M.K. Bhadrakumar
The latest US-Indian fracas over Russian oil has been rather odd with Trump attributing to PM Modi explicitly that India has terminated its imports of Russian oil. Why would Trump bluff?
One possibility that needs to be explored is what our trade negotiators camping in DC actually conveyed to their American counterparts, which the latter would have transmitted to the White House, whereupon, Trump added, typically, a touch of swagger to it.
Americans must be emboldened by the news that our public sector oil companies have already terminated the oil purchases from Russia presumably on instructions from the government. In fact, Reuters reported quoting a White House official on Thursday that Indian refiners are already cutting Russian oil imports by 50%.
The government must clarify the state of the play instead of parrying. If the game plan is to taper off the oil purchase and switch to American supplies, which is evidently Trump’s agenda to capture the expanding Indian market and dominate our energy policies, it will willy-nilly surface.
Our style of functioning vis-a-vis Trump presidency continues to be messy. Why is it that Trump calls Pakistan’s COAS a ‘great’ man and showers praise, while derisively disposes of the UK PM Keir Starmer or Italy’s Giorgia Meloni — or attributes false statements repeatedly to Modi?
We must introspect how we landed in a cul-de-sac. Trump likes to dominate others but is selective. Quite obviously, he no longer bullies North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. It is about time to do some soul-searching.
This is important because the present standoff is not really about Russian oil, but is about India’s future role in the American foreign policy strategies. It is linked to India’s potential rise as a great power. I heard a riveting podcast recently on international security where the renowned American author and strategic thinker Jeffrey Sachs kept referring to India as one of the 4 great powers in world politics — aside the US, China and Russia.
In this quartet, the US faces growing isolation unless it lures India to its side as a subaltern, a role that ‘Global Britain’ gladly performed in a previous era. This predicament is at the core of the US’ blatant attempt to erode India’s time-tested relations with Russia. The US is zeroing in on the two core areas of India-Russia relationship, namely, energy and defence without which the relations get hollowed out.
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