Uncle Sam’s Double Standard
Apart from exposing the Uncle Sam’s periodic double standard and volte face, the writer seeks to highlight India’s achievement in several sectors to call the bluff on the United States.
It was a very sunny morning when Uncle Sam chanced to meet Captain Cook while on a casual stroll. Upon exchanging usual pleasantries, Sam suddenly shot a straight question to Capt Cook: “Have you finalized your plans to shift a major portion of your production to India? If that is the case, think twice. I am not quite happy with your idea.”
A crestfallen Cook paused for a moment; and then looked askance at the Uncle. “That’s a better place I believe, than where I am at the moment. Why? What’s the matter?”
“I kind of want to caution you; India, you see, is that god damn place, levying quite a huge tariff on imports; I doubt if you could make both ends meet,” Sam shrugged his hands, as if he had forgotten to wash them after a nasty meal. The poor Cook was about to show thumbs down, but deferred it for another date. “I’d produce my apples in a garden where the land is fertile and conducive,” Cook thought, “plus, I’m getting a burgeoning domestic market from where I could export; the tale of tariff comes much later.”
As they walked away to their respective destination, India went into a huddle and asked relevant experts to shuffle through records to verify how many times Uncle Sam enacted a volte face on his statements casually thrown in the air.
Well, no need to beat about the bush! We have just indulged in an episode of concoction where a couple of fictional characters have been portrayed to elicit a dose of banter. The reason for the same is being elucidated in the following deliberation.
The Double Standard of Uncle Sam
India, 5th largest and one of the world’s fastest growing major economic powerhouses, has not only succeeded in deflecting the adverse impact of the US tariff uncertainties that left the global economy in a tailspin, but her spectacular military campaign ‘Operation Sindoor’ punched gaping holes in the Pakistan-based terror hideouts and their sponsors’ arms arsenal across the border.
Indians have seen Uncle Sam’s vain boasts to have ‘single-handedly caused cessation’ of hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in Asia. In not so-subtle-a-dig at Uncle Sam, New Delhi has put paid to his baseless claims, dangling of trade cuts and so on and so forth; yet again, Uncle happened to prove himself quite adept in changing colours and reneging on his own friendly gesture.
During his just-concluded trip to the Arab countries, Uncle Sam decried a legacy of US interventionism in the region; his latest announcement of a complete cessation of sanctions on Syria took even the officials close to him by surprise. In sharp contrast, his panache of playing the role of a peacemaker in the latest Indo-Pak conflict by skirting some of the entrenched geopolitical challenges is no surprise at all. Because, apparently the need for launching a renewed slogan for ‘Aab ki bar, Trump Sarkar’ has already found a quiet burial.
Uncle Sam’s first term vis-a-vis his 2.0 must have presented a shock to many. India must recognize the fact that Sam in his latest avatar in 2025 is a different political creature and his Republican Party is no longer what it once was. In fact, the slogan ‘America First’ must have contentiously clashed with that of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
econdly, to cite a couple of chilling instances of brute practice of double standard, the IMF last week released a 1.3 billion dollar loan to Bangladesh; this shows Uncle Sam’s use of global financial tools to embolden regimes that undermine regional stability. Prior to that, barely two days after India’s military campaign began, Sam facilitated another IMF approval of a 2.4 billion dollar bailout for its ‘major non-NATO ally’ Pakistan despite the latter’s never-ending lurch towards Islamic terrorism. This is in sharp contrast to Sam’s questionable endeavour to restrain India from dealing with cross-border terrorism.
Why the Volte Face, Uncle Sam?
A plethora of factors, very subtle yet compelling ones, spearheaded Uncle Sam to intervene in the Indo-Pak conflict, much to the dismay of the ruling dispensation at New Delhi. The precision hits with minimum collateral damage on multiple facilities linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen, an uncanny yet chilling success of the three wings of the Indian Armed Forces in thwarting swarms of drone and missile attacks both in the air and on land by Pakistan and a rigidly bold assertion to take on the might of the terror sponsors overawed both China and Uncle Sam.
Pakistan, it is true, probably compelled by strong domestic pressure to attain a face-saver, also launched a counterattack ‘Operation Bunyan ul Marsoos’ against India. But the meticulous planning and execution of the same with unprecedented accuracy and success by India’s indigenous arsenal — ‘Brahmos’, ‘Aakashteer’, ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ et al – have made a mincemeat of ‘Marsoos’, leaving the twin superpowers wide-eyed with shock. Because, the more India achieves such clinical performances in its hitherto untested hi-fi technological battle gear, the higher the chances of India expanding its footprints in the international arms market.
Obviously, the existing supremacy of these two superpowers will be dented to a great extent because, the Indian version of the surface-to-air or air-to-surface missiles or other modern tech gadgets is much cheaper than their Chinese or US counterparts.
Barely a week before the four-day conflict, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) conducted a mock “dogfight” in space, involving two satellites, as part of its SPADEX (Space Docking Experiment) mission. This high-speed satellite engagement, at an altitude of 500 km, showcased India’s advanced orbital control and automatic docking capabilities.
The deft and critical manoeuvre, resembling aerial dogfights, clearly and categorically demonstrated India’s growing prowess in space security and its ability to protect its orbital assets. That ISRO chipped in brilliantly with its spy satellites to the aid of Indian army personnel during the conflict, goes without saying.
IMF and the Indian Bourse
Next, despite the IMF (International Monetary Fund) forecast downgrading the Indian GDP growth to around 6.2 per cent, the Indian bourses – the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and NIFTY – have repelled a series of blows from the FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) and regained its composure, with defence stocks racing on a winning streak in the bourses. A domestically focused economy and a robust investment-cum-trading activity have begun luring away several overseas investors from China to India.
After weeks of divergence and mock threat, Uncle Sam found the door to China is ajar for a reset. In another volte face, the US declared that it would reduce extra tariffs imposed on Chinese imports last month from 145% to 30% for the next three months, while Chinese duties on U.S. imports will fall to 10% from 125%. It was more of a 100% retreat by the US in the face of a firm Chinese retaliation.
So far so good; now India has to tread quite cautiously to the claims of Uncle Sam who was quoted as having said that India has “offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff.” The Indian officials have so far declined to respond to it.
The tariff uncertainties notwithstanding, India is poised to hike its ranking from 5th to the 4th largest economy by the end of this fiscal, overtaking Japan. The question is whether India would take a cue from the ‘Chinese checker’ and rebuff the on-and-off approach of our Sam. It might definitely cause heartburns among India’s immediate neighbours.
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