Mumbai - The Threat Of A Hindu/Muslim Rift

Aatish Taseer:

"More than 4,000 Indians have died in terrorist attacks — the country is the second biggest victim of terror after Iraq and virtually every one of its big cities has faced a terrorist attack. Yet the government has no centralised terrorist database, its intelligence is abysmal and there is little evidence that the state knows who it is fighting."

"In dragging its feet, the Indian state does nobody a greater disservice than Indian Muslims. When there are no real suspects, arrests or trials, everyone becomes a suspect. Already an underclass, with low literacy rates, low incomes and poor representation in government jobs, Indian Muslims are increasingly alienated. There is also great pressure on them. Nobody wants to listen to genuine grievances about poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the face of a real threat to the country. Many Hindus want Muslims to come clean on the issue of the jihad and to make clear whose side they’re on."

"India has the largest Muslim minority population in the world (13.4% of the population, or about 150m) but unlike Muslims in western Europe, they are not immigrants. They have been part of India for centuries. This is why all Indians — Muslims and Hindu alike — know that the deepening divide threatens the country’s existence."

The Impact Of Mumbai

It struck me as odd at the time, but the bombings in Mumbai point out how misplaced the entire Obama European Tour 2008 was during the US election campaign. Why is it Europe that he needed to tour to prove his foreign affairs credentials? He just as easily could have visited Iraq and Afghanistan and kept travelling east, signalling that he would forge a new relationship with India and China as part of his term. Bush had already begun that process with the US-India civilian nuclear agreement.

A chief risk from the attacks is a hard-line Hindu backlash which would threaten the secular balance between Muslim and Hindu not only in Mumbai, but across the country:

"If Pakistan truly wishes to turn back the tide of fundamentalism in its country, and stop exporting violence overseas, then it must have proper support and assistance from India. Yet the concern is that if last nights atrocities in Mumbai turn out to be Islamic backed, violence and retribution could ignite across India. The nation possesses a larger Muslim population than Pakistan, and much of the area around the Crawford Bazaar in the heart of Mumbai remains steadfastly Muslim – Mosques and Minarets abound, as do bushy beards, skull caps and women wearing burkhas. Anti-Muslim feelings here if uncontrolled in the wake of these terrorist attacks would be devastating. Tens of thousands could die."

Vatican Installs 2400 Solar Panels

The Pope goes solar: "The system, devised by the German company SolarWorld, will allow the 108-acre city-state to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by about 225,000 kilograms (225 tonnes) and save the equivalent of 80 tonnes of oil each year."

Sentamu On Woolas

John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, talking about Phil Woolas and his remarks on immigration:

"For any honourable member to suggest that someone who has made out reasonable grounds, and has succeeded in their appeal under the due process of law 'has no right to be in this country' is a worrying development ... May I be forgiven for suggesting that the honourable member in question does not advance his stated desire to have 'a mature debate about immigration' by this carry on?"

Attacks In Mumbai

I find it astonishing that the BBC News (Radio 4) didn't have the Mumbai terror attacks as their lead story at 730am today. Especially when it's still going on.

What's also depressing is that there has been a series of explosions (64 killed a month ago in Assam, 22 small bombs killed 49 in Ahmedabad in July; 63 killed in bombs in Jaipur in May), but it only gains world attention when terrorists single out Americans and British people in Mumbai.

What I've Been Reading ...

George Monbiot: "Do we want to be remembered as the generation that saved the banks and let the biosphere collapse?"

Amnesty International UK: "Tasers are potentially lethal weapons which are already linked to numerous deaths in north America and that's why wide deployment without adequate training is a dangerous step too far for British policing."

Chris Goodall's 10 big energy myths: "Rapid innovation in the US means that the next generation of solar panels will be much thinner, capture far more of the energy in the sun's light and cost a fraction of what they do today."

IPS News: "Ocean acidification cannot be fixed quickly. It might take a thousand years for the oceans to regain their buffering capacity to prevent continuing acidification. Many species will not be able to adapt and there will be no place to hide."

Obama And Discontent Over His Cabinet

Keeping Bush's Defence Secretary might be a good thing for Obama to do. FlyOnTheWall makes the point that cabinet appointees execute policy. They work for the president. What has happened, for decades, is that the Pentagon's bureaucracy stalls and out-lasts civilian appointees. Instead, Obama is signalling that he will pursue the key reforms that Gates has tried to put in place. These include trying to stall/question the procurement of the F-22, the C-17, the CSAR-X helicopter, the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer, and the $160 billion Future Combat Systems initiative.

FlyOnTheWall:

"And defense spending is just the tip of the iceberg. On a wide array of issues including encouraging heterodox thought, promoting capable officers, reigning in inter-service rivalries, prioritizing the needs of soldiers in the field, and placing personnel ahead of technology, Gates has made important strides - a point I've already made at excessive length. Having him pursue the same agenda while working for a President who actually agrees with and supports his efforts is an exciting prospect."

We (anti-military activisits, whether Left or Green) continue to have a contradictory position:

- The military-industrial complex is all-powerful, it cannot be overcome, Blackwater is hiding under every bed, it's iron-clad, we'd doomed to the Pentagon buying £1040 wrenches

- Obama should sweep into office, appoint all progressive people to his cabinet, and throw out Gates, and the military, and military industry, will just fall in line, they'll love Obama, and on his own, he will change the world.

It's neither of these things.

Perhaps Carter and Clinton simply weren't effective (heck, Carter was leading by 30% in the summer of 1976, and he was one-term-and-out) since they came in and appointed people who didn't know what they were doing. Maybe it's more important to set overall policy, manage people (as opposed to Cheney/Scooter/Rummy going rogue), and get things done.

I'd rather Obama concentrate on making the Copenhagen conference a reality, to start getting the US out of Iraq, to begin an economic stimulus in the US, than stumble around for a year with ideologically pure appointees.

Council Staff And The Incinerator

I wasn't able to go, but two members of CRACIN went to a local residents association meeting last night. Andrew Walster, from the council's waste services department, gave a presentation on the incinerator.

I continue to be worried about the slant that council staff give in presentations to ward forums and other community-level meetings.

For example, they say that Coventry is now up to 30% in its recycling rate. However, our level of composting is most of that, and our "dry" recycling rate is one of the worst in England. They continue to insist that there is no market for non-HDPE plastic. This is despite plastic reprocessing plants opening in Lancashire, in Lincolnshire, and two in Wales. Finally, they talk about the incinerator, but not alternatives to it. They talk about the incinerator, but not things like the £92 gate fee.

People pay their council tax so that council officers can give impartial advice about the pros and the cons, about trade-offs and benefits ... not just what reflects well on the council.

Caroline Lucas On Radio 4

Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, will be on "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4, at 8pm on Friday night. Her fellow guests will be Geoff Hoon, Vincent Cable, and David Willetts.

Copenhagen - Coal And Poland

In advance of the climate change conference in Poznan, Greenpeace protesters clashed with Polish miners on Monday. According to the World Coal Institute, Poland (apart from South Africa) is the most coal-dependent country in the world, producing 94 percent of its electricity from coal:

"The Jozwin mine lies near Goplo lake, listed on the EU's Nature 2000 programme aiming to safeguard threatened species in the bloc ... Konin, the firm that operates Jozwin, also plans to open a second opencast mine in nearby Tomislawice but environmentalists say this could destroy Goplo, home to rare wildlife."

"Some Poles share Greenpeace's concerns but others say wealthier western EU states had built up strong infrastructure before embracing the environmental cause. Poland has begun to receive large-scale EU funds to modernise its dilapidated infrastructure, including roads."

Portugal And Electric Cars

Portugal, with the help of Renault and Nissan, want to build 1300 charging stations for electric cars by the end of 2011. Portugal has 10.6 million people. If the same initiative happened in a city the size of Coventry, it works out to 36 stations -- two for each ward. Tax incentives and reduced parking rates will also be offered to drivers of electric vehicles. Why can't we have some of that ambition in Britain?

2 Degrees Vs 3 Degrees

An interesting laying-out of the costs to produce various scenarios:

- If we keep things as they are, we're likely to face a 6 degrees Celsius rise in average global temperature. This would end life as we know it.

- If we invest $4.1 trillion in energy-related infrastructure and equipment, we're likely to improve our energy efficiency, save $7 trillion, and stabilise greenhouse gases at 550 parts per million in the atmosphere (a rise of about 3 degrees Celsius). This would make life very uncomfortable, and could still trigger run-away heating.

- If we invest $9.3 trillion (and have 36% of the global energy mix by 2030 be low-carbon), fuel savings will only be $5.8 trillion, but we could limit the world to a 2 degree rise in temperature.

The "common sense" option (going for 3 degrees, getting a net saving of nearly $3 trillion) shows why we can't evaluate economic options in the same old way.

Pre-Budget Report - The Day After

- Only £3 billion of the £20 billion "reflationary boost" of the pre-budget report is capital spending. If we want a long-term boost, for long-term economic benefit, this isn't the right way to proceed.

- Two Doctors points out that Brown's 2005 conference speech proclaimed Labour as the party of economic stability ... precisely when we had a housing bubble, and all the sub-prime-shenanigans were starting to build up.

- Hamish McRae, in the Independent, says that when Japan was in crisis, "the more the government borrowed, the more frightened people became and the more they felt they had to save." He goes on to express alarm that the government is talking up the crisis as unprecedented. "The danger of talking up perils is that people will believe them. It is the reverse of Franklin D Roosevelt's phrase that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – between them, Messrs Brown and Darling are trying to make us more fearful, not less." It's the need for a crisis that I talked about a few days ago. Once the crisis is over, people will turn to the soft/cuddly leader for "peacetime" - Cameron - rather than the Churchill/crisis figure of Brown. Brown needs to keep us afraid.

- There was no emphasis on grassroots financial arrangements (credit unions, co-operatives) in the Pre-Budget report. We need to get people saving in a sustainable way again. Instead, Labour are turning to the very institutions, High Street banks, that got us into this mess.

Leadership Of The Scottish Greens

If you want to read about the leadership of the Scottish Greens (their new "co-convenor"), the Times had a profile of Patrick Harvie yesterday. He's the first openly bisexual party leader in British politics.

The Pre-Budget Report

You can read the entire Pre-Budget Report here. He's a tricksy fellow, this Darling. He talks about a green component to his stimulus package, but buried in the detail is an expansion of the motorway network, as well as (4.61) a "review of the regulatory framework for UK airports" so that "airport operators are incentivised to deliver timely, efficient and necessary investment in new airport capacity."

You can see the Green Party's response here:

Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, Leader of the Green Party said: "The Chancellor’s plan to cut taxes to promote a consumer-spending boom is short- term thinking in the extreme. Even if it works, it will simply ship money abroad, as most consumer goods are imported, rather than supporting jobs here in the UK. More seriously, it also represents a return to the vicious cycles of debt and over-consumption that caused the crisis in the first place ... By putting capital spending into increasing motorway capacity, diluting the incentive to buy more efficient vehicles, and encouraging more aviation, Gordon Brown has shown his environmental incompetence, as well as his economic recklessness."