Iowa's influential Indian American State Senator Swati A Dandekar, a Democrat, who represented the state's district 18, has resigned from the legislature to take up a major position as one of three directors of the powerful Iowa Utilities Board.
India's new Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao was on Sunday accorded a rousing welcome by the Indian American community in Washington.
William S Cohen, former defence secretary in the Clinton administration and a three-term Republican United States Senator and currently the chairman and CEO of the Cohen Group and a member of the board of directors of the US-India Business Council, has applauded the appointment of Nirupama Rao as the new ambassador to the US. It comes as a propitious time when there's a sense that the US-India relationship is adrift, he has said.
Frank J Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute of George Washington University, has told the United States Congress that the endemic corruption found in every level on India's law enforcement apparatus is a major impediment to India-US counterterrorism cooperation. Cilluffo said despite the plethora of anti-terrorism initiatives between Washington and Delhi, as well as a host of other mechanisms for cooperation, "a trust deficit encompasses ties".
The Department of Treasury has finally responded to a letter by a coalition of Indian-American organisations, led by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), but reiterated the Internal Revenue Service warning that there will be no extension of the August 31, 2011, deadline for the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative.
Even months after India decided to forego the United States bid for the fighter aircraft deal worth $11 billion, the Pentagon apparently is still smarting over this rejection, arguing that it was an enormous disappointment and that New Delhi by its action had lost out on some of the state-of-the art technology.
A senior official in the Barack Obama administration has said that all contentious issues, including concern that Indian students are being duped by sham universities and colleges that have questionable credentials, would be on the table during the major United States-India Education Summit in October.
Asked by Frank Sesno, former CNN anchor who moderated the conversation, if the story that Pakistan handed over parts of the helicopter that went down in bin Laden's compound -- or gave access -- to the Chinesse before returning it to the US was true, United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta first started shifting uneasily in his seat and then started laughing and said, "this is a very complicated relationship with Pakistan."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pointed out that Washington's current difficulties with Islamabad are nothing new and a repeat of earlier disagreements.
Retired veteran diplomat Howard Schaffer, author of the acclaimed The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir, has said, "If the Inter-Services Directorate or some other organ of the Pakistan government has been footing the Kashmir American Council's bills, as seems so obvious, it is hard to conclude that they have been getting their money's worth."
Two more senior Indian American Obama administration officials have flown the coop.
About 70 Indian students at the University of Northern Virginia, which was raided last month by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcementthe investigative arm of the department of homeland securitymet with Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh, Charge d'Affaires at the Indian embassy in Washington D C who assured them that the government of India and the embassy will "continue with their efforts to try and ensure that the students at UNVA are not victimised in any way."
American Muslim organisations, including Indian American Muslim groups, have hailed New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie's staunch defence of his appointment of Sohail Mohammed as a Passaic County Superior Court judge. Christie called opponentsparticularly right wing conservativesof his nomination 'ignorant' and a bunch of 'crazies'.
Indian American Republican South Carolina Governor Nimrata 'Nikki' Randhawa Haley, has absolutely no intention of responding to state Democrats who upon seizing a 10-year-old voter registration document, where she has listed her race as 'W' for white, have charged that she uses her Indian American heritage when its convenient.
Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States Eklil Ahmad Hakimi has not ruled out the possibility of India training Afghanistan's security forces and national army sometime in the future if the necessity arises.
Dr Rajan Natarajan, 51, a leading entrepreneur, has created history in Maryland by becoming the first Indian American to be appointed to a sub-cabinet level position in the state administration. Democratic Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley appointed Natarajan as his deputy secretary of state for policy and external affairs, which is the highest administrative office held by any Indian American far in Maryland's history.
Asked by Wilson Center president Jane Harmon, a former nine-term US lawmaker, if he bore any responsibility for the negligence or the complicity when bin Laden moved to Abbottabad since "most people believe the residence was built and constructed" during his presidency, Musharraf said, "Whether one believes it or not, let me say with confidence, I did not know."
The complaint alleges that the defendants have conspired to: 1) act as an agent of a foreign principal without registering with the Attorney General in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA); and 2) falsify, conceal, and cover up material facts they had a duty to disclose in matters within the jurisdiction of Executive Branch agencies of the US government.
The Obama administration has declared that the Indian American community has always been and will continue to be indispensable to the United States-India Strategic Dialogue. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, who will be by Secretary Hillary Clinton's side as she co-chairs the talks with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, explained how integral the Indian American community has been to this dialogue.
The Obama administration's point man for South Asia, United States Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, tells rediff.com/India Abroad's Aziz Haniffa in this exclusive interview that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who co-chairs the second US-India Strategic Dialogue with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday
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