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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (48346)	4/21/2005 7:35:14 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Ideological puritanism and global markets Iqbal Latif Humanity has sadly paid a high price for ideological wars. Terror and markets cannot co-exist. Only by uprooting terror can we ensure continued prosperity on a global scale and avoid mass poverty If you had to guess which country’s stock market has been this year’s top performer, your answer might be one of the following: France, China or South Africa. Wrong. The answer, surprisingly, is Pakistan. The nine-member MSCI Pakistan Index has soared by as much as 106 per cent in recent times, out performing the 50 countries tracked by Morgan Stanley Capital International, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley that provides widely followed benchmark indices. The knowledge revolution has taken over the world. It offers opportunities of prosperity and increased wealth formations. However, this revolution based on openness and pluralism has raised concerns in closed societies that their way of life is threatened. The result is a new kind of threat to the global system — a threat based on “Ideological Puritanism,” a phenomenon we witnessed in states like Sudan or Afghanistan. Ideological Puritanism is a far superior threat than any we have faced so far. It does not respect the idea of strategic engagement. It has the ability to divide the world into two distinctive blocs because it calls upon the faithful to defend citadels that have lost their relevance. On the one hand, these societies emphasise education and want to select the benefits that the open world offers. On the other, they wish to maintain their closeness, inequality and lack of pluralism. It is this contradiction that leads to terrorism. The interconnected free world is based on pluralistic values. For the global economy and markets to prosper and reach new heights, terrorism, fear, uncertainty and other negative factors need to be eradicated. Not only will this bring people closer together but it will also promote goodwill and peace, which are essential for a stable and progressive economy. The inverse relationship of markets with uncertainty and terror is by now well established. The global markets exemplify the stability of the world’s economy. One of the major reasons for the extraordinary performance of the Pakistani stock market in recent times has been the decision of the Musharraf government to join the nations committed to eliminating threats to the very infrastructure and foundations of the global economy. Terror and destruction are inversely related to market performances. The choice is quite clear — either a modern nation can have a thriving stock market or be a failed state. Chad, Somalia, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan are prime examples of the latter. Walk into wasteland called Afghanistan where bread and clean water are sought after and one can appreciate the benefits of being part of the global economy. When the will of the people is made subservient to megalomaniacs, societies disintegrate and degenerate. Afghanistan under the Taliban was a classic example. Humanity has sadly paid a high price for ideological wars. Perhaps the one positive aspect that humanity should learn from this experience is that global markets are a sum total of trust, respect for life, human productivity and tolerance. Remove some of these factors and markets tumble. Terror and markets cannot co-exist. Only by uprooting terror can we ensure continued prosperity on a global scale and avoid mass poverty. Today, knowledge and connectivity have extended the frontiers of global economy to new horizons. But knowledge and connectivity and prosperity, which form the basic fabric and pillars of global economy, are threatened because of uncertain terror-based environment. All the transformations from prehistoric times to the present age have had one factor in common — the intensity of savagery has been reduced continually. Undoubtedly, there have been events in the last millennium that belie this — massive atrocities were conducted in the name of war. However, the world always managed to get back on its feet due to its innate ability to recuperate and return to its trajectory of growth and development. But once again, we find ourselves grappling with new challenges and threats where the enemy is the “savage cave man” with a puritan agenda — to halt human progress. Humankind has progressed from the cave and the Stone Age to the Age of Enlightenment. But now we are being dragged back to the cave age. This is a tragedy. A revolution that is instigated by “full stomachs” initiated by a new breed of revolutionaries like OBL loaded with dollars is also a new brand of revolution in the present knowledge-based society. But it is reprehensible because it is not initiated by need of food or “want”, which are a more civilised form of dissent and a legitimate basis of revolt. “Proselytising” to the entire world their “firebrand version of extremism” that wants to take humanity back to the age of ignorance is the antithesis of a true revolution. In fact, it is a counter-revolution. No civilised person can accept it or support it. Iqbal Latif is an International businessman

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (48346)	4/22/2005 8:08:43 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

April 22- Chemical warfare begun 1915: On this day during World War I, Germany introduced the systematized use of chemical warfare when it released chlorine gas along a 6-km (4-mile) front at the Second Battle of Ypres. The wind-borne poison cloud totally broke the lines of the unprepared French Territorial and Algerian units in its path, but the attackers failed to exploit the opportunity. Although numerous chlorine gas cloud attacks were subsequently carried out by both sides, they accomplished little, because of the introduction of gas masks and other protective measures. 1889: At noon on this day, the U.S. Congress began allowing white settlers into Indian Territory, sparking a land rush in Oklahoma that, by evening, numbered in the tens of thousands. 1834: The Quadruple Alliance was formed between Britain, France, and the more liberal claimants to the thrones of Spain and Portugal. 1724: German philosopher Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). 1370: Construction began on the Bastille, the medieval fortress that came to symbolize French despotism. 1616: Spanish novelist and poet Miguel de Cervantes died in Madrid. 1073: Gregory VII (later Saint Gregory) was elected by acclamation to succeed Alexander II as pope. Joseph McCarthy Joseph McCarthy, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, helped dictate the political climate of the “Red Scare” in the United States in the early 1950s with his sensational charges of communist subversion in high government circles. A nationally televised 36-day hearing on his charges against U.S. Army officers and civilian officials began this day in 1954. In the end, though, the close-up television exposure of his truculent interrogative tactics discredited McCarthy and helped to turn the tide of public opinion against him. "I have in my hand fifty-seven cases of individuals who would appear to be either card-carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to shape our foreign policy." Joseph McCarthy, speech to U.S. Congress, February 1950