Shashi Tharoor has said there are a 1000 diplomats from 100 countries 'guilty' of the 'same crime'.It is in one of the earlier pages.KrishnaK wrote:...
Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade has asked a court here to dismiss the indictment against her and terminate any “open” arrest warrants in visa fraud case, arguing that she was “cloaked” in diplomatic immunity and cannot face criminal prosecution in the US.
Khobragade’s lawyer Daniel Arshack yesterday filed a memorandum of law on her behalf in the Southern District of New York in support of the motion to dismiss the case and terminate any future legal action against her “on grounds of diplomatic immunity.”
“Dr Khobragade now formally moves this Court to dismiss the instant proceeding, to rescind the conditions of her release, and eliminate her bail conditions as she is immune from criminal prosecution in the United States as she was obligated, by the United States government, to leave the jurisdiction,” Arshack said in the filing.
Arshack is seeking a court order to dismiss the indictment and proceeding against the Indian diplomat, terminate any and all conditions of bail previously imposed by the court during Khobragade’s initial appearance on December 12 and exonerate any bail or bond previously posted on her behalf.
The motion is also seeking termination of any “open arrest warrants” against Khobragade or “requests for extradition” with regard to the case as “they too are nullities since the instant proceeding is subject to dismissal.”
“I make this affirmation in support of Khobragade’s motion to dismiss the instant proceeding as a nullity because
both at the time of her arrest, as well as at the time of her subsequent indictment, defendant was cloaked in diplomatic immunity and has absolute immunity from any criminal prosecution in the United States,” he said.
Arshack is seeking a ruling on the order by Judge Shira Scheindlin on or before January 31.
The office of Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, who brought the criminal charges and indictment against Khobragade said they have “no comment at this time” on the motion filed by Arshack.
The filing states that because of Khobragade’s diplomatic status, the court did not have personal jurisdiction over her at the time of her arrest and indictment, but it still has subject matter jurisdiction to rule over her motion to dismiss the case.
Arshack argued that conditions of Khobragade’s post-arrest release and the USD 250,000 bond must be rescinded as those restrictions on 39-year-old diplomat’s liberty do not apply since she is “absolutely immune from criminal prosecution” being a diplomat.
He also sought “prompt return” of Khobragade’s passport.
The motion informed the court that Khobragade had full diplomatic immunity at the time of her December 12 arrest since she had been appointed a Special Advisor to the United Nations in August last year during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit for the UN General Assembly session.
“Obviously, the Government knew when it obtained that indictment that there could be no prosecution of Khobragade since her diplomatic status had already been changed and she was therefore immune from prosecution,” Arshack said adding that it was due to her diplomatic status that Khobragade did not get arraigned on the indictment.
Arshack said Khobragade’s immunity “should have prevented” her arrest, handcuffing, jailing, strip searching and imposition of bail conditions.
“This proceeding has been wrongfully commenced against Khobragade. She should not have been arrested in the first place and she was indicted despite the fact that the government knew that her diplomatic status precluded a prosecution of Khobragade.”
Arshack also cited US State Department’s instructions which provide that law enforcement officials (particularly in New York) should be “sensitive” and coordinate with the US authorities if confronted with a situation where a diplomat appears to have committed a crime.
He said the law enforcement agent from the Diplomatic Security Services who arrested Khobragade “neglected” to follow this instruction and did not call the UN Protocol office.
DSS agent Mark Moron Smith did consult Protocol Office in USD and was advised that she had consular immunity as against Diplomatic immunity after searching their database. There has been deliberate lapse on the part of USD and they were fully complicit in the matter of humiliating arrest strip search and cavity search. The role of MMS and WM , both belonging to BDS ostensibly ( covertly being DSC in New Delhi) must be brought to the fore. How US agencies tried to infiltrate and subvert IFS through bullying tactics and targeted one woman diplomat who was on sensitive assignments in Pakistan and Afg as well as handled Iran Desk.
“Had he only done so he would have been informed of Khobragade’s status and her arrest and humiliating and invasive personal body search (euphemism for cavity search)would not have occurred.”
According to another State Department instruction cited by Arshack, diplomatic agents also enjoy complete immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the host country’s courts and cannot be prosecuted no matter how serious the offense unless their immunity is waived by the sending state.
“Here, India, the sending state, has not waived Khobragade’s immunity and therefore this criminal prosecution must be dismissed,” he added. Arshack further argued that the Khobragade’s immunity applies “retroactively” and can “negate a preexisting matter or prosecution.” ( this is unnecessary argument and need not have need invoked.)
“Here, the State Department’s decision to fully grant diplomatic credentials mandates the dismissal of this action in accordance with Article 31 of the VCDR and the Diplomatic Relations Act.
“Obviously, a case was clearly commenced. Despite the fact that no arraignment occurred, Khobragade was arrested, physically searched, processed, brought before the Court, forced to post bail, and abide by conditions of release all in violation of her absolute immunity as a diplomat,” he added.
Arshack also submitted in court a letter dated January 8 2014 from the US Mission to the UN to Khobragade which states that as of 5:47 pm that day, she had been recorded as a counsellor at the Indian Mission to the UN and was entitled to the “privileges and immunities” of a diplomatic envoy.
Another exhibit submitted by him is a January 9 diplomatic note from the US Mission to the UN to India’s Permanent Mission requesting Khobragade to depart the US.
Barack Obama’s reverse Midas touch
by Tarek Fatah, torontosun.com
January 14th 2014 5:46 PM
Only U.S. President Barack Obama could manage to pull off such colossal American failures in foreign policy.
It’s as if the man has the reverse Midas touch.
In fairness, it’s easy for countries to be jealous of America and detest its accomplishments.
However, to earn the wrath of both sides in every conflict requires a special skill. Obama has that.
In Israel, Jews and Palestinians are suspicious of Obama’s motives.
In Syria, where the Obama administration wanted to topple the Assad regime, it ended up creating fertile soil for Islamist jihadis, America’s sworn enemies.
But all of America’s blunders in diplomacy pale when compared to how it has managed to make an adversary out of a natural ally— India.
As if it was not enough that Washington was funding India’s archenemy, Pakistan, with billions of dollars in military hardware, we now learn the U.S. is backing the Islamist opposition in India’s eastern neighbour, Bangladesh, by undermining the legitimacy of the Muslim world’s only secular, anti-Islamist government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
We also learn from a Bangladesh news source that the arrest, strip search and subsequent expulsion of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade from the U.S. over minor charges of visa fraud to employ an Indian maid, may have been the result of tensions between New Delhi and Washington over India’s policies on Bangladesh.
BDNews.com quoted a senior official of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs saying the arrest of the Indian diplomat in the U.S. took place after a meeting between Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and U.S. State Department officials, where the two sides couldn’t agree on policies towards Bangladesh.
“There were several contentious issues that Sujatha Singh raised with the U.S. officials, and Bangladesh topped our list of differences,” the official said. “The differences are well known ... but when Sujatha Singh made India’s position loud and clear, the Americans were less than amused.”
Only time will tell if it’s true Khobragde’s arrest in New York and subsequent expulsion was the result of America trying to bully India into abandoning Bangladesh to the Saudi and Turkish-backed Islamists.
After Khobragade’s expulsion, the Indians retaliated by asking two American diplomats to leave India.
It turns out they had made no secret of their contempt for India and Indians.
They were caught on Facebook making racist remarks about Indian society.
One post takes a bizarre and hateful swipe at Indians, saying, “It’s the vegetarians that are doing the raping, not the meat-eaters.”
Another boasts of arranging to smuggle beef burgers into the country and hosting the illegal sale of pearls smuggled into India from China.
But then, not all diplomats are created equal.
U.S. diplomats can get away with murder as was the case when one of them shot dead a Pakistani man in broad daylight.
Another U.S. diplomat in Kenya killed a Kenyan in a car accident, but was smuggled out of the country before the police could talk to him.
U.S. diplomats, who kill, smuggle or make racist remarks, face no trials.
But an Indian diplomat can be stripped and handcuffed on questionable charges of underpaying her housemaid.
Virtually overnight, the U.S. has turned a billion Indians into adversaries.
Meanwhile in Pakistan, the mullahs and military chuckle in amusement, as Americans wonder in innocent exasperation, “Why do they hate us?”
I think this is utter nonsense to waste time on looking for a device that doesn't exist. 8 miles of transmission of radio from a small usb connector!Roperia wrote:N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers | NYT
... N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.
The technology, which the agency has used since at least 2008, relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers.
...
But the program, code-named Quantum, has also been successful in inserting software into Russian military networks and systems used by the Mexican police and drug cartels, trade institutions inside the European Union, and sometime partners against terrorism like Saudi Arabia, India and Pakistan, according to officials and an N.S.A. map that indicates sites of what the agency calls “computer network exploitation.”
...
One, called Cottonmouth I, looks like a normal USB plug but has a tiny transceiver buried in it. According to the catalog, it transmits information swept from the computer “through a covert channel” that allows “data infiltration and exfiltration.” Another variant of the technology involves tiny circuit boards that can be inserted in a laptop computer — either in the field or when they are shipped from manufacturers — so that the computer is broadcasting to the N.S.A. even while the computer’s user enjoys the false confidence that being walled off from the Internet constitutes real protection.
Khobragade is back in India now after being asked to leave by the US. And a US diplomat is back home in retaliatory expulsion by New Delhi. Both countries now believe it's time to move on.
Jaishankar had a meeting at the state department on Monday and followed it up with a "productive" lunch with Burns.
"They agreed that the past several weeks have been challenging, and affirmed that we are both committed to moving forward to resume cooperation on the broad range of bilateral issues before us," said the statement department in a statement.
The Indian embassy had no comments on the meeting
The US said the two officials discussed issues raised by the ministry of external affairs about the American School that operates out of the US embassy compound in New Delhi.
Burns told the ambassador the US takes these "concerns very seriously and will continue to address them via appropriate diplomatic channels".
I humbly submit that is not true. As far as I know, all American Presidents since at least WW II have done that.anmol wrote:Barack Obama’s reverse Midas touch
by Tarek Fatah
Only U.S. President Barack Obama could manage to pull off such colossal American failures in foreign policy.
It’s as if the man has the reverse Midas touch.
So, American women are angry with Obama and the Dems because not enough ladies are getting strip- and cavity-searched and finger-raped by cops under the Dem justice dept and the Dem NY city and NY state regimes, then. Got it.TSJones wrote:The problem is, you guys are so addicted to CTs that you are unwilling to accept why all this happened:
It happened because of a wave of political correctnes over women's issues.
You think that there has to be some ulterior deep, dark, secret why this all happened when the truth is staring you right in the face. This US historically has done this many times, banning alcohol - prohibition, the Vietnam war, etc. There was no ulterior motive to these events, it was a wave of political hysteria that sometimes over takes the US. I recommend the book "What's the Matter with Kansas" where low income rural whites support conservative causes that are ultimately detrimental to them. It examines closely how hot button issues are used for political purposes such as abortion, etc.
Women were a major portion of the US electorate that got Obama elected. Women's issues rule with this administration. They accuse the Republicans, rightly or wrongly of committing a "war on women".
So they don't care what the ultimate cost of realtionship is with India. It could be trillions. It could drive India into permanent aliance with Russia. Right now, they. don't. care.
Don't get me wrong, the US establishment is going to make nice with India but they've drawn the line on women's issues. They're not going to back down on this issue.
His other daughter is named SarmishTa IIRC, so he is also king of the asuras.matrimc wrote:So dad Mr. UK is Shukraacharya? Guru to asuras.ramana wrote:One cant be named Devayani and be something else.
...
There is power in the name.
Why not, if it is a unilateral courtesy extended?Lalmohan wrote:the US school thing is a slightly different issue - these schools - for diplos and military people - teach the US curriculum and the kids can hop around the world and keep on going with a US curriculum all the way through. even on european postings, these kids do not participate in the local system unless their parents are particularly open minded
a similar model with US shops and goods is followed for military bases around the world, GI Joe should feel that he's back in kansas no matter where in the world he actually is
worrying about US schools in india (that serve this purpose) is not worth the effort
incidentally, my take is that mid-low level diplomats are more prone to bias and negative criticism of where they are in the world than senior (more educated) people and tourists - who have chosen to come to another part of the world. many gora diplos etc slot into this neo colonialist mind set when they go abroad - no matter where they are sent - including 2nd world countries, never mind 3rd
Oh, that is true even if they are sent to Europe. A tour of Germany/France/BeneLux or Scandinavia too would elicit the exact same whines , just the same way the Oireos whine when they are in US and are pretty disparaging about the Americans.many gora diplos etc slot into this neo colonialist mind set when they go abroad - no matter where they are sent - including 2nd world countries, never mind 3rd
http://world.time.com/2014/01/15/u-s-di ... sts/print/U.S. Diplomat Couple Causes Furore in India With Offensive Facebook Posts
Ironically, one of them worked as a community liaison officer
By Nilanjana Bhowmick / New Delhi Jan. 15, 20141 Comment
india_us_embassy_0115
Adnan Abidi / Reuters
A U.S. embassy security guard (L) and an Indian policeman stand in front of the main gate of the embassy in New Delhi Dec. 17, 2013
Indian media has been giving wide play to derogatory comments by a U.S. diplomat couple on Indian life and culture, exacerbating already strained relations between the two countries in the wake of the Devyani Khobragade affair.
The Times of India identified the couple as Wayne May, who headed the security team at the U.S. embassy in Delhi, and his wife Alicia Muller, who worked, ironically, as a community liaison officer.
May had been expelled from India in retaliation for the recent arrest in New York City of Khobragade, an Indian diplomat, who was indicted on charges of visa fraud and mistreatment of her maid before being allowed to return to New Delhi.
(MORE: After Khobragade: Can U.S.-India Relations Recover?)
On his Facebook page, May made fun of the Indian way of life and said his pet dog was better nourished than his Indian gardener as the dog got more protein in his diet. In one Facebook post, Muller referred to India’s reputation for sexual violence: “It’s the vegetarians that are doing the raping, not the meat eaters — this place is just so bizarre.” The couple also made fun of cows, which are a religious symbol in India. When one of Muller’s friends pointed out that she had insulted an Indian god, she retorted “Not the first time, not the last.”
Washington on Monday was at pains to distance itself from the postings. “Those comments absolutely do not reflect U.S. government policy, nor were they made on any official U.S. government social media account,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. “I would underscore that these do not in any way represent the U.S. government position.”
Although the offensive remarks appear to have been deleted, several websites in India, including Racist American Diplomats, published a selection of screenshots of them.
Indian commentators have conceded that the posts were “frivolous” but argued that they were nevertheless in bad taste in light of the couple’s diplomatic status.
“Given the sensitive positions they occupied in the U.S. embassy, they are, particularly in hindsight, astonishingly offensive” the Times of India said
i think its 'normal' behaviour for people on postings, particularly where there is a sense of entitlementvina wrote:Oh, that is true even if they are sent to Europe. A tour of Germany/France/BeneLux or Scandinavia too would elicit the exact same whines , just the same way the Oireos whine when they are in US and are pretty disparaging about the Americans.many gora diplos etc slot into this neo colonialist mind set when they go abroad - no matter where they are sent - including 2nd world countries, never mind 3rd
Certainly hope its not "normal" behaviour for Indian diplomats to be disrespectful of their host country traditions in public forums. Indians expect higher standards from their diplomats and generally speaking, seem to receive it as well - at least on this one front.Lalmohan wrote:i think its 'normal' behaviour for people on postings, particularly where there is a sense of entitlement
Indian Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay poses with one of three recovered works of art. In a move to repair relations, the U.S. returned the artifacts after they were confiscated during export from New York to London.
One of three recovered pieces of Indian artwork valued at over $1.5 million: A 'Vishnu and Lakshmi' sandstone sculpture stolen from the Gadach Temple located in Atru, Rajasthan, India.
Indian Ambassador Dnyaneshwar Mulay with Homeland Security Investigations Executive Associate Director James A. Dinkins pose with ceremonial certificates of transfer after three works of art were recovered and returned by U.S.
Massa returns 3 stolen sculptures.The 350-pound "Vishnu and Lakshmi" sandstone sculpture was pilfered in 2009 from a temple in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
U.S. authorities " intercepted "the piece as it was being shipped from New York to London. Two other artifacts were also returned.
Texans have such big dumps? That, possibly explains, Alicia Mueller May's angst in being denied Texan beef. To the extent of eating smuggled burgers out of a suitcase which may have also contained dirty laundry, shoes etc. 
It appears that GoI have allowed MEA a free hand in this whole episode. Although caught on the backfoot, MEA has really come out the winner here. Salman could be just blow hot blow cold.SSridhar wrote:Unilateral privileges must be gone for good forever irrespective of the outcome on the DK issue. However, Salman Kurshid made it ambiguous by saying 'for now' in his TV interview. This is a matter of grave concern.pankajs wrote:Even if the case against DK is dropped and (if) apology issued, I see no reason to grant unilateral privileges.
