OF WIKILEAKS & RADIA TAPES

Julian Assange and his website; WikiLeaks had done it again. To expose the big brother countries, who tells one thing and does the opposite. Once upon a time, all these dichotomist big brothers thought they were the invincible ones. All that is gone! First, young terrorists indoctrinated by religious extremists exposed their vulnerabilities. And later now, their diplomatic wires are hacked and tapped for information on what they did, against what they said.

It has been major embarrassment for USA, UK and many big nations. For whatever they had said and done (or not done), the leaders of these nations have lots of explanations and clean up to do, lot of angry faces to face and plenty of regrets to send.

Through Wikileaks, we have learnt the diplomatic wire confirmation that there is rampant corruption in Afghanistan; that the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a characterless character; that majority of Islamic nations of the world that follow the Sunni tradition is more scared of their Muslim Shia brother Iran than Israel because of Iran’s nuclear capabilities; that contrary to the assurances made to the world, Syria's government had maintained very close ties with Hezbollah group and many more similar information.

These leaks could weaken up the Pakistani leadership; it could slow down the anti-terrorism efforts of Yemen. Many nations and its leadership will not want to communicate with the Americans and most of the Europeans. Countries may think twice before handing over secrets to the big brother nations. From now on, information would be difficult to come by. It could create anti leadership feelings within the public of many nations. Thanks to WikiLeaks, many leaders could lose their next election.

So what do the big brother nations do? They are trying to silence the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through cheap charges such as rape, coercion etc. What a pity?

By the way, who is this person Assange? This Australian is reputed to be an excellent computer network hacker. He is also a journalist, a writer, a self-styled Internet’s freedom fighter, a self-taught scientific genius, a friend of open and free software and so many things rolled into one. More than anything else, he considers himself as the founder and spokesperson of a web based organization that exposes the wrongs of the power that be. He fights for the suppressed and has adopted novel methods to bring to open, the super powers and their deeds, something that the powers that be never thought possible. Assange is also against the giant corporations that act as virtual nation states without accountability.

"The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie," Assange wrote. "Since unjust systems, by their nature, induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance." This is his philosophy too.

Has he done the world a favour or by the leaks, made the world affairs much more complicated? Who knows, but one thing is clear to me, if whatever he exposed is the truth, he has my vote.

That takes us to the local affair, La Radia tapes.

One has heard of penetrating all powering lobbyism employed by people and organizations in countries such as USA, UK, France, Japan etc. One had always seen it at a distance. Now that one sees the monstrous face of it at the closest quarters, one shudders to think and face the consequences of its activities.

What is therefore Nira Radia? She runs a most powerful PR company in the country. She interfaces with the press, media, politician and government and among others, works on behalf of two most powerful industry houses of India. She lobbies to make ministers and break ministers, who directs the so called stalwarts of the press and leaders of chambers on what to write, what to do, what to speak, whom to recommend and the like. The arm of her company reaches out to the rulers and the opposition alike, to the bureaucrats and NGOs. She is capable of white washing some people and companies and darkening out opponent and their organizations. She was getting to be the most powerful, by attaining Godly powers to create and annihilate. Who is she, Radia the Devta, Radia the Durga or Radia the Kali? All said and done, she uses money to speak, bend and obey.

Thanks to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence having taped lots of her conversations with the powers that be, and all the more thanks to the leakages of the same through news media and websites, the common man today is preview to what is happening in the corridors of power. Now he knows that his beloved country is not moving in the right path and when he gets the stink of the corruption employed by these people, he knows that many people are bending the rules and making money without lifting a finger. He realises that hard work, efforts, truth and ethics have no value and the power brokers get away with murder in which ever form.

This is something that I dreaded. Lots of my post in the past had been on this subject.

Is it possible for man to live a decent life in this country, following its laws, rules and regulations? Can every Indian be trated the same in the eyes of law? Or do we need a supreme court every time to correct and direct the erring minsters, government and bureaucrats? How long and how far will the country go in the present manner? Where will it all end?

There can be no answers, I know. The only way is to keep praying and keep hoping for the best.

Mera Bharat Mahan………………………