A visit to
USA to
attend an important military conference and to conduct research on
the papers released about the India–Pakistan war of 1971, unearthed
the fuzzy Rules of Engagement handed out to the USS Enterprise Task
Force that entered and retreated from the Bay of Bengal in December
1971 and some other amazing details.
India
has not yet released the papers, so our history has been written
thus far as the authors wanted it and some have been misled. The
research was to update the earlier book ‘A Nation And Its Navy At
War’ (Ranjit B Rai) published by Lancer in 1986. The books by Vice
Admiral M K Roy, Admiral SN Kohli and Admiral SM Nanda and the
details in Vice Admiral SM Hiranandani’s book (sponsored and paid
for by the Navy) are the Navy’s versions of the war as each saw it
–– another look is needed from the Pakistani and USA sides before
amnesia sets in.
An earlier visit
to
Pakistan had also given an opportunity and a chance to report the
status of America as of Today. Our attempt has been to educate
viewers and to have a stronger India especially its military and
economy. These aspects and ethics are the backbone of a nation and
we would like to see an
India
as powerful as America by the end of this century. This needs a look
from the outside and from rich America.
What is
important to understand is that there are three
Americas at the
same time. There is the massive economic and infrastructure engine
of USA the richest, the most creative, innovative and vibrant.
Despite the deficit the economy is doing well and there is no
looking back on that except that economists have to tell us what the
deficit will do to it. The stock market boom continues. Indians must
know there are jobs and opportunities galore and they are now
welcome and day to day life is full of quality and justice exists.
Water and electricity are basics. So many aged Indian parents of
wealthy Indian NRIs are living in USA, on Social Security. They just
state that they have no resources and yet some whom we met have huge
properties in India and even collect rent. They get free medical and
help at home if they are handicapped and all they have to prove is
that they are penniless and unable to cope. In India there is no
gift tax or estate duty so they can prove this in a day with
transfer of wealth and an affidavit. USA can afford to look after
the aged for a while but the debate has begun how long this can
last.
Then there is an
America
that does not know how to solve the imbroglio of
Iraq,
Afghanistan and now coming up on the horizon, Iran. That concerns
the US military which is not rank conscious, war experienced and
ready to discuss issues in the open. In passing we were able to
explain the INDIA–US Nuclear deal also quite cogently. Admiral Raja
Menon, whose wife Anjoulie has paining sales in New York regularly,
was there too in an official capacity to lecture to the military and
he is very knowledgeable on the subject.
Then there is
the politician lobby of
America as
corrupt and bigoted as Indians, and controlled by the big businesses
but what is very significant to report on this visit is the sudden
and considerable interest in India, not only for business but in
India's military and culture, including Yoga. These subjects were
used to impress the people one met. Yet Americans are stressed and
the bureaucracy seems rudderless on its future policeman role, and
Bush is not liked but the many Americans we met on the golf courses,
knew they have no choice for the next two years. The next President
has his task cut out. Thank God for the Indian version of democracy.
Many grumbled about the high fuel prices but they are half of
European and Indian prices, so they can easily bear the increases
for a while.
India can
therefore take full advantage of the present climate in USA by
attracting their huge business and personal surpluses to be invested
in India and like Japan and China India does not need to look back
on its economy. India’s economy can run in auto if it is not fiddled
with. The Government must make investing easy for USA, even in the
retail sector and attend to infrastructure on a war footing,
involving the military and the paramilitary too, which today need a
role in nation building –– like Dwi Fungsi of Indonesia which helped
build up the nation’s infrastructure by supervision. They are
building airports in Tajikistan and so why not in India. Gen
Rodrigues said ‘good governance was also the Military’s role’, but
then backed down. He is now a Governor and seems to be doling well
with Capt Arminder Singh of Patalia as his Chief Minister in Punjab.
Defence Against Cruise Missiles and IEDs Conference
While speaking
at the well attended Defence News and Northrop Grumman sponsored,
‘Cruise Missiles And Improvised Explosive Device Defence Conference’
in Washington DC on 27th and 28th April there was great interest in
the power point and video movie presentation made on South Asia and
Middle East missiles, especially about the supersonic cruise missile
BrahMos and the subsonic Hatf VII (Babur) and Shaheen 11 (M 9) which
are in Pakistan and Iran's inventory also known variously as Zeb in
Iran and C 602 in China.
USA is very
worried about Iran’s missiles and proliferation in the area and IEDs
have played hell into their troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and DOD
have spent $3 billion for anti IED equipment, sniffer dogs and
chemicals. They have lost 1800 lives to IEDs. The suggestion that
USA used cruise missiles last in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that they
may have to use them again in
Iran,
stirred interest and questions galore. Lyndon Johnson words made
about India," Let the Indians come begging to me for food i.e. PL
480", was repeated to the gathering as history to be forgotten and
they appreciated that though India’s GNP is just more than USA’s
$500 bill military budget by $200 bill, we informed all that India
was now self sufficient in food and even in missile technology. That
India was lacking in leadership and had poverty was the confession
one had to make. This was surprisingly appreciated, as Lyndon
Johnson was known for his intemperate remarks while poverty and
India’s U turns and slow bureaucracy worries Americans.
Otherwise in
USA the
general knowledge about India is pathetic and perhaps our mission
can do much to change that, but it was the carpets that we saw being
changed in the Mass Avenue Embassy and most Indians said they were
ashamed about the Chancery Visa office as that was the first
impression Americans got about India! We agree but that is another
story. We see that our High Commissioner in New Zealand cannot even
be recalled. The IFS badly needs leadership training and trainees
could be inducted into the Armed Forces to serve a term and gain
confidence. As India rises it is our IFS who become our military
abroad and they need to lead. We say this with service experience in
three missions under five fine Ambassadors for four years. A strong
statement, but with national interest for the future of India at
heart.
The American
economy is doing well, jobs are available for those who wish to work
and I do not blame young ambitious Indians to come away as life is
still good in
USA and Indian
stock is high. The rich Americans including Indians have multiplied
their money and generally there is efficiency all round. There is
large writ and worry about the 2354 deaths in Iraq and the many more
maimed and under treatment in
Walter
Reed
Hospital
and opinion on whether to continue or withdraw is the debate in USA
and elsewhere. Gen Zimmi former Central Command Chief spoke about
his recent book and offered solutions at various fora but Rumsfeld
is not listening to his retired Generals.
Saw the movie
'WATER' by Deepa Mehta and it was a sad depiction of old India and
what it did to its widows in Varanasi, including make them
prostitutes but the hall was only half full of Indians and the movie
was shown in an off Broadway theatre. Lisa Ray comes fair and sexy
and very Anglo-Indian looking in her no blouse apparel all the time,
but the movie was slow and repetitive. It does
India
no good and even Ashwariya Rai another pretty Indian in ‘Mistress
of Spices’ got poor reviews. Hence we tried to convey good
things Americans do not know about India and its military, or what
they asked to know about
India
with frankness.
A visit to
research in the FDR Library and meet with local researchers was
illuminating as the resources are vast in Presidential libraries and
freely provided. The India–China debate is strong in
USA. A Q and A
on India and China which was music to our ears is excerpted below as
those are what many raised in the Conference. President Bush raised
it in his recent Iowa Graduation speech in early May asking
Americans to cooperate with
India
and China to be more competitive. Putting it another way at the
Conference we said India was in C3I with China i.e. it is
in Cooperation, Competition, Confrontation and Interference will
follow. Americans appreciate such acronyms and nodded their heads
because that is what they see with China too.
The visit to
USA was
exhilarating and a learning experience to confirm with conviction
that with honest and enlightened leadership
India
can beat any nation in this information era. But we worry that we
have lacked it for 1000 years in the past. Musilm invaders and the
British ruled us for 1000 years and whether we can change in the
coming years is the challenge. The first 40 years after
Independence
were not commendable for India or its neighbours.
CHINA, INDIA
AND USA
'No one's
seeing
India as a counter to China'
Q&A/ Edward
Luttwak
Ajai Shukla /
New Delhi
April 21, 2006
Internationally-renowned strategist Edward Luttwak, a Senior Fellow
with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in
Washington, was in India for a week, at the invitation of the
government, under the Distinguished Visitors Programme. Luttwak is
known for his offbeat and thought-provoking ideas, authoring
well-known works such as 'Coup D'Etat: A Practical Handbook', and
that is why Pandit Nehru instituted Artilce 310 in the Constitution
to prevent coup d’etats. A conservative hard-liner, Luttwak
supported every US intervention from Vietnam to Afghanistan, but
warned against the invasion of Iraq. Luttwak spoke to Business
Standard about his views on India.
Excerpts:
Q. What are the
changes you see from 20 years ago, when you last visited
India?
A. As a
superficial observer, 20 years ago
India had a
catastrophic internal airline system. There were overbooked flights,
cancelled flights, irregularity, unpredictability. Today, India has
a better domestic airline service than you have in
Western Europe
or the
US. Only Japan has a comparable service in terms of abundance,
quality and so on. It affects few Indians but it most certainly
affects
India's
relationship with the outside world, whether it is a tourist or an
investor. That's called a revolution.
Q. How do you
see
India's strategic repositioning of the previous decade, and
its new
relationship with the
US?
A. I think
India's
best friend has been Russia and not the United States. Relations
with the US have been improving a lot in the past few years. If they
continue to improve, we are going to be India's best friend. India
has some hardcore leftists who don't even know why they are
anti-American. They wake up in the morning and they are
anti-American. Some of them are even trying hard to be pro-Iranian.
Can you imagine waking up in the morning as a progressive leftist
and pro a government that executes 10-year old girls. This is not an
Indian speciality, we have this in
Italy,
we have this in France. This is a cultural phenomenon. The large
message is that the democracy of India has to live with this and
cope with this and manage with this. I don't think anyone is going
to say the foreign policy of the government of India for the past 20
years has been a ridiculous foreign policy. It is notable how you
make a transition from one political party to another –– a very
important transition for the world that was - and you had continuity
in foreign policy. If you had stepped back and said this is what the
BJP did and now we are going to do the opposite, that would have
been a catastrophe. That would have been Latin America –– that is
how they do it.
Q. There is
concern in
India about
being set up by the US as a counterweight to
China. Does the
US see that?
A. It's a valid
fear in the abstract, but not in practice. I don't know anybody
serious in Washington who has any idea, or concept, or vision of
building up a relationship with
India to use
against China. The people who are obsessed with the
China
threat are isolationists, not internationalists. When they talk
about China threat they say, "that's why we need a big navy, the
Chinese navy is building up, they have 3,700 ships." Most of them
are as good as row-boats but never mind. The people who talk
China
threat in United States are marginal. American strategy succeeds and
triumphs not by setting India against China or vice versa –– it is
by having a good relationship with both and, therefore, any sensible
American policy would welcome any improvement in the China–India
relationship because it makes it easier to maximise relations with
both.
Q. You have
recommended to Indian officials that
India buy the
most advanced US high-technology weaponry, but that requires big
money of the kind that India cannot afford to spen?.
A. They are big
bucks, but nothing is more expensive than investing all that you
have in old systems. And the old systems in air power get completely
overtaken quickly. You can buy a 10-year-old rifle and you'll make a
small difference, but you buy the wrong generation aircraft and you
are out. Also, you can't recover anything from that. If I was the
Indian Air Force, I would go to an international bank and borrow
money, order 200 pieces of (the most futuristic systems that are
still on the drawing board). I would give the manufacturers the
economy of scale, urge them to joint ventures all over the place,
make alliances with everybody, manufacture those aircraft and lease
them.
Q. What do you
see as the big challenge in the
US building a
relationship with India?
A. We have an
anti-Pakistan party in
Washington
today, we have an anti-Iran party, we have an anti-Portugal party,
we even have an anti-Denmark party. But we don't have an anti-India
party. The problem is that despite this we have recently had the P3
episode (a
US
proposal to lease P3 Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft to
India), where Americans had proposed to lease them and they were
sabotaged - both bureaucracies managed to co-operate to wreck the
deal. You can have goodwill in a cultural broad national sense, you
can have two governments that agree to do something and yet it
failed and will leave a bad taste because of the failure to crack
the bureaucracy. The relationship between India and America will
remain about fashion and IT unless we can solve the problem of the
bureaucratic interface in your defence and our defence.
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