This deal must go through

The experience of the recent past has shown that the forces struggling against the Pax Americana are stronger and more resourceful than once imagined. In a world where terrorists act like great powers, and great powers are few and far between, the possibility of an alliance with a large, rising, free-market democracy with a serious martial tradition is one that should be seized.

The case for India, in short, is about more than the relationship between two great nations. It is the case for institutionalising a certain kind of international order: what President Bush has called 8220;a balance of power that favours freedom8221;8230;

Consider the three overarching security challenges that the United States has stressed in the post-9/11 world: radical Islam, nuclear-armed rogue states, and the rise of China. These dangers also confront America8217;s traditional allies, but in varying, mostly lesser, degrees. India is one of the few states to score the same trifecta as America.

Excerpted from an article by Tom Donnelly and Vance Serchuk in the June 12 issue of 8216;The Weekly Standard8217;