Biden's Gaza Ceasefire Veto Defies American Public Opinion

Aaron Bushnell, an active serviceman in the United States Air Force, burned himself to death in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest against the US policy in Gaza. Before setting himself on fire in what he called an "extreme act of protest", he said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide". Polls show that the vast majority (63%) of Americans want an immediate end to the carnage being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.  

USAF Engineer Aaron Bushnell

Although Bushnell resorted to this extreme form of protest against the Biden Administration's policy of unqualified support for Israel, he was not alone in opposing it. American public opinion polls confirm that the vast majority of Americans, including Jewish Americans, want an immediate end to the Gaza carnage. 

Gaza Ceasefire Poll. Source: ISPU

Overall, 63% of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a recent poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). In terms of religions, 71% of Catholics, 61% of Non-Affiliated,  60% of Protestants, 58% of White Evangelicals, 50% of Jews and 75% of Muslims support an immediate ceasefire, according to the poll. 

Jewish and Muslim Democrats, like Democrats in the general public, favor an end to the violence in Gaza. The majority of Republicans in the general public also favor a ceasefire. 

So why is President Biden defying the will of the American people on Gaza?  The simple answer is AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful lobby in Washington D.C. This Israel lobby has showered its friendly politicians with money from wealthy Jewish donors. It has also ensured the defeat of those politicians who dared to speak out against Israeli policies in the Middle East. As one former Democratic senator, Ernest Hollings, put it on leaving office, ‘you can’t have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here.’ Or as Ariel Sharon once told an American audience, ‘when people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them: “Help AIPAC.”’

President Jimmy Carter who helped broker peace between Israel and Egypt knows the Israel lobby well. He told Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" many years ago: "I think it’s accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I’m familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good faith peace talks.....  And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out, as I’ve just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term ". 

Related Links:

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Modi and Netanyahu: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Israel's Gaza Attack is Criminal, Not Defensive

Pictorial Review of Israel's Young Gaza Victims

American College Campuses Rise Up Against Israel's Genocidal War on Gaza

Israeli Settler Colonialism

Islamophobia Driving US Policy in Middle East and South Asia?

Israeli Scholars Offer Insights into Zionist Psyche

Total, Extended Lockdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir

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Indian JNU Professor on Illegal Indian Occupation of Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland

Riaz Haq Youtube Channel

PakAlumni: Pakistani Alumni Social Network

"Howdy Modi" Rally in Houston; Trump Impeachment

How have different people reacted to "Howdy Modi" rally in Houston? Does it signify that "Indian-Americans have arrived'? Why did thousands protested against Prime Minister Modi? Was it a big election rally for President Trump who is seeking re-election in 2020? Why did Prime Minister Modi endorse President Trump? Does it expose Indian-American community to charges of hypocrisy in that they vote for Democratic Party to protect their own rights as a minority while also supporting Modi whose policies in India are seen as anti-minorities?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) with President Donald Trump at "Howdy Modi" Rally in Houston

Why are some Hindu-American democrats like Ro Khanna trying to distance themselves from Modi? Why did Silicon Valley's Indian-American Khanna urged his fellow Hindu-Americans to "reject Hindutva"? Why did he join Pakistan Caucus in US Congress?

Congressman Ro Khanna with Prime Minister Imran Khan

Why have Democrats in US Congress started impeachment inquiry against President Trump? What prompted this action? Is it his interaction with Ukraine's President Zelensky where he sought to have his potential presidential election opponent Joe Biden and his son Hunter investigated for corruption? Why has Speaker Nancy Pelosi been so reluctant to do so until now? What are the chances that the US Senate with its Republican majority convict Trump?

Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam discusses these questions with Sabahat Ashraf (ifaqeer) and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)

https://youtu.be/-VHNUwXxJWs





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"Howdy Modi" Rally in Houston

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Rape of 8-year-old Asifa Bano in Kashmir

Imran Khan in Washington

Modi's Extended Lockdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir

Hinduization of India

Brievik's Hindutva Rhetoric

Indian Textbooks

India's RAW's Successes in Pakistan

Riaz Haq Youtube Channel

VPOS Youtube Channel

"Howdy Modi" Rally Exposes Indian-Americans to Charge of Hypocrisy

Most Indian-Americans vote for the Democratic Party in American elections. Almost all Indian-Americans in elected offices are Democrats. Notable among them are Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal and Kamala Harris. Many Indian-Americans have been appointed to senior positions in executive and judiciary branches by Democratic administrations.  However, they instinctively agree with Republicans. They share Republicans' racism against African-Americans and Hispanics and support President Trump's religious bigotry against Muslims.

Most India-Americans ardently support Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose party is openly hostile to minorities, particularly Muslims, in India. And majority of Indian-Americans are totally unconcerned about the plight of minorities in India.  Modi's declaration “we’ve said goodbye to Article 370" in Indian Occupied Kashmir drew the loudest cheers at Howdy Modi rally which highlighted the hypocrisy of Indian-Americans. The attendees at the Houston rally gave President Donald Trump standing ovation when he said that the United States is "committed to protecting innocent Indian-Americans from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism". Modi effectively endorsed Trump for re-election in 2020 when he declared "Ap ki Bar Trump Sarkar". This essentially turned "Howdy Modi" event in Houston into a Trump election rally organized and paid for by Modi-loving Hindus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) with President Donald Trump in Houston, Texas

Most Hindu-Americans fail to see the irony that Srinivas Kuchibhotla who was killed by a white nationalist in Kansas in February 2017 was a victim of the same kind of hatred in America that Mr. Modi espouses against minorities in India. Kuchibotla himself was an ardent fan of Mr. Modi’s sweeping Hindutva politics as his wife related after this murder, according to an article published in the Hindu by Indian journalist and writer Varghese K. George.  Here is an excerpt of Mr. George's article:

"The dualism of Indian-American politics has now become unsustainable as Democratic leaders find it increasingly impossible to side with Mr. Modi as he advances the Hindutva agenda. Many of these friends of India were mislead, and had misread Mr. Modi’s politics and they interpreted his success in 2014 as a turn in Indian politics towards more neo-liberal reforms and globalism. Such an image of Mr. Modi was also projected by Indian diplomacy in America. But one American thinker, who interpreted Mr. Modi’s victory as a nativist revolt against a global elite, was none other than Stephen Bannon, the most authentic interpreter of Mr. Trump’s nationalist politics. Mr. Bannon has also been particularly a critic of the H-1B visa and Indian-American immigration. That the Indian Ambassador to the U.S. retweeted a tweet that denounced Mr. Sanders and tweeted about his meeting with Mr. Bannon in glowing terms (he deleted the tweet later) in quick succession bears out the official Indian position on the emerging fault-lines in American politics and the role of Indian Americans in it."

Indian Ambassador Shringle (R) with White Nationalist Steve Bannon

In an opinion piece titled  "“Howdy, Modi” And The Politics Of The Indian American Community" published by ABP LIVE, UCLA Professor Viany Lal captured this reality in the following words:

"..there is absolutely no contradiction between the fact that Indians largely vote Democrat and their instinctive tendency to gravitate towards Republicans. But there is another question that emerges from the comical “Howdy, Modi” show: is this a moment that signifies the “arrival” of the Indian Americans on the national stage and in American consciousness? Many commentators would like to think so: the journalist Sonia Paul, for instance, has characterized the event as a “display of Indian Americans’ Political Power.” It may be that, but such analysis is toothless and uninstructive. Every minority of the size of the Indian American counts, and there are many such communities; but, viewed in relation to Hispanics and African Americans, Indian Americans are still far from being a highly influential voting bloc. Hispanics and especially African Americans are embedded in the history of the nation in vastly different ways; many Indian Americans, even those who have put down roots in the US over two generations, still think of themselves as constituting the vanguard of India and would like to be important players in India itself."

Professor Lal continues his piece to describe the Indian-American hypocrisy as follows:

"...some people may be puzzled about why so many Indians were gathered to hear Modi and Trump when Indians, by a very large majority, are supporters of the Democratic party and certainly vote Democrat in a presidential election...........the majority of Indian Americans have remained wholly indifferent to the plight of minorities in India itself. Though two million Muslims in Assam now risk being rendered stateless, and “lynchings” of Muslims and Dalits over the last few years have unfortunately made India newsworthy, Indian Americans have generally shown themselves remarkably oblivious to the sufferings of minorities while they lose no opportunity to lay claim to rights as members of a minority in the US. They would much rather gravitate towards the Republican party, which is more hospitable to business interests and free enterprise; but the party is also less accommodating to minority interests."

Not only do Indian-Americans strongly support Modi and his Hindutva policies, they demand that elected Indian-American Democrats do the same. This is best illustrated by their pressure on Silicon-Valley's Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna. Khanna joined US Congress's Pakistan Caucus and rejected Hindutva.  Khanna said in a tweet that "it is the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist and Christians". A record 230 Hindu-American organizations wrote an angry letter to Khanna in response. They asked him to withdraw from Pakistan Caucus and to highlight "ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits".

Hindu organizations conveniently ignore the long history of atrocities committed by Indian military against Kashmiri Muslims. Nearly a million Indian troops are  currently keeping 8 million Kashmiris in a complete lockdown that is about to enter its 3rd month. They also make no mention of what happened to Muslims who constituted a majority in Jammu in 1947. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed or expelled from Jammu in 1947, according to Indian journalist Karan Thapar.  Here is an excerpt of Thapar's Hindustan Times column on this subject:

"Writing in The Spectator in January 1948, Horace Alexander says: “Hindus and Sikhs of the Jammu area … apparently with at least the tacit consent of state authorities, have driven many thousands of their Muslim neighbours from their homes”. Citing Mahatma Gandhi, he asserts “some two hundred thousand are … not accounted for”. Christopher Snedden, in Kashmir: The Unwritten History, estimates between 70,000 and 237,000 Muslims were killed. Arjun Appaduri and Arien Mack in India’s World believe 200,000 could have been killed and a further 500,000 displaced. Last year, the columnist Swaminathan Aiyar wrote: “In sheer scale this far exceeded the ethnic cleansing of Pandits five decades later”."

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

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Silicon Valley's Indian-American Congressman Rejects Hindutva

Sonal Shah to Help Divide the Obama Victory Spoils

Rape of 8-year-old Asifa Bano in Kashmir

Imran Khan in Washington

Modi's Extended Lockdown in Indian Occupied Kashmir

Hinduization of India

Brievik's Hindutva Rhetoric

Indian Textbooks

India's RAW's Successes in Pakistan

Riaz Haq Youtube Channel

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Headley Testimony in India; PIA Strike in Pakistan; Islamophobia in New Hampshire

Why did Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley (aka Daood Gilani) testify in an Indian Court via video link from a US prison? Why did he implicate Pakistan’s ISI and India’s Ishrat Jahan? Why did the US Court not accept his testimony implicating Tahawwur Rana in Mumbai terror attacks? Is Headley a credible witness?

Was Pakistan International Airline employees union strike politically motivated? Why is Pakistan’s federal government trying to privatize public sector units including Pakistan Steel and PIA? Were PPP and PTI trying to take political advantage of the PIA privatization dispute between federal government and PIA employees union? Why did the strike fail?

Why are two-thirds of New Hampshire Republican voters for banning entry of Muslims in America? How is the leading US Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump promoting Islamophobia in America? Why are so many Americans being inspired by Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric? What will be its consequences for America and the world? What should Muslim Americans do to combat anti-Muslim bigotry?

Viewpoint From Overseas host Faraz Darvesh discusses these questions with panelists Ali H. Cemendtaur and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsvtnQ5eFeQ&feature=youtu.be


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3s7ctb


Headley Testimony in India; PIA Strike in... by ViewpointFromOverseas
https://vimeo.com/155356921

Headley Testimony in India; PIA Strike in Pakistan; Islamophobia in New Hampshire from WBT Productions on Vimeo.


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India on CPEC; Obama’s Mosque Visit; Start of US Presidential Primaries

How does India feel about China-Pakistan Economic Corridor called CPEC? Is Modi government involved in disrupting CPEC? Is insurgency in Balochistan a part of Indian efforts to sabotage China’s short direct access to the Indian Ocean? What does the Times of India editorial titled “Engage the Dragon on Balochistan” say about thinking in Delhi?

Why did President Barack Obama wait to visit a mosque until his eighth year in office? Was this decision triggered by a leading Republican candidate Donald Trump’s attacks on Muslims? What did Obama say about attacks on Muslim Republicans?

What is the primary elections process prior to general elections in the United States of America? Who are the likely 2016 general elections candidates of Democratic and Republican parties? Who is most likely to win?

Viewpoint From Overseas host Misbah Azam discusses these questions with panelists Ali H. Cemendtaur and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3qvw0g_india-on-pak-china-corridor-cpec-obama-s-mosque-visit-start-of-us-presidential-primaries_news


India on Pak-China Corridor CPEC; Obama's... by ViewpointFromOverseas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh2oR2reQpY





https://vimeo.com/154455980


India on Pak-China Corridor CPEC; Obama's Mosque Visit; Start of US Presidential Primaries from WBT Productions on Vimeo.

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President Bobby Jindal?

Republicans chose their rising star, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, the first Indian-American governor of a US state, to respond to President Barack Obama's first address to the joint session of the United States Congress last Tuesday. The expectations were high, but the reviews of his performance have been swift and scathing: Amateurish. Disastrous.

Clearly, the 36-year-old GOP governor was tasked with a big challenge: Be charming and persuasive in a seemingly critical response to the highly articulate and charismatic new President riding a wave of popularity.

While the president had the benefit of the ornate halls of Congress as his speech setting and numerous camera angles to give a sweeping view of the grand House Gallery and repeated, vociferous applause providing the soundtrack, Jindal had to deliver his speech in a solitary room amid an almost total silence.

But Mr. Jindal has been criticized on both style and substance.

Fox News commentator Juan Williams focused on Jindal's delivery. "It came off as amateurish, and even the tempo in which he spoke was singsongy," Williams said, adding that the content of the speech was "very simplistic and almost childish."

His criticism of government spending for emergency economic relief has been widely derided, given his state has been the biggest beneficiary of billions of dollars in federal aid after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Jindal has not been spared even by his conservative Republican supporters. David Brooks, a conservative New York Times columnist who has criticized aspects of the stimulus plan, nonetheless called Jindal's arguments "insane" and tone-deaf given the dire economic challenges the country faces.

"To come up in this moment in history with a stale, 'Government is the problem, you can't trust the federal government' is just a disaster for the Republican Party," Brooks said on PBS' "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer." "It's not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is."

By all accounts, Jindal's debut on the national scene has been a disaster. Can he recover from it and still pursue his ambition to be the first US president of Indian-American descent? I think it's still possible. He is young and ambitious and he has the time on his side. If he learns from his recent experience and does dramatically better at a future Republican party convention, his recent disastrous performance will be forgotten. Jindal should continue to pursue his dream of becoming the first India-American to sit in the Oval office as the commander-in-chief of the world's most powerful nation.

Related Links:

Transcript of President Obama's Speech to US Congress

Transcript of Gov. Jindal's Response

India's Washington Lobby Emulates AIPAC

Indo-American Council

Will Absolute Power Corrupt Democrats Absolutely?

Latest polls indicate Democrats are maintaining significant leads in the big ten battleground states such as Florida and Ohio, in addition to Michigan and Pennsylvania. While it is understandable after eight disastrous years of Bush-Cheney administration, it is ironic that John McCain, a moderate and maverick Republican, is being tarred and feathered as another Bush. The latest financial crisis has clearly added to the Republicans woes. Based on all of the polling data, it appears that a super majority of of 60 or more Democrats in the US senate and Democrat Barack Obama in the White House together will enjoy absolute concentration of power, unhindered by the fear of fillbuster or the veto pen of the president to stop misguided spending and legislation.

Can the US afford total control by Democrats at a time of huge national debt and large budget deficits? The history tells us that Social Security and Medicare, the two massive entitlement programs, were created during Democratic administrations of FDR and LBJ. Now, more than half of the $3 trillion budget is allocated to these programs. Another $250b pays for interest on the national debt, but it is growing rapidly with the debt. The rest covers everything else. The discretionary spending accounts for less than one-third of total US spending. Such figures limit any reasonable options open to the incoming administration. However, given the absolute control over both the executive and the legislature, will Democrats exercise restraint? Given their past record, the chances are that Democrats will go for big spending programs, including new, popular entitlements such as a massive national healthcare program for all. Cutting discretionary spending will not free up enough dollars for it. Ending Iraq war or cutting military budget will not do it either, particularly if Obama makes the expensive mistake of following through on his hawkish statements to send troops in to Pakistan. Of necessity, Democrats are going to have to dramatically increase taxes or heavily borrow from foreigners. Either of these two options will hinder economic recovery.

Democrats, like Republicans before them, will likely abuse their power in the executive and the legislature to enrich themselves and their friends at the expense of ordinary Americans. After having given George W. Bush almost a blank check for most of the last eight years, Americans appear ready to make an even bigger mistake: Give Democrats total control of the U.S. government for the next several years.

Michael Moore's Open Letter to God

This letter is not only relevant for what is happening this week with Hurricane Gustav coinciding with the Republican Convention in the US, but also because it offers lessons for the right wing demagogues in Pakistan and the Muslim world who engage in similar rhetoric as some fundamentalist Christian supporters of the US Republican Party. Islamic religious folks in particular blame the victims of natural disasters for their suffering on their "sinful " behavior and wish ill upon all those who oppose or even disagree with their extreme positions in supporting acts of widespread gratuitous violence and terror in the name of "jihad".
Here is Micheal Moore's letter:

An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Dear God,

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.

I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an "Act of God" -- when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.

Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized -- and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush's FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.

But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, "There you go again!"

So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.

So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.

But now it appears that You haven't been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America's "wholesale slaughter of unborn children." His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.

So this is my plea to you: Don't do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven't sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time -- they are already patrolling the city streets. And, in a nod to I don't know what, Bush's head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government's response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W's to help save the Gulf Coast.

So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It's done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I'll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.

Your faithful servant and former seminarian,

Michael Moore

US Democrats Score Hat Trick

With the recent Travis Childers' win in Mississippi, Democrats have won three US congressional seats in a row, seats that were considered safe and reliable for Republicans. Childers' victory came one week after Rep. Don Cazayoux won a House seat in the Baton Rouge, La., area that had been in Republican hands for three decades. Over the winter, Rep. Bill Foster won an election in Illinois to succeed former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who had been in Congress more than 20 years.

There is a rising tide of discontent against the Republican party in the United States after President George W. Bush's seven years of disastrous rule. In spite of vicious attacks against Childers and Cazayoux by linking them to Obama and his former pastor, the Republicans were unable to hold on to these seats. The smear tactics by Republicans against the Democrats have backfired.

With the 2006 take-over of US Congress by the Democrats and continuing wins recently,
Republican Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia wrote the leadership in a bluntly worded memo that "The political atmosphere ... is the worst since Watergate and far more toxic than the fall of 2006 when we lost 30 seats."

Contrary to the noises from the Republican spin doctors and their media friends, all the indications are that the Democratic nominee for the President is likely to win by a landslide this year in November. Barring any major terrorist attacks on US soil, the only thing that can hurt Democrats is their continuing in-fighting with the Democratic primaries becoming more nasty.