As the United States and its allies continue to pressure India to abandon, or at least maintain its distance from Russia till the Ukraine invasion is over, the Indian government has ignored the Western powers. Instead of condemning Moscow, New Delhi has instead bought more Russian oil largely due to huge discount offered by the Kremlin. The Modi government can easily justify its action.
India said what it buys from Russia in a month is less than what Europe buys from Russia in an afternoon. So, Washington is barking up the wrong tree and it should first lecture the European Union before telling India what to do or what not to do. As the world’s third largest consumer of oil, India is indeed helping the Russian economy at a time when the U.S. wanted to cripple it.
However, while India imports 80% of its much needed oil, the country bought just 12 million barrels from Russia in 2021, representing only 2% of its total imports. Imports from the Middle Eastern countries account for 52.7% of India’s import basket, whereas Africa and the U.S. account for 15% and 14% of oil imports respectively. Everything changes after the Ukraine invasion.
It did not import any oil from Russia in both January and February. But after the Ukraine invasion, India bought a staggering 14 million barrels from Moscow based on March and April 2022 contracts alone. The decision was no-brainer. Assuming the average oil price was US$100 a barrel, a 30% discount means India has saved a cool US$420 million.
In the pre-pandemic 2019-20, India had spent US$101.4 billion on the import of 227 million tonnes of crude oil. It then spent US$62.2 billion on the import of 196.5 million tonnes of crude oil in the 2020-21. India is expected to almost double its import bill to US$110-115 billion by the end of the fiscal year 2021-2022. Clearly crude oil is a massive expense to the nation.
Theoretically, if India could buy half of its crude oil from Russia, it could save a jaw-dropping US$16 billion. That’s a lot of money for a country that is poor compared to America, Europe or even China. The populations of China and India are almost the same – 1.4 billion people. But China’s GDP (2020) was US$14.72 trillion, more than 5 times of India’s GDP (US$2.62 trillion).
Unless the U.S. can sponsor or subsidize US$420 million or more, there’s no reason why India should obediently sanction Russia. Not only Moscow offers huge discount, Russia also incurs the costs and pays the freight, including insurance charges. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said – “I would put my energy security first. If the fuel is available at a discount, why shouldn’t I buy it?”
It’s quite embarrassing that the U.S. could not convince India, the largest democracy in the world, to join its orbit. But cheap energy is just one of the factors why India has abstained on every United Nations resolution to either condemn or punish Russia. There are military and diplomatic considerations which the U.S. cannot fix. No amount of threats from the U.S. can make India abandon Russia.
Thanks to the British Empire, after British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan in 1947, ending 300 years of colonial rule, the region saw both nations fought at least three major wars over Kashmir. Unlike China, India does not have veto power. Hence, whenever there is a United Nations Security Council resolution against India on Kashmir, Moscow will use its veto to help New Delhi.
Over the years, the Soviet and Russia’s veto power has rescued India on at least six occasions – Feb 1957 Kashmir crisis, Dec 1961 Goa crisis, June 1962 Kashmir issue, and three issues in Dec 1971 involving India-Pakistan border crisis, India-Pakistan refugee issue and withdrawal of troops resolution. In all the six resolutions brought against India in the Security Council, the U.S. supported all of them.
In truth, it was the U.S. who was instrumental in forcing India to enter the Soviet orbit when America announced on Feb 25, 1954 its intention to embark on a major program of military aid to Pakistan, India’s bitter enemy. In the same year, Pakistan joined the U.S. alliance called SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) as part of Washington’s strategy to contain the Soviet Union.
In fact, just two months after Pakistan was established in 1947, the U.S. became one of the first nations to establish relations with Pakistan. Since 1948–2016, the U.S. has provided nearly US$78.3 billion to Pakistan in military aid. It was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 that Washington and New Delhi began to cooperate in areas such as trade, foreign policy and military exercises.
Still, like U.S.-Pakistan’s roller-coaster relationship, the bilateral ties between the U.S. and India often run into choppy waters. For example, India’s nuclear test in 1998 saw America slapped sanctions on India – until President Bush lifted it in 2001. In the same breath, the distrust between Pakistan and the U.S. still exist today due to Islamabad’s harbouring of terrorists, most notably Osama bin Laden.
India also has a long-standing border dispute with China in the Himalayan region. Both nations, sharing 3,440 kilometres border, saw border disputes that have been ongoing for 80 years. From 1962 Sino-Indian War to as recent as 2020 violent clash, where both sides fought with sticks and clubs (a 1996 agreement prohibited the use of guns and explosives near the border), both nations have failed to settle the matter.
Fortunately, India and China – both nuclear-weapon states – have fought only one serious war in 1962 when India suffered a humiliating defeat. Chinese troops captured Rezang La in Chushul in the western theatre, as well as Tawang in the eastern theatre after an invasion in the disputed territory along the 3,225 kilometres long Himalayan border in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line.
The 1962 India-China war coincided with conflict between Soviet and China due to different interpretations of Marxism-Leninism. As the Sino-Soviet split heated up, Moscow made a major effort to support New Delhi by selling advanced MIG fighter-aircraft to India. Again, India turned to the Soviet Union after the U.S. and Britain refused to sell advanced weaponry to India.
The Russia-India-China triangle relationship is quite interesting. While India and China fight over borders, Russia is a good friend to both countries. China has publicly announced that Russia is its best friend. India, on the other hand, said “every child in India knows that Russia is our best friend”. Neither China nor India wants Russia to side with their respective rival.
The relations get complicated with the entrance of Pakistan to the equation. Both China and Pakistan share a common enemy – India – though Beijing’s reason has more to do with the fact that India and America are allies, who in turn has a common enemy – China. Of course, Moscow saw its alliance with India as essential for offsetting American and Chinese dominance in Asia.
In essence, India has been enjoying reliable support from a major military power like Russia to counter not only China and Pakistan (something that the U.S. cannot offer), but also to protect itself from an untrustworthy friend like America in international politics. But the most important factor is still military – Russia is the primary supplier of weapons to India.
Even till today, Russian-origin weapons are believed to account for 60% to 85% of the hardware of the Indian armed forces. Soviet or Russian has basically supplied everything to India – tanks, guns, fighter jets, missiles and even aircraft carriers. India wants the best weapons, but financial concerns mean a lot of sexy military hardware from the U.S. and Europe are beyond its reach.
BrahMos missile is a success story as a result of a joint venture between India and Russia. It is a medium-range stealthy ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarine, ships, aircraft or land. The name BrahMos itself was formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia. In January, the Philippines agreed to splash US$375 million for the missiles.
It took Australia decades of obedience and subservience before the U.S. allows it to play with nuclear submarines in 2021. But more than 30 years before the Aussie acquires nuclear submarine, India had already leased its first nuclear-powered attack submarine from Soviet in 1991. New Delhi then signed a US$3 billion deal to lease another Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine.
India now plans to buy three more Kilo-class submarines from Russia, in addition to the current arsenal of nine such subs in its navy. It also wants to add 400 more Russian T-90 battle tanks to its existing fleet of 1,100. At present, India also has more than 2,000 Russian T-72 tanks in three variants. Like it or not, it will continue to need Russia to supply spare parts and technical support.
In 2018, India signed an agreement worth US$5.43 billion for five S-400 defense systems with Russia. In November 2021, Russia began the delivery of S-400 missiles – vital to deter against Pakistan and China. Despite years of threats and warnings of sanctions for purchasing the S-400 Triumf missile defence system, the U.S. has yet to decide whether to impose any sanctions.
The U.S. and Europe certainly look like a hypocrite for criticizing China, but close both eyes on India. New Delhi knew it was a very important security partner of the U.S., so much it can get away with Russian crude oil, S-400 defence systems and refusal to sanction Moscow. To pacify the U.S., New Delhi has increased its purchase of American weapons to the tune of US$20 billion over the past decade.
Another reason why India will not betray Russia has everything to do with history. The anti-Western sentiment is still very strong due to three centuries of British colonial rule. It was because of the West that India lost a piece of their homeland called Pakistan. It was part of British’s policy of divide-and-rule, systematically promoting political divisions between Hindus and Muslims, after the Indian Rebellion in 1857.
Unlike the U.S., the Soviet Union was seen as sympathetic to India’s needs, with no strings attached, either in the form of weapons technology transfers or political and diplomatic aid. Soviet had even risked war with the U.S. by sending its navy to the Indian Ocean to drive back a warship that President Nixon had sent to intimidate India during its 1971 war with Pakistan.
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April 20th, 2022 by financetwitter
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Comments
It’s early days yet, as much as India can be enticed by bargain price Russian goodies, India can be even more readily seduced by attention given by the white world. Already the much-worshipped white folks have been enticing the Indians with not just a bit of that much-craved attention, the US and the EU have been offering their favourite glorified coolies bits and pieces of arms and glass beads to sway them as the massahs can. Bit by bit, the West would surely outbid the Russians and win over the Indians.
The West, particularly the Brits are excellent at working their former damn natives. At the behest of the US, Britain in the form of Partygate Bojo has rushed over to the Land of No Loo to seduce the “brown folks” with some suitably well thought out goodies. First and foremost is the offer for Indians to be able to trudge along to Britainistan with less tough restrictions than most of the time – some (meaning very few) Indians can come to be temporary “whites” for a short period to live and work.
Though most with a little bit of self-respect would spit at the “offer” (more in exchange for India to buy Brit goodies), the Brits as former massahs of the permanent slave-minded Indians know the “offer” would thrill the Indians no end. Britainistan knows how to make the Indians first-class suckers even while the Brits think their former cheap slaves turd class “savages”. For centuries the Brits and other whites played the Indians left, right and center, inside out, and outside in. Them whites used the Indians to fight and kill each other, and the grateful Indians played their role to the full, finally giving the whole of India to the Brits, thank you very much, Massah!
The old Brit trick still works very much, what Bojo offered is classic – inside every Indian is a “white man” dying to get out of his dark brown suit to be more English than the English. You can definitely still see to this day (and most likely beyond) the Indians still at it, albeit with their funny Hinglish accents.
The Yanks have learnt quite a few ways of handling them Indians too. You can’t avoid the Indians gloating over what good tontos they are to the Yanks – the Indians are forever boasting and letting the whole world and the cows know what the precious few “CEOs” who’s made it to the top of some Yank corporate entities what good crawlers to those who are using them they are and can be.
We are not talking about owning many corporations – or regiments of Indian corporate bigwigs. But that’s enough for the niggahs to be proud and grateful. Anyone less than half intelligent would ask the simple question why they can’t be the same for India, a little bunch of Indians staying inside India would do wonders – and that, they certainly aren’t able to achieve. What’s more, simply adding a few hundred million toilets to India would be better than continuing to be grateful slaves to the white man.
Still, the fact of the matter is the wretched population of India would die to go to the white world, hence Bojo craftily applied the proven old trick yet again. Unless the Russians can up their enticement, BoJo has a proven and guaranteed winner. Would be fun to see how the Yank cowboys would play the dark brown Injuns, what tricks they’ve got up their sleeves to make our friends want to desperately go to be glorified slaves in the US, and be grateful for that – and boastful about it too!
Btw, there are more Chinese on the top of the corporate world in the US than Indians. But the Chinese don’t brag out loud to the world about that. The usual story is they quietly shoot their way up – then buy over the corporations, too many such stories… And many build their businesses in China, Taiwan, etc too. I bet should they need to, they build plenty of toilets too..!
Meanwhile, let’s wait to hear India tells the much-worshipped West to stuff it over having to toe the West’s line on Russia… No minced words no “Indian talk”, just a straightforward fcuk off, let’s see an Injun brave!
And don’t forget India took forever to deal with the lethal Bhopal gas leak by a Western company, decades now and still no balls to take on the white men. And we hear about, for hundreds of years already, the Indians still fcuking noisily bitching about the “trillions” the West looted from it.
And still no balls to bang the table hard to demand reparations. Some western executives put it, Indians can be sacrificed, there is no standard above which they should be treated. Already his own buddies in the Tory party are saying Risky Sunak’s face should be used to shield Boris’ butt…
The EU has cleverly played the Indians. There’s nothing better than get those dark brown “savages” (so Churchill called them) to play the usefool idiots than to pit them against the Chinese.
Deluded that they are “white” after centuries of being nicely-brainwashed colonial “niggahs”, every other Indian thinks, talks (as usual, excessively) and act like funny village-ditch (longkang) hilarious imitation of the white man whom they have so dutifully worshipped. Every time one Indian tries to show he is “superior” to the next, he will talk down to him in a funny version of the massah’s tongue, the Hinglish. Of every five words the man with the funny head movements utters, he would throw in three words of Hinglish in a hilarious accent. He will also spice his spiel with out-of-context gems (or sacred cow dung) from Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, Byron, etc. And with helpings of orphaned Latin, legalese terms and everything the white massahs never really used.
Those of our elders who were schooled (and fcuked up) by the plantation-grade Indian teachers imported into our cursed country in the bad old days, passed on the treasure of Hinglish as she is spat out by the Hindians, the legacy can still be suffered to this day, when a Malaysian of the old school or those who were schooled by them speaks, you would imagine it’s a Hindianwallah who’s speaking (excessively) if you had your eyes closed…
The EU Teutonic Titwillow Ursula was certainly well-schooled in how to deal with the damn natives, like Partygate Bojo, Ursula came with the similar kind of offer-non-offer that would make the Indians sit up from their squat – let them have a whiff of a chance how they too be like the White Man by making them be the trusted tool for a bit of divide-and-rule, split the “white” from the other dark or light brown Asians. After all, the Brits have skilfully and successfully used one and more bunches of Indians against another, what better than to get them to make a noisy nuisance of themselves against the Chinese. And the loyal and grateful Indians have been doing just that – although far short of actually crossing the borders to teach the Chinese how to respect cow dung.
Until they were enticed with bargain oil by the Russians, the Indians were already dutifully playing monkeys for the West by attempting to stir up the Chinese along the borders. Not that India could do anything against China even if India caught up with building enough toilets for even two villages more in their filthy country, the great opportunity for India to fantasise it can take on China on behalf of the white man is enough to wet the Indians like a good greasing of ghee for their chapati festival for the worship of their most-holy cow droppings.
The eye-opening refusal by the West to help the wretched India during the worst of Covid didn’t even wake up the Indians literally dying to be devoted slaves to the white man in their desperation to contain China. The insane delusion of being able to take on China is too good to give up. As the power center of the world is shifting to Asia, this is the time for India to shine. But instead the over-populated country of pavement-squatting wonders who are only mighty good at forever talking excessively and noisily. In fact India has a huge industry of talking, bragging and bullockshitting heads forever talking big on the internet – and everywhere else it can grab any chance for attention to make lots of redundant noises. If the industrious monkeys put their chapati-fuelled energy to something else than excessively yabbering they could build lots of toilets for the toilet-free sh*thole country.
Sadly our ineffectual wallahs will never get into any action over anything apart from forever talking. There’s even a giant industry of monkeys forever slagging off China from a safe distance. India thinks it is a white country lording over other “lesser” Asian countries. Weirdly, India thinks China is the cesspit dump country! And India thinks it is a mighty country – strangely utterly incapable of tackling Kashmir, Assam, Pakistan, etc. India’s lording it over Nepal has pissed off Nepal and got it to be closer to China.
If India ever learns there’s more to life than being insanely jealous of China and bitching China, and that there’s more to life (however miserable) than perpetually acting as water carriers and glorified toilet attendants to the white world, India can finally progress. India still won’t go far, it needs to make up its tiny backward mind how many funny clay idols it wants to worship. And desist from seeing divinity and magic in cow sh*t and cow urine.
Russia may supply India with bargain oil, and arms India, but the ultimate holy quest of the Indians is to bugger off to the West and be accepted as bargain basement pretend white men. When we talk about a huge population with such a mentality, and when there is that funny ideal of being some kind of “CEO” in the US and generate a lot of envy and adulation in the country with no toilets, the chance of being “white” may trump over bargain oil and arms the Sepoys can’t use anyway without the white massahs telling them how to. And the White Man knows that. And the white woman knows how to butter, or rather ghee up the Indians the right side: offer the brown “niggahs” a little chance to embellish their huge ego – on the cheap, the Indians have to trade, buy arms, and, of course, be the sacrificial cheap monkeys to stir up China and die for the White Man, thank you very much, Massah!
You might remember the Injun braves took a dive with their Russian submarine – some wallah typical clean-up chappie had forgotten to close a hatch, the submarine had to be decommissioned for months and probably thrown away, wtf!
So, it’s early days yet how the Indians will do their dithering over who to be led by. Cheap oil is very enticing. Russian arms are still necessary (and cheap). Trade with Russia may always be needed. But so too a chance to yet again be led by the nose by the West to be the frontline and fodder to invade and conquer China. The West will not let the Indians be two-headed snakes and go with both sides, soon it will be a “with US or against US” and the Indians cannot sit on the fence till the holy cows come home to debate excessively and get the usual nowhere.
As usual India would react with noisy indignation when offended by the West, there would be plenty of angry noises, but there would be no action beyond the usual excessive noise. Whatever may be said about Indians or whatever and however the Indians may say and posture, it is still ultimately the worship of the White Man in all his “glory” that the drives the Indian dream. Until the mindset is exorcised out of the last Indian, there’s no the least bit of hope for India to get anywhere, and this has been what the enlightened of the subcontinentals believe. And they’ve also said India will never become a China. I can’t argue with that at all.
My kilo of holy cow dung and two pints of holy cow urine say India would capitulate, go for the familiar role of perpetual slavery to them white men. So don’t throw away the skin whitener just yet! Fancy, when it is ordained it is going to be the Asian Century and Asia will triumph, the Hindians are still stuck in their mindset with being “white” – and with buggering off to be “CEOs” and petrol kiosk attendants in the US, wtf!
They may be satire, comedy, or whatever you care to make of them, but do get on YouTube, bless yourselves with some education, reward yourselves with entertainment too for the lazy festive time upcoming, go through the series: “It ain’t half hot, mum!”, see how nicely the white man’s figured out their favourite slavewallahs! Come back from squatting on the pavement and doing nothing, and tell me it ain’t so what them Hindians are like with the portrayal in the videos.
Hari Hari, and Hari Raya too..!
Unfortunately , the Indians are still envy the American and British assholes where they proud to serve MS, Google , Amazon….etc . Given me a chance i would be proud to serve as a Russian soldier with proud for their unconditional help to India.