Queen Isabella of Spain pawned her jewels and sent Christopher Columbus on his fateful journey in search of India and pepper. He made landfall, found some people who he misnamed Indians, returned with chiles which he misnamed pepper and lived out his years convinced he had found passage to India.
Ahhh... the the spices of life, with their reputed medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities that have inspired conquests and an almost insatiable flow of colonizers from Alexander the Great,the legions of Ceasar, The Pharoahs of Egypt, Marco Polo, De Gama, The Potuguese, French, Dutch and English; explorers who found corporate empires founded on spices, teas and the mythical kingdoms of the East.
India.... the land of the Gods and Goddesses, 1 billion people who comprise the world's largest Democracy. Where English is the common language among 100's of dialects....India...the emerging economic powerhouse of Asia and favorite outsource destination of corporate America.
India should be a natural ally for America.
She speaks English (always a requirement for the English only crowd), is somewhat anglophile and like Christianity has a belief in a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. (practically Utah or Oklahoma!)
You'd think the Bush administration would go GAGA over a place like India, but it never ceases to amaze me how much we diplomatically maintain her at arms length.
For over 1000 years, India has administrated to over 200 million muslims, relatively peacefully within the confines of her borders. This is the largest muslim population outside of Indonesia. How does a polytheistic majority (Hindus) live in peace with a large monotheistic population of Islamists for 1000 years?
Perhaps we should explore the options to a War on Terror to a Science of Peace. Perhaps the Indians have a knowledge of understanding and administration that we should explore and attempt to utilize if Peace, Democracy and Freedom are our real goals. If this premise is true, then only the pure of heart need read on.
Ghandi, the George Washington of India, was especially conscious of the need to include and make peace with the muslims. His philosophy of non-violence was enshrined in the bights of truth that he coined:
"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always."
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?"
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
"There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."
When the partition of India created Pakistan, payments and jobs and empowering the Muslim minorities created a stability that tenuously holds Indian society together today. The Muslims elect representatives, administrate to their communities and share power and prosperity in a way that is cooperative. While not perfect or without it's many struggles and problems, the equality of Indian Muslims is a lesson and a study for US foreign policy.
We could learn as much in America?
I hope that we will be able to seriously review our broken foreign policies of the last 6 years. That our State Department could throw off the war mongers and Pentagon hawks as we choose a path of peace as a truly Democratic nation. That we embrace a world willing to befriend America and not fear her Hegemony and Empirical war machinations.
India...perhaps a new beginning of knowledge and truth...that would be the path to wisdom and prosperity.