Opportunistic Obama
The U.S. President is both politically pragmatic and politically opportunistic.
He knows he can't win in 2012 on the Economy because of his abysmal, dismal performance on JOBS. That is a campaign promise he made but did not keep. Instead he prioritized Healthcare. If you don't have a job can you pay for healthcare?
So today, Obama's trying to capture the anti-war, anti-GREED, peace and unity vote that has coalesced at OWS -- Occupy Wall Street.
Whatever.
I feel relieved the USCIA is supposedly planning to get out of Iraq.
USCIA -- Get out of South Asia too.
Enough already.
Get out already.
---------------------------
NYTimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/world/middleeast/president-obama-announces-end-of-war-in-iraq.html
by Mark Lander
=================================================================================
Showing posts with label Brand Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brand Obama. Show all posts
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Obama, Why Drag "The Third World" into US Eection 2012?
Watch how the mainstream US media reports it and headlines it, without critical explanation and without critical reasoning (scroll way way below, my comment which follows right here)
I say:
Obama claims Republicans are wanting to turn the US into "a Third World" Country! in a re-election fundraiser at his political base in Chicago. Most working people (that's the majority of ALL voters) in Wisconsin and Ohio and everywhere else, are already keenly aware that their elected Republican leaders are proving to be not worthy of their vote and recalls are being vigorously pursued.
Do you see how DISRESPECTFUL the US Govt and the American People are, to buy into this demeaning language and this politically expedient, self-serving line of reasoning? Has the "Third World" done anything to engineer the sorry mess the US economy is in?
The Third World is a concept that only partially describes the post-colonial, sovereign, non-aligned nations, designating PEOPLES whose ancestral lands were occupied and who were colonized, until those very Peoples drove the exploitative colonizers out! That is the Third World, President Obama. Your Kenyan father and Indonesian half-sister were born there remember? You lived briefly in the Third World, remember? Your CIA operatives and Armed Forces are occupying, droning and killing in The Third World, remember?
Why diss us in the Third World to make your point against some, not all,ethically challenged Republicans, to grab a cheap headline in your re-election campaign? Leave us out. Please.
The US media is part and parcel of the US Govt. The US media is post-embedded since 2003 following the US invasion of Iraq. The US media will accept such characterizations from the Government, without examination and will repeat, not report such quotes, from the US President, no less. There will be NO copy in any US media along these lines:
"The Third World, referred to by the US President roughly connotes all countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America that were occupied, plundered and enslaved, until these peoples drove out the white colonizers and set themselves free between the 1940s and 1960s."
Malcolm X and MLK would likely be cringing in their graves at Obama's statement.
Malcolm celebrated the Third World and the Bandung Conference 1955 in his speeches. Malcolm X was a Free Speech internationalist, whereas in the US he is regarded even by Blacks as a Black leader and by whites as a violent Black leader. Martin Luther King before his murder, began to refer to the race struggle as a struggle for justice within the larger struggle for freedom worldwide. Where does Obama stand in the line of succession?
Obama is almost as ahistorical as Condolezza Rice when she came to New Delhi and lectured India's elected parliamentary leaders on the supposed limitations of the Non-Aligned Movement(NAM).
Obama's audience at the Navy Pier fundraiser included large numbers of Black folk, who are part of the Third World of the US, yes or no? The minorities who have been marginalized and who have a history of enslavement dispossession dislocation. Yeah, since Obama's election we all became post-racial. Yeah right
The US Government's superpower ignorance, US exceptionalism, US supremacism are at an all time high:( just, just when the US economy is in the toilet, the US economy is in fact, in grave decline. You cant have it both ways. The Global South is eating your jobs, because the market economy must ensure profits, so chase cheap labor from Nigeria to Nam. I agree with the inevitable principle of free markets == but they have to be tweaked, sometimes aggressively, to deliver The Greater Collective Good (GCG)
Global South sovereign nation-states, please do not roll out the Red carpet for Obama anytime soon. Yes, Barack, Schumer, Boxer, Murray are preferable to Boehner, Ryan, Walker, Kasich but The Third World has not tanked the US economy.
Send a letter of protest against such intentionally pejorative descriptions of the Global South, to Obama at www.whitehouse.gov
South~South.
------------------
AGP copyright
Republicans will make US 'Third World' nation: Obama
AFP on Yahoo!
Republicans will make US a Third World;= country: Obama AFP – President Barack Obama reads a note given to him by a young girl upon arrival at O?Hare International …
Exclusive: President Obama says he won't write off Texas in 2012 election Play Video Barack Obama Video:Exclusive: President Obama says he won't write off Texas in 2012 election KENS 5 - TV San Antonio
Trump on Obama, Healthcare and Abortion Play Video Barack Obama Video:Trump on Obama, Healthcare and Abortion ABC News
President Obama and the Social Compact Play Video Barack Obama Video:President Obama and the Social Compact FOX News
by Mira Oberman – Fri Apr 15, 12:57 am ET
CHICAGO (AFP) – US President Barack Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
The attack came a day after Obama savaged Republican budget plans and unveiled his $4-trillion deficit reduction drive that aims to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to preserve key social services.
The debate over fiscal policy will prove critical to the 2012 campaign and Obama sought to frame it as a "stark choice" between investing in the future or watching the country fall apart.
"Under their vision, we can't invest in roads and bridges and broadband and high-speed rail," Obama told a select group of the Democratic faithful at the second of three fundraising events in his hometown of Chicago.
"I mean, we would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought -- that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure."
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]
Republicans plans to shrink the reach of government is "not a vision that's impelled by the numbers" but a "choice" to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the rich rather than ask those who've been "blessed" to "give a little more."
Obama said his vision is of an ambitious, compassionate, and caring America "where we're living within our means but we're still investing in our future."
"If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in," Obama told supporters at Chicago's N9ne restaurant.
"That's what this budget debate is going to be about. And that's what the 2012 campaign is going to be about."
The events in Chicago were Obama's first fundraisers since he officially launched his bid for a second term on April 4 and were expected to raise about two million dollars.
Analysts predict Obama -- who raised a record $750 million ahead of the 2008 election -- will build a billion-dollar war chest this time around.
Money won't be enough to win, senior advisor and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe told a crowd of 2,300 supporters gathered in a ballroom at Navy Pier ahead of Obama's speech.
"If only the people who normally vote in presidential elections vote in this election it will be too close," Plouffe said as he urged supporters to get more people involved in the campaign.
"You've got to get these people to get involved and to vote so we can make sure that we succeed in this election."
Obama established his 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago, the first time a presidential reelection campaign was not based in Washington.
He told supporters it was so the campaign would be "rooted in your hopes and rooted in your dreams" instead of influenced by Washington pundits and powerbrokers.
Obama reminded the cheering crowd of the sense of hope and possibility they felt when they celebrated his election as the first African American US president in Chicago's Grant Park.
"And yet, even as we celebrated -- you remember what I said back then? I said our work wasn't ending, our work was just beginning," Obama said.
"We've still got business to do. We are not finished.
"We've got to reclaim the American dream for all Americans. That's the change we still believe in."
Barring a dramatic turn, no major adversary from within his party is likely to challenge Obama, who turns 50 in August.
As for who might run against him from the Republican Party's ranks, uncertainty reigns.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have taken the first official steps toward candidacy, while conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich and even real estate mogul Donald Trump have hinted at challenging for the Republican nomination.
In less than a month, the 64-year-old Trump has jumped from 10 to 19 percent support among Republican voters, tying with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, according to a CNN poll released this week.
Republican officials worry that the crowded field of possible White House hopefuls could end up helping Obama, who could be vulnerable as the US economy sputters its way out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
---
Republicans will make US 'Third World' nation: Obama
President Barack Obama reads a note given to him by a young girl upon arrival at O?Hare International Airport. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
President Barack Obama reads a note given to him by a young girl upon arrival at O?Hare International Airport. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
President Barack Obama speaks to supporters during a fundraiser at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
President Barack Obama speaks to supporters during a fundraiser at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
Supporters listen as President Barack Obama speaks at a fundraiser in Chicago. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
Supporters listen as President Barack Obama speaks at a fundraiser in Chicago. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
AFP - US President Barack Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
The attack came a day after Obama savaged Republican budget plans and unveiled his $4-trillion deficit reduction drive that aims to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to preserve key social services.
The debate over fiscal policy will prove critical to the 2012 campaign and Obama sought to frame it as a "stark choice" between investing in the future or watching the country fall apart.
"Under their vision, we can't invest in roads and bridges and broadband and high-speed rail," Obama told a select group of the Democratic faithful at the second of three fundraising events in his hometown of Chicago.
"I mean, we would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought -- that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure."
Republicans plans to shrink the reach of government is "not a vision that's impelled by the numbers" but a "choice" to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the rich rather than ask those who've been "blessed" to "give a little more."
Obama said his vision is of an ambitious, compassionate, and caring America "where we're living within our means but we're still investing in our future."
"If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in," Obama told supporters at Chicago's N9ne restaurant.
"That's what this budget debate is going to be about. And that's what the 2012 campaign is going to be about."
The events in Chicago were Obama's first fundraisers since he officially launched his bid for a second term on April 4 and were expected to raise about two million dollars.
Analysts predict Obama -- who raised a record $750 million ahead of the 2008 election -- will build a billion-dollar war chest this time around.
Money won't be enough to win, senior advisor and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe told a crowd of 2,300 supporters gathered in a ballroom at Navy Pier ahead of Obama's speech.
"If only the people who normally vote in presidential elections vote in this election it will be too close," Plouffe said as he urged supporters to get more people involved in the campaign.
"You've got to get these people to get involved and to vote so we can make sure that we succeed in this election."
Obama established his 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago, the first time a presidential reelection campaign was not based in Washington.
He told supporters it was so the campaign would be "rooted in your hopes and rooted in your dreams" instead of influenced by Washington pundits and powerbrokers.
Obama reminded the cheering crowd of the sense of hope and possibility they felt when they celebrated his election as the first African American US president in Chicago's Grant Park.
"And yet, even as we celebrated -- you remember what I said back then? I said our work wasn't ending, our work was just beginning," Obama said.
"We've still got business to do. We are not finished.
"We've got to reclaim the American dream for all Americans. That's the change we still believe in."
Barring a dramatic turn, no major adversary from within his party is likely to challenge Obama, who turns 50 in August.
As for who might run against him from the Republican Party's ranks, uncertainty reigns.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have taken the first official steps toward candidacy, while conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich and even real estate mogul Donald Trump have hinted at challenging for the Republican nomination.
In less than a month, the 64-year-old Trump has jumped from 10 to 19 percent support among Republican voters, tying with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, according to a CNN poll released this week.
Republican officials worry that the crowded field of possible White House hopefuls could end up helping Obama, who could be vulnerable as the US economy sputters its way out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
---
Washington Times copyright
EDITORIAL: Obama’s Third World America
Big Government deficit spending undermines U.S. competitiveness
126 Comments and 72 Reactions|Tweet|Share|Print|Email|More
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Washington Times
6:02 p.m., Friday, April 15, 2011
MugshotPresident Barack Obama is interviewed by The Associated Press, Friday, April 15, 2011, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Politics
Barack Obama
India
President Obama warns Republican policies will turn America into a Third World country. Look who’s talking.
On a campaign fundraising trip to Chicago, Mr. Obama quipped that under the proposed Republican budget plan, “we would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought - that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure.” He failed to elaborate on which developing countries he thinks should be models for the United States, but his policies have secured America’s status as part of the declining world.
Mr. Obama has approached the presidency less as a traditional American chief executive and more as a developing world populist. The 2009 stimulus program was taken directly from this playbook, using deficit spending to distribute favors to his union supporters and cronies in the form of public-works projects and other handouts. It was a spectacular failure at creating the promised number of jobs but succeeded in Mr. Obama’s core mission to “spread the wealth around.”
Mr. Obama has accepted what he sees as the inevitability of American economic decline. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he declared, “we can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.” He has yet to explain why he thinks the American people need to ask permission from other countries to maintain a high standard of living.
During the president’s trip to India in November 2010, he said that for most of his lifetime, “the U.S. was such an enormously dominant economic power … that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms.” In his view, however, Mr. Obama is overseeing the end times for U.S. economic dominance. Rising economies in China, India, Russia, Brazil and elsewhere will, he says, “keep America on its toes.” Meanwhile, these same countries just finished a conference in China exploring new ways to put America flat on its back.
Mr. Obama is making our enemies’ job easier. He has increased economic regulation, pursued energy policies that stifle exploration and production at home while promoting it abroad, and has shown a general contempt for free-market principles that made the U.S. economy great. Plus, given Mr. Obama’s astonishingly lax immigration policies, America won’t have to wait long to become a Third World country because the Third World is coming here.
The debt accrued on Mr. Obama’s watch is the centerpiece of the forces that are driving the United States to global pauperhood. In 2008, gross public debt was 69 percent of the gross domestic product. This year it will pass 100 percent. Mr. Obama’s debt has stifled economic productivity and has driven the country to the point where only 66 percent of men had jobs last year, the lowest figure on record.
Were it not for Mr. Obama’s drunken-sailor-style spending, facilitated by Democratic supermajorities in both houses of Congress during his first two years, the United States wouldn’t be in this fix. Still, the president’s answer to economic crisis is to heap on more debt. It’s this crippling tax-and-spend Obama creed that’s bringing America to the brink of Third World inferiority.
© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
I say:
Obama claims Republicans are wanting to turn the US into "a Third World" Country! in a re-election fundraiser at his political base in Chicago. Most working people (that's the majority of ALL voters) in Wisconsin and Ohio and everywhere else, are already keenly aware that their elected Republican leaders are proving to be not worthy of their vote and recalls are being vigorously pursued.
Do you see how DISRESPECTFUL the US Govt and the American People are, to buy into this demeaning language and this politically expedient, self-serving line of reasoning? Has the "Third World" done anything to engineer the sorry mess the US economy is in?
The Third World is a concept that only partially describes the post-colonial, sovereign, non-aligned nations, designating PEOPLES whose ancestral lands were occupied and who were colonized, until those very Peoples drove the exploitative colonizers out! That is the Third World, President Obama. Your Kenyan father and Indonesian half-sister were born there remember? You lived briefly in the Third World, remember? Your CIA operatives and Armed Forces are occupying, droning and killing in The Third World, remember?
Why diss us in the Third World to make your point against some, not all,ethically challenged Republicans, to grab a cheap headline in your re-election campaign? Leave us out. Please.
The US media is part and parcel of the US Govt. The US media is post-embedded since 2003 following the US invasion of Iraq. The US media will accept such characterizations from the Government, without examination and will repeat, not report such quotes, from the US President, no less. There will be NO copy in any US media along these lines:
"The Third World, referred to by the US President roughly connotes all countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America that were occupied, plundered and enslaved, until these peoples drove out the white colonizers and set themselves free between the 1940s and 1960s."
Malcolm X and MLK would likely be cringing in their graves at Obama's statement.
Malcolm celebrated the Third World and the Bandung Conference 1955 in his speeches. Malcolm X was a Free Speech internationalist, whereas in the US he is regarded even by Blacks as a Black leader and by whites as a violent Black leader. Martin Luther King before his murder, began to refer to the race struggle as a struggle for justice within the larger struggle for freedom worldwide. Where does Obama stand in the line of succession?
Obama is almost as ahistorical as Condolezza Rice when she came to New Delhi and lectured India's elected parliamentary leaders on the supposed limitations of the Non-Aligned Movement(NAM).
Obama's audience at the Navy Pier fundraiser included large numbers of Black folk, who are part of the Third World of the US, yes or no? The minorities who have been marginalized and who have a history of enslavement dispossession dislocation. Yeah, since Obama's election we all became post-racial. Yeah right
The US Government's superpower ignorance, US exceptionalism, US supremacism are at an all time high:( just, just when the US economy is in the toilet, the US economy is in fact, in grave decline. You cant have it both ways. The Global South is eating your jobs, because the market economy must ensure profits, so chase cheap labor from Nigeria to Nam. I agree with the inevitable principle of free markets == but they have to be tweaked, sometimes aggressively, to deliver The Greater Collective Good (GCG)
Global South sovereign nation-states, please do not roll out the Red carpet for Obama anytime soon. Yes, Barack, Schumer, Boxer, Murray are preferable to Boehner, Ryan, Walker, Kasich but The Third World has not tanked the US economy.
Send a letter of protest against such intentionally pejorative descriptions of the Global South, to Obama at www.whitehouse.gov
South~South.
------------------
AGP copyright
Republicans will make US 'Third World' nation: Obama
AFP on Yahoo!
Republicans will make US a Third World;= country: Obama AFP – President Barack Obama reads a note given to him by a young girl upon arrival at O?Hare International …
Exclusive: President Obama says he won't write off Texas in 2012 election Play Video Barack Obama Video:Exclusive: President Obama says he won't write off Texas in 2012 election KENS 5 - TV San Antonio
Trump on Obama, Healthcare and Abortion Play Video Barack Obama Video:Trump on Obama, Healthcare and Abortion ABC News
President Obama and the Social Compact Play Video Barack Obama Video:President Obama and the Social Compact FOX News
by Mira Oberman – Fri Apr 15, 12:57 am ET
CHICAGO (AFP) – US President Barack Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
The attack came a day after Obama savaged Republican budget plans and unveiled his $4-trillion deficit reduction drive that aims to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to preserve key social services.
The debate over fiscal policy will prove critical to the 2012 campaign and Obama sought to frame it as a "stark choice" between investing in the future or watching the country fall apart.
"Under their vision, we can't invest in roads and bridges and broadband and high-speed rail," Obama told a select group of the Democratic faithful at the second of three fundraising events in his hometown of Chicago.
"I mean, we would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought -- that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure."
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]
Republicans plans to shrink the reach of government is "not a vision that's impelled by the numbers" but a "choice" to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the rich rather than ask those who've been "blessed" to "give a little more."
Obama said his vision is of an ambitious, compassionate, and caring America "where we're living within our means but we're still investing in our future."
"If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in," Obama told supporters at Chicago's N9ne restaurant.
"That's what this budget debate is going to be about. And that's what the 2012 campaign is going to be about."
The events in Chicago were Obama's first fundraisers since he officially launched his bid for a second term on April 4 and were expected to raise about two million dollars.
Analysts predict Obama -- who raised a record $750 million ahead of the 2008 election -- will build a billion-dollar war chest this time around.
Money won't be enough to win, senior advisor and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe told a crowd of 2,300 supporters gathered in a ballroom at Navy Pier ahead of Obama's speech.
"If only the people who normally vote in presidential elections vote in this election it will be too close," Plouffe said as he urged supporters to get more people involved in the campaign.
"You've got to get these people to get involved and to vote so we can make sure that we succeed in this election."
Obama established his 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago, the first time a presidential reelection campaign was not based in Washington.
He told supporters it was so the campaign would be "rooted in your hopes and rooted in your dreams" instead of influenced by Washington pundits and powerbrokers.
Obama reminded the cheering crowd of the sense of hope and possibility they felt when they celebrated his election as the first African American US president in Chicago's Grant Park.
"And yet, even as we celebrated -- you remember what I said back then? I said our work wasn't ending, our work was just beginning," Obama said.
"We've still got business to do. We are not finished.
"We've got to reclaim the American dream for all Americans. That's the change we still believe in."
Barring a dramatic turn, no major adversary from within his party is likely to challenge Obama, who turns 50 in August.
As for who might run against him from the Republican Party's ranks, uncertainty reigns.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have taken the first official steps toward candidacy, while conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich and even real estate mogul Donald Trump have hinted at challenging for the Republican nomination.
In less than a month, the 64-year-old Trump has jumped from 10 to 19 percent support among Republican voters, tying with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, according to a CNN poll released this week.
Republican officials worry that the crowded field of possible White House hopefuls could end up helping Obama, who could be vulnerable as the US economy sputters its way out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
---
Republicans will make US 'Third World' nation: Obama
President Barack Obama reads a note given to him by a young girl upon arrival at O?Hare International Airport. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
President Barack Obama reads a note given to him by a young girl upon arrival at O?Hare International Airport. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
President Barack Obama speaks to supporters during a fundraiser at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
President Barack Obama speaks to supporters during a fundraiser at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
Supporters listen as President Barack Obama speaks at a fundraiser in Chicago. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
Supporters listen as President Barack Obama speaks at a fundraiser in Chicago. Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
AFP - US President Barack Obama accused Republicans of wanting to turn the United States into a "Third World" country as he rallied support for his reelection campaign.
The attack came a day after Obama savaged Republican budget plans and unveiled his $4-trillion deficit reduction drive that aims to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in order to preserve key social services.
The debate over fiscal policy will prove critical to the 2012 campaign and Obama sought to frame it as a "stark choice" between investing in the future or watching the country fall apart.
"Under their vision, we can't invest in roads and bridges and broadband and high-speed rail," Obama told a select group of the Democratic faithful at the second of three fundraising events in his hometown of Chicago.
"I mean, we would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought -- that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure."
Republicans plans to shrink the reach of government is "not a vision that's impelled by the numbers" but a "choice" to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the rich rather than ask those who've been "blessed" to "give a little more."
Obama said his vision is of an ambitious, compassionate, and caring America "where we're living within our means but we're still investing in our future."
"If we apply some practical common sense to this, we can solve our fiscal challenges and still have the America that we believe in," Obama told supporters at Chicago's N9ne restaurant.
"That's what this budget debate is going to be about. And that's what the 2012 campaign is going to be about."
The events in Chicago were Obama's first fundraisers since he officially launched his bid for a second term on April 4 and were expected to raise about two million dollars.
Analysts predict Obama -- who raised a record $750 million ahead of the 2008 election -- will build a billion-dollar war chest this time around.
Money won't be enough to win, senior advisor and 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe told a crowd of 2,300 supporters gathered in a ballroom at Navy Pier ahead of Obama's speech.
"If only the people who normally vote in presidential elections vote in this election it will be too close," Plouffe said as he urged supporters to get more people involved in the campaign.
"You've got to get these people to get involved and to vote so we can make sure that we succeed in this election."
Obama established his 2012 campaign headquarters in Chicago, the first time a presidential reelection campaign was not based in Washington.
He told supporters it was so the campaign would be "rooted in your hopes and rooted in your dreams" instead of influenced by Washington pundits and powerbrokers.
Obama reminded the cheering crowd of the sense of hope and possibility they felt when they celebrated his election as the first African American US president in Chicago's Grant Park.
"And yet, even as we celebrated -- you remember what I said back then? I said our work wasn't ending, our work was just beginning," Obama said.
"We've still got business to do. We are not finished.
"We've got to reclaim the American dream for all Americans. That's the change we still believe in."
Barring a dramatic turn, no major adversary from within his party is likely to challenge Obama, who turns 50 in August.
As for who might run against him from the Republican Party's ranks, uncertainty reigns.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have taken the first official steps toward candidacy, while conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich and even real estate mogul Donald Trump have hinted at challenging for the Republican nomination.
In less than a month, the 64-year-old Trump has jumped from 10 to 19 percent support among Republican voters, tying with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, according to a CNN poll released this week.
Republican officials worry that the crowded field of possible White House hopefuls could end up helping Obama, who could be vulnerable as the US economy sputters its way out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
---
Washington Times copyright
EDITORIAL: Obama’s Third World America
Big Government deficit spending undermines U.S. competitiveness
126 Comments and 72 Reactions|Tweet|Share|Print|Email|More
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Washington Times
6:02 p.m., Friday, April 15, 2011
MugshotPresident Barack Obama is interviewed by The Associated Press, Friday, April 15, 2011, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Politics
Barack Obama
India
President Obama warns Republican policies will turn America into a Third World country. Look who’s talking.
On a campaign fundraising trip to Chicago, Mr. Obama quipped that under the proposed Republican budget plan, “we would be a nation of potholes, and our airports would be worse than places that we thought - that we used to call the Third World, but who are now investing in infrastructure.” He failed to elaborate on which developing countries he thinks should be models for the United States, but his policies have secured America’s status as part of the declining world.
Mr. Obama has approached the presidency less as a traditional American chief executive and more as a developing world populist. The 2009 stimulus program was taken directly from this playbook, using deficit spending to distribute favors to his union supporters and cronies in the form of public-works projects and other handouts. It was a spectacular failure at creating the promised number of jobs but succeeded in Mr. Obama’s core mission to “spread the wealth around.”
Mr. Obama has accepted what he sees as the inevitability of American economic decline. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he declared, “we can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.” He has yet to explain why he thinks the American people need to ask permission from other countries to maintain a high standard of living.
During the president’s trip to India in November 2010, he said that for most of his lifetime, “the U.S. was such an enormously dominant economic power … that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms.” In his view, however, Mr. Obama is overseeing the end times for U.S. economic dominance. Rising economies in China, India, Russia, Brazil and elsewhere will, he says, “keep America on its toes.” Meanwhile, these same countries just finished a conference in China exploring new ways to put America flat on its back.
Mr. Obama is making our enemies’ job easier. He has increased economic regulation, pursued energy policies that stifle exploration and production at home while promoting it abroad, and has shown a general contempt for free-market principles that made the U.S. economy great. Plus, given Mr. Obama’s astonishingly lax immigration policies, America won’t have to wait long to become a Third World country because the Third World is coming here.
The debt accrued on Mr. Obama’s watch is the centerpiece of the forces that are driving the United States to global pauperhood. In 2008, gross public debt was 69 percent of the gross domestic product. This year it will pass 100 percent. Mr. Obama’s debt has stifled economic productivity and has driven the country to the point where only 66 percent of men had jobs last year, the lowest figure on record.
Were it not for Mr. Obama’s drunken-sailor-style spending, facilitated by Democratic supermajorities in both houses of Congress during his first two years, the United States wouldn’t be in this fix. Still, the president’s answer to economic crisis is to heap on more debt. It’s this crippling tax-and-spend Obama creed that’s bringing America to the brink of Third World inferiority.
© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Obama Tweaks Same Old US Powerspeak During India Visit
Is there anything more exasperating and undeserved than Obama's tweaking of the same old US Powerspeak?
Brand Obama is new improved Brand Bush. Nobody in India should expect any better.
Fortunately our own leaders in India know better than to buy Brand Obama.
Here are the reasons why in India we don't buy Brand Obama:
1. The US has exploited Pakistan for 60 years ever since the John Foster Dulles State Department of the early 50's, right after Partition.
2. Pakistan, weakened at Partition, was manipulated by the US to further its own invented Cold War strategy against the former USSR. The US turned Pakistan into a dependent, occasionally defiant, but always subordinate client-state.
3. Any pragmatic initiative by India, to develop Amity and Concord with Pakistan is rendered nearly impossible by continued US manipulation of Pakistan and physical military presence in the South Asia region.
No matter how slick his dance moves, India does not buy Brand Obama
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York (CUNY)
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
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NYtimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/asia/08prexy.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
MUMBAI — When Michelle Obama, the first lady, introduced her husband to a group of college students here Sunday, she urged them to ask him “tough questions.”
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They did.
“What is your take or opinion about jihad?” came the first question for President Obama at a town hall-style meeting at St. Xavier’s College. Next up: queries about spirituality, Gandhi, the American midterm elections and his government’s negotiations with the Taliban.
Finally, there was the question Mr. Obama confessed he had been waiting for: Why hasn’t the United States labeled Pakistan “a terrorist state?”
“Pakistan is an enormous country; it is a strategically important country,” Mr. Obama began carefully, before meandering around to a defense of his administration, in which he said its policy is to “work with the Pakistani government in order to eradicate this extremism that we consider a cancer within the country that can potentially engulf the country.”
The diplomatic response was indicative of the fine line Mr. Obama has walked on the topic of terrorism while in India. On Saturday, his first day here, he faced criticism in the local press when he paid homage to the victims and survivors of the 2008 terrorist siege in Mumbai without mentioning that the gunmen were Pakistani or suggesting, more broadly, that some groups in Pakistan pose a terrorist threat.
While the students at St. Xavier’s, a 140-year-old Jesuit institution in this pretty seaside city, were exceedingly polite to Mr. Obama — in interviews many said they admired him — they seemed unafraid to get straight to the point, even if Mr. Obama did not always get straight to his.
“Well,” the president said, tackling the opening question about jihad, “the phrase jihad has a lot of meanings within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations.”
He carefully avoided saying he is opposed to jihad — commonly interpreted to mean “holy war” — and instead said, “I think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified. And so, I think, one of the challenges that we face is how do we isolate those who have these distorted notions of religious war.”
Sunday’s session, in a sunny outdoor courtyard surrounded by Gothic buildings, came on the second day of a 10-day, four-nation swing that will also take Mr. Obama to Indonesia, his boyhood home for four years, South Korea and Japan. He is spending the longest stretch, three days, in India. He left Mumbai later Sunday for the capital, New Delhi, where he was expected to address Parliament on Monday.
While Mr. Obama was dancing around questions — figuratively speaking — on Sunday, he also participated in some literal dancing, showing off some moves that, to the delight of photographers traveling with him, are likely to provide iconic images of his trip. Mr. Obama’s short performance came after student dancers doing a show for him implored him to join in.
The White House has cast the Asia trip as an economic mission that will also strengthen American diplomatic ties with emerging democracies and established ones; on Sunday, Mr. Obama also toured a small technology expo here with the aim of showcasing American partnerships with India in expanding agriculture.
Officials billed the college town hall as a chance for Mr. Obama to connect with ordinary Indians. But for a president still bruised from the trouncing his party took in last week’s elections, the appearance was also a chance to come before the kind of sympathetic crowd he now has trouble attracting at home.
“We call him the world king, king of the world,” said Chetman Rawal, 20, who studies commerce at the college. “I think he will change the world.”
It seemed a common sentiment. In interviews, students and faculty here uniformly spoke kindly of Mr. Obama, praising everything from ‘’his cuteness,” as one female student said, to his basketball skills, to his respect for “Gandhian principles.” On the question of how he applies those principles, Mr. Obama sounded a note of humility.
“I’m often frustrated by how far I fall short of their example,” he said, referring to Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, all of whom he said he is studying. “But I do think that at my best what I’m trying to do is to apply principles that fundamentally come down to something shared in all the world’s religions, which is to see yourself in other people.”
Indians followed the American elections closely, said Father Lawrie Ferrao, director of the institute of communications at the college. But he said people here are more interested in another election — the one Mr. Obama himself ran in 2008.
“The admiration for him with regard to his campaign, his optimism, his charismatic movement and charismatic leadership, that I think has not faded off yet,” Fr. Ferrao said. As to the outcome of the midterms, he gave an explanation Mr. Obama himself might have offered: “He was given an economy which was unsustainable.”
The president himself, when questioned on the races, pledged some “mid-course corrections and adjustments,” , though he was not specific about his plans. But in his commentary on Gandhi, he offered a lesson he had learned, one that perhaps provides some insight into how he might be feeling these days.
“On this journey,” Mr. Obama said, “you’re going to experience setbacks and you have to be persistent and stubborn, and you just have to keep on going at it. And you’ll never roll the boulder all the way up the hill, but you may get it part of the way up.”
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TOI copyright
Obama pushes India to talk to Pakistan
REUTERS, Nov 7, 2010, 05.56pm IST
Tags:Obama|Michelle|Manmohan Singh|Barack Obama|Abdul Basit
NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama called on India on Sunday to bolster peace efforts with Pakistan that have floundered since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, relations seen as crucial to his troubled efforts to win the war in Afghanistan.
On the second day of his official visit to India, Obama faces a diplomatic tightrope in fostering ties with the growing global power, while at the same time helping Pakistan with billions of dollars in aid and promoting wider peace in Afghanistan.
Obama's first leg of a 10-day Asian tour has been hailed as moving the United States closer to India as Washington tries to revive a weak economy and gather support to pressure China on its currency. But on Sunday, India's worries about Pakistan dominated.
Peppered by questions from students at a college in India's financial hub, Obama toed a cautious line between the two nuclear-armed foes, saying both were needed to help stabilise Afghanistan where thousands of US troops battle militants.
"My hope is that over time, trust develops between the two countries, that dialogue begins, perhaps on less controversial issues, building up to more controversial issues," Obama told students under a hot midday sun.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India as saying the United States ought to play an "effective role for an amicable solution of the longstanding issue of Kashmir" given close India-US ties.
Kashmir is at the heart of the dispute between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought two wars over the restive Himalayan region which they both claim.
The Mumbai attacks inflamed tensions between the foes, which have been to war three times since 1947 independence. India says elements within the Pakistan state were behind the rampage, when Pakistan-based gunmen killed 166 people in a 60-hour strike on hotels, a train station and a Jewish centre.
India immediately broke off peace talks with Pakistan, although there have been some largely fruitless top level meetings in the last year.
"India's investment in development in Afghanistan is appreciated," Obama added. "Pakistan has to be a partner in this process, in fact all countries in the region are going to need to be partners in this process.
"The United States welcomes that, we don't think we can do this alone."
India has given $1.3 billion in aid to Afghanistan, a policy that unnerves Pakistan which sees its northern neighbour as its own backyard of influence. India wants stability there to stop the country being used to harbour anti-Indian Islamist militants.
Obama said Pakistan was not acting quickly enough to deal with militancy within its borders, a view long expressed by many Indian officials who say Islamabad is hoodwinking Washington by taking aid while also backing militants in Afghanistan.
"There are more Pakistanis who've been killed by terrorists inside Pakistan than probably anywhere else," Obama said.
Obama will visit Indonesia, South Korea and Japan on the tour that will see Washington push to prevent countries unilaterally devaluing currencies to protect their exports, a top theme at the Group of 20 heads of state meet in Seoul next week.
Mauled in mid-term elections, Obama is trying to bolster exports and jobs by boosting business in countries like India, trying to show that US voters have more to benefit from India than fear from its cheap outsourcing industries.
To that end, Obama announced $10 billion in business deals that he said would support 54,000 jobs in the United States.
But on Sunday he called on Asian countries like India to open their economies more up to US firms. India restricts foreign investment in key areas like retail and financial services.
"It's not unfair for the United States to say, look, if our economy is open to everybody, countries that trade with us have to change their practices to open up their markets to us. There has to be reciprocity in our trading relationships," Obama said.
He said the United States was not making progress on unemployment quickly enough and he would take "some mid-course correction" after the mid-term elections.
"Unemployment in the US is very high now, relative to what it is typically. Although we are making progress, we are not making progress quickly enough," Obama said.
Earlier on Sunday Obama and is wife Michelle watched children in saris perform traditional dances. Michelle led an initially hesitant president to join in, mimicking their dancing moves as White House aides laughed at their commander-in-chief.
Later in the afternoon, Obama landed in New Delhi and greeted the waiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a hug. The Obamas and the Singhs chatted with each other for a few minutes, before the president went for a scheduled tour of a Mughal-era tomb. The leaders were to meet for dinner at Singh's residence later.
Read more: Obama pushes India to talk to Pakistan - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Obama-pushes-India-to-talk-to-Pakistan/articleshow/6884180.cms#ixzz14cchAWW3
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TOI copyright 11/08/10
text of Joint India-US statement Obama Manmohan
NEW DELHI: Following is the text of the Joint Statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama.
Reaffirming their nations' shared values and increasing convergence of interests, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama resolved today in New Delhi to expand and strengthen the India-U.S. global strategic partnership.
The two leaders welcomed the deepening relationship between the world's two largest democracies. They commended the growing cooperation between their governments, citizens, businesses, universities and scientific institutions, which have thrived on a shared culture of pluralism, education, enterprise, and innovation, and have benefited the people of both countries.
Building on the transformation in India-U.S. relations over the past decade, the two leaders resolved to intensify cooperation between their nations to promote a secure and stable world; advance technology and innovation; expand mutual prosperity and global economic growth; support sustainable development; and exercise global leadership in support of economic development, open government and democratic values.
The two leaders reaffirmed that India-U.S. strategic partnership is indispensable not only for their two countries but also for global stability and prosperity in the 21st century. To that end, President Obama welcomed India's emergence as a major regional and global power and affirmed his country's interest in India's rise, its economic prosperity, and its security.
A global strategic partnership for the 21st century
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama called for an efficient, effective, credible and legitimate United Nations to ensure a just and sustainable international order. Prime Minister Singh welcomed President Obama's affirmation that, in the years ahead, the United States looks forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member. The two leaders reaffirmed that all nations, especially those that seek to lead in the 21st century, bear responsibility to ensure that the United Nations fulfills its founding ideals of preserving peace and security, promoting global cooperation, and advancing human rights.
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama reiterated that India and the United States, as global leaders, will partner for global security, especially as India serves on the Security Council over the next two years. The leaders agreed that their delegations in New York will intensify their engagement and work together to ensure that the Council continues to effectively play the role envisioned for it in the United Nations Charter. Both leaders underscored that all states have an obligation to comply with and implement UN Security Council Resolutions, including UN sanctions regimes. They also agreed to hold regular consultations on UN matters, including on the long-term sustainability of UN peacekeeping operations. As the two largest democracies, both countries also reaffirmed their strong commitment to the UN Democracy Fund.
The two leaders have a shared vision for peace, stability and prosperity in Asia, the Indian Ocean region and the Pacific region and committed to work together, and with others in the region, for the evolution of an open, balanced and inclusive architecture in the region. In this context, the leaders reaffirmed their support for the East Asia Summit and committed to regular consultations in this regard. The United States welcomes, in particular, India's leadership in expanding prosperity and security across the region. The two leaders agreed to deepen existing regular strategic consultations on developments in East Asia, and decided to expand and intensify their strategic consultations to cover regional and global issues of mutual interest, including Central and West Asia.
The two sides committed to intensify consultation, cooperation and coordination to promote a stable, democratic, prosperous, and independent Afghanistan. President Obama appreciated India's enormous contribution to Afghanistan's development and welcomed enhanced Indian assistance that will help Afghanistan achieve self-sufficiency. In addition to their own independent assistance programs in Afghanistan, the two sides resolved to pursue joint development projects with the Afghan Government in capacity building, agriculture and women's empowerment.
They reiterated that success in Afghanistan and regional and global security require elimination of safe havens and infrastructure for terrorism and violent extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Condemning terrorism in all its forms, the two sides agreed that all terrorist networks, including Lashkar e-Taiba, must be defeated and called for Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Building upon the Counter Terrorism Initiative signed in July 2010, the two leaders announced a new Homeland Security Dialogue between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security and agreed to further deepen operational cooperation, counter-terrorism technology transfers and capacity building. The two leaders also emphasized the importance of close cooperation in combating terrorist financing and in protecting the international financial system.
In an increasingly inter-dependent world, the stability of, and access to, the air, sea, space, and cyberspace domains is vital for the security and economic prosperity of nations. Acknowledging their commitment to openness and responsible international conduct, and on the basis of their shared values, India and the United States have launched a dialogue to explore ways to work together, as well as with other countries, to develop a shared vision for these critical domains to promote peace, security and development. The leaders reaffirmed the importance of maritime security, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation, in accordance with relevant universally agreed principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and peaceful settlement of maritime disputes.
The transformation in India-U.S. defense cooperation in recent years has strengthened mutual understanding on regional peace and stability, enhanced both countries' respective capacities to meet humanitarian and other challenges such as terrorism and piracy, and contributed to the development of the strategic partnership between India and the United States. The two Governments resolved to further strengthen defense cooperation, including through security dialogue, exercises, and promoting trade and collaboration in defense equipment and technology. President Obama welcomed India's decision to purchase U.S. high-technology defense items, which reflects our strengthening bilateral defence relations and will contribute to creating jobs in the United States.
The two leaders affirmed that their countries' common ideals, complementary strengths and a shared commitment to a world without nuclear weapons give them a responsibility to forge a strong partnership to lead global efforts for non-proliferation and universal and non-discriminatory global nuclear disarmament in the 21st century. They affirmed the need for a meaningful dialogue among all states possessing nuclear weapons to build trust and confidence and for reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in international affairs and security doctrines. They support strengthening the six decade-old international norm of non-use of nuclear weapons. They expressed a commitment to strengthen international cooperative activities that will reduce the risk of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons or material without reducing the rights of nations that play by the rules to harness the power of nuclear energy to advance their energy security. The leaders reaffirmed their shared dedication to work together to realize the commitments outlined at the April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit to achieve the goal of securing vulnerable nuclear materials in the next four years. Both sides expressed deep concern regarding illicit nuclear trafficking and smuggling and resolved to strengthen international cooperative efforts to address these threats through the IAEA, Interpol and in the context of the Nuclear Security Summit Communiqué and Action Plan. The two sides welcomed the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership being established by India.
Both sides expressed deep concern about the threat of biological terrorism and pledged to promote international efforts to ensure the safety and security of biological agents and toxins. They stressed the need to achieve full implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and expressed the hope for a successful BWC Review Conference in 2011. The United States welcomed India's destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile in accordance with the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Both countries affirmed their shared commitment to promoting the full and effective implementation of the CWC.
The two leaders expressed regret at the delay in starting negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for a multilateral, non-discriminatory and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the future production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
India reaffirmed its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing. The United States reaffirmed its testing moratorium and its commitment to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and bring it into force at an early date.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to diplomacy to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, and discussed the need for Iran to take constructive and immediate steps to meet its obligations to the IAEA and the UN Security Council.
Technology, innovation, and energy
Recognizing that India and the United States should play a leadership role in promoting global nonproliferation objectives and their desire to expand high technology cooperation and trade, Prime Minister Singh and President Obama committed to work together to strengthen the global export control framework and further transform bilateral export control regulations and policies to realize the full potential of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Accordingly, the two leaders decided to take mutual steps to expand U.S.-India cooperation in civil space, defense, and other high-technology sectors. Commensurate with India's nonproliferation record and commitment to abide by multilateral export control standards, these steps include the United States removing Indian entities from the U.S. Department of Commerce's "Entity List" and realignment of India in U.S. export control regulations.
In addition, the United States intends to support India's full membership in the four multilateral export control regimes (Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group, and Wassenaar Arrangement) in a phased manner, and to consult with regime members to encourage the evolution of regime membership criteria, consistent with maintaining the core principles of these regimes, as the Government of India takes steps towards the full adoption of the regimes' export control requirements to reflect its prospective membership, with both processes moving forward together. In the view of the United States, India should qualify for membership in the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement according to existing requirements once it imposes export controls over all items on these regimes' control lists.
Both leaders reaffirmed the assurances provided in the letters exchanged in September 2004 and the End-Use Visit Arrangement, and determined that the two governments had reached an understanding to implement these initiatives consistent with their respective national export control laws and policies. The Prime Minister and President committed to a strengthened and expanded dialogue on export control issues, through fora such as the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group, on aspects of capacity building, sharing of best practices, and outreach with industry.
The possibility of cooperation between the two nations in space, to advance scientific knowledge and human welfare, are without boundaries and limits. They commended their space scientists for launching new initiatives in climate and weather forecasting for agriculture, navigation, resource mapping, research and development, and capacity building. They agreed to continuing discussions on and seek ways to collaborate on future lunar missions, international space station, human space flight and data sharing, and to reconvene the Civil Space Joint Working Group in early 2011. They highlighted the just concluded Implementing Arrangement for enhanced monsoon forecasting that will begin to transmit detailed forecasts to farmers beginning with the 2011 monsoon rainy season as an important example of bilateral scientific cooperation advancing economic development, agriculture and food security.
The two leaders welcomed the completion of steps by the two governments for implementation of the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement. They reiterated their commitment to build strong India-U.S. civil nuclear energy cooperation through the participation of the U.S. nuclear energy firms in India on the basis of mutually acceptable technical and commercial terms and conditions that enable a viable tariff regime for electricity generated. They noted that both countries had enacted domestic legislations and were also signatories to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation. They further noted that India intends to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation within the coming year and is committed to ensuring a level playing field for U.S. companies seeking to enter the Indian nuclear energy sector, consistent with India's national and international legal obligations.
India will continue to work with the companies. In this context, they welcomed the commencement of negotiations and dialogue between the Indian operator and U.S. nuclear energy companies, and expressed hope for early commencement of commercial cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector in India, which will stimulate economic growth and sustainable development and generate employment in both countries.
Just as they have helped develop the knowledge economy, India and the United States resolved to strengthen their partnership in creating the green economy of the future. To this end, both countries have undertaken joint research and deployment of clean energy resources, such as solar, advanced biofuels, shale gas, and smart grids. The two leaders also welcomed the promotion of clean and energy efficient technologies through the bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) and expanded cooperation with the private sector. They welcomed the conclusion of a new MoU on assessment and exploration of shale gas and an agreement to establish a Joint Clean Energy Research Center in India as important milestones in their rapidly growing clean energy cooperation.
The leaders discussed the importance of working bilaterally, through the Major Economies Forum (MEF), and in the context of the international climate change negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC to meet the challenge of climate change. Prime Minister Singh and President Obama reiterated the importance of a positive result for the current climate change negotiations at the forthcoming conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Mexico and affirmed their support for the Copenhagen Accord, which should contribute positively to a successful outcome in Cancun. To that end, the leaders welcomed enhanced cooperation in the area of climate adaptation and sustainable land use, and welcomed the new partnership between the United States and India on forestry programs and in weather forecasting.
Inclusive growth, mutual prosperity, and economic cooperation
The two leaders stressed that India and the United States, anchored in democracy and diversity, blessed with enormous enterprise and skill, and endowed with synergies drawn from India's rapid growth and U.S. global economic leadership, have a natural partnership for enhancing mutual prosperity and stimulating global economic recovery and growth. They emphasize innovation not only as a tool for economic growth and global competitiveness, but also for social transformation and empowerment of people.
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama celebrated the recent growth in bilateral trade and investment, characterized by balanced and rapidly growing trade in goods and services. They noted positively that the United States is India's largest trading partner in goods and services, and India is now among the fastest growing sources of foreign direct investment entering the United States. The two leaders agreed on steps to reduce trade barriers and protectionist measures and encourage research and innovation to create jobs and improve livelihoods in their countries.
They also welcomed expanding investment flow in both directions. They noted growing ties between U.S. and Indian firms and called for enhanced investment flows, including in India's infrastructure sector, clean energy, energy efficiency, aviation and transportation, healthcare, food processing sector and education. They welcomed the work of the U.S.-India CEO Forum to expand cooperation between the two countries, including in the areas of clean energy and infrastructure development. They also encouraged enhanced engagement by Indian and American small and medium-sized enterprises as a critical driver of our economic relationship. They looked forward to building on these developments to realize fully the enormous potential for trade and investment between the two countries.
Recognizing the people-to-people dynamic behind trade and investment growth, they called for intensified consultations on social security issues at an appropriate time. The two leaders agreed to facilitate greater movement of professionals, investors and business travelers, students, and exchange visitors between their countries to enhance their economic and technological partnership.
To enhance growth globally, the Prime Minster and President highlighted both nations' interests in an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the WTO's Doha Development Agenda negotiations, and in having their negotiators accelerate and expand the scope of their substantive negotiations bilaterally and with other WTO members to accomplish this as soon as possible. They agreed to work together in the G-20 to make progress on the broad range of issues on its agenda, including by encouraging actions consistent with achieving strong, balanced, and sustainable growth, strengthening financial system regulation, reforming the international financial institutions, enhancing energy security, resisting protectionism in all its forms, reducing barriers to trade and investment, and implementing the development action plans.
Building on the historic legacy of cooperation between the India and the United States during the Green Revolution, the leaders also decided to work together to develop, test, and replicate transformative technologies to extend food security as part of an Evergreen Revolution. Efforts will focus on providing farmers the means to improve agricultural productivity. Collaboration also will enhance agricultural value chain and strengthen market institutions to reduce post-harvest crop losses.
Affirming the importance of India-U.S. health cooperation, Prime Minister and the President celebrated the signing of an MOU creating a new Global Disease Detection Regional Center in New Delhi, which will facilitate preparedness against threats to health such as pandemic influenza and other dangerous diseases.
Embracing the principles of democracy and opportunity, the leaders recognized that the full future potential of the partnership lies in the hands of the next generation in both countries. To help ensure that all members of that generation enjoy the benefits of higher education, the Prime Minister and the President agreed to convene an India-U.S. Higher Education Summit, chaired by senior officials from both countries in 2011, as part of a continued effort to strengthen educational opportunities. They welcomed the progress made in implementing the Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative that is expanding links between faculties and institutions of the two countries and the expansion in the Nehru-Fulbright Programme for Scholars.
Noting that the ties of kinship and culture are an increasingly important dimension of India-U.S. relations, President Obama welcomed India's decision to hold a Festival of India in Washington DC in 2011. Recognizing the importance of preserving cultural heritage, both governments resolved to initiate discussions on how India and the United States could partner to prevent the illicit trafficking of both countries' rich and unique cultural heritage.
A shared international partnership for democracy and development
Consistent with their commitments to open and responsive government, and harnessing the expertise and experience that the two countries have developed, the leaders launched a U.S.-India Open Government Dialogue that will, through public-private partnerships and use of new technologies and innovations, promote their shared goal of democratizing access to information and energizing civic engagement, support global initiatives in this area and share their expertise with other interested countries. This will build on India's impressive achievements in this area in recent years and the commitments that the President made to advance an open government agenda at the United Nations General Assembly. The President and Prime Minister also pledged to explore cooperation in support of efforts to strengthen elections organization and management in other interested countries, including through sharing their expertise in this area.
Taking advantage of the global nature of their relationship, and recognizing India's vast development experience and historical research strengths, the two leaders pledged to work together, in addition to their independent programmes, to adapt shared innovations and technologies and use their expertise in capacity building to extend food security to interested countries, including in Africa, in consultation with host governments.
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama concluded that their meeting is a historic milestone as they seek to elevate the India-U.S. strategic partnership to a new level for the benefit of their nations and the entire mankind. President Obama thanked President Patil, Prime Minister Singh, and the people of India for their extraordinary warmth and hospitality during his visit. The two leaders looked forward to the next session of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue in 2011.
Read more: Text of joint statement of PM Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Text-of-joint-statement-of-PM-Manmohan-Singh-and-President-Barack-Obama/articleshow/6890825.cms#ixzz14iW9Yonw
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President
President
Obama Calls for India to Be Permanent Member of U.N. Security Council
Published November 08, 2010
| Associated Press
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Monday: A barefoot Indian worker sweeps the red carpet before the arrival of U.S. President Obama to a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India.
AP
Monday: A barefoot Indian worker sweeps the red carpet before the arrival of U.S. President Obama to a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India.
NEW DELHI -- President Barack Obama backed India for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council Monday, a dramatic diplomatic gesture to his hosts as he wrapped up his first visit to this burgeoning nation.
Obama made the announcement in a speech to India's parliament on the third and final day of his visit. In doing so, he fulfilled what was perhaps India's dearest wish for Obama's trip here. India has been pushing for permanent Security Council membership for years.
"The just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate," Obama said. "That is why I can say today -- in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member."
The announcement brought the loudest applause of Obama's speech. But it does not mean that India will join the five permanent Security Council members anytime soon. The U.S. is backing India's membership only in the context of unspecified reforms to the council that could take years to bring about.
That makes Obama's announcement more of a diplomatic gesture than a concrete step. Nonetheless, it underscores the importance the U.S. places on fostering ties with this nation of 1.2 billion people, something Obama has been seeking to accomplish throughout his time here.
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Obama said repeatedly throughout his three days in India -- first in the financial center of Mumbai and then in the capital of New Delhi -- that he views the relationship between the two countries as one of the "defining partnerships" of the 21st century. He set out to prove it by making India the first stop on a four-country tour of Asia, and then through economic announcements, cultural outreach and finally the announcement about the U.N. Security Council.
India has sought permanent council membership as recognition of its surging economic clout and its increased stature in world affairs. The U.S. endorsement is certain to deepen the ties between them and could also send Obama's popularity in India skyrocketing to a level comparable to that enjoyed by George W. Bush. The former president is seen as a hero here for helping end India's nuclear isolation.
The five permanent members of the Security Council are the U.S., China, France, the United Kingdom and Russia.
Debate has raged for years over how to change a structure that is widely seen as outdated and it is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. So it's unclear when India's drive for permanent membership will ever be realized. But backing it at all is a critically important move from India's perspective.
In another important gesture to India, Obama went farther than he had previously during his stay in addressing the terror threat inside Pakistan, India's neighbor and archrival. Obama angered some here when he visited a memorial to victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks but didn't mention Pakistan, which was home to the attackers.
"We will continue to insist to Pakistan's leaders that terrorist safe-havens within their borders are unacceptable, and that the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks be brought to justice," the president said in the address, to loud applause. "We must also recognize that all of us have an interest in both an Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is stable, prosperous and democratic -- and none more so than India."
Muslim-dominated Pakistan and Hindu-majority India have gone to war and remain deeply suspicious of each other. Indian officials accuse Pakistan's intelligence service of helping orchestrate the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and say the country has not done enough to crack down on the Pakistan-based extremists held responsible.
Pakistan views India's ties with the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan as an effort by its old rival to encircle it.
Throughout his time here, Obama has taken pains to cast his visit as a search for U.S. jobs and benefits to people back home, sensitive to the priorities of U.S. voters who punished the Democratic Party in last week's midterm elections, in part over high unemployment. He touched on the theme again Monday.
"As global partners we can promote prosperity in both our countries," Obama said. "Together, we can create the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future."
Obama departs early Tuesday for Indonesia, the country where he spent four years as a boy. From there, he heads to South Korea for a meeting of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations, and then to Japan for a gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. He returns to Washington on Nov. 14.
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Brand Obama is new improved Brand Bush. Nobody in India should expect any better.
Fortunately our own leaders in India know better than to buy Brand Obama.
Here are the reasons why in India we don't buy Brand Obama:
1. The US has exploited Pakistan for 60 years ever since the John Foster Dulles State Department of the early 50's, right after Partition.
2. Pakistan, weakened at Partition, was manipulated by the US to further its own invented Cold War strategy against the former USSR. The US turned Pakistan into a dependent, occasionally defiant, but always subordinate client-state.
3. Any pragmatic initiative by India, to develop Amity and Concord with Pakistan is rendered nearly impossible by continued US manipulation of Pakistan and physical military presence in the South Asia region.
No matter how slick his dance moves, India does not buy Brand Obama
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York (CUNY)
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
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NYtimes copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/asia/08prexy.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
MUMBAI — When Michelle Obama, the first lady, introduced her husband to a group of college students here Sunday, she urged them to ask him “tough questions.”
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They did.
“What is your take or opinion about jihad?” came the first question for President Obama at a town hall-style meeting at St. Xavier’s College. Next up: queries about spirituality, Gandhi, the American midterm elections and his government’s negotiations with the Taliban.
Finally, there was the question Mr. Obama confessed he had been waiting for: Why hasn’t the United States labeled Pakistan “a terrorist state?”
“Pakistan is an enormous country; it is a strategically important country,” Mr. Obama began carefully, before meandering around to a defense of his administration, in which he said its policy is to “work with the Pakistani government in order to eradicate this extremism that we consider a cancer within the country that can potentially engulf the country.”
The diplomatic response was indicative of the fine line Mr. Obama has walked on the topic of terrorism while in India. On Saturday, his first day here, he faced criticism in the local press when he paid homage to the victims and survivors of the 2008 terrorist siege in Mumbai without mentioning that the gunmen were Pakistani or suggesting, more broadly, that some groups in Pakistan pose a terrorist threat.
While the students at St. Xavier’s, a 140-year-old Jesuit institution in this pretty seaside city, were exceedingly polite to Mr. Obama — in interviews many said they admired him — they seemed unafraid to get straight to the point, even if Mr. Obama did not always get straight to his.
“Well,” the president said, tackling the opening question about jihad, “the phrase jihad has a lot of meanings within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations.”
He carefully avoided saying he is opposed to jihad — commonly interpreted to mean “holy war” — and instead said, “I think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified. And so, I think, one of the challenges that we face is how do we isolate those who have these distorted notions of religious war.”
Sunday’s session, in a sunny outdoor courtyard surrounded by Gothic buildings, came on the second day of a 10-day, four-nation swing that will also take Mr. Obama to Indonesia, his boyhood home for four years, South Korea and Japan. He is spending the longest stretch, three days, in India. He left Mumbai later Sunday for the capital, New Delhi, where he was expected to address Parliament on Monday.
While Mr. Obama was dancing around questions — figuratively speaking — on Sunday, he also participated in some literal dancing, showing off some moves that, to the delight of photographers traveling with him, are likely to provide iconic images of his trip. Mr. Obama’s short performance came after student dancers doing a show for him implored him to join in.
The White House has cast the Asia trip as an economic mission that will also strengthen American diplomatic ties with emerging democracies and established ones; on Sunday, Mr. Obama also toured a small technology expo here with the aim of showcasing American partnerships with India in expanding agriculture.
Officials billed the college town hall as a chance for Mr. Obama to connect with ordinary Indians. But for a president still bruised from the trouncing his party took in last week’s elections, the appearance was also a chance to come before the kind of sympathetic crowd he now has trouble attracting at home.
“We call him the world king, king of the world,” said Chetman Rawal, 20, who studies commerce at the college. “I think he will change the world.”
It seemed a common sentiment. In interviews, students and faculty here uniformly spoke kindly of Mr. Obama, praising everything from ‘’his cuteness,” as one female student said, to his basketball skills, to his respect for “Gandhian principles.” On the question of how he applies those principles, Mr. Obama sounded a note of humility.
“I’m often frustrated by how far I fall short of their example,” he said, referring to Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, all of whom he said he is studying. “But I do think that at my best what I’m trying to do is to apply principles that fundamentally come down to something shared in all the world’s religions, which is to see yourself in other people.”
Indians followed the American elections closely, said Father Lawrie Ferrao, director of the institute of communications at the college. But he said people here are more interested in another election — the one Mr. Obama himself ran in 2008.
“The admiration for him with regard to his campaign, his optimism, his charismatic movement and charismatic leadership, that I think has not faded off yet,” Fr. Ferrao said. As to the outcome of the midterms, he gave an explanation Mr. Obama himself might have offered: “He was given an economy which was unsustainable.”
The president himself, when questioned on the races, pledged some “mid-course corrections and adjustments,” , though he was not specific about his plans. But in his commentary on Gandhi, he offered a lesson he had learned, one that perhaps provides some insight into how he might be feeling these days.
“On this journey,” Mr. Obama said, “you’re going to experience setbacks and you have to be persistent and stubborn, and you just have to keep on going at it. And you’ll never roll the boulder all the way up the hill, but you may get it part of the way up.”
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TOI copyright
Obama pushes India to talk to Pakistan
REUTERS, Nov 7, 2010, 05.56pm IST
Tags:Obama|Michelle|Manmohan Singh|Barack Obama|Abdul Basit
NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama called on India on Sunday to bolster peace efforts with Pakistan that have floundered since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, relations seen as crucial to his troubled efforts to win the war in Afghanistan.
On the second day of his official visit to India, Obama faces a diplomatic tightrope in fostering ties with the growing global power, while at the same time helping Pakistan with billions of dollars in aid and promoting wider peace in Afghanistan.
Obama's first leg of a 10-day Asian tour has been hailed as moving the United States closer to India as Washington tries to revive a weak economy and gather support to pressure China on its currency. But on Sunday, India's worries about Pakistan dominated.
Peppered by questions from students at a college in India's financial hub, Obama toed a cautious line between the two nuclear-armed foes, saying both were needed to help stabilise Afghanistan where thousands of US troops battle militants.
"My hope is that over time, trust develops between the two countries, that dialogue begins, perhaps on less controversial issues, building up to more controversial issues," Obama told students under a hot midday sun.
Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India as saying the United States ought to play an "effective role for an amicable solution of the longstanding issue of Kashmir" given close India-US ties.
Kashmir is at the heart of the dispute between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought two wars over the restive Himalayan region which they both claim.
The Mumbai attacks inflamed tensions between the foes, which have been to war three times since 1947 independence. India says elements within the Pakistan state were behind the rampage, when Pakistan-based gunmen killed 166 people in a 60-hour strike on hotels, a train station and a Jewish centre.
India immediately broke off peace talks with Pakistan, although there have been some largely fruitless top level meetings in the last year.
"India's investment in development in Afghanistan is appreciated," Obama added. "Pakistan has to be a partner in this process, in fact all countries in the region are going to need to be partners in this process.
"The United States welcomes that, we don't think we can do this alone."
India has given $1.3 billion in aid to Afghanistan, a policy that unnerves Pakistan which sees its northern neighbour as its own backyard of influence. India wants stability there to stop the country being used to harbour anti-Indian Islamist militants.
Obama said Pakistan was not acting quickly enough to deal with militancy within its borders, a view long expressed by many Indian officials who say Islamabad is hoodwinking Washington by taking aid while also backing militants in Afghanistan.
"There are more Pakistanis who've been killed by terrorists inside Pakistan than probably anywhere else," Obama said.
Obama will visit Indonesia, South Korea and Japan on the tour that will see Washington push to prevent countries unilaterally devaluing currencies to protect their exports, a top theme at the Group of 20 heads of state meet in Seoul next week.
Mauled in mid-term elections, Obama is trying to bolster exports and jobs by boosting business in countries like India, trying to show that US voters have more to benefit from India than fear from its cheap outsourcing industries.
To that end, Obama announced $10 billion in business deals that he said would support 54,000 jobs in the United States.
But on Sunday he called on Asian countries like India to open their economies more up to US firms. India restricts foreign investment in key areas like retail and financial services.
"It's not unfair for the United States to say, look, if our economy is open to everybody, countries that trade with us have to change their practices to open up their markets to us. There has to be reciprocity in our trading relationships," Obama said.
He said the United States was not making progress on unemployment quickly enough and he would take "some mid-course correction" after the mid-term elections.
"Unemployment in the US is very high now, relative to what it is typically. Although we are making progress, we are not making progress quickly enough," Obama said.
Earlier on Sunday Obama and is wife Michelle watched children in saris perform traditional dances. Michelle led an initially hesitant president to join in, mimicking their dancing moves as White House aides laughed at their commander-in-chief.
Later in the afternoon, Obama landed in New Delhi and greeted the waiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a hug. The Obamas and the Singhs chatted with each other for a few minutes, before the president went for a scheduled tour of a Mughal-era tomb. The leaders were to meet for dinner at Singh's residence later.
Read more: Obama pushes India to talk to Pakistan - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Obama-pushes-India-to-talk-to-Pakistan/articleshow/6884180.cms#ixzz14cchAWW3
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TOI copyright 11/08/10
text of Joint India-US statement Obama Manmohan
NEW DELHI: Following is the text of the Joint Statement of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama.
Reaffirming their nations' shared values and increasing convergence of interests, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama resolved today in New Delhi to expand and strengthen the India-U.S. global strategic partnership.
The two leaders welcomed the deepening relationship between the world's two largest democracies. They commended the growing cooperation between their governments, citizens, businesses, universities and scientific institutions, which have thrived on a shared culture of pluralism, education, enterprise, and innovation, and have benefited the people of both countries.
Building on the transformation in India-U.S. relations over the past decade, the two leaders resolved to intensify cooperation between their nations to promote a secure and stable world; advance technology and innovation; expand mutual prosperity and global economic growth; support sustainable development; and exercise global leadership in support of economic development, open government and democratic values.
The two leaders reaffirmed that India-U.S. strategic partnership is indispensable not only for their two countries but also for global stability and prosperity in the 21st century. To that end, President Obama welcomed India's emergence as a major regional and global power and affirmed his country's interest in India's rise, its economic prosperity, and its security.
A global strategic partnership for the 21st century
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama called for an efficient, effective, credible and legitimate United Nations to ensure a just and sustainable international order. Prime Minister Singh welcomed President Obama's affirmation that, in the years ahead, the United States looks forward to a reformed UN Security Council that includes India as a permanent member. The two leaders reaffirmed that all nations, especially those that seek to lead in the 21st century, bear responsibility to ensure that the United Nations fulfills its founding ideals of preserving peace and security, promoting global cooperation, and advancing human rights.
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama reiterated that India and the United States, as global leaders, will partner for global security, especially as India serves on the Security Council over the next two years. The leaders agreed that their delegations in New York will intensify their engagement and work together to ensure that the Council continues to effectively play the role envisioned for it in the United Nations Charter. Both leaders underscored that all states have an obligation to comply with and implement UN Security Council Resolutions, including UN sanctions regimes. They also agreed to hold regular consultations on UN matters, including on the long-term sustainability of UN peacekeeping operations. As the two largest democracies, both countries also reaffirmed their strong commitment to the UN Democracy Fund.
The two leaders have a shared vision for peace, stability and prosperity in Asia, the Indian Ocean region and the Pacific region and committed to work together, and with others in the region, for the evolution of an open, balanced and inclusive architecture in the region. In this context, the leaders reaffirmed their support for the East Asia Summit and committed to regular consultations in this regard. The United States welcomes, in particular, India's leadership in expanding prosperity and security across the region. The two leaders agreed to deepen existing regular strategic consultations on developments in East Asia, and decided to expand and intensify their strategic consultations to cover regional and global issues of mutual interest, including Central and West Asia.
The two sides committed to intensify consultation, cooperation and coordination to promote a stable, democratic, prosperous, and independent Afghanistan. President Obama appreciated India's enormous contribution to Afghanistan's development and welcomed enhanced Indian assistance that will help Afghanistan achieve self-sufficiency. In addition to their own independent assistance programs in Afghanistan, the two sides resolved to pursue joint development projects with the Afghan Government in capacity building, agriculture and women's empowerment.
They reiterated that success in Afghanistan and regional and global security require elimination of safe havens and infrastructure for terrorism and violent extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Condemning terrorism in all its forms, the two sides agreed that all terrorist networks, including Lashkar e-Taiba, must be defeated and called for Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Building upon the Counter Terrorism Initiative signed in July 2010, the two leaders announced a new Homeland Security Dialogue between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Homeland Security and agreed to further deepen operational cooperation, counter-terrorism technology transfers and capacity building. The two leaders also emphasized the importance of close cooperation in combating terrorist financing and in protecting the international financial system.
In an increasingly inter-dependent world, the stability of, and access to, the air, sea, space, and cyberspace domains is vital for the security and economic prosperity of nations. Acknowledging their commitment to openness and responsible international conduct, and on the basis of their shared values, India and the United States have launched a dialogue to explore ways to work together, as well as with other countries, to develop a shared vision for these critical domains to promote peace, security and development. The leaders reaffirmed the importance of maritime security, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation, in accordance with relevant universally agreed principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and peaceful settlement of maritime disputes.
The transformation in India-U.S. defense cooperation in recent years has strengthened mutual understanding on regional peace and stability, enhanced both countries' respective capacities to meet humanitarian and other challenges such as terrorism and piracy, and contributed to the development of the strategic partnership between India and the United States. The two Governments resolved to further strengthen defense cooperation, including through security dialogue, exercises, and promoting trade and collaboration in defense equipment and technology. President Obama welcomed India's decision to purchase U.S. high-technology defense items, which reflects our strengthening bilateral defence relations and will contribute to creating jobs in the United States.
The two leaders affirmed that their countries' common ideals, complementary strengths and a shared commitment to a world without nuclear weapons give them a responsibility to forge a strong partnership to lead global efforts for non-proliferation and universal and non-discriminatory global nuclear disarmament in the 21st century. They affirmed the need for a meaningful dialogue among all states possessing nuclear weapons to build trust and confidence and for reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in international affairs and security doctrines. They support strengthening the six decade-old international norm of non-use of nuclear weapons. They expressed a commitment to strengthen international cooperative activities that will reduce the risk of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons or material without reducing the rights of nations that play by the rules to harness the power of nuclear energy to advance their energy security. The leaders reaffirmed their shared dedication to work together to realize the commitments outlined at the April 2010 Nuclear Security Summit to achieve the goal of securing vulnerable nuclear materials in the next four years. Both sides expressed deep concern regarding illicit nuclear trafficking and smuggling and resolved to strengthen international cooperative efforts to address these threats through the IAEA, Interpol and in the context of the Nuclear Security Summit Communiqué and Action Plan. The two sides welcomed the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership being established by India.
Both sides expressed deep concern about the threat of biological terrorism and pledged to promote international efforts to ensure the safety and security of biological agents and toxins. They stressed the need to achieve full implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and expressed the hope for a successful BWC Review Conference in 2011. The United States welcomed India's destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile in accordance with the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Both countries affirmed their shared commitment to promoting the full and effective implementation of the CWC.
The two leaders expressed regret at the delay in starting negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for a multilateral, non-discriminatory and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the future production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
India reaffirmed its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing. The United States reaffirmed its testing moratorium and its commitment to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and bring it into force at an early date.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to diplomacy to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue, and discussed the need for Iran to take constructive and immediate steps to meet its obligations to the IAEA and the UN Security Council.
Technology, innovation, and energy
Recognizing that India and the United States should play a leadership role in promoting global nonproliferation objectives and their desire to expand high technology cooperation and trade, Prime Minister Singh and President Obama committed to work together to strengthen the global export control framework and further transform bilateral export control regulations and policies to realize the full potential of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Accordingly, the two leaders decided to take mutual steps to expand U.S.-India cooperation in civil space, defense, and other high-technology sectors. Commensurate with India's nonproliferation record and commitment to abide by multilateral export control standards, these steps include the United States removing Indian entities from the U.S. Department of Commerce's "Entity List" and realignment of India in U.S. export control regulations.
In addition, the United States intends to support India's full membership in the four multilateral export control regimes (Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group, and Wassenaar Arrangement) in a phased manner, and to consult with regime members to encourage the evolution of regime membership criteria, consistent with maintaining the core principles of these regimes, as the Government of India takes steps towards the full adoption of the regimes' export control requirements to reflect its prospective membership, with both processes moving forward together. In the view of the United States, India should qualify for membership in the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement according to existing requirements once it imposes export controls over all items on these regimes' control lists.
Both leaders reaffirmed the assurances provided in the letters exchanged in September 2004 and the End-Use Visit Arrangement, and determined that the two governments had reached an understanding to implement these initiatives consistent with their respective national export control laws and policies. The Prime Minister and President committed to a strengthened and expanded dialogue on export control issues, through fora such as the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group, on aspects of capacity building, sharing of best practices, and outreach with industry.
The possibility of cooperation between the two nations in space, to advance scientific knowledge and human welfare, are without boundaries and limits. They commended their space scientists for launching new initiatives in climate and weather forecasting for agriculture, navigation, resource mapping, research and development, and capacity building. They agreed to continuing discussions on and seek ways to collaborate on future lunar missions, international space station, human space flight and data sharing, and to reconvene the Civil Space Joint Working Group in early 2011. They highlighted the just concluded Implementing Arrangement for enhanced monsoon forecasting that will begin to transmit detailed forecasts to farmers beginning with the 2011 monsoon rainy season as an important example of bilateral scientific cooperation advancing economic development, agriculture and food security.
The two leaders welcomed the completion of steps by the two governments for implementation of the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement. They reiterated their commitment to build strong India-U.S. civil nuclear energy cooperation through the participation of the U.S. nuclear energy firms in India on the basis of mutually acceptable technical and commercial terms and conditions that enable a viable tariff regime for electricity generated. They noted that both countries had enacted domestic legislations and were also signatories to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation. They further noted that India intends to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation within the coming year and is committed to ensuring a level playing field for U.S. companies seeking to enter the Indian nuclear energy sector, consistent with India's national and international legal obligations.
India will continue to work with the companies. In this context, they welcomed the commencement of negotiations and dialogue between the Indian operator and U.S. nuclear energy companies, and expressed hope for early commencement of commercial cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector in India, which will stimulate economic growth and sustainable development and generate employment in both countries.
Just as they have helped develop the knowledge economy, India and the United States resolved to strengthen their partnership in creating the green economy of the future. To this end, both countries have undertaken joint research and deployment of clean energy resources, such as solar, advanced biofuels, shale gas, and smart grids. The two leaders also welcomed the promotion of clean and energy efficient technologies through the bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) and expanded cooperation with the private sector. They welcomed the conclusion of a new MoU on assessment and exploration of shale gas and an agreement to establish a Joint Clean Energy Research Center in India as important milestones in their rapidly growing clean energy cooperation.
The leaders discussed the importance of working bilaterally, through the Major Economies Forum (MEF), and in the context of the international climate change negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC to meet the challenge of climate change. Prime Minister Singh and President Obama reiterated the importance of a positive result for the current climate change negotiations at the forthcoming conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Mexico and affirmed their support for the Copenhagen Accord, which should contribute positively to a successful outcome in Cancun. To that end, the leaders welcomed enhanced cooperation in the area of climate adaptation and sustainable land use, and welcomed the new partnership between the United States and India on forestry programs and in weather forecasting.
Inclusive growth, mutual prosperity, and economic cooperation
The two leaders stressed that India and the United States, anchored in democracy and diversity, blessed with enormous enterprise and skill, and endowed with synergies drawn from India's rapid growth and U.S. global economic leadership, have a natural partnership for enhancing mutual prosperity and stimulating global economic recovery and growth. They emphasize innovation not only as a tool for economic growth and global competitiveness, but also for social transformation and empowerment of people.
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama celebrated the recent growth in bilateral trade and investment, characterized by balanced and rapidly growing trade in goods and services. They noted positively that the United States is India's largest trading partner in goods and services, and India is now among the fastest growing sources of foreign direct investment entering the United States. The two leaders agreed on steps to reduce trade barriers and protectionist measures and encourage research and innovation to create jobs and improve livelihoods in their countries.
They also welcomed expanding investment flow in both directions. They noted growing ties between U.S. and Indian firms and called for enhanced investment flows, including in India's infrastructure sector, clean energy, energy efficiency, aviation and transportation, healthcare, food processing sector and education. They welcomed the work of the U.S.-India CEO Forum to expand cooperation between the two countries, including in the areas of clean energy and infrastructure development. They also encouraged enhanced engagement by Indian and American small and medium-sized enterprises as a critical driver of our economic relationship. They looked forward to building on these developments to realize fully the enormous potential for trade and investment between the two countries.
Recognizing the people-to-people dynamic behind trade and investment growth, they called for intensified consultations on social security issues at an appropriate time. The two leaders agreed to facilitate greater movement of professionals, investors and business travelers, students, and exchange visitors between their countries to enhance their economic and technological partnership.
To enhance growth globally, the Prime Minster and President highlighted both nations' interests in an ambitious and balanced conclusion to the WTO's Doha Development Agenda negotiations, and in having their negotiators accelerate and expand the scope of their substantive negotiations bilaterally and with other WTO members to accomplish this as soon as possible. They agreed to work together in the G-20 to make progress on the broad range of issues on its agenda, including by encouraging actions consistent with achieving strong, balanced, and sustainable growth, strengthening financial system regulation, reforming the international financial institutions, enhancing energy security, resisting protectionism in all its forms, reducing barriers to trade and investment, and implementing the development action plans.
Building on the historic legacy of cooperation between the India and the United States during the Green Revolution, the leaders also decided to work together to develop, test, and replicate transformative technologies to extend food security as part of an Evergreen Revolution. Efforts will focus on providing farmers the means to improve agricultural productivity. Collaboration also will enhance agricultural value chain and strengthen market institutions to reduce post-harvest crop losses.
Affirming the importance of India-U.S. health cooperation, Prime Minister and the President celebrated the signing of an MOU creating a new Global Disease Detection Regional Center in New Delhi, which will facilitate preparedness against threats to health such as pandemic influenza and other dangerous diseases.
Embracing the principles of democracy and opportunity, the leaders recognized that the full future potential of the partnership lies in the hands of the next generation in both countries. To help ensure that all members of that generation enjoy the benefits of higher education, the Prime Minister and the President agreed to convene an India-U.S. Higher Education Summit, chaired by senior officials from both countries in 2011, as part of a continued effort to strengthen educational opportunities. They welcomed the progress made in implementing the Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative that is expanding links between faculties and institutions of the two countries and the expansion in the Nehru-Fulbright Programme for Scholars.
Noting that the ties of kinship and culture are an increasingly important dimension of India-U.S. relations, President Obama welcomed India's decision to hold a Festival of India in Washington DC in 2011. Recognizing the importance of preserving cultural heritage, both governments resolved to initiate discussions on how India and the United States could partner to prevent the illicit trafficking of both countries' rich and unique cultural heritage.
A shared international partnership for democracy and development
Consistent with their commitments to open and responsive government, and harnessing the expertise and experience that the two countries have developed, the leaders launched a U.S.-India Open Government Dialogue that will, through public-private partnerships and use of new technologies and innovations, promote their shared goal of democratizing access to information and energizing civic engagement, support global initiatives in this area and share their expertise with other interested countries. This will build on India's impressive achievements in this area in recent years and the commitments that the President made to advance an open government agenda at the United Nations General Assembly. The President and Prime Minister also pledged to explore cooperation in support of efforts to strengthen elections organization and management in other interested countries, including through sharing their expertise in this area.
Taking advantage of the global nature of their relationship, and recognizing India's vast development experience and historical research strengths, the two leaders pledged to work together, in addition to their independent programmes, to adapt shared innovations and technologies and use their expertise in capacity building to extend food security to interested countries, including in Africa, in consultation with host governments.
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama concluded that their meeting is a historic milestone as they seek to elevate the India-U.S. strategic partnership to a new level for the benefit of their nations and the entire mankind. President Obama thanked President Patil, Prime Minister Singh, and the people of India for their extraordinary warmth and hospitality during his visit. The two leaders looked forward to the next session of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue in 2011.
Read more: Text of joint statement of PM Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Text-of-joint-statement-of-PM-Manmohan-Singh-and-President-Barack-Obama/articleshow/6890825.cms#ixzz14iW9Yonw
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President
President
Obama Calls for India to Be Permanent Member of U.N. Security Council
Published November 08, 2010
| Associated Press
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Monday: A barefoot Indian worker sweeps the red carpet before the arrival of U.S. President Obama to a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India.
AP
Monday: A barefoot Indian worker sweeps the red carpet before the arrival of U.S. President Obama to a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India.
NEW DELHI -- President Barack Obama backed India for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council Monday, a dramatic diplomatic gesture to his hosts as he wrapped up his first visit to this burgeoning nation.
Obama made the announcement in a speech to India's parliament on the third and final day of his visit. In doing so, he fulfilled what was perhaps India's dearest wish for Obama's trip here. India has been pushing for permanent Security Council membership for years.
"The just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a United Nations that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate," Obama said. "That is why I can say today -- in the years ahead, I look forward to a reformed U.N. Security Council that includes India as a permanent member."
The announcement brought the loudest applause of Obama's speech. But it does not mean that India will join the five permanent Security Council members anytime soon. The U.S. is backing India's membership only in the context of unspecified reforms to the council that could take years to bring about.
That makes Obama's announcement more of a diplomatic gesture than a concrete step. Nonetheless, it underscores the importance the U.S. places on fostering ties with this nation of 1.2 billion people, something Obama has been seeking to accomplish throughout his time here.
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Obama said repeatedly throughout his three days in India -- first in the financial center of Mumbai and then in the capital of New Delhi -- that he views the relationship between the two countries as one of the "defining partnerships" of the 21st century. He set out to prove it by making India the first stop on a four-country tour of Asia, and then through economic announcements, cultural outreach and finally the announcement about the U.N. Security Council.
India has sought permanent council membership as recognition of its surging economic clout and its increased stature in world affairs. The U.S. endorsement is certain to deepen the ties between them and could also send Obama's popularity in India skyrocketing to a level comparable to that enjoyed by George W. Bush. The former president is seen as a hero here for helping end India's nuclear isolation.
The five permanent members of the Security Council are the U.S., China, France, the United Kingdom and Russia.
Debate has raged for years over how to change a structure that is widely seen as outdated and it is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. So it's unclear when India's drive for permanent membership will ever be realized. But backing it at all is a critically important move from India's perspective.
In another important gesture to India, Obama went farther than he had previously during his stay in addressing the terror threat inside Pakistan, India's neighbor and archrival. Obama angered some here when he visited a memorial to victims of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks but didn't mention Pakistan, which was home to the attackers.
"We will continue to insist to Pakistan's leaders that terrorist safe-havens within their borders are unacceptable, and that the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks be brought to justice," the president said in the address, to loud applause. "We must also recognize that all of us have an interest in both an Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is stable, prosperous and democratic -- and none more so than India."
Muslim-dominated Pakistan and Hindu-majority India have gone to war and remain deeply suspicious of each other. Indian officials accuse Pakistan's intelligence service of helping orchestrate the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and say the country has not done enough to crack down on the Pakistan-based extremists held responsible.
Pakistan views India's ties with the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan as an effort by its old rival to encircle it.
Throughout his time here, Obama has taken pains to cast his visit as a search for U.S. jobs and benefits to people back home, sensitive to the priorities of U.S. voters who punished the Democratic Party in last week's midterm elections, in part over high unemployment. He touched on the theme again Monday.
"As global partners we can promote prosperity in both our countries," Obama said. "Together, we can create the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future."
Obama departs early Tuesday for Indonesia, the country where he spent four years as a boy. From there, he heads to South Korea for a meeting of the Group of 20 developed and developing nations, and then to Japan for a gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. He returns to Washington on Nov. 14.
----
Monday, October 4, 2010
US Midterm Elections Impact Kashmir?
According to a news report from Srinagar, Kashmir, India, Obama has sent two Indian-origin US envoys to Kashmir, from the US Embassy in New Delhi.
The envoys met the JKLF leader and are slated to meet others. Pushpinder Dhillon and Kailash Jha, met the leader, preceding Obama's scheduled visit to India in November.
Wait a minute. Isn't that just around the time that the Democrats (I voted Democrat, I voted Obama/Biden), under Obama's leadership are predicted to get a swift kick in the gut during the U.S. midterm elections, Tuesday November 2? Read on.....
Any US interference in the internal affairs of Kashmir, India will be a grave mistake for the US. But the US has made catastrophic mistakes in foreign policy -- and profited by them. In this case, I don't think Obama will initiate any such direct interference. Sending his career diplomats (read bureaucrats) from the State Department to Kashmir is just a game to counter Republicans before the US midterm elections in November.
I am a US citizen. I voted for Obama in order to end the Bush administration policy in Iraq. But Obama has proven to be even worse than Bush, Obama is Bush with a more likeable, smiley face and a smooth tongue. He is still strongly preferable to Bush-style Republicans, particularly on US DOMESTIC policy which I endorse and support, but OBAMA is a flag carrier for the CIA on US FOREIGN policy.
Every US President is controlled by the CIA, just like every Pakistani leader is controlled by the ISI!
Ironical but factually correct, perhaps that is why the US has been able to exploit Pakistan so successfully for 60+ years.
Obama has initiated this action to meet Kashmiri "leaders" (he has not made any attempt to meet authentic aam Kashmiris' leaders like the J&K RTI), because this is the period of midterm elections in the US and the Democrats are going to lose seats. Obama wants to look tough to show the American people that he is as violently militaristic and as business-for-profit-driven as most of the Republican leadership in the House and in the Senate. Obama's overture to Kashmir's inexperienced, unsophisticated and factional 'leaders' is a midterm election maneuver to thwart people like Representative Dan Burton of Indiana, who is facing 5 challengers in his re-election bid in November. Burton, this week, urged Obama to intervene on Kashmir.
Does anyone really believe that a midwestern US politician cares about Kashmir? Burton and his constituents probably cannot even find Kashmir on a map!
India of course will politely say NO to Obama, about interfering in India's internal affairs. And Obama will have no option except to agree with India, because India is a sovereign state, of which Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part.
However, Obama will continue to play the US midterm election game on Kashmir, until approximately November 2, when Americans, including me, will vote.
For 60 years the US has pursued a superpower policy of INVASION, OCCUPATION, and EXPLOITATION in Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador,, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Does anyone in the Valley think the US should be flying unmanned spy drones against so-called "militants" INSIDE the territory of Pakistan and Afghanistan? How many innocent Iraqi, Pakistani and Afghan civilians has the US killed in Iraq and Pakistan and Afghanistan? Are they not our sisters and brothers, our friends and neighbors?
INDIA, in sharp contrast to Pakistan, has NEVER EVER allowed even ONE US/CIA soldier/spy to ever be stationed anywhere on INDIA's territory.
Poor Pakistan has been a paid political prostitute (the real PPP!) of the US since the early 1950's of the John Foster Dulles State Department. Today, Pakistan has been so exploited by the US, Pakistan has become an international source of terror. Pak is most unfortunately a client-state (read slave) of the US/CIA, its land is overrun by US/NATO troops, who are far more powerful than the J&K police and Indian army,
The US is the #1 source of international terror in Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Having lived in the US for 45 years, I can credibly say that the US, in its foreign policy, is completely focused on predatory market-driven and geopolitical imperatives to secure resources, markets and geopolitical influence.
Saudi Arabia is the main supporter of the US, supplying cheap oil to the US consumer, so that medieval Saudi princes with a sharp eye on their personal wealth, can prevent democracy and human rights for the ordinary people of Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile US consumers are happy driving their Hummers and SUVs (I use only public transportation in India, the US, everywhere, including of course the J&KSRTC, my favorite!),
With the subservience of Pakistan and connivance of Saudi Arabia, The US has now gained a foothold in South Asia so that it can control Iran and Russia for their oil and natural gas reserves.
Look at the FACTS.
Examine the EVIDENCE.
Wake up and smell the fumes of US/CIA invasion and occupation going on right now, right this minute, in South Asia.
Is that what aam janta Kashmiris need? Kashmiris deserve better than the opportunistic leaders they currently have.
They need to look more towards leaders like the J&K, RTI, we need to allow aam Kashmiris to lead themselves
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rising Kashmir copyrighted article
http://www.risingkashmir.com/news/us-envoys-call-on-malik-2064.aspx
US envoys call on Malik
‘Obama should help resolve Kashmir dispute’
Ishfaq Ahmad Shah
Srinagar, Oct 03: Amid speculations of Kashmir being on the agenda of US President Barak Obama during his visit to India in November, two top US diplomats called upon Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik here on Sunday.
The two diplomats of US Embassy in New Delhi, Pushpinder Dhillion and Kailash Jha met the JKLF chief at the party headquarters. The meeting, which lasted for more than an hour, discussed several issues including the prevailing situation in the valley.
Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Malik said he urged the diplomats to persuade Obama to use his influence over India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir issue as per the aspirations of its people.
“I appealed the delegation that they should aware America and the world community that three Kashmiri generations have been consumed by the 63-year-old conflict and it is the duty of Obama and other world leaders to impress upon India and Pakistan to resolve the issue amicably,” he said.
Malik said he urged the delegation to recognize the transition of Kashmiri movement from violent to non-violent means.
“It was America which suggested change in our movement from violent to a non-violent mode. Now that we have changed the mode of our movement, the world community has still maintained a criminal silence,” he told the diplomats.
The JKLF chief said that if Obama and the world leaders fail to impress a resolution over Kashmir, the youth who are leading a peaceful agitation from the past four months will be forced to take up guns again.
“It is the moral and diplomatic responsibility of US to help resolve the Kashmir issue,” he added.
Meanwhile, the delegation which is on a three-day visit to the valley, is likely to hold meetings with Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwiaz Umar Farooq besides the civil society members.
As per sources, the delegation will also be meeting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Governor NN Vohra and other mainstream politicians.
The envoys met the JKLF leader and are slated to meet others. Pushpinder Dhillon and Kailash Jha, met the leader, preceding Obama's scheduled visit to India in November.
Wait a minute. Isn't that just around the time that the Democrats (I voted Democrat, I voted Obama/Biden), under Obama's leadership are predicted to get a swift kick in the gut during the U.S. midterm elections, Tuesday November 2? Read on.....
Any US interference in the internal affairs of Kashmir, India will be a grave mistake for the US. But the US has made catastrophic mistakes in foreign policy -- and profited by them. In this case, I don't think Obama will initiate any such direct interference. Sending his career diplomats (read bureaucrats) from the State Department to Kashmir is just a game to counter Republicans before the US midterm elections in November.
I am a US citizen. I voted for Obama in order to end the Bush administration policy in Iraq. But Obama has proven to be even worse than Bush, Obama is Bush with a more likeable, smiley face and a smooth tongue. He is still strongly preferable to Bush-style Republicans, particularly on US DOMESTIC policy which I endorse and support, but OBAMA is a flag carrier for the CIA on US FOREIGN policy.
Every US President is controlled by the CIA, just like every Pakistani leader is controlled by the ISI!
Ironical but factually correct, perhaps that is why the US has been able to exploit Pakistan so successfully for 60+ years.
Obama has initiated this action to meet Kashmiri "leaders" (he has not made any attempt to meet authentic aam Kashmiris' leaders like the J&K RTI), because this is the period of midterm elections in the US and the Democrats are going to lose seats. Obama wants to look tough to show the American people that he is as violently militaristic and as business-for-profit-driven as most of the Republican leadership in the House and in the Senate. Obama's overture to Kashmir's inexperienced, unsophisticated and factional 'leaders' is a midterm election maneuver to thwart people like Representative Dan Burton of Indiana, who is facing 5 challengers in his re-election bid in November. Burton, this week, urged Obama to intervene on Kashmir.
Does anyone really believe that a midwestern US politician cares about Kashmir? Burton and his constituents probably cannot even find Kashmir on a map!
India of course will politely say NO to Obama, about interfering in India's internal affairs. And Obama will have no option except to agree with India, because India is a sovereign state, of which Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part.
However, Obama will continue to play the US midterm election game on Kashmir, until approximately November 2, when Americans, including me, will vote.
For 60 years the US has pursued a superpower policy of INVASION, OCCUPATION, and EXPLOITATION in Brazil, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador,, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Does anyone in the Valley think the US should be flying unmanned spy drones against so-called "militants" INSIDE the territory of Pakistan and Afghanistan? How many innocent Iraqi, Pakistani and Afghan civilians has the US killed in Iraq and Pakistan and Afghanistan? Are they not our sisters and brothers, our friends and neighbors?
INDIA, in sharp contrast to Pakistan, has NEVER EVER allowed even ONE US/CIA soldier/spy to ever be stationed anywhere on INDIA's territory.
Poor Pakistan has been a paid political prostitute (the real PPP!) of the US since the early 1950's of the John Foster Dulles State Department. Today, Pakistan has been so exploited by the US, Pakistan has become an international source of terror. Pak is most unfortunately a client-state (read slave) of the US/CIA, its land is overrun by US/NATO troops, who are far more powerful than the J&K police and Indian army,
The US is the #1 source of international terror in Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Having lived in the US for 45 years, I can credibly say that the US, in its foreign policy, is completely focused on predatory market-driven and geopolitical imperatives to secure resources, markets and geopolitical influence.
Saudi Arabia is the main supporter of the US, supplying cheap oil to the US consumer, so that medieval Saudi princes with a sharp eye on their personal wealth, can prevent democracy and human rights for the ordinary people of Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile US consumers are happy driving their Hummers and SUVs (I use only public transportation in India, the US, everywhere, including of course the J&KSRTC, my favorite!),
With the subservience of Pakistan and connivance of Saudi Arabia, The US has now gained a foothold in South Asia so that it can control Iran and Russia for their oil and natural gas reserves.
Look at the FACTS.
Examine the EVIDENCE.
Wake up and smell the fumes of US/CIA invasion and occupation going on right now, right this minute, in South Asia.
Is that what aam janta Kashmiris need? Kashmiris deserve better than the opportunistic leaders they currently have.
They need to look more towards leaders like the J&K, RTI, we need to allow aam Kashmiris to lead themselves
Dr. Chithra KarunaKaran
City University of New York
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rising Kashmir copyrighted article
http://www.risingkashmir.com/news/us-envoys-call-on-malik-2064.aspx
US envoys call on Malik
‘Obama should help resolve Kashmir dispute’
Ishfaq Ahmad Shah
Srinagar, Oct 03: Amid speculations of Kashmir being on the agenda of US President Barak Obama during his visit to India in November, two top US diplomats called upon Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik here on Sunday.
The two diplomats of US Embassy in New Delhi, Pushpinder Dhillion and Kailash Jha met the JKLF chief at the party headquarters. The meeting, which lasted for more than an hour, discussed several issues including the prevailing situation in the valley.
Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Malik said he urged the diplomats to persuade Obama to use his influence over India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir issue as per the aspirations of its people.
“I appealed the delegation that they should aware America and the world community that three Kashmiri generations have been consumed by the 63-year-old conflict and it is the duty of Obama and other world leaders to impress upon India and Pakistan to resolve the issue amicably,” he said.
Malik said he urged the delegation to recognize the transition of Kashmiri movement from violent to non-violent means.
“It was America which suggested change in our movement from violent to a non-violent mode. Now that we have changed the mode of our movement, the world community has still maintained a criminal silence,” he told the diplomats.
The JKLF chief said that if Obama and the world leaders fail to impress a resolution over Kashmir, the youth who are leading a peaceful agitation from the past four months will be forced to take up guns again.
“It is the moral and diplomatic responsibility of US to help resolve the Kashmir issue,” he added.
Meanwhile, the delegation which is on a three-day visit to the valley, is likely to hold meetings with Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwiaz Umar Farooq besides the civil society members.
As per sources, the delegation will also be meeting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Governor NN Vohra and other mainstream politicians.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
RESPECTS -- OR HYPE?
EthicalDemocracy
New York City
October 29th, 2009
9:57 am
RESPECTS -- or HYPE?
Our current President whom I voted for, is a skillful user of the media.
I hope that standing there, watching the war dead come home in boxes, is not just hype.
If he continues to feed the US war machine in West Asia and South Asia, then that would be just hype.
Will Obama stand and pay his respects to the hundreds of thousands CIVILIAN DEAD, KILLED BY U.S. FORCES in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
New York City
October 29th, 2009
9:57 am
RESPECTS -- or HYPE?
Our current President whom I voted for, is a skillful user of the media.
I hope that standing there, watching the war dead come home in boxes, is not just hype.
If he continues to feed the US war machine in West Asia and South Asia, then that would be just hype.
Will Obama stand and pay his respects to the hundreds of thousands CIVILIAN DEAD, KILLED BY U.S. FORCES in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Boneheaded RNC Sets Up Obama to Fail in Diplomacy in South Asia
Comment #133.
New York Times
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 3rd, 2009
12:27 pm
The strategy of the faux patriots among the self-ascribed national security hawks in the Republican Party, is to ensure Obama fails in his diplomatic efforts in the South Asia region.
By ratcheting up their calls for increasing militarization, rather than diplomacy, in Afghanistan, the Republican National Committee and leading Republican members in the US Congress, hope to set up and ambush Obama , divide the Democrats, deflect the Congress from urgent and attainable domestic policy goals of universal healthcare and jobs, and instead, hand the U.S.President a spectacular failure, the size of Vietnam.
That's the RNC/GOP's only hope of turning Obama into a one-term President at the polls in 2012.
If Obama goes with the ethically and politically bankrupt RNC/GOP, drones on in protracted and deadly fashion in Afghanistan, then Obama fully deserves to be a one-term Prez.
I would then regret I voted for him. I hope not to have that regret.
Comment # 32
New York Times
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 3rd, 2009
0:45 am
The strategy of the faux patriots among the self-ascribed national security hawks in the Republican Party, is to ensure Obama fails in his diplomatic efforts in the South Asia region.
By ratcheting up their calls for increasing militarization, rather than diplomacy, in Afghanistan, the Republican National Committee and leading Republican members in the US Congress, hope to set up and ambush Obama , divide the Democrats, deflect the Congress from urgent and attainable domestic policy goals of universal healthcare and jobs, and instead, hand the U.S.President a spectacular failure, the size of Vietnam.
That's the RNC/GOP's only hope of turning Obama into a one-term President at the polls in 2012.
If Obama goes with the ethically and politically bankrupt RNC/GOP, drones on in protracted and deadly fashion in Afghanistan, then Obama fully deserves to be a one-term Prez.
I would then regret I voted for him. I hope not to have that regret.
It's not all about US interests all the time, everywhere.
No nation-state has done more damage to the South Asia region for the past 55 years, than the US.
Time to get out, USA, especially if the bone-headed, ethically bankrupt RNC insists you stay.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
NYTimes copyright
G.O.P. May Be Vital to Obama on Afghan War
By HELENE COOPER
Congressional Democrats are reporting disenchantment among constituents with a long Afghanistan conflict.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/world/asia/03policy.html?hp
New York Times
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 3rd, 2009
12:27 pm
The strategy of the faux patriots among the self-ascribed national security hawks in the Republican Party, is to ensure Obama fails in his diplomatic efforts in the South Asia region.
By ratcheting up their calls for increasing militarization, rather than diplomacy, in Afghanistan, the Republican National Committee and leading Republican members in the US Congress, hope to set up and ambush Obama , divide the Democrats, deflect the Congress from urgent and attainable domestic policy goals of universal healthcare and jobs, and instead, hand the U.S.President a spectacular failure, the size of Vietnam.
That's the RNC/GOP's only hope of turning Obama into a one-term President at the polls in 2012.
If Obama goes with the ethically and politically bankrupt RNC/GOP, drones on in protracted and deadly fashion in Afghanistan, then Obama fully deserves to be a one-term Prez.
I would then regret I voted for him. I hope not to have that regret.
Comment # 32
New York Times
EthicalDemocracy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu India
September 3rd, 2009
0:45 am
The strategy of the faux patriots among the self-ascribed national security hawks in the Republican Party, is to ensure Obama fails in his diplomatic efforts in the South Asia region.
By ratcheting up their calls for increasing militarization, rather than diplomacy, in Afghanistan, the Republican National Committee and leading Republican members in the US Congress, hope to set up and ambush Obama , divide the Democrats, deflect the Congress from urgent and attainable domestic policy goals of universal healthcare and jobs, and instead, hand the U.S.President a spectacular failure, the size of Vietnam.
That's the RNC/GOP's only hope of turning Obama into a one-term President at the polls in 2012.
If Obama goes with the ethically and politically bankrupt RNC/GOP, drones on in protracted and deadly fashion in Afghanistan, then Obama fully deserves to be a one-term Prez.
I would then regret I voted for him. I hope not to have that regret.
It's not all about US interests all the time, everywhere.
No nation-state has done more damage to the South Asia region for the past 55 years, than the US.
Time to get out, USA, especially if the bone-headed, ethically bankrupt RNC insists you stay.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
NYTimes copyright
G.O.P. May Be Vital to Obama on Afghan War
By HELENE COOPER
Congressional Democrats are reporting disenchantment among constituents with a long Afghanistan conflict.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/world/asia/03policy.html?hp
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Both Cheney & Obama Deploy the US Master Narrative
May 13th, 2009 2:43 am
Cheney & Obama Deploy the US Master Narrative
The rest of the world is weary,damaged, sickened and made less safe, by the US geopolitical master narrative of the last 50 years, whether orchestrated by Cheney or Obama, or their predecessors.
This is not to imply Barack and The Dick are similar. But is Cheney the only exponent of the US master narrative?
The US master narrative is bigger and more troublesome than either individual. The more things 'change' the more they remain the same.
If Cheney is 'yelping' now, he's already been neutered so can mainstream media stop focusing on his amusing attempts to bolster his criminal legacy?
Now we have to worry about what damage Obama will do with his AfPak strategy and other implementations of the US master narrative.
President Karzai was right when he warned last week that the US had not met its own "moral standard" in its disastrous use of drones against women, children and men. It's a moral and ethical issue. Importantly, it's a matter of idealistic pragmatism. Karzai's assertion challenges the US master narrative.
But Dowd would rather focus on what a defanged, out-of-office pol has to say.
Chithra Karunakaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------------------------
New York Times copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/opinion/13dowd.html
Op-Ed Columnist
Rogue Diva of Doom
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: May 12, 2009
================================================================================
Cheney & Obama Deploy the US Master Narrative
The rest of the world is weary,damaged, sickened and made less safe, by the US geopolitical master narrative of the last 50 years, whether orchestrated by Cheney or Obama, or their predecessors.
This is not to imply Barack and The Dick are similar. But is Cheney the only exponent of the US master narrative?
The US master narrative is bigger and more troublesome than either individual. The more things 'change' the more they remain the same.
If Cheney is 'yelping' now, he's already been neutered so can mainstream media stop focusing on his amusing attempts to bolster his criminal legacy?
Now we have to worry about what damage Obama will do with his AfPak strategy and other implementations of the US master narrative.
President Karzai was right when he warned last week that the US had not met its own "moral standard" in its disastrous use of drones against women, children and men. It's a moral and ethical issue. Importantly, it's a matter of idealistic pragmatism. Karzai's assertion challenges the US master narrative.
But Dowd would rather focus on what a defanged, out-of-office pol has to say.
Chithra Karunakaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
--------------------------------
New York Times copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/opinion/13dowd.html
Op-Ed Columnist
Rogue Diva of Doom
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: May 12, 2009
================================================================================
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Russia's Role in the New Global Order of Competing Fundamentalisms
The US Whiteness system which has its origins in slavery and genocide for profit, is strongly ideological while posturing as progressive, pragmatic and ethical. This is the core ideological system in which Obama performs Whiteness. I voted for Obama because I clearly understood he is the lesser of two evils within the US Whiteenss System of racialized dominant power based on extreme exloitative profit.
Who armed, trained and paid the Mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban? The US has been a state sponsor of terror throughout the world for over 50 years. Its latest military adventurism, along with US led-NATO, is in my region of South Asia. The US is seeking strategic depth" in South Asia in order to counter Russia and Iran while continuing satellization of Israel. All three adjoin the South Asia region, which the US is cultivating as the main theater of US geopolitical operations.
But fingerpointing at the US does not absolve each nation-state. We each have to do whatever we can to promote social and economic justice in the world for the billions of our fellow citizens of earth. This requires ethical thinking and practice over strategic thinking thinking and practice.
We need idealistic pragmatism that demonstrably promotes prosperity under conditions of peace for the billions of hungry, diseased and homless in our world today.
Russia has to do considerably more by developing a visibly open society (look at India) that takes a more responsive and responsible place in the world.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
-------------
Russia today copyright
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-05-06/Taliban_Rising__Pakistan_swaps_mountain_skiing_for_strict_Sharia_law.html
Who armed, trained and paid the Mujahideen who morphed into the Taliban? The US has been a state sponsor of terror throughout the world for over 50 years. Its latest military adventurism, along with US led-NATO, is in my region of South Asia. The US is seeking strategic depth" in South Asia in order to counter Russia and Iran while continuing satellization of Israel. All three adjoin the South Asia region, which the US is cultivating as the main theater of US geopolitical operations.
But fingerpointing at the US does not absolve each nation-state. We each have to do whatever we can to promote social and economic justice in the world for the billions of our fellow citizens of earth. This requires ethical thinking and practice over strategic thinking thinking and practice.
We need idealistic pragmatism that demonstrably promotes prosperity under conditions of peace for the billions of hungry, diseased and homless in our world today.
Russia has to do considerably more by developing a visibly open society (look at India) that takes a more responsive and responsible place in the world.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
-------------
Russia today copyright
http://russiatoday.com/Politics/2009-05-06/Taliban_Rising__Pakistan_swaps_mountain_skiing_for_strict_Sharia_law.html
Friday, February 27, 2009
An Ethical Lag: Obama on Troop Withdrawal
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/washington/28troops.html?hp
Obama Plans to End Combat Mission in Iraq by August 2010
By PETER BAKER
Published: February 27, 2009
New York Times copyright
--------------------
My comment #20.
February 27, 2009 8:57 am
Link NY Times
February 27th, 2009 8:49 am
Obama is promising on domestic policy and lousy on foreign policy. He is following the Bush-Cheney line with minor variations, in Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iraq and West Asia (aka 'the Middle East'). This is a Coke vs. Pepsi foreign policy.
Obama is intimidated by the Republicans, the generals and the State Dept.
Obama is way too wishy washy on the troop withdrawal.
50,000 US troops still in Iraq after 2010?
Guess this commander in chief wants his moment in the Iraqi sun, by visiting Baghdad's green zone under cover of night, with a zillion security personnel guarding him and not one Iraqi widow or orphan in sight.
Does he also want a couple shoes thrown at him?
The US should never have invaded and occupied Iraq and they have never been welcome there.
Obama claims he opposed the invasion and war. So why the delay?
Yes, yes I understand that is how politics, rather than statesmanship works.
In contrast, Ethical Democracy is a work in progress and it is demonstrated through an intentional accumulation of concrete ethical acts of policy and practice by the people and by their leaders. Is the US anyway near there yet?
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
Obama Plans to End Combat Mission in Iraq by August 2010
By PETER BAKER
Published: February 27, 2009
New York Times copyright
--------------------
My comment #20.
February 27, 2009 8:57 am
Link NY Times
February 27th, 2009 8:49 am
Obama is promising on domestic policy and lousy on foreign policy. He is following the Bush-Cheney line with minor variations, in Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iraq and West Asia (aka 'the Middle East'). This is a Coke vs. Pepsi foreign policy.
Obama is intimidated by the Republicans, the generals and the State Dept.
Obama is way too wishy washy on the troop withdrawal.
50,000 US troops still in Iraq after 2010?
Guess this commander in chief wants his moment in the Iraqi sun, by visiting Baghdad's green zone under cover of night, with a zillion security personnel guarding him and not one Iraqi widow or orphan in sight.
Does he also want a couple shoes thrown at him?
The US should never have invaded and occupied Iraq and they have never been welcome there.
Obama claims he opposed the invasion and war. So why the delay?
Yes, yes I understand that is how politics, rather than statesmanship works.
In contrast, Ethical Democracy is a work in progress and it is demonstrated through an intentional accumulation of concrete ethical acts of policy and practice by the people and by their leaders. Is the US anyway near there yet?
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ethical Populism vs. Corporate Serial Criminality
February 8th, 2009 10:48 am
Comment #612
Populist ETHICAL rage is the best thing that could have happened to America.
Corporate serial criminality has sickened the majority of ordinary earn-your-livelihood americans (yes, lower case a, please) like me.
We are now focused on the universal human right to the pursuit of happiness through fairness, equality, social and economic justice.
ETHICAL POPULISM, in contrast to the rah-rah military adventurism and market unregulation of the 8 years-too-long W regime, will hopefully play a major role in keeping this new President ethical and accountable.
Obama doesn't have the expertise or the experience, he's been a team player all his life, to do it all by himself. Democracy is NOT a one-man show. Obama fumbled, he "screwed up" and the american people expressed their outrage at the unpalatable prospect of business as usual.
ETHICAL POPULISM. I celebrate its tentative return.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
-------------------
Slumdogs Unite! By Frank Rich
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/opinion/08rich.html
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/02/08/opinion/08rich.html?s=1&pg=25
New York Times copyright
====================================================================================
Comment #612
Populist ETHICAL rage is the best thing that could have happened to America.
Corporate serial criminality has sickened the majority of ordinary earn-your-livelihood americans (yes, lower case a, please) like me.
We are now focused on the universal human right to the pursuit of happiness through fairness, equality, social and economic justice.
ETHICAL POPULISM, in contrast to the rah-rah military adventurism and market unregulation of the 8 years-too-long W regime, will hopefully play a major role in keeping this new President ethical and accountable.
Obama doesn't have the expertise or the experience, he's been a team player all his life, to do it all by himself. Democracy is NOT a one-man show. Obama fumbled, he "screwed up" and the american people expressed their outrage at the unpalatable prospect of business as usual.
ETHICAL POPULISM. I celebrate its tentative return.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
-------------------
Slumdogs Unite! By Frank Rich
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/opinion/08rich.html
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/02/08/opinion/08rich.html?s=1&pg=25
New York Times copyright
====================================================================================
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Change We Can Believe In? Or More of the Same?
Dowd is performing a public service, (long abandoned by the U.S. mainstream media during the W regime), by relentlessly holding Obama accountable from Day I. Can he walk the talk? "Change we can believe in" is rapidly but yet predictably, turning into disbelief, as Obama defended then feebly disavowed Daschle. The more they promise change .......
No doubt about it, ordinary folks and responsiblyindependent- minded, progressive columnists will have to shoulder the 4-year long responsibility of holding this new President (who doesn't have one ounce of prior executive experience and only meager legislative experience)to his lofty but eminently doable campaign promises.
Yes We can. Yes he must!
I voted Brand Obama over Brand McCain, with a healthy dose of skepticism, fully appreciating that civil society activism, not the elected leader alone, is key to the arduous but rewarding construction of ethical democracy.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
-------
Comment #68, February 04, 2008 8:04 a.m.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/opinion/04dowd.html
New York Times copyright
==================================================================================
No doubt about it, ordinary folks and responsiblyindependent- minded, progressive columnists will have to shoulder the 4-year long responsibility of holding this new President (who doesn't have one ounce of prior executive experience and only meager legislative experience)to his lofty but eminently doable campaign promises.
Yes We can. Yes he must!
I voted Brand Obama over Brand McCain, with a healthy dose of skepticism, fully appreciating that civil society activism, not the elected leader alone, is key to the arduous but rewarding construction of ethical democracy.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://www.EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— EthicalDemocracy, New York, NY
-------
Comment #68, February 04, 2008 8:04 a.m.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/opinion/04dowd.html
New York Times copyright
==================================================================================
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