indian foreign policy, america and iran…
Here in Darjeeling one doesn’t become too concerned about popular news broadcasts… however…
One would have to be a total idiot not to notice the sparks between iran and the usa and their increasing intensity.
I have a small short wave radio. It travels with me.. there are several stations I pick up.. others I have to wait till I move to the next hostel.. I can usually get some bbc and voa.. you can get some idea of whats happening…..though one tends to travel to get away from retail information services.
Yesterday I bought a well known brand of antiseptic. (infection used to kill millions..) The pharmacist in a small kiosk in the market wrapped it in a piece of newspaper. Back at the hostel the article in the paper was about the grounding of a jet that had been carrying us military personel that had entered Indian airspace without the appropriate permission..(I guess its old news for everyone else.. I didn’t get the date on the paper. i’ll admit reading it avidly.. hehehe.. ) well.. its an indication of the state of relations between usa and India. ( I mean honestly.. the Indian action is not a friendly one.. ) And I imagine it is directly related to the friction with iran… indias expression of disapproval.. seems to be what is happening..
A month or so ago I found some paper that had a brief story about fidel castro coming out of retirement to warn the world about the dangers of a conflict between iran and America… in the case of castro it is hard to tell just how distorted the reporting maybe…. Though its pretty clear that the aging leader had something to say on the subject…(to have him come all the way back from Valhalla.) the fact that castro is involved gives one pause. Castro was at the centre of nuclear issues in the early 60s. and his knowledge of this type of brinksmanship is pretty well unparallaled.
The usa is already deeply involved in Afghanistan and pakistan.. not to mention the hotch potch presence in the middle east..and the lingering cold war pacific bases. … there is little doubt that the indians would prefer less rather than more…
over the centuries, relations between India and Persia overall have been pretty benign or so it seems to me…though some of the Turkish and afghan invaders have not been so benign… ( though i'd really have to read up on it to speak with any authority on the subject). Persia has been one of those cultural entities held in some esteem here…(there are broad similarities between certain strata of their cultures.) so it is not surprising that the indians would be prepared to send a clear message to the white house.. .. India is neutral or want s to seem to be. But….. but it certainly wants to say it is no friend of the usa.
it occurs to me in light of castro weighing into the debate, that there is also a nuclear issue here.. the usa .. and I suspect largely at the instigation of the jewish (Israeli) lobby accuses iran of harbouring the intention to develop nuclear weapons. Well.. they probably have some capability.. enough to spook the jews who are themselves armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. (ty mordachai vaanunu.)
Indias own nuclear ambitions can be viewed in comparison to iran.. I would like to believe in the fundamental benevolence of the usa and suppose the usa does not want India to develop as a nuclear power .(though I couldn’t really be sure about that).. I am not sure but I imagine that beneath the obvious round of sabre rattling etc, there are issues of great sensitivity here...
there are many pieces of the jigsaw missing. . too many to really get a clear idea … the indians certainly want uranium..(ask any australian) but there are other things to think about in Darjeeling at least.. and I doubt that anyone can really get a much better grip on it at any rate.
Personally I am definitely allied to the American position in so many ways.. but usually on middle-east policy issues, the americans get it wrong.. and while its not for political pundits to prophesy its so easy to imagine that the middle east will be the undoing of the usa.. this isn’t to damn the yanks (they are perfectly capable of doing that themselves) but to raise a voice for the common weal.
I have largely described my position on iran it in the blog entry on iran..and shatranj.. ...a sovereign state and has the prerogative to develop whatever it sees fit for its own defence. If the usa wants to engage iran in a head on confrontation in defence of Israel, then I believe that the persians will play them like a zither in due course.
Nuclear weapons and the threat of instant annihilation for anyone who their posessors decree is the most outrageous form of terrorism to date.
In a perfect world there would be none. Obviously. But this blog entry is about indias foreign policy, not American terrorism, Persian ambitions or Israeli passive-aggression.
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