United States cementing alliance with India

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=134ec29180f7bb25

Paul Kelly - The Australian Saturday 21st May, 2005

It's logic is inescapable yet the idea has been inconceivable: a strategic partnership between the two great democracies, the US and India, long divided by distrust and the Cold War.

Yet it is happening. George W. Bush has reached out to India and one of the coming debates in global politics will be over the manner and meaning of his decision to support India's quest to become a global power.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Washington in July, with Bush reportedly saying this will be treated as a 'grand event', and at the year's end Bush will visit India.

A round of interviews in New Delhi this week elicited a plethora of views as India's political elite debates how far it should enter the US embrace. But India is being wooed and its pride at this is palpable.

The Bush administration, far more cohesive with Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, has launched a diplomatic offensive with India that is stunning in its rhetoric and serious in its content. 'India's relations with the US are now the best they have ever been,' says Rajiv Sikri, the senior official on East Asia at India's external affairs ministry.

When the two leaders briefly met in Moscow this month at celebrations to honour the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, Bush introduced his wife Laura to Singh, saying, 'This is the Prime Minister of India and I'm going to take you to his country this Christmas-New Year so you can see the most fascinating democracy in the world.'

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Fascinating democracy...hmmm I thought Singh's party was Socialistic in nature!!!

In a country where 74% of the software they use is pirated, no less.

Good luck to the Indians. But they need to note, the US was friends with Saddam for a long while too.

Pakistan was aligned with China in the cold war. Pakistan adopted the US definition of terror.
So what can we expect now?
Expect Pakistan to exert their influence in Afghanistan and closer ties with China.
Everything old is new again.

.....Neither one of the two countries is a democracy, is it?

This guy writes anything Murdoch says here in OZ. He was pro-war and helped Murdoch write his famous editorial a month before the "Invasion of Iraq" where the pair claimed that if the "Rest of the World" wanted $13 a barrel then Iraq had to be taken out!!
I think $47 a barrel says it all!! Do not believe "The Australian" newspaper as a credible source. It is owned by Murdoch. The "Sydney Morning Herald" and Melbourne's "The Age" are not owned by Murdoch and have commentators who have proven to be much more reliable!!! This story is a beat up to encourage people to believe that the US has a real "Friend" somewhere in the world. What Pakistan's embassy here thinks of this article will be interesting. I'm sure Eschalon will pick up the frantic traffic between Canberra and Islamabad!!!

Now he is cozying up to India. He's like the Krupp Company before WWI, selling artillery and armor plate to Germany, France and Britain, all at the same time.

Its like whose friend is Bush???

India is part of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) alliance, formed recently to counter the spread of US influence, particularly with regard to Iran and Venezuela. Just as Bush (or his minions) have recently met (with disastrous results) with Lula and Putin, the upcoming meeting with Singh will probably be one in which Bush vainly tries to convince the Indians of his world view. Make no mistake - Inida will NOT support a US strike on Iran. Nor will the other alliance members.

Thats what the US needs - A good BRIC through their front window! Might be a good wake up call for American's to get off their fat arses!!!

If the U.S. can maintain its relationship with Pakistan, while warming with India, that would be an accomplishment.

I don't care who does it, this move is long overdue.