I am a little late with my prognostications for 2008 but better late than never. As I downloaded my digital crystal ball I enjoyed a moment of silence for all the great seers who have been foreseeing our futures since the 16th century and these include Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Jean Dixon, Gordon Michael Scallion, and Sylvia “Always Wrong” Brown just to name a few.
Seering like the oldest profession in the world, has paid many a household bill while putting food on the table.
There is good money and fame to be had in those dark and dire predictions about pieces of the earth breaking up and falling into the sea or asteroids hitting the earth and killing off 90% of the population. But my motives are very different I assure you and there is no monetary benefit for this lowly scribe. There are no prophecy/ fantasy books to be published and no invitations to talk shows to opine about mankind’s dismal future or if Americans will have a collective epiphany that glow- in- the- dark teeth whitening is more scary than sexy in its overall impact.
So gentle readers, allow me to concentrate on what 2008 holds in store for the volatile Muslim nations and how this will impact on the rest of us infidels around the world.

Al Qaeda, independent suicide bombers and Muslim teenagers with bombs will be responsible for destroying 80% of Pakistan’s infrastructure during the weeks leading up to the 2008 elections.

Groups calling for an end to violence in Pakistan will kill thousands in the tribal regions and stop only when they run out of ammunition.

Pervez Musharraf will continue to look dapper in his nifty outfits and will win 125% of the votes cast in Pakistan’s “most transparent election ever”.

In response to these results, the opposition parties will issue calls for a civil war and the neighbouring Taliban from Afghanistan will blow up the remaining 20% of the country’s infrastructure as a gesture of goodwill.

Benazir Bhutto’s husband, aka “Mr 40%” will join hands with Iraq based Halliburton to “rebuild” the devastated land and will be declared the only multi-zillionaire in the known world after only two miles of roadways are laid down.

In reaction to these developments in neighbouring Pakistan, India-born Muslims, will go on the rampage, burning homes and derailing trains for no other reason than to keep in practice.

Osama Bin Ladin will release another tape with his hair looking suspiciously black and his physical features markedly different from previous tapes prompting observers to speculate that he might be morphing or shape-shifting in the back rooms of his cave complex.

Mahmoud Ahamadinejad will reveal that he has finally made contact with the long awaited 12th Prophet or Mahdi. The Mahdi who is believed to be a little disoriented after spending many centuries hidden in a well, will finally reveal plans on how to decimate all infidels from the face of the earth without the aid of suicide bombers. He will be coy but may also hint at plans for establishing his God-sanctioned worldwide caliphate after the global nuclear disaster.

The Dalai Lama and other religious leaders will express shock that after so many years of solitude and contemplation in his watery hideout, this Mahdi has yet to be among America’s cadre of well wishers.
(Okay that is a terrible pun I know…but it is irresistible).

As we peer into Afghanistan, the crystal ball shows the opium- producing Taliban accusing the west of poisoning the world with vices like drug addiction. In a spit-drenched tirade, Taliban troops fresh from celebrating the destruction of several Afghan hospitals, offices and hotels, will also accuse the western countries of wanting to keep Afghanistan impoverished and structurally underdeveloped.

In development in other regions, Hamas will blow up all of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Golan Heights along with a chunk of Israel to smithereens rather instead of working hand in hand with Fatah to establish a Palestinian state. The resulting traffic gridlock to heaven and nubile young virgin shortage could take the traditional earth-based Muslim subterfuge, sectarian violence and infidel hating into the celestial regions for the first ever time in history.
The surviving 100 Palestinians will blame Israel and the United States for their demise and go on a month long wailing marathon before plotting to send a suicide bomber on another expedition.

“The foremost condition for the growth of democracy is acceptance by all the sovereignty of the people” and this very basic requirement of democracy is quite contrary to the basic ideology of Islam.
Islam says “all sovereignty rests in Allah” and any ruler that rules the Ummah rules as “vice-regent of Allah”. The Ummah can elect the vice-regent but neither the vice-regent or the Ummah has right to make laws to govern themselves — the laws have already been ‘revealed’ in the holy Koran. Only the Ulema can interpret them and the Ummah follow what the Ulema interpret. In Islam, Ummah is created by Allah and have no independent existence or will. Islam is a monotheistic faith and thus allows no diversity either in the concept of their God to suit the individual or the mode of worship or life. Every individual has to fit the preconceived mold — no diversion is allowed.

It is not without reason that most Islamic scholars have declared democracy, which gives sovereignty to the individual, an un-Islamic concept.” Ghulam Kibria

Since the untimely slaying of Benazir Bhutto, much has been written about the perceived dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf and the failure of repeated attempts to bring this volatile country into a democracy. In spite of this dastardly act by another demented suicide bomber, parliamentary elections are still tenatively scheduled for January 8th, 2008. Musharraf, like any good dictator through the ages, has been accused of condoning corruption at every level, supporting the mechanics of a biased election commission failing to act on complaints of fraud, terrorising and intimidating opposition leaders, curtailing free speech and interfering with the independence of the judiciary.
Benazir Bhutto has now been made into the martyr du jour as sentimentalism clouds common sense about the reality of everyday life in this troubled country and the nature of the average Pakistani psyche. Western commentators and politicians like George Bush and Gordon Brown, who specialize in the usual lies and double talk are finding it rather convenient to expound on the urgent need for democracy in Pakistan because it is supposed to offer “the only hope for containing extremism” which is fueling terrorists and destabilising the security of nations around the world.The tribal areas of Pakistan are havens for militants who support Al Qaeda and attack NATO troops in nearby Afghanistan.
Of course the role played by successive American governments in covertly undermining the democratic strides of leaders like Ali Bhutto over the years is never mentioned in mainstream publications or discussions. That facet of the overall picture must be downplayed at all costs in the make- believe world of self-righteous western leaders and their do-good politics.
It would be easy to lay the blame for Pakistan’s current demise at the feet of bumbling western Machiavellian leaders but that would be avoiding the truth.
There are really two key reasons why the much touted western style democracy has failed to take root in Pakistan.
The first can be attributed to long-established, well-chronicled divisions along provincial, linguistic and ethnic barriers and even caste issues which have keep the internal politics in perpetual turmoil.

However if one delves a little deeper a sobering reality will be uncovered – the democratization of Pakistan has always be sabotaged by religious fundamentalism born out poverty, repressed worldly ambition and a warped interpretation of the Holy Quoran.

The mental rigidity and erratic emotional excesses of Islamic fundamentalism is the concrete shadow which blocks out the light of reason and the voices for peace and social change.. Very few analysts are willing to risk a fatwah on their lives by commenting in depth, on this form of religious dementia. The fundamentalists claim to have their focus on heaven rather than this earthly life, yet they will fight to death for what they perceive as their rights in this world. At the same time, they refuse to recognise the rights of others for a peaceful co-existence on planet Earth.
Paradoxically they seem to thrive on conflict, violence and back room subterfuge while calling for peace. They demand respect for Allah but refuse to accord the same reverence to the gods of other religions.
Unlike the much-persecuted Jews, fundamentalist leaders have failed to invest adequate resources in liberal education, human development, technology, agriculture, industrialization and social reform. Instead they have chosen to fight futile, pathetic little wars in the name of the Almighty Allah while the rest of the world moved forward.

Very few fundamentalists are interested in genuine change. Any modification in the status quo will deprive them of their favourite pet cause which is usually fused to some hate-filled rant about westerners or perceived disrespect of Allah. In the interest of truth one must acknowledge a single fact – Muslims do not desire to live by man-made laws or democracy but by Sharia – the laws allegedly revealed by Allah.

The lack of reading, writing and numeracy skills promotes a propensity for base tribal behaviour predicated on violence.
Even the scholars with advanced degrees have limited perspectives having been denied the mind opening experience of an authentic liberal education.
The politicians of Pakistan through the decades have all chosen to disregard the true fundamentals of democracy. Leadership has been reserved for a few elite families and this trend bears a frightening resemblance to the brutal, corrupt monarchies of the present day Middle East and India of centuries long gone. Many have chosen to forget the regimes of Benazir Bhutto was tainted with same charges now being levelled against the hapless Musharraf.
These families are supported by groups of wild-eyed, fanatical followers, who at times, appear to pay the same unquestioned homage to their worldly leaders as they do to Allah.
Even today, the media reported that Benazir Bhutto’s grief-stricken 19 year old son was chosen to succeed her as chairman of her opposition party but the real power was left to her husband, who will serve as co-chairman. That is already another problem in the making. This man is known as “Mr 40%”, who enjoyed all the benefits of un-Islamic government contract kickbacks while his wife governed Pakistan.

The real reason why democracy has failed in Pakistan can be found is the tribal emotionalism and narrow religious ideology which drive its people. This appears to be true with far too many Islamic countries around the globe. These people need to embrace the evil of their collective shadow and find constructive outlets for their creative energy before they destroy the world in the name of Allah. Nothing short of a new, trance-inspired Prophet or a collective wake up realization among Muslim extremists can change this constant in the bloody equation. Should there be free and fair elections with a democratically elected leader in Pakistan, the social unrest will continue to erupt like a festering lesion in the usual tribal areas under some pretext or the other. If democracy and peace were to be handed to Pakistanis on a platter, they would have no idea on how to deal with it as rational human beings. The carnage will go ad nauseam because this is all these people know and they thrive on the drama of victimhood.
And this dear readers, is the real tragedy of Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto was just another victim of of a warped Islam and God- centered subterfuge, who in spite of her shortcomings, tried to bring Pakistan into the 21st century.
May the Creator rest her soul while Pakistan burns.

“Despite its charitable activities, Gap has been criticised for outsourcing large contracts to the developing world. In 2004, when it launched its social audit, it admitted that forced labour, child labour, wages below the minimum wage, physical punishment and coercion were among abuses it had found at some factories producing garments for it”.

Somewhere deep in the recesses of our collective subconscious mind, we know that something akin to slave labour still drives the wheels of capitalism in many parts of the world. But we choose to ignore our conscience because “the prices are affordable and we really cannot control what goes on in a foreign labour market anyway” so why not indulge? How and when did we become enablers and supporters of child slavery? Was it our ignorance or was it our consumer driven greed that pushed us into this compromising situation? Every retail chain that has been caught using cheap or forced child labour claims to “be ignorant” about the outsourcing dynamics of subcontractors that led to the exploitation of children. Yeah right. Something is seriously wrong here and it is another overload of lies, lies and denials ad nauseaum. As consumers we may be eager to point fingers but the truth is we are just as guilty as those giant retailers who take advantage of poverty and ignorance to exploit child labour. Without demand, there would be no supply. Like it or not, every time we purchase an item from one of the offending retail chains, we too are guilty of this heinous crime against humanity. How do you feel now as you slip into that “cool” pair of jeans stitched by the bone-thin, calloused hands of a brutalised ten year old?

Is this really happening in our world?

Here is the full text of that interesting report on child labour in India.

Dan McDougall in New Delhi
Sunday October 28, 2007
The Observer

Indian ’slave’ children found making low-cost clothes destined for Gap

Child workers, some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant.
Speaking to The Observer, the children described long hours of unwaged work, as well as threats and beatings.

Gap said it was unaware that clothing intended for the Christmas market had been improperly subcontracted to a sweatshop using child labour. It announced it had withdrawn the garments involved while it investigated breaches of the ethical code imposed by it three years ago.
The discovery of the children working in filthy conditions in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi has renewed concerns about the outsourcing by large retail chains of their garment production to India, recognised by the United Nations as the world’s capital for child labour.
According to one estimate, more than 20 per cent of India’s economy is dependent on children, the equivalent of 55 million youngsters under 14.

The Observer discovered the children in a filthy sweatshop working on piles of beaded children’s blouses marked with serial numbers that Gap admitted corresponded with its own inventory. The company has pledged to convene a meeting of its Indian suppliers as well as withdrawing tens of thousands of the embroidered girl’s blouses from the market, before they reach the stores. The hand-stitched tops, which would have been sold for about £20, were destined for shelves in America and Europe in the next seven days in time to be sold to Christmas shoppers.

With endorsements from celebrities including Madonna, Lenny Kravitz and Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker, Gap has become one of the most successful and iconic brands in fashion. Last year the firm embarked on a huge poster and TV campaign surrounding Product Red, a charitable trust for Africa founded by the U2 lead singer Bono.

Despite its charitable activities, Gap has been criticised for outsourcing large contracts to the developing world. In 2004, when it launched its social audit, it admitted that forced labour, child labour, wages below the minimum wage, physical punishment and coercion were among abuses it had found at some factories producing garments for it. It added that it had terminated contracts with 136 suppliers as a consequence.
In the past year Gap has severed contracts with a further 23 suppliers for workplace abuses.

Gap said in a statement from its headquarters in San Francisco: ‘We firmly believe that under no circumstances is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments. These allegations are deeply upsetting and we take this situation very seriously. All of our suppliers and their subcontractors are required to guarantee that they will not use child labour to produce garments. In this situation, it’s clear one of our vendors violated this agreement and a full investigation is under way.’

Professor Sheotaj Singh, co-founder of the DSV, or Dayanand Shilpa Vidyalaya, a Delhi-based rehabilitation centre and school for rescued child workers, said he believed that as long as cut-price embroidered goods were sold in stores across Britain, America, continental Europe and elsewhere in the West, there would be a problem with unscrupulous subcontractors using children.

‘It is obvious what the attraction is here for Western conglomerates,’ he told The Observer. ‘The key thing India has to offer the global economy is some of the world’s cheapest labour, and this is the saddest thing of all the horrors that arise from Delhi’s 15,000 inadequately regulated garment factories, some of which are among the worst sweatshops ever to taint the human conscience.

‘Consumers in the West should not only be demanding answers from retailers as to how goods are produced but looking deep within themselves at how they spend their money.’

The following news update was recently released to the public by Al Manar TV, a member of the Lebanese Communication Group. It was based on an article from the Times of London.

IAF Train Intensively for Iran Strike with Mini-Nukes

10/11/2007: The Israel Air Force is training for a tactical nuclear strike on Iranian nuclear production facilities. The IAF is practicing for a mission to destroy key Iranian facilities, at least one with low-yield nuclear munitions, the Times of London reported. Citing “several Israeli sources,” the Times said that two IAF squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using a combination of precision laser bombs and low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”. The Times report was supplemented by one from Fox News.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb, the Times said. Under the plans, the report said, conventional laser-guided bombs would open shafts into the targets. Then the “mini-nukes” would then be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.
“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources. Israeli intelligence recently announced that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons by 2009. Meir Dagan, head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, told the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, also believes that the Iranians will have a complete nuclear device by 2009. Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran believed to be central to Iran’s nuclear program, the Times reported: Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment; A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan, and a heavy water reactor at Arak.

Ephraim Sneh, the former deputy Israeli defense minister, said last month: “The time is approaching when Israel and the international community will have to decide whether to take military action against Iran.” But he lamented that “At the end of the day it is always down to the Jews to deal with the problem.” The United States has described a strike against Iranian targets as a “last resort”, leading Israelis to believe that it will be left to the IAF to strike.

The Times, citing Israeli sources, said Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. The report said that the air force squadrons are based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, south of Tel Aviv, under the personal supervision of Major General Eliezer Shkedy, commander of the Israeli Air Force, training to use Israel’s arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons on the mission.

The Israelis believe that Iran’s expected retaliation “would be constrained by fear of an Israeli second strike.” The leak of a possible nuclear option by Israel may be intentional, US analysts have said. “In the cold war, we made it clear to the Russians that it was a virtual certainty that nukes would fly and fly early,” said an American defense source. “Israel may be adopting the same tactics: ‘You produce a weapon; you die’.”

COMMENT
Is this really happening in our world? Does the IAF really believe that destroying Iran’s main nuclear facility will have no repercussions for the Middle East and by extension, the world? Do these Israelis really think that Iran will not retaliate because they will be fearful of a second Israeli strike? Are they aware that several key Iranian leaders would prefer to see the Middle East go up in smoke rather than surrender to the “infidels”? Are these Israelis naive or simply unaware of the ambitions to establish a world-wide caliphate under the 12th Imam and the willing-to-die fanaticism which drives the ongoing Revolution in Iran?
Let us hope that this rhetoric is simply a manifestation of the old saber rattling war strategy and nothing more.

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