Trump lies????

India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says that Trump lied about an imminent trade deal with India and also lied about brokering a peace deal between India and Pakistan: “PM Modi clearly told President Trump that during this entire episode, there was never any discussion at any level about an India-US trade deal or US mediation between India and Pakistan. The discussion to halt military action occurred directly between India and Pakistan through existing channels between both armies and was made at Pakistan's request.”

  Meidas Touch

"A shame"

 

Oooh.  Strong words.

War between two nuclear powers could end sooner than you'd like.

Trump called India’s confirmed military operation against Pakistan “a shame” and that he just learned of the news ahead of his Oval Office event Tuesday evening.

  CNN

A shame.

Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front (TRF), claimed responsibility for the attack on social media but it has reportedly since walked back that claim, according to multiple local media reports. Pakistan has denied involvement. India has not publicly blamed any group for the attack but has justified its retaliatory moves as a response to Pakistan’s alleged “support for cross-border terrorism.”

Mimicry of American justifications for military operations. Might as well just set the world on fire now.

Jesus Christ - another one

“He does not reveal his cards, just keeps making me do things. And I cannot dial him directly to ask what’s next,” he said.

  Guardian

Maybe convert to Christianity. They make the claim that they're in direct conversation with the almighty.

Modi's followers are no different than any cult personality's (looking at you, Trump).

Modi has built up a well-established cult of personality within his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with many supporters unable to name other cabinet members or their local BJP candidate.

Yep.  Or likely have any clue about history or science.

The BJP has also actively promoted Hinduism, the majority faith, in every aspect of public life. At the inauguration of the temple in Ayodhya in January, it was Modi, rather than Hindu priests, who played the leading role in the rituals.

[...]

“The wily weaving of religion with politics for a country where faith is an inextricable part of everyday life is the BJP’s USP [unique selling point]. Mr Modi’s claim is the logical culmination of the BJP’s dominant theme,” the Indian newspaper The Telegraph wrote in an editorial.

Earlier this month, in a television interview in Varanasi, his constituency, Modi made another allusion to divinity. “When my mother was alive, I used to believe that I was born biologically. After she passed away, upon reflecting on all my experiences, I was convinced that God had sent me,” he said.

Sorry. Trump has that spot already taken.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Joe alerts Modi

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

background

Meanwhile, because there's not enough upheaval..

After a long period of relative quiet along the Sino-Indian border, militarized incidents have come to the fore again.

[...]

On May 5, Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed near the Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh. It is believed that the skirmish took place because the PLA had objected to Indian military patrols in the area. Most of these clashes apparently stem from differing assessments of the location of the so-called Line of Actual Control—the de facto international border. And then on May 9, at an altitude of 15,000 feet, in the Naku La region near Tibet, soldiers from both sides came to blows and threw stones at each other mostly in efforts to induce the Indian troops to move back from the areas they were patrolling. No arms were used but several dozen soldiers were injured, including a senior Indian officer who was required to be airlifted to a hospital.

  Foreign Policy

Today:

Attempt to weaponize covid-19 thwarted

Planet of the Apes sequel:

Whew.  The blood samples were recovered undamaged. 

So they SAY.

A silver lining

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

World shutting down

Spain now has more deaths from covid-19 than China (but half of Italy's toll - 6,820), Prince Charles has tested positive, New Zealand and India announced they're now on lockdown, Japan has nixed the Olympics, and Trump wants to lift restrictions by Easter.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

He likes walls

Indian authorities are reportedly constructing a half-kilometer-long wall in the state of Gujarat to hide low-income housing and slums from visiting U.S. dignitaries ahead of President Trump's visit.

  The Hill

The article doesn't say how much the wall will cost. Money that could be used to help de-slum the area.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the 4-foot-high wall was originally planned to be higher before public outrage resulted in officials changing the design.

Hahaha. As long as Trump doesn't get out of the vehicle, I guess. And chances are good that he wouldn't even think of doing that.

Ahmedabad's mayor, Bijal Patel, told the AP that the project was part of a "beautification" initiative and disputed allegations that the purpose was to hide the slums.

“Apart from security reasons, the wall is also part of a beautification and cleanliness drive,” he said.

Some families living in the area told the newswire that they were evicted from their homes to facilitate the wall's construction.

“We have been living here for the last 20 years and now we are suddenly being told to vacate because some important leader is visiting this city for a day,” resident Sanjay Patani told the AP. “This is injustice.”

I hope Sanjay gave a false name.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  And what a beautiful wall it is:

Review of "Stable Genius"

The essence of irony, Henry Fowler wrote in “A Dictionary of Modern English Usage,” is that it “postulates a double audience” — one that’s in on the joke, and another that isn’t. The title of Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig’s new book, “A Very Stable Genius,” is thus savvy marketing. It’s possible to imagine both Donald J. Trump’s detractors and his admirers eagerly grasping a copy.

The admirers will not make it past the table of contents. [...] [Rucker and Leonnig are] meticulous journalists, and this taut and terrifying book is among the most closely observed accounts of Donald J. Trump’s shambolic tenure in office to date.

[...]

It reads like a horror story, an almost comic immorality tale.

[...]

Rucker is The Washington Post’s White House bureau chief; Leonnig is a national investigative reporter for the newspaper. Both have won Pulitzer Prizes.

[...]

The result is a chronological account of the past three years in Washington, based on interviews with more than 200 sources.

[...]

They report that in the spring of 2017, Trump implored Rex Tillerson, then secretary of state, to help him jettison the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. “It’s just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas,” Trump whines to a group of aides. Nearly every line from Trump, in “A Very Stable Genius,” is this venal.

[...]

While visiting Pearl Harbor, according to John F. Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, Trump seemed to have no idea what had actually happened there. Throughout he is misinformed and confused while at the same time utterly certain of himself.

  NYT

That's him in a nutshell.

Rucker and Leonnig are adept at scene-setting, at subtly thickening the historical record. More than a few of these scenes feature Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, known to nearly all in the White House as “the kids.” They’re viewed as in over their heads and possessed of unfailingly defective judgment.

There’s a brutal scene early on, during the initial staffing of Trump’s White House, concerning Michael Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser. [...] Trump’s team made it clear he could have any job he wanted in the administration.

The authors write: “‘Oh, General Flynn, how loyal you’ve been to my father,’ Ivanka said in her distinctive breathy voice, adding something to the effect of ‘What do you want to do?’”

[...]

Trump considered awarding himself the Medal of Freedom. He informed the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, wrongly: “It’s not like you’ve got China on your border.”

Christ.

And Modi has had Trump on a leash ever since. Once they know how ignorant and gullible he is, they have him - as MBS said of Jared - in their pocket.

There are grainy details of a physical altercation between Kelly and Corey Lewandowski. There is the belittling, by nearly everyone, of the acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney (“He’ll take whatever I offer him”; “Mick just wants to be liked.”). There is commentary about Robert Mueller’s failure to press the president for a face-to-face interview during his investigation. There are descriptions of Mike Pence as “a wax museum guy,” able to blithely absorb any amount of insanity without comment.

Because Mike's just biding his time hoping for that golden opportunity of slipping into the president's chair.

Maybe they'll show him the China border while he's there.

Jesus Christ, impeach already

Unfit and incurious.

UPDATE:



#TheWorldAccordingToTrump

He lives a life inside his mind

I've worn Kashmir.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

But what do they think of Ivanka in India?

From 2017...

An unnamed Indian diplomat told Bobby Ghosh, the editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times: "We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes. It's in our national interest to flatter them.”

  UK Independent

I'm guessing that's the way a lot of countries view it.

Soon we'll just be trading with ourselves

And hat have we got to trade?  Drugs and guns.  That'll be swell.

President Trump said Monday that he plans to end preferential trade treatment for India, which currently allows $5.6 billion worth of that country's exports to enter the U.S. duty-free.

"I am taking this step because, after intensive engagement between the United States and the government of India, I have determined that India has not assured the United States that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India," Trump wrote in a letter to Congress, according to multiple media reports.

[...]

The move comes after Trump, during a speech Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), criticized India for being "a very high-tariff nation."

[...]

“When we send a motorcycle to India, it’s a hundred percent tariff. They charge 100 percent when India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliantly charge them nothing," he said, according to HuffPost.

“So, I want a reciprocal tax or at least, I want to charge a tax. It’s called the mirror tax, but it’s reciprocal,” Trump added.

  The Hill

He just found out what reciprocal means.

Also, what the Huffington Post doesn't mention:




But that's not good enough for him.  He has to lie anyway.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Pod Save the World

Tommy and Ben explain why Trump's second North Korea summit was a total disaster. Then they discuss escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Justin Trudeau's troubles in Canada, a can't-miss rant about Jared Kushner and Netanyahu's indictment.

Click here to listen

India-Pakistan conflict still ramping up

You think anyone has told Trump yet?

It would be nice if we had ambassadors in either country.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Meanwhile Pakistan and India are ramping up "hostilities"

As many as 25 top commanders have been killed in the airstrike carried out by India on Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval told the members of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), on Tuesday.

The airstrike was conducted 12 days after the terroist group killed 40 Indian soldiers in a suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

[...]

In response, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said Pakistan reserved the right to react.

  India Today

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised to retaliate against India after it conducted airstrikes on an alleged terrorist training camp across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between India and Pakistan in the disputed Kashmir region, in a significant escalation of hostilities between the two nuclear armed powers.

[...]

The apparent strike took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning

[...]

Harsh V. Pant, a professor in international relations at King's College London, told CNN that for the past few decades the Indian government had chosen not to retaliate after terror attacks in Kashmir.

But India is now at a point where it is choosing to escalate the situation, he said.

[...]

Tuesday's movement of Indian Air Force planes across the de facto border between the two countries is the first such instance since the India-Pakistan war in 1971, Pant said.

[...]

A spokesman for the Pakistan Armed Forces tweeted that Indian military aircraft crossed into Pakistan airspace, but were driven back.

Pakistan Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor alleged that Indian jets crossed the LoC and were pushed back by Pakistan Air Force jets that were "scrambled" to the scene.

[...]

In a statement released Tuesday, India said "a very large number" of militants were "eliminated" in the operation. It said the alleged camp was a military training facility headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar -- the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Pakistan denied that numerous militants had been killed, calling it "a self serving, reckless and fictitious claim" by the Indian government, according to the statement from Khan's office.

[...]

Following the attack, India promised retaliation, including commercial and diplomatic steps to "isolate" Pakistan internationally.

"There has been diplomatic outreach [by India] to various countries," Pant told CNN. He said India's military action follows public anger over the attack.

Pakistan has vehemently denied having a role in the incident.

China called on both countries to "exercise restraint" after news of the airstrikes broke.

  CNN

The European Union (EU) has called for 'maximum restraint' from India, Pakistan after the airstrike, reported AFP.

France has also called for restraint but also supported India's "legitimacy to ensure security" and asked Pakistan "to put an end to the operations of terrorist groups established on its territory".

The Australian government also urged Pakistan to take "urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory.

[...]

China, too, asked India to "exercise restraint" at this crucial hour.

[...]

Foreign diplomats from USA, UK, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey and six Asean nations have been briefed by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on the airstrike in Balakot.

  India Today

So far, silence from the U.S.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Another excellent Jeremy Scahill podcast

"Jeremy Scahill talks about how economic sanctions are a mass-killing weapon intentionally aimed at the most vulnerable. Indian historian and journalist Vijay Prashad discusses the state of imperialism in the world, the battle for Venezuela, India’s upcoming election, and the history of U.S. dirty operations across the globe. As right-wing media and politicians have gone berserk over the FBI raid on the home of Trump crony Roger Stone, whistleblower Reality Winner remains behind bars. The Intercept’s Peter Maass discusses the hypocrisy surrounding the two cases."

Listen

No screws

From a post yesterday using Daniel Dale tweets:

Trump mocked Modi, I think, for reminding Trump that India built "a library" in Afghanistan: "We're supposed to say thank you for the library. I don't know who's using it, in Afghanistan..."

Today:

NEW DELHI: India has asserted that its projects worth $3 bn in Afghanistan speaks for itself and has regretted the ignorance of American officials after President Donald Trump mocked PM Narendra Modi over the utility of Delhi sponsored "library" in the landlocked country.

[...]

"India firmly believes in the critical role that developmental assistance can play in transforming human lives. India does not send its armed forces abroad except under the specific mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Operations," sources told ET.

[...]

While stating that he got along with Modi, Trump said Modi was “constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan”.

“You know what that is? That’s like five hours of what we spend,” Trump said. “And we’re supposed to say, ‘Oh, thank you for the library.’ I don’t know who’s using it in Afghanistan,” Trump said.

It was unclear which project Trump was referring to, but India has committed $3 billion in assistance to Afghanistan since 2001. An Afghan civil society member Parwiz Kawa said that Trump may have confused the Parliament building with the library.

[...]

"India has helped to build Parliament, if that is what he is referring to or Salma Dam, transmission lines, roads and over 400 high-impact community development projects. Delhi is probably third or fourth largest single country donor," sources said, adding it appears that the US President’s statement is a matter of poor briefing by officials around him.

  Times of India

Ha. Very diplomatic.

The Times also offers a long list of its works in Afghanistan in this article.

America is respected again.

If Only

During the campaign, I said with either candidate winning, they'd only get four years.  Hillary, because people hate her corrupted history, and Trump because he'd do something to get impeached.  But, given the way our modern Congress works, I'd say that he's impeachment proof, given that Republicans control both houses.