Saturday, October 22, 2016

Comparison





"Earlier Israel used to be spoken of like this. Now everyone knows our army can do it too and is no less capable," PM Modi told a large gathering in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Israel is known for its targeted military strikes against enemy countries and militant outfits.
While Mr Modi meant well, the circumstances in which Indian Army and IDF operate are very different.  Indian Army (third largest in the world) operates against a much more organized enemy (seventh largest in the world), in varied terrains, as opposed to IDF which fights largely weaker opponents like Hezbollah, Fatah, PLO, Hamas. The Egyptian army is no longer a threat, Syrian army is caught up in a brutal civil war, Iran limited by sanctions, Iraq a wasteland. India’s cross border surgical strikes on 29/09/2016 were much better than IDF in recent times because of the fact that there were no casualties.
But then,
Let me first tell you one thing: It doesn't matter what the world says about Israel; it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive.” – David Ben Gurion

What makes Israel a force to reckon with is summed in the thought above. They make the attackers on their country pay a much heavier price than what they can afford. And they do not give any importance to what the world will say about their actions. Ofcourse, being on the right side of USA’s opinion does help, but what they have achieved with a limited but determined population and more than half the world against them is nothing sort of remarkable.
And that they are a competent force in defence manufacturing. DRDO is a pittance compared to IMI. And inspite of being a desert, its Indian delegations who go there to study irrigation methods. What could be more ironic and shameful for us that a tiny dry nation, smaller than most of our districts has done more remarkably in agriculture, science and defence manufacturing  than us, and commands more fear and respect as well. As David Ben Gurion said when asked as to why he chose to build his home in the harsh Negev desert, “Zionism is building something with your own effort and capability. Its not buying or inheriting something from someone.” When will we see even a fraction of this in our leaders who have vote bank politics and freeloading in their DNA?
Below are a few examples of Israel’s retribution against their enemies:-

Operation Wrath of God

This did not involve any military, but remains probably the best example of targeted retaliation. It was a covert operation by Mossad to eliminate the people responsible for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre where 11 members of Israeli wrestling team were killed by Black September terrorists at their Olympic village residence. Authorized by PM Golda Meir in 1972 autumn, it lasted well over two decades.
Systematically, the members of Palestine groups such as PLO and Fatah were located and killed all over Europe, via explosions or good old shooting. Mossad just didn’t stop with those responsible for the attacks, they also wiped out much of the PLO and Fatah network in Europe. Operation Spring of Youth is considered a part of this , where IDF special forces eliminated nearly 100 PLO operatives in Beirut in 1973, with just two of its personnel killed. Former PM Ehud Barak was one of the participants.
There still remains a lot of controversy on who actually carried out the killings and how many people were involved. The novel “Vengeance” which was adapted for the screen twice, speaks of a five member hit team, but it is widely refuted by Israeli officials. Probably the truth will never come out, and that itself shows the operation’s success.

Operation Opera/ Babylon 

Construction for the 40-megawatt light-water nuclear reactor, via the technical help of France, began in 1979 at the Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Center near Baghdad. Iraq and France both maintained that the reactor was for peaceful purposes, but Israel is not known for even remotely be assured by its mortal enemies. Even before the attack, Israeli agents sabotaged the Osirak reactor waiting for shipment in France. The preparations for the attack with the full scale replica of the reactor caused the deaths of three Israeli pilots. Diplomatic measures were first used, but were unsuccessful because France refused to stop aiding the Iraqi nuclear programme. Mossad also assassinated an Eqyptian nuclear physicist connected with this plant, prior to making this attack.
On 7th June 1981 ,eight Israeli F-16 fighter jets, protected by six F-15 escorts, dropped 16 2,000-pound bombs on the nearly completed Osirak nuclear reactor at the Tuwaitha complex in Iraq. The whole operation took less than two minutes to execute.  What was surprising was that this was executed after Iran's unsuccessful Operation Scorch Sword operation had caused minor damage to the same nuclear facility the previous year, the damage having been subsequently repaired by French technicians. Also surprising was that the site was over 1600 km from Israei air bases , and did not allow any chance of refueling as it involved crossing over Saudi and Jordanian airspace. Ten Iraqi soldiers and one French civilian were killed, drawing worldwide condemnation for the incident.

Operation Entebbe

It was a counter terrorist operation to free the 106 mostly Jewish passengers in a hijacked Tel Aviv- Paris Air France flight in Entebbe, Uganda, on 4th July 1976. The Palestinian hijackers were supported by Idi Amins Ugandan forces and the hostages were kept in a terminal in the airport. The plane was hijacked on 27th June and on 28th June,  PFLP-EO hijackers issued their demands: Ransom of $5 million USD for the release of the airplane, release of 53 Palestinian and Pro-Palestinian militants, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel , failing which, they would begin to kill hostages on 1 July 1976. Most non Israeli hostages were released, After diplomatic negotiations failed, the Israeli authorities decided that attack was the only solution. Mossad built an accurate picture of the whereabouts of the hostages, the number of hijackers, and the involvement of Ugandan troops from the released hostages in Paris. A French-Jewish passenger who had a military background provided detailed information about the number of weapons carried by the hostage-takers. Israeli firms were involved in building projects in Africa during the 1960s and 1970s and while preparing the raid the Israeli army consulted with the large Israeli construction company that had built the terminal where the hostages were held. IDF erected a partial replica of the airport terminal with the assistance of civilians who had helped build the original in order to practice the raid. A task force of 100 personnel was involved in the raid. Kenyan govt was persuaded by Israeli govt to use Kenya for intelligence gathering and also as base for landing of the aircraft to be used in the raid. 100 personnel were involved in the raid, including the paratroopers and Sayaret.
The Israeli forces landed at Entebbe on 3 July, bypassing radar detection by Egyptian, Sudanese, and Saudi Arabian forces, by flying at barely 30m over the Red sea . Four Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft had secretly flown to Entebbe Airport at midnight without being detected by Entebbe air traffic control. Lookalikes of a black Mercedes car used by President Idi Amin vehicle and accompanying Land Rovers were brought along,  to bypass security checkpoints. When the C-130s landed, Israeli assault team members drove the vehicles to the terminal building in the same fashion as Amin’s motorcade. Still the guards got suspicious. They were swiftly neutralized with unsupressed gunfire. The Israelis then advanced swiftly towards the terminal, before the rest of the hijackers could be alerted by gunshots. The seven hijackers were killed, three hostages dying in the crossfire. The other three C-130s carried armoured patrol cars to provide cover during refueling. 11 Ugandan Air Force’s MiGs were destroyed to prevent any pursuit. Ugandan soldiers from control towers opened fire, killing Yonathan Netanyahu (future PM Benjamin’s elder brother), the only IDF casualty in the operation. The retaliatory gunfire killed many Ugandan troops. The Israelis finished evacuating the hostages, loaded Netanyahu's body into one of the planes, and left the airport. The entire operation lasted less than an hour, the assault being barely 30 minutes. 102 out of 106 hostages were rescued.


Operation Orchard

This was was an alleged Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria, which occurred just after midnight (local time) on September 6, 2007. Syria denied that it was a nuclear reactor and did not cooperate with IAEA. Nearly four years later, in April 2011, the IAEA officially confirmed that the site was a nuclear reactor. Both CIA and Mossad had blacked out the news of this attack even occurring for more than seven months.
Since 2001, Mossad was tracking the frequent meetings of Syrian and North Korean officials, and also the then newly designated president Bashar al Assad. On 22/04/2004, flammable cargo exploded at Ryongchon Station in North Korea. The casualties and damage caused in this was massive and the North Korean government blacked out any news of it. In early 2006, Mossad bugged the laptop of a Syrian diplomat in London  and in it,  officials found blueprints and hundreds of pictures of the Kibar facility in various stages of construction, and correspondence. One photograph showed North Korean nuclear official Chon Chibu meeting with Ibrahim Othman, Syria's atomic energy agency director. Though the Mossad had originally planned to kill the official in London, it was decided to spare his life following the discovery.It was also discovered that Iran was involved in this with a funding of USD 1 billion. Mossad then spent the months leading to the attack monitoring the site via satellite, getting pictures. An arms dump in Muslimiya was blown up, kllling 15 Syrian soliders and injuring 50 civilians. Sayaret Matkal reconnaissance unit covertly raided the suspected Syrian nuclear facility and brought nuclear material back to Israel. Two helicopters ferried twelve commandos to the site in order to get photographic evidence and soil samples. oil analysis revealed traces of nuclear activity. Its said that once material was tested and confirmed to have come from North Korea, the United States approved an Israeli attack on the site. 
Seven F-15 Ra’am jets, from the  Israeli Air Force 69th Squadron armed with laser-guided bombs, escorted by F-16I Sufa fighter jets and a few ELINT aircrafts exceuted this operation. Israeli intelligence may have used technology similar to the Suter airborne network attack system to neutralize Syrian radars. This would make it possible to feed enemy radar emitters with false targets, and even directly manipulate enemy sensors.  European sources claimed that the Syrian air defense network had been deactivated by a secret built-in kill switch activated by the Israelis. When the aircraft approached the site, the Shaldag commandos directed their targeting laser at the facility, and the F-15Is released their bombs. The facility was totally destroyed. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert called the Turkish PM Erdogan, explaining him his country’s actions, and advised Assad not to draw attention to this incident.           


As seen in the examples above, India still has a long way to go before it can match Israel in eliminating its enemies anywhere in the world. It has to put its own interests and national security above its image and has to have a population which is as dedicated to its well being as Israel’s is. If  a tribe of persecuted people, homeless and scattered like dust for two millennia can change a desert settlement into a glorious nation, what will take the people of the biggest democracy in the world to cast aside their pettiness to do the same?
"I prefer a powerful and proud Jewish State that is hated by the entire world than an Auschwitz that is loved by one and all"- Meir Kahane.

We have to learn from Meir Kahane’s quote that honour doesn’t come with beggar parties like NAM or Aman ki Asha. It comes with not being afraid to bleed and making the enemy bleed even more. 


Friday, October 14, 2016

Cost





There are two kinds of costs to be discussed here

  • The cost of attacking India
  • The cost of bravado filled celebration.



Cost of attacking India

The cost of attacking India is fairly cheap. The cost which India pays for each terrorist attack or war enforced on it by Pakistan or anyone else is staggering. India has can be and has been bled horribly with the minimum investment by its enemies since more than a millenium. While its true that we overcome the challenges, the damages that are done leave a permanent mark.

What did the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts cost Pakistan? A few hundred kilos of RDX and a few people recruited to plant it and of course, money needed to bribe the corrupt life enforcement. India paid with  crores of rupees worth of damages, 257 lives and hundreds more injured and scarred for life. Add to it the millions spent in trying the accused in the next two decades. The 2006 local train bombings were even more cheaper to execute, required only a few pressure cooker bombs and over 209 lives were lost and 700 injuries.

What did the 26 Nov 2008 Mumbai attacks cost Pakistan? Ten jihadis and their arms and ammunition. Cost to India was 167 civilians, 20 odd policemen and two NSG personnel, thousands of crores of property damage, and India’s financial capital brought to a standstill for 48 hours.

The dozens of terrorist attacks in India throughout the 1990s and 2000s, whether by the way of recruiting various jihadis in Kashmir (or sending mercenary mujahideen or even Pak security personnel disguised as ones) or via bombings in various cities across India have been nothing in terms of cost, effort,  investment for Pakistan in comparison to the destruction that they have caused. Even the Kargil war of 1999, was more damaging to the resources of India. Pakistan got three or four batallions in the beginning on the peaks which allowed them to virtually cut off NH1 from the rest of the country. India lost a great deal of soldiers and resources in reconquering lost territory during the sixty day war.

What does it cost to smuggle in Bangladeshis as vote banks? Nothing, compared to the price which India pays in return , via the demographic disaster which has befell eastern India where the carving out of a third Islamic republic is no longer an exaggerated possibility.

Our enemies are so lucky, most of the times, all they need to send is weapons here, either to separatists in Nagaland or Manipur or Assam or to Naxalites who plague more than 100 plus districts in the country. And funding here, to the numerous NGOs, media outlets, ‘’activists’’, politicians, officials, institutions or any other entity, to do their bidding and hollow out the country from within.

Pakistan or any other enemies have to be made to pay the price for attacking India. Until they bleed more for their attack on India than India itself, India will know no peace. Until the cost of attacking India is unaffordable in men and material for our enemies (both internal and external ones) , there will be more attacks on India, its that simple.









The cost of bravado filled celebration

Our celebratory self congratulating mood makes it certain that any good done by our forces is lost in mud slinging by vested interests or any further such activities are made exceedingly difficult.

On the recent 29th September cross border surgical strikes, the whole country went beserk. Media fueled this hysteria, by having hyperactive anchors screaming the limited details available to them. Add to that some politicians (who need to have their parentage and DNA verified) denying this strike, asking for proof of it. Is this some reality show going on?



The way some people in the ruling party celebrated this was pathetic. The only thing more pathetic than it was the former ruling party citing execution of Ajmal Kasab as some kind of war victory. 




“Everything is Bollywood tamasha for us”





“Yes we need one more surgical operation. Of such people’s brain”.








And if this was not enough, look at this gem:-












The stupidity of this country is baffling and infuriating.

Is anything like SAS/ Sayaret Matkal/Delta Force even possible in India? These are three examples of limited personnel special forces which indulge in covert ops, leave no traces behind, their activities denied by even their country’s defence forces. And these are the precise reasons why they are so effective. Whacking your enemy bad and then acting like you never did it, gives you more opportunity to repeat the same over and over again. 


The armed forces are under no obligation to publicise anything they do. We have already seen what harm can be done by a particular breed of journalists who covered the Kargil war and 26/11 attacks. Its time that such coverage is put to an end.


Another ridiculous idea the media promotes is the common man fighting terrorism. The only way the common man can fight terrorism is by getting shot or getting blown up and becoming the latest statistics of terror. How can the common man, who cant even allowed by law to carry a 10 cm knife to protect himself or stand up to someone harassing his family , fight terrorism? Its ridiculous and insulting at the same time. 


Sorry temporary patriots, but even fifty surgical strikes are not going to stop Pakistan and its various benefactors from attacking us. They do not have any dearth of funds or cheap human resources nor traitors in our midst to achieve their targets. We of course as a society have the dearth of understanding the challenges we are facing. While its true that India today is much stronger to combat them, there is a very long way to go, both militarily and diplomatically. Knee jerk reactions aren’t a long lasting solution.

So instead of chest thumping and spreading stupid memes on web, try to do the following:-  


Destroy the elite who promote terrorism, either by boycott or by ballot. Vote out the leaders who promote nonsense in the name of secularism. Look beyond freebies and hollow promises. Cast your vote for betterment, don’t vote your caste for entitlement.Boycott the media that undermine national image, boycott the actors who try to underplay Pakistan’s role in spreading terror in India. Trash films that glorify subversive elements. Trust me, Bollywood is crap. There is much better cinema available , you just need to look for it.

Don’t trust or spread rumours. If the people incharge of keeping the country safe were as naïve as you claim in your social media posts, you would have ceased to exist a long time ago.


Remember the soldier in peacetime as well. He’s a person just like you, but exceeds you because duty and honour aren’t just punchlines for him, nor is patriotism mere chest thumping.


Try  learn about the world around you, try to read more about different cultures, especially that of your enemy.  Don’t be too self absorbed in yourself. Understand where your country and you stand in the world. If you have a chance to go abroad, learn that country’s history, culture and its relationship with your country in brief. Don’t lose any opportunity to explain your country’s stand on various issues if you are a part of a significant social circle abroad.

And last but not the least, stop asking for instant  results. Societal changes are seen over a lifetime, not in a government’s tenure. You are the change, not the government.