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US, India Alliance
And Global Scenario

By Ram Puniyani

01 April, 2006
Countercurrents.org

The visit of George W. Bush to finalize the nuclear deal witnessed the anguish of people getting expressed in massive protests from diverse sections of society, the followers of progressive, left and different shades of Muslims groups. The large section of English press and elite were ga ga about the ultimate realization of their dreams, US-India alliance coming to fruition. Not too many critical sections asked as to why has US, which never helped India with the technology during the crucial period of its development, which never helped India in any way in its technological foundations, which never supported India on the issues of security and which had been putting sanctions on India on this or the other pretext, has been surging with warmth and camaraderie from last decade or so. No doubt Indian foreign policy has been bowing to woo the US on every conceivable occasion, starting from supporting its star war programs to offering military bases when it was attacking to occupy Afghanistan, to its vote on Iran. The major hints were dropped from US about its intentions to warm up its relations with India. No doubt US has been the dominating influence on Pakistan's policies as there are US military bases and it has been supported by US in various ways. It is US which has to take lot of blame for the Kashmir imbroglio which has been tormenting the Kashmiri people.

India had been a victim of US foreign policy in most of the areas from the decade of 50s to 80s. This was the real period for the growth of the infrastructure based on which today the economy is growing by leaps and bounds. During this era India resorted to the public sector for the growth of its industries, and US point blank refused to support India in any way. Globally, US kept allying with all sorts of dictators and despots, had been planting many of them in various countries. The language used by US during this period was that World is facing the threat from communism. It presented its goals as defense of freedom and democracy. Its policies, on the contrary, abolished and brutally killed democratic governments in country after country. Iran 1953 and Chile in 1973 being the foremost examples where the democratically elected governments were finished off and the despots were installed as the rulers.

During the cold war era US had to be cautious as the might of USSR was quiet matching in various areas and it could not steam roll its imperialist designs with ease. During this bipolar World, many a countries could struggle to gain independence, under different flags. Its atrocities in Vietnam to suppress the national aspirations of Vietnamese will be the benchmark of barbarism of worst type in the history. The might of colonial powers of yesteryears, Britain, France, and Holland etc. declined and gave way to the US hegemony in the decades to come. US arrival as the big bully was marked by its dropping of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were primarily aimed to assert its rise as the super power in the World. It became the first and only country to use this demonic Nuclear weapon killing lakhs of innocent human beings, showing the barbarism of its policies.

With the USSR posing an alternate pole of global power, many a countries could come out from the colonial yoke to begin the foundations of their own development as independent countries. The end of second World war, the war for the hegemony of the colonies, ended in the defeat of one pole of imperialism, the axis powers, Germany and Japan and also went on to sow the seed of the emergence of newer equations in the form of formation of Israel, which was the perfect tool for US to operate in the West Asia. The two giants of the international arena kept clashing and dominating the global scene. Two heartening factors during this era were that the group of nations came up as the Non Aligned nations, and the development of regional endeavors of cooperation like European Union, SAARC and the moral, ethical and political acceptance of UN as the arbiter of World disputes. The seeds of industrial development of some of these countries, which were colonies earlier, like China and India also started sprouting during this period. Apart from other developments the manpower for knowledge industry, IT sector was the major development in some of these countries, more so over in India.

The collapse of USSR was the major turning point of the global equations. Now the World was left with a single hegemonic nation, with insatiable appetite for ammunition, nuclear weapons, and an expenditure on military purposes which runs into astronomical figures and may be more than the total budget of many smaller countries put together. US economy revolved more and more in the dealing of armaments and reveled in selling arms to the warring factions, one of which was invariably propped up by US itself. With the decline of USSR the multiple phenomenon which came to fore were the intensification of adverse effects of globalization in various counties including in India, the increased military presence of US in West Asia, its propping up of Al Qaeda through the ISI of Pakistan and the rise of fundamentalism in the region as a response to the US policies of suppressing the local democratic aspiration. In India it was also the period of rise of middle classes and the reversal of the progressive values, which were replaced by conservatism of high order and rise of faith based phenomenon, rise of religiosity, and emergence of Hindutva as the major challenger to the Indian constitution and democracy.

With the Ayatollah Khomeini revolution in Iran, which in a way was the long term impact of US act of overthrowing Mossadeq and installing Raza Shah Pehlavi, US propaganda machine came out openly to declare that Islam is the new threat to World civilization. The McCarthyism, the projection of Communism as the threat to freedom and democracy got gradually replaced by anti Islamism. The theoretical formulation of US political need came form Samuel Huntington who went on to propound the 'Clash of Civilization' thesis. As per this thesis, the contemporary problem is that World is witnessing a clash between the backward Islamic civilization and the advanced Western civilization. Put in other words the hint was that advanced western civilization is the savior of Humanity and the backward Islam is the obstacle to the path of World progress, freedom and democracy. Interestingly colonialists, imperialists project themselves above the religious identity. When British were rampaging India, they periodized Indian history as Ancient Hindu period, medieval Muslim period and Modern British period. The deceit of these forces is unmistakable. The colonial powers, the oppressors, always need to project an enemy to consolidate their hegemony. During cold war era US propaganda machine succeeded in demonizing communism and currently it is Islam, the Muslims which have been demonized through various mechanisms. The social common sense in the previous decades was against communism, today Islam and Muslims occupy that slot and all around one can hear the arguments about, violence, terror and other attributes being inherent to Islam. Doctoring of mass consciousness against Muslims is complete by now.

With collapse of USSR, US started feeling easy and its focus on west Asia to control its oil wealth found the expression in its aggressive foreign policy and its continuing blind support to Israel. It did float Al Qaeda and brought in the word Jihad as a war cry for Al Qaeda and for its attack on the communists in Afghanistan. In the process it achieved the twin purposes of taking the revenge of its humiliating defeat in Vietnam and at the same time bringing the oil rich area under its military and political control. This period of World History is dominated by the return of the language of religion in politics, the conservatism in social life and rising differential between haves and have not's. With all its drawbacks, the presence of USSR was not only a check on the domination of US but also a provider of space for the development of democratic values, the struggle to strive for substantive Liberty Equality and Fraternity (Community). With world facing a single bully in the form of US the progressive, democratic values and culture took a nose dive. Looking from India one can see the cultural deterioration, rise of conservatism as reflected in the Hindi films, serials, in thee rise of Babas, Acharyas and their clan doing successful business.

Religious identity and the politics based on it, which had taken a back seat during the era of national liberation, struck back strongly, mostly coming to center stage of the national life in many a countries. US, which at home was having a good deal of radical progressivism, started wilting under the multinationals policies, and fundamentalism which was a phenomenon of 1930s started making a come back, more so after 9/11. US schizophrenia of liberalism at home and promotion of despots abroad started giving way to the logical trajectory and today Christian right is a strong presence there, Bush being one of a sample from this segment. Earlier Bush had manipulated his victory, this time God, Gays and Guns were the essential component of the victory kit of George W Bush, the contemporary World Emperor. The release of tape by Osama just few days ahead of the polling date signified the deeper links of Al Qaeda and Bush. These alliances do not remain in part they do try to become holistic over a period of time and it is likely that US conservatism will become stronger over a period of time.

Meanwhile the demonization of Islam and Muslims picked up severely and in the aftermath of 9/11 Osama, terrorism and Muslims are being projected as synonyms. The deeper issue of the imperialist lust for oil and political hegemony has been cleverly put under the carpet by the propaganda machinery, ever willing and capable of Manufacturing Consent or doctoring mass consciousness. The parallelism of these processes Worldwide and in India is too striking to be recounted. BJPs coming to power at center not only manifested the retrograde degeneration of democratic norms and values it also went into make a strong effort to subjugate India's foreign policy to the US. The 'Fight against terrorism' became the slogan of Hindu rights' campaign to consolidate its power by demonizing the Muslims as terrorists. The BJP, as the political child of RSS, aimed and aims to primarily suppress the rights of downtrodden, dalits, workers, and women. Minorities in a way are the collateral victims of its politics; Muslims minorities are being converted into the new untouchables as the Hindu Rashtra of Gujarat demonstrates. Muslims world wide are the sacrificial goats of the imperialist lust for control of oil and politics of the World.

It is in this background that the tilt in US foreign policy has to be seen. It has enjoyed the status and power of monarch during last two decades. Now the global equations are shifting and China is emerging as a major economic and military power. During US aggression against Iraq, barring the World peace movement, the groups of scattered peace-lovers world over, there was no significant opposition to the US unilateralism. When one is using the word US, UK is the integral part of this word. It has to be kept in mind that it is during this period that US chose to trample upon the United Nation and its political and moral authority. All through during earlier times also it had protected Israel when it blatantly violated the UN resolutions. Now as seen in the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq it first bypassed and than swallowed UN in a single gulp.

Now with the rise of China, there is a perception that it may emerge as the alternative pole of power. India not only has the strategic location, it also is emerging as a fairly strong, nation in its own right. Here one is using the term strong in the conventional sense, military power, nukes and the affluence of the handfuls. The real strength of the nation should come from the well being of all citizens is another matter, not being taken up here as it does not command battalions in the contemporary World. The present US worry is to preempt the rise of China as the alternative pole, challenging its hegemony, which it has become used to enjoying, dictating World policies from the White house. Attacking and reprimanding weak countries at will and treating the concept of democracy amongst the nations of the World, with contempt.

The bamboo curtain had already served China well, to develop its strength by the use of controlled labor market and violations of the norms of labor relations. Notwithstanding that, it is emerging as a force which can take on US might some day. US has seen that its concept of progress and development goes well where the section of middle class prospers. It is those countries which ape at it and aspire to associate with its glamour and exploitative political system. US knows, India today is exactly in this state and by wooing it over to her side, it will be creating a potential coalition in which it can continue to rule the roost and also put at bay the possibility of China posing as a threat to its imperialist lust in times to come. Bush couldn't have been happier after his visit to India, he got all he wanted and some protesters burning his effigy everywhere may not be of much consequence to the mighty administration being presided over by him.

Can we retrieve the ground? Can we think of India's foreign policy retrieving its non alignment and not just be and act as a pawn in the hands of US designs of continuing to rule the World? It may sound as if the protests have gone in vain, that US will steamroll India's foreign policy. It is a question of how the progressive sections continue their pressure, how over a period of time they can sustain the concerns of average people for the right to life and keep speaking for policies which look at the human beings as the citizens, who deserve and should get what is enshrined in the UN Charter of human rights. The bringing together of different countries to face up to the onslaught of US foreign policy is a must. It can attack country after country and get away with giving explanations which are neither just nor acceptable to the World community. This alliance of non aligned countries can come up with the Global peace movement raising its voice against the adverse economic and political policy of the World bully. Its time this becomes central agenda of human rights groups.

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