Uncle Sam in South Asia (Waiting for “imperial overstretch”)

Jawaharlal Nehru would have been shocked. His daughter Indira would have been outraged. Rajiv Gandhi would have been paralysed. But the person in charge of carrying forward the Nehru-Gandhi legacy these days is Sonia Gandhi. Being born in Italy, Sonia probably knows the literal meaning of the Green Berets' motto, "De oppresso libre" – but as yet a greenhorn in Indian politics, she is unlikely to comprehend the true significance of an elite American corps' mission of "liberating the oppressed". It seems the saffronite dispensation in New Delhi has fully resigned itself to a subservient role even in South Asia. The United States of America is now the real overlord this side of the Himalaya. Chacha Chaudhary in New Delhi, Mama Abdul in Islamabad, Granny Bandarnaike in Colombo, Begum Didi in Dacca and Sanu Bhai in Kathmandu, please line up and applaud. Uncle Sam will presently take a bow.

The heartland

When Coca-Cola staged a comeback in the Indian market, it chose to launch its products from Agra. And when American paracommandos decided to conduct their first joint exercises with the Indian Army, they too opted for a site close to the Taj Mahal. Such coincidences are not uncommon; there is a precedence of the American army marching along in the footprints of US multinationals. Coca-Cola and Pepsi – along with Microsoft, Murdoch and many other industrial motors run by Wall Street investors – are here to stay in South Asia. And so the US marines that will protect their interests must come over for a recce, and a taste of the mid-May loo.