Modi visit fuels concerns Biden putting human rights on back burner

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ state visit is fueling concerns from activist groups in the United States that the Biden administration has put human rights on the back burner.

During the visit, President Biden held back from public criticism of Modi’s handling of human rights and democratic values — issues that led a handful of progressive lawmakers to boycott his speech to a joint address to Congress.

The president, instead, rolled out the red carpet for Modi with a celebratory welcome and hug, a 21-gun salute and a state dinner with notable White House guests, a charm offensive underscoring India’s economic and foreign policy importance to the United States.

Biden had previously come under criticism last July for a fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Jeddah that advocates argue effectively ignored the Saudi government’s human rights abuses.

White House officials contend that tough conversations with allies behind closed doors — including Modi — are more productive than grandstanding and scolding in public. 

“The prime minister and I had a good discussion about democratic values. … We’re straightforward with each other, and — and we respect each other,” Biden said during a press conference alongside Modi at the White House on Thursday. 

But critics say that puts little pressure on governments and leaders like Modi to actually deliver on reforms.

The Indian leader in particular is criticized for failing to counter anti-Muslim hate and is cracking down on civil liberties and press freedoms — issues that strike at the core of respect for democratic governments. 

“I would argue that the administration needs to be more explicit about backsliding allies, practically recommitting themselves to fundamental freedoms and the respect for human rights as the basis for an evolving global order,” said Tess McEnery, who previously served as Biden’s director for democracy and human rights at the National Security Council.

During his campaign, Biden put human rights at the center of his foreign policy messaging and identified strengthening democracy — at home and abroad — as key to pushing back against autocratic governments such as Russia and China.

Yet in pushing back on Russia and China, the US also needs allies. And that has complicated efforts with human rights.

The White House sees India as an indispensable partner in its strategy with China; its population of 1.4 billion people is the only market that can compete with Beijing’s.

India represents a needed partner in the administration’s efforts to diversify supply chains away from China for critical materials such as semiconductors and rare earth minerals that are the building blocks of those technologies.  

Modi recognized the power that India holds during his address to Congress on Thursday.

“When defense and aerospace in India grow, industries in the states of Washington, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania thrive. … When Indians fly more, a single order for aircrafts creates more than a million jobs in 44 states in America,” he said. “When an American phone maker invests in India, it creates an entire ecosystem of jobs and opportunities in both countries.”

The most robust applause from Congress came when Modi said the US was one of India’s most important defense partners — an important statement given American efforts to turn New Delhi away from its reliance on Russia’s defense industry and have it serve a bulwark against China’s growing military.

The US is home to a more than an Indian-American community of more than 4.5 million people — a key voting bloc that the president hopes to hold onto ahead of what is likely to be a fraught 2024 presidential election. 

“I think that President Biden is eager not to cede any of the, kind of, Indian-American community vote to the Republican Party,” said Daniel Markey, senior adviser on South Asia at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are largely united in supporting a robust US and Indian partnership. A bipartisan and bicameral grouping introduced legislation Thursday to fast-track weapons sales to India in recognition of Modi’s visit.

And while more than 70 House and Senate lawmakers raised concerns over Modi’s human rights record in a letter to Biden ahead of the visit, only a little more than a handful of progressive Democratic lawmakers boycotted the prime minister’s speech. 

“We are told that we must now turn a blind eye to the repression because of foreign policy concerns, even though human rights are supposed to be at the center of our foreign policy,”Ilhan Omar said during a policy briefing she hosted with human rights advocates after Modi’s address, which she boycotted. 

Among the most pressing criticisms against Modi’s rule is the criminal conviction against Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who was sentenced to two years in prison for negatively using Modi’s surname during a political rally in 2019.

 

==========

Advocates have also warned about freedom of speech and press freedoms in India in the wake of a tax raid on the offices of the BBC in India in March, and cases of journalists being jailed.

Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that tracks democratic freedoms globally, rated India as partly free in its Freedom in the World report for 2023. The group claimed Modi’s government and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting the Muslim population.

“The constitution guarantees civil liberties including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but harassment of journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and other government critics has increased significantly under Modi,” the group wrote. 

Jim McGovern, co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, argued that a balance can be met between calling out human rights concerns while also supporting the US-Indian relationship. 

“It’s because we value our friendship with the Indian people that we also have to speak the truth about human rights abuses in India that are ongoing, well-documented by credible observers and deeply troubling,” he said at the policy briefing hosted by Omar.  

“We don’t raise these issues to discredit India,” he continued. “We raise them because we know from our own experience that if human rights problems are not confronted and resolved, they will fester and deepen and undermine a country’s promise.” 

Markey, of the USIP, said the Biden administration prepared for blowback over the decision to keep criticisms against Modi in private, but added that its excessive references to sharing appreciation for democratic governance did itself no favors.

“I think they went even farther than maybe they needed to do, for Indian consumption,” he said. 

“They leaned into the shared-democracy issue, rather than pulling back from it,” Markey added. “They gave a lot of ammunition to those who would suggest that this is just pure hypocrisy at this point, rather than kind of edging around it.”

McEnery, who is now the executive director of the Project on Middle East Democracy, said the Biden administration needs to elevate defending democracy and human rights to an “interest” more than a value.

That would mean doing trade and economic deals centered on good governance principles, she said, or reforming arms and security relationships based on human rights. 

“I saw this firsthand a lot, where many good, hard-working people inside every arm of the US government, including the National Security Council, tried to make the case for democracy and human rights as a vital national security interest,” she said. “And I would see that shot down time and again by others throughout the government.” 

 

 

 

 

Israel reboots fiercely opposed judicial campaign

Israeli lawmakers on Sunday began debating a bill that would limit the Supreme Court's powers, rebooting a fiercely opposed judicial overhaul instigated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition.

Anti-government demonstrations had prompted Netanyahu to suspend his judicial drive in March to allow compromise talks with opposition parties. He declared those talks fruitless last week and ordered some of the legislation to be revived.

The proposed changes, which include curbing on the court's ability to rule against the government, had sparked frequent street protests before the March suspension. On Saturday night anti-overhaul activists blocked a major Tel Aviv highway.

Coalition lawmakers have indicated that the new bill would be a far softer version of previous proposals that had sought to almost totally roll back the Supreme Court's power to rule against the executive.

The opposition, however, says the new bill would still open the door to corruption.

"You are renewing a legislation blitz meant to destroy the justice system's independence and badly hurt Israeli democracy's delicate checks and balances," Labour lawmaker Gilad Kariv said as the debate began.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Twitter urged Netanyahu to stop the legislation and revive negotiations "until we reach agreements that will safeguard democracy and prevent a national disaster".

The proposed judicial overhaul has also stirred Western concern over Israel's democratic health and spooked investors. Critics see it as an attempt to curb court independence by Netanyahu, who is on trial on graft charges that he denies.

The coalition says its goal is to balance the powers of the government, legislature and judiciary by reining in a Supreme Court they see as too interventionist.

 

Iranian oil output increases by 350,000 bpd

According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) Iran’s crude oil output has increased by about 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) since the beginning of 2023, despite the US sanctions targeting the country’s oil sector.

“Despite tough financial restrictions, Iran managed to increase crude oil output by about 130,000 bpd in 2022 to an average 2.55 million bpd, and by 350,000 bpd since the beginning of this year,” the IEA said in its latest report dubbed Oil 2023.

The report argued that Iran remains a wildcard for world oil markets, and if it is released from sanctions, production could ramp up gradually by roughly 900,000 bpd to reach the capacity of 3.8 million bpd.

Higher exports and domestic throughput have pushed Iranian crude production up to around 2.9 million bpd in May 2023, it added.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Iran has been shipping the highest amount of crude in almost five years despite US sanctions.

Bloomberg cited energy analysts as saying that Iran’s oil exports have surged to the highest level since the US unilaterally re-imposed sanctions on the country in 2018.

The crude shipments have doubled since last autumn to reach 1.6 million barrels a day in May 2023, according to the report.

A Reuters report said on July 16, 2022 that Iranian crude shipments continued to rise in 2023 with higher shipments to China, Syria, and Venezuela. The report quoted consultants, shipping data, and a source familiar with the matter.

A large chunk of Iran’s crude oil goes to China which is the world’s major importer of energy. Several European customers including Germany, Spain, and Bulgaria also imported oil from Iran.

The United States, under former president Donald Trump, abandoned the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and reinstated unilateral sanctions that the agreement had lifted.

Tehran's oil exports have been limited since May 2018. However, the exports have risen steadily during the term of current US President, Joe Biden.

The crude exports exceeded 1.5 million bpd in May 2023, the highest monthly rate since 2018, Reuters reported quoting Kpler, a major international tanker-tracking service.

The exports were roughly 2.5 million bpd in 2018, before the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Iran said in May it has boosted its crude output to above three million bpd. That's about three percent of global supply and would be the highest since 2018, according to figures from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

SVB International, a consultant, estimates crude production hit 3.04 million bpd in May, up from 2.66 million bpd in January. Exports of crude and condensate were 1.93 million bpd in May, according to the report.

"Sanctions are in place but perhaps they are not fully implemented or monitored," said Sara Vakhshouri of SVB.

The recently published figures are the latest sign that US sanctions on Iran have failed to cut the country’s oil revenues to zero, an objective frequently stated by former and current US administration officials.

They also vindicate efforts by Iran in recent years to rely more on diplomatic and economic resources to circumvent US sanctions rather than to submit to Washington’s pressure to scale back its nuclear, defense, and foreign policy programs in return for an easing of the sanctions.

In May, senior US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham confessed to the ineffectiveness of the sanctions that have been unilaterally imposed on Iran.

Graham slammed the Biden administration for failing to stop Iran’s oil exports.

“Iranians are making more money under sanctions not less and China is the biggest reason we're not doing a damn thing about it,” he reportedly said.

Why is US Media Blind to American War Atrocities?

Today I am obliged to share this text excerpted from Norman Solomon’s new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine. On the first day of March 2022, visitors to the New York Times homepage saw a headline across the top of their screens in huge capital letters: ROCKET BARRAGE KILLS CIVILIANS.

It was the kind of breaking news banner headline that could have referred to countless US missile attacks and other military assaults during the previous two decades, telling of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.

But those wars on terror, killings did not qualify for huge banner headlines. What stirred the Times to quickly publish one about civilian deaths was—as reported on the front page of its print edition, “A deadly Russian rocket assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city that raised new alarms about how far the Kremlin was willing to go to subjugate its smaller neighbor.”

During the months that followed, the New York Times was among thousands of American outlets devoting the kind of news coverage to Russia’s war in Ukraine that would have been unthinkable while reporting on US warfare.

Early in April, 40 days after the Russian invasion began a jarring headline in all capitals—“HORROR GROWS OVER SLAUGHTER IN UKRAINE”—spanned the top of the front page of the Times print edition.

During April, 14 stories on the newspaper’s front page were primarily about civilian deaths as a result of the Russian invasion, all of which appeared at the top of the page, researchers found Fairness and Accuracy in reporting.

During a comparable period—after the US invaded Iraq—the Times published only one story about civilian deaths at the hands of the US military on the front page.

By any consistent standard, the horrors that the US military had brought to so many civilians since the autumn of 2001 were no less terrible for the victims than what Russia is doing in Ukraine.

But the US media coverage has been vastly more immediate, graphic, extensive, and outraged about Russia’s slaughter than America’s slaughter.

On the rare occasions when a major US news outlet provided in-depth reporting of civilian deaths caused by American forces, the pieces were usually retrospective, appearing long after the fact—postmortems with little political impact and scant follow-up, hardly making a peep in media echo chambers.

No matter how sophisticated its high-tech weaponry, the large-scale Russian warfare in Ukraine is barbaric. That the same could also be said about American warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq was a truth nearly taboo to utter in US mass media.

Both the United States and Russia had brazenly flouted international law, crossing borders and persisting with massive lethal force.

Coherent principles would condemn and illuminate each instance. But, despite press freedoms in the United States, very few big-name journalists and their imitators in the profession have been willing to break ranks with the gist of Washington’s official war narratives, which are, at bottom, not much more nuanced than assuming that America’s exemplary national character has been mobilized to defeat the unmitigated evil of the foe.

Nationalism masquerading as journalism covers war in darkness and light, telling us for whom the bell tolls. And so, when Russia invaded Ukraine and proceeded to terrorize, kill, and maim, the US media were all hands on deck with empathetic, poignant reporting via TV, radio, print, and online outlets.

But when American missiles and gravity bombs hit population centers over the previous two decades, the human tragedies rarely got anything more than short shrift in the US media.

The extreme differences in the quantity and tone of coverage reflected—and reinforced—the agendas of war makers based in Washington.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, is published by The New Press

 

Tehran and Kabul reach major trade agreements

During the visit of the head of the Iranian Trade Promotion Organization (TPO)’s Afghan desk to Afghanistan, important agreements were made for the development of trade relations between the two countries, the TPO portal reported.

Hamidreza Karbalaie Esmaili’s visit to Afghanistan was aimed at improving trade relations between the two neighbors in the fields of technical and engineering services, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, petrochemical products, food industry, etc.

During the visit, Esmaili met and held talks with the economic, commercial, and medical officials of the country, including the acting minister of public health, first deputy of the chamber of commerce and investment, director general of Afghanistan customs, deputy and senior advisor to the acting minister of trade, consul general of Iran in Herat, border guard commissioner, and director general of Dogharoun customs.

Following the talks, the two sides reached initial agreements for completing several infrastructure projects and decided to begin negotiations on a preferential trade agreement and expanding customs cooperation.

During the talks, the parties prepared a list of 10 commodity items for the implementation of the first phase of the preferential trade agreement. The number of items will be increased in the near future.

Also, agreements were made regarding the formation of a joint industrial zone at the two countries' border, with energy infrastructure being supplied by Iran and the investment for establishing the zone being provided by Afghan businessmen in collaboration with the Iranian private sector.

The Afghan side also announced its readiness to open a transit route from Pakistan to Iran’s Khorasan Razavi Province via the Taftan-Chaman-Islam Qala-Mashhad route, which will reduce the route between the two countries from 1,500 to less than 1,000 kilometers.

Acceptance of elite Afghan students in various medical and non-medical fields in Iranian universities and bilateral cooperation regarding the specialized training of Afghan medical staff by sending Iranian professors to Afghanistan were among other subjects that the parties agreed upon.

 

Pakistan Stock Exchange benchmark index posts 3.0%WoW decline

The week ended on June 23, 2023 witnessed gloomy sentiments overwhelming Pakistan Stock Exchange. The benchmark KSE-100 index has experienced bearish sentiments since the announcement of the Federal Budget on June 09, 2023. The Index opened the week at 41,301 points and closed at 40,065, losing 1,236 points or 3.0%WoW.

Daily average traded volume was reported at 131 million shares as compared to 161.7 million shares a week ago, down 19.0%WoW. The market performance has been characterized by the IMF’s disagreement over the federal budget, aggravated by Pakistan’s non-inclusion in the Fund’s board meetings up till June 29, 2023.

Although there are assurances from the Prime minister and other senior officials regarding a positive conclusion to the program, investor sentiments remain bearish.

Foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) plunged to US$3.5 billion, excluding the refinanced US$300 million from China and absence of any bilateral flows owing to the stalled IMF program, exacerbating the already precarious situation. Pakistan faces US$10.35 billion debt obligation by the end of December 31, 2023. The exchange parity registered mild gains to close at PKR286.7 to US$.

Other major news for the week were: 1) FBR income tax collection was up 41.0%YoY surpassing the annual target of PkR3,026 billion ahead of FY23 close; 2) SBP mobilized PKR2.43 billion through T-Bills auction, at a flattish yield of 22.0%; 3) current account surplus was recorded at US$225 million for May 2023, as compared to a surplus of US$78 million in April 2023. The deficit for 11MFY23 narrowed by 81% due to curbed imports; 4) FDI declined by 21%YoY during 11MFY23 to US$1.32 billion. Total foreign investment nosedived 82.0%YoY to stand at US$294 million. However, US$149 million inflows were recorded in May 2023, depicting a 6.0%MoM increase in FDI; 5) external government borrowing of US$8.6 billion during 11MFY23 declined by 36.0%YoY.

Leasing Companies, Transport, and Glass & Ceramics have been the worst performers, whilst Tobacco remained the exception.

Major net selling was recorded by Brokers at US$7.7 million. Companies absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of US$10.5 million.

Top performers during the week were: SML, SHEL, PAKT, UPFL, and AGP, while top laggards included MTL, PGLC, YOUW, GATM, and PSMC.

Market is expected to remain range-bound owing to a lack of clarity on the IMF program, stalled bilateral flows amidst a burgeoning debt burden fueling the default risk. Analysts expect the market to react once NA finalizes the Finance Act for FY24, keeping in view proposals put forward by the Senate and other business bodies.

They reiterate their stance of following a cautious approach to stock picking and we continue to advocate dollar-denominated revenue stream scrips (Technology and E&P sector) to hedge against currency risk and high dividend yielding scrips. 

Pakistan hits out at US and India after Biden-Modi meeting

According to Reuters, Pakistan on Friday criticized the United States and India after President Joe Biden met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House and both leaders called on Pakistan to ensure its territory was not used as a base for militant attacks.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said a joint US-Indian statement was unwarranted, one-sided, and misleading. The reference to Islamabad in it was contrary to diplomatic norms, it said.

The ministry added that it was surprised by the joint s

tatement and said it had close counterterrorism cooperation with the United States.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been fraught for years. Since independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

The joint US-Indian statement said, "They (Biden and Modi) strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks."

Pakistan's foreign ministry said India was using the allegations of extremism against Islamabad to deflect from the situation in Kashmir and the treatment of minorities in India.

New Delhi has for years accused Pakistan of launching militant attacks in India, including the one in 2008 in Mumbai that killed over 165 people.

India also says Pakistan has helped Islamist militants who have battled Indian security forces in its part of Kashmir since the late 1980s. Pakistan denies the accusation and says it only provides diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiris seeking self-determination.

The special status given to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked in 2019 when New Delhi split it into two federally controlled territories. Pakistan calls the moves illegal and wants them rolled back.

Biden rolled out the red carpet for Modi on Thursday, with both leaders touting deals their countries reached on defense and commerce aimed at countering China's global influence.

Pakistan also said it was deeply concerned over the planned transfer of advanced military technologies to India, saying such steps would not prove helpful in achieving peace in South Asia.