Exactly..lot of folks on DFI have this urge to blame US for everything on US-India Relationship, and many have this simping attitude for Russia..as if they are our true friends. Newsflash : Nobody is a true in Geopolitics.
There are more in Indian in US working and sending money back to India after MiddleEast. India has a trade surplus to US , our volume of trade is way higher to US.
If one needs to read Russia's mind then go on to their geopolitics blogs ( especially run by Alexander Dugin) and see how they slowly slowly entertaining the Pakistanis.
US Pentagon has given an unescorted access to Indian Defence folks for joint development on various projects. When did Russia or Soviet Russia ever did that.
Both India & US are democracies where we always have noise makers and some haters. But deep down the line both countries have a very deep relationship and shared values.
What US has given to Pakistan is peanuts ...sure the F-16s are being upgraded, but in turn India has up to date Apaches, Globemasters , all kinds of defence subsystems from US/Israel as well as F/18 hornet naval version and Predator Drones for sale on pipeline.
Pakistan gets all this special treatment is due to the fact they have strong lobbying power in DC and now how to seduce/influence the DC Lawmakers, meanwhile the IFS Babus have no personality skills to make friends in DC and get stuff in our favor. As a result, you Congressman/woman always saying stuff on Kashmir or "Global Hindutva Movement" (LMAO)
Hence although on technical level both US-India need each other, on soft power we loose ( NYT, CNN putting negative press on us).. Get your lobby strong and you will hear good things coming out of US Press etc on India.
Most people here on DFI are of the opinion that fu*k USA, fu*k EU, fu*k UK, fu*k Russia, f*ck China and Pakistan especially hard and only be pro-India.
So you can harp on about some imaginary "shared values" that we share with USA, I see none. Anglo-Saxons are the civilizational enemy of Bharat. So kindly don't bring your America simping to this forum. We don't want shared values with the land of the woke gender-confused morons.
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If you think lobbying can work in your favour in USA, think again: China tried that route and failed. I don't get how thick-headed one has to be to not see that we are next on USA's list after its done with China.
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I am not saying blame USA for everything, but just because we got to tolerate them till we can compete directly with them doesn't mean we should accept some nonsense about "shared values" that they will in turn then use as a weapon to strangle our civilizational ethos.
There is no need to get emotional about what the US is doing. It's pure geopolitics. What I'm going to say is very basic stuff, but seeing the ongoing discussion, I felt the need to say them anyway.
A) US & Pakistan:
They can't push Pakistan off the cliff. They will keep it alive, at least on the ventilator.
It's something we can't seem to change right now. And I don't think we should worry much about Pakistan at this stage. We aren't competing with Pakistan directly anymore. Instead, the operation regarding Pakistan should be in destabilizing its society and keeping its economy from ever rising.
Even if Pakistan tries to be adventurous, they'll be shown their place. It'll also be a good show of force for India abroad and more importantly, within the country. Imo, a sharp conflict or two will erode the sickfuck Gandhianism and push the public towards more assertiveness.
B) US & China:
We should make the best use of this conflict to improve our hard capabilities. Forget "Friendships", forget "historical ties", do everything possible to get the best out of this situation.
As long as the US doesn't shake its hands with China, we'd be in a good position to extract benefits out of this situation for at least a decade.
C) US & India:
Don't be butthurt when US does something against India. US is always a partner, never an ally. (It'd be best if we don't view any country as an ally, but just as conditional partners: including Russia.)
1. US propagates anti-India narratives.
2. US takes anti-India actions.
1. US propagates anti-India narratives:
This must be solved as a three-part problem.
A)
US (or larger western narrative) in India:
Cut the funding as much as possible. But the ecosystem just won't vanish. It's too entrenched.
So, what we should instead focus more is building a solid national ecosystem. Where are our think tanks? Where are our intellectuals? Where is the strong media presence? A virtuous cycle should form to create an ecosystem free of western or arabic influence.
The problem we always had was a hostile ecosystem which openly opposed national interests. What did this ecosystem even have to fight against? A few people at most. It's only after Social Media became big in India that there is an active pushback.
But this isn't enough. We can't always keep defending. Be aggressive. We can't completely stop US funding. But we surely can render it mostly useless.
This is something China did. It suppressed US wherever it could. Where it couldn't, it blunted US' strength.
For us, a good example is Rahul Gandhi. He's gaslighted so much (rightfully so), that no matter what he says or how much he is funded, most people don't even trust him.
This is the kind of work that needs to be done. But on a much larger scale and in a very systematic manner.
Once we control the narrative in our own land, we'll have won half the battle.
B)
US (or larger western narrative) in Non-Western Nations:
Either expand the outreach of our homebuilt media or build a strong propaganda machine. It's unfortunate that the even the non-western world views India predominantly through western lens.
We haven't managed our public image properly. Thanks to the western media's narratives, India is more associated with poverty, rape and caste than progress.
Something like hosting an Olympics is enough to flip the impression. It's just an example and we don't necessarily have to do it.
C) US (or larger western narrative) in US:
This can either be easy mode or hard mode depending on how we choose to play.
If our Media can build trust with the populace of these countries, then nothing can stop them from building a strong foothold there and pushing our narratives.
Almost 50% of WION's viewers are not from India. So, it's possible.
This will cost a lot of money unless we innovate the heck out of it. Even then, this will take at least 5 years to yield substantial results.
Lobbying is a must. We need to seriously up our game here.
US will always try to damage India, Pakistan or not. But India must use this opportune time to extract as many benefits as it can. This doesn't mean we can simply ask for benefits. Such proposals won't fly and even if they do, they won't last.
Create mutually beneficial deals. Use them to slowly gain leverage over US—compared to the almost non-existent leverage we currently have. Design the deals so that if US ever tries to sanction, it'll be mutually destructive.
Case in point, China.
And on the other hand, slowly start covert aggression against US.
US will either win against China or lose. But in either case, its relationship with India will undergo a permanent shift once the decisive event happens.
That is a decade or two away. Before that, we need to start planting the seeds to either fight against US or gain some form of leverage over it.
And we also need to build international clout for it.
Saudi has Wahabism and Mosques. China has BRI.
What do we have?
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Of course, Indian Government might already be doing all of the above to some degree (hopefully).
TL;DR: Ignore Pakistan, Use US to grow our capabilities and prepare for a long race with China and US.