US wants to help India be a superpower!

Washington: The United States unveiled plans Friday to help India become a "major world power in the 21st century" even as it announced moves to beef up the military of Pakistan. Under the plans, Washington offered to step up a strategic dialogue with India to boost missile defense and other security initiatives as well as high-tech cooperation and expanded economic and energy cooperation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the Bush administration's outline for a "decisively broader strategic relationship" between the world's oldest and largest democracies, a senior US official said. Editor's Choice Discuss: India doesn't need US help to become a superpower

"Its goal is to help India become a major world power in the 21st century," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We understand fully the implications, including military implications, of that statement."

He did not elaborate but noted that South Asia was critical, with China on one side, Iran and West Asia on the other, and a somewhat turbulent Central Asian region to the north.

The US-India plan was announced as Washington decided Friday to sell an undetermined number of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan under a plan to prop up Pakistan on the political, military and economic fronts.

Rice discussed the US-India plan with Singh during her Asian visit earlier this month but it was not revealed to the public.

The US proposal culminates efforts to repair relations strained by India's May 1998 nuclear tests.

The healing process began when Bill Clinton visited India in March 2000 near the end of his presidency, as the first president to go there since Jimmy Carter in 1978.

He eased sanctions on purchases of high-tech equipment and broke into a market formerly served by India's Cold War ally Russia.

President George W Bush's administration, under a so-called "Next Steps in Strategic Partnership," pushed that process forward by completely lifting sanctions, including military sales, in return for India's support on the US-led war on terrorism.

"This year the administration made a judgment that the 'Next Steps in Strategic Partnership,' though very important, wasn't broad enough to really encompass the kind of things we needed to do to take this relationship where it needed to go, and so the president and the secretary (Rice) developed the outline for a decisively broader strategic relationship," the US official said.

Bush was inviting Prime Minister Singh to visit him in July in Washington and the US leader would also like to travel to South Asia later this year or early next year, he said.

Those presidential meetings, he added, would "be consolidating an enhanced dialogue" on the strategic, energy and economic tracks with India.

The strategic dialogue will include global issues, regional security matters, Indian defense requirements, expanding high-tech cooperation and even working toward US-India defense co-production, the official explained.

The United States, he said, was prepared to "respond positively" to an Indian request for information on American initiatives to sell New Delhi the next generation of multi-role combat aircraft.

Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said US corporations were now "free to talk to India" about whatever aircraft they could offer.

"It'll be up to India to decide what it wants. And then negotiations, if it does decide it wants something from us, based on its needs, would proceed from there," Ereli said.

Beyond possible sale of fighter planes, the US is ready to discuss the more fundamental issue of defense transformation with India, including transformative systems in areas such as command and control, early warning and missile defense, the official said.

"Some of these items may not be as glamorous as combat aircraft, but I think for those of you who follow defense issues you'll appreciate the significance," he said.

The energy dialogue is to include civil, nuclear and nuclear safety issues as well as the issue of space launch vehicles and satellites while the existing economic dialogue would be revitalized with discussion of energy, trade, commerce, environment and finance.

It's late here. I'm turning in.

Please, I am interested in what you are saying. If you care to, please FReepMail me your argument with citations.

Take care, and thank you for your information.

It's not about whether the U.S. 'should' be the only Superpower; its about recognition of the Reality that it isnt going to be the only Superpower FOREVER, and given that, about what moves to make EARLY to have the board the way the West wants it when the time comes ;-).

Western Civilization hasnt been the 'prime mover' in History for millenia by keeping all its eggs in ONE basket indefinitely...do you really think the United States of America will remain the only Superpower [or will even exist] FOREVER???

I have never said would be, since the future is uncertain. I have said should be. There are no other country in the world more active in spreading democracy than US, including military affairs.

The F22 is a marvelous machine but as capable as it may be its without doubt so darn expensive there will not be enough of them to completely replace the F-15...that may have to wait for the NEXT gen of [unmanned?] fighters.

And besides its just another AIRplane...*YAWN*...

Now if/when the US starts building a laser-initiated fusion pulse drive [amend or toss the Atmospheric Test Ban treaty] powered heavily armoured vehicle that can function as both a supercavitating submarine and a transatmospheric vehicle [orbital bomber?] as well as a hypersonic fighter armed with pulse-pumped DEW [free-electron or x-ray laser] point defence, electromagnetic-coilgun hypervelocity cannon and enhanced radiation [neutron bomb] brilliant-drone missiles...THEN y'all will really have something to replace the current gen fighters; ONE squadron of such might be all one would need to be the dominant geostrategic power for quite a long while eh? ;-) LOL.

The USA has been the high water mark in known History imo and has mostly been a good steward of Western Civilization's virtues and also done well exporting them culturally over it's centuries...hopefully that will continue for some time yet...

But just as on the personal scale wise Monarchs must concern themselves with a strong succession to maintain the gains they have made for their people, on the state scale wise Empires must concern themselves with a strong succession to maintain the gains they have made for their Civilization.

Western Civilization has been adept at keeping the 'torch' lit by passing it on. America has had its day [which is not yet over] but its night will come and then like Greece passing the torch to Rome it will have to pass the torch to another to carry Western Civilization on beyond 'the fall of the American Empire' just as Britain passed the torch to it...imo India is the most likely successor...if it is properly prepared to pick up the torch when the time comes.

The Future falling to China is not a Fate worthy of contemplating :-(.

This article is a joke. Except that the Indians must be laughing with the other side of their mouths. Ridiculous. The Bush administration is selling these weapons to a monster. Pakistan and Saudi are THE countries that started and continue to fund Islamic terror. They are the Godfathers of Islamic fundamentalism today.

I see that some people think that the Bush administration can do NO wrong. lol. Condi is starting her tenure with the screwup of the decade. Even Mad half-bright scores better than Condi right now.

Giving an F16 to Pakistan..nah..actually GIFTING an F16 to Pakistan is like giving it to China. In the interests of Supply Chain Mgmt I recommend that our Pentagon sends one directly to Chengdu or wherever the Chinese have their Fighter Xerox machines.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow the world is going nuts. We are giving the Chinese-Pakistan axis an F16 to copy and the Russians are helping them with the PL-12.

Neither India or China would be where they are today without the massive investment the United States has made in those respective countries. So why has the executive office, in the last 20 years or so, been so interested in advancing these other countries? Why is America's wealth being redistributed to other countries? Someone thinks America need more adversaries? Or more adversaries that can match our economy and military might since the USSR fell apart?

I see that some people think that the Bush administration can do NO wrong. lol. Condi is starting her tenure with the screwup of the decade. Even Mad half-bright scores better than Condi right now.

The funny thing here is that the US wants to have India as allies and so is arming Pakistan with F-16, CJ10s, PC3 Orions and PAC-2 while in our case the US State Department blocked the sale of Isreali Arrow systems. lol. I wonder whether India would want to be America's allies after this.

After Modi was denied the visa a lot of "pro-US" BJP blokes are angry with the US. The commies never loved the US. And now you have this! US popularity I suppose has taken a nose dive big-time.

To top it all Wen Jiabao is soon going to visit India and has already promised a major policy change with respect to India. And his timing couldn't have been more perfect after the "self goal" made by the US.

China wins the first round virtually hands down. Are they celebrating in China yet?

Western Civilization hasnt been the 'prime mover' in History for millenia

"Western" civilisation would really only have started durignt he Renaissance. civilisation developed in Sumeria (what is now Iraq), Egypt, the indus valley (in India) and in China c.4000 B.C. Then it civlised Greece around 500 B.C. -- many Greek ideas were taken from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and even from as far as India. The Greeks were still part fothe Middle-Eastern world. The Romans were in transition to the West. But the real 'Western' civilisation was formed during the Renaissance. Remember that even the Germans in the 1800s railed on about the 'West'

Western Civilization has been adept at keeping the 'torch' lit by passing it on. America has had its day [which is not yet over] but its night will come and then like Greece passing the torch to Rome

The Greeks being a power? No, the Macedonians maybe. Even they flourished for only a short time before the rOmans came. Now, Rome, I DO admire.

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