Lastly, the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal had an explicit strategic dimension. By the turn of the 21st century, balancing China’s growing power had become a strategic imperative for the U.S., which saw India as a viable alternative to China because of its sheer size, geography, military capabilities, and democratic political values. The nuclear deal was supposed to provide the edifice of a robust security relationship between the two states centered on balancing Chinese power.
Rather than actively balancing China, India has mostly pursued a hedging strategy, as most prominently demonstrated by the unofficial but influential Nonalignment 2.0 report from earlier this year. As Ashley Tellis presciently remarks, “for the U.S., which has just recovered from India’s Nonalignment 1.0, Nonalignment 2.0 is a strategic nightmare.” Whether India is explicitly pursuing a nonalignment redux policy or not, there’s little doubt that it has tried to avoid creating an overwhelming dependence on American military hardware.
Based on the above evidence, many in Washington speak of the false promise of the nuclear deal in transforming India-U.S. relations. This general impression is compounded by the policy paralysis with which the Manmohan Singh government has suffered for most of its present term.
There are a number of problems with the above picture, however. First, it portrays the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal as a strategic fix to India-U.S. relations rather than a strategic bet. To be sure, the Bush administration fully understood that a single document would not realign India’s entire worldview to bring it in line with the America’s own outlook. That being said, it was a calculated gamble which, once it was decided that India mattered for the U.S. at the highest levels, was the most optimal strategy to transform the bilateral relationship.
Second, the critical view also discounts the complexities that domestic politics interject into the foreign policy decision-making of democracies like India. Third, four years is a very short time period for passing any judgment on the consequences of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal and, in any case, strategic choices always take some time to produce their desired results.
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luvs
obama came to india to make a business deal which would create 50,000 jobs in america while giving free aids to pakistan ….now i have two questions
1 who needs whom?
2 trust america?
Anjaan
@ luvs,
I love you …. that is all I can say ………. !!!
luvs
i can understand …..
luvs
@ MEGAKIDS - KNOW ABOUT YOUR COUNTRY THEN COMMENT ON OTHERS
Every 45 seconds someone in the United States is sexually assaulted (1).
1 out of every 6 women currently in college has been raped (2), however, 9 out of 10 women raped on campus never tell anyone about the rape (3).
1 in 10 men is raped in his lifetime (4), 1 in 7 of those victims will have been assaulted before the age of 18.
More than 61.5% of rapes are never reported to law enforcement (5).
Approximately 35% of rape is committed by an acquaintance, and 17% by a relative other than spouse (6).
74% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by assailants well known to the victim (7).
A female child victim is 7 times more likely to be re-victimized as an adult (8).
Nearly 6 out of 10 sexual assaults occur at the victim’s home or the home of a friend, relative, or neighbor (9).
1 in 15 rape victims contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as a result of being raped (10).
The United States has the world’s highest rape rate of all countries that publish such data- 13 times higher than England and more than 20 times higher than Japan (12).
An American woman is 10 times more likely to be raped than to die in a car crash (13).
61% of rape victims are females under the age of 18 (14).
Contrary to common belief that violent crime rates are notably lower in rural areas, a recent analysis of location data collected for the 1999 National Women’s Study found that 10.1% of women living in rural areas had experienced a completed rape as compared to 13.6% of women living in urban and suburban communities—hardly a notably lower rate.
Lewis, S. 2003. Unspoken Crimes: Sexual Assault in Rural America, Enola, PA: National Sexual Violence Resource Center
References:
U.S. Department of Justice, 1994
Statistics on Sexual Violence Against Women, 1990; Woodruff & Koss
Rape Treatment Center of Santa Monica Longitudinal Study, 1995
Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2002 & The American Medical Association, 2000
Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 2002
U.S. Department of Justice, 1994
U.S. Department of Justice, 1994
Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 2002
National Crime Victimization Survey, 1996
Statistics on Sexual Violence Against Women: A Criminological Study, 1990
Ibid. #10 Senate Judiciary Committee, 1990
Ibid. #12 American Medical Association, 2000
Davos
Luvs, How do you presume that Megakids is from the US???? Your presumptions and attitude is yet another example of why India is where it is. When ever any criticism is directed at India, most Indians jump up and down defending India with irrelevant facts and not accepting any constructive criticism, instead of focusing on how to making real change.
Although I don't agree with all Megakids comments (he seems to have a lack of understanding of India's history for starters), he is correct in stating that India's historical stature, will not be enough to be a truly relevant power in the coming years.
a.p.
Nationalism is a very bad thing. Crimes are the consequence of all the advanced countries and liberty, obviously if you are in a totalitarian state or in Iran you have not that data or you don't even know about them…. A person not from US
Christian
The US and India are meant for each other. Both Americans and Indians have a penchant for killing.
Americans kill defenseless children and teachers with guns. Indians rape and kill defenseless women.
These are the two greatest nations of the twenty-first century!
Bankotsu
I rather India join China and Russia to create multipolar world rather than gang up with U.S to contain China.
If India fights China, there won't be a multipolar world and the U.S will win.
started-me-thinking
Abu Ghraib seems pretty much forgotten today being no longer in the daily news. But AB was a microcosm of what's wrong (or right) with these two countries. As for one of them, rapes and murders though horrible pale in comparison to the numerous acid attacks against defenceless people. Such acts are totally and revulsively inhuman.
Anjaan
@ started-me-thinking,
Have you noted the difference ……. ?
1. One is horrific criminal act …… by individuals, where there is no public or state support …. as in case of US school shooting, or the cases of Indian rape and murder.
2. The other is equally horrific criminal act ….. this time committed by the State, with full public support, against another state and its people ….. there are numerous examples ………the US in Vietnam, Combodia, Iraq …. and Pakistan in Afghanistan, Mumbai and Kashmir are the prime examples …….