I've been saying this for awhile, the US is screwed when the dollar loses reserve currency status and kicking Russia out of SWIFT accelerates the timeline for that dramatically. The fact India hasn't said a word about Russia and Pakistan PM is meeting with Putin right now is telling
The US has been outplayed by China so badly it's almost laughable, Chess vs Checkers for decades now
Why should we? When China killed 20 of our soldiers in 2020,[1] the whole world prayed for "de-escalation and a peaceful resolution." And that is what India will say in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
I'm agreeing that it is a wise decision. I put that in there because people in this thread are acting like India will blindly follow the US against Russia/China with things like sanctions. The US is in a weak position right now due to a number of dumb foreign policy decisions, going nuclear by kicking Russia off SWIFT would have even allies questioning SWIFT and cause the US to lose even more control over the financial system
India is doing what's in the best interest of their people, which is what a government should do
India are very wary of US led wars, they do not have a good track record and when this all blows over and everyone forgets about it, India will never get support from the US against Pakistani sponsored terrorism. So why should India fight its wars for them?
Every country in the world has suffered many such slights, but somehow we have to and we do cooperate, to our great mutual benefit. The slights are used by those who want division, in every country (and if they can't think of one, they make them up anyway). Why should India sacrifice it's larger interests to temporary outrage - never a good idea in international or personal relations.
(Also, China didn't attempt to conquer India, attacking Delhi, Mumbai; annexing the south, etc. The comparison is very exaggerated.)
China illegally occupies Aksai Chin. Pakistan illegally occupies parts of Kashmir. We have fought multiple wars with both countries over the last 75 years with very little help from outside parties. When the rest of the world goes beyond mere words to help restore these territories to India, I am sure India will be more than happy to move beyond mere words in similar situations.
> China illegally occupies Aksai Chin. Pakistan illegally occupies parts of Kashmir.
Border disputes are everywhere, even between close allies like the US and Canada, the UK and France. Both sides have claims and arguments. That has nothing to do with conquering other other countries.
> When the rest of the world goes beyond mere words to help restore these territories to India
What should the world do? Fight a war? What has India's government asked the world to do?
> I am sure India will be more than happy to move beyond mere words in similar situations
India does a lot in concert with the rest of the world, and benefits enormously from it.
The grievance-based nationalism also is common these days. Everyone has grievances - both in international relations and personally - but what party benefits from inflaming and acting on them?
In that case, both Russia and Ukraine have claims and arguments over parts of Ukrainian territory. Why should other countries interfere in their dispute?
> What should the world do?
Apply pressure? Isolate Pakistan and China completely like they are trying to do with Russia? Stop selling and gifting them weapons that will be used against India? But we know none of that is going to happen. Everyone knows that in American and European circles, Asian and African lives have far less value than European lives.
> The qualities of the claims, and the harm caused by the actions, are very significant factors.
You do not understand.
We are Indians. We have no expansionist agenda, designs on other people's territories and don't feel the need to play policeman or marriage counselor to the world unlike some other Great powers.
We have our territorial claims and Russia has its own. No other opinion is relevant. The only thing that matters is the answer to the question: does the claimant have the power to enforce their claim? Russia does. We don't.
The problem in Ukraine is of their leadership's own making. They trusted a notoriously untrustworthy ally like Washington whose military policy has been in control of neoconservatives since forever. The neocons wanted a war with Russia. Biden and the Comedian gave them one. Ukraine had a chance to be independent as long as it had a government that practiced neutrality. That is no longer possible. It is going to be embraced by the Bear and there is no military power on Earth that can do anything about it.
This isn't to say that the world goes often beyond mere words; every democratic nation's leadership is obligated to act in the best interest of their citizens, and what's in their best interest is not always clear at the outset. There's a reason diplomacy and statecraft are full-time jobs, and defense pacts like NATO exist. These pacts tie populations together and organize some of the decision-making process. Even then those pacts have steps that need to be triggered before action is taken, and NATO Article 5 [3] has been invoked only once in its history. The really interesting thing is that according to NATO Article 6, an attack on Hawaii or some Spanish cities may not trigger a NATO response [4]
Much as we as individuals want nations to act emotionally as we would, democratic nations simply do not make decisions that way. There are tens, perhaps even hundreds, of people involved at all levels of government in any major decisions around foreign policy. It is possible to subvert that machinery like with the 2nd Bush administration, and trash it altogether like with the Trump administration, but for the most part it works fairly rationally, if not always in the long-term interest.
That was never going to happen. Neither Musharraf nor Sharif are stupid people. The Americans have always been a cowardly lot when it comes to nuclear weapons.
The Pakistan situation is a result of the gross incompetence on the part of the Indian and American establishments. India chose the wrong politics, the wrong friends and didn't contain Pakistan when we were in a position to do so. And America funded and protected them for imaginary achievements of their political objectives. The only winner in all this was the Pakistani establishment that made out like a bandit.
The US has been outplayed by China so badly it's almost laughable, Chess vs Checkers for decades now