Bharat Rakshak

Skanda wrote:

KLNMurthy wrote: A lot of white guys apparently harbor sexual objectification fantasies about east-southeast Asian women. They somehow see them as soft, docile and compliant. “Massage parlor” businesses intentionally cater to those fantasies. Usually the women there are severely exploited.

KLNM, not to take anything away from your post. But this stereotyping of a race is racism. Racism is about stereotypes and prejudices towards a race.

Skanda wrote:

KLNMurthy wrote: A lot of white guys apparently harbor sexual objectification fantasies about east-southeast Asian women. They somehow see them as soft, docile and compliant. “Massage parlor” businesses intentionally cater to those fantasies. Usually the women there are severely exploited.

KLNM, not to take anything away from your post. But this stereotyping of a race is racism. Racism is about stereotypes and prejudices towards a race.

ShauryaT wrote:RD: Here is the state of affairs in NJ.

I was at a round table meeting with Sen. Bob Mendez. About 20 of us and we each got a minute or two to make our points. This was after article 370 was suspended in 2019 and he was about to visit India. I made three points at the meeting on 370, CAATSA and our so called "defense partnership". There was one Paki in the group, who obviously bashed Modi and India. The rest were there for their own little things and quite disconnected from indo-us issues.

I got two impressions from the meeting. 1. The man is certainly influenced by all the bashing by liberal media in US and India and is surrounded by those types as his "advisers". 2. His ambition to be in the chair (he was a ranking minority member of FRC then) was unmistaken and he will do whatever it takes to show the "superiority" of American pre-dominance (under the guise of "freedom and democracy" and American laws) even if it means losing India as a partner. So a classic case of willing to spite one's face, even if it means cutting off one's nose. But then he is only one senator albeit the chairman of a powerful committee. If times were different and with a democratic President, he could be damaging but do not think he can today.

The state of affairs of how the diaspora organizes itself to further our civilizational and India related causes needs a lot of work. We can only do our part.

g.sarkar wrote:https://www.rediff.com/news/report/us-r ... 210331.htm
US report calls out India over its 'several' human rights issues
Lalit K Jha, March 31, 2021
India has several significant human rights issues, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, corruption and tolerance of violations of religious freedom, a United States report said on Tuesday.
In its ‘2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' to the US Congress, the Department of State noted the improvement in the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The government continued taking steps to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir by gradually lifting some security and communications restrictions," said the State Department in its India section of the report. The government released most political activists from detention, it added.
.....
The State Department in its report listed more than a dozen significant human rights issues for India. Prominent among them are unlawful and arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings perpetrated by police; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by some police and prison officials; arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political and prisoners or detainees in certain states.
India in the past rejected similar reports.
.....
Gautam

ShauryaT wrote:RD: Here is the state of affairs in NJ.

I was at a round table meeting with Sen. Bob Mendez. About 20 of us and we each got a minute or two to make our points. This was after article 370 was suspended in 2019 and he was about to visit India. I made three points at the meeting on 370, CAATSA and our so called "defense partnership". There was one Paki in the group, who obviously bashed Modi and India. The rest were there for their own little things and quite disconnected from indo-us issues.

I got two impressions from the meeting. 1. The man is certainly influenced by all the bashing by liberal media in US and India and is surrounded by those types as his "advisers". 2. His ambition to be in the chair (he was a ranking minority member of FRC then) was unmistaken and he will do whatever it takes to show the "superiority" of American pre-dominance (under the guise of "freedom and democracy" and American laws) even if it means losing India as a partner. So a classic case of willing to spite one's face, even if it means cutting off one's nose. But then he is only one senator albeit the chairman of a powerful committee. If times were different and with a democratic President, he could be damaging but do not think he can today.

The state of affairs of how the diaspora organizes itself to further our civilizational and India related causes needs a lot of work. We can only do our part.

g.sarkar wrote:https://www.rediff.com/news/report/us-r ... 210331.htm
US report calls out India over its 'several' human rights issues
Lalit K Jha, March 31, 2021
India has several significant human rights issues, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of expression and the press, corruption and tolerance of violations of religious freedom, a United States report said on Tuesday.
In its ‘2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' to the US Congress, the Department of State noted the improvement in the human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The government continued taking steps to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir by gradually lifting some security and communications restrictions," said the State Department in its India section of the report. The government released most political activists from detention, it added.
.....
The State Department in its report listed more than a dozen significant human rights issues for India. Prominent among them are unlawful and arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings perpetrated by police; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by some police and prison officials; arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; political and prisoners or detainees in certain states.
India in the past rejected similar reports.
.....
Gautam

Items on target list include shrimps, wood furniture, gold & silver items; India to discuss matter with stakeholders
The US has proposed to impose retaliatory tariffs up to 25 per cent on a wide variety of Indian products ranging from shrimps and basmati rice to gold and silver items in response to digital services tax imposed by India on non-resident e-commerce operators.

Washington holds that India’s digital services tax, also known as equalisation levy or Google tax, is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts US trade.

“The Indian government will examine the proposed action with the stakeholders concerned and take suitable measures keeping its trade and commercial interest of the country and overall interest of its people,” an official tracking the matter told BusinessLine.

The US Trade Representative (USTR) office published its proposed action in Section 301 Investigation, of India’s digital services tax on March 26, and it has decided to convene virtual public hearings and accept rebuttal comments in relation to the potential action from affected parties in May 2021.

Other items in the initial list of targeted products from India include bamboo products, cigarette paper, cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, brassieres, jewellery and wood furniture.

Initial estimates indicate that the value of the digital services tax payable by US-based company groups to India will be up to approximately $55 million per year, the USTR stated indicating that the retaliatory tariffs could add up to the amount. Companies affected by the 2 per cent equalisation levy include Google, Amazon, Linkedin and Facebook

The USTR has proposed similar action against Turkey, Italy, the UK, Austria and Spain.

Section 301 of the US trade law allows the country’s President to take all appropriate action, including tariff-based and non-tariff-based retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act or policy that it finds unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory,

In June 2020, the USTR initiated an investigation of the equalisation levy of 2 per cent applicable on non-resident e-commerce operators, not having a permanent establishment in India. The threshold for this levy is ₹2 crore.

Washington held consultations with New Delhi on the issue on November 5, 2020 where. India argued that the purpose of the equalisation levy is to ensure fair competition, reasonableness and exercise the ability of governments to tax businesses that have a close nexus with the Indian market through their digital operations. “It is a recognition of the principle that in a digital world, a seller can engage in business transactions without any physical presence, and governments have a legitimate right to tax such transactions,” the official said.

However, the US was not convinced about the reasoning and on January 6, 2021, determined that India’s levy is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts US commerce, and therefore actionable under sections 301 of the Trade Act.

The proportion of the world’s autocratic regimes supported by the UK would be even higher if Freedom House’s methodology was not so clearly tailored to Washington’s geopolitical priorities. Last year, 94% of the think-tank’s revenue came from the US government.

For example, the group designates several territories as “not free” which are occupied by US adversary Russia, such as Crimea.

But Freedom House does not include similar territories illegally occupied by the US or UK, such as Guam in the Pacific or the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

Britain forcibly removed Chagossians from their islands in the 1960s and 70s to make way for a US military base.

Interesting that Bumbling Biden blocks vaccine precursors to India and piously supports India vaccine production under Quad 2.0 rubric!

USA: How Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate Student Assembly had to apologize to China, not India
https://www.opindia.com/2021/04/carnegi ... trocities/
On March 8, Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate Student Assembly Executive Committee issued a statement in an effort to offer solidarity to the Asian students of the campus in light of a recent surge in hate-crimes against Asian Americans. The CMU is a top private university in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

However, just two weeks later, the Graduate Student Assembly (GSU), with support from the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) administration, released an apology for its statement. This apology is the result of a campaign from pro-China students and other pro-China people in general, specifically taking issue with the original statement’s reference to the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in China and the pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong.
....

srikandan wrote: Maybe the GoI will point to him the fact that India has already met its commitments to the paris accords, whereas his country is not even close, and when the US meets their commitments, just maybe then India will take these jerks seriously. Just how stupid do these tools think we are.

A polluter such as BP becoming carbon neutral (using buying carbon credit) is like an 200 kg obese person buying obesity credit from 40 kg bukha nanga to meeting weight compliance.

vera_k: However, its not a zero-sum equation as the current troubles with oil pricing indicates. Any steps to reduce fossil fuel dependency are a net positive. If they can folded into some climate agreement leading to access to IP or financing, its still progress over the current state of affairs.

chanakyaa: Projected growth in CO2 emissions driven by countries outside the OECD

A polluter such as BP becoming carbon neutral (using carbon credit) is like an 200 kg obese person buying obesity credit from 40 kg bukha nanga to meeting weight compliance.

vera_k wrote:However, its not a zero-sum equation as the current troubles with oil pricing indicates. Any steps to reduce fossil fuel dependency are a net positive. If they can folded into some climate agreement leading to access to IP or financing, its still progress over the current state of affairs.

Vayutuvan wrote:

vera_k wrote:However, its not a zero-sum equation as the current troubles with oil pricing indicates. Any steps to reduce fossil fuel dependency are a net positive. If they can folded into some climate agreement leading to access to IP or financing, its still progress over the current state of affairs.

it is a zero-sum game in the short run. only in the long term, it is a positive sum game. no US admin thinks long term. Kerry gyan is here today gone tomorrow. what is his power over any other country any way?

unfortunately they c a be a nuisance to Indian progress. he should be told off like the low level tool he is.

Vayutuvan wrote:exactly. all stats should be per capita. that will blow those stoopid OECD/non- out of the water even if one assumes that their projections are not motivated and self-serving.

The US Navy on Friday issued a statement announcing that its 7th Fleet conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) inside India’s exclusive economic zone without India’s consent. The US Navy claims to have challenged “India’s excessive maritime claims.”



The statement said, “On April 7, 2021 (local time) USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law.”

“India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law. This freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims,” it added.

The 7th Fleet further stated, “U.S. Forces operate in the Indo-Pacific region on a daily basis. All operations are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.” Most significantly, it said, “FONOPs are not about one country, nor are they about making political statements.”

The USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) is an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer.

US Navy’s boastful announcement raises eyebrows

The statement, which was perceived as strange by many, has sparked much speculation. Admiral Arun Prakash, former Chief of Naval Staff in the Indian Navy, said on social media, “There is irony here. While India ratified UN Law of the Seas in 1995, the US has failed to do it so far. For the 7th Fleet to carry out FoN missions in Indian EEZ in violation of our domestic law is bad enough. But publicizing it? USN please switch on IFF!”

He further said, “FoN ops by USN ships (ineffective as they may be) in South China Sea, are meant to convey a message to China that the putative EEZ around the artificial SCS islands is an “excessive maritime claim.” But what is the 7th Fleet message for India?”

Geostrategist and author Brahma Chellaney said, “Nothing in UNCLOS (which U.S. hasn’t even ratified) permits military activities in other nations’ EEZs. It’s one thing for U.S. to conduct “freedom of navigation” operations in disputed waters, as in SCS, it’s another thing to do so in a partner nation’s EEZ without its consent.”

Chellaney went on to add, “US Navy’s unusual boast about “challenging India’s excessive maritime claims” is just that — a boast. Its warship merely sailed through India’s EEZ without doing any maneuvers. During UNCLOS negotiations, military activities in another state’s EEZ were a key point of contention.”

USS John Paul Jones violated Maldives’ territory

The same US Navy ship John Paul Jones also violated Maldives’ territory, as per the US Navy’s statement. In another statement, the US Navy stated that they had also conducted an ‘innocent passage’ to assert navigational freedom in the territorial waters of the Maldives and its EEZ, without the prior consent of the Maldives government.

Days after participating in multinational ‘La Perouse 21’ naval exercise with the Indian Navy

US Navy had recently participated in a multinational Naval exercise La Perouse 21, with the Japanese, French, Australian, and Indian Naval forces in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam. The Naval exercise was conducted between the QUAD nations and France from April 5 to 7.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Navy is yet to release a statement regarding the issue.

In an unusual move, the United States has announced that it conducted patrols in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) this week, without seeking any prior consent, to assert its `navigational right and freedoms’.

In unusual move, US conducts 'freedom of navigation patrol' in Indian EEZ.

Says it deliberately sent a warship near Lakshadweep Islands without seeking Indian consent .

Mission carried out “inside India’s EEZ, without requesting India’s prior consent"

“India requires prior consent for military exercises or maneuvers in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law. This freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims,” the official release states.

There is irony here. While India ratified UN Law of the Seas in 1995, the US has failed to do it so far. For the 7th Fleet to carry out FoN missions in Indian EEZ in violation of our domestic law is bad enough. But publicising it? USN please switch on IFF!

Manish_Sharma wrote:Mort Walker ji was right!

Result of Trump defeat!

Congratulations to BRFites who support Biden:

arshyam wrote:^^ It would be a mistake to equate this to a specific administration.

FoN ops by USN ships (ineffective as they may be) in South China Sea, are meant to convey a message to China that the putative EEZ around the artificial SCS islands is an “excessive maritime claim.”

But what is the 7th Fleet message for India?

An Indian officer, in turn, said: “EEZs are certainly international waters where shipping cannot be impeded. The US Navy does undertake patrols in EEZs of different countries but to make such a provocative statement about India is highly unusual. While India ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1995, the US has not done it till now.”

Indian warships in the past have chased away a few Chinese research vessels entering the Indian EEZ and engaging in “suspicious military activity” after suitable warnings. “Indian domestic laws hold that any country carrying out military activity in its EEZ must provide prior notification,” added the officer.