Indians Feel Obamas’ India Meetings and 1st State Dinner a Success

Here is an article written by an Indian journalist decribing the chemistry between Obama and Singh as excellent. The US President met with Prime Minister Singh and The Obamas hosted their first 340-guest state dinner on November 24, 2009


South Asia experts have called the recent Obama-Singh meet a success, going by the positive signals given by both sides in all major areas of cooperation, both bilateral and multilateral.

Ashley J Tellis, former senior adviser to the George W Bush Administration and currently a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, "Although this visit was preceded by many anxieties, some entirely justified, I think Prime Minister Singh has reason to conclude that his state visit was successful."

"Success in this instance was not exemplified by dramatic changes in established position, but by Singh's and Obama's ability to have an honest and transparent conversation on a range of difficult issues," he said.

Tellis acknowledged that "the personal chemistry between the two leaders was excellent -- the President repeatedly referred to Prime Minister Singh public as "wise". I read that as a testament of his deep respect for Singh".

He further said, "There is also a better understanding of what Pakistan must do with respect to combating terrorism and bring the Laskhar-e-Tayiba terrorists involved in the Mumbai [ Images ] attacks to justice."

"I do not think we will see a repeat of the problems in the US-China Joint Statement again," he added.

Though he acknowledged that "the US and India [ Images ] will continue to disagree on many things in the areas of climate change, nonproliferation and trade", he said, "There is much that both countries can cooperate on -- and will cooperate on. The numerous initiatives announced during this visit illustrate that fact."

"More importantly," he added, "I think this visit provided both sides with an opportunity to take stock of where they are today and to put in place building blocks for a deeper partnership."

"There are still many constraints on both sides -- the US dependence on Pakistan in regard to Afghanistan, the Obama administration's vision of cooperative security, and the US desire not to acknowledge China as a geopolitical rival. These are all constraints on the US side," he said.

"But they are matched by constraints in India as well," he said. "New Delhi [ Images ] is still relatively inward looking; India is located in a dangerous neighborhood; and the US-Indian economic relationship, though improving, is still not adequate or deep enough."

However, Tellis asserted that "despite these constraints, the bilateral partnership can flourish, if both sides remain sensitive to the critical interests of the other."

Karl F Inderfurth, former assistant secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton Administration and South Asia policy adviser with the Obama campaign, pointed out, "Words are important in diplomacy and the words President Obama spoke sent many signals how he views the relationship with India."

Inderfurth, currently professor of international relations at George Washington University, said, "Two things he said particularly struck me. First that 'India is today a rising and global power'. That is a vote of US confidence in the implications of India's new global status and the role it will be playing in the future.

"Second, as the US and India work to build that future, Obama said, 'India is indispensable'. In other words, for the United States, India is no longer 'a partner of choice' in addressing global issues, but a 'partner of necessity'. So, in sum, both of these statements tell me that, like his predecessors Presidents Clinton and Bush, President Obama has 'got it' -- India will be one of our most strategic partners for the 21st century," Inderfurth said.

He said, "Words delivered by Prime Minister Singh were also of great importance during the visit, and none, in my view, were more important than what he had to say about how critical it is for the United States and the international community 'to sustain its engagement in Afghanistan, to help its emergence as a modern state.'"
"This message from the prime minister was especially timely, given that Obama on Tuesday will be announcing his decision on Afghanistan and the role the US intends to play. I am hopeful that he will heed Singh's wise counsel."

He added, "Prime Minister Singh also used words, very diplomatically, to again call attention to the need 'to reform the United Nations and its Security Council'. That should include, in my view, adding India as a permanent member of the UN Security Council."

However, Inderfurth felt that while the Obama administration has been a strong supporter of India as a key player on international economic issues in the G-20 context, it continues to hold back from endorsing India's candidacy for the Security Council.

"This 'rising and responsible global power', to use Obama's own words, deserves to be at that table too," he said.

"Of course, I was happy to hear that Obama 'happily accepted' the prime minister's invitation to visit India in 2010. He will therefore do something that neither Bush nor Clinton did -- namely visit India during his first term in office," Inderfurth added.

"That was just another positive signal sent during what I believe was a very positive and successful visit."

Teresita Schaffer, head of the South Asia programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and an erstwhile diplomat of more than three decades working on South Asia, said, "Manmohan Singh and Obama really covered the global scene, which was what I think they needed to do."

"And, of course, the foreign policy issue that was uppermost in Singh's mind was Afghanistan. He brought it up in all his speeches," she pointed out.

Schaffer also believes the controversy over the US-China Joint Statement in Beijing which seemingly mooted a monitoring role to China on India-Pakistan relations may have been put to rest because "the formal statements recognised India's leadership role in Asia in a very constructive way".

On the major issue of climate change, she said, "Recent developments have scaled back the ambitions for Copenhagen, and the two leaders seem to have focused chiefly on possibilities for bilateral cooperation."

"This was their first in-depth discussion, and unlike in the past, there seems to be such a much larger engagement between the two societies -- from the business communities to the Indian American communities -- which is driving it and stabilizing the relationship."

"All in all," Schaffer said, "A very useful visit, which should set the tone for a more strategic global engagement in the future."

By Aziz Haniffa in Washington November 30, 2009 12:09 IST

Thanksgiving Day Around the World

Thanksgiving is essentially a harvest related festival. It celebrates communal harmony. Though it is said to have been originated in America, a number of other countries celebrate harvest related festivals. They are observed with different names and in different seasons.

Harvest related festivals, all the over the world are characterized with lot of fun and merrymaking. Each region has its unique customs and traditions to celebrate the occasion.

Canada celebrates thanksgiving on the second Monday in the month of October. India also has a number of harvest related festivals in different regions. Popular regional festivals are Pongal, Baisakhi, Lohri, Onam etc. Though the underlying principle behind each of them is same, every festival is exclusive and different from the other.

Other Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, Korea celebrate the festival on different dates. Each festival has a folklore attached to it. Harmony, peace, feeling gratitude is the underlying theme of the celebration all over.

Thanksgiving Day Celebration in United Kingdom

'Harvest Festival' as is popularly known, is one of the oldest festivals in United Kingdom. It began in churches in the year 1843, when Robert Hawker invited local parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at a church in Cornwall. This resulted in the custom of decorating churches with home-grown products. In the old times, the success of crops determined the success or failure of the people. The natives of UK, pleased the God of fertility by offering him the first sheaf of corn. This was done to ensure a good harvest in the coming season. The ritual of offering an animal sacrifice, generally a hare, is accompanied with the cutting of last sheaf of corn. It is said that the last sheaf of corn contains its spirit. "corn dolls" are made to symbolize Goddess of grain. The entire community is invited for a celebratory dinner as part of the festivity. It is held every year in the month of September, on a Sunday nearing the harvest moon. This festival is however not declared a national holiday.

Thanksgiving Day Celebration in India

Thanksgiving is celebrated world over with equal fervor and euphoria. It conveys the universal feeling of being thankful to Lord Almighty for his continuous grace. India is a multi-lingual, multi-cultural and a secular country; also popular for its spirituality, God loving and God fearing people. It is known for its 'Unity in Diversity'. With the spread of western culture, Thanksgiving is celebrated in quite a few parts of India, the major festivity is however, observed by Christians in the state of Goa.

Thanksgiving Day Celebration in Canada

People of Canada celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in the month of October every year. It is celebrated to thank the Lord Almighty for a bountiful harvest. America however celebrates thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November every year. The reason behind the difference is geographical; autumn season starts earlier in Canada than in America.

The thanksgiving celebrations include parades, customary 'family feast' and 'turkey'. It is a time for sharing, loving and family reunions. The central idea behind the celebration is to be thankful for the past harvest and praying for the coming year.

Thanksgiving Day Celebration in Malaysia

Malaysia is situated in the central south-east Asia. The Kadazan harvest festival of Malaysia is celebrated by sabah every year in the month of May to thank their favourite Rice God. The festival is locally known as "Tadau ka'amatan". Tapai, the homemade rice wine is distributed generously among localities who wear their traditional costumes to mark the festival. Carnivals are an important feature during the festival.

Locals believe 'Without Rice' there is no life. Malaysians revere Bambaazon-the overall creator and thus revere his spirit in the rice plant and cooked rice. It is a time for lots of activities, cultural programs and agricultural shows, buffalo races and traditional games.

Thanksgiving Day Celebration in Korea

Chu Suk is a popular Korean Festival during the harvest season. The festival is also celebrated as a mark of respect to elders. Families visit their ancestral properties in home towns. It is a time for feasting and happiness for Koreans. Offerings are made of newly harvested foods. Songp'yon, crescent-shaped rice cakes stuffed with sesame seeds, chestnut paste or beans, are a Chu Suk favorite.

Koreans hold memorial services at the grave sites of the elderly. Kang Kang Sue Wol Lae, a traditional ceremony is observed a night before Chu Suk. Womenfolk gather in circles and sing songs to mark the festival. It is a time to be thankful to God and each other.

Activities like archery, wrestling, singing competitions are a common feature of this Korean harvest festival.

World's Most Expensive Cities

Do You Know? From: karlascottspeaker.blogspot.com

Today’s topic: World's most expensive cities in 2008 (in rank order)

Are you confident that you know the world’s most expensive cities? I bet you’ll be surprised by some cities on the list. First, let’s review the research methodology used by Mercer, a global human resources and financial consulting firm. The data in this study reflects a survey measuring the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods, and entertainment. Produced by Mercer, the survey is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

Here are the top 25, ranked:

1. Moscow, Russia (was #1 in 2007 also)
2. Tokyo, Japan
3. London, United Kingdom
4. Oslo, Norway
5. Seoul, South Korea
6. Hong Kong, Hong Kong
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Zurich, Switzerland
10. Milan, Italy
11. Osaka, Japan
12. Paris, France
13. Singapore, Singapore
14. Tel Aviv, Israel
15. Sydney, Australia
16. Dublin, Ireland
17. Rome, Italy
18. St. Petersburg, Russia
19. Vienna, Austria
20. Beijing, China
21. Helsinki, Finland
22. New York City, United States
23. Istanbul, Turkey
24. Shanghai, China
25. Amsterdam, Netherlands

The USA has only one city in the top 50, New York City.

Cities that climbed most sharply in rankings versus the prior year are: Istanbul (38 to 23), Prague (49 to 29), Rio de Janeiro (64 to 31), Warsaw (67 to 35), and Melbourne (64 to 36).

President Obama Visits Great Wall!

Love the photos!

I Truly Value Freedom Of Expression. Do I Sometimes Take It For Granted?

At The Miami International Book Fair today, I listened to a panel on censorship and freedom of expression around the globe. What a timely topic since President Obama is in China expressing support for freedom of expression and full access to electronic media, today.

At the session on censorship, I was amazed to learn that book banning is not a thing of the past in the United States. In fact, parents sue and a win cases against school boards every year. I even learned the Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most frequently banned books in US.

What I found most disturbing is that today, thousands of authors worldwide are in prison, missing, kidnapped, facing death threats, awaiting trial etc. for what they have written. The final panelist read a long list of names of those imprisoned in other cultures, many from the Middle East, Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa.

The panel raised my awareness of International PEN, the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. PEN originally stood for "Poets, Essayists and Novelists", but now includes writers of any form of literature, such as journalists and historians. Other goals included: to emphasize the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views. It is the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization.

Some popular books that have been banned in the United States over the years are the Wizard of Oz, Catcher in The Rye, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Charlotte’s Web, Animal Farm, Winnie the Pooh, and of course--- the most famous banned novel (worldwide) in our lifetime: The Satanic Verse by Salmon Rushdie. (BTW, I heard Salmon Rushdie speak at the book fair last year and he was riveting)

The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials in the US as reported to the Office of Intellectual Freedom:
1. the material was considered to be "sexually explicit"
2. the material contained "offensive language"
3. the materials was "unsuited to any age group"

In China, today, President Obama speaking on freedom of expression and access said "These freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation - we believe are universal rights."

China is an authoritarian country in which there are no elections for the country's national leaders. Media outlets and the internet are heavily censored, and those who speak out against the government are often imprisoned.

Mr. Obama added: "They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any nation."

After his main speech, he addressed the issue again in a question and answer session with Chinese students - many of whom spoke English.

Mr. Obama said freedom of information - including open access to the internet - was important.

"That makes our democracy stronger because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear - it forces me to examine what I'm doing," he said.

He said the internet was a powerful tool to mobilize people and had helped him win the presidency last year.

I agree wholeheartedly with the president. It often makes me wonder: Do we take Freedom of Expression for granted?

Here is a video of the panel on censorship and freedom of expression that was live streamed on C-Span on Saturday November 14th 2009:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/289995-3

Here is C –Span’s description of the panel on censorship and freedom of expression:

Panelists from PEN International spoke about censorship. Panelist included: Mary Gordon, author of Reading Jesus: A Writer’s Encounter With the Gospels (Pantheon); Ana Menendez, author of The Last War: A Novel (HarperCollins); Francine Prose, author of Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife (Harper); Sam Tanenhaus, author of [The Death of Conservatism (Random House); and Michael Thomas, author of Man Gone Down: A Novel (Grove), "Panel on Censorship," a PEN World Voices event of the 26th Miami Book Fair International, took place Saturday, November 14, 2009, 11:00 a.m., in the Chapman Conference Center of Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus.

updated news report on Obama visit:

November 18, 2009
Chinese newspapers emphasised the US president's positive comments

China has tried to neutralise US President Barack Obama's attempt to speak directly to ordinary Chinese people.

Officials have used their control of the media to make sure citizens receive only a censored version of the US president's comments.

In a question-and-answer session on Monday in Shanghai, Mr Obama praised China and urged it to adopt certain universal rights and freedoms.

But in news reports about the session, Chinese media outlets largely ignored the criticism and played up the positive comments.

World Heritage Site on Easter Island Facing “Outside World” Issues

Here is an article describing how Easter Island’s indigenous population considers limiting visitors and immigrants to one of Chile's top tourist destinations.

SANTIAGO, Chile — They are the face of Chilean guidebooks: giant statues made of volcanic rock scattered across Easter Island.

Constructed centuries ago, the figures are thought to represent ancestors or chiefs of the indigenous Polynesian population. It is their descendants who now inhabit the tiny triangular island nearly 2,000 miles off the Chilean coast.

But they're fed up with the hundreds of immigrants who keep flooding the island in search of fortune. These immigrants, they say, are destroying the ecosystem, taking their jobs and ruining the historical legacy of their ancestors.
And so they're fighting back in the hope of restricting residence on the island, known in the indigenous tongue as Rapa Nui.

With more than 4,000 people — about half non-natives, mostly Chileans — living on 62 square miles, the islanders feel they are already overpopulated. Waste disposal is becoming a serious problem, as trash keeps piling up and the litter spreads in proportion to its population.

The situation has become particularly acute in recent years after the opening of large hotel complexes and increasingly more airline flights to the island. The island, unaccustomed to violent crimes or homicides, is now also attracting petty crime, theft and drugs.

“The underlying problem is that there are too many immigrants bringing with them bad habits, or are fugitives, drug addicts or delinquents looking for opportunities for crime. A year ago I would leave my house unlocked. I can’t do that anymore,” said Cecilia Rapu, a native Rapanui, in a phone interview from the island.

It is believed the island was colonized by Polynesean immigrants around A.D. 300. Centuries later, the island community started building altars and figures sculpted out of volcanic rock called moais, groups of which represented a particular tribe. The hundreds of moais, which weigh between 14 and 80 tons and the tallest of which stands at 5 meters, are the island’s main tourist attraction.

The island got its Westernized name when a Dutch explorer arrived there on Easter Sunday of 1722. Chile colonized the island in 1888, and subsequent European expeditions made the island famous for its exotic moais. Regular tourism began with the construction of the airport in the early 1980s, but the real boom started in the 1990s, and by now, the island receives about 50,000 tourists a year that come in daily flights and cruise ships.

Easter Island was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1995.

In August, in protest against the encroachment, islanders blocked the landing strip at the Mataveri airport. For 48 hours, the Rapanui proved they could halt their economy, which is almost completely pegged to the tourism industry.

The government sent in a delegation to negotiate their demands, and on Oct. 24, more than 96 percent of the native islanders voted in favor of a referendum for a constitutional amendment that would restrict residence on the island. Now, Congress must approve the change.

“People come here to make a fortune with tourism and compete under unequal conditions with the Rapanui," said Jose Letelier, a long-time resident on the island, who, like 80 percent of the islanders, makes his living in tourism.
He said government and military employees receive higher salaries than local workers. Because the mainlanders are working in a far-away zone, they get tax exemptions, free housing and free freight to bring their cars and goods. The Rapanui get none of these advantages and have to spend significant capital to ship any goods to the island, said Letelier, who is a Chilean from the mainland married to a Rapanui.

An architect, Letelier arrived in the early 1990s to participate in public works projects and witnessed the paving of the first street in Hanga Roa, the main settlement. Back then, he said, there were about 40 vehicles and 2,500 residents who all knew each other or were related in some way. By now, the population has nearly doubled and there are 50 times more vehicles.

The October referendum was the first time the Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization on indigenous peoples, in effect in Chile since September, has been applied here to consult a native population about decisions that affect them, as called for by the treaty.

Under the proposed amendment, the local government would be allowed to restrict residence or travel to the island if necessary to protect the environment. The wording of the bill doesn't specify whether restrictions apply to tourism or immigration, or both.

The 26 of the 706 islanders who voted against the reform claim the bill is too ambiguous.

“I voted against it out of fear, because the proposal is unclear. It doesn’t specify if it refers to immigrants or the native population. It just says that the government can decide how many people can live here and how many would have to leave, and that includes even us, the Rapanui,” Rapu said.

At stake, they say, are no less than their natural habitat and historical patrimony.

“So many tourists trampling around, touching the moais, stepping on them," said Raul Domenech, and anthropologist and research director of a recent documentary on Easter Island. "Companies come and film commercials with the moais. The island attracts archaeological tourism, not the sun-and-beach type of tourism.

"The day the first graffiti appears on a moai will be the beginning of the end.”

By Pascale Bonnefoy - GlobalPost
Published: November 6, 2009 06:42 ET
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/091103/easter-island-tourism

Website helps you pronounce names from more than 40 global language groups

Do you feel embarrassed when you don’t know how to pronounce some one’s name? Are you frustrated that others mispronounce your name? Do you wonder why your overseas relatives pronounce their names differently from the way we do in the USA?

Well, a determined American woman, whose name changed after marriage, has actually developed an online tool that helps us pronounce thousands of names in more than 40 language groups. Included are Korean, Viet Namese, Farsi, Turkish, Arabic, and Samoan. http://www.howtosaythatname.com/ More than 75,000 submissions have contributed to her site which was created in 2006.

See a WSJ article here:

Exactly How Do You Pronounce Your Name Again, Miss....Miss?
By MARY PILON APRIL 15, 2009

Elizabeth Bojang wants to say your name right for posterity.

She always leaves her McLean, Va., home with a tape recorder. She asks people on the street, her dry cleaner and her colleagues at the insurance company where she works to record their first and last names for her Web site, www.howtosaythatname.com. So far in her quest, she has amassed more than 11,000 pronunciations ranging from "Aabha" to "Zwai."

Elizabeth Bojang, pronounced Bo-johng, created a Web site for unusual name pronunciations.

The idea came about after Ms. Bojang stopped using her maiden name, Godfrey, when she married Bala Musa Bojang, her Gambian husband. "I used to dread hearing it," because it was so often mispronounced, says Ms. Bojang. (The correct pronunciation is Bo-johng.)

The Internet has been a blessing for amateur and professional genealogists. But even when surname roots can be traced online, how last names are pronounced still causes confusion, especially in the cross-cultural mix of globalization. In fact, researchers say it is likely that many of our ancestors would be appalled at how their last names are pronounced today.

Suzanne Russo Adams, a genealogist for Ancestry.com, studied the last names of Italian immigrants and found that most who came to the U.S. in the early 1900s changed the pronunciation of their names after learning English and living in the country for a while. Some genealogists find that even parents and children pronounce their shared last name differently.

University of Florida linguistics professor Ben Hebblethwaite (the "th" isn't silent) noticed some of his students have dual pronunciations of their last names -- an anglicized pronunciation for school and a more traditional pronunciation at home.
Prof. Hebblethwaite says rhyme pattern in epic poems can offer clues for how names in the poem might have been spoken, giving modern-day users of a name a sense of how the pronunciation has evolved. For example, the rhyme pattern in medieval French epic "La Chanson de Roland" ("The Song of Roland") proves vital for linguists like Prof. Hebblethwaite.

In general, pronunciations get simpler over time: Consonants cluster, spellings are shortened, vowel pitches altered. Even with these historical signposts, there are few hard-and-fast rules about name pronunciation in English. "It's a mess," Prof. Hebblethewaite says.

Through research, Prof. Hebblethwaite has traced his own surname to Norwegians who invaded what is now Northern Britain as Vikings. "Heaven only knows how they pronounced it," he says.

Pinky Thakkar (silent "h"), an engineer from Mumbai, started the Web site www.pronouncenames.com after she moved to San Jose, Calif., and mispronounced the "J" in "San Jose," not giving it the "H" sound used in Spanish words. Properly pronouncing person and place names proved nearly impossible for Ms. Thakkar and her friends from abroad, she says.

More than 75,000 entries, including 38,000 audio files, have been submitted to Ms. Thakkar's Web site since it launched in 2006. She manages the site with six other volunteers.

Ms. Thakkar is now working on an algorithm that would allow site users to record a name as they heard it and then have the site churn out a proper spelling based on the audio submission. She also is looking to expand the site's ability to provide audio pronunciations based on a user's typed-in guess. For example, if a user heard the Indian surname "Sridharan," but had no idea how to pronounce it, he or she could enter a guess such as "shree the run" and the accurate spelling would appear.
Pronouncenames.com's followers include teachers, graduation speakers, sports announcers and foreigners trying to improve their English.

The new technology could help people such as Vathanyu Chaipattanawanich. The 19-year-old mechanical-engineering student at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania is regularly greeted by flustered faces when he swipes his credit card, fills out forms and wins awards. He says that although his 25-letter Thai name has been an ice-breaker for years, "everyone calls me 'Tab.'"

Mr. Chaipattanawanich joined the 600-plus member Facebook group, "Nobody Can Pronounce My Last Name," one of several on the site organized around that theme.

Both Ms. Bojang and Ms. Thakkar are a long way from documenting the six million last names recorded in a 2007 U.S. Census Bureau study. But they are gratified that their sites might be helping befuddled speakers.

In a few years, Ms. Bojang's 3-year-old daughter Nyima and 7-month-old son Kebba will head to grade school. Their names are pronounced "knee-ma" and "kay-bah." Ms. Bojang, a former teacher, knows the headaches of a class roster, but is optimistic.

"Hopefully," she says, "the Web site will help them."

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A11
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123930927836606215.html