Hindu Temple Ransacked In Seattle, Washington; Religious Intolerance On the Boil In the US?

A Hindu temple was ransacked by some miscreants in Seattle, Washington. The incident has rung alarm bells in the US and has drawn strict remarks from India, where leaders have not misses out on reminding President Obama of what he said about religious freedom during his India trip.

The sign of Swastik and words 'Get Out' were spray painted on a wall of the temple. The temple is said be to be the biggest in the whole of North East America.  

"One Indian Brutally attacked by US Police, One Indian Shot dead, One Temple Vandalized .Martin Luther King would really be saddened by this!" twitted Sambit Patra of BJP, referencing to Obama's statement in which he had said that Gandhi would have been saddened to see the religious intolerance in India. 

One Indian Brutally attacked by US Police, One Indian Shot dead,One Temple Vandalized ..Martin Luther King would really be saddened by this!
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) February 17, 2015

The Seattle temple has been vandalized on the eve of Mahashivratri celebrations. "This kind of thing should not happen in the US. Who are you telling to get out? This is a nation of immigrants," chairman of the board of trustees of the temple, Nitya Niranjan said to the media.

A man of Indian origin was shot dead in a liquor store on 15 February in New Jersey. Last week a Gujrati old man was severely beaten up by the cops; he is in the hospital, partially paralyzed. And now this incident, the amount of religious intolerance seems to be on a boil in the US.

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Jordan Airstrikes Key IS Locations, Claims To Have Destroyed 20% of IS Capabilities

Jordan claims to have carried out around 56 airstrikes in the previous three days on IS' key stratgic locations and hideouts.

Jordanian Air Force chief General Mansour al-Jbour has said that the nation has achieved what it aspired for. Jordan has intensified the air strikes after the IS released a video showing a Jordanian pilot being burnt alive.

Jordan has carried out around 20% of all the military offensives by the US-led coalition against the IS in Syria thus far.  General Jbour said, "We are determined to wipe them from the face of the Earth."

The IS announced its arrival by snatching away large areas of lands from Syria and Iraq, prompting an intense airstrike be the allied forces. 

The main location of the Jordanian airstrikes is reported to be Raqqua, IS' stronghold in syria.  Gen Jbour has claimed the Jordanian strikes has destroyed around 20% of the strength of IS.

On the other hand, the IS is claiming that one of the Jordanian airstrikes has killed a US aid worker Kayla Mueller; the claim needs to be corroborated though. 

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Jordan Hangs Two al-Qaeda Prisoners, Within hours of The Killing Of The Jordanian Pilot

Jordan has executed two al-Qaeda prisoners before dawn today; just a few hours after the Islamic State militants released a video that purposefully showed the captured Jordanian pilot being burnt alive in a cage. A government spokesman has confirmed the killing of the pilot.

After the news of pilot's death was made public, Jordan vowed a quick and lethal response. 

Government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani confirmed the execution of the two prisoners. They are identified as Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouly. Al-Rishawi was sentenced to death for corroborated involvement in the 2005 triple-hotel bombing in Amman; al-Karbouly was given the capital punishment in 2008 for his involvement in terror attacks on Jordanians in Iraq.

Earlier, Jordan offered to free al-Rishawi -a failed suicide bomber- for the pilot's safe return, but declined any swap after saying that there is no concrete evidence of the pilot's being alive.   

The brutal murder of the Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, 26, enraged the Jordanian people and drew condemnation from all quarters including the US President Barack Obama.

Al-Kaseasbeh was captured by the militants in December when his F-16 fighter jet crashed near Raqqa, Syria, the capital of the Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate.

Analysts are seeing the capture and subsequent killing as a move of IS to put pressure on Jordan to do away with its alliance with the US. This coalition is a key to the airstrikes targeted at the strategic locations of IS in Syria and Iraq.

This brutal killing of the pilot might backfire on the IS as there is a possibility of Sunni Muslims, enraged at the gory killing of another Sunni Muslim, getting organized to fight the terrorists.

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China's President Xi Jinping Is Expected To Be the Chief Guest Of Pakistan's Annual Military Parade

The President of China Xi Jinping is expected to be the chief guest at the annual military parade, an event that Pakistan is going to hold after a long gap of seven years. The event will be carried out on the national day of the country on 23 March.

The venue for the event has not been finalized yet but it is expected to be held somewhere near Islamabad.  

The list of attendees will comprise of the heads of the three branches of the armed forces and several high-profile government officials. 

The announcement about Pakistan's resuming the parade that was last held in 2008 when General Musharraf was the President, came a few days after the US President Obama's visit to India; Obama was the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade on 26 January.   

President Obama's visit was seen as a emergence of a new alliance in the Asia-Pacific region, a move to counter China's spreading influence in the region. China was irked. India's external affairs minister Shushma Swaraj's China visit this week is deemed to be move to address the grievance of the neighboring country. The news of PM Modi's visit to China is expected to better the mutual relations of two big powers of the region.   

Many analysts in Pakistan are not seeing President Xi Jinping's breaching the protocol to meet Shushma Swaraj on Monday in positive light. However, President Xi has expressed his faith in Indo-China relationship. "I have full confidence in India-China relations and I believe that new progress will be achieved in growing this bilateral relationship in this New Year." 

India's relationship, after President Xi's visit in September last year, with China seems to be on the right track.

Pakistan considers China its all-weather friend. China provides Pakistan with economics, military, political and diplomatic, and technological help; a diplomatic move to keep India in check.

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Obama, Dalai Lama To Meet At The National Prayer Breakfast; Chinese Uneasiness Expected

Obama, Dalai Lama To Meet At The National Prayer Breakfast

US President Barack Obama will take part in a public event on 5 February; the Dalai Lama is also expected to be there. Observers are seeing this as a move that will irk China. Obama will speak about the importance of religious tolerance at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Lama, the symbol of Tibet's struggle for independence, has also been invited for the event.

There is no official word on whether the two Nobel Laureates will meet there or not, but the National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan has said that the two leaders have previously met on three occasions, their last meeting happened in February last year.  

"The President is a strong supporter of the Dalai Lama's teachings and preserving Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic traditions," he said.  "As he has done in the past, the President will see many religious leaders at the event, but we don't have any specific meeting with the Dalai Lama to announce."

Dalai Lama, 79, fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, where he denounced the Chinese rule and established the nongovernmental Central Tibetan Administration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1989 for his unwavering advocacy for the autonomy in the region.

Tibet shares borders with Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar; China deems it a region of high strategic importance.

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S Jaishankar Has Been Appointed As New Foreign Secretary Of India

S Jaishankar, India's ambassador to the US, has been appointed the foreign secretary of India. The opposition parties are questioning the timing of his appointment as he replaces Sujatha Singh, who had six more months to complete her tenure.       

"I am really honored to have been given this big responsibility. My priorities are the same as the government's priorities," said the newly appointed foreign secretary.

Dr Jaishankar’s appointment was announced after a meeting of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by the PM himself, was held last evening. 

An official statement said that the services of Ms Singh have been curtailed with immediate effect; she took office in August 2013. Sujatha was only the third foreign secretary in Indian history.  The news of the appointment of Jaishankar came just a day after the Obama visit was concluded.  The three-day visit of the US President to India saw the nuclear deal go through, that was stuck for some time now. 

Before becoming the US ambassador, Jaishankar was India's longest serving ambassador to China.

Media sources say that the foreign minister Sushma Swaraj wanted Sujatha to complete her tenure but PM Modi was keen to get the man on board as soon as possible.       

Questions are being raised by the opposition. "If the PM was unhappy with the foreign secretary, why didn't he ask her to go nine months ago. The timing is questionable. Why wait for the presidential visit to end? Did something happen during the visit? The PM needs to explain," said senior Congress leader Manish Tiwari. 

Jaishankar, 60, is a 1977 batch officer of the IFS. He is said to be the choice of former PM Manmohan Singh to replace Ranjan Mathai as Foreign Secretary in 2013. That, somehow, could not materialize, and he appointed Sujatha Singh on the basis of seniority.     

S Jaishankar happens to be the son of K Subrahmanyam, one of India's leading strategic analysts who played a major role in the nuclear deal with the US in 2008.

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India Challenges WTO Panel's Ruling In The US Poultry Import Case

India has challenged the ruling of a WTO panel that holds India's ban on US poultry product imports as something inconsistent with the global norms.  India has filed an appeal in the Dispute Settlement Board of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  

"WTO Secretariat received ... a notice by India announcing its decision to appeal certain issues of law and legal interpretation in the panel report in the case ....," a WTO statement said.

A government source has also confirmed that India has gone to WTO's appellate authority against the ruling that is not in the country’s favor.

The Indian import of various agricultural products was banned in 2007 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Avian Influenza. Taking a retaliatory action, the US dragged India to the WTO against the ban on US poultry products. The WTO panel ruling came on 14 October 2014 that was in favor of the US, and called the Indian move "arbitrarily and unjustifiably discriminate between Members where identical or similar conditions prevail and are applied in a manner which constitutes a disguised restriction on international trade".

The US sees India growing as one of its principal markets for the poultry products; US is the largest chicken exporter in the world. India's chicken consumption in 2014 was 3.72 million tons, and is expected to grow at a rapid speed in the times to come.    

The US has been saying that India's Avian Influenza fears are completely based on false premises, neither has it fulfilled a relevant international standard nor has a proper scientific risk assessment.

India, on the other hand, says that the WTO panel made many legal errors in its interpretation and application of numerous articles of the SPS agreement.         

The WTO has a provision for parties in a dispute to appeal against the ruling of the panel.

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US Secret Service Personnel Arrive In India Ahead Of President Obama's Visit

Ahead of Barak Obama's arrival in India, 25 of the best US Secret Service agents have come to Delhi to supervise his safe stay in the country. The agents are presently staying in the The Maurya Sheraton Hotel. They have held a meeting with officials of Indian security agencies and Delhi police to discuss the security issues; the meeting was conducted in the basement of the hotel and lasted for an hour and half.    

“Ahead of the US President’s scheduled visit, an “advance security liaisoning meeting” was held in the basement of the hotel where the senior officials of intelligence agencies and officials from Security Wing of Delhi Police, Additional Commissioner of Police SBS Tyagi and Additional DCP Amit Roy were present,” a source said.

The Delhi Police officials presented their plan of action to their US counterparts and asked them to reciprocate. The agents of the US secret service are satisfied with the security road map of the Delhi Police. 

But the Indian officials could not get much success in convincing the US security folks to let the President travel in the Indian President's limousine that will take him to Rajpath. The matter is supposed to be negotiated again.  

“Interestingly, US secret agents told the Indian intelligence agencies that the US President will be accompanied by his chefs to ensure that his food is not spiked,” a police source informed the media.

It should be noted that when President Obama went to Myanmar last year in November to attend the East Asia Summit, six aircraft of equipment, vehicles, oil tankers, helicopters,  and 1600 US personnel were send to oversee the visit. Even the fuel used by the security cavalcade of President was brought from the US in Navy ship.  

Around 10000 paramilitary personnel will join the Delhi Police whose strength is around 80000 to make the Rajpath parade a full-proof exercise.

Barak Obama will be landing on Indian soil on 25 January.  

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Jeb Bush To Explore His Chances For 2016 Presidential Run

Ex-governor of Florida and brother of  former President George W Bush, Jeb Bush has expressed his desire to run for the top post in 2016.

"[Will] actively explore the possibility of running for President," he updated his Facebook status on Tuesday.  He will form a political action committee to "facilitate conversations with citizens across America."

Mr Bush is considered to have pro-immigration views that are going to be a major issue in the 2016 campaign. His open views on immigration as well as on education have enraged some of the fellow conservative Republicans.

His name is not the only one to be doing the rounds for the top spot. Former first lady and current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is currently the frontrunner for a Democratic ticket.

Mr Bush would be the fourth member of the Bush family to seek the President's office; his brother George W Bush and his father George Bush Sr served a combined 12 years in the White House, and his also ran for the post.  

It needs to be noted that he is going to face stiff competition from Republican Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. And Governor Chris Christie is also not lagging far behind.

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US Senate Votes Vivek Murthy The Next Surgeon General Of United States

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US Senate Votes Vivek Murthy The Next Surgeon General Of United States

Dr Vivek Murthy has been appointed the Surgeon General of the US. The Senate has voted 51-43 in favor of the doctor. He becomes the first person of Indian origin to achieve the post and the youngest in American history.

His appointment to this top job has announced a major setback for the powerful gun lobby spearheaded by the National Rifles Association, which had lobbied hard with senators to block his way to the top spot for the last several months.

Welcoming his appointment as "America's Doctor", President Obama has said that he will build on the progress the country has made on defeating Ebola.

Dr Murthy, 37, was born into a family in Karnataka. His appointment has made some of the senators wonder whether he is too young to be appointed.    

He studied biochemical sciences from Harvard and went on to get a degree in medicine and business from Yale University. Murthy has been working at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital as a physician.

All throught his life, he has been an advocate of gun control. His opinions in this regard has gotten him in trouble with the Republicans who tried their best to not to let his nominations pass through.    

When he tweeted, "Tired of politicians playing politics w/ guns, putting lives at risk b/c they're scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue." The NRA wrote to all the senators to try their utmost to block his nomination as this would spell disaster for America's gun owners. 

On being asked by one of the Republican senators about whether he will use his office to push his own opinion on gun control, he replied that his priority would be obesity prevention.  Many of the senators would not buy this.

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