Wake up America, Smell the coffee

Wake Up America

An old joke appeared in MAD magazine toward the end of the cold war.

American foreign policy: If they are with us, they are “Freedom Fighters”, if they are against us they are “Terrorists”

The ‘War on Terror’ and its selective (and at times) baseless targeting of Islamic terrorists has eroded the last semblance of moral high ground that the west once enjoyed.  Only the completely oblivious and uninformed sections of American society believe their wars are a righteous crusade against the forces of evil.

A sense of self-preservation may unite Americans behind their government’s war efforts, but the moral high ground was lost when President Bush spent a trillion dollars and ‘wasted’ thousands of brave American soldiers on a figment of his overactive ‘hunch’.  There were no WMDs.

The 11 year long ‘War on Terror’ has affected every American, either directly – with the injury to/loss of a loved one or close acquaintance.  The apathy and cynicism this political manipulation has bred, is reflected in continued electoral dominance of Democrats.

This is not to suggest that Americans are any less patriotic.  Not at all.  If anything, Americans are now more engaged than at any time since the end of the cold war.

The ‘pragmatic’ foreign policy of successive American administrations seems to have engendered a ‘pragmatic’ patriotism. 

Though most countries around the world loved, respected and envied the American way of life, no one was fooled by American rhetoric on human rights and democracy.

Given this backdrop, it seems almost comical when American law makers and bureaucrats lecture Indians on the ‘reasons’ for refusing NaMo a visa which, by the way, he has never requested.

(Perhaps even more comical are Indian leftists and Jihadists who spout ‘Death to America’ as their daily mantra and celebrate NaMo’s visa problems. Huh?)

On one level, America’s pragmatic foreign policy is admirable, as it eschews hypocritical virtue (Ex: Non-alignment movement) in the Interest of what is most vital to American interests.

India should learn from this mindset.

Successive administrations, both Republican and Democrat, have followed the same pragmatic principle – American interest is paramount.  Not human rights, not environmental concerns, not equitable distribution of resources but American Interest.

Given this context, what is a tad amusing (bewildering even) is the continued reluctance of American leadership to engage India’s Prime Minister in waiting – Narendra Modi.

Perhaps, they need more hard evidence.  The kind of evidence which can only come from a firm kick in the pants.

American policy makers must realize that their continued delay in engaging with Mr. Modi could prevent them from profiting from what is likely to be the next great economic boom, triggered by a NaMo led India.

Indians of every hue love all things American.  But by allowing vested (traditionally anti-American) interests to prevent a meaningful engagement with a duly elected leader of a sovereign, democratic nation, America is diluting the pragmatic self-interest which has for decades guided her every move.

Such a flawed strategy will backfire on America and provide its European and Asian competitors to gain a vital head start in cornering vast untapped markets which will emerge once NaMo takes over as PM.

It is time American policy makers wake up.