Another round of US cajoling

INDIA has been hosting recurring waves of diplomats and government officials descending from Washington with the singular purpose of removing Russia from South Block’s bouquet of painstakingly built diplomatic ties. The latest to arrive is the US Treasury’s Elizabeth Rosenberg who has built a career around ensuring that recalcitrant countries from the US point of view, such as Russia, North Korea, Syria etc., suffer the maximum pain of sanctions. The US has been dispatching these officials to regurgitate their persuasive pitches when India as a sovereign nation has made its stand crystal clear during two Biden-Modi summits – one virtual in April and the other in-person in Tokyo – and at the two plus two of Foreign and Defence Ministers held in Washington last month.

India is not the only major nation to be confronted by relentless American cajoling. Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil and even Israel are reluctant to put all their eggs in the American basket. The miasma of distrust towards US consistency has heightened after its cut-and-run tactics in Afghanistan. Having gone along with American choices in Kabul for two decades, their precipitous withdrawal left India between a rock and a hard place. India’s expectations of gaining access to critical technology through Quad have remained elusive. Even more galling, the US, the UK and Australia quietly carved out AUKUS, an exclusive club for the joint development of advanced submarine capability, to counter China.

On the other hand, India has much promising business with Russia. PM Modi is still persuading his western counterparts to liberalise the movement of skilled Indian professionals. If the war had not intervened, the first batch of Indians to work in Far Eastern Russia would have left last month. Indian industries ranging from diamonds to coking coal are finding new footholds in this region. In addition, not counting the strategic comfort that comes from the Russian readiness to watch India’s back, whether it is hard-to-get defence systems or support at international fora such as the UNSC. India’s ties with the West are worth their weight in gold but Russia is an anchor India would like to persist with.