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Western threats to Indian interests
Dr. M. V. Kamath

The West is doing everything possible to prevent Iran from getting into the nuclear arms field and is applying sanctions against it to the fullest possible measure. It may be remembered that the West in its Nuclear-Arms-For-White-Nations only approach, applied similar sanctions against India in the 1990s when it exploded its first nuclear device. The Five Permanent Members of the U.N. Security Council can do no wrong but let other nations beware was the idea. And Japan, a subaltern nation went along with it to India’s grief. What did the U.S do when Pakistan, with the active assistance of China went on to produce nuclear bombs? Has the U.S – and the West in general made any effort to confiscate over a hundred bombs that Pakistan allegedly has in store? If Pakistan and Israel can go nuclear, why shouldn’t Iran? The West now is putting pressure on India to stop buying oil from Iran. Iran accounts for 12% of India’s crude oil imports and if India lets itself to be pressurised to stop this purchase, it will be extremely difficult for it to find a viable replacement for that quantum. But the West couldn’t care less for India’s future. Bullying is all. What this means is that the West wants India to be subservient to it or face the consequences. But should India give in? Would it serve India’s interests? With China a close Iranian trading partner, India cannot afford to lose another friend, in the Middle East. Iran currently provides 11.3% of China’s oil needs. In late 2004, China’s Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC) signed a 25-year contract with Iran for production and export of liquified Natural Gas (LNG) to it. In separate Agreements in 2006, 2007 & 2009, China signed agreements with Iran to the tune of $ 23.3 billion to develop Iran’s northern and southern Pars gas fields, the Yadavaran oil field and North Azadegan oil field. On trade, China is already among Iran’s major partners and the trade volume between the two countries is estimated at $ 29 billion in 2008 as against U.S trade with Iran in 1994 of around $ 400 million. And it is China that is bolstering the Iranian military and weapon production capabilities with long-term and far-reaching consequences on the Balance of Power in the Middle East. Furthermore, China is also believed to give military assistance to Iran in the matter of missiles and nuclear weapons technology, just as it has been doing the same with Pakistan all these past years. Has the West been able to stop it? Will it dare? Besides, when it comes to Sino-Pakistan relationship, the U.S turns a blind eye at India’s cost. The West dare not pressure China, but it thinks India is an easy prey. To meet its stupendous need for oil, China has extended its influence to Kazakhistan where it has acquired Petro Kazakhistan Oil Company and has further given a $ 10 billion loan to Kazakhistan to buy oil fields from foreign stake-holders and sell them to China! China is a dozen times richer than India and can spend billions to have a stake in Central Asian Oil production, as in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It has already opened a 1,833 km long gas pipeline connecting Central Asian energy fields with China. India as at a disadvantage and that is sought to be made worse by the West. What all this means is that, instead of falling a prey to western machinations and dark threats, India must focus on its own self-centered foreign policy and be helpful and considerate to Iran. The West in recent weeks has made it difficult for India to pay Iran through western banks with a determined viciousness to stop Indo-Iranian oil trade. To get over this India must indulge in barter trade. Instead of attempting to pay in dollars
lars, India must sell Iran such items as food grain and other goods that are in shortage there. It is a known fact that while Iran can supply oil, it is short in refining capacity. India can get the crude, refine it and re-export it to Iran. The point is that India should not allow itself to be the West’s doormat. It should revert to its old non-alignment policy which is not aimed at any one country and is clearly based on one’s self interest and is "resource diplomacy" – based. Israel has its own interests and is willing to go to any extent to fulfil them. If the West has such good reasons to stop Iran from going nuclear, why doesn’t it seek to persuade China to be a party to its machinations? That it dare not. In the past the U.S has shown that it is willing to throw away all principles in order to achieve its targets. Thus it found nothing wrong in cultivating Mao’s friendship in order to contain the Soviet Union. Fancy, President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State courting China, showing even subservience, just to win Mao Tse-tung’s cooperation! When it comes to taking care of its own interests the U.S has no compunction in dining with the Devil. Fair enough, India has no complaints. The US has extensively given every possible kind of aid to Pakistan, knowing fully well how that aid was being used to attack India. Delhi has put up with it with patience and fortitude. It has complained regularly but to no effect. In the matter of Iran, India is not giving it any aid, as China does, for example. It is only buying oil which is essential for its economy. And while we are at it, why doesn’t the U.S tell Saudi Arabia not to sell oil to China which is unwilling to apply sanctions against Iran? China’s support to Iran is brazen and is there for all to see. Let this be said straightaway. India does not want to be involved or drawn in the West’s quest to contain Iran. The best way to persuade Iran from building a nuclear stock is for all the current nuclear powers to dispense with theirs. The West must show by example that it is against nuclear power by dismantling its own huge stocks. If it can’t do that it will only be guilty of hypocrisy. The least that the U.S can do to show, that it is fair-principled, is to cut down its own stock of nuclear bombs by half and persuade England and France to follow suit. Example is better than precept. Putting on superior airs and accusing a competing country of being a rogue state makes no sense. We are living in the twenty first century.