To paraphrase a famous adage, 'cometh the hour, cometh the man', now it is 'cometh the man, cometh the mayhem.' It has been a year since the Trump 2024 Presidential inauguration, and, to put it bluntly, it has been blackmail time ever since.
International order, as understood since World War II, has been threatened. 'Reciprocal tariff', or just tariff, is the polished word for coercion. The import tax on a Harley-Davidson has become the leitmotif of acknowledging India's friendship. And, if you are a Ukrainian, seeing your country getting 'sacrificed' by a nation that had supported you all along, must be heartbreaking - just because of a carrot called the Nobel Peace Prize!
"Give me Greenland, or else I'll remember?" - such language was last heard, besides at Davos, in a street corner exchange. But the Washington resident means business, as Venezuela (and the world) found out. "I am the new president of Venezuela", he has actually proclaimed, even as he plans to covet their oil. Is 'Ayatollah of Iran' and 'King of Greenland' next, as Trump craves petulantly Iranian oil and that Danish island? This should ring many bells vis-à-vis India's experience regarding the true face of erstwhile benefactors (no exceptions) that jettison you for their own interests. Remember the attempted arm-twisting of India by the Brits and the Americans after the 1965 India-Pakistan war to give in and reach a settlement with Islamabad on Jammu and Kashmir? And the sanctions after Pokhran II? Well, things haven't changed these past decades, and on one thing at least, the mayhem-in-chief is correct: "It's geopolitics, baby, geopolitics!"
Interesting times these are, were it not for the fact that every statement made far across the oceans is driving debates, sending social media into overdrive, and affecting the political narrative in our country. "Don't buy Russian oil, don't trade with Iran and Russia, but buy my oil, weapons, bourbon, alfalfa hay, duck meat..." have been the missives from Washington to New Delhi. The almost daily verbiage, even to the best of friends, has made presidents and prime ministers make a pilgrimage to Washington, barring the odd one. Countries, however, are now seeing the real mien of the occupant of the Resolute Desk in the White House - as witnessed by the European nations coming together on l'affaire Greenland.
And in these times, ideal for the screenplay of that old classic flick It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World, let us raise a toast (of American bourbon?) to Thucydides, who lived 2,500 years ago in faraway Greece and wrote a classic treatise on the Peloponnesian Wars. Dear Thucydides, how did you know back then that there would arrive a guy named Trump when you wrote, "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must."
Time to prove Thucydides wrong. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada has taken the first step at Davos, with a powerful oration that would go down as a classic for its firm independent stand. We have signed a trade deal with Washington, the full contours of which would reveal whether Delhi has bucked Thucydides' edict.
(The author is a former Additional Director General, Centre for Air Power Studies, and a retired Air Vice Marshal of the Indian Air Force)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
