India-US Strategic News and Discussion

symontk · Post by **symontk** » 25 Nov 2013 09:19

If you search USS Enterprise deployments during 1962, it was just out of the shipyard and helped US in Cuban crisis. It might have passed thru Indian ocean later that year. Its an exaggeration to say that it came for India's aid

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Nov 2013 22:53

symontk wrote:If you search USS Enterprise deployments during 1962, it was just out of the shipyard and helped US in Cuban crisis. It might have passed thru Indian ocean later that year. Its an exaggeration to say that it came for India's aid

Can you research this and put it in this thread?
BTW Cuban crisis and China war were same time and same week.

Link: http://www.hullnumber.com/CVN-65

Month Year to Month Year Deployment / Event
NOV 1955 - Shellback Initiation - 20 NOV 1955 - Indian Ocean
JAN 1960 - APR 1963 Commisioning
SEP 1960 Launch Date: 24 SEP 1960
JAN 1961 - JAN 1962 Cuban Missle Blockade
NOV 1961 - NOV 1961 Commisioning
AUG 1962 - OCT 1962 Mediterranean
OCT 1962 - OCT 1962 Cuban Missle Blockade
FEB 1963 - SEP 1963 Mediterranean
FEB 1964 - JUL 1964 Mediterranean
JUL 1964 - OCT 1964 The Around The World Cruise Of Nuclear Task Force One
AUG 1964 - AUG 1964 Neptunus Rex
AUG 1964 - AUG 1964 NEPTUNUS REX (CROSSING THE EQUATOR) LAT 00- LONG 00
AUG 1964 - Shellback Initiation - 6 AUG 1964 - Atlantic Ocean
NOV 1964 - AUG 1965 Dry Dock - Nuclear Refueling
NOV 1965 - Shellback Initiation - 20 NOV 1965 - Indian Ocean
NOV 1965 - Shellback Initiation - 20 NOV 1965 - Indian Ocean
NOV 1965 - Shellback Initiation - 7 NOV 1965 - Atlantic Ocean
NOV 1965 - JUN 1966 West Pac-Viet Nam
DEC 1965 - JUN 1966 First nuclear powered warship to serve in combat Dec 2 1965
NOV 1966 - JUL 1967 West Pac-Viet Nam
JAN 1968 - JUN 1968 West Pac-Viet Nam
JAN 1969 - JAN 1969 Flight Deck Fire 14 Jan 1969
MAR 1969 - JUL 1969 West Pac-Viet Nam
JUL 1969 - JUL 1969 Cape Horn
JUL 1969 Shellback Initiation - 18 JUL 1969 - Pacific Ocean
FEB 1971 - Cape Horn - 25 FEB 1971
FEB 1971 Shellback Initiation - 12 FEB 1971 - Atlantic Ocean
MAR 1971 - Shellback Initiation - 23 MAR 1971 - Atlantic Ocean
JUN 1971 - FEB 1972 West Pac
JUN 1971 - Shellback Initiation - 19 JUN 1971 - Atlantic Ocean
SEP 1971 - Shellback Initiation - 25 SEP 1971 - Indian Ocean
OCT 1971 - OCT 1975 West Pac
....

So MR Dennis Kux is not economical with reality!!!!

He is creating new history.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 26 Nov 2013 04:52

Anyone here know Dennis Kux or is willing/able to ask him (politely) to clarify and fill in the data points against the deployment record?

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 26 Nov 2013 05:55

There are those that believes that China started the 62 war to coincide with the Cuban affair - to make the Indo-Sino issue a side show. It was supposed to be a deliberate effort on the part of China.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 26 Nov 2013 21:57

http://www.cadenagramonte.cu/english/in ... ls-us-govt

Last Living Suspect in Kennedy Assassination Blackmails U.S. Gov't

Havana, Nov 22.- The last living suspect in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, of Cuban origin, is blackmailing the U.S. government by threatening to tell all, says an article published today in the Granma newspaper.

Posada Carriles's attorney has insinuated that the terrorist has confided secrets to a certain person, to be revealed if he is ever put on trial or killed, said the article.

Titled "Operation 40: The Suspects," the article marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the U.S. president on November 22, 1963, and links the assassination to persons who participated in the earlier Operation 40 against Cuba, as well as in attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.

According to Granma, Operation 40 was created by Allen Dulles, with its operatives receiving CIA training to "place bombs, shoot with automatic weapons, and kill whoever they were ordered."

Since 1959 the team led sabotage and terrorism plots against Cuba, such as the mid-air explosion of the Cubana passenger airliner in October 1976, which killed 73 people.

Four agents from this operation stand out as suspects in Kennedy's assassination: Herminio Diaz, Eladio del Valle, Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch.

The last two are believed to have been present at Dealey Plaza the day of the assassination and are implicated in official and private investigations, said Granma.

Furthermore, the article provided context for events both before and during the assassination, which prove beyond any doubt that there was a conspiracy and more than one shooter.

Even the investigating committee financed by the federal government agreed on this point, the article added. (Prensa Latina)

http://granma.cu/ingles/international-i ... NNEDY.html

THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION: SOMEONE KNEW IN ADVANCE
A coup d’état

Gabriel Molina Franchossi

ATTEMPTS to implicate Cuba in the Kennedy assassination continue, but in fact it was the consummation of a coup d’état plotted by CIA military chiefs and other U.S. ultra-conservatives.

The assassination not only affected the United States, but to a surprising extent Cuba and the rest of the world. Close to 50 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the dramatic event is still present in the contemporary world, and the CIA is attempting to postpone for another 25 years the declassification of certain documents concerning the crime committed November 22, 1963. Part of this strategy of concealment is the book Castro’s Secrets, by Brian Latell, CIA officer for Latin America from 1990-94. After participating in CIA operations against Cuba since the 1960s, he is trying to mask the most scandalous conspiracy of the 20th century.

President Fidel Castro was possibly the first statesman to denounce the assassination as a conspiracy, speaking on Cuban television the following day. "We can state that there are elements within the United States who are defending ultra-reactionary politics in all fields, as much in terms of international politics as in national politics. And these are the elements which stand to benefit from the events that took place yesterday in the United States."

The Cuban leader read one of the first agency cables: "Dallas, November 22 (UPI).—Police agents today arrested Lee H. Oswald, identified as president of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, as the main suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy." Four days later, on November 27, Fidel analyzed the Oswald as lone gunman theory and his alleged pro-Castro sympathies, which nobody was questioning at that point. He quoted Hubert Hammerer, Olympic shooting champion, who stated that it was highly unlikely that anyone firing with a repeater carbine fitted with a telescopic sight could hit a target three times in the space of five seconds, when firing at a moving target at a distance of 180 meters, traveling at 15mph." On the basis of his own experiences in the Sierra Maestra, with weapons fitted with a telescopic sight like the one Oswald was said to have used, Fidel added, "Once you fire at the target it is lost – due to the effect of the shot – and you have to find it again quickly (…) with this kind of weapon it is really very difficult to fire three consecutive shots. But, above all, difficult to hit the target like that. Almost impossible." (1)

The Cuban President analyzed how the most reactionary circles were pushing Kennedy toward war by with heavy campaigns, bills and resolutions in Congress pushing the government, because of what they themselves described in 1961 as the Bay of Pigs debacle, to the point of taking the world to the verge of a nuclear war in the October Missile Crisis. Fidel, then Cuban Prime Minister, also spoke about Kennedy’s stand on civil rights, such as ending segregation and racial discrimination, and the policy of peaceful coexistence he was promoting with Khrushchev. These actions had unleashed unforeseen forces against President Kennedy and made Fidel think that his assassination was the work of certain elements in disagreement with the U.S. leader’s politics, particularly in relation to Cuba, which they considered not sufficiently aggressive, given that Kennedy was resisting direct military intervention.

Fidel observed that it was obvious, "If Oswald was the real killer, clearly those behind the assassination were carefully preparing their alibis. They sent this individual off to Mexico to ask for a visa to Cuba. Just imagine… that the President of the United States was assassinated by this individual after just returning from the Soviet Union via Cuba. It was the ideal alibi (…) to plant the suspicion in the heads of the U.S. public that it was a communist or an agent of Cuba and the Soviet Union, as they would say." (2)

In 1978 it was demonstrated that Fidel was correct. The U.S. Congress Select Committee investigating the assassination concluded, "The committee considered the possibility that an imposter visited the Soviet Embassy or Cuban consulate during one or more of the contacts in which Oswald was identified by the CIA in October of 1963." (3) The Committee report came to the conclusion that it had nothing to do with Oswald, while Oswald was small and slight, "The subject of the photograph was described as approximately 35 years old, 6 feet tall, with an athletic build, a balding top, and receding hairline." (4)

Suspicions were aroused in part when the FBI showed Oswald’s mother the alleged photo of her son. She said that it wasn’t a photo of Lee, but of Jack Ruby, the man who killed him. In fact there was no resemblance, the Committee report added, the man in the photo was neither Oswald nor Ruby. The FBI agreed. In a memo to the Secret Service it recorded, "These special (FBI) agents are of the opinion that the individual of reference in the photo is not Lee Harvey Oswald."

Fidel had every reason to be alarmed by the insinuations and accusations, a typical CIA strategy. Even now, Latell is trying to banish suspicions about those really responsible for the crime, attempting to revive CIA lies implicating Cuba. He denies that there was any conspiracy on the part of those defending ultra-reactionary politics. The lone gunman theory is not only wielded in the case of Oswald in 1963, but also in relation to Sirhan H. Sirhan, the alleged killer of Robert Kennedy in 1968, at the very moment when the latter was elected to run against Richard Nixon, already a suspect in the Kennedy assassination. The truth has been slowly disclosed since then. The most recent details came to light in 2005, through the book by journalist David Talbot, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, with its sensational revelation that Robert was probably assassinated after he stated that, if he were elected President, which he was close to achieving, he would reopen the case.

Latell takes refuge in the discredited lone gunman theory of the Warren Commission, set up by Lyndon Johnson to investigate the assassination, when he succeeded Kennedy as President. One of the most recent and convincing refutations of this theory is a note sent by Oswald to Howard Hunt, also suspected of taking part in the assassination and the famous organizer of the Watergate break-in. Sent November 8, 1963, 14 days before the Kennedy assassination, it reads, "Dear Mr. Hunt: I would like information concerning my position. I am asking only for information. I am suggesting that we discuss the matter fully before any steps are taken by me or anyone else. Thank you. Lee

Harvey Oswald". (5)

Researcher Paul Kangas explains that Oswald’s note was obtained by writer and journalist Jack Anderson in New Orleans, where the "lone gunman" was living with Clay Shaw and Cubans Félix Rodríguez, Bernard Barker and Frank Sturgis, also investigated by the House Select Committee and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. Anderson affirms on video that Hunt and Shaw asked Oswald to meet with them to plan the position he would take up in Dallas for the attack. When he received no answer from Hunt, Oswald told James Hosty, his FBI agent, that Hunt and a bunch of Cubans from the Miami CIA office were plotting to kill Kennedy in Dallas, on November 22, 1963. According to Kangas, Hosty sent a telex to FBI Director Hoover informing him about the assassination attempt and he passed it on to all Special Agents in Charge.

Judge Garrison states that Waggoner Carr, Attorney General of Texas, presented evidence in a secret session of the Warren Commission on January 22, 1964, revealing that Oswald was FBI secret informant No. 179 and had received a salary of $200 a month from the Bureau starting 1962. The evidence was given to Carr by Allan Sweat, head of the criminal division of the Dallas sheriff’s office and published by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Houston Post, and The Nation, but the Warren Commission did not call Sweat or the journalists who wrote the articles. Garrison admits that if Oswald was an FBI informant in Dallas and New Orleans, one could believe that his work consisted of penetrating organizations like Fair Play for Cuba and Guy Bannister’s group involved in the conspiracy to kill the President. "The question which tormented me and maybe tormented Oswald was: if the Dallas police, the sheriff’s office, the Secret Service, the FBI and the CIA were potentially implicated in the conspiracy, who were the authorities behind it all?" (6)

When Robert Blakey, chief counsel of the House Select Committee, discovered to his rage in 1990 that the recently deceased George Joannides (a CIA officer assigned by the agency to inform him about the Kennedy assassination) had concealed from him that he (Joannides) had worked closely with Oswald and the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil terrorist group in New Orleans, he called it an obstruction of justice. Now, he no longer believes anything the CIA told the Committee.

It is no surprise that the Warren Commission evaded discovering the truth; it was no coincidence that that it was headed by Congressman Ed Ford, one of Nixon’s men, Nixon also being a suspect. Allen Dulles, the omnipotent CIA director, manipulated the members appointed by Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency after Kennedy’s death, thanks to the effective coup d’état which was the assassination of the Kennedy brothers.

arun · Post by **arun** » 27 Nov 2013 08:29

X Posted from the “India Nuclear News and Discussion 4 July 2011” thread.

New York Times quoting a Zhang Li, described as an expert on Pakistan at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University in southwest China on the subject of the Sino-Pakistani deal to put up two nuclear generating reactors in Karachi.

Raises the questions as to why US, France and in particular Russia kept citing the Nuclear Supply Group guidelines prohibiting the supplying of nuclear reactors to countries who have not signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty without agreeing to accept IAEA full scope safeguards requiring India to go through the rigmarole of obtaining NSG waiver:

“My analysis is that this issue won’t trigger too much controversy,” Mr. Zhang said. “The Indian government will certainly respond, but I don’t think that this will fundamentally harm Sino-Indian relations, because it’s not something that has come out of the blue. China and India have exchanged views on this many times.”

On the supplier group’s likely response, Mr. Zhang said: “I don’t think the N.S.G. will formally raise this issue, because the experience in the past was that the members would reach an implicit understanding, and so this issue never caused a big fuss in previous N.S.G. meetings.”

From here:

New York Times

ArunK · Post by **ArunK** » 28 Nov 2013 20:47

Has anyone seen the latest episode of NCIS: Los Angeles? (Season 5 - Episode 10). Nothing spectacular about the story line -- usual drivel -- but this episode is about ISI agents and gurkhas

. Gurkhas getting 5 star treatment. I am beginning to see a subtle change in the way the Indian Army is being perceived in the TV shows. Check it out if you get a chance.

Also, while on the topic of TV, Indian actors (includes American as well as Brit Deshis) have made *BIG* strides in the last few years. You will notice a *LOT* of Indians in the TV production as well actors in pretty big roles in several popular TV shows.

Some examples of Indians in popular TV Series

Actors

1. Parminder Nagra - The Blacklist, ER, Psyche, The whole Truth
2. Archie Punjabi - The Good Wife
3. Ravi Kapoor - Crossing Jordan
4. Kunal Nayyar - The Big Bang Theory
5. Sendhil Ramamurthy - Covert Affairs
6. Kal Penn - House
7. Mindy Lahiri - The Mindy Project
8. Sarita Choudhury - Homeland
10. Shaun Majumdar -- Detroit 1-8-7
11. Daya Vaidya - Unforgettable.
12. Indira Verma - Rome, Game of Thrones
13. Annet Mahendru - The Americans, White Collar
14. Reshma Shetty - Royal Pains

Not to mention Sunil Nayar who written several of the CSI episodes as well as co-produced all three franchises. We are talking *hundreds* of episodes.

There are dozens of Indian TV Anchors and reporters on *all* major TV networks.

I am deliberately keeping away from other fields and focusing purely on the entertainment industry.

People we have finally arrived!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Nov 2013 20:56

what about that kid on that disney channel programme?

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 28 Nov 2013 21:00

There was the really cute handmaiden to the blonde dragon chick in game of thrones... Also Indian or Indian origin. Got killed though... I think she was all the way in the first season.

Plus isn't Aziz ansari Indian origin? And Frieda pinto seems to have mainstreamed into the b-plus category

Thx for that list Arun, useful

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 28 Nov 2013 21:03

ArunK,

How many of them proudly swear by their Indian heritage? I still see a huge inferiority complex among second generation Indians. Even though they may not run away from their Indian heritage like they used to say a decade or so ago, they are still ambivalent. Take the biggest "Indian" faces in the media: Fareed Zakariah or Sanjay Gupta. Do you see them being comfortable with Indians? Or with whites they love to get cozy with and be part of in their shows?

Guys, I see a lot of buzz among "secularists" that Modi's goose is cooked through snoop gate. I haven't followed snoop gate as closely, but is it some Cong dirty tricks or is there substance to snoop gate, and Modi does indeed have some skeletons that could cause embarrassment.

Finally, I was laughing my ass off listening to ShomaJi declare that her "feminism" is unshakable. Another one of those comical colonial imitations. Western feminism is more about white women wanting power parity with their white males, and less about justice. It is is interesting ShomaJi was living up to her feminism by preserving power of Tehelka that she leads, and not about justice to a woman who was raped. This is western feminism for you.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 28 Nov 2013 21:05

don't forget rhona mitra

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 28 Nov 2013 21:06

ArunK wrote:Has anyone seen the latest episode of NCIS: Los Angeles? (Season 5 - Episode 10). Nothing spectacular about the story line -- usual drivel -- but this episode is about ISI agents and gurkhas . Gurkhas getting 5 star treatment. I am beginning to see a subtle change in the way the Indian Army is being perceived in the TV shows. Check it out if you get a chance.

Also, while on the topic of TV, Indian actors (includes American as well as Brit Deshis) have made *BIG* strides in the last few years. You will notice a *LOT* of Indians in the TV production as well actors in pretty big roles in several popular TV shows.

Some examples of Indians in popular TV Series

Actors

1. Parminder Nagra - The Blacklist, ER, Psyche, The whole Truth
2. Archie Punjabi - The Good Wife
3. Ravi Kapoor - Crossing Jordan
4. Kunal Nayyar - The Big Bang Theory
5. Sendhil Ramamurthy - Covert Affairs
6. Kal Penn - House
7. Mindy Lahiri - The Mindy Project
8. Sarita Choudhury - Homeland
10. Shaun Majumdar -- Detroit 1-8-7
11. Daya Vaidya - Unforgettable.
12. Indira Verma - Rome, Game of Thrones
13. Annet Mahendru - The Americans, White Collar
14. Reshma Shetty - Royal Pains

Not to mention Sunil Nayar who written several of the CSI episodes as well as co-produced all three franchises. We are talking *hundreds* of episodes.

There are dozens of Indian TV Anchors and reporters on *all* major TV networks.

I am deliberately keeping away from other fields and focusing purely on the entertainment industry.

People we have finally arrived!!

Happy Thanksgiving

There is caution also
The Western media will change the image of Indians and communities to their own view. Since it is widely broadcasted Indians will start looking at the same view.
Indian depiction in the western media has seen many different images. Anything which praises about any Indian community has to be examined.

When they start targeting certain communities then they will absorb these Indian information without them knowing what it means. Social and caste studies of Indians over 100+ years have made them absorb all the communities connections and the language and information passed between the communities in India. Of course Indian social scientist contributed to this information but they understood all our Indian communication.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 28 Nov 2013 21:08

JE MenonJi,

Last I heard, Frieda Pinto, who apparently rose to "success" on the disgusting slum dog millionaire: last I heard, she did a pole dance item number (a raunch routine showing a woman "doing it" with a pole or something) and was paid a lot of money for it by some entertainment big wig. Is that something to be proud of?

ArunK · Post by **ArunK** » 28 Nov 2013 21:24

Of course, Aziz Ansari is Indian. Sendhil Ramamurthy had a big role in Heros. I am sure there are many more Indians in TV. Especially the production crews.

I just wanted to bring to everyone's attention the fact that our guys and gals have snuck into another field without anyone noticing and are thriving.

I feel especially proud as I remember very clearly being sneered at as a "Code Coolie" and being asked if my ambition was to own a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts or a motel.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 29 Nov 2013 00:57

>>Last I heard, Frieda Pinto, who apparently rose to "success" on the disgusting slum dog millionaire: last I heard, she did a pole dance item number (a raunch routine showing a woman "doing it" with a pole or something) and was paid a lot of money for it by some entertainment big wig. Is that something to be proud of?

Is that all you heard? That is the sum of her contribution in your mind? From what I see she has worked hard and made a name for herself. You may not like how she's done it. But she has harmed no one and she has become a noticeable element in an industry that Indians have traditionally found it hard to break into, and so have a lot of others as Arun and a few others point out. I make no value judgement about her choices of roles. Clearly, she has done a little more than a pole dance routine. It is a shameful post that you have made. Have a heart.

Is there anything you like about India and Indians? All I have seen is a relentless stream of negativity in your posts.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 29 Nov 2013 02:16

JE Menon wrote:There was the really cute handmaiden to the blonde dragon chick in game of thrones... Also Indian or Indian origin. Got killed though... I think she was all the way in the first season.

Plus isn't Aziz ansari Indian origin? And Frieda pinto seems to have mainstreamed into the b-plus category

Thx for that list Arun, useful

There's also Aasif Mandvi (who has done numerous movie roles, but is most known as the interviewer for Comedy Central's "The Daily Show"), Ajay Naidu (he's done appearances in the Sopranos and West Wing and Bad Santa, but is probably best remembered as Samir Nagheenanajar from "Office Space") and one Russell Dominic Peters!

Happy Turkey Day y'all.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 29 Nov 2013 02:49

Oct 30, 2013 :: Indo-US defence tie-up set for a major boost

India and the United States are set to give a big boost to defence collaboration and co-development under the Defence Trade Initiative (DTI) and take it to a new level in areas of technology transfer, licensing agreements, license exceptions, end-use monitoring and related fields.

The new initiative called the DTI Carter, named after US Deputy Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carteri, seeks a review of the various existing bilateral working groups on technology security and export controls, suggesting consolidation into a single strategic technology working group.

According to the Chairman of the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Vivek Lall, more strategic collaboration between India and US was inevitable. In addition to this, he said co-development and co-production will become a necessity as competitiveness will demand lower costs and higher quality. He said India’s space body ISRO’s collaboration with NASA will be a win win situation for both sides especially in times of US fiscal stress and the capabilities in India. The DTI Carter initiative is to bolster cooperation and Space could be a shining example to lead with, he adds.

Dr. Lall, who is also the chairman of the Indo-US General Aviation Working Group and also a force behind the working of this initiative, said an area often overlooked is the massive amount of training and education opportunities that exist in India for high technology fields including cyber and in particular network management.

Referring to issue regarding space research and programme, he said for the US, maintaining access to space is a real issue, and it will pursue viable backups to counter attacks on its satellite communications networks close to denied areas and quickly reconstitute the capability they provide. This includes the need to identify methods to operate in environments where the global positioning system (GPS) is denied.

“There are doubts that the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) programme will go the distance because of its very high cost and very doubtful purpose. The debut launch of the SLS - now slated for 2017 -- is likely to be delayed by a year or two because NASA does not have the budget to complete the rocket and its accompanying crew capsule on time. We can expect to see investment in new US liquid fuel rocket engines, particularly engines that use kerosene as propellant and one would expect continued accomplishment in the use of highly complex composite structures for launch vehicles and spacecraft. An interesting question here is whether India's ISRO could play a larger role internationally,” he remarked.

The remarkable achievements and capabilities of ISRO in launching satellites has had it flooded with offers from all over the world to launch their satellites. In view of the pressure, ISRO is likely to opt for partnership in various verticals with the private sector that could throw up number of opportunities for both India and US players, he said.

According to Dr. Lall, who is also an aerospace and cyber security expert, US satellites are expected to face an increasing number of threats ranging from interceptor weapons to jamming equipment and lasers. These threats range from reversible to the very destructive. The US military will have to develop technologies to fight through jamming. Perhaps, resilient or resistant antenna designs can help this effort.

Talking about the emerging scenario on the militarisation of space, he said though international agreements bar the militarisation of space, development of weapons that could be used in space is ongoing. As envisioned by scientists, a space-based laser could send a powerful destructive beam at enemy weapon deployments such as ballistic missile site a few thousand miles away. Another possible application would be to use a space laser to provide protection against attacks made on own satellites in orbit.

For example, NASA’s CubeSat programme has been proposed to enable a constellation of 35, eight Kg Earth-imaging satellites to replace a constellation of five 156 Kg Rapid-Eye Earth imaging satellites, with significantly increased revisit time to enhance surveillance capabilities for military use and GPS. Every area of the globe can be imaged every 3.5 hours rather than the once per 24 hours with Rapid Eye constellation.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 29 Nov 2013 02:51

The next step for India and the United States

Put Behind the Past : India can do well by not missing the US offer of co-development of weapon systems

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 29 Nov 2013 02:58

Nov 21, 2013 :: US benefits from a capable Indian military: Carter

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 29 Nov 2013 02:59

Defense Cooperation: U.S.-India Centerpiece

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 29 Nov 2013 05:17

JE Menon wrote:
Is that all you heard? That is the sum of her contribution in your mind? From what I see she has worked hard and made a name for herself. You may not like how she's done it. But she has harmed no one and she has become a noticeable element in an industry that Indians have traditionally found it hard to break into, and so have a lot of others as Arun and a few others point out. I make no value judgement about her choices of roles. Clearly, she has done a little more than a pole dance routine. It is a shameful post that you have made. Have a heart.

JEMJi, I read about the lament from Shobha De, and granted, Shobha De is no paragon of journalistic virtue

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... mate-dream

As you said, its immature of me to come down hard on her. She has committed no crime, she is having a ball with whatever talent she brings to the table etc. Enough said from me. Not worth too much discussion on this

.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 29 Nov 2013 21:30

Interesting read:

Mixed Legacy for Departing Pakistani Army Chief

“We have almost no strategic convergences with Pakistan, at any level,” admitted a senior American defense official. “You’ll never change that, and it’s naïve to think we can do it with an appeal to the war on terror.”

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 29 Nov 2013 22:05

With General Kayani, it came down to a confidence vote on the future of Afghanistan. He and his staff did not believe American assurances of a stable Afghanistan in which India, Pakistan’s main preoccupation, would be excluded, so he hedged his bets by refusing to turn the army’s guns on the Haqqanis, American and Pakistani officials said.

CRamS · Post by **CRamS** » 29 Nov 2013 22:33

svenkat wrote:
With General Kayani, it came down to a confidence vote on the future of Afghanistan. He and his staff did not believe American assurances of a stable Afghanistan in which India, Pakistan’s main preoccupation, would be excluded, so he hedged his bets by refusing to turn the army’s guns on the Haqqanis, American and Pakistani officials said.

And in the same breath, this fraud that US, through its NYT mouthpiece, is peddling

Further, he was at least partly successful in refocusing the army’s monomaniacal attention on India, the old enemy, toward a new threat posed by the militants lurking in the country’s remote areas.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 29 Nov 2013 23:42

CRamS wrote:disgusting slum dog millionaire

The movie is quite entertaining. Very colorful and unlike stereotypical Hollywood fare.

ArunK · Post by **ArunK** » 01 Dec 2013 01:16

Just wanted to add the following:

1. Dev Patel is on the regular cast of Aaron Sorkin's *Newsroom*. He has a role that is a little stereo typical but it is substantial.
2. Just started watching Veena Sud's TV series *The Killing* on Netflix. Gripping and beautifully done. She is the director but has also written several episodes.
3. We should not forget -- Navi Rawat - in *Numb3rs* the 2005 TV show. She had a very substantial role. She is Indian + German she looks like a gori.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 01 Dec 2013 06:17

ArunK,
Thanks for all the interesting information.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 01 Dec 2013 07:31

Whoa, I feel like Rip van Winkle..don't watch commercial tele. We is mainstream?

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 01 Dec 2013 09:04

CRamS wrote:[Shobha De is no paragon of journalistic virtue

But then I found her to be quite entertaining (nice I can D - not that it matters).

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 02 Dec 2013 03:09

http://www.asianage.com/books/two-real- ... 71-war-528

The two real villians of India’s 1971 War
Nov 10, 2013 - Ashok Malik |

Ashok Malik

In many senses, a country’s foreign policy is a reflection of its society. This is especially true of large democracies where the wellsprings of national conduct, as it were, lie not just in a power capital but can be found in distant provinces and cities, and in the lives, fears and ideals of ordinary families. This can shape and occasionally distort foreign policy. It can also bring the ethos of a society, if that big word can be used, in conflict with cold-blooded and pragmatic power practitioners who are determined to take their country’s foreign policy infrastructure in a particular direction.

America represents this challenge and this dilemma like few other nations. Through the Cold War and afterwards, many analysts have looked upon the United States’ foreign policy as self-serving and hypocritical, and the Central Intelligence Agency as almost malevolent in its interventions in distant continents. Yet, the men and women who make up the state department or work for the CIA are often conscientious, well-meaning folk, schooled in the simplicity and goodness of small-town, middle-class life in the heart of America. They are moral people, keen to use their country’s power to make the world a better place.

Such a black-and-white view of life, when transposed to international relations, can have both noble and unsettling consequences. At the very least, it can lead to the individual concerned becoming a dissident in a foreign policy framework where somebody — a President, secretary of state or a senior adviser — has decided to take a preconceived position and doesn’t want inconvenient facts to be thrown at him. In an extreme situation, it can lead to horrific injustice — by the US towards an external society, and by the “system” towards the deemed dissident who may just have been doing his job and doing what he believed was the right thing.

The Blood Telegram: India’s Secret War in East Pakistan is the story of just such a dynamic. It talks of the courage and uprightness of Archer Blood, the American consul general in Dacca (now Dhaka) in the tumultuous year of 1971. As the opening paragraph of the book describes him, Blood was “earnest and precise, known… as a good, conventional man”. Blood was a first-hand witness to the genocide in East Pakistan, the oppression of Bengali-speaking Pakistanis, the mass murder and elimination of Hindu minorities and the humanitarian crisis that spilled into a massive refugee problem in India.

In a steady stream of cables and messages to his superiors in Washington, DC, Blood meticulously reported the massacres in East Pakistan and urged that pressure be placed on the generals in West Pakistan. For his efforts and his punctiliousness, Archer Blood suffered greatly. He was ignored, singled out and victimised by Henry Kissinger. Professionally, he was destroyed and never made it as far as a US foreign service officer as he deserved.

This book is the story of what Blood did and how he suffered for being true to his conscience and his calling. It is also the story of how Nixon and Kissinger, blinded by hate for India and Indians, romanticism about the military brass in Pakistan — and governed by Cold War calculations that saw Pakistan as an essential ally and gateway to China — let millions die in the land that became Bangladesh. Finally, it is the story of the War of Liberation, one many Indians know, but told this time from a sympathetic American point of view.

If Blood is the hero of the book, a quiet, understated but ultimately tragic figure, the villains are clearly Richard Nixon and Kissinger. In their conversations and private moments — reproduced on the basis of archival material — the two come across as feckless and paranoid to the point of being cartoonish, living not in the real world but some overgrown Boy’s Own fantasy.

Gary J. Bass’ narrative is straightforward and gripping. His material is so rich and his research so detailed that it is difficult to put the book down once one begins to read it. This is not easy to accomplish when writing a book of history, packed with dates and proper nouns. To that end, Bass has achieved something truly remarkable. He recounts the murders of Bengalis in East Pakistan, the bloodshot eyes of the military junta, the singling out of and pogroms against Bengali Hindus — a fact hidden by the Indira Gandhi government so as not to give the problem a religious colour and to prevent possible domestic repercussions in India.

Bass also recounts a parallel perversion, far from the killing fields of Bangladesh. Here Nixon, at the height of his toxic presidency, sees India as dispensable, Bengalis as cannon fodder and Indira Gandhi as the embodiment of expletives. He is encouraged by Kissinger, his national security adviser, then embarking on what goes on to become a lifelong career as an apologist for China — which is what Kissinger remains to this day, shorn of all the affectation and diplomatic jargon. The book records the fascinating manner in which Kissinger “fell ill” during a visit to Pakistan and used the period of alleged recuperation to fly to China on a secret mission. This was Nixon’s great move to divide the Communist bloc and prise away Beijing from Moscow. Kissinger, and his President, were grateful to their Pakistani friends for facilitating this decoy diplomacy.

So intense was the emotion and the sense of gratitude that Nixon and Kissinger actively encouraged third countries to send US-made weapons and fighter aircraft to Pakistan in the midst of the war, in breach of American laws. They urged China to open a second front and attack India, and they infamously sent the US Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal. They were conscious that all this could trigger a Soviet reaction and may even have risked nuclear brinkmanship, but continued nevertheless.
At the end of it all, when India called a unilateral ceasefire in West Pakistan, having negotiated the enemy’s surrender in East Pakistan, Kissinger and Nixon congratulated each other and claimed victory. As they saw it, they had bludgeoned and stopped India from continuing the war in the west and decimating and breaking up West Pakistan, a supposition for which there was very little evidence and that was based on rumour and bazaar gossip.

{And from well meaning US agents in Delhi cocktail circuit}

Read the book as a tribute to Blood. Read the book as validation of why Kissinger should not be taken as seriously as he is. Read the book, finally, in memory of India’s moment of majestic isolation those 42 years ago.

ArunK · Post by **ArunK** » 02 Dec 2013 11:55

One more...

Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- of CNN fame -- wrote a TV series called Monday Mornings -- a medical drama set in a Portland OR, hospital. He wrote the 10 episodes. It was cancelled after 1 season. In that, Sarayu Rao is featured in a prominent role.

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 02 Dec 2013 17:25

I would recommend everyone watching this thread to watch Homeland Its currently in Season 3 but I like the dark aspect of the story. Eventhough its fiction but the way they portrayed CIA keeps the show interesting. The Americans is another one which is also worth watching.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 02 Dec 2013 17:28

homeland is starting to unravel a bit, feels promising, but then gets too theatrical and far fetched
series 1 was great, now they are struggling to maintain the drama

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 02 Dec 2013 18:00

Vshorad deal delayed b/c of last minute stinger offer through FMS route. Pathetic.

panduranghari · Post by **panduranghari** » 02 Dec 2013 18:23

JE Menon wrote:There was the really cute handmaiden to the blonde dragon chick in game of thrones... Also Indian or Indian origin. Got killed though... I think she was all the way in the first season.

Plus isn't Aziz ansari Indian origin? And Frieda pinto seems to have mainstreamed into the b-plus category

Thx for that list Arun, useful

Before you forget Canadian Russelllllllllllllllll Peters. He is the highest paid comedian in the world.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 02 Dec 2013 19:40

ArunK wrote:Just wanted to add the following:

2. Just started watching Veena Sud's TV series *The Killing* on Netflix. Gripping and beautifully done. She is the director but has also written several episodes.

That is one heck of a well made series. All characters are well etched and the second season is the best.

Sagar G · Post by **Sagar G** » 02 Dec 2013 19:54

I fail to see the "strategic" nature of PIO's working in US teleseries.

member_22872 · Post by **member_22872** » 02 Dec 2013 20:02

deleted.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 02 Dec 2013 21:29

Folks take those PIOs in US entertainment industry to Nukkad or OT thread.

Thanks, ramana

Karan M · Post by **Karan M** » 02 Dec 2013 21:43

JE Menon wrote:>>Last I heard, Frieda Pinto, who apparently rose to "success" on the disgusting slum dog millionaire: last I heard, she did a pole dance item number (a raunch routine showing a woman "doing it" with a pole or something) and was paid a lot of money for it by some entertainment big wig. Is that something to be proud of?

Is that all you heard? That is the sum of her contribution in your mind? From what I see she has worked hard and made a name for herself. You may not like how she's done it. But she has harmed no one and she has become a noticeable element in an industry that Indians have traditionally found it hard to break into, and so have a lot of others as Arun and a few others point out. I make no value judgement about her choices of roles. Clearly, she has done a little more than a pole dance routine. It is a shameful post that you have made. Have a heart.

Is there anything you like about India and Indians? All I have seen is a relentless stream of negativity in your posts.

+1.

oops saw ramanas post. no more on this.