Monthly Archives: November 2008
After Mumbai Terror Attacks what should India do?
This was the question I asked my facebook friends.
Gautam is wondering what the top 3 things India should do to make itself secure. Any ideas?
Some responses I recieved were:
compulsory military training of one year between 10th and 11th grade!!
issue a readiness guideline for its citizens
deploy forces at all the borders, the coastlines are scarily porous!
cutout useless corrupt administrative staff, hike police and security agency salaries instead.
and compulsory military time before anyone can get a party ticket.throw all the looser politicians out.
1) Change of leadership ) Change of leadership 3) Change of leadership
1. Put international pressure on Pakistan to eliminate any terror groups operating on their soil ..if they cant we can help them
2.Increase the budget for Security forces which should be able to fund the following..a crack team of NSG should be available in evry state capital with a readily available aircraft with a response time of 15 mins..as well as increase payscales hire more ..seal sea and territorial boundaries
3.Let the paramilitary and internal security agencies have greater access to intelligence from the US and Pakistan(They will have to).More imprtantly Have one agency( like NSG and not ATS..RAF etc) report into the President like the Defence Forces free from political interference (…no home ministry)
What do you think?
Mourning for Mumbai’s peace
Too shocked to blog anything today. Ever since I saw the news about the Terror attacks in Mumbai, I haven’t had the sense or the inclination to blog.
Here’s a list of my Tweets about the terror attack in Mumbai throughout the day.
Downturn Effects: Somali Pirates to Acquire Citigroup
Another hilarious email doing the rounds!
Somali Pirates in Discussions to Acquire Citigroup
By Andreas Hippin
November 20 (Bloom berg) — The Somali pirates, renegade Somalis known for hijacking ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, are negotiating a purchase of Citigroup.
The pirates would buy Citigroup with new debt and their existing cash stockpiles, earned most recently from hijacking numerous ships, including most recently a $200 million Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Somali pirates are offering up to $0.10 per share for Citigroup, pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said earlier today. The negotiations have entered the final stage, Ali said.
“You may not like our price, but we are not in the business of paying for things. Be happy we are in the mood to offer the shareholders anything,” said Ali.
The pirates will finance part of the purchase by selling new Pirate Ransom Backed Securities. The PRBS’s are backed by the cash flows from future ransom payments from hijackings in the Gulf of Aden . Moody’s and S&P have already issued their top investment grade ratings for the PRBS’s.
Head pirate, Ubu Kalid Shandu, said: “We need a bank so that we have a place to keep all of our ransom money. Thankfully, the dislocations in the capital markets has allowed us to purchase Citigroup at an attractive valuation and to take advantage of TARP capital to grow the business even faster.”
Shandu added, “We don’t call ourselves pirates. We are coastguards and this will just allow us to guard our coasts better.”
CITI IN TALKS WITH SOMALI PIRATES FOR POSSIBLE CAPITAL INFUSION
*WILL REQUIRE ALL CITI EMPLOYEES TO WEAR PATCH OVER ONE EYE
*SOMALIAN PIRATES APPLY TO BECOME BANK TO ACCESS TARP
*PAULSON: TARP PIRATE EQUITY IS AN `INVESTMENT,’ WILL PAY OFF
*KASHKARI SAYS `SOMALI PIRATES ARE ‘FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND’ ‘
*Moody’s upgrade Somali Pirates to AAA
*HUD SAYS SOMALI DHOW FORECLOSURE PROGRAM HAD `VERY LOW’ PARTICPATION
*SOMALI PIRATES IN DISCUSSION TO ACQUIRE CITIBANK
*FED OFFICIALS: AGGRESSIVE EASING WOULD CUT SOMALI PIRATE RISK
* FED AGREED OCT. 29 TO TAKE `WHATEVER STEPS’ NEEDED FOR SOMALI PIRATES
Gautam Ghosh 