Is Henry Kissinger trying to update the domino theory to fit what he fears in 2008? He had a “Lunch with the FT” interview in Saturday’s Financial Times and surprised his interviewer, historian Stephen Graubard, by linking the war in Iraq and Muslims in India. As Graubard wrote:
He believes the military “surge” is working and says the next question is when to start to move away from an exclusively military option. “This is not a war of states,” Kissinger says. “If we withdraw from Iraq, the radical elements in all the neighbouring Arab countries will be greatly encouraged.” We will, he fears, be unable to maintain ourselves in Afghanistan, or to retain our present position in Pakistan.
He fears a rapid withdrawal could radicalise the vast Islamic community in India. I am fascinated by this statement – I have never heard anyone else say it so robustly – and suggest that he argued in a similar vein about the dangers of a departure from Vietnam. “Not at all,” he says, adding that the collapse in Vietnam was partly compensated for by the almost simultaneous and fortuitous disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Hmmm … that’s not what we’ve been noticing. In fact, our chief correspondent in New Delhi, Alistair Scrutton, just wrote a post on a “Movement Against Terrorism” among Muslim clerics there urging imams to preach against terrorism at Friday prayers across India. Earlier this year, an influential Islamic seminary declared terrorism un-Islamic. That’s not to say there’s no possibility of anything happening, but it seems the situation is more complex than Kissinger seems to think.
It’s not clear whether Kissinger lunched with the FT before or after the Jaipur bomb that killed 60 people. But he is a historian who prides himself on taking a longer-term view. Do you think he’s right to see dominoes falling in India if the United States pulls out of Iraq?
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Mehul Khatri and pb were spot on. The recent spate of serial blasts all over India, coordinated and carried out by highly educated and rich Muslims, is something not at all UNexpected. Everyone knew of this possibility.
It is just sad that the US has supported terrorism in all its forms via PAKISTAN that created the Taliban in the first place. India has since time immemorial been frustrated by the US’s stupidity in feeding a doggone country like Pakistan with more and more money to help it carry out all sorts of lousy activities.
The WORST part of it all was that instead of crushing Taliban and Pakistan, the US SHIFTED from Afghanistan, where it should really be, to IRAQ!!!!! Boy of all people in the world, I bet we Indians were the most PERPLEXED lot. Everyone including me felt that the US was beating the leg for having been bitten by the snake!
Stupid stupid stupid.. India doesn’t have ANYTHING AGAINST Pakistan. We were large hearted to give away our most fertile land to the Pakis. We let them send back all Hindus from present day Pakistan to India. We also let all Muslims in India STAY BACK and PROSPER (though they just don’t DO that, they just ghetto-ize themselves flying Pakistani flags in their ghettos, in India!).
Personally all Hindus who have been so kind to so many different religions and races and have made India the melting pot of all civilizations, for all these millennia, are ABSOLUTELY TIRED and FRUSTRATED. When we see an senior software engineer working with Yahoo, earning 2 million rupees per annum (a decently high salary in India), plan and carry out SERIAL BOMB BLASTS, killing innocent people, WE ARE FED UP AND ANGRY AS HELL.
Alas, the Americans will never understand. It unfortunately took Sept 11 to make them feel the pain we Indians have been undergoing thanks to Pakistan, ever since 1947.
Anyway, things are changing now atlast, between the US and India. But I hope it isn’t too late..
Somehow people think low of India, they think it is a poor country with nothing of value. Why do they do that? Because they haven’t read their history.
India, till 2 centuries ago, for the past 5000 years, has been the USA of the world, inspite of repeated Muslim invasions and Mughal anarchy and brutal oppression of Hindus for almost 700 years. 2 centuries of British looting did a lot of damage to us. But, we will be back, and we’re coming back.
We led the whole world for 5K years. People should not forget who they should look up to. Its a fact. We’re proud of our non-violent and spiritual heritage that gives us our innate strength and tolerance and love towards everyone. It looks like weakness to others, but it is very hard to stay good while being attacked so badly.
- Posted by VijayIs the US short of experts? Why the media gives importance to pathetic and out-dated politicians. I have never seen him say something that proved to be true.
- Posted by kmOne has only to look at the track record of this brutally violent man to understand that whatever he supports is not in humanity’s best interest. September 11th 2001 is a perfect example. The towers came down on a Jewish holiday and that is too rediculous an oversight on the part of the people who are accused of the terrorist attack to be believed. On the eve prior at 10 pm I had a very clear premonition of what was coming and I stated his name outloud as the one responsible for what I anticipated. Given this there is nothing that this man can say or do to convince me that he is not the most dangerous and evil man in the world. The crimes he has committed and continues to commit make Hitler look like an amateur. The only way that people like Kissinger get away with their crimes is by counting on the masses denial of just how far those in power go every day out of pure unadulterated bloody GREED. For the average citizen this is just too troubling to face. It is easier for them to believe lies than the ugly truth. “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convince us that he does not exist”.
- Posted by Janine EarlI am very surprised by this stupidest suggestion for multiple reasons - 1. They are not related (history is in every guide to this) 2. Indian democracy and integrity cant be challenged like this.
- Posted by An IndianMr. Kissinger’s innate understanding of international affairs needs to be appreciated. He is very much in the same league as Arthur C. Clarke was for Science Fiction.
His deep wisdom may arise from astute observations of how waves of radicalization in the middle east since the 70s can be correlated to communal violence on the Indian subcontinent during the same period (with a lag of a couple of years). In fact the rise of reactionary hindu nationalist parties towards the late 80s may not be a coincidence at all.
- Posted by HSA