The Carving Of The Middle East

This cartoon which I saw on a blog, captures the entire charade about Iraq, Iran and the Middle East.

After WW1

After the war, the victorious allies carved up the entire Ottoman Empire - which stretched from the Middle East to Central Asia to the Eastern Europe.

Out of the Ottaman Empire, Iraq was carved up and King Faysal was put on the throne. A British amateur Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell made the selection of the King Of Iraq. This new King did not even know his kingdom - and he was taken around by his new makers. Similarly, an amateur like TE Lawrence (never mind the propaganda) was used to determine the fate of the Middle East.

WW1 resulted in the Balfour Declaration, which promised a Jewish homeland, to be carved out of the Ottoman Empire. Saudi Arabia was similarly made up.

Thus the entire Middle East was put on shaky political ground. Exploitative commercial contracts favoring Anglo Saxon bloc of countries were signed with these puppet governments - and the rest of the story is being played out for the last 90 years.

Turkey decided to go West - with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk mandating that all Turks must cut of their beards. Out of the fog of war came the the Russian Communists - which again the Anglo Saxon world tried to blame the rest of the world for.

The Western Leadership

Midway through WW1, by 1916, the heads of the Allied powers - Britain, France, and Russia had a change of government. Each of new governments had different agendas and ideas about the Middle East - in which the only interest that was not represented was that of the Middle East itself.

Britain, under Prime Minister, David Lloyd George could look at Middle East as the dominant super power of the period could - as imperial fodder. Georges Clemenceau, the French Premier, was diffident about colonial expansion pragmatically viewing French resources and capability in overextended and vulnerable to Germans.

The unforeseen elements were the Russians. The Communist leaders pulled out of the war. Russia was replaced by their future Cold War rival, United States into the war on the side of the Allies. American economic interests demanded opening of markets, closed to America by colonial powers. Woodrow Wilson (couched as his personal beliefs in self-determination) wanted 'independence' for the Middle East - for the US corporations to manipulate the Middle East, which they promptly did.

Leaders of the Middle East

One example was Emir Hussein. He could make the British believe that Emir Hussein could raise a force of a quarter million Arabs. He could deliver 3000-4000. Shaikh Faisal was another. Muhammed Sharif al-Faruqi was the third.

The Demonisation Starts

After these destabilising decisions were taken, the Anglo Saxon world has been put their propaganda machine to work overtime. Demonising communism and now Islam. Without taking the responsibility for their own actions - and further interventions, creating further instability. Like the demonisation of the Jews before and the Red Indians after, this too is having disastrous effects - in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan. And this process of demonization is a matter of concern to the rest of the world.

Is India getting co-opted in this demonization?

Gandhiji - And The Middle East Carving

Gandhiji saw this problem 90 years ago - and his support of the Khilafat movement was prescient. Today when some Indians join in this demonization, it is matter of ignorance - and a threat.

Start Of World War I

What triggered WW1 - common knowledge. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. How did so many other countries get involved? The Russian Tsar (related to the British Royal House and based on the support of) Britain, the Anglo Saxon Bloc and the French, supported political Serbian assassins, of Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro Hungarian Empire - and that started the World War I. Not some harmless gun shot that seemed to have triggered it off as victorious Anglo Saxon historians would have us believe.

The Assassination Team

The assasination plot included Gavrillio Princip, the actual 19-years old killer, Mehmed Mehmedbasic (a carpenter, unsure of his success, finally didnt do anything), 17 year old Vaso Cubrilovic, Nedelko Cabrinovic, all of 20 years old, Cvetko Popovic, an 18-year old student, 24-year old Danilo Ilic, the main organizer of the plot and Trifko Grabez, a 19-year old.

The name of the group was Black Hand, a circle of radicals in the army around Dimitrijevic-Apis, the man who led the murder of the Serbian royal couple in 1903. The other ring leader was Vojislav Tankosić organized the murders of Queen Draga's brother's; Dimitrijević Apis and Tankosić in 1913-1914 figure prominently in the plot to assassinate Franz Ferdinand.

What Would Happen Today

Would the US take no action if a mad assassin (imagine if he is Islamic) were to assassinate the US President-Elect. And what would the US do if (say, the) Governments of Russian or the China (or for that matter, India) were to support the assassins. Well a Balkan assassin did kill the Crown Prince (equivalent to the US President-Elect). The Russians, the Anglo Saxon Bloc and the French supported the assassins. What would happen if a Pakistani based terrorist group were to kill Prince Harry?

The Alliances Of WW1

On one side were the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by the Habsburgs (whose heir apparent was killed), The Ottoman Empire (out of Turkey), which could obviously not support assassins of royalty - and Germany.

Britain immediately started aggressive posturing against Turkey (the Ottomans). On July 29, 1914, Churchill, then Lord Of Admiralty, seized two Dreadnought ships being built for the Ottomans in British shipyards for the Turkish navy. The Germans needed allies and to woo the Ottomans, presented them with two ships. Britain, France and Russia declared war on Turkey on October 31, 1914.

Supporting the assassins was the alliance of Russia, France, Britain, (and later) America, and sundry other European countries. With this act of brinkmanship, they took the world through the agony of a huge war, the price of which is being paid even today. The Middle East problems, the rise of Communism all came out of the World War I.

© with respective copyright holders. Copyright details embedded in the links.

Country Business Model Of The West

The Myth Of Western Technology

In the last 50 years, after WW2, the rise of Japan, Korea and China in manufacturing and technology and the Indian software success, have taken away the sheen from the myth of western technological prowess. Post colonial revisions in history are eroding the euro-centric version of concocted history.

Failed Westernisations

For some time, the easy way out seemed to be 'copycat' westernisation. One of the first 'copycat' states was China. China, led by Sun Yat Sen, (original name Sun Wen and started calling himself Yat-sen; Chinese call him Sun Zhongshan), was the first major power which tried going down the western path. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria sounded the death knell of the Chinese Republic and Monarchy.

China - Mao & Sun

Sun Yat Sen decided to westernise and make China into a Republican democracy. Chinese were made to cut their queue - pleated hair braids. This diktat was enforced in 20 days time. Sun Yatsen and later Mao Ze Dong made the Chinese change their dress styles too. The effect of this westernisation - an enduring sense of being followers. The Chinese add a western name to their Chinese one - Bruce Lee, Jerry Yang, Tommy Tang, Tommy Chi. In Hong Kong and Macao, white tourists are royalty.

Ataturk's Turkey

Turkey - led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the next 'copycat' attempt at westernisation. After WW2, the victorious allied powers dismantled the Ottoman Empire. Turkey was reduced to a rump state. Atatürk (much like Hamid Karzai) was 'installed' by Western powers. Thereafter, Turkey has lurched from crisis to another. Post WW2, it has been mostly ruled by military dictatorships. From being a arbiter in Europe, it has become a supplicant, begging for entry into EU. Instead of the queue in China, - it was beards in Turkey. Atatürk enforced a new dress code on the hapless Turks - and the traditional fez was banned. Stop wearing the fez or else ...

Russia - Westernising Since Peter The Great

Peter the Great, (of the Naryshkin family) co-ruler of Russia, (along with Ivan of the Miloslavsky family) ruled from 1682-1725. For more than 40 years, his agenda was to create Russia in the Western mould. His travels to Germany, Britain, Sweden (before becoming a Tsar) shaped this agenda. One of the first things he did after becoming a Tsar was to ask his boyars (Russian nobility) to shave their beards! Catherine The Great continued this during her reign from 1762-1796. For the next 125 years, Russia vacillated between a medieval country and modern western country.

Now, the imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky takes pains to show how Russia is a western nation and should be democracy. Khodorkovsky, who at one time nursed political ambition, says, “…I’m convinced that Russia is a European country, it’s a country with democratic traditions …”

The Anglo Saxon Country Business Model

These Turkish and Chinese failures down the western garden path is to mistake the trees for the forest. There are five major features of the Anglo Saxon country model country model which these countries did not copy. Not that I am recommending that they be copied.

The Use Of Corporations

The use of the British East India Company was an eye opener for the rest of the West. After Vasco da Gama's discovery of trade route to India (for Europeans) round Africa, the British were the first of the block - with the English East India Company formed in the 1600. The Dutch started soon after with the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Co.) in 1602. The Danish Opperhoved initially started in 1616 and was reborn in 1732, as Asiatisk Kompagni. The Portuguese organised themselves as chartered company in 1628. The French came with the French East India Co. in 1664. The Swedes joined the rat race in 1731 with Svenska Ostindiska Companiet. The Italians came in as the Genoa East India companies. The Hanseatic League had its own operations.

In North America, the Hudson Bay Company (Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson in French) was given a Royal Charter in 1670 by Charles II. It practically owned Canada when the Dominion of Canada was formed - and is the oldest surviving company in North America. It monopoly ended only in 1870 - a few years after the Indian Independence War of 1857.

Anglo American Oil Company (subsidiary of Standard Oil) of Iran plotted the the assassination of Iran's Prime Minister Haj Ali Razmara and the overthrow of the Mohammed Mossadegh regime. Thereafter, it was the puppet regime of Shah Of Iran which terrorised Iran for 30 years that paved the way for return of Ayatollah Khomeini - and Iran's regression to medieval times.

In South America

In 1997, the CIA de-classified papers which admitted it planned and executed the coup in Guatemala - something that was known all along. This was done to protect the interests of the United Fruit Company - which owned large tracts of agricultural land in South America, used South American labour and shipped out fruit to America. Guatemalan farmers were run out of the market.

When Guatemala proposed land reforms so that Guatemalans could prosper in Guatemala, the Government of Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown. By the way, the term Banana republics came into being from the frequent intervention of the US into South American countries - and then ridiculing these countries for instability. To obtain US Governmental intervention, the United Fruit Company engaged services of Sigmund Frued's nephew as PR front man.

The last 100 years saw the use of these companies as a means of economic dominance. ITT was used in South America for installing and removing dictators "... ITT papers published by Jack Anderson in March 1972, and in the hearings on these papers conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a year later. This material establishes that offers of financial aid aimed at stopping Allende were made by ITT president Harold S. Geneen to the CIA in July 1970 and to Henry Kissinger's office in September" (Foreign Affairs; January 1974). Had Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger not responded to International Telephone & Telegraph and Pepsi-Cola by overthrowing Salvador Allende, Chile “would have found a less violent, more constitutional way out of its conundrum.” writes Stephen Kinzer in his book Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq.

To gain control of the Panama Canal Company, the operator of the Panama Canal, US engineered the secession of Panama from Colombia. Subsequent interventions to advance Western oil interests in Colombia and the Canal interests in Panama have reduced Governmental authority in these countries. Drug cartels, kidnapping and ransom now control the economy of these countries.

Nearer home, of course, the next ruler of Pakistan (military or otherwise) is decided by US - at least for now.

The Cornering Of Gold Supplies

For the last 150 years, the ABC countries (America, Australia, Britain, Canada) comprising the Anglo Saxon bloc (countries, colonies and companies) have controlled 90% of the world's gold production. Till (a large part of) India was a British Colony, they also controlled more than 50% of the above-the-ground gold reserves. This gave them absolute liberty to print depreciating currency and flood the world pieces of paper(called dollars and pounds), manipulate the world financial system and keep other populations poor and backward.

The Annihilation Of The Natives

They could capture these gold supply by the annihilation of native Red Indian population in America and Canada (Red Indians today are tourist attractions), killed the aborigines in Australia (and apologise now).

They re-invented slavery (in the 20th century again) and renamed it as apartheid which made native populations into slaves. They could, of course, truthfully claim that the great Anglo Saxon frontiersmen settled great, empty continents - in 'hostile conditions'.

The Creation Of Client Sates

Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, most of South America - have been reduced to the situation of client states. Uncle Sam knows best - or else! These states have become production centres for the USA, cheap labour will be given an 'opportunity' to serve the 'master' states.

All these states also have significant military presence of the Anglo Saxon Bloc -which is a matter of concern for India.

The Alternate Model

The western model of (natural and people) exploitation has runs its course. It is a dead end model. Parts of this model, have been used successfully by other countries - Japan with its keiretsus and Koreans with their chaebol. But obviously, this is a model that the West is an expert in - and what others copy, the West has finished with. Copycat models allow the west to also predict the next steps easily and taken competitive actions with certainty. The answer for others is to create another country model. The only country which has tried this is India.

Gandhiji, Nehru, Narasimha Rao have renewed the Indian model - which is non-exploitative, stable and can bring equity and growth. It is this model that before others, India (and Indians) should believe in - and beat a modern path for the world to follow.

© with respective copyright holders. Copyright details embedded in the links.

Rat Migration - And History Looks Different

The Loyal Black Rat

On February 1st, 2008, a report by an Australian researcher, traces the spread of the Indian rat. Indian rat migration, (this research shows) began 20,000 years - a corollary of human travel, and not natural migration. The route of this spread is through the Middle East - and later to Europe. This report focussed on the spread of the rat - and used modern DNA technology to track these migratory movements - with little or no historical comment.

The Black Rat (Rattus rattus) has had its role in history. But this new piece of research on the common rat adds to the re-write of history.

What ...? Rat migration! Re-write history?

Aryan Invasion & Migration Theory

This report on rat migration adds to the re-look, currently underway, of (Indian and world) history.

Max Mueller's theory, a German (orientalist, whatever they are) popularised a theory that originates the Indic civilisation from the Central Asia down to Iran - whether migration or invasion is possibly immaterial. Max Mueller's theory is questionable due to his "open" agenda of Christian propaganda and the British colonial state patronage.

As per Max Mueller, from Iran, the Aryans branched out to Europe and India. Hence, the similarities in languages. There are alternative historical scenarios being mapped out. Politically, Max Mueller's theory created a political divide in India that proposed Aryan conquest (by North India) of Dravidians(from South India). Unfortunately, our schools and history books still carry this suspect theory.

Recently, after racist attempts in the USA to push this theory, some NRI /PIO academics have carried out further research - which has made this theory look very flimsy.

From India To Babylon and Russia

In 1906-07, an Turkish archeologist , Theodore Makridi-Bey, started excavations at Hattusas (Boghazkoi), 150-200 kms from Ankara, in Cappadocia. He was joined by Hugo Winckler, a German archaeologist, specialising in Assyria. They unearthed more than 10,000 clay tablets which proved to be of tremendous interest.

Deciphered cuneiform tablets show worship of Varuna, Mitra and Indra - Gods worshipped by Indo Aryans. Rulers and Kings had names likes Shutruk (Shatrughna), Tushrutta meaning "of splendid chariots" (similar to Dashratha; Master of Ten Chariots) Rama-Sin (Assyrian Moon Good was Sin; in other words Ramachandra) Warad (Bharat) immediately before and after Hammurabi - the world's first law giver. The Elam culture had a language which is similar to Dravidian languages. The Mitannite, Kikkuli, wrote on how to manage chariot horses. Egyptian king, Amenhotep I, married a Mittanite princesses. Elamites were founders of the first kingdom in the Iranian geography.

The Amarna letters (written by Tushratta) have made historians sit up - and a reluctant re-interpretation of history is beginning.

Post colonial historical revision is proposing new theories. New archaelogical evidence supports history that shows Aryans moved from India to the Anatolian plains and established the Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian cultures of Elam, Mitannites, Kassites along modern Syria to Turkey. The Elamites, Mittanis, Hittites competed and traded with the Egyptians.

West Asian reluctance to give up slavery, made Indo Aryan rulers disengage politically from West Asia and Middle East. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three ‘desert religions’, gained the first converts from slaves, but continued with slavery till the 20th century. The 3 ‘desert religions’ instead of reforming slave societies, just transferred slave titles. Old slaves in turn became the new slave masters. Non-political Indian role in West Asia and Middle East continued to grow in terms of trade and learning. Babylon became a part of Alexander’s empire (and then the Roman Empire).

What Does This Mean

European historians have traditionally dated Aryan Indian civilisation at 1500-1800BC. The Indus valley was dated 1500-2000BC. At these dates, Hammurabi, ancient Babylon were already established. Greece was flourishing.

As for India - (following Max Mueller's theory), it was a desolate, backward civilisation, awaiting Aryan conquest. Aryan conquerors came, raped Indian women, pushed Dravidians to the South, and ruled India. India's progress was thus entirely due to the colonisers. This was history that was used by British colonisers and is accepted today.

And this colonial history is suspect - and being questioned.

Scientific Proof - Apart From Theory

A further bolster to the new theory is DNA and mitochondrial mapping done by various teams. These mapping and analyses (Sanghamitra Sahoo, et al) show that there has been no major DNA (Analabha Basu, et al) inputs into India. Some expert interpretation show that this data may require more and further research - as everything does all the time. More research done in India also throws up similar results regarding domestic DNA. This same research also shows that Indians share certain DNA markers with West /Middle East Asia - which supports Indian presence in Egypt, Mesopotamia (Syria, Iraq) and Anatolia (Turkey).

DNA research shows that a band of Indians went into Europe - now referred to as Roma Gypsies and share Indian genetic code. These Roma Gypsies have been living at the edge of European society - and have been severely persecuted through history. While Nazi and Croat brutalities against the Jews is known, that against the Roma Gypsies is swept under the carpet. European derisory references to Indian untouchability, overlook their own treatment of co-inhabitants for at least 1000 years is matter of shame for Europe.

Speculatively speaking

When enterprising Indian traders set out from India and slowly spread across the Middle East to Turkey – spreading their languages, religion and social systems, travelling in caravans of bullock-carts. And ships of the fabled land of Ophir, from South India, known as Oviyarnadu, came to West Asia, carrying ivory, peacocks, monkeys, sandalwood (says the Bible).

These loyal rats travelled with the interpid Indian traders, on their ships and bullock carts, is how I think these rats spread. This is yet another part of the jigsaw – in which the Amarna letters, the Boghazkoi tablets and the DNA sampling of Indians (and Indian rats) disprove the AMT /AIT theory. These incidents point to another version of history.