World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[MwRYum]

Its a head ache for sure. The Indians are waving diplomatic immunity to and fro. But how far does that actually apply? I mean the US is saying it goes only to the point of contention to diplomatic missions. IE spy games. Well other activities are not covered. Presumably this woman's nanny was working in this woman's New York home. Now one question is is that embassy property or just private residence. If private residences then New York law would have jurisdiction. If embassy then its Indian soil. As for the strip and holding? That's SOP. I mean does anyone expect someone being processed on a criminal charge to be granted champaign and caviar , a private cell in the ritz carlton and personal valet?
Despite the propaganda a prison is a prison. NYPD would likely have run her though the same thing as any other processing suspect. The search was likely performed by a female officer, under strict regulations. The new NYPD commissioner Bratton is a known stickler for that kinda thing.
the threats though are not good. By removing those barriers the Indians are potentially opening that embassy to attack from VIED types. By threatening the loved ones of American staff they are opening a whole new can of beans. I doubt they will act on it. As even for the Indian police the charge is rarely used and kept more as threat to intimidate then anything else.

If India do play hardball, the US can always suspend those ongoing military hardware delivery...

 

[broadsword]

India will throw a hissy fit here and there but after lodging a formal complaint, things will go back to normal after a few days. It will not let it get out of hand as there is the bigger picture of it being a US ally.

 

[Blackstone]

If India do play hardball, the US can always suspend those ongoing military hardware delivery...

Suspending military hardware to India pushes New Delhi farther away from Washington and closer to Moscow, which will makes hedging/containing China even harder. Better for both sides to sweep things under the rug.

 

[shen]

India will throw a hissy fit here and there but after lodging a formal complaint, things will go back to normal after a few days. It will not let it get out of hand as there is the bigger picture of it being a US ally.

India is reacting so strongly because the general election is coming up soon. The Congress Party is running against Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist known for his very very strong nationalist sentiment. So the Indian government can't appear soft on this at all.
The question is why is the US playing hardball. I think there may be something going on behind the scene we don't know about.

 

[Blackstone]

India will throw a hissy fit here and there but after lodging a formal complaint, things will go back to normal after a few days. It will not let it get out of hand as there is the bigger picture of it being a US ally.

India's a founding member of the Non Aligned Movement, and doesn't ally itself to any country or blocks.

 

[Blackstone]

****

So this lady initiated a diplomatic crisis between the two biggest democracies in the world, to save $5/hour pay for her domestic help? WTF???

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

India's a founding member of the Non Aligned Movement, and doesn't ally itself to any country or blocks.

The Non-Aligned movement was started by the Soviet union back in the days of the Cold war to act as a kind of wedge against some polices. after the fall of the wall it's leading state became the Islamic state of Iran.

 

[kwaigonegin]

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I think the removal of concrete barriers protecting the US embassy is a very childish not to mention assinine move in respond to this incident.
God forbid but what if say some terrorist crams his car with HE/fertilizer bomb etc and makes a one way ride into the building? the political ramifications just got exponentially huge and the relationship between India and the US will no doubt take a giant nosedive.

This is why you should never do things based on emotions and kneejerk which I feel this is.

 

[mr.bean]

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I think the removal of concrete barriers protecting the US embassy is a very childish not to mention assinine move in respond to this incident.
God forbid but what if say some terrorist crams his car with HE/fertilizer bomb etc and makes a one way ride into the building? the political ramifications just got exponentially huge and the relationship between India and the US will no doubt take a giant nosedive.

This is why you should never do things based on emotions and kneejerk which I feel this is.

I agree totally. being in india, a terrorist attack on an American embassy is a high probability. if it's an embassy/consulate general in say Hong Kong it would be nil. removing all that protection barricade is dangerously reckless. if india wanted to respond to that American blunder they could have just did a simple tit for tat, find an unlucky American diplomat based in India, arrest him bring him in and accord him/her the same treatment that indian diplomat had to endure. then release him and say ''oops we didn't know he had diplomatic immunity''. and that should be the end of it.

 

[shen]

This whole crisis may be a scheme between the US State Department and the Indian government. First, the female diplomat is a Dalit, a fact mentioned in the Indian press by a Congress politician. Many in the US political establishment really don't like Mr. Modi. He was and still is barred from entering the US for his alleged role in the Gujarat massacre. So on the eve of Indian election, in which Mr. Modi is very likely to win. The Congress Party government has been handed an opportunity where it can act as the defender of Indian sovereignty and dignity, and defend the dignity of Dalit woman no less.
And it is not a coincidence that a very photogenic woman, middle class and Dalit, is at the center of this. Once she is deported and return to India, I expect she'll immediate become a Congress candidate on their list.