In perhaps what could be his valedictory address before he departs from Washington when his terms expires on March 31, the Indian ambassador to United States, Ronen Sen--a key protagonist of the US-India civilian nuclear agreement--said the consummation of the deal freed India from "an albatross around our necks," in the form of nuclear technology and fuel isolation that worsened after India's May 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests.
US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has said the attack on Sri Lanka cricketers in Lahore is a reminder of the threat of militancy not just to Pakistan, but to the entire world.
Following the attack on the Pakistan cricket team in Karachi, Pakistan's chances of co-hosting the next World Cup are effectively dead in the water. And, says Prem Panicker, it is a safe bet that this will spell the end of the cash-strapped Pakistan Cricket Board.
James Otis, who owns the personal belongings of Mahatma Gandhi including the iconic round glasses that are being put on auction on Thursday, has said that he is prepared to reach a financial settlement with the Indian government and take the items off the auction block. "But if the (Indian) government announces some major scheme for the poor, I will even donate these items," he added.
David C Mulford, who will soon vacate his post as United States'ambassador to India, has urged the Obama administration to ensure the implementation of the India-US civilian nuclear agreement.In an interaction at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, Mulford said, "The nuclear deal may be completed, but the work isn't done. There is unfinished business there to be done."
She will also be the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after K Shankar Bajpai.
India's non-inclusion in United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip to Asia has elicited diametrically opposite views from two South Asia experts. While one argues that China's inclusion in Clinton's itinerary is a clear indication that for the Obama administration New Delhi is not in the same league as Beijing, the other contends that her itineraries are not illustrative of the priorities that the administration attaches to particular countries.
United States' Ambassador to India David Mulford, who will soon vacate his position, feels that the 'credible evidence' gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that was handed over to Pakistan, had forced Islamabad to admit that its nationals were complicit in the terror attack on Mumbai.Mulford also expressed hope that this will pave the way for joint US-India counter-terrorism cooperation without any of the earlier hang-ups.
Senior US lawmaker, Congressman Gary Ackerman, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South Asia, has said that the first step that both Washington and New Delhi has to take in the wake of the horrific Mumbai terror attacks, should be to increase US-India counter-terrorism in tangible ways that encompassed the whole gamut of intelligence sharing to joint special forces training to take on the terrorists and completely destroy them wherever they may be.
Former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Karl F Inderfurth, has told the US Congress that Washington should publicly support India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, arguing that the India's case has never been stronger.
She will also be the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after K Shankar Bajpai.
In its annual report of the human rights situation worldwide, the United States has observed that while the Indian government respected the rights of its citizens, major problems like 'extrajudicial killings of persons in custody, disappearances, and torture and rape by police and other security forces remained'.The State Department report acknowledged that 'investigations into individual abuses and legal punishment for perpetrators occurred.'
In an interaction with journalists at the Foreign Press Center inWashington, Lewis, who marched with King in Selma, Alabama in the '60s said, "As I said there in India as we traveled, if it hadn't been for Gandhi, hadn't been for Martin Luther King Jr, there would be no Barack Obama."
The safe haven provided to al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the alliances among the extremist groups in Pakistan, is not just a threat to the stability of the Pakistani government, but also a threat to stability in Afghanistan, and a much broader threat to the region and America, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
United States President Barack Obama's decision to deploy more troops in Afghanistan indicates the deterioration of the war on terror as well as the escalating crisis in Pakistan, according to many military analysts and intelligence officials.They also fear that America's long-time ally might be on the verge of imploding due to its internal crises.Obama approved the order to deploy 17,000 troops in Afghanistan which beefs up the US troop strength by 50 per cent.
Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, the Obama Administration's Director of National Intelligence, in his first appearance before the US Congress, told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that "on the global state, Indian leaders will continue to follow an independent course characterized by economic and political pragmatism."
The plunging global economy is an even bigger threat to the United States' national security than the al Qaeda terrorist network or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, according to America's new intelligence czar.Traditionally, US intelligence chiefs always preface their opening remarks with either terrorist or nuclear proliferation threats, but DenisBlair's first sentences in his testimony before the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was about the economy.
United States President Barack Obama has appointed Bruce Riedel, a veteran Central Investigative Agency analyst for nearly three decades, to chair an inter-agency policy review of US policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan.Obama's press spokesman Robert Gibbs said that this policy review chaired by Riedel would have to be completed before the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in April.
Indian-American Republicans hailed former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele's election as the first African-American national chairman of the Republican Party and predicted that he would reverse the GOP's hard right drift and move it back to the centre.
Bruce Fein, a former US deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan Administration, has filed a 12-count indictment against Sri Lanka's defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the country's army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, for perpetrating genocide against Tamil civilians with US Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances