Fresh UK military recommendations that potential Taliban recruits in Afghanistan should be bought off with 'bags of gold' smacks less of a new policy and more a repetition of failed initiatives from the past.

Bribes instead of guns is an idea as old as time that has been used in battlefields throughout the world. Ninth century French rulers used bags of silver to buy off invading Vikings forces. In the 1950s it was common practice for Egyptian forces fighting in the Yemen to bribe the opposition to retreat rather than engage in a bloody and protracted battle.

When U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan in 2002, American commanders enthusiastically endorsed the idea of buying off local warlords to persuade them to abandon their support for the indigenous Taliban led-army.

So it was hypocritical, to say the least, for policy makers in Washington to raise their eyebrows when it was disclosed last October that Italian officers (and possibly Canadians as well), had paid protection money to prevent attacks on their troops serving in Afghanistan.

Now it is the turn of the British. A new army field manual published in late November states, 'Properly spent within a context of longer-term planning, money offers a cost-effective means for pulling community support away from the insurgents and provides the military with a much-needed economy of force measure.'

Major General Paul Newton, who launched the manual, was even more explicit, explaining, 'The best weapons to counter insurgents don't shoot. In other words use bags of gold in the short-term to change the security dynamics.'
The strategic re-thinking that lies behind the field manual's doctrine implies that Nato agrees it is not winning the war in Afghanistan and that some sort of future accommodation with the Taliban is more than likely.

It remains to be seen how this will square with Washington's stated aim of rooting out the extremist Islamic ideology associated with the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies who, if some American policy maker are to be believed, are within an ace of taking over Pakistan and its nuclear assets.

Making up with the Taliban also poses problems for neighbouring India which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in reconstruction projects, ranging from new schools to highways and electricity generation projects, in support of the Karzai government. All of this will amount to nothing as and when, and if, Karzai is swept out and a new Taliban government takes power once again in Kabul.

France ratifies Indo-French N-deal

Crossing a significant milestone, the Indo-French civil nuclear agreement was unanimously adopted by the French Parliament, paving way for companies to build nuclear power plants in India. The French National Assembly on November 24 adopted a law authorising the ratification of the Cooperation Agreement between India and France on the Development of Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, a French Embassy statement said.

The French Senate had adopted the law on October 15. "The unanimous vote by both Assemblies is an important milestone in the development of the civilian nuclear cooperation between France and India," the statement said.
France was the first country to sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India within days of the lifting of the international nuclear trade embargo on India last year. French nuclear supplier Areva has been allocated the nuclear project site at Jaitapur in Maharashtra to initially build two power plants.

Flying Sikhs & RAF: old bonds

The New York-based Sikh Art and Film Foundation has been revealed as the sponsor of a unique documentary film about British-trained Sikh fighter pilots who fought in the First and Second World Wars.

Set up in 2006 to promote awareness of Sikh history and culture, the foundation has so far hosted a Sikh art exhibition as well as three Sikh film festivals. Corporate sponsorship has been made available from such diverse sources as Air India and Citibank.

The 'Flying Sikhs: A History of Sikh Fighter Pilots' documentary includes unique footage of heroes, such as retired Air Chief Marshall Arjan Singh, DFC, who fought on the Burma front in World War Two, as well as the India-China and India-Pakistan wars, and Squadron Leader Mohinder Singh Pujji, DFC, who is credited with saving a 300-strong battalion of American soldiers given up for lost in the Burmese forest.

Pujji, aged 91, trained in India before volunteering for the RAF in 1940. He suffered irreparable lung damage over European skies because his insistence on wearing his turban meant he could not be fitted with an oxygen mask while fling at high altitudes.

Pride of place also belongs to Rawalpindi-born Hardit Singh Malik, subsequently appointed as India's high commissioner in Canada and ambassador to France, who joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and is credited with shooting down many Fokker fighter planes during the First World War.

The film is directed by a British Sikh, Navdeep Singh Kandola, who says he hopes the documentary will be used by the RAF to encourage more members of the Sikh community to volunteer for the British Air Force.

In a recent interview with the UK media, Kandola was quoted as saying that few in the UK remembered the Sikh community's contribution and sacrifice during two world wars. 'Yet during the Second World War in particular, the Sikh contribution was very much recognised and respected…Sikh fighter pilots…were very well known and often got ushered to the front of cinema queues or invited to eat free in restaurants.'

Complimenting South Asian geriatricians

The unique 60 year contribution to geriatric care in the UK made by doctors of South Asian origin has finally been recognised, thanks to research commissioned by the UK's Open University.

The research led by Professor Joanna Bornat and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council was based on interviews with retired and overseas-trained doctors from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Myanmar.
Aged between 40 and 91, each of the interviewed doctors had worked as a geriatrician after following a long standing medical tradition of migrating from South Asia to the UK.

Partly because of staff shortages, and also discrimination, these doctors ended up being included in what was seen as a mobile army of labour that could be deployed in the less popular specialities of the medical hierarchy, which included geriatrics.

The result was that by 1974 some 60 per cent of consultant geriatric posts in the British National Health Service were filled by overseas trained graduates, compared to 3 per cent in general medicine and 9 per cent of all NHS consultants.

Despite prevailing attitudes that viewed geriatrics as a second class service for second class clients by second class doctors, none of the interviewed doctors expressed regret for the way their professional lives developed within the NHS.

Their sheer professionalism is evident from the response of one Mumbai-born doctor who told interviewers, 'I had to stay here. And I was never going back. I had a lot to go back to, wealth, position, knowing people. I would have risen there that much better, financially much better…I hope they don't change it. There is no institution like National Health.'

Despite being relegated to the sidelines of the NHS, it was these South Asian-born doctors who helped to develop specialist care for the elderly in British hospitals.

Commenting on their contribution, research team leader Professor Bornat said, 'We wanted to record and highlight the huge contribution these doctors have made in shaping medical provision in the UK, and their experiences of working in the NHS, before these first hand accounts were lost forever. Their determination and dedication has meant that the quality of care for our older population has progressed at a truly tremendous rate.'

Polarising politician

Superlatives are never in short supply when it comes to describing Thailand's fugitive former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in exile in Dubai, but who has recently been appointed economic adviser to the Cambodian government.

One of Thailand's richest businessmen (he made his money in telecommunications) and most controversial politicians — loved and hated in equal measure — Thaksin is now at the centre of a diplomatic row that casts a shadow over ties between Bangkok and Phnom Penh and threatens the political calm of Southeast Asia.

Thaksin was prime minister of Thailand until he was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006. A Thai court subsequently sentenced him to two years in jail on a conflict of interest charge.

The deposed prime minister's response was to relocate himself in Dubai from where has used the Internet to remain in close and constant touch with his many supporters. He has also continued to play politics by openly expressing his ardent support for Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, the son and anticipated successor of the elderly King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

But it was Thaksin's mid-November visit to Cambodia at the invitation of his friend and golfing partner, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, that has raised the stakes of the political game.

Soon after his arrival dozens of Thaksin's diehard supporters from the 'Red Shirt' movement crossed the border to embrace their hero and welcome him back to Southeast Asia. But fears of political instability also affected the Thai stock market, which crashed by 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, this ostensibly private visit by an ex-prime minister at the invitation of his long standing personal friend enraged Thai officials who viewed the trip as an act of calculated provocation.

Their concerns were seemingly confirmed when Prime Minister Hun offered Thaksin the job of economic adviser, while simultaneously rejecting Bangkok's request to have him extradited. Enraged Thai officials from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva downwards have vowed retaliatory measurers, including low interest loans to build roads in Cambodia.

None of this will matter if and when Thaksin returns to power. As he said in his upbeat speech in Phnom Penh, entitled 'Cambodia and the world after the financial crisis', attended by a large gathering including senior Cambodian government officials, 'A prosperous neighbour means better opportunities for us to grow together.'

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