Tag Archives: racism

First World Hypocrisy

Posted on by
2
Photo by Tristan Sparks on https://www.flickr.com/photos/friendly-fire/252169955/

The First World refers to the USA and its Western Allies opposed to the Soviet Union after WW2. Nations characterised by democracy, prosperity, stability and progress. Over the last 7 decades this bloc has called the shots and controlled the narrative. Developing and Third World countries like India have tacitly accepted their superiority, condescending attitude and sermons without question. As an emerging power now, it is high time we shed our colonial mind-set and see the world in starkly real terms.

The game-changing ideas and policies, innovations and inventions from these western countries are richly acknowledged and warmly celebrated. But it is time to show the mirror to capture the less known darker side also. This blog has been triggered by the American debacle in Afghanistan. Recommend that you please take it with A Fistful of Salt.

Geopolitics. Think about the chaotic retreat of the US from Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation. Leaving almost 40 million Afghans (half of them female) to the mercy of a cruel and regressive regime which harks back to the medieval ages. Leaving a huge cache of deadly weapons and armaments for their ready use. Ironically, the Taliban was created by the US and their partner Pakistan to oust the Soviet troops from Afghanistan. Mission accomplished in 1989. The land of the free and the brave sponsoring and promoting a terror outfit.  The monster comes back to drive them out in 2021. During these 20 years almost $3 trillion was spent with only a miniscule going to build hospitals, schools and much needed infrastructure.  Funds were splurged on state of the art weaponry and equipment- cheered on by the domestic military-industrial complex.  With generous cutbacks going to the defence contractors and their political patrons.

This super-power also exited Vietnam in ignominy in 1974. After dropping more bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia than in the entire second world war. Napalm was deployed to execute the scorched earth policy. Rivers were poisoned to kill civilians and livestock.  History is generally written by the winners. Here the loser cleverly covered up all the war crimes and misadventures.

Turn the clock back to the late 1930’s when Hitler’s Nazis started the most devastating war in human history-WW II. Italy, Spain played willing accomplices and second fiddle to the Fuhrer. Those long, dark, destructive days and the brutal genocide of 6 million Jews have been well documented. The War ended with the Americans dropping atomic bombs- Little Boy and Fat Man- on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

All the hotspots in recent times have had the signature of the US and its Allies. That there were no WMD’s (Weapons of Mass Destruction) did not deter the old firm of Bush & Blair from toppling Saddam in Iraq with their eyes on the oil-fields.  Syria, Lebanon, Libya and the cursed land of Yemen- the tentacles go back to this Western bloc.  This is not to absolve Russia and the regional powers like Saudi Arabia and Iran who are equally complicit. But the First World nations have left these countries to a worse state and fate than when they first invaded. The geo-political chessboard has been played for ideology, hegemony, natural resources, trade routes and military bases. The Iron Curtain fell in 1989 but today the world is still a very divided and troubled place. The First World has not been the civilising influence it credits itself to be.

Colonial powers. UK, France, Spain, Portugal with vassal states across the world. The dream of an Empire has been a recurrent human theme throughout history. But the driving force was to exploit natural resources and wealth and cheap labour in the colonies and boast of a global footprint. “The Sun never sets on the British Empire.’ The plundering of minerals and crops, cruelty towards the native population and determined efforts to uproot local cultures and traditions are not even foot notes in the history books we read. It has all been white-washed.

Slave trade epitomises how the US, UK and other European empires manned their farms and mines and mansions. Even today statues of glorified and knighted slave merchants dot the United Kingdom. Some of the founding fathers of the US of A owned hundreds of slaves. Slaves were officially traded as cargo and even insured. Claims were paid for the goods lost at sea.  But the colonisers with their rich history are quick to lecture other nations on human rights. Smells of hypocrisy, right!!

Let’s turn back the page to August 1947 and the India-Pakistan independence story. PM Attlee announced in the House of Commons that the transfer of power would happen before June 1948. But Lord Mountbatten, wanted to have it done asap. The 3323 km border line was drawn by Radcliffe, a British lawyer, who had never been to the sub-continent and had no clue about the demography. The mammoth and complex task was completed by him and his team within 2 months in the cool environs of Shimla. IMAGINE!!! It does not take hindsight to see that the additional months would have been very valuable in communicating and planning for the inevitable cross-migration of 12-15 million people. Instead a million died in the panic and violence that erupted. The last Viceroy couldn’t care less. Nor did his political masters at the Whitehall.

The USA is deeply polarised country today. The Trump fan base of 30% voters are largely an alienated tribe who are at odds with their increasingly multicultural land. The main reason why the Brexiteers won was because Russian social media manipulators scared enough of the populace through images of immigrants flooding into their nation, from the hotspots of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  France, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands (the cradle of liberalism) are sounding the bugle of a clash of civilisations and enacting restrictive laws and social measures. But all these happenings have not been a wake-up call for India and other developing nations . We continue with our mongrel behaviour of constantly putting ourselves down and lapping whatever criticism these elite western nations and their proxies throw at us.

The beacons of democracy. On the 6th Jan 2021 the US Capitol was attacked by an angry, vicious mob goaded on by President Trump who had lost the election and could not take it. This would have been sneered at as” a banana republic episode” in a third world country. But in the US of A the TV pundits kept sagely saying that ‘this is not who we are’ and the Trumpians even dismissed the rampaging crowd as tourists at the Capitol. The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico has been a territory of the United States since 1898 and its current President is Joe Biden. But Puerto Ricans remain second class citizens and have no representation and voting rights in the US Congress.  Again, with the most funded and militarised police force in the world in place, automatic guns are available and sold over-the –counter across the nation as a fundamental right to defend oneself.

Across continents, the patronising First World has propped up and supported despots, brutal dictators and puppet rulers. From the Shah of Iran, Libya’s Gaddafi, the Pakistani Generals, Marcos of the Philippines and so on and on. Else, a coup was orchestrated as the one to remove Allende in Chile. The UK grappled with the Irish problem for 70 years. For nearly 25 of those it was a violent cauldron of bomb attacks and guerrilla warfare- ruthlessly dealt with by the British forces. But hey, shrug, shrug. This was an internal matter of the United Kingdom and the English could deal with it.

The fault-lines of racism are now very evident in the fractured societies of the US and Europe. But these have been glossed over for decades as the developing world has been lectured on how to be civilised people. The lid has always been kept on the rape and murder of thousands of indigenous people in Canada. But now corpses of hundreds of native children have been recovered from many Catholic school sites. How many news channels carried this tragic story which played over from the 1890’s to the late 1970’s?!! PM Trudeau merely called for the Pope to apologise. Of course, the State had no role to play. News reports from France state that more than 300000 children have been abused over the last few decades by priests of the Catholic Church. The powerful Church protected its clergy from the law and order arms of the State. On the other side of the world in Australia the aborigines got a taste of hell in their own land as the white settlers discovered their paradise.

Yes, the Industrial Revolution took off in England and the technological one in the Silicon Valley. The world has benefitted in many, many ways. But not in the humane way. Many big brands in the west sourced their material and parts through sweat shops in the poorer countries.  Cheap and exploitative labour was the way to big profit margins.  Why, even in North America today, Amazon runs boot-camps with the workers having little time to pee. “Show me the Money,”  is the corporate war cry. As a whistleblower has recently revealed, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook allowed disturbing messages and images to trend on their platforms as it made them astronomical profits. So what, if it inflamed some racial hatred and divisions or drove more suicides or even put democracy at risk. A lot of good has been done by the charitable Gates foundation. But the halo of the ultimate billionaire do-gooder has paled off. Bill Gates batted to protect the turf of big pharma at the height of Covid. Disparaging suggestions for low-cost generic vaccines to help the world battling the pandemic. And his curious association with the late sex trafficker and power broker Epstein. Presumably to help him get the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the movie ‘Wall Street’ Gordon Gekko says the famous lines, “Greed is good.” Sure. The top 1% of the US rich pay tax at a lower rate than any other segment of the society. In the rush to cover-up the origins of Covid 19 were many top scientists from Europe and the USA.  The stakes were too high. Billions of dollars for the Gain of Function research which possibly led to the leak at the Wuhan Lab in China. The 2008 US financial meltdown featured a lot of Gordon Gekko characters. Banks, Insurers, Wall Street Finance companies, housing corporates, credit rating agencies and big name audit firms all collaborating and looking the other way as the sub-prime and derivatives  fuelled crises unravelled. “Too big to fail” and the Government bailed them out. Deregulation of the financial markets from the Reagan years and lack of oversight caused the global crises. And the CXO’s walked away with fat bonuses as millions across the globe lost their jobs and pensions and savings.

The Volkswagen emission cheating scandal represented an ethical breakdown and would have shut-down a lesser Company. The German Government stepped in to bail out this auto-giant which was poised at becoming the largest in the world. High-level talks with the Americans, some big penalties and back to business as usual. What also came out was the European Union’s somewhat lax attitude in applying emission norms to vehicle manufacturers on the Continent.

Let’s come to the Panama Papers and its latest edition called the Pandora Papers. Most of the attractive tax-havens are in the West. Of course, the scenic Switzerland heads the list which has South Dakota in the US, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Lichtenstein… It’s not only the Colombian and Mexican drug lords or Russian oligarchs or the Arab Sheikhs or super-rich Indians stashing away their money through shell companies. The First World had long earned this rite of passage. It is also not surprising that the UK is a preferred destination for financial scamsters. Perhaps, the tough extradition laws appeal to these criminal fugitives. And  staying with Colombia and Mexico which are derided for their Narcos cartels. Guess which are the most lucrative markets for the drug peddlers??

We can go on and on. The corruption at the highest levels of FIFA. The systematic doping on the Tour de France. Match fixing in football at the Serie A in Italy. These are all malaises associated with ‘those other countries.’

Human nature is what it is. Power and greed corrupts and no nation or peoples are immune to it. India is a work in progress. A huge and complex nation. We have a surfeit of venal politicians and problems of poverty, un-employment, education and public health. Community and regional divides and the scourges of corruption, and casteism.  But we are only 75 years old as a nation and progress is also being made. The young generation will signal the tipping point through its confidence and aspirations.

However, to really discover its own identity India will have to work to protect and serve its interests. That is Realpolitik. Absorb good initiatives and ideas and learn from the failures and blunders. There are positive takeaways from countries in Asia, Africa, Oceania, Middle East and South America. As an emerging power, strive to be a more responsible force both domestically and on the global stage.

The bottom-line is that ideas and philosophies and policies are revisited and revamped or fine-tuned or discarded when actually challenged by ground realities. The world is changing and the struggles and evolution of each nation needs more empathy and a better understanding. The only path towards achieving the Greater Good on the planet.

The Gift of Captaincy

Posted on by
8

On the 19th Jan 2021, the Indian cricket team breached the ‘Gabbatoir’ in Brisbane, Australia. The hosts had last lost a Test there in 1988, against the Viv Richards led great West Indian side. This series win has caused mass frenzy amongst the Indian cricket fans and pundits alike. ‘The Underdog Miracle’, ‘Against All Odds’, ‘A Fairy Tale Win’, ‘The Gabba Heist’ and ‘The Greatest Comeback in Cricket History’ are just some of the awe-struck and superlative reactions and headlines. Social media has gone berserk. After the shameful 36 all out debacle at Adelaide, to pull off the stunning win at the MCG, fight to a stirring draw at Sydney and finally that wonderfully scripted victory at the Gabba seemed unreal and straight off the ultimate feel-good movie triumph. Some of the Indian papers summed up the cricket series thriller with ‘Ajinkya’ (Invincible).

Delve into the sub-texts and one discovers even more astounding layers to the story. The Men in Blue were truly Down-and-Under after the humiliating 36 in the First Test. On Boxing Day at the MCG, the tourists were already depleted without their captain and best batsman and some other major players hobbling along. But then each session, each innings and each Test called out for its own heroes. Debutants and novices and net-practice bowlers rose to the occasion and the national call. As did the few seniors remaining- Rahane, Pujara, Bumrah, Ashwin and Jadeja.  For the decider match, the last three were also ruled out because of injuries. The India XI were reduced to the ‘Hardly XI’ as an Aussie paper put it.

So what was the X-factor? Kohli left on paternity leave after the disastrous First Test. In stepped his understated deputy, Ajinkya Rahane. His astute marshalling of his team and calm disposition played a defining role in what played out thereafter. In a blog I had posted before the WC 2019 (Captain Kohli) I had submitted that the best player does not necessarily the best captain make. Kohli’s undoubted greatness as a batsman notwithstanding. Truly MASTERCLASS. Think about Ian Botham’s dismal stint as the England captain before his break-out Ashes series under Mike Brearley.  Kohli is a force of nature. His passion, his focus and his fitness have left an indelible mark on our cricket. RESPECT. However, his hyper temperament does not make him the right man to lead this Indian side into the sacred pantheon of the All Time Great Teams which demand a sterling overseas track record.

This is not a simplistic debate about aggression vs composure. One of our best captains ‘Dada’ Ganguly was aggressive and even dubbed as arrogant by some. At times he wore his heart on his sleeve. But his cricketing judgments remained sharp and the emotional connect with even the younger members added depth and dimension to his leadership. Remember that he steered the Indian team after the infamous match-fixing scandal and also mentored emerging small town players who later became big names.In the Indian context at least, empathy and bonding and understanding make a big difference- on challenging tours and in big-match situations. The dressing-room environment matters a lot. Come to think of it, Rahane did show a quiet, steely resolve backed up by game-plans and with the entire team on board. But in today’s hyped-up times this may perhaps not qualify as aggressive intent.

So let’s look at the Rahane Effect. Brearley in his book, ‘The Art of Captaincy’ says, “That it is not about winning or losing. It’s about getting the best out of the team you have.” Our stand-in skipper did just that- extracted every ounce of performance from his team, no matter what the situation. He was approachable and the team related to him. The grapevine tells us that he did not tell his men what to do. He just gave them space and re-assurance and they responded magnificently. After all, he counted himself amongst them. The team plays under Kohli. It plays with and for Rahane.

The team-huddle; Rahane with a few key words and a composed tone, with Rohit Sharma, Ashwin, Bumrah, Pujara and Jadeja weighing in. Contrast to Kohli. Mostly a monologue – at times peppered with intensity. Is it any wonder that Bumrah walked back with the debutant Siraj to the top of his run-up. Or that the Indian lower-order batsmen refused to give up. Ashwin and Vihari with back spasms and a hamstring problem. Later Thakur and Sundar stepped up to the plate. Everyone’s contribution counted. Rahane had brought in empathy- the emotional quotient- and this resonated with the players. His special mention of Kuldeep Yadav after the Series win was one with this inclusiveness- this Brohood.

He read the games astutely and keenly. Like introducing Ashwin as first change in the 11th over of the game at the MCG. There was moisture in the wicket. It was a tactical master-stroke. He snared Wade and Smith in his first spell. Ashwin bowled a 12 over spell. Yadav 6 overs, Bumrah 5 overs and Siraj 6 overs. The longish spells allowed the bowlers to find their rythmn and work on their plans. The impatient Kohli had been known to change bowlers after a couple of overs if he sensed nothing was happening. Move to Brisbane on the 4th day. Australia comfortably placed with a 100 run lead and all wickets at hand. The Indian captain continued with his 2 slips and a gully field. Looking for wickets to contain runs. And sure enough, the hosts lost 5 wickets- 4 to catches by the keeper and the slips cordon. Or the decision to elevate Pant to the no 5 position at the SCG and Gabba- repaid in full by the game changing 97 and 89 N.O. knocks. On the 5th day at Brisbane as he walked back after a quick-fire innings he told the incoming Pant to bat out the few minutes before tea. Then revert to his natural self with the bat. Rahane’s calculation was that a target of around 145 was gettable in 35-38 overs if they had a few batters striking good. The clear-headed session by session approach. This when most of India was praying that we would hold out for a draw. The gamble of inducting Washington Sundar into the side with Kuldeep Yadav on the bench underlined the serious strategizing for the finale Test match.

His calmness was a major plus and kept the focus in place. After the racial slurs vented at Siraj by some spectators at the Sydney Test, Rahane stepped in. He firmly complained to the umpires and the referee asking that the guilty be evicted. They had come to play cricket but his players had to be respected. Having stood up for his man the game continued. Or his implacable demeanour when a clearly run-out Tim Paine was ruled not-out at the MCG. Virat Kohli would have ranted. Or his own run-out after a scintillating century on the same ground. He walked up to the disconsolate Jadeja at the other end with a pat and a, “No worry. Keep going. The team needs you.”

Lastly, setting an example as a leader. His impactful century (112) at the MCG turned the narrative for the series. The positive cameo knock (24 of 22 balls) after Gill’s classy 91 on the final day of the Brisbane Test showed India’s intent and kept back the Aussies from an all-out attack. The grit and courage of Pujara, the brilliance from Pant and the aggressive burst from Sundar completed the unbelievable last lap for India. The post-match presentation ceremony where he quickly shifted the limelight to his team and the handing over of the 100 match memento jersey to Nathan Lyon showed humility and grace in abundance (shades of Kane Williamson). Even the hard-boiled Aussies have been bowled over.

Contrast this to the frequent chopping and changing of the Indian team under Kohli (where Shastri had been complicit). Rahane benched for the first 2 Tests on the South African tour despite a good overseas record. The ever dependable Pujara dropped from a Test eleven on this important tour.  Now that both of them have become household names-recall these selection blunders. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar out of the second Test after a good show in the first Test. Whimsical, what!! It is commonly accepted by the experts that our disastrous 1-4 sojourn in England owed much to poor team selection. Two of the matches India lost were fairly close and could have gone our way with the right resources at hand.

His misreading of pitches and conditions has become a regular feature. On a dry Southampton wicket he opted for only one spinner- a half-fit Ashwin. The English went with Moeen Ali and Rashid. The Impact Player- Moeen Ali.  At the new Perth stadium in Australia the skipper got carried away by the history of the ground. We fielded 4 fast bowlers. Nathan Lyon gave the Man of the Match performance. Back to England where the defensive field settings allowed the English middle order to flourish and take control of the matches. Even at the IPL level it has been oft been said that RCB would surely have won a trophy by now if only AB de Villiers had been the captain.

Let me bring in Paddy Upton, a renowned mental coach + a professional cricket coach from South Africa to drive home the point. He had been associated with the Indian cricket squad when Gary Kirsten was the coach. His observations, “Kohli has the fear factor making others insecure and even inferior. Under him the team views everyday details as a chore. When people burden their mind it is hard to get them to be free and to play the game the way it works for them. Kohli is very demonstrative- exuberant in his celebrations but also not empathic on the field whilst showing anger or anguish. His team-mates walk on thin ice, afraid of making a mistake. Once a player tightens up he is no longer the player he is meant to be. On the other hand Rahane is equanimous. His calm and general demeanour allows him to be approachable and relatable to the team.  He has fire and courage within him but controlled. That is why they played so well at the Gabba.” And then the ultimate compliment, “That level of camaraderie I haven’t seen in Test cricket for a while.”

What about Kohli’s handpicked coach- Shastri? This Australia tour has been a boon for him-just being at the right place at the right time. Some of the credit will rub off on him and he will milk and spin it for all it is worth. Especially the so-called rousing speech he gave to the team after the Adelaide debacle- wear this 36 as a badge and it will never happen again.  Shastri is the ultimate Indian cricket establishment figure and so no one will call him out. He is an over-rated loyalist who knows which side of his bread is buttered. Remember his bombast before the WC 2019, calling the team the greatest Indian side ever. A side-kick, a cheer-leader for Virat Kohli- it is high time we found a coach with more professionalism and integrity.

Cricket is a game where the acumen and people- skills of the captain (and coach) really matter. And nowhere is this more tested than in a hard fought Test series. This is the Kohli- Shastri overseas record in the SENA countries since 2017, 1-2 South Africa- 18-19, 1-4 England- 2018, 0-2 New Zealand-2020, and 2-1 Australia- 2018. The context for the last Australia tour which counts as his most famous win is that Smith and Warner were missing and the Aussies were struggling to come out of the sand-paper gate cheating scandal. Else, he is the most successful Indian captain because of wins against the languishing West Indies and Sri Lanka and solid performances on home turf.

Indian cricket is now poised on the cusp of greatness. The best fast bowling attack in our history. Match-winner spinning options. Batsmen who can dig in for hours or change the game in an hour. Tremendous bench-strength. Improved fitness and high confidence levels. But if we have to be rated with the great West Indian teams under Lloyd and Richards or the Aussie teams under Steve Waugh and Ponting, we still have much to prove. Consistent winning performances across formats and dominating overseas tours to the SENA nations.

Despite this wake-up call, Kohli will remain the India captain even for the Tests. At the BCCI no one has the balls to out him. Hopefully, the other players will step out of his aura after this seminal series and stamp their own identity on the field. Perhaps, Virat (Colossus) can reach out to Ajinkya (Invincible) to forge a formidable partnership. Hopefully, Captain Kohli 2.0 will inspire and lead The Men In Blue into Cricket’s Hall of Fame for the legendary cricket teams.

What should change is at the Head Coach position. A Rahul Dravid or a Zaheer Khan can play a defining role and balance out the Kohli excesses. Lest we forget, many of the overnight heroes from the recent tour Down Under,- Gill, Pant, Sundar, Siraj-have been groomed and mentored by Dravid at the India A & Under-19 levels.

Indian Cricket is in for some exciting times ahead. Time to take fresh guard, mark the bowling run-up afresh and set the right field.

The Flickering Torch of the Statue of Liberty

Posted on by
3

tom-coe-468252-unsplash

Photo by tom coe on Unsplash

USA.

The name conjures up images of Silicon Valley and Ivy League colleges, NASA and the Pentagon, the White House and Capitol Hill, New York and Wall Street, McDonald’s, the NBA and Levi Jeans. It is the wealthiest country in history and a mighty military industrial complex. American soft-power is unrivalled and it is a magnet to millions across the world. A land of opportunity, built by immigrants.

Only China can share the stage today with this superpower.

Look closer. Reality does not quite match the hype. It is not the land of the free and the brave. Racism is back in the open. Under Trump, the clock has been turned back to the days of the KKK and the civil-rights movement. Black Lives Matter is the cry on the streets in 2017. Fuelled by the cold-blooded shootings of unarmed blacks by white cops across many cities. The Republican Party (the party of Lincoln) does not even pretend to be politically correct on this issue anymore. The focus is on appeasing its core base which brought Trump to power and is critical for their re-election prospects.

The USA today is a highly polarised and divided country. Not a beacon of democracy or the global melting-pot. Its President is a corrupt, racist, misogynist, egoistic deal-maker. A type earlier found in banana republics and despotic regimes.

Next, take the case of the NRA (National Rifles Association) and its powerful gun lobby. Students in schools are massacred and thousands have marched for gun-control. The politicians make sympathetic noises and hide behind the Second Amendment- freedom to bear guns in the late 18th century with private militias and the New Frontier and the Wild West. Does it have any relevance in 21st century America with its powerful DOJ and vast law and order network?

Most of the Senators and Congressmen are bank-rolled by powerful interests. NRA or big business, health-care majors or Wall Street. We talk about crony capitalism in India, an evolving 70 year old democracy. There is no difference between us and them other than the suits and the gloss.

The USA is the only country in the world which has actually dropped nuclear bombs. First on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. It controls the biggest nuclear arsenal but sanctions countries like Iran even after a multilateral agreement is in place. It is the biggest supplier of arms and deadly weaponry to all the hotspots across the world- from Africa to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan and South Korea. And there are 800 American military bases around the globe. War and strife are key to American business. Not peace.

More bombs were dropped in Vietnam than in the entire Second World War. Napalm scorched the earth and rivers were poisoned to kill thousands of innocents. But do you hear any talk of war crimes? No. The Americans have controlled the narrative since the 1940’s.

This great flag-bearer of democracy has not held the flag high on numerous instances. Dictators have been supported in the name of geo-political or international interests. Think Shah of Iran, House of Saud, Marcos or Hosni Mubarak. Latin America is full of such stories. The democratically elected Allende from Chile was killed in a US sponsored military coup. His crime- to shut down US companies which were tapping into his nation’s natural resources.

We know of the imperial British Empire, the French and Spanish colonies. The United States has been doing this clandestinely for decades- installing its puppet regime in many countries. These vassal states have been given loans by the IMF and the World Bank and driven into debt.

If you have watched Narcos on Netflix or tuned into Trump’s Mexican Wall, you are told about the DEA’s Great War on drugs. What goes unsaid is that whether it is Colombia or Mexico, the major consumers are Americans.

Let us look at this great economic engine. It has huge trade deficits with other major players, be it China or Japan, Germany or France. Balancing the US federal budget is a lost cause. It continues to lead the world economy as it is the largest consumer market in the world. The dollar is the primary global currency. Remember Nixon’s masterstroke of making the dollar the petro-currency. The other advanced countries have huge investments in the USA- be it in Treasury bonds or real estate, NYSE or the big corporates. They simply cannot afford to pull out.

The financial crises of 2008 revealed the glaring flaws in this massive capitalist economy. Decades of de-regulation had made the top companies fabulously rich and influential but unaccountable.  Money, greed and valuation overpowered everything. When the biggies went down, the Government stepped in to bail them out. Too big to fail. The top honchos walked away with fat bonuses whilst the average Joe’s lost their pension funds and their hard earned money.

Even today, tax breaks have been given to the rich and the stock markets make them even richer. The top 1% controls everything. The wealth gap keeps on growing. For the first time, today’s average real income is lower than what it was in the mid-eighties. Even in key areas like access to health-care and higher education, the US lags behind most of the countries in Europe.

The Indian fascination with everything American is well-known. The US is home to a large Indian diaspora who are doing well and millions more travel out with student and work visas. And obvious comparisons are made. The oldest democracy and the largest democracy. The multi-ethnicity and diversity of both nations.

The purpose of this blog is not to pull down the capitalist US as an ideologically driven leftist may do. Communism is also a God that has failed. The US remains a powerful engine for technology, research and innovation. It remains a leader in breakthrough ideas and thought. Not to forget its huge foot-print in music, entertainment and culture.

The object is to look at its position and influence through a clear lens. Not through rose-tinted glasses. Not getting swept away or seduced by the overpowering imagery.

India is a work in progress. Widely tipped to be the next economic power. It too is increasingly acknowledged as a soft-power through its movies and music, yoga and spirituality, cuisine and culture. And yet, there are things to learn from the US experience. That if we are to chart our destiny, it’s not enough to be a great military or economic power. We should also aspire to be a better, happier nation of 1.2 billion people.