 
JAN 13 - As George W. Bush with his battery of advisors and spin
doctors get ready to visit South Asian countries including Pakistan
and India in mid-February, newspapers have started commenting on how
the region looks at the present foreign policy of the Republican
government.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been quoted saying that
the whole of South Asia region is very high on the list of
priorities for the US. This includes ‘enhancing’ relationship with
India and at the same time maintaining a good relationship with
Pakistan and helping it in its efforts to fight extremism, reported
Nepalnews quoting a news article in a Chennai based magazine.
The other policy outlined by the US administration is to move
certain Central Asian countries from US State Department’s European
bureau to its South Asia bureau. Secretary Rice stressed that US is
going to work very hard on an integrated approach of South Asia as
it’s important to look at it from a regional context.
Notwithstanding the fact that US is looking at South Asia with a
renewed interest in regional context and there seems to be a lot of
activity going on with regard to fixing the spotlight on the region,
there seems little unanimity among countries in South Asia about
their worldview of the US. The general perception in the region is
‘it’s hard to trust the Americans,’ the news report said.
It's not uncommon thinking in India that US is pro Pakistan and no
matter whatever way India engages US, Pakistan would be the first
choice when America has to choose between the two.
Contrary to India’s view, Pakistan’s perception is the signs of US
gravitation towards India, would tilt the whole balance of power to
one side and that do not auger well for regional peace and stability
in South Asia.
Perception from Colombo about US is totally different from the
worldview of India and Pakistan. In Sri Lanka the dominant view is
that America is doing nothing to rein in the LTTE, which, like Al
Qaeda, is adamant to achieve its political objectives through
violent means. The inference drawn is that the US led war on global
terrorism is selective.
The view about the US from Maldives is on a different plain
altogether. There the issue of global warming dominates the social
space. A thinking prevails that the US instead of wasting trillion
of dollars for fighting an unimaginative war in Iraq, could have
used the same resources for containing ‘global warming,’ it might
help save the littoral nation from being wiped out from face of the
earth.
The Bangladeshis perception about US is still different from the
others. Here, the worldview is divided between the Islamists and the
Communists. The Islamists are unhappy about US role in West Asia
(Israel- Palestine conflict) and in Iraq and some feel that US is
anti Islam and is engaged in resurrecting ‘crusades’ in modern
times. The communists in Bangladesh on the other hand view the US on
a different yardstick. They see America as a super power in quest of
global hegemony and whose goal is to establish the domination of the
capitalist mode of production in the world.
The Nepalese perception of US differs further from the rest of
the South Asian countries. In Kathmandu, the issue is restoration of
democracy. The common view there is that the US has little
consideration for establishing democracy in Nepal while it proclaims
to be fighting a war for the same purpose in Iraq. Nepalese are also
cherry about US’s role vis-à-vis the Maoist and its obvious ‘domino
effect’ on the rest of South Asia.
Notwithstanding the individual perception of the different
countries, the general perception in South Asia is that the US
interest in Asia largely remains focused either in West Asia, the
reservoir of world’s oil wealth, or in South East Asia where
countries like Japan and China matters it the most. Korean
peninsula, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are the other spots
in Asia of US interest.
The general thinking is that South Asian region is of least interest
to the US in Asia.
Contrary to individual or collective world views of South Asian
nations, the US has made its own assessment of the region and is
going ahead with its plans to shape it as an ‘arch of
opportunities.’ The US seems convinced that the prevailing diverse
perception against it could be converged on the point of human
development of the region, the news report said.
The other notable move made by the US administration is the
announcement to launch the National Security Language Initiative (NSLI)
program. NSLI forms an important component of US administration’s
national security plan in the post 9/11 period. It envisages
engaging foreign governments and peoples in the ‘critical regions’
of the world and to encourage them for reforms, promote
understanding and convey respect for other cultures. For achieving
this, the US administration wants to dramatically increase the
number of its citizens learning “critical need” foreign languages so
that they may be able to communicate in the languages spoken in such
countries.
Under the NSLI program, a comprehensive plan is drawn for expansion
of foreign language education in USA. This starts at the
kindergarten levels and runs through formal schooling and goes into
the workforce with job opportunities and incentives for graduates of
these language programs.
The US President is expected to request for USD 114 million for
funding this program.
What is striking in the NSLI program is the identification of
‘Hindi’, to be one of the critical need foreign languages that
Americans must learn to further strengthen national security and
prosperity in the 21st century. The program is designed to increase
the number of Americans fluent in Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Farsi,
and other critical-need languages including Urdu and Bengali.
"We're going to teach our kids how to speak important languages.
We'll welcome teachers here to help teach our kids how to speak
languages," Bush said in introducing his National Security Language
Initiative at the State Department.
"When Americans learn to speak Arabic, those in the Arab region will
say, 'Gosh, America's interested in us. They care enough to learn
how we speak,'" he said.
My two cents: Offer them Green Cards! |
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