My traitor's heart by Rian Malan

Love is worth nothing until tested by its own defeat. True love is able to transcend defeat. 

Must read for anyone trying to understand the breakdown of racism into socialism in South Africa among the white population.  

Whites had the most to loose from social redistribution so why were they so keen? Because whites who surrendered their claims to class privilege gained something infinitely more precious in return: relief from guilt and complicity that preyed on their minds like a nightmare. 

How did the whites become socialist from predominantly racist? First step was to convince yourself that South Africa was being torn apart not due to race but class struggle, the second was to move into alignment with the blacks and declare your lee of as it's self proclaimed vanguards. Beyond this point you were born again, South Africa became a country where the enemy were determined by the class not by the race, thus your whiteness became irrelevant. Socialism became the opium of the elites.

Another aspect seldom reported was the mafia like black on black killing which occurred in parallel with whites subjugating the blacks in South Africa. Rian portrays a stark picture of various black on black attacks in which all major political parties seem to have participated with vigour. 

I loved the end story of Neil and Creina in the end of the book. I thought it captured the spirit of Africa succinctly,' if you loved you were vulnerable, and if you were vulnerable you were weak, and if you were weak in Africa, you got fucked over and over again till you could no longer stand it.' 

Welcome to Sarajevo by Walter Nicholson

The children must be saved, only they are innocent, the rest of us are the guilty ones.

Its a pretty moving tale of a young orphan girl rescued by a British war journalist juxtaposed with the Balkan war between Serbs, Croats and the hapless Muslims. Why the Balkans erupted after the end of the communist regime is difficult to understand as it remains unprecedented in contemporary Europe. I mean there were other failed communist states which did not fall to chaos, apart from maybe Chechnya. I got a pretty good idea of the Balkan war in the 1990's but could not understand the hate among the population.  There is something seriously wrong with the whole region. The brutality demonstrated by the Christians both Orthodox and Catholics in the Balkans is stupendous, much worst than the Africans. Much more has to written about this war, it's reasons and it's implications. 

How to cure a fanatic by Amos Oz

Compromise,compromise, and compromise 

No one says it is going to be easy, but it is the only real way forward. Wars are necessary, for self preservation and freedom, and to stop the aggressor, whoever it may be. The opposite of war is peace. Nations need to live in peace with each other. 

This is a gem of a book filled with fantastic ideas. I found it impossible to contradict any of the logic on offer. 

Arabs and Jews are similar::

The Common legacy between both Jews and Arabs is that they are traumatised victims of European imperialism, an experiment gone horribly wrong. Unfortunately both now see each other in the image of their past oppressors.  

Peace in the Middle East::

That Israel must recede to its position in 1948, it must respect its neighbours.

And that the Palestinians must recognise Jews right to belong in Israel, and that Israel is here to stay, in short it must respect its neighbour as well.

What is a fanatic::

He is a true altruist, someone who wants to save others, improve others from bad habits. There is a fanatic gene in all of us, which we have to contain.

How to cure a fanatic::

Partially with humour and partially with the understanding that you could be wrong. 

 

Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer

Everyone wished they had sons instead of daughters

It's a great depiction of the author's rather personal tale of his life in the militant 1990's of Kashmir. The only aspect missing is historical context and reasons behind the uprising. Why did the population rise against the Indian state by resorting to arms instead of votes is not really explained.

The common thread in the book is the plight of the middle class caught in the crossfire of the Indian Army and the Pakistani sponsored militants. The book reads like a diary of the author as he follows various stories in his journalistic day to day career. In terms of historical context there is little on offer other than what anyone can read from the WWW. The book details the massacres purported by the Indian army as well as the atrocities committed by the Pakistani trained militancy making me wonder where the loyalties of ordinary Kashmiris actually lay? Do they really want freedom from India and if so are they willing to write their history in blood? It is clear that India will not just back down considering its overwhelming stature in the world today, therefore the Kashmiris have to be prepared for a long separatist struggle to attain their independence. What that allusive independence will mean to ordinary Kashmiris is not very clear. The fact remains that Kashmir was never an independent entity, annexed by the Moghuls, Sikhs, Hindus, and Indians, thereby making independence an alien circumstance for the Kashmiri common man.  Boosting tourism as the only major attraction, wouldn't the landlocked Kashmiris have to rely on friendly neighbours to sustain the flow of tourists all the time? 

The author compares Kashmiri revolt to Prague and East Berlin but fails to point out that both revolts were against failing states and not against a economic giant like India, which boosts quite a considerable clout in the world opinion at the moment.

What is crystal clear from the book is the sad state of rule of law in India. How the Indian government was allowed to get away which such mass atrocities in Kashmir demonstrates the value of false image. Would we expect the same apathy from the world if similar crimes were committed by Pakistan for instance? I found the notion that civilians killed in collateral damage were compensated with money and job a clear case of state bribery to keep the relatives from pursuing the culprits. But like the author has valiantly pointed out, local media and the larger world media is just not interested in blaming the largest democracy in the world.   

The final chapters of the book detail horror stories by the Indian army and some by the Pakistani sponsored militants on the hapless civilian population. The stories moved me to the plight of the Kashmiri common man who clearly wants an end to this chaos. The final chapters bring this great book to an emotional crescendo, with the spotlight on the hapless common Kashmiri. 

I would highly recommend this book to all interested in conflict of Kashmir. 

Nothing to envy by Barbara Demick'

They hate themselves for what they had to do in order to survive.

 

It's a fantastic description of North Korea through the eyes of defectors. I loved the style adopted by the author which kept me stimulated and very interested in the various stories. I also enjoyed the many parallels made between North Korea and many other autocratic states. I found the comparisons apt and very relevant indeed. The only issue with the narration is that it depicts only the view of outsiders and thus not representative of the North Korea as a whole. But I can imagine why the author would fail to present the insider view without open recourse to interviews with the local populace in North Korea. Propaganda used by any state is an extremely effective tool to keep its citizens in the dark, and the North Koreans seem to have mastered this dark art to perfection. The only way out is revolution from within North Korea which can break this mould. The other possibility is a military coup which is not a bad compromise under the given conditions in the Republic. 

The author has painted a very human story of the North Koreans which deserved to be read and understood, so that we can learn from their plight.

Going to the wars by Max Hastings

The book is a travelogue of a war journalist, a most privileged one who was given quite a few opportunities to cover some of the post WW2 encounters in person. The most interesting chapters for me were the Vietnam and Arab/Israel wars. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's adventures in the war zones. I did not really enjoy the Falkland's war as it seemed to be an anti-climax when compared to some of the other wars in his book. Probably would have enjoyed more if I were British but that's impossible now :)

China crisis by James R Gorrie

Is China really doomed for disaster? Before I picked this book up I considered the possibility pretty unbelievable but I am afraid it is entirely plausible considering just one of the many facts which the author has covered with his verbose style in this argument. And that is the Communist Chinese Party. The CCP is the sole, all powerful judge jury and enforcer of all policies in China which leaves China extremely vulnerable whenever there will be a power vacuum. And why should we imagine its usurpation, because all similar one party states have gone through a period of popular change which unfortunately introduces chaos followed by more chaos as the newly empowered people glow with their new power. So its a question of not if but when unfortunately which means more doom and gloom for the world economy. 

The only problem with this book is that the arguments are repeated over and over again which tested my nerves. Maybe the author used this propaganda style to counter CCP’s propaganda machine? The book should come with a warning, ‘be prepared to be bored.’ An hour’s talk on the subject would have been a better proposition.

The Shah by Abbas Milani

The much lavished mistress who had been unfaithful all along…...

The book is a beautifully crafted account of the Reza Shah Pahlavi's life and times. Every revolution is unique in nature but the Iranian one has always intrigued me as the Iranian people were not exactly famished either financially or physically , which is a common factor almost mandatory in most revolutions. The author pitches the same question; how could the people hate Shah so much, even after the Shah did so much for them?

The attention to context details personal life of the Shah and his immediate family in a very vivid detail. The author has blended the art of Eastern story telling with Western detail to produce a real page turner.

The book offers the best story of the Islamic revolution right from its inception to its peak in 1979. It seems that the Shah did not defend monarchy in modern state of Iran, choosing instead to counter the external threat of communism with counter propaganda, thus delivering the common man to the mosque and its clergy, making the Islamic revolution inevitable. It is pretty strange that the Shah although educated in Europe failed to follow the example set by a number of European monarchies as they successfully transformed from ruling absolutely to reigning in name only. How did the Shah see his own rule? He portrayed himself as doing a thankless job almost like some sort of humanitarian philanthropic endeavour which must have further enraged the young Iranians.

I loved the gradual manner in which the author brought the Islamic revolution to a crescendo in the last chapters with many astute observations of the some of the contemporary players. This biography presents a unique and whole picture of the Shah, from a humble beginnings to the height of his career to his end as an international pariah.

The book left a strong feeling of compassion for the Shah, like a true lover spurned by his beloved who ultimately paid the ultimate price for his true love.

The only question left is the main reasons for the Islamic revolution in Iran. As the author points out, none of the major reasons for a revolution were present. There was no poverty, jobs were aplenty, democracy in some way and form was there. It isn't still clear to me what prompted the Iranians to revolt. The most ardent followers of revolution were from the new urban class, the peasants uprooted from their villages living in cities. The Shah choose provide more economic and personal growth to try and assuage threat from the new class instead of providing them with their own political representation which is the common practice among most third world sham democracies. But unfortunately this move only provided an already frustrated class further reasons for blame and impetus for revolution. Further during the lean period of democracy clerical figures like Khomeini were able to proclaim their democratic credentials. The Shah was also dumped by the Americans right towards the end who seemed to be more than happy to deal with the new revolutionaries giving credence to the new Islamic regime.

So I guess the Islamic revolution was hardly a revolution but a takeover in reality, by a very shrewd Islamic clergy, the only resort to democracy in an era of political vacuum.

Orphan of Islam by Alexander Khan

The story appeared interesting and I guess because it is supposed to be a true story there weren't a lot of twists. But I did find it strange when the Pushtun women in the book are depicted as wearing sari's over an over again. Being a Pakistani and having lived in closed proximity of Pushtuns, I have yet to see any of their women wearing a sari. The other aspect which troubled me reading this rather sad account was the chosen name of the book as the 'Orphan of Islam'. Granted a number of Muslims were instrumental in the authors 'kidnapping' and forced incarceration in Pakistan but some of the very same Muslims helped him break free from his captivity as well. More so, the author has given his father most of the blame while his Western English mother and his much loved British country were given hardly any stick for completely forgetting and ignoring his sorry plight even when the author was living amongst the British in Britain. As far as I can make out the British people in his life and British system are equally to blame for letting him become a victim, but I guess the publishers of the book would want to appeal to all Islamophobic readers which are numerous.

I would have wanted some more insight into the traditional Pushtun family structure though it is a much guarded fellowship even for more urban Pakistanis like me. The story lacked details of complexities of the Pushtun family and only touched on some of its intrigues.

On the whole, I do feel indebted to the author for at least penning down his story as it does shed some light on a much guarded and secret area.