Speculation and more speculation. It?s the new definition of ?news?, one of the reasons why ?news? cannot be taken seriously. From the moment the swearing in of the Cabinet was over, speculation overwhelmed us all…
The portfolios were being decided by television journalists who alas were well off the mark. This pretence of having an inside track had them all backtracking like they had to do when the poll results were coming in. It is time our reporters begin to delve into real and substantial issues to enable them to get a worthwhile soundbite, one that gives us some special piece of information!
Frank Wisner, a former ambassador to India now in New York with AIG, was interviewed by the Council for Foreign Relations just after the Indian elections. He seemed saddened and very disappointed with the result. Excerpts of the interview were published in a Pakistani newspaper quoting Wisner as saying that he did not give the new government more than six months to a year! A trifle presumptuous and undiplomatic, particularly since he is doing business in this country. He carried on to say that he will miss the stable NDA government of the last six years!
It made one wonder what the extent of the upset was for the US and their policies towards this country. Many in the US establishment appeared peeved and, clearly, there was a nervousness about the immediate future. Had the US begun to treat India as an obedient poodle that danced to its tune? Are they perturbed by the reality that dialogue of a real kind will begin to happen on all bilateral and other issues and that the poodle may become a Doberman Pinscher? Do they feel India has suddenly slipped out of their diktat?
All powerful America had not managed to ?control? India, they had no inkling that the elections could upturn the ruling coalition and bring in a new set of players with a different ideology ? did it irk them? Will they try and trigger trouble in the subcontinent like they have done across West Asia? Will they encourage events and situations that reflect a sense of instability in an effort to destabilise the new government with some help from their friends? Going by historical evidence alone, India should beware of such possible interventionist activities.
The barbaric acts that the US is inflicting on human beings across this globe, while simultaneously lecturing one and all on morality, has become something of a joke. From Vietnam to Iraq, it has been one long, unrelenting horror story. From the use of napalm in Vietnam to sophisticated weaponry in Afghanistan and Iraq, they showed the way. They traverse the world trying to conquer, a word and act that many believe died in the last century! Their supreme insecurity about themselves makes them a weak culture. We old, tried and tested cultures may be poor economically, but we are hugely rich intellectually, philosophically and culturally.
Historical truths flow in our bloodstream. We recognise hypocrisy when we see it. We have great resilience and patience. But, we do retaliate when we need to. We have absorbed much over many thousand years…we are not an adolescent nation, grappling with acute problems that come with changing hormones!
Despite the fact that the most powerful country in the world is the US, its people remain insular and totally disconnected with their fellow men and women across the globe. Their conservatism and closed mindset stagnates them. The few pockets of intellectual energy in America do not represent the country as a whole. The US has a long way to go in opening the minds of its people to diverse thinking and ideas that emanate from the rest of the world. Small wonder that Americans reacted the way they did to 9/11. How dare anyone even attempt to touch them?
It is this arrogance that draws the greatest animosity towards them from their fellow humans. United States? interventions worldwide and their foreign policy has made the world a far more dangerous planet. What they have done in Iraq and with the Israelis vis-a-vis the Palestinians has spawned many a suicide bomber. They are responsible for the increase in terrorist activity. This is standard belief across countries. They need a change of guard, and a change of heart.
It is sad that India and her neighbours have not been able to get their act together as a formidable geo-political group. The Saarc region houses well over one quarter of the population of the world. It also happens to be a strategic area, for the US particularly! We, in our region, need to assert and not merely follow because of the carrots that are forthcoming. It is all too short term. Foreign policy in India needs some fresh thinking.
The EU, Russia in its new avatar and China need attention. There could be interesting times ahead.