Terrorism - Lessons from Israel & Russia [Part 2]

Israel can be a great example in handling terror not only for India but for the entire world. Just ponder over this. Israel is the only country in the entire world which has Jews as the majority. It is surrounded by Islamic nations some of them which have considered Israel as their arch enemy. India, with one hostile nation is suffering so much. Think of Israel which has four hostile nations as its neighbors! Though the process of creating the nation of Israel in 1948 can’t be completely justified, still once a sovereign nation is created it is the duty of the sovereign nation to protect its sovereignty at any cost.

                The main organizations which are against Israel are Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad & Hezbollah. These groups are convinced that they can’t defeat the Israeli army (Israeli Defense Force) on the battle field; therefore they target the Israeli citizens to give a deathblow to the national will. We face a very similar situation here in India. Some of our neighboring nations are convinced that they can’t win the war against our army in the battlefield. So, they target the civilians to plummet the will of the nation. Because Israel and India both face threats from Islamic terrorists who are prepared to sacrifice their lives, many of the lessons learned by Israeli counter terrorism experts over the last five decades are very relevant to India.

Hamas

Hezbollah

Shinbet

 The role of intelligence can’t be emphasized enough in the war against terrorism because an effective intelligence can easily avert many possible terrorist attacks. Israel has rightly prioritized intelligence over defense and protection. It has two intelligence agencies like that of U.S: one is for domestic intelligence (Shin Bet) and the other for foreign intelligence (Mossad). They prepare closely to prepare the threat assessment and submit the report to the prime minister every year. Israel uses both humans and technology to gather intelligence but lays more emphasis on the former.

                Israeli counter terrorism operations are designed to dislocate the infrastructure of the terrorists. This includes various other operations like attacking bomb factories, gathering intelligence, arresting key terrorist leaders. Several organizations have specialized in these operations (Sayeret Matkal). Israel tries to prevent the suicide operations by disrupting the Palestine terrorists at organizational, training stages before they become martyrs.

Sayeret Matkal

Mossad

                Israel’s expertise in aviation security is top-class which is even much ahead of the U.S. El Al’s (Israeli national airline) passenger screening is unique which relies on psychological profiling techniques backed with hi-tech equipments. The profiling process relies on access to intelligence and careful observation of passengers. This method has been very successful .The last hijacking of El Al happened in 1968 and none have happened since then despite extreme threats is a testimony to the fact. Plastic explosives can now be disguised in almost every form, including shoe soles, toys, cell phones, and clothing. So, Israeli methods stand effective despite these things.

Of course, military action alone can’t be a panacea for the epidemic of terrorism. Terrorism has many times deep roots. The problem may be political, religious or social. They have to be addressed. War against terror and treating the root causes for it should go in tandem. It is not a short term fix. As an expert in international policy of counter-terrorism observed “The fight against terrorism resembles a marathon race and not a sprint.”

In the next part of this, I will write about a few audacious operations that Israel carried out which might be unthinkable for many countries.

Terrorism - Lessons from Israel & Russia

What do Israel and Russia have to offer for us, the Indians? Indeed many things especially when it comes to dealing with terrorism. They have demonstrated to the entire world what they are capable of. We, the Indians have got to learn a lot from these two nations in dealing with terror and be able to project & protect a strong image of our nation for the terrorists and the rest of the people of the world. Not the present day image which is quite a squashy one. No wonder the terrorists are making us the soft targets.

                Both the countries have been the targets of most horrible terrorist acts from many notorious terrorist organizations. But the way in which they have handled the situations and the way in which they have avenged back make us adulate them. Adulation alone won’t serve any purpose unless lessons are learnt. It is a sad fact that even though Russia and Israel are the largest suppliers of arms to India, India has failed to tackle terrorism like these countries do. My wish is just that India instead of being just politically correct it better take all the measures necessary to guard & uphold its sovereignty.

                Here, I just want to discuss some of the bold measures that are taken by the two countries, their attitude towards terrorism with some examples

Russia

Though the Russian terrorist problem is not as diverse and as complicated as us, it is still a big threat to them.  Initially, the response of Russia was blamed and also the counter-terrorism strategy was much criticized. Because of changed & newly adopted counter-terrorism policy, Russia was able to shed its previous image and come back strongly. The main threat that Russians face is from Islamic militants in Chechnya and the broader North Caucasus region.

                They have shown their conviction to halt terrorism by taking severe measures. In 1998, they came up with federal law to combat terrorism. The law defined terrorist activities omitting political motivations for it. As we know, Russia’s intelligence agency (Federal Security Service, the successor of the world-famous KGB) is one of the world’s best. That, along with Ministry of interior is responsible for combating terror.

Russia, being a communist country has got much more freedom in acting fully against anything that is deterrent to the interests of the nation. Of course there have been cases of human rights violation. But they are not in a pitiable state our nation where there are many human rights activists who fight for the fair treatment of terrorists. This kind of phony people (in our country there is no dearth for these kinds) are more dangerous than terrorists. There are multiple factors which make us look weak. Whereas Russia guarantees its citizens “For the Russian, a strong state is not an anomaly, not something with which he has to struggle, but, on the contrary, a source and a guarantee of order, as well as the initiator and main moving force of any change”. This kind of a stance from the government is what any citizen can rejoice and the citizens would feel secure in living in such a country.

Zero- Tolerance policy for the terrorists, hostages: Russia has a hard policy when it comes to dealing with any kinds of terrorist activities. During Beslan crisis in 2005 where terrorists stormed a small school taking more than 1200 people as hostages, Vladimir Putin, the then president of Russia announced to the press “Russia does not tolerate terrorism. We deal with terrorists swiftly and completely. This is a warning to terrorists, hostages, rescue workers, bystanders...all those involved in terrorist activities: You will be shown no mercy.” Have we seen any such strong statement from our politicians ever? Even if we hear, have we seen those words translating into actions? The answer would be a resounding NO. In Moscow theater crises of 2002 or in the Beslan crisis of 2005, Russia has demonstrated its strong stance against terrorism.

Moscow theater hostage crises: In the year 2002 (October 23 to be precise) a crowded theater in Moscow was seized by Chechen separatists. They held 850 people as hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. The terrorists gave the government a deadline of a week to withdraw the forces failing which they would start killing the hostages after the deadline.

The plot of the theater

 The government came to know that the terrorists had grenades, mines and many other explosive devices lashed to their bodies (a few of them which were later found to be dummies). Over the next three days, a few hostages were released but neither the government nor the terrorists budged and the deadlock continued. What happened after that is truly unbelievable.

The government, instead of negotiating with the terrorists, had decided to take them head on. They pumped a mysterious (poisonous) gas into the theater. After the effect had taken place, the assault on the building began. The encounter between the terrorists and the military lasted for a few hours. The theater was eventually freed but with a cost. The report said that there were 162 deaths (33 rebels, 129 hostages). The striking point here is that the government never tried to negotiate with the terrorists at all. It is their policy which is very clear.

 Just contrast this incidence with Kandahar hijack crisis that we faced in 1999. We negotiated with the terrorists and budged to their demands and released the notorious terrorists. All those released terrorists are coming back strongly on India with one attack after another. Did we err? We can’t say if we assume the hostages to be our close ones.
I am fond of saying this – Every country (i.e. people of the country), especially in a democracy gets a government that it deserves!

Next, I will write about Israel which is even more fascinating. 

Alliance Memoirs - Pals

In Alliance, I have met and befriended some of the most graceful people of my life. I have my share of some beautiful experiences and some forgettable experiences. Here, I have tried to document some of the people and their personalities. I don’t like the process of describing any person because one can never do justice to it. But I have just budged to the temptation of documenting them!! First I will go with the people of our section and then the other section.

Sharath:

Here comes the first person from our core group. The group consisted of him, me, Yeshwanth, Mario, Rakesh, and sometimes Shiva.

Sharath, arguably one of the most brilliant persons I’d ever had as my classmates. No wonder he was the state topper of the entrance test for MBA!! A very sensitive person, had great attributes to be a team player, fantastic analytical mind, and had modesty.

I had had some beautiful discussions with him. I cherish one discussion in particular which I remember to this day. One day we were discussing about handling anger. I said to him that I never became angry outside though I was inside and I usually vented anger on my parents for no strong reasons. He told never to do that. Anger should be handled then and there itself and never to vent on parents. He made one statement which struck me ‘they deserve the best of you’! He was absolutely right. I valued those words and still I do.

Yeshwant:

This is one of a few people whom I admired for some qualities and disliked for some. Among all my x-classmates who were close to me, if I have seen some fearless people, I can list a few. Yeshwant comes in the forefront. I have seen him giving presentations, addressing people, interacting with people. Absolutely fearless creature he was. That’s an incredible quality in itself and can take you places. He had great ambitions, the quality of taking initiatives and getting things done.

            The thing that I disliked is that the person always indulged in self aggrandizement & carried an aristocratic bearing with him. I think there is nothing wrong in tooting one’s horns but not at the cost of others.

            Whatever! the person never envied his peer’s success, always had that khullam-khulla attitude (open book, he was), always had good intentions for his friends and I consider him to be a very reliable person among many I know.

           

Mario:

Perhaps he is the one liked by all in the class and he’d that charisma, no doubt. I remember some wise man saying that joy is contagious. If you see the guy, you would accept the statement. So cheerful he always was that I rarely saw him being in a somber mood. I loved spontaneity & the sense of humor of the person very much. He had a great passion for music. He was a kind of rock star of our class. It was always fun to discuss music with him

With Mario, aristocratic bearing manifested in a different way: Sarcasm. He was very much identified with it. If someone gets strongly identified with something, the person applies that something for everything. As Abraham Maslow put it ‘he that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail’. He had his own philosophies to live by. Though some of them seemed crazy, he articulated them well. I loved to listen to him.

He’d the wit and many a times I thought ‘you are at a wrong place buddy!’ He could have done much better things if he’d followed his passion, I would think. If he goes in the right direction, he can achieve big. Creativity as far as I think, can’t be taught. This person had it naturally. All that’s needed is nurturing and some fine tuning.

Rakesh:

Too childish at times, he was an artless person. Did not have any artificiality and was good at heart. He did not have any grand philosophies of life, was simple and so obviously cheerful.

Shiva:

A typical product of St. Joseph’s :) His English accent attracted instant notice. Often friendly, sometimes short-tempered, a foodie, a great game buff was shiva. The guy was not bored to play computer games round the clock and there are more stories about his computer and his enormous collection which can’t be discussed here.

He had good knowledge about a few subjects and was creative in creating some puzzles, which I really enjoyed solving.

Divianand and Shivank:

These are the two people who always appeared to be professional in their mannerisms, etiquettes, attire and all other aspects. They looked like the real businessmen and of course Divi was already one. Shivank was the best presenter of our class without any doubt. Divi, though came from a very affluent background and had his own company, he was always grounded, a very good character. As they say simplicity and humility are two hallmarks of greatness!

Prakash, Ramsagar, Arvind, Pavan, Sharan:

All the lords of last bench were extremely fun loving and were there in their own world. Probably this is the group which enjoyed the most in our class.

Vipin, Saurish:
Two close friends who've always been together. Vipin was a surprise package. He surprised all of us when he got placed for the highest package in Volvo !!

Abhinandan, Pavan, Prabhakar, Sanjeev, Venkatesh:

All were from North Karnataka region. One thing I loved in the people of north Karnataka is that the people from there are very sincere and honest. There is very less amount of artificiality in them as far as I have observed.

Shilpa, Mary, Megha:

3 musketeers as we would call them, they always flocked together. Shilpa’s mother tongue was telugu, mary’s tamil and megha’s marathi. Whenever they conversed with each other, they would converse in Kannada. That made me happy.

Manoj:

He’d raw talent, if fine tuned, could be of a great use. He was a voracious reader, probably numero uno in the class.

Nihal, Nidhi, Rajesh:

Another group of 3 always in their own world. I can take a bet that there was no one from our class who had talked as much as nidhi. Too verbose she was.

Srishti, Harsh, Sunitha, Monisha, Namratha:

One more group of our class. (Shivank and Sanjeev included). They mingled with the rest more than any other groups.

I’ve missed the details of two names: Monisha and Namratha. Because as they say, the best always comes in the end!!

Namratha:

One girl with whom anyone could dare to be themselves. Namratha a.k.a Nami was such a sport and a darling of all of us in the college. A fun loving, open minded, care free, a self-confessed nerd she was. One of a few companies I really enjoyed and first girl I’d ever met who liked some extreme rock bands such as cradle of filth or Children of Bodom.

Monisha:

I may become poet if I start describing her beauty!! An epitome of bewitching beauty she was. I’d many crushes in my life. The crush I had with/for her (if I may use the word) was the last and the most beautiful of my academic life. Her name, her beauty and her smile will be inscribed in my memory forever. At the end of the semester, she got engaged. Don’t know how many hearts were broken!

Now, coming to the people from the other section

Most of the people who I had know before entering the college were from the other section. I many times wished I was in the other class.

Amit, Tarun, Rasik, Rahul: These are the ones I’d met on the day one of the counseling. When the class was divided into two sections, all went to the other section and I was disappointed in the beginning.

            A special mention in Rasik: This is a typical Mr. Perfect student, may be the very quality made people dislike him. Because it was not normal to be perfect, needless to say the favorite student for most of the teachers.

Pavan, Abhin, Dilip, Mudassar: I think I got close with these guys mainly because on common specialization and most importantly because of Facebook!!

Soumya, Binitha: Quasi-sisters I fondly called them, they were like Siamese twins always together. Soumya was one of the persons whom I’d met in counseling. She had a bit of traditionalism which I admired. Rare to find these days you know!!

Anoop: This is one of the best presenters that I have ever seen, had a perfect professional look and body language. If Shivank is for B section, Anoop was for A.

Sumanth Reddy: I'd lost touch with Telugu for many years. It was revived by conversing with Reddy. 

Rakesh: Always in his own world, a reserved guy who worried, cared only about career aspects, had a good knowledge about finance, especially stock market.

Hemanth: A cheerful guy who took responsibilities and handled them well, he was a natural team player.

Rhea: This is one person with whom I could discuss Dostoevsky, Camus, Kafka or J.krishnamurti. In all my student life I had never found any person with I could share these topics. She was verbose, somewhat touchy at times. I liked talking with her 

These are just brief memories. When I write my autobiography, will go for elaborate descriptions. Anyway, will be having a rough draft in blogspot!! :)