US Presidential Debates: Why hearing a Hummingbird could help

Obama vs Romney: Both have got it wrong on Syria.  (photo courtesy: Reuters)

So, the second round of US presidential debates is over. Now there's only one round to go. According to CNN, this one will be a 'cliffhanger'. And this suddenly makes me  wish the pundits in both Barak Obama and Mitt Romney camp had heard Hummingbird.

First thing's first: Hummingbird isn't a bird, but a pro-democracy woman activist and blogger from Syria. As a  minority Kurd, she runs twice the risk of being persecuted by Bashar Assad government (which hates all Kurdis) and therefore she uses this alias 'Hummingbird'.

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But why am I thinking of Hummingbird? Well, firstly because, the final presidential debate will be fought on the ground of US foreign policy and in all likeliness,  Syria is going to rule the debate. And secondly, Hummingbird, who was recently in the US and spoke at 18 events across the country about her country, feels that none of the candidates has got it right on Syria, or what her people really want.

First, here's what she thinks of the current president: the policy of US on Syria, under Obama's leadership: Obama's policy has been sketchy, weak and absolutely ineffective in either stopping the bloodbath, or the shipments of arms from Russia and China. 'Obama has just not shown enough courage to stop Russia and China. Its either this, or maybe that he just doesn't care enough,' she says.

Now, if Obama's policy is weak, Mitt Romney, the challenger, has got a horribly wrong one.

On October 8, hours before Hummingbird was interviewed by CNN's Suzanne Malveaux on her Newsroom International (the interview lasted only 3 minutes which in itself indicates the little seriousness the US media has been attaching to Syria). Romney had also spoken on Syria, attacking Obama for not doing enough on Syria. But,  when Hummingbird heard that Romney was in favor of a military intervention, she shouted, 'No! Syrians will never favor that..'

So, what is it that Syrians really want? According to Hummingbird, whose family lives in northern Syria and is displaced since the uprising started, there are five specific actions that US needs to take:

President Obama has an Indian Connection!

So, you are an ardent fan or a sworn enemy of the US president Barak Obama and you think you know everything about him, do you?

Well, here is something you don't know: Barak Obama is a citizen of India and resident of a village near Hyderabad. Don't believe me? Well, there is proof - a local mobile phone number registered in the name of Mr Obama.

Yes, a couple of weeks ago, this cell phone number - +9177523297  - was assigned by Airtel (that is one of India's largest cell phone service providers) to a Mr Barak Obama after he filled up an application form that had a photo of, who else but Obama himself? According to the form, Obama, however, is 21 year old and is a resident of a village called Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh state.Interesting, isn't it?

Sadly though, the media came to know about it and kind of blew it up into a big controversy. It wrote how the form was actually filled up by a certain Mr Prasad with Obama's photo pasted on it and how the mobile company never bothered to question that because all it wanted was to sell a new subscription. Hmm , if you ask me, this is the greatest gesture of displomacy and fair trade. I mean, c'mon, why should anyone not do business with an American president? Better still, why should a mobile company official say 'no' to an American president? So he did what he thought was only fair: assign the no.
God bless his soul; now we Indians could get in touch with Obama so easilly: just dial a local number!

Unfortunately, the higher authorities  in that mobile company were a little less believers who cancelled the subscription. Then came the  police and they went a step further, booking both Prasad - the person who signed the form and the Airtel salesman who accepted it.
Sad end of the story, but now you know Obama  is a man with an Indian connection even if lasted for a week!