A Honey Trap Awaits PM Modi in Washington
Joe Biden to roll out the red carpet
There is palpable excitement in Washington as America’s Joe Biden Administration is leaving no stone unturned to prepare for the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi beginning June 22.
Though Modi is not visiting the US for the first time, the White House would have sought fresh inputs from intelligence agencies, as well as Eric Garcetti, the human rights specialist posted as ambassador at New Delhi, on how best to organize the welcome, Modi’s latest fads and likes and dislikes. Why India wants to import 31 Predator drones, not 30 or 32 was also queried until it was explained that the additional one is Shagun, auspicious.
The title of this article should not be misconstrued as honey-trapping. The Biden Administration doesn’t plan to employ a woman to seduce Modi even though sexual exploits of a POTUS in the White House, and a future president having a child with a nightclub dancer and the grown up boy eventually filing and winning a paternity suit are well documented. But anything and everything else will be catered for in abundance.
The cover of the latest issue of The Economist shows a beaming Biden holding a “pet” tiger, as if India is a wild beast that Biden has managed to tame. It is quite possible Biden may be dreaming so in his drugged state of dementia. But it is more likely that the publication was asked to project Biden like an Arab sheikh having pet tigers and lions because Biden was snubbed during his visit to Saudi Arabia and reportedly told not to create a ruckus over cuts in oil production by OPEC countries as there would be repercussions.
Biden’s Project Ukraine is in shambles though Washington’s boar Volodymyr Zelensky claims to be shooting down every Kinzhal missile fired by the Russians. The so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive is faltering badly. The recent Ukrainian attack on a Russian vessel in the Black Sea was directed by a US drone flying in neutral waters. Now Russia has thrown down the gauntlet saying it would give a military-technical response if F-16 fighter jets appear in the skies over Ukraine.
Russia had presented "a very serious demarche" within the framework of the UN Security Council panel "nuclear five" in connection with the possibility of F-16 aircraft being prepared for transfer to Ukraine to carry nuclear weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said goals of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine have not changed and are in fact being served by Kiev’s latest offensive (https://www.rt.com/russia/577974-putin-ukraine-operation-recap/).
America is least concerned if the last Ukrainian is killed because hoards of mercenaries and terrorists are being pumped in, a process that began long ago. In March 2014, around 300 men dressed as civilians and carrying field bags akin to the US army were flown into Ukraine's Zhuliany and Borispol airports. They were from Greystone Limited, a private military company (Xe Services LLC). American plans to expand NATO, threaten Russia and use Ukraine as the proxy have been in motion over decades. But Biden expedited the war on Russia to deflect from the kick delivered by Taliban and ignominy of the rout from Afghanistan.
Now Ukraine is in shambles with no chance of defeating Russia and the grandiose plan to ruin Russian economy has failed and backfired on Europe (https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/the-fourth-turning-that-will-define-our-century?fbclid=IwAR0LmOaM8K8eKxYVlkLzYAbsWbhWlGKSAk3elwhX7hQ9qQOrMIqQZiV6s1Y) albeit the American oil and arms industry is raking in billions. Ukraine is running out of arms and ammunition at a faster pace than NATO and EU can supply. Rightwing members of the Swiss Parliament recently boycotted an address by Zelensky that called for war materiel export restrictions to be eased (https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/zelensky-s-swiss-parliament-speech-boycotted-by-right-wingers/48592932).
Biden is trying to raise the levels by supplying F-16s to Ukraine but is concurrently looking for opening a similar front in the Indo-Pacific using a proxy (s). That is where India fits in American plans. An evacuation plan in Taiwan is apparently already underway (
The highpoint of Modi’s visit to Washington is being hyped as defence cooperation and transfer of technology (ToT). America’s General Electric Company is to ink a deal with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to equip the LCA Tejas with a jet engine although the quantum ToT is not mentioned, which would unlikely be 100 percent. How does this compare with the Indo-Russian project of BrahMos supersonic missiles which the Indian Military is equipped with and India is already exporting these missile systems?
A US Congressional Committee wants India to be included in NATO Plus 5 (added to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel and South Korea). The advantages to India are being described as “seamless intelligence sharing and access to latest military technology”. India had already signed GSOMIA, LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA agreements with the US which included intelligence sharing and transfer of high end technology – were these toilet paper? Significantly, India wanted a comprehensive approach but the US wanted to move “step-by-step”; possibly to avoid any apprehensions.
It must be noted that despite an intelligence sharing agreement with the US, the latter never warned India in April-May 2020 that Chinese motorized divisions exercising in Aksai Chin were racing towards Eastern Ladakh. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin visiting India in 2021 told media, “We didn’t know India and China were so close to war,”
Biden is hosting a state banquet for Modi (third in Biden’s tenure) for which some 7,000 Indians are invited. Given that he needs their votes to win the next presidential race, many more would have been invited if the seating capacity was there. Much that he may give a tighter embrace to Modi, this is like fattening the turkey before Thanksgiving. He has no love lost for India or for Modi but the aim is to get Modi to sign on the dotted line – for India to join NATO Plus 5, which would be an incredible achievement for Biden, helping him win the next presidential race.
Think Tanks in the US are linked to the administration. They make presentations to the administration and make recommendations for policy decisions, including all the wars that the US should wage directly or indirectly to advance America’s national interests. They also act as the informal mouthpiece for the administration.
So here is a cheeky fellow saying that the US must get operational control of the Indian Military (
which appears to be the aim of the Biden Administration. The “step-by-step” trap has been laid, also taking into account Indian general elections in 2024; akin to slowly infecting the liver in a human body which gives no warning and suddenly packs off.
Concurrently, the US is doing everything possible to push Bangladesh into China’s lap. Western sanctions have already aligned Myanmar with China. Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are debt-trapped by China and the US Administration has nothing to say about Chinese encroachments in Bhutan. Bangladesh going the China way would complete the encirclement of India – to America’s advantage.
The red carpet for PM Modi and the recommendation to include India in the NATO Plus 5 is to make India an American lackey as a junior partner, dump multi-polarity, dump Russia, and instigate China to attack India while the US sits on the fence, sell India more weaponry, offer sympathies, tell the world what a monster China is, and use Modi as Zelensky 2.0.
Lt General Prakash Katoch is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.
Cover Photograph- US President Joe Biden takes yet another fall