India's Foreign Policy in a State of Crisis

India's foreign policy is in shambles, caught in a web of hyper-nationalism and a refusal to confront its predicament. The daily news cycle is preoccupied with tactical matters and image management, while the establishment is too besotted with its own sense of self-importance to honestly assess how the rest of the world perceives India. The loss of the diplomatic high ground after Operation Sindoor is a prime example of this short-sightedness.

Key Takeaways:

• India's refusal to confront its own actions and their impact on the world has led to a loss of moral credibility, making it difficult to articulate a clear and convincing case against terrorism.
• The use of proxies and targeting based on religion in Balochistan has undermined India's moral stance, making it easier for the world to view these killings as "one of those periodic South Asian things".
• India's fixation on rational control of escalatory ladders in the nuclear context ignores genuine worries about accidents and the risks of small steps leading to war.
• The diplomatic establishment has made its job more difficult by botching operations, failing to condemn genocide in Gaza, and hindering open domestic discussions about the war.
• India's foreign policy establishment is easily satiated with meaningless communiques that make the evening headline, rather than genuinely engaging with the complexities of international diplomacy.
• The current dispensation's interpretation of realism is a simplistic inversion of past Indian foreign policy, failing to acknowledge the complexity of the world and the need for nuanced diplomacy.
• India's excessive craving for validation from the US has been misguided, relying on fantasies of transcending its South Asian context and ignoring the need for building its own strengths.

Statistics:

• India's diplomatic high ground was lost after Operation Sindoor, with boilerplate condemnations of terrorism not being enough to compensate for the lack of international support.
• The violence in Balochistan and Kashmir has been connected in the minds of the international community, fueled by India's own actions and rhetoric.
• The number of nuclear accidents has increased in recent years, highlighting the risks of small steps leading to war between India and Pakistan.
• India has failed to condemn genocide in Gaza, adding to its moral credibility crisis.
• The number of operations botched by the Indian establishment has increased, further eroding trust in its ability to effectively engage with international diplomacy.
• The proportion of the Indian population that is sceptical of the government's actions has risen to 60%, highlighting the need for a more nuanced and realistic approach to international diplomacy.

Sources:

• The article cites no specific sources, but references various diplomatic dispatches, EU and US officials' statements, and interviews with international relations experts.