Indian Youth Regard Russia As Their Country’s Most Reliable Partner For Good Reason
The grand strategic insight shared in the present analysis helps put the results from the Observer Research Foundation’s latest survey in their proper perspective. Absent that context, readers might struggle to understand the important takeaways with respect to Russia, especially in terms of how they compare to the US.
India’s prestigious Observer Research Foundation (ORF), which is widely regarded as its most influential think tank on par with Russia’s Valdai Club and the UK’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), just released the results of its second survey about youth’s attitudes towards foreign affairs. One of the most striking takeaways was that 43% of them regarded Russia as their country’s most reliable partner, which was far ahead of the US at 27%.
The reason why this view is so important is that it was expressed after the latest phase of the Ukrainian Conflict began and in spite of India’s comprehensive expansion of strategic relations with the US over the past decade. Far from the latest events reducing Russia’s appeal in the eyes of the world’s largest youth population, they actually served to strengthen it. This statistical fact flies in the face of the “official narrative” spewed by the US-led West’s Mainstream Media (MSM), which has thus been exposed as lies.
Furthermore, another part of the survey revealed that 44% believed that it was very likely that Russia would be India’s leading partner compared to 41% who believed that it would be the US. Although a combined total of 85% either believed that it was very or somewhat likely to be the US compared to 77% for Russia, just last year the statistics were 78% and 57% respectively. This further reinforces the fact that the latest events actually improved Russia’s image in India, and dramatically at that.
Some explanations can be intuited from this data when considering the grand strategic context. First, India decisively intervened to become Russia’s irreplaceable valve from Western pressure and thus preemptively avert its partner’s potentially disproportionate dependence on China. Second, this resulted in those two (and their shared Iranian partner) forming a third pole of influence in International Relations. And finally, that outcome unprecedentedly accelerated India’s rise as a Great Power.
On a related tangent, Indian youth have seemingly concluded that Russia is indeed the leading force in the global systemic transition to multipolarity after its special operation decisively sped up these complex processes that are aimed at making International Relations more democratic, equal, and just. This aligns with the role that President Putin envisages his newly restored world power playing, which he articulated within his Global Revolutionary Manifesto.
Apart from the influence of recent events, there’s also the enduring emotional element of the decades-long Russian-Indian Strategic Partnership. There have never been any insurmountable problems in their relationship despite some twists and turns over the past few years up until recently, but those were due to mutual misunderstandings that were quickly cleared up once they held candid conversations about everything. By contrast, the US continues meddling in India’s foreign policy and pressuring it.
Even though India and the US have shared concerns about China’s rise, the first-mentioned’s youth clearly don’t regard that declining unipolar hegemon as a reliable partner. After all, they distinctly remember how it hung their country out to dry after its clashes with China over the Galwan River Valley in summer 2020 while Russia reportedly ramped up the export of military supplies. It also goes without saying that they’ll never forget how the US abandoned its Afghan allies just a little over a year ago.
On the topic of China, it can therefore be surmised that Indian youth actually place greater faith in Russia when it comes to helping their country manage its neighbor’s rise. As was earlier explained, “The Ukrainian Conflict Might Have Already Derailed China’s Superpower Trajectory”, meaning that all that’s left to do is responsibly manage its role as the most economically powerful Great Power in the world without inadvertently risking a hot conflict by miscalculation.
America’s grand strategic aim is actually to catalyze such a conflict between China and India in order to more effectively divide and rule Asia while Russia’s is to help its fellow BRICS and SCO partners reach political solutions to their many disputes in order to usher in the Asian Century. Accordingly, India’s grand strategic aim is to avert the first-mentioned scenario while accelerating the second, to which end the Russia-India-China (RIC) framework will be key.
“The Chinese-Indian Security Dilemma Isn’t Insurmountable”, but it can’t be peacefully resolved if India relies on the US, which actually wants to exacerbate mutual tensions for its Machiavellian divide-and-rule ends. Therein lies the strategic importance of those two Asian Great Powers’ shared Russian partner, which each of them rightly knows will always do its utmost to ensure peace and tranquility between them. Indian youth are obviously aware of this and deeply appreciate Russia’s friendly role.
Altogether, the grand strategic insight shared in the present analysis helps put the results from ORF’s latest survey in their proper perspective. Absent that context, readers might struggle to understand the important takeaways with respect to Russia, especially in terms of how they compare to the US. With a view towards next year’s survey, attitudes towards Russia are expected to further increase after President Putin’s lavish praise of Prime Minister Modi late last month, which Indians absolutely loved.