The vapidity and stupidity of the Indian media is proverbial. I happened to be in India when Benazir Bhutto was murdered. Many Indian TV channels eulogized her and one idiot on a popular channel reminisced about their common period at some foreign university and lauded her for being a sincere friend of India and an eminent stateswoman. The TV host who haunts the channels, was so ignorant that he knew nothing about her rampant corruption in her two prime ministerial terms which earned her husband the soubriquet of 'Mr. Ten Percent', her creation and support of the Taliban jointly with the ISI, her lies about Pakistan's nuclear program to India and America and allegations against her for involvement in her brother's murder, or chose to overlook it.

Another possibility is that he chose not to speak ill of the dead. That may be a good idea if one is at the wake of the deceased or a chosen speaker to deliver a eulogy at the official funeral. As a political commentator on TV in a country which has fought four wars with Pakistan and is a repeated victim of terrorism sponsored by it, one should stick to facts and relevant critical analysis. Instead this crapper waxed maudlin and reminded me of the great Sanskrit verse '

Ushtraanaam vivaheshu gito gayante gardabhani
Parasparam prashansayante, aho rupam aho dhvani.

At the wedding ceremony of the camel, the donkeys are the musicians. 'Oh what a handsome groom' sing the donkeys, to which the camel replies, 'Oh what sweet melodious voices'.

This mutual back scratching is now standard behavior. On the national evening news on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and PBS, we are bombarded with the news of the death of some colleague and effusive praise to the extent, that it sounds like the beginning of a beatification process for sainthood. Don't get me wrong. I regret the death of any and all individuals and am reluctant but willing, to listen to a one or two sentence announcement despite having no respect for their press careers as sycophants to the power elite, inane moderating of debates of presidential contenders, the trivial irrelevant garbage they spew out on their shows or news and the Faustian bargains they make to be in the limelight, while forgetting that their job is to challenge the power elite and not throw them soft balls to hit a home run.

Take the recent example of the terror bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul. On searching the internet, I came across one analysis by K. P. S. Gill to explain the history and geopolitics of the event and steps to take to counter it. Most of the rest was hoopla and rote inane statements by officials and leaders that India will not be deterred from its path and Pakistan or the ISI is responsible. We hear the same drivel after each terrorist attack in India with the added bullshit that the event will not affect Hindu Muslim unity. The very fact that agents of Pakistan or ISI can enter the inner cities of India, find shelter, refuge, finance and bomb material to stage a terrorist attack and escape without being caught, proves that they have local Indian help from disaffected and traitorous Indians, be they Hindus, Muslims or whatever.

We should know that India has and does support the Tajiks of the former Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and is building roads and infrastructure to the tune of 500 million dollars or more in annual aid to the government of Karzai, who is a Pashtun. The Pashtun belt of Pakistan and the Pashtun southern and eastern Afghan provinces are angry and restless due to indiscriminate US bombing of civilians and failure to reconstruct Afghanistan by the US and NATO teams. The criminal extortion by the Afghan police and officials of the Karzai government who deal in drugs, rape, land appropriation and stealing, makes the Pashtuns nostalgic for the resurgent Taliban. The intimidation by the Taliban, appeal to Islam and the Afghan xenophobia are factors, as well as stipends the Taliban give to recruited fighters.

We should also know that the Pakistani government of Musharaf has been pulling wool over the eyes of the idiot Bush (Read Ahmed Rashid's book, Descent into Chaos), by supporting the Taliban even as it collects tens of billions of dollars from the US to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda. If the Americans are stupid enough to chose an idiot like Bush, then they deserve the consequences. Thus it is a no brainer that the ISI probably urged the Taliban to attack the Indian Embassy to create strife between India and Afghanistan. The reality is that Karzai, a puppet just like Manmohan Singh is equally inept and has followed self defeating policies. He was working for Unocal and may have been a CIA asset, while Manmohan Singh is nobody's asset, just India's liability. The resurgence of the neo-Taliban in Pakistan bodes ill for the future of Afghanistan and India's relations with it and the time may come when it is in the best interests of India, Russia and Iran to quarantine the Taliban epidemic into a separate landlocked buffer Pakhtoonistan, hostile to Pakistan and made up of Northwestern province and FATA of Pakistan and Southeastern Afghanistan.

The present PPP ruling coalition of Pakistan led by Benazir Bhutto's son and husband does not want an independent judiciary to be reinstated lest they revive the corruption charges for which Mr. Zardari was imprisoned by Musharaf. Benazir mid-wifed the Taliban, so it is foolish to expect any genuine peace overtures from the new Pakistani government. Only Manmohan Singh is foolish enough to have linked hands with Musharaf at the NAM summit in Cuba to jointly fight terrorism, despite knowing that Musharaf was the one fostering terrorism in India, including Kargil. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same stupid thing again and again exactly to the last detail and hoping for a different result. Trust Manmohan Singh to do it nevertheless, for he is not K.P.S. Gill, the savior of India from Punjab terrorism. 'Laaton ke boot baaton se nahi maante' applies both to stupid Indians and crooked Pakistanis or the ISI.

Finally on a lighter note, the present rebellious youth of America criticizes the older generation of worshiping dead white males like Plato, Aristotle, founding fathers etc. In India we have more innovative political groups. The ruling coalition worship a living white female (Sonia) and its now dissenting communist partners were worshiping dead white males (Marx and Lenin) but have added a 'Mahadeva' to their pantheon and now worship a dead Chinese male (Mao).  So next time someone asks you about the wild 'ass' (three letter word) that is native to Kutch, correct them and inform them that in India the ass is a ubiquitous animal and is found all over India in all states and political parties and is just as stupid as the PPP and ISI are crooked and ubiquitous in Pakistan.