moi in outlook: the right's pyrrhic victory

April 12th

excerpts:

All this juicy political gossip has occupied public attention; and now there is the opiate of cricket with Pakistan. But meanwhile, back at the ranch, much has happened with grave implications for the nation, yet the alleged nationalists of the NDA have been silent spectators:

* The Foreign Minister works hard to drive Nepal into the arms of China and Pakistan, who oblige by sending weapons; this follows the blueprint once executed regarding Tibet by foreign minister V K Krishna Menon and ambassador to China K M Panikkar. Meanwhile Maoists entrench themselves in Nepal, and in large stretches of India.

* The European Union lifts an arms embargo on China; India does not raise a whimper despite the certainty that these weapons will used against India. But when India considers buying the Patriot-2 (and that too old technology) from the US, China screams bloody murder. Incidentally, Japan and the US talk about the defense of Taiwan, and again China gets agitated.

* The Chinese-built port of Gwadar in Pakistan is almost completed; this accomplishes three things: one, keeps Pakistan’s naval assets far away from India; two, gives China a choke-hold over the flow of Persian Gulf oil; three, gives China an outlet from Tibet and Xinjiang via the Karakoram Highway.

* The Foreign Minister goes to Pakistan, and throws overboard, for no quid pro quo, a major strategic option India has long held: LOC as international border. Exactly as we lost leverage with China over Tibet by giving away treaty rights for nothing