Obama india visit

[ravishingravi]

Traditionally we have had better relations with Republicans presidents.

[Clarke]

God damn 34 warships including an aircraft carrier to protect Obama :WTF: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/34-warships-sent-from-us-for-obama-visit-64459 34 warships, thats good enough to defeat entire navies, they move that around for the president :haha:

[Patriot_Nikhil]

Ground reality

[Sir john]

Obama not saying anything about UNSC seat? obama say this only

Obama said his trip to India is not only "a chance to honour Gandhi's memory, but also to honour and learn more about the modern India that he helped create."

[bharathh]

Why are we after a permanent UNSC seat?

[Sir john]

India not expecting any ‘big bang’ outcome, Even as India readies itself to welcome US President Barack Obama, differences were quite evident today between the two countries over a host of issues, particularly outsourcing, American arms supplies to Pakistan, taking forward cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector and India’s candidature for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao’s remarks at a press conference here this evening also indicated that India is not expecting any ‘big bang’ outcome from the visit that could provide substantive content and shape to bilateral ties. However, on the contentious issue of Washington lifting restrictions on the export of dual-use technology items, New Delhi is quite optimistic about a positive outcome soon of the discussions it has been holding with the American side. Just days after an election drubbing back home in which Democrats lost majority in the House of Representatives and lost ground to the Republicans in the Senate, Obama will arrive in Mumbai in the forenoon of November 6, accompanied by First Lady Michelle and a high-level delegation, on a four-day visit. Replying to questions on the much-awaited visit, Rao said the two countries would sign development-related agreements in the fields of agriculture, space, health and clean energy which impact the lives of the people at the grassroots level. She was quite careful not to refer to any defence-related accord in which Washington seems to be quite interested. India has made it clear that it has not made up its mind on the three defence pacts, including the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) and the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA), which, strategic observers believe, could send negative signals to other important defence partners of the country. President Obama’s interview yesterday in which he held out no assurance on supporting India’s candidature for a UNSC seat has certainly come as a big disappointment to mandarins at the South Block. However, the Foreign Secretary refused to draw any “hasty conclusion” on the basis of Obama’s comment, saying the two countries have been discussing UN reforms in a candid, open and transparent manner. The US was becoming increasingly aware of India’s potential and its contribution to global institutions and global security, she added. Terrorism, particularly the one emanating from Pakistan against India, is one issue on which India expects President Obama to take a strong stand. Nirupama said India would discuss with the American leader the situation in the region, particularly terrorism directed against India and also the targeting of Indians in Afghanistan. India has not taken kindly to the latest military aid of more than two billion dollars announced by the US for Pakistan to enhance its capabilities in fighting terror. New Delhi’s contention is that Pakistan has always used the assistance given to it by the West to bolster its military strength against India. The increasing Chinese assertiveness in global affairs is also bound to come up during discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Obama. She emphasised that there has been an unprecedented cooperation between the two countries in the area of counterterrorism. In this connection, she also pointed out that India had been provided full access to David Coleman Headley, who has confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. On the civil nuclear energy accord, she said India was willing to address the concerns expressed by US nuclear companies over the liability clause in the civil nuclear liability bill, passed by Parliament. A commercial delegation, comprising representatives of American nuclear companies, would be visiting India shortly. India wanted to provide a level-playing field to all players in the nuclear energy field. “We hope there will be participation by US companies in the civil nuclear energy field.” Asked if the US proposed to lift restrictions on the export of dual use technology to India, she said the two countries were discussing the issue and have covered a lot of ground. “We are reasonably optimistic about the outcome.” The issue of outsourcing on which Obama has come in for sharp criticism in India and the hike in H-1B visa will figure prominently during his visit. He might use the occasion of his meeting with business honchos in Mumbai to clarify his administration’s position.

[Nova]

The US would be spending a whopping $200 million (about Rs 900 crore) per day on President Barack Obama's visit to the city. "The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.

Obama's India trip -- not as expensive as you may have heard. No, President Obama's trip is not going to cost $200 million a day. That figure -- first thrown out by a single Indian media outlet and now viral on conservative talk radio -- is wildly off the mark. The problem is that the costs for these trips are impossible to determine, for many of the president's expenses would be incurred whether he was visiting India or Atlanta or simply hanging around the White House. Obama's India trip starts an Asian swing that includes South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. The administration isn't inclined to detail costs, most of which deal with security. "The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. "Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it's safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated." To be sure, these trips do cost millions of dollars per day. Whenever a president travels, he or she takes a mini-White House with them, from bulletproof limousines to gaggles of aides. This can come in awfully handy when trouble happens, such as the terrorist attacks on 9/11 when George W. Bush was in Florida. Ronald Reagan was traveling in Asia when the Chernobyl nuclear plant in what was then the Soviet Union blew up in 1986. Foreign trips are expensive but are a staple of presidential duties. India is a rising economy power. It is next to -- and has an intense rivalry with -- one of the world's most dangerous countries, Pakistan. It can be a counterweight to threats from China. Any president is going to deal with India. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim majority nation. South Korea is the site of a G-20 global economic summit. Japan is hosting the annual Asian economic summit, which Obama's predecessors also attended. There's no evidence that Obama's team is spending any more money than its predecessors, taking inflation into account. Yes, these gigs will cost money. But $200 million a day? Not even close. One other thing to keep in mind: The Secret Service is not going to let anything happen to a president overseas if they can help it. They're going to do -- and spend -- whatever it takes. That's just a fact of life. One last thing: The media organizations accompanying Obama will pay their own expenses. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/11/obamas-india-trip----not-as-expensive-as-you-may-have-heard/1?csp=hf

[Patriot_Nikhil]

Obama's India trip -- not as expensive as you may have heard. No' date= President Obama's trip is not going to cost $200 million a day. That figure -- first thrown out by a single Indian media outlet and now viral on conservative talk radio -- is wildly off the mark. The problem is that the costs for these trips are impossible to determine, for many of the president's expenses would be incurred whether he was visiting India or Atlanta or simply hanging around the White House. Obama's India trip starts an Asian swing that includes South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. The administration isn't inclined to detail costs, most of which deal with security. "The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. "Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it's safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated." To be sure, these trips do cost millions of dollars per day. Whenever a president travels, he or she takes a mini-White House with them, from bulletproof limousines to gaggles of aides. This can come in awfully handy when trouble happens, such as the terrorist attacks on 9/11 when George W. Bush was in Florida. Ronald Reagan was traveling in Asia when the Chernobyl nuclear plant in what was then the Soviet Union blew up in 1986. Foreign trips are expensive but are a staple of presidential duties. India is a rising economy power. It is next to -- and has an intense rivalry with -- one of the world's most dangerous countries, Pakistan. It can be a counterweight to threats from China. Any president is going to deal with India. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim majority nation. South Korea is the site of a G-20 global economic summit. Japan is hosting the annual Asian economic summit, which Obama's predecessors also attended. There's no evidence that Obama's team is spending any more money than its predecessors, taking inflation into account. Yes, these gigs will cost money. But $200 million a day? Not even close. One other thing to keep in mind: The Secret Service is not going to let anything happen to a president overseas if they can help it. They're going to do -- and spend -- whatever it takes. That's just a fact of life. One last thing: The media organizations accompanying Obama will pay their own expenses. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/11/obamas-india-trip----not-as-expensive-as-you-may-have-heard/1?csp=hf

Makes more sense... But irrespective of the cost incurred, the flip side of it all is the improving relations between India and the US and the significance it has for the "common enemy" - China... Especially given the multi billion $ "aid" to Pakistan in the name of "fighting terrorism" (which ironically has become the Hub for terrorism). Also of importance for US is to sell military weapons to India... Unlike Pak which will get used next-to-scrap iron bits as weapons, India will actually be treated as a potential customer for top technology state of the art weapons... Pretty damn important trip for both countries...

[Clarke]

McCain on Afghanistan & India relations: http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/05/afghanistan-withdrawal-could-imperil-us-india-relations-mccain-warns/?iref=allsearch not bad :--D

[Ram]

McCain on Afghanistan & India relations: http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/05/afghanistan-withdrawal-could-imperil-us-india-relations-mccain-warns/?iref=allsearch not bad :--D

John McCain will say anything to oppose obamas policies and appear conservative and right wing. He is the ultimate flip flopper who made has made 180 on a number of his stated positions, including immigration and DADT.

[Clarke]

John McCain will say anything to oppose obamas policies and appear conservative and right wing. He is the ultimate flip flopper who made has made 180 on a number of his stated positions' date=' including immigration and DADT.[/quote'] what surprised me was he sounded like some damn lobbyist, not a US Senator. India or not, the Republican position has been that no deadline should be set for a pullout from Afghanistan. That's a much better position from India's perspective. His throwing US-India relations into the Afghanistan equation seems silly, but his party's general position on Afghanistan is what India loves and Pakistan hates.

[Desi Cartman]

last time an American president went to the Indian parliament, there was a stampede to shake his hands. It was so sad :(( .. our MPs were running like teenage girls running for Ranbir kapoor's autograph

[riya]

last time an American president went to the Indian parliament' date=' there was a stampede to shake his hands. It was so sad :(( .. our MPs were running like teenage girls running for Ranbir kapoor's autograph[/quote'] Seriously ???? That was pathetic:headshake:

[ravishingravi]

Aditya kept such a long way from obama meet The literati upset over the role Aditya Thackeray played in having Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey pulled off the university’s curriculum would call it poetic justice. But there is another more popular and rather apt phrase that applies here –— tit for tat. Aditya Thackeray, a student of arts at St Xavier’s College, where Mistry studied English literature, is fuming because the college has not invited him for a town hall meeting with US President Barack Obama on Sunday. While the official position is that students were selected based on their academic and extra-curricular performance, it is obvious that the Thackeray heir apparent’s uneducated, intolerant stance on a distinguished alumnus’s work was not counted as a qualification. St Xavier’s principal Father Frazer Mascarenhas was among the first to criticise the university for succumbing to a political party’s pressure to withdraw, what he described as ‘an example of excellent literature’ . In an anguished message on the college’s notice board, Father Mascarenhas had said, “It is inconceivable that that in the 21st century, a political outfit will not show the maturity to accept criticism and answer it by the evidence of its own actions.” Interestingly, while the book was withdrawn by the university without any discussion within 24 hours of Aditya’s men burning its copies, he is now complaining about the lack of transparency in selection of students for the Obama meet. “Teachers have picked their favourite students. I have checked with my friends, none of us was ever informed that students were being selected to meet Obama. I would have loved to meet the US president,” a sour Aditya told this newspaper on Friday evening. But wasn’t transparency the last thing on Aditya and Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar’s mind when Mistry’s book was dropped because of stray references to the Sena. Father Mascarenhas, on his part, maintained that there was nepostism in selection of students. “Students were picked based on their academic performance and interest in extra-curricular activities,” he said. Over 348 students from across some of the city’s top colleges will get an opportunity to interact with Obama on Sunday morning. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/15/20101106201011060336297118c9ba2ec/Aditya-kept-such-a-long-way-from-obama-meet.html

[Sir john]

Tight security in Delhi for Obama visit An unprecedented ground-to-air security apparatus has been put in place in the capital which prepares to host U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday. Authorities here have held consultations with their American counterparts on the security aspects of the visit. Mr. Obama, who reaches the capital on Sunday afternoon from Mumbai, will have a busy schedule -- visiting the Humayun’s Tomb and Rajghat, meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and addressing Parliament before he leaves on Tuesday. Hundreds of snipers will keep a watch from rooftops on the routes the President will be taking while aerial surveillance will also be maintained, officials said. The ITC Maurya Sheraton where Obama is staying has been made out of bounds for the public with Indian and U.S. security agencies taking over the building, a senior official said. “We have sanitised the hotel. Snipers will be deployed on rooftops on Mr. Obama’s route. We have a foolproof arrangement for the U.S. President,” he said. Around 2,000 police and paramilitary personnel will be deployed in and around the hotel which had earlier hosted U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton in 2000 and George W Bush in 2006 besides U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year. Proximity security to Mr. Obama will be given by his guards while the other cordons will be manned by personnel from Delhi Police and paramilitary forces as also the elite National Security Guards (NSG). As part of the security measures, the official said, the Ridge area opposite the hotel has been lit up while personnel from Indian and US agencies have checked the manholes on the routes Mr. Obama is taking. U.S. security agencies have already reviewed the security arrangements in Parliament -- where Mr. Obama will deliver an address on Monday -- with other agencies in the country. Security concerns have forced authorities to disable the “virtual tour” of Hotel Maurya Sheraton. The management has disabled the “online virtual tour” section in the Delhi hotel website, officials said. The tour enables a client to have a sneak peek at the facilities provided by the hotel as well as the layout of the rooms. “Authorities are taking no chance with security measures and we are doing whatever is needed,” the official said. Monkey-catchers and dog-catchers have also been deployed in Ridge area and Rajghat to avert any untoward situation. Security agencies are also ensuring fool-proof security for U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama as she is expected to have her own programme during the visit. She is expected to visit some places and attend programmes in the city.

[Sir john]

U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama being welcomed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in Mumbai on Saturday.

[Sir john]

Obama visits Mani Bhavan, says Gandhi, a hero for entire world After visiting the house of Mahatma Gandhi whom he looked to for inspiration, US President Barack Obama on Saturday hailed the Father of the Nation as "a hero not just to India but to the world." "I am filled with hope and inspiration as I have the privilege to view this testament to Gandhi's life. He is a hero not just to India but to the world," Obama, who was struck with awe, wrote in the visitor's book at the Mani Bhavan here with a cupboard teetering with books of the Mahatma in the background. Obama, who is a self-confessed hero of Gandhi, accompanied by his wife Michelle spent about 45 minutes going around the simple, old-style, two-storied building on Laburnum Road in South Mumbai where the Father of the Nation stayed during his visits to Bombay. The President in his speeches has often cited Gandhi has having a major influence on him. Michelle said she will always "treasure" the visit to honour Gandhi's memory. "The visit will be on that I will always treasure. The life and teachings of Gandhi must be shared with our children around the world," she wrote in the visitors book. The Mani Bhavan has now been converted to a Gandhi museum. The Executive Secretary of the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya Meghshyam Asgaonkar said Obama appeared to be very impressed on seeing Gandhi's simplicity when he went to his living room. The room on the second floor, which used to be the living room and working place of Gandhi, has been preserved in its near-original setting. Obama also went to the adjoining room which is home to an exhibition depicting Gandhi's life through mini figures in about 28 tableaux. The rooms on either side of the exhibition have been turned into a photo gallery which gives glimpses of Gandhi in Mani Bhavan and the important events in his life. It was at Mani Bhavan where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to Bombay and from where he launched some of his path-breaking initiatives like Swadeshi, Khadi, the non-cooperation and Khilafat movements. The modest building served as Gandhi's headquarters in Mumbai for about 17 eventful years from 1917-1934. Obama also wrapped a bust of Gandhi with a cotton garland. Visitors from all over the world come to Mani Bhavan to see the room Gandhi occupied, its picture gallery, the Library Hall and the terrace where he was arrested on January 4, 1932. Obama in his speechss has often said that Gandhi has inspired Americans and African Americans, including Dr Martin Luther King. During a school interaction in the US, Obama had said once that if it were possible, he would have loved to have dinner with Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi launched the satyagraha from Mani Bhavan in 1919 and the civil disobedience movement in 1932. In many ways Mani Bhavan played a crucial role in moulding the course of history. Gandhi's association with the charkha (spinning wheel) began in 1917 during his stay in Mani Bhavan.

[ravishingravi]

Check out this. Michelle Obama dancing to Rang De Basanti. http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/michelle-danced-to-rang-de-basan ti-with-students/174070?hphin

[ravishingravi]

Obamania Enough Already http://greatbong.net/2010/11/06/obamania-enough-already/

[yoda]

http://greatbong.net/2010/11/06/obamania-enough-already/

That writeup has some good points (very minor though) in terms of falling over backwards for anyone from the west, but it is overall wrong at many levels. The US president is still the most powerful man in the world and no Michelle Obama is not the most powerful Obama. If you want to write something serious, at least you need to have some sense of correctness. It is good for India to have a good close relationship with a powerful country especially given the rogues like Pakistan and China around us and nothing better than a visit by their leader to help foster that relationship.