Resumo de Embracing America

Embracing America
Mike Marqsee

The Indo-US relationship has always been crucial. As Marqsee puts it, the love affair between the Indian and US establishments continues to blossom. The world has emerged as a sensitive playing field where the players eye for opportunities, both political and financial. Pranab Mukherjee and Donald Rumsfeld have signed a 10-year deal on military co-operation. The popular Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who just received an honorary doctorate from Oxford, has taken India to new heights for power and economic clout. Dr. Manmohan Singh will be shortly an esteemed guest at the White House and George Bush will honor India with his presence soon after that in January.

As a global opinion poll reveals, a higher proportion of people in India, 71 percent, have a positive view of the United States. That is a substantial rise from the past few years when the anti-US sentiments where flared by the US presence in Iraq. One of India?s most prominent writers, Arundhathi Roy lashes out at George Bush and Tony Blair publicly, calling them war criminals.

The upcoming trend in India is to emulate the US shopping malls, brand names and even the lifestyle. Marqusee points out the media obsession of the movie Lagaan?s Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, he points out that the State Department is not going to abandon Islamabad just to please New Delhi. As a Non-resident American, the writer wonders whether India can emulate all the things that US does. For instance the US court system puts a higher proportion of its population in prison than any other country- 700 per 1,00,000. To follow that India has to increase the prison population seven-fold. The US boasts of putting the highest number of its criminals on death row, more than any other nation except China. The appalling part is that a great nation that the US is, has no universal health insurance. The giant pharmaceutical giants make sure that the drugs bought in the US are more expensive than anywhere else in the world. Marqsee is on target when he says that the Indian commentators are delighted along with Lockheed Martin and Boeing, that the new 10-year deal will enable India to access more and more state of the art weaponry from the US.

Now the question arises as to what kind of global stature India gains by becoming a market for weaponry. Even though the elite sees it as a short cut to global status, it does not give answers to the more immediate problems like poverty and infrastructure development It could mean that the super-power trappings can be seen as India?s subservience to the US which will not bring any credit to India in the eyes of the world population. India had a superior global prestige during the days of non-alignment, when it championed disarmament and anti-colonialism. Will Dr Manmohan Singh on his visit to US discuss the atrocities of Abu Gharib, Guantanamo or Fallujah? Marqsee wonders whether the Indian prime minister will clarify that the US abide by the International law. Geoge Bush has become a hated man even in the US itself. Even though his supporters abound, his war in Iraq goes costly and discredited. Currently it seems that his approval ratings are more in India than in the US. In January when George Bush visits India there might be a possibility that he may be claiming asylum.

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