Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expresses his satisfaction over the passage of the 123 Agreement by the US House of Representatives on Saturday evening, just hours before he flew off to France and minutes before he delivered his final speech at his last official engagement in the US on this visit:
That’s what India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his British counterpart Gordon Brown appeared to believe when they met in New York late last week. The reference is to the turbulence on Wall Street which has had its cascading impact on international markets and financial institutions.
But they also seemed to agree that a multilateral body for these markets should come in place:
Or it could be longer…
This, of course, relates to the final passage of the 123 Agreement governing the India-US civilian nuclear deal. The US House of Representatives passed the Bill on Saturday but the Senate is likely to take it up only by Wednesday. The extended session ends on Friday.
There has been some concern over whether the financial bailout package and the focus upon it will impact passage of the agreement by the Senate, but sources says it won’t just as it didn’t with the House.
During the PM’s visit to New York, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said this:
Of course, the Indian Government has always maintained it doesn’t believe the deal should be governed by timeframes:
Of course, that is also because India can go ahead and signed agreements with countries other than the US as it has with France.
Wall Street is in turmoil. Bear Stearns is gone. So is Lehman Brothers. Merrill Lynch will have a new owner soon. Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac was collapsing and needed a federal bailout. AIG is in trouble…the list can just go on and on.
What impact will all this have on economies like that in India? Here’s a video of a story looking at the possible fallout.
As you may recall, the Republican National Convention was held in St Paul. Now, St Paul and Minneapolis are known as the Twin Cities.
While the focus has been on the lipstick smear tactics employed by the Obama and McCain campaigns, there are a bunch of Senate and House races that are tight and will make for an interesting November.
One of those races, in the Third Congressional District in Minnesota (in the Minneapolis suburbs), shows the potential of delivering just the third-ever Indian-American to be elected to Congress.
That would be Ashwin Madia, a former Republican, now running on the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party ticket (as the Democratic party is known in that state). And in a district that has traditionally been Republican, Madia has showed fund-raising prowess and enough political savvy for this seat to be considred a “toss up”.
Madia has an interesting resume. He studied law at New York University, but is a Minnesota native. He also served with the US Marine Corps in Iraq, mainly in Baghdad. For the Indian-American community, this is a race to watch.
Here’s our report on his campaign:
Here’s Madia putting forth his case:
Hari Sevugan is a spokesman for the Obama campaign. He is also the person who said these words: “It is clear that John McCain would rather lose his integrity than lose an election.” And that is the underpinning of the latest strategy by Obama’s team to undermine the McCain campaign after its post-Convention bounce.
Sevugan’s style has drawn some attention. He is part of Obama’s rapid response team, basically the attack dog unit. His email signature line reads:
“I think — I’ll have my staff get to you.” - John McCain when asked how many houses he owns. [Politico, 08/21/08]
Sevugan, an Indian-American, went to law school at the University of Illinois so he should feel at home working out of Obama’s campaign HQ in Chicago. He has been in politics for a while. He was Policy Director when Tim Kaine ran for Governor of Virginia. He was also Communications Director for the unsuccessful Chris Dodd presidential campaign.
The United States has condemned the terror attacks in Delhi:
US Ambassador David C Mulford condemned tonight’s horrific acts of terrorism in New Delhi. On behalf of the people and government of the United States, he extended his deepest sympathies to those injured and to the families of the victims. “There is no justification for the vicious murder of innocent people. The United States stands shoulder-to-shoulder with India in the fight against terror,” said the Ambassador.
The latest developments are on CNN-IBN.
US President George W Bush has been possibly the staunchest supporter of the India-US civilian nuclear deal.
Therefore, his cover letter to Congress was marked with one statement that set off alarm bells in New Delhi:
In Article 5(6) the Agreement records certain political commitments concerning reliable supply of nuclear fuel given to India. Agreement does not, however, transform these political commitments into legally binding commitments because the Agreement, like other U.S. agreements of its type, is intended as a framework agreement.
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet President Bush on September 25 and the highlight of that meeting was the final signing of the 123 Agreement but only if Congress acts quickly enough to get it through. That, in itself, is another problem. And since this may well be Prime Minister Singh’s final visit to the US and final meeting with President Bush, both would really not want this opportunity pass, given how symbolic it will be of the closer strategic ties that have developed between India and the US during Bush’s tenure.Of course, both Presidential hopefuls for 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain are backing the deal, so even another delay and more negotiation may not necessarily kill it, still…
Democrats keep ratcheting up the rhetoric about sending jobs overseas. And often you’d hear Bangalore mentioned in that context. And Republicans push back saying that protectionism cannot work. But even many Democrats, including union leaders and Indian-American voters, believe that their party leadership’s rhetoric doesn’t really match reality.
You can watch the video at CNBC-TV18.
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be in the US in about two weeks. And he’ll be hoping that he will return from America with a huge gift - the final passage of the India-US civilian nuclear deal by the US Congress. And that’s why, though he is formally here for the United Nations General Assembly session in New York, he is also scheduled to be in Washington to possibly make a joint appearance with US President Goerge W Bush.
It looks tough at this time. But not impossible.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been super busy. She met US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday. Here’s what Pelosi’s spokesperson had to say about that meeting:
The Speaker looks forward to reviewing the submission in
detail and consulting with Chairman Berman and members of the
leadership in determining the appropriate course of action.
That Berman allusion is significant. The California Congressman hasn’t exactly been supportive of pushing the deal through early. In fact, quite the opposite and that’s important because he chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
A State Department spokesman, during his daily briefing, has also made it clear that Condi is going full throttle on getting the deal done:
She’s going to meet with leadership… She’s spoken with Minority Leader (John) Boehner, with Senator(Joseph) Biden. I know she intends to meet Mr (Howard) Berman, and she intends to meet Senator(Harry) Reid, the majority leader.
We’ll see how it goes, but don’t hold your breath just yet.
