Posted on 11/29/2006 6:25:04 PM PST by mylife
US, India forging global partnership: Burns
Arun Kumar (IANS)
Washington, November 29, 2006
The United States and India are forging a "natural global partnership" economically, militarily and culturally in one of the most significant shifts in US global policy in a decade, says a senior US official.
While the US-India civil nuclear accord has received the most public attention, there is actually an "ambitious agenda" of cooperative efforts under way through official government channels, private businesses and non-profit organisations, said Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R Nicholas Burns.
In a speech to the Asia Society in New York Nov 27, he said that the United States and India finally "have found each other" and are now "increasingly close partners in global politics" on a range of interests that flow from both the "bright side" and "darker forces" of globalisation.
"We can safely say, I think, that we'll be partners in global economics and trade and investment. We're also going to have a very strong military relationship between our two countries," Burns said according to an official report of the meeting.
He cited a litany of joint projects that included supporting the emergence of democratic institutions in countries around the world; cooperating in science and technology, engineering, agriculture, communications and global climate change; and fighting illicit drug trafficking, trafficking in women and children and global terrorist organizations.
"We've never seen this kind of intensity of effort and purpose in the US-India relationship. It is absolutely what the United States should be doing to effect the kind of relationship we want to have with India," he said.
Burns said he will be visiting India in early December to ensure that all US initiatives are going as planned.
The cooperation between the Indian and US navies and air forces to help the victims of the 2004 tsunami demonstrated that the two governments could play a role in bringing relief to victims of natural disasters and might be relied on in other common security interests, Burns added.
All the countries of South Asia are now a priority for US foreign policy in what is a shift in attention over the last eight years during the Clinton and Bush administrations, Burns said.
"For the first time in decades, American policymakers of both political parties in the Congress and certainly in [the Bush] Administration believe that what happens in South Asia is vital to the future security interests of the United States itself," the official said.
Pakistan is "a key ally with which we are building ever stronger relations," Burns said.
Because of the significant number of Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists remaining in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, there is "no more important partner in the fight against global terrorism than Pakistan," he said.
But, while counterterrorism efforts have been a focus of Washington's engagement, the US commitment to Pakistan "is much broader" especially in the area of energy, poverty alleviation and business growth.
"We support President [Pervez] Musharraf's vision of a strong and moderate and prosperous Pakistan," he said.
The United States has "two great friends in the region" in India and Pakistan, Burns said. "One is not more important than the other, just different. The United States seeks a priority relationship with both."
Reflecting the United States "newly energetic role" in South Asia, Washington is now engaged in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh "to help each overcome serious internal crises in ways we had never been before," the under secretary said.
In Nepal, the United States will support "an agreement between the government and Maoists that safeguards the aspirations of the Nepali people," he said. "This means violence, intimidation and criminal acts by the Maoists must end. We will be watching closely."
The United States also will remain involved to help stop the civil war in Sri Lanka, he added. The United States hosted a meeting of the Sri Lanka Donors Group which called on both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to engage in cease-fire agreement implementation talks.
Concerned about the political violence in Bangladesh, Burns urged the political parties to resolve their difference through dialogue.
"Bangladesh is a pivotal country in South Asia, its future is important to the entire region," Burns said. "It has the advantage of size, a growing economy, and a talented population. Can its leadership put aside their differences to lead the country forward in peace?"
Government in Nepal is a hodgepodge of constitutional, parliamentary, and monarchical relics, owning much more to England than to India.
You saying Nepal owes it all to those Pommies? LOL. Are you from John Kerry institute of Foreign Affairs? I bet in your book Western civilization owes it all to France eh? Were the Pommies fighting by any chance, in 1950 when China invaded Tibet or in 1962 when China invaded India?
From Mohandas Gandhi on, the fate of Indian leaders is to die at the hand of some internal extremist. M. Gandhi, Indira, Rajiv ... all dead.
So three is “half a dozen”? Don’t they teach you math at Kerry institute?
As far as "co-operating" in the sciences and technology, translate that to mean that we educate Indians here in the States so that they can go back to India and work for a tenth the price of a US worker, while training another battalion of coolies to take over more of our jobs.
Ah now I see the real cause of your bitterness against Indians. It always comes to that.
So you got replaced......."Bangalored"?
there is "no more important partner in the fight against global terrorism than Pakistan," he said.
the US commitment to Pakistan "is much broader"
"We support President [Pervez] Musharraf's vision of a strong and moderate and prosperous Pakistan," he said.
The United States has "two great friends in the region" in India and Pakistan, Burns said. "One is not more important than the other, just different. The United States seeks a priority relationship with both."
This is how great a job Nicholas Burns is doing for India.
>>As to those allowed to export democracy, you can't very well export what you don't have
I guess that's best left to us Americans, seeing what a bangup job we've done in Irak.
Or Saudi Arabia, or China.
Even Singh is fairly pragmatic on the subject of Pakistan.
I believe Burns is engaged with the region and even more so with India
The democratization of Iraq is proceeding. It took a lot longer to bring representative government back to Europe after WWII, and those countries had at least some experience with a duly elected head of state.
I don't know that we ever TRIED to democratize Saudi Arabia. We set up the most accommodating Bedouin who would look after our oil interests, and left them pretty much alone after that.
And the US hasn't intervened in China since Mao.
Any democratization effort coming from India is going to get a lot more rigorous criticism than I'm giving ...
No, I'm saying Nepal owes MUCH to "those Pommies." Are you from the Junior High Debating Team? You can't put words in my mouth and then hold ME accountable for them. I never even MENTIONED France, for cripes' sake! And I said Nepal's governmental structure owed much to the English, not that the English fought for Nepalese independence. You need to renew your medication.
So three is “half a dozen”? Don’t they teach you math at Kerry institute?
"Half a dozen" isn't always used as a literal expression. You'd know that if English was your native language. It's hard to teach those kinds of semantic subtleties in Hyderabad.
Larry Kudlow is on the Hugh Hewitt show at the moment praising the rise of India, and he is spot on.
Im not talking about what happened in the 80s,but the time after the Taliban came to the picture,which you don't want to talk about since the N.A wouldn't have existed if Russia & others hadn't supported them.
About India collapsing into chaos,well dream on.People far more familiar with India know something you don't about the reslience of India's main safety valve-Democracy.
& what exactly is westernised Pseudo Christian???Care to elaborate.
One who professes Christianity but really doesn't live by any of its tenets. Like many Americans, for example. Devout Hindus tend to live their values, as do Buddhists, and -- regrettably -- muslims. Westernized Christians (what I've termed "pseudo-Christians") pay the creed lip service, but are actually ashamed to live by all but the vaguest of its constraints.
I suspect a lot of the Christianizing going on in India is merely a pretext for embracing Western materialism.
I doubt that's the answer you were looking for, but I imagine there's something in there over which you can feign high dudgeon.
You suspect????Hmmm,interesting.& how much do you know about Christians on the ground in India??
This thread is diverging rapidly from its main point. I don't believe our relationship with India is anything more than a marriage of convenience. And I believe that India will bolt as soon as a more lucrative suitor comes calling.
For every 1 Indian Christian you know,I know about 9.So enuf said about that.
About the thread diverging,well you are the one who brought up the bits about India collapsing & pseudo Christians.
I don't believe our relationship with India is anything more than a marriage of convenience. And I believe that India will bolt as soon as a more lucrative suitor comes calling.
“No, I'm saying Nepal owes MUCH to "those Pommies."”
I haven’t seen you elaborate much on that. What is it about Nepal that it got from the Brits. WTF do you even know about Nepal's governmental structure? Nepal wasn’t even a British colony like India which at least inherited the so-called British institutions. How much Nepalese history do you know? Boy! Even a Junior High student is better inform then a pseudo-intellectual moron like you.
You'd know that if English was your native language.
No, its not my native language. That doesn't hold me from speaking it, along with 5 other languages, none of which is my mother tongue. I speak English good enough (probably better then you) to tell when a half-informed, pompous, loud mouthed egoistical jerk is straining his/her coarse English skills attempting to go overboard with some heavy unwarranted criticism.
It's hard to teach those kinds of semantic subtleties in Hyderabad.
Yeah, subtleties my ass.
Singh is a spineless jellybean controlled by Sonia Gandhi with an iron-fist. What he says or does hardly makes a difference.
Burns OTOH is trying to play both sides. He is just another "sweet-talking" Richard Armitage. Yet another character India should not take too seriously.
Did they inherit a parliamentary monarchy from China???? Who else in that neighborhood uses that governmental structure? Do you think you can win this ridiculous argument with bombast? And with the ascension of the communist influence in that country, I don't think citing Nepal of all places is exactly lending credence to your "India is America's friend" argument.
Even a Junior High student is better inform then a pseudo-intellectual moron like you.
Reread that sentence then tell me again who's the moron.
No, its not my native language. That doesn't hold me from speaking it, along with 5 other languages, none of which is my mother tongue.
Grunting and pointing does not constitute a "language."
I speak English good enough (probably better then you) to tell when a half-informed, pompous, loud mouthed egoistical jerk is straining his/her coarse English skills attempting to go overboard with some heavy unwarranted criticism.
Maybe. But you don't speak it WELL enough to communicate much except puerile insults and nonsensical, specious logical leaps.
Yeah, subtleties my ass.
So THAT'S who I've been talking to. That explains a lot.
India and US are coming together because (for now) our interests converge.
Do your fine debating skills also include making my point for me? Since our interests coincide for the time being, the implication is that they are not permanent. In other words, they are subject to flux, to renegotiation, to abrogation on any pretext. For instance, when a wealthier squire comes calling ...
Go tell that to your profs at Kerry Institute.
I'll do that if you promise to repeat your vapid jabber to the charge nurse at Hari Kari Institute.
>>The democratization of Iraq is proceeding.
Uh, OK.
You call the utter mess created by America's total incompetence "proceeding".
Sweetie, Iraq is lost, all America now has to work on are the terms of retreat and the level of humiliation.
India is following its own self interest in a pragmatic realpolitik manner, which all nationstates do, including America.
If India bolts because of a better offer (from whom) then that's the way the world works, if it's a temporary hookup then so be it.
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