CURRENT INTERNATIONAL KERFUFFLES: LARGELY RESULT OF MEDIOCRITY / STUPIDITY OF OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

The international scene is currently witnessing huge mess ups: Rise of Daesh (ISIL), Yemen mess, Iran nuclear talk circus, Ukraine imbroglio – these are some of the top ones. Then there are the next tier ones: North Korea’s threats, Af-Pak nuisance, climate change buffoonery etc.

Let’s look at the mess in Middle East, including the circus surrounding the Iran nuclear talks: If one carries out impartial root cause analysis, one finds that the mess created is largely attributable to the prevailing mediocrity/stupidity of the personnel advising President Obama and the selective incompetence of the President himself. Let’s briefly explain the above:

v  Obama is not that a fool to not realize the near bankrupt state of American economy and lack of any super-duper technologically advanced military apparatus that can provide significant edge to US over potential threats, like, Iran, North Korea etc. Coupled with this realization, his very lack of necessary personality traits and intellectual sharpness to manage international stage compel him to actively shun contentious international issues. He prefers to behave like an ostrich, like an escapist, buries his head in the sand and pretends there are no issues.

v  Obama’s so-called doctrine of ‘strategic patience and persistence’ (and ‘leading from behind’) is in fact a front for his ‘pathological chronic avoidance and escapism syndrome’ re: international issues. He lacks the swagger required to stride the international stage, lacks the shrewdness, sharpness and courage to engage in geo-political chess game and is seriously deficient in terms of diplomatic suavity.

v  His weakness/hesitancy towards international issues was quickly spotted by the Europeans who “framed’ him in “peace paradigm” by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize at the very outset of his Presidency thereby virtually castrating him of any residual testosterone for any cowboy adventurism.

v  Obama was at best a community organizer who talked his way through to White House. He is plain incompetent for the international side of things that comes with the role and responsibility of being the President of the US. He feels comfortable to deal with soft, social issues. He would probably be best suited being a President of, say, Austria or Sweden where he would just have to handle domestic issues and would not be called upon to play any significant role regarding international hot topics.

v  Again, quick to realize his shortcomings, Obama surrounded himself with advisers who are mediocre and who would pander to his weaknesses and not advise and/or pressure him to go against the grain of his personality traits.

The net result of the above has been that the US vacated the space in Middle East, which was quickly grabbed by Iran and Daesh. In Ukraine, he and his advisers implemented half-baked plans that were not well thought through and were roundly wrong footed by Putin in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

On top of the issues bedevilling BO, he also nurtures a grandiose ambition of leaving behind a legacy of successes (of his tenure). One of them is an agreement with Iran (re: its nuclear ambitions). Another is climate change, plus, others like immigration reform, gay rights and et al.

Obama seems to be so consummated by this legacy thing that he is pursuing the Iran agreement objective with a demonic fervour through his faithful but equally incompetent lackey, Kerry. Obama is not bothered about fall-outs from his psychopathic pursuit of this objective – he is very happy to screw Israel, couldn’t care less if US interests in the Middles East get trashed, is not concerned if the Middle East is unleashed with nuclear race, does not seem at all bothered with potential disastrous impacts on international sea trade routes in the Gulf region and so on.

Obama is like that milksop school boy who would pinch you from behind and giggle from distance; he is not the strong confident type who would engage in a more tough sporting activity. His this sissy type personality aspect can be discerned from how he likes to needle allies, like, Canada, Israel and lectures soft targets, like, India and so on.    

It is unfortunate that at a critical juncture such as this, the US was beset with a wimp like Obama and the world had to face the unfortunate consequences of his weakling and selective incompetence. By the time he leaves White House, he may continue to preside over many events that may come back to haunt generations.

 

Sadly, it is his lack of perspicacity compounded by his intellectual blindness that he is failing to notice his greatest legacy of all and be proud of it – the turnaround of the US economy from brink of disaster. This one stupendous achievement overshadows any potential non-achievement of his presidency – be it failure to reach an agreement with Iran, or, necessity to flex US military might in Middle East and/or Afghanistan-Pakistan or elsewhere to protect interests of the US and its allies. But stubborn as he is, Obama is chasing stuff that may totally cloud the great feat he so painstakingly accomplished. 

UNITES STATES: ONCE THE TOP COUNTRY, BEING UNDONE BY FADING TECHNOLOGICAL EDGE AND MEDOCRITY PRESIDED OVER BY ITS MEDIA

Of late, news in general for the United States of America has been quite discouraging:

·       China overtaking US as world’s largest economy (as per IMF);

·       US special forces mission’s failure in Yemen;

·       Racial tensions arising from string of deaths of African-Americans at the hand of white policemen;

·       Overall deficit topping $18 Trillion;

·       Saudis playing the high stake poker to also subdue the American shale oil boom;

·       Rumors of US administration considering sanctions against one of its closest allies – Israel;

·       Failure to strike a worthwhile deal with Iran to limit its nuclear ambition, and Iran’s religious leaders thumbing their nose to US;

·       Continual dismal performance of President Obama and the administration – at national and international stage.

Suddenly, the US is looking jaded, faded, tired and lacking the panache of a numero uno. Though the US economy is doing pretty well – the latest job creation numbers coming out stronger than expected – there is hardly any sense of being on top.

And, all of the above is getting further compounded for the worst by a third-rate, mediocre television media in US. As it is, the American media is split in left and right – very few in the middle – their coverage is clouded by their ideological slants. To make matters worse, the anchors of the various programs are utterly mediocre who fill air time with virtually meaningless conversations. Most of what transpires on the programs is garbage-in-garbage-out.

Instead of the key issues that is confronting to continual slide in American dominance and unchallenged status of world number one, the TV channels’ programs helmed by disgustingly mediocre anchors/presenters discuss worthless stuff – peripheral at best. Only fluff fills the time slots. Any knowledgeable guests, who may be stating something vital, is cut short and they get back to fluffy stuff and nonsense.

Some examples of key issues to talk about:

·       In view of rising anger within the African-American community, what is keeping this community still so non-violent (barring some isolated incidents in Ferguson)?

·       How the role of the Reverends is helping to keep the focus of the protest non-violent and peaceful;

·       What steps should be taken to address the situation so that the African-American community does not get pushed to a corner where they are forced to contemplate violence of serious nature – which would may not be difficult in a country like US where deadly weapons are available so easily;

·       Falling standards in development of new cutting edge technology;

·       How the economy can be strengthened – newer business models;

·       Issues facing the societal fabric, family structure, human relations etc.

Instead of the above intellectually stimulating and useful discussions, the discussions are personal ideology driven, shallow, wandering and nonsensical. You have to watch a cable channel whose anchors can waffle for hours on end on the topic of the day, say, demonstrations by the African-Americans and their supporters. How nonsensical discussions can fill the whole day of TV time was exemplified on a cable channel during missing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 – hours of generally substance-less discussions took place without zeroing on the kernel.

It is sad for the Americans that they are now called ‘second rate’ based on the latest economic data announcement coming from IMF. It is so ironic that US is a country of dozens of Nobel Laureates in all fields, including economics, yet the country is languishing. The crops coming up in the political echelons are so mediocre and lack luster – on both sides of the aisle.

None of the prospective (and talked about) candidates for 2016 presidential elections are cracker-jacks. They are all so mediocre (if they are assessed impartially) – and none of them inspire any confidence whatsoever about their outstanding capabilities. Since John F Kennedy, the succeeding presidents of the US have all been mediocre to being utterly useless (Carter probably winning the badge of honor of being the worst of the lot).

It seems some sort of supernatural intervention can only bring the change which can stem the rot and be instrumental in carrying out wholesale revamp of the United States – in all fields. Till such time the great country that US was/is will lurch from one crisis to another, from one frustrating level of mediocrity to another.

INDIA-UNITED STATES STAND-OFF ON INDIA DIPOLOMAT ROW: SOME UNTOLD ASPECTS

Devyani Khobragade – a name that was front and centre of a row between India and the United States recently after the India diplomat was arrested, handcuffed and strip-searched in New York in December 2013 on charges of visa fraud and underpaying her housekeeper. India had demanded an apology for the treatment meted out to Ms Khobragade; it also refused to waive her immunity so she could be prosecuted in the US.

Ms Khobragade was arrested after a complaint from her maid, Sangeeta Richard. Devyani in turn accused Ms. Richard of theft and attempted blackmail. In January 2014 Devyani was indicted by a US federal grand jury in Manhattan on two criminal charges of visa fraud and misrepresentation but was also granted immunity by US officials owing her posting to UN which brings with itself diplomatic immunity, paving the way for her to return to India.

India felt further piqued not only due to the US’s attitude in shunning subtler ways of dealing with the case filed by Khobragade's former maid but also smelt rat in the manner in which US Embassy in New Delhi spirited away Sangeeta’s family - all Indian citizens – to US which suggested a high degree of premeditation.

Media in India merely repeated the same aspects of the story over and over, and provided some outlet to the various guest speakers to voice their so-called outrage. The foreign media (including the US) just reported in a normal matter-of-fact manner. But none of them seemed to be able to bring out the ‘real’ aspects that potentially dictated the unfolding of this whole drama. So, here are the untold aspects of this whole case.

Ms Khobragade – someone who has been in controversies in the past

-      Devyani’s recruitment in the Indian Foreign Service came under the shadow when her batchmate Mahaveer V Singhvi alleged that the rules for allotment of foreign language on basis of IFS officers’ ranks was changed for her batch (1999), to ensure she got her chosen language, German. Singhvi alleged that despite being graded higher than five other candidates in the shortlist of 10, he was not allowed to pick the language of his choice. And this, he said, was solely in order to accommodate Devyani, who was two places below him. Singhvi, who was dismissed from the service, moved court and got the Supreme Court of India to order his reinstatement.

-      Recently, Ms Khobragade’s name was mentioned in the enquiry committee report of a housing scam in Mumbai, known as Adarsh Housing Society scam. A judicial commission mentioned in its report that among 25 illegal beneficiaries in the Adarsh housing society Devyani is one of them.  

Mind you, in the maid’s case (i.e. Sangeeta Richard) the US court indicted Devyani on two criminal charges of visa fraud and misrepresentation. Devyani is incidentally daughter of an Indian bureaucrat whose role too in the Adarsh scam had come under scanner. It is a mystery as to what is so special about her (or her father/family) that she has been allegedly accorded out of turn favours mentioned above. Incidentally, there are many big fish (from ruling Congress party) in the Adarsh scam judicial committee’s report which has put the ruling Congress party in very embarrassing situation and it is trying to wriggle out of it somehow.

Exploitation of domestic help providers in US

It is widely reported that diplomats of many Asian countries are known to have paid their domestic help providers less than what was stipulated in their contract or the minimum daily wage supposed to be paid in US. In other words, exploitation of foreign domestic help workers at the hand of Asian diplomats has been going on for some time in US. It is to be noted that Richard allegedly complained to the US law enforcement agencies that she was allegedly exploited and paid less.

US prosecutors say Khobragade claimed to pay Richard $4,500 per month in order to obtain a visa for her. But they say Khobragade actually paid Richard $573 per month and often forced her to work more than 100 hours a week without a single full day off. The long hours meant Richard was earning $1.42 or less per hour, the indictment says.

After about six months of working for Khobragade, Richard fled and sought help from a non-profit group that works with human trafficking victims because Khobragade refused to hand over her passport and allow her to return home, according to the indictment.

Why US acted in this case the way they did

-      Apparently, the US authorities wanted to make Devyani’s case an example to warn diplomats of other countries who allegedly have been exploiting domestic workers brought from Asian countries and maltreating them.

 

-      US also wanted to convey its growing frustration with Indian government regarding slow progress on matters of importance to them (US), namely, deals on nuclear reactor, defence deals etc. As well, India is reportedly not toeing the US line on the American Af-Pak policy calibrations as well as some other policy calibrations. So, the US thought by indicting Devyani, they will kill two (or more) birds with one stone – they would convey their frustration with India (re: not looking after US interests) as well as warn the delinquent diplomats who tend to exploit the domestic workers in US.

-      It would appear that US wanted to convey to India that it does not consider India to be a military power of any significance in its (American) emerging geo-political adjustments in Asia; the Americans know that China treats India with disdain as it reportedly intrudes inside Indian border in Ladakh at will.

Now, the question to ask would be: Did US achieve what it wanted to? Despite the public posturing of Indian government on this diplomatic spat, it would appear that most likely the US achieved what it wanted to. The current Indian government is too weak, corruption tainted, full of self-seekers to stand up to US political chess game and do anything drastic – one would have to wait to see when and how India bends backwards to accommodate American interests.