The Bush Administration, in its fight against global terrorism, had taken on the mantle of expanded powers, using its own legal team to claim mighty powers; these powers started getting challenged after some time through public discussion and legal means. However, the American constitution is not pretty clear on many of these areas (given that this was a constitution written more than 200 years back, such vagueness is to be expected); what is clear is that a wartime President has the power to take many actions in the pursuit of a war (with Congress and the courts not having the ability to second guess many of these powers). The dispute over the past many years winding its way through the American higher courts were about the scope of the powers of the President, and these were tricky questions. After all, there was little doubt that many of the people who were imprisoned were those who were guilty of planning or had undertaken extreme forms of violence and against whom there was no direct evidence that would convict them, or the evidence was obtained through means that would not stand up in court. One of the terms that was used by the Bush administration and that led to a huge amount of discussion was the term ‘enemy combatant’. The Bush administration took the position that people termed as such were not allowed the same rights as those of a normal criminal accused, but could be held under the authority of the President.

continue reading "No more using of the term enemy combatants"

After the devastating attacks in Mumbai late November 2008, the pressure on Pakistan escalated tremendously. For the last 2 decades, Pakistan has been using the policy of sponsoring terrorists (not only Pakistan, since after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan along with the US and Saudi Arabia armed people to fight against the Russians, using religion as the driving force), and this is something that is confirmed by the intelligence agencies of many countries as well as by Pakistani politicians at different periods. As with many other Frankensteins that get created, this is one creation that is hurting people across the globe, including the state of Pakistan where the terrorists believe that the state is under the control of the infidel United States and that a pure religious state needs to come into existence.
All this was highlighted with dramatic effect on November 26th when a band of terrorists came to the Indian city of Mumbai, and with precision, caused major damage to the city and killed almost 200 people. Now, investigations that have been carried out (by Indian investigators and those of other countries (since nationals from other countries have also died)) have come to a conclusion that the attacks were planned by the Lashkar-e-Taiba and supported by many former intelligence officials and ex-army men. Inspite of Pakistani denials (maybe to provide the effect that the Pakistani nation does not buckle under pressure), the United States and other countries have applied a lot of pressure, and this pressure seems to be having effect:

continue reading "Pakistani authorities take action against LeT"

In a landmark deal that broke many facets of the international nuclear embargo on NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) non-signatory nations, the US has finally signed a nuclear deal with India. This has been among the most heated and debated agreements in recent times. Part of a mission to make US-India ties closer, and to relax some of the restrictions on India in the nuclear area, the deal took a lot of diplomatic effort to get through, and the final legal step of the deal was signed in by President Bush. This last step was not necessary for India to go ahead with nuclear deals with other nations, but in light of the recent efforts by the US administration to push the deal, the Indian side decided to wait for the US Congress approval.

US President George W Bush has signed into law a nuclear deal with India, which ends a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi. The landmark agreement was approved by the US Congress nearly a week ago. The deal will give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.

continue reading "Bush signs nuclear energy deal with India"

Ever since the sub-prime crisis came to the fore November- December of 2008, there has been a lot of worries about where this will eventually take the US economy. And this looks like a slow-action horror movie whose climax is coming. So, there was the shock when Bear Stearns went down, and then for some time it looked like the worst was over; the worst that could happen was a recession, but the sub-prime was over. And then happened the next round of corporate disasters that decimated the investment banking community on Wall Street; Lehman Brothers was allowed to die a quick and painful death, Merrill Lynch was bought up whole by a bank, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs turned into normal banks, AIG got a lifeline from the Government that decided it was too big to fail without much impact, and then the banks started toppling – Washington Mutual and Wachovia, both not so small banks were sold for a song.
Current situation in the street ? Panic since there is a lot of holding in these reduced value mortgages, and as a result, banks are not able to decide whether the money they lend to other banks will return since there is no guarantee about the finances of the other banks and other institutions. As a result, lending to other banks and companies, the life-blood of the finance system of the economy is down massively. Lending, and the ability to get money from banks through loans and working capital requirements are what lets an economy work. The solution ? Take on these tainted mortgages till the credit system starts reviving, and then sell these mortgages (they still have value) when the economy has recovered. This will give confidence to the economy and its institutions. However, this runs into multiple problems.

continue reading "US Congress rejects the bailout plan; stocks dive"