Korybko To War On The Rocks’ Erin Mello: Russia Isn’t An “Impediment To US-Indian Relations”
The only impediment to further improving bilateral ties with India isn’t Russia, but has always been the US itself, which has failed to treat India with the respect that it deserves as an equal partner and thus arbitrarily put the brakes on their mutually beneficial cooperation.
The popular “War On The Rocks” military analytical platform published a piece by Defense Department analyst Erin Mello on Monday about “The Enduring Russian Impediment To U.S.-Indian Relations”. She fearmongered that Delhi’s deployment of Moscow’s S-400 air defense systems could clandestinely enable the Kremlin to collect intelligence about advanced American technology in that country, ergo why Washington has supposedly been reluctant to dispatch such in spite of their improved ties.
It was therefore paradoxical that she later suggested in the same piece that the US waive its threatened sanctions against India for its purchase of those systems since this implies that the aforesaid intelligence-collection threat from them veritably doesn’t exist. In between these two extreme positions put forth in her article, Mello also advised that the US carve out a niche in India’s naval industry to bolster their shared goal of managing China’s newfound influence in the Indian Ocean Region.
To address her fearmongered concern about the S-400s, it’s obvious from her subsequent suggestion that even she herself doesn’t truly believe that those systems are clandestinely controlled by Moscow for intelligence-collecting purposes. If she did indeed believe what she earlier wrote, then she couldn’t in good conscience as a Defense Department analyst advise the Pentagon to dispatch advanced naval technology to India if there was really a credible chance that Moscow could use the S-400s to spy on it.
Moreover, her narrative sword cuts both ways too since Russia wouldn’t dispatch its own advanced military technology to India if there was a credible chance that Delhi’s American arms could clandestinely collect intelligence about its own wares. Growing Russian-Indian military ties disprove Mello’s concerns, as does the clinching of three foundational military pacts between India and the US. Quite clearly, neither of those two dynamics would be in force if Russia or the US shared her concerns.
Upon reflecting on this insight, it’s obvious that those selfsame concerns are just a false pretext for imposing politically driven sanctions as punishment for India’s refusal to comply with the US’ demands to dump Russia. India will never do that since the Russian dimension of its foreign policy is indispensable to advancing its tripolar grand strategy in the New Cold War, the failure of which would save the Sino-American bi-multipolar superpower duopoly and thus threaten Delhi’s strategic autonomy,
Moving along after exposing the fallacy of Mello’s claim, which isn’t exclusively hers since it originates from her country’s propagandists but was most recently extended credence by her, there’s thus no basis for declaring that an “Enduring Russian Impediment To Indian-U.S. Relations” exists. That entire notion is based on this lie that was just debunked as well as the US’ unrealistic zero-sum demand that all of its privileged security partners dump their cooperation with rivals like Russia.
It's precisely due to these false perceptions that Indian-US military ties have occasionally stumbled since Washington can’t accept Delhi’s independent decision to retain related ties with Moscow. With a view towards improving this state of affairs, American policymakers must urgently reconceptualize their relations with India. Instead of falling for the popular lie that was most recently extended credence by Mello and continuing to cling to their unrealistic zero-sum demands, a whole new thinking is needed.
Carving out a niche in India’s naval industry like she suggested is too self-limiting for the seemingly limitless potential in their bilateral relations. These two can do so much more together, whether in the military-technical sphere or within any other one, so long as the US simply abandons its hegemonic designs on India by finally treating it with the respect that it deserves as an equal partner. In practice, this would take the form of never meddling in any of its affairs or pressuring it ever again.
It's admittedly ambitious to ask America to do this, and there’s no doubt that it would amount to the tacit acknowledgement that its hegemonic zero-sum demands failed, but it’s urgently required in order to unlock the unparalleled potential of the Indian-US Strategic Partnership. The only impediment to this isn’t Russia, but has always been the US itself, which has failed to treat India with the respect that it deserves as an equal partner and thus arbitrarily put the brakes on their mutually beneficial cooperation.