Positive News from the USA

Tuvaluan · Post by **Tuvaluan** » 06 Feb 2015 00:31

USA Announces Annual International Conference on Civilized Policing
NSN Washington DC Feb 3, 2015: After many years of indifference, under the leadership of the gentle President Barack Obama, the US government took control of the lack of civilized policing in most parts of the world. Being a country with long experience in just and fair policing, USA was better placed than most countries to bring order and harmony among nations. Towards this end, the US president inaugurated the American Society for Orderly Law Enforcement (ASOLE) in Washington DC. The event was attended by Police Chiefs and aspirational LEOs from all over the world.

President Obama stated: "The US feels that it is its duty to teach less civilized countries to provide justice via proper policing. Recently, we showed the world how to conduct good policing in Ferguson, Missouri, where some citizens almost lived thanks to prompt police action. This is a model that the rest of the world can learn from, and we aim to do that, along with preaching to countries on how to fight religious fundamentalism. This will be done with the US government's Department of Religious Freedom, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, US State Department, and the Alabama Center for Evangelical Freedom. Countries that do not provide good policing and religious freedom will be mercilessly bombed until they learn to become civilized like us Americans. This is a great day for freedom and democracy, and anyone who disagrees will be convinced by the US police forces of how wrong they are."

Police Chief Edward D. Kocknoker was ecstatic about the development, and in an interview with NSN's staff reporter candidly spoke about how American superiority and civilization made it essential for the rest of the world to learn from the American police force. "We are living in a world where police men are armed with knives and stones while the criminals are walking around with AK47s and rocket launchers, as we can see in many countries around the world. This initiative will allow america to provide aid to qualifying countries in the form of the best equipment used by law enforcement in the USA, including armed drones, shoulder-fired missiles, light machine guns. This should significantly improve the fire power of the police forces in their fight against evil, disorder and chaos and bring in an orderly American century, filled with freedom and democracy, in due course", said Chief Kocknoker.

This american effort resonated among the american public, as was seen from the reaction of Bubba Johnson and his wife Mary Ho Josephine who were in the capital visiting from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Bubba opined: "Although this muslim president has never been my favrite(sic), we is happy to know he be loving guns like Mary Ho and I. We is life-members of the NRA and know a thing or two about life, justice and the american way. Shooting unamerican hobos in our neighbourhood is one of our favorite pasttimes". (NSN Staff Report)

Paul · Post by **Paul** » 08 Feb 2015 10:53

Harvard Tells Profs Not to Sleep With Undergrads

Recommended
(Bloomberg) -- Harvard University banned professors from having “sexual or romantic relationships” with undergraduates, joining a list of campuses that have taken similar steps.

Many colleges discourage but don’t ban sex between professors and students. While a national professors’ group doesn’t favor such a prohibition, recent moves by Harvard, Yale University and the University of Connecticut suggest the tide may be turning.

“Undergraduates come to college to learn from us,” said Alison Johnson, a Harvard history professor who chaired the panel that wrote the policy. “We’re not here to have sexual or romantic relationships with them.”

Harvard’s earlier policy was narrower, specifying that relationships with “one’s students” are inappropriate -- suggesting that relationships were prohibited only when a student was in a professor’s class. Under U.S. Education Department investigation for its responses to sexual assault and harassment reports, Harvard began a universitywide review of its policies in 2013.

The ban on faculty-student relationships applies to Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, whose members teach most of the school’s undergraduates. The change was mentioned in a longer document revising the division’s sexual harassment policy that was published earlier this week.

The change also prohibits Arts and Sciences faculty from having romantic or sexual relations with graduate students under their supervision. The restrictions apply to lab workers and dissertation advisees.

Graduate Students

Relationships between graduate students and undergraduates are barred only when the graduate student might grade, supervise or evaluate the junior student. The policy doesn’t specify punishments for violations.

The change created little debate on Harvard’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus, Johnson said. Many students -- and parents -- may assume that professor-undergraduate sex has always been forbidden.

“It should have been the policy everywhere,” said Jack Smith, a senior sociology major who was on the committee that wrote the revision. “Most of the people I’ve come into contact feel the same way.”

Romantic Fiction

While often romanticized in fiction, relationships between faculty and students can be abusive, said Billie Wright Dziech, a University of Cincinnati professor who studies the topic.

“Some schools have a tiny minority of professors who use their popularity and prestige to empower themselves, and students respond to it,” she said in a telephone interview. “This is a very, very serious problem for higher education.”

Relationships between professors and students are ripe for “exploitation,” and faculty members should take steps to ensure “unbiased evaluation” of the student, according to a policy statement of the American Association of University Professors in Washington. Still, the statement stops short of recommending a ban on student-faculty affairs.

“These relationships are going to occur on campus and you must put as many ethical checks on them as possible, but a blanket prohibition doesn’t seem appropriate,” Anita Levy, a senior program officer in AAUP’s department of academic freedom, tenure and governance. “You don’t throw the whole thing into darkness by prohibiting it.”

Last month, Arizona State University’s faculty voted in favor of toughening a ban on relationships between professors and students in their classes. The proposal would bar faculty from having liaisons with students whom the professor would “reasonably be expected” to oversee academically or in a job. The new policy needs approval from the university provost, who is reviewing it, said Mark Johnson, a spokesman.

Yale’s Ban

Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut, banned relationships between undergraduates and faculty in 2010 and the University of Connecticut followed in 2013. Violations will lead to “disciplinary action,” Yale’s faculty handbook says, without specifying what those actions might be. Since then, Yale has disciplined some faculty for inappropriate relationships involving both graduate students and undergraduates, according to Karen Peart, a spokeswoman.

University of Connecticut officials reviewed dozens of other schools’ policies on faculty-student relations, including Yale’s, before revising their own, said Elizabeth Conklin, associate vice president of the Office of Diversity and Equity. Most policies she looked at followed the model of the professors’ group, which strongly discourages such relationships without banning them, she said.

“We didn’t feel that strong discouragement was strong enough,” Conklin said in a telephone interview.

UConn receives a few complaints annually from students who feel they’ve been improperly propositioned by a professor, Conklin said. The prohibition on such behavior makes it much easier to explain to professors what type of behavior is appropriate, she said.

“Now that the policy is in place, the lines are clearer,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Lauerman in Boston at jlauerman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Hechinger at jhechinger@bloomberg.net Chris Staiti

Education

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 11 Feb 2015 14:03

Free physical fitness testing for a visiting old Indian man

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 11 Feb 2015 14:34

^^ You may want to include the likely lifetime reminders that will come from the stronger modern reconstructed spine. Not to mention the socialization/social integration opportunities due to rehabilitation. The improved traveling speed with a wheelchair, and all the intricate knowledge of the medical billing and insurance system so he would be able to start a new career at this age. Mercy!

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 12 Feb 2015 02:23

Control of provocative women's clothing:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/02 ... oga-pants/

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2015 02:44

^^^ What world do these people live in? I would pay a substantial sum to partake in whatever hullucinogen the politicians imbibe, for I am never going to be this deluded with alcohol and such. Is there like a special prescription you become eligible for when you are elected or gain vast sums of money?

Tuvaluan · Post by **Tuvaluan** » 12 Feb 2015 06:30

A_Gupta wrote:Control of provocative women's clothing:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/02 ... oga-pants/

Obviously, the jitijens of Montana are taking a line or two from their Saudi Arabian friends -- all these tight yoga pants are causing people to commit crimes -- the only solution here is a burqa/niqab for all women. USA should just mandate a mandatory Burqa and hijab and become one with their Saudi Arabian buddies. Looks like the US lawmakers are already hot on this task -- this is a nice button to push when americans come and spout cr@p about ill-treatment of women in India.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 12 Feb 2015 08:37

One thing is certain. Tween and teen clothing is getting really into uncharted territory now a din - very unsettling to say the least. Parents are really between a rock and a hard place - kids want the most fad brand bling and all the clothing is something only dating adults would wear.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2015 08:56

mc,

it is what it is. Legislation will only lead to a new prohibition or war on drugs. The rest cant be helped, the world is in a different place.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2015 11:11

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 12 Feb 2015 15:21

@ Shreeman- I don't know what you want to highlight, but these types of cases "Skimping on food= Fat" are quite true. It's less of fraud, but a sad statement that in economies like the US, the poor are malnourished. Having a healthy diet with fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meat/fish and whole grains is expensive. People end up eating junk at McDonald's types of outlets because the food is cheap in dollars and end up paying with their health in the long run.

Really sad.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 12 Feb 2015 17:01

^^^^
Never in the hx of mankind has human being so obese.
This has occurred in the last 3-4 decades only more specifically in USA.

Food Industry in usa spends more money on promoting their foods which cause obesity than the govt of USA in reducing them.
Ironically food industry supports Gov't of USA in supporting the goals of reducing obesity.

(it is billions vs millions)

OT - have many discussions with obese people on reducing weight-one of them is dieting is controlled starvation. There are no two ways on it. Only naming it to make it more palatable!! As americans(and others also) are thought starvation means "refugees malnourishment" etc image come into mind. Another one is reducing meat eating and increase vegetables content in their food with lot of water etc.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2015 21:21

Mukesh.Kumar wrote:@ Shreeman- I don't know what you want to highlight, but these types of cases "Skimping on food= Fat" are quite true. It's less of fraud, but a sad statement that in economies like the US, the poor are malnourished. Having a healthy diet with fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meat/fish and whole grains is expensive. People end up eating junk at McDonald's types of outlets because the food is cheap in dollars and end up paying with their health in the long run.

Really sad.

Mukesh.kumar,

You have lapped up the propaganda lock, stock, and barrel. Have you personally investigated this "cant afford" business? How many Indians live without the "lean meat/fish" and not get obese? Just what exactly is costly and why the blame is laid on McDonalds or Coca cola?

This used to be a positive neuj thread. Unfortunately, it has taught me that Pakistan is not the only aspect US residents are misinformed about. They can barely put 2 and 2 together any more.

Grocery prices are available by the isle online. As are McDonalds and coca cola prices. Please create your own grocery list and shop at a food lion or something and check for your own diet first. There is no replacement for due diligence.

And remember, if you read it in a newspaper or saw/heard an "expert" on radio/TV then it is nothing more than advertisement. Worse than the politicians who are at least questioned. People add a Dr to their name and suddenly they are Ramdev.

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 13 Feb 2015 01:23

Ladies, prepare yourself, the most potent fighting force in the world maybe knocking on your door soon!

Skanda · Post by **Skanda** » 13 Feb 2015 05:09

http://video-embed.al.com/services/play ... zHOEtf9iIT
Indian grandparent booted to the ground. WTF only. He was completely harmless.

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 13 Feb 2015 08:45

Free physical fitness testing successful.the indian old man failed the test.

Halleeluah! Halleeluaah! Jesus Bless America!

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2015 09:36

I really like how after every really bad thing there is a real urge among some people to speak up and say -- come on guys, this $%^& is overblown. I have been swimming for 10 years, and no shark has ever eaten me. Here rub this chicken blood, and jump in.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 13 Feb 2015 09:37

the cop eric parker seems to be arrested, after release of videos of incident.

i mussay..surprised that they arrested instead of 'administrative leave with pay' and inquiries blah blah..

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 889945.ece

Police in Madison, Alabama, on Thursday evening announced the arrest of a police officer, Eric Parker, on assault charges after the release of videos showing Parker violently shoving Sureshbhai Patel (57), an Indian man,

...
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department also expressed regret at the event, with Spokesperson Jen Psaki saying, “Our hearts go out to him and to his family… The Secretary and the State Department certainly express our strong condolences to the family for everything that he has been through.”
...
However, reports suggested that Parker has been released from jail on a $1,000 bond.
..
Chief Muncey further said, “I sincerely apologise to Mr. Patel, Mr. Patel’s family and our community,” adding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation “would be conducting a parallel inquiry to ascertain if there were any federal violations.”

feds??? really???

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2015 09:39

Watch the video Gus. The idiots didnt even wait for medics to arrive. They dragged him around, limped legs and all. Causing. More. Damage. All. The. Time.

It takes special people to be this cruel.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 13 Feb 2015 09:49

The old man is Indian citizen from state of Gujarat. This incident of unprovoked police brutality has repurcussions.
Hope neighbor is happy.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2015 09:54

The neighbor wouldnt have seen this and couldnt care less. Probably retained a lawyer when he heard the news. But if you think it matters two bits, you are mistaken.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 13 Feb 2015 10:40

Shreeman wrote:Watch the video Gus. The idiots didnt even wait for medics to arrive. They dragged him around, limped legs and all. Causing. More. Damage. All. The. Time.

It takes special people to be this cruel.

Amerikee exceptionalisum at full display.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2015 11:29

A reminder -- http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2 ... e_assault/

and the competition for the bravest cop is heating up, just within the day:
1. http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture ... g_him.html
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/ ... 6K20150205

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2015 15:58

Leaving this here for context -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/1 ... 69734.html

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 13 Feb 2015 18:18

What a boneheaded police!!! The old man is docile and cooperating a 100%, and what is the need to body slam him to the ground. Is this what is being taught to the police force of the US? There are too many such incidents and are happening to often against colored people. They have become completely inhuman and does not understand when force should be used. This guy doesn't deserve to be policing as he clearly doesn't understand the role of police in the society. He is the one violating the old man's rights as the old man had absolutely done nothing illegal. I have no trust in US legal proceedings, especially when it is against their one of their own. We can only count on Karma to come back and bite this ********, the neighbor and all the unscrupulous bstrds who protects him. This arrest is just to fool the public, to reduce the anger and fizzle out the voices. After a while this bast.rd will be out and back on the job, or will retire with full pension well before his service ends.

I see a lot of Indians blaming the victim in Times of India and other comment section. In fact I saw a comment saying Don't behave like an Indian in the USA. Whatever that means. But the self hatred and shame on being an Indian is evident.

My thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Patel, his family and friends. Hope he recovers his full health!

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 14 Feb 2015 07:44

Hope Mr. Patel gets a good lawyer. Given the nature of the incident, any trial lawyer would love to help out for boat load of payment from the local and state government. It is very much possible that the cop broke half dozen local/state laws and federal laws against minorities. Hope they have sense to make the most of it. Of course, nothing is more important than good health, which Mr. Patel may never get back.

Multatuli · Post by **Multatuli** » 16 Feb 2015 05:55

What that police officer did to Sureshbhai Patel reminds me of what 5 or 6 police officers did to poor Eric Garner. In the case of Eric Garner, the police officers knew they were being filmed, yet the filming did not constrain them. Their behavior tells me that they were absolutely sure that they could get away with that kind of violence against a black person. And they were right, the 'grand jury' thought nothing of the obscene violence used against Eric Garner. In fact the overwhelming majority of American society thought nothing of it. So the problem (blatant racism) is not limited to the police training.

And with Sureshbhai Patel, again we observe the same kind of obscene violence.

I hope that Indians and Indian organizations stand squarely with the Patel family and that they sue the police to the maximum extent possible.

But really what else can one expect from people like the Americans, the Australians, Canadians and Europeans, given their history?

I mean look at this (just one example):

EJI's New Lynching Report Documents an Era of Racial Terrorism

February 10, 2015

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) today released Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror, which documents EJI’s multi-year investigation into lynching in twelve Southern states during the period between Reconstruction and World War II. EJI researchers documented 3959 racial terror lynchings of African Americans in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia between 1877 and 1950 – at least 700 more lynchings of black people in these states than previously reported in the most comprehensive work done on lynching to date.

Lynching in America makes the case that lynching of African Americans was terrorism, a widely supported phenomenon used to enforce racial subordination and segregation. Lynchings were violent and public events that traumatized black people throughout the country and were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. This was not “frontier justice” carried out by a few marginalized vigilantes or extremists. Instead, many African Americans who were never accused of any crime were tortured and murdered in front of picnicking spectators (including elected officials and prominent citizens) for bumping into a white person, or wearing their military uniforms after World War I, or not using the appropriate title when addressing a white person. People who participated in lynchings were celebrated and acted with impunity. Not a single white person was convicted of murder for lynching a black person in America during this period.

The report explores the ways in which lynching profoundly impacted race relations in this country and shaped the contemporary geographic, political, social, and economic conditions of African Americans. Most importantly, lynching reinforced a narrative of racial difference and a legacy of racial inequality that is readily apparent in our criminal justice system today. Mass incarceration, racially biased capital punishment, excessive sentencing, disproportionate sentencing of racial minorities, and police abuse of people of color reveal problems in American society that were shaped by the terror era.

No prominent public memorial or monument commemorates the thousands of African Americans who were lynched in America. Lynching in America argues that is a powerful statement about our failure to value the black lives lost in this brutal campaign of racial violence. Research on mass violence, trauma, and transitional justice underscores the urgent need to engage in public conversations about racial history that begin a process of truth and reconciliation in this country.

“We cannot heal the deep wounds inflicted during the era of racial terrorism until we tell the truth about it,” said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson. “The geographic, political, economic, and social consequences of decades of terror lynchings can still be seen in many communities today and the damage created by lynching needs to be confronted and discussed. Only then can we meaningfully address the contemporary problems that are lynching’s legacy.”

For the full report go to: http://www.eji.org/node/1037

The summary: http://www.eji.org/files/EJI%20Lynching ... UMMARY.pdf

Also take a look at this:

Map of 73 Years of Lynchings

The most recent data on lynching, compiled by the Equal Justice Initiative, shows premeditated murders carried out by at least three people from 1877 to 1950 in 12 Southern states. The killers claimed to be enforcing some form of social justice. The alleged offenses that prompted the lynchings included political activism and testifying in court.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015 ... share&_r=0

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 16 Feb 2015 09:27

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 16 Feb 2015 12:13

Was it on the menu?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... ites-woman
Scorpion on a plane: flight attendants kill arachnid after it stings passenger

Not clear how scorpion got on plane but flight originated in Mexico
Woman gets off Alaska Airlines flight and refuses additional medical treatment

A scorpion stung a woman on the hand just before her flight from Los Angeles to Portland took off.

Flight 567 was taxiing on the runway Saturday night when the passenger was stung, Alaska Airlines spokesman Cole Cosgrove said. The plane returned to the gate, and the woman was checked by medics. She refused additional medical treatment, but she didn’t get back on the plane.

Meanwhile, flight attendants killed the scorpion and checked overhead compartments for any additional unwanted arachnids. The flight then took off at 8.40 pm, about an hour late. Members of Oregon State University’s men’s basketball team were on the flight, Cosgrove said.

It’s unclear how the scorpion got on the plane, but the flight originated in Los Cabos, Mexico, he said.

Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle told ESPN that the woman was sitting two rows in front of him.

“The plane was coming from Mexico before us, and (the scorpion) was on the plane,” Tinkle said. “The woman was a real champ. She acted like it was a mosquito bite. They got it off her, but the needle was stuck.”

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 17 Feb 2015 01:13

Happy President's Day, Everyone!

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 17 Feb 2015 07:18

US Army Veterans, Westerners Join Christian Militia to Fight ISIS

http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/weste ... dgetphase2

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 18 Feb 2015 07:10

Officer of the year

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 18 Feb 2015 23:12

Creepy Veep' Joe Biden 'nuzzles' wife of colleague and claims he is friends with lots of Somali cab drivers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ivers.html

Joe Biden's latest gaffes: US vice president provokes social media controversy with whisper in ear of colleague's wife before making quip about Somali taxi drivers

Biden Sr. and Jr. are making headlines.Sr. gaffing away to glory and Jr.,a key "adviser" to the Supreme Commander ,Field Marshal Poroshenko of Debacalseve,in the UKR. Between Biden father and son,giving us their daily exposes of their enormous lack of intelligence,who needs Jon Stewart or Jay Leno? Just put the Biden act on telly and watch the world reverberate with laughter!

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 19 Feb 2015 06:07

^^LokeshC, The glorious police force of the US, work hard to ensure that women are absolutely equal to men in every respects.
Officer on duty spreads cheer to women

If you want to commit a crime in the US, become a police officer first. This way you will just get a slap on the wrist even if you are caught. What a wonderful world!

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 23 Feb 2015 12:51

"The beginning of the end" or "end of the beginning" of Pax Americana?

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... html[quote]
Rupert Cornwell
Sunday 22 February 2015
War or peace, Obama just can't win
No one wants another Iraq, but that doesn’t stop the President being criticised on all sides for caution on the world stage

Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

George W Bush was blamed, rightly, for launching his war of choice in Iraq. Now, his successor Barack Obama is assailed from every side for doing nothing as the world – from Syria and Libya to Islamic State, Boko Haram and radical Islam, to the crisis over Ukraine – seems to be going to hell in a handbasket.

An enduring fallacy has it that foreign policy doesn’t much matter in US elections, that they’re invariably about bread-and-butter domestic issues, and which candidate Joe Public would rather have a beer with. In truth, Obama’s opposition from the outset to the Iraq invasion was a key factor in his defeat of Hillary Clinton in the primaries and then John McCain in 2008.

And foreign policy shapes presidential legacies: Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam; Jimmy Carter and the Camp David accords and the Iranian hostage crisis; Reagan and victory in the Cold War. Bush senior is remembered for the first Iraq war, his son for the second. But Obama thus far? The killing of Osama bin Laden, the expanded use of drones – and that’s about it.

For the rest, his critics say, just vacuity. He dithers, he has no personal touch, he’s naïve, he over-analyses, he leads from behind, he makes promises and threats he doesn’t keep. And when it comes to Obama’s famous “red line” over Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons, they have a point.

The complaints are not just from neo-cons, or right-wingers who call into question his patriotism, and even (still!) his citizenship. “I do not believe the president loves America,” Rudy Giuliani, a former mayor of New York and Republican presidential candidate said last week. Democrats too are unhappy: “Great nations need organising principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organising principle,” Hillary Clinton has said, attacking Obama for his risk-aversion. The left, meanwhile, is dismayed at America’s lack of concrete support for the 2011 Arab Spring, and what it sees as a sell-out on human rights in places such as Egypt.

To which Obama’s reply is, get real. The United States can’t solve all the world’s ills. “You take the victories where you can,” he told the online network Vox in a revealing interview last month, “You make things a little bit better rather than a little bit worse.” He said this didn’t mean that “America is withdrawing or there’s not much we can do. It’s just a realistic assessment of how the world works.”

This cuts against the national grain. In baseball parlance, Obama’s goal is to score singles and doubles. But in foreign affairs, Americans yearn for home runs: clear victories and quickly imposed solutions. A White House national security paper advocates “strategic patience”. Patience is not America’s best known attribute. Now, though, America’s allies are showing impatience too. As a result, Obama must navigate between Scylla and Charybdis.

On the one hand, the US is the nearest thing going to a global policeman, the lone superpower to whom the world looks when some international crisis flares up. On the other, it seems to be abdicating that role. But no democratically elected leader can ignore public opinion, and in part, Obama’s difficulties stem from a national schizophrenia over foreign policy. Americans want a bit of swagger, proof that the US is top nation. But after George W Bush’s disastrous war in Iraq – whose claim to be the country’s greatest foreign blunder in half a century (Vietnam included) grows with each passing month – the last thing they want is a repeat.

Reasonably enough, Obama has concluded that when an immediate and vital US interest is not at stake, broad international coalitions are the way to go. But this principle is muddied by another reality: despite horrific images of beheadings and immolations that flash around the globe in seconds, today’s world is actually growing less violent. Old-fashioned inter-state wars are in decline, replaced by messy internal conflicts that often spill across borders. Hence the paradox of a world with fewer wars, but less peace. The question when to intervene becomes ever more complicated.

In these circumstances, “strategic patience” makes sense. But that doctrine comes up against an eternal truth of all human relations: that power lies in the perception of power, and the perceived readiness to use it. Too easily, caution is perceived as weakness. Vladimir Putin’s behaviour over Ukraine suggests he falls into this camp. So too may Iran as talks continue for a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme, whose success or failure, and all that flows therefrom, may prove Obama’s most important foreign legacy.

The hawks bay for blood: address Putin with force, the only language Russia understands, they clamour, and make clear to Iran that if it doesn’t stop enriching uranium, its nuclear facilities will be bombed to smithereens. But who wants a new war – whether one against Iran whose long-term scale would probably dwarf Iraq in 2003, or, heaven forfend, against Russia.

Obama is right. The US can’t do it all. That is simply a recognition of reality. But no previous president could have uttered such opinions – until this son of a Kenyan, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, who understands that other countries have other points of view, that every country, not just the US, regards itself as “exceptional” in its way. And which previous president, at a National Prayer Breakfast, held amid revulsion at the barbarities of IS, would have pointed out that Christianity had such sins as the Crusades and segregation in its own past.

More pertinently, neither Clinton nor the Republican contenders offer alternatives: not Jeb Bush’s vaguely hawkish platitudes last week in a “major foreign policy speech” which could not escape the shadow of his brother’s Iraq debacle; and certainly not Chris Christie’s boast that if he’d been in the White House, Putin would have backed down over Ukraine. Dream on.
[/quote]

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 27 Feb 2015 01:55

And now, ladies and gentlemen; mehebaan and meherbaaniyon; duaon aur karimon, ...।

drum roll please .......

we are going back to this -- http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... black-site

Tuvaluan · Post by **Tuvaluan** » 27 Feb 2015 20:27

Shreeman wrote:And now, ladies and gentlemen; mehebaan and meherbaaniyon; duaon aur karimon, ...।

drum roll please .......

we are going back to this -- http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... black-site

As Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore almost said in his big deep booming voice: "I love the smell of the burning freedom and democracy in the morning."

They tell you where to go,
And they tell you what to do.
They set your face on fire
Then stomp it out with their shoes.

Don't do as they say,
Just say as they do.
No flavor's quite so bitter
As the taste of one's own shoe.

habal · Post by **habal** » 02 Mar 2015 12:51

& my queschan for the day ij ..

Q. How come every American tom, (expletive), & harry knows more about Putin, his strengths and weaknesses and his influence over various sections of society even russian mafia than the average Indian or even the average Russian living in moscow. Pls to educate.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2015 13:10

it seems the LA police a half dozen of them have somehow managed to kill a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 02 Mar 2015 14:14

Singha wrote:it seems the LA police a half dozen of them have somehow managed to kill a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk.

Nothing to write home about, this is the socially acceptable killing. Wont make much of a blip in the news -- http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/los- ... o-29318668

We are busy with the bibi visit thing right now.