Why the United States Promotes India's Great-Power Ambitions

[Yusuf]

found an artilce. looks old but worth it.

In March 2005, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced Washington's decision to "make India a global power." No doubt U.S. arms manufacturers can now look forward to large contracts from India; but this course is dictated by broader strategic considerations.

First, the United States is not worried by India's ambitions: it knows that India is unable to project power across Asia independently. For example, India's plans for a rapid-reaction force which could be deployed immediately in countries along the rim of the Indian Ocean cannot be pursued without fast long-range aircraft with aerial refueling capabilities, airborne early warning and command aircraft, attack helicopters, and a carrier in addition to the INS Virat. A significant share of this would have to be imported from the United States. Any drawn-out intervention abroad would require even greater infrastructure, which India lacks. (In fact, even the European Union countries are not equipped with the infrastructure for sustained projection of military force independent of the United States. This was demonstrated during the Balkans crisis, when they were forced at last to turn to the United States to intervene.)

Full article here Why the United States Promotes India's Great-Power Ambitions :: Monthly Review

 

[jamwal]

Much of what written in that article has come true. Let's see what else future brings. But it's still written with glasses heavily tinted by American "naivety" and refusal to learn much from past. The author wants India as yet another lackey of USA at best like UK or at worst like Pakistan. I dont believe that India will fall to that level that easily even with the current servile boot lickers in power

 

[debasree]

much water flown over the river since 2005, the us is now in severe economic downturn and in near future i dont see any sign of revive of their economy without trading with india and china ,so the result will be not so rosy for the americans

 

[JayATL]

Much of what written in that article has come true. Let's see what else future brings. But it's still written with glasses heavily tinted by American "naivety" and refusal to learn much from past. The author wants India as yet another lackey of USA at best like UK or at worst like Pakistan. I dont believe that India will fall to that level that easily even with the current servile boot lickers in power

Sorry to be harsh - but thats a very ignorant take. reminds me of posters on other forums where just like Baghdad Bob( look it up if you have no clue about the mindset) they claim to have the muster to defeat America's military or as in your case severely bloat one's countries capability. Listen- India , China = never super power ever! --- they can't match the sheer military might, bases all over the world and create a NATO like alliance. So lets be less sensitive when factual statements are made...?

 

[LETHALFORCE]

With Pakistan as an obstacle , I don't see US-India relations blossoming anytime soon.Especially with the Bush nuclear deal tossed out by Obama.

 

[JayATL]

With Pakistan as an obstacle , I don't see US-India relations blossoming anytime soon.Especially with the Bush nuclear deal tossed out by Obama.

Huh? who said Obama tossed it out. It is stuck because of India's dragging it's feet on some checks and blances clauses/ by -laws.

 

[jamwal]

Where did I say anything about a showdown between USA and India. Don't try to be more American than an American.(In case you are a NRI)
My statement was about US wanting to make India it's poodle like UK, Pakistan etc. CAn you point out one single word in that short post where it implies anything about a fight or competition between two countries ?

 

[amitkriit]

Sorry to be harsh - but thats a very ignorant take. reminds me of posters on other forums where just like Baghdad Bob( look it up if you have no clue about the mindset) they claim to have the muster to defeat America's military or as in your case severely bloat one's countries capability. Listen- India , China = never super power ever! --- they can't match the sheer military might, bases all over the world and create a NATO like alliance. So lets be less sensitive when factual statements are made...?

We are seeing the military might of mighty USA in Afghanistan, we witnessed it during Vietnam war as well. Please don't flatter yourself. In every war there a huge amount of money involved, and I don't think USA can afford one against India or China in current scenario.

 

[Dovah]

Listen- India , China = never super power ever! --- they can't match the sheer military might, bases all over the world and create a NATO like alliance. So lets be less sensitive when factual statements are made...?

The Brits must have said this about the Empire a couple of centuries back, my children might say this about India few decades from now.

 

[JayATL]

We are seeing the military might of mighty USA in Afghanistan, we witnessed it during Vietnam war as well. Please don't flatter yourself.

Yes we seeing it in AF and have seen it in Vietnam too- do you want to go on facts and intellect or just talk BS?

US war in afghan won in days , Iraq won in days, Vietnam won 10: 1 kill ratio and all lands captured back when they left...even attacked and took lands in neighboring Cambodia. Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to debate me with High school kid like rhetoric .... don't give me one liner on-line warrior comments- debate me on any of those wars on military prowess

 

[amitkriit]

Yes we seeing it in AF and have seen it in Vietnam too- do you want to go on facts and intellect or just talk BS?

US war in afghan won in days , Iraq won in days, Vietnam won 10: 1 kill ratio and all lands captured back when they left...even attacked and took lands in neighboring Cambodia. Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to debate me with High school kid like rhetoric .... don't give me one liner on-line warrior comments- debate me on any of those wars on military prowess

Please don't live in denial, Afghan war is far from over, some say it is a bigger defeat compared to Vietnam, at least you found some decent guys to kill in Vietnam. There is nothing to debate when they have been sending body-bags to the land of "Freedom and Liberty" with complements each week. You don't win wars by killing people, you win them by achieving your objectives, please get your concepts right and then indulge yourself into a discussion.

 

[JayATL]

We are seeing the military might of mighty USA in Afghanistan, we witnessed it during Vietnam war as well. Please don't flatter yourself. In every war there a huge amount of money involved, and I don't think USA can afford one against India or China in current scenario.

Can you foresee Europe coming out of NATO and joining against the US. Its not just having an alliance but having an alliance of the caliber of NATO, having other countries ( including EU) allowing your military bases to operate there. Hell even Russia is now under NATO shield ... It's not going to happen, let alone the fact India has no ambition for it to happen- because of its non-aligned nature and the Chinese, well, their BFF's are the world's pariahs ... hated by 98%.

 

[Param]

Yes we seeing it in AF and have seen it in Vietnam too- do you want to go on facts and intellect or just talk BS?

US war in afghan won in days , Iraq won in days, Vietnam won 10: 1 kill ratio and all lands captured back when they left...even attacked and took lands in neighboring Cambodia. Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to debate me with High school kid like rhetoric .... don't give me one liner on-line warrior comments- debate me on any of those wars on military prowess

America cannot go on like this forever. You will see India and China becoming dominant in Asia a decade from now. Sadly I am more optimistic about China. USA might have to roll back its military presence in the region atleast to some extent. American clout would slowly wane away.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

A well recommended article, a good read, and quite revealing, much of which has/is coming true, at least on the way the effort is being made to play it out from the US's end and interestingly this was written prior to july'06, which means the civil nuke deal was still being negotiated, and not formally announced by the then two heads of states.

2006 was a lot different to 2011 as we see it evolve. The American economy has certainly taken a dip since, which by the way author fears might happen, but is not able to tell by when and the need since on their part would be a lot more on having India by their side than ever before, and I have said this before, America not doing so well economically is possibly the best thing for India because that adds to the value India holds. Mind you, I don't mean bad for the US, I am just putting forward a point from India's perspective and no more.

Look how the narrative since has changed, in '06 the attempt on part of the US was make India a dominant player in asia, at least that is what the rhetoric was, which is being put to practice now from west asia to east asia, in 2011 the discourse is, India has "arrived", and the way is being made for India to take a bigger role at the global level by introducing India to various world bodies or Africa or MENA where the arab spring is happening, and as this is happening there is the ever growing demand on part of the US to shun the NAM stand.
India-US relations are bound to grow stronger as the two countries see common challenges emerge for which the two in many ways will look to find coordinated response wherever possible, at the moment there is a definite stumbling block in ak antony which gets well described in the wiki leaks, but I sense once antony is out, which is, either he is replaced or a new government other than congress led takes center stage then I guess there will be a lot of documentation signing which otherwise has not happened or is pending, which is what will take this relationship to the cliché "next level" which has been much deliberated in the past.

Mind you I am not against antony nor against strong indo-US relations, but I certainly look for a good balancing act between India and the US where India has a rightful place than a low key partner. Will india and the US be equal partners, highly unlikely, can the two do it on the equal footing, doesnt look like, india it seems is more than content to play the minnow role here, and i kind of agree there, though it goes contrary to what I just said, but being on equal footing means being directly part of the US war efforts where that might be.

 

[jamwal]

Yes we seeing it in AF and have seen it in Vietnam too- do you want to go on facts and intellect or just talk BS?

US war in afghan won in days , Iraq won in days, Vietnam won 10: 1 kill ratio and all lands captured back when they left...even attacked and took lands in neighboring Cambodia. Please don't embarrass yourself by trying to debate me with High school kid like rhetoric .... don't give me one liner on-line warrior comments- debate me on any of those wars on military prowess

Even North Korea can lob a couple of crude nuclear tipped ICBM on USA west coast and kill millions of Americans. Does that mean that North Korea wins ? Ability to bomb some country doesn't mean anything until concrete strategic gains are made. What victory have Americans won in Afghanistan and Iraq ? All their efforts are now to get out of these sand pits as numerous Americans die regularly even after their so called victory. Vietnam was a victory for USA ? Then why did USA ran off and VietCong over-run US allied South?
You don't know stuff about anything except displaying the typical redneck behaviour. Do you even read what other people post , most importantly..what you post and try to understand what's really going on in the thread ?
This thread was about US attempts to bring India in to it's sphere of influence and you've made it USA d**** is the biggest contest.
I admire US for many things, including their military prowess among many other things, but it's people like you who piss rest of the world off. As I said before, if you are a NRI..then it's a case of being more American than an American.
I think this'll be my last post on this matter. Lots of work to do apart from indulging in idiotic flame wars. I'll request the moderators to delete your posts and also the posts directed towards you to maintain focus of the thread

 

[JayATL]

Please don't live in denial, Afghan war is far from over, some say it is a bigger defeat compared to Vietnam, at least you found some decent guys to kill in Vietnam. There is nothing to debate when they have been sending body-bags to the land of "Freedom and Liberty" with complements each week. You don't win wars by killing people, you win them by achieving your objectives, please get your concepts right and then indulge yourself into a discussion.

Then according to your logic Pakistan has won Kashmir because they send more body bags on the Indian side. Pakistan has won over India because they kill more of its civilians and military vs. what Indian counter activities are- even if there are any...

You are far too ignorant to understand military power scales, it seems. You are stuck on the fact that lo behold Americans are dying in Afghanistan hence it must be a defeat. They walked in and took over in days- with a small military foot print, then walked in took over Iraq in less than 6 days... the objective of war is to win majority control and thats the basis of what everyone understands it to be_ in terms of military might- they achieved it period.

nation building and policing the streets and deaths because of it is not Military might.... having incidents of deaths through IED's is not lack of military might! Go play guli danda kid, I'm way above your intellect level ....

 

[Dovah]

Then according to your logic Pakistan has won Kashmir because they send more body bags on the Indian side

Where did you get that?

 

[JayATL]

Even North Korea can lob a couple of crude nuclear tipped ICBM on USA west coast and kill millions of Americans. Does that mean that North Korea wins ? Ability to bomb some country doesn't mean anything until concrete strategic gains are made. What victory have Americans won in Afghanistan and Iraq ? All their efforts are now to get out of these sand pits as numerous Americans die regularly even after their so called victory. Vietnam was a victory for USA ? Then why did USA ran off and VietCong over-run US allied South?
You don't know stuff about anything except displaying the typical redneck behaviour. Do you even read what other people post , most importantly..what you post and try to understand what's really going on in the thread ?
This thread was about US attempts to bring India in to it's sphere of influence and you've made it USA d**** is the biggest contest.
I admire US for many things, including their military prowess among many other things, but it's people like you who piss rest of the world off. As I said before, if you are a NRI..then it's a case of being more American than an American.
I think this'll be my last post on this matter. Lots of work to do apart from indulging in idiotic flame wars. I'll request the moderators to delete your posts and also the posts directed towards you to maintain focus of the thread

They made regime changes in AF and Iraq- if thats not a freaking stamp of military might - what the hell is? playing " always defense" like India has done? always waiting to be attacked and when attacked ( mumbai , now Delhi) sitting on its arse? pussyfooting around...

 

[Daredevil]

[hl]JayATL, stop posting any more off-topic posts. You are the one who has totally took this thread on a tangent. So, please stop any more off-topic posts and stick to the topic of the thread. They will be duly deleted.[/hl]

 

[JayATL]

[hl]JayATL, stop posting any more off-topic posts. You are the one who has totally took this thread on a tangent. So, please stop any more off-topic posts and stick to the topic of the thread. They will be duly deleted.[/hl]

Why is it off topic? Questioning of Americas power was made here first to which I replied ( go look at it). its the same idiotic garbage I read on Pakistani forums from them and some Indians. It is mired in having not an iota of clue of the facts on the ground that every economist and military head will publicly and privately agree too- why not challenge that here? Why do you think it is off topic - when a countries " might" is based on economy and military portfolio.

Why not debate that you have to be an idiot to think America is going down while you are 14X smaller GDP, while it leads the world in almost all aspects, while it's treasury bills are sold for 2% freaking percent , which next to zero and has even today 3 trillion dollars that its private industries hold in the US- waiting on demand to go back up and recession to cease. why not have someone like me open the eyes of fools who sit down and claim US is down on this and that... I'm doing a public service message to relieve the idiots who think a cycle of world wide recession = America is down and Out!