Indian friends, think with your heads - the place you want in the world is for you to create - follow the editorial from the NYT below:
November 5, 2010
Working With India
President Obama will spend three days in India beginning on Saturday the longest foreign stay of his presidency. Indians are still feeling anxious and insufficiently loved. But the trip is a clear a sign of the importance that Mr. Obama places on the relationship. As he should.
The Clinton and Bush administrations talked that way, too. President George W. Bush was so eager to woo New Delhi that he gave away the store in a 2006 nuclear energy deal. It is up to Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take this complex relationship to a more sustainable level. Ahead of the trip, much of the focus has been on defense and trade deals that will produce jobs. Those are undeniably important. But the trip will be a failure if it does not also deal with strategic issues.
India is anxious about Americas plans for Afghanistan and Washingtons close ties with Pakistan base for insurgencies that threaten all three countries. The Indian-Pakistan nuclear rivalry remains dangerous. And so long as Pakistans army sees India as its main threat, it will never fully take on the Taliban.
India would gain credibility and make the world safer if it worked harder to reduce tensions with Pakistan.
The Indians have made clear that they dont want Washington as a mediator. Mr. Obama still needs to nudge India to resume serious talks with Pakistan over Kashmir and take other steps to help calm Pakistans fears including pursuing a trade agreement.
Mr. Obama also needs to press Pakistan a lot harder to bring the Mumbai bombers to justice.
New Delhi did not retaliate after the 2008 attack a testimony to Mr. Singhs wise leadership. We hope that the presidents top aides have a plan for how they would tamp things down if Pakistani-based terrorists strike India again. There are many other challenges, including managing the rise of China, that can be dealt with more effectively if Washington and New Delhi work together.
The Indians seem conflicted. In recent news reports, some complained that Mr. Obama has not shown India enough attention. Others worried about getting overly entangled with Washington.
There are many positive trends. Military and counterterrorism cooperation are substantial. India holds more defense exercises with the United States than any other country. And it will soon purchase $5.8 billion worth of American-made C-17 military transport planes and more sales are expected.
There are also real differences that need to be addressed. Mr. Obama is pushing New Delhi to lift a cap on foreign investment in the defense sector. India wants more visas so high-tech workers can move to the United States. The two countries need to find ways to cooperate on trade liberalization and climate change.
The Bush administration overturned 30 years of nonproliferation policy when it signed the deal to sell nuclear fuel and reactors to India. A promised benefit nuclear contracts for American companies that would create jobs at home never materialized after India adopted a liability law that American firms say exceeds international standards and leaves them too exposed.
It is a grim irony that the nuclear deal, which was sold as essential to removing a serious irritant in Indian-American relations, is now causing new tensions. The two sides must find a way to resolve them.
Now, some of our Indian interlocutors will only get angry with the editorial, but think with your heads - India's attraction and therefore subsequent power, does not come from it's military, it never will, it has always come and will come from the kind of society (ies) it can fashion, that have the strongest appeal to peoples near and far.
You may get angry that Kashmir is still something you cannot escape - but why should you seek to escape a problem, why not seek resolution, it is the path to greatness as yet unimagined, something military power can never bring India.