At Express Adda,Fareed Zakaria says India should not play tit-for-tat game with Pak

*Zakaria says India should not play a tit-for-tat game with Pakistan. It should let it have Afghanistan.

*Indian defence manufacturing base is in a bad state.

*Unlike China,India has not forgotten its culture in the race for modernising.

*Indian politicians are out of touch. Try to portray India as victim,not the victor.

*Chinese will use their role as leading global creditors to change the world order.

*I am a great fan of The Indian Express.

*Pressure on Iran has become very real and very serious.

*US is still the largest importer of talent in the world. Only now,as we know,the visa norms have gotten much worse and very complicated. So,China now retains or brings back their own talent a lot better — so a Chinese student will still get a job at Microsoft,except it’ll be in their Beijing office… And Canada has very successfully tapped this huge potential. And it’s strange that US taxpayer money trains the talent that goes to Canada to apply all that training and education.

*It is a strange situation where pressure has worked on Iran but there is no exit option.

*I have been told by senior Mossad officials for the past 12 years that Iran will have nuke weapons in 1 year!

*Global conflict that worries him most is the Iran-Israel situation.

*Obama is not soft on foreign policy.

*Iran is not as powerful as it is made out to be. Iran’s total GDP is $ 200 billion vs Pentagon’s budget of $700 bn.

*US economy to ebb somehow as Asia grows.

*Asia is a western construct. India,China and Japan do not get along very well. US will be the outside balancer.

*The real dynamic is the rise of many countries like Turkey and India,not the fall of US.

*I wonder how much can be achieved in India if a government that has no stakes for reelection comes to power for 2 years.

*US is the dominant power — politically — in Asia.

*China is the most important strategic question.

*Republicans don’t know what Romney will do if he makes it to office. That is the problem.

*In Mumbai,only 12 pc of fire hydrants work. India not well prepared for disasters.

*I am very optimistic about the life of average India. But the country as a whole caught up in hopeless race with China.

*US not clear about its objective in Afghanistan. Even five years after US leaves,little will change.

*Pakistan is not a real nation. Theocracy has been a powerful legitimising force. Pakistan is an Army that has a state.

*Who in Pakistan thinks they have ownership of the country?

*Pakistan’s bad economics,bad politics are layered over the foundational problem.

*US and India should hope for a civilian government in Pakistan.

Let Zardari be Mr 20 pc as long as he develops it.

*Iran seeking nuclear weapons will not be as destabilising for the region as it is made out to be.

*We should stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons but if they acquire a few,could be contained. It is not a major worry.

*US will be energy surplus in 20 years with new shale gas technology.

*Too many news channels in India.

*Sensationalism sells but I hope there will be a shakedown in the Indian media sector.

*India would have a great role in the region if Pakistan stabilises Afghanistan.

*Narendra Modi is unlikely to be a national hero. Could even lose regional leader status in December.

*Narendra Modi is not the face of all of India. There is not going to be a Hindutva takeover.

*If any nation is worried about China,it should increase its GDP.