Thoughts from Walter Russell Mead.
I haven’t had much to say about the India trip, but I do think that it’s one of the few things (particularly in foreign policy) that the president has (finally) gotten right, after dissing the Indians early on. One of the few things that I thought the Clinton administration got right was free trade, in which it had to fight its own party, and only passed NAFTA with Republican help (kind of like civil rights in the sixties). I hope that similar good comes from this trip (despite Robert Gibbs’ bizarre meltdown and power grab — a press secretary can unilaterally remove a president from a summit? Really?).
The power behind the teleprompter?
these US initiatives are in no way aimed at containing China
Then they’re not doing it right. If China is not intending to expand there’s no problem. If they are, they need to be contained. China has border disputes with both Japan and India. We don’t pay much attention but along with Pakistan we’re talking about nuclear powers.
The Indians don’t think much of Pres. teleprompter but it is good that we work to make better ties with the most important country in the region. Added bonus, they want to do more in space.
Maybe he will get the Columbia free trade agreement sorted out now that he is concerned about growing jobs and opening markets.
According to my guesstimates the Chinese will not start a war for the next 10 years at least. They are still upgrading their nukes and building a blue water navy. Besides, as long as they are winning the economic war, there is no interest in moving to a riskier armed warfare scenario.