Feud Between USA And India Goes Prime Time
US admits diplomat Devyani Khobragade strip-searched as India launches reprisals over arrest
Indian diplomat arrested in NYC
A clash of cultures, of civilizations, of customs, has been brewing for decades. Where the USA represents the height of materialistic success, India reflects a focus on spirituality. Where the US has evolved into a socially liberal and permissive nation, India treasures it’s ancient traditions and very conservative values. As a result, Indian sensibilities often ignore the popular trends of the West. No where on the planet are religion and spirituality so interwoven into the fabric of society as on the Indian subcontinent.
Unlike the material success of the US, India is known to fall short of meeting the material needs and wishes of her people. That’s not to say that India has not made great strides toward steadily uplifting her billion plus residents. They are a very resourceful, enterprising and determined people who are also very proud of their traditions and protective of their customs. Herein lies the real rub.
Indian Supreme Court Reinstates Ban on Homosexual Acts for Going ‘Against the Order of Nature’
When the Indian Supreme Court made this decision, it knew that it was going directly against the grain of USA liberalism and societal permissiveness. It also knew that all hell would break loose, because of the number of Americans both living and traveling to India, who could now be arrested for what has now been declared illegal homosexual conduct.
In light of President Barack Obama’s overt attempts to liberalize the entire world in this particular regard, and even further impose similar gay marriage and abortion laws on other nations, India’s judicial gesture was perceived as a direct affront to his Adminisration’s dubious agenda. The Supreme Court decision was also taken as a direct assault on the numerous US advocacy groups, which have been aggressively advocating a new worldwide gay marriage standard.
Simply pit, Obama’s extremely zealous homosexual legions were not happy, as the unprecedented skirmishes now indicate. The vitriolic reactions are not only unrivaled in US-INDIA relations; they are practically unheard of anywhere, anytime in modern diplomatic history. Such is the seriousness of this cultural conflict. And it’s not going to get better, as long as the USA continues to try to foist its values on the rest of the world.
Currency Wars and Trading Partners
India has already been the victim of extremely harsh treatment by the Anglo-American financial establishment. Because of its intention to continue trading with Iran, India has bumped up directly against the many current economic sanctions. India has been especially unhappy with US attempts to prevent them from purchasing oil from Iran. So, their response is to pay for all oil purchases in gold, instead of the US dollar.
India and Iran are traditional trading partners which the US et al. have been trying to break apart for decades. Setting an example for the rest of the world that it, too, can do business without having to use the US dollar as a reserve currency is one of the latest salvos that India has shot across the American bow. It has been met with various forms of highly destructive financial terrorism and economic sabotage being routinely perpetrated by the West.
India has had enough. However, the USA refuses to relent in their outright meddling. The US-UK tag team has gone so far as to crash the Indian rupee, as well as discourage the sale of gold to India’s citizens. So much has gone on under the radar where it concerns this ever-intensifying economic war, that is was only a matter of time before it “made the front page of the internet”.
Can you imagine that the USA & company would go so far as to foist gold purchase encumbrances on a nation that treasures gold as a store of wealth? Here again is where the clash of customs has really angered the people on the street. Indians are well known to be very bright and astute business people. They have always understood, better than any other country, the extraordinary value of gold. Therefore, they will not be dictated to by anyone, especially in matters concerning their financial independence, having experienced British colonial imperialism in their not-too-distant past.
The deliberate US attempts to crash the Indian rupee, because of their perfectly normal trading relationship with Iran, are seen as provocative acts of currency war. The many naked short sales executed to bring down the rupee, as well as other forms of trading sabotage and currency manipulation, have now become so transparent that India has been forced to respond in kind. The world may now witness an India it has never seen before; and one that the West will deeply regret provoking.
“US meddling will no longer be tolerated” is their message of the year.
National sovereignty is a very sensitive and charged issue throughout all of India. Having been squeezed by both superpowers during the Cold War, during a particularly formative stage of their nation’s re-organization, they do not take kindly to outside intrusions. Their internal politics are so complicated and unmanageable that obvious foreign interference has become intolerable. The apple cart can be knocked over too easily because of all the political forces and corporate interests looking to carve up the pie of Indian mass markets.
And so it will be for the foreseeable future, especially in light of the way that Great Britain ruled and exploited the Indian subcontinent. America is now viewed by many as just another British proxy willing to do the dirty work of their previous overlords. The Brits gave up their occupation of India under great pressure and quite begrudgingly. Their pervasive influence in the partitioning of India is also deeply etched in the national psyche. India will never allow such invasions of their national sovereignty again.
Hopefully, the USA will quickly grasp these realities. Particularly in light of the BRICS nations many initiatives to unshackle their economies from the US petrodollar. As a worldwide reserve currency, the U$ dollar is soon to become toast. However, the way it goes down can be very harsh and dramatic, or it can be a slow and steady unwinding with less severe impacts on the US, UK and European economies.
Conclusion:
If we were Indian citizens, we would want nothing less than what they are now demanding:
“DON’T MEDDLE IN OUR AFFAIRS — INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL”
is all they are requesting.
Wouldn’t we as Americans shudder at the same kind of political, economic and social interference that the USA runs in numerous nations around the world?!
Michael Thomas
State of the Nation
December 18, 2013
Author’s Note:
Where the responsible US authorities really screwed up here is in their underestimation of the Indian reaction to the indignities that a professional female diplomat was ignominiously subjected to. This single act of humiliation not only embarrassed a high-ranking Indian woman diplomat, it served to mortify an entire nation.
How utterly ignorant and stunningly arrogant can this US Administration be? They really feel they can run their tyranny on the rest of the world as easily as they do at home.
It’s always the “far reaches of the kingdom” that prove to be the most challenging to centralized power and dictatorial governments. Certainly they know that, but the preservation of the once Almighty Dollar is driving them to make exceedingly reckless and foolhardy international moves on today’s ever-so-complex geopolitical chessboard.
References:
Devyani Khobragade: Indian MPs demand action against US
US seeks security of diplomats after furious India retaliates
India retaliates for arrest, strip search of Indian diplomat in N.Y.
Devyani humiliated: India retaliates, import facilities for US diplomats revoked, security barriers removed
Diplomat row: India retaliates, withdraws ‘special courtesies’ accorded to US diplomats
India trims perks for U.S. staff in row over New York envoy arrests
India retaliates against US over diplomat arrest, removes security barriers at embassy
Outrage in India, and Retaliation, Over a Female Diplomat’s Arrest in New York – NYTimes.com
Devyani Khobragade gets full diplomatic immunity after transfer; she was arrested and strip-searched in the US
US ‘regrets’ diplomat treatment as India seethes
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