India toes US line, dumps Iran
India toes US line, dumps IranThey are five sentences that signal a fundamental change in Indian foreign policy of over five decades. In an overt and transparent shift in alignment and emphasis, the Congress-led UPA government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday signed up with the United States on a touchstone issue, asking Iran to be flexible and make concessions to avoid a confrontation with Washington on the nuclear issue. India’s blunt message, which is also aimed at allaying U.S concerns over New Delhi’s long-standing ties with Teheran, was conveyed by Prime Minister Singh to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad when the latter telephoned him on Friday. In fact, the UPA government went to unusual lengths to disclose the gist of the conversation between the two leaders in a brief press release sent to select media. The government statement read: "The Prime Minister received a phone call from President Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the Iranian request. The (Iranian) President raised the issue about Iran's nuclear programme in the IAEA. Prime Minister advised him that Iran should consider taking a flexible position so as to avoid a confrontation. The Prime Minister repeated the necessity for Iran to make concessions to this end. India supports the resolution of all issues through discussion and consensus in the IAEA." Seldom, if ever, has the government been so direct and candid in conveying a foreign policy shift through an episode some American policy analysts saw as a test case for India-U.S ties.
posted by Unknown @ 2:34 AM
3 Comments:
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Well ns, they are Hindu and Buddist and Sharia only allows dhimmi status for those two religions I think. The question is, are others allowed to be dhimmis besides the people of the book?
Thanks for the links ik, I appreciate it. I didn't mean to offend anyone, so please accept my apology. I was looking at this from a somewhat jaded and cynical viewpoint to be sure. I know that India has suffered/suffers greatly from a long history of Islamic conflict/abuse. I guess I was looking at it from the business side of things--pragmatist that I am. Since Teheran and New Delhi have had a mutually rewarding (business) relationship it seemed improbable to me that India would want to jeopordize this. Taken strictly at face value, the statements by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were courageous and a breath of fresh air to those wanting someone to stand up to the Islamic bullys of the world.
Although I have to question how this lines up with a statement by Singh:
On the nuclear issue, Singh was quoted on an official Iranian website as saying,
"We support Iran's pursuit of its peaceful nuclear energy program in keeping with its international obligations and commitments."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/
South_Asia/GI15Df02.html
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