In l'affaire Khobragade, with competing narratives of extortion by and exploitation of a Manhattan maid employed by an Indian diplomat, there are three crucial questions:

(1) Does the United States believe either that all diplomats must be subject to the legal jurisdiction of host states — many people around the world would applaud — or that the sanctity of U.S. diplomats (and soldiers) abroad is inviolate but foreign diplomats in the U.S. cannot have full immunity?

(2) Why should the U.S. legal process override a case already before India's courts, involving a contract signed there between two Indians, with India's government as an interested party?