With all the noise emanating from the Plame game, Able Danger making its way back into the news (more on that below), and the Miers nomination looking to be in trouble, there is also news out there that is of exceptional import yet appears to have been overlooked. A search of the New York Times, which used to be the paper of record, fails to show any signs of this story, and yet, this is a story which is likely to herald some of the most profound changes in international relations that we have seen since the end of the cold war. (HT: Indus Valley Rising)
Walker's World: U.S. to make India a world power
Washington, DC, Mar. 29 (UPI) -- The global war on terrorism, the invasion of Iraq and the sonorous espousal of democracy for all have just been relegated to their subordinate place in the strategic priorities of the Bush administration. Its real legacy was announced last Friday, in a low-key briefing at the State Department that explained in some detail the historic decision that has been made.
It is now the policy, or perhaps that should be rephrased as the Grand Strategy of the United States, "to help India become a major world power in the 21st century. We understand fully the implications, including military implications, of that statement."
The implications of this are profound. India is the world's largest democracy, part of the Anglosphere, and the United States, the world's oldest democracy, is likewise a member in good standing of the Anglosphere. Indus Valley Rising offers this take on the story and what it suggests:
India and America have long wanted to like each other but, on account of India's Cold War alliance with the former Soviet Union, couldn't. Both have much in common: they were formerly colonized by Britain; both threw off the yoke of Britain, their colonial master (even if India did so 170+ years later than the American colonies); the more educated members of each country speak English; and the people in both countries--to varying degrees--appreciate their British heritage. With the end of the Cold War, the adversarial relationship between America, leader of the West, and India, the cradle of Hindu civilization, has started to thaw.
With the U.S. State Department's declared policy of helping India become a world power, aid and cooperation between India and America--and thus aid and cooperation between Hindu Civilization and Western Civilization--is beginning to take place at levels which will alter the balance of power in the world. How this alliance will affect each country and each civilization will not be known for some time. What we should know is that the U.S. State Department's declaration of policy toward India is an important event that, in time, will affect the world.
India has known for quite some time that they are at war with Islamic fascism (Kashmir is one of the four places repeatedly cited by Osama for jihad) but was unable to warm to the United States as long as the cold war was going on; they were in the "non-aligned" camp, which in reality was the socialist, anti-American camp. Since the death of the USSR, and the general failure of socialism wherever it has been tried, India has made some movement away from the rigidity, bureaucracy, and corruption which has delayed its development for so long. Now that they are relaxing their government controls, the economy is taking off and they have the largest middle class in the world. India is becoming closely involved with Israel as well, especially in defense and counter-terrorism, and the warming with the United States, lead by the technocrats of Bangalore, hints at the development in the near future of India as a powerful counter weight to both the expansionist Islamic fascists (confined to Iran, with Syria teetering on the brink) and the economic and military adventurism of China. This is real news.
There is also real news coming out about Able Danger, which is heating up again. Macsmind has stayed on top of this story. He hints that there is a potential intersection between the Able Danger story and the Plame game, both relating to the dysfunctional nature of the American intelligence community. Voice of the Taciturn is a blogger who says he is connected to the intelligence community and his work suggests he knows what he is talking about. He has lots of good stuff pertaining to the culture of the Intelligence agencies (though if the suggestions he mentions prove to be true, "Intelligence community" may turn out to be an oxymoronic appellation.) As an aside, VoT points out that the Able Danger data is almost certainly recoverable, at least in part.
Not that I am rushing to pat myself on the back, but I said back in August (pesky Blogger ate several posts, but a Google search will find the gist on other sites) that if ABLE DANGER was briefed, discussed, or shared in any way, shape, or form with people outside of SOCOM and LIWA, that the data used and the findings derived are still alive somewhere. Like Lake Superior, Windows doesn't give up its secrets easily, but they are still there. Data is latent on hard drives, PowerPoint slides contain screen shots of charts and discussions on methodology and findings. Like the X-Files, ABLE DANGER data is out there.
This story does not look like it will die any time soon, and is likely to get very interesting.
Recent Comments