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That is a story that involves around a dozen characters and a legal battle between two companies, neither of whom is Marvel. This is a story that involves an unusual amount of laws. If you make it to the end of this answer, which will be long and complex, you will know who Captain Marvel is and what the difference between Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel is. So strap in.Due to the success of superheroes like Batman and Superman at National Comics (which would eventually be DC Comics), in 1940 a rival publisher, Fawcett Comics, created their own superhero. He would have powers inspired by the Greek myths (mostly, the wisdom of Solomon was thrown in for some reason), and go by the name Captain Marvel.Captain Marvel became quite popular, spawning more titles and more adventures. So popular he began to eclipse Superman in popularity. Captain Marvel began regularly outselling Superman.National Comics, sensing a major threat to their business, decided to sue Fawcett Comics on the basis of the character being an illegal copyright infringement of Superman. This was actually fairly typical of National at the time as they already had filed lawsuits against two other characters, Wonder Man and Master Man, for being too similar to Superman. However this time they were suing over the most profitable character a publisher had. In fact the very first ever superhero adapted into film was Captain Marvel.The lawsuit dragged on for twelve years. Seriously, twelve years. After going through trials and appeals, and the possibility of the lawsuit going to the Supreme Court, Fawcett decided to settle out of court. The profitability of superheroes dramatically decreased in the early ‘50s, and Fawcett just didn’t see the point in keeping up with a never ending lawsuit. Fawcett wound up canceling all of its superhero comics, and more or less pulling out of the comic book industry all together.This is Captain Marvel #1, and the most important thing about this story is that Captain Marvel ceased publication for the rest of the ’50s and all of the ‘60s.Going backwards a bit, in 1939 another comic book company formed called Timely Comics. The very first publication they produced featured characters like the Human Torch (and android man who burnt and flew) and Namor the Sub-Mariner (the half-Atlantean anti-hero). This comic was entitled Marvel Comics. In the ’50s the company changed names to Atlas Comics, but in 1961 the company changed names again to Marvel Comics.Now because of the fall out of the lawsuit, no one had published a Captain Marvel comic in a decade. Marvel sensed an opening. Marvel would have really, really liked to have the name Captain Marvel, because, you know, Marvel comics. And since the name was defunct it had fallen out of trademark. So Marvel created a new hero named Captain Marvel to star in its line of comics.This is Captain Marvel #2. This is the story of an alien Kree soldier named Mar-Vell who is sent to Earth to infiltrate humanity for eventual conquest. However after spending time with humanity he began to identify with humans and sought to protect them from all menaces in the universe. The character debuted in Marvel Super-Heroes #12. In Marvel Super-Heroes #13 Mar-Vell meets the security chief at an airforce base, Carol Danvers.Carol Danvers acts as Mar-Vell’s love interest. However she is caught in the explosion of an alien artifact, and grievously injured.Mar-Vell himself was not particularly successful. The comic was initially canceled in 1970 with issue #21, with the character appearing in the Avengers issues involving the Kree-Skrull war. The comic was revived but still flagged in the sales. Even with a critically acclaimed run by Jim Starlin, the character was just never particularly popular, and was canceled with issue 62 in 1979.To understand what happens next you have to understand something about Captain Marvel #2: Marvel didn’t care about the character. Marvel cared about the name “Captain Marvel.” While certainly good comics were published starring Mar-Vell, from the company’s perspective the only thing that mattered was securing the trademark on the name “Captain Marvel.” They didn’t organically come up with a character that necessitated the name “Captain Marvel,” they pounced on an opportunity brought about by trademark law and a lawsuit between two other comic book publishers.Meanwhile Carol Danvers was spun off into her own solo series in 1977, in an effort to appeal to women, focusing on the women’s liberation movement. She had healed from her injuries and discovered she now had superpowers. This comic was written by Chris Claremont who would go on to write the most classic X-Men stories. And the comic was entitled Ms. Marvel.Ms. Marvel was a decent enough series, particularly when Claremont took over. Perhaps what the series is most important for is the creation of the blue shape-shifting mutant villain known as Mystique.To this day, Mystique and Carol Danvers have a long-standing rivalry, with Mystique occasionally just messing around with Danvers just for giggles.However sales were low and the series only lasted about 20 issues before being canceled.This is Ms. Marvel #1.Ms. Marvel #1 was subsequently moved to the Avengers. First as a temporary member and then as a replacement for the Scarlet Witch who was on leave at the time. She was proven a strong and capable member of that team, but then the tragedy of bad writing would strike her down.In Avengers #199 in 1980, the Avengers arrive home to discover an extremely pregnant Carol Danvers who has reached about seven months pregnant in two days. Now, I can’t say that this true, but the persistent rumor has always been that the plan was to reveal that the Kree Supreme Intelligence had implanted Carol with some sort of egg in order to take advantage of her unique human-Kree hybrid biology. However a similar story had already been published, and so Marvel rushed to change the upcoming Avengers #200.But hooooo boy is Avengers #200 bad. In the issue, Carol gives birth to a child named Marcus who is revealed to be the son of long time Avengers foe Immortus. Marcus rapidly ages into being a man who reveals that he had kidnapped Carol into his father’s dimension and then impregnated her with himself in order to be born into Earth’s dimension. Both he and Carol then travel back to Immortus’s dimension with the blessings from the Avengers who perceive that they have fallen in love. Comic book historians refer to this incident as “The Rape of Ms. Marvel.” Yeah, it’s bad. Really, really bad.Carol is gone from comics for about a year before returning in Avengers Annual #10. In it she is attacked by Rogue of the Brotherhood of Mutants on behalf of Mystique who intends to use Carol’s powers to free the rest of the Brotherhood from prison (remember what I said about Mystique messing with Carol). This is Rogue’s first appearance, and the issue establishes that Rogue permanently absorbed Carol’s abilities, memories, and personality, due to Rogue’s failure to properly control her own powers.When the Brotherhood is dealt with, the Avengers travel to the X-Men’s mansion where Carol had been going through telepathic therapy. She brutally confronts them for their roles in what happened.And choses to stay with the X-Men in order to keep recovering. From this point on she becomes a supporting character in the X-Men stories.But now let’s shift back to Mar-Vell and more trademark law, shall we?In 1979 Marvel decided to launch a line of Graphic Novels in the style of French comic albums. They would be original stories told with more pages and in high production values. It would basically be a prestige line. By 1982 Captain Marvel had ceased publication for several years. So it was necessary to publish something entitled “Captain Marvel” in order to keep the trademark.DC comics had, in the meantime, licensed the characters from Fawcett. The exact characters they had attempted to kill. By the ’90s they would have outright bought them. So DC really, really wanted the name “Captain Marvel.” They could call him Captain Marvel in the comics themselves, but they couldn’t actually title anything Captain Marvel, due to Marvel’s trademark. DC really wanted that trademark and was just waiting for Marvel to lapse.So in 1982 Marvel published a graphic novel staring Mar-Vell, written by Jim Starlin called The Death of Captain Marvel. In it, due to Mar-Vell’s incessant contact with exotic energies, Mar-Vell contracts cancer and eventually slowly dies.Now, you might be wondering why, if Marvel was so desperate to keep the trademark, they killed the character? Well that is because as I said before: they didn’t care about Mar-Vell, just the title. The character, while interesting and vital, didn’t sell well. So, Marvel just moved on. They had a new Captain Marvel to debut in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, also released in 1982.This is Monica Rambeau. She was born in New Orleans, and was a cargo ship captain. She got exposed to exotic energy in an attempt to prevent the creation of a weapon, and developed the ability to transform her body into different kinds of energy. She then named herself Captain Marvel and became a superhero. She was created by Roger Stern and was a mainstay of his five years on the Avengers. She eventually became the team leader.And, of course, as the current Captain Marvel, she had to have her own comic, periodically. So she got one shot comics published in 1989 and 1994 (pretty much exactly every five years, gotta keep that trademark).So this is Captain Marvel #3.And now back to Carol Danvers, okay!Carol had been living with the X-Men for awhile and when they got involved in an incident known as the Brood Saga she traveled to outer space with them. Carol Danvers old villain Deathbird allied with the Brood in order to overthrow her sister Lilandra off the throne of the Shi’ar. The Brood are a parasitic species where the queen lays an egg inside a host body and then the egg converts the host body into a new Brood. The Brood capture Lilandra, the X-Men and Carol Danvers. They infest the X-Men with Brood eggs, but pull Carol aside because of her hybrid genetics to perform experiments on. As a result of the experiments, Carol transforms, gaining even more power than she had before as Ms. Marvel.She now assumes the name Binary, after a binary star and aids the X-Men in defeating the Brood and Deathbird. However, when they travel back to Earth there is a problem.Rogue had lost control over her own mind. She was young and was never properly trained in her powers. The alien minds from her absorptions were causing her to slowly go insane. She went to Professor Xavier for help and he provisionally made her an X-Man.When Carol discovered this she first got into a fist fight with Rogue and then confronted the X-Men for a betrayal she considered almost on the level of what the Avengers did. When Xavier would not relent in his desire to help Rogue, she decided to fly off into outer space as she felt she had no home on Earth any longer.If Carol is now Binary, who is Ms. Marvel?Well that would be Sharon Ventura.She was a female wrestler who was inspired by the Thing, so inspired that she went to the power broker to get her body augmented. Now with super strength she joined the Fantastic Four as Ms. Marvel, making her Ms. Marvel #2. However after being hit with cosmic rays she transformed into a female version of the Thing.She is actually quite the tragic character. She never officially retired the moniker Ms. Marvel, but everyone both inside and outside of comics refers to her as She-Thing now.Hey, shouldn’t we get back to more trademark law?In case you were wondering, Marvel was still squating on the rights to the name “Captain Marvel.” Despite being dead, Captain Marvel returned for the Miniseries The Life of Captain Marvel in 1985 and The Untold Tales of Captain Marvel in 1997. Just to fill in those gaps between when one-shots about Captain Marvel #3 were published.However Marvel was getting ready to debut Captain Marvel #4. Genis-Vell is the son of Mar-Vell and the Eternal Elysius. After Mar-Vell’s death, Elysius impregnated herself with his DNA in order to produce an offspring. Genis-Vell was created by Fabian Nicieza and debuted in Silver Surfer Annual #6 in 1993, using the name Legacy. However, once he discovered his true origins and wore his father’s Nega Bands, he rechristened himself as Captain Marvel. And as Captain Marvel he got a new ongoing series in 1996… which lasted only six issues.Now, I am sure you are wondering if Captain Marvel was now Captain Marvel #4, what happened to Captain Marvel #3? Well in what has now become an ongoing joke, Monica changed her name to… Photon, Pulsar, Daystar, and Spectrum.Anywho, despite the stunning failure of last Captain Marvel ongoing series, Marvel still had to keep the trademark and so in 1999 began Captain Marvel vol. 4 centered around Genis-Vell, written by the excellent Peter David. After Genis-Vell accidentally destroys and recreates the universe, he is thrust into an existence where he is as esteemed a hero as his father, and his mother found everything so successful she created a sister for him, Phyla-Vell. This series, though quite good, was only moderately successful. It lasted 35 issues before being rebooted for another 25.Hey, shouldn’t we get back to Carol Danvers at some point? Why yes we should.Carol had been in space for quite awhile. However with Kurt Busiek taking over writing for the Avengers he brought her back as a major character, rechristening her as Warbird. Carol lost access to the cosmic powers she had, retaining the energy absorption and redirection powers, plus her traditional powers. However, he decided to take the character in an… interesting direction.Busiek made her an alcoholic. I suppose it made sense to him that a woman who had been repeatedly defiled and abused would turn to alcohol, but it really just felt like piling on. Eventually she screws up big time and is forced to resign in disgrace. Poor Carol.Genis-Vell has been alive for a bit, isn’t it time for him to die and someone else to be Captain Marvel? No, you are wrong. It’s time for lots of other people to be Captain Marvel.Genis-Vell joins up with the Thunderbolts after the conclusion of his series. Baron Zemo, who has access to two moonstones, realizes that Genis-Vell is a cosmic level threat drawing energy across time and needs to be destroyed. They fight and Genis is split up in different universes so he can never be rejoined.Which means the new Captain Marvel is… (spins wheel)… Phyla-Vell!Phyla-Vell is, as I previously stated, Genis-Vell’s sister. She claimed the title of Captain Marvel when Genis was insane. She eventually started a relationship with the daughter of Drax, Moondragon. She gets wrapped up in the events of the Annihilation Wave where she joins Nova and Star-Lord in the final battle against Annihilus. She winds up getting Quasar’s Quantum bands and changing her name to Quasar. She goes on to become a founding member of that team of Guardians of the Galaxy (as a side note, you have no idea how angry I am that Phyla-Vell was excluded from the movies).In order to bring the (at the time) dead Moondragon back to life, Phyla makes a deal with Oblivion to be his enforcer and changes her name (again) to Martyr. However she is later killed by a resurrected Thanos.So… that’s Captain Marvel #5 onto Captain Marvel #6….Khn'nr was a Skrull sleeper agent put on Earth who was supposed to help infiltrate for the upcoming Secret Invasion. He was given Mar-Vell’s genetics, replicas of the negabands, and had his personality subsumed by a replica of Mar-Vell’s. He was given the backstory that he fell through a crack in time in order to explain why he wasn’t dead.However the programing failed, and Mar-Vell’s personality remained dominate all through the Secret Invasion. Once it is revealed to Khn'nr who he really is, he chooses to remain aligned with Captain Marvel’s ideals and eventually dies saving the Earth.Just one more Captain Marvel to go… almost finished….Captain Marvel #7 is Noh-Varr, a Kree scientist from a different universe who crashed onto Earth. He was originally created in the miniseries Marvel Boy.When Norman Osborn is, for reasons, given control over SHIELD he creates a version of the Avengers where super villains are posing as heroes. Daken is Wolverine, Moonstone is Ms. Marvel, Bullseye is Hawkeye, and Noh-Varr poses as Captain Marvel.Oh, and in case you missed that, Moonstone, a noted super villain who draws her power from an extraterrestrial stone, was posing as Ms. Marvel, making her Ms. Marvel #3.Hey, that Carol Danvers seems interesting, let’s go back to her!So Carol just sort of bopped around the Marvel Universe, due to her poisoned past. She was the sort of character that wasn’t able to be touched because there was just too much baggage. How exactly does a writer deal with everything from the rape storyline, to the memory/power loss, to the lost cosmic powers, to the disgrace and alcoholism? However Brian Michael Bendis seemed to like the character and in the wake of “House of M” there was a new angle for the character to take: attempting to really be the best hero on the planet.In the “House of M” reality, Ms. Marvel was the most acclaimed superhero on the planet. When that reality ended, Ms. Marvel, having seen what she had the potential to be, decided to make her potential a reality. It was basically the ultimate fresh start to gracefully elide all those lodestones she had been carrying.So she got a new solo series.The comic is basically her learning to be a better person, be a better hero. And it was well written and sold quite well, and featured her going back to the name Ms. Marvel. Additionally, due to circumstances, a majority of the major female Avengers were… indisposed… during this time period. With She-Hulk and Wasp and Scarlet Witch off the table, they needed someone to fill the spot in the Mighty Avengers so Carol was picked and even made leader. For the first time possibly ever, things were on an upward trajectory for Ms. Marvel. After four years her solo title concluded with Mystique sending the Skrull who was experimented on before Khn'nr in an effort to make him the Captain Marvel sleeper agent after Carol, just to mess with her.And Marvel, sensing the character was popular enough, decided to revamp Carol as the new Captain Marvel. Which, in a sense, fit perfectly. She was an actual military officer, she was the closest thing Mar-Vell had to a direct legacy. She had actually eclipsed Mar-Vell in popularity and longevity. And so a new series was commissioned to reflect these aspects of her, one focused on her leadership and military experience.Thus she is Captain Marvel #8. Now at the time I was pretty dead set against this. Carol Danvers was way too good of a character to be saddled with a name that had such a long legacy of failure and which was just passed around in an effort to keep a trademark. But Marvel has seemingly gone all in with its commitment to making Carol Captain Marvel and I have gotten to appreciate its worth. Particularly because of the new Ms. Marvel.There’s a New Ms. Marvel? Yes. There is.Kamala Khan is the teenage daughter of Pakistani immigrants living in Jersey City, New Jersey. She was a very typical teenage girl, who was obsessed with superheroes and considered Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers her favorite. When Blackbolt released the Terrigin mists across the planet, anyone with the right Inhuman genetics was transformed into an Inhuman, and among them was Kamala. When she broke free of her cocoon she discovered she had shapeshifting and size changing powers. Realizing that she could be a superhero, she took Carol’s old name Ms. Marvel and began protecting her local neighborhood.She quickly gained the respect of the older generation of heroes and worked with training those younger than herself. She eventually had a falling out with Carol and has sought to stand on her own independent of the woman who originated the name.So, Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel are both the same person, and different people. Currently Captain Marvel is Carol Danvers, and Ms. Marvel is Kamala Khan. But Carol Danvers used to go by Ms. Marvel, and any attempt to talk about either name from a historical perspective is going to get confusing due to how many people have gone by both names.

August 15, 1947, Delhi IndiaThere are many today in India who seem not to understand the reality of what India was in 1947. There are those who in the many corridors of the Lok Sabah (Parliament), who utter various allegations of how India’s economic growth was hampered by the Nehru family. In other levels of society there are allegations of corruption and robbery of state funds. And, there are even wild allegations of the lack of development under the near 60 years of rule under the dynasty of the House of Nehru. Perhaps some of allegations have somewhat of a basis, but the realities of circumstance are not looked at. It seems that a generation of Indians came about that never valued independence of thought, secular nationalism, and an independent foreign policy. Rather they would have preferred a course of economic development in an imagined course where Western Nations would have invested in India and the economic rise of India would have been a guaranteed outcome. This never was the case and there are concrete reasons why this never would have happened. In fact in even in the future with a completely open economy this will never happen. Many comparisons have been made, but these also fall short if analyzed fairly. There is far more about this period which even today is not being fully looked at. The time has without doubt come to view this period from a perspective of clarity and objectivity. For regardless of, how many people have disdain for this period the era remains one of the most important in Indian National History and it’s effects are still felt by all Indians and people of Indian origin. For me the story begins with actual accounts I know of from my family, events I witnessed and those I have researched over the years.Refugee Camp, Indian side of the BorderWhen on strike of the Mid-Night hour India became an independent nation again. There was little to to celebrate in the cities and villages which made up India. At that hour in my family’s ancestral home in Saharanpur Uttar Pardesh, ancient cannons were fired from a roof top with colored gun gunpowder. But the celebration was short lived. And, the gates of the house had to opened briefly to let people in from the street outside because rioting had broken out and a mob had formed. Thus, for the next several days a group of young people were too scared to make their journey back home. The partition of India had caused a complete collapse in our area as construction, and the flow of food products from West Punjab to Eastern Punjab and Uttar Pardesh had completely halted. There were shortages at first and the complete unavailability of basic things. People were told the situation would improve, but then came trains filled with the dead bodies from Lahore Terminus. And more followed, Hindus and Sikhs trying to escape from newly formed Pakistan never made it alive to the border of India. Violence of kind never seen before erupted in Saharanpur, the small skirmishes which happened on the night of August 15, 1947 were nothing compared to the disaster which would come about a week later.Baba Shib Dayal Bedi as Municipal Commissioner of Saharanpur, the same image was displayed in Saharanpur’s train station until 1969.In the company my Great Grand Father has established in late 1800’s, a large warehouse was filled with construction equipment, on another side of the Company’s Estate lay a brick factory, there were many other assets which had since 1910 sat in the open as Saharanpur had been a safe city. Baba Shib Dayal Bedi had been the Municipal Commissioner, until his death in December, 1941. A very diverse population of Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims lived together in complete peace. But, on this night looting, arson and killings occurred. Large parts of the company assets were set on fire, and life was forever changed for all who lived through this night. At my Grand Father’s request the gates were opened to house and to warehouses to save people from death in the streets who had no where to hide. Dead bodies lay in the streets and a complete collapse of civil life occurred. Those who had for centuries been neighbors attacked each other in the name of religion. India had been partitioned not just by land but in the very hearts and souls of it’s people.My father who was only about nine years old at the time went to the Gurudwara (Sikh Temple) his Grand Father had built, and our family members called for the end of violence between Hindu, Muslim and Sikh as “Partition was ill conceived, that it could never really happen as there was no place in Northern India where a Hindu, Muslim and Sikh did not live near each other. And there were cases where families were split along religious lines now.” The chaos would die down but it would take months. My father always would tell me of how, many of of those who were most vulnerable without gates and iron doors to close would loose what little they had, as looting and riots continued. The price of freedom from a British Raj of racial oppression came as a trial of fire for many Indians in Punjab and Western Uttar Pardesh, and for those in West Bengal.My Grand Father Baba Prem Nath Bedi, was utterly convinced that the situation was so horrific that India might just break up into provinces. The chronic shortage of food was driving people mad. Though the violence was largely over by the end of October 1947. A new problem now came and this was the refugee crisis. But here a new face of humanism was born, just months after the fires of rioting. For everyone it seemed wanted to help the refugees. Prime Minister Nehru was himself relentlessly touring the refugee camps. India had been attacked by newly formed Pakistan in the Northern most province of Kashmir. An airlift of Indian troops had begun, but people in Punjab and Western Uttar Pardesh were following this story with a great distraction, as they were trying to simply survive partition. Over the next few weeks a miracle would take place in Kashmir as Indian Troops repelled the invasion, but most Indians viewed it as a disaster as more than 1/3 of the province was occupied by Pakistani forces, while British commanders still remained in charge in Karachi.As time progressed and 1947 turned to 1948, a world of difference came. The expected continuation of war in Kashmir did not materialize as the snows melted. Instead Prime Minster Nehru wanted to take the issue to U.N. Many voices in India were vocally against this. But, they did not understand how weak India really was economically at this point. There was only going to be very short period where factories which were in India would be supplied by raw materials which were now in Pakistan. This my Grand Father was very aware of this. As ropes used in large scale projects used components from East Bengal. And during this period he stock piled these materials as he knew supplies would again get interrupted. Prime Minister Nehru was now talking about socialist politics and wanted to nationalize large scale landholding, this affected most of our neighbors and nearly all of our family members and extended family. There were large landholdings in our family since the time of Emperor Akbar 250 years ago. The talk of the nationalization of electric supply companies and transportation was another very great uncertainty and would have direct effect on my family.Prime Minister Nehru promised compensation for this, but this was simply a farce. There never was any real compensation for the industrial holdings my Grand Father would loose in the 1950’s. They were simply taken away, and then run into the ground. The state did not manage these resources better than private ownership. Somethings were disputed and given back. And, looking back it seems a lot of things could have been kept, but like so many at that point, nationalism had swept people away for they saw the dawn of an Independent India and considered themselves so lucky to have what they did, as there were others who had lost everything and were now refugees. And, this was so very true. A much higher goal was present, and this was the survival of millions of people and the ultimate survival of the new nation of India.In 1950, once more the price of food shot up, as trade ceased between India and Pakistan. Partition had resulted in India, having a completely inadequate food supply. The best farm lands had been lost in West Punjab. The loss of Eastern Bengal was created a similar situation for rice production. Prime Minister Nehru desperately was looking for food assistance. The U.S. and Britain refused, and much of this was because, India was closing it’s economy and not allowing it’s territory to be used by foreign powers. Both the U.S. and Britain had sided with Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir and supported a plebiscite in the State without the removal of the Pakistani presence in more than 1/3 of the state. Diplomatic meetings with President Truman, although generating great Photos, were actually very unsuccessful. As the only way to advance the relationship would have been to allow U.S. investment at the ground level in India and foreign military bases in India. Prime Minister Nehru, and most in India’s first cabinet were not willing to do this after 190 years of colonial destruction of the Indian economy.Prime Minister Nehru and Soviet Leader KrushevAfter being turned down for food assistance, Prime Minister Nehru would ask the Indian delegation in Moscow to ask the U.S.S.R. for help. He was nearly certain that they would be turned down. But here a meeting occurred between Stalin the delegation, and before the discussion even progressed to a formal request, Stalin just agreed to send grain. As the meeting was dissected by the Indian side, the conclusion was that Stalin had been waiting for India to come on it’s own. He granted the meeting and personally took part in it. This would be one of three meetings with foreign diplomats that Stalin would grant in eight years of his rule which followed World War II. The following year a large trade show would take place in India, and the Soviet Union would display large amounts of products and weapons. A financial agreement was put in place for exchange of Indian commodities for these advanced products. It has been said over the years that the Soviet Union did not need these Indian products, and that the deal was only put in place not make the Indian side feel completely unable to offer anything.By the mid-1950’s, squadrons of Soviet Mig fighter jets were flying over Indian Airspace. Large scale hydro-electric and heavy industry projects were launched. And, everywhere new schools were being built. An emphasis of education was sweeping through India. Yet even with all of these changes, the living standard of the average Indian was not going up. And, this is where modern day comparisons really fall short. As they do not take into account one very big difference between the reality of India and that of other Asian economies. India had for 190 years been under British Colonial Rule. Industrial know how had vanished in India. Nations like Japan had been destroyed by World War II, they had American assistance to rebuild, access to international markets and they had a skilled work force. They also did not have the burden of defending their nation militarily after World War II. India had none of this.Non-Aligned MovementA new foreign policy was launched by Prime Minister Nehru, and here India adopted the academically but unproven theory of Non-Alignment. The theory called for developing nations to not take sides in the Cold War. India would become a founding member of the movement. Prime Minister Nehru would also make a great effort to engage China, to create an “Asian Century”. He believed that the new age would restore the ties that India and China had during the period known as “The Great Interchange”. During this period which had lasted from 450 B.C. to 1157 A.D. The reality is that this never was going happen, at least not in the early 1950’s. As this period was one of immense challenges for India to overcome with a China which had become Communist and expansionist. At the same time this proposition may have been over come if there had not been outside forces which wanted a breakdown of relations between India and China. Much of how the actual border war began, still remains in shrouded in secrecy. What we can really see is that this war was an intelligence failure on the part of India, and it was a war where India did expect to get the backing of the West which never really came through. Instead the Soviet Union would take a decisive step and go against China and finally break the idea of the Soviet Union and China being one bloc ideologically.Sino-Indian WarAt the same time, Nehru’s main foreign relationship was broken with China. Before this war, India had the most influential developing nation in terms of defining the path the third world was taking. In fact even the terminology of first world, second world and third world had been defined by Prime Minister Nehru. He had objected to the use of the phrase “under developed nation”, as this was a demeaning phrase when applied to India. For India was a developed civilization long before those nations who now sat in judgement of India. For India had been economically been destroyed by colonialism, Under Prime Minister Nehru, India had attempted to rapidly industrialize, create schools, universities and health care. In the early 1960’s Indian food production was also rising, though not completely self sufficient, India had made immense progress since 1947. . For the outside world, it seems the reality of what India would accomplish in the coming decade was not yet recognized.When Prime Minister passed away in 1964, he had led India for 17 years. He had won election after election. For all Indians he was the only Prime Minister they had ever known. He had managed to hold together a impoverished nation, which had been surgically partitioned and left bleeding by the British Empire. Through the greatest human migration in human history, and this after the largest man made famine of the 20th Century known as the Bengal famine, it was the leadership of Prime Minister Nehru which had become the face of independent India. What was certain in 1964, had not been in 1947, this was that India would survive as political entity, and that it would remain a secular democracy.In 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri was sworn in Prime Minister. His path though respectful of Nehru’s direction was more straight forward and direct. He would state “There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the cross-roads of history and must choose which way to go. But for us there need be no difficulty or hesitation, no looking to right or left. Our way is straight and clear—the building up of a secular mixed-economy democracy at home with freedom and prosperity, and the maintenance of world peace and friendship with select nations.” He lived by example, and he had been a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, he had worked for the betterment of Low Caste Indians. He would begin by ending the expansion of socialism and create a distinct line of what government entities should be involved in and what not. He aligned India closer to the Soviet Union, and did not hesitate on this. He also began with full speed the development of the Indian Atomic Program. The green light for this program had been reluctantly been given by Prime Minister Nehru after the West had not anything substantial to help India repel Chinese aggression in 1962.Over the next two years Lal Bahadur Shastri led by example. He plowed the field himself at his official residence. He would ask the nation to skip one meal a week. And he said this would be done first by himself and his family. This would become known as Shastri’s Brut (Fast), during this time eateries all over India would shut down on Monday evening. He saw the suffering of children because of India’s in ability to produce milk in the quantities needed. And he began what would become known as the White Revolution. A new government plan was unveiled and cooperation was begun with the Indian Dairy Industry. Prime Minister Shastri spoke of the day when India would once more be able to feed it’s population. Severe food shortages continued, but the attempt at solving them continued.In 1965 a surprise invasion was launched by Pakistan, and a diplomatic campaign of intimidation by China. All of a sudden, China claimed that India was using it’s territory to house weapons. But, the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, did not bow down to this pressure. He would fight the war all the way through. Pakistan lost hope of any quick military victory. Though India had tremendous losses in material, the case was the same for Pakistan. And, after the conclusion of the War it became apparent that India had lost the 1962, border war because of lack of strategy not the inability of Indian troops to fight until the very end. In 1966, after signing a cease fire in Tashkent with Pakistan, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri would pass away under dubious circumstances. Over the years many theories have been presented, and the fact remains that Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, pushed India into the Atomic Age, and there were many nations who did not want this. But there were very few nations which had the reach necessary to poison to him. The Indian public of 1966 never did accept that their Prime Minister left India energetic as ever, and came home only for cremation. He followed the path of Gandhi to the very end, as he left behind no source of wealth nor accumulated possessions,After much political shuffling Smt. Indira Gandhi would become Prime Minister of India in 1966. Though she had much experience because she had served her father dutifully throughout his 17 years of rule, many believed that she would be a weak and easily influenced Prime Minister. But, this would not be the case at all. She always would fear for her safety as she knew that her policies would make India self-sufficient in every defining economic category in the next decade. She also came with the belief that India could become a great military power once more. Along with this she would bring into India the politics of Nepotism, and create distinct Indian identity which still carries on even today. For she made India a state which no outside nation could control or issue dictates to.The decade of the 1970’s began with many in India and abroad in doubt about India’s economic survival in this decade. For many think tanks in the West it was a certain prediction that India would enter a period of mass starvation by the late 1970’s. And this would be the end of Indian Democracy and the beginning of the population decrease and probable balkanization of the India. These Think Tanks would not just be proven wrong by a small degree by 1980. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would state “ A nation’s strength ultimately consists of what it can do on it’s own and not what it can borrow from others”. The 1970’s would truly prove this notion and this decade would become Indira Gandhi’s decade.The blood telegram, showed the Nixon Administration knew what was happening in East Pakistan.In 1970 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi proactively began showing the world what Pakistan was doing to it’s Hindu minority and Bengali intellectuals, as a genocide was taking place in East Pakistan. Both the U.S. and England turned a deaf ear to situation and continued to politically and economically support Pakistan. As 1971 came, the Genocide quickened and more refugees flooded into India from East Pakistan. The situation was becoming worse, and in Bangladesh the demands for autonomy from Pakistan were being heard. The Nixon administration rather than stop the genocide in Pakistan instead reacted by asking a newly diplomatically engaged China to open a front with India war broke out between India and Pakistan. It appears that initially China gave the impression that it would do so. After March 1971, the Indian army began creating plans of what a war would look like in East Pakistan. However, the situation on the ground was deteriorating far quicker, and the Pakistani Army was now eliminating entire villages of their Hindu populations. On December 3, 1971, it would be West Pakistan which would attack India, with the belief that they could win a war with India, because of their U.S. supplied radar system and Fighter Jets. At the time, India did not have a true radar system in place, and even in the 1962 Chinese invasion of India, Prime Minister Nehru had desperately asked President Kennedy for this.The Pakistani airstrikes, were successful on that night, but they along with initial troop movements in the Western theater would be their only successes in this two front war. China would never join in, and India would gain air superiority on both fronts. The West would arrange for additional aircraft to be given to Pakistan, these would include F-6’s from Iran and Jordan. But they would not change the outcome of the war. Indian troops, advanced rapidly in East Pakistan. And the Bangladeshi resistance offered intelligence and the best route towards Dacca was chosen. On Decmeber 15, 1971, Dacca was taken by Indian Armed Forces. And the following day, Pakistani forces surrendered, and 93,000 P.O.W.’s were taken in total. The U.S. had sent the seventh fleet and British Royal Navy also was making it’s way towards India. But, in this war, the U.S.S.R. played a large role in containing it’s spread, behind the scenes the Soviet Union told China that if any invasion took place of Indian territory that the Soviet Union would begin a border war of it’s own with China. In the Indian Ocean the Soviet Union surfaced it’s nuclear submarines as a sign that any attack on India would be met by a Soviet response. The Indian victory in 1971, was historically military accomplishment since the Mauryan Dynasty. As India, had shown that it could stand up for the greater good all people of the Indian Sub-Continent. India would return all captured territories and accept the border as it stood on December 2, 1971. The next 10 years would be a period of peace on the borders of India as Pakistan was out of the picture as a military threat. Even today, Pakistan has never been a conventional military threat since 1971.The India that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took over, was a nation which was not food sufficient. Though progress had been made, India was in a humiliating position where India had to go to the West for food imports. These were used as carrots by the West, the stick was in form of policy changes that it wanted from India. Yet, at the same time there never ending foreign aid for Pakistan from the United States. The Soviet Union on the other hand would assist India but in a very different way. As India did not get direct capital contributions to it’s economy. India since the time of Nehru tried to do everything on it’s own. This was a hard task and India did not waver from it. During the rule of Prime Minister Gandhi this would only become even more important. She believed that India’s situation was greatly hindered because small business was not being given adequate financing by lending institutions. When large banks continued this way, she would nationalize them. The system of State Bank of India branches was created to serve every small community in India. And finally there was a push to finance the small farmers.At the same time the winds of history had once more shifted after nearly 250 years to finally allow the flight of the Golden Sparrow (India). In the beginning the winds were only felt by those who took the time to notice. The planning board of India, realized fist. As food production began to take off, the Green Revolution had come and dignity would be restored to India for the first time since the night of colonialism began on June 23, 1757. All of a sudden the push for Indian products, in the form of mechanized farm equipment was met by seeds which were resistant to pests. Food production climbed, by the early 1970’s India was producing enough food that costly imports ended. Prime Minister Nehru’s massive investments in irrigation and Dams began to pay off. By the mid 1970’s the age of food shortages was quickly forgotten by an entire generation of Indians. For it was India which was after 190 years of deprivation, exporting food for currency. In 1940 while on trial in England, Shahid Udham Singh had stated “I have seen people starving to death on the Streets in India, and people mowed down by machine guns. What democracy does your flag bring?”. In the late 1970’s his words were answered. when the first grain shipments left India for sale abroad. For it was a testament to the memory and sacrifice of every freedom fighter and victim of starvation during India’s age of colonialism.Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Soviet Leader Breshnev, in 1971, India would sign a 20 year treaty of Friendship with the Soviet Union. This would be continued to the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.In 1974, India detonated an Atomic Weapon in the Thar Region. On that day, India entered the Atomic age. Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi tried to down play this event. But, China and the West very much understood what India had accomplished. India could not be threatened in 1974, the way it had been in during the 1971 war. Back in 1966 India’s Atomic Project had received a major setback when Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha, was killed along 117 other souls in the crash of Air India flight 101. From the very beginning of the investigation, there were anomalies which occurred which did not add up. The flight left Beirut with one of it’s VOR communication units inoperable. And later “Miscommunications”, were deemed to have been the reason for the flight crashing into Mont Blanc. The end result was a slow down of the Indian Atomic Program. For many decades the crash has been viewed with suspicion in India.Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s India had in 8 years achieved, what had looked impossible in 1966. India had become the dominant power in South Asia, it became a nation which was soon going to be a food exporter, and the Indian economy was growing. Yet, all of a sudden an old freedom fighter Jayaprakash Narayan, would emerge. He in his native Bihar would begin a campaign alleging, high prices and corruption. Though this action was put down, he simply changed his scope and went national. He called for a “total revolution” and now mixed these demands with showing that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had committed voter fraud and had been found guilty by the Allahabad Court. Jayaprakash Narayan, called for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and a complete revolution to take place. His idea of revolution was vague at best, he recited poetry in Delhi for 6 hours on one occasion. There seemed to be a greater desire to disrupt the life of the nation, rather than promote positive change. His agitation in Delhi allowed him to address massive crowds. The pattern went on for weeks, and paralyzed India. At the time Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, would state that this was all a plot launched by outside forces to get even for her resounding successes.J.P. Narayan calling for revolution.Prime Minister Gandhi, had known Jayaprakash Narayan, her entire life. As he had been a part of the Independence movement and a friend of the Nehru family. She attempted to negotiate with him, but his only response was that she step down from power. He once more proclaimed “Total Revolution”, and on the midnight of June 25, 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a National State of Emergency. There were mass arrests and J.P. Narayan was detained in Chandigarh, but due to ill health he was released on November 12, 1975.The “Emergency”. stained Prime Minster Indira Gandhi’s image as a leader of a democracy. Though everyone was released who had been arrested in the period which would follow. the perception was largely distorted in India and the outside as to what had led up to this situation. Even today, the period of the emergency is more looked at for it’s reality than it’s origin. A revolution had sprung up and paralyzed the nation, there was outside support for this at some level, this is simply not deniable. The relationship which existed between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan was not a simple one, but it had never been a relationship of enmity. It appears that he held a grudge for not becoming Prime Minister in 1966. But his the way he acted in 1975 seemed to be coordinated with the timing of the ruling in Allahabad Court. The ruling itself and the way in which it was worded also was not clear. As it would have required Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to end her rule and stay out of politics for five years. Yet, the way the ruling was worded it did not even by a long shot directly implicate her. Even if election fraud had occurred, it was not on a scale which would have changed anything significantly as Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi had won that election by popular vote.In 1977, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would voluntarily end the “Emergency” and call for new elections. The Janta government came to power. They attempted to have a new relationship with the U.S. and President Carter even came to India for a state visit. On the home front the rule of the Janta government was not very successful. Smt. Indira Gandhi and her eldest son Sanjay Gandhi had been arrested. Sanjay Gandhi would be charged in other scandals and would be in and out of jail. But over all the Janta Party, lost control of the economy and a period stagnation resulted. In 1980 Indira Gandhi would come to power in a landslide election. Later the same year she would loose Sanjay Gandhi in a aviation accident. She would begin the last term of her life time and when it would end the congress party of India would also be forever be changed.During this time, her advisers, my Father Baba Dr. Dina Nath Bedi had been one of them, began to advise her that India needed to join the computer age. India had missed the industrial revolution because of colonialism but the new P.C. revolution was more than just hardware. For software needed to be developed. And although in this stage most the profits were being made in Hardware, eventually this would completely shift. To understand this better, she used a major Indian Industrialist, whom my father would then do a joint venture with. This venture was just as much an exploration as business. This truly was only possible because an India which had a noble innocence still existed in those days, where the ideology of lifting people out of poverty still meant something. In these few years, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would begin the visionary transformation of India from a rural nation which had struggled to feed itself to one which would 15 years later be a world leader in software development and implementation.President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. A new relationship began with the U.S. in the early 1980’s.During the next four years, inflation would fall in India, and the Soviet Union would become India’s main trading partner. Purchases would be made in Indian Rupees and the expansion of India’s military continued. The economy began to grow again. Pakistan, spread propaganda and largely created a rebellion in Indian Punjab, this would become a source of great turmoil for India. The concept of an independent Punjab, had been planted by the British long ago, as a divide and rule policy. The issue became one of violence in the early 1980’s and bombings and terrorist acts began occurring against Hindus in Punjab. These acts were done in the name of creating a “Khalistan” or independent Punjab. These actions triggered violence which began to increase after 1981. Punjab had been one the most prosperous states in India, and this drastically changed in the 1980′s. The idea of Khalistan never would have worked nor was it viable. As Punjab had been partitioned between Pakistan and India. There simply was no way to undo this and revert back to the Sikh Empire of the early 1800’s. But politics were being played by the Pakistani I.S.I. and their backers. On the other side Prime Minster Indira Gandhi authorized the invasion of the Golden Temple capture Bhindranwala and end his movement, who once had been a political ally. He himself had accusations of several murders on him, and had numerous enemies in Indian Punjab. His arms, ammunition and much of his message came from Pakistan, for he wanted to divide India. This fact should not be ignored as he was not spreading a message of peace. His working with Pakistan did not do honor for the millions of refugees who had left West Punjab barely clinging on to their lives, during partition in 1947.Operation Blue Star, 1984He had now moved himself and his armed followers inside of the Golden Temple. Operation Blue Star, would end in the death of Bhindranwala and many innocent people. Estimates vary between a few hundred to thousands. The Temple Complex was damaged. And make shift repairs were made which created even more anger. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had believed that this action was being done for national integrity, but it would serve as a creating polarization. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had miscalculated and would have been better served by trying to end this movement in another way. Her actions would actually end up feeding into the I.S.I’s hand and those who backed them, for India would emerge with a crisis. Both Hindu and Sikh would suffer and loose lives. On October 31, 1984, the phone rang in our house, it was early morning. My father answered and quickly put the phone down. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been assassinated. The age of the Prime Minister of India being accessible to the broad spectrum of Indians was over.We can look at the rule of the Original Congress party as really ending this point. The new leaders would come from a generation which had not lived through the freedom movement nor seen the India of the colonial period. For even though Rajiv Gandhi her son would take the helm of the party over, he would not be the force his mother had been. There would be massive riots against Sikhs in India. Thousands would loose their lives. And through the 1980’s he would try to end the rebellion in Punjab. Prime Minster Rajiv Gandhi would preside over the last years of a centrally planned India. His leadership was very different that that of his Mother and Grand Father. The Indian Rupee began to weaken under his leadership and economy began a slow down in expansion. Ultimately the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, would end the controlled economy which was a legacy of India’s first decades of Independence. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi would try to find balance again for the Indian Congress Party, but his decisions would be of a different sort. Pakistan would become a nuclear state under his watch. It is doubtful that Prime Minister Gandhi would have allowed this. He also became mired in an Indian Military Presence in Sri Lanka, which ended in great expense for India. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi did not bring the rapid change that was needed to make India open it’s own economy on it’s own terms. He would end his rule because of the Bofer’s scandal. While making a political come back he would be assassinated in 1991.Prime Minister Rajiv GandhiCongress would return to power and Prime Narishima Rao finally, end the centrally planned economy of India. In 1992 India would open it’s economy to the outside world. But, this action was taken in a way which allowed the purchases of Indian assets at a ground level price. And, this liberalization allowed assets which had been taken away from “Privileged Indians”, by the social reforms of the 1950’s and now these assets would be sold to foreign corporations and interests. The examples are numerous and in the long run, the very fact that today India has a manufacturing sector which lags well behind other Asian nations is because of how India was “Liberalized”. The analysis of this only beginning, and great campaigns to “Make in India”, have been launched but have failed to deliver tangible results. For manufacturing as a share of the Indian Economy peaked in 1994, and then began a slide.Today, India runs massive trade deficits with China, because no real supply chains exist for the production Computer equipment, flat panels, circuit boards and processors. But, the Indian economy had reached a level of development than this was completely overwhelmed in 1992, by foriegn direct investment. Only those areas where competitive advantages had been built up managed to increase increase in size. Thus, under the rule of Prime Dr. Minister Manmohan Singh, the Indian economy doubled in size over all. And statistically, India looked like it was making progress on paper. In reality the income disparity between rich and poor once more began to grow. And the distribution of wealth has continued to decline since then. Once more corruption scandals would play a large role in bringing down his rule. Since 2014, the future of the Congress Party has become an issue of great question. The politics of nepotism and lack of the ability to communicate effectively have severely hurt it’s ability to be the force it once was.Brics Nations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Center.The Congress Party of India, can be judged many different ways, but Indian Democracy was cemented in place by it. The freedom of the press and judiciary also were planted by this party. And, even what many wish to label as the dictatorial rule of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, India became a nation free from outside influence because food importation ended, and the Indian Atomic Program became a success. Many people in India and Indians abroad went full circle from resenting the socialist policies of Prime Minister Nehru, to eventually seeing in their own lifetime that hundreds of millions of Indians, finally being able to feed themselves was an achievement beyond any monetary cost. At some point it must be realized that there would have been no industrialized Indian economy to open in 1991, had there not been social and economic reforms brought in by Prime Minister Nehru and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Of course the Indian economy should have been opened in the 1980’s. But politically India was tilted to the Soviet Union and there were real reasons for this. What look like easy choices today were not then. History may indeed one day look kindly upon the rule of the Prime Minster Nehru, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. For these three Prime Minister’s of India managed to accomplish the task of taking a starving India and deliver it to the Atomic and Space Age in 35 years.The Indian space program which today is one the most successful such programs in the world. An Indian orbiter was successfully launched and reached Mars in 2013–14.Personal Experiences with Baba Dr. Dina Nath BediIndia a History by John KeaysChurchill’s Secret War, by Mahushree Mukherjee

It started a long time ago, with examples like Why We Fight standing out.I have seen the entire series of these films, projected in original form - 16mm films. Things like calling the Japanese "yellow" and saying how the Jap makes up for his short stature with cunning and hatred and devious means made me cringe, but it was propaganda to mobilize a nation to war, so whatever works. I am not sure if this series influenced public opinion so far as to Japanese people in the USA being rounded up and quarantined during WW2, but I'm sure it didn't help.We don't even need to kid ourselves with movies and TV shows that almost always had black people playing the negative roles and of course the Russians as the bad guys during the Cold War.But what irks me is that this sort of shit carries on in some way or the other to this day.- Almost every oriental looking bad guy or girl will invariably pull out some martial arts!- Almost every Indian looking person will be a nerd, doctor, or street vendor, if not cabbie.- It always takes a white guy or girl to save the world from some nefarious fourth world activity, and this guy or girl is never racist. In fact, s/he is totally acceptable to the local population.- Even in bloody outer space, in extra terrestrial civilizations, there are white guys and girls in large numbers. Even when aliens show up on earth, they will first call on white people! Jar Jar Binks, being a little stupid, had to resemble black people. "Meesa leeteel stoopid!" Ugh.- "Oppression" is almost always male upon female.- "Liberation" is almost always about killing someone. Guess who takes it seriously, too?I'm okay with all the above, since it is made to sell to a predominantly white audience, and I don't have any ill will towards anyone. But when a school kid imagines his world is full of good white people, and the few bad people are never white, that's a problem.What I am blown away by is that the USA has many "experts" on every part of the world, on every culture, on every issue, every affair, and all these experts are almost always white guys or women, somehow involved with some 'studies'. They all show up on TV to give their meticulously worded opinions that reinforce what the network already took a stand on. This is the lot that usually puts caste and race in the same bracket, for example, and many buy into it.If you want native connections to other cultures, why not, for example, ask a Pakistani living in New York how his relatives back home feel about drone strikes? That would scare some people! Thank God for hypocrisy and stereotypes!Then the idea of beauty - Who the fuck ever established that the "standard" of beauty should bear any resemblance to those women winning the Miss World or Miss Universe contests? Ever seen an Indian, Chinese, or Kenyan judge at one of those? Pick up any magazine in the USA that has to do with beauty, and no matter what race the girl is from, no matter what culture, she has to be as close to that contest look as possible in appearance.The fashion industry absolutely hates anybody who designs anything that doesn't make women's butts look smaller than they are. Fashion magazines push that, and poor young women are under pressure to comply to some extent at least, or do drugs to get over depression.Now in order to break these stereotypes, and become a little more "balanced" there are the token additions and changes - very insulting on our intelligence and sensibilities, but perhaps less risky for making the sale to an audience brought up on stereotypes?We had two male Terminators, so we had to have a female Terminator. No idea why a machine would need boobs, but that's what it got! Terminator 2 + Tits = Terminator 3! No change in behaviour, attitude, nothing else! Same character, but now a female in appearance! (I'm not complaining!)Slowly, Hollywood's space missions set in the future, are filling up with people of all races and ethnicities, but none of them is qualified to be captain... yet!And the USA hasn't voted for a woman President.... yet.Many of the cultures that supposedly oppress women have - in real life!