Mr.Narendra Modi is full of promises. That is a positive sign and strength. His first US visit is expected to bring good results. There is a short and long term perspective here.
Only those who know well the US-establishment ways know well the US adopts certain legalistic protocols. They don?t do things in a casual way and they do their home-work a bit elaborately.
UN General Assembly every year is an open world forum for the heads of government to articulate their own and the world’s ?priority issues.
They could be nice and formal in a decent manner. They could also raise some insensitive and irritating questions and they might expect an answer or answers from India in a hegemonic sense.
The US is the world’s mightiest military machine. Right now, Barack Obama’s mind is heavy with ?the preoccupation of his orders to bomb the IS in the Iraq-Syrian territories. The 40 nation “coalition” in committed to ?this mission.
Where does India come in? Is India in the coalition picture?
It is widely known that Mr.Obama would ask Mr.Modi ?some hard questions. Mr.Modi, we are sure, is being briefed by the Indian officials, there is a few hierarchies even now, and with the new government is yet to settle down, with some hierarchies.?There is Mr.Shaym Saran, the old ?hand in this foreign affairs field very much in the picture. The new team under Mr.Doval is also in place.
What is the consensus? What are the immediate steps, priorities when Mr.Obama asks his hard questions?
Is India in the coalition or not?
Is India to commit its troops, if at all? Or, what else is the Indian role?
Mr.Modi’s nerves will be tested for sure!
What the Indian people, as a whole, feel about the world affairs?
As it is, the world is not in a better place. There are issues of grave concern. As the UN Secretary General, Ban kin-Moon has said at the inauguration session of the UN General Assembly, there ?are ?widespread human rights violations everywhere. In almost every continent. From routine violations ?to various horrible acts, from killing children to beheading of foreign nationals, journalists and media persons, aid workers.
It looks the world has come back to the dark ages.
Where is the UN? One has to ask such a hard question to know that there is no authority, formal or moral and informal questions.
There are now, it seems, no moral voices, no intellectuals or moral leaders are opening their mouths. Where are the Peace Nobel Prize winners?
Why are they silent, it seems?
At least one face is visible, that of Dalai Lama. At least he said when XI ,the Chinese president visited India, that China has to learn from India in democracy! Even that was rare and sounded great, considering the steady deterioration in the international affairs. The world’s dominant leaders, are in terms of their countries? pulling powers, USA, Russia, China and India have the numbers, peoples, economic wealth, economic growth and also regional status.
It is not easy to pronounce judgements on the countries and their leaders, specially. Mr.Obama ranks high in this league because of the USA’s special status as a unipolar world’s leader.
It is on Obama that burden, military and moral burden of ensuring peace in the world. As Obama had said in his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, some years ago, there is evil in the world. We can?t ensure peace without waging wars!
This is very much true right now.
Russia is silent, it is preoccupied with its own making of war in Ukraine.
Certainly, Putin is not in a moral high ground to speak on other?s wars. Gaza raids and attacks by Israel have also dissembled Israel ?to play any constructive role in international affairs.
As ?for China, Mr.Xi had done his duty, he seems to imagine, by extending moral support from the Obama line.
Since both Mr.Xi and Obama had met and extensively exchanged views they must be implicitly know what they should be talking right now, let alone what they could jointly do in the current crisis on the international front.
To start a war is easy, it is to end the war, any war that proved complicated and always ended in great loss of life and more than than credibility for the country that goes to war.
There is no simple answer to questions here.
Now, what Mr.Modi can do? What he must be telling Obama?
As a peace-committed country, India can?t be away from taking a moral stand.
No country, however, small or big is concerned can be inactive when you behead the innocent and helpless victims.
So, India has to take a moral stand and extend all moral support.
India can also extend support for the US action in several ways.
This is for Mr.Modi, the Prime Minister of India to do in the best of his wisdom.
A statesman emerges only from such tests.
Let us wish him success and wait for the outcome of the Modi-Obama talks.