Obama In India- Part III : The Future; near and far

As put earlier, Obama has got what he wanted while giving very less and promising a lot. He came here on the back of a big set back domestically. He had to show some thing short term that he gained. The problem was dealt with properly and he gained what he started with in his mind. A new business of tens of billions of dollars and jobs for tens of thousands of American workers is the bargain he had come with. Hopefully this will ensure that he has some breathing space at home. Even this relief looks temporary. The Grand Old Party has him in a death grip now and will keep squeezing it as they want for next two years. This may make Obama more belligerent and try to do extra ordinary things to break out of the grip. We can use this more and make use to gain more from him. I think helping him in his pull out from Af-Pak is the next important thing we can do. Once he is out of Af, we can deal with Pak on a one on one basis. With out any body else's strategic interests being hurt. I think one more split Pakistan will make India more stronger. Baluchistan and other tribal areas which are now any ways partially autonomous can become an independent country and they can be our very good friends. This looks like a fantastic thought right now but can be reality and will definitely be a good thing. We can use the capital we put in by helping Obama. Right now he has got away with what he wanted but we can definitely give him and America more. This will ensure that we will get back some thing other than just empty words.

Even if these are just empty words, this is also enough coming from the leader of the most influential nation on earth. We definitely have some thing tangible at hands short term. We can put this to better use. We can use the short term advantage to get some thing long term. May be increase out influence in Sri Lanka or Nepal. Right now it looks like we are tongue tied and are not comfortable with our strength. This also some times means that others are not comfortable with our strength. Right now the Man Mohan government is too dovish for my liking. We have tied our own hands in knots. We can improve on this by being more hawkish and being more transparent. As Obama mentioned our power gives us some moral responsibilities and give us some rights as well. We should work as big brother in most of the conflicts. We need not be completely on one side always. For example, dealing with Burmese Junta and Aang San Su Ki, we should ensure that we let the Burma know that even when we are supporting them, we want slow and steady improvement in the situation. And Obama is right in this sense. This is where America has also faltered historically. They have always gone for short and mid term goals without being aware of the rights and wrongs. If we use our power considerately, we can get what we want along with making the world a better place.

The problem is that historically we have been used to the responsibilities more and not made good use of the rights and opportunities. This is a tight rope walk and the balance is very difficult to maintain. It is even more difficult to show that the balance is optimal. But this is what foreign policy is all about. Obama's visit and his promises has definitely given us a new status. We should get used to the new status, even if it is short lived. We can make it more long term by doing some thing wiht a great impact pretty quickly. We can use this to solve some domestic problem OR use it to solve some problem with our neighbors. Our mid term goal is to stop the terrorist training centers in Pak which work against us. Even the congress needs to get his done so that they have some thing spectacular to show for the next elections. Civil Nuclear deal, a permanent seat at the security council, and stopping the terrorist camps in Pak as a stretch goal can be very good as a foreign policy achievement the congress can take it to the people in the next elections.

In my opinion these can be very formidable achievements.   And these can take us further down the path of being a responsible super power.  We can use it to get some things done that we wanted.

P.S. This is how I felt while writing this: http://750words.com/entries/share/367723