by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Arun Kumar,
Book: Open Embrace: India-US ties in the Age of Modi and Trump; Author: Varghese K. George; Publisher: Penguin Random House India; Price: Rs 599.
Donald Trump’s “America First” politics with its anti-Islamism focus and Narendra Modi’s nationalist agenda forged by the so-called “Hindutva Strategic Doctrine” make the two so dissimilar world leaders “natural allies”.
That’s the premise on which Varghese George, US correspondent for The Hindu, has tailored his book to suggest that the Modi-Trump brand of politics would likely continue to shape India and America and their relations long after they have gone.
Like a lawyer’s brief, he has marshaled arguments with painstaking research to back his theory. But in the absence of counter-arguments, it often seems a stretch.
For instance, Trump, he suggests, has sought to make a critical change to the racial politics of America, somewhat like what Modi has done to caste politics in India. And both are also clear about a “global civilizational alliance”.
While previous Indian Prime Ministers, including the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sought to package changes in Indian foreign policy directions as improvements, both Modi and Trump keep projecting themselves as changers even when nothing changes.
But unlike Trump, who has spawned “resistance” at home, this prospect of change seen in Modi’s speech to Congress about US and India overcoming “hesitations of history” has united lovers and haters of Obama and Trump in fractious Washington in admiring Modi.
If the Modi-Obama hugs fostered a joint strategic vision to challenge China in the Indo-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region, his bonhomie with Trump was seen in America as an “open embrace” for resisting “China and setting the global agenda”, says George.
But unlike “greenhorn” Trump, who has no ideological moorings, Modi’s world view must be influenced by what George calls a Hindutva Strategic Doctrine.
This doctrine, according to George, imagines India to be a natural homeland of all Hindus with refugees from other religions seen as “infiltrators”. Trump too has sought to make a similar distinction between Christian and Muslim refugees seeking asylum in the US.
While US-India relations have been on an upward trajectory since the lifting of post-nuclear test sanctions, George suggests Trump and Modi are likely to build a relationship that will bring India and America too close for comfort.
The author also makes a vary valid point that the charge of a Russian hand in getting Trump elected has not only undermined his authority, but an anti-Russian hysteria, fueled by the mainstream media, has also gripped the American traditional strategic community.
Trump and the American establishment undermine each other on relations with Russia and Iran, cumulatively weakening America’s position in Afghanistan as well, he suggests. This has also affected India-US relations.
Interestingly, George recalls how after touring across the US, he and another Indian journalist chose to go to the Trump election headquarters on election day when pollsters, pundits and the press were predicting a Hillary Clinton win.
Apparently, sometimes it takes an outsider to see clearly.
(Arun Kumar was till recently the Washington correspondent of IANS. He can be contacted at arun.kumar558n@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
New York : Oil prices have extended losses as US President Donald Trump once again tried to dampen OPEC’s efforts to tackle falling oil prices amid market expectations on further output cut.
“Hopefully OPEC will be keeping oil flows as is, not restricted. The World does not want to see, or need, higher oil prices!” Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery decreased $0.36 to settle at $52.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery decreased $0.52 to close at $61.56 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The remarks came just a day prior to OPEC’s meeting in Vienna, piling pressure on the Saudi-led cartel, Russia and other non-member nations over potential global oil policy-making.
Moscow has shown willingness to cooperate with OPEC to cut oil production. Russia’s oil giant Lukoil said it’s ready to cut production if the upcoming meeting results in a deal to prop up prices, the company’s CEO Vagit Alekperov told reporters, according to TASS news agency.
Yet he said such a reduction could be done “only gradually,” due to the adverse weather conditions in Western Siberia. “The reduction should be smooth, just like last year,” Alekperov was quoted as saying.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : The Pentagon will begin sending a backlog of thousands of green-card holders to recruit training, suspending a policy adopted by President Donald Trump’s administration that required more-stringent background checks for some immigrants wanting to serve.
The policy called for green-card holders to submit to and complete a full background check and respond to any concerns before they could go to boot camp which was in addition to standard requirements for green-card applicants, such as biometrics screening, reports The Washington Post.
The change put thousands of people in limbo, as their screening languished and specific jobs within the military promised to them slipped away.
The new directive issued on Monday says that each armed service must comply immediately with a preliminary injunction issued last month in the District Court for the Northern District of California.
Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the services will begin sending the recruits to training this week and will be placed in available slots.
About 18,000 US troops were green-card holders at the beginning of the Trump administration, and about 5,000 joined the military each year before the stricter policy, Pentagon officials have said.
The Marine Corps sent 1,044 green-card holders to recruit training in 2016 and 1,169 in 2017, but the number dropped to 808 in the most recent fiscal year ending in September, according to Pentagon data.
The Air Force sent 567 green-card holders to recruit training in 2016 and 590 in 2017. But that number dropped to 44 in the fiscal year ending in September. About 470 green-card holders are under contract and waiting to attend training.
The Army sent 4,600 green-card holders to recruit training in 2016, and 3,600 in 2017, according to data provided by the Pentagon. That number plummeted to 513 in 2018.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : China on Monday reacted cautiously to the trilateral meet between India, Japan and the US on the sidelines of the just-concluded G20 summit, saying Beijing was okay to such a set-up if it did not disturb peace in the region.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump had a meeting in Argentina’s Buenos Aires, an event which came against the backdrop of China’s rising influence.
The three countries are part of the so-called Quad, the fourth member being Australia.
Modi, Abe and Trump appealed for an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region where the Chinese presence has steadily grown.
Responding to the meeting between the three leaders, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said: “We remain open to normal cooperation among relevant parties.
“We hope such cooperation will promote mutual trust and cooperation in this region and play a constructive role in promoting the development of peace and prosperity in the region,” he added.
The first such trilateral was an extension of Japan and US bilateral and was dubbed as “JAI” — an acronym for Japan, America and India.
“The three leaders reaffirmed the importance of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision for global stability, prosperity and pledged to deepen trilateral cooperation,” India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate Jobs, Employment, Private Jobs, World
New York : General Motors (GM) stock fell on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump stepped up his attack on the company, threatening to cut all subsidies after the automaker announced thousands of jobs cuts and closure of several plants across North America.
“Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland. Nothing being closed in Mexico & China,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday, adding: “We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including for electric cars.”
“General Motors made a big China bet years ago when they built plants there (and in Mexico) — don’t think that bet is going to pay off. I am here to protect America’s Workers!”
“The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get!” Trump tweeted, a reference to the taxpayer-funded bailout that helped GM after the recession a decade ago.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that she was not aware of a specific timeline for cutting the subsidies, but added that Trump is looking into the matter.
After the President’s comments, the GM share fell by 3.8 per cent and closed down 2.6 per cent, wiping out much of the gains of Monday when it soared after the company announced its restructuring plans that involved closure of five plants in the US and Canada and slashing of over 14,000 jobs.
GM has said the moves are designed to prepare the company for a future of driverless and electric vehicles. It is also responding to a consumer shift away from sedans in favor of trucks and SUVs, CNN reported.
It is, however, not clear what subsidies Trump was referring to. The CNN report said “GM is unaware of any significant federal subsidies the company is receiving beyond a $7,500 plug-in tax credit, which goes to the consumer, not the company”.
In a statement, GM said it remains committed to “maintaining a strong manufacturing presence in the US”. It pointed to more than $22 billion of investments in domestic operations since 2009 and noted that the restructuring plan is aimed at supporting future growth and long-term success. It said many affected workers could shift to other plants.
“We appreciate the actions this administration has taken on behalf of industry to improve the overall competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing,” the GM statement said.
—IANS
