Dec 12, 2010

The Problem With Wikileaks



Over the last one month, we've been inundated by wikileaks with all these 'top-secret' diplomatic cable communication records .. Of-course, some good aspects have come out like the true-pictures of prisoner abuse & related stories..But I've to say, bulk of this leaks is practically useless and to a great extent, undesirable.. I came across this link http://www.ndtv.com/article/wikileaks%20%20revelations/wikileaks-cables-singapore-called-india-stupid-japan-a-big-fat-loser-72197   today... The headline screams  'Singapore called India stupid , Japan a big fat loser'... Now if you read through the story, you would see that its some diplomat who has expressed this opinion.. Its not the stance or official position of Singapore..its just an arbitrary opinion of a diplomat.. Now the media highlights it with a catchy tagline to get reader-base.. An average news reader will be easily enraged by these kind of stories if he happens to be on the receiving side.. I'd say, a large proportion of Indians who read that news would have felt some level of animosity to Singapore..  This is precisely the problem with wikileaks.. By revealing these kind of communication between two officials, they are just fueling animosity..

Some of the other crap that was released by them - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/29/wikileaks_shocker/  Most of these arbit stories are comments / faxes by some diplomat to their superiors or colleagues.. Such comments between two individuals should never be escalated to such an extent that it creates unnecessary animosity .

During my time @ IIMK, we maintained a google group for Students' Council to discuss about various things happening in institute.. There are lot of crass comments like this in that GG for/against many people ..However, those remained in the group and was never allowed to become the official word of Council.. If that was thrown open to public, a lot of people would have felt strongly against us.. I tend to compare the feeling/irritation of people who are at the receiving end of wikileaks to what we would have felt if that Google Group was ever made public :)

Dec 3, 2010

The Triumph



Its almost a day since the announcement came..Still the vuvuzelas are going on and on over here in Qatar..  An event thats going to happen after 12 years means that much for the common man here.. Football has a greater purpose than being just a game.. If you look across the world, you would not find anything else that unites people more than soccer.. Cutting across religion, politics and races, soccer is perhaps the greatest unifying spirit of mankind.. By taking World Cup into unchartered territories like Russia & Qatar, Fifa has done the right thing-- bring more people under this unifying force..

Its a beautiful time to be in Qatar... Its much more than just hosting a tournament.. Its about bringing unprecedented development & world-wide visibility to the Middle East.. Its about bringing together a region that has been ravaged by conflicts for quite long.. Its about unifying people..I hope I can come back here in 2022 to see some matches :)