On the evening of November 26th, Bombay – one of the world’s most important financial cities – was rocked by violence. The coordinated attacks occurred in at least seven locations starting around 9:30 PM. So far, 160 people are confirmed dead. A little know group calling itself the “Deccan Mujahideen” is claiming responsibility for the attacks.

On a personal level, these attacks resonated with me. During a visit to Bombay in 2006, I had spent some time at two of the locations targeted this week. These spots include the lobby of the famed Taj Mahal Hotel (owned by the Tata Group) which is a frequent meeting area for ex-pats living in the city, and Leopold’s Cafe along Colaba’s chaotic thruway made famous by author Gregory David Roberts in his best selling novel Shantaram.

A Farewell Dinner to Remember

The day after the incident, Unilever announced that its current CEO, its incoming CEO and a number of senior executives from its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever were in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel when it came under attack. The executives were attending a farewell dinner for the company’s outgoing CEO, Patrick Cescau, when the terrorists opened fire in the lobby and restaurant. All representative from Unilever safely escaped the attackers, according to a press release on the company’s website.

A Growing Hotbed of Political and Religious Extremism

This latest incident in Bombay follows five bomb blasts on September 13th, 2008 in a shopping area of New Delhi regularly frequented by western tourists and ex-pats. And on May 13, 2008, seven bombs ripped through the centuries-old Indian city of Jaipur (the “pink city”) killing 60 people in a jewelry market on the steps of a Hindu temple. The spot is a popular tourist destination. Islamic fundamentalist groups have claimed responsibility for all three of these incidences in 2008.

Terrorism in India has been in the rise in recent years and it is coming from a multitude of sources. Probably the most widely documented threat involves allegations by the Indian government, journalists and political scientists that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (or the ISI), is actively playing a direct role these attacks. Recently, both the US and Afghanistan have also publicly accused the ISI of carrying out terrorist acts in Afghanistan.

Moreover, tensions still exist between the Indian government in Delhi and ongoing separatist movements in the northeast region of the country. For example, in the Indian state of Manipur, militants with the People’s Liberation Army clashed with Indian security forces during much of the 1990s. In the state of Assam, the United Liberation Front of Assam has actively clashed with the government for the past four decades. The primary goal of these groups is to establish independent states governed by the local tribal populations.

In addition to these groups, the well document conflict in Kashmir has gone on for the last thirty years pitting Hindus against Muslims, the Indian army against the Pakistani army, along the famed “line of control.” Perhaps most worrisome for government officials, however, is the rise of the Naxalite movement, an informal name given to Maoist rebels which originated in the state of West Bengal and which is rapidly spreading through rural areas along the eastern side of the country.

“This is Sad”

Three weeks ago I received an email from a good friend. Ritu is a former colleague of mine from when I lived and worked in India back in 1998. Believe me when I tell you that she is not someone who is not easily frightened or intimidated. But the escalating violence in 2008 has even put her a little on edge. She wrote to me on October 30: “Things have become so insecure with bomb blasts happening every month. For the first time I have started feeling a little insecure while traveling on trains, visiting shopping centres and sitting in railway stations. It’s so sad.”

The Next Front on the “War on Terror”

Make no mistake; India is the world’s next battleground in the so-called “War on Terror.” For years, my Indian friends have been pointing out to me that they, too, have been under siege by religious fundamentalism and political radicalism. The government of India has repeatedly requested formal diplomatic support from the US and Europe in combating this growing insurgency and for years these requests have fallen on deaf ears by the international community.

Now is the time for Western governments to wake up and begin supporting the world’s largest democracy and the world’s second most populated Muslim country in their campaign to uproot religious and political extremism from within. India is one country the global business community cannot afford to tip in the wrong direction.

Like a worn out car sent south of the border for reuse as a taxi cab, Bush Administration insiders capitalize on their access to anyone with a checkbook. An exposé by the Sunday Times of London (TimesOnline) tells the story in print and on camera.

Ken Silverstein, writer and contributer to Harpers magazine and author of Turkmeniscam: How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship, turned me on to this piece that I frankly overlooked when it broke back in July of this year. Admittedly, this is an old tale as news goes. But like loose change in the folds of the sofa, its fun to shake off the lint and have a go of it.

In a nutshell, a reporter from the Sunday Times teamed up with Eric Dos, whose full name is Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov. Dos told Steven Payne, that he was representing another Kazakhstani political figure who was looking to meet the top people in the US government.

Dos had good reason for believing that Payne could make it happen. Payne has accompanied Bush and Cheney on foreign trips to the Middle East and Asia, and he sits on the influential advisory council to the Department of Homeland Security. Payne is also president of a lobbying company, Worldwide Strategic Partners (WSP), which specialises in connecting business and political interests with the US government.

Akayev, who is in exile in Moscow after being ousted from power three years ago in a people’s revolt, was seeking an endorsement from senior US figures in order to help rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the world, Dos told Payne.

For those of us who have lost any sense of surprise at the depths of political depravity within the White House, the direction that this story goes will come as no surprise. Suffice it to say that Payne was willing, if not eager, to represent the interests of a deposed Kazakhstani dictator.

For an adventure in political corruption, read and view the following items in sequence:

• The Sunday Times, July 13, 2008 “Stephen Payne: a hotshot lobbyist who can get you into White House”

This is the piece published in the Sunday Times back in July that exposed the sordid mess.

• A Steven Payne Scrapbook: Pics with the President and Other Pals

In addition, the Times collected a number of photographs of Mr. Payne and George W. Bush working on Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch.

• Brochure: Worldwide Strategic Partners – Steven Payne’s lobbying shop

Pay particular attention to page 3, which describes some of Mr. Payne’s qualifications and his intimate relationship to the Bush White House.

• White House Responds to Lobbyist Access-for-Donations Report

Here White House Press Secretary Dana Perino makes light of the relationship between Steven Payne and President Bush, referring to the “hundreds of volunteers” working with the Administration.

The Bush Administration is all but over in the next few weeks and I am beginning to worry. With something resembling ethical government fast approaching, I may have to turn to blogging about kittens or some such thing. Geeesh.

Western movies and an occasional outcry about the humanitarian crisis seems to be the only attention paid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The horrific situation in that remote country deserves much more attention, concern and action by the rest of the world.

The human rights situation in Congo as “a cause for grave concern,” according to a report issued by the office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the Security Council. Ban’s report accuses rebels and people on the side of the government, which could undermine Security Council confidence in Congolese President Joseph Kabila. Read more »

A coalition of legal and human rights groups led by the Constitution Project, a Washington DC think tank, has issued recommendations to the Obama Administration on reforming the immoral and largely illegal practices of the Bush Administration and its “War on Terrorists.”

The paper, “Liberty and Security: Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress” “reflects the ongoing, collaborative efforts of a coalition of more than 25 leading organizations and 75 individuals to provide policymakers with a framework for addressing liberty and security issues. The catalogue includes recommendations drawn from the shared knowledge and experience of a broad coalition of groups devoted to exploring the intersection of civil liberties and national security,” according to one of its lead contributors, Becky Monroe, Policy Counsel at the Constitution Project.

The paper specifically identifies 62 items for congressional action and 118 items for executive action. Its 20 chapters cover five broad issue areas: (1) detention, interrogation, and trials, (2) immigration and national security, (3) secrecy (4) separation of powers, and (5) charities and foundations.

The importance of these recommended reforms cannot be overstated. The paper, which can be viewed at www.2009transition.org/libertyandsecurity describes in sometimes agonizing detail the degree in which U.S. government officials have engaged in illegal activities in the name of national security. The paper covers a wide range of topics including torture, kidnapping, denial of due process, incarcerating innocent individuals, ethnic and religious discrimination, and indiscriminate and arbitrary detention of individuals without trial without evidence to justify detention. The list goes on at length.

As an example of the gross disregard for the rule of law, competent investigative techniques and human rights, the paper notes the following example of the problem:

For nearly two years, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, along with another friend from Tipton, Rhuhel Ahmed, consistently and vehemently denied any involvement in any terrorist activity. However, under extreme duress caused by hundreds of hours of interrogation, long periods of isolation, and physical and psychological abuse, Shafiq, Asif, and Rhuhel confessed to having been in a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and to have appeared in a videotape with Osama bin Laden in August 2000. Shafiq explained that he had been held in complete isolation for two long periods-many months–when an interrogator showed him the video of bin Laden, and he agreed that he was one of the people in it. “I could not bear another day of isolation, let alone the prospect of another year,” he said.[viii] The British intelligence agency MI5 undertook an investigation to determine the veracity of the men’s Guantanamo confessions. It took the agency less than 24 hours to determine definitively that “the men had been in England when the video was shot, and during the time they were supposed to have been in Al Qaeda training camps.”

The paper sets forth concrete recommendations for the President and Congress to consider in the coming months. What should be added to that list is the prosecution of the war criminals within the Administration, at the CIA and Justice Department and within the Department of Homeland Security for the gross violation of U.S. and International law and the fundamental disregard for human rights. Only then can America begin to restore its reputation in the world.