We live in a universe with rich manifestations of incredible equilibrium. The universe, the galaxies, the stars, the planets and their moons, all maintain a cosmic balance within and around themselves. Deeper into every being, protons, neutrons and electrons maintain a rhythmic harmony.

The cycle of life and death in itself is a classic balancing phenomenon so essential for the survival of our planet. From our bones to dust and our moon to the cosmos we witness, experience and live illustrations of astonishing balance. So, we should be the master balancers in our personal lives, in our society and our world.

But, are we? Have we been able to balance things that we control, manage, influence or deliver?

Food worth over $750 billion gets wasted a year on our planet. On the other hand, one out of every eight human beings is severely undernourished! Over five million children die every year for lack of proper food!

Over 40 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the United States alone, a country where over 50 million people face hunger! Where is the balance?

The wealth held by the three richest men on earth is more than the GDP of countries like Iraq or Kazakhstan. Where is the balance?

From Seoul to New Delhi to Chicago…repulsive images of skyscrapers towering over pathetic shanties with half-naked children fighting over scant resources flashed by. Haven’t we bungled it somewhere big time?

More: Times of Oman

Marking a first in the history of UN peacekeeping, an all-female Formed Police Unit arrived in Liberia on 30 January to strengthen the rule of law and maintain peace in the war-torn country as part of the United Nations Mission in Liberia(UNMIL).

UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein

They also jointly organized a summit on “Women in Peacebuilding” in New Delhi in February 2013, which included the participation of 100 women peacekeepers, peace mediators, political authorities, senior government officials, academia, and civil and military personnel from UN Missions. It generated momentum and political will to advocate for more women in peacekeeping, and resulted in an Outcome Declaration endorsed by the Chief of the Indian Army, Indian Permanent Mission and DPKO.

More: In India, Special Trainings and All-Women Peacekeeper Units Tackle Sexual Violence

Russia’s new T-50 stealth fighter is fast, maneuverable, heavily-armed and hard to detect on radar. In theory.

But according to Indian air force officials, in practice the Sukhoi-made stealth jet is also too expensive, poorly engineered and powered by old and unreliable engines.

The Indians’ complaints illustrate the yawning gulf between stealth warplane design and the actual production of radar-evading jets. In other words, it’s one thing to sketch an advanced warplane on paper. It’s quite another to build one and get it to work.

All new aerospace development is difficult and many planes get poor reviews early in testing. But the gripes coming out of New Delhi are particularly worrisome for the Russians.

I am reminded of the glowing reports of the T64 & T80 tanks that we used to get as justifications for the Reagan build up when the reality of their performance was significantly more mundane.

The idea of Soviet and Sino steath fighters are used to sell the F22 & F35 as necessary as well when it may well be that we can already handle them with much less expensive options based on the F16 & F18 instead.

medium.com

This one should be harder to ignore than your average traveler… If drugs or contrband was found I can see the strip search. But a paperwork issue? WTF?

NEW DELHI — India reacted Tuesday to the arrest of one of its diplomats in New York last week by snubbing a U.S. Congressional delegation, removing security from outside the U.S. Embassy and threatening to treat U.S. diplomats the same way it says its envoys were treated by America.

The issue has become a major story, with India’s often-breathless media calling the situation a “full blown diplomatic war,” while National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon was quoted describing the U.S. action as “barbaric” and “despicable.”

The incident was sparked off when Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general, was arrested last week by New York police on charges of visa fraud. Indian media reports say she was handcuffed, strip-searched at a New York police station and put in a lockup with common criminals and drug addicts.

A State Department spokeswoman in Washington said Monday that standard procedures were followed in Khobragade’s arrest. The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi had no immediate comment.

More: India Snubs U.S. Delegation, Withdraws Security Over Diplomat’s Arrest

NEW DELHI — Police said Sunday they have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws.

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state on Friday night. The driver refused to stop at her village despite her repeated pleas and drove her to a desolate location, he said.

There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said.

The driver dropped the woman off at her village early Saturday, he said. […]

Also on Saturday, police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl two weeks ago in Ahmednagar district in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Her decomposed body was found Friday. […]

More at the Washington Post…

reuters.com

India probably weighed this and decided that Nerds are less likely to get violent than tribal xenophobes and hatemongers.

The Indian government faced an angry backlash from Twitter users on Thursday after ordering Internet service providers to block about 20 accounts that officials said had spread scare-mongering material that threatened national security.

The backlash came as New Delhi turned up the heat on Twitter, threatening “appropriate and suitable action” if it failed to remove the accounts as soon as possible. Several Indian newspapers said this could mean a total ban on access to Twitter in India but government officials would not confirm to Reuters that such a drastic step was being considered.

Twitter, which does not have an office in India, declined to comment. There are about 16 million Twitter users in the South Asian country.

The government has found itself on the defensive this week over what critics see as a clumsy clampdown on social media websites - including Google, YouTube and Facebook - that has raised questions about freedom of information in the world’s largest democracy.

voanews.com

India is seeking international arrest warrants for three Iranians suspected of being part of a plot to attack Israeli diplomats.

New Delhi Police Chief Brijesh Gupta said Friday India has contacted Interpol about warrants for the three men, thought to be behind last month’s bombing of a car belonging to the Israeli embassy.  He said investigators have also linked them to a failed bombing in Thailand.

The February 13 attack in New Delhi wounded the wife of an embassy official as she was on her way to pick up her children from school.  Indian officials say the bomber attached the explosives to the car using magnets.  Officials in Thailand say those same magnets were used in a bomb that detonated prematurely a day later in Bangkok.

Thai police arrested two Iranians in connection with the Bangkok explosion.  A third man, Sedaghatzadeh Masoud, was detained in Malaysia.

On Friday, New Delhi’s police chief said investigators had determined that the suspects in the New Delhi attack had been in contact with Masoud.

Israel has openly accused Iran of trying to carry out a series of attacks, including a bombing in Tbilisi, Georgia.  Iran denies the allegations.

Tensions between the two countries have reached new heights as Israel threatens to take military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.  Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Just last week, India arrested an Indian journalist working for an Iranian news agency in connection with the New Delhi attack.

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washingtonpost.com

The wife of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi and her driver were injured on Monday when the car they were traveling in was bombed, officials said. A second attempted bombing was defused outside the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, at about the same time.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately blamed Iran, which has vowed revenge for the recent assassinations of several scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program. Hezbollah, which receives funding and strong support from Iran, also had promised to avenge the assassination of one of its leaders, Imad Moughniyeh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus on Feb. 12, 2008.

Ticking off places where he said recent attacks on Jews and Israelis had been thwarted, including Azerbaijan and Thailand, Netanyahu accused Iran of orchestrating the attempts and called the government in Tehran “the greatest exporter of terror in the world.”

“In all these cases,” Netanyahu said, “the elements behind the attacks were Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah.”

Netanyahu offered no details of the attempts he cited, or specific evidence for his claim. But Israel had put its foreign missions on high alert in recent days, because of the anniversary of Moughniyeh’s death.

Both the New Delhi attack and the discovery of the bomb in Tbilisi happened around the same time Monday—3:20 p.m. in New Delhi, and 1:50 p.m. in Tiblisi (4:50 a.m. in Washington).

New Delhi police commissioner Brajesh Kumar Gupta said the wife of the diplomat “was going to pick up her children at the American embassy school” when a person on a motorcycle approached her vehicle and affixed a magnetic bomb to its rear side.

“A mild explosion soon took place and the car caught fire,” Gupta told reporters at a news conference.

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