If one looks at the mess late Mughals and then British created in India, we have not fared so badly. Needless to say, we could have done much better. If one looks at the role of USA, it has hardly played any positive role after second world war. This is what Nixon and Kissinger had to say when India was enter the 1971 war to liberate Bangladesh ( taken from just declassified US papers);
1.... Dhaka kept sending cable after cable to Washington about the “indiscriminate killing” of the populace of East Pakistan by the army, but Nixon maintained his original position, saying, “The people who bi.ch about Vietnam bit.h about it because we intervened in what they say is a civil war. Now some of the same bas.ards ... want us to intervene here - both civil wars.” ...
2. Kissinger flew secretly to Beijing from Pakistan in July 1971. Indian forces began to gather at East Pakistan’s borders in May. Washington told India that it was opposed to military intervention in the civil war. Nixon said that if India intervened militarily “by God we will cut off economic aid.”
3. On May 26 Nixon said that “the goddamn Indians” were promoting another war. Kissinger agreed: “they are the most aggressive goddamn people around.”
4. Nixon told an NSC meeting on 16 July that the Indians are “a slippery, treacherous people.” He felt that they would like nothing more than to take advantage of the opportunity to destroy Pakistan.
5. Kissinger agreed that India seemed bent upon war. He thought that China would enter any such war on Pakistan's side, but concluded that might not dissuade India.
6. Kissinger's assessment was that “the Indians are bas.ards anyway. They are plotting a war.”
7. India launched an attack on East Pakistan on 22 November. Pakistan sought to offset the pressure on its forces in East Pakistan by launching an attack on 3 December from West Pakistan. Pakistan's air force struck at six Indian airfields in Kashmir and the Punjab and Pakistani artillery began shelling at several points along the border. Kissinger told Nixon that the fighting in the west had been initiated by India. Nixon responded, “It's a tragedy the Indians are so treacherous.”
8. Nixon decided to introduce the carrier Enterprise and its supporting vessels into the Bay of Bengal to apply military pressure on India. Nixon instructed Kissinger to ask the Chinese to move some forces toward the frontier with India. Kissinger went to New York and met Huang Hua, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He told the Chinese diplomat that Nixon wanted China to know that if China took action, the United States would oppose the efforts of others to interfere with China. There were no qualifications to Kissinger's diplomatically worded but clear assurance that the United States would be prepared for a military confrontation with the Soviet Union if the Soviet Union attacked China.
9. At one point, the US thought that China was going to move militarily against India. That raised the likelihood that the Soviet Union would be given an excuse to strike China. Kissinger said, “If the Soviets move against them and we don't do anything, we will be finished.” Nixon asked, “So what do we do if the Soviets move against them? Start lobbing nuclear weapons in, is that what you mean?” Kissinger responded, “If the Soviets move against them in these conditions and succeed, that will be the final showdown … and if they succeed we will be finished.” He added that “if the Russians get away with facing down the Chinese and the Indians get away with licking the Pakistanis ... we may be looking down the gun barrel.”
10. Nixon concluded at the end of the discussion that “Russia and China aren't going to go to war.” Nixon's prediction was borne out when it developed that China had no intention of threatening military action against India
11. Pakistani forces surrendered in East Pakistan on 16 December and India announced a ceasefire. With a “nudge” from Ambassador Farland, President Yahya accepted the ceasefire. Pakistan. Nixon and Kissinger felt that they had achieved their fundamental goal of preserving West Pakistan intact and congratulated each other on having “scared the pants off the Russians” and having come through the crisis “amazingly well.” The papers conclude that “India, however, had emerged from the crisis confirmed as the preeminent power on the subcontinent, and Soviet support for India during the crisis had enhanced Soviet influence in India. The United States would have to adjust to that reality.”
Moral of my posting the above is that big powers will never jump into the wars of third world countries. No country is fool enough today to go on war just because USA wants. As a nation we must never forget history, else we will be consumed. WE must continue building our defence strong and economy strong, come what may. Americans talk of democratising the world, however, they rarely supported India agaist China and Pakistan, both totalitarian countries.
RK^2
