India-US Strategic Dialogue is a Waste of Time
I am an Indian who has lived half of my life in the United States. Adjusting to live in America is very difficult for a person from a developing nation like India but I would not have it any other way. It has been a fun, humbling and a learning experience. Indians in the United States fortunately do not have to choose between the United States and India anymore.
It is very easy for friends and family to travel back and forth. Indian government now allows American citizens like me to also hold Overseas Indian Citizenship (OIC). With the OIC I can enjoy all the privileges of being a citizen of a great nation like India except the right to hold public office. The OIC makes a big difference for people like me psychologically. I should make better use of this privilege. I have lived in India for less than 125 days in the past 20 years. Like many Indians who have lived abroad for decades I am also entertaining thoughts of relocating back to India.
The person who made the biggest difference in the India-US relationship in the past 25 years is President George Bush. His no-nonsense straight forward way of expressing himself was a big hit with the Indian public. On the contrary President Obama and his administrating are struggling to connect with the Indian public. Many Indians believe that President Obama is more theory than substance. But the Obama administration is trying to change that perception by holding an India-US strategic dialogue this week in Washington DC.
This event has been well covered in India but the American media as usual has chosen to ignore it (the media will always blame the publics lack of interest). Instead of covering this event the New York Times published an article about the issues faced by Indian women at the work place where they have to work with Indian men. Go figure.
In general I do not like meetings. I have attended many meetings at different companies that I have worked for in the United States. American managers and leaders normally use meetings to gauge the temperature of the team, listen to parties that are at conflict with each other, lecture for hours and make everyone walk away from the meeting thinking that they have won something when in fact no decision has been made.
The India-US strategic meeting is one such meeting. During these meetings the Indian side will get a chance to vent their feelings. The Americans will listen to them. Then the Americans will say everything that the Indian side wants to hear. Both sides will walk away from these dialogues feeling happy and with a sense of accomplishment. But has anything been accomplished or did the Indian contingent waste precious dollars traveling all the way from India just to listen to some compliments?
Many developing countries in the world including India more than anything want a seat at the table. India has always wanted to be a permanent member of the Security Council. The United States and to some extent China are the only two major nations opposed to this move. During one of the meetings with the Indian side Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said “We don’t have any way forward yet on the UNSC reforms but we are obviously very committed to considering India. At this point, as you probably know, there is no consensus over all”.
In plain English what Secretary Clinton is saying is that India has no shot at becoming a permanent member of the UNSC for the next 5 to 10 years. America is giving the impression that reforming the UN is more important than allowing India and 1.1 billion Indians (20% of humanity) a voice at the table. This is totally an unacceptable argument and the Indian side should have protested the American strategy of tying the UN reforms and UNSC seat for India together.
Terrorism is another issue that concerns India. Clinton said “the two countries will have to increase their cooperation in counter-terrorism by better intelligence sharing and training first responders to make our own homelands safer”. But she conveniently ignores the fact that Indian government agencies have so far been denied access to American citizen David Headly who is the mastermind of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai that killed almost 170 people. Under his plea agreement he cannot be extradited to India where he is wanted for capital murder. How would America react if India captures Bin Laden and does not allow American agencies any access to him for over six months?
The bottom line is that America still does not consider India to be its equal yet (strategic partner in this case simply means someone you go out with during happy hour at a local bar. Most bars have happy hours on Thursdays. The fact that the strategic dialogue started today, which is a Thursday is a strange coincidence!!). Although America always talks about democracy and equality it always it always uses these terms within the context of economic and military might.
India is clearly not there yet. Until then India has keep attending these “strategic dialogues”. Yawn.
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- UN Headquarters Should Be Relocated From New York
- Welcome to Air India. We Hate to Fly and It Shows.
- Time for India to Rethink its China Policy
Category: News & Government
happy hours are everyday of the week, not just Thursday
i prefer India, not being a military might a.k.a. a superpower
Welcome KP,
I think it is like a franchise in the IPL or the NBA saying that they do not win the championship. One of the reasons for nation states is competition. We call the ultimate winners as a superpower today. In the past they were called empires. In fact I prefer India not to have a military at all. But that is not practical.
Did you know that the Danish authorities were given access to Headley shortly after his arrest? US’ double standards were very obvious….
I agree with you Ram. The Indian government is yet to make a statement on what was disclosed or whether Headley cooperated.
In celebration of its Golden Jubilee, the Indo-American Society (IAS) is proud to convene the first ever Indo-American Summit on Higher Education during 30, 31 July 2010 and 1 August 2010 at the Hotel Grand Hyatt, Mumbai.
The Summit will present participants with an invaluable opportunity to collaborate with key business, political and academic personalities at a national and international level and address important issues, particularly in regard to policy framing and regulations and international partnerships.
This is great news. India and the United States cooperating on education is definitely in the best interests of both countries. I hope this summit is a great success.