The US-led West is crying hoarse about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but the US history is blackest of the black having attacked, bombed and invaded hundreds of countries for economic and strategic reasons with no compunctions about false pretexts to wage war, using chemical and biological weapons, depleted uranium, human rights violations and war crimes but getting away all the time. Establishing, arming, training and supporting terrorist organizations and using terrorists as proxy forces has been the norm with America. Now that Anthony Fauci has retired, the US is trying to pass on the entire blame for COVID-19 to Beijing obfuscating Washington’s investment in the P-4 lab at Wuhan.
The POTUS don’t always need special grey matter because they are guided by America’s ‘deep state’ as is happening in Ukraine presently. This is reinforced by Joe Biden and Donald Trump mimicking each other which reflects the sorry state the US has come to. There is a view that most Americans don’t want either of these two winning the next presidential elections. But others say if the strings are held by the deep state, does it matter if a clown or buffoon is propelled to the top. But steamrolling the world for America’s individual interests is no easy task – the US cannot confront the world singlehandedly. It requires a flock to follow the pied piper, plus machinations of highly disruptive quality to ignite fires around the globe without getting singed.
Therefore, the deep state needs the warmongering brains of American think tanks who are falling over each other to plan America’s future; who to befriend, which friend (s) to be dumped, what country/region to attack or effect a regime change to ensure a US-led unipolar world. The question of morality does not arise when planning such actions. Some of these “brainer” think tanks get invited to give presentations to the US government; of which Carnegie Endowment happens to be one.
Ashley J Tellis of Carnegie Endowment went on record to say in 2012, "India being continuously subjected to terror actually suits many… India is a sponge that absorbs global terror.” He would not elaborate this is why:
• The CIA and Pakistan’s ISI are closely bonded.
• Pakistan’s proxy war on India is in US interests to keep India in check.
• The US branding radical Pakistani organization “terrorists” and putting a price on their leaders is to humour India – otherwise the US has the wherewithal to take out terrorists leaders within Pakistan especially one’s making public appearances.
• The only US concern was Pakistan-based terrorists attacking US-NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan but then Pakistan helped the US by facilitating Taliban and the Islamic State deployments in Northern Afghanistan threatening Russian and Chinese interests.
A recent report in Washington Post quotes “another” leaked US document to say that India is avoided taking sides between Washington and Moscow during a conversation on February 22, 2023, between Indian NSA Ajit Doval and his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev; Doval assured support to Russia in multilateral forums and that the Ukraine war wouldn’t come up during the G 20 meeting chaired by India despite “considerable pressure” to do so. The report also cited Doval expressing India’s resistance to support the West-backed UN resolution over Ukraine. It is obvious that the US intelligence had precise knowledge of what NSA Ajit Doval discussed with his Russian counterpart behind ‘closed doors’. The US data leak confirmed that the US is spying on allies, friends and foes.
The laborious Tellis has laboured hard on a lengthy article titled ‘America’s Bad Bet on India’ published in the Washington Post on Labour Day (May 1), writes why the US should revise its policy on an unreliable India. Tellis says that America’s Joe Biden administration is wrong in presuming India will respond favorably when Washington calls in a favor during a regional crisis involving China; this despite the US granting cutting edge technologies (on paper?) to India, deepening defence cooperation, including India in the Quad and as a pillar of regional strategy, overlooking India’s deteriorating democracy (forgotten the attack on Capitol Hill?) and “unhelpful” foreign policy – not siding with the US-NATO war on Russia using Ukraine as proxy?
Tellis writes that Washington’s expectations of India are misplaced; India will never involve itself in any US confrontation with Beijing that does not directly threaten its own security. Therefore, the Biden administration must base its policies on a realistic assessment of Indian strategy; India must become “comrade-in-arms during “some” future crisis with Beijing”.
Tellis admits that for over a decade, the US attempted to help India improve its defence technology base, but these efforts often proved futile. He also writes that US firms have notably succeeded in penetrating India’s defence market; India now has American transport and maritime aircraft, utility and combat helicopters, anti-ship missiles and artillery guns. But for NOT transferring critical technology to India, his lame excuse is that US defence firms are reluctant to part with their intellectual property and make commercial investments for ultimately “meager business opportunities” – clearly the sickest joke.
Tellis harps on US-India intelligence sharing arrangement but why did the US not share the intelligence in 2020 that Chinese mechanized divisions exercising in Aksai Chin were advancing towards Eastern Ladakh? How come US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin visiting India in 2021 blurted to the media, “We never knew China and India were so close to war.” Is this what the intelligence sharing agreement should be?
Tellis asks whether American “generosity” toward India will help accomplish its strategic aims, and then surmises it will not - India will likely refuse to play a role in situations where its own security is not directly threatened. He further says that India’s security partnership with the US will remain fundamentally asymmetrical for a long time to come. His final advice is that the US should help India to the degree compatible with American interests; the Biden administration should recognize this reality rather than try to alter it. Tellis obviously wants India to be America’s lackey adhering to the US foreign policy, not its own, or rather join NATO like the US Congressman RO Khanna keeps talking about.
But Tellis fails to amplify which contingencies he has in mind when saying India will not involve itself in any US confrontation with Beijing that does not directly threaten its own security. The only contingency one can think of is China invading Taiwan, which may not be too far in the future. So what does Tellis want India to do in such a case – open a front against China? Another unspoken desire of Tellis would that in the event of an India- China war, US troops will get bases, like in Japan, South Korea and the Philippine, given the US desperation to secure bases in South Asia having been booted out of Afghanistan. Would Tellis knows that at the ground level, Japanese consider the US troops “paid security guards” who are there to ensure Japan doesn’t turn nuclear?
The US obviously wants to distract China from Taiwan by any means – including full-fledged India-China war with India becoming America’s Ukraine-like proxy in the Indo-Pacific. But these are not likely to be China’s priorities. Beijing is unlikely to go in for a full-fledged war with India and relegate Taiwan to second priority. China’s invasion of Taiwan could be in conjunction with more muscular attempts to bite off chunks of Indian Territory but nothing beyond that. Tellis should, therefore, suggest to the Biden administration what type of fence sitting Washington should plan on, and stop hallucinating about American bases in India. India is not a turkey that can be fattened for thanksgiving.