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Very positive in also educating other folks in the US army about the teachings of Hinduism which need not necessarily be religious in nature (like the specific part of Gita she mentions).
The United States Air Force secretly used a landfill site to dispose of the incinerated remains of hundreds of troops killed in action during the War on Terror, it has been revealed.
Figures made public yesterday show that partial remains of 274 fallen men and women were sent to a site in King George county, Virginia, between 2004 and 2008. Their families, who had given permission for the remains to be disposed of in a "dignified" manner, were never told of the practice.
The scale of the scandal, in The Washington Post a month ago, is far larger than previously thought. In addition to 976 identified body fragments, Pentagon records show that a further 1,762 unidentified battlefield remains, too badly damaged to be subjected to DNA analysis, also ended up in the landfill.
Officials say they have no plans to contact families of the troops to inform them of the fate of their loved ones. They say that establishing the identities of the affected men and women would be too expensive and time-consuming.
A letter from the Pentagon to Rush Holt, a Democratic congressman investigating the affair for a constituent whose husband was killed in Iraq, argues that determining whose remains went to landfill, "would require a massive effort" and involve examining the records of roughly 6,300 troops.
"What the hell?" Mr Holt responded in the Post. "We spent millions, tens of millions, to find any trace of soldiers killed, and they're concerned about a 'massive' effort to go back and pull out the files and find out how many soldiers were disrespected this way? They just don't want to ask questions or look very hard."A month ago, federal investigators published a highly critical report uncovering "gross mismanagement" of the morgue at Dover air base, the main port of entry for the bodies of fallen American soldiers returning to the US.
It found that body parts were left in freezers for months or even years. In one incident, the disfigured arm of a dead marine was removed with a hacksaw, without permission from his parents, so that he could fit into a coffin.
Whistleblowers who tried to bring attention to shoddy practices at the morgue were ignored or threatened with dismissal. The "pattern of failure" identified in the report extended to body parts of individual soldiers falling out of plastic bags, and getting mixed in with the remains of others. In a letter to a war widow uncovered by the Post, the mortuary director Trevor Dean said the practice had been common since at least 1996, when he started there.
That the scandal never came to public attention sooner is perhaps a natural by-product of efforts by successive Presidents to keep Dover air base from public scrutiny. During the first Gulf War, George HW Bush banned news coverage of the return of fallen troops there. The ban was continued by his son during the second Gulf War, and lifted by the Obama administration in 2009.
I would like some real investigation into this instead of "recently released documents" several decades hence when the memory of this is wiped out. I know people don't like me saying this, but while individual Americans are not, institutionally US is a racist country. To this end, I'd like to see how many of these marines were disposable blacks and Hispanics and other kids of color dying for US under the promise of a green card, and how many were precious all American white boys. Usually, US is very sensitive and deeply respectful of the precious ones, and I for one would be shocked if more than a token percentage of those who suffered this ignominy were precious. In fact, a real investigation might reveal that it was because of the sentiments of the kith & kin of the precious ones, that this tragedy even come to light.Philip wrote:And here's how Uncle Sam will; look after your remains when you die in action for the US of A!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 74456.html
US air force used secret landfill site to bury soldiers
Frozen arm of dead marine was taken off with hacksaw so his body would fit into his coffin
Institutionally, the Indian lefties are far more anti Hindus and Anti Indic than Americans are racist. India as an Institution is methodically cleansing the Indian culture in India by working with evangelical NGOs, while America is including the Indic culture as part of its fabric.CRamS wrote:I would like some real investigation into this instead of "recently released documents" several decades hence when the memory of this is wiped out. I know people don't like me saying this, but while individual Americans are not, institutionally US is a racist country. To this end, I'd like to see how many of these marines were disposable blacks and Hispanics and other kids of color dying for US under the promise of a green card, and how many were precious all American white boys. Usually, US is very sensitive and deeply respectful of the precious ones, and I for one would be shocked if more than a token percentage of those who suffered this ignominy were precious. In fact, a real investigation might reveal that it was because of the sentiments of the kith & kin of the precious ones, that this tragedy even come to light.Philip wrote:And here's how Uncle Sam will; look after your remains when you die in action for the US of A!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 74456.html
US air force used secret landfill site to bury soldiers
Frozen arm of dead marine was taken off with hacksaw so his body would fit into his coffin
Wow, duplee-city is aptly named.kumarn wrote:US promised India help if China attacked during 1971 Indo-Pak war
Despite its intense animosity towards India during the 1971 war, the US promised New Delhi "all out" support in case China carried out any unprovoked attack on India, recently declassified documents reveal 40 years after the historic war that created Bangladesh.
What does USA lose for such promises?kumarn wrote:US promised India help if China attacked during 1971 Indo-Pak war
Despite its intense animosity towards India during the 1971 war, the US promised New Delhi "all out" support in case China carried out any unprovoked attack on India, recently declassified documents reveal 40 years after the historic war that created Bangladesh.
If China had lost in '62, USA could have made the most of Taiwan.Even this pales, however, compared with the crowning irony that, all the while the Americans were advising us not to use air power, the CIA knew that the Chinese were in no position to launch any air operations from their bases in Tibet. No air base had a runway long enough, and the Chinese were woefully short of aviation fuel and other essential supplies. Moreover, the Chinese fighter aircraft were concentrated on their eastern coast. They had received a categorical assurance from the US that it “would not unleash Taiwan against them” (Henry Kissinger’s words) yet they wanted to take no chances.
I am completely in disagreement there. So called Western development is rooted in the Renaissance or the enlightenment period. The roots of Modern Civilization as in the West it's liberal ethos which India resonates with ease are born from that era. The enlightenment period was given a major boost after scores of translations of Indian texts and doctrines was carried out and the major Philosophers in the Europe poured over Upanishads, BG, Panini and so on. Read Voltaire, Schopenhauer and major enlightenment philosophers and how they openly credit India with their Renaissance. It's not a surprise that India takes to the liberal, pluralist ethos easily while for the West it was a hard fought affair. If Western thought comes closer to the Dharmic approach we should be welcoming that than considering it some civilizational challenge.Indians have mastered the art of navigating in western memes without losing touch with their own culture. This means that we can pose a threat to western culture/system on THEIR OWN TERMS, without becoming western.
Or he could be a Data Integrator Professional simply using his professional vocabulary to make his pointJarita wrote:^^^ You speak like a westerner - integrated all faiths
What does 'integration' has to do with westerner? Ever think about it that way? It is a valid theory. Institutionally even India is a Racist countryCRamS wrote:but while individual Americans are not, institutionally US is a racist country. To this end, I'd like to see how many of these marines were disposable blacks and Hispanics and other kids of color dying for US under the promise of a green card, and how many were precious all American white boys. Usually, US is very sensitive and deeply respectful of the precious ones, and I for one would be shocked if more than a token percentage of those who suffered this ignominy were precious. In fact, a real investigation might reveal that it was because of the sentiments of the kith & kin of the precious ones, that this tragedy even come to light.
Common now. How can we forget our problems with Backward and Scheduled Caste in and out of Politics? However your point might hold value upto certain degree if you wish to make it a racist one with demographics about Hispanics, African American etc serving the Military. If Institutionally US is a racist then why was Obama elected as POTUS ? Under special circumstances and requirements, illegals can be hired by the Military. )Moral is simple. Two Cats and a Monkey (Doe billi ke beech mei bunder). One should really think about the history as per how many times and why India has been invaded in the past?kumarn wrote:I had a tubelight moment reading the above news. I always thought that the Anglos-Saxons were inimical to us because they think we could be a competitor in the long term. So, they wanted us to be beaten by the Chinese and the pakis, once in a while to keep us in place.
I think they think of us as coolies and nothing more. They want us to be beaten badly by the chinese or the pakis, so that we remain in perpetual fear and run to the AS overlords for protection. Then they can use our vast human and natural resources and our land (bang in the center of the Indian Ocean region) to continue their world dominance for another few centuries. India allied in a subordinate position is the long term aim for these rascalas.
Answer is 'Lack of Unity' Despite a vast rich cultural heritage, how did we manage to let other civilizations screw us royally and exploit the region? You see we still have the same issue as we did thousands of years ago. We're still not as united (politically and regional) as we should be. If the trend continues, do not be surprised if all the maamas and chachaas of the world be drooling at bharat maata to exploit her resources. The rest of it is all a Grand Chess Game...only more modernized They always look at any event as an opportunity to further their interestkumarn wrote:I had a tubelight moment reading the above news. I always thought that the Anglos-Saxons were inimical to us because they think we could be a competitor in the long term. So, they wanted us to be beaten by the Chinese and the pakis, once in a while to keep us in place.
I think there could be another reason for that, which is the exact opposite of the above. I think they think of us as coolies and nothing more. They want us to be beaten badly by the chinese or the pakis, so that we remain in perpetual fear and run to the AS overlords for protection. Then they can use our vast human and natural resources and our land (bang in the center of the Indian Ocean region) to continue their world dominance for another few centuries. India allied in a subordinate position is the long term aim for these rascalas.
Absolutely right. Those who are unaware of that fact regurgitate the fact that Western civilization is a construct of Christian thought. Not all. The difference you mark out Eastern and Western Europe is precisely the difference between those that imbibed Indian thought. Modern Western liberal and pluralist thought is Indian in origin.Contact with India particularly and Asia generally enriched Western Europe materially (their god permitted destruction and looting as well as trade in non-Christian humans).
And yes Thoreau, Schopenhauer, Goethe were all familiar with the Upanishads, Goethe even praising Kalidasa. India has historically enriched the West, from Roman times to the transmission of mathematics, phonetics, grammar, metalurgy medicine.
"In conclusion, I want to say this: There are two separate but inter-dependent threats to dharma's survival. The first is for what I coined the term Hinduphobia (Doniger, etc stuff). The second is for what I have coined the term digestion. My focus henceforth will be on the second, for it is far more insidious because most of our gurus and lay persons are rejoicing that we have "arrived on the world stage". That arrival is great, but is it arrival as ourselves, or as parts being disassembled and digested into the DNA of the west? This is what most people here do not yet understand. hence the celebration over Lisa Miller, Phil Goldberg's book and many others.harbans wrote:I am completely in disagreement there. So called Western development is rooted in the Renaissance or the enlightenment period. The roots of Modern Civilization as in the West it's liberal ethos which India resonates with ease are born from that era. The enlightenment period was given a major boost after scores of translations of Indian texts and doctrines was carried out and the major Philosophers in the Europe poured over Upanishads, BG, Panini and so on. Read Voltaire, Schopenhauer and major enlightenment philosophers and how they openly credit India with their Renaissance. It's not a surprise that India takes to the liberal, pluralist ethos easily while for the West it was a hard fought affair. If Western thought comes closer to the Dharmic approach we should be welcoming that than considering it some civilizational challenge.Indians have mastered the art of navigating in western memes without losing touch with their own culture. This means that we can pose a threat to western culture/system on THEIR OWN TERMS, without becoming western.
The western enlightenment is a taqiya and is shallow. Their intellectual revolution(Renaissance,Modern Civilization ) is less than 250 year old and they have not changed their basic books and knowledge system from earlier centuries.Sushupti wrote:
I am completely in disagreement there. So called Western development is rooted in the Renaissance or the enlightenment period. The roots of Modern Civilization as in the West it's liberal ethos which India resonates with ease are born from that era. The enlightenment period was given a major boost after scores of translations of Indian texts and doctrines was carried out and the major Philosophers in the Europe poured over Upanishads, BG, Panini and so on. Read Voltaire, Schopenhauer and major enlightenment philosophers and how they openly credit India with their Renaissance. It's not a surprise that India takes to the liberal, pluralist ethos easily while for the West it was a hard fought affair. If Western thought comes closer to the Dharmic approach we should be welcoming that than considering it some civilizational challenge.
"In conclusion, I want to say this: There are two separate but inter-dependent threats to dharma's survival. The first is for what I coined the term Hinduphobia (Doniger, etc stuff). The second is for what I have coined the term digestion. My focus henceforth will be on the second, for it is far more insidious because most of our gurus and lay persons are rejoicing that we have "arrived on the world stage". That arrival is great, but is it arrival as ourselves, or as parts being disassembled and digested into the DNA of the west? This is what most people here do not yet understand. hence the celebration over Lisa Miller, Phil Goldberg's book and many others.
The critical breakthrough required is supplied by BD - to understand what is not compatible and hence choices is forced. You cannot be a history-centric Judeo-Christian and "also" practice dharma without being a digesting party. "
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RajivMalh ... ssage/1789
Rajiv wrote this while replying to Phil Goldberg of "American Veda" fame.
"None of this means that your work is intentionally "dangerous" - but its incompleteness in appreciating the process at work causes people to celebrate the digestion as a sort of merger of equals which it is not. The tiger digesting the deer remains the tiger, in fact stronger, but the deer turns into a pile of shit. This has happened to many civilizations that were also similarly "assimilated" into Christianity and the west - but they now live in museums..."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RajivMalh ... ssage/1781
I thought it was the other way around.. institutionally it is not, but people largely are! Freudian 's explanatory principles apply in many instances and that be held as proof for this. It happens to many in maasa, especially when one has just immigrated and trying to learn them.CRamS wrote: institutionally US is a racist country. .
Well, it needs to be better articulated. No doubt individuals make up the collective institution, and so they are related. At an instituional level, just passing a few egalitarian laws doesn't cut it. In both US & India, can you deny that despite laws, there is no racial hatred in the former, and caste hatred in the latter?SaiK wrote:I thought it was the other way around.. institutionally it is not, but people largely are!.CRamS wrote: institutionally US is a racist country. .
Please update me on whether there is any substance to this or some PR BS. Reason being that very first few seconds, there is this SDRE woman whining about how women are treated in India. Give me a break, and so join the US military as redemption? Once again, its her personal choice, I have no issue with it,but this has nothing to do with advancing India US relations which as I said in my previous post is dominated by US's white Christian nationalist streak. Just because they allow one Hindu woman chaplain in US military, it might make US look good, but nothing strategic nor substantial from Indo-US relations POV.
Hain ji? Do you mean to say that the Deracination thread is a similie for trash posts?devesh wrote:Manny, your post has an esteemed position to occupy in the Deracination thread.
"We believe that there are new operational concepts that link the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, we want to talk about the manifestations of that, both in terms of maritime security and other aspects of commerce and security interactions and we would talk about developments among all the key countries in the Asia Pacific region," Campbell {Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell} said.
"But our talks wouldn't end there. There would also be talks on global issues. I am very excited about these developments and I think they have the potential to advance trust and understanding among all three capitals," he said, while making it clear that the idea that the dialogue is aimed at containment of China "is simply preposterous on its face."
Campbell said the future prospects of India-US-Japan dialogue depends on progress of Monday's meeting.
"Well, it has taken us some time to set up this meeting. I think, we all will see how this one goes. I think, we will make our assessment after that. We certainly would be open to more frequent discussions, but all parties would have to be comfortable with that. And I think, what we are trying to do is to take step at a time and just see how this first set of interactions goes," he said.
The top American diplomat said the United States has long supported India's desire to play a larger role in the Asia Pacific region. "So the impetus of the Look East strategy on the part of India is something that we warmly endorse and support," he said.