India-US Relations : News and Discussion- II

[A_Gupta]

^^^ Natural allies means a matching of all major national interests between the two nations as well as similar political culture, civilizational ethos, etc., etc.

I doubt that India has any natural allies at this time, if at all, it might be some of the countries in ASEAN.

[Vayutuvan]

India and China to an extent are different and are special cases just like the U.S. is. Three separate poles in the world. "3 katthulu oka ora lO imaDavu" - a slightly modified Telugu proverb which means three swords can never fit into one scabbard. India and the U.S. Due to the love for democracy and freedom of speech and a few people who have a streak of being Mavericks might be closer than India and China.

The alliance among the three is shifting sand.

[habal]

Not at all, and this is what I marvel about whites. Their supreme self confidence and sense of racial/cultural/moral superiority is so deep, so ossified in their minds, that all of the crimes against blacks are mostly considered arising from the pathology of moral degradation that afflicts blacks. And this cuts across both conservatives and so called liberals. Very few whites of at all, can ever put themselves into the shoes of a black person and introspect on the damage they have done to them through slavery and other forms of inhuman treatment they were subjected to (I mean the kind of analysis their intellectuals would do to analyze other forms of subjugation in turd world including India). In fact, whites further believe that they are so enlightened that they have made amends in the kind of of system of governance they designed, and blacks should be greatful for that. This feeling of moral superiority is so pervasive that they don't battle an eyelid when they rant about plight of Daleeeets in India or Chinese human rights etc.

i have seen same behaviour in more conservative sections of anglo-saxon socities like australia, redneck Usa, interior england, etc. It seems as they have a kind of compromised conscience. It's almost as if they would be wrecked if they involved these atrocities into their system, so just forget about it and keep up with hubris.

false Gods, false ideals & fake societies.

[A_Gupta]

US Dept of State daily press briefing, July 27th.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/ ... m#PAKISTAN

QUESTION: Thank you, sir. A couple of questions, South Asia. Mr. Tariq Fatemi, the special advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, was in Washington, and he was addressing the Heritage Foundation, where he said that he was knocking the doors of the Administration and the U.S. Congress that they should intervene between India and Pakistan’s conflict. Any comment from that?

MR KIRBY: No, I mean, I don’t have anything more to add, other than what we’ve said before, Goyal, that we want to see the conflict and the tension reduced, that this was – these are issues that need to be worked out between Indian and Pakistan.

QUESTION: And second, he was also saying that, as far as press freedom in Pakistan is concerned, that journalists in Pakistan can trust the prime minister. But now, according to The Washington Post yesterday front page story, journalists are being killed in Pakistan, and also they are running – especially one Mir – his name is Mir, Hamid. He is running right – a very famous and well-known TV journalist in Pakistan, and he was attacked because he spoke against the military and ISI and his show is a capital show on his TV.

MR KIRBY: I think I would just say we’ve made our deep concerns about freedom of the press very clear and known all over the world and in all manner of places. And that includes – certainly includes Pakistan. We are very, very clear about the importance of a free press and reporters able to do their jobs unintimidated and not harassed.

Thanks, everybody.

[ramana]

India workers win $20m US settlement

Some 200 Indian workers have won a $20m (£12.8m) claim against a US company for defrauding and exploiting them.

The Press Trust of India reported that the Alabama-based Signal International was found guilty by a federal jury for defrauding and exploiting workers brought from India.

However, when the men arrived from India in 2006, they discovered that they would not receive the green cards or the permanent residency that had been promised.

Reports say the workers also paid $1,050 a month to the firm to live in "isolated, guarded labour camps".
"The workers have waited seven long years for justice. The agreement and [an] apology from the company will allow the workers to finally move on with their lives," Jim Knoepp of SPLC told the Press Trust of India.

How come this is not being treated as a human trafficking case? Workers are brought in from a foreign country under false pretenses, paid slave wages and kept in bonded labor camps .

[ramana]

Jeb bush or trump? Prolly the same or slightly better, imho. Why assume that Hillary will win? That us far from given.

It doesn't matter. Whoever comes in, the paki-pasand SD will educate them appropriately about how aiding and supporting pakis is the best approach.

This is where geo-politics helps to understand.

After Ottoman empire was defeated and re-arranged the British created a system of three regional power balances to manage and prevent any natural power to emerge between Mediterranean to Indus.

First Iraq was created to balance Iran.

Next Pakistan to balance India

Then Israel to balance the Arabs.

Note: All three creations are small populations to balance larger populations. Easy to sustain them.

End of Cold War and collapse of FSU saw the
Arab-Israel balance collapse with Israel emerging powerful.

1998 nuke tests and post 9/11 decade saw Pakistan on verge of collapse.

Two Gulf wars destroyed Iraq with Iran emerging unchecked.

So except in Israel-Arab balance the natural powers have prevailed in last thirty years.

Braudel wrote " India is a pendulum that swings between East and West Asia"

Power vacuum in West Asia means India will swing towards West Asia a reversal of last millenium.

Yet US the successor to Anglo-Saxongiri wants to divert India towards East and away from the West Asia.

Hence TSP is a supreme national interest for them to prevent India to swing towards West Asia and wipe out the historical scourge.


Yet historical forces predict TSP will fail to prevent the westward ho of India.

[UlanBatori]

Writing this from among the Concrete Lawn of Seoul (so many tall buildings it's like they are grass). While West Asia is doing a fine job of killing each other, these ppl are leaping ahead. I don't think they need India as a Big Power, but I think India can do very well to collaborate with them.
By the same geopolitics calculation, NoKO has been used as a puppet by PRC to counter SoKo and Japan and eliminate them as effective mediators in checking Chinese expansion westwards and southwards. The war started, remember, with the US determined to set up SoKO to check the Chinese takeover of Korea to check US power in East Asia after conquering Japan.

Now BO is doing what should have been done 60 years ago, with a resolution to end the Korean War. That is the primary sticking point from NoKo's pov. I think a nuke agreement like with Iran, will happen b4 end of BO's term. Long back on PeeAref 'v' argued that a move towards reunification will be the best way for SoKo to break Chinese hold on NoKO and end the state of war on SoKo's terms.

Next is Korean reunification, after which there will be no excuse for stationing 35,000 US troops in SoKO.

What happens next is anyone's guess: Chinese influence in SoKO is already quite heavy, and I don't think there is much antipathy if any from SoKO's side against China. The travel guides say (don't blame me for that!) that in the Korean War, SoKO ppl considered Chinese soldiers to be "much better behaved" than Americans.

India is considered friendly, though conversionist propaganda is very strong.

Indian TV channels available prominently, and show NaMO news 24-hours. India should establish enough commercial influence in SoKO to have some say in countering a PRC swamping of SoKo. Wow! these ppl are amazing in infrastructure development and most technology! But Patel Motels in the US are now (meaning within the past 5 years) well ahead of them in hotel amenity standards.

[vijaykarthik]

I don't know if its relevant here. Pl feel free to move it wherever its better fit [and let me know so I know too?]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/ ... olution/2/

I hope a few people weight in and add comments to that author.

Since his election sectarian attacks are up, on Christians as well as Muslims. Some Hindu extremists imagine that by helping long victimized lower caste Dalits missionaries are buying conversions. The poor are assumed to be incapable of choosing their faith. Modi has not encouraged the rising violence, but his government has catered to Hindu nationalist sentiments. Only after an assault on a Christian school—the vast majority of whose students and teachers are Hindus—did he promise that his government would give “equal respect to all religions.”

No, that's not quite the point. Its proven many times over that missionaries are converting people and doing that rampantly. Its not just a Hindu extremist view. Its a perfectly rational and realistic view that's also corroborated with evidence.

[pankajs]

There are other issue even in this small snippet.

e.g. Most anti-coversion laws were passed during CON time so CON was of the same view as BJP on buying conversion. Also, it is portrayed that only after a particular school attack did Modi stir and promise “equal respect to all religions." while the fact is that he has been stressing on "saab ka saath aur saab ka vikas" right from before elections. He stressed this point of equal respect for all religions even during his ANI interview before elections, IIRC.

Facts do not matter when it comes to paining Modi as a black sheep.

[negi]

One more example of Unkil's chootiyapa

"U.S. govt. takes custody of Indian child, arrests father"

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... .ece?w=spa

[Philip]

X-posted,Non-West td.

Hiroshima,70 years on.Does anyone remember it?

It is shocking that the 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima N-bomb attack,the most horrific war crime in human history has been completely ignored by the US/West,which with great fanfare celebrated the anniversary of the fall of Germany not too long ago and last year the centenary of WWI.

All the bullcrap about WMDs,Saddam's non-existant ones justifying the invasion of Iraq,Afghanistan,Libya, et al, (bringing about the destruction of Iraq,the cradle of civilisation and the catastrophe that has engulfed the Middle East) was given pride of place by the western media for the last two decades. But the greatest crime in human history,the dropping of not one but two atomic bombs on Japan has been whitewashed by the US and its Western allies.

This is what the western powers want Japan to be.A servile nation and race of pacisfists,while the US and its Western allies can wage war anywhere on the planet as if it is its divine right.

Survivors of the Nagasaki atomic bomb attack: Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 31717.html

Major Sweeney, an Irish-American catholic who had also flown in Enola Gay, the US aircraft which bombed Hiroshima, never publicly expressed regret. “There’s no question in my mind that President Truman made the right decision,” he later said.

Yet, a few years later, the US and British air forces became the “apostles of strategic bombing” and perfected the techniques of urban destruction, fuelled by an annihilationist policy against Japan that culminated in the incineration of most its cities and the death of over 400,000 civilians. A poll in late 1945 found over 22 per cent of Americans wished more atomic bombs had been dropped on Japan.

[Shreeman]

One more example of Unkil's chootiyapa

"U.S. govt. takes custody of Indian child, arrests father"

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... .ece?w=spa

These horror stories are becoming quite common. Unfortunately, this is more or less the norm now, if a child goes to the hospitals thrn parents better have lawyers on call. Hell, if a pet goes to the vet you better be prepared as well.

CPS has hardly ever been known to be reasonable. Their whole purpose for existence is to ruin lives.

ps -- parents needed *good* lawyers the moment the abuse issue even came up. they havent acted with much intelligence. i see children playing in the street routinely where they are bound to get hurt, and cringe. ignorance is bliss.

[TSJones]

One more example of Unkil's chootiyapa

"U.S. govt. takes custody of Indian child, arrests father"

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... .ece?w=spa

just being picky but, uh, that would be the state of Oregon, not the US government. there is a difference.

Oregon has historically been a liberal women's issues and children's advocate hot spot in the nation.

my son almost got arrested crossing the street in the middle of a block in Portland. when the cop saw he had a Texas driver's licence, the cop called him a "cowboy".

my son didn't have his boots and spurs and cowboy hat on at the time either.

appearantly law abiding citizens don't jay walk in Portland. only cowboys.

[SaiK]

so, if they are liberal women pacifiers and children's advocate hot spot for the america, does that mean to mistreat men? what kind of banana republic is that? where is the constitutional right for men?

btw, i'd not rule out racism here as well.

[chetak]

{quote="Falijee"}India workers win $20m US settlement

{quote}Some 200 Indian workers have won a $20m (£12.8m) claim against a US company for defrauding and exploiting them.{/quote}

The Press Trust of India reported that the Alabama-based Signal International was found guilty by a federal jury for defrauding and exploiting workers brought from India.

However, when the men arrived from India in 2006, they discovered that they would not receive the green cards or the permanent residency that had been promised.

Reports say the workers also paid $1,050 a month to the firm to live in "isolated, guarded labour camps".
"The workers have waited seven long years for justice. The agreement and [an] apology from the company will allow the workers to finally move on with their lives," Jim Knoepp of SPLC told the Press Trust of India.{/quote}

How come this is not being treated as a human trafficking case? Workers are brought in from a foreign country under false pretenses, paid slave wages and kept in bonded labor camps .

Why no cavity search onlee??

Isn't this exactly what khobraghade was accused of?? and this is multiple counts meaning multiple cavity searches.

[Philip]

America's Greece,Puerto Rico!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... epens.html
Puerto Rico triggers historic default as austerity spiral deepens

America's home-grown "Greece" is trapped in a vicious circle as a shrinking economy and an exodus of workers pushes the debt ratio through the roof

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
04 Aug 2015
Puerto Rico has triggered the biggest municipal default in US history, risking years of bitter legal warfare with creditors and an austerity "death spiral" with echoes of Greece.

The island Commonwealth finally ran out of money on Monday after a desperate effort to stay afloat, and missed a final deadline for a $58m payment - handing over just $628,000.

It implies a sweeping default on much of its $72bn debt burden, equal to 100pc of Puerto Rico’s gross national product (GNP) and more than five times the debt ratio of California or Texas.

The Commonwealth is now in legal limbo, facing a well-organised pack of hedge funds that scooped up the debt at distressed levels and appears determined to extract maximum value in the courts, even if this means shutting down part of the island’s education system and social services.

Puerto Rico is not covered by the “Chapter Nine” bankruptcy code in the US, and therefore cannot resort to the sort of orderly debt restructuring that helped the city of Detroit to get back on its feet after defaulting in 2013.

By a quirk of law, it does not enjoy the partial protection of full US states. At the same time, it is unable to draw on support from the International Monetary Fund since it is not a sovereign country.

“We don’t know how the bankruptcy is going to proceed. It could easily turn into a free-for-all,” said Desmond Lachman, a former IMF division chief now at the American Enterprise Institute.

“If the hedge funds press for their pound of flesh, they could drive the economy into the ground. The more the economy tanks, the less tax they collect, and the more they have to tighten. It is crazy,” he said.

“They are in a similar situation to Greece, and this is what happens if you are asked to carry out too much fiscal adjustment in a fixed exchange monetary union. Their GDP has been shrinking by 1pc a year for the last decade,” he said.

A group of 34 hedge funds, led by Fir Tree Partners and Aurelius Capital, among others, has recruited a team of former-IMF officials to push their case that Puerto Rico is able to pay its debts if it reins in public spending.

They claim that the island is “massively overspending” on education, letting costs balloon by 39pc over the past decade even though school enrollment has collapsed by a quarter. The island has already closed more than 100 schools.

Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro Garcia Padillo, said drastic austerity would perpetuate the island’s “vicious cycle” as the shrivelling economy accelerates a mass exodus of the working-age cohort. The population has collapsed by 12pc in a decade.

“This is not about politics. It’s about maths. We have to make the economy grow. If not, we will be in a death spiral,” he said.

Puerto Rico has recruited its own IMF champion, the former deputy director Anne Kroeger. Her report implicitly calls for a debt haircut of 35pc, roughly the current price of debt trading in the secondary market, though there are many types of bonds. Others say debt relief nearer 50pc will be necessary.

“There is no US precedent for anything of this scale and scope. No US state has restructured its debt in living memory. Any attempt faces unprecedented legal challenges,” she said.

Dr Kroeger said it would be self-defeating for creditors to push their demands too far given the vast fiscal gap that has built up over time. “There are limits to how much more expenditures can be cut or taxes raised. One has to be mindful of the hit to near-term growth from a sharper fiscal contraction; if output falls significantly, tax receipts will decline,” she said.

Several bills are now emerging in Congress that would grant Puerto Rico "Chapter Nine" protection and weaken the hand of creditors. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have both called for legal changes, all too conscious that this saga has become a neuralgic issue for Hispanic voters – a key swing constituency.

Yet the creditors have pushed home their narrative that Puerto Ricans are feckless, living beyond their means, and could easily pay if they tightened their belts. Great numbers of ordinary Americans bought the island’s debt because the interest was tax free.

This chart suggests Puerto Rico is under-taxed. Critics say it merely reflects the underlying economic depression

The parallels with Greece are striking, though they can be pushed too far. Nobel economist Paul Krugman says Puerto Rico is cushioned by fiscal buffers, pension payments and medical care under the US federal union, averting the sort of collapse in incomes seen in Greece.

Puerto Rico clearly allowed a debt crisis to creep up during the boom years, when the underlying rot was hidden from view and creditors lent without a second thought, banking on an implicit guarantee from the US sovereign state that did not in fact exist.

Yet it was also the victim of globalisation, or the “China effect”, which chipped away at mid-level economies caught too far down the manufacturing ladder, with relatively high wages and low productivity. Puerto Rico was unable to compete against this Asian onslaught after a special tax sweetner expired in 2006.

The Kroeger report said the island should be exempted from the US minimum wage in order restore competitiveness, a de facto call for an internal devaluation – an experiment pursued with varying results in Greece, Portugal, Latvia and Ireland.

For the world, Puerto Rico is becoming a test case of whether hedge funds and financial creditors can legitimately dictate terms to sub-sovereign states, or whether there is a greater social interest in limiting their legal powers.

[TSJones]

uh, just being picky but, has anyone heard if PR is getting bailout money? no? hmmmm.......

let's see now, so that means bond holders aren't getting paid..... dear me.

there is no bankruptcy law for US states or territories, so no debt forgiveness.... oh my goodness

no bail out money, no debt forgiveness, by golly it looks like......

PR will just have to make payments on their debt when they can AFFORD it.

The horror.....

[UlanBatori]

That's curious. Cleveland, Detroit, New York, have all been through bankruptcy, haven't they? Didn't each get bailed out?

[TSJones]

cities are subject to US bankruptcy law.

do you want US taxpayers to pay PR bondholders?

a territory where citizens do not pay federal income tax?

[Vayutuvan]

TSJ: My understanding was territories - especially PR - is not allowed to go bankrupt. But any of the 50 states can. Or is it for bailout?

[TSJones]

no, the 50 states cannot declare bankruptcy.

[Mort Walker]

no, the 50 states cannot declare bankruptcy.

PR is a US territory. Traveling there is like traveling to Hawaii and Puerto Ricans are by default FULL US CITIZENS. There are probably more PRs in the mainland than on the island. There are US military installations and the island is essential to US security in the Caribbean. Ultimately, the US congress will have to vote on bailing out PR by helping them restructure their debt under federal bankruptcy laws Chapter 11 and 13.

PR had a big pharmaceutical industry that had tax advantages which were taken away by the US congress.

[Vayutuvan]

PR is not the same as HI. PR citizens are full US citizens with a caveat - they don't get to vote for any US elections neither do they have senators. They have to live in one of the 50 states for five years to be able to vote. This was straight from the publicity officer of the President (or whatever he is called) of PR. They have a white house there too - an old one which was Ponce de lyon family estate where he lived which is 500 years old and extremely beautiful and very well maintained. It is a museum. The new one is also very nice and there are tours every two hours. Groups are taken by an official inside but not into private quarters - mostly the gardens, chapel in side and a few rooms.

[Mort Walker]

vt,

You are correct. For practical purposes, PR citizens are US citizens and have move to the mainland without any restrictions and can vote as soon as they become state resident in a matter of three years. I have some PR friends who moved from the island due to the bad economy. Many PRs have also served in the US armed forces. It is a very pretty place, but they have a fair amount of corruption too.

[Raja Bose]

B00by Jindal getting his mush kicked - gets no support for Indian Americans

Serves that turd right.

[saip]

That's curious. Cleveland, Detroit, New York, have all been through bankruptcy, haven't they? Didn't each get bailed out?

I think formally only Vallejo, Stockton and Detroit filed for bankruptcy. Do not remember NY becoming bankrupt (it might have been in financial trouble and bailed out but that is different) and when Stockton filed for bankruptcy it was touted as the largest city to file (it routinely makes this type of 'honor' lists). But Detroit took it away. Anyway, both Vallejo and Stockton are out of bankruptcy.

[A_Gupta]

http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/201 ... -maldives/
"Indian American diplomat Atul Keshap appointed US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives "

[A_Gupta]

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/busine ... 16564.html
"India, US resolve 35 transfer pricing disputes in IT sector"

A framework agreement was recently signed with the US under the mutual agreement procedure of the India-US Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC). This is a positive development as around 200 past transfer pricing disputes between the two countries in Information Technology (Software Development) Services and Information Technology enabled Services [ITeS] segments are expected to be resolved under this agreement during the current year. So far, 35 disputes have been resolved and another 100 are likely to be resolved in the next three months.

The framework agreement with the US opens the door for signing of bilateral APA with the US. The MAP programmes with other countries like Japan and UK are also progressing well with regular meetings and resolution of past disputes. These initiatives will go a long way in providing stable tax environment to foreign investors doing business in India.

[A_Gupta]

Question - if the US Congress rejects the nuclear deal with Iran and overrides Obama's veto of their rejection, what will the Indian stand be? Will India cooperate in further sanctions, or simply tell the US, you had your chance, now forget it?

Since NY Senator Democrat Chuck Schumer has just come out against the Iran deal, and so did a major contributor to the Hilary Clinton campaign, I think the above hypothetical is less remote now.

[Pulikeshi]

^^^Honestly think democracies have to let their elected heads make deals and keep them - else why negotiate with the head when the real head is the US Congress, etc. - accept my argument is why negotiate with a car salesman, when the manager of sales is the one who has the negotiating power.

However, this is not what you asked.... for India if anything, as subtly hinted by Obama - more sweeteners may be required for the chai-biskoot to continue... while oil digestion mechanism has switched to new pro-biotics in refineries, even if there is no urgency, there is no leverage to keep the crude intake at current ratio...
subse bada rupaiya!

All that said, election year politicking for Jewish lobby duollars may run over well laid plans to avoid war - longer run for US.

[vina]

Since NY Senator Democrat Chuck Schumer has just come out against the Iran deal, and so did a major contributor to the Hilary Clinton campaign, I think the above hypothetical is less remote now.

Schmuck Choomer represents the Jewish vote in NY (and more correctly the orthodox vote) and it is expected he would fall on the side of no deal with Iran . It is going to be a hard sell by Obama, but I do think that US-Iran deal will happen.

[A_Gupta]

The American voters oppose the Iran deal 2-1.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-even ... aseID=2265

Of course,
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/08/07/c ... cks-obama/

Will this seal the fate of the deal in the Senate? Too soon to say. Overriding a veto is a big deal which requires significant arm twisting and we may be forgetting one option which Schumer still has in his pocket. He could vote to disapprove the agreement, wait for Obama to veto it, and then start talking about why overriding the veto would be the wrong approach. He would have made his statement in support of Israel with his vote and then might be able to fall back on the need for a cordial environment in later statements. Alternatively, he could do his own informal whip count and identify others who might want to stop the override and privately assure them that he’s okay with that and they wouldn’t be making an enemy of him if they did so.

We’ve seen more Machiavellian maneuvers than that before, and Schumer has been playing this game for a long time.

PS: this was written a couple of days before Schumer announced his stand, worth a read:
http://www.vox.com/2015/8/5/9101063/chu ... -iran-deal

The question remains, what would India's policy be if the Iran deal falls through because of the US Congress?

[svinayak]

The question remains, what would India's policy be if the Iran deal falls through because of the US Congress?

India has to look after Indian Interest

[CRamS]

The American voters oppose the Iran deal 2-1.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-even ... aseID=2265

A_GuptaJi, I will take American voters' opinion more seriously on issue such as: the latest NFL rankings, or latest Vicortia secret designer thongs, or latest travel list on romantic destinations put out by US news & world report etc; more seriously than their views on something as cerebral as the Iran nuke deal about which they get their gyan from Megal Kelly & Co on Fox news.

[Tuvaluan]

The question remains, what would India's policy be if the Iran deal falls through because of the US Congress?

Considering that GoI nowadays (but NOT during the MMS/SSM days) is acknowledging that it needs to deal with Iran on its own even if it means diverging from US policy, that could mean no change in moves to work on the Chahbahar route to Central Asia and other mutual interests. US congress failing the vote actually works in India's favor, assuming that the GoI is not going to continue holding Indian interests hostage to US's iran policy as it has in the recent past...

[sivab]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... mesofindia

India's 'substantial sacrifice' in backing sanctions helped seal Iran nuclear deal: White House

WASHINGTON: Acknowledging India's "substantial sacrifice" in backing the sanctions regime against Iran, the White House has again warned that if the Republican-controlled Congress unilaterally kills the Iran nuclear deal, it would greatly damage America's standing.

"No longer would countries like India, who have been making a substantial sacrifice over the years, have any interest or incentive to continue to enforce those sanctions against Iran," White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Friday.

Indian leaders had agreed to curtail the import of oil from Iran making an "economic sacrifice" and backed the sanctions against Tehran to advance US effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon through diplomacy, he said.

"In essence ...countries like India had agreed that they would take these steps, even at their own expense, to try to reach this broader international agreement," he said.

Earnest recalled that when the sanctions were originally put in place, US officials travelled around the world "including to India, sat down with the Indian government and asked them to curtail the amount of Iranian oil that they imported into the country".

"And we acknowledged in the context of those discussions that this would be an economic sacrifice that the people of India and that the economy of India would have to make," he said.

"But Indian leaders agreed to it by saying that this is something that they were willing to do if they can advance our effort to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon through diplomacy," Earnest said.

"And the good news is that that agreement has been reached. And it is an agreement that is supported by the international community - 99 percent of the world as the President (Barack Obama) has described it," Earnest said.

"And that's why it would be so damaging to the standing of the United States for the United States Congress to act unilaterally to kill this deal," he said.

"No longer would countries like India, who have been making a substantial sacrifice over the years, have any interest or incentive to continue to enforce those sanctions against Iran," Earnest said.

"There is no basis, there is no credible claim for why they would be willing to do that," he said.

"And there is no denying the significant negative impact on United States credibility for the United States to be isolated in this way."

"That's why the president has said if Congress were to move forward to kill this deal or kill this agreement, it would, in fact, yield a better deal for Iran," Earnest said.

"Because what we would see is that Iran would get sanctions relief; they would have the ability to sell oil to India and get the proceeds of doing so...without having to submit to the most intrusive set of inspections that have ever been imposed on a country's nuclear programme," he said.

"That's why I've long said that the case before Congress is that Iran is going to get sanctions relief," Earnest said.

"The question is whether or not the United States and the international community is going to get anything for it. And that is ultimately the choice before members of Congress right now," he said.

[Arjun]

What did MMS govt get for all the sacrifice of its own interests re Iran? Or did it just happen to be in line with the UPA vision of keeping India as a second-rung non-player in world affairs?

[Arjun]

Chrstophe Jaffrelot treats us to unmitigated BS in his latest article: Going soft.

The PEW survey regarding religions that he references was carried out in June 2014. Hindus as expected came out below other Christians and Jews and far above Muslims, from the standpoint of respect accorded by the American public. Among atheists and agnostics, Hindus had a higher rating than even Christians. This was the first such survey and there was no other earlier survey to compare this rating with.

The rating of Hindus is low only among evangelicals - and I certainly hope India will take necessary steps to take the rating even lower in future years among evangelicals. That is obviously one section that India is NOT in the least bit interested in currying any favour with.

A Gallup survey conducted in Feb 2015 rates India among 7 countries with the highest approval ratings among Americans. This came out after the supposed news on Church attacks in late 2014 and early 2015 - and is an improvement of India's image from surveys conducted in earlier years.

What kind of stupidity is the author trying to preach by implying that India's image has gone down among Americans - when the data suggests the precise opposite?? I doubt that India cares much for these stupid polls and it certainly would not have mattered even if American perception of India had been lower - but it is surprising that a supposed sarkari historian of Jaffrelot's standing would peddle such crap on the basis of false data. Must say my own opinon regarding French IQ which used to be pretty high earlier, has taken a deep downward dive after this piece of idiocy from Christophe.

[chetak]

Chrstophe Jaffrelot treats us to unmitigated BS in his latest article: Going soft.

The PEW survey regarding religions that he references was carried out in June 2014. Hindus as expected came out below other Christians and Jews and far above Muslims, from the standpoint of respect accorded by the American public. Among atheists and agnostics, Hindus had a higher rating than even Christians. This was the first such survey and there was no other earlier survey to compare this rating with.

The rating of Hindus is low only among evangelicals - and I certainly hope India will take necessary steps to take the rating even lower in future years among evangelicals. That is obviously one section that India is NOT in the least bit interested in currying any favour with.

A Gallup survey conducted in Feb 2015 rates India among 7 countries with the highest approval ratings among Americans. This came out after the supposed news on Church attacks in late 2014 and early 2015 - and is an improvement of India's image from surveys conducted in earlier years.

What kind of stupidity is the author trying to preach by implying that India's image has gone down among Americans - when the data suggests the precise opposite?? I doubt that India cares much for these stupid polls and it certainly would not have mattered even if American perception of India had been lower - but it is surprising that a supposed sarkari historian of Jaffrelot's standing would peddle such crap on the basis of false data. Must say my own opinon regarding French IQ which used to be pretty high earlier, has taken a deep downward dive after this piece of idiocy from Christophe.

This bigot has always been as anti Hindu and anti India as they come. No surprises here.

[Vayutuvan]

Arjun: good question followed by a good post on jaffrelot. I think India's name was mentioned to drive a wedge between India and Iran, at least in part. U.S.'s thinking could be that modi, unlike MMS's puppet master, is going to put his interests ahead of India's.