Saying it with degrees

This could be serious business, though. The Chicago survey, only the seventh in the past 25 years it was carried out over the last three months of 1998, called upon its public to generate a 8220;Thermometer Rating for Countries8221;. Those surveyed had to keep in mind the 8220;hot-cold at 508221; subtext.

Canada at 72 emerged top of the pops, followed by Great Britain at 69, Italy at 62, Mexico at 57 and Germany at 56. Both Japan and France, nations Americans love tolove-hate, are at 55, while South Korea and Poland straddle the latitude at 50.

Hot, hot India falls at the cooler end of the temperature scale with 46 points along with Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, barely nicked by China at 47, while Pakistan is even colder with 42. Only Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Iraq are colder, four nations Washington loves to dub the world8217;s 8220;rogue states8221;.

The gravity of the situation, Philip Marlowe would say, calls for a 8220;Big Rethink8221;. Especially if India and the US should, and could, be 8220;natural allies8221;, a phrase used by that Great Communicator, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, only some eight months ago in New York. Marlowe, though, if he8217;d only watched the sun go down over the badlands of India, may have thought of other instruments besides the Thermometer. Such as Barometer, which usually measures atmospheric 8220;pressure8221;.

The last word is in great currency at the moment, as it happens, in the corridors of government. Bureaucrats in the Big Five ministries of externalaffairs, finance, industry, commerce and defence are stirred into action at its mention, sometimes even shaken. Pressure to sign the CTBT, roll back the Agni programme, underwrite big projects, disinvest at the hands of capitalists8230;all this 8220;pressure8221; is believed to emanate from Washington, a city not far from Chicago, where the story about this foreign policy survey first began.

Interestingly, the Chicago survey throws up its own paradoxes. For example, even as the Thermometer8217; rating gives Saudi Arabia only a lowly 46 points, another part of the same survey, called Perceived US Vital Interests Around the World8217; accords it the third highest spot with 77 points. Japan fares similarly 87 per cent on the vital interests8217; category and 55 in the Thermometer8217; category, so does Russia 77 per cent vs 49 per cent, and China 74 vs 47 per cent. Only Israel, that death-do-us-apart ally of the US, fares within equitable reach of the two questions: 69 per cent vs 55 per cent.

Some would say thatparadoxes actually resolve contradictions: meaning, Americans would perceive oil to be a strategic issue in the relationship with Saudi Arabia, but not care too much about the ways of the Saudis themselves, who they feel are determinedly hovering in the twilight zone of the Dark Ages.

China8217;s 60-billion trade surplus with the US similarly ensures that perceived vital interest8217; pegs that nation at a high 74 points, while Thermometer8217; ratings give it 47 points. Japan8217;s trade wars with the US in which Tokyo has usually emerged the winner could also account for the trans-continental difference in survey points. It8217;s usually true. You can8217;t really like someone who makes more money than you.

Not surprisingly, India stands at a lowly 36 points in the vital interest8217; ratings. Shockingly, France bags 37 points. Even Afghanistan at 45 points, Cuba 50 points and Bosnia 51 points score higher on this scale.

But when all the figures are collated and all the graphs plotted, it may be time to return to thebody copy of the Chicago survey. 8220;As the twentieth century closes,8221; says John Reilly, president of the Chicago Council that did the survey, 8220;Americans feel secure, prosperous, and confident. They see the US as the world8217;s most important and powerful country.

8220;Americans view economic rather than military power as the most significant measure of global strength8230;They support measures to thwart terrorists, prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and keep defence strong8230;American public and leadership opinion on foreign policy today reflects a guarded engagement8217; by a largely satisfied superpower.8221;

Remember Pokharan? Nearly 25 years after it first tested a nuclear weapon in 1974 8212; about the same time the Chicago Council did its first survey 8212; New Delhi decided last May to test the limits of atomic power. In the past 25 years, as the US conducted hundreds of tests 8212; simultaneously tasting the fruits of economic growth 8212; India seemed to have stood still, or moved laterally, on bothcounts. A fortnight ago, two Western newspapers accused this country of suffering from 8220;too much democracy8221;.

Philip Marlowe, that ace writer and gentleman, would unlikely have been as harsh. Hot or cold, he would have enjoyed the difference.