Challenging Irony the U.S.

Way
Mixed results from Obamas Delhi Visit
The sole Indian journalist called on to address a question to U.S. President Barack
Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their brief press availability
in Delhi, chose rather to extend congratulations on the purported new beginnings in
the bilateral relationship. The U.S. news agency journalist who got a similar
opportunity addressed Obama on the crises in Ukraine and Yemen, and sought
clarity from Modi on Indias climate change position.
Modi responded briefly and in accordance with a practised template about Indias
commitment to future generations. And Obama chose to poke irony in the eye: the
U.S. had no intent to see Russia weakened, but would nonetheless uphold the core
principle that large countries dont bully smaller countries.
India was among many holdouts when the U.S. orchestrated global sanctions
against Russia after a colour-coded revolution to bring down an elected government
in Ukraine ended in insurrectionary conditions and the Crimean secession. The
reasons would have been clear the day after Obamas brief encounter with the
press. Aside from a newly acquired naval reconnaissance aircraft of U.S. origin and
a few transport aircraft, most of the hardware on display at the annual military
pageant of the republic, he would have noted, were sourced from Russia.
According to a recent reckoning by the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI), India was the worlds largest arms importer in the four-year period
ending 2013. With a share of about 14 percent in all international transfers of military
equipment, India was far ahead of Pakistan and China, which tied for second place
at 5 percent each.
India affords a substantial arms market which the U.S. undoubtedly would be
attracted to as its economic fortunes falter. But domestic law in the U.S. imposes a
number of hurdles, including a formal requirement that all arms transacted should be
used only in legitimate self-defence. This is of course, a malleable principle. Israel
has been a recipient of U.S. generosity despite its military occupation of Palestinian

territories, which has nothing to do with self-defence except in the most perverse
reading.
India inhabits a more complex part of the geopolitical map, where the simple binaries
of us and them break down. Bringing peace and order to Afghanistan is a U.S.
priority and Pakistan a vital accessory in the mission. Too strong a tilt towards India
and a heightened military relationship, would sour ties with Pakistan and potentially
endanger an already delicate transition in Afghanistan.
China, yet another among Indias prickly neighbours, is among the U.S.s largest
trading partners, with two-way transactions of US $ 640 billion in 2014. With the
balance running strongly in its favour, China currently sits on perhaps the largest
stash of dollar assets outside the U.S. Federal Reserve. Some of the consequences
were recently evident in a cheque that China wrote to bail out Russia when its
currency crumbled under the pressure of sanctions and an oil price collapse. The
ability China retains to undermine U.S. soft power is a factor in global geopolitics that
cannot be ignored in years ahead.
A vision statement adopted during Obamas visit may suggest a new resolve in the
exercise of hard power. Underlining the importance of secure sea-lanes in the AsiaPacific and Indian Ocean, the statement spoke of safeguarding maritime security
and ensuring freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, especially
in the South China Sea. All disputes in the region it affirmed should be settled
through peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognised principles of
international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Here again was a challenge to irony, since the U.S. is not a signatory to the law of
the sea (or UNCLOS as it is called). Expectedly, this clause in the vision statement
brought forth a heated response from Beijing. There were no impediments to free
movement through the South China Sea it said, effectively asking the U.S. and India
to butt out of a conversation that was best carried out among the littoral states.
Since taking office, Modi has had three meetings with the political leadership of
major littoral states of the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions: the Chinese
President and the prime ministers of Australia and Japan. This is in conformity with
the reading that this region is swiftly emerging as the new hub of global power. Yet it

is a complex geometry of power and for all the euphoria around the Obama visit,
there is still a degree of scepticism about how far India can negotiate these
complexities as an overt ally of the U.S.
As Obama touched down, talking heads in the media were warning that the nuclear
cooperation deal with the U.S., long touted as symbolic of the new engagement
between the countries, was in danger of unravelling. It will undoubtedly be deemed a
notable success of his visit that a salvage operation was carried out. Details are
awaited, but the insurance fund of Rs 1,500 crore created to indemnify U.S.
equipment suppliers in the event of nuclear accidents, is widely seen as pitifully
meagre. And the Indian Attorney-Generals opinion on how best to exempt U.S.
corporations from the law that empowers groups and individuals to file tort claims is
still awaited. The legal opinion when it comes, will certainly be contested.That could
be embarrassing for the BJP, which insisted when in opposition for the inclusion of
strong corporate liability clauses in the law.
Nuclear cooperation is one among many tortuous acts within the slow moving
tableau of Indias engagement with the U.S. Despite claims that the logjam has now
been cleared, those familiar with the terrain are holding off on celebrations. Given
the complexities of the larger picture, it has been useful to focus on the nuclear
domain as representative of the whole. A weapons system that will never be used
and an energy source that today contributes just over 2 percent to Indias electricity
mix, have in this manner, come to represent the entirety of Indias engagement with
the U.S.
January 28 2014