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palin does india

What is Sarah Palin doing in India?

The former vice-presidential nominee and Alaska governor is famously travel-shy and a largely unknown entity in the subcontinent.

Though her reality Alaska TV show premiered this month (aired on Monday nights) it doesn't appear to have been a hit with audiences addled on political scandals, cricket and soap. People are not even sure what Ms Palin knows about and thinks of India. "I am very excited to visit India," she has been quoted as saying in what appears to be her only observations on the country so far. "Americans have a great respect for the world's largest democracy."

Ms Palin, who arrives in India barely three months after President Obama's high-octane visit, is a key speaker at a glittering annual conclave organised by India Today Group, a large media conglomerate. She shares this widely-attended mega-talkfest with such speakers as Germaine Greer and Fatima Bhutto, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Niall Ferguson and Mohammed ElBaradei.

The theme of the conclave is "the changing balance of power". India Today owner-editor Aroon Purie believes America's supremacy is being challenged. "A feisty former vice-presidential nominee from America," said Mr Purie, while opening the conclave, "who will be our gala night speaker [on Saturday] will surely disagree with this."

Clearly, there are high expectations of Ms Palin, who will speak about her vision of America.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2011/03/what_is_sarah_palin_doing_in_india.html

can the burqa co-exist with the bikini?...

Sarah Palin tours India and Israel to get to grips with foreign policy


Republican to meet Binymain Netanyahu and give speech in Delhi, fuelling speculation that she is planning White House bid

When your best-known comments on foreign affairs include mixing up the two Koreas and saying that you can see Russia from Alaska, it is time for a field trip.

Sarah Palin has begun a five-day international tour that takes her to India and Israel, adding to speculation that she has her eyes on a 2012 White House bid.

Over the past two years, Palin has been quietly building up her foreign experience, after her exploits as the vice-presidential candidate in 2008 betrayed an ignorance of foreign affairs that surprised even her enemies. In debates against Joe Biden, Palin was notably short on detail and the one foreign policy remark that she made in the 2008 campaign that has stuck is: "You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."

"This may be part of the process of rehabilitating her image in the eyes of the American people as somebody who lacks a world vision," said Brian Darling, director of government relations for the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation.

The tour starts with a speech likely to have commanded Palin's usual $100,000-plus speaker fee, to a conference in Delhi organised by India Today magazine. Palin will be talking on My Vision of America, alongside speakers including the writer Germaine Greer, who will talk on whether the burqa can co-exist with the bikini, the Nobel peace prize winner and Egyptian politician Mohamed elBaradei and the Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/18/sarah-palin-tour-india-israel