The central goal of the United States is control of the planet, power to install governments subservient to its demands, power to privatize and deregulate the economies of every nation in the world, the power to inflict on peoples everywhere “free market” corporate capitalism.

The 42-day drama in Pakistan is far from over; the declaration of emergency and the lifting of emergency are part of a charade, behind which lidx a complex power play between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, various camps within the military elite, and the US government.

The 123 agreement for civilian nuclear cooperation with the Untied States has finally been discussed in both houses of parliament. As expected, a majority of the members in both houses have opposed the nuclear deal on various grounds.

General Pervez Musharraf has imposed Emergency and suspended the Constitution in Pakistan. This has led to virtual martial law with the wholesale removal of Supreme Court judges, gagging of the media and arrests of hundreds of political party activists.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday issued notices to President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on two petitions, challenging the proclamation of emergency.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns speaking at a breakfast meeting at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, this week, said, “India has to move fast.”

Up to 110 people were killed and over 200 others injured in two suicide blasts near former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's vehicle in the southern port city of Karachi early Friday morning, local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.

The developments in the last fortnight have reached a stage where the Congress leadership cannot avoid taking a final decision on whether the government should proceed to take the next step to operationalize the deal.

Prakash Karat stressed that the central committee has authorized the Polit Bureau to "take appropriate measures" to ensure that the stand taken up unanimously on the proposed India-US nuclear accord by the central committee was implemented.

For the past nine months, the Bengal CPI(M) and the Bengal Left Front had an intense campaign-movement on industrialization and agricultural growth across the state.

The concerns expressed in these columns regarding the larger context in which the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal must be viewed have, once again, been vindicated. Reconfirmation of this, if ever any reconfirmation was necessary, has come from two quarters.

The Committee on India’s Independent Foreign Policy organised a convention in Delhi on September 10, 2007 on ‘Indo-US Nuclear Deal and India’s Sovereignty’. The venue of the convention, Mavlankar auditorium, was completely packed and people from all walks of life participated enthusiastically.

If ever a reconfirmation were necessary that our detractors refuse to meet our critique of the Indo-US nuclear deal and the larger context in which it is placed, i.e., growing strategic relationship with US imperialism at this juncture of world politics, on the strength of our reasoning, such a reconfirmation has come once again.

The nuclear deal, the military agreement and the economic policies designed to advance the interests of US capital are parts of the trio which are harmful for India’s sovereignty, independent foreign policy and the people’s economic interests.

Since the 1990s, the U.S. government made overtures to the Indian Government for a military alliance. When the Bush administration came to power it wanted India to be a part of its missile defence shield.

The Indo-US bilateral agreement on nuclear cooperation is in the eye of a political storm. The UPA government’s announcement of the conclusion of the agreement has led to a political crisis.

Every year, this time, floods turn out to be the giant killer in India. According to the National Disaster Management Authority which puts out a weekly report, as of August 6, 2007, 1294 people have so far lost their lives during the current South West monsoon.

Police opened fire on the peaceful protests taken up the Left parties in Mudigonda in Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The United Progressive Alliance government is getting perilously close to bequeathing a foreign policy legacy for the country. It also becomes, inevitably, a sad legacy of the ageing Congress Party in its declining years.

Pakistan’s security forces have “disappeared” about 600 individuals since 2002, acting since 9/11 and Guantanamo, as if “they have a free hand,” human rights activist lawyer Asma Jahangir says.