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The Importance of India

alexkolchinski.com

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Re: The Importance of India

#31

Post by adventured »

sand_castles wrote: post #8

Demographics is not destiny, if it were true, Pakistan would be more powerful than Russia. How you organize your society matters much more, Japan/SK has fraction of the global population, and somehow maintain their economic importance. India has all the problems of a democracy without much of the benefit. It's more likely that India becomes a CCP style country than stays a democracy. If India was so great it's smalle…

> where the state department can just overthrow the govt of a major country if it likes

That's an extraordinary exaggeration. The state dept does not have that power at all, not even close. Show me all the examples of this happening to a major country, much less a major democracy, in the last 50 years.

It's incredibly difficult - nearly impossible - for the state dept to overthrow the government of a major country. That's why Saddam Hussein, the dictator of a very weakened non-major nation, was so hard to remove.

Iran? Overwhelming proof of how hard it is to topple the government of even a mid-major nation. The state dept has wanted to change the government of Iran for four decades now and can't do it.

If the US could topple countries so easily, Putin wouldn't be ruling Russia as a dictator. Chavez wouldn't have continued ruling Venezuela as a dictator (and Maduro wouldn't be in there now). Fidel wouldn't have ruled Cuba as a dictator for so long. China wouldn't be operated the way it is now, ruled by a dictator. North Korea wouldn't be run by the Kim dictatorship. Bashar al-Assad wouldn't still be ruling Syria as a dictator. Although it is interesting what all of these countries have in common.

Re: The Importance of India

#33

Post by jeffreyrogers »

bzb3 wrote: post #3

>India currently punches below its weight on the world stage due to slow economic development: 30 years ago, its GDP per capita was similar to China’s, but is now 5x lower. However, if India were to enter a period of similarly high growth over the next 30 years as China has for the past 30, it would quickly become one of the most powerful countries in the world thanks to the scaling factor of its immense population.…

Yeah, any comparison to China needs to acknowledge that China is largely ethnically homogenous and has an authoritarian government that has relatively consistent goals top-to-bottom. India is nothing like that and I don't see it becoming like that anytime soon.

Re: The Importance of India

#34

Post by sohamsankaran »

I think there is no alternative but for the west to tie itself closely to India if they want liberal democracy to prevail. India is deeply flawed, but has a deep and abiding affinity for democracy, and a polity that is sophisticated about things like strategic split-ticket voting to prevent too much power being concentrated in one political party. As such, it frustrates me that Western countries don't help us consolidate our position in international affairs, including by allowing us to officially be a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and supporting our bid to be on the UN Security Council.

If you're interested in how India's history informs our politics, economy, and foreign relations today, take a look at Today in Indian History, a newsletter which my brother and I recently launched. Four times a week, we lay out the context and consequences of an event in India's past that happened on that date. Link below:

https://honestyisbest.com/today-in-indian-history/

Re: The Importance of India

#35

Post by AsyncAwait »

India's been leaning right for a while from what I've seen, I'd rather the EU decouple itself from U.S. foreign policy and be an independent, serious counterbalance to China, India, Russia and the U.S.

But I suspect the possibility of that happening is rather slim, sadly.

Re: The Importance of India

#37

Post by vijaybritto »

ra7 wrote: post #22
ezVoodoo wrote: post #15

But India is still a Semi Slavery society. The untouchables, anyone? The Hindu caste/social grouping system tells millions of people that they are contaminated and their fate is doomed upon birth. This is the most powerful racist/slavery/brain-washing machine that the human being has ever made, no? It is so hard to believe such brutal system still exist in human society. Yet, the country enforcing this claims to be t…

Is this a meme? Have you actually spent time in India? Caste based discrimination is illegal, so the country isn't "enforcing" any of it. In fact, there are several measures to counteract discrimination (like reservations, which is a whole other topic). This just seems like a poor, uneducated opinion for the likes of HN.

Woah dude. This is so funny.

A low caste guy was shot dead last week for entering a temple. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/17-year-old-dalit-b...

A man was made to drink urine for loving a girl from upper caste. https://www.thelede.in/governance/2020/05/22/in-caste-crime-...

Why are you doing a 'not all men', 'i have black friends' thing here?

Anyone can google for these things and figure out the truth.

If you're a brahmin then please stop talking for the victims of your very own system.

Discrimination is illegal so it went away? Reservations don't counter discrimination. They're for representation.

Re: The Importance of India

#39

Post by teatree »

bzb3 wrote: post #3

>India currently punches below its weight on the world stage due to slow economic development: 30 years ago, its GDP per capita was similar to China’s, but is now 5x lower. However, if India were to enter a period of similarly high growth over the next 30 years as China has for the past 30, it would quickly become one of the most powerful countries in the world thanks to the scaling factor of its immense population.…

May I know how many years your grandmother was kept as a slave and abused ? Indian experienced it for 200+ years.

People (Americans dare I say ?) have no problems accepting blacks are behind whites on most development indices EVEN TODAY because of slavery and oppression, but somehow can't extend the same logic to former colonial countries like India.

Recent economic hardships of a particular class has threatened democracy and made a joke of fabled American institutions, despite high levels of education and wealth. But a country which was oppressed for centuries and is still reeling in poverty, for benefit of the Western world, now is in a position to help them with a little bit of help and you still can't extend a helping hand in good faith.

Maybe your grandmother would have been a bicycle if she had wheels, but you despite having a brain are a simpleton.

REF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7CW7S0zxv4

Re: The Importance of India

#40

Post by sand_castles »

ra7 wrote: post #17
sand_castles wrote: post #8

Demographics is not destiny, if it were true, Pakistan would be more powerful than Russia. How you organize your society matters much more, Japan/SK has fraction of the global population, and somehow maintain their economic importance. India has all the problems of a democracy without much of the benefit. It's more likely that India becomes a CCP style country than stays a democracy. If India was so great it's smalle…

> India has all the problems of a democracy without much of the benefit. It's more likely that India becomes a CCP style country than stays a democracy. What is the basis for this? People have been predicting fall of democracy in India for decades (especially in the West), but nothing of that sort has happened. The closest incident was the state of emergency under Indira Gandhi in 1975-1977. India successfully recove…

Having one-party rule for 60 years is no democracy.

You don't have a democracy when the state controls all the TV media.

> What is the basis for this

The basis for this is the level of grinding poverty in India, live in a Indian slum for a year and then come back to me, and spew the virtues of "democracy" vs economic freedom and rights.

Poverty is organic propaganda for extremism and communism.

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