Sorry Iran, our bread is buttered on the other side

We are a nation of the overly moralistics. We reason using morals and age old dogma's of righteousness. Sometimes making us look stupid and extreme, at times, sacrificing our own national interest at the altar.

After months of crying hoarse at the attempts by the western nations to reprimand Iran in the IAEA and refer it to the UN security council, we finally voted with our heads than with our hearts.

The government lead of Dr. Singh put national interest right where it belongs. We did not simply abstain, we voted. We voted for the resolution proposed by the EU-3 (Britian, France and Germany) at the IAEA.

And lo! and behold - the left had a heart attack.

We have left a friend high and dry they reasoned. The government has buckled under the american pressure tactics, they screamed. We would loose face with the third world and have back-stabbed the Non-aligned movement.

Here are two words for you folks - GROW UP !

Its a quid pro quo damn it.

And yes, thats how nations operate. Thats how foreign policy is played out. Its as simple as you scratch my back and I scratch yours.

With great fanfare and difficult negotiations, the Indian government had finally coaxed the americans into sharing Nuclear knowledge with us. We finally convinced them that we are responsible enough. And its in their interest to cozy up to us.

Yes, its as sweet a deal to us as it is to them. Its not a one way street. We get what we want from them and so in return we give them what they want.

And so we gave them what they wanted. A yes vote in the IAEA.

But remember, its not only good for them that the resolution passed but its good for us too.

I do pity Iran. India does not have anything against the people of Iran. But one must accept that its their stubborness and lack of ideas that has put them in this quandry.

When one barks, one must be willing to follow it up with a bite, if needed. Decades earlier, India too was in such a quandry. But we did not bark because we knew that when push comes to shove, we will not be able to follow the bark with a solid bite. So we layed low. We lived to fight another day.

And today. Its a totally different ball game. Everybody knows that even if we dont bark, we can jolly well bite badly.

Remember the first gulf war. When the last photo-op was our foreign minister IK. Gujral giving Saddam a bear hug. That was the last of it. In the name of third world solidarity, we supported the losing side. And that was the last of it. We completely lost out on even the smallest part that we could have contributed to the mid-east and shape it destiny.

We surely were'nt going to make that mistake again. Even the countries that support Iran, Russia and China, abstained. What happened to the solidarity of the muslim countries. Where did all that evaporate ? Venezuela was the only country that voted against the resolution !! Oh! what a surprise there !!

Here are a few words of advice to the left in India. Anti-americanism is not an attractive policy any longer. The world has moved on. Even their mentors, the chinese, have moved on. They realized decades ago that it does not pay to antagonize the world's super-power.

If you want to become big and enter the big nations club, you cannot do that by fighting all the way to the top. Thats madness and stupidity.

And one more word of advice. Stop playing the muslim vote bank politics. Dont even for a second think that your protest is buying any brownie points with them. What the govenment did was in accordance with India's supreme national interest. Everybody should know that and understand that. Personal religious and faith affiliations have no part in it.

I am reminded of an answer given by one of our leading national security expert's - Mr. K.Subrahmanyam in an interview to a leading indian news portal. He was posed a question -

"...India has the second largest Shia community; don't you think that could be one of the reasons for consideration, if not the major consideration?".

and pat came the answer -

...I am not going to say that domestic Muslims should not be sympathetic to Iran. But I am saying I have to think of the overall national interest. I (being a Tamilian) cannot say that just because there are Tamils in Singapore or Malaysia -- where Tamil is a national language and isn't in India -- I should be with the Tamilians there. I am not in favour of the LTTE in Sri Lanka because I think of India.

Very aptly put Mr.Subrahmanyam.