So I came across this headline in the New York Times that screamed “Moguls and Arab States Are Big Donors to Clinton Charity”. [NYT]
Mogul, not Mughal
Of course, through my desi-tinted classes I translated it as “Mughals and Arab States Are Big Donors to Clinton Charity”, raising visions of Bill Clinton visiting a Mughal durbar and the announcer going “ba adab ba mulahiza hoshiyar, Amrika ke rashtrapati janaab William Jefferson Clinton tashrif la rahe hai” (a bombastic way of saying President Bill Clinton is arriving), followed by an elaborate song and dance sequence by Anarkali.
After opening the story, at some stage it dawned on me that perhaps they were talking about the mogul not the mughal. Bummer.
Still, the link turned out not to be a total loss, since the name Clinton invokes plenty of desi connections.
For instance, did you know that Amar Singh, yes that Amar Singh, is a major contributor to the Clinton foundation?
The potential for foreign donors to the Clinton foundation to create the appearance of conflicts of interest for Mrs. Clinton as she handles foreign policy matters was illustrated by Amar Singh, listed as giving between $1 million and $5 million. Mr. Singh is apparently a prominent Indian politician of that same name.
Amar Singh, of course, claims to have used his connections to the Clintons to lobby for India’s nuclear deal, which could raise a potential conflict of interest with Hillary being Secretary of State in the Obama administration.
Mr. Singh met and posed for photographs with Mrs. Clinton, afterwards telling Indian reporters that Mrs. Clinton had assured him that Democrats would not block the deal. Congress approved the nuclear cooperation deal with India a few days later.
Other Indian connections mentioned as Clinton donors are steel magnate Laxmi Mittal and Tulsi R. Tanti of the Suzlon wind turbine empire.
Of course, this is in addition to tycoons like Bill Gates, other foreign businessmen, politicians and Arab sheiks and raises the question of potential conflicts of interest these connections could cause with the appointment of Hillary taking over the State Department.
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