Nikki Haley wants the United States to Build a “stronger alliance with India.” Here is why she is wrong about this.
Joe Biden once famously said “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.”
Kaur Republic has now transitioned to Substack. Please follow us there to become a monthly or yearly subscriber: https://kaurrep.substack.com/
Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Representative Waltz -who is Vice Chair of the House India Caucus- have, in a recent piece in Foreign Policy magazine:
called for an alliance between India and the U.S. that would allow both countries to maintain and expand their global strength amidst China’s aggressive postures in the region.“As a nuclear power with more than 1 million troops, a growing navy, a top-tier space programme, and a proven history of economic and military cooperation with the United States, India would make a strong ally,” Ms. Haley and Congressman Waltz wrote in the latest issue of the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.
It is astounding that former Ambassador Nikki Haley would think that a country that commits egregious human rights violations against minorities in its own country be a strong partner for the United States to be closely aligned with. The Biden administration has already committed to stregthening it’s ties with India. The Biden State Department for example, does not agree that the farmers protest in in India is something to be concerned about. D.C., the VP was quoted as saying:
“It is incumbent on our nations to, of course, protect democracies in the best interest of the people of our countries.”
She added, “And, Mr Prime Minister, I look forward to discussing how our nations can continue to best work together to strengthen our relationship around our mutual concerns, around the challenges we face, but the opportunities that those challenges also present.”
Modi, meanwhile, said India and the US are the world’s largest and oldest democracies, respectively, and “indeed natural partners”.
It’s completely peculiar to read that the United States should become closer to India when it already serves as a member of the QUAD — called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and composed of four countries within China’s geopolitical vicinity — and has been silent on the issues of:
- Caste-based oppression and constant violence against the Dalit community.
- The targeted violence and harassment against Sikhs, Muslims, Christians among other religious groups in the country.
- The ongoing farmers protests that have seen the deaths of over 300+ farmers and a year long agitation with heightened surveillance and oppression against the diaspora as it joins in solidarity with the farmers sitting on Singhu border outside of Delhi and not reaching any conclusive talks with the BJP government.
With an existing partnership to fend off Chinese influence already in place with the Biden administration, the Republican Party -the same one that got us into Iraq and Afghanistan and caused widespread humanitarian catastrophe- is arguing for a second round of failed policy that serves no one in particular and if Indian forces to were to drop bombs on Afghanistan, would further cause needless suffering for a country at war for three generations.
Media Frenzy Over Afghanistan Withdrawal
We know that journalists and political commentators were devastated that United States decided to withdraw from Afghanistan and wind down the military operation after 20 consecutive years of war that did not make America any safer. With the Biden ministration drew down military operations in Afghanistan and evacuated all relevant civilian personnel and the translator to serve with our Armed Forces, we could see the political jockeying between media outlets and how disappointed they were when it comes to the lack of potential reporting in Afghanistan.
The criticisms were withering, particularly from the objective press. The withdrawal from Afghanistan “undercut some of the most fundamental premises of Mr. Biden’s presidency,” The New York Times’s Peter Baker wrote. CNN’s king of conflicts of interest, Chris Cuomo, noted that “President Biden, frankly, sounded like President Trump,” a comparison that was made again and again in the wake of Biden’s defiant speech defending the withdrawal. Meet the Press was devoted almost exclusively to the situation in Afghanistan. “The collapse of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban is likely to haunt Mr. Biden’s legacy,” host Chuck Todd predicted. Polls were brandished showing Biden’s support had dipped. — The New Republic
It's interesting to note in this context that while Nikki Haley and Representative Waltz are advocating for a stronger show of force of American military might by coming into another conflict or bankrolling India because of it’s air force base in Tajikstan, to fight against China, history has shown has that with the China/Pakistan alliance and an United States/India alliance, having another world war break out would be deadly. The timing of this piece in foreign policy is perfectly in line with the recent expansion of the Pentagon budget.
While social safety nets that people actually *need* are being cut from Joe Biden’s signature $3.5 trillion dollar [which is being whittled down to $1 trillion and possibly lower] the Pentagon received:
Assuming the defense budget doesn’t go down (and it rarely does), over 10 years that would mean almost $8 trillion to the Pentagon. That would be more than double the cost of Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda, which has been billed as a historic expansion of America’s social safety net.
While Nikki Haley hasn’t officially announced that she is running for President in 2024, she hasn’t completely ruled out the possibility of a potential run. In this profile by Politico, she has committed to making a decision, irrespective of whether Donald Trump runs for President.
No more briefings on presidential tweets. No more knife-fighting with administration officials. No more worrying that Trump would torpedo her career. Settling back into her beloved South Carolina after a 22-month stint in New York, equipped with a big boat and a luxury home and $200,000 speaking gigs galore, Haley counted her winnings. Joining the Trump administration had been a massive gamble, and she hit the jackpot — not merely emerging unscathed from a gauntlet that maimed many of her contemporaries, but looking all the smarter and sturdier for it. She had gained rare foreign policy experience, nailed the role of adult in the room and raised her visibility in front of donors and voters alike. Her political future wasn’t just intact; it was brighter than ever before.
Her time in the Trump administration, has definitely set her up in many ways and being a potential contender for 2024 is most certainly one of them. She just has to walk a tight-rope in her own party so they don’t ‘cancel’ her.
This potential drumbeat to another war, is an indicator that if Nikki Haley harnesses aspects of her career to boost herself to the front of the pack in 2024, it will be:
- Starting another war and claiming that America made a mistake by withdrawing from a dead-end conflict that had been going on for 20 years with hundreds of thousands dead, the return of the Taliban and the exclusion of women and girls from public life.
- Using her foreign policy bonafides, from denying refugees safe harbor in South Carolina, to combating Trump’s multiple contradictions as her time in the role of Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations to now as a potential candidate for President, the press will be watching closely to see line what Nikki Haley walks on.
Since last fall, I’ve spent nearly six hours talking with Haley on-the-record. I’ve also spoken with nearly 70 people who know her: friends, associates, donors, staffers, former colleagues. From those conversations, two things are clear. First, Nikki Haley is going to run for president in 2024. Second, she doesn’t know which Nikki Haley will be on the ballot. Will it be the Haley who has proven so adaptive and so canny that she might accommodate herself to the dark realities of a Trump-dominated party? Will it be the Haley who is combative and confrontational and had a history of giving no quarter to xenophobes? Or will it be the Haley who refuses to choose between these characters, believing she can be everything to everyone?
One thing is for sure, we cannot keep pretending that Republicans are going to let the next election go easily. With their attempts to control who certifies elections, to the CRT debate, to taking over school boards, and the upcoming midterm elections it is apparent that the groundwork is being laid for a much more extreme Republican to take the reigns.
Kaur Republic has now transitioned to Substack. Please follow us there to become a monthly or yearly subscriber: https://kaurrep.substack.com/
