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Nov 23 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
1. Aditya Thackeray recently met the new U.S. Consul general to India, Mike Hankey in Mumbai to discuss “bilateral ties”.

MLA from Worli discussing bilateral ties with foreign consul general?

Here is an overview of Mike Hankey’s past work experience. +
2. Jordan 🇯🇴

Most recently Mr Hankey served as Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan.

Jordan is strategically most important neutral state for US in Israel & Palestine conflict. US has military cooperation with Jordan & is third largest U.S. aid recipient.
3. Jerusalem 🇮🇱 🇵🇸

In 2019 Mr Hankey headed the Palestinian Affairs Unit at U.S. Embassy Jerusalem as the lead for U.S. engagement with the Palestinians.

He was also the deputy to the chief of mission of U.S. Consulate General to Jerusalem.
4. Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦

Mr Hankey Served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

He was leader of US interagency team promoting commercial and security ties in the heart of the Saudi OIL INDUSTRY.
5. Egypt 🇪🇬

Mr Hankey worked In Egypt before and during the “Arab Spring”, he advanced engagement with both Muslim and Christian communities.

🚨The Arab Spring was series of anti-gov protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in 2010s.
6. Iraq & Yemen 🇾🇪 🇮🇶

Mr Hankey had also promoted “economic development” in northwestern Iraq and had worked at the American consular to promote “commercial interests” in Yemen.

Now Arabic, French, and Tamil speaking Mr Hankey is in India to strengthen west India & U.S. ties.
7. What is happening in West India?🇮🇳

There are many ambitious projects underway in west India but biggest one is the multi-crore SAGARMALA program which aims to develop coastal ports that will improve international & domestic logistics & boost trade.
google.com/amp/s/www.firs…
8. Numerous ports under Sagarmala project will not only open domestic trade route but also new shipping routes to countries like Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, reaching all the way to Europe.
aninews.in/news/world/eur…
9. Now environmental protest against Wadhawan mega port which is a key port under Sagarmala program have already started.

Obvious coincidence is that Aditya Thackeray has good experience of being an “environmental minister” of Maharashtra.
swarajyamag.com/infrastructure…
10. Thackeray’s MVA government in past had also created trouble for Vadhawan port over environmental issues when they were in power.

deccanherald.com/amp/national/w…
11. Unsurprisingly even the infamous Medha Patkar who is notorious for receiving funds from Ford foundation and other international NGOs to push environmental protests in India against developmental projects is also protesting ₹65,000 crore Vadhawan port.
12. Consul general plays a very vital role in relationship between two countries & often times they indulge in unhealthy meddling in internal affairs of a country.

Thackeray has no business discussing bilateral ties but he should clarify the “much more” part of the discussion.

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More from @ThePollLady

The Poll Lady Profile picture
Nov 25
1. 🇬🇧UK just got caught cheating on their own sanctions for Russia.

Britain secretly imported nearly $1 billion worth of Russian oil since March while also pressurising Europe and Asia to quit purchasing from Moscow.

How did the hypocrites sneaked around ?
2. Well, legally UK Office for National Statistics only takes into account the country sending the oil, not the country of origin of oil. Clever huh?

So they simply have to buy Russian oil from ships of other countries & UK national statistics declares zero Russian oil purchase. Image
3. How they got caught?

• In an incident recorded in May, the oil tanker Mariner III 🇷🇺left Russian port with 200k barrels of oil.

• 5 days later Mariner anchored ⚓️ next to a Greek tanker 🇬🇷 in greek waters.

• For 36 hours, both vessels were connected by large pipes. Image
Read 10 tweets
The Poll Lady Profile picture
Nov 22
Last week in WTO Canada, US & Taiwan have raised issue over India’s national standards body : Bureau of Indian Standards BIS. Why?

Well, their submission to WTO says that BIS lacks transparency & India should recognise quality compliance for products from international labs.
1. These three WTO countries say that process of recognition of laboratories by BIS is unclear & lacks transparency.

Because of which their products such as TOYS, chemicals, ICT products and automobile parts face strict/difficult quality control inspection in India.
2. BIS basically demands these countries extra testing and “mandatory certification in India” as per Indian standards even if they have been certified by accredited international laboratories for compliance .

Over 450 products are under mandatory certification in India
Read 7 tweets
The Poll Lady Profile picture
Nov 22
1. Australian parliament has approved Free Trade Agreement with India.

This deal is extremely crucial for Australia as they want to diversify exports from China due Beijing’s rising tensions with US/Taiwan.

FTA needs ratification by Indian parliament. So what does India gain?
2. Australia is offering ZERO DUTY access to India for about 96.4 per cent of exports (by value) from day one.

Indian industries that will benefit the most :

Gems & Jewellery,
Textiles,
leather,
footwear,
furniture,
food,
agricultural products,
engineering products,+
3. medical devices,
Railway wagons,
Automobiles, etc.

Most of the products are labour intensive.

Australian plan is that hopefully with this FTA, Indian goods will become competitive and cheaper in the Australian market and be able to replace Chinese one.
Read 5 tweets
The Poll Lady Profile picture
Nov 20
1. Nov 15: Xi tells Dutch PM to not politicise economic & trade issues & maintain stability of global industrial supply chain.

Nov 19: Dutch FM “US shouldn’t expect Netherlands to adopt US approach to China export restrictions. We will make own assessment”

Semiconductor war!
2. Netherland is home to ASML holding company which has monopoly on a type of machine needed to make most advanced semiconductor chips in the world.

US is pressuring the Netherlands and ots other allies to comply with semiconductor & chip making equipment ban on China.
3. American officials have repeatedly threatened that allies who do not align with U.S. on latest rules they can face ban too

and US will stop/ban supply of chip equipment that contains even smallest amount of US technology to allied country too.
Read 4 tweets
The Poll Lady Profile picture
Nov 19
Did you know recently at COP27, European Union proposed a “Carbon Border Tax” which India opposed, why?

Well under this system, taxes will be imposed on imports of carbon-intensive products, such as iron, steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium & electricity generation from 2026.
1. To understand Carbon Border Tax better let’s see what it will be measured on

• Amount of carbon emitted during the production of the product, like using clean energy

• extra import duty if the manufacturing country has more lenient climate rules than the one buying it.
2. So for example, if India (with lax climate rules) exports a product to a EU (with stricter climate rules) Indian good will be taxed extra under carbon border tax.

This will make goods from developing countries expensive & expose them to the rise of risk of losing the market.
Read 10 tweets
The Poll Lady Profile picture
Nov 18
1. Do you know recently draft of
UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was leaked.

Under clauses UK was found forcing India to amend its national patent laws, a move would benefit UK pharma companies & bring big losses to UK National Health services & Indian generic medicine.
2. The leaked chapter of FTA contained 2 very concerning provisions

Firstly, allowing UK pharma companies to ‘evergreen’ their drug patents.

Evergreening is practice of filing patent extensions by making minor changes to drugs just before patent expires at 20 yrs limit.
3. Second provision in the leaked FTA draft wants India to end “pre-grant” patent oppositions.

This is main mechanism used to block unjustified patents before they are granted. This prevents patent monopolies and boosts the manufacturing of affordable generic versions.
Read 10 tweets

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