Does India have a world-view?

US Under Secretary of State Nick Burns is in New Delhi at an important period in the context of the July 18 Indo-US agreement on nuclear co-...

US Under Secretary of State Nick Burns is in New Delhi at an important period in the context of the July 18 Indo-US agreement on nuclear co-operation. He will, of course, answer a host of questions, not least a formidable list furnished on September 26 by former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh in Rajya Sabha. Who knows, the opposition may even be persuaded to co-ordinate policy on the sensitive issue when Parliament assembles next. Nudged from elsewhere, co-ordination between NDA and Congress is not unknown.

But what is suffocating is the excruciatingly narrow focus of those who have made it their business to be involved in the management of foreign affairs 8212; US, Pakistan, sometimes China. Finito!

When all the Big Boys in New Delhi will be watching Burns, Burn8217;s own bosses will be riveted on Saddam Hussein8217;s trial, the loopholes in the Iraqi referendum, the simulated lure of some low-hanging fruit in Damascus and the totally stuck mid-East peace process. These are only some of the issues Washington and the rest of the international community is watching. Are we, too? The evidence is not there. At least not in our media.

An elementary factor in friendships struck even in school dormitories is common interests.

The fault, I dare say, is all ours. We have painted ourselves into a South Asian corner by our sheer intellectual disinterest in the rest of the world. Never has the international system been in such chaos and we sit back like we have some insurance that the tremors will not reach us.

There is an almighty build-up on the referendum in Iraq. There, we have the flimsiest notice that there may have been some fraud. Then comes news that there 8216;8216;has been fraud8217;8217; in the recent Afghan elections. Before we can decode it, Saddam Hussein is brought into focus as a defiant ex-president, thumbing his nose at the weak looking Kurd who is sitting in as the judge.

After Paul Bremer and Negroponte have demonstrated their tricks, what rabbit is Zalmay Khalilzad about to pull out of his hat? Now that the Shias and the Kurds are pretty close to achieving their objectives, the spectre of a defiant Saddam Hussein is being created to put fear in their hearts 8212; then extract concessions on federalism and Kirkuk. Also, it could provide the Baathists with a rallying point, thereby isolating the suicide bombers.

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One marvels at the perspicacity of the leadership in Najaf which had anticipated fairly early, the script as it is unfolding. In March 2004, an Ayatullah told me in Najaf: 8216;8216;We are not fools to celebrate before celebrations are due8217;8217;, he said. On the fingers of one hand, he began to count: 8216;8216;Saddam Hussein 8212; mahfooz still there, US troops 8212; mahfooz. The Baathists 8212; scattered but mahfooz. And Osama Bin Laden 8212; mahfooz8217;8217;. What the Ayatullah was implying was this: all these elements are available and any or all can be used against any one of us at a time of America8217;s choosing.

With so much confusion in a country shattered at every level, the US neo cons, the New York Times informs us, are 8216;8216;now dreaming of overthrowing Assad by unilateral force8217;8217;.

After terminating Charles Taylor8217;s ghastly spell in Liberia and, by an agreement, sending him into exile in Nigeria, the US is breathing down the neck of Nigeria8217;s President Obasanjo to return him to Liberia to stand trial. Why? Because a Charles Taylor alive can still beam his influence in Liberia. It would be a good outcome if George Weah, the international soccer sensation or Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, formerly of the World Bank, win the presidential race. This is what the US wants. By why incur Obsanjo8217;s anger on an international agreement?

Pressure is now on Senegal to send former Chad dictator Hissene Habre to Belgium to stand trial for crimes against humanity committed after he was installed in Chad in 1982 with US help to checkmate Qadaffi in Libya!

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The US is running around about 50 countries in Africa and Latin America seeking a 8216;8216;bilateral immunity agreement8217;8217; which would prevent Americans from being prosecuted before the International Criminal Court to which all these countries are signatories. Nicolas D. Kristof writes in the New York Times: 8216;8216;So the Bush administration is cutting off certain military and economic support funds to a couple of dozen of these governments8217;8217;.

And what has been the result of pushing India into taking sides against Iran at IAEA? Indian influence on Tehran has declined.

Indian missions in SAARC countries have been embarrassed. Why would a wilful king in Nepal entertain the Indian Ambassador? He will talk to the American ambassador with whom we are yoked in what is cheerfully described as the tsunami model.

Real friends help us build our standing, not diminish it. And if friends don8217;t, we do it ourselves.