Bush in India: Steve Bell cartoon, excellent Arundhati Roy column

[Taxloss]

Arundhati Roy: "Baby Bush go home"

On his triumphalist tour of this part of the world, where he hopes to wave imperiously at people he considers potential subjects, President Bush's itinerary is getting curiouser and curiouser. For his March 2 pit stop in New Delhi, the Indian government tried very hard to have him address our Parliament. A not inconsequential number of MPs threatened to heckle him, so Plan One was hastily shelved. Plan Two was that he address the masses from the ramparts of the magnificent Red Fort where the Indian prime minister traditionally delivers his Independence Day address. But the Red Fort, surrounded as it is by the predominantly Muslim population of Old Delhi, was considered a security nightmare. So now we're into Plan Three: President George Bush speaks from Purana Qila, the Old Fort.

Ironic, isn't it, that the only safe public space for a man who has recently been so enthusiastic about India's modernity should be a crumbling medieval fort?
Since the Purana Qila also houses the Delhi zoo - George Bush's audience will be a few hundred caged animals and an approved list of caged human beings who in India go under the category of "eminent persons". They're mostly rich folk who live in our poor country like captive animals, incarcerated by their own wealth, locked and barred in their gilded cages, protecting themselves from the threat of the vulgar and unruly multitudes whom they have systematically dispossessed over the centuries.

So what's going to happen to George W Bush? Will the gorillas cheer him on? Will the gibbons curl their lips? Will the brow-antlered deer sneer? Will the chimps make rude noises? Will the owls hoot? Will the lions yawn and the giraffes bat their beautiful eyelashes? Will the crocs recognise a kindred soul? Will the quails give thanks that Bush isn't travelling with Dick Cheney, his hunting partner with the notoriously bad aim? Will the CEOs agree?

More:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,,1720429,00.html

[Duncan]

1. NPR Morning Edition Spins for Bush

:mad: I sent this to Morning Edition this morning:

Three times in your coverage of Bush's visit to India this morning Steve Inskeep referred to the anti-bush protests as "anti-American" protests. This is the worst kind of right wing spin and now seems commonplace on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. This is the sort of thing that has made me stop donating to Public Radio.

[Burried News]

2. I no longer listen either - unless Dianne Rehm is on.

I find their manipulation almost as distasteful as Clear Channel et. al.

[Taxloss]

3. As Roy makes clear, the protests are very definitely anti-BUSH

and certainly not anti-American. By and large, India is a fairly pro-American country.

[madokie]

4. Just goes to show they can smell a RAT too.

gwb* the american recurring nightmare