Disgusted by the Indian foreign policy

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Oct 29, 2011 at 14:35

Dear Dr Pipes:

The reader pnina from Israel asks a very legitimate question: Why does india support dictators and Islamists. I as an Indian feel disgusted about the Indian foreign policy which has never been principled and has, often times, been compromised to the Islamist voting block. India has about 15% Islamic population and no politician can dare say much against Islamist despotic tyrants for the fear of losing Islamic votes. And, like everywhere else, Islamist follow the Islamic tag instead of following some neutral ethical principle. So an Indian Muslim is almost guaranteed to have blindly supported people like Saddam Hussain, Hosni Mubarak, Idi Amin, Ahmadenijad and other. Any politician opposing such people is certain to lose a huge block of votes.

In addition, Indian politics is gutless. In the second half of the last century the entire world was experimenting with socialism. So did India. And, for India there was no reason to support the "imperialistic capitalist states" like Britain and USA. But even if Indian leaders had the realization that communism/socialism were doomed systems, they would not have had the courage to take a stand in favor of the western world.

Finally, India's choices are also governed by pragmatism. India is huge country and poor on top. India depends on the Arab oil to survive.

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