Bombay terror attacks: important phone numbers

US State Dept hotline: 1-888-407-4747
Canada Foreign Affairs: 1-613-996-8885 (from Canada); 1-800-387-3124 (elsewhere)
UK FCO Emergency phoneline: +44 (0)207 00 800 00

(from Twitter)

Mumbai Police Control Room:
(+91-22) 22621855
22621983
22625020
22641449
22620111

Police Infoline: 1090

South Region Control Room:
(+91-22) 23089857
23089855
23070505

(PLEASE USE THESE NUMBERS RESPONSIBLY)

(From Mumbai Police)

Blood is required at JJ (+91-22-23739031) and St George's Hospitals (+91-22-22620240). Please call before venturing out.

(From Mumbai Help)

Adverse reactions to the Obama transition team

The choice of Rahm Emanuel as Obama's Chief of Staff ('CoS') has led to some adverse reactions in the Middle East, and also among sections of the Indian media. Much of this is the usual underinformed (if not downright bigoted) response to the appointment of Jewish officials to positions of authority which intermittently emanates from these sources, but the responses are notable for they show how closely the Obama transition is being watched abroad. The CoS is an interesting executive position, previous office-holders have been variously referred to as the 'Second-Most Powerful Man in Washington' and 'the gatekeeper of the Oval Office', but the position is usually associated with internal organisation and external negotiations and is not clear how much influence Obama's CoS will have over the making of foreign policy. In light of this, another interesting question arises: are certain foreign leaders (or media elites) now having second thoughts about the Obama administration, and looking for excuses to justify their growing unease? International reactions to future appointments to his Cabinet (notably Secretaries of State and Defense) will be quite illuminating.

Global views on the Obama election

The New York Times reports on reactions to Obama's win around the world. It's interesting to note that this article's (highly unrepresentative) sample of respondents often take the election win as being a reflection upon the American political system, as much as a means of expressing their resentment towards George Bush. The observations of Philippe Sands, Professor of International Law at UCL, and Francis Nyamnjoh, of the CODESRIA, also make a lot of sense:

"'People feel he is a part of them because he has this multiracial, multiethnic and multinational dimension,” said Philippe Sands, a British international lawyer and author who travels frequently, adding that people find some thread of their own hopes and ideals in Mr. Obama. “He represents, for people in so many different communities and cultures, a personal connection. There is an immigrant component and a minority component.”

Francis Nyamnjoh, a Cameroonian novelist and social scientist, said he saw Mr. Obama less as a black man than “as a successful negotiator of identity margins.”

His ability to inhabit so many categories mirrors the African experience. Mr. Nyamnjoh said that for America to choose as its citizen in chief such a skillful straddler of global identities could not help but transform the nation’s image, making it once again the screen upon which the hopes and ambitions of the world are projected"

If these observations are true in part, then it becomes virtually impossible for Obama to sustain these levels of support within the international community. Given the different, often contradictory, reasons for his appeal, and the fact that his primary base is domestic, Obama is sure to dissatisfy some of his supporters soon after assuming office.

The Obama Effect I: Blacks in Britain

In the past few months, for better or for worse, young Americans have been swept up in the heady wake of hope and optimism that follows Barack Obama wherever he goes. While there are far better places to track the growth of the Obamenon in America, this blog will take a little detour from its usual subject to follow international media reactions to Obama. This is in the hope of gaining some insight as to why this particular candidate, whose story is as much global as it is typically American, has brought forth such a uniformly positive response from the rest of the world, particularly when the American brand itself is taking such a tarnishing everywhere.

First up, an article in the Guardian looking at how the Obama effect is trickling down to black communities in Britain, and observing that Obama and Lewis Hamilton are now role models at 'the beginning of the greatest week ever in black history'. Note that both the Obama story, and Hamilton's, have similar inspirational overtones, both of them transcending economic hardships, tough family situations, and racial stereotyping to make it to positions of historic significance. It would be interesting to see whether the initial euphoria translates into something more tangible; as the article calls it, a 'new narrative' for black Britons.

Link: A great week in black history?

This article, of course, is being posted a day before the Presidential Elections of 2008. Irrespective of tomorrow's outcome, I think tracking international media opinion as a reaction to the result tomorrow is bound to provide for some interesting reading. Future themes follow two tracks: in the event of an Obama win, how long will his love affair with the rest of the world continue? In the event of an unlikely loss, will the sense of despondency and rejection have other effects on marginalised communities who look to the Obama ascendancy as a source of hope and validation for themselves? Will it further affect America's reputation among other countries?