Diplomatic immunity

The rules set forth in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, agreed upon by 187 countries, clearly states that diplomatic agents including "the members of the diplomatic staff, and of the administrative and technical staff and of the service staff of the mission" enjoy "immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State." They also enjoy immunity from civil proceedings unless the case involves property or business interests unrelated to their diplomatic duties.

• Immunity means an exemption. Diplomatic Immunity allows diplomats to have safe passage and stay in foreign nations, and provides blanket protection to diplomats from lawsuits and legal prosecution in a foreign (host) nation. 
• The purpose of diplomatic privileges, immunity and exemptions, is not to benefit individuals but to ensure the efficient performance of the functions of diplomatic missions that represent States. While 'privileges' is defined as a benefit or right to do something that others have no right to do, 'immunity' is defined as the exemption from local jurisdiction. Immunity have a legal basis, but privileges are a matter of courtesy.
• Diplomatic privileges and immunity guarantee that diplomatic agents or members of their immediate family (i) may not be arrested or detained, (ii) may not have their residences entered and searched, (iii) may not be subpoenaed as witnesses, and (iv) may not be prosecuted.
• The person of a diplomatic agent is inviolable. Inviolability of the mission is unqualified. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The Vienna convention specifies different levels of immunity to diplomats posted in various levels of the embassy, consular or international organisations such as the UN. The purpose of the immunity was so that foreign diplomats can maintain their dignity and safety in the host nation, without any threat of attack or intimidation to their person. 
• Host countries can’t withdraw diplomatic immunity, but several have expelled diplomats for alleged interference in internal affairs and violate their laws. Even for serious crimes, the host country can generally do is expel the offender. Intimidation is a frequent recourse of authoritarian regimes, including against the families of diplomats. The doctrine of immunity represents a departure from the conventional practice of holding people responsible for their wrongful actions. 
• The concern of protecting life was more important than immunity. Without prejudice to their privileges and immunity, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunity to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. 
• A diplomat’s home country can waive his diplomatic immunity in particularly egregious cases. Immunity of a diplomat from the jurisdiction of the host country does not exempt him/her from the jurisdiction of his/her home country.
• Violations of the Vienna Convention are extremely rare because countries are usually reluctant to put their own diplomats at risk. 

Diplomatic Immunity can be a double edged sword. On the one hand, it protects the life and dignity of a diplomat in a host nation, especially in times of conflict. Many international abuses of the clause by powerful diplomats and their kin has led to substantial criticism of the Vienna Convention. Many critics and legal experts want a reworking of the treaty's clauses to make the legal tool more useful of its purpose instead of being just an escape tool in the hands of powerful criminals. 

Words are one thing, actions another.
Good words are a mask for concealment of bad deeds. 

Sincere diplomacy is no more possible than dry water or wooden iron ... LC Green

Generally, Diplomatic passports are issued to people holding diplomatic status & powers i.e. the IFS officers posted abroad in Indian Missions, or deputed by the Government of India for diplomatic duty abroad and others visiting abroad for negotiations with foreign governments. Over the years, the process has been abused and misused with many getting issued the diplomatic passport thus losing its value, like VIP status granted to as many as 6 lakhs people. Almost all elected law makers, appointed top bureaucrats etc obtain diplomatic passports for themselves & families and use them for personal foreign travel and bypass the processes at the ports of entry& exit in India and abroad..

Luck is more important to success

“If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get that on your own,” President Obama declared years ago at a campaign rally. “If you’re successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.” In America, the belief that hard work and a touch of grit is all one needs to succeed. Talent and drive can take you a long way, but it’s often not enough. Luck is as important.

• Most Americans underestimate the role of luck in economic success.
• The current American tendency is to overlook the role of luck as a cultural bias and Americans are less likely than Europeans to favor high taxes on the rich and generous benefits for the poor.
• Conservatives have a narrative about success, which prioritizes hard work and skill. Liberals have an alternative narrative about success, which prioritizes structural constraints and privilege. Neither one is entirely right, but it does seem that liberals are closer to the truth.
• People who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But it is also true that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. 
• Chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine.
• The rich underestimate the importance of luck in success and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy.
• In this world dominated by winner-take-all markets, chance opportunities and trivial initial advantages often translate into much larger ones and enormous income differences over time. 
• Luck is as important as hard work in becoming successful.
• Fortune favors the fortunate. And not acknowledging that can have unlucky consequences.
• People who succeed on a grand scale tend to believe they did it all by themselves. They think that whatever dollars came their way are theirs to keep. If the government tries to tax it, they regard it as theft. 
• Believing that all the good fortune that came your way was earned in the traditional sense is a very difficult claim to sustain once you look at how the competitions unfold and the role chance events play in all our lives.
• Ethically speaking, we have no control over the most important determinants of our lives. Even if you think you succeeded purely on the basis of talent and effort, where do you think you got your talent? Where do you think that inclination to work hard comes from? These are things determined by genes and upbringing and it's quite ludicrous to claim moral credit for them.
• Privilege has a way of blinding the privileged. People born into good fortune can’t appreciate how much of their success stems from the care and attention and resources they received at every stage of their development.
• You're probably not going to succeed if you don't get really good at work and effort. You shouldn't expect and wait with hope that lightning strikes. Tell people to try to deserve whatever it is that they want. That doesn't mean you'll get it, but you're certainly not going to get it if you don't deserve it.
• We really need to make the investments where the environment is conducive for talented and hard-working chances of succeeding. In America it was always true that if you work hard and are good, you may not be a spectacular success, but you'd most likely prosper to a reasonable degree.
• Rich people could pay more taxes and scarcely feel it, but nobody thinks about it that way.

Markets are not perfectly meritocratic. They're more meritocratic now than ever before in the past. Privilege always matters. Most of the people who emerge as big winners today do tend to be talented and hard-working, so there's at least a semblance of meritocracy. What's also true is that being hard-working and talented are by no means sufficient to get you into the winner's circle. Luck matters a great deal.

Luck is far more important to success in this life than we imagine.
 Things we're not entitled to claim moral credit for are the driving forces 
behind success ... Robert H. Frank

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