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02/26/2006:

"Booming India finds that America wants to be its new best friend"

...Last week, George W Bush was giving some thought to the fondness of young Indians for pizzas. As he prepares for a landmark visit to India - a trip analysts promise will bring 'India firmly and irrevocably on to the world stage as a major player' - it is these consumers he wants. In a speech ahead of his visit, he told US listeners: 'India's middle class is now estimated at 300 million people. Think about that. That's greater than the entire population of the United States. India's middle class is buying air-conditioners, kitchen appliances and washing machines, and a lot of them from American companies such as GE and Whirlpool.'

The Bush administration is acutely aware of India changing. With a growth rate now at 8 per cent, its economy has transformed itself in 15 years from that of a Third World nation to a powerful emerging force aspiring to rival China.

On Wednesday, the President will fly into New Delhi along with a large contingent of business leaders to secure a new relationship with India. The US wants to tap into its vast market: last year US exports grew by more than 30 per cent.

With foreign policy initiatives failing elsewhere, Bush's advisers are reaching out in new directions. As Japan and Europe grow weaker and China stronger, the administration has seen India as a strategic priority. The world's largest democracy is, as Bush's aides chant endlessly, 'a country sharing our democratic values and commitment to a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society'.
observor.guardian.co.uk


Insults to the Mahatma, ignored by India
George W Bush's protocol handlers have notified South Block that the American President's deep belief in his born again faith precludes his visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Samadhi at New Delhi's Raj Ghat -- during his forthcoming visit to India.

When asked -- by reporters on a recent trip aboard Air Force One -- if he will be breaking a decades long tradition of foreign dignitaries visiting India paying respect to the Father of India, Mr Bush, as is his wont, was caught off guard and mumbled something about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ views cremation as a pagan practice.