tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post3696030972877680262..comments2023-04-09T02:06:52.987-07:00Comments on Purple Beret: Nonalignment 2.0 - Playing ball with the empireAtulBerethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06783321776226256347noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-76710044452250551112012-04-18T00:08:34.305-07:002012-04-18T00:08:34.305-07:00Sir, your commentary on Nonalignment 2.0 is one of...Sir, your commentary on Nonalignment 2.0 is one of the best I have read out of the 30 odd articles published. Its comprehensiveness, sharp analysis, historical contexts makes is enriching. Perhaps, I shall follow your blogs. Thank you.Dr D. Gnanagurunathan, Research Fellow, ICWAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-35543016611517267012012-03-23T21:50:22.994-07:002012-03-23T21:50:22.994-07:00Atul, the point you make about the need for the Ar...Atul, the point you make about the need for the Army to be prepared is exactly what the paper says. The last thing anybody would suggest is for two nuclear powered nations to go to war and fighting a war because the Army is lloking for a job is probably not something the Indian Army looks favourably at... all those who have been in it for the last twenty- thirty years have lost friends and colleagues and understand what that implies to families and units.<br />Again your point about 1962 that it was a continuation of diplomacy by other means reinforces the argument that we need to take action in terms of building up capacity to be able to resist another attack. Yes, I think the Govt has learned one lesson(which the media has not) that bluster does not win arguments but instead of building up capacity in the interim the Govt has taken the easier course of covering its head in the sand and hoping things sort themselves out and off course rolling over and accepting whatever the Chines do.. wether it be building dams on the Bhramaputra, incursions, opposing our attempts to get into the UNSC etc etcDeepaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-52621481551365413522012-03-19T10:47:31.835-07:002012-03-19T10:47:31.835-07:00We should see that India should not fall prey to d...We should see that India should not fall prey to diplomatic entrapment laid by other big players. India should try to maintain better relations with its neighboring countries and promote and strengthen political stability. This in turn will ensure peace and stability in India that is essential for social and economic growth. The powerful western world has its own game plan of hegemony and economic exploitation of developing and least developed world earlier by colonization and now in name of globalization. And if some countries in Asia or other parts of world are politically and economically rising, they try to pitch one against other in that region so that development of both could be contained and their economic and other strategic interests are met. We need to learn lesson from the World War II that those who actively got involved from the beginning, they lost their power even after winning the war and relatively took backseat in the game of power. If we look long back to history of our relations with China, except 1962 war we do not have any other historical baggage of animosity or conflict with China. Misunderstanding of 1962 can be put aside by both countries and both can pursuit their developmental goal. And I am confident that China as a responsible nation also understand that any military misadventure with India will not be in interest of China.<br />Having said above, it does not mean that India should compromise on its military preparedness. Rather, India should be fully prepared by continuously upgrading it military capabilities to preempt any eventuality and also apply its soft power for its strategic needs.D C Srivastavahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10807350210329017506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-41835217730182149212012-03-18T00:25:00.974-07:002012-03-18T00:25:00.974-07:00Dear Sir agree with you with don't set the age...Dear Sir agree with you with don't set the agenda on global stage but before that we must be independent enough to set the agenda at the national level.AtulBerethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06783321776226256347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-69366796091601190992012-03-18T00:23:05.815-07:002012-03-18T00:23:05.815-07:00Dear Deepak, Thanks a ton for reading my article a...Dear Deepak, Thanks a ton for reading my article and raising some very relevant questions. Should we be like Nehru and let China roll over us? Should we not make China learn some lessons? My contention is:<br />Why should we imagine and have a firm belief that China can never be our friend?<br />Why do you assume that befriending China automatically means that we don't prepare our armed forces?<br />We don't need a war because there is army that needs some vocation. <br /><br />We need to get over some myths that have been implanted in our minds over the years and move beyond the cliched thinking on 62 war that is rooted in Relaist paradigm of understanding relations between two countries and these are:<br />In India, the 1962 war discourse is largely personality oriented – devoid of any in-depth theoretical analysis of the event. The narrow theoretical underpinnings in the narrative revolve around:<br />The realist paradigm based on national interests and understanding of international relations embedded in “territorial trap”<br /> It was a war between two independent nations embroiled in a border dispute.<br />The war was preceded by negotiations and diplomacy at the highest level; therefore, it was ‘continuation of diplomacy by other means’. <br />You may like to read my earlier essay on Krishna Menon and 62 war to understand my thought process better on why the war happened.AtulBerethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06783321776226256347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-27371138026459142182012-03-17T21:54:00.610-07:002012-03-17T21:54:00.610-07:00We may believe it to be in the interest of China a...We may believe it to be in the interest of China and India to cooperate and act in tandem against the West. Thats the mistake Nehru made and we learnt to our cost that powers looking for a bigger role have only permanent interests and if there is any possibility of any other power challenging them in the future its best to grind it as early as one can. Therefore rolling over for China will still not do us any good as they will continue to screw us any and every way they can. Its better therefore to get your act together, see where we want to go and then use every means available to reach there, wether it requires us to be friends with the US and Japan or not.That is all that has been suggested in the paper. As regards the title, non alignment has been a brand name tagged to our foriegn policy over the years and to use the brand to propgate something new is justifiable.deepak2paranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7042384025854887407.post-39990176170121953432012-03-16T09:49:10.743-07:002012-03-16T09:49:10.743-07:001. Brilliant article; I liked both: the arguments ...1. Brilliant article; I liked both: the arguments and the expression. Foreign policy and strategy with more than an eye on "existing compulsions" cannot be called 'non-aligned' or 'independent. That we have never risen above these 'compulsions' say a lot about where we are.<br /><br />2. Intellectual hegemony? Well, indeed it is. I was accused of 'America baiting' when I aired the idea that the US in our vicinity - as (should be) seen by us - is not the solution but part of the problem. And, they used to talk about "indoctrination" of our officers and think-tanks by the Soviets!<br /><br />3. What the Chinese did to us in 1962 is drummed up infinitely to make us believe that there is never a whisper of rapproachment; foregetting the fact that Japan was mercilessly atom-bombed by the US but are still good friends as maritime neighbours. George Fernandez's "our real enemy is China" came about at a time when we were getting ready to invest large monies in defence imports. Any guess as to who benefitted; just as who benefitted in 'Homeland Security' exports after 26/11?<br /><br />4. We don't have a single homegrown news agency that independently covers maritime matters at sea. We are, therefore, entirely dependent upon western press to tell us what we should do at sea (piracy et al). Whatever, the western press brings out about matters of the sea are lapped up by our think-tanks into "analysis" of the real situation around us.<br /><br />5. Lastly, your fantasy about being "politically active on global stage" seems to suggest that after the domestic politics of caste, vituperation, corruption and crime, there is some left for the global stage too to make us win the Best Actor in Villanous Role award. Ha. In global affairs we think internationally as little as we think nationally in domestic affairs. I think we already know the result of Americans' latest arm-twisting us on Iran. It is alright for them to do business with a nuclear Pakistan but we are a "rogue nation" to do business with (a-not-as-yet-nuclear) Iran.Sunbyanynamehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10224139702559865933noreply@blogger.com