United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization that seeks "to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along with other advocacy campaigns, the organization leads efforts to pressure companies to stop doing business with Iran as a means to halt the Iranian regime's nuclear program and its alleged development of nuclear weapons.

Leadership

The executive director of the organization is Mark Wallace, who previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, representative for UN Management and Reform. Ambassadors Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross were the original co-founders and co-chairman of the organization before being appointed to positions in the Obama administration.

Advisory board

UANI is also led by an advisory board that among others, includes:

R. James Woolsey - Former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (1993–1995)

Fouad Ajami - Professor and Director of Middle East Studies at The Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and noted commentator on Middle Eastern affairs

Walter Russell Mead - Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and a leading commentator on American foreign policy

Irwin Cotler - Canadian Member of Parliament that formerly served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General; prominent human rights lawyer

Henry Sokolski - Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center

Gary Milhollin - Director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control

Frances Townsend - Former Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush

Corporate campaigns

UANI runs the Iran Business Registry (IBR), "a running database of reputable media and academic reports of international corporations doing business in Iran." UANI encourages citizens to use the IBR to increase product awareness, divest, contact businesses as well as elected officials. It also calls on companies to sign a declaration to certify their company does not do business with Iran. More than 500 companies are listed on UANI's IBR page.

General Electric

In September 2009, General Electric (GE) signed UANI's "Iran Business Declaration" to not conduct business with Iran. As part of its pledge, GE will donate profits to charitable organizations from the sale of any humanitarian health care products to Iran.

Huntsman

In January 2010, the American chemical company Huntsman said it would discontinue sales in Iran after coming under pressure from United Against Nuclear Iran. UANI reported that one of Huntsman's subsidiaries was selling polyurethanes in Iran, a dual-use material which UANI said could be used in the development of solid rocket fuel. In a statement, Huntsman said, "The small amount of business done there does not justify the reputational risk currently associated with doing business with entities located in Iran due to growing international concern over the policies of the current regime."

Caterpillar

In response to a UANI pressure campaign, the heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar ceased its business in Iran through its non-U.S. subsidiaries. As part of the campaign, UANI erected a roadside billboard near the company's headquarters in Peoria, Illinois which pictured a Caterpillar digger alongside a picture of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the slogan "Today's work, Tomorrow's Nuclear Iran."

UANI sought to link the activities of Caterpillar's wholly owned Canadian subsidiary Lovat, a manufacturer of tunnel boring machines, to Iran's alleged construction of tunnels to obscure and shield its nuclear facilities. Additionally, the Iranian company Arya Machinery, which marketed itself on its website as Iran's exclusive dealer of Caterpillar machinery, had been purchasing Caterpillar equipment from a Caterpillar subsidiary in Europe.

Ingersoll Rand

In March 2010, UANI also succeeded in pressuring the U.S. manufacturing corporation Ingersoll Rand to stop doing business in Iran. In a letter to United Against Nuclear Iran, Ingersoll Rand CEO Michael Lamach said that effective immediately, the company would order its foreign subsidiaries to cease any dealings with Iran "in light of very real and escalating concerns about the intentions of the current regime in Iran." At issue was the use of Ingersoll Rand air compressors used in industrial plants run by the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company.

"Big Four" auditors

In March 2010, UANI called on KPMG, one of the global "Big Four" auditors, to cut its with Bayat Rayan, one of Iran's leading accountants. In early April 2010, KPMG announced that it had severed its links with its Iranian member firm, citing "serious and escalating concerns" about the conduct of the Iranian government.

In correspondence with UANI later in April, two of other Big Four auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, stated that in recent years they had both cut ties to their Iranian member firms. UANI President Mark Wallace declared it a breakthrough that none of the Big Four continued to operate in Iran: "What it says is if it’s too risky for the Big Four accounting firms, it should be too risky for other companies."

Legislation

In October 2009, UANI worked closely with Representatives Ron Klein (D) and John Mica (R) of Florida to introduce into the United States House of Representatives ''The Accountability for Business Choices in Iran Act'' (ABC Iran Act) which would preclude companies that conduct business in Iran from receiving U.S. government contracts. The legislation was created to prevent Iranian business partners like Nokia and Siemens from receiving large government contracts as well as foreign banks like Credit Suisse from receiving federal bailout money. Representative Klein stated, "We need to send a strong message to corporations that we’re not going to continue to allow them to economically enable the Iranian government to continue to do what they have been doing."

Hotels campaign

In the run-up to the September 2009 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), UANI called on New York hotels and venues to refuse to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In its boycott campaign, UANI succeeded in having the Helmsley Hotel, Gotham Hall, and the Dubai-owned Essex House cancel events in which Ahmadinejad was to attend and speak.

For the September 2010 UNGA, UANI relaunched its annual "Hotels Campaign" and called on the Hilton Hotels chain to cancel its plans to host President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian delegation at the Hilton Manhattan East hotel.

Television ad campaign

In June 2009, UANI began a television ad campaign. The first ad, entitled "Unclenched Fist," called for the U.S. to place economic pressure on Iran in order to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons. Regarding the commercial, Ambassador Wallace stated, "He [Obama] offered an unclenched fist. Now it is up to the Iranian people and regime to extend a reciprocal open hand."

On June 16, 2009, UANI released its second television ad, "Iran's Closed Hand," scheduled to be aired for several weeks. The commercial criticizes Iran's defiant attitude to American diplomatic outreach and advocates the economic isolation of the Islamic Republic.

See also

Nuclear program of Iran

Iran and weapons of mass destruction

U.S. sanctions against Iran

References

External links

Official website

UANI on Facebook

UANI on Twitter

UANI on YouTube

"Everyone Needs to Worry About Iran" (UANI Launch Op-ed)

Category:Foreign policy political advocacy groups in the United States Category:Iran – United States relations Category:Nuclear program of Iran

Mark D. Wallace is an American businessman, former diplomat and lawyer who has served in a variety of government, political and private sector posts. He served in several positions during the administration of George W. Bush, including as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Representative for UN Management and Reform.

He is currently the CEO of Tigris Financial Group Ltd. (Tigris) and President of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).

Political career

Prior to government service, Wallace was a practicing commercial litigation attorney in Miami, Florida. He began his political career under Florida Governor Jeb Bush and was active in his election campaigns in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

In 2000 Wallace played a key role working for the Bush-Cheney legal team in the decisive Florida recount in 2000 where he served as counsel to the campaign in Florida and was a spokesman for the legal team in various national media outlets.

During the Bush administration from 1999 to 2003 Wallace served in a variety of federal government general counsel positions. At the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), he oversaw and managed all aspects of the FEMA Office of General Counsel, and acted as counsel to the FEMA-led New York and World Trade Center recovery effort in the wake of the 2001 September 11 attacks. He also served as the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), during the INS’ transition from the DOJ into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 reorganization. After the reorganization Wallace served as the first principal legal advisor to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2003, Wallace joined President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign as the deputy campaign manager. In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities of assisting in the management of the national campaign, Wallace was the campaign’s lead liaison to the Republican National Convention, the campaign’s representative in debate negotiations, and led the campaign’s debate team at each of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates.

UN Ambassadorship

In 2005 President Bush nominated Wallace to serve in the United States Mission to the United Nations as Ambassador, U.S. representative for UN Management and Reform and Alternative Representative of the United States to Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Senate confirmed the appointment in 2006.

During his tenure as Ambassador to the United Nations, Wallace most notably sought to uncover corruption in UN programs in such places as North Korea and Burma. He exposed the "Cash for Kim" corruption scandal in North Korea, revealing that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had funneled millions of dollars in hard currency to North Korea with little assurance that North Korea’s dictatorship would use the money to help the North Korean people instead of diverting it to illicit activities like the country’s nuclear program. Wallace accused the program of being "systematically perverted for the benefit of the Kim Jong Il regime" and the media drew parallels between UNDP’s corruption in North Korea and the Oil-for-Food scandal in Iraq several years earlier. In September 2010, a UN ruling determined that the whistleblower in the Cash for Kim corruption case had been unjustly fired. ''The Wall Street Journal'' wrote the finding "vindicates" Wallace, "who led the charge for transparency at UNDP despite hostility from the media and from Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, and with very little support at the State Department."

In addition he led the U.S. delegation’s "no" vote against using UN money to pay for the 2009 "Durban II" conference, describing it as "noxious to my country and a disgrace in the International Community." He further opposed the 2008-2009 UN Biennium Budget for its "ad hoc" and "piecemeal" approach that ensured spending increases in the UN general budget that far outpaced the general budget increases of member states.

While at the UN, Wallace also launched the UN Transparency and Accountability Initiative that focused on eight areas of reform related to member states’ access to UN financial documents, ethics, financial disclosure, oversight mechanisms, IPSAS accounting standards and administrative overhead.

Upon his departure from the U.S. State Department, ''The Wall Street Journal'' editorial board compared Wallace to a list of "distinguished" Americans who tried to make the United Nations live up to its original ideals including Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jeane Kirkpatrick and John Bolton. The opinion piece noted that although Wallace was unpopular with some officials who didn’t want to risk their engagement with North Korea over corruption, "he’s the one who had it right."

2008 U.S. presidential campaign

During the 2008 presidential campaign Wallace was a senior advisor to McCain-Palin 2008 and led the debate preparation team for Governor Sarah Palin. After the debate, ''The New York Times'' commented that Ms. Palin's debate performance against Democrat Joe Biden "exceeded expectations in this highly anticipated face-off, though those expectations were low after she had stumbled in recent television interviews."

Current work

Wallace currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Tigris Group, a New York City-based investment, advisory and asset management firm that focuses on natural resources and the natural resources sector through its related Electrum Group of Companies. In that capacity, he headed the transaction team for Silver Opportunity Partners, to assist with its acquisition of Idaho's historic Sunshine Mine. Regarding that acquisition, Wallace told Bloomberg, "It was no doubt a complicated and risky transaction. Through our expertise, we were able to minimize the risk involved, resolve litigation, and reunite the patchwork and fractured ownership interests that inhibited the mine and limited its value over the last decade.” Wallace also played a key role in securing the necessary regulatory approvals and community support for Cougar Gold's efforts to explore its claims in eastern California’s Bodie Wilderness Study Area. Wallace spoke for Electrum’s Cougar Gold at a February 2011 meeting in California. There, he explained that additional exploratory drilling in the area cannot occur until the Wilderness Study Area designation is removed. In an August 2011 Wall Street Journal article, Wallace described the Bodie dispute as “’the tip of the spear’ in a growing national debate over balancing conservation and resource extraction.”

United Against Nuclear Iran

Wallace also serves as President and Chief Executive of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a bipartisan non-profit organization dedicated to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. Wallace founded UANI in 2008 alongside former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, the late Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross, who is currently serving in the Obama administration.

As President of UANI, Wallace has had op-eds published in ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Washington Times'', the ''New York Post'' and several other national newspapers. Under his leadership, UANI has succeeded in pressuring such multinational corporations as Huntsman, Caterpillar and Ingersoll Rand to end their business dealings in Iran. The organization’s model legislation has also been incorporated into federal bills, including a measure in the ''Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010'' which requires companies that do business with the U.S. government to certify that they do not conduct business in Iran. Additionally, the proposed ''Iran Transparency and Accountability Act'' is based on UANI’s model legislation that requires companies to disclosure their business in Iran to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Personal life

Wallace attended the University of Miami, where he received both his Bachelor's and law degrees. He is married to Nicolle Wallace, a novelist and political commentator who served as President George W. Bush’s communications director and was a senior advisor to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid.

References

Category:Living people Category:American political consultants Category:University of Miami alumni Category:American civil servants Category:George W. Bush Administration personnel Category:Florida Republicans

Coordinates	52°05′36″N5°7′10″N
Order	3rd New York City Public Advocate
Term start	January 1, 2010
Predecessor	Betsy Gotbaum
Office2	Member of the New York City Council from the 39th District
Term start2	January 2002
Term end2	January 2010
Predecessor2	Stephen DiBrienza
Successor2	Brad Lander
Office3	Member of Community School Board 15
Term start3	1999
Constituency3	Brooklyn: Boerum Hill, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Red Hook
Office4	Regional Director for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Term start4	1997
Term end4	2000
Constituency4	New York, New Jersey
Party	Democratic Party
Birth date	May 08, 1961
Birth place	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Spouse	Chirlane McCray
Children	Chiara, Dante
Residence	Park Slope, Brooklyn
Alma mater	New York University (B.A.), Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (M.A.)
website	Office of the Public Advocate }}

Bill de Blasio is a New York City elected official, holding the citywide office of New York City Public Advocate, which serves as an ombudsman between the electorate and the city government. De Blasio previously served as a New York City Council member representing the 39th District in Brooklyn (Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Columbia Street, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Boro Park).

As Public Advocate, de Blasio is first in line to succeed the New York City Mayor.

Public Advocate Career

The New York Times]]|date=2010-01-01|accessdate=2010-05-11 | first=Julie | last=Bosman}}

New York City Public Advocate Campaign 2009

In November 2008, de Blasio announced his candidacy for Public Advocate. The New York Times endorsed de Blasio in the primary for Public Advocate. On September 15, 2009, de Blasio came in first in the Democratic primary, garnering 33% of the vote. De Blasio won the run-off on September 29, 2009 with 62% of the vote. His candidacy for the general election was endorsed by then Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, former Mayor Ed Koch, former Governor Mario Cuomo, and Reverend Al Sharpton.

De Blasio defeated Republican Alex Zablocki with 77% of the vote in the general election, held on November 3, 2009.

Early career

New York City Council

Bill de Blasio represented District 39 in the New York City Council, which comprises the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace.

De Blasio was first elected to the Council in 2001; he was re-elected overwhelmingly in 2003 and 2005. In the Council, de Blasio chairs the Committee on General Welfare, and is a member of the Education, Environmental Protection, Finance, and Technology in Government Committees.

New York City School Board

Elected in 1999, de Blasio served as a member of Community School Board 15, where he helped spearhead some of the most comprehensive reforms in the city. District 15 was the first in New York City to cap first grade class size at 20 students and is establishing universal Pre-Kindergarten. De Blasio worked with other Board members to give parents a choice by establishing middle school academies that create smaller, more personal learning environments for students, and was part of an effort to reinvent John Jay High School.

Clinton Administration and 2000 Senate Campaign

Prior to his election to the City Council, de Blasio served as the campaign manager for Hillary Rodham Clinton's successful campaign for United States Senate in 2000.

In 1997, de Blasio was appointed to serve as the Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for New York and New Jersey in the Clinton Administration. As the highest-ranking official in the New York/New Jersey region HUD, de Blasio was instrumental in directing increased federal funding for affordable housing, senior citizen housing and economic development in the region. De Blasio also helped increase access to and improve affordable housing, including helping take control of the Beekman Houses, a failed development project in the South Bronx.

David Dinkins Mayoral Administration

De Blasio's introduction to New York City government came during David Dinkins' 1989 Mayoral campaign. Following the campaign, de Blasio served as an aide in the Dinkins Administration, where he worked on projects such as the Safe Streets, Safe City initiative to reduce crime throughout New York City.

Personal Life and Family

De Blasio is of German-American and Italian-American ethnic heritage. His mother was Maria De Blasio Wilhelm, a historian on the Italian Resistance in World War II. De Blasio and his wife Chirlane live with their two children in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Both children attend public school. Councilman de Blasio holds a B.A. from New York University, and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

While serving as campaign manager for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 U.S. Senate Campaign, the NBC political drama program The West Wing paid tribute to de Blasio in one scene by writing "CALL B. DE BLASIO" on a board while the show's characters discussed strategy.

See also

New York City Public Advocate

New York City Public Advocate election, 2009

References

External links

Office of the Public Advocate

Bill de Blasio: Official Website

Category:Living people Category:Brooklyn politicians Category:New York City Council members Category:New York Democrats Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:1961 births

{{Infobox officeholder |name = Narendra Modiનરેન્દ્ર મોદી |image = Narendra Modi in surat.jpg |imagesize = |alt = Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, India, speaks during the welcome lunch at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2008 in New Delhi |birth_date = September 17, 1950 |birth_place = Vadnagar, Gujarat, India |residence = Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India |death_date = |death_place = |constituency = Maninagar |order = |office = Chief Minister of Gujarat |governor = Dr. Kamla Beniwal |term_start = 7 October 2001 |term_end = |predecessor = Keshubhai Patel |successor = Incumbent |party = Bharatiya Janata Party |spouse = |children = |alma_mater = Gujarat University |education = [M.S (Political Science)] ) is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.

He was born in a middle class family in Vadnagar. Modi was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. He is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood, and also an active politician since early in life. He holds a master's degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.

He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously. He was elected again for a third term on 23 December 2007 in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule"..

Personal life

Modi was born in a middle class family in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State, India. During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations. As a young man, he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organization and was involved in the anti-corruption ''Nav Nirmāṇ'' ("Reconstruction") Movement. After working as a full time organizer for the organization, he was later nominated as its representative in the Bharatiya Janata Party. As a teenager Modi used to run a tea stall with his brother. Modi completed his schooling in Vadnagar. He earned a masters degree in political science from Gujarat University.

Early activism and politics

Modi was a ''Pracharak'' in the RSS during his university years. He took up the challenging task of energizing the party cadres in right earnest. In partnership with Shankersinh Vaghela, Modi set about creating a strong cadre base in Gujarat. In the initial period, Vaghela was seen as a mass leader, while Modi was recognised as a master strategist.

The party started gaining political mileage and formed a coalition government at the centre in April 1990. This partnership fell apart within a few months, but the BJP came to power with a two-thirds majority on its own in Gujarat in 1995. During this period, Modi was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing two crucial national events, the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra (a political rally through India on a converted Toyota van) of L.K. Advani and a similar march from Kanyakumari (the southernmost part of India) to Kashmir in the North. After the exit of Shankarsingh Vaghela from the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister while Narendra Modi was sent to New Delhi as a General Secretary of the Party.

In 1995, Modi was appointed the National Secretary of the party and given the charge of five major states in India. In 1998, he was promoted as the General Secretary (Organization), a post he held until October 2001. In 2001, Narendra Modi was chosen by the party to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat after the removal of chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

Tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat

Personality

Modi is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. He has a personal staff of just three. He is known to be a workaholic Chief Minister and an introvert. He ordered the demolition of many Hindu temples that were built without proper government sanction which earned him the ire of VHP He is a crowd puller as a speaker. Modi has also tried to turn his image from an Hindu Nationalist politician to an image of able administrator. He wears business suits and is improving his command over the English language.

Awards and recognitions

Modi was awarded ''Gujarat Ratna'' by ''Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj'' at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on celebration of centenary year.

Development of Gujarat

As a Chief Minister, Modi started various 'yojanas' or plans. This includes: Panchamrut Yojana, a five-pronged strategy for an integrated development of the state,

Sujalam Sufalam, a scheme to create a grid of water resources in Gujarat in an innovative step towards water conservation and its appropriate utilization.

Krishi Mahotsav – agricultural research labs for the land

Chiranjeevi Yojana – To reduce infant mortality rate

Matru Vandana – Providing preventive and curative services under the Reproductive and Child Health Programme

Beti Bachao – Campaign against female infanticide to improve sex ratio

Jyotigram Yojana – Provide electricity to every village

Karmayogi Abhiyan – To educate and train government employees

Kanya Kelavani Yojana – To encourage female literacy and education

Balbhog Yojana – Midday meal scheme for students to encourage school attendance from poor backgrounds.

Vibrant Gujarat

Vibrant Gujarat is a biennial Global Investors' Summit held by the Government of Gujarat in Gujarat, India. The event is aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers; the summit is advertised as a platform to understand and explore business opportunities in the State of Gujarat. the event has been held continuously since 2003.

Gujarat earthquake

The biggest challenge which he had to face when he took over as the Chief Minister, was the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas affected by the massive Gujarat Earthquake of January 2001.

Gujarat violence

On 27 February 2002, a train was burned by a mob of Muslim extremists in the town of Godhra leading to 59 deaths, most of them Hindu pilgrims and activists returning from the holy city of Ayodhya. Riots broke out in the state after rumours spread that it was caused by Muslims, leading to 1180 deaths, many of them Muslims. Modi administration was accused of inaction over the riots and for encouraging them. As an aftermath of the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over the issue. Even Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), allies of the BJP, asked for Modi's resignation. Modi submitted his resignation to the Governor and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. In the following state re-elections the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.

In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a special team of investigators to look into the role Modi had played in the alleged anti-Muslim conspiracy. The team was appointed in response to the complaint of Jakia Jafri, the widow of ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was murdered in the riots. In December 2010, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its report to the Supreme Court seeking answers pertaining to the Ehsan Jafri case, submitted that they had found no evidence against Narendra Modi.

However in February 2011, the ''Times of India'' reported that a confidential report from the SIT indicted Modi on several counts of alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Most other sources have noted that the SIT report does not indict Modi for the riots due to lack of evidence. ''The Indian Express'' too said the report did not find any Modi involvement in the violence, though it did accuse him of watering down the seriousness of the situation. According to ''the Hindu'', the report not only found that Modi tried to water down the seriousness of the situation, but Modi also implicitly justified the killings of Muslims, and failed to condemn the attacks on them. The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an investigation into the publication of the report, claiming the leak was politically motivated.

The apex court refused to pass any order on the case and referred it to the Ahmedabad magistrate for a decision.

2007 elections

Modi made a speech at Mangrol in which he justified the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, During the election campaign In response to Sonia Gandhi's speech calling him a "merchant of death", and referred to Sohrabuddin's killing. For this speech the Election Commission of India, a constitutional body governing election proceedings in India, cautioned Modi as it considered it as indulging in an activity which may aggravate existing differences between different communities. Modi won the election and continued his post as the Chief Minister Of Gujarat.Mr.Narendra Modi has got clear majority with 122 seats out of 182 total assembly seats.

Conflicts with Governor Kamla Beniwal

On 25 August 2011 Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal appointed Justice R A Mehta to the post of Lokyukta of Gujarat, a critical anti-corruption post that had been lying vacant since 2003. Justice R A Mehta was recommended for the post by the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in June. Since Governor Beniwal had made this decision without consulting and getting the approval of the chief minister and his council of ministers, the action angered Narendra Modi and his BJP party.

This marked the beginning of a strained relationship between Modi and the Governor. On 25 September 2011, Narendra Modi accused the Governor of running a parallel government in the state supported by the Congress. He demanded that she be recalled back. He also later accused her of delaying the progress of bills by not passing them.

The decision of the governor in the appointment of R A Mehta was challenged in the high court by the Modi government. The two member high court bench gave a split verdict on 10 October 2011. Later, a third member upheld the governor's decision in January 2012. This was a major setback to Modi.

Foreign visits

As the Chief Minister of the Gujarat State, to attract foreign investment in the state, Narendra Modi has made visits to foreign countries, including China and Singapore.

Narendra Modi made his first China visit in 2007 to invite investors Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit, and second visit in November 2011. One month after the second visit to China, the Chinese Government released 13 Diamond traders from India jailed by the Shenzhen Customs, which the Chief Minister described as the consequece of his ''diplomatic efforts and statesmanship''.

In 2005 Narendra Modi was denied of diplomatic visa to the United States, in addition to this visa denial, he was also revoked from his already granted B-1/B-2 visa.

Sadbhavna Mission

In the late 2011-early 2012 Narandra Modi had a series of fasts named as ''Sadbhavna Mission''. The mission started on 17 September 2011 in Ahmedabad with 3 day fast with a view to strengthen the atmosphere of peace, unity and harmony in the state. He observed total 36 fasts in 26 districts, 8 cities including Ahmedabad.

Views and opinions

Modi's position on terrorism

On 18 July 2006 Modi delivered a speech criticizing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" like the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the Centre to empower states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the blasts in Mumbai. Quoting Modi:

Narendra Modi has frequently commented that if the BJP came to power at the Centre, they will honour the 2004 Supreme Court judgement to hang Afzal Guru. Afzal was convicted of terrorism in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in 2004 by the Supreme Court of India and is in Tihar Jail.

On account of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday 27 November, Narendra Modi held a meeting to discuss waterfront security along the coastline. The meeting decided to ask the Central government to urgently sanction the following:

Increase the number of police stations along the coast to 50 (from 10)

Increase the number of police to 1500 from 250

30 modern high-speed surveillance boats.

The 30 coastal boats, under construction at Goa's ship-building yard, will have the capacity to run at the speed of 25 nautical miles per hour. These are being manufactured under the Centre's Rs 58-crore grant for coastal security.

Views on criticism of Modi's governance

In 2003, when Narendra Modi was asked about the conflict of his dreams for Gujarat's future with international criticism of his past activities, Modi said:

Modi's decision to link Gujarat's violence with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US drew criticism from some observers, who contrasted it with the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's unpleasant apology for Gujarat in London a year ago.

Responding to The Guardian's criticism in this matter, Modi replied:

References

See also

Chief Minister

Gujarat

Bhartiya Janata Party

External links

; Official

@narendramodi Official & verified Twitter Account

Narendra Modi ''Official website''

Narendra Modi ''Personal blog''

; Other

Profile at ''BBC News''

at ''The Caravan Magazine 18,000-word profile that touches all aspect of Narendra Modi's life''

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The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie (, ''Moguchaya kuchka''), refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. The group had the aim of producing a specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. In a sense, they were a branch of the Romantic Nationalist movement in Russia, sharing similar artistic goals with the Abramtsevo Colony and Russian Revival.

History

Name

In May 1867 the critic Vladimir Stasov wrote an article, ''Mr. Balakirev's Slavic Concert'', on a concert given for visiting Slav delegations to the "All-Russian Ethnographical Exhibition" in Moscow. The four Russian composers whose works were played at the concert were Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mily Balakirev, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The article ended with the following statement:

The expression "mighty handful" (, ''Moguchaya kuchka'', "Mighty Bunch" or "Group"), was mocked by enemies of Balakirev and Stasov: Aleksandr Serov, academic circles of the conservatory, the Russian Musical Society, and their press supporters. The group responded by defiantly adopting the name. (although today the Russian equivalent "Пятерка" ("Pyatyorka") is occasionally used to refer to this group.). In his memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakov routinely refers to the group as "Balakirev's circle", and occasionally uses "The Mighty Handful", usually with an ironic tone. He also makes the following reference to "The Five":

The Russian word ''kuchka'' also spawned the terms "kuchkism" and "kuchkist", which may be applied to artistic aims or works in tune with the sensibilities of The Mighty Handful.

The name of Les Six, an even looser collection of French-speaking composers, emulates that of "The Five".

Formation

The formation of the group began in 1856, with the first meeting of Balakirev and César Cui. Modest Mussorgsky joined them in 1857, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1861, and Alexander Borodin in 1862. All the composers in The Five were young men in 1862. Balakirev was 25, Cui 27, Mussorgsky 23, Borodin the eldest at 28, and Rimsky-Korsakov just 18. They were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry. Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer (he wrote his First Symphony on a three-year naval voyage circumnavigating the globe). Mussorgsky had been in the Guards, then in the civil service before taking up music; even at the height of his career in the 1870s he was forced by the expense of his drinking habit to hold down a full-time job in the State Forestry Department.

In contrast to the élite status and court connections of Conservatory composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Five were mainly from the minor gentry of the provinces. To some degree their ''esprit de corps'' depended on the myth, which they themselves created, of a movement that was more "authentically Russian," in the sense that it was closer to the native soil, than the classic academy.

Before them, Mikhail Glinka and Alexander Dargomyzhsky had gone some way towards producing a distinctly Russian kind of music, writing operas on Russian subjects, but The Mighty Handful represented the first concentrated attempt to develop such a music, with Stasov as their artistic adviser and Dargomyzhsky as an elder statesman to the group, so to speak. The circle began to fall apart during the 1870s, no doubt partially due to the fact that Balakirev withdrew from musical life early in the decade for a period of time. All of "The Five" are buried in Tikhvin Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.

Musical language

Stylization

The musical language The Five developed set them far apart from the Conservatoire. This self-conscious Russian styling was based on two elements:

They tried to incorporate in their music what they heard in village songs, in Cossack and Caucasian dances, in church chants and the tolling of church bells (to the point where the bell tolling became a cliché). The Five's music became filled with imitative sounds of Russian life. They also tried to reproduce the long-drawn, lyrical and melismatic peasant song, what Glinka had once called "the soul of Russian music." Balakirev made this possible by his study of songs from the Volga in the 1860s. More than any previous anthology, his transcriptions artfully preserved the distinctive aspects of Russian folk music:

*Tonal mutability

:A tune seems to shift naturally from one tonal center to another, often ending up in a different key than the one in which the song began. This can produce a feeling of elusiveness, a lack of definition or of logical progression in the harmony. Even when stylized by The Five, this quality can make Russian music sound very different from the tonal structures of the West.

*Heterophony

:A melody is simultaneously rendered by two or more performers in different variations. This is improvised by the singers until the end, when the song reverts to a single melodic line.

*Parallel fifths, fourths and thirds

:The effect lends Russian music a raw sonority missing entirely from the comparatively polished harmonies of Western music.

The Five also adopted a series of harmonic devices to create a distinct "Russian" style and color different from Western music. This "exotic" styling of "Russia" was not just self-conscious but entirely invented. None of these devices was actually used in Russian folk or church music:

*Whole tone scale

:Although Glinka did not invent this scale, his application of it in the opera ''Ruslan and Lyudmila'' (1842) — most recognizable at the end of the festive overture — provided a characteristic harmonic and melodic device. This scale in "Russian" works often suggests evil or ominous personages or situations. It was used by all the major composers from Tchaikovsky (the appearance of the Countess's ghost in ''The Queen of Spades'') to Rimsky-Korsakov (in all his magic-story operas—''Sadko'', ''Kashchey the Deathless'' and ''The Invisible City of Kitezh''). Claude Debussy also uses this scale in his music, taking this, among many things, from the Russians. Later it became a standard device in horror-movie scores.

The Russian submediant

:Also linked to Glinka's ''Ruslan'', this is a harmonic pattern (in major mode) in which one upper part proceeds from the dominant pitch chromatically to the submediant while the other harmony parts remain constant. The most basic form of this pattern can be shown as follows (beginning with typical tonic): root-position tonic triad --> root-position augmented tonic triad -> 1st inversion submediant minor triad. A famous example of the Russian submediant occurs in the very opening bars of the third movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's ''Scheherezade''.

*Diminished or octatonic scale

:Rimsky-Korsakov first used this in his symphonic poem ''Sadko'' in 1867. This scale became a sort of Russian calling-card — a ''leitmotif'' of magic and menace used not just by Rimsky-Korsakov but all of his followers, above all Alexander Scriabin, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen (mode 2).

*Modular rotation in sequences of thirds

:The Five made this device of Franz Liszt their own to base a loose symphonic-poem type of structure. This way, they could avoid the rigid Western laws of modulation in sonata form, allowing the form of a musical composition to be shaped entirely by the "content" of the music (its programmatic statements and visual descriptions) rather than by formal laws of symmetry. This loose structure became especially important for Mussorgsky's ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', a work that may have done more than any other to define the Russian style.

*Pentatonic scale

:This stylistic aspect became used by every Russian nationalist composer. Its distinctive feature is to have only five notes in the octave, rather than the seven of the heptatonic scales (e.g., major and minor). The pentatonic scale is one of the ways of suggesting a "primitive" folk-melodic style as well as the "Eastern" element (Middle East, Asia). A melodic example of the "major-mode" pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) can be heard at the entrance of the chorus at the beginning of Borodin's ''Prince Igor''.

Orientalism

One hallmark of "The Five" was its reliance on orientalism. Many quintessentially "Russian" works were composed in orientalist style, such as Balakirev's ''Islamey'', Borodin's ''Prince Igor'' and Rimsky-Korsakov's ''Scheherazade''. Orientalism, in fact, became widely considered in the West both one of the best-known aspects of Russian music and a trait of Russian national character. As leader of "The Five," Balakirev encouraged the use of eastern themes and harmonies to set their "Russian" music apart from the German symphonism of Anton Rubinstein and other Western-oriented composers. Because Rimsky-Korsakov used Russian folk and oriental melodies in his First Symphony, Stasov and the other nationalists dubbed it the "First Russian Symphony," even though Rubinstein had written his ''Ocean'' Symphony a dozen years before it. These were themes Balakirev had transcribed in the Caucasus. "The symphony is good," Cui wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1863, while the latter was out on naval deployment. "We played it a few days ago at Balakirev's—to the great pleasure of Stassov. It is really Russian. Only a Russian could have composed it, because it lacks the slightest trace of any stagnant Germanness."

Orientalism was not confined to using authentic Eastern melodies. What became more important than the melodies themselves were the musical conventions added to them. These conventions allowed orientalism to become an avenue for writing music on subjects considered unmentionable otherwise, such as political themes and erotic fantasies. It also became a means of expressing Russian supremacy as the empire expanded under Alexander II. This was often reinforced through misogynist symbolism—the rational, active and moral Western man versus the irrational, passive and immoral Eastern woman.

Two major works entirely dominated by orientalism are Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite ''Antar'' and Balakirev's symphonic poem ''Tamara''. ''Antar'', set in Arabia, uses two different styles of music, Western (Russian) and Eastern (Arabian). The first theme, Antar's, is masculine and Russian in character. The second theme, feminine and oriental in melodic contour, belongs to the queen, Gul Nazar. Rimsky-Korsakov was able to soften the implicit misogyny to some extent. However, female sensuality does exert a paralyzing, ultimately destructive influence. With Gul Nazar extinguishing Antar's life in a final embrace, the woman overcomes the man.

Balakirev gives a more overtly misogynistic view of oriental women in ''Tamara''. He had originally planned to write a Caucasan dance called a ''lezginka'', modeled on Glinka, for this work. However, he discovered a poem by Mikhail Lermontov about the beautiful Tamara, who lived in a tower alongside the gorge of Daryal. She lured travelers and allowed them to enjoy a night of sensual delights, only to kill them and throw their bodies into the River Terek. Balakirev uses two specific codes endemic to orientalism in writing ''Tamara''. The first code, based on obsessive rhythms, note repetitions, climactic effects and accelerated tempi, represents Dionysian intoxication. The second code, consisting of unpredictable rhythms, irregular phrasing and based on long passages with many repeat notes, augmented and diminished intervals and extended melismas, depict sensual longing. Not only did Balakirev use these codes extensively, but he also attempted to supercharge them further when he revised the orchestration of ''Tamara'' in 1898.

A direct result of such orientalism was the big influence that this circle left on the formation of classical traditions in other nations of the east and south of Russia. For instance, one of Rimsky-Korsakov's famous students, Alexander Spendiaryan went on to become the founder of Armenian classical music, carrying on the traditions and aesthetics of the Mighty Handful to the Caucasus.

Quotations

Rimsky-Korsakov provides the following picture of "The Mighty Handful" in his memoirs, ''Chronicle of My Musical Life'' (translated by J. A. Joffe):

Tastes

Balakirev

Abilities

Influence

Except perhaps for Cui, the members of this group influenced or taught many of the great Russian composers who were to follow, including Alexander Glazunov, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Timeline

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See also

Music of Russia

List of Russian composers

Tchaikovsky and the Five

Les Six, French composers

Armenian Mighty Handful

The Turkish Five

Group of Eight (music), Spanish composers

References

External links

Encyclopædia Britannica article about "The Five"

The Article about The Five in "1000 years of Russian Music"

Turgenev and Russian Music: The Mighty Handful (with music samples)

Russian musical influences of The Five on works of Claude Debussy

Category:Articles about multiple people 5 Category:Russian composers *

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