I wish to than Mr. Srinivasan for such an informative article. I only wish that someone in the corriders of power will have as much common sense as the common man on the streets to extricate INDIA out of such a mess. In retrospect it looks like blundering indian diplomats and strategists got it all wrong this time. It is a common image of indians shooting their mouths off (me included) but sometimes it is better to sometime think over a problem and try to wriggle out of difficult positions. We can only hope that our external affairs minister and the babus will learn something out of this and, instead of ostrich like approach, will take on this problem head on.
one more thing i want to add to this is if India & China wants to Bring US to their Feet simply they give threat to US to change all both contries foreign currancy balance from US$ to Euro.
This is what India should do!!! STOP BEING A WIMP STATE. India is letting US take advantage of ourselves. The politicians are commiting a crime by not taking effective measures which may cost a lot for future India.
The part that India is not a confident country, does not assert its rights etc is true. Other parts of this message, that India should try and weasel its way here and there are all rubbish. He used the title 'World's greatest country'. What is that? Largest economy, largest market for consumer goods, electronics etc, largest middle class, highest purchasing power, highest per-capita income, highest productivity, largest doner country, largest milatary spender, largest contributor to the UN, largest blue water navy, largest budget deficit, largest consumer of oil, biggest R&D spend in the world, best infrastructure in the world. Which of these is India going to achieve? Think really hard. The US has to do it all to keep the title. We have to be all of this to think of getting the title. You cannnot get to pick what you want to do. Thats how it gets it influense. To be the biggest, you have to deal with the negative consequences as well. Let US & China battle over the title.I think we should get our house in order. Reduce our population growth, keep our goal towards 8 -10% growth rate, reduce income disparity, imporve infrastructure, per-capita income, healthcare, education etc.
This is really good article but do you think that it can create the ripples in power echoleaons or in hearts of Indians. Matahir mohammad & thier country men are too good for Indians
You are right, India does not use its buyer power to get what it wants, and neither India does seem to be aware of its own strengths. The F-16 deal too should have been thrown back at their faces, when they handed out a similar deal to Pakistan. The Boeing deal being another one, and ocassionally India should threaten to throw out all the American brand consumer prod manufacturers on some pretext or the other.
This whole article is rubbish. TO begin with India is still a very small fish in the ocean.India is not even close to being as big as China let alone Japan or even the USA. India is a growing power that has another 25 to 30 years to go before it can challenge nations like USA.
The question is why should we challenge USA as the author of the article suggests.
Its in India's strategic interest to be close to non Islamic nations. Nations like Israel and USA are our strategic allies. India should do every thing to avoid unnecessary conflicts with them. What has a DAMN NATION LIKE IRAN ever done for India. Have they ever stood up for India on the Kashmir issue by airing there opposition to PAK ? WHY should we stand up for them. Its there damn problem not ours. India did the right thing by letting UN decide on it. The security council has China, Russia , France and they can all veto any resolution that they dont approve off. India needs to work on its relations with US and build a better future for its citizens. Any suggestion that India is a sell out to the US is simply RUBBISH ! In fact its the other way round, sucking up to IRAN a Islamic nation is a sell out.
RE:India Standing Up for Its Best Intrests.
by Jawahar on Oct 05, 2005 08:28 PM Permalink
Hey A. Chandra,
It appears as though you lost the entire point of the article - perhaps it was too difficult for your religion-clouded brain to comprehend. India standing up to US has nothing to do with the religious stands of any of the countries involved here. Don't forget that India holds a good chunk of muslim population. So, if India were to take "Anti-Islam" stand, it would wreak havoc.
The dominant points in this fiasco are power, and energy. US wants to exert its power. India got scared of US's power and sold out. But India needs energy (cheap oil resources) from Iran. So, its not up to our "best interests" to either sell out to US or to lose energy resources.
Ok, Iran didn't do anything for us. But neither has US. Infact US took help from India during Hurricane Katrina. Talk about a "better future for our citizens"!!
So keep your Anti-semitic views to yourselves, research before you comment, and start thinking on a broader scale.
