India-US Relations : News and Discussion

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 10 Sep 2014 22:40

These guys are taking money from TSP and again doing it

How Do You View Narendra Modi’s Visit to the U.S.?
By THE NEW YORK TIMES SEPT. 10, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... .html?_r=0

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 10 Sep 2014 22:41

nri's are across the spectrum and so are resident indians.

this is not a hard concept to understand.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 10 Sep 2014 22:48

Uh NRIs aren't Americans.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 10 Sep 2014 22:48

by George
yes, all NRI's go to the US to cater to the higher noble cause of sending back precious $$'s to they less fortunate bretheren in India.

That's not the point. These people were/are global citizens!! Just because of their contributions towards advancing the humanity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har_Gobind_Khorana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._Raman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subrahmanyan_Chandrasekhar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venkatraman_Ramakrishnan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amar_Bose

and I can keep on going...

Fact is that USA gives you more opportunities (and less competition with more options) than other places around the world.

Making a money could be in Singapore/Dubai/etc.

but... if you want to become a sportsman/woman, researcher, innovator (original thinker) there is no equal among USA.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 10 Sep 2014 22:54

There is nothing called globel citizens. It is all rubbish. US citizens are US citizens. That is all. If they are brown it is ok. If they are gora or black also it is ok. We need not worry about or think too much about it. Let us put our house in order first. Once it is there all will be well.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 10 Sep 2014 23:05

In that case please stop using Internet, all modern medicine, cars, planes, etc.etc. It is because of global citizens that vast majority of the world is advancing.

Remember it is the Internet and cellular phone (which happened because of breakup of the AT&T (which was created by Alexandar Graham Bell and had 100% monopoly for 90+ years) by US Supreme court) that now whole world is connected?

The whole world had telephone for over 90 years and they were not even under the US patent control. Nobody else thought/created internet/cell phone. Telephony was only advanced when US supreme court broke the monopoly and thus out of fair competition (money) we have cell/internet .

From daily headache medicine to Polio vaccinations/etc (over 62 years ago) to cardio surgeries/etc. The whole world (especially the people like me and you) is in debt to the global citizens., who work for all humanity irrespective of the boundaries. Let's not even talk about plastics, materials, robots, space exploration, defense, etc.

I know lot of desi doctors who work for http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ who are they?

member_28714 · Post by **member_28714** » 10 Sep 2014 23:40

Gus wrote:nri's are across the spectrum and so are resident indians.

this is not a hard concept to understand.

ok

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 11 Sep 2014 00:29

The most impressive thing that the PM did, first thing, is to tell people to start making decisions based on common sense, not all these *&^%$( cr*p.

He basically did from the Lal Qila ramparts and onto the assemblage what the Patriots here did against the US Embassy Wall (BTW, anyone tried to find a potty place inside the Lal Qila?)
He did the same thing as the phoren airport experts told the team from the CIAL (Cochin International Airport) project when they first got serious back in the 1990s:

You (Indians) don't even know how to make a decent pakistan, how u gonna build an International Airport?

Shocked

and shamed

the gentle Babus, who never go P or Pu, no end to hear that. But actually CIAL was the first so-called 'international airport' to get the pakistan aspect semi-right. Like more than 1 pakistan per 100,000,000 passengers, pakistans that actually worked, and pakistans close to the Final Lounge, etc. Even today, Chennai MAS is like seeing Crichton's Congo in action: nicely build civilization except for the leaking roofs, but maintained and run by critters far less intelligent than gorillas.

So more power to NaMo. His speech was about pakistans for every school to keep students in school, pakistans in cities, clean roads, clean pakistans, clean guvrmand. Not about Rashtra Bhakt or Throwing Away Great Jaab at NASA and Wall Street Onlee and Retarning 2 Serve The MathruBhUmi onlee (retiring in comfort is the right idea, I agree!), or that sort of total

garbage. Just do what is really needed.

The newspapers have thrown down the gauntlet (whatever a gauntlet is): If he can really deliver 1.3 million working pakistans in schools by Aug. 15, 2015, hey, he's worked a miracle.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 11 Sep 2014 03:07

UlanBatori wrote:The most impressive thing that the PM did, first thing, is to tell people to start making decisions based on common sense, not all these *&^%$( cr*p.

He basically did from the Lal Qila ramparts and onto the assemblage what the Patriots here did against the US Embassy Wall (BTW, anyone tried to find a potty place inside the Lal Qila?)
He did the same thing as the phoren airport experts told the team from the CIAL (Cochin International Airport) project when they first got serious back in the 1990s:
You (Indians) don't even know how to make a decent pakistan, how u gonna build an International Airport?
Shocked and shamed the gentle Babus, who never go P or Pu, no end to hear that. But actually CIAL was the first so-called 'international airport' to get the pakistan aspect semi-right. Like more than 1 pakistan per 100,000,000 passengers, pakistans that actually worked, and pakistans close to the Final Lounge, etc. Even today, Chennai MAS is like seeing Crichton's Congo in action: nicely build civilization except for the leaking roofs, but maintained and run by critters far less intelligent than gorillas.

So more power to NaMo. His speech was about pakistans for every school to keep students in school, pakistans in cities, clean roads, clean pakistans, clean guvrmand. Not about Rashtra Bhakt or Throwing Away Great Jaab at NASA and Wall Street Onlee and Retarning 2 Serve The MathruBhUmi onlee (retiring in comfort is the right idea, I agree!), or that sort of total garbage. Just do what is really needed.

The newspapers have thrown down the gauntlet (whatever a gauntlet is): If he can really deliver 1.3 million working pakistans in schools by Aug. 15, 2015, hey, he's worked a miracle.

I grew up in the scenario outlined by Modi. Now that can be said of most villages that surround Delhi (Mahipalpur, or Munirka ARE Delhi by now) and there was plenty of free areas for pakistan. There were a few buses to Delhi (DTC of course) that ferried the governmand workers but people still farmed there -- as in sustenance farming, main and only source of income.

So having lived through a pakistan-less society, I can tell you there is very little ( ok, breathable air and clean water come ahead) that is ahead of clean accessible and secure pakistans. The quality of life for women folk, and consequently family life of the average indian child (not just the poor or pakistan-less) will improve by orders of magnitude if pakistan can be taken for granted. as in pakistan access first, education second.

No one lives in a vacuum. The pakistan is a necessity for everyone, and its importance as a civic necessity, as a cultural need, as an environmental and health essential can not be under-estimated.

This is true of haryana, hyderabad, or hawaii. Pakistan first, pakistan processing systems and pakistan disposal methods that are sustainable, reliable in monsoons and dont require hacks like carrying your own water or wearing a gas mask or a torch or mouse trap and one that users properly use and maintain can almost magically transform everything from a governmand building staircase to railway tracks and stations.

It really is an essential need. Ignoring this need means that pakistan you dont want to see mixes in you water and food, offends your senses and damages your security so much that you are only ignoring it at yourvown peril.

Even without Modi you can do much to help yourself. Given the opportunity, I made out of the way changes to my own behavior to make clean water and pakistan available and accessible where I could. In northern india (the registan bit) creating water stations (the piao) and resting stations (the sarai, including a pakistan) were always considered as epitomes of punya -- no higher civic service or pilgrimage possible.

You didnt give money to HaHwurd, you didnt have a big party or memorial. Instead, the biggest service to your parents memory was a sarai or a piao. that you maintained, or the village did communally. These were real and functional social services with no governmand involved.

Bringing back some of this, is not bad at all.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 11 Sep 2014 23:38

The following story by forbes was found : the headline itself says disputed territory as if Kashmir is not an integral part of India. It further says the govt, especially Modi govt or State turned Nelson's Eye to the problem. Which is not true. Media has praised Modi's effort though being Muslim majority.

Please reply to comments section and post saying the author is a muslim and Forbes is trying to create bad impression among Americans. That too with the impending visit of Modiji to US.

Please write about the media coverage by the western media to the calamity

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mwani/2014/ ... territory/

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 12 Sep 2014 04:42

Frankly, I am very uncomfortable about the whole US trip of Modi. I will be very happy if it is called off, for whatever reasons. I would rather have a live, healthy Modi with bad relations with the US. We already lost one of our best PMs on foreign soil. I would not add to that score by tempting the fates. As for the lunch with Obama, the story of a certain Achaemenid Queen mother, Parysatis, comes to mind.

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 12 Sep 2014 05:04

Unkil is stoopid, but not stoopid enough to harm Modi on unkil's soil. The ramifications are enormous. An assassination/harming will not cause a "regime change" in India. Amit Shah will probably take up the reigns, and he is going to be no different. Its a loss loss game.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 12 Sep 2014 05:09

^^^Modi in US

Oh jeez! More Indian PMs have died/been killed in India. This sort of rumination/conjecture gives CT theories a bad name.

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 12 Sep 2014 05:41

There is no need to kill him in US. But there are plenty of other things they can do. In particular, please check up exactly the kinds of things they did during the Soviet President (was it Khruschev, or Brezhnev) visit to US.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 12 Sep 2014 05:42

^^^Like what ?

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 12 Sep 2014 05:43

Cosmo_R wrote:^^^Like what ?

Check what they did during the Soviet president (Khruschev or Brezhnev) visit, will you?

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 12 Sep 2014 05:46

LokeshC wrote:Unkil is stoopid, but not stoopid enough to harm Modi on unkil's soil. The ramifications are enormous. An assassination/harming will not cause a "regime change" in India. Amit Shah will probably take up the reigns, and he is going to be no different. Its a loss loss game.

Modi is irreplaceable. Loss of Modi's health would lead to a collapse of the BJP's power structure, before they have had time to consolidate. The BJP netas would be at each others' throats, the moment Modi's hand is removed. It would lead to infighting, and unkil could have his proxies back in the next polls (may come before 2019 if the BJP splits, once Modi is gone).

The problem for unkil is that they have a limited window to move in. Modi has to be removed before he consolidates his power, strengthens his organisation and his party. They have invested too much in his opposition and once Modi finds out, it will be Modi who will have leverage against unkil.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 12 Sep 2014 06:17

They recruited JAWS to the CIA.
R.I.P. Jaws, one of my all-time Herrows!

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 12 Sep 2014 06:18

US kind of needs India. It is not a big sh** star anymore. If it is they would not have sent their Kurryss and heeeguls to us. China is a serious threat to long term interests of US and there is no one even to stand up for Panda. So Khan wants to have India size power in its side. Other munnas of present Japan, SK etc are not proving sufficinent for Khan. PPP size of India GDP is 3rd biggest in world and we stoped Huns and Never allowed Muslims to destroy our culture. Our GDP was the highest during 85% time during the last 2000 years. Most of the goras may not know or care for these facts, but those who matter may wish frindship with such a nation if it is being lead by someone who wish to bring the past glory to it. So there is interest in US about NM. But make know mistake about it - they want NM to be a munna of Khan. They will provide all kinds of inducements etc to him first. But he has already given a indication with WTO decision that "India First". So khan may propose serious benifits to India and ask us to join with them. Let us see how it fans out.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 12 Sep 2014 09:01

Modi Banna Statesman,Mange Subb ki Khair ( Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas)
Na Kahu Se Dosti Na Kahuu Se Baair
Jo Jo Karre Investment, Usse Apna Paair
Jo Jo Karre Parpanchni, Samjyo Usko Gaair.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 12 Sep 2014 11:10

REMARKS BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON THE U.S.-INDIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
by SENATOR JOHN McCAIN, mccain.senate.gov
November 30th -0001

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today delivered the following remarks on the U.S.-India strategic partnership at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Senator McCain visited India this past July.

“I was very pleased when Carnegie invited me back to this important institution to speak about India, the United States, and our strategic partnership. The last time I had that opportunity was nearly four years ago, on the eve of President Obama’s trip to India. Much has happened in that time – some good, some not so good – and I believe we have reached a key inflection point in this vital relationship.

“The election of Prime Minister Modi has transformational potential – for India and our partnership. Indians are hungry for bold change, and they gave a once-in-a-generation mandate to a leader who is eager to deliver it. This change will likely extend to India’s foreign policy, including its relationship with the United States.

“I met Prime Minister Modi in July, and my impression is that he sees a strategic partnership with America as integral to his domestic goal of revitalizing India, economically and geopolitically – and that India’s revitalization can, in turn, help to re-invigorate our partnership. The Prime Minister and I agreed that this goal is much needed, because recently, our partnership has not lived up to its potential.

“Too often, our relationship has felt like a laundry list of initiatives, some quite worthy, that amounts to no more than the sum of its parts. Too often, we have been overly driven by domestic politics and overly focused on extracting concessions from one another, rather than investing in one another’s success and defining priorities that can bring clarity and common purpose to our actions. In short, our strategic relationship has unfortunately devolved recently into a transactional one.

“My sense is that Prime Minister Modi wants India to do its part to change this – and that he wants India and the United States to lift our sights once again, to think bigger and do bigger things together. I fully agree. And I see the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States this month as an opportunity to re-new our partnership and regain a proper strategic focus. That is what I would like to speak about today.

“To re-energize our strategic partnership, we first need to recall why we embarked on this endeavor in the first place. It was not for run-of-the-mill reasons. We always had grander ambitions: We affirmed that India and the United States, two democratic great powers, can and should lead the 21st century in sustaining a liberal, rules-based international order, supported by a favorable balance of power.

“This world order – which the United States has played an exceptional role in building, defending, and strengthening since World War II – has contributed to the greatest ever expansion of free societies, free markets, free trade, free commons, and global security. The benefits of this international order for India and the United States are difficult to overstate. At the same time, the global distribution of power is shifting substantially, and we recognize that, while U.S. leadership remains indispensable, we increasingly need willing and capable partners that share our interests and values to serve as fellow shareholders in the maintenance of a rules-based international order. This will, of course, include traditional U.S. allies, but more than ever, we look to a democratic great power like India.

“This is because India and the United States share not only strategic interests, but also values – the values of individual liberty, democracy, critical thinking, social mobility, and entrepreneurialism. These shared values are ultimately what give us confidence that India’s continued rise as a democratic great power will be peaceful, and that it can advance critical U.S. national interests. That is why, contrary to the old dictates of realpolitik, we seek not to curb the rise of India, but to catalyze it.

“In this way, the progress of our partnership has always been more about national interests than the personalities involved, and it has enjoyed consistent bipartisan support in both countries. Our strategic partnership began with closer cooperation between a Democratic Administration in Washington and a BJP-led government in New Delhi. It deepened dramatically during the last decade under a Republican Administration and a Congress-led government. It reached historic heights with the conclusion of our civil nuclear agreement – thanks to the bold leadership of President Bush and Prime Minister Singh. And now it has a historic opportunity for renewal and growth under a Democratic President and a BJP Prime Minister.

“It is worth recalling this original sense of purpose in our partnership, because I fear we have lost much it in recent years. And there is blame on both sides.

“Here in Washington, there is a sense that too often the relationship has not met our admittedly high expectations. From trade disputes to setbacks in our civil nuclear agreement, there have been impediments and disappointments – all of which were compounded by the past several years of economic slowdown and political gridlock in Delhi. This is why many of us see Prime Minister Modi’s election as such an opportunity. Though challenges of bureaucracy, capacity, and at times ideology will persist, this is a chance for India to rebuild its confidence and grow more ambitious and strategic in its relationship with the United States.

“However, this depends on India’s confidence that a partnership with America is worth investing in. And my sense is that some in India are starting to have doubts.

“Many Indians I have met are concerned that the United States seems distracted and unreliable, especially in its relations with India. They are concerned that President Obama’s declared ‘pivot to Asia’ seems to be more rhetoric than reality, in large part due to devastating cuts to U.S. defense capabilities under sequestration. They are concerned that U.S. disengagement from the Middle East has created a vacuum that extremism and terrorism are filling. They are concerned by perceptions of U.S. weakness in the face of Russian aggression and Chinese provocation. And most of all, they are concerned by President Obama’s plan to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2017, which Indians believe will foster disorder and direct threats to India.

“Obviously, I am sympathetic to these concerns, which are shared by many other U.S. partners. But I recount this not to score partisan points, but because we must recognize that policies and actions such as these are imposing costs on India, and potentially reducing the value of a partnership with America in Indian eyes.

“Indeed, former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran suggested as much recently: ‘[T]he post Second World War international order,’ he said, ‘created and dominated by the U.S. and its Western allies, [is] being steadily and relentlessly dismantled.’ He concluded that the value of the U.S. role in Asia has ‘diminished.’ That is a serious charge from a longstanding proponent of our partnership and the head of India’s National Security Council Advisory Board.

“The question, then, is: What do we do about this? How can we rebuild the strategic focus of our partnership? I would like to offer two broad suggestions.

“First, India and the United States need to think more ambitiously about how we can invest in each other and improve our capacity to work together. As I have said before, the United States wants Prime Minister Modi to succeed because we want India to succeed. For our part, when India thinks of its partners in the world, we want it to think of the United States first. That means positioning our country as the preferred provider of the key inputs that can help to propel India’s rise.

“The United States should be India’s preferred partner on energy. America is now unlocking transformational new supplies of oil and natural gas, and India’s demand for both is rising. It is in the U.S. interest for democratic partners like India to gain greater access to our energy, which can help them reduce their dependence on unstable or problematic energy suppliers. This will be difficult, and may require legislative changes, but the economic and strategic benefits would be immense.

“We should also be India’s preferred partner for economic growth – spanning education, human capital and infrastructure development, and especially trade and investment. Our government cannot direct these private activities, as others can, but U.S. companies and capital are always looking for opportunities, and they will go where they find transparent governance, effective institutions, rule of law, and a favorable regulatory environment. In this way, Prime Minister Modi’s domestic reform agenda can help to attract greater U.S. trade and investment. And these U.S. ventures can, in turn, reinforce the Prime Minister’s domestic reform agenda.

“Our governments are currently negotiating a Bilateral Investment Treaty, which is worthwhile. But why not aim instead for a Free Trade Agreement? India and the United States have, or are negotiating, FTAs with every other major global trading partner, so we are on course to discriminate only against one another. How does that make sense? Our goal should be to produce a roadmap for concluding an FTA and to start negotiating it. We could then work toward India’s integration into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, once it is finalized. Would this also be extremely hard? Of course. But the same was said of our civil nuclear agreement, and we did it.

“We should be India’s preferred partner on defense issues as well. Our militaries must work more closely to sustain a favorable balance of power in key parts of the world. This means building new habits of strategic consultation and cooperation. It means developing a common operating picture and conducting joint exercises in all domains to build real military power on both sides. It means America being willing to transfer technology to India that can make its defense acquisitions more effective, and India being able to protect these capabilities as U.S. law requires.

“It also means arms sales, but more than that, it should mean joint development and production of leading-edge military systems. Anti-tank missiles, as envisioned in the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative, would be a good start. But when the Prime Minister and President meet this month, I hope they lay out more ambitious joint ventures, like shipbuilding and maritime capabilities, even aircraft carriers.

“In these ways, we can support India’s rise as a fast-growing, innovative economy, a flourishing society, a modern military, and a more influential global actor—all of which can benefit us. What should follow, then, is an ambitious strategic agenda to shore up a rules-based international order that supports our common security and prosperity. This will require us to prioritize three areas of the world.

“First, South Asia, which Prime Minister Modi has clearly made a top priority. He seems to recognize, correctly, that India’s global ambitions can be hindered if fires keep breaking out close to home. This is another reason why a secure South Asia is in our interest, and why India and the United States must work together to achieve it. Most immediately, we should increase our counterterrorism cooperation and intelligence sharing. But ultimately, enduring security in South Asia depends on civilian-led democracy and an open regional trading order. These values create an alignment of interests among peoples across the region. Strengthening these supporters of a rules-based international order is the best way to weaken our opponents, especially violent extremists and their persistent sponsors in Pakistan.

“Another strategic priority should be the Middle East, where threats to our security, our interests, and our values have never been greater. Indeed, Al-Qaeda’s recent establishment of an affiliate in India is perhaps the clearest reminder of the vital stake that our nations have in a stable Middle East. This growing threat seems to be sparking an evolution of thinking in New Delhi, which can and should be the basis of expanded cooperation—diplomatic, economic, and military. Imagine the signal India would send if it joined the emerging international coalition to confront ISIS.

“Beyond material things, India has something even more unique and valuable to offer the Middle East. The region has rarely been more divided and polarized, with people told they must choose either anarchy or tyranny, murderous fanatics or secular strongmen, ethnic and sectarian chauvinists or death at their hands. These are false choices that will only lead the Middle East deeper into ruin, and the living embodiment that there is a better way – a democratic, pluralistic, moderate way – is India. Is India’s democracy perfect? Or course not. Neither is ours. And that is the point: We strive for these values even as we fall short of them at times, and when we do, our values help us correct ourselves. Promoting these values in the Middle East is a natural role for India, and it makes India a natural partner for us.

“A final strategic priority is East Asia and the Pacific, where the key challenge to a liberal, rules-based international order comes more from strong states and growing geopolitical rivalries than weak states and non-state actors, as in the Middle East.

“The idea that Asia’s future will be determined by the rise of any one country is wrong. Across this vast region, more people live under democracy than any other form of government. And more states, democratic or otherwise, increasingly see the value of a rules-based international order and the need to play a greater role in sustaining it. For this reason, we see increasing strategic cooperation of every kind in the Asia-Pacific region between the United States and its treaty allies, especially Japan and Australia, but also between these countries and emerging powers such as Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, and of course, India. Indeed, the growing partnership between India and Japan is perhaps most encouraging.

“India and the United States must play a leading role, both together and with other like-minded states, to strengthen a rules-based international order and a favorable balance of power in Asia. None of this means that India or the United States seeks to antagonize or exclude China. In fact, the India-U.S. strategic partnership, in all its forms – diplomatic, economic, military, and on behalf of our values – is critical to encouraging China to rise peacefully in the present order, rather than trying to change the status quo unilaterally and coercively. More provocative to China than any of this is the perception that India and America are weak and divided.

“Whether it is steps our countries can take to enhance our influence, or to project our influence together, the meeting this month between Prime Minister Modi and President Obama is, and must be, an opportunity for true strategic dialogue – not a scripted exchange of talking points, but an open discussion of the big questions. What kind of world do we want to live in? What are our true priorities amid a large bilateral agenda? And most importantly, why does this partnership still matter?

“Now, as always, there will be skeptics on both sides. There will be Americans who tell their President that this whole strategic partnership is overhyped, that India will never really get its act together, and that it cannot be trusted to cooperate with us in a meaningful way. I’m sure there will also be Indians who tell their Prime Minister that drawing closer to the United States is a net liability, that America is in decline, and that it is increasingly unable and unwilling to exert resolute global leadership.

“We need to refute these skeptics, because it would be disastrous for both countries if we fail to reach our full potential as strategic partners. For India, it would mean squandering perhaps the greatest external factor that can facilitate and accelerate its comprehensive rise to power. And for the United States, it would mean missing an irreplaceable opportunity to shape the emergence of a global power that could lead the liberal international order together with us long into the 21st century. In other words, the stakes are high, and each country has to do its part if we are to succeed.

“The President and Prime Minister must know that our relationship will continue to face short-term frustrations, and setbacks, and disappointments. But ultimately, this strategic partnership is about India and the United States placing a long-term bet on one another – a bet that each of us should be confident can offer a big return.

“Americans should have confidence in India. It will soon become the world’s most populous nation. It has a young, increasingly skilled workforce. It is one of the world’s largest economies. It is a nuclear power that possesses the world’s second largest military, which is growing more capable and technologically sophisticated. And India is a democracy, which does not mean its economic and social challenges are less daunting, but it does mean India is more flexible, more responsive, and ultimately better able to address those challenges than its undemocratic peers.

“Indians should also have confidence in America. Our economy remains the most dynamic driver of global growth. Our society remains virtually limitless in its capacity for reinvention, innovation, and assimilating new talent. Our institutions of higher education remain the envy of the world. Our military remains the most capable, combat-proven on earth. And we now have vast new supplies of energy.

“And for those who still have doubts, just recall Winston Churchill, who may not be viewed fondly in India, but who got this country right when he said, ‘You can always rely on Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.’

“Ultimately, India and the United States should have confidence in one another, and in the promise of their strategic partnership, because of our common capacity for renewal, which derives from our shared democratic values. It is this shared virtue that enables us to ask ourselves hard questions, to change when change is needed, to imagine how tomorrow can be better than today, to take risks and make it so. As long as our nations stay true to these values, there is no dispute we cannot resolve, no challenge we cannot overcome, and nothing we cannot accomplish together.”

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Sep 2014 11:20

^^^ IMHO, the senator is a distraction, whether he says things good or bad re. India. However, since he has a pulpit if he could focus only on developmental changes, concrete positive steps, then he would do both US and India good.

my2np. worth less and less these days.

ps -- congress found the time to assemble/break from campaign to talk about/pass random resolutions re. IS.

Rony · Post by **Rony** » 12 Sep 2014 16:11

Another feel good 'we have shared dna' type article by a america based NRI

India Inside: Astonishing Tales of How the United States and India Are Intertwined

On July 8, 1497, Portuguese royal Vasco Da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 seasoned and experienced men in a different direction from Columbus, around the coast of Africa, but with the same goal. Da Gama's fleet arrived in Kappadu near Calicut, India on May 20, 1498 on India's western Malabar Coast.

Portugal, France and principally Great Britain slowly colonized, some would say plundered, India. By the mid-20th century, India produced just 2% of the world's GDP compared to about 20 percent when Columbus and da Gama went exploring. But I get ahead of myself. India was a major exporter of spices, textiles and tea. On December 31, 1600, the British East India Company, was formed and soon granted a royal monopoly by Queen Elizabeth I for all trade in and out of India. This made its top executives as wildly affluent as the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs of today and they also enjoyed political power and prestige.

Yale, Yorktown, and the Star Spangled Banner

One such success was Boston- born Welshman Elihu Yale who had a 20 year run with this company and was second governor of Fort St. George (now Chennai), India. In 1718, the tiny Collegiate School of Connecticut in New Haven wrote to Yale asking for financial support. Yale shipped a carton of goods which the college sold to fund a new building. When the college asked for more money, Yale complied on the condition that they rename the school for him. And so was born Yale University. Today's Yale's power in American society and academia, and the size of its endowment, is exceeded only by Harvard; don't forget that it began with money first made in India.

By 1773, the 13 colonies were consumers of much of the trade with India that continued to enrich the British crown and top executives of the John Company (the nickname for the East India Company which was by then more powerful that today's GE, IBM Apple put together). American revolutionaries calling themselves the Sons of Liberty dumped 373 chests of East India Company tea from the SS Dartmouth into Boston Harbor on a frigid December day, marking the beginning of the American Revolution.

The bitter battles for American Independence lasted for nine long years until George Washington defeated British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown on October 19, 1781. The 43 year old Cornwallis was down but not out, however. He returned from Virginia to England to cool his heels for a short time but then was appointed to the top post of the British East India Company and given the title of Governor General of Bengal. Cornwallis was remarkably successful in India. The Cornwallis Code became the cornerstone of revenue collection, land management, justice administration and police systems. Echoes of the Cornwallis Code still remain in the way that India's government functions today. I remind American executives of this legacy of the Battle of Yorktown, when their companies try to buy real estate in India today.

The Wadia family in India built the HMS Minden, a 74-gun teakwood boat on which attorney Francis Scott Key was held prisoner by the British in Chesapeake Bay on one rainy September night during the War of 1812. In America, everyone knows that as he watched the lone American flag fly atop Ft. McHenry, Key penned a poem which we call the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem. Today the Wadia (boatman) family, descendants of Persian refugees to India, runs Bombay Dyeing, a textile company and GoAir, an airline.

The South Falls, Bombay Rises, Selling Ice to the Indians

During the American Civil War, exports of cotton from the Confederate States of America to Europe were blocked. Indian entrepreneurs had started growing the crop in the rich black soil of Western India, but the shortage in the Civil War caused a boom in cotton and in the textile mills that supported the crop prior to its export to England. During the Civil War, Bombay boomed and the expansion continued for decades afterward, making it India's largest city today and the one that contributes over 30 percent of personal income tax by all Indians.

Later in the nineteenth century, a remarkable American entrepreneur made millions selling ice from New England around the world. Frederick Tudor sent ships loaded with ice and insulated by sawdust all the way to the ports of Calcutta (now Kolkata) where the British East India Company had its Indian capital. They granted him an exception to their monopoly since ice from the Himalayan Mountains was far more expensive, and Tudor's emissaries built ice houses in Calcutta and Bombay. This improbable sounding story of American exports is beautifully documented in Gavin Weightman's 2004 book "The Frozen Water Trade."

We the People

A hundred years ago, on the West Coast of the United States, a ragtag group of Indian expatriates organized themselves into the Gadar Movement, whose goal it was to help India become independent of British rule. About the same time, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar came to study for a master's and doctorate at Columbia University in New York. Ambedkar was later a key architect of the independent India's constitution. The first three words of India's constitution are the same as those of the United States: "We the people."

It is important to remember this shared DNA as we in America look at trade, cultural and political opportunities with the world's second most populous country when Prime Minister Modi arrives in Washington this month.

habal · Post by **habal** » 12 Sep 2014 16:50

why do these jokers think India won't be tomorrow's Russia, Syria, Iraq or Libya ? In one such 'intertwined' photo Kerry & wife were seen dining with Assad & wife and the next moment he was campaigning for removing Assad, sanctions against Syria etc.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Sep 2014 17:06

peace and brotherhood flows only from the payload of MIRV.

everything else is just a great stage and drama...the maaya of the world.

Yogi_G · Post by **Yogi_G** » 12 Sep 2014 17:13

Bajwa ji, no one thought of the internet apart from the US?

IIRC, it was the French who had the first networked phone system with keys on their phones to query an integrated network.
the Soviets and the eastern bloc had their own version of the internet. Part of the last Soviet 5 year plan was to create a national data line which if it had come to fruition would have equaled the US "internet" in size but it was not to be.

The first news of the Soviet coup came out through their "intenet".

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 12 Sep 2014 17:22

RonyJi, the article by whoever that NRI is reminds me of a little bit of myself until reality hit me. (And I might add, many NRIs like me have also taken a while, but have seen the light). Basically, the author is taking too much to heart, US BS about "shared values" and the crap, and the author's own ardent desire to belong to US, that he comes up with this convoluted feel-good rubbish about India US intertwined DNA, similarity on "freedom struggles" etc. Just as I found out, all that is cheap talk by Uncle who bases his policy on pragmatism, raw self-interest, and camaraderie with those he shares racial/cultural/civilizational closeness. If our DNAs were so intertwined, you would not have seen India specific terrorists like MushRat feted on the whire house lawn. I am sure ModiJi won't fall for sweet talk, and instead just talks business.

SBajwaJi, Narayana RaoJi is correct. There is no such thing as "globalization" or "global citizen". Once again, this is hot air by Uncle to sugar-coat others, including Indians becoming mind-numbing zombies adopting his consumerist culture: pizza, coke, star*bucks, rock music etc. Americans will never say they are "global citizens" in the real sense, but rather, they are brain-washed to use that phrase when Iranians (or anybody else) take to using twitter to overthrow the govt they don't like. Please note, I don't have a problem with "globalization" per se, its the political context in which Uncle peddles that is what I have an issue with.

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 12 Sep 2014 17:33

SBajwa wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._V._Raman

What did CV Raman have to do with USA?

vivek.rao · Post by **vivek.rao** » 12 Sep 2014 18:17

svinayak wrote:These guys are taking money from TSP and again doing it

How Do You View Narendra Modi’s Visit to the U.S.?
By THE NEW YORK TIMES SEPT. 10, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... .html?_r=0

I filled it up.

I said Modi will not only fix Governance in India but will inspire all South Asians including Pakistanis to demand better Governance,Development and Democracy

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 12 Sep 2014 19:14

^^^ The Yale etc article. It's to raise visibility for his business. Look at the title of his 'book' and what he does for a living. The whole PR machinery is cranking up and you'll see more of these articles.

There is no 'sentiment' here just business under the 'we are same DNA' metaphor

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 12 Sep 2014 20:13

@ Rony: Another feel good 'we have shared dna' type article by a america based NRI

This Gunjan Bagla fellow is a big gaspot from my schooldays. Total crook who has a knack for self-publicity. He managed to get himself on some board/office bearer of US alumni of IIT Kanpur also and writes long boring posts about himself, the ranking of his book on various school facebook pages etc. Why give this nonsense bogus fellow any publicity? Was a total joke from class 6. He is the face of a large number of Pan IIT alumni in the US. I stay consistently away from this crowd, no membership, no going to these meetings, just give all these pompous people a wide berth.

This joker is related or a sibling of Pallava Bagla of NDTV. Both of them have felt my ire. I called this
so-called Science reporter Pallava out on rubbish he was posting on the Mars Mission on the school facebook page. Basically pushed him to clarify nonsense on orbital mechanics, and he got caught.
Moral of the story, there are all sorts of sharks out there so if you are ahead do not push it, like Twain said, " you can fool all the people..." etc. Now both of them have stopped posting, one with his world views, the other with negative funda.

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 12 Sep 2014 20:56

Narayana Rao wrote:There is nothing called globel citizens. It is all rubbish. US citizens are US citizens. That is all. If they are brown it is ok. If they are gora or black also it is ok. We need not worry about or think too much about it. Let us put our house in order first. Once it is there all will be well.

Bullish!t. We are all global citizens whether we know it or not. Some passports allow for more movement ànd freedom, that is all. USA is made up entirely of non-Americans who became Americans but retained their original identity in a unique melting pot. This is actually encouraged and is most pronounced in the NRI case, barring a tiny minority like Nikki and Bobby which any random sample will unfortunately have. Indians in the US are unique in that they have an overwhelmingly positive model being scientists, CEOs, doctors, engineers, professors, almost all of who are hard working, honest and have retained their 'unpronouncable' names.

If you look closely, NaMonia hit NRIs before it hit Indians in general and a huge wave of them helped Modi come to power because he touched the same nerve in NRIs as he did in India. Barring the Pope and the President, no other leader has been able to fill an arena like Madison Square Garden with four times as many being turned away because of space. It's a solid message.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 12 Sep 2014 21:38

ramana wrote:LokeshC, Point out when RSS was founded- 1925, which means Hitler mamu was still dreaming about all those things.

If anything, I think RSS resembles to some extent the Boy Scouts of Baden-Powell.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 12 Sep 2014 21:45

Yogi_G wrote:Bajwa ji, no one thought of the internet apart from the US?

IIRC, it was the French who had the first networked phone system with keys on their phones to query an integrated network.
the Soviets and the eastern bloc had their own version of the internet. Part of the last Soviet 5 year plan was to create a national data line which if it had come to fruition would have equaled the US "internet" in size but it was not to be.

The first news of the Soviet coup came out through their "intenet".

It was called "Teletext".

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 12 Sep 2014 21:54

vsunder wrote:@ Rony: Another feel good 'we have shared dna' type article by a america based NRI

This Gunjan Bagla fellow is a big gaspot from my schooldays. Total crook who has a knack for self-publicity. He managed to get himself on some board/office bearer of US alumni of IIT Kanpur also and writes long boring posts about himself, the ranking of his book on various school facebook pages etc. Why give this nonsense bogus fellow any publicity? Was a total joke from class 6. He is the face of a large number of Pan IIT alumni in the US. I stay consistently away from this crowd, no membership, no going to these meetings, just give all these pompous people a wide berth.

This joker is related or a sibling of Pallava Bagla of NDTV. Both of them have felt my ire. I called this
so-called Science reporter Pallava out on rubbish he was posting on the Mars Mission on the school facebook page. Basically pushed him to clarify nonsense on orbital mechanics, and he got caught.
Moral of the story, there are all sorts of sharks out there so if you are ahead do not push it, like Twain said, " you can fool all the people..." etc. Now both of them have stopped posting, one with his world views, the other with negative funda.

I have heard nearly the entire contents of the article, the whole Yale-Francis Scott Key-Cotton-Tea blah blah from junior IFS officers, senior Indian engineering professors, Deans, etc., etc., repeatedly, whenever some American academic would show up to be first "feted" and then listened to with sheer awe and bewilderment by shanghaied undergraduates as he delivered a seminar on some obscure topic in opaque American accent. Looks like standard package put together sometime in the 1960s by some babu and handed out for the occasion to whomever is tasked with "saying a few words " while doing the "feting." The assumption seems to be that it works, or is at least good enough, since the American guest is ignorant anyway, so it would be all eye-opening to him, plus show him that he is not just dealing with a bunch of darkie natives.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 12 Sep 2014 21:55

Lots of chips on shoulders here bigger than mijjiles

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 12 Sep 2014 22:04

UlanBatori wrote:Lots of chips on shoulders here bigger than mijjiles

Yeah, but you should be aware that the term "chip on the shoulder" originated when onetime Idli vendor K. Lakshmana Perumal Daniels, a native of old Machilipatnam via Kozhikode, who just happens to be an unknown hero of the American Revolutionary War, perfected the art of hurling cow chips as a weapon; he used to carry his supply on his shoulder for convenience; as long as there was a chip left on his shoulder to throw, there was no stopping him.

Sadly, all that is left of the late KLPD garu is the said expression in the American Language. Let us now, therefore, celebrate our togetherness and strategic partnership.

Oh, and

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 12 Sep 2014 22:06

by Yogi
Bajwa ji, no one thought of the internet apart from the US?

IIRC, it was the French who had the first networked phone system with keys on their phones to query an integrated network.
the Soviets and the eastern bloc had their own version of the internet. Part of the last Soviet 5 year plan was to create a national data line which if it had come to fruition would have equaled the US "internet" in size but it was not to be.

The first news of the Soviet coup came out through their "intenet".

by that logic we can go all the way back to telegraph and morse code and so forth.

Ok. let me put another angle to it. Which is commercial. USA has been most successful at building and selling large number of Cars, Planes, and other things and industry around it.

Just look at the SMART board idea (from other thread). A Canadian innovator gets a contract to supply the over head projectors and he set asides some of the profits for research and comes out with Smart Board (connected to Internet and saves the data for educators/students). Innovations and industry around them are happening at a large scales in USA/Canada as oppose to other places around the world.

Same thing with Shale gas exploration technology (in which even Ambani has invested money in Pennsylvania).
Or getting the oil out of the sand as in Alberta (Canada)/North Dakota (USA)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota_oil_boom

Even as communications/planes/cars/etc were getting into physical shapes in other areas around the world (Benz

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 12 Sep 2014 22:11

Also!! Think of these articles just like "Bhaichara" and "Aman ki Asha" farticles about nPakis.

These are paid media people to write these articles before any political visit. Typically this is what happens

1. Foreign minister/Secretary of State/or member of opposition of the host nation says positive thing.
2. Farticles about "Feel good" follow.
3. Then a day or so before arrival "Feel bad" articles or your enemies start introducing bills in poodle countries (like UK did).
4. The commercial people (Banks/credits/etc) start saying positive stuff (they want to invest)
5. and so forth.

It is all a stunt to gain some political/commercial/etc leverage.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 12 Sep 2014 22:26

What made internet popular was the graphical browser - ~~mozilla~~ Mosiac (thanks Anant for pointing this out) - which was programmed by a couple of students working on grad. research assistant salaries (which is just barely above legal minimum wage salary) at NCSA. Of course, it is not the first - I think the first one was programmed in one of the Nordic countries.

All these things are well known and are one google away and Wikipedia.

Sir CV Raman never studied anywhere but India.