Our Opportunity With India
By Condoleeza Rice in the  Washington Post

Our agreement with India is unique because India is unique. India is a democracy, where citizens of many ethnicities and faiths cooperate in peace and freedom. India's civilian government functions transparently and accountably. It is fighting terrorism and extremism, and it has a 30-year record of responsible behavior on nonproliferation matters...


And Protest We Will...
Author Arundhati Roy in The Nation http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060313/roy

It is not in our power to stop Bush's visit. It is in our power to protest it, and we will. The government, the police and the corporate press will do everything they can to minimize the extent of our outrage. Nothing the happy newspapers say can change the fact that all over India, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages, in public places and private homes, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, world nightmare incarnate, is just not welcome. 


India, US seal N-deal: Has Delhi given away a lot?
http://13june.blogspot.com/

No sensible person can deny the benefits from what India is gaining. At a time when India has huge power shortage which is also mother of all infrastructure related crisis, nuclear power is welcome. We can put a safe bet on India's future with nuclear power. No doubt that it is risky proposition in terms of hazards or environmental issues, but I firmly believe these are problems which have solution. The solution are easy if we put our brains in engineering our reactors well and when we are disciplined on usage, waste disposal and in general safety and security. It a small price to feed, grow and prosper nearly 1.1 billion Indians.

On the other hand, looking at what India might has to give up the most concern that people are having is having an IAEA watchdog on our reactors. Mind you we already have them on 6 of the proposed 14. We will still have 8 marked as military including fast breeders. The concern is that our nuclear capability will be capped.
We already have some nuclear capability and if govt is to be believed then we will have sufficient strike back capability to meet our current "demands" from China, Pak etc.

Infact I do not think as a nation any of these would ever dare to launch nuclear war as a nuclear war has only losers and no winners. What must concern us is that the nukes of Pak are open for sale to terrorists. It is that shop which we need to shut as that is the most realistic threat to us in current scenario. And the only diplomatic way to do that would be to show it ourselves and get Pak do it too. It will ensure that our capability is not capped because practically we would have increased our capability by relatively decreasing our "enemy's" capability.

India not being able to trade in military nuclear area looks irrelevant to me as Dr. A Q Khan who was born in Bhopal has already moved his shop to Pakistan. We have got no more nuke traders. Add to that our brilliant scientist are confident that we have got a good deal by ensuring perennial supply of cheaper uranium.

In conclusion, I do not think that New Delhi has given away something big unless there is no conspiracy theory behind and what we are seeing is more or less truth.

I would extend this blog with this White House link India Civil Nuclear Cooperation: Responding to Critics. This information very much supports my assumptions and analysis .


Stupid is as stupid does 
http://gauravsabnis.blogspot.com

Bush's visit gave a lot of people opportunity to display their stupidity, ignorance, and complete lack of respect for private or public property.

The stupidity and ignorance came to fore in a story done by Times Now. They mingled with the crowds at the CPI(M)-SP anti-Bush rally and asked people exactly what they were protesting and why. The answers were so hilarious that they were tragic, ranging from a man saying he was there protesting Bush's hand behind the cooking gas price hike to another saying he was protesting Bush "drawing" the cartoons which insulted Islam.

Meanwhile a group of so-called intellectuals led by Syed Bukhari organised an anti-Bush rally in Mumbai. It attracted over a hundred thousand people, some of them forcing their way into Ladies compartments in local trains. After a shrill speech, the crowd destroyed public and private property around CST.

And as I type this, the TV channels are showing a group of 'protestors' on rampage in Lucknow, attacking shops, vehicles etc, roughing up people leading to 2 deaths to protest Bush's India visit. The state government of Mulayam Singh has undoubtedly instructed the police to be understanding of the "rage" of people.

Yes, that'll teach Bush to visit India, or so would be thinking Mulayam Singh, Prakash Karat, K L Bajaj and Syed Bukhari. The next time Bush decides to attack another country, he will think of the cars and shops owned by innocent people which were destroyed, the public property paid for by innocent people's taxes which was destroyed, the innocent men who were killed and the innocent women who were molested by the valiant "protestors". And he will shudder with fear and call off the invasion, eh, fellas?

Well Done, Mr President
http://discerningtexan.blogspot.com

Bush’s detractors like to criticize his supposed lack of realism. But this agreement is an embrace of reality. Bush saw that the continued marginalization of India would do nothing to change the conduct of any state for the better — so instead he found a way to bring India into the international fold on nuclear-proliferation issues. In the same move, he strengthened our ties with India to the benefit of both countries, and he took the world a step closer to accepting that a regime’s character is far more important that its signature on a piece of paper in deciding whether it should be trusted with nuclear technology. Well done, Mr. President.

So Long China, Hello India
China has grown on excessive and futile government spending, too much dependence on foreign-based corporations, suppression of alternate views by a ruthless governmental structure and by a "herd behavior" by foreign speculators. Its capital markets are shuddery, its banks are a mess, the rural areas which are hidden from the world speak volume of the misery rife in the countryside and its nuclear arsenal pointing at half a dozen countries speak of its political nature. India, though much slower at generating growth, grows under a functioning democracy, domestic companies, domestic investment and a retreating government. India has mature and stable capital markets and a strong banking sector. It shows all the right trends to become a liberalized economy over the past 15 years as the government has consistently, albeit slowly, pursued economic reform. China has been more of a spurt – India is more of an ever-flowing river. 
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/arunimukherjee/entry/re_so_long

Things to Think About
In casual talks about business with colleagues and friends, when the topic of China comes up, I feel like I'm howling at the wind. Does anyone remember that China is still a communist country with a dismal human rights record? Remember? Communism? Chairman Mao and all?
India is a democratic nation. It operates under English Common Law. Its court system makes sense to Westerners. It likes us. 
In terms of call centers...you think your customers can't understand Indian agents? Do you really believe that Chinese agents are going to be an improvement? How, exactly?
What if the political situation between the U.S. and China (always touchy) deteriorates in the next 10 years? What's going to happen to U.S. investments there? You think you'll get them back?
Things to think about.
http://blog.tmcnet.com/ david-sims-india-versus-china-thoughts.asp 


Made Behind the Bamboo Curtain
Yes, whatever you purchase - be it in K-Mart or Wal-Mart or Macy’s or any of those malls that crave after your Greenbacks so earnestly - they are all made behind the Bamboo Curtain!
Beats me as to how mainland China is able to swarm all over the the Great Society with their assorted ware to such a mind-boggling proportion! Take anything - a Barbie doll or a mechanized toy or a game or a kitchen utility or a hand tool - you name it! I picked up a Mancala made with solid strong Oak of Northern America and Lo! It it is made in China! 
But what worries me is, will service sector alone provide sufficient jobs for Americans without manufacturing factories? Where will the Greenbacks come from for stacking the made-in-china’s in trolleys!
You may like to attribute this phenomenon to cheap labor, precision manufacture, no democratic hassles and a host of other juicy capitalistic darlings! But then how things that are ethnically American (sic) can be made to typically American standards and taste to a T by a diametrically different society and ethnicity! I’m still at a loss to fathom this fully!
I dream of an era when most of these trinkets will sport a “Made in India” label on them for a change! If they can write such volumes of handsome software code, can’t they make a sleek can opener? Well, perhaps much of exports from India consist of raw materials and semi-finished’s that they don’t get to add the magic line “Made in India” on to them!
Though serious manufacture left the shores of America long back, may be a new trend will be ushered in like Toyota starting manufacture of cars on the U.S soil recently.
Let’s wait and watch! 
http://blog.cyberbrahma.com/2004/01/09/it-is-us-of-a-made-in-china/

Cyberspace Will Be a Country
The most important regions of the world will not be regions, but online networks. Most important people and companies, especially originating from Singapore, India and China will not be based in a place, but in the Internet.
It is a fundamental paradigm shift and performing in the next 20 years is about global competitivity in the networked economy.
"Let's make the Cyberspace a country and join the UN".
http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2004/01/the_world_in_20.html