The Biden Administration is agitated over the abstinences of multiple nations from voting in various US-sponsored international meetings by the US. This is because it fails to acknowledge the geopolitical realities, the geography, and expects all nations to put America’s national interests above their own.
Biden said on March 1, Russia has been isolated from the world. But other than Europe and East Asia, US allies have refused to blindly follow his lead. Israel and the Gulf oil sheikhdoms have taken a neutral or nuanced stand? 35 countries including the UAE, India, China, Mexico (America’s neighbor), Philippines (US ally), and several Latin American states including Brazil abstained from voting in the UNSC on the US-sponsored anti-Russia resolution. The 10-nation ASEAN too holds its independent view and so do multiple African countries.
A recent cable from Washington to its diplomats says since India and the UAE abstained from voting in the US-sponsored resolution in the UNSC, they are in the “Russian camp”. This is despite India voicing “regret” that the path of diplomacy was given up. Actually, the path of diplomacy was ‘stonewalled’ by the Biden Administration because without Russia invading Ukraine, Biden’s ratings would have kept falling and he could have not rallied the EU, especially with indications that France and Germany could quit NATO. German Chancellery Scholz initially did not even want to visit the US.
Interestingly, the above mentioned cable to diplomats did not mention China at all, which not surprising given the Biden administration’s pusillanimous approach towards China. But what follow-up action to this cable is required to be taken by the US ambassadors in India and UAE – destabilize these nations to force them to put all the eggs in the US basket?
Eric Garcetti, American ambassador to India needs no goading. He may not be a character out of Garfunkel comics but follows the Mutt & Jeff ideology which has afflicted many American “smartasses” (described in Part I). Garceti told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation that he would bring up human rights and discrimination such as via the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as a “core” piece of his engagement rather than as an obligation. He also said, “There are groups that are actively fighting for the human rights of people on the ground in India that will get direct engagement from me.”
Hillary Clinton wrote in her book ‘Hard Choices’ that she prefers to work with non-government organizations and other civilian groups. But factually the American policy all along has been to destabilize nations and then profit from the spoils. So there is little surprise that Garcetti wants to promote the same policy, termed ‘American Communism’, by dealing directly with civil organizations and human rights groups.
RJ Rummel, in Chapter 13 of his book ‘Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900’, writes that in foreign wars, the US military may have killed hundreds of thousands of foreigners in cold blood, virtually all civilians, and the greater majority of these by bombing. Putting together all the subtotals, in this century the US probably murdered about 583,000 people, conceivable even as many as 1,641,000 all told. Virtually all of these were foreigners killed during foreign wars. Domestically, throughout this century (20th Century) the American Federal or state governments were responsible for the murder of about 1 out of every 1,111,000 Americans per year. Rummel concludes by saying, “It is empirically true that Power kills, absolute Power kills absolutely.”
US historian William Blum, who has also served in the US State Department, wrote in 2015, “Since 1945, US has tried to overthrow more than 50 governments, many of them democratically elected; grossly interfered in 30 countries; bombed the civilian population of 30 countries; interfered in elections in 30 countries; used chemical and biological weapons; and attempted to assassinate foreign leaders; in many cases, Britain has been a collaborator”.
What the US record of democide and human rights has been in the 21st Century, readers can make a guess. Sure the US does not have Auschwitz-like camps like China has for Uyghur and Muslims in Xinjiang but it needs to look at its own democide and human rights violations before pointing fingers at India.
Can Biden Administration or Garcetti explain why Pakistan was invited to Biden’s Democracy Summit despite the Pakistani genocide in Balochistan and bombing civilians, houses, and even mosques in Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)? If Ben Cardin of Maryland is showing concerns about Muslims just to garner votes, how come he has nothing to say about Pakistan bombing mosques in Waziristan and KPK? The reason is all too well known – CIA and Pakistan’s ISI continue to share the same bed.
America’s HR violations are very well known so it should stop pressuring India on such issues. Similarly, for months the waiver under CAATSA to India for importing the Russian S-400 air defense missile system is being dangled as the Sword of Damocles. The periodic warning is that Biden will decide whether to apply or waive the sanctions. So, are the “smartasses” indecisive or is it the document kept as reserve toilet paper?
Is this the way to treat India which has the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ with the US, accorded Non-NATO membership by the US, and to whom the US has sold billions of dollars worth of armament with more in the pipeline? Stop intimidating India and take a decision on the waiver, whichever way you want.
Incidentally, Bangladesh has just signaled “jack off” to America saying it will continue to trade with Russia despite US sanctions on Russia and Bangladesh.
The US now demands India to distance itself from Russia (meaning dump Russia) and hours before the UNSC meeting on the US-sponsored anti-Russia resolution the EU was pressuring India – all because European security is perceived to be in danger after ‘forcing’ Russia to invade Ukraine. But, what exactly has the US and EU done for India’s security other than making money by selling arms and degrading (yes degrading) India’s security?
Overlooking Pakistan’s massive genocide in East Pakistan during 1971, the US sent its nuclear aircraft carrier-led flotilla to threaten India against liberating Bangladesh. Simultaneously, America’s pet pooch Britain sent its tubs to the Arabian Sea for attacking India in conjunction with the US. But they had to scoot when Russian submarines surfaced in their path on request from India.
The US ‘allowed’ Pakistan to acquire nuclear technology and CIA did not even question AQ Khan (father of Pakistan’s bomb) when Pakistan proliferated nuclear technology, even though Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had put total blame of proliferation on AQ Khan – can you guess why?
The US has said nothing about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of which is on Indian Territory even though the PLA has come into Pakistan. In fact, Washington is quite happy that India’s western flank is insecure and that Pakistan is waging a proxy war against India, as long as they can use Pakistan-based terrorists as proxy boots on the ground and use Pakistan for transit to pump ISIS cadres into Central Asia. America has the capability to help Balochistan gain independence from Pakistan, which would also checkmate Chinese expansion in the region. But the US would never do so.
The NATO summit held in the UK on September 4-5, 2014 discussed not only how to cripple the economic growth of Russia and China but also of India – so much for friendship!
The US initially had nothing to say about the Chinese invasion in Eastern Ladakh in India during May-June 2020. Far from any advance warning though having an intelligence-sharing agreement with India, US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin visits India in March 2021 and yodels, “We never knew India and China were so close to war.”
The White Chick Brigade screamed against Russian mobilization on its border with Ukraine, later against the Russian invasion demanding withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine. But neither the US nor the EU demand that China withdraw its troops from the Indian Territory it intruded into in Eastern Ladakh during 2020. There is also no protest against the PLA mobilization of 50-60,000 troops all along the border with India. The sheepish statement “we stand by India” is made just for the sake of it.
Now the US is sanctioning Myanmar periodically, pushing it more into China’s sphere of influence. With the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor coming up, soon the PLA will also enter Myanmar, making both India’s Western and Eastern flanks vulnerable. The US has not said anything about China occupying the Doklam Plateau in Bhutan and encroachments. Note how China is encircling India. America has also sanctioned Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
If a European country was occupying the present territory of India, the White Chick Brigade would have confronted China long back and left no stone unturned to undermine China-Pakistan, China-Myanmar, China-Nepal, and China-Sri Lanka relationship to check Chinese advances. But as it stands today the US-NATO-EU would love war in the Sub Continent to divert China’s attention, make money selling more arms to India, with the POTUS declaring we are with you but our forces will not directly engage China.
Finally, the US needs to get off the high horse, recognize Indian sensitivities and security concerns, and stop bullying India if it wants to boost India-US relations.
More follows in the concluding Part III.
Prakash Katoch is third generation army officer hailing from Himachal Pradesh. He is former Lieutenant General from Special Forces and post-retirement has published over 2100 articles on international affairs, geopolitics, military, security, technical and topical issues besides authoring two books. He is active in seminars at both national and international levels.
Very well written. The duplicity in approach by usa across the world is so apparent. The “ I care. Damn” attitude never allows trust to build.