'Snub' to India? Obama calls Hu Jintao

[EagleEyes]

What is up with Obama-India forced love & Indian media affair? This makes quite a soap opera!

 

[Awesome]

The Indian ministry also responded and we have a third explanation this time by MM Singh.

This is becoming so petty. The man's probably been busy. Lol now his staffers would inform him and he'd be forced to make a call just for the heck of it. I mean there has to be something to discuss to make a call.

With Pak its an obvious thing. With India? Nuclear deal? its already been taken care of.

 

[Awesome]

The Indian ministry also responded and we have a third explanation this time by MM Singh.

This is becoming so petty. The man's probably been busy. Lol now his staffers would inform him and he'd be forced to make a call just for the heck of it. I mean there has to be something to discuss to make a call.

With Pak its an obvious thing. With India? Nuclear deal? its already been taken care of.

 

[dr.umer]

India reels over Obama's silence​

Nov 12, 2008

Diplomatic predicaments can at times be almost laughable. Indian officials were scurrying around like headless chickens because 120 anxious hours had passed and United States president-elect Barack Obama had not yet put a phone call through to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - as he has done to at least nine other heads of state.

The Indians could learn a thing or two from the Kremlin. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev found himself exactly in Manmohan's predicament when by November 8 his Kremlin telephone still had not rung. But 43-year-old Medvedev did a smart thing.

He put a call through to Chicago to the 47-year old president-elect. The Kremlin thereupon went ahead and publicized the conversation in an upbeat account. A budding controversy was nipped before it could blossom.

Kashmir issue reviving

Young people move real fast. The embarrassment is acute in Delhi since 76-year-old Manmohan committed an incredible gaffe in the runup to the US elections in late September by telling the 65-year-old US President George W Bush that Indians "loved" him - ignoring how fast the American people's equation with their lameduck leader was deteriorating.

Delhi finds it appalling that Obama phoned Pakistani leader Asif Zardari on Saturday and the two leaders reportedly discussed the Kashmir issue. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee promptly reacted, invoking the Simla Accord of 1972 as the cornerstone of India-Pakistan relations, which rules out third-party mediation over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

It is a long while since an Indian statesman mentioned the Simla Accord. It is a "back-off" message and it comes amid reports that in a move to inspire Islamabad to perform better in the "war on terror", the incoming US administration may coax India into a settlement of the Kashmir problem and that Obama proposes to appoint former US president Bill Clinton as special envoy to undertake a sustained mediatory mission between India and Pakistan.

Indians might have fondly overlooked Clinton's incurable flaws and warmed to him as president, but his anointment as Kashmir envoy will not go down well. Public opinion would see it as a failure of the government's foreign policy. And the ruling Congress party is gearing up for a string of tough provincial and federal elections.

However, Obama may also be unwittingly exposing some of the fallacies underlying the Manmohan government's foreign policy - China, the war in Afghanistan and nuclear non-proliferation.

Floundering dreams

Indian strategists blithely assume that Washington ascribes crucial importance to building up India as a counterweight to China. They estimate India stands to gain from the US's containment strategy towards China. But a containment strategy towards China may be the last thing on Obama's mind. China is a key player in any US effort to rebuild the global financial architecture, and Beijing is behaving like a "stakeholder".

The Indian obsession with "great-power" status looks out of place in the changed context. George W Bush administration officials constantly drilled into Indian ears the importance of Delhi taking on responsibilities for the management of the world order. They visualized India as a junior partner in the strategy to control the waterway between the Persian Gulf and the chokepoint of the Malacca Strait through which the bulk of China's oil imports is transported.

Similarly, the Bush administration prodded Delhi to seriously consider military involvement in Afghanistan. Against the backdrop of the US-India civilian nuclear deal, audacious Indian strategists began fancying Delhi and Washington would move towards a "serious conversation" as regards the "full range of issues relating to Pakistan's political and strategic future".

Obama's Afghan strategy

Obama threatens to shake up the daydreamers in Delhi. His top priority is to seek an exit strategy in Afghanistan. He will be wary of following in the tragic footsteps of president Lyndon Johnson who, like him, inherited a war (Vietnam), which ultimately consumed his presidency and destroyed his political life. Obama could as well have delivered LBJ's famous Great Society speech of May 1964 at the University of Michigan commencement. He is at a comparable point in the march of American history and politics.

Equally, Obama empathizes with Pakistan's plight. He would assess that the moral and political responsibility for destabilizing Pakistan primarily lies with Washington and that as long as the Afghan war continues, Pakistan will remain in the vortex of volatility, which will affect regional stability. He may not necessarily opt for Central Command chief General David Petraeus' strategy of "surge" first followed by negotiations with the Taliban, but his campaign rhetoric that he is determined to win the Afghan war must be seen in its entire context.

Washington accepts Pakistan has special interests in Afghanistan and the US needs to accommodate them. These include security guarantees against perceived Indian threats as well as regard for the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. It shouldn't come as a surprise to Delhi if the US seeks a rollback of the scale of the Indian presence in Afghanistan.

Even-handed policy

Two, Obama will actively seek to improve India-Pakistan relations so that they become predictable. His inclination to bring in Clinton as special envoy must be seen from this perspective. He needs someone with persuasive skill to influence Delhi, while he focuses on Pakistan and the war. But Obama cannot be naive enough to conclude that his route to Afghan settlement lies through the treacherous minefields of the 60-year-old Kashmir dispute.

Nor is Clinton unaware that India will never accept any redrawing of its boundaries. And Indians are famous for hunkering down, as he learned in the late 1990s when they went nuclear. Clinton would know his task essentially would be to probe the Indian offer to make the borders separating the two parts of Kashmir "irrelevant" within the overall framework of a durable peace process with Pakistan. Therefore, the high probability is that despite his fondness for travel, good food and diplomacy, he may still be reluctant to take up the challenging assignment in South Asia.

Compared to the Cold War era when India withstood the hostile US stance on the Kashmir issue, it is in a far happier position today on the world arena. So, why are Indians going ballistic? The problem lies elsewhere. The Manmohan government frittered away a rare four-year spell of relative calm to provide responsive government in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). A colossal failure of leadership in Delhi and massive political ineptitude locally in J&K incrementally sapped India's strong position.

The consequent alienation of Kashmiri people runs deep. The challenge facing Delhi is to hold free and fair elections to the provincial assembly in J&K due in December, and to facilitate the formation of a government which the international community will regard as democratically elected. Delhi's fear is that any talk of US mediation may embolden Kashmiri secessionists.

On balance, Obama can be expected to pursue an even-handed policy towards the two South Asian rivals India and Pakistan. But herein lies the rub. The expectation in Delhi is that the US ought to build up India as the pre-eminent power in the region. This is the real source of the angst among the Indian elite and strategists, even though the Obama administration will continue with the US policy to seek a strong relationship with India in the sphere of military and intelligence cooperation.

Nuclear deal may unravel

Meanwhile, a potentially debilitating discord is appearing on the horizon. Obama supported the nuclear deal with India, which was recently ratified by the US Congress. But now it transpires, following "leaks" from Washington, that as early as September 23, Obama had written to Manmohan that his administration would regard the deal with India as a "central element" of the US's nuclear weapons policy.

He put on record that his administration would press for the US's ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) "at the earliest practical day". Furthermore, he said his administration would "launch a major diplomatic initiative" to ensure that CTBT came into force. Obama added he would also pursue negotiations on a "verifiable, multilateral treaty" to end production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Both with regard to the CTBT as well as an immediate moratorium on the production of fissile material, he wrote, "I very much hope and expect India will cooperate closely with the United States in these multilateral efforts". Curiously, the Manmohan government kept the letter under wraps until it became public knowledge last week. It was apprehensive that the letter challenges the official contention that the deal accords recognition to India as a nuclear weapons state.

The letter touches a raw nerve. There is apprehension that Obama's thinking will be integrated into new US disarmament proposals that draw India into the global nuclear order through the CTBT and the fissile material production ban and impose on India a more stringent accounting of its nuclear material.

Delhi's priority is to use the deal to provide the context to access to sensitive US military technology within the overall framework of the "strategic partnership". Surely, there is a grey area here. Did the Bush administration negotiate the deal with transparency? Hard to say. Are Indians so dumb as to be led up the garden path and hustled into a deal full of ambiguities? Not really. Only Bush and Manmohan would know.

It appears India and the US have a growing need to retain Manmohan and Bush in their current jobs as lifetime heads of governments so that the strategic partnership can go from strength to strength.

Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar was a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. His assignments included the Soviet Union, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Turkey.

 

[nitesh]

TIMESNOW.tv - Latest Breaking News, Big News Stories, News Videos -

 

[dr.umer]

Nitesh,

I think you were trying to post this.

PM saves face over Obama call issue​

11/11/2008

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday (Nov 10) said that US President-elect Barack Obama had tried to speak to him but the contact could not be established because of "paucity of time" and his travel.

"No, this is not true," Singh said when asked if the newly elected US President had ignored India by not calling him.

"President Obama wanted to talk to me on November 8 but we could not establish contact because the time that was suggested was too short for me (to establish contact). Since then, I have been travelling... as soon as I go back (we will try to establish contact)," Singh told reporters on way back to New Delhi from his maiden three-day visit to the energy rich Gulf region.

Obama had phoned fifteen world leaders including Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari after being elected US President. As Singh did not get any call from Obama, there were suggestions that the next US President was ignoring India.

Singh said Obama had written to him a "very warm" letter even before he was elected President.

"I had myself written a warm letter to him," he said. Singh was hopeful that Indo-US ties under Obama will be further strengthened. "I got a very warm letter from him, a detailed letter spelling out his approach to India, his approach to international affairs and therefore, I have every reason to believe that India's relations with the US under President Obama will become stronger than ever before," he said.

The Prime Minister said he had received immediate acknowledgement of the condolence message he had sent to Obama on the death of his grandmother. "I also condoled his grandmother's death and he immediately acknowledged that letter," Singh added.

 

[nitesh]

Yes I had already posted this in last page

 

[dr.umer]

Singh said Obama had written to him a "very warm" letter even before he was elected President.

"I had myself written a warm letter to him," he said. Singh was hopeful that Indo-US ties under Obama will be further strengthened. "I got a very warm letter from him, a detailed letter spelling out his approach to India, his approach to international affairs and therefore, I have every reason to believe that India's relations with the US under President Obama will become stronger than ever before," he said.

Nuclear deal may unravel

Meanwhile, a potentially debilitating discord is appearing on the horizon. Obama supported the nuclear deal with India, which was recently ratified by the US Congress. But now it transpires, following "leaks" from Washington, that as early as September 23, Obama had written to Manmohan that his administration would regard the deal with India as a "central element" of the US's nuclear weapons policy.

He put on record that his administration would press for the US's ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) "at the earliest practical day". Furthermore, he said his administration would "launch a major diplomatic initiative" to ensure that CTBT came into force. Obama added he would also pursue negotiations on a "verifiable, multilateral treaty" to end production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.

Both with regard to the CTBT as well as an immediate moratorium on the production of fissile material, he wrote, "I very much hope and expect India will cooperate closely with the United States in these multilateral efforts". Curiously, the Manmohan government kept the letter under wraps until it became public knowledge last week. It was apprehensive that the letter challenges the official contention that the deal accords recognition to India as a nuclear weapons state.

The letter touches a raw nerve. There is apprehension that Obama's thinking will be integrated into new US disarmament proposals that draw India into the global nuclear order through the CTBT and the fissile material production ban and impose on India a more stringent accounting of its nuclear material.

Delhi's priority is to use the deal to provide the context to access to sensitive US military technology within the overall framework of the "strategic partnership". Surely, there is a grey area here. Did the Bush administration negotiate the deal with transparency? Hard to say. Are Indians so dumb as to be led up the garden path and hustled into a deal full of ambiguities? Not really. Only Bush and Manmohan would know.

Only time would tell how "warm" that letter is.

 

[Vinod2070]

I think a lot of us are working ourselves into a lather over a non issue. Some of our media has unnecessarily blown up a non-issue and some people have latched onto it.

Its too premature to say what would be Obama's policies for the region. He may have his hands full with the economy issues for the initial period in any case. All indications are that he regards India and what it stands for highly.

Lets wait and watch for some time.

But its good to see the following that TOI seems to have across the border!

 

[dr.umer]

I think a lot of us are working ourselves into a lather over a non issue. Some of our media has unnecessarily blown up a non-issue and some people have latched onto it.

Its too premature to say what would be Obama's policies for the region. He may have his hands full with the economy issues for the initial period in any case. All indications are that he regards India and what it stands for highly.

Lets wait and watch for some time.

But its good to see the following that TOI seems to have across the border!

It is not a real issue that Obama called Indian PM or not as you said rightly that it is premature to say what Obama's policies would be for this region.

The issue is why Indian diplomatic circles are so concerned ? This news has been reported not only by few Indian newspapers but also by international newspapers like "The Australian" and "Asia Times".

In "Asia Times", an article (posted above) is written by M K Bhadrakumar who himself has served in top diplomatic positions and it provides a very good insight of "why Indian Foregin Office" is worried.

You would have noticed by now that apart from TOI many other newspapers have also crossed our border.

 

[Vinod2070]

You would have noticed by now that apart from TOI many other newspapers have also crossed our border.

Yes, I am all for this media exchange.

Will help the people to come closer and understand each other better.

 

[doobie86]

Obama pledges 'close' India ties
Manmohan Singh
Mr Singh invited Mr Obama to visit India

US President-elect Barack Obama has told Indian PM Manmohan Singh that his administration wants to work with India on all important global issues.

Mr Obama called Mr Singh early on Wednesday amid speculation in the Indian media that he had "ignored" India by not calling earlier.

Mr Singh congratulated Mr Obama on his victory and said it would inspire "oppressed people" all over the world.

Mr Obama told Mr Singh that he wished to make an "early visit to India".

During the phone conversation, Mr Obama said that the US-India strategic relationship was "very important", according to a statement issued by the Indian prime minister's office.

"The prime minister said that relations between India and the United States were very good but that we could not be satisfied with the status quo," the statement added.

Ties between the two countries have been on an upswing with the recent signing of the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement by President Bush after being approved by the US Congress.

The deal ended India's nuclear isolation and recognised the world's largest democracy as the de facto sixth nuclear power.

Analysts say the nuclear agreement will bring India and the United States even closer as the once estranged democracies become more engaged on common interests in Asia and the world.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Obama pledges 'close' India ties

The media really has nothing better to do in life than to blow things out of proportion. Ground realities remain unchanged, its only a matter of time before our ties grow even stronger.

 

[su-47]

well, i think the issue is really settled now. Obama called singh, and everyone's happy (except the losers who didnt want him to call).

I hope Obama continues with the current US policy towards India. There is a lot of potential for strong Indo-US ties.

 

[Imran Khan]

well, i think the issue is really settled now

sir now you accept that phone call was isue.before you say its not a isue

 

[Black Stone]

I hope Obama continues with the current US policy towards India. There is a lot of potential for strong Indo-US ties.

The India policy would not change much under Obama. The US-Indo relations are important and would continue to get better.

As we Americans would say, "Same girl, different dress"