India-US Strategic News and Discussion

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Philip
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

Latest US criticism of the GOI vs AH show that ,Uncle Sam is finally ditching Uncle "Scam"!
For a v. long time,Uncle "Scam" has been the "great brown hope" of Uncle Sam.A menciant and peddlar of Uncle Sam's snake-oil as a panacaea for all ills. But the failure of this snake-oil and the fact that the good doctor is now for the first time seen as a liability-the polls which see him losing face and reputation all across the nation,and the fact that the young intern is seen as a better prospect than him,Uncle Sam is no adding his voice to that of the nation in order to effect "regime change",as he is desperate that he will lose his manipulating influence which was made possible thanks to the loyal services of a once IMF babu!

I am sure that Uncle Sam's advisers have been busy lurkers in our very own forum,where as many have pointed out,BR gets it right first.The speed with which Uncle Scam departs is commensurate upon the speed with which the "Matron" recovers and decides upon whom the next puppet is going to be.Uncle Sam is throwing in his two bits to haste the "regime change",or should one say "palace coup".Is it finally time for the intern to get his stethoscope of power,or should another flunkey be asked to warm the hot seat? However,the mendicant of snake-oil is not going without a fight and has taken extreme action against his tormentor,the village apothecary ,who is now being seen as a new distributor of snake-oil,who can also be manipulated through his coterie of advisers.
sooraj
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by sooraj »

partha wrote:http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 361185.ece
United States has exuded confidence in India’s ability to manage its “internal situation” remaining consistent with the democratic values.

“India is a very strong and vibrant democracy, and we have confidence in India’s ability to manage its internal situation in a manner that is consistent with the democratic values of the state,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.

Ms. Nuland was responding to a question about her remarks made last week on the peaceful protest movement against corruption by social activist Anna Hazare.

“As you know, we support the right of peaceful, non-violent protest around the world. That said, India is a democracy, and we count on India to exercise appropriate democratic restraint in the way it deals with peaceful protest,” she had said in response to a question last week.
This after asking India to show restraint regarding Anna's protest. Why doesn't US mind its own business?

or India may have accepted US position on syria
svinayak
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by svinayak »

Sanku wrote:
That is exactly the point and you've got it. It is stupid to expect ethnicity to trump nationality.

3) Any number of Indians have demonstrated that they are low life's who would use their ethnicity to pretend to be 1 while actually batting for non-Indian intrests (actually all they are batting for is their OWN personal interest since they are basically completely ideology free opportunists of nth order) -- they are both NRIs and RNIs.
Indian nationalism has been broken with the leftist and marxist inside the academics, intellectual and media industry.
They have promoted anti India and anti Hindu movements and teamed up with foreign elements for now more than 50 years. This is unqiue to India and newly free country from colonized period has shown that it can be colonized again.

Indians with this kind of elite will naturally will get confused and will show all types of traitor behavior. RNIs have increased and they want to rule the country. Also the Indian EJs and Jihad elements have also become bold and anti India. This is also unique for India.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by abhishek_sharma »

Globalization and Unemployment

By Michael Spence (Nobel Prize in Economics, 2001)

x-post
arun
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by arun »

X Posted from the IWT thread.
Taken Question
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC

Question Taken at the August 17, 2011 Daily Press Briefing
August 18, 2011

Question: Is the United States supporting the building of a hydroelectric dam in Pakistan? Do we have any concerns about how it may impact India?

Answer: As part of a broader signature energy program announced in 2009, the United States has provided support to complete the final phases of two hydroelectric dams in Pakistan: the Satpara Dam in Gilgit-Baltistan and the Gomal Zam Dam in South Waziristan. We are considering doing more in the sector.

Pakistan has requested the international community’s support for development of the Diamer Basha Dam project. We recognize that such a hydroelectric project would help meet many of Pakistan’s long-term energy and water needs, as well as advance social and economic development.

We are considering how we can best support Pakistan’s request, as are other bilateral donors and multilateral financial institutions. No final decisions have been made. We continue to work with the Government of Pakistan to determine how best to use U.S. civilian assistance.

The United States has long supported development projects that enhance the daily lives of people throughout the region. In doing so, we always take into account a project’s potential regional impact.

PRN: 2011/1346

US State Dept
shiv
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by shiv »

Cross post
eklavya wrote:
How difficult can it really be to locate Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and drop a tonne or two of guided ordnance on him? The scumbag lives just across the border near Lahore and is always appearing in public. Why doesn't the Government of India authorise the IAF do that?

Why doesn't the Government of India put a $100m price (dead or alive) on HMS' head. One of the former Union Cabinet Ministers residing in Tihar Plaza can be requested to fund the award to earn some public goodwill.

Writing silly dossiers and expecting the Pakistan Army to hand over one or more of its own employess (everybody knows that the LeT is a branch/regiment of the Pak Army) acting on the orders of the Pak Army leadership is just plain silly. This is not about American pressure, its about Indian leadership.
My frank opinion on this is that Indian leaders (not so much the armed forces as the political bunch) do not have the moral authority in India to order such missions. I will try and explain that clearly.

When a political leader (a politician who has got elected by votes) orders an act of war against another country he is essentially declaring war on the other nation. This is as true for Dubya as it would be for say MMS.

The US political system is geared towards electing an individual (President) whose judgement is trusted.

The Indian system merely elects a bunch of local/provincial leaders who then choose amongst themselves a compromise candidate who has no real credentials for running the country. So India's leaders occupy kursis (chairs) that they want to keep occupying - or else they will lose after 5 years. They all know this very well. They are not stupid. They know damn well that their greatest chances of getting re elected are by taking the least risky path to themselves. if they take a decision to make war and it fails - or if those 2 tons of bombs on Hafiz Saeed's head land on an empty plot and Pakistan is laughing (akin to Carter's failed Iran raid) Indians are going to blame the nincompoop politician and not rally behind the nation and say "Let's send out another 200 tons and try again".

Why do Indians react in this way? They react in this way because every Indian politician is a local goon from some part of India. Every one gets elected by the same tactics. Local vote banks. 100 or 500 Rupee notes to voters or saris, TV sets or other bribes to slum voters. Every Indian in any part of India rural or urban knows that his local politician apears just before elections, makes a lot of promises and none of those promises are ever fulfilled. the only benefit you get is that 100 rupees/cycle or TV set for your vote. These same local cheats who get elected this way go and become members of parliament and one of these goons becomes Prime Minister or Home minister. Those posts are not about "leadership". They are "portfolios" that are distributed like sweets to the biggest goons or influential parties in a coalition. Just like DMKs Raja got Telecom.

Indians know this and the politicians know this. The politicians are clever enough to realise that if Pakistan, or China or the USA or Boputhatswana attack India - all of India will unite and support war. But if the goon-politician makes war and fails - Indians will screw him more than Pakistan can screw him. For Indian political leaders - the Indian population is a bigger threat than Pakistan - as long as they do not make Pakistan a bigger threat by attacking. That is why US like actions by Indian leaders are never going to happen.
Why doesn't the Government of India put a $100m price (dead or alive) on HMS' head. One of the former Union Cabinet Ministers residing in Tihar Plaza can be requested to fund the award to earn some public goodwill.
How innocent and naive your words are :rotfl: . A politican is elected from a constituency. For "popularity" all he has to do is ensure that 50,000 people get paid Rs 100 (US $ 2.50) each. he is minister/MP for 5 years after spending less than a million of that $100 million you have mentioned. He can pocket the remaining 99 million and use it for future elections.

India will never be a USA. That is why comparisons irritate me.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by rajanb »

Every Indian in any part of India rural or urban knows that his local politician apears just before elections, makes a lot of promises and none of those promises are ever fulfilled. the only benefit you get is that 100 rupees/cycle or TV set for your vote. These same local cheats who get elected this way go and become members of parliament and one of these goons becomes Prime Minister or Home minister. Those posts are not about "leadership". They are "portfolios" that are distributed like sweets to the biggest goons or influential parties in a coalition. Just like DMKs Raja got Telecom.
But for the 100 rupees/cycle or TV set for your vote they loot you, deny you governance (forget good governance), make your life utterly miserable for the next five years. And either we bring them back after five years or bring another lot in, whose coffers have been running dry because they weren't in power, who then continue to loot you. All same to same onlee.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Singha »

people do need to be at a certain level of economic comfort before they will start thinking beyond the cycle/TV/blanket/special ethnic or caste sops blandishments.

middle class if you say has moved beyond it, numbers only around 220 mil now and expected to reach 275 mil in 2015. out of this half will be kids ineligible to vote. so votable middle class will be only 100 mil now...out of around 600 mil voteable people in the country. if we say 50% of middle class vote on some issue its just 50 mil votes. the poorer class tends to vote a bit more - if we say 65% vote , thats 500*0.65 = 325 mil.

so ratio of middle:poor vote is still 1:6 - a huge mismatch.

is it possible to enthuse the poorer classes about such "wider picture issues" - possible, but so far has not happened yet....the bofors issue and ayodhya were perhaps two instances...thats why its important to turn the debate from the narrow issue of Lokpal bill into investigating and exposing the corruption at various levels of current Govt - lokpal does not scare INC, but having the records of their party finances and the web of trusts and foundations they control will surely shake them
Philip
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Philip »

Acharaya,the Left is bereft of economic ideas to fuel the growth of the Indian economy commensurate with the growing demands of its growing population.Unless the Left adopts genuine "nationalist" policies-by that I mean putting "Indian interests first",in all issues be it economic,foreign,security,etc.,not in a jingoistic manner,it will never be an attractive proposition to the Indian people.It is why having well udnerstood thge failings of Communism,Putin and Co.,former "insiders" of the Party, have metamorphosed into adopting a "Russia first" policy that has rescued the state from econmic collapse and has given back to Russia its status as a global superpower.

Uncle Scam has totally subordinated India to Uncle Sam,be it the nation's N-policy,strategic N-deterrent,foriegn policy,economic polcies,etc.Uncle Scam has the duboious distinction of heading the world's largest democracy which remains absolutely silent on the great global crisies of the day.Egypt,Libya,Iraq,Afghanistan,Syria,the Middle East,Iran.....all these crises sees Uncle Scam looking towards Washington for a lead! Imagine the difference if we had Pandit Nehru or Mrs. G. at the helm today.Would they have kept their mouths shut?

There was a superb cartoon by Oliphant,in the Deccan Chronicle,about Obama which fits Uncle Scam totally.It is based upon that famous poem by William H Means.In the cartoon,a man is asking Obama what is he going to do about the US economy and gets no reply!

""Yesterday upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away."

Sen.McCain's knee-jerk comments about Indian democracy are only fuelling the Congress canard that the Ana phenomenon is actually a plot by the famous Congress "hidden hand" of Emergency times!
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by rajanb »

Singha wrote:people do need to be at a certain level of economic comfort before they will start thinking beyond the cycle/TV/blanket/special ethnic or caste sops blandishments.

middle class if you say has moved beyond it, numbers only around 220 mil now and expected to reach 275 mil in 2015. out of this half will be kids ineligible to vote. so votable middle class will be only 100 mil now...out of around 600 mil voteable people in the country. if we say 50% of middle class vote on some issue its just 50 mil votes. the poorer class tends to vote a bit more - if we say 65% vote , thats 500*0.65 = 325 mil.

so ratio of middle:poor vote is still 1:6 - a huge mismatch.

is it possible to enthuse the poorer classes about such "wider picture issues" - possible, but so far has not happened yet....the bofors issue and ayodhya were perhaps two instances...thats why its important to turn the debate from the narrow issue of Lokpal bill into investigating and exposing the corruption at various levels of current Govt - lokpal does not scare INC, but having the records of their party finances and the web of trusts and foundations they control will surely shake them
Very true. The question asked by Kejriwal, when it was alleged that the AH group did not have popular support, was whether any parlimentarian (as is his bounden duty being elected to represent his constituency) had been to his constituency to update the electorate about the Lok Pal Bill and corruption? Thundering silence!

But thanks to the advent of TV and the longer this agitation continues, news is definitely trickling into villages and the economically backward. And it surprises me that he powers that be don't realise that with every passing moment this is spreading.

And as is being softly admitted by some politicians that the word politician is now assocaited with untruth and greed.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by devesh »

Rick Perry recently met with Musharraf and discussed "solutions" for the current economic problems.

seriously, not only does Perry associate with all kinds of nutjobs but now he is discussing Global Economy with Musharraf. guys like Perry have a curious admiration for Islamist dictators. possibility exists for Christian right wingers to tie up with Islamists to go after the heathens.


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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Altair »

devesh wrote:Rick Perry recently met with Musharraf and discussed "solutions" for the current economic problems.

seriously, not only does Perry associate with all kinds of nutjobs but now he is discussing Global Economy with Musharraf. guys like Perry have a curious admiration for Islamist dictators. possibility exists for Christian right wingers to tie up with Islamists to go after the heathens.


Jews must be reminded that it was Musharraf's explicit order that killed Daniel Pearl. Any associating with Musharraf is anti-Jewish.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by CRamS »

Altair:

Jews are much more smarter with their strategic thinking. They want some kind of a working relationship with TSPA so they can intelligence inputs, use TSPA to stop jihadi abduls from creatng mayhem in their part of the world etc. In other words, the Jewish lobby is not going to go out of its way to demonize TSPA just as it does to its immediate neighborhood dictators.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by subodh »

devesh wrote:Rick Perry recently met with Musharraf and discussed "solutions" for the current economic problems.

I think Perry visited pakistan during musharraf's reign.
Altair
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Altair »

CRamS wrote:Altair:

Jews are much more smarter with their strategic thinking. They want some kind of a working relationship with TSPA so they can intelligence inputs, use TSPA to stop jihadi abduls from creatng mayhem in their part of the world etc. In other words, the Jewish lobby is not going to go out of its way to demonize TSPA just as it does to its immediate neighborhood dictators.
After whats happening at Egypt border and other deep doodoo Americans have pushed Israel into, Israelis in USA are more concerned about how the next POTUS frames Israel's enemies and friends. This is what happens when you choose to become an anvil for a blacksmith. The same applies to everyone.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by devesh »

Israel's alliance with the EJ's was always a double-edged sword. for now, EJ's are only focusing on the "protect Israel" part of the Bible's sayings. but eventually, some sect will start saying that it has now been decades since Israel was formed, and time has come for Jews to accept their savior......I suspect Jews already kind of understand that this is where EJ's are headed in the coming years and decades, and they are trying to figure out how to manage the fallout. for one, there will be intense pressure on American Jewry to convert.

these trends are very important. eventually, they will lead to Israel understanding the nature of the land that they inhabit. no matter their association with Christianity, they are located in Asia, namely the Western tip of Asia, between Europe and Africa. every place has its "sthana balam" and Israel will wake up to its "sthana balam". for now though, EJ alliance is tactically and strategically very important for Israel.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

sumishi wrote:Clinton is here. What about a complimentary "enhanced patdown" for the diplomatic nicety which Unkil extended to, and defended, the Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar? :evil:
:) Well she just might enjoy it too much as her husband is useless :)
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

RajeshA wrote:Sab ek thali ke chatte-batte
Ab mil ke dabocho Paki-tatte
hahahaha...Paki ke tatte hone chaahiey dabochne ke liey :)
Garooda
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

Acharya wrote:
RajeshA wrote:Another Uneven Cohen and Kashmir fan

What David Wolfe fails to understand is that if USA so much as gives the impression that it is meddling in the Kashmir issue, it will undo years of hard work between USA and India in improving relations.

Kashmir is not America's to play around with. From Pakistan USA has never received any honest cooperation, and USA will end up losing whatever favorable image it has built over the years in India as well.
This kashmir thing has to be taken out of the plate of US soon since they have lost track of it. They have never been involved with the independence of India and do not really recognize the Hindu religion and its history.
True however do you really think the Government of India is really interested in the Kashmir dispute to be resolved? The kashmiri politicians are not dumb either. They've been milking both sides (India and Pakistan) monitarily. Ofcourse the profits are huge on our end with backdoor deals and bribes between politicians and government contractors involved with buying run down or used military spares or manufacturing them under license in India. Its the same western fever that India has upto certain extent when it comes to controlled conflict for the sake of keeping the industry and well oiled corrupted political machine in check.

Its like Sri Lanka finally decided to eradicate the LTTE from their homeland, I'm sure India can do the same despite the international criticism.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

shyamd wrote:
Acharya wrote: Agree to disagree. What is Indian interest which is being helped by US
economy. They want us to look after IOR. They are weak and are outsourcing things to us. This is not limited to India, but also Turkey and a few other nations. PRC must not be allowed to enter af-pak. PRC/Afg/Iran/Iraq combo may make a run for the oil fields. So, US finds it convenient to give India the torch. So what you will see temporarily is a US/India combo on some things in our areas. This game is big.

Why do you think hillary is pushing US weapons to us?
I am not so sure about being 'weak'. I look at it this way that if you intertwine outside entity with your own interest(s) and economy, then the outside entity is just as dependant on your well being be it economy or interest(s). Japan, China all tried to do the same but look how far they're intertwined with the US economy? :) Just a thought. A small example would be the BPO industry. The investors can easily pull the plug on the BPO sector if the tax laws are revised in the home country of the MNC. Though the share holders will notice a bit less profit on their investment, it will not be a show stopper as more and more technology is available for self help and online help for the BPO sector (atleast for the tech savvy customers). KPO is a different ball game all together however it is not to say that peole are weak or dumb. Its all about the return on investment in the end and the banking elite's. As you indicated, This is indeed a Big Game.

I remember reading a thread about a book on BR titled "The Great Chess Game" or something similar to it.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

Acharya wrote:This is the comment on the bloomberg report. THis guy is realistic.
scotchsky 6 hours ago

I've been working with the Indian military for two years now, and would agree that there is a wonderful ideological foundation from which to build a truly powerful and mutually beneficial partnership with India, but the strategic possibilities are much diluted by the current operational realities. From my perspective, India is currently hamstrung by its overbearing diplomatic bureaucracy, and still-constrictively rigid social hierarchies that are so poorly suited to today's organizational realities: networked, de-centralized, an distributed wins the day. There is tremendous talent, tolerance, and promise in the 40 and under set, but India is going to have to scrape through a few more years of a national system controlled by a generation defined by hardheadedness, intolerance, and cronyism. The US, for our part, seems pretty much incapable of the notion of "partnership", and Nadeem who chimes in below about mistrust of US aims and methods has valid concerns. This prospective partnership has to be based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, and the day that either is missing, the US can be counted on to pull out. We're brutally unsentimental partners, best suited, as Nadeem points out, for shorter term pol-mil alliances of common cause, and longer term trade.
Nicely put. So we all know about the other side and its bad practices. How much do we know about how to fix on the Indian side? That is also a very very major challenge since we have one too many political parties and netas. Subke sub gunde.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

habal wrote:problem with India & it's govt is that they frequently forget the basics, and always undercut their own people. The Govt exists to serve it's people, Govt of India should have always modelled it's oil policy after US oil policy and it's retailing system or even better. What is the distance between India & middle-eastern countries ? yet we pay the highest prevailing petrol prices in the world at any time.
What is the Govt of India doing with this surplus funds, is it financing budgetary deficit ? Or are they using it to line up pvt accounts ?
Well, as CBELWAL posted, the problem starts within India. India ko ander se bahut khokhlaa banaa diyaa hai. The election process and systems are all at fault including the indian version of the British judicial system. The educated and the modestly civilized mass understands this but without any true power to do anything about it, all they can do is bitch n moan. Surely the fasting against corruption by Anna might gain some popularity due to Facebook and Twitter or other social media network. But how much of the movement be put in motion and achieve the objective? We will never know.

BTW the kaala dhan approximates upto 1.8 Trillion USD in overseas accounts :)
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by svinayak »

Garooda wrote:
I am not so sure about being 'weak'. I look at it this way that if you intertwine outside entity with your own interest(s) and economy, then the outside entity is just as dependant on your well being be it economy or interest(s). Japan, China all tried to do the same but look how far they're intertwined with the US economy? :) Just a thought. A small example would be the BPO industry. The investors can easily pull the plug on the BPO sector if the tax laws are revised in the home country of the MNC. Though the share holders will notice a bit less profit on their investment, it will not be a show stopper as more and more technology is available for self help and online help for the BPO sector (atleast for the tech savvy customers). KPO is a different ball game all together however it is not to say that peole are weak or dumb. Its all about the return on investment in the end and the banking elite's. As you indicated, This is indeed a Big Game.

I remember reading a thread about a book on BR titled "The Great Chess Game" or something similar to it.
Dont blame India. This is not the place to blame India.

Indian interest has not been addressed right from Aug 15 1947. This is the reality.
India has to take of its own interest.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Garooda »

Acharya wrote:
Garooda wrote:
I am not so sure about being 'weak'. I look at it this way that if you intertwine outside entity with your own interest(s) and economy, then the outside entity is just as dependant on your well being be it economy or interest(s). Japan, China all tried to do the same but look how far they're intertwined with the US economy? :) Just a thought. A small example would be the BPO industry. The investors can easily pull the plug on the BPO sector if the tax laws are revised in the home country of the MNC. Though the share holders will notice a bit less profit on their investment, it will not be a show stopper as more and more technology is available for self help and online help for the BPO sector (atleast for the tech savvy customers). KPO is a different ball game all together however it is not to say that peole are weak or dumb. Its all about the return on investment in the end and the banking elite's. As you indicated, This is indeed a Big Game.

I remember reading a thread about a book on BR titled "The Great Chess Game" or something similar to it.
Dont blame India. This is not the place to blame India.

Indian interest has not been addressed right from Aug 15 1947. This is the reality.
India has to take of its own interest.
I am not blaming India. I am simply elaborating the thought process.

I do agree however that the interest has not been addressed from the start and now it has become a never ending issue (though it can be ended swiftly).
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Hari Seldon »

But with strings attached - like intrusive inspections, permissions required on end-use, maintenance of tech sanctions and blacklists against Indian entities etc etc.

Unkil's boys must think we are really dumb to push such BS in our face. No thanks, sherlock.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by Jarita »

Does anyone have any perspective on where in US minnow is presently? Obviously minnow is somewhat aligned with US policy vis-a-vis India given the silence the US has maintained on her whereabouts. Else they have an incentive to rock the boat.
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by subodh »

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 746406.cms

Racist remarks row: US diplomat to leave Chennai

.....

US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in Washington last week that the diplomat had enrolled herself in a cultural sensitivity course.

"We consider the comments absolutely unacceptable. I think you saw that she apologized almost immediately. She's voluntarily enrolled in a cultural sensitivity course. But obviously, they're unacceptable and inconsistent with core American values," she said.

She added, "They did not reflect the best of American values in terms of tolerance for difference and diversity."


Wokay!
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

Post by joshvajohn »

China has strengthened nuclear missiles as deterrent against India: U.S.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... 397247.ece
abhishek_sharma
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

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The CIA’s Islamist Cover Up
The tenth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington will be accompanied by the usual solemn political pronouncements and predictable media retrospectives. Pundits will point out that the West’s own economic mismanagement of the past decade has done more to weaken Europe and North America than the Islamists’ attacks. Some others will note how radical Islamists are still strong in Afghanistan and point to the recent downing of a military helicopter with dozens of US troops dead. Still others will use the anniversary to pontificate on how our concerns about Islamism have given racists an excuse to tarnish an entire religion. We will also hear about how the democratic uprisings in the Arab world—Libya being the latest—have undermined Islamists (by providing the region’s disgruntled masses with examples of positive, instead of destructive change).

All of these points are well and good and worth hearing again. But they shouldn’t distract us from a very precise and practical problem that hasn’t been addressed: the refusal of the CIA to disclose the details of its involvement with Islamist groups. In recent weeks, the agency has tried to block sections of a new book that deals with its handling of al-Qaeda before and after September 11. But this is only one part of a large-scale cover-up that Western governments have been perpetrating about decades of ties to Islamist organizations. Until we clarify our murky history with radical Islam, we won’t be able to understand the background of the September 11 attacks and whether our strategies today to engage the Muslim world are likely to succeed.

Of course some of this history is well known. The blowback story—how the US armed the mujahedeen, some of whom morphed into al-Qaeda—has been told in book and film. We are also getting a sense now of how parts of the US-backed Pakistani military-intelligence complex have actively supported radical Islamists. Collusion between Britain and Islamist movements over the past century has also been explored. And of course, Israel’s support for Hamas as a counterweight to the Palestinian Liberation Organization has gone down as one of the great diplomatic miscalculations of recent history.

But compared to the full scope of the issue, these insights are meager. To date, the Central Intelligence Agency continues to block access to its archives relating to radical Islam or cooperation with Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. In the course of researching my book on the Brotherhood’s expansion into the West, I applied numerous times under the Freedom of Information Act to see documents concerning events in the 1950s, some of which had been confirmed by already declassified State Department cables. Inevitably the CIA responded with the blanket exception of “national security” to justify denying access to any files.

Image
Said Ramadan

Despite the CIA’s information blockade, it is clear from interviews with CIA operatives and other countries’ intelligence archives that the CIA was courting groups like the Brotherhood as allies in the US’s global battle against communism. In Egypt, the charge was often made by the government of Gamel Abdel Nasser that the Muslim Brotherhood was in the CIA’s pay. This was also a view of some Western intelligence agencies, which flatly declared that Said Ramadan, the Swiss-based son-in-law of the group’s founder, was a US agent. The agency may have—but for this we need access to its archives—colluded with Ramadan in attempting a coup against Nasser.

The CIA certainly did help the Brotherhood establish itself in Europe, helping to create the milieu that led to the September 11 attacks. The mosque in Munich that Ramadan helped found, for example, became a hotbed of anti-US activity. The man convicted as a key perpetrator of the 1993 attack against the World Trade Center had sought spiritual counseling at the mosque before leaving to carry out his attacks. And in 1998, the man believed to be al-Qaeda’s chief financial officer was arrested near the mosque and also sought spiritual counseling from the mosque’s imam. An investigation based on this arrest traced radical Islamists right to a second mosque—the al-Quds mosque in Hamburg—where three of the four 9/11 pilots worshipped, it but failed to make the final link. This isn’t to say that the CIA was behind the September 11 attacks but that US collusion with Islamists in the Cold War bore bitter fruit in later years—making it imperative that we understand exactly what happened in those seemingly distant years of the 50s, 60s and 70s of the last century.

More recently, despite Washington’s sometimes hostile public rhetoric toward to the Brotherhood, it is clear that the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama have tried to court the movement. Internal CIA analyses from 2006 and 2008, which I obtained, show that the Brotherhood was viewed as a positive force and potential ally—this time not against communism but Islamist terrorism: the Brotherhood was considered a moderate Islamist group and thus able to channel grievances away from violence toward the United States (even if Brotherhood theoreticians did not renounce violence against Israel or US soldiers). The State Department also used US Muslims close to the Brotherhood to reach out to Islamists in Europe. Such support has given these groups legitimacy in the United States and Europe.

The CIA is blocking the release of information because the subject remains sensitive—both for the West and the Muslim world. In Washington, the CIA could come under fire if its own archives would confirm and fill out the current sketch view of history. For the Brotherhood, amid its current re-emergence as a major political force in Egypt and other countries, it would be extremely damaging to know that illustrious figures in its history were working for the country that most exemplifies the decadent, imperialist forces it has struggled against for decades.

Revealing this history could be painful but necessary to strip away the doublespeak that both sides have used to describe their dealings with each other. This isn’t to say that releasing information should be used to bash cooperation with Islamists. Clearly the United States and other Western countries need to deal with groups like the Brotherhood, and perhaps in some situations even to support them: for example if the Brotherhood really were to come to power democratically in Egypt, the United States would be obliged to deal with such a government. For the Brotherhood a case could be made that in past decades, when its members were so badly repressed by authorities in the Middle East, that some sort of help from the West was necessary to avoid destruction by the authoritarian governments that persecute it.

These are legitimate arguments. But they can only be made if the full history of these relationships is made known rather than kept hidden. To do this will require action from Congress. The CIA did not release documents concerning US intelligence dealings with Nazi officials, for example, until it was forced to by the passage of the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act of 1998. This piece of legislation compelled US government agencies to release all files on their dealings with the Nazis during and after the war. It lead to an incredible flood of information on the topic, helping us understand, for example, US collaboration with ex-Nazis after the war.

We need a similar law today. This is not to draw a parallel between Islamism and Nazism—an argument that is tendentious and counter-productive. The only parallel is that the US government has dealt with these questionable organizations and is so unwilling to admit this that it will take specific instructions from Congress to make these dealings public. Whatever the merits of these policies they are based on a long-standing, but still mostly secret, strategy. As Western governments seek to distinguish between “good” and “bad” Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or between the Muslim Brotherhood and more radical groups in the Middle East, understanding this strategy—and its efficacy—has never been more urgent.
Airavat
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

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Indian students flock US institutes
Of the 185,000 Indian students enrolled in higher education institutions abroad, US leads with a share of nearly 55 per cent of all Indian students followed by the UK and Australia, according to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization data. Increasing prosperity is supporting affordability and aspirations for undergraduate programmes. For example, India added nearly 22,000 new US$ millionaires in 2010.
Philip
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Re: India-US Strategic News and Discussion

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The US human Rights record is so abysmal,that the GOI should be exceptionally wary of being seduced itno doing any dirty work for the US & Co. as is being planned for Libya and other Arab states which have been lilberated" by the neo-imperialists through the unabashed, unashamed and unpleasant use of western military force.The plan is to now inveigle India into sending "peacekeepers" as the US/West have few troops to send in,being so occupied with the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and now desp[erately need troops on the ground in Libya to restore law and order while they take pot shots at their next target Assad of Syria!,etc.I have said so in other threads that this Libyan "takeaway" is a latter-day version of the Anglo-FRench attempt to take over the Suez Canal by force.

Sheikh Md. waterboarded over "170 times in one month alone"! If this is not torture,then what is?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/au ... -rendition

How US firms profited from torture flights
Court documents illustrate how US contracted out secret rendition transportation to a network of private companies

Xcpt:
Ian Cobain and Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 31 August 2011 21.20 BST Article history
Court documents show how a network of US private companies profited from rendition operations. Photograph: Alamy

The scale of the CIA's rendition programme has been laid bare in court documents that illustrate in minute detail how the US contracted out the secret transportation of suspects to a network of private American companies.

The manner in which American firms flew terrorism suspects to locations around the world, where they were often tortured, has emerged after one of the companies sued another in a dispute over fees. As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the mass of invoices, receipts, contracts and email correspondence – submitted as evidence to a court in upstate New York – provides a unique glimpse into a world in which the "war on terror" became just another charter opportunity for American businesses.

As a result of the case, the identities of some of the corporations involved in the rendition programme have been disclosed for the first time, along with the names of some of the executives who knew the purpose of the flights.

One unintended consequence may be that some of those corporations and individuals are now at risk of being sued in proceedings brought on behalf of the al-Qaida and Taliban suspects who were the victims of the programme.

The New York case concerns Sportsflight, an aircraft broker, and Richmor, an aircraft operator. Sportsflight entered into an arrangement to make a Gulfstream IV executive jet available at $4,900 an hour rather than the market rate of $5,450. A crew was available to fly at 12 hours' notice. The government wanted "the cheapest aircraft to fulfil a mission", Sportsflight's owner, Don Moss, told the court. But it was the early days of the rendition programme, and business was booming: the court heard that Sportsflight told Richmor: "The client says we're going to be very, very busy."

Invoices submitted to the court as evidence tally with flights suspected of ferrying around individuals who were captured and delivered into the CIA's network of secret jails around the world. Some of the invoices present in stark detail the expense claims that crew members were submitting on their secret journeys, down to £3 biscuits and £30 bottles of wine.

One Gulfstream jet has been identified as the aircraft that rendered an Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar after CIA agents kidnapped him in broad daylight in Milan in February 2003 and took him to Cairo, where he says he was tortured.

Another invoice, for $301,113 relating to a series of flights over eight days that took the Gulfstream jet on an odyssey through Alaska, Japan, Thailand, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, tallies with the rendition of Encep Nuraman, the leader of the Indonesian terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, better known as Hambali.

Other invoices follow flights that appear to have been involved in the rendition of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man said to have masterminded the 9/11 attacks. After being captured in 2003, Mohammed disappeared into the CIA's secret prisons, where he was waterboarded 183 times in just one month, according to a US justice department memo. The invoices also show the aircraft flying in and out of Bucharest, where one of the CIA's secret prisons is now known to have been located. On one occasion, the court heard, the jet flew direct from a European airport to Guantánamo. The court heard that in October 2004 the aircraft's tail number was changed, to N227SV, after the US government discovered that its movements were being tracked. The following March the aircraft was publicly linked to the Abu Omar
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