Editor,
Apropos the letter by TK Nandanan, “Iran must exercise restraint” (ST Jan 8, 2020), I am aghast at the use of the word ‘must’ in the caption. Only God uses the word “must” in his commandments in any religion. Christopher Columbus discovered by default the Red Indians leaving them in four centuries to exit from the world map, luckily leaving the Black Indians untouched save for a short spell of British rule, which in few cases helped us a lot. In 1729 Lord William Bentinck abolished Sati, a ritual of the widow throwing herself in her husband’s funeral pyre. Sadly the modern Supreme Court does not seem to have the power to abolish a tradition like Sabaramila. On August 6, 1944, Robert Jopponheimer wept and could never sleep in peace. His hard work of the Little Boy and the Fat Man, mathematics of Right Wing Albert Einstein sold to Robert in 1940s at the height of Hitler’s victories, had killed 2 lakh Japanese while the survivors continued to have genetic disorders until the end of the 20th century.
The Jews are experts in trade and warfare. To escape the Mosaic Law, the rich money-lending Jews left Israel to live on the European Mediterranean Coast. There, they extracted exorbitant interest from the non –Jews. Shakespeare’s, ‘Merchant of Venice’ where Shylock the Jewish money-lender wanted the pound of flesh of Antonio, the borrower when he could not repay his debt, explains this. They are cruel and ruthless and when Germany had to obey the humiliating treaty of Versailles at a time when Hitler was a mere corporal, blinded in one eye in World War I, the Jews rejoiced. Hitler filled with vengeance retaliated to the extent of final liquidation of the Jews. Thus Hitler’s excesses do need a debate, for had there been no right wing in Palestine, peace would have prevailed with the sons of Ishmael never being disturbed.
The carpet bombings and chemical warfare in North Vietnam are stark reminders of American brutality. Saddam Hussain was hunted down like a dog on the false pretext of him having nuclear arsenal builds ups, which was a total lie. The International body did nothing. They also left the Kurds and Syrians to the mercy of ISIS and President Erdogan. Poor people became homeless with starvation hitting the children hard and them dying in large numbers.
The Americans claimed to have got their man, Osama Bin Laden. But with no medical proof, the alleged body was simply dumped into the sea to be free from exhumation as sharks and whales abound to finish off the flesh. The Americans are owners of enriched uranium but will not let others have it. This shows the degree of cowardice!
The beginning of 2020 had one lesson to be learnt by the countries of the world. Forget spending on tanks, on rifles or jets and forget recruitment of soldiers, 2020 proves they simply cost the exchequer of a country. Today no one respects the ‘No First Use’ agreement. When the time comes countries with nuclear capability such as North Korea will use bombs and the United Nations vanishes and is unable to judge
Buying a dozen drones at Rs 50,000 each would not require even a coward. Using Artificial Intelligence propelled drones, top army generals can be hit. The International body was silent yet again. So now if you possess drones everything works. We miss the Kohima Siege of Scots and Japanese drawing water from the same stream during the day and playing lawn tennis at night. The net was at the plateau over the hills and the balls were grenades hit by Bren guns. When all was over they hugged each other to return to home sweet home.
Yours etc.,
W.Passah
Ex Hod Electronics
St Edmunds College
The Australian wildfires,
Editor
An absolutely astonishing set of wild fires has been destroying Australia since the fire season began in late July. 27 people have died nationwide, and in the state of New South Wales alone, more than 2000 homes have been destroyed. State and federal authorities are struggling to contain the massive blazes, even with fire-fighting assistance from other countries including the United States. The situation is exacerbated by persistent heat and drought, and many point to climate change as a factor making natural disaster go from bad to worse. It may be noted that there have been fires in every Australian state, but New South Wales has been hardest hit.
Fire season in Australia is always dangerous. Fires have torn through bush land, wooded areas, and national parks like the Blue Mountains. Some of Australia’s largest cities have also been affected including Melbourne and Sydney. The fires have scorched an area twice the size of the US State of Maryland. Earlier in December, the smoke was so bad in Sydney that air quality measured 11 times the ‘hazardous’ level. So far, almost 15 million acres of land have burned. As per a conservative estimate, about half a billion animals have been affected by the fires across NSW, with millions likely dead. Strong winds have also made the fires and smoke spread more rapidly. Experts say climate change has worsened the scope and impact of natural disasters like fires and floods. Weather conditions are growing more extreme, and for years, the fires have been starting earlier in the season and spreading with greater intensity.
Last year climate was both the hottest and driest on record for Australia. Like the rest of the world, Australia’s temperatures are climbing to ever higher records as the climate warms, which boosts evaporation and strengthens droughts in situations like this. Rainfall trends are less clear, but declines have been partly attributed to climate change for at least some regions. Although Australia’s climate is closely linked to the El Nino Southern Oscillation in the Pacific Ocean, that particular seesaw has been in a neutral state. There is another similar oscillation in the Indian ocean, however, called the Indian Ocean Dipole, which has been in a strongly positive phase recently. That means that waters in the western Indian Ocean have been warmer than average, with cooler temperatures to the east. This has the effect of pushing rainy weather away from Australia. And in the last few months an unusual pattern in the Antarctic stratosphere has weakened the pole-circling winds. That has also helped produce clear skies in Australia as well as strong westerly winds blowing dry air seaward over Victoria and New South Wales-stoking the fires.
There are more than 2,000 fire-fighters working on the ground in NSW alone, and more support is on the way-the US, Canada and New Zealand have sent additional fire-fighters to help. The US is planning to send at least another 100 fire-fighters to join 159 already in the country battling the wildfires. The federal government has also sent in military assistance like army personnel, air force aircraft and navy cruisers for fire-fighting, evacuation, search and rescue and clean-up efforts.
It is worth noting that Kylie Jenner, an American media personality and the founder and owner of a cosmetic company has joined the list of stars contributing to the Australia wild fire relief efforts. She has donated one million dollar to local fire-fighting efforts. Sadly, Australia is burning and as a result of this millions of animals are being perished in the wildfires. Australia alone cannot douse the massive fire. So let us also join the efforts directly or indirectly in containing the wildfires.
Yours etc.,
TK Nandanan,
Via email