Lawmakers were not going to be in town on that particular day, and would be in their constituencies preparing for the mid-term elections in November. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports
M K Bhadrakumar says helping Pakistan with flood relief may help America win some hearts and minds in that country.
'Pakistan has received assurances that no dispensation in Afghanistan will be inimical to Pakistani interests and that Pakistan will have a say in the determination of the future of the region. India would definitely not be part of the new order if the US could help it.'
Special United States Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who was once speculated to be US President Obama's trouble-shooter to Kashmir, is so sensitive to creating an uproar in New Delhi if he speaks about Kashmir, that he doesn't even want to say the 'K word.'
"Read my lips," said Richard Holbrooke, special US representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, "I am not working on that problem," when asked by a Pakistani journalist if the Obama administration was 'serious to appoint any adviser to resolve this issue,' since as the latter contended, "We all know that deep down, there is no solution of Afghanistan and the South Asia problem, without resolving the Kashmir issue that is controlled by Indian government."
'This year felt different -- and was different.' 'For the first time, the Indian American voter seemed to matter.'
Dr Rajiv Shah, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to head the US Agency for International Development -- the country's top non-military foreign assistance programme -- has told US lawmakers that "the mission of USAID is my passion," and that "it is with enthusiasm and humility" that he seeks confirmation to lead the agency first established by President John F Kennedy in 1961
The New York Times report that Pakistan illegally modified the Harpoon anti-ship missile provided by the United States apparently to bolster its conventional weaponry against India, has embarrassed the Obama administration and Senators John F Kerry and Richard Lugarjust as Washington is poised to provide Islamabad with a massive economic and military largesse of $ 7.5 billion over five years
India cannot afford to be complacent about a possible Pakistan resort to military options across the LoC, warns Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Meera Shankar, India's envoy to the United States, on Monday said there are 'double standards' in the US about the issue of India's ties with Iran.Shankar said that while it is true that India has relations with Teheran, there are American companies as well who have ties with some sectors in that country, through their local subsidiaries.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved a legislation that would triple economic assistance to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year, authored by its chairman Congressman Howard Berman, California Democrat, despite being vehemently opposed by the pro-Pakistan lobby and the Obama Administration.
United States President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American, Richard Rahul Verma, as the next US Ambassador to India, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington later this month.
US Senators Joseph R Biden, Jr (Delaware Democrat), who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Richard Lugar (Indiana Republican), the committee's ranking member, unveiled landmark legislation Tuesday designed "to promote an enhanced strategic partnership with the people of Pakistan."
It's a simple resolution, which cannot be voted in the other chamber, Senate, and does not have the force of law.
Bruce Riedel, a South Asia expert speaks about the situation in Pakistan.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"We all can work toward a dual-goal, I would say a single dual-goal -- one is protect our environment, our planet earth. The second thing is to protect the human values -- compassion, friendliness, and cooperation," he said.
Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh on Monday said that none of the leaders of his party can ever indulge in lobbying with foreign companies for they do not know English, and added that the Indian government must thoroughly investigate the lobbying disclosure report filed by Walmart.
'Alas, the Congress party offers no suggestions as to how to unscramble the omlette it cooked during 2004-2014 on which the Modi government may have since lavishly spread some tomato ketchup,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Making nuclear exemptions for India, says Senator Edward Markey, 'only infuriates Pakistan and leads them to further increase their own nuclear capacities.'
A decision on this could be taken before Christmas, which might not necessarily result in a formal announcement as that could be delayed till the next year, people familiar with her thinking process said.
'An operation such as the Mumbai attacks, which needed expert technical assessment, money and time to prepare, could not have been carried out without the knowledge of the ISI's leadership.'
United States Senator John F Kerry -- President Barack Obama's nominee to be the next Secretary of State -- has asserted that he would be strongly opposed to any cuts in America's considerable aid to Islamabad.
Lobbying on the Hill is time consuming and cumbersome, but very effective to influence US government policies, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy in Washington, DC after the 1998 nuclear tests and during the Kargil War.
'Poverty-stricken and drought-affected families in Bundelkhand and Marathawada are selling their children for as little as a few hundred rupees.'
Pak also suspended all bilateral visits as a mark of protest.
'There is simply too much bringing us together,' says nuclear proliferation expert Leonard Spector.
Director of US National Intelligence said that Islamabad's failure to curb terrorists and the rise in number of cross-firing incidents was the cause for increasing tensions.
A group of influential Senators has asked the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to list China as a currency manipulator in his April 15 bi-annual exchange rate report to the Congress.
If Indian concerns are not understood and appreciated by China, and if attempts are not made to address them, the relations could take a turn for the worse in the medium and long-term, says strategic expert B Raman.
In announcing the appointments, Obama said, "Our nation will be well-served by the skill and dedication these men and women bring to their new roles. I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."
He warned that Pakistan-supported terrorist groups would continue to carry out attacks inside India.
A bill dubbing the Pakistan-based dreaded Haqqani Network the "most dangerous" Afghan insurgent group and seeking its designation as a foreign terrorist organisation is set to be taken up by the United States House of Representatives. The Haqqani Network is believed to be responsible for a number of terrorist attacks against United States facilities inside Afghanistan.
The 'terrible' surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted COVAX's vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI.
Whatever be Kamala Harris's preference for her identity, many Indians in the US will rally around her as she is the first person with Indian blood in her veins to get close to the White House, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who last week stood side-by-side with Qureshi and declared there are no conditions attached to the aid and that the bill in no way impinges on Pakistan's sovereignty, reiterated these assertions and also out a lengthy fact sheet which he said, separates "myth from fact on the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009."
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