Who Killed Daniel Pearl?
Topic: Books....
Who Killed Daniel Pearl? by Bernard-Henri Levy

Remember Wall Street Journal reporter Dan Peral who was beheaded on-camera by militants while he was reporting from Karachi? Mass media wrote about Pearl and his investigative journalism and speculated that he was killed because he got too close to power-that-may-be and was about blow lid on some sensational stuff. So, he was clipped.

That is true but there is more to what meets the eye. French best selling author, Levy, tries to piece together things and sheds some new light not only Pearl's death but also on political realities of that time in Pakistan. He builds a theory that somehow ISI was responsible for his death in an attempt to discredit Musharaf who had alienated certain powerful faction within ISI. In order to understand this, Levy gives some good supporting material documenting tension between native Punjabis and Mohajirs(who went from India) during partition. Mushraf is a prominent Mohajir. You may remember during his visits to India he made it a point to go back to the place where he was born and brought his aging mother also next time.So, author ends wondering who was at the power at that time? Musharaf or rogue faction of ISI?

Levy who was in the sub continent during the liberation of Bangladesh, uses his past contacts to gain access to Indian intelligence agency RAW and comes up with some interesting stuff about Omar Sheikh and Masood Azar, two prominent Jaish-E-Mohammad militants. They have a very interesting story. These two were arrested and jailed by India while they were busy with subversive activities in Kashmir. In 1999, their followers hijacked Indian Airlines flight from Nepal and took it to Kandahar which was then under the control of Taliban. Taliban was party to all this. Although they tried to act neutral and I think even levied money from India for having allowed the plane to land and remain there for few days. Omar and Masood were handed over by India to gain the release of hostages and that's how the drama ended. Author touches upon this because Omar was arrested by Pakistani authorities as the main accuses in the murder of Pearl. Under pressure from US, Musharaf also came down heavily on militant organizations and Masood was also jailed. That is the reason why fundamentalists were pissed with president and he allegedly survived half a dozen of assassination attempts. Some publicized and some not.

Author speculates that Omar is not the real culprit. He has been scapegoated or has volunteered to protect some other powerful interest in return from quick release. Author does not divulge much information about renegade group within ISI that he holds responsible for Pearl's death. It appears that author is privy to all that info but chose not rock the boat too hard and devotes good last 30 % which is not interesting at all.

Author cites former IB chief AK Doval who was then a deputy head in RAW. Doval narrates how prisoners for hostage exchange took place in Kandahar. It is not known to many that elite commandos were taken by India but there was no solid plan to use them. Then God knows what they were doing. I do not think India would have taken a chance when top minister like Jaswant Singh and several passengers were involved to make a rescue a real risky job. Anyways....

First half is a page tuner because it is really captivating. Remainder is also page turner because it gets boring once you know that some faction within ISI was responsible and the author goes no where and does not share the details....

Now on a different topic...AK Doval was in news sometime back. After working in RAW, he became the head of IB (Intelligence Bureau IB - akin to FBI). A team of crime branch officers from Bombay intercepted a car in Delhi. Their target was Vicky Malhotra, right hand man of Chhota Rajan, Indian mob boss, operating out of some other country. They were surprised to find out another passenger along with Malhotra in the car. It was none other than Doval. Both men were going some where after having had breakfast in some hotel in Delhi. What was a retired IB chief doing with a mob man? Media speculated quite correctly that Chhota Rajan was developed to counter other mob boss Dawood Ibrahim. Since Dawood was being sheltered by ISI, Indian intelligence agencies chose to support Chhota Rajan. In that context, it was not unusual for IB officers to hang around with mafia men belonging to Rajan gang. It was during one such hang outs, Bombay cops were kinda confused with Doval with Malhotra. It is different story that media reports claimed that after realizing who they had in their hands, Bombay cops respectfully let Doval go and took only Vicky Malhotra with them to Bombay. But, it was not before Doval made some calls. All from media reports. Who knows what is the truth behind all this?

Cheers!

The Hit Team by David B. Tinnin, Dag Christensen
Topic: Books....
The Hit Team
by David B. Tinnin, Dag Christensen


This is probably the very first book to come out investigating deaths of several prominent Palestinian revolutionaries all across Europe soon after Munich 72 massacre of Israeli athletes. Entire world had by then started to guess that those executions were the handi work of most efficient killing machine 'Mossad' of Israel as a revenge to Munich incidence. It is a different matter that several books came afterwords documenting facts and myth.

Tinnin who was a TIME correspondent back then systematically documents the time and incidents in a detached manner. Like other books, he too focuses on one of the incidents more than others. Different authors have chosen different focus for their books. Tinnin chooses botched attempt to assassinate "red prince" (aka Ali Hasan Salameh). No other book explored this incidence in rural Norway where Israeli secret team mistook a poor Moroccan waiter (Ahmed Bouchiki) to be Salameh and blew his brains out. Worse than this was the fact that several agents were arrested by Norwegian authorities and whole incident became a big embarrassment to Israel. Tinnin gives blow by blow account of the goof up and what all Israel had to do to recover from it.

History repeated again in 1997(I think) when Israeli agents bungled up when they tried to assassinate Hamas chief Khaled Mashal in Amman Jordan. This happened when Israel was assuring King Hussein of Jordan that they were improving relations with Jordan. King hit the roof and called all world leaders resulting tremendous pressure on Israel and then PM Netanyahu. Without any alternative, Israel provided antidote for the poison used in the assassination bid and released Sheikh Yasin from Israeli prison. Suffered another big embarrassment. It is a different matter that Israel later eliminated Yasin, his two successor in a short period. Mashal who survived assassination attempt moved to Syria and continues to be leader in Hamas. With Hamas in power he is sort of King maker behind Ismail Haniya who is the PM of PA.

Cheers!

Pix from California trip
Pix from CA trip

CA trip
Topic: Personal Updates
Happy memorial day!

Just back from a trip to CA. Was in BMCM retreat since 5/20.

Lot to write about and post some pix. Will do once dust settles down and work etc. comes back on track.

Cheers!!

Lightning Out of Lebanon : Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil
Topic: Books....
Lightning Out of Lebanon : Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil (Hardcover)
by Tom Diaz, Barbara Newman

This book is bound to send chill right down your spine...examines how a sleeper cell of Hezbollah operatives built their cell in the US right under the nose of different security agencies and thrived for sometime before government woke up and took some timely action...actually it was a bunch of dogged officers who took special interest to bust this cell...but only a tip of the iceberg...when the US is waging war on terror all over the world, it appears from this book and from many other books and sources that very people US is after are consolidating their bases within US and God knows when they will pull of another 9/11....

Officers who pursued these Hezbollah guys in NC and brought them to justice are really commendable....

Very well written....abundant foot notes...well researhed..concise...

Cheers!

Man in the Shadows : Inside the Middle East Crisis with a Man Who Led the Mossad
Topic: Books....
Man in the Shadows : Inside the Middle East Crisis with a Man Who Led the Mossad (Hardcover)
by Efraim Halevy

Another book from one more Mossad man...not disgruntled one like Ostrovsky or Menashe....Halevy retired as director of revered Mossad some time back....like many of his predecessor and many Israelis involved with military or intelligence, he too penned kinda of memoir....looks like approved book deals are kinda perks for these guys working for intelligence agencies....

Reads a like text book in political science...boring style...no sensationalisam....do not expect marvelous exploits of Mossad even if author being director is certainly aware of....deals with dry politics of middle east and how the author who was a diplomat before being made director of mossad continued to use his diplomacy to solve some major crisis and how he had to deal with his political masters etc....and bores normal reader who is not a political science student....

So...so...book

Profits of War : Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network
Topic: Books....
Profits of War : Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network (Hardcover)
by Ari Ben-Menashe

If you enjoy books by former spies or secret service agents blowing up lids on their operations and their masters, this book is for you.

The author, an Israeli military man, takes us thru high level machinations, profits to be made by instigating wars, opportunistic moves and what not....read to be believed....if you thought recent books from another disgruntled Mossad man Victor Ostrovsky were blasts, read this...and you will put this book on a different plane...

Unless you followed what happened with Iran hostage situation in 1980s and subsequent Nicaraguan Contra scandal etc., the material in this book may seem to dated but the author does a good job of providing enough context even if you are not very interested and know much about events from that era.

Reads like a thriller....

Cheers!

http://www.mp3sugar.com/
Topic: My vote.....
http://www.mp3sugar.com/ - good place to download some rare music (ofcourse not free). But, downloads are inexpenive with many 10+ song albums costing only 99 cents or so....excellent quality....reliable downloads...

If you are looking from oldies such as Boney M, Pet Shop Boys etc., this may be one of the few places to have full albums of those oldie groups....

Cheers!

SIFY --- good stock for speculators?
Topic: Stocks
SIFY- Indian internet service provider seems to be a good stock for short term speculation. It has had quite an erratic swings of late. It is not as expensive as REDF (Rediff). That makes it more attractive to risk. Just make sure to set right stop level.

What is the right stop loss level? Varies from person to person. My rule of thumb is for stocks bought for long term appreciation (i.e. investments), it is ok to tolerate up to 10% decline. For short term speculations, it is better to dump losers and move on at 3-5% loss depending upon money invested.

(Disclosure: Do not hold any positions in SIFY)

MSFT --- good time to accumulate?
Topic: Stocks
MSFT - Microsoft stock has seen 10+% decline over last few weeks. 11% decline after their last earning report. Stock has remained flat for last few years. However, considering Microsoft's strong position and cash pile (close to 50 bn), stock may be a bargain. P/E is only 16. With 26% payout ratio, some real returns will come back everytime dividends are paid.

(Disclosure: I own MSFT)

BioClock Light Therapy Travel System
Topic: My vote.....
BioClock Light Therapy Travel System

http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/cvs/gateway/detail?prodid=341613

Do you hate to wake to up the screaming sound of alarm clocks? do you like to wake up naturally as though first rays of sun are slowly working on your retina to provide a natural wake up call...then try this...this is a neat piece of device which packs conventional dawn simulator with some other features....

It is especially hard to wake up during winter months when there is no sun on most of the days.....falling asleep second time around 4-5 AM is disaster as next time you try to get up at 6-7 AM, your sleep would be disturbed and your work day gets affected....if you can get required hours of sleep but want to get up naturally with gradually brightening light simulating sun rise....this is a device....perfect for cold dreaded new england winters and other times too....do not expect this device to help much if you are not getting your quota of regular sleep....

cheers!

iPod 30 GB
Topic: My vote.....
Apple 30 GB iPod with Video Playback White

iPod - what an innovation...probably only Walkman from Sony had created so much buzz in the recent history. One big value add for other companies from iPod is the ability to develop many other interesting accessories which work well with iPod and provide additional functionality.

Apple certainly developed a killer device and a whole array of apps go along with it. iTunes software makes it so easy to use.

Podcasts are a big value. There are so many good podcasts on all sorts of subjects. They are all well categorized in podcast directories such as PodCast alley etc.....it is a great way to enhance knowledge in any specific area.....top schools such as Wharton, Darden, Baylor etc. put a lot of good info and make them available as podcasts.....get ivy league education for free.

all in all a great little device if you want to just enjoy music and entertainment or use it for more creative purposes.....

Apple has been quite stingy in terms of providing basic accessories....does not even come with wall charger....buy a wall charger, car charger, cassette tape adapter or FM transmitter to play in the car....you are good to go....best saying once I heard regarding how best to use commute time was -"make your car a virtual university"....iPod serves that purpose perfectly.

Bit pricey....close $300....but worth every penny....

Cheers!

Solitude & Character
Topic: Quotable Quotes
"You can do everything in solitude except build character."

What a great quote....not sure who gave this but came across this in Brian Tracy's "Accelerated learning program" audio book.

This is one of the reasons why all spiritual leaders suggest to practice your spiritual prowess by living in the society rather than dropping out of it in the name of 'sanyas'. That is more like escapism. It's only when you are with people all your abilities are stretched to their limit and you will move towards higher plane gradually.

Cheers!

Some interesting books
Topic: Audio Book
It's been while since listened to these books. Not much to write about them individually but all of them are decent.

The thinker's way : 8 steps to a richer life / by Chaffee, John.


How to talk so people listen [sound recording]: the real key to job success/
by Hamlin, Sonya.


The seven sacred truths : a lifetime of wisdom while you're young enough to enjoy it /
by Waitley, Denis.


The fourth mega-market, now through 2011 : [how three earlier bull markets explain the present and predict the future] /
by Acampora, Ralph, 1941-


Reminiscences of a stock operator /
by Lefevre, Edwin, 1871-1943.


Win your case : [how to present, persuade, prevail-- every place-- every time] /
by Spence, Gerry.

Perfectly reasonable deviations from the beaten track : selected letters of Richard P. Feynman.
Topic: Audio Book
Perfectly reasonable deviations from the beaten track : selected letters of Richard P. Feynman.
by Feynman, Richard Phillips


This is a very good book indeed. If you have read popular physics books, you probably have heard about Dr. Feynman who is certainly one of the finest physicists of 20th with so many credits starting with his work on the first ever atom bomb to leading the investigation into Challenger disaster of 1986.

Feynman is probably one of those rare who tried hard to bring physics to common man in a way lay people can understand and appreciate even some of the most complex aspects of physics. It did not stop him from using simple but very effective common ways to hammer down a point. Even when he was explaining what went wrong in Challenger disaster to senate , he put a piece of rubber in a glass of ice cold water and showed how the rubber became very brittle and lost its elasticity. He continued to say that's what precisely happened with rubber used in some o-rings of Challenger which was not up to specifications and cold weather on the day of launch made the rubber brittle which started the chain reaction and finally leading to disaster.

Feynman won Nobel prize in 65(?). He worked for a long time at California Institute of Technology () and shaped the lives of many many around him. Feynman's name was exposed to me quite early and , first since my father was a professor of physics he mentioned his names quite especially in connection with his popular science series. Secondly, my went to for his grad studies when Feynman was still alive and was a legend on campus. Another not so personal but still a reason being Srinivas Kulkarni, now a top astro-physicist at , is originally from Hubli. So when any article was written about him, he got associated with Feynman in his intro. , Dr.Kulkarni is Sudha Murthy's (wife of Infosys chairman) brother. Trivia.

Now coming to this audio book. Feynman's daughter brought out this book after his death in 1988. Feynman wrote many letters to many people ranging from very important to many common ones including a kid in Dun school in India. Letters read with right explanation and context make a very interesting listening experience.

Certainly 5 starts.

Assertive Communication Skills for Professionals
Topic: Audio Book
Assertive Communication Skills for Professionals
by Carol Price

Good one to get on top of basic assertive communication skills. Using many simulated exercises is certainly a big high light of the book. A scene requiring assertive communication is simulated and author and her group of students go about how best to address the situation. This makes you get the finer points well.

The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business
Topic: Audio Book
The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business
by Martha Stewart

More than the book, I have admired Stewart all along after having read about her and her life in other books and magazines. Having come from a regular background what she went on to accomplish is very impressive. Regardless of her conviction in stock scam etc., she managed to hold herself up and came out with this book which is not bad at all.

Stewart does a nice job of methodically going thru time tested business principles and how she applied many of them in her case.

One part that is very touching and impressive is when she chose to step down from her company when there was a lot of buzz around her during stock investigation. She explains why at sometimes you have to give up something that you hold so close to your heart in the good of bigger stuff.

Nicely done work.

Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Topic: Audio Book
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

If you read any magazine regularly or listen to NPR etc., it is unlikely that you have not heard about this book. So much buzz has been around this book written by Univ of Chicago economist who says he can find the reason given the right data. He calls himself a "causality" expert (i.e.finding the cause).

Does not live up to the hype created around it but is certainly interesting. Levitt is quite good at challenging conventional wisdom and coming up with altogether a total different reason based on facts and numbers that are available....some of the interesting things he looks at are why the overall crime in the US came down since 90s, why drug dealer continue to work when they make 1/10 of lowest hourly jobs and life ending circumstances, guns etc.....he uses the research from Sudhir Venkatesh who lived with drug peddlers of South Side of Chicago while was doing research for his Ph.d.

Overall an interesting book but could have been done much better especially since the material presented is so interesting.

Trivia - NZ
Topic: Trivia
New Zealand is the first ever country to allow women to vote.

The undercover economist : exposing why the rich are rich, the poor are poor, and why you can never buy a decent used car
Topic: Books....
The undercover economist : exposing why the rich are rich, the poor are poor, and why you can never buy a decent used car by Harford, Tim,

Quite a bit of hype surrounded this book when it came out. Had heard about this on some NPR program. Then it seemed to be a very interesting book explaining nitty gritties of economics to layman.

Lived up to expectations partially. Author does a good job of touching upon some common phenomena with inquisitive eyes of an economist. But, the explanations are not crisp enough to make a common man a common economist.

Good read though.