Three articles in The Hindu newspaper
Nino Pagliccia
September 18, 2011

Three articles in The Hindu newspaper paint a common picture of a country that tries to have an independent foreign policy while being under pressure from the empire of the United States. The country is India but you can replace it by any other country and you will see the same pattern. 

One story reads "U.S. making India-Iran trade a hard struggle". India imports an important 10% of it's oil energy from Iran. But although banking relations are excluded from the UN sanctions against Iran - questionable sanctions in themselves - the U.S. manages to exert pressure by curtailing other routes of financial transactions. India is one of nine member countries of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) created precisely with the intension of by-passing the extraterritorial sanctions that the U.S. imposes on other countries to undermine their independent trade.

Unfortunately India sold out to U.S. pressure. In December of last year the Reserve Bank of India "barred Indian companies from using the ACU to process current account transactions for oil and gas imports." As a result oil imports from Iran have declined. 

In the second article U.S. influence may be more subtle but no less evident. The article reports that "India recognizes Libyan rebels" supporting the Transitional National Council (TNC) led by Mustafa Abdel Jalil. India has joined the "Western" thinking by extending "assistance to Libya in its political transition, rebuilding and reconstruction". For a country like India, where major investment is badly needed for domestic rebuilding and reconstruction, this is an outrageous offer. In addition, India's "humanitarian assistance of $1 million through the UN to Libya while...$2 million [more] is being processed" is an insult to the extreme poor people of India. Solidarity with others cannot be at the expense of your own people. 

The third article in The Hindu has a more positive angle for Indian foreign policy reporting that India will back Palestinian bid for UN membership in the upcoming vote on September 20. This is encouraging and consistent with India's recognition of Palestine in November 1988. 

The value of India's position is enhanced by the fact that India is a member of the UN Security Council, the ultimate decision body for Palestine statehood. In a truly democratic UN this would be good news for Palestinians but the U.S. has already announced that it will use it's veto power against a favorable vote for Palestine. If this was not enough the U.S. has also threatened to withdraw its $500 million a year contribution to the UN "if the vote went through".

Although these are three different articles, there seem to be a single story: U.S. imperialism has no bounds. It is present in all regions of the world and it is manifested always with the same old bully foreign policy. The U.S. will shamelessly force any country to carry on its dirty politics. Today is India's turn to forego its independent foreign policy.