Democracy Now: Big Business & Arms Deals Top Obama's Agenda in India

[amborin]

Big Business & Arms Deals, Not Poverty, Top Obama’s Agenda in India

President Obama rounded off his three-day visit to India today by addressing a special joint session of both houses of India’s Parliament.
Accompanied by some 250 business executives, the President’s visit to India is part of a stated ten-day tour of Asia to boost U.S. exports.
So far, President Obama has sealed some $15 billion in defense and trade deals with India that he said would create an additional 50,000 jobs in the United States.

snip

India is the world’s largest importer of weaponry, and the United States has been very keen to sell as much weaponry as possible, to close as many deals with India in next couple of years. One of the reasons is some of the Indian armaments are coming to a point where they’ll need to have either retrofitting or to be, you know, substituted. So, previously, India used to buy from Russia, largely, and from Europe, and the United States is very eager to enter this market. And this is perhaps a $50 to $60 billion market, already twice what the United States and India do in trade. So one of the main elements of the trade agenda, which the corporate executives went for, was arms deals. And already it seems some arms deals have been signed. One arms deal will perhaps be signed at the end of the year, and that is for 126 jet fighters. That deal will be about $10 billion.

The second set of deals are again about a very small group of people. And that is, this is a set of deals to enhance the lifestyle of very rich people in the urban centers. For instance, there’s a deal to build Harley-Davidson motorcycles in India. This is not for a motorcycle for the common person; this is a motorcycle for the affluent. So, thus far, the kinds of deals, the trade that we’ve seen being cut between India and the United States, benefit the arms industry, and they benefit the very rich. As far as ordinary people are concerned, "be the change you want to see," I don’t think so.

snip

Meanwhile a number of groups are protesting Obama’s visit to India, including some left political parties, survivors of the 1984 deadly Bhopal disaster, and the families of cotton farmers who committed suicide, partly as a result of U.S. agricultural subsidies.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/8/big_business_not_poverty_tops_obamas


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Hundreds of Survivors of Bhopal Disaster Protest Obama India Visit

A group of 400 survivors of the Bhopal disaster have been protesting Obama’s visit to India. The 1984 Bhopal industrial gas disaster left an estimated 15,000 people dead. The company, Union Carbide, is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical. Dow has faced calls to clean up the contaminated site, increase compensation for victims, and fund studies to assess damages to the environment and public health. India has also demanded the extradition of former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson, who fled India shortly after his arrest in the disaster’s aftermath....

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The Case of David Headley: Pakistani American DEA Informant at Center of 2008 Mumbai Attacks

Many in India were disappointed that President Obama made no public mention of a central figure in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai: a Pakistani American man named David Coleman Headley who was also a former informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Indian authorities have raised questions about why the United States overlooked repeated warnings about Headley’s terrorist activities and point to his connections to both American law enforcement as well as Pakistani intelligence officials.....

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/8/obama_makes_no_mention_of_pakistani

[Junkdrawer]

1. Kinda makes you wonder: Is Obama the President or Chief Spokesperson....

for America, Inc.

[peacebird]

2. one big recipient of corporate welfare has declared that it will only take contracts that guarantee

13.5% profit.

And their management has decided that since the banks were declared "Too big to Fail" that this major member of the military-industrial complex will also be determined to be too big to fail, and that the Govt will decide that they really DO need 13.5% profit guaranteed on every contract.

Corporate greed knows no bounds.

I worked for these slime until last month - and what I say is 100% true.

[marmar]

3. It's pretty sad that the only products we make for anyone to buy are weapons.

An economy based on financial usury and WMDs is in real trouble.

[Catherina]

4. +1 Thread recommended too n/t

[Enrique]

5. great show today

best coverage of Obama in India I've seen.

[piratefish08]

6. "Accompanied by some 250 business executives"

jesus christ on a krispy kreme.

we are fucked.