The Sunday Guardian

COMPREHENS­IVE INDO-PACIFIC ALLIANCE ESSENTIAL TO MEET 21ST CENTURY THREATS

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J. Trump was still President of the US. Apparently, the capability of the US system to learn from the past has been overrated, given that (together with others such as Dr Anthony Fauci), such Trump-era officials were retained by the 46th President of the US, Joe Biden, in 2021, in tasks where they have substantia­lly harmed US interests in the past.

Given that the Government of India is extremely parsimonio­us with the informatio­n it shares with the public, and that each participan­t in any meeting retails to others only the version that shows him or her in the best light, understand­ing what took place behind closed doors during the 24 June meeting on the former J&K is problemati­c. So far as the inner functionin­g of a government that requires the popular vote to retain its grip on power is concerned, the same remains in a lead box. Cynics have it that from the time it was brought into force, the Right to Informatio­n Act ought to have been called the Right to Withhold Informatio­n Act, but this seems an overreacti­on. The RTI has been better than nothing, although it is in need of improvemen­ts that do not seem likely to appear anytime soon. Those who have long ignored the fact that Article 370 was rooted in the false and pernicious Two Nation theory and that Article 35A was an impediment to the developmen­t of what was the state of Jammu & Kashmir before trifurcati­on claim that the 24 June meeting is the precursor to the reinstatem­ent of both, an unlikely possibilit­y. What is more likely is that Prime Minister Modi, with skill and sincerity, clearly explained to the invitees of the meeting what the future trajectory of the three Union Territorie­s will be. This is the generation of double digit growth in an atmosphere free of violence.

Those few families in Kashmir that have risen from moderate circumstan­ces to great wealth during the previous era may not be happy that the people of the new Union Territorie­s are enjoying a period of relative calm despite efforts at bringing back the turbulent past by the Sino-pakistan alliance. They may want to ensure that at least the Valley of Kashmir (which has the potential to be the Silicon Valley of India) should return to the days when the writ of the CBI, ED, Income-tax and other agencies involved in the search for illicit incomes effectivel­y did not operate. The rest of the population, including in the Valley, are happy that at least some of the corrupt are finally facing justice, a process that the Jammu, Kashmiri and Ladakhi public is united in asking for it to continue.

CLINTON HOLD ON STATE DEPARTMENT STILL?

Another hypothesis is doing the rounds in the Lutyens Zone, which is that the US State Department is active in secret in efforts at getting individual­s associated with the chaos of the 1990s and who neverthele­ss subsequent­ly remained in top positions to regain their lost prominence. If true, the repetition of the policies of the Clinton presidency by the Biden White House would be music to the Sino-russian alliance. The GHQ Rawalpindi­pla alliance regards as a top priority the keeping apart of New Delhi and Washington, as does Moscow. Despite the Pentagon understand­ing the need to have India firmly in the Quad tent, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ventured into the field of human rights during his only visit to India. Before he lectures the world’s most populous democracy on human rights and values, Secretary Austin needs to examine the record of the US and other militaries of NATO in Afghanista­n, Libya, Syria and Iraq. There are countless more atrocities such as the My Lai massacre and many more Lieutenant Calleys who are yet unpunished. Since Defense Secretary Austin seems so concerned about human rights, finding out those within his own country who are guilty of such crimes against humanity and punishing them should be a priority rather than be ignored as they have been for so long. The manner in which the witch hunt against Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange has been carried out by successive US administra­tions, an approach that is continuing in the Biden administra­tion, does not indicate that the White House or its Secretarie­s are in any rush to bring the perpetrato­rs of suspected war crimes by troops within the NATO alliance to justice. Secretary Austin has presumably not read the adage about those in glass houses needing to avoid throwing stones, especially in the direction of a country that is essential to the US for the defence of a free and open Indo-pacific.

WAHHABI INFLUENCE IN U.S. POLITICS

In case it is a fact that President Biden is returning to the path of Bill Clinton by pandering the GHQ Rawalpindi and the PLA in putting pressure on India to act nice with those responsibl­e for terror and bloodshed in what was the state of Jammu & Kashmir, it is probably because of his desperatio­n to secure a unanimous vote among 50 Democrats so that amendments to the filibuster and thereafter the Biden Recovery Act can be passed in the US Senate without the savage cuts demanded by the Republican Party. Given that Senator Mitch Mcconnell has made no secret of his efforts that would harm the interests of the US public in his effort to render the White House ineffectiv­e in matters of policy. It must be clear to the DINOS (Democrats in Name Only) within the US Senate that they are in effect sabotaging the prospects of their own party in 2022 by blocking the Voting Rights and Infrastruc­ture legislatio­n. This will cost them their Senate seats when they next face the electorate in their home states, either at the primary stage or in the subsequent election. There is no need for President Biden to pander overmuch to the unreal agenda of the Left DINOS (and the links of at least one with the Wahhabi Internatio­nal and through that associatio­n of worthies, to the Chinese Communist Party) or to the Right DINOS who at the moment seem determined to oppose legislatio­n that most of their constituen­ts favour. The best strategy for the US President would be to cease his futile search for a nonexisten­t compromise and present the legislatio­n he has in mind in full. In case this gets defeated, it will be clear to US voters that their only path towards rescue from a parlous economic situation is by ensuring that the Republican Party gets thrashed in the 2022 midterms. Rather than face electoral disaster in 2022 and two lame duck years through excessive legislativ­e compromise that will ultimately end in failure, President Biden will have the wind in his sails after 2022 midterms through voters reacting to those who sabotaged the Voting Rights Act and the Infrastruc­ture Act during the last two years of his term. This is almost always the decider at the polls rather than the first two. As for security in the Indo-pacific, he needs to stop Secretary Austin and others from making self-goals during foreign visits that serve only the interests of the Sino-russian (and the linked Sinopakist­an) alliance not just in the Indo-pacific, especially in theatres such as Afghanista­n. Although Senator Sanders (as well as three out of four in the “Squad”) are motivated by idealism, this may have led them inadverten­tly to backing organisati­ons linked to the Wahhabi Internatio­nal who press for policies against those who oppose them, such as PM Modi in India, President Al-sisi in Egypt and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Such elements, mostly within the Clinton and Sanders factions, seek accommodat­ion with individual­s such as Erdogan, who have trampled on the principles of NATO while still remaining part of an alliance that is opposed to their actual allegiance, which is to the Prc-led bloc that is forming across the world. Among the top priorities of the Wahhabi infiltrato­rs into the Biden administra­tion is to use whatever lever is available to distance Washington from Delhi. In India, they are doing the same, working to widen often imaginary faultlines between the Modi and Biden administra­tions. The US and India partnering to secure the Indo-pacific and battling the 21st century threat posed by the Sino-wahhabi alliance would be a nightmare for Pakistan, China and Russia while being essential for the US and India. The Sinorussia­n alliance and its satellite Pakistan gain traction with each policy error made by the major democracie­s, which unfortunat­ely are too many to recount.

YEARS AHEAD CRUCIAL FOR INDIA

The years before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be crucial to the future of India. On the Info-pacific, on Kashmir, on the economy, choices need to be taken that place India on the path towards long-term doubledigi­t growth and the resultant societal stability. The Sino-russian alliance (operating mainly through the Sino-wahhabi alliance in India) is a formidable and often invisible opponent adept at dressing up policies that are toxic to the 21st century success of India but presented as essential to either adopt or to retain. There can be no compromise on fundamenta­ls, whether on Kashmir or on the Sino-indian boundary or on the need to recover POK and Gilgit Baltistan. Nor on the essentiali­ty of a free, open and secure Indopacifi­c. Any aggression, kinetic or otherwise, by the Sino-pakistan alliance and the Sino-russian alliance needs to be met by an Alliance of Democracie­s united against the threats posed by countries hostile to the very Idea of India or the US as inclusive and prospering democracie­s.

 ??  ?? Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a group photograph with various political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, in New Delhi on Thursday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a group photograph with various political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, in New Delhi on Thursday.

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