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| India-Pakistan |
| Is India an Ally? |
| 2008-01-01 |
| By Sadanand Dhume Last fall, to mark the 60th year of national independence, the government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry launched a public-relations blitz in New York to coincide with the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. Glitzy society dinners, corporate powwows, giant screens in Times Square, and colorful advertisements at bus shelters and atop taxis flaunted the emblems of the new India: skinny supermodels, well-heeled shoppers, and hi-tech entrepreneurs. It seems only yesterday that India was more likely to be associated with images of snake charmers in teeming bazaars and mendicants in squalid cities. If the old India brought to mind the leathern visage of Mother Teresa, for the new India it is the perfectly groomed Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World. A country that once attracted Western charities and dharma bums now beckons to CEOÂ’s hoping to shore up the bottom line. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #5 Yes, unless the state department continues as is. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-01-01 17:21 |
| #4 As compared to what: Saudia? Pakiland? Egypt? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-01-01 13:40 |
| #3 Wrong question. India *should* be an ally. The correct question is how to get there from here. There are only 4 countries actively fighting "Islamic extremism" (redundant, yes, but we must observe the niceties): US, Russia, Israel and India. The more cooperation we have amongst ourselves the better. Pity about Russia. Oh well. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2008-01-01 13:00 |
| #2 The big question is will India move forward, or will it regress into Socialist tribalism with the Marxist-Muslim collectivists pushing it in that direction. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-01-01 11:30 |
| #1 Is India an ally? If espousing moronic socialism and moronic socialist rhetoric for most of the last fifty years meant India is not an ally then neither are Britain, Germany, Canada, etc. etc. The fact India is still largely poor is similarly irrelevant to the argument (though not to its misguided socialism). India's strength relative to China also a moot point. There are probably no allies of the United States as militarily and economically powerful as China with the possible exception of Japan. If producing leftist academics means India is not an ally of the United States then the United States is not an ally of the United States. Finally, the fact our current problems arise at least as much from Deobandism as Wahhabism ignores the fact the Indian government more than any other government on earth has had to confront - and has for the most part successfully confronted - Deobandism. This being Hitchen's and Krauthammer's point. Sadanand Dhume may have accomplished an ok if plodding introduction to contemporary India for people who know nothing about India but he has in no way addressed the question posed in the title of his essay. The answer is "yes", btw. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-01-01 10:21 |