American Embassy School in Crisis after Khobragade Row

[Abingdonboy]

He could, if US could help him in some favourable way for India somewhere in the global arena.

After all, such lynchpins come to use only when one needs a geostrategic favour.

Yes, I was going to add- the only way the GoI would start to warm back up to the US was if the US started making some serious overtures to India on certain fronts, but one thing is for sure- this issue isn't going to go away quietly and easily, the Americans will be made to pay for their actions here.

 

[nair]

Screw them, I don't see Modi reversing things anytime soon.

Well He cannot and he will not...... It is not the matter of one diplomat..... I dono what was US thinking when the decided to do this.... May be they thought, MMS is in his last stint, and weaker than ever, and they can get away doing anything.....

I fail to understand what could the purpose of creating this issue?

 

[Abingdonboy]

Well He cannot and he will not...... It is not the matter of one diplomat..... I dono what was US thinking when the decided to do this.... May be they thought, MMS is in last stint, and weaker than ever, and they can get away doing anything.....

I fail to understand what could the purpose of creating this issue?

i am in full agreement with you. The US woefully underestimated the Indian response to such an act, they probably thought India would cave like everyone of their poodles across the globe, I guess those in the USG just aren't used to a country standing up to them like this.

As for what they could gain, that too is a complete mystery but there was clearly some agenda at work because, as I've said, these actions were authorised by very senior officials in the USG.


Perhaps this is related to the IPR/WTO issues the US is raising with India? I really don't know- it is an enigma because I would have thought the last thing the US would want to do right now was pi$$ of India when it is trying to court India to take a bigger role in the region.

 

[nair]

As for what they could gain, that too is a complete mystery but there was clearly some agenda at work because, as I've said, these actions were authorised by very senior officials in the USG.

What ever may be the reason or intention, But It has gone totally wrong.... and they were into a rude shock..... Why i feel there was a bigger agenda, Even after the incident they tried to cover it up and defend the action.....

 

[Indo-guy]

Well He cannot and he will not...... It is not the matter of one diplomat..... I dono what was US thinking when the decided to do this.... May be they thought, MMS is in his last stint, and weaker than ever, and they can get away doing anything.....

I fail to understand what could the purpose of creating this issue?

The local arm of state department i.e. US embassy in India was deeply involved .

The alacrity with which US ambassador Nancy Powell left a day before Modi was sworn in is also notworthy .

we will never understand the true purpose of targeting Khobragade in such a way ...or who was the actual target in whole messy affair .

Difficult to gauge whether there was some hidden agenda or US authorities were absolutely stupid ....

 

[Abingdonboy]

What ever may be the reason or intention, But It has gone totally wrong.... and they were into a rude shock..... Why i feel there was a bigger agenda, Even after the incident they tried to cover it up and defend the action.....

Indeed, the US has really got itself into quite a mess. It will be interesting in a few years time when the memoirs start coming out of those involved in this matter to see what was really going on with this whole affair because no way was this about some mid-level Indian diplomat and visas for her staff- NO WAY.

Difficult to gauge whether there was some hidden agenda or US authorities were absolutely stupid ....

It has to be a bit of both, on one hand there were senior US officials who oversaw this matter and they were obviously after more than just this young Indian diplomat but they were not clever enough to fully take into account what India's response to these actions would be. This has all the hallmarks of a classic US failure- overestimating their own cunning and underestimating their adversary.

 

[nair]

Difficult to gauge whether there was some hidden agenda or US authorities were absolutely stupid ....

I think there was some hidden agenda, because the way the defended their stand...... If some one was acting stupid, they could have sacked him and moved on......

But then you cannot ignore the Ego of USA, probably they did not want to say "Sorry"to a country like India.....

Indeed, the US has really got itself into quite a mess. It will be interesting in a few years time when the memoirs start coming out of those involved in this matter to see what was really going on with this whole affair because no way was this about some mid-level Indian diplomat and visas for her staff- NO WAY.

May be we will have to wait for the wiki leaks part 2

 

[Abingdonboy]

May be we will have to wait for the wiki leaks part 2

Indeed- the communication between the US embassy in India and the State dept in the US would make very interesting reading, as @Indo-guy said- they played a significant role in this whole mess. I also read somewhere that sometime last year (note after this tussle) Powell (the then US ambassador to India) had a falling out with the White House- now was this because of her part in this whole affair? I am certain the GoI knows a lot more than they are letting on and that the intel agencies have made the GoI aware of what was at play and this is why the GoI has stripped the US Embassy of all such privileges and why there hasn't really been a "forgive and forget" stance taken by the GoI thus far.

 

[nair]

I am certain the GoI knows a lot more than they are letting on and that the intel agencies have made the GoI aware of what was at play and this is why the GoI has stripped the US Embassy of all such privileges and why there hasn't really been a "forgive and forget" stance taken by the GoI thus far.

I am very sure they knows lot more than what is available in public domain, and since it is US they want to keep it under the carpets. But this is one stand where in MMS shown some spine......

 

[Indo-guy]

@Abingdonboy , @nair

Agree we will have to wait for somebody's memoirs or something like wiki leaks to know what was / were the real issues ...that led to this sordid affair which literally destroyed the decade long efforts to bring India - US to bring on same page after decades of hostility !!!

Or if we are reading too much in this affair to look for non existent hidden agenda ..may be US state department's disillusionment with India was so great that they really did not care how India might react ....and so actually let it happen .
It was totally unavoidable ...and as we see it has exacted great diplomatic price and have robbed Indo-US relations of that good will ...
We can only speculate ...till somebody from inside spills the beans !

 

[AugenBlick]

But this is one stand where in MMS shown some spine......

They had no option. Elections were coming up , public was already pissed. They could not afford to look weak. At least thats the story in public.

Or if we are reading too much in this affair to look for non existent hidden agenda ..may be US state department's disillusionment with India was so great that they really did not care how India might react ....and so actually let it happen .
It was totally unavoidable ...and as we see it has exacted great diplomatic price and have robbed Indo-US relations of that good will ...
We can only speculate ...till somebody from inside spills the beans !

May be .
Its just like muscle flexing
You keep insulting and playing power games with countries to keep them in check and their self esteem low.

 

[Indo-guy]

I am very sure they knows lot more than what is available in public domain, and since it is US they want to keep it under the carpets. But this is one stand where in MMS shown some spine......

Probably Diplomatic corps and bureaucracy forced MMS ....

His love for Uncle Sam was too deep for him alone to take such harsh steps...

 

[nair]

Probably Diplomatic corps and bureaucracy forced MMS ....

His love for Uncle Sam was too deep for him alone to take such harsh steps...

Yeah..... and his love towards obama was epic..... I guess obama was the only head of state written to MMS on his farewell....

 

[AugenBlick]

His love for Uncle Sam was too deep for him alone to take such harsh steps.

Enough of his brown nosing.
He took all insults head on.
The American media kept on printing anti-Indian IT industry articles , their congress discussed discriminatory measures against Indians in H1B. He did nothing. In fact I think its the IFS that showed spine to save one of their own.
MMS just reminds me of this article in FN
Such insults won’t deter me from digesting further insults: Manmohan Singh | Faking News

 

[Indo-guy]

Yeah..... and his love towards obama was epic..... I guess obama was the only head of state written to MMS on his farewell....

Obama had personally written to MMS even for MMRCA ....but MMS refused to intervene in the technical evaluation process to give any undue advantage to US bids. Such great was American disappointment that its ambassador to India resigned immediately once the news trickled in that American companies have been thrown out of MMRCA race .

Hats off to MMS for that kind of steadfast integrity ....