iran had talks with Saudi Arabia to curb violence between Sunnis and Shiites. Both of these nations are leading representatives of Shia and Sunni Islamic fragments. US hardly have any choice but allow a gradual slippage of it's power to Iran, unless Bush has other thoughts. Infact US should worry more about China. Selling weapons to Taiwan won't work anymore.

India : A Resurgence unlimited

As the economy of India grows at a very adorable rate, so has the buying power of the Indians. The Return on Investments in such a market can be huge even if one holds a very small fraction of the market(considering it's population). The potential of such a young and robust market is almost endless. The market is widely spread and the opportunities are almost homogeneous. The big cities provide a much more competitive market but is heavily competitive. Thus the competition spills to the smaller towns, and cities and finally to the villages; It easily proves to be the most generous markets of all; providing opportunity, to both the small and the big players. The basis of such a rise is the competitive nature of the Indian education structure. As the average Indian believes, education as the best of all remedies, India steadily emerged with a young but technically mature workforce. The results have been almost exponential. Indian workforce is recognized as the most talented and efficient, both in India and abroad; Indians gather wealth and spread it to relatives and friends (They in turn use it for education and business); Indian companies emerge strongly with the better buying power of the home crowd, and a talented and cheaper workforce; Indian companies become an Outsourcing phenomenon; Indian companies start acquisitions in foreign markets and gain more playing area; Meanwhile the government(Easily the weakest link) swells its revenue and FDIs; It then Invests in education, infrastructure and health; And the dream run continues. But the dream can have possible ends; India has to be consistent in keeping it's focus on education(Both the Govt and individuals); Politics have to do away with corruption, India also should become efficient, aggressive and proactive in World Politics; and finally India needs to fear, respect, learn and then tackle China(as it grows flamboyantly to topple the US). But India has serious residual problems, like Infrastructure, Health and the poor. But the move is on and it knows.

WalMart in India : A lesson in retailing

WalMart is almost like a country in itself. Spread over 13 countries, WalMart practices a cost saving business mantra and a work culture that is strict and monotonous. WalMart pays well to its employees and provides good products to its customers at a low price. It has excellent storage management. A well networked system to detect buying patterns of their customers which helps to manage their storage facilities accordingly. WalMart's entry into India could have happened earlier. But then I said earlier, it is very strict and monotonous and will take a lot of time before taking any decision and it very well will not roll-back once it decides. It will network itself deep into the Indian Markets to get the goods directly from the producers and deliver it to the city customers. The discount retailer will not only help the farmers and other producers earn more professionally, it will also motivate indian retailers to follow suit in their own local areas. WalMart will teach the use of efficient Supply-Chains and smart storage management to indian counter-parts. Agriculture sector will get the necessary boost, the Indian customers will save a lot; expenses will decrease hugely multiplied over many; economy will benefit. Displaced retailers will enter smaller cities and will try to build similar market capture as to WalMart and thus build new line of defense. Other big retailer will feel the entry barrier into India after observing the competition, will try to enter smaller cities. Competition will spill more to smaller cities and towns; more producers will get business and the Indian consumers will be still paying less! Inflation feels like history. Its time the Indian retailers learned, they have to be good enough to stop anyone better. WalMart will help the consumers greatly(in quality and price); the Agriculture sector will get much wanted boost; retailers, supply lines will become more professionally; and smaller cities will develop faster. It is not the first time that India is learning from a foreign intrusion.

Windows Vista : the Big Liability

Various flavors of Windows run on 96% of the World PCs. The new Vista will be a step backward and then a step forward. Vista will surprise you with its new level of User Interface and you will be even surprised when your PC is hardly good in running Vista and runs nothing else. Vista's new technology goes a long way in protecting your PC against non-copyrighted material and deteriorates performance; and unless you have the right hardware and the support from the manufacturers of a product, you may not be able to enjoy what you just bought. The Copyright protection technology (DRM-Digital Rights Management) built into Vista has almost like self-crippling effects; as the technology continuously watches every move and measure of your activities while using the system. We will be paying for extra hardware improvements only to satisfy the nemesis that will haunt us for the use, or even purchase. Microsoft accepts that audio and video qualities can be intentionally downgraded if media is not copyrighted and may even not play. Customers using Vista are also facing problems connecting to the net. Its security is very good but it is too user interactive and depends on the User's choices to allow a program, connection, registry change to work. Many users may not be aware of the correct choices, and many still will find it irritating. The idea is to shift the responsibility on to the Users; seems very sly to me. The move of supporting DRM into Vista is basically to drive itself into getting a better share of the entertainment market. It will get the faith and share of revenues from the likes of Sony and Warner Bros. All thanks to DRM. Sony gradually will realizes that the idea wouldn't do any good, as people will find it increasingly hard to be able to meet all specifications to enjoy premium content; and sales will dip. Sony will then nicely ask Windows to remove it…and Windows will certainly agree. So before you buy, just observe that Vista packaging does not have all its corners equally taken care of.

China : The Dragon with an Attitude

It is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Its borders are constant for over 7000 years. It is the source of culture and language to Japan and Korea. It's survival through time can be said to be a topic of envy. Strategists identify it as Clever and Patient. We can hardly find China committing troops to the missions of the UN; or even find it interfering in politics which is beyond its context. China does not seem to be interested in any military adventures, but is constantly, aggressively seeking economic opportunities and building defense. As US more often than not, gets caught in political and war deadlocks; China persistently builds a robust economy and a military power to be feared. The conservation of it's energy in politics, military and economy results in helping it to dictate it's development at the rate it wants, since the rate of development should be so managed that it can be maintained; e.g. a bridge can collapse under of it's own weight. As the US is stuck in the middle-east crisis, China invests in Africa, its interest lies in it's natural resources to feed it's industries. China is busy looking for Oil in South and Latin America, West-Indies and the Middle-east, though it still has enough. In the process it is cementing its economy and building political allies. It's progress seems to be very well planned. It's exports grew by 39% last year. It has a robust Infrastructure and a very cheap workforce, ideal for manufacturers. Like the Indians, China has a huge turn-out of professionals and researchers in various fields. The no of patents to it's name is astounding. The US meanwhile builds relations with Australia, India, Japan, Taiwan(recognized by only a few countries, thanks to China) to tackle China's rise; but to it's utter despair, it is too tangled in it's own making to tackle China. China on the contrary has been bribing foreign diplomats to influence proceedings abroad. Though China has its own problems, one can still count on it's experience. The Dragon talks slow but thinks fast.