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India’s Foreign Policy “Third Worldism”
What do last week’s elections in India mean for the future of the U.S. relationship with New Delhi? And what are the broader implications for Asia? I talked to former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton earlier today to get answers to those questions:
Published in General
Thanks, Mary — very interesting. I’m glad to hear Mr. Bolton sound optimistic about India. One thing for sure Modi has a solid majority now and he should step up to the plate and lead India into these next few decades. Let’s see if he can prove himself to be up to the task. So much for India to do internally and the relationship with America is key to that and to handling the risks they face daily with Pakistan and China.
Robert Kaplan has been supporting a closer relationship with India for some time now. Their situation with Islamists has forced the anti-American fetish from the Soviet era to be abandoned or ignored by the leaders in India. Thank God for that.
Shouldn’t your title read “Goodbye to Third Worldism” as in your last sentence?
Militarily, there are a lot of strange bedfellows at play.
Clearly, India’s biggest concerns are China and Pakistan. China and Pakistan are forging substantial military ties.
India is attempting to forge ties with practically everyone else. Russia is a significant partner. Israel, Europe, the US, and even Japan are pursuing military business in India. India may regard Japan and Russia as its best long term prospects as least likely to self-destruct.
A big question is what influence India can have on Russia and Japan. Presumably, India wants Russia to reduce its military ties with China and the Moslem world. Can Russia economically afford to; can it militarily afford not to? Presumably India wants Japan to remilitarize.
The only way India will be able to pull Russia away from China and the Moslem world is to sufficiently economically/socially reform to displace those countries as a paying customer. Will this happen? The big problem is that India has spent the last 60+ years falsely blaming its economic problems on the outside world. I doubt it can re-aim blame inward to come up with solutions.
Well, in the topsy turvy world of the Kerry/Clinton State Department, we didn’t allow Modi to have a visa until he won the election, having withheld it since 2005.
The world’s worst state department,courtesy of the democrat party. Nice job fellas !