India in cross-hair? And so it begins. 2014 has certainly started on a very bad note for the dying empire of the hegemon. The failures are everywhere to be seen. US and its allies have done everything they can to topple President Bashar Assad of Syria but have not succeeded. Assad has not only won the re-election but is now gaining an upper hand in the fight against the rebels, who are supported by US and allies. It is the most brutal gang of cut-throats ever seen on the battlefield. The same rebels are now causing havoc in Iraq. As a result of their activities, Iraq is now on the verge of disintegration. North western part of Iraq has already fallen to them where they have declared Caliphate. The northern part of Iraq, Kurdish area, has declared autonomy from Iraq. Libya, where NATO was quite gung-ho in toppling evil Muammar Gaddafi, is now another lawless country. Things are getting out of control to such an extent that recently British seem to have had their “Saigon” moment. In Egypt, there is a lot of ill-will against US because of the support it gave to the hated Muslim Brotherhood government led by Morsi, who now sits in jail on the charges of inciting deadly violence. No wonder, in view of such disastrous policies, America’s image in the world has plummeted. Instead of learning from its disastrous policies, USA seems hell-bent on doubling down on the course it has chosen – try to browbeat as many countries as it can to make them accept unipolar view of the world ruled by USA. Consider the case of Ukraine. Tons of evidence has come out pointing to USA’s complicity in financing and supporting “Maidan” activist to overthrow Yanukovych government and install the puppet regime headed by Poroshenko and ex-PM Yatsenyuk – a regime of Nazis, Fascist and Banderites fixated upon clearing the Ukraine of the hated “Moskals”, break completely from Russia and join European Union. It was quite natural for the people of Donbass to revolt against the regime in Kiev as it meant a loss of their identity and a threat to their survival. In order to crush this revolt, Kiev regime has used missiles, aircrafts, tanks and MLRS etc. The result is the massive loss of civilians – definitely a war crime. Instead of raising a hue and cry about the loss of civilians, USA and its allies have sanctioned banks, individuals, corporations etc., all with a “desire to amend the Russian behavior” and make them accept the regime in Kiev, its continued ethnic cleansing in eastern Ukraine and its subsequent integration into NATO. The result is the antagonized Russia – a nuclear armed super power in much better shape than it was in Yeltsin years. As if this much is not enough, it now wants to antagonize India. Consider the case of failure of WTO. … India says WTO deal not dead, can sign in September if concerns addressed (Reuters) - India is willing to sign a global trade deal, which it has torpedoed, if other World Trade Organization members can agree to its parallel demand for concessions on stockpiling food, senior officials in New Delhi said on Friday. ….. The world – read US led bloc and their allies around the globe - was quick to blame India for the failure of WTO. ….. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was on a visit to India, told Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier on Friday that Indias refusal to sign the trade deal had undermined the countrys image. Australia is deeply disappointed that it has not been possible to meet the deadline. This failure is a great blow to the confidence revived in Bali that the WTO can deliver negotiated outcomes, Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said. There are no winners from this outcome – least of all those in developing countries which would see the biggest gains. In Geneva, a trade diplomat from a developing nation said: The trust that countries have in what India says is going to be significantly diminished. … But, India was also right in demanding concessions in subsidizing and stockpiling of food than is permissible under WTO rules given its huge poor population. Here India acted in national interest and not in the interest of globalization that is marching relentlessly only for benefiting the western world and its allies around the globe. …… It is ridiculous to say the Bali deal is dead, said a senior official at Indias trade ministry, referring to the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) pact that was agreed on the Indonesian island of Bali last year. We are totally committed to the TFA, and only asking for an agreement on food security, said the official, who cannot be identified under briefing rules. India has insisted that, in exchange for signing the trade facilitation agreement, it must see more progress on the parallel pact. Indias new nationalist government has insisted that a permanent agreement on its subsidised food stockpiling must be in place at the same time as the trade facilitation deal, well ahead of a 2017 target set in Bali last year. Most diplomats had expected the pact to be rubber-stamped this week, marking a unique success in the WTOs 19-year history which, according to some estimates, would add $1 trillion and 21 million jobs to the world economy. India calls these estimates highly exaggerated. … But the arrogance and the anger shown by member countries was astounding. It was the classic “Do it our way” or “get lost” attitude. ….. Some countries, including the United States, the European Union, Australia, Japan and Norway, have already discussed a plan to exclude India from the facilitation agreement and push ahead regardless, officials involved in the talks said. An Australian trade official involved in the talks said officials were exhausted with the process and that there was already discussion about major reforms at the WTO and the Doha Round of trade negotiations, which began in 2001. Some see it as a final trigger for ending Doha and pressing ahead with plurilateral reform, leave behind those that dont want to come along, he said. A Japanese official familiar with the situation said that while Tokyo reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining and strengthening the multilateral trade system, it was frustrated that such a small group of countries had stymied the overwhelming consensus. The future of the Doha Round including the Bali package is unclear at this stage, he said. … Fortunately, some members still have an iota of rationality left and derided the talk of excluding India, a country of 1.2 billion people with third largest economy in the world. …… New Zealand Minister of Overseas Trade, Tim Groser, told Reuters there had been too much drama surrounding the negotiations and added that any talk of excluding India was naive and counterproductive. India is the second biggest country by population, a vital part of the world economy and will become even more important. The idea of excluding India is ridiculous. I dont want to be too critical of the Indians. We have to try and pull this together and at the end of the day putting India into a box would not be productive, he added. … But, Peter Gallagher, an expert on free trade and the WTO at the University of Adelaide, correctly sums up the reason for the anger of the bloc of nations led by western world, a bloc used to dictating terms and not in the mood of ever compromising. …. Still, the failure of the agreement should signal a move away from monolithic single undertaking agreements that have defined the body for decades, Peter Gallagher, an expert on free trade and the WTO at the University of Adelaide, told Reuters. I think its certainly premature to speak about the death of the WTO. I hope weve got to the point where a little bit more realism is going to enter into the negotiating procedures, he said. Its 153 countries. We cant all move at the same speed on the same things, and its time to let those that want to do it, do it. … The talk of exclusion of India shows how much respect western world has for India. They view India as someone who will always kowtow the policies of theses nations. They expect India to act not in its own interest but in the interest of the other economies, namely the western ones. India is nothing but just a big market for their corporations. This is how Wikipedia describes Kowtow. Kowtow, which is borrowed from kau tau in Cantonese, or koutou in Mandarin Chinese, is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have ones head touching the ground. The recent launch of BRICS seems to have exacerbated this anger. Every one of the nation in this bloc has faced the ire of western world. Russia and China are already the next axis of evil. And, now it is India’s turn to face the music and hence the talk of exclusion. Whatever smiles the western world leaders might wear, whatever platitudes they might heap on India, Indians must understand that it is all a facade and behind that façade is a determination to make India amend its behavior. If it doesn’t amend its behavior, then some kind of screws can be tightened to bring in their fold. India is, thus, now squarely in cross-hair of the western bloc because it is not only about to upend the existing WTO order as dictated by western world but it also belongs to a group – BRICS - which is a threat to US led IMF and US dollar hegemony. kishorsatwick.blogspot.in/2014/08/india-in-cross-hair.html
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 04:21:04 +0000
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