A Circus Parade or WW3 Preparations?

Russia and China for the second time in this year went through combined military drills. The “Joint Sea-2015 (II)” exercised in the previous week on Russia’s Pacific coast around 300 miles away Japan homi islands, both China and Russia practiced amphibious landing of 400 marines, in addition to that fighter jets drills also took place targeting on land areas and offshore as well. The Chinese also used aviation assets to move troops to the beach via parachutes and fast ropes via helicopter, they also provided air cover as part of the combined arms exercises. More than 20 ships from China and Russia participated in this joint sea drill.

Apart from that some 5,000 troops from 11 NATO allies will be taking part in “simultaneous multinational airborne operations military exercises” across Germany, Italy Romania and Bulgaria. This is said to be the biggest airborne drills in Europe ever since Cold war ended. The allied warplanes drills which took place on 26 August dropped more than 1,000 paratroopers and equipment to Hohenfels training area in Germany. Similar drill took place the same day at the Novo Selo training area in Bulgaria, which was a former Soviet ally. Until 13 September there will be some 5,000 soldiers from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Britain and the United States who will participate in these military drills.

The ELN study said that NATO plans approximately 270 exercises this year, while Russia has announced 4,000 drills at all levels. The NATO’s Allied Shield in June mobilized 15,000 people from 19 NATO countries and also from three partner states where as Russia’s March exercise involved 80,000 personnel.

After the annexation of Crimea and many other events from Russia there rose many objects of an excuse of mistrust for West towards Russia. Those excuses gave a rise to these massive military drills. The US said on Tuesday that these NATO drills in Europe codenamed “Swift Response 15”  is designed to help allied "high-readiness forces" act as one and "demonstrate the alliance's capacity to rapidly deploy and operate in support of maintaining a strong and secure Europe." 

Where on other hand officials from Russia and China said that their military exercises are to boost collective regional security and serve as a backstop against the expansion of US military and political influence in the region.

A confusing state develops from these mass military drills that which country(s) is actually under a threat? A simple answer to this lies in the events from history and a deep examining of the leaders who thought they could control all those events in past, but the events have their own dynamics and momentum and thus they could not be controlled.

 All these exercises are a sure indication of increased uncertainty and risks of dangerous military encounters and chances for European conflict OR are we simply watching a Circus Parade, you decide.

Google's new Android Wear

Google always looks for ways to get quick information from smartwatches and to do that these tech giants have developed new options for watch faces on Android wear devices, which are powered by their own softwares for wearable tech. 

This new option will let the user see the weather or step counter right or left whenever they glance at their watches! Instead of changing the screens of the gadgets, they will announce an update for them so that the users can easily get their smartwatches updated. 

"With just a tap, your watch face can change its design, reveal more information, or even launch a specific app," Flavio Lerda, an Android Wear software engineer, wrote in a statement.
These recent moves by Google shows how much they actually respond to user queries and want the best for their costumers. 
Last year when Google first launched its smartwatch, it didn't want to overwhelm its customers as it was a new thing and people were not used to wear a mini computer like watch on their wrists. Apple, with its Apple Watch, allows people to do some things from its default screen, like launching an alarm or the watch's fitness features. But, true to Apple style, the watch faces have largely remained simple as well. Unlike Apple, Google is asking app developers to create watch faces to fit users' interests. One watch face, made by Under Armour, shows a step counter or a tracker of how many calories you've burned. Another watch face shows you how many unread emails you have, or what meetings you have coming up.

The communication that isn't!

Congratulations! You have been made a fool. How you ask? And how do I know? Well, a victim knows. What did they say about technology? That it would bring us closer knit us in a web of global togetherness and we’d live happily ever after. Well, I think now the myth is more than exposed. I don’t think I need to comment about how technology has practically invaded our privacy and turned us into a spied lot, we already know much of that. What I want to tell you dear reader is about the other issue, one you might have often thought about as well. I’m talking about this brilliant cover of anonymity that technology has provided us with, to be more specific, anonymity that internet and social networking has made popular and trendy. Yes, the Harry Potter invisibility cloak thing, if you will have it that way. Forget about conversations, feelings, emotions, body language and contact even, the new way of communicating is here. Lo and behold!

Remember there were times actually, in reality, when people used to sit together, walk a mile, or argue over hot steaming cups of coffee? No I am not referring to Jane Austen’s novels and neither to a romantic Hollywood movie. The kids out there might not believe me, but actually we did behave like humans, before technology came, stuffed us over with means of communication and turned us into robots. People used to make friends by stretching their lips slightly, a process we know commonly as smiling, not by randomly adding unknown people, who might very well turn out to be psychopaths, murderers, stalkers or worse Hannibal the cannibal. The ideas of protection, safety and discretion are all insignificant things, because communicating has become easy, especially since it takes no physical effort, except for the thumbs frantically moving over smartphone screens, or fingers over laptop keyboards. So now there is no need to spend money on friendship by buying someone a coffee, cards, tickets to an amusement park or movies, or whatever you prefer, because friendship is just a click away. Coming from the Asian sub continent, I have heard numerous stories of how people (usually in love) used to communicate through signs, looks, and of course sending letters to their lovers using pigeons as carriers. (Sometimes, friends and cousins did just as well) Imagine the sweet feeling of expecting a response, mixed with equal amounts of anxiety and apprehension; the disappointment of a delayed response and the joy of reciprocation. Well, this is just an example. Conversations are intriguing when done face to face. There is a reason God gave us a voice and the power of communicating through our bodies, non-verbally, otherwise He’d just paste a screen on our faces and we’d be roaming around expressionless. The bond increases immensely when we look at feelings flitting on the other person’s face, when we see him/her respond warmly and let’s face it, body language is an essential supplement to verbal communication. Now try to do that with emojis/emoticons on social networking sites! Hah! Bet you can’t!

Apart from sucking out our feelings, expressions and basically all the fun out of our communication, social media has done one other brilliant job; it has created an army of anonymous ‘know-it-all-and-spit-in-your-face’ warriors. And to be honest and fair, it has unleashed an uncivilized beast in all of us somewhere. Suddenly, social media has become a platform to spread hate, misinformation, rumours, and of course to debate endlessly. I include myself, when I say that people have become more intolerant because of social media debates and conversations. It has absolutely ruined any semblance of etiquette, we might have laid claim to. Imagine coming across a status on Facebook that offends your political, cultural, religious, or ethical inclinations, what do you do? You respond. And then starts the cycle of comments and comments to comments. Often people lose their head over an argument and directly come down to hate speech and very often, abuses, publicly on your status. This might very well be the person you have thought to be your friend for long. Now imagine, with a face to face conversation what are the chances of coming to blows or abuses? Very less, I say. I argue that being physically present in a conversation drastically reduces your chances of acting stupidly because it enhances your memories of good times and relations with the other person. The other argument, of course is that the argument turning into a boxing match is a deterrent as well (especially if you don’t visit a gym regularly). So well, yes, I’m saying physically conversing reduces chances of disagreements turning into sour rifts. The protection provided by social media, the comfort of commenting whatever comes into your mind without fearing any physical consequences and without facing the person directly, actually has empowered many a moron to vomit their hatred and stupidity publicly. Let’s face it, this ease of hiding our physicality has turned us into judgmental know-it-all monsters, who deny the possibility of any opinion other than that of theirs.  

Others might very rightly argue that social media has in fact come to the rescue of those introverts, and communication-fearing people, who’d lose their voice once they came in contact with people. Yes that is true, social media has at least provided us with unending opportunities of sharing experiences, of writing and of inspiring people. But in turn it has given a free run to those who want to push forward their agenda of spewing venom without actually facing any consequences and without bearing the brunt of the hurt and division their words cause. That brings us to a very sensitive topic of ‘free speech’. How much speech is free speech and who determines the limit of this free speech? These are question that need to be dealt with separately and not here. As there seems to be no option of reigning in haters, and trash speakers, the responsibility seems to be preparing to fall on individual shoulders. It is time to teach our children, the etiquette of conversing virtually as well as in reality, if ever such a rare chance presents itself. I leave the choice as well as the question to you; which one of the scenarios would you prefer? Having a coffee (or whatever you like, ice cream maybe?) in a park, respectfully disagreeing with a person you are having a conversation with or screaming your lungs out on Facebook, using all caps words and @#$%^^ symbols to address a friend who disagrees with you? Forgive my romanticism, but could someone get me a cup of tea, two chairs and a person to converse with? Thank you!

P.S: You can respectfully, leave your answers in the comments section, wherever this is shared. J

To be(head) or not to be(head)

Disclaimer: This article contains graphic truth. Readers are advised to exercise caution and proceed at their own risk.  For others, this is a work of satire and the opinions belong to those of the author alone. She likes to think she is humorous in ways more than one. You may now proceed.

Years after the classic dilemma presented by Shakespearean ‘to be or not to be’, the world is faced with another question equally tantalizing and equally significant and consequential. This question has divided the world into two blocs after the Twilight saga; those who love a show and those who don’t. To behead or not to behead is the new riddle doing the rounds. Gone are the days when the topics of discussion in gatherings or over coffee used to be centered on the development of the human race, its betterment and well being. All thanks to the Islamic State, well or so it is called, the world is obsessed with ritualistic beheadings by masked men bearing the flags with kalima wahdat written over it, posing in Hollywood like poses with blood dripping from knives holding the captives like sheep about to  be slaughtered. And, slaughtered they are, for real or as a staged promo of their caliphate, is another question that divides opinions of people.

This new avatar of ‘real life violence filled video games’ has come as a savior for many who were tired of killing people on screen, or well even of shooting people in universities and schools, mostly in America and Nigeria. So why not pick up guns and go around slicing people, crucifying them and in a bid to promote the sports appeal, play football with severed heads. Honestly, ask yourselves, what can beat that? And what do you need to do to enroll? Zilch, nothing at all. You only have to recite the kalima, hate almost everyone who doesn’t adhere to the ‘kill them, slice them, if needed even dice them’ ideology and well proceed to implement your ideology. The biggest perk is you get to tell the world that it is Islam, the religion that for years has been promoted by people as the religion of peace and harmony. Bingo! You have successfully created a breed of Islamophobes (MS Word doesn’t recognize this word, are you kidding me?). Now these people who look at Muslims as masked people wielding guns, knives, swords, sporting long beards, wearing headscarves and playing with severed heads, will do their best to stop an attack on board an airplane by a Muslim woman by not allowing her a can of diet coke. That reminds me aren’t we supposed to ban all the western stuff? No of course they have properly enslaved and addicted us so much so that the overtly ‘islamic beyond islam’s belief’ ISIS even can’t help wearing western brands while threatening the west. Talk about principles and values.

You can run, you can hide but you can’t escape the Islamic State. It’s almost omnipresent; on YouTube in form of beheading and rap contest videos, on Facebook in form of cyber warriors fighting on cyber front, on Twitter and who knows maybe even on Instagram. Let’s click a selfie with these wonderful severed heads on fences, now that we aren’t saving Syria, or Iraq, or Yemen, or Tunisia, or Nigeria, oh well the world if you will. Fear not world, Uncle Sam has been replaced by the ‘Men in Black’. You will be saved except for those filthy shias, moderate shia loving sunnis, sufis, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Buddhists and all other religions and schools of thought that exist.  Yeah, well I meant they would save, well, themselves. Takbeer. However I love the Islamic state for their values and consistency; I mean they slaughter people, enslave them and use Hummers to move around, have anti aircraft missiles and those smart phones as well. You have to learn this from them. Moreover the prioritization of the enemies in the list is remarkable; Israel can wait, they can bomb Gaza to keep themselves busy but first dissenters in Muslim faith need to go. That’s what is important. They are the heroes keeping your countries safe for you, bringing down historic buildings and shrines for you and most importantly establishing caliphate for you (on their own) after they have done away with you of course.

On a serious note I don’t know where the world would be without IS; there would be nobody bombing mosques and pilgrim buses, killing Musims and enslaving non muslims. My heart is filled with gratitude to ‘mujahideen’ who have revamped Islam and its face; who have made Islam a cause of scare and repulsion, whose knowledge of the Quran is based on a random game called ‘pick a verse supporting violence without context and use it for justification’. I have to thank them for making the revered word of takbeer so fearful that it has become a joke to tease and harass Muslims who live surrounded by non muslims, constantly at the receiving end of jokes and bullies. I have to thank them for making the work of enemies of Islam easier by killing Muslims and distorting the image of a religion and a prophet who advocated defense and not war. I thank them for not adhering to even one rule of engagement during a war, if that is what it is. All of us ignorant people sitting at home, reading the same Quran, reading and emulating the life of the holy prophet (sawaw) are desperately trying to be good humans first, but look at these “momin” brothers who have perfected the interpretation of Quran and Hadith while also composing rap songs about themselves. That is no bi’ddah mind you, it’s only what you, you ordinary Muslim possessing a sound mind does, you kafir! And now if you will excuse me I need to log into YouTube to check out their latest video: “How to make an infant a jihadi in 30 days”. Till then choose the answer to the question I asked, after you have said the takbeer of course. To behead or not to behead.

A new gold reserve in Yazd, Iran.

A senior official says: Iran has identified more than 1,200 promising gold prospects, including a positive anomaly discovered recently in the Darreh Bidan of Yazd whose reserves have not been determined yet.

The Deputy head of the Geology and Mineral Discoveries Organization Behrouz Borna said, “After tracing possible gold bearing zones in 21 provinces across the country, gold mines have been marked in 10 provinces.”

Iran's estimated gold reserves are 340 metric tons in about 24 mines across the country and with these resources, Iran is highlighted to have guests who would love to take them. Zarshuran, as the Middle East’s biggest gold deposit, will yield 6 metric tons of gold a year after the current expansion of the processing facility is complete by 2017. Senior officials also say that Iran's gold deposit per annum is about 7 metric tons. 

Iran’s western Kurdestan province, senior officials are planning to open a gold mine which will be able to produce about 2 metric tons a year and will improve Iran's gold deposit. 

Production from the Sari Gunay deposits near Qorveh with an ore concentration of 1.6 grams per metric ton will begin in the next three months says Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh.

Borna said Iran has the capacity to boost its gold production to 10 metric tons per year with further explorations.

He said gold is a top priority mineral for exploration. “Gold is primarily a strategic substance. Moreover, given the existence of at least 14 gold zones in the country, new discoveries of mines are possible.” Borna also said, “The Geology and Mineral Discoveries Organization has discovered several gold zones and found reserves in the provinces which were never considered to have such deposits,” “Iran is among the world’s five biggest gold consumers which provides added motivation to discover more gold,” he added in the discussion.

In the end, we all can see that Iran is slowly showing its true powers and with all these discoveries and determination of the Iranian government, they can surely have a bright and stable future. 

Iran's New Home-made Fighter Jet

Iran, on 9th of February 2015 unveiled a new home made super sonic fighter jet named 'Saeqeh 2' or 'Thunderbolt 2' which can also be used for training purposes, reported by FNA. 'The double-cockpit supersonic fighter jet, which has been designed and built by the defense ministry's aerospace industries organization in cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran's Air Force, can be used for combat missions, close-range cover and backup in tactical missions, and also advanced pilot training programs,' Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said at the unveiling ceremony.

He further said that this aircraft had been made with a much more unique and better design to improve its combat ability. The plane has also been equipped with advanced electro-avionics and weapons systems to train pilots for flying with the existing or new heavy fighters. After this, the Iranian Air Force commander added that they will build another plane which will be able to trace out US and ISRAELI stealth planes and combat with them head on! 

The commander added. 'We will build a plane that will be a part of the Saeqeh family but improved and equipped with fourth generation avionics. He reiterated that Iran was reaching a level of expertise that it would soon be able to manufacture a totally different aircraft in terms of electronic, radar and avionic systems as well as weaponry equipment.

In September 2010, Iran displayed the first squadron of its Saeqeh fighters in an air show staged during the military parades at the beginning of the Week of Sacred Defense, marking Iranians' sacrifices during the 8 years of Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980s.

In September 2011, the Iranian Air Force's first squadron of home-made Saeqeh fighter jets started operations during the large offensive air drills codenamed "Fadaeeyan-e Harim-e Vellayat III" in Northwestern Iran.

Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Air Force Brigadier General Alireza Barkhor announced in February that the new model of Iran's home-made Saeqeh jet fighter would be unveiled in the future.

Also in the same month, Iranian Air Force Commander Brigadier General Hassan Shah Safi announced that his forces had focused all their power and energy on building fighter jets as they believed that future wars were fought and won in the sky.

The commander also said that it is the hard work and sacrifices that Iranian men had to give that resulted in this fine squadron of Saeqeh jets!

Yet, the Air Force commander reiterated the defensive doctrine of the Islamic Republic, saying Tehran had the narrowest military budget among the regional countries.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems.

The country has repeatedly made it clear that its military might is merely based on the state's defense doctrine of deterrence and that it poses no threat to other countries.