India reels over Obama's silence By M K Bhadrakumar
By the time you read this , chances are Obama and Singh would have exchanged pleasantries ~t
Diplomatic predicaments can at times be almost laughable. Indian officials were scurrying around like headless chickens because 120 anxious hours had passed and United States president-elect Barack Obama had not yet put a phone call through to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - as he has done to at least nine other heads of state.
The Indians could learn a thing or two from the Kremlin. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev found himself exactly in Manmohan's predicament when by November 8 his Kremlin telephone still had not rung. But 43-year-old Medvedev did a smart thing. He put a call through to Chicago to the 47-year old president-elect. The Kremlin thereupon went ahead and publicized the conversation in an upbeat account. A budding controversy was nipped before it could blossom.
Kashmir issue reviving
Young people move real fast. The embarrassment is acute in Delhi since 76-year-old Manmohan committed an incredible gaffe in the runup to the US elections in late September by telling the 65-year-old US President George W Bush that Indians "loved" him - ignoring how fast the American people's equation with their lameduck leader was deteriorating.
Delhi finds it appalling that Obama phoned Pakistani leader Asif Zardari on Saturday and the two leaders reportedly discussed the Kashmir issue. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee promptly reacted, invoking the Simla Accord of 1972 as the cornerstone of India-Pakistan relations, which rules out third-party mediation over the disputed territory of Kashmir....
Diplomatic predicaments can at times be almost laughable. Indian officials were scurrying around like headless chickens because 120 anxious hours had passed and United States president-elect Barack Obama had not yet put a phone call through to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - as he has done to at least nine other heads of state.
The Indians could learn a thing or two from the Kremlin. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev found himself exactly in Manmohan's predicament when by November 8 his Kremlin telephone still had not rung. But 43-year-old Medvedev did a smart thing. He put a call through to Chicago to the 47-year old president-elect. The Kremlin thereupon went ahead and publicized the conversation in an upbeat account. A budding controversy was nipped before it could blossom.
Kashmir issue reviving
Young people move real fast. The embarrassment is acute in Delhi since 76-year-old Manmohan committed an incredible gaffe in the runup to the US elections in late September by telling the 65-year-old US President George W Bush that Indians "loved" him - ignoring how fast the American people's equation with their lameduck leader was deteriorating.
Delhi finds it appalling that Obama phoned Pakistani leader Asif Zardari on Saturday and the two leaders reportedly discussed the Kashmir issue. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee promptly reacted, invoking the Simla Accord of 1972 as the cornerstone of India-Pakistan relations, which rules out third-party mediation over the disputed territory of Kashmir....
posted by temporal at 11/12/2008
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