India-US Relations : News and Discussion- II

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 24 Oct 2015 07:13

Mother of Benghazi victim: State Department lied, treat me like dirt

member_29172 · Post by **member_29172** » 24 Oct 2015 07:19

Strange stuff from the free of the land, brave of the free or something like that..

America’s Most Desperate: Why are 50 Million Americans Starving?

Americans live in the world’s wealthiest nation yet close to 50 million struggle to put food on the table. Compounding this is Washington’s apathy towards the condition of middle and lower income Americans devastated by poverty.

Lucy Reyna is a veteran of the Iraq war. A mother of three young children, she returned home from her second tour in 2007. She was diagnosed with panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder because of what she experienced in combat. Then she was told she had both cervical and breast cancer.

Unable to work, Lucy relied on food stamps to feed her family. She also frequented a food bank that supplied her family with groceries and baked goods that store owners were about to throw out. “I was constantly looking up different resources, trying to dig myself out of this hole,” she says. “The hardest part was not knowing when it would get better,” she says. “I had such a bleak outlook and was always stressed trying to make ends meet. It felt hopeless.”

According to a 2014 survey by Feeding America – which feeds 46 million hungry Americans – about 25 per cent of military households require food assistance because military salaries are often too low to cover the cost of daily life.

Loudoun County in Virginia is made up of one of the wealthiest communities in the US. But it’s also where Barbara Diaz, a nanny, struggles to feed her family of eight. While the median income in the county stands at $122,000 a year, Diaz, 55, makes about $21,600 a year as a nanny. With her salary, she has to feed her family and pay rent, car insurance and utilities. Often, she doesn’t have enough at the end of the month for food, so she turns regularly to her local food pantry for help. She’s one medical emergency away from destitution.

Robert, a Vietnam veteran in his 60s, is a descendant of a long line of American servicemen. Five years ago, he lost his home in Florida and moved to Connecticut, where he now lives out of a van. Often, the only hot meal he has is at the community soup kitchen. Robert’s hardest days are Wednesday and Sunday when the charity doesn’t operate; then he has nothing to eat.

Five years after the death of her husband, Rosalinde Block found herself at a New York food pantry, in desperate need of food to feed herself and her teenage son. She is no ordinary American. According to ABC News, the 61-year-old graduated from an elite American college and made her life as a musician, illustrator, author and teacher of music and art.

Roy is a casualty of the New England fishing industry that went bust in 2007. With nothing in the way of savings, the then 39-year-old found himself homeless for the first time in his life. Hunger has forced the once proud Maryland resident to visit local charities.

Close to 50 million Americans do not know where their next meal will come from.

America may or may not be the land of the free, but it is certainly the land of the hungry. Job losses, home foreclosures and other recent crises have been life-altering for Americans, with close to 50 million Americans who do not know where their next meal will come from. That’s one in six Americans struggling with hunger.

Image source: Google Image Search

This is the official figure from December 2010 and experts say the current figure could be higher. “The numbers are provided by the US Department of Agriculture,” Ross Fraser of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, told this writer via email.

Doctors at American clinics say they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of children they treat who are dangerously thin; that’s not surprising considering hunger is an everyday reality for 16 million American children.

Middle America hurting

What is worrying the American elites is the demographic that is seeking help. Most of the newcomers that show up at Feeding America’s centers are from middle class backgrounds and had until now managed without handouts.

All across the country, from LA to New York, it seems the soup kitchen lines are getting longer. And requests are so high, food centres nationwide are turning away the hungry. “We will soon have the most food stamps recipients in the history of our country,” says Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center.

America may or may not be the land of the free, but it is certainly the land of the hungry.

Indeed, right now many are fighting for their lives. A USDA report says more than a third of these households “had very low food security — meaning that the food intake of one or more adults was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food”.

Unequal society

So why does a country that spends more on its military than the next 11 nations combined have so many people in such dire straits? How can so many be hungry in a country that has bought 185 F-22 stealth fighters at $361 million each?

Image credit: CNBC

The chief reason is that America – like Britain – is among the most unequal societies in the world; it is a country where the wealthy have a huge disconnect with ordinary folk. It is disturbing to many but American leaders do not see the irony in doling out $700 billion to bail out New York’s rogue bankers while 40 per cent of New Yorkers have problems affording food.

Unemployment is growing even as new jobs are not being created. Washington cites an unemployment rate of 9 per cent, but according to the financial website Zero Hedge, if you include the number of Americans who have stopped looking for work or who are unemployable, then the real figure is 17 per cent or 51 million out of work.

Invisible killer

According to a USDA official, hunger is very much a hidden problem. “When you walk by people who may be hungry, it’s not necessarily evident they’re hungry. This is something that low-income people don’t talk about a great deal.”

American leaders do not see the irony in doling out $700 billion to bail out New York’s rogue bankers while 40 per cent of New Yorkers have problems affording food.

Worse, those who can help are looking the other way. What most people would describe as hunger, the USDA couches it in the euphemism “food insecure”. And deaths caused by malnutrition are passed off by hospitals and coroners as “natural causes” or “failure of bodily organs”.

During the Great Depression of the 1920s, millions lost their homes and ended up in the streets. Today, foreclosures are again forcing people out of their homes. The greater danger for poor – and a growing number of middle class – Americans in the 21st century is they are not just competing with each other for food and resources. In the backdrop of declining incomes and rising unemployment in the US, keeping in step with more than two and half billion Chinese and Indian consumers in the global marketplace is going to be a tall order.

http://indiafacts.co.in/americas-most-d ... -starving/

arun · Post by **arun** » 24 Oct 2015 08:14

X Posted from the STFUP thread.

SSridhar wrote:U.S.-Pakistan bonhomie leaves India at a loss - Varghese K George & Kallol Bhattacharjee, The Hindu
India on Friday took exception to the American appreciation for Pakistan’s anti-terror operations and the American pledge to provide eight F-16 aircraft to the Pakistan Air Force.

At a weekly press conference, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup, said: “Our reservations about providing such platforms [F-16] to Pakistan are well known and all countries are aware of India’s position in such cases.” He said supply of such strategic platforms to Pakistan could not help South Asia, especially in view of reports that Pakistan had acquired tactical and miniaturised battlefield nuclear weapons.

The joint statement issued at the end of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington DC has been criticised in Indian policy circles as it entrusts Pakistan with maintaining “strategic stability” in South Asia. Experts have argued that the American decision-makers have misread Pakistani commitment to strategic stability in South Asia, especially since gifting the F-16 jets will further embolden Pakistan’s reckless nuclear establishment. “Pakistan is already the largest owner of nuclear weapons in South Asia. It is a known beneficiary of a clandestine nuclear programme. How can strategic stability in South Asia be maintained by gifting fighter jets to a country which has violated all norms of regional peace and stability,” asked Ajay Lele of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).

That apart, India has also expressed reservations about the support President Barack Obama has extended to securing finances for the Diamer-Bhasha and Dasu dams in Gilgit Baltistan which India believes cannot be built because of it is in an area under “illegal occupation of Pakistan.” The joint statement repeatedly referred to Pakistan’s need to deal with issues arising out of water and energy issues and both sides have also joined hands for researching on water to help Pakistan.

The joint statement was dissected critically by India which finds the Obama-Sharif call for dialogue on Kashmir an irritant. That apart, India has been surprised by the description of “terrorism as of mutual concern” between India and Pakistan.

“The Pakistan Prime Minister has agreed to act on the Haqqani Network, which is in keeping with the promise made by the United States in the joint statement of January 25, 2015 in New Delhi,” the spokesperson said, hinting at the fact that the Obama-Sharif joint statement makes a contradictory point by conceding Pakistani role in promoting terrorism. Mr. Sharif who promised to act on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) reaffirmed in the US that “Pakistan’s territory will not be used against any other country.”

India, however, maintains that the fighter aircraft promised to Pakistan will not immediately be handed over to the Pakistan Air Force and the U.S. Congress will examine the proposal carefully.
Absolutely in agreement with the assessment above. Chidanand Rajghatta & others erred in stating that the US had snubbed Pakistan.

The US should be accused of the following vis-a-vis Pakistan: thwarting democracy there by condoning and supporting military coups, not only turning a blind-eye to but also aiding and abetting the jihadi infrastructure, continuing to mostly condone the trans-border transgressions even when it had the greatest influence in shaping its behaviour, providing it moral & diplomatic support in world fora even when that country was completely in the wrong, helping it clandestinely acquire n-weapons not only by covertly assisting but also by bending its own laws and lying to its own Congress, and spinning a fraudulent theory that the 'fear paranoia' of Pakistan can be tackled only by showering it with weapons to match India's, latest being Afghan war wastage and now the F-16.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 24 Oct 2015 12:02

Said umpteen times before,the US will NEVER give up its lust for rent-boy Pak,who will do its dirty work anywhere on the globe in exchange for filthy lucre.The US's duplicitous stand on intl terrorism,where it creates the monster and then pretends to fight it,OBL,ISIS,etc.,requires willing conspirators to execute the grand design.Pak has been doing the scavenging work for the US for over 60 years. Will it ever give up such a bum-chum?

India's political leadership are the fools,current regime included. We expect too much from the US and give away too much. The US only wants India on its terms,an easy market for its goods and defence eqpt. and a willing ,servile mercenary force to combat China,etc. Mr .Modi went overboard in his engagement with India,now he must watch as the US deliberately keeps India out of Afghanistan ,so as not to annoy Pak,and in any effing case what business has the US got in this part of Asia?

The US is laughing all the way to the bank,b*ggering Pak every which way and shortchanging India at the bank! If you go by Mao's dictum,the US is the bum-chum of our mortal enemy,and thus the US cannot be India's strategic partner or trustworthy friend.

The sooner the leadership in Delhi realises this the danger to India will reduce.Mr.Modi is now about to visit Russia and meet up with pres. Putin.Past time to reinvigorate the ancient trustworthy relationship that stood us in good stead in the past whenever we faced war with Pak. Russia today is also the nation that walks the talk when it matters .

kit · Post by **kit** » 24 Oct 2015 12:44

I wonder how tactical nuclear weapons would play out in the India China scenario .. if Pakistan has , then china most likely will have deployed battlefield nukes . Most of the war gaming scenarios put here in BRF doesn't take into account this vital part. Where does this put india which as far as i know has no deployed tactical nukes .. are we paying the west enormous amounts to maintain a semblance of technological superiority which gets eroded with every passing year ? is this not like a technological slavery , for ever dependent on imports on the US or Russia ?

kit · Post by **kit** » 24 Oct 2015 12:49

Pakistan serves a very important role in US geopolitics ., its rather the center piece of its strategy to involve non state players to coerce and influence the whole of the middle east and central Asia .. rather like a snake which is fed and the master hoping to control it till the end ..except that it has grown nuclear wings and threatening to fly away

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 25 Oct 2015 14:24

The US hurts Pakistani democracy
By Michael Kugelman | November 01, 2015
http://www.theweek.in/

The US hurts Pakistani democracy
By Michael Kugelman | November 01, 2015

Nawaz Sharif is back in Washington after two years. Unfortunately, democracy in his country not only remains incomplete, but has also grown increasingly imperilled. In Pakistan, the idea of a civil-military balance is a sham, and the US policy, unfortunately, helps widen the divide.

In 2014, an anti-government movement led by opposition politician Imran Khan, and likely sponsored by the security establishment, weakened Sharif considerably. His portfolio was downsized dramatically, and his policy space shrank swiftly. The military swooped in to fill the vacuum. Ever since, Sharif has ruled more like a governor than a premier—he sets the agenda on domestic affairs, but defers to higher powers on foreign affairs.

Nowhere is this dynamic more visible than in Pakistan’s India policy. Sharif’s government came to power hoping to improve relations with New Delhi. Such aspirations, however, have long since come crashing down. Pakistan’s civilian leaders have seemingly been reduced to parroting anti-India narratives harboured by a hardline military. This summer, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared that India’s intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was formed “to wipe Pakistan off the map.” Even Finance Minister Ishaq Dar got in on the act; he suggested that India was trying to sabotage the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Some may counter that Sharif offered a conciliatory speech in his recent address to the UN General Assembly, when he proposed the demilitarisation of Kashmir. Such a proposal, however, was likely prompted by a desire on the part of the Pakistani military to get the Kashmir issue on the front burner, and not by a genuine desire for peace.

The widening civil-military imbalance was crystallised on October 18, when Pakistani officials divulged that Khan Janjua, a general who had conveniently retired just a few days earlier, had been appointed as the new national security adviser. He is accompanying Sharif on his trip to the US.

This is not to dismiss Pakistan’s genuine democratic progress. Earlier this year, it issued a resolution that emphatically rejected Saudi requests to provide military support to Riyadh’s offensive against rebels in Yemen. Additionally, Pakistan passed a landmark right to information law in 2013, which provides the people access to public documents. Such assertions of civilian authority followed a major democratic triumph of the previous Pakistan People’s Party government; the 18th constitutional amendment, passed in 2010, weakened the power of the presidency and enhanced the authority of provincial officials.

And yet these encouraging developments have done little to ease the military’s tightening grip on power. Several days before Sharif came to the US, reports appeared in the Pakistani media alleging that R&AW was plotting to kill Sharif. In a previous era, the conspiratorially minded might have assumed that this meant a military coup would take place when Sharif left the country. Today, however, the Pakistani government is already operating in lockstep with the military, negating the need for a takeover. The military has another strong incentive not to seize power outright: Rawalpindi likely reckons that it’s best not to be saddled with Pakistan’s staggering domestic challenges.

Regardless, Sharif’s visit to Washington will do little to advance the cause of democracy in Pakistan. The US largely views Pakistan through the narrow lens of security. This entails a need to heavily engage and frequently charm Pakistani military officials, who rule the roost on security matters, and Washington pulls out all the stops during their visits to the US.

When Washington needs to get something done to serve its chief interests in Pakistan, one can assume it goes to the generals. This is incredibly ironic and misguided, given that the generals imperil US interests in the region with their sponsorship of non-state militants, but nonetheless a fact of life for US-Pakistan relations. This is why we shouldn’t expect many substantive outcomes from Obama’s meeting with Sharif.
Kugelman is senior programme associate, Wilson Center, Washington, DC.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 25 Oct 2015 18:08

Bang-bang!

Within a week or so in Russia. Within a month or so in the US. Interesting.

Manohar Parrikar prepares for key two-day trip to US

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 26 Oct 2015 11:25

http://sputniknews.com/politics/2015102 ... ssein.html

World Would be Much Better if Hussein, Gaddafi Were Still in Power - Trump
09:34 26.10.2015
The world would be much better if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were still in power, US presidential candidate Donald Trump believes.

‘We Came, We Saw, He Died’: How Will Washington React if Assad Repeats Fate of Gaddafi?
"100 percent," Trump answered when asked the question during an interview with CNN on Sunday.

Trump explained that Iraq and Libya would be more sustainable and contribute to a more stable Middle East if the two leaders had not been removed from power.

"I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. He [Hussein] would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it's the Harvard of terrorism," Trump said.

"I'm not saying he was a nice guy, he was a horrible guy, but it was a lot better than it is right now. Right now, Iraq is a training ground for terrorists. Right now Libya, nobody even knows Libya, frankly there is no Iraq and there is no Libya. It's all broken up. They have no control. Nobody knows what's going on," the candidate pointed out.

Earlier, Trump said he liked the Russian actions against the Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist group in Syria.

"I like that Putin is bombing the hell out of ISIL," he said. "Putin has to get rid of ISIL 'cause Putin does not want ISIL coming into Russia."

He also said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a better leader than those Washington is supposed to be backing. According to Trump, without Assad in power Syria would collapse and turn into another Iraq or Libya.

Russian Airstrikes in Syria Are a 'Positive Thing' - Donald Trump
The situation has been unstable in Iraq since Hussein was forcefully pushed out of power in 2003, shortly after the US invasion in the country. The situation aggravated in 2014 after the Islamic State terrorist group seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Libya is currently facing its worst wave of violence since the beginning of a civil war prompted by the 2011 overthrow of long-standing leader Muammar Gaddafi

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/2015102 ... z3pecyGseX

Trump might appear a crude candidate to the US ivy league establishment,but he is closer to the thinking of the common man than the other candidates. Perhaps he is the man who can work out a detente and cooperative agenda with Russia to send Islamist terror into the dustbin of history.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 27 Oct 2015 04:12

Trump is Ivy League. Graduate of UPenn Wharton School of Business, MBA.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 27 Oct 2015 04:47

World Would be Much Better if Hussein, Gaddafi Were Still in Power - Trump

Check out what Blair said in an interview with CNN. He is willing to assign partial blame, not all.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 27 Oct 2015 11:52

Tx Ramana. Not a Mayflower Bostonian though!
The Hillary bashing has started in right earnest.

[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 09916.html
b]Roger Waters fears Hillary Clinton could be ‘first female President’ to drop a nuclear bomb[/b]

Roger Waters co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 AFP
Roger Waters has some serious reservations about the prospect of Hillary Clinton entering the White House.

The outspoken Pink Floyd co-founder believes there is something “scarily hawkish” about the former Secretary of State, a politician he claims has a look of dishonesty about her.

His biggest concern is that the Democratic nominee tipped to succeed President Obama could become the first President to effectively bring about the Armageddon.

Waters, a British citizen who cannot vote, told Rolling Stone magazine: “I have an awful worry that she might become the first woman president to drop a f**king nuclear bomb on somebody.”

Waters was much more enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders, the independent nominee considered to be the biggest threat to Clinton’s bid for presidency, who he lauded as “the only person in the race that I see with any credibility”.

The left-wing candidate who has never held a national political office before emerged as a surprise contender for the Presidential bid, drawing crowds of up to 30,000 people at rallies - five times the size of those attending Clinton’s campaign events.

Despite not enjoying the same financial backing as Clinton, Sanders is not short of help running his campaign after more than 140,000 people signed up as volunteers.

arun · Post by **arun** » 27 Oct 2015 21:11

Our former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal views US reaction to visit of PM of Islamic Republic of Pakistan there as bad news for India.

“Sharif's US visit is bad news for India” :

……………………………. Whereas in 2013, during Nawaz Sharif’s Washington visit, Obama supported a “sustained dialogue process” for “resolving all outstanding territorial and other disputes through peaceful means”, Kashmir was not specifically mentioned. This time, to satisfy Nawaz Sharif who has been determined to internationalise the Kashmir issue, it was.

By calling Kashmir a “dispute”, the US is preferring the Pakistani term. To top this, the joint statement calls for an “uninterrupted dialogue in support of peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes”, rejecting implicitly the Indian line that dialogue and terror cannot go together.

Most unfortunately, the US has implicitly given credence to Pakistan’s outlandish charges against India for supporting terrorism in its territory by emphasising the importance of “working together to address mutual concerns of India and Pakistan regarding terrorism”. This equates India and Pakistan on the terrorism issue. ……………………………….

Read more: Clicky

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 28 Oct 2015 03:38

Less than two weeks ago, on Oct. 16, President Obama signed a bill -- passed by Congress on Oct. 6 -- reauthorizing USCIRF for another four years.
We are grateful that Congress and the president have enabled USCIRF to continue its important work at a time of maximum need:
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws not only violate freedom of religion and expression; they embolden extremists to assault perceived transgressors. These attackers have increasingly victimized Pakistan’s religious minorities, from Shi’a to Christians, Hindus to Ahmadis.For these reasons, we have urged the State Department to designate Pakistan a CPC. Over the past year, non-state actors have been fueling some of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. Among them is ISIL. From Yazidis to Christians, Shi’a to dissenting Sunnis, no religious group has been free of ISIL’s depredations in Syria and Iraq. Beyond Iraq and Syria, non-state actors have been wreaking similar havoc.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/ ... -religious

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 28 Oct 2015 15:37

US strategic incoherence:
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semp ... by-cp.html

If all of this doesn't makes sense, that's because it can't, and there is a reason for that:

US clients pursue interests that are diametrically opposed with US goals and the US doesn't have a coherent policy, with the neocon/neoliberal/R2P wings infighting with the residual realists. In continuity with the Bushmen before them, they also fancy the idea of global benevolent hegemony and the American civilising mission to remake the world in its own image. Also, they are limited in their freedom of movement, which the conduct of three key US allies illustrates:...

Judging by their assent to their client's excess at US expense, the US apparently feel that they have no choice but to endure such policies because their nominal allies, even when they pursue diametrically opposed policy goals, threaten the US with denial of the one thing the US empire relies on - and that is the use of overseas bases in these allied countries to 'project US power'.

That is a sharp sword, and it underlines one peculiar aspect of the US empire - that it is in part about voluntary client participation. In return for protection, the US adopt as their own political goals of its clients, and exercises hegemony in return, providing stability. In a sense, US empire is, certainly in its self-image, is providing an international public service - national security.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 28 Oct 2015 16:11

Iran's complicity in 9/11?
(from 2011)
This:
http://cis.org/kephart/iran-hezbollah-911-lawsuit

Federal Judge George Daniels announced in open court in New York City yesterday, in a case filed by families of 9/11 victims, that he was going to be signing an order within 24 hours stating Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda are responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

But!

n an unusual move, Judge Daniels did not require any of the expert witnesses to appear in court. (I was originally supposed to testify at this hearing today.) Instead, based on the credibility of the witnesses, and their expertise, the judge instead simply had an open dialogue with the attorneys who worked for eight years gathering evidence – often at risk to themselves – against Iran and Hezbollah in this case.

There are links in the above article that are worth following. Or this:
http://cis.org/node/3428

The problem I have with the story there is, e.g.,

On July 23, 2001, a former senior Iranian intelligence officer,Abolghasem Mr. Mesbahi,learned that Iran’s plan to strike the United States had been activated. Mr. Mesbahi knew it was important and real because he had worked on this plan previously, when he had helped set up Iran’s intelligence service, the MOIS, as far back as the mid-1980s. Mr. Mesbahi - known outside Iran as one of a core of “Assassins”- told German intelligence, which had given him protected status as a key witness in German prosecutions of brutal Iranian assassinations of dozens of dissidents.

On Aug. 13, 2001, Mr. Mesbahi received greater specificity as to the plot. The coded messages from former colleagues inside Iran revealed that the longtime plan to crash civilian airliners into American cities had been activated. Again, the officer told his German handlers, who responded that they would convey the information - we do not know if they did or to whom or exactly what information they might have passed on - and the Germans would let Mr. Mesbahi know if there were any developments. On Aug. 27, 2001, Mr. Mesbahi once more received confirmation that the plan was in motion, and the messages indicated a German connection

WTF did the Germans do? Or the Americans that the Germans contacted do? If the Germans told the Americans, then Bush & co had specific actionable intelligence about 9/11 at least two weeks in advance. I say actionable, because (a) locate potential hijackers who had flying experience and (b) tighten security to prevent hijacking were two major actions that the US could have taken.

IMO, the Iranian connection may be mostly BS, but who knows?

kit · Post by **kit** » 28 Oct 2015 21:58

looks like the new twist in American arms sales are "joint manufacture" ..screw driver ?

http://www.janes.com/article/55577/indonesia-and-us-affirm-commitment-to-joint-defence-production

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Oct 2015 22:40

A-Gupta the identify of the 9/11 hijackers is all Sunni Arabs. No Shias in them.
This Mesbahi is making hay while sun shines.

saip · Post by **saip** » 28 Oct 2015 23:07

panduranghari wrote:Most of you hoping to get social security are going to be in for a big surprise, when US reneges on its own promises. Are you aware the underfunding of most social security schemes, pension schemes in most US states. Except for Washington, most SS and P funds are in deficit. Good luck in getting anything at the end.

CA state does not collect SS tax but only Medicare. They make you contribute to Pension plan at something like 11% of GP! AFAIK this is the only state out of 50 that does it. There is a downside to it. If you worked with an employer who collected to SS tax and start working for CA state you lose a bit of SS payment you would have otherwise received. I found this when my SHQ switched her job to CA state.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 29 Oct 2015 03:13

kit wrote:looks like the new twist in American arms sales are "joint manufacture" ..screw driver ?

http://www.janes.com/article/55577/indonesia-and-us-affirm-commitment-to-joint-defence-production

HAL "Deep License"

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 29 Oct 2015 18:10

Shree Preet Bharara

Making Insider Trading Legal

Steinberg, a trusted deputy of Steven A. Cohen, the founder of S.A.C., was convicted of insider trading, in 2013. (I wrote about the investigation of S.A.C. for the magazine last year.) But Steinberg appealed. Last December, in a separate case, a New York appeals court overturned the convictions of two other hedge-fund traders and issued an opinion that dramatically narrowed the definition of insider trading by requiring that prosecutors prove both that the tipper received some sort of compensation for sharing the information and that the individual who traded on that information knew it was an illegal tip. Bharara’s office challenged the ruling, but, earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Under this new interpretation of insider trading, Steinberg appeared likely to win his appeal—so Bharara dropped the charges against him, and also dismissed the guilty pleas of six coöperating witnesses who had acknowledged trading on material nonpublic information. The United States Attorney’s office maintains that the majority of its insider-trading convictions will remain unchallenged by this change in the legal landscape. But the truth is that if you operate a hedge fund and care to structure your business around the gaping loopholes that the Supreme Court has implicitly endorsed, insider trading is now effectively legal in the United States.

Now this part:

prosecutors prove both that the tipper received some sort of compensation for sharing the information and that the individual who traded on that information knew it was an illegal tip

Wonder what Shree Rajat Gupta's lawyers have to say? Or is it that appeals and dropping charges are only for the gentiles and hassidim, not SDRE?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 01 Nov 2015 01:12

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres- ... 2015-10-30

that is $2b in the afpak region is total waste!

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 01 Nov 2015 01:26

Don't know where else this might go. So...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-camb ... e-34639450

"The US pilot who died when his jet crashed in a field has been called a "hero" by the farmer who owns the land, after he avoided hitting him and his son.

Maj Taj Sareen was killed when his jet came down at Temple farm in Redmere, Cambridgeshire, last week.

Peter Sizer said he was working in his shed with his son when the pilot crashed, just missing the building.

He phoned the emergency services when he heard the explosion.

"I heard a bang and saw this fireball, it was a huge shock. It was only 200m from our shed.

"I would say that he is a hero. He saved our lives by swerving around the shed to miss us. It makes us both feel lucky to be alive.

Google Taj Sareen to get a fuller picture of this extraordinary person. I wonder how many Indian Americans quietly serve in US forces in positions large and small.

http://www.indiaspora.org/a-life-of-ser ... ed-forces/

http://archive.navytimes.com/article/20 ... collapsing

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 04 Nov 2015 06:06

American labor market is not working:
http://equitablegrowth.org/must-read-ma ... t-working/

“In 2014… close to one in eight…

…of US men between the ages of 25 and 54 were neither in work nor looking for it… far higher than in other members of the group of seven leading high-income countries: in the UK, it was 8 per cent; in Germany and France 7 per cent; and in Japan a mere 4 per cent…. The proportion of US prime-age women neither in work nor looking for it was 26 per cent, much the same as in Japan and less only than Italy’s…. Participation rates for those over 16. These fell from 65.7% at the start of 2009 to 62.8% in July 2015… 1.6 percentage points of this decline was due to ageing and 0.3 percentage points due to (diminishing) cyclical effects…. Yet… the UK experienced no decline in labour-force participation after the Great Recession, despite similar ageing trends….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html
"A group of middle-aged whites in the U.S. is dying at a startling rate"

A large segment of white middle-aged Americans has suffered a startling rise in its death rate since 1999, according to a review of statistics published Monday that shows a sharp reversal in decades of progress toward longer lives.

The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded. Before then, death rates for that group dropped steadily, and at a faster pace.

An increase in the mortality rate for any large demographic group in an advanced nation has been virtually unheard of in recent decades, with the exception of Russian men after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“Half a million people are dead who should not be dead,” he added. “About 40 times the Ebola stats....

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Nov 2015 07:03

guptaji probably does not want to rock the boat at this stage, he is getting out soon.....he has been shown his place by bigger fishes and will try to preserve the US passport and wealth of his family for his future generations. I would not expect any fightback.

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 04 Nov 2015 09:57

I really think sometimes what Americans must be thinking when someone like Parrikar in SDRE sandals is talking to him.

member_29089 · Post by **member_29089** » 04 Nov 2015 12:30

^^ look carefully. He is too confused with the red thread to worry about the sandals.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 04 Nov 2015 23:00

Joe sensing the Joke of past decade .

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 05 Nov 2015 01:13

by Alka
What is worrying the American elites is the demographic that is seeking help. Most of the newcomers that show up at Feeding America’s centers are from middle class backgrounds and had until now managed without handouts.

All across the country, from LA to New York, it seems the soup kitchen lines are getting longer. And requests are so high, food centres nationwide are turning away the hungry. “We will soon have the most food stamps recipients in the history of our country,” says Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center.

America may or may not be the land of the free, but it is certainly the land of the hungry.

I am not sure what to take of this article. If you are a good citizen and have at least 8th grade education you can get a minimum paying job for about $8-10.00 per hour (which is what most teenagers do at age 16 work for about 20 hours and then work for 40 or more hours) and become independent of their parents.

A person doing construction (painting house, electrical work,etc) earns $15-45 per hour.
A person working as a professional earns anywhere from $60-$700 per hour.

Food is very cheap in USA., an average person does not need to spend more than 10% of their income on food.

The people who are hungry are by choice (demented, addicted, out of jail, etc). I have regularly seen people selling their food stamps for money outside the grocery stores to buy alcohol/drugs/etc.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 05 Nov 2015 03:12

Major dump on C.C. Fair:
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/04/i_am_a_ ... f_her_own/

IMO: I saw the al-Jazeera segment, thought that CC Fair was not allowed to speak. Also, once upon a time I was a Glenn Greenwald fan, but then realized he was an ideologue, pure and simple, unable to understand any idea that did not agree with his ideology. Anyway, take out the popcorn.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 05 Nov 2015 04:17

A_Gupta wrote:Major dump on C.C. Fair:
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/04/i_am_a_ ... f_her_own/

IMO: I saw the al-Jazeera segment, thought that CC Fair was not allowed to speak. Also, once upon a time I was a Glenn Greenwald fan, but then realized he was an ideologue, pure and simple, unable to understand any idea that did not agree with his ideology. Anyway, take out the popcorn.

The Glenn Greenwalds are the Guardianistas behind the anti-Modi and 'Growing Intolerance' campaign.

What's to like?

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 05 Nov 2015 04:21

SBajwa wrote:
The people who are hungry are by choice (demented, addicted, out of jail, etc). I have regularly seen people selling their food stamps for money outside the grocery stores to buy alcohol/drugs/etc.

Nobody does this by choice. They do it as the result of bad choices in the past. There are no second acts in American lives (as someone said)

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 05 Nov 2015 04:31

$700k from the USG to CC Fair..wowsers

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 05 Nov 2015 05:11

I just saw the clip.

CFaire was on the defensive. She was turning red at certain points of the debate.

This b*tch def has an ego.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 05 Nov 2015 06:58

Cosmo_R wrote:The Glenn Greenwalds are the Guardianistas behind the anti-Modi and 'Growing Intolerance' campaign.

What's to like?

At one time it seemed Glenn Greenwald was a civil libertarian, fighting for the ordinary citizen. That was to like. Turns out he is quite happy to assert that money is speech, that is, if you have more money, you are more entitled to speech.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 05 Nov 2015 07:00

RoyG wrote:I just saw the clip.

CFaire was on the defensive. She was turning red at certain points of the debate.

This b*tch def has an ego.

Also remember, it was edited. Anyway, this is Fair's take on that al-Jazeera episode:
https://www.lawfareblog.com/drone-paper ... g-nonsense

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 05 Nov 2015 11:51

What we've been saying all along! "Dick-the-Pr*ck" Cheney, and the accompanying train of bandicoots took America for a hell of aride,costing trillions of greenbacks and sowed chaos and terror worldwide,the debris of which we are still trying to pick up. To Bush Sr.'s credit,he went after Saddam only after getting a UN mandate.He cringed at the foreign policy of sin Dubya,an EJ led by his nose by the neo-cons.

George Bush Sr says 'iron-ass' Cheney and 'arrogant' Rumsfeld damaged America

Former president claims hawkish reaction to 9/11 attacks and desire to ‘get our way in the Middle East’ hurt his son’s administration, says new biography

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... ed-america

A new biography of George HW Bush quotes the former president saying Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld damaged the reputation of the US.
Photograph: Larry W Smith/EPA
Claire Phipps
Thursday 5 November 2015

Former US president George HW Bush has hit out at Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, two of the most senior figures in his son’s administration, labelling them too “hardline” and “arrogant” in their handling of the 11 September attacks.
Dick Cheney: organ grinder to George Bush's monkey
Megan Carpentier

A new biography of the 41st president – Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush – reveals that Bush Sr held Cheney and Rumsfeld responsible for the hawkish stance that “hurt” his son’s administration, Fox News reported on Wednesday.

The book, by Jon Meacham, is based on audio diaries that Bush recorded during his time in the White House, as well as interviews with the former president and his wife, Barbara.

Cheney served as defence secretary during George HW Bush’s 1989-1993 presidency and later as vice-president under President George W Bush. After 9/11, Bush Sr told his biographer: “I don’t know, he just became very hardline and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with.

“The reaction [to 9/11], what to do about the Middle East. Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East,” Bush told Meacham in the book, which is due to be published next week.
From left to right: Donald Rumsfeld, George W Bush and Dick Cheney, pictured in 2006 at the armed forces farewell tribute to Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.

From left to right: Donald Rumsfeld, George W Bush and Dick Cheney, pictured in 2006 at the armed forces farewell tribute to Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Of his son’s role, Bush Sr told his biographer: “He’s my son, he did his best and I’m for him. It’s that simple an equation.”

But he criticised Bush Jr for allowing Cheney to build “kind of his own state department” and for the inflammatory language that infused the US response to the 9/11 attacks.

“I do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there – some of it his [Bush Jr], maybe, and some of it the people around him. Hot rhetoric is pretty easy to get headlines, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the diplomatic problem.”

He added that George W Bush’s infamous state of the union address in 2002, in which the then president warned of an “axis of evil” of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, “might be historically proved to be not benefiting anything”.

Rumsfeld, who was Bush Jr’s secretary of defense for most of his two terms, has so far not commented on the criticisms directed at him by the 41st president, who in the book calls him “an arrogant fellow”, adding: “I don’t like what he did, and I think it hurt the president.

“I’ve never been that close to him anyway. There’s a lack of humility, a lack of seeing what the other guy thinks. He’s more kick-ass and take names, take numbers. I think he paid a price for that.”

But Cheney told Fox News he took the “iron-ass” jibe as a compliment.

“I took it as a mark of pride,” he says. “The attack on 9/11 was worse than Pearl Harbor, in terms of the number people killed, and the amount of damage done. I think a lot of people believed then, and still believe to this day that I was aggressive in defending, in carrying out what I thought were the right policies.”
Dick Cheney defends America's use of torture, again, in new book
Read more

Cheney insisted he had enjoyed reading Meacham’s book. “The diary’s fascinating, because you can see how he felt at various key moments of his life. So I’m enjoying the book. I recommend it to my friends. And [I’m] proud to be a part of it.”

But he dismissed claims levelled by the former president that Lynne Cheney, his wife, as well as his daughter Liz Cheney, had been the “eminence grises” behind his vice-presidency. “It’s his view, perhaps, of what happened, but my family was not conspiring to somehow turn me into a tougher, more hard-nosed individual.

“I got there all by myself.”

George W Bush said his father “would never say to me: ‘Hey, you need to rein in Cheney. He’s ruining your administration.’ It would be out of character for him to do that.

“I made the decisions. This was my philosophy.

“It is true that my rhetoric could get pretty strong and that may have bothered some people. Obviously it did, including Dad, though he never mentioned it.”

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 06 Nov 2015 12:32

More revelations on the "rogue Veep" Cheney,who wanted to nuke Saddam's army and even against Iran!

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... nyone-knew

George Bush Sr book reveals a more dangerous Dick Cheney than anyone knew

Destiny and Power shows a VP with more authority than almost all his predecessors, making plain Bush Jr’s administration could have been even worse
Dick Cheney and George W Bush in 2007
Smialowski/Getty Images

Julian Borger Diplomatic editor
Thursday 5 November 2015

George Bush the elder is not the first father to blame his son’s mistakes on the bad crowd he fell in with, and the counter to such paternal indulgence is always the same: the son has an important say on the friends he chooses, especially when he happens to be the US president.
'He's getting up in years': Rumsfeld says Bush Sr wrong in criticism of son's aides
Read more

The personal quotes in the new biography of George HW Bush, Destiny and Power: the American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham, show he has neither given up his long struggle with English syntax, nor abandoned his protective feelings towards his son and successor in the White House.

It is another public window into a family wrestling with the most toxic legacies of the junior Bush’s presidency, the Iraq invasion and torture, and it comes after a series of episodes on the Republican primary trail in which Jeb Bush has tried to dodge a definitive verdict on his elder brother’s exploits. Both father and brother have sought to create distance without appearing to throw a close family member under a bus.

For Bush Sr, the dilemma is all the more agonising as some of the White House advisers he now criticises are former employees he bequeathed to his son. Dick Cheney had been his defence secretary, and Condoleezza Rice was a Russian specialist in the first Bush White House and protege of Brent Scowcroft, the elder Bush’s national security adviser and friend.

The two were part of a group of foreign and security policy advisers that Bush Jr gathered around him during the 2000 election campaign. They called themselves “the Vulcans”, not as a tribute to Spock, but to demonstrate they were as tough (or as Bush Sr might say, “iron-ass”) as the Roman god of fire. The Vulcans who huddled at Bush’s Texas ranch at Crawford also included the former and future defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and the man who would become his deputy at the Pentagon, leading neoconservative ideologue Paul Wolfowitz, as well as former top general Colin Powell, together with his close confidant, Richard Armitage.
George Bush Sr and his wife Barbara in 2010. He has sought to distance himself from his George Bush Jr’s political exploits.
George Bush Sr and his wife Barbara in 2010. He has sought to distance himself from his George Bush Jr’s political exploits. Photograph: Bob Levey/WireImage

The latter two would emerge as the doves in the Bush administration, but at the time, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice were also seen as embodiments of continuity, steady hands at the side of a presidential candidate vulnerable to allegations of inexperience. However, beneath the surface lay plans for radical change from the very beginning.

Even before 9/11, the younger Bush led his administration in a quite different direction from his father. While Bush Sr and Scowcroft cherished multilateralism and diplomacy, George W’s White House raised American exceptionalism to new heights, enthusiastically tossing US entanglements with the international community on the bonfire. The administration walked away from the Kyoto talks on climate change, and withdrew US support for the Rome statute establishing the international criminal court, going so far as to declare that it would “unsign” the treaty.
'Iron-ass' Cheney and 'arrogant' Rumsfeld damaged America, says George Bush Sr
Read more

This unilateralist inclination was clearly the younger Bush’s choice. It was how he intended from the outset to make his foreign policy distinctive from his father’s. And it was this characteristic that made for such a dangerously volatile and over-reaching US response when the 9/11 attacks came.

There is no doubt that Cheney and Rumsfeld were given more licence and authority than almost all their predecessors once the “war on terror” began. Cheney was certainly the most powerful vice-president of modern times, with a large and assertive staff, something that Bush Sr draws particular attention to.

Cheney and Rumsfeld used their enhanced power to poison the flow of information to the president’s desk about Iraq and its supposed weapons of mass destruction. The vice-president even made repeated trips to CIA headquarters in Langley to bully analysts into producing more hawkish reports, while Rumsfeld’s Pentagon sucked up highly dubious “evidence” from Iraqi exiles and ideological freelancers. But, as even as the ever-forgiving father admits in Meacham’s book, it was President Bush who allowed Cheney to grow his own empire.

“I think they overdid that. But it’s not Cheney’s fault. It’s the president’s fault,” Bush Sr says.

“The buck stops there,” he adds, in a riposte to his own efforts to spread the blame for the fiascos of his son’s presidency.

Perhaps the most alarming revelation to emerge from the new Bush biography is the elder man’s recollection that while Cheney had been his defence secretary, he had commissioned a study on how many tactical nuclear weapons would be needed to eliminate a division of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard.

Apparently the answer was 17, though a more profound conclusion is that Cheney was a more dangerous figure than anyone knew. It adds weight to reporting by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker that Cheney also contemplated the use of low-yield nuclear bunker-busters against Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facilities. The more we hear about the George W Bush administration, the clearer it becomes that the global damage it wrought could have been even worse.

ManjaM · Post by **ManjaM** » 06 Nov 2015 16:46

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/510 ... l-cop.html

South Asian American organisations have expressed "outrage" at the second mistrial of a former police official charged with use of excessive force against an elderly Indian man that left him partially paralysed.

"SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together) is outraged that a second mistrial was declared on November 4, after a deadlocked jury once again failed to convict Madison, Alabama police officer, Eric Parker, on a civil rights charge brought against him by the US Department of Justice earlier this year, for attacking Sureshbhai Patel," a statement said.

"While the trial was supposed to focus on the unreasonable use of force that Parker used on Patel, it was Patel's immigration status and English proficiency skills that were really on trial," said Lakshmi Sridaran, Director of National Policy and Advocacy at SAALT.

Indeed, in his opening remarks, Parker's attorney said: "When you come to the US we expect you to follow our laws and speak our language. Mr Patel bears as much responsibility for this as anyone".

Parker was captured on video beating Patel, a grandfather, to the point of partial paralysis in February after Patel, initially identified by a neighbour as a "suspicious Black man," repeatedly told the officer he could not speak English, SAALT said.

"We continue to believe in the strength of the evidence and that the defendant's actions violated the constitutional rights of the plaintiff," said Bhavani Kakani, president of AshaKiran.

"It is absolutely devastating to hear the news from Alabama as it reflects a deep pattern of unfairness for people of colour. Although grounded in anti-blackness, police brutality by law enforcement and immigration enforcement is no stranger to South Asian communities and it is indicative of this political moment to be on the path to justice," said Dante Barry, executive director of Million Hoodies United.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 07 Nov 2015 02:38

India’s huge need for electricity is a problem for the planet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as ... 6847156038

CHOWKIPUR, INDIA — Dusk descends on a village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar as residents start their evening chores. Women walk in a line, balancing packets of animal fodder on their heads. Others lead their water buffalo home before dinner.Overhead loom bare utility poles — built but never wired for electricity — casting long shadows across the landscape.Of the world’s 1.3 billion who live without access to power, a third – around 300 million — live in rural India in states such as Bihar. Nighttime satellite images of the sprawling subcontinent show the story: Vast swaths of the country still lie in darkness.
India, the third-largest emitter of greenhouses gases next to China and the United States, has taken steps to address climate change in advance of the global talks in Paris this year — pledging a steep increase in renewable energy by 2030.But India’s leaders say that the huge challenge of extending electric service to its citizens means a hard reality — that the country must continue to increase its fossil fuel consumption, at least in the near term, on a path that could mean a threefold increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, according to some estimates.When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked climate change with President Obama in September at the United Nations, he was careful to note that he and Obama share “an uncompromising commitment on climate change,” but “without affecting our ability to meet the development aspirations of humanity.”
“It’s a matter of shame that 68 years after independence we have not been able to provide a basic amenity like electricity,” Piyush Goyal, India’s minister of state for power, coal, new and renewable energy, said recently.The Indian government has launched an ambitious project to provide 24-hour power supply to its towns and villages by 2022 — with plans for miles of new feeder lines, infrastructure upgrades and solar microgrids for the remotest areas.If India’s carbon emissions continue to rise, by 2040 it will overtake the United States as the world’s second highest emitter, behind only China, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency.
Yet the Indian government has long argued that the United States and other industrialized nations bear a greater responsibility for the cumulative damage to the environment from carbon emissions than developing nations — with Modi urging for “climate justice” and chiding Western nations to change their wasteful ways.Total carbon dioxide emissions for India were 1.7 tons per capita in 2012, the more recent complete data available, compared to 6.9 for China and 16.3 for the United States, according to the World Resources Institute. Officials say they are keenly aware of India’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change — from rising sea levels, drought, flooding and food security.Yet the government says it must depend on fossil fuels in order to bring an estimated 30 percent of the population out of extreme poverty.“We cannot abandon coal,” said Jairam Ramesh, the former environment minister, climate negotiator and the author of a book called “Green Signals: Ecology, Growth and Democracy in India. “It would be suicidal on our part to give up on coal for the next 15 to 20 years at least, given the need.”‘
Although 300 million Indians have no access to power, millions more in the country of 1.2 billion people live with spotty supplies of electricity from the country’s unreliable power grid, which failed spectacularly in 2012, plunging more than 600 million people into total blackout.In the country’s high-tech capital of Bangalore, for example, residents have recently had to endure hours of power outages each day after repairs and a bad monsoon season prevented the state’s hydroelectric and wind power plants from generating enough electricity.stimates show that India’s power woes cost the economy anywhere from 1 to 3 percent of its gross domestic product — an impediment to Modi’s hopes to expand the economy and make the country more hospitable to manufacturing, according to Rahul Tongia, a fellow with Brookings India. Electricity demand will increase sevenfold by mid-century as the population continues to grow, experts say.Energy access is worse in rural areas. Bihar, one of India’s poorest states, has a population of 103 million, nearly a third the size of the United States. Fewer have electricity as the primary source of lighting there than in any other place in India, just over 16 percent, according to 2011 census data. Families still light their homes with kerosene lamps and cook on clay stoves with cow dung patties or kindling.