The arc of democracy

Excerpt from B Raman's latest on the 'quid-pro-quo' for the N-deal


17. Since the visit of Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, to the US in July, 2005, there has been concern not only in China, but also in military circles in Myanmar that as a quid pro quo for the USA's civilian nuclear co-operation with India, the latter has agreed to help the US in its Pax Democratica initiative in Asia. These concerns were strengthened by the following observations of President Bush in his address at a restricted public meeting at Purana Qila in Delhi on March 3, 2006: "The world has benefited from the example of India's democracy, and now the world needs India's leadership in freedom's cause. As a global power, India has an historic duty to support democracy around the world......India is also showing its leadership in the cause of democracy by co-founding the Global Democracy Initiative. Prime Minister Singh and I were proud to be the first two contributors to this initiative to promote democracy and development across the world. Now India can build on this commitment by working directly with nations where democracy is just beginning to emerge. As the world's young democracies take shape, India offers a compelling example of how to preserve a country's unique culture and history while guaranteeing the universal freedoms that are the foundation of genuine democracies. India's leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom. Men and women from North Korea to Burma to Syria to Zimbabwe to Cuba yearn for their liberty. In Iran, a proud people is held hostage by a small clerical elite that denies basic liberties, sponsors terrorism, and pursues nuclear weapons. Our nations must not pretend that the people of these countries prefer their own enslavement. We must stand with reformers and dissidents and civil society organizations, and hasten the day when the people of these nations can determine their own future and choose their own leaders. These people may not gain their liberty overnight, but history is on their side."

hmmm...isnt that a honourable vision to work for? why is the Manmohan Singh Govt so silent about these explosive and revolutionary consequences of the 'quid-pro-quo' for India's role around the world? afterall isnt this vision much more truer to India's founding values than morbid transnational pan-communism which in fact exchanges a native nationalism with that of a big brother say Russia's or China's? instead of cowering down before the skewed revolutionary vision of leftists, why doesnt the Congress go to the young people of India with this alternative vision of a democratically empowered world?

What are the Chinese crying foul about? as long as they were exporting their ideologies to India and encircling India, encouraging insurgencies in India, it was fine. As soon as Indians realize the power of their own ideology- that of a democratic free society which honours many cultures as part of one national strand- they see red and have egged their Indian stooges on. huh?