In the defence of Indian Foreign Policy

Barabar Crossette’s article is one of the many that have been written during the smear campaign against India in the name of journalism. Due to the inherent biases, contradictions, and superficial analysis, Barbara Crossette’s article is laughable at the best!

Barbara Crossette (Courtesy: Authorsguild.net)

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/01/04/the_elephant_in_the_room

If India is labeled adolescent in the article, then the award for childish flip-flop must definitely go to Uncle Sam. A few points where the author’s “educated" analysis is not quite right:

1. On nuclear proliferation, what moral and legal authority do the "developed" nations have to dictate India's stand on its nuclear program? Questions about the safety of our program are quite invalid considering we haven't yet bombed anyone or did not have even one nuclear accident (Barbara may not be aware of the Hiroshima and Three Mile Island incidents or does she conveniently ignore them before preaching India a lesson on nuclear restraint/safety).

2. On the matter of trade also our "expert" author maintains her consistent ignorance on the facts underlying the denial of Indian Government to succumb to the big corporations that are called "farmers" in the US. These "farmers" get huge subsidies in the order of GDP of some of the developing nations. Indian and developing countries' farmers can never compete against such companies. Entry of these subsidized commodities into India will lead to end of livelihood of over 60% Indians. Therefore, Indian Government prefers life of its people over capitalist efficiency. This should explain the defensive trade policy of India and other nations. Before Barbara preaches India on the trade policy, she should consider taking a course on Macroeconomics 101 and should educate herself on the century old predatory economic policy of her nation (and other EU members).

3. It doesn't sound right for Barbara to propose a Carbon Cutting program to India when she and her compatriots are and have been the #1 polluter of the world for at least three generations. Barbara again maintains her anti-India rhetoric with abject ignorance and denial!

4. Complaining about corruption in Indian context doesn't make much sense when lobbyists in US have corrupted their whole democratic process. Misappropriations of the order of trillions of dollars during the war on Iraq are conveniently swept under the rug. Barbara needs to look at the other three fingers' direction when she points one at India's direction.

5. I need not touch upon America's stand on human rights as its antics at Abu Ghraib paint quite a colorful picture. Talk about Visa denial is a complete non-sense as American approach to allocate Visas to developing countries’ citizens works more like a lottery. Also, someone needs to give Barbara a count of life lost and/or irreparably affected by the actions of her compatriots all over the world.

I have to give her credit where it is due. Her article is highly accurate in an unintended way. One has to make a small adjustment to the article to make it factually correct and logically sound. REPLACE INDIA WITH AMERICA.