It is an unfortunate incident that cannot be expected to take place in a city like New York.
Krittika Biswas, the 18 years old daughter of a New York based senior Indian diplomat, was arrested and suspended from high school for a crime she did not commit in the first place – sending sexually explicit mails to her teachers.
Krittika Biswas is the daughter of Debashish Biswas, the vice consul at the Consulate General of India in Manhattan.
On February 8, 2011, this bright student of John Bowne High School was paraded out of her school in, hold your breath, handcuffs. And that was followed by the ordeal of spending 28 hours in a dark cell.
However, later the school Principal Howard Kwait identified a male student to be the real culprit.
Naturally, now the charges against Krittika were dropped. However, now two interesting (read more unfortunate) things happened.
Though now the real culprit was identified, he did not have to face any legal action like what innocent Krittika had to face. Reason? Well, the school did not want to press charges against him. (Why? Is there any racial angle in this story?)
More interestingly, even after the baseless charges against Krittika were dropped, school officials insisted to keep the hapless girl detained in a suspension centre for more than one month. Reason? Well, I suppose only the almighty has the answer.
Now Krittika is suing the New York City administration for $1.5 million for the wrongful arrest and the subsequent harassments. I feel the amount is quite low given the strong blow that her self-respect sense suffered.
I sincerely hope that the US government will take serious note of the issue, and will ensure that all the people directly or indirectly responsible for Krittika’s nightmarish experience are brought to book.
Showing posts with label the USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the USA. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, October 11, 2010
Nobel For Liu Xiaobo – Europe Has Shown Where It Is Ahead Of The USA
China’s ruthlessly oppressive Communist government suffered a huge humiliation when its detained Human Rights activist Liu Xiaobo was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2010. While the award was a recognition for the gutsy fight put up by the respectable activist, it also came as a recognition for the cause that he is fighting for, i.e. a democratic life for the hapless Chinese people who find almost every aspect of their life being controlled by the ruling Communist Party.
Quite understandably the Chinese government had tried its best to ensure that the award ultimately did not come to Liu. It had even gone to the level of blackmailing Norway (it is a committee of Norwegian parliamentarians which selects the Nobel Peace Awardee) by implying that in case Liu is awarded the Prize, then it would adversely affect the trade relations between the two countries.
But by displaying a genuine Nordic fortitude, the Scandinavian Kingdom of Norway simply stuck to its guns, and ultimately ended up by handing over to Liu Xiaobo the award that he truly deserved. China’s nasty endeavour to advance its political cause through dirty blackmailing simply fell flat.
While apparently this incident reflects the strong sense of ethics and self-respect that underlines the national character of Norway, in reality it reflects the regional characteristic of the European continent as a whole (especially Western Europe).
No matter how many flaws they may have, a key quality of the West European nations is that they maintain a basic level of ethics and morality in their statecraft, in a stark contrast with the USA for which national interests come above all. If it were the USA in the place of Norway, and if it found that its commercial interests in China would be threatened if it gave the Nobel Peace Award to Liu, then it would have surely backed out. But as a Western European nation, Norway did not find its commercial interests to be more valuable than its national ethics, and went ahead with presenting the award to the person it thought to be the most suitable one for the same. It gave a damn to this fact that by presenting this ward to Liu it was getting in a conflict mode with an emerging economic as well as military superpower.
Europeans have many flaws that are not present in the USA. One glaring example of the same is the racist mindset, which is still so common among the Europeans while not being that common among the US people. But it is the presence of a basic ethics and righteousness in their politics that keeps the Western European nations ahead of the USA, at least in terms of political morality.
Quite understandably the Chinese government had tried its best to ensure that the award ultimately did not come to Liu. It had even gone to the level of blackmailing Norway (it is a committee of Norwegian parliamentarians which selects the Nobel Peace Awardee) by implying that in case Liu is awarded the Prize, then it would adversely affect the trade relations between the two countries.
But by displaying a genuine Nordic fortitude, the Scandinavian Kingdom of Norway simply stuck to its guns, and ultimately ended up by handing over to Liu Xiaobo the award that he truly deserved. China’s nasty endeavour to advance its political cause through dirty blackmailing simply fell flat.
While apparently this incident reflects the strong sense of ethics and self-respect that underlines the national character of Norway, in reality it reflects the regional characteristic of the European continent as a whole (especially Western Europe).
No matter how many flaws they may have, a key quality of the West European nations is that they maintain a basic level of ethics and morality in their statecraft, in a stark contrast with the USA for which national interests come above all. If it were the USA in the place of Norway, and if it found that its commercial interests in China would be threatened if it gave the Nobel Peace Award to Liu, then it would have surely backed out. But as a Western European nation, Norway did not find its commercial interests to be more valuable than its national ethics, and went ahead with presenting the award to the person it thought to be the most suitable one for the same. It gave a damn to this fact that by presenting this ward to Liu it was getting in a conflict mode with an emerging economic as well as military superpower.
Europeans have many flaws that are not present in the USA. One glaring example of the same is the racist mindset, which is still so common among the Europeans while not being that common among the US people. But it is the presence of a basic ethics and righteousness in their politics that keeps the Western European nations ahead of the USA, at least in terms of political morality.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Obama Administration’s Strategic Mistake In The North Korea Issue
I feel that the Obama administration has committed a serious strategic blunder by openly siding with South Korea in the latter’s latest tussle with North Korea. By doing this the USA has not only diluted the opportunity to strengthen its own diplomatic interests, but has also created problem for South Korea, as well.
It must be understood that South Korea’s tussle with North Korea is very much likely to turn into a full scale war. And if that happens, then North Korea might get military and diplomatic support from other communist countries, which will certainly make matters worse for South Korea. However, if somehow South Korea can convince the world that its fight is just against some actions of the North Korean government and not against the latter’s communist ideology, then the possibility of other communist countries extending help to North Korea will be lesser.
But now with the US government candidly showing its support for South Korea, the latter might be perceived by the Communist world as a stooge of the USA. And in that case they will certainly join the fight in one way or the other, as they will now perceive the fight against South Korea as a fight against the latter’s mentor the USA (i.e. the bête noire of the communist world).
The USA should have kept itself behind the curtain. It could have maintained the image of a “non interested party”, while secretly extending military, logistics and other necessary support to South Korea. The USA has personal interest in launching a strong diplomatic and military offensive against North Korea, and it is quite understandable that the former does not want to lose any relevant opportunity. However, in this case the USA had the opportunity to serve its interests through South Korea, without getting personally involved in the issue. It was precisely this opportunity that the USA did not have during its fight against Vietnam, as it did not have any ally in that region which could have acted on her behalf. But this time the USA had one such suitable ally, whom the US government could have effectively used against the common foe in that region, without getting personally involved. Obama and his mandarins could have at least waited for the first attack from the North Korean government against South Korea (like a missile attack, or bombing, or something like that). And then the US government could have come into the picture, with the world’s sympathy with South Korea. (Let us remember the Gulf War in 1990, when the US government launched an attack against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the name of liberating Kuwait from Iraqi invading army, while actually the USA was fighting for its own interest).
Unfortunately, the US government misread the situation this time, and jumped into the fight between the North and South Korea without thinking much.
Or is it so that actually it is me who is wrong? May be. After all I am not a seasoned diplomat. I am just an ordinary person who avidly follows the national and international developments.
It must be understood that South Korea’s tussle with North Korea is very much likely to turn into a full scale war. And if that happens, then North Korea might get military and diplomatic support from other communist countries, which will certainly make matters worse for South Korea. However, if somehow South Korea can convince the world that its fight is just against some actions of the North Korean government and not against the latter’s communist ideology, then the possibility of other communist countries extending help to North Korea will be lesser.
But now with the US government candidly showing its support for South Korea, the latter might be perceived by the Communist world as a stooge of the USA. And in that case they will certainly join the fight in one way or the other, as they will now perceive the fight against South Korea as a fight against the latter’s mentor the USA (i.e. the bête noire of the communist world).
The USA should have kept itself behind the curtain. It could have maintained the image of a “non interested party”, while secretly extending military, logistics and other necessary support to South Korea. The USA has personal interest in launching a strong diplomatic and military offensive against North Korea, and it is quite understandable that the former does not want to lose any relevant opportunity. However, in this case the USA had the opportunity to serve its interests through South Korea, without getting personally involved in the issue. It was precisely this opportunity that the USA did not have during its fight against Vietnam, as it did not have any ally in that region which could have acted on her behalf. But this time the USA had one such suitable ally, whom the US government could have effectively used against the common foe in that region, without getting personally involved. Obama and his mandarins could have at least waited for the first attack from the North Korean government against South Korea (like a missile attack, or bombing, or something like that). And then the US government could have come into the picture, with the world’s sympathy with South Korea. (Let us remember the Gulf War in 1990, when the US government launched an attack against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the name of liberating Kuwait from Iraqi invading army, while actually the USA was fighting for its own interest).
Unfortunately, the US government misread the situation this time, and jumped into the fight between the North and South Korea without thinking much.
Or is it so that actually it is me who is wrong? May be. After all I am not a seasoned diplomat. I am just an ordinary person who avidly follows the national and international developments.
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