Video and Transcript: President Obama's Speech to the Indian Parliament

President Obama's speech on Monday to the Indian Parliament, in five parts:

I thank you for the great honor of addressing the representatives of more than one billion Indians and the world’s largest democracy. I bring the greetings and friendship of the world’s oldest democracy—the U.S.A, including nearly three million proud and patriotic Indian Americans.

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Afghanistan: General Petraeus v. President Obama, Part 542 (Bumiller)

While EA today is looking at the complications of the US counter-insurgency campaign, killing its allies and strengthening the "hard-line" Taliban, Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times is looking at the chatter in Washington, "Some Skeptics Questioning Reports in War Zone".

There's a wicked irony in Bumiller's article. It is pretty clear that her piece is fed by the White House and its allies, fighting back against military "spin", but the Times reporter never mentions how the media effort of US commander David Petraeus --- which has caused the fidgeting in the Obama camp --- was re-launched three weeks ago.

The reporter who trumpeted that the US military was "routing" the Taliban in southern Afghanistan was Carlotta Gall. Her newspaper? The New York Times.

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Obama's Message En Route to Asia: Time to Make Money

President Barack Obama's Asia tour, with stops in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, has started. 

As a good-bye wave before his trip, Obama's "Exporting Our Way to Stability" was published in The New York Times. The President set Washington's goal for the next five years: a doubling of exports. He added: "To do that, we need to find new customers in new markets for American-made goods. And some of the fastest-growing markets in the world are in Asia, where I’m traveling this week."

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Post-Election Israel-US Analysis: Why Obama Should Seek More than "Empathy" with Netanyahu

Given that the Republicans are still a minority in the Senate, Obama's defeat on Tuesday was far from comprehensive. Even if it was, it does not follow that adopting a pro-Israeli position turns setback into success: the invocation that Obama needs "political empathy", making the analogy with President Clinton in 1994, when he "quickly adjusted his polices and moved toward the center" is shallow, both in its assumption of the same situation in 2010 and 16 years earlier and its dismissal of considerations beyond the domestic.

Beyond the Republicans, the US faces other powers --- from Ankara to Damascus to Tehran --- who wish to assert their influence in the region. So where is Washington's front line: in an artificial "empathy" at home or in a decisive move abroad to get a real gain, one which be useful at the ballot boxes in 2012 but have much greater benefits before that?

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US Elections Video & Transcript: President Obama's Remarks on a "Shellacking"

EA WorldView, Wednesday morning: "The best prospect is to try and keep the American economic ship on the water, rather than under it, amidst protracted recession and unemployment....The Democrat/Obama strategy will be to present this pragmatic "stay the course" approach, appealing to the good sense --- political and economic --- of an American centre.

President Obama, Wednesday afternoon: " I think the overwhelming message that I hear from the voters is that we want everybody to act responsibly in Washington, we want you to work harder to arrive at consensus, we want you to focus completely on jobs and the economy and growing it, so that we're ensuring a better future for our children and our grandchildren."

BARACK OBAMA: Some election nights are more fun than others. Some are exhilarating. Some are humbling.

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Today's Washington Wisdom: To Save US Economy, Obama Should Start Iran War

David Broder in today's Washington Post:

Look back at FDR and the Great Depression. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II.

Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.

I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get reelected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.

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How a Savage US Radio Demagogue Embraced Iran's State Media

Even in the often nasty and destructive world of American talk radio, Michael Savage is exceptional. He distingushed himself by blaming Mexican "illegal aliens" in the US for the swine flu outbreak --- "is this a terrorist attack?" --- and he was banned from speaking in Britain because of the possible incitement to hatred.

Still, it is a bit of a surprise to learn that Savage is apparently a fan of Iranian state media. Amidst the colourful spread of snippets on his website "covering" the US elections by bashing the Democrats, there is this firm declaration: "Obama Unlikely to Last First Term".

The source for this exclusive? Why, it's Tehran's Press TV....

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Afghanistan Newsflash: US & Peace Talks Far from "Victory" (Exum)

For the past two weeks, reputable U.S. and British newspapers have been filled with articles touting progress in negotiations between the government in Kabul and Afghanistan's major insurgent groups. On Oct. 20, for example, the New York Times reported that Afghan reconciliation talks "involve extensive, face-to-face discussions with Taliban commanders from the highest levels of the group's leadership." These articles have been accompanied by optimistic reports that the United States and its NATO allies have decimated the Taliban's leadership in southern Afghanistan.

As someone who has fought in Afghanistan on two occasions and served briefly as a civilian advisor to the NATO command group there in 2009, I hope the reports are true. The idea that an end to the fighting in Afghanistan and the involvement of the 100,000 U.S. troops in the country might be just around the corner is seductive. However, there is good reason to be skeptical of the reporting coming out of Kabul and Washington.

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A Beginner's Tour of the US Elections: The Tea Party, "Kooks", and the Senate Race in Kentucky

How can I not like Kentucky? Home of bourbon whisky, the Derby, and bluegrass music, three of the staples of civilised living all found in one state. A perfect day could well consist of sitting at Churchill Downs reviewing the horse-racing programme, sipping a Maker’s Mark while the locals enjoy their mint juleps, and listening to an old-style jug band.

Wrongly or rightly, Kentucky enjoys the reputation of a polite, well-mannered state where the Southern virtues of relaxed refinement and civility still persist.

It is a sign of the threat to the character of Kentucky that the Senate race in the state is turning increasingly bitter and bad-tempered. On Sunday night, the two candidates held a debate where Rand Paul, the tea party-backed Republican, asked his Democrat opponent Jack Conway: “Have you no decency? Have you no shame?"

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Israel-Palestine: Direct Talks in Paris Postponed

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says this Thursday's summit in Paris with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been postponed: "Following consultations, the parties concerned have agreed to decide on another date." 

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Saturday, "The continuation by Israel of settlement activity ruins all peace efforts, be they those of President Barack Obama or those of President Nicolas Sarkozy." He added that the Palestinian Authority had "not received an official invitation, giving a date, for such a meeting".

On Friday, Netanyahu approved plans to build 238 new homes in east Jerusalem, provoking anger from the Palestinian Authority and criticism from both the US and France.

On another front, Netanyahu confirmed that talks with Hamas, through a German mediator, for the release of detained US soldier Gilad Shalit have resumed. 

Shalit has been held by Hamas since a cross-border raid in 2006.