Obama takes in India's grand Republic Day parade

[webfact]

Obama takes in India's grand Republic Day parade
JULIE PACE, Associated Press
MUNEEZA NAQVI, Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday took in a grand display of Indian military hardware, marching bands and elaborately dressed camels, becoming the first American leader to be honored as chief guest at India's annual Republic Day festivities.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Obama, along with first lady Michelle Obama, emerged from his armored limousine and took his place on the rain-soaked parade route in the capital of New Delhi. The parade was the centerpiece of Obama's three-day visit to India, which is aimed at strengthening a relationship between the world's largest democracies that has at times been fraught with tension and suspicion.

Obama's attendance at the Republic Day celebrations was unlike any other event he has participated in during his overseas travel as president. He spent about two hours on an outdoor viewing platform, an unusual amount of time given Secret Service security concerns. Obama nodded in approval as Indian tanks and rocket launchers, some of them Russian-made, rolled down the parade route and air force jets sped by overhead.

Republic Day marks the anniversary of India's democratic constitution taking force in 1950. Beyond the show of military power, the parade included ornate floats highlighting India's cultural diversity. Obama gave a thumbs-up to the acrobatic balancing act of several groups of men on motorbikes, while Mrs. Obama smiled broadly at dance performance by young children.

Following the parade, the Obamas were to attend a reception with dignitaries at Rashtrapati Bhawan, the sprawling presidential palace.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation for Obama to attend the parade surprised White House officials. After some internal deliberation, Obama ultimately decided to attend and has sought to use the visit to turn his burgeoning personal friendship with Modi into policy breakthroughs.

U.S. officials have welcomed Modi's efforts to forge deeper ties with Washington, despite his own difficult history with the U.S. Modi was denied a visa to visit the U.S. in 2005, three years after religious riots killed more than 1,000 Muslims in the Indian state where he was the top elected official.

Officials in both countries say Obama and Modi developed an easy chemistry when they first met in Washington last fall. The two leaders spent several hours together Sunday and heralded their close relationship.

Obama said Modi's "strong personal commitment to the U.S.-India relationship gives us an opportunity to further energize these efforts." And the Indian leader declared that "the chemistry that has brought Barack and me closer has also brought Washington and Delhi closer."

Obama and Modi heralded progress on defense and climate change, as well as breakthroughs on an impasse over implementing a landmark civil nuclear deal their countries agreed to in 2008.

While details on the nuclear breakthrough were scarce, U.S. officials said the governments had overcome their differences on two fronts: U.S. insistence on tracking fissile material it supplied to India and American business concerns with India's liability rules that could impact their legal responsibilities in the event of a nuclear power plant accident.

Officials said it would be up to U.S. companies to determine whether the new agreements with India adequately addressed their concerns.

Several American business leaders were joining Obama in New Delhi, including the chief executives of Disney, PepsiCo and Marriott. They were to join Indian executives at a business leaders' summit later Monday.

Obama was to close the visit Tuesday with a speech to young people. He had planned to tour the Taj Mahal, India's famed white marble monument of love, but scrapped that stop and instead will go to Saudi Arabia to pay respects to the royal family following King Abdullah's death.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-26

[NextStationBangkok]

Obama is reaching out the world well. I hope it will create peace and propriety.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/25/politics/feat-india-visit-friendly-moments/index.html

[Jingthing]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

[Shot]

[BadBouy]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

The caste system is very democratic!

[Jingthing]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

The caste system is very democratic!

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever.

[Dannyboy666]

Hear Hear, this looks Promising...

[daveAustin]

Maybe he can throw a couple billion annually their way instead of the UK doing so so they can feed their people, all the while with the money being diverted to things like space exploration or nuclear weapons and with no thanks from just about everyone concerned. Pfft!

[Morch]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

The caste system is very democratic!

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever.

May I guess that this bit of knowledge is not based on much first-hand experience with Indian culture in India itself?

[Morch]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rhPvVy1SEE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZDYsSOngik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvOAKIghpoo

And to quote Modi - "May the force be with you!"

[Jingthing]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

The caste system is very democratic!

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever.

May I guess that this bit of knowledge is not based on much first-hand experience with Indian culture in India itself?

That isn't the point. No democracy is perfect as you well know. There is no reason why two great democracies shouldn't be friendly just because their societies have flaws, as all of them do.

[LawrenceChee]

Hope he tried some tikka masala

[Jingthing]

Hope he tried some tikka masala

He lived in Indonesia, ate dog curry and he liked it. He's way beyond dumbed down pseudo Indian British cuisine.

[GentlemanJim]

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Long live the friendship between these two great democracies! alt=clap2.gif>

The caste system is very democratic! alt=cheesy.gif width=32 height=20>

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever. alt=rolleyes.gif>

Well you don't know anything then do you. The caste system is not 'gradually fading away', it is very firmly embedded in Indian culture, has been for two thousand years and will continue to be for the next thousand years.

There are 167 million Dalits in India, the lowest caste. Because of the lottery of birth these people known as 'untouchables' are only permitted to be employed as street cleaners, farm workers or manual scavengers. They are not permitted to marry out of caste and not permitted to sit on public seats or do anything that would bring another Indian in to 'contact' with them. They are paid a fraction of the wages that any other person would get and can only just feed their families. They can not afford to send their children to school so almost all are 100% illiterate and uneducated. They are also refused medical treatment in many hospitals. All Dalits endure near complete social ostracism on the grounds of their descent, with life expectancy no more than 50 years. Your comments about no society is perfect are completely off the mark in the case of India. You have no concept of what poverty means until you have seen a Dalit community in India. They are made to suffer perpetually because it is believed they are born in to the cast because of terrible sins they have committed in previous lives. It is sickening in the 21 century to be honest.

[Jingthing]

Whatever, I have no concept.

Crap goes on in the USA too.

As in the prison system and racism, closely linked.

The USA being tactical friends with India doesn't mean they endorse everything that goes on in India and vice versa.

In any case, imperfect or not (yes imperfect) they are both great large democratic countries.

[Chicog]

Long live the friendship between these two great democracies!

The caste system is very democratic!

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever.

May I guess that this bit of knowledge is not based on much first-hand experience with Indian culture in India itself?

The Chief Minister in 1995 was an "untouchable", and in 1995 The President.

Admittedly gang rape seems to have become their new national sport, but in general I think they are making progress.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Chicog

[Jingthing]

Change takes lots of time. The USA has a blackish president and yet arguably racism is as bad as ever (or even worse) now.

[Morch]

The caste system is very democratic!

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever.

May I guess that this bit of knowledge is not based on much first-hand experience with Indian culture in India itself?

That isn't the point. No democracy is perfect as you well know. There is no reason why two great democracies shouldn't be friendly just because their societies have flaws, as all of them do.

May I suggest this also shows a certain unfamiliarity with the realities of Indian politics? Saying that it ain't perfect is a very polite way of putting it. The "great" may apply to number of voters, perhaps - although as seen in one of these clips, even this is made a mockery of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Gujarat_riots - Modi's part in events is probably the main reason why many in the West shunned him (well, prior to winning the national elections). There are other bits which are more relevant to Indian domestic politics and economy.

"In an interview in June, the state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, offered no consolation to the state's Muslims and expressed satisfaction with his government's performance. His only regret, he said, was that he did not handle the news media better."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/27/international/asia/27INDI.html?pagewanted=1

[Jingthing]

I think India is a natural ally of the USA in the current geopolitical climate (as in Pakistan and China). I hadn't realized this thread was about trashing everything about the two countries. I hardly think "pure as the driven snow" is a requirement for tactical friendships with the USA.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Jingthing

[Morch]

The caste system is very democratic!

As far as I know the caste system in India is gradually fading away. No country is perfect. Certainly not India or the USA. I don't see your point in posting what you did, but whatever.

May I guess that this bit of knowledge is not based on much first-hand experience with Indian culture in India itself?

The Chief Minister in 1995 was an "untouchable", and in 1995 The President.

Admittedly gang rape seems to have become their new national sport, but in general I think they are making progress.

Yes, they even had a transgender elected as mayor lately. All this is fine, but for the vast majority of Indians concerned reality is very different. Gang rapes have not "become" a new national sport , just less of a taboo to talk about it nowadays. Hard to tell if they are actually making progress as such and on which fronts, but calling it "imperfect" would be a compliment.

[Morch]

I think India is a natural ally of the USA in the current geopolitical climate (as in Pakistan and China). I hadn't realized this thread was about trashing everything about the two countries. I hardly think "pure as the driven snow" is a requirement for tactical friendships with the USA.

Pointing out that India is not quite the great democracy as advertised, or that the USA's treatment of Modi is very "pragmatic" is not quite the same as bashing and trashing everything about these two countries. The USA needs India, and that the USA's prime consideration, the "great democracy"bits are fluff. India can be said to be more democratic than its neighbors, and by a long shot, but it is still way behind modern Western notions of a great democratic system.

Keep it tactical, keep it real?

[Jingthing]

India has elections.

Yes I meant great India as in BIG. REALLY BIG

The USA democracy is also BIG. As in BIG BUCKS.

If you read something more than that in "great" ... not intended.

I am partisan towards the USA as I am American, but that doesn't mean I don't see the faults.

Compare (elections) to Thailand.

Next ...

Edited January 27, 2015 by Jingthing