US - Indian relations are strained right now. To put it mildly.
What happened?
Devyani Khobragade, the Indian deputy consul-general in New York, was arrested in New York, for submitting false paperwork for a housekeeper. She was apprehended and handcuffed when dropping off her daughter at school, in front of her daughter and her classmates. She was then detained, subjected to a strip-search and to multiple cavity searches. To put this harmless word to a more plastic view - she was forced to endure someone shoving parts of his hand and/or foreign objects into her vagina, her anus as well as her mouth.
To Indian eyes, as well as to those of most non-Americans, such a proceeding is barbaric and completely incomprehensible. Says the Toronto Globe and Mail:
(...) the case touches on a string of issues that strike deeply in India, where the fear of public humiliation resonates strongly (...). For an educated, middle-class woman to face public arrest and a strip search is almost unimaginable, except in the most brutal crimes.
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The ritualistic humiliation of those targeted by US law enforcement are pretty unique. The completely needless insistence of forcible arrest and booking for every accused serves no other purpose - elsewhere only those are arrested where a substantial flight risk can be argues. The same applies to the means and conditions of arrest: handcuffing is optional and situation dependent, and mandatory strip and cavity searches virtually unknown - those procedures are reserved for those cases where they serve a practical purpose.
This is especially true when it comes to issues of administrative "malfeasance". At issue here is the fact that she paid her maid $3.31 (plus board and lodging), below NY minimum wage. To get a work visa for the maid, she had to give a different number in the visa application, which she did (US$ 4500 monthly - it seems to be undisputed that the NY minimum wage laws forced a number that high, though I don't understand the math behind that)
Now, to the eyes of the Indian public the maid was extraordinarily well paid - substantially more than the median salary of an Indian mechanical engineer. Also, Khobragade herself earns a salary below the aforementioned $4500, so the question how she is supposed to pay her maid that is anyone's guess.
Adding more complication to the matter is that this is fallout from an ongoing civil litigation. Since the contract was made in India, and both involved are Indian nationals, a high ranking Indian court has barred the nanny from pursuing the matter with US authorities until the issue is litigated in India. And since the nanny failed to abide by the court order, there is an Indian arrest warrant for her and the US has been asked to locate her. But instead of assisting the Indian court, the US is now actively undermining its work.
And that is not all. Your first assumption when you see such a colossal mess of foreign relations is that a bunch local cops lacked good judgment and mistreated the lady. Possibly even for reasons of skin color. But that isn't the case here, either. The feds have their fingers all over this mess, from the very beginning. Apparently, Khobragade was arrested by the Diplomatic Security Service, an agency that is part of the state department and subsequently transferred to the US Marshal Service, another federal agency, which handled her incarceration.
So, no hapless local cops involved here - it was Kerry's very own goon squad that created this mess. (In diplomatic terms, that is nearly as good as Kerry shoving his hand up her vagina himself).
Now, India is pissed. The government, the public, the press - the outrage is wide and massive. India's national security advisor called the treatment “despicable and barbaric.” A government speaker said the government is "shocked and appalled" at the manner in which Ms Khobragade was "humiliated" in the US.
The Washington Post reports
“This is not the way friends and partners behave,” said a senior Indian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. “We’ve never in our history — even with unfriendly countries — had anybody treat a diplomat like this. This is an outrage among all of us.”
And there are consequences. A US congressional delegation suddenly finds itself with no one to talk to - all appointments with government members had been voided.
Also, India has retaliated against the US diplomatic community in India. Quite a few special privileges and perks were canceled, even security was drawn down to the minimum required by international treaties.
And the issue is still escalating. After the geniuses at state decided it would save their collective hides to claim Ms Khobragade only had limited diplomatic immunity (since she works at the consulate, not the embassy), and her treatment were justified because of that, India fixed that issue in no time: she was instantly transferred to India's UN embassy.
And an unnamed senior diplomat even hinted to the Times of India that the government could start retaliatory arrests of gay partners of diplomats living in the country, based on the recently reinstated law against homosexuality.
What, the fuck are they thinking, down at Foggy Bottom?
What are they thinking? is there anybody left thinking at all?
Or are they all so chock full of imperial arrogance that nobody bothered to think about what would happen at all?
Update: LunkHead yesterday posted a completely different view on the issue.