Why the doubt about whether IB/agencies knew about this meet?devesh wrote:as long as the concerned sections of the state knew of this visit and the contents discussed at the meeting, I am "ok". but that is the question. does the IB know what went on at this meeting?
The guy is an idiot. A photo and a video can be taken less publicly by a cell phone. My phone has a 8 MP camera and shoots HD video at 30 fps. What more do you want for surveillance?Aditya_V wrote:Not sure if this is the right thread, but yesterday while driving home, outside the US consulate in Chennai, I saw guy with a DSLR and a Tripod being escorted by Security and 3 cops. And isnt this India, it seems US laws apply here for Photography restrictions, too.
Date: 2011-11-12 Place: Washington DC
"By purchasing Barack Obama Toilet Paper, you are single handedly helping to strengthen the very fibres that weave together this great nation of ours," at least, so claim its makers at ObamaToiletPaper.com.
"Make your opinion known by wiping your behind with the face of the 44th president of the United States," an online description of the bathroom product reads.
According to the website, "Gone are the days where political activism and personal cleanliness were treated as two different entities."
Indeed, now, with the emergence of Obama Toilet Paper, they certainly are. In fact, its makers contend it's one of the most patriotic purchases you might make all holiday season, by supporting American small business.
“We do support activities of Indian think-tanks and institutions from time to time.” As proof, he says his organisation Bharti plans to fund India’s first dedicated public policy institute in Mohali, likely to come up next year.
These are direct inference inside India. THey are for shaping the public opinion and India should not let foriegn countries inside India. Why dont they have it inside China? Why not inside Pakistan.Bharath.Subramanyam wrote:What do you all think about this?
US Think Tanks wants to have centers in India.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278938
"The right way to deal with Pakistan is to recognize that Pakistan is not a country, like other countries, with a strong political center that you can go to and say, 'Gee, can we come here, will you take care of this problem?'" Romney said. "This is instead a nation which is close to being a failed state. I hope it doesn't reach that point, but it's really a fragile nation," he said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry said in response to a question about whether Islamabad was playing a double game with Washington. "Pakistan is clearly sending us messages ... that they don't deserve our foreign aid ... because they're not being honest with us," he added. "American soldiers' lives are being put at jeopardy because of that country ... and it's time for us as a country to say no to foreign aid to countries that don't support the United States of America," he said.
Some Republican candidates argued that the United States has little choice but to nurture relations with Pakistan, citing the fact that it has nuclear arms and that it has to be part of the solution in Afghanistan.
Philip wrote:The US want "think tanks" in India! SO that the IDSA and other orgs. can be dumped into the IOR.Next they will want to have House of Rep. and SEnate members,Hon.MPs of the LS and RS.Are they not satisfied with having their puppet as PM?
Mukesh Ambani is part of US thinktank CFR http://dc127.4shared.com/doc/l_7-keT7/preview.htmlramana wrote:Philip wrote:The US want "think tanks" in India! SO that the IDSA and other orgs. can be dumped into the IOR.Next they will want to have House of Rep. and SEnate members,Hon.MPs of the LS and RS.Are they not satisfied with having their puppet as PM?
I guess you mean
'Next they will want the US Congress members in Indian Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and their President in Rasthrapati Bhavan.'
The guys left the Commonwealth in 1784.
Guess they are regretting it now!
Some of us have very antiUS attitude in discussing everything. I wish to highlight those points highlighted here.•Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Over 100 years old, this think-tank works on policies to strengthen America's engagement with the outside world. Has centres in several world capitals.
•Brookings Institution
Based in Washington and famous worldwide, it works on policies related to strategic issues
•Rand Corporation
Perceived to be close to the US defence establishment, it has branched off into areas like health. Looking for an Indian partner for a presence here.
•Centre for International and Strategic Studies
It has been working closely with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Recently set up the Wadhwani Chair to forge closer ties between India and the US on economic and security issues.
•Heritage Foundation
A conservative think-tank, it has been engaged for some years now with Indian think-tanks on specific projects. Now wants to increase its focus on India and India-related issues.
joshvajohn wrote:Some of us have very antiUS attitude in discussing everything. I wish to highlight those points highlighted here.•Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Over 100 years old, this think-tank works on policies to strengthen America's engagement with the outside world. Has centres in several world capitals.
•Brookings Institution
Based in Washington and famous worldwide, it works on policies related to strategic issues
•Rand Corporation
Perceived to be close to the US defence establishment, it has branched off into areas like health. Looking for an Indian partner for a presence here.
•Centre for International and Strategic Studies
It has been working closely with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). Recently set up the Wadhwani Chair to forge closer ties between India and the US on economic and security issues.
•Heritage Foundation
A conservative think-tank, it has been engaged for some years now with Indian think-tanks on specific projects. Now wants to increase its focus on India and India-related issues.
Some of these institutions only advocating peace studies and other related studies. They are all not US government think tanks nor they influence or shape US policies. They are also not to enter into another country to influence their countries' mindset. Some of us are just ignorant and bring our own usual fears about these institutions. This in no way would negate the point that they might have influenced some of the public opionion at times in some areas.
The first centre is established even in Beijing and Moscow - http://carnegieendowment.org/about/index.cfm?fa=beijing
Look at some of their views as usual American views but in Beijing and Moscow not many bothers and it does not make any huge influence on them. There are some counter views also given. This is where education begins not by distancing ourselves from American people.
Brookings again is an institution to strengthen American Democracy and international relations.
Centre for International and Strategic Studies is already in Peking University and also in Jakarta.
In some ways Tthese institutions are extending their centres to network with the wider world not simply influence the other world possibly to engage with them and listen to them as well.
http://www.rand.org/about/glance.htmlMission
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Sonia Gandhi and India's Democratic Dynasty
November 14, 2011
Bruce Riedel
She is arguably the most powerful woman in the world today, perhaps one of the most powerful women in history. She is the political leader of the world’s largest democracy, soon to be the largest country in terms of population. Yet she has been recently hospitalized for a serious illness abroad, and we don’t know what the illness is or how sick she may be. Sonia Gandhi is India’s most Catholic sovereign.
In early August, the Congress Party of India, which has ruled the country for almost its entire history since the end of the British Raj, announced that Mrs. Gandhi, the party leader, was abroad for health reasons. The illness was not revealed. She returned a month later, and no more details were provided on her status or why she had sought treatment overseas. She resumed her duties as party leader and the de facto boss of India today. She has made very few public appearances, but when she has been photographed she has looked agile and fit.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, we are told, does know what ails his boss, but very few other Indian officials are in the know. Gandhi guards her privacy carefully. What is most astounding is that the Indian press, among the most vibrant in the world, has chosen collectively to give her space.
Gandhi is without question the power behind the throne. She has led the party as its president since 1998 and engineered its surprise electoral victory in 2004 and its even more stunning victory in 2008. She is also chairman of the ruling coalition. India’s economy has grown on her watch, modest reforms have been introduced and the civilian nuclear-power agreement concluded and signed with America. Relations with rival Pakistan have modestly improved despite the November 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, the worst terrorist incident in the world since 9/11. Sonia probably deserves the bulk of the credit for holding back from a military response to the attack and giving diplomacy a chance.
She was born Eduige Antonia Albina Maino in the province of Veneto in Italy on December 9. 1946, and she grew up in a modest village in the Piedmont near Torino. Her father was a Mussolini supporter who had fought with the Italian army on the eastern front with the Nazis in World War II. She remains a Catholic but celebrates Hindu festivals and traditions. In 1965, she met her future husband in Cambridge, England, where she was studying English and he was enrolled at university. She was waiting on tables in a Greek restaurant when love struck(Guess Subramanian Swamy was right about 'lady janes lovelies'). By all accounts it was a romance. Rajiv and Sonia had a son and a daughter. He became prime minister in 1984 after his mother, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. He was assassinated in 1989 by a female Tamil terrorist.
The murders of her mother in law and husband affected Gandhi tremendously. She was very close to Indira, and some suggest she tries now to take on the appearance of her role model. Security has been intense for her since Rajiv’s death. I remember changing cars twice when visiting her bungalow in New Delhi in 1998. Both vehicles were part of her security detachment, but apparently even they were not judged safe enough. At first she was reluctant to take power, but she finally agreed. Now power seems natural to this remarkable woman.
Media speculation has suggested she was treated for cancer in New York in August, but that is not confirmed. She has yet to give an in-depth press interview since returning from her trip, and instead she is focused on her job and her children. Her son Rahul is widely seen as the next Gandhi to take power. It is the most powerful democratically elected dynasty in history. The founder, Nehru, was India’s first prime minister and ruled from 1947 until his death in 1964. His daughter Indira served as PM from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her murder in 1984. Her son, Rajiv, was in office for five years. Collectively, the three ruled India for 39 of its first 42 years as an independent state. The Roosevelts and Bushs seem short timers in contrast.
It is all but inconceivable that the American press would give our most powerful politician the privacy that India has afforded Gandhi. Despite the cutthroat nature of the Indian media and its penchant for the sensational, the press has behaved as if it were in an older era. It is refreshing.
Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. A career CIA officer, he has advised four presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues in the White House on the staff of the NSC. He is author of The Search for Al-Qaeda (Brookings Institution Press, 2008) and the forthcoming Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of the Global Jihad (Brookings Institution Press, 2011).
When Modi becomes PM, he should never visit USA and neither should he host a US President in India.Aditya_V wrote:No change in US visa policy with regard to Modi: Blake
Yes US gives Visa only to Paki Dictators and Politicians under whose watch thousands of Minority Shias, Ahmedis, Balochis, CHristians and Hindus have been massacred.
India is not ready for it. With India media controlled by outsiders and we have large section of the population who are unaware of the outside world this is a major issue.Philip wrote:i am all for intercourse-social I mean (!),between US and Indian thinktanks,One must let the winds of thought from all over the globe breeze through our windows,without getting sewpt off our feet,if I can convey Gandhiji's sentiments.These meets could be annual occassions,exchange meets,etc.,to understand each other better,no problem with that.However,having these entities based in India,"working along with NGOs" immediately has the red lights flashing,as we've seen how NGOs and foreign entities are meddling in the KKN nuclear controversy.Allowing foreign "think tanks" which have intricate ties to the US military and intel establishment based in India is allowing the camel into the tent.In the digital age,when cyberspace communications allows teleconferencing,which we see every day in the media,exchange of ideas is easy.Having an official presence allows for "meeting the man in his chambers" and we al know what that leads to.
India is not ready for it. With India media controlled by outsiders and we have large section of the population who are unaware of the outside world this is a major issue.Philip wrote:i am all for intercourse-social I mean (!),between US and Indian thinktanks,One must let the winds of thought from all over the globe breeze through our windows,without getting sewpt off our feet,if I can convey Gandhiji's sentiments.These meets could be annual occassions,exchange meets,etc.,to understand each other better,no problem with that.However,having these entities based in India,"working along with NGOs" immediately has the red lights flashing,as we've seen how NGOs and foreign entities are meddling in the KKN nuclear controversy.Allowing foreign "think tanks" which have intricate ties to the US military and intel establishment based in India is allowing the camel into the tent.In the digital age,when cyberspace communications allows teleconferencing,which we see every day in the media,exchange of ideas is easy.Having an official presence allows for "meeting the man in his chambers" and we al know what that leads to.
Indian interest is for Indian interest and it is not for other countries. India cannot further the interest of any other country including any superpower.devesh wrote:who cares if RAND is right wing or left wing? why the f#$# does it matter? it's an American geopolitical think tank committed to American causes and the supremacy of American power in the world. isn't that enough to decide whether we want to allow such institutions to hire Indians who will slave away for the cause of American empire, regardless of the consequences for India?
Monotapash Mukherjee - 11/14/2011
America’s Belated Awakening
At a time when the US is witnessing WALL STREET protests, unemployment is increasing, defense cuts are imminent ,the SPACE SHUTTLE has retired and the space ambition has been shelved, the soldiers are preparing to return from Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran is nearing nuclear capability, the UNESCO has granted membership to Palestine, Pakistan is refusing US dictates, China is set to conquer the space ,America’s loss of the Indian MMRCA deal was a huge setback to the US defense and aerospace industries.
This deal could have created thousands of jobs, rejuvenated the moribund aerospace industry, and cemented the strategic partnership with India. Initially mistaking the deal to be in its favour, the US tried to bargain hard by refusing to part with the source code of the fighters. The US went slow on the nuclear deal. It also dithered in removing the tech denial regime. These instead of cementing the relationship between the oldest and the largest democracies of the world pushed them apart and destroyed the budding alliance between them. Russia bagged the 5th Generation fighter aircraft deal. This also failed to make the US budge. Finally it lost the MMRCA contract.
Belatedly the US Congress has secured the Pentagon NOC to go full steam with India in the defense arena and offered the high tech JSF35.The Obama administration failed to read the writing on the wall and began to woo China, When China startled the US by displaying the J20 stealth bomber and a report about a Chinese Carrier killing missile came out, the US understood the reality.
Now as the dragon fire is set to engulf the whole of Asia, the US is ringing the alarm bell. But this is also the time for the US and India to unite.
At this juncture when India is reportedly facing problems with regard to the seeker technology for the China killer(Agni5),the US stubbornness in lifting the tech denial will not only harm India but also the US. So the sooner the US wakes up, the better.
India Encounters Psycho-war
When the news of China’s carrier-killing missile project came out, the US reacted with surprise and insecurity .China startled the US defense secretary during his China visit by showing a prototype of J20, allegedly a stealth fighter. Recently China has the alarmed the US by displaying models of 25 types of drones. All these are part of China’s long –term psycho-warfare project, for these weapons are not combat proven and most of China’s military hardwires are antiquated.
Psycho-warfare can be unleashed with some economic or diplomatic or military policies or actions or by the development, acquisition or display of some weapon systems.
Of all the countries in the world, China mostly uses psycho weapons, at least against the US and India, for China is apprehensive of the overwhelming military superiority of the US and the explosive potential of India as a challenger.
Through repeated incursions into the Indian Territory, cyber intrusions, its soldier presence in the POK, the display of its A-sat capability, the development of new weapon systems, positioning of advanced missiles in Tibet, unconfirmed release of pictures on the internet, issuing stapled visas, sending its engineering divisions for war-games in Pakistan, its change of nuclear doctrine---China is engaging more in psycho strategies than real military preparedness.
Pakistan has mastered the art of psycho-war from its accomplice, China very well. It flew the F16s over Islamabad in the aftermath of 26/11 to draw world attention. It unveiled the Hatf9 missile to blunt India’s Cold Start doctrine. It always uses nuclear weapon as a psycho weapon against India.
It tries to bring Afghanistan under the Chinese umbrella. So it has unleashed psycho war against the US, India and the Afghan government to keep Afghanistan under its influence.
Russia till date is continuing psycho-war against India through its two big ticket items---Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier and the Nerpa class nuclear submarine by delaying their delivery because Russia is angry with India for leaving the Russian defense market to court the US , Israel and Europe.
But the most significant theatre of psycho war is to be seen between China and India. As India comes closer to the US and Europe and its resource hunt clashes with that of China’s, the psycho war is bound to intensify.
Now is India’s turn. It has to hit hard at the Achilles’ heel. It. has already agreed to oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea oil blocks belonging to Vietnam. It can unnerve China through a series of steps. India can review the One China policy and raise questions about Tibet and Taiwan. It can supply missile technology to Vietnam and build a naval alliance with Japan. India can build an alternative power centre against China. It can avail of NATO’s missile defense offer. But India must follow some steps to contain China. It must build several types of Agni5 missile. It should indicate its review of NO FIRST USE nuclear policy. India’s recent change of military doctrine to fight war in enemy territory is a welcome decision. India can test BB bombs too. In fact there can be many innovative psycho weapons which can be employed with ingenuity and perfect timing. India’s new war doctrine and foray into the South China Sea have been two fours in the first over. Let’s hope for the sixes.
Monotapash Mukherjee runs a blog on defense and strategic affairs at http://kpj07.blogspot.com
http://www.globalpolitician.com/27172-usa-india-warfare
Philip saar,Philip wrote:True Rajesh and right now Malaysia is conducting a mock trial of war criminals Bush and Blair! These two worthies have been responsible for lakhs of deaths in Iraq.The GOI should the next time round ban Bush and Blair (the "butchers" of Baghdad,Fallujah,etc.) from entering India and warn them that if they do they would be arrested,as Pinochet was in the UK some years ago.If they ban Mr.Modi from viiting their cvountries the same yardstick should apply to them.
Indians have to understand better. US is doing all this deliberately and not due to surpirse of PRC. They do not want to get entangled in Asian war but they want to just ignite the war.VinayG wrote:
America’s Belated Awakening
Monotapash Mukherjee - 11/14/2011
America’s Belated Awakening
Initially mistaking the deal to be in its favour, the US tried to bargain hard by refusing to part with the source code of the fighters. The US went slow on the nuclear deal. It also dithered in removing the tech denial regime. These instead of cementing the relationship between the oldest and the largest democracies of the world pushed them apart and destroyed the budding alliance between them. Russia bagged the 5th Generation fighter aircraft deal. This also failed to make the US budge. Finally it lost the MMRCA contract.
When China startled the US by displaying the J20 stealth bomber and a report about a Chinese Carrier killing missile came out, the US understood the reality.
Now as the dragon fire is set to engulf the whole of Asia, the US is ringing the alarm bell. But this is also the time for the US and India to unite.