***Bosnia was bled to death before the coffins were noticed by US, UN, and NATO. The judgement of the West versus the wisdom of the East! The Yugo president must be an expert in chaanda-baazi!***

THE hypocritical foreign policies or grand alliances of the G7 or G8 nations which dictate UN stands is today nakedly overexposed, revealing the paucity of credibility. They do what suits then jt any particular period, and feed the Third World (with two-thirds of the global inhabitants) twisted and elaborate explanations through IT pipelines. which are at best dubious quasi-pseudo-scientific in nature and contents.

This is the age of GINO (garbage in. garbage out), so why blame Dhaka's permanent wayside exhibitions arranged by DCC for the whole world to take lessons in the art known as the scientific management and processing of garbage. That is the irony of modern life: the LDCs do not have the capability to process reality, not to speak of tinkering with hi-tech GINO.

The latest bhai-bhai mantra is being chanted by Britain trying to woo Iran, following Initial US overtures, using the Rushdie alibi (the CTBT alibi for Kashmir and opening of the %ne billion market in South

Asia). The two countries are said to be going to normalize diplomatic relations, with US to follow suit after watching the teething period. Why? To have an outlet for the huge natural resources (fuel, minerals) of the CIS region. The latter is unstable after stepping out of the Bolshevik shell.

Iraq is also being let off. unofficial stances indicate. In Kosovo, the UN is dilly-dallying and issuing warning after warning (as it did in Bosnia for years), unable to change into the first gear for action against elements who are not the ethnic majority in the area. It is the first rule of the game that operational plans are never disclosed or leaked out in warfare, and NATO is doing exactly the opposite.

On the other hand the US (not UN) lighting missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan were not preceded by any warning. Why, this double standard? No explanation. Bosnia was bled to death before the coffins were noticed by US. UN. and NATO. The Judgement

of the West versus the wisdom of the EastI The Yugo president must be an expert in chaanda-baazi!

When there is no meeting of the minds, why bother with huge bodies such as the UN and spurious satellites to spew lip service on plain living and high thinking? There is an arc of hope in SAARC. but the eclipse is persisting. The signing of the CTBT by Pakistan and India has to be awaited, before SAARC can defend its self-respect. if it has any. Kashmir has been the stumbling block for half a century. Jane Austen, where art thou, with your Pride and Prejudice. and Sense and Sensibility?

Politics lords over the citizens of the world, but who rules over politics? Perhaps the myopic economists with thick glasses who pore over the quarterly returns and announce recession' whenever two consecutive quarterly returns dip even 0.1 per cent. Greenspan is the name of the guru holding the world economy between his lips, with his periodical testimonies. which resemble sean-

ces with hoary clairvoyants poring over crystal globes. It reminds me of a hilarous book in my library carrying the title What They Did Not Teach Me at the Harvard School of Business. This is the Age of Unlearning.

A gentle reminder to the readers who believe in ahimsa or non-violence: the selling of arms (clandestine or otherwise) is big business and a profitable pastime. That is the problem with western capitalism: the factories have to be kept running. otherwise democracy will die without consumerism, regardless of the unnecessary slaughtering going around by fits and starts.

Has the arms market collapsed or is facing a recession due to swarms of UN doves circling the globe on emissary missions? When one arm is twisted, the other arm buys arms. The hawks in Central Europe are driving away the doves, and NATO is in knots: the indecisiveness is seminal! Who gets the benefit of the doubt? The West is teaching mantras to the East!