http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Manmohan-Bush-get-candid-over-lunch/articleshow/5182362.cmsNEW DELHI: Prime ministerial lunches are rarely fun affairs. People sort of get on with it, and then get on with their lives. Not on Friday.
Early in the day, former US president George Bush, on a pleasure trip to India, announced cheerily, “I’m off to have lunch with my old pal.”
He sauntered across to the home of his pal, one Manmohan Singh, who famously abandoned his starchy mien to declare this nation’s “deep love” for Bush, then stood stoically through the vicious jokes hurled at him. But for all those present at the “friendly” lunch this afternoon, Bush clearly reciprocated in full measure. The food wasn’t to die for but the conversation, declared one guest, was adequate compensation.
Colleagues reported that Singh was rarely as “chirpy” as he was on Friday afternoon. The conversation was light and sparkling, there was a lot of laughter and banter. So when Singh talked about how much he appreciated the huge gesture of the nuclear deal, Bush quipped, “Yeah, it was a big deal and to get it we had to break a bit of china.”
Embarrassed but grateful laughter greeted this. His new venture of having his presidential library at the Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, Bush declared, was his main interest now. He is also writing a book, “but most of America doesn’t believe I can read”. The laughter now was a little more uncertain because it wasn’t clear whether the assemblage should be laughing at the ex-prez of the US, or tut-tut at the American people’s naivete. ....
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/N-deal-Indias-passport-to-the-world-George-Bush/articleshow/5184961.cmsNEW DELHI: George Bush has scrupulously stayed away from commenting on US strategy or politics after he quit office. But on Saturday, in what was
a unique intervention, Bush used an Indian platform to weigh in on a crucial Obama administration decision, by hoping the US would not lose its nerve and ‘‘abandon’’ Afghanistan.
As president, George Bush much preferred to give India the nuclear deal than a place in the UN Security Council. But in India on his first major trip abroad after he retired, Bush made a strong pitch for India to be in the UN Security Council, while acknowledging that the path would not be smooth, because of ‘‘global’’ politics.