Posted on 12/30/2004 8:23:01 PM PST by milestogo
Tsunami diplomacy: Indo-US engagement creates new waves in the Indian Ocean
C RAJA MOHAN | ||||||||||||||||||||||
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 30 Responding to the extraordinary humanitarian challenge arising from Sundays tsunami strike, India and the United States have begun to overcome entrenched mindsets in their establishments and prepare for unprecedented naval cooperation in the Indian Ocean region. Thanks to some fleet-footed diplomacy between New Delhi and Washington in the last 48 hours, Indian and US armed forces, along with those of Japan and Australia, are about to unveil one of the biggest multilateral relief efforts the world has ever seen. Although there has been much rhetoric in the last few years about the potential for political partnership between India and the US, this is the first time that the naval forces of the two counties will be working together in the Indian Ocean. During Operation Enduring Freedom to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan, which followed the 9/11 attacks, Indian ships had assisted the US in providing security in the Malacca straits. But that operation, a picnic in comparison to the proposed tsunami relief effort, took months to negotiate. This time, diplomatic action has been fast and furious. A series of telephonic conversations on Wednesday between External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, and between the National Security Adviser J N Dixit and his American counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, prepared the ground for the swift decisions that followed. Hours later, US President George W Bush was on the line to PM Manmohan Singh, and it was agreed that the two armed forces would work together along with other major military establishments in the region to provide relief and assist in the rehabilitation of people devastated by the tsunami.
This is not being seen as an exclusive club, but as the nucleus of a major multilateral initiative that will work in tandem with the United Nations. This morning, a teleconference of senior officials from the four governments, including Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and US Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman, kicked off the consultations on the relief effort. Tomorrow, the Indian ambassador in Washington Ronen Sen along with envoys from Japan and Australia and Grossman will consult UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on roping in the world body and its resources. Even as these talks proceed, a large contingent of the US navy, including ships that convert seawater into potable water, floating hospitals, surveillance planes, and aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln carrying helicopters, is steaming towards the affected areas. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy is actively providing relief in Sri Lanka and Maldives. Having already established its presence in the disaster zone, India is in the lead providing the first assessments on the damage and the kind of assistance needed. Besides expanding its presence beyond Sri Lanka (Operation Rainbow) and Maldives (Operation Castor), the Indian Navy is looking beyond to Indonesia. It is dispatching the hospital ship, INS Nirupak, to Aceh in Sumatra, one of the worst-affected areas in Indonesia. During the Cold War, the Indian Navy, for all practical purposes, was ranged against the armadas of the US, Japan and Australia. Much of South East Asia too, viewed Indian naval power with suspicion. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, India has engaged the American and allied navies as well as those of South East Asia in bilateral exercises. For the first time now, the Indian Navy, one of the strongest in the region, will be working with the US Navy, the worlds most powerful, in providing humanitarian security in South and South East Asia. India is determined to make the joint relief mission with the US, Japan and Australia a big success. If it does turn out to be effective, observers here say, the quadrangular cooperation could become a model for a broad-based cooperative security management in the Indian Ocean. |
Good article--and the writing is head & shoulders above most American press.
Great!
The U.N. is already claiming that the US coalition is sabotaging U.N. disaster relief efforts.
The US is doing, the U.N. is talking....
This is fantastic! Great piece.
Also must read this one: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1311365/posts
Ah, but therein lies the problem and source of all the leftist "stingy" rants: the UN won't be soley in charge of the money. I mean, the operation.
The UN can talk all it wants...but when these folks see giant cargo planes flying overhead with US on them...and all the food handed out is stamped MADE IN THE USA...that will be the end of the discussion from locals. GW has a chance to score big over the UN and the EU...I'd make as many points as possible on this situation. Turn the tide in public perception throughout the Pacific.
The US, India, Australia and Japan are indeed the 4 most reasonable major powers in the modern world - looks like a promising alternative to the contemptible U.N. in the making!
add in the 'new europeans' and you have the makings for a new kind of international body... a REAL security council if you will... that puts FRANCE, Germany and the dubious Russians... on the back back bench of world policy.
good.
Of note is the fact that India and the USA are both allies with Israel...
interesting.
Also the fact that relief from Israel was rejected by .. Indonesia?
I think it was SriLanka which rejected an IDF contigent.Indonesia or Malaysia rejecting Israeli help is not frontpage news.A lot of Muslim nations have a habit of putting out a notice when a natural disaster strikes them-"we will accept aid from anyone barring Israel".Bangladesh & Iran have done it.
Australian Navy left for the region today as well.
I cannot get my brain around that fact.
"any port in a storm" comes to mind.
Any Muslim country that refuses Israeli aid should not accept US aid.
Our government shouldn't even be offering Aid we cannot afford, especially to countries that hate us. The UN should be told to use some of its oil-for-food scam money or STFU about "stinginess."
Screw them. The whole corrupt lot.
Meanwhile, Kofi Annan and company will be meeting next week to discuss what the response will be.
I hope the North Koreans and the Chinese are paying attention...this is what they could be facing.
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