But beyond the comedy . . .
In addition to his summit meeting with President Obama, the PM also tried yet again to make peace with Pakistan. This effort was accompanied by the usual outrage New Delhi television studios, though no one who opposed the meeting could say what was to be gained by not talking to Pakistan. My point was always that India should talk to Pakistan but that it should also be prepared to use force to retaliate punitively whenever the Pakistan army decided to use force against India either directly or thorough its terrorist proxies (I had posted an earlier Economic Times essay here).
As regards the Singh-Obama summit meeting, it was clear that there wasn't much of an agenda to begin with and that there was not much escape from what Raja Mohan has characterized as India's 'irresoluteness" on the world stage. Dan Twining, over at Shadow Government, noted that "it may take new political leadership in both (capitals) to move the relationship to the next level." My own take was published in Economic Times and is posted below. [One note: ET edited out a couple of crucial sentences in my essay which I have included below in square brackets and italics]
Recent
Manmohan-Obama summit a 'thank you' and 'farewell' Affair
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit
to Washington was not expected to yield anything dramatic. As the PM himself
put it, "overall" he was there to thank US President Barack Obama
"for all that he has done to strengthen, widen and deepen" US-India
relations. Indian officials also made it clear that this was primarily a
"review" summit, underlining that they had no significant agenda or
expectations.
