Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Cook Stove –a new remedy for eradication of poverty in Asia and Africa

Before the discovery of crude, petroleum and LPG, people were having cooked food. They used wood, dung, coal etc. for cooking food. For centuries, all over the world -including US and Europe, people used above mentioned items for their cooking fire. Glaciers were there, Antarctic and Arctic ice were there throughout these period and survived. Why suddenly uproar against the use of twigs, wood and dung in the rural Asia and Africa for their cooking purposes? Is it the emission from the Chulas’ causes the climate change? It is very much clear that there is some vested interest in promoting such arguments. The cookstove theory is more a promotional item by the petroleum company who benefit from it by two ways. One, they can divert the focus of the climate change discussion from their petroleum industry and put it on poor households who struggles to meet both ends of their life. Second, is the promotion of their own product, the COOKSTOVE. People of India have come across different kinds of stoves. But, suddenly this cookstove –debate encouraged me to do a small research on this aspect. Finding was interesting. The promotional agencies were very much linked. One article on cookstove appeared in the Indian financial newspaper MINT (hybrid of the Wall Street Journal with an Indian publishing house) in April clearly mentioned about the details of the initiatives. I am quoting the wordings of it.

Envirofit India Pvt. Ltd—founded by Shell Foundation, the UK, part of the Shell Group, and Envirofit International, a US-based not-for-profit with its research base in Colorado State University—is determined to right the problem of indoor air pollution.

Few decades back, a government agency in India called ANERT popularized a smoke less Chula and promoted through the government channels as well as through NGOs. This initiative gathered national award (3 times) for its best performance and functionality. Ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) accepted its function asked ANERT to promote this initiative. ANERT has selected 350 villages as "smoke free villages' and this programme is being implemented on whole village approach. ANERT has installed 8,17,352 improved chulhas in Kerala till now including community chulhas for schools and aganwadies. Much before the oil companies searching for such solution, the common people started search for advanced as well as appropriate technology for supporting their life and environment.

Another area which I would like to touch is the popularization of the COOKSTOVE programme. During the last one week, all media channels carried at least one article on the alarm bell of SOOT and its effects on environment degradation. By reiterating the importance of ‘soot’, all the articles are indirectly saying the main cause of global warming and climate change is with the rural poor in Asia and Africa. Who found it or who got such an revelation suddenly? One think tank agency in India started publishing research article on cooking practices and cookstoves... interesting!!!. For them, it is more urgent to popularise cookstove than arguing for some cap on carbon emission by motor vehicles. Delhi roads are chocked with cars and SUVs and vehicle manufacturers are the only segment made huge profit during the recession period. Who will touch them, who are funding the earth summits and all big environment campaigns? So, it is easy to turn against the rural poor of Asia and Africa. They really forgot the fact, their forefathers also cooked food in the same way they these poor people do today. Because of some colonial advantages, they think that they become rulers and others are servants.

Now, during the days of Copenhagen summit, the media houses and corporate world successfully managed to turn the issue into their way and also succeeded in making business out of it. They way they project the issue of soot, they successfully managed to hide the problems created by the carbon emission generated by transport, energy and industrial sectors. Thankfully, the heading figures of our government will appreciate the colonial legacies and accept the term and conditions of their former colonial masters. They will, without any resistance, accept to cut down the carbon emission according to others demands, then they will ask their own people to remove their old chulas and forget about food. The way the price increase of essential commodities going, it is easy for the poor to shut down their kitchens quietly.... or your government will demand to do so.

(These are the emission from my mind. While writing, I never bothered about the language and grammar. Please accept my sincere apology)

Saturday, 21 November 2009

25 Years of Silent Valley

Butterflies (Photo Credit -Vinod Kumar T.G.)

Orchid in the Valley (Photo Credit -Vinod Kumar T.G.)

An earth-worm (Photo Credit -Vinod Kumar T.G.)



Entry point to the Valley (Photo Credit -Vinod Kumar T.G.)


25 Years of Silent Valley: People united shall always be victorious


What is the greatest contribution of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, former prime minister of India? Those who hates her will immediately tells you, it is her declaration of 'Emergency' and her decision for ‘Operation Blue Star’ and those who appreciate her political sharpness and courage will consider her decision for Pokran 1 and on Indo-Pak war and freedom of Bangladesh as her major achievement. All these will remain as the living monument of her contributions but the most significant and beautiful monument for her lying in the south-western side of the country.


Those who love the nature and understand the importance of protecting environment will consider her decision to protect ‘Silent Valley’ forests will be the greatest monument for her life. It was her interference which protected the untouched ever-green forest in Kerala from greedy construction lobby and its state run electricity board. May be, one of her last decision which signed just before her death but it is enough to keep her memory among people who love nature and life.

Success of the silent valley movement provided enough confidence to the environmentalists in the country and during the last 25 years, it enabled to provide different dimensions to eco-politics in India. The way it created awareness on environmental issues in Kerala society was tremendous and the spark of that movement is still carried by the young generation in all discussions and debates regarding developmental issues.
Save Silent Valley Movement was the first inclusive ecological movement occurred in Kerala. An article written by Professor M. K. Prasad in one Malayalam periodical in 1979 June triggered a number of questions towards the Kerala civil society on the importance of sustainable development and environment protection. In fact, his article created enough space for debates and discussions on environmentalism across Kerala and was successful to draw support from people like academics, literary figures, journalists, teaching community and some segment of political institutions. By first quarter of 1980s, Save Silent Valley Movement attracted national and international attention and reached in the ears of then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Mrs. Gandhi was inspired by her participation in UN Environmental Summit in 1972 at Stockholm organised by UNEP. This summit was successful to create a clear perspective on environmental issues among the participants and especially in Mrs. Gandhi. To address the issues discussed in the summit, Mrs. Gandhi asked National Committee for Environmental Planning and Conservation (NCPCE) to identify the ever-green forests in the Western Gats, which should be protected by the government. The committee headed by environmentalist Zafar Fatehally started its work from Kudremukh in Karnataka but failed to find such ever-green forest there because by the time, the mining industry did devastating damage to the forest areas there. They extended their exploration towards south and found and convinced that this place should be protected by the government. The committee was very much aware about the Kerala Electricity Board’s plan for dam construction and realised the implications of it. So, in their report, they detailed about the importance of this region, what precautions should be taken to protect this place and how it should be implemented. In fact, this report triggered Prof. M.K. Prasad to look closely into Silent Valley and it created a new awareness among the people.


On 15 November 1984, the Government of India through an official order brought Silent Valley region under National Park status. This was this success story of Silent Valley but its real success lies in the awareness campaign it triggered. The movement was successful in generating awareness in environmentalism among the people and enabled them to approach development issues through different dimensions of sustainable development. The success of Silent Valley movement carried the message of environmentalism but it is doubtful whether it reached in proper way to the Indian civil society and created right kind of awareness. After 25 years of Silent Valley, success stories are quiet less and failed stories of peoples’ effort to protect environment and livelihood are more. Even Silent Valley is not completely out from danger. Kerala State Electricity Board and government of Kerala is still keen to push their agenda and their new ‘Patrakadavu’ project is hanging like the sword of Damocles over the Silent Valley. Still, we all lives with hope, and it is very clear that ‘the people united shall always be victories’. If people are victorious, the valley will remain as the best monument for Indira Gandhi.
(My sincere thanks to my friend Vinodan for allowing me to use his photographs)

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

CRISIS in HONDURAS

The Recent Crisis in Honduras


On Sunday morning of 28 June2009, Latin America and the world woke up with the news of coup d’état in Honduras. The Central and South American nightmare of military regime replacing the elected democracy has come back to haunt the people. Elected President of Honduras, Jose Manuel Zeyala Rosales, was detained by the military and kept him in an Air Force base and later deported to Costa Rica. Zeyala was replaced by an interim government headed by Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Congress. While the international community stood behind the President Zelaya demanding his reinstatement, the three key constitutional institutions in Honduras; the Congress, the Judiciary and the military stood behind the interim government. They later argued that if Zelaya returns to the country, the government has the right to prosecute him for violating the constitution.

Protest by people of Honduras, both pro and anti Zelaya, become regular in the capital city, Tegucigalpa. Zelaya’s attempt to return to Honduras faced an abrupt end with the interim government scrapping Zelaya’s bid to land in Tegucigalpa airport. The stalemate is continuing for a month now with the efforts of the international community has not succeeded in the face of an adamant Honduran government.

Why was there a coup d’état?

Manuel Zelaya won the presidential election of 2005 November from Liberal Party of Honduras (Patrido Liberal de Honduras –PLH) by defeating Profirio Lobo of Nationalist Party (Partido Nacional de Honduras -PNH) and began his four year term in January 2006. By supporting the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States (US), he continued the cordial relationship with their traditional ally.

Half way through his tenure, his political perspective has witnessed a shift. He moved more close to the left leadership in Latin America, i.e., Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales. It was begun with the membership of Petrocaribe, an oil subsidy initiative of Venezuela that was ratified by the Honduran Congress on 13 March 2008. His left turn was reiterated when he took Honduras to the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) –an organisation formed by Hugo Chavez as an alternative to counter the US plan for the Free Trade Area of the Americas –on August 2008. Zelaya’s political turn sent mixed signals to the ruling political party as well as to the constitutional institutions which always preferred to be with the US.

Immediate reason for the coup d’état is closely associated with two incidents. President Zelaya proposed a non-binding referendum which was intended to convene a Constitutional Assembly to rewrite the present constitution. This proposal was not welcome by his own party and also by the key constitutional institutions. Based on the request of the Congress, the Honduras’ Supreme Court intervened in the issue and ruled it illegal. President Zelaya persuaded the cause of referendum hoping that the people will take his attempt seriously and support him.

Trigger for the coup was the dismissal of the highest military command, General Romeo Vasquez, from the position on 24 June. General Vazquez kept the material for the referendum under tight military control. He refused to cooperate with the plans of the President of the country, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the army, by arguing that the scheduled referendum was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. Next day, 25 June, the Supreme Court of Honduras intervened in the issue, supporting General Vazquez’s position and ruled out his firing as ‘unconstitutional’. Court’s verdict created divided responses. The supporters of Zelaya moved into the streets expressing their support for the President. Next two days were calm and it seems now that it was a lull before the storm. On the early hours of 28 June (Sunday) morning, armed soldiers appeared in the President’s bedroom and captured him. They took him to a nearby air force base and flown to the neighbouring Costa Rica.

Thereafter, the military took positions in the strategic locations in Tegucigalpa. The military planes and helicopters encircle the city. They arrested the ambassadors from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua along with Honduran Foreign Minister, Patricia Rodas. They issued arrest warrants for the leaders of Honduran social organisations as well and took control of the communication channels; Canal 8 – the public television channel, terminated services of telephones, internet and electricity after the coup. Honduran Congress immediately formed an interim government under the leadership of Roberto Micheletti. He declared curfew in the country to curtail the protests and mobilisations.

Responses on the coup d’état

International community immediately responded to the coup d’état in the Honduras. United Nation passed a resolution on 30th June calling “firmly and categorically on all states to recognize no government other than that” of Zelaya. The urgent meeting convened to discuss the crisis in Honduras by the Organisation of American States (OAS) imposed a 72 hours deadline to reinstate President Zelaya in power. OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza described the situation as “an old fashioned coup[i]”. On the completion of 72 hours deadline, the OAS decided to drop Honduras from its basic membership[ii]. The most embarrassing for the supporters of the coup, was the response from teh US government. On 28 June, Barack Obama, the US President stated that he believed “that the coup was not legal and the President Zelaya remains the democratically elected President there”[iii], and stressed that it “would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition rather than democratic elections”[iv]. The ALBA group; the Rio Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries stood behind Zelaya, pressurising the interim government to complete his tenure. Though, almost all Latin American countries and regional organisations turned against the military takeover, the interim government of Honduras refused to succumb to the international pressure. After dropping Honduras from the member status of OAS, Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza requested the Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias, the President of Costa Rica, to mediate the talks between the interim government and President Zelaya to resolve the crisis.

The actions of the Honduran Constitutional Institutions and the interim government, however, were justified by some sections. Some US based think-tank organisations openly defended it, stating that, “this was not a military coup. The military blocked an attempted civilian coup by Manuel Zelaya”[v]. They argued that through the non-binding referendum, Zelaya was ultimately aiming to amend the existing constitution allow him to contest again in the Presidential election, which was strictly prohibited by the existing constitution. In this regard Zelaya is following the footsteps of Chavez. The proposed referendum was an effort directed by the Venezuelan leader to expand his leftist ideology into Central America, critics stated. Some of the political decisions of Zelaya, such as signing with Petrocarib, joining ALBA, increasing minimum wage by 60 per cent and new approach to control drug trafficking, were placed as evidence taking away Honduras from the traditional ally (US) to the leftist camp.

The media too took a lenient view of the coup. Interestingly, they pressurised the US President to change his position in this issue[vi]. Retired US diplomats like George Landau, political analyst of American Enterprise Institute Roger Noriega, Roberto Bottome of Veneconomia –a political, economic and social analytical group from Caracas etc., come out with critical statements against the referendum attempt[vii]. They explicitly supported the coup and the formation of interim government. Washington Post, one of the most influential US publications challenged the position of Barack Obama and the State Department. Alvaro Vargas Llosa’s article in Washington Post justified the Honduran military, saying that it was Zelaya who persuaded the referendum by challenging court orders and tried to snatch the ballots from military and started distributing. Since, he tried to act against the ruling of the Supreme Court; the military has no other option rather to expel the President[viii]. Washington Post states that after removing the President, the military handed over the responsibility to the Congress. The Congress appointed the head of the legislative body, Roberto Micheletti, as interim President to continue the scheduled election process and so as the democratic system. The pro-Chavez President, who was attempting follow the Chavezian approach in an undemocratic way, was removed. In fact, the military safeguard the interest of the Honduras from the Venezuelian interventions.

On the other hand, those reports that supported the legality of Zelaya’s position stress that the referendum was not intended to extend either his tenure or to amend the constitution allowing him for another term in power. It was, instead, intended to convene a constitutional assembly to rewrite the constitution. In fact, the present constitution was written in 1982 during the peak of the Reagan Administration’s ‘dirty war’ in Central America. The supporters of Zelaya argue that the existing constitution primarily endorses the interests of a micro-minority, especially the people in the power. The interest of the working class and peasantry were largely unrecognised in it. Zelaya was pushing for the constitutional reform for them. The President was expected to win over the opposition from the Congress and Supreme Court towards the referendum with the support of labour unions and social movements who have better links with common people in the country.

In fact, the government announced the presidential election in November 2009 as Zelaya’s turn would be over by January 2010. According to the Constitution, there is no provision for re-election of the existing president. Zelaya never showed any intention to change this practice. In the non-binding referendum, he was attempted to answer to the ballot question of “Do you agree that, during the general elections of November 2009 there should be a fourth ballot to decide whether to hold a constituent National Assembly that will approve a new political constitution?[ix]” In Honduran election, each person will get three ballots viz;, one to elect the president and vice president, second for their parliamentary representative and the third for the municipal mayor. Zelaya tried for a public consultation through the fourth ballot box (cuarte urna) in the general election: that is, a proposal to hold a national referendum on the drafting of a new constitution.

Constitutional provisions

Zelaya’s closeness to the Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, however, has raised concern over the intentions behind the referendum. In all these countries, referendums were used to extend Presidential terms. While criticising the extension of terms through referendums, the critics of Chavez, Morales and Correa had completely ignored the wishes of the common people, who wanted many of these leaders to continue their political projects[x].

President Zelaya was proceeding with the electoral activities. The election was supposed to take place in November 2009. Even if the people accepted to convene a constitutional assembly to redraft the existing one, it would have been done under the newly elected president, not by Zelaya. Though there is a gap of two months between the election and assumption of power by the new president, it is not possible to convene a constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution and ratify it by Congress within that short period.

Another argument was about the legality of the referendum itself. According to the critics, the referendum was dismissed by the Supreme Court, so it was illegal. They support the positions of Attorney General, National Congress, Armed Forces and Supreme Electoral Tribunal who accused the president for trying to extend his term. While, Zelaya’s supporters claim that it was merely a non-binding public consultation to seek permission to rewrite constitution. Nowhere did he intend to extend his tenure in the office. He had, in fact, invoked article 5 of the Honduran “Civil Participation Act” of 2006 in which all public functionaries can perform non-binding public consultations to understand the popular opinion on policy changes[xi].

Real problems

The furore over the coup this time should be seen in the context of teh process of democratisation in Latin America. Referendums, constitutional reforms and military interventions are common in Latin American political history over the last two centuries. In the second half of 20th century, almost all Latin American countries have gone through revolutions and counter revolutions followed by military interventions. However, by the middle of 1980’s, the countries in the region started their democratisation processes by adopting elected democracies. To ensure the continuity of democracy, they had to rebuild all democratic institutions and they successfully reinstalled the democratic set up in the region. In this process some of the countries moved ahead by bringing people into the democratic arena.

Honduras experienced military interventions throughout 1970s. It was well-known that the Honduran military closely associated with the coveted US operations in the region, especially against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua. This association with US military establishments still continues as most of its officers including General Romeo Vasquez were trained by them. The creamy layer of the Honduran society, which includes the industrial elites, bureaucrats, politicians, and the military, were always able to control the government and always positioned closer to the US.

One of the key issues in the present imbroglio is the power relationship between the ousted president and the Constitutional Institutions. The tussle between the President and others started much before the date of referendum. In fact, the leftward turn of President Zelaya could be the main reason for the resentment. But the trigger was the change in his internal policies against the traditional approaches of former governments. Most significant issue was his decision to increase minimum wages in the country. In the second half of his presidency, Zelaya started to point out the role of the powerful affluent section of the society who controls the media, business houses, industry and influential bureaucracy in widening the social and economic disparity in the country. It is imperative to note that Honduras is the third poorest country in the hemisphere with 70 percent people lives in utter poverty. To reduce this disparity, he increased minimum wages by 60 percent and declared that “this is a government of great social transformations, committed to the poor[xii]”. This act has enhanced his popularity among the poor, working class and the trade unions. This made him the prominent enemy of the influential business community and traditional rich in the country.

While he became less popular among the upper segment of the society including his party, he has gained significant support among the majority of the population. This wider popularity has enhanced his confidence to conduct the referendum. Realising the ineffectiveness of constitutional institutions to tackle his wider popularity, opponents supported the coup d’état to protect their interests.

Geopolitical implications

There was a time when the US sceptically looked at the socialist/communist upspring in Latin American region. Prevention of the left interventions in the Latin American countries was in the priority list of the US foreign policy. Military interventions in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua etc., were supported by the Intelligence Service of the US. However, in the last twenty odd years, the US interventionist policy in Latin America has changed drastically. This has coincided with the proliferation of democratically elected leftist governments through out the region. Instead of supporting the rightist forces to topple the left governments as earlier, the US accepted to work with them. So far, they have tolerated the most radical leftist leader, especially Chavez and his verbal challenges. However, the intentions of Chavez raised scepticism and the Bush administration expressed their displeasure at the diplomatic levels. Using Venezuelan oil, Chavez expands influence in the region and challenges the US initiatives through the ALBA. Through Zelaya, Honduras become a part of the radical leftist group. Moreover, the recent political change in Nicaragua and re-emergence of Sandinistas also would definitely challenge the US influence in the Central American region in coming days.

The coup d’état in Honduras raises concerns on the political balance in the region. The stalemate is continuing for a month. The peace talks initiated by the Costa Rican President turned to be futile. The US, the OAS and the governments in South and Central America continues their solidarity to the ousted president, pressurising the interim government to change its position. Just after the coup, Chavez accused the US, saying that, “behind these soldiers are the Honduran bourgeois, the rich who converted Honduras into banana republic, into a political and military base for North American imperialism[xiii]”. Latest development in this regard was the attempt of Zelaya to enter into Honduras from Nicaragua. He, along with his supporters, walked a few steps into the Honduran land to make a symbolic come back, and returned to Nicaragua. For the first time, the US administration has changed its tone. The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton openly condemned Zelaya’s attempt saying that it was “reckless”[xiv]. Change in the US position can evoke devastating implication in the region. So far, the interim government is looking for a strong supporter in the region and if they can gather the US support; the entire political equation in the region will change. The US support can provide a kind of legitimacy to the interim government as well as for the military intervention. In that case, it can, thus, pave way for the successful military coup for the first time in this century in the region.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[i] BBC, “Deadline for the Coup Leaders”, Viewed on 01 July 2009, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2009/07/090701_coupoas.shtml).
[ii] Press Release, “OAS Suspends Membership Of Honduras”, 5 July 2009, Viewed on 06 July 2009, (http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press_releases/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-219/09)
[iii] Carlsen, Laura, “Honduran Coup Turns Violent, Sanctions Imposed”, Viewed on 08 July 2009, (https://nacla.org/node/5955)
[iv] Ibid
[v] Thomson, John R., “Ousting a Chavez Wannable : We should support the removal of Zelaya”, Viewed on 07 July 2009, (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTBmMTUxMTk5NmY0MGVhYzhlNTk1MGIwODBlODI2YTg=)
[vi] The Washington Times, “Obama Stands with Tyrants: Honduras is part of a pattern”, Viewed on 08 July 2009, (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/02/obama-stands-with-tyrants/)
[vii] Thomson, John R., “Ousting a Chavez Wannable : We should support the removal of Zelaya”, Viewed on 07 July 2009, (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTBmMTUxMTk5NmY0MGVhYzhlNTk1MGIwODBlODI2YTg=)
[viii] Llosa, Alvaro Vargas, “Honduras Coup is President Zelaya’s Fault”, Washington Post, Views on 08 July 2009, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103210.html)
[ix] Dangal, Benjamin, “Showdown in Honduras: The Rise, Repression and Uncertain Future of the Coup”, Viewed on 08 July 2009, (https://nacla.org/node/5949)
[x] Ross, Clifton, “From Bolivia to Honduras: Coups and Constitutions”, viewed on 09 July 2009, (http://counterpunch.com/ross06292009.html)

[xi] Democratic Underground, “Why President Zelaya’s Actions in Honduras Were Legal and Constitutional”, viewed on 09 July 2009, (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5965362)
[xii] Kozloff, Nikolas, “Obama’s Real Message to Latin America?: The Coup in Honduras”, Viewed on 09 July 2009, (http://counterpunch.com/kozloff06292009.html)
[xiii] Ibid
[xiv] Gibbs, Stephen, “Zelaya stages Honduras ‘road show’”, BBC News, Viewed on 26 July 2009, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8169101.stm)

Monday, 3 August 2009

Sir Bobby Robson - A Tribute


Sir Bobby –a tribute

Football players are loved by their fans and followers but managers are quite often, not. But, there are some exceptions and Sir Bobby will come into that category. He was more loved as a manager than as an international football player. Of course, he played for England for not less than 20 times but his biggest contribution was taking the English team to the quarter finals of the World cup in Mexico in 1986 and upgrading them to the Semi Final in the next edition in Italy in 1990. After 1966, this was the biggest height which English football team managed.


He was well known for his parallel love affair, first with football as a profession and next with the club New Castle, where he use to watch football matches from the terrace along with his father and brother. Later, he materialised his dream of becoming part of Newcastle United by managing the team from 1999 to 2004. He took the reins of Newcastle United from the flamboyant management style of Rudd Gullit, where the club was positioned close to relegation, and made them as title contenders in another couple of years.


I consider him as the most courageous English manager of my generation. His decision to move out of England made him different from others. He took responsibility of four football clubs in three different countries. This is very rare in English football. Now, the great football nation who is having the strongest football league is struggling to find a successful English manager and so far appointed two foreign managers for their national team. Outside England, Robson successfully managed Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, Portuguese clubs Sporting Lisbon and Porto, and Spanish giants Barcelona. Interestingly, the present premier league is dominated by non-English managers.


May be the greatest achievement and the most heartbreaking event in his life could be the same one. Facing full flowing Maradona in the quarter finals is a remarkable achievement but losing to his team through a cheated goal by the same legend was too much for anyone and not different to Robson. After the game, the goal which Maradona made with his hand known as ‘hand of God’ but after the match, unimpressed Robson put it as ‘hand of a rascal’. He ever questioned the genius of Maradona but never pardoned him for his hand of god achievement.


When English clubs are going for “Galactic signings” to strengthen the teams, they should stop a moment and think how Sir Bobby shaped a squad without spending much money and took them to the first four positions. He inherited an Alan Shearer in Newcastle United but also a club scooping down to the relegation table. First, he steadied the ship then sailed it out of rough weather and took gained the position of title challengers for nearly four years. He never signed any big stars, spent money on talented young players and built a strong squad which challenged the domination of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.


His most important gift to the beautiful game was decision to extend his managerial position by Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and introduction of Jose Mourinho to the managerial career. When Sir Alex started thinking about his retirement at the age of 60, Robson commented that he is 70 and going ahead. This forced Sir Alex to rethink and he is still continuing in that position with more glory. Jose Mourinho was his assistant at Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona and he went on winning Champions League with Porto and leading Chelsea to two Premier League titles.


Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also found a supporter in Sir Bobby when the fans and supporters of Arsenal started criticising Wenger for not signing big names and also for losing to small teams. In his column in Daily Mail, he attacked the opponents of Wenger and stated that it is their manager is the most valuable item in Arsenal side and if they force him to move out, they will end up in relegation.


While having retrospectives of World Cup football tournaments, few matches strike in my mind. Each edition of the Word Cup has its own star, emerging star and extraordinary player who has some thing extra to offer etc. This is very much personal choice and for me the most important revelation of 1990 edition was Paul Gascoigne. Sir Bobby was lucky enough to have a striker like Gary Lineker in his team but he was luckier to introduce a talent like Gascoigne against their Semi Final against West Germany. It was Gazza who controlled the entire game from the midfield and I still fail to remember any other player produced that impact like him in 1990.
For me, his Ipswich days were episodes I learned from journals and periodicals but his England and Newcastle days were very much in my memory. Saddest thing in football, especially managerial level is the parting shot with the team. Very rarely a manager gets his chance to have a nice farewell and to say good bye to his team. Robson managed the Newcastle for more than four years and achieved the best span of achievements in their premier league career. Still, one fine morning, the club decided to sack him, without having a look at what he has gained for them. In fact, it was parting shot for the Newcastle United from its premier league position. Five years after his removal, the legendry club slipped down to the relegation table and moved to the championship.


Through out his career, he never showed any bias towards any player or to any team. When we see all managers’ complaints about the decision of match officials in league matches, Robson stood as different. He kept his cool through out the match and encouraged his team and appreciated the work of match officials. He always stood for the better side of the game and never believed in negative tactics. Whatever he achieved in the league football was not with help of deep pockets of present day. He started with small clubs in the league and proved his mettle in the profession by taking them to the top places in the league. Even, in his last club, Newcastle United, he never tried to splash money to get any football stars. He spent the money prudently by choosing capable players to form a good team. The moment the club started spending big money for big stars, their decline started. He proved that, it is the game is more important and the football is a teamwork rather than display of individual talent. I hope this will remain as his message to the big clubs engaged in present day Football Business.


Now the lover of the beautiful game has gone. He left the beautiful game here for the next generation to make it better. He will definitely remain in the hearts of all football lovers around the world. Thanks Sir Bobby, for all you did for the game. Thanks a lot.

Tuesday, 7 July 2009

People are and should be Responsible for Everything

Stock Exchange: New Responsible Approach in Nation Building
In the present world, at least in India, stock market is becoming the only egalitarian symbol of society. Earlier, it was only for who have stake in companies through their stocks. Globalisation or economic opening up of 1990 brings them down to the common man. Still, it was quiet away from the reach of common people. But the 'new pension scheme' will definitely make it as a part of daily life of rich as well as poor.

Earlier, the stock exchange was connected with the companies and its performance in the market. If the company is not doing well, its stock value will come down and if it does well, definitely the stock will cost more. So, keeping the stock in better value was the responsibility of the company - (investors, executives and workers) and the company will try its best to increase production, reduce expenditure and earn more profit -and these processes kept the company to float in the top in stock market. Later, things changed, the company before it starts its production will go for a huge advertisement campaign about the colourful returns of the product and invites people to invest in their initiative. Still, those who are directly involved were sharing the responsibilities of profit and loss.

However, in the last 18 odd years, India has gone through a number of financial scams related to stock exchanges and banking. When banks are involved in the scams, it will certainly affect the people who invested in it. Still, the numbers of people who are closely connected with the stock market even through banks are quiet less. Once the new generation banks started operations, the link between stock market and common man become very close. Once those banks started their Insurance operations, the distance between common man and the stock market was further reduced. Still, a huge population, who have nothing to invest or insure, stayed outside and this segment included the rural poor, working class in small companies and business establishments, small scale merchants, daily wage labourers etc. So, the stock exchange was not egalitarian because majority of the people were standing outside of its reach. The opening up of post office savings, pension funds and PF money will definitely include the majority of people into the clutches of Stock Exchange.

Now, whatever investment goes from the pension funds or PF or Post Office savings to the stock market will make the common people responsible for the profit or loss. So, it is your responsibility to keep the stock market always in the higher end and never allow them to register loss. Then it will keep the interest of almost all people. What an egalitarian approach or the best approach for inclusive growth!!!!!

Friday, 29 May 2009

Election is Over: Where is the Opposition?

Election is Over: Where is the Opposition?

One month long election is over and results are declared. The ruling coalition retrieved the mandate to continue its performance for another term. In India, election is like a festival and everyone in the country are keenly interested in the electoral process and watch it from the beginning. Between the declaration for the election and the declaration of results, lot of things happens. This time also the same thing happened. The United Progressive Alliance lead by Indian National Congress got the mandate to form the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party lead National Democratic Alliance was placed in the opposition. The opposition portion of the Lok Sabha will include the remaining political parties who fought against the ruling Congress lead government.

Main question emerges after the election is about the opposition. Who will be the real opposition in the house? Who will speak for the common man rather than for the business, regional and religious lobbies? How many parties have a national vision? In the present composition of the ruling coalition, these things are very important. One party which has national presence is Indian National Congress and other one is the largest opposition party the Bharatiya Janata Party. Though, the communists don’t have a national presence, they generally show a national perspective in legislative activities. The rest, not as blame, had better affiliation towards the interests of their region or the section, religion, community they belongs to.

It is difficult to find any difference between the ruling coalition and the major opposition coalition. Only visible difference between the major parties INC and BJP are one doesn’t belongs to any religious section and other always tries to propagate the secularism of ‘Hindutwa’. But they don’t have any difference of opinion on issues regarding economic liberalisation, privatisation, foreign policy, and policy towards labour, banking, agriculture, pension fund etc. It was evident that the both governments led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Dr. Manmohan Singh followed almost similar approach towards above mentioned segments. There is a very powerful corporate lobby that controls or tries to control the public opinion through their various channels provides unlimited support to both coalitions.

In fact, during the one month long election duration, Indian corporate, especially who runs the media houses were busy to push their agenda. Their target was the urban and semi urban educated class who gained exposure through the call centre and back office jobs. The support of this newly emerged ‘apolitical’ group never looked beyond the corporate agenda and the corporate slowly started gaining upper hand in interest articulation and opinion creation processes. Remember, there was a campaign from the media to use the constitutional option of ‘freeze vote’ in the election and the same idea was circulated for more than an year through the e-mails. Interestingly, all these e-mail were started from one or another back office of multinational companies. This shows the negative attitude of some section of our society towards electoral processes.

The corporate can easily gather the support of the expanded middleclass but it is not that easy to change the mind and consciousness of the majority Indians. They might be uneducated or illiterate but they have their own views and opinions and they have the will to show it during the election time. This is the beauty of Indian democracy. For corporate, it is not big issue to reach them but a political parties who have good roots in rural poor should use them properly. Here, the left made a massive mistake and they paid for it.

Here comes the relevance of the left parties and the biggest crime they did to the people this time. Losing election is a normal thing in politics but forgetting their responsibilities towards the people is much more than betrayal. This main opposition of Nehru’s time is cornered in two or three small pockets of the country and in the verge of losing their national party status. They lost in their strong holds and also lost in the places where their coalition partners had a better run. Through the lose they provided a huge vacant space in the parliament to the regional parties and the special interest parties. Though the left parties don’t have any kind of majority in the parliament to make changes in the government policies, their political positions were always counted in a positive way by common people.

In the capital city, the general opinion after the election and counting was a kind of big relief. Many people expressed that this time Congress will do better, just because they don’t have to depend on the support of the left parties. This time, there won’t be much trouble makers like communist party did last time and the government will be able to function in a better way. After election, everything is about the formation of government and allocation of portfolios to ministers. The mass media started their speculation works by picking up their favourite candidates in key positions in the cabinet. Why there is such resentment against the left parties who had a major role in the formation of this UPA coalition and supporting a good number of initiatives of the last government? Why people were happy to see the support of Samajwadi Party, which belongs to a particular section in the most populated state of India, rather than a creative support with criticism from the left?

The answer is with the communist parties only. It was their failure to convince the majority about their position on each and every issue. Their premature leadership had more interested in creating a government with the best opportunists in the country. The miserably failed to read the mind of the common people and also failed to communicate with them in their language about their efforts and success. They forget the role did by their former leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet in the formation of the UPA and his endless effort to form such coalition against the BJP. They failed to read the pulses of their own workers in their mass base places like Bengal and Kerala and turned against the feeling of people in those places.

They should realise their mistakes first but also should realise there is no way for a comeback. For the last 60 years, they failed to expand their mass base and comfortably sat on those few pockets and satisfied with small returns. In the past, the common people supported them because they felt the communist parties’ supports the peasants and labourers and stand with them. After 60 years, they realised that the party is not standing for the cause of the common people but they are for gaining power and gearing for the role of king maker. Yes, it was the role they were expecting through the formation of the third front with ABCD parties.

As per their political position, it was defined as their role to challenge the Congress led political coalition in issues regarding liberalisation and privatisation. The main opposition party BJP won’t do it in full heart because the Congress led UPA minus left is following the same policies which they continued during 1999-2004. The blatant privatisation programmes promoted by the famous trio –the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former finance minister Chidambaram and the deputy chairman of the e planning commission Dr. Montek Singh Ahaluwalia –was curtailed to a certain level by the interference of the left parties in the last government and it won’t repeat this time. In fact, the present government can gear up its programmes without any obstruction just because of the political blunder of the left. Numerically they melted down from 60 to less than 25 and the parliamentary experience also matters this time. For instance, in Kerala CPM got four seats and two of them are new faces and other one had a single term experience in the parliament.

Parliamentary democracy is based on debates and discussions. So, critical approach during the discussion on policy matters is part of its correction mechanism. The left parties will be the usual frontrunner in criticising the government on ideological and other matters. With this least numerical presence, how they will attract the attention of the parliament this time? Whenever a bill or a submission appears on the matters such as agriculture, education, industrialisation, labour laws, public distribution system, privatisation, public health etc., it is the responsibility of the left to look into it critically with people’s perspective. How many are there this time to do such approach? If we look into the parliamentary debates, the left had made a great contribution in the floor on various subjects. The national leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi to certain extend listened to the views and criticisms of left in the parliament floor before they make the final decision. In the current situation, who will correct the policies of the government? We can’t expect it from the BJP and its allies or from the regional parties like ABCDs.

Now, the poor people can’t expect that their voice and concerns will be reflected in the policy matters and it is the failure of the communists rather than the victory of Congress or BJP. They miserably failed to listen the problems and miseries of rural poor who lives in the backwardness of the Shining India. When the corporate supported political parties think and formulate the government policies, it is difficult to accept that they will fulfil the concerns of the poor in it. If we go through the recent one and a half decade history of Indian political system, we can understand why people opted for a left supported Congress led government than providing another chance to the ‘Shining India’ campaign of BJP.

During the Narasimha Rao government, Congress had a run with its liberalisation policies and forced the people to think twice to support them in the next election. So, the opted for a third front and once it failed they decided to give a chance to BJP. In 2004, the people realised that none of them are good enough to support and decided to give a chance to BJP led government. After the dissolution over the NDA government, the people looked for a change when the UPA alliance was organised by CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet. The left supported the government form outside till the last year when their alliance broke on the issue regarding Indo-US Nuclear deal.

While breaking an alliance on a single issue like Nuclear deal, actually communist lost their chance or channel to bring their achievements they made during the 4 years with UPA. Post election indicators are showing the resurgence of the corporate India with a 1300 points increase in the stock market on 18th May. The foreign media projected it as the mandate for further economic liberalisation. BBC says that the communist parties, who had blocked reforms in insurance, pension funds and the selling off of state-owned companies, lost more than half their parliamentary seats. The communist parties should sit and look into it in detail. They should do a post-mortem on election results and also on their approach towards the election and find out why they failed or lost more than half of their seats. Is it because of blocking the reforms in insurance, pension funds and selling off the state owned companies or their failure of communicating the fact that it was they who stopped such reforms and helped the economy to stand in this present situation rather than facing economic meltdown.

The left has to look into every matter which led them to this big failure. They should realise, it is their problem that they moved away from the common people. When they started dancing with the tunes of corporate like Tata, Salim Group and SNC Lavlin, they forgot the fact that their root is still with the rural poor and not with the urban elites. Industrialisation is not a negative thing but it should come in any place with keeping the conscience of the people who lives there. Instead of this, the party moved against the will of people and got into trouble. The inexperienced leadership has to learn from the people, they should go to the people and find out what they expect from them rather than asking them to follow what the party leadership directs. They should train their young parliamentarians in proper way to engage in democratic debates and approach policies with people perspective.

The loss of communist parties in the parliament election is a big crime they did to the people of this country. They moved away from their real agenda and left the common people into the hands of corporate, religious, and regional elements. Before people punish them further, they should take corrective measures and gather the popular support back. They have the responsibility to prove that the India belongs not only to the corporate world, international investors and traders but to the common people and they will protect their interests. We hope, with the remaining seats, the left will try their best to perform as a constructive opposition and bring their critical observations on to control the neoliberal reform programmes which the government promotes.

Wednesday, 27 May 2009

All the Roads Lead to Rome




All the Roads Lead to Rome



Tonight, all the roads will definitely leads to Rome. This historic city of Italy is waiting for the Champion of the Champions. Stadio Olimpico, the home ground of AS Roma and SS Lazio, is hosting the Champions League final for second time. In 1996, the little boys of Ajax Amsterdam defeated the Italian powerhouse AC Milan in the Champions League final. Though AC Milan, Inter-Milan and Juventus have better popularity in world football, the clubs of Rome maintained its own tradition in football. It was Fransisco Totti, the captain of the AS Roma team led the Italians to the winner of world cup few years ago. Though their home team were knocked out in the pre-quarter level, the football lovers in the city will extend their full hearted support to the final between Manchester United and Barcelona.


The incumbent champion, Manchester United is trying to write their name in Champions league history by winning the cup in successive terms. The manager of United, Sir Alex Ferguson, is eyeing a glory of his third champions’ league title with united. On the other hand, Barcelona’s youngest manager, Pep Guardiola, it trying to mark his name as the first Barca manager to lift the cup in the position of captain as well as manager. The football world expects a wonderful final from them. In Moscow last year, both Manchester United and Chelsea ended their usual time in 1-1 draw and completed the extra time without a proper result, the game moved towards tie-breakers. United clinched the trophy for the second time in its history by defeating Chelsea 6-5 on penalty shootout.


This time, United reached in the final by toppling their league rival Arsenal in both legs. While, Barcelona failed to defeat Chelsea at Nou Camp, which ended up in 0-0 draw and scrape through with 1-1 away draw in Stamford Bridge. This is first time Barcelona is meeting United in the finals. Last time they were kicked out by United in the semi final.


One thing is sure; it won’t be a dragging match like last final. Manchester United plays football with attacking flair along with their strong defence. On the other hand, Barcelona is known for their attacking abilities rather than defence. So, the lovers of football can expect a free flowing football final this time.


As per track record in the previous champions league matches, United has some edge over Barca. They have a well maintained defence unit and have more options than Barca in attack. Because of the red card, they lost Darren Fletcher in the final and others are in good condition to face Barcelona. Their formidable attacking line up includes Carlos Tavez, Wayne Rooney, Berbatov and Christiano Ronaldo. The football world considers that this will be the best occasion to see the abilities of Ronaldo and Lional Messi of Barcelona.


Barcelona too, won their championship and Kings cup and nearing for their third trophy in same season. After making serious changes in the team composition in the beginning of the season, Barca took some time to settle down as a team. Once they found the rhythm under their new manager and former Barca captain Pep Gaurdiola, they thrashed every team in the league to reach in the top. Barcelona is known for their free flowing attacking football. They believe in quick passing of the ball and also consider that the best way to defend the opponent is to attack them in waves. Their forward line up includes Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi and they get strong support from Andres Iniesta and Hernandez Xavi in the midfield.


But, Barca is struggling at present. The lost their two league matches and lost a few important players due to suspension and injury. Their key defenders Eric Abidal and Dani Alves were on suspension and Rafael Marquez is out with injury. So, they are completely depending on the experience of the captain Carlos Puyol, who is playing out of his position in right back, and highly experienced but aged defender Silvinho on the left back. In the centre, they have Gerard Pique, the young defender who played for Manchester United last year and inexperienced Martin Caceres. This is the vulnerable position of Barca and the attacking flair of Rooney, Ronaldo, Tavez partnership can easily exploit it. This make shift defend is more depending on the contribution of their holding midfielders Yaya Toure and Saydou Keita. So, the strength of Barca defence matters a lot in the final day.


On the other hand, Manchester United has more options in all areas of the pitch. They have one of the most experienced goal keepers in Van der Sar and a well equipped defence unit consists Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand and Garry Neville or John O’Shea or Rafael. If the defence is the most reliable position of the United, their most enterprising segment is their midfield where they have much more options than any other team in the Champions league. In Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes they have most trusted and experienced war horses and have Michel Carrick in the holding midfield role. They maintain a midfield powerhouse in Anderson and Park Ji-Sung who are capable to break up the attack of the opposition and open up the defence for their strikers. Sir Alex successfully used the service of Park Ji-Sung and Anderson against Arsenal in the semi-final to break up the passing and attacking verve of Gunners. Nothing much to mention about the striking power of United forward line. They have four trusted and proved strikers in Rooney, Tavez, Berbatov and Ronaldo. If the team gel well and they play according to the game plan of Alex Ferguson, Barcelona will struggle to get a favourable result.


In one position, there is no comparison between Manchester United and Barcelona. It is the experience of team manager. Without any doubt, Sir Alex Ferguson holds the most successful manager’s position in the English football. He has two Champions League trophies in his credit and aiming to retain the cup for first time in its history. On the other hand, Pep Guardiola started his managerial career this year. When Alex Ferguson started his managerial career, Guardiola might be enjoying his playschool days. But, he brought out a successful team in his first year at Barca and already pocketed two trophies and gunning for the treble.


I would like to watch this beautiful final rather than talking much about it. I can’t make any choice for the winners place this time. In realistic terms, my head says, Manchester United will do it again but my mind, which always prefers the beautiful football with passing and attacking flair, says, it should be Barcelona. Whatever happens, one thing I am sure, in the final match in Rome tonight, the most beautiful game in the world –Football will win.

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

OIL Diplomacy: The Question of Cuba-U.S. Relations in 21st Century

OIL Diplomacy


Introduction

Nobody knows how much Oil Cuba has but everyone knows that oil is really very precious. It is like an enigma. Estimates are varied from each other. In the latest report in a Latin American Business daily, by Jorge Piñón, a former vice president of Amoco’s Latin American operations quoting United States Geological Survey, Cuba has 5.5 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In November 2008, Rafael Tenreyo, the exploration director of Cuban state oil corporation, Cupet, estimated it as a modest reserve of 20 billion barrels. Nearly a year back, in the statistics of Energy Information Administration, posted in January 2007 on world oil reserves, IEA is quoting World Oil and Oil and Gas Journal, that Cuba has 0.558 billion barrels and 0.124 billion barrels respectively. Both statistics were not crossing even 1 billion barrels. It is difficult to say which one is correct or near to the correct figure. In a news article appeared in MSNBC.com says that it was the Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF, in partnership with Cuba’s state oil company Cupet identified five fields and classified it as “high-quality” in the deep water of the Florida Straits, 20 miles northeast of Havana. Seven months later, a report by the U.S. Geological survey confirmed it: The North Cuba Basin held a substantial quantity of oil - 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels of crude and 9.8 trillion to 21.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas[i].


Question of Cuba’s oil reserve comes under a different category. Many Latin American countries and Caribbean countries have substantial oil and natural gas reserves. Then what makes Cuba different from others? It is their special relation with United States for nearly 50 years. They are facing economic embargo from U.S. for several decades. In fact, U.S. is still pushing for a ‘regime change’ in Cuba. So far it didn’t happened and Cuba’s leadership is still remaining with Castro brothers. Why it didn’t happen in Cuba and is there a chance to do so? In Iraq, U.S. successfully introduced the regime change within a short span of time and Iraq is far and quiet bigger than Cuba but they had an authoritarian government lead by Saddam Hussein. Cuba is very close to U.S. and they also have an authoritarian government for last 50 years lead by Fidel Castro and it is very small in size. Why the regime change didn’t happen so far and at present there is a possibility to do so? In Cuba, they didn’t find anything special than the revolution of Fidel and Iraq, then it is true, they fought for the control of oil rather than capturing Saddam. Recent finding of oil reserve in the Gulf of Mexico which comes under the sovereign limits of Cuba provides different perspectives to U.S. Cuban relations/hostility.



Summit of the Americas, 2009: The wind of change

In the recent Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago (17-19 April 2009), U.S. President Barack Obama took effort to change the course of the relationship between United States and other countries in the hemisphere. In fact, he began his speech by recognizing the hurdles of mistrust to be overcome. “I know that promises of partnership have gone unfulfilled in the past, and that trust has to be earned over time,” he said. “While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engaged based on mutual respect and common interests and shared values.[ii]” In fact, the Trinidad and Tobago Summit ended with more smiles and backslapping. Before the summit, the Obama administration played its Cuba card by announcing the lifting of Bush restrictions on family travel and sending remittances to the island. In return, at the ALBA[1] conference before the summit, Cuban President Raul Castro said, “we have told the North American Government, in private and public, that we are prepared, whatever they want, to discuss everything – human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners – everything, everything, everything that they want to discuss.[iii]


The political environment is changed, political actors are also changed, and still the U.S. policy towards Cuba is not changing. During the last 50 years, more than one generation has changed in both Cuba and U.S. The original justification for the embargo was Cuba’s expropriation of “some $1.8 billion worth of U.S.-owned property,” according to the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. In turn, Cubans argue that early in the century, the United States had seized control of 70% of Cuban land and three-quarters of Cuba’s primary industry[iv]. Both countries moved forward with different perspectives on economic and political development and reached in different positions in the present world. The original issues of the embargo are now a distant memory of the old people in both countries and the young generation will look into it through different perspectives.


According to the Cuba Policy Foundation (CPF), a nonprofit organization run by a former U.S. ambassador, a majority—52%—wants the embargo to be lifted, with 67% favoring an immediate end to the travel restrictions[v]. The website of World Public Opinion says that majority of US citizens are in favour of changes in the policy towards Cuba. More specifically, the public favours lifting the ban on travel to Cuba for Americans and re-establishing diplomatic relations as well as other changes[vi]. Among the changes, the lifting of trade embargo is the least appreciated in the survey. It says, in 2007, nearly 40 percent of the U.S. people were favour of lifting the embargo and it has moved up to 49 percent in 2009, still it is short of majority. But CPF is more takes it in different way and suggest that tthose percentages might be even higher if the U.S. public were aware that the blockade is actually costing them more than the Cubans, something that is finally beginning to dawn on the U.S. business community.


Throughout the Summit, the focus was on the approach of Obama towards Latin America and also to Cuba. He offered some positive response to the demands of the leaders of Latin American countries. In fact, one month before the Summit, President Obama signed the U.S. Budget and in it, he accepted the some changes in the Cuban policy. In the budget, he made provisions for U.S. residents to travel to Cuba, send money to the family members in the island, and included provision for the sale of agricultural and pharmaceutical products to Cuba. By doing this, he was trying to loosen the restrictions imposed by former President George W. Bush from 2001. Bush tightened some of those restrictions in recent years, most notably limiting travel to the island to once every three years for a limit of 14 days. Under the new provisions, relatives will be able to go once a year and stay for an unlimited time. In addition, the definition of relatives has been broadened to include uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces. The new measures also increase the amount of money visitors can spend. But the U.S. President never touched the key elements in the half a century old embargo. The embargo, which remains firmly in place through the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, will still block things like the importation of badly needed modern farming equipment and key infrastructural improvements[vii]. President’s offer never touches such matters and only talking about the lifting of travel ban and allowing remittance.

Analysts see the move as a way for the new Obama administration to start thawing relations with Cuba one month before the Fifth Summit of the Americas brings together the U.S. president and 33 other leaders from the Western Hemisphere in Trinidad and Tobago. According to Peter Hakim, president of the Washington based Inter-American Dialogue Policy Institute, “Cuba is the issue of greatest symbolic importance and it will be seen as a test of real U.S. readiness to change in the hemisphere.[viii]” Meanwhile, Otto Reich, who served presidents Reagan and both Bushes in a number of high-level Latin American posts, said he did not like the Cuba provisions in the budget because the United States gets nothing in return. “I’m opposed to it because of the way it was done,” he said. “There’s a way it can be done to advance the conditions of the people in Cuba. I don’t approve of the unilateral way it’s being done. The embargo is a negotiating tool. We should not negotiate with ourselves, and that’s what we’re doing.[ix]” The political influence of personality like Otto Reich matters a lot in U.S. Cuban and U.S. Latin American relations.

Whether the change will take place?

Who will make the changes in U.S. - Cuban relations? The whole Latin America is demanding a much positive approach towards Cuba and in words; we can see Obama is accepting it. Still one can see lot of obstructions in such moves in United States. Mark Weisbrot, the reporter of Guardian observes that the U.S. administration itself will throw the spanner in those damage control processes. In his article, he finds that the bureaucrats in the U.S. administration are not ready to accept the changing environment in U.S.- Latin American relations as well as Cuban relations. While President Obama is making an offensive approach towards the Latin American and Caribbean leaders in the summit to naturalise the relationship, Obama’s Latin American advisor and the director for the Summit of the Americas, Jeffrey Davidow made an adversary comment on one significant Latin American leader. Davidow told reporters: “There is a sizeable population in Venezuela, probably the very, very vast majority of the Venezuelans who have a more favourable attitude to President Obama than they have to Hugo Chavez.[x]” This is the best example to show how the bureaucrats in the U.S. administration can pull back the advancement of its political leaders in certain matters.

So, two things were clear. The public opinion is not good enough to make changes in the relation between two countries. And the approach of political leadership is also not effective to get the things into action. Then, who can make the changes in such situation? In his article, Mr. Jorge Piñón is trying to find the correct answer –the business community. For nearly 50 years, the business community in U.S. is losing its advantage in engaging with Cuban counterparts, just because of the embargo. In fact, the representatives of a dozen leading U.S. business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, signed a letter in December urging Barack Obama to scrap the embargo. The letter pegs the cost to the U.S. economy at $1.2 billion per year. The CPF’s estimates are much higher: up to $4.84 billion annually in lost sales and exports. The Cuban government estimates the loss to Cuba at about $685 million annually. Thus the blockade costs the United States up to $4.155 billion more a year than it costs Cuba[xi]. Along with this lose; the U.S. government also spends US$ 27 million each year to broadcast Radio and TV Marti, even though the television signal is effectively blocked by the Cuban government. According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, this largely futile propaganda effort has cost U.S. taxpayers half a billion dollars over the last 20 years.

For U.S. business community, lose of 5 billion annually is not a big issue when they compare it with their investments and returns in other places. But, the moment they realise the gap of lose is going to widen drastically, especially in the light of the recent findings of oil reserves in Cuban offshore, they will start thinking in a different way. Petroleum is one of the key elements which determine the business diplomacy between countries and American oil companies are very powerful in lobbying and opinion creation. Till a couple of years back, they were not bothered about the economy and investment possibility of Cuba. So, finding of oil in Cuba is powerful enough to change the attitude of American companies and will try their best to get maximum stake in the oil reserves in their neighbourhood. The debate is already started in U.S. and the article of Piñón is also part of it.

Presence of Petroleum – Debate of loses and gains

According to Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, an expert on Cuban energy matters and a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, says America’s thirst for oil will soon force a fundamental change in Washington’s relations with Havana. He always argued that the U.S. should keep the Cuban embargo in place until they got to the point where it started to cost the country something. Today, he adds, “we are almost there”. According to Mr. Phil Peters, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va, “if Cuba discovers a lot of oil and becomes an exporter, the embargo almost becomes an absurdity.” Kirby Jones, the founder and president of the U.S. - Cuba Trade Association in Washington, D.C. says that the reality of Cuba as an oil producer makes the embargo to costly a policy to keep. He added, “our choice is: Are we going to let those countries take that oil? Or are we going to look at our strategic interests and recognize that very close to our shores is a substantial quantity of oil that is going to be exploited?[xii]

These are three opinions of people who carry substantial weight in their areas and all opinions have a common factor that the finding of oil reserve will leads the U.S. to end the embargo. This is the first time the business community in the United States are having a sore taste of embargo and it is difficult for them to leave it away in Cuba’s way. In fact, Cuba did not waste any time and divided the 74,000 square miles area into 59 exploration blocks and welcomed the foreign oil conglomerates with offers of production-sharing agreements. This was the turning point in the enduring economic and trade embargo by U.S. over Cuba for last 47 years. For the first time, the US oil conglomerates felt the heat of the embargo and realised it is very difficult to engage in the exploration activities in Cuba without amending the embargo and Helms-Burton act of 1996. The U.S. oil companies were sure that the Cuba won’t wait for the amendment of U.S. trade and other laws against their country and will precede the operations with the companies from other countries. The U.S. oil companies expected that without their expertise in offshore drilling and technological know-how in exploration, the Cuba will struggle to continue its offshore oil exploration. Within short time, they realised that it was just their illusion and found that the companies from Europe, China, Brazil, India and Canada has started talks with Cuban officials about investments in deep water operations.


This was a huge blow to the U.S. oil companies who strongly believed in the supremacy of their technological advantages, investment competitiveness and diplomatic capabilities in trade and economic dealings. In the case of Cuba, the U.S. oil conglomerates were not in a position to approach the state to intervene and the state was also not in a position to do such intervention in a short time because the laws and policies are against the participation of U.S. companies in Cuban investment was imposed by the state itself. From this time onwards, the oil business lobby of U.S. is trying their best to make amendments in the trade embargo against Cuba. In his article Mr. Piñón accepts that the Cuban authorities have invited United States oil companies to participate in developing their offshore oil and natural gas resources U.S. law does not allow it[xiii]. Then they thoroughly questioned the competitive ability of Cuba’s state owned petroleum companies in offshore deep-water drilling and challenged the economic capability of Cuba to push through the exploration activities without support of American companies.


In the report of Brookings Institution, ‘Cuba: A New Policy of Critical and Constructive Engagement’ Jorge Piñón argues that “our position on Cuba vis-à-vis oil, and that's why you will notice that I'm usually in this panel, again not from the oil point of view, not from the point of view that Cuba has a lot of oil, therefore we the United States needs it, therefore let's go ahead and grab it, let's go ahead and take it, we need the Exxons and the Conocos and the Marathons and the Chevrons to go after it, that is not our position. Our position is very clear, and that is that that future Cuban government in transition or that future Cuban government or people have to be independent of any outside political influence.[xiv]” Why it is just about the future Cuban government? By saying so, it is clearly negating the people who are living in Cuba and their interests and aspirations. In all writings, they projected the expenditure of this offshore exploration and the state of present Cuban economy and purposefully linked it with the problem of existing Cuban communist government and silently demanded the regime change.


Economic superiority, technological advantage, political upper hand, business aggressiveness and diplomatic abilities of the nation as well as the oil companies put U.S. in a blind position in which they cannot see or accept a challenge from any one in any areas mentioned above especially related to the petroleum industry. U.S. severely underestimated the abilities of the state owned petroleum companies in the countries like Brazil, China, and India and companies from the countries like Spain, Canada, and Norway. In May 2005, Spain’s Repsol –YPF announced it was partnering with India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Norsk Hydro ASA –now a state owned Oil Company of Noway – explore for oil and gas in six of the 59 deep water blocks along Cuba’s maritime border with the United States. Mean while, the Sherritt International Corp., the Canadian oil company has acquired exploration rights of four of the deep sea blocks. These initiatives raised the eyebrows of oil executives like Jorge Piñón and others and started demanding an intervention from the side of the state to provide access for US oil companies to Cuba. Among these companies, the Norsk and ONGC belong to the select companies who have the deep-water know how and technology and when they joined with the Spanish Repsol, the demand raised from American business community saying ‘maybe we better took a look at Cuba again.[xv]


The American oil executives and the petroleum companies realized that if they fail to remove the embargo and continue to fight against the communist government in Cuba in the name of Human Rights and Democracy, the probability of their participation in Cuba remains nil. Terry Maris, executive director of the Centre for Cuban Business Studies at Ohio Northern University expects that the Cuba will require at least 20 billion US dollar to develop its oil reserve into its commercial potential. He observes that the ‘experience of Sudan and other non-democratic countries shows that foreign companies will invest in Cuba to develop its crude reserves despite human right abuses and a lack of free and fair elections.[xvi]’ Archibald Ritter, professor emeritus of economics and international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, agreed that Cuba’s oil sector will take off in the next few years and believes that it will entail political consequences. He envisages that ‘if the regime lasts until 2015, it will receive a lot of funds from oil. That will strengthen it.[xvii]

Changing Views US Officials

It is unfair to say that the U.S. political leadership was unaware about these developments and they didn’t do anything regarding this. The lobbying of oil executives and business communities worked very well and in May 2005, the Representative Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, introduced twin bills to the House and the Senate that would exempt Big Oil from the embargo. Before introducing his legislation, Craig told a reporter that “prohibition on trade with Cuba has accomplished just about Zero.[xviii]” These efforts were played down by the highly influential Cuban American voting lobby of Florida. In fact, the moves of Flake and Craig were challenged by people like Alfredo Mesa, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami: ‘Those who would advocate for ... allowing U.S. companies to drill off Cuba lose sight of how that would damage our ability to press the Cuban government on other issues, such as human rights.” Thought there is a large demand for change in the U.S. policy towards Cuba, certain powerful lobbies are good enough to turn it around.


The active participation of state owned oil companies from Vietnam and Malaysia along with China, Norway and India in Cuba send worrying messages in United States. It was not because of missing their opportunity in the exploration processes in Cuba, but it was their inability to do in the same in their own fields inside U.S. border, nearby Cuba. During his presidential campaign, Senator McCain tried his level best to lift the federal moratorium on oil exploration in American coastal waters. He realized the missing opportunity in Latin America as well as in domestic field just because of embargo or moratorium will end up in a heavy loss to U.S. economy as well as their huge oil industry. Active participation of companies from China, Norway and Cuba were looked up with high amount of concerns by U.S. think tanks. Mr. Gal Luft, the director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security observes that “with more and more countries vying for Western Hemisphere oil, our dependence on Middle East oil is going to grow substantially.[xix]” Here, the inability of U.S. companies is not because of their technological disadvantage or lack of capital investment, it was the legal hurdles made by the U.S. government itself. The eastern portion of America’s section of the Gulf –the part that is closest to Cuba also possesses the same riches as Cuba has. But, any kind of exploration activities were curtailed by the moratorium on drilling, which was imposed by Congress in 1982 and has been extended annually since then President George H.W. Bush issued his own executive order to the same effect in 1990. This moratorium has strong support from state like Florida, whose politicians have expressed concern about what offshore exploration and drilling might mean for its beaches. State’s boundaries generally extended three to nine miles offshore, with the federal government’s jurisdiction extending to 200 miles.

In this juncture, the American oil executives and business community should look into their internal matters first rather than looking at their neighbour Cuba and saying they are exploiting the oil wealth nearby. In June 2008, the issues of oil drilling in Cuban waters become an issue in U.S. when Vice President Dick Cheney felt it is illegal. But later the authorities were forced to accept the fact that the drilling was happening in Cuban offshore territory and China has leased exploration rights in the area[xx]. Another interesting fact is that the Senator McCain who has argued for the removal of moratorium on offshore drilling in U.S. territory has opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. All these facts show light on the double standard of U.S. authorities on issues regarding oil and Cuba.


Still, the oil lobby of United States cannot relax and forget about the lucrative oil reserve lying in nearby country. The political animosity is a different question when it comes to business and profit sharing. For any country in the world, petroleum industry is considered as the golden goose and U.S. oil industry is also not different from it. Problem here is the inaccessibility to the source. For Cuba, this is a chance to overturn its economic fortunes rather than using oil for fulfilling their political ambitions. For them, it is an issue of survival rather than competing with their big neighbour. Exploration and development of petroleum requires support of advanced scientific technology and huge capital investment and just because of the embargo, they can’t wait for U.S. oil companies to come and do it. In such situations, the political leadership will go for pragmatic solutions and Cuba also did so. They sought for alternative solutions and gathered it from different sources.


U.S. oil experts cannot blame Cuba in this regard. Inability to access in Cuba is not the fault of Cuba and it was a self imposed political decision on U.S. companies for the last 47 years. But in the writings of oil executives in United States are trying to project their technological supremacy and insist that Cuba cannot succeed in the exploration and development of their oil reserves without their participation. In fact, their world is too small and very much U.S. centric. In the time of globalisation, nobody can control the flow of information, knowledge and technology to a certain extend. In his article, Jorge Pinion argues that ‘if U.S. companies were allowed to contribute in developing Cuba’s hydrocarbon reserves, as well as renewable energy such as solar, wind and sugarcane ethanol, it would reduce the influence of autocratic and corrupt governments on the island’s road toward self determination.[xxi]’ If this is the contribution of U.S. companies in energy sector, then the political profile of countries in the Middle East might have changed long back. Saudi Arabia is still not a proper democratic country as well as Kuwait and UAE.



Conclusion

Cuba is a country which has membership in United Nations and has bilateral and multilateral relations with a good number of countries in the world. The eight years of relative U.S. engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq, saw the Latin American countries develop a range of autonomous ties and new habits as well as alliances and inter-American institutions, most of which lack U.S. membership. This is a huge development and could re-direct the entire nature of U.S.-Latin American relations. Consequently, Cuba now has alternative sources of finance and trade; it is no longer entirely reliant on the U.S. Indeed, Washington now stands all but alone in the western hemisphere in not maintaining full diplomatic ties with Havana[xxii]. In fact, they are isolated by one country, the United States of America. Cuba is a sovereign country to keep economic and political relationship with any country in the world and they have the right to engage in any business deals with any country, if it is beneficial to the national interest of the country. The concept of imposition of future government could be interpreted as the demand for the regime change and we all know what happened in the places the regime change occurred in near past. How long US can isolate Cuba from the Summits of the Americas? The recent Summit was focused on one point agenda from the Latin American countries and that was inclusion of Cuba in OAS. It was not the demand from Venezuela, the friendliest country of Cuba and it was a unanimous demand.


Latin America itself has changed a lot in the last two decades. Their political and economic dependency on United States has come down to a significant level. They also changed themselves from their revolutionary past to a pragmatic future. Maybe, the distraction of US from Latin America, because of their engagement in the Middle East, helped them to move in a different direction. In the present Latin America, one can see their thirst for togetherness in the areas of trade and development. In the domains of economic development, the present day Latin America is more keen in diversifying their sources rather than depending on United States and selected countries of Europe. The big countries like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico etc., are pushing themselves to keep better relations with countries like India, China, South Africa and Russia. This is very evident in the case of Petroleum industry. Countries like Brazil, China, India and Russia has developed their own technology in exploration and development of petroleum resources. Companies from China and India are very keen in investing in the oil reserves in Latin American countries and also to do joint ventures with their petroleum companies like Petrobras, PDVSA etc.

Recent exploration result from Tupi oil filed in Brazil has proved that the developing countries are capable to cope up with technological know-how in advanced areas in oil industry. India’s ONGC-Videsh also has its own expertise in deep water exploration and joint venture with companies from Spain or Norway will certainly enhance their abilities to compete with U.S. companies. For countries like China and India, the development of deep water oil fields in Cuba will be beneficial in both ways. Cuba needs technology to develop the reserves and keep their energy security and economic development process in right track and countries like China and India requires uninterrupted flow of petroleum for their industrial development. If Cuba is successful in attracting more companies in the development process of its offshore reserves, the competition will be healthy and will do better for the country.


[1] ALBA: Boliverian Alternatives for the Americas (Spanish - Alternativa Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América) - which also means 'dawn' in Spanish) is an international cooperation organization based upon the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and Caribbean. Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras etc., are members of this cooperation.

[i] MSNBC.com, Cuban Oil renews embargo debates, 29 July, 2006
[ii] Laura Carlsen, Words and Deeds in Trinidad, FPIF.
[iii] ibid
[iv] Margot Pepper, ‘The Cost of the Embargo’, 03 March 2009 - www.coha.org
[v] Ibid
[vi] http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/600.php?nid=&id=&pnt=600&lb=
[vii] Michale Chasse, The big picture of the Cuban embargo and travel ban, 28 April, https://nacla.org/node/5769
[viii] Arthur Brice, CNN, March 11, 2009
[ix] Ibid
[x] Mark Weisbrot, Guardian, 22 April 2009
[xi] Magot Pepper, ‘The Cost of the Embargo,’03 March 2009 –www.coha.org
[xii] MSNBC.com, Cuban Oil renews embargo debates, 29 July, 2006
[xiii] Jorge Piñón, ‘US Presence in Cuba Oil?’, Latin Business Chronicle, 04 May 2009.
[xiv] The Brookings Institution, ‘Cuba: A New Policy of Critical and Constructive Engagement’, 22 April 2009, Washington D.C.
[xv] MSNBC.com, Cuban Oil renews embargo debates, 29 July, 2006
[xvi] Latin Petroleum Magazine, ‘Experts Predict Jump in Cuba Oil Production, 02 December 2008
[xvii] Ibid
[xviii] MSNBC.com, Cuban Oil renews embargo debates, 29 July, 2006
[xix] Joseph Glodetein, New York Sun, 19 July, 2008
[xx] Ibid
[xxi] Jorge Piñón, ‘US Presence in Cuba Oil?’, Latin Business Chronicle, 04 May 2009.
[xxii] COHA, ‘Cuba and United States: Let’s Not Waste an Opportunity for Change’, 22 April 2009.