Sree Iyer: Hello and welcome to PGurus Channel for a special broadcast of weekday news capsule for today with Sridhar. SridharJi Namaskar and welcome to PGurus Channel.
Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar and very good morning to all.
Sree Iyer: Sir, there was a bombshell of a press conference yesterday by Mr. Rudy Giuliani for Donald Trump regarding the US Elections. What can you say about it, sir? And what are the important points that he touched upon? Does this mean that there are more things coming down the pipeline in terms of revelations?
Sridhar Chityala: Well, I think it was a very fascinating conference in terms of the intensity, the passion and lasting 90 minutes covering, a whole range of issues. Basically, it was he was reaffirming the number of issues that we have been talking about but he was more specific in laying down the issues in several States, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He also brought up New Mexico and potentially Virginia which they’re looking at. So, the issues ranged from all this, he called it has the most outlandish and fraud perpetuated, whether it is by individuals are whether it happened in the voting centres, but he was making significant kind of, to use the democratic or the media allegations. He was basically saying that now, the legal team has obtained several documents by way of affidavits from voters in the specific States, especially in constituencies such as Metropolitan Detroit, Wayne County, in Pennsylvania and in the state of Georgia and Wisconsin and Nevada. These range from illegal verification process, lack of people, the Republican representatives at the centre’s especially in Georgia, he made a point that when there was a burst pipe, it was contemplated that there will be no further voting, the moment the Republicans stepped out they found that the voting was continued with only Democratic reps. In the case of Pennsylvania, there seems to have been balloted, which we have not validated or verified or arrived post-dated that was accepted and got into the system. In the case of Michigan, the two representatives who were under enormous pressure to validate and complete the verification process initially budged subsequently rescinded indicating that they were under an enormous amount of pressure.
So, there is a range of issues state-by-state that he threw out without evidence and proofs, except to say that the evidence will be provided in the court, but it was very forthright. It was very aggressive and he went on to say that, if these issues are brought to the surface and the votes disqualified, in his words illegal votes “disqualified” in each of the states that he mentioned then the President has effectively won the election. So, it was quite combative and quite specific which was unilaterally dismissed. In fact, three lawyers spoke, then Sidney Lowell, spoke about issues, in the dominion software as well as some of the data being resident in Barcelona and in Spain and in Germany questioning the wisdom and the rationale of how the US market reside outside. Especially the election data, whether it opens the door for any type of potential breach or software switching mechanisms by which votes can be switched between one candidate to other candidates. Jenny talked about the media coverage as well as some of the issues and she said that that none of the stuff that they are reporting is being covered by the media. So, there is no opportunity and they have to use, in other words, the legal team has to use these press conferences and other mechanisms to get their kind of information across. So this was the basic thematic. It was quite explosive, needless to say, that Republicans received it very warmly the Democrats dismissed it. But, if you are an objective independent observer looking at this, it does raise a number of questions.
In fact, even one of the things that have now come to the surface is getting is a data export from Yale University is now going to give his own affidavit, and he’s going to give the basis of a sudden switch over of a hundred thousand votes in such short time of span. He says, it is impossible in terms of the votes switching from one to the other unless there is some maleficence in the activity, that is also going to be recorded in front and an affidavit to be filed. So when you look at as independent observers the reason why we’re not getting into the specific at a state level which ideally, but, we will probably soon get into that level of detail.
What are three issues in Pennsylvania? What are the two issues in Nevada? What are three issues in Michigan? What are two issues in Wisconsin? Now, the recount has happened in Georgia why the recount is invalid, the recount according to his legal team is invalid because they have done nothing. There is no kind of the process as well as the verification and validation as laid down by the Trump team which is in compliance with the legal norm was not followed. So, therefore when they were counting, they were just simply recounting the same old votes, which is under contention. You have this issue as well in Georgia, something similar in Arizona and Nevada has a deeper issue, which is namely, the many people who did not request the votes where they posted the ballots and many of them happened to be dead, you know to the extent of something like 2,500 to 3,000 people some number that has been quantified, were dead people, whose votes were polled. So, when you see as an independent observer when you look at it, if you want to itemize it and kind of say then we need to be in a very kind of crystal clear position. What is going to be the filing otherwise, if I put something up today within two hours either it’s going to be disqualified or it is going to be changed. So, we are dealing with a moving feast in this five or six states in terms of the level of specifics that will eventually form the basis of the filing in terms of, what is going to be contested and what is going to be analyzed and eventually either qualified or disqualified based on the evidence being presented.
Sree Iyer: Well, there are also many other allegations doing the rounds and we would like viewers to exercise caution. What we state here, are the fact that has been proven by more than one source or by more than one means. So, we have our data right and please stay within that ambit and what we want to say is the ones that are factually correct.
Now. SridharJi, there is one question, I have regarding the sovereignty of having the data being analyzed in Germany and in Spain. This is highly unusual, although one might say it’s not illegal. But, why on earth would the US election data, be sent to Germany and Spain sir.
Sridhar Chityala: Well, the only thing that I can conclude, I am not an IT expert but whether it’s a Dominion software that is used, whether some of the servers, whether if it is outsourced, the work that is being performed by this software on the servers, whether these servers were located outside the country and whether somebody validated it to be the case, that’s one set of questions. Another set of questions is did data really reside outside of the data reside within the perimeter of the United States now, the legal team has to prove. Right now, they have listed this yesterday in the Press briefing as an issue, but they’re not established in the Press meet, while we have fait accompli when it’s like an open-and-shut case in terms of the data being. It is believed that the data is residing outside, but it’s not been proven. Yesterday a couple of media personalities said Okay prove it if it is proved that the data is outside If that’s the case. Then this issue could be very serious. Some of the people had also in the same conference either Lynne or Jenny or whether it is Rudy threw this issue which is namely this software seems to have been used by Uber Chavez in Venezuela. Why would you kind of use such a type of software? Than another allegation was thrown People like George Soros, Hillary Clinton went behind the software company, etc. etc. So, there’s a lot of that information that was thrown yesterday. Right? So if you are sitting and listening to that conference means it’s quite stunning and it is quite revealing in terms of the level of data and information and personalities the first turn around now whether it is proven or not, whether it is going to be established, whether it will form the basis of the case. We will know, pretty soon within, maybe early to mid-next week this should all come to Surface by way of the tangible framework of a case that can be discussed, debated and resolved as a way forward.
In the meanwhile, there is also pressure for some of the states to complete the verification process. The verification process is that once the secretary completes all the kind of the counting, does the audit etc., then two members from the Democratic and two members from the Republican Party have to certify. If they don’t certify then we have gridlock in terms of completing the verification process and sending the results as an approved result from the specific state. So, we have that issue to overcome as well.
Sree Iyer: So moving on to Covid, there is now lockdown in place even in a state like California. We have night curfew at 10 p.m. To 5 a.m, you cannot move outside. Then, this is happening across the country. Now, it appears that not everybody is happy with the way this is being imposed, especially parents of children who are going to school because when you turn school off, what happens is if those parents who can’t work from home, who have to go to a workplace have to figure out a way to make sure that their children find a place to stay because they have to be babysat, arrangements have to be made. So, lot of churns that’s going on there. Also, we have a couple of drugs getting the FDA approval including Remdesivir of Juliet Sciences. Can you throw a little bit more light about this Covid thing? Do you think it’s going to be for just one month or you think that it will be for many more months down the road?
Sridhar Chityala: This whole shutdown is being received-by with very mixed emotions and very mixed opinions. Many people don’t accept the shutdown’s as a solution very notably the school shutdowns. They feel the root cause of the issues is not schools. But, some of the gyms particularly and some restaurants. They kind of singled out gyms for that reason, you know, the kids being targeted and schools being closed, so that’s one set of issues. The second set of issues that business said that they are having social distancing and it is causing the insurmountable amount of issues in terms of disruptions to their kind of life and they are not the root cause of the evolution of the growth in the numbers. So it has become a very political Hot Potato where you have Democratic states some of the Democratic states going from shutdown to extremities that you see like in New York or California, California has got a curfew. We had curfews in New York and now, shutdowns in New york. So, the story is your answer your question, you know they say its short term, whether it is political whether it is medical we don’t know.
But the fact is that there are rising cases. The cause of rising cases is possible because of social distancing or other issues which we don’t know. And there are also now many democrats states and if president-elect Biden takes office they are also contemplating 6 weeks to 6 months mandatory wearing of masks through an enforcement process. If you don’t wear them, of course, there is going to be different forms of punishments. So whether it’s going to take clearly, the reports coming from Europe is that this is going to stay for at least six months to bring this virus under control because we have now crossed the threshold, I haven’t looked at the numbers but it is somewhere close to 56-60 million people. The numbers are skyrocketing there is no doubt about it, but there is also a fact that is not mentioned is there is a very good recovery rate relative to where we were when this virus started. and then you have a whole series of vaccines that are coming into play in accelerated deployment similar vaccines like Pfizer, Bionic, Moderna, you have Covaccine in India, then you have Sputnik, then you have Eli Lilly, then you have plasma transplant, now we also got yesterday Astra Zeneca’s Remedios were back into circulation, only a few hours later WHO saying the data is incorrect the data has to prove otherwise Remedios should not be prescribed. So we are back to that controversy as well. Whether the markets, countries will follow that we don’t know but we have that issue as well.
So, there is a set of programs that could address some of the issues and things could change over the next six months. But right now in the absence of the vaccines being rolled out, we are looking at his political hot potato of shutdowns, no shutdowns, shutouts etc. So I think that some states may choose not to have shutdowns because it’s causing too much of destruction.
Sree Iyer: Sir, moving on to India, one of the things that Biden said that he will do is to rejoin the Paris Accord, and reinforce all these carbon credits and all the carbon consumption limits. Now, if you look at that from India’s perspective how good are the chances that India will be able to comply with its end of the bargain and if the US will not only be doing its own share but also be making up for other countries non-compliance. What are your thoughts on that, sir?
Sridhar Chityala: It’s a fabulous question and it’s almost like lost in the din. India seems to be the only country within the G20 which seems very close if not almost there in terms of compliant with the guidelines to the minus 2 degrees centigrade not. They’re pretty close almost there and they are well down the path. So the question, therefore, is they signed up to it and they have implemented the programs and they have further advanced. Then the question comes up that Mr Biden has committed this is the left-wing pushing and pushing and yesterday even AOC talked about Green Accord. $450 billion is a lot of money, who is puffing, I mean, the United States is not pushing so much, so the question, therefore, is where is this money going to go. And what is the economic outcome environmental outcome if it has no mechanism to contain it? If China says, I will take my own time, it doesn’t need to comply till 2030. So we’re talking about another 10 years before they come anywhere near, in the meanwhile the $450 billion is gone, the money is gone the money that they committed.
But having said that your question is around India, I think India has done exceptionally well, it is well on its way in terms of meeting its obligations.
Sree Iyer: Sir, the next question for you is that the Ministry of External Affairs Sri Jaishankar is going to be representing India in the Afghan Summit in Geneva. What do you think is going to be accomplished because India is still sitting on the fence in terms of what it would like to do alongside the United States. United just sought help from India to keep peace in the region, and that means boots on the ground. India has been vacillating on that. What are your thoughts are what are your expectations from this particular meeting? And we think anything will be accomplished where India will have a definite path for how it can help the Afghans?
Sridhar Chityala: There is going to be 70 people, 70 countries represented in this peace conference in Geneva with the objective of bringing peace, stability, and harmony in Afghanistan, which they have not been able to achieve for several decades. It’s good for Mr Jaishankar to be there along with other people. India will do what it is already doing, it has committed money to their health and developmental programs. They’re also helping Afghans in quite a number of areas. The general relationship between India and Afghanistan seems to be good. Now the question, therefore, is, you saw that Mr Trump announced the withdrawal of another 2,500 troops from Afghanistan. They’re coming home before Christmas. The question, therefore, is, and Taliban was at the negotiating table, whether there is going to be turmoil again and whether the turmoil will be addressed is a billion-dollar question. Developmental programs cannot go if there is consistent terrorism and other types of activities brewing, violent activity brewing in the region.
So the real question is who is going to manage it, as you rightly said, who is going to put boots on the ground. Obviously, the Pakistanis are going to be very active, the Chinese are going to be very active, the Russians are going to be active, so you are back into the potpourri, and then we have growing tensions between the United States and Iran, further trade sanctions have been imposed on Iran. Now whether Biden would, and Iran borders Afghanistan, right? So whether there is going to be, and there is Al-Qaeda both in Iran as well as Afghanistan. So, the question, therefore, is how all these things come up, will not be discussed in your Geneva meet, but I’m sure that these things are going to warrant attention. whether India will put boots on the ground? I don’t know! I very much doubt whether they will put boots on the ground.
Sree Iyer: Here is the concern, for me as a taxpayer in the United States, when the United States withdraw troops from Afghanistan, we are creating a partial vacuum of sorts and that vacuum is going to be filled by Pakistan supported Taliban. There is no doubt about the two being hand in glove with each other. So now, when the US goes and turns around and eats Pakistan which in turn will use some of that at least to try and kill the remaining US troops in Afghanistan. I just don’t understand this policy of mollycoddling Pakistan and now you are really putting the lives of the remaining soldiers of the United States in danger there.
In Bagram, I heard that there used to be 5000 if say about t100 or 2000 return back from there that is a very sophisticated state-of-the-art base and the United States cannot afford to vacate that. It needs to leave it in the hands of a responsible country and Afghanistan is not yet ready to accept that because you had situations where the Afghanis having been trained by the United States, then they go back to being what they were before, which is to do whatever they are pursuing. You have lots of Warlords and lots of regional Satraps and so on. So much money in there, so there is a need for some sort of an umpire to keep the stability there. I find is conundrum quite puzzling. Now if the Biden Administration or I don’t know if Trump will be coming back, whoever it is, the United States need to really take a hard look at why it is funding taxpayer money into Pakistan, where it is going to be used to shoot its own people?
Sridhar Chityala: Well, I think you brought a whole range of interesting kind of topics. First and foremost, I think, in Afghan, how long the United States can be the arbitrator of peace and spending money and spending every precious life of its soldiers, right? It was post 9/11, and most of the people seem to have hailed from there, and that resulted in the war in Afghanistan. The war seemed to have originated in Afghanistan. Then we had issues around Iraq and then we were back into Afghanistan. So two wars were fought. So there’s a lot of fatigue around between Iraq and Afghanistan. Afghanistan has lingered on and on and on with no solution or resolution in sight. So you have now reached a fatigue syndrome. There was one set of the Obama-Biden and to a great extent, George Bush’s administration funded the Pakistanis continued the aid with the assumption that they would be the peacekeepers and they would also facilitate and augment the capabilities. That plan did not work. The things continued, then Trump administration came and Trump kind of cut off the aid saying that there is no benefit that is being derived rather than money and there is an increased activity from Pakistan which they denied.
Now, we are continuing in a stalemate situation in Afghanistan. And India is unwilling to step up to put boots on the ground. India is willing to be helpful in education, health care, development, infrastructure programs. And even in India, Indian Embassy and Indian people have been attacked in Afghanistan while carrying out this work. So there seems to be no solution that seems evident or imminent in Afghanistan under the circumstances. It’s an ROI type of a game which is to say, okay, what can we do minimum as a deterrence rather than trying to solve this which has not been solved at all. It seems to be the decision from the Trump administration as it finishes its term, whether it comes back or not, we don’t know, and in case Biden comes in whether we’ll go back to this old status quo remains to be seen, sir.
Sree Iyer: You know, it’s very strange that PGurus gets accused of being a pro-Trump organization, but viewers, you realize that under the Trump 4-year rule, the US did not start a new war. In fact, the US has been very effective in bringing about a lot of Peace Accords between Israel and many Middle East countries. So there is some good stuff also that Trump has done. Why can’t the media look at that also? Why do you have a biased perspective? I will also give you a simple thing, yesterday, just one day yesterday, there was a teleprompter malfunction and Biden was at a loss for words. And also there was a bombshell of a press conference by Rudy Giuliani and the mainstream media is talking about sweat trickling down his sideburns and melting some of the dye that he was using his hair. Is that the news? Was he not were there for 90 minutes talking about something else? So this kind of trivialization that is happening is just amazing. Anyway, I’m out of rant here.
We have two more minutes left. There’s an important topic I want to talk about. This is about the economy and the varying opinions between the Fed chair and the treasury secretary. What do you make of it, sir?
Sridhar Chityala: Well, I think that it’s a classic case of a commercial corporate banker in Mnuchin who runs the treasury to say, the programs have a defined timeline and so, therefore, the programs expire on December 31st and so any unfunded part of the capital that is set aside which was probably just 750 billion dollars was assigned and you know part of the money was used effectively for cares program which is Coronavirus response Emergency Services Program. So the objective of the Cares Act will expire on December 31st, and the question, therefore, is to renew the program you have to come back with a proposal which gets approved by the Congress before December 31st and an allocation occurs in the new budget. Now, this is the view of Steve Mnuchin. Feds view is, you have already allocated the money to us, we may not have spent it, but lo and behold something happens then we need to have money readily available on hand, which you have given us we will use it. So it’s a technical issue. The difference of opinion between the fed and the treasury seems to have some amount of disquiet. Now, assume that there was administrative stability, that is the next year was to be a continuation of the Trump Administration without an election this issue would not pop up, but now we have this issue of the transition from one administration to another administration albeit it may be the same thing.
So what Steve Mnuchin is saying is I’m following the rules of the game. And the rules of the game is that the budgets don’t accrue, the budgets have to be approved on if you want to incur the expenses. I think that seems to be the situation.
Sree Iyer: Well, sir, that brings us to a close of this special news capsule. It was 30 minutes long. Thanks for watching. Your support is unprecedented, and I hope you’ll be back in about an hour and a half to join us again to talk to Sri Tathagat Roy at PGurus primetime 9 p.m. IST.
Thank you once again Sridhar Chityalaji and Namaskar.
Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar and Thank you, sir.
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