07-26-2007, 10:35 AM
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 Continued whining
<b>Left undermines the nation</b>
It was, of course, only to be expected. Having tried to kick up a fuss over the goodwill visit to Chennai of the USS Nimitz earlier this month it was inevitable that the CPI-M would raise another whimper of protest over the coming five-nation naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal in which some 20 warships from the US, Japan, Australia, Singapore and India will test their mettle. With the Chinese querying the exercise as a bid at "encirclement" (which the Australian defence minister has flatly denied) the Politburo must have deemed itself duty-bound to echo the objection. More of the same is likely when India and US ink a logistics services agreement that will eliminate much of the paperwork now involved in some aspects of military interaction. Having been reared and sustained on a staple diet of anti-Americanism, the Left parties cannot help but smell danger in a hot dog. So be it. That is politics, and in a free country they are entitled to give vent to their ideologically-driven apprehensions. Even though there are few takers.
Yet what they are not entitled to do is to undermine the intelligence and capabilities of the defence leadership - which includes top bureaucratic and military minds - by suggesting that they, and the country, will get sucked into an American plot aimed at "containing" Chinese naval expansion. While it does fit in with the Left's reservations over the yet-to-be-finalised Indo-US nuclear agreement, what it betrays is a typically "third world" lack of self-confidence. India is today seen as an emerging global player, wooed by the traditional wielders of power. Alas, the import of that new status has yet to trickle down to Leftist-minds that remain prisoners of history, unable to unshackle themselves from a time-warp. What is conveniently overlooked is that a much weaker India, heavily dependent on Moscow for so much more than military hardware never really became a Soviet satellite - perhaps to the dismay of the comrades - so there is no reason to conclude that the country will inadvertently surrender its interests to Washington. Just because the UPA government displays its weakness by pandering to Leftist whims does not mean that India is incapable of holding its own.
(Editorial, The Statesman; July 17, 2007)
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 Continued whining
<b>Left undermines the nation</b>
It was, of course, only to be expected. Having tried to kick up a fuss over the goodwill visit to Chennai of the USS Nimitz earlier this month it was inevitable that the CPI-M would raise another whimper of protest over the coming five-nation naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal in which some 20 warships from the US, Japan, Australia, Singapore and India will test their mettle. With the Chinese querying the exercise as a bid at "encirclement" (which the Australian defence minister has flatly denied) the Politburo must have deemed itself duty-bound to echo the objection. More of the same is likely when India and US ink a logistics services agreement that will eliminate much of the paperwork now involved in some aspects of military interaction. Having been reared and sustained on a staple diet of anti-Americanism, the Left parties cannot help but smell danger in a hot dog. So be it. That is politics, and in a free country they are entitled to give vent to their ideologically-driven apprehensions. Even though there are few takers.
Yet what they are not entitled to do is to undermine the intelligence and capabilities of the defence leadership - which includes top bureaucratic and military minds - by suggesting that they, and the country, will get sucked into an American plot aimed at "containing" Chinese naval expansion. While it does fit in with the Left's reservations over the yet-to-be-finalised Indo-US nuclear agreement, what it betrays is a typically "third world" lack of self-confidence. India is today seen as an emerging global player, wooed by the traditional wielders of power. Alas, the import of that new status has yet to trickle down to Leftist-minds that remain prisoners of history, unable to unshackle themselves from a time-warp. What is conveniently overlooked is that a much weaker India, heavily dependent on Moscow for so much more than military hardware never really became a Soviet satellite - perhaps to the dismay of the comrades - so there is no reason to conclude that the country will inadvertently surrender its interests to Washington. Just because the UPA government displays its weakness by pandering to Leftist whims does not mean that India is incapable of holding its own.
(Editorial, The Statesman; July 17, 2007)
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