India-US Relations : News and Discussion

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 22 Mar 2015 20:38

vishvak wrote:Leftists, bleeding-hearts and humanitarians will surely support such initiatives totally and by all means.

No sir, our leftists will term that as 'interference in other countries' internal affairs' and loudly proclaim that we don't do these things.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 23 Mar 2015 10:22

Simply great,just see how duplicitous the US is,unable to give up its rent-boy Pak. The IN should immediately stop naval exercises with the USN.

http://www.aaj.tv/2015/03/us-cannot-suc ... commander/

US cannot succeed in region without Pak Navy’s support: US Naval Commander

Posted by: Web Desk, Uploaded: 21st March 2015

MANAMA: The Commander of US Naval Forces Central Command has acknowledged the contribution of Pakistan Navy for ensuring maritime peace in the region and said United States cannot succeed without support of Pakistan Navy.

“We cannot be successful in this region, without the contribution of the Pakistan Navy,” Vice Admiral John W. Miller, Commander, US Naval Forces Central Command, US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) told a group of Pakistani media during a visit to his Headquarters here in the Bahrain’s capital.

Vice Admiral Miller, who has spent a majority of his operational career in the US Central Command area of responsibility, said the ties between the naval forces of Pakistan and the United States were better than ever before.

“We are quite fortunate to have Pakistan as part of our team, and they are not only just great team-mates, but they are also good friends,” he said.

The headquarters of the US Naval Central Command and US Navy Fifth Fleet are co-located at the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain and ensure maritime security in an area spread over 2.5 million square miles of ocean.

The headquarters also coordinates and conducts combat operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Admiral Miller congratulated Pakistan for assuming the command of Combined Maritime Task Force 151 for the sixth time from Thailand.

Commodore Asif Hameed Siddiqui SI(M) from the Pakistan Navy is now commanding the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) on counter-piracy operations.

Miller said he has been at the US Navy’s Central Command Headquarters for three years and most of the time, one of the two task forces has been under the command of a Pakistani Naval Officer.

He said it was a significant achievement and something for Pakistan to be proud of.

“No nation has contributed more to command our task forces than Pakistan … so we are really proud of the relationship that we have with the Pakistani Navy,” he said.

Recalling his visit to Pakistan Navy’s War College in Lahore recently, Miller said he was impressed by the quality of officers, who were well educated and trained.

“They are a delight to work with, quite professional and their ships are very well maintained.”

When sought for comments on the Operation Zarb e Azb, Vice Admiral Millar said counter-terrorism operations being carried out anywhere in the world were very important to stop terrorists activities.

“It is equally important to go after the ideology to curb terrorism as it does not matter what they call themselves – whether ISIS, Daesh, ISIL or Al Qaeda,” he said.

Vice Admiral Miller, who also looks after combat operations in Iraq and Syria said so far over 2800 air strikes had been conducted from the two aircraft carriers.

Currently two Aircraft Carriers – USS Carl Vinson and French Charles de Gaulle are positioned in the area to launch combat aircraft against targets of ISIL.

President Obama described ISIS as ISIL which refers to the undefined region around Syria, historically referred to as the Levant and roughly includes modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan.

Vice Admiral said a lot of strikes, particularly in Syria were designed to destroy the oil infrastructure, currently being used by the ISIL fighters.

“It not only destroys one of their funding sources, but also their mobility.”

Without giving any time-line for routing out ISIL, he said last June its fighters seemed to be operating like a regular army -were mobile and able to capture large tracts of land quickly.

But today it was like a terrorist organization, where it was very hard for them to move about, with less access to funding and ability to conduct new operations. He said Iraqis were fighting back and had taken back their lands.

Vice Admiral Miller, also the Commander of the Combined Maritime Force (CMF) said it was “a very unique organization” comprising 30 countries working together voluntarily.

He said on any given day, there were around 40 to 45 US ships in the region, and combined with the CMF members and others the total rises to around 70 ships, working in coordination to ensure maritime security in the region.

He said the region was witnessing unstable time, however on the contrary, the maritime environment was calm; oil was flowing out, while goods and services were entering the region, without any incident, as many countries in the Gulf get 80 per cent of food and other goods through the sea.

Vice Admiral Miller recalled the beautiful Margalla hills flanking the capital Islamabad and said he wished he had more time from his official engagements, so he could just walk around.

When asked about his favourite Pakistani dish, he mentioned Lamb Biryani as very tasty despite the fact that it was very spicy for the American taste buds.

Commodore Asif Hameed Siddiqui SI(M) of Pakistan Navy who is now commanding the 30-nation Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 said Pakistan was playing an active role in keeping international merchant shipping lanes safe from attacks by pirates and terrorist activities, through constant vigilance.

“Pakistan’s continuous presence in the area has made our region safe,” he told the visiting Pakistan media team.

It is for the sixth time that Pakistan has assumed the command of Combined Task Force 151, while it has commanded the Combined Maritime Task Force 150 for seven times. Commodore Siddiqui becomes one of the 13 Pakistan Navy officers who commanded one of the two naval task forces – CTF 150 or the CTF 151.

Commodore Siddiqui said Pakistan has put in phenomenal resources in the task forces under the CMF and was one of the first countries to join.

“We know our coast, seas and the region much better and it is in our interest that we patrol our own area,” he said.

He said the task-oriented mandate allows sharing of experiences, capacity building, improved training, besides providing a good learning experience.

He said the force was also playing a key role in checking flow of illegal immigrants and helps check the money trail that can go to fund terrorist activities.

He said if any vessel carrying illegal immigrants is spotted, the Maritime Security Agency of Pakistan or in other cases the authorities of coastal states are informed.

Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) was one of three task forces operated by Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) with a mission to promote maritime security, counter terrorist acts and related illegal activities, which terrorists use to fund or conceal their movements.

CTF-150′s area of operation includes some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, spanning over two million square miles, covering the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman excluding the Arabian Gulf.

Over 23,000 shipping movements per year are recorded and includes main shipping routes from the Far East to Europe and the US with over one third of the world’s oil passing through the Area of Operation (AOR) each year.

The area also contains three narrow waterways, know as `choke points’, where vessels are required to pass closely between two shorelines, with limited maneuverability and are more vulnerable.

So how is this going to play out in he event of an Indo-Pak war? A Paki naval officer in command of a USN task force?! US duplicity is legion.Time for the GOI/MOD/IN to take a serious look at Indo-US naval cooperation.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 23 Mar 2015 10:52

Of course Paki lamb biryani has too many spices which causing cancer to Unkil. That much is "known"

Tuvaluan · Post by **Tuvaluan** » 23 Mar 2015 21:04

GOTUS mofos are not to be trusted in any security-related matter -- absolute terrorist-funding scumbags. These turds come to a "counter terrorism conference" and then explain their "imperatives" in mollycoddling the terrorist army in pakistan, and the fools in the Indian side nod their head sagely and very understandingly.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 24 Mar 2015 02:55

So Nikam was right that Kasab favored lamb/mutton biryani!!!

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 26 Mar 2015 08:27

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Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 26 Mar 2015 09:11

ramana wrote:So Nikam was right that Kasab favored lamb/mutton biryani!!!

Nikam was our Bank panel lawyer when he was prosecuting Mumbai bomb blast case long. Requested me to remove him from panel as he was busy in the case. I have taken all cases from him - and given them to someone else ( his brother I think

). Great man. I once traveled in train where in he was also there. Full security like a PM. Rare to find lawyers who take cases like this. We need many more like him. I do not know why he is not a Supreme Court Judge by now.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 27 Mar 2015 21:07

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has nominated an Indian-American, a former official at its Embassy in New Delhi, as the next US ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Obama yesterday announced the nomination of Atul Keshap, a career foreign service official, as the next US ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives along with Alaina Teplitz as the next ambassador to Nepal

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 27 Mar 2015 23:59

X-posting from Pakistan thread,
For the record, how USA & China helped Pakis in 1971, by complicating ties with India, while genocide was ongoing in then East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh post independence).
link

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 28 Mar 2015 02:59

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/us/al ... n-man.html

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 28 Mar 2015 08:26

Office Parker was arrested and charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and has pleaded not guilty. Maj. Jim Cooke of the Madison police said Friday that the department had taken steps to terminate Officer Parker, and that he had appealed his termination and is on paid leave pending the appeal.

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.in/2015/02/why-isnt-alabama-police-officer-charged.html

An Alabama police officer faces a charge of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for body slamming a 57-year grandfather from India. But our analysis of applicable law indicates officer Eric Parker should be charged with either second- or first-degree assault, both felonies that call for potential prison time.

Is the Alabama legal establishment trying to protect Parker, even though his body slam of Sureshbhai Patel near a Madison sidewalk has drawn international news coverage? The answer appears to be yes.

Tuvaluan · Post by **Tuvaluan** » 28 Mar 2015 08:31

The lawyer of the patels is not on their side and working for the other side, but hey "freedom and democracy" at work in the land of the free (and home of the brave).

member_28722 · Post by **member_28722** » 28 Mar 2015 10:00

arun wrote:"Despite the growing bonhomie with the United States, India suffered by far the highest number of L-1B visa denials between 2012 and 2014" :

At 56%, Indians record highest US work visa rejection: Report

Post TCS Whistleblower case.... expect this trend to continue for L1B

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 29 Mar 2015 06:35

Maybe the "misdemeanor" is not the end of it.

A United States police officer, accused of using excessive force against a 57-year-old Indian leaving him partially paralysed, has been indicted on federal civil rights violation charges that carries imprisonment up to 10 years.

"A federal grand jury indicted Eric Parker, the police officer who threw Sureshbhai Patel to the ground resulting in him getting partially paralysed, for deprivation of rights under colour of law," said Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta and US Attorney in the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Vance in a two-page indictment.

Parker's actions deprived the victim of his right under the US constitution to be secure from unreasonable searches and seizures, which includes the right to be free from unreasonable force by someone acting under colour of law, the indictment said.

"Police officers are sworn to uphold the law and protect the public. The public must be able to trust the police. Law enforcement officers who violate their oath to protect and use excessive force must be brought to justice," Vance said.

Patel was brutally assaulted by Parker, who was in the company of two other police officers, on February 6 while he was on a walk in his neighbourhood. He had arrived from India only a few days back to help his son and daughter in law with their newborn.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Parker was suspended by the Madison police days after the brutal assault on Patel. Last month they recommended that he be sacked.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley had apologised to the Indian government for the treatment of Patel, calling it a case of excessive use of force.

Patel's attorney Hank Sherrod said Patel and his family were very pleased by the "prompt and decisive action". "For the public to trust police officers, it needs to know officers will be held accountable and the felony civil rights charges filed against Parker, unlike the misdemeanour assault charge being pursued in state court, more accurately reflect the seriousness of Parker's conduct," he said. However, Parker's attorney Robert Tuten expressed his surprise at the federal indictment.

"Normally these things take a little longer than that... He feels like he's being whaled on from all sides," Tuten said.

Parker is also facing a third-degree assault charges. He has pleaded not guilty. The bench trial is scheduled for April 29.

"Most police officers we work with...are people who care deeply about their community," Vance told reporters at a news conference in Alabama.

"I like to think that we've always been sensitive...this case is like every other case," she said when asked if the indictment was filed because of the intense interest in India.

The indictment was welcomed by eminent Indian American attorney, Ravi Batra. "The federal grand Jury, made up of the good and decent citizens of Alabama, by voting a True Bill and indicting Eric Parker for his deprivation of Sureshbhai Patel's federal civil rights have vindicated society's right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, especially by one acting under color of law and using unreasonable force," he said.

Batra said the indictment enhanced public confidence in the department of justice's continuing role to protect vital civil rights of all Americans, "especially, when states' prosecutorial offices fail to do so, as in this case with a mere misdemeanour charge coupled with a civil liability-evasion tactic: termination".

"Its worthy of note, that the Madison police department was not indicted, and unfortunately the pending amended civil suit does not seek to hold the police department or the city of Madison liable for such federal civil rights deprivation," he said.
Lalit K Jha in Washington

a_bharat · Post by **a_bharat** » 29 Mar 2015 06:42

"Most police officers we work with...are people who care deeply about their community," Vance told reporters at a news conference in Alabama.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 29 Mar 2015 06:55

said Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta

Dem Injuns dun took over Sweet Al Obama!! Beat up one of dem, and next thing u know the Federal Prosecutor is an Injun wimmens.

Far cry from the Prosecutor in Ferguson MO: this one is likely to be competent, got there on merit, the hard way. I think she is going to play soccer with some police musharrafs.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 29 Mar 2015 07:07

Meanwhile in Missouri (sorry OT, but this is what happens when justice is denied: innocents suffer!)

(CNN)When one man sat down next to a second man in a St. Louis light rail car and asked him his opinion on the shooting of Michael Brown, it was not the beginning of a discussion.
It was the start of an assault, police said.
The second man, who was white, didn't want to answer the question. Then the first man, who was black, boxed him in the face. Two more African-American men joined in the beating, according to a police report about Monday's incident.
It was caught on surveillance cameras on the MetroLink train and a passenger recorded it with a cell phone and posted the video online. It has gone viral.
Police confirmed to CNN that the online images came from the attack.
Late commute
The victim, 43, was commuting home when a young man in a red T-shirt and cap walked up to him. The victim asked not to be named in media reports.
The man asked to use the victim's cell phone. He declined, and the young man sat down beside him.
"Then he asked me my opinion on the Michael Brown thing," the victim told KMOV, "and I responded I was too tired to think about it right now."
The suspect, in his 20s, stood up.
"The next thing I know, he sucker punches me right in the middle of my face," the victim said. The video showed the suspect unleashing a barrage of punches at the head of the victim, who covered himself with his hand and forearms.
The two other men, also in their 20s, joined in, police said. As the train pulled into a station, a security guard saw part of the beating and alerted police.
The man in the red T-shirt could be seen on video kicking at the victim's face before the train's doors opened and the assailants ran out.
Faces on camera
The train's surveillance cameras captured clear images of their faces, which MetroLink passed on to journalists. Police are looking for the three men.
They face possible charges of third-degree assault, police said. It is a misdemeanor under Missouri law.
The victim was left with bruises on his face and forehead, police said. The first punch dug the frame of his eyeglasses into the skin of his nose, the victim said. He declined to receive medical treatment.
But then there was the emotional pain. On the video, people could be heard laughing while the man was beaten.
"I think it was disgusting that people were sort of laughing and smiling about it," the victim said. "And no one offered to help. No one seemed to call 911."
Condemnation of the beating has spread across social media, including from people who protested the shooting of Brown last year by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The officer was not indicted in Brown's death. St. Louis alderman Antonio French, a vocal community leader in the aftermath of Ferguson, tweeted his disappointment in the beating.
"Mike Brown question sparks MetroLink beating caught on video," he wrote. "This is disgusting. We have a major problem, STL."

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 29 Mar 2015 16:12

See this fine tamasha. My question is: what is the impact on yindoos?

Isn't this heading towards:

Per my religion I cannot serve anyone who does not have a (modified body part)

Per my religion I cannot serve anyone who exposes midriff

Per my religion I cannot serve anyone who wears any mark on forehead.

Per my religion I cannot sign off on this promotion for someone who is an UnBeliever

Per my religion I cannot allow anyone who is an Unbeliever to live in this apartment complex

Per my religion I cannot allow anyone who is an IdolWorshipper to check into this hotel.

Per my religion I have to kill all kuffar....

Per my religion I cannot allow anyone wearing a towel on the head to walk in this subdivision: I have to knock them to the ground and kick them to break their ribs.

A lot of these are already present very close to surface, sometime rising well above surface, but this would give them legal protection. So most incidents won't even come to court. This explains why this law is so popular in 20 states - all T-Party types. Goes back to what I said long ago about T-Party resemblance to ***ler Jugend.

Tuvaluan · Post by **Tuvaluan** » 29 Mar 2015 21:18

Straight out of Orwell's 1984, where "religious liberty" and "Religious freedom" actually mean less freedom for a whole lot of freedom and "freedom" only for the pigs in the farm. The US Committee on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is from this same mould.

The Republican party is going for broke and actually nominating pastors/relgious priests for all of its nominees to the congress and senate, and as expected the same "liberal crowd" that talks about lack of religious freedom among the heathains in India, think all this is perfectly okay and the basis for a morally upright government.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 29 Mar 2015 21:27

Just a data point:

U.S. Ambassador criticises India’s UN vote on LGBT benefits - Narayan Lakshman, The Hindu

U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma on Friday hit out at India’s decision earlier this week to side with nations that sought to reverse the United Nations Secretary-General’s decision to extend benefits to same-sex couples working at the multilateral organisation.

Speaking at an event organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Mr. Verma said, “We were disappointed… by India’s support this week for the attempt to strip benefits from United Nations staff in same-sex relationships,” adding, “We will continue to support the rights of LGBT individuals in India, in international institutions and around the world.”

The resolution introduced on Tuesday was however defeated with 80 nations voting ‘nay’ and 37 countries abstaining, which effectively implied the UN was free to extend benefits to partners of LGBT employees.

Read full article here: http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 041525.ece

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 29 Mar 2015 21:51

cross post

Vivek Dehejia @vdehejia · 3h 3 hours ago

In @livemint I call out out the anti-BJP spin from an unholy alliance of the Left and the Christian Right in the US. http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/jy7TGBL ... iance.html …

Do an Internet search for “will Hindu nationalism derail Modi’s economic reforms agenda?” or a phrase to that effect, and you will discover so many pieces on the subject that to digest them in their totality will take you just slightly longer than reading Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace—although, given the literary and analytical merits of most of these pieces, I do not recommend attempting the exercise.

Now that the Narendra Modi led government has managed to shepherd all but one of its Christmas ordinances through Parliament, and appears to have a road map of sorts for making a case for the land acquisition Bill, you might reasonably hope to see a diminution in the production of such pieces. But you will be disappointed.

That Modi the economic reformer is besieged by religious and social conservatives within his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the larger family of Hindu organizations has become such a handy and all-purpose trope for those hostile to the man or the party that they are unlikely to discard it. Nor are they likely to allow themselves to be persuaded by evidence to the contrary.

Facts, if inconvenient, may always be ignored by those who made up their minds long ago. Or, better yet, one may manufacture an entirely new set of falsehoods masquerading as facts—such as that religious minorities are under threat in a BJP-ruled India—to deflect attention from the government’s considerable progress in pushing forward the economic reforms agenda while at the same time refraining from embracing the socially conservative agenda favoured by some of its supporters.

It is entirely to be expected, of course, that Indian commentators tied umbilically to the Congress-fed intellectual and media establishment should take this self-servingly anti-BJP tack. One does, after all, need to remember on which side one’s bread is buttered, and genuflect vaguely in the direction of the creamery now and again.

It is easy to dismiss those critics at home who have a vested interest in the BJP failing. What is more damaging is the unremitting hostility of the Anglo-American liberal media establishment, for they help to shape perceptions of the influential elite in the US, the UK, and elsewhere. In the vanguard of the assault is The New York Times and, in particular, its increasingly vitriolic unsigned editorial commentary on India, which has long since lapsed from being merely anti-Modi, which would be entirely legitimate, to veering into outright spin, which is, or ought to be, illegitimate in a media organization that purports to produce the national newspaper of record in the US.

My sense of anger and dismay is sharpened by the fact that I was one of the stable of writers who helped launch and nurture the now defunct “India Ink” blog for the first year of its existence—which, in its day, produced genuinely good content—a far cry from the rabid anti-India editorializing of today’s New York Times.

Lest you believe my barrage is ill-tempered: consider The New York Times’ unsigned editorial (A rebuff to India’s censors, 26 March) on the quashing of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. While it rightly criticizes the Modi government’s use of the law, it excuses the previous Congress-led government, which introduced the law, as acting on a “misguided” belief that it would curb hateful speech. The editorial also argues that Section 66A has been used by the government and “right-wing activists” against those who purportedly insult Hinduism—without adding that it has been used at the behest of many other aggrieved parties and groups.

This editorial, indeed, deserves to be a case study in spin, perfectly constructed so that nothing that is said is literally untrue. Rather, the uninitiated reader is swaddled in a carefully spun fabric of half-truths, omissions, and insinuations—and thereby is invited to be complicit in the writer’s implied agenda. As a friend aptly put it, just because something is factually true, doesn’t mean it tells the truth.

The reader who knows little about India will be left with the impression that the muzzling of free speech is a vice unique to the BJP, rather than being a larger problem of the Indian polity cutting across all parties. He or she will then be primed to be unsympathetic, if not downright hostile, to the Modi government, and will be more receptive, and less questioning, of manufactured stories suggesting, say, that India’s minorities are imperilled.

Ironically, the visceral dislike of Modi and the BJP by the Anglo-American Left serves the interests, not of progressive groups, but of fundamentalist evangelical Christian organizations who rightly see the BJP as an obstacle to their aggressive proselytizing agenda: thus forging an unholy alliance of convenience bent on seeing the BJP fail.

One cannot dismiss lightly the importance of public opinion shaped by a hegemonic and agenda-driven media narrative. It was widespread popular support for war—fuelled in no small measure by disingenuous media reportage and commentary on what turned out to be non-existent weapons of mass destruction—that emboldened former US president George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003, and that subsequently legitimated the invasion. We all know the sequel.

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 29 Mar 2015 21:55

Vivek Dehejia ‏@vdehejia Mar 28

Predictable, tendentious piece by Sumit Ganguly, interesting because it signals where the US FP establishment is. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ ... ancing-act …

Vivek Dehejia ‏@vdehejia

Frankly, if submitted to me as a term paper, I'd give this a failing grade. Yet it enters the pages of Foreign @ForeignAffairs . OK then.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 30 Mar 2015 00:03

Read something similar about Jewish minority in USA:
American Jews Don’t Have To Choose Between Liberalism and Israel

Despite what pundits and politicians—on both sides—have been telling us

..
The narrative in question claims that American Jews feel forced to choose between their deeply felt liberalism and a connection—any connection—to the State of Israel. The first group peddling this idea, which can be roughly defined as the Jewish friends of Karl Rove, has been touting it for years. According to them, it no longer matters what you believe on every issue that has traditionally defined liberalism in this country; Israel–or, more broadly, the Middle East–is the only relevant litmus test. And on this, the administration is not simply liberal; it’s a Trojan horse bearing fanatical, radical policies that will mortally endanger the state of Israel and undo the fabric of American life. Do you want to be responsible for that? No? Well, then there’s only one option for you: You are already, or must become, a Republican.

The second group pushing this is an administration and its cheerleaders, who have been notably busy lately—calling the prime minister of Israel “a chickenshit” and taunting him with comparisons to Ariel Sharon and Menachem Begin, who otherwise have not figured prominently in the administration’s pantheon of political heroes. Expressing this public disdain for Bibi is thought to be part of an effort to re-start the Middle East peace process, which collapsed in flames this summer.
..
Instead, what seems obvious is that the administration’s immediate goal isn’t a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, which everyone agrees is not remotely likely right now, but rather in its own in-progress negotiations with Iran. For that deal, which many observers expect to be announced sometime around Thanksgiving, to be a triumph rather than another in a recent series of political messes, the administration needs to mute opposition within the Democratic Party. By threatening Jewish Democrats with the idea that their loyalties to Israel may put them outside the liberal tent, the administration and its water carriers hope to keep their supporters in line when an interim deal, or interim-interim deal, with Iran is announced.
..
Support for equal pay, or health-care reform, or union rights, or abortion rights, or anti-discrimination laws, or protecting the environment, or the idea that corporations should pay their fair share of taxes—none of these are enough of a basis anymore for your liberalism. What now defines American Jews—and only American Jews—as liberals is whether they back the administration on Israel. If you don’t think Netanyahu is not just an opportunistic politician but also the devil; if you don’t see Mahmoud Abbas as a man singlemindedly committed to peace; if you don’t agree that John Kerry is doing God’s work bringing Israelis and Palestinians together; if you don’t think the leaders of Hamas are people who can be reasoned with—and even if you agree with all of the above but are perhaps a little unsure about the wisdom or the necessity of ever-closer U.S. ties with the Mullahs in Tehran—then you should accept that you aren’t a liberal anymore.
..
In the meantime, we’re not sure why any Jew must have her political or emotional life or social identity reduced to her feelings about Bibi Netanyahu or Mahmoud Abbas any more than Chinese Americans should have their politics defined by their feelings about the current government in Beijing, or Episcopalians should feel forced to answer for their feelings about the tangled relationship between Prince Charles and his mother. Instead, we believe that American Jews should take back their right to assert whatever they reasonably believe about Israel as thinking, feeling people; they can and should do so as Democrats and as Republicans, and especially as Americans.
..
We at Tablet would never let anyone else—from either side of the political spectrum—tell our story for us, and we don’t think our readers should either.

There will always be issues and it will never be enough to be a 'liberal' or 'Republican', as current elections in Israel showed. The political parties will be out to put labels on minorities as per geopolitics.

gandharva · Post by **gandharva** » 30 Mar 2015 02:56

Private Emails Reveal Ex-Clinton Aide’s Secret Spy Network

http://www.propublica.org/article/priva ... ium=social

pankajs · Post by **pankajs** » 30 Mar 2015 15:26

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html
Tim Cook: Pro-discrimination ‘religious freedom’ laws are dangerous

There’s something very dangerous happening in states across the country.

A wave of legislation, introduced in more than two dozen states, would allow people to discriminate against their neighbors. Some, such as the bill enacted in Indiana last week that drew a national outcry and one passed in Arkansas, say individuals can cite their personal religious beliefs to refuse service to a customer or resist a state nondiscrimination law.

Others are more transparent in their effort to discriminate. Legislation being considered in Texas would strip the salaries and pensions of clerks who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — even if the Supreme Court strikes down Texas’ marriage ban later this year. In total, there are nearly 100 bills designed to enshrine discrimination in state law.

These bills rationalize injustice by pretending to defend something many of us hold dear. They go against the very principles our nation was founded on, and they have the potential to undo decades of progress toward greater equality.

America’s business community recognized a long time ago that discrimination, in all its forms, is bad for business. At Apple, we are in business to empower and enrich our customers’ lives. We strive to do business in a way that is just and fair. That’s why, on behalf of Apple, I’m standing up to oppose this new wave of legislation — wherever it emerges. I’m writing in the hopes that many more will join this movement. From North Carolina to Nevada, these bills under consideration truly will hurt jobs, growth and the economic vibrancy of parts of the country where a 21st-century economy was once welcomed with open arms.

I have great reverence for religious freedom. As a child, I was baptized in a Baptist church, and faith has always been an important part of my life. I was never taught, nor do I believe, that religion should be used as an excuse to discriminate.

I remember what it was like to grow up in the South in the 1960s and 1970s. Discrimination isn’t something that’s easy to oppose. It doesn’t always stare you in the face. It moves in the shadows. And sometimes it shrouds itself within the very laws meant to protect us.

Our message, to people around the country and around the world, is this: Apple is open. Open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. Regardless of what the law might allow in Indiana or Arkansas, we will never tolerate discrimination.

Men and women have fought and died fighting to protect our country’s founding principles of freedom and equality. We owe it to them, to each other and to our future to continue to fight with our words and our actions to make sure we protect those ideals. The days of segregation and discrimination marked by “Whites Only” signs on shop doors, water fountains and restrooms must remain deep in our past. We must never return to any semblance of that time. America must be a land of opportunity for everyone.

This isn’t a political issue. It isn’t a religious issue. This is about how we treat each other as human beings. Opposing discrimination takes courage. With the lives and dignity of so many people at stake, it’s time for all of us to be courageous.

member_28638 · Post by **member_28638** » 30 Mar 2015 18:10

US ‘war on terror' killed 1.3 million in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan

Mar 30, 2015

More than 1.3 million people have been killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as a result of the so-called US war on terror in over a decade, and the majority of these deaths were innocent civilians, according to a new report.

The ongoing US-led war "has, directly or indirectly, killed around 1 million people in Iraq, 220,000 in Afghanistan and 80,000 in Pakistan," according to a study by a group of international physicians' organizations.

"The figure is approximately 10 times greater than that of which the public, experts and decision makers are aware," the study's authors write adding that "this is only a conservative estimate” and the total number of causalities “could also be in excess of 2 million."

The report, released by the Nobel Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, along with Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for Global on March 25, is titled "Body Count: Casualty Figures after 10 Years of the 'War on Terror.'"

Approximately one million people were killed in Iraq during the course of the US-led invasion and occupation of the country from 2003 until 2011, the report said.

Americans assume that only 9,900 Iraqis on average were killed during the US occupation of Iraq, the report shows, adding the US citizens would be far more outraged if they “were made aware that the actual number is likely to be more than a hundred times higher.”

The study only examined deaths in the three countries of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but did not include deaths in other countries attacked by American and its allied military forces, including Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Syria.

According to the study, while the United States closely monitors casualty figures for American and allied troops, the number of civilians and militants killed by US-led forces is "officially ignored."

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/03/3 ... -on-terror

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 30 Mar 2015 19:26

Ha! PeeAref was waaaaaaaay ahead of the curve on this one, as on most other things. Ramana, are the GOAT Casualty Estimate dhagas still stored somewhere? I think I may know where one may be archived, other than the NRO, but not going there now.

PeeAref used what was called the GUESS (Gross Under Estimation of Shaheedization Statistics i think) to estimate the number of pest-e-sha'eed in Afghanistan (mostly Pakis ). GUESS was stopped when the number exceeded 120,000 by about March of 2002. Of course that was a gross under-estimate: it was based on weapon effectiveness and mission effectiveness of the air sorties and the fine activities of General Dostum and the denizens of the Khyber and Bolan Passes who debriefed the Pakis returning from the Shomali Plain and the cities.

The "80,000 killed in Pakistan" must include at least 75,000 from there. But the estimates are quite right, anyone who thinks for a few minutes about these things will realize what Donald Rumsfeld said early on as the GOAT was started:

This is the last time we tell the truth about any casualties. The point of a war is to KILL the enemy.

Of course there was no GUESS on the Iraq invasion because that was a gross perversion of common sense conducted by the liars of the Dubyan Empire. Gave a bad name to the de-pakification of Afghanistan, which was a noble effort.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 30 Mar 2015 21:47

Roger Cohen OpEd in the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/opini ... -most.html

I like the current inconsistencies in President Obama’s Middle East policy. Some ask how it can make sense to pursue an Iran deal while backing Arab states, principally Sunni Saudi Arabia, in a campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. To which the answer is first that interests drive foreign policy, not the pursuit of consistency (Stalin was once the most effective of American allies); and second that America is making it clear to Iran, even before any possible deal, that it will not abandon its allies, including Egypt and the Saudis, just because a nuclear agreement has been reached. This is an important message. The United States will oppose Iran where its interests and those of its allies demand that, deal or no deal.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 31 Mar 2015 08:13

http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/ ... dependent/
The great state of Indiana.

Arjun · Post by **Arjun** » 31 Mar 2015 10:42

Jagdish Bhagwati Takes on Julio Robeiro

Please watch the NDTV video interview in full if you get the chance....This is especially relevant to NRIs based in the US - a good primer on how to handle arguments with data and facts, rather than provide a bully-pulpit to every person claiming victimhood from India (and there's no shortage of the latter certainly ).

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 31 Mar 2015 10:52

Arjun wrote:Jagdish Bhagwati Takes on Julio Robeiro

Please watch the NDTV video interview in full if you get the chance....This is especially relevant to NRIs based in the US - a good primer on how to handle arguments with data and facts, rather than provide a bully-pulpit to every person claiming victimhood from India (and there's no shortage of the latter certainly ).

much more than Jagdish Bhagwati, burkha butt's shocked and incredulous face is a real treat to watch. Her masters' must have taken her to task for handing Jagdish Bhagwati such a great platform. butt has inadvertently opened a can of worms that from their xtian point of view should have been very firmly kept and remained shut.

essentially the fundu xtian argument of " hum karen tho chamatkar, tum karen tho balatkar" was systematically demolished by Jagdish Bhagwati.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 31 Mar 2015 11:04

I watched the it and she was making such a great effort not to show any irritation and anger. He basically told her and her kind to look into what Vatican and others did in the history and are doing even now. He even went into pedophile allegations on Church etc.

She made a terrible mistake, just because he has given some statements sometime back she assumed that he will follow it up on the same line.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 31 Mar 2015 11:18

Yagnasri wrote:I watched the it and she was making such a great effort not to show any irritation and anger. He basically told her and her kind to look into what Vatican and others did in the history and are doing even now. He even went into pedophile allegations on Church etc.

She made a terrible mistake, just because he has given some statements sometime back she assumed that he will follow it up on the same line.

not to mention the kicking out from spain of the jews and the muslims by the catholics to which he very pointedly referred.

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 31 Mar 2015 23:17

A_Gupta wrote:http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/ ... dependent/
The great state of Indiana.

If she was white, she would have been on probation, because it was "just a mistake" and sympathy would have flowed endlessly in the media and elsewhere. But in this case the comments on even the so called leftists on so called "leftist" sites are pushing for lynching her.

Note that in Indiana the law that claims "feticide" has been applied to ONLY colored women, this is the first conviction for a woman charged with this. This is nothing but Christian tribalism and racism, the first step of tribal consolidation is control of women.

Someone of FB mentioned thus: She had an affair with a married man and the punishment for the man according to the Bible is castration. For some reason that has not been done (no prizes for guessing why).

All those NRI's propagating stereotypes about Indians would only increase "othering" and such harsh judgement by a jury of racists will be the usual outcome.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 01 Apr 2015 11:09

This is a better link -- http://www.wncn.com/story/28664509/firs ... ng-a-fetus

what they call a tv station.

wasu · Post by **wasu** » 01 Apr 2015 15:32

One Nation under God - How Corporate America invented Christian America.

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/30/396365659 ... us-revival

...Kruse's book investigates how the idea of America as a Christian nation was promoted in the 1930s and '40s when industrialists and business lobbies, chafing against the government regulations of the New Deal, recruited and funded conservative clergy to preach faith, freedom and free enterprise. He says this conflation of Christianity and capitalism moved to center stage in the '50s under Eisenhower's watch...
.......
On the Rev. James Fifield

He takes over the pastorate at the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, an elite church, literally ministering to millionaires in his pews. It's got some of the town's most wealthy citizens — the mayor attends service there, [Hollywood filmmaker] Cecil B. DeMille. He tells these millionaires what they want to hear, which is that their worldly success is a sign of heavenly blessing. He has a very loose approach to the Bible. He says that reading the Bible should be like eating fish: We take out the bones to enjoy the meat; all parts are not of equal value. Accordingly, he disregarded Christ's many injunctions about the dangers of wealth, and instead preached a philosophy that wedded capitalism to Christianity.

On Fifield's "spiritual mobilization"

"Spiritual mobilization" is his effort to recruit other ministers to the cause. So he is serving, in many ways, as a frontman for a number of corporate leaders. His main sponsors are Sun Oil President J. Howard Pew, Alfred Sloan of General Motors, the heads of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, they all heavily fund this organization. But what Fifield sets out to do is recruit other ministers to his cause. Within the span of just a decade's time, he has about 17,000 so-called minister representatives who belong to the organization who are literally preaching sermons on its Christian libertarian message to their congregations, who are competing in sermon contest[s] for cash prizes and they're doing all they can in their local communities to spread this message that the New Deal is essentially evil, it's a manifestation of creeping socialism that is rotting away the country from within. Instead they need to rally around business leaders and make common cause with them to defend what they call "the American way of life."

On Fifield's contribution to the alliance between business and Christian leaders

He helps refine the message considerably. He comes up with the phrase that reduces this Christian libertarian ideology down to a catchy slogan and that slogan is "Freedom Under God," as opposed to the slavery of the state. He popularizes this using the generous funding of his corporate backers ... through a weekly radio program that soon appears on over 800 stations nationwide, through monthly magazines that popularizes the writings of libertarian and conservative authors and most importantly, I think, through a massive Fourth of July ceremony in 1951, a ceremony organized by Cecil B. DeMille, featuring James Stewart as the master of ceremonies, and carried live coast-to-coast over national radio. In that ceremony, as in the magazine and the weekly radio show, he promotes this message that freedom under God is an essential value; that Americans need to cast off the slavery of the state and instead embrace a rugged individualism.

....

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 01 Apr 2015 19:35

Arjun wrote:Jagdish Bhagwati Takes on Julio Robeiro

Please watch the NDTV video interview in full if you get the chance....This is especially relevant to NRIs based in the US - a good primer on how to handle arguments with data and facts, rather than provide a bully-pulpit to every person claiming victimhood from India (and there's no shortage of the latter certainly ).

Reminds of raging when miya M.F.Hussein ran from summons of the Supreme Court, and media created image as if a mob of Hindus was running after miya M.F.Hussein 24 hours a day. Later he was reportedly seen driving sports car in some dessert nation - a nation that probably had no constitution, no secularism and no democracy.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 01 Apr 2015 21:41

member_28638 · Post by **member_28638** » 02 Apr 2015 01:53

44 amateur pilots used airplanes for suicide

Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:0PM
The damaged Echelon office complex in Austin, Texas, the day after a man flew his plane into it.

The damaged Echelon office complex in Austin, Texas, the day after a man flew his plane into it.

About 44 amateur pilots in the United States have committed suicide by deliberately crashing their small airplanes during the past 30 years, according to a new federal report.

The suicide flights involved small, single-engine airplanes that private pilots flew into the ground, water or a building without injuring anyone on the ground, USA Today reports, citing federal crash records.

All of the suicidal pilots were males, and many had recently faced break-ups with wives or had confronted legal troubles, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report.

The suicides usually take place near small airports used mostly by private airplanes where the pilot is not paid to fly, according to NTSB reports.

The suicide crashes normally lack the publicity of last Tuesday's crash of a German airliner that killed 150 passengers and crew. The German co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, reportedly had a history of depression and suicidal tendencies.

The most recent suicide plane crash took place on January 11 when a 41-year-old man flew his single-engine, light aircraft into a field 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Denver, Colorado after his wife told him she wanted a divorce, according to an NTSB report.

The wife told police that her husband had said five years earlier that if she ever left him, he would fly his airplane into the ground.

The most notable airplane suicide occurred on February 18, 2010 in Austin, Texas when a local pilot reportedly angry at the US government deliberately crashed his single-engine Piper Dakota light aircraft into an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office building, killing himself and an IRS employee.

The suicide attack by Andrew Joseph Stack injured 13 other people and ignited a massive fire.

Still, the number of airplane suicides in the US is far less than the hundreds of people who kill themselves each year by stepping in front of trains.

According to a report last week by the Federal Railroad Administration, approximately 340 people killed themselves by standing in the path of passenger or cargo trains in 2014.

The number of airplane suicides is also tiny compared with the approximately 350 people a year who are killed in private aircraft accidents in the US.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/03/3 ... or-suicide

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 02 Apr 2015 04:14

Why Washington Is Watching Modi's Moves in the Indian Ocean

If you believe the hype, India is intensifying its ocean diplomacy to counter the growing influence of China in the Indian Ocean. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-nation visit to Sri Lanka, Seychelles, and Mauritius in March has been seen in this light.

But that doesn’t explain what’s really happening. The power tectonics in the region are not between India and China, but are a result of Beijing hedging against Washington’s presence in the region. In the Indian Ocean, Delhi is increasingly aligning with the role that the U.S. wants it to play — that of a “net security provider.”

The Indian Ocean bears two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments, one-third of its bulk cargo, and half of its container traffic, and serves as a key trade route between East Asia and Europe. Both the U.S. and China have high commercial stakes here. While the U.S. hopes to secure its trade routes across the Indian Ocean, for China, now the world’s largest net oil importer, defending the Malacca Strait is a matter of economic necessity.

Beijing has always feared for the security of its energy imports. It also worries about its reliance on American patrols to protect the oil tanker routes out of the Persian Gulf. In China’s Defense White Paper, released in 2013, two major themes are “protecting national maritime rights and interests” and “armed forces providing reliable support for China’s interests overseas.”

Pursuing this aim, China has embarked on a major naval modernization effort. It has procured maritime weapons such as anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), as well as submarines. Reports indicate that in late January, China’s Ministry of National Defense admitted that it could conduct escort missions of naval ships in the Indian Ocean.

Washington, preoccupied with the Middle East while trying to hone in on Southeast Asia, has responded by deploying an altered Nixonian policy, hoping to restore stability to the Indian Ocean without making any significant security investment itself.

India, with its central maritime position and proximity to the Malacca Strait, could be a perfect stabilizer in the region. As former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel noted at the 2013 Shangri-La dialogue:

India’s role as a stabilizing power is of growing importance with the increase of trade and transit between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The United States considers India’s efforts to enhance its military capabilities as a welcome contribution to security in the region.

Washington also strives to exert its influence in the region through a coalition of regional allies like Australia and Japan, and partners like India, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

India’s warming relations with Vietnam and effort towards enhancing political-military relations with Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar indirectly work toward American efforts to cement a coalition in the Indian Ocean region.

Modi used his recent visit to the countries of the region to promote closer defense ties with island countries. In addition to handing over to Mauritius an Indian built offshore patrol vessel and committing Indian surveillance aircraft to Seychelles, Modi also proposed that both Mauritius and Seychelles be added to a national security adviser-level “trilogue” between India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The existing trilateral group carries out a variety of activities, including training drills, capacity building of maritime forces, regular joint exercises, and meetings of national security advisers.

These growing relationships, and India’s easier access to advanced military technology from around the globe, worry Beijing. India can readily import military technology from the United States. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) mentioned in its Blue Book, released in June 2013, that a “U.S.-India axis of relation” was additionally forming in the Indian Ocean.

To be sure, in the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, the Pentagon clearly stated plans to deepen Washington’s strategic partnership with India through the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative. Today, the United States has supplanted Russia as India’s largest defense provider.

But despite its strong relations with Washington, China still believes that India will continue to maintain strategic autonomy. An editorial in China’s Global Times brushed aside the perception of “China threat,” stating flatly that China and India were not engaged in a zero-sum game in the Indian Ocean.

As two of the Indian Ocean’s biggest powers, India and China have plenty of room to build a dialogue concerning regional security.

As the geopolitical contest between the United States and China plays out, India will surely play a central role given its position at the tip of the Indian Ocean.