Great write-up, Pranay. While I agree with your contention that the India-US bilateral relationship will trump the India-Russia one in the long-term, I am curious to know your take on the resilience of the US-led world order. While it most certainly is in India's interests to ensure US unipolarity, is this a true reflection of the international order unfolding before us? With recent developments, it seems clear that US unipolarity is under stress (botched war interventions) & countries like China is trying to maximise the most of this situation. Isn't India simply responding to a rapidly changing world order that is characterised by this waning American power relative to its previous dominance? My general assumption here is that since both American & Russian power is on the decline, India might want to hedge its bets with all sides and therefore we are likely to see the dreaded 'strategic autonomy' monster rear its ugly head. Makes sense?
Great write-up, Pranay. While I agree with your contention that the India-US bilateral relationship will trump the India-Russia one in the long-term, I am curious to know your take on the resilience of the US-led world order. While it most certainly is in India's interests to ensure US unipolarity, is this a true reflection of the international order unfolding before us? With recent developments, it seems clear that US unipolarity is under stress (botched war interventions) & countries like China is trying to maximise the most of this situation. Isn't India simply responding to a rapidly changing world order that is characterised by this waning American power relative to its previous dominance? My general assumption here is that since both American & Russian power is on the decline, India might want to hedge its bets with all sides and therefore we are likely to see the dreaded 'strategic autonomy' monster rear its ugly head. Makes sense?