A greater commonwealth: Related to that and other posts of mine, I think the great English-speaking nations (here including India) have more in common with each other than with the rest of the globe. We have a common language - as noted, spoken more and more widely within India - a common legal culture, and a common history (for the last four hundred years, at any rate). So what does that mean?
It means that we have a rare opportunity here for a win-win-win-win situation: a greater English-speaking alliance.
For example, if we're going to have a trade deficit, wouldn't it make more sense to have it with India than China? If we're going to have a partner in our global strategic endeavors, would we rather have the U.K. or France?
Another advantage of this greater alliance is that all the nations involved - here I see US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, India - occupy key sealanes and have a history of naval expertise.
It sure beats the UN, anyway.
It means that we have a rare opportunity here for a win-win-win-win situation: a greater English-speaking alliance.
For example, if we're going to have a trade deficit, wouldn't it make more sense to have it with India than China? If we're going to have a partner in our global strategic endeavors, would we rather have the U.K. or France?
Another advantage of this greater alliance is that all the nations involved - here I see US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, India - occupy key sealanes and have a history of naval expertise.
It sure beats the UN, anyway.
posted by Joshua @ 9:03 PM
1 Comments:
Two thoughts. One, its difficult to "choose" who we have our external deficits with without (more)extreme government intervention in trade. That would have economic as well as diplomatic repercussions as China would want to know why India was being granted preferential treatment. We might very well reply "because India is an inefficient and corrupt but at least democratic country whereas you, China, are an oppressive, opaque autocracy, despite your increasingly liberal trade policies." While that would be the truth, I would argue that we have a much greater need to bind China to us economically than we do India, who, for the reasons mentioned by tacitean, is more our natural ally. Keep your enemies closer and all that.
Second, strengthening ties with natural allies is a good idea, but bears more consideration in situations where doing so can have a detrimental effect on our relationship with other important non-english speaking allies. You mentioned sea power, which is a definite positive trait in allies, and to that I would add two words: Tar Sands. By some measures, Canada is sitting on the second largest oil reserves in the world. Warming relations with our northern neighbors (relations which have chilled of late) would be a good way to provide a degree of short term independence from less friendly oil suppliers (coughcoughsaudisandiranianscoughcough). Of course that does not obviate the need to develop real energy independence by way of sustainable alternative power sources.
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