Since delivered to the bankers,
as expected, the content is basically economic in nature but as the US profile is
(entwined globally) and has Hillary’s career has been, it has myriad of
political themes and geopolitical interests.
And as expected, China has some
pretty frequent mention in terms of frequency – 62 times. The next thing to
expect naturally would be about India, the next big thing to happen to the
global economy after China. And if India has just 12 mentions, we can see why. When
Hillary was saying all these things, China was on top of the mind. Bur China
has now started stagnating (and slowing down) while India has become the
fastest growing economy with ‘boon to market’ dividends like a young demography
and a burgeoning middle class that will be soon largest in the world.
India’s 12 mentions are in four
categories - Clinton Foundation, reducing emission, pro free trade and Wal-Mart
– basically personal, environmental and financial in nature. As expected, it is
both, positive and negative. If Hillary lauds India somewhere, she also
cautions us on our trade and economic policies. And she also supports India’s
stand on tricky issues like emission reductions.
Clinton Foundation: “So a few
examples of what we're doing at the Clinton Foundation. First, the Clinton
Climate Initiative has a solid waste management program that works with
governments and with businesses to reduce their dependency on landfills and
develop systems to convert waste into new products or into sources of energy.
For example, we are working with the city of Delhi in India to develop that
country's first integrated solid waste management system.”
Reducing Emissions: “And at that
time you could not get China and India to agree to do anything on their
emissions because they, I think understandably, one an authoritarian regime,
one a democracy, a raucous democracy, were of the opinion it would interfere
with their efforts to continue to grow, a totally rational response if you were
the leader of China or India.”
Free Trade: “I thought I was
doing pretty well. I'm making the case,
making the argument for openness, fairness, transparency, claiming, look,
Malaysia manufacturers want access to markets overseas as much as American
manufacturers, Indian firms want fair treatment when they invest abroad, just
as we do, Chinese artists want to protect their creations from piracy, every
society seeking to develop a strong research and technology sector needs
intellectual property protection to make trade fair as well as freer. Developing countries have to do a better job
of improving productivity, raising labor conditions, and protecting the
environment, on and on.”
Indian Ocean Nations (Trade): “More
than half the world's population lives in the vast region from the Indian Ocean
to the Island Nations. Here we find some of our most trusted allies and
valuable trading partners, many of the world's most dynamic trade and energy
routes. A few years ago, when our country was struggling through the worst
economic downturn since the Great Depression, American exports to the
Asia-Pacific helped spur our recovery. Our future growth will get a real shot
in the arm if we reach farther into the burgeoning consumer markets across the
region. […] And you are on track here in this state, in this city to take full
advantage of a 21st century economy, and to help make sure that the United
States remains a strong presence and a power in the Pacific.”
Wal-Mart (Trade): “I think that
if India can ever get its regulatory system straightened out, you know, we have
gone back and forth on opening up to retailers, large, multinational retailers.
Wal-Mart just withdrew and it is a real shame and because one of the things
Wal-Mart promised to do was to help set up the supply chain for agricultural
products to actually get to the end user consumer. The harvest in India loses about 40 percent
because there is no good storage; there is certainly no good cold storage. So
if there is a way to get the politics to open up somewhat in India, you know,
the market is just overwhelmingly large.”
But our neighbour Pakistan, our
historical enemy who believes that maintaining friction and hostility in ties
with India is the only way to look at par with India on global platforms,
performs poorly even here. The leaked speeches mention Pakistan five times –
and all in disturbed categories like Egypt, Syria and terrorism.
A further look on ‘Pakistan’
mentions clearly tells us that whenever she has quoted Pakistan, it is either
for breeding terrorists and promoting terror or for illegally proliferating
nuclear weapons. See it to reaffirm what you already know.
“We also were very concerned about the
breeding of instability in terrorist havens in the Sinai which could be used
just as the FATA between Pakistan and Afghanistan had been used by AlQaeda as
launching sites for extremist attacks against Egypt, against Israel, against
Jordan and further afield in the Gulf.”
“So the free Syrian Army and a
lot of the local rebel militias that were made up of pharmacists and business
people and attorneys and teachers—they’re no match for these imported toughened
Iraqi, Jordanian, Libyan, Indonesian, Egyptian, Chechen, Uzbek, Pakistani
fighters that are now in there and have learned through more than a decade of very
firsthand experience what it takes in terms of ruthlessness and military
capacity.”
“It depends upon how you define
national interest. We certainly do with chemical weapons. We certainly would if
Syria became even, in part, like the FATA between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a
training ground for extremists, a launching pad for attacks on Turkey, Jordan,
the non-tetarian elements in Lebanon and, eventually, even in Israel.
“And you know, it is like these
terrible plots in James Bond movies where you have got some really creepy guy
sitting around saying, I want to get a hold of some nuclear material, and I can
bring the west to their knees and they will have to give me a hundred billion
dollars in my private account. Well, unfortunately, there are people like that.
And we saw what happened with the Pakistani scientist, Mr. Khan, who basically
proliferated nuclear knowledge to as many countries as he could. He thought
that was part of his religious mission to give the bomb to as many Muslim
countries as he possibly could reach.”
Hillary's words reiterate what we already know yet Pakistan behaves as if it can
maintain its equal status with India on global platforms. Yes, it is not about
a country’s size but its policies. And Pakistan’s policy of endorsing and
promoting terror and proliferating nukes certainly make it one of the most
rogue nations on earth.
©SantoshChaubey