Three rather unfortunate declamations that made news and stood out like sore fingers over the last few days were those by an air marshal, who made the most reactionary and insensitive statement about women; by Barack Obama, who suggested that China should intervene in Indo-Pak problems; and the international declaration that Delhi roads are a death-trap. Each of these revelations illustrates intellectual immaturity, and the absence of wherewithal to address realities.

First, the strange and bizarre assertion by a senior serving officer of the Indian air force. God help us if we have air marshals whose intelligence leaves much to be desired and who voice thoughts that need to be flung into a dustbin. The defence minister should have sealed the man’s mouth, and moved towards ordering his premature retirement, because a faulty intellect is more dangerous than most other deficiencies, particularly in the forces that are mandated to defend all citizens regardless of caste, creed, faith and gender. The man should also be hauled up for defying, in spirit, the Constitution of India.

Women will get pregnant, said he, conveniently forgetting that it is usually because of the demands of a man. Therefore, he said, there shouldn’t be women fighter pilots in the IAF. He forgot to add that male fighter pilots may also develop prostrate problems, have collapsed lungs, stones in their wretched kidneys, cirrhosis of the liver with excessive drinking in the mess, and, of course, detached retinas! My heart goes out to the women in his family after his insult to motherhood, to the strength of Durga, the Rani of Jhansi, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, and to billions of women across this planet who nurture life and are the embodiment of culture.

Cookie crumbles

Obama seems to get swallowed up, every now and then, in his own rhetoric, spelt out for him by the Robert Blakes of the state department who, too, are stuck in a time warp, unable to accept the changed realities of this world. The United States of America is a declining power, and it is clear that shifts are happening that have begun to dilute its hold on the world, which still grapples with all its errors of political judgment committed over the decades — from Vietnam to Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Taliban, and more — creating monsters that have destroyed a large chunk of mankind.

The US has been responsible for all the treacherous and poisonous ‘wars’ post World War II, and, alas, for no peace. Its ‘clout’ seems such a mirage, considering the fact that it has not been able to wield influence on Burma and have Aung San Suu Kyi released. Because it is financially in a throttling bind, with China manipulating it, the US is stuck. It does not have the intellect required to make the correct political judgments expected of a non-partisan world power. Having damaged the Indian subcontinent with amoral mechanisms, intended at playing up one country against the other, the US is heading into a situation where it will have to face its worst ever political crisis as the cookie begins to crumble. India will emerge stronger when it can combat the US politically. The cycle is changing.

And finally, the horror of the Delhi roads, where privately operated Blueline buses kill citizens — men, women and children — with abandon. The killer drivers get away because they are ‘poor’, and not ‘rich’ like the men responsible for the comparatively occasional accidents of fancy salon cars running over people sleeping on the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. The time has come to put the bus drivers who kill people because they are speeding, often under the influence of alcohol or drugs, into jail till they prove themselves ‘not guilty’, as is expected of the well-heeled. Where is the electronic press?