Meera Shankar, India's US Ambassador, Got 'Unacceptable' Frisking

She is an ambassador. She is a vital diplomat in terms of US-India relations. Should US want to maintain positive relations with India, then maybe they shouldn't molest the friggin' ambassador from India.

I'm sure the TSA agents felt pretty full of themselves. They probably went home that night and told all their friends about it.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler

Originally posted by Expat888
At least theyre consistant and apply equal groping for all.. So much for diplomatic immunity in Amerika..

Yeah I think the U.S. Government is now under the impression that the only Diplomat in the world is Hilary Clinton, who would probably be avoided like the plague by the TSA even if she wasn't the Secretary of State!

That may be hillarys problem- willie and every other male in the world find her repulsive.. She's taking her frustration out on everyone.. Typical Amerika thinks its the center of the universe and expects the world to bow to it.. I have a suspicion the search of Indias ambassador wasnt accidental as claimed..

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


To some degree I agree with you in being good host, but considering they are reps from "OTHER" countries doesn not mean they are given special status and a free pass to walk through in my eyes.
Seems to me, there should be TSA xray scanning and pat downs for them only considering they seem to come with the big bag full of tricks.
And by all means, America is no better with their bag of tricks!

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi
She is an ambassador. She is a vital diplomat in terms of US-India relations. Should US want to maintain positive relations with India, then maybe they shouldn't molest the friggin' ambassador from India.

I'm sure the TSA agents felt pretty full of themselves. They probably went home that night and told all their friends about it.

They are actually operating in a mode fairly reminiscent of Hitler's SA Brown Shirts, as basically low minded thugs and hooligans delighting in their bit of power over others, and intent on using it to humiliate people.

Whether it's a lack of training, critical thinking, or a deliberate ploy to enflame international tensions, they certainly do a poor job at representing the American people, and a poorer job at protecting them.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the 'vangaurd troops' selected to protect American commerical and aviation interests from the vagaries of the War on Terror, actually ended up causing a much more serious conventional war?

Thanks for posting my friend.

Originally posted by Patrioitinsheepclothing
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

To some degree I agree with you in being good host, but considering they are reps from "OTHER" countries doesn not mean they are given special status and a free pass to walk through in my eyes.
Seems to me, there should be TSA xray scanning and pat downs for them only considering they seem to come with the big bag full of tricks.
And by all means, America is no better with their bag of tricks!

And what would you say if the American ambassador to India was frisked down by Indian security agents? Perhaps even smacked around a little, would you call that unfair?

EDIT:

Wouldn't it be ironic if the 'vangaurd troops' selected to protect American commerical and aviation interests from the vagaries of the War on Terror, actually ended up causing a much more serious conventional war?

Of course there is the potential for this. At least in my eyes, a much higher potential for TSA to spark a war than for terrorists to bomb American airplanes. It just defines American ignorance of global culture, because they only believe in one culture and they play the "equal" card only when it suits them.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler

Originally posted by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi
She is an ambassador. She is a vital diplomat in terms of US-India relations. Should US want to maintain positive relations with India, then maybe they shouldn't molest the friggin' ambassador from India.

I'm sure the TSA agents felt pretty full of themselves. They probably went home that night and told all their friends about it.

They are actually operating in a mode fairly reminiscent of Hitler's SA Brown Shirts, as basically low minded thugs and hooligans delighting in their bit of power over others, and intent on using it to humiliate people.

Whether it's a lack of training, critical thinking, or a deliberate ploy to enflame international tensions, they certainly do a poor job at representing the American people, and a poorer job at protecting them.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the 'vangaurd troops' selected to protect American commerical and aviation interests from the vagaries of the War on Terror, actually ended up causing a much more serious conventional war?

Thanks for posting my friend.

I think you are right here. The TSA agents employed to 'protect' the people are unintelligent, easily swayed thugs, who get a big kick from weilding the power they have never been able to command in ordinary life. I'm sure the uniform only adds to their sense that they are superior. I have no doubt that a certain type of person is saught for this job.

The indian ambassador has just highlighted what these people really are and even if the government wanted certain people to pass through the checks unscathed, I'm not sure these imbeciles would have the intelligence to fulfill that order.

I'm still waiting for Obama to send his wife and kids through this security to prove there's nothing sinister in it.

I think this is great.
now the world will know what america has become.
I wonder if the TSA agent did it to get attention?
this could get it all stop't.
what do you think all the diplomats from other country's will think.
this is so bad on so many levels.
I hope the TSA stop the chines ambassador.
now that would be funny.
then duck and cover...

Originally posted by Patrioitinsheepclothing
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

To some degree I agree with you in being good host, but considering they are reps from "OTHER" countries doesn not mean they are given special status and a free pass to walk through in my eyes.
Seems to me, there should be TSA xray scanning and pat downs for them only considering they seem to come with the big bag full of tricks.
And by all means, America is no better with their bag of tricks!

Originally posted by Patrioitinsheepclothing
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

To some degree I agree with you in being good host, but considering they are reps from "OTHER" countries doesn not mean they are given special status and a free pass to walk through in my eyes.
Seems to me, there should be TSA xray scanning and pat downs for them only considering they seem to come with the big bag full of tricks.
And by all means, America is no better with their bag of tricks!

Well unfortunately this is not what time honored International Conventions and protocols dictate. Ambassadors like embassies are the sovereign property of another country. There are certain things that if not honored have severe repurcussions.

The whole world wide system of governance is based on Heads of State being sovereign and having immunity in regards to the laws of the land that not only they rule, but those they travel through. That immunity extends to their embassadors which are the heads of states official messengers.

While War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity which are also outlined by treaty and conventions will allow a sovereign entity to be stripped of it through legal mechanisms, what the TSA did was an illegal act that stripped a foreign dignatary of their sovereignty.

This in fact can be considered an act of war, so treating an ambassador from a 'friendly' nuclear armed nation, with vital trade ties to the United States in this fashion at the discretion of a peon is not only unwise but could have devestating financial repurcussions as well as even military ones.

Like the Enemy Combatant distinction which is so illegal that nations are having to pay huge lawsuits now to their citizens who have been detained by us as enemy combatants, the U.S. is trying to basically now domineer the whole system.

Hilary Clinton our Ambassador would not be searched or detained at any TSA Checkpoint, neither should any other Nation's Ambassador.

If you want our Amassador detained say in Turkey and her sensitive diplomatic pouches rifled through and inspected and possibly detained then a good way to gaurantee it is by us unilatterally stripping other Ambassadors of their actual Legal Protections.

It's one thing to violate the Constitution, that's on the people of the United States to defend, if they don't want to bother or are too chicken too, oh well.

When you violate International Law, which this is, a very serious violation of International Law then you risk a whole range of repurcussions our fragile economy can't afford.

Pretty stupid just to get a laugh in if you ask me.

Wunderbar! We need some outside perspective to show just how overboard we've gone in matters of security.
The world laughs at us and maybe Congress just might notice.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi


Give them the works as well not just the finger but the whoe fist, make them sing Moon River.Being frisked at the airport has nothing to do with National Security or any other form of made up Gov'mnt hush hush BS. If they were so damn worried about national security then them Chicom's wouldnt have been able to get blackberry info from our Members as they sat in the white house meetings.
I like to think of it as "Keeping Everyone Above Board" it would cut back on the backdoor deals and easy the tention about there being Wikiliks. If its going to be harder for us to travel just to visit family and friends, then why not reverse the role on the keepers and give them a taste of what they are feeding us.

Originally posted by Expat888

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler

Originally posted by Expat888
At least theyre consistant and apply equal groping for all.. So much for diplomatic immunity in Amerika..

Yeah I think the U.S. Government is now under the impression that the only Diplomat in the world is Hilary Clinton, who would probably be avoided like the plague by the TSA even if she wasn't the Secretary of State!

That may be hillarys problem- willie and every other male in the world find her repulsive.. She's taking her frustration out on everyone.. Typical Amerika thinks its the center of the universe and expects the world to bow to it.. I have a suspicion the search of Indias ambassador wasnt accidental as claimed..

Let's look at it this way, a U.S. Customs agent making the same mistake (which is basically unthinkable) of searching and detaining a foreign diplomat would likely result in the Agents suspension or termination and a public appology from the Secratary of State or the President.

Without a formal declaration of a ceasation of diplomatic ties, attempting this kind of treatment to an ambassador is a real risk, that would either have to be political in some covert way, or has to be just a sign of the TSA's lack of training and professionalism.

If they don't know how to treat foreign diplomats, how the heck would they know something far more difficult like how to actually spot a skilled terrorist?

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

And what would you say if the American ambassador to India was frisked down by Indian security agents? Perhaps even smacked around a little, would you call that unfair?

In Hillary's case I would call that an extreme act of charity, where as I believe Bill would refer to it as her "getting lucky!"

Of course there is the potential for this. At least in my eyes, a much higher potential for TSA to spark a war than for terrorists to bomb American airplanes. It just defines American ignorance of global culture, because they only believe in one culture and they play the "equal" card only when it suits them.

And here in lies the rub, the American people have been so programmed to believe their Judean/Christian version of psuedo-democracy where you simply get to chose which of a few handful of people will actually get a vote that represents hundreds of millions of people is such an epitome of freedom that we are somehow doing the rest of the world a favor by ramming it down their throats at the barrel of a gun or through economic extortion.

What little terrorist problem we do have, and it's so minimal as to actually be neglible is a result of this heavy handed one sided gunboat dimplomacy.

It certainly allows for our corporations and bankers to dominate markets and steal resources but it's truly bankrupting America financially, morally, and spiritually.

Hopefully there is a way to end it all before it crashes down on us all and us all having to pay a much higher price for it that anyone ever imagined.

Thanks for posting my friend.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Wunderbar! We need some outside perspective to show just how overboard we've gone in matters of security.
The world laughs at us and maybe Congress just might notice.

They are bound to be annoyed that their Golf Trips and home improvements and insider stock tips and other forms of payolla are being jeapordized by these poorly paid thugs.

Knowing our congress it will punish them by giving them a raise!

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

So much for the good old days of Diplomatic Immunity! India is pretty peeved over it’s U.S. Ambassador’s treatment at the hands of the TSA who has twice now been singled out for “intensive screening” because of her traditional dress.

That is the first thing that came to mind when I read your openning post, there are no exceptions anymore, if we have to be frisked so should they.

Here's what people fail to understand. All the terrorists so far have been White or Black people, and not Indian.
So why not just target White and Black people at airports for screening and "frisking"!

I think many are failing to understand that Diplomatic Inmunities has nothing to do with being or not being equal. It has to do with LAW.
You wouldn't expect a PRESIDENT to pas thru customs and be strip-searched, would you? (I'd love to see that but that's another issue )
International Law (as in Laws that were written with the consensus of the signing nations) has been broken.
But I don't expect MUCH turmoil or whatever... It's the US... Most nation's govt's are comfortable being their slaves as long as they can keep stealing from their peoples... Sadly, it's going to take a lot of struggle to change that, nonetheles, we ARE going to change that, if we persevere.
Keep up the fight Americans, some day you'll be free again, and that's going to be good for ALL of us...

I'm surprised that she's flying on regular commercial airlines. If she did like most higher level U.S. representatives and dignitaries do, they usually take government flights and miss out on all the TSA "fun". (Which probably explains why they write up and pass stupidly bad laws, because they miss out on the B.S. that they create for the rest of us.)

I wonder how long the TSA would last if our own reps were to lose the perks of getting free gov't provided flights outside of the commercial airlines? At least in this regard India's ambassador has more in common with the average U.S. citizen. Many of us don't find it exactly "acceptable" either. (I know I avoid flying if time and seasonal weather permits.)

Not to mention the "standards" of the TSA seem to vary greatly from airport to airport. My last experience with TSA at O'hare was surprisingly organized and polite - probably the model the organization should strive for. Sounds funny given the reputation of Chicago + gov't jobs, but true. However going back the other way I'd be damned if the agents at SeaTac knew what the hell they were doing. There's too much inconsistency across the board.