Stolen Valor Acts 2005 and 2013

In the US, legal disputes about fraudulent claims wrt high military medals went all the way to the Congress and the Supreme Court.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2005
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2013

I'm surprised that SCOTUS considered the issue from the First Amendment point of view. Here's an excerpt from a WashPo article about the 2012 SCOTUS decision. Note that after the decision, the only tool available to, e.g. veterans organizations, is public humiliation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/supreme-court-rules-that-lying-about-military-medals-protected-by-constitution/2012/06/28/gJQAllBD9V_story.html

“Fundamental constitutional principles require that laws enacted to honor the brave must be consistent with the precepts of the Constitution for which they fought,” Kennedy wrote in an 18-page opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote a concurring opinion, in which Justice Elena Kagan joined.

But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote: “Only the bravest of the brave are awarded the . . . Medal of Honor, but the Court today holds that every American has a constitutional right to claim to have received this singular award.”

He was joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Veterans groups also were dismayed.

“Public humiliation is now the most effective tool to expose the delusional Walter Mittys of American Society,” Jan C. Scruggs, founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the Vietnam Wall, said in an e-mail, “Military recruiters are happy to welcome those desiring to be valorous in combat into the Armed Forces.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States “is greatly disappointed,” the organization’s commander in chief, Richard L. Denoyer, said in a statement. “Despite the ruling, the VFW will continue to challenge far-fetched stories, and to publicize these false heroes to the broadest extent possible as a deterrent to others.”

Modi's visit to China

From a BBC report

To the north of India, China's so-called "Silk Road Economic Belt" is intended to roll out a network of Chinese infrastructure, commerce and strategic assets through Central Asia. And to the south, its "Maritime Silk Road" is intended to do the same across the Indian Ocean.
China has swiftly become an enormous investor in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the Seychelles.
Similarly Nepal and Bhutan, both traditionally part of India's sphere of influence.
Last month, China's president visited Pakistan, pledging $46bn investment in road, rail and energy projects and an "all-weather strategic partnership of cooperation".

Here's a semi-official chart of the Belt from the Chinese point of view. Clearly, India doesn't figure there much. Also, the detour to Moscow looks more like a political afterthought than an economic necessity.


Frankly, I don't believe that the Chinese will be able to do any significant amount of business in India and vice versa.

Paul Desmond & Gerry Mulligan - Stardust

Watch on YouTube