Bharat Rakshak

nakul wrote: . But for the time being, Pakistan is irreplaceable in the US geopolitical calculus.

nakul wrote: America does not DPRK as it has SK and Japan. America does not have any substitute for Pakistan in the region. They will try to support Afghanistan. But for the time being, Pakistan is irreplaceable in the US geopolitical calculus.

If this century has, in the famous phrase, made the world safe for democracy, the next challenge is to make a world safe for diversity. It is in India’s interest to ensure that the world as a whole must reflect the idea that is already familiar to all Indians-that it shouldn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, the kind of food you eat, the sounds you make when you speak, the God you choose to worship (or not), so long as you want to play by the same rules as everybody else, and dream the same dreams. . . .This is a huge challenge, and one to which India must rise. . . .
We can do it. India is turning increasingly outward as a result of our new economic profile on the global stage, our more dispersed interests around the world, and the reality that other countries, in our neighbourhood as well as in Africa, are looking to us for support and security.
This is a vision of India’s role in the world that fits well with much of what the U.S. would like to see, and suggests that Indian-U.S. common interests go far beyond our mutual concerns about China.

JwalaMukhi wrote:^Touche.
Unkil has facilitated even "new clear weapun" to pakis to up the ante. But that is also insufficient and it requires to do more. India has quietly matched and upped the ante.

It is like durg addict in advanced stage, more supply is needed to get little kick. It is in fix because any further injection of weapons to pakis will result in fall out that directly starts affecting unkil itself. So supply more drugs to the addict, and he will start abusing the supplier because now he is being enabled to do the same.

Unkil is pursuing lot of asuric ways. No doubt about that. Opium wars to supplying weapons are a forte of the west.

Plenty of precious Indian antiques which are thousands of years old and worth millions of dollars in the international market have been seized from the Manhattan gallery. These sculptures were smuggled from India for hawking into major US museums.
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seized three Chola period bronzes which could be stolen directly from Tamil Nadu temple.(therefore priceless, not 'antiques')..
it is yet to be known whether the antiques will be returned to India or not, a home land security official said that the sculptures are returned to the government facility for preservation.
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but these are the national heritage of the nation from where they are robbed and are priceless
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Apart from the sculptures, a sandstone statue depicting Kubera, the chief of the Yakshas, from the Indian Gupta period; a grey statue depicting Herkules-Vajrapani from the Kandahran Kushan period; and a sculpture depicting Shakyamuni Buddham from the Indian Chola period was also recovered by HSI agents.

D Roy wrote:Question

What is the Oil lobby's chief gain from backing Pakistan heading into the 2020s?

Anonymous said...

I asked this comment of your colleague Mr Aroor(google "livefist") but he was too cowardly to post it. I know you will not follow his timid footsteps.

My Question, seeing Boeing has laid the red carpet for certain journos - is this trip paid for by Boeing AND/OR have they also paid for journos expenses etc.

If they have, is there a quid pro quo (either express or implied) from them about positive stories for them.

Finally, isn't this merely a media and marketing gimmick by them whereby they get amazing coverage for almost nothing?

Here is hoping you publish my queries.

All the best

PHL

@ Anonymous 17:19

To answer your question directly: I am traveling at Boeing's expense, interacting with their international marketing executives in Washington DC... and visiting the CH-47 and V-22 plants at Philadelphia; the P-8I and civil airliner facilities at Seattle; the AH-64 line at Mesa, Arizona; and the C-17 line at Long Beach, California.

Has Boeing laid the red carpet? No. They pay our travel and accommodation bills and everything other than that is paid for by us. There is no "daily allowance" or "cash reimbursement" or anything other than what I've recounted. They are bound by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act not to offer any inducements and --- it is quite evident --- that they live in mortal dread of running afoul of US law!

But to address the more important part of your question: what makes you think that a journalist will always write a positive story for someone who has paid his/her travel bills? How does it make a difference to me whether Business Standard is paying my bill, or Boeing is? At the end of the day, I'll still write the same story!

Why talk in parables, let's take the example of the story that I have filed. Its key argument is that Boeing is under financial pressure from dwindling US budgets... and that it desperately needs the Indian (and Asia-Pacific) markets. Hardly a flattering picture!

Other than that, it reports pure facts and figures. Would you argue with anything specific in the story? Do let me know.

So let's not get into conspiracy theorizing! Slamming charges against people is easy, but the fact is that it would take a great (GREAT) deal more to buy most journalists than zig-zagging them from plant to plant until they are half dead with jet lag! And then cramming them into yet another flight to yet another plant...

There is absolutely no quid pro quo with Boeing.

I guess it's pretty pointless trying to convince people whose minds are already made up. But I thought it would be only fair to answer your question directly.

nakul wrote:This is a common occurrence in many industries. The unwritten code of understanding is that the journalist would be invited for future events only if they write positive interviews about the company. Microsoft is known to sponsor a trip for pro Microsoft journalists to Redmond prior to the release of Windows. On their part, journalists tend to write glowing reviews about the product to reserve their seat for future tours.

shyam wrote:Journalist reporting after a trip paid for by the vendor is similar to a rating agency rating a mortgage backed security paid for by the MBS creator. If a journalist is truely independent, his/her trip must be sponsored by the journal that he is associated with or is writing for and certainly not by the vendor.

Washington: India is a key part of efforts of the Obama Administration to rebalance its Asia-Pacific posture to the broader security and prosperity of the 21st century, a top Pentagon official said, adding India-U.S. relationship is global in scope.
“India is also key part of our rebalance to the Asia-Pacific, and, we believe, to the broader security and prosperity of the 21st century.

“The U.S.-India relationship is global in scope, like the reach and influence of both countries,” the Deputy Secretary of Defence, Ashton Carter, said in his address to the Asia Society in New York yesterday.“Our security interests converge: on maritime security, across the Indian Ocean region; in Afghanistan, where India has done so much for economic development and the Afghan security forces; and on broader regional issues, where we share long-term interests,” said Carter who returned last week from his 10-day Asia Pacific trip including India.

“I went to India at the request of Secretary Panetta with a high-level delegation of U.S. technical and policy experts. Our purpose was to work with the Indians on developing a joint vision for U.S.-India defense cooperation,” he said.

“Through a series of meetings with Indian government and industry leaders, we agreed to create a continuing working mechanism, with the strategic engagement of National Security Advisor (Shiv Shankar) Menon and myself, to implement our vision,” Carter said.

“We believe that the only limit to our cooperation should be our independent strategic decisions – as any two states can differ – not bureaucratic obstacles or inefficient procedures.

“So we are deepening relationships between our defense organizations, from research to defense sales,” the top Pentagon official said.

WHAT OBAMA WANTS - Ashok Mitra

.......
Obama is, in a sense, right. Outsourcing implies substituting high-wage American labour by subcontracting work to, for instance, Asians who can be fobbed off by paying 80 to 90 per cent less than the going American wage rate for a comparable job. That apart, the US administration loves the idea of the excess supply of professional persons, including even lawyers, accountants, doctors, college and university teachers, being exported to India, but which would spell trouble for India’s vast middle classes, and would be politically difficult for the government to go along with. However, the pressure is there, particularly on the ministry of human resources; the ambivalence of policy-makers has been all too noticeable. The corporate sector, as impatient as the US president that the introduction of ‘second and third generation reforms’ had been delayed, would want the government to act on its pledge to unleash the animal spirit once more without further dithering.

What exactly are these supposedly crucial reforms belonging to the second and third generation categories? The roster is fairly long and comprehensive: permitting greater entry of foreign banks and insurance companies in the Indian market, withdrawal of existing ceilings on foreign direct investment, further reduction of direct taxes including a commitment to stay away from the disgusting practice of retrospective taxation, expeditious lowering of the tariff barriers on the import of farm products, thoroughgoing reform of labour laws with severe curtailment of trade union rights, more free economic zones, accelerating improvements in the economic infrastructure especially in the areas of transport and communications, no further procrastination over carrying out the conditions of the Indo-US nuclear agreement, wholesale withdrawal of subsidies, a monetary policy of cheap interest rates, further liberalization of capital account controls, no interference with the autonomy of stock exchange.

Caving in to these demands amounts, in most cases, to the delegation to foreigners a substantial chunk of basic decisions on socio-economic policies. The denouement, a few might even comment, would be akin to surrendering a piece of the nation’s sovereignty. There are still others who think that the sacrifice is worth going through, the outcome is going to be a return to the nearly 10 per cent growth trajectory of the gross domestic product and all that. They need to be yanked out of their romantic reverie though. The data are a clincher. The phase of buoyant GDP growth experienced in the course of the past decade was sourced in expanding demand, only a minor particle of which originated within the country — from the 100 to 160 million who constitute the affluent and the emerging middle classes. It was, by and large, export-driven, spurred by the export of softwares, minerals, raw materials, semi-manufactures, some manufactures. The US had a significant role in the whole process by being the leading recipient of such exports.

The picture threatens to change drastically from now on. Should the Congress-led regime in New Delhi, rejuvenated by its triumph in the presidential poll, decide, what the heck, to be the full-scale comprador and bow down to American diktat, the worst affected are bound to be, apart from the peasantry and small traders and artisans, the emerging middle class. Foreigners are going to come in and take away quite a bit of our trade and professions. (huh? is this is something new iam hearing) This development would have a depressing effect on domestic demand. The much bigger disappointment, though, would be with export demand, the main propeller of growth in the preceding decade.

We could give all the concessions to the Americans’ demand. But, as long as the US economy stagnates — and there is hardly any indication that it would make a recovery in the near future — resumption of Indian economic growth, too, would be a mirage within the existing framework of economic policy and practice. The measures Obama is proposing to discipline outsourcing, for instance, might actually spell disaster for India’s IT industry. In any case, the sufferings caused by the reforms being demanded for India by the US president to the country’s masses are of no concern.

The message beamed by Obama is stridently John F. Kennedy-esque: ask not what the great US can do for India. Better ask what you — lazy, laggard Indians — can do for America, period.

When American money lights LAMPs in our House

By Cithara Paul & yatish yadav - NEW DELHI

05th August 2012

The Home Ministry is probing the role of the Ford Foundation in trying to influence the Indian legislative process by funding Research Assistants who help MPs improve their parliamentary skills. About 300 MPs are part of various programmes of PRS Legislative Research—an NGO that is sponsored by the Ford foundation and other domestic agencies and comes under the ambit of the Centre of Policy Research Studies (CPRS).

Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan firmly denies knowledge of foreign funding. “I was not aware of the Ford foundation hand and does not know the developments in the Home Ministry. So I can’t comment any more.”

When asked about the importance of providing technical and legal support to MPs, Mullappilli said, “I feel, we should have some alternate mechanism for making research available to legislators, and this process should exclusively be funded from public money,’’ the Minister said.

However, Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMM) feels differently. “I knew that Ford Foundation was funding the PRS. But how does it matter? I am not concerned whether it is Ford or any XYZ who is funding the scheme as long as it was helping us in doing better legislative work. I have benefitted a lot”, he said.

PRS, which has been running the programme since 2010, insists that there is nothing secretive and said that all the allegations are biased.

“We support the work of MPs by providing them with research support on legislative proposals before Parliament. We only provide data and analysis, and do not recommend or advocate any particular position or policy action. We also try to build a higher engagement between citizens and legislators by publishing data on the activity of Parliament,’’ M R Madhavan, Head-of-Research at PRS told The Sunday Standard.

PRS also denied any kind of lobbying and insisted that all that they do is help MPs whose names have been forwarded by the Constitutional Club, an official body of legislators which helps them to “discharge Parliamentary and allied social obligations.’’

“Our Parliament does not have a mechanism to provide research inputs to legislators, other than photocopies of recent newspaper articles on the subject. MPs are not provided with qualified research staff. This makes it very difficult for them to prepare adequately to discharge their role as lawmakers,’’ is the official response to queries from The Sunday Standard.

PRS says its core task is analysing pending legislation and preparing short Legislative Briefs.

“These briefs are sent to all MPs by post. Individual MPs and leadership groups of political parties then call PRS for briefings or to seek more clarifications. When Parliament is in session, PRS conducts Wednesday morning briefing sessions for MPs at the Constitution Club of India,’’ PRS stated.

According to PRS, MPs are badly in need of assistance as most of them come from a “very normal’’ background.

“Who will believe that MPs like Rajeev Shukla, Jay Panda, Derek O’Brien or Manish Tiwari need the support of Ford Foundation to understand policy matters?” asks a Home Ministry official.

PRS insists that it is wrong to say that every beneficiary of the Ford Foundation fund is furthering US interests. “What LAMPs does is only assist MPs in collecting details which are already in the public domain and put them into perspective,’’ a PRS official said.

But the Home Ministry insists that having foreign funded aides calling the shots in an MPs office is wrong.

“It may look nice on paper that our MPs are getting professional assistance. But it should not be forgotten that MPs have access to a whole lot of official documents, which need not be in the public domain, and these so-called assistants will naturally access them. Moreover, they may also seek any document from the Government on behalf of the MPs,” sources with the FCRA division of the Home Ministry said.

Interestingly, the Bills on which PRS has given inputs to MPs include sensitive bills like the Land Acquisition Bill. The official also argues that the research assistants can very well influence the MPs by giving valuable inputs on any matter. “Take the case of allowing FDI in retail. The researchers who are paid by the Ford Foundation which in turn is funded by retail giants like Walmart can very well influence MPs in forming an opinion on the matter,” said the source.

We get a number of requests from MPs expressing their interest to be part of the programme sensing the effectiveness of the LAMP scheme. This time we had around 80 applications. We would be launching the programme in the coming monsoon session as Home Ministry clearance is required only for foreign funding,’’ said an office bearer of the PRS. She also insisted that PRS received little funding from Ford Foundation last year. ‘The whole controversy is around Ford Foundation funding. So we would like to state on record that our funds were mostly from domestic donors,” she said.

A LAMP member insists that MPs who have applied but have not been selected for the programme are raking up a controversy. “It is mere jealousy on the part of other MPs and also the bureaucracy who may have felt slighted because of the empowered presence of LAMPs within the system. It is obvious that no bureaucrat would like to have an empowered MP who knows everything about legislation and need not require his support,” he said.

A LAMP assistant is paid `20,000. “Our salary is a pittance as most of us are eligible for any MNC job. But there is no denying the fact that close proximity with an MP adds to our resume,” said a former LAMP assistant.

Several people reported shot at Sikh temple outside Milwaukee

At least four people were reported shot Sunday morning at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., according to local media. ……………..

A witness told officers the shooter was a white male, with a heavy build, bald head and wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, Oak Creek Patch reported. ……………………

arun wrote:Breaking: Reports of shooting at Sikh temple

Added later:

Early news reports indicate a possible hate crime. A witness has indicated the perpetrator is a “white male”:

Several people reported shot at Sikh temple outside Milwaukee

At least four people were reported shot Sunday morning at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., according to local media. ……………..

A witness told officers the shooter was a white male, with a heavy build, bald head and wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, Oak Creek Patch reported. ……………………

The US has informed New Delhi that a solatium will be given to the next of kin of a Tamil Nadu fisherman killed in gunfire by US navy personnel off the Dubai coast last month. “The US embassy has kept us informed of their decision to provide what they term as solatium to the next of kin of the Indian fisherman Sekar Arumugam...,” MEA spoke-sperson Syed Akbaruddin said. However, India hoped that it would not prejudice the probe into the incident, he said. Sources said the US has offered to match the Rs 5 lakh solatium to Sekar and Rs 50,000 to each of the three injured announced by the government.

arun wrote:Breaking: Reports of shooting at Sikh temple

Added later:

Early news reports indicate a possible hate crime. A witness has indicated the perpetrator is a “white male”:

Several people reported shot at Sikh temple outside Milwaukee

At least four people were reported shot Sunday morning at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis., according to local media. ……………..

A witness told officers the shooter was a white male, with a heavy build, bald head and wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, Oak Creek Patch reported. ……………………

putnanja wrote:US offers relief to Tamil Nadu fisherman’s kin

The US has informed New Delhi that a solatium will be given to the next of kin of a Tamil Nadu fisherman killed in gunfire by US navy personnel off the Dubai coast last month. “The US embassy has kept us informed of their decision to provide what they term as solatium to the next of kin of the Indian fisherman Sekar Arumugam...,” MEA spoke-sperson Syed Akbaruddin said. However, India hoped that it would not prejudice the probe into the incident, he said. Sources said the US has offered to match the Rs 5 lakh solatium to Sekar and Rs 50,000 to each of the three injured announced by the government.

Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, when a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the prescribed blood money rates are as follows[8]:

300,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
150,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
150,000 riyals if a Christian or Jewish man
75,000 riyals if a Christian or Jewish woman
6,666 riyals if a man of any other religion
3,333 riyals if a woman of any other religion

The amount of compensation is based on the percentage of responsibility. Blood money is to be paid not only for murder, but also in case of unnatural death, interpreted to mean death in a fire, industrial or road accident, for instance, as long as the responsibility for it falls on the causer.[8]

putnanja wrote:A first: US allowed to check Indian warship

New Delhi, Aug. 6: India has for the first time permitted the US to inspect an Indian warship to ensure that the navy was not distorting its use, a senior source in the defence establishment has confirmed to The Telegraph.

This is the first time that India permitted an “intrusive” inspection of one of its key military platforms by foreigners.
...
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The equipment the US inspectors asked to check were night-vision devices used by the INS Jalashva landing platform dock and its six onboard UH-3H Seaking maritime utility transport helicopters.

Distinctly uncomfortable with the US request to inspect the equipment, the navy at first tried to fob it off. But then reached a compromise.

The navy told the US inspectors that it would remove the components from the Jalashva that is based at the eastern fleet headquarters in Vishakhapatnam where they could be checked.

It is understood that the devices were removed from the ship and the helicopters and taken to an airfield/helipad where the inspection was carried out.

The Pentagon’s Defence Sales Cooperation Agency (DSCA) classified night-vision devices as highly sensitive equipment. Modern night-vision devices used on warships are sophisticated digitised machinery packed into waterproof containers with telescopic sights.

An image intensifier highlights the target being sighted and magnifies it to a level of light that allows the trained human eye to interpret them. The digital records of the images sighted through the device can be logged. Theoretically, an inspector can go through the logs to check the images that have been sighted and recorded.
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Military equipment, such as the INS Jalashva, purchased through a government-to-government foreign military sales programme are subject to inspections under the Pentagon’s “Golden Sentry” programme that dispatches “Tiger Teams” to do the job.

Direct commercial sales of military hardware by US-based companies to India are subject to inspections under a programme called “Blue Lantern”.

Hi-Rez Retains Hindu Deities in Video Game Despite Opposition, Dialogues with HAF
New York, NY
(August 1, 2012) - The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) joined several Hindu American groups in strongly opposing the inclusion of three Hindu deities - Kali, Vamana, and Agni - in a soon-to-be released online video game, SMITE, created by Hi-Rez, an Atlanta based video game design firm. SMITE, which the makers say is an "online battle ground between gods," allows players to choose from Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and Norse gods. While parts of the Hindu pantheon are featured, iconography from other major religious traditions are absent from the game.

HAF directly contacted Hi-Rez to request the removal of Hindu Gods from the game. In an extensive dialogue with Hi-Rez Chief Operating Officer, Todd Harris, HAF's Senior Director, Sheetal Shah, explained that "use of highly revered deities as killing machines in a video game is disrespectful and offensive to Hindus worldwide," and requested they be removed from the game...

The Foundation's positions on the SMITE game were threefold: 1) Hindu deities should be removed from the game; 2) Goddess Kali's imagery was unacceptable and disrespectful; 3) HAF would provide Hi-Rez with a number of online Hinduism resources and descriptions of the three Hindu deities consistent with scripture and lore to share on the players' forum.

Despite intense deliberations with HAF, and over the protests of many Hindu Americans, Hi-Rez has decided to retain the Hindu deities in SMITE. Hi-Rez confirmed that this Friday's updated version will incorporate revised and more accurate descriptions of all three Hindu deities. Today, Mr. Harris provided links to learn more about Hinduism on the player's forum. Additionally, Hi-Rez agreed to make adjustments to the imagery and actions of Goddess Kali and the avatar Vamana in future

SMITE, which the makers say is an "online battle ground between gods," allows players to choose from Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and Norse gods.

varunkumar wrote:

SMITE, which the makers say is an "online battle ground between gods," allows players to choose from Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and Norse gods.

The Goras had a bout of amnesia and forgot to include the Christian god in the choices. If they had included Allah, it would have been even more fun with their ar*se on fire once the game became public.

SMITE, which the makers say is an "online battle ground between gods," allows players to choose from Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and Norse gods.

Dharma Community Shares in Grief of Sikh Americans

Washington, D.C.(August 5, 2012) - We, at the Hindu American Foundation, join all Americans in shared shock, disbelief, and outrage over today’s tragic events that unfolded at the holy gurudwara, or Sikh temple, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin earlier today. At least six Sikh Americans are dead, several are injured, including a valiant police officer who killed the assailant, and we face another day of catastrophe that is as outrageous as numbingly familiar.

Dharma traditions--the Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Hindus--hold non-violence and peaceful co-existence as paramount values. It is a cruel irony that Sikhs, donning the turban as among proud symbols of a spiritual mandate to serve humanity as defenders of dharma against all onslaughts, find themselves sought out and victimized by ignorant assailants on too many occasions.

We call on all Americans today to join Sikhs in mourning a senseless attack and to take this opportunity to not only learn about the sublime teachings of Sikh gurus, the Sikh faith, and the meanings of its external symbols, but also join hands to ensure that the gurudwaras remain sanctuaries of joyous worship and celebrated sharing of langar, or community meals, for generations to come.

shyam wrote:'US created the monster of China'