President Obama's visit to India, Day 3: Signed Accords, Singh-Obama Joint Press Conference, White House statement US-India initiatives

(Photo: Reuters/Jason Reed)

Accords

From AFP via The Times of India, here is a list of the six accords signed by The United States of America and India:

- India-US agreement to set up a joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre. It will be backed by 50 million dollars by both sides over five years and work to complete joint research in solar, biofuels and energy efficiency.

- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership. US will cooperate in India's plans for a nuclear centre, to promote nuclear security and address threats of nuclear terrorism.

- MOU to establish an India-US Energy Cooperation Programme. It will mobilise private sector expertise and resources to address clean energy-related issues in India and the US.

- Agreement on technical cooperation to study India's annual monsoon rains. Cooperation on weather forecasting for India's crucial annual monsoon.

- MOU between India and the US on shale gas resources which will see US technology used to assess shale gas resources in India.

- MOU on establishing and operating a Global Disease Detection Centre in India, which will set up a laboratory in New Delhi designed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

Transcripts, Joint Press Conference, New Delhi, Nov 8

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks
(The Times of India)

I am delighted to welcome President Obama on his first visit to India.

I welcome the President as a personal friend and a charismatic leader who has made a deep imprint on world affairs through his inclusive vision of peace, security and welfare for all peoples and all nations. The President and the First Lady have made an abiding impression on the people of India, with their warmth, with their grace and with their commitment to promoting relationships between our two great democracies.

President Obama yesterday characterized the India-US partnership as one of the defining and indispensable partnerships of the 21st century. In my discussions with the President, we have decided to accelerate the deepening of our ties and to work as equal partners in a strategic relationship that will positively and decisively influence world peace, stability and progress.

We welcome the decision by the United States to lift controls on export of high technology items and technologies to India, and support India's membership in multilateral export control regimes such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This is a manifestation of the growing trust and confidence in each other. We have agreed on steps to expand our cooperation in the space, civil nuclear, defence and other high end sectors.

We have announced specific initiatives in the areas of clean energy, health and agriculture. These include a Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre, the establishment of a Global Disease Detection Centre in India and an agreement for cooperation in weather and crop forecasting. We have decided to hold a Higher Education Summit next year. Cooperation in the field of education sector holds great promise because no two other countries are better equipped to be partners in building the knowledge economy of the future.

The United States is one of our largest trading partners. Our trade is balanced and growing. India is among the fastest growing sources of investment in the United States. Indian investments have helped to increase the competitiveness of the US economy. We welcome increased US investment and high technology flows in key sectors of our economy, including the sector of nuclear energy. We have agreed to facilitate trade and people-to-people exchanges, recognizing that protectionism is detrimental to both our economies.

I conveyed our gratitude to the President for the cooperation we have received in our counter-terrorism measures post Mumbai. We will start a new Homeland Security Dialogue to deepen this cooperation.

We had a detailed exchange on the situation in our extended region, including East Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and West Asia. We have a shared vision of security, stability and prosperity in Asia based on an open and inclusive regional architecture. We have agreed to broaden our strategic dialogue to cover other regions and areas, and initiate joint projects in Africa and Afghanistan.

As States possessing nuclear weapons, we have today put forth a common vision of a world without nuclear weapons, and decided to lead global efforts for non-proliferation and universal and non-discriminatory global nuclear disarmament. This is a historic and bold bilateral initiative. We have also decided to strengthen cooperation to tackle nuclear terrorism, and we welcome US participation in the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership which will be set up in India.

President Obama is a sincere and valued friend of our country and our discussions have led to a meeting of minds. Ours is a partnership based on common values and interests, a shared vision of the world and the deep rooted ties of friendship among our two peoples. I look forward to working with the President to realize the enormous potential of this partnership of our two countries.

I now invite President Obama to make his remarks.

President Barack Obama's remarks
(Wall Street Journal)

Thank you Prime Minister Singh and good afternoon everyone. I want to begin by saying how thrilled my wife Michelle and I and our entire delegation are to be here in India. We have been received with incredible warmth and incredible hospitality and that includes the hospitality of our friends, Prime Minister Singh and his lovely wife, Mrs. Kaur, who we thank for such graciousness and a wonderful dinner last night.

As I’ve said throughout my visit, I’ve come to India because I believe that the relationship between the United States and India is indispensable to addressing the challenges of our time. From creating the economic opportunity for our people, to confronting terrorism and violent extremism, from preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to addressing climate change and the development that gives people and nations a path out of poverty, to advancing human rights and the values that our universal, none of this will be possible without strong cooperation between the United States and India.

Moreover as Prime Minister Singh alluded to, ours is no ordinary relationship. As the world’s two largest democracies, as large and growing free-market economies, as diverse multiethnic societies with strong traditions of pluralism and tolerance, we have not only an opportunity but also a responsibility to lead. That’s why I believe the relationship between the United States and India will in fact be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.

That’s why I’ve worked with the Prime Minister, a man of extraordinary intellect and great integrity, to broaden and deepen cooperation between our countries. And I very much look forward to addressing the Indian parliament and the people of India later today to discuss how the United States and India can take our partnership to the next level with a vision of how we can work together as global partners. With the progress we’ve made today we’re seeing just how broad and deep our cooperation can be. As president I’ve had the opportunity to appear with many of my foreign counterparts at press conferences such as this but I cannot remember an occasion when we have agreed to so many new partnerships across so many new areas as we have during my visit.

We have expanded trade and investment to create prosperity for our people. The major trade deals that were signed in Mumbai were an important step forward in elevating India to one of America’s top trading partners. Today I’m pleased to welcome India’s preliminary agreement to purchase 10 C-17 cargo planes, which will enhance Indian capabilities and support 22,000 jobs back in the United States.

We agreed to reform our controls on exports and the United States will remove Indian organizations from the so-called entity list, which will allow greater cooperation in a range of high-tech sectors like civil space and defence. And we have agreed to keep working to reduce trade barriers and resist protectionism.

As a result of this visit we are already beginning to implement our civil nuclear agreement. We agreed to deepen our cooperation and pursuit of clean energy technologies, and this includes the creation of a new clean energy research center here in India and continuing our joint research into solar, biofuels, shale gas and building efficiency. And we agreed to new partnerships, including forestry and sustainable development of land to help meet the commitments we made at Copenhagen to combat climate change.

To ensure the safety of our citizens, we are deepening our efforts to prevent terrorism. Cooperation between our countries’ intelligence and law enforcement communities has already reached unprecedented levels. Today we’re taking another step, a new effort between our Department of Homeland Security and the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs to improve security at our ports, our airports and our borders.

I also discussed with the Prime Minister our efforts in Afghanistan and once again thanked him and the Indian people for the generous contributions that India has made towards development and improving the lives of the Afghan people. We agreed on the need for all nations in the region to work together to ensure there are no safe havens for terrorists.

We’re expanding our efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. In keeping with its commitment at our nuclear security summit, India will build a new center of excellence for nuclear energy and security to help reach our goal of securing vulnerable nuclear materials in four years.

Given India’s growing role in the region, we also agreed to deepen our consultations on East Asia. Given India’s growing role on the world stage, we’ll expand our dialogue on global issues. And we discussed the need for international institutions, including the United Nations, to address the realities of the 21st century, which I will discuss further in my address to Parliament.

Finally we continue to expand partnerships between our peoples. To promote global health we’re moving ahead with a new disease detection center here in New Delhi. Building on our successful efforts to expand educational exchanges, including our Singh-Obama 21st Century Knowledge Initiative, we’ll convene a summit to forge new collaborations in higher education.

And we’re announcing two initiatives today that harness technology to deliver progress to our people. Building on the Indian and American agricultural collaboration that led to the Green Revolution, we’re launching a new partnership for an ‘Evergreen’ Revolution to improve food security around the world. We’re also launching a new partnership to promote open government and to empower citizens. And in my address to Parliament I’ll be discussing why these efforts can be models for the kind of cooperation that not only benefits America and India but benefits other nations as well.

So taken together, all of these partnerships, all of these initiatives make it clear: the relationship between the United States and India is stronger, deeper and broader than ever before.

So Mr. Prime Minister, again I thank you for your partnership and for your friendship. I am confident that as India’s influence in the world continues to rise, so too will the opportunities for even greater cooperation between our two countries. And that will mean even greater security and prosperity for India, for the United States, for this region, and for the world.

Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister.

White House Press Release, Nov 8, on U.S.-India cooperation
(Via Wall Street Journal with introductory commentary by WSJ reporter Paul Beckett)

White House Release on the New U.S.-India Parameters

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he wants the U.S.-India partnership to rise to the next level. The White House Monday issued a release that gives some contours to the new relationship as Mr. Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh see it, with a bevy of new initiatives and a focus on business and economic ties.

There appear to be two things that the U.S. wanted that are noticeably absent, however: Reform of India’s foreign direct investment regime that would permit broader access for U.S. companies to India’s markets, especially retail; and a breakthrough on making operational the U.S.-India nuclear agreement, which both sides have signed but which remains bogged down in legalese.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

U.S. & India: the Indispensable Partnership
The U.S.-India partnership is indispensable to addressing the challenges of our times. This strategic relationship encompasses a range of issues, activities, and programs that reflect the vision of President Obama and Prime Minister Singh that benefits not only the people of the United States and India but the world as a whole.

Export Controls
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama committed to work together to strengthen the global non-proliferation and export control framework and further transform our bilateral export control cooperation to realize the full potential of the strategic partnership between the two countries. The two leaders agreed to take mutual steps to implement a four-part export control reform program, including: support for India’s membership in the multilateral export control regimes, removing India’s Defense and Space-Related Entities from the U.S. “Entity List;” export licensing policy realignment, and export control cooperation.

Partnership for an Evergreen Revolution
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama agreed to work together to develop, test, and replicate transformative technologies to extend food security in India as part of an “Evergreen Revolution.” These efforts build on the historic legacy of cooperation between the United States and India during the Green Revolution, and will benefit farmers and consumers in India, the United States, and around the globe, and will extend food security in India, Africa and globally. The Partnership for an Evergreen Revolution will contribute to achieving the objectives of the U.S. global development policy, which places a premium on broad-based economic growth as the foundation for sustainable development, and the bilateral U.S. Feed the Future Initiative, which focuses on creating a foundation for sustainable economic growth by helping countries accelerate inclusive agriculture sector growth through improved agricultural productivity, expanded markets and trade, and increased economic resilience in vulnerable rural communities.

Counterterrorism Cooperation
Since the first bilateral discussions on counterterrorism in 2000, counterterrorism cooperation has become a pillar of the U.S.-India relationship. In the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the U.S. and India resolved to deepen collaborative efforts, and intensify exchanges, culminating in the signing of the Counterterrorism Cooperation Initiative (CCI) in July 2010. This landmark agreement made clear the determination of our two governments to combine efforts to combat terrorism and to work closely to ensure the security of our citizens. Programs to exchange law enforcement best practices, hold reciprocal visits of senior-level officials to discuss lessons learned, conduct joint military training exercises, and joining of forces in international fora on key counterterrorism issues, demonstrate the closeness of this cooperation.

Civil Space Cooperation
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to scale-up joint U.S.-India civil space collaboration, including space exploration, earth observation, and scientific education.

Clean Energy and Climate Change
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama reaffirmed their countries’ strong commitment to taking vigorous action to address climate change, ensure mutual energy security, and build a clean energy economy that will drive investment, job creation, and economic growth throughout the 21st century. The Leaders strengthened U.S.-India cooperation on energy and climate change through the following initiatives, including a number of joint research and development projects, public-private partnerships, and major commercial sales of renewable energy technologies.

Cybersecurity
The U.S. and India recognize the importance of cybersecurity and its growing role in world prosperity, commerce, and culture. Accordingly, the U.S. and India are advancing efforts to work together to promote a reliable information and communications infrastructure and the goal of free, fair, and secure access to cyberspace.

CEO Forum
Recognizing the vital role bilateral commerce plays in the global strategic partnership, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlighted the importance of the U.S.-India CEO Forum and the progress made in implementing its recommendations. The U.S. and Indian governments addressed recommendations in the areas of clean energy, infrastructure, education, and export controls.

Defense Cooperation
The U.S.-India defense relationship has grown from solely military-to-military links into a mature partnership that encompasses dialogues, exercises, defense sales, professional military education exchanges, and practical cooperation. The leaders reaffirmed the importance of maritime security, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation, in accordance with relevant universally agreed principles of international law.

U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership
Since U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner traveled to Delhi in April 2010 to launch the new U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership with Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the two governments have institutionalized deeper bilateral relations on economic and financial sector issues. These efforts include a macroeconomic dialogue and financial sector and infrastructure working groups.

Education
President Obama and Prime Minister Singh are committed to an expanding, dynamic, and comprehensive education partnership, including expanding academic exchanges, developing university and school linkages, and holding a U.S.-India Education Summit.

Entrepreneurs Roundtable
This event introduced the President to the next generation of Indian entrepreneurs and showcased innovative partnerships between U.S. and Indian businesses that are creating new markets for U.S.-manufactured technologies. These entrepreneurs represent some of India’s most thoughtful and articulate minds on the major challenges facing India today and showcase the promise of the country’s dynamic, private sector-led inclusive growth. Their innovative business solutions are helping address some of India’s most vexing challenges – such as clean water, power, health care, education – while creating new markets for their U.S. technology partners.

The National Export Initiative
As part of the National Export Initiative, President Obama noted that India — with its tremendous economic growth and its large and growing middle class — is a key market for U.S. exports. These involve some of our country’s largest companies, but also an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises. On the margins of the President’s trip, trade transactions were announced or showcased, exceeding $14.9 billion in total value with $9.5 billion in U.S. export content, supporting an estimated 53,670 U.S. jobs. These cross-border collaborations, both public and private, underpin the expanding U.S.-India strategic partnership, contributing to economic growth and development in both countries.

Indian Investment in the U.S.
The United States is the world’s largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). India is among the fastest growing investor in the United States. As the U.S.-India economic relationship deepens, investment from India contribute to the growth and vibrancy of the American economy and in the creation of jobs in the United States. Over the last decade, investment capital from India grew at an annualized rate of 53% reaching an estimated $4.4 billion in 2009. This growing flow of capital from India reflects the increased integration of the two economies and has brought many benefits to the United States, increasing U.S. exports and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the last six years alone.

Nuclear Security
The United States and India signed a memorandum of understanding that provides a general framework for cooperative activities in working with India’s Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership, which India announced at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit. In working with India’s Centre, the United States will give priority to discussion of best practices on the security of nuclear material and facilities, development of international nuclear security training curricula and programs, joint outreach on security issues to their respective nuclear industries, and cooperation on other nuclear security activities as mutually determined.

Deepening U.S.-India Strategic Ties
Prime Minister Singh and President Obama renewed their commitment to expand cooperation on strategic issues facing the United States and India and agreed to deepen and broaden strategic consultations on core foreign policy issues of mutual concern. Such consultations reinforce Prime Minister Singh’s and President Obama’s vision of transforming the U.S.-India relationship into a true global partnership that reflects the extensive and growing strategic ties between our two countries.

U.S.-India Development Collaboration in Afghanistan
President Obama and Prime Minister Singh agreed to collaborate closely to assist the people of Afghanistan by identifying opportunities to leverage our relative strengths, experience and resources. Our collaboration will focus on agricultural development and women’s empowerment, where Afghanistan’s needs are great.

Securing the Air, Sea, and Space Domains
President Obama and Prime Minister Singh agreed that in an increasingly interconnected world, it is vital to safeguard areas of the sea, air, and space beyond national jurisdiction to ensure the security and prosperity of nations. The United States and India have launched a dialogue to explore ways to work together, as well as with other countries, to develop a shared vision to protect peace, security, and development of these areas.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2010

John Batchelor's analysis of President Obama's visit to India, and a few words about Mughalistan

Well. I was waiting for John Batchelor's show tonight to see how far he had gotten toward figuring out what President Obama said today about Pakistan to the students at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai. I see from his website that I don't need to wait. Now if I can only stop laughing long enough to post what he wrote this will be my personal triumph for the week.

Scolding Jihad
by John Batchelor

The past days POTUS scolded India with the same unearned experience of the world that he uses in the US to no purpose. Electing a POTUS with no experience of office is not nearly as extreme as electing a POTUS with no experience in human affairs. POTUS knows Oahu, some parts of Manhattan (now out of date because gentrified) and Hyde Park. POTUS takes this narrow discernment to the most critical of all democracies and uses it to scold the India Parliament that it must get along with the failed state of Pakistan.

Upon what is POTUS basing his measure? Did POTUS read it in a briefing paper, or did Val Jarrett rehearse his palaver?

POTUS represents the defeated Democratic Congress. The seat he occupied in the Senate is gone to the GOP. The Speaker he depended upon is now an insurgent in her own party. POTUS wins 28% of the white vote in the USA, which is an electoral college wipe-out unless he transforms his cant.

He scolds India for regarding Pakistan as a vandal? Now the POTUS Schoolmaster act moves to Indonesia. This will be slight irony -- returning to the scene of his Moslem flirtation before he became what a Democratic op tells me is a "radical atheist." Or what is more properly understood as a Bishop of Golf.

Jihad Repositioned

What the heck does this mean, when POTUS is asked about jihad by some snarky Xavier (a 140-year-old Jesuit-Catholic school to be sure) boys and girls: When is religious war undistorted?

"I think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified. And so, I think, one of the challenges that we face is how do we isolate those who have these distorted notions of religious war."

Another way to reply to the student's question would be to say that it's not religion when the goal is to make India disappear through the use of a census based on religious affiliation. That is what the "few extremists" in Pakistan's military have in mind for India. The envisioned end result is called Mughalistan or Mugalstan: Muslims drive out Indians of other religions from an Indian state or region, then demand that on the basis of their religious majority they should have their own 'nation.'

They pulled that crap in Kashmir and the Indian government foolishly went along. The upshot was millions of internally displaced non-Muslim Indians and the autonomous region of 'Indian' Kashmir, where only Muslim 'Indians' are allowed to own property or land.

In other words, Pakistan's goal for India is to reduce a nation to a bunch of emirates controlled from Rawalpindi. As to how far they've gotten with their plan, here is part of a post from 2006 at a Pakistan military defense site on the Mughalistan strategy. Note where Afghanistan fits into the scheme:

MUGHALSTAN is the Muslim response to Hindu Rashtra. Envisaging an united Islamic homeland stretching from Sind to Bengal via Kashmir, it is the very antithesis of Hindutva. No, we Muslims are not going to go to Pakistan as the Brahmins command. Instead we will break India once more and re-unite with our brethren in Pakistan and Bangladesh to form the greatest nation of the world - Mughalstan, "The Land of Mughal-Muslims". Mughalstan is "Greater Pakistan", or "Pakistan No. 2". In other words, Mughalstan is "India's Bosnia" - a nation within a nation. Mughalstan will Inshallah consist of the following coterminous territories:

PAKISTAN comprising Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Sindh.
BANGISTAN or Greater Bangladesh, comprising modern Bangladesh, southern Assam and the surrounding Muslim-dominated regions.
KHALISTAN, the Sikh Nation of Sufi Muslims. The Sikhs or Nanakshahis are followers of the Muslim Sufi saint Nanak Shah; hence Khalistan is a natural part of Mughalstan.
ROHILSTAN, northern Uttar Pradesh or `Rohilkhand', with a 60 % Muslim population.
MALWASTAN or Malwa in Madhya Pradesh.
BIHARISTAN comprising the Muslim-dominated regions formerly known as `Magadha' in southern Bihar, and of course.
KASHMIR, the Crown of Mughalstan.

Each of these regions individually possesses Mughal-Muslim population exceeding 50 %, and hence these regions justifiably belong to Islamic Mughalstan instead of Brahmin-Occupied Hindu Rashtra.

The population of the resulting Mughalstan homeland is obtained by adding the Muslim populations of Pakistan, Bangladesh and North India, and subtracting the populations for Brahmavarta, Rajputana, Bhojpur and Brahuiland, which are envisaged independant ethnic nations. Using the latest population figures, one obtains

70% Mughal-Muslim
03% Vaidik-Brahmins
05% Vaishya-Vaishnavite
15% Sudroid-Shaivite
05% Rajput-Saura
02% Portuguese-Christian and others.

Since 70% of Mughalstan's population is Muslim, Mughalstan belongs to us by birthright. The term `Mughal-Muslim' is analogous to the conventional ethnographic terms `Anglo-Saxon Protestant', `Sinhala-Buddhist' or `Russian-Orthodox'. Since each of these peoples have independant nations, it follows that the Mughal-Muslims deserve a homeland as well. [...]

That's what's out there, folks. Not officially, of course, but that's the plan; that's what Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani means when he says he's "India-centric." So former CIA official and White House advisor Bruce Riedel is not entirely correct when he calls Kayani a "liar." He's referring only to Kayani's rationalizations about why Pakistan's military won't deal with terrorist organizations that Rawalpindi controls. Kayani has actually been pretty frank in stating his goal. And Pakistan's military has no intention of stopping with breaking up India into emirates.

That is what the government of the United States of America and U.S. military brass such as Admiral Mike Mullen are supporting, every time they cave into extortion demands from Pakistan's military, and every time they give official cover to Pakistan's regime. Is there no way to divest these fools of the idea that if they cut off their fingers and feed them to a tiger it won't make a meal of them? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, take note.

President Obama's visit to India, Day 2: Dancing literally and figuratively (Updated 3X)

November 8, 1:50 PM ET Update
Today's edition of The Hindu reports that the White House released the transcript of the speeches that President Obama and First Lady Michelle gave at St. Xavier's College. So now I'm happy. The Hindu published the transcript, which includes the Q&A session. So that's one thing I can cross off my Grousing List. I was in such a snit yesterday about sketchy reporting on the Q&A session (see below) that it didn't occur to me to check the White House website.
7:45 PM Update
A reader has taken pity on me and sent the following video links to Obama's speech at St. Xavier's. It just struck me: is this the reason, I wonder, why the modern press establishment has gotten so lazy? (See my grousing in the post below.) Do they think, 'What's the use of actually reporting on an event because everyone's going to watch it on YouTube anyhow?'

If that's how they're thinking don't they realize that when news gets reduced to everyone posting links to YouTube videos that few are going to take the time to watch, there's goes news reporting, not to mention democratic government, which depends on reporting of the news?

Sigh. Sigh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc0y343PnbA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXgnTydmbWI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jttFhGXlbGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-zYkGQGhXc

8:45 PM Update
The reader who sent the video links just sent this helpful tidbit from Obama's Q&A session at St. Xavier's:

Highlight:

"Q. Why aren't you calling Pakistan a terrorist state?

A. blah blah blah The country that has the highest stake in a stable and prosperous Pakistan is India blah blah trust blah blah dialogue.

My reply:

Oh! So Obama NEVER DID answer the question! No wonder The Washington Post and The New York Times did handsprings to avoid hooking up his statement about a stable Pakistan with the "terrorist states" question! Those skunks!

End of Updates
_______________

The President gave a speech at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai then batted back tough questions from students about Pakistan. He and Michelle also viewed Green exhibits made by schoolchildren at Holy Name High School, took part in their Diwali celebration, and watched them perform traditional dances. From Reuters:

... Michelle led an initially hesitant president to join in, mimicking their dancing moves as White House aides laughed at their commander-in-chief.

Later in the afternoon, Obama landed in New Delhi and greeted the waiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a hug. The Obamas and the Singhs chatted with each other for a few minutes before the president went for a scheduled tour of a Mughal-era tomb. The leaders were to meet for dinner at Singh's residence later.

As to the speech -- it hasn't been published yet or it's been tucked away somewhere on the internet where I can't find it.

As to Obama's replies to the students' tough questions -- I wouldn't think of depriving you of the fun of trying to cobble together the exchanges from 16,000 or so news reports, all of which give a piece here and a piece there of the Q&A session. My pick for the worst reporting on what Obama said at St. Xavier's is this gem from the Wall Street Journal :

... Indian concerns were on full view at Sunday's back-and-forth in Mumbai. One woman questioned why Pakistan is so important an ally to the U.S. and why U.S. leaders had not called Pakistan "a terrorist state." A male student asked if Mr. Obama views Taliban control of Southern Afghanistan was inevitable.

Nope, the report does not supply Obama's answers to the questions quoted. You need to paw through reports from other news organizations and gaze into a crystal ball to get an idea of what his answers might have been.

The runner-up prize for crummy reporting on what Obama said at St Xavier's goes to The Washington Post, which sadistically titles its report, In India, Obama faces questions on U.S. relations with Pakistan. It starts out well enough:

MUMBAI - An audience of Indian college students challenged President Obama on Sunday over his administration's relationship with Pakistan's government, drawing a defensive response and a challenge of his own.

We want nothing more than a stable, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan," Obama told the students gathered in a courtyard of St. Xavier's College to see him. "But I'm also going to say something that may surprise you. The country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan's success is India."

The town hall event, featuring Obama as a professorial host, was a moment of unscripted public diplomacy as he sought to bridge the divide between two bitter rivals. Not only was Obama forced to explain some of the awkward elements of U.S. policy in South Asia, from support for Pakistan to his end game in Afghanistan, but he also provided a rare glimpse at the way he approaches his work.

At this point any reasonable person would think that the next sentences would be to describe what Obama said regarding the awkward elements of U.S. policy. The next sentences:

Encounters with young people have become staples of Obama's travels abroad, a nod to his appeal as a symbol of U.S. progress and tolerance. And in few countries will young people make more of a difference in the short term than here.

More than half of India's 1.2 billion people are under 30 years old, a promising market for U.S. goods and the foundation of a workforce driving the country's technical innovation.

It goes on and on like that and you keep thinking ta dum ta dee any day now they're gonna come back around to the part about the awkward questions:

The Indian public's view of the United States rose after Obama took office. But it has since fallen back to its pre-election level amid a sense here that he has neglected India's interests to curry favor with China and Pakistan, which the student who questioned him wondered why he didn't call "a terrorist state."

So then you think, 'Ah ha! That was the same question the Wall Street Journal mentioned! Now let's see what his answer is!' Next sentence:

Some in the student audience seemed well aware of his political troubles at home.

Zenobia Rao, a 19-year-old chemistry student at St. Xavier's, was asked by her professor to attend the event. She said she was "more than honored" to do so. ...

All this effort to learn just what was said put me so cross with the press that I don't feel like showing you a picture of Obama dancing.

This just in from Special Correspondent Priyank Pandey:

Pundita, the Left parties (dominant in West Bengal and Kerala) are protesting the President's visit and one of the parties will be boycotting his address to the Parliament. See this report from The Hindu.

Pakistanis are of course very interested in the trip. From Live Mint. I think the last line in that article is important because I fully expect Obama to address India's role in Afghanistan at some point during the trip (it will probably happen in the address to Parliament).

Here's a similar article but the critical piece here is that apparently, security officials didn't give an approval for a brief stopover in Pakistan prior to coming to India. From Sify.

Finally, more on Indo-Pak ties including a statement from the President that the US will not impose itself on the [negotiation] process. From Hindustan Times.

Earlier he sent the Reuters report I linked to above, which has some discussion of Obama's speech at St. Xavier's, and a link to a New York Times report with his comment, "The Times actually has a decent write-up of his visit to St. Xavier's prior to departing for Delhi." It may be decent; it's not terribly helpful it one wants to learn exactly what was said at St. Xavier's, but it wrings out a few quotes.

Priyank also reports that Rediff is doing a "live feed"

[The feed] gets a little over the top with praise and excitement at times (the media here goes gah-gah over Obama) but does contain useful nuggets. For example, here's a summary of the discussion the president had at St. Xavier's:

"13:07 PM Obama's big moments at Xavier's:

Barack Obama made a truly stirring, impassioned speech at St Xavier's college.

Quick takes.

On Pakistan: The history between India and Pak was born of violence and tragedy. India has the biggest stake in Pak's success is India. India's on the move, Pak's stability is good for India. Progress in Pakistan has not been as quick as we would like it to be. We need to help Pak fight terror.

On India: India is not a rising power. It is a power that has already risen.

On jehad: Islam is a great, peaceful religion. But we need to isolate those who have distorted notions. We need to treat each other with dignity and respect. How you respond to each other is more important than a speech any president makes."

That will have to do, until someone scares up a transcript of the speech and the Q&A.

Actually, I think I'm going to put all the responsibility onto John Batchelor for figuring out whether anything Obama said today about Pakistan and Afghanistan was of any import. If John's show addresses the topic I'll post the podcast.

Oh all right; here's Obama dancing.

Indonesia readies for Obama visit

Thousands of protesters from the Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia march during a demonstration against U.S. President Barack Obama's visit in Jakarta November 7, 2010.

Reuters photo

First Lady Michelle Obama takes India by storm

She arrived in India in a silk dress to die for, and with her upswept hairdo and a fabulous pearl necklace she was the picture of elegance. But after her husband's speech at the Taj hotel memorial for the victims of 26/11, and after the visit to Mani Bhavan to honor Mohandas Gandhi, she changed into a simple blouse and flowered skirt while her husband went off to speechify at a business summit.

Then the First Lady of the world's lone superpower nation went out to play. Meeting with a group of disadvantaged children she sang, she danced, she played hopscotch, she made music, and her infectious good spirits melted the hearts of all the Indians watching.

Even the normally starchy Indian counterterrorism analyst B. Raman was charmed, and couldn't help but note that Michelle had not graced China with her presence when her husband visited that country and that many Chinese have a dour take on her very American style of femininity.

But no matter; let the Chinese cluck their tongues. On this day I find myself greatly cheered by our First Lady's joy in being young at heart in a land that is so very old and forever young:

MUMBAI, India (AP via Buffalo News) - Michelle Obama played hopscotch, danced and sang with 33 disadvantaged children from the Indian charity Make a Difference Saturday at the University of Mumbai.

Almost immediately after arriving at the university's library, she kicked off her flats and joined in a game of vocabulary-building hopscotch with the 8- to 13-year-old orphans and runaways who receive English-language instruction from Make a Difference volunteers.

"I love dancing. Oh that was fun!" Mrs. Obama said after they danced to theme song from the Bollywood movie, "Rang de Basanti."

The girls wore their salwar kameez - traditional long shirts and baggy trousers - and glittering dupatta scarves. Mrs. Obama, dressed in an olive blouse and delicate flowered skirt, also joined a drum and tambourine circle with the children. She banged on a tambourine while the kids pounded on drums.

After dancing, she spoke to the children about the importance of an education.

"I didn't grow up with a lot of money," Mrs. Obama "I never even imagined being the first lady of the United States. But because I had an education, when the time came to do this, I was ready."

When the first lady invited questions or comments from her young audience, the result was an amusing exchange.

"I feel like my dream come true," one little girl told Mrs. Obama.

"You feel like your dream has come true?" the first lady asked.

"Yes," the girl said.

"Why, because of me?" asked Mrs. Obama.

"Yes!" the girl said.

"No!" Mrs. Obama disputed.

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed again.

Replied the first lady: "No, you are my dream come true."

After some laughter the kids fell silent, so Mrs. Obama urged another round of dancing.

"Let's dance some more! One more dance!" she said. She was quickly surrounded by a bouncing circle of girls throwing their arms in the air. The boys nearby jumped up and down. Before leaving, the first lady sent each child home with a tote bag stuffed with educational materials - notebooks, pencils and pen - and White House M&Ms [candies].

Jithin Nedumala, 23, who forsook an MBA to help found MAD in 2006, said he hoped Mrs. Obama's visit would inspire the children he works with.

"We are here to tell the children to dream big," he said. "They're in orphanages and street shelters where they don't have their parents to push them. Not many people believe in these kids."

I will allow myself a bit of snark by noting that I'm glad Michelle has finally come around to appreciating the benefits of a good education. But just a bit. Pass me a tamborine.

President Obama's visit to India, Day 1: The Obamas at Mani Bhavan "There were no human bombs then"

Vinaya Deshpande's report for The Hindu on the Obamas' visit:

“Mahatma a hero to the entire world”

(Mumbai) 'Overwhelmed and touched' were the perfect words to describe the Obamas after their 40-minute visit to Mani Bhavan, the museum and research centre on Mahatma Gandhi, here on Saturday afternoon. After spending some silent moments in the room where Gandhiji had stayed, Mr. Obama wrote in the guest book, “He [Gandhiji] is 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 wrote. He also read a message written by Martin Luther King Jr. during his visit in 1959.

First Lady Michelle Obama was equally moved. “This visit will be one that I will always treasure. The life and teachings of Gandhi must be shared with our children and the world,” she wrote.

“Visiting Gandhiji's room was an inspiring experience for both of them. They paid a lot of attention to everything there. They were silent and were trying to absorb the exhibition,” Usha Thakkar, Director of Mani Bhavan and the only person accompanying the Obamas throughout the museum, told the media. “They were most inspired by the simplicity of his [Gandhiji's] living,” she said.

She also said the U.S. President and the First Lady were very well-informed about Gandhiji's life. “He [President Obama] knew about Gandhiji's concept of ‘trusteeship'. Both of them had deep knowledge of Gandhian philosophy and were very scholarly,” said Yogesh Kamdar, trustee of Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalay.

Usha Trivedi, a septuagenarian Gandhian, welcomed the Obamas saying, “In 1959, I had welcomed Martin Luther King Jr. Now, I welcome both of you.” They both shook hands with her. “Both of them were very warm,” she said. She said that King had stayed at Mani Bhavan for a day-and-a-half during his visit.

She also showed his autograph dated February 28, 1959 which said, “Wishing you every fulfilment in life. Warm regards.”

Mani Bhavan trustees and the Director gifted the Obamas two books: Mahatma — A Golden Treasury of Wisdom, which is a compilation of Gandhiji's thoughts and glimpses of life, and Women in Indian Society authored by Neera Desai and Usha Thakkar; one audio cassette: ‘Samar Geet — Song of Freedom' in the voice of Shubha Mudgal; and a documentary ‘Mahatma' by Vitthalbhai Zaveri.

“This documentary is very special because it has rare actual footage of Gandhiji,” Mr. Kamdar said.

Everyone touched

Ms. Michelle Obama gave a warm hug to Ms. Usha Thakkar towards the end of their visit. “She was very informal. She looked so delighted,” Mr. Kamdar said.

Everyone was visibly overwhelmed by President Obama's visit. “He bent backwards to make us feel comfortable,” J.V. Naik, renowned historian, told The Hindu.

“He doesn't confuse humility with timidity. His visit to Mani Bhavan, which is a place of pilgrimage to many, is very important,” he said.

Mr. Kamdar seconded his opinion. “The fact that Mani Bhavan figures so high in his itinerary proves how highly he regards Gandhiji,” he said.

Mr. Kamdar had a word of praise for the U.S. security personnel as well. “They weren't at all obstructive. We could not make out who were the security and who were the staff. Everything went on so smoothly and naturally,” he said.

The trustees and the members present at Mani Bhavan added that they understood the security concerns. Some neighbours had expressed displeasure at the tight security arrangements.

“Those were different times. There were no human bombs then. We need to understand that things have changed now,” Mr. Kamdar said.

Mr. Obama autographed two of his books: The Audacity of Hope and Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. “I continue to find inspiration from Gandhiji's teachings,” he wrote.

President Obama's trip to India, Day 1: Transcript of speech to U.S.-India business summit - and a few words about the meaning of Diwali

[Pundita notes:

> The hotel where the summit was held was another of the sites of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

> One reason Obama's retinue is so large is that hundreds of American businesspeople accompanied him to India to make business deals with Indian counterparts on the sidelines of the summit. To my knowledge the exact number of businesspeople accompanying Obama has not been released but it's the largest number of businesspeople to ever accompany a U.S. President on a visit to a foreign country.

> Diwali (or Deepavali, as it is also called) is the five-day festival of lights (held this year from November 5 through 9). Diwali is an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, and Fiji.

The festival has meaning for 'Hindus,' Jains, and Sikhs. It is to celebrate enlightenment and the triumph of good over evil.

Diwali commemorates the return of Avatar Lord Rama from his fourteen-year-long exile and his vanquishing the demon-king Ravana.

Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by the 'Jain' saint Mahavira in 527 BC.

Diwali also commemorates the return of the Sikh Guru Har Gobind Ji to Amritsar after freeing 52 Hindu kings imprisoned in Fort Gwalior by defeating the (Moslem) Mogul Emperor Jahangir.

So do not ask why Pakistan's regime has been so especially upset about Obama's trip to India and why they tried so hard to get him to agree to visit Pakistan after his stay in India.

The regime is very keenly aware of the meaning of Diwali and the profound significance of Obama's arrival in India during that auspicious time -- auspicious for those on the side of good, that is.]

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 6, 2010

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO U.S.-INDIA BUSINESS COUNCIL AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT

Trident Nariman Point Hotel
Mumbai, India

5:43 P.M. IST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Please, everyone be seated. Good afternoon, everyone. Namaste. Thank you all for an extraordinarily warm welcome. And before I get started, I just want to acknowledge some outstanding public servants, some wonderful dignitaries who are in the room. Anand Sharma, our Commerce and Industry Minister here in India. (Applause.) Khurshid Salman, the Minister of Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs, who’s here. (Applause.) Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, State Planning Commission Deputy Chairman. (Applause.) Gary Locke, who is the Secretary of Commerce for the United States. (Applause.) Terry McGraw, the chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council. (Applause.) Hari Bhartia, the president of the Confederation of Indian Industries. (Applause.) And Rajan Bharti Mittal, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. (Applause.)

On behalf of my wife Michelle and myself, thank you to the people of Mumbai and the people India for the incredible hospitality you have already shown just in the few hours since I've arrived in this magnificent country.

We are especially honored to be here as you celebrate Diwali. (Applause.) Some of you may know this. Last year, I was honored to become the first American President to help celebrate the Festival of Lights in the White House. (Applause.) And I know that today, families are lighting their Diyas and giving thanks for their blessings and looking ahead to the new year. So to all of you who are observing this sacred holiday here and around the world, Happy Diwali and a Saal Mubarak. (Applause.)

I want to thank all the organizations that have brought us together today, as well as the business leaders, the CEOs, the government officials who have joined us here in Mumbai. I just had some incredibly productive discussions with American business leaders and Indian entrepreneurs, and today I want to speak with you about why we all benefit from the strengthening ties between our nations.

This is my first trip to India, but this will be my longest visit to another country since becoming President. (Applause.) And that’s because I believe that the relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining and indispensable partnerships of the 21st century.

Our nations are the two largest democracies on Earth. We are bound by a common language and common values; shared aspirations and a shared belief that opportunity should be limited only by how hard you’re willing to work, only by how hard you are willing to try. Trade and commerce between our people has been happening for centuries — even before we were independent nations. Indian immigrants crossed oceans to work on farms in the United States, and later generations came to practice medicine, and do cutting-edge research, and to start businesses. American researchers, in turn, partnered with Indian scientists to launch the Green Revolution that transformed life for generations of Indians. Americans have helped build India, and India has helped to build America.

Today, your country is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. And while there are many amazing success stories and rapidly expanding markets in Asia, the sheer size and pace of India’s progress in just two decades is one of the most stunning achievements in human history. (Applause.) This is a fact. Since your reform of the licensing raj and embrace of the global economy, India has lifted tens of millions of people from poverty and created one of the largest middle classes on the planet.

You are now a nation of rapid growth and rising incomes and massive investments in infrastructure and energy and education. In the coming decades, you will be the world’s most populous nation, with the largest workforce and one of the largest economies in the world. Now, undoubtedly, that means that the United States and India will engage in a healthy competition for markets and jobs and industries of the future. But it also offers the prospect of expanded commercial ties that strongly benefit both countries.

The United States sees Asia — and especially India — as a market of the future. We don’t simply welcome your rise — as a nation, and a people — we ardently support it. We want to invest in it. And I’m here because I believe that in our interconnected world, increased commerce between the United States and India can be and will be a win-win proposition for both nations. (Applause.)

I realize that for some, this truth may not be readily apparent. I want to be honest. There are many Americans whose only experience with trade and globalization has been a shuttered factory or a job that was shipped overseas. And there still exists a caricature of India as a land of call centers and back offices that cost American jobs. That's a real perception. Here in India, I know that many still see the arrival of American companies and products as a threat to small shopkeepers and to India’s ancient and proud culture.

But these old stereotypes, these old concerns ignore today’s reality: In 2010, trade between our countries is not just a one-way street of American jobs and companies moving to India. It is a dynamic, two-way relationship that is creating jobs, growth, and higher living standards in both our countries. And that is the truth. (Applause.)

As we look to India today, the United States sees an opportunity to sell our exports in one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. For America, this is a jobs strategy. As we recover from this recession, we are determined to rebuild our economy on a new, stronger foundation for growth. And part of that foundation involves doing what America has always been known for: discovering and creating and building the products that are sold all over the world. That’s why I’ve set a goal of doubling America’s exports over the next five years — because for every $1 billion in exports, thousands of jobs are supported at home.

And already, our exports to India have quadrupled in recent years — growing much faster than our exports to many other countries. The goods we sell in this country currently support tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs across the United States — from California and Washington to Pennsylvania and Florida. And that doesn’t even include all the American jobs supported by our other exports to India — from agriculture to travel to educational services.

As we speak, American-made machinery is helping India improve its infrastructure, including the new airport here in Mumbai where I landed this morning. This year, there was a new sight on India’s highways — American-made Harley-Davidson motorcycles. (Laughter.) A growing number of American-made aircraft are taking flight in your skies. And soon, there will be more.

That’s because today, just moments before I arrived here, several landmark deals were sealed between the United States and India. Boeing, one of America’s largest companies, is on track to sell India dozens of commercial and cargo aircraft. General Electric, another American company, will sell more than a hundred advanced jet engines. And I’m pleased that two U.S. firms are finalists for a major locomotive tender. Now, these are just a few of the more than 20 deals being announced today, totaling nearly $10 billion in U.S. exports. (Applause.)

From medical equipment and helicopters to turbines and mining equipment, American companies stand ready to support India’s growing economy, the needs of your people, and your ability to defend this nation. And today’s deals will lead to more than 50,000 jobs in the United States — 50,000 jobs. (Applause.) Everything from high-tech jobs in Southern California to manufacturing jobs in Ohio.

Now, these are major deals that are significant for both our nations. But our trade relationship is not just about what America sells India. It’s also about Indian investment in America is doing. Indian investment in America is among the fastest growing of any country. In recent years, Indian companies have invested billions of dollars in the United States — in American machinery, manufacturing, mining, research, technology. Today, these investments support tens of thousands of American jobs.

And at the same time, hundreds of American companies — including many small businesses — are investing in India; not just in telecommunications, but in industries from clean energy to agriculture. This means more choices for Indian consumers and more jobs for Indians and Americans.

Our relationship is also about more than the goods that we sell or the investments we make — it’s about the innovative partnerships we forge in the name of progress. Before I came here, I had a fascinating meeting. I met with business leaders from both our countries, including some incredibly young Indian entrepreneurs. And what’s fascinating is the way that they are now partnering to take technology that has had one application and use in the United States and found entirely new uses and new businesses models here, in India.

They’re working together to make cell towers across India that can run on solar, and not diesel. They’re putting American technology into Indian electric cars. They’re trying to bring new filtration systems and clean drinking water to rural India; and they're trying to develop better drugs for diseases like malaria. These are examples of American companies doing well and Indian companies doing well.

And these partnerships remind us that by pursuing trade and commerce, we are unleashing the most powerful force the world has ever known for eradicating poverty and creating opportunity — and that's broad-based economic growth.

Now, despite all this progress, the economic relationship between the United States and India is still one of enormous untapped potential. Of all the goods that India imports, less than 10 percent come from the United States. Of all the goods that America exports to the world, less than 2 percent go to India. Our entire trade with your country is still less than our trade with the Netherlands — this is a country with a smaller population than the city of Mumbai. As a result, India is only our 12th largest trade partner.

I have no doubt that we can do better than that — we can do much better. There’s no reason this nation can’t be one of our top trading partners. And that’s why we want to work together with you to remove the barriers to increased trade and investment between our nations.

In the United States, we’re committed to doing our part. With India and our other G20 partners, we’ve resisted the protectionism that would have plunged the global economy even deeper into recession. Today, our country remains one of the most open economies in the world. And while I make no apologies about doing whatever it takes to encourage job creation and business investment in America, I still work to make sure our efforts don’t unfairly target companies and workers from this nation or any nation.

And to further increase our exports to places like India, we’re marshalling the full resources of the United States government to help our companies sell their goods and services in other markets. We’re increasing export financing for small and medium-sized businesses. We’re being a better advocate for our businesses. We’re increasing our trade missions. In fact, my Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, will be leading another trade mission to India in the next few months. And we’re reforming our export control system, so that even as we strengthen our national security, we make sure that unnecessary barriers don’t stand in the way of high-tech trade between our countries. Today, I’m pleased to announce that we will work with India to fundamentally reform our controls on exports, which will allow greater cooperation in a range of high-tech sectors and strengthen our nonproliferation efforts. (Applause.)

So we're taking the necessary steps to strengthen this relationship. India can also do its part. Over the past two decades, it has become much easier for companies to do business and invest here in India. It was striking talking to some of the American CEOs who are here who’ve come frequently over decades and seen the incredible progress that's been made. But I don't think it’s any secret that infrastructure, regulatory barriers and other issues of uncertainty still pose some serious challenges.

Today, India is making major investments in its infrastructure and creating greater transparency to support growth and entrepreneurship. Going forward, that commitment must be matched by a steady reduction in barriers to trade and foreign investment — from agriculture to infrastructure, from retail to telecommunications. Because in a global economy, new growth and jobs flow to countries that lower barriers to trade and investment.

These are steps we can take together to strengthen the economic ties between our nations — ties that hold incredible promise for our people and our future — the promise of new jobs, new industries and new growth. Whether or not that promise is fulfilled depends on us — on the decisions we make and the partnership we build in the coming years.

We must admit it won’t always be an easy road, but as I stand here today, I can tell you that I’m absolutely confident we will meet this challenge because — (applause) — because in our two nations, I see the fundamental ingredients to success in the 21st century.

I’m confident because we both cherish the entrepreneurial spirit that empowers innovation and risk-taking, and allows them to turn a good idea into a new product or company that changes the world. And we have examples of Indian entrepreneurs and American entrepreneurs sitting right here who’ve already begun to do that.

And I’m confident because we both know that for those businesses to thrive, our nations need to invest in science and technology, in research and development, and an infrastructure for the 21st century.

I’m confident because we both recognize that knowledge is the currency of the future, and that we must give our children the skills and education that success requires in a global economy. (Applause.)

And I’m confident because our countries are blessed with the most effective form of government the world has ever known: democracy. (Applause.) Even if it can be slow at times. Even if it can be messy. Even if, sometimes, the election doesn’t turn out as you’d like. (Laughter and applause.)

For we know that when governments are accountable to their people, their people are more likely to prosper; and that, over the long run, democracy and economic growth, freedom in the political sphere and freedom in the economic sphere go hand in hand. We believe that. (Applause.)

What gives me the most confidence about our future is our greatest resource — the drive and ingenuity of our people: workers and entrepreneurs- students and innovators; Indians and Americans, including the nearly 3 million Indian Americans who bind our nations together. (Applause.)

For despite all the sweeping changes of the last few decades –- from the reform of the licensing raj to the technological revolutions that continue to shape our global economy — it has been people who have driven our progress. It is individual men and women like you who put their shoulder to the wheel of history and push. An American scientist who discovers an agricultural breakthrough. An Indian engineer who builds the next-generation electric car. A small business owner in Detroit who sells his product to a new company in New Delhi. And all the Mumbaikars who get up every day in this City of Dreams to forge a better life for their children –- from the boardrooms of world-class Indian companies to the shops in the winding alleys of Dharavai.


This is the spirit of optimism and determination that has driven our people since before we were nations — the same spirit that will drive our future. And that's why I’m thrilled to be in India and with you here today. And that's why I’m confident that we can and will forge new economic partnerships and deliver the jobs and broad-based growth that our peoples so richly deserve. And I am absolutely certain that the relationship between the United States and India is going to be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 5:58 P.M. IST

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)

Obama's trip highlights the importance of democracy in Asia and sends a strong message to China

The above graphic is featured in the Christian Science Monitor's November 4 report by Howard Lafranchi titled On Asia trip, Obama to get an earful about China.

The citizens of the United States of America have paid a very high price for their 'business at any cost' mindset, including betraying all the values that Americans give lip service to as being those they hold dearest: democracy, human rights, freedom, blah blah blah. It wasn't until after al Qaeda first struck at America that a U.S. regime woke up to the fact that India, a democratic nation, would be a better ally for the United States than China. President Bill Clinton's ice-breaking trip to India was followed by President George Bush's trip and strong gestures of friendship. Now President Barack Obama has joined the scramble to make up for lost time. It's a little late in day, however. Lafranchi reports:

... Mr. Obama will not touch down on Chinese soil, but at every stop he does make – from India to Japan, with Indonesia and South Korea in between – China and its economic, political, and military rise will either explicitly or implicitly figure on the agenda.

• In India, Obama will hear of Indian concerns about China's strengthening ties to – and plans to sell nuclear reactors to – rival Pakistan, even as the United States and India discuss a mutual interest in seeing China's rise occur peacefully.

• In Indonesia, the discussion will turn to China's growing naval and shipping presence in key trade and strategic maritime routes.

• South Korean leaders will want to address China's unflagging support for an increasingly aggressive North Korea, even as Obama takes the issue of China's trade practices and currency manipulation to a Group of 20 summit in Seoul.

• In Japan, China's growing assertiveness on everything from economic issues to territorial disputes is sure to be an item on the bilateral agenda and at a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

"China is going to be the apparition at the table of discussion at every one of Obama's stops on this trip," says David Lampton, director of Chinese studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington.

The No. 1 topic in all of these countries will be the US economy and prospects for a return to sustained growth, Mr. Lampton says, given the importance the US has as a market for the region's exports. But the leaders Obama meets will have one overarching question on their minds, he adds: Will the US be a long-term counterbalance in the region as China continues its rise?

"All of these countries are looking for an equilibrating force in the region," Lampton says, "and in that context they are looking to the US and asking themselves if the US is going to be around, and in what role."

The Obama administration has stressed its efforts to improve US-China relations, but what the administration has billed as working with China has repeatedly been tagged as accommodating China by critics at home and in the region.

More recently, as China boomed through the global recession and increasingly adopted what Washington perceived as aggressive stances in security and territorial disputes with neighboring countries, the administration has shifted its posture. By visiting four of Asia's major democracies and taking up the trade and security issues topping the agendas of China's smaller neighbors, Obama is signaling an intention to maintain robust American leadership in Asia, regional experts say.

Administration officials insist they want to maintain strong cooperation with a rising global power, but at the same time the president's trip is seen as the appropriate occasion for assuaging the region's concerns about both China and continuing US leadership.

"I think most everyone in Asia appreciates the need for a cool-headed, constructive diplomacy between the United States and China in the current environment," said Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, at a recent briefing with reporters. "We're also working closely with a number of states in the Asia-Pacific region, most prominently to underscore the strong US commitment to remain an active and engaged diplomatic, political, security, and economic player."

South Korea, where Obama will spend two days largely focused on the G20 summit of developed and emerging economies, is a prime example of a US partner warily watching China's growing shadow.

China is the South's largest trading partner – imported Chinese cabbage recently came to the rescue when a dearth of home-grown cabbage left distraught Koreans without kimchi, their beloved national dish. But the US, which is now the South's fourth-largest trading partner, remains its vital security guarantor, not only against the volatile North, but more subtly in the neighborhood of a rising China.

The potential for growing friction with China is a key reason the South Korean government values approval of the stalled Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US – as much or more as a sign of a strategic US commitment to North Asia as for its economic potential.

"We need more US engagement in Asia – especially in North Asia – as a stabilizing force. One of the more salient examples of that stabilizing presence would be through the FTA," said South Korea's ambassador to Washington, Han Duk-soo, at a recent dinner with Washington reporters.

Ambassador Han did not overtly link his country's desire for an American "stabilizing force" in the region to a rising China, but South Korean diplomats do so privately. One diplomat, discussing Obama's trip, referred to a cold-war era "equilibrium" of major powers that South Koreans fear could be lost, adding that the South is "looking for reassurances that the US will remain a balancing power in our region."

President Obama's visit to India, Day 1: Starting off on the good foot

Initially I questioned the size of the retinue (reportedly 3,000 in number) accompanying President Obama's three-day visit to India and the price tag (reportedly $200 million per day) but given his fondness for symbolism that is one way he's signaling the great importance of India to the United States. He has certainly beat out all other world leaders, and presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, in the scope of his preparations for the visit, which will be the longest he has spent in any country since becoming President.

Another important symbolic act was his decision to begin his visit in Mumbai, the site of the 2008 terrorist attack that was India's "9/11," and to stay at the historic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, which was one of the sites of the attack, and which is next door to India's landmark, the Gateway to India. The Taj suffered fire damage during the attack but it's been fully restored.

His first official act on arriving in India was also laden with symbolism:

He spoke with a group of hotel employees and other survivors gathered in a hotel courtyard shortly after checking into the hotel. He is the first foreign head of state to stay at the Taj since the attacks ... known as 26/11. ...

[T]he Taj hotel now stands as a symbol of India's resilience, administration officials say. Obama wanted to recognize India's rejection of terrorism, according to close advisers.

One of those who met with Obama today was Karambir Singh Kang, the hotel manager. He lost his wife, Niti, and their two sons in the attacks, but then went on to help save others.

First Lady Michelle placed a white rose at a memorial wall at the hotel to the 26/11 victims and President Obama signed the hotel guest book with these words (photograph AFP/Getty Images):

"We will always remember the events of 26/11; not only the sorrow, but also the courage and humanity that was displayed that day. The United States stands in solidarity with all of Mumbai and all of India in working to eradicate the scourge of terrorism, and we affirm our lasting friendship with the Indian people.”


He also told the 50 or so people gathered -- family members of those killed, survivors and hotel employees present at the Nov. 26 attacks -- what "an extraordinary honor it is to be here in India."

Then, with First Lady Michelle at his side, the President gave his first speech in India (see Reuters photo above). He spoke at 2:25 PM, less than 90 minutes after his arrival in India, on the rooftop terrace of the Taj with the tower of the Gateway of India as backdrop.

Below is the transcript of the entire speech, from the Hindustan Times, courtesy of reader Priyank Pandey. Priyank has kindly agreed to be a Special Correspondent to Pundita blog during Obama's stay in India. There's already been a tremendous amount of commentary about Obama's visit, which is getting in the way of what's actually happening. Note to U.S. news media: Let's try something new for a change: first observe a presidential visit before leaping to 1,000 different conclusions as what it means. Toward that end I've asked Priyank to cull reports from the Indian press on Obama's visit.

To those who were miffed that Obama's speech at the Taj didn't name the terrorist organization responsible for the 26/11 attacks -- that would have given the terrorists a recognition they didn't deserve during a historic speech and visit. It was enough that he correctly referred to the attackers as "terrorists," which I hope didn't offend the BBC too much:

On behalf of Michelle and myself, I want to say what an extraordinary honor it is to be here in India. I want to thank the people of Mumbai and all of you here today for your extraordinarily warm welcome. And I want to say to the people of India how much we are looking forward to spending the next three days in this remarkable country and to deepening the partnership between our two countries.

I know there’s been a great deal of commentary on our decision to begin our visit here in this dynamic city, at this historic hotel. And to those who have asked whether this is intended to send a message, my answer is simply, absolutely. Mumbai is a symbol of the incredible energy and optimism that defines India in the 21st century. And ever since those horrific days two years ago, the Taj has been the symbol of the strength and the resilience of the Indian people.

So, yes, we visit here to send a very clear message that in our determination to give our people a future of security and prosperity, the United States and India stand united.

A few moments ago, Michelle and I had the opportunity to visit the memorial here and to honor the memory of those who were lost. And we also had the privilege of meeting with some of their families, as well as some of the courageous survivors. I thank them all for joining us here today, along with so many others who endured the anguish of those four days in November.

We'll never forget the awful images of 26/11, including the flames from this hotel that lit up the night sky. We’ll never forget how the world, including the American people watched and grieved with all of India.

But the resolve and the resilience of the Indian people during those attacks stood in stark contrast to the savagery of the terrorists. The murderers came to kill innocent civilians that day. But those of you here risked everything to save human live.

You were strangers who helped strangers; hostages who worked together to break free and escape; hotel staff who stayed behind to escort guests to safety; including the hotel manager, even after he lost his own family; a nanny who braved the bullets to protect a young boy; and Indians in uniform who stopped the carnage and whose colleagues made the ultimate sacrifice.

The perpetrators wanted to pit believers of different faiths against one another. But they failed. Because here in Mumbai, the diversity that is India’s strength was on full display: Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jews and Muslims protecting each other, saving each other, living the common truth of all the world’s great religions, that we are all children of God.

Those who attacked Mumbai wanted to demoralize this city and this country. But they failed. Because the very next day, Mumbaikars [residents of Mumbai] came back to work. Hotel staff reported for their shifts. Workers returned to their businesses. And within weeks, this hotel was once again welcoming guests from around the world.

By striking the places where our countries and people come together, those who perpetrated these horrific attacks hoped to drive us apart. But just as Indian citizens lost their lives on 9/11, American citizens lost their lives here on 26/11 -- along with the citizens of many nations. And just as our people prayed together at candlelight vigils, our governments have worked closer than ever, sharing intelligence, preventing more attacks, and demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

Indeed, today, the United States and India are working together more closely than ever to keep our people safe. And I look forward to deepening our counterterrorism cooperation even further when I meet with Prime Minister Singh in New Delhi.

We go forward with confidence, knowing that history is on our side. Because those who target the innocent, they offer nothing but death and destruction. What we seek to build -- to welcome people of different faiths and backgrounds, and to offer our citizens a future of dignity and opportunity. That is the spirit of the gateway behind us, which in its architecture reflects all the beauty and strength of different faiths and traditions, and which has welcomed people to this city for a century.

That is the hope that in towns and villages across India, across this vast nation, leads people to board crowded trains and set out to forge their futures in this city of dreams. And that is the shared determination of India and the United States -- two partners that will never waver in our defense of our people or the democratic values that we share.

For just as your first Prime Minister said the day that the father of your nation was taken from you, we shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest. We believe that in America, and we know you believe it here in India.

God bless you, and thank you very much.

Improved response from Mexican army allows seizure of drugs on both sides of drug tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego

Filed from San Diego, November 4, 2010 by Richard Marosi reporting for Los Angeles Times:

San Diego-to-Tijuana drug tunnel uncovered; 25 tons of pot seized U.S. officials raid a San Diego-area warehouse and find a lighted, ventilated passageway 4 feet high and 1,800 feet long crossing into Mexico. Drugs were found in warehouses on both sides of the border.
[...]
The ... passageway — roughly equivalent to six football fields in length — isn't the longest or the most sophisticated ever built, but it is one of the few instances in which authorities were able to seize drugs on both sides of the border.

The scale of the operation pointed to the work of a major Mexican drug cartel, authorities said, and comes two weeks after Mexican authorities discovered a record 134 tons of marijuana in an industrial area near Tijuana. Officials don't know if there is a connection between the two events, but called this week's discovery another significant blow against organized crime groups.

Authorities estimated the drugs' worth at more than $20 million.
[...]
Officials said the tunnel was only 4 feet high by 3 feet wide. The toil and financing required for such an undertaking was further evidence that above-ground enforcement efforts are forcing cartels to extreme measures to get their drugs across the border, officials said.

The tunnel is one of the few unearthed in recent years that was fully operational. Authorities estimate operators had been smuggling drugs through it for less than one month. About 75 tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border have been unearthed in the last four years, most of them in various states of construction.

The operation was also notable because of the quick response by Mexican authorities. In past cases, their less-than-prompt actions have allowed tunnel operators in Mexico to clear out the drugs. This time they reacted immediately, which authorities said reflects the much-improved levels of cooperation from security forces in Tijuana, which are led by army Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica.

"The Mexicans moved as quickly as we did," Morton said. "It was an example of the coordination needed to be successful."
[...]

Report has details on how the tunnel was discovered.

John Batchelor Show Election Center

Constantly updated election results at John's website and live coverage on his show starting 9:00 PM ET. John's show, available online, has the best election/political analysis -- hands down!

Part 2, Stewart-Colbert 10-30 rally and Glenn Beck 8-28 rally

Winthrop Colony fleet arriving in Massachusetts 12 June 1630

Part 1.

The 3-1/2 hour program for Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally can be viewed in its entirety at C-SPAN's website, which also provides a list of the program speakers as well as their opening remarks. And Wikipedia does a reasonable job summarizing the program.

Taken as a whole the program for the Restoring Honor rally pointed to the true founding principles of the American nation. At the same time the program revealed what I consider a contradiction or error in Glenn Beck's ideas, which he's been hashing out in full view of his television audience for many months.

He had fixed on good character and faith in God as the guiding principles of America, and he'd interpreted the views of the U.S. Constitution's Framers, and the Constitution itself, as the foundation of the principles. In this, I think Glenn is in the right church but the wrong pew, so to speak. It wasn't the Framers who laid down those principles; it was a Puritan named John Winthrop. Yet this central fact of the American experience got downplayed and finally fell by the wayside when the Constitution and Bill of Rights came to represent the centerpiece of American ideals.

It's easy to see why this came about. John Winthrop was not a terribly nice man. He had none of the appeal of the heroes of the American Revolution and the most famous Framers of the Constitution, nor of Abraham Lincoln. Nor did Winthrop and the other Puritans intend to revolt against the British monarchy.

The Restoring Honor rally never mentioned Winthrop or the Puritans but I venture that Glenn Beck and for that matter, all of America, will have to come to terms with Winthrop and the metaphor of the City Upon a Hill. The metaphor informs a key American concept, American Exceptionalism, which views Americans as having a divine purpose to lead the rest of the world. One needs to understand the metaphor, how it was used by John Winthrop, and how it was eventually debased, in order to intuit how a nation founded on noble and transcendent ideals came to be equated in the minds of many with the rankest hypocrisy.

A City Upon the Hill

In 1630 the Englishman John Winthrop, while still aboard the good ship Arbella, flagship of the Winthrop Colony Fleet, penned injunctions to 700 fellow Puritan passengers about the Model for Christian Charity, the conduct required of them in the New World. Borrowing a phrase from Jesus's parable of Salt and Light ("You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."), Winthrop warned the future Massachusetts Bay community: ... "For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken... we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God. ... We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us til we be consumed out of the good land whither we are a-going."

By the latter part of the 20th Century the simple metaphor that Jesus had created, and which Winthrop had applied in straightforward fashion, had been twisted out of recognition.

In his January 9, 1961 address President-Elect John F. Kennedy interpreted Winthrop's emphasis on good character and Christian principles as a call for bigger and better government:

"... Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us -- and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill — constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arbella in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony."

Almost 30 years later President Ronald Reagan delivered his idea of the metaphor. In his farewell address to the nation on January 11, 1989 he said:

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still."

Thus, the Democrat's idea of the way to make the City Upon the Hill shine more brightly (better bureaucracy and smarter diplomacy) and the Republican's (free markets and unrestricted immigration).

And so within 380 years of the Arbella's arrival in Salem, Americans had so greatly politicized what had been a simple instruction for the colonists to conduct themselves as decent Christians that the fantastical City Upon The Hill collapsed from the sheer weight of incoherence.

Jesus could just as well have said, 'Like the sun on a clear day' to convey something that couldn't be hidden. His point was that the people who'd gathered to listen to him were to carry forward his teachings but to do this through exemplifying his teachings. He had showered Grace on them, to give them strength; now it was up to them to practice his teachings. If they did this, then the greatness of God would be plainly visible to all, as something that couldn't be hidden, in the manner of a city perched atop a hill.

But little more than a decade after Reagan's speech, Americans found the city they'd reconstructed with the bricks of a financial system and the mortar of bureaucracy crumbling about them, and yet they were unable to find their way to the guidewire of America's founding principles. The way back had been blocked by interpretations of the Constitution and Bill of Rights that with the best of intentions had transformed America from a Christian nation that tolerated many viewpoints and religions into one that sought to offend no one.

The upshot was a people with the character of taffy, a people who found nothing strange about spending themselves into debt to China's Communist Party, a people who for all their talk of freedom and human rights had fulfilled John Winthrop's grim prophecy that if they dealt falsely with their God they would be made "a story and a byword throughout the world." In other words, their name would be mud.

It's a cop-out to say that American Exceptionalism is a myth and that there are no 'chosen people'. Being chosen is not the issue. By every measure of the meaning, the people in the Winthrop Colony were exceptional, and so were the heroes of the Revolution and the Framers. But exceptionalism must be earned; it's not something that can be bestowed or inherited, and Winthrop's injunctions to his fellow Puritans very clearly asserted this.

John Newton

Near the end of his keynote address Glenn Beck alluded to the sorry state of the American character:

America is at a crossroad. And this is the point of choice. You must choose whether we wallow in our scars. Countries make mistakes. We have made more than our fair share but it is what you do with those mistakes. We choose to wallow in them or we learn from the past and ask for redemption. For tomorrow, yesterday is gone. Tomorrow may never come. But we have today to make a difference....

Then Glenn spoke of John Newton, the author of the poem that once set to music became one of the most beloved Christian hymns. His account of Newton's epiphany had some inaccuracies. (Glenn's habit of going off script and writing his own notes for speeches has repeatedly flummoxed his research team's fact-checkers.) He recounted that Newton fell on his knees and begged God's mercy when he was in danger during a storm at sea, then embraced God and renounced slavery.

Not then did Newton embrace God, nor did he denounce slavery at that time; it was to be many years after that incident at sea that he publicly denounced slavery. And Newton was not the kneeling type, especially not in that period of his life.

It could be that Glenn was compressing the earlier and later periods in Newton's life to get across his point about the saving power of divine grace. But because Newton's life story is so deeply imprinted on Amazing Grace here's a little about him, which I've taken from Wikipedia's biography.

A sailor since his childhood who'd grown into a terribly profane and cynical man, he was on the ship Greyhound in March 1748 when it was beset with the worst storm he'd ever encountered: "After hours of the crew emptying water from the ship and expecting to be capsized, he offered a desperate suggestion to the captain, who ordered it so. Newton turned and said, 'If this will not do, then Lord have mercy upon us!'

He returned to the pump where he and another mate tied themselves to it to keep from being washed overboard. After an hour's rest, an exhausted Newton returned to the deck to steer for the next 11 hours, where he pondered what he had said [his asking for God's mercy]."

But Newton was no pushover. It was not until eight years later that he embraced religion; his ordeal on the Greyhound had been part of "a pattern of coming very close to death, examining his relationship with God, then relapsing into bad habits."

When he finally did become a minister, in 1764, his seafaring life and roughhewn personality infused his poems, including Amazing Grace, with a bluntness which conveyed that living the Christian life was not something for the lily-livered.

Amazing Goo

Alas, Amazing Grace was to suffer the same fate as John Winthrop's Model for Christian Charity. From Wikipedia's history of the hymn:

In recent years, the words of the hymn have been changed in some religious publications to downplay a sense of imposed self-loathing by its singers.

The second line, "That saved a wretch like me!" has been rewritten as "That saved and strengthened me", "save a soul like me", or "that saved and set me free". ...

Part of the reason for this change has been the altered interpretations of what wretchedness and grace means. Newton saw himself as a sinner so vile that he was unable to change his life or be redeemed without God's help. Yet he also saw himself outcast and miserable, as he was when he was enslaved in Sierra Leone; his own arrogance was matched by how far he had fallen in his life. When Newton allowed his conversion to take place, it was a profound supernatural transformation.

The communal understanding of redemption and human self-worth has changed since Newton's time. Since the 1970s, self-help books, psychology, and some modern expressions of Christianity have viewed this disparity in terms of grace being an innate quality within all people who must be inspired or strong enough to find it: something to achieve.

In contrast to Newton's vision of wretchedness as his willful sin and distance from God, wretchedness has instead come to mean an obstacle of physical, social, or spiritual nature to overcome in order to achieve a state of grace, happiness, or contentment.

Since its immense popularity and iconic nature, "grace" and the meaning behind the words of Amazing Grace have become as individual as the singer or listener.

Bruce Hindmarsh suggests that the secular popularity of Amazing Grace is due to the absence of any mention about God in the lyrics until the fourth verse (by Excell's version, the fourth verse begins "When we've been there ten thousand years"), and that the song represents the ability of humanity to transform itself instead of a transformation taking place at the hands of God.

"Grace", however, for John Newton, had a clearer meaning, as he used the word to represent God or the power of God.

It also had a clearer meaning for Glenn, who himself was a terribly profane and cynical man at one time and who had to reach rock-bottom in his life before he turned to God to save him.

Amazing Grace

Glenn finished his tale about Newton's life with the words, "He wrote the best song for the bagpipes, Amazing Grace. For once he was blind but now he can see. If you are blind yesterday, you were blind ten minutes ago, you're blind ten minutes in the future. See! See what the Lord is putting in front of you now!"

There was silence, then the shrill wail of a bagpipe. As the bagpiper came into view in front of the Lincoln Memorial the strains of Amazing Grace emitted from that most otherworldly-sounding of musical instruments, a sound of the door between life and death.

Haltingly, the audience that was close enough to the stage or the giant loudspeakers to hear the tune began to sing what they could remember of the lyrics. Then one of the singers in a gospel group stepped forward on the stage and added his voice, deep, assured --

More bagpipers came into view and began their skirl --


And as more gospel singers joined the first, their voices joyfully calling out the words of the hymn of deliverance . . .



. . . the voices in the crowd strengthened and soared until those standing near the Washington Monument, almost a mile from the stage at the Lincoln Memorial, heard the song and joined in, until 600,000-strong were singing:

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

As to how I came up with the attendance figure of 600,000 -- I got it from an out-of-towner I ran into after the rally ended. She and many thousands of others had been hours late getting to the Mall because of the delays in public transportation and the huge crowds trying to use the Metro system; she was among those who were almost a mile from the stage.

When I asked if she'd been able to gauge the size of the rally she replied that she'd struck up a conversation with a U.S. park ranger and asked if he could give her an estimate. After stressing that the park police didn't provide official estimates of rallies on the Mall, he told her that based on the crowd density and number of people that could fit into the different sections of the Mall, the size of the gathering was about 600,000.

I'll give Glenn the last word, and with many thanks to him and to all those who made the rally possible.


From his keynote speech:

... We have a choice today. We have a choice. We can either look at our scars, look at the scars of the nation. Let's be honest. If you look at history, America has been both terribly good and terribly bad. It has been both, but we concentrate on the bad instead of learning from the bad and repairing the bad and then looking to the good that is still out in front of us within our reach.

We have a choice today to either let those scars crush us or redeem us. We are gathered here today in a hallowed spot. Here Abraham Lincoln, a giant of an American, casting a shadow on all of us. We look to a giant for answers. Behind you, in front of me the Washington Monument, alone, tall, straight. If you look at the Washington Monument you might notice its scars, but nobody talks about that. Nobody says look to it now. Nobody says yeah I don't know, but a quarter of the way up it changes color. Did you know that it did?

Look at it. Look at its scars. How did the scar get there? They stopped building it in the Civil War and when the war was over they began again. No one sees the scars of the Washington Memorial, the Washington Monument. We see what it stands for. No one also talks about what's on top, facing east, just two words, "Laus Deo" -- "Praise be to God."
...
I asked not only if you would pray on your knees but pray on your knees with the door open for your children to see. Not only pray with them but let them see their father or their mother humbled by God in prayer. That which they gaze upon, they will become. ...

Halloween Post 2: Stephen Diamond asks if Democratic Party will tell Obama to get lost

Stephen Diamond's latest post, Is Obama vulnerable in 2012? asks whether the Democratic Party machine will force Obama out of the Democratic primary for President. Two years is forever in U.S. politics so there's no way of knowing at this point whether there will be a successful insurrection. But Steve's essay provides an instructive look back at how the maneuvering on the Democrat Party's Left greatly weakened Jimmy Carter's presidential reelection bid. Steve, who is an expert on U.S. labor unions, also does a rundown on how major unions are looking at Obama at this time. A must-read for political junkies.

The Halloween Post: Ghost Nations and the shape of the early 21st Century

NowhereVille tourist spot, Tajikistan

This passage from the (U.K.) Guardian's report on the Yemen cargo bomb plot sent me scurrying back to Nils Gilman's recent writings on deviant globalization and the 'hollowed out' state:

Travelling to the impoverished tribal areas [in Yemen] earlier this year, the Guardian's Ghaith Abdul-Ahad found al-Qaida was able to exploit the local traditions of hospitality, profound poverty, deep distrust of [President Ali Abdullah Saleh] and the ambivalence of the Yemeni government itself. Jihadist leaders had been released from prison on the understanding that they helped with the government's battles with Shia rebels in the north and not confront Sana'a [the capital city of Yemen] directly.

Saleh is also fending off secessionists in the south of the country and many observers believe that, among the many threats to his power, AQAP is the least of his worries.

If you stack this situation against Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria, Thailand and several other nations, it's getting harder to tell many countries, apart, isn't it?

No matter how different the society, no matter how much or little economic progress, nature abhors a vacuum: wherever the state isn't strongly represented (the 'hollowing out' phenomenon) today's bad guys -- whether criminals or terrorists or insurgents or all the above -- have become skilled at quickly making themselves at home and creating a kind of ghost nation.

This situation is also present in India, which is expected to be the next big Asian Financial Tiger. But a big swath of India is controlled by the maoist Naxalites, who are gangsters, terrorists, and insurgents all rolled into one. Of course this swath is not near a big city. They rule out in the boonies, where the Indian bureaucrats and military don't have a presence to speak of.

Even in the United States, the Sonora Desert National Monument in Arizona is so overrun with Mexican drug gangs that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has warned Americans not to enter the park. The gangs have hollowed out a little ghost nation for themselves right inside the USA.

Last I heard, which I think was back in the summer, the embattled sheriff in the region was so desperate that he held a press conference during which he begged the federal government to send in at least 3,000 troops. He said that he and his deputies were completely outgunned and outmanned.

There are many causes and conditions for this ghost-nation phenomenon, as one can intuit from Nils Gilman's May 2010 The Meaning of Deviant Globalization, June 2010 The Collapse of Communism and the Rise of Deviant Globalization, and his link to a video of Riz Khan's really fun talk [Trench Humor Alert] on Black Market Sanctions Busting and his own speech this year on deviant globalization, which I've linked to before on this blog.

No small part of the phenomenon is the lid coming off when authoritarian regimes go broke. Mr Gurdjieff said about 80 years ago that there were tribes in Central Asia that the West had never heard of. I recalled that remark a few years ago while I was plowing through posts at the Ghosts of Alexander: Conflict and Society in Central Asia.

I snapped, "Yes, and we're having to learn about every one those tribes now, aren't we?"

With al Qaeda as our travel guide to quaint locations around the world, those of us who closely follow the war (and have developed an envious resentment of those who don't bother) must know where to find Tajikistan on a map. Only those of us who suffer as we do can understand what was so funny about Christian's title for one GOA post, Is Tajikistan the next Tajikistan?

At least he's getting a vacation from the doings in glorious downtown Dushanbe because he's grading papers.

Where was I?

Oh yes. The collapse of the Soviet Empire. With hindsight, why did we let that happen? We should have rushed in during 1985 with the standard World Bank-IMF packages and kept the Kremlin afloat. Instead, we have tribes nobody ever heard of running around in their Land Rovers with their satphones, setting up ghost nations wherever the state is not looking, collecting taxes at gunpoint from the villagers, and making bombs that they ship to us via FedEx.

Happy Halloween.