From Kevin Drum over at Washington Monthly's Political Animal, a striking account of a recent congressional delegation to India. According to Tim Dunlop at The Road to Surfdom, a friend of his on Capitol Hill summarized what the Indians had to say to America thusly:
We consider ourselves as in competition with China for leadership in the new century. That's our focus and frankly, you have made it very difficult for us to deal with you. We find your approach to international affairs ridiculous. The invasion of Iraq was insane. You've encouraged the very things you say you were trying to fix - terrorism and instability. Your attitude to Iran is ridiculous. You need to engage with Iran. We are. We are bemused by your hypocrisy. You lecture the world about dealing with dictators and you deal with Pakistan. We are very sorry for your losses from the 9/11 terror attacks. Welcome to our world. You threaten us with sanctions for not signing the non-proliferation treaty, but you continue to be nuclear armed and to investigate new weapons. You expect us to neglect our own security because you want us to. We don't care about sanctions.I'm having a hard time figuring out when this Congressional delegation was, and who was on it--only that Senator Bingaman of New Mexico is leading a delegation to Bengal next month. Regardless, though, I'm not very surprised. You can only court someone for so long, and there's a point at which you have to forge ahead and build your own life without them. America is used to being the powerful, all important indispensable nation, and perhaps it is. But that doesn't mean ignored great nations are just going to roll over and sulk. India started out its life as the biggest democracy with great hopes for love and friendship from the oldest democracy. For example, our Senate Gavel is a 1954 gift from India. Over the course of the cold war we proved again and again that we cared less about Democracy and freedom, and more about markets and military alliances. That finally turned around in the mid 1990's, and American congressional and presidential delegations to India were greeted with 50 years worth of Bollywood-scale affection. Bush has turned us around 180 degrees, so it's not surprising that India has moved on. Dunlop goes on to point out increasing Indo-Australian ties which also doesn't surprise me. It's a deep shame, considering that, idealistically, the two of us ought to be the best of friends.
