Indians and Jews share "a passionate commitment to respect for others, for the rule of law and for democracy," Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, told the jubilant crowd after the House vote. "And lately we have been drawn together by our joint fight against mindless, vicious, fanatic Islamic terrorism."This growing rapport mirrors a similar realignment between India and Israel.
In recent months, pro-Israel and pro-India lobbyists successfully worked together to gain the Bush administration's approval for Israel to sell four Phalcon early warning radar planes to India for about $1 billion, a deal that has alarmed the Pakistani government. Three years ago, the United States blocked a nearly identical proposal for Israel to sell radar planes to China. The same coalition of groups -- including the U.S.-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), America Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) and American Jewish Committee (AJC) -- is now seeking U.S. approval for India to purchase Israel's Arrow ballistic missile defense system.
Although both countries gained independence from Britain at about the same time in 1947-48, they were wary of each other for decades. India, as leader of the non-aligned movement, had close ties to Egypt and the East Bloc. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, India has become one of Israel's largest business partners, with more than $1 billion in trade and many high-tech joint ventures.Ironically, the collapse of the Cold War alignment freed up not only India, but Russia herself. According to Stratfor, Israel and Russia are teaming up to supply crude oil to East Asia, via an Israeli pipeline that let's Russian tankers bypass the Suez Canal.
Though Israeli-Russian relations during the Cold War can only be described as hostile, the two states now see themselves as partners in many respects. About 1 million Russian Jews have immigrated to Israel since the Cold War ended, shoring up cultural and economic links between the two states. The war in Chechnya also has given Russian authorities an appreciation for Israel's security concerns, and the two harbor the same fears about Islamist militants.It's amazing what a little global terrorism will do to realign national interests.
In the post-Sept. 11 environment, Russia and Israel also have discovered that they share a new rival: Saudi Arabia. Various Saudi factions support both the Palestinians in Israeli-occupied territories and the Chechens in southern Russia. The Kremlin suspects a Saudi hand in the recent suicide bombings in Moscow as well. Both Israel and Russia consider al Qaeda a scourge to be uprooted and eradicated, and -- like the United States -- have not been surprised to discover that al Qaeda's financial paper trail leads back to Saudi Arabia.
For the past 20 years, the Persian Gulf states -- especially Saudi Arabia -- have held a de facto monopoly over crude supplies to East Asia, allowing them to charge an "Asian premium" that at times has ranged as high as $3 a barrel. In 2002, some 40 percent of Saudi Arabia's 7.0 million bpd in exports went to Asian consumers. That surcharge alone netted Riyadh a tidy $1 billion to $2 billion in supplemental profit.Heh. (via LGF comments.)
Saudi Arabia hopefully spent the income wisely, because Riyadh won't be seeing that cash again. With the onset of Tipline operations, Russian crude can compete directly with Saudi supplies anywhere in Asia. The Tipline's existing capacity will quadruple Russia's presence in Asian markets, assuming no additional upgrades -- which are almost a foregone conclusion.
UPDATE: Allison points out that Indians and Israelis are doing some high-tech business deals too. (When someone writes a history of the Indian/Hindu-Israeli/Jewish relationship, it will be interesting to see how much of this shift was a result of all the Jewish and Indian nerds mixing it up in Silicon Valley. Many of the successful high-tech entrepreneurs are one or the other.)
<< Home