I vaguely remm something abt WMDs, is it what they are called?

Ashwin, what does that have to do with the topic of the post here? How is that related to the “oil” argument?

Is it typical of you to try to change the topic when you cannot deal with what is at hand?

You’re pretty good at this. Help me understand this - almost every single party in India(including most BJP leaders) opposed sending troops to Iraq because we felt it wasn’t our fight, and that our jawans would be mere cannon-fodder…but the Congress did so because “Beham Sing” got bribed with oil? Yup…makes sense.

Gotta be, Jivha - I am not saying Beham Sing is related to Congress, since I don’t know who the guy is - Congress was mentioned by name as a bribe-taker and they were totally against the war - I cannot see why it is so hard to see the corelation. You don’t have to think much to arrive at the conclusion, y’know.

Yes, pretty much every single party in India was against the war - BJP, because they were still pissed with the way Pakistan is being mollycoddled by the US, the Communists, because they haven’t yet met a dictator they couldn’t get behind and Congress, because they were being bribed by Saddam…

Whatever your view on the war, shouldn’t Indians be upset if Indian politicians are taking bribes? Oh. I forgot. Everyone takes bribes, so it’s ok, right?

I completely agree with you, MD - taking bribes from a foreign government is wrong for politicians of any country, regardless of their party affiliations and their views on anything.

Firstly, I don’t see how “oil-for-support” is any different from the “national interests” arguments put forth by USA. Would you post an entry saying that successive American governments, and companies have been getting “bribes” of oil in exchange for supporting a horrible regime in Saudi Arabia?

Secondly, Am not a fan of the Congress party, but do you believe in “guilty until proven innocent”? Considering that no one has ever heard of this Beham Singh, I would wait till the probe ends to assume anything.

Yes, pretty much every single party in India was against the war - BJP, because they were still pissed with the way Pakistan is being mollycoddled by the US, the Communists, because they haven’t yet met a dictator they couldn’t get behind and Congress, because they were being bribed by Saddam….

Have to disagree here. Don’t buy the simplistic American line of “pakistan mollycoddled” as the reason for BJP not sending troops. The reason is more to do with domestic politics. An overwhelming number of Indians thought that “It isnt our war, we shouldnt die there”. Plain and simple. Supporting the war would mean sending troops. Sending troops would mean political suicide in an election year. That is why BJP and all parties opposed the Iraq war. They were just reflecting the public opinion.

If you recall, not too many indian parties opposed the attack on Afghanistan(except of course our favourite pinkos), because the Indian public by and large supported an attack on Taliban in Afghanistan.

Gaurav, as you say it “national interests” are perfectly reasonable as an excuse to oppose anything - I just don’t want the same countries to turn around and talk about standing on principle, since that was not what it was all about.

In January 2001, Natwar Singh met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad with a letter from Ms. Gandhi and voucher for 4 million barrels of oil was issued in the name of the Congress party. This went to Sonia who sold it at market rate to: Masefield AG. The difference between the concessional price and the market price, and including the interest it is now about Rs. 528 crores. Money was kept in a Swiss bank then transferred to Cayman Island to New York. Sonia Gandhi’s bribe ended up in the Yonkers branch of HSBC bank in New York, deposited in the account of Century Development Group, Inc., account number: 652-72521-0. This is a benami account of Sonia Gandhi operated on her behalf by Zach Thomas, the New York based brother-in-law of Sonia’s assistant Vincent George. Chidambaram introduced participatory notes to launder this money. Sonia used the Fidelity Investments Company of New York to make purchases of stocks. Sonia bought real estates in US, and using Muthoot Company of Kerala to invest money in India. After Volcker Report Sonia instructed Thomas to get rid of all the records. Sonia is also implicated in the LC opened by Vitol Financiers.



:beam:

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=112612

MUMBAI, DEC 25, 2005: The former presiding officer (PO) of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), Justice Kumar Rajaratnam has advocated a clear policy on the issue of participatory notes

After the UPA come to power at the Centre, the Finance Minister broke the law by creating a financial instrument called Participatory Note[PN] which was put out of the purview of the SEBI, and hence not required to disclose the source of funds when invested in our stock exchanges. The oil bribe of Rs 300 crore or is it Rs 528 crore, collected by Sonia Gandhi ended up in HSBC bank in New York[Yonkers branch] deposited in the account of Century Development Group, Inc. account number: 652-72521-0. This is a benami account of Ms. Sonia Gandhi operated on her behalf by Zach Thomas, the New York based brother-in-law of Sonia Gandhi’s Vincent George. Sonia Gandhi used the Fidelity Investments company of New York to make extensive ‘penny stocks’ purchases to manipulate the stock market ‘boom’ and earn huge profits. Indians thus lost at both endsoil and stock market stability. Ms. Gandhi has used the Century Development outfit to purchase real estates in US, and has been permitted to channel investments of NRI to Kerala. In this connection, Muthoot Company of Kerala must be investigated as well. No wonder that Justice Kumar Rajaratnam has advocated a clear policy on the issue of PNs.
:mad: