Hey Indians, beware of America.

[jaibi]

By:Basharat Hussain Qizilbash

Will India act as a US proxy?

“May God defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies.” These precious ‘pearls of wisdom’ of the French philosopher Voltaire are quite relevant to India, today.

India has many friends but the one with which she will have to be very watchful is the United States.
Americans have no qualms about changing friends. During the Cold War, they treated India as the ‘Other’ for supporting the cause of non-alignment in international relations and for maintaining closer ties with the erstwhile Soviet Union – the underlying premise being that “my enemy’s friend is my enemy”. After humbling Soviet Russia, the Americans have created a new enemy in the form of communist China. No wonder, there is a lot of chatter in the US media, intelligentsia and political elites from Hillary Clinton to President Obama magnifying the ‘ominous’ rise of China which needs to be contained like the USSR. The planned containment hinges around the policy of ‘Asia pivot’ under which, in addition, to yoking the South-east Asian nations in the Chinese neighbourhood into pro-American alliances, the two bigger states that are expected to play a key role in conjunction with the US against China are Australia and India. This time the US premise with regard to India is “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”: it being so because not only are India and China giants in terms of size and thus obvious rivals as ‘regional hegemons’; the two have fought a war in 1962 and stake contentious claims on a very large area of their contiguous borders.

Americans are making a conscious effort to convince Indians to join hands with them to ‘contain’ China because if they would then their “Pakistan problem” would be automatically addressed.

In the twentieth century, the US joined hands with UK to fight the ‘evil’ of Soviet communism; in the twenty-first century, “India must become America’s new Britain”. This is an “obligation” that India owes not only to its 1.2 billion citizens but to all those in the world who look towards her as a ‘beacon’ of “freedom, liberal values, pluralism and democracy”. To assume this grand role, India should formulate a geopolitical strategy of global dimension and renounce the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence because pacifism suits only those people which struggle for independence and not those nations which have attained independence. To become a top class world power, a country must have an invincible military which in turn requires a healthy economy. Never mind the enormous current poverty under which 400 million Indians live on less than $1.25 per day.


The point is that India has the potential to become a great military power but it cannot become one unless it overcomes two obstacles: its defence industry is weak yet it can be built by building stronger ties with the US military-industrial complex. The relationship between the two countries has gone through a transformation: from indifference in 1990s after the end of Cold War to mistrust after India conducted nuclear tests in 1998 to a common purpose after the 9/11 in US and 13/12 in India, i.e., the terror attack on the Indian parliament. In fact, Avery proposes that the new motto of US and Indian intelligence should be: “Your terrorists are our terrorists.” The emphasis on India is to increase her financial allocations in intelligence and defence establishments because while the intelligence budget of US for 2010 was $53.1 billion; India’s Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW) budget for 2000 was a paltry $150 million.


It seems the Americans are poised to pit India against China.

Presently, it seems an uphill task because if China continues with what it has been spending on its defence in the first decade of this century; its defence outlay will reach $225 billion in 2020 and $425 billion in 2030 and to close this arms gap with China by 2030, India will be required to spend at least $380 billion on its defence between 2010 and 2030. Will India fall in this trap? There is at least one published report in the ‘Economic Times’ of 15 February, 2010, that does indicate that India plans to spend about $200 billion on defence equipment between 2010 and 2022.

Reading such works provides a window into the American thought processes about the likely power rivalries in Asia in which China is projected as an imperial power whose ambitions can be neutralised by propping up India as an American proxy. Whether India will bite the bait or not will depend upon the wisdom of those who will rule her in the coming years.

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I am sure the author's concern comes from the goodness of his heart.

@Bang Galore, @Srinivas, @Jade, @karan.1970, @jayron, @NotSoSuperstitious, @hinduguy, @kaykay and others.

This guy was my teacher of Pakistan Studies and he researches well. I can tell you that he is one for Indo-Pak cooperation so his article is well intended.

 

[illusion8]

This guy was my teacher of Pakistan Studies and he researches well. I can tell you that he is one for Indo-Pak cooperation so his article is well intended.

Sure, if you say so buddy.

 

[jaibi]

You guys are committing a logical fallacy. You are defaming the source rather than the material. Just because he is Pakistani does not mean that his words should be put to shred. His article places forth an opinion which is legitimate. Why are you guys targetting him rather than his article?

Sure, if you say so buddy.

What do you mean, sir, it would help if you are clearer using words rather than emoticons.

 

[illusion8]

You guys are committing a logical fallacy. You are defaming the source rather than the material. Just because he is Pakistani does not mean that his words should be put to shred. His article places forth an opinion which is legitimate. Why are you guys targetting him rather than his article?



What do you mean, sir, it would help if you are clearer using words rather than emoticons.

For the most obvious reason of course.

 

[jaibi]

@Lightningbold 's statement is not completely false. Historically our region has been used for Imperial and then Cold War political proxy projection of power. Why not we develop a more indigenous model of political diplomacy rather than one influenced by the West? Population, economics, raw materials all empower Asia within the next century with India and China as her forerunners as of now, do you guys really think that American and Western powers do not realise than and have not placed policies in place to make sure their hegemony over global power remains?

 

[Jade]

India has always been a vassal state of the US. So India has no choice but to do America's bidding. When has India ever had an independent foreign policy from western powers? NEVER!

India has been used by western powers like Britain and US for 300 years as a western proxy in Asia.

This is why literally every single neighbour of India wants closer relations with China to keep the Indian regime in check. Just look at how Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan are all getting close with us. They despise Indian thuggery and bullying.

India can never be a great power because it only acts on behalf of the most powerful western power of the time. This is why despite having a similar population to us, India is never relevant geopolitically because everyone knows India will automatically follow western orders like the vassal state that it is.

The same copy paste post. I know you a&& is burning, but come up with something innovative that can hide your intentions.

 

[jaibi]

For the most obvious reason of course.

Because he is Pakistani? He cannot speak in terms of global political economy and that too in the region that directly affects his country? He must have an angle that is harmful to your country? That is a necessary condition you suppose of every intellectual that arises from your neighbourhood? Do I have that complete or am I missing something?

 

[turkish]

It is known to all that China is the next super power... and India will soon be there in Future.. The world till now is Unipolar and soon gonna be dipolar with China coming to the picture... India's alignment to any of the nation either with China or US will change the equation .... What the writer wrote makes sense,but India will be India.. Non-aligned ...

 

[Jade]

This guy was my teacher of Pakistan Studies and he researches well. I can tell you that he is one for Indo-Pak cooperation so his article is well intended.

The problem with the article is that author is looking the US-China-India triangle from Pakistani lens.

 

[jaibi]

Who is this Basharat Hussain Qizilbash? And what country is he from?

He is from Pakistan. He teaches at a private and prestigious institution in Lahore called University College Lahore, Mr. Qizilbash has been active in his editorial reserched articles for nearly 20 years.

 

[illusion8]

@jaibi,

His article is not that bad, it's a bit amateurish though, he probably views the scenario from what has or is transpiring between Pak- US relations and where it's heading - he doesn't come up with any sound reasoning as to why the US cannot be trusted. The US/ Pakistan prism does not work when it comes to India and the US.

Pakistan was/is a client state of the US and was dependent on monetary, geopolitical and security aid from them, we don't depend on the US for any of those...ours is a one to one relation with them.


The only example he musters up to justify of his warning is that the US wasn't too friendly with us in the 50's upto the 90's and now that has changed so it cannot be trusted.

Indo Us relations were not knee jerk - overtures began in the 90's and talks were on going for a decade and a half until the nuclear deal was signed as a culmination of the relations. There's still plenty to be done visavis the relations.

As for his narrow / lack of view on the India - China relations, suffice it to say he doesn't know anything about the Indo - Chn dynamics.

 

[jaibi]

The problem with the article is that author is looking the US-China-India triangle from Pakistani lens.

Actually, that is perhaps unavoidable because he is from Pakistan. However, how that makes his opinion any less valid escapes me. I mean could you guys not at least entertain what he is saying?

 

[Nowruz]

He is from Pakistan. He teaches at a private and prestigious institution in Lahore called University College Lahore, Mr. Qizilbash has been active in his editorial reserched articles for nearly 20 years.

I thought he was Iranian.

 

[Jade]

It is known to all that China is the next super power... and India will soon be there in Future.. The world till now is Unipolar and soon gonna be dipolar with China coming to the picture... India's alignment to any of the nation either with China or US will change the equation .... What the writer wrote makes sense,but India will be India.. Non-aligned ...

IMO, the world will loose its only remaining superpower and would turn multipolar

 

[jaibi]

@jaibi,

His article is not that bad, it's a bit amateurish though, he probably views the scenario from what has or is transpiring between Pak- US relations and where it's heading.

The only example he musters up to justify of his warning is that the US wasn't too friendly with us in the 50's upto the 90's and now that has changed so it cannot be trusted.

Indo Us relations were not knee jerk - overtures began in the 90's and talks were on going for a decade and a half until the nuclear deal was signed as a culmination of the relations. There's still plenty to be done visavis the relations.

As for his narrow / lack of view on the India - China relations, suffice it to say he doesn't know anything about the Indo - Chn dynamics.

You know he once told his class, 'there are no friendships in politics. China is not the bosom friend of Pakistan and India is not her mortal enemy. Only the politics of the era make it so and history shows that politics always changes and thus do friendships and enmities.'

I see this article resonate that reasoning rather than being pro-Pakistani or something.

I thought he was Iranian.

He is from a Shia Muslim family and is Pakistani