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Sunday, July 22, 2012

BARACK OBAMA A Tall Promise America’s first ‘black’ president has failed to live up to be the great white hope that he had set out to be PRANAY SHARMA

AP
BARACK OBAMA
A Tall Promise
America's first 'black' president has failed to live up to be the great white hope that he had set out to be

In that November of 2008, Barack Obama had broken the highest glass ceiling in America to become the first 'black' man to enter the White House. Young, handsome, cerebral, with exemplary oratorical skills, an inspirational life story and audacious electoral campaign. He had caught the imagination of US voters. More than that, the campaign seemed to connect America directly to the world at some level. After a long time, there had appeared the vision of a US president who was truly a citizen of the world, one who wanted to make peace, not one blinkered by partisan national goals. It didn't take long for the sheen to peel off the man. And four years on, what we see is not merely a diminution, but at least on the world stage, almost an inversion into what you'd have thought a polar opposite.

So, as he sets out in his quest for a second term, it's with an alarming drop in his popularity ratings, leading many to ask: how big of an underachiever is Barack Obama? The world is reeling under a global economic crisis, but instead of creative ideation one sees him lapsing into protectionist rhetoric. The entire Arab world is in the throes of a political upheaval, but he is a cautious onlooker. For a man who promised to bring a pacifist turn in world affairs, Obama has neither been able to make peace with the Arab world, nor keep Israel complaisant. Hardly the effect one would expect a statesman to have.

Back home, Obama's detractors in the Republican Party are labelling him as a "softie" and an "apologist", trying to apologise to the world for the policies of his predecessors. But many of his erstwhile supporters and admirers are also disappointed at the opposite: with the compromises he is making, often by diluting his own policies and at the cost of ignoring many of his electoral promises—whether to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison, where over 170 Al Qaeda prisoners are being held, or his vow to deal with the Arab world as "equals" or his claim to encourage a fairer and just world.

He also angered his European allies by trying to spread the blame of the recession across the Atlantic, perhaps under pressure from Republicans and political detractors. The Europeans feel that instead of doing some serious introspection at home—since the economic crisis was kickstarted in the US—Obama was now coolly trying to pass the buck to Europe.

While his domestic ratings have been hovering in the 40s—which his campaign managers justify as being natural for an incumbent president—it is the significant fall in his ratings in the outside world that comes as a surprise to many. The latest survey, conducted by the American Arab Institute (aai) in five countries in the Arab world, shows Obama's ratings to be as low as that of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. "Though he did not create the problems," says aai president James Zogby, "he created the expectations that they can be solved." Zogby attributes the drop in Obama's popularity ratings largely to his inability to deliver on his promises.

Obama had indeed kindled much hope with his much-celebrated June 2009 speech in Cairo. Quoting passages from the Quran, he had embarked on his first major mission to heal Arab wounds by stressing that Islam was a religion of peace and had no inherent clash with the West. In an attempt to reinvent America's standing in the world and reach out to countries—friends and foes alike—via dialogue and engagement, he had tried to convey the clear message that outstanding differences would be settled through dialogue, not war. The US president spoke like a sensitive man of the world, one well aware that the war on terror unleashed by Bush post-9/11, an extension of which saw US troops in Iraq, had alienated a large number of people in the Arab world.

 
 
"Instead of supporting the Arab people's aspirations, Obama ended up strengthening US hegemony."Talmiz Ahmed, Former Indian Ambassador To Middle East
 
 
Obama also had a clear-eyed sense that the root of the problem lay in the unresolved dispute between Israel and Palestine. And that as long as it remained unattended, the mistrust between the US and much of the Arab world would continue to fester. As such, he had promised to restart the stalled peace process in West Asia by bringing an end to Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas. However, despite the initial brave words, Obama chickened out of implementing his promise in the face of strong opposition from the Israeli government and their strong and influential Jewish backers in the US.

"The Middle East peace process was Obama's biggest foreign policy failure," Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's former foreign minister, told Outlook. He categorises Obama's attempt to put a freeze on the settlements as a precursor to the revival of the peace process as a tactical mistake since it hardened the position of Israeli leaders. He appointed George Mitchell as his special envoy to West Asia, but the lack of any forward movement soon forced the senator to resign. "The US president talked the talk but didn't walk the walk," says Ben-Ami. This failure, he argues, allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to divert the focus from the Palestinian issue to Iran's nuclear programme.

Even here, Obama retreated from a promising start—the idea of direct talks died in the post-natal ward, under pressure from the Jewish lobby in the US and Israel. From allowing limited uranium enrichment, he hardened to the position of no enrichment, while imposing more and more sanctions on Tehran. According to Trita Parsi, a Washington-based expert on Iranian affairs and author of a book on Obama's Iran policy, though the American president came armed with a fresh approach on Iran, he had limited political space and wanted to show results fast, something difficult to achieve in relations as complex as those between Washington and Tehran. Even the latest round of talks with Iran in Moscow failed, because Obama was balancing conflicting interests and pressures in an election year. "Even a small deal in Moscow was not pursued in the belief that it would be politically too costly at home," says Parsi.

 
 
"The West Asia peace process was Obama's biggest failure. He talked the talk but didn't walk the walk."Shlomo Ben-Ami, Former Israeli Foreign Minister
 
 
One could well argue that the Obama we see today is a man awakened to realities, a man who has realised that it is easy to promise dreams, tougher to build them. However, Obama is the president not only of the world's oldest democracy but also of the sole superpower of the world. And he happens to be at the helm during the worst global economic crisis in recent memory—a time when a proactive leadership of ideas was called for. What everyone got was a string of compromises with political opponents and a trail of debris of broken campaign promises.

Not many are willing to forgive Obama that easily, or allow circumstances to attenuate his blame. They had reposed far too much faith and confidence in his ability to heal the world by establishing the principles of freedom, liberty and justice. And when change did come, with the Arab Spring, Obama was found dragging his feet, his delayed response disappointing people in this part of the world who expected him to be a ready ally in the toppling of autocratic regimes. Perhaps he was trying to rebalance his position with various factions in the US. But as former Indian diplomat Talmiz Ahmed comments, "If Obama had pursued his conscience, he would have robustly supported the Arab people's aspiration for freedom and liberty. Instead, he was trying to push an agenda to ensure America's hegemony in the region against people's aspirations." "It is most disappointing," Ahmed goes on to add, "that Obama's policies turned out to be no different from those of his predecessors." Everyone agrees that Obama failed to follow his words with commensurate action in the Arab world. But what of India, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, whose portrait hangs in his Senate office and whose words—'Be the Change'—became the rallying cry on his inaugural poster? How should we see Obama's policies?


Laden moment From a policy of least involvement, US has moved to attacking enemy positions in Af-Pak region

The US president has come a long way from the days when he laid out his Asia Security Strategy and forgot to mention India. The US has now come to recognise India as the "lynchpin" of its security policy in the region, never mind if it came after Beijing rebuffed his attempt to set up a Group of Two (G-2) arrangement. However, Indian policy planners and commentators are not losing any sleep over hiccups that might have been. As long as India's core concerns, namely over China, Pakistan, Kashmir and in the nuclear field, are taken care of, and as long as the US is not planning a special arrangement with China to run Asia's security, New Delhi has no reason to complain. "Obama turned out to be far more supportive of India than initially expected," says C. Rajamohan of the Observer Research Foundation. Why, from a stance favouring minimal involvement in Afghanistan—largely to keep Pakistan happy—to a position where US drones are not only constantly attacking terrorist positions on the Af-Pak border but it is also asking India to play a much larger role for the peace, stability and prosperity of Afghanistan, it is a significant shift in India's favour. Not only that, Obama has also promised to support India's candidature in the UN Security Council and field it in other important bodies like the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

 
 
"It's strange that the US is trying to box Iran in while trying to leave behind a stable Afghanistan."Srinath Raghavan, Centre For Policy Research, New Delhi
 
 
Is all of this an afterthought? Srinath Raghavan of the Centre for Policy Research strikes a sceptical note about America's moves. "The US now wants India to play a more active role in ensuring a more balanced power structure in Asia. But it is not clear that India will cease to be influenced by tactical shifts in the US-China relationship," he says.

Raghavan also expresses disappointment over America's policy of trying to isolate Iran, which he feels will adversely impact the outcome of stability in Afghanistan. "Attempts to box in Iran will have serious implications for Afghanistan. It is surprising that the Obama administration is following this course, while simultaneously wanting to leave behind a stable Afghanistan," he says.

So, in a tired status-quoist sort of way, if one considers national interest to be permanent and paramount in foreign policy, Indians would not be too unhappy were Obama to get a second term. At another level, though, it shares the disappointment with the world over the man who first taught the world to say 'Yes, we can' only to discover that, no, he cannot.

***

How Obama Is Tripping Vis-A-Vis India


Photograph by Prabhjot Singh Gill

FDI Obama's push for more foreign investment betrays an ignorance of India's complex socio-economic and political reality

Iran America's growing pressure on India on economic engagement with Iran ignores realpolitik and traditional ties


Photograph by Quickpix

Nuclear deal Touted as the touchpoint in Indo-US ties, Obama has not been able to work around liability laws

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BARACK OBAMA
America wants more. Both need a plan.
ARINDAM MUKHERJEE
INTERVIEW
The US president says Indo-US bilateral trade has grown by 40 per cent since he took over.
LALIT K. JHA
OBAMA'S TERM
How the Obama brand paled, the American prez as victim of his own popularity, unrealistic expectations
ASHISH KUMAR SEN
OBAMA'S TERM
Could the US have an Indian vice-prez?
ASHISH KUMAR SEN
OPINION
Obama compromised too much, was too conciliatory and too easily browbeaten by the Tea Party leaders and their wacko demands
SEEMA SIROHI
 
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If you wish your letter to be considered for publication in the print magazine, we request you to use a proper name, with full postal address - you could still maintain your anonymity, but please desist from using unpublishable sobriquets and handles
DAILY MAIL
30/D-39
JUL 22, 2012
11:42 AM

I have been in the US for over 18 years, and am a naturalized US citizen. Though registered as a democrat, I am more of an Ayn Randian, but one who opposes ridiculous republican crony capitalism. I for one, think Obama is one of the best heads of state we have had, probably since Kennedy. 

Since I have never held a high opinion of anything this magazine has to say, this article is not really a big surprise. A childish hit piece on Obama who probably does not know, or care that this magazine exists. :-)

BRUCE CAMPBELL FOR PREZ
AMARILLO, UNITED STATES
29/D-27
JUL 22, 2012
08:29 AM

" The world is reeling under a global economic crisis, but instead of creative ideation one sees him lapsing into protectionist rhetoric."

It is of course quite rich and precious of a desi to talk "protectionist". Our "protectionism" is supposedly justifiable with historical basis and fears of foreign takeovers, we are told.

ARUN MAHESHWARI
BANGALORE, INDIA
28/D-26
JUL 22, 2012
08:23 AM

The revenge of the Congress lackies in guise of natonal prestige and honor. How could the Time do this to the leader of the "emerging" superpower (of course without power, roads, sanitation, healthcare or primary education for most)? If they dare too, we of course can do the same to the "leader of the free world".

ARUN MAHESHWARI
BANGALORE, INDIA
27/D-183
JUL 21, 2012
11:46 PM

>> The world is reeling under a global economic crisis, but instead of creative ideation one sees him lapsing into protectionist rhetoric.

This is false. What he has tried to do is to get Europe to be more stimulative but has met with stiff opposition from Merkel. His negative comments on corpoations which export jobs to other countries has resonance with both Democrats and Republicans, but it cannot be characterized as protectionism.

>>  The entire Arab world is in the throes of a political upheaval, but he is a cautious onlooker.

This is false. Russian and Chinese vetoes in the Security Council have stymied greater international effort, but both Obama and Hillary Clinton have taken clear stands on the Syrian civil conflagaration. The US and its allies did assist Libyan rebels substantially. US is also instrumental in preventing the Egyptian Army from nipping Egypt's emergent civilian presidency in the bud.

>> Obama has neither been able to make peace with the Arab world, nor keep Israel complaisant.

This shows ignorance of the complexity of the Middle East dilemma as well as of the imperatives of domestic American politics.

ANWAAR
DALLAS, UNITED STATES
26/D-180
JUL 21, 2012
11:06 PM

 What a pathetic piece of journalism. But again it is expected from a congress lackies like outlook. 

MAHA
NJ, UNITED STATES

JUL 19, 5:32:23 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

And actual Outlook cover dated July 30, 2012:

JUL 18, 1:31:36 AM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Samrat in India Ink, NYT's India Ink blog:

The girl herself accused the TV crew members of encouraging the attack. Some of the men arrested in the attack backed this version of events. Two blamed the television reporter who filmed the incident for instigating it, saying he started filming the girl and her friends as they emerged from the pub after an altercation inside and asked them why they had been drinking,reports said.

Television channels like the one that filmed the current video often run news clips of mobs enacting what looks like spontaneous "moral policing." Sometimes, though, these mob attacks are timed for occasions when cameras are already somehow present.

...

an activist, Akhil Gogoi, has alleged that the attack was orchestrated by one of the reporters from News Live, Gaurav Jyoti Neog, who recorded the video. Mr. Gogoi has given to the police unedited footage with audio that supports his allegation. This footage is not publicly available. However a bit of it is available online. In the clip, the girl can clearly be heard telling the reporter, "You came and did all this."

Read on at NYT: Moral Policing, India's Ugly New 'Reality TV'

In the Guwahati case, one of the NCW fact finding team first revealed the name of the Guwahati victim. The CM's office then released name and photograph of the victim in what it perceived to be a public relations exercise on Monday evening. The CM called it an unintentional mistake on the part of his office but did not seem to think that it was something worth apologising for -- "Why should I apologise? Is it a great blunder I have done that I should apologise? My office committed a mistake and withdrew the release and expressed regret." It took some goading before he relented and said he was willing to apologise to the victim but not to anyone else.

The News Live channel, incidentally, is owned by Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is a powerful minister in the present day Congress government of Assam. 
 

JUL 15, 11:44:03 PM | BUZZ

Umer Farooq reports for the Express Tribune:Pakistan's 'sevadar': DAG issued notice for polishing shoes in India:

PESHAWAR

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday issued a show cause notice to Deputy Attorney General (DAG) of Pakistan Khurshid Khan at the Peshawar High Court, for  'defaming' the country during a recent visit to India.

The notice can only be labeled bizarre, for DAG Khurshid Khan performed a deed which only a handful of politicians would contemplate doing: Polishing shoes, sweeping floors and washing dishes to promote interfaith harmony at the Jamia Masjid in Chandigarh, the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Birla Temple in New Delhi...

..."What is constituted as defaming the country, Ajmal Kasab's alleged killing of Indians or a Pakistani polishing the shoes of Hindus, Sikhs and Christians outside their places of worship," he [DAG Khurshid] questioned.

JUL 14, 8:14:55 PM | BUZZ

Deccan Herald reports that Indira Gandhi's old personal assistant R.K. Dhawan, who went on to become her  close confidant and then a cabinet ministe, and had remained a bachelor all these years finally got hitched:

Bachelor Dhawan, 74, has quietly married  Achla, who is believed to be about 14 years younger to him.

On July 16, he is hosting dinner for his friends at a five star hotel in Delhi. The invites sent to his friends requesting their presence at the dinner does not say much.

The party circle is abuzz with the gossip of Dhawan tying the knot last November. Some of invited leade­rs tried to find out about Achla by calling others but in vain.

JUL 11, 9:11:29 PM | BUZZ

Mail Today cartoonist R. Prasad is certainly having fun with the brouhaha. First came this:



And, after the controversy over Salman Khurshid's remarks on Rahul Gandhi, his latest:




*Congress Sandesh, for the unitiated, is the Congress party mouthpiece.

JUL 11, 3:19:46 PM | BUZZ

JUL 06, 2:02:20 AM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Seinfeld's back:

JUL 06, 1:12:55 AM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Achintya Rao (who incidentally works at Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment at the LHC) provides a much needed reality check:

Putting the Bose in boson. And my fist in your face-on.

I was waiting for this bullshit to start being published.

Get over yourselves, India. We haven't done a single bit of ground-breaking, earth-shattering, paradigm-shifting science in Galaxy knows how long. So we cling to the zero, and Aryabhatta's calculations, and SN Bose, and latch on to every single Indian-origin scientist abroad who does anything of note (even though they may not identify as Indian).

JUL 05, 11:46:19 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Higgs Boson. Sheldon Cooper's way —which, of course, has existed on YouTube since Jan 19, 2010:



 

JUL 05, 11:45:40 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Easily the most lucid explanations that I have seen so far. Please feel free to share the ones that helped you understand the concept:

Original source is here: PhD Comics

JUL 05, 11:39:40 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

An old attempt to simplify the concept, a variant of which was used by Reuters yesterday in their George Clooney analogy

JUL 05, 11:39:27 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Higgs boson: BBC Q&A - Why the discovery would stand out as one of the great scientific achievements of the 21st Century so far.

 

JUN 28, 10:04:24 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

JUN 28, 10:02:56 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

JUN 27, 5:17:38 PM | BUZZ

Saikat Dutta in the DNA: CIA got Saudis to hand over 26/11 handler

Ansari was first located by the CIA that had received inputs from its sister agency, the NSA. Following these leads, the CIA managed to track down a few men with fake Pakistani passports living in Saudi Arabia since 2008, soon after the 26/11 terror attack...

Prince Muqrin [Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi intelligence chief] held several meetings with CIA officials, who convinced him to cooperate with India. The fact the Americans were keen to build pressure on Islamabad played a major role, according to senior Indian intelligence officials.

The Saudis asked India to substantiate its claim by providing a DNA sample of any member of Ansari's family. Intelligence officers went to his hometown in Beed district, collected a sample from his sister, and sent it to Saudi Arabia. The samples matched and the Saudi authorities were convinced.

On June 21, a team of counter-terrorism officers from the R&AW left for Saudi Arabia to bring back Ansari. He was arrested on arrival.

JUN 23, 12:47:09 AM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Mohammed Hanif in the Guardian:

This court is not as much in love with the rule of law as with the sound of its own sermonising voice. It has also mastered the art of selective justice. The same supreme court that has been sitting on an ISI corruption case for 15 years, the same judiciary that can't look a retired general in the eye or force a serving colonel to appear in court, feels it perfectly constitutional to send a unanimously elected prime minister home.

There are not many tears being shed over Gilani. Looking at his record, many would say that he should have stayed home in the first place. But what is the point of clamouring for democracy if we can't elect imperfect people – slightly less competent and way more corrupt than our average traffic cop – to lead us?

JUN 22, 11:26:04 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

The Economist's Banyan blog:

The choice of Mr Ashraf is deeply problematic. He is known to all Pakistan as "Raja Rental", for presiding over a deals which involved the government paying cronies to set up temporary or "rental" power plants, to plug the crippling shortfall in electricity supply, while he was energy minister. 

The rental plants were often established with ageing equipment, though the government was charged for new gear, and the blackouts only grew.  Rental power was deemed a "total failure" according to a Supreme Court judgment on the issue earlier this year, for producing high cost and insufficient electricity.

That verdict found that officials involved, including Mr Ashraf, had "violated the principle of transparency" and must be investigated by the anti-corruption watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau, to see if they were "getting financial benefits" out of the "scam". 

But more than the courts, the people of Pakistan will feel aggrieved at the appointment of a man whose ministry oversaw over a national disaster, pursuing questionable schemes while simply watching the problem grow. Mr Ashraf, 61, became known for continually predicting the imminent end of the electricity shortage, only to have to eat his words before unabashedly issuing a new rosy prediction.

JUN 22, 9:43:16 PM | SUNDEEP DOUGAL

Saeed Naqvi: Mehdi Hasan Filled Different Vacuums in India and Pakistan:

The "dhishum-dhishum" cinema of the 80s, dominated by Amitabh Bachchan, took the lyric out of Bollywood song. The Indian sensibility, reared for centuries on the rural, pastoral lyric, felt an aesthetic vacuum. The prospect of "hum, tum ek kamrey mein band hon" becoming a staple was forbidding. This space was filled up by the Urdu ghazal. The market found the commodity.

In Pakistan music was being muzzled by the votaries of Islamization. Abdul Karim Khan's youngest daughter, Roshanara Begum, migrated to Pakistan and proceeded to fade out in the absence of sponsors or an audience. Her sister Hirabai Barodekar thrived in India. 

The bogus conflict created by the clergy between music and shariah in Pakistan, snuffed out pure classical music. This in its turn created the space for the ghazal which Mehdi Hasan cleverly tied to classical music. Singing Urdu ghazal was kosher for the Mullah; music otherwise was not!

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