How Have We Been

Developments at times take place very fast. While we saw resurgence of bold acts of terrorism in Srinagar and Doda, Taliban has been showing signs of reemergence in Afghanistan (but it does no longer figure in the US list of terrorist organizations). Srilanka has again been going through “bloody patches”. The peace process is yet to restart. The European Union has banned LTTE. Maoists in India have threatened to blow up the State Legislature in the State of Bihar.

On May 29, China and India signed a very significant MOU on defence-related issues. The Maoists in Nepal have agreed for peace talk. The Nepalese Parliament took a momentous decision declaring Nepal would henceforth be a secular country, signifying the end of the only Hindu Kingdom in the world. Hamas in Palestine have given enough indications that Palestine and Israel can coexist – an unheard of situation, even conceptually, some days back! Women preachers in Morocco are now promoting a more tolerant version of Islam and in Saudi Arabia, the government have pressed into service some militant clerics to win over the youth from the path of fundamentalism and terrorism. One should hold one’s breath to see these developments further fructify.

US efforts to sort out their intelligence problems continued. The recently-appointed CIA Director Peter Gross has left and Gen. Hayden has since taken over, giving rise to speculations how will an army general handle civil intelligence work. Time alone will tell.

And, did you know honeybees can not only sting but can also smell explosives? Pigeons can also calculate. Einstein’s mathematics was suspect and so he fell back on friends for support. Finally, why not take an IQ test of yourself? The General File below has all this for you.

D. C. Nath, IPS (Retd.)
Former Special Director, IB (MHA), Govt. of India
Editor-cum-Executive President & CEO
International Institute of Security and Safety Management
New Delhi, India