Wikileaks' Indian Cablegate informs us Americans like to laugh

U.S. Chargè d'Affaires, Steven White sounds like my kind of diplomat.  He may guest blog here anytime.

The Hindu reports:


According to the cable, concerned by the delays, a worried David Mulford, U.S. Ambassador to New Delhi, had first met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and cautioned him that he would go on a hunger strike until the Indian government submitted the IAEA safeguards agreement. He also threatened to go on a march to the Department of Atomic Energy headquarters in Mumbai “in the days immediately before the next committee meeting.” Mr. Mulford “asserted that he would wear a dhoti (white robe) and chappals (sandals) and carry a staff” during the march. However, the wise Foreign Secretary counselled the Ambassador against the march as it would expose him to “potholes” on the roads and “wild monkeys” on the way.

(...)

If anyone was wondering after reading this cable whether the U.S. diplomats and the Indian officials had lost their bearings, and whether tough negotiations had taken their toll and frayed their nerves, Mr. White at the end of the cable assured everyone that nothing of that kind had happened.

The Chargè d'Affaires, it turned out, was amusing himself and having a good laugh. The mail was cabled on April 1 to various U.S. Missions, with Mr. White signing off wishing everyone “Happy April Fool's Day from Incredible India!”

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Does Narendra Modi know what the letters NGO stand for?

SEWA logo

This one is irksome and unsurprising.

The latest Indian cablegate news is that the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat tried to encroach upon SEWA, the Ahemadabad headquartered globally reputed award winning multi-faceted women's non government organisation, in order to "disseminate communal ideologies" to their six hundred thousand members all across the state.  When the NGO resisted, its grants were held up over "financial irregularities", delaying payment for over five months to 12,000 poor members.

In a September 2005 cable, U.S. Consul General Micheal S. Owen recalls his meeting with SEWA general secretary Reemaben Nanawati.  Nanawati explains that SEWA strongly resisted pressure from the state government because communal harmony is crucial for the work of the trade union and self help group and  characterizes the state government's reaction as "vindictive".

Sigh.  Do you think, in our lifetime, we shall see the day Indian state governments stop treating the poor as their personal territory and start celebrating instead of interfering with the work of large successful NGOs?  I don't.  Why?  Two words: Vote bank.  Do I really need to spell it out to you?  No?  Good.

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Wikileaks, Cablegate and the era of Loki

Is anyone else wondering just how much fun N. Ram and his untitled Cablegate - Indian edition project team at The Hindu are having right about now?

Sure, they promised us "unprecedented insights into India's foreign policy and domestic affairs" captured by U.S. diplomats viewing events through the prism of American self-interest.  But they had to know what they were really doing was ushering in the era of Loki, Norse god of mischief, admired and distrusted by the rest of the gods for his "impulsive intelligence".

h/t Wikipedia

Loki was a shape-shifting trickster offspring of giants who grew up to be counted as one of the twelve Aesir gods.  He was considered brave and helpful, deceptive and scheming, cunning and malicious, charming and good looking - a marvelously complex and famous character in Norse mythology.

It's very early days yet and five thousand cables still to go on Cablegate - Indian edition but if this past fortnight portends things to come, holy democracy Batman!  Post March 15, I feel like I'm watching endless rounds of political ping pong on paper, although I do recognize every day in politics pre-March 15 was also always a potential ping pong day.  Twitter, that thoroughly useless barometer of public opinion in this context, boasted #defeatcongress as one of the top trending sentiments in India today.  I don't see why #ican'ttrustthebjp won't start doing the rounds tomorrow.  The Hindu feeds both sides just enough to keep the show on the road and they're probably not unhappy about help from very predictable quarters.

After all, Loki is a legendary contradiction - sometimes his antics are helpful to the gods, sometimes he creates more problems than he can solve.  Either way, this should be a very engaging era for all of us mere mortals....as long as we can keep Loki from crashing dinner parties on Friday the 13th.

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Your essential legislative rant toolkit

Lets say you're a member of the highest law making body in your country. Lets say the national government's under deluge from corruption scandals up the wazoo. Lets say you're mad about that. Lets say you want to scream and shout. Lets say you did. Lets say kids watched you. Lets say the country wasted Rs. 7.8 crore per day for lost sessions. Lets say you made good threats and got your way.

Lets say it's deja vu all over again.

Now what do you suppose you could learn from a classic Anthony Weiner rant?

h/t Associated Press


Cheat Sheet
["The gentleman is recognized."] "...I will not yield to the gentleman and the gentleman will observe regular order...The gentleman will observe regular order...The gentleman will observe regular order and sit down. The gentleman will sit. The gentleman is correct in seating."

Oh, and it helps if you're not entangled in the scandal you're ranting about, yourself.

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Did you know Wikileaks...

h/t Wikimedia
... 1. founder Julian Assange is Australian­­­­­­­­. He cannot be tried for treason in the United States or anywhere else. Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard has faced heat for her criticism of Wikileaks and was recently ambushed on live TV with a disturbing accusation from Julian Assange via video link.

h/t Tog's Place
... 2. founder Julian Assange has not been formally charged by Swedish authorities; he is wanted for questioning regarding allegations ­of a sexual nature. Assange is under house arrest in the UK where he turned himself into authoritie­­­­­­­­s and spent 10 days in jail. UK courts ordered his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Celebrity activists such as Michael Moore, Larry Flynt, Bianca Jagger and others are contributi­­­­­­­­ng to his legal defense fund. He has also signed a book deal to raise money after Wikileaks' financial transaction service providers revoked service, which in turn brought on a counter attack, Operation Payback from a decentralized group of anonymous hacktivists. 

h/t Fastcompany.
... 3. founder Julian Assange has been called a "high tech terrorist"­­­­­­­­ by both Democrat U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden and Republican U.S. Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell. Republican leader Mike Huckabee called for his "execution­­­­­­­­". Tea Party darling, Sarah Palin called for the federal government to "hunt him down like Al-Qaeda".

h/t Flicker.
... 4. founder Julian Assange does not steal any documents. Documents are anonymously ­­­­­submitted to Wikileaks. Regarding Cablegate, Wikileaks hands over the cables to reputable media outlets in several countries who redact sensitive informatio­­­­­­­­­n and print stories providing context to the revelations. Then Wikileaks prints the raw cables on www.wikileaks.ch (since their previous host server took down www.wikileaks.org). Starting with five media partners - New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais -  the list has now expanded to 20, including India's Chennai based newspaper, The Hindu.

h/t Impractical Proposals.
... 5. has not been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury, which declined to impose sanctions that would have labeled Wikileaks the equivalent of a terrorist organization and effectively ­destroyed their ability to operate.

h/t Clue Cult

.... 6. revelations have not caused any wrongful deaths by the US authorities' own admissions. According to U.S. Defence Secretary, Robert Gates' letter to the U.S. Congress, no top military secrets have been leaked.

h/t Irish Times.

... 7. founder Julian Assange said in an interview with MSNBC's Cenk Uygur, he had never heard of Pfc. Bradley Manning until the U.S. media asked about Manning's arrest. Subsequently, U.S. military investigations has found no evidence linking the two men. 

h/t Care2.
... 8. and Pfc. Bradley Manning have the full support of famed Pentagon Papers whistle-blower, Daniel Elsberg. He calls them "heroes" and regularly gets arrested for protesting, including once outside the White House.

h/t Salon.

... 9. once enjoyed the support of mainstream American media and cyber-liberty groups, who were outraged in 2008, just two short years before Cablegate, when a U.S. court ordered its website shut in violation of the first amendment.

h/t News From Underground.
... 10. was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2011 by a Norwegian lawmaker?

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