Historic Turn In Relations Between India and the U.S. By Donnel Jones, June 14, 2003	Home   Search   Forum   Terms

Rajiv Shukla , writing for The Indian Express, has positive things to say about the emerging diplomatic ties between India and the United States.

If Europe, America's ancestral culture, is by and large delinquent in the war against terrorism, as it seems more preoccupied with fighting a war against the United States along with the Democrat's rabid frothing about weapons of mass destruction in Saddam's Iraq, India under the strong leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, head of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), proves that a lack of ethnic and historical ties between two nations need not impede a necessary meeting of the minds. One clear sign of the shift in relations between the two nations is the possibility India will send troops to Iraq to help stabilize that country.

India is absolutely crucial in civilization's battle against terrorism. India is a rising power of the 21st century. It has suffered, and has continued to fight, Islamist terrorism for decades. It is a democracy with nuclear weapons (a necessary deterrent to the rogue state of Pakistan that the U.S. unfortunately supports). It is part of the Anglosphere of nations; that is, an inheritor of the best of England's constitutional traditions. It is a geopolitical leverage against an increasingly powerful China with which, nevertheless, India is also developing necessary ties. Both Israel and India serve as bookends to the geographic area of the world where Islamism originated and where festers the worst sort of anti-Western, anti-democratic, anti-Jewish, anti-American, and theocratic fanaticism. Whatever scruples Liberals may have about India's BJP Hindu-militant party, such as the squeamish Amnesty International, India is an invaluable player and ally, not to mention a powerful economic partner in an increasingly globalized world.

Who cares, ultimately, where France and Germany are headed? Though those two nations cannot be ignored, their fate is sealed: a charming backwater to be tamed by a rising Eastern Europe and a loyal Britain, both cultivating closer ties with the United States. To be sure, there is a strong anti-American Left in India who rant about the "illegal occupation" of Iraq by the United States, yet, as Mr. Shukla reassures, [i]n New Delhi, too, once-fashionable anti-Americanism has rapidly given way to the awakening that an enduring relationship with the US is vital in the new world order.

Yes, a "new world order." What was that about American "unilateralism"? Even before September 11th, India was a nation that could no longer be ignored. Its former ties with the Soviet Union should be seen as no more grievous than America's ties with Pakistan. Before one gives Clinton too much credit for opening the door to Indian/American relations, it bears reminding that it became necessary to do so once India acquired weapons of mass destruction: nuclear weapons. And why not? In the world today, the possession of nuclear weapons is the ultimate seal of a nation's sovereign legitimacy and power. All the more reason to fear Pakistan's dangerous "legitimacy" and Iran's attempt to acquire such for itself.

Mr. Skula is encouraged that America is finally taking India seriously. India has come a long way from being an oppressed colony to becoming a nation that the greatest power on earth today must respect and whose allegiance it must do all it can to encourage and honor.

At a reception organised by the [Indo-US Parliamentary] forum in Washington, 30 Senators and Congressmen turned up in a rare show of solidarity to the Indian cause. Usually not more than 10 Parliamentarians are expected in such gatherings. The large attendance was particularly impressive because certain important Congressional voting was scheduled the same day. We had genuine reasons to feel honoured. That our bilateral efforts are bearing fruits is also evident from the fact that more than 160 US Senators and Congressmen have already joined the India caucus. (emphasis added)

It remains to be seen how effectively the anti-American Left in India will fight this welcome alliance between the two nations. For example, opposition to the BJP could stymie India's tentative agreement to send troops to Iraq. India's internal politics could derail the strengthening of diplomatic ties and revert India's foreign policy toward the U.S. to a more "Cold War" footing a la the European Union. Still, it should become increasing clear that alienating the United States is not in India's best interests in the long term.

Inexplicably, Mr. Shukla's article turns to Hillary Clinton. Talk about descending from the sublime to the ridiculous! Andrew Sullivan has finally driven the stake into this vampirish politician's heart. Thing is, like Freddy Kruger or Jason of the Friday the 13th slash-and-gore flicks, the former First Lady keeps coming back to haunt us with the folie à deux she shares with her husband concerning his degenerate behavior in the White House, not to mention, more significantly, his betrayal of U.S. national security. The Senator will not go quietly into that good night. Since Mr. Shukla seems unaware of, or indifferent to, America's brewing cultural civil war, he will have the same romantic notion about American Liberalism, with his silly fondness for Richard Kennedy's striped tie, that American Liberals themselves mistakenly have about Islam being primarily a "religion of peace."

No matter. Necessity dictates closer ties with India. Such a development will show, in time, how insignificant the U.N. has become as India and the United States help shape the international politics of southern Asia and the Far East for years to come.