Mike Watson
NEW DELHI—As he showed in the Knesset this week, Donald Trump is making a serious bid to become a historically consequential figure, not just for upending American politics, but also for furthering world peace. A recent trip to India revealed the peace campaign creates some problems for Trump in the region, but also important opportunities.
Indians largely celebrated the peace deal for Gaza. They too have suffered grievously from terrorism over the past several decades, and sympathy for Israel has grown accordingly. The old parliament building still bears scars from a jihadist attack in 2001, and other Indian cities, such as Mumbai, have been rocked by massive bombings and mass shootings. Indians increasingly realize their country, Israel, and the United States face a common foe, and they applaud defeats inflicted on that enemy.
Trump’s economic pressure campaign on Russia has been tougher to swallow. Since independence, India has tried to steer clear of entanglement with any great power, but the 1971 pact with the Soviet Union bore many similarities to an alliance. It also locked New Delhi into certain long-term propositions, like weapons co-production, that are harder to unwind.
More significantly, India dreads the prospect of facing a united China and Russia, and is trying hard to separate the two. It fears pressure will drive Moscow further into China’s arms rather than to the negotiating table.
The real bone of contention between New Delhi and Washington about Russia, however, has been the recent tariff over Russian oil purchases. After Vladimir Putin effectively shut down negotiations to end the war he started, India got caught in the crossfire. Trump announced in August a 25-percent tariff on India for purchasing Russian oil. This week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to pause those purchases until the war ends, and Trump lifted the tariff.
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