Tag Archives: WikiLeaks

Rajiv Gandhi, ‘Middleman’ For Swedish Jet Deal: WikiLeaks

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Leaked diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy on the WikiLeaks website have reportedly named the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as a middleman during the 1970s when he was an Indian Airlines pilot. The Hindu has published findings of the ‘Kissinger cables’, which claim that Rajiv Gandhi may have been middleman for Swedish Company Saab-Scania when it was trying to sell its Viggen fighter aircraft to India in the 1970s.

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The October 21, 1975 cable from the New Delhi U.S. embassy says “Swedish emboff has informed us that main Indian negotiator with Swedes on Viggen at New Delhi end has been Mrs. Gandhi’s older (sic) son, Rajiv Gandhi. Latter’s only association with aircraft industry (to our knowledge) has been as pilot for Indian Airlines and this is first time we have heard his name as entrepreneur.”

It also states that the U.S. officials have “no additional information to either refute or confirm the above information.”

Later, Saab-Scania lost out on the deal and was forced to withdraw from the “fighter sweepstakes” by the U.S. as the deal was ultimately secured the British SEPECAT Jaguar.

Gandhi later became embroiled in scandal relating to another Swedish arms manufacturer in the Bofors howtizer gun deal.

While, as of now the BJP has said that the Congress should “come clean” on the “WikiLeaks revelations” that the late Rajiv Gandhi had been a middleman for a Swedish company looking to sell fighter jets to India in the 1970s.

“The WikiLeaks revelations are serious. This is absolutely shocking revelation, let us not forget that the revelations are making two specific charges, about two of their late prime ministers Indiraji and Rajivji,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

“They are connected to the first family of Congress. All defence deals have some relation with the Congress’ first family. They should come clean on this, all the documents should be made public. We want the government, Congress and the family to come clean on it,” Javadekar told a news channel.

WikiLeaks to release over a million new docs in 2013 – Assange

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WikiLeaks to release over a million new docs in 2013 - Assange

Despite all the difficulties the WikiLeaks faced in 2012, Julian Assange vowed to publish some 1,000,000 new documents in the coming year.

In his Christmas speech he called for people to continue fighting for democracy “from Tahrir to London.”

he cyber world is abuzz with speculation about possible topics of an upcoming speech by the WikiLeaks founder. Julian Assange is due to appear on a low-level balcony of London’s Ecuadorian Embassy at 19:00 Thursday to deliver his Christmas speech.

Not much is known about the subject of Assange’s address, but he recently confirmed intentions to run as a candidate for the Australian Senate in 2013.

Speculation is also rife that he will use the occasion to officially launch a WikiLeaks political party.

WikiLeaks’ Twitter has taken on a festive spirit ahead of the Australian’s public appearance, tweeting, “Julian Assange to give Xmas speech at Ecuador Embassy. Bring candles & come enjoy some mulled wine!”

Will Name Indians with Swiss Accounts in 2012: Julian Assange

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The names of Indians holding Swiss bank accounts may be revealed by WikiLeaks sometime next year, its founder Julian Assange said.

Assange, who is under house arrest in the UK, said this through videoconferencing during a conference held in Delhi , that whistleblower Rudolf Elmer, who passed CDs containing information to him, is undergoing trial and it would not be proper to make disclosures at this juncture.

Asked if names of Indians holding Swiss accounts will be revealed in the coming year, he said, “yes” .
Information about such accounts “which will affect India” will be revealed in the coming year, he said.

He said since Elmer was jailed and facing legal action, he would not like to comment on the issue at the moment.
“For that reason, unfortunately , I cannot speak about information related to Swiss accounts in great detail… we must protect our people,” he added.

Assange said governments in some countries are “sucking out” data from emails and internet transactions and passing on this “economic intelligence” to companies like Wal-Mart . He made some startling revelations about “hacking” and “hijacking” of data of unsuspecting people. Assange maintained that NTRO, which he termed was India’s equivalent of National Security Agency of the US, was engaged in similar kind of surveillance under the cover of keeping track of “Islamic terror” .

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Why U.S. has to Worry about Hindu Terrorism?

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Is it ironical when United States terms India‘s indigenous terror as Hindu terrorism as its President Barack Obama preaches a noble concept of ‘Terrorism has no religion’. Amidst heated arguments on the controversial topic of ‘saffron terrorism’ in the country, the latest U.S. Congressional report on India says militant Hindu nationalist groups are planning on launching domestic terrorist attacks. The report, however, acknowledge that ‘Hindu Terrorism’ has became a new and highly controversial phrase in India’s national language.

U.S. Hindu Terrorism

The independent and bipartisan wing of the U.S. Congress, CRS prepares periodic reports on various issues of interest to the lawmakers and the India report was made public by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). “Even more recent are overt signs that India is home to militant Hindu nationalist groups intent on launching domestic terrorist attacks. In September 2008, seven people were killed by two bomb blasts in Maharashtra’s Malegaon, a hotbed of Hindu-Muslim communal strife,” the report said. “Many Indian observers warned of the danger of a ‘militant majoritarianism’ among Hindu nationalists that threatens to rend the secular fabric of the nation,” reports PTI quoting the CSR study.

The term Saffron Terrorism entered into the public discussions following the 29 September 2008 western India bombings that killed 8 persons and injuring 80. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram gave the spark as he alarmed the chiefs of State police forces, security and intelligence officials of the new threat of ‘saffron terrorism.’ “There is this recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past,” he said.

Congress saffron terrorism

According to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi reportedly told U.S. ambassador Timothy Roemer that saffron terror worries him more than the terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. It quotes Rahul as saying, “there was evidence of some support (for the LeT) among certain elements in India’s indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalized Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community.”

Sonia shared no different view as her son and said the RSS is sowing the seeds of hatred in the minds of a new generation and says, “This is the biggest danger for us.”

However, Congress’ outspoken leader Digvijay Singh objects the use of saffron terror’ phrase and says, “I have objection to the use of caste, colour and religion to describe terror.” “It can be called ‘sangh terrorism’ instead of saffron terrorism,” he clarifies.

Home Minister’s remark was received with severe criticism from the main opposition BJP and the Hindu radical outfit RSS. BJP President Nitin Gadkari said, “A criminal or a terrorist does not belong to any religion, or caste nor does terrorism have a colour. By using the term ‘saffron terrorism’ the Home Minister P. Chidambaram has insulted Indian culture.”

Advani

L K Advani lashed out at the congress government for the use of such a frame and said terrorism should not be tagged to any particular religion.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi asked from an apology from the Prime Minister for the use of saffron terrorism and said, “Is not there a saffron flag on a temple? Would you call it a centre of terrorist activity? Swami Vivekanand, Dayanand Saraswati, Shankracharya, Swami Ramdas and others who have sacrificed for the country wore saffron clothes. Are you calling them terrorists? Every Congressman will have to answer this. And the Prime Minister has to apologies to the people of the country for this.”

Spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar said, “There is nothing like saffron terrorism. A saint can never be a terrorist, but the possibility of an extremist being active under the guise of a ‘sadhu’ cannot be ruled out.”

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury feels the necessity to change the mindset of associating terror with religion. “There is need to change the thought that terrorism is religion-based,” he said.

The U.S. report on Hindu terrorism came in as a surprise for many as it reflects a different picture of India to the world. Attributing terror attacks to religion, regardless of the color or caste, should be discouraged.

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Narayana Murthy’s revelations in WikiLeaks

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Infosys‘ plan to expand in China was hampered by clients’ concerns about China’s poor intellectual property protection. This was what Infosys cofounder NR Narayana Murthy told US diplomats in 2007 as per a cable from the Consulate in Chennai released by WikiLeaks.

“In a wide ranging discussion with US, Murthy discussed the state of Infosys, with particular emphasis on its expansion plans outside of India. He admitted that the expansion plans hadn’t been going as well as he hoped.

Murthy said his clients, particularly European and American ones, are reluctant to have their work done in China due to their concerns about China’s poor intellectual property protections,” the cable stated.

The cable dated December 14, 2007, is titled ‘Infosys founder on IPR in China, hiring in US.’ It is classified as ‘unclassified/for official use only.’

Fake Finacle

 

Murthy said he understood the misgivings of his clients and narrated his experience in China to show how rampant piracy was.

Stepping out of his central Beijing hotel to go for a stroll with Peter Bonfield, then CEO of British Telecom, they encountered a sidewalk vendor selling pirated Microsoft and Windows products. Bonfield jokingly asked the vendor if he had Finacle (an Infosys banking software product) and the vendor replied: “I can get it for you tomorrow.”

Murthy further explains how the company has to spell out all of the locations where the client’s work will be done in the master agreement and that clients were initially reluctant to allow China to be included.

Indian employees value institution

 

Murthy, however, was optimistic about the long-term potential of China. As per the cable, he stated: “There is nobody better than the Chinese at solving a problem once they are serious about it.” Murthy said it would take four to five years for the Chinese to overcome that reluctance.

There were other concerns for Infosys to expand in China. Murthy told the diplomats that though qualified graduates were available, those with sufficient English skills commanded a high premium. He said retention was more difficult in China than in India, as Chinese professionals are more willing to leave for a higher salary where Indian ones value institutions a bit more.

Increase US hiring

During the interaction, Murthy is said to have talked of how Infosys planned to dramatically expand its hiring of US graduates from 300 per year to 3,000 in 2008. He said 95% of the US hires would work in the US, with a small number sent to work in other countries.

Murthy was philosophical when discussing the effect of rupee appreciation on Infosys. He acknowledged that the appreciation of the Indian rupee had hurt his company, but did not appear overly concerned.

He admitted that it has a negative impact on the company’s profitability, but said: “One of our founding principles is to focus on things that you can control;” the currency appreciation is a “macroeconomic effect, which we have to live with.”

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